there is heat in freezing.

Just a quick entry to wish you all a Happy Christmas (for those of you who celebrate it), I hope you're all spending the end of the year with people you love.

I'm going to go jump around in my new onesie (it's pink, fleece, and has pandas all over it!) and wave around my sonic screwdriver in anticipation for the DW Christmas Special!

at this point, it's "All I want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey.

(not really.)

(GUYS, 46 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS. 46!)

"Atlatl"

that'd be 16 years, 24 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes, 21 seconds... 22... 23... 24...

his name is Andrew, but I haven't called him that in 14 years, 11 days, 3 hours, 36 minutes, 6 seconds... 5... 4...

sometimes I forget his real name is "Andrew."

and I've been so busy with school/work/ugh that I haven't seen him in 3 weeks. that's it, just three weeks, i'm not going to bother with days, hours, minutes and seconds because it's not going to be as impressive. We've been resorting to skype in order to get our fixes of each other, despite the fact that he lives about 5 minutes away. And even those conversation are limited because of school and work.

What's weird is that we've never skyped while I've been in England.

what's weirder is staring at "16 years, 24 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes and 21 seconds"

i am old.

Microserfs - Douglas Coupland
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury


(when will i sleep!? whennnnnn?!)

Ignorance.

Macarons!

I've been trying to make them for over a year now, but they're super difficult to make and each botched recipe means I've wasted about 18 eggs, which doesn't please my mother, and she's the one who owns the kitchen.

But when I was in New Orleans I found some in a shop and screamed and spazzed about them (they're atrociously difficult to find otherwise and if you can find them outside of France, they're grossly overpriced). I bought a box of 24 and I'm slowly consuming them as the days pass by.

Perhaps someday I will perfect the recipe. You never know, life expectancy in Canada is something like 82. That's enough time I hope.

Actually, humans have nine senses, I'll fill in the blanks:

Thermoception (temperature), nociception (Pain), proprioception (positions of various body parts in space), Inception (the dream is real) and equilibrioception (balance).

The obvious choice here is "pain".

Kyse (who is sitting next to me as I type this) has pointed out that without a sense of pain, you would have no idea if something sliced open your chest and would likely bleed to death.

I responded with "I think I would notice if I was bleeding to death considering that bleeding to death entails blood gushing out of my body at an uncontrollable rate".

Kyse: Yes, but what if you were sleeping?

I countered this with "pain is different from pressure (see: sense of touch) the likely hood is that I would be awoken by the pressure from a butcher's knife slicing open my chest.. I'm a light sleeper"


Additionally, if I must bleed to death from an open chest wound, I could calmly sit there and await my end, perhaps watching all the important moments of my life (season 3 of dr. who) roll past me or something.

And then maybe I'd contemplate my place in the universe and go "oh noes i didn't finish de Profundis woe woe woe"

The upsides to not feeling pain are too good. I could get a sleeve of tattoos, a nose piercing, a facial cleanse, other weird practices that involve a paid professional sticking a needle in your body repeatedly without medical pretense.

Oh. But it would suck if I was a hemophiliac. Good thing I'm not...

The end :)

This morning I logged onto facebook to change my status to "New Orleans Tomorrow!"

I was greeted with a flood of public condolences to the family of the leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, NDP leader Jack Layton.

On July 25, Jack and his family announced that he was currently fighting his second bout of cancer. Less than a month later, I am having to turn off the television because I can't stand to hear about his death anymore.

Jack is the only candidate I've ever been able to call by first name alone. He is the only candidate that has ever brought the NDP to where it is today. Jack loved his career, loved Canada, loved his family, loved his cause, and from the look on his face everywhere he went, you could tell that Jack loved life.

I remember being in 9th grade and somewhat ignorant of Canadian politics and saying "I like that man. He's always smiling." I think that's what sticks with me the most, his constant, unwavering optimism, even in the face of those people who thought "oh, the NDP will never rise from where it is" of which I was one.

But this isn't about politics. This about a very charismatic, intelligent and passionate man, who believed in fighting the good fight, 'til the very end.

I will miss him so much.



Courage my friends. 'Tis not too late to build a better world.