#Immigration Canada Phone

[cloudslou]

might kms. move back to the states. then kms again.

[choiceimmigration]

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[khizuo]

Remaking the Tumblr post for Maha’s fundraiser so that we don’t have the defunct gfm attached. Before scrolling past this, please read it in its entirety.

1. She is currently in a lot of danger. A while ago she was half outed as trans. People around her are suspicious and are looking through her phone. She is terrified of police involvement if they find evidence that she is trans. On top of this, Iraq is going to be bombed again soon, this month.

2. We don't have a lot of time. Since Trudeau resigned, the new Canadian PM is likely to be Poilievre, who is running on an extremely anti-immigrant policy. She needs to be in Canada before the next election happens, which could be as early as late March. This means we need to raise as much money as we can ASAP.

3. We're shooting to raise $15,000 by the end of January. She needs this money to make the flight and to pay living expenses once she reaches Canada. Please, please donate if you are at all able. If you cannot donate, please share this fundraiser with people you know who can donate. Share it with your friends, family, on social media, on discord, anywhere.

4. Maha has been trying to leave for years. She worked three jobs to try to raise money to leave, but her savings got destroyed because she developed cancer from USAmerican bombs. The previous GFM was abandoned and Maha was unable to get the money. We really, really can’t delay things further.

The fact that our post for Maha’s first fundraiser got over 10k notes is absolutely amazing. I’m sure we can do it again and raise enough money for her to leave this time. If you reblogged the previous post, please reblog this one as well. Please donate what you are able, and share <3

[theshitpostcalligrapher]

fun fact we were poking around at my wechat when i was in china the other year and we figured out that a canada-purchased huawei can indeed RECEIVE money from weixin etransfer but even with all the verifications I've gone through with my various alternate IDs and whatnot (i immigrated before getting my ass a citizen ID number) I cannot SPEND it

so now

i have exactly 20 RMB trapped in that account

that's a little under 3 USD that's just unspendably trapped on my phone lol

[sweetteainthesummerx]

THE LOVE LASTS SO LONG (4)

In which Ollie and Aubrey's interaction is captured online

series masterlist

notes: hey y'all! this is super slow burn but I promise its worth it :) Leave a comment ( I go feral for those) and ask to be added on the tag list if u please

★・・・・★・・・・ ★・・・・★

f1_09gossips posted

clip one: An iPhone camera captures a slightly grainy video of Aubrey Yang, wearing a newly given Ferrari cap, greeting Charles Leclerc and Alexandra Saint Mleux after the Monaco Grand Prix. She shakes his hand and gives her a hug in greeting. The three converse in rapid French, laughing once in a while. Ollie Bearman walks by mid-conversation, and Charles grabs his arm. The tall boy turns and sees Audrey, cheeks flushing visibly. Her back is now turned to the camera, but she waves and he smiles at her. The paddock is crowded and loud, but the camera shakily zooms in on the group. She shakes his hand, and he bends down to ask her something, speaking into her ear. She smiles and nods and he looks to his manager for something. His manager hands him his phone and he takes a selfie with her. He lifts his arm and she slides under it as he hands the phone to Charles. They both hold up peace signs, arms wrapped around the other. She offers him a hug as his manager calls him to leave to an interview. He returns it eagerly, bending down a little to hug her properly. Her hands loop under his arms to pat at his back gently, and his are wrapped around her waist. When they break, he says something again and waves as he leaves. Alexandra and Charles watch on with thoughtful looks on their faces.

clip two: Aubrey Yang, walking hand in hand with Lily Muni He as the two navigate through the paddock.

f1_09gossips Aubrey Yang seen in the paddocks yesterday!

liked by 302 others

view 50 comments

dudududumvp GUYS I SAW THEM and let me tell u ollie was fangirling

-- user1 hello???

-- dudududumvp yeah he was blushing and everything it was so cute

aubreyyang posted

aubreyyang Was an absolute privilege to film in my home city. WE LOVE YOU VANCOUVER 🇨🇦

White Jade Tiger is a project that is so close to my heart. As a second generation immigrant, this book meant so much to me as a child. Now, getting to play Jasmine and bring her story as well as thousands of others to life is an honour. Oh, and a Dallas pic to feed your soul :)

WHITE JADE TIGER OUT JANUARY 2025

tagged: whitejadetigermovie, dallas_liu

liked by alexandrasaintmleux, olliebearman and 670,332 others

view all 371 comments

dallas_liu 🔥🔥🔥

user1 oh i didn't know she was canadian

-- aubreyyang born and bred, baby!

-- aubygfan1 OMG ILYSM

charlesleclerc felicitations!

-- aubreyyang merci! j'espère de vous voir (et Alex) à la première

-- f1wagsfvr damn everyones flocking to her insta she must be so lovely

-- dior.n.goodjohn trust me she is

-- user2 dior what r u doing here 😭

macecoronel congrats!

this comment was removed

WESTERN ASIA MEDIA PRESENTS

Dallas Liu and Aubrey Yang for White Jade Tiger

Western Asia Media Interviewer: Welcome, you guys!

Dallas Liu: Thanks for having us, man.

Aubrey Yang: It's so good to see you!

WAMI: It really is. Last time we saw you both, you were working on Crazy Rich Asians and Shang Chi respectively.

DL: laughs and shakes his head. Woah, that was actually so long ago.

AY: Don't, I feel old.

WASMI: Okay, so before we get started, we have a couple of personal questions... Aubrey, we didn't know you spoke French!

AY: Oh, that. I grew up speaking Canadian French at school, because it's mandatory in Canada. But actually, I've met some really good friends lately who are Monégasque, so my accent has been leaning towards there.

WASMI: Are these friends by any chance very famous motorsports racers?

