Things hobos tell me

Hello Campers,

Life is good here in Ottawa. Carmen Braden comes tomorrow to hang out for a few days. Wicked sweet! We're (megan Johns Carmen and I) are going to NACO's firebird concert tomorrow. Loves me some Strav! Also, Julien Keurti is conducting! Thats ANTON Keurti's son! OOoooOOo! So thats cool. I've been super bad at doing this blog thing lately though, and for that...I'm sorry. Its been a little busy in my life. I Frigged up my SSHRC application somehow...apparently I was the only one according to Veronique, but thats ok. She said it just makes me unique...and that I have to do it again...So that sucked. But now its in for good, and I can forget about it. Also, I had a presentation for one of my classes that was for yesterday so I had to wait for that to be over before I could write more on here!

In other news, the university bookstore is useless. Let me rephrase, thats harsh. Theyre not USELESS, they just let me down on a bi-daily basis. This is the THIRD time I've gone in to get something and they've been out of it. And the aggrevating thing is that the things I go in for next, were there the day before when I didnt need them. Example. 4 days ago I needed ink for my printer, so I went and they were out of my kind. So I went back two days later and they had it! They also had printer paper...keep that in the back of your mind. So, today (two days later again), I needed printer paper because my new ink was working so well that I printed on all my printer paper. So off I trudge to the bookstore and BAM...out of printer paper. BOO on them! On the positive side I found an awesome store in the Rideau called Grand and Toy. I've heard of this store before but I always thought they were a toy store. NOT SO! They sell paper and ink and staplers (this was another unsuccessful trip to the university bookstore that I wont write about)! So, congrats Grand and Toy, you have a new customer!

To explain the title of this post is this short anecdote. On my way to the grocery store the other day...a cloudy day...I stopped at the corner. If you remember from several posts back the story of the man in the wheelchair and the yelling and drunkeness...this is the same corner. Anyway, as I waited for the light to change a homeless man came and stood beside me. He was chatty despite my headphone being clearly dug into my ears. So I humour him and as he is rambling I nod. But then it got weird. And I quote "Looks like its gonna rain...It'll do us good...we need it...It will wash away some of that dirt from the construction...and it'll wipe away the SCUM from this city!" To which I again nodded, though slightly more hesitantly! "Montreal needs it too! Scum! If i'm ever rich I'm buying tractors! Invest in tractors! Thats the smart thing to do! " At which point the light changed and I quickly walked away. Dear god...

I started buying milk in 4 litre bags, or rather four, litre bags. Apparently its less than half the price this way! What a chump was I! Anyway, I've seen the milk light and am much better for it.

Have amazing days and or amazing nights !

Love you all!

Jacob

I suck at blogging

Hey. I'm aware I havent written anything in like 2 weeks. I'm on it. I'm busy as a bee here. SSHRC applications, papers, presentations, blah blah blah. After wednesday I'll write something. I swear.

Love you all though, and hope youre all doing well!

Jacob

Well. I went home. It was different, and weird, and fun, and sad, and many other things. Mostly good, but some bad. I've realized what everyone who has already graduated was talking about. Its not the same. We're old. We cant go back. Its changed. It was all fine and dandy for the first few days. I got to spend time with Amara and Megan and Sarah! That was lovely. We went to the look off, I got to watch the AUWE play for Dr. Hunsberger (which was amazing), and we spent some time just hanging out. Great. Then I went home and had some down time with my Teri and my meghan (korea megan who I wasnt supposed to see till Christmas, but I got to see TWICE while home! YEAH!). I had a great belated thanksgiving with my family, and then headed back to wolfville for the rest of my time.

This is where it gets interesting. Somewhere between dressing up as Chicken Simmons (a cross between Richard Simmons and a Chicken) and going to a "music" house crawl that was only 50% music majors and only abour 25% music majors I knew, I realized I'm old. I'm old and I shouldnt be there anymore. Which is good, because for the most part I'm not there anymore! Dont get me wrong. I'm very happy I went. I got to spend time with some lovely people and see some faces I love that I do miss dearly. However, it has changed. The people still there dont necessarily notice it, but it has. Its a different crowd with different friends and very different social habits. None of these things are bad! I was simply very aware that "my" wolfville no longer exists. I needed to go back though. I call it closure.

