I finished the final Harry Potter today. My cousin was right, about 400 pages of 'what are we going to do', 'we're going to die', blah, blah, blah and then about 100 pages that were well written and very interesting. Except for one major mistake. I can't really say anything about it on here since a bunch of my friends haven't read the book yet. I'll have to go chat with them to see if they caught it as well.
I'm glad it is over. I have not been that impressed with the writing for the past few books. The problem is that the end is always really good and makes you want to read the next. If only the first part of the books was as good as the rest.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Family and Weddings
It's funny how messed up families can get around weddings and funerals. My mom's funeral was a huge mess and afterwards I rarely spoke to my mother's family (that was ten years ago). Now, my brother is getting married and the same issues appear to apply. People upset that they don't know what's going on and somehow I feel like I'm in the middle, again. I'm well aware that I do that to myself (and when I don't realize it, Lisa is there to remind me).
Unfortunately, my brother is a guy and therefore not always forthcoming with details, or whatever. So, the family comes to me with their questions. Jason and I are not on the best of terms so I really don't know anything about his wedding and what is happening (the fact that I didn't even get an invitation does not help how I feel, even though I do believe it was my crappy mailman to blame for that one). So, it hurts when everyone asks me details because they expect that I will know and probably a year ago I would have. But, I don't. I don't know where people are supposed to stay, I don't know when stuff is happening. All I know is that I will be leaving Saturday night for my vacation with my friends and I can't wait. I wish I was more excited about this wedding. For years I couldn't wait until my brother got married, but now I can't wait until I get on that plane. I know I will regret that I am not more excited and I'm certainly sad that I'm not more involved (especially since most of you know how much I love weddings and helping in the planning), next to my own wedding (someday, I hope) this was the one that I was most excited about.
Unfortunately, my brother is a guy and therefore not always forthcoming with details, or whatever. So, the family comes to me with their questions. Jason and I are not on the best of terms so I really don't know anything about his wedding and what is happening (the fact that I didn't even get an invitation does not help how I feel, even though I do believe it was my crappy mailman to blame for that one). So, it hurts when everyone asks me details because they expect that I will know and probably a year ago I would have. But, I don't. I don't know where people are supposed to stay, I don't know when stuff is happening. All I know is that I will be leaving Saturday night for my vacation with my friends and I can't wait. I wish I was more excited about this wedding. For years I couldn't wait until my brother got married, but now I can't wait until I get on that plane. I know I will regret that I am not more excited and I'm certainly sad that I'm not more involved (especially since most of you know how much I love weddings and helping in the planning), next to my own wedding (someday, I hope) this was the one that I was most excited about.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Anti - Depressants
So, my perscription ran out for my anti-depressants today and my doctor won't renew them unless I go in and see him. Well, I don't have time to go in and see him since I work in Niagara Falls now. I know in the past when I've forgotten to take my drugs I break out in a weird hive like rash and I become extremely dizzy (side effects of the drug that do not go well with an iron deficiency). I was hoping to go off of the drugs, but they say to do it gradually. So, this should be super interesting. I may end up hurting someone at work tomorrow or becoming extremely emotional and crying all day. I'll keep you posted on what happens. Doctors are fun!
Catching up with Friends
This weekend I was supposed to do nothing except clean my apartment and put together music for my brother's wedding (only 2 more weeks). My apt is definitely cleaner :) No music, though.
Instead I pampered myself. I went and had a massage, mani and pedi. It was very nice and relaxing after the two weeks of not being at all happy at work. My boss is back today and hopefully we will get a chance to chat today to determine if I will still be employed until December.
On Saturday night, though, I headed downtown to meet up with my friend Rob. I haven't seen him since sometime in University. We were both at home in Goderich for the summer and used to go for walks all the time. We went to an Irish pub and he found out that a friend's band was actually playing there that night. I do love celtic music. We were just planning on having a drink and catching up, and instead we ended up drinking quite a bit and sticking around to listen to the band. I must say I prefer 'The Kitchen Party' (the band that plays every st. paddy's day at Failte, but they were good).
When I left Rob was talking to some very cute girl and I went home and crashed on my couch. Facebook is evil :) I seem to drink too much when catching up with friends from Goderich. But, boy, is it nice to see everyone.
Instead I pampered myself. I went and had a massage, mani and pedi. It was very nice and relaxing after the two weeks of not being at all happy at work. My boss is back today and hopefully we will get a chance to chat today to determine if I will still be employed until December.
On Saturday night, though, I headed downtown to meet up with my friend Rob. I haven't seen him since sometime in University. We were both at home in Goderich for the summer and used to go for walks all the time. We went to an Irish pub and he found out that a friend's band was actually playing there that night. I do love celtic music. We were just planning on having a drink and catching up, and instead we ended up drinking quite a bit and sticking around to listen to the band. I must say I prefer 'The Kitchen Party' (the band that plays every st. paddy's day at Failte, but they were good).
When I left Rob was talking to some very cute girl and I went home and crashed on my couch. Facebook is evil :) I seem to drink too much when catching up with friends from Goderich. But, boy, is it nice to see everyone.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Wicked - Finished At Last
My reading has really taken a downturn this past year. Since I hardly ever walk anymore I don't read as much (for those of you not aware, I read and walk at the same time). Today I actually walked to work (5.5 km) and started reading the new Harry Potter. Boy did that feel good! This means that I finally finished reading Wicked. Last December a group of us went to see the play and it was amazing. I decided that I wanted to read the book. Well, it took a while to get into the story. I finally did and it was definitely a good book, but it was a tad long. I am extremely impressed with how they took the book and turned it into a play. I really liked the ideas in the book. Very political and definitely makes you think about only hearing one side of the story.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Rehearsal Camping
Only three more weeks until the trip to Nunavut. Which means we needed to have a 'rehearsal'. Liz gave me a call last week to see if I was free to camp this past weekend. Unfortunately, I did have plans on Saturday that I ended up cancelling (missing a BBQ at my cousin Darlene's and my friend Dorie's 35th Bday party).
After a couple of different choices for where to go hiking, Liz decided on Bon Echo provincial park (east of Peterborough). We headed out on Friday night and stopped at Ferris provincial park for a night of car camping. Really nice spot, out of the way, nice sized campsites and well spaced out.
