News from the Front

Today has turned out to be a pretty good day (and I’m not even half way through it yet). Just after lunch, I received an e-mail from the folks responsible for creating the student e-mail accounts at McGill University. It looks like I’ve been accepted into Part-time and Continuing Studies for the Certificate in Translation (French to English) program that I had applied to earlier! Hurrah!

Now how does this fit into my grand scheme? Well, I’ve always been a bit of a worrier and since I can’t claim to have loads of job security at the moment, I thought I would take something that could add to my skill set. There’s bound to be a market for someone who can translate French to English in this province. Sure, I could have taken something a wee bit more practical, but what fun would that be? Besides, this also leads back into my explorations of Quebecois culture and would assist me in reading through primary sources should I succeed in my attempt to get into grad studies.

I’ve also recently joined a gym and have managed to get through 3 workouts so far. With any luck, I’ll manage to get back to a dainty 200 lbs sometime in the new year (I’m not going to hazard a guess as to how far through the new year it’ll be, though). So overall, I’ve got some pretty positive things happening. Lastly, voting begins tomorrow for the First Round of voting for the Canadian Blog Awards. Please feel free to show your support for ol’ Al B Here. Til next time…

Apprehension and Anticipation

My mini-cassette recorder is still sitting on the living room coffee table. Beside it, one will find a UWO clipboard with some quotes scribbled on the lined paper contained therein. I don’t think I’ve ever been more apprehensive about finishing an article in my life. Seriously. I know that my half hour interview with Bernard Landry isn’t anything monumental in the grand scheme of things, but I want to do a good job with it.

Now every time I sit down and press play on the player, my mind starts racing. What if my questions all sucked? What if I’ve got absolutely nothing of value out of the interview? Did I just blow a golden opportunity that few writers or reporters get afforded? And while I’m sure my readership is less judgemental (Morgan is, of course, excluded from this comment) than I am of my work, I still want to put something of substance out there. However, in saying that, it occurs to me that shit is still a substance…

In other news, I’ll be taking an entrance exam this coming Thursday in the hopes of entering a part-time certificate program in Translation at McGill University. The department is structured a wee bit differently than what I’m accustomed to at Western, insofar as the types of courses one is eligible to take is limited, but I wanted to do something to keep my mind active and perhaps meet some people. And if I managed to get a certificate out of the deal, then all the better, right? Plus, it gives me a classroom setting to work on my French again. So that’s what I’m up to. Til next time…

Quebec Studies Open House

Around 4pm I got an e-mail in my Inbox from Dr Jarrett Rudy of the History department at McGill University. Apparently he doubles as the Department Head for the fledgling Quebec Studies program there as well. It seems they were having an open house to promote their program, complete with cheese, French bread, wine and (of course) Quebecois beer! I know my readers will be completely shocked that I decided to attend the event. After all, when has Al ever fallen for the old “free beer” recruiting tactic?

So I headed over, with a spring in my step, looking forward to checking this thing out. I arrived a bit later than the majority of the attendees, but in plenty of time to mingle a bit and sample the available beer. I wasn’t quite bold enough to introduce myself to the huddle of professors, but I gradually made the rounds. Once I was on my 3rd beer, I found myself trying to explain the Toronto-Montreal dynamic to a Parisian exchange student, which of course prompted chuckles from the PhD candidate from Alberta. I failed miserably to disguise my complete and total disdain for Toronto, but whatever.

Dr Rudy was also nice enough to offer to be a sounding board for ideas as I try to prepare a research paper for my application to the Masters program. It’ll be nice to get a bit of feedback so I don’t end up completely off track and whatnot. Now I have the unenviable task of trying to come up with a topic. That was always the reason I never tried to do Editorial work for the campus paper back in the day. Heck, I run into the same problem with this blog de temps en temps. So I appeal to my loyal readership: please submit history-related topics that could make for an interesting 15-20 page research paper.

For those anxiously my interview with Bernard Landry, it’ll probably be another few days. I’ve been taking my time with it. Til next time…

Bunnies After Work

A couple of days ago, I was wandering through the Student Centre of the #10 ranked party school in North America, when I saw a sign posted on a bulletin board. It was black and white with a logo known around the world-- a sleek-looking bunny rabbit. Apparently a certain campus pub had invited the local girls from the recent pictorial to do a magazine signing. Well, I think we all know where Al was tonight, don't we?

I was already working late today, so it didn't take too much motivation for me to stop by for a beer or three. The funny thing was, the girls were 2 hours late in showing up, so I pretty much got there on time! Amazing that they all of a sudden got modest, eh? Anyway, the appearance was also tied to a donation for women's breast cancer charities, so I have yet another reason to justify my attendance. But truth be told, I wanted to see what these girls looked like, in person. I hadn't even seen the issue ahead of time (no, seriously!), so this was going to be a surprise all-around.

The two who showed up were Brynn Chudleigh and Phylis Syd (both pseudonyms, obviously), and yes OJ, Brynn was one of the ones sharing the strawberry. At any rate, as I waited for the girls to arrive, I started thinking about the whole Playboy thing. What would these girls look like? Would they be the type who'd catch my eye otherwise? Truthfully, I don't know. Sure, they're both attractive, but I can name a group of waitresses in London who make these girls look pretty average. In fact, I know quite a few women who could easily earn a spot in the world's premier men's magazine.

So why did these girls do it? Well, according to Brynn, the money was pretty sweet. She'd also said that she'd had enough of a good time that she's consider doing it again. Funny since this comment came from the only girl in the pictorial who didn't get naked. I didn't hear anything similar out of Phylis, but based on her other online work, it's pretty clear she has no problem with nudity. According to the write-up, Phylis wants to be an actress, so this is probably just a career move for her. I would like to say, though, that they both seemed very nice. Certainly no attitude or ego being thrown around.

I also came to the conclusion that people get worked up over nothing. Take the Saugeen Stripper, for example. If she was able to handle the initial uproar and attention, then it's probably blown over by now. I am curious, however, to know if she did decide to tough it out or if she transferred or dropped out. Wherever she is, I wish her good luck.

Now I'd like to take a moment to open up the floor to the females of the audience (Presuming any of you bothered to read down this far). If you were asked to pose for Playboy, would you? And please explain your reasoning for either a yay or nay. It'll be fun to see who's actually brave enough to respond. So c'mon ladies, leave some comments. I'm curious to see your reactions.