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November 20 Christmas is around the corner! The Legend of the Candy Cane 
Jesus Gentle Shepherd,
This cane, you see, when turned around
The lively peppermint flavor
And so this cane reminds us
The candy cane represents one of the oldest symbols of Christmas, the shepherd's crook. The shepherds were among the first to experience that first Christmas. The colors of the candy cane have special meaning, too.
If your candy cane has a narrow red stripe, it represents our own sacrifices (giving). The white stripe is a symbol of purity. The peppermint plant is a member of the hyssop family, referred to in the Old Testament as a medicinal herb used for cleansing. As you eat your candy cane, you might want to break it, as Christ's body was broken for you, and share it with a friend, thus sharing in the sweetness of the true meaning of Christmas.  September 29 Autumn is Here It's official. Fall is here. It is getting colder at night, the leaves are falling and the darkness is creeping in, waiting for winter to come.  How silently they tumble down Until they nearly reach the sky. Twisting, turning through the air Till all the trees stand stark and bare. Exhausted, drop to earth below To wait, like children, for the snow.   August 08 Calm from Above The Lord is merciful. My Lord is wonderful. In a moment of desperation and despair, I called for Him. And He came upon waves from an ocean of calm, which spread over me and dried my fearful tears almost instantly. Glory to to the sweet and merciful Christ, who washed me over with peace. I remembered from His own divine words, after the waves of peace washed over me "Be Still And Know That I Am God". These are the immortal words from God Himself. Hail the Lord of the Universe, All Knowing, All Forgiving and bestowing Peace upon my fearful soul. I shall sing of His praises and take shelter in His comfort and love. Amen.  August 05 Idiots on Youtube  "It's a question of degrees. What's stupider? Letting your 7-year-old drive the family SUV during a rainstorm? Or filming the whole thing and posting it on YouTube? Yesterday, the father of the unnamed pint-sized Quebecer who has become an Internet sensation after he was seen piloting a car along a dirt road, spoke to French-language television. Identified only as "Sylvain," he said the incident took place two years ago. He tried to explain away the dangers of the situation, saying the road was deserted and that the car never got above 40 km/h. However, none of the family of five was wearing a seatbelt. A woman in the back seat is seen holding a child on her lap. In an act of contrition, Sylvain said he's willing to accept whatever legal consequences authorities deem proper. Quebec police continue to investigate the incident. Sylvain also said he regrets the whole thing. Presumably, the part he regrets most is his strange urge to show off two years after the fact. It's probably no consolation, but he has plenty of company. When it debuted in 2005, YouTube's defining genre was the "ill-advised stunt." Or even better, the ill-advised stunt gone wrong. But however foolish it is to advertise how your roof jump into the swimming pool suddenly turned into six months in traction, it isn't going to land you in jail. That makes that early group of Mensa candidates marginally more intelligent than Sylvain and this new wave of YouTube braggarts: • April 2008: British actress Tricia Walsh-Smith posts a series of increasingly bizarre screeds on YouTube lashing out at her soon-to-be ex, Broadway producer Philip Smith. The videos of a bug-eyed Walsh-Smith rambling about her husband's sexual shortcomings are a big hit. But citing the "callous" Internet campaign, a judge boots her out of the couple's tony Park Ave. apartment. • January 2009: After being robbed at gunpoint in his Atlanta home, hip-hop star Soulja Boy describes a chaotic scene involving a half-dozen thugs and machine guns. Shortly thereafter, the offended intruders post a video refuting those claims. "We only used one gun to rob you!" the pair of assailants protest, holding up a pistol. • February: An amateur horticulturalist from Somerset, England uploads a series of videos documenting the growth of his marijuana crop. Unfortunately, his cunning ruse – using his real name as his screen name – doesn't put police off the scent. • March: A Subway sandwich artist tries to branch out into abstraction. A video showing him "abusing" the sub toppings works its way onto the Web. An angry customer recognizes him. This woman must really love her Subway, because not only does she call police, she also attacks the offending videographer with a stool. • April: Seven budding demolition experts from Maine post a video in which they firebomb a vacant building. Showing their faces was risky. Rolling credits at the video's conclusion was idiotic. All seven face arson charges. • June: A Welsh teenager uploads footage in which he's seen firing an air gun indiscriminately. Authorities get interested when he dubs in real gunshots. A heavily armed police tactical squad eventually pays him a jarring visit. "The individual involved clearly has a talent, which has been misdirected on this occasion," says one officer. • August: A trio of men who shot video while they killed ducks and ducklings on a pond in Alberta or Saskatchewan are now being hunted by wildlife officials. The video shows each of their faces clearly, including the camera operator, who at one point turns the camera on himself." July 20 Cool temperatures for this summer! Ugh!  