The first test was of my new sleeping pad, Big Agnes. Hopes were high that this would be a great sleeping pad. It is so compact when uninflated and super think when inflated. Unfortunately, it was not for me. It was really slippery and my new sleeping bag doesn't have a strap to go around the sleeping pad so most of the night I was sliding all over the place. Also, I found it to be really uncomfortable. I had such a pain in my lower back the next morning. First off, very happy for the rehearsal camping as it would not have been good to find that out on the first night in Nunavut. The Big Agnes is going back to MEC and I will find myself a perfectly good thermarest.
At 5:00 am we got up and packed up our gear and hit the road for Bon Echo. I think we were on the trail by 9am, but I can't remember.
The trail was very nice, very green (I love my new eyes). We were making good time and actually enjoyed a couple of breaks along the water. The pack wasn't too bad (of course, it didn't have all the food and clothes that I'll be carrying in Nunavut). We saw a beaver swimming in the lake, boy they can move. We were scared by a partridge (sounded like a chainsaw starting up) and Liz came across a number of garter snakes. So, not alot for the wildlife journal. We did spend a good hour or so on some rocks (after getting to our campsite) watching the fish watching the tadpoles. We all fell asleep in the sun on the rocks. It was so nice.
Up again at 5:30, we took our time getting the gear packed away and had an awesome breakfast of egg burritos. We were back on the trail at 7:45 and out of the trail at around 10am. On our way we passed the other campsites. At one, the campers had hoisted their food directly over their tent. We kind of hoped a bear would try to get at their food and fall out of the tree landing on them. Then we came across the poacher. There was a tent on the trail that was not a designated campsite. We only saw the guy in the tent for a second as he scurried back in when he saw us. His clothes were strewn all over the rocks along with a 40 of rum and some pepsi. We were mighty tempted to stomp on his clothes.
Overall, though, the hike and camping was good and I can't wait for Nunavut. I have some more shopping to do at MEC this weekend and then I should be ready to go. Our hike this weekend was 17.1 kms and we didn't do too badly for time.
After a couple of different choices for where to go hiking, Liz decided on Bon Echo provincial park (east of Peterborough). We headed out on Friday night and stopped at Ferris provincial park for a night of car camping. Really nice spot, out of the way, nice sized campsites and well spaced out.
The first test was of my new sleeping pad, Big Agnes. Hopes were high that this would be a great sleeping pad. It is so compact when uninflated and super think when inflated. Unfortunately, it was not for me. It was really slippery and my new sleeping bag doesn't have a strap to go around the sleeping pad so most of the night I was sliding all over the place. Also, I found it to be really uncomfortable. I had such a pain in my lower back the next morning. First off, very happy for the rehearsal camping as it would not have been good to find that out on the first night in Nunavut. The Big Agnes is going back to MEC and I will find myself a perfectly good thermarest.
At 5:00 am we got up and packed up our gear and hit the road for Bon Echo. I think we were on the trail by 9am, but I can't remember.
The trail was very nice, very green (I love my new eyes). We were making good time and actually enjoyed a couple of breaks along the water. The pack wasn't too bad (of course, it didn't have all the food and clothes that I'll be carrying in Nunavut). We saw a beaver swimming in the lake, boy they can move. We were scared by a partridge (sounded like a chainsaw starting up) and Liz came across a number of garter snakes. So, not alot for the wildlife journal. We did spend a good hour or so on some rocks (after getting to our campsite) watching the fish watching the tadpoles. We all fell asleep in the sun on the rocks. It was so nice.
Up again at 5:30, we took our time getting the gear packed away and had an awesome breakfast of egg burritos. We were back on the trail at 7:45 and out of the trail at around 10am. On our way we passed the other campsites. At one, the campers had hoisted their food directly over their tent. We kind of hoped a bear would try to get at their food and fall out of the tree landing on them. Then we came across the poacher. There was a tent on the trail that was not a designated campsite. We only saw the guy in the tent for a second as he scurried back in when he saw us. His clothes were strewn all over the rocks along with a 40 of rum and some pepsi. We were mighty tempted to stomp on his clothes.
Overall, though, the hike and camping was good and I can't wait for Nunavut. I have some more shopping to do at MEC this weekend and then I should be ready to go. Our hike this weekend was 17.1 kms and we didn't do too badly for time.
Monday, July 23, 2007
The Police at the ACC
Last night Julia, Christine, Jana and I went to the ACC for the first Police concert in 25 years in Toronto (they are playing again tonight and in September). I highly recommended catching this tour if you get a chance.
We were all a little nervous that we would be disappointed in the show. You never know how a band that was so good will be after so many years (as my father and I found out when we saw The Guess Who a couple of years ago). But, there was not reason to be worried. They kicked ass. Definitely going into my top 5 concerts of all time (up there with Green Day, AC/DC at Sarstock, Bryan Adams at Molson Park, The Rolling Stones (not at Sarstock)). I was never a huge Police fan. I liked their music but I never actually owned any of their albums. That will probably change this week.
The four of us were meeting up at Union Station at 8pm. Unfortunately, Yanna didn't get the full message of where so we were getting a little worried when it was 8:20 and still no sign of her. Julia finally found her and we got into the ACC bought our beer and were just locating our seats as the lights went down and The Police took to the stage for 'Message in a Bottle'. Perfect timing!
We had rear view seats (behind the stage). We were really close to the stage and had a view of Sting's butt for the whole night. None of us were complaining about that. That man has a nice looking butt! They were also great seats because we were able to see Stewart Copeland's drum set perfectly. I think he may be my new favourite drummer. For a couple of the songs he had a second set of drums come up. Very cool.
Sting was amazing. He looked and sounded amazing (we had a huge screen in front of our seats and it pretty much showed Sting the entire time). The interesting part of the show, for me, was the interaction between the band mates. Sting looked quite happy to be there and very much into the show. Andy Summers looked annoyed with Sting most of the night. I think he finally started to smile around the middle of the show. Stewart appeared to smile once, that I remember. I thought he looked like he wanted Sting to pay attention to him more. I hope they can keep getting along because that was awesome.
Highlight for me was 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' as this is one of my favourite Police songs. Christine and I were discussing how we wanted to be standing close to him and would have liked to have had him for a teacher. I always thought he had been a math teacher, but it appears that he was an English teacher. I wonder who the math teacher I read about was?
So, in closing go see this band! They played for about 110 mins and I didn't sit down once. I screamed, I danced, I sang. It was great.
We were all a little nervous that we would be disappointed in the show. You never know how a band that was so good will be after so many years (as my father and I found out when we saw The Guess Who a couple of years ago). But, there was not reason to be worried. They kicked ass. Definitely going into my top 5 concerts of all time (up there with Green Day, AC/DC at Sarstock, Bryan Adams at Molson Park, The Rolling Stones (not at Sarstock)). I was never a huge Police fan. I liked their music but I never actually owned any of their albums. That will probably change this week.
