Funny dreams

Wow, yesterday was busy at work. I sold over 2 000.00! We were short staffed, because people were sick. I even had some woman call me in the afternoon saying “hi, we came in for lunch today, and my friend really liked you. We were just wondering what her chances are...” Man, that was the funniest thing ever. I was totally confused too, I didn’t know who it was at first, and then couldn’t remember which party they were part of at lunch (I had a few). Fun times.
Night shift was busy too. Nancy worked, which was jokes. Actually, this morning, I kept dreaming about working with her, and I kept waking up laughing! I can't remember what she was saying in them though. 9 inch is even funny in my dreams. I trained another new person too. She was nice, but doesn’t have any serving experience. Hopefully tonight is just as busy.
Today it’s so nice out, I hope to get my hand dirty outside. It’s time to start cutting the grass and turning the soil=)

Happy Birthday Judy!

First off, Happy Happy Birthday Judy!
Today I went to school and handed in my thesis, again. That should be the last time for doing that now!=) Now I have a full weekend without school worries, until I start up again on Monday. I look forward to starting the Summer term though, I like Summer school (I’m not a nerd. Really, I’m not.)
After school it was off to Judy’s Bday dinner at Prince Sushi. I ordered spicy salmon maki rolls, which were great. Then I was thinking, “I need more!” So, I order a Bento box, which was very good. Their beer was also really great. Shirley, it was good to see you again too, you need to come back to BP.
After that I was stuffed, and went home. Veena and Sreng came by and we almost polished off a tub of cookie dough ice cream. Pigs we are, I know.
Thanks again Judy for a great time tonight. Kaitlyn is totally beautiful, winner of cutest baby of the year. You also looked great. We need to go out to that tomato place, if they can make pasta like a Nonna, then they must be good!

Harper....

So, as we all know by now, 4 Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan by a bomb a few days ago. Very sad, but they are in a war zone. The sad news is what the Conservative government is doing. They have put a media ban on showing the caskets or funeral ceremonies of the soldiers. Sound familiar? Well it should, this is the same thing that the government in the US does. The media is not allowed to show the caskets of the soldiers. The Conservative government has barely warmed their seats in the house, and they are already putting Communist style media bands on what Canadians have a right to see and know. Our rights are being violated, does this bother you?
Also, our new Conservative government has also said that it will no longer lower government flags to half mast when a soldier dies:
“The Canadian flag outside of the coalition headquarters remained at half-mast, even though the flag above the Peace Tower on the Parliament buildings in Ottawa remained at normal station. The newly elected Conservative government has said it will no longer lower the flag to half-mast every time a Canadian soldier is killed, a break with tradition established by the Liberals."
All this pisses me off, what do you think? You can email mister Harper at: pm@pm.gc.ca.

Mexican Aliens?

While in Vegas, I realised that there is something really big occurring in the south. Something that many of the people there see as a plague that could bring down the USA nation as a whole. The war on terror looks silly compared to the “War on Illegal Mexican Aliens” (I made up this title). In the south, it’s hard to find a person who likes Mexicans, or, I just had really bad luck. The people that I spoke to, as well as the TV news, and newspaper, all speak of them as some foreign invades who come to steal jobs and drain the economy. My grandmother’s neighbour started talking to my mom about the “illegal aliens,” and my mom assumed he was speaking about invaders from another planet. Down there, these “illegal aliens” are a hot discussion topic. The guy I was speaking to at the YMCA there also spoke about them. He joked with me that he will be going to Mexico to give them maps to Canada. I told him that that would be fine. But would it?
This CNN article reports that there are 7 million illegal immigrants, most of which come from Mexico. Maybe they do have something to be concerned about? I mean, how is it that they are able to get in, and just stay? I want to move to the US, could I do that?
Many people argue that they are stealing away jobs. I disagree with that, to a point. While in Vegas, I noticed that Mexican people worked at almost every restaurant, fast food chain, and other labour jobs. Also, I saw plenty of “now hiring” signs. There didn’t seem to be a shortage of jobs.
Obviously what is happening is exploitation. Businesses are hiring Mexican people because they are desperate, and will work for minimum wage. (Oh, and by the way, minimum wage is 5.15US in Nevada. Now think about what that would work out to be in Canadian dollars! Our minimum wage will be $8.00 soon.) The government doesn’t do anything about border problems because businesses like the cheap labour.
I don’t really know much about the issue though, what do you guys think? Vegas boys, what are your thoughts?

