Things I Love Thursday

1. My cousin Lynnette! She’s five years older than me (and is thus halfway through her twenties; what is this?) and is currently farming in the Quebec countryside. She’s written for the Helsinki Times, interned at Montreal’s fanciest restaurant, and ran a café. I love how she follows her dreams wherever they take her! She’s incredibly generous too – the summer before I moved into my very first apartment, she invited to me to her farm for a week and showed me the basics of cooking. We had a two-and-a-half-hour-long Skype marathon last night, and it was absolutely wonderful to catch up!

Lynnette always has the prettiest scarves.

2. Freshly washed sheets. I don’t care about the cleanliness of my duvet so much, but sliding in between crisp cotton sheets, with nary a stray hair or line of lint in sight, is the best end to a long day. Bonus points if you & your pyjamas are clean too.

3. Avocados. They’re super delish in salads, in smoothies, or simply sprinkled with lemon juice and salt and eaten straight from the peel.

Lazy Girl Lunch

Now that the play is over, it’d make sense to start cooking for real again, but I can’t quite make myself do it. So lunch today was tomato soup with leftover nan, and a salad with all the vegetables I had left in the fridge.

Soup: Wolfgang Puck, classic tomato with basil

Salad: lettuce, half a tomato, half an orange bell pepper, half an avocado, sliced strawberries and a handful of walnuts

The “Wanna-Be-Future-Me”s

Great-Grandma Lillian at 18

While I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up, I have an inkling of who I’d like to be… I haven’t met/spoken to all of these women, but from what I can tell, they’re crazy amazing and one could do a lot worse than ending up with a mishmash of their lives.

1. My great-grandmother

Grandma Lillian died when I was five so I have few memories of her, but according to family lore, she was a feisty little lady who saved the family business when Great-Grandpa hadn’t the acumen to do so, and was driving up to a week before she died at the age of 93. She wrote prompt thank-you notes and drank hot water with two slices of lemon every morning, two habits I endeavor to emulate.

2. My high school archives teacher

Ms. Gibson breathed life into dusty old archives, demanded excellence from her students, and battled with the administration to take our class on an Ottawa field trip even though the previous year’s students snuck out and got drunk while in the capital. She still responds to my emails years after I’ve left the hallowed halls of high school, she’s published a history book for children, and from what I’ve ascertained from eavesdropping, she’s pretty happy with her own children & husband, and has achieved the elusive work-life balance.

3. My favourite playwright

Hannah Moscovitch is my favourite playwright of all time, and I probably cyber-stalk her too much, but she has a public Twitter account and so many newspapers interview her. I became obsessed way back in 2008, when I saw a double-bill of her one-acts Essay and The Russian Play. The following year, we drove to Montreal to check out McGill via Ottawa so that I could see the premiere of her play The Children’s Republic. One year after that, I was lucky enough to have her as my dramaturge in a playwriting program I did with CanStage, and meeting her in person, let alone working with her, almost made me hyperventilate. I’m not entirely sure why I’m such a Hannah-fangirl. Obviously, I think she’s a talented writer, but so does the entire Canadian theatre scene, and there are lots of other great playwrights, even adding the limitations of being Canadian, female and relatively young (Erin Shields! Anusree Roy! Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman!). Maybe I love Hannah because seeing that double bill five years ago first made me go theatre-mad?

4. The only female professor in McGill’s Classics department

Lynn Kozak is a super-bamf. She teaches Greek language and literature, produces the annual Classics Play, started learning Latin in kindergarten (!), did a semester of pre-med, and has an amazing collection of dresses. She’s a little bit in love with Homer’s Hector, and doesn’t let her serious academic chops get in the way of having a pint laugh with her students.

5. The Internet’s favourite Mormon mommy blogger

Naomi Davis is pretty and thin and lives in New York City. Her kids are cute and her husband makes a goodly amount of money. She mainlines junk food, blogs about cupcakes and birthday parties and trips to Italia, and never not ever (at least these days) talks about anything sad. I wouldn’t mind (a Canadian version of?) her life. For a fortnight at least.

