Change Starts With You

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Syrian kids deserve a chance to feel the childish joy of running out of their houses at the sound of an ice cream truck and buying ice cream

Pakistani kids deserve the chance to go to an amusement park and feel the rush of the wind in their face as they try the biggest rollercoaster in the park

Afghan kids deserve a day to sleep in and wake up lazily to the warm glow of the sun and the sound of happy voices coming from downstairs

A young Iraqi girl deserves the chance to discover the amazing world of cake decorating and realize that she was born to decorate incredibly stunning cakes

A boy from Uganda deserves to fulfill his dream of becoming a singer because his whole family and all his neighbours always praise his beautiful voice

A little Somali girl deserves to know all the different art mediums that exist so she can explore her God-given talents as an artist and mesmerize everyone with her work

A brown man enslaved in Kuwait deserves to wake up early and surprise his wife with breakfast in bed and to hold her in his arms

A little boy in North Korea deserves to feel the nervous excitement as he gets on a plane to fulfill his dream of traveling the world

A Palestinian girl deserves her chance to stun the world with her superior acting skills, a surefire Oscar winner if the world ever knew it

A Kashmiri boy deserves a chance to delve into the world of literature and be the greatest poet we ever knew

A Native girl in Canada deserves to find out she’s an amazing swimmer and fulfill her dream of one day competing in the Olympics

A Sudani boy deserves to feel the excitement of seeing a magic trick for the first time and then putting on his own little magic show for the neighborhood

An Egyptian girl deserves to find out she can make the best blueberry muffins you ever tasted and she opens her own bakery to discover she’s a talented businesswoman as well

A black boy in America deserves the chance to graduate from his dream law school and become the best humanitarian lawyer to practice

A Nigerian boy deserves the chance to wake up at dawn and go on a beach trip with his friends so they can catch the sunrise and stare in awe at the explosion of colours against the sky

A Yemeni girl deserves to feel the exhaustion after spending an entire day doing dares with her friends and she goes to sleep with a smile on her face

If they were born on this planet, they were meant to be here. Everyone deserves a chance at a life. They deserve to know peace.

The daily struggles of the children around the world should include arguing with their parents about not wearing a sweater because it’s not that cold out, not making sure they live to see another day.

Everyone deserves a chance at life.

Do what you can to save humanity. Change starts with you.

Source: thesleeping-iinsomniac: Syrian kids deserve a chance to feel the childish joy of running out of…

What Is Safety To Me?

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  1. Who Do I feel Safe With?
    I feel safe with my parents, Peter & Gail King.
    My Aunt Nancy and Uncle Doug.
    My friends Heather, Renée & Kathleen.
    Last but not least, my Wonder-Pom Jasper
    jasper chair
  2. What Activities Do I Feel Safe Doing?
    Reading has always been my primary go-to. It doesn’t matter if it’s a book or comics.
    Next up is playing video games.
    Preparing and drinking an excellent mug of coffeee.
    Listening, and occasionally dancing, to music.
    Nature walks.
    Sitting by brooks, streams and rivers (I just love the sound of the water moving).
    Urban exploration.
    Playing cards with my family can be a riot.
    Art (adult colouring books)
    Ironically, painting walls can be pleasantly mind numbing.
    Photography rocks!!
    Walking the Wonder-Pom.
    Watching television or movies, either by myself or with friends/family.
  3. Where Do I Feel Safe?
    I feel safe in my home and within my TCHC community.
    I feel safe at my parent’s home in Saint-Lazare, QC and equally at my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Doug’s home in Brighton ON.
    I find it very peaceful sitting in a chair in the SE corner of the 5th floor lounge at the Toronto Harbour Light, facing the windows with a good book. I love sitting in Ramsden Park with my friend Renée and our dogs.

Toronto Harbour Light Ministries Spiritual Journal #2

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  1. How would I describe my life today?
    Well, it certainly could be better, and yet I’m not 100% miserable all the time either.

    My apartment is subsidized, and paid off monthly automatically, so that’s a significant expense I don’t have to be overly concerned with. Not like how it was once upon a time when I had to dip into my monthly allowance to cover the balance of my marketplace rent.

    I’m on ODSP, and although some people clamour about how that’s a barely livable income, I’m not hurting either. My services bills are paid, and with the exception of my credit cards, both maxed out thanks to cash withdrawals to a total amount of just less than $1500 to pay for my crack-cocaine binges, I still am able to feed myself healthily and set some money aside for rainy days expenses.

