Happy Hallowe'en!

I've never actually lived in a house with a front door that kids would knock on at Hallowe'en - even in Canada. All the places in Kingston and Windsor were apartments - and Brits just don't celebrate Hallowe'en. Thankfully really. It's getting a bit carried away in the homeland as I recall. Anyway, there's likely some good scary movies on tonight...but I'm going to bed early and keeping the night-light on instead (see previous entry...).

This week has begun badly. Last night, already exhausted from the night of no-sleep on Sunday, I had an asthma attack. I should explain something: I have allergy-related asthma and fall is a bad time of year as I'm allergic to damp and mold. My asthma attacks aren't life-threatening, just very very frustrating as they tend to come on before bed and keep me up cause I can't lay down without coughing. Anyway, since my lovely GP at the student practice here figured out that it was asthma and gave me some handy inhalers (geek-chic! I'm in!), it's all been sorted. In fact, I haven't needed my trusty inhaler for over a month...

And because of that, I didn't realise that both inhalers were empty until the weekend. But the only appointment I could get at student practice was yesterday and it wasn't until after the chemists were closed...you see where this is going?

Asthma attack. No inhalers. Poetic justice of some kind.

And to top it all off, data somewhere has been filed incorrectly and Nasser didn't get paid this month. Oh yeah. November...bring it on.

But on the plus side, I did get paid. Which means we can afford rent and bills this month at least! And I finished annotating Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel for my Civil War and Resoration Literature class on Thursday. Now they have absolutely no excuse for not getting it. The hardest thing this year as been trying to teach 17th century literature to students who are without even a passing knowledge of the Bible. For them, an apple is always just an apple.

And the cats have been lovely and cosy today. And it is Hallowe'en. My favourite Hallowe'en was when I went as a pumpkin. My mom made the costume and it was amazing. Her pet name for us all is 'pun'kin' so maybe that's why it's my favourite (thankfully, that was long before digital cameras so I think I'm free from fear of mum ever posting those photos - I loved the costume but I'm pretty sure it wasn't flattering!).

Things that go bump in the night

I was pretty sure that at some point I'd stop being afraid of horror movies. I mean, I study horror-literature, I love monsters, zombies, vampires, the uncanny, the history of horror, the psychology of fear, and so on. But the tragedy of my life (okay, that was slightly hyperbolic) is - I can't watch horror films. I can read about them - oh yes, I have several important looking scholarly books on the subject; I can enthuse about them at length, analyze, dissect, discuss... but I simply cannot watch them.

By 'horror' movie I mean anything remotely visually frightening. That includes, for example, certain episodes of The X-Files and The Twilight Zone, and general mainstream horror movies. But in all honesty has also included Kill Bill (I&II), Sin City, Interview with a Vampire, and (many years ago - possibly the catalyst for all this) the Ewoks movie. The worst one was Seven; I was up nights for about two weeks and didn't like being alone in the house so spent a lot of time at my friend's bar in Kingston while Nas was at work at nights.

But there are exceptions that always tease me with the possibility that I might be getting over it. I've never had a problem with The Shining; I thought The Blair Witch Project was boring; I love Romero zombie flicks and Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead series (even the first one, which Nas assures me was actually meant to be scary). I'm generally better with psychological thrillers and I can usually sit through a Hitchcock film without any consequences. For some strange reason I can also manage OTT slasher flicks. But not Saw. So I just can't narrow down what exactly scares me.

I mention this because last night, before my new favourite Torchwood (a Doctor Who spinoff) came on, Channel Five had 'The Scariest Movies of All Time On'. And I watched it. And Nasser warned me that maybe I shouldn't. But I did. I don't know if it was The Fly or the meat-hook scene in (the original - of course! I'm still a snob about these things!) Texas Chainsaw Masacre that kept me up. Possibly the finale of Rosemary's Baby (tho the commentators they had for that clip completely missed the mark - even the guy from the Church of Satan) got to me at 2am or maybe, this time, I couldn't handle the pasty-faced Avon rejects that are Raimi's zombies.

