Thundercats HO!

Man has it been a while since I updated my ol’ blog. Usually I try to update right away after I shamefully show my lack of political savvy by writing about politics. I bury my political commentary with entries on how busy I am and how I can’t wait for school to be over. But this time I dropped the ball and just let that Harper bitch-fest hang up there forever.

**insert usual crap about being very busy with work, TAing, school and my catering company** Question: how come in movies and TV shows whenever a character becomes unemployed they always end up running a catering company or becoming a photographer. Those are both very unrealistic business models. I imagine the overhead on a catering business has got to be huge, not to mention the total reliance on word of mouth groundswell to generate business. You would have to make a lot of little-wiener appetizers before you saw a penny of revenue. And just because you can point a camera and click does not mean you can be a fancy photographer. That’s just stupid.

In more randomness, I have realized lately that I have no life. Well, not so much that I have no life, but I can’t really make small talk with people because I haven’t really had the time to do and see all the things that people with time normally do and see. For instance I haven’t seen a new movie since like Superman Returns (ps: I have probably mentioned on this blog how much I loved that film and Brandon Routh as Superman but the other day I thought about the scene where Superman visits Lois on the roof of the Daily Planet building and asks her to come flying with her. When she goes and hangs onto him she says “I’d forgotten how warm you are.” When I thought of that moment I remembered all of the ways I loved that movie. Bryan Singer really brought out their romance with all those great little details. But I digress….). See, instead of watching movies in my spare time (it can’t be all work and no play, am I right?—“you’re not wrong” chimes my audience) I have been watching old episodes of Thundercats. Try starting a conversation with pretty much any adult who wasn’t 5-12 during the years of 1985-1986 about Thundercats and see how popular you are. I made the mistake of starting off my “how was your weekend” chat with coworkers with a brief synopsis of what Thundercats is all about. Yeah, I spent the rest of the day feeling like a complete moron and wishing I had a more surly disposition that would prevent me from revealing such embarrassing facts about my life so freely. At best, it provided my coworkers brief amusement and the warm feeling of being superior over someone who is a less culturally attuned individual.

However, I was vindicated a few days later when I came into work early, and my coworker who is actually my age was working. I said “do you remember Thundercats?” To which I was greeted with not only the glint of innocence returned in his eyes, but also at least 5 minutes of sharing our mutual love of the show we had as children. (Ahhh, growing up in the 80s, what a time to be alive!) All of my older coworkers who were up on their high-culture horses stared. But this time it was not a stare of judgment, but rather a stare of jealousy. They really wished they had some beloved childhood memory that was provided by a greedy corporation out to sell action figures.

With this long, and somewhat rambly introduction with may asides, I will now discuss the greatness that is Thundercats.

Like many cartoons, the Thundercats were originally action figures, and the show was really just a vehicle to sell these action figures. The Thundercats become stranded on a planet called Third Earth after their home planet of Thundera is destroyed by the evil Mutants (NOTE: Most things relating to the Thundercats either have the word Thunder or Cat in their name. For instance their castle is called the Cat’s Lair, and their car is called the thunder-tank. You kind of have to learn to go with it.). Lion-O is the Lord of the Thundercats. During the long trip from the destroyed Thundera to Third Earth, his stasis-chamber malfunctioned and his body aged to that of an adult while everyone else stayed more or less the same age. So Lion-O has the mentality of a child, but the body of a man, so he is sort of dumb and naïve and the protégée of the other Thundercats Cheetara, Panther-O, Tygra, Snarf and to even to some extent Wiley Kit and Wiley Cat who are children, but seem to be a great deal smarter than Lion-O.

Basically I am amazed at how repetitive and silly the show is, and how I bought every bit of it when I was a kid and came back looking for more. I was hooked to this show and it was SO predictable, repetitive, and even in some ways downright irritating (too many conversations where people repeat what the other person said before they respond. For instance, “What do you mean Tygra is missing? We have to do something!”). Despite the shortcomings of the show, I still find myself hooked to it now, although from the standpoint of an ironic viewer. There is something so comic about the voice actor’s intonations and expressions. It is not unlike a Will Ferral comedy, but completely void of any irony or sarcasm. It is totally sincere and earnest. I love it!

