Well, it's been a while! I ought to stop disappearing from my blog! I've been busy, of course with two jobs but there should always be time for doing what I enjoy doing: writing! (and the chance to keep my skills up to par since I write for a magazine).

Well as you all know (I hope), today is Father's Day! Happy Father's Day to any fathers who are reading my blog and anyone who is out celebrating this very special day with their dads! (I sure hope I still have readers reading my blog??) lol.

Today got me thinking.  I know, every occasion and scenario gets me thinking and pondering about its origins, how things came to be and so on.  I was wondering why Father's Day and Mother's Day are separated and who it was that decided on the specific dates that these occasions would fall on? Hear me out! While there are some who argue that they don't communicate to a parent anymore or unfortunately have lost one; the reality is, it takes two to make a baby! Both your parents were present at the time you were conceived so why separate the parents on two separate occasions?

I'm thinking that there should be a "Parent's Day," have it all at once - whether you have both your parents with you or not - they should both be somehow recognized or else to me, it seems like the "hallmarkization" of holidays.  Where two separate holidays are distinguished just for the fact of selling cards and gifts.  It's almost as bad as those random "Happy Halloween" cards I saw back in October and really, who gives out Halloween cards? Last I checked it was supposed to be candy day - and for kids only or else these treats goes straight to my bottom! 

Rants aside, I believe we as offspring should make an effort, even if it's a small gesture to give thanks and gratitude to those who have given us life.  Your parent may not have been there during your upbringing or you may have lost a parent, but giving thanks can come in so many ways; a prayer, a letter, a mutual understanding with your siblings or a simple phone call to say "I love you." Don't wait a moment longer, do it now!

~Melissa

As many of you know, I started this blog initially in my last year of University as part of a class media project with the sole purpose of talking about my bad and negative experiences.  It was meant as a way to actually turn an online diary into a rant page for the rest of the world to see, make people laugh, have them comment and share their stories and the like.  Eventually, once I finished school and graduated I wanted to keep this blog, but start thinking and acting upon all the good in my life and to (hopefully) change a life.

Now as you may have read in my last post, someone changed a homeless woman's life by offering her $100 bill.  As I also mentioned in that post, we don't have to have loads of money to help others, all we need is to be there for someone else and remind them of the potential they have as individuals with have the ability to make something for themselves.  That last post got me thinking.  What if I have the ability at this very second - with my blog - to change someone's life? What if there is someone out there who's life is not going as they have planned and they found my blog and turn to it (if it's even possible that someone other than my closest friends are out there reading my entries) and are learning and changing their mindset based on what I have to say.  What if there is someone taking comfort in the positive things I am saying, the feel-good stories and inspirational experiences? There could be someone at this very moment taking notice of my postings and finding ways through these positive stories to actively enrich their lives, and have the courage and strength to change their lives just by reading positive material such as this?  Sounds far-fetched, but as I always believe, anything's possible.  I am convinced I am able to change someone's life, even through simple acts.

To those who want to help others out: perhaps taking notice of all the positive things around us - even the small opportunities that present themselves - can inspire us in so many ways and we can accomplish so much.  So while you're sitting there thinking, "it's just a blog, it can't do anything," we should also recognize that any small thoughtful act could be "push" someone needs to lead their life in a positive direction!

I believe we can make change.  Anything can bring hope to someone.  How have you brought hope and a positive light to someone who has been experiencing conflict or struggle?

~Melissa

As we all know, giving brings a lot back in return.  Give to those who need it and expect great rewards for your good doings.  Rewards can be something tangible in return or just the mere gratification shown by another person's emotions.

As we all know, we are urged by political leaders, religious leaders and even our teachers, parents, and community members to always give back.  It was brought to my attention by someone I am acquaintances with (friends of friends) gave a homeless woman $100 and said to her that this will change her life.  While his friends told him she will go and spend it on mundane things or worse, drugs and alcohol, he believed that he would actually change this woman's life for the better.

He ran into her several weeks later.  She came up to him, hugged him and told him that she has in fact changed her life around! She got into a career and rents out a place to live!  What we have learned from this is powerful; that a simple gesture can elevate someone's confidence and desires to do better for themselves.  It is the encouragement that someone else sees in this person to help them move forward.  The extra "push" to succeed that they would not otherwise have found within themselves to possess.  

Now I am not saying that we should open up our bank accounts to everyone we see - of course, I surely don't have $100 or more to just give to a person on the street - but the simple act of giving hope to someone is something we should strive to achieve!  Giving, again does not have to be in the form of something tangible; it can be as simple as assisting a needy person on the street or a parent with an errand.  I believe we are always presented with opportunities to do better, to help another person in need; these opportunities always cross our paths.  It is up to us to create change, enrichment and balance in not only ourselves, but in others' lives as well!  The reward? Complete gratification no matter how big or small.

