Of mice and... Me?

So everyone who knows me, knows I've lived in some interesting places. When I moved back to Halifax in the winter of 2010 I moved in with three girls who were very lovely and progressive. Unfortunately I also moved in with mice. One morning we awoke to discover that a mouse had chewed clear through a loaf of bread and so my room mates agreed to get mouse traps. I found the first dead mouse and disposed of it without incident. They found the second dead mouse and insisted on removing the traps.

In the autumn of 2011 in Ottawa I moved into a place, again with three girls, probably better described as young professionals then as progressive. In this instance we had an infestation of pantry moths.

When I looked at the apartment I'm in now one of my first questions was whether there had been any problems with infestations. No. Of course not.

In May, one month after moving in I started hearing scratching and running and discovered that squirrels had invaded my crawlspace. I informed my land lady who called an exterminator. I thought that was the end of it.

Last Thursday I found evidence of mice when I woke up in the morning, I optimistically thought it was a lone mouse passing through. When I returned home in the evening I discovered that they were not just passing through and that in fact they had defficated over my clean dishes. This was 5 minutes before I was expecting dinner guests. In a blind panic I then turned and watched as a tubby mouse waddled across the floor.

So I cleaned, I cooked dinner, cleaned some more and set traps. The next day there was less evidence of the mice, and less still Saturday morning. On Saturday night, returning from Swing Dance and I found what I hoped was the lone mouse dead in the trap. The next morning I awoke to discover that all of the blossoms had been eaten off my African violets by another mouse. I guess they were getting angry because I cut off their food supply. Later in the morning I saw another mouse waddle across the floor and called my landlady who informed me it was too expensive to call the exterminator a second time and had the audacity to ask me if I wanted to renew my lease.

No more mice were caught.

Last night (Monday) I got home late from karaoke, read and went to sleep only to be woken up by some motion near my hand at 1:30. I moved my hand only to realize there was a mouse at the foot of my bed. I turned on the light, waited, and went back to sleep. I was woken up again at 4:45 in the morning and this time I saw the mouse right away, again at the foot of my bed. I flipped. I couldn't go back to sleep knowing I was being stalked by a hungry mouse. So I tidied my room and watched the sun rise. Unfortunately I hadn't had enough sleep to go to work so I didn't and took things into my own hands. I bought mouse poison which I set out and promptly left the apartment. I returned two hours late to watch a mouse eating the poison from my bed. This of course made me feel sad for the mouse, but optimistic about a good night sleep.

Later this evening I was at home and discovered that at some point the mice also started to eat plastic lid to one of my food containers and the aluminum plate in my stove top, which is more than somewhat unnerving.

And now I have to go home and try to sleep somewhat comfortably while wondering whether the mice are still alive, and if so, what they will eat next.

Footsteps (A poem)

Walking down the street that night
I couldn't help but listen
to my footsteps echoing in the cold night air
Coming from tea with a friend I found another friend
Walking down the street we wondered
About greater things to come.
As I walked away from my friend and those thoughts
I moved Westward toward my home
I watched the branches of the trees above
Scrape the dark night sky
And above that still the stars hung clearly
Reminding me that my greater things were still so tiny.
As I shut the night out, closing the door behind me
All that was left was silence

In Communist Russia, We Pretend to Work, and Yor Pretend to Pay Us!

Yeah, I've got nothing.
Life Sucks.
Especially when you live in communist Russia.

A Small Rant

So I was reading the news on cbc.ca and I came across this gem, on what I can only assume is A politician trying to get himself killed. The Story entitled "Iranian Government Urges Netherlands to Ban Qur'an film. " Basically, the Iranian government is trying to disuade the Dutch government from allowing a film, shot by a Dutch Politician, which insinuates that the Qur'an incites its followers to commit murder, from being shown in Dutch Movie theaters. This incident is strangely reminiscent of an incident involving Dutch Politician and Film maker, Theo Van Gogh about four years ago. Van Gogh was murdered after he created a similar documentary which criticized Islam. For those of you who are not as familiar with the Netherlands as I am, the Netherlands has a fairly high Muslim population who suffer as a result of repressive immigration law. You would think that at least its politicians would be able to restrain themselves from continually dragging part of their population who contribute a sizeable amount to their economy through the mud. Well that's my moment of disbelief for the day. I guess it's just an indication the Dutch and their immigrants will continue a cycle of intolerance towards each other in a self-fulfilling prophecy of hate and misunderstanding.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/story/2008/02/17/dutch-film-koran.html

