Three Reasons Why I Enjoy Life

1. Santogold's self titled album. FULL OF WIN!


But technically it’s Santigold now.
The vibrant Santi White topped a lot of lists last year as “The One To Look Out For”. I never really pay attention to top 10s on any music magazine – half the time the albums receiving 5 stars are boring and generic (to me). A friend of mine the other day practically begged me to give this a listen, telling me it’s “a feel good album”. Hell yes, it is! I’m feeling the fuck out of this. What’s more amusing than her sick beats is this whole debacle over her name. Apparently some washed up has-been got pissed and insists she stole the stage name from him. In good ol’ Hollywood fashion he sued. Although the fierce yet civil Santi White changed one single letter from her stagename, Mr. Nobody is still suing. Can someone just pass the dude a valium or something?

2. You can’t spell Earth Week without... Bill Nye?


Okay, actually, you can’t spell Earth without d-a-v-i-d-s-u-z-u-k-i, but you get the point. Mr. Nye will be appearing at Humber College (if you’re waiting for me to bust out a cheery “Hawk yeah!” you can just F your life) April 6th to talk about environmental sustainability, reducing our ecological footprint, and maybe where he gets all those snazzy bowties. I’m quite excited about this because he’s the man that made science fun for me as a child. It’s a pretty big deal.

3. The fact that there are people out there who could be saving the world or something (save the cheerleader, save the world...) but instead, are spending countless hours on the computer composing ridiculous videos like this:


Am I the only one here who has a digital folder that includes clips of animals and humans doing outlandish things, regardless of whether it’s real or not? I swear, I’m one cup of prune juice away from being a batshit crazy old lady. Hmph.

Paws and Laws

I was 14 years old when my parents decided they were going to be cool for once and let me have my first dog. We went to the Toronto Humane Society – it’s just the right place to go. I’ve heard nothing but good things about THS. The people affiliated with the organization take such good care of all the animals. We walked around and looked at all the dogs. I noticed there were more big dogs (pit bulls, Dobermans) than there were smaller dogs. I felt really upset about that because I knew most families (I admit, we were one of them) only adopt the cuter, smaller, more family oriented pet. LOOKISM EXISTS EVEN IN DOG POUNDS!

I remember vaguely there was this angry looking couple before us in line to sign papers and they had plans on getting the dog we set our eyes on. They were giving me this weird, nasty vibe. The ladies working at the Society noticed the reeking smell of BITCH as well. Luckily, if the workers at THS don’t like your attitude or find you incapable of the responsibilities that come with adopting a pet, they can turn you down, no questions asked. I really appreciate this because usually I see a lot of people just carelessly giving away things and living creatures away to anyone, anywhere.

The lady took my folks in a separate room and explained to them the couple before us “didn’t look like the loving kind” and alas, we got the rights to adopt our sweet Bella. I really wanted to name my first dog Tori (I was going through a Tori Amos obsessed phase during that time. I owned all her albums and was deeply in love with her obscurity). I realized I shouldn’t rename her just because she was already trained to respond to her biological name. I mean, she’s not P Diddy. She can’t just change her name every week because she’s bored and wants her name in the tabloids. Yeesh!


(that's yours truly and a very sleepy Bella)

Oh, I’m turning into John Grogan, writer of Marley and Me. Not that it’s a bad thing! I love to gush about my dog. I’m as annoying as one of those people at parties who whip out their wallet to reveal eight photos of their kids. I’m in love with the amount of happiness my pride and joy, Bella Buia, brought to my life. Oh, but lets not forget her downfall. She pees in the house when new people come over. She sounds like Chewbacca when she snores. She scratches at your feet and won’t leave you alone during dinner time. She’s so clingy and a huge diva, like Farrah Fawcett but in dog form.

But I just continue to love her. To quote John Grogan:

“A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and [s]he will give you his [hers].”

Now, it just pains me to open up the latest edition of MacLeans and learn about a woman who drowned her kittens and was only fined $5. A man also got away with killing his 6 puppies with a hammer. A couple paragraphs down it explained that in Canada, pets are considered personal property and we are entitled to dispose of them any way we want.

