Karli's LiveJournal

9:37pm: ...dude, I just saw a CHRISTMAS commercial for Crisco Hampers. That is so wrong.

7:27pm: We got our marks on our last design project today; we had been told to make a faux media kit and cover for our school's magazine. We were only allowed to use photos taken by ourselves and our classmates and had to include a bunch of information from the actual media kit, including prices and a map. I wasn't very happy with either of my final products (I must've redone them about fifty times), mainly because there were SO many cool photos available that I kept changing my mind about which ones to use. I ended up turning my projects in with a less-than-good feeling about the outcome.

So when our teacher was giving out our marks (which consists of us sitting with her at her computer while she looks at the computer file we submitted and tells us what we did right/wrong), I didn't want to go up. I really like design (not the class, the actual act and potential to make it a career) and wasn't looking forward to a blotch on my current A+ overall grade. But it was really snowing out (still is) and I wanted to get home before it got too bad (as it is now *hopes for another snow day*), so I went up and got my mark:

20/20

I was quite surprised, which of course the teacher noticed and I explained that I hadn't been that happy with my work. But she really liked it; of course, despite my perfect mark, she managed to find some things she'd change, but overall it was perfect! She said I'm on my way to becoming a designer! :D Since I was thinking of making it my profession, this is very good news to me!

2:43pm: I had another weird encounter in the Toronto subway station on Thursday. Weird and a little scary.

I was waiting for the subway to go to school, like any other day; there was a fairly large group of people waiting with me. I stood near a column, not really near anyone, occasionally looking down the tracks to see if the subway was coming. A few minutes in, a young guy walked over and stood next to me on the other side of the column. I thought that was a little weird, to stand so close to someone you don't know, but it was a little crowded, so I didn't think much of it.

Then, all of a sudden, he walks right up to me, pushes me and asks me why I'm staring at him.

Now, I know for a fact I wasn't staring at him. I was looking down the tracks, which was in the same general direction as where he was standing. Whenever I look that way, I make a point not to stare at anyone for exactly that reason, so they don't think I'm staring at them and get creeped out. Anyway, I backed away and headed to a large group of people about ten feet away. The guy went back to his place and I thought it was over.

Then, less then a minute later, he walks up to me, all purposefully and shoves me, harder. He said I was staring at him, asked if I had a fucking staring problem. I hadn't even been looking in his direction until I saw him heading towards me. I told him I wasn't staring at him and he shoved me again. All this time, I was backing towards a large group of people, trying to get some help. I mean, I'm short, not very tough or physically strong, and there were plenty of people on the tracks who could've at least stood between us or come to my aid.

But no one did anything; in fact, several people walked away from me when I headed towards them. It was like they thought I'd somehow instigated the incident and deserved to be assaulted. Finally, I managed to slip into the crowd and the guy turned his attention on two men coming up the stairs; he tried to shove them down the stairs and it was at that point that I headed down the other set of stairs, intent on finding a security guard. This guy was obviously not right in the head.

Well it turns out at least one person had the guts to do something; this woman came running after me, asked if I was okay and said she'd already told security what was going on (I'd seen her slip downstairs the first time the guy shoved me, but I'd assumed she was leaving to avoid the whole thing). She asked if I wanted to speak with the police, but since I couldn't really tell them anything other than that he had shoved me, I said no. She asked me again if I was okay, then commented that it wasn't right of the guy to go around shoving people. That made me feel better, that at least one person in the world cared what was going on.

At this point, the subway still hadn't come and the station was filling up with so many people that the ticket counter operator was turning people away. Apparently there was some sort of accident and the subway was being delayed from the station. There was a fire truck outside, but I'm still not sure what the problem was, as the truck was just sitting there and there was no evident fire or accident to be seen. I didn't know whether security had found the guy yet, and I didn't want to go back upstairs to wait for the subway and possibly get shoved (or worse) by that guy, so I ended up taking a cab to school. I was just a little late, and of course I wasn't the only late person since so many others rely on the TTC to get to school. I texted my mom on the ride to school and she agreed that I'd done the right thing.

After school, I walked to the station with a few girls from my program. I told them what had happened. I thought maybe I'd overreacted, that maybe I was just a Toronto n00b and needed to toughen up when it came to encounters with crazy people. But one girl seemed shocked by my tale, and the other one asked if the person doing the shoving was "a young guy in a hoodie"; I told her it was and she said a similar thing had happened to her, and to another girl she knew. I don't know if it was the same guy, but it sounds like it. I don't know why, but it makes me feel better to know that I'm not alone.

Other than that incident, things have been going well. They're testing all the fire alarms in the apartment today, so it keeps going off every few minutes. I really hope there's not a real fire today, 'cause everybody would just ignore the alarm.

I saw Cloverfield with my cousin Erin and her boyfriend Steve. That movie is fucking awesome. Steve wanted all the questions to be answered in the movie and you know if J.J. Abrams of Lost is behind the movie, you'll just wind up with more questions at the end.

