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

Ignorance is bliss?

The other day I got in to an argument with some friends about modern slavery. They denied the existence and said sex slaves do not count. There are currently 27 million slaves, and how do sex slaves not count?

Being as interested in the world as I am, the fact that there still is slavery is well known to me and many of my friends. However, not everyone knows about it which leads me to wonder about the old saying ignorance is bliss. Are the people who deny slavery happier? Does the world appear a pretty place if sex slaves are not real slaves? I can't really answer that, since i'm not ignorant about it. I don't know if anyone would really answer that question.

Another thing that really bothers me is when people admit there is still slavery but don't admit it is in their country. Slavery is a thing for underdeveloped country, third world countries and not countries with a well established justice system. The truth is that there are slaves everywhere, right under our noses. Diplomats will bring youth back to their home country, when their visa expires they do not get them a new one which leaves the youth under blackmail. They do not get paid and yet they can not go to the police because they are now in the country illegally.

This ignorance is bliss, does not only go for slavery, there are so many things out there in the world that people deny are happening. But does this denial accomplish anything? No, awareness needs to be raised for these issues. How can we stop something from happening when people won't admit it is happening?

The Abolitionist Hymn

We ask not that the slave should lie
As lies his master, at his ease,
Beneath a silken canopy
Or in the shade of blooming trees.

We ask not "eye for eye," that all
Who forge the chain and ply the whip
Should feel their torture, while the thrall
Should wield the scourge of mastership.

We mourn not that the man should toil;
'Tis nature's need, 'tis God's decree;
But let the hand that tills the soil
Be, like the wind that fans it, free.

Facts: www.un.org

Team Phoenix

A Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) develops early on in pregnancy and causes the highest amount of infant deaths within the first year. There are 35 different types on Congenital Heart Defects but out of every dollar donated to the Heart and Stroke foundation only one penny is sent to CHDs.


The Problem
CHDs are not well known, they're mainly only known to people who have been affected by them. And yet everyone knows about childhood cancers that actually cause less deaths than CHD's.


Some Things To Think About
Almost HALF of all donated blood goes to CHDers
1 in every 100 babies have a CHD
1 in 10 of those will have a fatal CHD
Some CHDs aren't found until adulthood, or until it's too late for anything to be done
Over 1 million babies born worldwide each year will have a CHD
Congenital Heart Defects do NOT have a cure, there is only a bandage for this.


For more information/support: http://jointhefightchd.webs.com/

You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do

And it's breakin' my heart in two

--Cat Stevens

Blue Jeans

I wear my jeans all the time, they're comfortable, convenient and suit me. I think jeans are one of the greatest inventions. They're durable, they match everything, anyone can wear them and they come in such diverse styles.

The word jeans actually comes from French bleu de Gênes, the blue of Genoa. Named after sailors in Genoa, Italy. In the 18th century it was made completely from cotton and worn by workers. In the 19th century, it caught the attention of coal miners, especially one named Leob (Levi) Strauss. From then on, the use of jeans only grew until now, when almost everybody has a pair.

She wore blue jeans and a rosary

All her friends think she's a little crazy

She wears a smile, heart on her sleeve

--Kid Rock

Winter Isolation

Well I got homesick for the first time tonight. I don't know if you'd really call it that, I just really miss my friends right now. It snowed, and the snow stayed on the ground. The first conversation I had with my best friend was about snow ball fights so this really makes me think about her and all the good times we had. And of course that now we're over 17 hours away from each other and not going to see each other until April.

With my friends back home we would fool around in the first snowfall. We wouldn't care if we looked like children, we didn't care what people thought of us. We did whatever we wanted, and I miss that.

I’d rather stand on the edge of a cliff

And hang my toes over a bit,

And then jump when they dare me,

Even if it scares me and I get hurt.

I’d rather build my wings on the way down,

Do my best not to fall to the ground

and than laugh at my mistakes

‘cause there only lessons I’ll learn

--Paul Brandt

I feel as though I am changing, which is of course expected. It makes me worry about my friends back home. When I go back in April, will it be like I never left? I talk with my best friend almost every day but I miss hanging out, shopping, goofing around and just being ourselves. I haven't found any one here who I can act around them as I do with her. I worry that I will have changed too much for our friendship to survive. And that scares me because of how much she means to me.

People say that the friends you make in University are the friends you have for life. I believe I found my life long friends in high school and I don't want to lose them. I don't regret going so far from them for schooling, I needed the distance from everything else. I don't know how I'll make it four years with hardly seeing them, without having someone like them here.

Into the Wild

So I was watching Into the Wild again the other night. It's going to be one of my most watched movies and most read books. The courage that it must have taken to just walk away from life is inspiring. I keep wish I had his courage, I already have his philosophy. I have three more years in my University program but maybe when I'm done I'll finally have the courage to take off. I don't think I would do it the same as he did. For starters, I'm from Canada, and I don't like the cold. I'd make sure I had things in case of an emergency, not things like a phone or money but i'd let someone know I was going.

Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild. - Alexander Supertramp

I like the idea of being a leather tramp but there are so many words for it; vagabond, gypsy, wanderlust, beatnink, nomadic...They all come down to the same things; wandering and no possessions. I wish that having possessions did not mean as much in our world as it does. I think i'd like to live in a simple cabin, built from natural things, have no electricity, wood stove for warmth, candles for light, feet for travel, garden for food, no phone, no computer...just freedom.