What the *&^% do we know?

Is what we see reality or is what the brain says we see reality? Scientist have said that when someone looks at an object the part of their brain which lights up is the same as the part of the brain that lights up when the person is told to remember the object. Most people can’t tell what they have actually seen and what they remember that eventually what they remember is what they assumed they have seen? So pretty much the brain can convince our eyes and the rest of ourselves what we see. The same goes with feelings, when you get a paper cut your brains processes the feeling. When told to remember that feeling the same thing holds, moreover sometimes the feeling we have is at a low level but once we see the pain our brain convinces us that it is more serious and therefore should feel worst. Thus making you think its worst.

I was told by a friend that you chose how you react and that you can decide how you feel. I guess in some way that is true. The mind can overpower matter. So why haven’t we been smart enough to teach our brain to overpower pain and hate and discomfort? Why do we feel these undesirable emotions? Maybe we have a found a way to drown that out, there must be a reason why drugs and other escapes are popular. There must be more to what we feel and think we feel. Learning how to choose that would be the ultimate power.

Opposite of Love

I had a conversation with my roommates about what is the opposite of love. In general most people say the opposite of love is hate. But is it really? Another though is that the opposite of love is actually fear. Because we are afraid we are angry, because we are afraid we hate, because we are afraid we are abusive and because we are afraid we are vengeful. All the emoticons which are opposite of love are actually steamed from fear.

So what is fear then? It’s known that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Also fear is not real, it’s made up as part of our brain’s self-defense mechanism. In essence we create the fear, we make up this fear and we therefore choose the opposite of love. So where is the love and why is there fear? Why are we afraid? Why do we hurt people from our own fear?

If we all want love and to live happily ever after, why are we afraid of what we want?

i love you buggie & didi

TV

I love the fact that I no longer need to own a TV or have cable to watch my favorite shows. You Tube, and many other sites provide endless entertainment not too long after the show is aired. And the best part, NO ADS. Or you can get all the commercials you want.

Bored in class, no worries why not catch the latest episode of prison break. Eating dinner or lunch alone, no worries Friends is with you. Those of you who have not discovered the wide word of TV or who aren't sure if you will like a certain show, watch it from the comfort of your own laptop.

Why are you reading this when there are so many more entertaining things to watch?

Alone

We are all alone. We are born into this world with nothing and as nothing waiting to be absorb the world and grow and we dead shrived up or in a random way alone. We don't get to take anyone with us, no matter how much we love them or how much they love us we really are alone. Don't get me wrong we can convince ourselves otherwise because we feel the warmth of others and of their love but at the end of the day its survival of the fittest, its life then death. All the things in the middle are just details and are what keeps us going but they are unpredictable and they aren't guaranteed.

Why is it that the warmth of love keeps us going? Why do we automatically get lifted when we know someone cares about us? If its so strong then why doesn't everyone embrace it and care for everyone else? Why are we sadden by loss when we know that is the ultimate outcome. Our loved ones will leave us, and we will leave our loved ones.

Technology Everywhere?

We are all pretty used to have different technologies just about everywhere. Before McDonald's used to have slides and ball areas for kids however we are now used to these play areas being taken over by Nintendo game areas and computers. Even airplanes have personal tv's and on demand entertainment. Classrooms have been transformed offering distance education with online lectures or pod casts (lectures on your ipods). There are even class lectures on tv. How profitable is that, the university charges you more and doesn't even need to have a classroom or chalk its all virtual.

Today at dinner I learnt that even churches are bracing technology. In television I have seen masses where religious people old books with hypes and joyously sing in praise of something they believe in. I found out today that churches no longer use hyme books but rather powerpoint presentations. How awesome is that? That one of the longest things which has survived throughout this world's choas can also brace technology. How cool is that.

D & B I love you DD: Cant wait for my ltq hug

Classes Cancelled

Every Monday I have class at the bright and early time of 9:30. I actually really enjoy this class but I think that I would appreciate it more if it was later in the day. This particular morning I was feeling super tired for no apparent reason and was debating going to class. I ended up convincing myself that I should go to class and learn something. So after much effort I was walking into class when I noticed a nice little typed sign saying that my class was cancelled. I didn't know if I should feel happy because I could go back home and nap, or if I should feel mad that I actually made it to class only for there not to be class or if I should feel concerned that the university still made me pay $13 for that one class which didn't happen.

That is right every class is worth a grand total of $13. Which makes you not want to miss many but really do you pay for each class in university or do you pay for the end credit? I mean for someone who never goes to class but passes the course he didn't really lose anything. Where as the person who went to every class but failed lost all their money. So how can one associate the money you pay with the end result of a credit and a piece of paper?

Good Morning

Everyone wakes up on different sides of the bed. However just before they do so there is always something or someone who ends up disturbing their REM cycle or lack there of. There is always something negative associated with wake up calls, alarm clocks and sometimes even the sun which wakes you up. Don't get me wrong, when you have a meeting or a event in the morning we'd all want to wake up and attend these things.

I think the method you wake up in the morning greatly determines how your attitude will be throughout the day. If you get woken up in a soothing manner or by someone you love or by the smell of something you enjoy then your day without doubt starts off well. On the other hand, if one has a loud annoying buzzer every morning then one can see how this would be painful.

I personally love to wake up to the smell of nice food and especially coffee/chai. I don't know what it is about smell that just makes me smile and anticipate a good day. The problem however is that means someone had to wake up before me to make it. This is probably why for Mother's/Father's Day breakfast in bed is so appealing. If your a grouch in the morning try switching what wakes you up, even if its the beeping from your alarm

Just one of those times

Ever had a series of unfortunate events which just blow up in your face? Ever think that things are finally on a smooth path then get stuck in a ditch or encounter a do not enter sign.

Throughout life I have always pondered about that light at the end of the tunnel. Is it really something happy and better or is it really a train? Do we believe it's something good only because if we didn't we'd have no reason to live? Or do we think its a light because we see those around us suffering worst than us? Would we think differently if we didn't see them? Do we evaluate how bad or sad or mad we are in relation to something constant or to the people around us?

What also makes us get out of those ruts? Is it that we are finally motivated not to lie in our own shit pile? It is because someone shows they truly care? Is it a some sort of miracle? Or is there a complex mental process which helps us cope and move past it all?

Either way we all have one of those days, weeks, months, events but hopefully we all have someone in our life who loves us and who will give us the hug, punch or support we need to head back on this path they call life.

Its going to be ok. I love you and I'm not letting go

Notes

Throughout the schooling process, I'm sure everyone has missed a day or more of school for some reason or an other. Usually upon return you find out what you have missed and you copy notes from a friend. I remember back in the day, when you missed notes you would just take out a sheet of paper and physically copy what the other person has done. Then came the evolution of the photocopier at lower charges. This was awesome from the view point of any lazy kid or someone who had missed a lot of school. Unfortunately photocopying notes took away from the learning process of actually physically go through the notes to write them down.
This term I noticed a new invention which made it even easier for one to get missed notes. This new technology is called the digital camera. That's right, digital camera's have come such a long way that they can take precise enough pictures of every page that you've missed. This also works wonders for those of us to cheep to buy textbooks. Why buy or photocopy text books when you can just have your own virtual copy of it? Its amazing how far technology has come and how well lazy kids have learnt to bend it in their favor.
D: I miss you....Countdown to road trip: 17days

RRRRRoad trips

Its been almost a year (nov 11) since my first university road trip. I have been on many road trips to some awesome places including Mexico, Cali, Vegas, BC, across Canada and many more. I am celebrating the anniversary of my first University road trip by well going on another road trip. There are certain things which must be in order to ensure a good time:

1. Make sure the car is working well (have a caa or aaa card just in case)

2. Make sure you get along with people in your car

3. Have all your favorite tunes as well as some specific pump up songs for when your tired and falling asleep

4. Snacks are good, especially those which do not require drinking water or other liquids. So stay away from the salty or spicy or rich ones.

