i'm trying

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."

Buddha

weekend to end breast cancer

and my newest favourite bumper sticker?

Save the tatas

in the same vein

you might also want to check the blog entry out at in an african minute, an interesting take on the whole question of what a bunch of young white kids are doing 'playing' in africa before heading back home to make a real career and life. and if it isn't a better idea to attempt to improve a society with which you are most familiar. the question of whether or not i could make more of a meaningful impact on canadians has crossed my mind a number of times. still not sure what the answer to that one is but i will keep asking it until i find the best decision for me.

great site though.

a recommendation from me to you

buy the current Vanity Fair magazine, it is full of some good stuff about africa, development, hiv/aids, poverty, bono's attempt at getting the corporate and consumer world on board with that whole red campaign (which i am not sure if i buy - i am going to keep it filed under consideration for the moment), and all other things africa, both good and bad.

there is a great article about life in kenya, specifically nairobi, that is pretty on the mark and gives a decent depiction of what life is like in the big bad city. i think it is a perspective that is usually missed in the public media.

check it out.

overheard in our house last night

'mom, tell taylor to give me some personal space!'

hunter: 'give it to me'
taylor: 'fine but i farted on it 3 times'
(i don't even know what they were talking about)

'mom, do you have that stuff that will get rid of my moustache?'

clickity click click

• i am writing this on my brand spanking new laptop that is silver and very fast (fast, i am sure, because of its shiny silver exterior) and is the product of a lot of generosity and kindness and the help of the geeks at best buy who are indeed geeky as well as helpful (except for the doorknob who tried to sell me a laptop bag by suggesting the selling feature of being able to hold my make-up for when i travel... clearly he doesn't know a thing about the variety of different kinds of women out there and hence, works as a geek at best buy)
• since when does shipping with amazon.ca cost $6?
• i am ultra super glad that the stampede is over. i am also very smart even though you can't tell from the sentence i just constructed
• i get to be a bridesmaid for the first time this weekend and i luckily found a pair of shoes that match perfectly, thank you winners
• my only complaint about my very fabulous ultra super fast laptop is the clicky-ness of the keys and the fact that i keep missing them and misspelling things
• i bought the book What Colour is My Parachute and i really hope it helps me figure out not only what colour my parachute is, but what to do with this career i am attempting to build
• i have a dentist appointment today, which is about as appealing as a swift kick in the junk would be if i had any junk

cause i'm a list kinda girl these days

• i went hiking in the foothills yesterday, i am home
• i spent the afternoon today in a 'meeting' with my best lady where we ate the most wonderful salad and drank afternoon cocktails in her garden
• blueberries are my favourite berry and janny knows that
• the stampede has ceased to freak me out and i have got on with my life
• grasshopper is my current favourite beer
• i am loving amy winehouse, which might not be so interesting if you are not out of the pop culture loop like me
• what is with every restaurant in calgary closing at 9 on a tuesday? i thought this city had a million people
• the proposal that i wrote has been approved and funded - yay for making a difference. or whatever it is i do over there
• there has been talk already that if this project goes well it should be expanded into other countries. other countries!
• i love my new birkenstocks, it is about time i paid some attention to my poor indian lady feet
• i know where i am from and that feels good
• the chances of me getting another tattoo while i am home are in the 70 - 80 range. out of 100
• my sister is loving the irishmen and who can blame her
• i am laptop shopping at the moment and was thinking of an ibook but the more people i talk to, the less confident i am in that decision. the hewlett packard is appealing at the moment. any contributing thoughts on that?

a busy 3 weeks

i am not feeling so creative and haven't been writing much lately. maybe because i am overcoming my addiction to facebook. i am on the 5th step of a 12 step programme. or something like that.

here is what i have been up to the last 3 weeks:

• i rubbed shoulders with the vice president of kenya in mombasa
• i contracted malaria because i slept without a mosquito net during the rainy season in mombasa (i direct you to http://www.spreadthenet.org/ again because now that i know what malaria feels like and that it can be prevented so easily and treated for very little money yet most who get it cannot afford the drugs, i really think that we should keep spreading the net)
• i went to egypt and although it was hot as balls, it rocked the casbah and maybe i will get around to articulating how much it rocked in the near future, for now my smattering of photos will have to do (there are more on my facebook, if you are so inclined)
• i found some generic egyptian drugs to treat the malaria
• i went hot air ballooning over the valley of the kings in luxor
• i dodged taxis and other vehicles on the streets of cairo, which put the streets of nairobi to shame even though i wasn't sure that was possible
• i saw a half naked fat man in his flimsy white boxer shorts and am still laughing about it
• i was defeated at trivial pursuit (but it was the british version so i had a slight disadvantage)
• i kicked butt at ping pong on the beach of the red sea
• i hung out in king tut's final resting place
• i ate hummous, tabouleh, baba ganouj, tahini, and grape leaves
• i read some books, including A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian (7/10), Blessings (7.5/10), and A Thousand Splendid Suns (8.5/10 and this would be higher but it just doesn't compare to the author's other book, The Kite Runner)
• i went snorkelling in the red sea and got windswept
• i floated on the red sea (but not over to saudi arabia)
• i had my bum fondled on the metro and my photo taken on a ferry
• i broke into kenya and snuck my way around buying a visa thinking that i could just leave on my other passport to avoid paying for yet another visa, that was NOT a good idea and they almost made me miss my flight to london by insisting i go home and locate my 'misplaced' passport, but they let me on the flight after making their point, pulling my luggage off the plane, and delaying the flight
• i gave up my seat that had extra leg room (mine aren't so long) and they gave me a first class bag of goodies with khiel's products
• i visited my sister in london and bought my first pair of skinny jeans
• i ate the best sushi with some pretty good company
• i am also a full fledged hippy as i do not have a tv, like to knit, and now own a pair of birkenstocks
• air canada is perhaps the most miserable airline to fly with - i don't want to hear what my flight attendants are doing on the weekend, what their hobbies are, nor do i want to be barked at or be forced to overhear their rude conversations with other passengers
• i flew next to refugees being resettled to the us, it was nice to look over and smile at the well-behaved kids laughing out loud at the cartoons
• a man tried to lasso me as i came through the arrivals gates at the airport in calgary and i have been slightly afraid of the stampede ever since
• i arrived home after 3 long weeks of travelling through kenya, egypt, and london
• i am attempting to readjust to life in the developed world and the pace of calgary while avoiding the stampede

walking like an egyptian