Friday, November 20, 2015

Headaches

Everybody gets headaches in their life.  But lately I've been getting these nasty headaches.  Finally I went to a walk-in clinic yesterday evening.  The doctor told me based on what I've told him is that I got muscle tension headaches.  Hopefully taking Advil will cure me of my headaches.  They are brutal and don't wish on even my worst enemy.  I took some Advil a few hours ago.  Let's hope in another few hours I feel better.  I just want these headaches to go away.  Until then I'll just keep taking Advil, drinking lots of fluids, and trying to keep my place cool.


I hope you are doing well.  If not, peace be with you and shalom.  I trust you will get through it.  I hope I get through these headaches.  I don't want to be stuck doing nothing because of these headaches.  Being robbed of a life because of a medical issue is not something I want.  I'll see how Friday goes.  Peace out.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Song of the Day #50 - Nick Jonas & The Administration

Here is the a song which a very deep connection for me.  This is also the song I am doing for my final song of fall karaoke league.  It is one of my favourites.

"Who I Am" by Nick Jonas & The Administration
YouTube link

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Being Strong For Others

A friend of mine posted the following the other day on Facebook as a status update.

"When you can't be strong for yourself... at least be strong for the ones that need it the most."
I think that quote doesn't make any sense at all.  It is basically telling someone that your problems are trivial and don't matter.  You should be putting other people and their problems first.  I find that notion to be a crock.  I find that our society, North American for example, that we told to suck it up and be strong.  Mask your problems and put them aside.

Masking your problems and putting them aside is a load of crap.  Doing that can be bad as you might blow up and hurt the people your care about.  Never let those problems and emotions sit there and fester.  You can deal with those problems and emotions while you keep living life.  It is okay to say that you have problems and need help.

Our North American culture has dictated that we should not have problems.  We should not be weak.  That is not the way life works.  Not everybody has their life together.  A lot of people have problems and struggle to live day-to-day.  This idea within North America of "be strong, not weak" is a crock.

Putting up a front is worse than anything.  It shows we have to fake being strong before we should fix or attempt to fix what is wrong with ourselves.  Putting up a front is an antiquated and archaic notion.  If I had to be strong for someone else, I wouldn't necessarily do it.  It would rather be up front and tell them that I have to fix what is wrong with me  I do have things I need to fix with myself.  Everybody does.

You don't need to mask your problems.  You don't need to put a veil over your problems because I wouldn't expect you too.  I'd hope you wouldn't expect me too.

If you are dealing with some issues, peace be with you.  May you find the strength to persevere and move on with your life and away from these problems.

Are People Buying Into the Fear Mongering?

The Paris attacks has dominated headlines, more so than the attacks on Beirut.  That doesn't mean that the motives behind them are different.  ISIS has taken credit for both attacks.  Now that this heightened alert is happening all over the world, not that it is a bad thing, we need to not let these events run our everyday lives.  That's what these militant groups want.  They are want us to be fearful of our everyday lives.  They want use to do our everyday tasks with a certain sense of fear and trepidation.

It is has gotten to the point, whether they believe it or not, that some people are saying that blocking refugees from entering any country could drive them closer to ISIS and other such militant groups.  I don't necessarily believe that.  We need to have some proof that this sort of thing happens.  But on a segment of episode of CBC Radio's "180," Syrian-American political researcher Nader Atassi has said specifically this.  That seems like another case of fear mongering.  Why would they want to join up with a militant group when they want to somewhere better and away from that?  Doesn't make much sense.

It has gotten so out of hand that, Saskatchewan premiere Brad Wall is calling on newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to suspend fast tracking 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada by the end of year.  This happening wasn't as big of an issue until the Beirut and Paris attacks happened.  Now people are full of fear and trepidation like something is going to happen.  I'm not saying the Wall is wrong, but he is not totally thinking rationally.  It's gotten to the point that a number of American Republican govenors are blocking Syrian refugees from resettling in their state even if it is only temporary.  One is presidential candidate.  Bobby Jindal can be seen as a hypocrite for not wanting refugees to resettle in Louisiana.  Jindal is of Indian descent as his parents imigrated from India.

It would be interesting to know if Wall and Jindal can prove if any of the refugees pose a real credible threat.  Yesterday on Facebook, the Ecomomist posted the following:



Source: The Economist
If you do the math, you will see that an average of roughly 53,500 refugees per year were resettled in North America. Yet when Prime Minister Trudeau wants to resettle a mere 25,000; we lose our minds. No I'm not saying that fast tracking is the answer. But if those 750,000 did nothing to cause use harm, than what are the odds that these 25,000 will? Sure if you break it down per month, it doesn't come up to that many per million. In the United States is came up to a smaller number per month. Even if you break it down for Canada, it still comes up to a small amount per month.

