What’s the Deal With the A#%holes on TV?

As previously mentioned, I am currently unemployed, and after a year without cable at my student house in Victoria, I think it is safe to say I have not been exposed to much day time television, and thus I have been oblivious to the TV personal who are rude, obnoxious, and ridiculously popular in spite of their classless demeanour. I’m not talking about the fifteen minutes of famers, who receive a lot of hype for a couple of poor lapses of judgement; such as “Too Tan Mom”, or Heather Mills. No, I am talking about people who own their own show, and have been successful for years on end. I find their shows extremely difficult to watch based solely on the fact that I feel bad for the victims of their inexplicable impatience and rage.

First on the list, Judith Sheindlin, better known as Judge Judy. She was the inspiration for this post, as her excessive yelling and inconsiderate use of demeaning comments towards people who often had very valid points in their court case were enough to make my stomach turn. In the episode that I regrettably tuned into, she called people “stupid”, “bad news”, “dumb”, and “idiot”, then proceeded to depict herself as incredibly arrogant and self-righteous, not to mention irritating. I get that her negativity and willingness to insult produces the shock factor that attracts viewers, but I do not understand why. The show certainly did not leave me feeling good about myself, in fact, it angered me that someone so rude, even if it is just an act, could have so many loyal fans and such high ratings. The ratings are so high that the show has been on air a whopping 17 seasons, each one boosting her ego a little bit more. Regardless of if the cases on her show are authentic or not, the example she sets for her viewers is not one that I would approve of any authority figure displaying.

Secondly, the infamous, Simon Cowell, or maybe better known as one of the most successful television producers of all time. Famous for American Idol, The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and America’s Got Talent, Cowell  has no problem being downright mean to contestants, whether they be in their initial stages of auditioning, or their final performances on any given show. He demeans them by telling them they are not worth his time, would never ever even be considered for show business, and they are complete fools for even thinking of trying out. Most famously shunned perhaps is Jennifer Hudson, who did not make it to the final round of American Idol, because Simon did not think she had what it takes. She went on to become one of the most successful artists to ever have their start on that show. Admittedly, sometimes the contestants are fairly ridiculous in their initial stages, often purposely just making a mockery of the show; however, judges such as Paula Abdul and Ellen De Generes have been known to have departed from their positions solely based on how horrible of a person Simon is. Is it all just an act for television? Sometimes I think it might be, especially since seeing the episode of Britain’s Got Talent where he allowed a 10-year old girl another chance to perform after she broke down crying (something that was against the rules of the show).

Next, Gordon Ramsay, the crazy chef from Hell’s Kitchen, who is famous for losing his mind and screaming at his contestants if their work is not up to par. Not only is he famous for his short-temper, enough to be voted “America’s Most Terrifying Celebrity” by Radio Times, and enough to nab him an honourable mention in a MSN article about “Television’s Worst Bosses” (he is a fictional boss, so he didn’t technically count); but he is also known for mocking fellow celebrity chefs by naming his turkeys and pigs after them. His frequent use of mockery, profanity and childish insults, such as “Chunky Monkey”, have earned him a spot as another A#%hold on TV.

Finally, Donald Trump, one of the richest men in the world, has always been famous. However, his new-found fame as a television personality came when he created the show The Apprentice. He originated the show with two long-time co-workers and trusted “friends”, whom he soon fired to replace with his own children. He is yet to be proven wrong on his show about anything, and although he is a great business man, his arrogant demeanour and tendency to jump to conclusions often leaves contestants offended. However, his signature catch phrase “you’re fired” is no longer exciting, and he has turned to Celebrity Apprentice for the last few seasons, where the ratings continue to drop. Maybe he will finally get a shot to the ego that he so desperately needs.

Mexican Fiesta Bridal Shower

My cousin is getting married. I am her bridesmaid. My Mom wanted to throw her a party – a non-traditional one. What better idea than a Mexican themed bridal shower with lots of booze?

Margaritas!!

Cervazas!

Guacamole!

Mexican Mango Salsa!

A chili pepper  pinata full of risque gifts for the bride!

A sombrero with a veil on it!

Festive decorations!

