Honey, I’m Home!

I really don’t have a whole lot to say here, I just wanted to mention that Carin and I made it back from Ottawa alive, and surprisingly enough, not hung over. Don’t worry though, plenty of drinks and good times were had by pretty much everybody we spent any sort of significant time with. I dont have any legendary stories of drunken destruction or anything like that, but it was great to get together with friends, and to see a few people that I haven’t seen in years.

The wedding itself was really nice. It was an outdoor deal which could have been a disaster had it rained like some of us thought it might, but everything went about as perfectly as it could have gone, even though it wasn’t the warmest of days. The sun coming out and breaking up some of the cloudiness at the same time as the couple walked out was a nice touch too, and if I didn’t know better, it’s one of those things that I would be wondering how they pulled off and who’s idea it was. Between that and the cash bar at the reception taking debit and credit cards, I’ve got some great memories to take home with me, even if a few of them are a little bit hazy.

Yes, this post sucks, and yes, it’s just about over. but before I get out of here and start getting life back to normal and then turning everything upside down again in preparation for the move, I want everybody who read or commented on Carin’s post about
her smallness
to ask her about her new nickname. Sorry about that, you unaccompanied child you, but I just couldn’t resist. I still find the whole thing way too funny for words.

Anyway, I’m out for now. I’ll try to come up with something a little later on, and hopefully it’ll be miles better than this. See you soon.

Lousy Natives

See now that’s a headline that will grab your attention! Racism abound, friends! Unfortunately I will now puss-out and retract half the statement – but hey – I got you reading.

It’s not all natives, not even a majority. Just one small group. I’m sure if you live in Ontario you’ve heard about the land dispute in Caledonia. I don’t know all the details and politics, and nor do I care. But there’s been a lengthy stand-off between the Native-Canadians (is that right?) in the area and the people of Caledonia.

Well last week it turned violent. A few of the Native protestors resorted to violence against a reporter who was there covering the story. Needless to say, people were outraged – as they should be. A peaceful protest is one thing but when you get physical with someone not even involved, just there to do their job, you’ve crossed a line.

The kicker. No arrests have been made. The authorities are now demmanding that the people of the Native reserve hand over the individuals responsible to the OPP.

Now here’s the part that gets me mad. Thism orningon the news a representative for the Native-Canadians said that they will not be handing over the responsible individuals as the situation “is being handled internally.”

What the fuck? Who the hell are you? Why are your people above the laws of the country you live in? Ya you’ve been wronged in the past. ya the white man is the devil. Ya ya ya whatever. The law is the law and whether you’re black, brown, yellow, pink white or native you are bound by them. You’re not above them. You don’t get to handle them within your own special little group. You face the music like everyone else.

I could even get accept a statement like “We have no proof and no idea who the individuals are so we will not be moving forward with this”. It would be complete bullshit and no one would believe you but at least you wouldn’t be blatantly acknowledging the crime and that you know who did it but basically saying you don’t give a shit because you’ll deal with it yourself.

What does that mean anyway??? “internally”. It means that they can say they’ve handed down some penalty to him that can never ben proven and an injured reporter never see’s any real justice. Real fair.

I can tell you I spent a year in NOrthern Ontario living in a small town last year. The next town over was a native reserve. For the most part nobody bothered each other. Sure the people from the reserve came to town to shop or go to movies or the bar or whatever but no one really thought twice about it. The part that pissed people off was the Native cop car driving around the town. That’s right. They have their own police. Well that’s fine I guess if you have your own laws or something. I don’t know the whole deal. But you’re off the reserve. They haveno power in town. That’s a fact. They are not recognized by any governing body other than whatever the Native governing body is. That’s fine. If you want to police you own groupover and above what society says and your constituants are all on board. Go for it. But it’s over and above basic Canadian law as you cannot ignore the laws set by our government.

So this cruiser would come in on weekend and circle around town which really got under the skin of people since they had no control or authority over anyone. Party’s that they would try to break up continued on with people laughing at them since they had no right to say anything, kids stopped on the street who looked troublesome would straight up ignore them. And really… I don’t blame them. The town had it’s own cops adn the they were not bound by Native law. But it does go the other way – Natives are bound by Canadian law. But everyone is too afraid to do anything drastic fearing charges of racism.

Think about it – if this Caledonia/Native situation was anything other than what it is and someone was protecting violent criminals – Cops would be in there busting heads to find them – but here they don’t. And it’s sick. This is the PC world we live in now.

For years races, minorities, ethnic groups, sexual preferences and all kinds of other people have asked for one thing. To be treated equally. But it’s a 2 way straight people. Allow yourself to be treated equally when it works against you and maybe people would be more supportive going the other way. This is making headlines nation-wide and people are PISSED!