School's going well. Still bogged down with about a million assignments. But we listened to this really funny Stuart McLean story from the Vinyl Cafe, about a woman who changes hair dressers but doesn't want her original hair dresser to find out; her husband overhears her talking on the phone about cheating on her hair dresser and he mistakenly thinks she's cheating on him. It's quite a cute, touching story, funny more because of the way Stuart McLean tells it than because of the plot.

Last Friday we were working in groups to come up with three non-fiction book ideas based around a similar topic. One group had "dogs" as their topic.
Presenter: "Our first book is a book of dog recipes."
Rest of the class: *boggles*
*uncomfortable silence*
One girl (somewhat disgusted): "What?"
*pause*
Presenter: "Recipes for dogs, not recipes for cooking dogs!"
Rest of the class: "Oooohhhh."
It was quite cute, you really had to be there.

And on a final note, I'm still enjoying following the American elections, but I wish Bill Clinton would shut up. It's like everyday I hear that Bill said something that pissed off a bunch of people and made Obama look good (not that I'm for either Clinton or Obama at this point, but Bill doesn't seem to be helping her campaign. If I were Hillary, I'd tell Bill to go play golf and let me worry about getting elected.)

6:27pm: I may not be a huge fan of Book and Magazine Marketing & Sales, but I do luff the free stuff we get. Tuesday, our teacher was talking about various promotional materials sales people use to sell books and she gave out a bunch of free HP stuff from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows craze:



A Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows double-sided poster (featuring the adult cover on one side and the regular cover on the other side)
A Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows door hanger
Harry Potter stickers, featuring the cover of each book
A fake Harry Potter scar

(I snagged a few more stickers than we were told to take, but there were seriously a bunch of them, and not everyone in my class likes HP, so I was really just taking their share *nods*)

2:38pm: Huckabee and Gay Marriage - A Rant
After watching the NH primary last night (well, having it turned on while I played computer games), I decided to check out the website for the winner of the previous primary, Mike Huckabee. Obviously, being a Canadian, and a liberal one at that, I have no say in what goes down in the U.S. elections and if I did, I wouldn't vote for Huckabee. However, I do like to keep up-to-date with what's going on down there; hell, half my family and friends live in the U.S., it impacts them, so I want to know about it. My big issues are marriage (yay for gay marriage!), gays in the military (which is one of the most idiotic bans I have ever seen), and international relations ('cause, y'know, that actually involves my country).

AAAnnnnyway.

Like I said, I was on Huckabee's website and checked out what he had to say on marriage. I wasn't expecting the Republican preacher to be for it, but what he said about it was so inane that I want to bitch about it comment on it. Also I'm at school in our boring ass four-hour design class, so I gotta do something.

The italicized lines are all from Huckabee's website, particularly this page on marriage:

I support and have always supported passage of a federal constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My personal belief is that marriage is between one man and one woman, for life.

Then don't marry a homosexual, you moron. (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

No other candidate has supported traditional marriage more consistently and steadfastly than I have. While Massachusetts was allowing homosexuals to marry, I got a constitutional amendment passed in Arkansas in 2002 defining marriage as between one man and one woman. I got Arkansas to become only the third state to adopt "covenant" marriage. My wife Janet and I upgraded our vows on Valentine's Day, 2005.

Does anyone else read that last line as, "Neener-neener-neener gay people, I got to get married and you don't! Suckahs!"

Today, many churches in Arkansas will perform only covenant marriages, so I'm hoping we'll see a decline in our divorce rates.

...
I...uh...seriously. I can't wrap my head around this argument. And this isn't the first time I've heard it either; I actually wrote a letter to the editor of my paper when an opinion piece appeared claiming legalization of gay marriage in other countries had somehow led to an increase in divorce and children born out of wedlock. The reason, if you can call it that, was because straight couples were "afraid" to get married now that gay people had the same right.

I asked my mom if she knew what the reason is and she guesses that they think "all the closeted gay men will leave their wives in droves to marry Fabio." Which leads me to the assumption that Republicans aren't so much anti-gay marriage as they are pro-loveless marriages of convenience.

Seriously though, the mind, it boggles.

I don't know what Huckabee's reason is for saying that gay marriage ban will lead to a decline in divorce. Does he think gay people get divorced more than straight people? That if gay marriage is legalized, idiotic straight couples will think marriage is now "gay" and won't want to be associated with it? Do straight couples threaten to not get married if gay marriage is allowed?

What the heck is the logic behind this? I thought Huckabee might mention this, so I read further (after taking a break so as not to *headdesk* myself into a concussion):

The late Cardinal O'Connor decried a domestic partnership law (which provided that all couples who signed up, whether heterosexual or homosexual, would be treated the same as married couples) as legislating that "marriage doesn't matter." I agree with the Cardinal that marriage does matter, I would add that nothing in our society matters more.

