The Transmuter of Nations

Date: November 4, 2008

Prologue: One man claimed that he had the power to transform an entire nation. Many doubted him, but it turns out that maybe, just maybe, he had the power all along...


The Democratic Primary was never supposed to be in doubt. Hilary Clinton had the thing all locked up. With her massive amount of super-delegates, her apparently limitless war chest, and of course the wildly successful Clinton brand behind her, it appeared that she was a lock to not only be the Democratic candidate, but to be the nations first female President.

But things, do not always go as they seem. The eyes of the nation convened on Iowa on January 3rd, for the first stop on the Primary circuit, the Iowa Caucus. Clinton was wildly expected to win, but not by the landslides that she was polling in other states such as New Hampshire. However, she decided to break with her husbands course and try to win the Caucus.

Perhaps, she felt unbeatable, perhaps she just did not think it through. Either way, it was a decision that would haunt her as the unthinkable happened. Hilary Clinton lost. Not only did she lose, but she finished an embarrassing third place, finishing behind 2004 running-mate John Edwards, and a relative newcomer to national politics, Barack Obama.

Obama stunned everyone by winning in Iowa. Sure he was young, attractive, and an amazing speaker, but this was a Clinton for God-sakes, and if there is one thing that they don't do, it's lose.

Obama set his sights to New Hampshire, he thought maybe if he could win that one that Clinton would be out of the race. Her inevitability would be gone, as she would be associated with the stink of failure. However, one can never count out a Clinton, as Hikary proceeded to through her all into the next contest, New Hampshire, one that she would rally back and win.

And so began a six month long journey. Obama would win a state, Clinton would win a state, lather, rinse repeat. While Clinton would tend to win the larger states, such as California, and New York, she would only win by a small margin, and sometimes, not even win the delegate count. Obama, on the other hand, would win smaller states, but by a larger margin. After Super Tuesday, Obama was ahead on the delegate count, which is what ultimately decided the winner.

Things got bleaker for Clinton as, Obama won 10, albeit small states in a row in the middle of February. He ended up ahead of Clinton by around 100 delegates, a lead that he would never give up. Still though, to her credit, Clinton kept fighting. She would never quite get to the point where she would be fully eliminated from contention.

However, that massive war chest of hers, started to run out, well sort of. See there are rules for how much that a person can donate, and there are rules for how much a candidate can spend on either a primary or the general election. Clinton, was given millions, upon millions of dollars by some very wealthy people. She had to divide this money between the primary battles, and the general election, and well, she had spent all that she could for the primary, leaving her both too poor to compete in the primaries, and with an abundance of wealth for the general election.

Despite all of this Clinton fought on, when Obama had a chance to put the nail in the coffin with the Texas and Ohio primary, Clinton won. When the oppourtunity presended itself in Pennsylvania, Clinton fought back. However, as the winter turned to spring, it appeared that hope was blooming, and that there was nothing to stop Obama.

Finally, 6 months to the day after the first ballot was cast in Iowa, the last primaries in Montana and South Dakota came, and the numbers were finally beyond denying. Obama won the nomination, and the right to face John McCain for the President of hte United States.

It is probably a good time to mention something that I haven't mentioned, but you all no doubt know. Barack Obama is a black man. He is the first black man to be a serious contender for President of the United States. That's right, finally a nation that was founded by slave-holders looked to have a president whose father could not eat at every restaurant, or ride where he wanted to on a bus, or even marry his white wife in every state of the union.

Of course, Obama's feel good story was not over then. There still stood the Republican Maverick, the man who many feel was robbed in 2000, John McCain. McCain had easily won the Republican Primary, and had things all wrapped up in February.

But Obama seemed unstoppable. His poll numbers where huge, and no attacks seemed to work. The Republicans called him inexperienced and unpresidential, so he went on a Presidential-style trip abroad, and received record number of crowds. They tried to paint him as an empty headed celebrity, but then they chose Sarah Palin as their running mate, a woman who makes Paris Hilton look like Kofi Annan.

Finally, on November 4, the night of the election, Barack Obama was declared the President of hte United States of America. He won the electoral college 365-173, an absolute landslide.

So what is he going to do now? Clearly, he did not just want to win the election, but he wanted to do something. He constantly through the word "Change" around implying that he was going to somehow alter the course of the United States, and bring it back to its former glory. The main targets are Guantanimo Bay, the economy, the war in Iraq, and America's standing abroad. This is a really tall order for anyone, but many feel if there is anyone out there who can do it, it is Mr. Obama.

Wait four years, and we shall see if anything will really change.

Epilogue: Obama was officially innagurated on January 20, 2009. In his first few days of office, he has already begun looking at ways to phase out American involvment from Iraq, he has taken steps to close Guantanimo Bay, and appears to be making a play for real bipartisanship. It appears, my friends, that change is not coming, it is here.

Until next time,

G

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet - January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition - January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror - January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry - January 10th
The Golden League - January 14th
The Fall from Grace - January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice - January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations - January 22nd

The Eighth Layer of Injustice

Date: November 4, 2008

Prologue: Does love deserve a chance to live and die on its own? This past year many people thought that it didn't, and tried to put a stop to love...



Like many states in America, groups in California had presented a ballot measure during this falls election. There was a choice to ban gay marriage or to allow it. While California was far from the first state to have such a measure, it stood as the best hope for gay rights activists.

Not only has California long had it's laissez-faire attitude, but the California Supreme Court had already struck down a ban on gay marriage that spring. However, any hope was for naught, as Proposition 8 (also dubbed Proposition Hate) was enacted, and gay marriage was once again banned in California.

This marked the first time in America that people have democratically elected to take away the rights of others.

There has been a lot of blame thrown around as to why Proposition 8 passed, everything from homophobia in blacks, to money from Idaho, to a nasty smear-filled campaign have taken centre stage.

No matter what the reason for this change, one important question does remain. Why are so many people opposed to gay marriage? I mean, really, if you don't like gay marriage then DO NOT GET ONE!!! Who are you to stop anyone else from getting one?

It really is amazing that so many people got so involved in an issue that really has nothing to do with their lives. In no way did the Supreme Court say that any churches had to perform any gay marriages, thus giving them the full authority as to who they want to allow to get married and who they do not. Really for the "Yes" crowd, gay marriage is nothing more than an inconvenience, something that they do not want to see, but does not do anything to them.

However, for the people who had their rights repealed, it is an entirely different story. They were allowed one of the most fundamental rights and had it taken away on a whim. Somehow or another, getting married was not considered to be an element of "the pursuit of happiness", and ws not deemed unalienable enough.

Epilogue: There have been protests against Proposition 8, and a public outcry over this. However, it appears that it will be a long time before this can be changed again. Until then, gays will have to continue to be second class citizens.

Until next time,

G

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet - January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition - January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror - January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry - January 10th
The Golden League - January 14th
The Fall from Grace - January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice - January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations - January 22nd

The Fall From Grace

Date: Ongoing

Prologue: When you try to soar too high, eventually you will reach your limit and come crashing down. A large group of individuals attempted to fly to heights unheard of, and fell harder than anyone could have ever thought. Unfortunately, they may have brought the rest of the world down with them...



After months of strains, concerns, and sub prime mortgages, things had to break, and break they did. In the span of a few days former Wall Street giants Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and AIG were all belly up, and Wall Street was changed forever.