I was busy preparing for this shower all day yesterday, which is my excuse for no blog (even though I promised I would do one every day for the month of May..). I will just have to throw and extra one in here somewhere along the way!

Fernwood – Home of the Hippies!

For the last eight  months, I resided in the most  free-spirited neighbourhood that Victoria, B.C. has to offer – Fernwood. In my previous post, “No Microwave, No Cable, No  Car, No Problem!”, I shared the quirkiness and artsiness found  in my home alone! Now I want  to share the  neighbourhood my house was a part of.

I found myself going for walks through this neighbourhood for no reason other than to look around. The long walks to the bus stop, and long bus ride to the school were worth getting the chance to call this friendly place home.

Pictured above is what you might call “downtown Fernwood”, where the playhouse and the art shop reside. If  you kept walking straight  from that crosswalk, you would find a canopy where people are encouraged to leave items they no longer need, in hopes that somebody would find  a treasure to take home. Just down the  street  from the  art studio is a little park called  ”Gower Park”, where I found my favourite skirt at a  sidewalk sale for $1, and  on the opposite side of the street  is where the  ”Fernwood Inn” and “Cornerstone Cafe” are located. They are small, but always busy, businesses that offer great meals, treats, coffee, and free art shows! This is the kind of community that  is welcoming to everybody, especially those who are out of the ordinary.

In addition to the rustic looking buildings that give off the artsy vibe, Fernwood was home to a telephone pole painting event, in which residents and friends were able to share their artistry and creativity by decorating the telephone poles that lined the streets. I would estimate that there were about forty to fifty of these poles scattered  throughout the neighbourhood, bringing life and colour to the sidewalks, but I could only choose a few of my favourites to share.

               

And of course, as always, I appreciate the Japanese Cherry Blossoms every year. Here are a couple of the beauties that Fernwood had to offer.

No Microwave, No Cable, No Car, No Problem!

Ahhh the life of a starving student. Yes, it is once again a topic of my blog since moving back to Victoria and out of my parent’s house with its perks! I bet the typical thing for me to type here would be an “apology” for not posting anything during September, because maybe I was “too busy with school”, or “too busy catching up with friends”. No. The reason I am finally getting around to posting now is because I am procrastinating, and doing anything I can to put off my homework.

I did miss blogging, and I must admit that I do not really have that good of an excuse for why I haven’t posted in a month. I have been reminded of how enjoyable it is, and, if you care, I will be posting a lot more frequently from here on out!

Anyways, back to the topic of this post. Our little house that we moved into this year is a bit different than the one we occupied the last two. First, we are very close to downtown (about a 20 minute walk). Second, our house contains at least all of the colours of the rainbow, and then some. Third, we have neither a microwave nor cable this year. Finally, the house is much, much older than the town houses of our previous complex.

The closeness of downtown has made this year in Victoria an entirely different experience than the last four. I actually have learned my way around the city from the amount of walking I have done (this would come as a shock to my family and friends who are aware of how directionally challenged I am). I have been able to take in a lot more of the culture of the “Old Victoria”, as everything around the street I live is a lot less modern than the area by campus that I occupied previously. Included in this is Fernwood village, which is literally two blocks away. Here we can find telephone poles that have been painted into all kinds of different hippie creations, sidewalk sales (where I got an elephant skirt for a dollar!), coffee shops, vintage hotels and more peace and love than you could ever hope for.

Our house is essentially the definition of a paint job on drugs. We have a (multi) yellow dining room, a (multi) blue kitchen, a burgundy bathroom, a green bedroom, a red bedroom, and purple window frames. Unfortunately, I got stuck with the boring white room; however, I did get the biggest room, and I do basically have the downstairs area to myself. Our sinks are a little finicky, our drains are useless, our cupboards don’t quite shut right, our heating is good old oil heating, and our wall patches are literally paper-plates pasted onto the wall… but we have absolutely fallen in love with this house. One of the coolest features of it? Hot Hot Heat used to live here, and they got evicted for trying to turn a room (presumably mine) into a recording studio!

This year we opted out of purchasing cable, which has resulted in a lot less time wasted, a lot less Jersey Shore (see “time wasted”), and a lot more opportunity to explore the beautiful downtown area that is our backyard. It is actually quite a lot easier and freeing than I had first thought… and I may never go back to having cable (as long as I can stop by my parents house every once in a while to catch up with PVR).