Waitwaitwait...does this mean that Huckabee's not even okay with gay couples whom he denies the right to marry to be given the same rights were they allowed to be married? I've seen several right-wing politicians who, despite being anti-gay marriage, agree that common-law gay couples (along with common-law straight couples) should be afforded all the same rights as married couples (rights like access to their partner's health benefits, the right to visit their loved one in the hospital when they're sick, etc.). Mind you, these politicians were probably saying this just to get the gay vote and to appear more centrist come election day.

Our true strength doesn't come from our military or our gross national product, it comes from our families.

'Cause gay couples and their children/dependents aren't "families". Obviously only the nuclear mom dad kids are families. And lord knows, that type of family is the norm nowadays.

What was it Jon Stewart said in his debate with Bill Bennett on The Daily Show? I don't have access to the videos on the website (they don't let people outside of the U.S. view the videos, but I'm not going to launch a rant inside a rant), so I'm paraphrasing here. Bill said something about how gay people's families are essentially their parents, and Jon said something like, "What is that, the gay glass ceiling?" I mean really, they're allowed to have families other than the ones they were born into. It's not like single women/men and their children aren't families, so why aren't happily together gay couples and their children considered families?

What's the point of keeping the terrorists at bay in the Middle East if we can't keep decline and decadence at bay here at home?

There we go, I knew Huckabee could somehow link terrorism with gay marriage. It makes no fucking sense, but it's there. I highly doubt legal marriage for gays would result in mass suicide bombers and civil war and rioting in the U.S. And by "highly doubt" I mean it fucking WON'T HAPPEN. I live in a country with nationwide legalized gay marriage (*huggles Canada*) and I can assure you, we are just as peaceful and terrorism free as we were before it was legalized.

The growing number of children born out of wedlock and the rise in no-fault divorce have been a disaster for our society.

Again, HOW is this related to gay marriage being legalized?! HOW?! *weeps out of frustration*

They have pushed many women and children into poverty and onto the welfare, food stamp, and Medicaid rolls. These children are more likely to drop out of school and end up in low-paying, dead-end jobs, they are more likely to get involved with drugs and crime, they are more likely to have children out of wedlock or get divorced themselves someday, continuing the unhappy cycle.

Wow, first divorce, then terrorism, now school drop-outs, drugs, crime, welfare...legalized same-sex marriage can do anything!

Well, now that's done. Sorry for the long-winded rant, but sometimes I just need to vent. To end on a light note, here's a hilarious video about gay marriage/commitment ceremonies by Julie Goldman, featuring Kate McKinnon, both of the fabulously funny LOGO series The Big Gay Sketch Show. Rated PG just to be safe.

12:55am: Finally going home tomorrow!!! *knock wood* I was supposed to be home last week, but my mom got sick and was in the hospital, so we had to put off the trip until the 3rd of Jan, then I got to my friends' Lucie & Gina's house and the return was held off for another day and a half. I miss my computer and my PaintShop and my Sony Vegas Movie Studio. I'm feeling so creative and my only outlet is to play the Sims and create multiple human/alien/vampire/zombie/werewolf families and mess with their genes.

Other than my mom's sickness (which was an asthma-related thing that started off as a simple cough and gradually got worse), Christmas was great. I got pretty much everything I wanted and needed and lots of gift certificates to help me continue getting things I want/need. Very spoiled was I. One of my favourites is this awesome jacket my mom got me; it has a gold outline of a cat on the back. I also got a TON of books; I swear, I was on a high just trying to decide what to read first. I'm reading three books right now, though logic tells me I should pace myself so that I don't end up running out of books in a month and spending craploads of money I don't have on more books. Ooo, I bought both of Keith Olbermann's books; I love that man, he pretty much says what I'm thinking, but more eloquently with a good dose of snarkiness to boot. AND I got Stephen Colbert's book, YAY!

My kitties also got very spoiled, not just by me, but by my mom and Elaine and Lucie and Gina. Right now the boys are sleeping on the bed with me in the guest room (Lucie & Gina were nice enough to pick up my kitties for me before coming to get me). They seem happy enough; Koko was mad at me for about a second and Giggy was pissy for maybe an hour (he can hold a grudge). They're not big fans of Gina & Lucie's puppy Nanook, but he LOVES kitties, thinks they're the bestest toys. Giggy hisses at the pup, but Koko pretty much stands there and lets the puppy lick him before taking off for the safety of the basement. Koko also seems to be a fan of Gina's kitty Phantom, he's constantly sitting near her or trying to join her under the bed. Gina and I think he has a crush on her; she'll hiss and growl at him and he just sits there meowing at her. Sweet little guy.

10:53am: Last night I dreamed that I was at the Spice Girls reunion show and they all started fighting in the middle of it before finally breaking up (again). Luckily, in the end they all got back together, thanks to couselling from Jay Manuel from America's Next Top Model.

10:05pm: Mother. Fucking. OW.



Jesus tap-dancing Christ, there's so much wrong with these idiots and their "Gays in the military ZOMGNO!1!!" What assholes. I may post more about what I think later, but right now I'm so pissed off that my comments would read something like, "What the fuck? What -- how the hell can you...FUCK! Fucking idiots! You-you dumbasses!" and so on.

