In the wake of Terri Shiavo's death, I came across a story that added fuel to the flame of how I was feeling about quality of life.
It appears that in Japan, that neglecting children medical treatment is now a form of child abuse. So, if you have a child that suffers from diseases including chromosomal anomalies, as in Downs syndrome, neurological diseases, heart diseases and perinatal brain damage and you refuse treatment to that child, you are committing an abuse and could be punished accordingly. The piece goes on to say that at one particular hospital, 24 of 60 parents refused care because they were worried about their child's future and 13 demanded alternative care and that those parents could be considered abusers for refusing treatment.
I don't know about you, but I don't think that doctor's or the government should be making decisions like this unless it is based on truly abusive behaviour. While I sympathize with the children, if I were to have a really sick child that I might not be able to provide for after my death, I would want to have the right to decline treatment if I believed that child would not have anyone to care for them when I was no longer alive. I would terminate a pregnancy if I were carrying a child that was determined to have such diseases. Why tax the medical system with surgeries and medical treatments that would prolong a life that had little or no quality to it? And I certainly think that I would be qualified to make that decision in an informed manner and decide that I don't want the state or others be responsible for looking after MY child.
Sometimes, I don't know where human society is going. We pollute and overpopulate the planet in the name of living. We are keeping brain-dead and terminally ill folks alive when they would be better off dying.
Please do not think me cruel. I have seen the effects of a terminally ill people in that a cousin had ALS and she lived and lived and lived on life-saving equipment for a long time. Her husband couldn't bear to make the decision to keep her off the support systems saying that he didn't have the right to decide. She was alive but could not feed herself, go to the bathroom or even move and when she finally died while he was guiding her around in the chair and she just turned greyish and was dead. I found this man's dedication quite admirable however he wouldn't get on with his life even though he knew that she could never be cured. She lived 15 years like that and I know that when she was well, she was a vibrant wonderful being. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be trapped in a body like that, having a mind at the beginning but then that brain couldn't sustain the body and was kept alive by machines. It must have been horrible for her. If it were me, I wouldn't want to be kept alive.
Anyway, I wonder what kind of life that these sick children would have when their parents were not around. And I don't think that I should be considered abusive if I believe that if death is meant to be, it will.What do you think?
Is it a surprise to anyone out there that Human damage to Earth is worsening fast? This is a highly appropriate story considering Earth Day is next month.
I also would like to thank you all for reading - even though I haven't been very diligent in my posting.
I am saddened to hear that Pete of "Neveralone" fame is shutting his blog down altogether. I hope that he will stay in touch with everyone! (I hope he's still reading...)
Other than that, my search for schools continues and my dream of taking a leave from my job is getting a bit closer to coming to fruition. Now all I have to do is to save enough money, get a new passport, apply for my Uk ancestry visa and get myself over to Europe. Any of you UK folks got a line on any jobs? I will try to avoid the secretarial stuff but would be interested in travel-related, writing, gallery/photograpy type jobs and maybe will make my next career a video store clerk or Supermarket checkout girl.I am not sure where I will be settling but surely will not pass up a stay in Wales. I was thinking of the outlying areas of London like perhaps Reading or the south. And, I would also consider Scotland. If you have any advice, I would definitely appreciate it
So, take care. I would love to hear from you all soon!
I don't know if I will have a chance to post over the long weekend so I would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter!
Hello everyone out there in blogland! I haven't much to say today but I wanted to ask if anyone out there has any advice on photography schools in Europe.I would like to focus on those schools where classes are taught in English and that have flexible start dates. If you could provide links, that would be great! (Oh, so the countries that I was thinking about was anywhere in the UK, Berlin, Spain, Iceland, France but not Paris or any where else that might be of interest.)
Please let me know by commenting here!
