What makes a classic?

I am reading East of Eden, by John Steinbeck, and it's depressing as heck. It's making me think, though: what makes a classic a classic? And is that enough to make it worth reading? When I'm done reading this tragic story, will I be able to say "I'm glad I've read it"?

After some googling around, the verdict I distilled out of the internet's always-plentiful and often useless sea of opinions was that timelessness and universality are two major criteria for a classic. With having NEVER been out of print, it seems that East of Eden has proven itself timeless. And its heavy drawing on biblical themes may seem to be evidence that it has a universal tale of morality to tell. I'm only half way through so I'm far from drawing any useful conclusions on that front. I'm not sure it's worth blogging about a book half way through the reading process, except that I'm finding it so dark that I just want to throw this out there and get a few opinions.

I mentioned my thoughts to Kerry, who asked me why I just don't quit reading it if I don't like it. I don't know how serious she was about not finishing it (she strikes me as a book-finisher), but all I could say was that I was reading it because it is a classic and I feel like that means I should read it. And if I don't like it at the end then at least I will be able to explain why, having read from cover to cover.

But trying to explain why I will probably finish reading it even though it's an awful, awful story reminded me of a question that my first year university English professor posed to our class. She asked us: why do we read?. It was a truly awkward moment. All of us first years unwilling to speak, afraid to answer incorrectly, and dreading being called on in front of a class full of strangers. She eventually answered the question with her own answer, which was that we read to know that we are not alone. We read to know that we are not alone.

Frankly, I would rather feel alone than know any of the characters that have been introduced to me in East of Eden. In my further googling (c'mon, this is a blog for fun, I can google for sources, right?), the thing I found that seems to fit this situation the best is Italo Calvino's thoughts on what makes a classic. Apparently he wrote an essay called "Why read the classics?" in the 1980s that says "a classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say". And then he personalizes it, saying that "YOUR classic author is the one you cannot feel indifferent to, who helps you define yourself in relation to him, even in dispute with him."

Well Mr. Steinbeck, I think we are officially in dispute.

August was august

Did you know that "august" is a word outside of being a month? I like that about it. Especially since August does in fact tend to be august. Basically it means: inspiring admiration, majestic. Among other things.

Anyways, back to the grand recap of our crazy summer. I’m once again behind on this but you know we’ve been busy doin' stuff. So, AUGUST. Or what I can remember of it...

We rode into August on a wedding high, but first took a mini-break to go to folk fest.  We just bought a day pass and had a pretty awesome time hanging out with some favourite people: Scott, Geneva, Francis, Kaeli, and my dad. Those kids are the cutest. But those kids outside are even cuter. Every time I hang out with F&G I think my head might explode from all the love and cuteness. The next day I got in touch with the lovely Kerry, who was also in town for folk fest. She was in her usual mid-summer state of pure exhaustion, so I forced her to come take a nap on our new inflatable guest bed that we were testing out for Vancouver. Then I dropped her off at folk fest and she tried to sneak attack me with an extremely final goodbye as she got out of the car. I believe it was something like "I'm never going to see you again". Nerd.

After the ‘fest, we continued the wedding trend all the way down to Southern Alberta for Bri and Patrick’s first instalment of their wedding, which was basically a full wedding sans rings, which were later exchanged at another ceremony in Ontario. It was a beautiful weekend and fun to get down south and see a real life “rattlesnake protection area”. The farm was a beautiful place for a wedding and the party was full of familiar friendly faces. Joel and I had the privilege of driving down and camping with Lisa, which was a TREAT. I always forget that she totally loves rap music and club music. It’s hilarious. But I never forget that she is fun to hang out with. 

A highlight of the weekend was when Lisa looked at me and said “you and I are going to dance to the next song together, no matter what it is”. And can you guess what it was? It was totally the Macarena. UGH. Also, DID YOU KNOW THAT MICROSOFT WORD AUTOCORRECTS “MACARENA” TO BE CAPITALIZED? Ha! Awesome.

