the noble platypus

My cousin, Christina, started this AWESOME website, Noble Platypus. As she puts it, "Popular Culture really can churn out some interesting kinds of characters. Why not use this silly creature to celebrate all these oddities and stereotypes that flood our life experiences." And that is exactly what she has done, by turning the platypus into a colourful canvas and painting a very vivid picture of how weird our culture/lifestyles/world can be. I love browsing through all the different characters. The Noble Platypus reminds me to see the humour in our mainstream culture. So often I get really stressed out about some aspect of our world. There's nothing like a platypus to cheer you up!

yay!

So, I was just reading Jessica's blog Life in Elgin and I noticed she added me to her blogroll links. I'm excited because nobody's ever linked me before (I don't think...) and because I read her blog pretty much every day, since she is a far more prolific blogger than I am. And, at risk for sounding like a total nerd right now, I sometimes look at her blogroll and think, "I wish my blog was on there." And then I would sigh and think about updating my blog, but inevitably I'd get distracted and read hers some more instead.

I enjoy Life in Elgin because Jessica always finds the coolest things on the 'net. I discovered Bits and Bobbins through her, the webstoreEtsy through her, and Wardrobe Remix through her. All fun, creative, inspiring stuff. Love it!

Anyway, this is a really long way of saying thanks, Jessica! Favour returned!

in your face!(book)

Well, I've been really slacking off on the blog front lately. So much for my New Year's resolution about two posts a week. What was I thinking? In good resolution news, though, I have yet to cave on my cravings and eat candy...that's got to count for something!

I come here today because I was recently made aware of some rather disturbing information about Facebook. My bro, Aaron, did a really great job summing up this disturbing information on his Facebook page, so instead of summing it up myself, I am presenting Aaron's words to you:

BIG BROTHER IS READING THIS NOTE
By Aaron King

Sign up to Facebook and you become a free walking, talking advert for Blockbuster or Coke, extolling the virtues of these brands to your friends. We are seeing the commodification of human relationships, the extraction of capitalistic value from friendships.

That's from Tom Hodgkinson, in his article about Facebook in the Guardian. Many a journalistic rant has been directed at Facebook - for a site that has 59 million members, it seems everyone loves to hate it. The Guardian article however, differs from the usual opinion pieces. Rather, it's a fine piece of muckraking journalism, providing previously hushed up bits of information about everyone's favourite online social network. Information like this: "There are only three board members on Facebook, and they are [PayPal co-founder and CEO Peter] Thiel, [Facebook co-creator Mark] Zuckerberg and a third investor called Jim Breyer from a venture capital firm called Accel Partners." Let's take a look at Peter Thiel first:

Thiel's philosophy, briefly, is this: since the 17th century, certain enlightened thinkers have been taking the world away from the old-fashioned nature-bound life, and towards a new virtual world where we have conquered nature. Value now exists in imaginary things. Thiel says that PayPal was motivated by this belief: that you can find value not in real manufactured objects, but in the relations between human beings. PayPal was a way of moving money around the world with no restriction. . . Clearly, Facebook is another uber-capitalist experiment: can you make money out of friendship? Can you create communities free of national boundaries - and then sell Coca-Cola to them? . . .Thiel is also on the board of advisers of something called the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence. From its fantastical website, the following: "The Singularity is the technological creation of smarter-than-human intelligence. There are several technologies ... heading in this direction ... Artificial Intelligence ... direct brain-computer interfaces ... genetic engineering ... different technologies which, if they reached a threshold level of sophistication, would enable the creation of smarter-than-human intelligence." So by his own admission, Thiel is trying to destroy the real world, which he also calls "nature", and install a virtual world in its place, and it is in this context that we must view the rise of Facebook. Facebook is a deliberate experiment in global manipulation, and Thiel is a bright young thing in the neoconservative pantheon, with a penchant for far-out techno-utopian fantasies.

I'm inclined to agree with Hodgkinson when he says that Thiel is "not someone I want to help get any richer." But even though I'm not too hot on the idea of unintentionally taking part in "a deliberate experiment in global manipulation" with the inevitable intent of destroying nature and replacing it with a virtual world, this could still be dismissed as a disagreeable, creepy 1984-esque philosophy having given birth to something that's mostly harmless. And right now, yes, I'd say that's exactly what it is. But the article isn't over yet. Here's a look at who's paying for Facebook:

Facebook's most recent round of funding was led by a company called Greylock Venture Capital, who put in the sum of $27.5m. One of Greylock's senior partners is called Howard Cox, another former chairman of the NVCA, who is also on the board of In-Q-Tel. What's In-Q-Tel? Well, believe it or not (and check out their website), this is the venture-capital wing of the CIA. The US intelligence community became so excited by the possibilities of new technology and the innovations being made in the private sector, that in 1999 they set up their own venture capital fund, In-Q-Tel, which "identifies and partners with companies developing cutting-edge technologies to help deliver these solutions to the Central Intelligence Agency and the broader US Intelligence Community (IC) to further their missions"

I must confess, I never bother reading the privacy policies when I'm signing up for ANYTHING, and Facebook was no different - I just blindly clicked "I Agree." But, knowing that (albeit indirectly) the CIA has invested in Facebook, here's a look at that policy:

"By using Facebook, you are consenting to have your personal data transferred to and processed in the United States ... We may be required to disclose user information pursuant to lawful requests, such as subpoenas or court orders, or in compliance with applicable laws. We do not reveal information until we have a good faith belief that an information request by law enforcement or private litigants meets applicable legal standards. Additionally, we may share account or other information when we believe it is necessary to comply with law, to protect our interests or property, to prevent fraud or other illegal activity perpetrated through the Facebook service or using the Facebook name, or to prevent imminent bodily harm. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, agents or government agencies."

