My Myspace page is totally pimped out
Go look. I put a few pics from my last month in Japan...
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Someone entertain me... Please.
Ewwwwwww
Seeing as nothing interesting is happening in my life... Got my wisdom teeth out last week. Been in pain since... actually it was just one tooth which makes me sound like a pansy... but the dentist had to cut part of my jawbone off or something. It hurt. So stop making fun of me.
So yeah, as I was saying, since I have nothing of interest to bring to the table... here's something that they would probably never do in Japan...
But dried squid on a stick is OK. ^_^
This is funny
Thanks to Sean for sending me
this gem. And people wonder why I never watched Japanese TV.
Michel Boyer, GET OFF THE NEWS!!!
Living in Montreal, obviously the only thing that's been in the news is the shooting at Dawson. Police have released the name of the suspected shooter, Kimveer Gill (25); they've also released the name of the young woman who was killed, Anastasia De Sousa (18). She was pronounced dead on the scene... except that police didn't make the announcement that anyone had died until 9:00PM last night... Her body wasn't removed from the crime scene until early this morning.
I'm not going to give an in-depth profile of the killer. I'll let you
read for yourself.
Anyway, in tragedies like this, there are always people who will come out as heroes (the Montreal police and Urgence Santé) and those who exploit the media for their own personal gain. This brings me to Michel Boyer. Boyer is a student at Dawson who seems to be following the TV cameras. I've seen him on CTV, CBC, RDI and even CNN. His testimony is in all the papers and even on the BBC... This man seems articulate at first but then you seem to lose all respect for him... Whereas other witnesses just wanted to get home to their family, he was still at the crime scene until late. And he wasn't even in the cafeteria. He ran and hid into a classroom. Then there is the fact that he keeps changing his testimony... first he's a hero, taking all the lost and frightened first year students to safety with his in-depth knowledge of the school layout, and next he's just as lost, trying to direct a team of 30 SWAT officers "as best he can" to the location of the suspect...
And then picture this: he's on the 6 o'clock news recounting his story. First he has the gall to claim that this ordeal could be compared to 9/11 (oh puleeeze)... then after he finishes giving his account, the stoic news anchor Mitsumi Takahashi puts a supportive hand on his forearm and thanks him for coming in and talking about it... And then what does he do?! He turns to her, puts an his hand on her hand and says "Thank you, Mits"... OH MY GOD... She's not your friend for Heaven's sake... She's a professional who has been the news anchor on the 6 o'clock news for decades... "MITS"!!! GAH!
I can't find video of this guy talking but I'll keep my eyes opened and when I find some, I'll let you judge for yourself...
The nature of Canadians
This school shooting at Dawson College has caused me to wonder about a lot of things. I'm often told that Canadians are basically indistinguishable from Americans, that we don't have a distinct culture, that we all have inferiority complexes... I'll agree that Canadians are indeed very similar to Americans. We sound the same (generally), we look the same, we watch the same TV, listen to the same music... So yes, perhaps our pop-culture is very similar. Canada is a young country with little history compared to Europe or East Asia... But I think that one of the things that really sets us apart are our values...
Dr. Helen Smith (the Instawife) calls us
clueless because people in Dawson originally thought that it wasn't real. Hollywood does make movies in Montreal after all... it happens. And Dawson does have a very good arts and theatre programme. But all that aside, Canadians are generally not a violent society. We didn't gain our independance through bloodshed, we never gave people the right to bear arms, Wal-Marts in Canada don't have a gun aisle... And I think that's a fundamental difference.
There are 2 million people one the island of Montreal. It's is a big city yet it is a safe city. There are fewer murders per capita than in Toronto... and less violent crime too. Montrealers are too busy smoking pot (but that's a whole other debate)... I would safely say that the majority of people in Montreal have never even seen a real gun, much less heard one.
