home stretch

Just when I thought finals couldn't get any more intense, they do.

Monday: If there's one thing I love during finals it's a working class. I spent most of it slaving away on one (rather difficult) photo.

Tuesday: I spent much of the day working on homework, including printing the first set of photos for my project for the WftA show.

That evening, we had a meeting to decide the next direct action. This one will be an outdoor party, celebrating the end of an intense year and letting the bigwigs know that the students are going to come back even stronger next Fall.

Wednesday: I spent much of the day writing for WftA and Obsolescence. I also registered for the last two courses that I'm going to take next Fall. In addition to APC, I need to take nine credits of art history. Two can be any level, but one must be a 3000- or 4000-level course. There weren't many 3000-level courses to choose from that hadn't already been waitlisted (which is nuts, considering that registration only opened a few weeks ago) and I don't have enough history credits to take 4000-level courses. Before registering, I went through the academic calendar and made a list of all the history courses that I was interested in. I then had a look on WebAdvisor (which is where you register for courses) to see what was actually available for next Fall. Only one of my choices was available: Survey of Indigenous Art, which is a 2000-level course. Most of the 3000-level courses that were available required prerequisites that I didn't have. The only courses that met my credit requirements were Craft and Design History 1750 - 1950 and Craft: Decor Arts of Ancient Rome. The first one (which lists 20th Century Art as a prerequisite) is the prerequisite for the second one. Whew! Thankfully, I already have four history courses under my belt, including the two FVA art history survey courses. I had to get permission from the prof in order to take the upper-level course (Decor Arts), so I emailed her. She emailed back within minutes, and off I went to school to print off the email, which I took to OSAS. Turns out I'd already been registered for that course, so all I have to be concerned about now is time-management for next fall. **gulp**

That evening's class was the shortest yet: all we had to do was split into groups, discuss each others' final projects, and then meet with Jeff individually and discuss said projects as well as any re-dos for the last project with him.

Thursday: I went to school early because I wanted to visit the Visual Resources Collection and see if they had any movies that I'd like to check out for the long weekend. I spent several minutes reading titles and nothing sounded interesting--until I spotted a couple of movies on the top shelf. Anna and the King and another, Anna and the King of Siam, which turned out to be the original--Anna and the King being a remake. I checked out both. I've seen Anna and the King before, probably around 2000 or 2001, meaning that I was no older than thirteen. I remember Tom fast-forwarding over some of the nastier parts (PG-13 rating, BTW), and although I understand why he did that--he's a parent after all--it's still frustrated me for over a decade. Now I can finally watch those parts: while I sometimes wish that I could go back to the carefree days known as childhood, being an adult has its perks.

Another working class. I finally finished the photo that I'd been slaving over. I didn't want to look at it for another day or so.

Friday: Hello, sleeping in until ten on a Friday!

I spent the day being as lazy as possible while still getting work done. I also skyped with my parents for the first time in forever and spring-cleaned my room.

Saturday: More homework--while listening to La Traviata. I think it's time I admitted that I love that opera. I can hum along with at least a third of the melodies. Having seen Moulon Rouge!, I wondered if the writers got ideas from the opera. Turns out, I was right. La Bohème and Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach) are also cited.

Anna and the King of Siam, which I watched that evening, is an okay movie, though overly-dramatic and Louis dies at the end when he's thrown from his horse. In real life, he married, his wife had a couple of kids, and he lived to be sixty-two, when he died in the flu pandemic in 1919. Also, in the movie Anna's surname is Owens, rather than Leonowens. Turns out, Leonowens is actually an amalgamation of her husband's middle and last names--and when he combined the two, her mom and stepdad were not happy.

Saturday night was far from dull. The emergency alarm went off at about nine and we all had to evacuate. It went off again at three AM for about ten torturous minutes and then there was yet another alarm at six AM, this time a one-minute test. I should mention that the alarm that the school where I live uses is not your ordinary alarm: in addition to the usual ring, they also throw in a high-pitched tone that tortures your ears. There's also a robotic male voice telling you what to do, which is the system's only redeeming quality.

