To Do

I've made up my mind to complete my damn To Do list by the end of the day. This is getting ridiculous - I'm feeling less anxiety about things while having accomplished zero. I think I've got a stubborn defense mechanism in my brain which forces me to erase any unfinished tasks from my brain in order to relieve me from stress. But as the cycles goes, the stress comes back. So before it does I am determined to atleast write these things down - including the good stuff I always talk about doing, like doing more exercise and working on mini art projects that I want to work on for some Christmas gifts.

Yesterday in my Cinéma canadien et québécois class we watched clippings of movies and documentaries. At one point the professor felt it was necessary for us to view parts of an Elvis Gratton movie. My body was suddenly overwhelmed by a puff of heat, which started in my chest and rose quickly to my face. I grabbed the side of my desk with both hands and stared at the door, wondering if I should run out. There are many reasons why I don't enjoy the Elvis movies - parody, while sometimes an important outlet, is something that the Québécois have done a bit too liberally in my opinion. How many Elvis Grattons, La P'tite Vie, Les Bougons, etc do we have to revere as cult icons of Québecois culture? Do we not have other sides of us to showcase and celebrate to each other, the rest of Canada and internationally? Nevertheless, it is not this opinion that unexpectedly brought me to near-panic. The movie played on a particularly bad summer night for me several years ago, that one night that affected me for such a long time. I guess I underestimated the power of certain visuals and sounds, which awaken one's memory in such a powerful way. It was absolutely unnerving, and I hope either to never see another Elvis movie again, or else to see them all at length in order to face this maddening memory trigger.

I should end this here if I'm to do some work and complete my list. Oh, but before I leave - someone I know truly believes that Olivia Newton-John's 'Let's Get Physical' song is much more compelling than Simon & Garfunkel's 'Sound of Silence'. I find this utterly impossible to understand, but don't let that influence your own opinion. So which one is it? Olivia Newton-John or Simon & Garfunkel?