This journal has been retired. It'll still be here, for the memories and because my inbox is full of letters I want to keep.

Interested in being friends? radio_nurse is where you should go.

As of now, I'm retiring this journal. You can now find me over at radio_nurse - I've already added a few of you. Feel free not to add me if you don't think we got along, I'm not going to take it badly.

Happy New Year! Like Carrie commented, I got drunk. And woke up too early, but not so early that I had to listen to two people "slurping each other's faces off" like everyone in the living room did. :D

I'm actually going to keep track of it this year. This will be updated as soon as I finish something, for class or otherwise.

A note: My rating system is extremely generous and I change things all the time. As if August, I give up rating things with numbers.

1. Mr. Muo's Traveling Couch, by Dai Sijie (My Rating: 9.5/10)
2. Nausea, by John Paul Sartre (don't know how to rate this)
3. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, by Edward Albee (9.5/10)
4. Night Watch, by Sergei Lukynenko (8.5/10)
5. The Zoo Story, by Edward Albee (9.5/10)
6. The American Dream, by Edward Albee (??)
7. The Edible Woman, by Margaret Atwood (9.3/10) (rating based not on the book in itself, but what the book does for me personally)
8. Pygmalion, by Bernard Shaw (7/10) (for class)
9. Landing, by Emma Donoghue (6.5/10)
10. Selected Works, TS Eliot (10/10)
11. The Day Watch, by Sergei Lukynenko (7/10)
12. Alligator, by Lise Moore (6/10)
13. Grotesque, by Natsuo Kirino (8.8/10)
14. The Book of Salt, by Miroque Truong (7/10)
15. Shakespeare's Macbeth (aka MACBATH) (for class)
16. Ida, by Gertrude Stein (??)
17. Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, by Gail Carson Levine (a kid's book I read because the art was gorgeous)
18. Catcher in the Rye, by JD Salinger (for class) ("Better than I thought it would be, and it didn't give me homicidal thoughts"/10)
19. Everybody's Autobiography, by Gertrude Stein (mostly boring/10)
20. House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski (10/10)
21. .hack//AI Buster 2, by Tatsuya Hamazaki (6/10)
22. Helmet of Horror, by Victor Pelevin (reread) (9.3/10) (speaking of labyrinths...)
23. Midnight All Day, by Hanif Kureishi (5/10) (It would have been a good collection of stories about broken relationships if he didn't write all his women the same, and his men the same. It was frustratingly boring.)
24. Samedi the Deafness, by Jesse Ball (reread)
25. Waiting for Gertrude, by Bill Richardson (6.5/10) (Fantastic idea, but it dragged a lot.)
26. number9dream, by David Mitchell (reread) (9.3/10 - was better and made more sense to me the second time through.)
27. Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell (7/10) (the Mitchell book that seems the most well-known is actually my least favorite of his.)
28. The City of Yes, by Peter Oliva (7/10)
29. A really nice prom mess, by Brian Sloan (Yes, I took a break and read some LGBT YA crap. Enjoyable to read, if you don't take it seriously and don't expect much.)
30. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce (Awesome, although some parts I found mildly boring. But mostly awesome.)
31. Travel in the Mouth of the Wolf, by Paul Fattaruso (the writing style kind of reminded me of Samedi the Deafness. It was weird, but wonderfully so.)
32. The Cult of Personality, by Annie Murphy Paul (A book explaining the origin of and the misuses of personality tests. It was really interesting, although I really doubt personality tests will be much fun for me anymore...)
33. The Manticore, by Robertson Davies (I quite liked it, and have decided I quite Robertson Davies as well)
34. The Walking Boy, by Lydia Kwa (Interesting - not ground-breaking, but interesting)
35. Cassandra's Daughter, a History of Psychoanalysis by Joseph Schwartz
36. Ojingogo, by Matthew Forcythe (a story told through illustrations - adorable)
37. The Rebel Angels, by Robertson Davies (started oddly, ended greatly)
38. Brave Story, by Miyuki Miyabe (over 800 pages, I'm tempted to count it as two books) (pretty solid for young adult fantasy, although I don't recommend the movie because really, you can't fit an 800 page book into 90 minutes without ending up with something unsatisfying, shallow, and without 75% of the original content. If you like Mitsuru and have some time to kill it's enjoyable, mostly for the end, but otherwise avoid it. And don't judge the book by it, the book was surprisingly moving.)
39. This is Your Brain on Music, by I forget, but I agree with what he said about today's music being more about timbre than anything else. I think I appreciate music more now.
40. The Raw Shark Texts, by David(?) Hall (Great concept, meh on the writing and characters)
41. The Night of the Iguana, by Tennessee Williams

