My Cruel but Lovely Mistress

Montreal is a wonderful city full of surprises. When I awoke to see the streets and sidewalks had been replaced by undisturbed whiteness and snow clung to every branch and windowsill, I was struck by the magic of Montreal's winter wonderland. With a warmed heart and a twinkle in my eye, I admired the near perfect scene from my window. Of course, eventually I had to leave the house, and expecting the worst, I bundled myself up in many layers and wrapped a scarf around my face. When at last I opened the door to the outside after waddling down the stairs, I was pleasantly surprised yet again my the relative warmth and stillness of the air.

Walking to the bus stop proved to be a bit of a challenge. While the city was beyond lovely in its pristine frozen state and the air did not immediately freeze my skin, the sidewalks were atrociously unfit for pedestrians. As I slipped and slid around on the ice, walking in the strange way a person only walks when on ice, I would straighten up whenever it seemed I was about to hit a solid piece of concrete. Unfortunately, I hit black ice more than once. Fortunately, I managed to avoid at least six possible concussions and three broken bones by flailing my arms and bending my knees in a ridiculous manner. I couldn't help but chuckle at the double edged blade that is Montreal. First, Mme Montreal gives me the gift of the most beautiful winter scenery. Then, after she has lured me out of my safe and cozy abode, she tries to kill me.

Once on the bus, I felt a bit safer, although the magical snow had naturally slowed public transportation.

Oh Montreal! How I will miss you in all your cruel beauty!

Crokinole - The Movie!

For those of you that don't know what Crokinole is, I don't know whether to pity or envy you. I'll provide you with the bare bones basics: It is a (Canadian, I believe) board game where you flick little discs on a wooden polygon in order to gain points and make your opponant lose points. There exists such a thing as the World Championship for Crokinole, and two cousins have made a documentary about this event. I MUST HAVE A COPY OF THIS DOCUMENTARY.

The Crokinole website boasts the existence of the dvd, and even offers to sell it to me...At least until I scroll down the page and it tells me that for a mere 25.95 I can have the DVD but Sorry, the DVD is out of stock. Also, it seems there are no plans to produce the movie in the near future. Or ever, for that matter.

You see my dilemna.

My fantabulous boyfriend likes crokinole very much. So much so, in fact, that at some points over the summer, I became jealous of the polygonal board. Needless to say, he attempted to buy this documentary, but failed. In the past (especially recently), this boyfriend of mine has gone above and beyond my expectations for birthday, christmas, and anniversary gifts, both monetarily and thoughtfully. I must somehow find a copy (probably used) of this for him for Christmas.

If you or someone you know knows where to get Crokinole the Movie, please point me in the right direction.

In other news, we have bought, put up, and decorated our little Christmas tree. It is beautiful with its twinkling dollarama lights, batman and musical instrument ornaments, a paper chain, and a tinfoil star as a tree topper. The cats have not yet tried to eat, climb, or kill it, which both surprises and delights me.

Procrastination

Instead of studying and working on my paper as I should be, I am reminded of the time spent last summer on the dock at the lake with my friends. During this time, we played a lot of mad libs, which is a registered trademark, you should know. I decided, and I'm sure I won't regret this decision later, that it would be a good use of my time to play variations of this game online. It seems, however, that I have hit a new low this afternoon, as I have now attempted to make my own "mad:)glibs". Because I am a big nerd, mine is based on one of the songs from the musical "My Fair Lady".

Unfortunately, I cannot for the life of me make it work on this page. hmmm.... Too bad. I assure you it was good, too.

The picture is of Oliver, a past foster cat of the Animal Rescue Network. Luckily he has found a permanent home. For all those in Montreal, I would encourage you to look into fostering through the ARN. Also, if you are looking to adopt a pet, visit the ARN or even the SPCA before going to a pet store. These animals are wonderful, affectionate, and in need of a good permanent home or at least some human interaction and love.

Hey Hey Hey! Goodbye!

As this week hits hump day, I am already feeling a little bit at the end of my rope. Two Monday schedules in a row. Last day of class due Monday. Paper due Tuesday. Take home exam handed out Tuesday night, due Thursday. Exam Thursday morning. Meeting with prof about paper that I haven't started yet on Friday. On top of all of this, my poor computer is sick. My friend who works with the computer task force assures me it isn't my fault. Apparantly sometimes the backlight or something on laptops just stops working. Since I know nothing about it, I believe everything he tells me. He could tell me that little technology monkeys got into my hard drive discus progenerator and that this could've been prevented if I had just spent 3 mintues a day telling my computer what I love about it while repeatedly pressing control alt 9 tab. Luckily the computer itself is ok. I did have to go out and find a monitor though to plug it into. Poor baby. It really only had to hold on another three weeks.

To top it all off, windows media player and my ipod keep playing "na na na na goodbye". It popped up on shuffle at the bus stop this morning, on the computer before lunch, and just a minute ago while I was thinking about how I am going to make it look like I've been working on my theory paper for a week. Oh good. Now it is playing "Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me". I love music, but it seems to just want to rub salt in the wounds today. Boo, windows media player shuffle! BOO!