blatherings

blatherings
the shallow side

Thursdays are tough enough

This morning I attended a conference session that had me up at 6.30 in the morning.  I know, for most of the world that isn’t a big deal.  But do consider that I went home and edited some chick’s medical ethics paper, had class at 6.30 and then had to start work afterwards.  And the Ninjas are frolicsome tonight. 


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But I now only have two assignments left. Yea!


 


This is the first day this week I haven’t had any exercise and I already notice the difference.  I feel more keyed up, a little more stressed and less happy.
1.4.05 09:46


And it was such a good day

Good morning boys and girls, its another brief note from panic attack central.


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I spent the day getting little things done.  I find that given a chance I will do one thing a day and that means when I have a lot of little things to do, it can take me ages to get to them.  So I met with the prof I’m doing research for, dropped off some stuff for my noir prof, did the inventory, ran into an old friend and heard tales of woe and good sex.  I met up with S eventually and we visited with Maya who seems more manic than ever – didn’t know if it was the weather or the being on her own.


 


K'vitsh, S and I went to see Sin City tonight and it was brilliant.  Like a noir comic made really pretty.  Part of it is that I just adore Bruce Willis.  He has a great smile.  The stories were all circular, which I like.  It makes everything very neat and tidy.  You can see the growth, the change in the characther or the world.


 


I was just drifting off when it occurred to me that the release for fait accomplit still isn’t set and I haven’t heard from the person doing the release party.  There is a bunch of stuff that needs to be done, and I get the feeling that I will have to start doing it all tomorrow.  I’ve had offers of help from friends, but I’m a little pissed that this person seems to have dropped off the Earth.  I’m a little worried too, as I have no idea what has happened – is something wrong?  No one knows.


 

So I’m going to work with the ninjas for a little bit until my heart stops pounding and I’m relaxed enough to sleep.
2.4.05 11:21


Come one, come all

Hello all

After many hours of toil, the spring issue of fait accomplit has been put to paper. I know you’re chomping at the bit to get your hands on a copy, but you will have to wait until our bacchanal / release party at Leva 11053-86 Ave, 7 pm Tuesday, 12 April. For more details go to our website
www.geocities.com/faitaccomplit

I look forward to seeing you there
Devon Bryce
Editor, fait accomplit
4.4.05 19:08


It all makes sense not

Yesterday when we went running, I saw a porcupine. Tonight, I saw the Lowest of the Low. Coincidence? I think not.
6.4.05 08:33


sleepy. hungry. worked hard.

I'm at the studio while S does his show, after a lllllonggggg day/night. I don't have access to a spell checker right now, so allow me to tell you how sorry I am right now. And this summer I will take Mrs. Moose up on her offer to teach my how to spell becuase already in this short time I have avoided using words I would like to, 'cause I don't know how to spell them.

The condo I live in has problems with the pipes. Every month they turn water off in the building so they can work some sort of voodoo. I had to shower before 9 AM if I was to shower today... which means getting up damn early, for me. When you factor in that I started work at 6.30 PM, well, maybe you understand. I'm way sleepy and surprisingly hungry - I haven't had much of an appitite lately, but its back tonight, with a vengance.

The show kicked ass, aside from some minor chaos with the beer lines. We went through a rather obscene amount of draft. Still, made good money, got a free cd and showed a lot of clevage.

I took part in a psych experiment today, too. See, my big brother is a psych prof and has often bitched about how difficult it is to get all the subjects necessary. So when I fit into the necessary group of one of hte experiemnts here, I try to do them. Today, I looked at book covers and tried to classify them by genre without knowing the author. It was fun, in a mindless sort of way.

herm. for some reason I thought I had something big-ish to talk about tonight, but I'm so sleepy at this point, I don't recall what it may have been
8.4.05 12:23


Interview me

The Rules:

Leave me a comment saying "Interview me."

I will respond by asking you five questions. I get to pick the questions*.

You will post the answers and the questions themselves on your blog.

You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

My answers to booger's questions.

1) Coincidence... My nan has lived in Devon for over 30 years. How'd you get the name?
Once upon a time in a place far, far away my folks decided to make a baby. They didn’t bother with getting married, nor did they bother particularly thinking things through. Like the fact my dad had six other kids form 6 other women (all daughters BTW). So the respective families were all horrified. I’m sure there is back story here because it was bad enough that my mom’s brother didn’t speak to her the entire time she and my dad were together. When it came down to the naming, they were at a loss as to what to call me. After much bandying about of names (the ones I heard were all quite lame) they decided that my brother’s god-parents were the only ones who’d been half way decent about everything, so my name should honour them. Only they didn’t want to name me after them (I would be Susan) so they decided that were they are from had a nice ring. And I was named Devon.

Only it doesn’t end there. The god-parents in question politely made their way around EVER saying my name until they were able to visit. At which point they sized me up and looked at my mother, sighed deeply and asked “why did you name her Devon?”
“We did it for you.”
“But she’s a girl.”
“Uh-huh. We know that. It’s to honour you.”
“But we’re from Dorset.”

And I have been forever grateful for the way things turned out. Not only have I had multiple camp experiences where I went to sign in only to find they would need to arrange a new room for me, but I didn’t wind up called “Dorsie.” My full name has a lovely ring to it and I get a kick out of the gender-neutral aspects of it. Well, ambiguous might be more accurate. A lot of people assume I’m a guy and well, let’s just say “plank” in the physical sense doesn’t describe me.


