Thursday, June 30, 2011

The Sexual Cynic, inaugural post

I have come up with a brilliant new instalment for this blog: The Sexual Cynic.

You may notice I don't talk about sex much on my blog. No, my mom doesn't read it (but friends' moms do I think...sorry). It's less an issue of decency and moral censorship and more a case of it not being relevant to my life. In that I'm single. And don't go out. And don't take home strange. And know no men who aren't closeted homosexuals or trying to sell me pyramid-scheme vitamins.

Perhaps I've been out of the game too long, but after a recent (and hilariously public) discussion and pantomime of various sex positions and their relative virtues, I am considering the fact that I have been having sex all wrong for ages. I thought "showers - now that's racy." But as a compliment to our discussion, one of my more sexually adventurous compatriots shared a link to Women's Health Magazine's "Best Sex Positions Ever." And, since my thesis is due next week, I've obviously and logically started perusing these watercoloured roadmaps to better orgasms. Because I am a masochist. But also because, fuck, I don't get it. I find myself gaping at them with hardly contained laughter, listing in my mind (and not out loud, thank God - I'm in the library!) the physical impossibilities and improbable scenarios where these positions would seem ideal.

And maybe I'm a lone prude, but I thought you, kind readers, might be fascinated as well by what is being passed off as the pinnacle of sexual enjoyment and par for the course of bedroom acrobatics, as well as amused by my blatant mockery of such suggestions.

So I will start with:

The Butter Churner
Ok. Based on the picture alone, nay the title, I know you must be giving me some mental flack about choosing the most easily mockable sex pose of the bunch. But honestly, this was the one that, upon viewing, my floodgates for ludicrous boudoir patronizing and bizarre watercolours broke way - there are many more ridiculous positions which I will happily mock in future, but this is the position which inspired an entire instalment of sex bloggery. So let's give it it's dues. A quick word about the watercolours. I find the watercolour approach gives a veneer of ease, serentity and intimacy that the "hey, want to try sex on your head" reality just can't conform with. It is the visual equivalent of writing in italics. And it's obnoxious. 
Moving swiftly past the depiction itself - because no one has any idea what's going on here, let's be real - here is the explanation of this position:
Lie on your back with your legs raised and folded over so that your ankles are on either side of your head, while he squats and dips his penis in and out of your vagina
Ok, so first of all, this is yoga. Actually. It's called Plough pose. Which has apparently been confused by the sexologists of Women's Health with Plow Pose. And it isn't particularly easy, and does not lend itself to comfortable long holds - it can be very hard on your back. That is without someone sitting on your hips. Oh sorry, I mean "dipping his penis in and out of your vagina." Dipping might be the worst sex verb ever employed. It makes me think of lowering a bucket into a well, and dear God, if that's what this position is like, lady, get yourself to a plastic surgeon stat. 
But that's not all. Now that we know the "How," Women's Health reveals the "Why???" ...sorry...I mean the benefits: 
Aside from getting that eye contact, the extra rush of blood into your head will increase the ecstasy. 
Take a moment. Grab a camera or handheld mirror. Hold it by your belly (or, for the bust-blessed, your chest). Now, touch your chin to you collarbones. Look into that mirror. That is the sexy eye contact you will be making. Or perhaps, have to try your damnedest to maintain so that the gentleman doing jumpsquats over your lady business wont notice you have 4 chins. Minimum. Also, the extra rush of blood to the head manifests itself as a tomato red face. I'm sure you know - or at least have inferred from viewing Twilight - how blood is red? Yeah...
Finally, my favourite part of this inane guide, the suggested bonus, in case this isn't hot and racy enough on its own:
Have him dribble chocolate syrup or honey into your mouth. It gets more of your senses involved and amps up the whole experience.
I've never heard the "more senses involved" logic behind food-sex, but doesn't a mint strike you as the easier solution. I am firmly in the "mint" school of sex thought. I can't believe that that is my initial reaction though - I think I've had to just suspend all reality in order to mentally digest this suggestion. This guy, doing squats - I mean, I honestly hope he's a minute man, because I know nothing less than a rugby coach screaming at me and shaming me in front of my teammates has compelled me to do squats for more than 2 minutes straight - is, in his state of physical exhaustion (and I would assume sexual frustration), expected to grab a can of Hershey's chocolate sauce and dribble it all over your 89 chins? Where are you having this Cirque De Soliel sex that you have both the traction to maintain the position as well as the complete absence of fear of dribbling chocolate sauce on something that can be ruined? Obviously not a Persian rug - dry cleaners and Persian carpet weavers do not take kindly to the "I was having yoga sex with ice cream condiments" explanation for a ruined throw carpet. The only answer that is even remotely feasible to me is yoga mat. And we've come full circle. As someone who actually does yoga, I would rather yoga be about yoga, lest I open my mind to the possibility that I am being ogled by perverts in yoga class who have come to improve upon their sexual dexterity. I don't want to chant "Ohm" in that context. And if you don't do yoga, sorry friend, this position is going to be very uncomfortable. I find it uncomfortable and I've practised yoga regularly for almost three years now.

