Your · Artemis
laughter is the shortest distance between two people
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in all fairness, nothing of any great magnitude has happened. i don't find myself feeling the urge to write in here as often as i once did, which is quite strange. my birthday's in a few days. for the first time for as long as i can remember, i'm not that excited. i was a hundred times more anxious for February 10th of this year than August 10th, haha. i have no plans, aside from unwrapping some gifts from my parents, i suppose. it's a Monday, so i'm presuming i'll wait until they get home to do that. Chris sent me post last week, and inside i found two letters - one for my birthday, and one for our anniversary (the month after). i love him to pieces, but the agony of not reading them right away nearly killed me. also, i've still got his gift. on my last night in the UK he gave it to me, under the condtion that i would not open it until my twenty-first birthday. i'm massively excited about that. so no, there's not much else going on. i don't know. should i be sad that i'm not sad about this? somehow it feels as though anything after that incredible week of mine and Dutchie's half-birthdays, nothing else could be as great anyway. in other news, in light of my upcoming birthday, Mom and i decided to look more seriously into the idea of me getting my German passport. i have legal access to it, as at the time of my birth, not just one, but both of my parents were German citizens. i thought about this, as i was applying for my study visa for the exchange, but it wouldn't made too much of a difference. however, when (and it is a "when") i leave to study in England again next year, i will be counted as a member of the EU, and will thus be eligible for lower tuition costs and more scholarships, yay! definitely worth it then. i phoned the Consulate in Toronto, and found out what i have to do. then Mom and i spent a good couple of hours digging through all our drawers and folders and fireproof boxes to find the documentation i need. turns out, Germans are a pain in the arse. who'd've guessed it? they want every piece of paper, i swear. parents' birth certificates, parents' passports at the time of my birth, marriage licenses, my "long" birth certificate (which i have to order specially, complete with like, the address of my mom at the time of my birth and my dad's favourite kind of German sausage), etc etc. i think i have to prove that i have some understanding of the German language too. and that's not even counting the biometric stuff! turns out, pretty much the only way you can obtain German citizenship is if one of your parents had it. even if you were born in Germany, you don't get it unless your parents are citizens. for immigrants, they have to be in the country for like, 10+ years before they're even considered. Germans don't believe in dual citizenship (hence Dad's landed immigrant status in Canada) but as i was "naturalized" as a Canadian, and didn't specifically apply for citizenship here, i can still get my German one. gah, what a mess. so basically, after i dig up some super old passports and send away for my birth certificate and get a new photo taken - i will have to wait 7-8 weeks and i'll officially have dual citizenship. weirddd. Mom, Dad and i went to Crawford Lake for a late walk last night. god, i'd forgotten how pretty it was. strangely enough, the Iroquoian Village was under construction, haha. we saw lots of fish and frogs, and on our way out - we spotted a striped tail sticking out of a garbage bin! there was a momma raccoon pulling out trash for her four babies. awwww. took loads of photos. i wanted to cuddle them to bits. and on the drive home, we saw the most beautiful moon, just peeking out from above some clouds. new icon by ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} elfengarden. it's a lot more summery than the weather. i need to see Mamma Mia! again soon. i remember last seeing it with Anna, Harriet, and Ellen, singing aloud and laughing at Pierce Brosnan. good times.also: John Hughes? oh my!
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from Lee, because no one writes quite like this: "I had one of those rare 'lightbulb' moments of clarity. classic, classic Lee. i've never encountered a better letter-writer, really. poor lonely Lee is stuck in his hometown of Port Talbot, Wales for the summer. it's a small steel-mining town, and not a job is to be found. i'm so glad i met him. we've had our peevish moments, sure, but which friends haven't? i know he's a keeper for life. he's written me two letters now, and sent a book (his copy of A Farewell to Arms, which has "polluted" his bookshelf long enough, haha). he's fantastic. each of his letters has been filled with wit and wisdom, and a very honest way of looking at life, which i can very much relate to. he's an old soul, our Lee. now that my conscience is guilty enough, and i've bought loads of stamps (Olympic ones, cute) i think i'll concentrate tomorrow on writing him back. he mentioned to Chris that he might be thinking of going to Belgium and Holland for a little holiday. he could see Dutchie on her home territory! massively jealous. i'd like to write all of them, really, the whole corridor. nothing could be further removed from our life there to my life here, and i miss them so.
