| a milestone year |
[Aug. 17th, 2010|09:04 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
I remember looking ahead to 2010 with anticipation about the Olympics. While I was still at UBC, I imagined I would be working in some kind of government job by the time 2010 rolled around. I never thought I would have ended up as a journalist covering the Games in my own city. But the Olympics, as great as they were, pale in comparison to the milestones 2010 has brought me.
Just before the Games, I applied for an international journalism fellowship and didn't get the job, despite an exhaustive series of essay questions, the overly-detailed CV they demanded from me and a lengthy interview with a panel from Ottawa. I was so disheartened at the time because these internships are time-sensitive -- they aren't available once you reach a certain age. It turns out that getting rejected by the NGO-that-won't-be-named turned into me getting engaged when Chris realized I wasn't going to be spending a year abroad....instead, I will be spending a year planning our wedding.
In May, I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Toronto to sing at the foundation ceremony for the Aga Khan Museum and Park. I can't even begin to describe the experience in words. The Aga Khan noticed our choir and even spoke to some of us. Although I was not one of the people he talked to, his grace touched me deeply. It was like being in the presence of the purest form of spiritual bliss and beauty. It was easy to feel the light of God coming from him, filling the massive white tent where hundreds of people came to witness the event.
On the eve of my birthday, I have more news. After spending four years at CKNW, I am taking a job at CTV. From my limited knowledge of the industry, television news seems to be more stressful because the stakes are so much higher. It takes so many more people to produce the finished product and I will be one tiny piece of the equation. I don't know where this path will take me, but at least I can't be faulted for ignoring opportunity. One thing is for sure...the job involves back-up reporting, so I'm going to have to start wearing make-up to work for once in my life! |
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| vampire musings... |
[Aug. 10th, 2010|07:34 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  curious | ] |
The pressure is still mounting from others to get me to read Twilight. I have no desire to read it, even though I have a love for fantasy books that end up as fantasy movies. But as I told a co-worker the other day, I find Bella Swan to be weak. I can't support a female heroine who makes tofu seem more exciting, or smart, for that matter. I made the comparison between Twilight and Harry Potter, which at least has a smart female main character. Harry Potter also has great messages for kids which don't include "it's okay if your really old vampire boyfriend breaks into your room to watch you sleep."
The conversation had me wondering if Buffy would be as successful today. Would Buffy and her sass slay Bella's blandness? Would teenagers have posters of Spike and Angel in their rooms instead of Edward and Jacob? Sure, Edward may be so beautiful that he shits baby unicorns, but Spike could probably wipe the floor with him without getting a drop of blood on his trench coat. Given the current craze for all things vampire, I'd like to think that Buffy would fare well. Given the success of Glee, maybe Joss Whedon should ressurect Buffy, but entirely in musical form! I've got the theory...it could be awesome! |
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| for my friends in Guiding... |
[Nov. 12th, 2009|09:00 pm] |
Hello Mr. Bloy,
I know you are not my MLA, but I know you are a friend of Guiding. I know you wear your Scout uniform with pride and honour, just as I have worn my Guiding uniform with pride and honour. I normally don't write letters to MLA's -- I am usually interviewing them as part of my duties as a CKNW reporter. This, however, is an issue that is much more personal and deserves a proper letter. I was disturbed to hear about the plight of Camp Olave, a much-loved campsite for Girl Guides of Canada in Sechelt. It is the largest Girl Guide camp in the province and each year, some 5000 girls use the site. I spent time there every summer, starting at the age of seven until I was in my final year of senior high school. I learned how to properly fly and fold a Canadian flag at Camp Olave. I learned songs and met girls from around BC who shared my interests. I learned how to canoe and build a campfire. I listened to the Beatles for the first time as my Brownie Leader helped us make s'mores. I saw my first trillium on a nature hike in the woods, marking my earliest ecological learning experience.
As I am sure you know, Camp Olave faces a dim future. The District of Sechelt has decided to remove a property tax exemption on the property, which would mean an annual tax bill of at least $133,000. Girl Guides of BC cannot afford this, no matter how many cookies are sold. Furthermore, Brownies and Girl Guides should not have to sell cookies just so they can afford property taxes on land that would otherwise be turned into ocean-front condos. The camp needs to be returned to the Sunshine Coast Regional District where it would be tax exempt due to Girl Guides' charity status. Camp Olave was in that District before the boundaries were changed twelve years ago. The present system is unfair -- Camp Olave is being subjected to property tax simply because it currently falls within the municipality of Sechelt. If it were down the road, that wouldn't be the case. The present system is unfair.
