The future looks bright ahead
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "kiwihedgie" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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06:47 pm
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megavideo
Paid for 1 month of megavideo on Nov. 3, 2009.
Tags: megavideo
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04:38 pm
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No motorboat?
Don't bring home white devil! But how will you motorboat? It is a mystery!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dGP4DSXt_0
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04:29 pm
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Mr. Chi-City teaches men how to seduce women with a well-stocked fridge.
Mr. Chi-City teaches men about the value of a well-stocked fridge (Hit that n****** with a freeze pop!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcRWADEln80
Mr. Chi-City is fantastic. His impressions (of suburban white chicks, particularly) are awesome. Fantastic.
He will bite your s*** OFF (and randomly burst into song about birth control): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q27-brQe73U
Defending a parking ticket: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcRWADEln80
Tags: beverages, chi-city, mr chi-city, parking ticket video, video, well-stocked fridge
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05:13 pm
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H1N1 vaccine drama continues!
Literally adding insult to incompetence. Thanks Calgary!
Not only has the AB government terribly screwed up the distribution of the H1N1 virus, but our brilliant politicians have now decided it would be a great idea to blame the problems on the general public. There are (actually there WERE, since they pulled them down today- presumably in shame over their lameness) signs all over the city proclaiming that the clinics would be open Oct. 26 and everyone should go.
However, our premier just announced that the program was a complete success, but was complicated by the fact that a bunch of Calgarians decided to get the shot when they were told to. Yep, apparently by going to the clinics and waiting in 8-hour lineups for mass inoculations, we were cheating the high-risk patients out of their shots. Strangely enough, they claim that all the clinics were being geared toward only high-risk patients and that all others (98% of the people, all of whom were greeted with open arms and apologies for the delays) are "queue-jumpers" (which is particularly odd since Canadians almost always use the word lineup, not queue, further proving how out-of-touch these people are) who decided to rob the high-risk patients of their shots.
I am not particularly offended by this accusation (that by getting my shot I was intentionally subverting the rules and cheating my way into the shot, which is actually what has been said), but I am incredibly pissed off that the premier is now claiming they were all high-risk and we should have known what was going on. It's the lack of decent attempt at a cover-up that's so insulting; I'm supremely annoyed that he is acting as though we're stupid enough to forget the information that was given to us LESS THAN A WEEK AGO and to blatantly lie about things he did DAYS ago. He hasn't even bothered to rationalize. He's simply pretended that the problem doesn't exist, and I'm really concerned that someone so clearly unintelligent and lacking in rational thinking skills (not to mention PR skills and basic human courtesy) is in charge of such an important component of government. If a real crisis ever hits, we're completely screwed. I agree with politician David Swann's suggestion that the premier be fired (again, not over botching the processes, but for telling us lies to our faces with no apparent expectation that we have a single functioning brain cell) as he has clearly failed to follow the most basic of policy plans (targeting high-risk groups first). Perhaps he's just that bad at math - as he seemed to believe that 300,000 doses would suffice for 1,000,000 people and was shocked when this wasn't the case (and was furthermore stunned that people actually responded to the governmental call to visit the clinics)- and either way, I wouldn't trust him to babysit my pets, let alone be responsible for systems that impact people's health and lives.
Finally, the best part is this: there is a "high-risk clinic" in Calgary along with four "regular" ones. If they were all originally intended only to cater to the high-risk patients (as he now claims they were), why was one specifically labeled as available to high-risk patients only? What a raging moron. It makes me sad that I have absolutely no qualifications whatsoever, and I could quite clearly do a far superior job. How sad and pathetic. I really really hope he gets fired... I'd hate to enter some legitimate crisis or serious pandemic knowing he's in charge. *shudder*
Tags: h1n1
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01:44 am
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2009 H1N1 pandemic
"On May 2, Canadian Food Inspection Agency executive vice-president Brian Evans announced that an infected Alberta farm worker recently returned from Mexico had apparently passed the virus to a swine herd in his care. Although the herd had been quarantined, Evans stressed that the infection represented no threat to food safety and judged the possibility of infected pigs passing the virus back to humans "remote". Evans said the infection of the herd was the first known case of the H1N1 virus being transmitted from humans to pigs.[12] Transmission from the same herd of pigs back to humans was revealed on 20 July, though it occurred on 7 May when the humans, health inspectors, were taking samples from the infected herd with improper self-protective measures.[13]"
Great.
It's pretty surreal that I'm actually being vaccinated for a pandemic so great that the population is being vaccinated en masse. I grew up watching "12 Monkeys" and "Outbreak", and the word pandemic is almost as terrifying to me as nuclear war.
I'm amazed that despite the pathetic and inept way our government is distributing the vaccine, we have it freely available although we've only had 95 deaths so far (and the US, which has had 1,240, seems to be even further behind).