Okay, so far we have had only a few days of hot summer-like weather. The rest have been either rain (not that I mind rain) or cool. The temperature has been about 12 degrees at night, and around 20 during the day. This is more like September weather. The lack of heat has also affected the amount of thunderstorms that we usually see around this time of year. It's been somewhat disappointing for me. It's still a little to cool to go swimming in lakes, and i have only a partial tan. When is the hotter weather going to arrive? This is bad. We had a long winter, and all I cold do was look forward to summer, and so far its been a flop.   June 22 Baking in the Sun Finally, some warm weather! After the barrage of rain we have had, I am happy to feel the sun's rays on my skin. I am going to be working on a nice tan this year, instead of being a pale creamy white. I see a lot of people that tan every single day, and I think that's a bit much. But I am not worried about getting skin cancer or something deadly like that because I don't subject myself to intense sun exposure. I just want a nice tan, that's all. The last time I got a burn was about 2 years ago, and even that was not much of a burn.  But this year, I want a nice tan, since every single year since mom passed I have been hiding away, especially from the sun. I am not one to go sun crazy and allow myself to burn like a french fry in the oven, nor am I frightened of the sun to the point where I cover myself up completely and wear suntan lotion like its going out of style and boasting cancer warnings. That's not me.  I am looking forward to catching some rays with my friends, going camping and spending hopefully more than just a few nights under the stars.  Here's to camping, sleeping under the stars, watermelon and lemonade.  May 29 Lots of Rain It has been raining a lot over the past few weeks, especially over the last few days. But it's been wonderful because there is green everywhere and it smells so fresh and new outside. I love the smell of spring rain. There is something so beautiful and simplistic about rain. Listening to rain falling can calm one's bent nerves. So, here's to the glory and beauty of something so simple that we forget when to slow down and take a deep breath. Rain.      April 01 Spring of Change The snow melts into the ground and spring takes a deep breath, blowing the winds of change across the land. The cold recedes as it knows its time is almost up and the shadows are chased away by the dawning sun. A single drop of water, and the earth sighs.  Every time the rain comes down, close my eyes and listen. I can hear the lonesome sound of the sky as it cries. Listen to the rain Here it comes again Hear it in the rain.  December 16 'Tis the Season
'Tis the Season for Giving,
not receiving.
'Tis the Season for Family,
not presents.
'Tis the Season for Sharing,
not going on shopping sprees.
'Tis the Season for Caring,
not spending money on yourself.
Don't forget to be thankful for all that you have, and not get upset because you didn't get an IPod. Don't forget to be thankful that you have a roof over your head, unlike those less fortunate.
And never forget the real meaning behind Christmas. It's not Santa, although we are taught when we were young to believe this.
It's about Christ's birthday, hence the word 'Christ-mas'.
October 28 Cellphones banned while driving
Halloween is right around the corner, with an unexpected suprise. Snow and snowsqualls. It was fucking cold today! And of course, do you think I dressed accordingly? Nope.
Good news is that Ontario has finally woken up and has banned drivers using handheld devices while driving. Took them long enough. Any idiot with a little commen sense has known for years now that cellphones used while driving is a major cause of accidents. I would heavily fine those ignorent assholes driving around, chatting on thier cellphones while driving. I have seen too many idiots doing this. I would heavily fine these assholes, and take off a number of demerit points form their licence. Wanna chat o the phone? Go use a pay phone, or pull over, off the road. Don't put other people's lives at risk because you want to chat. I have no clue what I'm going to do for halloween this year. I have a nasty cold, so my energy levels are down and I'm just feeling pissy.
And, I can't wait to get my new LG DVD player.
October 22 First Snowfall - Surprise!
SNOW Thats right. I woke up yesterday to light flurries. Then about an hour later, it started to collect on the ground. By evening, my area looked like this:
I was shocked! It was cold! I had to dig out my winter jacket! I don't remember seeing anything on this news about the possiblilty of snow! Than again, I didn't watch the news the other night. I just don't remember having snow this early. We haven't even got through Halloween yet!