My big piece of meat

Today started off with a visit to the dentist. I had to go and get a filling “touched up”. I left with four fillings. Yes, one touched up, and three new ones. Thankfully 2 of them weren’t deep or anything, but holy crap these dentists know how to milk you good. Reading this you’d probably think I never brush or floss my teeth. Truth is, I do both 3 times a day or more. I also try not to drink pop, or eat candies. I just got the sucky end of the gene pool when it comes to cavity protection=P
After that, I went shopping and bought myself a very large T-bone steak and some mushrooms. I had too big a craving not to stop at the LCBO and pick up some Creemore. With those in hand, I went home and fried up the grill and ate a whole lot of steak, with some nice cool beer. Relaxing times without parents is great!
At night, Veena came by and said that Sreng would be along shortly. He ended up not coming, so Veena got her sis to drive her back now. Now I plan on watching a movie Veena lent me called Sugar.

Last exam

Tonight was my last exam of the semester! It was my Retailing Management, the one where I got a 40.5% (moved to a 51%), on my midterm. Did I read the 7 chapters for this test? No, only two. Did I attend every class? No, I missed 2. Did I read all the lecture notes? No, but I looked at some of them. How did I do? Better than the midterm that I studied crazy for. I was worried that I might fail this class, but now I will at least pass. It will probably be my lowest mark, but what can be done. Thank god it’s over. Now I just have to edit my thesis for the thousandth time. After that I will send you guys a copy.
By the way, a little birdie told me it’s someone’s Birthday this Thursday. You better think up somewhere to go Judy=)
Two more days til my parents get back=(. I feel like I should be having mad parties or something.

My home

Having my parents away is great. I have such freedom to do whatever I want. Blast some “Shake That” by Eminem at 1am? Sure thing. I’m sure going to miss this when they get back next week.
Yesterday Sreng, Veena and Daren came over and we ate pizza and played some micro games and Mario Cart on Gamecube. It was fun times. We ate pizza and salad, and I made some of my famous dinner drinks. Everyone is invited over on Monday or Tuesday of next week. I have an exam this Sunday, so after that it should be fun times.
Sreng drove me home after work today and we ate some cheesteak and fries. It's been so long since I had one of those, but I couldn't resist. Almost every customer tonight ordered one.
Tomorrow I must start studying for my exam. Really, I should start.=P

Goodtime at Goodtimes

Ya, that was such a killer title=P
Early Tuesday morning (12:30am), Mike picked me up from the fun land of my Grandmother’s, and we headed out to Goodtimes.
We had so many random people talking to us, it was cool. Half the time I didn’t know if Mike knew them or not. I also heard one of my favourite songs by Basement Jaxx - Oh My Gosh. That brought us out onto the dance floor for an amazing experience. After that we tried some pool, which lasted a whole two turns=). It was off to home after that, (Mike you’re a very wise man). Also, thank you for taking me out, I had an amazing time.

Westjet

This was my first time flying with Westjet, but it won’t be my last. They are supposedly a “budget airline,” but seem nothing like the sort. On a four hour flight to Vegas, they came around 3 times to give us drinks, and twice with snacks! The snacks were only cookies or chips, but it was enough. No one ever liked the airplane food anyways, and you can always just bring your own.
On the way home today, we got in a half an hour early, something that’s always a plus. Also, the flight attendants were amazing. One of them randomly came up to me and said “would you like another cranberry juice without ice?” Nice. They were also funny and really kind.
We did not get to watch a movie, instead we all had our own personal TV, with about 20 channels to choose from. They were all live channels fed by satellite. We could watch anything from What Not to Wear to Fox "News". I chose the more intelligent choice and went with What Not to Wear.
Ya, so everyone fly Westjet, it’s great. And while you’re at it, buy some of their stock (okay that was totally biased because I own it, but whatever!=).

