Around last December, I thought of three lies that I hear all the time and really irritate me.  I meet a lot of people that strongly believe all three lies and base their entire world view around them, usually these people tend to be at the left-side of the political spectrum...  The three lies are:

1. You should just be yourself
2. Overpopulation is going to destroy us soon
3. Global warming is going to destroy us soon

Today, I am going to talk about the first one.  It seems that many people seem to think that you should remain faithful to who you are rather than try to be someone else. 

To a certain extent, they have a point.  If you always pretend to like music you don't like or wear clothes you don't like, just to impress other people, you are not going to be very happy.

However, there's nothing wrong with changing certain aspects of your personality.  I have, for instance.  I did not like my Canadian accent so I started talking differently.  I pronounce the 'h' in 'wh' words like who, what, when, where, why, etc.  Or how about if you're an alcoholic or, just simply, an asshole, should you just be yourself then?

No!  I say!  Be who you want to be.  Be all you can be.  Sometimes you won't live up to who you want to be.  Do not content yourself by saying "I am just being myself".  Instead, recognize that you have failed and work harder next time.  

It's funny that liberals who whine about how hard it is to rise in class and how criminals get stuck in a cycle of crime, because of us branding them criminals, are the same people who discourage people from changing themselves even when it's for the better.

If people hate you for who you are, you can change.  Or not.  You have to look at what you want and determine whether it's worth it to you.  If you don't change, people might hate you, but you might still love yourself.  If you change yourself, you might not like who you've become.  But just don't rule it out as an option.  Perhaps, if you change yourself, you might even like yourself more.  And you might even hate yourself for who you are.  Or you can just pretend to be someone you're not in order to gain certain advantages from a particular person or group.  Remember: you are in control and you can be whoever you want to be!  Besides, once you've set the pattern, you ARE being yourself by being a new person.  For example, I AM myself when I talk in my southern drawl.  That is me: a self-hating Canadian who, for some reason, talks kinda like a southerner. 

Also, there's nothing wrong with joking about your stance.  I do that all the time.  I will jokingly adopt a much more extreme-conservative position than my own.  Psychologically, it creates some distance between me and what I'm saying so when people attack my arguments, I don't take it as personally.  It also gives me room to back down to my real stance.  Further, it makes it difficult for other people to take me seriously which causes them to not take the debate as seriously and reduces the likelihood that they'd get angry or use personal arguments.  Plus, it's more fun that way.  Now, I know there are times to be serious and I am.  I am pretty good at adopting the right attitude for each situation, but the point is, I am OK with not quite being "myself". 

Sure, I spend a lot of my life "playing a role" I guess.  Sometimes, I change myself permanently, because I think the change is positive and it is who I truly want to be.  Sometimes, I will be who you want me to be.  Sometimes, I will just pretend to be who you want me to be.  I realize that for the people that I am closest to, I have got to be sincere about who I am because I expect the same from them, so I might not pretend as much.  I will be who I am now, I will tell you who I was and who I want to be.  I will not pretend. 

But at first, I might pretend to be someone I am not in order to avoid confrontation or provoke it, or sometimes just for kicks.  We can all do that, so I don't see why we shouldn't.  Come on, who hasn't pretended they were a serious professional at a job interview or something?  It's only natural that we all hide a bit of who we are sometimes or even change who we are sometimes.  At first, we might have to pretend a bit.  For example, at first, I pretended to have a southern accent.  But the trick is to fake it till you make it!  Now, it's such a habit that I always talk this way.  I pretend to talk Canadian when I'm with my parents because for some reason, the drawl offends them.  But it's OK.

It's all good!  I know who I am.  I may or may not let you know who I am.  I realize you might not be who you seem.  But I accept this as part of the complexity of life.  It makes things that much more challenging and fun.  You can even make a game of trying to guess whether someone was born with the accent they speak in or are they faking it.  It's awesome!

Anyway, yea...  I've said all I have to say about that for now.  Just remember, don't just settle for being yourself.  That's easy and boring.   Be who you want to be.  Be all you can be!