Looks like George Orwell was only off by twenty years (Facebook was launched in 2004). So what am I going to do about it? I use Facebook more than e-mail, and I don't even know most of [my Facebook friend's] phone numbers. As well, the privacy policy informs us that "When you update information, we usually keep a backup copy of the prior version for a reasonable period of time to enable reversion to the prior version of that information." Meaning that all our information is being saved somewhere.

I'm not very comfortable with this, but I think I'm also being a little paranoid. After all, why should it matter if the CIA and Facebook's many corporate investors (Wal-Mart, Coca Cola, etc.) know that one of my favourite books is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon? What's the worst thay can do with that information?

Of course, I have noticed that much of the advertising on Facebook is tailored to my interests - unless everyone gets advertisements for cheap Modest Mouse concert tickets? But we only wind up feeding the corporate machine if we pay attention to the ads -- advertise all they like, if we don't buy, they get nothing from us.

For now, I'll stay on Facebook, because my friends are important to me. But feel free to use e-mail to get in touch with me.
********************

My other bro, Christopher, cancelled his Facebook account shortly after hearing about this corporate invasion on his personal relationships. I felt relieved that I had never signed up in the first place. I can't tell you how many times I've been tempted to, though. Everyone and their grandfather is on Facebook these days, and ever since everyone's favourite social network hit the mainstream, I've noticed that nobody uses e-mail anymore, beyond the occasional "Sign up for Facebook" form message. As a result, it's like all my friends and acquaintances don't even bother keeping in touch with me anymore, which, admittedly really peeves me off and is actually a huge contributing factor to why I never signed up for Facebook (a sort of childish "If you're not going to e-mail me, than I'm not going to Facebook you!" type reaction). That and I had an issue with a stalker-type character on a previous social networking site. Not cool.

Anyway, even though I was personally unconnected to Facebook, my first reaction to the Guardian article was anger and indignation. There are so few spaces (one could argue no spaces) in our lives anymore that remain commercial free, and are allowed to simply exist without some giant corporate slime ball sticking their hand in it. Now obviously the internet is not the place to go if you don't want to be bombarded with ads, but that isn't the issue here, and that's why this is so bad. This is invasive corporate control, because they have the rights to all your information, your connections, your relationships. They get to scan and read and save all your interests, ideas and plans, and they get to sell it to other companies who would like nothing more than to physically reconnect your neurons so all you can think about is Coca-Cola.

I haven't even touched on the fact that Peter Thiel's whole idea of a virtual world is creepy and unsettling. And while that in itself is pretty far-out and ridiculous, it is a little disconcerting to know that 59 million people have also dealt directly into his hand.

I guess the thing about this that ultimately bothers me is that in this day and age when we need to reconnect with the earth, when we need to reconnect (personally) with each other, when we need to stop buying stuff and focus on living fulfilling lives that are fulfilling regardless of what we have and earn, Facebook's wealthy capitalist owners come along and take a giant step backwards, and pull us backwards with them. It all feels so frustrating and discouraging sometimes.

I would urge everyone out there to go and cancel their Facebook account, except I know how hard that is when it is the only way your friends communicate. And this is why it's discouraging, I guess...Facebook has changed the way people communicate, so people won't cancel their accounts, and that is how corporations keep their control. No matter how questionable, creepy or invasive it becomes, it still boils down to that question of, "Sure, it's bad, but what would I do without Facebook?" and so the corporations score another point, happily becoming a little more in control of how we live, what we do, and how we see ourselves.

If you won't cancel your Facebook account, at least start reading privacy policies before you sign up for something. If Facebook is getting away with blatantly reading, saving and dishing out your personal information, you can bet there will soon be a slew of others chomping at the bit to get away with the same thing. Don't let them.

And hey, if you can get your friends into the idea of good old fashioned letter writing, that would be cool, too. After all, I think we'd all agree that it is WAY cooler getting a letter in the mail than a three-line fragmented paragraph on your Facebook wall any day...

rock on!!

Behold the above photo. For those of you who are unaware of Disney-style teenybopper pop culture, these are the Jonas Brothers. If that still doesn't mean anything, they are a pop band, and quite honestly I, too, hadn't heard of them until about four months ago when I appeared in a movie with them (I wish I could laugh through text...that sentence always makes me want to laugh).