My Time is Nigh: Midterm Stress

To study, or to nap?

There are multiple points in the year when I make resolutions; I don’t confine myself to New Year’s Day. I start things off right when I begin a new term at school; when I return to school after any sort of break; when I start a new week; when I get a new agenda. I am continually saying to myself: “Alrighty, time to get your rear in gear.” Usually, my List of Improvements has three things on it:

1. Eat better

2. Sleep more

3. DO ALL THE HOMEWORK BEFORE THE NIGHT BEFORE

Lately, I  haven’t included the first one on my list of improvements, because I have been morphing into a Healthy Eater during my time at school. Sarastotle and I still have our chip-faced nights and I am still a big fan of chocolate in all its forms (hot, cold, solid, frozen, viscous), but I consider those necessary treats that are well-integrated into a diet of varying vegetables, proteins, and carbs.

There’s not much I can do about my lack of sleep; it’s directly tied to how well I do with kicking my procrastination habit. To my continual disappointment and consternation, I rarely have the gumption to be consistently productive. It’s my own fault.

Externally, I do not appear to be stressed. When I feel the most nervous and worried, I naturally, unconsciously, morph into Super-Smiley-Chipper-Baboushka. I’ve been one happy camper for the past week. And after a while, the fabricated external that my internal is projecting starts affecting my internal. It’s great! I have less than one week to write two papers, do a presentation, and hand in a draft of a German speech (on top of a pile of small homework assignments), and I am truly feeling mild and calm. I should be panicking! Panic is what routinely keeps me up until four in the morning, scrambling to finish an essay the night before it’s due! Panic should kick in sometime around now so that I can get some stuff done earlier!

When my own feedback loop of chipper-ness fails, I have some other tried-and-true stress busters. Here they be:

Listening to One Song an Embarrassing Number of Times

After a while, a song becomes like an unintelligible chant. I hardly hear the words, just the increasingly familiar movements. It helps me section off time; If I know a song is three minutes long, then I am naturally driven to complete something within that three minutes, before the next cycle starts. This tactic is very helpful for writing papers. If anyone sees the little “Plays” count for that song on your iTunes, they’re going to think you’re a superfan, but at least you finished your paper! And now you know all the words to obscure Backstreet Boys tunes or T-Swift’s “Love Story”, in case a sing-along ever starts.

Skin Care

Just because my life is a mess of stacked library books and due dates doesn’t mean that I need to look like I’ve spent the entire night hunched over my laptop. My skin’s usually pretty bad, but I look forward to it improving during my period of midterm stress: in trying to avoid thinking about my impending academic doom, I wash my face carefully! I exfoliate! I moisturize! I take vitamins! I buy one of those cheapie mud masks for a buck from the drugstore and pretend I’m a 1950s babe for 10 minutes, sans the hair rollers! I do most of these things normally, but not with the required regularity to achieve perfectly clear skin. In the middle of normal procrastination mode, I’m too busy. In the middle of midterms, slathering on moisturizer is a mini retreat.

Talking to My Mother

I talk to my mother on the phone a lot anyway, but during midterm season, I am especially diligent in my call schedule. She tells me about what’s happening at home, the family news, and the latest episode of Downton Abbey. I usually get 20 minutes to an hour of distraction, and it’s comforting to hear her voice.

Pacing, or Going for a Walk

I haven’t used this one in a while, mostly because it can annoy or worry other people in the house. Also, I walk quite a bit to get to class and to do errands, so I get rid of any nervous energy as a regular part of my schedule. If it’s nice out, then I walk around the block, or to a specific goal location (like a park or a coffee shop for an extra treat) for 20 minutes. If I’m at home alone, then I pace around the house for 20 minutes, not really thinking about anything.

Grocery Shopping

I find big, brightly-lit, well-organized grocery stores to be glorious wandering spots. After 20 minutes in one of those, I’ve checked out all the sales for the week and planned a couple of meals. Stress: gone.

