mrrnice2

Just sending along best wishes and best of luck for the future. It was a pleasure to have met you at the Halifax social way back when. Take care Dr. L MN2

Simply put, I'm home! Three weeks away and lots of amazing things happened. For the first time since I have been alone I was not itching to get home as soon as I was away! Progress :) However, there IS no place like home. :)

I have written quite a few highlights on here over the past few years but none can beat this one. I met my new grandson yesterday when he was a mere two hours old and it was amazing. My first grandchild and special beyond special. It was my own very special birthday gift. Thanks again to those who have mentioned this here in the various threads and little PM's and it so nice to be a part of such a community as we all are.

Thanks everyone for noticing and for the best wishes, nice PM's and guest book messages. It was an exciting day full of love and anticipation of the birth of my first grandchild. It did not quite happen on my birthday yesterday, but appears as if its only perhaps moments away. I'm planning for a Highlights of the Day thread entry before too long. It's nice to be in Ontario for my birthday. :)

Its looking as if it shall be another perfect summers day here on the Island. It certainly took long enough to get here but since summer did arrive it has been what I consider to be perfect. My gardens, both veggie and flowers are as immaculate as I have ever had them and there will be good flower picking and vegetable picking for friends and neighbors while I am on the road. I am off this morning to visit overnight with family in NB and then probably have a single longer drive tomorrow through to Kingston. Then on to family in Brantford and eventually back to Kingston to meet my soon to be first grandchild. :) So all you folks in Ontario, get out the nice summer weather. Not too hot, not too cold and go easy on that killer humidity that I always seem to run into.

Happy Birthday to you Mr. Magician, fellow Islander. All the best to you. MN2

Happy Birthday Trish. I hope that you have a great day! MN2

New hard drive for my laptop. Looks like ALL files are saved and data and email. Yay on that! Reinstalling at least basic programs. I got away very lucky. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you Malika! Best wishes for a great day and year ahead. MN2

Unfortunately it will be good practice for December in Canada.

Hi Jessica. How exciting to be planning a trip to the East coast. I hope that you love it. I have no idea how to answer questions about work - best days, best times of day, etc. I can however make a few suggestions about "Things to do." Being from PEI, I would say the following. Despite the hype, the very last place that I would suggest to a visitor is the Cavendish beach area. Very commercial, very crowded. The entire North shore is covered with our lovely white sand beaches, and Greenwich which is a separate part of the PEI National Park hosts an amazing beach that will be virtually deserted, even at peak tourist season. Basin Head up on the East end of the Island has an amazing beach where the sand squeaks under your feet. If you enjoy live entertainment and theater, Confederation Center of the Arts is pretty incredible. I attended a few weeks ago a show that runs all summer at the MacKenzie Theatre called Searching for Abegweit: The Island Songs & Stories of Lennie Gallant, and it was amazing. It is a small intimate theater seating 200 in cabaret style. A favorite restaurant in Charlottetown is The Pilot House, and for a unique and quaint Island dining experience a lobster dinner at New Glascow Lobster Dinners or Fisherman's Wharf would be recommended. By the way, nothing is formal in Charlottetown in the summer so whether it be fine dining or theater, you will see dress that includes everything from shorts to women dressed to the nine's. If you cross from NB on the bridge, then you can take the short ferry trip from Wood Islands at the other end of the Island over to NS without backtracking. Since you said that you will have your bike, the Confederation Trail along the water by St. Peter's is spectacular (and flat. :) ) It is very close as well to Greenwich. In NS since you will be in Cape Breton to grab the ferry to Newfoundland, the Cabot Trail would be my number one recommendation. Be aware that though it may look small on a map, the Maritimes, and then to add on Newfoundland is a huge undertaking timewise, and there is no way to see it all. I spent all of one summer camping in Newfoundland. Gros Morne is fabulous, and the hiking is beyond. BE VERY CAREFUL OF MOOSE! They are everywhere there! It is also a long drive across Newfoundland and they don't call it the Rock for nothing. Side trips off of the highway to coastal towns are worth doing. Don't miss the birds at Cape St Marys. So much to do. :) Feel free to PM if you'd like any more detail or if I could be of help. Have fun planning and doing! MN2

Sometimes I think I am a definite leg man, but, weird as it may be, the eyes have it. The eyes ARE the window to the soul.

