Year One Complete

just finished my exam for the online course i took this summer. so now i guess my vacation officially begins...on august 7th lol. actually, in truth, i barely did any work for this course...peace and conflicts studies- roots of conflict, violence, and peace...quickly the solutions to global warming, nuclear weapons, and conflicts in the middle east popped into my mind. so that was no biggie. besides that ive spent the summer working in hells kitchen, this little pizzeria with a satan reencarnate boss :) besides the boss being a tad crazy its alright. the rest of the staff is nice and ive become a master chopper. dont let any mushrooms, tomatoes, or onions cross my path unless they want to be swiftly, thinly, and artfully diced, sliced, slashed and gashed. in other summer news, my drivers test is on monday so hopefully at 19.5 years of age i will finally acquire my license- im not holding my breath though.

review of first year classes

ENGL 108M: Youth & Adolescence (taught by diane jackaki or something along those lines)
-this was an alright class, very relaxed classroom setting, small size, reminded me of highschool which acted as a calming influence of sorts. teacher was pretty cool, treated us like equals. i enjoyed all of the books we read: the graveyard book, riddley walker, and alias grace. graveyard book had a "tim burton lite" vibe about it, it wouldnt surprise me if he adapted this to a film with johnny depp (naturally) playing jack. riddley walker...lol. it wasn't written in english, an interesting made up language the author developed in hopes this would gain him literary recognition, and judging by the ass kissing reviews on the back cover he got it. i enjoyed the discussion and analyzation of this book more than actual reading it. to be honest, i hated reading it. i enjoyed complaining about it, watching my friends reactions as they tried to read it, and finally, finishing it so i could say ive read it. but for reasons other than bragging rights i definitely don't recommend that one. finally, we read alias grace which i LOVED. this book just spells best actress nomination so someone should hurry and make it into a movie. overall: the teacher was eager to help, good marker, fairly easy grade. one prob: high risk of pretenious classmates

ARTS 122: Quest for Meaning in the Modern World (prof theissen)
-all we did was watch and discuss foreign films, and good ones at that. one final essay project that was long, but, as i tested, capable of being completed the night before to good results (88). this course was at conrad grebel college and i loved it. fun walk through a wood trail to get there, watch a movie, leave. i had problems waking up to get to this class - i mean it was 10 in the morning!!- and sometimes problems staying awake through the movies, early morning + light turned off + silence = zzZzs. the professor was an older lady but she had this cool attitude about her. she was very laid back, approachable, and knew a whole lot of great movies. my favs from the class were: turtles can fly, east is east, and city of god. looking back, i have fond memories of italian for beginners as well.

SPCOM 223: Public Speaking (jo harvie)
maybe my favourite. i love hearing myself talk so its no surprise. i was probably the youngest in the class of mostly second and third years; there was also a grad student and other latetwentiesomethings. i wasnt intimidated being younger because my class wasnt very strong at public speaking anyway. i remember my delight in getting to follow a foreign kid for my first speech:) we did three speeches: informative, i did h1n1; persuasive, you should visit http://www.freerice.com/ (you should!); entertaining, the evolution of the vampire from dracula to edward cullen. overall i think my speeches stood out and they were generously received by my peers. could have been a bit more generously received by my prof but i digress.. overall, helpful, learned some good tips.

ECON 101: Introduction to Microeconomics (larry smith)
had the famous larry smith. he lived up to his name. i was absolutely enamored with him. hes the kind of guy who seems to have answers to all lifes questions, but unlike ayn rand you aren't tempted to hit him over the head with the human emotions bat. learned more about history, politics, business, and world figures from this class than i would have in their respective classes. you get a reference sheet (dont call it a cheat sheet...) to bring to the midterms and exam. use your brain and get the big picture and youll do fine.

PHIL 100: Introduction to Philosophy (richard something)
-loved this prof, such a good guy. im sad i cant remember his full name. actually i think its richard holmes. ok anyways. this class wasnt my first choice but because of enrollment problems i ended up with it. the discussions allowed me to go off into many rabbit holes of thought and i enjoyed the non formal structure he allowed for our essays. this guy was great, the exact opposite of what i thought a phil prof would be- totally down to earth, cool, and grandpa like. super accomodating, allowed students who were ''sick'' to write their midterms whenever. gave me a 94 on my midterm, and im definetly no nietzsche. this was his last semester working and i got a little emotional hearing the dean of arts discuss his life. i liked him, not my fav class, i *gasp* skipped a few times, but the lessons left a mark on me.