The four of us were meeting up at Union Station at 8pm. Unfortunately, Yanna didn't get the full message of where so we were getting a little worried when it was 8:20 and still no sign of her. Julia finally found her and we got into the ACC bought our beer and were just locating our seats as the lights went down and The Police took to the stage for 'Message in a Bottle'. Perfect timing!
We had rear view seats (behind the stage). We were really close to the stage and had a view of Sting's butt for the whole night. None of us were complaining about that. That man has a nice looking butt! They were also great seats because we were able to see Stewart Copeland's drum set perfectly. I think he may be my new favourite drummer. For a couple of the songs he had a second set of drums come up. Very cool.
Sting was amazing. He looked and sounded amazing (we had a huge screen in front of our seats and it pretty much showed Sting the entire time). The interesting part of the show, for me, was the interaction between the band mates. Sting looked quite happy to be there and very much into the show. Andy Summers looked annoyed with Sting most of the night. I think he finally started to smile around the middle of the show. Stewart appeared to smile once, that I remember. I thought he looked like he wanted Sting to pay attention to him more. I hope they can keep getting along because that was awesome.
Highlight for me was 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' as this is one of my favourite Police songs. Christine and I were discussing how we wanted to be standing close to him and would have liked to have had him for a teacher. I always thought he had been a math teacher, but it appears that he was an English teacher. I wonder who the math teacher I read about was?
So, in closing go see this band! They played for about 110 mins and I didn't sit down once. I screamed, I danced, I sang. It was great.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Rowling and Potter
Now, I am a fan (for the most part) of the Harry Potter series of books. But, I believe it has gotten out of hand and Rowling is really annoying me. (If there weren't only one more book in the series - that I have already ordered - I would boycott the books just because of her.)
She's now annoyed with the New York Times for writing a review of the book a day before the book comes out. The reasoning is that the review may contain spoilers. I don't know how many children are reading the New York Times, but if they are, I suspect that they are smart enough to not read a review. I know most adults can make that decision for themselves as well. I personally don't care if someone tells me what happens in the books. I'll just be happy when it is done and all this craziness can (I hope) end.
I think she has a great story, but I am not a huge fan of her writing. The first chapters are always crap and The Order of the Phoenix was so bad. The book really only needed to be about 150 pages, yet it was over 700. It was like reading one of Stephen King's books when they stopped editing him. I love Stephen, don't get me wrong. But, I am not a fan of his books that are not edited like they should be. I am well aware that the book publishers love it when a book is longer because they can charge more. But, they can only do this for those authors that seem to have proven themselves. Which isn't good because then they wreck that authors legacy of good books.
Now I'm on a rant about King's books. This was supposed to be a rant about Rowling. I heard the movie for 'Order of the Phoenix' was really good. I totally believe that because whenever a book can actually be pared down to about a 150 pages, makes for a great movie (or at least in the right hands it should).
I'm still reading Wicked. I am now really enjoying it, but it does take effort to get through. I won't be home when Potter is delivered. I'll be off camping. I should finish Wicked tonight and then I will read some trash murder mystery on the camping trip. Probably start Potter next week to get it over with. Is it wrong of me to hope that Harry dies so that there can't be another book?
She's now annoyed with the New York Times for writing a review of the book a day before the book comes out. The reasoning is that the review may contain spoilers. I don't know how many children are reading the New York Times, but if they are, I suspect that they are smart enough to not read a review. I know most adults can make that decision for themselves as well. I personally don't care if someone tells me what happens in the books. I'll just be happy when it is done and all this craziness can (I hope) end.
I think she has a great story, but I am not a huge fan of her writing. The first chapters are always crap and The Order of the Phoenix was so bad. The book really only needed to be about 150 pages, yet it was over 700. It was like reading one of Stephen King's books when they stopped editing him. I love Stephen, don't get me wrong. But, I am not a fan of his books that are not edited like they should be. I am well aware that the book publishers love it when a book is longer because they can charge more. But, they can only do this for those authors that seem to have proven themselves. Which isn't good because then they wreck that authors legacy of good books.
Now I'm on a rant about King's books. This was supposed to be a rant about Rowling. I heard the movie for 'Order of the Phoenix' was really good. I totally believe that because whenever a book can actually be pared down to about a 150 pages, makes for a great movie (or at least in the right hands it should).
I'm still reading Wicked. I am now really enjoying it, but it does take effort to get through. I won't be home when Potter is delivered. I'll be off camping. I should finish Wicked tonight and then I will read some trash murder mystery on the camping trip. Probably start Potter next week to get it over with. Is it wrong of me to hope that Harry dies so that there can't be another book?
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Hating the Job
I need to find a new line of work, I think. Either that, or I have to find a company where they challenge me.
I was so ready to quit today. I am so frustrated with the lack of communication. There is a possibility of a contract in Guelph. They were looking for someone immediately, but now it looks like they won't be hiring until September. By then I should know if I will feel comfortable with ending my contract early. December just seems so very far away.
I was so ready to quit today. I am so frustrated with the lack of communication. There is a possibility of a contract in Guelph. They were looking for someone immediately, but now it looks like they won't be hiring until September. By then I should know if I will feel comfortable with ending my contract early. December just seems so very far away.
Friday, July 13, 2007
My New Vision Status
I had my first optometrist appt since my surgery (well, really it was the second, but the day after the surgery they just checked to make sure it was okay and that I was okay to drive and it wasn't with my optometrist).
When my dr found out who did my surgery he was in awe! I had heard the my surgeon was one of the first in Canada and had been performing laser eye for about ten years. I didn't realize that he was one of the people to start TLC. Very cool.
My doctor said it was one of the best surgeries he had ever seen and that I should be very happy! which of course, I am. Currently I have 20/15 (better than 20/20) eyesight. They really over-corrected my left eye (apparently I kept really focusing in the testing beforehand with that eye). But, that is normal and it should recorrect itself back to 20/20 over the next while.
I thought my eyes were pretty good, but to have the doctor confirm those findings was super great. Definitely worth all the money I spent!
When my dr found out who did my surgery he was in awe! I had heard the my surgeon was one of the first in Canada and had been performing laser eye for about ten years. I didn't realize that he was one of the people to start TLC. Very cool.