I didnt think I would miss Ottawa as much as I did. I missed the city and its droves of people. When I was shopping in Halifax with Mom, I saw three people from highschool that I havent seen in years. Ottawa is a better place for me. Speaking of better places, I finally got around to watching Eat Pray Love. No I didnt read the book first, I'm fine with it. I'm sure its good, but I know its no war and peace. I doubt I'm missing some beautiful tome of literature by simply watching the movie. I did love the movie though. It made me (and about 15 million middle aged women) want to travel and see the world with no connection to an outside life. Not possible, but it made me dream. Maybe when I go to Europe in February I'll just stay...HAH!

Otherwise life is good. Grant applications are all in process and final papers are being started...sort of...why change my scholarly habits in grad school when it was those habits that got me here? no? Fine.

I hope you are all well, and of course I miss every one of you!

love and best wishes,

Jacob

Nova Scotia Fun times and an Aviation Expert!

OK, so ... I'm home. It nice. I flew home friday afternoon after class. I am a VERY nervous flyer. Like, white knuckle, frantic kind of flyer. BUT NO MORE. I met a man named brian who is a retired Aircraft Navigation specialist! We talked the WHOLE way about why the plane wasnt going to crash and I was going to be fine. It was awesome! Anyway, So that night I went home and got to visit my darling friend Meghan who I havent seen in OVER A YEAR. . . She's been in Korea. Then the next day I headed to the big city to stay with Amara and see the Wind ensemble play their concert with DONALD HUNSBERGER!!! He's a god among men. They played fantastically! Anyway, it was then off for drinks with people at a nice pub and then back to Amaras house for the night. We also watched pulp fiction. Sarah MacDonald had never seen it. FOR SHAME. Anyway, we also went costume shopping.

I am aware that this entry is both a long time coming and very disjunct. Its late. And Amara is whizzing around me cleaning and fussing as she does. I've missed her. 

I'm in wolfville now and am very excited to spend my day tomorrow with my stephypoo who is coming in for the day. Awesome. 

Its weird being back here. I know everyone always says this, but its like I've never left. Wolfville hasnt changed, and the people I love are still here with open arms waiting to hang out. Its great. I've been having an amazing trip so far, and I know it will only get better. The view from the highway on my way into Grand pre is just as beautiful as it has ever been, and the lookoff was possibly the best its ever been. 

I'm going to stop writing now because I know how stupid and weird this is all getting. My sentence structure is poop. Oh well. 

Good night all, 

I love you all and I would say I miss you, but most of the people who read this, I'm seeing within the next few days!!! Good times. 

Jacob

Another week in Ottawa

Hello Campers,

Hope you are all well and good! This week was quite eventful and awesome! Thats a weird sentence, but you'll get over it! I also realize that every sentence so far has ended with an exclamation point....!

So to update from last time, I had an amazing trip out to my cousins for dinner on Sunday. So good to have a big homemade meal, and two in one weekend is just awesome. I also had a great lunch with Colin and Laura. They are truly the nicest people I have ever met. They are so so so wonderful and I'm so happy they were in town. They made an already great weekend perfect! BUT, it was soon back to reality! Classes, work, reading blah blah. The norm. I wont bore you with that.

