Packing and Preserving

So the decision has been made and my move-out day is set.
I will be heading back to live with my parents (saving myself the expense of rent) until I can find a job someplace.
So naturally I decided today would be a great day to start.... Preserving.
I hate packing so naturally I won't do that until the last minute. Instead today I decided to enjoy the nice weather by going strawberry picking. I went a little overboard and came back with faaarrr too many berries. I then spent the day making two batches of jam and five pies and still have berries left over. YUM!

Anyhow all this preserving got me thinking about packing-go figure. I have a bad habit that before I leave a place I mentally put up walls and choose to focus on the frustrations and things I don't like about a place. As a survival mechanism it is pretty good, it is easier to leave a place if you can only think of the negatives. However as a general rule it isn't that great- although with some distance I am able to remember the good things and times of a place I have wasted so much time with my morose thoughts and sometimes friendships of memories suffer because of it.

 

I think it is time I change this habit and start something new. My jam making made me realize I should focus on PRESERVING the good memories and good friendships, rather than just rushing on to the new opportunities. Yes new exciting opportunities will come along (hopefully,) but I have had a good time here and made good friends and have many good memories. I don't want to suppress them just to make moving easier. Besides the results of preserving are pretty amazing. So I start/ pretend to start packing with a clear head and fresh mindset choosing to rejoice for the friendships and memories I have had here. I truly am blessed and believe those memories, just like my jam, will definitely sweeten my future adventures.

More Filibustering

More observations of the Canada Post Back to Work Debate

The life of a House of Commons page: I have been amused watching the House of Commons pages in the live debate. They sit in chairs in front of the speaker of the house. Sometimes they are busy delivering messages and such throughout the house. But when they aren't busy doing that they are busy being jack-in-the-boxes having to rise and sit when the speaker speaks or rises.

Reading of e-mails and letters sent to MP's: Lately the debate has disintegrated into simply reading letters and e-mails from constituents. If you want to have your opinions read in front of the House of Commons send an e-mail or text to your local MP and you may have your opinions added directly to Hansard- the record of the proceedings of the House of Commons.

Political Punches: Mostly the debate has been civil and lacked low blows however one Conservative MP decided to label the NDP the Socialist- Marxist- Leninist party of Canada. Although the NDP is Socialist leaning Canada does have a Marxist-Leninist political party and it is not the NDP.

The MP for the riding of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex  commented on the repetition of the debate saying people in his riding don't have to be told the same thing more than 100 times. By the way things seem to continue to be going apparently the constituents of Lambton-Kent-Middlesex are more intelligent than the average Canadian MP.

Canada Post Back to Work Debate+ Political Filibustering = Great Fun!!

I am a moderate political junkie. So today not having to work enables me to watch live coverage of the House of Commons debate regarding back to work legislation for Canada Post. A good rousing political debate- even if it is just NDP posturing and delaying tactics- is always a good time in my books.

here is a link to CBC's live coverage if you are reading this while the debate still continues.
 http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/06/24/postal-strike-debate.html?ref=rss

At the moment the debate has been raging for over 18 hours and shows little signs of stopping. Each of the opposition MP's (of which there are over 100) are allowed to give a 20 min speech followed by 10 mins of questions. So it could continue for awhile. Here are my observations so far:

Quebec MP's: Although it is a "national" holiday in Quebec many of the Quebec MP's are in the House of Commons debating rather than in their home ridings. There have been many mentions of St. Jean de Baptiste Day and well wishes for those celebrating back at home in their ridings.

French Language: Many of the NDP MP's are from Quebec so most of the debate has been conducted in French. Which is unfortunate for me since translators often can't convey the passion and expression of those debating. Still many good points are being made

Repetition: Many good points are being made, but many good points (and a whole lot more bad ones) are being repeated ad nauseum. Sometimes this is because MP's have been shuffling through in shifts to handle the all-nighter and might not be aware that their point has been made repeatedly already. Other times it just seems that no one is really listening to each other they are just trying to keep sounding semi-intelligent while they continue talking, dragging the debate on.
Often repeated topics include:

• congratulations on Quebec holiday
• clarifications on terms lockout and strike
• everyone is saying they want the postal service to resume and blaming the other party for the lack of progress
• the NDP repeatedly accuse the Conservatives of not caring for working people and trying to undermine the work of trade unions, trampling the rights of workers and threatening pensions
• the NDP repeatedly mention that the Prime Minister could ensure that postal services resumes by phoning the CEO of Canada Post and ordering an end to the lockout
• the conservatives repeatedly accuse the NDP of not caring for small businesses that rely on the postal system to operate their business and may have to lay off workers
• the conservatives also repeatedly accuse the NDP of not caring for northern people who rely on the postal system to get supplies like food and diapers

Young MP's: The NDP party has been criticized for having a lot of first time and very young MP's however for the most part the young MP's of the NDP have been doing a great job. I have been impressed with the showings of the so called McGill 4 and found their speeches and comments very knowledgeable and interesting.

