Respect. Hope. Help. Support. Faith. Words Written in Common Spaces For Everyone.

Something completely everyday turned into something random and yet wonderful.  A plain and normal, ordinary bathroom stall in a woman's washroom on campus has turned into an extraordinary space for women of all university levels, experiences, faiths, cultures, beliefs and identities to come together and anonymously help, confess, heal, ask, answer, advise, teach, support and strengthen each other.  The wall was being used to write on by girls because bathroom graffiti is always en-vogue right? The university kept sending someone in to paint over the beautiful, hopeful and inspirational words.  Then someone got wise and got large white boards screwed onto the walls in both of the end stalls so that they wouldn't have to keep painting the wall over.


These white boards have come to promote positivity and feminism in a good way,  give advice from woman to woman, pass on encouragement, strength and support to those who have expressed fears and worries, nerves, pains and hurts etc.  It is a completely random but awesome way for those girls who can't talk to anyone to finally have a voice, be heard and hopefully get some help and for those girls who have many inspirational words and much wisdom to pass it down.  Problems get asked and solutions given in return by many different opinions and voices of different cultures, faiths and experiences.  Hurts get shared, common pains that girls face with love and life are expressed and acknowledged, self-esteem issues are discussed and reassurance given both spoke and unspoken. The ability to have your voice heard without prejudice or judgment is probably what gives most of the girls who have written the courage to do so.


I decided that I'd let my readers into this small space of a million words, thoughts, feelings, circumstances etc. So I hope you all enjoy the pictures, I apologize for their quality and clarity, it's hard taking pictures sideways squished in a stall and trying to avoid white glares and hoping they turn out well.


Enjoy!

This is what you see when you open the door to go into the stall

This is a front facing view of most of the white board

this is writing left over from the wall that was not painted before they put the whiteboard onto it. Yay For Mutual Love and Respect!

Powerful Words Indeed! Especially for an audience that always tends to forget to love themselves.

a power eyes with scrambles of words and sentences spouting everything from randomness, hope and support to politics and words of warning for personal health.

Proof that every women feels alone and needs support in the worst case scenario- Proof that help, advice, support and love will always come when needed. This situation of pregnancy facing young single motherhood is a common one for women, put the love, faith and respect for life opinions shown here touched my pro-life heart. Pro-choice opinions were given here as well, but mostly Pro-life women fought back and took over the support system. Follow up in the lower right hand corner as the pregnant 2nd year student says she's keeping the baby and finishing school as far as possible. So Awesome!

More opinions from women commenting on this poor girls situation I.E big scrawly letters saying The Father Is Responsible isn't He? Make Him Involved!- bad or good, at least someone is listening and ready to help out right? it can't all be bad out there. Hope. Inspiriation. Support. A Better World Indeed.

The best thing on the whole board!!! Someone wrote up a positivity Alphabet from A-L, other people filled it in with messages of hope and inspirational words of love, peace, strength etc.  I filled in letters D, M & P!!

Someone else finished the alphabet from M-Z and more people filled in.  So Wonderful Go Sisterhood! Go Woman power!!

Another view from the door...

Writing on the back wall above the toilet.  The first thing you see, read clearly and acknowledge when you walk in.  I guarantee it's left so many women with happiness in their hearts and smiles on their faces after being in there.

I hope you comment on this post.. It's really important to me - when I use this washroom and frequent this stall, as I often do for it is in a common student area of the university, the little feminist in my head always runs around flailing her arms in joy and shouting happiness to the highest heights for woman power, peace, love, support, friendship, sisterhood and the common good of womankind!


XOXO
C

Winter Time On Campus

If you don't know already I am obsessed with taking pictures of nature i.e flowers, water, the sky at all times of day or night, trees, landscapes..anything and everything that is beautiful and magnificent or small and commonly known that exists within nature on this awesome blue and green sphere!

Walking around on campus since we've gotten lots of snow has been just wonderful!The university's grounds are beautiful any and every time of the year, in spring and autumn when the flowers are blooming, the magnolias and roses make you happy and feel at peace to watch them as you walk by, the green of the trees, the jaw dropping beauty of the large 100 year old willow trees... Doesn't it just make you want to sing?

Anyway, I was going to class in a building surrounded by a lot of grassy areas and trees with pathways cut through-out for students to walk on which lead to the different buildings and I just love the way campus looks covered in snow!  Everything is so white, and the areas between the paths are practically untouched so it seems like you're walking on paved bridges over magnanimous gleaming, shining brilliant icy lakes.  It steals my breath away.  The trees are lined and trimmed in frostiness, and students run about laughing while hurling snow balls at one another merrily.