Things I Love Thursday

1. The Classics play! Yesterday was opening night, and I think we rocked it. No-one forgot any lines (though, to be fair, Baboushka and I had but seven apiece). Our director, who never ceases to impress me with her energy, dedication and mad skillz as a Classicist, was pleased, and we need to remember to get her flowers. Plus, it was lots of fun to slather our faces with bronzer in an attempt to recreated the swarthy swaggering sailor look.

2. This week is the Boy’s reading week, and so he braved the five-hour train ride to hang out in la belle province with me for a few days. He was brilliant, fixing our wobbly cabinets, going grocery shopping, helping me study for my midterm, and doing all the dishes. We also had lunch with his impressive-but-not-actually-that-scary aunt & uncle, and went on long snowy walks, and lazily watched Murdoch Mysteries in bed.

House Boyfrand is the best

3. Roomie bonding! On Tuesday, the Boy and Baboushka and I had an impromptu dinner party! Well, I consider it a dinner party if we sit down at the table and talk to one another instead of eating while watching TV. We had cabbage salad, crispy tofu, sweet potato fries & tomato soup, with pear fondu for dessert. Not bad for no planning, amirite? We topped the evening off with a Leonard Cohen sing-a-long, which I filmed surreptitiously (the off-key warbling is mine; Baboushka sings beautifully).

Insider McGill Study Spaces

For when this doesn’t look inviting.

After spending the past few weeks gaily dashing from rehearsal to movie night to coffee with friends, I’ve finally hit the point where I can no longer ignore the pile of homework beckoning to me from my desk. It’s starting to loom, menacingly! Instead of settling myself down to work my way through it piece-by-piece, I take chunks of it out into the world, in a scholarly visit to my favourite McGill study spaces. Tackling the whole pile at once is a little scary; small parts, however, approached in the comforting camaraderie of fellow procrastinators, are easily conquered.

I have two essays, a 30-minute presentation, and a German speech to write. Here’s where I’ll be hiding out for the next couple days:

5. Burnside Basement

I kid you not; this place is great. You may know Burnside Hall as the bunker-like building in the Southeast area of campus; you may know the basement as a dimly lit dungeon. All this means is that barely anyone studies there: lots of seats available! The dim lights means your laptop screen will shine the brighter; if you forget to bring your charger on your solo study date, your battery can last longer as you pound out the final paragraph of your 15-page term paper. There’s a small snack-sized cafeteria, in case you need noms or caffeine.

Pros: Space, snacks.

Cons: Lack of sunlight.

4. Birks Reading Room

The Birks Religious Studies building is gorgeous; its library is no exception. You sit at long wooden tables in straight-back chairs, and complete silence is required. This is great for concentration, but if you transgress against the rule of silence in any way, prepare yourself for some seriously dirty looks from the librarian. Transgressions include moving chairs (don’t move them very far–this is not allowed) and coughing. You also must take your shoes off and leave them outside the door; Birks is very preoccupied with the state of their floors. Haven’t found any snacks in the building, besides the vending machines in the basement.

Pros: Beautiful space. Blissful silence.

Cons: Stressful silence. Stressful librarian presence.

3. Islamic Studies Library in Morrice Hall

Same Birks experience, only less stinkeye from the librarians. Silence is expected, so it’s a wonderful atmosphere for concentration. Beautiful building, nice little nooks all over the place. No snacks.

Pros: Gorgeous, and not stressful.

Cons: No snacks.

2. Blackader-Lauterman Library (Art History Library in Redpath)

This is the secret haven of the art history books; unless you have been shown the path, good luck finding the way to it. It’s a lovely space with lots of comfy seating, and hardly anyone knows about it, so it’s not usually too busy. The Redpath cafeteria is downstairs, but you can’t bring noms into the library part. I get nervous leaving my stuff alone, so I always pack everything up when I go for snack breaks.