On the other hand another young MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau who spent most of the election in Vegas was a little underwhelming. Although impressive that she gave her speech in French giving that she wasn't bilingual when elected, her responses were not very eloquent. As one of the CBC twitter reporters mentioned she sounded a bit like a Valley Girl. Unfortunate since this is Brosseau's first opportunity to give a speech in the House of Commons. Hopefully she improves in the future since I am sure she really is an intelligent and capable MP.

Criticisms of Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Many Quebec NDP MP's gave up on being in their home riding for the important holiday choosing to devote their time to this important issue and debate. Stephen Harper however chose to go to Quebec- to the site of a controversial asbestos mine avoiding the House of Commons debate.

Commendation of Elizabeth May: I don't know what the record is for the longest time spent in the House of Commons is but Elizabeth May is definitely earning some more respect from me. According to reporters she hasn't slept all night and has been in the House of Commons for the whole time. Someone must be slipping her redbull or something similar or maybe there is something to be said about the benefits of a vegetarian diet but she is still going- making intelligent comments and wide awake. Congrats Elizabeth May as the leader of the Green party and only elected representative of your party you are making them proud.

Commendation of the Speaker of the House: Is it just the video stream I am watching editing rude heckling out or has the current speaker been successful at making MP's act like adults and be more polite in their dealings in the House of Commons? What I have heard has been descent and orderly political debate. Filibustering or not it has been entertaining and polite.

Definition: Filibuster
(wikipedia) A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal. It is cynically referred to as talking out a bill, and characterized as a form of obstruction in a legislature or other decision-making body.
interestingly the word comes from Spanish and Dutch roots meaning Pirate.

Humorous Asides and comments: 
several MP's have mentioned other issues as part of their speeches and rebuttals  some of them have been a bit amusing other comments are related to the debate but just a bit ridiculous:

Birthday cards for Seniors: A conservative MP accused the NDP of not caring for seniors who due to the postal strike are unable to send each other birthday cards (This led me to wonder how much of our mail volume is Birthday cards for seniors)

Hockey: an MP mentioned that the NHL franchise in Winnipeg will be called the Winnipeg Jets, and a Hamilton MP responded that the only thing that could be better than that would be if a team was finally coming to Hamilton. To which a Toronto MP joked that if that were to happen Toronto would want a team too (implying that the Toronto Maple Leafs aren't really a team at all.) 

I'll continue to tune in and may post again on the continuing debate
Enjoy the benefits of Democracy and Happy St. Jean Baptiste Day/Political filibustering day!!

Lighter Side- The way to catch a beau

I was watching the classic Disney film "Summer Magic" (1964) with some friends tonight.  I had never seen the film before but I loved it!! I don't think I was laughing at the jokes the way they were intended, but sometimes age can add a whole new humour to a film. I am certain good company added to the experience as well. Anyhow this is a clip from the movie of one of the songs that I found entertaining. I had heard the song before but never knew which movie it was from, now I know. Enjoy!

I particularly love the line: "Hide the real you" - that's the way to catch a beau!
Haha!

So grab some friends and enjoy this light-hearted film. I'll be seeing you at the ugly bug ball.

Disappointments and Decisions

This week has been full of disappointments and decisions.
The disappointments started with bad news from my former employer- they have no money to offer me another contract. They continued with a cancelled camping trip- because unlike me my friends have lives. And finally the disappointments culminated with the sad end to the Vancouver Canucks Stanley Cup hopes. Alas it has been a disappointing week.

With the disappointments come necessary decisions, where to go and what to do with my life being top priorities. How long should I stay in the Sault? Do I stay until I find a job elsewhere? Do I move home and volunteer until I find something or get accepted to grad school? How long do I sit around where I am waiting to hear about the jobs I applied for?

I am getting fed up with having my life on hold here waiting for jobs and living off unemployment. I feel like I need a change so I had almost decided to move home at the end of the month. However I apart from the disappointments I have had a relatively good week and hung out several times with some good friends. Also my family isn't available to help me move at the end of the month and likely won't be until the middle of July. 
And moving back home, although it offers the benefit of rent free accommodation, is not the ideal situation either because I don't have a job there either and my friends live further away. I feel like I either need to get a job here or pick up and move somewhere else where there is a job for me.

Staying here feels like being stuck in a rut but moving back home feels like crawling into a hole. so I don't really want to have to choose either. All I know for sure is that the weather is lovely and I really want to be outside exploring. I feel like the field season is slipping through my fingers and I am powerless to stop it. I know for sure I don't want to spend the entire summer looking for a job- I want to get out and DO SOMETHING.

