finally
1. after your marriage, do you see children in your future?
Yes and no. I ain’t no baby machine. I know Warren’s sister will have children in two years time but it’ll be many years before any bun is going to be popping out of my oven (I say 8 years). I know I’ll be a good mother and Warren will make a great father but I feel I have a lot of things to do for myself before I’m ready to commit to children. I have a degree to complete and some places to visit and maybe a job to have before I’m ready to teach them how to stir shit up amongst their peer group.
Shiu used to take the piss out me by saying I would be so hard on my kids if they weren’t cool but I know that’s not true. Admittedly, I would be hard on them if they were pretentious, inconsiderate and cold. I don’t like being around people that lack empathy.
2. what's the difference between london back when i was there and nowadays?
I think London now is way lamer than London of the past. I think you lived in London at its prime (the “Golden Era”) and I caught the tail-end of that but now, the vibrancy of the music scene has past. I’ve been told it used to be really fun to go to Mo’ Gravy to dance on a Wednesday night. Now, it’s just another meat-market with W-girls/boys and the music isn’t nearly as adventurous. There aren’t any shows. I used to be able to say there aren’t any good shows coming up this week but there are no shows at all and particularly, no shows like Girls Against Boys and Blonde Redhead with Les Savy Fav opening up. The city’s downtown core is probably a lot cleaner and busier than when you lived here. They built an arena (people adore the John Labatt Centre, otherwise known as Dead Baby Arena) and renovated the Covent Market. I imagine with any city, there are good and bad things about it. It’s hard for me to say because a lot of my feelings about London are tied up with the people that live here.
3. when did your love affair with music first begin?
Growing up, I loved Madonna like most girls my age. I didn’t listen to Debbie Gibson, Tiffany or NKTOB though. I didn’t return to music again until I was 13 or 14. At the local library (which I ended up working at throughout high school), they had a subscription to Rolling Stone which I started to read. I remember ordering Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation to listen to but I didn’t really like it at the time. It scared me a little but I was 12 and my only other musical benchmark was Madonna. In Rolling Stone, I found an article on Sebadoh. I just found it really interesting for whatever reason and decided that I had to buy it. At around the same time, I saw a feature on the Afghan Whigs on the Wedge and bought their record too. I remember buying four cds during my first year of high school: Sebadoh’s Bakesale, Afghan Whigs’ Gentleman, Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Radiohead’s the Bends. I listened to those bands for the majority of high school (along with Elliott Smith). At the beginning of university, I bought the Galaxie 500 box set. That really changed things for me.
4. do you still have family in vietnam?
It’s not my family per se but my mother’s family. Most of my mother’s half-siblings still live in Vietnam. I haven’t met any of them and don’t know most of their names. I know Sophie which is the oldest sibling from that side of the family. She’s around my mum’s age and she has crazy dark eyebrows (I think she tints them or something). I’ve heard she can haggle like a mofo. It occurred to me recently that a lot of my family (maternal bloodline) died in the war. I think when I go back, it’s not to connect with family but to the land. I liked to see and know how living in this country - eating this food, breathing this air, etc - for hundreds of years has shaped my grandmother and mother and now me.
5. where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully, making more money and not fixing photocopiers for people with PhDs. In ten years time, I hope Warren and I will have our first house (maybe even built by us using treated straw bale) and the garden will be maturing. We’ll probably have our first child by then. Sometimes, I think I watch too many Food Network tv shows and read too many Martha Stewart Living mags because when I think of the future, I think lots of sunlight streaming into the home I built that’s made of glass and wood. I have a home workshop/studio where I make expensive pillows. I have lots of fresh herbs in glasses in my tiled kitchen that is filled with Kitchen Aid products. Warren doesn’t seem to think this is wrong or unrealistic because it’s good to be optimistic and hopeful.
And another set …
1. can you share a work-related story which involves mind-boggling stupidity?
I don’t have any good stories involving “mind-boggling stupidity”. I have a lot of stories about a certain, constant level of stupidity but it’s never that good. I have a pretty good story about a girl who shouldn’t wear yoga pants but that’s for another day.
When I temped at the London-Middlesex Health Unit, it was during their flu shot drive and one of the places you can get your flu shot is the head office where I worked. The clinic was down the hall from where I worked. Since the area where I worked operates on flex time, there was only me and this other woman who I didn’t work with that was in the office. I asked her if it was okay if I went to get my flu shot and she said it was fine. However, the director (who signs my timesheets) saw me waiting outside the flu clinic and later that week, when she went to sign my timesheet, she wanted to dock me 15 minutes pay because I went to get my fucking flu shot. Fifteen minutes works out to $3. In a meeting the following week, she tried justifying her dumbass behaviour by saying that I was so eager to work but I couldn’t work while I was down the hall at the flu clinic - she wanted to get her money’s worth.