Currently reading: Jung - Dreams

So, recently I have been "revisiting my childhood", by which I mean I have this random interest in YuGiOh once again. When I was 10-11, YuGiOh was the best. I had this one friend, Lindsay, and after every new episode aired we would call each other and discuss/mock it. Anyway, I started watching the abridged series, then discovered I could see the original Japanese version on Youtube, then decided the manga was much more cohesive etc. etc. etc. I've been secretly nerding out over it for the past few weeks. (If you want to discuss, just say).

Another nerdy past-time of mine is "Reach for the Top", which is basically a high-school version of jeopardy. There is a tournament next week and I'm psyched - I score low-averagely, but it's a lot of fun.

Today there was a YuGiOh question. Not even kidding. It was really basic (the answer being Millenium/Sennen Puzzle), but I was too slow in overcoming my shock and buzzed in too late. I mean, I was really in shock. There was also a Gertrude Stein question I got wrong (of course it was a fucking comma), so today was rather disappointing.

I also finished The Raw Shark Texts today. The idea is pretty amazing, but the writer couldn't pull it off in terms of writing style, characterization (okay, mainly this - I hated Clio and Scout was a huge disappointment), etc. It was trying to be in the same vein as House of Leaves, Samedi the Deafness (what vein is this exactly?) but failed. The random immature romance bits really dragged it down. On Sunday I met a woman who worked on publishing it in Canada, actually, and she thought the same thing, haha. It's worth reading, I guess. My favourite character was the cat.

I have a feeling I'm going to get more homework done at work today than I have during this entire weekend.

My CDs came in. I hate random custom checks. Stop charging me $15 for not even looking in my goddamn parcel. But I'm glad the CDs are here - I have more 9mm stickers now. :D

A quick question for you:

Do you name things? A few months ago I took flack from some friends for not naming things like my stuffed animals. But I realized tonight, while running from Zehrs to the car with a cactus clutched beneath my coat... I compulsively name living things, like plants and bugs. My cactus, for instance, is named Jeremiah. But naming things like stuffed animals, instruments, cars, my mp3 player? I'm not into it.

So, do you name things? Animate or inanimate? Share share share.

Anyway, I bought Jeremiah for an art project, so away I go to work on that...

I think I barely drank at all and yet I felt the effects of it coming on so strong, which embarrasses me. My perception of everything feels so.. altered? Odd? Skewed? I can't find the right word. My touch is numbed and prolonged. It felt like I was dreaming, and it still does to an extent. As I'm writing this, I'm worrying about how this all sounds, but it's an odd, different worrying. It's like a panic attack started but I got stuck in the early stages and so the adrenaline is almost pleasant. Also pleasant is my surprise with the way I'm still able to type while in this state of mind - the spelling is here, yes, but is there coherency?

I remember being very sensitive. Everything amplified. Touches. Noises and voices, hearing parts of conversations emerging from cacophony and not fitting at all, but most of all light. Before we were even at Dee's, we walked to the park and I was amazed by the dull streetlights coming through fog, the trees wrapped in Christmas lights although it's still so early in the season. I love this. I love feeling this way, although I speak first and worry later, and it feels so pretentious, this way of seeing, this bliss. How picturesque.

The thing I hate most about drinking is how touchy some girls get. They get touchy and I end up wanting to kiss them, kiss any one of them, but I'm too scared. Scared, scared. I hope when I fall asleep I dream something desirable, without the sense to question it.

