Well well well.. Who would'a thunk that I would actually go through with being jabbed repeatedly with a needle for 15 minutes? I thought that I may but when it came right down to it turned out I had more courage that I had previously entertained. For all of you who haven't figured out what I'm talking about; I got a tattoo! (see below for picture) I'm loving it and I can't wait to get more! I'm hoping to expand on this one in the future and get more paw prints but seeing as each one will be affiliated with an important event in my life I'll just have to wait until my life has more meaning. There were four of us who got 'inked' on our four-month Katima-verasry. It was all very exciting and I thought that everyone knew of the fact that it was our four month but when I mentioned it after the pain had been inflicted and the results were permanent they all stopped and looked at each other. A mass of hugs ensued and then winces as we all touched each other's tattoos. We must have been a funny group.. Dani hobbling along the sidewalk after deciding she wanted a tat on her foot; Dan with his sweater half off because it rubbed on his arm; me walking with my back as stiff and unmoving as possible so as to not irritate my paw print. Sandra also got one but her's 'didn't hurt' Na-ah! We also had in our company Kristen with her fair trade coffee and Josh with his rollerblades in hand.
I can't imagine what people think when they see our group out in public. Minimum three people speaking French, 2 dread heads, one beauty queen and a few grungy people. Not to mention those of us with stretched ears and tattoos now. I guess you could say we're a motley crew.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Katimavik through poem
Flying high above
Soars a turtle dove
Singing for the moment
Immersing all in love
A tune of joy and happiness
A melody of bliss
The beautiful caress
Of true loves one first kiss
Gliding through the air
Without effort in the clouds
A small thunderclap rumbles
Not disturbing, it’s not loud
The dove continues singing
And adds a little bass
The song becoming complex
Still it brings a smiling face
The final chorus ringing
We listen closely now
We begin to comprehend
Reality’s full power
The music stops and we are left
Only with each other
The new found love; appreciation
Of a sister and a brother.
-Sydney Bourne
Soars a turtle dove
Singing for the moment
Immersing all in love
A tune of joy and happiness
A melody of bliss
The beautiful caress
Of true loves one first kiss
Gliding through the air
Without effort in the clouds
A small thunderclap rumbles
Not disturbing, it’s not loud
The dove continues singing
And adds a little bass
The song becoming complex
Still it brings a smiling face
The final chorus ringing
We listen closely now
We begin to comprehend
Reality’s full power
The music stops and we are left
Only with each other
The new found love; appreciation
Of a sister and a brother.
-Sydney Bourne
Friday, January 15, 2010
Family/Work/Feelings (finally)
Today Grandma and Grandpa arrived in the City of Tournaments. Kamloops for all you non-locals. It was an exciting and tearful event. They are here for the entirety of the weekend and I'm so grateful for that! It was completely surreal to have them standing in my Katima-room looking at all the pictures on my wall and saying, 'Wow.. this is old.. Jaydee must be 6 inches taller now than she is in this picture.' (this being said.. MOM!!! SEND ME MORE UPDATED PICTURES PLEASE!! :D) I'm really looking forward to lunch with them tomorrow and having them over to my house for dinner! (*she states with pride realizing that this is a very grown up thing to do)
So work.. All I have is two words: SPCA BABY!! :D Hellz yeah for cleaning cat piss! Nah.. It's pretty awesome actually. The animals are so cute and pathetic that you can't help but to pick them up/let them lick the very skin off your face! The thing is that one of my favorite dogs (okay.. they're all my favorites) named Nika was put down today. She was a rotty-cross and very dog-aggressive. She was always really sweet to me but that could have something to do with me walking, feeding and scratching her on a regular basis. I think that it's really sad that animals like her can't be rehabilitated but I guess it's really for the best if they're going to be a danger to society.
(*Here is an excerpt from my journal.. It's a little sad and personal.. Not exactly a good day but they can't all be sunshine and rainbows right? You were warned*)
'There's this one dog, Animush, who is the sweetest thing ever! She is young. probably around 2 and she just had a litter of pups. Then when she got into the shelter she was spayed so she's still got the cone on her head. Today she was howling in her cement enclosure with her cone as an amplifier. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. You could hear the sorrow in her tune and the way the all other dogs fell silent and listened to her had me in awe. It was a sound, raw from nature, that demanded attention and respect, but not in an imposing way. During the rare times of silence here I can still here her haunting voice; begging for freedom, calling for her pups and crying for her life. All I know is that if I were in her position i would do exactly the same thing.
