Peace will not come out of a clash of arms but out of justice lived and done by unarmed nations in the face of odds. Hatred ever kills, love never dies; such is the vast difference between the two. What is obtained by love is retained for all time. What is obtained by hatred proves a burden in reality for it increases hatred.
- M. Gandhi

"Hey, has anyone ever told you, you look like that girl...you know, that one from TV!! You know that show with those people and that thing...yeah her!"

Ever get anything remotely close to that?

Heres a site where you can upload your picture and see what celebrities may share your genealogy. It'll analyze your picture and give you a set of international celebrities you resemble and give you a percentage of exactly how much. Don't worry if you get male and female, it's supposed to churn out mixed results.

I got some embarrassing ones...I'd share all of them, but you'd only laugh. Until you try your own picture and see for yourself how far stretched it really is! (Apparently Liv Tyler, Christina Ricci, and Bipasha Basu are some far off relatives that kept showing up for me...lol!)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20051219/ca_pr_on_wo/us_cda_bashing

I'm more than fuming at this story.
Whether or not Prime Minister Paul Martin stood up to the US on their policies regarding lumber trade and the Kyoto Protcol mainly for election reasons, or because he actually grew a backbone, it's no reason to bash Canada in. It seems to be a general consensus amongst Americans (no offense to my American buddies who do like us, you're the exception) that Canada is better off ignored and that "Canada is a sweet country. It is like your retarded cousin you see at Thanksgiving and sort of pat him on the head. You know, he's nice but you don't take him seriously. That's Canada."

The little bow-tie wearing nut on Tucker Carlson said that. I think he's still bruised from back when Jon Stewart put him in his place on Carlson's show on CNN (see one of my first posts about this very topic).

As the year draws to an end, everywhere you turn you see lists of "2005's Best _______".

So, just to add to the many many other's out there, here is Time Magazine's compilation of the 50 Coolest Websites of 2005

To one of my oldest and dearest friends Lee-Ann,

Wishing you a very happy birthday and many more happy and healthy ones to come!

I think it's been about 8-9 years since we first met, and maybe about 7 years since the last time I actually saw you(the Sri Utama days don't seem that long ago...damn we're getting old)! But thankfully we've been able to keep in touch this long and it's like I never left (sorta).

Hope the days ahead make you all the more wiser, opinionated and amazing as ever. And if you do ever manage to come over to Canada from "down under" in search of some Degrassi memorabilia then I hope to meet soon.

Lots of love,
Khadeeja

Normally I don't mind the winter. Sure it's about -24C with the windchill factor, but living in Canada you make your peace with it (more or less) and I don't mind snow. Only thing that gets to me is freezing rain. Give me a snowstorm over freezing rain. My biggest fear is that I slip on a patch of ice somewhere and crack my spine. It's actually rather amusing to see me cross a road or parking lot full of ice because I take the tiniest baby steps (though, even babies would be ashamed of how slow I go) in order to get to my destination safely.

Another thing winter does to many people is cause a winter depression. You haven't seen the sun in days, you're wearing endless layers of clothing to stay warm, your car is an icebox each time you get into it, you leave home earlier in the mornings to clean and warm up your car, you lost yet another glove...it's all stressful and frustrating. But like I said, I don't mind it.

Though this winter I seem to be more depressed than I have been in awhile. I'm not locked away at home - in fact with my new Elections Canada job, I'm actually out more. Things just don't seem right. People don't seem right. Things are changing at work and home (and don't you try to tell me that 'change is good' because, no, it's not) though temporarily. And I feel blah. Disappointed at the world and myself. Maybe it's because I haven't been at school in awhile. Maybe I miss exams? (Forget the life preserver, someone throw me a textbook!).

But I think it also has to do with getting older and realizing people aren't what they seem to be. I'm generally a very trusting person. It gets me into trouble, especially at work where people take advantage of it (client's, not coworkers). But now, more and more, I'm understanding how the world works and it's not a very promising realization.

I think someone has to sing Coldplay's "Fix you" to me to make it all better.

