Flora's Spot

Ask

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 23:14:00 +0000

Why do I always have to ask?
Paralysed by racing thoughts, I can't do anything;
Loss of self-worth, but of course
I always have to ask.
Otherwise,
How am I going to get them to
Lade their lives
With a moment with me?
Fearing something, fearing truth:
That thing that makes us ill.
And that is why
I'll always have to ask,
And why they never will.

This work is licensed under Creative Commons.

This is a poem about anxiety disorder, ADHD, loneliness, and being cast away, and how much of a struggle it is to live with.

Using Bath Products in a Cost-Efficient and Ecologically-Sound Manner

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:27:00 +0000

Hello! I know I have not posted in what appears to be forever (okay, it was actually six months), but I am now and I would like to talk to you today about something that bothers me very much: wastefulness. It's all around us, and even the best of us (even the environmentalists, and maybe even the freegans) partake in it. Everyday, we are bombarded with the wasteful troubles of the world. We sit in front of the television while saying something along the lines of, "Oh, that's too bad," but yet we still continue living without making positive changes for both ourselves, other people, and the planet. When we want to change, we feel so overwhelmed because we try to pack in a million changes at once, rather than making gradual steps toward the goal. Believe me, I'm on a diet, and I didn't start eating very healthy without making some positive changes for my health. This transcends to all types of behaviour in life. And so, today I'm prepared to add several categories to Flora's Spot that may hopefully help some of you out there (and you can give tips, too!): Environmentalism, Wise Spending, Waste Reduction, and Making a Difference. This post, awesomely enough, fits into all four categories. Now, for today's "lesson"...

Today's lesson is about making the most of bath products. Not only do you save money because you use less, but you do less harm to the earth because you're decreasing your carbon footprint. Sure, you're putting the same stuff into the ocean (unless you buy organic or biodegradable products). And just how do we do all of this? Mixing your products together! It's really very simple... in fact, here's the steps:

Make sure you have permission to do this so that you don't anger anyone for "ruining their favourite product." Or, look at step ten here to find out how you can mix their products without them noticing at all.
Grab all of your bath products.
Take the shampoos, and see which bottles of shampoo have small amounts in them.
Find the biggest bottle or the bottle with the biggest opening at the top (the latter is preferred, unless you need more space than the bottle can contain).
Get another bottle, preferably with a smaller opening than this one.
Take the lids off of both bottles, but wash the one for the second bottle I mentioned and put it in a plastic bag for recycling (at least over here in Canada, it will not be recycled if there's anything on it).
Take the second bottle I mentioned, and with the first bottle handy, turn it upside down on top of it with both openings sort of "connected" so that the second bottle can pour into the first one. Make sure the stuff is in an area where they cannot be knocked down.
Repeat the above steps for conditioners, shampoos, liquid soaps, and just about any bath products you have.
Have patience.
If you're tired of a person's wastefulness and they won't let you mix, you can do this: if they have a lot of product in their bottle of whatever, add a bit of something that you could mix into it, and then shake their bottle. And I mean just a bit. I did this with body wash today and it smells and looks the same. No one can tell the difference.

A short guide for bars of soap:

You guys probably know this one fairly well, but I have a bit of an addition to it that I have not heard of previously. So anyway, you know those little slivers of soap that you just leave lying around and cannot use? Well, you're wrong! You can use them if you have another bar of soap. And here's the steps:

Grab the bar of soap you currently use. It would be preferable if this bar is already used, and if you're currently using more than one, get one that has the most light spots. These are spots that come from using the soap, and are soft. The reason why this is preferable is because a. you're being less wasteful and b. the soft spots make it easier to mould the sliver into the bigger bar of soap.
Grab the sliver.
Look for the biggest soft spot on your current bar of soap. This tends to be at the bottom.
Take the sliver, and embed it into the soft spot until that spot mushes, so you can get some of that and put it on top of the sliver for better moulding.
Preferably, allow it to dry.

Note: you can use a new bar and embed your sliver at the bottom (which is also preferable since it will not fall apart from the rest of the bar, and allows it to become fully moulded into the bar over time), but again, used bars are preferable for the soft spots, so feel free to wait until your new bar is used enough to make this process work a little better.

Remember...

