I am sad because I received an email to sign up for free tickets to the advance IMAX screening of The Dark Knight, but I didn't check my email in time. Alas, by the time I went to the site, the tickets were long gone. For months, I have been counting down to the day of the movie's release (the 18th). It's going to be hard to sit through a 2.5 hour-long movie, being eight months pregnant and all, but I'm going to a) bring a pillow for my lower back, b) snag an aisle seat, and c) not drink anything before the movie.

For those who do not know, I <3 Batman (not so much the movies, actually). That's how my SO and I met! Well, it's how we started talking to each other (we worked together). Okay, to be more precise, it's how I stopped ignoring him, lol. He always talked to me and I was all 'Whatever' and anti-social. Then, one day I saw a Batman: The Animated Series calendar on his desk and was like, 'Hey, I loved that show!' 

Oh, and I only have 2 more weeks of work! Yay!

Oh yeah, on another note: DIABLO III!! (More excited about that than Starcraft II) I'm just a casual gamer. Maybe when I am on leave I can play!

I had a good weekend. On Saturday morning we went to an outdoor used book sale. It was awesome. There were tens of thousands of books, and I walked away with about 24 books or so, almost all in good to 'never read' condition. I ended up paying only $30! I would have paid more, especially considering that the proceeds went to a hospital charity. Although I found a lot of great deals, such as a new and obviously never-read copy of White Teeth (Zadie Smith) for $1,  I think the best thing I found was an old copy of Sometime, Never, which contains "Boy in Darkness"! *insert geeking out here* I always wanted to read that story, which is about Titus from the Gormenghast (Mervyn Peake) novels, but the anthology is out of print in North America.

I really love used book sales and especially used book stores. There's always the problem of mustiness and the condition of the books, but if all I want is a good reading copy of something, I'd rather get an old paperback than a glossy current edition at Chapters. Used books just have more personality. I've found interesting and/or weird stuff inside old books, like an invitation to a tea party between the pages an old Graham Greene book (a UK copy from the 60s, I think). One of the books I got on Saturday was Double Indemnity (James M. Cain), and within its pages was a sheet of paper with really bad revenge poetry on it. 

Ah, and I am impatient to have the baby already. Only 1.5 months to go. I'll be done work on July 25th, so I get a few weeks off before the due date. Then, I won't be back to work until September 2009, unless I split my parental leave time with my SO. Not sure what I'll be doing yet. I remember going back to work after a year on leave with the first kid. It was hard at first, because a) I'd forgotten a lot of work-related stuff, and b) it was weird to be amongst so many other adults again!

Sadly, I didn't have time on Sunday to make doubles, which is a delicious Trinidadian snack. It consists of two pieces of fried bread, slightly spicy, with a curry chickpea filling. YUM. I first tried it many years ago at Caribana (Toronto festival) and have been hooked ever since. Two weekends ago I had attempted to make doubles and screwed up big time--the dough came out all wrong and the chickpeas were not spicy enough--which disheartens because the technique sounds so easy.

( Cut for book meme )

TV Turnoff Week started yesterday.

We haven't had TV cable for years--not that my SO didn't fight hard for it--and now the television is collecting dust in the basement. Once in a while we bring it up to watch DVDs, or when we have guests staying the night, but I love having a living area that is devoid of television. It's quieter, and even when we listen to music, it's not the same as the cacophonic TV noise--especially the ads, yuck. It's also nice to not have a room that is decorated around, and centred on, the almighty TV set.

My mom, who watches 3-4 hours of television a day, now babysits my son, and she doesn't really think twice about letting the TV mind him for a while. And it's not that I really have a problem with that--when my son was little, I did pop in a Wiggles or Blue's Clues DVD every or so often to amuse him while I did chores, cooked, etc. But I think it's different when children are old enough to amuse themselves with toys and books, which my son certainly can do (and he does). But when given the option of Teletoon or his Lego, he goes for the TV almost every time. Even worse, my parents' house has satellite, which means they get tons of kids' channels. I shudder to think of how many commercials he's seen. We passed a sub shop a few weeks ago, and my son shouted, "Subway: Think fresh, eat fresh!" O_o

In a few short months I'll be on mat leave, so my son'll return to his TV-less existence. He might have to detox for a week, but he'll be fine.

So I must be the last person on earth to pick up The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I read one of his books before, and though I liked it at the time, it was a little too Americana for me. I think it's for the same reason that I don't really like Mark Twain much, or many southern American writers. I don't dislike American writers as a whole, of course, but the genre (is it a genre?) of Americana doesn't really appeal to me. And yet I like westerns.

Anyway, back to The Road. I'm only on page 56, but sometimes I want to hurl the book across the room. Every other page makes me want to cry. Stupid relentlessly depressing book. I'm already hormonal so the utter despair written across every page is TOO MUCH for me. I think I might quit the book eventually. Sorry, kittane.

Oh, and for anyone else who's seen the Prince Caspian trailers (yes, I liked/still like Narnia, even though I'm not Christian), did you laugh like an idiot when Caspian said, "I am Preenz Gapsian"? Maybe it was just me. Why he has a fake-sounding Spanish accent is beyond me. The movie looks very different from the book. O_o

I know this is probably a very obvious book, and that the answer will probably embarrass me (especially if I've read it and forgotten it).

