Archive for October, 2004

the federal government announced a surplus of 9.1 billion dollars that will go toward debt reduction (the debt sits at about 500 billion dollars)

meanwhile, ontario hospitals face a shortfall of 600 million dollars this year

600,000,000/9,100,000,000 = 6.60%

i can imagine how many social programs around the country could use just a little bit of those 9.1 billion dollars

i want my tax dollars to bail out my hospitals and my tuition fees rather than marginally affect the amount of years it takes to pay off the debt so that rich people can get richer

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the viaduct

Near where I live there’s a viaduct,
Where people jump when they’re out of luck,
Raining down on the cars and trucks below.

They’ve put a net there to catch their fall,
Like that’ll stop anyone at all,
What they don’t know is when nature calls, you go.

when you take the eastern half of the bloor-danforth line subway for the first time (presumably to the university of toronto), and pass on the underside of the bloor street viaduct over bayview avenue (on its west side) and the don valley parkway (at the east) and the rosedale ravine, there’s something that makes you gaze in awe and wonder at the sight over a hundred feet below you

it’s not the same kind of awe that you feel when you’re standing over a thousand feet above the ground in the cn tower, the viaduct is much more intimate — there, nature is situated side-by-side with the work of humans as you travel over a feat of engineering — there’s an almost primal draw from the ground below you

over time, you learn to suppress the wonder and bury your nose in your book or your thoughts as you pass over the viaduct, but every once in a while it calls to you and you turn your attention to it

on thursday night, i took the subway home from the university, as i’ve done hundreds of times before
this time i decided to stop at castle frank and walk across the bloor street viaduct, to broadview

when i exited castle frank station and was crossing a street to the viaduct a homeless man was also crossing the street from the other side and was asking motorists for some change

after crossing the street i noticed a park with a concrete circular seating arrangement, trees, and carefully tended pink flowers — the park was strewn with garbage as well, the concrete seat spray-painted with useless graffiti

as i approached the bridge i noticed a sign that said “distress centre” and had a number and a guarantee that they listen twenty-four hours a day, beneath the sign was a telephone booth (ironically the number they gave wasn’t toll free) — across the street was a similar sign and phone booth

once i started walking across the bridge, i noticed the barrier they had put up to prevent people from jumping, steel rods spaced close to each other so that they would prevent most people from slipping through … i also noticed that if someone truly wanted to circumvent the barrier and plummet to their death it wasn’t difficult

it’s easiest at the east side of the viaduct, because the don valley parkway is close to the end of the bridge (on the west side, bayview is a bit further from the end of the bridge) … it is at the end of the bridge that you can climb onto the stone and get around the barrier and holding onto the steel rods inch your way across until you’re above the don valley parkway, and then let go

you could do the same with bayview but, as i said, it’s further away from the end of the bridge

after walking the half kilometre, i reached broadview — there was a pizza pizza there and i purchased a slice

then i went home

They say that Jesus and mental health
Are just for those who can help themselves,
But what good is that when you live in hell on earth?

And the very fear that makes you want to die,
Is just the same as what keeps you alive.
It’s way more trouble than some suicide is worth.

Won’t it be dull
When we rid ourselves of all these demons haunting us
To keep us company?

Won’t it be odd
To be happy like we always thought we’re supposed to feel
But never seem to be?

– “War on Drugs,” Barenaked Ladies

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dumbass forwards

so i get this message in my e-mail today:

Subject: Nokia Offer
Sent: October 12, 2004 4:17:49 AM
Dear all,

> > Please pass on to all your friends & relatives the
> > following e-mail
> > from Nokia. Nokia is giving away phones for free.
> > Nokia is trying
> > word-of-mouth advertising to introduce its product
> > and the reward you
> > receive for advertising for them is a free phone
> > free of cost. To
> > receive your free phone all you have to do is to
> > send this email out
> > to 8 people (for a free Nokia 6210) or 20 people
> > (for a free Nokia
> > WAP). Within 2 weeks you will receive a free phone.
> > (They will contact
> > you through your e- mail address). Please mark a
> > copy to: –
> > anna.swelam@nokia.com

here are some other things that will happen if you send that e-mail out to eight or twenty people:
– john kerry will become president
– canada will invade america, and win
– you will get bitten by a radioactive spider and get its proportionate strength, speed and abilities
– the little drummer boy in an under-developed nation who’s missing an arm and a leg will get twenty cents per forward which will accumulate and contribute to treatment for his colon cancer
– you’ll get eternal salvation, because now, and only now, does jesus truly love you
– you’ll finally pass a course that actually requires you to think

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you’re stupid and ugly

i hate it when (non-brown) girls, many friends of mine, say to me, “you’re good-looking for a brown guy” or say that about other brown guys

what the hell is that statement saying?
essentially that brown guys aren’t worth shit and the only ones that look good do so relative to the ones that aren’t worth shit (except, of course, for the rare one who’s so hot that he burns out your worthless retinas)

no one ever says “he’s good-looking for a white guy,” or “he’s good-looking for a chinese guy” — though i can point out several of them who look like they just stepped out of an ugly competition

and therefore i am pissed off

so, to the next non-brown chick who says “so-and-so is good-looking for a brown guy”:

FUCK YOU!

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