another lisa

Thursday was teacher interviews... we only went to the boy's interviews as there was the most concern there. Zoe didn't bother booking interviews with her teachers, as they don't have time to see all of the parents, and they want to focus on the kids who are struggling. Zoe was spoken to by her grade 11 biology teacher -- remember - she is in grade 10 - and told she has the highest mark in the class! A 96! We were impressed.

Owen's marks are all over the map - somewhat low due to not finishing work. It doesn't bother me - as we have made the decision that he won't attend full-time. So if he can get a B average by attending part-time, that's ok with me.

Oliver is doing ok. Apparently he's doing really well in Geography (ie. top of the class), but the teacher doesn't want to tell him, as he fears that Oliver will then slack off. He is not doing terribly well in Science, but can pass if he does the work.

This morning I took my mom to the doctor and we did a few errands. Then we had a nice lunch at Montana's - salad with skewers of grilled salmon! The salad was full of fruits...Yummy.

I had to go to the office for a few hours this afternoon. Then we ran to pick up Owen and Dorothy at her workplace. Owen had spent the day with her as he had the day off school. We dropped Owen off at his dress rehearsal downtown and then headed home.

Tonight we are heading over to Ruth's to watch a movie. Tomorrow we are invited to a wedding for some friends of ours. A second marriage for both of them... it should be fun!

Sunday I am helping to host a youth group visiting Ottawa from Canton, NY. We visited them back in January - now they are reciprocating. We will be serving them a lunch of salad, samosas and spring rolls. It will be fun to get to know them some more.

Next week I am heading to New York City for 5 days. More later on this exciting event.

Holley asked for an update on the Canadian Idol auditions this past weekend in Ottawa. I went with Sarah, her friend Laura and Zoe on Saturday to scope out the auditions. Sarah registered and then hunkered down to wait. I left after two hours as I had other things to do. Poor Sarah had to wait over 5 hours for her quick audition and it didn't go well, poor thing. It seemed like a giant cattle call - and there was less than 30 seconds to sing something for the people making the decisions. It didn't help that she had been fighting a cold. So she didn't get picked. Too bad... for them! We all know that Sarah is an awesome performer, as we have seen her many times with her former band, Defeats the Purpose. Meanwhile, she is making plans to join another band in the coming weeks, so I hope she isn't taking it too hard. Her sweetie pie Evan is helping her to feel better.

Dan Savage writes a weekly column on sexuality issues. This week he wrote a commentary on how US governments are regulating sexuality-related behaviours more and more, thus targeting heterosexuals, not just homosexuals. If what he is reporting is true, I found it shocking that governments are interfering with citizens lives so seriously. I have copied it in its entirety below:


Straight Rights Update: Earlier this month Republicans in South Dakota successfully banned abortion in that state. Last week the GOP-controlled state house of representatives in Missouri voted to ban state-funded family planning clinics from dispensing birth control.

"If you hand out contraception to single women," one Republican state rep told the Kansas City Star, "we're saying promiscuity is okay." On the federal level, Republicans are blocking the over-the-counter sale of emergency contraception and keeping a 100 percent effective HPV vaccine—a vaccine that will save the lives of thousands of women every year—from being made available.

The GOP's message to straight Americans: If you have sex, we want it to fuck up your lives as much as possible. No birth control, no emergency contraception, no abortion services, no life-saving vaccines. If you get pregnant, tough shit. You're going to have those babies, ladies, and you're going to make those child-support payments, gentlemen. And if you get HPV and it leads to cervical cancer, well, that's too bad. Have a nice funeral, slut.

What's it going to take to get a straight-rights movement off the ground? The GOP in Kansas is seeking to criminalize hetero heavy petting, for God's sake! Wake up and smell the freaking Holy War, breeders! The religious right hates heterosexuality just as much as it hates homosexuality. Fight back!

On Friday night, Dad made us his famous and delicious spaghetti dinner. Phil joined us later in the evening, and we ended up playing poker (with monopoly money) until about 1 am. We had a great time and the time just flew by. Pretty much everyone except Owen played, with Zoe and Dorothy taking turns for their "team".

On Saturday, we went out for Melanie's birthday dinner at a pub in the market. It was fun although the food was not too great. But it was nice to see so many people, including Dad, Phil, Dan, Jennifer, Tim, Melanie, Mom, Kim and Mark. I wasn't up to staying out late due to the night before, so we went home around 9 pm.

Today I was teaching JR OWL again with Guy. Last week we learned about contraception methods... this week we were talking about unplanned pregnancy options. We basically asked the group "What would you do if your best friend (age 14) told you that she thought she was pregnant?" This led to a really long discussion. We all agreed that at that age and for the purposes of our discussion that it would not be a good option for a 14 year old teen to become a parent, so we focused on discussing what is involved in adoption and abortion.

