List Darn it!!!

Well, I've been helping with an organization called Kids for Kaga since last year. It's a grass roots programme that sends students from the twin cities of Dundas and Kaga on cultural exchanges. I decided it would be fun to work on a new site, as the old one is out of date, and it looks like it's run by city hall, so updating it out of our hands. The main structure of the site is up. I still need more content but I've been trying to get it up in the search results. So, that has been a bit of a frustration, as the builder I used doesn't have what I want....anyways, this is the ulterior motive to this post. One of the recommendations is to have other sites link to it so that spiders will find it. so, here goes the shameless plug!
Kids for Kaga
Kids for Kaga
Kids for Kaga
Kids for Kaga
Kids for Kaga!!!

benefits of the insomniac

Well, the other night, I was up...again. I sometimes wonder if it would be more productive if I worked the grave yard shift. Anyways, this night however, my sleeplessness actually worked to my benefit. As I turned in between tosses, I remembered that there was a lunar eclipse that night/ morning. I looked at the clock, which read well past 3am. Too late I thought, if only I had remembered around 2am. But, since I was up, I thought, "eh, why not?" So, I crept out of bed, trying not to wake anyone. These efforts were soon negated when I forogt and let my screen door SLAM shut behind me as I went into the backyard. Much to my surprise, it wasn't too cold. Also to my surprise...snow (I didn't know, and was still in slippers). I looked around and couldn't see anything, but just to be sure, I ran behind the house to check the sky. Behold! Not what I expected! I thought the lunar eclipse would cause the moon to be blacked out. Instead, the fully eclipsed moon before me was almost full, its silvery face stained with a rusty orange glow. This meant of course, I had to run inside to get my photography equipment. This was when I realized that a) I should really finish reading that manual for my camera and b) it gets a lot colder when you're handling a metal tripod and kneeling down in the snow.
Oh, and someone else in the house ended up getting woken up. But that turned out to be a great thing as well.

over-employed and waiting for hot chocolate

I've been told that I need to add my recent adventures. They were indeed rather exciting, but I have been nursing my upper respiratory track as of late.
So, first...job. When it rain, it pours. I was recently sitting at home going over notes for a phantom interview. And then, in quick succession, I end up with 2 interviews and now it would seem 2 jobs. Reason to celebrate, yes. But also reason for concern. After consulting with the sages, I've decided to risk signing contracts with 2 different school boards. One is in my home town, but apparently is a contracting board. The other board is a bit of a drive, but has a great reputation and is expanding. While I am exciting about both, I have to admit a tinge of guilt for doing this...as I have so much support in my home board. But, with an uncertain future (I have one friend going into her 5th year of supplying), I keep telling myself that I'm only being prudent (eggs in one basket...).
On a more exciting note, quite a few JETAA events as of late. First, there was an amazing documentary and speaker. Setsuko Thurlow, an atomic bomb survivor and activist came to share her experiences and her mission with us. I usually tend to think of myself as a pretty poker faced person when it comes to more serious emotions, but I pretty much lost it. I found myself talking about fears I didn't even knew I had. I suppose that time waking up to warnings of a long range missiles test (complete with little TV animations) on TV heading towards us hit me more than I realised.
Then, last weekend was the annual skating event. I have been trying to go to this thing for the past 3 years. My skates had been sharpened and waiting in the back of the car for 3 years. So I was going to go regardless of rain and ridiculously overpriced parking. I showed up to find an empty rink. After walking around for a bit, I thought **** this, strapped on my skates and gave the artificial but thankfully tented rink a go. After a shaky start, I finally found my footing and that's when I noticed that some of the maniacs skating in the rain were Asian (we're not known for our affinity to skating). So, I went out there and found a few familiar faces. I thought, okay, I guess the hot chocolate will be out here, so I relocated to the outdoor rink. To my surprise, despite the lowered visibility, it was actually quite nice skating in the rain as it created a constant, freshly Zamboni-ed (yes, I'm making it into a verb) effect. While the crowds (and hot chocolate) were probably scared away by the rain, the few brave souls did have fun...until *BAM* *GUSH*. Yes, one of our newer skaters hit the ice face first, and our afternoon of skating in the rain turned to an afternoon group drive and sitting in the ER (with lots of bowing). Hopefully, a few stitches were all that were needed to put him back together.
Our outing ended with food...rather inappropriate food. We decided that the best way to end the day was with meat. So we ended up in the most random burger joint called Dangerous Dan's, where the burgers are big, the woman's bathroom is small (I suppose if you eat too much there it would eventually become an issue), the seats are recycled from mini-vans, and if Dan takes a liking to you, you get his wang for free (a la mode)! The walls, plastered with pro-meat propaganda was a perfect accompaniment to the amazing burgers. For some reason, he felt guilty for something he said ( for me, all was forgiven when I started eating), but our table was the proud recipient of of a free wang (deep fried banana with ice cream). And, it was probably the best fried banana I'd ever had. I wasted no time in cutting it down to size with one swift stroke (not the first time inappropriate food has been served to me), and I was declared to have "Bobbitt-ed it" (yet another new verb).