It appears that my St. Patrick's day message seemed to stir up a few new visitors that have decidedly left comments on my blog. They have been kind enough to instruct me in the art of blog posting - even though it appears that neither of them have one. I wish to thank them for their comments! (One can never get enough comments)
It's finally Friday, although I am still trying to expel this "bug" from my body. All I really know is that I don't want to spend the whole weekend moping around the house so I plan to skip my yoga class tonight and take it easy. It's payday today and I kind of feel like shopping but I will probably keep that to a minimum.
An amazing woman that I have had the honour of meeting is having a photo exhibition tonight entitled "Indigenous Colombia". It has been shown in many places around the world, including Colombia, South Africa, Geneva, Houston, New York and Panama. I feel inspirted to drop by to take a look. If you are interested, I found a few of her photos on a UN site.
Ms. Sanchez Espitia is originally from Colombia, South America and is living in Canada as a political refugee. When I met her, I was blown away by her vivacity and excitement about life. She is an internationally-known photojournalist and has an enormous social sensibility. I continue to be in awe of her story, and her drive to fight against discrimination. People like this are truly an inspiration!
I must go and see this and meet with her again. It really has been a while since I last saw her...
My body is still fighting off a virus and I am getting tired of being sick. Tonight will be the sixth yoga class is a row I have missed because I haven't felt 100%. However, I will not complain. I know that I will be better soon.
So, what's new with everyone out there?
I was having a discussion with someone yesterday. He gets so upset because he thinks that about 80% of Canadian voters don't have a clue about anything. They smoke yet they know what it does to them (Some even deny that there is not proof that smoking causes health problems). They justify driving their cars and do not recognize that doing so is causing greenhouse gases and affecting the weather of the world. And, they believe what ads and commercials tell them. He believes that those voters are making the world a worse place to live in.
While I do believe that many people out there are selfish in these beliefs, I also believe that sitting around getting angry about it doesn't prove anything. Neither does violence. Instead of getting upset about it, I told him, perhaps he should focus that anger into living to set an example. People don't like being told what to do but if they see a good example of a person living a life that is good for the environment and health care system, they can definitely see that things actually DO work.
No one is perfect. The human species has faults and there is nothing any of us can do to change that.
As we're on the eve of St. Patrick's Day, and the White House has slapped Sinn Fein in the face by not inviting Gerry Adams to the festivities, I wanted to tell you about a CBC documentary that I watched yesterday. It was entitled Neutral Ground and documented a program in which 11- & 12-year old Irish children from both Catholic and Protestant backgrounds were brought to New Brunswick, Canada to have a month holiday, away from the violence that they see every day. It was a bittersweet look of how these children came together and in some case befriended each other in a way that they would never have done before. It also touched on the subject of what happens when they return, even interviewing some of the past members of this program which in many of the cases, was not promising.
I have had many conversations on this subject with people both inside and outside of the UK and it saddens me that these children grow up with violence in their everyday lives. We are sheltered from this, for the most part, in Canada so we have no experience to understand the situation there. I wish that all sides could get themselves together and rid themselves of this hate and I know that this can be acheived. If it takes a program like this to at least plant the seed of hope, then so be it.
Anyway, I hope that this St. Patrick's Day is one of hope. Even though Mr. Bush seems intent in stirring up the pot.
In the entire history of my life, I have never had the experience of having no voice. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, depending on who you talk to) this past weekend was the first time I was inflicted with this. I must tell you that it was very interesting.Last week, I started to get a cold and thought that I had it under control. However, after performing a few karaoke tunes at a friend's birthday party, AND returning home too late for one who is fighting off an illness, I was found pretty much speechless the next day. I tried to go out and do things but just felt tired and miserable that I was unable to express myself. Thus, I spent two days in my house, watching bad television and eating way too much food. It wasn't a truly pleasant experience except that I had an excuse not to make myself busy and actually relax. (I needed to relax because I didn't attend either of my yoga classes last week due to the impending cold)So, here I am back to work this morning, a little worse for wear and feeling a little clogged. At least I can talk - albeit in a very froggy tone...In other news, I discussed briefly with my boss, taking a six-month leave to study photography in Europe and pursue some other things as well. I will keep you posted but I must seriously begin some saving if I am going to actually be able to afford it. Do any of you have advice about saving, Europe or photography? I'd be interested in some feedback...
