So, let me just say, that this summer for me has been up and down. I’ve spent a fair amount of time plummeting down cliffs and tripping over my own feet, and I’ve spent some time standing up and dusting myself off. Okay, let me rephrase this- this entire last year has been up and down for me. And I’ve definitely made my fair share of ridiculous mistakes, dumb decisions, and made some of the most incredible friends in the world. In fact, I got to spend almost a week with these people recently. I cannot even begin to tell you how much love I have for my 60 new best friends. Yes, 60. It’s a MOB thing.. you really can bond with that many people in under 10 days. And for all of you, I have a quick (it’s probably not going to be that quick because I have a fair amount to say to all of you) shout-out. And some much needed thank you’s that are in order. Here goes:

So, in a few short days, I had the privilege of getting to know a lot of you. I was not expecting to meet so many people who would forever hold a place in my heart. I have to tell each and every one of you, that hearing your personal stories was not only so incredibly inspiring, but it changed something in me, forever. I sat in that room, on that life-changing night (ya’ll know which night I’m referring to) listening to people talk about about their lives, and it made me realize that every single one of us has experienced pain in some way, but it’s what we’re doing with our experiences that is changing the world for the better. I was, and still am, so proud, and honored to have shared that night with all of you. I can’t thank you enough for sharing with me, and all of us, your stories.

Now, I didn’t have the courage to stand up and share my story this year, but hearing yours made me realize something huge. Not your typical a-graves realizations, like coming to the conclusion that vacuuming out a beanbag chair is not a good idea, and that putting a full sized rug in your washing machine is not effective. No, this was something that changed the course of my life. For so long, I have let my story define me. Instead of dealing with the painful things I’ve experienced, I just shoved it down and “got over it”. I could never talk about it,  but it still remained who I was. I didn’t “get over it”, it was constantly hanging over me. In hearing you speak, I realized that you’ve taken your pain and done something positive with it, but it’s not what defines each and every one of you. No, what defines each and every one of you are your smiles, your laughter, your hugs, and your infinite gifts that you bring to the world every day. You are gifts. (Please don’t laugh at me for being cheesy- I know, I know). But it’s true- and I’m so lucky to know you all. And here’s what I’m going to do with everything you gave me.

This year, is a year of self discovery. An “Eat Pray Love” adventure, if you will. On more of a local scale. This year, I will start figuring who I am, without past events. And next year, I will be ready to share my story. That’s my goal. I have a lot to figure out, I have a lot to start fixing, but the thing is, now, I’m ready. As of now, Amanda is without a definition. No longer are my circumstances going to define me, instead, I’m going to figure out what I have to offer this world, right now. Not because of what I’ve seen, but because of what I want to see. Because I know for a fact that we are going to change the world. It’s not a question. WE are the generation, and I’m so lucky to be involved, and so excited to see what we are going to do with our lives.  To my 60 new best friends, for this, I thank each and every one of you. For inspiring me, for changing me, and for being you. The club sure can’t handle us, but… can the world?

I can’t wait to find out.

So much love for you guys. Never ever change.

A-Graves (and Sandi!)

Well this was a boring waste of time.

Bye guys. <div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1610px"

i didnt want to be creepy and take pictures of the customers…

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

That’s all.

Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.

Anyways, here’s my story.

Last year, around this time actually, my life was kind of sucking. Well, it probably sucked less than I thought it did, but I was having one of those times where I felt like everything was falling to crap and I was possibly wallowing a little bit in self pity. I did have reasons, I promise, but I was kind of just sitting in the dirt (figuratively) always waiting to get kicked again.

It was actually a complete and total coincidence that I stumbled across the MOB application form. I was stalking the Me to We website and came across it. I read about it, and, decided to apply. I’d just like to say that before this last year and half or so, I didn’t get involved in anything. I was the kid that usually wasn’t at school and said about five words a week when she was. It was only just before discovering the MOB that I started to become a little more outgoing (now you can’t shut me up, sorry about that).

In September we had our kickoff, I met Jobin and Kelsi (our epic and fearless leaders throughout this last year) and my mob leads, Gaby Silano (whom I now love dearly) and Marc Lombardo (whom I also now love dearly), and way too many more people to name whom I also now love dearly, and thus began the year with the people and movement that would change my life.