ENGL 101b: Introduction to Rhetoric (michael macdonald)
-i thought i was fated to miss this class. first day i couldnt find it, when i finally did it was past the fashionably late mark and into the awkward-turn-and-stare- at-girl- who-just-burst-into-class zone. skipping the awkwardness, i showed up to the next scheduled class to find no one there : apparently the class had been cancelled. thankfully, before i reassessed my life and major i made it to the next class- and ppl were there! i ended up loving this class. the prof was smart as could be, and a bit arrogant which i liked about him. he had some vendetta against tim hortons though so i was sure to bring a coffee to the next class after i discovered that. i found the articles- dare i say- enlightening. however, being a blonde, baby faced teenager of chronic lateness my fellow horn rimmed glasses, anthropologie wearing hipsters failed to take me seriously. i found frowning and publically denouncing pop music and corporate america helped my cause. o and having grizzly bear obviously blaring from my ipod was an asset. sadly that meant having to listen to them. despite the annoying ppl rhetoric attracts i hope to take another class from mcdonald.

SPAN 101: Introduction to Spanish (betty something spanish something spanish something spanish)
i likedit. fun, bubbly, crazy prof. we got to do a couple skits, which while being very gradeschool were mucho fun. this course progresses super fast and by the nd we were writing essays in spanish. well not essays but stories consisting of multiple paragraphs. however, lying in bed last night i couldnt form one sentence in spanish, hopefully all is dormant and not lost. especially sincei still have to do span 102. great learning resource http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpVuaSejtrk ¡leche!

ECON 102: Introduction to Macroeconomics (larry smith round 2)
-took this with a whole bunch of friends. still learned a lot, the economic perspective of why hitler rose to power and fell was very interesting, a highlight. by this point larry's charm could not cover up the fact this was a 3 hour long night class. my attention waned a bit and i even skipped once, i blame the poor influence of my friends... my mark wasnt as high this time around because of that but my midmorning cram session with friends made up for that in fun, the crazy frantic variety.

POLISCI 110: Introduction to Politics in the Contemporary World (jingjing huo)
hardly went to this after i learned it wasnt necessary. this class was my highest grade (87). also, was the first time i went to an exam was literally no sleep from the night before. yay for new experiences. 8 hours, 3 breakdowns, 2 friends, and 1 tub of rocky road made for an interesting, and surprisingly thorough review. wont be my last polisci class thats for sure. jingjing was a cool guy, young, a bit soft spoken but i liked him.

CS 100: Introduction to Computer Concepts (alternatively titled, computer for dummies)
-made a hilarious middle earth wiki page for the geographical places assignment
-sweet buffy the vampire website
-lots of ''help'' from my cs friend
-barely got by on the exam
-its harder than ppl say, or im just really incompetent (very possible)

spring course

PACS 2o1: Roots of conflict violence and peace (online with nathan funk)
-one of those great classes like econ with larry where you get a broad view of world issues and a course sizzled with everything from psychology, sociology, politics, and history. recommended.

half way through this i got the sneaking suspicion ive already done a post like this before. but i have a feeling this ones more detailed so o well.

COMING SOON: highlights of first year, vanessa's life lessons, moving into my first house ever!, and saying goodbye to windsor

New Decade, New Year, New Post

I'm sitting alone in my dark dorm room, the power has been off for 3 days because some kid messed with the circut breakers. The dark hallways give the residence an eerie feel. Being out of water bottles, broke, and thirsty I've been filling my canaster up in the laundry tub and just now realized that grossness of that. Instead of blogging, I should be writing a comparitive essay on the differing views of rhetoric between Shakespeare and Nietzche. One of the things I'm proud to say University has taught me is who these famous old guys with the weird names are. Between my philosophy class and english courses I have a firm grip on who Descartes, Dennet, Searle and friends were. After this semester I'll buy a scarf and discuss this all over free trade coffee.

~***~

What I've been up to:

-My 19th birthday means first trip to LCBO; after studying my ID for a good minute the lady wished me a happy birthday and let me purchase. i don't think her birthday wish was very sincere though.

-my first experience with an editor who clearly didn't understand the irony in my piece. I'm still not sure who that reflects bad on. I'm currently weighing the pros and cons of making the changes and ruining my article to get it published or just screwing the whole thing. I've always thought I was a sellout.

-dying through computer science 100. turns out my computer knowledge doesn't extend passed youtube and faceboook... good thing waterloo is chock full of comp sci nerds acessible at my fingertips.