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Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson 1995: "It looked so peaceful and wonderful that I could almost have cried, and yet it was only a tiny part of this small, enchanted island. Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was I loved about Britain - which is to say, all of it. Every last bit of it, good and bad - Marmite, village fêtes, country lanes, people saying 'mustn't grumble' and 'I'm terribly sorry but', people apologizing to me when I conk them with a careless elbow, milk in bottles, beans on toast, haymaking in June, singing nettles, seaside piers, Ordnance Survey maps, crumpets, hot-water bottles as a necessity, drizzly Sundays - every bit of it. "What a wondrous place this was - crazy as fuck, of course, but adorable to the tiniest degree. What other country, after all, could possibly have come up with place names like Tooting Bec and Farleigh Wallop, or a game like cricket that goes on for three days and never seems to start? Who else would think it not the least odd to make their judges wear little mops on their heads, compel the Speaker of the House of Commons to sit on something called the Woolsack, or take pride in a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy? ('Please, Hardy, full on the lips, with just a bit of tongue.') What other nations in the world oculd possibly have given us Wililam Shakespeare, pork pies, Christopher Wren, Windsor Great Park, the Open Unviersity, Gardener's Question Time, and the chocolate digestive biscuit? None, of course. "How easily we lose sight of all this. What an enigma Britain will seem to historians when they look back on the second half of the twentieth century. here is a country that fought and won a noble war, dismantled a mighty empire in a generally benign and enlightened way, created a far-seeing welfare state - in short, did nearly everything right - and then spent the rest of the century looking on itself as a chronic failure. The fact is that this is still the best place in the world for most things - to post a letter, go for a walk, watch television, buy a book, venture out for a drink, go to a museum, use the bank, get lost, seek help, or stand on a hillside to take in a view. "All of this came to me in the space of a lingering moment. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I like it here. I like it more than I can tell you." - i love you, Bill Bryson. you travel to a lot of inconsequential (and kind of shit) places, and you skipped York completely - but i love you. you get it just right.
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you all know i've been a reluctant Canuck lately, but today Ian posted this on my wall and i had to grin: too awesome for words. and... that's it. still no one's called about the job. work at Williams 11-4 tomorrow. not enthused, but at least it's money! cut up some more fabric today for those receiving blankets (don't ask) and dug up my old Ikea hanging photo frames. i set them up with my stunning Shakespeare cards (the ones i bought at the Globe) and am loving it. chatted to Chris for a bit, who worked at some warehouse today. he'll be doing that for the next little while, before hopefully(!) doing some work in a hotel somewhere. if there's anywhere lacking in jobs, it's Ottery St Mary, Devon. might watch a Miss Marple with Mom and Dad tonight, or run along and do my own thing, like watching So You Think You Can Dance, yay. the thing about this season is, while the dancing is more or less flawless, the dancers are still lacking in character, in personality. i'm not attached to anyone. maybe tonight will remedy that.
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let's pretend for a moment here that isn't October already, 'kay? i will lose my mind if i'm forced to acknowledge this fact. one week. holy crap. totally forgot to write about the most interesting news i got from Wood: someone's asked him to start writing! like, real writing. albeit online... but it is writing. i thought he meant non-fiction at first (which would be fascinating) but then he mentioned something about short stories. can you imagine?! what i wouldn't do to read something he's written. talk about glimpsing into the depths of his twisted mind, wow. he promised he let me know if he follows through on the offer. talking to Danilo last night, he informed me that this kid he met in Trois-Pistoles, Sean Aiken, is not only writing a book but now making a movie. see, "The Legend", as he's known in T-P (pun on toilet paper fully intended) circles, had this crazy idea for an "inspirational quest": to have a different job every week for a year. like most people in our generation, he didn't know what he wanted to do with his life. so he experimented: 52 jobs, all over North America, financing himself (wages go to charity), while keeping a blog. and he did it. he actually did it. he inspired youth everywhere. eventually the media found out and he's been interviewd for papers/magazines/television/radio. he's given talks at Canadian universities. when he met Danilo, he'd been in the midst of writing a book about it (Sean did Explore too and stayed several times with the family that Danilo did, that's how they met) but apparently never dreamed he'd be doing a documentary. needless to say, Danilo's all psyched about this and is donating to help Sean's efforts. i'm not gonna lie, stories about Sean fascinated me from the moment Danilo started talking about him, and i started to look into Sean's adventures myself. i can't wait to see One Week Job:
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ohh, it's a weird feeling. i'll probably start emailing Hrysko too. i'm so happy i went to visit today. the whole experience was wonderful, and felt so natural even though my ties to the school are severing year after year. it's funny, because i don't email Wood and Dine as often anymore (in fact, Dine and i have unfortunately(!!!) stopped altogether) and i only go to Bateman once or twice a year. in reality, it won't feel like i'm any further away from them while i'm in England. it's somehow a nice fact, knowing that the next time i see them i'll be back from England - i will have dozens of stories to tell and we'll be able to have whole new conversations. they see me there year after year (i cannot believe i graduated so long ago), they only see snippets of me and my life, never the day-after-day that was once the norm. if my life seems to be going fast from my perspective, it must seem to be zooming by from theirs! like Wood said, the school has already seen its first set of gr9's graduate (class of '08) and in another little while, they'll start to see another, older set of their students graduate university and come back! and that'll be me, darlings. someday, i don't know when, but i will teach at that school, by their side. love yous!