I had known about Free the Children before, but had never been really involved, and had no idea exactly where I was going with my life. First I wanted to be a vet (yeah, cliche) and then it was a Marine Biologist (this was probably after I saw Flipper or something) and then it was a doctor (probably something to do with Grey’s Anatomy, although when I hit high school I realized how much I hated maths and science. Not to mention the fact that I am one of the worst people at math on the face of the earth) and so on.

In getting involved with the MOB, I found my passion. Helping. I also found a group of people that I didn’t think existed. They were kind, non-judgmental, and they genuinely cared about the world. I went from knowing absolutely nothing about what I was getting into, from loving every second of being involved. Over the last year, as the MOB (personally I’m a Core-Team Lead for Toronto Central, and next year North Toronto, REPRESENT) we’ve done things like volunteering at homeless shelters, to joining forces and doing everything we could when disaster struck Haiti, to simply making sandwiches on one of the coldest days of the year and handing them out to the homeless in Toronto. It’s a group of people that are committed to helping, no matter the conditions.

Evem more incredible: everybody brings something different to the table. If you have a passion for photography, great! Bring your camera out to events and be a photographer! If you’re great with visual arts, you can help design items for campaigns, if you love public speaking, we can always utilise that! If you love numbers, spreadsheets, the technical side of things, even better! There’s something for everybody, and that’s one of the things that makes us unique. We’re all different, but everybody contributes something that’s part of a story that’s so much bigger than just us.

Over the last year, I’ve had my share of trials and tribulations, everybody has, but one of the things that kept me going was the MOB and the network- I can’t even say enough about how incredible all these people are, and how amazing it is to be involved in such a movement. We’re doing big things, and we’re doing them together. We believe in a better world, and we’re committed to social change. We live the movement of WE.

I’m going to cut my story off here, because I could probably go on forever, but my point is, that the MOB is incredible. Incredible people, incredible movement, incredible opportunity. And YOU should get involved. Are you idealistic, dedicated, and dynamic? Walk with us. Join the MOB.

You can check us out HERE

To join the MOB, click HERE

To learn more about BaseCamp and hear what the supa cool MOB intern Erica Baker has to say, click HERE, HERE, and HERE

For some ridiculously awesome knock-knock jokes, click HERE

I’m over exaggerating a little, I won’t tell you that you look like crap. Unless you’re related to me (aka spend most of your time with me and I call you my sister or brother) in which case, I might.

You know when facebook asks you what’s on your mind? Well, I hate that. I’m all like, “Hey facebook, it’s none of your goddamn business yo”. And I say it just like that because I’m reaaaaally hood.

It looks like it’s going to rain. Maybe the kids across the street will finally shut up and go inside. Beautiful. Hurry up storm clouds.

Yeah, that is a llama you see as the header on my blog. Or an alpaca- speaking of, I bought an alpaca yesterday. Legit. You’re probably thinking, “really?” and my answer is, “no.”. I could have though, like, if I had wanted to, I could have just gotten up, walked to the alpaca farms and brought one of those suckers home. Imagine my neighbours.. seeing me just casually walking my alpaca up the street. We’d both have our serious swag on too. That’s right, my alpaca would have his swag on. What a baller. Tonight I’m going to ask my mom if I can get an alpaca.

My friend Summer ran into my window last night. She’ll try to tell you she knocked on it, but I saw what really happened. I was painting my wall with lead paint when she did that. I was about to start chewing on it too. How do I feel about that? Bitter. I feel bitter. Not really, actually I like surprise visits.

I have this new thing with the megabus. It’s so inexpensive, and honestly, who doesn’t love a bargain? You can get so far on that thing. Like, Kingston, and New York City. Not Orangeville, but still. I’m going to buy a bus one day.

I don’t really make good sandwiches.

I  do like the Dave Matthews Band though. They’re pretty cool. We haven’t discussed music yet, I don’t believe. I go through what you could call, seasons, with my music. There are 4. First is Sufjan Stevens/Joshua Radin/The Weepies/Other Miscellaneous Quiet Stuff. Second comes Death Cab/Florence + The Machine/Dave Matthews Band/ John Legend. Third goes something like, Snow Patrol/The Fray/OneRepublic/Chantal Kreviazuk/Anya Marina/Rob Thomas. Lastly, is what I like to call (affectionately of course) crap. It goes something like, Beyonce/Black Eyed Peas/Pitbull, etc. Please note, that this season only occurs when I am at the gym. If you listen to my iTunes though, it’s kind of like a novel about my life. Pretty sweet. Except in musical form. Which is even better.

