Body Break:

RESUSCITATE YOUR BRAIN!

By Stephanie Trembath,
Life and Style Editor

fter two weeks spent eating,
Aziz and enjoying

time off from the familiar
stresses of school, it’s natural for that
general feeling of dread and angst to
begin creeping up as we prepare for
the new semester to start. Personally,
I have already began thinking about
midterms and planning which days
I can study and for how long, but I
still think it’s important to savour the
few moments you get by yourself
by doing something you enjoy,
which for me happens to be reading.
Likewise, if you spent the holidays
snowboarding, travelling, partying,
or rushing around shopping malls
for all your perfect Christmas gifts,
reading is one activity that allows a
chance to relax for a few hours while
still enjoying yourself. A book nerd

myself, I loitered in bookstores for
an absurd amount of time over the

_ holidays and picked these gems out as

my personal favourites;
If you enjoy escapism:

Oryx and Crake and The Year of
the Flood by Margaret Atwood. Her

. writing may be really dry and hard

to get into, but it’s the perfect way to
escape for a few hours and her novels
usually leave you thinking about the
way our society works and often are
disturbing and depressing. Oryx and
Crake is the prequel to Atwood’s
recent novel The Year of the Flood;
both offer a dystopic view point of
the world and the way we live. If
you enjoy works by George Orwell
and his novel 1984, you will enjoy
Atwood’s novels.
If you want to laugh:

I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
by Tucker Max. Extremely offensive
to women, often disgusting, and

IfFE ana Styie

unnecessarily descriptive, Tucker
Max’s first novel is a recount of

his twenties as a partying addict

and floundering lawyer. He is rude,
cynical, chauvinistic, racist, and an
egotistical drunk, but his novel is
hilarious in an unusual way and a
nice break from the norm. A word of
warning; ladies, you are going to take
offense to just about every second
word out of this guy’s mouth so if you
are a little too sensitive or a radical
feminist I would go back to Atwood.
Keep in mind you don’t have to agree
with what he is writing and the fact
that you will hopefully never run into
this guy and you will be alright.

If you enjoy philosophy:

The Doors of Perception by
Aldous Huxley. Written about his
experience on the drug mescaline,
Huxley’s novel is delicately written,
incredibly intellectual, and shares a
rare knowledge of drugs and their

effects. Like much of his other works,
Huxley’s novel enlightens the reader
through methods of escapism and
philosophical questioning. If you
want a light or easy read, do not
choose one of Huxley’s works.

If you have a love for literature:

In the Skin of a Lion and
Slaughterhouse by Michael Ondaatje.
One of my personal favourite writers
based on his purely poetic language
and effortless ability in describing
mundane events with such precision
and immaculate detail. Typically
dealing with romance and conflict,
both novels are written in a place
between fragmented memories and
a present state, so the stories unfold
slowly and not in linear fashion;
events are slowly transformed and
details are hidden to stir the suspense.

 

Christmas cheer and New Year’s resolutions

Babe on a Budget

By Stephanie Trembath,
Life and Style Editor

hristmas this year passed me

by much too fast and came

way too soon; I had barely
finished exams when I found myself
agonizing over what to buy friends
and family with what little money
I saved over the course of our fall
semester. My meagre diet of sushi,
eggs, and yogurt is a sure-fire way
to save money although my coffee
addiction was fast at consuming my
squandered funds. After decidedly
setting up a secret Santa among
my sisters (there’s four of us) and
splitting the cost of my parents gifts
with my sisters (they must think I
am so cheap), I made it through the
holidays with enough money left over
to pay rent.

Thankfully I received a ton of

money for my birthday which is
in December, and for Christmas
from relatives and family members
who know I recently moved
out. Apparently moving out is a
responsible and mature act, so
everyone has the shared idea of
my growing up and making better

choices and those types of adult
things, which is not always the case.
Instead of taking my over-generous
check from my dad that I received for
my birthday and putting it towards
textbooks or saving it for rent, I
purchased a ridiculously priced pair
of jeans from Miss Sixty. They are
mostly dark denim with a strip of
black nylon running down the middle
of the leg, and I got them on sale at
30% off, but they are not practical

for use every day and will most
likely be out of style within the year.
However, I wore them out twice

over the holidays and the amount of
compliments and stares I received
make them totally worth it, and I
figured I just won’t tell my dad what I
used the money for.

For the rest of my family, the
ones who know me better and realize
that I have the tendency to do what
I want when I want regardless of
the future consequences, I received
more practical gifts that I would
never on any account purchase for
myself. My lovely sister, who is
twenty years old and miles ahead of
me in the logical department, bought
me a combination of presents for

the kitchen. I now have a steamer,
rice cooker, slow cooker, and

three vegetarian cook books. I am
extremely excited to chop, mix, and
toss things into my cookers to stew
all day so that my dinner pretty much
prepares itself, but I am not going to
lie; I am terrified and the whole idea
gives me anxiety. I intend to start
reading the cookbooks right away
and have already invited friends over
for a dinner party in the upcoming
week. My backup plan; I have a
couple of bottles of wine I received
for Christmas so I can always get
everyone drunk before I feed them.
That way no one will a) care what
they are eating, or b) realize what is
on the plate.

My boyfriend, along with the
razor blade necklace, bought me
pillows, slip covers, a French press
machine, and a humidifier. He’s
a keeper isn’t he? I mean, who
wouldn’t want razor blades and
pillows for Christmas? Again, they
are things I desperately needed,
especially the French press to make
coffee so I can quit spending $5.65
a day on lattes. My New Years
resolution was to cut Starbucks, but

that resolution lasted exactly twelve
hours. I woke up Saturday morning
and where did I immediately go?
Yes, I headed to Starbucks, but in
my defence I was not at my place
to use my brand new coffee maker
so that one morning was my freebie
(I anticipate lots of freebies in the
upcoming future, especially during
the first week back to school).

Alas, 2011 is a brand new year
and I intend to use all my practical
gifts to their full extent and ease up
on the frivolous purchases (especially
since I exhausted the majority of my
funds on my Miss Sixty jeans, a white
shirt that makes me look like a flying
squirrel when I stretch my arms out,
and a belt that I’ve wanted and got
sick of waiting for it to go on sale).