5. Maps are also always good, even if your going on a random expedition which isn't planned. It is always good to know how far the next rest stop is.

So in memory of my first university road trip I'd like to thank my baby for keeping us safe and all the bling gals & others for the awesome memories and many more to come.

Cheers

Earbuds

I've been listening to portable music for what seems like forever. I remember my first portable tape player I got as a gift, it was neon hot pink and black (yup my favorite color) but it did the trick. I am currently in possession of a sexy black and white creative zen (ok so they were sold out of ipods so I had to settle for this). Through out my portable music players I have always had different headphones and earbuds. In general I always like the earbuds because I could secretly listen to music at places and times I shouldn't be. I could keep my hair down and just listen to the song and escape the world.

Recently I notice that my current earbuds which came with the zen didn't sound so good. In general it was always ok so I thought I must have done something to them not really thinking much about it. However I noticed that I was actually just wearing the buds in the wrong ears. I have never really bothered to figure out which one is for which ear but this made all the difference. I don't really know why but the music sounds so different when you wear them in the wrong ears. I guess the way the sound is projected is so different and specific for each ear. Or maybe its those voices again....

Airplane TV

Recently on my fight I got to experience Airplane on Demand entertainment. Air Canada desperately trying to compete with West Jet has started to introduce new personalized entertainment in response to satellite TV. Its actually pretty cool, you get to choose from personalized movies, tv shows, games and music. They have most of the top shows and the latest movies and the usual games.

I must say its pretty darn cool to be able to pick what your watching, when you want it. It definitely takes the pain away from long flights. If you haven't been on a flight with the personal on demand TV's or the Personal satellite tv, you definitely need to check it out. Now if only they could improve the bathroom size and feet room.

Hugs

I have never liked hugs, in fact I can say I hated them. The only hug I can say I enjoyed were those with my sister and grandmother. I always found it stupid for people to meet others and have to give them a hug or just randomly hug. Especially girls seem to hug each other for no apparent reason and they always need to hug at every opportunity. I really dislike the "church hugs", where there is some event in church and then after you just hug randoms as part of tradition. I mean it makes no sense to have to endure fake emotion.

Recently however I think I have begun to understand the value of a hug. A friend told me that, "... i love hugs cuz they are the physical expression of how you feel about someone. it's like you're saying you wish there was nothing between you." This way of thinking has greatly appealed to me in the past month. I can now understand how when a soccer player scores a goal and he's whole team jumps him in love and joy is similar to the joy and happiness of when you meet someone you truly care about. Also how there are certain times in life where there aren't any words which can express your feelings or the things you are facing and how a hug can be a solution and moreover a sense of release. Sometimes we all just need to take a moment of our time to give a genuine hug to someone we care about and appreciate. Life is too short and unpredictable to wait or not express how we feel for someone.

D: I Love You and Miss You Very Much, Thank You, suker

Thank You Hockey Mom, Superwoman and RAni-gk :)

Where's the Party Tonight???

Some cities are famous for their parties. Some venues are especially popular for their parties at certain times in the year or for certain occasions. Parties across the global can be very different but in the end dancing and music are universal languages. So if you could go on a global party hopping binged where would you go? What is it about a certain city which makes its party so much more appealing than the rest? Do they have more clubs? Is last call later? Is it located in some sort of tropical or exciting place? Do they offer things such promotions as open bar?

I believe that the party is wherever your friends are. It doesn't have to be a fancy $30 cover club in New York or a five story club in Prague which is open until dawn. As long as your favorite party friends are around you, even clubbing in Windsor will be amazing. It is always the people who make the party.

Long Weekends

Long weekends are amazing, you have an extra day to rest, do an activity, head out on a road trip, study, clean or whatever. However I have always found that along with long weekends come long weeks. While working or at school people who manage both these things seem to think that since your resting that extra day that you need to catch up the missed work in the other 4 days of the week. This is especially true for long weekends which fall on Monday's. For some reason Monday is always the worst day to miss of either class or work because they expect you to compensate for it over the week. I guess with Friday's they just forget by Monday.

I hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving long weekend like I did.

PS: Happy Birthday HM

Turkey

'Tis the season to hunt and enjoy our dear friends the Turkeys. I don't know why we mass slaughter this specific creature to be thank for for good harvest and good things in general. It seems rather cruel that this animal gets picked on as a sacrifice. I mean really what did it do so bad so be slaughtered? Maybe in the past life ppl who were criminals turned into Turkeys this life time.

Personally I enjoy Turkey, as a substitute to chicken or beef. No I don't mean I rather eat turkey over steak but rather that for the past 7 years my mom has been tricking me into eating things that I though was ground beef. She finally told me this a couple of months ago, I guess she expected me to be shocked but really it home cook food tastes good so whatever. As long as I get my steak (and yes I do know the difference between steak and turkey).

Cheers and enjoy the long weekend. For the American who are a little slow, don't worry your time will come be patient.

There will always be Rain

In general this world is a cold, lonely place where we all fight to grab a piece of happiness. Some of us are so desperate we are willing to fight others for it, to exploits others and even to destroy this world for it. If we werent such greedy people would the earth be a better place? Would the environment not be cleared, would the earth not be drilled, would the people not be slaves for someone else's happiness? Where are the lines between survival, happiness, need and luxury? Why have we trained our brain to be simulated by material things? Why are objects our happy rewards for a life a hard work? Is there really another side were these things are all in balance? Or does there have to be winners and losers?

If material good is the only way we have happiness no wonder we all crave to be saved. To have someone there who is willing to appreciate us for who we are rather than what we can give them. Sometimes we just need someone to say if we're worth saving, so we can leave this material life behind.

Small Talk

While growing up small talk was always centered around the weather. Today is nice, or nasty and because of it I feel good or bad. It was the key in to our weekend plans and other plans, so I hear the weekend is great, we should go play some soccer or go to the playground. These days I think the topic of interest is different. Instead of it being the weather it seems to be oil prices. So today I was lucky enough to fill up for blah, which is awesome since last time I filled up for blah. Or this weekend I'm heading to the cottage I wonder where the best place to fill up gas will be.

I don't know if its just because I'm older or if its actually a change in society. Maybe the weather finally has some competition for top small talk topic.

Laundry

Laundry is always one of the most tiring chores I find. I always dread having to lug all my dirty clothes and detergent down to the laundry area, then put it in the washing machine and wait. I think its the waiting part that bothers me, the anticipation of the washing cycle to end and then to put them all into the dryer and then wait some more for all your clothes to hopefully be all dry. Don't get me wrong, nothing is as satisfying as clean clothes and sheets and the clean smell but the waiting kills me.

Why can't they invent a washer, dryer, folder combo. The machine would wash ur clothes, then dry them and then fold them so that you don't have to worry. Or at least one that washes and then drys so you don't have to wait the odd 26 mins or whatever to switch ur clothes.

Postcards

Postcards are suppose to tell the receiver that someone far away is thinking of them. That someone is lucky enough to be at the cool place shown in the postcard but rather than enjoy the scenic view or take in the adventures that the postcard shows they are thinking of you. The flip side of that is of course that they are having so much fun that they want to make sure they rub it in to you stuck at home, stuck at work doing the same the thing you did yesterday.

