Had to upload them somewhere since YouTube was taking too long.
Post-taping of "The Hour" with your boyfriend and mine, George Stromboulopoulos.
Sri Lanka genocide protest, University Avenue.
First time with a pro...
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cuddle party facilitator. What were you thinking? ;)
Yesterday I attended a cuddle party thrown by someone else and it was a great experience. While we have a cuddle group of our own on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/group.php?gid=13170529966) it was still interesting to attend a party thrown by a professional facilitator.
Got to meet some great new people, not sure if I would ever see them again or if they might join our group, but overall it was a very positive, rewarding experience. It give me a couple of possible ideas for our group's cuddle party, but to be honest, the members seem to be happy with the way things are being run currently, so I am rather undecided between maintaining the status quo and doing a little something to liven things up.
Nonetheless, there can't be enough cuddling as far as I am concerned, so hope the word about cuddle parties spreads and of course, the more the merrier.
Perspective gained
I SALUTE THIS GIRL!!!
Oxford and Cambridge have now decided to remove the words CAN'T and IMPOSSIBLE from their dictionary.
Jessica Cox, 25, a girl born without arms, stands inside an aircraft. The girl from Tucson, Arizona got the Sport Pilot certificate lately and
became the first pilot licensed to fly using only her feet.
Jessica Cox of Tucson was born without arms, but that has only stopped her from doing one thing: using the word "can't."
Her latest flight into the seemingly impossible is becoming the first pilot licensed to fly using only her feet.
With one foot manning the controls and the other delicately guiding the steering column, Cox, 25, soared to achieve a Sport Pilot certificate. Her certificate qualifies her to fly a light-sport aircraft to altitudes of 10,000 feet.
"She's a good pilot. She's rock solid," said Parrish Traweek, 42, the flying instructor at San Manuel's Ray Blair Airport.
Parrish Traweek runs PC Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Services and has trained many pilots, some of whom didn't come close to Cox's abilities.
"When she came up here driving a car," Traweek recalled, "I knew she'd have no problem flying a plane."
Doctors never learned why she was born without arms, but she figured out early on that she didn't want to use prosthetic devices.
Deconstructing....reconstructing...life is a never-ending Do-It-Yourself Project
So the process continues with renewed focus, greater clarity of the desired result and renewed hope. It might be the turning of the calendar to a new year, or simply the need to move forward and despite both personal and global dire financial straits, I am hopeful looking forward. It might simply be the fact that I know that sometimes in order to build something better, you need to deconstruct what exists. Something like the picture here, maybe it's that the old structure is outdated or outmoded and even though you've tried your very valiant best to keep it up, finally you have to step back, re-evaluate the big picture and if it doesn't match what you see in your mind's eye, you just have to suck it up and start again.
With regards to the global picture, well, I can't worry about something I can have no affect on, so I don't even bother trying. Yes, it does worry me on how it might affect me on a personal level, losing my job now would be the last straw for this camel's back. That is why I am so grateful of having the position I do, it's not perfect and there are no guarantees in life, but it's as close as I will ever be to a "safe" job. So that is one less worry, but on a deeper level, being broke and living on a tight budget for at least this year, is something that will take some adjusting. I have done it before and under tighter and more stressful circumstances, so I know how, it's just that no one likes to be poor, me among them. Mind you, I am not high spending, high maintenance type of gal anyways, but well, I do like my creature comforts and ease of cash flow. Oh well, that's the least of my concerns to be frank, money has always been just a means to and end for me.
Reconstructing a personal life, now that's a much bigger goal.
First step, start with the end result in mind. To use the picture of the house again to illustrate this, kind of like the finished "artist's depiction" of a construction project. Working backwards, getting down to the architectural plans, the "how" of it all. So, I have been seriously pondering what I want my life to look like, what I want it to include and not include, where the boundaries are and how firm they are set. Yeah, big heady stuff to be sure. Again, it's not like I had much of a choice and could go on coasting as I had been doing for the last year, merely coping and dealing with everything life was throwing at me. I have to start by playing a more active role in the construction of my life and stop merely reacting to events. More proactive and less reactive. Or as the kids say "it's time to get real with myself".