My doctor said it was one of the best surgeries he had ever seen and that I should be very happy! which of course, I am. Currently I have 20/15 (better than 20/20) eyesight. They really over-corrected my left eye (apparently I kept really focusing in the testing beforehand with that eye). But, that is normal and it should recorrect itself back to 20/20 over the next while.
I thought my eyes were pretty good, but to have the doctor confirm those findings was super great. Definitely worth all the money I spent!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Stupid Rain
Yesterday I decided to take my motorcycle to work. It was a nice ride (except for the fact that my ipod battery was dead). This morning Gord and I rode into work together which was cool. Then I had to ride home tonight.
As I was leaving the falls I noticed the big black sky looming over towards Toronto. I got to Hamilton before the wind really kicked up and the rain started to pour down. How come it rains everytime I go out on the bike? And not just rain, but torrential rain. As I got to the Burlington Skyway I realized that it would be a very bad idea for me to ride in that kind of wind on the skyway. At this point my bike was being pushed all over the road the wind was so crazy. My boots were full of water and my jeans were soaking wet!
I did make it home okay and was very happy to get into my flannel pajamas. Unfortunately, now I no longer feel like going to Port Dover tomorrow for Friday the 13th.
On a totally different note: Congrats to Heidi and Jen on buying their first house and to Heidi for receiving her mechanics license this week! Congrats also go out to Marn and Paul as they welcomed their son Benjamin into the world this week!
As I was leaving the falls I noticed the big black sky looming over towards Toronto. I got to Hamilton before the wind really kicked up and the rain started to pour down. How come it rains everytime I go out on the bike? And not just rain, but torrential rain. As I got to the Burlington Skyway I realized that it would be a very bad idea for me to ride in that kind of wind on the skyway. At this point my bike was being pushed all over the road the wind was so crazy. My boots were full of water and my jeans were soaking wet!
I did make it home okay and was very happy to get into my flannel pajamas. Unfortunately, now I no longer feel like going to Port Dover tomorrow for Friday the 13th.
On a totally different note: Congrats to Heidi and Jen on buying their first house and to Heidi for receiving her mechanics license this week! Congrats also go out to Marn and Paul as they welcomed their son Benjamin into the world this week!
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
An Amazing Speech, That Will Never Be
My brother just sent me this speech in an email, please read and think on how amazing it would be if this could happen.
From: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0707.Sorensen.html
The New Vision
The speech I want the Democratic nominee to give
By Theodore C. Sorensen
On the 15th of July, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy accepted his party’s presidential nomination at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. In his remarks, made at a moment of high tension in the cold war, Kennedy asserted that the United States was at “a turning point in history” and called on his listeners to be “pioneers” in a “New Frontier” of “uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus.”
Collaborating with Kennedy on the speech was a thirty-two-year-old aide named Theodore C. Sorensen, to whom Kennedy was known to refer as his “intellectual blood bank.” With Sorensen’s help, Kennedy would earn a reputation as one of American history’s great orators and provide a bold new vision for the nation.Today, we are at another moment of high tension, the result of a disastrous war abroad and division and drift at home. Like Kennedy, the next Democratic nominee, whoever he or she might be, will have a similar opportunity to form a new vision for America and to reestablish its moral leadership in the world. To encourage such boldness of thinking, we, too, tapped Kennedy’s intellectual blood bank. We called Theodore C. Sorensen and asked him to write the speech he would most want the next Democratic nominee to give at the party convention in Denver in August 2008. We requested that he proceed with no candidate in mind and that he give no consideration to expediency or tactics—in other words, that he write the speech of his dreams. Here is the speech he sent us.
My fellow Democrats: With high resolve and deep gratitude, I accept your nomination.
It has been a long campaign—too long, too expensive, with too much media attention on matters irrelevant to our nation’s future. I salute each of my worthy opponents for conducting a clean fifty-state campaign focusing on the real issues facing our nation, including health care, the public debt burden, energy independence, and national security, a campaign testing not merely which of us could raise and spend the most money but who among us could best lead our country; a campaign not ignoring controversial issues like taxation, immigration, fuel conservation, and the Middle East, but conducting, in essence, a great debate—because our party, unlike our opposition, believes that a free country is strengthened by debate.
There will be more debates this fall. I hereby notify my Republican opponent that I have purchased ninety minutes of national network television time for each of the six Sunday evenings preceding the presidential election, and here and now invite and challenge him to share that time with me to debate the most serious issues facing the country, under rules to be agreed upon by our respective designees meeting this week with a neutral jointly selected statesman.
Let me assure all those who may disagree with my positions that I shall hear and respect their views, not denounce them as unpatriotic as has so often happened in recent years. I will wage a campaign that relies not on the usual fear, smear, and greed but on the hopes and pride of all our citizens in a nationwide effort to restore comity, common sense, and competence to the White House.
In this campaign, I will make no promises I cannot fulfill, pledge no spending we cannot afford, offer no posts to cronies you cannot trust, and propose no foreign commitment we should not keep. I will not shrink from opposing any party faction, any special interest group, or any major donor whose demands are contrary to the national interest. Nor will I shrink from calling myself a liberal, in the same sense that Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, John and Robert Kennedy, and Harry Truman were liberals—liberals who proved that government is not a necessary evil, but rather the best means of creating a healthier, more educated, and more prosperous America.
They are the giants on whose shoulders I now stand, giants who made this a better, fairer, safer, stronger, more united America.
By making me your nominee, you have placed your trust in the American people to put aside irrelevant considerations and judge me solely on my qualifications to lead the nation. You have opened the stairway to what Teddy Roosevelt called the “bully pulpit.” With the help of dedicated Americans from our party, every party, and no party at all, I intend to mount that stairway to preach peace for our nation and world.
My campaign will be based on my search for the perfect political consensus, not the perfect political consultant. My chief political consultant will be my conscience.
Thank you for your applause, but I need more than your applause and approval. I need your prayers, your votes, your help, your heart, and your hand. The challenge is enormous, the obstacles are many. Our nation is emerging from eight years of misrule, a dark and difficult period in which our national honor and pride have been bruised and battered. But we are neither beaten nor broken. We are not helpless or afraid; because in this country the people rule, and the people want change.
True, some of us have been sleeping for these eight long years, while our nation’s values have been traduced, our liberties reduced, and our moral authority around the world trampled and shattered by a nightmare of ideological incompetence. But now we are awakening and taking our country back. Now people all across America are starting to believe in America again. We are coming back, back to the heights of greatness, back to America’s proud role as a temple of justice and a champion of peace.