Anyway, all this is my intro to a long-promised blog post about my days on the set of the Disney Channel's much anticipated summer '08 movie, Camp Rock, starring the Jonas Brothers and a whole slew of other up-and-coming Disney actors and actresses. Last summer a couple ads were posted in our local community newspaper looking for extras for a Disney movie being filmed in our very own small Canadian town. They invited anyone who was interested to come to an audition, so my bros and I showed up, filled out some forms, had our pictures taken, and shortly after, we were eagerly invited to Camp Rock (we stood a good chance because they needed extras that looked like teenagers, and since they chose to film a teen movie in a retirement town where there are only about 10 people under the age of 65, our youthful appearance gave us an edge over the rest of the community).

Christopher and I were extras for three days - I was a Camp Rock camper, and Christopher was a councilor, and that makes things sound a lot more interesting than it really was. Our days went like this: we arrived at the filming location around 9:00 in the morning and went to the extra's holding area, which was a giant tent set up in a clearing in the woods with a tendency to flood and become muddy and barn-like when it rained (which it did). We had to bring a selection of our own logo-free summer clothing with us so that the wardrobe lady (who was the biggest b*tch in North America, by the way) could tell us what to wear for each of the scenes being filmed that day. Then we got changed. Then we sat around at the tables and benches in the tent and waited to be called to set. At around noon, a pretty decent hot lunch was served. And then we waited some more.

It was during this time that I knit my first pair of socks. Christopher read and wrote. Sometimes we hung around outside with friends of ours. All in all, we just tried to put in time, and sometimes, it was a lot of time. The first day we were there, we showed up at 9:00 in the morning and weren't called to set until almost 4:00. The other days weren't quite that bad, but they still offered a lot of free time.

Being on set, however, was fun. And if it wasn't exactly fun, it was at least interesting. We got to be in some great scenes! My first scene was in the dining hall, and the character Mitchie joins a bunch of her friends at one of the tables. They start approaching her about her new friendship with the snobby girl, Tess, when Tess herself walks in and interrupts the conversation by inviting Mitchie to her table. Then Caitlyn (Mitchie's friend) is like, "The queen awaits," and everyone looks all disappointed as Mitchie gets up and follows snobby Tess to the "cool" table. Then the director yelled, "cut," and everyone went back to their starting positions and the whole thing happened again. Now, when you're watching the movie, try to pull yourself away from the drama of that particular moment and notice the buzz of camp life going on around them: people sitting and eating and socializing, excited to be at Camp Rock. I, for one, was serving myself breakfast at that moment and looking around for a place to sit, wondering why, oh, why wasn't Tess inviting me to her table?? (See, quality drama infiltrates every facet of this movie...it truly is a must-see).

We were in a number of dining hall scenes, an outdoor concert scene (starring the Jonas Brothers, woo hoo) and an indoor concert scene in which I am featured in the front row of the audience, totally digging the hip-hop inspired dance routine, and wondering if you have to go to Camp Hip Hop to hear anything that resembles rock music. It was a blast.

Actually, in all reality, it wasn't too bad. The days were really long, the crew was really grumpy, and the scenes were really cheesy, but it paid well and it was a pretty sweet opportunity to knit, read, write and hang out with people all day while getting paid for it. And this is Camp Rock we're talking about here. Google it. People are seriously psyched for this movie! Disney or not, however, I would totally do the extra thing again. It's just not very often that a movie gets filmed here in small town Ontario, so I may have to wait a while for my next shot at stardom. But you never know. One day I will star in The Life and Times of Princess Sunshine, the show. Make sure you tune in. In the meantime, you'll just have to settle for the Jonas Brothers.

Note: I laughed when I discovered the above pic of the Jonas Brothers promoting Camp Rock, because it was taken here at a local resort (not the movie set). My high school prom was at that resort - you can actually see the exterior of the room we were in at the far left of the picture. And if you follow the road at the far right, you'll arrive at my workplace in less than a minute.

Oh no. Now everyone will know where to find me.

the story of stuff

I stumbled upon this video, Story of Stuff (produced by Free Range Studios, creators of The Meatrix) on a couple other blogs and I finally got around to watching it. I really liked it...it's a light, non-offensive, non-extreme and yet very comprehensive look at how things are created, consumed and disposed of, and, most importantly, how everything (government, corporate power, environment, economy, consumerism, quality of life, human rights, etc. etc.) is connected and affected by each other. Here's the intro to get you started, but seriously, take 20 minutes and watch the whole thing. Even if you spend the majority of your life thinking about some aspect of this topic, you'll still enjoy it. And I truly think it would be a great first over-view for any intentionally ignorant consumer out there.

the january '08 princess sunshine knits collection

I've decided to start my at-least-two-posts-a-week resolution now (since I didn't post at all last week...oops). Anyway, I'm kicking off this resolution with my second blog fashion show, featuring some of the presents I created for our handmade Christmas last month. Enjoy!


This is my bro Aaron and his hand-knit scarf made from 100% wool. I was going for British prep-school chic. I kind of wanted to keep it when it was done.