Long post short: watch it already. Go to your favorite bit-torrent website, clear off 6 gigs from your hard drive, start downloading the torrent and wait with great trepidation as your computer is filled with hours of cartoon style entertainment. Thundercats-HO!

Keep it Classy, Canada

A couple of blog entries ago, I wrote about what I do here at the CBC. Basically I catalogue old news stories. For the last two weeks, I have been running into a whole bunch of coverage of the 1972 Canadian federal election campaign.

The party leaders included Liberal Pierre Trudeau, Conservative Robert Stanfield and NDP David Lewis. Going through this material I was blown away, not only by the high level of charisma of each candidate, but also the level of public responsibility they all seemed have. The campaign issues were totally different than today and mostly revolved around the high cost of Canada’s unemployment insurance program, international ownership of Canadian industries, so-called “corporate welfare bums,” and unifying a regional nation. Denying Canadians equal access to health care, cutting back on social services, and banning minority groups of their civil rights were not campaign issues. These were unquestioned values of our Canadian society that would not have been lost no matter who won.

Flash forward 34 years and where are we now? We don’t have one politician with the same sense of morality and public responsibility, let alone three. What is becomeing more distrubing in Canadian politics is the radicalization of each party. Parties are no longer driven by a sense of serving the public who elects them to their best ability, but rather are on an ideological quest to mold the nation in an image that suits them. We have the Conservative party led by the universally loathed Prime Minister Steven Harper, that seems to have not the interests of general public in mind, but rather seeks to serve only the high-income, right-wing Christians of the nation. Turning his back on the previously unquestioned values of our society, if Harper had his way he would see the abolition of universal health care, the illegalization of gay marriage, an end to foreign aid and increased military presence in international conflicts in which Canada has no right to meddle.

If you were to sit back and compare Pierre Trudeau and Steven Harper it becomes sickeningly apparent that our current government is a mere shadow of the international prestige we once held. For instance, during Trudeau’s term in office, Ugandan military leader Idi Amin expelled all non-citizen Asians from the country. When Canada took a large number refugees into the country, Trudeau responded to his critics by saying that giving refuge to these people is the right thing to do, and to do otherwise would be decidedly un-Canadian. I wonder how the Harper administration would deal with a similar crisis?

Lets look at one where there are reasonable correlates. During Trudeau’s term, the United States was waging a war against Communism in Vietnam. Trudeau never did send troops over to fuel the war machine, however, Harper has been sending Canadians to Afghanistan and soon enough he will be sending them over to Iraq also. While Trudeau would not send troops to Vietnam, numerous Canadian doctors did go to Vietnam to help with the crisis, and Trudeau offered to send a large group of unarmed peace keepers when a peace settlement was finally reached.

Now, I have always criticized Harper’s administration, but recent news items have sort of pushed me over the edge. First of all, Harper failed to attend the International AIDS Conference held in Toronto this year, arguably the single most important international conference on an health crisis that affects Canada and the world. What is it that could have kept him from this conference? Perhaps it is the fact that Canada has been receiving a great deal of criticism for not following through with pledges of support to African nations (considering not a single bottle of medication has made it from Canada to relief efforts). Or perhaps it has more to do with his lack of interest in all international affairs, considering he also recently backed out of Canada’s commitment to the Kyoto Protocol.

Lastly, Harper did not join other world leaders in calling for an immediate cease fire in Lebanon. Playing the roll of George W. Bush’s lap-dog he again towed US policy lines and did not condemn Israel’s bombing of civilian targets in Lebanon. How many Canadians support this kind of aggressive military assault innocent civilians? In the news clips I am archiving, I am continuously seeing Trudeau calling for peace, why is our current Prime Minister encouraging war?

Prime Minister Steven Harper is ruining this country and destroying our international reputation as peacekeepers. Harper has seemingly no respect to serving our nation, but rather has a nearly all consuming dedication to his abstract right wing ideals. Pierre Trudeau was among many things an activist and a humanitarian. He out-classed Harper on every imaginable level. We need a leader like that again. Our country needs someone who is dedicated to people, not abstract ideals. I have an idea, lets oust Harper and elect Michaelle Jean.