Summary: Never. Going. To. Happen.


Oh, and if you never want to see this kind of shit again, what with the liberal presence of bold face "vagina" spattered throughout, I will reconsider my new hobby, just let me know...

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Whoa

After google searching the name of my blog (because, lest you missed the header, I'm a narcissist) I discovered that my chosen title- "Wear Rags and Picking Sides" (seriously dude, read the header) - could be an artist turn of phrase indicating gang-war. Do-rags and blue flags, motha fuckas.

I am very, very white.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Crying for Strangers

I had the opportunity to chat last night with my good, and oft-mentioned, comrade-in-antics, Heather. I told her that I would dedicate my next blog post to our well established and hilariously well-documented friendship. Alas, friend, it will have to wait.

Today has been a strangely emotional day for me. I struggled to wake up this morning, disoriented by the buzzer of my alarm (I switched I from vibrate to ensure I would get up). My yoga practice was frustrating, and the weather is hot, muggy and overcast. I wasn't getting good vibes. Then, half a block from my house, a guy stops me in the street. I generally bristle against being approached by strange men, but I've been trying my best to be a more pleasant person lately, so I stopped, removed my headphones and sun glasses, and listened to him.

He didn't live on the block, and so was looking to find the owner of a cat. A cat he had just discovered lying in the gutter. He asked me if I recognized it, if it was from around here. And she was. She was the most charming little thing, wandering up and down the street, meowing and rubbing herself up against you if you caught her when she wasn't napping in flower beds. The other day, she followed me down the block after my run, and sat underneath me as I stretched. And there she was, looking like she was napping, dead in the gutter.

My heart broke.

Another neighbour came by, equally appalled, who knew where she lived. So the man who stopped me rang the bell to break the bad news to the owner. He didn't care. It seemed like he already knew, and had perhaps placed her in the gutter himself. I had thought she had tags - I remember thinking that I should check what her name was - but it looked like he had removed them. I was so furious. Four different people had stopped in the street, having recognized this little cat and wanting to do something for her, and her owner didn't appear to even care.

I fought back sobs my entire walk to campus. I wanted to call my mom and ask how She Ra was, but I knew I would start bawling. I can't believe how much love I could feel for an animal I hardly knew, a stranger. And I am heartbroken that her owner did not share that.

please don't get eaten by coyotes baby girl!
I have so much respect for the stranger who tried to find this cat's owner - "they're probably waiting for her to come home. She shouldn't just stay in the ditch - they may want to cremate her." - and his efforts almost give me faith that there are genuinely good, altruistic people. And then I think there are people who should not be allowed to have pets. I don't know what I would do if someone knocked on my door and told me She Ra was dead. It would break me.


What a tremendously hard way to start the day. I really miss my baby girl.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Dragging it Together

The weather has turned around, and for whatever reason, that means I have finally managed to get a mostly productive day in today! I can't explain it, but when it is rainy and miserable, I can't seem to focus on any sort of work - all I want to do is nest. Which is basically how I spent my whole weekend. I watched four movies, all by my lonesome and everything.

Well now it's 28 degrees and sunny. So it's back to the library to hurtle out another thesis chapter this week. Sigh. On the plus side, if I get up and to the library early I let myself leave early as well. I'm not my own most dedicated employee, that's for sure. Slept through my alarm this morning, missing my morning yoga class, which meant that I was actually at the library an hour earlier than usual. So I let myself leave at 4:00 to make a 4:30 yoga class.

If I didn't mention it, I am back on a major yoga kick right now. My aim is to go every day for the rest of my days in Montreal - which, tragically, are numbered! I don't know which part of that sentence I am exclaiming - it's all pretty exclamatory: ambitious/startling new! I will let you know how it goes, but this is less a "30 Day Challenge" type exercise than it is a "it's time to seriously change your life" thing. I want to be someone who needs to sweat every day. And yoga just gives me such peace of mind. And I have actually noticed some leap-and-bound scale improvements lately. Like, get this, a friend of mine the other day said "Damn you and your yoga body!" to ME! I have a yoga body? I am skeptical about this one, but it was an honour to hear it, because I don't know if you revere yoga bodies like I do, but they are some seriously beautiful things to behold (I'm sorry if you practice yoga with me - yes, I ogle everyone). But in the concrete reality of improvements, I can press my palms flat on the ground in a forward fold! That is amazing!! I used to have to have the trainer rub out and stretch my hamstrings for me before games, and now I can fold myself in half.

