Andrea arrives back in Canada today, and I'll get to see her briefly when I meet her at the airport and escort her to a shuttle that's taking her home to London. She sent me a Facebook message indicating that she's been setting off alarms at airports, so all that hinges on what security decides to do with her. Regardless, I can't wait to see her.

Yesterday I went to campus and had my best intentions cut in half by the U of T bookstore, which is still out of a book I need, and by forgetting a voided cheque for my OSAP installment. I did manage to read Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Aristotle's Poetics before heading home. As if an entire play and a book of philosophy weren't enough for one class, I still have to read a critical essay and Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound and write a response paper. Today I'm focusing on the Avant-Garde material. I'm starting to realize how lucky I am to have five free days to work on assignments.

I walked home from Keele Station and made some vegetarian chili for dinner before breaking into season three of The X-Files. After writing up some bibliographic annotations for Shakespeare and Aristotle, I watched Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, which unlike my recent reviewing of Episode I was NOT such a pleasing experience. The movie was worse than I remember. It doesn't feel as organic as the first film because it's so entirely digitized. You can practically see the actors moving around on the sound stage, talking to themselves. I don't care that the film is overly political. The romantic scenes are painful to sit through due to the lacklustre dialogue, and Anakin and Padme's relationship feels completely forced. More politics, please.

The biggest news to come out of yesterday is that I redecorated my room on a whim. I couldn't take it any longer. I had no space to move around. Every time I would open my door it would whack my computer chair. I always had to struggle to free my laundry basket from the corner as it was wedged between my desk and Jason's dresser. The dresser's bottom two drawers were blocked by boxes. Plus, the entire room was filthy and cluttered. Now, my desk is nestled neatly into the closet, my bed is turned at a 90 degree angle while the dresser sits across from the door. I have about five square feet of floor space as opposed to a ten by two rectangular strip. This should appease the feng shui dragon.

New semester, new room. It's almost as though I were making myself uncomfortable on purpose.

I picked up some additional course materials at Indigo and the Bob Miller Book Room, and since I was in the neighborhood I brought what was left of my euros back to Calforex. For some reason they wouldn't take change smaller than one euro and couldn't recommend a place that would. Okay. I suppose I can chalk them up to souvenirs.

WHAT I'M IN FOR (PART TWO)

Race and Cinema is taught by Professor Alice Maurice in the room I had for Touch of Evil Project last semester. A few of the folks from my African-Canadian Lit class are taking it along with a few Masters Film students. It's interesting to see the faceoff between those two groups. It's a good time to be an MA student in Film because the program is brand new. Thus, every MA student has a TA position and a license to gloat over foreknowledge of the course material. Don't get me wrong - I'm envious. But I also like to think I know my way around a film syllabus. I'm presenting on Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat in a couple of weeks. There's a 3-5 page report tied to the presentation, a 2-4 page analysis, plus a 15-20 page paper.

I'm off to return some library books, pick up my OSAP and hopefully start tearing chunks out of my readings for next week.

Well, I figure the written part of my grant application is about 85% done. I just need Kathryn's information for the personnel list before I go over everything else with a fine tooth comb, and then I'll work on supplementary materials.

My OSAP finally kicked in today, the day after I emailed the financial aid office about its whereabouts (of course). I'm still waiting on my new driver's license, my new VISA, my Future Shop credit card statement, and Pixie's CD in the mail.

I started looking into travel fares and passport information online today. It looks like I'll be able to visit Andrea in Berlin over the winter holiday. It's definitely something to look forward to, as I miss my girlfriend, and I've never been to Europe. I've only been out of Canada once and went as far south as Manhattan. But I want to make sure I've got my cards and such in order before I start buying plane tickets. It's exciting to think about, nonetheless.

Today I watched Million Dollar Baby, another of Jay's movies I'd never seen. I have to hand it to Eastwood, Freeman and especially Hilary Swank for playing incredible roles. It's an emotional story with a seemingly very simple execution, but the way it's lit speaks volumes for what actually happens on screen. I tend to enjoy boxing movies, as it is. Boxing is a healthy metaphor, though I don't watch the sport myself. MacLennan uses it in "Each Man's Son" to great effect.

I finally finished watching my X-Files Season One boxset, and the season finale was great; it made me want to pick up the second season. All of the Mytharc episodes are solid. The series is weak early on when it deals in offshoot stories about idiot savants and Mennonite cults and woodland creatures with no effects budget.

I really need to download a copy of Touch of Evil, or find out how to rip it to my hard drive. I want to capture clips for presentations. It's embarrassing that I have a diploma in Multimedia Design and can't even rip a DVD successfully.