The Rules of Sports and Important Sporting Events

In the spirit of all that is good in this world, this week I have decided to post an early message to all six of my readers - if there are more out there in the ether please feel free to follow. On this, the tenth day of the World Cup in South Africa, the heavens parted and a light had fallen on the field as two of my favourite teams played. Yes, it is true, today both Portugal and Spain won their respective matches, and in spectacular fashion might I add. Portugal slaughtered the Korean DPR, or to those of you who may not know that is NORTH KOREA. The score in that game was 7-0 and here is the link to that : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0JahzL_ebU .

And here are the exceptional highlights for the Spain vs Honduras game :
http://www.youtube.com/user/cbc2010fifaworldcup#p/a/u/0/6Fa84YiS6Ps

Let me put it this way, David Villa is MONEY. My picks for this year are simple : Spain, Argentina, and Portugal. I choose not to cheer on Brazil in any game against these three teams because I actually like these three teams. In reality my favourite teams are those three, Germany, and the Netherlands, but since I cannot cheer for all five teams in every conceivable game the aforementioned three are my top choices.

I love the world cup, nothing compares in excitement, unless of course you watched the NBA finals this year. And so we turn to the rules of the game this week, ultimately these rules are directed more towards the female readers because well from a male perspective (and trust me I am not trying to be sexist) our women need some help understanding the importance of certain sporting events. That is truly a generalization, but it is one that must be made for the purpose of this post. Ladies, your men do NOT need excuses to tune you out during important games, and no I am not saying each and every game is important, because that's a lie. But, the NBA finals for instance this year were insane, and yes we have the right to ignore you for the length of that game, if you so choose to sit with us and watch, then please respect the game and do not complain about how "boring" it may be for you. We do not care. As far as the world cup goes: this comes around once every four years, and this year, at least in Canada, we have one channel that is showing each game. So, please forgive us for our inability to turn away from the screen when  you're talking to us; chances are that for the next four years we will listen to you enough to make up for this one month of absolute bliss.

Finally, we DO NOT care who you think is good looking, do NOT ruin this for us.
Oh and just as an aside, the referee's this year are on crack, here are my complaints thus far:
1) Kaka (Brazil) should not have been red carded in the last game, that was a BS call, and one clear reason why the teams should have the right to invoke live replay at least once or twice a game.
2) Brazil's second goal (I believe) should not have counted, that was obvious handling of the ball - officials SHOULD have seen this.
3) USA's third goal SHOULD have counted, the ref should be slapped at the very least, and the U.S. team should be boosted by a point as consolation.
4) Ronaldo (Portugal) has been fouled several times in the past couple of games, and I KNOW he dives but come on ref's eyes open please.
5) TURN THOSE FRIGGEN HORNS OFF. I'm drinking myself into a tizzy trying to tune them out.
6) Cheering for Italy just because you don't know better is annoying, stop it. In fact, the same goes for Brazil, just saying that you like Brazil for the World Cup makes you seem like you're just following the group. For instance : I want U.S.A to do well, not because I know many players on the team (I have read up on the team in general), and not because I think they will go all the way. The reason I like the U.S. team, even in the game against the U.K. (I've always had a soft spot for the Brits in Soccer/Football), is that I want them to prove themselves in a World sport, that is all.

Tune in next week when I start freaking out about my impending trip abroad with B.D. And the rules I learn as I go along in the planning and organizing of said trip. Oh and of course a RANT about the G8 and G20, this is gonna be an interesting week.

Peace and Love.

I.V

The Rules of Fault, Responsibility, and Finishing What You Start

I am not an angel, while I may look angelic to some, I have made my mistakes in life and hopefully have learned from them, consequently I will not even attempt to understand the myriad reasons why people give up on things, run away from things, and/or fight for the wrong things. These "things" I am reflecting on span a wide variety of issues including: divorces, relationships, responsibilities, and finally goals.  Disclaimer : Since many people are prone to gossiping please note that none of these issues are currently affecting my life, and are just a reflection on thoughts I have been having on life in general.