5:02pm: So I took the boys on their first Toronto vet trip today. I thought taking them together would be cheaper and that perhaps the presence of another cat would calm them down; if anything, I think it just irritated Giggy more to have the kitten in the room.

No major changes to report, except that my last vet apparently recommended giving Giggy a tooth cleaning on his information sheet, when I'm sure she told me it would be dangerous to put him under because of his age. But the new vet said it's no more dangerous at his age than it would be with a younger cat. So at some point I'll be shelling out the $600 to get both my kitters' teeth cleaned; I'll probably wait 'til after Christmas when I have some more money.

Another change: Giggy's now getting IV fluids every day. It takes about two minutes to do and is surprisingly unexpensive; about $15 for 10 doses and a line. The needle just goes under his skin, not in a vein, which is good because I'm sure I would fail at getting a needle in a kitty vein and end up hurting him terribly. :( I'm starting tomorrow at 10pm; I need to give him the IV every 24 hours, and I figure 10pm's a good time for me...'cept I just remembered that the boys will be spending some time with Elaine for the holidays. Hmm... I'd better make sure she'd be willing to give Giggy the IV before I start him on it. If not, I'll just start once I get home. I don't want to put him on it, then take him off, then put him on. That's probably unhealthy, not to mention unfair to the poor boy.

To make up for his ordeal, I bought him a $5 catnip toy that Koko took great pleasure in playing with. *rolls eyes*

6:22pm: Today was one of those weird Toronto days.

For starters, we only had one class, and we were going on a field trip to Magazines Canada at 3pm. So I got to sleep in, then left around 2pm to catch the subway. When I got to the station, I saw Colin, one of my classmates, also waiting for the subway, so I decided to stick by him since I was so sure I'd get lost on the way there. Plus, he's cool and talking to him beats listening to my iPod and avoiding eye contact with everyone.

So there we are, waiting for the subway, when a guy runs past us, followed by three cops holding their guns and ordering him to stop. They cornered him on the stairs, less than a metre behind us, and he kept struggling until they threatened to taser him. A few more cops and subway employees came over and ordered everyone back (they didn't have to tell Colin and I twice; we'd been backing up the moment the cops appeared), then they started frisking the guy and continually peering down at the tracks. That part freaked me out a little; my overactive imagination figured they were looking for a bomb or something else dangerous he might've thrown on the tracks. I'm still not even sure why they arrested him.

So because of all this hullabaloo, the trains were prevented from going to our station until about 2:30. Colin and I got on and chatted and tried to figure out the quickest way to get to the MC building, as we were sure to be late thanks to the train delay. At the Bloor stop, just as the subway was preparing to pull out of the station, the exasperated voice of the subway driver came over the loudspeakers because "some idiot" was holding open the subway doors. Turns out this "idiot" was coming into our car from the car next to us. She stopped in front of Colin and me and asked us for change, which neither of us had. Then she started going through her change, throwing pennies on the ground (I'm fairly certain she was mentally challenged to some extent). It was a little scary, but nowhere near as bad as the previous incident.

Finally we got off the subway and walked a few blocks until we arrived at the building. We found our way to the correct room, where our classmates were already listening to a lecture about magazines from the MC people. Everyone had received free bags and catalogues and donuts, which Colin and I snagged after the talk. We also explained to Mary, our teacher, about the cops incident, so we didn't get in trouble for being tardy (not that I think she minded, since only about half the class bothered showing up at all). People were quite interested in the "gun battle" that had taken place. ;)

After that we got to go to a room known as the warehouse, which was full of boxes and back issues of magazines. We listened to another lecture about magazines and what they do with issues that don't get sold to distributors. Then came the coolest part of all: we got to go through all their back issues and take as many as we wanted! We were like kids in a candy store; lit geeks in a magazine warehouse. I must've snagged at least 40 magazines. They were mostly small Canadian magazines, but the articles looked interesting. I also snagged a few back issues of horse magazines for my aunt Debbie and two art magazines for my cousin Erin. Hey, they were just going to be recycled anyway. Afterwards we were comparing our haul, rather like kids after Hallowe'en. Such dorks we are. :)

So it was weird start to the day, but it ended quite nicely. Plus, I just got off the phone with one of my contacts for my next feature article, which I've decided to do about teens and adults with gay parents. I was actually trying to call my mom's old assistant because she has a daughter and might have connections to other kids with LGBT parents; instead I actually spoke with her daughter and arranged an interview for Sunday! :) I love when things work out. I just have to remember to hook up my phone recorder before calling her.

7:57pm: For the record, there is no way in hell I'm shelling out $10 to see the upcoming "Alvin and the Chipmunks" movie.

However.