    I have a family that loves and supports me, although they can get quite exasperated on occasions by some of the situations I have got myself into.

    I don’t have a paid job, but I have dedicated a good portion of my free time to outreach and advocacy within my TCHC community, and have earned the respect of my fellow residents.

  2.  How would you describe your illness (addiction/mental health)?
    My mental health illnesses on the other hand, desperately need work. My lifelong struggle with ADHD exasperates everything I see, feel and do. The redevelopment of my high rise building has been a bit quite overwhelming in the past few years. Not just to the residents, but to TCHC staff assigned here as well, with many of them leaving the agency due to mental, physical and emotional exhaustion.

    Without their support, I’ve far too often had to deal with critical issues entirely on my own, weakening my own mental reserves. I’m isolating, suffering from depression, exhaustion, and anxiety. There are times that all I feel is a stifling foreboding of impeding crisis, and this has led me back to an addiction I had thought done and over with almost a decade now.

  3. How do I express my spirituality?
    By trying to be of service to others within my community who are unable or unwilling to advocate for themselves, and being grateful for their respect and trust in me.
  4. What kind of practices enhances your spirituality? I volunteer within my community, offering both my time and skills to try and improve the lives of my fellow residents.
  5. What is especially meaningful to me now?
    My health, my family and my community.
  6. For what do I live?
    I want to help improve my community. Make it a thriving, liveable one, where people are happy and feel connected to the world around them, despite their individual challenges.
  7. What is important to me now?
    I would like to regain my sense of dignity and self-worth.
  8. How has having an addiction or a mental illness made any difference for you in what or how you believe?
    I feel that both have made me more sympathetic and open-minded to the plight of others. To try and be more accepting of people’s quirks and foibles.
  9. How do I handle feelings such as anger, doubt, resentment, guilt, bitterness and depression?
    Anger can be a difficult one, in part due to the ADHD. I get angry often, and it burns hot but quick. Sometimes though it can explode in a destructive wave, but I generally know when that’s coming and try to do my best to get everyone clear in time. I’m scared of that aspect of me.

    Doubt is a constant state of being, always sitting there at the back of my head questioning my every action, even when I know for certain it’s the correct one.

    Bitterness and Resentment are one and the same. I try and talk these out and then let them go. I’m not too fond of nursing grudges longer than a few days. Sometimes though, especially if the same individual or situation gets compounded by one abuse  after another, it can be very difficult to not internalize, which in turn can lead to my becoming irritable, argumentative, and spiteful .

    My episodes of Depression suck. I isolate, feel lonely, sad and anxious. I’ll hideaway in bed, sometimes for up to 48 hours of on and off sleep. I forget to shower and lose interest in food and water.

  10. How does my spirituality influence how I respond to such feelings?
     It’s a work in progress
  11. Where do I get the love, courage, strength and hope and peace that I need?
     More often than I get those from my family and the few friends I have here in my neighbourhood. That being said,  I could definitely use some more communal support though, to draw upon when necessary.

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See why the Guardians—Jamal Khashoggi, the Capital Gazette, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo—are TIME’s Person of the Year for 2018.

News media may/or always will have some bias, but as long as they report the truth as they see it, printed alongside irreconcilable facts, then we need to stop labeling such outlets as #FAKENEWS and show them the respect they and their hardworking staff put in to their stories.

Allowing this continuing attack on  dictators, fascism, warlords, and other evils do what they will with impunity.

Sci-Fi Short Film “Connected” DUST presents USC Student Film Week – YouTube

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“Connected” by Christopher Satola. In a near future where world humanity has been deprived of closeness of each other through technological communication advancements, a small boy, Timmy full of curiosity goes on a journey to learn the value of interpersonal communication, human emotions and expressing them through discovering the underground art of theater.

Although the message is not new, I truly enjoyed this short film by Christopher Satola on Dust.

I hope young Ethan Suess continues to be involved in other film projects. He demonstrated a clear understanding of his character’s growing dismay with the lack of genuine empathy and connection he had with both his family and his surrounding world, and just how invasive technology was becoming to what little control he had left over his character’s privacy.

 

Stressors

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Bit cold today. -10 degrees but feels like -18 Celsius.