AY: Yeah, Charles and Alex. They're both super cool.

WASMI: Onto you, Dallas...

f1wags posted

f1wags Ferrari rookie Ollie Bearman and model girlfriend, have allegedly broken up, according to sources.

liked by bearmanheart and 3846 others

view all 30 comments

user1 NO WAY

bearmanheart MY CHANCE BRO

user2 aww they were cute

user3 rip

olliebearman posted

olliebearman Monaco you never disappoint 🇲🇨 ❤️

liked by charlesleclerc, aubreyyang and 78,972 others

view all 347 comments

user1 i think him and Estelle actually did break up she hasnt been at any of the races for like weeks

-- user2 do uk why

-- user3 prob because shes so much older

charlesleclerc what are you doing partying 🤨

-- olliebearman sorry dad 😔

aubrie_yangfan WAIT IS THE BREAK UP CONFIRMED my Aubrey ollie pipeline might come tru

-- username5 ur actually delusional 😭

★・・・・★・・・・ ★・・・・★

Taglist: @callsignwidow

© sweetteainthesummerx.tumblr. all rights reserved. unauthorized copying, translation, or claiming of my writing or any works as your own is strictly prohibited.

[ilookattextile]

Last year on October 6 my partner was visiting me in Winnipeg where I was living and we walked around all day and went in this amazing shop that sells vintage deadstock jeans made in the old factory upstairs that used to be active until the 80s and it was owned by this old man who had been born just after WW2 in Russia somewhere and then immigrated to Israel and then Canada. He talked to my partner in Hebrew and talked about his minyan and closing his shop on Saturday mornings when he’s at shul. Then my partner and I walked to the amazing old-style Jewish bakery in the North End that looks unchanged since the 70s. That night he got a text from his brother who lives in Israel saying there were rockets landing near his city, but he was safe. The next few days he couldn’t stop checking his phone to make sure his brother was safe, meanwhile the news about the Oct 7 attacks was everywhere and the retaliation was starting. My partner said, at the time when we didn’t know the scale of the attack, “if 100 Israelis were killed, they’ll kill 1000 Palestinians.” This felt horrible, feeling scared for family in Israel and knowing it was about to become so much worse for other people’s families in Gaza.

The vintage deadstock jeans store was closed every day after Oct 7, for months, and I often wondered what happened to the old man who ran it.

The next weekend the first pro-Palestine protest happened downtown. A protest happened every weekend after that, now for a year. Winnipeg is one of the only cities I know that had protests that consistently. I went almost every weekend while I lived there. Every friend I made in that city I met at a protest. It sometimes started to feel useless, but the movement was so much bigger than it had been before. I used to go to protests in Montreal with less than 50 people, mostly people who were directly affected by the issue: Arabs and Jews. Now all kinds of people were joining the protests. There’s no going back to how it was before. Apartheid will fall.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Wajahat Ali at The Left Hook:

Elon Musk showed the world that buying the U.S. presidency only costs about $300 million. This is like shopping at The Dollar Store for the world’s richest man. I grudgingly tip my hat to Musk, an immigrant, who is an aficionado of Nazi salutes much like his Hitler-supporting grandparents who moved to South Africa because they were inspired by the Apartheid regime. Musk’s $290 million was a small risk with a massive return on investment. Money alone didn’t move the needle. He also bought Twitter at a loss so he could take over a major social media site and use it to promote misinformation, conspiracy theories, and platform white supremacists and hate-mongers like Tommy Robinson and Nick Fuentes.

He went all-in with Donald Trump after saying he wouldn’t donate to any candidate because he realized Trump is an unethical criminal who would treat the Oval Office like an ATM. It’s all quid pro quo. Donald has returned the favor by allowing Musk to roam free around Mar-a-Lago, join phone calls with world leaders, dine with tech billionaires who bent the knee, and he even publicly thanked him for helping with those “vote counting computers” in Pennsylvania. So far, whatever Musk wants, he gets. Musk decided to torpedo the bipartisan government spending deal via Twitter and Republicans almost shut down the government to appease him. Musk went all-in with H1B visas and referred to MAGA who criticized him as “contemptible fools” and “retards,” and Trump did a 180 on the issue and sided with him.

So, why be content with just the appetizers? Why not raid the fridge and grab everything, including the cake, the cookies, and all the crumbs? Musk has a voracious appetite and the United States of America as his “all you can eat” buffet. As Donald Trump yells at the clouds and threatens to make Canada the 51st state for balking at “the dumbest trade war in history,” Musk is busy gaining access to all of our financial data. On Friday, David Lebryk, a top civil servant at the Treasury Department, was pushed out of his job after he refused to give DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency headed by Musk, access to the system. Please note Musk is a private citizen and not a federal employee. We still don’t know the scope of DOGE’s role, its limits, its budget, its staff, or whether it will function as a department of the government or exist as an independent organization. What we do know is DOGE is behaving like a Trojan Horse and has allowed Elon Musk to gain access to the Treasury’s federal payment system, which includes every US taxpayer’s personal information. Through DOGE, Musk has promised to eliminate wasteful spending, which according to him includes ending DEI programs, “defanging” regulators like the Securities and Exchange Commission and FTC which have investigated his businesses, privatizing the US postal service, “deleting” the IRS, and ending remote work. However, he wants to improve defense spending, so he will continue receiving government subsidies for his SpaceX which will produce rockets that explode in the sky and give Americans the most expensive fireworks.