Sunday: On my way back to my room from brunch at the meal hall, I found out that the three AM alarm had been a fire in one of the other two residences.

I spent most of the afternoon at the Port Campus, working on my Graphics final (a portfolio of my work, which I'm doing in a brochure layout). On my way back, it was so warm out that I took my coat off a few blocks from home. I had my windows open for a couple hours after supper. The evening was devoted to starting my final essay for WftA (1,500 words minimum) and watching Anna and the King, which is much better than Anna and the King of Siam.

never a dull momement at NSCAD

Well, hello there, almost-free weekend! Long time, no see! I thought you were going to be MIA for the semester.

Also, as of last Sunday, I'm sick again. But this cold is one of those "why-can't-every-cold-be-like-this" colds: it's an extremely mild one. Mild sore throat, I only started sniffling a few days into it and said sniffles are all but gone now, a handful of coughs every now and then... Even the sneezes are mild.

Monday: A working class. I got most of my project done for Reconfigured Image.

That evening, I watched the NY Times' video of Obama's inauguration. If you haven't read/heard his speech, please do! Sounds like the Obama I (and many people) got excited about in '08, and I'm glad to hear that sort of tone from him again.



Tuesday: I spent the day reading and writing for Writing for the Arts and Obsolescence.

SUNSCAD had called an emergency, extremely important GA for that evening, which I went to. The manifesto had been edited for the final time, and we needed to pass it. FUNSCAD had already stated their approval of the manifesto. And... It passed--to the sound of applause. I then headed off to the movie theatre to see Les Misérables. As I watched the students' fight on the big screen, I couldn't help but think about our own (nonviolent) struggles at NSCAD. You can read my review here--and you can read SUNSCAD's manifesto here.

Wednesday: I spent the day doing homework.

Class was devoted to discussing our ideas for our projects.

Thursday: I went to school early so that I could proofread and print my focus paper for Obsolescence, and the gallery review and the rest of the citations for Writing for the Arts.

The latter half of class was a working class, and I ended up finishing my project and printing it out.

That day, the NSCAD Board of Governors met. When the manifesto came up in the meeting, the students were there to read parts of it aloud and to put some major pressure on the BoG (which is decidedly not in solidarity with the struggles of SUNSCAD or FUNSCAD, and is extremely out-of-touch with our needs and desires) to vote in favour of it. As expected, they didn't, and "half the BoG left almost immediately (including chair and NSCAD interim president) and remaining BoG tried to guilt students for taking direct action" according to Alani Caruso-Fitterer (SUNSCAD's VP Cultural). Because of my class that afternoon, I didn't attend the action--but I supported it. The next day SUNSCAD put out a press release, which you can read here. You can also see photos from the action here and here.

Friday: When writing my blog posts, Obsolescence is always a difficult course to write about. We discuss the week's readings, five of the students present stuff that they've found that's related to the readings and I try to wake up (a 7:30 AM/6:30 EST wake-up call is a bit too early for me, especially on days when the windchill dips to -25˚C/-13˚F). This week was no different, except for the fact that we handed in our focus essays and this week was my turn to present. In one of the readings the author talked about the fact that back in the early days of digital cameras, the cameras didn't look like their SLR cousins--and I couldn't help but think about the fact that my first digital camera was one of them. I pulled up the DPReview page for that camera (a Nikon CoolPix 995) and also showed a couple of photos that I took with the camera within a few months of getting it. I also talked about the QuickTake, which was a digital camera by Apple (as in computers). That camera was, in some ways, similar to a film camera in that you couldn't see the photos until you downloaded them. The camera was mentioned in one of the readings and me being me, I stopped what I was doing and googled it.

Rebecca Young visited and gave us another rundown of the university's resources, and Anna did a workshop on semiotics.