I wonder if this will prompt the US to turn to socialized medicine (eventual availability of the vaccine may ultimately determine the ratio of deaths per capita in each country, and Canada may prove the value of socialized health care) in the same way that 8 years of Bush and the ludicrous performance of McCain (not even mentioning Palin, who was the disturbing straw that broke the proverbial camel's back) prompted the American people to make a leap toward unity and against racism that I quite honestly would never have predicted or considered possible even a decade ago. Perhaps this will push them over the edge the way they've recently changed politically - I hope for their sake (and my own, since I want to move to the US for at least a little while) I truly hope they do. The concept of denying someone health care over money is barbaric. What is the point of putting a man on the moon or cloning animals if your own people die of curable/treatable diseases? It's so backward and horrifying. I predict that in 500 years students will look back on this system with the same kind of awe and horror we currently reserve for our observations of Lenin's policies or Pol Pot's ideals.
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03:35 pm
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H1N1 vaccine
To all those who are declining the free swine flu shot in Calgary, AB, just remember that the reason you can afford to skip vaccinations and will probably not get sick is because the rest of us think prevention is worth the risk.
This doesn't just apply to the flu, either. Polio is still a worldwide killer... think about it. If the vast majority of Canadians didn't recognize the value of the polio vaccine, there is a good chance you would still be at risk of contracting it.
So don't get angry... if you think it's dangerous, don't get it. But just remember that when I get the shot, I'm protecting you too.
Tags: flu, h1n1, swine flu, vaccine
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10:58 pm
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Rosalia Lombardo - incredibly preserved child mummy
*WARNING - This page contains photographs of a deceased child although she is not injured or deformed in any way, so don't click if that will distress you*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalia_Lombardo
I can't remember if I've posted about this little girl before, but it's pretty incredible. This Italian child, Rosalia Lombardo, who died in 1920 at the age of 2, still looks today like she is simply sleeping and not deceased. It's remarkable (and creepy) how well her body was preserved - almost like incorruptible saints' bodies or something.
Tags: child mummy, embalming, rosalia lombardo
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03:46 pm
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Stupid love ;(
So... today isn't a particularly good day. Tivoli (the beautiful, crazy little conure I'd had for almost a decade) died....and it's possible he was murdered by the friend I got him so that he wouldn't be lonely. I don't think so - I think he died because his foot got tangled up in his bed, but still.... there is a good chance that Echo was seriously involved somehow.
I'm not as sad as I would have been a year ago since I've been trying to emotionally detach from them because I probably wasn't going to be keeping them must longer, but still... poor little bird. Mostly I'm just sad that he obviously suffered when he died. ;( Boo.
*sigh* Anyone want a (possibly murderous?) spare conure? He comes with his own cage, an elevated sense of displaced curiosity, and the habit of pecking his friends and chasing them around the cage in a fit of superiority. Sometimes to the point of death (unconfirmed). No takers? Really? Nobody?
Tags: tivoli died ;(
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06:02 pm
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Makes me sad :(
You know what really ruins my day? The fact that the salesman can blatantly lie to you, and then you can't get out of the contract when they're charging you 15x the normal rates (even though you clarified 3 times that the rates would match local rates if they should go down). I'm just so baffled that it's legal. DIE ALBERTA ENERGY SAVINGS LP, DIE DIE DIE!
Current Music: Terrible customer service on-hold muzak
Tags: die alberta energy savings lp, die die die!
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09:40 pm
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Songs I Want
Songs I want:
Cry Baby - Dukes of Daville
Cooper Brothers - Crazy Sundays (1970s Ragtime about the stockmarket crash of the 20s)
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11:52 pm
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gender testing
I'm so disgusted that people describe genetic hermaphrodites as "failing" their gender tests. What a derogatory way of describing something completely innate and something that shouldn't be investigated publicly, much less publicly condemned and insulted.
Inherent social prejudice wins again!
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02:27 am
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I will surely survive in South America.
 Created by The Oatmeal
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03:41 pm
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The Watchmen!
Commentary on The Watchmen. I LOVED this film, and someone recently mentioned that the weren't interested in watching it because of the gratuitous and sexual violence. I therefore feel compelled to make just a couple of comments (which for me is several paragraphs, of course) on why I felt that this film in particular transcends that genre and is making poignant and important social commentary.
(SPOILERS! Don't read this if you haven't seen the movie [or read the novel, if it's accurate-I wouldn't know] and don't want the plot ruined)
Although it's quite dark and violent (although so well-done that I don't mind). I LOVED the representation of Rorshasch's mask making him a walking Rorschach test. I thought that was a brilliant piece of social commentary.
A couple of songs in the soundtrack are amazing. Personally am in love with 'The Times, They Are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan, and "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen.
