The Coffeehouse

i first fell in love with Subcomandante Marcos last year when i watched a movie on the Zapatista in Chiapas, Mexico. i was reading an article on social movements, and i came across a quote of his:

"Marcos is gay in San Francisco, black in South Africa, an Asian in Europe, a Chicano in San Ysidro, an anarchist in Spain, a Palestinian in Israel, a Mayan Indian in the streets of San Cristobal, a Jew in Germany, a Gypsy in Poland, a Mohawk in Quebec, a pacifist in Bosnia, a single woman on the Metro at 10 p.m., a peasant without land, a gang member in the slums, an unemployed worker, an unhappy student, and, of course, a Zapatista in the mountains."

he's referring to how he hides his face with a black mask that is a mirror that reflects the leaders we are. dreamy, isn't he?

i'm feeling so queeaaasssyy.....yuck. saturday, i came down with a stomach flu and had a fever and chills, and was up-chucking (such a polite term :p) all day...so basically, my time was split that day between napping in my bed and the bathroom. then sunday, i was still feeling queasy-ish and ended up sleeping for most of the day as well. and today, i had to go to class, but i'm still a bit naseous, and i can't stand the site or smell of food. the past three days, i think i have had the equivalent of a total of about 2 meals. and i have so much school crap to do that i'm afraid of eating anything or doing anything because i don't know how my stomach will react and i can't afford any more lost time!!!

something that did not help settle my stomach this morning was mr. eye-candy's group presentation in class. it sucked! well....maybe just his part? he just read off of his slides and that was boring... mr. eye-candy, stop being BORING..and also? stop being kind of dumb, you're killing our future...

okay, back to work.... not only was wednesday my last post-date, but most probably also the day i had my last (not LAST last, but previous-ish) cup of coffee......or was it on thursday?

i'm currently typing up an essay in the library and i bought a bottle of juice about an hour ago and  I CAN'T OPEN IT....yes, i've been trying to open it for the past hour and it looks so yummy and i can't have it!! i was thinking of calling a friend or someone because it's too embarrassing to get some random stranger to open it for me, but i guess i will suffer..... (one time, i bought some candy from the vending machine on campus and i was in a hurry to catch my bus and it got stuck in the ring thingy and wouldn't come down, and i was really close to stopping someone in the hall and telling them to buy the same candy so mine can get pushed down, but instead i called gilary, who was in another corner of campus and didn't have change on her to buy the same candy, so i just prayed really hard and kinda banged on the machine and it came down :D)

i was researching for my paper and i have found that i have some personal rules and guidelines as to when i use Yahoo or Google for search engines. for some reason, i'm still not comfortable using Google to search for everyday stuff. i grew up on Yahoo. when i was first introduced to the internet, my homepage was Yahoo, my email at Yahoo, and everything else. i later moved onto Hotmail, but i still refuse to use MSN's search engine.....it looks too....i dunno, unreliable? uncredible? it's just not "right"...so when i need to search something quick, i still use Yahoo. but say, when i need to search for some good sites i use Google Scholar or when i want a really some big search results, i'll use Google. so it's Yahoo all the way, except when i'm bored and i want an elmer fudd Google interface....i'm feewing wucky...

i'm actually pretty relaxed for someone who's got a billion and one things to do, but i've decided to do what i should've always done, and what was meant to be done on weekends, RELAX. yes people, newsflash: weekends were created for relaxation. i know i've mentioned how i hate weekends before, but that was only because i was naive and stupid and did not know how to utilize 48 hours to the best of my advantage. i can start stressing tomorrow and we shall see if i can uphold this newfound wisdom till next saturday.

yesterday, i went to the 3rd annual "stop the war " protest. but me and my sister kinda joined halfway through the march. we were late to leave the house (bro's fault!) and me, trying to act all smart, thought that my sister and i should get off a couple of stops away from the starting point and en route to the final destination (it turned out later that the starting point WAS also the final destination) and to make a long story short, we ended up walking around downtown toronto for an hour before we finally spotted the marching mass. pics are up, and if you're weird like me, you'll go through all 227 of them. there are also pictures from other rallies and events downtown in johnb's journalism section, he's also got some amazing photos in his other galleries.

today i went to a cultural show/fundraiser held by this folklore music ensemble, MOSAIC. amazing, as usual, but i wish they'd hold them more often.

you do know that this post was just an excuse to put up a link to those pictures eh?

one of my favourite classes this semester has been environmental law. aside from the ridiculous amounts of readings and assignments, we were recently given some exam study questions, which are on a whole different level of craziness...

A large privately owned mining company is proposing to build a dam near one of its operations in order to generate its own electricity.  The dam would block a river that flows into Lake Huron, interrupting fish migration routes now available in the river.  It would also flood a large valley, wiping out important habitat for a number of species, including nesting grounds for some migratory birds.  You are a lawyer representing an environmental group, Save the North, who is opposed to this dam being built.

