12

March

2009

Living Life

It has now officially been one year since my cousin Teresa was killed in a car accident. The accident was the fault of the other driver, who was also killed. My two cousins, Teresa’s sisters, were both hurt and one needed to stay in the hospital for weeks. I should spend today mourning, but instead, I spend it in a day of celebration – tinged with sadness. Teresa was beautiful, wonderful – I celebrate her life, I do not mourn it. And I am grateful to the lessons she has left us all to ponder.

05

March

2009

NCR

Well, it is official. Vincent Li has been found Not Criminally Responsible (NCR) for the death of Tim McLean. For those of you who live under a rock, Tim McLean was a young man on his way home from his job at a carnival. He was taking a greyhound out towards Alberta, if I recall that point right, and was asleep with a pair of headphones on.

Vincent Li stabbed him to death and cut up his body.

04

March

2009

God made him do it

Last July, Vince Li randomly and brutally stabbed a sleeping Tim McLean to death on a Greyhound bus. After everyone fled the bus and trapped him inside, he methodically cut McLean apart and ate some of his bodyparts. Li was captured after he tried to get out of the bus by a window.

The man is obviously mentally disturbed. Apparently, he now claims not guilty by insanity. I can’t help but curl my lip in derision at the defence, but it’s been clear since the beginning that this man is not entirely there.

“God made me do it.”

04

March

2009

Three more Canadians down. How many more? :(

I start off today with thirty minutes until my shift begins, reading the news. Three more Canadian soldiers have been killed in the Kandahar region of Afghanistan, by yet another damned IED. Of the 111 soldiers and three non-coms (two aid workers and a diplomat) killed since Canada joined the engagement in Afghanistan, over half have been killed by roadside bombs.

02

March

2009

Don’t die, Bunny :(

I have had friends serve overseas before. I have had them serve in Kuwait and in Somalia. Afghanistan. But none of them have ever had me so worried as I am right now for a friend in Iraq. Hell, I used to to date the one who’s over in Afghanistan, and I don’t worry about him as much as I do this other friend. I guess it’s just my ‘tour is almost over’ fear – the closer the tour is to ending, the more bad shit happens.

Maybe it’s just that I actually talk to my friend in Iraq more than I do/did the others; the simple fact he is off base for two days on a mission has my stomach knotted with worry. On the positive note, him warning me woke me up since the messages went through msn to my cell phone. I had forgotten to set my alarm.