It's 6:55 on a Friday night. Do YOU know where YOUR kids are?

There are many reasons I'm happy I did not procreate: I like having my independence; I have no patience for constant whining and those with the inability to understand logic and reason; I like my stuff the way it is, free from grubby fingerprints and destructive forces...mostly I'm happy because I have one less thing to worry about.

Now you may be thinking, Jesus, this girl's a monster! Who doesn't love kids!? I do, really; I spent two years pursuing a diploma in Human Services to work in the public school system with children with disabilities, then went on to complete my undergraduate degree in Child and Youth Studies. It's not that I hate children; I just feel my talents are better suited to an older population, specifically 18+ (though after the last 9 days of sitting in a room for final exams with this population, I'm not really a fan of anyone at any age - I'd prefer to crawl into a cave and hibernate for a while, socialization-free). 

After hearing the news of the shooting in Connecticut today, I'm even more thankful I do not have any children - I can't imagine how parents around the world are currently worried sick over this whole ordeal, imagining how it could have been their children, at their school. The thought sends a shiver down my spine. I'm already anxious and crazy enough without having to worry about things like that - having a fish is more than enough responsibility for me, thank you very much. The most I have to worry about with her is whether or not I fed her today, or that she might die while I'm away and stink up my apartment. That's about all I can handle. 

I should go check on my "kids" for today; I'm pleased to announce that today is the last day of final exams, and I shall be released back into the wild in a mere two and a half hours (though I'm really hoping that they'll finish up early - mama needs a nap). Until next time...

12/12/12 - End of the World, or Another Wednesday?

The Internet has been abuzz with excitement surrounding 12/12/12. While I've always enjoyed a good superstition, I'm more than a little sick of my Facebook homepage being littered with reminders of today's date. I get it. It's 12/12/12. I appreciate the reminder of our current calendar standing, but I have many other devices to keep me in the loop. Like a calendar.

...OK, I must confess - I will TOTALLY be making a wish at 12:12:12 this afternoon. DON'T HATE.

Many changes have been afoot since my last post. At the time, it was summer; I had just been hired as a full-time grown-up; I was happily married (not really, there was no paperwork to support this claim, but in lifestyle I certainly was); and I had no plans of any changes occurring in my life.

I was wrong.

Immediately following my 25th birthday, my relationship came to a screeching halt. While in hindsight it seemed inevitable, I was utterly devastated at the time. Within a matter of weeks, I was packed and moving out on my own - for the first time ever. I finally made my way to the peninsula of Halifax, a location I'd longed to live in since I first set foot in the city. I found an adorable 1 bedroom in an extremely convenient location for work and play, and began to rebuild my life on my own. I decided to get a betta for company. Probably not the best choice for a woman, newly single, in need of a cuddle buddy. I named him Barney, and we were the bestest of friends. Unfortunately, Barney's life was cut short by unknown causes. I found him floating on the bottom of his bowl after returning from an emergency shopping trip for medicine and a better home for him. Talk about bad timing...I made sure to give him a dignified send-off - I flushed him to return him to his roots....but really, I thought it was gross to throw him in the compost.

I've been in my new place for three months now, and I absolutely love it. I've started to realize that I have way too much stuff and should seriously consider purging some of it before I become one of those crazy ladies on Hoarders. I've since adopted another fish - this time I opted for a red/pink betta, afraid that I would be reminded of Barney if I got another black/blue one. I named her (well, it's actually a he, but I wanted a girl - so my fish will have gender identity issues, whatever) Tits McGee, and we get along famously. I had purchased a three gallon tank with filter for her at Value Village, but stupidly cracked the glass in my attempt to clean it (moral of the story: cleaning is bad). She's seems content in her bowl, so it's all good.

With less that two weeks until Christmas, I am in full-blown procrastination mode. I have yet to begin my Christmas shopping, which means I probably won't bother with it at all. The commercialization of Christmas has been a constant source of complaint for me, so I won't bore you with my ranting and raving. In summary: I hate feeling obligated to buy someone something because of a holiday that (in my mind) doesn't make much sense historically or otherwise - no offense Christians. I totally believe that Jesus existed and all that, but I just have a slightly different view than religious folk perhaps. But that's a topic for another day.

So what else is new? We're in exam mode at work, with only three days left for students (Hallelujah!). I've been proctoring since last Wednesday, and I will be as happy as the students when this is all over. We don't finish until the 21st, so next week will be spent switching my office back (I had to move in September), and prepping for the new year. It's hard to believe the fall semester is over already; this fall has flown by. I guess the lack of stress over exams and papers has made the time slide by unnoticed.