Either way I'm a fan. I love to see all the glory of the world, to see the most beautiful, artistic, developed and calm places in the world. Ever notice that the place always looks better in the postcards than when you saw it? Especially when the postcards are of exotic animals, they always look more lively on postcards than in real life. I guess it's just good marketing.

Height

I am a short 5'1. When asked my goal in life in elementary school I said I wanted to be 6'3, thats right I didn't want to be a doctor or a lawyer or an actor I wanted to be 6'3. I figured that as long as I was tall enough I would have enough skill to make the WNBA which started when I was in grade 5. But of course that didn't go through, and neither did the dreams of my fellow classmates.

Because I am short I hate it when someone is tall and doesn't use their height for athletic reasons. I hate the tall people who are clumsy and can't jump, I mean what a waste of height. I guess its the same feeling as someone who is really smart but doesn't bother applying their skills. I really wish we could donate/trade off our skills and attributes. I mean maybe the tall 6'7 guy who can't jump really wants to know french and would be willing to trade my a couple of inches of he's height for it. Or maybe a tall chick who needs my kidney would be willing to give me a foot of her height. Unfortunately this isn't possible so all you tall people better learn some basketball or volleyball and enjoy your height.

Brain Cancer

I'm convinced that I will most likely die of brain cancer because of all the random cool new technologies I use. Before university I used to never talk on the phone. Honestly I'd find it annoying to stay up late and talk however in the past 2 years on my cell phone alone I have used up 19197.39 minutes. How crazy is that? That is almost 320 hrs on the phone which is like talking for almost 13 and half days straight. And to think this is the only the amount on my cell phone, I can't imagine the amount on my land line.

I don't consider myself to be someone who uses my phone constantly, I know people who use it so often that I honestly haven't reconized them without the phone. I wonder how many minutes they have racked in.

So yes if I end up in the hospital for brain cancer or ear cancer or something along those lines, I know exactly how I got it. I guess I should call health Canada to see what they have to say about it... maybe I'll be lucky and they won't put me on hold if I tell them I'll sue if I get brain cancer while waiting for them to answer my call ....

Staff Bathrooms

Throughout my schooling life I have always admired and snuck into staff bathrooms. Usually in my schools there are the normal bathrooms which are usually very nasty, run down and smell bad and there are staff bathrooms which have that clean scent and are sparkling like the Mr clean commercials.

Why is there such a difference?
Are student just dirty and don't mind the filth?
Do the cleaners clean each the same amount of times?

Well I always try and use the staff bathrooms because they are always much more inviting. But when on campus and you need to go the top five cleanest public bathrooms are:

5. Prayer room SLC
4. 5th floor MC
3. 1st floor MC
2. ES building after 7pm... yeah no ES students study they are busy with the trees
1. TC (co-op building) bathrooms,

Patience

So apparently I am disappointing my fan base, aka all u ppl who are bored out of ur mind so you read the random shit I post. Dont worry I admit I am one of you. So I am here to warn you that I have committed a good portion of my time to various endeavors which will take me away from my usual posting. Not to say that I will never post, lets be honest this is fun for me. But it will be more like once a week than once a day.

I know you must all be sad, so I have come up with things you can do while waiting for the next post:

1. Take up a new sport
2. Tackle one of your fears
3. Go sit in a park and observe everything around you
4. Try Yoga
5. Take a book and hit urself in the head until it no longer seems to hurt. (ps u might want to do this while sitting on a soft comfortable surface)




(ps: do it in the order mentioned, only move on to the next thing once ur done, if u reach #5 well i've either been super lazy, or ur really bored and derseve the consequences since u could be working or doing something productive)

V.I.P

Going to university in a "university" town/city one realizes that the importance of vip is huge. Usually in a large city everyone wants to be vip at some fancy club/bar/restaurant occationally one would like it at a bank, or maybe transit. In a city like waterloo things are different. Here are the top five places I would like vip...Notice rev isn't one of them.

5. Printing line in libraries
4. Computer waiting lines in MC, especially now that the MAC have taken over normal comps
3. Book store line
2. Osap, registrars, and campus services lines
1. Timmies Line / DC food line

Yup thats right, if there is a way I could get a tim horton's vip pass, it would be the best thing in the world. Maybe I should suggest it to Tim?

Traffic

In a large city like Toronto one would expect high volumes of traffic around the city. It is common knowledge even though no one likes it. The bigger the city, the more people, the more likely people want to go where you want to go. I have recently however got stuck in what they call air traffic. Yes, this is when there are too many aircrafts in the same space trying to land/take off. Apparently when I fly in last, there were too many aircrafts wanting to land in Toronto that I got to do a nice 4 donuts in the air from city center to Niagara and back.

Personally I sit in enough traffic on the road I don't need the air being full and having me sitting around. The problem, there are way too many people. Our population went from 2 billion to 8 billion within 20 years (or something like that). My solution is that there should be a child tax and a maximum amount of children you can have. We aren't getting any extra resources from the land and we have way too many of us trying to use it up this will help control the overpopulation and all the troubles with it. This shoudnt be restricted to country or race or anything like that but rather to everyone. Thats right I am tried of waiting in line, on the road and now in the air just because we have too many people. Lets see if the environmental groups eat this up...

Family Vacations

When does one grow too old for a family vacation? You know when your attention span and your idea of fun are different then those from your family? Recently I experienced what should have been a good family vacation turn into boredom which then had us leaving ahead of the schedule time. I don't really know why this has happened, maybe its because my sister and I are no longer young so sleep less and need to be entertained for a longer time. Maybe its because we are both legal age and so the night scene is more appealing to us than our parents. Maybe all the computer and TV has lessened our attention span and so we cannot enjoy the simple beauty of nature. Maybe technology has made it too easy for us to be in constant communication with our friends that one week without having a telephone or internet leaves us feeling lonely. I mean it doesn't make sense that a road trip with friends with random driving, crash on someone's floor is better than enjoying lakes in the mountains in a nice hotel. Maybe its just a part of growing up.

Dentist

So I'm back home which of course means meeting up with family and getting all the medical attention I need which I didn't get back in Ontario. I just got back from the dentist today having had the oddest experience ever. Usually nothing exciting happens and they just encourage me to floss more and to keep up the brushing. Today however was totally different.

The dental hygenist got freaked out by the fact that I apparently had some tooth/head trauma over the past 4 months which caused my tooth to break/crack. Firstly I didn't even know or feel that my tooth had anything wrong with it. Not to mention that I also dont remember having any sort of trauma. The only two times I remember hitting my head or tooth would be from a friendly hit on the head (while wearing a fully caged helmet) and going on Wonderland's Top Gun. I'm thinking it was the latter of the two which did the damage. After suggesting it to the dental hygenist she freaked out again. At the conclusion of my visit she said to continue to brush and to floss more and to avoid getting head and tooth trauma.

Countdowns

Ever since university I seem to have some sort of countdown or time marking in my mind. First year it was always a countdown until I got to go home to home cooked t-bone steak. After that it was always a countdown to my new term and location as well as a countdown of my last days. I have also been counting down my days of work and school. I also have random counts for things I have accomplished such as days gone to the gym or exams completed or pages of work term report done.

I don’t know if people other than university students really have all this counting of events/time. I mean it would be odd to see a full time employee counting down work days or time before they get to move on to their next adventure. Maybe its just the way university life is, especially co-op life. You become a nomad you expect tons of random things to happen and not to last. Since I must admit to like this countdown I will use the last 5 months of university to keep the counting going.

