Where there is much desire to learn, there, of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion is but knowledge in the making...To be still searching what we know not, by what we know; still closing truth up to truth as we find it. It is this that makes up the best harmony, not the force and outward union of cold, and neutral and inwardly divided minds.
- John Milton, [i]Areopagitica[/i] 1664

History

Everyday is history tomorrow.

Profound eh? I know sometimes I outdo myself.

But how often do we think that every action we take becomes part of history? We don't because rarely does an event so historic come around that we actually think that something that we are apart of could have profound historic impact for the future humans that inhabit this planet. When I go to work I am not thinking that the first latte I steam or the next cup of House Blend I pour is going to effect something great. But with the election this past week I have really taken stock the historic events that have come about around me as I've grown as a human being. Some are only historic for me and others are historic for the whole world. Or at least I hope they will be.

What has changed so much in the past few days? Obama. That is what has changed. Obamania to be exact. He has done something so rare that I can't help but be caught up in it. He has brought hope to a world where I see very little of it. People, especially our sisters and brothers down in the states, have hopet that change is possible, the the Puritian resignation to ones fate isnt neccessarily neccesary. We can dare to hope.

Obama has done something very profound and he hasn't even been sworn in as president yet. He has managed to create an atmosphere of 'we' rather then I. His speeches are not about what he can do for you or what you can do for him but rather what we can do for us. And while is focal point will be on the American nation I think we can all take a lesson from him and stop focusing on the I.

I hear so many people complain, whine even, about why they don't participate in the political process and everyone one of their complaints involve the 'I'. Is Obama going to make us think in the us mentality...no, because noone can make anyone think outside themselves. But what i think he will do, what i hope he will accomplish, is to create the beginings of an environment that allow people to grow into the 'us'.

I don't expect him wave a magic want and fix the ills that are permeating the American society, but for the first time EVER I am finding myself jealous of them. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe its all lies and snake-oil. But I am an optimist - I have to be. I cannot live in a world where their is no growth. Stagnancy is almost as horrible as retrograding and I cannot exist in a world that doesn't have at least i tiny speck of Hope. And I am finding myself hoping, that the first black president of a nation which has global influence can affect a positive movement into the future.

Hope against the odds that the tide is turning and we can leap forward to a future for an 'us' and not an 'I'

Customer #1

No this is not about the number one customer. In an effort to more consistantly blog I am going to try for the next two weeks to write about one customer from my day at work, they may not be the worst or the best of the hoards of people I serve coffee but they will be the most memorable.

So Customer #1 = 200° soy lady

This customer comes in on a fairly regular basis and orders a steaming hot cup of hot chocolate. All is well and good except that hot chocolate is made with Soy (my milk substitute nemesis) and that steaming ' is too a temperature of 200° F which roughly translates into 93.3°C; just 7 or so degrees below the boiling point which definitely scalds the soy. How do I know this - I can smell it. Anyways the other thing that makes this lady so memorable is the fact that I never steam her Soy to 200°F. WCB

Killing Time

Rules:

1. Put your music player on shuffle.
2. Press forward for each question.
3. Use the song title as the answer to the question even if it doesn’t make sense. NO CHEATING!
4. With the answers, give your own comments on how it relates to the questions.

(Song Title // Artist)

HOW ARE YOU FEELING TODAY?
"Duck and Run" - 3 Doors Down

WILL YOU GET FAR IN LIFE?
"Genius" - The Murmurs

HOW DO YOUR FRIENDS SEE YOU?
"The Adventure" - Angels and Airwaves

WILL YOU GET MARRIED?
"Adia"- Sarah McLachlan

WHAT IS YOUR BEST FRIEND'S THEME SONG?
"Open Your Eyes" - Snow Patrol

WHAT IS THE STORY OF YOUR LIFE?
"Take Lots With Alcohol" - Alkaline Trio

WHAT WAS HIGH SCHOOL LIKE?
"Change (In the House of Flies)"- Deftones

HOW CAN YOU GET AHEAD IN LIFE?
"Hurt" Nine Inch Nails

WHAT IS THE BEST THING ABOUT YOUR FRIENDS?
"On A Slow Night" - Metric

WHAT IS IN STORE FOR THIS WEEKEND?
"Firestarter" - Prodigy

TO DESCRIBE YOUR GRANDPARENTS?
"Soulbreaking" - Tea Party

HOW IS YOUR LIFE GOING?
"Writings on the Wall " - Tea Party

WHAT SONG WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" - Elton John

HOW DOES THE WORLD SEE YOU?
"Such Great Hights " - Iron and Wine (Postal Service Cover).

