Things I pondered buying today (none of which I bought because I don't have time to try on)
- a bright orange peasant/hippy style shirt (justification: I look good in bright red, so why not bright orange?)
- a green skirt, which goes with nothing I own except my rare black and/or white pieces
- a slate/stone grey skirt, which goes with everything I own because my wardrobe is coordinated to black pants. I don't know why it occurred to me that light grey is a good colour for someone who is a) size 14 and b) a total slob
- a red jersey dress, which will either be very flattering or make me look lumpy
- a blue and turquoise dress, which will either be very flattering or make me look old
- a LBD, because I don't actually own one. Actually there are two that I pondered, but I'd only buy one of them.
- various pale green shirts, even though pale colours don't look good on me. My justification is that my eyes are pale green so it should be allowed, but pale for eyes is not the same as pale for clothes
- green pj pants, even though I need a full pj and the top that went with them is stupid
- several other more practical dresses that will either look good on me or look too old for me.
I don't know why I found myself attracted to so many impractical items, I don't know why I found myself attracted to so many clothes, period! I don't know why I felt inclined to buy brightly coloured dresses to wear to work, and I don't know why I'm constantly tempted to stray from the range of Colours That Work. I'm weird today.
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
The other problem with laundry is it takes up the whole day. It makes that day Laundry Day. At my parents', laundry was my favourite chore because I could throw the stuff in the machine, go about my business, attend to the machines when I heard them stop, and do the folding while watching TV. Here I have to change into Laundry Clothes (at my parents' enough loads of laundry were done that it didn't matter what I wore, it would be washed again by the next time I needed to wear it), find loonies and quarters, lug my stuff downstairs through public hallways, and watch the clock. At my parents', if I was a bit late collecting my laundry, someone would put the machine on air fluff until I could attend to it. Here, people (rightfully) take my clothes out and stack them on top of the machine. It's rapidly becoming one of my least favourite chores. (Taking out the recycling is still my very least favourite, followed closely by dishes). By comparison, vacuuming and washing the floors is nothing.
Monday, April 19, 2004
Toronto Police Services Board chair Norm Gardner was recently suspended for accepting 5,700 rounds of ammunition from the Toronto police force for his personal use.
The question no one has asked, to which I really want to know the answer:
What on earth does one private individual need 5,700 rounds of ammunition for?
I know virtually nothing about firearms, but doesn't posessing 5,700 rounds of ammunition imply that he intends to fire a firearm 5,700 times? Why on earth would anyone need to do that "for personal use"?
The question no one has asked, to which I really want to know the answer:
What on earth does one private individual need 5,700 rounds of ammunition for?
I know virtually nothing about firearms, but doesn't posessing 5,700 rounds of ammunition imply that he intends to fire a firearm 5,700 times? Why on earth would anyone need to do that "for personal use"?
Sunday, April 18, 2004
It occurred to me recently why The Phantom Menace is not a good Star Wars movie. (Yes, I realize I'm about five years late on this). The problem is not Jar-Jar Binks or George Lucas' hubris or trade disagreements or favouring showing off their computer fx technology over storytelling. The main, key reason why this is not a good Star Wars movie is because I did not leave the theatre wanting to be a Jedi when I grow up. Every other Star Wars movie, even upon the umpteenth viewing, has left me with fantasies of lightsabre duels and Jedi mind tricks and using the Force to accio* random objects. Just last night I watched Empire Strikes Back on TV, with commercial interruptions, while reading a newspaper and doing the dishes and playing computer games, and it still left me in a mood where if I were 15 years younger I would be spending the rest of the week dressed up in my bathrobe and pretending an old wrapping paper tube is a lightsabre. But Phantom Menace, upon first viewing in the theatre, upon the first time in my life that I've ever seen the words "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." on a big screen, did not leave me wanting to be a Jedi. That is its inherent problem.
*It's my blog, I can use Harry Potter verbs to describe Star Wars concepts if I want to!
*It's my blog, I can use Harry Potter verbs to describe Star Wars concepts if I want to!