-floormates cousin came on Friday, left in an ambulance. apparently you can drink too much.

-signed the lease for my first house. ended up rooming with an old soccer friend and her current roomies. i'll write more about my future house on another occasion but im quite pleased with how it all turned out.

My Resolutions as of New Years and How They've Held Up to Feb:

-work out three days a week- suffice to say thats over

-no caf cake- let myself slide on my bday, other than that I've had one breakdown when my friend came to the table with delectable black forest coating her fingers. But I'm letting myself claim victory on this so far.

-watch a movie a week and review them on my blog. well clearly i havent been doing the second part. but i've watched a lot of movies so their reviews will follow shortly.

~***~

music obsessions of the week: gavin rossdale, third eye blind (so nostalgic),bon iver, hannah georgas (check her out of youtube), bat for lashes

Sherlock Holmes is my fictional boyfriend

so during my Christmas break (holiday break- opt for politically correctness?) i tried my best to live at the movie theatre. many plans fell through, naturally, but i did manage to catch Sherlock Holmes, Avatar (2d...i know), and Nine.

Sherlocke Holmes was great- definetly surpassed my expectations of it. The only reason I agreed upon seeing this was because Rachel McAdams was in it. McAdams may be the pernial favourite of every girl aged 14-24, this has a lot to do with Mean Girls and too much to do with The Notebook. Regardless, I went in with a 'meh' attitude and came out wanting to be a seductive criminal with a smart ass detective boyfriend- oh and now I'm reading the complete anthology of Holmes adventures, a book totaling over 1000 pages. Yeah. This movie had an effect on me.

Sherlock Holmes is no longer the stuffy, old, trench coat wearing Brit that we've grown accostumed. He's now the scrappy, handsome, American (with a British accent) Robert Downey Jr, whose attitudes and mannerisms remind me of Hugh Laurie's House (ironically House is an American played by a Brit).

Jude Law plays Watson, he did well acting as the BFF and sidekick to Downey, but to me wasn't that interesting of a character. Also, Jude Law with facial hair creeps me out.

Rachel plays Irene Adler, a kind of love interest to our favourite detective. Strange relationship if you ask me. I've heard lots of "McAdams was miscast" talk. I totally disagree. And let's by honest, who else could have done it? The talented young actress pool is pretty kiddie sized. Fanning (too young), Portman (too small, not villainous enough), Ricci (wrong look), Kirsten Stewart (...). The only one who could have done a compariable job is Kirsten Dunst but she's already got the Spiderman franchise (if those movies still exist to you).

From a person who normally doesn't even care for this genre to love it so much, I highly encourage you to see it. I give it 4.5/5 vampire sandwiches.
~*~
After seeing Holmes, I was feeling pretty badass so I cunningly dodged the movie police and snuck into Avator. Ok, so I missed the first half hour and I didn't see it in 3D but the review still has merit, especially since it was 128 hours long anyways. Using my best movie critic terminology I'll sum it up by saying "While the visuals were stunning, more sparkling than even Edward Cullen, the storyline was only 'meh'." Nothing new as far as the story went, a spin on the Europeans coming to America and kicking out the natives, except here the Natives were blue and giant. Overall, I still found the movie enjoyable. My mom bets Sam Worthington, the lead actor who appeared on Jay Leno with holey shoes, will become a big star. Checking his imdb page it seems he has 3 movies in the works for 2010. In my eyes he will pull an Orlando Bloom, and star in some more epic, period pieces (with a subpar romcom thrown in for good measure) before he dies down and retreats back to Australia. Of course, that's just my humble opinion. The Avatar phenomenon will continue to next Halloween where you will be seeing a lot of blue. 4/5 vampire sandwiches
~*~
Nine...oh Nine... the movie I was most looking forward to seeing...with a trailer so awesome and a cast so famous it still managed to be on my worst movies ever list cozying up next to Bratz and Master of Disguise. Ok, so its not actually that bad-just extremely frustrating. This movie had so much potential it makes me crazy. This movie was boring, the songs were on the whole boring and lameeeee (lala my husband makes movies- we get it). Everytime I thought it was going to pick up, they cut to a stupid song, then went to a new scene and never further explored the prior storyline. ughhh. Is it weird that I think this would have been better as a non musical? At least 10 people walked out of the theatre when I saw it. Anyways, the few bright spots of this film were Daniel Day Lewis who really captured the manerisms of an Italian man, the always great Marion Cotillard who couldn't even save this mess, Fergie's song Be Italian, and Penelope Cruz saying "I'll be waiting...with my legs open"- a dumb but hilarious line. Verdict- don't see it. 2/5 vampire sandwiches

A Lesson in Laughs

Today my public speaking prof gave an official lecture on how to be entertaining. She outlined different types of humor on the board and gave us examples of each. Never knew being funny could be so formal.