Anyway, long story short, I couldn't sleep. And I kept Nasser up. And now I'm cranky even though it is a lovely day outside and I handed in a draft of a chapter last week and don't have to see my supervisor until Friday. And I get paid this week (finally!).

On a lighter note, yesterday we went on a marathon walk around Leeds. We left at 11am and didn't get home until 5.30. The clocks went back yesterday morning so it is definitely fall now and dark by 5pm, alas. But our house is cosy and warm and full of kittens.

...and thanks for waiting.

I absolutely hate dealing with our phone/telly/internet company. Our telly signal has been out for the last week. Last night, Nasser waited on the phone (which is of course, a 0845-number) for ages only to be told, in that horridly chipper automated voice that it would be another 15 minutes for an advisor. I am now on the phone to ask how my next bill will reflect the fact that I haven't had the service for a week. I'm not optimistic - I've dealt with British customer service before.

I don't know which is worse - the muszak or this inanely optimistic and happy automated voice that keeps interrupting with advice.

Well, have just gotten some advice. It should be back on in a couple hours. If not...call back...

Later that same day...

I've no clue whether or not my telly is back on. I kinda forgot about it and came to the library where I still am...

I am exhausted and hungry and fairly cranky as all I've had to eat since noon is a banana (it was a big banana - I just finished it), some chocolate, and some pumpkin seeds. I should've brought my oat cakes. They are my new favourite thing. Nas made much fun of me as I had to go to the fancy organic shop downtown for them (as that's where my friend G got the ones that I liked so much at a party) and then we found them for about half the price at our co-op... He's also been laughing at my insistence that I had to have puy lentils from above-mentioned shop. They ARE different from brown lentils, I swear. Anyway, I like them and they are hard to find.

Now I'm really hungry.

Nas is teaching tonight and picking me up from the library - that was supposed to make me stay and work until then. But I think I'm out of steam. Maybe I'll curl up on my window bench and read. I love my office.

Not a very interesting post unless you know us...and even then...

The days are just packed.

Monday was my sis and dad's birthdays - when I was a kid, I was always a little jealous that they shared a birthday.

Wednesday was Nasser's birthday. I hope he had a good time - I'm not very good at planning parties - particularly when I'm trying to finish a chapter at the same time. On my birthday last May, Nasser threw me the greatest party EVER. The problem is, I got so nervous worrying about matching or topping it that I couldn't think of anything. Come to think about it I'm a crap hostess cause I spend most of the time at my parties worrying about being a good hostess. I need to relax.

Thursday was my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. They were married 19 October 1946. Amazing: they have been married for twice as long as I've been alive. When I was really little I asked grandma if it was okay with her that I marry papa when I grew up. Obviously, even at the age of 4 (?) I had discerning taste.

And yesterday, we found out that my sister is now, in her words, the proud teacher of a grade four class! Mum and dad must be so relieved that one of us is finally employed...

my birthday

today i turn old.

i wear the bottoms of my

trousers rolled only because i am
short.

i won't tell more

you should be writing me poems,
today.

Grinsomnia (a poem for pedagogues)

gotta grit my teeth before words before
these shores of no speaka da eengleesh,
silences worthy of gangsters in movies,
you see you know like what i mean-
or so it seems from these
eighteen eighteenagers
and their masteries of love, god, the
intricacies of euthanasia and sledgehammer suicides
in outlandish clothes and an utter lack of
past the ends of their noses,

all the while slipping in

tongues.

Friday the 13th

It's Friday the 13th. If it was summer and I were back at home, I might be in Port Dover at one of the biggest motorcycle rallies in North America. I wonder if there were some hardy cyclists out in Dover for this one?