Saturday: Because I had very little homework (nothing for Reconfigured Image, work on the cover for Graphics, nothing but the usual readings for Obsolescence and the weekly journal entry and starting research for a presentation that I have to do in about a month for Writing), I spent much of the day being lazy, though I did get some stuff done. After two weekends of working my butt off to the point that I'm surprised that it's still there, I have to admit that I'm used to the stress, and my brain couldn't quite process the lack of stuff to do. Which meant that I felt a bit guilty about taking most of a day off.

Sunday: A mix of work and fun. And more work.

This weekend the BSO took on Mahler's fourth symphony (as well as Bach's Brandenberg Concerto No. 3 and Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate). I came across an article about the concert yesterday on the orchestra's Facebook page, and it got me really excited for the BSO, and made me fall in love with the orchestra all over again. This is why I'm a fan, and have been for eight years (nine in May). Well, that and the fact that the musicians are so awesome--especially the violinists.

Les Misérables

First things first, I loved the movie. It's well-acted and well-sung. Unlike Mama Mia!, there weren't any truly bad singers.

However, the orchestration was very different from the stage production (I have the tenth and twenty-fifth anniversary concerts on VHS and DVD, respectively), and because I'm used to the stage version it threw me off. But once I got used to the orchestration, I ended up liking it. The movie's orchestration works as well as that of the stage production. Also (and this is what really drove me nuts), they cut some lines from the libretto. The first one I noticed was "Drink from the pool. How clean the taste / Never forget the years, the waste. / Nor forgive them, for what they've done. / They are the guilty, everyone." (Sung by Valjean.) That was closely followed by skipping "You'll have to go / I'll pay you off for the day / Collect your bits and pieces there / And be on your way.
"You've given me half / What the other men get! / This handful of tin / Wouldn't buy my sweat!
"You broke the law / It's there for people to see / Why should you get the same / As honest men like me?" That part was whittled down to Valjean asking for work and being turned away during an instrumental part (while I filled in the lyrics in my head). There were several other cuts throughout the movie, and while most of them were smooth, the lines "Don't think about it, Marius. / With all the years ahead of us! / I will never go away / And we will be together / Every day." which immediately followed "Every day / You walk with stronger step / You walk with longer step / The worst is over" didn't exactly fit: what exactly is Cosette telling Marius not to think about? I know he's wondering who brought him out of the barricades, but that fact isn't clear enough.

Moviegoers were divided over whether or not Sacha Baron Cohen's accent-switching during Master of the House worked/was necessary. I liked it, as that's the kind of guy Thenardier is: he'll pretend to be one thing when he's really another. Russel Crowe was criticized as someone who can't sing, but while he isn't exactly Philip Quast, I'd prefer Russel's singing over Pierce Brosnin's performance in Mama Mia!.

But the movie did something the stage performances didn't: it cleared up for me Éponine's back story. Neither the 10th anniversary nor the 25th anniversary performances make mention of the fact that she is the Thenardiers' daughter--except for the fact that she joins M. Thenardier's gang when she's older. I'd first stumbled across that fact when I scrolled through the libretto, and it was nice to see that part of the story cleared up.

The fact that everything was sung live added to the movie in a major way. Singing live meant that the actors could experiment, that they didn't have to make their acting decisions months in advance. And because it wasn't a stage production, they didn't have to sing everything loud. It meant that, for example, Hugh Jackman could whisper the Soliloquy, which he did.



Seeing Les Mis acted out brought it to life, and I gained a new appreciation for the characters, especially the student rebels. The story felt more real in the movie than it did in the stage performances, and it sucked me in. The battle scenes were more heartbreaking than your average movie battle scene. But while they were upsetting, I appreciated that fact: the rebels were young people, some only kids, and Marius and Valjean were the only survivors of the barricades. It was like listening to La Bohème, which never fails to turn me into a sobbing mess by the end. Empty Chairs at Empty Tables was especially heartbreaking.