The US Government found itself in a very precarious position, as they needed to do something to stop the bleeding. They proceeded to take control of mortgage giants Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as AIG.

Then when it was obvious that larger action was needed, and a $700 billion bail-out was passed. The US Government agreed to lend/loan billions of dollars to ailing banks to restore confidence in American markets and restabilize things.

Meanwhile, other markets all over the world have been collapsing. Banks have been nationalized, and millions of people have been laid off.

Also, the "Detroit Three" of GM, Ford, and Dodge, requested a bailout of their own, and after a series of dramatic developments, were eventually able to receive a very limited one as well. This prevented at least GM from filing for bankruptcy in the short term.

Now the response among normal people like you and I, has been mixed to say the least. There are obviously people who see this as nothing more than a scare tactic, however, those individuals seem to be in the minority. Most people are joining the collective "sky is falling" attitude, and see that we could be heading towards our worst financial problems since The Great Depression.

This has already lead to tightening of the metaphorical belt on both an individual and a collective level. Every time you open up the papers, there is some talk about what the governments are going to do to help us in this problem. Are they going to spend more to get out of a recession? Are they going to cut taxes or increase them? Everyone seems to have suggestions, but nobody has an answer, at least not yet.

However, there is one question that has not been asked. What is going to be done to hold the people responsible for this mess accountable? Why did so many wealthy and intelligent people give out sub-prime mortgages in the first place? How could they not have seen what was coming? Should they not at least have to answer for their short-sighted behaviour?

Apparently all they seem to be getting is a stern talking to, and another bail-out package, while decent, hard-working people have gloom and uncertainty to look forward to.

Hardly seems fair, does it?

Epilogue: There is still some optimism in these uncertain economic times. People all over the world, are developing ideas in new fields to reestablish economies, with a great deal of talk being made of "Green Collar" jobs in new forms of energy, or electric cars.

If that's enough to save us, we will have to wait and see. Because, somehow $700 billion was not enough to undo the damages.

Until next time,

G
Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet - January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition - January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror - January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry - January 10th
The Golden League - January 14th
The Fall from Grace - January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice - January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations - January 22nd

The Golden League

Date: August 8- 24, 2008

Prologue: Every four years, people catch gold fever, and this would be no different of a time. The greatest from all over the world would converge by a place once forbidden. In the end though, one nation, and two very special men proved to be the most golden of them all.



The Chinese had high hopes heading into the 29th Olympiad. Not only did they want to wow the world, but they wanted to show just how great China was. They had set a goal to reach the top of the medal standings, which seemed lofty at the time. After all, China had not been a major sports power before, how could they possibly earn more medals than the usual favourites such as Russia, Australia, and the United States?

Somehow, someway though, the Chinese did it. In the years preceding the games, the Chinese continued to send their best and brightest to the world championships, and before anyone knew it they were the favourites in such events as weight lifting and diving, something that was previously unimagined.

To the astonishment of the world, China finished with a staggering 51 Gold Medals, 15 more than the second place Americans.

As amazing as that was though, there were two men who really stole the show from the host nation, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt.

In the 2004 Olympics, Michael Phelps won an unbelievable 6 Gold and 2 Bronze Medals. However, his sights were set even higher this time. He wanted to break Mark Spitz's record of 7 Gold Medals in one game. To do this he needed to win 17 races in a mere 9 days.

Not only did he do this, but he did it in a truly unbelievable fashion. In winning his eight gold medals, he set seven world records.

Not to be outdone was Jamaican Sprinter Usain Bolt. A longtime 200m sprinter, Bolt decided to add the 100m sprint to his repertoire in July 2007. In a very short amount of time, Bolt was able to set a world record of 9.72 seconds at the world championships.

He entered Beijing to compete in both the 100m and 200m sprints. He was the favourite to win them both, but nobody had any idea he would be quite this good.

If you blinked you would have missed the 100m race, as he shattered his own record with a blistering 9.69s. To make things even more amazing, he slowed down at the end of the race to look in both directions and he started to celebrate prematurely. If that was not enough, his left shoe was untied. That's right, Bolt was able to slow down at the end of a race, with only one shoe firmly tied, and he was still able to be the fastest man ever. Some scientists have calculated that he could have made that run in 9.55s, which is staggering to say the least.

In the 200m, Bolt kept focused for the entire race, and was able to break Michael Johnson's 12 year world record, with a time of 19.30s. He also had a 0.9m/s headwind slowing him down.

Almost as an afterthought, Bolt was a part of the Jamaican 4x100m relay team that won the gold medal, and set another world record.

In looking back on the Beijing Olympics, it is hard to say who the real star is. Is it Michael Phelps and his 8 Gold Medals? Is it Usain Bolt and his super human speed? Or is it China, and their iron will to impress?

I suppose that the debate will rage on for a while, but what's not to be debated is that the real winners are all of us who got to watch these simply unbeliavable feats commited by unbelievable people.

Epilogue: With the 2012 Olympics scheduled to in London, one can imagine that the Chinese are going to try once more to top their past glory, and truley cement themselves as world sporting powers.

Phelps and Bolt are a mere 23 and 22 respectively, so expect to here more of them in the future. Neither has announced if they will participate in the next Olympics, but we will have to wait until London calls...

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet - January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition - January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror - January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry - January 10th
The Golden League - January 14th
The Fall from Grace - January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice - January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations - January 22nd

A Most Sincere Inquiry

Date: July 18, 2008

Prologue: How often can the dead speak to us? How often can they inspire us?

This past year, a jester sought to commune from beyond the grave, and in doing so he presented us with perhaps the most important question we have been asked in ages...


On January 22, 2008, rising star, Heath Ledger died of a sudden and tragic overdose to sleeping pills. After some research, it was discovered that Ledger became so addicted to the sleeping pills because he got so into his role of The Joker for the upcoming summer blockbuster, The Dark Knight.

This immediately picked the interest of a rabid fan base, who were at best, hesitant to see the same actor from 10 Things I Hate About You and Brokeback Mountain portray one of the most infamous villain in the entire DC Comic universe.

After several more months of some excellent viral marketing (including the amazing, whysoserious.com), the big day finally arrived, and everyone went to see it. The movie set the opening day record with over $67 million, shattering the previous record of $58.1 million.

Hype goes a long way to setting opening day records, but if the product lacks, it is hard to maintain serious drawing power (see: 3, Spider-Man). However, for all of the hype surrounding The Dark Knight, it did something almost unimaginable in the age of superficial blockbusters, it was better than it's hype.

The film was universally praised by fans and critics alike. Ledger's performance as The Joker was simply legendary. He performed a rare feat of having a villain completely steal the show, and joins the elite pantheon of Hannibal Lector and Darth Vader as the most engaging and multi-dimensional antagonists in film. Meanwhile Christian Bale was excellent once again in his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman, excellently contrasting the characters idealism with his borderline sociopathism. Perhaps the most underrated character in the film though is Aaron Eckhart, who is able to take the pretty-boy-do-gooder Harvey Dent, and believably turn him into a comic book super villain, while remaining true to his motives as a champion of justice.

The rare combination of hype and quality helped generate a box office mega-success. When it was all said and done, The Dark Knight became the fastest movie to reach the $500 million mark, cutting The Titanic's run in half, and ended up finishing as the second-highest grossing film of all time, only losing only to to the afformentioned film about a boat and a love story. Upon its release to DVD, it sold 3 million units in one day, once more, shattering a record.

