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Saturday, Critics and Theorists

Life without parents:


Not as exciting as I had imagined, but this could be due to the fact that I've been too busy to do anything exciting. My biggest concern had been how I was going to manage to feed everyone, but since everyone pretty much has a job it hasn't been a problem because we've all just been separately going out to buy our own food.

I was planning on going grocery shopping today, but Annabelle gave me a lecture about saving money and cooking with what we had. Easy for her to say, she wasn't the one who had to cook.

Anyway, she was right though. I got off my butt and actually cooked a bunch of things today: I made pickled cucumbers, which is basically pickles but I prefer calling them pickled cucumbers; fried rice; chicken soup; and waffles. I have no problems with cooking, I just never do it because I don't know how to make food taste good.

I also missed out on seeing Harry Potter with Tabitha and everyone else today because I had to study (and to some degree babysit my brothers) Oh well, I'll just watch it later on with other people.

I've been reading a bunch if essays by theorists and critics like Saussure, Jakobson, Bakhtin, Todorov, Derrida ... Foucault for my Theory and Criticism class. I won't lie, I do find what they have to say interesting and fascinating (to a certain extent) but it's just that ... getting through each and every single essay is soo tedious.

Basically, I feel like Penny when she's talking to Sheldon. Half the time, I have to re-read the sentence ten million times to understand what they're saying, which is why it's taking me so long to get through one essay. I suppose that's just the downfall for being intellectual: no one understands what you have to say.

It's like Dilton from the Archie comics, whenever he talked the speech bubble would just be: "!#^*&, (*)){"^$%}, +/~!@#&*%" Not to represent swearing, just to represent big words that no one else understood. (Typical Moose response to Dilton: "Duh...")

I'll give you guys an example:
This is from Derrida

"Thus it has always been thought that the center, which is by definition unique, constituted that very thing within a structure which while governing the structure, escapes structurally. This is why classical thought concerning structure could say that the center is, paradoxically, within the structure and outside it. The center is at the center of the totality, and yet, since the center does not belong to the totality, the totality has its center elsewhere. The center is not the center."

Ok Jacques Derrida, if the center is not the center, could you please call it something else! Naming something that it's not is EXTREMELY ANNOYING. Call it the origin or something.

It's like me naming a dog Cat.

"Cat likes to bark and Cat likes to dig holes. Cat also likes to chase cats, but Cat is not cat. Cat is dog."

I really have no idea how I'm going to do on this test. I've been trying to translate these essays into layman terms but it takes so bloody long. It's ok, I just have to hope that everyone else will fail so the professor has no choice but to bell curve the exam.

/Stressstreessstresstresscoffeehyperstresshyperstress

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My Favourite List

I love how the popularity of book lists never die. I found this list on fb, a couple of people were doing it, since books are awesome and all. I did this list a few years ago but I'm going to redo it again since I've read more books since then, plus I decided to post the list here so can refer back to it.


Bold=read

Italic=Will read soon


1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen <-- "You have bewitched me mind body and soul." ROFL.

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte <-- Horror, suspense and gothic all in one

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling <-- "You're a wizard Harry!"

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible <-- Half bolded because I've pretty much read all of it except the boring bits i.e. leviticus

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman <-- I heard this was a really good series

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens <-- SOOO boring, but Dickens is hillarious

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller <-- Never even heard of this

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare <-- Half bolded, somewhat getting there

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien <-- Will have to re-read b/c I found it boring the first time

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger <-- I HATE HOLDEN CAULFIELD

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger <-- Really good book, too bad the movie SUCKED

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot <-- George Eliot is AWESOME!! Read Silas Marner ppl.

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald <-- Is on my syllabus

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky <-- Only b/c author is Russian, I've been reading Russian formalist essays recently and I want to see what the hype is about

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll <-- Alice on Crack

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame <-- Who?

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen <-- Actually can't remember whether I've read this or not

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen <-- Anne reminds me of me

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini <-- Good book, crappy ending

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden <-- I've read at least five times

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne <-- Tao of Pooh

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez <-- BEST BOOK EVER!

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery <-- Weird that I've never read this

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan <-- Blech. Crappy book.

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen <-- Was so-so. Watching the movie made it better for me since Hugh Grant was in it.

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon <-- THIS BOOK ANNOYED ME SOO MUCH! The main character is almost like Sheldon from BBT but the complete opposite.