And yes, I cried--several times. The first was when the first notes of the Work Song boomed out of the speakers (yay, surround-sound). This was what I'd been waiting for since '96!



I also lip-synced most of it, especially Do You Hear the People Sing?. 



At the end, the audience applauded. Yes, really. This is something I've only witnessed during Met Opera simulcasts.

My life is now complete.

4.5 out of 5.

my review of "HP7: Part 2"

Tom and I saw HP7: Part 2 on Sunday, and to mark the end of an era, I thought I'd write a review. Therefore, I should warn you that there could be some SPOILERS--especially if you haven't read the books and/or seen the final movie.

Overall, it was the best Potter movie. Ever. The acting was incredible, the special effects were amazing, it was the biggest emotional roller-coaster of any of the movies (there were several times where I choked up, and I actually burst into tears at the fade-out between the last shot of the epilogue and the credits because now it was all over--as I said to Tom afterwards, HP would "never be new again").

HP7: Part 1 felt more like a psychological horror movie à la The Ring, and my fear that Part 2 would be like that was mainly what kept me from seeing it in 3D. But although it's the darkest and most violent of all the movies, it didn't feel like a horror movie at all. If anything, it felt like a breath of fresh air when compared to Part 1.

As I said, in general the acting was top-notch, but I have to point out some individuals. Especially Alan Rickman. That guy is one of the best actors out there, but this was one of those times where he went above and beyond the call of duty. The way he portrayed Snape's inner battle between the good side and the bad side (Dumbledore or You-Know-Who?) pulled me in and really brought the conflict and Snape's love for Harry's mom (mum?), Lily Evans to life. Snape, of course, had a bit of a crush on Lily, but of course she ended up marrying James Potter (Harry's dad). There's a scene that takes place just after You-Know-Who's murdered Harry's parents (Snape's given Harry a vial of his memories, and Harry's looking at them in the pensieve). Snape's holding Lily's body and crying, and it's absolutely heart-breaking to watch.

And watching him duel with McGonagall (Dame Maggie Smith) was thrilling. Especially Maggie--throughout the movies, she hasn't really had a chance to cast any spells. The movies and books have mostly focussed on her roles as head of Gryffindor House and Deputy Headmistress. But I couldn't help but feel rather impressed with her duelling skills/spellwork (to heck with the fact that it's all really good special effects).

There were also a couple of her lines that made me laugh: The first was when Filch comes running into the Great Hall yelling about students being out of bed at night. McGonagall sharply tells him that they're supposed to be out of bed; that the school is under attack. Later, when she's calling the suits of armour to battle, to "do [their] duty to [the] school," she says afterwards with a giddy smile on her face, "I always wanted to use that spell!"

And who can forget Molly Weasley's (Julie Walter's) line, "NOT MY CHILDREN, YOU BITCH!"?

The duel between Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and You-Know-Who (Ralph Fiennes) was also amazing and thrilling. And it happened pretty much as I'd imagined it in the books, except for the part where they're battling while flying around the Hogwarts campus, which was a good choice in terms of adding things to the script.

When Ralph spoke in Parseltongue in one scene, there were subtitles at the bottom of the screen. Part of me wishes that the other directors had done that. But I also understand why they didn't: maybe they just hadn't thought of it, or maybe they wanted to keep it mysterious. In DH: Part 2, You-Know-Who is telling Nagini (his snake/familiar, and one of the Horcruxes) important info about Harry. It's not only important for the snake, but for the viewers as well, so the subtitles are rather useful.

I did find one flaw (and this is mostly why I didn't give it a perfect rating): Throughout the movie, Harry wears regular Muggle clothes. When he comes into the Great Hall after Snape's told the students that if they know where Harry is to turn him in, he's wearing Hogwarts robes. I was okay with that--maybe he borrowed them from a friend. But then, a couple minutes later--where are the robes?

