Anya

So I got my new computer the other day. I really like it, no problems so far, except it uses a different program than my old one did to play movies. I don't quite know how to make this new program work, but basically when I play anything that's in widescreen format instead of understanding that my computer actually has a wide screen, which it does, the thing automatically puts black letterbox bars on all four sides. Now, the screen on this computer is bigger than the one on my old computer was, but it isn't really big enough to watch a movie with letterbox bars all around it.
Help?

Other than that, I really like the computer. It's name is Anya, which means "The Inexhaustible" in Sanskrit. Hopefully this one will last longer than my previous laptop.

Psychosomatic Illness

Was watching Harry and Sally today. Conversation topic: How long do you like to be held after?

He: You have sex, and the minute you're finished you know what goes through your mind? How long do I have to hold her before I can get up and go home? Is thirty seconds enough?
She (aghast): That's what you're thinking? Is that true?
He: Sure. All men think that. How long do you like to be held after? All night, right? See, that's your problem. Somewhere between thirty seconds and all night is your problem.
She: I don't have a problem.
He: Yeah, you do.


One of my friends is here, she's writing a paper, the topic of which is "Is Love a Drug?" She isn't enjoying writing it that much, but she's bringing up important topics, such as the drugging affects of love. We just had a conversation about which is worse: Psychosomatic Illness or Syphilis.
I vote Syphilis.
Anyone else's vote?

Robbie Burns

She: It's Robbie Burns night!
Me: I know. I'm wearing tartan.
She: Another excuse to drink.
Me: I am.

I'm incredibly classy (ish) and so went to a friend's dinner party this evening, decked out in tartan, more because I have a kilt that I never get to wear and less because of any knowledge as to who Robbie Burns might or might not have been, but decked out none the less. I came carrying a fresh, hot challah (because that is all I know how to make food-wise and also because I feel my Canadian friends would benefit from a little more Jew in their lives) and also two of my housemates. We were all tartan-clad in honour of the occasion. Nobody else was.

So we got to the house where the dinnerparty was being held, and partook in pasta and sauce, salads, rice dishes, etc. and also my challah, which they (being not Jews) did not know what to do with (I'm a tearer. I can't handle challah being defiled by a knife.) To my great pleasure, J (my fellow Jew) had made matzahball soup.
A note on matzahball soup: my family does not attempt this. My mother made it once. The matzahballs were like rocks and the soup was bland. I remember my grandmother making it, but she wasn't generally around for Pesach, so who knows. J's soup was outstanding. She made the soup from scratch and it was actually good, it had flavour, and the matzahballs were...there are no words. Suffice it to say I'm reconsidering going home for Passover this year.
The gentiles didn't know what to do with the matzahball soup either, so I ate most of that.
Anyway, the fact of the matter is that the gentlemen cannot, on the whole, cook. Generally speaking they live in res anyway, and so don't have kitchens, but I doubt these guys would be able to cook regardless. Which is fine with me, as they all brought wine. Someone brought a bottle of white, which basically culminated in me having the following for dinner:
1. pasta and sauce
2. matzahball soup
3. challah
(this actually sounds not unlike a Shabbat dinner at my parents' house)
4. white wine
5. (this is the kicker:) chocolate fondue with marshmallows, cookies, pretzels, strawberries and banannas.

I have such excellent, classy friends.

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

So I've actually met some pretty cool people in my life. My mother used to work for a TV personality, and she'd sometimes take me to conferences and things that she went to. I met a few people this way. I met a few more people during my job last summer in DC (like the Senior Senator from Illinois who is currently the Senate Majority Whip, and my Congressman, a Republican who I like anyway, who took me into the Republican Cloak Room in the Capitol Building(!)). I also worked for someone pretty cool last summer, and pseudo-famous (and definitely normal--he came into a staff meeting once still wearing his sweaty running gear). My favourite of the Famous People I know, however, is a young guy (mid-20s) who started an organization I've done some work with. He was on my trip to Kenya, and so knows me, sort of. Well enough, anyway. (I'm amazed that famous-type people know anyone. In DC nobody ever says "Nice to meet you" for fear that they've already met the person before, and forgotten about it. I know this guy, but I've only met him four or five times, and I'm sure he meets hundreds of people in his work. Still, though, he remembers my name and who I am (though maybe not where I'm from or, apparently, where I go to school) and how he knows me, etc.) I'm always amazed when I talk to him how normal he is. He isn't really, his anecdotes always involve Mother Theresa or the Prime Minister or someone similar. His social life is just absurd, compared to, for example, mine. But he's a nice guy, and normal enough. He wants me to come volunteer in his office in Toronto. I want to work at the office his organization has in California, so we'll see how it goes. I chided him for not letting me know he was going to be in town (I found out last night that he was going to be here today, and only because a friend knew I knew him.) The thing that most reaffirms that this is a normal guy to me, though, is that when I scolded him for not letting me know, he said that he remembered that I went to Queen's, but not that Queen's was the university in Kingston. Apparently he was wholly unable to put two and two together to come up with my area code.
Oh, well. These things happen, I guess.

