Social theory, death, birthdays and stuff.

I was sitting here, the other night, looking over old LJs from this time last year. My first set of university exams. I knew nothing about sociology and sociologists. It's funny to think how much that's changed. My head is now full of theories and theorists, ideas and concepts, and it's time to review it all properly for my exam on Monday. I am capable of answering questions which ask me to compare Emile Durheim and Max Weber, or at least I will be, by exam time.

On a completely different, and somewhat sombre, note... Today would have been my great-aunt's birthday. She passed away a year and two days ago.

I think I might be the only one who really remembered, but I'm pretty sure my grandmother (her sister) did. No one's said anything about it, at any rate. How do you bring it up? "Yeah, so... it was a year ago that the last of my great-aunts died..."

My grandmother and I were talking about her sisters the other day. Both my great-aunts were extremely religious, and, on the passing of the Pope, my grandmother commented that it was probably a good thing they'd passed away before Pope John Paul II because they wouldn't have taken his death very well. Despite their certainty that he would, of course, go to Heaven, they would have been heartbroken at his passing. Actually, if they were still around and in halfway decent health (which neither of them were, for the last 6-12 months of their lives), I'm sure they would have flown to Rome and practically camped out in la Piazza di San Pietro and cried and prayed.

Instead of them mourning him, though, I smiled. I smiled because, in my mind, my aunts are both in Heaven and were there to welcome John Paul II upon his arrival. I think that would have made them both very happy.

Bonne fête, MB. Tu me manques.

Yeah. Time to get back to social theory.

Oh. My. God.

Completely unintentionally, I have snubbed Jeopardy!. I may go jump off my building, now.

Anyone who knows me pretty well knows that I'm a trivia freak. My favourite board game is Trivial Pursuit. I have a vast amount of useless, trivia knowledge at my disposal. I'm not so hot with stuff like opera or whatever, but I'm pretty good with pop culture, history, geography, technology and stuff like that.

As such, I adore Jeopardy! and have been watching it ever since I was a kid and got bored with Wheel of Fortune's inane phrases. While in Virginia, my then-GF and I would watch Jeopardy! religiously. Every night at 7 or 7:30 (I can't remember which), we'd watch. We'd play against each other. Whoever could say "Who is...[whatever]" first would be awarded the points for the question if they were right, and the points would be subtracted if they were wrong. I watched a SICK amount of Jeopardy! during this time of my life. And before and after it, too. At my family's house, that's what we've always done at 7pm, if one of the family members isn't around and we don't eat in the dining room. We would watch Jeopardy! while eating and calling out answers.

While I hadn't watched regularly since moving out of my folks' home, I still enjoy it. And I'd taken to watching it on my own ever since Ken Jennings was on. I watched his 27th win in a row all the way to the end, basically, except when class interrupted me. And I've kept watching.

So about two months ago, I was at my parents' having dinner. It was just me and my mom and my brother, and Jeopardy! was on, and they announced that they were doing a contestant search in Toronto! For a Montrealer, this is much closer than, you know, Los Angeles. So I submitted my name and information on the website. I knew that they'd be in Toronto in late April, which was after classes had ended.

I gave them an email address I rarely use. But they never wrote to me, so I sort of forgot about it.

Well, on a break from studying, I randomly checked that address today for the first time in at least a week.

Date: April 7, 2005

Congratulations! You have been selected for an appointment in our upcoming Jeopardy! contestant search for the Toronto area. We have reserved the following appointment for you:

When: Friday April 29th Time: 9:00am

Where: Toronto, ONT

You must RSVP within two business days of receipt of this email to secure your place in the audition.

Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Not only did I not reply in time, but the audition is RIGHT BETWEEN TWO OF MY EXAMS. AUGH.

And even this:

Due to overwhelming demand we can only hold your spot for two business days. If you respond after that period of time, and if we still have space, we will be happy to provide you with an appointment.

doesn't really help, because of the exam. Alas!

They better not blacklist me or anything. :/

I can't believe I totally snubbed Jeopardy!.