On the topic of divorces and relationships my thoughts are pretty simple and can be very clearly outlined by a quote from one of my favourite movies "Laws of Attraction," yes it is a chick-flick. The line goes like this "Divorce is the post-mortum of a dead marriage, we (lawyers) represent people who discover a passion for a fight they never knew they had in them. Where was that passion and fight when it was time to SAVE the marriage?" I wont pretend to understand the complexities of marriage and the various relationships people have with loved ones, but I believe in one thing very strongly in life, and that is finishing what you start. That doesn't mean that you should stay in a relationship if you are unhappy, or are bored and see no real future in that relationship. However, I believe that you should at the very least sit down with your significant other and discuss the problems at hand, so that maybe you could give yourselves a fighting chance; otherwise, what was the point of getting together in the first place? In fact, it is your RESPONSIBILITY to discuss these things with the person whose life it may affect, because if you do not then you will not know how they feel, and you are simply stringing them along for your own selfish reasons and inability to FINISH WHAT YOU START. It takes balls/cajones/beytseem to speak frankly and own up to your faults, do it, you will be a better person for it, and maybe you will even find that you have spared yourself and others pain in the future. 

Continuing on with the taking responsibility and finishing what you start rules/theme, many people in my life have recently had exams, or are preparing for exams; in other words they are working to finish what they have started (i.e. their education/attaining their goals). My rule when it comes to responsibilities surrounding goals and work is the following : whatever you have to do, are doing at this moment, or have set out to accomplish, do it whole-heartedly and without sway. Do not ever compromise your goals, when studying be a student, do your work and reap the benefits. Don't do your work and be prepared to accept the results as  YOUR fault and no one else's, because at the end of the day you have failed yourself. Remember that distractions will always come your way, but these are hurdles to overcome on the road to success, break through them once, and every other time it will become easier. This rule becomes more important every day as computers, phones, and electronics in general bring these distractions to levels never before seen, its like christmukkah for kids with ADD. These are your goals, if you don't want to reach them then give in to the distractions, personally I couldn't careless. But, if you would like some advice, if you do feel as though you are losing concentration, the one thing that I find works is taking a nap. However, do not let things like studying take over your life, you need to enjoy yourself, see other people, in order do so you have to learn to manage your time well ..and now I can feel myself going on one of my infamous tangents, so I will stop here. 

At the end of the day, whether it comes to your goals or relationships in life, the Rules are the same: Take responsibility for your actions and OWN UP to your mistakes, and always FINISH WHAT YOU START (obviously, I mean that when it comes to finishing normal things not a bottle of whisky or a bag of crack, stay away from those things, unless you want to look like this guy-->)

And as usual, a side note. I am fed up with people littering. I would like to start a trend where if people see someone littering, may it be paper or plastic, that we ostracize and make examples of these people. This planet is our home, and the last thing I want is some insignificant oxygen wasting blob tossing their junk in my "backyard." So please, next time you see someone throwing something on the ground, especially when there is a garbage bin not far away, either ask them kindly to put their garbage in the bin, put their garbage (if it's safe of course) back in their hands and tell them to dispose of it properly, or if you feel up to it, SLAP THESE FOOLS. Have people learned bloody nothing? You are killing our planet with each bottle or bag of chips you leave laying around outside, please throw your trash out in bins and recycle. Otherwise, you might soon find yourself as a star on youtube being slapped across the face after being caught on camera dropping a chip bag. Consider yourself forewarned. 

Peace and Love.

IV

The Rule of GTL and Self Inflicted Abuse

Let me start by saying that I totally am for self inflicted torture of the beneficial kind i.e. working out until you can't handle it any more or studying until your dreams are enveloped in terms you just learned. However, if you are in anyway suicidal or bleeding out as you read this entry, please seek help. I could hypothetically turn to my scientific and health related knowledge to potentially help you. But I wont. So get a band-aid and smile. Moving on...