Another target on his chopping block is eliminating humanitarian spending. He’s accomplishing that goal by attacking USAID, which provides life-saving support to marginalized communities around the world. But to Musk, who loves the pro-Nazi AfD party, USAID is an “evil” and “criminal organization” that deserves to die. As of Sunday, USAID’s X account and website are no longer available. People around the world, such as children in Sudan, Gaza, and Ukraine, will die as a result of this cruel, unnecessary action, but, hey, none of that matters to the “pro-life” MAGA movement. On Saturday night, two top security officials from the agency were put on leave because they refused officials from DOGE access to private systems. Thanks to Musk’s interference, the head of the FAA was also forced to resign, which led to the United States being without an FAA chief during a preventable and tragic airline collision in DC that claimed nearly 70 lives. Musk didn’t appreciate Starlink being fined in 2022 for violations of safety protocols.

In two weeks’ time, the Co-”Presidency” of Elon Musk and Donald Trump has destroyed everything that made America great, as the broligarchy has taken over and plundered everything in sight.

See Also:

Let's Address This (Qasim Rashid): MAGAs 7 Deadly Sins—So Far—And How to Fight Back

America, America (Steven Beschloss): Bullies, Criminals and the Fight for America

[mariacallous]

I do need to be clear about one thing before we start. “Vatnik” gets used interchangeably with “Russian” these days but it does actually have a definition. It was a pejorative term frequently used in the post-Soviet sphere to describe jingoistic followers of Russian propaganda.

In the contemporary usage this does genuinely describe a very large swath of Russian society. They may not be rabidly jingoistic but Russians are largely supportive of the invasion of Ukraine because it has personally impacted them minimally, I have previously discussed this at length in the context of Russian mobilization.

This is an imperial mindset. The war is “over there” and it’s not their problem and when the war does come home in the form of casualties or the occasional drone flyby, it’s an annoyance and an inconvenient reminder that those pesky little people have the audacity to resist and they could just become subjects and end all of their suffering and make this inconvenience go away.

This may seem very far away even with America’s new administration but Trump 2.0 wasted no time in engaging in delusions of imperial grandeur with his inaugural address referring to taking back the Panama Canal and explicitly using the phrase “manifest destiny.”

The administration has also discussed taking Greenland, military operations in Mexico (with the 82nd Airborne beginning preparations to deploy to the Southern border today) or annexing the entirety of Canada.1 As of recently, it has been reported that the Danish prime minister had a phone call with Donald Trump and Trump was very serious in his intention to take Greenland such that it has shaken many European leaders. Mexico, who has found itself in the crosshairs of the Trump administration over immigration and a completely fucking stupid idea that drug cartels can be dismantled by “doing a Sicario” refused to accept a US deportation flight earlier today. Canada, in response to rumblings of the Trump administration implementing tariffs2 with one of our closest trading partners, has signaled willingness to engage in retaliatory tariffs.

The last of those brings me to why I am absolutely losing it on my fellow countrymen.

The response of many Americans to the idea that Canada could retaliate with tariffs of their own is confused shock. As this thread on Bluesky from Sharon Kuruvilla demonstrates, the response of most Americans to the idea that someone might fight back is slack-jawed bewilderment that other people might want to see them suffer as we will make them.

I understand that this is Tiktok but this is genuinely how many Americans view other countries inconveniencing us by responding to our own actions. (Trade) War is something that happens over there, it doesn’t impact us beyond occasionally someone from your high school coming home in a casket draped with a flag, but for the people that we bring war to, it is unimaginable pain and suffering that Americans have never experienced firsthand.

Americans and Russians are really not so different in this aspect. We are both content to let the imperial wars we wage fade into background noise while we kill people over there. We did this with Iraq and Afghanistan. The Russians did it with Crimea and the War in Donbas and they’d like to keep doing it but tenacious Ukrainian defense that extracts a tremendous toll of blood and a strategic bombing campaign that makes it impossible.

A common retort from Americans is “I didn’t vote for him, why should I suffer?” and this is an abdication of collective responsibility.

We might be a lot like Russians but America is not Russia. We have free elections, we have freedom of speech, we have freedom of assembly. We do not have a state security service that targets dissidents as the Russians do. We also do not have a society that has been subject to the same kind of atomization that Russian society has. Acting like Russians in this context is a disgrace.

Many Americans like to posture about how they protested the Iraq War in 2003 and how that should absolve them of sin. But the question that should follow is “where were you in 2004? Or 2006? 2008? 2010?” This may be an unreasonable standard of collective responsibility but it is not an incorrect one and my fellow countrymen can’t even seem to make it to 2003.

Indifference to our export of violence and suffering while simultaneously being shocked and confused that someone would dare retaliate for having that foisted on them is vatnik behavior.

This is also before we discuss how many Americans have responded to Trump’s imperial delusions with jokes and discussions of how this will actually be a positive for American politics because they do not know anyone who has experienced the violence that invasion and occupation can unleash.

These people will also inevitably deflect from any criticism of this rhetoric with some form of the schrodinger’s douchebag argument in which they were simultaneously joking but also you’re a hysterical dweeb for thinking it will happen or that I was serious.

I understand irony-poisoning is the new cool thing because showing that you care about your fellow humans is cringe but this is not something that should be joked about and it is especially not something that should be joked about given our current administration. I have seen Americans say (claiming this to be in jest) that “Canadians have no real culture” or “Canada wasn’t a sovereign country until the 80s” which may seem to be a stupid joke but this is also how you normalize the invasion, occupation, and forced assimilation of another nation.

“We are brotherly peoples, what’s really going to change for you?” is a genuinely repulsive statement because Russia’s genocide of Ukrainians is based on that exact idea. “We are the same (Russian), we will kill you if you disagree.”

If you spent any significant amount of time on Twitter since the Russian invasion, you’d probably have seen at least one instance of Americans of all political affiliations bemoaning Russian conscripts (who aren’t actually conscripts) being wasted by Ukrainian drones and calling anyone engaging in schadenfreude a disgusting freak.