Mom’s got physiotherapy this morning at 11 am in our old hometown of  Pointe-Claire, QC 

PC-vue-de-haut-1

Located in Montreal’s West Island, the City of Pointe-Claire, renowned for the quality and variety of its municipal services, is a wonderful place to live.

It’s everything tech related really. It will be nice and quiet for a little bit, which will be because it can get tiresome with the constant computer, tablet and smartphone related queries.

It can get really frustrating at times for me, depending upon who it is coming to me with their tech problems. They don’t seem to understand that I have absolutely no training as an IT technician.

When they say they wouldn’t know what they would do without me, it occasionally depresses me, because I personally don’t have anyone, with the exception of Drew, to go to for computer related issues. When I do need help, I’m much more likely to Google my questions or go to an online forum and ask for help there.

Bottom line is everything I’ve learned is because I took the time to figure things out, and usually it’s because I’m the one who screwed things up in the first place, LOL.

Mom’s doing it because I’m convenient, but then gets occasionally frustrated when I can’t explain it to her in a way she understands.

There are times, depending on my mood (always fluctuating) that I actually get overwhelmed and anxious every time she calls out to me with a some new query.

Oh well . What can I do? She’s my Mom and I love her. Besides, she’s entitled to anything she wants considering the 9+ months she carried me while she was pregnant, and that doesn’t even include the 47 years of my life and it’s problems

I’ll probably grab the vacuum cleaner after she heads out and do the main floor of the house. Also have to bring the two cauldrons of Turkey Scotch broth in from outside, as well as the hard wood for the smoker and let them defrost. I think, despite the disappointing setback earlier this week with the freeze burned turkey (from 2013), she’s now mentally prepared to get a new bird from the grocer at some point today and get it smoked over the course of the weekend. I would really like to start baking some of the cookies soon too.

Loot box crackdown forces Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts games out of Belgium

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“Mixing games and gambling, especially at a young age, is dangerous for mental health,” said Belgium’s justice minister, Koen Geens, when the changes to the law were first announced. “That is why we must also ensure that children and adults are not confronted with games of chance when they are looking for fun in a video game.”

Source: Loot box crackdown forces Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts games out of Belgium

I have ALWAYS hated 🤮 the randomness of Loot Boxes when playing online PVP video games (such as @Destiny) even when the prizes I was optioned were free. I seemed to always be the one who got stuck with nothing useful.

For those people who actually read this blog of mine, a Loot Box:

is an in-game purchase consisting of a virtual container that awards players with items and modifications based on chance. Loot boxes are considered to be a type of microtransaction.

https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/loot-box

 

The thought of actually paying for Loot Boxes makes me cringe, considering that in 15+ years I haven’t even been able to win ONE flipping cup of coffee ☕ during Tim Hortons​ Roll up the Rim to Win​ event.

IMHO, I agree with Belgium’s ruling on Loot Boxes and I’m additionally pleased that other countries, including China and Australia, have taken actions to try and curb their use.

If a gamer is putting money down on these things, whether it’s real currency or money earned in game, in the the hope that there’s something really cool inside that box, then Loot boxes definitely fall under the description as “games of chance” or “simulated gambling”.

The smartest thing the gaming industry could do is either completely eliminate Loot Boxes, or ONLY make them available in those video games rated AO (18+ yrs of age).
In the meanwhile they will just have come up with better ways to generate revenue streams for existing video games including DLC, microtransactions and character/avatar cosmetics currently available.

Unfaithful Survey Companies

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So, it took over 5 months of regular follow-up emails to GlobalTest Market (to be referred to as GMT from this point onwards) but I was finally rewarded the 550 Lifepoints I had never received after completing a 45 minute survey.

For those of you who don’t do online surveys as a means to earn some extra money, that missing 550 Lifepoints is a SIGNIFICANT amount to be missing. I immediately opened a Support Ticket (# 5298032) on July 20th, 2018 and requested that the matter be looked into.

It took GMT/FrontDesk 11 days before getting back to me

“Support Team (GlobalTestMarket)
Jul 31, 20:47 BST

Dear Member,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
We have escalated your issue to the correct team. Once there is an answer we will update this ticket.
We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Support Team”

In early August, I finally got what I first thought was some good news.

“Support Team (GlobalTestMarket)
Aug 3, 21:23 BST

Dear Panelist,
We apologize for the delays in getting back to you.  However, we have just heard back from our Project Team and they are reviewing once confirmed your account will be awarded. 