The scene in the Great Hall, where the wounded and the dead are laid out was unbelievably sad. Seeing Tonks and Lupin lying together, and the Weasleys mourning Fred...

During the epilogue, they used a piece from HP1: Leaving Hogwarts, which I thought was a wonderful touch. It's been almost ten years since HP1 came out, and as someone who grew up with the series (both the books and the movies), I couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia, and that musically the series has now come full-circle. As I listened, I couldn't help humming it in my head.

9.5 out of 10 (Tom gave it an 8.2).

The Harry Potter series: 1997 - 2011. Thank you, J.K. Rowling.

high on art

This year, March Break is in the most awkward spot possible: this week is assessment week (I had my Photoshop assessment at 1:40 this afternoon), we start the next term next week--AND THEN we're free to go crazy in Cancún or Fort Lauderdale (PASSPORT), or go home, or do whatever.

This past weekend, I wrote nonstop: I had to finish two papers for Professional Practice (five hundred words each), to be passed in by nine this morning (I submitted them via email last night), and I had to write a five-hundred-word reflection paper for History, which I copied onto my blog for that class, so you can read it here (and see some of the photos) if you want to. Let's just say that I had way too much fun with the assignment--and on a school night, no less (I was up until midnight on Wednesday night shooting the photos, and I had to get up at seven-thirty--6:30 EST--for class at nine the next morning). But in a way that's a good thing: if you love what you do, sometimes you do end up staying up until all hours because you love it so much.

To celebrate the return of the Santiago el Grande, as well as the portraits of Lord and Lady Beaverbrook, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery hosted a Surreal Masquerade on Saturday night. I didn't go to the ball itself, but as part of festivities, WhiteFeather was going to present a short movie that she'd made called Fantasmagorie. Since I love her work, I had to see it.

Due to excitement, and being used to having to be out the door no later than half an hour before my classes start, I left at around seven-thirty--but I could've left as late as seven-forty-five. However, WhiteFeather's computer died an hour before the masque--and she didn't have a backup of the file. But she was able to have the file retrieved, and the show went on--about fifteen minutes after it was to start.

I was unbelievably excited and overwhelmed when I saw WhiteFeather come through the door of the gallery. I gave her a huge hug before she ran off to set up her movie--and I headed outside to stare at the window above the entrance (I didn't care if I looked a bit weird--as an artist myself, I'm used to it). After waiting a couple of minutes, the fun began. 

Fantasmagorie was perfect for the event: like the work of Dalí, it's surreal and you have to forget about trying to make sense of what you're seeing--just enjoy the show. I actually watched it three times: the first time the movie played, and then the second time with WhiteFeather (she had to make sure it looped properly--it did). After that I started to walk home--but I only got a couple of metres onto the Beaverbrook Trail before stopping dead in my tracks, turning around, and going back to the gallery for viewing number three. Finally, I was satisfied and ready to head home. As I wrote in a comment to one of her status updates on Facebook (saying that she's been invited by the B. to do another installation for them next year), "I should've known better than to try to decide for myself when I was ready to leave: that sort of decision can only really be made by the art in question. The viewer doesn't have a say in the matter. Another extremely good example: Adam MacDonald, who's a master at keeping me in front of an individual work a lot longer than I'm used to--in fact, as I walked back to the gallery, I muttered under my breath, "you are SO pulling an Adam MacDonald, WhiteFeather.""

WhiteFeather will post the video on her website in a little while, and I'll make sure to post the link here. Fantasmagorie was so mind-blowingly awesome and beautiful that I want to share it with everyone.

My Photoshop assessment went well: the only real concerns Drew had were 1. the fact that the HDR assignment from this past week (two HDR panoramas) didn't look really strong and "HDR-ish" (my word), and he didn't know whether they were HDR--he was cool with it once I explained that yes, they are HDR, and I put them together using a combination of PhotoMatix Pro (for the processing) and Photoshop (to put the panoramas together), and 2. I'm currently missing the noise reduction part of assignment five ("Noise, Chromatic Aberration, and Printing"). He didn't know whether he'd somehow missed it, or if I hadn't submitted it.