The American people are tired of politics as usual, and I intend to offer them, in this campaign, something unusual in recent American politics: the truth. Neither bureaucracies nor nations function well when their actions are hidden from public view and accountability. From now on, whatever mistakes I make, whatever dangers we face, the people shall know the truth—and the truth shall make them free. After eight years of secrecy and mendacity, here are some truths the people deserve to hear:
We remain essentially a nation under siege. The threat of another terrorist attack upon our homeland has not been reduced by all the new layers of porous bureaucracy that proved their ineptitude in New Orleans; nor by all the needless, mindless curbs on our personal liberties and privacy; nor by expensive new weaponry that is utterly useless in stopping a fanatic willing to blow himself up for his cause.
Indeed, our vulnerability to another attack has only been worsened in the years since the attacks of September 11th—worsened by our government convincing more than 1 billion Muslims that we are prejudiced against their faith, dismissive of international law, and indifferent to the deaths of their innocent children; worsened by our failure to understand their culture or to provide a safe haven for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees displaced by a war we started; worsened by our failure to continue our indispensable role in the Middle East peace process.
We have adopted some of the most indefensible tactics of our enemies, including torture and indefinite detention.
We have degraded our military.
We have treated our most serious adversaries, such as Iran and North Korea, in the most juvenile manner—by giving them the silent treatment.
In so doing, we have weakened, not strengthened, our bargaining position and our leadership.
At home, as health care costs have grown and coverage disappeared, we have done nothing but coddle the insurance, pharmaceutical, and health care industries that feed the problem.
As global warming worsens, we have done nothing but deny the obvious and give regulatory favors to polluters.
As growing economic inequality tarnishes our democracy, we have done nothing but carve out more tax breaks for the rich.
During these last several years, our nation has been bitterly divided and deceived by illicit actions in high places, by violations of federal, constitutional, and international law. I do not favor further widening the nation’s wounds, now or next year, through continuous investigations, indictments, and impeachments. I am confident that history will hold these malefactors accountable for their deeds, and the country will move on.
Instead, I shall seek a renewal of unity among all Americans, an unprecedented unity we will need for years to come in order to face unprecedented danger.
We will be safer from terrorist attack only when we have earned the respect of all other nations instead of their fear, respect for our values and not merely our weapons.
If I am elected president, my vow for this country can be summarized in one short, simple word: change. This November 2008 election—the first since 1952 in which neither the incumbent president’s nor the incumbent vice president’s name will appear on the national ballot, indeed the first since 1976 in which the name of neither Bill Clinton nor George Bush will appear on the national ballot—is destined to bring about the most profound change in the direction of this country since the election of 1932.
To meet the threats we face and restore our place of leadership in the free world, I pledge to do the following:
First, working with a representative Iraqi parliament, I shall set a timetable for an orderly, systematic redeployment and withdrawal of all our troops in Iraq, including the recall of all members of the National Guard to their primary responsibility of guarding our nation and its individual states.
Second, this redeployment shall be only the first step in a comprehensive regional economic and diplomatic stabilization plan for the entire Middle East, building a just and enduring peace between Israel and Palestine, halting the killing and maiming of innocent civilians on both sides, and establishing two independent sovereign states, each behind peacefully negotiated and mutually recognized borders.
Third, I shall as soon as possible transfer all inmates out of the Guantanamo Bay prison and close down that hideous symbol of injustice.
Fourth, I shall fly to New York City to pledge in person to the United Nations, in the September 2009 General Assembly, that the United States is returning to its role as a leader in international law, as a supporter of international tribunals, and as a full-fledged member of the United Nations which will pay its dues in full, on time, and without conditions, renouncing any American empire; that we shall work more intensively with other countries to eliminate global scourges, including AIDS, malaria, and other contagious diseases, massive refugee flows, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and that we will support the early dispatch of United Nations peacekeepers to halt the atrocities in Darfur. I shall make it clear that we do not covet the land of other countries for our military bases or the control of their natural resources for our factories. I shall make it clear that our country is not bound by any policies or pronouncements of my predecessor that violate international law or threaten international peace.
Fifth, I shall personally sign the Kyoto Protocol, and seek its ratification by the United States Senate, in order to stop global warming before it endangers all species on earth, including our own; and I shall call upon the Congress to take action dramatically reducing our nation’s reliance on the carbon fuels that are steadily contributing to the degradation of our environment.
Sixth, I shall demonstrate sufficient confidence in the strength of our values and the wisdom and skill of our diplomats to favor communications, negotiations, and full relations with every country on earth, including Cuba, North Korea, Palestine, and Iran.
Finally, I shall restore the constitutional right of habeas corpus, abolish the unconstitutional tapping of private phones, and once again show the world the traditional American values that distinguish us from those who attacked us on 9/11.
We need not renounce the use of conventional force. We will be ready to repel any clear and present danger that poses a genuine threat to our national security and survival. But it will be as a last resort, never a first; in cooperation with our allies, never alone; out of necessity, never by choice; proportionate, never heedless of civilian lives or international law; as the best alternative considered, never the only. We will always apply the same principles of collective security, prudent caution, and superior weaponry that enabled us to peacefully prevail in the long cold war against the Soviet Union. Above all, we shall wage no more unilateral, ill-planned, ill-considered, and ill-prepared invasions of foreign countries that pose no actual threat to our security. No more wars in which the American Congress is not told in advance and throughout their duration the true cost, consequences, and terms of commitment. No more wars waged by leaders blinded by ideology who have no legal basis to start them and no plan to end them. We shall oppose no peaceful religion or culture, insult or demonize no peace-minded foreign leader, and spare no effort in meeting those obligations of leadership and assistance that our comparative economic strength has thrust upon us. We shall listen, not lecture; learn, not threaten. We will enhance our safety by earning the respect of others and showing respect for them. In short, our foreign policy will rest on the traditional American values of restraint and empathy, not on military might.
In the final analysis, our nation cannot be secure around the world unless our citizens are secure at home—secure not only from external attack, but secure as well from the rising tide of national debt, secure from the financial and physical ravages of uninsured disease, secure from discrimination in our schools and neighborhoods, secure from the bitter unrest generated by a widening gap between our richest and poorest citizens. They are not secure in a country lacking reasonable limitations on the sale of handguns to criminals, the mentally disturbed, and prospective terrorists. And our citizens are not secure when some of their fellow citizens, loyal Islamic Americans, are made to feel they are the targets of hysteria or bigotry.