Just something to think about.

I Miss The Days Where Rage Equalled Good Posts

Good afternoon, class.

So I’m at work, and it sucks. And it’s Monday. And I’m tired. And everything that everyone is doing at any time seems to be pissing me off. When I started this blog in ’03 with Steve – that would have equalled a golden post. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, that no longer seems to be the case. I think, at least today, it’s because I’m just a whiney cranky bitch as opposed to having anything close to a “real” problem to complain about. For example, all day people have been chatting directly behind my desk, using the photo-copier directly behind my desk (which someone began right as I typed that) and just generally making innocent enough small talk than I’m just in no mood to respond to. Hard to make a post out of that. I’m just a bitch.

But, irregardless, I’m going to write. If for no other reason than that I’ll be typing away which should destract me from the irritations around me which doing the midless work that this afternoon has brought me, would not accomplish. Plus, for some reason, if someone sees you typing away at something quickly as opposed to studying your sheet or screen, they seem to pass you by assuming you’re doing something important. Foolish.

The weekend wasn’t bad. I had back to Belleville. The party’s were not as plentiful as advertised, but the group of us that usually chills together had a pretty good time. I wouldn’t quite call it a bust – but certainly not up to par with what I was expecting. Maybe that’s my fault for too high of expectations. Whatever.

Great hockey game Saturday night, Jays lose a series to Detroit and the Argo’s sign a suspended NFL pot-head. I’ll leave the sports at that since there no longer seems to be a large portion of sports fans.

Last night I actually ordered the ECW PPV. First one I’ve paid for since WrestleMania which I get every year. Before that the last one I paid for was probably… the previous ECW PPV and WrestleMania. All in all a pretty decent show which had much more of a “let’s kick off the new brand” feel than a “let’s hit all the old highspots from the past” like last year. Nothing wrong with that. Main Event finish was fairly predictable in that there would be controversy. That’s probably also fine as they couldn’t really afford to make either guy look bad. That should be fixed up tonight. For the third Monday in a row there is a huge hockey game on the same night as RAW so I guess I’ll be missing it, but perhaps some channel surfing if the game is a bore.

Speaking of channel surfing. WWE is doing that frantically right now in Canada trying to find someone to air the new ECW show. TSN has said they have no interest in picking up another live wrestling show as they’re already going to be pre-empting RAw in favour of Monday Night Football in the fall and will probably have to have a Tuesday replay of the show (the night ECW would air). The Score supposedly may have an interest but are fully aware with how much SmackDown! sucks that ECW may out do it in the ratings and so would most likely want to dump SmackDown in exchange for ECW. WWE doesn’t want any part of that scenario either because then they’re still looking for somewhere to air that Dud. So if you’re in Canada don’t bother looking for the ECW show tomorrow night as it doesn’t have a home yet. IF anything changes and you give a shit, I’m sure you’ll hear.

There’s supposed to be a pretty good story on the supposed Toronto Terrorists tonight on Global. Or was it CTV? I don’t remember. If you care to see it you’ll figure it out. Or maybe someone else knows and can chime in with a comment.

Well. I was right. Rage, today anyways, equals Snooze. But I pissed away some time. So the only real loser here is… well… you.

On that note. Fair well.

Answer Me This

I figured since Carin already has the
things I’ll miss about my old place when I move
beat covered, that it would only be fitting for one of us negative assholes to come on here and talk about things we won’t miss. And since Matt’s not moving and Carin wrote about the good things the other day and a lot of the shitty ones are pretty well documented, I guess it falls to me. I’m not going to bother with a huge list of complaints and grievances, since other than having absolutely no space and being unable to get my mail when I need it because I share a mailbox with the people upstairs who don’t like to be home or return phone calls in a timely fashion, I’ve been pretty happy here. Instead I’m just going to focus on one thing that I hope some of you might be able to help me figure out.

I live in a basement apartment where the radio reception absolutely sucks. I can get somewhere around 5 FM stations on a good day, of which approximately 0 are consistently any good. AM is pretty decent, but there’s only so much talk radio any man can handle, no matter how hard that man may try. So unless I listen to CD’s or internet streams, I’m subjected to some pretty piss poor programming on a pretty regular basis. This leads me to a question, actually no, 2 questions.

First, why is it that no matter where you are in the world, the worst radio stations are always the ones with the strongest signals? And second, why in hell is Coldplay so popular? While I’m at it, I should throw in one more. Is there a law around here that I’m unaware of that says that unless you’re a country radio station, you’re required to play a minimum of 37 Coldplay songs a day? Yes, in case you haven’t figured it out by now, one of the things I’m most looking forward to about the new place is being able to turn off a Coldplay song without running headlong into another one.