These mililtant groups want us to live in fear and trepidation. That's why blocking refugees from Syria has become hot topic. I give credit to those premiers (if there are any) and those govenors who will let refugees into their provinces and states. If we give in a close our borders out of fear, than our world will be completely governed by fear and we will be afraid to live our lives. I don't want to live my life in fear and trepidation. I don't think you want to either.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

The Attack on Paris

The attack on Paris and other such attacks on places around the world are becoming increasingly common.  I don't know what the motive is behind this.  But what I do know is that France has a high Muslim population.  That is not to say that all the Muslins in France wanted to do the attacks.  It is the radical/extremist Muslims of the world that want to do this.  It is unfortunate that Paris was the target for these attacks.

No matter where you went whether it be out for evening to have a good time, to friends place, to work, stay at home, or online; the tragic events that occured were being talked about.  They are still being talked about.  Rightfully it should be talked about.  It is being talked about to not make people fearful.  Sure there are people who fear it could happen in their own backyards.  Sure that is a scary notion, but we need not let those people who do such things be fear mongers and scare innocent civilians into not wanting to live out their normal day-to-day lives.

When United States President Barack Obama addressed the media one thing he said stood out.  He said:

"This is not an attack on Paris.  This is not an attack France.  This is an attack on humanity."

He was right when he said that.  Stuff like this is happening all over the world all the time.  It is happening in places you wouldn't expect.  Domestic terrorism is an all too real thing.  You don't want to have to admit it to yourself, but it is happening.  People gunning down people in schools can be seen as a form of domestic terrorism.  It is scary.  The people of Paris if not all of France fear for their future.  I get that, but if they find a way to be strong in the face of this, they could be probably find some semblance of normalcy in there lives.  Sure it might take awhile, but I believe it will happen.

Talking to a friend of mine tonight about these attacks and we talked about how not every Muslim is radical or an extremist.  I've worked with Muslims and they wouldn't hurt anybody.  They wouldn't attempt to harm anybody.  They are nice people.  But it's the extremists the give them a bad name.  He also said that he gets messages from people on Facebook from places like India and whatnot because of his YouTube videos and he said they are geniunely nice people.  So don't be like professional wrestling personality Tammy Lynn Sytch formerly known as Sunny in the WWF who said:

"What I think the world needs is another holocaust, but this time for the Islams of the world... The ones who really should be extinguished.  HAIL TRUMP!"
 This was said on her Facebook page.  What a sick thing to want.  You can't blame all Muslims based on the actions of small percentage of people who profess to practice this religion.  Why do people have to be so fucked in the head?

I'll leave you with a status I posted on Facebook (both personal and fanpage), Twitter, Tumblr, and Google Plus.

"The Paris attacks shows how scary this world is. If a developed country such as France is not immune from such attacks, just think it can happen here. Just don't let that stop you from living your life. As scary as it is, life does ultimately go on."
Don't become so fearful that you can't live your life.  You need to keep on keeping on even if it is tough.

Here are some hashtags you can use #PrayforParis #PeaceforParis #JeSuisParis

Peace be with France during this time.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Starbucks "Red Cup Controversy"

By now, I'm sure you've heard about this so-called Starbucks "red cup controversy.  It basically stems from Starbucks going from beautifully printed cups to plain red cups that house our hot beverage of choice.  This controversy has got even United States presidental candidate, Donald Trump has even called for a boycott of Starbucks because of this so-called "controversy."

If you know me, you know I'm not the biggest fan of Starbucks.  Let's be honest, I'm against companies and corporations removing "Merry Christmas" and using "happy holidays" or "seasons greatings" because of the non-Christian consumer.  If you think about it, a lot of the secular and the atheist consumer probably celebrates Christmas.  The closest thing to any Christian references Starbucks gets is a Christmas tree on their cups.  As much as people say they are not Christian, they do put up a Christmas tree which was started by Christians.

Just because are you Starbucks junkie and want your $5 small cappuccino doesn't they have to pander to you because you are Christian.  There is no law saying they have to uphold Christmas in everything they do.  Would the people supporting this boycot really care what was on it if it was more than just a red cup?  If there was snow, lights, santa, an elf, or some thing associated with Christmas on the cup, would there still be this be so-called "controversy?"  After all, red is one of main Christmas colours just like orange is a colour of fall or Halloween.

Is what is on a Starbucks cup really an issue?  Is this "first world problems" really that big of a deal?  We have more pressing issues that need facing, but we'd rather ignore them because what is on a cup of our favourite big chain coffee cup is apparently more important.  It is more important than solving the homeless issue in North America.  It is more important than solving the issue of the working poor.  Being a "first world problem" takes precedence over issues that actually do matter apparently.

When it comes down to it, I don't care.  Neither should you because after the Christmas season, you'll have completely forgotten about so-called "controversy" until it happens again in a years time.  If this is truly an important issue, you wouldn't wait till a certain time of the year to make a big deal out of it.  It shows where our priorities are in our Western society.  We trivialize important matters while we make a big deal over things that are so stupid.  But I doubt the people advocating for the boycott will truely boycott Starbucks.  That in itself makes them a hypocrite.