Life In The Fart Sack

This hyar is sumpin thet Bobbie-Jo came up wif a year o' two ago but we is only startin' it now. Basically it's our video blog an' it sh'd be mighty intertainin'. We haf a lot of videos of us doin' silly thin's an' we is a-gonna edit them an' explain them when we upload them, dawgone it. ah figgerd it was about time we started this hyar an' it sh'd keep us occupied until we see etch other agin.

Before each night is done 

Their plan will be unfurled 

By the dawning of the sun 

They'll take over the world

--Animaniacs

Haiti Hoopla

My University is having many fundraisers to donate to relief teams working in Haiti as are many other schools and organizations. Don't get me wrong, I think it's good and it's needed. My problem is a lot of people only put this much effort in when a problem is huge and the media is involved. Why not help all the time? Why not donate whenever you can and not just when you're asked? Why don't people react like this to help prevent Child Soldiers? How about all the violence that goes in DRC? And there's  the law that Uganda has passed that makes homosexuality illeagal and punishable with death. How many people know that more than 60,000 Somalis were displaced in 2010? I could go on and on forever but I doubt it would do anything. A lot of people will only see what the media chooses to show them and they are blind to the rest of the conflicts.
That being said, this kind of situation is exactly why I am doing what I am doing. With my BA in International Relations I can get a job with a Humanitarian Organization and then I can be the one arranging for relief teams to go to places in need. I wish I loved science enough to be a doctor, I wish I was strong enough to become a  construction worker, I wish I could do more.

I dare you to choose a website (suggestions below) and subscribe to their newsletter, I can guarentee you'll read about things you didn't know were going on.

War Child
United National International Children's Education Fund
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Doctors without Borders
Not for Sale
Central Asia Institute

I need to be bold

Need to jump in the cold

--Joshua Radin

Home

I have been thinking about this for a long time and debating posting it. Today in my Intro to Cultural Geography we discussed it and it brought up some new things so I decided to post about it finally.


To me a Home has always meant a place where you are secure, loved and feel comfortable. You should always feel like you belong there and it should be your sanctuary away from the world. For the people who know me, they know that I don't feel that way about the house my parents own and I lived in. To me where I was living was simply a building in which I slept, ate and such. I was not emotionally attached to the building, and hardly to the inhabitants.


Ever since I moved out and started school I have been thinking a lot about whether I am homeless or if I have a home. The conclusion I came to was that my body is my home, and wherever I am at the time is my home. However, this would mean that even if i'm in a place I don't like, I am home. I am comfortable in my body, I am secure in my body, I am proud of my body and it is my home. I would love a home that is also a house but I will have to wait on that.


In class we were today we were told to draw a mental image of our home and then we were asked:
if it was where we slept last night (quite a few hands went up), the place we grew up (the majority of hands) and if anyone had drew something that was not a building. I was the only one to put my hand up, others may have not admitted it, but I was the only one to say that my body is my home. I can't help but feel jealous of all the kids in my class for having a place to call home, somewhere to be loved.


This has really made me wonder where other people call home; the house they grew up in, the house they're in now, a certain place...? I believe that home is a feeling and it can't be stuck to four walls and roof. What do you think?

No one's gonna make me
Nothing's gonna take me
I ain't ever goin'
Back there, again

--Blake Shelton

A weekend to remember...

...at least I hope it will be. Bobbie-Jo told me that she was interested in going to the CCMA's this year. My first thought was "Oh no", it's not that I think it's a bad idea but it's her going alone. She's never been out west and Edmonton is a big city. I immediately realized how funny this could be, of all the stories she would have of getting lost, meeting strangers and all that. I decided it was a good idea and I should encourage it.

However, my sister informed me that there was an au pair opening near her in Vancouver. I have applied to that position and if I get it I will be out west for the summer. The CCMA's will be Sept. 8-12 and school starts Sept. 7. I will sacrifice 4 days of school to spend a weekend with my best friend listening to country music, Canadian country music!

At Bobbie-Jo's 17th birthday dinner, her cousin and I decided that for her 19th birthday we would take her out to a bar/club and get her a lil tipsy. I was planing on going home for the weekend in October to celebrate her birthday but if we're in Alberta we can celebrate then. The drinking age is 18 there and we could have a lot of fun. We're going to get all dolled up and find a bar with an electronic bull.


I CAN'T WAIT

lets go following whatever way the wind blows
flying with our hands out of the window

--Paul Brandt

Songs

So i'm going to take a page out of The Bestie's books and post a list of the songs I love most. When it comes down to it most of them are Paul Brandt songs, he is an amazing singer/songwriter and I relate to pretty much all his lyrics. I'm just going to put my favorite by him on this list because I want variety. I'm going to link YouTube videos to all the song titiles so you can hear them :)


Amazing Grace by John Newton
Can't help myself by The Kelly Family
Don't be shy by Cat Stevens
I'd rather be with you by Joshua Radin
If you only knew by Shinedown
Losing my religion by REM
New way to fly by Garth Brooks
Nobody says no byJessie Farrell
Paradise by Deca Csazm
Risk by Paul Brandt
Someday Baby by Bob Dylan
Student Visas by Corb Lund
Top of the World by Dixie Chicks
True Colours by Cyndi Lauper
What about now by Lonestar
What's up? by 4 Non Blondes
Wild at heart by Glorianna

Thursday's Child Has Far To Go

I have always prided myself on living for the moment and trying to get the most out of life. However, this time spent at University has allowed me to slip into an inactive lifestyle. I think I am finally acting like a teenager. I sleep until noon on the weekends, I play on my computer all day, I hardly exercise and I don't eat properly.

There's a part of me that wants to get my ass in gear, to get back on top of things. To excel in school and be active in the things I am passionate about. There's another part of me, that's winning, that wants me lay back and experience this aspect of life.

I'm torn on which side to let win because I know I probably won't have another opportunity to act like this. However, I feel an emptiness because I'm not doing what I am passionate about.

They say that Thursday's Child Has Far To Go, and I always planned on going far with my life. I never let myself act like everyone else, I never went through the lazy teenager phase. And now that I've slipped into it, I can't find the courage to pull myself out of it.

The only thing I've really stuck with, in fact I've done more for, is CHD awareness. I'm throwing myself into that instead of spreading myself around.

I'm through accepting limits 

''cause someone says they're so 

Some things I cannot change 

But till I try

--Wicked