Can I Just Talk About

The Biggest Loser for a second.

The Biggest Loser and I aren't besties. I don't watch it religiously and I'm not 100% convinced that their training methods are exactly healthy.

That being said it's still and inspirational, motivational and cathartic show for me to watch right now. I may not be 300 pounds but I certainly know what it's like to go through a gruelling workout. I didn't even make it all the way through my first work out.

However, I've incorporated training into my regular life. I go three times a week and for the majority of it I was working two jobs (now only one) and am still managing to having a fulfilling social life. While on the show these participants have nothing to do but focus on weight loss. So while they've been successful in an extreme situation they have not done it in the real world. What happens when they don't have two amazing trainers on their asses all day?

Oh, but there is a twist.  This season their aren't just two trainers, there are four. Two new "unknown trainers" have shook things up a bit. The teams were given a challenge. The choice to pick the unknown trainers and get 4 weeks immunity or train with Bob and Jillian and be up for elimination each week. Immunity is the ultimate prize on the show, so to me the choice is obvious.

I was shocked to see teams freely, choose Bob and Jillian, because they were proven (read the contestants were star struck) over four weeks immunity. To me everyone who choose to work with Bob and Jillian aren't there only to get their life in order , other motivations have to come into play: maybe it's a bit of a groupie thing or their own desire to be famous.

I suspect Bob and Jillian feel similar as they basically told the teams who chose them they made a dumb decision.  That was only proved at the weigh in where a single contestant from the "unknown trainers" lost 41lbs in one week (that's a show record by the way). That's more then entire teams lost together. Clearly these "unknown trainers" know their shit, or maybe the stronger. smarter and more determined contestants just choose them. Either way it's going to be an interesting season.

It's The Most Overrated Day Of The Year

It's New Years Eve and that means some combination of  work, food, drinking, drugs,  music, dropping balls, making out, free ttc rides, and sleep.

I really can't stand the pressure people put on new years. It's going to be so amazing blah de blah blah blah bla. 

Come to think of it new years has never really been that amazing for me. One year I had plans to go to one of those classy dinner dance events and the promoter cancelled it at the last minute.

Another year I went to time square and stood in the cold for 5 hours to watch the ball, which was probably a kilometer away from me drop. 

Last year I went clubbing and was standing in line at coat check at midnight...wooooooo fun. 

So this year I'm not doing anything. I'm hanging out with my room mates, having a few drinks and seeing where the night takes us. Maybe we'll wander down to city hall, maybe we'll watch movies, maybe we'll dance around in our underwear or maybe we'll fall asleep by 10.  All of these options are fine by me because they will all be fun without the expectation of being great. 

The One Thing Tim Horton's Does Right

It's not fancy like Starbucks or Second Cup and sometimes the coffee tastes like cigarette buds, but there is one thing Tim Horton's does right.

They still follow the long forgotten tradition of putting lids on their hot beverages before handing them to the customer. What a simple yet ingenious thought. How many times have a been burnt by extremely hot water as I carry my cup of tea over to the "milk/sugar/lid station."

I'm paying $2.50 for a tea\you could at least put the milk in for me.

A Rant about the G20 Summit

Last time I checked over 3 million people lived in Toronto. However, During the last weekend in June the thoughts, feelings and plans of these people matter less to the City of Toronto and the Canadian Government then the bug Steven Harper squashed as he walked into work this morning.

Why, why, why would any city choose to host the G20 Summit? It feels more like a punishment then a privilege.

• Those who live downtown need security passes just to get into their homes. 
• $2 million spent on security fences.
• Cell phone jammers.
• We can't fly kites.
• The Art Gallery of Ontario is shutting down for the weekend.
• The CN Tower is closing.
• Traveling out of Union station will be a nightmare.
• The lack of insurance coverage for riot damage.
• The Bluejays had to move their games to the opposing team field denying fans the chance to see Roy Halladay pitch in the SkyDome again.
• The $57,000.00 fake lake. ummmm will the real Lake Ontario please stand up?

Can't you world leaders just meet on Skype and save everyone a lot of time and money?

I would protest, but the delegates won't notice. However, the rest of the world will see Toronto look more like a war zone than the city I love. No marketing pavilion will fix that.

What Is Happiness To You?

I’m lying here thinking about happiness. What is it really? I feel it’s a truly unsustainable emotion. I often feel like true happiness – the kind that makes you feel like you are floating through life as if you are a balloon is just an illusion. For me it has never lasted more then a few weeks before the balloon bursts and I come crashing back to earth. Sometimes that fall to reality can be harsher then others. It really depends on what causes said happiness.

