funeral blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He is Dead.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.
- W.H. Auden

Dad wants me to read this at his funeral. He also wants everyone to drink heavily. I told him I could write something better but I wouldn't let him down about that last part.

my sunday playlist

for lazy afternoons that smell like laundry soap:
1. The Air that I Breathe by The Hollies
2. Suzanne by Leonard Cohen
3. You Make Loving Fun by Fleetwood Mac
4. Avalanche by Wintersleep
5. Wild Wild Life by Talking Heads
6. The King of Carrot Flowers by Neutral Milk Hotel
7. Twin Cinema by The New Pornographers
8. Legs Away by Mother Mother
9. Cleaning Windows by Van Morrison
10.Friday I'm in Love by The Cure

bee's knees & bachelor degrees

Sometimes I get really frustrated with the quality of my education. I am told, over and over again, by journalists, editors, professors and colleagues that I am recieving a top-notch journalism degree. Finding a job should be a breeze, and with the hands-on component Ryerson is known for I am getting experience that is completely transferable into the real world (should I decide to enter it).

However, I have to wonder, if this degree is really the bee's knees, why am I continually enrolled in mandatory courses that teach me how to search Google? I don't need to pay thousands of dollars to learn this skill.

Some say, "Why are you complaining that your assignments are easy?" I wouldn't be upset if it was free. But it's not. We pay a lot for this supposed "quality" education - and I want to get my money's worth.

fondant & frills

Lately, I've been feeling rather old. Not because of any physical ailments or memory lapses, but because a very select few of my friends are 'grown ups'. Aside from my friend having a baby in October, a friend from high school became engaged before Christmas. And these friends are my age. Needless to say, I have found myself buying baby toys way earlier than I anticipated. However, I began to feel young again when I went to Bridal Show on the weekend. A few of my friends had 2 for 1 coupons and needed another person to fill in for the discount.

Bridal Shows are not for the faint-hearted. They are full of Bridezillas, Mother of the Bridezillas and poor, hopeless Fathers of the Bridezillas and grooms who want a say in the wedding but had no idea an hour long fashion show was part of the bargain. The Metro Toronto Convention Centre had rows and rows of booths filled with information about tanning, flowers, party buses, limos, country clubs, dresses, photography and (Thank God for this last one) cake. Which hideous piece of bunched up pastel fabric would you choose to torment your bridesmaid with? Which terrible deejay who spinned your senior prom would you like your guests to be getting down to?

I have never been to a wedding but going to this made it very easy to tell what I would never want my wedding to look like. My friend posed as the bride-to-be and the woman trying to sell us a date at a ritzy golf and country club for an outdoor wedding next spring (ohh, say June, there's hardly any rain then) said we were too young to be getting married. I thought it was pretty refreshing to have someone tell us this after cake makers and photographers kept pushing their pamplets in our hands. This didn't stop her from giving us her card but at least someone recognized that we were young, some may say too young, to be even thinking about this kind of thing. The cake samples, however, were definitely worth the entry fee. I think I've decided that the food, the open bar and the music are the most important part of a wedding. Oh, and the union of marriage of course.

good eats

Yesterday, in spite of my New Year's "lifestyle change", I had the most powerful hankering for chicken wings. Saucy, juicy and plump pieces of poultry. I was specific in what I was craving, and since I vowed it to be the one time I would allow myself to stray from my new eating plan this week, I needed it to satisfy my needs.
After a quick search on Google Maps and a tad bit of research, we opted for K.C.'s Wings and Ribs on Yonge St., just past Elm and only a few blocks away from Ryerson University's campus.
Since I was feeling guilty, I ordered a greek salad ($5.45) to curb some of my hunger. The salad had reasonably fresh ingredients and a homemade dressing consisting of many onions. Generous amounts of feta cheese topped the greens along with a few stuffed green olives.
We ordered two different flavours of wings, both of the medium spice variety. We got the Chipotle Ranch and Hot Honey Creole flavours. They both had generous amounts of sauce smothered on each wing along with an alternate flavoured sauce drizzled over the mound (ranch sauce on the Chipotle Ranch and honey mustard on the other variety). They were just what I was looking for and around $7.95 a pound. There are over 50 different flavours to chose from so you can be sure to find one that sastisfies your preferences.
Although there is no draught beer, their domestic bottles are $3.50 and served cold with a glass.
Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights after 5 p.m. are 'Wing Nights' with a special of 15 wings for only $7.99.
We didn't order the special, which was $7.95 for 10 wings served with fries and to be honest the fries looked a bit soggy and of the frozen, McCain packaged variety from what I saw in the other customer's wing basket.
Service was friendly, and really quick. The waitress was eager to clear away our empty plates and bottles.
The restaurant itself wasn't anything fancy, outdated flooring, chairs and tables filling the quiet space. It wasn't by any means a 'pub' style restaurant but you could enjoy your beer while watching the hockey game.
K.C.'s Wings and Ribs is a great spot for a fast, fulfilling meal of wings and unpretentious beer, perfect for the student on the run and on a budget.

firsts

A list of firsts from this past week:
1) Partied with bangs
2) Celebrated New Years in Toronto
3) Took an airplane to a destination within Canada
4) Mildly enjoyed airplane food
5) Hated change