There’s a new Caleb’s Hope event that’s just been announced for next week, so here are the details!

Host: Caleb’s Hope
Type: Party – Night of Mayhem
Price: $10
Start Time: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 10:00pm
End Time: Thursday, September 24, 2009 at 3:00am
Location: Tunnel Multi-Lounge
Street: 622 W PENDER ST
City/Town: Vancouver, BC

For more details email: inquiries@calebshope.org , leave a message here, or check out the Facebook here.

Let your eyes be opened, and your heart be touched.

I’m pretty much becoming a glorified pimp for awesomeness. But what I can I say? I like it!

I’ve changed the appearance of the blog with a new theme; it’s a lot brighter than the last one, which appeals to me at the moment. And I changed the header that comes with the theme, to one of my own photographs, taken from the window at Chatsworth Hall.

Not much else to say other than that we’re close to finishing the Caleb’s Hope newsletter, just got to figure out which is the best way to shorten Holly’s interview, and I seem to have a bit of a cold, although it’s nothing I can’t handle.

This is an original song by one of my online friends. She’s a singer, songwriter, and actress, with big dreams we all believe she can achieve.

I’m currently volunteering with a charity called Caleb’s Hope which was set up by Holly E. Dignard, who is an actress in Vancouver, Canada.

“Caleb’s Hope is a humanitarian organization with projects in Kenya and Uganda with hopes to grow throughout East Africa and eventually worldwide. Our emphasis is women and child welfare, protection, and empowerment.”

MEDIA REEL

Please take a look at the video, check out their website, join the facebook, twitter, and/or myspace, and show your appreciation for the cause.

Caleb’s Hope | Facebook | Twitter | Myspace

We’re trying to reach 1000 Facebook members, and 300 Twitter & Myspace members by September 17th. Think you can help?

Everything expressed in this post and on this blog is entirely my opinion. I do no claim any of it to be based on fact.

There’s a question which I keep circling back to again and again; why do people feel like they need to drink themselves into a stupor? And I keep coming up with the same answer: escapism.

It seems to me that people go out at night and drink large amounts of alcohol because it makes them different and carefree. They feel like they can have fun this way, they can be someone other than themselves, someone confident, someone with no fear.

Some people may ask, why is this a bad thing? To which I ask, why can’t people be like this, confident, fun, and carefree, without the alchol?

I, personally, don’t have a good time going out to clubs and having people laugh, talk, and dance drunkenly around me. It also doesn’t help that people try to pressure into drinking more, because they aren’t comfortable that I don’t want to drink like them, and I don’t feel the need to get inordinately drunk to have a good time.

Some of it is my own problem (as some people would like to call it, I call it my choice) but then, it isn’t my problem when people start pressuring me. People just don’t seem to see where I’m coming from, or that I’m entirely comfortable with myself the way I am. Sober.

It’s frustrating and puts me off night life altogether, because I don’t feel I need that hassle.

It is such a shame that this leaves people like myself jaded about student life, and student night life. And it is also a pity that people don’t feel like they can be themselves without alcohol.

Edit: One of the automatically generated posts that appeared at the bottom of this one is a woman talking about a similar thing to me. I thought I’d share. (HERE)

A recipe which I have discovered myself over the past couple of days and find delicious. It literally came from walking around my local ASDA and thinking, “Ooh, that might taste nice!”

Ingredients:
- 2 Scotch Pancakes
- 2 Teaspoons of Nutella
- Squirty Cream

1. Place your two scotch pancakes in a bowl.
2. Dollop a teaspoon of Nutella on top of each pancake.
3. Place your bowl in the microwave and heat on full power for thirty seconds.
4. Take the bowl out of the microwave, and spread the Nutella out across the pancake with the back of a spoon.
5. Squirt a suitable amount of squirty cream over the top of each pancake, and enjoy!

*Squirty cream can be substituted by whipped cream, or ice cream.
*Nutella can be substituted by chocolate spread, or peanut butter.

Another film trailer I’d like to share with you all about a man with Asperger’s syndrome, who falls in love with the ‘girl next door’.

After a conversation with one of my friends the other day, I came to the realisation that most of the stuff that I’ve learned over the past couple of years isn’t common knowledge among the general populous. So, in this post I’m going to talk about communication, and what I’ve learned.

In a World where communication is becoming easier by the day, it doesn’t seem like we, as a human race, are getting any better at it.

In a relationship, or even in just a discussion, there are three positions a person can take; the position of a parent, an adult, or a child. Parent/Child discussions usually end badly. The parent of the relationship dominates the discussion, often putting the child down and making them feel inferior. The child suffers through the discussion, often feeling like they don’t matter, they feel told of, chastised, and like their view doesn’t matter. The discussion can be become irrational, argumentative and both sides can become frustrated.

On the other hand, if you have an adult to adult discussion, both sides on a level playing field. The discussion is rational, fair, both people can state what the mean clearly, and have the other person listen, understand and respect what they say.

Unfortunately, most discussions go the way of the parent/child scenario. In fact, many relationships function like this, meaning that one person has the power, and the other is resentful. This obviously happens in families. It makes sense in situations, especially early in a child’s life when they need to understand when the parent is in control. However, a parent can continue to teach their offspring like a child well into the offspring’s adulthood, when they should be treated like an adult. This effects them in all other sorts of communications with other people, because as much as a person would like to seem like and act like an adult, there’s still the potential for them to act childishly because that is how they’ve been treated. Whereas a child that has been treated like an adult early on, can be more assertive and confident in their communications with people.

The main thing is to realise which sort of the communications you’re having with people. If you’ve been acting as the parent, or the child in a relationship, you can change that. The hard part is accepting it. But adult to adult discussions have a much higher chance of both people walking away satisfied.

This is the first step people can take towards better communication.