Sunday, 13 February 2011
you look tired
a friend of mine told me I looked tired not long ago. I kind of shrugged and said I felt tired. a couple weeks later I told her I thought she looked tired on that day, she turned around and said "so you're saying I look like shit". now she said this in somewhat of a joking tone but I could tell she wasn't thrilled at my observation. We got into a conversation about how she thinks when people say that to her that they are really insulting her overall appearance as opposed to noticing heavy eyelids or darker circles. Apparently the word 'tired' holds a lot of hidden messages and feelings. do lots of people think this? should I never tell anyone that they look tired? was she saying I looked like shit? meh, life moves on and I write blogs. wha da ya gonna do?
Sunday, 6 February 2011
you always get what you want
I was recently having a conversation with my ex. she told me that "you always get what you want." she didn't say it in any sort of hatred but more of that of being envious. I've been told this statement before. "oh marcus! you always get what you want!"
my reaction to this comment is "of course I do, why wouldn't I?" Most of the time I get what I want I made an active decision to get it and often had to work to attain it. so why shouldn't I get what I want? shouldn't we all get what we want? Am I supposed to want something and not try and get it because we are all supposed to be unhappy?
Life isn't difficult, too many people think it's much more complex than it is. Do things that make you happy, don't do things that don't, if you want something (that doesn't involve hurting others) then get it. of course I get what I want. why don't you?
my reaction to this comment is "of course I do, why wouldn't I?" Most of the time I get what I want I made an active decision to get it and often had to work to attain it. so why shouldn't I get what I want? shouldn't we all get what we want? Am I supposed to want something and not try and get it because we are all supposed to be unhappy?
Life isn't difficult, too many people think it's much more complex than it is. Do things that make you happy, don't do things that don't, if you want something (that doesn't involve hurting others) then get it. of course I get what I want. why don't you?
passing on the highway
we've all been there. Long road trip on a two lane highway and the guy in front of you is going too slow so you need to pass them. Of course when you decide you are going to pass them it inevitably turns out that the road starts winding, there is always a car coming in the opposite direction, and it seems like the people heading in the opposite direction have had opportunity to pass forever. but then you finally get your window of opportunity and you go for it. you hit the signal light accelerate to a speed you don't normally cruise at and you merge back into your lane playing the adult game of leap frog. now think back to that experience. did you use your signal light to get back into the lane you just came from? the person you just passed knew you were going to come back into the lane but did you give them the courtesy? I did (most of the time). Here's why.
putting or not putting on the signal light send 2 very distinct messages. using the signal light says: "hi friend, you're going slower than me, that's okay I'll just pass you. enjoy the rest of your day." Not using the signal says: "hey jerk stop driving so F-ing slow! I've got somewhere to be.....jackass!"
maybe you agree with me, maybe I'm reading too much into a small yellow light on the back corner of a vehicle flashing a couple times. Either way the next time you're on the highway and pass or get passed you are going to think about me and my blog. booyah!
putting or not putting on the signal light send 2 very distinct messages. using the signal light says: "hi friend, you're going slower than me, that's okay I'll just pass you. enjoy the rest of your day." Not using the signal says: "hey jerk stop driving so F-ing slow! I've got somewhere to be.....jackass!"
maybe you agree with me, maybe I'm reading too much into a small yellow light on the back corner of a vehicle flashing a couple times. Either way the next time you're on the highway and pass or get passed you are going to think about me and my blog. booyah!
Saturday, 15 January 2011
the city bus
In recent years there has been a real push for people to lower their energy use, green house gas emissions, or carbon footprint. However you say it it's the same thing: don't waste energy and recycle where you can. One big way promoting less vehicle emissions is using the city bus. It is often advertised as reliable transportation with the friendly bus driver who will get you where you want to go fast and you will enjoy every minute of it. the bus looks so inviting in advertisements. Real life is a lot different than most advertisements but I'm hard pressed to think of the discrepancy being so big as with the city bus. I recently started taking the bus again and I took it for about 8 years when I lived in Edmonton, so I'm a seasoned veteran when it comes to pulling the string to show that there is a "stop requested". Anyways, taking the bus SUCKS:
1) the mercy of the schedule. with transfers and bigger distances traveling you spend a lot of time waiting for buses to arrive. and what would be a a 20 minute trip you have to budget an hour of time for. What I'm currently experiencing is having to be at the bus stop a half hour before I need to be at work for a car ride that would take 9 minutes and if I don't sprint for the bus if I'm running a couple minutes late I'm late for work where as with a car its a non-issue.