However, wednesday was very exciting! Went to class, and was talking to megan and we decided we needed to do something fun. SO that night we had a little games night. Just a few people, a bottle of wine, some nice cheese and such. Good times. The interesting part was my way home from getting bread and cheese. Dear god. We as city people (I realize how funny that sounds) become used to the homeless quite quickly, and for the most part they are very much not a problem in the city. UNTIL WEDNESDAY. As I was standing on the street corner waiting to cross, a very drunk trio of two men and a woman were having what I can only describe as a brawl. One man who was supposed to be in a wheelchair had apparently fallen out. While the other two were helping him back into it, he was yelling and punching and getting very upset. So were the other two. The real shit went down when they got him in, and the woman tried to wheel him away. HE LOST HIS SHIT! He did NOT want to be wheeled anywhere, and while he was yelling the worst things ever at this woman, she was punching him in the back! If I wasnt so scared that they would involve me (because I was all of 2 feet away, at night, by myself, just waiting at the corner), I would have felt terrible and sorry for them, but I really just wanted to leave. So that was fun.

Last night we decided to have a grad students pumpkin carving night. Amazing. There were about 8-10 people at my place, and we carved pumpkins and drank and ate the most amazing cheese I've ever tasted. I'll come back to that in a minute haha. It was so much fun. We roasted seeds and just had a ball. Super fun night. OK. This cheese. Its made by GOD himself I swear. Its called Saint Andres and it is the best thing I've ever eaten. Its a triple cream soft cheese from quebec. Jonothan (who is from Montreal and grew up with it) brought it along with some amazing pate. It was so good I went this afternoon and bought some for myself. If you ever get a chance to try it, brace yourself. Amazing. Anyway. Cheese.

Tonight is the University orchestra concert. I'm very excited to go and hear them. This is their first gig of the year and I'm pumped. Theyre playing Tchaik 4 and a Wagner prelude. Good program! Its down in a neighborhood where my friend Erin said that her friend was punched by a hooker last year. So thats interesting. I'm gunning for zero hooker punches tonight, but I'll bring an umbrella just incase I need to defend myself!

As a side note, I'm heading home a week from today for about a week as we have it off here. I'm very very very excited to see people and hear the wind ensemble play with Dr. Hunsberger. Its going to be magical. I'm also excited to celebrate halloween in wolffy.

Have an amazing weekend everyone! Miss and love you all as always!

Jacob

A wonderful week in Ottawa

Hello everyone,

I hope the holiday weekend is finding you all well. Its been an eventful week here in good ol' Ottawa, and theres a day of excitement yet to come!

We had an amazing guest lecturer come to the school on Friday! His name is Jurgen Maedher, and he is the world expert on Puccini Opera. The man is AWESOME. A: he speaks 8 languages fluently (including chinese), B: he's like a little german santa talking about opera, C: He has an AWESOME accent, D: He is incredibly well read on Puccini and opera in general, he has AMAZING insights, E: he was incredibly nice. A few of us were talking to him between lectures, and he was just so happy to be at the school meeting young musicians. F: He splits his time between Berlin and Hawaii...How cool is THAT!

Then, friday night after a birthday dinner for Tinabeena, a few of us went to a concert of Oratorio selections that was pretty awesome. THEN on saturday I went down to EdRossJim's place for an amazing thanksgiving dinner. There was enough food to kill a sumo wrestler. There were only 8 of us, JimRossEd, Lucy Franey, Mark and John Franey, myself and a girl named Alex who was very nice. We ate, and drank, and played Balderdash. Perfect night.

Today, I ventured to the stationary store down past the market with my friend Claire. It was called Paper Papier. It was very Ottawa of them. Anyway, I was going because last night Ross showed me a fountain pen he bought there, and I NEEDED to get one too! SO I did. Awesome buy might I add. Then Claire and I walked around for about three hours! It was great. Went to the french baker and had a tea, and I got to meet her doggie! Adorable. About 30 minutes after I got home, I suited up again and went for a walk down to Strathcona park on the canal with Alyssa. I like Ottawa. I think it has its pretty parts and it is fairly green for being a city, but I am always aware that its a city. If I EVER feel like I need nature. I'm heading to Strathcona park. It was beautiful. Green grass, benches, the canal, ducks, playgrounds. It was great.