"Honestly Monica..."

I came upon an article today that quite frankly astounded me (although I'm not sure why anything that happens should anymore). Monica Gaudio, was informed by a friend that some of her writing had been lifted from her blog and reprinted in a print magazine, Cooks Source, without her permission. Now, this is the part I find astounding. The editor, Judith Griggs, responded by saying that the Internet was public domain and that the author should have been grateful. She went on to say (more like insult) that Gaudio's writing was of poor quality. My favourite (in case Ms Griggs is reading, I'm using British spelling) part is her use of the phrase "as a professional". Ironic choice of words, considering that I would not classify any of Ms Griggs actions as anywhere being close to professional (perhaps she needs to google the word). From her decision not to obtain proper permission to use the material as well as her subsequent responses. I mean even the SPCA asked to use a 10 second video clip of my rabbit for their fundraising campaign. And I also have questions regarding her skills as an editor. Her responses have been either the world's worst attempts at an "apology", or she really need to work on her writing tone (i.e. lack of professionalism or sincerity, dripping with condescension). As for the public domain portion of the argument, I would love to see someone lift an article from something like the Time Magazine site (where I spotted this article) and reprint it...let's see how well that argument goes over. I also enjoyed the argument of how lifting occurs in many other places...Brooklyn Bridge anyone?

45 degrees...

Well, while the triceps are a bit better today, I had a new headache to contend with today, or rather backache. I woke up this morning and found that I couldn't really get up. My entire lower back had seized up. My day was spend hobbling around at a 45 degree angle with little shuffle steps, alternating between a heat pad and lying on the cold tile in the kitchen. *sigh* How I miss the onsen right now!

Triceps

I have in the past few days become painfully aware of how often we use our tricep muscles. From the moment we wake up till the moment our heads return to the soft relief of our pillows, we constantly are relaying on this ever so important muscle group. Everything from getting up, clothing ourselves, brushing our teeth, lifting things, pressing down on the soap pump, trying to cut an onion, putting on your seat belt...every action requires the assistance of our triceps. Now, as I carry on with these everyday activities, I am aware of their importance. Everytime they move, a spasm of pain ripples through them. Often, an action will result in waves of pain as different parts exert themselves at different times.
You might ask, why the sudden body awareness? One word...judo. No complaints, it was one of the more interesting, exciting and full-filling ways to spend a Saturday afternoon. If anything, hindsight tells me I probably got too excited and forgot certain aspects of the techniques (I probably lifted my opponents during my throws instead of pushing them). But for now, until I can dress and feed myself painlessly again, I will stick to just visualization techniques.

Can't help it...

I can't help but feel a little mean posting this (and I would normally avoid doing so), but it just feels like finally someone (albeit another country) is taking things seriously.
This past month, a certain heiress was arrested for having cocaine in a purse (ownership to be debated). She later plead guilty to possession and then promptly boarded a plane to Tokyo. When this came on the TV I told my father, I don't think they're going to let her in with a drug charge. Even Paul McCartney can't get into Japan. Sure enough, the very next day we hear news of her being denied entry. My favourite part was her statement to the cameras as she was being kicked out of the country, how she loved it there and she was looking forward to coming back later... Huh. I've come up with a few different theories on this comment: 1) Something was lost in translation 2) She was in denial/ lacked approriate commprehension skills to understand the words "deported" and "banned" (it is a long flight after all) 3) She was trying to save face 4) She figured she could buy her way back into the country, immigration laws be damned.
If people like McCartney and the Rolling Stones (who also have money, power and oh, TALENT) can't find their ways back into Japan, what makes her think her "kawaii factor" will get her back in? Oh, and the "it's not mine, it's my friend's" excuse only works once. Using it twice in one year is definately pushing your legal luck. It's refreshing to see someone playing things by the book and laying out some consequences.
Sigh, and that's my (slightly vindicated) rant.