It used to be that, during the blustery month of November, a large puddle would form in the small grassy area behind the Foul Bay Road bus stop on this campus. Some people named it Lake Camosun even though it dried up for most of the year. It was home to a small flock of mallard ducks and even though it was just a puddle, it was a thing of beauty. It never ever got murky and when the sky sporadically cleared up, there was the most beautiful reflection. (It also reminds me of my friend Mayu!)

Since then, they are trying to protect the garry oak trees there and so piles of dirt and mulch were placed there so the ground there won't get water-soaked and the trees will be more stable.

However, as I walked by that spot on my way to work this morning, I missed our little lake and the ducks that floated happily on it. Leave it to a blustery day to bring back a memory like this.

Have a wonderful day out there and remember that even if it is raining, there is a way to find beauty in even the greyest of days!

I have a Japanese friend who once told me that if she were married and her husband had an affair, that she would rather he keep it a secret than to tell her. Ignorance is bliss is the concept she was following.

When I asked her if it wouldn't be better to know in case his dalliances resulted in him contracting some sort of disease, she told me she'd never really thought about it.

I thought of her again today because of this article from the Daily Yomiuri online:

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Survey: More mothers infected with HIV

Yomiuri Shimbun

The number of pregnant Japanese women found to be infected with HIV has been on the rise since 1999, according to a survey conducted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

It is also estimated that the number of cases will exceed 100 annually if foreigners are included. The rising number is partly due to HIV tests becoming common during prenatal care.

The number of expectant mothers found to be infected with HIV during prenatal examinations is also on the increase, officials said.

Yuki Tsukahara, along with others from the National Center for Child Health and Development, based a survey on the nearly 1,670 hospitals nationwide that have a maternity ward.

According to their findings, the number of expectant mothers who were discovered to have HIV was less than 10 between 1987 and 1998, but jumped to 17 people in 1999.

Since then, it has been fluctuating between 11 and 16 people annually.

Between 1999 and 2002, HIV-infected women accounted for 10.5 out of 100,000 expectant mothers, including foreigners.

Copyright 2003 The Yomiuri Shimbun

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It used to be the government stance that AIDS didn't exist in Japan. I wonder how they can explain this then.

Any ideas?

Isn't it funny how there are things that remind of something that you have done or some place that you have gone? Years later you can be reminded of something, simply by a news story or a song that you have heard.

I shudder everytime I hear the muzak version of the song that played in the scene for the movie Brazil just before the bomb exploded in the department store. I have heard it in department stores since and found myself looking around to see if there is anyone putting a bomb down somewhere. Usually, the shop is deserted at the time.

Today, I was reminded of the last time I was in Japan and the newspapers were reporting the story of a British woman who had gone missing while working in Tokyo. The story of Lucie hit home to lots of foreign women who were there at the time. Today, the BBC news reported that the trial for the man accused of killing her had started and how her parents were dealing with it.

Funny, the same type of thing happened when I visited the UK for the first time and Suzy Lamplugh disappeared. She was a real estate agent who went out to show a house and never returned. If I am correct, they still haven't solved it.

When I returned home from Japan the first time, a boy named Michael Dunahee disappeared from a schoolyard while his mother was there planning a community event on the same field. That was 1991. I remember it like yesterday and it happened in my city.

Memories work in mysterious ways. Were these events etched in my mind for a reason? Were they to warn me of something or to confirm my views on humanity? I don't know. I just know that they effect me from time to time.

Does everyone remember that November 29 is Buy Nothing Day? In case you have never heard of it, but it started 12 years ago as a stunt and has grown into an event that takes place worldwide. Started by Adbusters Magazine, it's a lighthearted way to demonstrate that it is not necessary that we go overboard in our spending and that materialism is not all that it is cracked up to be.

So, if you dare, show those huge corporations who is boss and hold onto your hard-earned dollars (or pound, yen, euros, peso, rubles, rupees, wan or whatever currency you use) for this one day.

Good luck!

Is this true? Gordon Brown is sexier than David Beckham?

What do you think?

I am a little out of touch with British politics. Is Gordon really the ideal candidate to become prime minister?

Will he be as good a PM as Hugh Grant is in Love Actuallly? (I saw this on the weekend because I am a huge Alan Rickman fan... but I found myself really hedging toward Hugh especially the way his jacket flowed when he walked out in search of Martine McCutcheon's character... Funny, it just kind of caught my eye)

What is it with all of the annoying spam that is coming in on my yahoo account. Don't they know that I have a reverse tracking device that will cause their computer to explode?

Is anyone else having this problem?

I have been sending it all to the yahoo folks to no avail. It keeps on coming!!!

Sunday night, I watched a program called Deadline Iraq: Uncensored stories of the War. It was interesting in that they showed media correspondents who reported from the front and their reactions to what they had seen. At times, I was in tears, knowing that these people had seen attrocious things and that this must have been devastating for them. I wondered, if more people had seen the senselessness of war, would it still happen? Did we really need to go in and kill people? And was it worth having our young killed?

Perhaps we should ask the people of Georgia, who, with remarkable effort, overthrew the president of that country using no weapons and not killing a single person. What an amazing thing, don't you think? These people stood up for their ideals and won. It is now up to them to take responsibility for their actions and who knows what that will be but at least they did it for themselves.

I think that it is going to be a great day! Good morning everyone!

I came across a new blog today. Please take a look at Hail to the Thief.

God wears a grey bomber jacket and this morning, he was standing on top of the Ewing building looking down on all of us who were silly enough to be outside and freezing our butts off. I saw him.

Or maybe it was just one of the many construction workers that have been working on campus...

