Well my baby is listening to Public Enemy and making me something scrumptious to eat after a day full of lots of work for the both of us. I'm well entrenched in Marxist theory right now, which I'm loving actually - am thinking of doing my term paper on marxist analyses of fantasy worlds in Children's Lit.

Had a lovely time at the Comp Lit part on Saturday night. Everyone loved my salad and for the first time ever, I felt like a domestic goddess. Pickle still thinks I'm a long way from goddess-dom, but what does he know? I had an even fabulouser time at Miranda and Reilly's. Really enjoyed meeting Phillip (hope that was his name) he was a doll. And they had some tasty morsels to eat there. And Miranda is going to make me a little book, must say I'm liking the useful friends. Asylus was beautifully tipsy and I enjoyed snuggling with him. and nibbling his ear... I'm such a tease.

Must go now as dinner is ready and must watch simpsons. But I wanted to say that I've really enjoyed reading the comments posted by Asylus parents on his blog. They are very sweet and loving and have a really good relationship with their little boy. Very inspiring.

Hello all. Just a quick blog here to express my sincerest wishes that Nigel return to his master. Nigel, if you're surfing the web looking for porn (and I know you are) hopefully the title of my blog will pop up on your google search and so I know you might be reading this. Go home! Luke misses you and I can't bear the idea of Luke without one of his pussies.

Also I realised that I have neglected to tell you all about how belly dancing is going. Well, it's going unbelievably well. The new teacher I have is this older lady who enjoys doing earthy bellydancing and she's just wonderful - much more of a taskmaster then Rena and not as sweet and well, still not even comparable. But she's very good and she seems to think I rock at this dance, she keeps pointing at me and telling everyone to watch how I do it which is embarrasing but I'm loving it! I'm in level two, which is just hard enough for me. I mean, some of the moves are repetitions, but some aren't and they start zils in this level (we started them yesterday) and in level 3 you're already supposed to be able to do some dance moves with them so I think I picked the right class. A lot of people take level 2 twice, I don't think I'll have to do that, but who knows, it might get a lot harder soon. Anyhoo, the studio is right across the street from my flat so basically I'm the happiest girl alive. This bloody dance has totally made life worth living, no matter how terrible I feel I always come out of those classes feeling as if the world is a beautiful place and I am one of the most beautiful things in it. We have a performance on Dec 6 I believe, so mark your calenders and come out to watch me shake my bootie. We're doing a veil dance, which I've never done before so it should be cool.

Oh, and I convinced Adam that the money I spent on my skirt in Prague was well worth it as the nice outfits here are about $750. Since I have two and I paid about $150 total, I think I got a pretty good deal over there in eastern Europe. Sorry, Central Europe.

I really have to go, but I've got a ton more to say so for those of you who look forward to my blog there should be lots of new stuff coming up. If I can ever find the time. Oi vei (does anyone know Yiddish?) Where did my bohemian lifestyle go?

Some people may wonder why I blog when I have nothing to say. Well, it's because this is really the closest thing to human contact I get outside of school. The workload is massive for a little ignorant one like me and I've been holed up reading and going to conferences and attending grad council meetings - I have no life outside of academia. Am I unhappy about this? No way, this is exactly what I wanted. The reason I'm putting so much work in is because I love what I'm doing. Woo Hoo!

However it ain't doing much for the ol' social life. But I'm doing a read-in at some elementary and junior high schools in October, maybe some little boys might want to hang out after...(queue in ominous laughter)

What have I been reading you may ask? Well okay so you didn't ask but it's all I've got to talk about. I'm doing a lecture on Aristophanes' Lysistrata which is a lovely, perverse play about how women try to end the Sparta Vs Athens war by witholding sex until the men agree to stop fighting. I'm thinking this play would adapt beautifully to be played for the modern US audience.