2. who is your best friend in london now that i don't know or don't know well?
Not surprisingly, I haven’t made any new friends since you left. I’ve met lots of people but haven’t become close to anyone in that way. You either know or have met everyone I’m good friends with.
3. do you think this blog is still getting stalked by super lame people?
This blog as in your blog or my blog? I imagine you have more general traffic because you belong to more active communities. But if we’re talking about my blog, I imagine the stalking hasn’t ceased entirely. It helps that when I post, it’s more or less friends-only. Any stalking done to our blogs is by the extra lame. I hope our alleged cliquedom will provide much inspiration and material for the highest artistic endeavours.
4. where would i sleep if i slept over at your place this summer?
Hmmm, good question. It depends. If Warren is around, you’ll have to sleep on the couch but if he’s away for thesis related business, than you can share the bed with me (like old times!). But I’ll try to make the couch extra comfortable for you. I hope this doesn’t deter you from staying with us. If I do get this job, I might take some holiday time off when you’re in town.
5. which non-obvious person do you miss the most from during our time at uwo/chrw?
This was a tough one. Anyone I really liked at CHRW, I remained friends with and those I didn’t like, well, I don’t care what happens to them. There was a really nice girl who started to volunteer at CHRW. She was in first year Geology at Western and I used to encourage her to come by and do music meetings. She reminded me of my high school friend Ann Marie, who I used to go to rock shows with but she stopped volunteering because Forat started handing around the station. Forat was in her Geology classes and labs and they had just returned from an overnight field trip where Forat stopped taking her meds and tried to choke another girl in the cabin. This girl (whose name I can’t remember anymore) thought CHRW would be the one safe haven from Forat but she was wrong and she immediately stopped coming by because she couldn’t stand to be around Boss Hog. It was unfortunate because I don’t often take someone under my wings.
les rules:
1. You ask to be interviewed.
2. I ask you five questions, personalized insofar as I know you well enough to do it.
3. You answer those questions in an entry on your own journal, and solicit interviewees in turn.
4. Alternately, I'll answer any questions people leave in the comments field.
Yes and no. I ain’t no baby machine. I know Warren’s sister will have children in two years time but it’ll be many years before any bun is going to be popping out of my oven (I say 8 years). I know I’ll be a good mother and Warren will make a great father but I feel I have a lot of things to do for myself before I’m ready to commit to children. I have a degree to complete and some places to visit and maybe a job to have before I’m ready to teach them how to stir shit up amongst their peer group.
Shiu used to take the piss out me by saying I would be so hard on my kids if they weren’t cool but I know that’s not true. Admittedly, I would be hard on them if they were pretentious, inconsiderate and cold. I don’t like being around people that lack empathy.
2. what's the difference between london back when i was there and nowadays?
I think London now is way lamer than London of the past. I think you lived in London at its prime (the “Golden Era”) and I caught the tail-end of that but now, the vibrancy of the music scene has past. I’ve been told it used to be really fun to go to Mo’ Gravy to dance on a Wednesday night. Now, it’s just another meat-market with W-girls/boys and the music isn’t nearly as adventurous. There aren’t any shows. I used to be able to say there aren’t any good shows coming up this week but there are no shows at all and particularly, no shows like Girls Against Boys and Blonde Redhead with Les Savy Fav opening up. The city’s downtown core is probably a lot cleaner and busier than when you lived here. They built an arena (people adore the John Labatt Centre, otherwise known as Dead Baby Arena) and renovated the Covent Market. I imagine with any city, there are good and bad things about it. It’s hard for me to say because a lot of my feelings about London are tied up with the people that live here.
3. when did your love affair with music first begin?
Growing up, I loved Madonna like most girls my age. I didn’t listen to Debbie Gibson, Tiffany or NKTOB though. I didn’t return to music again until I was 13 or 14. At the local library (which I ended up working at throughout high school), they had a subscription to Rolling Stone which I started to read. I remember ordering Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation to listen to but I didn’t really like it at the time. It scared me a little but I was 12 and my only other musical benchmark was Madonna. In Rolling Stone, I found an article on Sebadoh. I just found it really interesting for whatever reason and decided that I had to buy it. At around the same time, I saw a feature on the Afghan Whigs on the Wedge and bought their record too. I remember buying four cds during my first year of high school: Sebadoh’s Bakesale, Afghan Whigs’ Gentleman, Pavement’s Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain and Radiohead’s the Bends. I listened to those bands for the majority of high school (along with Elliott Smith). At the beginning of university, I bought the Galaxie 500 box set. That really changed things for me.
