The Chelsea Chamber

An entertaining weekend

This weekend has been, in truth, a very entertaining one. Reading Canadian literature and studying for my French exam aside, there has been no shortage of things to do.

My weekend begins at 10am on Fridays, when I leave my French class. I usually begin the weekend with an enthusiastic round of napping, and that was again the case this Friday. Upon waking a few hours later, I went with Amanda and Steeves on a extensive shopping trip through the Rideau Centre, down to Bank Street and finally to Loblaws. That was a great deal of fun, but Mandi and I returned home tired and hungry and in the mood for a lazy evening. That, thankfully, was not in the cards. Our night would turn out to be a lot more eventful.

Mandi's cousin Clay and his friend Andrew came over to chill for a while, before Natalia joined the pack and the five of us went off to Minglewood's to meet more people (Clay's beautiful friends Vicky and Kristen, Andrew, and François and Mathieu). This would be the first time Amanda and I graced the bar, and it was most entertaining. Natalia and I spent a great deal of time dancing together upstairs, and the fact that we invited no guys (except François and Mat, briefly) to join us seemed to vex our little "audience" greatly. So that was fun. Here are a few pictures from that night:




More pictures can be found on my MSN Space. I'll not go on any more about that night, but I must say that the most entertaining part of the evening was when our fiesty little Russian attempted to claw off a guy's face on my behalf. Natalia, you are hilarious and I love you! After that, we went back to Nelson street and woke up the boys, and chilled there for a while. Andrew and I watched 'Thank You for Smoking,' which is hilarious, and stayed up way too late. And thusly my Friday came to an end.

A great deal of Saturday was taken up by sleeping, thanks largely to the events of the preceding evening spilling over into the wee hours of the morning, but I've rarely been known to take issue with sleeping in. I got a great deal of reading done that afternoon, so I could justify keeping my plans with people to go on another dirty Hull adventure. Originally, we were complying with a request from Meg that we go to Cosmo to meet her and some friends, but when she bailed we decided to go to Le Bop instead. Seriously speaking, I might have liked to stay in this province, seeing as Ottawa was hosting the Ultimate frisbee Nationals this weekend and there were, of course, parties to attend. However, because our last adventure was so fun, we decided to repeat it, and off we went to grab the bus to go to Le Bop. The crew eventually ended up consisting of myself, Mandi, Josh, Natalia, Irish, Andrew, Kerry, Karen, Danielle, Anthony, Eric, and Jacquie. So that was good fun. We did a lot of dancing, met some people, and had a nice adventure. We walked home old-school style, and ate pizza on Nelson street and chilled until it was time to call it a night (or a morning?).

It is now Sunday and I am busily studying for my upcoming French exam, but not so busily that I was above taking a break to do a bit of blogging. Tonight, pending completion of today's alotted French work, Unit 66 will have a movie night and watch "V for Vendetta". The boys are staying up all nght so they can go to the Rideau Centre ultra-early to get a Nintendo Wii!! How exciting! For those of you not familiar with the Wii, please refer to the following videos, but please excuse the poor video quality (WARNING: EXTENSIVE GEEK CONTENT; VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED):

The system: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO7FCkxFqts
The games: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQiJLokuUSQ&mode=related&search=
Super Smash: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNpUFEm4Zbc

Well, that was my weekend. I've wasted enough time now, I think, so I'll leave you here.

Chelsea out.

posted by Unknown @ 2:32 PM 0 comments

The Chamber Reopens

"And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?"

-from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, by T.S. Eliot



How difficult it is to begin again after such a long period of inactivity in the blogging world. I'll not go on at length about why I stopped blogging (preoccupation with other matters?) or what I have been doing since my last post so very long ago (living), for I seriously doubt anyone cares much about that... besides which I truly can't be bothered.

I won't claim that the decision to resume my writing (if I can be permitted to call it such) was a particularly heavy one. I attribute the decision neither to the haranguing of former readers nor to the sudden appearance of matters that require blogging about; rather this post is mostly the result of simple impulse. I must admit, that I hesitated before reopening my blog (as Jenn called it, "alone and crying in a corner"). I wasn't sure if I wanted to resume this activity of what can be called little else if not an act of self-indulgence and vanity, especially since most people who cared to read my ramblings in The Chelsea Chamber have forsaken it on account of its long and unexplained hibernation. Then it occurred to me that this fear of sparse readership can be eliminated (or at least assuaged) by the satisfaction resulting from self-indulgence, and that self-indulgence, shamed and disreputed as it may be, it not really that terrible a thing.

