Hm....

Hey all. Hope everyone's still out there.

Honestly, I don't know what to post about. I was really hoping that by now one of you would have asked me a question I could answer, but now I have to come up with an idea all by myself.  So harddddddddddddd. Bleh.

Um. Here is a poem I wrote about the fires here in Colorado.

What hellish feet among the aspen, what

vicious hands

casting demon shade

across the cruel, red-robed general of the sky–

have mercy, O god of flame!

The moon weeps. She bends

to us, a bloodshot eye

drained of healing tears

and

watches the armies march on. 

Thoughts on compassion

Hey guys,

I've had this thought on my mind recently, and maybe this is a strange way to say it but... have you ever wondered where to draw the line between compassion and stupidity? 

The other night I was walking downtown with a couple of friends (both female) when we were approached by a man in his mid 30's. He was holding a cell phone in one hand and leading a small child with the other. 

He stepped up to us as we were passing by on the sidewalk and said, "Excuse me, but could I get you ladies to help me? My son and I were just..."

At this point, I had already stopped. I was about to ask him what was wrong, how could I help, was he okay? etc. But my friend kept walking, brushing him off and muttering, "No."

Immediately, I realized how sketchy it was that this guy just happened to ask three teenage girls for help  on a dark sidewalk in the middle of the city at night. That's sketchy right? I held on to that thought as we passed him and he began to call after us, specifically to my friend who had first said no. 

"Oh that's bad. That's just bad. You're a bad lady. You're ugly too!"

Once we reached the parking garage and were in the car, I told my friend what my thought process had been, how it was only after seeing her reaction that her immediate conclusion even occurred to me. She made it clear that she did not regret for a moment walking past that guy. However, it's been several days since this all happened and it's still nagging at me. 

The question I'm asking myself is, does this make me more compassionate than my friend, or simply more stupid? Can compassion impair a person's ability to make sound judgements? And if so, is it more important to be compassionate or to be smart? Which is most helpful to most people? When is it the better choice to care about yourself instead of those around you? 

Suppose giving your last $5 to a homeless guy on the street meant saving him from a miserable, hungry night. That's compassion, right? However, suppose that $5 would have bought your train ticket to a fundraiser where you would have raised 200 times that much money and could have helped 200 more people. That's stupidity. ... Right? 

I don't know. The problem with that situation is that it doesn't exist. What does exist is the man on the street with the small child asking for help. And frankly, even if he was lying about whatever situation he was supposedly in, he still somehow needed something, and maybe I could have helped him. 

Anyway, just some thoughts to chew on. Hope everyone's week went well. Looking forward to future posts! Don't forget I've promised to answer any questions about myself you want to ask, so ask away!

DFTBA,

Emily

Moving Forwards

At some point everyone needs to start over. You reach a point where what you're doing just isn't going the direction you wanted so you take the paper you're writing on, crumple it up, toss it to the side, and start writing on a fresh sheet. Metaphorically speaking that is, we can't exactly crumple the internet. But we can try to take a step back and try to figure out what's working and what isn't and hopefully move forward with a renewed sense of direction and a fresh serving of perspective. (Is anyone else thinking of Ratatouille right now? No? Just me? Alright.)

A step backwards:
As I've grown up I've had the opportunity to travel a fair bit. I love travelling, seeing new places and experiencing new cultures. Often I've wondered what it would be like to have grown up somewhere else, what things would be similar, what would be different, what views and opinions are held by people my age that have grown up with a different society/culture/government/etc. So I started writing on a blog, with others of my age but all of us from different places. The blog was an opportunity for us to meet each other, learn about each other, and form friendships with each other. It started out really well but somewhere along the way life came in with exams, homework, jobs, school, etc. and the blog got set to the side. Life, however, is always going to be busy so it's up to us to make room in it for the blog and that's what I'm going to try to do.

Moving forwards:
I promise to make room in my life, not only for writing on the blog but for all of you and for your friendship. I will try not to miss another Thursday this year (though Aug. 30th may not happen because of planes and jet lag and crossing too many time zones for my brain to understand dates and times). I'll put more thought and consideration into what I write. Rather than listing facts about me and things that I've done I'll try to show more of who I am, the things that matter to me, and the things that make me who I am. Moving forwards I can't promise perfection but I do promise I will try.

Don't Forget To Be Awesome,

-Kim

Rekindling the flame?

Hey guys.

Remember when the blog was new? Remember that exciting honeymoon period when we each couldn't wait to write our next post? When we spent time thinking about the theme we'd chosen for the week, or the questions we were going to ask each other?

The truth is, I know I've been busy and I haven't been good about writing, and so have you, but I miss those days. Could we maybe try to bring them back?

