Family Christmas

Here are some shots from the family Christmas, with my mom's side of the family. We tried a new thing this year where we rented a cottage and all met there for a few days. It was so much fun, and the place was gorgeous!!! (Photos by my Uncle Mark)

The Beginning of The End - Mark

I was waiting as my marks showed up one by one, a little worried since I need good marks to get into grad school, and now they are all in. I was stressing over getting a B+ or lower but luckily the courses that could have meant that I sneaked into the A range and got my usual A-. I'm actually borderline disappointed when I get A-'s now since I seem to always get them in English. Anyway, now everything is in and it is just one more step towards feeling like I'm finished this BA. I'm spending the next little while working on my Ryerson application for grad school, it is going to make me wish I was starting it all sooner than September.

So I'm Home

I don't know if I really have anything to say about being home, especially as I have only been here for about 5 hours. But Paris is Paris is Paris is always Paris. All day I have felt like crying, I don't know what this town does to me, though maybe it is just a final hit from the shock of being done my undergrad. I had an amazing little ski trip with Teri and my dad, it is one of my favourite traditions. It was great to chat with Ter, I love her perspective on everything. Obviously I don't always agree with her, if you have met me you would know that most of the time I just don't agree with anyone. However, Ter is so awesome to talk to and everything is just a little better when in person and not phone or skype. Today I have been pottering around the house with my dad, which has been really nice. We don't get a lot of time together just the two of us, so it has been fun. Christmas is coming and it is great to be home.

Smizing

Thanks to Tyra Banks, the world has a new verb "smizing" which means "to smile with your eyes." This was on the last season of ANTM and everyone thought it was hilarious, Tyra is awesome. Yes, I am smizing in this picture, taken by Steph as part of her Algonquin assignment.

A Table For Twelve

Last night Jerrica cooked a Christmas dinner, complete with a huge turkey. We piled 12 people into our apartment and made a long table so everyone could sit together. She had us come dressed up, since she had recently noticed that there really aren’t any events that we dress up for. It was amazing, everyone looked so good. The food was obviously the best part, and I got to have more of it for lunch today. The company would be the second best thing about the evening and I’m sad that we didn’t take a picture of everyone sitting at the table. Steph was taking pictures throughout the night so we did document it. I’m sure they will show up on one of her blogs but I wish I had remembered to ask her to setup a big table shot with a timer so as to have one with everyone in it. Really was a great night.

Talk Radio

In general I’m not a huge fan of radio. (Though I enjoy the commercials, which is the part that everyone else seems to hate.) If music is on I find it distracts me from thinking or if there are other people around it distracts from conversation, and I like both thinking and talking. I really don’t like news radio and talk radio is the worst of all. However, this morning in the cab (yes, on occasion I take a cab to work, please don’t focus on this detail) talk radio was on. Some interesting topics were being discussed, both related to the City of Ottawa, so I thought I would share the issues and my opinions on them.

Larry O’Brien & The Lockout
For those that don’t live in Ottawa, O’Brien is our major. I truly feel that he embodies all that is corrupt and terrible about politics in a single person. Even before the legal scandals that have overshadowed his term I didn’t like him or his ideas for running the city. The latest drama surrounding him is a discussion he had on a local television station about transit strikes. Last year's winter OC Transpo strike was terrible, so so awful. On TV, he said something along the lines of “If it looks like we are going to be in a situation like that again, then I think we need to lock them out during the summer, so as to avoid a strike in the winter. If they are in position to strike, we are in a position to lock out.” People are very unhappy with his statement. While I don’t know if this tough talk is the best approach, he is right, legally the city could lock out their employees if there is no contract. That is the employer part of the whole strike thing, they have certain rights as well. Unions have the right to strike, their employers have the right to lock them out. What I think is important about what he said is that he reminded everyone of a very key component that is often forgotten.

Bilingualism & The Olympic Torch
The Olympic Torch ceremony held at City Hall over the past weekend was conducted solely in English. There is an uproar over this which has lead to the city working on clarify their bilingualism policies to ensure that French is not forgotten again in the future. (Ironically the memo that went out about this was only in English and it wasn’t until an hour and a half later that a bilingual notice was sent around, along with more apologies for forgetting, again.) I can not believe the ceremony wasn’t bilingual. We are an officially bilingual city, policies should be so solidly in place that official languages are always considered. I don’t understand how it wasn’t caught earlier on in the planning. I definitely think that it should have been in both languages and that it was a huge error on the city’s part.

The Beginning of The End - Exam

I really only had one exam this year. (In the upper years, especially in English, they don't do exams as much.) I had an end of year test in one course, which was held on the final day of class, which seems like ages ago now. I had one exam during the exam period and it was yesterday, it went alright. So, now I'm done!!! I just have to wait for marks, which I have been checking daily....

The Beginning of The End - Essay

Handed in my last essay yesterday. I was getting really sick of writing them. I really wanted to try something new, so this one was written in a very casual style which I think is very readable but I might lose marks for not being professional. Also, the number of all-nighters I have had to do recently has really started to take a toll, it was a rough night for sure and the essay ended up being a little shorter than I would have liked. I hope I do well though, on it and all the others I have handed in over the last couple of weeks.

Our Wrecked Planet

"A lot of people on the wrecked planet were Communists. They had a theory that what was left of the planet should be shared more or less equally among all the people, who hadn’t asked to come to a wrecked planet in the first place . . . Dwayne Hoover’s and Kilgore Trout’s country, where there was still plenty of everything, was opposed to Communism. It didn’t think that Earthlings who had a lot should share it with others unless they really wanted to, and most of them didn’t want to. So they didn’t have to."
--Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Put My Arm Where My Mouth Is

I finally got around to getting my H1N1 flu shot today. I actually got both it and the seasonal flu vaccine, one in each arm. I have been lecturing everyone who doesn't want to get it - you know who you are - so decided I should get mine before I lost the chance to. I don't want to do a long post about my pro-vaccination stance because I think I have written one already a previous year. I don't seem to really be reacting to it negatively, which is good since I have an essay to write tonight, fingers crossed things stay that way.

Also, today was the first big snowfall. I'm sure tons of people are talking about it, signals the start to excellent winter office small talk. I also didn't want to do a big post about snow since I do that every year. However, I love it and it is beautiful. I can't wait for more. I live in Canada, we get snow. I live in Ottawa, we get alot of snow!