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold <-- Got scammed into buying the book

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding <-- I prefer Princess Diaries

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker <-- On my syllabus

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce <-- Just because my proff always quotes James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante <-- Surprisingly, Tim Keller's view of Hell reminds me a lot of the Inferno. Only half bolded b/c I only read the first book.

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert <-- Will have to reread

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Ronald Dahl <-- Ronald was my childhood hero.

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo


Boo, apparently I suck because I've only read about 26/100. Also, for a book list that's predominately English, Russian or French, with some variety in between, I'm surprised it left out Robinson Crusoe, Guilliver's Travels and Paradise Lost plus classic English poets like Donne and Wordsworth. This list is also lacking African, First Nation and Asian literature THEREFORE I deem this list unsuitable! (But since I already went through it and bolded stuff I'm still going to post it)


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Abandoned and on being Too-Asian

I was 'studying' around 3 a.m. last night when I heard my mom say: "Pack the rice cooker!"


And my dad answers, "It's already in the car!"

So I went, "Huh?" It didn't occur to me to check and ask where they were planning to go with the rice cooker, since I may have just been hallucinating it all due to too much coffee and stress. I remember amusing myself with the thought that they were planning to run away together. Eventually, I had to go to the bathroom and ran into my mom, who was busily running up and down the stairs with her stuff.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"We're going to the thanksgiving conference in Ohio, we'll be back on Monday." Then, as an after thought she adds: "I don't know how you guys are going to eat."

WHAT?!

And get this: they actually left. It wasn't a joke. Apparently, my mom only thought of telling Annabelle that she was leaving BUT conveniently forgot to say that both of them were leaving.

If this isn't irresponsible parenting, I don't know what is. Even though I'm always day dreaming about how glorious life would be to live with my friends downtown and to get away from my parents, now that they actually just left like that, I have to admit that I kind of feel abandoned. Today all I kept thinking was: "Wow, they actually just left."

My oldest-child mentality kicked in high gear today. I called Annabelle a million times to make sure she was still alive, I made sure Matt got to work on time and that Aaron wasn't starving/burning the house down while he was by himself at home. I even checked up on the rabbit.

This has got to be weirdest thing that has happened to me in a while.

I got a text from my mom tonight telling me about the awesome view she has of downtown Ohio. I wasted no time spazzing out on her.

On a random note: I really do wish I had a house-elf to cook and clean for me though. I'd name it Twinkle and it can be friends with Winky and Kreacher. (If only Dobby didn't have to die) Ok, I know what you're thinking: Why is Ann imagining imaginary play dates between fictional house elves?! (I don't even know the answer myself.)

I also started to blog about the infamous Macleans article about nerdy Asian kids but I never finished that post because I got too lazy. If you haven't read the Macleans article yet, read it here: http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/11/10/too-asian/

Basically, the article is saying how Caucasian students are choosing not to go to schools like U of T because of the large Asian population. When I first read the article, I thought it was a joke, it sounded like the type of parody news that the Onion does. Unfortunately for the world of journalism, it was trying to be serious.

This post here basically sums up everything I thought about the article: http://ubyssey.ca/politickedoff/2010/11/25/hi-im-asian-and-im-here-to-destroy-canadian-values/

Personally, I don't think it's just the Asian students at U of T who hit the books with passion. It's a given that if you go to U of T (or any other universities for that matter) you won't have time to party, that is if you want to do well and go to grad school and end up with a decent career afterwards.

"Universities are about academia. They are intended to be institutions based on critical thought and free exchange of ideas. Completing an undergraduate degree is supposed to mean one is qualified to pursue graduate studies. While the insight gained during studies can be used in a career, university education has never been about providing practical skills to the general population" - The Varsity

A.k.a, not everyone is suited for university. A lot of students drop out of universities after realizing that it isn't right for them, a few of my coworkers have done this.

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Library Etiquette

Today I personally witnessed the worst kind of library abuse, making me feel like I should write a 'library etiquette' manual, since some people don't seem to know how to properly behave at the library.


I was sitting in the library this afternoon waiting for Jessie, after having been attacked by a squirrel. (Squirrels who are about to go into hibernation should never be teased with invisible peanuts.)

I sat at this table that was occupied by ONE GIRL. I reserved the spot next to me for Jessie, but then I spotted my sister trolling along with her huge backpack. I told her to sit on the last un-occupied spot when the girl said, "That seat is taken."