Home

I'm home! I just got in, much earlier than I expected. The plane got in a half hour early, which was great. I'll update with my time out at Goodtimes, and my flight home. Right now I desperately need some sleep, and detox. Wait until I tell you what I've been eating my whole trip, I did like a true AmErican.

Sweaty and steamy times

Hello all! It’s my last night in Vegas, and I’m excited to get home. First things first…
Judy, you were in my dream this morning! You were marking my Phil and Ethical issues paper and gave me a 50%. I didn’t understand why, until I looked at what I had handed in. There were misspelled words, and there were parts written in 1 point font. It was too small to even see that they were words! I was sad. I also got back my thesis and got a C! I was so upset, I kept thinking, “she nominated this for an award?!” Funny stuff, I still remember your face as you were trying to hand them out, and it was all getting confused. When I woke up, I had to stop and think for a minute.
Today I went to the YMCA, and had an interesting time. I ended up speaking to a guy there, who asked me “what do you think we can do about Iraq?” He told me his plan, which is too long, complex and unintelligent to even bother writing. He also asked me what Canadians think about the US (to which I said “not very much”), and if we had dollars made of gold. Oh, and he also asked me “do you have a lot of these Muslim people there?”(I told him lots, and that they are nice). He then told me about how their Koran tells them to hate people and kill (I tried my best to educate him about the truth though). He then asked if we have a lot of Mexicans, and I told him “not really”. He responded by saying “I’m going to go down to Mexico and hand out directions to Canada!” We both laughed at that one, but I think for different reasons. Oh, and he also called his pot belly an “illegal alien” (I’ll write a rant about this Mexico alien thing at a later date). He did admit that the world must think that the US is pretty stupid after Iraq. Funny guy. Another guy at the gym exclaimed about the administration in the US: “All these damn Liberals!” Wow, how uneducated and Conservative is he! After that I then went into the sauna and steam room for my first time ever. Wow, those things are hot, but relaxing. Fun times. I’m also a wiz with the buses now too. Too bad I’m leaving tomorrow…ya right!
Today my Grandmother had a small freak out because she apparently did not like the dress my Mom wore yesterday when the neighbours came over. It got all the way to “dis is because you just tink of me as stepmother!” I think she’s a little nuts. Anyways, next time I write I’ll be in Canada, the land of the free (thinkers).

Tonight I'm off to Goodtimes with Mike!

fun times...Finally!

Hello everyone! I tried writing yesterday but my computer froze, and then I ran out of time at the library. So, I will tell you about my fun time on Thursday night and Friday morning.
Thursday night, my friend in Vegas Mike picked me up at 1130. He took me to a club at the Wynn casino called Tryst. It was really cool. It was really large, and had an outdoor section that overlooked a waterfall. Super cool. Mike saw a lot of his friends from work there as well. We had a drink, and spoke for some time there. After a while we left and went to freezone.
At freezone, we got our drinks, then took out place at the infamous booths. When Veena, Sreng and I went there, we met so many interesting people at these booths, and this time was no different. Mike and I spoke about politics, world issues, money issues, and dating. Very cool conversations. When he left to go to the washroom, I was joined by a slightly intoxicated guy named Ben. He is a 25 year old Communications teacher from LA. He has also done commercials and stuff like that. The three of us spoke for some time about a wide assortments of topics (although not as intelligent as previously=)
After some time, Ben invited us back to his hotel for cheaper beer than what we were paying for at the bar. Mike said it was a little late, so instead we went next door to an even grungier bar. It was very country looking.
We stayed there for some time and then Mike said it was late and time for him to leave (it was 4am). Ben begged me to give him "just one more hour" of my time, and I obliged. So Mike left, and took my jacket and cell phone with him (I had left them in his car and totally forgot, silly me!) Anyways, Ben and I stayed at the bar for a little while longer and then decided to get something to eat. He was in no shape to drive, so he suggested for me to drive back to the Motel 6 where he was staying near the strip. I did, and all went well til I drove up a island between 8 lanes of traffic=P. Oh well, no damage done, and no one hurt (thank God!). Ben was super cool about it, and I made it the rest of the way okay. That's what I get for driving while sleepy and in new areas.
We walked to a small diner and got some food. I didn't eat too much, as I usually lose my appetite when I'm sleepy. It was too late to go home after that so I stayed at Ben's. He drove me home in time for an 11am breakfast at my grandmothers.
It was fun times, funner than I wrote because I left out some of the details...;)
Since then, it's been back to the usual. We still have no car, and won't have one before I leave. Things seem to take a whole lot longer to fix here.
I can't wait to come back and see ya'll!