I'm also reading about Feminism for my Critical Theory class right now. It's interesting because when you try to simplify feminist theory, it just looks like it has some weak-ass arguments, but it's really quite a developed mode of theoretics. I mean, if we're going to accept that language shapes the way we interpret reality (and I think most of us do) then the fight to develope a neutral He/She thing actually starts to make some sense. I mean, I always thought all this fighting about neutral pronouns was really misguided energy - shouldn't we be fighting for equal pay here people? But it makes sense if you think that nothing is really going to change until we change the perception that reality is the male-dominated society which is represented by our use of language. However, this still isn't really the stuff of feminist theory that interests me, I like analysing older texts like fairy tales, which were really the tales of women and the first literature that women could clame superior authorship to but have been treated by most to be anti-feminist. If you read From the Beast to the Blonde, you'll see that fairy-tales are not as anti-feminist as you'd think. And if you're into feminist stuff, I'd highly recomment anything by Naomi Wolf, especially Promiscuities. She really knows what she's talking about and is not a Steinem figure pointing fingers at everyone in society and whinging about stuff (sorry Gloria, I know you did a lot to help women out, but you're just an irrational twit sometimes).

Okay, I gotta do more homework now. Then go to study group. The go to 3 hour theory lecture. Then read 3 more Greek plays.

I won't mention poo today for Chelsea's sake as I know she'll be reading cuz she's bored at work right now. But Chaddy emailed me such a great description of one of his poos that I might have to post it soon. And some of my friends have a website where they've posted pictures of some of their weirder looking poos - hey Reilly give you any ideas?

"I've learned that no matter how much I care, some people are just jackasses."

I wasn't going to blog this morning, but then just got slammed with too many things I wanted to say!

Regarding the whole "people are mean" situation that both Reilly and Kanga have talked about: I too feel your pain. I am always really nice, if not an outright sweetheart to those in the service industry. Which is why when one of them takes out their agression on me I get angry. Very very angry. There's a man in Czech still waiting for the payment on the bellydancing pants his wife made for me and another man (my landlord who was witness to my duking it out with bdpants man) who is probably still a little afraid of me. But I've learned that the best way to deal with this is not to freak out (though sometimes it is the only recourse) but to turn and be nice to the next person you see. Watch how their face brightens and how much they appreciate it and somehow your faith in humanity will return. I've found even just mustering a smile for the elderly lady who walks past can totally turn both your days around.

That and of course venting about the peice of shit who wronged you to every person you see is good for the soul. Not to mention going to the gym and releasing some agression on the unsuspecting stairmaster.

But just feel glad that you are all living in Edmonton. Trust me when I say I've lived elsewhere and I can truly say Albertans are the friendliest bunch of people you'll ever meet. BC just doesn't compare and don't even think about Europe. Except the Scots and the ass-pinching Italians. Australia might be okay, but I've never been there so I can't say for sure.

On to topic 2: Bladder or Urinary Tract Infections (this is for the Brits as they apparently get what only cats get in North America)
CRANBERRY!!!! If you take mega dosses of cranberry pills when you start feeling a bladder infection coming on, then it will go away. I guarantee it. If you have already started pissing blood then go see a doctor, but before that point take the cranberry. Drinking the cranberry juice is also good. It has been my life saver over the past few years. Miss. K.Lo I know they sell the cranberry pills at the Kotva pharmacy. And for prevention: always pee after sex and wipe your pussy from front to back, not the other way around.

And from that to my last happy topic:
CONGRATULATIONS CHAD AND CARIE!
These two lovebirds are tying that proverbial knot. I'm so happy for them. They've been together for an eon and man, she's put up with a lot of bullshit from the Chadboy (chadboys chadboys, whatchya gonna do...whatchya goona do when they come for you) but I guess she thinks he's worth it :)
I honestly couldn't be more gleeful.

It even negates the fact that today's poo status is only so-so.

Just a little bloggin before homework this morning.

