a barmy notion

I had an idea yesterday. Completely out of the blue - it just popped into my head out of nowhere like this: *poof!*!

The idea is this: to read at least one book every fortnight. I'm not completely sure it's possible to keep such a pace for a whole year, but I'm going to try anyway. I intend to post reviews or at least comments on each one also, which will be exciting (or otherwise) for all you readers!

So far this year I've read 'Jingo' by Terry Pratchett, and have made a healthy start on Bill Bryson's 'A Short History of Nearly Everything'. I have also borrowed 'The Complete Skytraveller' from my Granddad, partly because it's related to travel but mainly because the blurb is so intriguing (I'll post this later in the book's respective post).

Wish me luck, y'all!

my advent calendar

I suggested that everyone in the house get an advent calendar, and we put them all on one wall. This didn't happen, unfortunately (everyone's not as childish as I'd hoped!), but Nora noticed my desire for daily chocolate and bought me an Ice Age 3 advent calendar!

Woo!

After eating 5 of 32 chocolates (it counts down to the 1st of January!), it hit me that this advent calendar, if used properly, will see 3 continents.

I think that's pretty impressive!

Christmas v.1

We decided to have a Huron Christmas on the 11th December, because it's the last date everyone will be in the house. The plan is to do a Secret Santa and have a little party.

Last night we went to Metro to buy the tree. It was $45 for a real one, and it's about 8 feet tall. We ignored the "cut an inch off the bottom of me" advice, and instead shoved it in a bucket of water, and tied the top to a hook in the ceiling to prevent it from falling over.

Here's me and Aaron with the tree:



In true Co-op fashion, there's loads of abandoned Christmas decorations about the house. We gathered them up, and applied them all to the tree. Here's the end result:



Over the next week, presents for aforementioned Secret Santa will start appearing underneath. There's talk of all chipping in and making a big Christmas dinner, too, which would be nice! At the moment however it's just Secret Santa, loads of food and drink, and maybe Hide and Seek (awesome!).

Nora made Christmas cookies too, it's all very festive in the house at the moment!

a lame statistic

I found out today that this is Toronto's first November in SEVENTY years without snow.

I certainly hope there's some in December! Snow was one of the determining factors when deciding where to study and it'd be a shame to come home without seeing any!

Edit: Nora wrote about this too, stating it might be the first in 162 years!

Read it here!

speaking in platitudes

So, I've fallen drastically behind on the blog once again. I don't want to explain because it seems that every post I've published recently consists primarily of an explanation, but I will say this: the distractions have been good!

Today marks the beginning of the winding down of my time in Canada; I've booked my flights (thanks Camille!!!), inadvertently made a countdown of days (it was supposed to be a revision timetable!), and realised just how nice it's going to be being home for Christmas ( =] ).

I mentioned my revision timetable: I have 4 exams over the next 16 days. Two for Music, and two for Psychology. I have the usual pre-exam anxiety, but I don't think I have much to worry about. James Yarmolinsky assures me that 200 code courses (second year) are "stupidly easy", or something similar. Let's hope he's right, eh?

I also mentioned distractions: the last couple of weeks in the house have been fairly crazy. We've got two new housemates, Jórge and Gonzalez, the former of whom is from the jungle and the latter from the rainforest. The fact that they are both plush toys doesn't seem to hinder their housemate status; both enjoyed full voting rights at Sunday's house meeting, and both participate regularly in house activities. James (and to a lesser extent myself) has had less work than everyone else in the house, and so has been acting extra-crazy: he's introduced new nicknames for everyone in the house (I'm "Rudeboy"), and initiated an unusual amount of (partial) nudity.

More things have been happening, including painting, concerts, trip to Montreal, English invasion, Dance Cave, film nights, comedy marathons, culinary genius, and much, much more, but as I said at the start, I've fallen behind blogging and these posts are yet to come.

I'm also on a Biffy Clyro inspired literary venture at the moment: several of their albums and songs are named after, or are taken from, books, and I'm going to try and read all of aforementioned books. I'm currently reading "I, Lucifer", a book written from the perspective of Lucifer (Satan); the fallen angel who has been given a chance at salvation. Very interesting indeed.

Bye.

Jorge and Gonzalez

We've acquired two new house mates over the last month. One courtesy of James, and one courtesy of me.

Neither are very talkative, but both still manage to bring something special to the house. Jorge, for example, often spends the night in someone else's room. Gonzalez is less outgoing, but is calm and reflective. A good listener.

How they both get a vote at house meetings without paying rent is beyond me, but they do. Although they seem to vote the same as whoever's sitting nearest to them, rather than offering their own opinion.

Their exact origins are unknown, too, which I think is something of a security issue. All we know is that Jorge is from the jungle (which jungle?), and Gonzalez from the rainforest. Maybe as they settle into the house better, they'll open up about their past.

For now, however, we just enjoy having them around.

A giant blue gorilla and a small green tree frog.