"All right, brain, I don't like you and you don't like me - so let's just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer" ~ Homer Simpson

This week has been stressful. I have been avoiding talking about it here on my blog but to sum up for when I am 80 years old and reading back over this:

3 more shifts and I am no longer "The Bus Lady"...yup that is right...time to focus on my studies and give up this "slave to the wage" city job. Don't get me wrong, this job helped me pursue my higher education but the fact that it is slowly killing me can't be ignored any longer. So I saved and saved this summer, and with the help of student loans I can focus on my studies this semester. It's is a luxury this *just* being a student. I have never been just a student before.

My classes rock, and I am glad to be back on campus, seeing friends back from summer adventures, but it is a totally different year than last year. Totally different. No more SU for this girl because I feel I am unwelcome there. I've never encountered anything like it before. The SU was such a big, nay HUGE, part of my day to day activity last year so it is a bit of an adjustment. But hell, that is life and fuck it, I can volunteer my time where I am wanted and needed. Altruism has its place but clearly that is not at the SU this year. It makes me sad. I am not angry, nor do I wonder why...I know why...it just makes me sad that this is what it has come to. Bah, I say...bah! There are plenty of other ways for me to serve students...
I'm excited for the other opportunities already popping up!

There is a hurricane bearing down on my friends who live in the Cayman Islands. It has me worried...I don't know what is worse...them being there or me being here unable to know what is happening to them. 20 hours and the eye should make land fall...this could be the longest 48 hours, filled with worry.

So I find I am drowning my sorrows and worries with libations this week. Last night I actually had to take a day off because I am "saving myself" for tonight's stomp down Whyte. I can't drink as much as I used to. Moreover, my hangovers have become unreasonable. So last night at the Football game, sans beers, I had a great time whilst we walloped Calgary 44-12. We were sitting near some fans from Calgary, but it actually didn't end in bloodshed, yet we managed to antagonize them just enough to keep them quiet. I had a great time. I hope Sylvain had a great Birthday.

Another plus this week, beside seeing Sarah M, was to be a part of the first class of what will eventually be Political Science 399 (it is now Pol s 324). This is a class that I actually had a hand in creating. Instead of having classes that tell us how the systems of our governance work (most Poli sci classes) this class focuses on how to engage that system as a citizen in a democracy. How to get involved, and how to make change. It felt amazing to sit there in that class and realize that it actually came to fruition...I felt very proud.

So there you have it a paradoxical week...a roller coaster of emotions. How is it possible to feel two completely opposite ways at exactly the same time?? My brain hurts.

Mmmmm...beeeeers....(tee hee)

Song Du Jour: Mysterious Ways (Solar Plexus Magic Hour Remix)~U2

"Welcome to Kiddy Litter 389" ~ Prof. Sanders

I am taking Children's Literature 389 with a professor who oddly resembles Winnie The Pooh. I kid you not. He uses words like "jolly good" and "Cheerio" and "Oh Bother". His physical attributes also resemble Pooh, the cheeks, the pot belly....But who better to take "Kiddy Litter" from than Pooh incarnate?

He has also kindly explained to me that deferrals on exams are out of the question. Seeing as I have two exams on December 18th as well as the wedding (in Calgary) of one of my best friends this was not good news. It is a strange coincidence and I wonder why the hell life has to hand me these ridiculous problems. I never, not in a million years, would have expected to be writing exams on a Saturday. The exam is at 9 a.m. so now all I need to find is someone else going to Calgary after 11 a.m.

Oh...and also defer the 1 p.m. exam I have that same afternoon, let's hope Dr. Patten is a little more receptive that Professor Pooh.

"Spend all your time waiting for that second chance for a break that would make it okay there's always one reason to feel not good enough..." ~Sarah

Aren't concerts great? I just saw one of my favorite singers and she was amazing. With each song she took me back to moments in my life that I had set aside or forgotten. "Angel" hits home everytime and takes me back to the death of my ex-boyfriend's Mother...The way I felt that day...the emotions...

It is hard to explain, perhaps because all those emotions are summed up in the lyrics. That song always reminds me of her struggle with drugs and addiction and how she just needed to escape just one more time...just to find some release from her tumultuous life.
That is why I love the emotional roller coaster of concerts. When I see U2 in concert I feel that way too.

There is nothing like it.
Also I got to hang out with Paul Welke...and what could beat that?

Each day it seems like a new song marks that particular moment in my life...I think the soundtrack of my life would be pretty wicked.