Also, we showed up on moving day to discover that we had no microwave! To some college students, who rely on microwavable dinners and the necessity of defrosting meat, this may have been a nightmare… but to a health conscious, vegetarian eater such as myself, this seemed to be a push in the right direction. Microwaves actually due take nutritional value out of food, and with all the talk of radiation and cancer, I figured this was a good opportunity to cut the appliance out of my life. Again, not as hard as it may sound.

Here are some pictures of my favourite house:

This is the curtain we have in the kitchen. It was an impulsive buy from a desperate street vendor in Bali this summer. It just happened to fit the window perfectly! Also, the bright yellow, and dark yellow contrast are the colours I was indicating when I said “multi-yellow”. The purple? That is the colour of all the trim, and all of the window and door frames in the whole house.

This is one of my favourite features of the house – the crystal doorknobs. Although they are only on two of the doors in the house, I must admit ever since I was a kid I have wanted these doorknobs in my house. Other than these two, none of the doorknobs in the house match. Just another crazy feature of this gem of a house.

This is the burgundy bathroom. In the reflection of the mirror you can see the cool shower curtain that was surprisingly in very good condition when we got the house! Other cool features of the bathroom: vintage bathtub, hand-painted mural on the door, separate taps for “hot” and “cold” (which are installed on the wrong sides), and cupboards that will not stay shut! No secrets here!

 

 

These are some of the sights you may see in our kitchen should we invite you over for dinner one day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is where Alex keeps all of her jars. These jars signify why in no way do we need a microwave. The chili peppers are courtesy of Mexico, and the red cupboard is courtesy of our free-spirited Landlord. The “dining room” is basically the only communal space in the house, and is all of about 10ft by 10 ft. So far, we have used the dining room area the most of any room of the house, especially since we often have to prepare food out hear since our kitchen is all of about 4ft by 2ft.

 

 

 

 

This is the glass bottle that is randomly hanging outside our door, we aren’t quite sure what it is for, but we wouldn’t be surprised if some hippies of the past used it to catch rainwater.

Below is the sign that was already on the front door reminding us to turn the heat off before we leave. Again, we have oil heating, and yes, again, we are students.

Finally, below are pictures of my room. Since my walls are the only boring white walls in the whole house, you might notice I tried to spruce things up a little bit with some decorations. They work for me! Love this house!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above picture, and the picture to the bottom right are my grandmother’s contributions to my room. Above, is my makeshift curtain, which was a table cloth at my Granny’s house. She insisted I have it after I told her I liked the elephants on it. The bottom right is a Norman Rockwell plate that my Nanny gave me. It was given to me when I left for university, and it is a picture of a girl leaving by herself at a train station. She told me she purchased it the day I was born and waited to give it to me when she thought it looked like an image of me. AWE!

The flower pot is a special item as well. My Dad dug it up from the ground when he was a kid, and has kept it all these years.

Little bit of love makes a lot of difference!

Bungeeeee!

Groupon tends to have some sweet offers for adventures that can tempt any broke student enough to charge their already maxed out credit card. Bungee jumping in Whistler just happened to be the Groupon temptation I could not resist. What started out as a gift for my Dad from my brother and I, turned into a last minute adventure with my roommates (apparently Dad’s aren’t supposed  to bungee jump after they have had a hernia operation). Since I had  already been bungee jumping once during a stop in Switzerland on the Contiki tour I did a couple of years ago, I assumed that I would not be nervous to do it again. Turns out I was right! Until I actually had my feet over the edge that is.

Instead of taking the  leap face-first, like I did during my first jump, I decided to mix it up and jump off backwards. Although I had the same experience of the initial panic attack that my body had when it realized it was free-falling, this jump brought a new feeling. The adrenaline rush that I experienced the first time was replaced by a feeling of serenity – a release. With the fight-or-flight response that comes with fear, I definitely chose flight. Literally. Stress, worries, and troubles seemed to fade away, if only for a few minutes, as I had the opportunity to connect with nothing but the beautiful scenery that surrounded me (it was Whistler after all). As for my roommate, who was doing it for the first time, he could not say the same thing. Everybody watching could hear  the thrill he was experiencing from the 30 second “WHHOOOOAAAAA” he let out.