For example the happiness attainted from seeing my favourite musicians live is strongest during that 90-120 minutes they are on stage – but crash isn’t really bad - and on bad days, pictures, video’s and bootlegs of said show can be a real pick me up. For me those memories are so strong they don’t feel real – remembering isn’t enough. It’s as if I just daydreamed it. Actual physical proof reminds me that I did live the dream. The same with goes with vacations and travel.

However, the happiness experience when it comes from lust or love is harder to get over. Relationships torture and torment us in many ways and yet we still feel they are worth it – worth the risk of that crash when it doesn’t work out. Sometimes it can take months, or years to get over the demise of a former love. We swear – never again - and eventually some other individual winds their way into your life that makes you think it’s worth the risk. Even when relationships run smoothly – the honeymoon stage ends eventually and all you’re left with is contentment at best.


Which brings me to my main thought – nobody searches and strives for a life of contentment – everyone wants a life of happiness. But perhaps if we all strived for a life of contentment instead of happiness we’d all be a little happier. Maybe we set the goal to high with the expectation of constant happiness and when we don’t experience it – we end up feeling worse about our lives. You may think I’m just playing with semantics but I truly believe there is a big difference between happiness and contentment.

Isn’t it better to experience the stability of contentment vs. the emotional roller coaster of life spent in pursuit of the happiness high? For me it is. I haven’t experienced that extreme feeling of happiness for a quite a while and I think I’m better off for it. I am very please with were my life is at the moment. I have a great internship – amazing friends and family who make me feel appreciated, loved and respected – and a direction in life. I feel like I can’t ask much more then that.

So I wondered - Why don’t I feel happier? That’s when I realized that I’m not unhappy – not at all. But happiness isn’t how I would describe my current disposition – I am content, and I am extremely happy about that. 

How To Destroy Nine Inch Nails

I have nothing but love and respect for Trent Reznor. The music he's created with Nine Inch Nails changed, saved and defines some very key moments in my life.

                                                                                                            

When he announced last summer that Nine Inch Nails would be touring for the last time I was lucky enough to see them twice in three months. At their very last Canadian date at VFest on August 30th 2009 I stood from 8:30am till 11:30pm just to be in the front row. Trust me it was worth it.

As NIN drew to a close many fans wondered what would become of the band and the man that created the music that mattered so much to them. We knew he wouldn't disappear forever, and of course he didn't.

It seems that Trent has finally grown up completely. He married former West Indian Girl front woman Mariqueen Maandig and together with Atticus Ross they formed a new band How To Destroy Angels.

First thought. What a lame name, but I guess this really doesn't matter. It's all about the music right?

Then came the first sample of their music:


Right of the bat, I'm not impressed. The last thing I want to see is one of my favourite musicians dead on floor while his wife whines about how hard it is to be famous. I acknowledge fame is tough, but it's a choice to live in the lime light, don't complain.

You can get the rest of the album Here. It's free and you if you have any interest in NIN's music you will probably like like it.

As for myself, I don't exactly hate the EP but I don't really like it either. It's basically a Nine Inch Nails album with a different singer. It would have been nice to see Trent step out of his comfort zone a little and create an album that departed more from The Slip (which you can also get for free Here).

The Slip had to grow on me and I think maybe the first EP from How To Destroy Angles will too. Either way I'm happy that Trent is still creating music.

When Activist Have To Much Time On Their Hands

Fun Fact about me: I'm from Hamilton ON. Hamilton is a working class town 45 minutes west of Toronto, and it has its share of problems. 

I never would have thought that one of the cities problems would be urinals in a bars washroom.

The Honest Lawyer is a bar located in Jackson Square, right in the heart of downtown Hamilton. In the men's washroom it featured novelty urinals that looked like this. 

That was until recently anyways. 

The Woman Abuse Working Group took offense and started a letter writing campaign lobbying for the restaurant to remove the urinals. They sent over 1000 letters and even involved Ontario NDP Leader  Andrea Horwath. 

Now I ask, is this cause really worthy of the Woman Abuse Working Groups time? No...of course not. And I certainly hope that a political party leader has better things to do with her time then concern herself with the decor in the men's washroom in the Honest Lawyer. 

What has been accomplished from their efforts? Is anyone safer? Can they even show that these lips provoked violence against women in anyway? I'm a woman, I don't find them offensive at all. Tacky, yes.

The simple solution, don't go into that bar if it offends you. 

Use the resources of your organization to create real change.  Your organization should make the news when you've helped women escape abusive situations not when you've harassed a restaurant owner into removing his tongue in cheek urinals.