~Melissa

Maybe it's me, or maybe it's the other person.  Maybe it's both of us.  Ever have sudden drawbacks with your friends and you wonder what is causing it? Well in recent times one of my best friends and I have been sort of getting into little tiffs.  Not full blown arguments, but I find we're not connecting anymore as we used to and maybe it's all in my head or maybe it's because we haven't seen each other in two months but it has been really bothering me lately.

Ever have those awkward moments with friends? The kind where you don't talk to them for a bit and it's hard to just get back into chatting things up with them like old times because things have just changed?  For instance, she got a new job in her field and a brad new boyfriend and I am ever so happy for her as I would be for anyone else.  But I find that she has said some things like I may be a negative influence towards her or that she wants to make sure everything is right in her life before she continues on with friendships.  It's like she has put a hold on friendships just to make the rest of her life "safe."  And you would think, great times like these call for times of friendship and happiness, sharing of stories, you name it!  The fact that I had to find these things out from other people when she mentioned I was her best friend hurts.

I Suppose I will do what I have continued to do: focus on the reasons why we have been friends for 6 years. The reasons are that we actually do understand each other.  When things go wrong, there will always be a resolution - whether or not this resolution happens now or not for a while - something will come out of this and it will be positive because we have been through so much.  There is a reason why we are friends and although changes have happened in our lives, somehow, someway, it will redirect us back.

Positive feelings! Please send some positive vibes my way!
~Melissa

It's been a while since I've written here so I thought I will make a comeback in this giving thanks and positivity blog with something that rarely peaks anyone's interest, let alone appreciate: work!

As many can agree with me, bosses sometimes are very hard on their employees.  Of course, while it is easy to hate your boss, I've read in an article of Cosmopolitan (I know, of all places! It's my guilty pleasure!) to put yourself in his/her shoes.  I've had the worst experiences with a boss this past 9 months working at the media job I have now.  But you know what? In such scary economic times, it is important to consider that she provided me with the job experience I needed when no one else was available and all other doors of opportunity have closed.  She provided me with the opportunity to write articles, make contacts and even go to several media events! Although she seems very stressed out, verbally attacks everyone she sees at work and above all places incredible blame on anyone for absolutely anything among several others! However, she is someone who is keeping my bank in check.  There is a reason why she has kept me on for the past 9 months (three months as an intern, 6 months as a contract worker).  She obviously likes something that I do or else she would have shown me the door immediately or worse, would have never given me a paying job to begin with! 

Another idea from the Cosmopolitan article entitled, "How To Save Your Ass At Work" was staying positive! Yes! it is my golden word as through everything I've been through, I chose to remain positive!  Again, put yourself in her shoes: would you want to be delegating tasks to a worker who doesn't seem the least bit enthusiastic about work? It makes perfect sense.  If you are always ready and eager to work - no matter how big or scary the task - it will always be remembered that you are a dedicated person who volunteers for work and very eager for a challenge.  As an added mention, I'd like to think that taking on several projects can lead to a promotion or further opportunities in your field once you have the knowledge and skills to take on anything!  Now, many of you may be skeptics and believe me, I was as well when reading the "stay positive" point of the article.  My first thought was HOW can we stay positive when the boss is not very warm? But you can think like me and say: "this is not a job that will last forever and it's something that I am learning from to enhance my career."  Saying those to myself over and over again make me feel confident that I am heading in the right direction and in the long run, it will pay off!

Thanks! I've missed you all!
Stay positive, stay strong,
Melissa

I wake up to the shining light coming from my bedroom blinds.  Every morning, because my mom wakes up earlier than I do, she tends to open up my blinds so that when I do wake up later on it is bright and sunny in my room.

Lights come in all forms.  Now while that may sound funny, I have a point I am going to make here.  There's nothing wrong with a bright light here and there.  Waking up to a sun everyday means that there is always another day, there is always another reason to wake up, another bright long day to look forward to, new possibilities and new opportunities.  Lights can stand for being "enlightened" with new forms of knowledge, new ideas, and "bright" ideas.  Bright lights can stand for not only the coming of a new warmer season, Spring, but for the fact that days will be longer, the light will shine on and stay brighter.  While we keep the lights in our house off longer due to the sunlight, the "light" comes from the warmth we experience.  Lights are for the warmth feelings we get when we are around people we enjoy being with, be it friends, family, etc., the warmer weather because of the sun and the warmth of a fire in the night as we fall asleep.

So what is your light?  My light is my life.