So now I'll tell you all about my day tomorrow! Its a busy one. I have a lesson in the morning with Shauna, who is great. Then, RIGHT after my lesson Colin Clarke and his amazing wife Laura are picking me up and we're going for lunch. Great! They are two of the most lovely people I've ever met, so I'm very excited. THEN if that werent a day and a half already I'm heading out to my cousins place on the base for a nice thanksgiving meal with family. FHEW! Busy day, but I'm excited. Then I suppose its back to the real world of readings and writing and library fun time!

Anyway, thats my life in a nutshell! I'm thankful for you all, and I hope you are all enjoying some much needed down time and reflection time.

Love you and miss you all as always,

Jacob

OSO, Christpher Moore and a wonderful sunday dinner!

Hey all, 

This weekend was great. Truly amazing. I have a TONNE of pictures to put up so I'll keep this text brief, but I hope you all enjoy the photos! On sunday I went to Upper Canada Village. I WILL Live there. Its a fact. For those of you who dont know it, its a 1860's period town set up about an hour outside the city. My cousin, her husband and I went up and by god, I WILL live there and LOVE it. I bought a ten pound bag of organic whole wheat flour, that I WATCHED A MAN GRIND between two VERY large stones. I bought cheese that I WATCHED A MAN MAKE, and a fife that they sold! It. Was. Amazing. It was my perfect world, of history, costumes, music and fall colours. It was a perfect day. However getting there was a large issue as I was supposed to meet my cousin out by her place, but I took the right bus, but going in the wrong direction....so I put us an hour off schedule, but c'est la vie!

That night, Derek my new piano playing friend, Alyssa, Megan and I went to this great basement pub called Manx pub on Elgin St. Holy good food! That was nice. We have made it a sunday night ritual to get a few grad students together and have dinner somewhere. Its like grad school therapy. Cathartic. 

Yesterday (monday) was also a great day. Read all day, passed in grant applications, and then went to the Ottawa symphony. Eds piano teacher David was playing Prokofiev 3 with the OSO, and then they played Shostakovitch 7 (Leningrad). Fan-freakin-tastic. Its so nice to have a 2 pro orchestra's constantly doing concerts that I get into for 12 bucks...Amazing. The weird thing was that we were running REALLY late, and we walked into the building like AS the concert was starting. Alyssa and I were literally the last two people into the NAC hall. Anyway, as Alyssa and I were walking across the foyer we turn our heads to see a massive poster of the face of our thesis advisor Chris Moore staring at us. He apparently was giving the pre concert talk. It was like a big brother moment. Advisor is always watching, advisor is always right, you love advisor. Then as we sat down (just as the tuning note ended :S) we open the programs and the very first page is a full page picture of Chris again!! HE"S ALWAYS WATCHING. 

Today is less eventful. I did laundry. And tonight I sit backstage to "TA"/ do my own work. Its a good week friends. Now here are about 5000 pictures to entertain you all. 

Love you all, miss you all, 

Jacob

Its not pretty, but it does the job well! 

My laundromat! 

On the way to see the OSO last night. Those are the Parliment buildings. I am so lucky to live here :)

I was confused by this church. It said "church of england" but the pastors house next door said "Lutheran Pastors Home" and the decor inside was Catholic....That was the only weird history slip....

Hand crafted chairs

Very cool cabinet

This was the school house. I would have taken a picture of the school marm, but she said she'd use the leather strap on me if I did....so here is a chalk board! 

This is where they made the cheese ! 

Piggies

Growing Veggies

Erika and I pet this cow for a solid ten minutes. It also ate a carrot. 

Duck!

River

Apothicary! 

This man wasnt in character...and he had prison tats....

10 minutes to cut through one log! 

beaut!

Where tha man made my flour!

This powers the upstairs weaving machine, all run by waterwheel! 

Dennis is on a Pennyfarthing, but you cant ride them....lawsuits....

Huge fish at UCV

I aparently have predictive thought, bucause I took a picture of the bus route numbers that were the ones I was NOT supposed to be on...

View from the bus stop on Laurier

Ed bowling with his eyes closed....

On my walk to school. 

Tabaret Hall- Our Equivelent to UHall  

Ian sitting in the cosmic fun...you cant see him