Tonight my dinner consisted of smoked salmon which I ate out of a plastic cup. I knicked it at a Yom Kippur dinner I attended last night at the school. I polished it down with some delicious lemon cookies, also from the dinner (separate cup).
Also, this comic accurately and sadly portrays my life. Literally on Monday I had business pants on, heels, make-up, and straightened hair. Today I am wearing old jeans, a hoodie, minimal make-up, and yesterday hair pulled in a pony tail. I somehow went from Monday to Friday overnight though...
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Psychology Moment - Vaccines and Autism
A professor of mine described a disorder that she thinks may explain why some children appear to develop autism after getting vaccinated. I think her argument is very interesting.
Generally speaking, children who develop "autism" after vaccination were developmentally normal prior to that point. When the child shows regression of cognitive and social skills, parents think back to all the things that could have happened to their child and attribute this regression to the vaccine.
My professor thinks these children don't even have autism. In autism, the sympoms are relatively obvious or at least present from birth. Autism doesn't suddenly appear at the age of 3, although that is the age when parents usually bring their child's symptoms to the attention of a doctor.
Another disorder may account for some of these children who appear to get sick after vaccination. It is called Child Disintegrative Disorder. Children who have this disorder develop normally until about the age of 2 or 3. At that point, there is a noticeable loss of social skills, bodily functions, delay of language, and other cognitive abilities. Sound familiar? This is also around the time many children receive the vaccinations that some believe causes autism.
I have never heard of this disorder until last night, much less in the debate about vaccinations and autism. I find it compelling although I'm sure it doesn't explain all of these cases. Some children may actually have autism which WAS present at birth but the parents were in denial and didn't bring their child to a doctor sooner (I've seen this happen, it's very sad). But this is a fresh argument in a stale debate and thought I would share it with you.
Generally speaking, children who develop "autism" after vaccination were developmentally normal prior to that point. When the child shows regression of cognitive and social skills, parents think back to all the things that could have happened to their child and attribute this regression to the vaccine.
My professor thinks these children don't even have autism. In autism, the sympoms are relatively obvious or at least present from birth. Autism doesn't suddenly appear at the age of 3, although that is the age when parents usually bring their child's symptoms to the attention of a doctor.
Another disorder may account for some of these children who appear to get sick after vaccination. It is called Child Disintegrative Disorder. Children who have this disorder develop normally until about the age of 2 or 3. At that point, there is a noticeable loss of social skills, bodily functions, delay of language, and other cognitive abilities. Sound familiar? This is also around the time many children receive the vaccinations that some believe causes autism.
I have never heard of this disorder until last night, much less in the debate about vaccinations and autism. I find it compelling although I'm sure it doesn't explain all of these cases. Some children may actually have autism which WAS present at birth but the parents were in denial and didn't bring their child to a doctor sooner (I've seen this happen, it's very sad). But this is a fresh argument in a stale debate and thought I would share it with you.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
I'm All Grown Up
I am being audited. Only for tuition-related expenses so it's more of a mini-audit. The government wants proof of my outrageous tuition claims. But really, who could really blame them? Sometimes *I* don't believe it. I feel so grown up now...but not in a good way.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
People of Walmart
I've always maintained that the majority of people who shop at Walmart do so while wearing jogging pants and other trashy atire. Apparently the creators of http://peopleofwalmart.com/ noticed too. This site is incredible, check it out.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Housematey Reunion
I'm too lazy to update the rest of my trip home but it involved congratulating Dr. Eric on successfully defending his thesis, waiting to be blown away by a tornado with Marc while sipping wine, and playing Nintendo with Gino.
When I got back to Chi-town the housemateys invaded for a 5-day whirlwind adventure. One of the many highlights was our visit to American Girl. This store is beyond creepy. Children pick out a doll that is dressed according to some time period. For example, there is a black doll from 1814 who comes with costumes and accessories from the time period including an information card. That particular one made no mention of slavery FYI, just that "the north and south were divided."
We were total assholes in this store, taking photos of the ridiculousness including Rachel posing infront of a gigantic star holding a book called, "Am I Normal?"
This card says "Dark skin, textured black hair boy." Even though the light-skinned dolls got 4 pages in the catalogue, dark skinned dolls only get one:
Matching clothes for you and your doll!
Tell your story! With a doll that looks like you! Your moment is now! Vague meaningless catch phrase!
Professional photo studio for you and your doll:
Randomly crippled doll:
Doll *hospital* where staff are actually wearing scrubs:
Hair dressers to style your doll's hair:
It's way too easy to make fun of this. It was a sign infront of a church:
When I got back to Chi-town the housemateys invaded for a 5-day whirlwind adventure. One of the many highlights was our visit to American Girl. This store is beyond creepy. Children pick out a doll that is dressed according to some time period. For example, there is a black doll from 1814 who comes with costumes and accessories from the time period including an information card. That particular one made no mention of slavery FYI, just that "the north and south were divided."
