Well, I went to a protest yesterday.  It was a protest against the war in iraq.  I'm not sure if this officially makes me an activist or not, but I'd like to think that I have to go to at least three marches before I get labeled. 

It was kinda disappointing.  There were only about 13 people there, so we stood around talking about what a bad guy GWB is and explaining to each other our reasons for being there.  I felt a little better being around other people that were of the same oppinion that I am, but I was disappointed in the turn out.  I can't understand why no one seems to care about this.  Why aren't more people outraged by the situation?  I feel hopeless when it comes to this subject, but I don't feel quite so alone on it anymore.

Today I was riding the bus to school.  Every seat was occupied by one person, so there were extra seats for a second person.  A rather portly man got on the bus and walked to the back.  I was sitting on one of the long side seats and there was another gentleman sitting on the other.  Both of us were sitting on the wide side of the pole.  The man, seeing that his girth would not allow him to fit on the narrow side of the pole just stood.  I told him I could move, but he declined politely.  It would be easy for me or the other man to fit on the narrow side of the pole, giving the wide side to the big guy.  I was debating on whether it would be embarrasing for the man if I got up and moved to the narrow side, giving him room to sit.  I got up and moved over.  The man sat down next to me and thanked me profusely two or three times.  Thinking about it, I decided that I would feel horrible if I didn't do anything.  How would I feel if I were him?  I wonder what went through the minds of those around me who were too self-absorbed or selfish to care.  Did they feel badly that they did nothing and allowed the poor man to just stand there?  I hope so.

I HATE getting ripped off.

Good ole Tim Hortons.  Coffee house of Canada.  No kidding.  I'd like to say that this only happens on campus where they know they can take advantage of poor students and who gives a shit.  But it's happened in other places as well.

I'll have an extra large cappacino please.  Great!  It's only 40 cents more than a large, but so worth it.  Until I get to my seat and open the lid.  Why is it only 5/6ths full?  There's at least an inch of empty cup at the top! 

Now why should I pay for an extra large coffee when I only get a large?  This is a problem and I'm not happy!!  Why should I have to specify that I'd like my cup full, please?  Shouldn't it be common knowledge that when someone orders a cup of coffee, they want a WHOLE cup of coffee?  I don't want to pay for 1/6th of an empty cup!  

We all know that Tim Hortons is a shady company.  They advertise one thing and deliver another.  I think that they're planning to take over the world, personally.  Ever hear of those penny schemes?  Where an outfit gets rich ripping off people one penny at a time but there are so many people to rip off that it doesn't take long for that one penny a piece to add up to a really lot of money.  That's what they're doing! 

They're nickle and diming their customers for profit.  This is done a number of different ways, always gambling on the trust that the customer has for them.  The customer usually doesn't ASK for a full cup of coffee, so why give it to them.  If the customer doesn't ASK for a second cup so that they can carry their piping hot coffee without burning the shit out of their hands, then we won't give them one.  It all hinges on the "politeness" of Canadians.  We don't want to inconvenience anyone by asking for extra things that we were expecting to receive in the first place.  So we suck it up, plaster a big shit-eating grin on our faces and try our best not to cry as we walk away playing hot potato with our coffee cups.  Do we go back again?  Yup.  'cause it must have just been a mistake or an oversight.  The girl just forgot, that's all. 

Sorry sucker, but unless you assert yourself and demand the level of product and service that you're paying for, you'll just get ass pounded again and again.  It's a dog eat dog world ladies, and Timmy knows all about it.

On a sleepy Sunday evening, in the quiet hamlet of Saskatoon, the world was violently rocked and saturated with gore as a fist full of demon monsters entered our domain.  Together, we raised as much hell as humanly (or inhumanly) possible.
"I can see that you like your metal greasy!"
Sunday a few friends and I went to Rily's to see GWAR!  I have to say that it was, without a doubt, the soupiest concert I've ever been to.  There was a lot of disembowling and beheading.  Generally choc full of vicious imagery that was profoundly disturbing on many many levels.  At least they targeted all the people who truly deserved it.  PARIS HILTON!!!!  That was the best part.  It was great gruesome fun.  Lets hear it for grown men covered in latex pretending to be monsters violently dishing out just deserts to those who deserve it!!!  YAY!! 
By the end of the night, we were all soaked to the bone with fake blood and other such yuck, and Riley's was utterly trashed.  SWEET!

