mrrnice2

Oh I am so glad that there are still a few of us left that love Christmas! I know that for me it has little to do with a religious celebration but rather it is a feeling that I somehow find impossible to define. I realize how fortunate I am to have family and extended family who are all amazing people. It is a time when people try their best to get together. My kids are spread across the country and there are few occasions that bring us all together. Christmas brings traditions and it is the traditions that I truly enjoy. If one thinks of it, everything in our world changes so incredibly fast, and this a time when what was good fifty years ago remains good today. It is great fun trying to break a son-in-law into our families traditions. I am sure he believes that we are all nuts. :) There are the individual little ornaments and decorations that get brought out and many of them carry beautiful memories. My artificial tree is already up in the kitchen but when the kids get home we will be out in the woods seeking that perfect tree. I can hardly wait to watch Elf and I may just cheat and watch it once beforehand. So, I guess I'd have to be in the, "Love it," category.

Holiday season for sure!!! Happy Holidays RG and Merry Christmas. :) :) Do you share more personal information and conflicts with family or with intimate friends?

On December 6th, 1989 the events of the Ecole Polytechnique massacre in Montreal unfolded. It is indeed ironic and sad that on the 25th anniversary of the day that women were killed for choosing a career in engineering that the Canadian government is bringing Bill C-36 into law. It has not gone unnoticed by me that at least some sex workers have dubbed this law as the Pickton Model- a model that will be setting some women up for violence. I have been pretty well absent from Cerb for the last six weeks due primarily to illness as I hardly felt up to even looking in. Now that I am able to do so, and following a six week hiatus, it is quite noticeable to me the change in tone regarding this law and its potential impact. As is probably quite understandable the discussion has become very much on a personal note, where individuals are looking primarily at themselves and no longer at the overall picture. Despite everything that I wrote several months ago, where I was undoubtedly looked at as one of the paranoid and as a naysayer, I do tend to agree that most of us here with exercise of due caution and care are probably not going to be impacted too much. I do however have WAY less trust in police and law enforcement than what seems to be the consensus. I began this post with the Ecole Polytechnique paragraph because what I have found that has totally disappeared from this discussion thread in the past six weeks are concerns for the women and other sex workers who work the streets and those who are forced by their individual dire circumstances to take chances and who are probably not working this trade as their first choice of employment. If and when this law is challenged in the Supreme Court it will probably only be after a long period of time during which many of these women will be abused, injured and killed. It will be those statistics and that data that will overturn this law. Yes, reality for each of us on an individual personal level has kicked in, as it should, but let us not forget the many who are not as fortunate as we may be. Financial donations and support to groups such as POWER, PIVOT, Maggies and others will be critical in helping to protect all sex workers and to assist in a challenge that will ultimately happen well down the road. On MY personal level and very luckily for me, I LOVE and adore cuddling and social interaction. As always this is just my own unique view on whats going on, be it right or wrong.

POWER is presently conducting a fund raising campaign in order to support their work and at the moment the campaign is closing on 40% of their goal. If there are as many members of Cerb as I understand that there are, then if each member even donated as little as $5 then their goal would be easily achieved. Donations may be made on line anonymously if that is your preference. Perhaps one might consider making a donation in lieu of a Christmas gift in someones name, or a donation as your next little, "extra" for a special companion might be a good idea? In my opinion, POWER, along with a few other organizations in this country will be spearheading the expected Supreme Court challenge (in years however) and every bit of support that we as patrons or workers can give to them will ultimately be of benefit to us all. Help yourself by helping them. For more information or to donate, here is their website.

A very Happy Birthday to you Sasha. I hope that you had a great day. :) MN2

I've been making a small donation at the end of each month to POWER for the past six or seven months and shall continue to do so. If everyone made that small donation then the funds that are going to be needed to make changes will start to become significant. In time, it will be organizations such as POWER or PIVOT that will bring change. Support them as you can. Out of curiosity, is there a difference between sending a donation directly to POWER or is it preferable to send it to the fund raising campaign?

Well I have been pretty well MIA for about five weeks I believe and it had not a thing to do with the new foolish laws coming into play or reconsidering things. It had everything to do with being sick. The first few days I thought it was a flu - well, nope. Some sort of virus that knocked me for a serious loop! You know how one looks for the light at the end of the tunnel, well there were a few days when I was looking for the infamous white light. :) My highlight is therefore that I am finally feeling better. Not all done yet, but I am more than ready. Wow, Cerb sure looks different but I'm not going anywhere. :)

Hope that you had a great day Lexy. Happy Birthday.

