Halloween

Halloween was great when I was a kid. My mom made my costumes for me. At that time, kids usually dressed up as cowboys, gypsies, nurses, rabbits, or clowns. No TV characters and no one had a store-bought costume. But it was a different time. It was the 1970’s and I lived in a town much smaller than Edmonton. It only had 1200 people so I think we managed to visit every house. I always went out with 4 or 6 of my friends. No one’s parents came with us, unless it was very cold. If it was, somebody’s mom would follow us around in a warm car, just in case. I was sent out of the house with instructions not to eat any candy until I got home, because mom and dad had to inspect it first. Of course, I ignored that. The best part was how much fun I had walking around town after dark with my friends. We laughed and talked, and pretended to be scared of shadows, or dark houses. Sometimes we met other groups of kids from school. (There was only one school). We’d stay together for awhile, and then split up, or find other groups. I don’t remember it being very cold ever, but it must have been. So as a big group we would walk from house to house and at the door we would yell ‘trick or treat’ as loudly as we possibly could to announce ourselves. We would collect our piece of candy in our pillowcases and move on to the next house.

After about two hours we were all back in our own houses and I would turn over my candy to my parents who would pour the bag out onto the living room floor and look at it all for any signs that it might have been interfered with. They would inspect the fruit for any signs that some one might have inserted a needle or a razor blade into it. If it was safe it would go into the fridge. Home made cookies or brownies had to be thrown away immediately, in case they were poisoned. Not that there ever were many home baked things. Most people knew it wouldn’t be eaten. But once I got a toothbrush.

After I got my candy back I separated it myself. There was always one or two bags of potato chips, the best things of all, and some chocolate bars. These I ate in the first few days, but there was also a lot of candy like lollipops and cheap, molasses toffees. I wasn’t very interested in these and they lingered for a long time.

Tonight, however, things seem to be different. There’s not so many kids. I guess they are all at the mall, or the community parties. A lot of the ones who are coming look too old to be out. I considered myself too old when I turned 12. Some kids are not even in costume. And there is often a lurking parent in the background. They ring the doorbell and say ‘trick or treat’ quietly when I come to the door. I wonder if they are having as much fun as I did. It doesn’t seem like it. But they do get better candy.

'Ukraine' or 'The Ukraine'

Today, in our grammar class on articles we discussed when to put a definite article (the) in front of names of countries, and we didn't come to a decision about whether Ukraine or The Ukraine was correct. The answer is below, copied from Wikipedia. It looks like you were right, Anatoliy, but old habits die hard.

Ukraine, from Wikipedia
"Ukraine" is from Old East Slavic ukraina meaning "borderland". It derives from u ("by, at") and the Slavic root kraj ("edge; region").[6] The territory was so named because it was the borderland or "frontier zone" of medieval Russia at the time of the Tatar invasion in the 13th century. ... In the Ukrainian language, krayina simply means "country." In English, the country is referred to without the definite article, conforming to the usual English grammar rules for names of countries. Before the country's independence in 1991, the country was often referred to as The Ukraine. The term Ukraine rather than The Ukraine is now predominant in diplomacy and journalism.

One Million Acts of Green

Last night I was watching one of my favourite news programs, "The Hour" with host George Strombolopolous. Have you ever watched this program? It's a good show, aimed at younger people who like to get their current events in a more relaxed, 'hip' manner. One of the things he talked about last night was a new program called One Million Acts of Green. It's a page that is trying to encourage Canadians to do big and small things to save the environment. Hopefully as a group Canadians (and immigrants) can do one million things to help the environment. THey are talking about little things, like washing clothes in cold water, to big things like buying more environmentally friendly cars and products to heat and cool your house. The page also tells us how much Greenhouse gas emmissions we are saving with this act. So, I joined today and I will see what I can do. I already do somethings, but I can do others.

So, my question is... how much difference do you think one person can make to the environment? After all, its the big companies who do the most damage. If I don't remember to switch off my lights, or I let my car run too long, does it matter?

Welcome Accounting Group

You will be able to find yourselves and the other classmates here.

Here is the assignment

If you post a minimum of one entry a week for the next 8 weeks (in English) and comment on at least three other people's entries I will give you 100% for this assignment, which is worth 5% of the total writing mark.

You can write about anything you want, post any pictures or links that you want. It's YOUR blog.

I will send out a conversation starter once every week to get you started.

Blogging Video

What is a blog? And why do I need one? To answer these questions, watch this video.




Now take a look at this
Blogging For Beginners