I forgot to report back on The History Boys (which I think is now in theatres) last weekend - and I forgot that it was Thanksgiving at home. On the play first: I really enjoyed it. It is very British and I'm not sure how well it would translate across the pond to be honest. The ending is highly problematic, in many ways, as is Bennett's treatment of women throughout. It feels very rushed and slightly tacked-on. There are I suppose, two endings really: one for the main plot and one that ties up the several sub-plots at once. Neither are particularly good and both feel like cop-outs on Bennett's part. I'll leave it there in case anyone wants to see it - or read the script.

Thanksgiving dinner ex-pat-styles was delicious. And entirely vegetarian. And there was pie left over when I got there. By his own admission, Nasser did not win the pie-off...his pastry was a bit rushed and not quite done on the bottom. I liked his best though cause the pumpkin bit was perfect. And I am thankful for too many things to list but mostly friends and family, near and far (mostly far right now but Christmas is coming!).

Laila is doing really very well - she's up and playing with a ball of wool now and loves being cuddled. Her eyes have cleared up but the spot on her right eye hasn't faded. She might have lost some vision there but it doesn't seem to bother her. Logan is showing off whenever he sees her, generally affecting to take no notice but watching her intently when he thinks no one is looking. Laila is still Queen of the Loo though and very shy about coming out into the hallway. I guess she's only been here for a week - the better part of which was spent recovering from her ordeal on the streets.

And we've booked our tickets home for Christmas! I can't believe how expensive flights are this year. But I suppose they've got us over a barrel - it's not like we've got alternative transportation available. Though we're both keen to take the boat once, just for the experience. I don't think Logan and Laila would enjoy it particularly though! And I suppose aeroplanes are massive polluters and a luxury that we shouldn't take too much for granted...(and we didn't pay for the tickets anyway...thanks grandma, papa, mum, and dad! Someday we will have real jobs and be millionaires and shower you with expensive but tasteful and environmentally sound gifts).

Shameless cute pics...

Presenting Laila Rae Monkeybutt!

She cleaned up pretty well. Logan's been really quite good about her occupying the bathroom as well. Hopefully they will get along when she's bigger and can come out and play.

Note: the toothbrush is for purposes of scale. She's that small.

Round one to Laila!

After peeing all over her bedding the last two nights, Laila has decided that the litter tray is more lady-like. She did poop behind the loo - but she pooped, twice! Getting all those worms out at least. She's purring when Nas skritches under her chin too. And she's eating like a champ. She's not out of it yet but it's looking good right now!

Library was dull but now I'm off to Bradford to see The History Boys by Alan Bennett. Hopefully there will be pie left at the Thanksgiving dinner when I arrive...

And yes, she is named after Laila Ali.

Whiskers on kittens

are normally one of my favourite things.

Which is why when Nas called me yesterday while I was in my office to say that a kitten had washed up with the rain outside our door, I rushed home.

This Kitten, however, was not a happy one. As soon as Nas put her down in the house (after rescuing her from the wheel-well of our neighbour's car - and being bitten for his efforts), she bolted behind the stove, under the cupboards, and crawled around our L-shaped cupboards to the furthest corner she could reach. The one that we couldn't get to or see no way no how. We pulled out the stove, the washing machine...thought about pulling apart the cupboard until we realised it was likely structural. Or at least built so badly that there was no way of telling which board would pull the whole thing down. So after much anxious fretting on my part and calmness on Nasser's, we put some food and water in the cupboard, shut the door cause Logan was very curious and left the kitten to find her own way out. I went swimming cause I couldn't take the waiting.

This morning, she was behind the fridge. Now she's in Logan's cat-box (permission obtained). She's a sorry little thing. We thought at first that she must be lost but now we think she's likely been left. She's calico with white feet and a white nose but dirty and a little smelly. And she has a weepy eye and a cough. But she's eating and drinking and has used Logan's litter box (no permission sought!).

Nasser has forbidden me to name her.

This afternoon she is going to the veterinarian and we are going to try and find her a home. Preferably not this home - but who can tell. Perhaps we can hold an online poll for names. In the meantime, to warm your September-chilled hearts, check out the much loved and linked-to Kittenwar.