First we talked about the historical secrecy surrounding adoption in our society - and how it was morally wrong in the past to have sex and get pregnant and that being an unwed mother was a huge stigma. Also about how being infertile was also something that was considered shameful. We talked about how the law has recently changed (in Canada) allowing birth mothers to know who is going to raise their children and allowing for more open adoptions to take place.

When we talked about abortion we also talked about historical implications and how we have learned in the past that when you make an activity illegal it just goes underground. Many of the kids had strong views against abortion, (especially the boys) so we educated them about exactly what is involved in an abortion so that they could be more aware of what they were saying and encourage them to respectfully share their opinions without attacking others who feel differently. Overall the discussion was very good and informative.

Finally we talked abut father's rights and how things have changed for men as parents both culturally and legally in recent years. As the roles of men and women change, so should the laws which surround these issues.

So finally the Canadian Idol auditions will be in Ottawa this weekend. My daughter Sarah has decided to take the plunge and go to the auditions... she is talented, but hasn't performed live for a while. She used to be the lead singer in a band for about a year, but they broke up over a year ago. It looks like her friend Laura and Zoe may go with her to keep her company while she waits in line.

Keep your fingers crossed!

Watching and waiting for Spring...

One of the reasons I haven't been around is that March has turned into a court marathon. I don't usually do alot of court cases, preferring to focus on mediation. Somehow, this month I have ended up in front of a judge at least twice a week for the past few weeks. This type of work takes huge amounts of preparation and stamina.

Today was no exception. We were in court from 10 am until 1:30 pm and it was no picnic. The funniest things can happen when you are in court. For one, the opposing lawyer was throwing up on and off throughout the whole ordeal. Yes. In court. The judge asked her if we could just adjourn - but noooooo she insisted she was "alright" and kept a garbage can beside her! I kid you not.

On another day, a lawyer decided to show me lewd (aka nude) photos of my client during a private negotiation session in a small meeting room at the courthouse. I think she thought if I saw these photos, I would think less of my client. I am so dumb, though, because I told her not to show them to the judge, because I knew that this particular judge would hit the roof. I was in another case in December with this judge and porn pictures were involved and this judge was furious... I am sure that I heard the words "offensive" and "inappropriate" as she ripped that lawyer's hide wide open. When I got back to the office, Robin told me that I should have encouraged her to show them to the judge (he knew about the past incident). The bottom line is that the pictures were totally irrelevant. Sexual pictures of consenting adults are not illegal and have nothing to do with how much damn child support a guy has to pay!!!

Finally, last week we had a sad day in court. I have been representing a grandparent and other family members who just want to be able to see their grandchildren once in a while. The custodial parent won't agree (they aren't her relatives). We asked a judge to help us by giving an opinion and they basically said that maybe the grandfather might have some rights. The words were so discouraging that the family has decided not to push it and are basically giving up. The judges words were probably true... she said "it would be nice if everyone could be part of a big, happy family, but in most cases, it just isn't true." Phooey.

Poor Owen. Poor Jack. Owen was supposed to sleepover at his best friend Jack's house on the first Friday of the March Break. The problem was that Jack and his sister got really sick so it got postphoned. Then, we tried to do it on the Sunday, but by then Owen was getting sick so he had to come home after dinner. Jack was very upset by this as he had been looking forward to it for quite a while.

Fast forward one week to this past Monday, and I decided to let Owen sleep over on Monday night (as he doesn't go to school on Tuesdays anyways). He went over for dinner, and later that night (aka at bedtime) changed his mind. He seemed to be suffering from some kind of anxiety about sleeping over. This seemed weird, as he has slept over there before and we have known this family for several years. It is the first time he has slept over in the past six months due to their huge renovation project, and it was the first time he was going to get to sleep in Jack's new bedroom.

Basically Jack totally flipped out and cried/screamed for a very long time after I had come to pick Owen up. We have been trying to figure out what it was that Owen had a problem with. In fact, he had slept over during the March break at another friend's house that we don't even know very well. When I asked him why it was ok there, he said "they have a golden retriever".

I am thinking the next time we try this, I will plan to stay for the evening socializing (we do that there often anyway) and then hope that Owen will fall asleep while I am there. I am just worried that Jack can't handle the possibility that Owen won't follow through. I tried to talk to Jack about it yesterday to see if he could understand that it wasn't personal. In the light of day he does seem to get it, but at night when it happens he totally can't. *Sigh*

On Saturday night I got to go to see this interesting movie. Sarah had told me that it was based on a "graphic novel" (aka comic book), so honestly I did not have high expectations.

I guess I expected it to be something between Spiderman and Aeonflux, which we had seen a month or two ago. Boy was I wrong.
(WARNING: SPOILER FOLLOWS)

This movie is a very interesting look at how the world could change at some point in the near future. Great Britain has become a totalitarian state, ruled by a small group of men (no women seen at all in power), who have control over every aspect of citizen's lives. They control all of the media, they "spin" every news story and everyone must stay indoors after dark. The people have been told that this is all for their own good and so comply for the most part with the new order. During the movie, there are many scenes which are eerily reminiscent of Hitler and his secret service military.