Ask for permission first.
If you can get away with mixing using the method above or a method you come up with without risking your house mate's safety (they may use this product for medical reasons or may be unable to properly style their hair without it), do it. People are too wasteful nowadays, and as undemocratic as it seems, sometimes you have to find ways to work around their wasteful habits.
Bars of soap can be used in place of body wash. If you have some that you haven't used in forever, use them to replace your body wash once it's finished. That bar of chemicals is going to end up somewhere, so you have nothing to lose. All you can do is save money, which is always good.
Don't buy something you don't need. I'm not sorry; you do not need that new shampoo because of the coconut scent, nor a new body wash, conditioner, etcetera. The only ingredients proven to be useful in these products are the detergents and conditioners. These are universally found in lots of products. I don't know if there are any outliers, but for the most part, this is true.
Find alternatives. There's probably stuff in your house that you can use as an alternative to body wash, soap, shampoo, and maybe even conditioner.

Thanks for reading! Please add your own tips if you'd like. You could even list some good alternatives that are environmentally friendly and cost-efficient!

Mohawk Moon

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:41:00 +0000

This was taken at West 5th and Fennell in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Click on it to make it larger.

If you'd like to purchase this as a print for some crazy reason, click here.

Video Blogs #5 & 6 - "My Cat Oreo" & "Mortimer, Mojo, and Samir"

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 02:29:00 +0000

These two video blogs today are dedicated to three lovely cats: Oreo, Mortimer, and Mojo. And the other animal is my older brother Samir.

My Cat Oreo

Mortimer, Mojo, and Samir

Thanks for watching! Please leave some comments.

"How would you envision your ideal world?"

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:35:00 +0000

“How would you envision your ideal world?”

My brother Sam said this to me last night as I laid down on the sofa next to his bed in his room. Sometimes I like to crash at his place to get a sort of mental break from home. I gave him my answer: I would change nothing. With persistance, he repeatedly said things like, “So, you wouldn’t want to look like, let’s say, Natalie Portman?” Well that just changed the question entirely. That would mean he was asking me about how I’d envision my ideal self. And do you know what I would change? Still, nothing.

He kept asking the question a few more times before I gave him an added response. The first part consisted of myself telling him that without good or evil, the world would be a rather boring place. I then added, “What’s the point of existing if there’s nothing to overcome?”

“Ouch,” he said. He then left the room.

I was left to lay there for a while in wonder as to why Sam asked me that question. He clearly was talking to someone upstairs as soon as he left and did so until he made his return. I couldn’t help but feel obliged to ask him the very same question as soon as he got back.

“How would you envision your ideal world?”

He had no answer.

He did, however, say things that came as a surprise to me. Perhaps it’s because a large majority of brother-sister relationships involve both parties disliking each other, which is different from hating each other by the way. In what seemed to be an honest response, he said that not only do I inspire him but I’m one of the few genuine people he’s ever known. The other thing that came as a surprise to me was the fact that, like myself, he doesn’t have complete trust in anyone. We learned that we were similar in other ways as well.

As we talked more, I realized some key philosophical similarities between Sam and myself. Our reasoning processes seemed quite aligned on many issues. For example, some years ago I decided that I never want to have kids because of all of the illnesses that run in my family – extreme cases of depression being one of the many. His reasons were the exact same. Furthermore, due to his lack of being able to trust anyone, he – just like myself – has never had a meaningful relationship with anyone. After this discussion, he told me that we need to stop discussing this stuff because it depressed him far too much and he had wrestling practice in the morning, so he needed his rest.

At this point I cannot recall the rest of what was said when he woke me up again. It felt almost unreal because never have I been so convinced that my beliefs of someone I knew all my life were quite wrong. And it wasn’t just about him; Sam convinced me that my understanding of our father and my brother Rafi were wrong. Not completely so, but in terms of them not being wholly accurate. What was said about Rafi didn’t stick to my mind quite like what he said about dad. The funny thing is, it comes back to a theme mentioned by a friend of mine.

Sympathy for the devil. The idea, as I similarly worded it last night, is to think of this person you hate and give reasons as to why they do/did those things that made you hate them so that you can have sympathy for them rather than hatred. I didn’t believe in that argument until I was so convinced amidst the conversation with my brother. So he gave me the reasons. Dad was a military doctor in Iraq who was forced illegally through five more years in the military by the Iraqi government. He came to Canada and his medical qualifications count for nothing. His kids don’t obey his every order. Thus, he loses all sense of control in his life. He’s not even attracted to his wife anymore. They end up having an abusive relationship and become toxic to each other.