This is imperial sympathy. A manifestation of Americans subconsciously realizing how much they have in common with Russians.

Americans instinctually sympathize with Russian invaders more than they do with Ukrainian defenders because foreign imperial wars are what American military policy in the 21st century is known for. Americans don’t remember a time when they had to fight to defend their friends and family from an invader who wished to slaughter them and take their homes. Even when we fought just wars, they were wars overseas. Americans sympathize with the Russian mobik making the sign of the cross before a grenade is dropped on him after a failed attempt to storm a treeline because they can more easily imagine a shell hole like that being their final resting place and the guy defending his home being death manifest.

Maybe we are just a bunch of fucking Russians and we haven’t realized it yet.

1

I would strongly recommend against dismissing this as the most powerful man in the world engaging in “we do a little trolling.” James discusses this dynamic in his own piece.

2

Trump quite literally believes that tariffs are a thing you do that makes other countries give you free money so other presidents are stupid for not doing it. Most Americans probably agree.

[eretzyisrael]

by Seth J. Frantzman

Before October 7 people from Gaza used to get free health care in Israel. There were groups devoted to aiding them. They would get special permits to cross the border and they would get a free ride from the border by volunteers to be taken to hospital in Israel. Whether they got priority treatment at the hospital, I'm not sure (I heard stories), but they got basically free treatment and then they would get a free ride back to Gaza. This went on for years and it included relatives of the Hamas warlords.

I don't know how people got put on the lists, was it via Hamas connections and approval, or was it only medical necessity that got them special free care?

On October 7 Hamas purposely targeted communities where the volunteers who helped Gazans lived. They purposely murdered and kidnapped those, many of them elderly pro-peace people in kibbutzim, who had helped Gazans get medical care.

And when the attack was done and those who had done so much help, had been murdered to kidnapped to Gaza, their communities burned...was there even one voice from those hundreds or thousands of Gazans who got medical aid...even one voice condemning the attack?

No.

There has not been one.

It's worth thinking about next time. If you're going to give people free aid and free rides and free medical care, likely displacing poor people in Israel so that Gazans could be helped, it's worth wondering why not one of them condemned the Hamas Nazis and their genocide. Maybe "helping" them didn't lead to them thinking Israel was more humane, but led to contempt because they thought "we can genocide these people and spit on them and they will give us free health care." I mean, look at the hate they subjected the corpse of Shani Louk to, spitting on the body. Where was the thank you for the free medical care?

I think this dovetails with a lot of what the West does. When people say let's open the border and give free plane tickets and free hotels to people and then are surprised those people have hate and contempt...and we see rallies in the West pushing hate and antisemitism and violence...it's worth wondering if the open policy of "help" actually leads to contempt. If you want to immigrate to the US or Canada or many western countries legally it takes years, or forever. But if you arrive as an "asylum" seeker and tomorrow you get a free plane ticket, no ID, no problem...only citizens need IDs...free health care...citizens have to pay though...free hotel room. Free cell phone. Never a "thank you" but rather contempt...and then attacks on people walking to synagogue as happened in Chicago.

I'd be interested to see one interview with all those who got the free transport from Gaza to hospitals in Israel and ask "why didn't you care about Shani Louk...when it was your turn to help, you helped Hamas and supported kidnapping the people who helped you?"

I know there is a model of help that says turn the other cheek. But I think a better model is based on mutual respect. Before giving the free hotel and helping hand, ask for respect. If they hate you, don't help them. I remember I knew aid workers going to Jordan or yemen who had to hide their Star of David necklaces because "the people hate you." If they hate you, stop helping them. Help those who are tolerant and into coexistence. Make them make the first step. They will respect you and the aid they get more when something is expected of them as well.

[hockybish]

Hello, was wondering if you could do a story about arber xhekaj you can do whatever you want with it. Thank you

okay friend, this is just a little thing. I hope you're okay that I did an oc, I gave her a Norwegian name (for some reason I picture her as someone who was either born in Norway and then made their way to Canada as a kid so they grew up there or her parents immigrated there) (if not let me know I will fix it!) im sure this idea has been done before, but I hope you enjoy.

also slight warning I know nothing really of hospital policies regarding breaks and people bringing in food for love ones or really the Canadian hospital systems, so this is most likely wildly inaccurate. apologies.

The Fighter

l Arber Xhekaj l arber x nurse l masterlist l

Arber loved visiting his girlfriend at her job after a game. He didn't always do it. But if it seemed like it was a slower night he would go in and bring her food.

Like tonight the Habs won their game and he wanted to celebrate a little with his girl, so he stopped by her favorite place and grabbed them both some take out and snagged a couple of boxes for her co workers to enjoy.

When he got to the hospital, he was able to head on into their little break area and she was in shortly after.

"You've been fighting again, haven't you?" she pursed her lips, she didn't even have to look at him to know he had black and blue marks surrounding his eye.

She couldn't watch the game, but there was this pep in his step that he only got when he dropped the gloves in a game and she noticed it when he stopped by the hospital after the match up to join her on her break.

"Silly it was nothing. I was just doing my job." He pulled away after giving her a kiss on the cheek, tired of having this argument with his girlfriend.

He knew she didn't like all the hitting and fighting he did during games, but that was his thing. He was the sheriff, someone you didn't want to mess with, a force to be reckoned with. He defended and stood up for his teammates.

"I know but Arber, you don't always have to be the one to do it. There are others." She lectured the hard hitter, her voice grew softer with each passing word. "I just worry about you, okay? There's all this research with concussions and lasting effects and not to mention other the other-"

"Stop. I'm done having this conversation. Can we just enjoy the food I brought before you get called away again, please?" The hockey play pleaded.

"Did you guys win tonight?" Silje changed the tone of the conversation, he was right. It was useless trying to convince someone of something they were never going to change.

