First day back at University after Reading break. Why is it that we humans take marked occasions, like special days, so start new and positive routines, or just to say we're going to start positive routines, when any time is just as good as the next. New Year's is the perfect Example. Why is January 1st any better of a time to start that healthy-eating regimen than March 7th? Today, though, I was and am on the cusp of two of said self-bettering regimens:
1) Riding my bike to University. Today was the day I was going to start - the sky was even on my side - I woke up to blue skies and sun coming through my window, which is very rare at this time of year in my city. I had literally pulled my bike out of the garage onto the driveway when I noticed the ridiculous amount of fresh frost on the driveway, and the ice still left on my street from last week's snowfall. So I decided to forgo the bike, for a day. Tomorrow we shall see if my, and my bike's, fate is different. I did get exercise on my way to school, though. Asshole bus driver let 7-8 people off the bus, but refused to let anyone on. Walked ~ >1km up the road to the university, and was late for class.
2) Doing my course readings. Sure, I didn't do any for today - and truth be told I haven't properly done any assigned readings on time this whole semester (but I know I'm not alone!). I don't even have the texts for today's classes, so I was ruled out from doing those readings from the get-go, but tomorrow is different. I have a chance to actually do my reading for my Indigenous Studies class. It would be a first. Come to think of it, if what I'm saying is that I'm on the cusp of starting to properly do my course readings, then I would need to also do my reading for Philosophy class - which is a given that it isn't going to happen... but I guess some is better than nothing at all.
So, tomorrow we shall see: Do I bike to school? Have I read the article on the Metis for my morning class? Only time will tell....
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Reading Week Wrap-Up
Reading Break is officially over, so I thought I'd follow up on the to-do list I created for my week 'off ':
-Trip to China Beach: Didn't happen. Snow, and extra work shifts got in the way. Did however do the 10k lake trail today with Jordan.
-Family IMAX movie night: Harry Potter 7: Part 1: done. Thursday eve.
-Filling of my first ever cavity, and possible root canal: done. no root canal, instead the extraction of my upper left wisdom tooth.
-Work: 3 times: worked 4 times. Would have worked 5 times except for the snow.
-Sleep: much: done and done.
-Walk up Mountain: at least once: accomplished.
-Buy glowsticks. Do light-painting photography: sadly, not done. It's on my long-term to-do list.
-Finish 3D Labyrinth Worm in Blender. Rig: Procrastinated this. No rigging done, but make a render I'm almost happy with. Just a few modifications to the UV diffuse map needed.
-Do my 2009 taxes: Didn't happen. Somehow can't get myself to complete them, even though it would mean a few hundred bucks in my pocket in returns.
-Trip to China Beach: Didn't happen. Snow, and extra work shifts got in the way. Did however do the 10k lake trail today with Jordan.
-Family IMAX movie night: Harry Potter 7: Part 1: done. Thursday eve.
-Filling of my first ever cavity, and possible root canal: done. no root canal, instead the extraction of my upper left wisdom tooth.
-Work: 3 times: worked 4 times. Would have worked 5 times except for the snow.
-Sleep: much: done and done.
-Walk up Mountain: at least once: accomplished.
-Buy glowsticks. Do light-painting photography: sadly, not done. It's on my long-term to-do list.
-Finish 3D Labyrinth Worm in Blender. Rig: Procrastinated this. No rigging done, but make a render I'm almost happy with. Just a few modifications to the UV diffuse map needed.
-Do my 2009 taxes: Didn't happen. Somehow can't get myself to complete them, even though it would mean a few hundred bucks in my pocket in returns.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Hugging
So just recently here in town a boss was sued by two teenage girls, sisters 19 and 13, for sexual harassment, and they won - to the tune of $10,000. The charge: frequent and prolonged hugging.
The girls worked at one of these Minimelts carts in a very touristy part of town in the summer of 2008. The boss, a dude, frequently insisted on hugging the girls to "dispell negative energy" - predictably enough, the same boss didn't similarly hug any of the male employees.
I have no sympathy for the boss - in terms of his actions. If you have a 13 yr old and 19 yr old girl as employees obviously there are limits, and someone in a management position should understand that physical contact should remain at a minimum, unless it's reciprocally welcomed or initiated. In this case it often wasn't - if the girls refused to hug him, he'd just stand there with his arms outreached and a pouty face. In a word: creepy. I imagine there's some significant lack of social skills, if not some mild mental illness in this guy. If I were these girls' Dad, and heard of this early enough, I would have paid the boss a visit to give him some physical attention of my own..
But is hugging someone really worth $10,000? Part of me knows the charge could have been a lot higher - but it still seems steep, especially if you take into account that the guy is just a Minimelts manager for god's sake, and probably doesn't make much over minimum wage himself. On the other hand, he needed more than a strong slap on the wrist. Maybe what irks me is that the province's Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the man's actions were 'sexual harassment' - further perpetuating our culture's perception of male sexuality as deviant - and further perpetuated the president in court.