For this term, I have 7 days of work left, 15 mandatory walks to the financial district, 11 days left in the big city, minimum of 2 hockey games and 1 practice left and a maximum of 5 hockey games and 3 practices left, 3 potential street festivals left, two sections of my work report left….Also its almost been 5 months with my man Amitab, 5 months after my detox, 11 months of playing hockey and 3 years of living in Ontario

End of Term
(more pictures to come)

Yup Yup its that time again, with less than two weeks left of this adventurous stay in the Big City its time to thank all those who have made this another amazing term you know who you are and I really appreicate it :) Now onto the rankings of top ten moments/events of the term....

10. Waterloo visit + Criket








9. Toronto Streetfestival, Afrofest, Ontario Bling Gals over for the weekend

8. Beach and Blues Festival

7. May Long Weekend ( COWS....)

6. First Bling Gals Sleepover ( Gerrard, Charity Walk, Korean BBQ, Sleeping Around TDot)

5. Lunch and Dinner dates with everyone

4. London/Windsor/Peele Bling Gals Rrrroad Trip

3. July 16th weekend (TIC, Airport trips, Pirates, Superman...)

2. August Long Weekend (Wonderland, Chinatown, Niagara, Gerrard, Carrabana, Sugar Cane, Elephant, Beach, Tennis, Hoops....)










1. IWBHL Hockey: Go Finland (aka Funland)

Festivals

Ok so I figure that I have seen many odd things throughout my life that most things wouldn't surprise me however this wasn't the case this long weekend. The big city had a big festival where there were tons and tons and tons of people. Prices of everything from gas to hot dogs went crazy high. There was traffic left right center. All of this I guess was normal however the part of this parade that surprised me is that people at night just stood on the street and watched other people stand. There was no live music, there was nothing going on other than people in a huge queue checking out everyone else and tons of cops at every corner. They even had provincial, neighboring city cops and cops on horses.

This made no sense to me, if your going out make sure that you go out to do something not to just stand around. People with hot cars who are trying to "drive" on this street of standing people you are doing nothing but making smog. Come on people, go dance, celebrate, do something to celebrate your culture, don't just stand there and check people out.

Wonders of the World

Today I saw a wonder of the world, or at least a beautiful gift from nature also known as Niagara falls. Wow what an amazing natural falls. Horseshoe shaped, mist, Forrest areas and of course it is found in the best environment around casinos and towering buildings.

I must say I was warned about the sad sight I was about to witness but I never imagined that such pretty thing could be surrounded by humans and then be destroyed. Most people don't see how horrible it actually is to see the falls surrounding by buildings and other human construction. Unfortunately too many natural beauties have been destroyed by human impact. Is there really a reason we need a casino...Sorry now two casinos around Niagara falls? Can we not enjoy it and the environment for what it was meant to be?

Heat

I hate the hot weather. My body is just not able to function when its more than 30 degrees or even if it “feels like” more than 30 degrees. Having said that, I hate the cold weather. My body is just not able to function when its less than -15 degrees or even if it “feels like” less than -15 degrees. I don’t understand how people can do anything in these extreme conditions, let alone doing anything meaningful.

Also I don’t understand some people’s dressing style for these extreme temperatures. Yesterday when it felt like 47 degrees I saw 3 people warning long sleeve shirts and even more wearing sweatpants and walk outside like everything was normal. I on the other hand was wearing the shortest shorts I own and the most breathable cut-sleeve shirt and I was dying. Even in the winter, I am bundled up wearing hoodies, sweatpants, jacket and all other winter wear while others are walking around in a tshirt and shorts.

I have no idea how these people do it. If you are one of these people, tell me your secret.

Good things come in pairs.

I don't really know why but throughout my university time so far I have found that all good things come in pairs especially, in relation to people. After having a dissucsion with a friend I realised that I have been so fortunate to meet various inspiring, motivating, strong, supportive and fun people every term. Every single term since 1a I can clearly name and invision two people who have really made an impact on my life and who have made it better in one way or another and I cannot imagine what that term would have been without them.

I think its difficult to realize how much a person can effect your life until you end up parting with them or loosing touch for whatever reason. Unfortunately we often don't thank the people who really make a difference to us as it is extremly hard to let someone know how much you appreciate their company and how they make you feel. I hate the fact that I always have to leave all my new amazing friends just as we are getting close. It the part of Co-op I hate the most and that I regret about most. The thing which is odd is all these wikid friends have come to me in pairs. I don't really know why, maybe good people hang out with other good people. Maybe at certain points in our lives one good thing would have not been enough to support us so we need two.

Surprises

Why do people like to give others surprises? I hate surprises they usually involved me having to cancel my plans in order to participate in the surprise. Or having to pretend to enjoy something that I might just not enjoy. Why not just consult the person you are trying to give something special? I would think they would appreciate the gesture even more if they got to put the some input and schedule it into their free time.

Also surprises can cause health issues. Can you imagine giving a birthday surprise to someone who is 50 or 60 or 70.... or anything higher? Isn't that just asking for troubles? Anniversaries would be worst surprises two people on their 25th anniversary and them having heart troubles can't be safe. There is just a certain age limit where you can't surprise people or else you might be playing with death.

Fancy Food

This past month the city hosts this event called summerlicious which allows regular people to taste the regular favorites of the rich and fabulous at a discounted price. It isn't a bad idea at all, I mean it isn't not everyday we can have a three course lunch of salmon or lobster for $15-$20 or dinner for $35. My only question after enjoying a tasty meal is what is this summerilicious really doing for the people?

I mean are we suppose to feel like the rich for a day? Is it there to help us learn random new languages as all the menu items are in a mixture of languages (its not like the chicken will taste any better if its called poulet nor will I be willing to pitch out more money because its stated in French)? Is it supposed to teach us that rich people enjoy more rich but less filling meals?

All I know is that every time I leave one of the fancy restaurants I think to myself....geez I think that a mcdeal would have been more filling. Or that a less fancy restaurant would have left me and my wallet more satisfied. I guess my husband will be happy that I don't enjoy the fancy things in life...

As per the Rogers commercial: The best place is wherever your friends are

This past 10 days had left me in a complete wreck, I got the chance to experience one of the saddest/worst experiences and I got to experience a high like nothing else. In both these instances my brain/heart and all my emotions were in a tangled mess. Worst of all was that the 4 people I would have wanted to be with me during these times where in other countries. It is then that I realized that the best place in the world is wherever your friends are, it doesn't matter if its hick town waterloo or big city Toronto or chillaxing Ottawa or back home Calgary. The best place in the world is wherever you can share your highest highs and your lowest lows with the people you care about most.

The best and most assuring thing however is that communication means are so extremely developed that no matter where a person is you can get a hold of them and they can get a hold of you. Thanks to you guys for being there for me you are the best :)

Nick Names
I believe some people are just prone to nick names, usually because they have certain first or last names. Also people's personality can contribute to their nick names. I find that mine seem to mark different interests and moments in my life. Its interesting to see how much I have grown, and how my nick names have as well.

Aliiiiiiiiiisssssaaaa: from my lil sister
'Lis = is why people call me Alissa the Gora way,
LiL Kim = ohh yeah the lil gangsta...
Ekco = Ace in an indian dialect
Ace= yeah i kicked some ass at hookum(this card game)
Coop = after my favorite b-ball player
Big C = because I was captain of the majority of sports teams
el Presidente = president of the school
Cream Ale = look at the next name
LiL CoCoNuT= brown outside while inside
A Shizzle: look at my name...

You might laugh at my names.... but i wonder how cool your's where???

Flowers

I used to think that flowers where useless, in the sense that if someone were to give me flowers it would be of no use. Especially at times like valentines and birthdays I have always said chocolate and jewelry are much better. However I have started to finally see the beauty of cut flowers. I mean the ones in a garden are obviously there to provide a nice esthetics feature to any house or environment.

