Coming Out of the Buffy Closet

I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer about a year ago now. I’ve been slowly making my way through the series, occasionally watching an episode while eating dinner and discussing it during runs with a friend (a devoted Buffy fan who gets credit for introducing me to the world of Joss Whedon and fandom more generally).

I can still see why I was turned off when catching a glimpse of some ridiculous-looking supernatural beings in an episode or two early in the show’s actual reign (1997-2003). This reaction was fuelled by high school guy friends who watched the show only because they thought Sarah Michelle Gellar was hot.

At the urging of my friend I eventually discovered, however, that when watched sequentially I actually enjoyed the show for the character development, the interpersonal drama, and the risks it takes with its plot. (Buffy was, for example, one of the first prime-time TV shows to openly show a lesbian relationship and not do so in an exploitative or careless way.) You get used to the silly-looking beasties after a while. Furthermore, the supernatural elements as metaphors for the perils of regular high school life provide fruitful conversation-starters for English grad geeks like my friend and I.

Last night the rain was pounding down on my windows and I couldn’t sleep, so I broke my the-bedroom-is-only-for-sleeping-and-yoga rule, dragged my laptop into my bed and fired up the first episode of Season Six. I didn’t make it through the whole episode (a double-header) before falling asleep, but I have to say that so far I agree with those who think that Buffy should have ended with the last episode of Season Five. On the (rather off) chance that there’s someone out there who, like me, is embarrassingly late to get on the Buffy train, I won’t spoil the ending, but suffice it to say that so far the sixth season is really creeping me out.

Even More Notes of Randomness...

Things I've been doing/thinking about lately...

I've started working on my paper again lately, trying to synthesize my thoughts on N. Katherine Hayles’ posthumanism, Donna Haraway’s cyborg politics, Judith Butler’s coalitional politics, and how these ideas play out in Larissa Lai’s Salt Fish Girl. Yesterday I started reading Anne Balsamo’s Technologies of the Gendered Body: Reading Cyborg Women, which is proving useful. I need to get a draft to my supervisor very soon.

I’m excited to be part of the planning committee for what I think will be an exciting conference – the Commons Conference, to be held April 28-30 in Victoria. Check out the CFP if you’re interested.

I’m TAing for an online course this term. It’s interested to observe the workings of an “online classroom” and think about how this differs from a traditional classroom...

Belle & Sebastian is going on tour! They’re one of the few bands I’ve liked consistently for the past seven or eight years, and so I was excited to acquire tickets for the Seattle show. (And by acquire I mean charge a slightly ridiculous amount of money to my credit card.)

I've started researching and planning again for a potential trip to Latin America. I'm hoping to volunteer and study Spanish, possibly starting at this school in Guatemala. If anyone has advice or ideas, I'd love to hear it...

Learning Push-ups

Recently, I've been introducing my body to new levels of pain. I signed up for capoeira classes and have been telling everyone about this new discovery. Capoeira is a Brazilian art form that blends martial arts, acrobatics, music and dance. Whee! Of course, some moments are more fun than others; I'm still getting used to doing push-ups and counting in Portuguese at the same time. In fact, I'm still getting used to doing push-ups at all. As my running buddy is back in town and I can't give up the yoga classes, my exercise schedule has gotten quite full. With any luck, I'll be able to do those push-ups without cheating in a month or two. Very strange - when did my life become about doing push-ups? This may be a reaction to much of my life being dominated by cerebral activities; it's nice to experience things bodily these days...

Decadence

I've been back in Victoria for about 24 hours and have already seen a healthy amount of rain. I'm sort of missing the east coast snow. Since flying back to Vancouver on Friday I've continued to wear my wool winter coat, scarf, and purple knit hat, all of which are rather inappropriate for the west coast winter.

I had such a lovely and decadent holiday and caught up with so many wonderful people. Some highlights:

Toronto
- Lexiconjury reading, where I was happy to purchase the Shift & Switch anthology
- Martini Wednesday at Labrinth (these were a tradition the summer before I moved away)
- Teri and I braving the snowstorm to march through the Annex streets and get groceries
- Drinking tea at the Moonbeam cafe in Kensington and stocking up on indie reading material at Book City and the Toronto Women's Bookstore
- Ordering Amato's and drinking wine with Caroline and Teri
- Amazing meals: brunch at Mitzi's sister, dinner at Kalendar (I ate swordfish(!) and we tried mulled wine), brunch at Fressen (always a favourite; such amazingly full plates of goodness), and sushi (tried a spicy tuna roll for the first time)
- Dancing at the Dance Cave (another favourite of mine)
- Saw Brokedown Mountain with Teri

Fredericton
- Spending time with family
- Trimming the tree (or watching my mom do it) and sipping our wine
- Big holiday meals: Christmas eve at friends of the family, Christmas breakfast at my grandparents, Christmas dinner with relatives at our house, Boxing Day dinner with friends of the family, and another dinner with my cousins and their families
- Skiing with my father (I hadn't been in a few years, and I love those new parabolic skis!)
- Catching up with Jill and Kayte over tea or drinks on various occasions
- Saw Memoirs of a Geisha with my mother
- Das Radio show at the Capitol (dancing ensued) and how on the way home Matt, Joe, and I got pulled over for no apparent reason

Montreal
- Saw The Family Stone with Caroline (Ok - a movie with Luke Wilson, Claire Danes, and Sarah Jessica Parker? How could I not see this in theatres?)
- New Year's Eve: Caro, Teri, and I spent the first part of the evening at Caro's drinking wine, and making soft tacos, sugar cookies, and elaborate martinis. We then headed to a Hawainian New Year's party also in the Plateau, toasted the New Year with styrofoam cups of champagne, and ended the evening dancing to 80s music at La Tulipe
- Mimosas, special cheese, and a fancy restaurant with Caro's family on New Year's day
- Cooking again with Caro (we used to be roomates in Toronto)
- The shopping, especially a store on St-Laurent called Surplus that had samples or slightly defective jeans (i.e. Seven jeans with a button missing for about a quarter of their regular price)
- Getting the chance to speak French again
- Exhibit at the Musée D'art Contemporain de Montréal
- Trying two new restaurants with Caro, Soy and Le Petit Treehouse, which were both amazing
- Brunch with Dana, comparing notes about grad school

Vancouver
- Dorian meeting me at the airport
- Lounging around in our hostel because we were both tired from travelling
- Brunch and exploring on Commercial Drive
- Evening on Main St with an art show at Blim and a late dinner at Habit
- Dancing at the Public Library even though the club was kind of awful (I got excited when I heard about a club in a library, but it turned out to be just in the same complex as the library)
- Splurging to take the PCL back to Victoria (so much better than the public transit, especially when you've got luggage...and busrides in the dark are cozy)
- Not getting sick on the ferry this time

I think it'll be a good while before I eat in a restaurant again... Now I really need to get back to work (!!!) - school as well as the kind where you earn money...