Time for a Change

Yeah, as you can see, I changed the template. I was getting a little tired of pink. I went for green at first, but then I realized green doesn't really suit me, if that makes sense. So, I went with blue because, of course, it is my favoutrite colour. The one thing I don't like, is that I lost all the changes made to my template, like the comment sections, so now I believe you will have to sign in to comment. Plus, I lost all the pre-exisitng comments, which also sucks. Ah well. Enjoy the new blue colour!

P.S. I also think they should come up with some better templates, because the current ones aren't the greatest to choose from.

Enjoy your night! :)

Companeros Inc

Anyone ever heard of this organization?

The guy who leads it, Gonzalo Duarte, I believe, was also at the nonviolence presentation last night. He spoke about his organization, Companeros, which goes to Central America to help out people there. It sounds pretty cool. If you wanted more information about it, you could go to www.companeros.ca

After the presentation ended last night, I went and talked to Gonzalo, because I was curious to know if it was a Christian based organization. I wondered this because when he did his 5 minute spiel in the beginning, he played God of Wonders and he was talking about doing worship and stuff on the trips, so I asked him if it was. He said that the organization itself is not Christian based, because he had been told it would be better not to, because Central America has had bad experiences with American Christian organizations. But he told me that he is a Christian and there are Faith based experiences and such. He then talked to me about my Faith, etc. It was cool.

Anyways, the one that I was looking at, was the one in Nicaragua. I think it would be a good experience. What you would do is go and help build homes, or help clean up communities and things, and you could stay with local families and experience the culture and such. It would be in May for ten days. The only thing I have a problem with, is travelling by myself. Not by myself, but with other people in the group as well, but just by myself as in not my family. It may not appear so, but I don't like leaving the country without my family. It's a safety net, you know. But hey, maybe it'll be a cool thing to do. Just a thought.

Enjoy your day!

Nonviolence Event

For my Social Justice and Peace course, we're required to make up 8 hours by going to educational events to do with SJP. Well I went to my first one last night, which was about nonviolence as a means to basically speak out. You know, against the war in Iraq and other violent attempts to achieve peace.

First, they had this 18 year old guy from Texas named Brandon (yes, he had a funny accent) speak about his experience with nonviolence, as well as violence. He had been drafted into the United States army in the beginning of 2003. He signed a contract saying that he would receive a college education and a $5000 bonus at the end of his basic training. He finished his basic training the November of 2003 and thus, wanted his $5000. Who wouldn't, eh? So, when he asked for it, they simply said that it should be about the duty to your country, not the money. Everytime Brandon confronted them, he'd receive the same answer. All this time during basic training, the soldiers are cut off from the outside world. Brandon said that when they were doing training, he had no idea what the situation of Iraq was. He said that when he had completed the training, he found out there was no weapons of mass destruction, etc. I also thought it was cool (well, interesting) the tactics the army uses to train their soldiers to kill. (See, I'm not very informed when it comes to things like this, so I think it's interesting). Brandon said that it's basically a training of conformity. When one person screws up, you all get punished. That way, the group ends up turning against the people who cause their punishment. The army, obviously, trains the soldiers to basically forget their inhibition not to kill. Therefore, it's easier to kill in groups, right (you know, the whole conformity thing), so whenever someone is to be killed, they send several people to do it.

Anyways, once Brandon finished his basic training, he decided that he didn't agree with the war in Iraq, so he requested a discharge. He didn't receive it, because they said if they did grant him this, he would be blacklisted and sent to jail for some amount of years, and therefore, would have a difficult time finding a decent job. So, he has since sought refugee status in Canada. He has been staying with this family for 7 and a half months and is still trying to be allowed to stay here.

Do you think that soldiers who don't agree with the war, or violence in itself, should be allowed to seek refuge in Canada?

I got nothin'

Sorry guys, I never seem to have anything "important" to talk about. No world problems, no opinions, nothing. All I have is what I've done this week. So if you're interested to know, read the following.

