I Still Love You Internet

Hey interwebs! Sorry I've been away so long, but dont worry I havent forgot you! You just sort of got put on the back burner, and I forgot to turn the burner on. At least in this metaphor I didnt leave in on this whole time, so that I have to recover you from a slow-burnt bottom!
So, it is mid october and soooo much has happened!! That being Anime North + prep, playing DnD, going to work in Algonquin Park, the fall of DnD into Magic Cards, and back to school. I'm in fourth year now, and still questioning my path of education to get to my desired destination. -.-
Anyway I'm back, but its school time now, so only kindof. Be back laterz

March Conceptuals

It's March already! That means there is only a span of three months time to Anime North! but for this month I need to partially eschew it from my mind to be able to finish the sememster. April the 8th is my last exam, lucky me, which is not to long to wait. Until then I have, and have done, and am planning lots of cool stuff.

First is my awareness website done in cunjuction with Kathleen Marques. Awareness of Genocide and Racism towards Indigenous Peoples with a proactive approach to post-colonialism. Something I'd like to get into defining sometime.

A soon to be project I have been alluding to, a work in progress, is achiving an androgynous existance. I dont want to simply look androgynous, I want to be be anndrogynous in everyday life. That means embodying charachteristics of both male an female, although I feel I'm fairly good at that/well along in getting there but I need some more work. In reality I have been socialized as a female in the western protistant world so there is alot about valued implemanted in colonialization, and socail "norms" I need to identify and overcome. It may be a life process, but I really feel I am in many ways a Berdache already. But because I look unmistakably like a woman I am judged as such, it is infact limiting and becoming irritating (well its never been easily tolerable), and so being able to achieve a more andrgynous apperance will help to stifle that and allow me to do as I please more efficiantly. I'll be cosplaying as rather androgynous boys for Anime North so the goal for the physical change is then. This is where the fitness buisness comes in, I need to thin out quite at bit (especially to be Ciel Phantomhive), and put on a little muscle as I am going to be Edward Elric one day that weekend.

Other projects:
for this blog I would like to write a definition for pornography, to apply to "echhy" animes, hopefuly I can use this for a panel at AN(2012) with the crew?

I want to continue the androgeny discussion by defining the gender nexus from Profesor Peter Paolucci.

I also want to write about a few theory books once I get through them, including but not limited to Fast Feminism, and Free Culture.

Later on, I'll post up actual work by me, and writings by me, if I dont take on a Blog specifically for that purpose. In the meantime you can chech out my Electronic Landcape blog "Angie All About the Facs", where I have all of the work I've done for that class. And you can see my portfolio if you haven't already (It needs some updating though).
One day I will finally get working on the graphic novel I have in the works, and perhaps it will make its daybut here!

Now that you know what the blogs potential can be, I can shirk it. The obligations is sor of out there, yay! wish me luck, until next time!

New Years Resolution in February

Allow me to explain my new years resolution: I am kicking into health gear! Not in the sense that I am going to go on some shitty diet and deprive myself of the stuff I really enjoy like cupcakes, but in the sense that I would like to improve my over all bodily health for better quality of life in my later years. The elders in my family have a history of diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, some obesity. All around bad stuff, that I can prevent if I take care now.

I have an intense sweet tooth but it is easy enough to control, just like any small habits, with moderation. So I am going to eat better number 1. Oatmeal anyone? Helps lower cholesterol! I've been logging what I eat everyday so I can keep track of where I need to make improvements, like drinking more water, eating more fiber, and eating less products made with white flour. Its really hard to reduce bread products while I stay with my grandparents during school because they are just oh so Italian. But there is balance, I just have to ask to eat more vegetables and soups, they both really enjoy that too so a happy medium can occur.