The Fight Against Genotype-specific Weapons: A Project

My Video Project For Weapons of Mass Destruction and International Law

Christmas

A short Note on Christmas...
Christmas is often referred to as one of the most wonderful times of the year. It's a time spent with families and friends, and with any luck for many people it is a time full of happiness. Christmas is also a time for reflection on the past year, on plans for the future and to share those reflections with others. I think it is also an extremely important time to remember those less fortunate than we who may not have the same opportunity to enjoy the Christmas season. Of Course there are people abroad who can't afford to put enough food on the table or those who are ravaged by poverty related diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria. There are also those at home, who may face similar challenges, or face different ones such as loneliness. For many people, Christmas is a particularly difficult time of year, remembering those who could not be with them to celebrate or even those whose' reflections are of more troubling times than good ones. It's important to remember how lucky we are on Christmas, even for the small things, as well as to always keep in mind those less fortunate. So this Christmas reach out to someone whether it be a friend, family member of perfect stranger who might need a helping hand.
Merry Christmas.

An Update you Say? REALLY?

So its been a while, but here I am live and in the flesh. Well, I know I'm in the flesh but maybe you don't cause you haven't been calling. Why haven't you been calling? Anyway, I'm always pleased when my friends tell me they've been reading my blog, so I figured I'd make it worth your while. The last couple of months have been a little bit crazy for me, lots going on with school family and friends. Sadly my grandfather has fallen into ill health and I had an unfortunate incident with a brick and my ankle, which went from a sprain to planter facitis. Also things have been all over the place with my work placement at Care Canada. For the first 4 weeks all I did was read, then my supervisor resigned without giving me any notification whatsoever leaving me thinking "What the hell?" Any long story short I have a supervisor again and things are going better so stuff is working out on that front. School had been kind of rough this semester, I'm not lovin' most of my classes except for Weapons of Mass Destruction and International law which is the best course ever. (It really is)
So that's about it that's new but I'd like to share my most recent moment of Zen. About a year ago in a desperate attempt to find a summer job I filled out an FSWEP application, didn't really think much of it, after all no one ever here's anything from those things right? Well about 4 days ago I got an e-mail saying that I had approved to right a test to become a border services officer with the time date and location of course. I'm not sure if I'm going to right it because well its next weekend but the funny part about it is that the hand book says if I get accepted I may be required to carry a fire-arm. And really I can't imagine anything funnier than me, the peace-loving hippie that I am, standing in the middle of Pearson International Airport with a gun at my side.
See you again sooner than last time.

CARE Canada

My Blog has been dead lately mainly because the months of July and August have been relatively crappy.
But things Are looking uo

I just found out that I'm doing my job placement through Carleton with CARE Canada in the HIV/AIDS project, and I can for the first time in my life say that I cried tears of joy. I'm so excited!!!

My Own Private Tour Of the CBC

In Grade 12 my Drama class went on a tour of the CBC which I missed because I had food poisoning. When I returned to school two days later my teacher seemed surprised to see me and when I asked why he said that he thought that I left because I never missed school (or trips).

Now, 4 years later I finally got a tour of the CBC studios in down town Toronto and a whole lot more!

Last week when being interviewed by Mike Wise from the CBC one of the things we talked about off camera was the fact that I was interested in the CBC and that I had been greatly disappointed when I missed my class trip all those years ago, so Mike suggested that he might give me the grand tour of the studio one night after work. So this afternoon I got a call from Mike on my cell phone proposing that we do the tour after work.
So at 6 o'clock I met Mike at the Security Check point on Front Street and away we went. First he took me into the area where CBC employees write the stories from which we could see the newsroom. We then went up to the control room where I was introduced to the director and technicians of the 6 o'clock news and we watched the news from there untill the first commercial break at which point Mike took me into the newsroom and personally introduced me to the host of the 6 o'clock news Diane Swane (spelling?) which is definitely one of the most memorable moments which has happened in recent times. We then explored the rest of the building peeking into radio news rooms and the larger TV sets for such things as Air Farce and This Hour has 22 Minutes. So basically I got the tour of the CBC which I missed 4 years ago plus some added bonuses. (Peter Mansbridge wasn't there but I saw his office!)

All I can say is that I'm so greatful to Mike Wise. Thanks Mike!

Wish List Finale

So for those of you who don't know already, I created a wish with the great Canadian Wish list on Facebook with CBC which countered the top wish to Abolish Abortion in Canada. My wish simply stating that I wished Canada would remain pro-choice. Here is the news coverage of my wish