Well, let's see, Monday and Tuesday (as some of you know from my MSN name) were the worst two days of my life. Why, you ask? I'm not quite sure. You know when you wake up in a bad mood and it just completely ruins your whole day? Yeah, well, there you go. So Monday, for the first time in awhile, I didn't have a ride to my "morning" (meaning the earliest class I have) class, so I had to take the good ol' city transportation. Sarcasm is intended. So I, thinking that whenever I go to catch the bus it's 10 minutes late, decide to leave 5 minutes later than normal as to refrain from standing outside in the freezing cold for 15 minutes. Well, to my great fortune, the bus just happens to be 7 minutes early this time. Whoohoo for me, misses the bus by 2 minutes and I end up waiting outside for 35 minutes on the cold, hard, sidewalk. I, to my surprise, wasn't angry, but rather upset. It was one of those things where I didn't feel mad, I just felt like crying and going back home. I figured my day couldn't get worse (never think that), when this girl who talked to me on the street corner once for two seconds, decides to strike up a conversation with me EVEN THOUGH I'm sitting on the side of the road, my back to her, and my discman playing! Generally, I'm a nice person and don't mind talking to people, but this just made me really mad. Don't talk to people listening to music unless you actually know their name! Sorry.

Anyways, my day continues on and class was pretty crappy, but then I was okay once I got to the library and started studying for my first University mid-term (which is tomorrow by the way). Well, I go to my next class, which is geography, and it's going pretty well, until I find out that my exam is scheduled for the 20th of December. That's horrible. There's some ray of hope though, because my professor said that last year that happened and it ended up being switched to one of the first exam days. I pray that happens. So, to end my day, I ended up yelling at my family because I had a bad day and they decided to be loving and speak to me. Yeah, I felt bad, but they understood. Good ol' family.

Tuesday, I can't remember why it was bad, but it was. Oh right. I didn't feel very well or something like that. Hahaha though class was kind of funny. Juliet, being the freak that she is (love you!) decides that it's too cold in the room and "she's paying tuition to freeze, I don't think so" sort of thing. So she goes and cranks up the heating and by the end of the class is was SO hot in the room. Quite funny! And our professor flipped at some people who were talking, that's always entertaining to watch.

Today was actually a good day. I went to work, we only had 7 kids the entire time, yet the time passed by really quickly, which is unusual. I went to class and it was short and sweet and I actually was able to catch my bus on main and get home early. So yeah, that was good. Yes, this is really boring, but I have nothing else to say! My grandma's wedding is on Saturday, so that's exciting.....I'm definitely not going to explain that one, because, well, you'll all think my family's crazy, if you don't already that is.

Have a good night all!

Did You Know?

I found this neat little website with all these "Did You Know?" facts on it and so I thought I'd put a few on here. If you wanted to read all of them, here's the site: http://www.geocities.com/area51newmexico/page8.html Mind you, some of you will find some of them on the site inappropriate. Just a warning to ya.

1. 23% of all photocopier faults worldwide are caused by people sitting on them and photocopying their butts. This is hilarious, 'cause it's true! (No, I've never done it).

2. In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere. I never knew that. I love Seinfeld and now I'm going to have to look for that. Yes, I have lots of time on my hands.

3. More than 50% of the people in the world have never made or received a telephone call. I think this is astounding considering everyone at Western and my high school owns a cell phone. Just goes to show how priviledged we really are. Actually, in a village we went to in Thailand, we were the first white people they'd ever seen. That's cool.

4. The greatest recorded number of children that have been born by one mother is 69! The poor lass gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets and a measly 4 sets of quadruplets. Poor lass is right! You know how horrible that would be? She'd be pregnant non-stop! Ewww that would suck. At least one of them would be happy...

5. 13% of Americans actually believe that some parts of the moon are made of cheese. Hahaha and they wonder where "stupid Americans" come from.

6. The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 and lived in China in 1910. Wow. They're not supposed to know what that is at their age! Well, nowadays I'm never surprised what the kids know, but not in 1910. Poor kids.

7. If you could count the number of times a cricket chirps in one minute, divide by 2, add 9 and divide by 2 again, you would have the correct temperature in celcius degrees... How do they know that? Hmm...interesting.

