So today I wrote my last exam of the year. All that is left is to meet and show my blogs to one professor. Hopefully they will be up to par and show him that I am intelligent and can respond to things in educated manner.
The exam this morning wasn't too terrible. I managed to complete it in an hour with minimal stress.
Of course there was the initial minor freak out when I opened the text files and they were all underlined and wonky. Yes wonky, that is a technical term.
Anyways, all that's left for today is picking up my car from the garage, and yes as I told my father (who didn't believe me) the spark plugs were shot. Being a Honda, the car automatically shuts down when one is gone.
Afterwards, I'll go for run and that will be my exciting day.
WOOT!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Competitive Yoga?
Focusing on calming minds and strengthening bodies through series of challenging poses; yoga has been a non-aggressive form of exercise for centuries. Today, large groups of people are lobbying to have yoga as a sport in the 2012 Olympics, arguing that it is exactly the same as figure skating and gymnastics. But is it really? Yoga requires a person’s complete attention, focusing the mind on becoming still and united with the body. Competitive yoga sounds contradictory. It has been argued that it allows people practicing yoga to compare themselves to others and see how they are doing in their own practice.
Yoga practitioners understand the powerful meditative state that yoga puts one into. Requiring a person’s undivided attention, yoga cannot be truly experienced with distractions present. In a competitive atmosphere, yoga could not have the concentration that it deserves. Imagine yourself, in a room filled with people and a panel of judges. Now imagine yourself being able to calm your mind and perform pose after physically challenging pose; it isn’t easy to picture.
Yoga poses; physical challenges designed to work the body in a peaceful manner. These range from beginner poses like the Cobra Pose, placing the body in a mild backbend, to the King Pigeon Pose which is an extreme backbend and can be very dangerous if not done correctly. In a competition, the point is to win. With yoga, that could mean someone would try an extreme pose that their body is not ready for and hurt themselves in an effort to win. Especially with the advanced poses, they look dazzling but if not done right, could severely harm the spine, neck, and other parts of the body.
Many are arguing that competitive yoga is not about winning. It is about simply comparing your yoga practice to those of other competitors. This is, of course, not to see who is better, but rate your own practice to see what you have to work on further. By performing your yoga routine in front of a panel of judges and a room full of people, you will be able to get feedback about how your posture was, and your routine in general, this type of constructive criticism could be useful.
Isn’t yoga supposed to be about self-enlightenment? By comparing yourself to anothers practice you will miss the important teachings of yoga. You will no longer focus your mind on the yoga you are performing, rather on how the person next to you is doing. It is possible, that by comparing yourself to another, you may harm yourself by forcing your poses deeper and backbends higher to keep up with the other competitors.
Is this what yoga is to become?
Yoga practitioners understand the powerful meditative state that yoga puts one into. Requiring a person’s undivided attention, yoga cannot be truly experienced with distractions present. In a competitive atmosphere, yoga could not have the concentration that it deserves. Imagine yourself, in a room filled with people and a panel of judges. Now imagine yourself being able to calm your mind and perform pose after physically challenging pose; it isn’t easy to picture.
Yoga poses; physical challenges designed to work the body in a peaceful manner. These range from beginner poses like the Cobra Pose, placing the body in a mild backbend, to the King Pigeon Pose which is an extreme backbend and can be very dangerous if not done correctly. In a competition, the point is to win. With yoga, that could mean someone would try an extreme pose that their body is not ready for and hurt themselves in an effort to win. Especially with the advanced poses, they look dazzling but if not done right, could severely harm the spine, neck, and other parts of the body.
Many are arguing that competitive yoga is not about winning. It is about simply comparing your yoga practice to those of other competitors. This is, of course, not to see who is better, but rate your own practice to see what you have to work on further. By performing your yoga routine in front of a panel of judges and a room full of people, you will be able to get feedback about how your posture was, and your routine in general, this type of constructive criticism could be useful.
Isn’t yoga supposed to be about self-enlightenment? By comparing yourself to anothers practice you will miss the important teachings of yoga. You will no longer focus your mind on the yoga you are performing, rather on how the person next to you is doing. It is possible, that by comparing yourself to another, you may harm yourself by forcing your poses deeper and backbends higher to keep up with the other competitors.
Is this what yoga is to become?
Monday, April 13, 2009
The ultimate way to reconcile?
