Jan 18
    & 10:02pm
 


Mission101...,
So it's no secret I love lists. Memes, life lists, to-do lists... you name it. Therefore, Mission101 appealed to me greatly. Basically, you make a list of 101 things you want to accomplish over the next 1001 days. [info]planetish is doing it, and now so am I. Of course, being who I am (me!) I stole her method of organisation and, I'm afraid, several goals. What can I do, they were good ones. I'll try to keep track of them and update my progress, but you understand, I've got a lot to do so that might not get done. It's like an excercise in irony. Also, anyone interested might want to see my Memorandum entry.


 
Current Mood: thirsty
Current Music: Freedom - Pete Murray


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER

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Jul 23
    & 10:12pm
 


Pick-up Lines...,
I've been having a bit of a surreal week. Tonight was the first night I didn't eat dinner in a restaurant, and I basically reheated and scarfed a bit of taco when I got home after eating nothing but apples and sticky buns all day. I ate at the Old Station last week and last night before play practice, Seahorse and I went to Muskoka Steak & Seafood the night before last, and on Sunday, Alannah and I went to Kelsey's. Tomorrow, I'll depart the house at 9 and won't be back until 10:15 at night. Friday will be much the same.

I do have something to report, though: after Seahorse and I finished eating, we departed the restaurant and were just climbing into her car when I heard a lot of noise behind me. Three guys (older - probably in their twenties?) were getting into their car, and inquired of me, "Where are you girls headed?"

I nearly died laughing. It was only the second time in my life that someone had tried to pick me up (the first was in NYC, and after the guy asked me out for a drink, I turned to him and said "Do I LOOK 21? I don't think so."), and I found it hilarious. I turned away so no-one but Seahorse could see me laughing, and she replied that we were going to the movies. Then, unable to deal with it much longer, I closed my door. Then we sat there. And laughed. It was great. 

I might see Sam tomorrow... <3
 
Current Mood: crazy
Current Music: Pas d'action (Coda) - The Sleeping Beauty


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER



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Jul 17
    & 10:22pm
 


"If I were fair, Thisby, and I were only thine..."...,
Just finished my second Midsummer rehearsal, which was just as much fun and just as challenging (and yet easy) as the first. Everyone's just improving so incredibly much and is so excellent... this is going to be such a great show. I'm having a lot of fun watching the Lovers' scenes, because Demetrius and Lysander are so good (I honestly think I'm falling in love with Lysander, ohmygod). The scene 'in human modesty' between Lysander and Hermia where he tries to basically hint that they should sleep together and she's all sweet and denying is such a mega combination of cuteness and hilariousness that I explode with giggles whenever I watch it. Rock the ness! Oh God, and when Robin was telling the other fairies to all be vapid and giggly and bubbly, she said "Colline's the only one of you with a brain in her head, the rest of you just look as though you have no idea what's happening... you have permanent ADD," he leaned over and was like "I have that look all the time" or something like that, it was hilarious, because he kind of does, because he's so blond and sweet-looking, haha.

Helena still bothers me. Urgh. I just massively want to push her down the stairs. I really like Hilary, she's really nice, and she's a good actor, but I just cannot bear listening to her!! Her voice is so whiny! Every sentence sounds the same! She doesn't make Helena sympathetic at all! I want to punch her! AGHADFKSNDFS!!!!!! Honestly... I'll be fine, but I really want to help Jeremy run his lines just so I can say hers and get it out of my system. I know it's condescending and horrible and arrogant, but frankly? I'm better. Or at least, I know Helena better. I know how to act her. I know how to say those lines, how to act them, how to feel them. I know them inside-out, and I love every last syllable. I want this so much!! Curses :(

OH MY GOD. I got a message on the phone from UofO about a residence form I was supposed to have filled out and returned in APRIL. WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT. I sent them a deposit, but I guess I (and by 'I' I mean 'we') saw the money deadline as in August, so oh my god what if they take away my room don't do that I like my roommate!! I'm so worried about this... I hope I'm not kicked out, I don't know HOW I could have forgotten, how incredibly STUPID of me... *wails*
 
