The Meanderings and Musings of a Montrealer

2010-06-10T22:00:00.002-04:00

I'm in Florida at the moment taking a much needed rest. It's been great and I have mixed feelings about having to come home. Life would be great going to a university here and living at the condo.

But I shall put a picture or two of the antics my sister and I have gotten up to since arriving on June 5.

No news on the internet dating front, well no positive news.

Update:
BLP- turns out I attract men who like to disappear without a word. Not very friendly if I may so. I'm still rather confused about that one like a month and a half later...haha
HYMS- turns out to be a real Casanova, but can't walk the walk.
JF- really nice, but with work it's been freaking hectic and I think he may have given up ...oops

So the score, drum roll please....

Regina - 0
Men of the internet- 3

But other than that can I just say watching american TV is awesome....I stay up until like 2 am watching so much on the TV. It's so bad. I was watching this show about Obese people, scared me. I really need to get back to eating healthy and going to the gym.

OMG! "Monsters Inside Me" what the hell a show about parasites in the human body? Oh god why? Why do we like to be terrified? well there was a marathon yesterday afternoon into yesterday night. So after the walk my sis and I took to Deerfield for ice cream I terrified myself with 3hrs of this...

Okay the sun has fried my brain and I'm only capable of rambling.

2010-05-23T22:55:00.001-04:00

Here's what I have to say.

http://falsepalindrome.tumblr.com/

I like my tumblr. I like the layout.

2010-04-21T17:48:00.004-04:00

Exams are done, finally. Just one more outstanding paper and then freedom. So I am gearing up for my weekend in Vermont this weekend. I am definitely squirming in excitement, how could I not be? A roster of great bands and my two best buds on a little mini road-trip. Hell yeah. So I'm sitting here enjoying my traditional end of term coke in a glass bottle and listening to some Queen ( yeah I'm just that cool) and I can't help but be excited for the summer. In the last couple of days I have painted one large paint square in each of the rooms of my apartment...and holy moly I just can't wait!

Kitchen- Castleton Mist with Windham cream
Bathroom- Woodlawn Blue with probably Windham cream baseboards
Hallway- Hawthorne Yellow with the darkwood stain baseboards
Living room- Jumel peachtone w/ windham cream ceiling
My bedroom-undecided
Other bedroom- probably windham cream

Yes, the next Martha Stewart...shut it. It's not my fault that the historical colour collection at Benjamin Moore is awesome.

In other news...quick OKC update:
HYMS- found himself a lady, good for him!
CC- Making plans for May
BLP- I think I am being ignored. I thought I'd meet the fella for a coffee while I was in VT. But there is silence on the air waves. I am left with a perplexed look on my face.

Time to get a cleaning...Perhaps blaring "I want to break free"...playing air guitar on the broom.

2010-04-16T20:54:00.002-04:00

I'm really tired tonight. I just finished watching Annie Hall, the Woody Allen film and I feel as neurotic as those characters just through osmosis. But I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by the movie since I tend to have luke warm feelings about W.A films.

I miss my creative writing classes a lot. I just discovered a box full of short stories and poems in the basement at my parent's place. I distinctly remember writing this poem, frustrated with the assignment.

I am all sorts of random this evening. I need a good long vacation.

Fell down screaming into the sky
With every fiber of her being she tore
The rain from the sky.
The mountains crumbled
The Sea, swirling as if the drain plug

Had been

P

U

L L

E D

The banshee cries vibrated her throat into pieces
Yet she continued, non-plussed
While the world ripped itself apart

She H O W L E D
There was no longer noise in the vacuum she created

Her chest heeeeaved with the force of her self-loathing
Her Chhhesssssstt expanded in sequence
With the erratic mutterings heard in her mind
A ritual call fills the abyss, the dark
The rain falls again mingling with the dried earth
The basin fills with the sea where it all began
Rises. Rises. RISES.
The rocks shudder and shake

They grooooooan back into their splendor
Slowly, oh so slowly the world re-knits

Its BRO KEN h AlveS
She leaped. She stepped. She fell.

Off the edge
Into the tumbling, careening PAINful darkness
Just to know she could still feel.
(11.28.06)

2010-04-12T00:14:00.003-04:00

I haven't been this distracted by my thoughts in a long while. This of course happens whenever I'm trying to write a 15 page paper on the conception of the sublime. I have tried everything to keep my mind focused, turned off the punk rock and put on some soul and then turned off the soul for some prog-rock...nothing is working. My mind enjoys going into shut down mode during the last week of semester when everything is due and I should be at my most focused.

my new least favorite question: "How is a sexy girl like you single?" or any variant of it.