Improving my sleep habits is number 2, supposedly getting to be before midnight is better for hormone development/regulation, and being able to regulate melatonin properly is important for good sleep habits, so not staring at a bright screen right before bed, etc. People who get less than 6 hours of sleep a night are prone to depression, and when school weighs really heavy on you shit piles up. So at the 1 month point, I am changing it to before 1 am, because I'm a little more of a night owl and when I try to sleep at 12 I just stay up for an hour trying to fall asleep. I don't want to be too rigid in this aspect because I like to do work in the evening, I'm too active/figity in the day to get enough done. This makes a good system for school, going between classes/running errands all day and sitting down to some serious homework after dinner. Not so good fro days like today when I work in the evening.

Number 3. Skin and Teeth health. I've been lucky enough to have some pretty good skin, but my teeth are a different story - Ive been cavity prone since I was a little kid, so as I am sick and tired of having cavities I will implement a religious care for my teeth and skin. I can be a little lazy at the end of a seriously long day and skip the floss and that is BAD! But I had a dentist appointment last week, and thanks to the amazing power of the electric tooth brush and my increasing resolve, no cavities to report! Stress has been taking a toll on my skin but I moisturize with vitamin e and use a tea tree oil cleanser on my face in the shower as well as exfoliate and all that jazz without feeling like I'm going out of my way because it rolls in easily with my morning routine.

Exercise number 4. This means my body and mind. While in school I've got the mind business covered, but during off times I really should read as much as I used to, and sketch more. When I'm creatively exhausted from a rough semester it hard to want to force myself to sketch but even anime north stuff is a good mind flexor in the creativity department. Exercising the body a different world altogether. I'm a little on the lazy side, in a way (well what would seem lazy to a physically active person, I'm actually not lazy, my mind doesn't stop running till it is exhausted. Anyhow it is difficult for me because it doesn't seamlessly fit into my routine all the time, for the first two weeks of January I was able to run on the treadmill, and I know what days I have time to do so for an hour or two, but it takes back seat when i have a lot to do (I guess I could have ran instead of writing this blog). I tried swimming, it was fun for the few times I went, but it also took back seat to homework. My problem there also is that I didn't have a locker because they all sold out, and the day lockers are outside of the change room, so it is an awkward situation. (Commuting had been putting a bummer on me in general, and having to carry all my shit around all day is lame). But I make the decision to take the stairs no matter how tired I am, and I walk really fast when I can which although only for a short time (between 5-15min) it is still something. I've also been trying to incorporate Yoga, but it doesn't fit into my routine easily, so it has been on the back burner, but never out of my mind. I was going to do Hot Yoga with my co0workers, but the commuting this has me down again (and it cold outside), you would understand if you had to put up with the shitty YRT. It's over priced and the service is not frequent enough.

In the month and almost a half that I have started I have made some small improvements. School still has me by the throat, but I'm about half way through this semester. I know have learned my lesson and will split my final year into two for the sake of my sanity which directly affects my health. I have yet to be sick, just a little migraine x stomach thing for three days this past weekend. I actually got this really cool thing from Teaopia, a tea extract to add to drinks called "herbal brainstorm" to help improve the brainage so I can (ideally) organize my thoughts better and more efficiently for better papers. I may have high expectations, and it may be placebo but if placebo works I'll take it!

In the world of this health business, I'm not the only one. Rachel, Elly and Steve S are all hoping on the band wagon, and we will be making a group support blog! Still in the process of creation, but a good idea. This is a way for us to share goals, document the achieving of those goals, give advice and encouragement, as well as share the really cool ideas out there about health! To keep up with this resolution I will try to have a 1 month check in for the year here. There will be a big 6month gathering of the reunion party where we made resolutions to see how things progressed. Very fun. This whole health kick co-insides with a performance type change I am planning that I mentioned last post, and will disclose next time.