Returning to Edmonton meant that we had to start facing our reality. You know, the reality where we had to pack up and move our lives to Vancouver? Let me just say that it was a luxury to have extra time to do this, but that consolidating two households plus downsizing them to fit into a one bedroom apartment is a big job. Joel had a three bedroom house that was basically full of stuff that he owned, and I had a one bedroom plus den’s worth of stuff. So that was a heck of a lot of consolidating. Thank you to the kind and generous Lewis, who lived with us all summer and was gracious enough to overlook the chaos. 

After a summer of slow goodbyes, we capped it off with an official goodbye party, at the always-stylish and always welcoming home of Dawn and Rick. They saved our butts from major house embarrassment if we had tried to have people over to our place. It was a beautiful summer night and a great way to say goodbye to Edmonton and our friends here.

Then, the last thing we did in August was leave our home of 27ish years each, and drive a van full of our stuff to a new life in Vancouver. I can’t say enough good things about life in Vancouver so far, but I’ll save those for later, because really, right now, I am just feeling a little sad about leaving Edmonton.

July: unexpectedly crazy

In the weeks leading up to our wedding I kept telling people that we'd have lots more time in July to hang out. I'm here to tell you now that I accidentally lied. This was UNTRUE. We have hardly had any time. Once again, it's been crazy, but still mostly fun. Here is July, in a nutshell.

1) Mexico

We flew to Mexico right after dumping all of my belongings into Joel’s house, leaving a disastrous mess of boxes behind for poor Lewis to live amongst.  It was a week full of sun, delicious Mexican food (GUACAMOLE! Piles and piles of it eaten on the beach), hangouts with family and my friend/cousin Melissa and her man-friend, topped off by the wedding of my cousin Lindsay! It was a good time, although poor Joel had to hole up in our hotel room studying for his defense, which leads me to the next major item…

2) Dr. Husband!

We flew back to the airport in Calgary on Sunday night and drove the rest of the way home in a  rainstorm. Monday and Tuesday were full of thesis defense prep, and on Wednesday, he/we spent dawn-til-dusk defending and partying. Well, I didn’t do much defending, but I consulted on tie choice (see above), drank coffee (pictured above), waited around, and watched the presentation (which was excellent)…and then I went out to party afterwards. So proud.

3) Vancouver House Hunting

Now that we had the gigantic PhD defence out of the way, we drove out to Vancouver to look for our new home. We left on Monday morning, arriving late that night, and budgeted…ONE DAY to find the perfect home to rent. Ummmm, whose dumb idea was that? Turns out it was OURS! We pretty much did it though, and I patted us both on the back for the entire drive home for being so organized, prepared, and lucky in our house hunt. We found a great place, and although things looked a bit dicey for awhile, it’s ours now for the next year and that’s all that matters for now. The pics above show the tilework at the entrance to our building, and the rows upon rows of lavender growing out front. I think it was meant to be.

 4) Rosebud

We drove back from Vancouver right after we signed our new lease and felt confident that we would have no problem driving the whole way to Calgary. But then we realized we left Vancouver at close to 4:00 p.m.  Another brilliant idea. So we slept in Golden after a white-knuckle drive through the dark for several hours and woke up early the next day to rush to Rosebud, AB. We saw “Jake and the kid” with my parents, sister and aunt and uncle. Rosebud was just as sweet at my mom has always said.

4.5) Calgary Folk Festing  

We went from Rosebud directly to Calgary Folk Fest, which froze us out via miserable rain, and then eventually cleared up enough for us to enjoy. We met up with Kerry and Leanne at various points, and stayed with Melly.Tasting a maple bacon donut (pictured above, bottom right) at "Jelly" is an part of the weekend that should not be overlooked. Fun if you like donuts, which I do. As a donut-appreciator, I am always surprised how many people don't like them. I think at least 60% of people who say they don't like donuts are just telling themselves that so that they aren't tempted to eat them all the time for every meal. Donuts are delicious. 

5) Birthday and Garage Sale

 

When we got back from Calgary it was my birthday the next day, so Joel made a delicious dinner of pork tacos with homemade tortillas for me and my family. So fun. Then we got down to business and prepped for our upcoming garage sale. We cleared space in Scott and Heidi’s garage and loaded all of our crap over there to make sweet moolah. It was SO WEIRD the things that people bought. So if you are ever having a garage sale and wondering whether to include an item...DO IT. Someone will probably buy the thing you least expect them to. Also, it was fun to hang out at their house all weekend and we made a decent profit, which we used to buy ourselves a new couch! But more on that later, as it is sitting flat-packed in our basement right now.