So, in short, I have decided to resume my little chronicle, remount my cozy little soapbox, and spew my overflowing words (with which I find myself so often burdened) upon cyberspace once again... for little reason apart from the fact that I want to.

Now that I've justified my actions in what is probably an excessively wordy fashion, let's get down to airing out this musty Chamber with a post or two!

...Beginning with a random picture, because I like pictures:


Curious? Confused? Fear not, the answers will come. For now, though, I shall take my leave of you. My blogging muscles are all out of shape from disuse, and the effort required to produce this post has all but exhausted me.

Exit Chelsea, Stage Left.

posted by Unknown @ 3:09 PM 2 comments

Farzana and Jessica Rabbit

So Farzana is unable to come up to see Mandi and I this weekend, which I have to say is rather disappointing. I've pretty much decided to do homework and sleep the day away. :(

On the bright side, Mandi, Andrew, Spo, and I are going to the Bedouin Soundclash concert this Friday as planned. That will be so fun! Probably going out with floor people on Saturday night. More Markham people will be in town this weekend (Dave, Kaitlyn, Gokdag... etc?), but I don't know if we shall be seeing them, as our plans might not overlap well and Lowe has first dibs, I think, this time around, on Dave.

Last night Mandi and I watched 'The Incredibles.' Edna the fashion designer is easily the best character in the film, though obnoxious Cory the babysitter runs a close second for pure snicker-value. Mandi and I have been watching cartooned movies lately (it began with 'Madagascar,' Ali G as the voice of King Julian just slays me). Though I was appalled to discover that Mandi has not seen 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit.' That movie is a classic, and has one of my fav animated characters ever: Jessica Rabbit. Her greatest catchphrase: "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way." So here are some pictures of one of the greatest classic cartoon chicks ever.

That's Jessica Rabbit for you! She's awesome and that brings back memories. I could go for some schnazzy opera gloves like her's, I'll be honest. It's funny though, that they would put so provocative a character in a kid's movie. Actually, scratch that. Sexual content in cartoons is such old news, so I won't get into it.

We're likely going to watch 'Closer' tonight, Mandi and I. Clive Owen, Jude Law, Natalie Portman... (and Julia Roberts, but whatever) ought to be at least interesting.

Anyways, I have now been struck by the desire to talk about sock-rocking cartoons, but I won't at present because I am tired (English was so long today; that definitely felt like longer than an hour and a half) and I want to take a nap.

("Then fire the missiles!") Ha.

Exit Chelsea, Stage Left.

posted by Unknown @ 3:00 PM 1 comments

Pictures from Saturday Night @ Le Bop

Here are some pictures of our trip to Le Bop on Saturday Night. For more, see my Space and Mandi's Space.

posted by Unknown @ 5:52 PM 0 comments

Election Day/ The Weekend/ Househunting

Ottawa, recently hit by many varied forms of precipitation and temperatures, is now both snowy and icy. Though the slushy streets are presently devoid of tension and excitement, this chilly capital will, as of tonight, have a new government residing within it.Hope you've all voted, because if you haven't you have no right to complain about the government from now until the next election! So go out (now!) and do your civic duty, exercise your democratic rights, and give your opinion. Today is one day that the government has to listen to us.

So here I am, indulging in some undeserved procrastination and updating The Chamber. Considering how relatively unproductive I've been, my life has been fairly busy of late.

Tyler and Mike came up to Ottawa this past weekend. Amanda and I made a cake for Tyler, which we ate on Friday night. The cake was cherry chip with cream cheese icing, dusted in chocolate, and it was ever so yummy. A guy in my poetry class totally didn't believe me when my answer to the question "What are you doing after class?" was "Baking a cake." If the cake had not been for Tyler I might have considered bringing him a slice, but then why should such doubt merit confectionary reward? In any case, we baked the cake using the 90U kitchens (we have a stove in our kitchen here but not an oven), which was fun. Funnier, though, was Mandi dropping three raw eggs on our floor; thankfully only two broke. I wish that this demonstration of utter grace on her part was an isolated incident, but less than 24 hours later she managed to empty an entire box of powdered laundry detergent onto our carpet and into Tyler's shoe. Oh Mandi, how I love you. You are a great roommate and an endless source of entertainment.

