Monday, January 29, 2018

Judging a Book...

...by its cover.

I'm pretty sure most of us have judged someone based on what they see versus who they really are deep down inside.

We are going to do a way back play back event when I was about 19 years old.

I was still in the very early years of university, had summer jobs, didn't party at all but I did have a social life going out with friends for dinner and stuff like that. Just wasn't into the clubbing scene.

This was also the era that (for some reason) I fell in love with diamond rings. Not the wedding type of diamond ring per-say but more of those plain bands with small diamonds engraved in the centre. To me it was a clean look, very elegant and nothing too crazy. It was shiny yet had a smooth finish.

Now I was a fortunate kid (still am) that my folks decided to get me one for my 20th birthday. I thought it was a bit crazy, but they really saw how much I was drooling over various pictures of it...to the point that they said ok fine, your birthday gift because you worked hard. But doesn't mean you stop working hard!

Alright. Now question is where do we go to get it? There are millions of jewelry places to go to but it wasn't just about finding the right price; it was also finding the proper cut and handiwork of the ring.

We checked out People's. A family friend had told my mom that People's Jewelry is equivalent to McDonald's. I guess because of the workmanship. We had a good laugh about that. Didn't stop us from going to see the place, but in the end, we didn't really find one that made us all happy.

Next we checked out Birk's. I had heard of them before but didn't know too much about them, except that they were a bit on the pricey side.

So of course my folks and I wander to the area where they had the bands with diamonds etched in them. A saleslady came by and asked if we needed any help. We said we were looking for a diamond band ring. She then asked who was it for, and they pointed at me.

It was at this point the saleslady asked if I was getting married. I said no, I'm just looking for a band with diamonds etched in them as a birthday gift. She kind of looked at me wide-eyed, as if to say "Girl, you are waaaaaaaaaaaay too young to be in this store buying a ring for yourself." Of course she tried to ask what kind of cut, how many diamonds, whether I wanted gold, platinum or white gold, that sort of thing.

I aimed for a white gold finish. So of course this lady is slowly migrating away from the diamond bands to another section: the "on sale" section. I could tell they weren't as high quality as the typical wedding bands because they were placed in a completely different section of the store. I looked but didn't see anything I liked.

Then of course, the next one was the last assault: My dear, here is the section where we carry our SILVER jewelry. It will be going on sale next week *winks*.

How the hell did I go from white gold and diamonds to silver 925?!

I can see why she would do that migration from gold to silver: because I looked like a young kid who was getting spoiled, and so to save my folks from overspending, she guided us to the silver section.

It's a funny story when we talk about it. Of course when it actually happened, I felt a bit of insult because it was similar to being treated at a luxury car dealership when you're trying to buy an expensive car that you can afford, but the salesperson doesn't believe you and shows you the cheapest car they have on the lot.

Of course I wasn't going to pick the most expensive band out of the store. My folks and I agreed on a range and if we couldn't find one in the range, then we wouldn't get it.

After that experience at Birks, we walked out with nothing. And of course as we walked away, the saleslady reminded us of that "silver sale" that was happening next week and to come back. Thanks I guess?

Eventually we ended up at Mappins. I hadn't heard of the store before but after going there, it was a pleasant experience. The saleslady asked what we were looking for and she showed us the entire collection. Never once did she judge us (or me) for wondering why a young person would walk into a jewelry store to get a diamond band ring. She was very accommodating as it took us forever to choose something and I believe we did take a couple of trips to the store before we finally decided on one.

From the time we entered Mappins to the time we received the product was a very pleasant experience. The saleslady made sure we were happy with the purchase, and to triple check the ring when it arrived to make sure there were no scratches or blemishes on the product. I tried the ring on and it was beautiful. She complimented that it suited me quite well, even at that age.

It's been over 10 years and I still wear it pretty much everyday. It needs a cleaning soon but for now, it's held up very well. Couldn't be happier. Still shines bright like a diamond and compliments my wardrobes.

As for Birks, I really do enjoy looking at their diamond rings. They are beautiful. I just hope one day they would take me seriously when it comes to purchasing one. I am 10 years older now. Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

New Year Thoughts

I was reading the news (of course, when I'm bored I start reading), and came across several stories that bogged my mind.

The first is this thing with people doing this "Tide Pod Challenge", a Youtube challenge where young adults eat laundry detergent gel pods for fame. The warning label on the pods say to "keep away from small children". I didn't know a 16 year old was considered a small child, but considering they're eating something poisonous, you might as well call them idiots.

This is the "new fad" of 2018. Eating laundry detergent. Are you serious? What's the next challenge? Who can down a cup of antifreeze the fastest?

I have watched a clip of these idiot teens biting down into the pods and of course, the pod erupts in their mouths and they try to spit it out. I'm not sure what the goal of this challenge is, except to break the pod with your teeth. Otherwise, it's probably the dumbest idea. Somebody out there, at least start spreading something good or helpful. Not stupid things like this.

This really shows how our society is really like: going downhill. It makes me fear raising kids in this culture. I would like my future kids to get married to smart people, not idiots who eat washing machine pods for fun. There is already a generation of idiots; we don't need more to populate Earth.