I believe in an America in which the fruits of productivity and prosperity are shared by all, by workers as well as owners, by those at the bottom as well as those at the top; an America in which the sacrifices required by national security are shared by all, by profiteers in the back offices as well as volunteers on the front lines.
In my administration, I shall restore balance and fairness to the national tax system. I shall level the playing field for organized labor. I shall end the unseemly favors to corporations that allow them to profit without competing, for it is through competition that we innovate, and it is through innovation that we raise the wages of our workers. It shames our nation that profits for corporations have soared even as wages for average Americans have fallen. It shames us still more that so many African American men must struggle to find jobs.
We will make sure that no American citizen, from the youngest child to the oldest retiree, and especially no returning serviceman or military veteran, will be denied fully funded medical care of the highest quality.To pay for these domestic programs, my administration will make sure that subsidies and tax breaks go only to those who need them most, not those who need them least, and that we fund only those weapons systems we need to meet the threats of today and tomorrow, not those of yesterday.
The purpose of public office is to do good, not harm; to change lives, help lives, and save lives, not destroy them. I look upon the presidency not as an opportunity to rule, but as an opportunity to serve. I intend to serve all the people, regardless of party, race, region, or religion.
Let us all, here assembled in this hall, or watching at home, constitute ourselves, rededicate ourselves, as soldiers in a new army. Not an army of death and destruction, but a new army of voters and volunteers, in a new wave of workers for peace and justice at home and abroad, new missionaries for the moral rebirth of our country. I ask for every citizen’s help, not merely those who live in the red states or those who live in the blue states, but every citizen in every state. Although we may be called fools and dreamers, although we will find the going uphill, in the words of the poet: “Say not the struggle naught availeth.” We will change our country’s direction, and hand to the generation that follows a nation that is safer, cleaner, less divided, and less fearful than the nation we will inherit next January.
I’m told that John F. Kennedy was fond of quoting Archimedes, who explained the principle of the lever by declaring: “Give me a place to stand, and I can move the world.” My fellow Americans—here I stand. Come join me, and together we will move the world to a new era of a just and lasting peace.
Theodore C. Sorensen worked with John F. Kennedy for eleven years, first as his senatorial assistant and then in the White House as his special counsel and adviser. He is now retired after more than forty years of practicing international law in New York City, and is presently working on his memoirs, to be published in 2008.
From: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2007/0707.Sorensen.html
The New Vision
The speech I want the Democratic nominee to give
By Theodore C. Sorensen
On the 15th of July, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy accepted his party’s presidential nomination at the Democratic Convention in Los Angeles. In his remarks, made at a moment of high tension in the cold war, Kennedy asserted that the United States was at “a turning point in history” and called on his listeners to be “pioneers” in a “New Frontier” of “uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus.”
Collaborating with Kennedy on the speech was a thirty-two-year-old aide named Theodore C. Sorensen, to whom Kennedy was known to refer as his “intellectual blood bank.” With Sorensen’s help, Kennedy would earn a reputation as one of American history’s great orators and provide a bold new vision for the nation.Today, we are at another moment of high tension, the result of a disastrous war abroad and division and drift at home. Like Kennedy, the next Democratic nominee, whoever he or she might be, will have a similar opportunity to form a new vision for America and to reestablish its moral leadership in the world. To encourage such boldness of thinking, we, too, tapped Kennedy’s intellectual blood bank. We called Theodore C. Sorensen and asked him to write the speech he would most want the next Democratic nominee to give at the party convention in Denver in August 2008. We requested that he proceed with no candidate in mind and that he give no consideration to expediency or tactics—in other words, that he write the speech of his dreams. Here is the speech he sent us.
My fellow Democrats: With high resolve and deep gratitude, I accept your nomination.
It has been a long campaign—too long, too expensive, with too much media attention on matters irrelevant to our nation’s future. I salute each of my worthy opponents for conducting a clean fifty-state campaign focusing on the real issues facing our nation, including health care, the public debt burden, energy independence, and national security, a campaign testing not merely which of us could raise and spend the most money but who among us could best lead our country; a campaign not ignoring controversial issues like taxation, immigration, fuel conservation, and the Middle East, but conducting, in essence, a great debate—because our party, unlike our opposition, believes that a free country is strengthened by debate.
There will be more debates this fall. I hereby notify my Republican opponent that I have purchased ninety minutes of national network television time for each of the six Sunday evenings preceding the presidential election, and here and now invite and challenge him to share that time with me to debate the most serious issues facing the country, under rules to be agreed upon by our respective designees meeting this week with a neutral jointly selected statesman.
Let me assure all those who may disagree with my positions that I shall hear and respect their views, not denounce them as unpatriotic as has so often happened in recent years. I will wage a campaign that relies not on the usual fear, smear, and greed but on the hopes and pride of all our citizens in a nationwide effort to restore comity, common sense, and competence to the White House.
In this campaign, I will make no promises I cannot fulfill, pledge no spending we cannot afford, offer no posts to cronies you cannot trust, and propose no foreign commitment we should not keep. I will not shrink from opposing any party faction, any special interest group, or any major donor whose demands are contrary to the national interest. Nor will I shrink from calling myself a liberal, in the same sense that Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, John and Robert Kennedy, and Harry Truman were liberals—liberals who proved that government is not a necessary evil, but rather the best means of creating a healthier, more educated, and more prosperous America.
They are the giants on whose shoulders I now stand, giants who made this a better, fairer, safer, stronger, more united America.
By making me your nominee, you have placed your trust in the American people to put aside irrelevant considerations and judge me solely on my qualifications to lead the nation. You have opened the stairway to what Teddy Roosevelt called the “bully pulpit.” With the help of dedicated Americans from our party, every party, and no party at all, I intend to mount that stairway to preach peace for our nation and world.
My campaign will be based on my search for the perfect political consensus, not the perfect political consultant. My chief political consultant will be my conscience.
Thank you for your applause, but I need more than your applause and approval. I need your prayers, your votes, your help, your heart, and your hand. The challenge is enormous, the obstacles are many. Our nation is emerging from eight years of misrule, a dark and difficult period in which our national honor and pride have been bruised and battered. But we are neither beaten nor broken. We are not helpless or afraid; because in this country the people rule, and the people want change.
True, some of us have been sleeping for these eight long years, while our nation’s values have been traduced, our liberties reduced, and our moral authority around the world trampled and shattered by a nightmare of ideological incompetence. But now we are awakening and taking our country back. Now people all across America are starting to believe in America again. We are coming back, back to the heights of greatness, back to America’s proud role as a temple of justice and a champion of peace.