The bottom line is that Camp Olave must be saved. It has been with Guiding since 1927. Generations of girls have been going there and learning what true leadership is. In today's hyper-sexualized world where little girls are forced to grow up too fast and their role models unfortunately include Hollywood bimbos, there needs to be a place where none of that matters. Today, more than ever, girls need a place where they can be themselves, explore the wilderness, gain confidence and be silly with their friends. Guiding is the original "Girl Power," and Camp Olave is the ultimate symbol of that.
Please, I am urging you to call for some measure that would exempt the camp from this ludicrous tax-grab. It would break my heart to see Girl Guides be forced to sell the land and have it turned into yet another row of oceanfront mega-homes.
Sincerely,
Nafeesa Karim |
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| work related |
[Aug. 26th, 2009|08:55 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  numb | ] |
I worked two and a half hours extra today but it felt like an eternity. When it was all over, I waited until I got to my car before breaking down and sobbing uncontrollably. Even now, I am finding it hard to hold back tears. I've never cried at work before, but I couldn't help it this time. The image of a pair of flattened stroller wheels is burned in my memory and I'm finding it difficult to shake.
During the noon hour, we started getting calls about some kind of accident on Expo Boulevard and Abbott. When I got there, the intersection was a maze of yellow tape. A semi-circle of ambulances surrounded a tarp on the ground. The figure under the tarp was hard to make out. It was bulky and crooked. But there were some stroller wheels on the ground -- even though they were warped, they were unmistakably stroller wheels. Someone tells me their wife saw the victim's body before it was covered with that tarp. It was a baby in a stroller. A truck had struck a mother pushing the stroller containing the child as they crossed the street. The man told me, "I thought the woman was carrying groceries because it looked like food had spilled all over the road...but then I got closer and realized it wasn't food." I couldn't use that clip on the air. It made me sick to my stomach.
All afternoon, word spread through the neighborhood about what happened. Construction workers at a condo who saw the whole thing are getting counselling. Their foreman told me that the workers are lucky because the employer will pay for a grief counsellor -- the people on the street won't get any help to get the horrible images out of their heads.
I was lucky enough to arrive when the tarp was already covering the whole mess This was one scene I had no desire to see. The coroner took great pains to have a small army of people hold up sheets and tarps to block any view of body removal. All I saw was the mangled stroller handle sticking out of the end of the tarp and those flattened wheels.
I don't know how I can get this out of my head. I've never been emotional about stories I cover, but this really gets to me. Perhaps because it's a child. Perhaps because we have things like crosswalks and traffic signals to prevent these things from happening. Perhaps because somewhere I know a mother is in a hospital bed with serious injuries and some poor soul will have to tell her that her two year old daughter is dead. In my heart, I know that if I were that mother, I would choose death over facing life after losing a child in such a way.
story is here
 |
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| Murder at Berger's |
[Jun. 11th, 2009|08:18 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
I ended up meeting someone famous today without even knowing it. Maybe that means he's not really that famous...
Anyways, I was outside a gorgeous Yaletown condo highrise which just happened to be the scene of the city's 14th homicide when out walks a scruffy-looking man wearing a black sweatshirt and gym shorts. I ask him, "Do you live in this building?" He answered in the affirmative. I asked him if he heard anything unusual last night, to which he replied, "No, ma'am," before getting into a waiting silver SUV. Ma'am?! I can't believe someone just Ma'am-ed me! During my little bit of outrage, one of the camera guys from CBC told me that was "Berger from Sex and the City." Seriously? I was just Ma'am-ed by Berger?
Oh well, I suppose it's better than getting dumped with a Post-it note. |
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| security breach! |
[Apr. 14th, 2009|07:20 pm] |
It appears someone tried to break-in on Sunday, but we didn't find out until today. It all started late yesterday when we realized the phones were dead. We thought maybe one of the phones was off the hook, but after checking them all and calling Telus from a cellphone, they sent a technician this morning who discovered our phone line was cut from the outside of the house.
Upon closer inspection, it seems the culprit was not after copper wire, but rather, they were trying to cut the power to our security system. They did manage to screw-up our security system, but the phone line was collateral damage. My uncle, who wakes up first, noticed the front door was slightly open around 3 am. He chalked it up to my forgetful grandmother, but after the phone line thing, we're all convinced someone was in our house. Nothing seems to be missing, but I still feel violated.