At Penguin Canada, they have a contest to identify books by cryptic clues. I thought I knew literature, but this one is driving me nuts:

If your friend tried to stab you,
then stole your girl and killed her,
you’d probably go a little crazy too.

This tragic fellow’s tale is told in one of
THE BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN.

What is it??

Edit: What the eff is up with the formatting on this thing? I think I might change my layout.

Edit 2: It is The Idiot! Thanks to callirhoe's brother. I knew it would turn out to be a book that I read and had forgotten. Sad.

So it took me a damn week to get rid of my cold. I didn't take any meds for it because of pregnancy, and the honey/lemon/cider vinegar concoction wasn't terribly effective. I spilled vinegar all over my bag at work and didn't even notice because I was so congested. Everyone else smelled it though.

Some relatives from Shanghai are visiting, and let me tell you, I'm glad that I'm not a kid in that house. They are so...uptight? Demanding? Particular? I don't know one word that can describe it. My uncle was watching my son do his morning ritual like a paranoid drill sargeant: "Brush the teeth up AND down. Don't forget to use lotion on your skin! Where are your slippers?!" Very weird. The kid's not going to die of hypothermia if he goes barefoot. And he's 6; he can do stuff without supervision; if even *I* am not going to nitpick the little things, no one else should care. (Note: I am a perfectionist when I do things myself, but I don't thrust my expectations upon others. Especially not my kid(s).)

And my teenaged cousin must have been beaten into submission at an early age (okay, maybe not beaten). Whenever I talk to my son, he'll be like "YOUR MOM IS TALKING TO YOU, YOU MUST LOOK AT HER." Whaa?? If my kid doesn't respond to me within a few miliseconds, it's not that he's ignoring or disrespecting me. God. It's so bizarre. I think that my cousin and his sister are probably very upstanding and shit, but not everyone's grooming their kids to be 'perfect'. Srsly, WTF. (fannishly, you probably experience or understand some of this..?) But I am pretty sure that my cousins are firmly indoctrinated. Their parents must be proud.

My throat is killing me. I have been drinking hot water with lemon, honey, ginger, and apple cider vinegar. It tastes like crap. I am a little miserable.

Tomorrow I have an pre-natal ultrasound. I hate having to do them. It's uncomfortable, not the least because I have to drink a litre of water and not use the washroom for at least an hour. At least the snowstorm that was supposed to blow into southwestern Ontario, didn't. Tomorrow should be less annoying than initially imagined.

I read an interesting Globe & Mail article about the media's sexism toward Hillary Clinton. It's something that's always bugged me about the campaign coverage that I've read. Any dialogue on the matter seems to go nowhere: when people point out the sexism in the media, they're accused of crying 'sexist' every time that Clinton is criticised. They don't differentiate between legitimate criticisms, e.g., not agreeing with her policies, and misogynist, mocking--at the very least, condescending--remarks, plenty of which are quoted in the article. (The G&M comments board is also full of knee-jerk stuff this: "Is it sexist to notice that she voted for the Iraq war?...I guess I'm just sexist." If you are familiar with the boards, note that it has the usual riff-raff, and is probably not worth reading unless you want to roll your eyes repeatedly.)

I just can't believe that there are still people out there who don't recognise that sexism exists. At a friend's journal, I'd expressed my strong scepticism that Hilary would beat Obama; incredibly, someone else stated that Hilary would win because there are more women than black people in the US. As if! Who knows when the US will have a female president? For the record, Canada had a female prime minister, Kim Campbell, who served for, uh, about six months in 1993.

Some random stuff:

I picked up a book of G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown mysteries. I'm a fan of cosy mysteries, so it's odd that I'd never read anything by him before.

Aaaand the trailer for the upcoming X-Files movie was leaked! I saw it, but can't post it because it's been removed from...everywhere on the web. Gillian Anderson's gone with her natural hair colour this time. That seems kind of wrong, you know? Scully is a redhead. Goddamn it, I am so excited to see it nonetheless. Not as excited as I am for TDK, of course.

First, the funny:

Obay ads photo pool

These ads are all over the place. As far as I know, they are just in the greater Toronto area. The first time I saw one, I did a double-take. Pretty cool, and I hope the source behind these ads is not a letdown.

Now, the disturbing. I found out that the kids in my son's school eat their lunches (not snacks) on the floor. Wha?! I only found out recently because when I visited my son's classroom early in the school year, he showed me the table where he ate lunch, in his classroom. But it turns out that sometimes they eat in class, and sometimes they eat in a room called 'the atrium", which has no tables. I know this probably has to do with scheduling or something, but the idea of little kids eating on the floor is revolting. So, he's going home for lunches now--most of the time, anyway.

I've heard that this is somewhat a common practice. I even Googled and found some pics of kids eating on the floor in school gyms and the like.

