Laughter: An Unconventional Puppet Show

   Hello dearest readers and happy Sunday! As the dreaded Monday rears its tragic head around the weekend's corner, today's entry will hopefully put a smile on your face and an idea in your head. Today's entry could really be a literature post or (as currently selected) a laughter post because it is about a Shakespearian play. 

   This past Tuesday, I went to see a version of Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night" at the National Arts Center for my Canadian Shakespeare seminar. Not necessarily being impressed with the fact that I had to exit the apartment on my day off, I decided to keep an open mind. My professor had warned us previous to the play that it was supposed to have a puppet element to the play since the theatre company that was putting up the show with the director from the Arts Centre specialized in puppet shows. I'll admit that I was skeptical (because Shakespeare is one of the greats that is reknown worldwide) and I may have been a little snobby with my own ideas about how Shakespear should be performed but for this occasion, I was proud to have been proved wrong!

   The show was FUNNY! I've seen my fair shares of "Twelfth Night" but I have not been more delighted, impressed and in pain from laughing so much than at this very performance. I feel that you appreciate things more when you laugh a lot, or when you see a completely original interpretation of something that has been done thousands of times. The 'puppet' aspect of a show was less like a stand up comic with dummies, but like an enormous old french marionette backdrop. The transition scenes were like back drops and the character took life either embodying or representing puppet versions of themselves. It was said to be that theatre company's first attempt with live actors and I will be the first to say that they did an incredible job.

   I'm happy to report that I may have a new Shakespearian favourite play, and that I will not be so skeptical when people mention the use of puppets (well at least in theatre). So if you are in the area, get your tickets dearest readers but if you're not, keep an eye out for a theatre near you!

K.P.H. 

Laughter: Adventures with Michaels

   Happy Sunday dearest readers and I hope you have nothing serious planned for today because it is a beautiful day! I've kept my word as to write one entry a week either on the Monday and Sunday, so here it goes. Today's entry is related to an adventure I had this past Wednesday with Katie. I've come to realize that every time we go out, whether all three of us are together, or only two of us go out on the town, what we plan on doing happens, but it always comes with strings attached.
   Katie has taken up knitting recently and she has the goal to knit a number of scarves for her friends (myself included), but she needed more yarn to do so. Lo and behold, the craft store Michaels was having a sale on yarn. Little did I know that Katie had never been to a Michaels (and since I have way too many hobbies for the amount of free time I actually have) I thought it was incredible that she had never been. So we decided to go together so I can show her the ropes, and so that we could hang out a little together since this semester, I am the one who seems a little more ridiculously busy.
   We finally got to the shopping outlets and walked the rest of the way to the store. As the doors slid open, Katie looked as though the heavens had just been revealed to her. We weaved through all of the aisles looking at all of the fun things available to us until we reached the back of the store where rows stacked up to the ceiling were layered with bundles of yarn. We looked at all of the different colours and after an hour of searching, Katie finally settled on 7 different bundles and a new set of knitting needles. I wheeled our kart around and when we checked out, we realized how hungry we were at this point so we went to dinner at one of the local restaurants and loved our lives. As we were ready to head back to the bus stop, Katie reminded me that she needed cereal for the next day (since she eats it every morning) but instead of walking to the Walmart down the street, we went to the Dollarama since it was slightly closer. There wasn't much selection (and one of the options was called Choco Pillows) so once Katie decided not to go with those, she picked up two boxes and we were ready to go the bus stop once more only to realize that the next one wouldn't be there for another half an hour. It was dark and cold at this point, so we went to a shoe store to look around to kill some time. Katie felt bad that we weren't buying anything that she was considering buying a random pair of socks until I dragged her away just in time to catch the bus. We finally got home and finished our homework knowing that our next adventure might be just as unexpected, and just as memorable.
   Now you know (or I hope you already knew) that adventures can start out pretty routine, but spontaneity is something that makes anything ordinary errand a possible Indianna Jones rival. So take life with a grain of salt and a light heart, and don't go for the Choco Pillows.

K.P.H.