6) Dave and Jamie's Wedding

And then, after all that, Dave and Jamie got married! Those are two fine people and they put on a great wedding. It could not have been more perfect for them. Beautiful day, thoughtful ceremony, and ridiculously awesome entrance into the wedding being carried by their friends on custom-made wooden platforms. Oh, those two. 

All in all, a good month.

June in a nutshell

After a month-and-a-half hiatus from my regular life, I decided to pop up and populate my neglected blog with a new post, since I can’t see life returning to anything closely approximating regular for quite some time. At the rate we have been going, I am thinking I might start to unwind sometime in January 2012.

That’s fine with me though. Life is good and fun and exciting and we are still young enough to keep up. I’ll start at the beginning of the chaos and do a little whirlwind update. I originally planned to do it in one giant post, but I think I’ll just start with June for now.

1) Wrapping up the job I’ve worked at for the past three years

In a truly inspired moment, Joel suggested I wrap up work before our wedding instead of after, thus leaving us a bit of time as newlyweds wrapping up our life in our beloved Edmonton --- not kidding about it being beloved, by the way, so keep your comments to yourselves any Edmonton-haters --- before we have to pack up and start a new love affair with Vancouver (that's a lot of endings before we get to the new beginnings). As well, after years and years of work, Joel was almost ready to say goodbye to student life and hello to life as Dr. Kelly (PhD, not MD). But that’s a story for my July-in-a-nutshell post. Basically, we wanted to be able to take maximum advantage of this interim period, because I’m guessing it won’t be often in the coming years when we are both able to be off from work/school at the same time. Anyways, wrapping up was a positive thing. I think they were sad to see me go, which is a nice feeling when leaving a job, and the timing turned out to be perfect, since we had a bunch of chaos (both expected and unexpected) in our general lives, so it has been nice to have the extra time to deal with it properly instead of rolling it all up into a giant ball of overwhelmed-ness and disorganization that we would have to deal with once we got to Vancouver.

The pic above is the Louise McKinney walking bridge looking over to downtown. I'm pretty sure one of those towers is Scotia Place, as it is one of the downtown buildings that you can see from almost anywhere in the city. 

2) Getting married (!!!)

 Best thing I’ve done. Seriously. I never suspected it would be such an absolute blast to attend my own wedding. We had an amazing time. Our families and friends amazed us with their support and helpfulness. All of our wedding vendors were champs. We were in love. What more can you ask for? After the excitement of the actual wedding was over, my emotions were running so high that my eyes welled up with happy tears at least once a day for twelve consecutive days afterwards. Hilarious. Following that it was about once every two or three days. It was all just so overwhelming and excellent. I recommend it.

The picture above is the reminder Joel set in his iPhone for our wedding day. Ha.

  

3) Honeymooning

We figured we’d have a lot of time this summer. We were mistaken. This makes me increasingly glad that we decided to getaway for the week following our wedding. We had a super relaxing week full of sleeping in, swimming, bbqing, hiking, canoeing, biking, and coffee. I would not trade that week for anything.

4) Packing up and moving out of my old place

I decided to leave my little apartment basically untouched while we went away after our wedding. It was good not to worry about moving before the wedding, but the major downside to that was that we had to come home and pack and move me in a three and a half day span of time. Whose idea was that? Ummmm. What a whirlwind. I tapped into the most dedicated version of myself and spent a few 16 hour days packing before Joel and Lewis championed my move up to my new home downtown. Thanks guys.  Then I returned to clean up and say goodbye. This is a final goodbye shot in the bathroom mirror where Natasha had drawn a sweet heart for us to return home to after honeymooning.


That brings us to the end of June. I'll tackle both the wedding and July later on. And by then it will likely be time to catch you up on August.

House Tour: Part V

I spent part of Saturday tidying up my house because it has become a pit of wedding preparation. I decided I would focus on my bedroom so that I could post the pics AND run away from the clutter that is all around. Not that I don't LOVE the clutter. I do. It's so fun to have 20 projects on the go all at once. Just...busy and messy.

