Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord!

A public service announcement followed me home the other day,
I paid it never mind. Go away
.....
Broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, Lord!
Count your blessings.
The papers wouldn't lie!
I sigh. Not one more

It's been a bad day
Please don't take a picture
It's been a bad day.
Please.
....
The lights went out
The oil ran dry
We blamed it on the other guy
Sure, all men are created equal*

What a week eh? The kind that makes you want to clear your head with some good music, a pint (of vanilla Coke!) and a good long bike ride. Weeks like this are good every once in awhile, reminds me of how small and insignificant i am in the larger scheme of things.

First off
Bush gets re-elected. Was not surprised in the least bit but still really disappointed. At least this time around his win was legit (yeah i'm being naive, whatever.) Am I scared? Yeah for sure! Ammi sent me a forward the other day written by a Christian lady, it was her take on the rise of the religious right in American. She had some interesting points (and some really bad ones too lol). It's worth a read though.

I was reading the headlines on the BBC yesterday and i caught sight of this
When i was in Senegal, i befriended some missionaries who had to evacuate from the Ivory Coast during the September 2002 uprising. They were seeking safe haven in Senegal while trying to tie up loose ends in Abidjan before leaving back to Montreal. M. Gaucher's son Emmanuel was the same age as Josh, (the little boy whose family i was staying with) they came down for a play date and M. Gaucher ended up getting stuck at our place b/c the Autoroute was closed down for the Telefonica Paris - Dakar rally race (it's really fascinating, and a whole other story really, it would take pages!) Anyways what resulted in that day was us having a 4 hour conversation about life in the Ivory Coast for the believers in their church during that horrific time. There is so much political unrest in the world, and it's sad that certain countries just want to add to it.

Well not everything was bad
Ollie and i raked an obcene amount of leaves last week but really to no avail. Thathi was supposed to mulch them but he never got around to doing that. Now all my time was wasted b/c he's getting the gardener to come and do it instead!
(leaves in my back yard)
(Ollie vamping for the camera)

My room is ugly. It was worse before we moved, but it needs an extreme makeover. So far we've stripped the walls of the hideous incandescent wallpaper, the evil carpet needs to GO. I won't be satisfied until i have hardwood in there. Well last week ammi made me a new bedspread (out of a burgundy Sari). She used my ancient Beauty and the Beast comforter as the base. I still remember when she and thathi got it for me. I was in grade two and was flipping through a Zellers catalogue with amammah (my grandmother on ammi's side) and i saw the comforter. I FLIPPED out, b/c i LOVED Beauty and the Beast. LOL Ammi went out and bought it THAT very day (i'm not spoilt. I swear.) She was so taken aback that i was interested in something remotely girly that she didn't want to waste the oppurtunity to go and get it for me. And that is how the Beauty and the Beast comforter makes its way lovingly back onto my bed (when i make it) 12 years after it first found its way there.
(l-r Ammi and Aiya; Ammi looking totally paked out, and Aiya just looking fat ;))
l-r Ammi and her assistant)
(Ammi's assistant couldn't handle the pressures of being a seamstress and eventually broke down)

Oliver graduated from his puppy class. I don't really know how he managed to, but he did. And he won a prize too!! He was the fastest dog in the class in the little race that they had (which was run to your owner, and you'd only win if you sat down first, and surprisingly he did!!)
(l-r Me, Oliver, Kristi (his teacher), Terror (a Vizsla's whose owner's name i don't remember), Toby (Golden retreiver, again the name is non-existant), Max (an English Springer Spaniel with his owner's daughter. Max didn't win anything, and he got in a LOT of crap from his owner. Poor guy)
(l-r Oliver, his prize and Thathi)

I watched Rick Mercer's Monday Report today and there was a little segment of him and Justin Trudeau together chilling out in Montreal. It's so sad that he's engaged!! There goes the only thinking Canadian woman's man! Here's hoping that eventually he'll run for office, he's a great speaker, remember the eulogy he gave at his father's funeral? Speaking of his dad, today thorn and i were wondering around the nether regions of UC after a morning spent chatting in Diabolos and we stumbled on the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies . Kind of scary b/c all the doors had pictures of Pierre's head floating on them b/c of his nomination as the greatest Canadian. But back to Justin, as Rick Mercer pointed out, how wicked would it be if he ran for office against Ben Mulroney who for the record, i can't freaking STAND. Let's not even start about his dad.

*http://www.retroweb.com/rem/lyrics/song_BadDay.html