"Did you score?" She asked already knowing the answer was going to be no, but she was mildly surprised when he shook his head yes. He's a defenceman, scoring wasn't the biggest part of his job, but when he did it was nice touch.

Getting up she move to sit in his lap, she lifted his chin so she could give him a kiss. She was still so proud of him doing what he loved to and living out his dreams.

Silje immediately threw herself into bed when she got home. She was exhausted from running around all night. And to top it off after he had left there was a big accident in which one of her patients didn't make it.

She was ready for sleep, but Arber was still up and he had something he wanted to say. He had thought about what she said at the hospital.

"I'm sorry babe. I know you don't like the fighting, it's apart of my identity as a player. But I try and do better. I can't promise I'll stop but I'll do better." He made the broken promise.

"That's all I ask." Silly smiled her goofy smile.

Silje had a few minutes left on her break and she was watching what was left of the Habs home game against the Tampa Bay Lighting, Cole just accepted a big hit into side boards and second later she noticed Arber heading toward the offender. She sighed and turned off her phone not really wanting to watch any more. Plus she really needed to go back.

"Silly, it's your turn, there's an ambulance coming in hot with a live one." the desk informed her.

Silje groaned getting up from her spot, following the others out to the main ambulance entrance waiting for the arrival of their next patient.

"Any info?" She got goosebumps while waiting outside, she rubbed her hand over her arms in an attempt to keep warm.

"It's a hockey player coming from the bell centre." She nodded along paying more attention to getting stuff ready for the incoming patient than to what was being said, but she happened to catch the place they were coming from.

"What did you say?" She couldn't breathe. This wasn't happening. Her worst nightmare couldn't be coming true. He promised he would be careful. No.

Silje began to cry when the emergency vehicle arrive and they brought out the injured player. She screamed when she saw his face and dark hair.

Let me know what you think

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #414

My brain is doing its level best today to try to convince me that I am not lovable and that everything is pointless.

I can also tell, by a variety of other cues, that it's getting closer to the next time I'm supposed to bleed.

...I now know that these two thing are related. I don't need to allow hormone-induced feelings of apathy and worthlessness get the better of me. I can tend to myself properly in the here and now. I'll make sure to hydrate and eat properly.

I made a tea when I woke up – the biscuit-flavored one. I sweetened it with honey, molasses, and mascarpone. But I didn't think to get a picture. Sorry about that.

J wanted me to accompany him on the way to the little airport; he wanted to try flying his little plane on a very breezy day, and today was that day. He wasn't prepared to take me up with him, what with the breeze being like this, so I chilled out in the little office building and worked on my weird crafting project. At the same time, some new person from the friend-making app who lives in Russia decided to message me for reasons I don't understand.

The conversation was pleasant enough. Though, he asked some very specific questions about the structure and flow of my relationship with M and J, which I was not opposed to answering. Still, I guess I get surprised by the number of people who imagine that what I have going on is some kinky, freaky sex thing rather than a mostly ordinary marriage with an atypical number of people.

To be sure, our main focus within our relationship is on who we are as people, how well we treat each other, and how effectively we communicate. I am intimate with them, but... that's not really where the focus is. The focus is on spending time with each other and making sure we understand each other well. We're people, not toys for each other's entertainment.

...It's actually kinda frightening, the number of people who don't seem to understand that other people aren't just fun toys to play with or mere extension of their own will. It's frightening, the number of people who don't understand that a healthy relationship between people looks like “two or more loving, consenting adults doing their best to meet the needs of everyone involved”, not like “an adult putting up with the quirks of their live masturbatory aid(s) in order to get that fresh hot nookie.”

I am NO ONE'S convenience object. Not anyfuckingmore. And never, EVER again.

...And neither are you, you know. You're no one's weapon, tool, or machine. You are you. Start acting like it, okay? Or at least work on becoming someone who can act like it. And if you need help, pop by my house and we'll teach you. Because we don't treat people like objects in my house. We'll show you what it means to be treated like an ordinary human being. Because you are an ordinary human being, underneath all those layers of pain you carry.

That one immigration lawyer that we got help from sent along a request by some Canadian radio show place to talk to trans folks who are seeking to escape the United States in favor of Canada. I am a non-binary human – a woman in the same way that a tomato is a fruit. I am mostly happy with my current reproductive equipment, but... I feel like I'm “missing bits”, if you catch my drift. Essentially, I have only half of what I feel like I should be equipped with, and it bothers me sometimes.

I was emailed by this radio show place. And then I was called for a preliminary interview. I struggled to keep my thoughts organized over the phone, but... I guess I did a good enough job, according to the person who spoke to me. I guess I'll be summoned via an internet meeting software called Zoom at some point tomorrow. I guess lots of folks will hear me.

...This scares me. But... I gotta be brave and use my voice for good things whenever I can. I have to try to do... something. Anything.

...Y'know. Sephiroth. I really didn't wanna hafta live through “interesting times”. And I'm sure you didn't wanna hafta do that, either, over there in your world. Really, I just wanna eat tasty snacks and sing and make cool things and play video games and go swimming and take naps with the people I like. I'm sure you can relate to this – this desire for an ordinary, wholesome life.

...Let's both do our best within the timelines we live in anyways, though, okay? Let's try to do good things. Let's try to be kind, and let's try to make gentle, loving choices so that we can inspire others to do the same.

...And hey, who knows, maybe if... maybe if I eventually get scooped up into a prison camp and executed just for being myself... maybe somehow I'll get to go see you. And I'll say hello and tell you how you saved my life when I was a teenager and how much I love you just because you're you. And maybe I'll tell you all about the stories that happened to me before you came into my life, and everything that happened between then and now. And maybe... just maybe... one full human life, existing in stark defiance of all that tried to snuff it out, can be enough to show you that you are a good thing, and to inspire you to make choices in light of that belief.