Catherine's birthday party was yesterday. One of her friends appears to be especially good at making deals with people, seeing as he got her a used DS and game for less than $30. She and Mum went to go buy The World Ends With You. I admit, I'm excited to try it out (although judging from what Catherine's told me about gameplay, I'm going to suck pretty bad =/).

I'm at work right now, sorting survey results again. Some results are pretty funny, including a father complaining about how much time his son spends playing video games here (I'll give you three guesses who), and one entirely blank except for "IT OLD! IT SMELLS OF OLD PEOPLE!!" Also, it's oddly busy today, and smells kind of like barbecue (?).

I'm fairly stressed right now, for whatever reasons (probably lack of sleep and procrastination). That and the passing of Prop 8 (etc.) got me in a really bad mood, and also reminded me how grateful I am to live in Canada. Somewhere in reading stuff about that, I came across Truth Wins Out, a great site that exposes the way certain people are skewing research to portray homosexuality negatively. I know things are looking pretty rough in America in that respect but I'm confident if people spread the facts and stick to it long enough, the rights they deserve will be granted. Pass the link on if you feel like it.

EDIT: Deanna and I have clarified that it is in fact her hair that is making everything smell like barbecue/campfire. Which is weird, seeing as we're no even on the same floor right now.

1) My new LLF shirt came in the mail last night, so that was awesome

+

2) We found suspenders in some old closet. They're black with white pin-stripes. Unfortunately, suspenders don't really seem to work on a female chest, even if mine isn't the biggest. =/ We'll see if we can get this to work.

Book sales are wonderful. I just snagged myself

- Jung's 'Dreams'
- The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde
- A translation of Plato's 'Republic'
- Another Davies novel
- 'The Blank Slate: the modern denial of human nature' by Stephen Pinker
- An anothology of Greek drama
- and a book about globalization by Alex MacGillivray

for a dollar. :D

Catherine's Halloween costume is almost done, which is good because for the last few days the house has been filled with either the sewing machine going or Catherine and Mum arguing about it. This will be my first year going costumeless, unless I whip up something by Friday (unlikely). Also, I'm looking to buy a pair of suspenders. For some reason, I just think suspenders would be awesome. Watch me forget all about it and then start randomly wanting them again in a few months. This is how my life works.

It was a long, busy day at work, which has put me in a really awful mood. I'm acting bratty, and I'm in no mood to apologize for it - however, I'll spare you my ranting for now.

In other news, there's not much other news. I'm exhausted. And! I've got some questions to ask you, actually.

Ever since watching Evangelion, my interest in dystopia, how humanity would deal with an apocalyptic situation, and how survivors would deal with a collapsed society, has revived itself. I keep thinking about it, and I can never really be sure what would happen for sure.

So 1) Obviously, a lot of it depends on the particular situation of whatever has happened, but what do you imagine a post-apocalyptic (this term is used loosely) situation to be like? If you were a survivor, how do you think you would respond?

And 2) Do you have any literature/films that deal with these themes that you can recommend to me?

This post is just to commemorate the trains that used to be in Palmer Park. They were removed last week, probably because they were covered in graffiti and also unsafe. In their place is shiny, new, safe equipment, which is probably for the best. But damn, they were some good trains.

Many people have sat on top of them and looked out at the lake, talking quietly. Many teenagers have sat inside of them at night, hiding their drugs and alcohol from any cars that might pass. I have been one of those people. And I will miss those trains.

Christopher -- http://vestalslot.livejournal.com/ (Newest Blog: Please Save Us, Us College Kids...) says: I have a D20... we could play internet strip D&D...

I make a persuasion check against your Will score, subtracting your level of sobriety...

But I get a plus two because you love me, a plus two because I'm fucking awesome, a negative five because I have a penis...

And plus one thousand because I'm an asshole of a DM. Oh, look at that, I win.

