Sunday, October 31, 2004

Polish mnemonics:

tani = cheap because people with tans look cheap
drogi = expensive because drugs are expensive
maz = husband because of the French word it sounds like
smutny = sad because smut is just sad
chory = sick because it sounds like coughing something up
zielony = green because jello is green
Okay, it's been a while and I don't remember. Anyone remember how long it
usually takes to determine the winner of a US election under normal
circumstances?

Saturday, October 30, 2004

As I'm walking down the stairs into Museum subway station, I see this little
dog walking down the other stairs across from me. Then I see two more
little dogs following it. Then there's this guy carrying another little
dog, then three more little dogs after him.

They all walk into the station, and a few of the dogs walk right under the
turnstiles. I thought for a second they were escaping, so I grab my
metropass and swipe my way into the station, prepared to catch them if
necessary. But the owner just casually makes his way to the booth and
fumbles through his pocket for change while the rest of the dogs
nonchalantly walk under the turnstile. Then they all make their way down
the stairs together. The stairs look a bit difficult for such little dogs,
but they all manage just fine.

The guy sits down on a bench on the platform, and all the dogs just mill
around him, casually sniffing stuff. They aren't on leashes or anything,
but they're really well-trained - they don't run away or wander too close to
the tracks or bark or even pay any attention to all the other people on the
platform, most of whom are fascinated by this big clump of dogginess.

Unfortunately, my train came at that point. I guess the dogs were going in
the other direction because they didn't get on the same train as me, so I
didn't get to see how they all managed that. In retrospect I should have
followed them to see what happened.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

There's an ad on the subway advertising Mark's Work Wearhouse. It gleefully
announces that the store is conveniently located "halfway between Leslie and
Bessarion subway stations!"

Um, that's not helpful. To be helpful to subway riders, you need to be AT a
subway station. In fact, that's as unhelpful as you can be while still
being on a subway line.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

The mnemonic for a Quebec and au Quebec:

Au contains a
The province of Quebec contains Quebec City
Therefore, au Quebec is the province, and a Quebec is the city.

Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Wynns Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon is a very yummy cab. sauv.! It's smooth
and creamy and fruity and berry-y, and not at all tannic (which should be a
word if it isn't already). This one definitely goes on the "to try again"
list!

Monday, October 25, 2004

Suppose you had a piece of toilet paper that didn't have waste matter on it,
but needed to be disposed of. Maybe you'd used it to blow your nose or wipe
up some stray water droplets. Would it be better for the environment to put
it in the toilet (and not flush the toilet until the next time you needed to
flush), or to put it in the garbage?

This is the city we could have.
I solved a tech problem for a co-worker today - by knowing the answer, not
by guessing. And I got the highest mark in the class on our first test.

I'm glad that a year spent sitting in a cubicle hasn't eroded my
non-major-related skills from uni!

Sunday, October 24, 2004

Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould by Kevin Bazzana

This is a very long, detailed biography of Glenn Gould. I've never been a huge Gould fan - I have some of his recordings in my MP3 player, but I'm too young to really know why he's a phenomenon - but this book was still very interesting to me. It describes his childhood, the development of his career as a concert pianist and recording artist and his later ventures into various media, as well as his lifestyle, interpersonal relationships, health problems, and numerous eccentricities.

It was fascinating to read about why exactly Gould was a shock to the classical music establishment, although it sounds kind of funny on paper from a 21st century mindset (he changed tempos! **gasp!**). What was particularly cool for me was to see connections between Glenn Gould's world and my own world. I have some of the same eccentricities as he does so I could see where he was coming from, and most of the Toronto geography in the book deals with places I've been to at one time or another. Turns out I've passed his apartment several times! It was also interesting to read about his other projects in addition to classical music, the most interesting of which is the whole concept of contrapuntal radio.

The only potential problem with this book is that the author writes as if you know what he's talking about. He uses French-language quotations without providing translations, name-drops Toronto streets without providing a map, and assumes the reader knows such music theory and history concepts as the difference between Baroque and Romantic, twelve-tone harmony, and fugue and counterpoint. This did not present a problem for me, but it might present a problem for a reader who isn't already familiar with these things.

I look in the mirror, and I notice that there is enough extra room in the
back of my jeans that an onlooker can no longer tell precisely where, how,
and at what sort of curve or angle my buttocks merge with my thighs.

Last April these jeans were so tight that I couldn't sit in them
comfortably.

I feel accomplished.

The one thing I understand least about anti-bilingualism is the people who say that requiring bilingualism for certain government jobs is discrimination against people who don't come from bilingual cultural backgrounds. I know that language is closely associated with culture and one's cultural background has a definite influence on one's first language, but the way some people are making a fuss you'd think that it is humanly impossible to learn a language. I wonder why they don't view it as just another skill to be learned in the classroom?

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Como Sur Merlot is very complex - fruity and chocolaty and some other things
I can't describe. Unfortunately, there's also a hint of what tastes like
tannin. I'm not sure if there actually can be tannin in merlot, but that's
what I'm tasting, and the wine could be a lot better without it.

In re: the Princess Diaries:

If she has naturally frizzy hair, shouldn't it all frizz up in the rain no
matter how many straightening products are applied to it?

I saw a lady try to take a urine sample of a doggie! She took the doggie
for walkies, and when he went to pee she had this specimen container and was
trying to catch the pee in the container! That was the funniest thing I've
seen in a while.

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Things they should invent: a word for people who only eat meat that a human
can kill with their bare hands.

I don't know if this exists as a nutritional philosophy, but it should.

THEORY:

There seems to be a sort of archetype/cultural construct that your teen
years are supposed to be "the best years of your life", and they're just
full of non-stop fun.

However, in real life, I've never heard of anyone who thought their teen
years were their best years of their life. Everyone I've discussed this
topic with seems to agree that their teen years ranged from purgatory to
hell, and the freedom of adulthood is in all ways preferable.

My theory is that whoever started this rumour that teen years are the best
years of your life was trying to hide the fact that their adolescence was a
living hell. Perhaps they never saw what became of their peers, and
therefore believed (as we tend to do in our adolescent insecurity) that
everyone else was having a wonderful time. So then this mysterious
rumour-originator had children of their own, or perhaps was exposed to
children another way (perhaps even became a high-school teacher?) They
didn't want the kids to know they hadn't been cool in high school, so they
told the story that they believed that the "cool kids" had experienced: that
these are the best years of your life. Somehow it oozed its way into
culture, resulting in this dubious adage that makes adolescents even more
miserable.

Monday, October 18, 2004

I came very very close to buying a bright red cloche hat at a ludicrious price today. (Un)fortunately, it was too small. However, I still need a hat.

Saturday, October 16, 2004

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler is a very pleasant book, generally positive (although not all flowers and sunshine and perkiness), engaging and easy to read. I quite enjoyed it. However, I don't think I got the full benefit because, sloth that I am, I've never quite gotten around to reading Austen. I'm sure there was subtext lurking around for those who have read Austen, and I'm sure I completely missed it.