I done good!

Look at what my Thesis Professor emailed me:

Hi Steve,

I am nominating your thesis to the Ivana Guglietti-Kelly Award for
qualitative research work.

You can get back the copy I marked from Agnes. You then need to submit a
clean copy to Agnes before May 1. Please remind her at that time to
attach to your copy my cover letter and submit it to Undergraduate
Office (rm 292 BSB) before May 1.

Congratulations!

Tifrah Warner

Wow, I can't believe she did that! I've never really been nominated for anything. That's so cool, I guess I will get a good mark. Now I just have to revise it for the millionth time=) If anyone wants me to email them a copy, post me a comment and I will.

Howdy Ya'll!

I found the Internet! Yes, I'm at college library, about a 30 minute walk from my grandmother's. I bet you're all jealous of me, in the fun city of Vegas eh? Well, don't be.
The trip has been very boring. My Grandmother's place is dirty and dusty. There are two dogs in the house as well, and it's really killing me with allergies. We have no car because she smashed it up before we got here, and it's in the shop getting fixed. Our daily trips consist of walking to the grocery store, and that's it. Really, it's sad. Mike is taking me out tomorrow night, so that should add some excitement to this trip. We also have dinner plans with the neighbours who are in their 90's. At least they will provide some interesting, and education conversation.
My Grandmother hates everyone but Ukrainians and Italians. She thinks the Polish are all two faced, German's and rough and rude, Philipeno's want to eat Lana (her dog), Blacks are good... as maids, and Mexicans are dirty and Banditos. She also thinks the neighbour stole her Brazilian perls, was after her husband, and wants to kill her. Oh, and she also thinks that she wants to lock her up in a mental hospital. She doesn't like another neighbours because she's Mexican, but says that she is really Italian.
I can't hold in the laughter anymore at the lunch and dinner table. It's so hilarious.
Also, her dog Lana now weights 128 pounds, and can barely walk. She is so fat and dirty it's sad.
Well, that's been my trip. I hope you're all doing well and having fun. The weather here is great though, sunny and warm.
Post comments, so that I don't feel lonely=)

Goodbye Canada!

Tonight I fly out for Vegas. I wasn’t that excited, but now I think I am. I haven’t had a chance to really think about the trip because school was so busy. I’m still packing now. But, I look forward to seeing my friends there, and seeing my grandmother’s huge dog Lana. She is so cool, the only dog I like.
I’ll probably update my blog while I’m there, so check it out. And please leave comments, so that I feel close to home. Keep me updated on any important news too, when you’re in the US, Canada doesn’t exist.=)

School is out! (for 2 weeks at least)

Wow, a day off, a real weekday day off!
Yesterday I handed in my last essay. It was supposed to be between 15 and 25 pages. I went for the lower end at 17 pages. It was for my Philosophy/Marketing class. Just so you know, no, those two subjects do not combine well. The course was mostly philosophy, and used ads as material. It was such a joke, so stupid. I think that this is the last year it is being offered, and good riddance. The Profs were super nice, it was just a course that didn’t ever go anywhere.
In cool news, guess who met and was interviewed by VJ hopeful Tim??? No, not me, but my cousin Denise. He was in the mall where she works, and went around signing autographs and doing interviews. My cousin said that he seemed nervous still, but was a nice guy (she also called him a loser, and said that his band sucks. That was while he wasn’t around;). I hope he wins, him or anyone but that loser Eric. Tim if you read this, I think you’re great!
So today I have to get my hair cut, do some shopping, see my friends, and pack. Tomorrow I’m off in the great city of lights, and some hot desert weather. I’m starting to get excited!