Long story short, I shouldn't have caffeine and this weekend there will be twelve people, two cats, two dogs, and a baby sharing our lil' old farmhouse.

So I'll be M.I.A.

Ask me a question about each of the following:

1. Friends
2. Sex
3. Music
4. Drugs
5. Love
6. LiveJournal

No matter how rude, sexual, or confidential. Then post this in your journal and see what questions you get asked.

Because I feel like being blunt and brutally honest this morning. Not flocked, so you can be as anon as you like.

I have a final art project due Thursday that I have no clue what I am going to do for. Right now I'm just splotching colour on my canvas but nothing is working.

So if anyone feels like posting something that might be inspiring, go right ahead. Something, anything.

Right now I'm going through my CD collection to see if that sparks anything (and also it's a mess right now). Haha, does anyone remember Fefe Dobson?

Uh-oh, it's thundering again...

Roses, skyscrapers, hotel bedrooms, fast food, markets, iced coffee, knock-offs, the smell of museums, sore feet, sex talks, action figures, friends, impromptu pillow fights, minotaurs, mints, mustaches, loitering, tap her?, making faces, belt buckles, hair straighteners, street art, rain, Pokemon battles, cake that wasn't worth it, laughing harder for six days than I ever have before, companionship more valuable than anything else:

We said, "One, two, three," and all together spat into the Atlantic Ocean, much to the disgust of the Indian family standing beside us.

I'm home. :)

Instead of doing a year in review, I'm going to do a "summation of the year using songs". And how appropriate to type this up right after spending $70 ordering CDs..(In a way I like ordering CDs online more than buying them in stores, it's fun waiting for them to arrive and opening the package...)

It's been a turbulent year. I remember concerts, friends, our boy/girlfriends, bumming around Port Perry, movies nights, piano lessons, classes full of chaos, good marks and bad marks, going to Europe, funerals, phone calls, lengthy emails, hiding water bottles containing alcohol in my closet, coffee at Jo's, sleeping in Chris's basement, and that's just a start.

Elise Audity: 2007 in Review

Tracklist

1. Skin and Bones, by LoveLikeFire *
2. Fashionable People by Joel Plaskett Emergency *
3. Joyful Girl (danger and uncertainty mix), by Ani Difranco
4. The Pledge (Acoustic), by Dir en grey *
5. Hakai, by Kagrra,
6. The Con, by Tegan and Sara *
7. 100% DokiDoki, by Eimy
8. Diamond Sea, by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
9. BondS~絆~ (magnya mix), by An Cafe
10. And Darling (this thing that breaks my heart), by Tegan and Sara *

Bonus Track: Good Day [Andrew Maury Remix], by Jukebox the Ghost

* = wma file (because it's my own rip)

run time: 42:31

( Enjoy )

Title: Cityscape Asleep
Fandom: Naruto
Genre: Gen?
Rating: PG 13
Chars/Pairings: Deidara
Summary: [AU, shortfic] The city is dreaming, wirelessly, and Deidara has plans to wake it up. Gift!fic for tanni_inosento.

Notes!!: Posting this is a risky move because of the times we live in. I feel I need to make the following clear: I am not a terrorist, and I don't support any sort of terrorism. The views expressed in this are purely that of a character. This is a work of fiction (that was inspired by other works of fiction, mainly Larry Gaudet's Media Therapy and somewhat Neil Gaiman's American Gods).

( If you listen closely now, you can here the soft electronic hum of those praying... )

Fun With Ear Training.

Brain: Sounds like a Perfect Fourth
Mouth: Minor Third.
Brain: WTF

I hate when that happens. Also, it's meme-time:

Post an ANONYMOUS comment with the following:
1. One secret.
2. One compliment.
3. One non-compliment.
4. One love note, but it does not have to be for me.
5. Lyrics to a song.
6. One wish of yours.
7. What you'd do to me if you saw/met me.
8. And a hint to who you are.
9. After you do it for me, put it in your LJ and see who does it for you.


Methinks I am tired but satisfied.

EDIT: Post is public now so anon comments work. :)