4 Day Workweek!

It's not even Monday yet and there are only 4 days left till the weekend! Thank you Jesus (literally!) for your sacrifice. Oh man, I'm going to hell. Yep.

The Video Game Life

So among my many random theories, I've brought to life one that's sort of been milling around on the backburner of my mind ever since I got a credit card at 18, and particularly since I started having regular bills knocking at my virtual front door since the beginning of the year. I've never had a problem paying bills, unlike most people. Not that I look forward to them, but at the same time, I get a bit of a euphoric feeling when all my accounts blare "zero" from the computer screen. And whether or not I have an adequate surplus of disposable funds left over (I know my last post tells another story, but generally I don't worry about money), I feel like I've accomplished something, gotten that one step ahead, no matter how small.


I see credit and accounts like sub-levels in a video game - for example, World 1 in Mario 3 is the desert level, and within it are sub-stages until you reach the floating boat in the sky, defeat the koopa king, and restore the real King to his original human state before you can continue to world 2. Each world gets harder and harder, and each sub-level becomes more difficult, until finally, finally, you reach that princess that for SO long has been in another castle.


Each payment I make to my credit accounts, and every deposit I make in my high interest savings, is like beating one sub-level in the bigger world of life. Each payment made in full and on time to my Visa is equivalent to a 1-up green mushroom, giving me strength to get more credit in the future, obtain the trust of "the man", and to move on to bigger, higher worlds, eventually able to buy a car, rent or buy a condo, then on to a house, and all those consumerist things we aspire to in life.

Of course it doesn't have to be material goods we aspire to; one of my major goals, my castle which I must toil and trouble within and beat the fire-breathing dragon - the almighty dollar - before I can exit triumphant, is to tour the United Kingdom. For a year I've been scrimping, saving, forcing myself to open a savings and account and actually SAVE. With each deposit, I move closer and closer to that goal.

So whether your Princess is a car, a playstation, a university education, a trip to somewhere you've never been before, learning a new instrument...the list goes on. You get what I'm sayin.


Keep looking!! It's going to take a lot of castles until you find the right one, and it's not the destination, but how you got there!

Poor Piggy.

My stomach is in knots right now - I just budgeted my England/Scotland/Wales trip and it's going to cost me about $3000 buckeroonies. Being someone who's barely ever had more than a grand at one time in her bank account (and oh what a momentous day that was), this is gonna be a hard 5 months ahead.

It feels so weird having to live on a budget. I've had at least one job at all times since I was 16, except for a month or two here and there in those 7 years, and between high school and then University tuition and books, I've never struggled to pay the bills before. Hell, you could eat off of my credit score it's that squeaky clean.

I used to be able to live off $250 every two weeks, if that, all through university. And well too - never stopped myself from buying something I wanted, or going out for dinner or wherever. Now that number is just a fraction of my paycheck, and yet I'm finding myself having to limit and think about everything I do....when did this happen!? Well, rent and bills I never had before I worked full time suck, and it's going to take $250 per paycheck from this day forward to literally the day I leave to afford this trip. So I figure, all expenses accounted for, I'm going to have to live off of $100 a week for the next 5 months. Food, clothing, outages, misc....I feel like I'm on that till debt do us part show, dividing my megre change into little jars labelled "Food", "Entertainment", etc. I have to actually THINK about pulling out my credit card. I'm going to have to be a home body on the weekends. FML.

While I rant and rave, there's that little voice in my head that tells me I'm going to hell considering the economy and the number of people who WON'T be going on the trip of their dreams this year, in fact, may be wondering where their next meal is coming from or budgeting their life savings while they look for a job with no new income coming in. And here I am bitching about vacations. Don't worry, I'm not THAT heartless. I still spend that little second every day thanking God for my luck and situation that I do have a full time job and steady income. Knock on wood, it stays that way.

Still, it's going to be a change that's not going to be pleasant, and as the trip gets closer and becomes more real I know it will be worth it. Until then, anybody want to take me out, your treat? :)

(P.S. Thank the lordy for the forced savings of the tax return. I'm SO glad I didn't claim my education last year. Let's hope it's a fat one this year *fingers crossed*)

Earth Hour - Round Deux Results

For all those who said Earth Hour doesn't make a difference: Seeing is believing, and these pictures from downtown Toronto, before and during, prove it!


The differences between these shots is simply astounding. I am extremely proud to live in the City of Toronto and see so much concerted effort and action towards a cause that affects everyone all over the world. Check out http://www.earthhour.org/ for more pictures of Earth Hour from cities around the world.

My realization from this year's Earth Hour? I really don't need my DVD player or Nintendo Wii plugged in on standby when both are collecting dust in the corner. It's also a lot easier to get dressed for a saturday night by candlelight than I thought!

Earth Hour - Round Deux

Wow, I cannot believe it's already been a year since Earth Hour 2008! I remember hearing about it way back in October 2007, and having everyone look at me like I had two heads when I tried to explain the concept to them. This year, market research is showing that 75% of Canadians are planning to take part! That's AMAZING.

I've only been awake for an hour, but already the Interweb is buzzing with the (sadly, to be expected) few who make it known that they believe Earth Hour is a waste of time and won't accomplish anything. Yes, you're right. That is, if you choose to not do anything in the belief that it won't accomplish anything, then it won't. Because it can't.