Congratulations to the folks in Ottawa for the support that you gave to your new football team. Apparently all homegames were sold out and even if their record is not what one may have hoped for, it is also very misleading to a degree. They were in some very close ballgames. I have a Redblack shirt that I was given by a friend from Ottawa and have donned it to watch several games. Now let's get an Eastcoast team! :)

Best wishes for a Happy Birthday and I saw that you're having a party, so have a lick for all of us. MN2

[I]â??Curiouser and curiouser!â? Cried Alice.â?[/I] Does anyone beside me feel like Alice must have felt after falling through the rabbit hole? Letâ??s see where we are in this world. It's difficult to know where to start! The Toronto Star and the CBC are the ones investigating what [I][U]appear to be[/U][/I] multiple assaults and sexual assaults. The police are nowhere to be found. Great laws we have to protect women. Canadians are seriously under the influence of Tweedledee and Tweedledum and led by the Mad Hatter. [I]â??It is a very inconvenient habit of kittens (Alice had once made the remark) that, whatever you say to them, they always purr: "If they would only purr for 'yes,' and mew for 'no,; or any rule of that sort," she had said, "so that one could keep up a conversation! [U]But how can you talk with a person if they always say the same thing?[/U]â?[/I] It seems to me that I have seen that myself in recent months somewhere. :) Happy Hallowe'en.

Hey Lee. That should be in the Highlights thread! Two years for a laptop? You?? I'm friggin impressed!!!!! And I have not heard at all about phone disasters either for a very long time. I hope you have a contract to make a commercial for the truck now. Think the slogan, "Stands up better than any laptop!" I mean that's a winner!

Does anyone have any links to documentation where this camp thing is verified. Most sex workers and their organizations have chosen to take the high road in this fight, to use logic and reason. Let us now not drop to the anti C-36 level of manufacturing facts out of thin air. However, if that is real I would like to be able to see it.

Well, I WOULD have been in Ottawa tonight on my way through to see my daughter. But a bout of flu forced me to cancel plane reservations. THAT seat sale cost me a bundle! LOL The good news though is that once I'm 100% I'll be driving up and therefore I will be on my own schedule. So that is my highlight and I can look forward to getting better!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Fun! Even if I counted the almost year that I took off from Cerb you still have a longer membership than I. Not too many early morning coffee buddies on here besides you. :) Thanks for that and other things. :)

My Country â?? My Ottawa The recent events in Quebec and Ottawa give cause for all of us to reflect upon national and international policies, the Canada that we know now, the Canada that we grew up with and many wonder already about the Canada that is to come. As a relatively infrequent visitor to our nationâ??s capital city, most recently in November of last year, I always stare in awe as I walk or drive past Parliament Hill and look at the majesty of the buildings and grounds and I see the symbolic nature of what they represent. I always note to myself the apparent indifference to the sight by the thousands of people who see it on a daily basis and give no apparent notice as they proceed with their daily lives, possibly taking for granted the symbol that is for them constant and routine. It was many years in the making but finally one year a while back my family and I joined with thousands, all of us perched on our blankets and as we sat on the front lawn for Canada Day celebrations. That is a memory etched in my mind forever. I so well recall sitting in the visitorsâ?? gallery where the only security was a reminder to people to remove their hats. In the last few days and weeks I have seem images of people using the front lawn to throw their frisbees or for mass yoga classes or to hold peaceful protests. For me, even being from so very far away in this country, I always thought of it as my own, one of MY places. In the last twenty four hours I have heard one media person after another say something to the affect that, â??This is the day that Canada changed.â? That disturbs and scares me as much as the events that precipitated the comments. I am incredibly nervous that Mr. Harper will use these events as a springboard to further infringe upon our civil rights, our privacy and freedoms. If he does and if we condone it, then terrorists win. Mr. Vickers is being hailed as a hero for his actions yesterday, as he certainly was. He has been widely quoted in the past as saying that he viewed his job as Sergeant-At-Arms as not only to provide for the security of Parliament but also that his other primary role is to maintain Parliament as Canadaâ??s place, a place for the everyday people. His next heroic act will be to act as the person to lead the voice for keeping our Parliament accessible to all of us. His voice will be needed. Why is it that it took this attack to cause the three leaders to speak with a common voice? For once they spoke as one rather than play their usual political games. If there is one ray of potential positivity from all of this it would be my hope that every single MP because of the very personal nature of the events that they were a part of yesterday will for the first time recognize that their decisions are very personal to real people in our country and around the world. Itâ??s a big wish, but let our MPâ??s of ALL parties understand finally that this is not a game for trained seals to say and vote only as they are told to, but that they can and should take personal responsibility for their decisions that affect so many Canadians and global neighbors. Ottawa and Canada stand up and let this not be the fundamental change that I see so many already accepting as inevitable and justified. Donâ??t let terrorism win by succumbing to terrorist wishes and desires. I love my Canada and do not want to lose any more of what we used to stand for. MN2