So, what do I want my life to look, feel, sound, smell, be like? Well, this is where it gets interesting, to say the least. I have discovered, sometimes through painful life experiences, that one must be careful what they wish for, because once you put it out into the ether, the universe will respond, just not always the way one might have expected. So, perhaps for here, I will keep it to the general overview and not mess with the universe too much.
First off, I would like to declare myself a bachelor(ete) that is not the same as "never", because that is a long time, but until I find someone that is truly my equal in spirit, I see no other reason to get married. If being engaged to my ex-g/f taught me anything, its that you can't row the boat by yourself, not for long anyways. So, like George Clooney said, until that time comes, I am single.
In this same vain, and should any of my friends, or Friends With Benefits who might be reading this, you know I adore you and cherish the time we spend together, so please don't look at my need for Independence as a reflection on you in any negative way.
To anyone who I might have come across during my summer on CL or wherever else and you found this blog, please understand that there are only so many hours in a day and I wish it could have worked out, but I am done with the searching process and now working on nurturing and deepening the relationships that have formed.
So, there is also work, volunteer work, recreation, and other areas of my life that I need to focus on, not to mention the constant issue of finances and you can see that I really have my plate full. Which is good, not complaining mind you, just observing the blessing of having such a rich and full life in so many ways. The most precious thing of all being the freedom that I have, especially living in a country like Canada, with opportunities galore. Where being female, or bi or an immigrant or whatever is not an obstacle to fulfilling my dreams and aspirations. As well as having resources available to me in health care, business and recreation to utilize, often for free or a minimal user fee, this is nothing to sneeze at.
While I am not into making new year's resolutions, some future habits that I would like to possess though, include: being more appreciate to those that are good to me, telling them as well as showing them. People also need to hear it as well as see that you appreciate them and so, focus less on those that don't or didn't measure up and be more centered on those that did/do.
I will never be a lover of money, but I need to be more creative in my spending or not spending. Finding non-monetary ways to get what I might want or need. It's too easy a habit I formed to spend my way out of situations. You can't always spend your way out of things. I am also not getting any younger, and I will need money to live on when the old back is too old and tired to work, so, taking advantage of money saving opportunities the government is offering is one way to ensure my financial future.
But, I have rambled on long enough for one entry. As I work out more details I will put them down here, I am not much for keeping journals and such, but I guess you could say that's what this is.
Be safe in your travels and may 2009 be your year for abundance in all good things in life.
Aquarius
The Water Carrier
January 21 to February 19
Traditional
Aquarian Traits
Friendly and humanitarian
Honest and loyal
Original and inventive
Independent and intellectual
On the dark side....
Intractable and contrary
Perverse and unpredictable
Unemotional and detached
Aquarians basically possess strong and attractive personalities. They fall into two principle types: one shy, sensitive, gentle and patient; the other exuberant, lively and exhibitionist, sometimes hiding the considerable depths of their character under a cloak of frivolity. Both types are strong willed and forceful in their different ways and have strong convictions, though as they seek truth above all things, they are usually honest enough to change their opinions, however firmly held, if evidence comes to light which persuades them that they have been mistaken. They have a breadth of vision that brings diverse factors into a whole, and can see both sides of an argument without shilly-shallying as to which side to take. Consequently they are unprejudiced and tolerant of other points of view. This is because they can see the validity of the argument, even if they do not accept it themselves. They obey the Quaker exhortation to "Be open to truth, from whatever source it comes," and are prepared to learn from everyone.
Both types are humane, frank, serious minded, genial, refined, sometimes ethereal, and idealistic, though this last quality is tempered with a sensible practicality. They are quick, active and persevering without being self-assertive, and express themselves with reason, moderation and sometimes, a dry humor.
They are nearly always intelligent, concise, clear and logical. Many are strongly imaginative and psychically intuitive, so that the Age of Aquarius, which is about to begin, is much anticipated by psychic circles as an age in which mankind will experience a great spiritual awakening. The Aquarian philosophical and spiritual bent may be dangerous in that it can drive the subjects into an ivory-tower existence where they meditate on abstractions that bear little relevance to life. On the other hand it can help the many who have scientific leanings to combine these with the Aquarian yearning for the universal recognition of the brotherhood of man, and to embark on scientific research to fulfill their philanthropic ideals of benefiting mankind. When some cause or work of this nature inspires them, they are capable of such devotion to it that they may drive themselves to the point of exhaustion and even risk injuring their health.