The entrance is located in the hallway in Redpath on the way to McLennan; big industrial door lead to a stairwell; up a flight or two of stairs there is a sign that tells you to turn.

Pros: Quiet, beautiful.

Cons: Hard-to-find. No snacks.

1. McLennan Library’s Rare Books Library

You’re not allowed in unless you’re actually looking at a rare book. But if you’re lucky enough to do that for a class, then you’re in for a treat. Everything is glossy wood, it’s practically empty, and there’s beautiful books everywhere in sight. A librarian is sitting right in the middle, watching your every move: this can be disconcerting. You’re not allowed noms at all. This place is definitely a treat, not a habitual study space.

Pros: Soooooooooo pretty. Lots of space. Unlikely to be distracted.

Cons: Hard to get into. No snacks. Stressful librarian presence.

McGill Classics Play!

It wasn’t on our roomie bucket list, but we’ve spent many hours together in the past six weeks running lines and walking to and from rehearsal because we’re in the Choros of the McGill Classics Play this year!

If you’re in the Montreal area this coming week and like your Greek tragedy without death, come see a new translation of Sophocles’ Philoktetes at the MAI (3680 rue Jeanne-Mance)! Feb. 20-23 at 8 pm (doors at 7 pm), with an extra performance on the 23rd at 2 pm (doors at 1 pm).

“Give yourself to me for one day, one short madcap moment…” You have the rest of time to do your homework/go to the gym/sleep in.

Image from McGill Classics Play.

Things I Love Thursday — Valentine’s Day Edition

The Internet has reminded me that Valentine’s Day is all about love. (And the Boy has reminded me that it’s all about “celebrating a Christian saint with images of a flying, bow-wielding pagan god!”) But as much as I dig Cupid, I’m a little bit in love with love. I’m also a little bit obsessed with “Things I Love Thursdays,” a positive-living idea shameless stolen from blogger Gala Darling, and what better Thursday to chronicle my amorous inclinations than this fine fourteenth of February?

1. Canada Post! There’s nothing as exciting as opening the mailbox and seeing a letter addressed to you in vaguely familiar handwriting. Yesterday was a crazy amazing day for mail: a package my mother sent finally arrived, and well stocked it was with soup, instant Indian food, shortbread cookies, my favourite granola bars and of course, a handwritten letter. There was also a (handmade!) card from the Boy’s aunt and uncle, inviting us to dinner next week when he comes to la belle province. We be getting sophisticated.

2. Trashy TV shows. I had a Modern Family binge over Christmas break, lunched over season four of Sex and the City throughout January, and am now just getting caught up on Hart of Dixie. Summer Roberts is back in action! In first year, one of my residence friends and I had a “trashy TV/classy alcohol” tradition in which we he would mix G&Ts or margaritas and we would mainline The O.C.

3. My bed. It’s pretty rad. It welcomes me with open arms each and every night — and some afternoons too — and never insists that I do anything more strenuous than watch Claire & Phil’s shenanigans. It’s also big enough for snuggles with the Boy, but not so big that I have to roll over multiple times to get from my lamp one the left to my clock radio/glass of water on the right.

What gives you warm fuzzies??

Valentine’s Day When You’re Far, Far Away

He’s okay, I guess.

Last year, I boarded as many airplanes as I was old: twenty. And yet I only visited three provinces. I’m not an important executive, flying across the country to convene with marketing gurus or to schmooze with potential clients. Nope, I’m just a third-year arts student who lives far away from her main squeeze. But it’s not too bad. Porter Airlines often has 50% off sales, so a Montreal-Toronto flight is only $50 each way (alas, before tax), and they offer free (alcoholic) drinks and the amazing Terra Chips on board. Plus, my parents live in Toronto so I can stop by the house, have a mom-cooked dinner and poke my cat’s stomach before getting driven to the Boy’s in Hamilton. So really, I have nothing to complain about.

Favourite feline ever.

But what does one do for Valentine’s Day when one’s paramour lives hundreds of miles away? Let’s go through our options, shall we?