For whomever might be in need.

Sipping a beer and finalizing a purely social date with a Cerb lady. :) For football fans you will understand the significance of this. I just put Calvin Johnson on the trading block in my fantasy football league. Yikes.

I'm having coffee in my greenhouse as I watched the sunrise this morning. Its happening later and later each day for sure. Making my daily "to do" list and planning to enjoy my family company that is here for the weekend.

A cumulative highlight as I often write, but I had a GREAT extended Thanksgiving weekend away with family and more family arriving this evening and staying until Sunday. I have a trip to see my daughter and grandson in Ontario in less than two weeks and I took advantage of our first lousy weather day in a long time to get started on another bedroom renovation. The B&B will be in great shape for visitors. :) I also made a pretty good decision today as well!

I have read through this thread in reasonably great detail, and I see a lot of, "I think that they won't....," and, "I hope that they don't ....," but underlying it all is the stark reality that barring the fall of the government in the next few days this will become law of the land. I understand the arguments made here for code words, and money for time, and as well, it seems as if the ladies are making arrangements to try to get around the advertising laws. What has not been brought up to this point is I believe, a very practical point. Assuming that ads in one form or another are still accessible to prospective clients, and assuming that police and courts will pretend that none of the code words actually refer to sexual services (which currently go undefined), there comes a point at which a client must communicate with a lady. At THAT point he becomes open to criminal charges, without even having to meet the lady or complete any financial transaction. Until a month ago I was as transparent as a client could be with an SP. My transparency has been truth that included name, phone number, email address, anything they wanted to know. However at this point I don't like those assumptions mentioned above. To get to the crux of the matter, the question is, how does one initiate a contact without incriminating oneself, while still assuming that the police are not total idiots? I have been mulling this whole thing over for a very long time, wondering what I would do when this becomes law. As it approaches reality I am looking at the very practical issues because I now think that I don't want to quit. I REFUSE to have the choice of celibacy dictated to me by a Canadian government of all things. I spent the last couple of days writing some emails to SP's, some of whom I have met and some of whom I have yet to meet, without sending a single one. My intention is to lay some groundwork, introduce myself, whatever. The question ultimately becomes how do I communicate both now and later and still feel protected. Should I send those emails or PM's now? I trust the women that I have met, utterly and completely. Is it simply the ability to continue to trust in others that I have to content myself with? I realize that this is rather disjointed and rambling, but the whole topic is composed of so many interlocking individual little parts. I'm looking for help here, maybe especially from SP's, but also from any of the many who are far smarter than I.

Leather! At a block buster movie in the theater - Regular or 3D version?

This morning. Now I cannot write in the, "I Like/Positivity Thread," anymore because I would be a thread killer. :) Gonna try and earn back my name. LOL.

Hope all is well with your Mom Joseph.

And THAT sir is the crux of the matter. Certainly by Christmas every single sex worker will, under the law, BE a victim of criminal behavior with expectation that they cooperate with police. Otherwise they can be threatened with criminal prosecution (Look up the Canadian legal definition of conspiracy for which they are not exempted in Bill 36) or outed in public or referred to social services as unfit mothers, or referred to an evangelical group to be saved. Or, or or. If you believe that there no police officers that would ever do that then you have more faith than I. So I will not be a client, certainly in part due to personal fear of criminalization, but equally I will not place a woman in a position of being under the pressure of making the choice of confidentiality over HER own personal well being. The purely hypothetical issue that a few face now of naming politicians is nothing at all as compared to the issue that some of them will be facing on a personal level in the near future. Where will taking the moral high road be then? I would not blame them now for naming nor would I blame them in the future when they are threatened.