Having seen the trailer, I can tell you what I want for Christmas: my very own 3D-animated little chubby talking Theodore chipmunk, to snuggle and have sleep on my head when he has nightmares. *iz ded of qte*

(To see what I mean, click here)

5:26pm: I've been really impressed by most of the people I've talked to online about Dumbledore being gay; they're either exstatic or don't care either way. There's been a sad number of homophobic idiots posting on the messageboards, and even a few gay people who are pissed that she didn't out him IN the books. They're all, "It wouldn't have taken up that much room to have Dumbledore say he's gay", to which I say, there's so much info that J.K. needed to get in the books to further the plot; plus, come on, it would look really weird if Dumbles just randomly outted himself while teaching Harry about Horcruxes and magic. Imagine how that conversation would go:

DUMBLEDORE: Voldemort made seven Horcruxes to keep seven parts of his soul so that he would never die--oh, and don't you think that Gellert Grindelwald was rather dishy?
HARRY: ...

It's more the fact that she didn't have to tell the world that he's gay and yet still did that makes me so happy. She easily could've let people 'ship Albus/Minerva to their heart's content, all the while snickering softly and thinking, Little do they know...

8:15pm: I had trick-or-treaters!

I live on the ninth floor of an apartment building!

I was not prepared for this!

So the cute little kiddies from across the hall got a nice view of me in my sweats and a wrinkly old t-shirt, my hair swept messily back with a headband and a thoroughly confused look on my face. But they were cute, so I gave them some of the chocolate bars my aunt gave me for Hallowe'en.

Then I turned off the lights, turned off the TV and played on my computer in the dark until the souds of other potential 'treaters had gone away. 'Cause those first kids were cute and live across from me, so there'd be awkwardness if I denied them candy.

But the rest of the candy is MINE! *greedily eats her candy*

But seriously, next year if I'm still living here, I'll buy some candy for the kiddies. 'Cause I'm not a total bitch. I'm just poor and like chocolate.

10:16pm: Frig, what is with LJ not e-mailing me my comments for this journal? *pokes LJ with stick* Gimme my comments!

Watching 20/20, they are reporting on the NBC show Dateline: To Catch A Predator and the ADA who killed himself. The whole report is basically, "NBC sucks, Chris Hansen sucks, they're EVIL, watch ABC and 20/20, we're much more trustworthy, blahblahblah." Seriously, they are not even trying to hide this. It's pathetic. No one from Dateline agreed to be interviewed for this show. Wonder why. /sarcasm Chris Hansen's entire interview would've been, "You're just jealous that we have a higher-rated program than you, losers." It's like Bill O'Reilly and Keith Olbermann (Bill-o being ABC).

Had an interesting week last week. Instead of classes we had "Career Week", where both sections of the Book & Magazine Publishing program met up in the basement of St. Vladimir's Institute and listened to various past-grads and other publishing people tell us about their jobs. It was informative, if a little dull (and the chairs were quite uncomfortable); the best thing that happened (besides the free pizza lunches) was the semi-animosity between the two sections. For all three days, our group sat on the right of the aisle, their's sat on the left. We mingled a bit, but it was like a high school dance with the boys and the girls on opposite ends of the room. Then, on the day when we learned about our work on the On The Danforth magazine next term, the question of jobs came up. The way they assign jobs is by having us fill out a form, listing which jobs we would most like to have. Then the teachers interview us and assign the jobs based on who they think will do the best work.

Someone from the other group commented that their group had been talking and they would really like to be allowed to vote on who gets what job. Our group disagreed, because we don't feel we know each other's talents well enough to determine who would actually do well in what, unlike our teachers, who have seen our work. There was also the subject of bias and people voting for their friends, and the obvious fact that being interviewed for a job was how the real world works; as one person put it, you don't get to vote on who your boss will be.

We debated this for about twenty minutes, it was really quite funny. Except one girl from the other side, who was all snarky and said something like, "Well maybe our class just know each other better than the other class", as though our group barely talk to each other and their group is one big happy family. The best part was when the teachers asked who in the other group agreed with the voting plan and only half raised their hands. So much for their camaraderie. In the end the teachers pretty much said they're not going to change the system that has worked so well in the past.

In other relatively interesting news, I had a great thing happen to me today. I was out at the local used bookshop, just browsing, when the woman who runs the shop asked me if I knew anything about sci-fi and fantasy books. She'd just received a huge box full of them and wanted some help picking out the more popular books the sell. I'm a fan of sci-fi/fantasy, and I wasn't busy, so I helped her and she said she'd give me a discount on whatever I bought today. So of course I had to get something. ;) I looked around a bit and spotted an older ST:TNG novelization; since the show ended 13 years ago, they older novels have been harder to come by, and it seemed like a good story, so I picked it up. I took it over to the counter and the woman told me that I could have the book "on the house, no strings attached." So yay! Free ST:TNG book! :D Just goes to show you that you should always help someone if you can (even if you don't get free stuff).

10:54pm: JK Rowling says Albus Dumbledore is gay!!! That is so cool!!! :D Here I thought the HP books existed in some weird world where everyone was straight and got married at the end...so happy I'm wrong!!! :D I don't know why I'm so giddy about this, I just am. It sucks that it has to be a character I'm not a big fan of, but still...gay Dumbledore, who knew! And he was in love with Grindelwald...there is so much slash that will spawn from that, the internet may asplode.