Love: The Need for Nap time

   Good morning my dear readers! In order to keep up with the blog while still staying on top of my last (and ever so busy) semester, I've decided to write one entry a week, on Monday mornings (or Sunday nights). This will be a nice way to start off my week, and I hope it will do the same for you. The title of the entry today refers to people's ever changing opinion of naptime.
   Like so many things in this world, people want what they can't have and reject what they need. As children, it isn't often that we see kids lining up to take their afternoon nap, and if they do fall asleep, it's more out of exhaustion than out of actual desire. However as adults (or whatever we are called when we are technically no longer classified as kids anymore), we are expected to function on little sleep, lots of work and social outings. Napping isn't as highly regarded as it used to be because it seems wasteful of the amount of time that is ever so precious. As an adult, I've noticed that I have a hard time napping in the afternoon except when I go camping. I'd rather go to bed early and sleep in a little longer.
   However, this weekend I felt that I was much more tired than usual. It felt as though I had been back in Ottawa for a month when in reality is was only coming close to a week. I have a lot more reading to do every week, and I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to get what I needed done finished in time. On Saturday, I could barely keep my eyes awake for more than two hours at a time, and when all of your homework consists of reading pages and screens, it doesn't help if you can't focus. So more than once (a total of three times actually), I decided to go upstairs to my room and take a nap. The first couple of times, it was a short half an hour or so nap, while the last one around 4:00pm was roughly two hours. I woke up to an empty apartment since Katie and Riley went to the movies (after trying to wake up me for a good 15 minutes before giving up), and I even managed to go to bed early after all that, and even fall asleep.
   I figured that I must have been exhausted, but I still managed to have quite the productive weekend since I finished all of the reading I needed done for this week. So in the grand scheme of things, taking a nap was probably the smartest thing I did all weekend.
   So keep that in mind next time you're pushing yourself for one more hour of studying, or for you to complete one more project before you take a break. Sometimes (and most of the time), your body really does know what it needs so it's best to listen to it. Therefore work hard dearest readers, but take a nap every once in a while; the benefits are incredible!

 

K.P.H.

Literature: Reading Crunch Time

   Good evening my dear readers! I hope you are all doing well as I am slowly but surely keeping up my resolution to write a little everyday, and lo and behold, today is a blog day. Since I haven't posted anything literary in a while, I thought it was due time to make a few suggestions.
   In the past 20 days of my Christmas break (which will be complete this Sunday), I have managed to read and complete 4 books. Though not all of them were large, they were all quite different and allowed me to indulge in the hobby I had so long left aside because of my work (both for school and my job). I've gotten to a point in my life where I do not hold prejudices over certain genre of books. I've started to read more non-fiction and I have to admit that not all of it is as horrible as I thought. Some of them are quite insightful and others are just funny (whether its so bad its funny, or just plain old funny). I've been able to read a number of stories last semester for my classes since I had quite the variety of English classes, and with my final semester coming up, I am not going to run out of things to read any time soon. The struggle with that is figuring out what books I ship back home up north and which to keep since I will have no time to read for fun, and only four more months to go before all of this is finished. That is also the reason why I took advantage of some time off to knock off a few titles from my "to read" list.
   The four books I read are as follow: "Letters to Father Christmas" by J.R.R. Tolkien, "If This Isn't Nice, What Is?" by Kurt Vonnegut, "You Get So Alone" by Charles Bukowski and finally "Just Say It!" by Dr. Cheryl Bauman. This has to be the most diverse selection of books I've ever read in a short amount of time. I have started a fifth book, "The Wolf Wilder" by Katherine Rundell, but I doubt that I will have the time to finish it since almost every free moment of my time has been set aside for some purpose until 10:00pm on Sunday night. I'll be looking forward to April 28th, since that will be the official first day of my summer and therefore, the open realm of possibilities for reading material.
   It may seem like I'm overcompensating for a lack of choice literature throughout the year, and you are absolutely right. Despite everything else, I love my program, but I also love that I'll be done shortly. The things that I learned not only helped me grow as a person, but it lead me to the opportunities I needed to get where I wanted to be. So feel free to binge read a number of books during your free time my dearest readers because you honestly don't know when you'll have the chance to sit and read next!

K.P.H.

