Ronald Wright

So, last night Ronald Wright, author of 'A Short History of Progress' and 'A Scientific Romance' came to speak at my residence. Considering I'd never heard of him before, I was thoroughly impressed. He spoke about how we as a global community are going to reach the point of a progress trap. We'll have progressed so much that we are a threat to ourselves. I believe what he says. This is what happened to the Incas, and those who lived on Easter Island. A lot of people think that Easter island was always bare of trees, as it is now. Absolutely the contrary. It used to be full of trees and flora/fauna. But, the islanders were so intent on making these stone statues that they completely disregarded the future. They believed that God would come and save them all, reward them, in fact, for having made such beautiful tributes. Did that happen? Um, no.

When the islanders cut down their last tree, they knew it would be their last. Is that what we're going to be like with our resources? It's such a scary thought. Everything right now is about money. Our governments and economic systems are about profit. They look forward for the next three years, not the next century. Considering how much our population has grown in recent history, we could very well be setting ourselves up for serious issues. Hello, global warming? Although, I did come across a hard core right wing girl last night who doesn't believe in global warming, and thinks I'm stupid for believing the scientists. In her mind, they're all out to make us scared? Well, if that's true, what are they getting out of it? Really, these are the people who represent the right wing? Scary.

In short, I've already put his two books on hold. I want to know more! I want to know what he thinks we can do to stop this from happening. During the Q&A period I asked "well, is it realistic that we can change political, economic and global mindsets in enough time to prevent harm from happening on a grand scale?" Wright said that the world is slowly waking up. The globe and mail, last week, had the entire front page on the environment. The Bush administration admits they should have been starting to do something six years ago. People are admitting they are wrong, and things will change. He has hope.

Yet, I was totally discouraged when listening to people like this girl I spoke of, who are so set in their ways. She is 19 years old, but KNOWS she's right. Nothing could deter her. She won't inform herself properly, but listens to propoganda that suits her beliefs. When people are so ignorant, and choose to stay ignorant, how can we change in enough time? Well, Mr Wright has hope, and I think we all should try to also.

The legend, the man, and Gregory Peck

Last night I was watching a documentary on Gregory Peck, where it showed clips of the show he did for the last few years of his life, and I have to say, I admire him even more than just his acting roles. He was an honest man of integrity, and he was the word 'gentleman' personified. You can't beat his classic looks, and he chose roles that held good positions of morality. I am thoroughly impressed.

It's no wonder that Atticus Finch was voted the greatest movie hero of all time. It just shows you don't need to be physically strong and beat up the bad guys (although I'm sure he could have) to be a hero, it's about integrity and character which Peck had in spades!

I've always love Gregory Peck mainly for his role in Roman Holiday. Peck + Audrey Hepburn= unforgettable movie. My parents have always been huge fans, and I love their Gregory Peck story.

So my dad was in Salt Lake City for a work thing, and was waiting in the First Class lounge for his flight to Calgary. And who was in the lounge? Gregory Peck of course. The reason my dad was going back to Calgary that day was to see Gregory Peck give his show. He called my mum and said "you'll never guess who is here, it's Gregory Peck." Now my dad is a regular prankster, so my mum was like sure sure, well if it really is him get his autograph.

Sure enough my Dad did, and told Gregory that they would be at his show that night. So, that night at the show, my mum and dad walk up to get things signed, and Gregory says "Ah, it's the Scotsman from Salt Lake City!" Hard not to believe my dad after that!

Round the world!

IT has happened. IT has really happened. What might IT be? What would make IT so important that it deserved to be capitalized? Well, IT was the booking of my round the world ticket! It is now official and set in stone. The proverbial stone in fact being the sum of some 6-7 thousand dollars including a great deal many flights, an Australian Contiki tour, a couple nights in hotels and insurance. The sum of money is insane, but the trip will be incredible. I have been sending e-mails en masse to all my friends from around the world in the hopes that I will get to see some, if not all, of them again. I have this one chance to see as many sights, friends, and family as possible, so I celebrate this moment with a giant YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Bring on the jet lag, insomnia, lack of hygiene, and all horrible additions to trips, for nothing can break my spirit.



Except please don't bring me those things in excess if at all possible, powers that be, almighty universe and whatever there is out there.