Kodak moment:  One guy climbed up on the railing at the back of the dance floor and dove off it.  Then he disappeared.  You could see people making a space and staring at the floor.  I hope he didn't land on one of the many smashed beer bottles...or drown in the ichor that had accumulated on the floor. 

I didn't hear of any fights or deaths.  I did lose my watch though.  Sucky but worth it.

It seems as though student loans has had a bit of a "glitch".  Are you surprised?  Somehow, I'm not. 
The short of it is that within the next 5 months, I have magically come up with an extra $4000.00 or I will be denied further funding for school next year. 
I hate it when I have to dodge monkeywrenches like that.
I think I can do it actually.  I'm obviously going to have to get a second job.  Again.  It's gonna be a very busy term 2.  So any help that anyone can offer would be hugely appreciated.  If you know of any opportunities or BABYSITTERS!!!  Hehehe...sigh. 
Just trying to keep the ole chin up here.

Well, as I thought, my biology mid-term was a complete flop.  Well maybe not a complete flop...I mean, I passed it at least.  But not nearly what I was hoping for.  Mind you, considering the circumstances of the exam, I was half expecting to fail.  The class also has a 40% failure rate, so I suppose I should count my blessings.  At least it's over and I won't make the same mistakes on the next exam.  The nice part is that there are two mid-tems since there are lectures all year, so the exam is not worth as much as a one term exam might be. 

Note to self:  No coffee 1 hour prior to writing a mid-term.

My Psychology exam marks were better.  I wasn't happy with them, but then I'm not happy with anything below an 80%.  These marks were considerably better than my last psych exam which proves my theory that cramming can actually improve your test results.  Providing you cram yourself with the right stuff.  Anyhow, that's done too so it's all good. 

Biology lab marks are also improving and that makes me happy.  I think I'm getting the hang of this whole studying thing.  You have to remember, I've been out of school for a looooong time.  Anyhow, all in all I'm pleased with the improvements, but not yet happy with the grades.  It'll come.

I don't think I told everyone, but I bought another lizard.  He's as fast as greased lightning, and it was really funny to see the guys at the pet store try to catch him.  I brought him home and put him in with Gazoo who thought he was food and tried to eat him.  Gazoo was pretty territorial and seemed to take offense to having his aquarium invaded, but quickly realized that the other lizard was bigger than him and accepted his fate. 

We named the new guy Gordie.  He's a Green Bulldog Agama.  I thought I'd like to have a fast name for him like Zip or Flash.  But Flash brought forth thoughts of Flash Gordon which morphed into Gordie.  He suites it...heh.  Unfortunately, a lizard doesn't exactly fill the void left by Jake.  I gotta find something bigger.  What about a big ole iguana?  Hmmm....Michelle's brain gears are turning.

Cheers!

It would seem that America is just as upset about the election as the rest of the world.

I didn't expect this:  http://www.sorryeverybody.com/gallery/1" title="http://www.sorryeverybody.com/gallery/1" target="_blank"http://www.sorryeverybody.com...

I have to say that after reading this, I realize that my view on the whole thing was pretty narrow minded.  Sorry for losing my temper on this issue, but like most of the world...I'm dreading the next four years.

I haven't posted anything on this subject since the election because I'm angry about it.  I thought I'd take a few days to really think about what I wanted to say so that I didn't step on any toes.  You know, be the good Canadian and not offend anyone.  But the days went by and I'm not getting any less angry than I was the day I found out that America re-elected George W. Bush.  I discovered that I don't really care what they think of me and I dont' imagine they really care how I feel about them. 

So that puts us on equal grounds.  Almost.  I don't want to bash America, but I'm not going to sugar coat it either.
See, I tend to frown upon blowing up the children of a foreign country for no good reason.  It kinda pisses me off that our "neighbours" are that heartless.  Even now that they know there was no WMD in Iraq, even now that they are aware of their president's involvement in all sorts of "interesting" alliances (Ahemenron) and shady deals.  Even now that they know that Bush has been basically kidnapping people and keeping them hostage for years without any legal rights, they still re-elected him.  Now either they're really bloodthirsty, really ignorant or they just don't give a shit. 

So now they have all kinds of American beheadings in a desperate attempt by the Iraqi people to rid themselves of these American soldiers who are murdering them.  I'm not condoning their horrible actions, but can you blame them?  Americans, imagine a bomb dropping on your house.  Imagine having to dig through the rubble to find the bodies of your family.  Imagine your grief as you bury them in a cheap pine box in a muddy, overcrowded graveyard where a dozen other families are doing the same thing.  Imagine the sound of sorrow, wailing women weeping over their slain children.  Imagine your own voice as you beg your God for mercy, and the sound of your weeping as you cry yourself to sleep at night, alone on a cold dirt floor.  Why??  Because you were lucky enough to be "liberated" by the United States.  With friends like that, who needs enemies?  I am ashamed of the United States.  I am ashamed that they would re-elect GWB and I wish Canada could just pick up its bags and move away from these rotten neighbours. 