As punishment I'm not going to spend 40$ to go see him speak in town tonight.
Whoops.

Boys

I miss highschool boys. I knew great guys in highschool. I still talk to several of them. One is A, my intended. He doesn't count. I miss him like crazy, but I see him, and am reasonably certain of our relationship. (Which is to say, we never had a relationship, so there's nothing to...miss.)

Anyway, a college boy (I wish he was a man--he isn't) is going to ask me out, and I'm so reluctant that I've begun talking to the highschool boys again. BAD CHOICE. The thing is, as well as I might know this new guy, he isn't one of my highschool boys. I can't talk about things with him like I can with them (there are two of them.)
Except maybe I can and I just haven't.
And maybe I'm stressing about nothing. He didn't actually ask me out (like I thought he was going to.) Which is because I discouraged him. I brought out all my discouraging talents.
I regret it already.

I just don't want to go out on a date. I have no problem with the physical things, whatever, its not a big deal. I just don't want to have to sit across from him at dinner and have to make smalltalk, or go to a movie and have to choose between paying attention to him playing with my hands, etc. and watching the movie. And then who pays (and who has money for such activities anyway?) and who does what and what do I wear and...
More trouble than its worth.

Maybe.

BiPolar Disorder

I wish there was a WebMD for computers.
Mine crashed again today (after I'd actually used it for something legit for the first time in ages, which I then thought I'd lost). Normally when it crashes it turns back on not right away but within an hour or two. Not so today. It crashed at 5. I thought it was done. I called my father, who told me to get a new computer. I freaked out. I don't want a new computer, I really do like this one. Also, how was I supposed to research a new computer without a working one? So I went out for awhile, had a very bad day, came back and my computer turned on fine. My father still says I should get a new one, but at least I got my document back.
In addition to a WebMD for computers, I wish there was a site I could go to where I could tell it exactly what I want and it would tell me what computer I should get. Anyone have suggestions? It can't be HP cause this one is HP and it keeps dying for no reason, and it can't be a mac because they don't have a delete key or a right click and I think that's pretentious and I hate them for it. I'm thinking Dell or Vaio, but I don't know.
Fuck.

At least this one is working now, though who knows when it's going to start acting up again. I think I'll go out and start looking for a new one tomorrow, though I'd rather wait till the weekend. I guess I'll see what the school has to say about it first.

Not a Box

CBA16 was the winner!!! I have signed a lease!!!! It is not a cardboard box!!! I can move in May 1!!!

HURRAH!!!!

And I'm looking for a sixth housemate, so if you're interested let me know.

The Boxes are OVER!!!!

Except the new house looks a lot like a box.

First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Etc.

So CBA 5, 6, and 7 sucked. We averaged about 3 a day, and I missed all of yesterday cause I had classes. Today we saw CBA11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. 11 was my fave. Great house, big kitchen, lots of common space. But it was too far away (so was 12) and so, you know. That's how that goes. CBA13 was Housemate1's fave, but it was a house for 7 people, and Housemate2 already doesn't know most of us, so she didn't want to add more stranger. Housemate3 hated CHA14 (and so did I) despite everyone else's assurances that we'd love it. By this point, however, I've spent all week doing this and not my school work, and so has everyone else, and we hate it. We're signing a lease for CBA15 tonight.

It isn't the nicest place I've ever seen, but it's pretty close to campus, and also to downtown. It's the back unit of a house that's been divided into three. There are six bedrooms, a common room, a (pretty small) kitchen, two full bathrooms and a laundry room. The owners are going to put in a second refrigerator for us and we're going to hunt for a sixth person. Rent (utilities included, which I like) is $500 a month, which is fine. one or two of my housemates are planning on being away second term, which freaks me out (what if they replace themselves with bad people? What if they don't replace themselves at all? Etc.) and I really don't like the kitchen in this place that much, but it isn't the end of the world. Hopefully once its full of my furniture and my dishes and my food and there are things I like on the walls it'll feel enough like hope that I really am comfortable there. And I think I like the Housemates, though there is one room nobody is going to want that we might have a fight over. Hope not. I'll ask if someone is willing to live in the basement before we sign the lease.

So, no cardboard box for me.
I hope.

Little boxes...

CBA2 was a joke. It was less nice than my current house, which is actually looking better and better every minute. Unfortunately that ship has sailed.

CBA3 was pretty nice, the best part being of course that there was a gentleman inside watching West Wing. CBA4 was kind of a joke too. The landlord wasn't even there. We asked the guys who lived there why they were moving out and they were just like "mold. No water pressure. Sucky landlord." So that's a no-go. Really the importance of water pressure cannot be overstated.
We'd've stayed to hang out with them, though, if they'd asked.

We're seeing several more tomorrow. The one I expect to like is going to be too far away for everyone else's taste, so I think (I hope) we're going to settle for a cute little one around the block from where I live now.
I hope I hope I hope.
I'm just praying it doesn't disappear before we get our acts together.

I can't do this past Friday. I really hope we can figure something out so I can finally get my day off.

Back to the Cardboard Box.

