Tired =_=

It has a been a very long week of Sports Festival preparations.

Apart from Monday (when I was at the Board of Education and not at school), I stayed late every day (Thursday I left Kirita around 6:30pm and Tuesday I was actually at school until 8:00pm! @_@ ) and on top of that I worked both Saturday (7:55am-4:45pm) and Sunday (7:55am-3:30pm).

Then today I had daikyu (a substitute holiday since I attended the Sports Festival on Sunday) today, but I spent pretty much the entire afternoon preparing the script for the play that Towada and other nearby ALTs will be performing in Japanese at the June 5th Towada Association for International Relations party.

It's all stuff that I chose to and enjoy doing, but it's still tiring. (Going to school on Saturday for the Sports Festival practice/preparations, for example was completely voluntary--i.e. I won't get daikyu or even mileage reimbursement.)

There's so much that I want to do, but I just don't have the energy to be running around non-stop for days and weeks on end anymore. Even though in retrospect they often feel like "wasted time", I think the days that I can sleep in and then lounge around the house doing absolutely nothing are becoming more and more important to my sense of well-being.

*sigh* It's times like this that make me feel really old.

What the HECK, Canada?!?!

I thought things seemed pretty promising for the May 2, 2011 Canadian National election with the whole Vote Mob movement encouraging youth to vote.

Then election day came. And there was only about 61.4% voter turnout (a mere 14.7 out of 24 million eligible voters bothered to show up).

I have never been so disappointed in my fellow Canadians in my life. Seriously, what the HECK Canada?!?!

Are people seriously that out of tune with the news? Do people really care so little about things like the environment, foreign aid, poverty reduction and democracy (re:Parliament and voting)?

We just gave a freakin' majority government to a party that was held in contempt of Parliament (which is what got the whole election thing started in the first place). 

Honestly, I have so many beefs with how Harper has run Canada thus far I don't even want to try writing the specifics because once I get started I won't be able to stop--and this is from him being in charge of a minority government! I can't even begin to imagine how much Canadians (who aren't running big businesses or producing oil, that is) and the Canadian international reputation are going to suffer now that he's got a majority government.

And what the heck is wrong with our voting system? Just take a look at this graph of votes vs seats in Parliament (from the Vancouver Observer).

As my friend James broke it down, here's the number of voters it took to elect one MP (Member of Parliament):

1 Conservative MP - 34,925 voters
1 NDP MP - 44,201 voters
1 Liberal MP - 81,858 voters
1 BQ MP - 222,447 voters
1 Green MP - 576,221 voters

I've honestly never thought too deeply about the Canadian voting system, but after this election, I'm really thinking that we need to work out a more proportional system. (Although fat chance of any election reform happening with the Conservatives getting 137%of seats relative to their percent of votes.)  


ARGH!!! Talk about spoiling what would otherwise have been an awesome Golden Week holiday (more about that later). I just feel so disappointed, no, disgusted with my fellow Canadians. It's like how I felt when Bush (George W.) got re-elected for a second term--except I don't have the comfort of being able to say, well, that's America. Ugh. This is probably the first time I've felt ashamed to be Canadian.


The only good thing about this election was that the NDP got official opposition status. I don't have anything against the Liberals (heck, I voted Liberal), but they probably did need the kick in the butt to get them out of their complacency. And the NDP is actually the party whose policies best fit my values/ideology, it's just that I was never convinced that they'd be able to run a fiscally responsible government (which is why I've always voted Liberal instead).


Apparently the next Federal (and Ontario Provincial--don't even get me started on that) elections are slated for October 2015. Maybe I'm better off staying in Japan until then. (Although I'd have to get a government-related job or go back to be eligible to vote since that would make it more than 5 years living outside of Canada.)

[Edit: I just bought Open and Shut: Why America Has Barack Obama and Canada Has Stephen Harper by John Ibbitson- it's been on my reading list for a couple of weeks but I feel that it may be particularly timely now.]

2011 十和田市春まつり Towada Haru Matsuri (Spring Festival)

Here is a sampling of some events during Towada's Haru Matsuri. For a map as well as a more detailed listing of events (in Japanese only), please see the Yururira Towada website. [Edit: See also the Haru Matsuri Kanchogai Dori PDF Guide Map and the 2011 Haru Matsuri Guide Map on Google]

The 2011 Sakura Yabusame event will be held as originally scheduled, but Yosakoi Yume Matsuri has been canceled. In its place, however, there will be a yosakoi performance in Chuo Park on Sun. Apr. 24th from 14:00.

