Laura Stricker

1. I get tired at like 7:00.

2. Naps.

3. After being at standing room shows, my knees hurt.

4. I’ve started wearing earplugs at concerts.

5. I also started wearing an eyemask to bed.

6. I often say things like ‘(insert something here) was never like that when I was a kid!’

7. I have no patience for the stupid things kids/teens do, even though I probably did them myself at some point.

8. A night chilling at a friend’s house now sounds much more appealing than going out to a bar/restaurant.

9. I wasn’t remotely excited for my birthday this year. Two years ago I couldn’t decide on just one thing to do, so I had two birthday parties. This year I was so meh about it Eva planned something and I just showed up (late, too).

10. I no longer refer to myself as a ‘recent’ university graduate.

11. I’m already planning my future as the crazy dog/cat lady.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go soak my dentures and put in my hair curlers.

FYI, this is The Bachelor I’m referring to, not the (inexplicably) popular reality show. That too objectifies women, but that is another topic for another day.

The Bachelor is a 1999 movie starring Renee Zellweger and Chris O’Donnell. O’Donnell plays Jimmie Shannon, a committment phobe bachelor. Zellweger plays faithful girlfriend Anne Arden. That is until she dumps him after a horrible proposal attempt.

Jimmie’s grandfather dies shortly after the breakup, and Jimmie finds out if he hopes to come into the money his grandfather left for him, he has to get married by his birthday - which is a day away.

Towards the end of the movie, there is a scene where hundreds of women, all of whom magically managed to find perfectly fitting wedding dresses, show up at the church where Jimmie is, hoping to marry him.

This scene, being kind, I would describe as uncomfortable. Being honest, I’d call it downright offensive. The wannabe brides proceed to lambast Jimmie, asking him what his type is, then accusing him of only liking “skinny blondes,” which he did not at any point say. Another older woman tells Jimmie he is her “last chance.” The desperation and anger from all these (I’m assuming) jilted women, is, as I said before, totally offensive. Why the director felt he had to portray these women as a bunch of shrieking harpies who are desperate for love, even if it’s with a man they don’t know, is beyond me.

A lot of women I know are strong, independent and beautiful. However, movies like this do absolutely nothing to reinforce that. Instead they make it seem as though women are nothing without having a man to come home to. I wouldn’t call myself a feminist by any means, but I have been independent for a very long time and never needed a man to rely on. To know that women are still seen by many as incapable of surviving without having a boyfriend/fiancee/husband is insulting to all the amazing women I consider myself lucky to know - and the ones I don’t know, as well.

(In no particular order)

1. U2 September 17!

Going with Parvaneh. We have amazing seats. It’s my first time seeing them. That all adds up to one big YAY!

2. Metric October 25!

3. New Margaret Atwood book

I have been an Atwood fan since I read The Handmaid’s Tale when I was 16. A year after that I read Oryx and Crake. This new book, The Year of the Flood, I guess could be described as a sequel to Oryx and Crake. Except it takes place at the same time, looking at the events that unfold in Oryx and Crake through the eyes of others. It comes out September 8. I will definitely be hitting up the bookstore the second it opens.

4. Going back to school
This one is definitely hugely nerdy. But yes, I am actually excited to go back to school (and a bit nervous too). I’ll be taking marketing, and the course sounds very practical and hands-on - and includes a four month internship. So I think it’ll be really good, not only because I believe one can never know too much, but also because hopefully I will feel a sense of purpose again, one that I have been missing for a while now.

5. The Road

A movie that looks absolutely fantastic. It is getting premiered at TIFF next month and being released everywhere in October. I will probably wait until October to see it, but will definitely be keeping my eyes open (and camera ready) for a certain Viggo Mortensen, who never fails to impress (even in the cheesiness that was Hidalgo).