While I'd like to say I'll post again soon, we all know that's unlikely. I'm heading home for the holidays, to the land of quiet and simplicity, sans Internet and other modern trappings of the age of technology. I plan to stay for a week or until I lose my mind, whichever comes first. Stay tuned to see if I survive the impending apocalypse!

Michelle's DIY Corner: Making a Desk Part Two

SUCCESS! The desk has been completed. It's actually been done for a while now, I've just been incredibly slack due to a combination of work, stress, procrastination, and general laziness (for more information, please visit http://thecomplexsimplicityofitall.blogspot.ca/). 

My last post indicated a minor issue with legs for my desk - I had wanted to use mannequin legs, but quickly realized that this was both impractical and expensive (and would have creeped my girlfriend and most visitors out). Besides, the weight of the door would just be too much for those delicate pieces of plastic to handle...so I looked to the Internet to aid me in my search. I considered using PVC pipes as legs, which I thought would give it a cool look, but decided against it when I began thinking of how I would attach them - I really didn't want to destroy my beautiful door with my shoddy handiwork. Lo and behold, the mother of all things creative and wonderful Martha Stewart came to the rescue with her clever crafts. Bookshelves! And so my desk was born.

Bookshelves for legs - Martha Stewart shows her flashes of genius yet again.

Luckily, both of my parents are exceptionally handy and guided me in my construction project. The bookshelf assembly was simple; thank you XS Cargo for your pre-fab bookshelves for cheap. Not wanting to damage the door or leave multiple marks and gouges on it, I opted for a few screws on each end to hold the bookshelves in place. A lend of a drill and bits from a friend made it super simple, and I had a finished product in no time. The hardest part was lifting the door on to the bookshelves - I'm sure if my neighbours could see me, they would have had quite the laugh as I struggled to lift the door high enough with my chicken arms, using my head as a third arm. Go me.

One half of the finished product

Most of the desk - excuse the glare, it's positioned in front of the window

The top of my desk with my cheap alternative to plexiglass - plastic! Thanks Walmart.

So now I finally have a bitchin' desk of sufficient size and coolness. We decided to go all out and bought a new computer to go with the new desk (our old desktop was on its last legs anyway - with 512 MB of RAM, it could barely run a program, let alone stream anything...and without cable, we needed that to happen). I also got a new chair at XS Cargo that doesn't make my back feel like it's broken - this has been especially nice.

The finished product!

 So what will my next project be? Since it seems I'll be here for another year at least, I may see if I can do some painting to liven this place up...off-white is not my color.

Michelle's DIY Corner: Making a Desk

That's right, folks: I've decided to attempt to build a desk. Why? My current desk is a chipboard nightmare from Wal-Mart, circa 2000...it's seen better days.

Le piece de la resistance

Packing tape: Always the solution!

My chair is also a disaster; remember those horrendous chairs from high school? Those terrible plastic things made by Ven Rez in Shelburne that "curved" to help your posture, but only served to annoy and hurt you? I have a pimped out version of one of those, complete with lush padding that just seems to attract dirt.

Beautiful, isn't she? Comfy too...NOT

Buying local: Not always advantageous. 

While I was still planning to write my thesis (news flash: I am no longer writing a thesis...I just want to be done. But that's a rant for another day), I decided I needed a better and more ergonomically friendly work space to save my back and my sanity. I remembered my bedroom door when I was a kid, saddened that it was no longer used or appreciated (it came from my grandparent's house where everything was much smaller than it is today). My uncle had painted it with the Union Jack when he was a kid, so the painting itself is 50+ years old. Then I was struck with a most wonderful idea: instead of buying yet another crappy, chipboard desk that was manufactured by some MNC I despise and slapped together by someone making $1 a day, I will reclaim the door and it's wonderful artwork as my desk! Win-win!

Note its small size compared to the current door...but isn't it pretty!?

My father graciously delivered the door to me (shout out to Miles, the schlepper of all things mine), so now construction (or in my case, destruction) can commence! I priced plexiglass for the top of the desk (as there are many grooves and other holes not conducive to writing or anything desk-related), and was horrified by the quotes: $232 for a sheet of 1/4" plexiglass!? These people are crazy. Luckily, my mother is as frugal as I am (wonder where I got it from?...), and advised me to check Wal-Mart for poster frames. For $40, I now have a lovely translucent covering for my desk to prominently display my uncle's art and allow me to actually use it for work. Great!