I told my mom to put her jewelry in a safe-deposit box at the bank. I'm seriously thinking about hiding my laptop under my mattress until we can get the security system fixed. |
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| a small victory |
[Apr. 8th, 2009|06:54 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | pleased | ] |
An amazing thing happened yesterday. A reporter I admire greatly used one of my lines. She even phoned me to ask permission first.
The background: I was one in a large gaggle of journalists at Provincial Court for the appearance of the Bacon brothers. Murder charges for Jamie Bacon and about a dozen weapons charges each for Jamie and Jarrod. Jamie's in custody, but Jarrod isn't. He walked to the courthouse door with this incredible swagger, wearing what appeared to be a new suit and sunglasses. He was flanked by his mom and a stiletto-clad girlfriend in a short skirt and gobs of lip gloss. But there was this moment before he entered the courtroom where his mom stopped and fixed his tie for him. It was such a surreal moment - the mother of three of the most notorious gangsters in BC doing what any mother would do before her son has an important moment. Never mind that the charges in his name take up several pages on the court list.
Anyway, I mentioned the obervation in my reports from the courthouse. I also referred to it in conversation with Kim Bolan. Later that day she called me and asked if she could include it in her story for the Sun. Turns out it was the first line on her front page story.
If someone told me a year ago that Kim Bolan would one day use something of mine in one of her articles, I would have told them to stop messing with me. Sure, it's not a big scoop or inside information, because Kim will always have her scoops before anyone else does, but it is nonetheless a small triumph. |
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| vacation musings |
[Mar. 18th, 2009|08:15 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
In a few days, I will be sitting on a beach in Barbados. Or at least I'll be in Barbados...hopefully with some type of fruity umbrella-garnished drink in my hand. There are plans to spend at least three days SCUBA diving at some of the shipwrecks on the west coast of the island. There is supposed to be a dizzying array of flying fish and sea turtles in the area, which is a heck of a lot more interesting than the purple sea stars and crabs you tend to see here. The thing I'm looking forward to the most is the fact that I'll be unplugged. I am not bringing my computer and I don't intend to use my cell phone unless there is some kind of emergency. I don't want to hear a thing about gangs, guns, crappy weather or the economy because all of these things will be waiting for me when I return to Vancouver.
There is a ton of speculation that after six years of dating, Chris may finally pop the question while we're in Barbados. I'm not sure I want to go into a vacation with that kind of anticipation on my mind, but it's impossible to ignore the possibility. A few of my friends have gone into similar vacations and spent the whole time wondering when the proposal was coming. I don't want to ruin my vacation by thinking about getting a diamond ring, but I'm not sure how to banish the thought from my mind. It's just too much to think about when all I want to do is relax! I blame the men who make grand occasions out of proposing and make the guys who hide the ring in the dessert look like slobs. I am probably the only person on earth who wouldn't mind getting a diamond ring in her sundae at Swiss Chalet. |
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| best news release of the day.... |
[Mar. 6th, 2009|06:39 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  lazy | ] |
Blasphemy on a spit...
I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this news release come in
March 6, 2009
Pig Out: Spit Roasting Re-Invented
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 6, 2009) -
Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this Press Release.
Attention: Food and Lifestyle Editors
PigOut's commercial spit roaster and outdoor cooking centre makes its debut at the CRFA, Trade show March 8th-11th in Toronto. Fully portable, fabricated from commercial grade stainless this commercial oven has dynamic great looks is clean and smoke free. Designed for event caterers and food service professionals who seek to wow their guests with this very latest in outdoor food service technology.
The versatile Spit Roaster easily adapts to a carving unit, steam table, barbecue or griddle and can roast up to 160lb to perfection. A 60lb pig takes just 3 hours on the spit and the crackling is superb.
Fabricated in Ontario it represents the only commercial propane spit to meet CSA standards and is available throughout North America.
See www.pigout.ca for video and specification.
To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link:
http://www.marketwire.com/library/20090306-PIG800.jpg |
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| sidelined |
[Feb. 2nd, 2009|01:38 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sick | ] |
After three weeks of half-marathon training, I'm taking a bit of a break. It seems I've developed a bad case of shin splints. This didn't seem too daunting at first, but when my kinesiology-major sister told me that shin splints are caused by the muscle TEARING AWAY from the shin bone, I figured I should probably take a break and let my poor shins heal.
For now, I'm using the recumbent bike at the gym and silently cursing the runners I pass in the street. I never thought I'd be envious of someone wearing stretchy pants running around on a frosty Sunday morning. Perhaps running really is a cult. |
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