Finally free.

Dear WordPress,

First for all, I would like to apologize for the extremely long hiatus you have been forced to endure. I do have one good reason for my prolonged absence: high school. These past two months have given “crunch time” a whole new meaning….

However, pine for my absence no longer… Summer vacation is here and so I am here to stay. I am determined to be a dedicated blogger this summer, since I have so utterly failed to do so while school was on.

It’s been so long since I’ve written…. It feels really strange to be back. But what’s even stranger is the keyboard on which I am typing. But I’m getting ahead of myself here….

So my last exam was yesterday. I went out with one of my friends to see X-Men four. Neither of us had actually seen any of the movies prior to this one, but man were we in love with it. The actors, the special effects, the plot line, everything. Very enjoyable!

Afterwards I had to rush home because I needed to accompany may parents to the airport to welcome my aunt visiting from Egypt. It was really nice to see her again, since we hadn’t been in the same country since the summer. In any case, she came home and we got all settled in and everything,

This morning, I woke up and I was feeling really sick. Unhappy and in pain, I got back into bed and was ready to sleep the afternoon away. And then my aunt walked in with a gift bag and the exclamation “you’ve got mail from Egypt!”

My curiosity was piqued and so I opened said gift bag. And inside there was an iPad. And iPad. AN IPAD. Goodness, this is so exciting. Now I’m all set for university. No lugging around laptops for me. I’m going to walk around campus in style!!

Alright, WordPress, I think I’m going to go play some Fruit Ninja. Goodnight, I have really smiled you!

Sunshine?

IT’S FINALLY NICE WEATHER.

I spent most of my Sunday wandering around outdoors with my friends downtown, pointing at sketchy people in alleyways and taking pictures of beautiful graffiti.

I hadn’t been out in ages, so it was really awesome.

We ate crêpes and then we walked it all off.

Oh, how much fun we had.

And the good weather continues.

I’m actually in such a good mood.

I’m grinning as I write this.

Not even Steven Harper can darken my day today.

The only sad thing is that prom (this Friday) is likely to be rainy and cold.

Joy.

Bus Drivers

Alright, so after my years of experience taking the TTC (since grade 7), I have come to the conclusion that bus drivers can be categories into three distinct types of people.

First, we have the emotionless ones. These bus drivers blankly stare at you with glazed-over eyes, offer neither acknowledgment nor comment when thanked for the ride and simply refuse to engage with their passengers. They’re relatively harmless, although their lack of response to a cheerful “Thank you!” is sometimes quite depressing.

Then, there are the extremely friendly and joyful ones. These bus drivers put a smile on everyone’s face, make sure to look you in the eye and always say a few nice words. There’s one bus driver on one of my morning routes that treats his bus like a plane: upon arrival at the subway station, he announces the time, the weather, reminds everyone to take all their belongings and wishes us all a good day. It never fails to put a smile on my face.

Finally, there are the ones who hate their lives. These people obviously hate their jobs, hate dealing with people and intend to take this anger out on every individual unfortunate enough to be one of their passengers. These are the bus drivers who drive away laughing after you’ve run up the hill (happened to me), who grab you and demand to see your I.D. (happened to me), who almost run you over but won’t open the doors to let you on (happened to me) and who drive away saying “There’s another bus right behind me” (happens to everyone).These are the bus drivers who do not care for the city, their buses or the impression people have of the transit service. These are the bus drivers that make us all hate public transit.

I know that not all bus drivers are mean and angry. But it’s just frustrating when they are. I understand their job is stressful and, at times, smelly and stuffy, but that doesn’t give them the right to simply lash out at everyone. If I’m being polite, don’t sit there and be rude to me. Because I will get angry. As passengers, we’re paying them to provide a service for us, not the other way around. A little respect and politeness from both sides will go a long way in improving the ride for everyone.

Egypt, Egypt, Egypt.

So it’s been a really long time since I’ve actually written about Mother Egypt.

But I should write about her, shouldn’t I?

Things aren’t really looking up, which is kind of depressing.

I suppose revolutions aren’t a smooth affair. But it’s been months now and the police aren’t particularly active, the Supreme Command of Bozos are getting a little too comfortable in their position of power, it seems that the uneducated masses will prevail in the Egyptian electorate and Mubarak is rumoured to be out of the country.

The referendum was held earlier last month in an effort to determine whether the people agree with the constitutional amendments or not. To vote “yes” would be to say that the changes, heartily supported and pushed by Mubarak’s party and the Muslim Brotherhood, were acceptable. To say “no” would be to say that the constitution must be scrapped and a new one drawn up.