Both types need to retire from the world at times and to become temporary loners. They appreciate opportunities for meditation or, if they are religious, of retreats. Even in company they are fiercely independent, refusing to follow the crowd. They dislike interference by others, however helpfully intended, and will accept it only on their own terms. Normally they have good taste in drama, music and art, and are also gifted in the arts, especially drama.
In spite of the often intensely magnetic, forthcoming and open personality of the more extrovert kind of Aquarian, and of their desire to help humanity, neither type makes friends easily. They sometimes appear to condescend to others and take too little trouble to cultivate the acquaintance of people who do not particularly appeal to them.
They do not give themselves easily - perhaps their judgment of human nature is too good for that - and are sometimes accounted cold. But once they decide that someone is worthy of their friendship or love, they can exert an almost hypnotic and irresistible mental attraction on them and will themselves become tenacious friends or lovers, ready to sacrifice everything for their partners and be faithful to them for life. However, they are sometimes disappointed emotionally because their own high personal ideals cause them to demand more of others than is reasonable. And if they are deceived their anger is terrible. If disillusioned, they do not forgive.
Aquarians work best in group projects, provided that they are recognized as having a leading part in them. They have a feeling of unity with nature and a desire for knowledge and truth that makes them admirable scientists, especially astronomers and natural historians. They may excel in photography, radiography, electronics - anything connected with the electrical and radio industries - aviation and everything technical. On the arts and humanities side their progressive tendencies can be expressed in writing, especially poetry, and broadcasting, or as welfare workers and teachers. Some have gifts as entertainers and make good character actors (having an ability to mimic) and musicians. The more psychic among them possess healing gifts, especially in curing the mentally sick.
Among the faults to which they are liable are fanatical eccentricity, wayward egotism, excessive detachment and an inclination to retreat from life and society, and a tendency to be extremely dogmatic in their opinions. Aquarians can be a threat to all they survey or a great boon for humanity in general. Circumstances - for example, continuous opposition to a cause they hold dear - may cause the atrophy of the openness of mind that is one of the Aquarian's most attractive traits. They may express a lack of integrity in broken promises, secretiveness or cunning. Simmering anger and resentment, rudeness or, worse, a tense, threatening silence which may suddenly burst out in eruptions of extreme temper, these are all part of the negative side of the Aquarian. This can also reveal itself in a sustained hatred for enemies that is capable of enlarging itself into a misanthropy toward the whole of mankind.
Possible Health Concerns...
As Aquarius is said to govern the legs from knees to ankles and the circulation of blood, its natives are susceptible to ailments particularly in the legs and ankles, such as cramps, and are also liable to spasmodic and nervous complaints, as well as wind, catarrh, diarrhea, dropsy, goiter and delirium tremens - so that the avoidance of alcohol is important for those Aquarians who have a taste for it.
Happy New Year!!
Yearly forecast for Aquarius for 2009
Aquarius is all about a new vision in 2009, and working to move our planet toward the highest and healthiest quality of life. You are highly energized with this wonderful alignment, and your inspiration is rekindled to move energy in grandiose ways. You are able to utilize these high frequencies in order to create new structure and value in people s lives.
This is no time to sit back and let anything slip through your fingers. Express yourself and move forward with your visionary ideas. As you forge ahead, you find a reworking of meaning on a deep level, and discover possibilities as you connect with your highest star.
Your ideas have always been ahead of the times, and now you are a shining example of what the Earth force can assimilate into everyday living. You realize that the world was created with structure, and outdated modes of living that no longer serve mankind are being recognized around the world. It s time to let go of anything that holds you back. New thinking is on the horizon, and people are ready to align with the quickly changing energies of the planets. Your leadership skills will help humanity make these shifts, and you will feel supported by those who understand the need to create peace and harmony.
Be inventive in channeling your dreams into reality. As you find a place to manifest this energy, it will become easy for you to usher in a better world. The time to realize your highest ideals is here!
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