In an article from CBC, a man in Conneticut filed for a divorce from his wife after she handcuffed herself to him in an attempt to reconcile.
Now what better way to say I'm sorry than metal handcuffs.
Oh! Did I forget to mention that the man managed to call the police, when they got to the house they found him with bite marks all along his torso and arms.
Clearly this marriage was not meant to last, any woman who has to handcuff herself to a man in an attempt at getting him to stay clearly needs help.
Now what better way to say I'm sorry than metal handcuffs.
Oh! Did I forget to mention that the man managed to call the police, when they got to the house they found him with bite marks all along his torso and arms.
Clearly this marriage was not meant to last, any woman who has to handcuff herself to a man in an attempt at getting him to stay clearly needs help.
Prostitution Solution?
In the Toronto Star, an article was posted stating that the way to 'deal with prostitution' is not to criminalize those selling their bodies, but the buyers.
This article is truly thought provoking. Yes, prostitution may be frowned upon by many but should that make it illegal? Most societal laws are built around the common beliefs of the people in that country. Is this truly a good idea? To base our laws on how the majority of people feel? Yes it makes sense in most cases; if people are opposed to something like animal cruelty then it can be made illegal. But with the beliefs of something that is not specifically illegal in our charter and does not go against it, should it be the popular vote that determines a law against it. Of course not. If in the eyes of the law, that profession is doing nothing wrong, then we have no right to make it illegal. Prostitution may be frowned upon, but then so is same-sex marriage. Neither go against a persons’ rights or freedoms and therefore should not be made illegal.
This article raises a valid point of being able to make it illegal to pick up a prostitute; thus taking the blame off the person selling themselves, who are doing nothing wrong, and putting it onto those buying the sex.
Still one has to wonder why not simply legalize everything and stop this whole issue? The mayor of Amsterdam raises an excellent point though, when you legalize prostitution, the government basically becomes a pimp, no unions are made and the ways of escape from the trade are never implemented as they should. This becomes a backwards society, taking the role of a pimp, who is a despised person because of how they use and abuse the prostitutes, but when prostitution is legalized, that role is taken over by the government.
I think it is a losing cycle, no matter what, someone will be harmed, money will be taken and sex will be had.
This article is truly thought provoking. Yes, prostitution may be frowned upon by many but should that make it illegal? Most societal laws are built around the common beliefs of the people in that country. Is this truly a good idea? To base our laws on how the majority of people feel? Yes it makes sense in most cases; if people are opposed to something like animal cruelty then it can be made illegal. But with the beliefs of something that is not specifically illegal in our charter and does not go against it, should it be the popular vote that determines a law against it. Of course not. If in the eyes of the law, that profession is doing nothing wrong, then we have no right to make it illegal. Prostitution may be frowned upon, but then so is same-sex marriage. Neither go against a persons’ rights or freedoms and therefore should not be made illegal.
This article raises a valid point of being able to make it illegal to pick up a prostitute; thus taking the blame off the person selling themselves, who are doing nothing wrong, and putting it onto those buying the sex.
Still one has to wonder why not simply legalize everything and stop this whole issue? The mayor of Amsterdam raises an excellent point though, when you legalize prostitution, the government basically becomes a pimp, no unions are made and the ways of escape from the trade are never implemented as they should. This becomes a backwards society, taking the role of a pimp, who is a despised person because of how they use and abuse the prostitutes, but when prostitution is legalized, that role is taken over by the government.
I think it is a losing cycle, no matter what, someone will be harmed, money will be taken and sex will be had.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
The black knight has lost...
My car. This old -- well not that old-- tank from '98 has finally bitten the dust.
It's an emotional time, remembering how amazing my tank of a car was. How she could go fast and not spin out, what a great car. She was sleek and black, a small sporty car that fit my lifestyle and wasn't too terrible on gas.
It was a perfect car. Reliable -- but only if the weather was good -- and was compact enough that it was actually a conversation starter when the cops pulled me over once. Good times with that.
But she didn't come to me as a brand new car, my aunt had her before me and I cannot say that she is the, most cautious, of drivers. So she was in pretty poor shape when I acquired her, but I took care of her and have tried to be gentle with my driving. But she just couldn't take it any longer. Hopefully changing the battery tonight will put some new life into her.
Hopefully...
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