Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Job? No Job! Freelance!

Looking through some different job postings trying to figure out what I would like to do next, and I found an "interesting" job in Administrative Support with Alberta Justice. I found this caveat in the qualifications section: Ability to acquire a Firearms Acquisition Certificate and a First Aid Certificate is required.

An FAC is required? I am tempted to apply just to find out how on earth I may be required to use a gun, and if the first aid is to, shall we say, fix whatever I am using it for?

Monday, November 29, 2004

Life is irony

So my brother was not always compelled to take care of himself financially (he got better with this as he grew up) and I used to joke with my parents that they were not to leave him to me in their will.

Here I am typing my Mom's will and I have been left my brother's remains, if they have not already been scattered upon my Mother's death.

The irony of that is a little sharp right now.

Talk about delusional

Would you support someone who has to take medication in order to "control" her paranoid delusional psychotic episodes, who "stomps" like a child around a room full of people like she is having a tantrum when she doesn't get her way, who blows up and explodes at people she is working for/says she likes for no apparent reason, who acts so obviously bizarre that people are left asking "whats wrong with her", who twists how any situation occurs in her own mind so she thinks she is "amazing", who plans the political demise of certain people who she thinks gets in her way of provincial domination, and (among other things) who has a history of making death threats against people, including small children, in a bid to obtain the nomination for Calgary Varsity in 2008?

I didn't think so.

Sunday, November 28, 2004

Making a list

Christmas cards. Eighty people. Eighty stamps. Wow. I better get cracking!

Saturday, November 27, 2004

On Growing Up: Where do Butterflies come from?

Growing up is generally considered to be facilitated through the attainment of certain rites of passage, sometimes referred to as benchmarks or milestones, that tend to be held by our culture/society as important measures of achievement, progress and success, and the means by which one demonstrates their importance and/or place in the "grown up" world.

This understanding, however, is far more simplistic than realistic. We, as people, seem to search endlessly for the answer of what it means to be grown up. Is it when you can finally answer the questions "How can you understand how I feel if I don’t even understand?" or "When will it all make sense?" Is it when you get your first job, learn to drive, loss your virginity, get married, have a baby, buy your first car/house/portfolio? Is it when you have categorically succumbed to the many other stresses that our daily lives are riddled with and made it through?

I am considering writing a book (as always). This one is already there in my head, I just have to decide whether to share it or not. It does have a potential title – "The Year I Went Grey" but it might be more aptly named "The Year I Grew Up."

The story of ourselves growing up is the quintessential story of humanity and yet our child self eludes us adults like an enigmatic stranger discernable only with a sort of peripheral vision that we apply sparingly to our own memories with an intent curiosity, which is not unlike the process of revisionist history. It is the application of democracy to our childhood adventures, picking and choosing what we remember and with which way we remember it, how we tell our story. But sometimes the story's rightful beginning is not always at the very beginning.

At it’s start 2004 threatened to be just like any other year. Instead it rapidly became a year of tragic life lessons, a year of surrendering quietly to that which we can only live through and not change. I learnt the true meaning of acceptance, of coping, of priorities, of loving, of family, of living, of being a partner to my husband, of rising to meet challenges, of remaining sane.

In all of this, I learnt how to survive. I recognize now that it is within these themes that I have finally attained that level of maturity that, with all confidence, I can say to myself that I have finally become a "grown up".

And I am going to stretch my wings.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Politics, Propaganda and Principles

"We must not allow ourselves to become like the system we oppose."
- Desmond Tutu


Politics, Propaganda and Principles

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

The Writing on The Wall

In case of emergency, activate the bat signal.

In a surprise turn of events the liberals took Calgary Varsity. Our numbers were solid and no one, not even the media, the hacks or the pundits, saw it coming. All in all the liberals took 17 seats.

We lost 13.

A fourth term with a majority government that claims 3/4's of the seats is nothing to shake a stick at. It actually sounds like a success story any government would be proud of. But there is danger in complacency and this should not be considered a "victory", not for us.

The numbers tell a different story - an obvious right wing protest vote across the province. Albertans are not completely happy with us, loud and clear. In all ridings where a PC seat was lost, the right of center vote was split between us and the Alberta Alliance, by the same amount that would have been needed for a win over the liberal candidates. But it's not the liberals I am worried about.

Bat signal please.

This is a message from the voters of Alberta to our party and if we ignore it our party will die. As a party, we have our work cut out for us, with only 3-4 years to regain lost trust, confidence and support. The trick will be in balancing the needs of the voters with the needs of the party and our policy direction. How far right can we go in order to accommodate voters without losing more votes than we might possibly gain? And the Premier needs to clean house or go.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Finally Home...

Wow. Am I tired. And happy to be home. I have learnt so much, which I will be pleased to share at a later time.

Saturday, November 13, 2004

Iam so drubk

There is nothing in politics until you get totally drunk with the outgoing candidate. It's funny how evrything becomes so clear.