At one point in the concert Sarah stopped and said that "Angel" and "Answer" were the type of songs that a songwriter loves, they just came to her, she said that she wondered sometimes where they came from and that perhaps it was more than just her at work in those lyrics. She likes the songs that "come fast"...The way she put it was rather funny and the audience caught the double entedre and we had a good laugh. When she started to sing, my laughter turned to tears...what an amazing power.

Answer
I will be the answer at the end of the line
I will be there for you while you take the time
In the burning of uncertainty I will be your solid ground
I will hold the balance if you cant look down

If it takes my whole life I wont break I wont bend
Itll all be worth it worth it in the end
Cause I can only tell you what I know
that I need you in my life
When the stars have all gone out
you'll still be burning so bright

Cast me gently into morning
For the night has been unkind
Take me to a place so holy
That I can wash this from my mind
The memory of choosing not to fight

If it takes a whole life I wont break I wont bend
It'll all be worth it worth it in the end
Cause I can only tell you what I know
That I need you in my life
And when the stars have all burned out
you'll still be burning so bright
Cast me gently into morning for the night has been unkind

Thanks Sarah for letting me release all the tension of a bad day...School starts tomorrow and I am so super excited I can't sleep.
All of a sudden the name of my blog takes on a literal meaning....

"Laughter is the closest distance between two people" ~Victor Borge

Last night International House Alberta opened and I volunteered to work the reception at the Timms Centre, the toilet bowl lookalike. I met students from around the world and was kind of caught up in the auspicious moment. Nancy gave a brilliant speech filled with touching anecdotes about the experiences from other International Houses around the globe. It made me think about all the people who have come into my life and those who have faded from it. I am pretty lucky to have such a wide range of friends and loved ones.

I spent my whole weekend hanging out with friends, old and new, and I realize now that I have surrounded myself with some pretty amazing individuals.

Sammers and I went to see Garden State on Friday night and I thought it was a very intelligent movie. It is about a young man who is numb and going through life without feeling a thing. Zach Braff (that dude from Scrubs) is a very talented young man, he wrote and directed the movie. I'm going to go and check out the soundtrack as well, it sounds like it would kick ass.

Saturday I went out for dinner with my ladies, Leighanne and Carol. We had some great conversation which was frank, as always, and perhaps not appropriate and we got a few weird glances from the table next to us. C'mon, what is wrong with talking, in depth, about sex in a 'classy' restaurant? I love my ladies and the relationships we have built, so honest and open. After dinner Carol went home and Leighanne and I embarked on an adventure. We hooked up with The Frenchies and went for beers at O'Byrneys. That was fun. Leighanne had never really met the Frenchies before and they made sure to speak English to her so she wasn't feeling left out. Jimmy et Christian are so very kind, what amazing guys. Then we were off to the Westend to check out a new bar called "Escape"....and that is exactly what I wanted to do from the moment we got in...escape. Very aptly named indeed. We should have know when Todd had to "assume the position" to be frisked and was patted down. It was kinda scary. We had to show our I.D. four separate times...*just* to get in the doors to the coat check. The bar is very "L.A.esque". Not that I have ever been to a bar in L.A. but I imagine this is what one might look like. We walked amongst the gang members towards the bar to get a drink. For old times sake Leighanne got a Fuzzy Navel and I got a monkeys Lunch...which the bartender made with Amaretto..ugh.

There was a huge dance floor and I dragged Leighanne out there and we danced with the 15 year old sluts and wondered how they made it past the four ID check points.
It had a very 'chachi' type atmosphere and after being leered at we decided to head down to The Roost where we could dance to better music and hook up with Mel and Cory.

The Roost was good times. Lots of dancing, lots of good friends, and only one big blowout on the dance floor when one girl was hitting on another girls' girlfriend. Yikes, I thought we'd have a bigass fight on our hands, but it was all good. I met a really cool dude who is taking Engineering Physics at the U of A. We danced the night away....and left *early" at 2:30. What a great night!

I am lucky to have such a diverse group of friends. Friends from high school, friends from French Camp, friends from the SU, friends old and new.

Last night after the I-House reception I hung out with The Dude, Allie and Bog and whilst sitting there many familiar faces from classes and council came over to say hi. Everybody is back, fresh from summer holidays and getting ready to party it up this week. Is there anything better than WOW week? I saw Duncan Taylor and he is so excited for this week, his enthusiasm is contagious!! This week should be a blur...lots of fun, little sleep, and drunken debauchery with the best friends I could ask for.

The best part is that Gt is coming up from Cowtown next weekend so we'll be rockin it old school. Woohoo!

