so in terms of blogging, i missed yesterday, but in terms of experiences, i totally gained yesterday. today was interesting, we were poorly represented in th grant macewan newspaper. and i understand that sometimes things like this happen and all we can do is smile and joke about it, but it is sometimes a tough pill to swallow when the words you are quoted as saying aren’t your words, were never your words, and will never be your words (unless being joked about). all else aside, we’re getting closer to our goal locally, we’ve had to up our national goal, and to everyone who is a part of this i am so proud of us as we just keep making this event bigger!

so for all of you people out there who are doing this, you’ve done an amazing job not just in raising the funds, but also in raising awareness for homelessness! i would like to repeat what i have been saying and what we have been saying and doing this whole time to all of the people out there who don’t get it yet…

we are not homeless! we’re are not pretending to be homeless! what we are doing is taking some of the factors that the homeless community face and applying them to our everyday lives for five days to raise money and awareness on this issue of homelessness and youth homelessness.

so on that note, this is our last night. we’re all anxious for our beds and our showers, but of course, going to miss each other and our time together. but even though these five days are done, we still have lifetimes of friendships ahead of us! and it’s so awesome to see that from one decision in each of our lives, we’ve all become so close.

i’d like to give props (mad-props) to pete smith for getting me on board. and i’d like to thank everyone on our homeless team for being a part of this and changing MY life and the lives of so many others! you guys rock…and of course…to godfather Frank!

colin.

i just thought that i would open this entry with a line from my favourite song, because it’s the only way i can express how i am feeling tonight:

” i once saw a man on fire, staring out his window,

watching as the flames grew higher and higher,

i thought that i saw him cry, or was he only laughing”

and as life goes rushing on by, its already day 2, night 3, and i’m starting to feel the strain. they told me to be strong, and so i keep my composure. over the past two days i have been talking to absolute strangers about one of my deepest passions. so i keep opening my soul wide open and it isn’t getting any easier.

we all just sat down and had a chance to open up and talk about the positives and negatives about this campaign, and the only negatives, are those brought on by individuals outside of this group who don’t understand that what we’re doing is not to benefit us, but to benefit people, and youth who we may have never met, and who we may never meet!

so give us your love. give us more love. and hopefully with all of this, we can make a change, i will always say this, and i won’t stop because someone says “yea…i don’t know…”

you say you want a revolution? We all want to change the world!

But when you talk about destruction! Don’t you know that you can count me out!

colin.

waking up to a group of teachers watching me sleep has never been something that i ever thought that i would experience, however, this morning brought light of some things. the looks and laughs that i have received from classmates and students has been interesting to face. i have only ever really been laughed at when telling a joke or being goofy, but to be laughed at was a pill i wasn’t yet ready to swallow.

as we left the university today, we asked a lady working at an A&W if she would donate a small cup of coffee. however, she donated a large cup of coffee for the three of us, a bottle of water and even offered us food!!! which was really amazing to  see for me, i didn’t think that she would actually would give us a small coffee let alone all that she ended up giving us. she also recognized us from the media coverage that we have received, and it is awesome to see that the word of positive change IS getting out to the world, and that people ARE seeing a difference from what we’re doing. it really makes me sad to think that people aren’t seeing the good that we’re doing, because in all reality, we’re not pretending to be homeless, i would never pretend to be homeless, but what we are doing is being sympathetic to the situation that many people face and simulating SOME of the issues that are faced by the homeless to make life better for people we don’t even know…

anyways…we’re at grant macewan tonight, so if anyone wants to come out and bring us soup or just come and give us some love and support, that would be amazing!

colin.

moving into our first night in the ‘real world’ my stomach growls a fierce anticipation for my next meal. i’m warm enough to survive the night but not full enough to lose my thoughts to achieve a few hours of sleep. this is our first night together and as strangers to these streets we all face a certain uncertainty.

the cameras stole most of our night as the media came for our thoughts and our smiling homeless faces. this whole experience is sure to be life changing; who else will help if not the youth? our parents, to lost in their ways, sleep soundly tonight, but we take charge and make change!

we are the change they see in our world.

goodnight my homeless brothers and sisters in the project for awareness. tomorrow will be a brand new day.

colin.