Flowers are a lot more like people than I first imagined. They all have various physical features, textures and smells. They start off as a bud, usually one color then bloom out to be a more vivid shade of that color (or color combination) and then at the end they become darker, wrinkled and dried up even when they die they go naturally bit by bit until the last pedals are gone....Similar to how our body dies off slowly organ by organ until final peace. Maybe that's why flowers are so common at funerals, celebrations, birthday and other events...Its to show us that no matter what part of the cycle we are in we will ultimately end up like the flower. It's also to show us that we, like dried dead flowers, still offer memories and teaching and some esthetics to other even when our life is done.

Significance

Every had one of those friends who you knew was a part of your life for a certain reason but then it turned out to be for something entirely different? Or ever have someone do something so small and in general insignificant yet have it mean so much to you? Its funny how such little things can make such large impacts on us; how random people can influence us to great extents; how our predictions of events or people can be so different from reality. I guess it reminds me of how we cannot measure the precise velocity of something and at the same time know its precise location. The more we know the velocity the less we know of placement.

The more we know about someone the less we see their impact, the less we know someone the more we realize their impact. When you have a friend who you have had "forever" you see less of the changes they have made on you as you have both grown in general where as when a stranger makes you change or adopt something you notice it more. How is it that we can accurately compare then the significance of a person, event or thing when we cannot controls the amount of variables?

Window Cleaners

Every so often I get the joy of getting my office windows cleaned. This is a very tough job since there are various weather, physical difficulties, and human distraction involved. Not to mention that you are propelled from a huge sky scraper and you are left there alone with your cleaning materials.

It actually take a lot of artistic talent to clean windows, I know I suck at it since my car windows have constant lines and unclean spots. Window cleaning is one of those job which definitely doesn't get the respect it deserves.

Fire Fire..
Ok so yesterday the Fire Alarm rang and my rez, being from waterloo I decide to sit this one through since I didnt see a rush of people outside, the car passed by at normal speed and there was no sound of fire fighters...which to me means its a drill or a stupid person. 1 hr later the fire alarm was still going off so i call the front desk to ask whats going on.. they tell me to get out asap because its real... so change into warmer clothes coz its raining and leave... what happens... i go out side and see no fire trucks....

ARGGG I hate it when there are false fire alarms.... i know ryerson u are a little slower than waterloo but if u want to pull a fire alarm make sure its for an exam.

Sportsmanship

As the 64 game was being played a question of athletic sportsmanship came up. Soccer is not the first sport which was initially known for its character building and grace which has turned nasty. Sports such as basketball, football, hockey, have all had their dark days. What is it that makes these otherwise nice human beings get so ticked off that they headbut, elbow, take a punch at an opponent? Children already have few good role models is the world of sports also ditching them? Can we no longer have athletes as our role model?

French Fries vs Italian Pizza

The battle of the fast food is here. That's right this weekend will crown the ultimate fast food snack across the world. Its a surprise to some that these two fast food are in the final batter for the golden cup as they have been the underdogs compared to some of the other heavy weights such as Portuguese buns (yumm nandos), English Muffins, German Chocolate Cake Coffee and Texas Burgers. So to all those who are loyal to either of final teams I would like to wish you luck and good diving skills as you will need it to be crowned the beautiful game champs. For those of you on bandwagons, hold on tight there is a 50% chance you will fall.

Cheers :)

Habit

Over the past couple of weeks I have gotten used to the fact that its world cup; to the point where I have changed my life to work around the games. I have all the updates at work, I know when/which games to watch. Pretty much I have shift everything in order to include as much of the sport as possible. Today however is the first day without any games and my co-worker and I feel lost. Its like we are in withdrawal from not having some soccer to watch…no updates, no games… its like we don’t know what to do with our time.

Once we are in the habit of something, no matter how stupid or seasonal it may be we will always get attached to it, then comes the withdrawal. How is it that we can make our lives full filled? What is the lesson here? Should we never get attached to things which are temporary? Is there a way to prepare for this withdrawal? Are their steps to take to prevent this? Maybe we can have one of those meetings…..Hello my name is A Shizzle and I have World Cup withdrawal…

Corner Office

Just recently I was given the privilege to move into the 32 floor corner boardroom and use it as my office. Though most people would say that they just didn’t have any more space for us coop, I say its been the best office ever. Firstly I get an amazing sunshine view of the bay area, CN Tower, the Stock Exchange and various other buildings. Not only is there an amazing view it also is good for scouting out men (we recently spotted some England fan with a flag on the 44th floor of the TD building so my officemate and I are going to meet this mystery fan). Furthermore it since it’s a boardroom the food people keep bringing in free drinks and food. Unfortunately I’m sure that I will no longer be satisfied with any other offices. Does that mean I am already prone to hating my job?

Parking

It common knowledge that parking spots in general are hard to find and usually pretty expensive in large metropolitan cities. Some would say that there is even a competition for the better spots, and better parking garages. Well I have never really had an issue with this 'till now. At home I had a spot in the garage at school I had the president spot, in the capital I had a reserved spot and in the loo I had many of which to choose from. However living in the big city I have paid for a spot yet I find that I don't always get one... and it really really pisses me off. I mean I pay for a spot and there are only so many spots so they should only sell that many parking passes.

I really prefer reserve parking, I mean I don't know whats so hard about having a safe secure spot for my baby. Somewhere which I know it can call home even when I come home late or over the weekend. I have a designated room for myself...why can't my baby? Why is it so complicated and hard to have designated spots and why is the university so opposed to it?

Songs

I believe that music and songs are a great way to remember the past and to almost give an anthem to different events. I definitely associate different events/places/people with songs some which include:
Walked Right of Heaven: Classical Algebra Song (yes I studied a lot for this course...)
Dil nai Lagda: Ottawa Song
Nachey Bale: Movie Star and I
Culo: Roop and I workout song
California Love: Foxy and I
Break em off Style: Buggie and I
Kangna: Tweety and I
Freak a Leak: going to jk
Break if Off: finland iwbhl hockey song
etc...
I guess that I could pretty much tell my life's story with music. I bet this is why counties have national anthems its to make people remember of feel a certain way. There is so much that music gives to us, I would even dare say its the only things which isn't appreciated as much as it should be. So it is up to us to blast our music and give it the recognition it deserves.

Pacing

Lately I just heard this wikid song, Break it Off Sean Paul and Rihanna. When I like a song, I love to listen to it over and over and over until those around me get sick of it and make me stop. I don't know why I do this but I can't help it, when something is good I always want lots of it. I have found this to have implications in all aspects of my life from food to friendships.

For example, I love tbone AAA Alberta Steak, so whenever I have the chance I go nuts and eat as much of it as possible. Usually leaving me very satisfied followed by a period of withdrawal when I can't have it. This is especially true for things that are free, like pie's on pi day... There is no reason to try and eat soo much pie just to make you feel sick in time for ur math exam. It even goes as far as to deal with friendship/relationship... Ever have such wikid times with someone and do everything with them... Then all of a sudden you get tired of each other and its all over?

All I know is that the key to anything, no matter how good it is, how free it is, or how good of an idea it seems.... Pacing yourself in life is key especially when trying to avoid that withdrawal and the nasty after feeling.

HOCKEY

Recently, I have started to play hockey, and most of my free time evolves around it. My co-worker was joking around with me and found a hockey song. Its actually pretty funny so I thought I'd share....cheers

The Hockey Song

So there I was, over in Paris
Eating wine and drinking cheese
And this guy comes up to me and he says
“ Where are you from?”
Well, I says “Yeah, I’m from Canada”
And he says “Zoot Allure, mon Dieu, you are from Canada? Do you play hockey?”
And I says “Do I play hockey?