Not only did this movie prove that dark, twisted movies can sell, but it was perhaps the most successful use of viral marketing in history. As such, one can anticipate that more and more of both will be used in the future.

But the most enduring legacy of this film, is and always will be Ledger's performance. It is heart-breaking that we were robbed of an amazing talent at such a young age, just as he was hitting his peak. Who knows what more the man could have done with a full career ahead of him?

The tragic thing is that we will never know. But do not grieve to badly, I don't think that he would want you to take things so seriously.

Epilogue: The most interesting development in the coming months will be the consideration it gets during Oscar season. After winning several nominations and awards in other venues, it remains to be seen if a very un-Oscar movie receives a nomination. A growing vocal majority is repeatedly making claims that the movie deserves a nomination for Best Picture, and that Heath Ledger deserves the nod for Best Supporting Actor.

We will have to wait until January 20, to find out.

Until next time,

G

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet - January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition - January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror - January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry - January 10th
The Golden League - January 14th
The Fall from Grace - January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice - January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations - January 22nd

Attack of the Three-Headed Terror

Prologue: What happens when the people speak, but don't really say anything?

It leaves the powers that be in a very odd situation, as they tend to lose control. With such a gap in power, it appeared that a three-headed creature would seize the reigns, however one man had to appeal to a higher power to delay the onslaught and hold on.



After over two-years of a reasonably successful Minority Government, Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, began to make claims that Parliament had become dysfunctional, and an election was needed. On September 7, Stephen Harper went to Governor General Michelle Jean, and requested the dissolution of parliament. The Governor General complied, and we had an election on October 14.

To the surprise of nobody, the Conservatives won yet again, with another Minority Government. However, this time they had a larger seat total, garnering 143 seats. This compared to the 77 earned by the Liberals, 49 by the Bloc Quebecois, and 37 to the NDP (along with 2 Independents).

(Editorial Tangent: Now before we continue, we need to examine one of the central principals of a Parliamentary Democracy. The electorate (in theory) never vote for the Prime Minister, or even the political party. Technically you vote for the representative of your constituency, and it is up to those representatives (MPs) to chose the leader of their group. It just happens in practice that almost every politician is affiliated with a party, and each party has a leader who is understood to become Prime Minister in the event of a victory for their party.)

Before Parliament had even sat, the Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty delivered his fiscal update, which is essentially a mini-budget. This update was quickly, and vehemently panned by the three opposition parties. With three main points of contention: a lack of an economic stimulus plan to prevent recession, removal of civil servants right to strike, and the removal of subsidies for political parties. The last being the most crucial, as it would essentially bankrupt all three opposition parties at once.

(Editorial Tangent #2: While it is by no means required, it is expected that the political parties cooperate and compromise in the event of a Minority Government. After all, if the will of the populace is divided, then surely the actions of the government are expected to reflect this.)

This sent all three parties, and much of the population, into an incendiary rage. However, the only way to stop this was to table a Non-Confidence motion, and therefore trigger yet another election. Since this was something that nobody wanted, especially the Liberals who had delivered perhaps their poorest electoral showing in history.

As a result, something daring was proposed, a change in government without an election.

After a series of talks, it was announced that the Liberals and NDP would form a coalition, lasting until June 30, 2011. They would place the Liberal leader as Prime Minister, and create a cabinet of 23 other ministers, including 6 NDPs. However, with a quick amount of math you can notice that the 114 seats that the two parties have combined is not enough, so they needed a little bit more support. They then formed an agreement with the Bloc Quebecois to support the coalition until June 30, 2010.

This prompted Stephen Harper and the Conservatives to launch a full scale media blitz, calling the coalition ruthlessly undemocratic, even addressing the nation on prime time. There were two central arguments against the coalition: the widely unpopular Stephane Dion would be Prime Minster, and that it required the support of the Bloc Quebecois.

This sparked a fervour and debate across the country as rallies were held on both sides of the argument. Something that has not been seen in Canada since the Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords over a decade and a half ago.

Stephen Harper made an unprecedented request to the Governor General to prorogue parliament. She complied, and delayed the Parliament to January 26th (From December 8th) in a wildly debated move. Normally prorogation is reserved for genuine national emergencies, such as war or natural disasters, and has never been used for political emergencies.

In a snap move, Stephane Dion then announced that he would step down as Liberal (and coalition) leader, and Michael Ignatieff was quickly selected as his replacement. Ignatieff has softened talks of a coalition, but by no means has stated that he will comply with the Conservatives.

However, we will have to wait until the 26th to find out what will happen, and that, my friends, is something that we will be discussing in our 2009 year in review.


Epilogue: While the government has not been seated, the Canadian economy continues to suffer, the 100th Canadian solider died in Afghanistan, one of the worst winters in memory started to take place, and nothing is being done to remedy either of those situations.

Somehow claims by the government of having the best interest of the people in mind are not being debated.

Until next time,

G

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet - January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition - January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror - January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry - January 10th
The Golden League - January 14th
The Fall from Grace - January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice - January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations - January 22nd

An Unlikely Fruition

Prologue: Back in a distant time, a man made an extraordinary claim. He said that he would bring freedom to a long oppressed land. As the years passed, people thought that this day of freedom would never arise. However, to the shock of many, freedom would come, and it would be just what the doctor ordered. People were bound to ask though, was it worth the wait?

In 1994, at the height of their popularity, Guns N' Roses front man, announced the name of their next album, Chinese Democracy. However, as delay upon delay came, and the band changed members repeatedly, it appeared as if we were going to see actual democracy in China before the album's release.

Years past, and the album became a punchline. With the Offspring even hinting at calling their album Chinese Democracy: You Snooze, You Lose in 2002, however they backed off for legal reasons. Even as early as this year, Dr. Pepper, made a (presumably) satirical offer to give one free can of Dr. Pepper to everyone in the United States if Chinese Democracy was released in 2008.

I am not if Axl Rose likes Dr. Pepper or not, but that seemed to motivate him. It was announced in the fall of 2008 that the album would be released in November. As is often the case in this digital age, the tracks of the album were leaked. However, in a stunning development, Axl Roses pursued legal measures against the bloggers who leaked the tracks, and so far one man, Kevin Cogill, has been sentenced to a year in prison as a result of the track leaking.

Much like Star Wars Episode I: Phantom Menace this album faced a near impossible volume of hype and expectations. When you keep people waiting for so long, you need to come to terms with the fact that it may be better in the minds of fans than in reality. However, unlike the first Star Wars prequel, Chinese Democracy did not make its creators any richer. The album boasted some very low sales, and in no way justified its $13, 000, 000 reported price tag.

Once more, it really just wasn't very good. Sure, it had its inspired moments, however, the chords are over produced, and the lyrics are under thought. Which hardly warrants the fourteen years that Axl Rose had to meditate on the subject.

If there is one thing that Chinese Democracy has proven, it is that good things do not always come to those who wait.

Embedded Video

Epilogue: Chinese Democracy sold only 261,000 units in the first week of sales, and the numbers sharply declined after wards. It ranked #12 on The Rolling Stones year end rank of albums, but #1 on IGN's Worst Album of 2008 list.