My next task is to find a suitable chair and legs for the desk. I would prefer to do something really weird, like mannequin legs, but I have a feeling that a) they would be expensive, and b) they would be hard to find, and c) it would be a bit too high on the creepy meter for most people (including my girlfriend who would have to live with it). I plan to check out XS Cargo this weekend for a chair (haven't been? You must see it! It's filled with wonderful useless shit in a warehouse format in Bayer's Lake. You can find stuff there for half the price you would pay elsewhere). After that, I'll harass some employees at Home Depot or Kent to assist me in the leg-making process. Stay tuned!

Don't you know, things can change, things'll go your way, if you hold on, for one more day...

Sometimes you just need to rock out to the Wilson Phillips, you know? Just crank it as loud as your desensitized eardrums can handle, and scream-sing at the top of your lungs until the neighbors complain and their cats howl along with you.


In an attempt to get pumped up to face Prezi yet again (I spent over an hour earlier whipping up a wonderfully clever and rather witty presentation for my Qualitative Research class...and lost everything due to human malfunction...I may or may not have forgotten to hit save...at any point), I've decided to break out the 80s in a huge way. All the greats of the decade are represented: Culture Club, Wilson Phillips, The Eurythmics...they sure don't make 'em like that anymore.


I've been quite productive today, finally. Got a couple of pages of my report done for my practicum, finished a Prezi (I've decided that one was just for practice..though I did almost throw my computer off the balcony when I realized my error). I guess after days of accomplishing nothing, it seems I've made tremendous strides today...go me!


Big news: My abstract has been accepted for a journal! That's right, folks: I am that much closer to being a published author. First author and everything. I have a little more than a month to get it written, which shouldn't be impossible - I believe I have to keep my ramblings down to 6000 words, which in itself will be a feat. I'm doing my final (!!!) class of my MAEd in April/May - a qualitative writing course in which I plan to write said article. I know, I know - genius right? Then I only have my thesis to write (only, ha!). I've had a bit of an existential crisis as of late, and completely flipped on my topic - I've decided to ditch my current project entirely (an ethnography examining experiences and perceptions of displaced workers and business owners in the Strait Area on economic opportunities in the area and alternatives to the mill closure) and go with something I've been hellbent on for years - criticality, identity, and self-reflexivity and awareness in teacher education programs. I'm torn between conducting some sort of artifact/discourse analysis/ethnographic study, or writing an entirely theoretical paper, discussing the importance of such self-awareness in teachers on their practice and impact on students. Mostly, I thrive on being a shit-disturber...


Ok, enough procrastinating: time to scratch some things off the to do list. In the words of Foreigner: "I've got to take a little time, a little time to think things over, I better read between the lines, in case I need it when I'm older..."


In case you're curious about the origins of such deep and moving lyrics, refer to the link below for some solid synth and 80s emotion:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loWXMtjUZWM&feature=related

And the slacker award goes to...

Me! I've been a terrible blogger as of late. Between battling another round of illness (I swear, my immune system is out to get me), mountains of school and paid work, and general winter-related sluggishness, the last thing on my mind is to spew my nonsense on the Internet (especially since I'm required to do so for one of my classes). 


So what's new? Halifax as a city appears to be going on strike. The buses have been striking since the 2nd, and at least a dozen other unions are either in a strike position, or will be in the very near future. What fun! I've been on foot for most of the month, save the week or so I had the in-law's car (which was lovely - I forgot how much I love driving in the city...no, I'm serious - I actually like driving in Halifax). Peter Kelly promised us he wouldn't run again, which is music to my ears (although the remaining candidates aren't exactly the pick of the litter...). The federal government seems to have had their grubby fingers in the ballot boxes, which they'll probably never have to answer for - ah, the security of a majority. Who ever said democracy was for the people? Oh, that's right, the demo part of that word...perhaps we should send Mr. Harper a dictionary? It seems he's forgotten some basic definitions. 


Gah, this is just frustrating. I had the great pleasure of hearing Dr. Vandana Shiva speak Monday morning at the Mount. What an amazing woman. Yesterday was Occupy Our Food Supply Day, in which she calls on us, the people, to stand up to corporations like Monsanto and reclaim our food supply from their genetically-modifying paws. Here's a great article she wrote: http://grist.org/sustainable-food/dr-vandana-shiva-occupy-our-food-supply/


Ok, back to my daily reality. I'm off to spend my day with bored students with that glazed look in their eye and attempt to explain statistics to them. I don't know who I feel worse me; me or them...

