back to school

ENGB34 - The Short Story
Professor: Alexandra Peat
i like short stories. they are shorter (duh) and are generally more artistic in nature when compared to novels. they're like prose poems. the professor is the same as the one i had for a class last fall (critical thinking in narrative). some of the short stories from then are repeated here as well (James' The Real Thing, Joyce's the Dead - the good ones). our first study was on Chekhov, the russian playwright/doctor (like how Dr. McNinja is a ninja/doctor). he is well known for his ambiguous stories and inconclusive endings and banal dialogues. i love it.

ENGB35 - Children's Literature
Professor: Michael Boughn
i'm quite excited about this course, but only because i get to read Roald Dahl (The Witches), C.S. Lewis (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass) and J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone). but i also have to read things like Robinson Crusoe, Treasure Island, the Secret Garden and Little Women. the professor is a good speaker but flies off on tangents farther than i do (because he is more knowledgable). i like his stories about his kids though. i don't think it is womanly to want to have children, so that's what i want.

ENGB08 - Collisions of Culture and the Emergence of a Liberal Nation: Early American Literature
Professor: Ian Macrae
this course i picked because it fit my schedule and i will likely see it through because i wish to become a more diverse reader. however, this course doesn't have too much going for it. the professor is decent and he also has a nice monotone voice like my own. i sit in the very front so that i cannot fall asleep.

ENGC02 - Major Canadian Authors
Professor: Marlene Goldman
i was very much looking forward to this class because apart from Roald Dahl, C.S. Lewis and J.K. Rowling, my favourite authors are Robertson Davies and Maraget Atwood. unfortunately, this class is only studying Atwood, Alice Munroe and Timothy Findley. i remember one of Munroe's short stories (How I Met My Husband) and i've heard good things about Findley. should be an excellent class to articulate my Atwood obsession many thanks go to Jacqueline for stealing a huge stack of Atwood novels from her local library's donation pile, to Reach for the Top for awarding me a copy of Dancing Girls and Other Short Stories in a raffle and to Sharon for prompting me to read Oryx and Crake (which will be studied).

ENGC20 - Victorian Prose and Poetry
Professor: Natalie Rose
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my crush

Jenna Fischer, aka Pam Beesly on The Office (US):


i like...
- the way she doesn't need a layer cake of makeup or fancy frills to be attractive, but she can still pull off glamourous
- the way she writes (see her blog - link above)
- her facial acting range
- her silliness

the office

season premiere
Thursday, September 21
8:30 pm
NBC

Steve Irwin(Febuary 22 1962 - September 4 2006)

While filming for his upcoming tv special Ocean's Deadliest, the 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin, was most unconventionally felled by a stingray. He was doing some shallow water segments when he swam just a little too close over the stingray. The ray's signature barbed tail speared the fearless Irwin in the chest, piercing his heart. While stingray barbs are coated in venom, it is hardly enough to kill a man outright. Irwin died of massive cardiac trauma due to the 20-inch spike impaling him in the heart. He is only the second person to die of an Australian stingray attack following the first reported case in Melbourne, 1945.

He had an uncanny way with animals of all sorts and was heralded worldwide for his quirky, but humane treatment of dangerous creatures (most notably the salt-water crocodiles of Australia). His celebrity status fell briefly after his first feature film tanked, and fell further when he put on a public display of feeding a crocodile while cradling his one-month old child in the other arm.

Steve Irwin is survived by his wife and co-star Terri, and their two young children.

if you thought humans were bad...

...then obviously you've never seen the insect world in action (click title link for video). all the greed and viciousness of people pale in comparison to what you're about to see.

Warning: this video is not for the faint of heart or those that are deathly afraid of flying insects (bees in particular).