Tea and Conversation

RM has been off about town lately, and now has gone home for the weekend. So after a few days of hermitage, I've spent the evening talking with the other people who live in my house. (yes, self, remember them?) This has been a reminder to not simply hide under a rock and converse with only one person.

Right, note to self for future: Remember that there are other people to talk to, even those you don't normally hang around with!

Weather Zones

-begin sarcasm-

In my infinite wisdom *cough*, I realized that it would not snow in Ottawa till late December, so I would not need to bring my bulky snow boots with me until after Christmas.

-cease sarcasm-

Right now, there is about two inches of snow on the ground, copious slush in the street, and and I have no winter boots. Somehow, I overlooked the fact different places on the continent have different weather patterns. What do you know! The tradition of there being snow in December actually applies in some places! [Hmmm, that was still rather sarcastic. Oops]

At any rate, I only have to stick it out for under three weeks, and then I'll be going HOME. I can wait it out in sneakers or heels for three weeks. I'd walk around barefoot for three weeks to get home at this point! I now understand a multitude of sentimental cards and carols about "coming home".

Everyday

There is something new to learn everyday. Every single day I go to bed thinking, "wow, that's something to think about". I'm learning about the world, about myself, about other people. I don't want that to ever stop. I want to keep on learning for as long as I still can think.

Even when it's frustrating, life is just so interesting!

A nice title

Over the past week, several people have remarked on the manner in which I deport myself. It seems that my classmates regard me as a lady. This causes me quiet joy.

Jazz

Last Friday, in the midst of helping clean the kitchen, Lamd turned around suddenly and asked, "does anyone ever call you Hot Jazz? How about Smooth Jazz? Free Jazz?" Here that line of questioning died due to his audience's reaction. I was in complete bewilderment at the idea of someone applying those adjectives to my name, RM was doubled over laughing. Lamd stood there, calmly querying, with a dishcloth in his hand.

Priceless!

Not the eldest

I realized today that I am not responsible for the protection of my classmates. This seems a rather late realization, and I knew it intellectually before, but there was a pretty little demonstration today. The full story is long, and undoubtedly tedious if you were not there. In short, there was an exchange between two students near my age, which I didn't understand. I asked for an explanation later, and the person I asked danced sideways around the issue. So, I was being protected from an unsavory piece of information. I should know, I've done it often enough with my younger siblings, but it's odd to think that someone else, not my parents or family friends, should be protective of me. I am rather innocent on many issues. I often don't even see that there is an issue! Strange thought.

November 11th

I attended the Remembrance Day ceremony at the War Memorial this year. It was very good. My last November 11th was spent in a small town of 2,000 people, and this ceremony had 30,00 in attendance, so there was a big change! They shot off artillery of some kind during the wreath laying ceremony, there was a piper, (several), and a fly-over of fighter jets. Very impressive, and very stirring.



I always go away from November 11th with a mixed feeling of sorrow, anger and determination. I can't even say why it happens, but I know I walk away with Winston Churchill in my ears and my father's stories in my head. I am so proud of my family. I have had 4 direct family members in the past century who were in the military that I know of, and probably there are more in other family branches I'm not as familiar with. Just the idea of signing up to die if needed, and lying about your age to get in! It makes me want to cry, almost, to know those are the people I'm related to. I think I see November 11th a little differently from other people my age, even those who have grandparents and other relatives who have served. Maybe I've heard different stories, or I've seen the other side of the news, or what I don't know, but it stirs in me a more visceral reaction than my compatriots.

Anyways, the ceremony its self was "bomb!", but there was a non-pleasant interlude on the walk to and from the war memorial. Waiting at a crosswalk, I saw ahead a man in combats. This was not too far out of the normal, as there are usually military members in the downtown, and this was after all the 11th of November. However, while standing next to this man at the light, I noticed that he: was wearing the old-style combats in solid cloth, had no rank insignia, had his boots tucked on the outside of one pant leg, had mildly scuffed boots, was not wearing a hat, was not clean-shaven, and had a large wrinkle down the back of his jacket. From this, I deduced that he was no more military than I was. Thinking of viceral reactions, I was rather amazed to see how much this annoyed me. I skipped right over rising anger and went straight to icy wrath.

