Taxi Truths

Okay, so I haven't written in a while, but that's mainly due to incredible amounts of studying I've been doing. Last night however, was a rest from that. Me and a bunch of friends from my resdience went out partying for the Mexican's last night. We went out to this club called the Globe. I'd never been there before, so it was a shocking suprise when we had to wait for half an hour outside. My toes had almost frozen, and shivering beyond belief. Despite our best efforst to get in (we overheard this one girl was having a birthday, so we went to the front and said we were with them too) they didn't work.

Finally, we got in, frozen and bitter. We made our way to the dancefloor. In my opinion this is the best way to warm up! It was a very mixed group. The Swedes, the Canadians, the French, the Costa Ricans, the Mexican, the Germans, and the Chinese. After many drinks and some great songs, four of us decided we needed to get home at the decent hour of 2am.

We were desperately searching for a taxi, but an evil couple theived one from us. I hate people like that....or maybe I was just jealous. Let's be realistic, I tried to get into the club before tons of people! Anyhow, we starting talking to our cabbie, and I can't remember how it came up, but someone asked him if anything bad, really bad, has happened to a cab driver in Edmonton. He said no.......not for the last six months at least. For the six months before then, 3 cab drivers were murdered. Murdered. How scary is that?

I'm starting to realize just how ghetto Edmonton is. People are being killed all the time. In Calgary, the murder toll up to date this year is 23. 23, that's say, 2 a month. Here, it's at least, AT LEAST, 2 a week. Why is that? The two cities aren't that different in size. They are commonly called the white collar city and the blue collar city. Does job and class really have everything to do with it? I'd like to hope not.

If nothing else, I sympathize a lot more with cab drivers.

Me Vs. The Fruit Flies

Okay, so I got home from a 4 day mini break, and I realized from the second I walked into the room, that I'd forgotten to take out the garbage before I left. Being that this is the winter season, I buy mandarin oranges by the boxful. I had quite a few orange peels in the garbage, so imagine my digust to find the over-perfumed smell of orange, and ...the fruit flies. At least 30 of them are flying around my room. It grosses me out. I've tried killing as many of them as I can, but they're on to me! Thye are now flying close to the ceiling where they know my 5 foot 4 inch body cannot reach! It's a conspiracy.

Now, I've been cleaning my room all day long, as I read that soap kills any eggs they lay. Normally my room is tidy...ish. Tidy at most, but not exactly clean.

I'm exhausted from all the cleaning, and still they fly around beside me. Not happy. I read that they can live for 60 days! Not happy.

An ode to Dr McDreamy

I am an avid Grey's Anatomy viewer. It is the one and only show I currently follow. My residence even has a 'Grey's Anatomy group' going on a Thursday night. This can either be viewed as sad or cool. Take your pick.

So, the consensus is that Patrick Dempsey, a.k.a Doctor McDreamy is the best of the doctors. My GA group urged me to write and ode to McDreamy on my blog. So, here goes. We've put together a little poem, however corny it may be.

Ah, Patrick a.k.a McDreamy,
You're twice the man that is McSteamy,
A neurosurgeon you are by day,
We thank the lord you are not gay.

The scrubs, the eyes and the wavy hair,
Make us stammer and even stare.
The way you smile, the way you dance,
Makes us hope we have a chance.

Yet, you have a wife and many kids,
So we'll never get to cash in our bids,
However, when upon a Thursday night,
You are only ours, you are in our sight.

Okay, I swear I did not make this up on my own, and I am truly aware of how silly it sounds. SERIOUSLY. However, in all honesty, everyone should watch this show. It's like ER, but with more drama!

Real Beauty

I found this whilst surfing YouTube tonight, and it was very striking.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZoyfhG0Wwk&NR

Think of how many young people, women in particular, who are killing themselves to be 'beautiful'. They're trying to be something that they see in magazines or on the big screen. The fact is, the people in magazines are retouched, computer manipulated and altered. People in movies or on t.v. have stylists looking after them 24/7. After every single take they are retouched. It is totally unrealistic for us to expect to look like these 'people'. I know I'm guilty of it as well as most women out there, but I'm beginnning to wonder why, with the knowledge we all have of how fake commercial beauty is, we still strive to be essentially fake?

Snow

So, I am, and always will be a big fan of snow. However, I'm a fan of a certain kind of snow. I love when it IS snowing. Like today, I'm outside, it's not too cold, and millions of snowflakes are floating to the ground. I love the silence you get from snow. Everything becomes still, it's surreal. I recently wrote an article for english. It had to be travel related. I was retelling my story of my first Christmas alone in Arran. I woke up not sure what to expect from the day. I wasn't working, and I had hoped I would be. I thought my first Christmas alone would be depressing. Christmas is all about family, no matter how dysfunctional! Anyhow, I woke up to the kids next door screaming and laughing. I made my way to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I look out the window and see snow! I'd never seen snow on the island before, and how appropriate that it would land on Christmas day.

I shoved on a pair of shoes, grabbed and coat and was out there door. Out in the parking lot of the staff accommodation there were these two South Africans working there (I can't for the life of me remember their names, as they were only there a month). They were building a snowman; their first. I helped out. We named him Monty, as he had no clothes and therefore was doing the full monty! The most amazing thing was their reactions to their first snow. In Alberta we have snow for 6-7 months of the year, so it's nothing new to me. They were talking about the crunching noise it makes when you step on it. How everything seems clean and fresh. How it sounds silent, like I said.

The other big thing about snow, is that it brings Christmas and the holidays. I don't think that there could be a better time of year (but people are definitely going to argue that). I was in West Edmonton mall yesterday to buy ski pants. Yes, after 8 years of not being on the ski hill, I'm going to try my hand at snowboarding. Watch this space for messages about injuries. Anyhow, the whole mall (even though it was the 3rd of November) was decked with ornaments. Christmas trees were glowing with fairly lights. The department stores had red boxes piled one on top of the other. Being that my favourite colour is red, this is one of the simple pleasures I get out of Christmas. It makes everyone happy seeing the decorations, the lights and the festive atmosphere.

Basically I could go on and on about it, but I'll stop here. The picture, by the way, is of the island I was talking about. No, it isn't snowing, but it was the clearest day I've ever been on the ferry. At one point a helicopter was circling the ferry and everyone took a million pictures. The picture I prefered, is this. The water was as still as a mill pond.

"I try in my own way to be free"

Today I was on one of my walks around my area of Edmonton. I've noticed that on many mailboxes, lamp posts and electricity boxes I see writing. Today I stopped and read one. It had the lyrics of a Leonard Cohen song on it. The last line was 'I try in my own way to be free.' It seemed inspiring to me. A lot of people strive for freedom, but then again what do we consider to be freedom? I saw another one saying "We need to redeem the system".

I'm incredibly curious as to who this person is. Is it a guy or a girl? Old, or young? What do they do for a living? What is their mood? Are they putting these signs up with a goal? I mean, think about the butterfly effect: the beating of a butterfly's wing could cause a tidal wave half way around the world. A small change creating a large change. Does this person hope that these writings will inspire or bring change to another person? I wonder if it does change people. Because I'm writing about it, does that mean that I'm changed? So many questions out of a few posted writings.