Lacklustre

. . .Not sure if this break from school is a rest for my poor little brain, or if it's atrophy for my intellect, but in any case, I've been feeling less and less sure of my ken and artistry. I tried sketching the [small, short, graffitied] clocktower in the middle of a would-be park just outside my condo, but that ended in dismal failure. I'd upload the sketches, but uhh...
. . .And I should be reading more. I've become so "decadent" (in the literal sense) that my English is nothing more than a mere force of confidence than actual merit of fluency. Sure, I know some kooky words. But there's so much more to a language than vocabulary. Sentence patterns, allusions, literary references, poetry - all these can be done without an impressive diction. I don't want to get into yet another linguistic discussion because oh so few people ever have the patience or interest to read it all anyways. In a nutshell, I feel that my English has degraded to a heap of bricks than an impressive architectual achievement.
. . .Everybody already knows that I prefer tersity over verbosity, British over American. Which is an out-right lie, sometimes. Long convoluted sentences are pretty funny, as infamous quotes from the TV character Sir Humphery Appleby [from Yes, Minister!] display. Quote at the end of my post. ;)
. . .On the creative front, I've also had trouble writing and drawing. I can't seem to budge a page in my would-be novel, and anything that manages to be scrawled onto the pages of my sketchbook all end up being mentally dismissed as meaningless drivel. And I'm also to create a card for a certain someone who's flying away in a week. But sby already beat me to it in getting people to sign stuff, so I'm not sure if I should just make an ultra-personal card, or just give up and smile.
. . .Anywhoo... Yesterday was pretty long. it officially ended at around 2:30am, but I didn't get to rest until around 4:30am, since I had to walk home from the person's house to my condo. (About an equivalent distance between McNicol+Leslie and Yonge+Sheppard.) That was... fun. I got to think a lot, and mull over what I was to do for and in my future in terms of school, career, residence, marriage, etc. So with the exception of the minor complication of finding a girlfriend, I'm to graduate in December 2004, work for a year (to make money; pay off OSAP, etc), go into grad school and get a PhD by 2008, marry and settle down in either Toronto-Canada, Vancouver-Canada, Guilford-England, Tokyo-Japan or Frankfurt am Main-Germany. You'll notice the list becomes increasingly impossible. So in most likelyhood, I'll be staying here in Toronto, or I *could* do what my father did and start a family in total isolation from the rest of my family. Though in this case, I've already used the word "family" in two different senses. Hrrmmm...
. . .I briefly got to see a friend today, which was nice. 'Cept that things got cut short and I had to run. But at least I got to rest for a bit -- my lack of sleep from the night before thrust me into a 4-hour nap between the hours of 4:00pm and 8:00pm. Waking up was rather disorienting. And the nap wasn't entirely pleasant either; phonecalls interdispersed my slumber, lending to a constant sense of unrest.
. . .With the weekend over, I'm now planning for myself certain things to do so that my week away from school doesn't end up being a total waste. I'll try to finish reading at least three novels, and write up at least 5 more chapters for my story. If I'm feeling satisfied with my work, I might even post it on dA. But in all reality, I highly doubt it. The most I'll do is probably just give it to a few close friends to read. And maybe, out there among my fantasies, I'll get it published... ^_^
. . .Anyways, below's a quote from the show Yes, Minister. Sir Humphrey Appleby is the scheming civil servant (Permanent Under Secretary of State), and James Hacker is the Minister. I couldn't find the quote where he really abuses the run-on sentence to say a simple thing, but this one's still fun to read! ^_^
Sir Humphrey Appleby: You see, the British foreign office has had the same basic goal for at least the last five hundred years, and that is to create a disunited Europe. In that cause, we've fought with the Germans against the French and Spanish, with the Turkish and French against the Russians, and with the French and Russians against the Germans and Italians. It's the old divide and rule, you see, that's why we want to break up the European Union. We tried to break it up from the outside, but that wouldn't work. Now that we're inside we're free to make a complete pig's breakfast of the whole thing. We can set the Spanish against the Germans, the Germans against the French, the French against the Italians. Foreign office is terribly pleased, it's just like old times.
James Hacker: But if that's true, why is the foreign office pushing for higher membership?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: I'd have thought that was obvious. The more members an organization has, the more arguments it can stir up. The more futile and impotent it becomes.
James Hacker: What appalling cynicism.
Sir Humphrey Appleby: Yes, minister. We call it diplomacy.