Maybe I'm making a big thing out of nothing, but I was really hurt to see someone wearing that uniform who had so obviously not sworn an oath. Writing two days later, my temper has finally cooled enough that I can think about this man without bracketing "man" in descriptive adjectives, but I still wonder what on EARTH that guy thought he was doing. I can think of two legitimate reasons. There is the possibility that he was wearing the uniform, which people now respect, in the hopes of receiving some positive recognition. The other option is that he was acting out of an extremely misguided sense of "support our troops". For my sanity, I will choose to think that the latter explanation is most likely.

Possible Exped-enture...

Exped-enture [noun] : 1. Venture or expedition which becomes an adventure by having something go wrong.| 2. Trip undertaken with insufficient directions or preparations.| 3. Any hilarious outing with one's friends.

Tomorrow evening the class is going to Professor Tucker's house for a Movie Night. We are traveling out in two cars, and by bus. According to tradition, at least one group should become lost, it being only a matter of how seriously they are lost. (Federal border crossing, or Provincial?)

Exciting!

Delusion? What delusion?

So, the main title, it should have some explanation.

I'm attending Post-secondary this year, and learning much, but the biggest thing I know so far is that I really don't know anything. That likely sounds either really pretentious or really depressed. An explanation..

This year to date has been an excellent exercise in falling on my face. I've realized that some,(many), things I was taking for granted are not so simple. Some ideas I didn't even see I was right in I have discovered, and I've seen some cherished ideas fall down spectacularly. It's been amazing!

At any rate, once I realized how sparse my information was on certain subjects, I had two behavior options. I could hide away, or I could go out and kick my own conceptions down. There was a time in my like when I could and did hide, but now I've decided to take the other option.

It's just so much more interesting to fall on your face! Particularly if you are flailing for a grip on your way down! I'm sure I don't have any particular incident in mind, never no way..

Now in the interests of expanding the bounds of my ignorance into new spheres, I shall try to pinpoint a delusion every month. The first painful delusion to fall over, my thoughts on Mac computers. This idea isn't entirely dead, but I definitely see a delusion going on. (Show it the light of day! kill thedelusion with sunlight!)

I am an avid Mac user, and I've only ever used Mac. Until this year. Every time I previously used a Windows computer it felt remarkably like beating my head against a wall, and I therefore determined (deductive reasoning!) that all Windows computers were essentially clever devices for driving their users mad. Now this year, I've been forced to use Windows, and it's, *coughs* not that bad. I still hold that Macs are intrinsically superior, but I can use Windows, and I can actually even enjoy my time on the computer.

There you have it. My first preconceived notion to fall over when tested!

me

Moon-unit saw this and said, "you look like a wood nymph! The ones who hide in trees and lie in wait for travelers and kill them!"

Wow, I feel flattered.

Starting up?

Okay, so this is my first venture into blogging, so expect extreme incoherence. I'm not telling anyone that I'm starting this, at first anyways, so I can get the bugs out.

Basic stuff about me then: I'm attending college in Ottawa, and I live in the college. So, my domicile is full of other girls. More info, you ask? No, sorry, your security clearance isn't quite high enough.

MOving on! I had forgotten how much fun it is to play with little boys! Hal left his kids here this evening while he went to a class, and I was entirely mobbed. I somehow cast myself as the evil foe in their eyes, and then I withheld cookies from them.

I tell you, a kid attached to each ankle, one on my back, another underfoot...

I was actually kicked in the head at one point (unintentionally), and my shirt has a popped seam where tried to drag me outside. I "died", ummmm, probably 5 times, whereupon of course the small ones would all poke me in the back. I have a feeling I came off definitely the worst of our several altercations, but I am feeling very serene now. Got to go entirely crazy with small ones every little while!

I would find it hilarious if I had a black eye tomorrow. "ya, a guy kicked me in the head."

That fits so well with my brawler persona!