9:58pm: So last night, I'm lying in bed, asleep, when a strange beeping noise (not my clock) pulls me out of my dreaming. It is 2am. The fucking fire alarm is going off. Turns out there wasn't even a fire, which means some asshat probably pulled the alarm as a joke. Took me half an hour to get back to sleep. Fucking 2AM, REAL FUNNY JACKASS.

Then today in the last half hour of Copyright class, a strange beeping sounds during our teacher's lecture. It's the fucking fire alarm. Only this time, there's an actual fire. Still, since it's a big school, no one is panicking. Our teacher happily dismissed up and we all gathered up our stuff and headed out the door. The front hall smelled a bit like smoke coming from upstairs and I overheard someone say that a student had set fire to their lunch in the microwave.

Again, there are people sitting around, chatting, sauntering slowly to the exits, so I decided to head to my locker (also on the first floor and nearby a fire exit) to drop off my books so that I could leave school for good and not have to wait around for the fire trucks. Again, pretty much no one is panicking, until a man in an official looking uniform comes running down the hall ordering everyone out. Turns out there is a fire. We all make our way out and I head to the bus stop in front of the school. There's a mess of students standing outside in the cold, wondering what the heck is going on.

About ten minutes later, two fire trucks and a fire van (I guess) race towards the school, pull up to the front, and the firefighters, I swear, stroll to the school. All those TV shows and movies I've seen where the firefighters rush into the building as fast as they can were not to be seen in this real-life situation. Now I'm no firefighter, so I don't know if there was some rules or precautions they were taking; they might've been playing safe, not being slow, it just looked that way to me. Firefighters are good :) Anyhoo, by the time my bus showed up, they had just headed inside, so I'm not sure what went down, but I'm pretty certain when I show up for school tomorrow that the building will not have been reduced to a smoldering pile of ash (if it is, I'll be majorly pissed and demand my tuition money back). But what the heck are the chances of two fire alarms in one day?

4:42pm: We went on a field trip to Access Copyright yesterday. It was pretty much the standard fair for our trips: go to a building, sit around for an hour or more listening to someone talking, go home early. I did get to have lunch with some classmates, and while we were walking to the restaurant we saw Douglas Coupland heading into the CIBC across the street. We stood on the sidewalk for a few minutes, staring at the bank and honestly contemplating wether it would be creepy for the nine of us to ambush him in the bank (we chose not to). But we did wait a while longer to see if he would come back out.

So I appear to actually have Thanksgiving plans this year. I'm going to my Aunt Deb and Uncle Art's for dinner. I haven't really had a family Thanksgiving dinner for something like ten years. Also I'm going to my great-aunt's birthday on Saturday. Seriously, if she wasn't going to be there and it was just some random family gathering, I probably wouldn't go. NONE of my cousins can go, so I'll be the only young'un there. If anyone asks me what I want to be when I graduate, I'll say, "Copyeditor and extreme gay rights activist." That should bring the conversation to a grinding halt. ;) Hey, my momma won't be there, someone's gotta represent.

9:20pm: Yay, I met Kevin Smith!!! :D
( Cut for language, 'Heroes' homoeroticism, rabid fangirling, and a picture )

9:37pm: Oh.
My.
GOD.

KEVIN FUCKING SMITH IS GOING TO BE AT THE EATON CENTRE ON THURSDAY!!! I AM SO THERE!!!

*has massive fangirl spasm*

He's going to be in the Indigo bookstore signing copies of his new book. I saw the sign out front of Indigo and literally stopped and stared, my mouth hanging open, for about a minute. I must've looked like an idiot but...

KEVIN.
FUCKING.
SMITH.

*happy dance*

I'm totally going to tell him about how they filmed Degrassi High at my school; maybe he'll drop by for a visit! (in my dreams) AND MY GOD, he directed Alan Rickman in Dogma! He's SPOKEN to the hotness that is Alan Rickman. And I'LL be speaking to HIM! That automatically connects me to Alan Rickman, right? That makes us like best friends once removed or something, right? (please note, I am not really this delusional; I'm just having a rabid fangirl attack)

9:52pm: We're doing interviews (what fun) for profiles, so I've been trying to get that done. It's been so frustrating. It all started two days ago. I planned to interview my profile subject (a really nice volunteer pilot for Hope Air), but I couldn't get a hold of him on the phone (he e-mailed me that night with his cell phone number, which really helped).

Then yesterday was just a shitty day in general. During lunch, I went to the library's quiet room to do some reading. But there was this annoying group of boys sitting nearby who thought "quiet room" translated into "room that will be quiet while we sit in it and have a loud group discussion." So I left (but not before shooting them a quick glare; that'll teach 'em!)

In our last class, we had a guest speaker who had come in to talk to us about our interviews. The first thing he told us that we had to have a recorder while interviewing. He showed us this neat little recorder doo-dad that he said cost "only $60", which pissed me off because it seems like people at school are constantly telling us to buy things that are only so much money that we'll possibly need or definitely need at some point, and I'm like, "I'm a STUDENT! I already spent $244 on books, stop asking me to spend more money! I need to be able to buy food!"