Last day of classes

Today marked the last class for this term, and the last class for one the stupidest courses I’ve ever taken (my Philosophical and Ethical Issues in Mass Media being a close second). That’s saying a lot considering it was the course I was most looking forward to last Summer. The course was called Machine Mediate Human Communication. Sounds super cool, eh? The course description read that we would do a Flash project, a DVD project and a website. I was so excited to learn how to do these things, I thought I’d leave the course with a portfolio to show in future job interviews. That’s not how things turned out though.
I left the first class totally confused about the direction of the class, and what skills we would need in it. I asked the professor at the end of class if I needed any skills to take this class. He promised me that he would teach us everything we needed to know. He would do lessons on all the various programs.
Flash forward to today, I am still waiting for one of those lessons. What programs did he teach us? None...Yes, honestly, none. Not even one.
Instead of learning Flash, Website design, and DVD design, we had one major project (which we still don’t know how much is worth. From my calculations, it’s worth 80% of our final mark). My group chose to do a DVD. The Prof. promised us that we could do it on “anything you want, we will show you everything you need to make it.” Okay! Ya right. We soon realised that we were on our own.
Thankfully I had an amazing group, and one member Patrycja, has a smart and helpful husband. You can see us making our DVD here. Other than working on the project, there were literally no classes. We would go, Durlak (the prof) would show up at least 30 minutes late, and then we would sit around trying to figure out what we were there for. I literally lost my cool on a few occasions and told them that their “idea generating games” like “try on different coloured hats” was a stupid waste of time.
Today I was all excited because we would be able to write the course evaluations, and I could vent. But, low and behold.....no one came to give them. There was no course evaluations! I guess it just goes along with everything else in this course though.
=P

Dreams

This morning I had the coolest dreams. One was of Nonno John and my aunts and uncles. We were all at my grandparent’s former apartment, and suddenly Nonno John appeared sitting on his couch. He looked at me, and then winked. I wasn’t sure if anyone else could see him. I kept staring at him, never looking away, just in case he disappeared. I remember that there was something that had to be settled between all my dad’s sibings. Some feud or something, I can’t remember, but I think that’s why Nonno John was there. There was also some man there who I didn’t recognise. When he left, I followed him into the hallway where he turned into a women, who resembled my two aunt. She told me that she was a “guardian angle,” and then got into the elevator and left. She was really nice, wore black clothes, and had shoulder length dark brown hair. I then told my dad (in my dream), and asked him if this might have been Nonna Connie’s unborn child that she miscarried. (The child she miscarried was a boy).
Strange dream eh?

Then, if that wasn’t enough, I had another one, even stranger. I was in a hotel room in Vegas. Mike and I had gone down to visit for a while. I was in the hotel room on the computer, and Mike came in after being at the gym. The room was really small and dimly lit in a grey colour light. I kept thinking “I should have gotten up early too and gone to the gym!” He then left to do some sightseeing. I had just woke up, and wasn’t ready to go out yet. After some time, I went out for a walk. It wasn’t really Vegas, but a really nice small town with tall trees and little shops. I went to a small restaurant that Mike worked at part time during our trip, to see if he was there. I looked around but couldn’t find him. The restaurant had different themed areas, I think one was of a plane. Another was of a train, and it actually rocked and moved as if you were on a train. I then left there and went into a little patch of tall trees. I climbed up one (I seemed lighter than usual), and then slide down. Some type of moss or dried yellow bark would flake off the trunk as I slide down, and shower me in a type of golden dust. The scene was so magical, and relaxing, I felt like I could clime all the way up the thin trees (there didn’t have any branches at the bottom to clime, I would just clime the trunk). It wasn’t a dark area, looking up I could see the sun shining through, creating a yellow-orange glow throughout the patch of trees. I then remember going back to the hotel, and trying to find the hotel room. The hallway was so dark, that I wasn’t sure which room mine was, I remember knocking on doors with no one answering. I felt lost. That’s all I remember.
It’s been a while since I’ve had really cool dreams. Just thought I’d share them with you all.=)

From Noam to Butters

Before a month or two ago, my TV time consisted of CBCnewsworld.......and that’s it. Now, that is still the best channel out there for information and facts but, I have learned that there is more to life than the problems in the middle East, George Bush, Iraq, starvation ..etc. I’ve had my fill for now, and in all honesty, I had a LARGE fill of it all (Jackie can attest that that, eh?). It’s a very depressing and heavy thing to study.