1. Ignore everything. Valentine’s Day is just an opportunity for Hallmark/florists/Godiva to bleed your bank account white. Well hi there bitter brain. You might have a point… But I maybe sorta kinda like milk chocolates I can’t digest and flowers that’ll whither soon?

2. Reunite! It’s only six hundred kilometres! It’s only six hundred dollars! Do it do it do it! Don’t be silly, self. You’ve been watching too many Julia Roberts movies. The Boy is coming just a few days later. Plus the 14th is a school night and you have an early class the next day. Stay put.

3. Get chip-faced on the couch with the girls! But what about the Boy?

4. Skype! I guess? But that’s what we always do. Chat while wearing a lurid pink sweater and eating dark chocolate fondu take-out? Try and watch a movie online, if the Internet allows such synchronicity?

I don’t know, blogosphere, what is one to do? Send me your tips!

Valentine’s Day: I’m Single, so I Will Watch Chick Flicks and Get Chip-Faced

“Draw me like one of your French girls,” I said to no one, ever.

I am apathetic about Valentine’s Day; I recognize that it’s a consumerist bonanza of cheap chocolates and overpriced roses and greeting cards, and that by participating in it I am contributing to and accepting of the binaries of gendered behaviour (try saying that five times fast). I also recognize that going out with your sweetie in a shower of hearts and glitter can be glamorous and romantic for some people. Aside from elementary school, where Valentines and candy were distributed in an egalitarian fashion, I have never been in a position to fully participate in the holiday, so I consider the day solely as an outside observer. As an outside observer, I say that I want no part in this madness, no, stay away from me with those roses, no, I don’t want your candy hearts, and dammit we’re splitting the bill at dinner. There, I’ve just struck Romance dead.

Chocolate is about to go on Super Sale at the grocery store, and that’s largely what I am looking forward to.

I don’t despise the holiday though. I am uncomfortable with the emphasis it places on proving the strength of your relationship with gifted physical objects, and on the expectations it places on each person to behave in a certain (super-duper-over-the-top romantic) way. I am not the enemy of Love and Romance and candy hearts. Far from it: all the schmaltzy romance in the air makes a chick-flick-watching night inevitable.

For someone who remains unimpressed with schmaltzy romance, I am enamoured entirely with chick flicks. I find a lot of them to be problematic (hey, just like Valentine’s Day), but there’s so much goodness and entertainment in a lot of them (akin to the Super Sale chocolate I will indulge in later this week) that I work past the awkward bits and try to see the best in them (kind of like a healthy relationship, I imagine).

The romantic comedy genre has been unfairly deemed as inferior and empty-headed; this is ridiculous. Even if a film doesn’t pass the Bechdel Test, there are still a lot of strong characters and worthwhile plots–even if the point of any one movie is to set everyone in it up with a marriage. Relationships are important to most people. Close friendships are important to most people. Family interactions are important to most people. Making movies about what people experience should not be considered ‘stupid’ or ‘insulting to the collective intelligence of the world’ (I’ve heard of chick flicks being described as both, and worse).

Besides, some movies labelled as chick flicks don’t really focus on the central relationship at all; they are misaligned merely for being about women. That’s a larger societal problem that is too large to discuss in this post.

This Valentine’s Day, I shall be getting chip-faced on a bag of Ruffles All-Dressed with Sarastotle (she doesn’t get to see her long-distance boyfriend until later in the week) in the comfort of our apartment, and we will watch something perfectly lovely. Here are some of my favourites:

6. Crossing Delancey by Joan Micklin Silver

He’s a pickle salesman!

What is it: Isabelle, a young Jewish woman in New York agrees to let her grandmother and a matchmaker set her up…until she finds out her date is a pickle salesman, Sam. Sarastotle just asked me, “There are pickle salesmen?” Yes, and your grandmother wants you to date one.

Bechdel Test: Nope. The whole plot and side-plot are about relationships.