Is all a sham. We were finally (after a whole 5 days) ready to sign the lease on Cardboard Box Alternative #1 (CBA1) and told the landlady so. Which was great until she let someone else sign first! So now we're actually looking at houses for next year. It's very uncomfortable feeling, not knowing where you're going to live a year from now. It's also taken up my entire day off, which I'm upset about.

It's okay. CBA1 wasn't perfect, and also this has taught us the lesson of "get your shit together" which we didn't have, the first time around. And also that if you put all your eggs in one basket you're going to trip and fall and the eggs are going to get leased to someone with their shit more together than yours is. And then you're going to have egg goo all over you.
So I'm going out looking again this afternoon and, I expect, the rest of the week (except Thursday, when I have class instead, how strange.)

The nub and gist is that I knew one girl who went to uni in the North before I ventured up here, and she transferred to USA cause she didn't like having to find housing. I feel her pain.

I love My Cardboard Box.

So, once again it is the time of the year when university students desperately try to find somewhere to live for next year.
It seems silly that this takes place in January. Last year when I was abroad it had to happen even earlier--November, when we hardly knew one another. As a result, I decided to live in res, and C, T, M, R and another girl decided to live together (though C, T and M really didn't know R and the other girl very well. I found out over the summer that my res was going to suck, and that the fifth girl who was supposed to live here was going to go to uni in BC instead of here, so a space opened up in a house with people I would never have considered living with otherwise (T and M are very, very loud, and I don't do well with noise) and here we are.
It hasn't been an easy year, housing-wise. As expected, they are too loud, and also seem to have an aversion to household chores. As I found out when I moved in, I feel strongly about cleanliness and my housemates...don't seem to. There is also not a dishwasher in our house, which helps what might have been a small problem become a very large one on a regular basis. That said, T, M, C, R and I have decided not to renew our lease (our house is fine, but not especially nice, and it's excellent location (re: distance to classes. It is very near campus, though, and so isn't so quiet) meants that our rent is really rather high for what we actually get.

So I'm scouting new housing and, much more difficult, new housemates.
S wants to live with me. I love S (also I know she reads this blog), she's teaching me guitar, she's quiet enough for me to live with (though not especially tidy, but nobody's perfect...) and so S and I are in it together. Except she's going to UBC second term next year. She suggested we include our friend, JK. He's a guy, and is even neater than I am, so this is fine with me, though he's also on a pretty loose budget and wants somewhere nicer than either S or I are really sure we're comfortable with.

K might join us, R might join us (prob. as a sublet for S when she goes away, R is planning on going abroad first term), I may as C to join us, we'll see how it goes. The thing is, W asked S, K and I (who had already discussed it) what we were doing about housing while we were at lunch the other day. And then kind of invited herself to join us.
I do not want to live with W.
She is very loud and very cheap and I'd rather live with JK and R, neither of whom will live with W...

So I have to tell her no.
Bummer. I hate confrontation.

Thank you, Mr. Gutenberg

My schedule this term goes like this:
History of the Middle Ages
History of Imperial Russia
History of Jewry, 1492-1948 (approx.)
Politics: Democracy and Democratization of Eastern Europe

Then I need a fifth. I had, in a moment of insanity, signed up for a history class called "New Imperialism" which I went to and hated. Now I'm signed up for one on the Cold War, which I expect I'll like better. I've gone out and found a classics class called "The Levant from the late Bronze Age until Romanization" as a back-up, just in case.

My Middle Ages professor says that anything that happened after the invention of the printing press isn't really history. With few exceptions (the U.S.S.R., notably) I agree with her. The New Imperialism class was terrible. It was supposed to be a history class, but the professor (who seemed quite good) was floundering around for a way to convince his students that European Imperialism, from approx. 1850 until the late 20th century was history.
He failed.
I am no longer in the class.
I hope the Cold War one is better, but if not I'm sure the class set between the Bronze Age and Romanization will qualify as legitimate history.

Idolatry

I was with my 8 year old cousin yesterday when her mother asked her which teenager she thought dressed better: Miley Cyrus or me.

My cousin said me.

This wasn’t a huge surprise, she’s not really the mini-skirt and tights kind of gal.

Earlier in this break I spent some quality time with three cousins who really are much more mini-skirt-and-tights. They’re all girls, ages 10, 8 and 6. I babysat them. We watched Hannah Montana. These are all very bright girls, and to be honest I was surprised that they wanted to spend their evening with me watching Hannah Montana instead of playing games or reading books. At one point I asked the eldest what she thought of Hannah. She said that they used to really like Miley Cyrus, until she took “those pictures.” (My aunt and uncle are very conservative, and I was really not surprised that my cousins didn’t like these shots of their teen idol. I was a little surprised that it had such a profound impact, however. They hadn’t stopped watching Hannah Montana, but they had stopped having any kind of respect for its star.)

Anyway, what I guess I’m getting at is that kids ought to be given better role models than this.

They should also read books instead of watching this garbage.

That said, I watch kids TV. Zoey 101, for example? Fantastic television, with a really great role model…