Ooh! It's really true!
Sir Ian McKellen will make an appearance on Coronation Street. And it looks like his part is pretty much tailor-made!
Speaking of old queens and tailors, I once new a drag performer named Taylor Maid. One night, she offered to "go straight" for an amazing pair of rhinestoned earrings I was wearing. Needless to say, I passed on that offer and settled for a make-up session and I didn't have to give up the earrings...
Sorry for the delay in posting. I have been feeling a little under the weather lately and my head isn't working at all.I hope to make a more relevant post sometime soon.
Due to yesterday’s post, I received a comment from a friend about what is happening in the UK. I would like to respond with the perspective of one Canadian. This friend informed me of a hospital in Manchester that has signage in Indian (I am guessing Hindi) first and English much smaller underneath. Funny, it did not really faze me.
This past weekend, I was in Vancouver at a concert and I went into Richmond, which is quite close. The area is a great place to shop and eat and has a large Chinese population. It also has most of it’s signage in Chinese as well. In fact, I went to a restaurant that had menus that had very little English on them. Sure, it is difficult to understand but I also found it very enlightening.
Vancouver has a huge multicultural population. There are people from China, Hong Kong, Japan and India and other countries as well as the stereotypical white Canadian. Relations are far from perfect but that is the same in even white neighbourhoods when people have different values.
One of Canada's national policies is one of Multiculturalism. One day, we all woke up and it was decided that this would be a step ahead in installing the rights of all minorities. It pissed a lot of people off. They had no idea what this policy meant and people were afraid that this would result in less rights for Canadians who were born here.
Personally, I have no problem with this and choose to embrace the diversity of it all. This is a touchy subject with people even in Canada still and I think that is mostly because people fear and feel threatened by that which they do not understand. Fear is a strange motivator.
I have had the experience of living in a country that doesn't have English as a first language. Japan has a lot of English signs (although some of them are poorly written) and I was thankful of that even though I was trying very hard to learn Japanese. There, it was expected that I would have no idea how to communicate with people because I was white. There are loads of "foreign" people who live and work in Japan who do not have any desire to learn the language. They are just there to make the bucks. This is a disadvantage for those who are serious about learning the language because the Japanese just assume that the minorities don’t want to.
The truth is that we cannot blame the minority populations for this entirely. We are really all to blame. I saw so many white people who were guilty of the same thing so it's not just Indian or Chinese or Japanese that do this when they immigrate to a new country.
Many people assume that immigrants should adapt to the dominant language of a country when they move there. However, I don't think that people are realistic enough with themselves about how difficult it is to change someone’s language and cultural identity. I can speak for this first hand. It is not easy to give up the identity that you have been brought up with and this is true of anyone. Have any of you out there tried to do this? If you have, you know that it is not an easy task. You bring all of what you were brought up with into adulthood. Even fear and hate.
I suppose that I just don’t want to succumb to that fear and hate. If the white population in Canada were to become the minority tomorrow and, say for examples sake, the Chinese or Indo or First Nations population were the majority, I suppose that I would be learning a new language and culture. No doubt, there would be a backlash by those cultures trying to get payback for all of the shitty treatment the whites dealt out to them but not by all of them. It’s human nature, don’t you think?
What I would like to suggest is that we go out and embrace these cultures and talk with people and accept that they are having just as difficult a time adjusting to the things that life throws at us. It can’t be all bad to make friends, can it?
You wanna see what happens when you leave a geek alone in his room with his computer. If you are, please click here. Note: You have to ensure that you have sound first though or it won't be very funny.Funny... it sounds like the Eurobeat songs you hear on DDR!Thanks to Steve for this link...