Support Team”

Huzzah, I shouted inwardly, pleased that this had been one of the faster Support Tickets I had opened over the years which had been resolved.

However, on August 8th when I logged online to my GMT Account Dashboard, I discoved that not only had my Lifepoints not been rewarded, Support had closed my Request Ticket. Confused, I reopened the ticket and politely asked what the heck was going on?

Now, I don’t know about how any of readers feel, but I absolutely hate is when a company’s Customer Service department resorts to formulated replies to support requests. I consider the use form letters to be insulting and beyond disrespectful to a concerned consumer. Yet, for the next 4 months THIS was exactly how GMT representatives and their FrontDesk dealt with me while I pursued my remuneration.

The first formulated response was received 2 weeks after I reopened my Support Ticket.

“Support Team (GlobalTestMarket)
Aug 23, 20:12 BST

Dear Panelist,

We apologize for the delays in getting back to you.  However, we have just heard back from our Project Team and they are reviewing once confirmed your account will be awarded.
Support Team”

When I replied to their email, complaining that this excuse had already been used once before, and that I had essentially been told I would be rewarded my outstanding points shortly thereafter, that’s when the situation started to deteriorate.

GMT/FrontDesk suddently went dark, with no acknowledgement of any my follow-up requests, starting on August 28th:

“Christopher King August 28, 2018 10:49
Well?
Where are my points!!!!!!”

and a second time that same day:

Christopher King August 28, 2018 11:30
Still waiting for a final resolution. When will I be receiving my outstanding 550 points?”

and then once again in September:

Christopher King September 18, 2018 17:23
Well, it’s now September 18th. Still no sign of the 550 points owed. No follow-up either from your end. Do you actually intend to honour your commitment, or are you just going to cross your fingers and pretend that I’ll go away, because that’s not happening.

I really want my 550 points!! Thank you”

On September 25th, I decided to play it smart and use a new Support Ticket (# 5403717) to see if I could get their attention.

“Christopher King
Sep 25, 22:06 BST

You realize that I still have outstanding support requests for more than 2 months now regarding a missing 510 points that I keep getting the run around?”

Unsurprisingly, that Support Ticket went unanswered as well until all of a sudden, out of the blue onOctober 30th, I received a surprising and completely unsatisfactory reply to ticket #5403717

“Support Team (GlobalTestMarket)
Oct 30, 18:05 GMT

We apologize for the issue you experienced regarding this survey. However, please be assured, your concerns have been escalated to our Project Team and they are looking into them.
Also, we have now requested that this study be audited. If you completed this study you will be credited once the audit has been completed. Please keep in mind this is a very time consuming process since it’s done manually. If points are awarded, they will post to your account within the next 4-6 weeks.
If the 6 weeks has passed and your account still hasn’t been credited, this means our Project Team determined that your participation in this study did not qualify to be awarded.”

To say I that was extrememly unimpressed 🤬 is being polite. So after GMT/FrontDesk pretty much told me I was going to receive my rewards back in July, now without any apologies for ignoring me they were now asking me to be patient and wait 4-6 weeks for this Project Team to allegedly go over that survey.

Even more insulting was the caveat thrown in that GMT/FrontDesk would not get back to me if the Project Team ruled in GMT’s favour.

Still, I’m a fairly understanding person when it comes to delays, as long as those delays work out in my favour, so I decided to try and gracious but by the time yesterday, November 20th rolled around, I just couldn’t take it anymore, so I emailed a follow-up request on the original Support Ticket 5298032 thread.

“Christopher King Yesterday at 10:22
Survey #5298032
It is now Tuesday, November 20th. Almost 5 months since I first created this Support Ticket regarding the missing 550 points I was supposed to receive upon completion of a 45 minute survey.
The Survey #5298032 consisted of 4 parts, all of which I did, thanked me for my time, then told me my session had expired. At that time, I figured this would be a no-brainer, that GlobalTestMarket staff would check things out and I would eventually receive my 550 points.
Yet here I am, still waiting and extremely p***ed off by the lack of progress and communication from your survey company.

I have been a member of this survey site now for more than 8 years now, I believe. I think I deserve just a little respect when it comes to a Support Ticket that has been outstanding SINCE JULY!!!!

WHERE THE HECK ARE MY POINTS!!??”