I look forward to hearing in the news of a class-action lawsuit against the 'free hugs' guy.
The girls worked at one of these Minimelts carts in a very touristy part of town in the summer of 2008. The boss, a dude, frequently insisted on hugging the girls to "dispell negative energy" - predictably enough, the same boss didn't similarly hug any of the male employees.
I have no sympathy for the boss - in terms of his actions. If you have a 13 yr old and 19 yr old girl as employees obviously there are limits, and someone in a management position should understand that physical contact should remain at a minimum, unless it's reciprocally welcomed or initiated. In this case it often wasn't - if the girls refused to hug him, he'd just stand there with his arms outreached and a pouty face. In a word: creepy. I imagine there's some significant lack of social skills, if not some mild mental illness in this guy. If I were these girls' Dad, and heard of this early enough, I would have paid the boss a visit to give him some physical attention of my own..
But is hugging someone really worth $10,000? Part of me knows the charge could have been a lot higher - but it still seems steep, especially if you take into account that the guy is just a Minimelts manager for god's sake, and probably doesn't make much over minimum wage himself. On the other hand, he needed more than a strong slap on the wrist. Maybe what irks me is that the province's Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the man's actions were 'sexual harassment' - further perpetuating our culture's perception of male sexuality as deviant - and further perpetuated the president in court.
I look forward to hearing in the news of a class-action lawsuit against the 'free hugs' guy.
Friday, February 25, 2011
MTV
I don't watch a lot of TV these days beyond my regular shows, and since I don't live in the USA, and, you know, I'm not 18 or obsessed with celebrity culture, I've barely had any exposure to MTV. but tonight, thanks to my TV-tuner (which I admittedly hardly use), I decided to tune in to the quazi-music station for about an hour. So far I haven't seen a single music video.
I'm only 27, but there's no better way, I assure you, to make you feel old and out-of-touch, than by watching MTV. The first show during my watching-span: '5 Gays, 1 Girl'. Basically, it's a round-table 'The View', but with more (and very) vulgar discussion, no studio audience, and the people aren't household names. What gets me about this show is not the topics of discussion, which often falls back to talks about gay sexual experiences, fellatio, etc., but what's underlying and observable is the fact that these non-celebrities have gotten a following, and people actually care about their discussion, and 'follow' the individuals. From what I gather, there's not really a fixed 5 'gays' on the show - or maybe there is, but they either rotate participants, with the exception of 'the girl', or they've gone through about ten guys over time. The most notable thing, again, is the fact that somehow these people have gained some level of socially-constructed importance, and there's obviously some twitter-esque fan-following, even though there's nothing especially remarkable about them, and the show isn't even that glitzy. Apparently all you need these days to gain a youth fan following is a spot on a station widely watched by young people, and some sense of trendiness - which in this case is achieved by the fact that the guys are all gay.
Next up: MTV Cribs. Longer running than 5 Gays, 1 Girl, and I even occasionally watched it as a teenager, back when, you know, it actually featured the houses of celebrities. Or maybe I'm just out of touch, and don't know who the people are, but what's evident is that the quality of the celebrities, and homes, have fallen drastically. These 'celebrities' often live in rather normal, not-extravagant homes - but even more evident: many don't bother much anymore to clean their homes before the show is filmed. One chick had bottles of makeup and clothes everywhere - and not nicely, and another guy had stuff lying on the floor, and paintings and shoe boxes against walls. I don't expect 'famous' people to live in fantasy-land, but isn't the point of watching these shows to admire how much greater the lives/homes are of people at the peak of capitalist success?
Heaven forbid I stay tuned for MTV's "reality" shows...
I'm only 27, but there's no better way, I assure you, to make you feel old and out-of-touch, than by watching MTV. The first show during my watching-span: '5 Gays, 1 Girl'. Basically, it's a round-table 'The View', but with more (and very) vulgar discussion, no studio audience, and the people aren't household names. What gets me about this show is not the topics of discussion, which often falls back to talks about gay sexual experiences, fellatio, etc., but what's underlying and observable is the fact that these non-celebrities have gotten a following, and people actually care about their discussion, and 'follow' the individuals. From what I gather, there's not really a fixed 5 'gays' on the show - or maybe there is, but they either rotate participants, with the exception of 'the girl', or they've gone through about ten guys over time. The most notable thing, again, is the fact that somehow these people have gained some level of socially-constructed importance, and there's obviously some twitter-esque fan-following, even though there's nothing especially remarkable about them, and the show isn't even that glitzy. Apparently all you need these days to gain a youth fan following is a spot on a station widely watched by young people, and some sense of trendiness - which in this case is achieved by the fact that the guys are all gay.