I just finished Life of Pi (yes, I was a tad belated in getting to this book), and the verdict is yes, it does live up to the hype. It didn't make me believe in God, but except for the occasional mention of spiders (not entirely gratuitous, but unnecessary to the plot, and non-panic inducing and non-nightmare inducing but still mildly icky) I have no complaints. However, I don't have anything productive to say either, except that I really enjoyed the book. I'm sure it stands up to all kinds of analysis and symbolism and shit, but that's not my department. Good book, quite enjoyable, made me chuckle out loud on occasion, and made me produce a gamut of facial expressions that I'm sure amused my fellow subway passengers.
In our culture, myths, legends, fairy tales and fantasy, we already have the idea of a prophet. A prophet is a person who can basically foresee and foretell what is going to happen in the future, and no matter how much mere mortals struggle to avoid their prophesied fate, they always end up fulfilling the prophecy because it is their destiny.
What we need to add to our stock of mythical characters is a different kind of pseudo-prophet who, instead of foreseeing what is destined to happen, causes things to happen by the act of foreseeing them. They don't use their magic to make things happen directly, they simply predict them and, by predicting them, cause those things to happen at an unspecified time on the future.
A prophet looks into the Fates and foresees that "You are going to fall off a cliff", and despite the fact that you make every effort to avoid cliffs, you do end up falling off a cliff because it has always been your destiny. A pseudo-prophet, in a moment of malice, says "You are going to fall off a cliff!", and, despite your best efforts to avoid cliffs, you eventually do fall off one because the pseudo-prophet said you would. With the prophet, it has always been your fate; with the pseudo-prophet it only became your fate because the pseudo-prophet said so.
What we need to add to our stock of mythical characters is a different kind of pseudo-prophet who, instead of foreseeing what is destined to happen, causes things to happen by the act of foreseeing them. They don't use their magic to make things happen directly, they simply predict them and, by predicting them, cause those things to happen at an unspecified time on the future.
A prophet looks into the Fates and foresees that "You are going to fall off a cliff", and despite the fact that you make every effort to avoid cliffs, you do end up falling off a cliff because it has always been your destiny. A pseudo-prophet, in a moment of malice, says "You are going to fall off a cliff!", and, despite your best efforts to avoid cliffs, you eventually do fall off one because the pseudo-prophet said you would. With the prophet, it has always been your fate; with the pseudo-prophet it only became your fate because the pseudo-prophet said so.
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Friday, April 16, 2004
Props to Svend Robinson for either the best crisis management that I've seen in quite a while. A politician steals a piece of jewelry and has the entire country, myself included, on his side. If this is, in fact, entirely Mr. Robinson's doing (as opposed to him following someone else's script), then he can have a lovely career ahead of him as a crisis management consultant.
Thursday, April 15, 2004
You know how they've done studies and established that there are certain talents (like multitasking) that females tend to be better at, and there are certain talents (like spatial perception) that males tend to be better at? I wonder if they've looked into how queerness affects these talents?
I also wonder if people who aren't blind but have service dogs for other purposes are often mistaken for being blind?
I also wonder if people who aren't blind but have service dogs for other purposes are often mistaken for being blind?
Santa Rita Reserve Chardonnay. This wine shattered any illusions that I might have had about having acquired any wine-tasting skills whatsoever. First of all, it didn't taste like Chardonnay to me, it tasted like a slightly acidic Sauv. Blanc. I could not taste any oak, but the label described it as oaky. I guess this is because I'm not sure what oak tastes like - in my mind I associate the taste of oak (and the taste of Chardonnay) with Henry of Pelham Chardonnay, but I don't know if this is actually a legitimate comparison. There was a certain quality to this wine that I would describe as bright, fruity, acidic, and a bit of a "tangy zip". I don't know if this is acidity, or if it's some weird fruitiness like pineapple, or what. I didn't quite like this quality, but pairing the wine with a certain food might eliminate it. Unfortunately I have no idea what food to pair it with. Being vegetarian makes it hard to explore food/wine pairing because most recommended pairings are meat, and if I want to master such a subjective skill (as I'm doing with wine tasting and, to a lesser extent, literature appreciation) I have to start with what is generally accepted as "good".