There have been no talks of releasing a new album.

Until next time,

G

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet - January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition - January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror - January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry - January 10th
The Golden League - January 14th
The Fall from Grace - January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice - January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations - January 22nd

The Rise of the Ice Queen

Date: August 28, 2008

Prologue: Two men engage in a year long battle. One man, who continues to play by his own rules, gains momentum, but realizes that he is unable to achieve victory on his own. He summons a previously unknown maiden from the land of ice and snow, to aid him in his mission. Quickly though, this Ice Queen begins to overshadow the very man that she was supposed to assist, which puts things on an irreversible path.



August seems like a lifetime ago by now, doesn't it? In reality though it has only been a little over 4 months since John McCain introduced the world to Sarah Palin, and the course of the campaign changed in a matter of minutes.

Back in August, John McCain was taking a chip out of Obama's huge lead, with the extremely successful "World's Biggest Celebrity" advertisements. Obama had just made a safe albeit boring running mate selection of Joe Biden, which hardly set the world on fire. However, his convention came pretty close to (figuratively) setting things ablaze. It had the emotion of Hilary Clinton's speech, and the stunning visualization of Obama addressing 80, 000 people on a Denver night.

McCain knew that he needed to do something to both upstage Obama's running mate, and get peopel to stop talking about his acceptance speech. John McCain, ever the maverick, did not take such likely candidates as Pawlenty, Romney, or Liberman, instead he went with a much wilder pick that certain got people talking. He chose Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin.

At first, this was a huge success. People wondered who this young, unheralded, and attractive woman was. They saw her as a an excellent "outsider" both as a woman in a man's world, and as someone who has little connection in Washington. Also, people who had originally supported Hilary Clinton, seemed to flock towards Sarah Palin.

She became a huge star in no time.

And that was the biggest problem.

Everyone wanted to know more about this mysterious Palin. We had gotten two years to get to know Obama on a national stage, but had no idea who this woman was. Quickly, John McCain became an afterthought, as people began to flock towards his running mate.

Palin ralies became huge events, drawing massive crowds, while McCain's ralies had far smaller numbers.

And that was the next biggest problem.

Palin became in control of the campaign. McCain had pledged long and hard to run an honourable campaign, however, Palin made no such promises. She began to accuse Obama of "Pallin' around with terrorists", and an intense amount of hatred and blatant racism would begin to emerge at her rallies, as she began to fan the flames of hatred. Certainly not an honourable campaign that John McCain wanted.

Since Palin became an overnight sensation, the media wanted to get a hold of her for an interview.

And that was the next, next biggest problem.

She really had no idea how to handle any sort of questions. She was either completely unprepared or completely ignorant, or perhaps both. Take a look at the most infamous blunder of hers from an interview with Katie Couric.



Amazing eh?

Now that certainly is "gotcha" journalism, with that tricky Couric asking a hard question.

Other proud moments for Mrs. Palin, include her not understanding the Bush Doctrine, getting confused as to the role of the Vice President, and thinking that Africa is a country. Certainly something that someone who wants the second highest office in the land should know.

Also, a new sueprstar in politics, especially one with such gaping holes in her knowledge set, became excellent fodder for satire. Including this, perhaps the most memorable moment of the 2008 campaign.



After eight years, jokes at George W. Bush's expense were in need of freshening up, and thankfully, the Republicans came through yet again for us. Not only did 2008 give us a richer target for satire, it gave us a more polarizing character than we have seen in a very long time. Due to her age, and relative freshness on the national stage, this is one that will not be going away soon.

Epilogue: In the end, Palin became an absolute cancer to the McCain campaign. Five days before the election, almost 60% of Americans thought that she was unprepared for the job of Vice President (to say nothing about President), and over 40% had an unfavourable opinion of her.

In case you haven't heard, McCain-Palin were absolutely crushed in the election.

Sarah Palin is considered an early contender for the Republican nomination in 2012.

Until next time,

G

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet - January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition - January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror - January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry - January 10th
The Golden League - January 14th
The Fall from Grace - January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice - January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations - January 22nd

The Fall of the Prophet

This is the start of my (belated) look back at 2008. I have plans for a number of posts to make an appearance here in the coming days, so please, continue to check back as I reflect on a number of things that made 2008 worthwhile.

Without further ado, here is the first installment in the "Adventures of 2008".

Date: February 3, 2008

Prologue: The unstoppable forces of evil go against the plucky underdog. Despite having a vastly superior force to anyone else in the world, they still resort to underhanded tactics to overcome their foes. Victory appeared so imminent that a group of giants seemed unable to keep these forces at bay. All seems lost for truth and justice, as the sinister brigade looks to cement their place in history, however, as is often the case, things do not go quite as they seem...





The New England Patriots finished the 2007 regular season in historic fashion. They defeated the New York Giants in a nail biter and ended the regular season at 16-0, something that no team had ever done before. During the first two rounds of the playoffs they steamrolled the competition, and prepared for a Superbowl showdown against the very same Giants that they had vanquished once before.

Despite their absolutely historic run (the Miami Dolphins had completed a perfect regular season in 1972, however, their regular season was only 14 games long, thus making this one arguably more impressive), the New England Patriots were not without their detractors. The most notorious of which was the infamous "Spygate" scandal. The New England Patriots were accused of filming a practice held by the New York Jets prior to their September 9th match-up, a game which the Patriots easily won.

After a series of investigations, the Patriots were fined and lost their first round draft pick due to breaking the NFL's rules. After this, a series of other accusations surfaced about Bill Bilichick taping a variety of other games, including the 2002 Superbowl, which the Patriots scored an unlikely upset over the vaunted St. Louis Rams.

Regardless of wether the Patriots cheated in any other game, it did not matter, doubt was cast upon their legacy and their quest for perfection. Even if they were to win the Superbowl, there would be a number of questions as to how many victories that they actually earned, and how many were gathered illegally. This caused a great deal of resentment against the New England Patriots, as even non-football fans were hoping for them to lose. Normally this kind of sporting animosity is only reserved for the New York Yankees, the Toronto Maple Leafs, the LA Lakers, and the US Olympic team. However, on this day, the Patriots entered the infamous club.

The game itself was a rather slow affair for the first three quarters. It looked like the Patriots offense was having a slow day, and their defense had to take over. The score was 7-3 for New England, heading into the fourth. The Giants scored an unlikey touchdown at the start of the quarter to make it 10-7, and then things got interesting.

Tom Brady, arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time, turned it up a notch, and lead to the Patriots getting another touchdown, to make it 14-10 with 2:42 left to play. It seemed like the inevitable was going to occur, and there would be 19-0 posters everywhere the next morning.

Then, this happened.




Watch that again if you have to, because it is simply one of the most amazing (and downright lucky) catches you will ever see.

A few drives later and the Giants scored another touchdown, making the score 17-14 with 35 seconds left. The Patriots attempted to move the ball down the field, and the unthinkable happened.

The clock ran out. The Patriots lost.

The Giants completed one of the greatest upsets in sporting history as they humbled the unbeatable juggernaut. Sports fans and casual viewers alike celebrated as the bad guys lost, and evil was vanquished for yet another day.