2) Who's your hero(ine)?
This is hard, because I don’t want to over-lap with #4. And that’s such a big word. There are few people where I look at their lives and am impressed with every aspect of it. Ghandi, for example, was a strong man who did a lot to change the world in ways that I respect a great deal, but I think he took it a little too far with choosing to be celibate for 30 years WHILE HE WAS MARRIED. I’m going to go with Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada (1968 - 1984, minus those wacky six months) and playboy.

Trudeau is responsible for loosening laws surrounding abortion, divorce, and homosexuality - claimed the gov’t had no right in people’s bed rooms. He promoted bilingualism and federalism (at the same time. In Canada). He took drastic steps to end the FLQ crisis which brought Canada back ot the peaceful state we’re better at dealing with than kidnapping, terrorism and such. He promoted social programs like health care. He met with John and Yoko to talk about peace. He was responsible for putting women in places of power for the first time (Speaker of the House, Governor General) and married a woman some 30 years younger than he was.

Trudeau had a vision for Canada. It wasn’t about being in power and ego. It was about doing the right thing for the country. He has Ghandi’s vision and desire to make the world better, while being rather charismatic and charming.

3) You appear to have very eclectic music taste, recommend something obscure and brilliant.
Bastard. This question is impossible because I do have eclectic tastes. Here are some disks I think everyone should have but probably don’t.
Classical - Gorecki - Symphony #3. Listen to this in the dark, when there are no distractions.
Metal - The Hollow - Vita. Very good metal band. My problem with a lot of metal is that while I like the music usually the singer usually sucks. This singer can actually do more than grunt.
Electronic - Moses Mayes - Needle to the groove. One of the best shows I've seen.
Experimental (ugh. what a term) - This is a tie - Kronos Quartet performs the Complete String Quartets of Alfred Schnitke. Mr Bungle - self titled.
Urban - Black Eyed Peas - Bridging the Gap. This is fun. That’s all.
Fun - Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies a group of old punks doing covers of 70s hits and musicals. What more could a girl ask for?

There’s no country or pop because I stopped having country foisted on me years ago. And pop music is sometimes brilliant but by definition not obscure.

Oh, and I think everyone should listen to Veda Hille. Although what I've been listening to today and may be the best single answer to your question is Big Maybell. She's a singer from the 50s who does a mix of gospel/soul/blues with a naughty edge. Find stuff by her - songs like 'Candy' or 'I just don't know what to do with myself'

4) The dinner party question: five guests, living or dead. Who and why?
I wouldn’t want to dine with these people all at once. My attention would be unfocused. But for one on one dining treats, I’d go with....
Jack Womack. The best (living) writer. I would have trouble actually speaking for the first forever, and really just want to sit at his feet and worship for a while. Once I got over it, I’m sure he’d be brilliant to talk with.
Vladimir Nabokov. The best (dead) writer. As an academic he used to make up sources just to see if anyone would notice. He spoke a bunch of languages and had fun. Plus, he was a scientist as well as a writer.
My father. He died when I was 19 and I wish I had known him better. My family (on both sides) doesn’t really talk about him, even when asked directly.
Maggie. We met at French camp this summer and I utterly adore her. She lives too far away to see and we’re both too busy to talk a lot. Maggie lived as an illegal alien both here and in the US, is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met and looks like a goth Milla Jovovich.
Myself, shortly before I die. Just to see what happens and if learning what happens makes a difference.

5) How cold does it get in Canada? Explain so I know to never bitch when our pathetic winter's hit in England...
Um... where in Canada? You see, we’re a whopping big country with wildly changing weather. For example, there was snow on the ground not two weeks ago, and yet it was plus 20 yesterday. On the west coast (Vancouver, Victoria) it is very humid and pretty warm - in the winter while it does drop below zero, on average, it doesn’t. Ever. That being said, the humidly is probably a type of cold you, booger, are accustomed to. On the East coast (Halifax) the temperature in winter averages out around -6. The storms are pretty severe though, and you start adding in wind chill and dew point. Where I live, in Alberta, the winters average at -20 and when you add in wind chill, you can drop that by another 10 to 20 degrees. The worst we had this year was -52 with wind-chill. But then, the summers are plus 30ish. In the north, well -30 is pretty common. So stop bitching.

but thanks for asking, this was fun.
9.4.05 01:32


I’m such a player

So, P’s sister is in town and wanted to go dancing.  She named the club; I rolled my eyes and went anyway.  The door guy explains that they are part of Club Link and will need to scan our IDs. The idea is that they have a database of all club goers and are able to quickly identify any troublemakers.  I said I wouldn’t have my ID scanned.  I did this calmly, and matter of factly.  The bouncer blinked.  Long pause.  I was about to say to the people I was with I’d just catch a cab home and meet up with them another time.  Before I have a chance to, the bouncer says we don’t have to have our IDs scanned.  Not just me mind, but everyone.  He moves us around the area where the scanning happens and does ask that we check our coats.  No problem there, he gives a couple of the guys I’m with a firm handshake and off we go.


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But it doesn’t end there.  We’re waiting for the rest of the people at a table and the same door guy walks up.  He hands one of the guys his card and says that when we want to come back to just show this card and we won’t have to be scanned.


 


How very strange I find all of this.  All I did was say no.  I didn’t even explain my reasons for not wanting my ID scanned.  Now, I recognize that I don’t really look threatening, nor do the people I was with.  And sure, we checked out coats, but not our purses.  But we just got in.  That simple. 


 


When P and her group came in, she asked the girl who was scanning her ID why, and was just told that this is what they do.


 

I’m pretty sure I don’t know the door guy, we didn’t chat at all, and it isn’t like I’m one of the super thin dressed up girls who was trying to charm the door guys so they wouldn’t have to stand in line…. Although, maybe that’s what worked for me.
9.4.05 20:52


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