So if anyone needs a scientist interested in aquatic ecosystems to look at some bugs, or do some water testing or something. Give me a holler because I want to work!

It's Official

I am officially unemployed, I have technically been for awhile, but I kept hoping that maybe I could get another contract. Today I heard back from my employer at OFRI basically confirming what I already feared. In summary this is what I heard from my boss: Your work with us was outstanding (his actual word) and we really hoped to be able to offer you another contract. However our funding situation is worse this year than last year so we can't. We'll keep the resumé you sent us on file, good luck with the job hunt and feel free to use us as references.

SIGH!

Although it is what I was expecting it is still a bummer to hear it for sure. :(
In the upcoming provincial election I urge everyone to remember these are the consequences of tax cuts.


Now I have to decide whether or not to stay in the Sault, I am still waiting to hear back from a DFO position I applied for but won't know for sure about that job till July 9th. So stick around and wait or move home and move on? Not sure what to do, wish I had something for sure, it would make moving a whole lot easier.

Alas! Dilemmas!

If I am a feminist it is my father's fault

If I am a feminist it is my father's fault.
I grew up in an awesome family. My Mom is an elementary school teacher. Everyone ought to have mad respect for elementary school teachers because they have a tough job and work hard, they only get paid for about a 1/4 of what they do but they believe in what they are doing and do it with a smile. My Dad used to work night shifts at the feed mill until he took over my grandparent's farm. This schedule allowed my Dad to stay at home during the day.

My Dad was the one who babysat other teacher's kids. (okay so before my Dad switched to night shifts he worked days and another teacher's spouse babysat us, but my sister's and I were the kids who would cry and cling when our parent's brought us to the babysitters, this was part of the reason why Dad switched to night shifts.) My Dad was the Dad who made my breakfast and lunch. My Dad was the Dad who was always the chaperone on field trips. My Dad was the Dad who did my hair everyday. My Dad was the Dad who got called "Mr. Mom."

My Dad didn't like being called "Mr. Mom." He saw this term as a kind of gender stereotyping. Father's have an equal responsibility in the role of raising their children as mother's do. Who gets them ready for school, makes their lunch, takes them to and from events, and does their hair should be a decision based on available time and skill. So you shouldn't call him a "Mr. Mom" anymore than you should call the average housewife a "Mrs. Dad."

Using the term "Stay-at-Home-Dad" isn't exactly right either because it is used to differentiate from a parent who has a career outside the house. The so called "Leave-the-Home-parent" seems less involved in the day to day goings on of the home. Although my Dad was home during the day, he did have a career outside of the house. Also just because my mom had a career which kept her occupied during the day didn't mean she was any less involved in the day to day goings on of the house.

Whether it was vacuum cleaner salesmen calling and asking for the "Woman of the House," to which my Dad would reply, "speaking." Or television commercials that always portrayed females cleaning the house, packing lunches etc. I grew up hearing my Dad's good humoured "rants" on the subject  and as a result became very good at recognizing gender biases and sexual stereotyping. Hence if I am a feminist it is my father's fault.

However I wouldn't go so far as to say I really am a feminist. Feminism as we see it today has gone a lot farther than just seeking equality. In some cases feminists push beyond equality to a kind of female chauvinism. In other cases feminists seem to confuse equality with being exactly the same. These feminists need to spend more time in math class so they can realize that equal doesn't mean identical, equations have two sides which often look very different but in the end are equal. So maybe I'm not entirely a feminist but I do think equality is an important thing, and like my father I find gender stereotypes obnoxious.

So going back to what you should call my father... He isn't a "Mr. Mom" or a "Stay-at-Home-Dad" he is just a Dad, like my Mom is just a Mom. Two equal sides of a brilliant equation called parenting, and though they might have balanced their equation differently than others I think the end result speaks for itself.

<3 Love you Mom and Dad! <3

Double Edged Swords

Double Edged Sword- a common idiom in the English language
The Merriam- Webster's dictionary describes it as something that has both favourable and unfavourable consequences.
The wiktionary goes on to describe it in a bit more detail: if a sword has two edges while one edge of the sword is directed at your enemy the other is directed at you and poses some danger.