Now, while I hate to agree with these skadouches (Yes, I made up a term, it refers to sketchy douches, copyright 2010) :


I have to admit, they do have a point. GTL is an acronym for Gym Tan and Laundry and it makes sense. So lets begin kiddies. In my opinion, and with no actual experimental proof to back me up, I believe the act of exercise itself and taking care of oneself is highly beneficial to ones social life in more ways than one. Working out increases your confidence in yourself. Granted initially you'll feel like a giant sack of potatoes but it will get better and as you see improvement you will begin to exude confidence. This new found or now growing confidence will make you more attractive to the opposite sex not simply because you look better, because that may or may not be true, rather it is because you believe in yourself more. Simply put: Confidence in both sexes is an attractive quality. A woman that knows she looks good and is sure of herself is a beautiful thing, likewise a guy who is confident and a gentleman (a trait that takes a lifetime to learn and should always be worked on) is going to attract women. The reason for this I believe is that positive energy is contagious, just like negative, and when you exude positive energy people will want to be around you more often. The scientific side to this is simple, when you exercise you release endorphins which make you "high" in-lieu of a better choice of words, its natural and its good for you. As far as tan goes, this is attractive to those who like tans, some are neutral on this topic like myself (it's nice but not essential), while others like my brother will state its an important attribute. Bottom line, a bit of colour makes you look healthy, and again that is an attractive quality. But not when you look like this :


Raccoons belong in the forest, not amongst people.

Now as far as laundry goes, I will extend this to the Rule of Hygiene. Many a time I have been at the gym and smelled some bad B.O. People Deodorant is an essential member of your daily routine, apply it often if you have issues with abundant leakage. The Rule of Hygiene is very simple : Your clothes, and you, should always smell and look fresh and clean. Even if you're going for the just got out of bed/disheveled look, you MUST make it look stylish:


 Subsection to Laundry : Sweatpants do not belong anywhere except for within the comfort of your own home, the gym, and if you're a student and have been pulling an all-nighter (something I don't suggest).

Now the importance of the GTL rule is simple : Whether you have a significant other or are looking for an other or others or are simply unhealthy (you know if you are stop denying it), you must maintain yourself. Its important for your own well-being, as well as the well-being of those around you. If you don't like yourself in anyway don't simply complain and do nothing about it, that's just annoying and it stresses everyone around you out, give up on procrastination and do something about it.

Reasonable Requests, Friends, Boundaries, and Acknowledging Situations

It has been a truly eventful week, so I apologize for the long post. I've learned several things about myself, the world, the situations I put myself in, and the way others should be treated in accordance with your beliefs. While all of this sounds good, I still will have to make a note about Israel, Iran, and well the world. But more on this later.  Oh and if I haven't made it clear before, all people in my life will be referred to by initials, for privacy, and because its cool :).

On the topic of connecting with friends. My rule is simple, make an effort, make it a point, and make it imperative that you see your friends at least several times a month. This becomes even more important as people get full time jobs or go back into school. There is no excuse for losing touch with the people you grew up with, you will inevitably need them in the future to lend a helping hand or shoulder. Rule on friends : See them, see them often, and for longer than a few minutes. In fact if you are in a relationship only one thing can excuse you for flopping on your friends. You can guess at that. But even then you MUST give notice, believe me, your friends will be irritated (to say the least) for repetitive absences or tardiness.

Reasonable Requests. Firstly, I learned this week that I have my own boundaries and that those boundaries can not only be broken but can be bulldozed into a new era of self-improvement. When my friends are in town and I haven't seen them in a while I truly go out of my way to spend time with them. Case in point, I biked to my friends place under threat of rain then went back the way I came to sell his bike and then back etc. In all of this I burnt 1000 calories in the matter of an evening. Yes, I did the math and was quite proud of myself for doing that, albeit I did it after learning that at 11:30 PM my potential rides fell through. And so we move onto the Rule of Reasonable Requests. If  someone offers you ANYTHING, take that offer as a LIMITED TIME offer, if you do not give someone at least an hours notice of your need DO NOT expect them to help. Obviously, this rule is a result of not realizing this ahead of time and then throwing a minor fit for having to make my way home in the dark and rain. So, this is my apology to those two individuals. In a similar fashion, a family member of mine sent me a file  to edit for him on some engineering topic. I get the file in my email on Sunday. Then I get a call saying it needs to be edited by Monday (it's 19 pages 2x spaced). This will NOT happen. Dear readers, do NOT feel guilty for not coming through in the nick of time, yes you should try to help, but there is a limit. Requesting things urgently and not caring for the busy schedules of others or taking into account their lack of ability is rude and falls in the realm of UNREASONABLE REQUESTS.