September 08 Changing Season
It's getting colder at night. The rain is here, along with a suttle wind. Autumn is slowly wrapping its arms of colorful ambience around us. No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
Honied yellow dripping gold,
Leaf of autumn in the cold
Dancing on in crisp despair
Whirling on enchanted air
Falling silently to earthen tomb
Away from tree's rooted arm
Perhaps the silence broken then
By hollow cries of autumn grief
Synchronized with the falling leaf
 floating from the sky
scarlet leaves of bitterness soon the harvest moon some shrill geese in flight horse chestnuts rolling with final farewells The summer, what summer? September 01 Hurricane Gustov and CNN
Okay, so there's a nasty category 3 hurricane right on the doorstep of New Orleans. FEMA seems to have actually made an effort this time with preparations and emergency evacuations. Including seniors in retirement homes and longterm care facilities. Not like last time, in 2003 when seniors were left to die in their own beds from the massaive flooding after the leeves broke. There actually seems to be some order this time.
But what I find somewhat humorous is the fact that Anderson Cooper from CNN was 'on location' in New Orleans on Friday. CNN has reporters imbeded into certian locations around the Florida Panhandle, and other locations where they think massive destruction will occur. You can't miss them, with their trademark orange rainjackets. It's like they are expecting massive flooding and devistation to occur. I can't blame them in that regard, with what happened with hurricane Katrina. But my problem is that CNN thrives off of this shit. They are like wolves and carrions, waiting to devour any news coverage they can get. You will definatley see it on CNN, breaking news brought to you first by CNN(sigh)! From their overwhelming 24 hr coverage of the presidental race (which I am so sick of) to this hurricane of deadly potential. America failed to protect it's own 3 years ago with hurricane Katrina. Epic fail. Now they are trying to erase those mistakes (which will never happen) by actually sending in the proper help.
I will keep those people who are affected by this hurricane in my prayers, and hope that the States doesn't make a major cluster fuck of the entire thing.
August 29 Ah Shit!Son of a B****!
I feel like crap! And it's putting a major damper on my time with Ian!
I got a nasty headache yesterday afternoon that lasted into the late evening, with me almost worshipping the porclin god. The headache finally went away around 10 pm! I couldn't finish dinner!
Here I am thinking that it could be pms! But this morning, when I woke up, I felt as if a train had hit me! I was coughing last night, took some cough syrup (which worked), rode slight waves of nausea and tried to get as comfortable as possible. I fell alseep around 1 am.
Now I just want to melt in my chair into a pool of green goo. I feel fluish.
Fuck!
 And it's viral too! So whatever goddamn strain I picked up, which was most likely from those assholes at the walk-in clinic last friday, those fuckers who were coughing and sneezing on everyone, it will probably hit me hard but quick. And it has.
I am NOT happy!
See, I don't really have a problem having a virus. I can treat it myself. But it's the nausea and bad fucking timing that's pissing me off! I am about to have a bitch fit!
August 26 Autumn is almost here I think its already here.
The temperatures have been been below sesonal for the past month. Summer came back for only a few days the other week and it didn't stay for all that long either. All of the the 'back to school' commercials have now infested my tv with promises of 'rad deals' and 'cool back to school looks'. It gives me shivers watching these commercials because of how I hated to see them when I was in school. It meant the end of summer. So did the opening day of the CNE. That started somesort of internal hellish countdown in my head. I loved my summer vacations. I always made the most of them and felt odd that I was apart of a heard of thousands of sheep going back to the classroom. Oh how miserable I was at times, expressing my horror and resentment at having to go back.
And yet, I went back. Although it felt like going back to school was some sort of invader to my summer. I remember having dreams about going back to school in the middle of summer. *shivers ....twitch* I got used to it and it didnt seem so bad. Besides, there was thanksgiving and halloween to look forward too. *smirk* I think we are going to have an early winter. Shit.
August 15 Toronto Propane Explosion - Bob Leek
The explosion occurred at about 4 a.m. and triggered a seven-alarm blaze, which was battled by almost 200 firefighters for much of the day. One firefighter, identified as district chief Bob Leek, perished during the effort.
Toronto Fire division chief David Sheen says Leek had 25 years of experience. Sheen says it will take a few days to determine the cause of death. He was found with no vital signs on Regent Road near the site of the blasts and rushed to hospital. Police say 18 people were hospitalized with minor injuries and one person is still unaccounted for. The missing man is an employee of Sunrise Propane named Parminda Saini. Another employee was in the facility at the time of the explosion. He has been treated in hospital and released, police say. Police don't know what caused the blasts, which engulfed the facility in flames and blew out windows in homes in the surrounding blocks. A lawyer from Sunrise Propane made a brief statement to the media Sunday night, expressing condolences to Toronto firefighters for their loss and to everyone else who was affected by the blast. He did not take any questions. The sound of the blast could be heard up to seven kilometers away. I knew Bob Leek. He taught my hydraulics/pump operations class @ Seneca in '99. He was very kind to me, and ran a 'tight ship'. He understood my panic disorder, and allowed me to leave the classroom for a few minutes any time I needed to, and offered to allow me to write any exams in a smaller room, by myself. I sometimes reffered to him as Captain,(as that was his rank back than) and he said he didn't mind, as I was trying to show respect as a recruit and student.