Laughter: Inevitable Fall

   Good afternoon dear readers! I'm still under the impression that it is morning since I feel like I've already accomplished so much today! It is a beautiful (yet cold) winter day, perfect for outdoor activities. I don't always take advantage of a beautiful day, but when I do, I have a funny story to tell after.
   I woke up around 8:00am this morning since my mother, father and myself had planned to leave at 9:00am to go cross country skiing before most of the city would wake up. I was super excited since I hadn't been cross country skiing in a while, since we usually go downhill because there's usually enough snow and time to go. However, we've only had a good amount of snow in the past week really, so we decided to go cross country skiing instead. I put on all of my clothes, got in the car, and we went on a drive to the nearest trails. As my mother got our passes, I started to finish suiting up and snap my boots into their bindings. I am lucky enough to get my mom's old skis, my dad's old boots, and my brother's old pants and jacket since as a student, any bargain (especially when you manage to save all of your money) is a great bargain.
   So with everyone ready and a piercing cold wind whipping against our faces, we decided to head into the trails before we changed our minds. Since there wasn't a lot of snow, we had to be careful on what side of the trail we stayed on so that the tracks were still formed and visible. We did the 5km run, climbing up small and medium hills, gently gliding through the trees and squinting when the sun came out through the clouds and hit the bright white snow. I was finally getting into the groove of things when a couple of regulars were catching up with us. We let the first pass us while the other was hanging back a little. One of the women at the lodge has warned us about one specific hill, (and I managed to go down that one without a problem) but it was a smaller hill with a curve in it that I (and only I) took my inevitable fall. Have you ever started something and realized that mid-way through that it wasn't so much of a good idea anymore? Well, that was me. I didn't have a choice as to which trail to take since the right side had just been levelled by the groomer, so I had to stick to the right as I came down the hill. I tried bracing myself, but I also had my mom's old poles which were just a little too short, and unfortunately a little too late as my right ski drifted out of the flattened out track and started to split. Instead of ripping my pants, I took settled on the tumble and fall approach. Little did I know that at the very moment, the person who was hanging back this whole time was conveniently right next to my mom at the top of the hill to witness what not to do.
   I guess you do live and learn, and despite everything, I never quit, I didn't really get hurt, and now I'll just be praying for more snow so that the tracks are deeper and the trails a little fluffier to cushion my fall. So I guess there's a silver lining in all. Sometimes dear readers, you keep going because you have to, and other times you keep going because you want to, but it is always important that in every situation, you keep moving because everything else around won't wait for you.

K.P.H.

Love: Happy New Year!!!

   Good evening my dearest readers and happy new year!!! The new year brings with it new resolutions and many bets as to see how long they will last. A new year brings people together and helps others decide who can be left alone. It's a time to make decisions and a time to get a new outlook on life. I, my dear readers, am no exception to this.
   I woke up early this morning, after going to bed late (or quite earlier this morning), to then drive home and start off the day with my family. We've got a day of relaxation planned but, also a day of chores and work. My family has a tradition where we believe that whatever you do on the first day of the year will set the tone for the rest of the year. We make sure to wear one new piece of clothing so that we are financially in the Black, we put on clean sheets on the beds and vacuum the house so that we are not messy throughout the year, and we decide what kind of past times we will dedicate our time to. I've chosen to write (not only on the blog but one of my own stories as well), to play guitar, to read and to colour. As a family, we are having dinner together and we've selected a board game to play afterwards. I've talked to the rest of my family, and certain of my friends as well, and wished them well. It may seem like a strange tradition, but it is one that motivates us throughout the year.
   The new year is also a time to get motivated to get more out of life; new year equals new possibilities. For roughly three years, my mother has started up a habit where she must do something she has never done every single day. Whether this means going to one of her favourite restaurants at a different time of day with someone new, or to go on a different trip, or read a book she has yet picked up, this allows her to take full advantage of her life. She also keeps track of the new things she's done and writes it down in a journal. Every once in a while, she'll let us know what we were doing one, two, or three years ago on that very same day. The way I remind myself that I've got a great life and encourage myself to do something different and to try new things is by listing off every night before I go to bed what I am grateful for in my life. Because it is my mother who told me that she heard this statement once: "What if you woke up this morning with only the things you were grateful for?" and from that moment I've been keeping track as well. It made me sad to think that many people would wake up with nothing, and I promised myself that I would never be one of those people. That is one resolution that I make every year and that I've been able to keep.
   So I challenge you my dearest readers, just as I am challenging myself, to make this year as memorable as you can, to live it as if it is your last because you never know when that will turn out to be true. Time may seem to blur together, and life may fall short of a dull routine but you'd be surprised to feel like "nothing has changed, yet everything is different." -Jean-Paul Sartre

K.P.H.