Regarding boundaries and the need to acknowledge the situation you're in. If the boundary is something within you and something that is restricting you, break it. Boundaries in life in most instances can also be tiptoed on, that being said there are exceptions to all rules, but at one point or another the exception becomes the rule. <-- Random thing I felt like saying. This weekend I was at my friends condo for a get-together. Let me first state that AA your place is amazing. Moving on, the first Rule of Boundaries and Situations : If you find yourself in a situation where you need to make your point heard and have become desperate, first, try to speak to the person(s) involved, prior to raising your voice or cursing. More importantly, to any older individuals, take this point to heart: when dealing with people younger than you, we don't do well with authority, so come down to our level. Moreover, once your request has been met, do NOT keep accosting those who were your targets initially; they heard you, they even did what you asked. Next, DO NOT attempt to aggravate the situation when they are trying to have you simmer down, especially when you're significantly outnumbered. What I observed recently is the idiotic inability of an individual to acknowledge the situation where 20 something year olds are having a party with loud music and that individual busted in the door to scream at the party-goers after the fact that they did what the angry individual asked. Moreover, getting into the face of someone who is trying to de-escalate a situation is not a smart move. Rule (in my opinion): Yelling and screaming makes you look like a child, control your emotions and speak calmly, you'll get further in life that way. That also works if you want to get a rise out of someone, but choose your poison carefully my friends ;). Oh, and people are pretty understanding if you take the time to speak to them like human-beings.

Finally, on Israel and Iran. I love persian people, well the ones that acknowledge Amhadinablahblahs psycho-babel as just that. The Ayatollah of Iran said Iran would offer its navy to help Gaza "aid" ships, oh how nice of you shmucks. Do I believe we're headed towards a war? Yes, but what do I know. All I hope for is that if Iran does choose to follow this path of aggression, that our allies stand by us and support us in ripping the head off the snake. Furthermore, to those who think Israel is the only place blockading Gaza, EGYPT HAS REFUSED TO ALLOW AID INTO GAZA. To all Turkish people, again who understand what proof and facts look like, I love you. To the others : You're blind to the fact that your friend (Syria) was your enemy a few years back. In fact, you had gone to war with them and now occupy some of "their" land. Does that sound familiar to what you say Israel should give up in the Golan? If it does you can take your hypocritical criticisms and choke on them.

Now onto the most important rule: People please educate yourselves on what is going on in the world. Look at pictures and videos. And if you can please think carefully about your choices in life : BP is killing the Gulf of Mexico, a massive archipelago and ecosystem, all due to our thirst for oil. We need to understand that our lives depend on the livelihood of our planet, please make choices that help restore balance. Recycle, walk, ride your bike, or public transport over driving whenever possible. These actions will not only make you healthier, but also a better person, truly.

Peace and Love.

Muse - Supermassive Black Hole [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

A perfect day to begin blogging

So...my first blog post. What a day to start this off, let me sum up the days events and my background as it pertains to this specific issue. Today, Israel boarded a flotilla headed towards the Gaza strip, during the boarding of one of the ships "protestors/aid workers" attacked the soldiers that were sent onto these ships to determine if any illicit items were on board and nine people died in the process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYjkLUcbJWo

Now a little background on me : I am Jewish, in fact I even lived in Israel. So now that we have that out in the open you can openly criticize me on that with your ignorant beliefs about Israeli's, whatever those beliefs may be. In truth, I have been known to be openly critical of Israel whenever mistakes have been made or decisions were followed that were contrary to my beliefs. That being said, Israel made only one mistake in boarding the ships bound for Gaza on May 31st, that mistake was simple : You do NOT board foreign ships in international waters. Doing so has exposed them to criticism on two fronts, firstly, did they board in international waters and what gave them the right to do so? Secondly, what triggered the violence that led to loss of life?