People's selfishness is so disappointing. People don't share they don't care (I'm not going to burst out in song with this rhyming) and you find more bad than good.

Yes, I'm fortunate to know good people and have people I love who love me back. But unfortunately it doesn't stop there. Sometimes I want to delete this blog completely to erase all the silly things I've written and pretend I didn't bother sharing anything at all ("Blog? What's that? Nope, I never had one"). But then again it's nice to have a blog to rant to the world.

*sigh* I need April to roll around fast...

I don't know why I like this picture, it's so eerie but just so amazing...









(click on image to enlarge)

With all the talk about the 2005 "Make Poverty History" campaign, the worry with supporters is that all the promises made by politicians this year will go ignored in 2006.

This can't happen. This issue is just too important, and progress has finally started to become apparent.

Send a holiday greeting card to Tony Blair to voice your concern!

Click the Make Poverty History band on the top right hand corner of this page to design your own card to send him! And they will be sent in time to decorate his fireplace mantle before Christmas ;)

I KNOW you have a couple minutes to spare...you're checking out this post at this very moment aren't you? What better way to end it off than by annoying an annoying politician!? It'll make your day!

No it's not just another do-gooder scheme. This is the real deal. Real people, who care about the ones who have been pushed out of our minds through our daily lives by every day people.


Make Trade Fair is a campaign sponsored by Oxfam. You may have heard Bono or Chris Martin (Coldplay's frontman) talk about the necessity of this campaign and what it has accomplished. And they have accomplished a lot.


"Fair Trade is a growing, international movement which ensures that producers in poor countries get a fair deal. This means a fair price for their goods (one that covers the cost of production and guarantees a living income), long-term contracts which provide real security; and for many, support to gain the knowledge and skills that they need to develop their businesses and increase sales."

We need to buy smart and buy fair. If you are interested in this campaign you can find out more through Oxfam (I have the link on the left) or at http://www.maketradefair.com/

Next time your at Starbucks, just think of what that cup really costs.

(And for you Canadian coffee-addicts, Second Cup does sell Fair trade coffee so do make sure to ask for it! But if you need your Starbucks, they also should have one available.)

What's your 11:59?

There a recent idea started by two women who have had experiences where they've had to face their "moment of truth" and had to choose whether to give up or keep going, and it also represents moments where you thought you were at a loss, but somehow someone or something comes through and makes a defining moment in your life. (http://www.1159.ca/1159.swf)

Sounds kinda corny, doesn't it? But nonetheless they have something there. These women now sell bracelets and necklaces for people to remind themselves to not lose hope and remind them of past experiences they've had with their 11:59. They were on CFRB1010 last week (in with The Motts) and were talking about their idea while many people called in and shared their own experiences.

Call it corny, but there were a lot of tear-jerking moments! I remember one where a woman's husband got into and accident and was in a coma on life-support. A close friend of the husband (he was the one who called into the show) said that he suggested they pull the plug on his friend because numerous doctors and endless tests had said that nothing could be done for this man and he didn't want to see his friend as a "vegetable" for the rest of his life and in pain. But the wife refused to do it and one week later to everyone's shock, her husband woke up and is now in good health. Apparently the caller did tell his friend what he had told his wife to do.

I know my own 11:59 happened when my sister was born about 7 years ago and due to complications, the Doctor nicked an artery ("by accident"...one more reason I distrust doctors) and my mother was bleeding internally for hours before they realized something was wrong and had to operate again. She was near death by the time they could help her and being only 16 at the time I couldn't understand whether to cope with my own desperate feelings to console my then 13 year old brother who was in an actual state of shock the whole time. We were in California at the time and my dad was in India, so with only aunts, uncles and cousins around, I ended up doing the latter. I would say my faith in God helped me through, as did my refusal to believe my mom wouldn't pull through this - she had to. I remember my brother and I refused to even look at the baby until we knew our mom was ok (she was only 5 hours old, there really wasn't a whole lotta love at that point...she may resent us in the future for it but I blame her for everything anyways lol).

Anyone else have an 11:59 moment?

As always, if you want to comment as "Anonymous" go right ahead :)