Put the days together, and they start to do some damage. If the mean is in the middle, then I know that I will manage.

My school is non-semestered.  This means that I have all of my classes at once, all throughout the year.

Let me tell you something, all right?  This is STRESSFUL.

Yeah, we get an extra day to do homework.  Sure, it gives the course a more epic and less rushed feel.  Sure, we get more early acceptances.

But maybe we would get more acceptances IN GENERAL if we weren't so worried about juggling seven to nine classes in addition to extracurriculars, clubs, teams, and a social life.  We also wouldn't look like this so much of the time:

That's all I'm saying.

Stressfully,

Girl With One Eye

You say your time has come, you're tired of waking up. Don't be obscene, I can't conceive of living without you.

Yesterday, another Day of Purple was observed in Ottawa.  The reason?  The death of Daron Richardson, the teenage daughter of the assistant coach of the Senators.  More specifically, her suicide.

The rate of teen suicide increased by eight percent in 2007.  This increase is alarming.  Why are so many teens committing suicide?

Through my own life experiences, teens are feeling enormous pressure right now - balancing school, a social life, extracurriculars, and jobs can be stressful.  Not to mention the insane pressure concerning body image, which drives many teens to eating disorders and fad dieting.  Teens have to be perfect.  If they aren't, either their parents, their teachers, their peers, or their coaches will come down on them.  It's an impossible goal that today's teens are trying to achieve.

If you or someone you love is suffering from depression or suicidal thoughts, there is help out there for you.  Tell someone - you'll be surprised at how much help you can get, and how loved you are.  If you really feel you can't talk to anyone in your life, contact the Suicide Hotline - American or Canadian.  There's so much to live for.  You are not alone.

All my love,

Girl With One Eye

What the heck is that smell?!

It's rotting milk.  Some girl spilled hot chocolate in her locker, and it's going bad.  They just opened the locker and cleaned it all out, so the hallway doesn't smell very good right now.

Gross?  Yes.  Unpleasant?  Definitely.

Not much we can do about it, though.  Wear a gas mask.  Hold your breath.  Suck it up, princess.

Girl With One Eye

You've got the love.

The dog days are over.  Kiss with a fist.  Hurricane drunk.

What do all of these phrases have in common?  They are all titles of songs by the popular British band Florence + the Machine.  They are also all songs I listened to at her concert last Wednesday night.

On Wednesday, November third, Florence played at the Sound Academy in Toronto, Canada.  The following is my half-review, half-excited gushing, about the performance.

My friends and I drove there.  On the way up, we went through increasingly less impressive areas of Toronto.  When we turned into the entrance for the Sound Academy, we passed a Go-Karting rink.  To summarize, the venue wasn't incredibly impressive.

There were two opening bands.  The first was supposed to start at eight, but didn't end up going on until nine.  That was doable.  And they weren't bad - they were a lot better than they sounded, anyway, on account of the subpar sound system.

The second band was bad.  Just...  Very bad.

Florence didn't end up coming on until about eleven.  I was less than thrilled about this, as my friends would probably be able to tell you.  My feet hurt, and I was thirsty.  I was grumpy.  I was upset.  I demanded that they fetch me a litter and carry me around for the rest of the night.  But when she came on stage, none of that seemed to matter.

Florence was superb.  She was wearing a killer dress, and was so sweet that everyone immediately forgave her for making them wait.

All in all, this was a really good concert.  The audience was into it, there was the energy and drama that seems to come naturally to Florence, and it was a lot of fun.

 

Also, there were definitely people smoking pot.  A lot of people.

 

So, those are my thoughts about the Florence + the Machine concert last Wednesday night!  LISTEN TO HER, SHE IS SO GREAT.

 

Girl With One Eye

Christmas is coming, and the goose is getting fat.

I'm fairly certain that I have mentioned my country of birth.  For those of you who haven't caught on, I'm from Canada - you know, the true North, strong and free?  The home of ice hockey and beavertails?  Still nothing?  We're better known for being the big, cold, mostly empty land mass to the north of the United States.  Ring any bells yet?