But I really gotta figure out this Twitter thing though. I think I sent a Midnight-Massage tweet to Joy Smith by mistake. Poor Joy may not have the same sense of adventure as MM. Do ya think?

The gorgeous weather continues so that's always a highlight. I got to a Dr appointment with a surgeon today that was six months in arriving and now I have a 4-8 week wait for an MRI. That's okay as I am a patient man and we determined that depending on what an MRI shows the cure can be worse than the disease. LOL I'm sitting outside with a nice cold Keith's Red and watching my hummingbirds. It's like an airport here! Love the little guys. Oh, and my lilies and day lilies and all the many perennials are starting to burst into bloom. I'm going to be away a good part of August so will miss a lot of my flowers. Feel free to stop in and pick a bouquet!

Just hand dug brand new little baby PEI potatoes and picked peas from my garden. Green beans from the neighbors garden. Sorry. No meat tonight!

What I do not know is a lot, but what I am reasonably confident of is that one commonality among Cerb members and elsewhere, clients or sex workers, is the desire to stop this insane legislation.The correct way, or the best way to do this is certainly not unanimously agreed upon. I have written here in the past about my faith that wisdom would prevail, and then I wrote after Bill C-36 was introduced about the need to follow proper process and procedure. After watching the hearings I wrote some pretty crazy stuff here as well, and my progression in thought has changed as I have seen the intransigence of government and come to the realization that this will pass and that many are sluffing it off as no problem because the Supreme Court will overturn it. First that is in no way a sure thing but more important is that in the time for that process to be followed from start to finish is the question of how many sex workers will be hurt, killed or criminalized As well, the forgotten people are the clients as well who will face increased danger and certain criminal charges if `caught.`` I have serious reservations about creating a two tier level of sex workers and clients. I am not ready to abandon street workers or those sex workers who ARE in this industry solely because of a lack of viable choices, and there is NO doubt in my mind that they DO exist. Experience thus far seems to say that the proper process and procedure methodology has gotten us nowhere, but a Happy Hooker type campaign as noted may not be any more effective, and may hurt. Conservative `spin,`regardless of who says what in whichever forum is going to belittle supporters and discredit them with every opportunity. Ms. McDonald from Maggie`s delivered an amazing presentation before the committee and yet was disregarded and asked foolish questions by many of the committee members. The Happy Hooker reference from Conservative Stella Ambler shows how they will treat any discussion by consenting adults. The bottom line is that I certainly do not know the `best,`way, but I am quite confident that supporters of this bill will delight in any sort of a split in a coordinated response. Each of us will choose to do what we think is best and afterwards, keep in mind making donations to Maggie`s or POWER, as it is through their efforts that this is going to be fought in courtrooms.

In today's world and economy there are many references to the fact that throughout ones lifetime we should all be prepared to have multiple careers as a response to changing circumstances around us.. Having had only one career in my life, along with multiple summer jobs as a kid, I have been looking around and with the recent new legislation that is in the works, I have decided that in January of 2015 I will become a sex worker! It is the perfect thing and our government is encouraging these things of us - show initiative, be adaptable to laws and changing times and they love small business creation. I wonder if I can access a government grant. Let's see. 1. I shall be a one person business, working solely for myself and can advertise and communicate to my hearts content. 2. As a sex worker, then by government definition I am obviously suffering from childhood abuse, and/or drug abuse, and/or am a victim of trafficking, and since I am a victim I will be immune from being responsible for my actions and therefore immune from arrest and prosecution. 3. As a measure of protecting my personal safety I shall only book appointments from other established sex workers that can provide references. 4. If this career move does not work out then there is a lovely pot of $20 million that I can access to get out! Sweet! The thing is that I am not very intelligent, as government completely understands when it comes to sex workers, so I shall only ask for a donation of $X for my time but am willing to pay $2X to book an appointment with another sex worker at the very same time! Talk about time efficiency for both of us! I will even be able to claim a business losses deduction on my income tax! My calendar is filling up quickly! PM to book an appointment.