We were total assholes in this store, taking photos of the ridiculousness including Rachel posing infront of a gigantic star holding a book called, "Am I Normal?"
This card says "Dark skin, textured black hair boy." Even though the light-skinned dolls got 4 pages in the catalogue, dark skinned dolls only get one:
Matching clothes for you and your doll!
Tell your story! With a doll that looks like you! Your moment is now! Vague meaningless catch phrase!
Professional photo studio for you and your doll:
Randomly crippled doll:
Doll *hospital* where staff are actually wearing scrubs:
Hair dressers to style your doll's hair:
It's way too easy to make fun of this. It was a sign infront of a church:
Monday, August 24, 2009
OMGIHATECROSSINGTHEBORDER
I am back in Chicago after a painful and lengthy 12 hour drive. Things went smoothly until we crossed the border into Detroit. Although we made it across the border with no problems, shortly afterwards my mom realized she left her wallet on the roof of the car after filling up at a Windsor gas station. After looking backward at the stretch of road behind us and seeing nothing, we turned around and headed back to Canada.
No one had seen the wallet at the gas station and we didn't see it on the road. However, Sam, the gas station attendant was very friendly and let my mom use his cell phone to cancel her credit/debit cards. While she did so, I heard his life story which includes being born in Lebanon, moving to Russia, speaking 4 languages (Arabic, Russian, French, English), and discovering his car on fire 2 days ago. He heard my life story which included speaking horrible French, going to grad school in the states, and being Ukrainian. He then told me that Ukrainian women were the most beautiful women in the world. Sam is a charmer.
Back at the border, the border dicks (BD) were having a training day. This meant being overly thorough by asking me way too many questions, ransacking my car, and pulling me over. They were displeased that I didn't declare the cooked chicken, lactose-free milk, and packaged baby carrots in my cooler (these are classic signs of an incognito terrorist). They also said I needed a stamp on my immigration papers. That's actually not true, which I told them, but they didn't listen to me.
One BD told me to get out of the car and go inside. As I walked away he said in a slow, irritated baby voice: "You didn't listen to me. I said to TAKE YOUR WALLET AND LEAVE YOUR PURSE IN THE CAR." My mom started telling him her sob story about the lost wallet and I cut her off by saying, "Mom, he doesn't care, let's just go." He took great offense to this and literally yelled after me: "WE DON'T HAVE TO GIVE YOU YOUR SEVIS YOU KNOW." (A SEVIS is a form that lets you into the country).
This is incorrect seeing as how I already have a SEVIS form and I'm pretty sure they can't deny me entry to the states because he thinks I was giving him 'tude. Anyway, once inside, another BD looked at my paperwork and told me they didn't have to pull me over because my form was already stamped.. However, since I was there anyway, he might as well process my forms and rummage through my file. Which took 1/2 an hour. While I was waiting, our passports were passed around to various BDs who were bored and had nothing better to do. They remarked about my mom's bday ("Born on Christmas Day huh?" Thanks for reminding her.) and then told me Chicago was a day and a half drive away (even though it's a few hours away).
From then on we had bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to Chicago. Then we got trapped on Lake Shore Drive (in Chicago) where they closed a lane of traffic and it was almost at a stand still. We crawled into my apartment 12 hours after we left. My mom asked for a rye and coke and when I told her I didn't have any, she looked like she was going to cry.
The End.
No one had seen the wallet at the gas station and we didn't see it on the road. However, Sam, the gas station attendant was very friendly and let my mom use his cell phone to cancel her credit/debit cards. While she did so, I heard his life story which includes being born in Lebanon, moving to Russia, speaking 4 languages (Arabic, Russian, French, English), and discovering his car on fire 2 days ago. He heard my life story which included speaking horrible French, going to grad school in the states, and being Ukrainian. He then told me that Ukrainian women were the most beautiful women in the world. Sam is a charmer.
Back at the border, the border dicks (BD) were having a training day. This meant being overly thorough by asking me way too many questions, ransacking my car, and pulling me over. They were displeased that I didn't declare the cooked chicken, lactose-free milk, and packaged baby carrots in my cooler (these are classic signs of an incognito terrorist). They also said I needed a stamp on my immigration papers. That's actually not true, which I told them, but they didn't listen to me.
One BD told me to get out of the car and go inside. As I walked away he said in a slow, irritated baby voice: "You didn't listen to me. I said to TAKE YOUR WALLET AND LEAVE YOUR PURSE IN THE CAR." My mom started telling him her sob story about the lost wallet and I cut her off by saying, "Mom, he doesn't care, let's just go." He took great offense to this and literally yelled after me: "WE DON'T HAVE TO GIVE YOU YOUR SEVIS YOU KNOW." (A SEVIS is a form that lets you into the country).