Last year I attended the Nathan Phillip Square event that I promoted at York University, and it was an amazing experience. At 8:30, lights one by one in the sky scrapers around the city square began to turn off. The BMO building went down flight by flight, ending with the giant logo on the top of the building going out, the cherry on top of the cake. It was surreal walking through Toronto and seeing just how much light is unnecessary. Of course, that is the message that one should take from the whole event - not that one hour is going to make a difference, but that a whole lifetime of over/unnecessary use is the greater issue.

Earth Hour is meant to be a collective call to action, to show us that 75% or more of our energy consumption in the developed world is wasteful. This is one of my favourite images I have ever come across - an image from space of the world at night. Here you can clearly see the areas of the world which posess major cities, and where the developed vs. "undeveloped" world exist:



I find this image both beautiful and disturbing at the same time. It is physical evidence of our energy impact on Earth; so significant, it can be viewed easily from space. It also depicts discrepancies between the rich and poor of the world. But I think most importantly it reminds us that, while our individual use of energy appears insignificant, our collective use as a society is extremely impactful, and therefore needs to be addressed.

Last Earth Hour, Toronto's energy consumption was reported to have dropped 7% from the previous hour, and over 8% based on previous consumption patterns for that day and time by Ontario Hydro. If that isn't hard physical evidence that Earth Hour is "doing something", I don't know what is. On top of that, since Earth Hour 2008, I have personally noticed a proliferation of media content surrounding how to reduce one's environmental footprint, including energy consumption, and I really believe it's events such as these that are making even the most ignorant and complacent of society think twice.

I came across two articles that I really enjoyed today. The first being a list of how to celebrate Earth Hour this evening, and another on how to continue to lower your energy consumption (EASILY!) permanently.

http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/earthhour/article.aspx?cp-documentid=962109

http://green.sympatico.msn.ca/earthhour/green-living-online-article.aspx?cp-documentid=973542


Be the change you wish to see in the world!

Imagination Crunch Time

Well, this is my first march in years (4 to be exact, 8 if counting high school) that I haven't been ripping my hair out between work and finals at school. Everyone who graduated before me, and those who heard through the grapevine, promised me a splendiferious working life of coming home and having no homework/readings/papers/studying/etc. etc. to deal with. Ok, so it is pretty sweet - in theory.

But here I am, middle o March as a full-time working girl, bored and alone while all my school-workin friends are slaving away day and night. While I watch re-runs of Dog the Bounty Hunter and Jon and Kate plus 8 and contribute to the size of my ass.

Not having responsibilities ain't all it's cracked up to be. Remember having summer as a kid and by the end of it, being so bored out of your skull you actually looked forward to school starting again (keep in mind I'm the only child of a single mother who never went to summer camp or had the money to go out shopping every day with my friends. I hated those kids *grumble*). So now, those promised days of having freedom from the bonds of school work have become tedious hours thinking about how I should be doing something productive, but can't seem to wrap my head around what.

Just a warning to all those energetic, enthusiastic pre-gradutes out there: when you start working for a living 40 hours a week plus commuting time, you come home from work exhausted. I mean, any incling of energy you have left is spent making your dinner and thinking about what you you're going to wear/eat/do at work the next day. All you want to do is veg. And then the mind starts to go... you start to think thoughts like "what's the meaning of my life?", "Am I living life to the fullest?", and "did I use the last 3 hours playing video games and eating cheeze-its effciently?"

The answer to all is - damn. I miss school.

So while all of you bitch about having to write your papers, or study for your exams, think of me and all us working zombies who are slowly losing our minds in a state of endless lethargy.

I really need to get out more.

Revisitation and Results

Wow it's been a long time. I came to check up on my old dedication and saw that over 1000 people have viewed it. For a site I created as a class requirement that I put little to no faith in, not too shabby!

A year later I've learned quite a bit about the world of virtually anonymous Internet publishing and user-created content. The major discovery being that many people will pass by, very few will post a comment or interact with your page in a visible or quantifiable manner, and even fewer than that will repeatedly visit and contribute in any way. 1% or less, in fact, if I can recall from my portfolio research.

So the question is, why bother? My motivation has always been the same: I simply love to write. This weekend's spring cleaning activities have led me once again to the multiple journals from my childhood and teens, some chalk full and updated on a semi-regular basis, and others started and abandoned, or dotted with rare entries with the promise to write again tomorrow. Each time I browse through and experience the same astounded reaction of being immersed in very real, almost tangible memories and emotions. Things I definitely would have completely forgotten due to my goldfish-like memory.

I think that's sad. And right then and there I dedicate myself to the importance of contributing to a documentation of a life that would otherwise go forgotten and unnoticed.

There is an importance in every day activities and experience. The human body is quite a spectacular thing - it naturally tries to eradicate the negative emotions and memories and place those which are positive on a pedestal. But its those negative experiences that are life's greatest teachers, and one cannot appreciate the good without the bad as something to compare and contrast. Or else we're all doomed to a 2 steps forward, 1 (or even 2) steps backward life of near-static being. One of my greatest fears, perhaps.