Was observing "deep" people yesterday. Found it amusing. I was at Cafe Mosaics (which I love) and I usually encounter 2 kinds of people there, deep people and people trying to be deep. Now I realize I am being a judgemental bitch, but what is more fun when you're eating alone then eavesdropping on all the conversations around you? I just find it funny when people seem like they're trying to come up with profound things to say instead of just letting a conversation happen. I think some need to accept that there are going to be meetings with friends that are not going to be life-alteringly deep. So a tip to others: when you try to twist the natural path of a conversation you just end up sounding strange to those eavesdroppers around you. One of the girls at a table was trying to analyze why she had suddenly changed shampoo brands - she thought it had some deeper (there's that word again) significance to her life.

I too hate innane conversation but sometimes it happens. So I just enjoy it rather than try to make it into something its not.

So today I'd advise everyone to embrace innaneness. I'll talk about poo and you people can talk about whatever non-poo-lovers talk about. Sometimes I just wanna share the little things, and we should all feel allowed to do that without trying to portray these little things as hugely interesting.

Okay, so that's what I was trying to get across, that this poor girl felt like she had to make her shampoo decision interesting in order for the other person to listen. That's not right. Liberate yourselves to talk about whatever you'd like.

That said, I had a great poo this morning. It was the first good poo I've had in days. I felt like cheering. And I'm not usually good with the morning poos, I just don't have energy to really give 'er in the morning. So I started the day in top form.

Just sitting here at Asylus'. He's off with my money feeding his sick sick addiction (did I mention he was imbalanced?) and Pickle is playing video games so is basically a useless lump in terms of entertainment value for me.

Honestly I believe that video games are better than TV but I really can't stand what they do to people. If you're playing in groups then it's ok, but when singular males are playing it gets a little scary. Oh and if you're wondering why I think VG is better then TV it's because the main effects TV has are to shorten your attention span, push useless products and capitalist ideology on you, and encourage passivity. You must have a pretty good attention span if you're going to play 3 hours of games, they don't have commercials (though one could argue this), and you are actively involved in what's going on. That said, I still think they're scary. But I'm a technophobe.

Went to see the De la Hoya vs Mosley fight on Saturday. It was spectacular, even though I totally disagreed with the judges decision to let Mosley have the belt. De la Hoya fought the better and smarter fight, and well ...when two minorities are duking it out, I gots to go with my peeps (please picture me thumping my chest with pride and extending my hand)

As well, Pickle and I watched Pi. I asked him beforehand if it was a scary movie and he LIED TO ME! He said it wasn't but I thought it was one of the most frightening thing I'd ever seen. I had to watch an episode of Family Guy so I could fall asleep afterwards. I thought it was fabulous.Rvight now I've been studying structuralism which doesn't think science or math can really interpret/question reality. Its philosophy states that Literature is the only thing can really question reality as it uses language to do so and language structures everything. So, as far as I (Pickle) can tell, literature can question reality because it uses language (which is the same material reality is made up of) for both the question and the answer. Whereas science uses language for the question but not the answer - it sees language only as a tool for expressing the answer.

Ack Asylus is back! I think he never left and was just watching to see if he can capture the process of how I create such amazing blogs. He's sucking out my creative juices (and not in that good way). Slow death ...but not to worry I will revive again tomorrow and conquer this villain.

As for now, I must let him think he's won. I'm so sneaky.

Well, since we all know we want to be just like Miranda I might as well start by copying her blog ideas :)

1. Is the name you have now the same name that's on your birth certificate? If not, what's changed?
Yup, tmg it was and shall ever remain. Of course my bc neglects the millions of other names I have, though I can only trace it back to about 10 more last names on my family tree. As well my millions of nicknames: Roo, Tanians, Wee Yin, Little One, Sausage, Chorizo, Hobbit, Hoover (you don't wanna know), Olive, Taly, T-spot, T-bone, and one thankfully short lived day of being known as "Taco"

2. If you could change your name (first, middle and/or last), what would it be?
Wouldn't change a thing. However, I do like Miranda's idea of changing both last names to something completely different upon marriage.