Current Mood: jubilant
Current Music: Flight Test - The Flaming Lips


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER

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Jul 14
    & 10:04am
 


"You know the perfect protection, but I've got in over my head"...,
I have been returned to my house, but my father left for the Big T.O. and the rest of my family hasn't yet come down from the cottage. The food situation? Pretty depressing. Lots of cereal, but no milk. Some eggs, but no cheese. Lots of jam and nutella, but no bread. I really wanted nachos for lunch, but that's where the cheese gets me again. I really wanted an omelette, or something to do with eggs, but I don't want to just eat a random EGG. I want to poach it and put it on bread or something, or smother it with cheese. Maybe I'll look for feta and some vegetables later - I think there's asparagus in the garden.

REASONS I LOVE ONTARIO IN THE SUMMER:
-Strawberries
-Watermelons
-Peaches (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I frackin' love peaches
-Corn on the cob
-Blueberries
-Blackberries
-Asparagus

And, in accordance with the Writer's Block for today, the foods I could not live without are:
-Pancakes
-Blueberries
-Seafood
-Pad Thai


This is pretty accurate - I'm guessing that 'unitarian universalism' is like the United Church, and I'm definately with the Baha'i and Sikhism. However, I'm somewhat ashamed that Scientology is above Islam. Whaaaaat? Thanks to [info]peaceful for the test, which you can take here. Also, I love the disclaimer at the beginning: "Belief-O-Matic assumes no legal liability for the ultimate fate of your soul."

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Liberal Quakers (98%)
3. Reform Judaism (92%)
4. Neo-Pagan (88%)
5. Bahá'í Faith (84%)
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (81%)
7. Sikhism (76%)
8. New Age (75%)
9. Mahayana Buddhism (69%)
10. Jainism (64%)
11. Orthodox Judaism (63%)
12. Secular Humanism (63%)
13. Scientology (62%)
14. New Thought (61%)
15. Islam (58%)
16. Orthodox Quaker (58%)
17. Theravada Buddhism (58%)
18. Hinduism (56%)
19. Taoism (51%)
20. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (46%)
21. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (39%)
22. Seventh Day Adventist (34%)
23. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (34%)
24. Nontheist (34%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (32%)
26. Roman Catholic (32%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (17%)

PS CHRIS GOT TO SEE SAM ROBERTS FOR FREE I AM SO MAD.
 
Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: Stumbling In - GBS


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER


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Jul 12
    & 10:16pm
 


In Which Colline Becomes A Stereotype of Herself, and Also Talks About Sanitation in Ethiopia...,
 I have had a Most Educational Evening. Baby Zara is next-door (I am once more living at my grandparents' house), which means that her mother is, too. Her mother? Works. For the UN. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My grandparents managed to secure me a meeting, which meant that I sat in the living room for one hour talking to Clary (that is her name) about the UN, how to get a job there, and the State of the World, during which I tried to appear somewhat vaguely intelligent. Mostly I coughed a lot. Frankly, it's the best I could have hoped for.

She works for UNICEF, specifically in the Water & Sanitation sector; she was a civil engineer and worked for the World Bank for a while, and just started working fo UNICEF a year ago. I learned that the worldwide status of water quality and availability is improving, and that the MDG on water is likely one of the only ones that is going to be acheived (both a good thing and a bad thing), but worldwide sanitation is most definitely not, especially in - you guessed it! - sub-Saharan Africa. She also gave me a few good book recommendations (and you know I love me a good book recommendation or two), was very pleasant and engaged, and suffered my coughing well. She also swore - twice. Thus she is my hero. As a plus, her daughter is officially THE most precious, gorgeous, cute young child on the face of the earth. And I work in a toy store. I see the runners-up three times a week.