The American people are tired of politics as usual, and I intend to offer them, in this campaign, something unusual in recent American politics: the truth. Neither bureaucracies nor nations function well when their actions are hidden from public view and accountability. From now on, whatever mistakes I make, whatever dangers we face, the people shall know the truth—and the truth shall make them free. After eight years of secrecy and mendacity, here are some truths the people deserve to hear:
We remain essentially a nation under siege. The threat of another terrorist attack upon our homeland has not been reduced by all the new layers of porous bureaucracy that proved their ineptitude in New Orleans; nor by all the needless, mindless curbs on our personal liberties and privacy; nor by expensive new weaponry that is utterly useless in stopping a fanatic willing to blow himself up for his cause.
Indeed, our vulnerability to another attack has only been worsened in the years since the attacks of September 11th—worsened by our government convincing more than 1 billion Muslims that we are prejudiced against their faith, dismissive of international law, and indifferent to the deaths of their innocent children; worsened by our failure to understand their culture or to provide a safe haven for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees displaced by a war we started; worsened by our failure to continue our indispensable role in the Middle East peace process.
We have adopted some of the most indefensible tactics of our enemies, including torture and indefinite detention.
We have degraded our military.
We have treated our most serious adversaries, such as Iran and North Korea, in the most juvenile manner—by giving them the silent treatment.
In so doing, we have weakened, not strengthened, our bargaining position and our leadership.
At home, as health care costs have grown and coverage disappeared, we have done nothing but coddle the insurance, pharmaceutical, and health care industries that feed the problem.
As global warming worsens, we have done nothing but deny the obvious and give regulatory favors to polluters.
As growing economic inequality tarnishes our democracy, we have done nothing but carve out more tax breaks for the rich.
During these last several years, our nation has been bitterly divided and deceived by illicit actions in high places, by violations of federal, constitutional, and international law. I do not favor further widening the nation’s wounds, now or next year, through continuous investigations, indictments, and impeachments. I am confident that history will hold these malefactors accountable for their deeds, and the country will move on.
Instead, I shall seek a renewal of unity among all Americans, an unprecedented unity we will need for years to come in order to face unprecedented danger.
We will be safer from terrorist attack only when we have earned the respect of all other nations instead of their fear, respect for our values and not merely our weapons.
If I am elected president, my vow for this country can be summarized in one short, simple word: change. This November 2008 election—the first since 1952 in which neither the incumbent president’s nor the incumbent vice president’s name will appear on the national ballot, indeed the first since 1976 in which the name of neither Bill Clinton nor George Bush will appear on the national ballot—is destined to bring about the most profound change in the direction of this country since the election of 1932.
To meet the threats we face and restore our place of leadership in the free world, I pledge to do the following:
First, working with a representative Iraqi parliament, I shall set a timetable for an orderly, systematic redeployment and withdrawal of all our troops in Iraq, including the recall of all members of the National Guard to their primary responsibility of guarding our nation and its individual states.
Second, this redeployment shall be only the first step in a comprehensive regional economic and diplomatic stabilization plan for the entire Middle East, building a just and enduring peace between Israel and Palestine, halting the killing and maiming of innocent civilians on both sides, and establishing two independent sovereign states, each behind peacefully negotiated and mutually recognized borders.
Third, I shall as soon as possible transfer all inmates out of the Guantanamo Bay prison and close down that hideous symbol of injustice.
Fourth, I shall fly to New York City to pledge in person to the United Nations, in the September 2009 General Assembly, that the United States is returning to its role as a leader in international law, as a supporter of international tribunals, and as a full-fledged member of the United Nations which will pay its dues in full, on time, and without conditions, renouncing any American empire; that we shall work more intensively with other countries to eliminate global scourges, including AIDS, malaria, and other contagious diseases, massive refugee flows, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; and that we will support the early dispatch of United Nations peacekeepers to halt the atrocities in Darfur. I shall make it clear that we do not covet the land of other countries for our military bases or the control of their natural resources for our factories. I shall make it clear that our country is not bound by any policies or pronouncements of my predecessor that violate international law or threaten international peace.
Fifth, I shall personally sign the Kyoto Protocol, and seek its ratification by the United States Senate, in order to stop global warming before it endangers all species on earth, including our own; and I shall call upon the Congress to take action dramatically reducing our nation’s reliance on the carbon fuels that are steadily contributing to the degradation of our environment.
Sixth, I shall demonstrate sufficient confidence in the strength of our values and the wisdom and skill of our diplomats to favor communications, negotiations, and full relations with every country on earth, including Cuba, North Korea, Palestine, and Iran.
Finally, I shall restore the constitutional right of habeas corpus, abolish the unconstitutional tapping of private phones, and once again show the world the traditional American values that distinguish us from those who attacked us on 9/11.
We need not renounce the use of conventional force. We will be ready to repel any clear and present danger that poses a genuine threat to our national security and survival. But it will be as a last resort, never a first; in cooperation with our allies, never alone; out of necessity, never by choice; proportionate, never heedless of civilian lives or international law; as the best alternative considered, never the only. We will always apply the same principles of collective security, prudent caution, and superior weaponry that enabled us to peacefully prevail in the long cold war against the Soviet Union. Above all, we shall wage no more unilateral, ill-planned, ill-considered, and ill-prepared invasions of foreign countries that pose no actual threat to our security. No more wars in which the American Congress is not told in advance and throughout their duration the true cost, consequences, and terms of commitment. No more wars waged by leaders blinded by ideology who have no legal basis to start them and no plan to end them. We shall oppose no peaceful religion or culture, insult or demonize no peace-minded foreign leader, and spare no effort in meeting those obligations of leadership and assistance that our comparative economic strength has thrust upon us. We shall listen, not lecture; learn, not threaten. We will enhance our safety by earning the respect of others and showing respect for them. In short, our foreign policy will rest on the traditional American values of restraint and empathy, not on military might.
In the final analysis, our nation cannot be secure around the world unless our citizens are secure at home—secure not only from external attack, but secure as well from the rising tide of national debt, secure from the financial and physical ravages of uninsured disease, secure from discrimination in our schools and neighborhoods, secure from the bitter unrest generated by a widening gap between our richest and poorest citizens. They are not secure in a country lacking reasonable limitations on the sale of handguns to criminals, the mentally disturbed, and prospective terrorists. And our citizens are not secure when some of their fellow citizens, loyal Islamic Americans, are made to feel they are the targets of hysteria or bigotry.