3. Why were you named what you were? (Is there a story behind it? Who specifically was responsible for naming you?)
Okay, this is kind of interesting. My parents wanted to name me a traditional italian name Gratiana. However, my mom went through a really difficult labour: 48 hours followed by an emergency c-section. She was totally drugged up when the little man came to ask for my name and she said "Tania" instead of Gratiana. My dad just assumed she had changed her mind at the last minute when he saw my name tag and decided to respect her wishes. Hence, I am Tania which gives me enough damn problems as everyone thinks it's spelled with a bloody "y" and a ridiculous amount of people pronounce it "tawnia" which pisses me off more than anything else in this world. I mean it people, don't call me "tawnia"

4. Are there any names you really hate or love? What are they and why?
I don't really like common names like Jennifer, Debbie etc. But my kids might kill me because for girls I like the names Amaranth and Liesl. Amaranth because it's an imaginary flower that is always in bloom and Liesl because it's the name of this character in Robertson Davies' Fifth Business who may or may not be Satan. Yeah, if I ever choose to pop one out they aren't going to be happy with me.

5. Is the analysis of your name at kabalarians.com accurate? How or how isn't it?

Your first name of Tania has given you a friendly, likeable nature, and you could excel in artistic, dramatic, and musical expression. With this name, you desire the finer things in life, but you do not always have the resolve and vitality to put forth the effort necessary to fulfil your desires. Your emotional feelings are easily aroused and you will always be involved in other people's problems as a result of your overly sympathetic nature. You have many disappointments because of extending a helping hand to others in need, and then not receiving any acknowledgement or reciprocation for your generosity. After each experience, you have to guard against feelings of despondency and self-pity. You have high goals and ideals, but must incorporate more practicality, system, and concentration in order to materialize them.

Yeah that about sums me up. But I'm getting much better about working hard and being practical. Okay not so much the working hard thing but being practical yes. I just got elected GSA rep for my grad council. Councils are not really so much fun but they look good on a resume and the people involved in these things are the ones most likely to get that oh-so-lovely grant money. Plus I'm volunteering for read-ins and mentorship programs too. And there better be no one out there be laughing at the my being a mentor dammit! I got stuff I can teach people. I haven't figured out quite what that stuff is, but I'm pretty sure I got it.

That along with belly dancing, working on the Anthology with my supervisor, and course work, and the job should be enough. I've decided that, sadly Kung Fu and volunteering for CJSR are out. It pains me deeply but I need to know my limitations. I need to excel grades-wise this term as I'm on probationary status right now so I gotta be practical.

In health, this name affects the nervous system and also the fluid functions, giving rise to kidney or bladder weaknesses

This was actually kind of creepy as I'm on anti-anxiety pills (not it's not just weed, though I'm thinking I might try to get a prescription for it) and I'm a sufferer of chronic bladder infections.

Okay must go do some of that hard work crap.

Though I regret not having been a part of the drunken festivities of Asylus' birthday, I thoroughly enjoyed a weekend of loving festivities.

Corrine and Mike Wilson. Just really can't get used to Corrine not being a Gruber anymore. Who would want to give up having the same last name as the bad guy from Die Hard? But I guess it was her choice to make.

All kidding aside, the wedding was beautiful. And it went off without a hitch, something I've never seen before and which might have had something to do with the anal organisation of the bride and the fact the the maid of honour is an events coordinator. The ceremony was lovely and lead by a german pastor who sounded suspiciously like Arnie and even said stuff like "so lets have a hot kiss from the couple to cool us all down." Mike's vows, which he had been worried about for over two months, were so sweetly delivered that I totally lost it. The reception was a blast and Corr's sister Monica made a poetic speech the wrenched the hearts of all who attended. But the best thing about this marriage was the fact that I know it will survive. These two have not always been the perfect couple, but they know how to work out those imperfections better than anyone else I know. I don't think there's anything that could tear them apart because they know how to be there for eachother. Corr and Mike, I love you both and thanks for letting me be a part of your wedding.

