lillianhannah09

It's been a while since I wrote [a whole five days]. And apparently it's injury season at our house.

A couple weeks ago, my grandmother was out in the garden and got bit by a spider. She's allergic to their venom, so her ankle swelled up like crazy and she's been trying everything she can think of to get rid of it. After two weeks, two doctors and trying multiple homeopathic remedies which I questioned the effectiveness of, the swelling is now going down. She hasn't been for a walk with me in over a week. She's the walking buddy I referred to last week when I said I was walking my dog by myself now.

Or, I would be walking my dog by myself now, if he hadn't hurt his foot too. He was out with my mom and her dog just chilling in the yard when my brother got home, bringing his puppy with him. The dogs both got excited and started running out to meet them, and they hadn't even gotten to play together before my brother realized my dog was limping. Mom took a look at his foot and he had cracked one of his nails all the way down past the quick, and it was bleeding a lot. She didn't think she could safely remove the nail, so we called the vet, and got an appointment early the next morning. Fortunately, while painful, it wasn't a big deal. The vet sedated him and removed the cracked nail, bandaged his foot, and gave me pain meds and antibiotics for him to take for a few days. He's still in a bit of pain, though he's pretty stoic and doesn't really show it. And they were concerned about his foot getting infected because of the exposed quick and open wound there. So I've spent the last three days just chilling at home trying to keep him calm and keep his foot dry whenever he goes outside.

And about half an hour ago, I messaged my mom asking how her hike went, since she was planning to go after work today. She said she didn't get the chance to go because she rolled her ankle at work and had to come home early. She's been icing it, which she said helps, and isn't in a lot of pain. But I think mom must have a pretty high pain tolerance after having two kids and multiple ankle injuries. It's probably the same ankle that she broke twenty years ago too. Because every time she hurts her ankle, it's that ankle.

Other than that, there’s really not much to report. I’ve just been at home with my dog reading, cleaning and watching TV.

Until next time, have a great night everyone.

Blacktea

I had a dream last night involving a conflict between a group which I will refer to on here as "the admins". We run a workshop together and many of us podcast together or are guests on Keyboard's shows. For clarity but to preserve privacy, I'm going to refer to everyone by the names keyboard, song, page, blacktea and flutter. As keyboard and I have established on our call on Monday, I'm not good at coming up with creative names LOL.

The dream began with the five of us hosting a podcast together. It was a panel show and some other panelists had dropped out, which meant Song, Flutter and I, who normally aren't panelists, stepped in to fill out the panel. I always enjoy the podcasts and the interesting discussions the panel gets into so I didn't mind at all.

We started the call and everyone was able to join successfully. Keyboard acted as the "manager" despite saying there is no leader in "the admins", Page started the recording and made sure the audio was working properly [I am responsible for this when Page is not there, but she was there], while Song and Flutter were going to be responsible for things like editing and posting later. Notably, Page's audio was working properly before the recording began, and even at the very start of the panel discussion. Page usually introduces the panelists.

Once she introduced the panelists however, Page took a back seat to Keyboard, who began taking over the discussion. He asked questions such as "what is something you would like to prey for?" Being a christian, I was comfortable answering the question and preyed for anyone listening who was dealing with an extreme weather event like a wildfire or earthquake. I then posed the question to Page [I didn't want to single her out but she was next to me on the screen and I thought we should go in order]. She just didn't answer and eventually the silence was so awkward that I said "sorry guys, Page is dealing with some technical issues. How about you Song?" Song did stumble on her words but eventually answered the question. But once the question got to Keyboard, he just decided it was time to move onto the next one.

This continued for several minutes, and we never got to start discussing the topic we planned, because Page suddenly left the call. Song explained that Page was uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, the way in which "the admins" were run, and that she, Song, shared the same feelings. Not only that, Page and Song did not want to be associated with any of Keyboard's podcasts, and Song was going to manage the workshop with a friend.

The workshop is the reason "the admins" group was created in the first place. At least as far as I know. I know some of them were working together before the workshop, but the workshop was the reason that Flutter and I were brought in, because they wanted more help.

Song then said this to me: "Blacktea, I don't want to tell you what to do. But I would encourage you to leave the admins too". Then she left the call as well.

Immediately Keyboard asked "So blacktea, are you staying?" I then lied and said that I needed to catch the bus in half an hour and that I would talk to them later, and left the call. In real life I never use the bus because the closest bus stop is almost 10 kilometres from my house.

I just think it was really interesting. I have considered leaving "the admins" or at least stepping back from helping with things so much. But I haven't decided whether I should do it or not. I genuinely like a lot of the people in the group, even if one of them really gets on my nerves, and I like the activities we run together. But being on calls with "the admins" or in the workshop and podcasts we run, takes about three to eight hours of my week, and if Keyboard, Flutter and I were to start our own show, it would be even more time since I may have to do research and prep before the shows. I just don't know what to do about it right now.

