A tongue-in-cheek bill was passed here recently which says that anyone wearing a Leafs jersey at a Sens game will be asked to donate to the local food bank. The city was originally discussing a complete ban on Leafs jerseys at the games, but someone must have realized how idiotic that would have been. Supposedly, the bill was passed to show that the city is 100% behind their local team, although it was more to curb the number of Leaf fans, which dwarf the number of Sens fans, at the Corel Centre.

I think the entire idea is in poor taste and completely unsportsmanlike. If something like this must be done, then I wholeheartedly support the fact that a charity is being benefited. However, putting a constrain on the supporters of the opposing team is as immature as booing them. Imagine this being done at a little league game, where the parents wearing the jersey of their kids teams are asked to donate money to the league. I believe that one should never, ever, do anything negative towards an opposing team, no matter what the opposing may be doing. The only hockey that I follow is the Leafs-Sens rivalry, and even though I’m a Leafs fan, I don’t go around saying that the Sens suck (and shame on the Leafs fans who do), I just say “GO LEAFS”. Which brings me to my next point, where shirts are on display at the front of stores here, simply saying in a large font, “LEAFS SUCK”. Do the Senators condone this? Do people think that the Sens would be happy that people are walking around with these childish shirts? Have the Ottawa fans become so insecure about their team that they have to lash out like this?

Are my tax dollars going to people who sit around and come up with shit like this “charity bill”?

I’m insanely busy. I have two exams next week, both of which I haven’t started studying for yet. Actually I haven’t even been to class in about a month. Once I found out that my credits would expire in a few years, I lost all desire to do well, since I don’t plan on going back to school in a few years. I’m also moving next weekend, and have only packed three boxes so far. Things just keep popping up. Table tennis sessions, pot lucks, barbecues, unexpected phone calls, blah blah blah. For once, I wish that I had a weekend to myself, where I could relax and read.

The first, and hopefully only thing, I bought to celebrate my new job was a Canon Powershot S410, in the digital Elph series. It’s small enough for me to carry around in my pocket, unlike my old camera, and is capable of taking 4.0 megapixel pictures. It has a long exposure mode of up to 15 seconds, and custom white balancing. It can also take movies up to 320×240 resolution at 15 fps, which I’ve already had fun with at the Highlander Pub two weekends ago. I decided to go with something compact for candid snaps, instead of an SLR where I’d have to carry around an extra case/bag.

Turns out that the change in my cookie tin was worth over $200. It’s like a mini tax return.

Someone made me feel terrible the other day. She ignorantly belittled almost everything that I’ve worked for in my life. To have this person so insouciantly give me advice on something that I’m still trying to accomplish was completely insulting. Yet I can’t blame this person, because the comments made were in ignorance of how hard I’ve tried, how much I’ve worked, how difficult it’s been to make myself a better person.

With most other people, I couldn’t care less about their opinions. But I respected this person. I held her in the high esteem. This person was already most of what I wanted to become. And, naturally, this made her opinion important to me.

I don’t know what her background is, or how she’s come to develop as the person that I know, but I do know that mine has made things difficult on a mental level.

It takes me longer than others to get over things. I only trust half a handful of people. I’m still emotionally weak in some respects.

I’ve come a long way, and even though I still have much further to go, that doesn’t diminish the fact that I’ve succeeded thus far. Or the fact that it’s been a fucking struggle. Or the fact that I’m fucking proud of who I am now, and what I’ve already accomplished.

So what can I say, really, about these things said in passing? Nothing. All I have to keep in mind is that what I’m working towards is much easier to some than to others. That it’s me who’s in control of my amour propre.

And that, in the end, all that truly matters is self-satisfaction.