WILL YOU HAVE A HAPPY LIFE?
"Perfect" - DJ Princess Superstar

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS REALLY THINK OF YOU?
"Wonderwall"- Oasis

DO PEOPLE SECRETLY LUST AFTER YOU?
"What its Like" -Everlast

HOW CAN I MAKE MYSELF HAPPY
"Three Hits" - The Indigo Girls

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WITH YOUR LIFE?
"Dogs and Thunder"-Sarah Harmer

WILL YOU EVER HAVE CHILDREN?
"Semi Charmed Life" - Third Eye Blind

WHAT SONG WOULD YOU STRIP TO?
"Techno Cocaine" - Beny Benassi

IF A MAN IN A VAN OFFERED YOU CANDY, WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
"Hate Me" - Blue October

WHAT DOES YOUR MOM THINK OF YOU?
"Close to Me" - The Cure

WHAT IS YOUR DEEP DARK SECRET?
"My Immortal" - Evanescence

WHAT IS YOUR MORTAL ENEMY'S THEME SONG?
"Used to Lover Her (But I had to kill her)" - The Voodoo Glow Skulls (GNR cover)

WHAT IS YOUR PERSONALITY LIKE?
"Take Me Or Leave Me" - RENT Soundtrack

WHAT SONG WILL BE PLAYED AT YOUR WEDDING?
"The Origin of Love" - Hedwig and the Angry Inch OST (Im not joking, this song actually did come up, how perfect eh?

CFB Suffield Review

CFB Suffield is a chunk of land in eastern Alberta Canada that contains an area of 458 square kilometers of native prarie within the Canadian Forces Base of
Suffield. It contains one of Canada's last undistrubed grass lands and its residents exheed 1,00 known species of plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects of which 14 are listed as Speicies at Risk. Its even been zoned Out of Bounds by the Canadian Military so there is no training or defense research conducted on it.

Already there are more then 1000 gas wells inside the preserve. Encana Corp has proposed and 1016 wells and over 200 km of pipeline to be constructed. This would increase the well densities of some areas to over 16 wells per square mile. Already the current wells have a cause a decrease in wildlife and in the increase in noxius weeds. As well there are many First Nations Historical sights at risk with this project. Encana has a history of improper waste disposal and is already before the courst for 'allegedly' builidng 40 km of pipeline in this area without permission.

Enough is enough. When are we going to stop letting the Oil companies and our greed and laziness destroy this planet?

Write the Suffield Review Board with your comments/concerns/criticisms at comments@suffieldreview.ca.
The final say rests with the Environment Minister of Canada (1-613-996-0984) and the Prime Minister of Canada who can be reached at pm@pm.gc.ca
You can contact the CEO of EnCana Corp, Randy Eresman at 403-645-2000.

Make your voice heard, don't let CFB suffield go from


TO this:

      





Environment Canada

Здесь забытый давно наш родительский кров.

И, услышав порой голос предков зовущий,

Серой птицей лесной из далёких веков

Я к тебе прилетаю, Беловежская пуща.

Here is our long-forgotten family home.

And, having heard now and then the voice of ancestors calling,

Like a grey little forest bird, from far-away centuries,

I fly to you, Belovezhskaya Pushcha.

Its Time

As two pivotal elections approach my global brain has been kicked into high gear. I've managed to mostly squash the "i told you so's" (not completely, but hey! a girl has to have her fun sometimes). It's got me thinking, As we spin towards our future all I can see are a muddled mass of destruction. Its time for us to evolve past our pettiness that has dominated humanity since its conception. Whether your an evolustionist of creationist you can agree that as a group we've been doing a pretty terrible job of managing ourselves so far. What with the child soldiers, environmental destruction, intollerance and nuclear bombs that we daily have to confront.

There is a foret in Poland, the Belovezhskaya Pushcha which is a virgin forest. Somehow and with much luck its managed to survive the centuries relatively untouched. Now it is threatened by developers much as the great Alaskan boreal forests are threatened by Governer Palin's pipe line. Its time we as a people stand up against this monstrous actions taken on out behalf. Not as Canadian's , Russian's, Iraqis, British, Afghans, Americans or any other nationality but as global citizens. Never before in history has this planet been so hopelessly interconnected. What should be a wonderful, eye-opening, uniting experience has been the opposite. We still function in an us versus them mentality and I for one am tired.