Annabelle didn't complain, since there were plenty of other seats. Jessie soon came and we were busy nerding it out. However, I soon noticed that it had been more than an hour and the girls invisible friend had yet to show up. I was getting annoyed with her, since 1) I suspected she was lying 2) She was sleeping behind her leather covered mac book.

Anyway, Colin showed randomly to study, but since half the table was taken up by sleeping beauty and her invisible friend, he left to go elsewhere.

Finally, the girl's friend, who happened to be her boyfriend, shows up. I was like, "Well, that's alright, since she wasn't lying."

But then she goes, "Can you guys watch our stuff for a bit?"

Having good library etiquette, Jessie and I answer yes.

She then leaves for two and a half hours! What a waste of space! Colin and Annabelle could have occupied those two spots, which would have come in handy since I was also working on the story board for Idea#4 (for the picture movie thing) and Colin was helping me.

So eventually I went to class, leaving Jessie by herself. When I got to class a few minutes later I received a text from her telling me that the couple came back and started making out.

WHAT.

Who makes out in the library like that?!? Seriously. What. A. Waste. Of. Space.

Anyway, I just came back to Gerstein just now (Annabelle and I usually leave campus at 9:15) and they're still at it. Not making out, just sitting there chatting. Grrr.

Oh and I know the guy too, he's in my Shakespeare class. I recognize him because he's a keener and sits in the front of the class and makes a lot of insightful comments. For someone who's so insightful, he's lacking serious library etiquette.

/endrant

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But seriously, I was attacked by a squirrel. I learned how to do the squirrel call in first year when I saw this old guy feeding them.

Ann's useful tutorial#2:
How to make squirrel calls:

1)Put the top row of your teeth against the bottom. Do not clench your jaw.
2)Kiss your teeth, a.k.a make tsk-ing sounds by hitting your tongue against your teeth.
3)Keep kissing your teeth until the squirrel comes up to you.

And voila, you are now an expert on squirrel calling. This only works on campus squirrels though, since they're used to human interaction. Kinda like how if you threaten to kick a downtown pigeon it'll just 'coo stupidly at you.

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Stop Motion Picture Video

Speaking of that glorious month long break that I am extremely looking forward to, I was watching MysteryGuitarman's youtube video's and was inspired to actually get started on this stop motion picture film that I've been meaning to do. (May have posted about this before.)

I was thinking of doing a reenactment of the first Harry Potter book, but I realized that I might be setting the bar a little high. I should start off with something smaller.

Idea #1
Here's Annabelle's idea:
A boy and a girl, evidently in a relationship, walking hand in hand toward a bank of snow. The boy hands the girl a snowball, and slowly, they begin to make a snowman. As they are building the snowman, there are flashback scenes to happy days of their relationship. Once the snowman is completed, it will become apparent that they are about to make major decisions in their relationship. Then someone either kicks the snowman and destroys it or the snowman just slowly melts, thus foreshadowing the young couple's future.

Idea #2
Annabelle's idea is good and all, but it seems a little boring. Here's my idea:
A group of college age kids sitting around, broke, with no money. They then suddenly find a magical pot that makes instant food, which answers all of their problems since they will never go hungry again. They then dance around the pot praising it until someone breaks it.

Ok, so my idea sounds stupid, now that I think about it. (Shows you what kind of stupid stuff goes on in my head.)

Idea #3
We could have our own mini cardboard concert. I'll cut out cardboard guitar, bass, drums, key board etc. and pretend that we're jamming out on these cardboard instruments. The actual sound can be added on later when we edit the video. Then at the end there will be a shot of the fake audience, which happens to be a group of teddy bears/stuffed animals. (This seems dorky, but I'll make it cool. I should totally have this ready for the waffle party.)

Idea #4
A girl and a guy sitting on a sofa. The guy wants to tell the girl that he likes her but doesn't know how to do it. We dwell into what the guy is thinking via post it notes on the wall. There will be a thought bubble coming out of his head on how to impress the girl, like flowers. Then all the sudden he'll pull the flowers out of the thought bubble and give it to the girl. But the girl rejects the flowers. He'll keep doing this several more times for chocolate, jewelry and tickets to an expensive show, and each time the girl rejects him. Eventually he's disheartened and turns to video games for comfort. The girl sees him playing the video game and asks if she can play with him and that's when they end up clicking.

p.s.
I am now enlisting actors. Tell me if you are interested in acting. Haha.