Chorus
Well, I play Air hockey, Ball hockey, Barn Hockey, Bubble Hockey, Field hockey,
Floor hockey, Ice hockey, Kitchen hockey, Road hockey,Roller hockey, Table hockey, Twist hockey
And I play hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey,
hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey,hockey all the time!
Take shots!

School Children

Over the past two months I have ran into various different types of people while living on residence in the Big City. Most of which are students who are taking summer course, or conference people. However on my floor there is a mother and daughter family. I have run into this family at least once a week on the elevators. The daughter who I would guess is maybe in grade 6 must go to some private or catholic school since she’s in a uniform which reminds me of my fun days in secondary school. What I find funny is not that she loves to show off her lululeamon hoodie or tries to alter the uniform with brand name accessories but rather that she has one of those rolling back packs.

Really, who in grade 6 has so many books or whatever that they need a rolling back pack? I remember having to wear my books on my back like pretty much everyone else. I mean its one thing to wear lululeamon and pretend to be athletic and its something else entirely to be a snotty little girl/boy too good to carry a backpack. Even in my private school you’d get beaten up if you brought one of those rolling backpacks. Children these days…

Languages

So its well into the the second games of the round robin and there have been many great goals, set ups and saves. I have had this random question though in my mind what language do they referee the game? I mean every 4 years the host country changes (Germany, South Korea, France have been the latest three), and the players come from all different countries and speak tons of random languages and dilalects. So what happens in a match if you are being reffed in a language you don't understand? How do you dispute a call? Do the refs need to be fluent in each team's national language?

Americans

I was watching the game yesterday USA 0: 4 Czech and was a wikid game it was, when I realized how much everyone loves to see the Americans loose. It doesn’t matter if it’s the USA dream team basketball, their hockey, baseball, track or even their world cup football team. It seems that people will cheer as long as they can see them loose.

I guess this is true for anyone dominating power. No matter if it’s the small business taking on the huge corporate power house or a school nerd beating up the bully we love to see the underdogs win. It is kinda nice to know that in the end we are a supportive to the weaker powers. Maybe it is also why the submissive personality is more powerful then the dominant?

National Sports

Today is day 3 of the World Cup and there has been some awesome games. The one which I enjoyed the most is the Iran/Mexico game. Initially I didn't care much for either team but I was looking forward to see Mexico kill Iran since they had quite the stacked team. However I was blown away from the athleticism and amazing play of Iran. I kinda made me think how funny would it be if Iraq or Afghanistan had a team and was lucky enough to team a USA team. I think that would be crazy. Of course the Americans would say football is nothing play us in baseball or our football.

Also I find it hard to imagine countries which I see on TV devastated by famine, aids, and financial problems competing in thins like world cup. Shouldn't the government invest in the population rather than a sports team. I know its a touchy subject but I must say if for those rallying for the African debt to be eliminated I see no reason to do so when they can play tons of football and even make world cup over some of us who they owe money to. I think the government need to refocus before solution like those will ever go through.

World Cup

Usually I’ve been really impressed with technology and how it is so easy to find whatever you want whenever you want without problems and best of all free. However, today June 9, 2006 it seems impossible to find on the internet any broadcast of the World Cup, not even a radio feed. BBC has a uk only live feed, which makes me want to live in Europe so bad (well that and the fact Beckham is there).

Either way today is a sad sad sad day. Maybe I’m just pathetic wanting to watch of the best sporting events on my laptop while at work, or maybe it just me who can’t seem to find the proper place to go. On that note DEAR Members of the World I ask for your help and guidance in order to watch the cup while at work. (FYI: all games are at during the business hours 8:30am, 11:30am and 2:30am)

Pain

Pain is usually associated with old age. You always hear old people complaining that random body part are now fragile and are causing pain. This random pain has increased the waiting in hospitals and at message places and chiropractic places. However no matter how much the elderly complain now I think our future is screwed. The amount of young people who have similar chronic pains, back, knee and shoulder is definitely on a rise. Most people I know suffer from some sort of pain and most are under the age of 25. A good number of my friends need to go to pysio and chiropractics and messages in order to be relived of pains which in general should not be happening to them.

Pretty much when we will be old, we are gonna be in extreme pain and lucky for us life expectancy is about 84 years for females which of course means if we are in pain at 20 then we have another 64 years of pain coming up ….wow the future seems friendly :S

Parents

Recently on the news a group of 17 individuals 5 of which are considered youth were arrested for terrorist plots in Toronto. I was particular shook up at this news because it happens that I work in on of the larger building in downtown Toronto and moreover that I know someone working in most of the larger building. However what got me more upset this morning was to read the story of one of the families of one of those convicted. The person was approximately my age and happens to move to Canada as a refugee from a country which was in a civil war. So really we were nice enough to let them live here, hell we probably had to endure their health care burden, education burden and other things and the only way to pay us is to want to blow us up. Of course the mother of the person claims her son is an angel and there is no way this is possible ….blah blah… really people no matter what good and bad things I do my mother pretty much know what I’m up to and she lives on the other side of the country. So for the mother who is crying hoping that her son won’t have he’s life taken… I say why don’t you learn to take care of your kids. If they are too tough or you are not willing to do so, don’t have kids. Parents these days are way too lazy.

Love

It is a common saying that love is blind and that it finds us out of no where. There are many songs which analyze the pleasant joys of love and the destruction and wrath is also has. It's funny to think that people are so opposed with it, it controls so many aspects of our lives. The market for love products is huge, from cards, chocolate, flowers, to favored condoms. But what is this love everyone seems to talk about?

The real question is not where is the love but rather what makes this love. Love is a feeling of the heart, which in general is not the heart that pumps blood through our veins but rather the heart that our mind has made up. The one that stores emotional baggage and is really just certain neurons shooting up action potentials. And of course these action potentials are cause by chemicals. So really all that love feeling between people is just that we are each others love potions. That the diamonds and chocolate are really just parts of the love potion.

Transit Strike

I seem to possess a very odd gift. Every term where ever I seem to go for my co-op terms (Waterloo, Toronto and Ottawa) it seems that the transit workers in that city want to go on strike. This has been true for 4 out of 4 cities which I happen to be in for co-op. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I don’t really know why but the transit workers seem to always dislike their job slightly more when I’m in town. Maybe this is payback for having an immediate family member working for transit, or maybe its because I was lucky enough never to have to ride the public transit system in my home town. Either way, I warn you now, if I am in you city for a co-op term be prepared for a strike or at least threats for one.

High Rises

Being born in a smaller city something about Toronto definitely takes my breath away. I know it sounds silly but every time I see the huge, bold downtown office building it always leaves me thinking. There are many things which I find interesting about these tall structures. The biggest most unique of these is the grounding effect that the environment has. You are just one in a couple million. I see that there is no way that anyone who lives and or works in such large cities and especially around this type of environment can be self centered; it not possible to stare up at a 70 floor building and assume that you are on top of the world.

This past weekend I had the amazing opportunity to lay down and look up at the towering building above me and see their roofs among the two stars. Not only was the weather perfect and the view was spectacular. I was also surprised and how safe it was. In a city where I hear numerous police, fire trucks, ambulances everyday I could still wonder around in the middle of the night and feel safe among the countries financial ghetto environment.

Conversations

I have recently been fortunate enough to have had some good conversations. I feel it is very important to have these conversations which usually involve challenging believes, norms and in general ourselves. Don’t get me wrong I hate preachers and those you try to change your way of thinking and especially those who judge you for it. But I mean more along the lines as those who provoke thought.