Pretty bomb kids, pretty bomb.

Wish me luck this week - things get real up in this thesis.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Could, Should, Ought to work

But instead I have come home 3 hours premature from the library to make pasta and watch the Big Bang Theory. I think if I polish off the series (yeah...I know...I'm rightly ashamed), then I will have no distractions during this week. No distractions means I will be able to polish off a first draft of my - holy shit, get this - thesis.

Forgot I was writing a thesis, didn't you?

Well I did. Most of the time.

And now it seems it is almost at its completion. Way cool guys. Way cool.

I am just finding it hard to commit to the end. Enter cheesy joke about all my ex boyfriends ever.

Or instead, hilarious dream an ex boyfriend shared with me(since I'm a little sensitive that all my ex boyfriends have been in long term relationships since me, while I have been single and living with a cat ever since...):

I had this dream the other night that we were still dating...
uh....
...and we ran into Chabal...
Awesome! Nice to know that we are cosmically linked by our love of a primordeal rugby player
...and you slept with him...
Go me
... but I was like "...Well, it is Chabal." And was somehow ok with it.
Chabal has sex with other guys' girlfriends and they give him high fives all the time! And then they ice their hands, unable to stand the awesome power of Chabal's hand
And he was also somehow a bunch younger and didn't have the long hair...
Jackpot, me!
...and naturally you had sex in front of me on the field.
Naturally?! But more importantly, on the field? I hope people paid to witness this event!






 

Friday, June 24, 2011

It's Raining, It's pouring

Happy St Jean Baptiste Day commrades of French Canada. Lucky Quebec - 2 long weekends in a row (taking advantage of two "national" holidays. I am so Anglo - I resent the spirit of this holiday, which I find rather steeped in separatism, but God damn am I going to take advantage of it. Because the library is closed.

That said, it's raining.

And that said - I don't care.

I don't know if it's because I was raised in the prairies, but I LOVE rain. Rain in Alberta meant sun showers or epic thunderstorms, and it was always a treat. Which I guess is a good attitude, since I went on to live on Vancouver Island, and in the UK and Halifax. All kinds of coastal rain in my past.

My plan for today? Nesting. Big time nesting. I am going to make zucchini bread, do my laundry, tidy my apartment, watch a movie, and hopefully go for a run. I actually love going for runs in the rain. Not for long or anything, but when I run my body feels so hot and dry, so the rain distracts me from that. And I own two pairs of sneakers anyway.


My neighbour's cat has been coming in to visit me (sorry She Ra!) and I thought this picture captured exactly what I want to do today. 




 Any other rain worshippers out there? I am usually the only one.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Good Morning, Heathens

I hope all of my fabulous pagan friends enjoyed their Summer Solstice yesterday. You know what that means? This year is celestially half over. Once I thought about it that way, I realized that this would be an excellent opportunity to look back at my New Year's resolutions, and perhaps even revise. Because if I haven't managed it by now, perhaps its time to reconsider. Besides flexibility and the ability to reset your aims are generally good things, right?

Ok, so what were those fucking resolutions anyway?

1. Make Yoga a Priority. Yo! It totally is. I took nearly a month off while I was in California, and only went thrice when I was in Calgary for 10 days, but since I've been back I have gone every day. I love it. I missed it. I need it in my day to feel sane.
2. You will be a Runner. Well. I'm working on this. I ran a bit in Cali (though the heat - serious impedement), and had been planning on signing up at the Running Room (which would be a big hit to my pride, let me tell you), but I haven't really fallen into step. Get it? Running pun. Now that I am working full time on my thesis though, I have dedicated my mornings to yoga and the evenings to running. Which I've done once. But I am in a good rhythm right now, so fingers crossed...
3. Exercise Some Will Power. Alright, well this had been initially conceived as the "give up dessert" resolution. It isn't going so hot. Now that I'm back in Montreal, my resistance is better, but I think my will power would be better exercised more generally; drink less, order healthier, make more food at home, etc. So will power stays, but so will dessert.  