I personally felt that the (attempted) "gratuitous, fantasy rape" scene [between The Comedian and Sally Jupiter] was actually a profound comment on the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator (since she was actually in love with him and I think he represented the forbidden to her) and she ultimately chose to sleep with him later (SPOILERS!), The climax of the movie (to me, anyway) was when she later tells her daughter outright that she can forgive him anything, because it was their union that resulted in her pregnancy- and the later existence of her daughter- and that her love for her daughter transcends any pain that occurred along the way).
While the Comedian kills a Vietnamese woman he impregnated while a soldier in the Vietnam war (which seems to be a randomly violent, cruel and senseless act), I felt that this was intended to be a foil for his relationship with Jupitor. And more importantly, it is a comment on how America considered Vietnam to be expendable (especially after they left the region). He tellsher he doesn't care about her or the baby, so she slashes his face with a bottle and says, "You will remember me and my ****** little country!", after which he's enraged and shoots her. This serves not only to demonstrate the US attitude toward the war as a whole but to emphasize his love for his daughter with Jupiter (the woman he attempted to rape and later seduced) later in the movie.
Rather than use gratuitous violence for its own sake, I felt that the film represented a critical perspective on society and its need (or lack thereof) for superheroes, and the fact that even heroes have their demons. It also comments a great deal on the nature of love (and lust), and the nature of a society that has become so urban and disconnected from each other, and the resulting amount of crime that exists.
Furthermore, the character of Ozymandias (and the phrase "Who Watches the Watchmen?") really emphases the nature of goodness and the question of what people are willing to sacrifice to obtain what they see as "benefit" for society as a whole). For example, Ozymandias considers the ruthless slaughter of hundreds to be well worth the safety of millions, and Dr. Manhattan finds defacement of his own character to be a completely acceptable price for the safety and health of the rest of the world as a whole.
I could babble on about this for ages, but I think I'll quit now. ;)
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04:09 am
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CAMERAAA!
I am uploading the first set of pictures from my new fancy camera. This is the first time I'm seeing these images on a screen bigger than 2'x3', and it's SO EXCITING. I can't STAND how awesome it is. Yayayay for me!
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12:57 am
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Spending time and money like it's going out of style.
So, I'm at a very weird stage in my life. I leave for Peru in approximately 23 days, and I am nowhere NEAR prepared - physically, mentally, or organizationally/logistically. I need to rent out my house but it's completely in shambles and full of crap; I need to figure out the details of becoming an Executive Rentals member (if that ends up being my choice), I need to pack for the trip, I need to move my plants from Calgary to the garden in Invermere, I need to completely re-landscape my backyard (including a fence and deck/patio area), I need to sort out all my photos and videos so that I can clear my digital memory cards for travelling.... soo much to do! There are a zillion other things to do, but those are just the top of the list.
In any case, it almost feels like one of those "what would you do if you knew you only had a week to live" kind of situations. I'm packing up everything I own and aside from my backpack I'm leaving it all here, I'm moving out of my house, I'm leaving this country (possibly forever, although the US's stupid health system makes that less and less likely so I might end up splitting my time between two places), but primarily I'm doing all the things I've been putting off - both good and bad. I'm paying bills, trying to set up accounts, and other stuff... I'm watching all the TV shows I've been saving and eating all the stuff in the freezer. It's a really weird feeling.
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12:59 am
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Ah, a vacation with my family. How nice.
Today I arrived at the cabin to join my family, and had a nice relaxing drive during which I saw many deer (with fawns), coyotes, and a moose with two calves. It was quite interesting. However, within literally 45 minutes of my arrival, my entire family was on the boat frantically bailing out water since there was about 10" of water in the boat (at the one side/one end) and the boat itself isn't much higher than that above the water. We ran over our tow rope, which meant we couldn't use the motor, and we FINALLY managed to flag someone down just as a storm was peaking (why they were out in a storm we had been trying to leave I can't say). As they towed us in, however, the nose of our boat was being dragged under the water with each wave, and our bilge pump wasn't strong enough to pump out all the water that was flooding in. I had been perfectly 100% dry before this event occurred, but I was very quickly soaked - so completely soaked that I could wring out my skirt, bra, etc. just by lightly squeezing the material. In any case, we managed to get to the dock with about an inch left before the back right corner was literally submerged entirely (it doesn't help that it rides very low in the first place) and we were so desperate that we were using, respectively, the cooler (a soft cloth-like plastic one), a lifejacket, and two water bottles (one of which was only 700ml)j to bail water. That is how desperate we were. Nothing says utter and sheer pathetic-ness like someone using the equivalent of a couple of coke cans to try to save themselves (there was a bailing bucket in there once but had long since been removed when we discovered that neither it nor the included paddles actually get you to shore. We might have considered that we would someday need it to BAIL with).