These are made from the left over wool from Aaron's scarf. They were created for my other bro Christopher and should be well suited to the northern Ontario winters that we know and love around these parts (of course, it is a lot easier to love winter with handmade wool socks, or so my thought process went). These are from a pattern in Lion Brand Yarn: Just Socks.


I sooo loved this bag for Joel's young cousin. It's made from 100% cotton, and it is 100% a Princess Sunshine original. I made the button from Sculpey. I would have kept this bag, except I didn't have time before Christmas to make a second one to give away. Oh well.


These are a variation from the Lion Brand pattern. My dad loves football, and the Kansas City Chiefs are his team. I wanted to make him some socks unlike any that could be found at even the biggest KC merchandise shop.


This bag for Joel's sister is based on a pattern from Emma King. I really liked this bag, too. I made it from bits and pieces of left over yarns, wool and cotton, so it had some cool textures going on, and the inside is lined with thrifted corduroy.

That ends the latest of my knitted projects...keep your eyes open for my first-ever clothing show (yes, that's right, I have finally learned how to sew!)

merry christmas

I hope everyone loved their Christmas as much as I loved mine!

one idea

Well, here's one idea for 2008: I really want to start blogging more. I have at least three or four blog post ideas a day, and rarely get around to doing anything about them. How do people have time to post once a day, or more?? I would at least like to start posting consistently a couple times a week. That sounds manageable...maybe I should make it a goal and give it a try.

Resolution #1: blog at least twice a week (to start. I was going to say three times and then I chickened out at the last moment. Goals are great and everything, but I'd rather start small and work my way up).

a burrito

So, it's almost 2008, and I've been thinking about my life. This happens every December, as I realize that time is passing and a new year is incredibly close to beginning. I usually get reflective about the past year, and then I think about the year to come and what it will bring with it. Except this year I don't know what to think about 2008. Every other year there's been at least one major event that I knew was going to happen. Last year, it was knowing that one way or another we were going to move out of Suburbia. The year before that it was me graduating college and getting married. The year before that it was...well, I can't remember, but I think you get the point.

Anyway, this time around I have no idea about the new year. As of right now, I, personally, have nothing planned. I am very excited for other people. Joel is starting a new job on January 1st (head graphic designer for a brand new newspaper...hurray!!) Christopher is hoping to live in an ecovillage in England for three months (I am so envious I might as well be green) Aaron is starting college in September, and I am, well, still here. And have no other plans.

I'm pretty psyched about this unusual event (or lack thereof). I need to start thinking about what I want to do, since, at least for the next little while, it doesn't look like I'll be moving or starting a new job or going anywhere or anything like that. Perhaps this is my big chance to do something cool and spectacular, to really buckle down and focus on something like I haven't done since college. I need a goal, a project, a proverbial Everest to climb! And right now I don't have a lot of ideas.

Perhaps I'll give this some thought and come back when I have something more specific in mind. There are a lot of possibilities here...to paraphrase Weird Al, I feel like the world is my burrito!

a bright idea

So, a couple days ago my mom and I were talking about the environment, and my mom mentioned that she had read somewhere that compact fluorescent bulbs can't be thrown away with regular trash because they contain mercury. I don't know whether that's common knowledge or not, but I had never heard that before. I was also kind of surprised because CFL bulbs are usually touted as a major step towards being truly green, and "change your light bulbs" is always in at least the top five of all those "Ten Things You Can do to Save the Environment" lists. If people are just dumping their used CFL bulbs in the trash, and the bulbs contain mercury, then they really aren't being so green at all.

Anyway, I bring this up because today I did some research. Both General Electric Lighting and Tree Hugger confirmed that yes, CFL bulbs do contain mercury and should not be thrown out with regular garbage. There are a variety of recycling programs that are popping up throughout North America, and both sites referred to Lamp Recycle as a good source to find out where you can take your used bulbs. I didn't find that site particularly helpful (there were only four Canadian locations listed) but I was interested to discover that Ikea takes back used CFL bulbs.

GE Lighting says that each bulb only contains a tiny amount of mercury, and no mercury is released while they are in use and if they are disposed of properly. Both GE and Tree Hugger say that while the whole mercury thing isn't ideal, it's still better to use CFL bulbs over incandescent bulbs because the CFLs are just so much more efficient. They also both note that most of the mercury polluting the air and water comes from giant coal plants that are generating electricity. Therefore, the less electricity you use, the less mercury that gets spewed into the environment. And as long as you dispose your CFL bulbs properly, mercury pollution shouldn't be too much of a concern on that front.

So there you go. I found enough information to convince myself that compact fluorescents are probably still the best option, short of living without lights altogether (it's 4:30 p.m. right now and it's already dark here...living without lights doesn't feel very appealing). It does go to show, however, that more information is needed than simply telling people "Switch your bulbs." When you're doing things to solve a problem, you need to make sure you're not just making another problem (that's my whole beef with ethanol, but that's a different topic for a different time). Anyway, if anyone knows anything else about good lighting options, let me know...

a story from the vinyl cafe

So, I was not planning on writing here today at all because I have about a hundred other things I'm supposed to be doing, but I can't let this moment pass. So here I am.

