Trimming The Rainforest

My rubber tree, although lush and green and gorgeous, was threatening to evict me from my living room.

It's growth is uneven too (not enough turning over the years), giving it a lean I am unhappy with.

My scissors are rather woefully inadequate when it comes to trimming the thick branches, so, rather than mangling all the cuts, I borrowed the pruning shears from my parents' garage. I cleaned them up first, since they were kind of grungy, and I didn't want to transfer any outside diseases to inside. (Wow... I didn't know they were spring-loaded! I really should take better care of these more regularly. And the other tools too, I suppose.)

I readied my other supplies: a large garbage bag for the trimmings, and a box of kleenex for blotting the cuts. Then I started pruning.

It's a little, um, homely? But it will come back to its former glory. Hopefully better balanced. And, at least for now, my living room feels much bigger. I can once again get back into that corner to swiffer too... should I ever have time for swiffering.

I'm guessing that's about two years worth of growth I took off... I think the rubber tree was this size when I first moved into my apartment.

Once again, here's "before" and "after", side by side:

*grump*

I have new neighbours across the hall. (Replacing two female roommates that I never really got to know.) It's a young couple. I briefly met the husband as he and some friends were carrying in stuff. Seems nice enough... but so *young*! I'd estimate about the same age as my freshmen students. Given what was being carried in, I think they have a baby and a cat. First impressions were good... but then, as I was coming home tonight, I saw a woman smoking by the open kitchen window. *sigh* No progress on making this a smoke-free building. *grump*

Drawing Parallels

My father's parents were born in Austria, and moved to Canada. During the second world war, they were classified as "enemy aliens" due to where they had been born (a country that was unfortunate enough to be occupied by the Nazis), and they had to report weekly to the RCMP. Also during the second world war, ethnic Japanese in Canada were rounded up and put in internment camps. All for no more reason than where they, their parents, or some ancestor was born. The Canadian government eventually apologized.

I was studying in the US when 9/11 happened. Afterwards, students of certain nationalities had to report to Homeland Security. Some of these students were imprisoned. Some students who went home for Christmas break weren't able to return to their studies for months. There was "racial profiling" at the airports and borders, and I suspect there still is. At any rate, people are still being held at Guantanamo, *including* a Canadian, without being convicted of anything at a proper trial. How is this any different, and when will we learn?

Ugh

Marking is depressing. Luckily I have a backlog of Cake Wrecks posts to catch up on for a quick pick-me-up.

I could use some sleep, too...

Miscellany

Where did my "Reading Week" go? I want it back! To whoever has it: return it by tomorrow morning, and no one has to get hurt.

Ever been dumped? I recommend the watching "Sita Sings the Blues". Heck, watch it even if you haven't been dumped. (Bonus: It's free.)

On the list of accomplishments for this past week, I forgot:

• cleaned the toilet
• had dinner with dad (twice)
• watched step-nephew's hockey game

Now I can add:

• washed dishes (again)
• bought groceries

By the end of the night, I'll be able to add "tackled marking"... even if it kills me. *sigh*

Things from this past week I forgot to blog:

Wednesday someone was pounding on the outer door. I glanced outside, and saw a cop car. I went down and let them in. (They visited the lady across the hall. I didn't ask.)

Tuesday night I was coming back from knitting fairly late (I stopped in at Safeway to pick up a few things before coming home). On one bus, there was an "incident". The guy was standing at the back door, and was having trouble getting it to open for him. I'm not sure how hard he was trying, because it magically worked the instant the bus drive got up to show him how. As the bus was pulling away, there was a commotion. People jumped to the window, the bus driver rushed outside. The guy claimed the bus ran over him. Whenever the bus driver tried calling the cops, the guy said he didn't want to cause any trouble, but whenever the bus driver stopped calling, the guy started complaining again. Finally the driver just decided to call it in anyway, and asked the guy to leave the bus. (He didn't appear hurt. He appeared drunk.) Finally the guy left the bus, but started yelling at the driver. As the bus pulled away, the guy punched the window hard enough to leave a fist-sized dent in the shatter-proof glass. The driver kept driving.

Backstory: In the news a week or so ago, a mentally disabled woman had a bus driver shut the front doors on her before she could get on, and drove over her foot. The driver stopped, and offered to take her to her stop, but didn't call for an ambulance. I heard the story while I was starting to nap on the couch, and one of my first thoughts (before I saw the woman, or heard that she was disabled) was that she sounded like a drunk person. The woman is native, and, sadly, a lot of native people in that area of town are roaming around drunk. I suspect the bus driver didn't realize she was actually hurt, and thought she was drunk and ranting, instead of actually hurt. The reason I'm calling this a backstory is that I suspect the guy on my bus actually *was* drunk, and just wanted to get the bus driver in trouble, after hearing the other story on the news.

Sad. All of it.

Well, time for marking. :P

Microwave Hot Pads

Microwave Hot Pads

One for me, one for grandma, and one for H (already gave H hers).

Pretty Frost

There was gorgeous hoar frost on Thursday:

Saga of the Drawer Handle

Before:


Screws too short:


Screws still too short:

(I can't counter-sink the screws because my drill is too fat to come in square.)

Random Stuff

• The up-side of small part-of-fridge freezers is that they only take about five minutes to clean.
• I need to eat more perogies.
• I suffer from "out of sight, out of mind". (Hence all the perogies.)
• Unlike freezer-burnt peas, freezer-burnt perogies are still quite edible. (Perogies stayed, peas left. Perogies were made by grandma, and thus get special treatment.)
• Dead bananas tossed in the freezer with only their skin for protection still deteriorate. (Dead bananas gone now too. Desire to bake banana muffins will require fresh dead bananas.)
• After tossing the old and decrepit stuff, I now have much more room in my tiny freezer.
• I believe my habit of cluttering all flat surfaces has to do with my "out of sight, out of mind" problem... I know that if I put something "away", I'll forget about it. Thus everything needs to be "dealt with" before it can be put away. Problem is, once something else gets piled on top, it's once again "out of sight."
• I need to come up with a new way of compensating for my "out of sight, out of mind" problem.
• I also need to deal with my amazing powers of procrastination... preferably using a method that doesn't involve lack of sleep... which is what my present method results in. (I can't go to bed until I've done X, but I keep procrastinating X, and thus, not only haven't I done X, but I'm also sleep deprived.) And, um, yes... that's why I'm currently still awake. *sigh* Problem is, I know I don't have enough time tomorrow to finish everything I need to get done.

Things I *have* accomplished over reading week:

• swept & mopped bedroom floor
• washed dishes (although they've accumulated again...)
• visited the antique store to spend my gift certificate
• drilled holes to attach new old handle to easel drawer, only to discover that screws were way too short
• visited the antique store to swap the shorter screws for longer ones (still too short), plus spend birthday/fun money
• finished Christmas present for H
• help H move her dad
• visited with neighbour-friend lady
• caught up on sleep (negating that tonight)
• went to art club
• went to knitting
• made microwave hot pads
• did laundry (twice)
• washed throw pillow covers and put throw pillows in closet
• cleaned freezer
• dusted china cabinet
• watered plants (need watering again)
• showered mermaid vine
• finished and posted assignment #1 sample solutions
• finished assignment #2 sample solutions (need to add formal block commenting)
• answered e-mail and forum questions
• answered phone questions

Still to do:

• big pile o' marking
• so many things around the apartment it would be depressing to list them all

Found on Flickr

Meet Aberly Suffolk!

Awwww!