This has been a depressing lecture on Japan.

Emily was here!

Well that and I went home for what turned out to be most of reading week. Which was nice. Got to see some friends again and see the family. All good! The trip there was a bit of an adventure, got stuck in Syracuse for a while do to a nasty Snowstorm. Always interesting when they can not only not tell you when a bus is going to get there, but even if a bus will come.

And now we're back to the schooling. I'm a bit more blah about that one. Grah.


Emily and the hotdog. It's just not a trip to Toronto without street-meat is it?

When you blame others, you give up your power to change.
- Dr. Robert Anthony

Upstarts and Broken Hearts

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all? Snow White baby, and don't you forget it!
- Clay Clay Williams, Dutchman by Emiri Baraka.

One of the lines I didn't get to use (as it was from scene II, and we performed scene I) that I really liked. My character is kind of a tool in the beginning of the play. So while I'm glad I didn't have to learn and perform his rant (a nearly two page monologue... yikes!) I never liked him until scene II.

So we did the scene. We ended up going second as opposed to first in order of the scenes being performed due to the other groups preference. And we dropped a line. We recovered just fine though, and it was a really minor bit we left out but we're both pretty steamed at ourselves for it. Sara for dropping it, and me because I didn't catch it and move on with the next line. I got stupid and let myself slip into reactionary brain mode where I hear the line then follow. I should know better.

I guess that's why Emily's the professional and I'm not huh?

On the plus side we got a lot of comments about the performance, all of them good so I feel we did alright in the end. It's encouraging when strangers approach you and compliment you on the performance (the two people I did know in the class did so as well, but me with the salt grains and the search for ulterior motives of them trying to make us feel better) so that was encouraging. Overall, not bad for a two person, self-directed play after our two group members dropped last weekend. I feel pretty good about it anyways.

Speaking of Emily! And here! And more! I'm not too sure I'm comfortable with any sister of mine being likened to Britney Spears though. Meh. I might also get some actual copies of some of the movies she's been in too. Most important on my list? The Vampire movie, the Zombie movie, the post apocalyptic dystopia movie (that I helped with too), and really whatever else I can get my grubby little paws on. Cause let's face it. We're in some serious need for a movie night around here in T.O.

Well, it's 5:55 now. Off to class we go.

Man's chief enemy is his own unruly nature and the dark forces put up within him.
- Ernest Jones

Understanding is a three edged sword...

Your side.
Their side.
And the Truth.

Happy Valentines Day

I spent a good hour shoveling last night. After Christian had spent a good hour shoveling, and woke up this morning to have to force the door open, and wade calf-deep through it all again. As of right now, (2:32pm) it's still snowing a little but it looks like it's about to stop.

At least it feels like I'm living in Canada again! Tis good stuff!

Not to mention that I'm almost going home. But there's so much to get done in the meantime that I haven't even been thinking about it. I've got to get through this scene for class in about twenty minutes ('Dutchman', by Emiri Baraka/Leroi Jones if you care to know) so I'm nervous.

It never helps when half (being 2 of 4) of the group drops the gorram class the weekend before you have to perform a scene in front of the class. Grrrr...

And now since I'm getting back to the old ways now that I have my brand-spankin' new Blogger engine (they finally forced me to upgrade to the Google brand ) back to the end quotes or songs. No song this time, I'm in the main Sidney Smith Hall area. Noisy folks students are. There is free hot chocolate though. That's always a bonus right?

Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?
- Robert Browning, Andrea del Sarto (l. 97)

Shadow Dancing

Stephen Franklin: I can't go back, but I can appreciate what I have right now, and I can define myself by what I am, instead of what I'm not.

John Sheridan: And what are you?

Stephen Franklin: Alive. Everything else is negotiable.