Epilogue: The New England Patriots, perhaps more motivated than ever, looked to start the 2008 season with a bang, and perhaps claim the Championship that they felt they deserved the year before. However, in an act that can only be described as karmic, star quarterback Tom Brady, suffered a knee injury during the first quarter of the first game. It would be both his first game of the season, and his last. As a result of losing their star, the Patriots failed to make the playoffs this past season, and will have to wait at least another season to win the one game that truly matters.

Until next time,

G

Achieved Year in Review Posts:

The Fall of the Prophet - January 6th
The Rise of the Ice Queen -January 7th
An Unlikely Fruition - January 7th
Attack of the Three-Headed Terror - January 9th
A Most Sincere Inquiry - January 10th
The Golden League - January 14th
The Fall from Grace - January 16th
The Eighth Layer of Injustice - January 16th
The Transmuter of Nations - January 22nd

Candidacy Chaos

We reflect more on the year that was by looking at the story of a comedian, a fundamentalist, a self-proclaimed martyr, a retired soldier, grassroots campaigns, and some audacious hope.



This year holds some very exciting promise. After putting up with a scary, war-mongering, constitution-defying, oil-greedy establishment south of the border, there is finally a chance for it to change.

While the election is still a solid 11 months away, there has been no shortage of drama already in this very wide-open race. At the start of the year, it seemed destined to be a Hilary Clinton against either John McCain or Rudy Guiliani, now a short while later and that remains in question.

On the Democratic side of things, we have seen the rapid rise of Barack Obama and a fairly strong surge by John Edwards. At the end of the day though, I think that Obama really is going to be the one to pull ahead. The man is just too good of a speaker, and is putting forward too strong of a message to be ignored. There is a certain appeal in an Obama-Edwards ticket, if for nothing else than potential sitcom moments that a black guy and southerner tandem possess. Saturday Night Live would have a field day with those two running together.

Of course, joining the Democratic candidates was comedian Stephen Colbert, whose satirical campaign came very close to reality. He planned on running in his home state of South Carolina, and garnered incredible support, including the fastest growing Facebook group in history. However, the South Carolina Democratic executive council voted against his nomination. It's too bad, because him running could have made things very, very interesting.

On the Republican end there seems to be a far more open field. There is once again the man that was blatantly robbed in 2000, John McCain, who is joined by former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani, and a cast of relative new comers to the world's eye. With the "Back to Basics" message coming from Senator Ron Paul that seems to be gathering a very large grassroots movement, and the "Trust in God" message coming from Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, being the two most interesting.

Huckabee seems to be gathering all sorts of momentum, especially among the evangelical-right that helped put Bush into power. I would not at all be surprised to see a Huckabee-Obama showdown, in a truly monumental and epic presidential race. We would see the first African-American candidate, promising change, go up against a Southern Minister who has associated homosexuality with necrophilia at one point. Make no mistake about it, this is a very important year for the course of the United States, and therefore the world. We should have a lot more to reflect on in one year's time.

Until next time,

G

The Benoit Diaries

Today I look back at one of the most surreal and revolting moments of 2007, and how it brought a very powerful man into a position of having to cope with it all.


On June 25 of this past year the unthinkable happened. Chris Benoit, respected wrestler, along with his wife and seven year old son, were found dead in their Atlanta home. What was concluded was even more shocking, the deaths were a murder-suicide committed by Chris Benoit.

The WWE was faced with an immediate problem when they discovered about the deaths. First off, they had an episode of RAW that night, and apparently did not know all of the facts at the time. So, sticking with the precedent that was set with the early deaths of Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero, they decided to turn the episode into a special "tribute" show, featuring past matches of Benoit's, and comments by current members of the roster. The next night when their episode of ECW was airing, the show opened with Vince McMahon saying that the WWE did not have all of their facts straight, and that they would never mention his name again on their shows.

I think that there are a few oddities in this story that stem from comments made by William Regal and Edge. Regal, one of the wrestlers who knew Benoit the best, only focused on Benoit's in-ring talents and made no mention to him as a person, quite an odd thing for one of his long time friends. Edge's comments, while heartfelt, raised a bit of suspicion when he said "...I don't understand things like this, and I never will" are very ominous considering the circumstance. It makes me think that he knew exactly what had happened at the time of his statement.

All sorts of speculation as to the causes of this sudden, and drastic action have taken place. Many people in the media immediately assumed that it was "Roid Rage" caused by a life of taking steroids, however, the toxicology reports disproved this theory. However, after his death his brain was examined, and it was found that the amount of damage done to his brain as a result of concussions had left his brain in a similar condition to an "85-year-old Alzheimer's patient", which could full well have led to a severe case of dementia and depression on Benoit's part.

No matter why the tragedies occurred, the WWE has been left in a very tough position. They have recalled Chris Benoit's DVD, and have slowly removed any references to him from their website and other public materials. This has also lead to the WWE delaying the release of some other DVDs, for example, they were going to release a Summerslam anthology box set, with every Summerslam on DVD for the first time ever. However, they were uncertain with what to do with Benoit's matches, especially his main event title defense against Randy Orton in 2004. Also, they were originally going to release a Steve Austin retrospective DVD in November, but it was set to feature one of Austin's excellent matches with Benoit from the spring of 2001. The WWE decided that it would not erase any of his matches on these box sets, but would not feature them on any other wrestlers DVDs.

I am not certain how I feel about the WWE attempting to re-write its own history like this. On one hand, Benoit did some terrible, inexcusable actions, but on the other hand, he has a certain place in the companies history and his actions in the past should not be ignored for his future sins. It would be akin to Germany re-writing their political history and omitting the years 1939-1945, sure it is six years that they would rather forget, but they still happened. I do commend the company for including the matches from Summerslam, as it would have been very awkward to get around some of them.

A few days after the event, I took a break from my summer sabbatical to write my thoughts on what was occurring. In preparing to write this post, I re-read it, and to be honest, I don't think that I have answered my questions on this event in the past six months. I still struggle with my memories of Benoit as a performer (which are good) with my thoughts of him as a person now (which are, obviously, not so good). I still don't know the right answer.

I still haven't watched my Chris Benoit DVD, but I feel that I will again someday, I'm not sure when, and I'm not sure how I'll feel when I watch it. But I know that I need to watch it, for closure if nothing else.

Until next time,

G

The Attack of the Green Menace

I continue to look back at all that was in 2007 by examining a former vice-president, a catchy pop song and impending doom.



Sure, An Inconvenient Truth came out in 2006, but its message lingered well into 2007. We are in a lot of trouble unless we do something soon. While Gore's message was hardly a new one, scientists have been talking about it for years, something about hearing it from Al Gore seemed to make it click. I'm not sure if it was the fact that Gore's connections with Clinton, his opposition to Bush, or what it could have been, but to many people he was somehow trustworthy.

As a result of this message, the environment has been greatly at the heart of the public conscious this past year. This has led to a change in both political and commercial rhetoric. As many politicians who once considered Global Warming to be a hippie scare tactic have began talking about environmental issues, and many companies are beginning to advertise their products as being environmentally friendly.

Hell, the fear of global warming even showed up in one of the greatest and most ubiquitous songs of the year. If Al Gore didn't get people listening, then Rhianna sure did.

There are of course a variety of questions surrounding this newfound environmental concern. Many environmentalists are concerned about the validity of this concern, as they raise issues of a "green washing" that is currently occurring by many politicians and corporations, as they exaggerate or falsify the environmental benefit of their policies or products. And of course, many other environmentalists see this public debate as being too little, and too late. In their eyes, the type of action required at this point is far too drastic than we are ready, willing or able to do.