The kids at Dawson are 16, 17, 18 years old for the most part... Personally, I find it refreshing that they don't know what a real gun sounds like. It means that they've never had to deal with it. And is that a bad thing? Should we want our kids to have to deal in a constant fear of violence like in America? Have people in the United States become so accustomed to violence that they need to train their kids to deal with this kind of emergency? We already have to tell our girls not to walk alone at night, tell our kids not to talk to strangers, do we really want to have to start telling them about school massacres too? And in all honesty, I don't think it's that ridiculous to assume that in the United States, teenagers wouldn't have acted in the same way... No one ever thinks that something like this is going to happen to them...
For better or for worse, Canadians are peaceful. We value peace-keeping over policing. We haven't become desensitized to our young men and women coming home from Afghanistan draped in the Red Maple Leaf. Perhaps, as a society, Canadians are naive. I don't know about you but I'd rather live in a society where children don't know what a real gun sounds like than live in one where children are exposed to gun violence every day.
I can't watch anymore...
So I have been watching the news since 2:30PM and I'm really on edge. I think I'm going crazy. Yeah, I know that I wasn't there. I know that I probably have no right to be as upset as I am, but I am. Montreal has been on the list of one of the best places to live... Canada is supposed to be a safe place... People aren't supposed to walk in to schools brandishing guns... Yes... guns... It came out that the shooter (or suspect as the police are calling him) had 3 guns. THREE GUNS!? Where the heck did he get three guns?!
So if you haven't been reading the news, 2 people were killed and 19 injured (8 in critical condition) in the shooting at Dawson College this afternoon.
My sister's boyfriend is a student at Dawson and was in class when the shooting started. He came over this evening to tell us about what had happened. They heard the shooting beneath them and almost immediately barricaded the door using available desks. Just as they had started moving the desks, a girl burst in saying that her friend had just been shot in the leg. She hid in the classroom with them. They stayed there for about 45 minutes... crouching in fear, shaking, praying, until police officers came in and lead them out. Then they ran... and ran. Once they crossed the police tape, apparently people just started throwing up. My sister's boyfriend was recounting his experience and I just felt ill. He could have been killed. Unfortunately I am not just sympathetic, I am empathetic to a fault and I have a tendency to absorb the emotions that surround me. So I'm probably being a bit overdramatic but it's still shocking...
There was one shooter... not two... and police shot and killed him. The police shooting is now under investigation so no one will release any information on the shooter... We know he's 25 and he's from Quebec... other than that... nothing. It's really frustrating. All we hear on the news is speculation... no definite answers. That combined with pictures of screaming, crying, blood... It's just not right... I just hope the police find out why the shooter did it...
Montreal in the News...
Well... here I am trying to convince people to come and visit me in Montreal and stuff like this happens. This afternoon at 12:45, 2 gunmen dressed in black opened fire in the cafeteria of
Dawson College, an English-language CEGEP (pre-university) in downtown Montreal. 12 people were injured, 6 in critical, 2 in serious and 4 in stable condition. It's almost 4PM now and police and SWAT teams are still on the scene, looking for any survivors that may still be barricaded inside the classrooms. Montreal police neutralized one gunman and the other took his own life.
It's frightening really. This shooting bares striking resemblance to one of the darkest days in Montreal history. On December 6th 1989, Mark Lepine shot 27 women, 14 fatally, before turning the gun on himself. Lepine, angry that he hadn't been accepted into the programme at the Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, blamed an increasing number of women in the engineering faculty and thus entered into the building and opened fire.
This event prompted stricter gun laws accross Canada... and yet, 17 years later, people can still enter our schools with assault rifles. Perhaps I am a pessimist but I find it quite worrisome... Because if people want it bad enough, they will find a way to circumvent the laws and cause pain and suffering to innocent people...
My sister's boyfriend is a student at Dawson and was in the building when it happened. Luckily he came out of it alive but it scares me to think about what could have gone wrong...
No word yet as to motive...
Here are the reports so far:
CTV,
BBC,
CNN... I'm sure there will be more to come...
Beat the boredom
ABC... anything but clean... I've been trying to clean my room all weekend... it's not working.
