Monday, November 14, 2005
Why do I need a title for every damn entry?!
Today's soundtrack: "American Pie"
- Don MacLean
I got 95% on my Diversity Issues in the
Criminal Justice System midterm today.
(It would have been 100% but those multiple
choice questions just kill me!) I was pretty
stoked, but then my prof asked if he could
show my exam to the class. I thought maybe
because I was the only student to get 20/20
on the essay section that maybe he wanted to
show my much younger classmates how to properly
write an essay. But no, he just wanted to show
them my handwriting, which according to him, is
that of a "psychopath". I'm hoping he was just
joking... but he is the dean of the justice
faculty... either way, now I have a complex.
In other news, I forgot to wear my mittens
outside today, and now my hands feel chapped - like
I cleaned the oven without rubber gloves.
It's the grossest feeling ever. 4 more days
until Harry Potter! Oh, the excitement!
Posted at 03:43 pm by TheDharmaBum
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Now you know what I want for Christmas!
I want it! I need it! I have to have it!
Posted at 08:21 pm by TheDharmaBum
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
I'm not going to buy a self help book!!! I won't! I won't! I won't!
Today's soundtrack:
"Feelin' Alright" - Joe Cocker
Ugh. Therapy is so passe. (I don't know how to
give the "e" an accent.) Today my psychologist
suggested I read "The Feeling Good Book". She
insisted that I buy it right away. Honey, I
don't do self help. That's what I'm paying her for.
The last time I bought a self help book, my
parents split up. (Thanks a lot Dr. Phil.)
You know what? Maybe I'll
write my own self help book. Yeah. It'll be
called "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People
Who Buy Self Help Books (and Why Even Worse
Things Happen to Those Who Buy Self Help Tapes.)"
It'll be a smash hit.
Posted at 02:31 pm by TheDharmaBum
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Today's soundtrack:
"Perfect Drug" - Nine Inch Nails
I just want to extend my sincerest apologies
to all of my friends and family for the rain.
I knew I shouldn't have washed the truck
yesterday! I think the waxing may be cause
for snow.
Posted at 04:16 pm by TheDharmaBum
Monday, October 31, 2005
Today's soundtrack: Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
What a thrilling day! I just hooked up my own internet, so I
guess that intro computer class wasn't such a waste afterall!
Hooray! Well today is All Hallow's Eve - my favorite day of the
year. Due to a brain fart on my part, I have no plans tonight.
Nor do I have a costume. Which is sad because I'm quite
fond of dressing up. I guess I could slut it up at some bar, but
it's Monday night and I just don't have the energy. So I'm
having a movie marathon instead... I'm watching "The Crow"
as we speak, and then will move on to.... hmmm... maybe
Beetlejuice? So many good choices. There are several children
living in my building, so I'm quite surprised that none of them
came by to trick or treat. I wasn't expecting a lot of kids to come
by, but I had candy all ready. And I get such a kick out of seeing
all of the great costumes. I guess it's almost time for me to move on
to Christmas... hooray! I love decorating for Christmas & I LOVE
Christmas music. For some strange reason, whenever I play
Christmas music, it always makes my dingy little lonely apartment
feel like home. My best memories of Christmas were always of the
drive out to my Great Grandma's late on Christmas Eve. She lived
in a small town about an hour away from us. Usually my brothers
and I would kick the shit out of eachother while my sister was
smushed up in the front seat with my mum and dad. But never on
Christmas. It would be pitch black outside, and we wouldn't say
a word. We'd just listen to the Christmas music on the AM
radio for the whole drive there and the whole drive back. As we
got older, we all got a little distracted. We still head out to that
small town for Midnight Mass every year, and even though my
great grandma is no longer with us, we still are a family for one
more year. The only difference is that now I drive up on my own.
I say it's my thinking time, and it is, but I really just want an
excuse to listen to the music.
Posted at 07:58 pm by TheDharmaBum
Friday, October 28, 2005
Always look on the bright side of life!
You know what I get a kick out of? Wandering
around my apartment all night, convincing
myself that today is going to be a nightmare
of a day, and then finding that it wasn't so
bad afterall. Despite my sleep deficiency and
the fact that the last real meal I ate today
was at 6:00am, I navigated myself pretty darn
well. I threw together a power point presentation
at 7:00am - I would have done it at home but
because I don't have internet there yet, I
couldn't register the program to use it. At
11:00am I present my slide show on GPS to my
computer sciences class. Amazingly, I got 100%
on the project (shout out to Al for his help!)
I think that I did so well may have had something
to do with the fact that I wasn't actually
yawning through my presentation - unlike my other
classmates. (Real class acts those guys.) So I was
stoked.
After class, I rushed downtown to the provincial
courthouse - I was about to sue my landlord! Hey!
Before court was in session, I was thinking about
that old tv show - Night Court. I used to love that
show when I was a kid, it was second only to Magnum
P.I. Anyway... whatever happened to Harry Anderson?
He was pretty great as Judge Stone, and the rest of
the cast seem to have found seminal work after the
show was cancelled... but I digress. I was merely
trying to keep my spirits up.
