Today was much better. It started out with Touch of Evil and proceeded into another lunch at the Red Room with Tony and Eileen. About three quarters of the restaurant was furnished with couches and upholstery. Tony and Eileen both seem like nice people and they're entertaining to listen to. Eileen really reminds me of Esther.

After that I studied up for African-Canadian literature. Nick Walsh (which I just noticed is eerily close to Nitz Walsh) was one of the presenters on Djanet Sears' Harlem Duet. Nick has got to have his eyes on being a professor, as he's one of those people that really goes all out for presentations and discussion. Turns out the guy's brother is the guitarist for Jen Militia.

Sometimes I find it difficult to talk in that class because Professor Clarke speaks from the heart and I feel like my relatively useless observations about Bakhtin's notion of polyphonic textual nature as it relates to Sears' play aren't going to register in quite the same way. I'm also white. Now, granted, 95% of the class is white. But I don't want to feel as though I'm talking in politically correct platitudes just to contribute to a discussion. It wouldn't be fair to the material. Professor Clarke talks at great length about the texts we study, and that's to be expected, but it's hard to deliver a complimentary idea that's more classically theoretical in approach when we're dealing with such emotional subject matter. That said, I'm learning a lot in the class, and the books have all been great reads.

I chatted a bit with Brooke afterwards, about where we're from and such. She mentioned a couple of places she's been to in Ottawa (including this one Russian bar...). It gave me a chance to gush about the city. She's from London, and I told her I'd heard stories...

I made the walk from Keele station again. After I got home I lounged for a bit befoe popping in Death in Venice, which I watched for an hour or so before putting on Orson Welles' broadcast of The War of the Worlds. I laid on the couch and listened to it for the first time, 69 years to the day it was first broadcast, and let its imagery play around inside my head. For those of you who don't know much about the story of the broadcast, it's a really interesting one: read more about it here.

Tomorrow I'm meeting with my Opera group before heading over to Matt's to do up Halloween. Have a happy one.

Dietrich is out of my life for now. The presentation went fine but the morning seemed mired in technical difficulties and, and always, too much to say in too short a time period. After class I had lunch at Tik Tok Café with a couple of new folks, Eileen and Tony. Eileen lent me a Charlton Heston movie called The Naked Jungle that I thought looked hilarious based on her presentation on the Man (yeah, that's right, I capitalized "Man"). African-Canadian Lit was status quo and I conversed briefly with Brooke about the presentations we're doing on Oni next month. Should work out nicely.

The weather was miserable today and my socks were quite soaked through for hours. I long for the days of duck boots. Though it was raining I did take a few minutes before my latter class to explore the Trinity College chapel and courtyard. I'm still bowled over by the beauty of certain spots on campus.

I came home to a few DVDs I'd ordered - 24 Hour Party People, Halloween II and Talk Radio, which is an underrated Oliver Stone film I've always liked starring Eric Bogosian in a completely riveting performance as a radio talk show host. I watched that and some X-Files over dinner and capped the flick for film_stills.

Tomorrow I have a list of little things I have to take care of, including finally applying for that job. I've decided to go ahead and give it a shot. If they like me for a position, and I end up not enjoying it, I can always leave. Unless there's a clause I overlook that necessitates the breaking of my legs upon breach of contract. I'll just remind myself to read the fine print.