In the meantime, I guess I'll figure out something to eat, and then I'll smash up some zombies in Hades. You can come chill with me if you want to:

I love you. Stay safe. Be good. I'll write again tomorrow.

Your friend, Lumine

[coolcarsntrucksngunsnusa]

Reprinted from the Toronto Star. 🤣🤣🤣

The flood of "Trump-fearing" American liberals/progressives sneaking across the border into Canada has intensified in the past week. The Republican presidential win is prompting an exodus among left-leaning Americans who fear they'll soon be required to hunt, pray, pay taxes, and live according to the Constitution. Canadian border residents say it's not uncommon to see dozens of sociology professors, global-warming activists, and "green" denergy proponents crossing their fields at night.

"I went out to milk the cows the other day, and there was a Hollywood producer huddled in the barn," said southern Manitoba farmer Red Greenfield, whose acreage borders North Dakota . "He was cold, exhausted and hungry, and begged me for a latte and some free-range chicken. When I said I didn't have any, he left before I even got a chance to show him my screenplay, eh?"

In an effort to stop the illegal aliens, Greenfield erected higher fences, but the liberals scaled them. He then installed loudspeakers that blared Rush Limbaugh reruns across the fields, but they just stuck their fingers in their ears and kept coming. Officials are particularly concerned about smugglers who meet liberals just south of the border, pack them into electric cars, and drive them across the border, where they are simply left to fend for themselves after the battery dies. "A lot of these people are not prepared for our rugged conditions," an Alberta border patrolman said "I found one carload without a single bottle of Perrier water, or any gemelli with shrimp and arugula. All they had was a nice little Napa Valley cabernet and some kale chips. When liberals are caught, they're sent back across the border, often wailing that they fear persecution from Trump high-hairers.

Rumors are circulating about plans being made to build re-education camps where liberals will be forced to drink domestic beer, study the Constitution, and find jobs that actually contribute to the economy.

In recent days, liberals have turned to ingenious ways of crossing the border. Some have been disguised as senior citizens taking a bus trip to buy cheap Canadian prescription drugs. After catching a half-dozen young vegans in blue-hair wig disguises, Canadian immigration authorities began stopping buses and quizzing the supposed senior citizens about Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney to prove that they were alive in the '50s. "If they can't identify the accordion player on The Lawrence Welk Show, we become very suspicious about their age."

Canadian citizens have complained that the illegal immigrants are creating an organic-broccoli shortage, are buying up all the Barbara Streisand CD's, and are overloading the internet while downloading jazzercise apps to their cell phones. "I really feel sorry for American liberals, but the Canadian economy just can't support them," an Ottawa resident said. "After all, how many art-history majors does one country need?”

[raps-hellion]

frank zhang and the perpetual foreigner experience:

he knows some mandarin, but not enough to speak or read/write it fluently.

he has to take mandarin classes and fall back on translating apps. people point out how funny that is, but frank doesn't really think so.

his name has been anglicanised (fai to frank), but people still mispronounce his surname ("ama-zhang").

his family has lived in canada for four generations, but people still ask "no, where are you really from?".

people are surprised to learn that he's directly descended from periclymenus, the prince of pylos, and that he has greek and roman ancestry, because he doesn't "look greek or roman".

someone says in passing that they "hadn't realised the chinese were around then."

his canadian accent catches people off-guard.

he's asked if he has a canadian citizenship when applying for jobs.

the bullies at his high school aren't violent nor openly aggressive.

one says his eyes are so small and eggs him on to stretch them open with his fingers

someone holds up a banana to his arm and says they're the same colour

they've urged other students to complain that he smells like rice and ask to change seats.

his teacher tells him to speak up when he talks, because he's in canada now, not china.

she asks if his parents bound his sister's feet, and seems disappointed when frank says he doesn't have a sister. then she talks about china's one-child policy and it feels like it's frank's fault.

he experiences a weird disconnect between himself and his east asian/south-east asian friends who are second-generation immigrants and live in poorer socio-economic areas.

they joke about needing to help their parents with government paperwork, filing taxes, translating english, and frank sits quietly and isn't sure if he should laugh too.

he listens to his chinese friend talk to their mother on the phone and he can only understand the english that's mixed in with the mandarin.

their houses are filled with repurposed plastic jars that hold homemade pickled goods and pastes and sauces, three rice cookers (only two work), an airfryer that's stained and blackened, and they put lids on half-full pans and pots and keep them in the oven for later. their dining tables are piled with clutter from their mothers hoarding and reusing; and it's all so starkly different to his own that he feels like he's intruding.

someone asks if he can speak any mandarin, and he smiles, and shrugs, and says he's basically white, sorry. though he doesn't know what he's apologising for.

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

Hey. Semi-Serious post here. I'm gonna be quite frank, this is about the death of a real animal. My animal.

The one I made the dedication of WCR!Into The Wild for. Because the wounds are still so raw that I can barely get through typing this very sentence without feeling choked up. So... If this post isn't for you, enjoy the first cat picture, the rest will be under the cut.

Meet Cleo.

She was my best friend. I moved into her home when I was a child, and her being there got me through the ensuing abusive situation I'd found myself in. I quickly became her favorite person. She was always there for me, and I was always there for her. I read Warriors books to her.

I met someone online that I fell in love with, and planned to have them move here. I worried about Cleo, who was now getting on in her years, but still healthy and strong.

I was granted full, effective ownership of her, since she was never really registered with a breeder. An oopsie, runt of the litter kitten of a genuine bred Maine Coon, unknown father.

Plan fell through, immigrating to Canada is difficult and the economy was about to fall apart. So I made the choice to move to the UK.

