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02-24-09
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
One would assume that in the average person's lifetime, one would only need suffer the God-awful effects of the Norovirus once, and only once.
But fate decided that once was not enough for me to understand what its like to void one's digestive tract in both directions, simultaneously. So I spent most of Sunday night doing exactly that, and not much else.
Angela and Jeff also came down with this horrible disease on Sunday. Because Angela was ill, I volunteered to help make dinner for the Co-Op, shortly before I myself fell ill. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed and praying that I haven't infected an entire community-household.
Interesting Factoids!
Things I have experienced (besides the aforementioned) in the past 24 hours:
- Retching on an empty stomach
- Being too nauseous to drink water and keep it down
- Trying to decide what would be less painful: eating or not eating
- Waking in the middle of the night to intense abdominal pain
- Spending several minutes feverishly mumbling "make it stop" whilst rocking back and forth
Things I ate in the first 24 hours of my illness:
- Nothing
Things I have eaten (and not thrown up) in the past 24 hours:
- Most of a small, peeled, and thinly-sliced apple (well-chewed)
- 6 grapes
- 1 piece of toast
- A small bowl of jello
I'm finally at the point now where I may be able to keep some rice from dinner down. Tomorrow, it will be back to work, whether I'm feeling 100% or not, because certain of my employers and co-workers tend to get surly when I take ANY sick days, much less two in a row.
If there's anything better than having to go through such an awful ordeal. It's having your smug co-worker (who never gets sick) complain about how much extra work he had to do in your absence.
02-19-09
Thursday, February 19, 2009
02-18-09
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
02-17-09
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Like most English-speaking Canadians, I've had mixed feelings about Quebec sovereignty over the years. As a patriotic Canadian, I'm furious that anyone would want to break up my country, with its rich bilingual culture and history. Jacques Parizeau's infamous drunken referendum concession speech about "money and the ethnic vote" seriously put me off any sort of concessions to Quebec.
However, I also have evolved a sense in the last decade that Quebecois culture is indeed unique and distinct from the rest of Canada. In stark contrast to his predecessors, I admire Giles Duceppe greatly as a politician and a speaker. At my most optimistic moments, I would love to see a modification of our constitution which would sort of allow Quebec to operate as a "special administrative region": having more autonomy than a province, but still an integral part of Canada.
Then I hear about the cancellation of a reenactment of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. This was (as you Canadians clearly know, RIGHT?) the historic battle where General Montcalm's New France Militia forces were defeated by the British army under the command of General Wolfe. Both commanders were killed in battle.
When the reenactment was announced, a small and vocal minority reacted quickly. Threats of violence were leveled. Sovereigntist protesters claimed that re-enacting the battle would bring up "to many painful memories". What fucking memories? You weren't even BORN yet? Your grandparents probably weren't even born yet!
Historical reenactment is a form of education. There's no political spin. You re-enact events of history as recorded, it's up to the audience to make up their own minds how they feel about those events. One could make the argument that seeing the reenacted New France Militia defeated at the hands of the British could help create a whole new generation of sovereigntists. The key to well-formed political opinions is education, not ignorance.
This is the worst kind of politics: the "us and them" kind. It could be terrorists, witches, or English people, it makes no difference: "THEY want to destroy OUR way of life and the only way to save OURselves is to stop THEM first."
This battle happened 250 ago. It would have been a great opportunity to examine the history that lead us to where we are today. Instead, a bunch of whiners want to make it a chip on their shoulders.
It was 250 years ago. GET OVER IT.
02-16-09
Monday, February 16, 2009
So here I am again. I'm typing this entry on my iPhone because the Royal York hotel makes me pay for internets. Boo-urns.
The flight was rather crowded. Also, I have officially decided that when I take over the world, I shall make it law that no child under the age of five shall be allowed on a flight without having donned their mandatory BALL-GAG. No, I don't hate children. Just the sounds that come out of them.
For the second night in a row, I'm eating at the hotel lounge restaurant. Not that I can complain, the food here is amazing (I wish Jeff was here). However, it is a bit pricey, and though it is on the company dime, that really just makes me less comfortable about it. Last thing I want is my employers thinkng that Jesse has no sense of the value of money. Unfortunately, yesterday was Sunday night, and today is Family Day (a stat in Ontario) meaning that downtown Toronto is basically a ghost town: nothing is open. Tommorow should yeild more foodie options.
I'm probably going to pay for the damn Internet and add more interesting stuff later. Otherwise I'll be bored out of my frakking skull this evening.
UPDATE: So get this. If you hook up to the ethernet cable, that's chargable. But if you use their wireless, that's free. Does this make sense to anyone? I thought not.
Recently discovered thanks to JJ's regular posted items: Scientific Attempt to Create the Most Annoying Song Ever.
02-13-09
Friday, February 13, 2009
This time on Sunday, I'll be most of the way to Toronto. Again.
This time next year, I'm thinking I might want to be in Jamaica.
Current tempurature in Toronto: -1°C
Current temperature in Jamaica: 30°C
02-08-09
Sunday, February 08, 2009
02-01-09
Sunday, February 01, 2009
A comment I posted on i09, regarding Felix Gatea's recent decision to frak everyone:
This is all very interesting discussion, and I'd be remiss not to throw in my two cents as well.
First off, let's talk about leadership. For those who haven't noticed, BSG has walked a moral tightrope since day one. For the Colonial leadership, it could have been possible for the government and military to justify anything, because the stakes are the survival of the entire Human race. This was the path that Admiral Cain took: Horrible atrocities were committed under her leadership based on the belief that they were necessary to ensure the survival of Humanity.
In a democracy, we count on our leaders to make the decisions which are too tough for most of us to make. In the end, we usually persecute them for it, because we think that we, the layperson, could have somehow done a better job. You have to judge them on results. As Roslin said, they've kept everyone alive so far, people have to place their trust in that.
As for Gaeta, I can understand all the horrible events that have turned him bad. But you judge a person's true character not on how they react day-to-day, but what they choose to do when the chips are down.
The BSG world is indeed a "frakked up" place. But Gaeta unfairly places the blame on leadership, when the cause is events beyond any Human control. Because he arrogantly believes that he can lead the military better that a man as experienced and cautiously wise as Admiral Adama, Gaeta choose to betray his Colonial oath and everyone close to him. That, more than anything else, is what speaks volumes to me.
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