Rhonda's Journal

I have a lot of ideas on how to spend my summer, mostly all with the intent on being extremely productive. These plans have yet to be solidified. The problem with summer is that the desire to do nothing far outweighs the desire to do something. I need to change this, because I am pretty sure that is how everyone collectively defines being lazy. Lazy is not something I want to be.

Chris, talented in writing, and I, talented in drawing things are trying to make a story book/zine/whatever. Starting from a few sketches, we've come up with a rough outline that I see so much promise in. I am incredibly excited to be part of a collaborative work where I don't feel like I anyone is compromising for the other.

I am rambling, but that is probably because I have an overwhelming desire to update on my life, seeing as how I dropped out of so many others'. Besides, I am at the town library, where there are far too many Tom Clancy books, in order to take advantage of the wireless highspeed.

To be honest, my mother has been a Debbie Downer since I returned home last week. She has been working overtime for quite sometime while still feeding, cleaning, and laundering for my brother and dad. For the last week I have taken over, but it is extremely frustrating to go from cooking and doing laundry for myself, to doing it for three other people. Obviously, my family does a lot for me, so I don't mind, but I think the frustration comes in when everyone expects it from me. Why my brother and dad aren't expected to help, I will not know.

So, I need to catch up on a week's worth of Internet.

As luck would have it, the first weekend I am actually free from the confines of school, almost everyone (excluding Emily) leaves Montreal. Woe is me.

Because Laura and Phil's cats have been raised to be needy, I have spent the duration of the weekend at their apartment while they visit some friend who isn't me. Tasks involved include feeding, watering, cleaning up their barf, and watching as many movies as possible. The cats whine a lot while staring at the front door. Obviously, I am not a good replacement.


Emily joined me yesterday to watch some of these movies, and I haven't stopped since. Most have involved outdoorsy themes, including the entire first disk of Planet Earth, The Lion King, and Into the Wild. It got me thinking about how wonderful it would be to be free from the things we consider a necessity, but actually aren't. During Into the Wild I thought, "I need to do this! I need to get away and purify myself from the things I have grown dependent!" That idea was quickly abolished as I went back home, lonely, to an empty apartment.

I, without Carolina, and the cats, without Laura and Phil are a pretty sad and pathetic sight.

Remember this?

My brother called me tonight from his cell phone to tell me he found it.

I don't know if I should be embarrassed of relieved.

Dear man in the baby blue tear-a-way pants,

Don't.

Love,
Rhonda

I was going to make a "Best of 2007" list, but decided that leaves room for embarrassment. Instead, I leave you with a list of albums that I was looking forward to, but left me feeling disappointed. Crashed and burned. Failboat. Whatever.

Rufus Wainwright's Release the Stars

This album caters to one mood, but I don't quite know what that mood is. It's probably that feeling someone gets right as they hit rock bottom and finally decide to end it all. It also has a Christmas-esque sound to it. I know Wainwright is weird, but this is inexcusable.

Modest Mouse's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank

Everyone makes mistakes, and this is Modest Mouse's. To be honest I really tried to like it. I listened to it until I found little perks in some of the songs. I  think I actually enjoyed Missed the Boat - but what the hell? Dashboard was the hugest piece of shit that ever made a band famous. It's not that I have issue with the song, it's that Modest Mouse wrote it. It's because it is optimistic and about a car radio.

Jimmy Eat World's Chase the Light

I am a very loyal fan to a lot of things, no matter how embarrassing it is to admit. I mean, I still love Our Lady Peace and we all know they kind of suck right now. This album doesn't even have the quirks of just being catchy. It's tacky. It's like a pretty sunset picture that people use as a desk top picture.

Bang Lime's Best Friends in Love

A band containing half the members of Metric? It sounds promising. Well, to me it did, but it failed so hard. It's just so blatantly simple right down to the lyrics. Their name also reminds me of a chip flavour.

Just so you know, my favorite album from 2007 was Joel Plaskett's Emergency's Ashtray Rock. Just in case you were wondering.

 

Tuesday I handed in my last exam, thus completing half of my Undergrad career. Thank goodness! I felt so apathetic towards the end – I am just looking forward to a break and a fresh start.

 

Unfortunately, I brought nothing to my parents’ house to occupy my time except for a few cds, some books, a few pencils, and a sketchbook. Maybe I can use this time to do some much needed reading, and maybe work on planning some future paintings and drawings I want to do.

 

As of now I am fasting for tomorrow’s much anticipated breast reduction surgery. I had a little scare today when by 2 o’clock they still hadn’t called to confirm a time. But, that’s all good now, and by tomorrow at this time I will be down to a C (hopefully)! Just for the record, I am an F now.

 

I have decided that if my nipples (God forbid!) lose feeling like I was told they may, I may get them pierced or something. I mean, if they won’t feel much like anything when touched they might as well serve another purpose like for ornamentation. Besides, if they don’t have any feeling in them maybe a piercing would help that.  Honestly, it’s late and this may be the dumbest idea I ever posted on the internet.

 

I wanted to come up with my top five albums of 2007, but it’s a little difficult. Maybe I will try to make a solid decision over the weekend when I am feeling too much chest pain to do much.