Okay, so I am shattered after this past weekend and thus I am up on my soapbox again. I was reading a story in the Guardian Unlimited online and I came upon this story suggesting that they put black boys in separate classes of their own so that they can excel.
Am I reading this wrong?
Are they suggesting that by putting black boys in separate classes that it will stop them from feeling like they are in the shadow of the white boys that they are currently studying with? Is this not just, plain and simple, segregation by colour? This is what I am getting from the article.
They suggest that there are no positive role models for these boys and so they lack the ambition to study hard and make something of themselves. This is absolutely ludicrous to me.
Are they not seeing the larger picture here? Could it be that society could be to blame? Unfortunately, the class system still exists in the UK and therein lies part of the problem. Those without financial stability are doomed to suffer from lack of education and lack of access to decent jobs. Unfortunately, I believe the majority of this group are minorities.
I see this, plain and simple, a statement that because of their colour these boys are automatically going to be weak academically. Sorry folks but that sounds like racism to me.
My thoughts on this are that the system is failing all students and that it should be revamped. I do not, however, agree that separating by colour will solve this.
Let's come up with something a little more creative such as perhaps valuing students, regardless of colour for what they can add to the classroom. Let's provide some positive role models for all children and let's stop making such a big deal about who's smarter or not. Let's just help them learn!All children deserve that!Speaking of racism, March 21 is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.
Tomorrow is another special day. It will be International Women's Day! Join me in celebrating both of these days!
A few days ago, I saw a girl that, had she weighed about 40 lbs less and been a few inches taller, would have been a dead ringer for that person that annoys me beyond anything, Paris Hilton. I don't know what this girl was thinking but she was a clone from that annoying baseball cap and bleached hair right down to those naf fluffy boots that we have seen the air-headed rich girl wearing. The girl even talked in an annoying tone that was vaguely but gratingly familiar.It was so obvious that this girl wanted attention and "became" PH but why would you go so far to gain fame by looking like someone who has contributed so little to society than to develop a funky style of her own and getting attention for that. Is anyone out there able to tell me what motivates people to do this? I can understand the reason impersonators would do it, I just don't get people like this girl.In the end, one can only feel sorry for someone who has so little self-esteem that they would put so much energy into looking like someone else. Especially someone that has more money than a person should have when they do nothing more than do naf things.
Okay, so it's almost 24 hours after I went to the concert and two cups of caffeinated beverages later and I still feel like I haven't slept in a week. I didn't drink any alcohol (since I have given that up altogether) and I still feel like I have a hangover. What's with me?I suppose that it's because I didn't sleep very long or all that well last night. It was a weird night for dreams starting with me picking and choosing from several beautiful men and settling for Jude Law who ended up being a controlling, psychologically abusive person that somehow twisted my head around and caused me to become some sort of sex zombie. I don't even know where that came from as I don't really fancy Jude that much and why I would want to get into a relationship like that, I just don't know. I woke up to find myself the target for my friend's children to throw balls of paper at because I guess that they wanted to watch tv or something. You can imagine that I was hardly the most patient person after that... (I suppose that's what you get for sleeping on the floor in the living room)Actually, it was pretty amusing, now that I think about it. I suppose that I would have done the same thing had I been their age and saw a unconscious lump lying on a futon under too many blankets in an area that they usually play in.When I finally dragged the mattress into my friend's room to let the children play, I went right back to sleep. I then had a dream in which all I could remember was that I wanted to have a bath but all of the bathtubs in the house (that apparently was mine) were full of water and stuff and people hadn't had the decency to drain them. Weird. I cannot explain that one any more than the Jude Law sequence.I finally woke up, did some laundry and headed out for a day of shopping...I spent all day listening to DD's Astronaut CD as it was the soundtrack for my day. It was great because I was on my own, wandering around the big city shopping. I even caught myself singing along at times.Well, all, I suppose that I will quit going on and on about the concert. I am just shattered and want to sit down before I have to go out and meet one of my friends. Hope that you are having a great day!