This is incorrect seeing as how I already have a SEVIS form and I'm pretty sure they can't deny me entry to the states because he thinks I was giving him 'tude. Anyway, once inside, another BD looked at my paperwork and told me they didn't have to pull me over because my form was already stamped.. However, since I was there anyway, he might as well process my forms and rummage through my file. Which took 1/2 an hour. While I was waiting, our passports were passed around to various BDs who were bored and had nothing better to do. They remarked about my mom's bday ("Born on Christmas Day huh?" Thanks for reminding her.) and then told me Chicago was a day and a half drive away (even though it's a few hours away).
From then on we had bumper-to-bumper traffic all the way to Chicago. Then we got trapped on Lake Shore Drive (in Chicago) where they closed a lane of traffic and it was almost at a stand still. We crawled into my apartment 12 hours after we left. My mom asked for a rye and coke and when I told her I didn't have any, she looked like she was going to cry.
The End.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Return to Canada
After 8 long months away from home I finally arrived in St. Catharines. Things have been hectic and busy as usual. I'll give you the highlights as they happen.
DAY 1
After a busy day of frantic banking I headed over to Sylvia's for dinner and a game of badminton. The net we set up was ridiculous - the poles leaned in so the net was about 3 feet off the ground:
It was still wickedfun. We finished off the night by sipping Timmy's coffee while watching Single White Female - that bitch is crazy!
DAY 2
I went to the dentist for what I thought was going to be a filling. Turns out I didn't have a cavity. What I did have was tooth damage due to grinding my teeth at night which had to be fixed. Also, I unexpectedly had to get a wisdom tooth removed that I didn't know I had. Fun!
So, I spent the remainder of my morning clotting, then visited my niece and nephew. I finished my evening drinking wine and watching Boston Legal with mom. Oh, and then I noticed I had split my pants :( I'm apprehensive of what tomorrow will bring...
WEEKEND
After twisting my ankle playing tennis Gino and I watched A Clockwork Orange. Definitely a movie I'll have to watch again as I was mildly confused by the lack of clocks and oranges in the film in addition to the slang.
As per our tradition, my grandparents, mom, and I saw a play at the Shaw Theatre. We saw "Born Yesterday" which was written after WWII yet is highly relevent today. It is a humourous commentary on the corruption of American politics and how senators are bought by rich businessmen. I thought of Keith Olbermann's rant about healthcare in the states. Creepy story: As we were leaving I noticed an asian tourist partially hidden in some trees a little ways away from me as I was walking to the car. He was taking pictures of my family and I. I gave him a death stare but he literally just inched further and further away still taking pictures. Then he got onto his tourbus and drove away.
After scoring a free dinner at Jay's parents' house which included purple potatoes, June and I wandered all over Toronto catching up. Funny picture pending. I polished my night off by brushing my teeth with a Q-tip because I forgot my toothbrush at home :( My teeth feel remarkably fresh.
DAY 1
After a busy day of frantic banking I headed over to Sylvia's for dinner and a game of badminton. The net we set up was ridiculous - the poles leaned in so the net was about 3 feet off the ground:
It was still wickedfun. We finished off the night by sipping Timmy's coffee while watching Single White Female - that bitch is crazy!
DAY 2
I went to the dentist for what I thought was going to be a filling. Turns out I didn't have a cavity. What I did have was tooth damage due to grinding my teeth at night which had to be fixed. Also, I unexpectedly had to get a wisdom tooth removed that I didn't know I had. Fun!
So, I spent the remainder of my morning clotting, then visited my niece and nephew. I finished my evening drinking wine and watching Boston Legal with mom. Oh, and then I noticed I had split my pants :( I'm apprehensive of what tomorrow will bring...
WEEKEND
After twisting my ankle playing tennis Gino and I watched A Clockwork Orange. Definitely a movie I'll have to watch again as I was mildly confused by the lack of clocks and oranges in the film in addition to the slang.
As per our tradition, my grandparents, mom, and I saw a play at the Shaw Theatre. We saw "Born Yesterday" which was written after WWII yet is highly relevent today. It is a humourous commentary on the corruption of American politics and how senators are bought by rich businessmen. I thought of Keith Olbermann's rant about healthcare in the states. Creepy story: As we were leaving I noticed an asian tourist partially hidden in some trees a little ways away from me as I was walking to the car. He was taking pictures of my family and I. I gave him a death stare but he literally just inched further and further away still taking pictures. Then he got onto his tourbus and drove away.
After scoring a free dinner at Jay's parents' house which included purple potatoes, June and I wandered all over Toronto catching up. Funny picture pending. I polished my night off by brushing my teeth with a Q-tip because I forgot my toothbrush at home :( My teeth feel remarkably fresh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)