Barely 15 minutes later, which had to be a new world record when it came to replies from GlobalTestMarket, I got this Copy/Paste AGAIN as their response:

Support Team Yesterday at 10:37

We apologize for the issue you experienced regarding this survey. However, please be assured, your concerns have been escalated to our Project Team and they are looking into them.
Also, we have now requested that this study be audited. If you completed this study you will be credited once the audit has been completed. Please keep in mind this is a very time consuming process since it’s done manually. If points are awarded, they will post to your account within the next 4-6 weeks.
If the 6 weeks has passed and your account still hasn’t been credited, this means our Project Team determined that your participation in this study did not qualify to be awarded.”

I cannot recall my facial expression upon seeing that form response email, or if I muttered something truly dripping with the profrane, but my dog Jasper, who had been sound asleep up until that point, woke up with a start and quickly vacated my room for somewhere else in the house.

In any case, my next email was a tad angry and perhaps a wee bit aggressive:

Christopher King Yesterday at 10:59
DEAR GLOBALTESTMARKET SUPPORT TEAM,

I AM SO TIRED OF THE LIES AND FORM ANSWERS I COULD SCREAM!

THE ORIGINAL SUPPORT REQUEST IS DATED JULY 20TH, 2018. YOU HAVE HAD FIVE F***ING MONTHS NOW TO INVESTIGATE, AUDIT AND USE EVERY OTHER BULLSHIT EXCUSE YOU CAN COME UP WITH TO DELAY THE PROCESS.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I DEMAND THAT YOU COUGH UP THE 55O LIFEPOINTS THAT I EARNED FAIR AND SQUARE.”

That finally earned a genuine response from whomever was sitting at GMT/FrontDesk that afternoon, because that’s when they tried to play hardball with me by threatening to close my account, which would also forfeit all of my earned and outstanding Lifepoint rewards

“Support Team Yesterday at 15:07

Dear Panel Member,

According to our records, your account was not in compliance with the User Agreement, notably Section 6 – Appropriate Communications:

If you communicate with FrontDesk or other GlobalTestMarket personnel (“Personnel”), you agree to do so in a respectful and appropriate manner. You shall not send, share or otherwise distribute to Personnel, Personnel affiliates or other users of the Services any communications having obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, threatening, hateful or illegal content.

GlobalTestMarket reserves the right to terminate any account suspected of User Agreement violations and further forfeit all awards earned from said account.”

I quickly opened up GMT’s User Agreement and read section 6 carefully, but after careful consideration at how the section had ben worded, decided they would have a hard time proving my email fell under that.

Add to the fact that the majority of User Agreements are filled with legalese non-binding nonsense that no court would or could enforce, and it’s game on.

So I sent a purportedly contrite email which used their own Section 6 against them:

“Christopher King Yesterday at 17:37
I’m sorry if my email felt “threatening”. I’m upset and frankly annoyed at how long this Support Ticket has gone outstanding.

In all honesty, it is me who feels that FrontDesk already voided the User Agreement, notably Section 6 – Appropriate Communications by failing to to resolve a consumers complaint in an appropriate length of time, and then proceeded to further exacerbate the situation by disrespecting said consumer (me) by refusing to respond to previous emails over a period of 5 months in an appropriate and timely fashion.

The fact that this is the first email I’ve received, clearly a direct response to my most recent email, demonstrates that FrontDesk and GlobalTestMarket representatives are in fact, capable of responding to consumers with more than just form answer replies.

So why have I been left hanging for 5 months now? Back in August your reply to my Support Ticket update request was this

Support Team (GlobalTestMarket)
Aug 23, 20:12 BST

Dear Panelist,

We apologize for the delays in getting back to you.  However, we have just heard back from our Project Team and they are reviewing once confirmed your account will be awarded.
Support Team

It’s not fair at all to tell a consumer that their account will be awarded, and then fail to uphold that commitment month’s later. Can you blame me for being angry when I send a follow-up email only to receive an excuse that had already been used twice before to delay things?

Anyways, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. My apologies for any hurt feelings, but I do want an honest and genuine answer once and for all regarding my outstanding 550 points.”

Throwing it back in to their faces must have worked, because today, five months after this bullshit started, I was finally rewarded my 550 points.

Don’t be afraid to stand up to these types of companies. They need us more than we need them. We’re their bread and butter, and should things get heated make certain you have all your documentation and take a good hard look at their useless User Agreements to determine tactics.