Archiving October 8, 2008

I am working on this project archiving old photos from theatre at UBC prductions. It feels good to have some purpose between classes other than homework and studying.

Greek man has returned to ubc pool. For some reason his supension has been lifted. There is an asian man who hates him and submits “formal” complaints against him every chance he gets. Old men need to have better things to do than trying get each other kicked out of the facility.

I have been scanning pictures and negatives to digitize them for the archival project. Holding negatives made me miss that moment after processing a roll when you unlock to funnel lid to the canister and twist the holder apart. When the film unravels and swirls. When you grab one end and the rest falls to the floor in a shiny black ribbon. When, too impatient to just let them dry, you uselessly try to decipher which pictures are best even though you won’t be able to tell until you do a contact sheet. I miss that excitement when you can just tell the roll is a good one. I miss the photo room.

Though we may be spread across the continent we can still enjoy tea and creativity. June 9, 2008

In the spirit of the lack of posts I thought I would update you all on my life.

I am 1/4 of the way through my working summer. I am picking up random shifts at the pool which means I sit and wait 3 hours in  between morning swim lessons and an afternoon hour long guarding shift.  I’ve acquired some private lessons which are fun. The kids progress so much each time, I love it when suddenly they can swim well all because I showed them how to kick properly.

I planning what I am going to take next year. So far, I haven’t had the guts to commit to Marine biology so I am taking Sociology , a Drama theory course and a stage production class, if  they let me in. I’m having trouble hunting down an advisor who can tell me if I have a shot at being in the theatre class of 13 students.  There is this girl at work who majored in biology. Her advice for me was to make up my mind now because it is a lot harder to switch majors in third year, she also said an Honours program is the only way to go if you want a job with only a biology degree. Honours seems intimidating but i figure I am already going to take more than 4 years if I register in that many arts courses. I may as well use the extra term or two to go for an honours.

I also realized I have been lacking tea and creativity from my life. We must have a group art project soon.

I miss you guys. We should hang out soon.

Of those I know not well: Greek man May 14, 2008

Working at the pool I get a lot of strange people each with their own quirk, nickname and a staff memo.

The two big ones are Vaseline lady and greek man.

Known to the lifegaurds as Greek man or George, greek man is an older man who comes to the pool for the 4:30-5:30 evening swim. He is short with a big belly and thankfully a more modest speedo. His pool activites consist of sweating in the sauna, complainig about other people in the pool, standing on the steps of the hot tub and riding the jets in the shallow end.

If you do not know, jet riding is a term lifegaurds use for the old men who use the pool jets to massage their junk. Yeah its really gross, some even lift their leg onto the pool edge to get a better angle or use their hands.

The problem with greek man is he isn’t obviously getting off on the jets so when he asks for the pool jets to be turned on and then stands with his crotch in the jet we cant really accuse him of anything and no one really has the guts to say something, though a head guard once told him not to “massage his genitals with the jet because it makes other people uncomfortable”. Apparently he just stood there stunned like he had no idea anyone knew what he was doing.

Every once in a while a staff memo shows up in the guard room. The latest one said Greek man was banned from the pool. Why? We all knew it was partially because of the jet riding but the official reasoning was that he complained too much and took attention away from the other people using the pool.

It will be strange and a lot less creepy to lifeguard and not have him in the shallow end looking at me whenever I look in his direction. I managed to master making sure he was not drowning without looking at him directly and I know this skill will come in handy when other creepy old men come to the pool.

coming soon: my ode to the vaseline lady and spawners (sex in the pool)

Where are the treehuggers? March 28, 2008

My comtemplation of the day was: How green is UBC? Compared to Mcroberts UBC is very pro sustainabilty. My wonderings brought me to ask if other universities are more or less green. Also what determines the eco-friendliness of a campus?

Could the Programs offered and the people they attract have an effect? This I imagine would be that case for UNBC where they are surrounded by forest and little urbanization, and Robyn Chang went there. But what about schools in Toronto? Back East? I am lucky to have so many friends in such different places so I ask you for your thoughts and experiences all across this great continent and elsewhere.

And yay Meghan, Toronto sounds really cool!

The drought is over February 23, 2008

I miss everyone and hearing about your crazy lives. My guess is that everyone is very busy and/ or your lives seem boring and un-post-worthy. That is hard to believe because you are all such amazing people. Mike- I revisited your flikr and morocco photos. They are so delightful and make me want to travel. I took my cat to the vet for vaccinations and found out that he is severely obese. Yeah, like I didn’t know that already. So now he’s on a diet.