*sigh*. It was an utter and complete disaster. At 8:59pm I was merrily driving along, singing to myself, and at 9:30 I was standing in a boat in 8+inches of water wondering if it would be better to wait out the storm and hopefully point our boat to get fewer waves, or to continue being towed and very possibly capsize.
Then we watched a movie. That's just how we roll. But now I don't have dry clothes to wear tomorrow... I'm hoping they dry out quickly enough. Ridiculous.
Tags: invermere
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02:32 pm
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YouTube
YouTube is pretty annoying. So whenever I comment (which I do occasionally do) I am sure to pepper comments like "His vocal range is surprising considering how deep a baritone he initially presents. I'm always amazed at how rich his higher notes are" amongst the comments of "OMG R U like totally" and the always delightful racists, sexist and homophobic slurs. Ahh... the glories of the internets.
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12:41 am
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Tobago!
I've just read that "camouflage/disrupted pattern material items are illegal in Tobago". How weird (it makes sense and I know why they do it, but it seems impossible to actually enforce. Impressive).
This reminds me of the time I traveled to Singapore and only LATER found out that the five packs of gum I'd taken with me were illegal. I'm such a rebel.
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05:00 am
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Weird school rules
So, I've been watching "The Principal's Office" recently (just some clips on YouTbe, not the show itself).
[My personal favorite is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKl9H88I2Tg ]
This made me realize how weird some of my schools and teachers have been in the past.
In one class (in junior high, which had the strap and corporeal punishment, incidentally), we were in a portable and it was FREEZING in the winter, and the teacher (a larger woman who didn't get cold very often) would turn off the heat. But for some reason we were forbidden from wearing our coats (absolutely FORBIDDEN) in class - although there was pretty much NO violence problem, so I doubt it was a safety regulation. I regularly had fantasies about collapsing on the ground and dying of hypothermia just to point out how cold we were (oh, and this same teacher forbade us from going to the bathroom on school trips. THAT was awesome. And when I told her that I didn't understand how a particular math concept worked and asked her for help (she was the math teacher, obviously), she told me that since I got a good grade on the test she wouldn't teach me the fundamental concepts. Thanks!)
At that same school (which was basically out of city limits, actually, so we were literally forbidden from leaving school property at ANY time without a parent/vehicle, and infractions earned you the strap), if you wanted to stay inside during the after-lunch recess you either had to join a club (chess club, etc) or convince a teacher to let you stay in their classroom instead of going outside. But about 96% of the student body was stuck going outside - and for some reason we weren't allowed to hang out in the gym or whatever - and in the winter people would be huddled around the door, freezing and waiting to go back inside. You could go inside the boot room for brief periods to warm up, but the teachers would kick you out after a few minutes. When we complained our principal would brag that he was from Saskatchewan and could handle ANY cold, as though it should somehow make us happy to become human popsicles and to have almost NO snow days. There were entire days we would literally just play basketball in the gym because only one or two busses actually made it to school through the snow so the teachers didn't bother teaching, and the rest of the student body spent their day sitting in broken-down busses all over the city. How is THAT decent management? *sigh*
Hmmm...what else? Oh, I LOVED our high school principal declaring that students shouldn't drive to school, but then apparently using the school field as extra parking space for local events, destroying the field for everyone.
But the BEST was when the principal forbade us from "tagging" lockers by putting up birthday wishes and notes. Ah, good times.
Also, now that I think about it, it's kind of weird that we watched the Piano and A Streetcar Named Desire in Mr. Hessler's class. Those are not the most PG movies in the world.
And as for the school buildings themselves... I am always astonished to see the gorgeous academic buildings in America and other places.
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02:01 am
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Wow!
My trip is rapidly approaching, and my excitement level is climbing. Today I finally got my ipod (finding the stupid FexEd place, not to mention even their phone number or hours of operation, was incredibly challenging) and I'm happily cramming every song and video I can find onto it. It is so incredible to have something that can hold ALL my music... AND MORE! And have a screen to display it on!
In any case, as of August 30th I will be leaving this town... possibly forever (and by that I mean that I will likely visit but might never actually reside here again). After S. America I may traipse around the US, going to places like Hawaii, California or Virginia (but hey, who knows?), and I'm seriously considering getting a little motorhome so that I can drive to my heart's content and just travel around taking pictures (which I'll hopefully be able to sell) and writing. I'm nomadic enough at heart that I think this would work for me for a little while and help me get it out of my system. Then I'll buy a house in California, fix it up completely and re-landscape it, then figure out what to do next. I need to figure out the details but so far it seems absolutely perfect. Whoo hoo!
It will be odd, though, as I've never lived anywhere else for longer than three months (which was my Asia trip) so it'll be weird not to be back here for the snow. But it will be AWESOME not to have to watch all my plants drop dead, have an (effectively) 1.5 month growing season, and to have to shovel snow three times a day in the winter to keep up with the erratic weather patterns. Ahhhhh....
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