Anyways, friday night was uneventful. We ate dinner in the common room with floor people and later on went to Andrew's to watch some Family Guy. Saturday we all slept in and managed to be a full half hour late meeting Mike and Cassie at the Rideau Centre. That wasn't my fault. Anyways, so the six of us (Ian, Mike, Tyler, Cassie, Mandi, and myself) ran around the Rideau Centre for a while, then we all came back to Thompson to chill for a while before a whole herd of us went to Don Cherry's to watch the game. I won't claim to be any kind of an expert on hockey, but I can say with utmost certainty that the Leafs got owned by the Sens that night. Our large group was mostly comprised of very vocal leafs fans; poor Curtis was certainly a minority as a Sens fan. Waseem was hilarious in his too-snug jersey, and more hilarious still while he was hitting on the scantily-clad sorority girls sporting Leafs apparel at the next table. Waseem, you're a true ladies' man. Most of us left before the game was officially over, because it was obvious that there was little argument as to who had won.

An hour or so later we left Thompson to catch the bus and meet up with Amanda's cousin Clay (who is super-cool, by the way) and head off to Le Bop. Clay's method of going to Hull, however, consisted of walking from where we met him at the war museum through the bitter cold and the icy wind. I no longer held it against him after I regained feeling in my face, but Andrew was lucky to have taken a cab and met us there later. Needless to say we took a cab home at the night's end. Le Bop was crowded that night but I think we all had a quality time. Mandi, Tyler, Cassie, Mike, and Ian left a little bit ahead of Clay, Andrew, Curtis, and I, so we cabbed back to Rideau Street where Clay could catch a bus back to Kanata. Rideau is fairly lively after 2am. The wait for his bus involved our first experience with shawarmas (I'm an official resident of Ottawa now that I've appreciated the Heaven that is a shawarma, I'm told) and running into Andrew's English prof in McDonald's around 2:30. We all agreed that that was pretty random and rather awkward. After we saw Mandi's cousin off and ran into a few more random people, the three of us walked back to campus. Both Andrew and I were still pretty awake, though, so we watched The Negotiator. Kevin Spacey is awesome, however I don't think I'll ever get over The Life of David Gale.

Needless to say, I was pretty tired at our delicious floor breakfast ('Ante Meridiem Chaw & Glutch'- we love you Ahmed and Veronica) that started at 11am. It was worth getting out of bed for though. It was as yummy as the caf's new (chocolate, banana, and coconut) cream pies, which are positively sock-rocking! Tyler came to the breakfast but Ian did not, for which we are very dissappointed in him, after being declared an honorary floor member too! Tyler left shortly thereafter, and we napped and read the afternoon away, until the time came to go see another house.

Now, I could write an endlessly long post about Househunting alone. The deliberations and discussions are still in progress, but I'll just satisfy myself with telling of a few of the valuable lessons we have learned so far:

Mission to DiscountRez: never put Ian in charge of finding directions to a place. You'll find yourself standing beside the Transitway while he looks around blankly and laughs as if he had expected the house to fall from the sky. Thankfully we ran into a nice guy who actually lived at the place we were looking at; turns out it wasn't complicated or very far away at all, but the bottom line is never delegate. The rez itself was pretty cool.

489 Maclaren: if you like Mandi, Ian, Justin, Curtis, Nabeela, or myself, say a prayer of thanks that we got out of this place alive. Ok, I exaggerate, but to any uOttawa kids who are reading this: 489 Maclaren is the crappiest place in the history of housing, and we decided that the landlady probably routinely eats her tenants. She could make more money if she rented the place out as a horror movie set... she could even star in the movie, she's a natural talent.

475 Catherine Street: this was easily the best place we've seen so far. The interesting experience here did not actually involve going to see the house or the house at all, it happened afterwards. Amanda had to call the cops on some crazy (likely homeless) guy who was violently screaming at and threatening a lady in a bus shelter outside a Harvey's. That was a weird and unnerving experience, but hearing Mandi recount how the Emergency Services operator asked her, "Do you need fire, ambulance, or po?" is pretty funny. "Po"?! Well, it all worked out in the end.

I have a lot to do and it is getting later than I had intended. Mandi and Ian are leaving in a few hours to go to the Leafs vs. Sens game... hopefully the Leafs don't get bent over a desk (pardon the metaphor) like on Saturday, because Mandi and Ian will both very dissappointed. However, no matter what the outcome, my spiderplant is still flowering and that makes me happy. It almost makes me less bitter at my poetry prof for assigning a two page 'essay' that is worth 15% of my mark. Two pages!? I could write twenty on this topic! Anyways, that is due on Wednesday, so I've got to get cracking and finish that up.

Farzana and Bedouin Soundclash on Friday!

Exit Chelsea, Stage Left.

posted by Unknown @ 4:53 PM 0 comments

And to think it all started with a simple couch theft...