Anyway... I was actually posted last on the docket,
but happened to be called second. What luck! And,
even better - my landlord was a no show! So I'm
the winner! In fact, on top of the money I'm owed,
the landlord has to pay my court costs AND an extra
$75 just because I showed up! Hey hey! My dad was
amused when I phoned him - I won my first court case!
Now we'll see if the landlord actually pays... and if
I get evicted... or death threats for that matter...
Now I'm back to the old grindstone at work. Not a
very thrilling Friday night to work, but I had freebie
books waiting for me - including the new Peter Ackroyd
biography of Shakespeare! Peter Ackroyd would have to
be at the top of my list of transvestites to meet.
I guess good old karma happens to be smiling on the
Dharma Bum today.
Posted at 05:44 pm by TheDharmaBum
Thursday, October 20, 2005
My mum has just informed me that she has
agreed to purchase a new condo in Regina.
She will be selling our house in the
spring and the condo will be available
in the fall. While I completely support her
decision and think it will be good for her
in the long run, part of me feels a little
funny about the whole thing. I mean, it's not
like I had a bedroom of my own to go home
to for the past five years, but it's hard to
think that this will be my last Christmas at
home. Oh well... ch-ch-ch-changes, as David
Bowie might say. Time might change me, but I
can't change time.
Posted at 01:48 pm by TheDharmaBum
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Hello, and welcome to the world of Murphy's Law!
When I last wrote, (what, like... 4 hours ago)
I was at Kinko's typing up my Aboriginal
justice paper. Fun stuff. I got home from
Kinko's around 4am, of course I can't sleep,
so I read ghost stories until 6am when I get
out of bed. I get out of bed at 6am to catch
the bus at 7am to get to class by 8am. (What
am I?! The little old lady who swallowed a
fly?!) Anyway, my paper is done and I am eager
to be rid of it. My secretary of the justice
dept. shows up to let us know that class is
cancelled, but we need to hand in our papers.
The shit disturber in me wants to refuse to
hand in the paper I was up all night with.
Afterall, was this not the prof who went on
and on about common courtesy and how if you
are 5 minutes late to class and therefore
5 minutes late to handing your paper in, that
you would lose a full letter grade on the
paper. "So..." says my inner shit-disturber,
since the prof doesn't have the common
courtesy to show up to accept the papers,
why should I bestow that not-so-reciprocal
courtesy and hand my paper in on time?
Why couldn't I sleep in and hand it in whenever
I happen to get here?
But of course I kept this all to myself,
handing in my paper, and went about my
merry little way. I'm not bitter... I'm
cranky and tired.
You know what else gets my goat? Students
who hand in papers with the corner folded
because they were either too lazy to walk down
to the library and borrow a stapler, or too
cheap to buy one. These are the same people
who although in university, wouldn't be able
to tell you what a thesis statement is.
Amateurs.
And what is with this keyboard?! Did someone
use crisco as hand lotion today?
Aaaaaargh!!!!
Posted at 07:24 am by TheDharmaBum
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
It's a mission statement!
You wouldn't think that Kinko's is as
loud as it is at one o'clock in the
morning. But it's pretty freaking loud.
I'm going to wring someone's neck!
(Sorry, channeling my mum there for
a second.) I am supposed to be writing
a paper that is due tomorrow morning
at 8am. It's about "the over-representation
of Aboriginals in the Criminal Justice System".
And it's a long time coming. I had my first
midterm today - criminology. It went
surprisingly well. Tomorrow after class, when
I no longer have to worry about essays or midterms
for this week, I am going to treat myself to
a space heater. Because once again, I live in an
apartment that has no heat in the winter. And
being cold makes me miserable. Home for
Thanksgiving this weekend. Now that should be fun.
Posted at 11:50 pm by TheDharmaBum
Thursday, September 29, 2005
The Calgary International Film Fest is
premiering Thumbsucker tonight at the movie
theatre next door to where I work. All the
hipsters are out in full force. We were
supposed to have Warren Kinsella come in and
read from his book, Fury's Hour, but there
was a scheduling glitch with Random House
and he showed up last night. Apparently he
wasn't too gracious about the mix-up, even
pointing out the error that "Pages made" on
his website. That got me down, because I was
really stoked about him coming here, I wrote
a really nice review of the book for our
web-site (www.pages.ab.ca) and I had a wicked
introduction prepared for tonight. And the
fact that he's pointing fingers kind of
disappointed me. (Like the time I met
Russell Banks.) Maybe I should stop getting
my hopes up about authors being nice
people. (Sigh.)
Today was my day off from school. I am
turning into the world's most lazy and
oblivious person. Literally all I did
today was make waffles, draft yet another
letter to my father, and walked to the
ice cream store for a waffle cone. I've been
in a complete fog for the past couple weeks.
I'll get to school and realize I haven't got
my glasses on. Or I've forgotten to apply
deoderant. (Thankfully I'm not a naturally
smelly person!) Or I realize I've been
wearing the same sweater for 3 days and it's
had chicken soup on it since day one. This
all wigs me out because I'm very conscientious
about my hygiene. For some reason I've been
making up for all my forgetfulness this week
by constantly brushing my teeth. Ah well...
I've been in a movie sort of mood lately, so
if anyone is up for a film this weekend, drop
me a line! Cheerio!
Posted at 06:06 pm by TheDharmaBum