Catching Up

So it has been quite a while since my last entry. My life has been pretty hectic lately, so please forgive the tardiness. Lets get to our top stories:

Local man finishes school for the summer. That’s right, as of August 8th, I have not had to worry about completing readings, presentations, essays and exams. Add onto that, school is beginning relatively late this year and won’t have to worry about classes until September 11th. I have to say, a girl can get used to this kind of lifestyle. Working 20 hours a week, watching copious amounts of tv, going swimming whenever her heart desires. It’s not to shabby.

Frustration and anger reach fever pitch in Toronto as residents fight for decent housing. One chore that put a serious damper on my fun loving month of August was trying to find an apartment. I looked at a bunch of places, most of them shit holes with ten people in line to live there. Oh, and I got yelled at by one landlord for no reason. That was a lovely experience. But despite the trials and tribulations, I managed to find (actually Christine found it) a beautiful three bedroom apartment in the Annex. Christine has decided to move in with me, Chris, and Daniel so I am very excited about this place. It’s a good group.

Another reason why I have been so busy is I have been on the road quite a bit this summer. First trip of the summer was a weekend visit to Montreal in June. I drove down with Andrea, Roddy and Tori and stayed with April for a few days. Following this was a weekend trip to Guelph to see my good friend Graeme and Louise tie the knot. The wedding was a beautiful outdoor ceremony with a great relaxed feeling. Louise looked stunning in her gown and Graeme was quite dapper in his suit. We ended up dancing the night away at the reception. Despite my soberness (I was designated driver) I managed to dance it up all night.

I also went on a weekend trip to a cottage in Bancroft, Ontario (I think that is what the town is called at least) with a big group of friends. Spent the entire weekend in the lake swimming of paddling around on a large circular raft (not ideal for canoeing, there is trajectory problem) and eating great food.

The last major trip was a whirlwind 4 day trip to Fredericton. Now, on a good day, the drive to Fredericton is around 14.5 hours. I’ve seen it done before many-a-time. However, on this particular trip, I drove up with a co-worker who got us lost in Montreal (which he proceeded to blame on me). After all the set backs we ended up arriving 17 hours after our departure time. It was great to be home though and see all my family. Had a lot of fun just chilling out at my parents house and going swimming.

And embarrassingly enough, another reason why I am short on time lately is my obsession with Big Brother: All Stars. What a season folks! Talk about good TV. It sucks that Kaysar got voted out so early in the game. But I think he has proven he is not really cut out for the game. He acts like a big mastermind, yet he has been voted out 3 times now! Right now I am rooting for Janelle (of course) as she is the so darn loveable. There is no bullshit with Janelle. She doesn’t act like she needs the money to pay for her dying mother’s operation or anything like that. She has this whole dumb blonde routine that is actually quite hilarious because it is clearly an act.

So this entry has been a bit rambley. I am going to write soon about a more focused topic: my hatred of Prime Minister Steven Harper. Look for it in an article title “Keep it Classy, Canada.” Alright, keep it real folks.

Old News

Two blogs in two days? What is this world coming too? By the way, the lovely dame featured here is the multi-talented Hedy Lamarr, more on her later.

I was just doing some work from home and I realized I haven’t really written a blog entry on what it is I do at the CBC. In some ways, my job is kind of boring and repetitive, and in other ways it is probably the most interesting job I have had in my life. Basically I am cataloguing old black and white news stories that appeared on CBC television from the 1950s through to the early 1970s. So for each story (varying in length, some are 30 seconds, others are 30 minutes) I have to write a synopsis, create a shot list of what visual information is in the film, subject index the story and create an electronic record of it (title of story, length, film format, who owns the copyright on the material and all that kind of stuff).

The main reason why I like the job so much is because each day is like history class through the eyes of the popular media. It’s like each day I am reading a newspaper from a different era. The current events that are no longer that current. One thing that is fascinating to me is that the subject matter of TV news really hasn’t changed that much over the years. Besides a few different names of countries and different political leaders they are virtually identical.