8. Duelling is legal in Paraguay as long as both parties are registered blood donors. Makes sense.

9. The average chocolate bar has 8 insects' legs in it. I wonder how they know that? It's either they're putting them in there on purpose and know that, or some poor soul has devoted his life to finding this out.

10. 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan (Wendy) are the only two Disney cartoon features with both parents that are present and don't die during the movie. It's so true. Those stories sure are messed up. And we teach them to our children.

11. In York, it is perfectly legal to shoot a Scotsman with a bow and arrow (except on Sundays) 'Cause you have to keep the Sabbath Holy.

12. On average, 90% Dutch teenagers can speak fluent English whereas only 80% American teenagers can speak fluent English. (Just incase you didnt know, English is not the first langauge of The Netherlands.) I really hope that's not one of the things we Canadians share with the States.

13. In Texas, a recently passed anticrime law requires criminals to give their victims 24 hours notice, either orally or in writing, and to explain the nature of the crime to be committed. Only in Texas.... Hahaha! Again, stupid Americans.

14. No piece of square dry paper can be folded in half more than 7 times Go ahead, try it.

15. The people who make school kitchens, also make electric chairs. Explains a lot.

16. The average human eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night. Oh gee, that really helps my fear of spiders! So would it be more for people who go camping a lot?

17. Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula". In English this means 'The City of Angels' This, I did not know.

18. In France, a five year old child can buy an alcholic drink in a bar And people get excited that the Netherlands' drinking age is 16...

There you go. Now you know random, useless, pieces of information. Have a good night!

Piercings

I was at the mall the other day and I noticed an unusual piercing that I've never seen before. Some guy had the back of his neck pierced. It was so weird! It actually looked kind of cool, in a scary, morbid sort of way. The two holes were fairly far apart, too. I wonder, though, how would they get it pierced like that? It looks severly painful. Also, what's the point? They could easily be snagged on something and get ripped right out, because I don't believe the actual piercing would be too far below the surface of the skin because there isn't that much skin to begin with on the back of your neck. It really hurts to even pull on a piercing let alone have it ripped out. Some babies at work always pull my earrings and it hurts! As well, I've seen people pierced on their front, just below the neck and all it is is two studded balls on either end of a rod of metal, basically. I don't think it looks all that great. I think there is reason and pure insanity when it comes to piercings. For instance, I think only certain guys look good with their ears pierced or whatever. But also the actual earring they choose is crazy. I saw some guy with this really ugly pearly looking thing shoved in his ear and he honestly looked like a girl. I'm not against piercings by all means, but for some of them, I just don't see the purpose. I don't mind eyebrow rings on guys, or nose rings on girls (as long as it's a stud or something), but when people pierce their lip or their tongue, I always wonder why.

The tongue is really easy to get infected for one thing, and for the first couple weeks you can't eat any solid foods. Well, that's what a friend of mine said when she got her tongue pierced. Also, lip rings would just be really annoying. There's this girl in my class with one and I think it looks really crappy. Again, what's the point? Maybe to express individuality or something like that, I don't know. A guy actually said that it was for his girlfriend because she likes to play with it. Yeah, that's nice to know and I won't get into that with you either.

Also, what's with getting piercings when you're drunk? I know so many people who have woken up the next morning to find they pierced themselves. It's crazy. Someone I know attempted to pierce their own belly button; someone else I know got their ear pierced (a guy) by using ice cubes and his sister-in-law did it; and this guy from my high school got his nipple pierced. Those, also, I don't understand. But hey, whatever makes you happy, right? I'd just be too afraid of getting it ripped out. You know how much that would hurt? Also, for women, they are unable to breast feed once they have children. I guess that doesn't apply to the women who don't want children, but I know someone who got it done and afterwards, the piercer was like, "Oh, by the way, you can't ever breast feed again." Well how lovely is that. It kind of would have helped if the information was given BEFORE the piercing. She was actually really upset too, because she wanted children. But with choices comes consequences.

I actually find it quite amazing how many places you can have pierced on your body. Some, more than others, I really wonder why you'd want it piereced! I'm not "against" it or anything, I just don't understand why some people would want that done to themselves. So if anyone would like to clarify that for me, that would be awesome. Have a great night people!

