Category Archives: Thoughts

Sometimes I wish my life were like the movies. Sometimes I wish things were perfectly beautiful or eve perfectly tragic. I script things out in my head but, of course, real life is never like that. Occasionally I hear songs that have a nostalgic feel, that talk of the good ol’ days and I wish they applied to me. I wish I could look bad and replay my memories to music. I wish I felt as though my life were worthy enough for a soundtrack. But it’s not, or maybe I just don’t view it that way.

Yesterday I paged through m CD cases and popped in a burned CD or two that I hadn’t listened to in years. Both of them were pop songs and it was an interesting blast from the past. I had 3 distinct reactions to the songs that played:

1. I remembered the song but no longer like it quite so much (or at all)
2. I remembered the song and still like it (although I listen to/still have very few of them)
3. I didn’t remember the song at all but thought “Hey, why don’t I still listen to this?”

Of course, songs that fall into the last group are songs that the world probably doesn’t remember so much, either and they no longer get any airplay. Also, I’m a really bad album “producer”. Even though all the songs were pop, there was no flow whatsoever. LOL It spanned many variances of pop (bubblegum, R&B and rock).

So, if you’re curious what I liked in high school and still do, here’s two that come to mind – with links to video. I’ll also be uploading my song download page.

• Collective Soul – Why, Pt. 2
• Barenaked Ladies – The Old Apartment

Airports are like different universes. It’s as though someone grabbed a part of some parallel universe which is similar but not-quite-the-same and dropped it into the middle of our universe. Voila! An airport! Although airports are always under construction, it seems, I don’t believe they were ever constructed in the first place.

Time seems to be simultaneously faster and slower. It takes so long when waiting to board yet, 2 short hours later you’re someplace else. There’s a physical disconnect with the place you were before. this always feels so strange to me.

In airport and on airplanes we cater to the every whim of a person just because he or she wears a uniform. In the rest of this world, the uniform means nothing and is nothing more than a sign of an insignificant job.

You could live and work in an airport, if you never got caught. You could avoid people easily enough. Airports have every amenity to take care of you. Except there’s one small catch: airports experience a special sort of inflation. I always found prices in airports to be ridiculous, especially when you could drive 5 blocks and buy the same thing for a fraction of the price. But when you can limit what enters your institution, you control the prices.

I do not necessarily looking forward to stepping into one of these randomly placed glimpses into another universe in just two short days but I suppose I will live as long as I don’t have to stay there.

When I have time on my hands, such as I do now, I have a relatively ‘bad’ habit of watching reality TV. Now, I don’t especially like anything Survivor-esque where everything is staged but, rather, the shows where the crew seems to more follow the lives of real people, even if the final production is edited for affect.

Nevertheless, I still cannot believe how some people act when the camera is rolling, on a show that will be broadcast to thousands. For example, I frequently watch Bridezillas which is, as you can imagine, about horrible brides. Granted, planning a wedding is difficult and costly and can cause even the sweetest person to be in a bad mood but some of these women (Can you say Megan?), are so difficult, rude, selfish, mean, unreasonable, bitchy, and out of touch with reality that they are almost difficult to take for real and it’s fully impossible to think anyone would want to marry them.

Actually, in Megan’s case, it appears she bullied her boyfriend into proposing. She proceeded to threaten to marry someone else – on screen – and her catch phrase seems to be “shut the hell up” as she loved screaming it at her bridal party at times – like when she listed of her rules for the reception and ceremony which included forbidding the females to remove shoes and the males were not allowed to remove their tux coats no matter what.

Of course, a few other people shocked me, like Tanesha when she demanded her fiancee buy her a knew “3 and a half” karat ring after she misplaced it. Turns out she had left it on the floor and he had hidden it to teach her a lesson. I forget, was this before or after she told him she no longer had a job because she couldn’t work full time and plan a wedding at the same time?