Lately there have been several things in my life which I would consider to be "double edged swords"
(this is by no means a comprehensive list and future posts may expand on this theme)

Unemployment payments:
On one hand a Blessing: as a recent grad there is one thing, besides useless knowledge, that I have a lot of- debt. Unemployment payments allow me to continue to meet my monthly payments on my student loan, and also pay for essentials like groceries, rent and clothing.
However:  there is something strange about receiving a paycheque when you haven't been working. It does something to your psyche, lulls you into a false sense of stability. Also although, freeing in an economic sense, unemployment payments tie me down in so many other ways. For instance I cannot be outside of the country from Mon-Fri for more than 24 hrs. (Which wouldn't be too bad if I didn't currently live in a border town and need to travel through the States to visit my family.) Also since I have to be available to work at the drop of a hat I can't really plan anything in advance. Want to volunteer for a week in the summer somewhere- too bad, you might get a job between now and then and can't make that commitment. Want to plan a trip with a friend for next month- too bad- by then you may have a job halfway across the country and have to cancel. Want to join a Bible study at your church? To Bad- you might only be able to go once or twice before you have to move or your schedule changes. The constant state of maybes, coulds and mights makes it hard to make plans, and even harder to make good friendships and relationships. (Especially for this socially challenged individual.)

Religious Fundamentalists:
These crazies usually drive me crazy and can set my teeth on edge and my face in a wince quite quickly. Whether it is confusing their faith with their political or cultural ideals, or failing to show mercy and tolerance, these people irritate me and can easily illicit a frustrated "Ugh! that is NOT what it's all About!!!!!" from my lips.
However: recently I came to realize they just might be a blessing in disguise. If people ask me where I went to university (Redeemer University) they fairly quickly find out whether or not I am a Christian. So even in my professional life the cat is out of the bag about my faith rather quickly. Many people already have deeply seated, sometimes negative, stereotypes about Christians- when I don't fit those stereotypes they are confused and ask questions. Giving me an opportunity to share.

Farewell Rapunzel

I recently announced to the world that I had chopped off my hair, and then selfishly didn't post any pictures. Mainly due to my lack of skill at self photography. But today I decided to play with the selftimer option on my camera and got this shot. This is me sans ~ 14 ish inches of hair. The new style is slightly shorter than I wanted (a little short for a ponytail) but kinda cute so I don't really care. Anyways my hair grows at an outrageously fast pace so probably in a month or two it will be the length I actually wanted. In the meantime I can "whip my hair" a la Willow Smith, without the need for a neck brace.

Plaid- The Great Unifier

Recently while I was home I had the privilege of attending the Clinton Spring Fair. While enjoying cotton candy and the sounds of the demolition derby I had a unique revelation. Everyone was wearing plaid! Okay not quite everyone, but a large number of people had plaid of some sort. I never really thought about how versatile plaid was as a pattern until I started looking, but plaid seems to suit just about any style. There were people all over with very different and unique styles and personae but all had one thing in common- PLAID. I didn't have my camera with me or I would have started snapping photos instead I went home and looked up some google images that represent the diversity of plaid- enjoy!

 There are certainly many more varieties of plaid. These are just a few of the ones I spotted. If you have another category of plaid feel free to tell me about it.

  

Updates!

Just a quick note on some previous blog posts.

"Little Buddy" or "Purtle" (for pool/pet turtle) as my siblings named him/her was successfully released into his/her new home in our pond. I had kept Purtle under observation in a small aquarium at home for a few days. The first day Purtle didn't show much activity- probably due to extreme exhaustion from swimming so long in the pool filter. In fact I tried to release Purtle the first day I found him/her but Purtle had other intentions and remained lazily on the bank. Since I was concerned with Purtle's behaviour I took him/her back up to the house and made a nice habitat. Over the next couple days Purtle perked up and exhibited normal turtle behaviour, even munching on some duckweed and strawberries I had placed in the aquarium. I finally released Purtle on a warm sunny day. This time Purtle exhibited normal turtle behaviour and scuttled into the water, seemingly very pleased with the new accommodations.

My Bagpipe chanter finally arrived. I need to find a descent instruction book with some basic songs and such but until then I have been using the internet.I found that there are only nine notes I need to learn. (Not too bad!) However with no sharps or flats and no way of creating dynamics I need to learn complex patterns of grace notes and trills to create a descent sound. (Tough!) Eventually I shall graduate from the practice chanter to a practice goose (think baby bagpipe) to learn proper technique with the bag before adding drones. However for now I am content to work with my chanter. It is rather quiet so I can practice without annoying the neighbours which is a plus. I find the chanter sounds like a cross between a recorder and a kazoo and that when I play it I feel kindof like a snake charmer.

My painting has been coming along quite nicely. I just need to add a bit more detail around the branches, but other than that it is done. I will probably hang it in my living room or bedroom until my sister (who commissioned the painting as her birthday present) returns to the province or gets a home in which she can hang it.

In other news... I am still unemployed :(  
Most recent extremely choppy Service Canada hold music was :

• a Celtic version of My Hear will Go On
• a Techno version of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
• and the Forest Gump Theme song which I only recognized because we played it once in High School band, and even though we were terrible we did a better job than the Service Canada phone line.