Come on guys, help me out here. If you’re a Coldplay fan, please explain one simple thing to me. Why? I can’t figure it out. I can think of 2 Coldplay songs that I don’t absolutely despise, and I don’t even care for them very much. They’re Clocks and Yellow in case anybody cares, but back to the point. Everywhere I go, all I hear and read about is how great and how revolutionary these guys are, and I just don’t understand. Every Coldplay song sounds like every other Coldplay song, and I don’t care what anybody says, Chris Martin always sounds to me like he’s either got a yap full of food that he’s swallowed half way, or like he’s doing his best imitation of an animal that’s just been hit by a truck. I won’t go so far as to say that this band sucks donkey dicks, but that’s only because I don’t think it would be fair to insult donkey diccks that way.

Anyway, now that I’ve got that out of my system, I should probably eat some lunch and do some packing. And by the way, if the site is quiet for the next few days, it’s because Carin and I will both be in Ottawa for our friend’s wedding. So hopefully Matt can entertain you, and hopefully we’ll have some fun stories to tell when we get home.

See you all soon, and always remember…um…never mind, I forget.

Original! Yay!

So I’m at work – as usual – and rediculously unmotivated today. Yesterday seemed to fly by and I got tons accomplished but this morning is just so blah. So I cam on here. But I’ll warn. If you have things to do but are sticking around in case I say something funny/relevant/important you’re probably wasting your time.

So I just read Carin’s post on all the things she’d miss about her place. I haven’t been to visit her since she moved out of her last place so haven’t seen it but I thoroughall enjoyed the read. Mostly because it was original. So often on these things it’s not and we post links or stories or things like that. And they’re funny or interesting but I’ve always enjoyed the content that Steve, Carin and even sometimes myself have been able to come up with on our own. From everyday life to great stories or takes on pop-culture, it just seems more fun. I know I’m probably the most guilty of unoriginality (when I’m here that is). I seem to recall a few years back posting nothing but rip-offs from X Entertainment as Hallowe’en and Christmas countdowns. I dunno. Not that any of this matters. I just kinda hit me after reading Carin’s post.

The whole “Terror In Toronto” thing is everywhere right now. It’s made International headlines all over the world. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be big news…. here. Sure most people know and it’s getting lots of coverage – but it’s amazing how many people know nothing about it. Can’t imagine being that oblivious. Turn on a radio, grab a paper, anything. Good god, man, it’s the world around you.

I saw a man interviewed walking in to the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday morning (one of the buildings supposedly targetted) who had no idea that the very building he worked at could have been blown off the map before he showed up to work. It’s scarey.

This whole thing makes me feel compelled to say something about tollerance. We have a small group of loyal readers that makes up, in reality, an extremely low percentage of the population, and I think that they’re all smart enough to already know this but I still feel like it should be put out there as often as possible.

There have already been incidents at different Muslim houses of worship and other structures, strikes against Muslim homes and general coldness towards anyone appearing to practise the Islamic faith. This is a terribly unfair and racist re-action. An entire race of people cannot be grouped in with one group of evil people. An overwhelming majority of Arabs in our country are here because a member of their family came here to enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy, not to destroy them. We need not be reminded that Timothy McVeigh, the man killed many in the Oklahoma City bombings was the shitest redneck you’ll ever meet. Evil knows no skin colour or religious belief.

Tollerance is more important these days than it ever has been before – but as I said – I’m sure I”m speaking to a group who doesn’t need me to point this out.

Be Safe

Something Tells Me They Had the Brain Damage Part Covered Long Before This Happened

Two students found dead inside large helium balloon

LUTZ, FLA. (Jun 5, 2006)

Two university students were found dead inside a large, deflated helium balloon after apparently pulling it down and crawling inside it.

The deaths of Jason Ackerman and Sara Rydman, both 21, appear to be accidental, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Major Bob Schrader said.

Their bodies were found Saturday inside a deflated helium balloon at a condo complex a few kilometres north of Tampa. The 2.4-metre-diameter balloon was used to advertise the complex.

“It was more a fun thing they thought they were doing,” said Sara Rydman’s mother Linda. “You know how you blow up the balloon and suck the helium.”

The county medical examiner said yesterday the cause of death will not be released for weeks, until test results come back. Inhaling helium can quickly lead to brain damage and death from lack of oxygen.

Goodbye Old House, I’ll Miss You….A Little

Well, I’ve pissed and moaned about my house a lot lately. But now that it’s almost time to say goodbye to it, it makes me think of all the little things I’ll miss about living there.

I’ll miss the guys at the little store down the street, who, at first, could barely understand me, but now remember everything I ever get from there, and make jokes about how often I come buy for little things, especially the older guy who seemed really rude because he greeted us the first time with, “What! ” But now wonders how I’ll ever get the milk home and tells me not to fall in the winter.