4. do you still have family in vietnam?
It’s not my family per se but my mother’s family. Most of my mother’s half-siblings still live in Vietnam. I haven’t met any of them and don’t know most of their names. I know Sophie which is the oldest sibling from that side of the family. She’s around my mum’s age and she has crazy dark eyebrows (I think she tints them or something). I’ve heard she can haggle like a mofo. It occurred to me recently that a lot of my family (maternal bloodline) died in the war. I think when I go back, it’s not to connect with family but to the land. I liked to see and know how living in this country - eating this food, breathing this air, etc - for hundreds of years has shaped my grandmother and mother and now me.
5. where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Hopefully, making more money and not fixing photocopiers for people with PhDs. In ten years time, I hope Warren and I will have our first house (maybe even built by us using treated straw bale) and the garden will be maturing. We’ll probably have our first child by then. Sometimes, I think I watch too many Food Network tv shows and read too many Martha Stewart Living mags because when I think of the future, I think lots of sunlight streaming into the home I built that’s made of glass and wood. I have a home workshop/studio where I make expensive pillows. I have lots of fresh herbs in glasses in my tiled kitchen that is filled with Kitchen Aid products. Warren doesn’t seem to think this is wrong or unrealistic because it’s good to be optimistic and hopeful.
And another set …
1. can you share a work-related story which involves mind-boggling stupidity?
I don’t have any good stories involving “mind-boggling stupidity”. I have a lot of stories about a certain, constant level of stupidity but it’s never that good. I have a pretty good story about a girl who shouldn’t wear yoga pants but that’s for another day.
When I temped at the London-Middlesex Health Unit, it was during their flu shot drive and one of the places you can get your flu shot is the head office where I worked. The clinic was down the hall from where I worked. Since the area where I worked operates on flex time, there was only me and this other woman who I didn’t work with that was in the office. I asked her if it was okay if I went to get my flu shot and she said it was fine. However, the director (who signs my timesheets) saw me waiting outside the flu clinic and later that week, when she went to sign my timesheet, she wanted to dock me 15 minutes pay because I went to get my fucking flu shot. Fifteen minutes works out to $3. In a meeting the following week, she tried justifying her dumbass behaviour by saying that I was so eager to work but I couldn’t work while I was down the hall at the flu clinic - she wanted to get her money’s worth.
2. who is your best friend in london now that i don't know or don't know well?
Not surprisingly, I haven’t made any new friends since you left. I’ve met lots of people but haven’t become close to anyone in that way. You either know or have met everyone I’m good friends with.
3. do you think this blog is still getting stalked by super lame people?
This blog as in your blog or my blog? I imagine you have more general traffic because you belong to more active communities. But if we’re talking about my blog, I imagine the stalking hasn’t ceased entirely. It helps that when I post, it’s more or less friends-only. Any stalking done to our blogs is by the extra lame. I hope our alleged cliquedom will provide much inspiration and material for the highest artistic endeavours.
4. where would i sleep if i slept over at your place this summer?
Hmmm, good question. It depends. If Warren is around, you’ll have to sleep on the couch but if he’s away for thesis related business, than you can share the bed with me (like old times!). But I’ll try to make the couch extra comfortable for you. I hope this doesn’t deter you from staying with us. If I do get this job, I might take some holiday time off when you’re in town.
5. which non-obvious person do you miss the most from during our time at uwo/chrw?
This was a tough one. Anyone I really liked at CHRW, I remained friends with and those I didn’t like, well, I don’t care what happens to them. There was a really nice girl who started to volunteer at CHRW. She was in first year Geology at Western and I used to encourage her to come by and do music meetings. She reminded me of my high school friend Ann Marie, who I used to go to rock shows with but she stopped volunteering because Forat started handing around the station. Forat was in her Geology classes and labs and they had just returned from an overnight field trip where Forat stopped taking her meds and tried to choke another girl in the cabin. This girl (whose name I can’t remember anymore) thought CHRW would be the one safe haven from Forat but she was wrong and she immediately stopped coming by because she couldn’t stand to be around Boss Hog. It was unfortunate because I don’t often take someone under my wings.
les rules:
1. You ask to be interviewed.
2. I ask you five questions, personalized insofar as I know you well enough to do it.
3. You answer those questions in an entry on your own journal, and solicit interviewees in turn.
4. Alternately, I'll answer any questions people leave in the comments field.