4. Love Thy Skin. Oh yeah, I'm all over this. Though I need to step back and try again to stop touching my face. Magnifying mirrors are the devil.
5. Regimen, regimen, regimen. Yup, I'm doing pretty well on this. I've even started to write down the nonessentials in my agenda - dinner invites, yoga classes attended, birthdays.
6. TLC for my BFFs. Ugh. I've been abysmal. Sorry compadres. I will jump back on the horse once...
7. Finish Your Thesis. I am halfway there! I have 32 pages written, and it needs to be anywhere from 50-100 pages. So I was aiming for 60. And that's more than halfway. And I'm at the point right now where I'm mostly done researching (though I have to look back at my sources constantly to remind me what I'm looking for) and am just writing. Which I rock at. I should be able to get it in on the 4th - a week earlier than planned! Only real obstacle? This postal strike we're experiencing here in Canada means that the sources that the American Motion Picture Arts & Science Archive mailed to me at the beginning of the month is yet to arrive. And may not before my thesis needs to be in. Uh oh...


So not so bad on the whole! The thesis is dominating my days lately, as it rightly should, but I'm optimistic. I am a couple weeks a way from being basically a Master of (the) Arts!


Which reminds me, as impressive as this whole "thesis" accomplishment may be, a darling friend of mine is going to be achieving something equally (or in my opinion, much more) impressive. The lovely Kathy will be competing in a mothafuckinTRIATHALON this weekend. I'm floored. I didn't even know she was training. Considering my most recent attempt at a run got me, oh, 8 minutes of straight running, and I am a pro-doggy padler, this is wildly impressive to me. And I will also give props to Chopper, who is training for one as well.


One day I may run a 5 k...


Congrats amazing friends! You inspire me!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Pops


























"Well thanks for the father's day call Syd."
"No problem. Thanks for fathering me. I appreciate it."
 
 
Happy Father's Day Baby Daddies the world round.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Five Senses Friday VII

Feeling:
annoyed. With myself for not getting more work done this week [read: any work done] and with my sandal for breaking when I was 5 minutes from campus, 20 minutes from home.
Smelling:
Books. That old book smell. During the summer the library loses that Axe, Vanilla Body Spray, Redbull aroma, mysteriously.
Hearing:
Near silence. Birds.
Tasting:
My own sandpaper tongue. I am still dehydrated from Wednesday night... [that would be a snake on my route to adulthood]
Seeing:
My new maxi skirt is already pilling. Sigh. 

Off to do work - happy weekend, one and all.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Long Time No See

Sorry internet compadres - it was, believe it or not, pointed out to me that I had gone a negligently long time without posting anything on my beloved blog. People were without procrastination material and that, frankly, is inexcusable.

I had been without the internet while my mum and I drove from Southern California back up to my sweet home in Calgary, and upon our return I reverted to being a 14-year-old.

Seriously.

Ok, well, not seriously, but hyperbolically to prove a point.

Whenever I return to my childhood home, despite any impressive advancements I've made in behaviour, routine or responsibility, I revert back into a child. I stopped living full time in that house when I was 14 and started attending boarding school (not because my parents hated me, for the record - for some reason that is the first question that arises from any mention of "boarding school"...which is awkward, because, what if that was why, asshole?). So throughout highschool and my undergrad, home was the place I went for vacation, to relax and be coddled. And that is apparently psychologically ingrained in me. I would stay up until 3 am watching videos online, sleep in until 11:00, eat all kinds of indulgent garbage, and cease any possible productivity. I didn't even blog, so imagine what the state of my thesis is.

Is this an isolate phenomenon, or do other people experience this? And is it as absolutely harrowing for others as I find it? It scares the sweet God out of me that location and environment may be entirely responsible for my maturity. Truly a frightening proposition if you are acquainted with the heights of my maturity [read: Law & Order].

Well, worry not, for now. I am back in Montreal, and I have already gone out with friends to watch a hockey game, unpacked, stored my winter clothes, gone grocery shopping, swept and mopped and am heading to yoga. Thesis work pending.

Some progress made on the Snakes & Ladders to Adulthood? While in Calgary I was able to go through and cull some of my clothing. I am an awful packrat and, as readers are well acquainted with, an ardent materialist so parting with possessions, particularly clothing which I have worn and loved too long is hard for me. But, realizing their implicity bro-douchebaggery and their status as strong lesbian indicator, I parted with my Lacoste polos.

But not without a proper send off...





And yes, I am aware that "poster" style on my new camera makes me look like I either have an unfortunate sebum problem of the T-zone or am made of plastic. But it's so edgy.