There are even some instances where the correlation between the news of 60s and 70s and contemporary news are uncanny. For instance, one day I was creating a record of a story about Pope Paul VI visiting the holocaust memorial at the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp. On the same day, I was watching television and saw Pope Benedict IX was visiting Auschwitz. In another instance, I was archiving an old story about a then young Prince Charles leaving to go to school in Australia and that day on the news Prince Harry was graduating from some kind of school.

Not to get all theory on your asses, but this whole thing reminds me of an article I read during my MA by Pierre Bourdieu called “Television” (I believe the thesis of this article is further explored in a book called On Television). In the article Bourdieu talks about how television creates its own reality. He says:

“‘News’ is selective, favouring the extremes, blood, sex, crime, riots, not what ordinary people experience. Television calls for the dramatization and the exaggeration of the importance of events.”

So who decided what gets to be “news” and why is it relevant? I have been archiving stories from this time period for six months now and feel no closer to understanding the culture or spirit of that time than I did before. Instead I have a lot of information about wars, political leaders, space exploration, celebrity deaths, scandals and natural disasters.

This leaves me to wonder, who is chronicling the experiences of the everyday? I think today the answer might be found in blogs. With blogs, love ‘em or hate ‘em, you do get a minor peak into what people experience, what excites them, angers them, or at least what people find interesting enough to take the time to write about it. But maybe that is bullshit and the same self-imposed censorship that Bourdieu argues exists in television news happens on blogs also. Maybe people are just writing what they think other people expect them to write about.

On the lighter side of things, I do feel like my base of trivial knowledge has increased tremendously since starting this job. I like learning about old politicians and the then current scandals and coups. I also like learning about old celebrities. Like for instance, my new favorite person in the world is Hedy Lamarr. Not only did she drug her Nazi husband and his French maid he had hired to spy on her and flee to America, she also invented secret communication system that involved sending radio signals and frequency hopping, she also became a famous American film actress. Talk about a renaissance woman! She was also married six times and arrested twice for shoplifting in her later years. That my friends, is what you call a 3-demensional character.

This is sort of why I think I am going to like being an archivist. I like sifting through documents to try and piece together the past. It’s sort of like being a detective. Watch out Veronica Mars!

Any other closet Catwalk fans out there?

Well, I haven’t been much of a blogger lately. I think blogging sort of lost its luster. The once shiny new outlet for expressing myself seemed tired, stale, and tedious. I felt like every time I had an idea for an entry, it was either too personal or too irrelevant. What’s a blogger to do?

I decided I am just going to write on whatever the hell I want to.

Just to catch everyone up, I am still in Toronto and still going to U of T, while working at CBC. Things in the whole school/work side of my life are going well. I am in two summer classes right now and they are both pretty boring. One of them is the obligatory Research Methods course that is jam packed with statistics and sampling and all that good stuff. Why librarians and archivists need to take this course is beyond me. Even though the prof took the whole first class to painstakingly lay out why we need to take this course, I am still not buying it! The other class is called Government Information and Publications. Now this class is boring, but I actually like it. First of all it is very practical and if I ever find myself working for a government library I think I would be glad to have this experience. Secondly, the prof is pretty funny and is kind enough not to have assigned any essays. He says the only thing worse than writing essays, is marking them. You are preaching to the choir, brother! Instead we have these take home tests were we have to use our knowledge of government information and publications to find specific information.

Other things kind of newish in my life is I recently watched the entire Six Feet Under series in the matter of a few weeks. I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about this show. I thought it wasn’t going to be that good because I felt a lot of the show’s appeal was in shock value. When I am wrong, boy am I wrong. That show was honestly one of the best series I have ever watched. Towards the end it did seem to get a bit Party of Five-ish in that you felt like the family was seriously cursed because so much bad shit kept happening to them. Unlike Party of Five, the show seemed to figure out when to end and bowed out gracefully. Don’t get me wrong, I used to love Party of Five back in the day, but those Salingers really had a tough life. Car accidents, rape, suicide, death, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and more car accidents.