If anyone can give a lecture on being funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ap5Fp2T6c

Been watching Ethan Hawke's Hamlet in English. Soo awesome. How come out of the 5 versions of Hamlet Mrs ouellette showed us this one never made the cut? it makes hamlet sexy;) mmm ethan hawke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YHMYkUrV7A

Let It Snow Let It Snow Let It sNOO

so there i was in english absent mindedly staring out the window when- noo,is that? are those little white flakes? yes, yes ladies and gentlemen it was snowing. november 5th and the snow has begun- the white fluffs were coming down in all their glory. it was quite amusing to witness the people outside scurrying to find shelter.
it hasnt snowed since but after being informed waterloo is in 'the snow belt of ontario' i figure it's only a matter of time. oh well i bought myself a cute polar bear snow hat, or tuque? i've been learning all these canadian phrases people in windsor apparently pass by. the majority are actually quite annoying. im sure ive blogged about 'pASStah' before...
anyways its a quiet weekend here at south e. everyone went back home, or on a spontaneous trip to montreal. hopefully the lack of distractions will able me to finish- *ahem start*- my essay. so far i've managed to waste most of the day though so who knows. for the curious i will probably be returning either the 4th,5th,or 6th of december and be around for a couple of days before i leave again to write my exams.

Song Recommendations:
1. tickle me pink- johnny flynn
2. hello seattle- owl city
3. never had nobody like you- m.ward ft zooey deschanel
4. send me on my way- rusted root *its from matilda:)
and, of course,
5.let it snow- frank sinatra

movie recommendations:
1.darjeeling unlimited
2.turtles can fly
3.saved!

until next time

'A' Philosophy Quote

So i just got back my first philosophy essay. It was a product of 4 hours of work and a quick dash through the rain to hand it in right before the deadline. Some how my hard work garnered me an 'A'. Here's just one of the insightful thoughts I touched upon...

"The possession of a soul is the reason we live on a higher playing field than those stupid geese that rely purely on animal instinct. It keeps us subject from the cold fatalism of the physical world and allows us to escape mortality, because unlike those stupid geese that will just disappear one day, our souls will live on. We are invincible!"

The word combination of 'stupid geese' really secured my mark I guess. The Rocky sounding 'We are invincible' was found to be quite deep as well... Also managed to reference tuna fish sandwiches twice.

Smelt My Home for the First Time

Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to. ~John Ed Pearce

Holidays have that way of bringing you back. Not just back to the physical homestead like in my case but they bring memories too. Snuggling up on the same old couch with the fire blazing and the movie on the same way you did when you were 5,10, and 15. Holidays have some sort of constant about them, same meal with the same people in the same place. That's why when someone dies its the roughest during the holidays, the constance is disturbed, its tainted. The memories flood back like normal but they don't bring a safety they bring sorrow.

Today was the first day I've really appreciated the holidays since I was probably 11 or 12. Once my family started getting smaller and the magic of santa and the easter bunny had vanished so did my appreciation for the holidays. It was basically the same as every other day of the year with the same people in the same place. I no longer wanted to be surprised with presents I stressed about my parents deviation from my prepared list. But now that I've been gone, and its only been a month so far, I've returned home with a new thankfulness. I longed for my room, my books, my ugly but comfy clothes, sitting at the dinner table with a bednight bowl of miniwheats, watching jay leno with my mom, my music (with a roommate listening to music is a whole different game), CHEESE!, cheese and crackers... i didn't even realize how much my body ached for this familarity until I walked through my door. Strangest thing, when i walked through my door I smelt my house for the first time. you know how when you visit a person's house and it has a specific smell and how you were always convinced your house didnt smell like anything even after your friends told you otherwise. well i smelled my house today and it smelt like home:) just being with my family has been a nostalgia trip, events as recent as the summer already have that nostalgic air to them after being in a completely different world for a month. i hadn't really experienced any homesickness but when i saw my mom and sister jump of of the car screaming my name friday night i realized that i did miss them, yes even carly. i'm now looking forward to the same meal with the same people in the same place. i am finally thankful for that constance.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

(sorry to my lactose intolerant readers, it was a bit cheesy)
(what? i dont have to be sarcastic alll thee timme)