Moot Point

Today I voted in my first federal election ever; I was a few months shy of 18 for the last one. Voting is depressing.

I live in Bill Graham’s riding (well, I do during the schoolyear, so that’s where I voted), which he, of course, won neatly. I don’t mind, I have nothing against him. But there was this article in Now about how maybe the NDP challenger. So I voted for him, more because I didn’t want the Liberals to have too many seats, because of my personal dislike for Paul Martin. (I don’t think he’s a very good leader, he’s an appalling public speaker and he looks like a doofus standing next to George W. Bush.)
I was worried about the Conservatives, but I didn’t think a Conservative win was a danger in my riding.
I wish I’d voted Green. They could use the money.
And Jack Layton does not exactly have “Prime Minister” written on his forehead. We were watching his speech, and I started giggling, and my roommate said “He’s like Flanders.” It’s true. Prime Minister Ned Flanders? I think not.

Anyway, I just checked the final results on cbc.ca. The Liberals have 135 seats and the NDP has 19; the Conservatives have 99 seats and the Bloc has 54. There was one independent member.

Am I the only one who’s done the math?
So, say the Liberals and the NDP form a coalition: 135 + 19 = 154
And then say the Conservatives and the Bloc: 99 + 54 = 153
That leaves the independent member, Chuck Cadman, in a very interesting position. He apparently lost the Conservative nomination, so he might be expected to vote with Conservative coalition. Which would mean: 99 + 54 + 1 = 154
Equals deadlocked. Imagine a government where everyone had to accept legislation before it went through. This could be amazing. Or it could be disastrous.
Maybe the Liberals and the Bloc will buddy up. It seems at least as realiztic as the Bloc and the Conservatives.
Maybe the whole thing will fall apart in 6 months like Joe Clark’s minority government did and then Paul Martin will resign and someone respectable will run. I just really don’t like that guy. He makes me nostalgic for Chretien. I read this BBC piece about the Canadian election, and it described Paul Martin as having taken over from “wily political veteran Jean Chretien” and I was just like “Oh, Chretien!”

Not that this is likely, I’m just saying.

What was I thinking with summer school? Summer and school don’t mix. Summer is like the opposite of school.

So, I have this essay.
Then I’m going to Ottawa for most of next week for a quality-family-time extravaganza. I normally avoid things like family reunions but this one kind of revolves around my grandparents’ 50th anniversary and it’s only a few hours away.
Then my brother’s coming to visit.
And I have to fit in a bunch of work around this.

So I’m not saying I won’t post for the next couple of weeks, but it looks like I won’t even have time to, um, have my computer repaired, so I am saying probably won’t post very much.

But I say a lot of things.

Tonight I went to the fruit stand and bought plums and nectarines and the best strawberries ever. Then I went to the grocery store and bought Kool-Aid and apple juice.

The strawberries were absolutely amazing. So sweet and ripe and juicy and flavourful. It’s like all this time I’ve been eating fake strawberries and now I’ve had the real thing. I don’t know how I can ever go back to grocery store fruit. I’ll be making special trips to Little Italy from res in September.

I’m in such a lazy summer mood. Too bad I was eating strawberries and watching TV instead of writing my essay.

Right then.

So in the last couple of days, I’ve come across:

The New York Times’ 1,000 Best Movies Ever Made: I counted 289 that I’ve seen, which is more than anyone else who’s linked it. I’m not sure if I should be proud. There were a lot I’m embarrassed not to have seen (M, The Seven Samurai, Blow-Up, etc.), and also some that really didn’t seem to belong. (The Tender Trap? And Aladdin? I’ll give them Beauty and the Beast, but not Aladdin.)

AFI’s 100 greatest movie songs: I think they’re running out of things to make lists of. Because of my proclivity for musicals, I’ve seen 65 of these. (Well, 65 of the songs, there are a couple of the same movies repeated, like Singin’ in the Rain and Meet Me in St. Louis.)

I know these lists are silly, but I’ve always been a sucker for movie lists, even incredibly mainstream ones like the AFI. I love checking off everything I’ve seen., I love that it reminds me of things I wanted to see. Love it.

