Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Thank yous
Greetings.
So, thanks again to everyone who has been nice to me in the past little while. It gives me a great deal of hope to know that some people do still value humanity over inanity. Binsk sent me nice emails and she's made it clear that she didn't intend for this to spiral out of control. I knew there was a nice girl in there somewhere. Thanks also to Forgottenmachine, the Incredibly Adventurous Girls, and to Cynthia, who I don't have a link for. And thank you of course to Ron, for taking the time out of his own challenging world to send some love into mine.
And on that note, I shall let the matter rest in the expansive internet hall of shame.
After the dumbest internet-soaked day yesterday, I finally made it out of the house around 6:00 pm and took the bus downtown to get film fest tickets. Pretty much everything was sold out, but my trip to the West End wasn't a total waste of time because once I set foot in that famous bookstore on Davie I can't possibly emerge without yet another bit of bound paper with little black letters inside. This time it was Oranges are not the Only Fruit, a Jeanette Winterson book that I've been meaning to read for years but never actually acquired a copy of. I think the Purple Owl would approve, don't you? I still have to finish Zadie Smith's newest effort, a slightly more sober novel called On Beauty. It's less playful than White Teeth, but it's easily just as brilliant and it actually makes me want to go back to university (blasphemy!).
I bantered with the bookstore clerk about how hopeless I am at spending money on books when opening my bank account online yields only a laugh track, and he told me he has a cartoon tacked to his fridge which shows a guy heading towards a bookstore and his girlfriend tugging him on the arm, desperately trying to prevent him from going in. The caption reads "But you PROMISED we would buy food this week!" Haha. I relate.
I went to the VPL (giant library I've scarcely been to since I emerged from university) and signed up for their Gay & Lesbian bookclub, mainly because the reading list looked great -- Dan Savage (of Savage Love fame), Jane Rule (who taught me swimming lessons when I was little), Ivan Coyote, and Michael Nava. The librarian who signed me up was super-nice and seemed sort of surprised to see me. I'm doubtlessly going to stand out demographically in that club, but that's really nothing new to me.
My new musical obsession du jour is Janis Ian, folk singer of yore and an unquestionably brilliant songwriter. I can't get over the fact that she wrote her first song at 12, and it was no tedious teen angst journal snippet either, but a profound, almost Dylanesque track about the extraordinary passing of youth called Hair of Spun Gold. She released her first album at age 15, and again, it's miles away from self-indulgent teen pop music. It included that not-nearly-famous-enough hit Society's Child, about interracial romance. She also maintains a really impressive website and is an outspoken advocate for free music downloads. So basically she's my new hero(ine).
I get to have lunch with Cait today, which is lovely. And speaking of which, my bus will be here rather soon.
This has turned into something of a boring little ramble. I promise to be more interesting in the future.
Cheers,
N
p.s. on the left is a shout-out to the other Charles, the shoe-wearing one. That's a sign I found on the island. Apparently my neighbours share their name with you.