10 things I miss about childhood

1. The smell of play-dough
2. Blowing bubbles (which I still do now!)
3. Rolling down grassy hills
4. Playing hide and seek
5. Running like flat out just to win the game
6. Having no understanding of what 'body image' is
7. The hardest thing in school was math.... like 5 X 9 math
8. Building forts
9. Making paper shoes, hats, and clothes
10. Not knowing the pressure of that horrible word 'future'

Oh how I want to be...

...a Resident Assistant! I am so incredibly psyched. I'm in the application process right now, which is a series of eliminations. First they see if they like your references and your cover letter. I've put a lot of time and effort into my cover letter and have had several people look over it. I think my references will be pretty good. The next step is the RA assessment session. They have everyone get together for an entire day and see how they all act in team activities. I'm sometimes shy, but for this I'm going to go all out. As my good friend says 'Fake it till you make it!'. So, confidence better be at 100% on the exterior! Hopefully 100% on the interior too!

After the assessment day, they do another cut and decide who they want to interview one on one. Then after that, it's deal or no deal kind of thing. I'll know one way or another by March 15th, but I really want this. I hope I'm not jinxing it, but on the other hand maybe my positive energy will help!

I have big plans for if I were to be Resident Assistant next year. I'd want my floor to be really close-knit. I'd suggest things like weekly pancake breakfasts (a current favourite on our floor now), birthday celebrations, weekly outings, and so on. I'd also want to make up little information packs which we don't get in enough detail when starting out. It would have things like: where is the nearest safeway, movie store, pharmacy, etc.

Okay, this might be boring to some, but I'm so excited. Oh and a shout out to the duck herder for helping me with my cover letter. It's much appreciated!

Insomnia Academia

Only two weeks in and back to the regular sleeping issues of the weekend. I don't stay up terribly late on Friday nights unless I'm going out, but I give myself the privilege of not setting my alarm clock for the next morning. This can prove problematic, as yesterday I woke up at 1pm. Not so good. I felt well rested, but then I didn't get to bed till 2 am. Now I have class in essentially 6 hours, but I can't sleep! Not cool.

So, an update. I've been incredibly busy since being back at uni. I'm joining new groups, such as Spokescouncil for my residence, and I am now going to be doing volunteer work at one of the campuses community centers, which is such a laid back job. I'm organizing a traditional Scottish event for this Friday, and I'm even going to be practicing my public speaking by speaking for five minutes about Scotland. It's this international event thing for the school. Anyways, new challenges and hopefully good future results.

I've been going to the gym much more frequently and have found I'm not as unfit as I thought. If I can do 30 minutes on the eliptical walker, I'm not as unfit as I imagine. Plus I do about 150 sit ups, and if I have more time, I go on the treadmill a bit. Hoping to get very fit for my trip. Not necessarily lose all the weight I want to in three months, as that is unrealistic, but try damn hard.

I'm loving my courses this semester. They're much more mentally stimulating and challenging, but with that a lot more work. Hard work seems to be the theme of this semester. SO, here I go!

I've got the BBC!

There are some things that you subconsciously get used to, and then greatly miss without really knowing why. The BBC Radio 4 is one of those things. I didn't know I missed it, until I discovered I could listen to it through my laptop. I'm so excited! I've been listening to the BBC news (best in the world) all morning, even looking for clips of the Archers, which is a total radio soap opera. My uncle listens to it religiously, so I thought I would see if it was worth a listen. Not so very much! Anyhow, I feel sorry for my neighbours, cause I'll be listening to this non-stop for the forseeable future. Hey, I'll stick to the non-quiet hours, they can't ask for more than that!

Friday Night Potluck

Last night's potluck!

Back to School

Ah the joys of having 55 pages of reading the first week. Don't I love it? Answer....sometimes. Not always. I have never been one of those people that enjoys studying (do they exist?), but I do see why it's important. Still, sometimes the desire to sleep does win in the battle between me and the books.

So far I'm enjoying my classes. Non of them are a nightmare as per philosophy and written french last semester. I'm going to have a lot more to do this term with two research papers on the schedule!!! I guess hard work never hurt anyone...oh wait! According to my optometrist it does! My eyesight has gotten worse since my last check up, which she says is normal for uni students, because of all the reading we do. However, that also means my eyes are going to get worse for the next three years! Crappy.

Back to the books, and down with my vision!