There’s this one note on my piano which sounds like a dying elephant. It’s actually so fantastic. It adds this element of nature to songs that would have otherwise sounded normal.

Okay, I’m bored now. Bye.

(L)

Apparently I am supposed to fit all my stuff into one small bag. That’s two week’s worth of clothing, toiletries, my computer, shoes, etc. This is just not going to work out for me. However, I have a solution. It does involve me taking three bags instead of one, but that’s quite alright with me. I figure that all my clothing and toiletries can go in the small suitcase. Then, I mean, I need my camera bag anyways, so some stuff can go in there. And really, who travels without a backpack? Problem solved. You have never seen someone pack shitloads of stuff into a backpack like me. This is the person who can shove four weeks of laundry into one average sized laundry hamper. This will serve me well when I have to pack 6 African elephants into my car to bring home so I can start my career as an elephant herder/hemp weaver. No.. I still haven’t let go of that idea.

Who knows, maybe I’ll stumble upon the love of my life while I’m down there- and we can herd elephants together in our fields upon fields of hemp.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Side Note: I am leaving for a roadtrip that will end in Florida (Sanibel & Captiva specifically) on Wednesday. This means that myself, Bekah, and my mother, will be in a car together for three days. I will be providing periodic updates. If they stop- we’ve killed each other.

I just googled where to buy an elephant, and you should read  this. However, it turns out that I cannot purchase an elephant online. Unless of course I also purchase a jumbo 747 jet in which to transport it. I will not be purchasing a jet, but my search for an elephant continues. That, and a hemp field.

I almost died yesterday. I went to a pub, and some sketchy old drunk guy was there. He kept saying “Cheese & Rice” over and over.. Hey, fun fact, I have been threatened in some way by sketchy old drunk men twice, in the last month. Also, speaking of drunkenness, the bartender at another pub I was at, asked me out, along with two of my friends.. I don’t know how he expected that to work… I’d rather just not think about it.

Do you know those static-y little beans that are inside pillows sometimes? Yeah, well, I had this lap-desk thing for my laptop. It’s similar to this one http://www.outblush.com/women/images/2008/08/lap-desk-with-cup-holder2.gif except mine didn’t have a cup holder, or an awesome pattern, because that probably would have cost me $3.00 extra, and I’m too cheap for that shit. Anyways, yes, the pillow thing got a hole in it, and let me preface this by saying, the quantity of beans in these things, would blow you away. So yes, they were spilling everywhere, and they were sticking to my clothing, my hair, I was even finding them in my bed, and I have this thing, where I freak out if crumbs and shit gets in my bed, or if my stuff gets dirty, commonly referred to as OCD. I also have ADD, in case you hadn’t already noticed, which you probably did. Or at least suspected. Anyways, I decided, that I would get my vacuum, and just put it in the hole (that’s what she said) and vacuum out all the beans. This was a great idea. What could go wrong? I clearly thought this through before-hand. So- that’s what I did. For the first 4 or 5 seconds, everything was going just dandy.. until.. my vacuum started screaming. Yes, screaming. And then it just stopped working.

Oops.

Turns out- I broke it. SURPRISE. Now, let’s all take a moment and flash back to the time.. like.. a month ago, when I broke my washing machine, and it sprouted flames.

Continuing- I thought it would be a good idea to open up the vacuum to see why it was making such a noise. This was not a good idea. This was when it started snowing in my house. This is also when I went and got the two rolls of duct tape, to try to get all of the beans off the carpet. Two rolls later, it was somewhat successful.

The next day, I sent an email to Gabriella, and she told me that I was going to die. Because the type of beans I got all over my hair, hands, clothes, carpet, etc, were not supposed to come in contact with skin. The moral of the story? I should have spent the extra $3.00 and got the cup holder and pattern. Goddamnit.

Hey, wanna know a fun fact? Cashews look like fetuses.