Coulda Woulda Shoulda

For all of you ambitious young political types, it's now EVEN EASIER to become Prime Minister. First you poke a stick at the current Prime Minister until he calls an election. Then, you proceed to LOSE the largest defeat in DECADES for your party. Next, slither away into oblivion until you see the opportunity to EXPLOIT the system for your own benefit. Next steps? Secretly agree with the loser kid on the playground that you will let him be your right hand man IF he promises him and his party will vote AGAINST the bill that the current PM and his party have put together after YOU RAGED about needing economic change. Then, once voting a big baby NO to the bill, you exploit the fact that in the Canadian system this is what they call a NON CONFIDENCE VOTE and you have now forced the hand of the current government to CALL AN ELECTION. The cherry on top? Well, you just swoop in and offer to take over yourself. Cause, you don't want to put Canadians through ANOTHER election. Piece of ...

THE ECONOMY SUCKS RIGHT NOW!!! And do you know what else sucks? THE FACT THAT NOTHING ELSE IS IN THE NEWSPAPER. OR ON THE RADIO. OR ON THE INTERNET. And now I'm helping to perpetuate that problem but BLOGGING about it but mostly I wanted to blog this. That I'm not sure whether being away for 6 years has sheltered me from all the bad=ness that seems to happy ONLY in North America or whether this is really bigger than all the headlines about Afghanistan or Iraq or the Tsunami or global warming. Because I remember talking to my family when I was away wondering why they were getting so obsessed with one thing or another and now maybe I realize that maybe JUST MAYBE the MEDIA WAS OBSESSING THEM. Because I'm being bombarded with this information that is only about ONE THING. A thing that I suppose is really important but is potentially being dealt with EXTREMELY BETTER in parts of the world where they have actually had real problems like droughts and bombs and fear of N. Korea th...

There is a lot I want to say and should say and WILL say but today I just want to say ONE THING... Get out and vote!! There are millions of people all over this world that risk their lives in order to make a choice for leadership. No matter what you think of the Canadian candidates, it's important to remember today that this is bigger than the politicians who are running. It may actually matter more that you cast a vote then who you vote for at all. So GET OUT AND VOTE!

There has been some talk - and government action - regarding the arts funding in Canada that I must humbly admit I have not been paying enough attention to. I remember feeling quite lucky to live and work in the arts scene in Belfast as it was abundant not only with talented people but also the money to support those people in the creation of good work. It's a bit sad that my home country seems to not want to see the value of art as it relates to the well being of every day life. Margaret Atwood has written a very great piece on this here: To be creative is, in fact, Canadian After reading today I am reminding yet again how frustrating it is to prove worth. That human worth has been relegated to the economic factor. That we can see the benefit in bankers because they make money. That there seems to be this theory that only rich snobs wander around at art galas and events. That even the act of mentioning that maybe there is worth outside of bringing in money tends to draw large scof...

Over the last month, I actually started watching Oprah's The Big Give. My opinions on Oprah have not really changed over the years - she's an ambitious person who I can respect for her tenacity and drive, who has contributed to society nationally and internationally in a mostly positive way and who, at the very least, should be given some sort of kudos. I just don't like her. Her show tends to be her and her celebrity friends ta ha ha-ing about all the times they were hanging out in fabulous places, too fabulous for her audience to ever dream of going there once. Then, she introduced Dr. Phil, who is just simply an advertisement for the obvious and a sad state of affairs if he is considered an 'expert' on helping people. For me, it's mostly her book club, although I have to give her credit for getting people reading. It was more the pretending to not profit from the books. I suppose you don't count having to sign movie rights over to her company as profit. C...

Rainy days always tend to give me this infinite feeling. Like I have all the time in the world to get stuff done because hey, it's not even really NICE enough outside to do anything. I'm actually EXCITED if you can believe it that I'm going to be sitting in on a Friday night, banging away in various capacities on a computer. In a basement office. Many of you are probably picturing a dull dreary existence I'm leading, to be so excited about GREY and DARK. Perhaps it's simply the way I'm feeling. More productive with the darker things in life. I'm up and down about the job search. It's never fun for anyone but just like travelling extensively, you learn a lot about yourself and in the end, you'll probably come out a better person. Some days I want to just hurry up to the better person part. Some days I'm quite happy to just be looking around, seeing what's out there, waiting for a perfect opportunity to come my way. I've started down a path...

Today is the first day of spring. I have to say that I think Mother Nature is turning a bit of a corner because although the streets were sheets of ice this morning, it's turning into a glorious day. For years, I've been a fan of Scott Feschuk , dating back to his days at the National Post. Thanks to a link from Dooce, I've just read his latest 'commentary' on the winter we've been having. An Open Letter to Mother Nature Now my sides don't just hurt from all the sit ups I've been doing, they are also in pain because I can't stop picturing Mother Nature's face at being addressed as Dear Bicth. In the wise words of Homer Simpson, it's funny cause it's true. I'm not sure what it's like in Ottawa today but checking the weather outside, I think you finally got her attention Scott.

I've been doing a lot of writing but not so much here. I've been doing a lot of thinking but not so much expressing. I've been doing a lot of laughing right out loud. I've been doing a lot of visiting. I have actually been DOING a lot, and yet sometimes, it feels like I've not yet done anything at all. And I couldn't feel any better about that.

It's very cold here in Canada. Us Canadians love to discuss the weather and I had forgotten why. Because in winter, IT GETS REALLY REALLY FREAKIN COLD!!!! Over the past couple of days, I've become slightly pathetic and started looking at all my Facebook pictures from the beaches. I'm not sure if I'm nostalgic for the trip or if it's just for the beach. So, since that's they way my mind seems to be going right now, I just thought I'd share a random sampling of the beaches we lounged on this fall. Can I tell you, as I look outside to the 5 feet of snow and the thick sheets of ice that it's hard for me to believe there was ever a time that I could leave the house without 5 layers on. Enjoy.

Although I've already celebrated - quite extensively I may add - I thought I'd better wish everyone near and far a happy one. It was quite surreal this year as it's been the first one abroad that I've actually had other Canadians - and even Americans! - to celebrate with. Over the last 5 years, minus the one year when we were home, we were always pumping the day up for people who really, were just happy to have any excuse for a party. This year, it was a bit of sharing of past Canada Day stories, eating of the pizza, the missing of the fireworks and of course, the token drinking of many drinks. It was great. So although I'm not at a cottage somewhere, NOT working today, I certainly celebrated in good fashion. And will be hitting the sack early tonight. Because I'm an old lady people. I went to be 5 HOURS PAST MY BEDTIME last night. Oh dear. Have a great one.