I think Sim said something really important in her recent email when she said that the blog was about getting to know each other. Maybe we should be trying to do that again. The past year I've been doing a lot of growing and changing– I'm not really the same person I was when I first started writing to you guys. I suspect each of you can understand something of what I mean. Even though we may know a few facts about each other, that doesn't really mean we know each other, especially when we, as humans, are so changeable. Getting to know, and continuing to know, one another takes active participation on everyone's part.

The point? I want to share a little more of who I am with you guys, and I want to see each of you do the same. The fact that we are all friends is a pretty amazing thing, and not to use this opportunity --this blog-- to connect with each other is a huge waste.

Don't feel like I'm trying to lecture anyone-- I'm talking to myself just as much as to you. I just... I don't know. I feel sort of convicted about it, for some reason. I want to know you guys. I really do.

I'm going to take the first step. Here are my rules for the summer (these are for me personally, but you can choose to follow them as well):

1. I will not miss another Saturday for the rest of the summer.
2. I will not write any short and impersonal "this is what happened to me recently" posts– I'll actually have something to say.
3. You can ask me any question (within reason, obviously) in a post or a comment, and I will do my best to answer it honestly in my next post.

So there ya go.

DFTBA,
Emily

P.S. We really do need to make that "Life in a Day" thing a reality.

Eurocup 2012!

My life is currently boring and unchanging. I hardly leave the house (I swear I'm getting cabin fever), I keep looking for jobs and applying for jobs and not hearing back on any of them, it's very frustrating.

So let's talk about news elsewhere!

In national news Toronto has banned plastic bags. The mayor wanted to get rid of the 5cent fees on plastic bags and then a council member went "Hey, why don't we just get rid of them altogether?" and the rest of council thought "That's a great idea!" So they banned plastic bags while the mayor facepalmed and started contemplating the effects of this hasty decision.

In local news plans for the new downtown arena continue and seem to be slowly gaining more support than when it was initially proposed. The city is also gearing up for the Edmonton Indy which takes place this weekend! I think, I don't really pay attention to racing that much.

In weather we are expecting rain throughout central and southern Alberta for the rest of the week. Generally appreciated throughout the prairies but a bit concerning in towards the mountains where a couple of rivers are already spilling over their banks just from the seasonal run-off and snow melt.

In sports news (other than the Indy) UEFA Euro 2012 starts tomorrow and I'm super excited!!! I'd love to see Netherlands win it all but I'm thinking it'll be a Spanish win, Germany in 2nd, Netherlands in 3rd, and England 4th. We'll see how it goes though, it'll be an exciting few weeks!

Well I think that's all I have for news.

DFTBA,

-Kim

A Triumphant Return...of sorts...

Hello All,

It seems like months since I last posted, and it probably has been. Sorry about that.
The main reason I've been away is because I've been really busy preparing for university and for my final exams which are going to take place in a few weeks.

So I'm going to keep this short and sweet. As I haven't really been doing much expect studying, its the only thing I can really talk about. Currently I study Psychology, Biology and English Literature.
- For Psychology, I have to learn three topics. It starts with an essay section on Schizophrenia; the different theoretical causes, treatments and issues with treatment and diagnosing patients. Then I have a section on Anomalous Psychology, otherwise known as Parapsychology. This is basically looking into claims about ESP, Psychokinesis, Spirits/Mediums etc. I despise this topic with a passion. I find it to be the most difficult topic as there is not definitive proof, its 'too wishy-washy' for a scientific brain as my teacher says. The last topic is Research Methods; this is just a section about how to conduct and analyse experiments. 
- In Biology, we study a range of topics, this exam in particular focuses on nerve impulses, synapses, feedback, protein synthesis and gene technology.
- In English Lit. I've already completed my coursework which was about gender stereotypes in a range on works including Charles Bukowski and Angela Carter. My exam is split into two sections; one essay about Othello and one essay is a comparison between Doctor Faustus and The Pardoner's Tale, taken from The Canterbury Tales. 


I wish I had something more interesting to talk about, but those are the only few things floating around my head at the moment. 
In my brief spare moments I watched Crazy, Stupid, Love. I really did not think I was going to enjoy it, but I found it exceeded my expectations. If any of you haven't watched it I highly recommend it. Its about a middle-aged man named Cal (Steve Carell) who ends up separating from his wife and how he tries to rediscover himself after meeting Jacob (Ryan Gosling) in a bar one evening. It's a good laugh and quite sweet too, also Emma Stone is in it and I'd watch anything with her in it! 


Soon my exams will be over and I'll be able to talk about more exciting things. 
Hope everyone is doing well and hopefully talk to you all soon!

As always, DFTBA 


Sim