Yesterday, my Mom and I went to see Stuart Mclean live for the Vinyl Cafe Christmas concert. For those of you who don't know, Stuart Mclean is a radio show host for CBC Radio. He has (in my mind) kept alive the dying tradition of radio storytelling with stories of his characters Dave and Morley. Combined with musical guests and the "story exchange" submitted by listeners, the Vinyl Cafe is entertaining, engaging and fun in a totally unique way. Many of the Vinyl Cafe stories have been published into anthologies (which is actually how I discovered them) and are truly worth reading. These stories have had me laughing out loud in my work lunchroom, on city buses, in my living room, etc. etc. I love the Vinyl Cafe, and so I was giddy when I heard Stuart Mclean was on tour with the live show. I was even more giddy when I discovered he was performing nearby and that my Mom and I scored second-row tickets!

The show was last night. It was so much fun. Stuart Mclean is an amazing storyteller. He had the whole auditorium laughing. The musical guests were amazing. He told two new stories that I had never heard before, and one old favourite.

After a story and a musical set, he was talking to the audience and asked if anyone had a student loan. I looked behind me at the audience. The theatre was packed, but not a single person had their hand up. Mr. Mclean said, "Really, no one has a student loan? Someone here must have a student loan. Anyone?" I glanced around, and then raised my hand. He saw me right away. "Okay, we've got one!" he said. "Do you have a loan?" he asked me. I nodded. He asked me my name. He said, "Okay, Alison, come on up here, then." I was so floored I couldn't move for a second. I looked at my mom, who smiled at me, and then I walked up onto the stage and stood next to Stuart Mclean(!!!!). He asked me what school I went to. He said I looked too young to be in college (I didn't get into the fact that I actually graduated last year) and then he gave me a CD/DVD of one of the night's musical guests, Danny Michel. He talked to the audience some more and found a couple of young kids, so he got me to walk through the audience and pass out CDs to both of them. Then he found the oldest person in the audience (a 91-year-old woman) and got me to hand out a CD to her, too. It was so exciting. After that was the intermission, but I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the night.

It was such a great night. I had so much fun, so excuse me while I let the excitement get the best me: I LOVE THE VINYL CAFE!!!

let it snow!

I woke up on Wednesday morning to this view out my window:


I don't particularly like being cold, and I don't particularly like wading/stomping/tripping through snow, and I don't particularly like how winters here can last up to five months, but I LOVE the first real snow fall of the season. It's just way too beautiful not to love it, and, while I don't go running outside for a day of snow angels and snowmen anymore, it's still just so exciting in a deep-down fundamental kind of way that I was actually happy to get out of bed and walk to work in this idyllic postcard-version of winter time.

eight days and counting...

We are eight days away from Buy Nothing Day. I just wanted to get the word out now so there is still plenty of time to cancel any shopping spree plans that were in the works for that day. Make the world a better place!!! Buy nothing on November 23 (bonus points if you keep it up all holiday season...)

road trippin'

Joel and I just got home from a week-long roadtrip to Florida and back. Our actual destination was Disney World, which I know is totally hypocritical considering I won't even buy breakfast cereal from corporate giants...but I had never been to Disney World before, and the kid-part of me really, really wanted to go. I have no excuses or reasonings other than that. All I will say about it is this: despite wanting to go, I was still sceptical as to how great a giant fake world spattered with animated characters brought to life could possibly be. Well, it turns out it is so much fun. I loved how everything went so all out to make you feel like you were walking through Mickey Mouse's house and were exploring the Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse and were witnessing a pirate fight. Everything was so creative and imaginative and cool. I loved it. I'm having a hard time right now remembering why I hated Disney before this, sneaky corporate masterminds that they are. I am sure that this is all a part of their plan to take over the world. Whoever would have thought an over-the-top theme park was the way to do it?


It's been a long time since I was in the U.S. at all, and I've never been as far south as Georgia and Florida. Some things were really different than they are here in Canada. For one, there were a lot of breakfast places, like Ihop and the Waffle House. The further south we went, the more Waffle Houses we noticed. Joel and I thought this was funny since Waffle House doesn't even exist in Canada, but we counted 31 between Macon, Georgia and Orlando, Florida alone, along i75. At one point, we could see three Waffle Houses at the same time. They were close enough geographically that you could literally have stood at any one of the Waffle Houses and seen the other two. On the way home, we counted 37 along i95, between Orlando and somewhere maybe in North Carolina or Virginia. The further north we got, the fewer there were until they seemed to just disappear. Oh well. It was an interesting car trip game during the tedious 26-hour drive home.

I also thought it was harder to find vegetarian options at restaurants. We ordered pizza one night in Georgia and the only veggies they had were black olives, mushrooms, green pepper and hot peppers. Maybe it was just the restaurants we stopped at, but a lot of the time the only vegetarian options I could find were either salads (with no bacon bits, please) or - yes - waffles. There were always waffles.