I would say it is not appropriate for children under 13, as they probably would not understand most of it. V's character is very developed - he goes around quoting Shakespeare and other literary greats a lot of the time. This movie is somewhat like "A Handmaid's Tale" in tone, but totally different storyline.

The movie starts out with someone (a terrorist) blowing up the old Bailey on Guy Fawkes day (November 5th). (There is some history explained to the non-British viewer). The head of the police (probably the former Scotland Yard) must investigate and find the terrorist, who has threatened to blow up the Parliament Buildings in one year.


During this excitement, we meet Evey, the main female lead. Natalie Portman does a great job playing pretty much the only woman in the movie (although we see women here and there in the populace and in flashbacks.) Evey is a witness to the initial bombing and thus presumably knows who the terrorist is.

Because of this, she is a target for the police investigation. But they don't realize that "V" the code name for the terrorist, was wearing a mask during the attack so that Evey actually cannot identify him. As they track her down, V rescues her from their likely detention and torture of Evey, and he takes her home to protect her. When Evey enters his secret world, at first she believes that she is a prisoner, but then she realizes that V is actually a good person, who has good reason to fight against the government.

Meanwhile, the police investigator is discovering that the government he is working for is hiding some very serious secrets. As he puts the pieces of a huge puzzle together, he realizes that everything he has believed in for 27 years is built on a lie. He uncovers government operations that pre-date the current government coming into power, which involve the detention of anyone who is "different" (ie. gays, lesbians, Muslim or other non-Christians) and horrific medical experiments which take place in these detention centres. There is also evidence that mass experiments have been done on the population in partnership with drug companies out to make big profits.

Lots of fireworks follow as we arrive on the next November 5th. Although there is some violence and horrific flashblacks, except for one scene near the end, I did not find it too violent. Basically the bad guys get what they deserve and the people are victorious in the end. If you like movies about free speech and democracy, this is a pretty good bet.

This week is March Break. Yes, I caved into the pressure from the kids and bought lots of junk food for them to celebrate with, including: fudgesicles, ice cream sandwiches, joe louis, etc. If you aren't Canadian you might not know what Joe Louis are??? Chocolate cake with white icing inside, and a chocolate coating on the outside. Like a wagon wheel, but cake like.

Yesterday I took the boys to visit the Comic Book Shop, where Sarah works. They had fun looking around - Owen had a hard time finding something to buy with his $5 - everything there is pretty expensive. In the end, he purchased a Naruto necklace - kind of like dog tags with cool pictures on it.

I also took the dogs for grooming yesterday - this was Oscar's first trip to the groomers. I was pretty worried about how he would act - when I clipped him before Christmas he peed on me and threw up. This time he was beautifully behaved and they loved him. Suki was also very good and friendly. And at least this time Oscar didn't look like the dog from the Simpsons... (I didn't do a very good job last time!!)

The kids don't have many plans this week - Oliver is hanging out with his friend Eric. Zoe is sleeping in a lot and watching tons of tv and movies with her sisters. Amelia has disappeared for a week with her boyfriend. Meanwhile, Dorothy and Sarah are both still working so it's a non-event for them. Owen is hoping to visit some boys who are the kids of my friend at work - we are trying to set that up still.

I wish I could take them all for a nice vacation. Oh well. It looks like I am going to NYC in April for a conference at the UN. I got a call from them today and it's pretty certain that I get to go. I will be attending as a youth advisor from our church, who is actively involved and has an office at the UN. I am pretty excited about it, but also nervous about being able to get any sleep on the trip. I tried to convince Zoe to come too, but she is not willing to miss three days of school for the trip.

Otherwise, March is passing by really fast, in a blur. It's Melanie's birthday this week - tomorrow! Happy Birthday Melanie!

After several weeks with almost no computer access, I think Eric has finally fixed the two main computers at our house. So for a while I had an excuse to take a break from this blog. I don't know, but I think I have been suffering from mild depression due to winter really finally showing up. It has been very cold until this week - luckily the sun came out and warmed us up enough this week to melt a huge amount of the snow and ice around here. We can even see a bit of grass!

Meanwhile, life goes on. Eric keeps worrying about work - Nortel will never be a "safe" place to work I guess. My office is crazy! I have had literally dozens of new clients in the past few weeks - today I literally had 5 minutes between clients for about six hours in a row. This does not mean that I have tons of money - I usually do a free intake for clients and then usually they realize that their problems are more personal than legal. But some of them turn into real clients.

Sarah is thinking about auditioning for Canadian Idol, so I have been watching American Idol to get a feel for the process. (No I have never watched any of the idol shows) Like Survivor, it is a bit addictive and I have tried to keep up with the various young people on the show who make it to the next week. One of the cutest guys, "Ace" nearly got kicked off tonight - I almost cried! (just kidding) Keep an eye out for Sarah Sharp on Canadian Idol!