Floor antics reached the level of ridiculous last night: Due to the obscene amount of work I had to do (and of course a nice mid-afternoon nap), I did not leave my room until the evening, some time around 5:30 pm. Upon entering the common room I was met with the news that, sometime during the previous night, someone had made off with our couch. Yes, because someone must have left the common room door unlocked, the 20th floor was hit by couch thieves. This strikes me as a rather inconvenient heist to pull off, as there are cameras in the elevators and who wants to drag a couch down twenty flights of stairs? But the fact remains that someone took the couch. Speculation was widespread that in fact someone on the floor had taken the couch, but given the limited space in our rooms this seems a rather silly thing to do. In any case, our C.A. (Josh) was notified, and all I really cared about was not having to pay for its replacement, cause I sure as Hell didn't steal the couch. Add this to the fact that our cable was out and our common room became an even less accomodating place to chill.

Then it happened: the floor was thrown into uproar because apparently some time within the 5 minutes that the common room was just left unoccupied, someone stole the other couch (the smaller one). The stairwells were vacant and the bottom floor was occupied by all the C.A.s who were having a meeting, so no one could have pulled a couch out of the elevators past them. In my opinion, that pointed to one conclusion: that someone on the floor had taken the second couch as a prank; and the prime suspects, Amanda and I concluded, were Waseem and Ian, just because that is something they would do, and they appeared too scandalized when we put the notion forth. So, unsurprisingly, Ian, Waseem, and Justin were found sitting on the couch in the guys' washroom shortly thereafter. The floor all shared in the humour of this joke... then it got funnier, because the three thieves were stuck on the couch. Yes, that couch was only designed to hold two people, and let's just say that neither Ian nor Waseem are skinny guys. So this is the sight with which we were met upon entering the guys washroom:


To make matters worse, in his efforts to "dislodge himself," Waseem managed to pull the papertowel/ trash receptacle right off the wall. So there are some floor damages for him to think about now.

This morning, when I entered the common room, both couches had returned and the cable was fixed for the TV. This has yet to be explained. Hahaha. So that is the tale of the couch thieves of the 20th floor... now I must go eat something because Ian, Mandi, Justin and I have an appointment to view a possible house for next year. Figuring out where we are living next year is irritatingly complicated. Wish us luck.

I am voting tomorrow. Hope you all plan to do the same. Have a nice week, everyone.

Chelsea Out.

posted by Unknown @ 1:58 PM 1 comments

The Energy and Eccentricity of Fridays

Vive les weekends! I am done classes for the day and for the next few days to come. Having had Fridays off last semester, the fact that I have class from 10 straight through to 2:30 this semester is a little irksome, but I do have Mondays off so I suppose I can't complain. Classes were nice today; I really do simply adore my French class. I have missed taking French so much. I won't, however, give an account of today's classes, because (first of all) none of you really want to read about that, I'm sure, (second of all) I don't especially feel like writing about class at present, and (thirdly) I am far too energetic right now to recount such matters.

I will, however, say that my psych professor makes me so happy. His vocabulary and manner of speaking are contagiously invigorating. The way he phrases things and the words he chooses to use fill me with pure, geeky, English-major delight. For example:

"Lions, my friends, are titanically boring."
"...And by 'natural,' I don't mean biotic, organic -like tofu!- kinds of research."
In describing various patterns on scatterplots: "You can have all your points nicely lined up like this [demonstrates]... or you can have all your points nicely lined up like this [demonstrates]... or you can have a BIG, AMORPHOUS CLOUD OF POINTS [demonstrates, this time involving the flailing of limbs]... like this."
"Women who are smarter tend to have higher social status, so they don't have to dress like hos to get respect."

Teeheehee. So that is my psych prof. I think that class will be entertaining. If he says anything else worth noting I may well convey it at some point. We'll see.

It has been unseasonably warm here in Ottawa for the past few days... consistently above zero, I believe. This would not be so bad in itself if it did not cause the Rideau Canal to be closed. I want to go skating! The necessity of bundling like an Antarctic explorer just to go to class doesn't really bother me anyways, provided I can skate. Grr. How am I supposed to hone my (very limited) skills if there is no ice for me to fall on? Haha- actually I have yet to fall skating this year, despite the fact that I haven't skated in ages... but that was another post, so I won't go on about that. I just want the ice back.

Mandi is rather sick and I have a touch of a cold, but since tidying my room, for some reason, I feel infinitely better. Funny how that works; perhaps I really am the clean freak Amanda accuses me of being. Oh well, it's better than the alternative, I say. Anyways, I think both Mandi and I felt good about going for yummy breakfast together. Hash browns rock my socks.

Emma and Ryan are arriving in Ottawa today to visit Ian, so it will be nice to see them. I have nothing extraordinary planned as of yet, apart from some serious Alexander Pope reading and other school-related obligations, but I am certain something will materialize. The weekend has scarce begun, and I am filled with energy and optimism at the prospects before me.