This is the first year that Ontario has a stat holiday, "Family Day", in February. Many people complain that it sucks to have a long weekend in February in Canada, which I don't get. It's a day off. So what if it is cold and miserable outside? (Actually it's not as bad as it's been lately. The temperature rose and a lot of the snow melted.) This weekend has been great so far: I did a lot of baking, which I haven't done in a while. I made a green tea cake, a loaf of whole wheat bread, a small batch of chocolate oatmeal cookies, and blueberry muffins with wheat germ and oat bran (I am a little crazy for cooking).

This afternoon we'll go to some kid-friendly activities happening around town.

I just found out that Polaroid will stop making their instant film next year! I've had a Polaroid Spectra for over ten years, and though it's not as convenient as my digital camera, it's fun to use. Polaroid pictures just seem more quirky and nostalgic than other photos. They're ephemeral. I guess I will have to check out some outlets and stock up on film. Even so, they won't last that long even if I keep them in the fridge, I think. :(

Happy CNY!

Chinese New Year being the only holiday that I kind of celebrate, I ate a lot (but not too much) at my parents' lunar feast. My favourite dishes were the mung bean vermicelli and the fish. It would have been the jai as well--it is a vegetarian meal traditionally eaten by monks--but I've been eating too much of that lately. The tiny tangerines were awesome and super-sweet! Also, I made some nien goh, which is a sticky sweet steamed cake made with rice flour, brown sugar, dates, and sesame seeds:

My mom later sliced it up and pan-fried it in an egg wash. I'd actually never had it that way before. Pretty yummy.

It was a snow day today, the second in two weeks--seriously, I don't remember getting so many days off school when I was a kid. I still worked the whole day, but I have tomorrow off, at least.

Until the end of the movie, I didn't realise that Paul and Eli were twins. I thought that Paul was Eli's alter ego. I am dumb.

For someone who enjoys movies thoroughly, I find it very hard to drag my arse to the cinema. I usually end up hating the movie theatre experience: you know, people who think it's okay to talk during foreign-language movies or (as my sister experienced when she saw There Will Be Blood) during dialogue-less parts of movies. Uncomfortable seats. Insufferable previews and advertisements. The lack of an intermission (especially important for movies that are 90+ minutes long)--no, Ithere's nothing wrong with my attention span, but I have to get up and stretch my legs. At work, I usually walk away from my desk--sometimes going for aimless, quick walks--every half hour or so.

There are so many things wrong with this story: Nobody at Woolworth's or a parenting website had heard of Lolita? Some nutty parent actually took issue with the brand name of a bed?! I personally think the name Lolita is cute (as is Lola, even if the names are derived from Dolores, which of course means "dolorous" and always makes me think of sheep, for reasons that are too silly to explain.) If the bed were branded "Ophelia", would they have made such a fuss? Who knows. I think that to many people, a brand that suggests madness and suicide might be more acceptable than one suggesting precocious sex. 

The Justice League: The New Frontier DVD is out at the end of the month! I hope it's as good as it looks. 

Thanks for the well wishes/congrats on my last post. :)

My ears are ringing. I think I'm losing my hearing because I use headphones at the office. I always have listened to music at work, but with the new job I listen to it louder and for longer periods of time. Ugh, I cannot help it, because there is one woman, a loud talker, whom I have never seen close her door. She is always complaining about people (sometimes within earshot of them) and saying how hard she works, etc. It's true, she does work long hours. But I think she'd be even more productive if she didn't spend so much time talking. 

I am reading Doctor Zhivago for the first time. It's not what I expected...and that's a good thing. I suppose that I was too influenced by the movie. Speaking of reading, I just joined a Death Note re-read community (desuno_reread). The re-read will span two years. O_o

I grew up watching Astroboy reruns on TV, and one of the best memories of that show was the end of every episode where Astro asks the viewer to identify the mistake in the ep. I wonder if that was just a Canadian or dub thing. We recently rented the 90s(?) Astroboy series, which is pretty shite. No cool credits and no end-of-ep challenge. What gives?

* * * *

aurillia

 1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
3. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
4. Let each random person know that he or she has been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. (This one is inspired by one of aurillia's points) I hate getting haircuts, going to the dentist, getting medical checkups, and getting my makeup done. I also have never gone to a spa (and don't plan to). All this is because I can't stand having strangers in my personal space, sticking their hands or faces near or on my person.
2. I have a thing for eggs/egg-based foods: quiche, omelette, souffle, frittata, salty egg, custard, thousand-year-old (preserved) egg, Dutch babies, etc.
3. Lots of bird tracks in snow perturb me.
4. I once spent the night in a train station in Boston, because I had missed the last bus back to Toronto, and I didn't have the money for (or perhaps didn't see the sense in) a hotel. I also left my umbrella in a bar there. *sigh* Boston is a nice little city.
5. I smell books. (Not library books though.) 
6. Pelle the Conqueror was the first movie to make me cry. I was a kid, and it traumatised me greatly. I will never watch it again. 

Okay, I tag: kittane, cindeefirst, fannishly, fmanalyst, and setsuna--and ireactions, because we just recently added each other and although I have no idea if you do memes or not, this is a way to know a little bit about you.