Its time for a change, not just in politics but everywhere. Its time we shift our level of consciousness away from the selfish mundane ideas that we daily slog through too one of enlightened connectivity between all members of humanity and nature.

Its time for the human race to grow up.

Bowler hats and canes
Clockwork Orange or Citizen Cane?

Untitled work

The hunger gnaws at my innards, pulsates through my veins in the way only it can. There is no hunger such as this one, nothing in the mass of mortal experiences that can even relate and thus there are no words in any known mortal language to express it accurately. Liquid nitrogen shoots through my veins; i can feel in my fingers, my stomach and behind my eyes. Its icy pain permeates every movement down to the subtle twitch of an eyelid or tap of a finger.
But thats not the worst of it.
It is the worst that makes the monster. Every mortal has a distinct scent that permeates my nostrils which grow more acute as the hunger grows. The scent varies from mortal to mortal, mingling with cologne, fabric softener and perfume that masks their true scent from all but the most sensitive of olfactory receptors. Every emotion has a smell from horniness to fear, i can tell it all. But fear is the worst; like skunk it clings to everything. There is one smell that they all hold, the smell of blood and it is maddening. I can see it pulse through them, fresh, vibrant, titillatingly alive.
It is blood for which I hunger. But I will do nothing to satisfy it.
And don’t think I’m noble or kind in anyway for doing this. There is nothing of the sort behind this conviction. It is not a saintly aspiration I hold, only a masochistic desire to silence the voices in my head. All this power, this cursed energy that flows in me i would gladly give up if it meant for one more day with her. She is my angel, my one hold on reality and soon she will be placed beneath this green grass. Her body lies limp on the steel slab, lifeless. No blood pumps for her heart has stopped pumping it, never to grow into the beauty she could have been. My anchor has gone, my hold is slipping; I can feel myself sliding back down the dark labyrinth of my mind and weakening in the face of the power of my disease.
How silly this must sound to mortal and immortal alike; my self-pitying despair, even I despise myself for having it. I am god amongst mortals, it I who choses who lives and who dies in this city. Rapists, pedophiles, dirty politicians do not escape my judgement. But this death, this one meaningless natural death shakes me to my core. I could have saved her, I could have given her the world and instead I hid in the shadows and watched her die.
I let her die.
Leukemia is a bitch, a far worse demon than my kind could ever hope to be. Even the sloppiest of feeds are better than what that cruel spirit offers. There is in dignity in death, I having died once can be assured of that but what I offer my victims is a painless passage into the next world, I do not torment them and leave them to die in their own fecal matter. I do not make them suffer.
The irony of this situation is not lost on me and in my morbidity it makes me chuckle. A vampire in love with a mortal and is devastated at the death of said mortal. A creature who’s very survival depends on the death of others should not feel this way about one more death.
I haven’t been human in over three thousand years. I haven’t felt love for any creature since before my transformation. The question that begs to be asked is this: Why didn’t I save her?
It’s simple really: i am a coward. I can suck the life blood from a child without a twitch but i could not taste hers. Because to have done so would have been admitting who, or rather what, i am.
Ten years i hid it from her, ten years of lies and deceit. I could remind myself of the effort it took to keep this secret from her or think about all the time I had to live with The Hunger in order to be around her. But all of that seems so trivial now that I will never again run my hands over her body or gently kiss her lips. To go an eternity without finding one’s soul-mate is one thing, to do it after having found and lost said soul mate is another thing all-together.
That night my unholy eyes first laid their gaze upon her is still fresh in my mind’s memory. My nostrils can still smell her scent that overpowered my senses so few years ago. I lay my head back against the warm headstone and allow the memories to pummel into my cerebral cortex and knock all ability of conscious thought to the wet grass beneath my body.
She was fresh from the shower, running late for a night class. The sweet smell of her flesh mingled with the minty fragrance wafting off her pony tail. I was shadowed in an archway, flush from my latest hunt as she bustled past; had i not been i might have broken my rule about feeding from the skin of innocents. Her scent was intoxicating, debilititating and liberating. I was intrigued.