I know, I know... this started off as only a class assignment and once class was done, I realized that I couldn't part with my blog!  I want to continue but instead of all the rants, I wanted to have more positive things to talk about.  Ranting was a way I thought I would attract people to my blog because it would give something to talk about and have people share their common stories and situations as well as advice.  I would much rather be a positive person now, rather than someone who reflects upon the bad stuff in their life.   This is sorta a social experiment to attract more positive things in my life and perhaps create some element of change.

Today I heard my favorite song on the radio and I am so glad and thankful for that!  The song is "Going Wrong" by: Armin van Buren.  It's a trance song as I tend to enjoy a bit of trance music.  Despite what the title says, "Going Wrong," the song has very powerful lyrics which inclue despite the fact that things go wrong, there is always something to look forward to.  This song is truly beautiful and I am thankful for having heard it recently and becoming immediately addicted to it   Kudos to Armin!

~Melissa

As many of you may know, the weather was TERRIBLE this entire weekend in Toronto!  30-something centimeters and very slippery roads and high winds. Not a very good time to go out and "enjoy" the winter.  Besides, it's freaking March... I want the damn sun, temperature in the plus and I am dying to wear my spring dresses!  None of this crappy snow anymore, ya hear me mother nature?! NO MORE!

My parents went to a wedding last night.  I don't know HOW they survived that.  But they did.  I guess I was glad to stay inside, warm and toasty, I must have had about three hot-chocolates and curled up in my Victoria's Secret PINK University Blanket (at least thats what it says on the blankie!) and I got surprisingly alot of essays done.  If you notice in my last report, I had a nasty POLS essay to do.  Well, I managed to get more then half done.  That's right! 8 pages! I am ever so proud of myself.  After scrapping with my ex on the phone, it felt good to, through my anger, get everything and MORE done!

Aside from worrying about the weather, I reflected upon an incident I endured just after a storm hit Cozumel when I was on the Caribbean cruise.  Yes, I know, I got to escape winter, blah blah... but when we arrived in Cozumel, they had suffered from a major hurricane!  I have included a video I took and uploaded onto youtube of the scary incident that took place when we were trying to get back onto our boat.  So while you may complain about being somewhere WARM during the winter... we had no choice but to get DRENCHED in order to get back on our boat... Enjoy!

As the title suggests, it is yet another snowstorm day! Whoopie! We've literally been getting snow storms and snow falls every 3 days, or so it seems.  I for one am sick of them!

I went to the Blueberry Hill pub and restaurant at school today with a few close friends from class and we discussed how these snow storms are a pain in the ass. They literally make me depressed.  Lately, I've been taking Vitamin D pills in addition to the Multi-Vitamins I've been taking for over a year and apparently Vitamin D is supposed to be good for you in terms of preventing some cancers and especially preventing depression due to lack of sunlight. Now let me tell you... it's NOT WORKING!  I am probably really depressed, even more so then I ever was before because of these frequent snow storms occurring so close together and my Anxiety are at their highest.  So high, that when I went out with my boyfriend last night, I had an extreme anxiety attack and begged him to take me home because I was having trouble breathing and feeling dizzy.  I must also include that I have PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) so that is also the reason why I randomly have anxiety attacks and suffer from night terrors every so often.  But  with the dark gloomy winter days re-occurring and freezing wind blowing in my face as I was walk home from the bus  - today it hit me hard!  I realized that I really can't take it anymore... well I never COULD! But today, I've really had enough and I just want spring to come.  Enough with the cold, windy, -23 degree weather... let's get some sun, please? For health reasons?!

Since my professor admits that he has a tendency to read our blogs, I figure I'll give him something to read.  There is something that me and fellow students have noticed about him when he lectures that we want to point out as a sort-of-joke thing.  I hope he doesn't take it personally.  Then again, he can always rant about it in the FORUM!  This is afterall the place to rant.  Anyhow, without further ado...

Ravi, for the past several lectures, maybe since the beginning of January, myself and several other friends of mine in class (names, I will not disclose) have been taking a tally of how many times you say the word, "fascinating."  It's annoying because you say it so many times, but hilarious that you don't use any other synonym for the word, "fascinating." There are times where our tally reached 23 ticks in one lecture and today unfortunately, you only said it three times.  Perhaps you are catching on? Who knows.  Since you don't notice our little ticks in our notebooks, we have counted how many times you've been saying "fascinating" in each lecture and I personally find it hilarious.  It makes you, YOU and I am not saying this out of any disrespect.  We all of course engage in great topics for class discussion and you run the class as if it were a grad course - self-directed by students - which is great preparation for a student such as myself who plans on going to grad school.

Anyhow, this may have not been a rant, but I really wanted to at least share it in my blog and see if other class members have noticed your constant use of the word, "fascinating!"  Quite fascinating if I do say so myself...