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

Start Gathering Your Nuts, People.

The first day of winter is set for December 21st this year. So why does it feel like Old Man Winter has decided to come crash the party early, even if he hasn’t brought the S*** yet? Clean it up people, I’m talkin’ about the icy white stuff there.

Let’s face it, besides the green grass, there’s not much left that’s glamorous or beautiful about fall anymore. Now it’s time to wait for the white to come and monochrome our normally colourful and lush slice of the world for a few months.

It seems that we’re going from tank tops to turtle necks without so much as a three quarter sleeve sweater set in between (not that I own such a thing.). Attractive fall fashions will quickly become hidden under uncomely layers of wool, cotton, fleece and thermal, and the more the better. There will be no disguising a smart outfit underneath all the layers. This is about survival, friends.

When I moved to Canada in 2002 I was so charmed by the thought of an actual white winter that I couldn’t wait for those first fluffy flakes to fall. The irony of that year was that we had zero snow on Christmas day. My first white Christmas in Canada was no such thing.

When the snow came at last, I played, and played hard. I was so excited to be able to walk out my front door and across the lawn to slide down the hill into the field below. I snow angel-ed and played fetch-the-snowball with our dog, Chip. I revelled in the fresh, crisp snow and how alive the cold snap of the air made me feel. My first white winter in Canada was absolutely magical for me, even if my husband did shake his head and tell me often… “Just wait. The charm will wear off.”

“Never!” I’d cry with glee and pelt him with a snowball for trying to Grinchify my winter fun. That year, my party ended when I slid on my saucer down a hill, across an ice patch and into the barbed wire fence at the end of the pasture. Icy barbed wire in the bum does not define winter charm, but it does make for an interesting scar.

The following year as I played with my dog, I slipped on an snow-covered ice hill and went down on my left knee cap, cracking it. My dog, in all his excitement, managed to lift his leg and pee on me.

Winter fun now = pain and humiliation. Winter fun SO over.

The following year I slid the car off the road a couple of times while learning to manoeuvre the treacherous paths we call roads during frozen rain storms, blizzards or a combination of both at the same time. The only fun I found in that was using very creative words in my prayers when begging my car to stay on the road.

So now my knee hurts every winter, and I work from home out of pure fright and need for life preservation.

If you see me out during the months of the white-out – I’ll be the one in a helmet, elbow and knee protection, spiked shoes for grip and a big long coat to cover my skin so it won’t burn in the wind. Basically, I’ll be the freaky Sasquatch-looking thing until March. See you then, people.

Start gathering your nuts.

Thinking Out Loud on “Frozen”

IMDb link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323045/

“A typical day on the slopes turns into a chilling nightmare for three snowboarders when they get stranded on the chairlift before their last run. As the ski patrol switches off the night lights, they realize with growing panic that they’ve been left behind dangling high off the ground with no way down.

With the resort closed until the following weekend and frostbite and hypothermia already setting in, the trio is forced to take desperate measures to escape off the mountain before they freeze to death. Once they make their move, they discover with horror that they have much more to fear than just the frigid cold. As they combat unexpected obstacles, they start to question if their will to survive is strong enough to overcome the worst ways to die.

Kevin Zegers (TRANSAMERICA, DAWN OF THE DEAD), Shawn Ashmore (X-MEN, THE RUINS) and Emma Bell (DOLLHOUSE, SUPERNATURAL) star in this intense suspense thriller, from writer/director Adam Green (HATCHET) and Producer Peter Block (SAW I-VI, CRANK, RAMBO)” from the Press Kit.

I ended up watching this movie on accident (read- there was nothing else on). I’m not sure if I’m glad or disturbed that I gave away a couple hours of my life to see this.

The production values were as budget trim as they could be- but really, how much Hollywood fantastica do you need when you’re stranded on a chair lift?

If you enjoy survival thrillers then you will be entertained by this film. It’s suspenseful in its simplicity. It was intense and very realistic, as in – I can totally imagine it would be this horrible to be stranded on a chair lift in the middle of a snowstorm.

Not that I would ever be stupid enough to do so, mind you.

There’s really not much I can say and not scream “SPOILER ALERT!”, but I will say to watch it.  I found myself drawn in to the fear and the very realistic probability that there was no possible hope.

There are no heroes to cheer for. There are no bad guys you want to see die. There is nothing but survival and choices, and the reality of those choices.

Some scenes are disturbing in their reality, but hey – this might actually be what happens in this situation.

Watch it.

Just, um – not with the children. Could be a good date movie if you want to have your girlfriend crawl in your lap or your boyfriend hold you tight to keep you safe.

Frozen. . . not completely freezer burned, but not quite thawed, either.