We'll change the world.

At 4:45 am Monday, August 22nd, we lost one of the finest Canadians the world had. Jack Layton never gave up fighting. So in the middle of the night one of the cruelest of diseases took him away from us. I don't understand it and it's unfair. He had many more years ahead to accomplish his dreams and become Prime Minister. He was carrying on Tommy Douglas' legacy and dreams as well. Now it is up to us to carrying them on. He taught me so much personally, he inspired me to become the person I am today and to take the paths I have taken.
I want to say I became a New Democrat when I was sixteen, back in grade 11. I fell for Jack's charisma and personality I suppose, but I also loved what he and the NDP stood for. When I was seventeen, in March 2007, I got to meet Jack at a rally for Kyoto in Toronto. I was so nervous when he walked my way and my friends pushed me to go up to him because they knew how badly I wanted to. I asked him for a photo and we talked briefly. I told him when I turned eighteen I would vote for him and how I was planning on studying political science at university. He told me how he studied political science too. It ended with an enthusiastic, classic Jack high-five.

Well I did study political science, and environmental policy. I've attended NDP rallies, helped campaign for his wife Olivia Chow, and was fortunate enough to be at his election night party on May 2nd. This is why I never believed he would lose hist battle with cancer. He was a fighter, the most courageous there can be. I truly believe I am a better and more compassionate and intelligent person because of him. He inspired me. The bright green Jack Layton poster I got at that Kyoto rally in 2007 is still on my wall, with the vibrant message he lived by - "All it takes is political will."

If you haven't read his final letter yet, read it. http://www.ndp.ca/letter-to-canadians-from-jack-layton
Remeber his words. "My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world." Jack, we will change the world. I promise you I will never stop fighting the good fight.

+ Lorelie



slowly spiraling out of control?

ever feel like you've lost control of life?

like nothing is the way you want?

and you are slowly falling into a depressing 'i am questioning my current state of life' mood?

that is slowly how i am beginning to feel

wondering what i am doing

why i am doing it

and who to do it with

reflection can be a dangerous thing

as you can sit around and think about life

realizing what bothers you, whats missing and what shouldn't be there

these aren't new feelings

its more of i've come to the point where i am done

literally done

i can't do it anymore

frustration doesn't even begin to define this

ray charles

You better shape up, cause I need a man and my heart is set on you

Hello Blog,

I had quite the weekend. I hung out with Ray Charles Friday night and we had some good convos. Then Saturday night I was at my friend's birthday, but as always drank too much. Sunday was an unpleasant day. I'm now back at work after five days off, and all I wanted to do was to go tubing in this amazing river. I went last year and have been trying to get my family to go again this summer. Maybe later this week.

The movie "Practical Magic" was on last night, an old favourite of mine. It has always made me think about things and it's a very interesting movie. After watching it again I've started to look at things like love in a different way. In the movie Sandra Bullock plays Sally, whose family is from a long line of witches. Sally and her sister were raised by their witch aunts after their mother killed herself...she was grief stricken from a broken heart after their father died....there is apparently a curse on the women of the family where if one of the women finds true love he will die tragically (as her father did). Unlike her sister who can't wait to fall in love, a young Sally witnesses a woman in town pining over a man and the pain she goes through when the feelings are not mutual. She decides she never wants to fall in love so she will never die from a broken heart, and she casts a spell to fall in love with a man who has many odd traits (such as one green eye and one blue eye). She believes such a man (her "perfect man") does not exist, and therefore she will never fall in love.

When she is older her aunts cast another spell so she does fall in love with a man in town, as they just want her to be happy. Although the aunts never expected her to truly be in love, Sally ends up marrying him and has two daughters with him, but due to the curse he also dies tragically leaving her heart broken. She refuses to accept she only loved him because of her aunts' spell. Much more happens in the movie, but the main point I'm discussing is Sally's aversion to love. However, later on in the movie her "perfect man" (he has all the traits she mentioned in her spell when she was younger) appears and they instantly fall in love. She believes this is only happening because of the spell she cast when she was a kid, so she tells him to leave since it's not "real." There's a flashback to when he was a kid and how her spell reached him, and he says he wished for her too. Eventually the curse is lifted and Sally's perfect man comes back and they live happily ever after.

So my whole point about this is how maybe some people who have super high expectations of their "perfect man" only do so because they don't actually want to fall in love with anyone. They know that perfect person doesn't actually exist, so they think they're safe. But what happens when you do find them? What if you think he does exist after all? There's only so much that wishing and magic can do in this world since we're not witches...and Sally did fall in love twice, and her first love wasn't her "perfect man" either. So maybe the whole point is we just need to try things and take risks and stop trying to be so safe.

Alright, enough of this silly stuff.

+ Lorelie