Back to the writing.

This is just silly.

2010-04-07T23:05:00.003-04:00

So I have been slowly 'cruising' the internet dating and so far it's ridiculously terrifying. Ok hold your horses there, no one has stalked me or tried to get in my pants...that I have noticed. So update numero uno:

HYMS: Interesting, handsome and funny. What started as something interesting and flirty is beginning to feel forced. As in, it feels like I am forcing my attentions on this guy. We have yet to meet, so we'll see how that goes. If anything he seems like a decent fella.

CC: A nice francophone, who is "impatient to meet" me. I look forward to meeting him when school is a little less hectic. WE haven't talked much, but the times we have there are quite a few common interests.

BLP: Very interesting and nice guy. No idea where that's heading.

Men of the real world:

JMS: I think we're just friends. Seems like I might have missed the boat on that one. I should have taken my dad's advice on this one...
Dad:Ina why is it so hard for you to say how you feel?
Ina: I dunno. I guess I'm not sure
Dad: Say this, "You are a handsome man JMS, I like you. What do you think?" If he doesn't, no biggie Ina. He's still your friend"
my father the philosopher and comedian.

So I'm wondering if maybe someone could invent an "anti-shy" pill, I'd pop one everytime I hung out or spoke to one of these fellas. Also it's come to my attention through A. that I am not really dating I'm just dancing around the idea.

yeesh...

oh...on a date-less note, I am pondering some culinary work for the summer. I am being courted by a few establishments at the moments for some apprentice work. Let's hope it pans out...

2010-04-04T02:35:00.002-04:00

Montreal has been all a flutter with the beautiful weather that is a little bit like the weather we have in July...HOT and SUNNY. It's been so beautiful which has made it unbelievably difficult to focus on my final paper for my CIV class....which is due Tuesday, yikes! That's okay I will sequester myself in the library for the next two days and finish it...hopefully!

My windows are open and the breeze is absolutely lovely. I am beginning to feel much better since the major thaw and increase in sun. I am looking forward to my summer living downtown which hopefully will be filled with late night walks and mini adventures. Who knows perhaps a little bit of romance?

I really need to do some spring cleaning...transferring my winter clothes for spring and summer clothes. My room looks like a tornado has hit ....but that's a normal occurrence during the last weeks before finals...

Listening:
Andrew Bird-Armchair Apocrypha
Reading:
Edmund Burke- "A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful"

2010-03-31T22:21:00.002-04:00

I just finished re-reading Essay on Love by Alain de Botton and like always I want to kick myself in the face for reading another failed love story. Do I really need to have more fodder for the angst feeling I have for romance and love? But it is a beautiful novel about falling in and out of love. I recommend that anyone who wants an interesting book which is written in an interesting and new way to pick up a copy.

Spring always makes me think about love and companionship, but this might be just a reaction of my hormones going into overdrive....primal instinct overdrive to mate and procreate like my animal counterparts. This is where I admit my deep dark secret of .....*drumroll* I have signed up for internet dating. Ok please don't judge. I figure that I might as well give it a go. Since meeting people is not working out for me. I shall lull the men of the internet into a false sense of security and than BAM. Kidding! I promise. I am not quite sure why I am single since my friends and family assure I am not repulsive in the personality or physical sense.

I do wonder though the complete switch the men in my life undergo while knowing me. First, it begins in a way that leads me to believe that is not romantic and then POOF! Either I am boring or just not *Beep*-ble?

I would like to share with the few who read this blog a snippet of a conversation:

Man: so its not romantic.. but it is in a way, by itself
there's nothing we can do.. by its existance.. it is romantic

Can I say I still am not sure what that means? But since I am an unable to express my feelings I just let these things drop. So the point is I am not impressed with single life and I am tired of seeing everyone close around me in healthy and happy relationships. I mean...when I throw a dinner party for example, I AM the third wheel.

(ok this was not a pity party, I promise...it's all because of this song: I Can Just See Us Now

2010-03-23T19:20:00.003-04:00

This will be short and sweet...
Last night I had the privilege to go see Henry Rollins. It was incredible...and such a nice man. A nice break from schooling!

Where is my political identity?

2010-03-03T21:02:00.002-05:00

I've decided to take my studying to the nearby Starbucks instead of Cafe Myriade for a little while. As much as I love Myriade it's always packed and I feel bad staying there for 3hrs+. While here at the fast-food of coffee I can keep drinking tea for a lot less and I feel no remorse. So I have been doing my Marx reading for my class tomorrow and I am totally captivating by The Manifesto of Communist Party, especially part II "Proletarians and Communists". By no means am I a Marxist or Communist but I do see the merit in some of these ideas.
I've had a small epiphany of sorts tonight....more like crisis. Where do I stand in the political spectrum of ideas? It's quite a shock to realize that for about ten years now ( 13yrs old is where I became an adult in my religious community, so this is where I feel I began to develop my own personality...) I am one of those politically apathetic people. I don't think it's because I hate my government or politics in general but more that I am not sure what political identity I call my own. I wonder if this is just a Canadian thing....a North American thing. I think it's definitely a Canadian problem.