In some regards I do feel like I'm in her position. The lack of freedom, only being able to eat what you're given, taken from family and friends, locked away from the world, no rights, no voice, no respect, no credit. Yet I have a choice to be here... This choice that I'm sticking to. This decision with the potential to alter my existence forever. The decision which had already changed my views on life. My choice. My decision. My experience. My life. Only.. not my life. I live based on agenda; and not one of my own fabrication. I live off of someone else's menu. I rely on other's money. I follow rules set out by someone I've never met. I exist to be a puppet. They pull this string, I take a step; they pull these two and my arms flap. I want to break free but I don't. And why? For the people? For my new family? For humanity? For my experience? Maybe all of them combined.. Perhaps for reasons unknown to the likes of me. As I said: I am a puppet. My roommates control me with their words and influences. the government controls me be the means listed above. I control me through my reactions. My perceptions control me as they battle my logic and better judgement. If my life is all about control then how can I ever truly just be free and live?'
Now this part of my journal is not how I normally think about Katimavik but for that day it was. I was having a hard time with Nika being ordered to be put to sleep and I was also upset about the lack of meat in our diets. (It's getting ridiculously dramatic here!)
Some of you may ask 'Well if this is not a general feeling then why include it in a blog that us viewers will take extremely literally?' Well fret not my dear worry warts as I will explain in less than a moment's time.
Ahem. Cough. Sputter. Alright. So. I have decided that this blog needs more emotion if I'm going to successfully keep you in the loop. It is extremely irresponsible for me to lead out on in a way to believing that the sun always shines and I'm constantly perfectly content. I believe that I am allowed to feel just as sorrowful as the next person and seeing as this is my blog I feel I have the right to share it :D
In an attempt to keep the sorrow to a minimum I believe that sleep is of the utmost importance and seeing as how I start work in less than 10 hours I should probably commit myself to my bunk for the night!
Thank you for reading and I hope I didn't make you too sad!
He who laughs last... Thinks the slowest! (I thought that would be a better note to end on)
~Syd
So work.. All I have is two words: SPCA BABY!! :D Hellz yeah for cleaning cat piss! Nah.. It's pretty awesome actually. The animals are so cute and pathetic that you can't help but to pick them up/let them lick the very skin off your face! The thing is that one of my favorite dogs (okay.. they're all my favorites) named Nika was put down today. She was a rotty-cross and very dog-aggressive. She was always really sweet to me but that could have something to do with me walking, feeding and scratching her on a regular basis. I think that it's really sad that animals like her can't be rehabilitated but I guess it's really for the best if they're going to be a danger to society.
(*Here is an excerpt from my journal.. It's a little sad and personal.. Not exactly a good day but they can't all be sunshine and rainbows right? You were warned*)
'There's this one dog, Animush, who is the sweetest thing ever! She is young. probably around 2 and she just had a litter of pups. Then when she got into the shelter she was spayed so she's still got the cone on her head. Today she was howling in her cement enclosure with her cone as an amplifier. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. You could hear the sorrow in her tune and the way the all other dogs fell silent and listened to her had me in awe. It was a sound, raw from nature, that demanded attention and respect, but not in an imposing way. During the rare times of silence here I can still here her haunting voice; begging for freedom, calling for her pups and crying for her life. All I know is that if I were in her position i would do exactly the same thing.
In some regards I do feel like I'm in her position. The lack of freedom, only being able to eat what you're given, taken from family and friends, locked away from the world, no rights, no voice, no respect, no credit. Yet I have a choice to be here... This choice that I'm sticking to. This decision with the potential to alter my existence forever. The decision which had already changed my views on life. My choice. My decision. My experience. My life. Only.. not my life. I live based on agenda; and not one of my own fabrication. I live off of someone else's menu. I rely on other's money. I follow rules set out by someone I've never met. I exist to be a puppet. They pull this string, I take a step; they pull these two and my arms flap. I want to break free but I don't. And why? For the people? For my new family? For humanity? For my experience? Maybe all of them combined.. Perhaps for reasons unknown to the likes of me. As I said: I am a puppet. My roommates control me with their words and influences. the government controls me be the means listed above. I control me through my reactions. My perceptions control me as they battle my logic and better judgement. If my life is all about control then how can I ever truly just be free and live?'
Now this part of my journal is not how I normally think about Katimavik but for that day it was. I was having a hard time with Nika being ordered to be put to sleep and I was also upset about the lack of meat in our diets. (It's getting ridiculously dramatic here!)
Some of you may ask 'Well if this is not a general feeling then why include it in a blog that us viewers will take extremely literally?' Well fret not my dear worry warts as I will explain in less than a moment's time.