Apparently it's a slow celebrity news day
As you all know, I am seriously obsessed with celebrity blogs... between pictures of alien baby Suri and famous-for-no-reason Paris Hilton, I just can't get enough of them.
Now here I am checking my blogs this morning when I find
this on a couple of the gossip blogs I read: a 2004 interview with Anne-Marie Losique. Now I don't proclain to like the work of Mlle Losique (daughter of president and founder of the Montreal International Film Festival) because I personally find her to be one of the most annoying people on Canadian TV. Mister TheSuperficial, you should have done your research. She and Ben Affleck have been playing this game for like a decade... Hopefuly not anymore since he's married to a woman who can probably kick his ass... but I digress.
FYI, Mlle Losique produces a show called SeXstar (all about the life of famous pornstars) and a
bunch of other shows in the same vein... She also produced and starred in (with French-Canadian singer Jacynthe) the Quebec version of "The Simple Life"--"La vie rurale"... But she has been doing this interview act with Ben Affleck since she was nothing more than the celebrity reporter for Box-Office on MusiquePlus (the French-Canadian music station). I have have seen about 10 interviews with the 2 of them and every time, never fail, by the end of the interview, she and her giant nose are sitting on his lap. Sure it's unprofessional, sure it's irritating and it wants to make you rip out your eyes and ears, but it's their act and it certainly isn't celebrity-gossip-blog worthy.
Actually, it would be best if everyone just forgot that she ever existed... I felt like I wasted 20 minutes of my life just writing about her...
Les cours préparatoires
Right so as most of you know, I started school again on August 15th. I've preparing for my bar exams (to become a lawyer not a bartender... believe me, I've had people ask...) which for the moment is going pretty well. If people are interested, Quebec follows the civil law system which means that everything is governed by a civil code and not several statutes like it would be in the US. What does this mean for me? I have to learn over 4000 articles by heart... (approximately 3000 in the Civil Code of Quebec and about 1000 in the Code of Civil Procedure) Not to mention everything in the Divorce Act, the Bankruptcy Act and any other federal law that is applicable in Quebec. Quebec, being the wonerful province that it is, has 2 applicable legal systems, which makes my job even harder... How's that for fake law?!
I have one 3 hour class a day... in the morning from 8:30-11:30. One class is like a week's worth of University classes, perhaps even more because the teacher just speeds through the material. And I'm not even doing the hard stuff yet (that comes in January). It's so hard being in class again as a student after being the one teaching for 2 years. But I'm sure I'll manage.
Oh and guess what?! I might be getting a car. Hopefully
this one. Provided I'm financially viable by the end of the year... Anyone looking to hire a cute (and smart) law student?
I guess he's not invincible
Steve Irwin (aka the Crocodile Hunter) died. He was killed by a stingray barb that pierced his chest. He was 44 and leaves behind a wife and 2 kids. It's really tragic. He wrestled crocodiles yet the world witnessed his demise at the tail of a stingray...
Sarcasm is a tool that losers use to bring winners down to their level
It's time for an update. I'm only updating this blog for Angie because I love her to death... my life here in Montreal is not nearly as exciting as it was in Japan... not that my life was earth-shatteringly exciting there either... but at least I was in Japan.
Montreal is a beautiful place. Big city, good shopping, lots to do... except that I am still trying to figure out where I belong here. It's weird. I'm home but it doesn't feel like home. I couldn't find Bonaventure Metro Station! What is up with that?! It's a really strange feeling being lost in the city you grew up in...
A few things that I realized coming back to Montreal:
1) Japan is not nearly as expensive as people think it is... especially now that the Canadian dollar is worth more than 100 yen...
2) Customer service in Montreal is basically non-existant... Most cashiers don't even acknowledge your presence... WOULD IT KILL YOU PEOPLE TO SMILE!?!?
3) Not everyone deserves a tip. I don't like tipping people 15% just because they brought me my food... That was not the point of tipping
4) Drinks are really expensive... and I thought Japan was bad... $7,50+tip for a cocktail is BS
5) The trains in Japan, although expensive, are better than the buses in Montreal
6) I really miss my PS2 (it broke while I was in Japan...)