I'm so excited :) I'm very glad - she told me about the World Bank's Young Professionals program, and even though I harbour extreme suspicions and prejudices about the Bretton Woods institutions, I am willing to give it a shot. You guys, this is what I want to DO, this is who I want to BE. XD
----------------
This morning I read a stupendous article by Stephen Marche about the Toronto zoo, and about zoos in general, and about the different ways adults and children react to zoos. It is very poignant, well-written, and sad :( I love zoos. I love animals. But nonetheless, it makes me sad.
"For adults, the zoo is a haunted house of future ghosts. It's the dreamlike remains of our destruction of nature. Adults know the cruelty on which our wonder and enjoyment are based. I find it hard to look at caged tigers; my son does not. The fact that they're probably safer from humans behind bars than they would be in the wild only makes their display more depressing, not less. The gorillas: I can't stand to look at them at all. They just seem far too human, with their sad, bored, broken eyes, picking through each other's hair, lounging in each other's embraces, with nothing to bother them and nothing to hope for."
--------------
So: sometimes, at work, when I am bored (or even when I am not), I put on an accent. I pretend to be Belgian, or Irish, or what-have-you. It's never enough of an accent to be outright obvious, but it's there. I leave it on to answer the phone, greet customers, and offer suggestions. I usually have to cut it out when the boss phones, or when a familiar customer comes through the door. One time, I answered the phone and the person on the other end was Irish. I was petrified she would see me for the faker I was. One time, a lady asked me if my parents owned Sweet Cremes (a local ice cream store run by British folk). I said no.

Today, I was Irish again. Very slight, nothing much, but I said something, and one young lady immediately whipped her head around and pinned me with her gaze. I was frozen. Deer in the headlights. Not. Even. Breathing. "Are you Irish!??!?!" she asked. I nearly wet myself. I could have carried on. I could have. I know how to say 'Dublin' with a perfect Dublinese accent, after all. And what's more, she would have believed me: after all, I have red hair now. That's basically a passport, stamped and signed. However, I have an honest heart, and so I blurted that no, I was faking, I found it fun, ohpleasedon'ttellmyboss. She immediately piped up with, "Oh, it's OK, I do that too - all the time! The other week, I was in New York, and for no particular reason, I pretended I was Italian."

Needless to say, I knocked it off, but I was pleased. I am not the only one! Does anyone else play jokes like this at work? Does anyone else use accents? Frankly, if it weren't for my sisters and their omniprescent eyerolls, I would be Scottish all the time. Well, Scottish or Australian.
 
Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: See the World - Gomez


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER



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Jul 10
    & 04:17pm
 


"I have dreams of orca whales and owls, but I wake up in fear you will never be my dear dear friend"...,
Guess what.

I have... red hair. Not exactly the colour I wanted, but it is vaguely auburn-ish. I now look either exactly like my future roomate or Sarah Rees Brennan. I cannot decide which is cooler.

This I decided yesterday, whilst wandering the mall with my baby sister. "Would I look good with red hair? Like, copper?" "Yes," said she (she wasn't really paying attention at the time, absorbed as she was by her cell phone). And now, as a result of her negligence (and my mother's willingness to part with her bank card), I have red hair.

Cool.

In other news: I suppose I shall have to consider Regina Spektor mainstream now. Damnit. I was enjoying liking someone phenomenal and relatively unknown. But I heard 'Better' and 'Samson' playing in the mall yesterday, and I know 'Fidelity' is on the soundtrack for some horrible romantic comedy ('Made of Honour' or That Other One Where Katherine Heigl Gets Married). On the one hand, this is good, because now more people are listening to good music, she makes more money (and more music), and hopefully she will have a concert in Toronto or O-town at some point, but she's no longer my special New York find.
 
Current Mood: distressed
Current Music: Fidelity - Regina Spektor


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER



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Jul 09
    & 10:45pm
 


"Do you still walk the streets at night?"...,
It's MEME-TIME!! (It always seems to be meme-time around here).