The 4 parties currently represented in the House of Commons:
Bloc Quebecois
Conservative Party of Canada
Liberal Party of Canada
New Democratic Party

Take a look at all these other parties past and present

Who am I in this political world? What am I? These questions give rise to all sorts of other questions.

I leave you with a little quote from the Manifesto of the Commnist Party:
"The bourgeois sees in his wife a mere instrument of production. He hears that the instruments of production are to be exploited in common, and, naturally, can come to no other conclusion than that the lot of being in common to all will likewise fall to the women....The Communists have no need to introduce community of women; it has existed almost from time immemorial." (Marx)

Soft Despotism and Rambling

2010-02-07T22:36:00.003-05:00

I am in deep appreciation mode for Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" ( well the abridged 2 volume edition). At the moment I am writing my final short paper for my civ 291 class before the big research paper. I chose to write about Tocqueville's new fears of that democratic nations such as the U.S. allow for this new type of despotism which rots the brain of the people as the people continue to praise it for beneficial. The few sections we've read for class are unbelievable, I can totally admit the slight intellectual crush I have on this 19th century Frenchman.

"After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men are seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd." (Vol II, Pt IV,Ch VI)

I am so lucky to be exposed to such captivating texts at the LAC (ok..Kant and Hegel are not captivating...sue me!).

So I haven't been doing much exploring lately as I seem to be sick again; which I am definitely attributing to babysitting a sick 3 year old. But I have been baking a lot more, recently I made a lemon sponge cake with a vanilla butter cream frosting. I have also suprisingly started eating chicken again. I never stopped but I did grimace whenever I was given chicken since I really don't enjoy it. But with my gas stove and fresh supply of chicken breasts and Kosher Cornish Rock Hens (supplied by my mummy) I have rediscovered my love of chickens. Yay? sure.

my meanderings and musings have been non-existent lately, perhaps it's the cold dead of winter slowing me down. But spring is almost here and the sun has decided to start peaking through with more regularity. I am hopeful.

so very hopeful...

Hell has frozen over. Welcome to Montreal

2010-01-31T01:13:00.002-05:00

Hello Winter, could you please leave now?

It was -20 today with a windchill factor that made it feel like -30...not pleasant. Winter is here with a fury and it reminds me of what Dante's most inner circle of Hell would look like with the Devil frozen in ice munching on Brutus and Co...

Drama Queen? who me? yes me...Today was just one of those days where I wished this apartment had a working fireplace...yes I have a fireplace but no it does not work. Not only was it bitterly cold today but I sliced the fleshy part of my heel open.OW...I don't know if you know how much a heel bleeds...A LOT. Wow. I called my mom in a panic and she came armed with a first aid kit. I

sigh...I am whiny. I am going to bed. Perhaps tomorrow when I wake up winter will be gone....

whaaaaaaat a girl can dream.

Hello 2010

2010-01-17T23:25:00.002-05:00

Hello 2010,

I have been negligent when it comes to my blog, I apologize. It has been the most hectic last couple of months. November was midterm and papers, December was final exams and papers, the holidays and well January has only just begun. There is lots of news in the Lincoln residence, Mr. Lincoln has moved back to the States to re-find himself and now I have a new roommate. She is a lovely person from the West Coast, I look forward to getting to know this interesting girl better!

I have quite a few resolutions for 2010, and since it is a new decade I really do hope that I will follow through on at least a few of these.

1. Get a membership to the University Gym. Two-fold reason: vanity and health. Vanity does not need an explanation. Health, well as much as I love my father, I have unfortunately inherited his body type which if I am not careful will lead to diabetes. So gym it is.

2. Be more open about my feelings, I have been on more than one occasion told that I am cryptic or closed. I've developed quite a tough carapace in the last few years, it is about time I crack it open a little. I will hopefully use this (for example: to tell this gentleman that I have a slight soft spot for him).

3. Be more financially aware. Start saving and planning. I can't live pay-check to pay-check forever!

4. Plaster and paint all the rooms in this apartment. Since I don't plan on moving out any time soon.

5. Start taking photos again with my old Pentax. I've been taking some self-portraits, trying more and more to compose the shot. It's hard!