People seemed really nice everywhere we went, albeit a little misinformed about Canada. One lady in Georgia asked us what airport we flew to. Joel said, "We actually drove here." The woman looked at us like we had gone mad. She said, "You drove here? You can do that? I thought you had to take a boat or something!" We thought she was joking, but she was serious. That was just kind of the way it was, though. In Canada, America is always so prominent and obvious and there. In the U.S. Canada seemed non-existant.

But you see, this is why road tripping is great - the whole process becomes a part of the trip, and you not only get to experience the destination (i.e. a big theme park), you get to discover how you get there and the very country that can create and support such a thing (i.e. the mighty USA). The week went too fast. A part of me is happy to be home. The other part of me wonders what I'll do the next time I have a craving for waffles without a Waffle House around the corner...

a green christmas

By that, of course, I mean a holiday season filled with environmental consciousness and sustainable practices. Now that is the kind of holiday season I can actually feel myself looking forward to.

Now, I know that it is only the middle of October, and usually I get all worked up when people start hyping up Christmas two months early, but this year I actually need to start thinking about it now. Joel and my brothers and I have made a pact to do Christmas differently this year, so it's going to take some extra time, but in a good way. We are having a corporate- and commercial-free Christmas. HURRAY! That means the whole thing is going to be as Do-It-Yourself as possible (gifts, decorations, food, etc). We can still buy some things, since realistically you'd need to start making stuff in June to get it all done by Christmas (we came up with this idea in September, so we were too late for that). The deal, though, is that anything store-bought needs to be either made by local craftspeople or be fair trade products by international craftspeople (i.e. stuff from Ten Thousand Villages counts) or support positive change in the world (like the CD Instant Karma, for example).

I am excited about this, which is a joyous feeling in itself, because to be perfectly honest I haven't really looked forward to Christmas or even liked Christmas since 2002. My grandmother was the Christmas Spirit embodied in a physical form. Every year she and my grandfather came to visit us at Christmas. She made Christmas cookies and put them in Christmas tins. She brought more gifts than Santa could shake a stick at, and they were always wrapped like they had appeared in the holiday edition of Martha Stewart Living. She scouted stores and bakeries for the best fruitcake. She loved sitting at the dining room table with my brothers and I as we all made new tree ornaments and other Christmas crafts. My grandmother was Christmas, so when she passed away in the fall of 2003, it felt like Christmas passed away with her. We've tried to revive some of the traditions, but it hasn't been the same. We've tried to create new traditions, but nothing has really stuck. Christmas started to get depressing.

To make matters worse, I was working at a mall in the holiday season of 2003. I had to listen to Christmas music all day every day. Holiday shoppers yelled at me. I watched as they yelled at each other. People spent hundreds of dollars at my store alone, and always asked for gift reciepts so the things could be returned. Sure enough, the first week of January, everything came back. The mall was so busy, and people were so stressed and frazzled and mean, and everybody spent so much money on stuff that it turned out no one wanted anyway, that I actually wanted to stop celebrating Christmas all together. In fact, it occured to me that celebrating Christmas in this out-of-controll consumeristic way went against everything I even believed in. It was bad for the spirit, it was bad for the world. The only thing it was doing at all was putting money in the pockets of big corporate businessmen, and seeing as it was their marketing teams that turned Christmas into the spend-fest it had become, they were the last people in the world I wanted to be financially supporting. I turned into the Grinch. I hated Christmas, and every year I told myself that I wouldn't go into a mall after November 1st, but every year I ended up feeling like I had no choice. So, I would go into the mall and become stressed and frazzled and spend too much money, and then I would be bitter because I had caved and gone against my principles.

Last year, when Joel and Christopher and I were living in the soul-sucking wasteland of Suburbia, we started some traditions that actually turned into a lot of holiday fun, like a homemade gingerbread house, homemade egg nog, and old-fashioned popcorn-string tree garlands. This year is like an extention of all that! I already have some ideas for gifts (which I would post, except my brothers are probably the most faithful readers of my blog, and I don't want to let out any secrects...) The exciting thing is that none of my gift ideas require going to a mall at all. They do force me to be creative and resourceful, though (imagine, Christmas gifts that will bring out my good side!) I think we're finally finding a way to return Christmas to it's old ideals: giving, not getting, time with loved ones instead of just shopping for them, peace on earth and good will to men and all that other stuff that lives on only in Christmas music.

I can't believe this...it's October and I'm excited for Christmas. I feel like I'm five years old again!

my first-ever blog fashion show

Check it out!

and

yes, it is me kicking mass-produced corporate ass with my one of a kind hand knit socks. And because Penny is also very socially conscientious and wanted to get in on the don't-buy-what-you-can-make-yourself movement, I made her a little something as well (she couldn't quite do it herself, do to a lack of opposable thumbs - an important aspect of knitting). Everywhere we go, the other dogs stop and stare, and I know they're thinking, "Maybe I should stand up for something, too."