a. Advise the environmental group as to whether this proposal would be subject to either the provincial or federal environmental assessment acts and/or what action the group could take to make it subject to either act, if any.  Advise the group on the possible implications of the Harmonization Accord and the Sub-Agreement of the Accord on EA processes. (.5)

b. Assume that the proposal is subject to the Ontario Environmental Assessment Act.  Explain to the group the significance of the terms of reference and how the group may participate in this stage of the process. (.3)

c. Assume it is now two year later and the dam has been built, and the proposal received all required EA approvals.  As well, the company received an approval under the Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act (LRIA) to operate the dam.  One condition of the LRIA approval was that the water level in the lake behind the dam not rise above a certain level in order to protect important bird nesting habitat.  Members of Save the North have been monitoring the dam’s operation and brought back convincing evidence that the water level is 30% higher than the maximum allowable limit and has flooded all the bird habitat.  The group wants to take immediate action. Could the EBR be used? What would you advise the group to do? (.2)

there's six of these to answer, everyone is more than welcome to help me out and send me their answers to this enigma :D....but i still love this class because it's so interesting and so relevant to current issues. also, ahm, we have a really hot marker, who, marks our assignments, cause the instructors are part time faculty, and full-time lawyers. anyhoo, mr. marker was the guest lecturer for thursday's class and he talked about kyoto, climate change, and personal experiences with carbon trading and emissions reductions (sounds boring, but i could listen to him talk about this stuff for hours....HOURS!), and everyone in the room just KNEW that everyone else was in love with this guy, he was such a charismatic dude, and he wore a sea-shell bracelet, and he's a humanitarian and cares about people in a way that made all the ladies go "awww". i think i will recommend to my instructor that mr. marker come lecture again next week, cause, y'know, kyoto is really important and stuff.....down with climate change!

for those who are interested...

 inta hmar, ya hmar?
(are you a jackass, you jackass? - line from some egyptian play)

EDIT: two unrelated topics.........

we had this new coffeemachine lying around, and my dad finally decided to set it up and throw out the old one. cool, you say?! NO, NOT COOL. infact, it's borderline horrific. this new coffeemachine is weird, once you put in the coffee, you can't open up the little compartment until the job's done, that is, if once it's running you realize that your coffee will taste like crap, there is no way to prevent it from tasting like crap and the whole batch is ruined!! and this one is black, so you can never really tell if coffee is coming out (dark liquid against dark background) and it looks ugly...you could always make a good cup of coffee in the old one, and it was white....

happy international women's day :D

i love ze radio..really dudes and dudettes, it may not be manifested in my everyday activities, but there was a time in highschool where all i wanted to  be was a radio personality and listen to myself talk all day and have people call in and stuff. then lolly's "viva la radio" came out and that's all i sung for a while.

today would have been another ordinary day, except my passion for the radio was re-ignited when i went to our university's radiostation studio to hear gil and amanda do a hostile takeover of karim's show to talk about women and activism...actually, no, he invited them to guest host :p wow, it was really great. and now that i think about it, i regret not being forced to talk into the mic...now, i have tons of stuff to say about ecofeminism and women's role in environmental activism...my world history teacher used to say "carpe diem" all the time, but now i realize what she was really saying was "grab di mic"...

your gut feelings are always right. never listen to your head or heart. and if your gut feeling says the WORLD IS OUT TO GET YOU, it's out to get you dammit!!

sometimes ironic situations in life happen, and life sees how much you enjoyed being tortured by that situation that it just goes crazy on the irony and sprinkles it everywhere, then takes a handful and just rubs it in your face....also manages to sprinkle it in my email inbox, in the newspaper, and just about everywhere i look. that's nice.... 

my gut feeling also says that i have a winning tim horton's cup, but we all know that's just my gut-on-a-caffeine-trip talking....

i got tagged for REAL this time and i'm so excited about it that i am staying up and pushing my readings for tomorrow aside to do it!! i guess it's a pretty straightforward tag from omar 2 cents, here goes......... :D

Q: Who’s the 4th person on your received call list?
A: it depends what "4th person" means. the fourth last person to call was liz, but on my stupid phone, the last person to call was number 10, so the fourth person (#4) was really "home".....

Q: What’s your main ringtone on your phone?
A: D.R.E... < brup brup >

Q: What were you doing at midnight last night?
A: i can't remember....probably playing tetris on my computer...

Q: What did the last text message on your cell phone say?
A: " u gonna b posterin at tomorrow" - from gil.

Q: Whose bed did you sleep in last night?
A: mine

Q: What color shirt are you wearing?
A: brown

Q: Most recent movie that you watched?
A: ummm.....the pink panther

Q: Name 3 things that you have on you at all times?
A: chapstick, cellphone, wallet

Q: What's the color of your bedsheets?
A: beige

Q: How much cash do you have on you right now?
A: 9 bucks and some change

Q: What is your favorite part of the chicken?
A: i don't have one....?

Q: What's your favorite town/city?
A: new york city

Q: I can't wait to (til)...?
A: aprill 11

Q: When was the last time you saw your mom?
A: 1.5 hours ago

Q: When was the last time you saw your dad?
A: 1.5 hours ago.

Q: When was the last time you talked to them?
A: 1.5 hours ago

Q: What did you have for dinner last night?
A: m'tafaya....i think that's what it's called...yakhnit zahra?

Q: How long have you been at your current job?
A: 5 months

Q: Look to your left. What's there?
A: tax forms, lamp, bunch of rings, business card for chocolata cafe, tissue box, phone that doesn't work

Q: Who is the last person you spent over $50 on?
A: my brother

Q: Whats the last piece of clothing you borrowed from someone?
A: not sure, but it's all "borrowed" from my sister...

Q: What website(s) do you visit the most during the day?
A: hotmail

Q: Do you have an air freshener in your car?
A: no. used to have one, but the smell got annoying....

Q: Do you have plants in your room?
A: yesh, one :D

Q: Does anything hurt on your body right now?
A: my right index finger. i burnt it while making coffee

Q: What city was your last taxi cab ride in?
A: mississauga. i left the driver a really big tip cause i was nervous riding alone and he was really nice....

Q: Do you own a camera phone?
A: nope

Q: What's your favorite starbucks drink?
A: i don't go to yahoodibucks (as cirus calls it)..but i did once and had the pumpkin spiced latte, and it was divine...

Q: Recent time you were really upset?
A: hmmm....still really upset...

Q: Have you been in love with anyone?
A: ha!

Q: Who do you think will repost this?
A: some cool, hip, aquarian chick who loves coffee....