Those who possess your time also possess your mind; this lyric from a song hold truth. Sam told me that he could never see our father again or he would have a mental breakdown. I cannot say that I would have that exact emotional reaction to my dad because what I felt before last night was complete contempt and hatred for the man. I realize now that this hatred that manifested so deeply in my mind was just another way for him to control me; namely my thoughts, feelings and thus my time and mind. I do not wish to be anyone’s mental slave. But I never would want to change that past, let alone invision a different world.

Video Blog #4 - Camera Test

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 18:22:00 +0000

Hey guys! Just thought I'd give you all a little sample of the video quality you should expect from hereon Flora's Spot. Thus, this is video blog number four - the camera test.

Video Blog #3 - "Feminism and Twilight"

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:43:00 +0000

Hey guys! I made my 2nd video blog today and I think it turned out pretty alright (minus my untidy appearance, but hey). Tell me what you think.

Feminism and Twilight Pt. 1 of 2

Feminism and Twilight Pt. 2 of 2

New Template

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:13:00 +0000

There's a new template for the site. I thought I needed something that didn't look too blogger-esque, since I did put in the money to get a domain name. I looked online for Blogger templates, and this one was just perfect. Here's to a truly great country - Canada!

Domain Name Purchase

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:48:00 +0000

florasspot.blogspot.com is now florasspot.com. I purchased the domain name for about $10 U.S.

Flora Korkis' 2nd Video Blog - "Internet Advertising"

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 18:50:00 +0000

My 2nd ever video blog. Please do add your thoughts here.

Flora Korkis Attempting to do a Video Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:27:00 +0000

Here is my first ever video blog, done for Facebook. Feel free to laugh at my expense.

An Eastern Girl's Struggle

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:29:00 +0000

A young girl screams as she is being beaten by her father. He lands his fist on her face. When she collapses to the floor, he repeatedly bashes her head in with his two gorilla-like fists. Not only does she feel fear and pain, but also humiliation; the father has an audience treating the situation as if it were an act in a comedy. This audience was my mom and my brothers. Because of many situations like this in my past, I have developed what is commonly known as manic depressive disorder. However, due to my father's leave to Damascus in August of last year, I have regained the willpower necessary to fight back for the years that were unjustly stolen from me.

I wasn't aware of it at the time, but my father leaving the house was a landmark day in my life. This person who I had a hard time thinking of as a person rather than a monster was gone. I felt free on that sunny August tenth morning to know that I would not see him ever again. This led to the growth of many once-contained curiosities that made me learn so much about myself in such a short period of time, and they certainly led to many interesting places. Above all else, I came to realize that part of what my father was doing was a way to prevent me from having these experiences so that I could remain dependent on him. By the end of January during the following year, I knew that I simply could not allow this to happen.

Let's fast-forward to early February. I wasn't doing well in school because I became addicted to new experiences. In fact, I wanted to move out right after school was done. From here I believed that my only option was to join the military which, to be fair, is such a clichéd thing to do. My desire then was to become a military communications officer, and so I started working out as if I was a bodybuilder. I even skipped school just to go to the recruitment centre in downtown Hamilton since I didn't want my mom to know exactly what was going on; I was eighteen so my school did not report my absences. I thought I was happy for once in what was a lifetime of abuse. It turns out I was wrong.

It didn't take me very long, perhaps about a month or two past the day I first saw my recruiter, to figure out that my desire to join the military was nothing more than a reaction to the results and side-effects of a situation that no one should ever go through. Thus, the desire was meaningless. To say that it served no purpose though would be wrong since I learned more about the world when it came to fruition than I had under the regime of a tyrant. After this realization, I began looking for my purpose in life. I thought about what I wanted to bring to the world and I did eventually find it.

I only have two words: Loreto Leombruni. He is a secondary school teacher. Actually, I have a couple more: Anita Kudiyate, also a secondary school teacher. They worked at the same school. I never was more inspired by any people than I was by them. In my third year of secondary school, Loreto was like the father I never had in how much he cared about my well-being, and Anita was like family to me in that same year. The more I thought about them and how they touched me just reaffirmed each time I did so that I wanted to be like them. And so, I decided that I would try my best to be a product of their inspiration and aspired to become a secondary school teacher.

In the grand scheme of things, I learned that the worst of horrors can create incredible beauty. I know I probably won't ever have a relationship with my dad because of what he did, but what he did may have been, for all I know, part of the mould which formed who I am today. The situation will never be forgiven, but I can at least thank the darkness for the new light.