I’ll miss the guy who lives in the main part of the building who appears randomly and asks me how I am. He always told me he was there if I needed him for things, and worried about me when the creeps started moving in next door.

I’ll miss the lady who brings the mail. Whenever I’d run into her, she’d stop and talk to me, and she was so excited for me when I went away for Babs. She was also excited when I said I was leaving my house of chaos. She genuinely cared about me, and said I deserved better than that. How cool is that?

I’ll miss the landlord. He was always good to me. I know the new one will probably be good to me, but I feel bad for this one, because when I leave, who knows what he’ll get? He’s such a good guy, I hate to see him abused like this. I know you’re saying, he’s the landlord, he can say no…but in this case, I don’t think he can very easily since he’s not the head hauncho. They pick the people, he cleans up their shit, and has to do it with a smile. Poor guy.

I’ll miss the short walks to all the bars and restaurants nearby. It made parties much easier. I know it won’t be a long walk from this place, but these places were essentially right outside my door.

And most of all, I’ll miss the place itself. It was a cute bachelor pad that didn’t make you feel like you were living in a closet. Hey, I managed to have me and five other people in it for a new years party. Who can do that in most little places like that? It fit everything I had and there was still room to move. It served its purpose, it was the place where I learned I could make it on my own, and it was cool. So I’ll always look back on it with nostalgia…as I do a dance of joy and move into our new home. Onward and upward!

That’s What Happens When You’re Too Small.

Ok, I hate doing whiny posts like this, but I’m frustrated.

Today, on my way home, I got to a street that I had to cross. I cross it all the time. So I’m standing there. When it seemed like the light had turned and it was time to go, I was about to step out. I even heard someone say something like, “that’s right”, but just then, a car drove out in front of me. So I didn’t go. Then the guy decided to go across with me. He felt he had to tell me where everything was, as if I had no idea I was crossing a street. When I got to the other side, I said to him, “What was up with that car?” What he said pissed me off supremely. He proceeded to explain to me, even after I repeatedly told him I knew these things and just wanted to know if the light was red or green when I tried to cross, the entire mechanism of crossing a goddamn street, that there was a time for the cars and a time for people to go. He even felt like he had to tell me we were at an intersection. No shit, skippy. I do have some concept of the world around me.

If it were this one guy alone, I’d just say the poor guy probably thought I didn’t know what I was doing. I mean, I almost stepped out in front of a car in his eyes, so he probably thought I was completely unaware of what was going on. After all, lots of people think that if somebody’s blind, it’s amazing that they can make it out of the house, and some people think we should all be warehoused together in little houses for blind people and cared for by workers. But this felt like more than that. I have noticed I get a few different kinds of help, sometimes when I ask for it, and sometimes because people just decide I need it. I get the nice people who are cool. I get the ones that like to make themselves feel good by doing their good deed. And then I get the ones who make me feel small because, well, they think I am small.

Sadly, the fact is, I’m too damned short. I’m about 4 foot 7, so I guess I look like a kid. I’ve been told I look 12, like I’m in high school, or like I’m 18. That’s the best estimate I’ve had. I even won a toy at one of those guess my age booths at a fair because somebody guessed I was 12 when I was about 17. Once, I went to get on a greyhound bus, and the driver stopped me and said, “Do you have an unaccompanied child form?” I was 21, so she got pretty embarrassed. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been given kids menus and crayons in restaurants. Need I say more?

So when people see me on the street, I guess some of them freak out. They talk all babyish to me, they ask me where my mother is, they ask me why I’m walking around at night, and it’s maybe 8:00. Some of them feel the need to take me by the hand and lead me places and make me feel like the neglected child someone let out of the group home. They won’t leave me until I get where I say I’m going, even though I tell them I’m fine. I appreciate their concern, it just frustrates the shit out of me, especially when they descend upon me when I’m doing fine. Sometimes it feels like I could single-handedly save a bus-load of people, and I’d still be thought of as a helpless little kid. What do I have to do to show these people I’m a competent adult? It makes me start to wonder if there is something else I’m doing to send this kid message, and if I’ll ever be taken seriously. I mean, not only have I got the blink factor working against me sometimes, I’ve got the shrimp factor that makes people feel like I have to be scooped up and taken back home. . But then I think I should stop whining. Apparently, I would have been a lot shorter, so I should consider myself lucky. If doctors hadn’t given me stuff to convince my body to grow, who knows, maybe I’d be the height of Bilbo Baggins.

Ok now I just sound like a whiny baby. I probably wouldn’t even be writing this post at all if it didn’t seem like lately, I’ve been made to feel inferior and incapable almost everywhere I go. I appreciate everyone’s concern, but gees. Do I really need rescuing that often?