Be vewy, vewy quiet, it's a library...

This week is finals week at my workplace, with all the chaos, wailing, and gnashing of teeth that implies. Here's a news flash, kiddo: unless you have the power to dilate time, you ain't squeezing everything you should know by now into eight hours at the library. It just ain't happening, son, I'm sorry. I've seen people trying to squeeze a whole semester's worth of videos into two class periods, and I can do little else but laugh. Openly. I've seen the exact moment of realization dawn on some poor fool's face when it finally clicks: "Hmm...maybe I'm not cut out to be a nurse/social worker/commercial landscaper/fill in your choice of vocation here." You can actually see their soul shrivel up and die as they next realize how much time and money they've been wasting. Then they get all contemplative, and you just know it would only take a little nudge to push them over the edge. My oh my, kids these days. The tutoring service is jumping like it never has all year, and while they are very good at what they do, sadly they're not miracle workers. They can only work with what they have, and sometimes it isn't that much, you know? How about we work on basic grammar or cutting and pasting documents, and leave surgical nursing for another day, whaddya say? But I suppose it's like a child's fingerpaintings in that it's rude to openly point out the deficiencies in public. The really amusing part is that all of a sudden we're trying to maintain a quiet study environment. All throughout the year so far: food and drink, cellphones, interpretative poetry jam sessions, orgies of destruction, anything goes. Now? Shh, not a sound. It must be really jarring for them, I think. What really gets me is that we ourselves are responsible for the loose tolerances. We can't very well tell someone not to eat in the library when we ourselves are chugging back the Tim Horton's and what have you in their faces. So, for the sake of some people's caffeine slavery, we have to be fair and consistent in our application of policy, only it's in the other direction of the lowest common denominator. This is why I have to straighten up at the end of every day like it's grade two, lack of boundaries. Some people just can't seem to afford public space the same respect they would their homes. Or if they do, then I shudder to think of their homes. Oh well, that's okay, I get to watch your souls shrivel up and die. Rethink that law career, genius, I think they still have some openings for pack mules and stevedores if you hurry.

Je suis là, le flâneur dans la rue...

One more cheesy photo for today and we're done for the time being. Why, who is that darkly handsome flâneur on the corner? How continental he is, that winsome devil with his jacket tied so jauntily about his neck. Feel that joie de vivre, that certain je ne sais quoi...oh brother.

Happier times of days long past

You know, I can't believe what a goof I was. The CD-ROM with that Vimy photo on it has a whole bunch of these also; cheesy photos of me thinking "...well...when am I going to be here again?" and hamming it up for the camera. Oh, what a silly, silly boy I was. I have less hair now, my vision is steadily going by the day, and I have known both the touch and the betrayal of a woman, so this goof here almost seems like a complete stranger. Apart from the jacket, I can't even think of where these clothes are now...ah, good times.

The 90th anniversary of Vimy Ridge

Today, April 9 is the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, a defining moment in Canada's history and national identity. I have been to Vimy Ridge twice, in 2001 and 2002 so I thought I'd post this up here. This is my brother and I in front of the memorial at Vimy designed by Walter Allward. This is actually one of the nicer photos as the memorial had been cleaned since the first time I went. It's actually been under renovations recently, set to reopen today for the anniversary, so I'm actually a little curious as to any changes. Vimy was the first time all four divisions of the Canadian Corps fought together, and it was a resounding success as the Canadians achieved most of their objectives in hours; objectives that had stymied many others for years prior. However, thanks to some very innovative tactics and a good dose of Canadian ingenuity, we carried the day. This area is, in fact, part of Canada, donated in perpetuity by the grateful French people. It's really a very solemn place; I may be biased being Canadian and a lover of history, but I think you can really feel the weight of memory in places like this. To this day, just behind us around the memorial here large areas of the surrounding countryside are not open to the public due to unexploded munitions, a grim testament to the sheer scale of carnage and destruction nearly a century past now.

The following takes place between 2 and 3 pm...

Well, this has been a quiet long weekend so far, but I'm not complaining as it's certainly relaxing if nothing else. It's nice to mix it up some, break the comfortable rut of my job up a bit. I was actually the only one around last Thursday, as everyone else either took off early or came down with convenient illnesses like longweekenditis, I suppose. I just realized that I cut it pretty close on the drive in every day. It's an awesome feat of precision timing when you stop and think about it. If someone were to trip me, for example, that would just throw the whole day off and poof! I'd be late. It's like on 24, if Jack Bauer stops to use the bathroom or tie his shoe, oh snap! there goes Los Angeles.

A trip, a trip...but to where...?

Wow, it's been almost a month since I posted anything new...not that it really matters since it's not as if I have throngs of adoring readers waiting with baited breath in eager anticipation of the latest pearls of wisdom to drip from my lips...but as to the why of it, I guess you could chalk it up to me being busy with various things, mostly insignificant but necessary busywork. The day-to-day minutiae of what I do adds up, and it's not difficult per se, but it's certainly not the most mentally stimulating stuff. I see the best and the worst of human nature in a never-ending cavalcade of absurdity. I guess it all depends upon your perspective, but the pessimist in me sees far more of the latter than the former. There is very little that this exalted student body could do to surprise me these days. It definitely confirms my decision to not become a teacher. If this is the calibre of collegiate people these days, I shudder to think of their secondary age contemporaries...sorry, it's getting a bit old being cooped up indoors. I'm getting as jaded and cynical as some of the older people I work with, although that was never too much of a stretch by any means. Spring fever has bitten me, methinks, and this nicer weather makes me want to take a trip. I'm really not sure where I'd go, but I know what I'd do: wander the earth like Kwai Chang Caine or the Littlest Hobo, righting wrongs and dispensing justice. It doesn't help that the travel commercials are starting to gear up for summer asking you to "experience this" or "discover that". I've been something of a homebody for a few years now, and I feel that old wanderlust stirring. Alas, I'm a bit tied down to my job at the moment, at least for the foreseeable future. But I will make it a point to get out somewhere just as soon as I possibly can.