I feel that because I enjoy these deep conversations so much it has actually affected who I end up becoming friends with. Usually it seems that people’s comfort friends are those who are similar or at lease have similar traits/interests or beliefs as yourself. I have never been too close with those who are like me. I never really understood why it is that my friends especially in high school where opposite of me. After pondering this question, I seem to get along better with those who are opposite of me because I find them interesting and they provide a new insight into life. I really wish it was normal to have tea time these days… I would love to have that back as a norm so we could make the effort everyday to engage in a good conversation (not gossip but actual conversation).

Environment

It is well known that your environment will have an impact on your developement, tastes, moods and future. I'm sure there was always a friend or someone your parents didn't approve of and some which they would hope you would be close to. I always felt lucky to have grown up with friends who for the most part have been a good impact on me.

Today I personnaly had felt that the mood of those around you really does impact you. I was having a rather gloomly/nervous/bad day when I got 3 unexpected long distance phones calls which totally made my day. The first was from my sister who woke up especially early so she could talk to me before work. The second were two friends who had good news to tell me in regards to their own lives. Hearing their good news and how excited they were from it totaly flipped my frown into a smile. So whenever you have something good happen, make sure you take the time to share your good mood with others.

Smiles :)

Statues

Every city and especially every downtown area has corporate buildings, universities and/or tourist spots which have statues. I always find it interesting as to which particular statue a company decided to purchase. In front of my building (called commerce court) there is a statue of two jolly business men shaking hands. This statue seems to be both inviting and fitting give the name and environment the building represents. However a short distance away from the business men is this huge elephant. Why and elephant? Who knows? It doesn’t seem to fit the building or any of the businesses and I’m sure that it’s not there to enhance the environment because really elephants would freeze their asses in the Canadian winter. I would like to suggest that maybe they have a different animal which maybe suited better to the environment.

Another set of status which puzzled me where those found near the TD towers. Now most of the businesses in those buildings are financial related. Yet outside their court area they have a bunch of lazy cows laying down. COWS….. Hello Calgary is cowtown. Who thought of the bright idea to have cows in the middle of downtown Toronto? After being confused and angry that Toronto had Calgary’s cows I of course did what any other Calgarian would… took a picture of me riding the darn thing.

Anticipation

I hate waiting for things. Its one of the small things in life which totally gets to me and burns me from the inside. I consider myself to be someone who is prompt and on time. I feel that it’s a sign of respect to be on time and or be prompt with important replies. The main reason for this is that you are killing the person waiting for you with anticipation. Maybe this will happen, maybe it will be like that, I should have done that, I could have improved this, what do they think....all questions with simple answers but at some point in each of our lives we have had them run through our minds waiting in anticipation for someone to respond. While we were waiting I'm sure we had a wide range of emotions most of which were negative.

So why anticipate? I believe that if you feel that you have no expectation and that if you think the worst for the situation and move on...then nothing can get to you. I mean if you find out 5 days later that it does work out then bonus....however if you find out it didn’t work well you have already dealt with that situation so its no new news.

For all the optimistic people, the reason I think this is better than seeing it half full is that if you expect it, then u have more issues dealing with the details of the positive result and you end up with more questions which leads to more anticipation. Where as taking the pessimistic side, you can't do anything about it so you deal and move on; no anticipation.

Victoria Day

Its the Friday before the long weekend; to be precise it’s the Friday before the Victoria Day long weekend. Victoria Day I’ve been told is the birth/death date of Queen Victoria of England. I live in Canada. Never the less, I love Queen Victoria, after all she is much better than the Elizabeth’s and Henry’s and all the rest of them. She must be because I get a paid day off to remember her; which of course I will, while I am stressing about my exam. I’m sure that all of you will be doing the same, spending the day in morning, for the loss of such an amazing queen.

Ok Jokes Aside, I doubt any of us think about Victoria on the May long weekend. In fact some of us don’t even bother calling it Victoria Day long week but rather May 21, or May long weekend. I don’t even know what was so good about Victoria that we in a country across the Atlantic Ocean feel the need to celebrate. Well either way, keep up the good work in the royal house, and hopefully someday we will have a long weekend for every month.

Cheers

PS: Happy 21st Birthday Bubbly Movie Star

Pulling Fire Alarms

Usually you are instructed to pull a fire alarm only when you see smoke or fire. I mean this is just common sense, most red fire alarm levers have the pull if emergency bold letters and many warning signs near them. Since I’ve started university I seem to have discovered many stupid reasons why people pull the fire alarm and I thought I’d share it with you.

Firstly any time you don’t want to write an exam pull the fire alarm. That’s right invented by mathies this new technique can change your life dramatically. In the 2003-2004 school year 131 fake fire alarms during midterms and finals helped numerous students get out of exams. Moreover, no one was ever caught for using this new tactic.

Secondly, do not think that this tactic only applies to the school world. As proven yesterday in my office building. Pulling a fire alarm can get you of of meetings. Yes it is a perfect way to get an extension for a project, get of out an performance evaluation, hell buy urselves some extra time to pitch that sale. Best of all you won’t have to go to the gym that day… because you will have climbed down many flights of stairs.

Another use of the fire alarm is to null contracts. That’s right, in summer 2005 some brave ESL teachers from china tried this tact to get of out their damage deposit contract. They did this skillfully by pulling the fire alarm claiming to think it was a light switch and then walking through a glass window (shattering the glass). Claiming that their English wasn’t good enough to be liable for the contract they signed. Yes this does sounds crazy, but it worked.

So there you have it folks, three new uses for pulling the fire alarm. Go on, try it maybe you can find it useful for something new?

Recognition

Usually we go through life and we have our share of acquaintances, friends, good friends, boyfriends, family, partners and x's of all the above. There are even people in our lives who we don't know but see often enough to sense some sort of familiarity with. In my second co-op term I worked most of the time at a client's site. While there we worked with the client but mostly we had our small group and did not interact much with the client's. Today I ended up returning to that same client site for some work which would make it 1&1/3 years from my original time with them. What was surprising is the lead client company's manager remembered me and welcomed me using my full name. That recognition considering I was one of many co-op students and this client being a major bank made me smile all day.

Throughout my life I felt that giving recognition for ones achievements is such a valuable gift we can give others which really does not take much on our part. Remembering people by face, or just acknowledging anything good thing someone has done. Especially the smaller personal things. Think how much better our relationships and self esteem of people will be if we just thanked them and took a minute to let them know that we appreciate even the smallest of things.

Mother's Day

I find most special calander days to be marketing schemes and that unless they are giving me a day off school or work they aren't very important. Today however I was reminded that there are some holidays which our society rightfull makes us remember. Its been a while since I've become a nomade and that usually means I get to miss most of the holidays and special occations. I don't nessessary have the best relationship with my mother, (who really does?) but I felt a little sad not being able to wake my mother and grandmother up with some sort of gift or at least a hug. Don't get me wrong I always remember to mail a card but its the human touch which is missing.
I think the movie Crash has it right. No matter who we are, what we do, or where we are going well all need feel the human touch. Special occations and holidays just help us get that from those we love but may accidently dift away from. Special occations keep us grounded.

Vegetarian

I am probably the biggest carnivore I know. My favorite dish is a T-Bone 21 oz AAA Alberta Steak done medium-well. My second favorite dish is Tony Roma's beef ribs with their original sauce. My third favorite dish is Nandos medium chicken. My forth...well you get the point. I even used to eat hambourgers without buns in order to avoid carbs (Yes that was my idea...stupid McDonals stole the idea from me).