His class was hard, but moslty because I hate math. Yet it all made sense. He also touched on nuclear fire responses. He gave me my first real scare as he explaned the different kinds of nuclear fallout, and how it penerates through different kinds of materials. I still have all of my notes and exams from his class. I was shcoked when I heard of his passing. Too close to home. I wish I was going to his funeral, but I'm still not feeling 100% yet, but I'm hoping they will broadcast his funeral on tv. It's going to be a full fire service funeral, and Toronto hasn't had one in a long time. Let's keep it that way.
They still haven't released the cause of Bob's death yet.
I have watched video footage of the explosion, and a lot of people thought it was an attack. Others thought it was nuclear. Thank god it was neither, but it's still just as damaging. There is some word floating around that it was terrorist related. I guess that's what people will think in this 'post 9/11 world'.
Sleep well Firefighter Leek. You answered your last call. Thank you for teaching me about fire and giving me my first real scare. It was sobering.
August 07 Large Hadron Collider - Scary Stuff
Ummm, okay, this looks like something out of a video game called 'Half-Life'. And its supposed to do the same thing as the one in the game too. Wtf is it going to do? Well, trying to understand this complicated physics experiment from a layman's point of view is very difficult. From what I understand, it's supposed to find out exactly how the universe was created, and accumulate shit loads of information to be sorted through later. And this collider is fucking huge. Eight stories tall, and enough metal to recreate a second Effiel Tower. In short, playing 'God'. They are getting ready to see the universe born again. Again and again and again — 30 million times a second, in fact.
The LHC is supposed to detect other dimensions as well. But the scientists don't really know what's going to happen when they turn it on. It's the largest scientific experiment on earth. Great. That's got my vote of confidence. (not) Here's a good link to read about it: http://www.uslhc.us/What_is_the_LHC Another link with pictures so you can understand exactly what I'm talking about, and just how big it is. It's interactive too: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/the_large_hadron_collider.html
Is it safe? Supposedly. Here's what could happen: "Concerns have been raised regarding the safety of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on the grounds that high-energy particle collisions performed in the LHC might produce dangerous phenomena, including micro black holes, strangelets, vacuum bubbles and magnetic monopoles ......." - Wikipedia OMFG. BLACK HOLES? JUST OMFG.
There's a lot of fear over this thing being fired up. Some people say that it will kill us all. This site is even counting down until the LHC fires up for the first time: http://quegrande.org/countdown/ Perfect. I'm going to go get my teddy and hide in a corner.
Summer!
There's something about getting caught in the rain on in the summer. Most people rush to get to shelter but me, I'm different. I will stand there, put my head back and feel the rain cascade down my face. It's almost primal, it's so beautiful. I was told to go live in the UK, with all the rain they get. I wuold be happy to visit and see all the beautiful grass, flowers, trees....much different from here.
June 25 Epic Rage: Nick Hogan and John GrazionasHulk Hogan's son, Nick, caused a serious car accident back in Florida in 2007. Nick was racing, and his passenger, John Grazionas, wasn't wearing his seatbelt. Nick lost control of his speeding car, and crashed into a tree.
^There's the car. Here's a video explaining the details of the crash and its aftermath. Nick did go to jail, for only 6 months.
John Graziano is a two-time Iraq war vertian. Get a good look of how John looks in this picture, a real good look.
Now, I will show you what John Graziano's life is like today, and what his life is like right now.
Why is he wearing a hat, and why did Nancy grace have to censor out John's head? This is the reason. WARNING: the following video contains graphic images of severe head trauma. Not for the faint of heart.
HE HAS A HUGE FUCKING HOLE IN HIS HEAD! HALF OF HIS BRAIN AND SKULL IS GONE! And now for the rage: This is how Hulk Hogan and his son treat such a devistating accident, by talking about making money on a show about it, blaming the result of the accident on John. In response to Hulk Hogan repeatedly saying that Johan Grazionas current condition is all part of gods plan to make him a better person, the Grazianao family has released a video tape of John in his hospital bed. It's hard to tell if John has learned the true magic of life, love, and friendship as Hulk suggested, but after this he blamed some kids for having downs syndrome and then called paraplegics "lazy". Get me a gun, please............ |
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