The speaker also told us not to mention that we're students when introducing ourselves to the interviewee, to say we're "freelancers." But I'd already introduced myself to my interviewee! I'd already made contact, foolishly under the assumption that we were supposed to get started on our interviews as soon as possible.

Luckily, my interviewee seemed perfectly all right with my being a student (and
I had informed him that my profile might be published, so it's not like he didn't know about that aspect of the interview).

But anyway, I really wanted to get my first interview done that day, so I went to The Source and found a cheaper-than-$60-phone attachment thingy that's supposed to let you record both sides of the conversations you have on the phone. I also bought a blank tape and four batteries, because I haven't used my recorder in so long that I was worried it might crap out on me.

Then I got to my apartment and tried to unlock the front door, but the lock was on kinda screwy, sort of sideways, and no matter what I did, the damn door wouldn't open. And there's only the one way in (that I know of). So I had to wait for someone else to come in and use the call box to get the door buzzed, then I slipped in behind them.

I finally got up to my apartment, got the phone recorder thing out of the box, preparing to hook it up and call the guy when I realized I left my damn recorder in my locker at school! >:( To make up for not getting the interview done, I did call the guy and schedule it for the following day at 5pm, then wrote myself a big ass note reminding me to pick up my recorder at school.

And when I left my apartment today, I had this fear that the door wouldn't be fixed and that I'd be stuck outside and unable to conduct my interview, but hey, I couldn't skip class because of that (luckily, they'd fixed the door by the time I got home).

THEN, after I got home today with my recorder, a little before 5pm, I tried to set up the recording device, but no matter what I did, it wouldn't work. The recorder would run, but it clearly wasn't recording my phone conversation. I don't know if it was a fault of the phone recorder, or if it was some incompatibility with my phone and/or recorder. Around 5:15pm, I figured I should give up on the recorder and just call the guy and take massive notes, which I did.

I'm returning that damn phone thing tomorrow (they'd better not refuse to take it back because the package is open, because seriously, how the hell can I know if it'll work if I don't open the package?!) and I may try to swing by the mall and find that little recording device the guest speaker mentioned; it would really come in handy, despite being $60. I have to interview my profile guy one more time and I'm hoping to get some decent quotes off him.
/rant

Also, I think most of my class have reached a concensus that our computer teacher doesn't have enough material for a four-hour class, and should just let us leave early instead of giving us mindless busy work. Today she taught us all about colour and JPGs, then had us break into groups for 20 minutes and write out all we'd just learned about colour and JPGs, then she had each group present what we'd written out about all we'd just learned about colour and JPGs.

Which was all pretty much THE SAME DAMN THING. FIVE TIMES.

6:09pm: Dude, there is a huge ass fire somewhere near my apartment; about three blocks away I think. There's been smoke in the air for a while and the courtyard outside my building smells a bit like a camp ground. Weird.

In other news, I'm going to avoid taking the 3:30pm bus home from now on. Every damn time I do, at one of the stops something like 30 school children get on, all talking and yelling and doing stupid things like opening the bus doors while the bus is moving. The bus driver actually threatened that she'd take the bus out of service and make everyone get out. That would suck ass, so from now on, if I get out at 3:20, I'll just read in the library until 4pm. Fuckin' kids today. No respect.

6:05pm: I was reading an article today from the October 2006 issue of New York about the Left Behind computer game. This line caught my eye:

"The novels' Antichrist is one Nicolae Carpathia, who's the secretary-general of the United Nations when the Rapture comes (and, incidentally, is the bioengineered son of two gay men."

I checked Wiki ('cause there's no way I'm going to read the damn book), and it says that the Antichrist's father is gay and in a relationship with a man; they both provided the genetic material for the Antichrist's conception.

At first, I was pissed off, 'cause I'm sure the fact that the Antichrist has gay parents isn't some funny coincidence and that the books have a totally pro-gay message in them.

My next thought?
WE'RE N UR BOOKS
STEALIN UR SOLEZ!

Seriously though, don't fuck with us or our parents.

7:46pm: First day of school today! It actually went pretty well. My main fears were that I would be late to class (I wasn't), that I would be in the wrong class (again, wasn't) and that I wouldn't meet any nice people (I met at least five girls in my class whom all seem to be quite nice). So whew! Although I care little for the three and four hour classes, regardless of how many breaks we have.

My first class was Copy Editing, and if you know me, you know what a FAN I am of Copy Editing. Seriously, no sarcasm at all, I. LOVE. COPY. EDITING. And from what our teacher told us about the course and what to expect, I have a feeling I will continue to LOVE. COPY. EDITING. Which is good, because by being in this program, I may just get to be a professional copy editor at some point.