Celinda was also no piece of cake, showing up 1 hour and 15 minutes late to her rehearsal and refusing to apologize to the officiant. Instead, she had a few glasses of champagne which helped her bumble through the night. It’s now surprise that she’s such a bitch when you consider the hissy fit her mother threw over having to serve herself at the buffet.

As these monstrous brides-to-be start to overlap in my mind, I forget which one it was who demanded her new husband take her home after she wasn’t getting enough attention when her nephew turned up missing.

Predictably, many couples who have been on shows like these quickly separate, divorce or find themselves in counseling to address problems that have long festered beneath the surface but what I think might be a better solution is a nice slap across the face, on their wedding day, on national TV.

I know I am not an easy person but I could never, ever be as horrendous as these people! And they’re on TV. I’m sure there’s editing and staging to make it look worse than it is, but I hope these women see themselves on the show and feel bad for their behaviour – I mean more than just a cringe; I hope it motivates them to call every single company and guest involved in the wedding and apologize.

Recently, I was reading Joana’s thoughts about how we, as a country, need to stop ignoring our own internal problems while we throw resources at others’ problems around the globe. I felt conflicted emotions about this issue. On the one hand, I believe there should be a way to be a good neighbour and help others in their times of need but, on the other hand, I do not think that out own unfortunate populations should be forsaken to do do. The comment I left reflected this, I hope.

Well, I can’t say abandoning the world is going to help but you know, maybe international relations can be on a hold a while when we figure out our own shit. I’m sure there’s some sort of a balance to working at home and helping out the neighbours and even those across the globe. But it’s probably a pretty difficult balance.

Afterall, being friendly isn’t a bad thing and we can’t exactly wait until all our problems are solved as anything with people will always have problems.

Still, completely ignoring the homefront just to impress president or PM of country X is pretty lame. I think it does have a lot do with the fact that much of the national issues are “supposed” to be taken care of at the state level (or are pushed down to that level so the federal government doesn’t have to do anything, maybe?) whereas international efforts are federal.

I thought it would be left at that but, as luck would have it, my aunt forwarded me a link to JK Rowling’s Harvard Commencement speech and I also took the time to read the speeches of other prominent figures, such as Bill Gates and President Bill Clinton (during last year’s commencement).

Many of these speeches focused on the fact that Harvard graduates have a unique opportunity given them by their education, that perhaps they will be more qualified to solved the ills of the world. Many of these speeches focused on the problems abroad that we, as a modern nation, are more equipped to deal with than those experiencing such pains. This was a strong theme when Bill Clinton discussed his work with AIDS, especially in Africa.

I find this work to be admirable and selfless. I know that millions of people will see another day or another 20 years because of it, sometimes because of simple medicines that Americans and others in modern countries take for granted. I absolutely think someone has to do it and why not you or me?

But where do you draw the line when it comes to giving a helping hand at home or extending that hand outside your domestic boundaries? How do you even begin to go about deciding where to draw the line when it’s so easy to slip to either side; focus too much on home and you’re selfish to the point of self-detriment, focus too much on the outside and you’re selfless to the point of self-detriment.

I absolutely believe that if you have the power, the resources and the technology to help, you should help. We should help. In Africa, in China, in India. I also believe these efforts go a long way toward global relations and respect and, of course, peace.

But why does international effort seem so much more heroic, more noble? Indeed, there are issues on the home front that need our attention: obesity, education. government spending/funding, education, homelessness, unemployment, the economy in general. Is it perhaps that even an American most afflicted by these controversial issues is still so much better off than someone in a third world country with AIDs? That, perhaps, the most unfortunate American is still better off than the most pampered non-American?

Or perhaps selflessness is simply expected of America because she is the world’s last standing super power regardless of the nobility of the acts themselves. And why not lead the way for others to follow, to be inspired by our selfless acts? Surely by doing and teaching this, we are only helping our own citizens.

The balance is a delicate one and while there are decisions made by my government with which I do not agree, I cannot condemn the efforts because of solely those arguments. Society is, afterall, an evolving process.