Refraction

Happy Pi Day! If I had a little more time on my hands I would have tried to make a pie. 🙂 [/geek]

So, according to my own About page, this blog turned 10 today. That’s pretty incredible. Obviously I haven’t been blogging as frequently as I did when I was in high school, but I just can’t quite bring myself to get rid of this thing. It’s got sentimental value, despite (and perhaps because of?) all the embarrassing entries I used to write.

A decade ago, I was whining about the lack of free stable web space, and not-so-subtly dropping hints about wanting to get hosted. Some online quiz told me “You are a DUMBLEDORE to Harry! ¹You are kind, nice and a bit crazy. Everyone looks up to you and respects you. You’re basically the nice old guy in the bunch ;D” I was in the middle of my teenage Sailor Moon phase: the song stuck in my head was “風も、空も、きっと” (“The Wind, the Sky, Always”).

I’m listening to it on YouTube again now, because I couldn’t remember how it went… but hearing it again, I think if you stuck me in front of a karaoke machine with this song, I might be able to muddle my way through it. The Japanese language might not pull through though. 😛

Also: I was worrying about a science project. How appropriate.

To live in this world

you must be able
to do three things:
to love what is mortal;
to hold it

against your bones knowing
your own life depends on it;
and, when the time comes to let it go,
to let it go.

— Mary Oliver, “In Blackwater Woods”

Looking at the BBC’s summary of the Republican candidates for the presidential nomination, I’m rather struck by the fact that I don’t think any of their views align with mine. “Really?” I thought to myself. “I can’t find anyone who I can vote for in good confidence?” There’s been talk about how polarized and extreme American politics has become, but I didn’t think it’d be this bad.

Of course, then I realized it’s because I’m not a Republican, at all, and I ought to look to Obama for ideals I believe in.

For the past few years, my has father voiced his concern that his only daughter is going to wind up a spinster (and when I reflect on it a bit more it’s come through in other ways my whole life, more or less; anyway, I digress.) A few days ago my father decided that it was time for his yearly “love life” ¹Previously: Part I, Part II. talk with me.

It went a little something like:

“Daughter, if there are any boys interested in you, you should reciprocate! By the time you’re 30 all the good ones will be gone. Don’t trot out the fact that your own parents didn’t get married until their thirties, things are different for you.” ²Yeah, Dad, things are pretty different, all right.

My only response here was a lame kind of “I don’t have time for a boyfriend right now.”

There’s something in his reasoning here that’s kind of bothering me, but I can’t quite put my finger on it at the moment. It has to do with a) this idea of ‘take the first one who comes along’ (and implicitly: ‘because that’ll happen rarely enough that you really should cut your losses’) and b) the other idea that people (but men in particular) are only single because they’re not up to snuff.

Not really sure which one is more upsetting. Probably the former, since the second is much more easily rationalized away—how many times have you thought, “What do they see in that person?” But telling your own daughter (however subtly) that she just isn’t good enough… well…

Doctor, unbandage my eyes
I feel the light and I’m ready to be out in it
Doctor, uncover my ears
I hear the chorus weeping, I see the people singing

Hey Rosetta, “Yer Spring”

This is a fantastic song from a wonderful Canadian band. ¹Full disclosure: I may have a tiny little crush on the lead singer I saw them in concert a while ago for the second time and was completely blown away; it didn’t matter that I’d gone by myself, as soon as they took the stage all my attention was fixed on the band.

Part of the reason why I love HR! so much is that they always seem to be having fun on stage while putting on a great show. I’ve been to some bigger shows which had more spectacle, but where the band members (or maybe just the vocalist) seemed to be dialling it in—as a fan, that’s not a pleasant feeling at all.

Verdict: For fans of indie rock layered with strings, as well as fans of the Rock. ²Newfoundland

So lately I’ve been reading Dinosaur Comics — I find the absurdist humour pretty awesome most of the time. (The recent one on quantum erotica is good for a chuckle.)

When I was younger, though, I preferred to read about real dinosaurs, even though they (arguably) had less character. I was quite pleased to discover the favourite book as a 6- or 7-year old is still kicking around the school system. I swear The Dinosaur Encyclopedia spent a whole lot more time than it should have at my house and in my locker.

I kind of have a half-crazy urge to order this book down from the satellite campus just to get another look at it 20 years down the road. I wonder how much I’d still remember.

et je rêve d’un courant d’air
d’un éspace clos avec vue sur la mer
d’un silence radio, d’un océan solaire

I always feel guilty for listening (and liking!) KYO’s music; it’s firmly for les ados, after all. There’s a beautiful line in this song, though:

et je rêve de former un arc/en chair et en osmose avec la terre
“en chair et en os” meaning “in the flesh”, of course.

I think I need some new French music.

come on baby, play me something/like ‘Here Comes the Sun’

I am so so so excited to start learning how to play the guitar. My lab mate has lent me his for the time being (I figure I’ll eventually buy it off him) and I can’t stop fiddling with it. I even like tuning it! (He lent me his digital tuner as well :D) Hopefully this is a hobby I can stick with 😀

Also, been listening to Metric’s Fantasies over and over again. Such a good album, how did I ignore it the first time I heard it?

Also, research blah blah blah.

I don’t know what it is about Explosions in the Sky—how do they manage to provoke such an emotional reaction in me without words? I teared up during one of the earlier songs (“First Breath After Coma,” perhaps “The Only Moment We Were Alone”) and definitely had damp eyes for most of “Your Hand in Mine.”

No encore, though, that was a little disappointing. 🙁 Apparently they played right up to curfew! Can’t ask for more than that.