Honestly. I don't know what these teens are thinking. And yet you want respect from everyone? Maybe start growing up and realize the difference between food and a Tide pod.

Click here to see what the next generation of leaders will look like.

The other one that hit the news pretty big this week was the attack on a 11 year old girl wearing a hijab. A man came up to this girl while she was going to school and assaulted her by cutting off her hijab. Not once, but twice.

The girl and her family called police, and got the TDSB involved. It hit nationwide news, and everyone was searching for the culprit behind this assault. That this isn't what Canada is about.

You're right. It isn't what Canada is about because the attack never happened.

I'm not sure why a 11 year old girl would lie to the police, to the school, and to the public about this made up story. I mean great, she didn't get injured. But seriously, why would you say something like this?!

This is equivalent to calling 911 for fun and hanging up the phone when they start asking you if you need fire, ambulance or police. Or having someone arrested for raping you when it never happened. How is this situation any different?

My folks taught me at a very young age, to never call 911 unless my life was in trouble, or I needed to save someone's life and needed help. But to never cal 911 for fun and hang up, because we could get into serious trouble. And go to jail. Yes, instilling fear actually works people. Don't be afraid to threaten or scare your kids because it actually works and they won't even try it. So where were the parents and their teaching of telling their kids to NOT LIE TO THE POLICE ABOUT SOMETHING SERIOUS LIKE SOMEONE ATTACKING THEM?

If an 18 year old did this, they would get arrested for wasting the police's time. Or 30. Or  60. This girl is lucky the police isn't arresting her parents or her for wasting their time and resources chasing after false leads.

Now there is that issue of well, what happens if someone wearing a hijab did get attacked, but are now afraid to report the crime because of what this girl did? In the world of forensics, if there is proof that it happened, they will find it and yes, the culprit will get convicted. I don't think anyone should be afraid of reporting something that happened to them.

She faked the assault.

The other one to hit the news was a University of Guelph professor who was accused of making snark remarks to one of his students and his aid. The student suffered from severe anxiety and was chewing gum in class. The student had raised his hand to ask the professor a question, and that's when the snark remarks began.

Why is he chewing gum? It helps him to relax because of his anxiety. He mentions he has an aid beside him. The professor then calls him the 'handler' and tells him that he 'needed to control' the student.

Obviously the student was very upset about this and left the class, along with the aid. Soon after, other students in the class protested about how the professor handled the situation, which prompted one female student to stand up and basically rip apart the professor. Along with a standing ovation, she really stood her ground. Soon after, students started filtering out of his class.

The power of social media. I tell you, you have to be very careful what you say in this day and age. One wrong move, and your future is on the line. This is a prime example of this. The professor can think he's all badass and tough, but one wrong word, and you're out the door.

Professor thinks he's tough.

Now, one of the more depressing news this week was the 5 year old girl who was struck and killed by a vehicle in motion, right outside her school.

Camila was being picked up by her dad after school. The car was parked in the drop off/pick up area of the school, and they were both getting into their car when a SUV in motion (nobody was in the driver's seat) began rolling towards their car and pinned them both against their car.

Both were taken to hospital, but unfortunately Camila's condition was too critical that she passed away a couple of hours after the accident.

We also found out that little Camila had battled cancer when she was 3. This was her second chance at life and now it was taken away too soon.

Rest in peace Camila.

Camila Torcato

Another tragedy this past week was the shooting of an innocent bystander, a 15 year old boy named Alfred Wong.

He was riding along in the car with his parents, approaching an intersection when there was a gunfire outside. Alfred was hit by the stray bullets intended for someone else. They had just come back from a family outing when they were caught in the crossfire.

He was on life support and was not expected to live. How do you deal with that? That you're just minding your own business with your family and then suddenly now you're making the decision to continue life support or not.

Supposedly the shooting was gang related. Investigations are currently underway. People in gangs are heartless. They really don't care about the feelings of other people when it comes to hurting innocent bystanders. They don't care to stand up and admit it was their fault for ending innocent lives. Of course, because they're idiots. Only idiots and cowards join gangs.

Rest in peace Alfred.

Alfred Wong

Thursday, January 04, 2018

Happy New Year!

First post of 2018. My, my time flies.

Just the other day, I was speaking to a staff member and she commented that she couldn't believe it was already 2018. I was in shock too. Then I said at least it's 1 year closer to retirement for everyone! She looked stunned and thought I was retiring. Of course I said I was joking, but I wish I could retire. Unfortunately, not for another 30 years.

This year, it was (and still is) unbelievably cold. A lot of the NYE events had been cancelled or scaled back because of the weather. As much as I wanted to watch fireworks, it was way too cold to wait outside to watch it.

I was fortunate enough to check out Niagara Falls during NYE and it was beautiful. Everything was frozen and just looked so wintery. Surprisingly there were still lots of people who went there for celebrations, even though it was bloody cold.


I checked out the casino as well, even though I'm not a gambler and got carded on my way in. Yay for Asian genes! I was pretty happy; it closed off my 2017 in positivity. It was pretty packed inside the casino as well. Nothing new really. I did see a Grand Buffet but didn't get a chance to check it out.