"Winter" Published on Monkey Biz

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:55:00 +0000

My last post was published on Monkey Biz, albeit in a slightly different variation. Click here.

Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 16:52:00 +0000

It's coming. I can feel the days getting shorter and the nights getting longer. When it's morning and you're surrounded by darkness, a cold chill to your spine, and you no longer need an air conditioner. When the many bright green leaves of trees age as humans do, and eventually they will meet their frostbitten death. All life has stopped growing; rather it has been stunted or it already died. Soon, the snow will meet the ground and pale my sun-kissed olive skin as I walk across the mountain that is my home. But this is my home, and I would have it no other way.

This is Hamilton.

Child of my Nightmares

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:02:00 +0000

(this is an account of a dream I had last night)

A strange child. Huge puffy head, small lifeless body. Perhaps to be clearer it should be mentioned that this it’s head was comparatively much larger to it’s body than the head to body proportion you’d see in other infants.

It looked at me and I looked at it. Was it mine? I do not know, yet I’d travelled time and place just to save it and hold it in my arms. Was it a boy? Is it a girl? I did not presume for I was not sure. One cannot be certain with the child’s many physical abnormalities.

Red crack-like scars covered the child’s emaciated legs and stomach. It’s physical weakness does not permit it to stand or hold its head up high as a person. Again it puffed its face in discontent. It was slow to most things but not to know that it was a victim of birth. And we certainly can’t find the murderer. But I was there.

Like a well runs dry of water, I ran dry of patience. I left it for a minute and as soon as I got back, I was already cursed. Half of the child’s extremely fragile neck ripped off somehow. I stared at it as it was dying, while it cursed existence and wished that it was nothing rather than a lesser person.

The thing that happened next frightened me the most. The beautiful Asian medic next to me grabbed the poor thing by it’s head, and it breathed no more.

As I sat up screaming on my bed, the product of my nightmares forbade my return to rest. I hope to never again dream of children dying in my arms.

Early Childhood Educator and Assistants Research Career Report

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:21:00 +0000

This is a report I've done as a tribute to the current voluntary work that I do at a preschool. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing about this interesting career choice (though I daresay I'd not do this for my career past this summer). So here it is... a dedication to Early Childhood Educators.

Career or Job Title, Description and NOC (National Occupation Code)

The career which is highlighted in this report is in the category of “Early Childhood Educators and Assistants” as outlined by the National Occupation Classification system in Canada and Job Futures, which is a service of Service Canada. The following is a description of this occupational grouping (NOC 4214) by Job Futures.

Early childhood educators plan and organize activities for preschool and school age children. Early childhood educator assistants provide care and guidance to pre-school children under the supervision of early childhood educators. Early childhood educators and assistants lead children in activities to stimulate and develop their intellectual, physical and emotional growth.

Necessary Personal Requirements for the Career or Job

According to Okanagan College in British Columbia, a successful Early Child Education Student and Graduate, and assumedly a person/persons already working within this occupational grouping, must have the following personal skills: a caring and accepting attitude, strong interpersonal skills, self-awareness, skills in critical thinking, flexibility, and an acceptance of diversity.

Education and/or Training Requirements

In order to pursue a career within this occupational grouping, a bachelor’s degree or college diploma in early childhood education is required. However, in the Mohawk College citation provided in the attached works cited, a certificate of qualification is made available. It can be assumed that this restricts the educator’s options to being an assistant to a fully-qualified early childhood educator, thus leaving them on the level of early childhood education assistant.

Colleges, Universities and/or Institutions Offering the Courses and the Locations

Three post-secondary institutions offering programs and training for certification within this occupational grouping are as follows:

· Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology: a one-year certificate program in Early Childhood Education provides certification as an early childhood education assistant, while a two-year diploma program provides certification as an early childhood educator. Locations are available in the following Ontario cities: Hamilton and Brantford.

· Seneca College: a two-year diploma program is offered in a regular two-year course or one year for students who already have an undergraduate degree, both of which provide certification as an early childhood educator. There are eight campuses in total, all of which are in Ontario: Markham (Buttonville and Markham Campuses), Toronto (Jane, Seneca@York, and Newnham Campuses), King City (King Campus), Newmarket (Newmarket Campus), North York (Yorkgate Campus)

· Niagara College Canada: a two-year early childhood education program is offered and provides certification as an early childhood educator. There are two locations in total; one in Niagara, Ontario, and the other in Welland, Ontario.