Anyways, here's my room.

And my giant green dresser/credenza from Goodwill. And on the right a giant "a" scored by Natasha's sister and passed along to me. Oh, and a little ceramic bust of a composer on the bed side table.

My styrofoam and fabric upholstered head board, little library drawers, and my Anthro knock-off bed spread from Target.

 This is the view from the bed, into the laundry area that leads to the bathroom. And the chair that me and my mom recovered.

And my jewelery catch-all and little moss terrarium.

And on the other side of the door, my letterpress drawer from my sis, a chalkboard I made out of a thrifted frame, and more jewelery stuff.

And...the finale...MY SUPER ORGANIZED CLOSET. And it OFTEN looks almost this clean. I am pretty stoked about it.

Wedding Guest of the Week Pt. IV

Lisa, who has asked to be referred to as the wedding guest of the millennium, is a friend of mine from university. We spent hours locked in the newspaper office together drinking fruit and veggie juice and eating subway sandwiches...oh, and putting together the paper. And bonding with Joel. Me a little more than her.

The picture of us here is from a trip Lisa and I took to Montreal where we had tons o' fun doing parkour all over the city. So much fun that when people ask me what I did in Montreal, I can't really remember anything except for the parkour. And the poutine I guess. GREAT DAY.

Here are her answers:

Q: Favourite punctuation mark?
A: The interrobang!?

Q: Favourite chemical element?
A: gin

Q: Chicken or fish?
A: camel

Q: Worst wedding idea you have shared with the couple so far?
A: that bethany knit her own wedding dress. clearly crocheting is far classier.

Q: Best wedding idea you have shared with the couple so far?
A: planking-themed hen party. duh.

Q: I knew it was true love when __________.
A: when joel pulled bethany out of GIS to give her a Safeway sandwich. and then pulled 13 all-nighters with us in the chronicle office.
 
Q: I am most looking foward to _______:
A: the parkour portraits

And just for a bonus, here is a video of what started it all:

House Tour: Part IV

I am determined to wrap up this house tour before I move out of the dang place. And by "the dang place", I really mean the place that I love. It seriously has been such a great place to spend my last year of singleness. Whoooo!

We have finally arrived at the living room, where I spend most of my time when I'm home. Usually right in front of the fireplace. Laying on a giant pillow on the floor with  my feet almost touching the glass. All basement suites should have fireplaces. I'm convinced.

Below is the view from the kitchen. That side table on the left was a kick ass Christmas gift from my brother. It's a cedar beam shaped into a stool/table and sanded until it's soooo smooth. He also gave me the art rail because he didn't feel like returning it to IKEA. And I love it. Less holes to patch when I move too. I just made those pillowcases for the throw pillows this week. They were bed linens, but the pin tucks and buttons made them a nightmare to sleep on, and I'm not much for decoration pillows on the bed (Along Came Polly, anyone?), so I cut them up and sewed them into something better.  The card catalog coffee table was saved from a Lloydminster library by my librarian aunt and uncle, and found its way to me from their garage when they moved to Edmonton. Yay! And finally, on the right, on the bookshelf, is a kickass gift from Joel. A huge wooden ampersand that was the beginning of an accidental ampersand collection. Oops. 

Here are my tiny windows, and a giant letter that Natasha saved for me from the sign yard by her place.

 

And here is the fireplace. Another salvaged letter. And a cork board that I made out of a thrift store frame, covered in postcards from Joel. 

 And some cute stuff....including a teacup from Joel's mom's side of the family.

And my little bird under a bell jar.

And my tv. Covered in crap in an attempt to make it cuter. Or less obvious. Or something.

And the first gift I ever got from Joel is under the bell jar. A tiny atlas. I liked it then, and I like it now.  Just like him. Awwwwww. The striped pillow was originally purchased for a pillow case that I bought in Paris, but I am obsessed with stripes in clothing AND decor at the moment, so I've just been using it as is. Also that is my in front of the fireplace floor-lying pillow.

So that's the living room. You can see glimpses of the other half of the room, which is my crafty area and is a disaster of wedding stuff at the moment...so you'll have to wait a little longer for that one. After that all that's left is the bedroom. I know you are all dying from the anticipation.