[info]part_b was kind enough to pick out 7 of my interests she would like explained. If you want, comment and I'll pick 7 of YOUR interests. Here are mine:

Cookies before math: this originated in Grade 10, when Jaden and I had to face math class with a teacher commonly referred to as Dead Man Walking, or the Zombie Teacher, for his pallor of face and demeanor, and probably a liking for flesh. To cheer ourselves up we would often loiter at the wharf beforehand, or, more likely, I would bring cookies, which we would share. The chocolate chips were, I feel, one of the three things that saved me from that class (the other two being Caitie making up songs about cows and Jordan's dad and monks, and the third being Jaden herself).
Gaelic: I'm scottish, if you didn't know. Colline Ferguson, of the Mackenzie and Murray clans. Next year I plan on showing up to random gaelic classes to augment my languages. As of right now, "slianthe" is all I've got. But I'm intrguied by it, mostly because the way it's written and the pronounciation bear almost no resemblance to each other.
Love in... (if I had to choose one, it'd be love in iambic pentameter): I have many "love in..." interests. Why? I'm interested in love. Fascinated. One might even say I love it. I have all those to remind me of the many ways it manifests itself and my favourite places to find it. "Love with skinned knees" implies not everything is always perfect or painless in love, and "love in bootstrap's bootstraps" (shamelessly stolen from [info]ladyjaida) reflects my love for movies, and also my love for irreverence. Now, "love in iambic pentameter" pays homage to Will Shakespeare, who is, if I may say so, The Fucking Man - I love Shakespeare, pure and simple. I love reading it, I love speaking it, I love acting it, I love watching it. I love all it holds.
Maps of the world: OK, for this you have to see my room. I've got - no joke - 8 different maps of the world and places in the world stuck up all over the place (between Shoebox drawings, football clippings from the newspaper and horse ribbons). They're population density, languages, first nations, earthquake zones, football, you name it. They're coded, they're beautiful, I learn so much from them, and there's nothing I love so much as flipping through an atlas or spinning a globe around and looking at the world. I'm a nerd, but there you have it.
Pomegranates: what can I say? They're delicious :)
The little black pony: this is both a storybook I loved as a child and our nickname for my father's car, a small black Jetta. In the story, the little black pony is loved by his owner, who then gets a big red stallion, and so the pony feels left out, but keeps trying to prove it can do everything the big red stallion can do, only to fail and be told by the boy that it can't keep up. But one day the big red stallion falls through the ice, and who should save the day but the little black pony! We used to have a huge red Explorer, and then my dad got his little Jetta, which is powerful and saves gas and is quite the little tank, so that's what we call it, because we are actually a FAMILY of nerds.
Thighs: Ahem. This pertains to an entry I made once, after the first time I saw the National Ballet do The Nutcracker, wherein I was quite obsessive about the male danseurs' thighs and how muscular they are. You can hardly blame me: with tights like that, they're kind of hard to miss. So this is part inside joke, part appreciation for athlethes and their thighs, part reassurance to members of the female sex don't love their thighs (though they obviously SHOULD).




 
Current Mood: confused
Current Music: Queen Anne's Revenge - Flogging Molly


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER

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Jul 08
    & 06:04pm
 


Dragons and Vampires and Shadowhunters, oh my!...,

OMG I FINISHED HAVEMERCY WHAT THE FREAKSGNSDGFNSLDFS;D.

</end> I actually have two fantasy book reviews for you, spoiler-free as always.




 
Current Mood: enthralled
Current Music: Move Away - The Killers


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER

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Jul 07
    & 09:30pm
 


Muskoka Chair...,
I finished a long and harrowing day at work (the cat is now stuck in the ductwork), came home, and then Pater came up with the good idea to take the new boat out for a spin on the Lake of Bays.

That's right: I'm admitting where I live. This, the day I turn 18, is my livejournal coming-out. I live in Muskoka, Ontario, Canada, two hours north of Toronto. Otherwise known as cottage country to the rich from the city, who all come up here in the summer and on long weekends to harass the locals, drive dangerously, crowd the grocery stores and drive their obnoxious jetskis (it's OK: I'm a local, I'm allowed to make fun of and resent them).