Here's a question: why is my surname not as interesting as 'de la Rochefoucauld'?

In any case, though I am sure I had something else to say, I'm going to finish here lest I get to rambling terribly, as I am ever so wont to do. It is time, I think, to put on some loud music and to give someone a hug. It's Friday and I hope we're all feelin' good. If you need added incentive, perhaps consider the random antics of The Happy Poster Project: (http://www.bloggerheads.com/happy/)



Forgive me if I've been overly eccentric. I'm in that sort of mood.

Happy Friday the 13th everybody! Put on your lucky underwear and have a great day!

Flourish. Exit Chelsea, Stage Left.

posted by Unknown @ 4:29 PM 0 comments

Divide and Conquer; Update and Entertain.

"Always do right.
This will surprise some people
and astonish the rest."
-Mark Twain

That is what my "Inspirational" 365-day calendar (a present from my Daddy, I believe in hopes to keep me motivated or something to that extent) tells me today. Not as good as some, but it will have to do. I do not presume to be so lofty as to be in a position to scorn the words of Mr. Twain. Anyways, I used that as a sort of introduction because it was upon my calendar that my eyes fell when I was looking around for some kind of idea. I decided to post even though I have relatively little to write about... which is proving somewhat difficult. I really do hate to ramble needlessly. I am presently eating Voortman cookies with milk, in case you care to know.

Next weekend Tyler and Mike are coming up here to Ottawa to see their respective girlfriends (and me [!] but I think I'm more an added bonus than a motivation for visiting, hahaha). So that will be fun. Hopefully Tyler will be kind enough to bring me my two sweaters that I forgot at home over the holidays; if not, I shall have to coerce Ian into bringing them back from when he goes home to visit the following weekend.

The following weekend, that of the 27th, will be so fun!! An entourage will be heading up here from Markham, likely to include Dave (who will be picked up at Kingston), Gokdag, Kaitlyn... and other people of whom I am not specifically aware but I will nonetheless be delighted to see should I be lucky enough to do so. Sadly, it is not chiefly Amanda and I that they come to see, this time around. Dave, for example, is centering his operations around Carleton U with Lowe and Kaelan, as far as I know. Stupid Carleton, hahaha. I'm joking... I'm just envious. I will likely see people at some point during the weekend, perhaps we shall all meet up at Le Bop. Failing that, I have promised that there will be a more uOttawa-focussed Dave visit at some point during the semester. However, this group's diversion to other friends has actually worked out very well for me: FARZANA is coming to see Mandi and I that weekend!! So since Dave (etc.) are visiting other people, Mandi and I will be free to spend time with our Fuzzer! Chemanza will be united once more, hooray hooray. I am so excited to see her... and, to make that weekend still better: Bedouin Soundclash is performing at uOttawa on the Friday night. Wooohooo! Hopefully Farzy wants to go, because Amanda and I surely do. I shall have to talk to her about that, because we need to get tickets soon. Thank you to Andrew for alerting me of the imminent performance... and no, 'When the Night Feels my Song' is not their only good song. Bedouin Soundclash = so fun. I am listening to their Sounding a Mosaic CD right now in sweet anticipation.

So, that weekend looks like it will be most entertaining.

I suppose that is all I really have to say. Later I hope to go skating, read some psychology, and vegetate a bit. Perhaps I will do some of my French homework.

Here is my randomly entertaining thing of the day, courtesy of Andrew: http://www.smalltime.com/dictator.html
Check this out. Read the instructions and have a go. This thing's uncanny ability to guess sitcom characters (or dictators) is rather impressive. Here are a few names with which Andrew, Mandi, or I tried and failed to stump it. This silly thing successfully guessed the following:
Estelle Costanza from Seinfeld
Xena (yes, the warrior princess... that doesn't even count as a sitcom and it still got it)
Lloyd Braun from Seinfeld (I didn't even know this character, but Andrew did)
House, from House
Daphne from Frasier
Eddie (the dog!) from Frasier
Santa's Little Helper (Bart's dog) from The Simpsons
Pam (Donna's mom) from That 70s Show
The Professor (the squid-faced dude) from Futurama

... and many others. I don't claim that it's infallible, but it's pretty darn impressive. I wonder what lifeless creep designed it? So, if you're bored, feel free to give it a try.

To finish off, here is a thought for you all, courtesy of the poet Langston Hughes:


Not the greatest of poems, but something I was thinking about. Hope you all have a nice day.

Exit Chelsea, Stage Left.

posted by Unknown @ 12:18 PM 0 comments