School is busy busy these days, so when I come home I want to relax and laugh. My new TV addiction is South Park. I love it. I used to think that it was stupid, and childish, but now I get it. I watch 1 hour of it every weeknight, and love every second. Actually, since I only watch an hour of TV a day, that’s all I watch now. My mom even likes it. I even have a favourite secondary character. For all those who don’t know, his name is Butters, and he is the best.

It’s funny how things change in your life, and how you change. When I was young (like in elementary school) I went through a conservative stage in my views, and enjoyed every minute of the radio show “Dr Laura.” She used to say things like gay couples shouldn’t raise kids, and I agreed with that point of view. Crazy considering that I wanted to have kids some day too.

Most recently though, I would have called you out for watching stupid, time wasting shows like South Park. “How can you watch that when there are wars and famines going on? The US government is tricking everyone, we need to do something!”

What’s changed? It’s hard to live on the outside of life, and it’s pretty lonely. It’s also not very rewarding at all, and nothing can really be accomplished. Watching the news will not solve the wars in the middle east, that’s up to the people in the middle east to solve.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t care about world issues and politics. It just means that I also care about business, commercialism, and South Park.

So, although I’ve traded in Noam Chomsky for Butters, it doesn’t mean that I won’t call you out for not knowing who the Prime Minister is (yes, I’m looking at you 9inch). Just make sure you know who Butters is as well.
Peace.

The Plan...Complete!

I’m back! Wow, almost a week without an update, how shameful. What have I been doing?...the Chaninni marketing plan. The good news? WE FINISHED IT! On Thursday I did the revision on it, which was crazy. I was just about finished when the file crashed, and I had to restart with all my formatting. The stupid school gives you so little space to save on, and I had run out, so it hadn’t been auto saving. My partner, Karen, worked on the PowerPoint (we had to present that day too). It was a mad rush, get it printing, binded, grab food, go bad to the library because I forgot the USB card, run to finish the powerpoint, run to class, leave class to make some last minute changes to the powerpoint, reprint it, go back to class, and finally do the presentation without any rehearsal. It was a crazy Thursday, we were both freaking. But, the final plan was about 100 pages double spaced. Yes, we wrote that in 7 days, it’s crazy. That’s all I did for the last 7 days, sit in the computer lab working on it. Other people from the class would see Karen and I and give their moral support and vent about the other group members who shafted us. I think it turned out well. It’s a lot better that what we had with the other group, A LOT better!

Oh, and a funny story about when I was grabbing food for us. I went to Subway (Sreng will be proud), and ordered my sub. The worker gave it to me, then started working on the next order. I waited by the cash to pay, but he didn’t come. I was rushing, so I left. But, then I felt bad for not paying so I went back. I went up to the same guy and said that I hadn’t paid for my Sweet Onion Tery. sub. He was like “we don’t take interac” (i was holding my card). So I said, “okay, that’s fine” (i had cash). He just looked at me, like he never saw me before in his life. So I told him again that I need to pay, but he was like “you want to know the prices of the subs?” This guy was out of it or something. I didn’t have time for this, so I said no and left without paying again. Hey, at least I tried. It was so strange, I felt like it was just me or something (since my mind was on the plan).

Yesterday I worked, and trained a new girl. She’s nice. 9inch worked, so that was lots of fun. It was kinda busy yesterday too, and the staff wasn’t the strongest. Lot’s of people training in kitchen. After work Mike and I had beer (Creemore all the way!), and planned a shopping trip to Kensington Market for Wednesday.
Now, I have to start on a 20 page Philosophy/marketing essay that I have due on Wednesday. Good news is that there’s only 3 more days of school left for the term. Can’t wait!