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Mom, If you are reading this.......don't expect much from Brookes school picture this year when you get it at Christmas. The girls were sent home last week with reminders about photo day and like always I enter this kind of information on my calender. The odd thing about this year is that each of my girls had different days that they were going to have their picture taken. So last night after Gymnastics I suggested the girls have a bath. Miss Alley was fine with that, as tomorrow was her picture day and she had to look at her best. Brooke who is bath resistent said "No, I have picture day the next day so I will have a bath tomorrow." Choosing my battles, I thought that was reasonable. Alley and I then spent some time picking out a "pretty outift" for her big photo shoot. As today was non picture day for Brooke she was left to pick out her own outfit. I have spent many hours sparring with Brooke and using all sorts of creative negotiating tactics when it comes to her fashion choices in the past years and we have reached a crossroads where I let her wear what she wants about 363 days a year and then the remaining 2 are mine...ha,ha,ha. 1.) Christmas......I want her to wear a nice dress, skirt, blouse when we visit relatives. Last year she wore the outfit we agreed to. At my parents she kept it on long enough to greet everyone and circulate the room (5 minutes) and then wore jeans and her AC/DC shirt the remainder of the day.2.) First Day Of School........I want her to make a good first impression with her teacher. After that she can show her true colours :) So here I am reviewing my calender and I note: Today is Brookes picture day and Alleys is tomorrow. Mom made a SNAFU!!!!So lets recall..... Brooke is lucky if she ran a brush through her hair.She is wearing a jean skirt, a turqoise and lime green striped shirt (that she has slept in) and a red leather blazer with black knee high boots. (What a kick ass outfit!)
As of September 12 Clarington now has six candidates for Mayor. Things are definately heating up with former Mayor Diane Hamre entering into the campaign arena.This latest canidate has declared she is running in this election because she wants to get Council "back on track to the station called democracy." There is a perception of Clarington council that they do not provide a forum for residents to engage in open dialogue or debate issues with council. They are left feeling dismissed and often bullied. Another perception of our current council is that they are developer friendly and in the last election Mayor Mutton raised over $40,000 in campaign contributions. Approx. $1600 of it was from private individuals, and the rest was from mostly developers and contractors. It is nice to see that already a couple of new candidates have declared that they will NOT accept donations from the development industry or companies who do business with the municipality.I am hopeful that an increase in interest by candidates will be reflected by an increase in voter interest/turnout.I just learned that the salary for position of mayor, escalated in the last six years from about eighty thousand dollars to over one hundred and fifty thousand per year with travel expenses.In June of 2005, it was reported that the mayor's mileage allowance from $570 a month to $1,293. What does the mayor of Toronto make per year? I do believe it is considerably less, and for a much bigger population and area. No wonder there is six people running for this mayor’s seat here.
It has been 35 years since I had open heart surgery at this hospital and I can recall with clarity how the staff there always made opportunities for kids to simply be kids and have fun - to do the things that illness can often take away. The movies shown here will help restore the fun, laughter and joy that serious illness can take away.
It's reported that the weapon used in yesterday's act of terror was legally registered. Why are semi-automatic guns legal? This issue needs to be seriously reviewed to prevent the sale and registration of weapons that are designed to kill anything but a deer or moose.
Yesterday afternoon as I was finishing a 3 day stretch at the Mental Health Centre where I work I received a phonecall from Sheila who told me to get to a TV and turn on the news. I watched the story unfold of another psychopath with a gun. Kimveer Gill was the name of the 25-year-old man who went on a rampage in Dawson College in Montreal, Quebec, yesterday. He managed to traumatize the entire city of Montreal by injuring at least 20 people (6 are in critical condition), killing one, and ending up dead himself, shot by police who were on the scene almost immediately.
This is his journal page:
http://vampirefreaks.com/journal.php?u=fatality666
After reading entries on his profile and journal it is easy to see some diagnostic traits from the DSM:
http://www.allpsych.com/disorders/personality/index.html
Alot of my younger patients harbour a romanticization of death that I have difficulty relating to. After events like this I am always troubled that some of our youth think that the best or only option in life is to turn a gun on the world and then on themselves. What troubles me greater is that this can go undetected by parents and family, doctors and other health professionals, friends, teachers, neighbors, etc.
My summer is officially over today - the girls have returned to school. They both are now full time students with Brooke in Grade 4 and Alley in Grade 1. Where did the time go? They were so excited this morning and so was I..... but I am also sad. I long for the years where we sat on the floor, assembling a puzzle, playing memory, studying flash-cards, playing other board games such as CandyLand, Trouble, Sorry, Kerplunk, Playdoh, etc. I try to treasure every minute I have with 
my family. It is hard. At times they argue and I can’t wait for the day they are back in school, and then they are so wonderful again and I want time to freeze. I have especially felt this way with Alley (my baby) as she was with me for part of her days last school year. What will I do with all my time? Today since getting the girls off to school, I have gone for a jog, gone grocery shopping, baked brownies, done 2 loads of laundry, chatted to a girlfriend and now I blog. Some things never change......