7) Living in a city where people can use both English and French with ease is awesome... I never noticed how unique Montreal is in that respect
8) Montreal is a really great city... It may not be as big as Tokyo or as old as Kyoto or Nara... but it certainly is pretty. Don't believe me? Just check out the pics below.
Old Montreal at twilight
IN OTHER NEWS:
The Japanese girls left Montreal on August 24th. The 23rd, we were invited to their "graduation" ceremony... which was a regular university graduation ceremony for the first half and then performances just like at school festival. I was so happy when the students were performing. It made me feel like I was in Japan again, during the best part of the school year: Bunkasai. The students danced and sang songs. It was really great. And as usual, the Japanese students blew me away. And when it was all over and we were saying goodbye to the girls... it was just like saying goodbye to Japan all over again. I cried. Again.
This weekend was Labour Day weekend. Last Wednesday, my cousin Dave (from Ireland) and his wife had called to let us know that they would be arriving in Montreal on Thursday. My Dad went to pick them up at the airport but little did he know that instead of 2 people coming over, it was 6... David failed to give us warning... But my mother... superwoman that she is... took the news without even batting an eye... If I can be half the woman my mother is, I'll be happy. Right now I think I'm at 10%.
Having our Irish guests was excellent. They were great fun and I got to show them around some more. I've been off school since Wednesday so I had some time to give them the grand tour of the city. They had great weather the whole time they were here. And then the day after they left, we got the tail end of Ernesto so the weather has been quite grey...
I saw
Snakes on a Plane the other day. The movie was terrible yet awesome at the same time. I also went to see indie film
Little Miss Sunshine which was a great movie and had me in stitches for most of it. It's so nice to be able to go to the movies for under $10 again...
I suppose that's about it for me. I'll end the post with some long awaited pictures of our international visitors this past month.
Kumi and Miyuki with the family on top of the St. Joseph's Oratory (a really big church built about 100 years ago)
Miyuki, Jen, me and Kumi at the Mont-Royal observaory. You can see the Olympic Stadium in the distance
Yasuyo at the Biodome de Montréal
Yuki at the Biodome de Montréal
Under an umbrella at an outdoor "concert"
Our Irish guests (David, Nuala, Judy, Paddy, Angela and Mark) at the Mont-Royal observatory. Notice again the Olympic Stadium in the background
The Russells. That's David on the left and his wife Nuala on the right. Can you see the family resemblance? I'll give you a hint... It's the nose...
Our Irish guests at St-Hubert Restaurant in downtown Montreal
David, Nuala, Judy and Paddy in front of the statue of Paul de Chomedy de Maisonneuve (the founder of Montreal... founded in 1642 for those of you who are not Montrealers)
Everyone in Old Montreal. I'm taking the picture. And as usual, my brother looks like he is about to kill someone...
And that's about it. I hope that by giving you my faithful readers a taste of what my city looks like, some of you will feel inclined to come and visit me.
But dried squid on a stick is OK. ^_^
Old Montreal at twilight
Kumi and Miyuki with the family on top of the St. Joseph's Oratory (a really big church built about 100 years ago)
Miyuki, Jen, me and Kumi at the Mont-Royal observaory. You can see the Olympic Stadium in the distance
Yasuyo at the Biodome de Montréal
Yuki at the Biodome de Montréal
Under an umbrella at an outdoor "concert"
Our Irish guests (David, Nuala, Judy, Paddy, Angela and Mark) at the Mont-Royal observatory. Notice again the Olympic Stadium in the background
The Russells. That's David on the left and his wife Nuala on the right. Can you see the family resemblance? I'll give you a hint... It's the nose...
Our Irish guests at St-Hubert Restaurant in downtown Montreal
David, Nuala, Judy and Paddy in front of the statue of Paul de Chomedy de Maisonneuve (the founder of Montreal... founded in 1642 for those of you who are not Montrealers)
Everyone in Old Montreal. I'm taking the picture. And as usual, my brother looks like he is about to kill someone...