I was then informed that I could not take Cleo with me, they said she was too old, and that the plane ride would be too much for her. She was roughly 14/15 years old and, again, healthy. This next part is hard to write.

I spent every day after that, for a year, spending as much time as she wanted with me. She got every cuddle and snuggle she wanted.

I still remember that last time I ever saw her, the night I left the country. I held her like a baby, because she liked that. I remember what the back of her neck smelled like (warm chocolate). I rubbed her belly, and whispered to her that I loved her, and promised to come back again and see her. Then I placed her on her favorite spot on the back of the chair, and left.

I got regular updates from my mom about her, but something was clear. When I was on the phone, I was not to call out to her, because when I did, it made her search the whole house, meowing and calling out for me, looking for me. The dogs never did that, just Cleo.

4 months away from home, she started peeing in... Odd places. Visible places. Like... Middle of the living room and on bathroom rug.

Mind you, she used to do that in front of her litter box as a protest when it wasn't clean enough for her liking. But... Not like that.

Other than that, normal behavior.

Then, about 6 months in, she started being weird with food. Still demanded it, of course, but... Wouldn't eat it. Mind you, there were times when she really was just happy to have the wet food there... And then go off and eat her kibble as if she hadn't just acted like she would die without her wet food. Typical, right?

After a week straight, and not much kibble eaten, it... Was concerning. I offered my mom to cover the cost of any medical bills she would need, but was told to not be 'ridiculous', that she was too old. That she didn't need a vet, that nothing would help.

7 months in. July 7th, 2023. Ordinary day, kinda fun, sunny out, a relaxing day where I wasn't looking at my phone much. My partner gets a text from my mom asking if I am around. I get a call from my mom.

She hadn't eaten in days. She wasn't in her box anymore. She was barely drinking. All her chub was gone, leaving my poor girl at only 5 pounds. A fraction of her weight.

My mom was not calling me to say goodbye. Goodbye had already been said. And I wasn't there.

I asked if my mom could bury her, so at the very least I could have something to visit when I got home.

To get Cleo's body back, it would have cost 200 dollars. She would be cremated, and her ashes not given back either. Gone.

The older woman next to me later said she had never, in all her years, heard a person wail and scream the way I had. I barely remember it, or anything after that. The grief is so bad that I feel chest pains, and my throat will close, I could cry myself hoarse still, just from thinking about her.

On one hand I don't want to feel this way anymore. On the other I feel horrific guilt about that, about wanting to "move on". I hate that term, it needs something new. Moving on isn't forgetting about them, it just means it doesn't hurt as badly anymore, but... What does THAT mean?

Below is the very last picture I have of her.

I'm sorry, Cleo. I'm sorry I couldn't help you. I sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm sorry I broke my promise. And I'm sorry I wasn't there to say goodbye.

I'll never forget you. I'll never love you any less.

It'll be hard to visit home without you in it.

If you read this post, thanks for listening. I'm really struggling with grief processing, even though it's been almost a year. 208 days as of today. She isn't the first I've lost, she won't be the last, but WCR is partially dedicated to her.

I hope you like the pictures of her, knowing how vain she was I'm sure she would enjoy me showing them off.

Bye guys.

[marlo-noni]

Here's part 2 of my Mandarin learning journey. For part 1, go here.

After I left university in 2003, I started working in an office. I was able to scrape together enough money to travel to China for 6 weeks in 2005.

I was 25 years old when I went to China for the first time in October-November 2005. I was traveling on my own, and I really didn't have much money, so it was the backpacking type of travel.

I started in Hong Kong, in Chungking Mansions. Then stayed with a friend of a friend in Guangzhou. Then I bussed to Yangshuo, Guangxi province; then an overnight train to Kunming, Yunnan province. Then buses to Dali and then Lijiang in Yunnan. Then back to Kunming, and then a 36-hour train ride back to Guangzhou (this was before high-speed rail in China), and then finally back to HK for a final week.

This was before smartphones and social media. It was the era of internet cafes in China - that was the only way you could get online. It was also before the Great Firewall (China banned Google in 2010). I kept in touch with my family and friends through email, long-distance phone cards, and Livejournal. My posts are still up, actually (that's the first one; you can use the navigation arrows to go to the next one).

My only way of looking up Chinese vocab when I was there was my Oxford Chinese-English dictionary, which as you can imagine is extremely limited! So I had lots of experiences where I embarrassed the heck out of myself and/or was simply not able to get my point across or understand what someone was saying to me. But that's also just learning a second language. Your skin gets thicker the more you do it. There were plenty of times where I was speaking to people who didn't know any English (see: literally 99% of the people on the train), so I just had to muddle through.

Being a white foreigner obviously helps - most people were pretty curious and friendly. When I was in Lijiang (where there were a ton of Chinese tour groups and hardly any foreigners), people wanted to take their picture with me.

I could say plenty more about this trip, but this is about my Mandarin learning journey. You can go read my account of it on Livejournal if you like. Keep in mind it's my PoV from 2005.

When I came back to Canada, I worked in the same office for about a year until I got totally sick of it, and then I became a bike courier for 9 months. This is relevant to the story. Being a bike courier affords you a lot of freedom, but it's physically tough and the pay is terrible. So I started applying for office jobs again, and I eventually got hired as a receptionist for a woman who was a notary public and immigration consultant. The reason she hired me is because I could speak Mandarin.

So, I worked as a receptionist/legal assistant at that office from 2007 to 2013 using my shitty Mandarin every day. My boss was from Taiwan and had originally been a paralegal at an immigration lawyer's office, until she started her own notary and immigration consulting practice. She was also a certified Chinese-English translator. So, the whole reason I'm a paralegal today is because this one lady wanted a receptionist who spoke fluent English and also understood some Chinese.