6. I think this is a top priority for me. School. I need to be more focused and spend more time writing and reading. I would like to make the Dean's List by next winter!

So those are my resolutions! I hope that I will be able to keep at them! You are all my witnesses to my 2010 vows.

Oh... and I've been thinking I've re-doing and re-starting my food blog....2010 is looking good!

All the best in 2010.

Fall

2009-10-27T17:33:00.003-04:00

I am sitting at Cafe Myriade sipping on a chocolat chaud au lait hanging out with my roomie Mr. Lincoln before we had to our Music History class. It's Myriade's 1st birthday and in honor of being in business for this long they've been offering all drinks for half price, it's really busy but the atmosphere is lively and happy.

Fall is in full swing and I am wondering where exactly October has disappeared to. Living downtown has cut me off from the abundance of multi-colored leaves in my suburban hometown. But I still go home every friday to babysit the munchkins which is when I get to soak up all my outdoorsy time.

Midterms are well underway, and I still have one paper left to write on Bach's Cello Suites .

Tomorrow afternoon I will teaching Mr. Lincoln how to make his own pie dough for apple pie, it should be quite fun. And then I have the apartment to myself until sunday.

Mlle. Lincoln

Addendum

2009-10-05T16:10:00.002-04:00

Wow did that sound weepy.

Actually I am in a pretty good mood, enjoying Fall in montreal.

Love,

Mlle Lincoln

Public Secrets

2009-10-05T15:53:00.003-04:00

After seeing these two postcards (1 and 2 ) on PostSecret I thought: hey this person is me. I often find secrets there that strike a chord in that little place I've tried to lock up, called my heart. But this week, the one with "I still think we are destined for each other...you idiot" really had me nodding my head in agreement. I know for a fact if any of my nearest and dearest are reading this they are going "Oh hell no..."

It is sort of comforting to know that someone else is thinking the EXACT same words as me. I know that most of the time you can not go back and start with a fresh slate, it just doesn't work that way...but perhaps this person like me wonders what it would be like if you could.

I wish I could give this stranger a hug, tell them I get it....

I totally get it.

Stepping out of the Nonage*

2009-09-29T21:03:00.004-04:00

September has flown by much more quickly then I would have liked, but it usually feels like that because of the Jewish high holidays (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur).

I can hardly believe I have been living in this apartment for almost a month! So far, I have mostly good things to say about living away from home with a roommate, although every few days I feel a little lonely for my family but I am sure that feeling will fade. I absolutely love being a five minute walk from school and no more than a 20 minute walk from work, it feels great. I have to say I am not impressed with my spending, but it's okay, rent is paid and so far all the bills as well. I have to work better at controlling the flow of money, but I am learning slowly. I am very lucky to have parents who are helping me out with some of my expenses. *phew*

I am unsucessfully working my way through Kant's Judgement of Aesthetics ...but really...it seems interesting but his language is so technical. I am about 65% optimistic that I will succeed in understanding his concepts...who knows.

Seems like I have a bad case of the ramblings. Time to get back to homework.

Reading:

Immanuel Kant- Critique of Judgment (Analytic of Aesthetic Judgment)

Listening to:

The Very Best of Macy Gray- Sweet Baby ft Erykah Badu

* Nonage: Coined by Kant as not of age, term used to describe the thinkers before the Enlightenment (very loose paraphrase)

A little too much alone time

2009-09-13T22:08:00.003-04:00

It's been a very long 4 days alone in the apartment and I have come to a few conclusions:

1. I am still afraid of being alone in dark spaces

2. There is a herd of elephants living in the apartment above

3. I am a lot more lonely than I thought

4. I miss walking around in my underwear and a tank top.

5. I miss my sister, we are finally learning how to get along.

6. I need to stock my fridge with more than just the bare necessities.

I did my Modes reading; Pope's 2nd Epistle on Man...I almost died of boredom. Now I am staring at a 100 pages worth of Spinoza reading. Perhaps the LAC was a mistake, I'm not feeling it. I don't know if it's just insecurities cropping up because all these political texts are dense and I'm not getting it while everyone else is, or maybe it's my little cricket on the shoulder telling me I don't have what it takes for this kind of program

*pity party* Ha! Oh dear...enough. I love the LAC, I don't know what's wrong with me. I think I'm more than just a little overwhelmed with the job, school and being in a new place.

But on a great note...I made myself rigatoni with a marinara sauce, it was delicious! I've started hanging things on my walls, well in my room at least. I'll post some photos of the apartment once it starts looking a little less bare.

Listening to:

Josh Ritter- just a mix of my favorite songs by him.