Song Du Jour: New Slang ~ The Shins
Blog Du Jour: Zach Braff

"So you mean, in countries like Argentina, or…Rand McNally, the toilets flush backwards?" ~Bart Simpson

These pictures below are of a public bathroom in Sweden.
Made with one-way glass....Would you use it?

From outside 

From inside 

"Is it getting better..." ~ 'One' lyrics by U2

Raise your hand if you love The Economist. I'm thinking about asking Santa for a one year subscription.
The other day Mustafa posted a link to a report by the CBC about peace spreading around the world. It keeps coming up in my mind over and over. Perhaps it was just bad timing but, over the last week it seems whenever I read about *another* account of terrorism, (from last week's coordinated airplane bombings, this week's subway bombings and the current hostage crisis in a Russian school in North Ossetia) I keep thinking back to that article.

Is it getting better? Is peace really spreading? Sure doesn't seem like it and this week it seems like all the forces in the world are trying to prove those think-tanks wrong.
(Incidentally the Russians have just called upon the security council to legitimate their response to these attacks, they are going so far as to compare it to Sept. 11th and the Afghan invasion)

Back on the soapbox about The Sudan, Jesse Jackson has weighed in.
He's got harsh words for Bush:

"Bush seems simply oblivious to all this. We're killing terrorists in Iraq, he claims, never acknowledging that we are creating many more fanatical enemies than we are slaying. And the victims aren't simply the U.S. soldiers and Iraqi civilians. The victims include the beleaguered children of Darfur whose lives might be saved were the United States free to do good and not shackled to the self-destructive debacle in Iraq."

The whole idea that Bush is not a "do-gooder" should not be lost on this man. I wonder why we continue to be surprised by the fact that the US foreign policy is not more altruistic. They have proven their preference for working unilaterally so why are we so surprised?
I am just tired of that ridiculous argument...
Bah!

In other news it only took me a total of 18 minutes to get my student loan signed today!!! Usually this is a long, drawn out process involving 2-3 hours of standing and waiting in the Butterdome. Kudos to those fine individuals at Administration and SFAIC for your hard work, you guys made my day.

Song Du Jour: Amsterdam ~Guster

"...some of that is our fault...We bribed killers so they wouldn't become commies." ~Bill O'Reilly

Ooooohhh...funtimes Bono and O'Reilly at it again!!! Wish I had Fox, just to see this. Did anybody catch it?

U2 lead singer and DATA co-founder Bono will be appearing on The O’Reilly Factor at the Republican National Convention on FOX News Channel tonight at 8pm! This will be Bono’s follow-up interview after appearing on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 show a month ago at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

Bono and Bill O’Reilly will engage in a spirited discussion on the issues of global AIDS and poverty and how Americans are making a difference through the ONE campaign.

"If the UN has any shred of credibility left, it must act immediately, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1556" ~ Dr. W. Andy Knight

In today's paper there is an opinion piece by one of my Prof's and it highlights the need for urgency from the member states of the UN to stop the genocide in Sudan. It is a very good article and if you can't access it through that link above, please just send me an email and I will forward it on to you.

They said "never again" and they are failing to live up to that promise. From the article:

"The Council set a firm deadline of August 30, 2004, for the government to comply, making it absolutely clear that by that date the government must fulfill commitments made to the UN with respect to disarming the Janjaweed militia and apprehending those within the various militias who carried out human rights abuses and violated international humanitarian law.

....The international community has a responsibility to protect innocent people in countries where the government has failed to protect their own population. Therefore, the UN could assembly a peace enforcement force to enter Sudan and restore order. However, since the UN doesn't have a military contingent of its own, it has to rely on its member states to contribute personnel and equipment to such a force. Countries in the African Union should be the first to supply contingents for such a force. But countries like Canada should also be on standby to help."

We need political will to enforce Chapter VII and that means we need to pressure our governments to act. Not an easy task but if you are so inclined (and I beg you) please write a letter to your political leaders. Perhaps we can get some response from the so-called 'international community' by applying a little pressure from below.

I have sent a letter today asking Paul Martin to support this resolution, and then I laughed because I know our military is in such a state that I doubt we would be able to offer any assistance anyway. Cripes!

Can the UN survive through another genocide without crumbling? What is the alternative?
Does anybody give a rat's ass?

Song Du Jour: Sunday Bloody Sunday~ U2

"How long must we sing this song?
How long? How long...

...And it's true we are immune
When fact is fiction and TV reality
And today the millions cry
We eat and drink while tomorrow they die"