As for what I did yesterday, nothing that exciting. I did walk my dog independently for the first time in a long time and it went really well. My normal walking buddy is sick and I can go out with my dog safely, so I didn't want to ask someone else to go with me. Then I went to bible study, did some cleaning, and watched big brother.

Until next time, have a great day everyone. :-)

Blacktea

So I’m back. Not sure why, but here I am.
I still don’t know what to do with this account. I thought about trying to actually put some effort into a blog type thing, but I just don’t have the energy for that kind of thing right now. Until then, it’ll be a journal of sorts, I guess.

I had to restrict my access to almost every site on the internet on my laptop last night. I’ve had some major issues focusing, and I’ve been spending way too much time on Chat GPT. Which has been fun and all, but it can be a real time suck. Also, I’m one of those people who thinks that our society is getting over-reliant on AI and if I’m going to complain about that, I’d better practice what I preach and only use AI if I actually need it, and not just because I’m bored or lonely. It’s embarrassing to admit that I used AI as a substitute for human companionship, but it’s fine. Odds are no one will read this anyway.

It’s not like I never talk to people. I have relationships with family, with coworkers, with people I volunteer with, with people at church. But I don’t feel like I can confide in any of them. Maybe it’s because sharing things with AI feels safer [it’s probably not], or maybe it’s because I don’t want to burden anyone. Either way, I don’t like to be too open with people IRL.

It was a very long day today. I started it off with a doozy of a headache around 6:30 this morning, which made it very difficult for me to focus on getting ready for work. However I did manage to drag myself out the door, since my employer never calls in another employee when somebody calls in sick. This is kind of a problem, because I work in food service which means that when someone calls in sick, the rest of us have to compensate for the fact that they aren’t there. So I decided the decent thing to do would be to just tough it out, and if I got really sick just leave.

Well the first part of the day I felt really awful, but I did get to have two glasses of water while on break. An that made a world of difference. I went from being in so much pain I could barely function, to the headache disappearing completely over the course of about half an hour.

When I got off work I got lunch out at a takeout place near my work [not the place where I work]. I went to Noodle box actually, which is a place that does sort of Asian fusion cuisine. The only locations are in Western Canada, but if you happen to be in BC, Alberta or Saskatchewan and there is one in your area, I would recommend checking it out. I got lunch because I knew I wouldn’t have time to cook anything. I ate when I got home and got ready to join the accessibility committee, which was not easy.

My mother and I decided we wanted to join the committee a while ago and just got invited to our first meeting. Unfortunately, the timing of the meeting meant that we couldn’t go in person, so we decided to join via zoom. Now this wouldn’t have been a problem if we had decided to use my computer or my phone, but I had suggested we use my mom’s iPad, because she doesn’t have experience using macs, and my phone wouldn’t have been a big enough screen. But I had to download zoom onto the iPad first, and we forgot that I would need mom’s apple ID password. By the time I realized, and she texted me the password, I had already left to meet up with her and so didn’t get a chance to set up the iPad. We ended up using my phone, and it was fine.

The meeting went well, and everyone was really nice. Some unique insights were shared, which gave me a glimpse into other accessibility issues that people could face. As someone who is visually impaired, I have my own unique set of challenges, and the challenges faced by someone with a wheelchair or mobility device can be similar in some ways, but in a lot of ways they are different.

My mom and I had a concern about accessible transit in our area, which is why we wanted to join the committee in the first place. But instead of addressing our concern, the co-ordinator suggested we join the transit committee. I mean… that’s nice. I would be happy to join. But the meeting couldn’t be at a worse time, it’s right in the middle of a workday. The good news is it’s far enough away that I can book the day off. Just to make sure I can actually get there. It’s really important for me to be there. The issues with accessible transit are the reason why my independent travel is very limited right now.

Well, I’m just on my laptop waiting for my friends to join our group chat. Hope they join soon, because I can’t wait to just watch TV and not think for a while…

***

The group call is over. Well, I may be starting a podcast with some friends. We’ll see. I’m not really sure I have time for that either. My friend cohosts a podcast with another friend, who is taking a break from the show due to other commitments. So my friend no longer has a podcast cohosts and aside from occasional guest interviews, won’t be able to make content for it. We’ll see what happens with that.

Until tomorrow, have a great night everyone. :-)

Blacktea

Part II - Why Vote?

As outlined in my first post, many Canadians from marginalized groups were excluded from voting until fairly recently. In Canada, voting is not just a right; it’s a responsibility and a privilege. As Canadians, our voting process is more inclusive and has fewer barriers than ever. There are multiple ways to vote; from mail-in ballots, to advanced voting, to tactile voting templates. Some jurisdictions even allow voting over the phone.