This is just fucking heartbreaking.. What kind of senseless moron gets off on beating innocent, cute puppies to death with a hammer? Really, it’s sickening to realize it’s foreplay for some people. After I barfed in my mouth a little bit, I decided I had to find out what can be done to punish those who cause cruelty to animals. I always tell my folks, who share the same love for animals, if a person is capable of killing a defenceless animal with their bare hands for no reason, God knows what they are able to do to a human being. One way to make a change is to support and petition for Bill C-373 which gives better protection to animals and harsher punishment for those who cause cruelty.

I think as people we need to be more compassionate of all the animals we share our planet with. Just because they may not struggle like we do – work, kids, bills, etc – doesn’t mean they aren’t as deserving of life as we are.

Here are some websites for anyone interested in further investigating:

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals International
Animal Cruelty Law (Canada)
Bill C-373
Toronto Humane Society...ALWAYS LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS!!

Conquering One Addiction at a Time

Hello, my name is Natalia and I’m a recovering Facebookaholic. I’ve been sober for a week now.

Yes, I am one of maybe two people in the entire world who do not have Facebook [anymore]. It was like an annoying Siamese twin I decided to be surgically removed. Everyone and their dog has Facebook. Literally! Even my dog had Facebook! Lame, right? Truth is I was bored one day and by impulse I decided to make her one. She's so cute, c'mon! I'm over it now, but there are other bitches who can’t take their paws off Facebook still.


At first Facebook was this nice opportunity to keep in touch with high school friends and co-workers but then all of a sudden we were hooked on tagging every single photo and survey we complete, uploading videos for comments and poking random guys with cute profile pictures. Then suddenly, every time you’re logging in, you’re lurking people’s walls to see what they did and who they talked to that day. It was then I knew the only options were to delete it or continue to be hooked on crack. I’m no Amy Winehouse, so I said yes to rehab.

We can argue for days the pros and cons of Facebook like I stated before. For me, the cons weighed much too heavy. Sure, pleasant, even flirtatious comments can be nice. Compliments on my profile picture can make me feel warm inside. But I realized majority of these people on this website would never say such a thing in person. This was especially hard to swallow. I am a person with very little friends in real life. My Friday nights consist of me cleaning my room and playing Scrabble independently on the computer. I don’t get that many phone calls or emails from people wanting to converse or join in on an activity with me. When I had Facebook, I had ample amounts of people who asked me “what’s up?”. Now, I will admit, without Facebook I feel much lonelier.

When I told a few people of my admittance into Facebook Rehab, they gasped in shock, laughed and told me I would never be able to live without it. I have reached that point in my life where I just don’t get off on silly comments from people I barely know. I miss face to face interaction. I miss the good ol’ days when people phoned or knocked on my door, asking me to come out and play. I hate the insincerity that comes with a Facebook message. It’s too impersonal for me at this stage of my life. Our parents survived just fine without such a thing – mostly because this wasn’t invented yet. If they can live a good life without a dozen different technologies taking over, we can get by just as fine.

With Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, MSN Messenger, texting and more, I truly believe we will slowly fail at handling face to face interaction. We won’t be able to function socially offline. We will just go mute.


This week has been extremely refreshing. Now that I’m no longer updating my info on pretentious indie bands I’m listening to, uploading hot photos I took of myself for attention or sharing naughty youtube videos with friends, I plan on doing new things with my free time. I’ve compiled a small list for those interested in following my footsteps.

Top Ten Things We Could Do Instead Of Lurking On Facebook:

10. Learn a new language. Zu Hölle mit dem Internet!!!!
9. Go on a beautiful hike at Belfountain.
8. Throw a dinner party.
7. Get a haircut.
6. Read a good book like Sophie’s World.
5. Meditate.
4. Clean your room.
3. File your taxes.
2. Phone your mother.
1. Watch paint dry.