But you know, for all my griping, I love living here. We were cruising out of the marina, looking at all the fancy cottages and boathouses and docks, and the regular cottages and boathouses and docks, and I was inhaling the smell of a late Muskoka summer night, and the water was wonderful, and the huge pine trees were imposing and yet so familiar. Though I detest the fellow, Thomas was right in his speech about Muskoka always being somewhere to call home. There are so many things unique to this area, so much goodness and just basic happiness involved in the cottage experience of sitting in a Muskoka chair on a dock, listening to loons and drinking coffee (and maybe even one of Marty's buttertarts) and just belonging where you are. I like where I live, even though it's boring and small and whatever else. I'm glad I'm leaving but I'm even gladder I can always come back.

PS IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

PPS I'M FINISHED HAVEMERCY!! LET'S HAVE A DISCUSSION PARTY IN THE COMMENTS WOOOOO!!!

 
Current Mood: grateful
Current Music: Who Let You Go? - The Killers


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER



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Jul 05
    & 08:41pm
 


Caturday...,
Today was exciting! I was at work all day, and there was a kitten in the store! Yes, like a little cat. I left the door propped open, like I do, and I looked up 40 minutes later to see a little cat face staring at me. Hello, little cat! I alerted Caitlin and we closed the door, but the cat had long since vanished. CRAP. We now had a kitten of unknown origin trapped in the store. We determined not to catch it!

The smartest plan? No, not really. But remember, this is me. I go apeshit for cats.

We eventually found him (he actually leaped out from behind a box in the baby section, thoroughly scaring Caitlin out of her wits), and there followed a chase that was not so much a chase as trying to keep our eyes following him as he whipped around the front of the store. He was tiny. And orange. And decidedly not rabid, but scared out of his little furry trousers. Not unsurprisingly, my heart melted. And this was about when I decided I should pick him up.

He destroyed our right-hand window, and then leapt across the doorway into our left-hand window, where he was momentarily lost amid the netting, and then tried to madly climb the christmas lights. He was, needless to say, unsuccessful. I wedged myself between a ladder shelf and the window display, and as he tried to streak past me on his way to the kites, I grabbed him!

Now, I have this thing against grabbing animals. I don't like to do it. Once I'm holding them I'm fine: I'm competant, I'm at-ease, I'm chill. But - and I had this problem with my sister's budgie - I don't like to just reach down and grab them, because I don't know what's going to happen. However. We have a cat. On the loose. In a toy store. Havoc is being wreaked. The furry avenger must be stopped! So I grabbed him, as I said.

Though he be but little, he is fierce. I have many war wounds that I suffer through. I tried to carry him - though "carry" is really a misused term, it was more like cat juggling - to our waiting box, but Caitlin was a little slow on the box-getting thing, so I juggled a squawling, biting, squirming, scratching kitten halfway across the store before finally made his escape. I did not see where he went. I was left to nurse my wounds. I did not lick them. But they bled. They actually bled a lot. My fingers, hands, wrists and arms are now throbbing and scarred. You think I'm exaggerating, but I assure you it actually hurts a lot when you are bit by a cat that thinks you are taking it to Evil Lego Land in order to drown it or whatever. My cat bites me, but I never understood exactly how playful those bites were until I experienced the full wrath of cathood and its fangs.

The kitten evaporated. We monitored the door when each customer came and went, licked our wounds, and tore the front of the store apart looking for the little devil. Sometime that afternoon, we both heard a meow, but it was just the one and gave us no more direction in which to head. So the cat is still loose. And lost. In the store. Overnight. I told the boss, who suggested I call the lady upstairs who is an animal nut to ask for some help/tuna, but she wasn't home, so I left a message with the OSPCA, left a thing of water and a bowl of kibble (provided by mater) inside an open box with some rags for the night, where I hope he will eventually creep. He better be in there tomorrow, or the OSPCA had better come and get him, because my parents are pissed. At what I don't really know, but according to them I'm going to get gangrene and rabies and whatever else because of my wounds. All in the line of duty. I sell toys. I fight crime. And cats.

Pictures of him thrashing around in our window (and also of me joyfully clutching Havemercy) to come!!
 
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Guantanmeara - Omara Portuondo


 TAP ZOE
ON THE SHOULDER



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