There were some really great things and really terrible things about that job. The good: I got to use Chinese every day, I learned how to be a legal assistant (notaries in my province can handle real estate transactions and prepare Wills and Powers of Attorney, and immigration consultants represent immigrants to Canada and prepare and submit their applications), and I got to do some simple translations because she was also a certified translator. I also gained a very rudimentary ability to read some traditional Chinese. Most of our clients were from the Mainland, though, not Taiwan.

The bad things: the pay was terrible (I started at $12/hour and ended at $18/hour, and by the end I was fully doing paralegal-level work - at my current job, I make about $42/hour now before taxes!), during the 2008 economic crash my boss had to cut my hours to 4 days/week because she lost a bunch of money in the stock market, and my boss was a tyrant. She scolded me a lot, and I'd often get in trouble for reasons that totally mystified me. I'm sure some of it was cultural, but I also think she was just unnecessarily harsh a lot of the time.

I knew someone who worked at a big law firm who tried to get me hired there, but their HR said I needed to get a legal assistant certificate, so I eventually went to school for 8 months full-time to get that, and then I got hired at my current law firm. I've been working at my current law firm since 2013.

The drawback for my Chinese learning at my current firm is that it's a legitimate mid-size law firm. There are about 45 lawyers. So everything has to be super professional, which means even though I speak some Chinese, I can't use my busted-ass Mandarin with clients. I know very little legal terminology, so anytime a lawyer wants someone to interpret, I can't really do that. Plus, it's Vancouver, so there are already some legal assistants at my firm who are actually fluent in Chinese who can do proper interpreting.

So, Chinese went back to being my hobby. That meant that there were ebbs and flows. I remember watching The Legend of Zhen Huan (Empresses in the Palace) in about 2015 when there was a super edited version of it on Netflix, and I got into it enough that I found the original series with English subs on some streaming site like Dramacool/Kissasian/its equivalent and watched the whole thing. After that, I watched the first half of Nirvana in Fire before something else grabbed my attention - eventually I need to watch that entire series! I remember learning a bunch of guzhuang vocabulary from those series that I hadn't heard before, like concubines referring to themselves as 奴婢, and people saying 陛下息��� when the emperor was angry.

But what really happened is that my Chinese languished for quite a while. In 2017 I started planning a trip to Japan that I'd eventually take in 2019, and I started studying Japanese on Duolingo and then Lingodeer. I also discovered Skritter at that time, and used it to practice kanji, which of course I already had a huge head-start on because of Chinese. And I gotta say, even though Japanese has a very complicated writing system, it is SO MUCH easier to learn than Chinese, at least in my experience.

Then the pandemic hit, and I'm a white girl on Tumblr with an interest in Asian culture and a Netflix subscription, so what happened next was - you guessed it - in early 2021, I watched The Untamed for the first time. And when I finished it, I rewatched it again. And then I fell down that entire rabbit hole.

And as ridiculous as it is, The Untamed is what fully reignited my Chinese learning so that I'm at the point today where I've learned about 2900 Chinese characters, and I can watch Liu Yuning's livestream and understand about 75% of it. But let's leave that for the next part of this long-ass story.

[bsenvs3000w25]

Blog #1: My Relationship with Nature

Hi everyone 🦋🏕

Welcome to my first blog post for the ENVS*3000 Winter 2025 semester!

Past Relationship with Nature Growing up, my family wasn’t particularly involved in outdoor activities. I lived in a fast-paced environment where my parents were often busy with work, and I spent most of my time at school or indoors at home. Living in the suburbs, I found it challenging to connect with nature, as there were few quiet, green spaces where I could escape and unwind. As a result, I never felt truly connected to my surroundings, and finding moments of peace in nature always seemed out of reach. As I developed a love for nature during my later teenage years, I encouraged my mom to join me on walks, even if it was just around our neighborhood. These outings gave us the opportunity to exercise, disconnect from our phones, and catch up, all of which helped reduce my stress and anxiety. One of our favorite places to walk is the Lake Margaret Trail which connects to Pinafore Park, one of the largest parks in our hometown. 

Lake Margaret Trail St Thomas, ON

The first trip that really sparked my love for nature was to Alberta, Canada. As someone who had never left my home province, I was completely captivated by Alberta’s stunning landscapes. While there, I explored various landmarks in Jasper and Banff, and was in awe of the turquoise lakes and the Canadian Rocky Mountains. This was also my first experience hiking up mountains. This trip allowed me to appreciate the beauty and tranquillity of nature and motivated me to incorporate more of it into my life back home.

Banff, Alberta

Me in Jasper, Alberta 2019

My relationship with nature now

As I got older and life became busier, my relationship with nature continued to evolve. With the school year being quite hectic, I often experience stress and anxiety during this time. Although Guelph is larger and busier than my hometown, I find it easier to unwind here. My roommates and I enjoy exploring new places, with one of our favourite spots being Guelph Lake where we spend alot of time during the warm months. I have also learned a lot about nature through various courses I've taken at the University of Guelph, including Ecology, Evolution, and Botany. As I have entered my 20s, I have developed a deeper appreciation for nature and the simple pleasures in life.

Guelph Lake

Who gave me a "sense of place"

It is challenging to identify exactly who has shaped my sense of place, as discussed in the textbook. Growing up with immigrant parents from Albania, who lived through communist times, created a childhood that was quite different from the one I experienced. Attending University and living away from home allowed me to become more independent and develop new routines. The friends I made during this time have significantly influenced my sense of place. Most of them were raised in rural areas and have a deeper appreciation for nature than I initially did. My experiences with them over the past three years have encouraged me to nurture my own connection to the environment.

Biona🐝🦋