04/2016 is updated.

03/2016 is updated...

as mentioned repeatedly, i decided against getting a driver's license as a teenager, as i was an environmentalist that opposed the fossil fuel industry.

i repeat: at 16 years old, i was more concerned about doing what i could to prevent climate change than i was about getting a car. and, even then, i was already an avid bicyclist.

my opinions have not changed.

my father did kind of order me to get a g1, but he didn't push the point beyond it. some cops actually confiscated this g1 when they wrote me a bicycle ticket for riding on the sidewalk. i don't think that was legal, but i never bothered to get it back.

i'm sure, at this point, it's long expired, anyways.

i held various jobs in various call centres from 2000-2010.

i have one ex-girlfriend in ottawa & a handful of ex-friends and family members scattered around various places.

i do not have a passport. i have a nexus card. and, in fact, before moving to windsor, i had only ever previously left canada to go to florida with family as a young teen, in the 90s.

i have never been to a third country.

if you are having difficulty finding information on me, it would be because i have no criminal background, and have lived an introverted lifestyle. there's very little information of any value to find.

i went to st. pius x high school & carleton university.

i did not play sports, join clubs, go to church or participate in the community.

i was sporadically involved with some left-wing activism.

i'm obviously not going to post my birth certificate on the internet, no.

but, i was born at the civic hospital, in ottawa, on the morning of january 13th, 1981.

my mother was from a military family and born in western canada, of finnish-irish background.

my father has roots in ottawa, and is of unclear ancestry, but probably at least part italian, for sure.

this is legitimately stupid.

i can show you my birth certificate, if you'd like.

02/2016 is updated...

let's try to get this done tonight.

01/2016 is updated.

almost there.

again: there's not anything more productive i could be doing right now.

i'd might a well get this over and done with.

fwiw, my understanding is that "students only" would be age discrimination, under the human rights code.

of course, if you go to any city anywhere, there are ads for student housing. and, there are some caveats.

as with gender and religion, you can largely put these conditions down in rooming houses. you can have a girls only student house. you can even have a muslim only student house.

but, you can't have a girls only apartment building, or a muslims-only subdivision, or a student only housing unit.

i don't want to live in a rooming house, but there are some apartments that are being advertised as student only. this is something i'll take a closer look at in the upcoming weeks, as the units fill up.

all of 2015 is now updated, and doublechecked, which is what i did last night.

i'm also now - excluding the smoke from downstairs - at three months, straight-edge.

so, apparently smoking pot is good for you because it lowers blood pressure.

smoking cigarettes lowers blood pressure, too.

you might want to look up why.

it's not so good, actually.

it's a fear of the unknown - an inherently conservative position.

and, as such, it's a kind of right-wing populism....

the science for gmos has been in for a very long time, and they're not dangerous.

skepticism around gmos is an anti-science position that belongs along side anti-vaxxers and climate change denial.

the left should not be associating itself with this kind of nonsense, and i will have nothing to do with it.

listen.

the ndp candidate in my riding is pro-nafta and anti-gmo. the liberal candidate in 2015 was anti-nafta and pro-gmo.

which is more reflective of an enlightenment worldview based on principles of human rights and scientific inquiry?

...and i have cash.

i have an income source.

i can buy lots of coffee.

i remain defiant about the wisdom of what i'm doing.

you can't smoke at the all night timmies.

i mean, there's stuff available.

but, you don't move to windsor to take a new job, expecting to pay 70% of your income on rent.

and, the less affordable the town gets, the less attractive it becomes to investment from young people moving in from out of town.

it's a mess.

and, it's mismanagement....or, more like non management.

i just want to be clear on the point.

it is true that i'm passing over housing because it's not non-smoking - but, i mean, getting out of the smoke is the point of the exercise. and, it's not a triviality. second-hand smoke is a dramatic risk factor for all kinds of diseases.

and, it is true that my income is lower than minimum wage.

and, it is true that the fact that i'm surrounded by idiots has left me without good references - due to no fault of my own.

but, i'm hardly the only person in this situation.

some of the ads i saw come up at the beginning of the month have taken a different turn. "working professional seeks apartment downtown for new job" has turned into "IN URGENT NEED OF HOUSING FOR SEPT 1ST".

and, this is kind of exposing a different problem altogether.

because it's one thing if a disabled person can't find an apartment here. i'm just a net drain on resources anyways, right? i think what i do has greater value than can be measured monetarily, but i concede that i don't pay taxes.

it's another thing altogether if the housing shortage (driven by the high number of refugees...) is actually making it difficult or impossible for new taxpayers to take up residence here, to take jobs or whatever else - as that creates a structural problem at city hall, and a one-way ticket to bankruptcy.

are we in such a bizarre situation that somebody coming here to take a job can't find housing because welfare recipients are sitting on all of the housing?

apparently.

but, there's plenty of brand new houses sitting empty in the suburbs.

what do you do to survive when you're surrounded by idiots?

when the average iq is barely above the level of mental retardation?

and you're being persecuted as a consequence of it?

we have to interact with the people around us in some way or another. so, the intelligent must conform to the majority opinion - no matter how stupid it is - in order to survive.

but, what if you just can't do it?

what if you just can't deal with them?

again: stupidity usually wins.

it's a historical constant.

kerosene & diesel.

great.

welcome to the dark ages, canada.

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/nova-scotia-government-gives-green-light-to-plastics-to-fuel-plant-environmental-assessment/110043/

john mccain's legacy will not be positive. and, i think we all need to avoid congratulating him for often choosing decency over nihilism, and confusing it for good will, in a society warped by bad faith.

but, i'll let somebody else write this essay.

getting an education will not necessarily get you where you want in life, whatever that is.

but, you're highly unlikely to escape wage slavery without one.

it's necessary, but not sufficient.

even in my chosen vocation of "starving artist", my legal background has been of some assistance. i don't know how comfortable i would have been in launching these court battles if i didn't have a good understanding of how the system works.