Somehow, “yes” won. My guess is the Muslim Brotherhood’s threat that voting no was “a vote against God” probably had something to do with it. We’re now stuck with the constitution that obviously gives Mubarak’s former party and the Muslim Brotherhood enough wiggle room to operate, but not enough for other parties.

Did we celebrate too early?

So, one revolution and one referendum later, we’re still back at square one. Nothing has changed except our darling fossilized pharaoh is “forced” to “languish” in his beach house on the Red Sea.

I want to languish in a villa on the Red Sea.

Just recently there was an incident at a football (or soccer, I suppose) match between Tunisia and Egypt. The police were dressed up in track suits so as not to upset the public, but they were supposedly there. Footage of the event shows how they simply waltzed in.

Strange how thugs still managed to get in, hmm?

What a big, big mess.

The economy is still slumped. There’s still a travel advisory against all unnecessary travel to Egypt up on the Canadian government’s website. Which is very unfortunate.

NOTE: I totally forgot to publish this about a month ago. My mistake.

Harperland?

Canada has gone nuts.

The apocalypse is upon us.

How could anyone vote for that idiot?

There are so many ways I could start this post, but none could truly express the horror and the state of complete confusion that I am currently in.

Harper? A majority?

I honestly never thought such a thing was possible. Please, tell me I’m just having a terrible nightmare.

Remember, this is the man who was found in contempt of Parliament; the man who shut down Parliament once to avoid being toppled by the opposition; the man who shut down Parliament again, this time to block investigations into Canada’s actions in Afghanistan; the man who scrapped the long-form census; the man who brought us the G-20 summit, and chaos, in Toronto; the man who covered up for the fraudulent actions of one of his ministers.

Mr. Layton, leader of the NDP, will be representing the official opposition for the first time since the fall of Mulroney.

Let’s hope he does a better job than ol’ Iggy-Eyebrows.

Oh, God. We’re going to have a hellish time these next few years, eh?

Canada now has a pompous cowboy as its Prime Minister. And he wields what is, for all intents and purposes, absolute power. His majority government has the freedom to do whatever it pleases, from buying billion-dollar fighter jets to privatizing health care.

I cannot believe this is the man who is currently celebrating the beginning of his reign.

And I say reign because, make no mistake, Harper’s Canada is no democracy.

For the time being I suppose, ladies and gentlemen, I should welcome you to Harperland; this is no longer Canada.

SUMMER, PLEASE.

Okay, seeing as this is the internet I have no idea if you guys are in Canada or elsewhere.

If you are, then you’d understand how SICK I am of winter/ugly weather.

Last week, we had snow and rain.

In Normandy, where I spent four months last year and where it’s supposed to rain all the time, they were in shorts.

In Cairo, it was 34 degrees Celsius.

PLEASE, let me have some sunshine.

I am so looking forward to summer 2011, even though the teensiest part of me will miss high school.

So what am I looking forward to?

1. SLEEEEEEP.

Pretty self-explanatory. I don’t get enough sleep with school going on, even when I do. I’m just always tired. During the summer, I can sleep as much or as little as I want and stuff feel great!

2. TRAVELING.

Yes, I love traveling. Hopefully, I’ll go back to Egypt this summer (fingers and toes crossed!). I want to go to the beach, eat all the good food and see my family again. Hopefully, my exchange student will come for a visit, so we’ll go somewhere in Canada (fingers crossed!). I’d love to go to France, but that’s probably not happening this year.

3. Seeing my friends whenever I want.

No more “I can’t come because I have _________ and ___________ to study for and ___________ due.” It would just be “Let’s go ___________.” Which would be awesome. I have almost forgotten what it’s like to have guilt-free free time.

4. Being able to catch up on my reading.

The list of books I have that I want to read just keeps getting longer and longer and I don’t have any time to tackle them. Although, thanks to English class, I can cross “A Tale of Two Cities” off of that list. And never touch it again.

Summer, please hurry up.

 

I’m still alive!

Hello, world.

I do apologize for not posting since March break (wow has it really been that long?)
I have been positively swamped with work and I just haven’t found the time to post anything.

That being said, I shall try and get back into the habit.

It’s just that our midterm marks are due this Monday- something the teachers apparently JUST realized – so I’ve had tons of work piled on me.

No excuse, I know.

But that’s all I have.

Anyway, I’ll post something up soon.

Like,  thirty-minutes soon.

So, no more need to lament the absence of my thoughts from the internet.

Because I know you were all crying.

Haha.