Friday, January 27

And its Friday

Not going to lie, this week has been a bit stressful. The worst part is that I was letting it get the best of me and not turning to God for his guidance and support as much as i should have been. Thats a bad habit of mine, turning to other people or inward before taking it to God.
I have some major big group projects for some of my classes and I think i was letting the fact that they are coming together slowly get to me. Patience I would say is the thing that I have been convicted of again and again but still need to wake up every day and just ask God to help me through the day.

The future, another point that i'm excited for but nervous. I cannot see yet where God is taking me or leading me...I think this semester it finally hit me that I will not be at Guelph forever.
Some things I want to do after school:
-more school! (another undergrad...linguisitics? nutrition? who knows!)
-I want to be a master of something! (just not marketing....)
-spend 6 months to a year in a spanish speaking country (porque deseo que hablar espanol)
-do an internship with CCC (either at HQ or on campus...UBC? Calgary? Dalhousie?)
I am so blessed with all of these options, but which is the right one? Hmmm.

So life goes on. I filled out Becky's peer review last night to submit so she can go to OEX. Pray for her, this is exciting stuff!

Sarah Primmer is here!!!!!!

Monday, January 23

short winded

Oh my, I owe anyone who ever tried to read my blog and gave up because of the length...what was i thinking? Express your self (in the words of Madonna) in a more concise way, self! Honestly, if someone else's blog is ridiculously long, do i read it? No, well i skim. So I do not expect others to read mine past the billionth line. So today I bought a suit, no warning, nothing I jsut found one I love and I bought it. Its about time, i'm almost 21 and I'm in commerce whether I like it or not so I should own a suit. I'll call it my power suit and start saying things like "Be all that you can be" and "Don't take no for an answer" and "Show them what you've got". I think that sounds powerful.

Saturday, January 21

Prejudices....part 2?

I hadn't realized that my last post was January 1st, I had intended to be a deep and truthful look at my own prejudices that I carry around with me. I did spend a few days reflecting on what I believe about other people but in the end I forgot about it. THe conclusion I came to is that, likely, I'm a racist.
I tired just now to write a blog entry about why i think this and how I'm not actually a racist (and really, I'm not but I have been more aware of my own personal beliefs, attitudes ) but the conclusion that maybe I'm not as perfectly open and accepting as I think I am and not free from stereotypes like I would prefer to believe. Maybe I'm wrong but as a white person maybe I'm uncomfortable with race. Or maybe I'm too comfortable. I have yet to find that balance between love and PC. Comments I make that maybe I would never think twice about affect others in ways even they don't realize (or they do and don't tell me). How flippant can we be about race? Is it really just all fun and games when a large group of one ethnicity (we'll go with white for now) is sitting around and one person that is a minority (at least in that setting) has their race brought up time and time again in ways that are not overtly demeaning or rude and we all joke or talk together about it? I don't know the answer to that.
It always seems justifiable because I say to myself that if I was in the same situation in reverse (ie. the only whitey) we could laugh about being white until the cows come home (is that a long time?) and I wouldn't care. But honestly...how would i know? I've never been there? And I'm not talking one time, maybe after the 37th time it makes a difference and behind my laugh I'd be a little sad and lonely.
Obviously I have no answers to this and I touched on race because of the Crash movie but prejudices are everywhere. Also, black, white, Cuban or asian (little shout out to will smith) we are all God's creation.
On a totally different note I just quit my job at the Frills (no male cashiers there by the way, out of about 40) I can't believe it but I'm a little sad. That will fade once I realize I have those evenings back, they're all mine! hahahahaha.
Another shout out, Lisa, a friend and suitemate from Calgary project this summer surpirsed me with a little visit yesterday. It was great to see her (you, if you're reading it Lisa) since it had been since August! Thats liek my whole life! We went to the Carden Street Cafe, which I would recommend, maybe save an evening visit for a one year anniversary.

Sunday, January 1

Prejudices: Part 1

I watched Crash the other day, a little over the top but it still made me think. Do I harbour any hidden biases on the basis of race (or any other trait for that matter)? Is it because my father often rants about the 'indians getting hand-outs' in Canada (he really is a great guy, but he has his political opinions), is it the fact that I was raised in a predominately middle-class, white environment, or maybe i'm just crazy. I started by googling racism (not to be confused with 'gizoogling'). I guess this is a topic I'll explore for a while; maybe I will reflect on some of these quotes.

"Education is the process of driving a set of prejudices down your throat."
--Martin Henry Fischer
"Most men, when they think they are thinking, are merely rearanging their prejudices."
-- Knute Rockne
(I am assuming that the above is refering to women as well but I could be wrong...)

"One may no more live in the world without picking up the moral prejudices of the world than one will be able to go to hell without perspiring."
-- H. L. Mencken

"The latter part of a wise person's life is occupied with curing the follies, prejudices and false opinions they contracted earlier."
-- Jonathan Swift


"I have no color prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse. "
--Mark Twain
(I Just like the way he said this, we're all human and all fallen)

"Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them."
--Edward R. Murrow
(Some people think there is no changing our ways. I think on our own this is entirely true; we should still strive to be like Christ and he can change even our ingrained prejudices if he chooses)

One last quote, I think it especially means something being at University (slash being at Guelph) and hearing the noble proclamations of tolerance and acceptance.
"There are a lot of people who like to think they don't have prejudices and that they're open people, and yet, we all have that in ourselves, oftentimes against people of our own race or our own gender or whatever."
-- Jim McKay