While walking today I came up two large round balls of snow.  I was so surprised and then I began to feel filled with joy because I could just imagine the university students who wandered about rolling snow to create these large balls.  Naturally they are on the grass area in front of the Engineering building, where the usual random things occur or can be found such as Frisbee or soccer games, half built cars, men attached to large mechanical and wooden devices, numerous amounts of people all wearing the same color and shouting. tents for outdoor events etc.  Well I suppose no winter could be complete without someone making large balls out of snow.  The first ball is rather large, it would probably take 3 strong guys to lift it, and the second ball is slightly smaller.  It looks like they were attempting a snow man, a large snow man, but couldn't lift the second ball onto the first and didn't bother to make the head..or it got destroyed thus lack of head.

Anyway I thought you'd like to see some pictures of the snow, and trees around campus during this glorious winter season as well as the infamous giant snow balls.

Enjoy!

I will definitely be getting more pictures from the campus grounds as soon as possible and i will post those as well- these ones were taken on my way to class so I apologize for the quality and such.  Please comment or e-mail me what you think - if you send me pics of winter around your area I'll blog about winter wonderlands again sometime soon.

XOXO
Cris

A Horse Is A Horse Of Course Of Course...

Completely random!!

I was downtown waiting for a bus to go to school  a few weeks ago and I saw two police officers (one male, and one female) on the side of the road just near the 1A king bus stop.  They were wearing fluorescent yellow jackets but there was something different, something odd about them.  What was it now??

Oh Yeah!!

They were on Horses! Like seriously sitting atop two very large brown horses! I was so surprised.  I knew about our city getting "mounted" police to patrol the parks and recreational trails and such but in the downtown city core? So Random!

Thought I'd share some pics with you, they're not the greatest because I was standing on the side walk with people around me, bus shelters and vehicles in my way and I was trying to be inconspicuous since I think its illegal to have pics of them- or maybe just illegal to touch the horses...hmm either way I didn't want a ticket for being a horse paparazzi.

Enjoy!

This was taken with me on the side walk some 30 feet away- I know they are far away, my cells phone camera only zooms so far. Many pardons.

this was taken when i was finally on the bus and we drove past them- I was seated on the lower part of the bus by the back door and had to be creepy and zoom in past this girls head to get a good pic

So there you have it folks, the special forces ride again in our town.. it's incredible what the government will spend money on these days.. Just a fun fact- did you know that these police cannot do anything but ride the horse around while on duty? Seriously, they aren't even allow to dismount and get a delinquent or involve themselves in horse to car chase if someone goes through a red light.  All they can do is call for backup.  So really.. it's all for show.  Wonder how much training these police officers had to get to just ride the horse? talk about a useless profession- can't even lasso a bad guy let alone use your gun.  So tragic

XOXO
C

Zero Updated Posts!- This Is What Happens To Your Cyber-Life on School

SO I totally dropped the ball with posting... again.  Can you all forgive me?  It seems like I am always asking to be pardoned but you all understand how life can get in the way of fun right? Are you even there? Are you even listening to me? Hello?

*drops head on desk for 10 minutes of wallowing*

Well you will all be happy to know that this is the first of a series of upcoming wonderful exciting interesting random everyday brand new posts!  Thats Right! from now on I will be keeping up to date with my posts, beginning with this week and moving on past the remnants of January into the early February days and beyond! so much of 2011 has gone by un-posted I can't believe I let it happen again.

*another 10 minutes of sadness, self-loathing and feelings of shame*

I hope all of my faithful readers out there (whoever and how many(few) you are) will keep up with my new upcoming posts and give me any and all feed back - A&F+Professor S-P's i know you'll be there with comments for me!  Don't forget you can e-mail me at bilichc@hotmail.com if you don't feel like dropping a comment on here.

Have a good night all, and remember, keep it random!
XOXO
C

Frost Week! Some Good Ol' Fashioned Fun On Campus!

Frost Week at the university is kinda of like "frosh week" just a little bit less active..  These eventful weeks are times for students (generally first year students) to get together and get involved in activities that celebrate school starting up (again)- activities include, pep rallies, races and obstacle courses, parades and parties,  snow cone making, pop corn popping, and cotton candy spinning (all handed out to students for free) which is taken care of by the different faculty groups.

These faculty groups also have "reps", who are a number of students who apply and are chosen to represent that faculty.  At the university I attend the humanities reps are called "hummers", the social science reps are called "socs" and so on so forth, with each faculty having its own nickname for its reps and with each group wearing coveralls of different colour's depending on the faculty (the hummers are blue, the socs are orange, sciences are yellow/lab coats, engineers wear bright red, commerce wear green maybe..theres a lot ot keep track of).  Well, each faculty also tends to have some kind of wacky mascot, or there is someone who will dress up as (or be dressed up as) some form of being, object, fantastical thing that represents their faculty.  If you're in engineering, they usually send a couple of guys are with a large dolly-type cart thing that's been decorated and made to look like something interesting with someone on it.  They tend to go around the entire campus, 2 guys pulling this other one guy and yelling out at the top of their lungs representing their faculty.

