Not So Good Things. . .

I am a positive person. It’s in my blood. It’s always half-full and things are always great and can only go downhill if I allow them to. It happens sometimes.

Sometimes, I just want to lift my middle finger high in the air for all to see, just so they know I feel, how cranky I am that my life isn’t as sunny as I’d like it to be.

But here’s the rub. Beyond the middle finger, sometimes I am so perplexed by human behaviour that it makes me want to cry – because there is nothing I can do about it.

What can I do about the high school kids that think so little of life that a gun and death to others are the only answer? What can I do or say to the parents that don’t know their kids at all – that can let their kids go so far into the dark that they would take their own lives?

What can I do when this happens again and again through history?

What can we do?

What can I do about the tornadoes that take lives? What can I do about toddlers ripped from their mother's arms only to die, cold and broken miles away?

What can I do when the whole nation mourns Whitney Houston (as I did), but doesn’t mourn the domestic violence in our world, the poverty, the war, the genocide and starvation?

How can I get through to the people that hate a president but won’t give him a chance to make the change the U.S. so desperately needs?

Monday blues, that’s what it is. I am weeping for a world I feel helpless to change, yet my corner of the planet is a wonderful, blessed life where my biggest complaint is that there is  nothing good on television.

What can we do?

 

Technorati Tags: Whitney Houston,Obama,High School Shooting,Tornadoes

July 24th. . . Entourage

The final season. Nooooo!

Now I Really Have Seen Everything. . .

From The Florida Sentinel – my friend Londa posted this on Facebook and I am just apoplexic that people can get arrested for feeding the homeless.

This **** needs to go viral, people. Un-friggin—believable.

Flickr Tags: unbelievable,incredible,bullshit

 

Ponderings from “The Secret”

Really, it’s no secret – it’s common sense, and it’s what God intends for us. Please read on:

“So often when things change in our lives, we have such a resistance to the change. This is because when people see a big change appearing they are often fearful that it is something bad. But it is important to remember that when something big changes in our lives, it means something better is coming. There cannot be a vacuum in the universe, so as something moves out, something must come in and replace it. When change comes, relax, have TOTAL FAITH, and know that the change (God has) is ALL GOOD.

Something more magnificent is coming to you!”

--Rhonda Byrne

Flickr Tags: secret,common sense,improvement,change,faith,God,good,future

Just A Few Things To Be Happy About . . .

Music in the air. . .

Reading all night and sleeping all morning. . .

Watching the same television shows or movies with someone even when you’re not together. . .

Steaming cups of hot tea and warm scones to go with them . . .

New shoes . . .

Having a marvellous drink in a glamorous place before going to the theater to sit in the cheap seats. . .

LIKE it if any of these things can bring a smile to your face.

Oh Yeah, You Know You Love It. . .

Why is Generation Y so RUDE?

Okay, that may be a generalization, but when did teenagers get so rude? Yes, I must be that old.

Driving in town, down a one-way street. Three guys, three girls. Skinny, scantily clad, tattooed and smoking. So what?

They were in the middle of the road, so I assumed they wanted to cross. I waved them on  - you know – hand motion that indicates they are safe from the hazards of your front bumper?

Should’ve given them the bumper.

One guy gestures for me to go around them. I wave them across.

“B****, go around. We ain’t crossing!!”

Oh.No.He.Did.Not.

I calmly roll down my window and ask “Why are you yelling at me?” I am calling his bluff. It’s easy to yell at a tinted window.

“Cuz, b****, we ain’t crossing. I told you to go around us!”

(So this is what it feels like to have your blood pressure shoot to the top of your skull and out the sunroof.)

“Then get out of the middle of the road.” Notice how I am still rising above?

“F*** YOU! Drive AROUND US you F*B*”  By this time, all six of the lost, misunderstood teenagers are yelling profanities at me, but to give the girls credit, they did have the smarts to get out of the middle of the road.

At this point I am picturing all sorts of ways to teach these kids the difference between sidewalk and road, and what belongs where. These lessons all involve Dodge engineering and teenage angst, so just keep yelling, brats (see road rage in any urban dictionary).

But I rose above and drove on, fighting off the red mist at the edges of my vision.

I almost made it to the corner with my halo intact.

I almost turned out of their lives forever; sad and bewildered that the parenting skills of many of the next generation has bred such disrespect. and yet still, my halo intact, not instigating any blood baths.

But before I knew what happened, my brain triggered my finger straight up and out of the sunroof, giving them all the one-fingered salute.

Weights and Treadmills and Personal Trainers, Oh My!

(A re-post of a favourite of mine. Thanks for the indulgence.)

When I was in my twenties, the gym was a place to see and be seen. Sure, we went to work out, but at the time, it was more about how cute the boys looked in their muscle shirts, and how colour coordinated we were in our gym attire.

Now, my metabolism is on permanent vacation, and my body is telling me that it’s quite happy to lead the sedentary lifestyle. My mind is slightly mutinous and tends to side with my body, telling me that laying around isn’t such a bad thing, that it helps with cell regeneration and stuff.