My brother was asking about everyone the other day and that made me think about how little I see those of you who are within reasonable ‘bumping into’ distance. But then I feel too busy to make plans. Last night I was very restless, its all this sitting around the house, and i missed those nights when we would hang out at Agnes or Katy’s house and then randomly go outside and run around. I miss having people to do that with because its just not that same by yourself.

It’s like fate December 15, 2007

The members of the tea collective are slowly trickling their way back into my life. Today I saw Mike at the bay randomly and Wednesday Katy showed up at my door. I can’t wait to see everyone. EXCITEMENT!!

I’m losing my French December 2, 2007

I did really well on my English paper and my Dad said he was very impressed and he said it was even more impressive because I’m a Frenchie and English is my second language. Ha Ha Ha. I do feel like I am losing my French. Haven’t really spoken it since grade 10. I tried speaking it the other day and it was difficult. Today Marta came to me with her French homework and I couldn’t figure it out. It was a holiday vocab word scramble and the two words she couldn’t get were not on the vocab sheet. I wonder if any of you can get them, they are: blsael, ionmacs. They are supposed to be things you would find in Santa’s sac. I know its my fault that I am not continuing my French but there are other things I would rather do, it’s like getting exercise, you know you should but its just so much effort’ plus its not as fun to talk to yourself.

S.E.X. (scholarly educational xerox) trade worker November 27, 2007

I feel like the really smart person who does the popular kids homework so that they can be liked.

This guy is in a couple of my classes and he came up to me last week and asked if i could take some notes for him for our Bio class while he was away. He said he would pay me 5 bucks. It seemed a little low but I wasn’t going to be a mean snob and say no. I took the notes which I would have done anyways and photocopied them for him, I even grabbed the handouts he missed.

So today in class I’m leaving and he magically appears by the door.   He tells me he was in Seattle with his family, I give him the notes; he was very impressed* and thankful. He then offered to buy me a donut** from the Timmy Ho’s. Sure donuts are good they are also only a dollar something. I feel like we are even though because I got to talk to SOMEONE for 10 minutes and I was one of those people who walks with people they know around campus, which I do rarely. This whole notes-donut exchange felt very…sleazy I guess… Like a prostitute getting paid after work. We spent 10 minutes in line talking, then bam once my payment/the donut is in my hands- ‘Good bye’. I also feel like I bought those 10 minutes of accquatancehip.

On a side note: We had no lights in that Bio lecture, stupid forestry building out in the boonies. Of course the overhead projectors still worked. I had to use my ipod to see what I was writing. It reminded me of the theatre, being dark and all- somewhat comforting.

*impressed-is that like pressed like a flower in a book, and what does the prefix ‘im” mean? this leads me to wonder about the meaning of maculate, becile and portant.

**american spelling?- my excuse is that it is shorter

Tea November 20, 2007

I am in art history learning about tea ceremonies of japan. There were levels of tea that you could learn. You had to go to tea school and these levels cost lots of money. When our collective reunites in that monster house that brendon will pay for we shall open our own tea learning center, for free.

Distractions during break October 1, 2007

So today I arrived on campus and buy a muffin on my trek to the distant forestry building. upon my arival 11 minutes later i discover that my prof is sick and class is cancelled. Meh. I will go to the library and work on chem, maybe watch some OC. ( I have decided to make use of my season 3 and 4 dvds as they are still unwatched) I watched the wedge on friday which i havn’t done in a while. It was a good episode, highlights include MIA, Chromeo and Tv on the Radio (Thank you Irene!!!). After reading meghan’s post I am sad that I don’t have friends. I am very tired and feel too overwhelmed to go to club meetings. Work is eating away at me slowly, working till 10 in the cold watching mini hurricanes form over the outdoor pool. Last week I also started intramural volleyball. I am on the ethno team which i like. Most teams are represent sororities or groups of friends. They are all girls with silky hair and lululemon pants and uggs. My team is a Science team, we are Asian, Indian and blonde. I am excited that I am on the “alternative” team. Saturday I went to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, for the second time. It was amazing, again. Alex and I brought George along which was fun.

I am also sad that they are renovating the gorgeous chem and old library buildings. They look like cathedrals and I would much rather learn in a building that looks like it belongs in Hogwarts than in some 70’s designed concrete building that looks like a cell (supposedly).

I guess I should do my chem lab report now. (I am in the library and it is really wonderful)(I just hate climbing the stairs to find and empty desk, it makes me even clammier after coming in from the cold)