So my advice, for those of you who  haven’t tried it, is if you are looking for an exhilarating, heart-stopping experience, in which you cannot control the  noises you make, this is the adventure for you. For those of you who have done it once, it is so different the second time around!  It is more of an escape than anything, and you will feel so at peace afterwards. To everyone: DO IT!  You will be scared, you will want to turn back, you will do it anyway, and you will not regret it. Trust me.

Phys. Ed. teaching Dos and Don’ts: Yoga

As a physical education student, I am often placed in school settings for opportunities to teach. The other day, a group of 10 students from my program at UVIC had to complete an assignment that was originally supposed to include teaching 100 kids for an hour, but at the last minute, we got slammed with over 150 kids. This meant that we had to add another station to our planned 8-game circuit. Our group had to think of something quick, and easy, and we decided on Yoga. Since I had been assigned the “host” job, meaning I would run the show with the timer, the microphone and the whistle, I had to step up to the plate and teach this station. I have some experience with yoga, from classes I’ve taken at UVIC and Bikram, but I have never attempted to teach it. Since I was going to have roughly 7 minutes with each group of 15-20 kids, I came up with 6 poses that I thought would be simple enough and enjoyable for these crazy kids. Here are some of them, and the experiences that came along with them.

First, I chose “Downward Dog”, which is probably the most famous yoga position. The pose begins by starting on all fours and lifting your backside into the air, with both arms and legs as straight as can be. I made a solid effort to face the kids sideways, and have my backside facing the wall, but the position still managed to give rise to a few giggles. My advice: ask the kids if they know what the position is. Since it is a fairly common position, 8 out of my 10 groups had a kid that knew how to do it. Ask them if they are willing to demonstrate instead of demonstrating yourself.

The pose that the kids liked best was “Tree”. It includes standing on one foot, bringing the other foot up to rest on your thigh, and bringing your hands together in a prayer position in front of your chest. I also had the kids attempt to bend down as far as they could once they had gained their balance, offering them the challenge of sitting down without using their hands. For some reason, they absolutely loved this pose. It also was time-consuming because they got the chance to try it on either foot.

The pose on the right is called “Locust”, and I did a slight variation of this one. Instead of the legs being extended outward, I had the kids hold onto their feet in order to stretch out their quadriceps and hips. This pose didn’t go over so well though, as it basically just resulted in a lot of whining, and kids rolling back and forth in order to smash into the person beside them.

We also did child’s pose, which is a great one to end with, as all the kids seem to be familiar with it, and they all enjoyed the simpleness of it. A lot of kids wanted to demonstrate this one, and it is nice to acknowledge skills that they have already attained in order to make them feel special.

One thing I found with all the poses was that they did not want to hold them for very long. They had been inside all day, as it was pouring rain, and when we got them, they had just come from an assembly where they were all sitting still. I found the only way to get them to focus and maintain positions was to do a countdown with them. Finally, my last piece of advice, which really doesn’t have anything to do with yoga, but is in relation to big groups: do not set up a giant game of British Bull-dogs with 150 kids in a very small gym. Chaos.

Overall, the experience was realistic, and pretty hilarious. The students were making Charlie Sheen quotes the whole time, and one of the teachers (who was more like a drill Sergent) had to break up at least five wrestling matches that ensued throughout the hour I was working with them. After this, I feel very confident that I made the right choice in choosing high school to teach over elementary school.

Lazy Sundays/ Hangover Remedies

After a crazy weekend of friends from out of town visiting, my roommates and I were understandably hungover. However, my roommate’s boyfriend had the great idea to make a fort in the family room – the perfect place to recover.

We pushed our couches together, and placed my roommates mattress between them, then found all the blankets and pillows we could and had a group nap. It was a box of comfort. That picture looks like the best time ever. New Sunday tradition.

Other hangover remedies include:

Bananas – they replenish lost electrolytes and potassium.

Eggs – they provide energy, and help remove toxins faster.

Fruit Juice (Not fruit cocktail) – Replenishes vitamins and speeds up removal of toxins.

Water – Re-hydrates, and  helps dilute contents left in the stomach. Especially helpful if you drink a lot of it before you go to bed.