But the newly invigorated environmental movement is not all doom and gloom. With the increase in awareness, comes and increase in funding for research into slowing, and potentially reversing the causes of our short-sited, excessive behaviour. People all over the world are looking into some amazing ideas like carbon sequestering, bio-fuels, renewable energy, electric cars, plastic from orange peels, and some other very exciting technologies. People seem to be finally taking this concern seriously as our generation seems to have found its calling. Our grandparents knew that they had a war to fight, our parents knew that they had a war to stop, and here we ("we" being the ones who don't remember the Vietnam war, but remember the first Iraq War) are with our mission, our goal, we have to save humanity from itself. It's going to be a tough one, but I think that we can find a way to do it. In the future when we look back and find our Pearl Harbour, or Walter Cronkite on the evening news, we will look back at An Inconvenient Truth as the moment that we realized that we couldn't ignore this problem anymore, as the moment that we realized that we needed to do something to make this world a better place.

Until next time,

G

Mr. Jobs and the Death of the Video Star

I continue my reflections on 2007 today with a look back at technology, counting, and a damn good song.


In 1979, The Buggles prophetically declared that "Video Killed the Radio Star". Twenty-eight years later, it seems that the commercial has in fact killed the video star.

If you were anywhere near a television this fall, chances are you saw this commercial, in which the lovely, and talented, Ms. Leslie Feist, taught the world how to count and Steve Jobs introduced the world to a truly great Canadian songstresses.







Now this commercial did help Gonzalez achieve a great deal of personal fame, but it really has not been at the same level as Feist's explosion has been. So what was the difference?

While you can point out all sorts of grave differences between the songs and the artists, I think that the main difference is in the commercial itself, and where the viewers attention goes. In the Sony ad, the attention is on the thousands of bouncing balls, with the music being a melodic accompaniment to the chaos. Where as in the Apple ad, the attention is firmly on Feist. For every second that commercial is playing, you can see the artist and hear her song. The fact that it's a commercial for an iPod really is secondary. Sure the iPods get picked up, or moved around, but the viewer still remains (rightly) transfixed on the artist until the split second shot at the end when it reminds you to buy a Nano.

This ad presents a marketable shift in the use of music in advertising, it places the artist at the forefront, above the product. The one tag line that the ad shows is "A little video for everyone", reminding the consumer that you can watch this video whenever you want, if only you own an iPod. While of course, this is an advertisement for an iPod, it really comes across as an advertisement for Feist, implying that being able to watch this video at any time is well worth the price of an iPod.

The other main difference is that the Apple commercial features the actual video for this song, which had came out months prior to the release of this commercial. So why was the ad so much more effective than the original release of the video?

I think that the main reason is pure and simple laziness. Watching a video takes a certain effort, either by switching to MTV/MuchMusic (during the 20 minutes of hte day when they actually play videos..) or following a link to the YouTube video. Commercials on the other hand take a certain effort to avoid watching. You need to find the remote and another channel where you know something else is on, and really it's just easier to passively lay there and be bombarded with your consumerist message.

The explosion of this song really is textbook 2007. It demonstrates the power of the media, the power of the brand, the direct relationship between artist and fan, and more importantly, the power of a damn good song.




Until next time,

G

The Hit and the Astericks

I looked at the calendar and I realized that there are only 16 days left until 2007 is gone forever. To celebrate the greatness that this year has been, I have decided that I am going to dedicate several posts to some of the memories of this year. The first installment looks at drugs, punctuation, and the pursuit of a legacy.




On August 7 Barry Bonds was up to bat in a game against the Washington Nationals. Facing a full count, the San Fransisco crowd began chanting his name. A crack of the bat and 435 feet later, history was made. Barry Bonds hit his 756th career homerun, passing Hank Aaron for the all-time lead.

Just in case you missed it that night, or on the countless replays later. Here it is...




While the crowd in San Fransisco was elated that Bonds hit this homerun, the majority of people were not. While few would argue Bonds remarkable abilities, he has not been a man without controversy.

In 2001, Bonds hit 73 homeruns, breaking Mark McGuire's single season record to the shock of many. Given the mans age and his previous high of 49 homeruns, people assumed foul play. Greg Anderson, Bonds person trainer during this time, was later indicted for supplying anabolic steroids to professional athletes. In a 2006 book entitled Game of Shadows, the authors made several allegations against Barry Bonds concerning steroid use. The authors stated that during the 2001 season, Barry Bonds was a veritable chemical cocktail, stating that he was on at least 6 different types of performance enhancing drugs.

During Anderson's investigation, Bonds vehemently denied using steroids, or that Anderson had given him any. However, in 2006, federal investigators began looking into the fact that Bonds may have committed perjury, and in fact had received steroids from Anderson.

The ball used to hit this historic homerun was put up for auction in September, and was bought by fashion designer, Marc Ecko for $752,467. Ecko set up a website to allow the people do democratically determine the fate of the ball. There were three choices, to donate it to the Hall of Fame, to brand it with an asterisk (implying that the achievement was tainted), or to send it off into space.

After millions of votes, 47% of people decided that ball should be marked with an asterisk, before being sent to Cooperstown. Showing that many people feel that Bonds' achievements were tainted.

To me, this really is our generations Watergate. Before any of you get ready to post some angry comments, insulting my intelligence, hear me out.

Before Nixon's imfamous scandal, politics was considered to be a very pure, and noble thing, the altruistic act of devoting your life to public service. However, the findings that the President himself was at the centre of political wrong-doings, opened the world's eyes to the corrupt underbelly of politics. This has ushered in a wave of cynicism towards the democratic process, whose effects can still be felt.

This asterisk really is the sporting-equivalent. Sports have a certain mythos for being a pure test of athletic excellence, and baseball has long propagated this perception with its reliance on a host of heroes from Ruth to Mantle to McGuire.

Now we find out that one of the greatest players of this generation, allegedly owes a great deal of his success not to abilities and determination, but to needless and oils. While Bonds is, of course, innocent until proven guilty, the majority of people have already thrown him to the snake pit, accusing him of being a blatant cheater. Gone appear to be the days when our sporting great would be held in the highest regard, instead they appear to be the victims of constant scrutiny as modern cynicism engulfs them as well.

I feel really bad for the next great athlete to come along and shatter this (or any other) record. People will not be revering their accomplishment, but instead they will be met with constant accusations that they were on some sort of performance enhancing drugs, similar to the CeNNa-gate story that I touched on a while ago.

As a foot not to this story, the allegations against Bonds, were the catalyst for a full scale investigation into steroid use in baseball. The findings of this investigation, the Mitchell Report, were just released earlier this week with staggering results (Click here to read the entire thing, or here to just read an article about it).

The report gives many, many, examples of players using various performance enhancing drugs over the past several years and lists several players, including Roger Clemens, as culprits.
The report even states that it would be impossible to find every player who has used performance enhancers, implying that there are a very large amount of them.

