Updates

So my landlord got a call from my neighbours complaining about drifting second hand smoke in their apartment. Jean Pierre told them he would address it immediately and is even considering asking the new tenants to move out if the situation cannot be rectified. He called me today to let me know they were going to do some construction in the basement to fix the problem. I'm really hoping it will work.

I also saw my one of the "smokers" the other day walking into the house as I was leaving. He was not very polite. I think he thinks I'm the mean anti-smoker girl who is trying to prevent him from enjoying his own house. Meh...

In regards to fasting, Esther didn't last too long. She broke her fast at around 2:30 by scratching her head. As for me, I still haven't watched tv yet and I must say, my life is so much more productive. I should have stopped watching tv years ago, particularly while I was in school. Just think of how much I could have accomplished. Mind you, watching tv in residence was always fun, especially in Marg Ad when everyone would sit and watch Sex and the City and Queer as Folk.

long nostalgic sigh

I miss university and it's communal feeling. Every evening I distinctly remember the familiar sight of getting off the elevator and walking into a common room full of fun. All your friends would be hanging out and playing ping pong joking about some residence gossip: the 5th floor Don who was dating a frosh, the stolen ping pong table from 4th, stealing Pat's beer and the weird phone sex the White Night had the night before.

Being bored never lasted for long. You could always go and find a friend to complain about your courses and the length of research papers. There seemed to be a never ending amount of conversational topics to dsicuss such as: 9-11, the rise of the new US imperialism, the art history prof who looked like Sean Connery(sp?)or the sociology prof who died his hair.

I miss the Halloween and Christmas parties and the catty girly conversations over lunch in the dinning hall. I miss the times when my girlfriends and I would put on the Rent cd at 4am and dance like mad to wake ourselves up or the many times we avoided writing our Force and Statecraft papers by jumping over Bean's large stack of newspapers. I miss sneaking St. Mike's and Trinity boys into the dinning hall when the T-Card lady was distracted talking to the janitor/gardner. I miss being carefree, with limitless options and an untouched, unblemished future.

Yes, I miss you, UofT.

My that was a long tangent.

On to other news... life is good right now. I applied to some jobs today, finished off my internship from Humber and found some amazing new job opportunities with Engineers Without Borders and the Aga Khan Foundation.

This weekend is also shaping up to be a good one. I'm hanging out with Chuck on Friday and then with Catherine later on. We're due time for some fun girly sister time. On Saturday I am spending part of my day with Nathan taking pictures then going out for lunch with Meg and hot police investigator, Raj and his friend Shekar. This will be followed by a fun going-away party extravaganza for my roomy, Esther, who is leaving to go back home and then to Costa Rica. On Sunday I am going to relax, hang out with my Vic pal, Patrick and then go to the Love Feast.

Should be good times.

Who knew fasting could be so much fun

The sermon last night at Freedomize pertained to fasting and temptation and at the end of the service, David put out a call to recommit our lives to God by fasting. The pastoral team at Freedomize has decided to take the sermon to heart and will be fasting this week from Thursday night (12am) to Friday night (12am). I've decided to participate in this as long as I am cautious about what I do during those 24 hours. I can't do strenuous activities otherwise I'll pass out from low blood sugar.This whole fasting bit shouldn't be too bad except the part where Esther and I go to a party on Friday night. Let's hope I am seriously entertained at this event so I won't notice the delicious food nearby.

With the above in mind, Esther and I decided we should fast for a whole week. I decided to fast from television because I watch it too much as a method of procrastination. Esther couldn't really figure out what to fast from and decided she would fast from scratching. I advised her not to do this b/c sometimes one just has to get rid of good itch. She assured me she over-itches and that this is a really good idea.

My fast started this morning and Esther's begins at noon today (we just decided). She has now proceeded to scratch as much as possible in the next ten minutes.

This is quite entertaining.

Basement apartment chain smokers

Over the last few weeks I have been noticing the strong odor of cigarette fumes. At first it was not that bad as the construction crew smoked during their lunch breaks as they completed the basement renovations. Periodically you could smell cigarette smoke wafting up the stairwell and into our apartment and on occasion, while they were working late, you could smell the smoke in our living room and sunroom. It never seemed to bother me as it quickly dissipated once the men were back to work or had left for the day.

Recently the smell of cigarettes has become unbearable. It seems that two young men have moved into the downstairs apartment and they are chain smokers. Yesterday before going to bed, my entire sunroom, living room, bedroom and bathroom reeked of stale cigarettes. It became so bad that during the night, I woke up to the smell of cigarettes and then proceeded to have a vivid dream about a crazy lady who lied to her landlord about smoking after her neighbours complained. This is totally off topic, but in my dream Felicity had a lovely room with 20 foot walls. Her walls were covered with racks and racks of clothing and shoes. I always thought Felicity had a lot of clothes, I just never imagined that she had that many.