UPDATE: Her name is Laila and she has taken over our bathroom for the right now...she's definitely a stray (I officially hate all people who don't spay or neuter their pets - may dreams filled with a scantilly clad Bob Barker haunt you eternally) and she has Feline Herpes, Cat Flu, fleas like you've never seen, and worms. She's also anemic... So £45 later, she's flea-free, on her way to being worm free, and on penicillin. She also smells much better - in panic, she pooped and peed all over the carrier on the way to the vet. Logan's been vaccinated against cat flu but she's still in quarantine.

Just like all those birds I brought home, mum! By the time I'm 60 I'll be finding stray horses on my door or something...

One of those days

Yesterday was one of those days...specifically, one of those days when I wished with almost all of my heart that I had just gone to law school after Queen's. And y'know, I wasn't thinking that if I'd done that right now I'd be wildly successful, internationally profiled, and fabulously wealthy. I was, quite honestly, daydreaming about how, if I'd gone to law school right out of Queen's, I'd be breaking even. Sadly, at the tender age of 29, my dreams have diminished from private jets, designer clothing, and a hand-bag for every day of the year to just not having to worry about buying a pair of new jeans when my old ones have fallen apart, and I'm still wearing them cause they're the only casual trousers I have, even though people start asking me if I want to sell The Big Issue rather than buy it.

How is it possible that I work three part time jobs and Nasser works two and we're broke?

And then, of course, I realise that we're not broke - don't worry mum! - and that I am living my dream anyway. I just didn't, when I dreamt it, remember to dream about the financial end... So we can't afford gym memberships at Virgin Fitness and the Gap is about as high as our street goes. We've got a full larder and fridge, enough books to keep us almost entirely happy, and digital TV.

In one of those bizarre packages that can only make sense in the coporate world it is cheaper for us to have digital telly, phone, and 2Mb broadband than just to have 1Mb broadband and phone. Hey Frasier is on, I'm not complaining.

Autumn not fall

September was, officially, the craziest month of the past few years. Glad it's over but a little concerned to find that it is October already. Which leaves only two very short months and a couple even-shorter weeks until Christmas...aiyee!! Sorry, that's still the C-word until at least after American Thanksgiving.

Our road trip was fantastic - our fabulous driver made it the whole way there and back in wonderful humour. The way there was lovely - Wiltshire is really beautiful countryside. And Longleat is stunning. I don't think I would ever get over looking out of my front windows at the beautiful, perfectly Platonically English landscape and seeing a rhinocerus contentedly munching the lawn. In the hunting gallery we also saw the doublet Charles I wore at his execution - complete with bloodstains around the neck...macabre, yes. But as I'm teaching Civil War and Restoration Literature this term, I thought it a good omen! The same room, the 'hunting gallery', also housed two prehistoric Irish Elk skulls with horns. Another example of Nature's twisted sense of humour.

We saw Stonehenge (from the road - £5 to get 10 feet closer?!):


And then went to Old Sarum and had delicious pub grub in Salisbury. We did miss the cathedral as it was nearly dark - very impressive spire though. As everyone who knows me understands, I am food-centred: I remember things by associating them with tastes. Now, Salisbury will always be evoked by a really nice venison steak. And mushrooms. Really good mushrooms.

And now, here we are, back in Leeds. Thanksgiving is coming up - another ex-pat dinner to look forward to. Nasser is making the pumpkin pie; in Canada, this is a fairly simple procedure thanks to the invention of canned pumpkin. Last year, when we hosted the ex-pats, we looked high and low at every grocery store within walking distance for such a thing. None to be found. So Nas, brilliant cook that he is, found a recipe and made it from scratch with fresh pumpkin. It was the best pumpkin pie we had ever tasted. Well, Jeff and I, the two other Canadians, thought so. And we are experts. My humble offering was maple whipping cream to top the pies.

My two classes really impressed me in our first seminar gathering - very talkative and enthusiastic. I'm really quite looking forward to the classes. Research and writing are also going well - must be the weather! I'd hate to think I was actually beginning to get the hang of this...