On to my favourite topic: sex. Miss K. Lo's blog links you to this article http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,3604,1037335,00.html which I found highly disturbing. I have long thought of going into the sex education industry and this article has motivated me. I need to get out there and deliver my message. We need to encourage kids to look at what they're ready for, what they want to do sexually and make their own personal choices. We need to teach them that their choices are worth respecting -they should respect and believe in those choices and others should do the same. It's not about who you have sex with or how or when, it's about being comfortable with the sex life you do have because you're getting what you want. That way people can start to see sex as it really is: an expression of love, beauty, fun and freedom. Abstinence is lovely if that's what you decide, but so is experimentation - as long as you're the one making your own choices about either one. It's also about trying new things and knowing what's out there so you can make informed decisions about what you want to try. It's about openness people! Pushing the whole "abstinence for everyone" is just crazy because sex is a personal choice. And the abstinence movement also condemns the condom and says oral sex is a sin. Hold on just a fucking second here folks! The researcher said that most of the kids who say they will be abstinent end up having sex anyway, but they don't use condoms - so all this abstinence movement is doing is making high schools STD heaven. Why can't they preach the abstinence without bashing the condom? And ohmigod, teaching people that oral sex is a sin???? Okay, that's not going to go down so well when Susie Homemaker gets married and finds out all her friends' husbands do the KingCobraLingus except hers!

Where does this extremism come from? Sex and all it's forms (except with kiddies or animals) is beautiful, why are there so many people out there who think it's ugly? The US is losing it. I can just see where this is leading to: gov't says it's illegal to have sex before marriage and if they don't allows homosexuals to marry then they just can't get any. Not to mention all the doubling the amount of frigid women out there who don't know they can make their own choices about sex and gain empowerment from it. And I'm not talking about the false empowerment some women get from trying to act like men during sex. Or the empowerment they get from withholding it.

I've got the stomach flu today so I can't express myself as well as I'd like to about this. But you all know what I'm getting at.

Despite the cramping, I'm quite glad to have the excuse to be a little lazy tonight. I haven't taken the time to just sit and not think about stress related things for awhile. I've got to read about 200 pages tonight, but I'm content to have spent the earlier part of my evening watching Family Guy and making myself a fabulous dinner (which I quickly got rid of from both ends, but which was good while it lasted - oh sorry was this what Asylus was talking about when he was asking about how much to share on blogs?).

I must go now so that I may keep my blog shorter then Reilly's. So nice to have another long-winded person around :)

Tania, you ARE amazing. I love you because you affect the lives of people around you in such an amazingly positive way; you are just so kind, funny, sexy, sneaky, clever, wise and so open and GOOD to people, and you mustn't allow people to take advantage of that
-Miss K.Lo

Have you ever reached out to people and had one of them give you the perfect gift in return? Well I reached out to Miss K. Lo the other day and her email to me this morning was that gift. It's amazing that she mentioned all the things I try to be in these "good points" and it makes me think that all my effort to be these things is worth something. Except the "sneaky", I'm not sure where that came from, but I like it.

I was supposed to be working today and going to school. Guess who is not at work? Yes, listed up there on my good points should also be "knows what she can and can't handle" and today the idea of being late for my first uni classes in order to work for morons whilst accepting unhappy truths and dealing with the people who are trying to force me to sell my apartment because my father lied to me about big important financial stuff - well I woke up this morning and said "no." And despite the fact that many see this as a weakness in me, I see it as my strength because I'm going to be happy today and put happy thoughts out into the universe. And as most of you know, putting out beautiful energy is very important to me. It's not like I quit the job or anything, because yes, that would have been stupid.

Plus, it's Asylus' birthday today so it should be a happy day! Happy birthday! Hope you and your gran had a lovely conversation this morning. And yes some small token of my affection will be heading your way sometime this week. And no it's not a hooker. Why can't people understand that hookers are something I only get for my boyfriend?

and besides Asylus, the one you got last week is still usable, even if slightly blue and moldy (what have I told you about keeping them in water?).

and a belated blog Happy Birthday to Corr. May the celebration have prepared you for the massive party that your wedding is going to be. Did I say massive party? Sorry that was supposed to read: solemn occasion.

