A long-standing love affair; the newest from the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series; presents from the parents, plus a brand new watch strap; and, inspired by this post, a jar to be filled with all sorts of good somethings that happen to me and the darlings this year.

&c.: And good gracious I'm ready to get back to school.  One day left!

Rose Passion, Dutch Tulips, Coco Mademoiselle.

Channelled my inner Bel Rowley this evening for Christmas party schmoozing, and schmooze I did. 

&c.: Ohmyword I am so smitten with this new skirt. I wish it came in several different colours because I would buy one in each.

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you, and I do hope you all get what you wished for, eat tonnes of delectable goodies, and generally have a day filled with joviality and general wonder 

xxxxxxxxxx ALL THE LOVE

Spent the day in the room, furiously finishing my Origins review, and reading Oedipus for tomorrow.  Discovered that rain is particularly comforting in Winters, but only if you've nothing to do for the rest of the day.  Today would be perfect for curling up under the duvet, but alas.

Boisterous October weather.

Well, hello there October!

I can't even express how happy it makes me the leaves have started turning here, because the campus is made twenty-six times (that's a calculated number, by the way!) prettier with all the colours.  It makes me really hope that Winters decides to have a leaf-raking-and-jumping bonanza, just because that's the sort of thing we would do.  That would make me the happiest little university student ever.

As for actual university-related things, all seems to be going okay.  Theatre classes are all still amazing, Film is okay, but my tutorials aren't that great, and French is... French.  It's nice to be speaking the language again, but I still don't really know how I feel about my prof.  She just seems sort of... aloof and unapproachable, at least right now.  Maybe, after a few weeks, I'll have a better feel for her.

I've finally finished up my Carpentry classes for Stagecraft (lots of fun; we built boxes and learnt some very basic things about set design and construction, and I guess that'll be expanded upon next term), which means, I'm in the Costuming labs next, and guess who's over the moon? This girl! That's the reason I'm going to interview for Production at the end of the year (well, also because I genuinely like backstage work as much as the onstage stuff), to be honest; if I can spend five hours a week in front of a sewing machine, I will be pleased as punch.  And they tell us to keep an open mind about all aspects of the program, which of course, I'm trying to do, but I'm already interested in everything, so it sort of simplifies everything for me!

This weekend's going to be cut a touch short because I have Crew on Friday and Saturday, so I won't be getting home until Saturday aft, but I suppose it's still a decent amount of time off.  It'll be nice to have dinner with the fam-jam, but I don't think I'm going to be able to help make dinner this time around, because we're having our do on Saturday night because of conflicting family plans (boooooo!).  Maybe I can still make gravy or something.

Meghan and I also realised that we aren't going to go broke the way normal university students do; we're going to end up on the streets because we see too many shows.  We've gone to two already, and we're seeing two more (Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead at the Hart House Theatre; Tear the Curtain at the Bluma Appel) in the next... two weeks, I think? But both sound like absolutely amazing productions, and I've heard G&R has been very well received, especially by the people in our program who have seen it.  Can't wait! I've started keeping a journal of the shows I see (as prompted by my Origins of Theatre prof - an absolute gem of a man), so I'm hoping those will both be very positive entries.

One last thing: books!  And words, of course.

 
Last week, I started - and finished - The Emperor of Paris by C.S. Richardson.  This book.  This book, darlings.  It is the bitter-sweet chocolate of the literary world; absolutely delicious prose, and sentences to make a bibliophile sigh and swoon, but with a story which reads like a photo album, and feels like a skinned knee.  The format of the book is a bit of a puzzle, because it has two separate chronologies which fit together individually, and then collectively at the end (much like Memento, but minus the amnesia), but it's not inaccessible or elevated by any means.  It flows far too well for that.  And the language.  Poetic and simple and beautiful and certainly not something I expected to find in the New Releases section of Indigo (really, it was just lying on the table - and of course, an historical drama which unfolds in le Gai Paris is mandatory reading), but I'm ever so glad I did.

I cried, at the end.  Just a little, but I did.  And I'm still sitting here like a besotted teenager just thinking about it.

I've also made a sort of introspective realisation: I can never be a book critic.  Ever.  But that's okay, really.

Pages completed: 6 893/16 818

So here's what's happening:

Apparently I haven't written anything since May, which is just appalling behaviour on my part.  My sincerest apologies to anybody who actually does read this; I'll send you baked goods in the hopes you'll forgive me.

First and foremost: I've officially started university (which is old news to pretty much everybody, but typing it out still makes me feel lovely and giddy). There really hasn't been much time to actually let myself get accustomed to everything, since our Department essentially just throws us in and makes us figure things out for ourselves. 

Backing uuuuup quite a bit: we had our first Company Meeting sometime last week (already, it's become a blur!), and all of us first-years got a chance to meet all our heads, and see the designs for the first show we're putting up, called Wounds to the Face.  More on that later, because while it sounds really, really interesting, it takes a bit of time to explain.

Crew's also started, which means, for me, no work for a little while, lots and lots of work moving things and loading the set in, and then no work again.  

This morning, our regular Stagecraft lecture was thrown out the window, and we spent three hours in our BIGBIG theatre, going over terms, and then we had a walk-around tour.  Let me tell you, being 75 feet off the ground, with only an inch-and-a-half of steel grating between you and a rather nasty free-fall, is a pretty eye-opening experience.

That's about it for actual school-related stuff, aside from classes, which are pretty neat for the most part.  I absolutely adore my Theatre professors.  That's about everything I can say on the matter without rambling on for lines and lines of text.  They're fabulous.  Seriously.  Love 'em.

Also: it's finally starting cooling down to acceptable temperatures around here, which means cozy sweaters, thick wooly scarves, and of course, coats.  Coloured leaves and pumpkin-flavoured everything (I think every single coffee shop here serves a pumpkin-spice latte; personally, I don't like.  Not really), puffs of breath and bundling up on chilly nights.  I find I do a lot more reading during this kind of weather, because it just seems like the perfect environment for it.  I'm still plugging away at the Book List, and enjoying quite a few of them - I've also made some changes to the list itself, because some books are just impossible to find.

The ones that stand out as absolutely beautiful pieces of literature?

Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafòn

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon

I highly recommend all of them! I'd elaborate, but generally, if a book makes my head fall back and puts a lump in my throat, there's way too much to even talk about.  But yes; if you get the chance, pick any of them up and love them a little.

And nooooooow I think it's probably best I get on with my Stagecraft assignment.  I need to start channelling my Hemingway (does anybody understand how amazed I was when my prof told us to try and emulate Ernest? No long-winded essay-writing!) to get the narrative right, but I'm determined to do well on this assignment.  

Just switched the kettle on, and organised my notes, and I am all set to go!

Pages completed: 5 996/16 818