Viva la revolucion!

It is dangerous to spend too much time in an environment learning substanciated notions of how the world is not alright, about how we are further under-developing, how we are living in luxury while others live in squalor.

It's dangerous to put me beside a stereo-typical management student, or a pro-child labour commerce kid (yes, the argument has been made), or an all knowing conservative International Development Studies student (which is the worst, as they know what has been done and what is being done, but still refuse to act). I get so depressed and ornery and absolutely revolutionary at the thought of the suffering, the blinding poverty, the unfair rules, the unbearable economic and environmental conditions and the terrible inequality that billions of the world are being forced to deal with. There is no way to console me after reading about the Rwandan genocide, the GATT and further WTO policies, the SAPs imposed and the bureaucracy of these northern aid organizations who are so drowning in jargon that they keep shifting responsibilities and filling out forms that they lose sight of what they are in those countries for.

Anyways, point of my story was actually was going to be happier, but I don't feel like its significant anymore that Megan and I are continuing in our "viva la revolucion"-ary stance. I'm going to go to bed tonight and will wake up happier in the morning.

I believe that I have been spending too much time pondering lately.

Thats all.

Oh yeah, and I have a wonderful group of friends who are interested in sharing MLKJr. day with me!!
I should be off to karate, I just thought that my 'blog-thinger' was too boring for words, and so decided to update for lack of anything less productive to do.

I'll now attempt to find a picture to add to spice things up. To google image search -- first random word that pops into my mind "critter."The first thing that came up was dead I think, which made me pretty sad, so I put the second and third ones up...
Critter soft-core
A real critter, uggy buggy

New Years

I know that I am mixing up the sequence of my blog by doing this, but I had such a great night on New Years, that I feel like I couldn't miss the opportunity to put up some pictures!
It all started out after a night of heavy drinking waking up in my old apartment in the world's most comfortable pajamas. Schuyler, TJ and I spent the entire day watching the most-entertaining TV series in the history of sci-fi! Literally we basically didn't get off the peeling black couches nearly all day. Then Greg and Kristina grabbed me, and we proceeded to get ready in like 40 minutes, which is intimidating even for a tom-boy like me to get all dolled-up and ready for semi-formality.
We made it into town, to the Columbus centre (which any karate-ka will remember from such events as Shihan James's visit or Thomas' throw-up!). There were many door-prizes, cheap booze and moderate music. The second two made for some sweet dancin! My personal favorite was Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," which with its enchanting melodies and appearance in "Wayne's World" that convinced the entire group to get up!! :)
Ian and I ripping up the dance-floor!
The group was amazingly awesome, combining all groups of people and even people that I had missed seeing for years.
Yet another good personality-encapturing photo of TJ!
I keep trying to figure out whats happening in this photo of Katie, TJ and Schuyler. It's pretty much hilarious anyways.
The group!
We celebrated the New Years of most of Canada (and I even made a mental note at Japanese new years!) It was just absolutely excellent and we had so much fun all night. It ended by using my ninja-skills and making Tanshinites and Chuso-warriors proud!
Anyways, overall it was one of the greatest New Year's parties ever, but I didnt break any fingers this year, so I felt like it was a bit anti-climactic! (:
I guess I'll post this now, and get on with my day! B-ball game!! Go Dal!

Airports

I’m sitting in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination

Currently I am waiting as contentedly as you can imagine by gate 52 at the Edmonton International airport. I intended to check out the duty free shops and scope out the best place to watch reunifications (which make me deliriously happy), but I had to sit down here. Many people who know me wouldn’t question as to why Im sitting in a drafty and loud area of the airport, they would assume that I have some sort of sentimental attachment to this very gate.
Nearly 4 years ago now, Mr.Shannon packed us up for “the long hop across the big pond” and this was the very gate where highly excited grade 12 students huddled together to dream of what we would see in the next two weeks. We grouped together for a big group picture, we taught Kathryn to play “presidents and “janitors”” and tried to refrain from filling my freshly minted travel journal with feelings of trepidation and excitement. That was a long time, but the feelings all came rushing back to me with the familiarity of this gate that I experienced. Much like a song or a voice can bring me back to a certain time and place and make me feel things that have been long buried within my impressive-repressive abilities.
Airports in general remind me of departures that I have missed, of homecomings that I will not be able to be a part of and of the general ebb and flow of relationships that so closely resemble flight plans of planes that I’m daydreaming about right now (corny, I know).
On a happier note, I moved to the arrivals part of the airport and now can creepily watch it as homecoming happens and be able to observe the beauty of a child seeing his mom from afar, of a pretty girl waiting for her significant other to come through the security doors.
Thoughts like these make it hard for me to be mad that I’m overnighting in a strange city, that they have lost my luggage, that I’m not allowed to leave the airport...