But these people...they hide behind their 9-5 desk jobs, preoccupied with their families and their busy urban lives.  They choose not to understand exactly what they are doing to Iraq.  The turn a blind eye and are swept up in media propoganda, wholly controlled by the US government.  It's all censored.  But, like the good little rats that they are, they just run the maze in search of their cheese.  It's really sad.  I resent the fact that some refer to Canada as "little America".  It's an insult.  But...oooh, I'd better not say that too loud.  Bush'll bomb me for being rude.  I'm sure not a good Canadian, am I?

So, America...since you seem to like war so much, don't you think it's about time someone brought a nice fat war to your shores for a change?  I mean, come on!  It's fun, isn't it?  Why doesn't someone just shove it in your faces and YOU can deal with it instead of poor underequipped countries that have to resort to geurilla warfare to defend themselves.  And then you have the nerve to get your noses out of joint when one of yours dies.  Suck it up.  YOU started this.  You're the one killing their babies and once in a while they pay back the favour.  I would cut off a few heads if I were in their shoes and don't tell me you wouldn't do the same.  You call that terrorism?  Or is that what the media calls it and you're just too wrapped up in yourself to question it?  Maybe it's simply fighting an unfair war the only way they know how.

They don't have the high-tech weapons that you have, but at least they kill who they mean to kill.  YOU are at war with them and you are dragging the rest of the world in with you.  Canada opposed the war from the beginning.  YAY FOR US!!  But we're expected to go in and help mop up.

So, I'm sorry that I'm not polite or politicaly correct or even gramatically correct.  I don't care.  I am personally sickened with their warmongering.  I really feel that America made a huge mistake in re-electing GW.  They seem to have the stomach for shedding the blood.  I hope they can clean it all up when they're through. 

So, if you have anything to say about this, you just go ahead.  I don't really care where you stand on the subject, but you should.  This is the way I feel about it and one day America, when you get your asses bombed and you're dragging your own guts behind you, you'll feel the same way those poor iraqi people do.

Today I had the incredibly traumatic experience of running into my second-last significant EX, on campus.  We haven't dated for three years or so and I thought..hey...I'll say hi! 
So I caught up with him and tapped him on the back and in a teasing voice, I said, "hey stinky!", (a name which my brother and I use as a term of affection).  To which he replied, "Did you just call me stinky?".  When I nodded, the smile falling from my face, he said "Well you can just fuck right off then."

Oh, the memories that came rushing back in that instant!  Honestly, I really know how to pick em, don't I?  Jesus Christ, some people are just born to be assholes.  Mind you, knowing ahead of time that he was an asshole should have prepared me for being forced to face his dickheadedness.  Alas, love truly is blind.  I guess the only consolation I have after being told to fuck right off, is that I got myself and my baby away from influences like that.  I won't actually SAY that I hope he gets his....but I'm thinkin' it.  

Karma hits you tenfold.  I suppose, after all that has been said and done between us, tenfold means that he's gonna starve to death after trying to consume his own arm, while pinned under a gigantic pile of freshly laid elephant shit.  Then he'll REALLY be stinky.  Hee hee hee.  Then he'd be the one armed stinky dude and you could talk to him but he wouldn't have a thing to say and that would be nice, wouldn't it?  But you wouldn't be able to breathe through your nose because the stink lines would stab you through the head and you'd die of stink exposure. 

That's funny and makes me smile real big.  :)

Oh, my!  Such emotion!  Well, he can still push my buttons, that's for sure. Such a nice addition to my Friday, don't you think?  I guess I'll think twice about laying my head on the chopping block next time.

Ah, some things will never change.

Last night JK and I went to see "SAW".

It's been a long time since I can say that I've seen a really good movie, but this one was over the top.  I can honestly say that this is one of the best movies I've ever seen. 
It was a twisted, emotional, thrillingly bloody scare.  I thought it was absolutely brilliant.  I couldn't even come up with any plot holes.  Very well done.

GO SEE IT. 
See it in the theatre.  Movies are so much better when they're in the theatre.  It's totally worth the cost anyhow.

Seriously.