This coming weekend (starting on Thursday) is the House Weekend, which can only mean one thing: ASSASSINS!!!!! Okay, it also means other things: Thursday night is Virgin Drinks Night, for example. But when we played last year, I was eliminated before I could attack my target. This year, I want to actually "kill" my target--and do a better job at protecting myself. Come eight tonight, be afraid--be very afraid.

My HDR panorama of the college's basement.

seeing "Avatar": truly an experience

I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with going to Chapters (I took a taxi to the mall because the buses don't run on Sundays), which I did first thing: a book that I'd been waiting for had just been released (after having the publication date pushed back several times), so I bought it and a DVD of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. However, I was so caught up in the moment that I forgot that I had a $25 gift card in my purse that I could've used (I only remembered it after the movie).

Since it was early enough in the day, I couldn't resist going to Starbucks (which is at the back of the bookstore). I got a tall Skinny Vanilla Latte. Delish.

At that point I decided to head over to the movie theatre (which is directly across from Chapters) even though I still had about half an hour before show-time.

After buying my ticket and getting a pair of 3D glasses, I went in, took one look at the screen (which was almost as big as the one that I saw Turandot on), and chose a seat in the back of the theatre, which was a very good choice.

Then I went back out and bought cinnamon pretzel bites and fries (I wanted some sort of treat, but I didn't want popcorn).

The "pre-show" seemed to go on forever, but eventually a sign came on that basically said, "glasses on!"

The 3D was less intense than I expected: I thought it would be very "in-your-face," but it wasn't. And of course I had to take my glasses off a couple of times to see what the movie looked like without them. The result: it would still be watchable, but it's not as fun (of course).

It took me a while to figure out what the "avatar" thing meant: it's not like a body-suit. The human is inside a casket-like thing (that's the best I can do at describing it), controlling the avatar (though they hear, smell, and feel everything).

The scenery is magnificent, and I can't remember seeing a movie with colours as intense as the ones in Avatar. By the end of the movie I kept thinking, "I wanna go to Pandora!"

This is one of those stories where there are hardly any unimportant moments: everything matters. If they'd shoved anything else into the plot, it would burst at the seams.

Several times I was reduced to tears, either because of the beauty of Pandora or, close to the end, the destruction of the moon (Pandora isn't a planet--it orbits a planet that looks like a blue version of Jupiter) by the sky-people (i.e. humans), which brings out the worst in our species (the colonel who's in charge of the mission has no respect for the fact that on Pandora everything is connected).

Avatar is one of those "great" movies--the kind that I thought they didn't make anymore. I think it's even greater than the LOTR movies, and those are really good.

And one more thing: if you still haven't seen this movie, PLEASE DO!!

getting back into the groove

My creation in Textiles (before I trimmed the loose threads). Get the full effect of the textures and colours.

What We do in Art School (I have no idea who drew that, but this was for an assignment about camera obscuras last semester)

Both of the above photos were taken at NBCCD this afternoon.

Once again I'm waaaay behind. But not a whole lot happened over Christmas break: I slept in; listened to the Met (turns out, I love Richard Strauss--Elektra, which involved the entire MOO, just about knocked me off my feet; and I'd forgotten how beautiful Hansel ünd Gretel is--I must get a recording of it at some point); stayed up late on Christmas Eve; woke up early on Christmas Day; opened presents (I got Metropolitan Opera Brass and cannot even begin to describe how beautiful the MOO's French horn section is in the Hunters' Chorus from Der Freischütz); read; laughed with Mom and Tom; cuddled cats; enjoyed the fire; binged on music (MOO's horn section, Green Day--I also got 21st Century Breakdown--the epitome of non-Classical cool--and André Rieu); watched movies; fumbled and stumbled my way through almost the entire first act of The Nutcracker (not just the March, though that's where I started) while the BSO played it in Bangor; and slept in some more. Not necessarily in that order.