I could begin by stating that I am merely playing devil's advocate, however I cannot say that I am because if this were my choice I am not entirely sure of what I would choose to do. For me however it is entirely a moot point as I have no knowledge of anything. The moral high ground is virtually always an admirable position to be in. My first ever thought about the disclosure of names of MP'ss who are clients was sparked by the words of Terri Jean Bedford with the final words of her blog that was her response to the release if Bill C-36. Initially and MAYBE even now to disclose would, I felt, be putting sex workers and good clients at the same scuzzy level as our MPs have chosen to sink to. I know it's easy for me to say from the outside. I have read every post in this thread and cannot dispute too much. I really hope that as Gia said, there may not be a single MP as a client of a sex worker at all. However if her surmise is incorrect then by default, there IS a list. It may be a list of one name only and in only one sex workers mind. Or it may be two separate lists in two peoples minds. Or multiple lists in many. Which is the case in reality I have no idea and nor do most of us. Another list that I have become aware of through the media is a, "Bad date list," that is circulated between sex workers on the streets of Vancouver. These sex workers are sharing names of clients for their own personal protection. Is that not valid? On Cerb itself I have seen many a reference to the SP only area where this sort of information is shared about clients. I have read SP accounts here in public forums of times that they have reported a client to the police. I believe that the common denominator to these lists is the fact that the clients so named were named because of their intent to do harm, physical or otherwise. Let us now look at Bill C-36 and the members who support it and the ultimate result of it, things that we know well ahead of time. 1. All sex worker organizations have gone on record as saying that this legislation will cause physical harm to sex workers and have even said that this bill "Will kill women." 2. This bill will criminalize all clients. That will hurt the people who ARE at least I hope in some cases for SPs respectful ordinary men. This post and these thoughts are not personal. I believe if I wanted to continue with sex workers I probably can do so relatively safely. I believe that many of the SPs on Cerb believe the same. But we are the few of many. The street sex worker who is there by circumstance who will be forced to take chances is also one of us. So is the client who is new or unwary. So ultimately the question is. Is it best to maintain discretion and privacy knowing full well that a client that you know has full intention of causing harm and injury to your fellow sex workers and all clients. There are many smarter women in this industry that are involved with the various sex workers organizations and I am certain that they have already considered this issue before it was even in my thoughts. Emily Symons of POWER spoke to it in the National Post here. I do notice the qualifying words that she used. In order to practically release anything is a far more difficult thing than any of us realize. It is certainly illegal to blackmail so giving an MP the choice of, "Do this or.....", is not a valid choice. Anonymous revelations to CBC OR CTV would require proofs and corroborating sources. Police reporting is useless because at the moment nothing is illegal. On top of that, is that this a vindictive and dangerous group of MP's The little guy in my head says that IF those MPs actually exist then the release of one name a day over a period of time is something that could cause the government to fall and that would be the end if Bill C-36. I argued before for following process and procedure and I see clearly where it will take us. If you wish to put this on a personal level then, if you are an SP and you know that your best friend will be given a criminal record, assaulted or killed would you still stay silent right now? For me personally I do worry about women that I do not know, and as well it would truly piss me off if an MP who is doing this to all of us is given a free pass so that I can be criminalized. The moral high ground is ALWAYS a good choice. To set it aside for a moral dilemma is the Catch22 question that I am sure is present.

Well done Sir. Congrats to you!

Unless they went to Saint Francis Xavier in NS where that ever so famous 'X' ring would be perfect, it's hard to say. My daughter graduated this spring from Dal and I picked out a hand crafted gold/silver pendant on a silver chain....I THINK she loves it.

Oh no Lee. This is a double whammy on Argentina - We BOTH are cheering for them! However, maybe your girls will help. :) But good news Lee. I just heard that the psychic turtle is picking Argentina. :)

I am home from having spent a couple of days in NB where an event called the Transplant Games is being held. It's an athletic celebration in which all participants in all events are those who have received an organ transplant. I watched several events and watching the finish of the 5K race brought tears to me. There were true athletes who obviously run and train rigorously but also there were many who were truly struggling to finish - and THAT was what these games were about. Inspiring beyond anything that I expected. I attended a luncheon that was held to honor family members whose spouses, or sons or daughters were organ donors. I met with a number of families that are truly struggling with the deaths, their personal decision at the time, and their lack of knowledge of the outcome for the recipients. I only hope that I helped a little and it made me realize just how lucky I have been after going through that same experience. If you wish to be a donor, speak with your family.