On an ending note, a few things occurring in my life this last month: Yoko got Spayed, she was pretty pissed for like two days, but shes right back to normal now. Super fast healing, and I did not declaw her, I feel soo bad about the whole declawing. I understand the necessity for it in some homes, but she has a scratching post, I clip her nails regularly (about every 3 weeks) and she hasn't felt the need to scratch furniture much. This semester has been up high and down for me, I did really bad on the midterm in my Indigenous Resistance (I barely got through the readings) did okay on the essay outline, but I got high b's on the courses I finished. I had a great presentation in my electronic landscape on post humanism, but got a c+ on my Horror Lit essay 1. And I had a bad luck moment, and missed the questions on the back of a test that I could have aced and only got a c. I'm really pissed but there isn't anything I can do about it, so I really need a win, an no more stupid losses for the rest of the semester, getting low grades really puts a damper on me. I have an epic presentation planned for my monday critique (hopefully it will get me the marks to make up for late marks) and I have a great "outreach" website/postering fiasco to raise awareness about the shit we do that oppresses first nation people, I get to read interview with the vampire and write about the exploration of the idea of cyberization and posthumanism in the visual arts and science fiction! On top of other really cool things like a talk from Nina Arsenault this past Wednesday. Must. Remain. Optemistic! I don't know what the context for this saying but "Keep Calm, Carry on" I just want to add stay strong, and be metal (or manly really its synonymous in my books).

I can't believe youre still alive...

Hello blogosphere, remember way back when this blog began, and x-files still happened, I said "I will probably spend most of my blogs apologizing for not writing a blog" in fact I almost intended the blog to be just that. Well this actually turned into a sort of a real blog-ish. I had alot of dead space that past end of the year, but we are 14 days into a new year, and that means new starts (or so they say). So let me start with apologizing for breaking my promise of updating at least bi monthly. I now revoke that promise, and will make no more promises about regular updates. Lets face it, does anyone ever actually stick to that? and when I say anyone I mean me, its like I intend something and it turns out the other way. Its like Fumino from Mayoi Neko Overrun. I still want to blog, just, I make no promises. Maybe this blog will blossom into a critical and highly perspective space but lets not get our hopes up while I'm in uni. Uni might be the source of the critical thinking but damned if it wants to share my time. I know that I don't want a blog that follows my life chronologically, I don't see the merit in that unless it were for a performance piece.

Lets get to the source here of my lack of blogging: firstly my life in chronology is not necessarily that interesting, hence why I don't keep a diary and find it difficult to keep just one sketch book - well in part - I'm also not that consistent, what I do keep is a day book that is a hold all of sorts, and yet sometimes not. I actually hate the schedule game, I like being inconsistent, and yet am much happier when I plan my time when I have obligations to uphold. The answer to that problem is = retire early. Inconsistency really is the problem here. Secondly time, school and work take up 85% of my time, now %5 is commuting, %5 to sleeping, that only leaves %5 left for my friends, family, pets, and quiet. I probably misrepresented commuting as too small because I have to stay on campus so long that cuts into my school work time, as I work best at home, which cuts into my sleeping time but after a while you start passing out so that other %5 is cut into and then when my part time job starts giving me 30 hours a week and I cant keep up anymore because my time management is spinning out of control, a leisurely blog gets put in the microwave next door to keep warm, then after a while I haven't come to retrieve it so the neighbor put it in the freezer. One day after cleaning out his freezer the neighbor sees it and sends it over as a reminder it was there all along! Thank cupcakes for good neighbors and friends. In fact without their rescue I probably would have blown up the entire kitchen. So thanks to them, and I hope that they enjoyed the shenanigans. I now know that I should not work more than 10-15 hours a week during school, I should not take on more that 2 practical classes at once, and that 30 credits are waaay to much. For the sake of my sanity and potentially wanting to go to grad school one day I will be splitting up my fourth year into two.

I'm still facing some repercussions of the fiasco the last semester had become but I have the time to redeem myself now, with a renewed work ethic, and a good new years resolution which I will be happy to discuss and partly document in this blog. I will actually be turning the resolution and Anime North into a sort of a performance piece that I would like to build on with influences by Cindy Sherman. I'm also planning a postering attack much like the chevron critique by the Yes Men.