Well, there you go.  Hopefully that is a helpful visual aid.

I love Canada.  I think it's a great country; it has a beautiful landscape, is a melting pot of cultures, and, of course, everyone loves the free health care. (Except the people trying to pay off the debt it engenders - but that's a different blog entry.)

There is, however, one aspect of Canada that many could do without - the frigid winters.  Ask any Canadian you know.  It's fun to a point.  The first snowfall is always great; then come the first snow angels, the first snowmen, the first skating expeditions.  And then, of course, there's Christmas.

But after the first two months of a constant temperature of twenty below, the magic of wintertime seems to fade in a flurry of broken down cars, expensive snow gear, and frostbite.  The days get shorter, the workload gets greater, and many people are left with a pervading sense of stress and mild to severe depression.

There's no doubt that there are downfalls to winter.  For me, though, it's worth it.  Maybe that's just because I don't have a car, or have a higher rate of study halls, or am young enough to not worry about getting to work on time.  That's probably a big part of it.  But I think it's more than that.  I've had some of the best times of my life in the winter.  Hot tubbing in February, playing Said the Whale's This City's A Mess in my room while the wind whips the siding, the first Christmas my friends and I spent together - all are irreplaceable moments in my life, things I'll never forget.

So, I wish you all a happy winter.  I know it can be unpleasant, cold, and stressful, but there's beauty in it too.  Notice the beauty, and when times get tough, band together with those around you - sometimes it's during the times of greatest trial that we begin to truly appreciate the glorious world around us.

Girl With One Eye

The school can't even handle you right now.

Growing up, I went to a private, all-girls Catholic school.  I know what you're thinking - whoa, party!  And that would be pretty accurate.

One thing I remember most about growing up in private school was the uniform.  We had to wear very specific clothes, right down do the colour of our hair accessories.



Now, I think that to go to that extent is a bit extreme.  However, is a dress code a good idea?  Should we be implementing them in public schools?

I am the last person to tell anyone what to do, or how to dress.  Admittedly, sometimes what I see people wearing at school is so questionable that I begin to consider the positives of having a stricter dress code - those being the comfort level of the students, the lack of prejudice based on clothing, etc.

However, it is not my place - nor is it anyone else's - to tell people how to dress.  It is a person's personal decision.  Clothing has become more than just a way to cover oneself - it is a form of expression, which the administration has no right to stifle.  A strict dress code is unnecessary for a high school, which is a small-scale culture to itself.

Girl With One Eye

She doesn't do major credit cards, I doubt she does receipts. It's all not quite legitimate.

The way the Canadian government deals with prostitution in this country has irked me long enough, and I think it's time that I share some of my thoughts.

Some people with whom I have discussed this issue think that prostitutes make their own decisions.  Sure, their jobs endanger them every day.  Most prostitutes have diseases, and some of them die as a result of their profession.  But it was their choice to become prostitutes, right?  They know the risks, and they could get out and get decent jobs if they wanted to.

This simply isn't true.  Most prostitutes are controlled by a pimp: a person who sells their services, keeps almost all of the money, and enslaves the prostitutes through debt and physical force.  Often, the pimp threatens the worker's family, or the worker themselves, with death if they leave.

Canada's laws regarding this issue are incredibly backward.  Technically, prostitution is legal in Canada - it is fine to exchange money for sexual services.  However, it is illegal to keep a "bawdy house", meaning that prostitutes are unable to take care of their own safety within a safe environment.  The act of solicitation is also illegal.  All this results in is the inability of law enforcement officials to prosecute the johns, while the victims of this system - prostitutes who are often controlled by their pimps - are penalized and arrested.

That's my piece concerning this issue.  But it's only a sliver of the information out there.  I highly recommend doing more research, and formulating your own opinions.

Girl With One Eye