Why you should watch it anyway: It showcases close female friendships between women of the same age, and between generations; platonic male-female friendships are also treated as no big deal. Isabelle also figures out what she values most in people, extending her appreciation and respect of her friends and family to her significant other.

5. North & South BBC miniseries by Brian Percival

BTW, he’s the main sexy dwarf in The Hobbit.

What is it: Margaret, a young woman from the south of England, moves to the industrial north with her family.

Bechdel Test: Yes!

Why you should watch it: I watched this entire mini-series all in one go; I stayed up until four in the morning. It’s beautifully filmed, the costumes are lovely, and the acting superb. Margaret is strong, independent, and smart; she also screws up all her relationships and has to deal with the loss of her reputation. And for once, her one true love is actually worth it; he’s no moody Heathcliff or caddish Mr. Rochester. He’s pretty much her equal in flaws and virtues, and he’s also super attractive.

 

4. Leap Year by Anand Tucker

He’s actually an English actor, not Irish. Movies do that a lot.

What is this: “Anna from Boston wants her boyf to put a ring on it,” says Sarastotle. Anna’s boyf doesn’t, and goes to a cardiologist convention in Dublin. She follows in order to propose to him, because apparently that’s what Irish people do on Leap Day (ummm no, they don’t). Meets hot Irishman who promises to give her a lift to Dublin. Shenanigans = love.

Bechdel Test: Nope.

Why you should watch it anyway: There is so much wrong with this movie. Wildly inaccurate Irish stereotypes, a prickly protagonist, a callous and uncouth love interest, and a ridiculous premise make it hard to handle if you watch it critically. That’s why I don’t. It’s super cheesy road trip romance, starring a string of beautiful landscapes. He’s kinda funny too. What’s not to love?

3. American Dreamer by Rick Rosenthal

I want alllllll her costumes.

What is it: An ordinary housewife wins a mystery writing contest, jetting off solo to Paris when her awful husband refuses to go with her. While there, she hits her head, gets amnesia, and thinks she is the heroine of the mystery series she loves. She meets the son of the author of the series, and thinks he’s her sidekick. Shenanigans = love.

Bechdel Test: Yes!

Why you should watch it: It’s glorious. 80s haute couture fashions, car chases, implausible scenarios, and a true mystery at the end to wrap it up! She and her sidekick work as a sort of team, with the ordinary-housewife-turned-sleuth very firmly in charge. She’s resourceful, bold, fabulous, and confident, and he’s a perfectly lovely man who gets caught up in an adventure.

2. Moonstruck by Norman Jewison

CHER. ALL HAIL CHER.

What is it: A dysfunctional Italian family is upended when the daughter, Loretta, has an affair with her absent fiancé’s really weird brother.

Bechdel Test: Yes, I think. There’s a whole bunch of women in it at least.

Why you should watch it: There’s opera; there’s Cher; there’s Nicholas Cage as the love interest (I KID YOU NOT); there’s incredibly dark humour; and there’s Cher. Did I mention that Cher stars in it? The film revolves mainly around the fact that everyone is having an affair, and that all married couples are unmatched. Nobody learns anything about each other, but they do all learn something about themselves.

1. You’ve Got Mail by Nora Ephron

They’re almost like normal people!

What is it: As the two protagonists do not actually know each other for most of the movie, this really isn’t a romcom. It’s a comedy about business monopolies and their effect on small business owners.

Bechdel Test: Yes!

Why you should watch it: Everyone is weird and normal without being annoying, even when they are being less than charming to one another. The soundtrack is great. It’s a very smart movie; people talk like normal people (if normal people were always funny), and the jokes rely a lot on wordplay and situational comedy. The action also centres around a gorgeous bookstore.

Bonus:

• Letters to Juliet by Gary Winick

This is total trash, but watch it for Vanessa Redgrave. She steals the show.

• 10 Things I Hate About You

Because I’m a sucker for teen comedies.

• Miss Congeniality

Because I walk like a man too. Also: Michael Caine.