Wednesday, October 22, 2008

"They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot"

I heard on the radio the other day that the City of Calgary bought out the Cecil Hotel and is going to make a parkade out of it. It either made me think of the song including the title line or they played it, but that song has been stuck in my head for like 2 days already! I do get a good chuckle out of it though, because the Cecil Hotel is NOT paradise. I still get a good laugh out of it.

Today I was volunteering at the WRC annual awards and fair trade show. It was really fun but I ate something that didn't agree with me and I thought I was going to throw up so I had to leave! I'm home now and I feel mostly better, which is good. I still feel a little sleepy and stuff, but it's probably just because I WAS sick. That can really take it all out of you, which is kind of silly!

The Calgary Sexual Health Centre is starting a new program in November or something like that so they'll be hiring! I'll have to make a trip down there to drop off a resume, this is NOT one that I want to email. I would SO love to work there! So far in my life I've met 3 women who work there and I find all three of them so charming and interesting! I bet it would be the absolute coolest job/place to work!

Ummm, about what else was I planning on posting?!?!?!

I had a race relations talk with my dad just now. He asked me, as a sociologist (HA!) what I make of it when black people say "aks" instead of "ask". I honestly don't know what I think of stuff like that, but I'd like to figure out what I think of it. I'd like to know what the big deal is though. So what if someone says "aks" instead of "ask"? We all know what that person means, right? Maybe we should worry about bigger issues. Whatever though. I dunno.

Oh yeah, the other thing I wanted to share that I learned at school was how thankful I am that I live in Canada! In the US, where people with their limbs falling off get turned away from hospitals because their insurance isn't that particular HMO or whatever; they spend 15% of their Gross Domestic Product on health care (by they I mean the federal government). In Canada, we spend 10% of our GDP on universal public health care. I know that we sometimes complain that we wait in lines too long or that there's a shortage of family doctors and all other kinds of things. Nobody is saying that nothing can be improved, because of course we could always improve our healthcare system, but I am just so thankful! My prof also said that 16% of Americans have NO medical coverage, including something nuts like 9.4 million children. That makes me so sad. If those people have a heart attack or learn they have cancer they will go bankrupt or die, those are their choices. It's so scary. I was watching TV a little while ago and I saw a commercial for Cancer Treatment Centres of America. While I appreciate that they can probably provide the absolute top care available in the world, I was just sitting there imagining what it would be like to be watching that commercial and hearing about how amazing the care is at these places and not being able to access the best care for my hypothetical cancer. It broke my heart. You just gotta feel bad for those people. I sure hope that Obama can bring in universal health care. Oh yeah, I think I heard on the TV or something that a decent health care plan costs about $8000 (per year, I would imagine). OUTRAGEOUS! I'm happy to pay taxes for mine!

Dat Phan is coming here! I'm so excited! I just called the Comedy Cave back to finally buy the tickets I've been trying to buy for a few days! The guy keeps saying he's driving when I call! It's very strange! Anyways, I'm really excited! Me and Nattie will have so much fun!

<3

3 comments:

Natalie said...

That would be a cool place to work! That is so exciting!

Glad you aren't sick anymore...

Were you able to get the tickets or was he still driving? So silly!

Louamonster said...

He was still driving! So I left a message with my name and credit card number and he's supposed to call me back with a confirmation number or something. CRAP. Now I have to cancel my card... ha ha, not really (I hope)...

Natalie said...

Haha, I hope not too! I hope he actually calls you back!