Reading Errors.

Every now and again I read a sentence and my eyes report an anagram of what I actually read. Today I saw that someone was talking about a bowlathon that their organization was putting on for charity. I read that as a blowathon, and got a very different impression.

Then again, I bet that would sure bring in the bucks!

Visions of Deniz.

I turned 13 the day I arrived in Montreal, and everything here was new. I was unused to the people, the language, the customs. It was all rather new and frightening and my closest friend lived over 6000 km away. I have never been good at making friends and I found myself to be very lonely in a city full of strangers.

After a couple of weeks, I started seeing people that I thought I knew from back in B.C. I would just catch a glimpse of someone going through a door, or walking around a corner, and be sure that they were someone I knew. Every time I was quick enough to go and get a second glimpse, I found out that I had been mistaken. They would have had some very superficial resemblence to the person I had mistaken, but no more than that.

Eventually, of course, I made friends over here and stopped misrecognizing strangers. Once or twice since I've had something similar happen, usually when I'm out of Montreal and feeling homesick.

Well, lately I've been catching glimpses of someone and thinking they were Deniz. Its happened four times so far. Each time a second glimpse or a double-take has quickly shown me the the error. They have all ended up looking nothing like Deniz, except for wearing the right kind of floppy hat, or having a certain shape to their nose, or the right kind of curly hair.

I've never had this happen before when surrounded by friends. Some part of my subconcious must be trying very hard to find Deniz, and I can't say I blame it.

Deniz Sarikaya Memorial Fund.

An Amnesty Canada Memorial Candle Fund has been opened in Deniz Sarikaya's name, so that those inclined to remember her through a donation to a cause that she was passionate about, can do so.

Deniz' Memorial Service

I just wanted to say how lovely I thought Deniz' Memorial Service was. I'm not a big fan of religion and churches generally make me uneasy, but I found that the fact that everyone in the place was genuinely in mourning somehow helped. The choir, the organist and the priest had all known Deniz personally, and I think they were determined to give her a special send-off. They succeeded.

The service was mostly in English, but there were bits in both French and Turkish. There were readings from the Bible and the Koran and there were songs sung by the Choir and by a muslim holy man (I forget the term) with a beautiful singing voice, and dcoombs gave a lovely speech.

Afterwards many people mentioned that it was a very beautiful service, held for the worst of all possible reasons.