I NEED to vent! I'm sorry. I have TRIED to be quiet. I have held my words. If you don't want to read negative vibes then stop reading here. If you want to be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand then stop reading here. If you want to believe that this will all just, "Go away," then stop reading here. If you think this whole Bill C-36 is just blowing smoke, then stop reading here. I watched almost all of today's committee hearings with so called witnesses. I had my bible study lesson. I heard myself described as a perpetrator of violence against women. I heard myself described as abusive. The very few anti-legislation people were not permitted to fully answer the questions that they were asked. They were interrupted and asked to give yes or no answers! The so called witness list in no way constitutes a balanced view of the two sides of the issue. In doing research on the committee process here, the committee can only recommend minor changes. They cannot have the legislation removed or altered in any significant form. It is clear that the Conservatives are determined to pass this to try to eliminate prostitution in any form from Canada. It is also clear that the opposition is willing to let this happen if there is an amendment of changing the communication provision. My prediction is that the bill will for the most part be passed as is, but possibly with more protections for women against prosecution, for anything. There is NO possibility that I can see of clients not being criminalized. All political parties would support that. If no woman is charged with anything then there is NO opportunity to appeal to the courts or Supreme Court. Clients will NOT be able to argue any provision of unconstitutionality based on personal safety. The specifics will be left to "trust," of individual police departments, police officers, and the courts, after men are charged, as to what constitutes sexual services. One person, and I don't recall who, indicated that the success of abolition will be based on risk to the client and their public shaming. That would be pretty politically correct in today's world. Maybe they have a chance of success? And yes I am ashamed that I am not out there publicly, front and center. It's not that I have been any sort of a good paying client to anyone in more than the last year but when this bill passes I will probably be gone completely other than treating Cerb as sort of my adult Facebook forum, if it still exists. That risk and public shaming is important to me. One person asked me here on this thread or another if I had thought about what I would do or say in a courtroom, if it ever came to that. Would I lie about seeking or getting sexual services? The reference was made today in committee that women will be pressured into giving up their clients in return for non-prosecution. I guess the ladies will have to think that question out as well before they continue in this business. If you read this far I apologise, but yes, I am frustrated, angry, and they almost had me convinced that I am a pervert, an abuser and an exerter of violence and power against women. I'll calm down by tomorrow, but this was NOT a good day at the committee hearings. I know, I am the only one that feels this way and most of you wish there was still a take away rep points button! Just venting!!!

It's bright and early on this Sunday morning on PEI and I am looking outside to see no additional damage here overnight from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Arthur. In terms of past history with storms like this, it was for me pretty easy. I lost a few big trees and that will keep my mega bonfires going for this summer and next. A giant maple came down on my established high bush blueberries so its natures call to do some serious pruning on those shrubs. My heavy duty well anchored (expensive) gazebo was lifted from its moorings and blown across the top of my driveway, right exactly where I park my Jeep. But a last minute impulse had me park my Jeep in the middle of the hay field behind my house. Patting myself on the back for that call! The power had been off for most of the day but came back in time for me to see the last few minutes of the Costa Rica - Netherlands game. All in all this was nothing too much. It's way worse out in Manitoba with their flooding around Brandon. How you doing out there Lee??????? Hmmm, the first storm of the year, the one starting with A came straight at us, Not an omen I hope! Have a great day everyone.

Francoise Boivin was just interviewed on CBC Radio,, "The House," and sounded amazing. I wonder what she can really do in the committee meetings. Have a listen if you get a chance. Unfortunately she made the following statement. The committee has power to recommend amendments to tweak things. An amendment such as not criminalizing clients would be out of order as it changes the basic intent of the bill. So, we are right back to depending on the Conservatives withdrawing the bill. BAD news.