6,201 Reasons to be Frustrated

While doing some light housekeeping in my blog, I noticed I had this draft from May 5, 2011 that I had not posted. 7 months later, I'm still pissed, so I decided to post it. 


DISCLAIMER: This work is not my own. A friend shared it on Facebook, and I will follow in her footsteps. This makes it glaringly obvious how flawed our current electoral system is. 

6,201 reasons to get frustrated.

by Matt Peters on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 10:16pm

Matt Peters and Ryan Boldt decided to dust off their calculators this afternoon and do some 'rithmatic.  They were appalled at what they discovered.  Time for some sobering statistics.  You might want to prepare a barf bag: 

• 6,201.  Friends, this is not the title of the newest Rush album.  This is a number we need to remember over the course of the next four years and especially during the next election.  6,201 is the COMBINED margin of victory across the 14 most closely contested Conservative ridings in Canada.  The COMBINED margin of victory. This is how close the election actually was.  In each of these races the Conservatives had a margin of victory of less than 800 votes.  Most margins were much, much smaller. See below for a statistical breakdown.

• 14. You need to remember this number for two reasons.  Firstly, it is the number of seats the Conservatives currently have above and beyond their majority.  In these 14 contentious races, if there had been even a slightly more focused effort by the parties on the Left to consolidate their voter bases we could have easily swayed the balance of power away from the Conservatives and prevented their majority (only 6,201 votes total were needed, spread across 14 ridings).  14 is also significant because, if you can believe it, 14 votes was the actual margin of victory for the Conservatives over the Liberals in the eastern Ontario riding of Nipissing-Timiskaming.  In this riding 11,357 people voted for the NDP or the Green party.  27,887 registered electors didn't vote at all.  Only 14 votes were needed to defeat the Conservatives.  Let that sink in. 

Here are the numbers in each of the 14 most closely contested Conservative ridings.  The vote splitting is very disturbing:

  Riding:                 Labrador (Newfoundland & Labrador)

Conservatives             Liberals           Margin of Victory           NDP/Green Combined

4,234                            4,003                       231                               2,235

                                       Nipissing-Timiskaming (Ontario)

Conservatives             Liberals           Margin of Victory           NDP/Green Combined

15,507                         15,493                    14                                     11,357

                              Bramalea-Gore-Malton (Ontario)

Conservatives             NDP                  Margin of Victory           Lib/Green Combined

19,907                          19,369                    538                                    18,149

                                         Etobicoke Centre (Ontario)

Conservatives             Liberals           Margin of Victory           NDP/Green Combined

21,661                         21,635                      26                                     9,185

                         Saskatoon Rosetwon biggar (Saskatchewan)

Conservatives             NDP                  Margin of Victory           Lib/Green Combined

14,652                      14,114                         538                                      1,323

                              Elmwood-Transcona (Manitoba)

Conservatives             NDP                  Margin of Victory           Lib/Green Combined

15,280                      14,996                          284                                     2,678

                Montmagny-L'islet-Kamouraska-Riveire-du-Loup (Quebec)

Conservatives             NDP                  Margin of Victory           Lib/Green/Bloc Combined

17,220                      17,110                           110                                       14,861

                       Lotbiniere-Chutes-de-la-Chaudiere (Quebec)

Conservatives             NDP                  Margin of Victory           Lib/Green/Bloc Combined

22,460                      21,683                           777                                      12,183

                                

                               Don Valley West (Ontario)

Conservatives             Liberals           Margin of Victory           NDP/Green Combined

22,992                         22,353                      639                                      7,983

                         Mississauga East-Cooksville (Ontario)

Conservatives             Liberals           Margin of Victory           NDP/Green Combined

18,782                         18,121                       661                                    9,989

                           Winnipeg South Centre (Manitoba)

Conservatives             Liberals           Margin of Victory           NDP/Green Combined

15,468                          14,772                       696                                    9,332

                                         Yukon

Conservatives             Liberals           Margin of Victory           NDP/Green Combined

5,422                             5,290                       132                                     5,345

                 Desenthe-Missinippi-Churchill River  (Saskatchewan)

Conservatives                NDP              Margin of Victory           Lib/Green Combined

10,504                          9,715                        789                                     1,706

                                  Palliser (Saskatchewan)

Conservatives             NDP                  Margin of Victory           Lib/Green Combined

15,850                      15,084                         766                                     2,892

                           Total numbers for the 14 ridings 

Conservatives        2nd place                Margin of Victory               Rest of the left

 219,939               213,738                 6,201                        103,873

       You'll notice that these ridings are evenly distributed geographically throughout the country and the split affected the NDP and Liberals equally.  Also, this list only represents the closest races.  This is not a regional issue.  It is indicative of what occurred throughout the country. 