We walked around the Fallsview area for a bit, grabbing some food (yes, the money I refuse to give up is my meal money), and window shopped.

After spending pretty much the day there, we drove back home. Since it was a last minute decision to do this, the suggestion of staying a night in Niagara was difficult as prices were already sky high with NYE. Next time though.

I've been watching a lot of crime shows (and I mean a lot...it's probably a bit unhealthy) recently and with all the various degrees of crimes that are committed by people, I wish they did not abolish the death penalty here in Canada. Canada's laws are a joke. Someone who is convicted of first degree murder gets an automatic life sentence, BUT they would still get parole in 25 years. If they're a juvenile and they kill someone, they won't be convicted as an adult, so they serve 10 years in a juvenile detention centre and then get released.

What. The. Heck.

Yes, there are people who do change for the better; they made bad choices/mistakes and then they have to serve years behind bars, but they learn to become a better person, and their choices reflect that, as well as their personalities and behaviour. Then there are those who pretend that they've changed, when they haven't, get released, and commit the same crimes (if not worse). Then that's when the courts say "oh, he shouldn't have been released" or "that's weird, my assessment showed he was a low risk to reoffend".

Some people don't believe in the death penalty, because it interferes with God's plan of life or death. Humans shouldn't "speed up" the process of death by putting someone under.

After reading about various crimes (inheritance crimes, insurance fraud crimes, cheating crimes etc), I'd side with the death penalty. Especially those involved in heinous crimes, and those who show no remorse whatsoever, they deserve the death penalty. Why should we be paying for them to stay in prison forever, so that they can live out their lives in prison? What about their victims? They have no more voice to defend themselves. And especially in court when they present evidence of crimes, where victims are exposed to the bare bones, when strangers can see them at their saddest moments.

Which brings me to the death penalty techniques. The most common one is the lethal injection, a combination of 3 IV medications. I've read that they stopped supplying Sodium Thiopental to prisons because the company (Hospira, and the only supplier) did not want to be associated with lethal injections in death penalty cases. So prisons had to scramble to find another combination, which most recently they replaced with Midazolam.

The 3 IV combos don't necessarily bring a "fast" death; some are declared dead within 5 minutes, and some last until 20 minutes. Some think it's unethical that convicts suffer at the death chamber, whether it's doctors trying to find a vein or whether the medications don't have a long effect as others.

Take for example, Clayton Lockett. He was tried and convicted of murdering a 19 year old, by beating, raping then murdering her. During his execution, it was difficult finding a vein for the injection. Eventually the doctor found a line in his femoral vein and inserted the IV there. However, because there were other people watching the execution, they decided to drape his groin area with a cloth, to preserve his dignity.

Midazolam was then instilled. However, what they didn't realize was after some time, the IV had infiltrated and was no longer in the vein. While they injected the other 2 final medications (Vecuronium Bromide and Potassium Chloride), he started to convulse. The doctor initially thought he didn't get enough dosage but then again, he had no idea how much went in because the IV got dislodged in the end. Lockett died about 45 minutes after the first injection of Midazolam, convulsing and twitching, as well as trying to talk as he was dying, that something was wrong.

Considering what he had done to the 19 year old female, 45 minutes of a failed execution is what he deserved. It's not because he's of colour, or he grew up in a messed up environment. But it's because the crime he committed was heinous.

Then of course the state and organizations are all like, this is inhumane. You need to fix this and that etc. But come on. They killed, and they showed no remorse. Some laugh at their victims' families and threaten them as they walk to jail after their convictions. And somehow the State still says "well, this is inhumane for making them suffer like this on the table." Yes, sure. Tell that to all the victims' families. That's a huge slap in the face.

It would be much better if they took out the muscle relaxants and sedatives, and just straight up use potassium chloride. Not only will they suffer a cardiac arrest, but they will feel like they're burning up all over. This is nothing compared to the crimes they've committed. I really don't see why the state laws have "inhumane" and "execution" in the same sentences. It's either one or the other.

Yes true, God is the one who will judge them in the end. What we do is speed up the process of them meeting God. But to have those murderers continue to live in jail cells when they don't deserve to (and also us paying for their stay), it makes my blood boil.

In the case of Paul Bernardo, someone like him needs to be put to death, not be in jail for life. There is no amount of psychology sessions that will change who he has become: a serial rapist and murderer. He has shown no remorse, and has become the most notorious killer in Canada. See, the thing with executions is that at least we know that they're dead and they'll never escape jail. For those in life imprisonment, there's always that small chance of escape. And you always think at the back of your mind: what if?

Wow. What a way to start off 2018 by talking about executions. I have been reading and watching way too many of these shows and cases.

In positive news, Moose Knuckles jackets really does keep you warm. I went out in a t-shirt wearing this jacket, and shovelled the snow in -20C weather. I was drenched in sweat when I came back inside. I forgot if I had already talked about this, but if I did, oops.

My Gucci bag is still for sale for those that are looking for a designer bag. Still up on www.jodidayscloset.com!

Stay warm everyone. Time to sleep.