the heat turned on before 11:00.

after i had blocked every hole in the apartment, they started blowing it in the windows. that's just a lack of respect. i mean, it's one thing when we're talking about competing rights and seeking mutual co-existence; it's another when you're taking about an infringement of personal space. so, i had to threaten the crackheads with police action. it seems to have worked, for now.

it's probably the only thing they would have responded to; i probably didn't have another option. i hate cops, but i also hate crackheads. i don't know who i hate more.

the law in ontario is that you need to go eight feet away from a public building. most people don't follow that, but i'm willing to enforce it. does that mean i can force them to close the window? i need to look into that.

if i can get through the night without being bothered, i might change my mind. but, as of right now, i've resolved to filing a complaint with the landlord tomorrow morning.

what a disaster.

i spent all day taping the windows open, only to have the heat turn off this afternoon, which is not legal.

i repeat: the windows are taped open. they won't be closed again until november.

it's just below freezing. so, if the heat doesn't turn on soon, it's going to be cold in here tonight....

again: my experiences with the mental health system aren't that it needs more funding, but that it needs better standards.

all these years later, and i've been unable to get a serious diagnosis. i'm obviously crazy, right? well, i can't get a doctor to acknowledge it. they're all convinced there's nothing wrong with me.

or, to put it in more honest terms: they're all convinced that i'm white. if i'm white, i must be privileged. so, i'm not crazy. i'm just a whiner.

the problem is in the academic system.

some of these people are professors, and have some grounds to claim they are presenting controversial academic topics.

but, the ones like goldy that are just idiot trolls should be told to go speak in an elementary school cafeteria, or a legion hall, instead.

she's making a mockery of academia.

but, this is the school's responsibility to prevent, and it is the school's fault for not stepping in and upholding some concept of rigour.

i would think that any university willing to host a talk by faith goldy should lose their accreditation.

it's not even because she's a nazi.

it's because she's an idiot.

has she written or published anything in an academic journal? did she even graduate high school? there has to be some concept of academic standards, and even the most lenient concept would tell her to rent a hall off campus.

i have less opposition to her speaking, in general. but, she has no business speaking at a place of learning.

listen: regardless of whatever lies other people are saying about me, the fact is that i had quit smoking (except at concerts) for nearly two years before i relapsed over the move, and the only real purpose of the relapse was as a massive stimulant for those couple of weeks, as i needed it. as i've stated repeatedly: i'll always pick nicotine over cocaine when i need the pick up. this was extended by the fact that i couldn't get on the internet for a month and had to walk around outside every day, and then again by my yearly christmas ritual, which was a little longer than normal this year - but needed, given everything that was happening.

i had no intention of starting smoking again. and, the routine had already been broken, so it really wasn't that hard to stop. by the end of the ritual, i was finding myself trying to figure out how to avoid nicotine altogether over the next ritual. i found myself forcing myself to smoke, and then skipping smokes for days altogether. even if i buy another pack next ritual, i could very well not smoke any of it directly...

i haven't smoked anything in well over a month, and i haven't had any difficulty with it, either.

i said something around this time last year about how i wanted to go to zero smoking at concerts as a last step, and concluded a few months later that this was infeasible until legalization happens on both sides of the border. this is probably still true. but, if my concert schedule stays minimal, it's going to mean my habits will, too.

there is absolutely no reason at all to expect me to relapse again any time soon.

the attacks in yemen are aerial. so, it's probably true that the vehicles haven't been used for any atrocities....yet.

if i were dictator of canada, i would have quashed the deal. but, we have to deal with the liberals being rational again, here.

first, the deal was already agreed upon. the tradition in canada - and, indeed, in most parliamentary democracies - is that the incoming government doesn't undo what the previous government did. otherwise, we'd just be spinning around in circles. it may not have been entirely unprecedented, but it would have gone against our own democratic norms and traditions.

second, it is no doubt true that they would have just bought the same thing from somebody else. so, not selling them the weapons wouldn't have spared any lives. this is broadly true across the spectrum of weapons sales - and what it means is that these protests are more about our own egos than they are about the lives of foreign peoples, yemenis or otherwise.

third, it then follows that, if we want to actually influence saudi opinion, we need to sit down and talk to them - not threaten them by demanding they buy weapons from somebody else. and, this is indeed the crux of historical canadian policy: engagement. it's another question if they actually engaged or not...

like i say - i wouldn't have done it.

but, it's harder to come up with a reasonable criticism of this than first appears obvious, unless you're approaching it solely from a position of indignant self-righteousness - which a rational mind would reject.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/saudi-lav-deal-1.4585035

have those figure skaters had their 15 minutes, yet?

ugh.

talk about the juvenilization of society...