So from this experience, I've come up with two Things They Should Invent:
1. Wine-tasting Training Shots: A liqueur-like drink (possibly non-alcoholic so as not to interfere with the art of tasting) that tastes like one, and only one, of the standard aspects of wine. Perhaps it should taste like a red or white wine with that aspect. For example "Tannic Cab. Sauv." or "Oaky Chardonnay". Aspiring tasters can drink a shot of just one flavour and master that taste. This would make it much easier than trying to glean the individual tastes from a wine that has seven different aspects. (I don't even know the correct word for what I'm refering to as "aspects").
2. Vegetarian food and wine pairing system. Or a junk food food and wine pairing system, just for fun. Or a website where you type in the wine you have and it recommends foods (or vice versa), and you can set restrictions to the type of food.
So from this experience, I've come up with two Things They Should Invent:
1. Wine-tasting Training Shots: A liqueur-like drink (possibly non-alcoholic so as not to interfere with the art of tasting) that tastes like one, and only one, of the standard aspects of wine. Perhaps it should taste like a red or white wine with that aspect. For example "Tannic Cab. Sauv." or "Oaky Chardonnay". Aspiring tasters can drink a shot of just one flavour and master that taste. This would make it much easier than trying to glean the individual tastes from a wine that has seven different aspects. (I don't even know the correct word for what I'm refering to as "aspects").
2. Vegetarian food and wine pairing system. Or a junk food food and wine pairing system, just for fun. Or a website where you type in the wine you have and it recommends foods (or vice versa), and you can set restrictions to the type of food.
Some dreams I had last night:
1. The Creepy Dream: Mi cielito kept breaking into my apartment and vandalizing things when I wasn't home, and he wouldn't explain to me why. Then I found out he had put these things - those round sticky things with wires coming out of them that they sometimes stick to the bodies of people they're doing medical tests on (what are these things called????) - anyway he had put these things on the back of my bookshelf and somehow that was broadcasting my vital signs over the internet. I woke up really creeped out. At this point in the lunar cycle it's normal for me to dream about him, but the dreams have always been more, um, pleasurable, not creepy like this.
2. The Stupid Dream: Someone had installed a new showerhead in the basement of some building, and a great many people were very excited about this, myself among them. We were all standing in a crowd around the showerhead, waiting for our turn to shower. Everyone was showering with their clothes on because of the presence of this crowd. I was growing increasingly impatient with waiting for my turn, and then I realized that I have my very own shower at home that no one else was using. So I walked up a big hill that looked like Lawrence & Vic. Park here in Toronto and also looked like that street that runs in front of University Plaza in Dundas (I don't know that anyone reading this is familiar with both those places, but anyway), and went home to my apartment.
3. The Existential Dilemma Dream: I was in an airplane. (The reason I was in an airplane was because I had taken an elevator I wasn't supposed to and it had landed in the middle of A Very Important Event, and the airplane was airlifting me and some other people out of there so we wouldn't disturb The Event). Anyway, the airplane was going to crash. The crew told us that we would lose consciousness due to the sudden loss of altitude (yes, I know it doesn't work that way) so we should lie down on the floor in the aisles, and then we'd fall asleep and it would all be over when we wake up. The idea of sleeping through the plane crash and not noticing a thing sounded good, so I lay down in the aisle, fell asleep, and woke up in my bed.
It later occurred to me that the possibility exists that this is all a dream and I'm really still on a crashing airplane.
1. The Creepy Dream: Mi cielito kept breaking into my apartment and vandalizing things when I wasn't home, and he wouldn't explain to me why. Then I found out he had put these things - those round sticky things with wires coming out of them that they sometimes stick to the bodies of people they're doing medical tests on (what are these things called????) - anyway he had put these things on the back of my bookshelf and somehow that was broadcasting my vital signs over the internet. I woke up really creeped out. At this point in the lunar cycle it's normal for me to dream about him, but the dreams have always been more, um, pleasurable, not creepy like this.
2. The Stupid Dream: Someone had installed a new showerhead in the basement of some building, and a great many people were very excited about this, myself among them. We were all standing in a crowd around the showerhead, waiting for our turn to shower. Everyone was showering with their clothes on because of the presence of this crowd. I was growing increasingly impatient with waiting for my turn, and then I realized that I have my very own shower at home that no one else was using. So I walked up a big hill that looked like Lawrence & Vic. Park here in Toronto and also looked like that street that runs in front of University Plaza in Dundas (I don't know that anyone reading this is familiar with both those places, but anyway), and went home to my apartment.