Have fun, y'all!

TGIF, y'all!

As I am writing this, it's Friday afternoon.  I actually slept in till 11:20 this morning.  So rare of me.

In case y'all didn't know, I'm living in the 514 now.  I'm living in NDG.  It's such a great part of town.  It's quiet but there are so many stores and stuff around: a bank, a grocery store, a video store, a SAQ, etc.  What more could I ask for?  Plus, I take the Metro next to Villa-Maria, a private Catholic High School for girls.  ;p

I'm starting a second B.A. in Economics, at Concordia University.  Since I already have a B.A., I only have to take 60 credits but because of the sequence of courses I will probably have to do it over 3 years, anyway, but I will only have to do 5 terms, so I'll get an 8-month break at some point.  And I've been conditionally accepted to co-op so I'll get some work experience while I'm at it.  So far, so good, although it's only the first week.

For the first week, I lived it up at Frosh week.  It's pretty awesome.  It's also a way better deal than uOttawa's 101 Week.  For $70, it included free BBQ's, free beer, a pub crawl (with free booze), camping (summer-camp style, not tents) at B'Nai Brith (with free food and booze), a day at Mont St-Sauveur waterpark, a boat cruise and admission to a fancy club.  Interestingly enough, unlike at the U of O, Frosh Guides are not only allowed to drink, they're encouraged. 

I met some really awesome people at Frosh week and had plenty of good times dancing it up, playing the cleavage game (Joel, you know what I'm talking about), getting trashed, going on an obnoxious rant at Ben & Jerry's about how Ben and Jerry are a bunch of Dirty Fucking Hippies, dirty dancing, etc.  GTs, GTs...  (GTs means more than Giant Tiger now, it also means Good Times)

That last one, I feel, deserves a bit of an explanation on my part.  I mentioned before that I don't like "clubbing" and grinding and stuff.  Well, first of all, I don't like grinding on a girl's backside but frontside is different.  But, I do think that alcohol somehow lowers my libido.  When I drink, I become less aroused, oddly enough...  That's what I noticed during the booze cruise.  However, I noticed during the club night, that, well, what the hell.  It's not really about sex, it's about doing something crazy.  I guess it's like when straight girls kiss each other hwhen drunk.  Or something like that... 

Speaking of drinking, I got some more Alcool.  There's only one SAQ Depot on the Island and it took me forever to find it but I eventually did and got some!  Boo-yea!  So now I'm stocked up for the Semester!

Anyway, back to the people I've met...  There's one guy from BC who's the same age as me and in my program.  There's a girl from Florida who is conservative like me.  There's a girl from South Ont who has short hair and not so conservative but a lot of fun, nonetheless.  Then, there's the girl who, like me, was born in Montreal, but spent a lot of her life travelling because of her dad's job.  She's a bit of a hippie but it's fun playing off her (i.e. pissing her off with my comments like "The only good hippie is a dead hippie" at Ben & Jerries).  Then, there's a girl who works as a nanny who's soooo sweet.  She gave me a ride home during Frosh week, twice! 

My roommates are pretty cool too.  I live with 2 Korean girls and a white guy.  The Korean girls came here to learn English (in Montreal of all places).  Well, actually, Montreal is a very English Town.  Everybody can serve you in English, especially in NDG.  In fact, when I walk into a store, the staff are often talking to each other in English so I just speak to them in English.  And even downtown, the Maudits Anglais control all the money so, you know...  Anyway, more about these Korean girls, there's one who I often watch TV with and stuff and the other one is an amazing cook and she often lets me have a taste!  Sweet!  Then, there's the white guy who is in Political Science at Concordia.  We talk about a bunch of things: politics, Concordia, religion, etc.  But it's always fun cause I'm usually never serious.  

I have decided that I might want to start an audio blog because typing is sooo lame.  And reading sucks too!  I think I might do one more non-personal entry in this blog first, though.