Scare Tactics

If they had only shown us these in high school instead of the dull, decade old safety videos...then more people may have paid attention.

Edit: I was told this was video was especially disturbing without any warning, so in order to prevent any further trauma I'll use this over-used and almost entirely ignored warning: "This video contains images that may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised". Seriously...they're called "scare tactics" for a reason.

Back at Mount Allison

Before I begin writing about what it is like being back at Mount Allison I have a few last pictures to share of Boston in Winter:





That's right...that's Winter in Boston. Well...right after all the snow melted...and right before another big snow.

Traveling fifteen hours from Boston to Sackville wasn't the most enjoyable journey I've been on...but it was exciting at parts.... like getting pulled inside by Homeland Security while trying to leave the US (at the Calais/St. Stephen border), which, as I said before, is completly legal. I applied for my US passport while in Boston, so when I said that I was a dual Canadian-American traveling to Canada on a Canadian passport they decided that I needed to come inside. After looking things up I was allowed to leave the country...so no big problem...but it's not a great feeling to be told "you need to come with me" by someone with a gun.

I got back to Mount Allison late Sunday night, and I've only had a bit of time to hang out with all of my friends (exchanging a few great little gifts...and then of course being forced to watch a chick-flick...don't ask which one) before I had to go and sell my old books and buy new ones. I've had all my classes once so far, and I have them each once more before the weekend. They all seem pretty good so far...things that I'm at least moderately interested in:Human Geography, Canadian History, French, Macroeconomics, and American Government.

As far as last semester I earned all A's and B's, which I am happy pretty happy with. Adjusting to University involves getting past some of the distractions from studying, writing, and going to class. Just getting settled and finding your way around, not to mention figuring out how to use your time outside of class can have an impact on grades, and for a lot of people that means doing worse than you're used to doing in high school. So, when you get there...work hard and stay focused, but keep in mind that you're learning a lot outside of class, and you're adjusting to a lot of change.

I know that I'm very excited about the next semester, I've got an idea of what I need to do to earn the grades I want in my classes, how to study better, and how to really enjoy my free time. This semester there will be more time to get started on my assignments earlier, sleep enough, and enjoy my free time instead of rushing at the last minute.

This week is the first house party "Cancun Campbell"...I'm not really the partying type...but I might stop... by seeing as how I live there. Then Sunday is the start of season 7 of 24... I'm guessing Jack Bower will be in trouble for torturing people, have to save the world, torture some more people...and then somehow escape..and then do it again and again for a few more seasons. The 20th is Bararck Obama's Inauguration, and by the end of the month I'll be 19.

Ramble On: Going Back to Mount Allison

It's the night before my trip back to Mount Allison, but I've postdated this for 11:45 AM Eastern Standard Time on January 4th 2009 and by then will be sitting on a bus on my way back to Mount Allison. I thought I would take a second to recognize the importance of this trip back. These past couple weeks have been the longest time I've been away from Mount Allison and everybody there, and my first trip back to Mount Allison from my home in Boson. It's been good to be back home, and now it's time to return to University life.

By the end of today I'll have been traveling for 15 hours by car and bus. I'll be really tired and restless, but it will be great to see my friends again.

But for now, I'm in Bangor, Maine, and I'm just about to leave for the last eight and a half hours of my trip. I'll leave you with Led Zeppelin's Ramble On performed by the Foo Fighters, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones. I wish I could have been there.

Top 20 Alternative Canadian Bands

So the past couple weeks I've been listening to a lot of Canadian music with the hope of coming up with a top ten list by tonight...but I did not have the time to whittle down the list and rank them...so here...in no particular order are my top twenty alternative Canadian bands. A few are more or less mainstream, but without the 'alternative' label I'd have to rethink the entire list (Neil Young, The Guess Who, Rush, Barenaked Ladies, etc...)...so try not to split hairs. Despite there being many other great alternative bands...I've limited my selection to those available from CBC Radio 3's selection so that you can listen to them on the right hand side.

The list is:

Feist
New Pornographers
Ghost Bees
Broken Social Scene
Stars
Weakerthans
Islands
Wintersleep
Swan Lake
Tokyo Police Club
Metric
Chad VanGaalen
Julie Doiron
Immaculate Machine
The Arcade Fire
Wolf Parade
Sam Roberts
Bedouin Soundclash
The Unicorns
Hey Rosetta 

Summer Jobs in Boston for University Students

So I've been spending a few hours looking for different summer jobs for this summer in Boston and I've come up with less than ideal results. I know some of you are reading this from the New England area, so figured a few of you might have an idea or two. I'm brand new to Boston and really have no idea what summer festivals or year-round above minimum wage jobs there are that hire University students. If anybody has suggestions please post them below. I've turned comment moderation off...so they will appear automatically.

The Cigarette is Dead?

One of the first things I noticed in Boston were the number of smokers. At four months at Mount Allison I saw about twenty of the same people smoking every now and then. It really wasn't an issue. But walking down the street in Boston I saw more people smoking in four minutes than I had in four months.

One thing that I'm thankful for is higher taxes on cigarettes.

"Increased taxes on cigarettes have been called the best smoking cessation program in the world. In Canada, between 63 and 79 per cent of the price of a package of cigarettes is tax. In New York, by comparison, the tax on cigarettes is 38 per cent."

I was looking around at other Canadian blogs and came across a post from Canadian University Marketing about a grassroots anti-smoking campaign. I know from taking D.A.R.E. and other generally ineffective drug education programs that telling people what to do generally doesn't work, especially when it comes to smoking. Videos like this seem a bit more credible, but dramatic sounds and words alone won't change behavior.

Yes, cigarettes are terrible for you, but that's nothing new to people who smoke. The site lists different anti-smoking laws around the country and personal stories of people trying to quit. It takes more than "You should stop because it's bad for you" to overcome nicotine addiction. Making cigarettes more expensive and limiting the places people can smoke are a step, but it takes something more personal for addicts to quit.