Program Description and the Length of the Program

Because only one program will ultimately be chosen by a student for certification, and because of my current location and for the purposes of making the assumption that I am willing to take on this apprenticeship seriously in the future, I have chosen to highlight Mohawk’s two-year Early Childhood Education program. The program length is hour-based: after the completion of 4000-6000 “on-the-job” and theoretical work hours, a student may get their apprenticeship certificate and then complete more theoretical work in order to gain their diploma. No course specific course requirements are listed.

Current Salary Range

According to Job Futures, the salary range for an Early Childhood Educator ranges at $10.57-13.51 on average. For people at 20-24 years of age, the average salary is $10.57 (the lowest); 25-24, $13.51; 55+, $12.60; and the overall average is $12.67. This is significantly below the national average for all occupations, which is $18.07.

Employment Outlook

In Ontario, the employment outlook for Early Childhood Education is fair because a significant amount of people within this occupation class will be retiring in the next few years. However, much better opportunities are available abroad in countries like New Zealand, where prestigious scholarships are being offered to students to train in this area since in 2007, the country had its highest birthrate in 44 years. In fact, New Zealand currently faces a shortage of ECE’s.

Bibliography

National Occupation Classification. July 1st, 2009

"Early Childhood Education". Okanagan College. July 1st, 2009 .

"Job Futures - Early Childhood Educators and Assistants". Job Futures. July 1st, 2009 .

"Early Childhood Education :: Niagara College". Mohawk College. July 1st, 2009 .

Women of Seasons

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 22:37:00 +0000

"They will kill me but they will not kill my voice, because it will be the voice of all Afghan women. You can cut the flower, but you cannot stop the coming of spring." - Malalai Joya, women's rights advocate in Afghanistan.

When life gives you lemons...

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:38:00 +0000

This category known as "quotes" is dedicated to the everyday awesomeness brought to you by average people.

"When life gives you lemons....CHOKE ON THEM AND DIE!" - Dave Kern, a douchebag buddy from America

Arab Christian

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:24:00 +0000

Arab Christian
defends faith, Shi'ites deplore
He is here no more

(I realized I made a silly mistake in editing, so I had to change "Sunni" to "Arab" again).

Happy Canada Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:13:00 +0000

To my American friends: yes, there is a day called Canada Day. It is July 1st, which is today and it's the birthday of Canada. To celebrate, I thought I'd share a really cute video by Nadine. It can be viewed below.

And, my Canadian amigos, or Americans being held hostage in Canada... tell me what you've done after all the Canadian festivities, eh. Please don't make an ass of yourself and chug down a bottle of maple syrup to prove a point - that's just a waste of perfectly good maple syrup!

I may or may not make a post tomorrow on what I did today.

Still Life of a Flower

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:06:00 +0000

Still life of a flower from a pattern I did because I couldn't sleep tonight:

No larger version needed. That's all the detail this has.

A Tale of a Wolfe: Part Two in commencement! And one request...

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 06:23:00 +0000

I've decided to start work on A Tale of a Wolfe: Part Two. Actually, I've already started... and planned out a very awesome plot twist that makes me giggle like a schoolgirl. The questions to be answered are the following: can man get over pure madness? Will Wolfe redeem himself, or will he remain mentally incarcerated for the rest of his life? Just who exactly is the omniscient narrator? What other possible sadistic sickness could occur? Will more of it occur? Will Flora be such an undecided ass that she'll continue the story in another sequel and possibly make it so long that it could qualify as a novella? Stay tuned to find out more!

In addition, I have a plan for another story. It's a little different from what I usually do, but it's good. It's an adventure story about a very intelligent girl who feels held back by the patriarchal Ancient Egyptian society in which she'd grown up in and thus runs away. That's all I'm telling you for now.

Oooh, one more thing I wanted to say: if you or a good artist can make a visual interpretation of part one of A Tale of a Wolfe, that would be sweet. I'll be getting someone to do one for part two as well if this works out successfully.

Ciao!

Golden Leaves

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:33:00 +0000

Click here to see a larger version of this picture or here if you'd like to buy a print of it.

The Nature of Downtown

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:45:00 +0000

Click here to view a larger version of this picture and here if you'd like to buy a print of it.

Fountain at Gore Park

noreply@blogger.com (Flora Korkis) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:44:00 +0000

I enjoy taking pictures from time to time, so you may see some pictures I take posted here on occasion. Here's the fountain at Gore Park:

Click here to view a larger version and here if you'd like to buy a print of it.