SO TODAY I happened upon two characters from the faculty of science, who walked into the student displaying insignia of their faculty. One was dressed as some sort of comic book type hero/sidekick, in a black tee-shirt and shorts with a faculty flag hanging off his shoulders and a skin tight mask with slanted eyes.  The science faculties rep symbol is the toxic symbol that you find on chemicals.  This guys counterpart was also in costume, wearing black tights and black gloves with a black skin tight hood thing covering his whole head so you couldn't see his face.  He had on a bright yellow Sciences Faculty sweater (their rep colour) that also had the toxic faculty insignia on the back.  my "hummer" rep friend informed me that this man ( or the outfit anyway) is notoriously known as the Science Ninja.  I was a bit of a creeper, Like the university told me to be.. and I took pictures of him so that you could all see.  I apologize for the quality, he was rather far away and my phone camera's zoom isn't the greatest.  Enjoy!

P.s Here's a sign in my universities student centre which blatantly tells all students to Be A Creep and use social networking to keep in touch with people, see whose graduating and find random people from your classes so you can know what they're doing over the summer... It was put up about two years ago, so way before the general public knew anything about that "social Networking" move that came out but Way to play up to the sick fetishes of those potential and current "creeps" and "creepers" out there among the 230 000+ students and faculty! Now here's a university with a heart that simply cares about helping students develop to their full potential so they can become greater members of society.. Hope you didn't see that movie..  EEP!

So ENJOY the pictures that I took of random things on campus, if I see the science ninja again I'll try to get a better pic and maybe an interview for my blog.. or if I see any other zany characters I will post accordingly!

The large paragraph just talks about the positives of social networking for school, career, personal and business friendships.  So check out what your friends did for Christmas, find someone from your classes and "creep" them over the summer.. Stay in touch with people and maintain semi-personal relationships/business interactions.. Go Be A Creep!

This sign is on the right side of the Be A Creep sign It's the universities way of ensuring it's so called "smart" students understand what social networking forums to use. The circle around it says to go to the student career centre if you need help trying to figure out how to get into social networking- please! that's one thing students DO NOT need help with!

The Science Ninja! Best Thing I Saw ALL Day!!! Sorry He's among other people and I was far away.  Do you like the back of the guy in the gray hoodie's head? That green arm/elbow in the pic belongs to my "hummer" friend and science ninja informant hehe.  The guy to the right of the yellow sweater spandex toting ninja is his sidekick- i'm assuming because he was wearing the sciences insignia flag tied around his shoulder..he's standing sideways and there was a person in the way or else you'd have been able to see his costume too.. Sorry. EnJoY!

Please Comment or E-mail (bilichc@hotmail.com)
XOXO
C

First Day Of School..First Day Of School!!!

Second semester started today... and I had a very exciting day.  I went to 2 different class, one of which is a continuation from last semester.  I had post-colonial culture, theory and practice at 11:30 and then a 2 hour break until my last class at 3:30 which was native American literature. I am very excited for that class, it's with the same professor from contemporary native Canadian literature and he's totally awesome! During my break I had lunch with a few friends and got to enjoy some down time which was fantastic ^-^ It was kind of chilly out today but not too bad for January.  I had to leave my favorite side of campus (the arts quad) and go over to "ABB" which is so hidden, students don't find it until 3rd year or if they stumble on it accidentally.  It was quite a walk but it was good exercise and when you're in good company it doesn't feel too long.. takes about 10 minutes.

When I got home from school my sister and I went shopping for workout clothes and at 7 this evening we all went to the gym together (the three of us) and my 3rd sister had her first training session with our trainer.. My other sister and I did our work out together, including cardio, which was pretty good.  Although, working out in the late evening is a bit challenging because you're more tired from the long day and so you really have to push to reach your goals. But by the end of it you feel refreshed, relaxed and everything is OK :)

No Pain No Gain remember? hehe that's my new motto..

Tomorrow, I have 3 classes, modern British literature is a continuation from last semester but I have two new classes I cannot wait to begin.. the anticipation is killing me! I have to get up really early for my first class which is at 8:30am, but it is Modern Counter Cultures and I've heard it's one of the better cultural studies courses and It's really really good so I guess I don't mind the early start.  The other class is an entire course on the literature of Jane Austen which is quite good and very popular, though my literary sources have stated that Mansfield Park is not the best.. but I have not had the opportunity to read much from this author beyond Northanger Abbey which I absolutely adored!