More on that... Next Time

Oh the insanity!

My homework life has become nutty, which in turn renders my life non existent. Sleep is for the weak, but can I at least be warm? My part-time-pay for-my-cell-phone-job is asking too many hours of me, my Nonna sees this as a repeat of my Zio Mitch's past - he ended up with high blood pressure. I don't know if I'm becoming agoraphobic or I've had too much coffee but that makes me nervous. The 8th of December is my upcoming reprieve, I'll be done this semester. Its both too far away and too close - that depends on whether or not I'm thinking about my schedule really. See you all in December! In the mean time check out Paul's vlog.

I had a list

of blog I wanted to make and right now I just cant find it, honestly I just can't remember where the heck I wrote it down! So I'm in the process of looking and I will find it because the topics will make up for my lack of blogging recently. I honestly meant to make a third blog in September and three this month to make up for 0 in August (I am after all trying to uphold a standard of two posts a month), but its looking like my blog debt is actually going to accumulate more X_X. I however am better at keeping up on my blog here than High Levels of Awesome, or Stuff and Rabbits, so there. That's right I went there.

Get your booing tomatoes ready because I still haven't beat FFXIII. I've made it to the third disk and since the game play changes I became torn between wanting to press on and just finish for story or do some epic leveling on Grand Pulse. I love the crystarium, and since I haven't played chronologically through the final fantasy games it is new to me an oh so fun. Not that I don't like the old school ways of leveling, the crystarium is just insanely cool. However it is kind of overwhelming, the sort of overwhelmed that you want to conquer not run away from. So I have finally decided to push through and finish the story for the sake of my co-player who is the "plays games for story plot" person, and if I go back to it one day I will be true to myself and fill up the crystarium for my favourite characters.

wishful thinking is so...fulfilling

Lastly I'd like to take a moment and mention Supernatural, it is so addictive. It sort of filled my reading week, always on in the background behind homework, and the addiction spread to the rest of my family. We really are TV people, we like to watch TV and movies and screw all you "I don't really watch TV" people because you are sort of excluding a means of transferring culture. Oh and I count picking specific shows and Anime as TV watching, even if you aren't seeing it in real time. Hypocrites! Anyway watch supernatural however you please the sixth season is on TV right now (Wednesday nights at 10pm on Space) so get watching.

I see you've noticed the face lift o_O

That's right last night I revamped the look of this page, its a little more robot like, but not quite what I envision. It'll get there... eventually!

SO back to bento boxes, for now were just going to start with the Jbox.com bento section. So bento boxes are the Japanese way of making lunch boxes attractive. They can get incredibly fancy and be made of incredibly fine woods and hand painted with matching chop sticks. They generally have two tears but can go up to four or more for special occasion serving ware like new years. You can get a store bought bento from convince stores and train stops but a lunch that is really special is moms beautifully crafted golden example of domesticity hand made lunches, complete with all the cute bells and whistles like having your veggies cut into little hello kitties. In Japan a girl can show a cool boy just how much she likes him by presenting him with her top notch bento skills at lunch time, you know how gramma says "the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach". The number 1 staple in bento is rice there is alot of it to eat with the other stuff being meat and vegetables (the vegetables can be pickled) and onigiri. Onigiri are rice balls! a ball of sticky rice, either in the shape of a circle, triangle with rounded edges, or a scoop. The circle and triangle have a bit of seaweed to act as hand holder and can be stuffed with a piece of pickled vegetable or something along those lines. Moral of the story is mass of beautiful deliciousness. So for more info on the contents of a bento click here, and go to google images to see some beautiful bento lunches, and to order some inexpensive bentos go to J-box (if you are over 18 and don't mind some pervy otaku stuff popping up everywhere J list is the place for you).