3. The Existential Dilemma Dream: I was in an airplane. (The reason I was in an airplane was because I had taken an elevator I wasn't supposed to and it had landed in the middle of A Very Important Event, and the airplane was airlifting me and some other people out of there so we wouldn't disturb The Event). Anyway, the airplane was going to crash. The crew told us that we would lose consciousness due to the sudden loss of altitude (yes, I know it doesn't work that way) so we should lie down on the floor in the aisles, and then we'd fall asleep and it would all be over when we wake up. The idea of sleeping through the plane crash and not noticing a thing sounded good, so I lay down in the aisle, fell asleep, and woke up in my bed.
It later occurred to me that the possibility exists that this is all a dream and I'm really still on a crashing airplane.
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Things people who are screaming "Revoke the Khadrs' citizenship!" need to keep in mind:
1. Each individual's deeds or misdeeds must be considered, not their family members'. The individuals who have committed misdeeds should face the appropriate consequences, of course, but each family member must be evaluated on their own merits. No one's rights can be revoked because of someone else's actions, even if that someone else does happen to be a blood relative. How would you like to be held responsible for your father's actions and political convictions?
2. At least one, possibly more, of the children are underage. This means that they are obligated to live wherever their parents do. This means that it is not their fault that they lived in an Al-Qaeda facility, any more that it is your fault that you lived in Moncton or Moose Jaw or Prince Rupert when you were a kid.
3. There is nothing unlawful about dissing Canada. There is nothing unlawful about hating Canada. It only becomes unlawful if the words or thoughts are turned into actions. No matter how much a person hates Canada, and no matter how much they profess this publicly, that is still no basis for revoking citizenship.
These are basic rights to which all Canadian citizens are entitled. Even those that we find unpleasant and would rather not have in our country. Now, I'm not saying it wouldn't be prudent for someone to do a bit of investigating and make sure they have caught all the unlawful acts that these individuals might have committed. But if we run around calling for citizenships to be revoked for people who are legally innocent just because of something that their relatives did, and if we forget the basic concept of "innocent until proven guilty", then we are no better than the oppressive countries that my grandparents, and many other people and many other people's ancestors, fled to come here. Rights are for everyone, regardless of who their daddy is.
On a side note, with all this talk of revoking citizenship, I have not found any evidence that the Khadrs hold any other citizenship, but I'm pretty sure you can't leave a person with zero citizenship. Has anyone seen any mention of other citizenship in print, and care to share a link?
1. Each individual's deeds or misdeeds must be considered, not their family members'. The individuals who have committed misdeeds should face the appropriate consequences, of course, but each family member must be evaluated on their own merits. No one's rights can be revoked because of someone else's actions, even if that someone else does happen to be a blood relative. How would you like to be held responsible for your father's actions and political convictions?
2. At least one, possibly more, of the children are underage. This means that they are obligated to live wherever their parents do. This means that it is not their fault that they lived in an Al-Qaeda facility, any more that it is your fault that you lived in Moncton or Moose Jaw or Prince Rupert when you were a kid.
3. There is nothing unlawful about dissing Canada. There is nothing unlawful about hating Canada. It only becomes unlawful if the words or thoughts are turned into actions. No matter how much a person hates Canada, and no matter how much they profess this publicly, that is still no basis for revoking citizenship.
These are basic rights to which all Canadian citizens are entitled. Even those that we find unpleasant and would rather not have in our country. Now, I'm not saying it wouldn't be prudent for someone to do a bit of investigating and make sure they have caught all the unlawful acts that these individuals might have committed. But if we run around calling for citizenships to be revoked for people who are legally innocent just because of something that their relatives did, and if we forget the basic concept of "innocent until proven guilty", then we are no better than the oppressive countries that my grandparents, and many other people and many other people's ancestors, fled to come here. Rights are for everyone, regardless of who their daddy is.
On a side note, with all this talk of revoking citizenship, I have not found any evidence that the Khadrs hold any other citizenship, but I'm pretty sure you can't leave a person with zero citizenship. Has anyone seen any mention of other citizenship in print, and care to share a link?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)