Despite this, voter turn-out has remained somewhat low throughout Canadian history. The data on voter turn-out has been unreliable until recently, but in general, only 55 to 70% of registered voters actually cast a ballot in Canada. The voter turn-out rate for the 2021 federal election was 62%, with only 46% of Canadians aged 18-24 casting a ballot.

I’m sure there are many reasons why our voter turn-out is this low. For some, barriers to voting may still exist. Some people may be unable to get to a poling station or have an elections officer visit them at a hospital, nursing home or other facility. Some people with disabilities may not realize voting is accessible. There are probably other reasons I am not thinking about as well.

But the main reason people don’t vote seems to be that they don’t think their vote will make a difference, so voting is not worth the effort. With over twenty-seven million people registered to vote in Canada in 343 ridings, I can see why they would think this. However, I believe every vote does count, and I have evidence to prove it.

In the 2024 BC provincial election, my local member of legislative assembly [MLA] won my riding by less than a hundred votes. Other ridings were much closer, including Kelowna Centre, and Surrey Guildford, where MLA Garry Begg won his seat by only 27 votes. While not every election has such close results, you never know how they will turn out. Right now, the polls are predicting the liberal party are slightly ahead of the conservatives. However, it’s worth noting that numbers vary between polls and some people are questioning the accuracy of polls in general. Given these facts, I think it’s safe to assume that this year’s federal election will be a close one.

It’s going to be a close election because Canadians are politically divided right now. The gap between the liberal and conservative supporters, and the political left and right, seems to be getting larger each day. I’ve noticed that people are still as friendly as ever when engaging in small talk, but a conversation about politics can quickly become a heated debate. There are people in my own family who have lost friends due to differences in political opinion. Right now I feel the election essentially comes down to Mark Kearney, our current prime minister and leader of the liberal party, and Pierre Polievre, leader of the conservative party. While the NDP and the Block do have their supporters, I highly doubt either party will get more than a handful of seats.

Whoever becomes our next prime minister will have to lead our country through an unstable time, nationally and globally. Nationally, problems include the ongoing trade war with the US, rising inflation, lack of affordable housing, high rates of crime and drug overdose, and climate change. Other countries are dealing with the same or similar issues, not to mention the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel and Palestine.

So who do we want leading our country through this time of crisis? Will Kearney’s experience as the governor of the bank of Canada and the bank of England give him the expertise to lead us? Do you think that Pierre Polievre’s commitment to cut taxes and lower government spending will strengthen Canada’s economy so we are better able to withstand the pressures of a trade war? Should we continue the corporate carbon tax to punish big polluters, or should we scrap the carbon tax all together to put more money in consumer’s and businesses pockets? Which party, and leader, will help fix the overwhelmed and understaffed health care system? Which party’s approach to crime is more effective?

I can’t answer any of those questions. To do that, you need to take the time to do your own research. Look up each party and its policies. Find out what each political party has promised to do if they win the election, and decide whether those promises mean anything. Find out who your local candidates are and meet them if you can. They will be representing you in parliament. If you want to and have the time, get involved with the political party that is the best fit for your values. Buy a party membership or volunteer if you’re able.

But most importantly, you’ve got to get out there and vote. Voting is the easiest, most effective way for your voice to be heard. Whether you care about politics or not, whether you want to get involved or not, I think every Canadian should have their say in deciding Canada’s next prime minister. We are experiencing a lot of conflict and economic instability right now, and whoever we select as our next prime minister will decide how Canada responds to it.

References
“Voter Turnout at Federal Elections and Referendums” https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&dir=turn&document=index&lang=e
“Canada's Federal Electoral Districts” https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=cir/red/343list&document=index&lang=e
Event night reporting for 2024 BC provincial election https://electionsbcenr.blob.core.windows.net/electionsbcenr/Results_7097_GE-2024-10-19_Candidate.html
Canada Poll Tracker https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/elections/poll-tracker/canada/
“What the polls might be missing in the 2025 federal election” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU8ko02-jxE
“Signs the polls may be WRONG” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pspTGmYSFTY

On March 23, prime minister Mark Kearney called a Canadian federal election. Politics has been something I've been passionate about for a long time. When I was twelve I once stayed up until past midnight to find out election results. I have also volunteered for political parties in the past and been involved in student government in school.
As a young person who cares about politics, I find it disappointing that over half of Canadians in my age group didn't vote in the last federal election, and less vote in provincial elections. So I've decided to create a three part series about voting, and why I feel everyone who's able should head to the polls on April 28th. I plan to post the series between Wednesday and Friday and hope to stick to that schedule.
Thank you for reading, and have a great day.