I have just returned from the Duran Duran concert in Vancouver and I am still hyped! This being the first date of their Canadian tour, the fabulous boys returned from the height of their success in the Eighties and blew us all away!
Despite any of the natural aging that they have experienced, the music is still awesome and it sounds much like it did before. A large part of the audience sang along with all of the songs and there was a lot of dancing. Everyone seemed to have had a great time. Including the guy next to me, who I thought was there with his big busomed girlfriend, who was super hyper. He even pulled up his shirt and flashed his chest at Simon at the end. I suppose that I should have known that I was standing next to this flaming queen who had a thing for Simon and the girl with him was just there for moral support.
It's really interesting that although a couple of them were a little bigger around the middle, (funny, I never thought that I would see John Taylor look anything other than rail thin) their energy levels were still pretty high. Andy Taylor was smoking on stage, which I was sure was going to cause some law enforcement officer to come up and cite him on smoking indoors charges. John, and perhaps Simon, looked as if their hairlines might be receding and Nick, what can I say... He must be shrinking however, I suppose that he was pretty short to begin with. (As well, he should trash the gold chain look... he looks like one of those old men trying to attract the younger ones...actually, I had heard that he does have a penchant for the young lasses) And Roger, well, we didn't really see that much of him and despite having had broken his foot in Japan you could definitely hear him.
The interesting thing about this is that they are older, they managed to entertain an extremely diverse crowd for about 2 1/2 hours. While, at the outset I wasn't sure that it was going to be worth the $90 CDN that I paid to get in, I left feeling that I had got beyond my money's worth. I had absolutely an awesome seat (although there was no stage diving for me tonight) and the sound was brilliant!
Not so for the opening act, Ima Robot out of Los Angeles. Their sound and songs were better than I had heard on their website but the lead singer seemed to have been having some sort of strange convulsions... oh, I suppose that was supposed to be his way of dancing. I
was trying to think of who they sounded like but it was kind of a combination of the Psychedelic Furs, and Devo and perhaps a little OMC thrown in. I don't know. They weren't that band but pretty much everyone I talked to had no idea who they were.
I didn't come out with any souvenir merchandise because it was pretty damned expensive. A t-shirt for about $40 CDN was to rich for my blood and there was nothing there that I really fancied. They even had a pop-up tour book for $50. I passed on all of it.
One thing that hasn't changed in all of this concert mayhem is the large number of nubile young women all dressed (or not dressed up for that matter) up and ready to do anything to get noticed. I suppose that we were the same at that age. Even the older women, who should have known better than to wear clothing that was way too small, were out there shaking their things. I suppose that will exist as long as ther are bands out there to play to them.
Well, I suppose that I should get some sleep now. I just wanted to say that if you are thinking of going and still aren't totally sure, you might want to check it out. I haven't had that much fun at a concert in a long time. The diversity of the audience and the fact that these guys aren't afraid to get out there and even laugh at themselves a bit made it well worth it. Oh, and the music was awesome too.
I am off to see Duran Duran tonight. I am so excited because not only am I in the big city, I am going to see the band!
Also, I have been following a new blog for a while and would love to share it with you. Please take a look at a woman without a man.
Okay. So, last night I was watching telly with my parents and an advertisement for this came on. The suggestion that even if you had difficulty remembering things, that it would be effective. It did not really mention what the product was or what it did so it wouldn't surprise me that people might not understand what it was for.
I suppose that my father didn't really know either as he says to my mother and I, "so they have a patch to help with you memory now, do they?"
I had to hold back my laughter at this comment but I just had to answer him.
"Dad, it's birth control"...
I discovered a new blog while perusing Olivia's site yesterday. I thought that you might like to take a look at alphabetical obsession.
Dave, if you are out there reading, please check out the comments for February 28. I thought you had a career in past that you hadn't told me about...