       Across Canada 7,867,870 people voted Liberal, NDP or Green.  5,832,401 voted Conservative. This is a difference of over 2 million votes.  Do not believe the hype.  A government with 39.6% of the popular vote should not have a mandate to drive through fundamental changes in policy.  

       The Progressive Conservatives and the Alliance had the wherewithal to "unite the right" in 2003 and it seems that until the Left are able to arrive at a similar compromise or agreement they may very well be doomed to repeatedly collect 60% of the vote and wield 0% of the power.

6,201 reasons to get frustrated.

We can not let this happen again.  Get the word out. 

Slackers Unite!...Tomorrow Maybe.

I just realized - my penchant for slacking and general procrastination has prevented me from writing about issues near and dear to my heart, even as they play out in the media and around the world. This fall, the Occupy movement took hold of cities around the world, protesting a wide variety of issues and ideologies. I was part of the Occupy movement in Halifax, partaking in their various rallies and demonstrations, attending general assemblies and the like. Did I write about it? No. Too much effort. I did, however, use social media to promote and share these events...I even set up a Twitter account! Wild, I know. I was vehemently opposed to Twitter for a long time, believing that it was just a site filled with irrelevant Facebook-like status updates: people sharing what they're doing ("OMG just had a Big Mac, totes need 2 go 2 da gym l8er!"), where they are ("@ da mall wit ma girls!"), and other brain-curdling nonsense. Much to my surprise, Twitter can actually be used for good! I mostly subscribe to news sources and higher-profile people (CBC, Jian Ghomeshi because I love him, Al Jazeera, Occupy-related things, Adbusters, Margaret Atwood, etc).


Since disconnecting my cable in the fall, I've felt a bit out of the loop - I loved watching Steve Murphy every night at 6, checking in with CBC to see what was happening in the world at night, and tuning into Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert providing hilarious insight into American politics and happenings. Twitter has since remedied this void (well, sort of - I still get the newspaper delivered every Friday and Saturday, just so I have a bit more detail about what's happening...and I love the Lexicon). The best part of getting rid of cable? NO MORE COMMERCIALS! I despise commercials. Really. DESPISE. They're always louder than the program, go on for far too long, and repeat twice, sometimes three times, in one segment. Outrageous.


That brings me to my next point (sort of): have you been paying attention to the litany of bills being proposed in various countries (including our own) surrounding intellectual property and online piracy? Because you should be. In the US, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Personal Information Privacy Act) have been at the forefront of conversations; even Wikipedia had a 24-hour blackout on the website to protest these bills. While the kerfuffle raged in the US, Europe quietly passed their own version of the bill, setting a terrifying precedent for other countries. Canada's version, Bill C-11, aims to make a plethora of activities illegal, including ripping CDs to your iPod, or posting videos to YouTube. The owner of MegaVideo is in hot water these days for illegal uploading and is facing significant jail time (I believe it was t least 20 years? Rapists and murderers don't get that half the time...and she only provided a website where people could upload videos...apparently intellectual property rights are more valuable than our bodies, dignity, or life? I don't quite follow that logic...). For someone who relies on the Internet for most of my entertainment needs, Bill C-11 could make me a criminal. I've made it this far without a record, I don't intend to acquire one now. 


With Harper in office set on making Canada into some sort of prison state, we need to stay informed and willing to stand up against these insane legislation...because we don't know where (or if) it will stop. Want to be scared into believing it? Pick up a copy of Margaret Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale - a fantastic dystopian novel that is eerily familiar...and plausible. 


This is serious. Today it's online information; what will it be tomorrow? With the Patriot Act in the US, the government has complete access to anything (ANYTHING) they want from you. They can even arrest you without charging you, and leave you to ponder life's meaning in a jail cell indefinitely. Land of the Free? More like Land of the Fearful.