I thoroughly enjoyed my break, and it took almost the entire three weeks to recuperate from the past three months (I'm not surprised--last semester was intense).

This past week I started the second semester, which, from what I've heard, won't be as brutal as last semester. The schedule's more balanced, too (starting with the fact that on Tuesdays I don't have class until one--and the most classes I have per day is two).

Tomorrow, Lisa (who also lives at MJC) and I are going to see Avatar at the Empire Theatre (where I saw Turandot in November). This will be my first 3D movie and although I'm a little nervous, I've been told by just about everyone I know that I must see this movie.

A couple of NBCCD/Avatar-related bits: during my Colour Theory class on Wednesday afternoon, Jen included the poster in her slideshow and talked about how colour was used (blue face/yellow eye) and how it works.

Next week we'll make colour wheels--something I haven't done in years, but that's one of the most basic things out there, like port de bras in ballet or scales in music.

In Textiles (which is one of my Media Explorations this semester) we had to pick out a magazine image that had a colour scheme that we liked from one of the bins. As it turned out, the image that I picked had the same colour scheme as the Avatar poster. Subconscious pick? We then used the colours in that image as the base for weaving (see photo titled textiles, above). I got so into the weaving that I stayed after school (my class ended at four) and kept working on my weaving (a.k.a. homework, which we could come in and work on any time between then and Friday) until I had the required twenty-four (thin yarn, which is mostly what I used) to thirty-six (thick yarn) inches. Once I hit the twenty-four-inch mark I wove a few more rows (making it slightly longer than twenty-four inches) and then chose a colour that wasn't in my colour palette and wove a few rows of that.

Six-and-a-half hours. Done.

opera fan

Two Doors

As usual it looks better on Flickr

The weeks go by so fast....

NBCCD had a coffee house on Friday night in the drawing room and I was one of the few people who went. I didn't get it: it was well advertised, with posters on just about every door and bulletin board. But maybe that was the problem: because there were so many it became a sensory overload.

Nonetheless it was good. There were only a couple of performers (I think five people signed up but only two made it), but that made it feel more intimate: just a bunch of people who got together to hang out, make music, and eat treats and drink coffee.

The workload has levelled off, though I still feel stressed sometimes.

I didn't go to the market this weekend because I was up late the night before and didn't wake up until about nine (which is the time I want to be out the door). Instead, that afternoon I gathered some energy and went shopping at the two local natural food stores and photographing.

As I've been exploring the city during the past month I've noticed various back alleys in the downtown area. They're gritty, edgy, dirty, a tad shady and I wanted to take my camera and photograph them "sometime." After a meeting with Adam, my academic adviser, on Thursday (during which he told me to "rock out" this Saturday instead of holing myself up with homework) I tried to make plans to catch up with one or more friends. When those plans fell through I decided to take my camera and photograph some of those back alleys. See the photo above, which is my favourite.

Yesterday morning I had a bit of an odyssey in the name of opera. The day before, for whatever reason I suddenly got it into my head to go see the Met's simulcast of Turandot, which will be playing at the Empire Theatre in the Regent Mall. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that that opera won't be broadcast on the radio (which I'd been hoping for). When I tried to order a ticket online with my debit card it wouldn't let me because I didn't have an online bank account. I tried a couple of times to set one up and then just gave up and went to the bank.

Once the account was set up (with help from the teller), I went back to MJC, ordered the ticket, and emailed Lynn (back in April she made me promise to go to a simulcast "next year").

This weekend is Thanksgiving and I'll be going home for the first time. Cue the squeals! My family recently adopted a new cat, Baxter (a red Maine coon) and I've only seen him on my parents' webcam when I chat with them on Skype. I can't wait to meet him!