I am pretty happy with both projects...this was the first pair of socks I've ever made and they turned out well. They didn't take very long to make, either, which is always a big bonus (sitting on a Disney movie set for three days really helped in the "time to knit" department, but that's a story for another moment). I am, however, particularly pleased with the collar because it's the first knitting project I designed myself. It turned out awesome. Penny and I both feel that it brings out her natural flair for style. It also kicks off something I've really wanted to do for a long time: design and create my own clothes and accessories, for myself and others, people and animals alike.

My friends, we have entered a new era.

in the good old days...

Is it possible to feel sentimental for a time you were never a part of? I have been contemplating that question since this past summer when I went to a "dinner and entertainment" night at the arts school. It was wonderful. The entertainment was musician David Archibald and he was performing songs from the summer of 1967. There were a number of people in the audience who were obviously around for the summer of 1967 and were up dancing and singing along with all the songs. I, too, was already familiar with most of the songs, but seeing them performed, and seeing the audience, and feeling the energy and atmosphere and passion created by those particular songs made me wish it was 1967 again, except this time around I would be there too.

I don't know where I'm going with this, exactly...it's just something I've been thinking about lately. It leaves me feeling like I missed out on something, like somehow there were more people willing to stand for something or wanting to make a difference then than there are now. I feel like music and art came together as a voice where they now are too often products of a money-hungry industry. I feel like young people wanted to be a revolution, where they are now too often worried about just getting a half-decent job. And then I wonder if my perception isn't just a little skewed because people often look back on their youth with rose-coloured glasses, and that's how I have learned about the 60's and 70's - through the eyes of parents and others who "were there," and I pick up on their sentimentalism. That might be true, and yet there aren't legions of people proclaiming that all they need is love, anymore, and I guess that's where I start getting bummed out, because I wish there still were or, more than that, I wish there was again. Perhaps I am confusing sentimentalism with a desire for things to be different, and 1967's Summer of Love is the closest thing history offers as an example of how I wish things were now. I don't know, I don't know. I do know that there are a lot of things about society and politics and mainstream culture and lifestyles that could really benefit from a revolution right now. I'm 22. It's my generation that could make a difference right now, that could create another voice to add to the echoes of the hippies and the beats and all the dreamers and questioners of the past, so at the very least our children will hear our music and say, "We need to keep making this difference."

After all, the world doesn't belong to a single generation, it belongs to all of us. And wouldn't that be so much better than being 50 and looking back on this decade of my youth and sighing sentimentally, "Those were the days - we really stuck to the textbook and lived exactly the way society wanted us to."

BLEH!!!

a quarter-life crisis

I feel myself getting discouraged. Again. Worse, perhaps, is that I feel discouraged about being discouraged because Joel and I just moved into our own place again, which I've been looking forward to for months. I was seeing this as my opportunity to start some new things, to create a lifestyle that allows for the time to write and do my own thing and work on my own projects and essentially follow my dreams. We've been here for a week and I haven't done anything yet. I have sat down multiple times to start writing a new story or drawing a new picture and my whole being freezes up and nothing happens. It's frustrating, but not new. I have had this problem before. I have also only been here a week, so I admit that it's a little premature to jump the gun and say I am incapable of accomplishing anything. So while all this is annoying, it is not in fact the problem.

The reason I am really discouraged is because I just got a job promotion. This is discouraging because I never actually wanted a job to begin with. I want to be a starving artist. I used to be a preschool teacher and I quit that job so I could be a starving artist. Then one month Joel and I were desperately strapped for money (which, granted, is what happens to starving artists). Joel already works full time. So I said, "Well, maybe I could work one day a week somewhere." I very quickly got a job as a childcare provider at a parent/child program, one day a week. Good. Some extra money, and I still had four weekdays to myself. Hurray.

Well, then my employer asked if I could provide childcare at another program on Fridays. "Okay," I said, because it's only for a few hours and the Friday group is much different than the other group, so the job is genuinely fun. Life went on, until a couple weeks ago when my employer promoted me to child programming coordinator and gave me another day of work. Now I work three days a week and my job actually has more responsibilities than simply showing up each day. I am so frustrated. This is not what I wanted, and yet I ended up here why? Because as much as I don't like it, it's easier to do this than trust myself with something else? Because I can't say "no" to people? Because for some reason I decided to take Early Childhood Education in college, so now everyone in the country knows me as an Early Childhood Educator and I cannot for the life of me figure out how to send out the message: "No, I don't want to do this work anymore, I want to be a writer," which, incidentally is what I have ALWAYS wanted to do, since I was seven years old, even while I was in college learning how to be an Early Childhood Educator. This is so frustrating. Taking Early Childhood Education in college was the worst decision I ever made, because now it follows me around everywhere I go, getting in the way of other, more interesting opportunities. No one thinks I'm a writer. People are suprised when they find out I enjoy art, let alone create it. Instead, everyone looks at me and thinks, "Look, there's an Early Childhood Educator. I should ask her to look after my kids." I don't want people to think that anymore. I don't want people to see me that way anymore. And yet, because people do know I'm an ECE, I only encounter ECE opportunities. And, because I do need to make some money, I feel forced into taking those ECE opportunities because nothing ever happens in any other way. And because I start working so much as an ECE, I have less time to pursue other things, and then I become more and more of an ECE and less and less of a writer. This is like cracking an addiction to cocaine. It's discouraging.

