june 20, 2001. I'm swigging summer-warm Bailey's straight from the bottle. If I had laudanum, I'd've drained my supply by now. Shitty. Ass. Day. What's worse is that I've been in a really excellent mood lately; hopping, singing & chirping my happiness. If it wasn't for this one big disaster, I'd still be on my cheerful little footpath. I found out this afternoon that the $500 was for a computer part. I realized that they had tied this fee to my student account, so if I decided to contest it, I'd be locked out of school in September. And then I found out that my employers have no intention of claiming some responsibility for this. Although this is a necessary work tool used during working hours, they insist that I am personally responsible for all damage. Never mind that I had no choice - take the job, take the computer; take the computer, take personal responsibility for all $500 mishaps. I was never offered insurance. I was never given a choice of who to give my machine or what would be done to it. My role is to hand over the cash and shut up. I'm here to tell the world: THE ACADIA ADVANTAGE PROGRAM TAKES ADVANTAGE OF STUDENTS. My employers have treated me much like a waitress who is expected to pay the bill after her customers have skipped out early. Because I am here, I am forced to use a computer that I am 100% responsible for. I pay a fortune in tuition, I put up with dimwitted Profs who expect us to be on the internet 24-7, and I swallow the crap about being on the wave of the future. I don't know, maybe it is the wave of the future. The Industrial Revolution was the wave of the future, and it was paid for with the blood of the workers. Wave of the future. Fuck off and die. But other than that huge f'ing set back, I've had a nice day. Dinner with Hermione & crew was excellent: we barbequed a whole mess of good stuff and then went off to see Moulin Rouge. By the end of the night we had agreed to work out a rotating weekly dinner both to increase our social life in the summer and to have a chance to make and share good food. I'm really really stoked: I had no idea how isolated I've become until I realized how excited I had become at the possibility of charring meat for other people. Food is the oldest and best way to be with people. I think that every generation must discover that in their own time, and I'm happy that my time is now. As for Moulin Rouge, it was excellent excellent and more excellent. It was stunning, beautiful, exciting, sad, lovely, noisy, bubbly, risky & excessive. It was both romantic and Romantic, if you catch my drift. As Q so rightly pointed out, there should have been more dazzling musical numbers, but there were enough to fill your soul with glitz. When we left, I was surprised and disappointed to find myself in New Minas - I was so transported that I thought I'd at least be home in Ontario, if not in Paris itself. My new goal is to be a Diamond Dog. I've been trying to put together a media page for this site, not so much to record my every move (even I am not so vain as that) but to share some loves and hates and show what's feeding my head in any given month. I've been reading some really good fiction lately and I want to share it. Now if only it will come together under my tipsy little fingers, then we'll really have something! this time 2 years ago: the insufferable smugness of a solitary shit-disturber is utterly shattered