12:04 AM - 06.12.04
Escape
It was a very productive day today, dear diary. I don't know where that burst of energy came from, but it was a welcome surprise. A bitter cold snap might have had something to do with it I suppose. I was grateful I didn't have to go outside or travel on transit today. Within an 18 hour period there were 150 accidents reported to police. There are drivers here that are new to winter conditions, but the majority of folks just don't have the sense or the courtesy to slow down. Forecast is for things to warm up by next weekend. Besides it is December after all. The heat wave is in Australia, Mate.
So besides cleaning litter boxes, running loads of laundry, ironing, cooking, and assorted other tasks, the other accomplishment was setting up a schedule to see if I could swing the university program offered that would give me equivalent skills and accreditation to what I was considering with the college program. The costs are considerably lower to boot. I plugged in all the courses I had to have and those that I wanted to have filled in some blanks. The biggest problem was that several courses filled the same spot on my course calendar. There are a couple that I can take on line. Some of the required courses are also not available in the upcoming term, so I can hope that I can fit the missed ones in as well as the others in the summer or fall sessions. We'll see.
What prompted the sudden change? Well the interview I have tomorrow is asking for full time permanent. If I take that I lose all the funding available for the schooling because I no longer will qualify. If the position doesn't offer me growth opportunities then I might be better to decline if it is offered. I wanted to have a visual representation of what my year would look like if just the schooling was involved. At this point, most of the sessions are in the evening. The exception is April when about half the work days are filled with class time. Hmmmm.
Talked with my oldest son today - he and number six son have birthdays this week on Thursday and Saturday respectively. There really is no money at all left for anything - I'm living on my credit card at this point - but I have never missed at least having a birthday cake for each son even in the grimmest years. I will manage it somehow. Number one son is planning to come by on Tuesday so that will spread the caloric blitz out a bit I guess.
One of my sisters called too. She wanted to let me know where things stood for Christmas Day. Brunch at my Dad's home - what would I like to bring for the meal. Hopefully I'll have some money by then, but I asked for time to check my recipes and cupboards to see what I can cobble together that will fit in with what's already spoken for. We talked about her sister in law a bit. Apparently I'm getting the blame for corrupting her into becoming a rampant activist. Quite frankly, I think I'm the lesser revolutionary and just pointed out to my sister that the groups I referred her too for more involvement were mostly ones operating out of either the University of Calgary or the University of Alberta. She commented that people shouldn't express opinions unless they were well-informed, but the sister-in-law is even more voracious in her research than I am. I pointed out that her language comes across a lot more strongly and assertively, because she has lived in the US for so long. It is just a manner of expression. She isn't advocating violence - just education of the community about some of the issues I've discussed in these posts, dear diary, and an active attempt to change those things that are hurting our communities. I think it might be the "changing things" that is at the core of the issue. Wilful blindness to the suffering of a lot of people in this country is more of a problem than an "uninformed opinion", I think.
What may wake a lot of people up is if a public inquiry is held into the voting irregularities in the fall elections. The judge who saw the evidence expressed anger and dismay with the city fathers when they cut a deal that allowed the person in question to resign her seat in exchange for stopping the public trial into the whole cabal. It appears that there may have been collusion from at least one or two people inside city hall - some of those fairly high up in the hierarchy.
It was a really interesting day news wise and I had the time somehow to also go through a lot more information than is usual. This story on using a person's own stem cells to overcome major illness was heartening Arthritis. This one reminded me very strongly to count my blessings for what my life is like now. Christmas_Gift. I've been there and obviously this writer has been too. There but for the grace of God go each and every one of us. This was a reminder of the university massacre that set the stage for strong gun control laws in this country Polytechnique.
This trial of terrorists who bombed an airplane carrying over 300 Canadians in 1985 Revenge is just winding down now. It is the longest trial in Canadian history, I think, and reminds us that long standing terrorism has been harming our countrymen and women for several decades. Canadians have died in similar bombing over Lockerbie in Scotland in the 1980's, where sentencing finally wrapped up about a year ago. Then there was the man in Airdire - a small city about 11 miles north of my home - who lost his wife and one year old son when terroists based in Greece bombed the airplane that they were flying home in, in the mid 1980's. Different "faces" and "causes" each time, but all coming from the same source. That doesn't even begin to enumerate the Canadian soldiers and civilians who have been murdered while on peace keeping missions for the UN and other NGO's for the past two or three decades. Rwanda The only difference now is that some things where immunity from attack was expected don't have that protection anymore. Security_Breach. That doesn't mean that one runs away though, there are still ways to bring about strengthening of those most under attack so they don't succumb completely to the terrorism that engulfs them Elections. Canada has offered assistance to the Ukraine, Palestine and Iraq should the citizens of those countries want our help making certain their elections are democratically held. Of course, we still have to be vigilant here where the cases of voter fraud I've mentioned appear to be rampant. Fraud and Coverup.
I think that's all for now, so to bed hoping for dreams that will free me from this present for at least a little bit.
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