And my globe and mail edition will be cancelled this week, except for one article. It suggested that New Year's Day be changed to Labour day as this is when most of us measure the new year anyway. I mean who really counts their years by January? My memories seperate years by Septembers. It's when everything changes and the summer spent self-evaluating must produce results. I agree wholeheartedly. In trying to get all of you to join my little Neo New Year cult I will state some of my resolutions:

1. to be a good student. something I haven't managed very often in life and which I'm a little scared of. but dammit, it's going to happen!

2. to let go of baggage. nigh impossible but I have faith

3. to let belly dancing take me to even further heights of confidance, security and freedom.

4. to be as good to my friends as they are to me.

5. to continue to live up to Miss K.Lo's description of me.

There are many more, but I figured I'd try to be slightly realistic about this. I'm not a big fan of hard work so lets just keep this simple, shall we? Feel free to copy my resolutions blog idea on your blogs or include them in my comments section. Viva la revolucion!

believe what you feel you have to
see what you feel you need to
acknowledge only truths you want to
and you will better sleep at night

-scotty/asylus

The rest of this poem by my new friend can be found at his blog site which is now linked. Having at one time been forced to acknowledge truths and having slept very poorly, I find his words very accurate.

Anyhoo...

As you will read on Asylus' blog (he's very clear about only using people's nicknames on blogs so henceforth Scotty does not exist, there is only Asylus) we had a lovely day together yesterday. He introduced me to two fabulous people who I got along with straight away. You know how sometimes with new groups there can be some awkward "who the fuck are you?" stuff? Well there was none of that here. I found them to be true kindred spirits (yes I did recently complete my Anne of Green Gables collection). So kindred, in fact, that their blogs are now also linked. But I'm warning you, these people are blog pro's and the beauty of their sites may give you slight inferiority complexes. However, there's no need to worry as if you cannot handle the inferiority you can always hire them to create your website and make it all pretty and stuff. They're nice that way.

Plus it was nice to meet a cool girl. I'm very picky about girls (obviously not so about guys, I mean look who I hang out with.) and Miranda seems like someone I'd want to get to know.

Geez, how can you tell I'm hunting for friends? Could the level of my ass kissing possibly rise any higher? But all I've said is true so I'm not going to take it back.

Last night I played video games for the first time in a long while. I was totally disappointed in myself. I used to be good at these things. There's this big long story about how when I first started going out with Craig I felt out of place because he and all his d&d buddies were so good at nintendo. I'd never had a nintendo or a computer at home at that point. Not one easily discouraged, I spent hours trying to develope my motor skills to a point where I could win a few games against the boys. But since the geek era, I slacked off and now am back to the starting line. (In case you were wondering this is not the truth I was forced to face last night. If you're wondering what that truth was you're just going to have wonder a little longer as I'm not ready to announce it to the world wide web yet)

I've been reading The Pigman again. I forgot how good this book is. I think it would still resonate with teenagers today, despite the different pop culture references and lingo. Zindel just manages to really put some tension into the writing. And his writing clearly indicates that he thinks teenagers are intelligent, something that not many young adult writers really believe which makes them so damn patronizing.

Oh and a bit of special interest news. My friend's sister's uncle's girlfriend (actually it was just one of adam's exes) said that private citizens of Canada are entitled to perform three weddings a year. So if you don't like the idea of being married by some strange justice of the peace dude, you can just have your best friend fill out some forms and send them in, and then he/she can perform the ceremony. Not that I'm the marrying kind, but if it had to be done I think I'd be a lot more comfortable sharing my deepest vows with a good friend than with some guy in a robe I'd met the day before. Much more personal that way. Anyway, I hope this helps the blogger for whom this tidbit was intended, as well as giving all you others some extra useless trivia.

I'll sign off now and do my globe and mail edition tomorrow. Love.