Can’t sleep when I’m supposed to. I’ve been going to bed around 3am for a while and waking up at 12noonish. I’ve always been able to function better at night but now I need to come back into the normal hour functioning world and it’s not been easy. Today I went to bed at a 10pm. Read a few magazines, fell asleep. It is now just a bit past midnight and I’m WIDE awake. I don’t know what happened. I just woke up for no reason. No noise, no one disturbed me. My eyes just popped open. I bet it’s because I didn’t go to the gym today. I don’t think I’ll be able to fall asleep again until I don’t know when. At night my head is alert and buzzing. How do I change that?

Story of Chris Gardner (played by Will Smith) in the 1980s. He had invested all his life savings in purchasing bone density scanners and later found out they would be hard to sell to local hospitals and came into very troubled times. He misses rent payments, tax payments, day care, etc. it just all piles up. His wife decides to leave him but is nice enough not to take their son. I say nice enough and I mean it. In the movie it shows how much she wants to take her son but respects Chris enough not to hurt him that way. Chris and his young son are evicted from their apartment, then a motel and then the two become homeless. They sleep on trains, in shelters and in subway washrooms even. Incredibly, while he is homeless he is fighting desperately to be considered by the Dean Witter investment company as a stock broker. He successfully got an unpaid six month internship along with 19 other individuals. At the end of the internship one person will be offered a paying job. All of the others will not only not get a job but because of contractual obligations not be able to apply at other investment companies for like eight months or something.

This movie is about a man’s struggle to get out of poverty. There are heart wrenching scenes. I believe his son saved him.

5/5

This movie is pretty gruesome and gritty. I’m not accustomed to watching violent movies. I watched Departed but since it was meant to be entertaining it was easier to take in. Blood Diamonds really is traumatic to watch. I was sure I was going to get nightmares last night but thankfully didn’t. Blood Diamonds is a really good film however. Well acted, written and put together. Dicaprio, Hounsou and Connelly do a very good job.

The movie is set in Sierra Leone in the 1990s when rebel and government forces are battling one another. As usual, civilians suffered the most. Diamond sales are used to pay for military equipment. Rebels turn children into soldiers. Women and children flee on foot to distance themselves from conflict. If they’re lucky they end up in refugee camps where they are vulnerable to be further abused and humiliated. Men are taken as slaves if not plain killed. Families are separated. Hands are chopped off and people are killed indiscriminately. It’s everyone for themselves. Local rebels, government forces, NGOs, UN, locals and outsiders spar for control in a country swimming in arms being paid for by diamonds.

There’s a particularly poignant scene in the movie. Archer (played by Dicaprio) and Solomon (played by Hounsou) are traveling back into rebel controlled territory to find a very big diamond Solomon had buried when he was captured and forced to work for the rebels. They come across an old man sitting alone in a village strewn with dead bodies. The old man warns Archer and Solomon that they are going the wrong way. Solomon explains he’s with a diamond crazy man who wants to go to the diamond mines. The old man replies, “I hope they never find oil here”.

So I’ve never been much of a diamond girl. It seems ridiculous to me that people will go to such extremes and expenses to put a shiny peice of stone on their body. I’d much rather go on a trip. However, if you are in the market of purchasing diamonds do make an effort atleast to confirm that they are conflict-free diamonds. You can never be sure but atleast you can try. Canada is allegedly the biggest producer of non-conflict diamonds so you’ll even be supporting our country’s economy.

5/5

I’m really excited about this year. It seems like it has the potential to be a year of very important achievements for myself and Tipu. I wish you all success and good health in the new year.

I’ve always wanted to go scuba diving and it will happen eventually God willing. Here are some beautiful pictures