I believe in an America in which the fruits of productivity and prosperity are shared by all, by workers as well as owners, by those at the bottom as well as those at the top; an America in which the sacrifices required by national security are shared by all, by profiteers in the back offices as well as volunteers on the front lines.
In my administration, I shall restore balance and fairness to the national tax system. I shall level the playing field for organized labor. I shall end the unseemly favors to corporations that allow them to profit without competing, for it is through competition that we innovate, and it is through innovation that we raise the wages of our workers. It shames our nation that profits for corporations have soared even as wages for average Americans have fallen. It shames us still more that so many African American men must struggle to find jobs.
We will make sure that no American citizen, from the youngest child to the oldest retiree, and especially no returning serviceman or military veteran, will be denied fully funded medical care of the highest quality.To pay for these domestic programs, my administration will make sure that subsidies and tax breaks go only to those who need them most, not those who need them least, and that we fund only those weapons systems we need to meet the threats of today and tomorrow, not those of yesterday.
The purpose of public office is to do good, not harm; to change lives, help lives, and save lives, not destroy them. I look upon the presidency not as an opportunity to rule, but as an opportunity to serve. I intend to serve all the people, regardless of party, race, region, or religion.
Let us all, here assembled in this hall, or watching at home, constitute ourselves, rededicate ourselves, as soldiers in a new army. Not an army of death and destruction, but a new army of voters and volunteers, in a new wave of workers for peace and justice at home and abroad, new missionaries for the moral rebirth of our country. I ask for every citizen’s help, not merely those who live in the red states or those who live in the blue states, but every citizen in every state. Although we may be called fools and dreamers, although we will find the going uphill, in the words of the poet: “Say not the struggle naught availeth.” We will change our country’s direction, and hand to the generation that follows a nation that is safer, cleaner, less divided, and less fearful than the nation we will inherit next January.
I’m told that John F. Kennedy was fond of quoting Archimedes, who explained the principle of the lever by declaring: “Give me a place to stand, and I can move the world.” My fellow Americans—here I stand. Come join me, and together we will move the world to a new era of a just and lasting peace.
Theodore C. Sorensen worked with John F. Kennedy for eleven years, first as his senatorial assistant and then in the White House as his special counsel and adviser. He is now retired after more than forty years of practicing international law in New York City, and is presently working on his memoirs, to be published in 2008.
Dinner with Joss
How cool would this be: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280130727494?
Dinner with Joss Whedon! I so wish I had money ... and lived in San Diego :)
Dinner with Joss Whedon! I so wish I had money ... and lived in San Diego :)
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
New Eyes
A couple of weeks ago my eyes were really bugging me so I went to see my optometrist. While there we discussed laser eye surgery. She told me that I would probably be a good candidate. So, I called TLC and made an appt. They checked out my eyes and told me I was definitely a good candidate and I could schedule an appt in two weeks.
I've worn glasses / contacts since I was around twelve years old (I can't remember if I first had them in grade 6 or grade 8). As soon as I could I was wearing contacts. I hated my glasses and hated any time that I had to wear them. For the most part I only wear them for the hour before bed and the 5 mins after I wake up.
When I heard about lasik eye surgery a couple of years ago it just really freaked me out. I couldn't fathom letting someone do something to my eyes. What if something went wrong, of if there was a problem that they didn't know about years after you had the surgery. But, really my issue was knowing I'd have to be awake for the surgery. Ick!
But, I decided it was time to do it. So, last Friday I went downtown for the surgery. It was very scary. They are super efficient over there, though. They showed me into the waiting room and took me through the procedure. In all the times people told me about the procedure, not once did anyone mention the fact that the doctor was going to have to stick something in my eye to pull open the flap that was created by the laser. That I did not like at all.
Other than that I was pretty impressed with how quick everything went. I was under the laser for 57 seconds for each eye (20 seconds to create the flap and 37 seconds to change the shape of my eye). As soon as it was done I sat up on the operating table and could see the clock.
Julia was kind enough to pick me up at the clinic and drive me home. On the way home I was able to see, even though everything was a little foggy (really it could have just been the Toronto smog). I slept for most of the day and then on Saturday morning I headed back to the clinic to have the optometrist make sure everything was okay. She gave me the go ahead to drive and that everything was healing fine. I go back on Friday for my next appt.
It's been weird this week, I keep thinking that I need to take my contacts out. Then I remember that I can actually see without contacts. It's crazy. Totally worth the money! I'm just worried about the first time I'm out drinking and think that I need to take out my contacts :)
I'm watching a very odd movie right now so it is very difficult to concentrate on writing this blog. I'm watching 'Hard Candy' and it is very odd.
I've worn glasses / contacts since I was around twelve years old (I can't remember if I first had them in grade 6 or grade 8). As soon as I could I was wearing contacts. I hated my glasses and hated any time that I had to wear them. For the most part I only wear them for the hour before bed and the 5 mins after I wake up.
When I heard about lasik eye surgery a couple of years ago it just really freaked me out. I couldn't fathom letting someone do something to my eyes. What if something went wrong, of if there was a problem that they didn't know about years after you had the surgery. But, really my issue was knowing I'd have to be awake for the surgery. Ick!
But, I decided it was time to do it. So, last Friday I went downtown for the surgery. It was very scary. They are super efficient over there, though. They showed me into the waiting room and took me through the procedure. In all the times people told me about the procedure, not once did anyone mention the fact that the doctor was going to have to stick something in my eye to pull open the flap that was created by the laser. That I did not like at all.
Other than that I was pretty impressed with how quick everything went. I was under the laser for 57 seconds for each eye (20 seconds to create the flap and 37 seconds to change the shape of my eye). As soon as it was done I sat up on the operating table and could see the clock.
Julia was kind enough to pick me up at the clinic and drive me home. On the way home I was able to see, even though everything was a little foggy (really it could have just been the Toronto smog). I slept for most of the day and then on Saturday morning I headed back to the clinic to have the optometrist make sure everything was okay. She gave me the go ahead to drive and that everything was healing fine. I go back on Friday for my next appt.
It's been weird this week, I keep thinking that I need to take my contacts out. Then I remember that I can actually see without contacts. It's crazy. Totally worth the money! I'm just worried about the first time I'm out drinking and think that I need to take out my contacts :)
I'm watching a very odd movie right now so it is very difficult to concentrate on writing this blog. I'm watching 'Hard Candy' and it is very odd.
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