I will agree that upon first reading the news this morning I was irritated when I learned Israel had used force against a bunch of "aid workers" and was concerned about the fallout that would result as a consequence of such actions, however, ignorance soon fades as one opens their eyes up to factual evidence. The evidence I am reflecting on is the night-vision video that was taken by the Israeli army during these events - finally, someone smartened up and thought of using video cameras to prove Israel's side. To anyone who is even the least bit unbiased, or perhaps less biased than the protestors you normally see on TV burning flags and screaming at bricks and mortar, it is clear that the soldiers WERE attacked as their feet touched the deck of the ship. The Canadian media however with it's "impartial" broadcasting has decided to focus on the protests happening in our cities, which is fine and all, yet when they fail to ask those protestors relevant questions reflecting on THE FACTS, as opposed to "how does this make you feel," it really renders their broadcasts irrelevant.

Word of mouth is NOT a fact, I am a firm believer in pictures and videos. The facts as we have them right now are simple and are provided by two sources: The Israeli army and a camera that appears to have been held by a protestor. In both it is not only clear but certain that the Israeli soldiers were attacked by what I could only describe as a pack of rabid wolves as they repelled to the ships. The world wants an explanation of what resulted in the deaths? There you bloody have it. The "aid workers" went at the soldiers with clubs, knives, and threw one soldier off the deck. Is it that hard to believe that at least one of those individuals had also ripped off a soldiers side-arm and began shooting at the soldiers? Common sense people. And here we get down to the bottom of my distaste for the individuals that run or take part in campaigns like "The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid." Their perspectives and knowledge base are so full of ideology and so devoid of factual basis and common sense that rather than promoting economic, political, and social reform in Gaza and the West Bank, they support terrorist organizations and extremist clerics that push them further away from those goals.

Did Israel have reason to believe that the flotilla was carrying weapons? Yes they did because it has been done in the past. Were they right in boarding the boats? Yes they were, seeing as how one of those boats contained knives (not the type for cooking), steel rods, and baseball bats (not a big sport in the Middle East). Should they have boarded in international water? No, but as of right now no one is certain about whether or not they did board outside of their jurisdiction. Should they have shot at the attackers? Now here is that grey area where grey rules come into play. Last I read, the rifles that the soldiers had boarded the boats with were outfitted with paintballs not bullets, however their pistols did in fact have live rounds. Remember, these are not some run of the mill infantry soldiers boarding the flotilla, these are soldiers trained for these types of missions. As we can see on the video it appears as though paintball bullets would not have effective, does that justify shooting with live ammo at "civilians"? I can't say because from what I have heard and from what seems perfectly possible to me, one of the "aid-workers" had ripped off a gun from a soldier and began shooting, in that case yes the soldiers acted appropriately. If that did not take place then yes that MAY have been excessive unless of course some of the soldiers were being stabbed which DID occur- soldiers were admitted to hospitals with stab wounds. Only time will tell what the UNSC and IDF investigations will reveal, right now I simply hope some of you will open your eyes to the truth.

Oh and could people please define CIVILIAN, the whole of the Middle East are civilians that were or will be at one time of another in the Army. Do not call people branding knives and steel bats as weapons "civilians," would perpetrators not be a better word?

Also, I read someone brought a child on-board. Here is a message to those supporting these "aid workers," ARE YOU MAD? How can you support someone who carries a child into harms way.

The Rules of Today :

The Media knows about as much as any of us do. They learn about events on the ground as soon as we do, why? Because of this wonderful tool known as the World Wide Web. So get several points of view before you go to riot in the streets with the anarchists as they burn YOUR city.

Ignorance is addictive, if you see a bunch of people yelling, screaming, and burning flags, listen to what they have to say, then listen to the other side. Let the two sides marinate in your mind as you read up on the actual facts, then brush most of them off as psychopaths and sheep. Stand up for what you believe to be RIGHT based on FACTS and FIGURES, and NOT GROUP THINK and PUBLICITY STUNTS.

Also, since this is my first blog post, I will soon post an introduction. This just seemed a tad more urgent so please excuse the many grammatical errors. And so we continue into the land of Grey...