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i'm reading The Mother Tongue: English and how it got that way by Bill Bryson. Onkel Ralph gave it to me for my birthday, and i finally got around to reading it. it's a lot of what i've already learned/read about - the history of the English language, but i'll admit that Bryson has a unique way of writing so it's pretty entertaining. i don't think i need to elaborate on how important reading is to me. i can't understand people who say they "don't have time to read." i think that's bullshit. with anything you love, you'll find time for it. and for me, reading is one of those things. i couldn't live without reading, and for sure - surviving without my precious collection this year is going to be difficult as hell. reading opens doors, it exposes you to different perspectives, it is all about possibilities. literacy is one of those fundamental skills, and in my mind - it should be a human right. to be literate, to read, is to be involved in the world whether you like it or not. what would i recommend to others? most anything that interests them. it doesn't even have to be fiction, haha. whatever floats your boat. just read. anyway, i can't sleep. watched Eurotrip with Louise tonight, and went to bed about an hour ago. have work at 10 tomorrow but i cannot fall asleep. i keep imagining what my bed in England will feel like, how my room will look, what the nighttime "quiet" will sound like. i've been listening to my "--2" (don't ask) playlist on iTunes, and thought of doing Dee's meme: List ten songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good, but that must be songs you're really enjoying right now. Post these intructions in your blog along with your ten songs. Then tag ten other people to see what they're listening to. 1 - A Bitter Song - Butterfly Boucher
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York love:
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it's an awful, almost perverse thing to admit, but it must be said. this longing is not brought on by that Serb's birthday being today, no. rather, in the same 5mins i got a sweet message from Novak and a great little Facebook wall post from Jo, being all excited about Djordjevic. either way... i want to visit with Novak again. i want to celebrate Danilo's 20th. i want to sit and talk to Djordjevic. badly. perhaps they aren't the greatest race or nationality or whatever. their ancestors have done horrendous things to places and people. they have their psychological and superficial flaws. it's pretty impossible to depend on or trust them. there's no guarantee that they're perfect. but you know what? some of those things go for me and my people. there are exceptions to every rule, and even for the non-exceptions, there's something to be said for hope, for redemption, and for forgiveness. because behind all that anger, pride, and ethnocentrism, there are usually people with humour, intelligence, and strongly beating hearts. since meeting Djordjevic in first year, my life has been strewn with Serbians. although i'm pretty sure that a lot of this is because i simply never noticed the people before meeting him (i look back to all the people i've known and realize that a fair few were Serbs, haha), i know that a lot of this is also due to the fact that i've become enveloped (however unwillingly at times) into Danilo's world. what can i say? Dave and i have repeatedly said that "once you meet one, you never stop." much to Mom's chagrin, this is true. they flood you. their wacky history and culture gets into your psyche. in a way, this is annoying, frightening, and overwhelming. but if you're very patient, things could work out alright, haha. don't i know it. previously i've never been overly aware of eastern Europeans. definitely not in a good way, at least. but now? can't help it. i don't find myself any more or less attracted to the Serbs i don't know (though i can identify them better now) but objectively, in a passing way, i'm drawn to anything related to them. any newspaper headline, any author, any Wikipedia article. Dave has it too. he's taking a class on eastern European history next term in France, something he'd never've done if it weren't for Danilo. not that they push this on us/me. none of them do. it's all incidental, all my doing. Djordjevic, Novak, Danilo, his parents, Ivana, Marko. i don't know what it is, but somehow knowing them, being endeared to them has encouraged me to push aside common sense, stick up for who might normally be seen as the "bad guys", and challenged me to acknowledge new perspectives. i don't expect (or hope) to find anyone in England who could replace them, especially those first three. something tells me i'll come across a bunch of Serbians no matter where i go, but none will be, could be like them. moral of the story: try on a Serbian for size, kids. even if you don't suspect they can fit into your life, they can. and, odds are, if you dig deeply for the right ones and be patient, your world'll be a happier place for it. Serbians will always hold a special place in my heart, a fact to which i'm resigned. love yous!
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indifferent