The sky is actually rather blue, which helps prevent me from being blue.
Things I have been thinking about lately:
- Baby Elephants - I was thinking about a documentary I saw ages ago on the Discovery Channel about a baby wooly mammoth. Some researchers at a uni where analyzing bones or something of a long-dead (obviously) baby wooly mammoth to learn about them and how the creature died. It was all interesting, but the part that got me was the scene where they show a cgi baby wooly mammoth wandering around on campus. I was thinking it would be nice to have the modern day equivalent - a baby elephant - wandering around on my campus.
- Hawai'i - I'm going there! From what I have been learning about Hawai'i, and from what I know about myself, clearly I am going to love it. I'll be there from February 13 - 23... possibly longer if it turns out I am the reincarnate of a Hawaiian goddess. I have been feeling quite majestic lately and believe this is quite possible. Perhaps I was the goddess of fire, but had my goddess abilities and powers SABOTAGED by an evil doer, and then died in a fire. This, of course, explains my inexplicable and intense fear of flames. A big moment for me in 2008 was when I lit the candles on Sheena's birthday cake. While the day was big for her (anniversary of her birth), it may have, in fact, been even bigger for me. Conclusion: Hawai'i [with one Erin Brown of co-castmember fame] will rock.
- PEI School Closures - A report recommends closing eleven schools in the Eastern School District of PEI. I have not seen the report, but the recommendations were based on current and expected future trends. I have no issues with the school closures. Clearly they do not directly effect me (I have long since graduated from the public school program), and I do recognize the importance the school has on a local community and I do not want children to have long commutes to school, but I cannot help but feel that children who attend a very small school run into disadvantages not experienced by children attending larger schools. I am thinking specifically about the "extras" - a gymnasium, music class, band opportunities, photography, art, computer labs, etc. I have also read about the anger expressed by the mayor of Georgetown over its school closing in favour of keeping one open in Cardigan. It makes sense, really. Although Georgetown may be larger in population, it would be more difficult to transport children there. Georgetown is on the extreme east of PEI, so is not central. Cardigan is not far from Georgetown, but would be able to accept children from more areas surrounding the school.
Apparently no teachers will lose their jobs, which is good, but I don't really understand. I recognize that new teachers will need to be sent to certain school that remain open in order to compensate for the higher enrollment, but all of them will remain employed?? How? Also, I feel for the schools' support staff, hopefully things work out for them as well.
Winners: kids (hopefully more opportunity), unemployed bus drivers (more bus transportation will be required)
Losers: kids (hopefully not, but no one wants to have an hour-long commute to school every morning), communities of closing schools (I suspect families will be more reluctant to move to those communities due to a potential long ride to school?)
- Snow - one cannot help but think of snow, for it is EVERYWHERE. Okay, slight lie, upon looking out my window I see a patch of grass next to the Robinson Library right up against the wall. There are a few grassy patches scattered around. Often these grassy patches are next to a three-foot snow drift... So it's not like there is no snow, it just moved. So much snow... Though I haven't shovelled since Sunday and my shovelling muscles are happy to have a break. It is hard on the back, but the next morning I always found myself thinking, "Why does my left forearm hurt? Oooh, right."
- OC Transpo Bus Strike/Unions - It's still going on!! Seriously. For those confused, OC Transpo is the public bus system in Ottawa. The drivers have been on strike for about a month over, from what I gather, scheduling issues and wages. The city wants to control the schedule so it can save a few million per year, as apparently now the company controls the schedule and senior bus drivers can pick their shifts. Apparently this can lead abuse of the system where drivers will collect overtime pay for hours not actually spent driving. I respect the right of workers to strike... But I just have trouble finding that much sympathy for the drivers. From what I read, they are apparently quite well paid (as they should be) and this scheduling issue doesn't actually effect that many of them. Yet, the strikes roars on. I feel the city and the union are probably even grumpier now then they were before and are probably not coming to an agreement out of spite and the dangerous action of "trying to prove a point". (Such a female thing to do. "I'M PROVING A POINT!!! DON'T YOU GET IT??" "No." "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!")
Another issue with this that was easily solved when the Toronto public transit people striked is that public transit is not considered an essential service in Ottawa. In Toronto the workers were on strike for one day until the Province giggled, and sent them all back to work the following morning. In Ottawa, the OC Transpo is actually an inter-provincial transit system: the buses go into Gatineau, Quebec. Apparently this means that the Federal Gov't (I think -- I saw this posted on the comments section on CBC News online but haven't actually verified the facts) would have to deem it an essential service. Okay... oh right, the Feds, who sit in Ottawa, aren't working right now because Parliament is on an extended winter holiday. Also, only THREE bus lines go into Gatineau. The 8, 27, and 40. The 27 and 40 (provided it's the same as when I lived there 642 years ago) only run during peak hours on weekdays. They also had only, I think one or two stops that were literally spitting distance from Ontario. Bus crosses bridge into QC, bus stops, bus goes back to ON. The 8 spins around a bit more, but never more than, say, seven blocks or so from Ottawa.
Winners: No one.
Losers: Everyone. Once the strike ends, I think the public will, sadly, be bitter towards bus drivers, and people will hate unions. I'm not really a fan of unions. I see the point they served when people were truly working in unfair working conditions (asbestos in mines), but it seem they are now more so protection so lazy people or poor workers cannot be fired.
- Children - I think some people have children because they are bored. I was sitting on top of a snowbank last weekend (Jen = awesome) and wanted to, umm, play in the snow with someone. I kind of wished I had a toddler/pre-school ages kid so I had someone to frolick in the snow with. Of course, then the afternoon would end, I would have to feed the kid, blah blah blah. Someone else said something very similar to me as well, "I had no one to hang out with so thought it would be nice to have a kid to hang out with."
But I do not have children, so instead I am going to Hawai'i. I have four years to have wee babies (when I was younger -- 21 -- I decided I wanted to have kids by the time I was 30 -- progress has been quite slow on this) so in the meantime I will develop, nuture, and spend money on myself. I will raise myself to be AWESOME.
I miss adventure.
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