I've been watching the Canada/Finland Curling Finals for the past 1.5 hours. I've discovered that curling is interesting, and Team Gushue is really talented. I mean, in the finals, they're completely owning the Finland team (it's 4-2 after 5 Ends). I don't want to speak too soon, but I think we're going to do quite well (yayy gold).

Newfoundlanders get the day off today to watch this curling match. My mom is mad, because she has to watch the game when she gets home (I'm taping it for her), but she's calling every hour with updates.

I think it's telling of Canada that we would give a holiday to watch a curling game: we stick together and are proud of our Olympians.

I'm finished being patriotic.

Yes, my test is tomorrow. I'm nervous but my driving instructor said that I should be fine (she's quite confident). So hopefully I'll have some good news tomorrow.

As for the week, as everyone knows, it's reading week. And I've done a lot of reading. I would do some now (instead of procrastinating and watching Olympics highlights), but my head is pounding with a mixture of overstimulation (it's a little overwhelming to practice so much in one day) and anxiety. I've had quite to productive day in cartooning though. So, that's a start to actual work.

Anyway, have a great week. See you next post.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

oh that Emma...

(spoken in monotone) "Oh. I hate that prof. He's so ... dull." - oh, how I love overheard bus conversations. they fuel my creative skills

To see more of this thrilling bus ride home, see tomorrow's cartoon on Life's a Cartoon website.

In my Gothic Literature class today, we watched Gothic, the 1986 movie about that fated June 16 1816 night when the literary geniuses Lord Byron, Polidori, Percy Shelley, Mary Godwin (later to be Mary Shelley) and her step-sister Claire met and told ghost stories. While the "horror" movie was simply lacking in the horror department, it really and truly has left me creeped out. The attempts to shock the audience with sudden movements, shadows lurking in the dark villa, and gross-out factors like leaches, rats and a woman with eyeballs on her breasts (don't ask) didn't work, although the produced many moments of laughter. For example, there was this one scene where Percy Shelley discovered a robotic doll that did a seductive belly dance and took off its clothing, but when he reached to take off its underwear, it swatted his hand away. A shock, yes, but it was funny and definitely showed the preference of Orientalism in the Romantic era (especially loved by Byron himself, as seen in this famous painting). I digress. What was the most shocking for me about the whole film was the general demeanor of these famous and admired poets and writers. I'm sure that this whole thing (the conjuring up of the dead, that is) did not happen, but seeing Byron and the Shelleys on the screen was shocking to me. Reading Byron and Shelley (and previously reading and really enjoying Frankenstein, which came out of the real meeting and telling of ghost stories in 1816) in my Romantic Poetry class, I am shocked by their personalities despite knowing the gossip about both of their many lovers, and Byron's accusations of being a vampire (due to his character in Polidori's books as the lead vampire). Reading Byron's love poetry, seeing him licking blood from an unconscious Claire's abdomen and seeing all 4 (excluding, of course, Polidori, who was far too pious, it seems although this in itself is hilarious to me) engaged in an orgy are too conflicting for my poor brain.