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Life List:

1) I've only started watching The Big Bang Theory recently (slowly deviating away from Korean Drama's) and it's starting to become less interesting ever since Penny and Leonard started going out. The reason why the show caught my attention in the first place was because of how nerdy Sheldon and Leonard was, but every since Penny and Leonard started going out, meaning that there will be episodes devoted to their relationship, the show looses some of it's originality and becomes predictable. Plus their relationship doesn't have any dimension to it, all they do is sleep with each other.

2) I've been working crazy hours lately because my coworker is sick. Instead of becoming extremely annoyed by this I've:
i) Decided that it's a good thing, since I'll have money.
ii) Decided to take this as a life challenge. Instead of becoming depressed that I have no time to study and complaining about life and work in general, I will work around it and accomplish everything I have to do.

3) I think I've managed to completely piss Mona off. I openly admit that I am a crappy friend. But if it makes her feel any better, I've been pretty much ignoring everyone since I don't have time in my hands to un-ignore people. For example: today I didn't text anyone, with the exception of my mom when I told her I bought the waffle maker.

4) I bought a waffle maker, I'm thinking of having a waffle party.

5) I want to make my own 'Bingo' video like David Choi with a group of friends.

6) I am going through a frumpy phase. A frumpy phase is the equivalent of girls having 'fat days.' I am feeling frumpy because all my clothes have stains and holes. I need new clothes.

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Elephant Conundrum

I was feeling extremely brain dead and unable to function properly today, which was unfortunate since I found myself in a conversation about Christianity with a couple of people today. I don't know why I always get into these conversations, but I suppose it's because most of my friends have been seeking some sort of spiritual purpose.


When I was in first year, I found myself in a group of friends who believed in the B'hai faith. The B'hai faith essentially believes that all religions lead up to the same God, and the different religions lead up to this God. Sort of like how you can take many different roads to reach a certain destination. Some may drive a car, some may walk, some may take the plane there or some people might bike there.

As always, since this is the only spiritual book I'm reading at the moment, this reminded me of a passage from 'The Reason for God.' It's really interesting:

"Each religion sees part of spiritual truth, but none can see the whole truth."

Sometimes this point is illustrated with the story of the blind men and the elephant. Several blind men were walking along and came upon an elephant that allowed them to touch and feel it. "This creature is long and flexible like a snake" said the first blind man, holding the elephants trunk. "Not at all - it is thick and round like a tree trunk," said the second blind man, feeling the elephant's leg. "No, it is large and flat," said the third blind man, touching the elephant's side. Each blind man could feel only part of the elephant - none could envision the entire elephant. In the same way, it is argued, the religions of the world each have a grasp on part of the truth about spiritual reality, but none can see the whole elephant or claim to have a comprehensive vision of the truth.

This illustration backfires on its users. The story is told from the point of view of someone who is not blind. How could you know that each blind man only sees part of the elephant unless you claim to be able to see the whole elephant?

How could you possibly know that no religion can see the whole truth unless you yourself have superior, comprehensive knowledge of spiritual reality you claimed that one of the religions have?

---

My point is that the B'hai faith can't claim that they have the whole truth of all spiritual reality since the only claim they have is their own religion, and don't study other faiths, thought hey claim to believe in it as well. (They have their own bible.)

I'm not claiming that Christianity will have the whole picture of the elephant and know all spiritual truths/reality, but what I do know is that through God I have spiritual peace/purpose and am not out there seeking for other things to fulfill this need.

Philippians 3:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I was at peace afterwards, since I have nothing to worry/be anxious about life in general. Everything will work itself out. (Insert Peace sign here)

Anyway, I feel like I have to share my spiritual going ons with you all since it might help someone somewhere out there. It's strange that a lot of people my age are seeking something, even Mona, whom I haven't spoken to in a while. She always asks me why I was so 'religious' (her way of saying spiritual) even in my darkest days, then asked me a whole bunch of religious questions I couldn't answer.

But one thing that I'd have to say is really cool is that if you look back to the beginning of when I started this blog a year ago, I was spiritually dead. I use to complain about Christianity how I didn't care. (This is one of the cool things about having a diary/blog.) Big change huh? I went from not caring at all to caring for other peoples spirituality. I really am a lot happier now than I was a year ago.

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