Crazy Socialists

Well alrighty.

I thought I knew extreme, but I was wrong. I'm taking three different social classes (social work, sociology and social justice and peace studies, which is the program I'm in). There are some pretty freaky people in there, let me tell you. You know, it's all cool if you're for equality and saving the environment and all that fun stuff, but you know, I do believe there is a limit between caring and insanity. Maybe it's just me and the fact that I care, but not as much as some, I don't know. But me and this guy Jeff are sitting in my SJP class (figure it out) and this guy named Curtis comes and sits beside us. He's notorious in our class for being crazy extreme when it comes to the world's problems. So, he sits down and is just all quiet and everything (sorry if you've already heard this story) and then he starts talking to Jeff and I. He holds up a pencil and says, "Do I really own this pencil?" Jeff and I look at each confusedly and both respond, "Yes." Curtis continues on, "How do you know?" "You're holding it aren't you? It's yours." "Yeah, but it may be in my possession right now, but do I really own it fully?" By this point, Jeff and I were getting really creeped out by the fact that he would even ask such a question. So Curtis continues on, "Well the pencil came from the tree's wood and the sunlight made the tree grow, blah blah blah." And he goes on this whole spiel about who knows what. I stopped listening. Then he asks, "So do I own this pencil." To make him happy, we both answer "No." Who really cares? It's a pencil. You own it because you bought it and that's that. Trees don't have a say in what there wood gets used for and the sunlight has to make the stupid trees grow and then the humans come and chop down the trees. Therefore, you own the friggin' pencil.

People like that make me really annoyed. I mean, who has time to think of these things? They're so insignificant. Sure, he's thinking about the whole balance of life and yadda yadda, but really. You want to solve some problems? Go solve world hunger. Quit worrying about whether or not you really "own" the pencil or not. It was just really weird, that's all. Other than that kid, I like my lectures. Yes, I can see how they are extreme, and how I could turn into a communist, as some have put it. But I really don't see myself becoming one. :P Anyways, I have to go to my fun and exciting tutorial (sarcasm intended). Have a good night!

"There are no stupid questions"

That is, by far, the worst cliche ever. See, I always thought that University was for "smarter" people. You know, those who put a considerable effort into their high school education, but apparently I was wrong. For one thing, I thought I could escape the idiots from my high school, but once again, wrong. I am probably the wrong person to be blogging about stupid questions/people, but hey, whatever. I have geography class on Monday nights from 7-10 and there are nine of us all from Lucas. It's not so bad because there are 100 people in my class approximately, therefore meaning that I don't exactly have to associate with them, because they were all people (well, less a couple of them) I would label as "snobby". But they're all morons though. Yes, this is being harsh, but just listen (or read) to this.

So, we're sitting in this freaking hot room and being lectured for three hours about maps......fuuuun. For those of you who know, it's in the Mansion, so all we can do is open the door and hope we don't all melt of heat exhaustion. We were particularly talking about thematic maps right, and you know, how each colour represents something, blah blah blah. Well, this one kid from my school puts up his hand and asks, "Why did they pick those colours?" (There was an example map on the screen showing sporatic corn crops in a gradual light pink to dark red colour sequence) So he continues, "It's too hard to tell the colours apart. Why don't they just make them all different colours like brown and blue and green?" At this point, I was extremely annoyed because the two of them (another guy from my school as well) were asking incredibly stupid questions the whole class. I'm really astounded that they even got into University. They're idiots. But honestly, who asks that? There are no stupid questions, eh? Uh huh. Anyways, I said that they were really stupid or something like that to a couple of my friends and the guy who was sitting in front of me turns around and said that he was going to see how long he could stall the class by asking stupid questions like the other guys. So, he raises his hand and started asking a bunch of meaningless questions, yet not completely moronic that the professor could tell he was joking around. Needless to say, we never finished the lecture and are therefore, behind.

I'm terribly sorry, but I was just really surpised that these people could be so uneducated. And they were serious, too! Which really stunned me. But anyways, that's my little rant. Of course we all say stupid things at some point or another (again, I'm known for that, I'm sure), but some people I just don't understand. So yes, have a good night all!