桜流鏑馬 Sakura Yabusame (Cherry Blossom Horseback Archery) (Sat. Apr. 23-Sun. Apr. 24)
(PDF Flyer)
Location: 十和田市中央公園緑地 Towada Chuo Park Time: 10:00-14:00
Events: Women's yabusame competition; children's horseback performances
Fee: Admission is free, but reserved viewing seats for Sunday can be purchased in advance for 2000 yen (includes lunch, tea, and entry into a yabusame bingo game)

春らんまん！笑顔SunSun！よさこい元気祭り Haruranman! EgaoSunSun! Yosakoi Genki Matsuri (Sun. Apr 24)
Location: 十和田市中央公園緑地 Towada Chuo Park
Time: 14:00~
Admission is free

桜展望台の開放 Sakura viewing platforms:
十和田市役所　新館5F City Hall - 5th Fl
商工会館　5F Towada Chamber of Commerce & Industry - 5th Fl
9:30-20:00 Daily while sakura are in bloom

夜桜ライトアップ Night Sakura Illumination
官庁街通り・中央公園 Kanchogai Dori and Chuo Koen (Park) will be illuminated from 18:00-22:00 while the sakura are in bloom.

LEDライトアップ LED Illumination
十和田市役所階段脇芝生 The stairs in front of City Hall will also be illuminated from 18:00-21:00 between Wed. Apr 20 and Wed. May 5.

ワックスボウル点灯 Wax Bowl Lanterns
官庁街通り水路 Wax bowl (ball?) lanterns will be lit along the Kanchogai Dori aqueducts from 18:00-21:00 between Wed. Apr 20 and Wed. May 5.

Proud to be Canadian

I've been trying to keep up-to-day with news on the upcoming May 2nd Canadian national election. Here are some articles/videos I've seen that make me proud to be a Canadian and give me hope for our country's political future:


RMR: Rick's Rant - Vote
Rick Mercer asks youths (aged 18-24) to vote in Rick's Rant during the March 29th season finale of the Rick Mercer Report:

So there we have it, we are heading into an election or, as Stephen Harper calls it, a dangerous and unnecessary exercise. Because as we all know, Canada is one of the world's greatest democracies and the greatest threat to that democracy is that we get to vote. But vote we will.

See the full text on RickMercer.com or watch the video on YouTube.


Vote Mobs
University students respond to Rick's Rant by creating "Vote Mob" videos declaring their intentions to vote and challenging party leaders/candidates to impress them. Read more about the Vote Mob movement at the Leadnow.ca and Toronto Star websites.

Go Ethnics Go?!?!
In response to the battle for the so-called "ethnic" vote--and, in particular, an email request for "up to 20 people in national folklore costumes which represent their ethnic backgrounds" for a photo-op with Stephen Harper--The Colour of Poverty, an Ontario-based anti-poverty group created a music video to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" to "reject the tactics of certain politicians in their targeting." As one line from the song states: "Don’t wanna be an ethnic, be Canadian." Read the Toronto Star article or watch the video on YouTube (English subtitled).

S#*T Harper Did
A website with pithy comments about some of the...less impressive...things Harper has done in politics and as Prime Minister. Obviously it's completely biased against Harper (and by extension the Conservative Party), but I recommend reading the links to fuller online articles accompanying each statement as some of the stuff that has gone on under the leadership of Harper is really deplorable, for example: closing the Canadian embassies in Malawi and 6 other countries and cutting aid to Africa by 50% before freezing foreign aid increases in  2010. Personally I've thought that Harper has very little to no respect for democracy since he prorogued parliament--and not just once, but twice--so I LOVE this site! (Read more about the prorogation(s) on The Economist, Toronto Star, and Globe and Mail websites.)

Omar Alghabra: The Right Way to Run for Parliament
Found this blog post about a YouTube cartoon self-introduction made by the Liberal Candidate for my home riding, Omar Alghabra. I love that it's a statement of who he is and what he stands for rather than an attack ad (which I despise). I was disappointed that he didn't win during the 2008 election, but am hopeful that he will win this time around. (I only recently learned that the reason was most likely because the NDP also had a strong candidate so the leftist votes got split between the Liberals and NDP allowing the Conservatives to win. ARGH!) Incidentally, my special ballot should be delivered tomorrow (Monday, April 18)! I am definitely planning to vote for Alghabra again this year.

So, on a related note...

How Canadians Overseas Can Vote:
It's getting down to the wire, but if you need to register for the International Registrar of Electors to vote by mail by special ballot, you can get the application form from the Elections Canada website here: http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=reg/svr&document=index&lang=e

Completed applications for special ballots must be received at Elections Canada by 6pm on Tuesday, April 26, 2011 to be eligible for the May 2, 2011 election. And (obviously) completed special ballots must be received at Elections Canada by May 2, 2011.

If you want to save yourself some postage/international faxing costs, I'd recommend scanning and emailing the application and copies of the supporting documents to a family member/friend in Canada to fax (so it won't matter that it's a scan and not an original signature) to Elections Canada.

It really doesn't take all that much effort, so I really hope any fellow overseas Canadians reading this will take the very little time needed to register for the vote. With everything that's been going on in the Middle East and North Africa, I feel it's more important than ever to exercise our democratic rights by voting. As Rick Mercer so aptly put it in his Vote rant, it's something "people all around the world are dying to do."