 

...but this one takes the cake.

P.S. I am done!

I am constantly shooting myself in the foot. I know I keep on putting off things because I figure it will ultimately get done even if I have to pull an all-nighter, but it would be nice to not have a last minute panic session especially when it was preventable.

I am excited for tomorrow's Christmas dinner.

Last night, I had a dream where I was working with my family on setting up an event (I can only assume it was my parent's anniversary that happened about a month ago) and I ended up knocking out my own two front teeth with a  hammer. They looked purple and decrepit when I looked at them in the palm of my hand.

Later on in the dream, my mom drove me back to my old grandparents house, which was on the farm. As soon as I walked it my grandma says "Rhonda, will you go downstairs and get everyone a drink?" I flipped out on her, saying how I had just lost my two front teeth, I have a headache and my brother is sitting down doing nothing - why did you ask me? Because I'm a girl?

I am not one to interpret dreams because I just think it's your mind sorting out events, but what the hell?

Apparently, this is what dreaming of teeth means:

If you dream of having false teeth this indicates that you will have unexpected help on a problem. To dream of rotten teeth shows that you have been telling someone a lie or using your smooth words for getting your own way no matter what. If your teeth are rotten, crooked, and/or falling out this means that your lies are hurting someone very badly and that you will soon be found out. If you dream you have swallowed a tooth you will soon have too 'eat your words'. It becomes much easier to interpret this kind of dream if you think of teeth as representing words. When the dreamer is not the one with the bad teeth you will naturally have to watch out for someone lying to you.

Say what?

This is what anger means:

Anger in a dream at someone you know is usually an expression of pent-up hostility toward that person. In waking you may not be able to express your anger, because you do not wish to hurt their feelings or they may be your employer. In sleep anger comes out because you have to vent it in some fashion. If you dream that someone is angry at you, then this means that you either suspect that the person in real life is angry at you, or you have that particular paranoia.

Makes sense. I get upset with my grandma when she asks me to do things - I know it's because I'm a gender role in training. It's also more convenient for someone else to do it usually. Also, I am a big advocate of if you need water, get it yourself. My grandma like to ask all 20 people, then tells me to do it.

Home:

If you dream of visiting your old family home you will hear some very good news.

Do you remember those ridiculous e-mail forwards where you would answer a shit ton of questions, then send it to as many people as possible? I was cleaning out my inbox for my old e-mail account, when I noticed I had saved a draft to two old questionnaires that I had filled out. I think I was either 14 or 15 at the time.



Edit:

Since today is all about nostalgia, I would just like to inform everyone that Philemon Wright is turning to shit.

This morning, Laura and I were passed by a countless number of full buses between 9:30 and 10:00. Not only was I afraid of missing class, and Laura her exam, but it was also raining. I can only reach the conclusion that the more people, and the shittier the weather, the less STM thinks buses are required.

Finally, a bus stops long enough for some people to get on, including Laura. The bus driver decided he was at maximum capacity, and closes the door behind her leaving me out in the rain. As the bus pulled off, she turned to look out the window and made a face that I could only describe as :O.

With my company gone, and my sweatshirt wet, I began to get quite annoyed. I decided it was in my best interest to put on my headphones and ROCK OUT* to ignore the seemingly bad luck I was having. While I was ROCKING OUT, I couldn't help but notice hard taps of water hitting my left shoulder. I looked up, wondering if I was standing under a tree to only find my neighbor's large umbrella directing the water straight onto my shoulder. I glared at her, and shuffled to my right hoping to avoid the path of water torture, but she followed. She was obviously petrified of losing her place in line to get onto the next bus. I continued to glare at her in short spurts and ceased to ROCK OUT – I was too busy being mad.

Time goes by, and I get on a bus that was at full capacity x 2. We pulled up to a stop where a tiny, old lady with a walker heaved herself onto the bus. It seemed logical to think that someone would give up their seat, but no. The lady has to ask.

I panicked because I am late for a lecture. One thing I hate worse than actually not going, is being late and causing a disturbance to everyone else. When I get there, I find a guest lecturer talking about his job as being a curator for craft. I panicked for that?

* A few weeks ago while on the bus with Phil, we watched a girl play drums on her legs and move her head to the rhythm of the music in her headphones with such vigor and enthusiasm. It was awesome, and hilarious to watch, and it was also amusing trying to figure out what she was listening to. (My guess was Green Day.) A week later I saw her at a bus stop doing the exact same thing. That is when I decided that it is everyones best interest to ROCK OUT whenever, and wherever the mood strikes you.

I don't know how many of you watch the show, but it is by far the best reality show on TV. I cannot stress how much I love it, or more specifically, how much I love Mia Michaels.

She is a contemporary choreographer who works for the show, and often judges. I put her name through google to see if I could find anything more about her and found an incredibly embarrassing website as well as her myspace profile. I forgive her.

For an example of her work, I give you this youtube video of my favorite dance choreographed by her. It actually makes me feel things, which is more than I could say about a lot of art.




Now to get to the point of this entry, or more specifically this piece of gold I found on youtube. I apologize for the huge introduction, but this video needs some sort of context. I watched it three times and still laugh loudly.