| PSA |
[Dec. 31st, 2009|01:15 pm] |
How to train your cat to use the TOILET ... seriously.
I always find NYE to be a bit depressing ... oh well. |
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| (no subject) |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|03:02 pm] |
The Top Ten HOTD based on number of views. An eclectic selection for sure.
Silly things on TV that make me crazy:
* Auto insurance ads - how can they all save you hundreds?
* The Verizon vs ATT 3G coverage maps - bet they are both full of crapola
* All car commercials
* Football games that prempt Sunday night TV
Nuff silliness. |
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| reaching towards 2010 |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|10:00 pm] |
I'm 34.
I've been writing in a variety of journals, diaries, notebooks, and loose sheets since I was 12 years old, and now I'm 34. Truth be told, I haven't been very diligent since my entry into university; it seems as though essays, book reviews, and exams took the place of flights of fancy and whimsical rambling. Still, I never completely abandon my livejournal or other avenues of writing my general thoughts or ideas. In the past 3 years I've taken to recording them in the front leaves of the books I read and filing them dutifully upon my overladen book shelves - all neatly (alphabetically and regionally) filed, dated, and marked for posterity. This method has made it much more difficult to cull my ever growing book collection.
Currently, I'm reading Moby Dick - and for some reason I feel rabidly adverse about recording my end of 2009/beginning of 2010 thoughts between its loathsome covers, so I come back to livejournal.
2009 has been eventful and depressing. I am wrapping up my undergraduate degree (see above age for feelings of accomplishment and depression) with the usual amount of perfectionist success that anyone who knows me might expect. I've demanded and stressed myself black, blue and strikingly more grey then when I began. First, I am unreservedly delighted by my degree. I may sit snuggly in debt that makes others shudder, but I do not think for one minute that it was not worth it, or that my degree has amounted to nothing "practical".
It bothers me greatly when I hear a chorus of nay-sayers chanting about the uselessness of an arts degree in the "marketable" world. This kind of thinking fails to address the value of a liberal arts degree (of which I will presently sing the praises). I admit upfront that I came to university a rather keen student. Since highschool it has been my aspiration to continue my education. Failing that, upon highschool graduation, I began working in an elementary/junior high school as support staff. Re-placed in my ideal environment, I felt as though my job was my second home and second family. I still communicate with the teachers and counsellors who were not just my co-workers but also my mentors. I still spend time with students I met at McCauley School, they email me, or visit me and at 17 and 18 years old they still appear to me in the 12 and 13 year old personalities. I want to get this information out there, so that any bias is understood.
Liberal arts inspire thought.
I say this even though, at times, academia has a highly disillusioning faction. This disillusion is related not to the subject material, but emerges in the push for very narrow categories of study. The expert in a subject becomes an ideal, but this simply creates a fragmentation of knowledge, emphasis on technical mastery, and neutrality as a condition to academic integrity. These combinations are toxic when it comes to pursuing the vital connections between education and the public good; between intellectual integrity and human freedom. However, even with this failing sitting as the white elephant in every classroom, it does not negate the importance of cultural and civic education. The fact that I can even write this paragraph is a testament to education. I critique the institution even while it is the institution that has taught me to see it, speak it, and write about it. That, to me, creates a valuable voice inside of me.
My arts degree taught me innumerable interesting things about history, culture, art, music, politics, and mostly a lot of literature - but the one thing that I now have that I never had before is the ability to think critically. University taught me critical thinking. I have an opinion on most issues because I'm educated just enough to know a little about most things. I can tell you how the Renaissance affected the American constitution. I can explain how scientific thought and technological advancement are not a panacea for environmental issues. I can talk to you about Afro-Canadian racism and the Canadian slave trade, aboriginal self-determination and how I feel about Caledonia, I can comment about deconstruction theory and how it killing culture in Western worlds, and I can make those tenuous but intriguing links between bio-tech and 17th century urban gardens. Honestly, I could not do these things before I went to school. I may have been an avid reader, but it was never brought together in a way where one discipline linked to another into one grand picture. Simply, I love what I feel about and have learned about in my degree. My world became a 28mm lense where once it was 70mm.
Now the pressing question - since I'm graduating - the favourite question, in fact: what do I do with it? I know what I have to show for my money, I have invested in myself, but what does that mean in dollars and cents. The answer to that is still - I don't know.
If I wanted to go into the marketplace and get a job after finishing in May, I'm 100% certain that I would be successful in my fields of interest. However, the marketplace has never been my preferred habitat. By nature I am a scholar - so further into scholarship I will go.
2010 becomes a transition year for me.
I'm finished my undergrad.
I'm loaded up with graduation scholarships (enough to pay my tuition and living expenses for the next school year).
I'm applied to the gills for PhD programs.
Now I must wait and wonder.
What is there to wonder about in 2010?
Well, not to sound redundant...but I'm 34. My child producing years are slipping away from me. Not to mention that scholarship and children are not particularly complimentary pursuits. I'm worried about this notion, and feel the strong desire for a family. My boyfriend of 4 years is ready to get engaged and move into a more solid commitment, but if I get accepted at a University across the country - what do we do? What I want is simple answers to the hard knocks of life. (Sometimes really pounding clock like knocking)
2010 is equally fraught with staggering possibility and perilous disappointment, and I must face it with maturity and dignity. The choices I make will discount other options, and I rest in 2009 with an inner fear that makes me cower before this future.
2010 means change, and I want to say, "Well, bring it on. I'm up for it."
Basically, at this point, I'm getting everything I want - every single thing...all of it - all at once, and it does not come together into a neat little picture, it is pieces jammed and rammed into place come what may.
I'm afraid, so here's to greeting the future with fear:
Salut! |
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| yawn, another food blog |
[Dec. 27th, 2009|09:54 pm] |
over at chefmonkey.blogspot.com. all my kitchen blogging will move here from now on, so if you enjoy the recipes, please subscribe or visit from time to time.
i've had my livejournal for over seven years, and while i like the social networking aspect, the functionality, look and user interface leave a lot to be desired. after four days of use, i'm much enjoying the clean simplicity of blogger and plan to post there every or nearly every day. the content won't be exclusively food-related, though much of it will document cooking and restaurant dining. i'll probably also write about things like books, news and travel, but scrabble content will remain over here.
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| Think like an expert! |
[Dec. 22nd, 2009|09:32 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
But not necessarily a top rated one. I picked a random ISC game to show how it goes, my mistakes and all. Okay, this video is more to the speed of the average CGP reader and not the average LJ reader. But it was fun to make! I think you will find this funny.
By the way, I haven't figured out yet how to have my webcam capture what is on the screen. |
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