Happy Planet Detox Shots – This all-  natural remedy uses burdock to cleanse  and protect the liver, and milk thistle,  which helps regenerate the liver. It also  has ginger in it to settle your stomach!

Do not drink coffee! The high amounts of caffeine will dehydrate you further, and cause vasocontriction of the blood vessels, which can cause headaches!

If nothing else, laughing about all the events of the night before makes the pain go away!

Trying Not to Smile

Everyday I walk to and from school. It takes roughly 25 minutes and generally, I have to walk past dozens of students to reach my destination. Since I usually make the walk by myself, and most other students are walking by themselves, I have noticed a trend that makes my walk more enjoyable – smiling. As you probably can guess, most students are in their own world listening to their Ipods, so who knows what thoughts are going through their heads. Every so often I will glance up and see someone smiling by themselves, or even more funny, they are trying to hide the fact that they are smiling.

A friend of mine in high school made up an acronym when we were playing basketball. If someone scored a basket, they would be proud of themselves, but still try to play it cool; so, if they were running back down the court, you could look at their face and see the glimpse of a smile they were trying to hide. Thus, “TNTS” or “trying not to smile” was created, and I can’t think of a better way to describe the students on their way to or from school, off in their own world, thinking about hilarious things that happened on the weekend, I’m sure, and suddenly remembering that everyone around them can see that they are smiling for reasons unbeknown to them.

I have to admit that I am also a perpetrator of TNTS. I too get lost in my own world during my walks to and from school, and I too look down, cover my face with my scarf, or avoid eye contact with people as I try to hide the fact that I am smiling. However, since I have obsevred how prevalent the habit is, I have  noticed that catching people TNTSing in turn makes me smile. I enjoy seeing others enjoy themselves, and I’m sure that people may feel the same way about seeing me smiling.

So my new outlook is that there is no reason to TNTS. Share your smile and enjoy everyone else’s along the way.

UVIC nearly rabbit free!

During my first year of University, when I actually lived on campus, I was surrounded by the thousands of rabbits that occupied UVIC. The best time of year was April, when all of the new baby rabbits were running around, ready to be fed the terrible cafeteria vegetables. You literally could not walk to class without crossing paths with at least twenty of the famous bunnies, and they certainly were not scared of students. I witnessed many rabbit deaths throughout my first years at UVIC, including an owl feast, a hawk snatching a baby one right as I was about to feed it, another hawk flying around with the back half of a rabbit, and countless roadkill bunnies scattered around ring road.

Since the campus has been taking charge, trying to rid the campus of our furry friends and their costly campus repairs from the damage they cause, I have heard countless rumors about where the rabbits are ending up. I heard that there was a professional hunter that was only allowed to use a bow and arrow because of a special hunting license. I heard that they were being sent to Texas, of all places, to live on a humane reserve. I heard they were sent up Island to a humane reserve, where they escaped and ended up being shot by an unhappy farmer anyway, and finally I heard that they were just being killed off.

Currently, the campus is down to having only eight rabbits still residing in the newly acclaimed “rabbit-free zone”, and these are expected to be gone by the end of the week, as they are now very recognizable and have been labeled “the outlaw bunnies”. According to the Victoria Times Colonist, they are still attempting to humanly trap these rabbits and send them to “EARS” – Earth Animal Human Education and Rescue Society’s sanctuary, located in Coombs. This is great news, as there was debate about whether or not UVIC would be allowed to kill the rabbits off, which has NOT happened since they began trapping in September. As someone who cares deeply for the humane treatment of animals, I am very happy to put these rumors to rest. Although, I can definitely report that although there may only be eight bunnies left on campus, there are certainly more still living in close proximity to it. A couple reside in our crazy complex, a couple more on one of the lawns I walk by on the way to school, and a whole gang of them still hang out on the Mount Doug soccer field, with the excessive number of Canada geese, which is another story.

Witnessing the end of a Rainbow!

On the walk to the bus stop  this morning after crashing at my friend’s house last night, we came across a rainbow that we could actually see the end of! I’ve never seen the ending of a rainbow, nor have I ever seen a rainbow that seemed so close! The best part of it though, was that it was a double rainbow.