If steroids, and other drugs, are as rampant as Mitchell states, I really need to wonder why it took so long for it to be so well known. If so many players are using drugs, then surely the managers and/or owner of the teams must have known somehow, someway. While the players themselves are responsible for their own actions, there must have been a large amount of people who encouraged them, either directly, or by turning a blind eye to the process. Everyone in baseball, really is to blame for the current state of the game (including former Texas Rangers owner, George W. Bush, yes that George W. Bush). And really, if baseball is so drug-ridden, who is to say that any other sports aren't the same?

The date of Bonds' trial, and the presentation of the asterisk ball to the Hall of Fame, should be some of the more interesting moments of 2008. However, when we look back at the homerun, the asterisk, and the investigation, we will remember 2007 as a very important year in sporting history. It is the year that teamwork, dedication, and integrity all went out the window in favour of the pursuit of excellence, winning, and money at all costs.

In other words, sports has lost something that it may never be able to get back, it has lost its innocence.

Until next time,

G

My 2006

I have been thinking about writing this blog for a long time. I suppose, I have been thinking about it, in some way or another for the past twelve months, but I have been thinking quite concretely about it for the past several weeks. This year has been by far the most educational year of my life. I think back to who I was at the beginning of this year and I barely recognize myself. I have been wondering just how much information to include in this write up. I don’t want to offend anyone or anything, but I feel that I owe nothing but complete honesty to myself and most of you have probably heard the interesting parts of my year anyway. As a result, I have decided not to censor any information as I write this up.

Before I begin to explain my 2006, I had best explain how 2005 ended for me. To make an incredibly long story, incredibly short, I had moved to Scotland at the end of August 2005. I was following my girlfriend at the time Melanie, who had accepted a teaching job in the small town of Dumfries, in south-western Scotland.

While I was meeting many new friends and traveling to many amazing places on the other side of the world, I still was, by and large, not happy. I spent several months unemployed. I had a job waiting for me as a supply Educational Assistant, but I had to wait for months, upon months to get my police record check. But finally, after months of waiting, I finally got a job. In December of 2005, I started working at a school that was attached to a Residential Care Home. There were six girls, aged fourteen to fifteen living there. They had all been removed from their biological parents by Social Services for a variety of reasons that I find far too terrifying and saddening to ever want to mention again. Needless to say, they had some very specific challenges, not only academically, but emotionally as well. If teenage girls are difficult to deal with, these ones were downright impossible.

After only being there for a short few weeks, it was Christmas Holidays already. This was to be my first Christmas away from home, a difficult challenge for anyone. Now since my parents have been divorced since I was eleven, I have long been used to not being around everyone I know and love for the holidays. As a result, it was not that big of a step to go from being around one parent to being around no parents.

Melanie and I used this time off of work for both of us to travel. After having an “Orphan Canadian” Christmas in Scotland, we hoped on a flight to Dublin on Boxing Day. After spending a few days exploring the city we took the ferry across to Wales, and hiked up Mount Snowdon on my birthday before returning to Scotland on New Year’s Eve to bring in 2006 with our Scottish friends.

So here I am, a quarter of the world away from home, many amazing travel opportunities at my finger tips, starting a promising new job, and approaching my two year anniversary with Melanie. This year seemed to be full of promise, adventure, and education. Looking back, I can’t believe just how incredibly right this newfound optimism was.

January started off simple enough, I returned to work, very excited to see the girls again. In my few weeks before the holidays it was clear that I was the “cool Canadian”. They were very interested in hearing my stories of home and comparing them to their own stories of home. While the weather got cold, and the sun became a distant memory the month carried on. The days were a mix of challenges and rewards, and the nights were full of drinks at the many pubs Dumfries has to offer. In this time, I should note that my friend Andy and I decided that we were going to run a half-marathon. Yeah I know, laugh it up, but I had agreed to run a 13 mile (20 km) race. We had signed up to run the Stranraer half-marathon at the beginning of March, but had begun to train at this point. So when I wasn’t at the pub, I was busy running. I got quite good at it, if I may say so myself.

Near the end of January and into February, my honeymoon period with the youths I was working with changed to the bitter monotony of married life. Things got hard for me at work, really fast. I had a terrible time dealing with the girls I was working with. Normally I can handle tough kids, but these were different. I was having a lot of trouble, but I felt that if I just had a bit of a break I would be fine. Lucky for me, there was a school holiday in February, so Melanie and I decided to hop a plane to Amsterdam. I can not speak enough about that city. I fell in love with it. It just has the most relaxed atmosphere of any city that I have ever been to. It is one of the few big cities that I have been to that I could honestly see myself living in.

When I returned, I felt refreshed and thought that everything would be better. How wrong I was. Things continued to spiral out of control for me at work. And after getting really upset and feeling really down about everything, I did something that I am not at all proud of. I quit. It is a decision that I don’t think that I will ever be able to fully let go of for as long as I live. These girls have always been let down by the adults in their lives. Even though they were outright trying to scare me away at times, I wanted to stick it through and show them that I cared, that I saw something in them, no matter what they saw in themselves. But then at the end of February I put in my notice to quit. My last day would be March 3, coincidently, the day before my big half-marathon that I was so excited about.

But then a funny thing happened, a truly rare and monument occurrence. Scotland got snow. I am not talking any massive White Juan level blizzards, just a soft dusting, maybe half an inch. But since that is something that they are just not used to dealing with, it seemed as if the entire country shut down. My half-marathon was postponed. I found this really hard. I had been looking forward to this for several months and had been training really hard for several weeks, only to have it taken away from me at the last minute. Since we had already rented a car for my race, we decided to turn it into a road trip (WHHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!). So me, Melanie, and our good friend Shannon (another proud member of the Dumfries-Canada Embassy) took the car and decided to just drive north. We ended up getting all the way to the Isle of Skye, a simply magical part of the world. It was uninhabited, barren, snow covered and magnificent. Please check out those pictures in my “Assorted Scotland” album on Facebook, or better yet, go and take some of your own pictures to show me.

So here I am, without a job, again. However, fate would look down on me in an interesting way, and after being unemployed for only one day, I got a call. I was offered to work at the same school that Melanie had been working at in Dumfries. I got to spend time in the Learning Centre there, and I really loved it.

But a few weeks later my world got thrown for yet another loop. For a variety of reasons which do not need to be said in here, I found myself single for the first time in two years. That’s right, Melanie and I broke up.

As a result of this, I had to come back home to Canada. I was looking into a number of flights and found it to be “cheaper” to fly from Glasgow to Paris, and then from Paris to Toronto a week later. Note the use of the quotation marks, since that clearly did not take into account paying for hostels, site seeing, and of course having to eat every day. But none the less I decided to go and spend some time in France.

But I still had a good five days to kill in Scotland. At the start of this time, I felt really quite alone. All of my friends over there were teachers, who I thought to be much more Melanie’s friends than mine. But none the less, I received an overwhelming amount of support from my friends over there. On my last night before I left, two of my very best friends over there, Shannon and Michelle, threw me a going away party. I found this all to be genuinely touching as everyone over there proved to me that they were genuinely my friends. That night, I knew that I would miss them a lot more than I had originally thought and I felt that I would be missed far more than I thought that I would.

It is important to also note, that in those five days Melanie and I spent a large amount of our time talking and gaining closure. While I was sad to go, and even more scared to move on with my life, I left Dumfries without an ounce of anger towards her.