I can't cook, so as I moved into my new place I wasn't too worried that I didn't have a kitchen. Today I decided that I had eaten enough fast food so I decided that I'd get one of those pre made chicken's from the grocery store and that I would use it with different things like nachos, salade... So as I brough this chicken home and starting to separate it. After a couple of mins I got this nasty feeling, nausea, i got really sweaty and i started to get flash back of when i dissected this poor lil squid in grade 3.

Usually the raw stuff gets to me but today even the cooked stuff made me sick. I don't really know why but I guess its the dude up there telling me I should be a vegetarian.

10 Friends We Should All Have

I recently read a magazine article which talked about how every woman needed 10 different types of friends. I can’t recall why it was specific to women or what magazine it was but I believe its content to be very true. After having read that article I decided to make up my own list. The ten different women we need in our lives are those who will bring out certain parts of us and are from certain parts of our lives. There should be friends such as:

1 The childhood friend who’s known you forever and keeps you grounded though you may not always be so close.
2 The college friend who takes you out after a hard break up or failed exam.
3 The intellectual friend who stimulates us to think in different ways and to examine life from different angles
4 The chill friend who we enjoy going out with but who doesn’t necessary know much dept about us.
5 The friend who shares the same passion as yourself and never lets you forget it
6 The friend who is completely opposite of us and makes you keep an open mind.
7 The best friend who will be there for us unconditionally.
8 The competition friend who we love but wish we were better than and will keep us on our toes.
9 The burden friend, the one who holds all our problems, sorrow and anguishes and guides you through difficult times.
10 The family friend, who reminds you of the bigger commitments in life.

Niches

I believe its important to have niches everywhere you go. I consider myself to be in a period in my life where I feel like a nomad. I am never in any place for more than 4 months and therefore I make it a goal of mine to find a place in every city which I can call my niche. In Calgary my niche would be Princess Island Park and the Eau Claire Area. I love this place for its nice paths, nature, random events, great view of the city and well kept grass. It’s the perfect place to pass around a soccer ball, have a water fight, go roller-skating and just sit around and ponder. In Waterloo I have two places which I would call my niches. The first being Waterloo park. This is a local park which is just on the boarder of campus and which has a little of everything, from lamas (SHELBY) to water park, bbq pits and soccer fields. The second which is the best for reflecting and exploring on your own is Colombia Lake, the surrounding of the lake is one of the most peaceful places I have found in the summer, and in the winter it’s the best place for trayboarding. My four month niches I have found include, rideau cannal near Bank Street, in Ottawa and Dundas Square in Toronto.

If you have not found your niche in which ever city you are in, I strongly recommend to start the search.

Office Gatherings with the Consultants

Today was the first of what seems to be many "Office Gatherings". Usually to me this means one thing, well two things I guess: 1. Free Food 2. Free Alcohol. Now this is definately the best part of working, things that are free. Well everything that is free is good in my opnion but thats a topic for another day.

At this gathering which was done on my behalf so I'd meet my project mates I felt the corporate pressure to drink. I believe this is a very common pressure that many people have felt whether you drink or not. I found it odd that our consulting group would still attempt to pressure us to drink. I mean all day we pressure clients to acquire our services, we pressure our bosses for extra time on projects, we pressure HR for better benefits so I was assuming that people would be tired of attempting to market things. However I have found that throught my last couple of jobs that those who are consultants are good at selling, its in their blood. So beware, they will try to get you to order food you don't want, join health clubs you will never go to, hell they will even try to pressure you to drink at a social event.

Fear

Living life with fear is not living at all. Something which I have pondered about recently is that I find that a good number of the things I'm afraid of (yes I admit I do fear many things) are those things which I was told not to do as a child. Don't walk alone in the dark. Don't talk to strangers. Be careful when playing on the street. Don't play with fire. I find that some of these simple warnings my parents gave me have turn into some of my fears as an adult. I wonder if I would still have the same fears if I was never told about them and especially was never told about the consequences. I've heard my parents and the media continuously telling me how life is full of hate and danger. Shooting here, Rape there, Kidnapping, Violence, Fire, Accidences....there always seems to be a flow of hate and problems in this world, which have in some sense created fear in me.

I wonder if I had never been told or never heard about all these events and their consequences if I would actually fear them. I wonder if my mind would process some of the things I fear in a completely different way and that I would maybe then react differently. I feel that through my life I've been conditioned to fear and stay away from certain things and that through this my mind has lost the ablity to search and experience certain stimulus. Is it possible that instead of dealing or discovering new things that my mind finds it easier to just block it with fear?

Can ignorance be strength? Without fear or knowledge of consequences would we be able to find more answers to our questions? Would we be happy? Would society benefit or be in chaos?

All I know is that if I did all the things I really wanted; if I had no fear. I'd be in a completely different place right now.

Birds

One of the first things I noticed while moving into Waterloo for the first time was that there where so many geese. All of you you go there know that it is impossible to avoid the geese. Some of us have been fortunate not to be attacked, chased or shat on. However I am not one of the fortunate. Since that incident I have always looked out for our flying friends, and yes I do duck or try to avoid them when they are flying above me. Recently I noticed that the geese in Waterloo are equivalent to the pignons in Toronto. I don't know what it is about southern Ontario but so far all the cities I've been to have a bird problem. I dislike animals in general but I do not approve of animal abuse. People who abuse animals for no reason are creul and should be dealt with. However in the same matter animals who abuse people should be taken in the same manner. The next time a bird or animal abuses me (yes I do call it abuse), I will take matters into my own hands.

Bathrooms

A good friend of mine said that you are able to judge a good restaurent or business by the quality of their bathrooms. I personally agree with this comment because throughout my travel most of the fancy expensive places have nicer, cleaner and bigger bathrooms. Some even include sofas, fireplaces and fancy toilet seat covers. I'm not sure if its the same in mens batherooms as it is in womens but in my experiance the statement mostly holds true. Today I was puzzled by my work's bathroom. It was clean, smelled good (they had an automatic realease air freashener and had fancy tiles. However what I found interesting is that there were 3 bathroom stalls, 5 sinks and 3 napin disposal units. Now why on earth would we need the same amount of napin disposal units as we have bathroom stalls? Moreover do we really need 5 sinks? Are they trying to rush us when we're doing our business in the stalls but slow us down while we are washing up? Also what's odd is that all three of my coop term work places have had three bathroom stalls. Yes that's right, a bank, the government and an accounting firm have all come to the conclusion that women need 3 stalls in each bathroom. I wonder what mathematical explaination there is for 3 being the magic stall number???

Life Insurance

So I'm old. 21 years old... which really isn't that old if your taking about life insurance. For some reason the company I work for thinks I will benefit so much from life insurance that its part of my standard benefit. Now I know they must not pay much for it, since my survival function is high but still there are a million other ways they could give me that extra benefit. Today I even called hr and tried to switch it to extra health or dental insurance but I couldn't. So I figure that since I have life insurance I am allowed to put my life in danger. I can try all the random stuff I've always wanted to do but knew I'd probably get hurt or die. So Manulife... you think your getting my 'benefit' premiums with little to no risk......we'll see about that....

PS: Yes I do have Health Insurance just in case

The Big City Too Much Hype

Today was my first day back in the Big City working for one of the big 4 accounting firms, in the financial captial district of Canada. One would think that I would love the opportunity to have such a coop position however, this is not the case. I always thought that I was the only one would did not appreciate neighter the atmosphere nor the position. Today I found someone who shared my view. A co-worker who had just move to Canada from the land down under seemed to share my views of the ghettoness, the lack of personal time and the overwelming big city feel to name a few. There is just something about working in the big city which sounds more exciting than it actualy is.