Speaking of Party of Five, does anyone remember the YTV series called Catwalk that stared a young Neve Campbell? It was a show about a group of young musicians trying to make it big in the music world. When I was in grade seven, I loved that show. Consider this an open call to the world: Anyone who has come across some kind of Catwalk DVD set, please contact me.

Well, that pretty much catches you up. My life is boring right now and bad Canadian TV played a primary role in my adolescent development

PS: Neve Campbell was not really the main star, but is the only one of the cast who has become moderately successful, so that is why she is featured in that poster.

Its Juno Time!

So I decided to write a live play by play of the Juno Awards this year on my blog. For those who don’t know what the Junos are, they are the Canadian Grammys.

Alright its 7 o’clock and the show is already underway. Buck 65 is hitting us with some lame rap about who is in the show this year. But we can forgive Buck, he is so frigging cute. Seriously, look at that guy!

And in comes this year’s host, Pamela Anderson. I have to say I love how tarted up she is. She is the quintessential blonde bombshell. Why are people booing her when she criticized seal hunters? Seal hunters = evil. Seriously, seal hunters need to pick on someone their own size.

Nickleback perform. I hate those misogynistic douchebags.

Alright Artist of the Year goes to.. Michael Buble? That’s odd, I had him pegged as a sure fire winner for “Best Artist played in dentist offices and Elevators,” but not Artist of the Year. And what is with that speech. Don’t mock the Junos bitch! We gave it to you , we can take it away.

Bedoin Sound Clash gave a less than exciting performance. But I have to say the song is still catchy after all this time. It had me boppin.

Rex Goudie and a somewhat chubby Melissa O’Neil give a sobering speech about the importance of music in education. This is followed by the world’s cheapest montage.. music can… Music can what? Can it get you a job? Clean your room? What hell can music do? Oh, elevate and blah blah blah… bored now.

Coldplay are up after a somewhat baffling introduction by K-OS. Not sure what he was going to do with that. I have to give it to Coldplay, they are kind of a bunch of douchebags, but that performance was really good. I just hate how Chris Martin acts like he is zee words greatest artist when really they are just Radiohead light.

Ok Kaylan Porter, winner of Canadian Idol 2, is presenting and looks sort of like an alien tranny. Seriously, Karen Carpenter called, she wants her look back. I see big things for him in his future, he is likely going to star in a CTV made for TV movie about anorexia. Doin’ it up Tracy Gold style! Best single goes to Michael Buble?!! Say what? Why are the Junos giving this guy handjob after handjob? Seriously folks, Feist was robbed.

Fuck yeah! The Broken Social Scene are up next. Everyone knows these cats are my favorite band in the world! They are singing Ibi dreams of pavement which isn’t really my favorite song on the album. Brandon Canning looks soo hot. And I am loving Leslie Feist’s look. The sound is slightly off on this song. I am not sure if their sound translates to TV very well. Let it be known that seeing them live is normally a life changing experience. Amy Millon is looking hot too. Man they got it going on this year. Justin Peroff is cute as always. But this song is a big ol’ mess. Did they nail rehearsal and then hit the blow? They should have sung “Shoreline.” That song would have brought down the house.

Alright more Pamela Anderson. She seems a little twitchy tonight. Me thinks years of hard drugs are catching up to her. I think from now on I am going to refer to her Ta Ta.

OK, here is Chris Martin introducing the big award for Brian Adams. I know he is one of the bigger celebs at this show, but does this guy even know Brian Adams. I personally would rather have some nobody Canadian artist like Gowan, or that Life is a Highway guy whose name eludes me at the moment, to introduce Brian Adams. Chris Martin doesn’t seem to be taking this introducing gig very seriously.. he keeps tripping up. Man there seriously must be a mountain of blow backstage.

This Bryan Adams montage is NEVER ENDING. I have to say I really dig that tune “Cuts like a Knife.” That song is so true man. Somehow that duet he did With Mel C from Spice Girls got left off the highlight reel. What the hell? I love that song man “Baby when your gone, I realize I’m love” “So in LOVE.”