Ahem. Cough. Sputter. Alright. So. I have decided that this blog needs more emotion if I'm going to successfully keep you in the loop. It is extremely irresponsible for me to lead out on in a way to believing that the sun always shines and I'm constantly perfectly content. I believe that I am allowed to feel just as sorrowful as the next person and seeing as this is my blog I feel I have the right to share it :D
In an attempt to keep the sorrow to a minimum I believe that sleep is of the utmost importance and seeing as how I start work in less than 10 hours I should probably commit myself to my bunk for the night!
Thank you for reading and I hope I didn't make you too sad!
He who laughs last... Thinks the slowest! (I thought that would be a better note to end on)
~Syd
Friday, January 8, 2010
BC BABY!!! :D
Well... So much to say about the past, oh, month?? Turns out I'm not very good at keeping you updated but the way I'm looking at it is that the more time I spend on the computer writing about the things I'm doing the less time I'll have to actually do the things I want to write about. This would reduce the things that you get to read about which would be kind of anti-productive now wouldn't it?? Haha! Look at me and my excuses. So what has happened since I wrote last... Uhh.. well first off there was Christmas, New Years, me curing cancer, rotation, new house, travelling to the moon and a new work placement. Woah.. I'm pretty amazing if I do say so myself!
Katima-Christmas. Strange. Different. Sad. Exciting. Challenging. We did a combination of the Quebecker-style Christmas and the traditional (for me). This means that we had a huge buffet style dinner Christmas Eve at 10:00pm then waited until midnight to open gifts from our families. We did our secret santa exchanges between the roomies on Christmas morning and had our Christmas brunch. We watched movies all day on a borrowed TV and relaxed. I got to talk to my family over Skype on Christmas Day which was really, really nice getting to see everyone; even over a choppy, lagging webcam connection. It was really strange to not be with my family and I'm not planning on spending many more Christmases away from them. My Katima-family was a great net of support as they were all going through the same thing (obviously). It was over Christmas that I really began to understand just how lucky I am to have the connections that I am forming with my group. It's as if I have 9 new brothers and sisters which is not something that a lot of people get to experience.
Sober New Years at 18-years-old.. Wow. There's not something that happens very often.. Especially for someone from Delburne. We spent New Years at my work placement, St. Pats, in the gym with the rest of our cluster. We had a dance and the most epic game of musical chairs I've ever been involved in. (I came in second by the way... And the guy who beat me cheated!!) I also dyed my hair in the locker room during the party because a Katimavik rule prohibits me from dying my hair in the Katima-house. This was kind of exciting as I finished it right before midnight and I got to start off the new year as a brunette.
So cancer can now be a thing of the past thanks to me and my new particle accelerator. I came up with a new formula that reverses the effects of cell mutation and promotes healthy cell development. The only problem is that I don't have the time to publish and produce my work so the people of Earth will just have to wait until June 17th when I have more time. bahaha
Rotation. AKA Hell. On the bus at 4:00am. (no sleeping the night before obviously!) Board the plane at 5:45am. Arrive in Toronto at 6:20am local time (7:20am Moncton time). Arrive in Vancouver at 11:00am local time (3:00pm Moncton time). Touch down in Kelowna at 2:20pm BC time (6:20 Moncton time). Have a mini-freak out on the airline people for possibly sending my big suitcase to Shanghai. Take Bouctouche group to Penticton. Visit with Granny, Poppa, Aunite Bubba and Jake for 7.5 minutes. Drive up to Vernon to drop off that group. Head to Kamloops. Arrive in Kamloops at 8:30pm (12:30 Moncton time). Claim rooms, check out house, scream and jump for joy until 9:00pm (1:00am). Talk to new PL, Julie, and have a small group meeting until 10:00 (2:00am). Go to bed 10:30pm (2:30am). Wake up next morning at 6:30am (10:30pm) to start meeting work partners. Oh my.
Our house is absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!!! We have 2 full kitchens, 2 full bathrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 rooms for the girls and even 2 rooms for the guys! There are 4 girls sharing a room upstairs and Danielle and I share the room in the basement. How nice is it to be able to move around/sit on your bedroom floor??? Holy! I'm loving it! Our PL Julie is really amazing! She's fairly young although she won't tell us how old she really is. She's vegan (which I think is absolutely insane but to each her own i guess..). She's really a stickler for the rules and regiments of Katimavik which means that we're not allowed to swear (or hang the calender of half-naked men in our bedroom). This is a bit of an issue for me because I've kind of developed a slight potty mouth.. (and I like looking at half-naked men!) I guess that I'll just have to work on it or get a verbal warning/CTI/final warning/sent home. My freedon of speech and expression isn't that important to me I guess.