France was an amazing experience for me. At first I was a little anxious about traveling alone, but I quickly fell in love with it. I arrived at my hostel in Paris in the evening and proceeded to make friends with my roommate Ryan. We talked outside briefly, and I said that I was planning on taking a walk, and I heard that the Eiffel Tower looked great at night. So off we went, making many beer stops along the way. After a series of stumbles we finally made it to the Tower. At this point all of the beer I had been drinking caught up to me. Unfortunately, all of the public washrooms were closed at this point, and so I found some bushes. As I stood there starring up at the Eiffel Tower, peeing, I couldn’t help but laugh. My first trip to the Eiffel Tower was not quite as romantic as I had imagined, but it was memorable none the less.

Ryan and I proceeded to travel around Paris for a couple of days before heading up to Normandy where we got to see Juno Beach (to read my entry on that click away). After a few days in Northern France, Ryan and I parted ways as I returned to Paris and he got a ferry to England.

I still had a couple of days in Paris, so I had already booked my spot at the same hostel I was at before. I quickly made friends with my two roommates, Lisander and George, and a Spanish guy Ricky in the hostel. We wandered around the city, with me as their French translator. I had an amazing time with those guys and I have really missed them since I left.

Then on April 3, for the first time in almost eight months, I was home. The next day, I received some wonderful news. I had been accepted to Nipissing University for the Bachelor of Education program. I had applied to both the Primary/Junior Division and the Intermediate/Senior Division. I was really quite torn as to which one I wanted to do, but in the end I decided to stick with my first instinct and go for the older students, a decision that I will probably question for a very long time.

I laid low for the next couple of months. I did the occasional odd job and spent a lot of time visiting a bunch of my friends, both in Ontario and in a trip to NS I made in April.

That would all change at the end of June when I made my annual pilgrimage to McKellar, Ontario. For the fourth year in a row, I went up to Camp Kodiak for another summer. This one, however, would be very different than any other summer I have had. The resident Kodiak Legend, Nicholas Hanson, was unable to return to camp this summer. Also, a number of returning counselors were unable to go for the beginning of the summer. As such, I was asked to take a number of responsibilities around camp. Including (but not limited to): leading team building activities during staff week, being the head of the canoe & kayak program, serving as an academic tutor, planning Theme Days every Sunday, delivering the meal time announcements, hosting the Camp Fires every Wednesday, playing the Spirit Fairy, and of course looking after my own cabin of nine hyper active eight year olds.

Needless to say, I had a very busy summer. However, it was made possible since I had by far the best collection of co-counselors I have ever had. I was so lucky to have my summer mom, Karen, and Rachel, the one person at camp who could make me look responsible. To stack it even more, we got the help of some Junior Counselors, as second session came and Ashley Beane’s amazing sense of humour and maturity beyond her years came to help us out. So there we were, Glen and the Girls, sure our kids were tough and down right infuriating at times, but we made it work. My three co-counselors made last summer not only amazing for me, but without them, I don’t think that I could have managed it at all. I feel sorry for whoever I end up with this summer, as they have a very tough act to follow in my eyes.

Every summer there is something very special at Camp Kodiak, Kodiak games. The premise is very simple, divide the camp into a Blue Team (The Voyageurs) and a Green Team (The Habitants) and they “compete” against one another in a series of events. In my past few summers I have been various levels of leaders on both teams, but this summer I was asked to play the neutral role of Spirit Fairy. I, of course, decided to wear a tutu and call myself Glenderella and prance around the camp amusing and terrifying children throughout the day.

Normally, I say that Kodiak Games is better than Ten Christmases (and given my opinions of Christmas, that may not be saying ALL that much) and is usually my favourite day of the entire calendar year. However, this year it was different. As that just happened to be the day that one counselor was fired and three others decided to quit. I quickly went from being the Spirit Fairy to the Drama Fairy as I spent a lot of the day talking to a variety of different people about the events including some of the people who would end up quitting. Combine this with the staff marathon, a 5 km race in 30 degree weather (which I of course ran in a tutu) and that is the recipe for one tough day. But none the less, I had to remain excited and energetic. One can not be sad in a tutu after all. I even addressed the camp at the end of the day and made allusions to the staff leaving and other troubles that had been taking place around camp. All in all, this was probably my most exhausting day of the year, but I feel it may have been my most educational day as well.

I returned home to Trenton, and proceeded to hibernate for the next week after surviving on a solid three hours a night of sleep for the previous two months.

Then on the last weekend of August, I set off on another adventure. I packed my life into the car and drove up to North Bay to start a new life and get ready for school. The roads that lead me to North Bay are rather interesting actually. When I first decided that I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up, I thought about Nipissing University. Then in September of 2005, I met a couple while I was in Scotland, Rob and Eileen. Eileen had gone to Nipissing the year before and Rob had been working at the University’s technical support. They raved about Nipissing and North Bay. After consulting with Melanie, I decided that Nipissing would be my first choice of schools. One of the main reasons was that Rob and Eileen would be in North Bay and I wanted to make sure that Melanie would have some sort of a social circle, and not just my fellow Education Students. However as the year went on, and plans changed, I found myself going to Nipissing all alone. Not exactly what I had planned.

But none the less, there I was up in North Bay. I tossed and turned the entire night before my first day of classes. I ended up getting out of bed at 5 because I was just so excited to go back to school for the first time in nearly a year and a half. As I drove to the University I realized something. This was the first major venture I have done by myself in a long, long time. I knew my roommate at Acadia from high school. I did not go to Scotland by myself. But here I was walking into Nipissing all by myself.

Due to a hilarious clerical error, I ended up in the wrong section on the first day. After figuring everything out, I ended up getting with the right group, Section 23, by the second day and all was worked out from there.

These last four months have really flown by that I don’t know if I can break them down in the same way that I did for many of the other months. I have spent a total of six weeks on placement so far (One in September, two in October, and three in November), with a Grade 8 class. At first I was really quite worried about spending time with Grade 8s. I don’t remember being all that pleasant at thirteen. But I was quickly won over by these amazing students. They have done an amazing job at both reaffirming and questioning my decisions. I am totally confident that I am doing the right thing pursuing a career in education. I find it both rewarding and challenging, and feel that I have a natural talent for it. However, I have really questioned if Intermediate/Senior (Grades 7-12) are right for me. I can’t help but wonder if I would be better suited for younger students. But, I have made my decision and I am happy with it so far. I may end up changing streams later on in my career, but who knows?

Things up in North Bay have been absolutely amazing for me. I have been blessed with a great section and many great friends. While I may complain about some elements of the program, I am still honestly and genuinely happy to be at Nipissing. After some of the struggles I have faced over the past several months (and even years), I am really very happy to be doing what I have wanted to be doing all along.

So what does 2007 hold for me? Well if I could tell you that, then I would be advertising my psychic hotline instead of writing a blog. But I am going to do a teaching placement in China in April, which I am incredibly excited about. I plan on staying over there and traveling as best I can for May as well. I then get my second expensive piece of paper in June before heading up to Camp for my Fifth summer. I hate to say it, but this may end up being my last summer for a long time. I don’t’ have any definite plans for September, but I have been leaning more and more to teaching English in Japan, Korea or China. But who knows? I never have been much for planning anyway.

As I look back, I can’t help but be amazed at where this year has taken me and what next year promises. This really has been the most educational year of my life, and I think that when I look back this may end up being one of the most influential years as well. Thank you all for a part of it in some way, shape or form.

Until next time,


G