However tempting that may sound, if I don’t fight the laziness, the ease of sinking into that perfect corner of the comfy couch, I’ll soon become a part of the furniture and Peter will never find me again, until I give him clues with general demands to bring me an iced cap from Timmy’s before Paradise Falls comes on.

And so I joined the gym. The day I signed away a year of my life I went in all proud and strong and a little too loud “I want to join the gym!” I think I was loud enough to squelch the inner screaming of my muscles, cringing in fear. I think I startled the girl behind the desk.

After getting my card, I asked for a training session and was told that I could meet with a trainer the following Thursday. I decided to use the treadmill until then, because all of the other machines look like bionic octopi or something. At the end of my 45 minutes, I thought “I can do this, it’s not so bad.” I kept visiting the treadmill until my appointment, thinking I was going to show that trainer, after I’d built up a week’s worth of cardio.

And that’s where it all went horribly, scarily wrong.

She is way too cute and perky. Her smile lights up the room, and she is as bouncy and energetic as a 6-month-old pup. I loved her and hated her on sight, and kind of wanted to rub her belly. But mostly, I hoped I could catch some of her vibe, so I could build up some excitement for the hell she was about to put me through.

And she did her best, smiling the whole time. Hell started with the legs, then went to the arms, the back, the abs, and, Lord help me, there’s a machine that helped me do my very first pull up. She ADDED it to my routine because she was so proud of me.

I felt like I kept up pretty well. I only sat the wrong direction on two machines, because her way just didn’t make sense. When I fight a bionic octopus, I want to be able to face it. The trainer won. I did it her way. And the octopus won.

I’ve got to go change now. I’ve got a harpoon and some chum, and a bionic octopus to conquer.

Daily Travels and Things I Saw

Seriously, I know our world isn’t quite this sad. Although both scenes depicted images that could be interpreted as distasteful, sacrilegious and possibly disrespectful, I leave it to you to decide.

Me? I thought totally hilarious on both counts. Gotta love the creativity of the human race.

 

Totally dig this ride. You can’t see the detail – and although the windows are scary black, as in – can’t-see-inside-so-there-might-actually-BE-a-body-in-there black, I’m pretty sure this is a non-servicing Hearse. The center of the hub caps sport some pretty sweet skulls that I am sure would sparkle in the sun had it not been hidden behind the clouds. I hope I get to see this Hearse when the owner has finished his vision. I would call Pimp My Ride for this bad boy – oh yes I would.

Now seriously – how can you NOT laugh at this? On the side of  an overpass in Smiths Falls. Hey, we know who will prevail in the end, but it’s nice to know someone is pulling for the pigeons.

The Joys of People Watching

Have you ever found yourself getting caught up in watching people? Maybe you wonder what they’re thinking, what their lives are like, where they’re going and more importantly, why they’re dressed the way they are?

Most of you are saying…um…NO. Well, I love watching people. I blame it on my Mom. When we would go out for dinner and there was an inevitable wait, she would entertain us kids by pointing at a couple outside the window and asking “What do you suppose they are talking about out there?” And that’s how my people watching got started.

The stories we would create would have us laughing through the whole meal as our unsuspecting thespians carried on their business, which was, inevitably, not even close to the stories we painted for them.

In order to fully appreciate wandering humans, I must be out in public with nothing to do. Like waiting for someone to finish errands while you wait in the car.

Nobody knows I’m just sitting here in my car…watching them. People scurry through the parking lot, pretty much oblivious to everything except what’s on their shopping list. At least, that’s the safe thing to think.

I see plenty of friends wandering in and out of the store. I’m too lazy to get out and say hello, so instead I just wonder how they’re doing and make a quick mental list of people I need to catch up with. Beyond that, it’s more fun to pretend what strangers are thinking when they walk by.

Oh goodie, there’s a woman in her late fifties, wearing bright orange spandex pants and a halter top under her parka. Here’s what she’s might be thinking: “I’d better hurry or I’ll be late for my Vegas Revue. Must get more mascara and pasties, and check on my pole dancing class.”

See how easy it is?  That’s how it works.

There’s a lovely young man with a bouquet of flowers leaving the store. He wipes his brow and is talking to himself. Is he rehearsing an apology? A proposal? A request for a first date? The possibilities are endless, but I settle on the apology. It’s the middle of the day, after all. He probably stayed out too late playing poker, and really – what guy buys his woman flowers in the middle of the day for no reason at all?

There’s a harried father with two toddlers, one already pointing at the store, no doubt asking if she can hang out in the cereal or toy aisle. He’s contemplating it, but he’s also probably thinking his daughter will tell his wife when they get home, and that won’t be pretty. He pulls out the shopping list before he heads in through the noiseless sliding doors. He squares his shoulders like a man going off to war. His momma would be proud.

Sometimes, watching people is so entertaining that I’m almost disappointed when make-believe time is over. I didn’t even have a chance to think about the teenage couple holding hands, the gentleman that comes out with loads of soda cans, or the elderly lady getting out of the taxi.

The next time you’re waiting anywhere, make up your own story about the strangers walking by. Don’t be mean and judgemental, be creative. Strangers, if they notice you at all, will  be confused by the mysterious smile on your face…and that will be amusement enough.