Last night was a poor one for television but I couldn't help myself from flipping between the new episode of Angel and the 2003 Victoria's Secret fashion show. I must have been in heaven because all I saw were lots of Angel, wings and Sting. All I can say is that I really want a pair of those wings and, man, is Sting hot! (and he can dance which is a bonus!!!!) and what about that 11,000,000 Fantasy bra and panty set? What would you wear it with? You certainly couldn't wear it with much else or what would be the point? Can't say that I watched the whole show because I soon after got caught up with the Angel thing...

Can anyone tell me who the bad boy was with Eve at the end of the Angel episode? He looks familiar. I suppose that I will have to go to the website. I haven't really followed the series too much so I am a little out of touch.

It's starting to get colder outside here and so scarves and mittens are a must. They say that it is supposed to get sunnier here this afternoon. Perhaps God does wear a grey bomber jacket and he was sussing out whether we needed sun today.

We do... definitely!

I was going to start the day by being a little depressed however, things have taken a turn for the better. However, I am feeling a little bit of loss as my friend will be going back to Japan for a long while. I will miss our movie weekends...

I made an awesome lunch today. I had cold tofu with and awesome ginger dressing and then had saffron rice. I was a little worried about the rice because I used brown basmati instead of white and the colour didn't actually have the desired effect. It tasted pretty good though. If I manage to remember, I will post the recipe for the ginger dressing for you all to share.

I don't usually cook because I am so particular about how it looks and tastes. It takes me a long time to create dishes because when I improvise, things usually taste horrible. Let's face it, I am a perfectionist of the worst sort...

I know have a full tummy and will spend the rest of the afternoon drinking water. I cannot eat until after my yoga class tonight.

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. Take care and don't do anything that I wouldn't. (Boy, will you all be bored silly if you take that advice)

Ciao!

Are you insane? Take the test!

I cannot say that anything truly remarkable has happened over the past couple of days. After all, I did not get a new washing machine like Claire did, I haven't gone to Japan like Pete did, and I certainly haven't knit or crocheted anything lately like Nik has. I have simply tried to reorganize and clean my room so that I can practice my kundalini yoga.

I started with another teacher last Friday (I am now up to two classes per week) and it was well worth it. While the two teachers are polar opposites in their teaching style, both have made me see things with a new perspective. (Olivia, if you are out there reading, I really suggest that you try this... there are instructor in the UK) It has changed many things for me in a very positive way. I am seriously thinking of taking the training myself.

Anyway, not to bore you all. I just wanted to say hello. Have a wonderful day!

I saw the most awesome thing happen on Saturday night. There was an eclipse. I missed the total blackout of the moon because I was watching Revolutions but it was beautiful.

Even more beautiful was last nights moon rise. It was on fire and it rose above the low cloud layer so majestically. It was awe-inspiring!

Last Thursday night, on the Trans-Canada Highway, three young people died and one went to hospital after a crash that would not have happened if those in the car had any sense of responsibility. Once again, there is a monument of flowers and poetry on the side of the road to commemorate those who died. Were they heros? No. They were just stupid.

There should actually be a big sign that says "This is what happens when you speed" instead of all of the flowers and sentiment. It seems not three months ago another stupid event happened like this and yet, it is still happening. Why?

We never seem to learn, do we?

Speaking of learning, tomorrow is Remembrance Day here. A day where we remember those who died for our freedom. While I am saddened that people did lose their lives during the wars, weren't these days also to remind us why war is bad? So that it would never happen again? It appears not because war continues to this day.

So, tomorrow, I will remember the veterans but I will also mourn that we have learned nothing from it.

What about freedom? Do we really have it? That is truly debatable.

Yesterday, I was in a magazine store and I happened to notice the December issue of Marie Claire that promised to have the photo spread of Adrianne Curry who won the American's next top model. I had a sense of foreboding when I saw that the actor I dislike the most, Tom Cruise, was on the cover.

So, I flipped through the pages and finally found the section and was horrified! I had waited patiently for the photo spread and, to be quite honest, it sucks! What was the photographer thinking? The photos don't even look like her!

Adrianne has been wronged!!!! They took a unique girl and made her look like every other model that has had the opportunity to appear in a magazine. Unfortunately, this didn't surprise me. What actually would surprise me is if they actually got enough people for the next competition after the poor photos in this magazine.

America's Next Top Model? How about renaming it to America's Next Top Model Clones? Marie Claire should be ashamed.

Can anyone tell me why, after admitting to 48 murders, a man is able to escape the death penalty? Shouldn't that actually make him eligible for it instead?

After all, why should the American people pay to keep him in prison forever? If the justice system put him out of our misery, they wouldn't have to foot the bill for his life long room & board situation...

Olivia of Yummy Wakame fame suggested I check out this story about the porn movie based on Arnie's run to be governor of California.

Sounds better than the original story, don't you think?

I finally got out and saw kill bill last night. I am really glad that I did because it was the funniest adventure film that I have seen since Big Trouble in Little China.

You really should check it out!!!

Hell. If Arnold could do it, why couldn't these guys. It takes a special kind of person to run for the presidency, why not murderers? At least all of their cards are out on the table...

Wow! Edinburgh can breathe a breath of relief! Britney has pulled out of the MTV Awards. Good news, I'd say...

It's Claire's birthday today! I am so behind in sending birthday wishes. Sorry about that!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!

I'm beginning to feel a bit better. Here is something about the romantically unemcumbered. But should these people be called quirky? You be the judge!

Thanks to Leylop for passing this on!

Saw the movie Blow Dry on telly last weekend. I love that film! Has anybody else out there seen it?