I’ve now seen 71 of the 100 Greatest American Movies list that came out years ago. When it first came out (there was a TV special), I cut the list out of the paper and used it as a checklist for awhile, as part my of my goal to see older movies that didn’t suck. (I had realized that a lot of commercial releases are crap, and it was hard to get downtown to the indie theatres. Not so much to get there, I guess, but to convince my friends. Give me a break, I was like, 14. This was major in the development of my interest in film, which is now what I take in school.)
My video store had an AFI wall, with all 100 of the films in order. When I went to the store, I’d just pick something off of the wall. I would see movies just because they were on the list and then I’d get the satisfaction of checking them off. Movies like Annie Hall and Singin’ in the Rain, which would become my favourites. I’ve seen Annie Hall at least once a year since then, and it gets better every time.
(The Entertainment Weekly Top 100 is even better, because it’s not limited to American film. It filled my heart with joy by picking Swing Time as the representative Fred and Ginger film. Swing Time, for those not in the know, is the obvious best Fred and Ginger movie ever. Actually, looking at it after having taken a film history class, it’s one of the better lists I’ve seen. It leans a little Hollywood, but it’s pretty diverse in terms of directors and movements and countries. I’ve only seen 66 of them.)
Artsiest list I could find: The Village Voice 100 Best Films of the Twentieth Century, of which I have only seen 33. This might be one to take to the video store, as I’m getting that pretentious.
Also, I have seen 75 of the 100 Greatest Comedies, which came out a year or two after the initial best films list and I also used as a checklist. It led my brother and me to a mutual Marx Brothers obsession, not to mention an undying love of Woody Allen and Charlie Chaplin. (City Lights is number one, but The Great Dictator is one of the funniest and bravest things I’ve ever seen.)

The thing is, I want to see everything. I wish I had time.

Last night, my internet wasn’t working so I ate some cottage cheese I got for free from work and watched my housemates play a game in which one of them tried to catch magnetic darts that the other was throwing.

Then we played regular darts.

It was pushing 9:30, so our options were few.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring: It got five N’s, but the review mentioned a boy and a Buddhist monk, so I nixed it.

The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi: My crack computer repair team thought it wasn’t really my style. I told him he didn’t know me that well and that I actually kind of liked this sort of thing. But my crack computer repair team wasn’t really that into it.

The Corporation: My crack computer repair team had seen a bunch of it.

Love Me If You Dare: French, Romantic, the poster had kissing. “It will be French and cheerful and French,” I said. I was in the mood for something cheerful.

I knew it was about a couple of kids who played a game with dares, and grew up to fall in love, with the game increasing in stakes, in the “same supersaturated France as Amélie which sounded sweet, but I guess I kind of skimmed the part of the review that called it “A warm, funny testimony to the terrible destructive power of love.”

And the first half is very sweet. These two kids do all these bad, but sort of funny, mischievious things and you just know they’re going to fall in love. So imagine my surprise when it turns out to be a dark comedy in which the couple BURIES THEMSELVES IN CEMENT AT THE END.

Nothing ever works out for me.

My scooping arm hurts. Scooping ice cream uses a set of muscles I don’t normally use in day-to-day life, mainly in the hand/lower arm area. I’m sure they’ll be built up by the end of the summer, but for now, they’re just sore. And sticky. I did wash my forearms when I got home, but I feel like I can never be clean.
At least I’ll have really strong lower arm muscles. I’m sure that’ll come in handy some day.

…..

I miss my bike. Summer is bike ride time.
Plus I think I need to start working out. I hate running and I’m not getting any thinner and now I work at a place where they give me ice cream.

……

Also, I have a new jacket.

See, my crack computer repair team* went Kingston a couple weeks ago and bought this blazer for $15. My crack computer repair team had been talking about buying a nice light summer blazer for some time now.
“It’s nice,” he said, when he told me about it, “but it has this weird lining, with all these yellow and orange stripes.”
I thought of, but didn’t mention, that episode of Seinfeld where he buys the suede jacket with the pink lining. I was sure it was going to turn out to be a women’s coat, but it turned out not to be, in the show. He just got embarrassed in front of Elaine’s prominent writer dad.
My crack computer repair team? Not so lucky.
A few days ago, we’re talking about the jacket. (My crack computer repair team isn’t wearing the jacket at this time, both because it is too warm out and for reasons that will become obvious.”
“So it buttons on the wrong side. And the arms are really narrow. And there seems to be a lot of space in the chest,” my crack computer repair team said.
Me, singsong:”Haha, someone bought a girl’s coat.”
Crack computer repair team, deadpan: “It was in the men’s section. And it fit me.”
Me: “Haha, someone’s built like a girl.”
Crack computer repair team: “You’re the one who’s dating me.”

Long story short, I got me a blazer.

*I know I said I’d stop it, but I take it back. Am I allowed to do that? It’s my page, I say so.

Hours I worked yesterday: 10, minus 1 hour dinner break
Hours of sleep I got last night: 4
Hours I’m scheduled to work today: 8

It wasn’t like I planned to stay up late. I didn’t even actually stay up late, when you consider when I went to bed and when I had to get up. I just couldn’t sleep. At all. Not upset. Just thinking. Laid there. For two hours. Window getting bright with dawn by the time I fell asleep.

I haven’t tossed and turned like this in years. Nothing I tried could get me to sleep. I kept hearing phantom sounds of orders being printed out and everytime I closed my eyes, all I could see was ice cream being scooped.

I don’t know what’s brought this on, this is not the first time this week it has taken me over an hour to get to sleep. Work? Stress? I’ll try cutting out coffee for awhile, though I don’t know how I’ll get through today without it.

Gotta get to work.

But chopping things helps.