I'm already behind in readings because my crazy post-colonial prof (whom I am quite fond of) thought people would actually do work over the break.. HA! Naw, I guess some people did.. but I really just wanted to relax especially after being sick, starting my workout and new healthy lifestyle and having to be with family all the time I did not have any desire to work.. though I did try.. I bought the texts and novels I would need and I brought one with me for a long bus ride.. but sadly I never opened.. points for trying? maybe? no? :(

Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep now.. I hope you all enjoyed this post and you keep reading.. please comment or e-mail me you know I love to hear from you all! Share your first day back stories with me!

XOXO
C

HAPPY NEW YEAR ONE AND ALL!!!!

Today is January First, 2011, or as some might see it, 01-1-11 OR 1-1-11.. isn't that weird?

Last night for new years I worked at a new years eve dinner dance one of my parishes holds annually.  I am in the coat check, and i'm in charge of coats, hats, bags, umbrellas, anything u want to give me..for $1 per coat.  It's not a terribly fulfilling job but it keeps me on my toes and gives me something to do new years eve (and helps me make a bit of slip money if u catch my drift).  I've been working this same crowd for the last (ball park it) 5-7 years and i know all the old familiar faces (both sober and inebriated) well.  Some of them tip and some don't, I have running jokes with a few old men that involve the lines "don't lose my hat" to which I always reply " i haven't lost it yet!" which makes them smile.  I've given a coat hanger to countless amounts of women out of sticky dress predicaments...it's always the same ones too... you know, the ones who come to the party in some form of clingy material gown that gets stuck to their pantyhose by the static generated from walking while wearing a floor length silk lined fur coat..talk about snappy and snazzy dressing.. here a fur, there a fur, everywhere a fur fur (oops-  a little too "old MacDonald had a farm-e-i-e-i-o" there...).  So yeah, after the mad rushes flock in from 5:30-7pm  everyone sits down to dinner, I get to close my door and I wait until one of the lovely waitresses (usually my sisters because u know with us every holiday/special occasion is a big family thing..because the family that works together or serves together in this instance Stays together.. *sigh*).  Then I eat my dinner and wait around listening eagerly for the slightest knock on my door for those few smart men who sensibly rationalize that its too cold to smoke outside "senza capotto" (Italian for Without You're Coat).  My night is mine until the late hours of the evening because no one leaves the dance prior to the new years countdown.  Then it's HAPPY NEW YEARS- BUON ANNO NUOVO!  CHAMPAGNE, KISSES AND HUGS ALL ROUND!

For a whole of maybe 7 minutes until I have to run back into my little closet (as my sister referred to it as) and return coats to the angry mob that's been waiting 3 minutes already so they can be the first to leave and "avoid the rush" whilst making a rush of chaotic semi drunken elderly people clump together behind them.  Then I get winks, toothy grins, singing and dancing men come to my window to pick up their coats and to spit out at me those o-too familiar words (in thick drunken slurry Italian accents ) "don't-a forget-a my cappeluccio".  I wish them all a happy new years, in both English and Italian and they walk out the door.  My night usually ends around 1..depending on when people decide to leave.. I can't go until the last coat has left my hands, because heaven forbid some one's coat should go missing or stolen in my absence.  And then I come home and go to sleep and get up for mass.

So that's what i did last night.. and I just returned home a bit ago from 11:30 am mass in English, because for those of you who don't know, New Years day is a mandatory day in the church calendar- the Canadian Catholic Conference of Bishops deemed it so, and therefore all Catholics are expected to attend mass on this day- we celebrate Mary-The Mother Of God on this day..It's very important. So if you haven't gone to mass yet today, you'd better get going! God is Watching You!

Anyway, that's my rant for the day, I hope you all enjoyed reading about my Christmas and such.. I'm extremely sore from the gym, I completed a while week of training sessions and now I'm going to be doing one a week since school starts up again for term 2 on Monday..My new years resolution is to drop some weight, get fit and feel better.. I am also going to be working on becoming a better person inside because I've been lacking in that area for quite some time..another resolution I have is to read every novel for my courses this term (believe me there a lot and some do tend to slip behind the desk..) and to work on improving my creative writing and get closer to completing one of my started novels...  What are you're new years resolutions? comment back and let me know! Remember you can always e-mail me (bilichc@hotmail.com) and please keep reading my posts- To my few but faithful followers (you know who u are!) Thanks so much for ending the year with me and Here's to the new year with more fun, more love, and more blog posts!!!!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Years and a Great Weekend to You All!!

XOXO
C
 PS- TO Dr &Mrs Smarty-Pants- Hope the "Fins" feels better ASAP and FYI, I made the corrections in Christmas post part 1..thanks for making me aware of it!! Love You ALL!!!