Oh fuck yeah now he is performing… please dear god let him perform a medley of all his songs. I know I don’t ask for much, but if you do I will never tell a lie again and go to church every Sunday. Ah rats… looks like he is just singing “18 till I die.” And the cherry on top, Bryan Adams delivers a truly boring speech where he just lists a bunch of names and offers now words of wisdom whatsoever.

May I just take a moment to acknowledge that I am loving how Buck 65 is acting as an announcer for the entire show. That dude rocks.

Who is Messari? Oh yeah he is that totally lame Usher wannabe from Ottawa. Love the blazer. Don’t forget to wake me up before you go go. Oh no! The blazer is gone and now he has two total hoochies dancing up on him. What do you got to do to get a couple of hoochie mamas to dance up on you? Man he can not keep up with the tempo of the song. He is all wheezy and rapping all quiet like. He needs to get his act together. Less hoochies, more time rehearsing!

There are so many performances, and so few awards! Divine Brown is performing now. She is a class act. This song isn’t too bad, but not really my style. And that long note at the end was just irritating. But overall, a good performance.

Now we have Feist, the lead singer of Great Big Sea and some guy I have never seen before in my life introducing another award. Songwriter of the Year. Joel Plaskett, Neil Young, Kathleen Edwards, Ron Sexsmith, and Arcade Fire are all nominated.. Man this is a hot category! They are all so fucking good. Arcade Fire wins! But sadly they were not there to accept.



May I take this commercial break to express the fact that I have yet to see Alanis Morrosette at this thing. That’s weird. I was hoping to get a glimpse at her cute boyfriend Ryan Reynolds.

Ta Ta is back on stage.. again looking a bit twitchy. Oh for fuck’s sake! She is introducing Michael Buble! I hate this guy! He is all singing up in the crowd. Simma down Buble boy! You ain’t Bryan Adams! Keep it real!

Oh yeah I can’t believe I forgot to mention this earlier.. Ta Ta made a pretty funny joke earlier in the show. She said “before we go on I have an important announcement to make for the Fire Marshal. Whoever owns the SUV with the license plate “BIG PIMP” could you please move your vehicle. Man Ron, you are so going to get towed!” And the camera was on Ron Sexsmith! I love it! I saw Ron Sexsmith perform live in Fredericton a few years ago and he is the greatest. So funny because he is the exact opposite of BIG P IMP.

Yay! Hot Hot Heat with the world’s dorkiest kid! I fucking love it.. he looks so unimpressed.. I bet Loreal just gave him a big makeover. I love Hot Hot Heat. I saw them live at the Horseshoe pub back in 2002. It was my first Toronto concert and they brought down the house. I fell madly in love with the lead singer that night. And Simple Plan wins! Boooo!

Alright we are back from commercial break and a couple of nobodies are introducing. This guy looks like Randy Travis’s ugly cousin. These two look seriously drunk. Nomonies for Best Alternative Album of the Year is Hot Hot Heat, New Pornographers, Metric, Tegan and Sara, and Broken Social Scene. I have to say I love all of these artists. Who will win? Broken Social Scene! YAY! I love that album. Seriously folks you all got to get out there and buy yourself a copy and dance around your bedroom with it basting. It’s a daily ritual for me. I love how the stage is being flooded with people. They are such an entourage. I love how Brandon Canning is giving his speech with a bottle of bear in his hand.

Julie Black is now on the stage wearing an outfit that can only be described with one word: WACK! I need to get some screen caps because words cannot describe.

Black Eyed Peas are on stage now. I really don’t like these guys. They are sellouts, that “Lady Lumps” song just irritates me to no end and Fergie is looking more and more like that Cat Lady from all those tabloid magazines every day. Meow! Nice leggings Fergie. She looks like fucking Euro Trash, and not in a good way. What is amusing about their performance is the fat camera guys sweating to keep up with those guys.

I miss Pam. I mean Ta Ta. I want more twitchy jokes about Ron Sexsmith!

Alright last award of the evening and we have Jann Arden and that curling gold medalist. What about the rest of the gold medal winning team? Were they too ugly and old for the Junos! Please, if Jann Arden is there than really anyone can be there. What is with that joke about seal fur Jann! So is she pro seal hunting? I just being flippant for no reason? I am disappointed Jann. She is so overrated. She peaked at “Insensitive.” Alright Album of the Year.. how will get it? Michael Buble?!! Ok Michael Buble, this is not the Oscars so don’t make jokes about playing the music.