We got our new work placements today. I was really, really pleased with my placement as I go the SPCA!!! :D This is the job that I wanted since I found out my community placements and looked at the work partners on the Katimavik website. I just hope that I don't start to resent cleaning up cat pee (as wonderful as that sounds). I will get to walk to dogs, play with them, name new animals that come in and hopefully get to spend a day with one of the constables that do the rescue missions. I think that this would be a really amazing opportunity and I really hope that this can happen! :D
Well!! I think that this is a sufficient amount of information for you to digest and for me to throw at you. I am confident that the whining can die down for now.. :)
"Make your life a dream and your dreams a reality" -Daniel's back
~Syd
Katima-Christmas. Strange. Different. Sad. Exciting. Challenging. We did a combination of the Quebecker-style Christmas and the traditional (for me). This means that we had a huge buffet style dinner Christmas Eve at 10:00pm then waited until midnight to open gifts from our families. We did our secret santa exchanges between the roomies on Christmas morning and had our Christmas brunch. We watched movies all day on a borrowed TV and relaxed. I got to talk to my family over Skype on Christmas Day which was really, really nice getting to see everyone; even over a choppy, lagging webcam connection. It was really strange to not be with my family and I'm not planning on spending many more Christmases away from them. My Katima-family was a great net of support as they were all going through the same thing (obviously). It was over Christmas that I really began to understand just how lucky I am to have the connections that I am forming with my group. It's as if I have 9 new brothers and sisters which is not something that a lot of people get to experience.
Sober New Years at 18-years-old.. Wow. There's not something that happens very often.. Especially for someone from Delburne. We spent New Years at my work placement, St. Pats, in the gym with the rest of our cluster. We had a dance and the most epic game of musical chairs I've ever been involved in. (I came in second by the way... And the guy who beat me cheated!!) I also dyed my hair in the locker room during the party because a Katimavik rule prohibits me from dying my hair in the Katima-house. This was kind of exciting as I finished it right before midnight and I got to start off the new year as a brunette.
So cancer can now be a thing of the past thanks to me and my new particle accelerator. I came up with a new formula that reverses the effects of cell mutation and promotes healthy cell development. The only problem is that I don't have the time to publish and produce my work so the people of Earth will just have to wait until June 17th when I have more time. bahaha
Rotation. AKA Hell. On the bus at 4:00am. (no sleeping the night before obviously!) Board the plane at 5:45am. Arrive in Toronto at 6:20am local time (7:20am Moncton time). Arrive in Vancouver at 11:00am local time (3:00pm Moncton time). Touch down in Kelowna at 2:20pm BC time (6:20 Moncton time). Have a mini-freak out on the airline people for possibly sending my big suitcase to Shanghai. Take Bouctouche group to Penticton. Visit with Granny, Poppa, Aunite Bubba and Jake for 7.5 minutes. Drive up to Vernon to drop off that group. Head to Kamloops. Arrive in Kamloops at 8:30pm (12:30 Moncton time). Claim rooms, check out house, scream and jump for joy until 9:00pm (1:00am). Talk to new PL, Julie, and have a small group meeting until 10:00 (2:00am). Go to bed 10:30pm (2:30am). Wake up next morning at 6:30am (10:30pm) to start meeting work partners. Oh my.
Our house is absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!!! We have 2 full kitchens, 2 full bathrooms, 2 living rooms, 2 rooms for the girls and even 2 rooms for the guys! There are 4 girls sharing a room upstairs and Danielle and I share the room in the basement. How nice is it to be able to move around/sit on your bedroom floor??? Holy! I'm loving it! Our PL Julie is really amazing! She's fairly young although she won't tell us how old she really is. She's vegan (which I think is absolutely insane but to each her own i guess..). She's really a stickler for the rules and regiments of Katimavik which means that we're not allowed to swear (or hang the calender of half-naked men in our bedroom). This is a bit of an issue for me because I've kind of developed a slight potty mouth.. (and I like looking at half-naked men!) I guess that I'll just have to work on it or get a verbal warning/CTI/final warning/sent home. My freedon of speech and expression isn't that important to me I guess.
We got our new work placements today. I was really, really pleased with my placement as I go the SPCA!!! :D This is the job that I wanted since I found out my community placements and looked at the work partners on the Katimavik website. I just hope that I don't start to resent cleaning up cat pee (as wonderful as that sounds). I will get to walk to dogs, play with them, name new animals that come in and hopefully get to spend a day with one of the constables that do the rescue missions. I think that this would be a really amazing opportunity and I really hope that this can happen! :D
Well!! I think that this is a sufficient amount of information for you to digest and for me to throw at you. I am confident that the whining can die down for now.. :)
"Make your life a dream and your dreams a reality" -Daniel's back
~Syd
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