Friday, January 15, 2010

With my impending graduation this May, I've been singing this song to myself the past few days. While I haven't been thinking of the rest of my life so much in the sense of settling down and getting married, I wonder what I'll do in terms of work/a career after I finish university.

I started thinkin’ bout
The rest of my life
I found my selfish looking out for
Trouble and strife
Someone with whom I’ll spend
The rest of my days
But if I ever said I wasn’t
Set in my ways
Then I guess you caught me
Lying to myself

What kind of fool
Doesn’t think about it?
What kind of fool
Doesn’t think about it?
You’d have to be a fool
Not to think about it

Am I gonna settle down
Am I gonna be
Someone who has to take
The rest of my life
To settle down?
Then I guess you caught me
Lying to myself

Who’ll make a man out of me?

One thing I know about
The rest of my life
I know that I’ll be
Living it in Canada
I know I said I’ll share
The rest of my days
But I was only
Going through a phase

Am I gonna settle down
Am I gonna be
Someone who has to take
The rest of my life
To settle down?
Then I guess you caught me
Lying to myself

What kind of fool
Doesn’t think about it?
What kind of fool
Doesn’t think about it?
You’d have to be a fool
Not to think about it?

Am I gonna settle down
Am I gonna be
Someone who has to take
The rest of my life

Am I gonna settle down
Am I gonna be
Someone who has to take
The rest of my life
To settle down?
Then I guess you caught me
Lying to myself

Am I gonna settle down
Am I gonna be
Someone who has to take
The rest of my life
To settle down?
Then I guess you caught me
Lying to myself

--Sloan, The Rest of My Life

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posted by Vanessa at 3:11 PM


Friday, October 30, 2009

It's always interesting when you get to the point where you can't tell if what you're writing is genius or just the sleep-deprived drivel.

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posted by Vanessa at 12:25 AM


Monday, June 22, 2009

I've taken to cycling after dinner around the town that I grew up to hate and have found a lot to love about it in its architecture. I think next time I'll bring my camera to capture it all.

* * *

After work the Saturday before last, I met one of my best friends and ran a couple of errands on Main, including buying nice stationary so that I would stop procrastinating and get something in the mail to my cousin while she's still teaching English in Korea. We unexpectedly came across a sidewalk sale as we walked down the street to the restaurant where we planned to have dinner. She found a nice skirt, while I admired the geometric patterned umbrellas.


Aside from meeting a friend from drinks, last weekend I was sure to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts. One of the best parts was enjoying fresh, local berries.

On Saturday I had some delicious blueberries. I have a very particular memory associated with blueberries. This particular childhood memory consists of visiting my Grandpapa in Québec during the summer. I don't remember what kind of car her had, but it was an older model from the 70s or 80s and had the option of seating three in the front seat. My Grandpapa lived in the Québec countryside. Grandpapa, dad, sisters, cousins and I would pile into the car and drive up a gravel country road to our ancestral lands. I remember it was a bumpy ride and occasionally a small rock would ping the side of the car, as happens when driving on gravel roads. My Grandpapa would then lead the way and show us to where the wild blueberry bushes were and we would pick blueberries. So many blueberries. This is one of my fondest childhood memories and I recall it whenever I eat plain blueberries.

On Sunday, I went to a local farm and picked gorgeous red strawberries. This is something I haven't done in years, but greatly enjoy. I was amused when a mum told her children, who were picking next to me, to leave the small ones and to come with her to find the nice, big red ones. There was a variation in the size of the berries, but overall they were generally smaller and less symmetrical than store bought strawberries imported from California. The added bonus of these local berries was that instead of being white on the inside and bland, they were juicy, red and much better tasting. It reminded me of having discovered a small strawberry plant in the front yard of my sublet last summer. The plant yielded about half a dozen fingernail-sized berries. Despite being puny, the berries were exponentially more flavourful than its imported cousins several times their size.

I don't eat anything near a 100 per cent organic, but it's something I strive for. Generally this was because there was no uniform regulation governing what produce could and could not be labeled as organic in Canada. In a few days, however, eating organic in Canada will become much easier as new regulations governing organic produce will come into force.

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posted by Vanessa at 11:38 PM


Saturday, April 26, 2008

I'm finally free and finished third year university. I'm so exhausted. I feel like it's been accumulating since last summer, with the soul-destroying job and shitty weather. I need this summer to be restful.

I think it will be, for the most part. I didn't work last school year. It was my first time being unemployed since I started working five years ago. I knew I wasn't going to work this school year so I set money aside last summer. It was a weird experience seeing it dwindle away, and now I'm broke.

Financial stresses aside, I have a great job lined up this summer. It's along the same lines as the Arts Centre job I had two summers ago. I'm really excited about it.

With hectic moving plans, scheduling and budgeting, I hope it's true that life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.

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posted by Vanessa at 9:17 PM


Monday, January 28, 2008

I know capitalism is evil and all, but I felt pretty excited when I recognised this reference to Adam Smith in Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America:


I was so excited in fact, that I marked it in pencil in the library book -- something I don't think I've ever done before -- so that other, less keen readers would know.

It would take a lot of hardwork and pain for me to acquire the math skills necessary to become an economist. Even so, I entertain a fancy of economics. It's a great way to enrich one's analysis of society; it truly is a social science.

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posted by Vanessa at 12:47 AM



I feel like a little boat
Trying hard to stay afloat.

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posted by Vanessa at 12:28 AM


Monday, January 07, 2008

I went to bed early last night. I was pretty tired from the day's events. About half an hour after I'd been sleeping my cell phone rang. However, because I was sleeping I didn't really want to talk to anyone so I let it go to voicemail.

I checked the message this morning, and I was absolutely shocked:

Hey sweetie it’s Anna. I’m actually just calling because you know I realise it’s a new term starting and the new year and I just really started to realise all the people I’ve basically just sort of forgotten about and been really bad about not talking to or getting in contact with or hanging out with and you were top of the list. So just give me a call, give me a call back. I want to figure out what your schedule is. I definitely just want to meet up with you and we’ll go for coffee or something and see how things are. So yeah, give me a call sometime. Bye.
It sounded really heartfelt. I was really broken up about our friendship falling apart. We were best friends in high school despite going to different schools. When I started first year university, she took a year off to work in England. I got a job and saved up to fly out to see her. Though we hadn't been able to talk often, when I got to England it was like nothing had changed. It was an amazing trip. When she came back in August we spent a lot of time together again. Shortly after we had a fight. Things were smoothed over, and I saw her a couple times at the start of the academic year, but ultimately we grew apart. I know that things like this happen, but I was pretty torn up nevertheless. Eventually I gave up trying to connect with her because it was too draining. I figured if she came around, I'd still be here willing to have her back.

Last night's call was totally unexpected. I really hope we can go for coffee and try and pick up where we left off, or simply just begin again. What a nice new year's surprise.

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posted by Vanessa at 7:51 PM


Wednesday, October 03, 2007

"'Cause this call costs a fortune and it's late where you live."

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posted by Vanessa at 12:15 AM


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