So, instead of starting my new life at my new apartment by writing a novel, I have become a child programming coordinator.

Good thing I still have Mondays and Tuesdays off to complain about it on my blog.

i'm back

After one week short of a year, I am back. This is exciting. The month of September always makes me want to start something new, or in this case renew something I unfortunately gave up after too short a time. Here's to another beginning!

happy canada

This e-mail was recently forwarded to me, asking for my agreement and requesting that I send it on to everyone I know if I do indeed agree. Before we get started, let me state that I DO NOT on any level agree with the ideas that are stated here. In fact, I was so upset and appalled by the e-mail that it almost brought me to tears, as melodramatic as that sounds. Please, read on...people need to try to understand each other before any problem can be solved, but more than that, it is actually reading stuff like this that can validate in your own mind how you actually feel about some things, and that CAN be powerful.

Subject: Article printed in the Toronto Star

Maybe this will hit home to the politicians who just made it okay
for ceremonial swords to be worn to school and who years ago gave
permission for turbans to be worn by certain RCMP officers instead
of the normal attire.

Will we still be the Country of choice and still be Canada if we
continue to make the changes forced on us by the people from other
countries that came to live in Canada because it is the Country of
Choice?????? Think about it!

All we have to say is, when will they do something about MY RIGHTS?
I celebrate Christmas, but because it isn't celebrated by
everyone we can no longer say Merry Christmas. Now it
has to be Season's Greetings. It's not Christmas vacation, it's Winter Break.
Isn't it amazing how this winter break ALWAYS occurs over the Christmas
holiday? We've gone so far the other way, bent over backwards to not offend
anyone, that I am now being offended. But it seems that no one has a
problem with that.

This says it all! This is an editorial written in a Toronto newspaper.

IMMIGRANTS, NOT CANADIANS MUST ADAPT.

I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending
some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on
Sept. 11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of
Canadians. However...... the dust from the attacks had barely
settled when the "politically correct! " crowd began complaining
about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.

I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone
who is seeking a better life by coming to Canada. Our population is
almost entirely made up of descendants of immigrants. However, there
are a few things that those who have recently come to our country,
and apparently some born here, need to understand. This idea of
Canada being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our
sovereignty and our national identity. As Canadians.......we have
our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle.
This culture has been developed over centuries of struggles, trials, and
victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

We speak ENGLISH/FRENCH, not Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Chinese,
Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become
part of our society, learn the language!

"We Stand On Guard For Thee" is our national motto. This is not some
Christian, right wing, political slogan.. We adopted this motto
because Christian men and women, on Christian
principles, founded this nation..... and this is clearly
documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of
our schools.

If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the
world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.

We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we
really don't care how you did things where you came from.

This is OUR COUNTRY, our land, and our lifestyle.

But once you are done complaining....... whining...... and
griping....... about our flag.......our pledge...... our national
motto........or our way of life....I highly encourage you to take advantage of
one other Great Canadian Freedom.......THE RIGHT TO LEAVE.

So that is that, but I can't end without adding a couple thoughts of my own. Yes, Canadians DO have that right to leave, and quite frankly if our country's vibrant multiculturalism bothers some people, those people need to be aware that there are other countries that are far less open-minded than ours, that do not encourage the co-existance of other backgrounds and traditions, and expect all people to hold the same beliefs and lifestyles. So, perhaps those Canadians who are offended by people's differences should consider moving elsewhere. It's sad, though, because anyone who sees a person different than themselves and instantly writes them off as a threat to Canadian culture is missing out on the most beautiful thing about being a Canadian. Because in Canada, we ARE multicultural--that IS a part of our identity, like it or not. After all, Canada's population growth is due mostly to new immigrants, so why should the white "Christian" Canadians expect that all these beautiful new Canadians adopt everything we have done in the past? By coming here, they do adopt a lot of our culture, more than most people realise, but they also add to it, too, by bringing their own histories, their own stories, their own clothing, languages, food and beliefs. They are NEW Canadians...they are not a part of our past, but they are a part of our future.

This is all a part of time passing and history being made. Canada isn't a predominately white, Christian country anymore, but thanks to it's multiculturalism, it is still okay to BE a white, Christian Canadian. What isn't okay is thinking that that is the only way to be because that's the way it was in the past.

So, before you eat another snack of crackers and cheese (French) or take another sip of your coffee (Ethiopian), before you attend your next yoga class (Hindu) or listen to music containing a piano (Italian) ask yourself what any of us would be, from any country, if we never learned from, loved, and respected each other. Borders and countries are man-made. In the bigger, purer picture, this world belongs to, and is shared by all of us. The problem is not immigration. The problem is a lack of respect...and in order to recieve respect from other people, you need to try doling it out, first.

P.S. It is still okay to say "Merry Christmas," but on the same note, it is also okay when someone says "Happy Hunakkah," "Happy Ramadan" or "Have a great holiday."