What kind of cracked me up was how surprised people were when the teacher told them about deadlines. He told us that if we are a minute late with our paper (so if we hand it in at 9:31am), he'll dock 10%. And if we don't get it in by the end of the day, he won't accept it at all. Some of my classmates just wouldn't believe it. Then I told them about Rob, one of my Loyalist teachers, who wouldn't accept the paper if it was a minute late. If you turned it in at 9:31am (or 9:01am as was the case in our class), it went into the garbage. And he was dead serious, no exceptions (except on the second day, thank GOD, not that I handed my paper in late, no siree). So I'm actually rather relieved that we have a bit of breathing room with this teacher (though I will still do my best to get my papers handed in on time).

When class got out, I went to the bookstore to buy my textbooks. The "store" is really more of a supply closet off the main office and they could only allow three people in at a time. I managed to get my hands on the last copy of one of our texts; I'd feel guiltier if the damn thing didn't cost so much. The store will get more in soon, the teachers don't actually expect us to have our texts this week anyway. The total came to around $240.00. However, unlike my Loyalist texts (some of which I never even opened), I think I'll actually be using these ones. They look interesting, particularly the ones about COPY EDITING.

Afterwards we had lunch. Or rather, we sat in the cafeteria and ate bits of various foods. I had half a muffin; I just wasn't hungry. Nerves I suppose. One of the other girls hadn't had a chance to get groceries, so she was snacking on crackers. I'm going to be bringing my lunch from now on, 'cause the cafeteria here pales muchly in comparison to the Loyalist cafeteria (though the ridonkulous prices remain the same.)

I found my locker after that and dropped off my ton of books. I say "found", but since the school is basically a big square, it's hard to get lost. If you don't know where you are, keep walking, and you'll eventually wind up back where you started.

Our second and last class of the day was Copyright, Contracts & Permission. It's more of an "interesting" than "fun" class, though the teacher seems nice. And I learned a bit about what goes into book publishing. But the weirdest (and I'll admit it, coolest) thing happened when were asked to stand up and give our names and a bit about ourselves. Everyone who went up before me told us what they'd studied at university and what B.A. or Honours B.A. or M.A. they had. Only one other girl mentioned not having a B.A.

Me? I went to college. No university, no B.A., not even a diploma (we got "certificates"). And yet here I am. According to our Copy Editing teacher, each of us beat out three or four people vying for a spot in the program (only 70 are admitted, 35 per class). So not only am I one of only two people who didn't go to university and doesn't have a B.A. in the class, but I also STILL kicked enough butt to beat other people for a spot in the program. I feel somewhat proud of myself. *beams*

Anyhoo, that class was rather relaxed because, y'know, first days are all about introductions and not doing a lot of real work. I did sign up to volunteer at Word On The Street. It's a book and magazine fair where you apparently get meet a lot of people in the publishing and writing industry.

Tomorrow I have Intro To Publishing at 8:30am. To paraphrase Lewis Black, there is nothing that can be taught at 8:30 in the morning. Your brain can't take in information at that time. Hell, I have to get up at 6:30am to catch a 7:30am subway (I know, I don't live that far from the school, but when you take the TTC, you have to account for possible delays). So my brain will be off in bed while the rest of me sits in a classroom trying in vain to comprehend whatever the teacher's talking about. Then we have lunch and after that, Writing For Publication, a *gasp* two hour class.

On Thursday, we have our famed FOUR HOUR CLASS in Elements Of Publication Design, although since the teacher is sick this week, the class will probably be only two hours, each hour taught by a "tech guy". And I totally thought I had Monday off forever and always. Turns out I have Monday off this week because of the, d'uh, holiday, but next week we have classes. Dangit. Ah well, it should be an educational experience! At least I didn't end this day like I ended my first day at Loyalist, wishing to God I'd chosen a different program and wondering how mad my mom would be if I dropped out after only a day.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, if you are really bored online, these two games are much fun and very addictive: Boomshine! and Falling Sand.

Also, Potter Puppet Pals in "The Mysterious Ticking Noise" = FUNNIEST. THING. EVER!

11:02pm: Yep, I'm still here! I'm all moved and as ready as I can be for school on Tuesday. Oh, and I got a new tattoo, the outline of the maple leaf from the Canadian flag on my left forearm.

And speaking of school and Canada (great segue, eh?), the school I'm going to is the same school where they filmed the original Degrassi series!!! Maybe Kevin Smith will show up to fangirl the place, that would kick ass.

3:03pm: Um...yay?

You scored as Bellatrix Lestrange,Like any woman in a position dominated by men, you have to be ambitious and passionate. You have an explosive temper and hold long-term grudges, and nothing is more important to you than The Cause. Your single-mindedness lets you laugh in the face of your opposition. After all, "the female of the species is more deadly than the male." Bellatrix Lestrange 83% Augustus Rookwood 75% Rodolphus/Rabastan Lestrange 67% Nott 67% Bartemius Crouch, Jr. 58% Regulus Black 58% Severus Snape 58% Peter Pettigrew 58% Igor Karkaroff 58% Lucius Malfoy 50% Crabbe/Goyle 42% Mulciber 33% Antonin Dolohov 25% Evan Rosier 17% Which of the Death Eaters Are You (Harry Potter)? created with QuizFarm.com