Anyways, I have no idea how to fix this problem. I spent part of my Wednesday evening researching the Toronto munipical by-laws regarding smoking tenants. Man, tenants who live in buildings with smokers literally have no rights. The City of Toronto and the province has made significant efforts to prohibit smoking in public places (even on sidewalk patios) to protect people from the harmful affects of second hand smoke, yet they refuse to legislate smoking in apartment buildings, condominiums, complexes and converted residential homes. This to me makes no sense. It appears that I am protected from health hazards out in public but not in my own home.

Furthermore, the government is reluctant to put create new legislation for smokers in regards to their residences as it would infringe on their personal rights and freedoms. I do understand their point. The government has no right to intervene and attempt to dictate an individuals behavior in their own home (keeping in mind they are not participating in, endorsing or committing illegal acts). Under the provincial/territorial tenancy laws, people are entitled to "quiet enjoyment" of their home, which includes the right to be free from unreasonable disturbances of other tenants or their guests. I suppose a smoker could argue he/she is quietly enjoying his/her home and in essence not making any disturbance. I could very well make the case that drifting second hand smoke consitutes an inreasonable distrubance and request some form of remedy. A rememdy could be anything from renovations/repairs to the building to breaking the lease.

I am not yet clear on what course of action to take. Obviously the situation is not to the point of taking legal action. I think it wise to at least attempt to speak to my downstairs neighbours and inform them of how their actions are affecting me and my housemate as well as the tenants below and above me. Perhaps they would be willing to work out a possible solution thereby avoiding the intervention of the landlord. I am doubtful. There are so many places today that prohibit smoking I would think smokers feel pressured and discriminated. This type of request could propel my nbeighbours to be even more committed and obstinate in their right to smoke.

Considering I have not even seen these guys it would be rather unsettling to confront them after just introducing myself. I guess I could always write them a lovely Christmas card or when I see them in the laundry room introduce myself and be as friendly as possible. As we know, I am not the most tactful of people and tend to come off as very blunt. In this case, I don't know how long I can conceal my irritation.

Oh Father, give me patience and diplomacy.

2 questions

1) How do you tell a friend that they've hurt you without looking completely crazy? I bet you're thinking, "they're your friend, you should be able to be honest with them." Yes, I know I should be honest, but I am afraid it will make the situation worse. Sometimes confrontation, even if it's needed, doesn't always have the results you would like. Apparently safe people confront people, thereby making them safe. Couldn't you be unsafe and confront people because you're aggressive and manipulative?

Ah manipulation. I found out recently that if you are trying to control another person through your actions and decisions that that is a form of witchcraft. This makes me feel rather convicted because I know there have been times when I have acted in ways that are unholy or that are not reflective of my Christian values just to make someone do something that I want.

I can't believe I just admitted that on my blog.

2) I think a guy friend likes me and I have no idea how to deal with this. We get along amazingly well and we have all the same interests but I just, I don't know? I'm just not that into him. I need advice here, people. In no way am I trying to point out how fabulous I am that a guy likes me and I don't return the sentiment. He is really sweet and so amazingly kind and I genuinely don't want to hurt him. So...what should I do? This whole business makes me stress.

Whenever this happened in the past, the guy would supposedly take my response well and then he would not talk to me for weeks and when I would see him he would avoid me. Then when I would say that I missed his friendship he would say that I had not talked to him in weeks and that I had been ignoring him. (huh?) Then we would attempt to be friends again but it would be all weird and things just never seemed to go back to the way they were.

I had a guy once tell me that he didn't like me b/c he needed to be with some who is more relaxed. Did I flip out? No. Did I refuse to talk with him? No. Are we still friends? Oddly enough no, but I swear it's not b/c things were weird, it's b/c he moved to another city. Seriously, you may feel rejected at first (relaxed? I am SO relaxed!! What the hell?!) but you get over it and realize that said person probably has good reason for not wanting to date you. And you anticipate someone better coming along.

Really, why is it that men get all weird when a girl says they don't like them? Maybe I am being one-sided. Perhaps I am being unfair and not recognizing my part in this. Maybe I was really ignoring my friend. Did make an error? The loss of our friendship could really be ALL my fault. Hmm... I wish I didn't have to deal with these things.

Well, on that note, I am off to a meeting.