Yay more Pam! And she kissed Buck 65!

Headly takes the stage. I think I would like these guys if I was a bit younger. But I have to say Jacob Hoggart was my favorite Canadian Idol contestant. He was so flamboyant and he gayed up every performance. He has so much flare, and amble bootay. And true to his style, he gayed up this performance.

Well that’s a wrap. Overall it was a pretty good show. It had Pam, cute Brandon Caning, cute Buck 65, and ended off with my favorite gay Canadian Idol dancing around the stage in a pink polo shirt. What did you all think of this years Junos? Was I the only one watching?

Back, and with back problems

Hey Everyone,

I am not sure why there was such an extended delay for this post. Over the holidays I had written a few entries, but I never got around to actually typing them up and posting them. I have even written two since I have been back but they also never made it to the word processor. These unpublished blogs will no doubt serve me well when I got to donate my personal papers to an archive later on in life when I am famous. I can imagine researchers mulling over the papers, haven’t slept in days, trying to figure out what makes me tick.

The only shitty thing about my prolonged absence was that I kind of wanted to write a “year in review” type blog. Allow me to attempt to do that in one brief paragraph:

In January of 2005 I was living with my sister, her husband and their three cats in Fredericton. I was only pulling in about 20 hours a week at my job because as I was to find out later, my boss was looking to lighten her budget of a few employees and I was on the top of the list. I was thoroughly depressed and in general direction-less. Thinking the deadline for applying to schools had passed, I committed myself to living in Fredericton for yet another year. I applied for a bunch of jobs, I got rejected from a bunch of jobs. And then in April I decided I wanted to be an archivist, as it seemed to be a practical application to my history and communication studies. So when I was doing research for programs thinking I wouldn’t be applying for another full year I noticed the University of Toronto extended its deadline. I applied, got in and decided to move back to Toronto. During my last months in Fredericton I worked booking cars for the nefarious Udget call center. Since landing in Toronto I have been on a bit of a good luck streak. I a Teaching Assistant job, a couple of other jobs that I ended up quitting and finally I got a part time job with the CBC. Oh yeah, and I lost 20 pounds since I moved back to Toronto. And the icing on the cake is that I just got back my grades from Fall semester and I got two As and an A-. Woo Hoo!

So that is a pretty quick sum up of my year. I had to edit out a lot of stuff (like stuff that is going on with my family) otherwise I would be writing forever. Despite all this good stuff, life has been far from perfect. I am still struggling with some aspects of depression and anxiety. I feel somewhat overwhelmed by school/work/TAing and the like. My computer is busted. And I threw my back out on Wednesday which left me pretty immobile. Which leads me to the last shitty thing: My friend Graeme is moving away to England in a couple of weeks.

So to fill people in, Graeme and I have been friends since I had first moved to Toronto in 2002. We instantly bonded and have gone through some ups and downs. Suffice it to say, he is a true friend. The type of friend where you can fight without feeling like you are never going to speak again, can just chill out with and do nothing, feel encouraged and challenged, and is all around dependable. Now when I threw out my back and found myself completely out of breath, laying on my basement floor, unable to move, my first instinct was to call Graeme. “Graeme would know what to do” I thought. You see, whenever I am feeling like doing something rash, or if I am in some kind of trouble, I can usually depend on Graeme for some sound advice. So I ask Graeme if I should go to the hospital/call an ambulance and he tells me not to bother because they will just give me muscle relaxers and all I really need is Robaxacet.. When I didn’t have any at my house (as I have never thrown out my back before, thus never felt the need to buy any) he hoped in his car and brought some over to me. And then hung out with me for the rest of the day/evening while he studied for his PhD defense and I read comic books. That, ladies and gentleman, is a good friend. He will be missed, but its not like we will never see each other again. Graeme comes back to Canada for his wedding with Louise in the summer and I am going to save up some cash to visit him and Louise in England.

Good luck G, I will miss you. (The theme song to Golden Girls swells in the background)