Reading (trying to:)

Spinoza

Looking forward to:

Going home for Rosh Hashanah, going to shul and eating big meals with my family

Back to the grindstone.

2009-09-08T15:05:00.004-04:00

Today is the first day back at classes and it feels absolutely wonderful. I love being a student at the LAC, where everyone knows each other and for the most part is quite friendly. After 4 months away from school life and the people I see on a daily basis, it was great to catch up before, in between and after class for a little while. I love to watch people and I am always amazed by how different people look even after just a few months. Shorter hair, less of a beard, a new tattoo, tanned, taller etc. I love it.

I've been in the new apartment for 8 days now, and it's going great. It's a little lonely sometimes, but that's too be expected when you come from a big house filled with 4 other noisy family members. J. is a great roommate and we are making solid efforts to hang out with each other. The apartment is looking a little lonely in lack of decorations but hopefully with A.'s plans for a painting our mantle will have a great piece full of colours.

With back to school it means long hours of reading and coffee drinking. Thank god for Cafe Myriade on Mackay. You can't find better coffee or more importantly service. At least that's my opinion. Beautiful coffee from British Columbia (if I remember correctly), a great and friendly staff who recognizes their regulars and makes a huge effort to chat with you for a few minutes.

It's good to live downtown....it's great to be back at school and it's amazing to be able to walk to school and work.

I am happy. It's about darn time.

Mlle. Lincoln

Listening to:

Bon Iver- Blood Bank

Reading:

Spinoza- Theogico-Political Treatise

Contemplating:

Moses and God

2009-09-02T23:59:00.001-04:00

Moved in. Day two in the apartment, so far it's been interesting if a little quiet.

sigh

Packing

2009-08-21T23:27:00.003-04:00

I hate packing. I've almost packed all 500 or so books...boy are they heavy. As much as I have been griping about all the stuff I need to do, I feel pretty darn excited about the move. A fresh new start in a lovely apartment...

What's left:

-clothes

-wine bottles

-paintings

-toiletries

-desk

-bookcases

lucky me all my furniture is pretty much in the garage, along with all my ikea purchases (which I have resisted opening)

It's so exciting....yet so draining. I can't wait for september 1st to get here.

It's all about the salmon.

2009-08-10T21:19:00.003-04:00

Tonight's dinner:

quasi blackened salmon steak

wild and brown rice with mushrooms

baby carrots steamed and then sauteed in a brown sugar sauce

It was delicious. I haven't been cooking that much lately, too tired, too lazy. I have two bags full of chopped rhubarb from Aeron's family's garden. I'm thinking rhubarb compote, a couple of tarts...perhaps a rhubarb and raspberry compote to top some pork chops?

The possibilities are endless, I'd love to cook dinner for someone special *sigh*

Dear Summer

2009-08-08T20:07:00.001-04:00

The ducks in Boston. I would like to go back to Boston for more than 24hrs. Speaking of ducks, the ducks have only come to visit our backyard once this summer. I wonder where they are. It's funny how much of nuisance they can be when they nest in the backyard, but now since they have stayed away I realize how much I miss watching them. I love ducklings. Watching lady and gentleman ducks is quite a visual treat. (Not like that!) Summer has not quite arrived in Montreal; the weather has been crummy. I almost can't wait for 'summer' to be over so I can get back to school, I miss the college and the people.

Saturday night blues.

Dear Summer,

Hi it's me. Have you forgotten that you were suppose to come for a visit? I'm a little

miffed that you haven't made much of an effort. All of us here miss you horribly. It's not the same without warm nights and sunny days. I mean I guess you have a good reason? Global warming? Changing wind currents? Pollution?

your most loyal fan,

2009-08-07T15:40:00.000-04:00

I have been meaning to create a blog that I will stick with for longer than a heartbeat. Perhaps the meanderings and musings will be more fruitful than themed outlet such as just cooking, just music, just books.

As for first impressions, perhaps I can introduce you to the things and people I ponder about in my daily life:

This lovely lady, who now lives in Boston has tuned me onto quite a few interesting bloggers.

Another lovely lady, a long time friend, who is brimming with intelligence and compassion.

Everyday I start my process of unwinding by reading about all about my favorite musicians and other music news.

I liked to read all about what's happening in the world here

While I'm not floating around cyberspace losing myself in news and blogs. I work on creating and practicing recipes, like the perfect crust for a strawberry-rhubarb pie.

Listening to:

Isis- Wavering Radiant

Dustin Kensrue- Please Come Home

La Dispute- Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair

Reading:

Mr. Fooster by Tom Corwin and Craig Frazier

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

This has been a little introduction to the things and people I ponder.