I received a sugestion from Dirty Sanchez to give some consideration to Season/Series Finales. This was a lot more difficult and I had to enter my memory vault of shows that were not so fresh in my mind. I'm sure there are others that are way more memorable......Any thoughts?The Best:
Friends.......Predictable and pretty much what we anticipated. Ross and Rachael hook up - what a surprise. The last scene though, is what reallly choked me up. They were putting away their keys and the camera gets a shot of the apartment.
The O.C. Season 3 Finale....During Marissas' death scene while Imogen Heaps" version of Hallelujah played. I was compelled to sit there listening. It was quite moving.
Lost Season 2.......The season finale had more action than the entire first season.The writers left us on the edge of a number of huge issues that need to be revealed. The show has been teasing us with mysteries from the start.
The finale of Six Feet Under was a good one, showing how all of the show's main characters lived the remainder of their lives and at what age they died.
Newhart...at the end of the episode he is in bed and he says to his wife," I just had the wierdest dream that I was married to someone else.....blah,blah,blah..." and his wife rolls over and it is his wife from his first sitcom. I believe it is Suzanne Pleshette.
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1992)......Late-night television hasn't been the same. During the finale it was simply Carson front and center, seated on a stool and introducing memorable moments -- and thanking regulars Ed McMahon and Doc Severinsen, as well as those who had watched for nearly 30 years.
Dawson's Creek........It wasnt the usual happy ending story. Jenn dies, Dawson and Joey aren't together as everyone thinks they should. It's Pacey and Joey that hook back up and move together to New York. That is the way it should be to me.
Sex and the City........I watched this fianle one slow night at work with some of the girls who were not die hard fans like me. The finale was perfect with full closure for each of the girls I had come to care for. I remember crying and they looked at me like......Whats wrong? How could I explain that I felt like I had just said goodbye to some friends. Cheesy, but true.
Differnt strokes ......We finally relized that this terrible show was coming to an end!!!!!
Worst Finales:
I hated the finale of Roseanne, in which we were told that the last two years or so of the show were all make believe and Dan had actually died.it was all just her stories in the end. Becky was really with David, Darlene was really with Mark and Jackie was really gay. Most importantly, Dan really DIED as a result of his heart attack.
Seinfeld...... The comedy resorted to a courtroom format to review its characters' histories and I was eagerly anticipating past characters testifying against them. Then they went to jail? What kind of an ending was that? It just wasnt as funny as it should have been.
Desperate Housewives.......... As much as I like these ladies, I am over Susan’s failed love-life, Gabrielle’s infidelity issues and Bree’s crazy boyfriends.
School starts on Tuesday. Summer is officially over and I must admit I'm a little bit happy about it. This may come as a shock to most of you, since I love the summer. I love almost everything about summer, the long days that seem to go on forever, the warmth, not having to wear jackets, and hats, and boots, and gloves, and scarves, the outdoor barbeques, the swimming with friends and neighbours, the laid-back attitude of people during the season, the tan, the daytrips, the park. My reason for being happy that summer is ending is because my kids need to get back into a routine. They've had just about enough freedom, thank you very much. They need to go back to going to bed at 8:30 (instead of whenever). They have too much extra energy that just isn't getting used. The crispness in the air has already returned. It wakes me up! Summer makes me want to take a nap. All day. My brother and nephew were over the other night and it was with a certain degree of sadness that we watched one of the last sunsets during the evening. Things I love are on the horizen tho'.....fleece blankets and hot chocolate, leaves turning an array of colors, my favorite holiday(Thanksgiving), campfires, baking, my favorite sweaters, sweatshirts and jeans.
I watched Celebrity Duets, thanks to having friends agree to record the encore performance last night as I was already saturated with entertaining my brother and nephew, watching big brother and catching the MTV awards.
Well I must say I was disappointed with Celebrity Duets and only could watch 1/2 of it. It was cheese.........blue moldy cheese. Thank god that is not a show I will be following this fall. I am already being challanged for time management with the new Fall TV season.
As for the MTV awards.....I remember a time when I used to love these shows. Not so much anymore. They are all too predictable and boring. I guess I just expect a little more from an awards show on a network that was once synonymous with youthful rebellion. They try to shake it up by giving us a bunch of "Jackasses." The only high points for me were watching The Raconteurs as the house band. At one point they were joined by Lou Reed while singing, "White Light White Heat." The guys from OK Go were fantastic. I tuned out early as I couldn't stomach any more and I didn't want to the whole night to be a waste of time with shout outs to God from some talentless individual. I am beginning to realize that Award shows aren't good.