I am going to continue to live a Facebook free life. I think I can do it without any slip ups. But if one does occur, I’ll be sure to call my sponsor right away and report myself.

'Cause This Is Ladies Night! Is The Feeling Right?

Hurray to us all, it’s International Women’s Day!

I’m really proud to be the woman that I am. I remember the day my crazy Romanian folks sat me down at the dinner table and explained how they have been wanting a boy, but instead ended up with a hot blooded, neurotic, independent young lady. They would have named me Samuel. Yikes. I wasn’t all that uncomfortable with their exclamation, actually. It only made me more thankful and appreciative of the way I turned out to be.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a man. I don’t think there are major differences between the genders, except for genitalia of course.

From early on in life, agents of socialization like school and the children’s media like toys, books, television programs, teach us what it means to be a girl. Certain colours are associated with our gender. Certain toys are marketed more towards girls and not boys. Kindergarten teachers let the girls colour and play house while the boys are allowed to fight and play with trucks. Our culture seems to have set a certain guideline for us to follow as we evolve and become a bigger part of society. I do wonder on a daily basis what we would evolve into if such rules weren’t set from an early age.

Automatically we assume certain characteristics are more feminine than masculine. For instance – and this is one of my pet peeves – some people associate crying as being “a little girl”. I argue with the fact that both man and woman are given the ability to cry. Just like man and woman both have the ability to laugh, deceive, breathe, etc. To show emotion is to be human. I don’t believe one emotion is more feminine than the other or vice versa. Sure, women are probably seen crying more often than men but I still don’t get the whole “little girl” association. It should never emasculate a man if he decides to embrace his human emotions in public or in private. To mock something like that is rather immature and ignorant.

Such double standards continue to exist and from the looks of it, probably won’t go away. There’s so much inequality when it comes to how our society thinks we should behave. I’m still trying to figure out a way to break the spell.

I read one woman’s blog the other day and she also mentioned International Woman’s Day which really delighted me....until I discovered she just copied and pasted information from Wikipedia and ended the post saying “So, put on some lipstick and your favourite dress and enjoy being pretty!”....Yes, because that’s exactly what being a woman is about. Excuse me while my eyes roll into the back of my head.

I try not to morph into a preachy feminist so often (but sometimes I listen to too much Bikini Kill and I can't help it), however it really offends me when others say things of this nature. I will agree that some of us women can be materialistic, valuing clothing and beauty on a higher level than most people, but there are much more meaningful ways to celebrate being a woman.

I always enjoy looking back at some inspiring, accomplished women in the media and throughout history. I do this because lately there is far too much emphasis on hating other women in the media. We nitpick and criticize each other to no end when we should be praising and supporting one another instead (yes, I even have hope that Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie can do this!).

International Women’s Day is a good day for parents who have daughters to educate them on women who have contributed something beautiful to the world in politics, arts, community, etc. I believe young girls who learn about Wangari Maathai and Jean Kilbourne will hopefully be inspired to also make a lasting impression in society.

I’m sick of the media labeling young, plastic celebrities as “role models”. Sure, some win Oscars and donate to charities once in a while for publicity, but nothing can compare to the lengths Maathai, Mary Wollstonecraft and Naomi Wolf (to name a few) have gone to make women more appreciated and respected in this world.

Today, I acknowledge the women that have come before me – the ones who made voting, owning property and pro choice possible. I also thank the women that I have in my life today – my mother, grandmother and teachers who encourage me to be strong, smart and free spirited. One particular woman I have had the pleasure of learning from is Angela Aujla, my Women and Popular Culture instructor. I mastered a lot in that class thanks to her and I continue to take all the information I have obtained through lectures and readings and apply it to both my personal and professional life.

To conclude my blabbering, today may be a day designated for women but overall, I'm celebrating what it means to be human because in the end it's what we all are, no matter the size, colour and sex.



P.S. I do think about Le Tigre every March 8th. How can I not mention them? Kathleen Hannah was my silver lining in highschool. I miss them and desperately want them to come out hiding and make epic anthems again.