Next up: MTV Cribs. Longer running than 5 Gays, 1 Girl, and I even occasionally watched it as a teenager, back when, you know, it actually featured the houses of celebrities. Or maybe I'm just out of touch, and don't know who the people are, but what's evident is that the quality of the celebrities, and homes, have fallen drastically. These 'celebrities' often live in rather normal, not-extravagant homes - but even more evident: many don't bother much anymore to clean their homes before the show is filmed. One chick had bottles of makeup and clothes everywhere - and not nicely, and another guy had stuff lying on the floor, and paintings and shoe boxes against walls. I don't expect 'famous' people to live in fantasy-land, but isn't the point of watching these shows to admire how much greater the lives/homes are of people at the peak of capitalist success?
Heaven forbid I stay tuned for MTV's "reality" shows...
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sitting in Limbo
For too long it's easy to sit in limbo - with great ideas - that do just that: sit.
For well over a year I've had ideas for great creative pursuits, but somehow they've all been put on hold with life, school, work - but mostly procrastination, and being comfortable with how things are - now. Suppose that we're programmed to resist change - even if said change would be an improvement, because with change comes inherent risk, and if things aren't so bad now, even if they're not great, it's often easier to stick with what already is.
Fortunately, in some way or another, one finds the emotional/motivational fortitude to get off their ass and actually make a change of routine. Hopefully I'm on that path, creatively, starting this week.
For well over a year I've had ideas for great creative pursuits, but somehow they've all been put on hold with life, school, work - but mostly procrastination, and being comfortable with how things are - now. Suppose that we're programmed to resist change - even if said change would be an improvement, because with change comes inherent risk, and if things aren't so bad now, even if they're not great, it's often easier to stick with what already is.
Fortunately, in some way or another, one finds the emotional/motivational fortitude to get off their ass and actually make a change of routine. Hopefully I'm on that path, creatively, starting this week.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Gas Station & Snow.
Got off the bus last night, walked across the road to wait for my next bus, and, since it was around -4 degrees outside last night and the snow was blowing around, I joined a couple of young, potentially dickish-looking guys sitting inside the bus stop. They were two ~19-yr-olds, and by the looks of them and their body language, I couldn't tell if they'd be friendly, or in that tring-too-hard-too-hard-to-be-Alpha, young-guy phase.
A couple of minutes later, across the street, a car tried to pull into the gas station - but it couldn't make it in with the ice and the slight slope up from the street. A Good Samaritan would run across the street and offer to help give the car a push - especially after the female passenger got out and tried pushing the car unsuccessfully. Part of me considered going over and helping, and part of me, conditioned to not get involved with the affairs of strangers, wasn't fully convinced yet - but before I had made up my mind - these two young guys jumped up, ran across the road - and only then did I feel like a total douche for not responding positively as quickly as them.
A couple of minutes later, across the street, a car tried to pull into the gas station - but it couldn't make it in with the ice and the slight slope up from the street. A Good Samaritan would run across the street and offer to help give the car a push - especially after the female passenger got out and tried pushing the car unsuccessfully. Part of me considered going over and helping, and part of me, conditioned to not get involved with the affairs of strangers, wasn't fully convinced yet - but before I had made up my mind - these two young guys jumped up, ran across the road - and only then did I feel like a total douche for not responding positively as quickly as them.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Phone.
I had always thought that I was fairly independent from my phone. Even though it always comes with me, I'm not attached to it. It's not a 'smart-phone' (rather, a 'dumb-phone'), so I don't do much with it other than talk and text, but the other day, when I was without it for a little over 12 hours, I was at a loss.
It's funny how attached one becomes to having a cell phone after it becomes an integrated part of one's normal and routine way of communicating. I got my first phone for a birthday - my 22nd - back in the summer of 2005. (My God, have I really had a phone for 5.5 years?!).. Since, I've gone through 2 phones (on my third now), I eventually learned to text (learning how to 'T9' only in 2008), and as of just a month ago I switched to a post-paid plan for the first time.
But what really marks my dependence on the little gadget is how now, most of my communication runs through it, and depends on it. Who remembers phone numbers anymore? Both my personal and work lives run through it - and, even though I live at my parents', who have a land-line, I now and for the past couple of years, refer all people and businesses to my cell. Should I ever lose my phone, I'd be at a loss, and would have to resort to pleas on Facebook to get peoples' numbers back. Heaven forbid.
It's funny how attached one becomes to having a cell phone after it becomes an integrated part of one's normal and routine way of communicating. I got my first phone for a birthday - my 22nd - back in the summer of 2005. (My God, have I really had a phone for 5.5 years?!).. Since, I've gone through 2 phones (on my third now), I eventually learned to text (learning how to 'T9' only in 2008), and as of just a month ago I switched to a post-paid plan for the first time.
But what really marks my dependence on the little gadget is how now, most of my communication runs through it, and depends on it. Who remembers phone numbers anymore? Both my personal and work lives run through it - and, even though I live at my parents', who have a land-line, I now and for the past couple of years, refer all people and businesses to my cell. Should I ever lose my phone, I'd be at a loss, and would have to resort to pleas on Facebook to get peoples' numbers back. Heaven forbid.
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