2) the bus stop itself. most bus stops are simply a pole with a sign, I got no problem with those ones, its the transfer stations I hate. a collection of an interesting mix of people, most noticeably young teenagers who are trying to bum smokes off of one another or others and seem to think that they are the coolest people around. While most teens spend their time at the mall, participating in extra curricular activities, or playing video games these teens are busy melting the sides of the shelter with their lighters. CLASSY! the other thing I hate about transfer stations is that they are filthy. plenty of garbage bins around but that's not the issue. the issue is that you can't go anywhere without stepping on cigarette butts, like someone in the sky sprinkled the entire transfer station with them as decoration.
3) the bus driver. In my years of bus travel I had only 1 nice driver. the kind of driver you would see on a commercial, one that always greats you with a smile and has no problem answering any question. Most drivers are just pissed off, like pulling over to pick you up was a huge chore and now they are late for dinner because of YOU! and is it just me or is every single bus driver ever a male between the ages of 40-60? cause it certainly seems that way. I can't say I blame them. I don't think I'd be in a great mood if I had that job... although bus driver clothing is trendy.
despite all my complaining about city transportation it does offers a couple of good points:
1) you don't have to think, when the bus gets going you can turn the brain off and zombie out, if the bus isn't crowded you could even catch a few Z's.
2) if you're into people watching its the place to do it. A large diversity of people take the bus so to see different people and create your own little stories for them is fun.
And that is my experience of city transportation.
1) the mercy of the schedule. with transfers and bigger distances traveling you spend a lot of time waiting for buses to arrive. and what would be a a 20 minute trip you have to budget an hour of time for. What I'm currently experiencing is having to be at the bus stop a half hour before I need to be at work for a car ride that would take 9 minutes and if I don't sprint for the bus if I'm running a couple minutes late I'm late for work where as with a car its a non-issue.
2) the bus stop itself. most bus stops are simply a pole with a sign, I got no problem with those ones, its the transfer stations I hate. a collection of an interesting mix of people, most noticeably young teenagers who are trying to bum smokes off of one another or others and seem to think that they are the coolest people around. While most teens spend their time at the mall, participating in extra curricular activities, or playing video games these teens are busy melting the sides of the shelter with their lighters. CLASSY! the other thing I hate about transfer stations is that they are filthy. plenty of garbage bins around but that's not the issue. the issue is that you can't go anywhere without stepping on cigarette butts, like someone in the sky sprinkled the entire transfer station with them as decoration.
3) the bus driver. In my years of bus travel I had only 1 nice driver. the kind of driver you would see on a commercial, one that always greats you with a smile and has no problem answering any question. Most drivers are just pissed off, like pulling over to pick you up was a huge chore and now they are late for dinner because of YOU! and is it just me or is every single bus driver ever a male between the ages of 40-60? cause it certainly seems that way. I can't say I blame them. I don't think I'd be in a great mood if I had that job... although bus driver clothing is trendy.
despite all my complaining about city transportation it does offers a couple of good points:
1) you don't have to think, when the bus gets going you can turn the brain off and zombie out, if the bus isn't crowded you could even catch a few Z's.
2) if you're into people watching its the place to do it. A large diversity of people take the bus so to see different people and create your own little stories for them is fun.
And that is my experience of city transportation.
Monday, 10 January 2011
feels like winter
now that the holiday season is over I'm glad I don't have to hear people talking about all the effort they have to go through to make it "feel like christmas." In my opinion you shouldn't have to work too hard for feelings. For the most part our attitudes determine our feelings and I'm just not going to spend hundreds of dollars and dozens of hours decorating/cooking/shopping/planning/ and wrapping. Don't get me wrong, I do all of those things in small amount but it isn't going to alter my day/weekends/month or season to do it.
thinking about the feeling of christmas I thought to myself when does it "feel" like christmas or winter (in a good way, not the bone chilling cold way) that requires no effort. For me, it wasn't crunching snow, skating, christmas lights, fire places, skiing, world junior hockey, snow shoeing, santa clause displays, or shopping. To me the best winter feeling I can get comes from seeing fresh snow on trees. a fresh snow fall is great but I have lived in cities my whole life so seeing a completely untouched snowfall is a rarity for me. I think that's why I love snow on trees. nobody bothers the snowy tree, and there is something about branches long lost of leaves with a few centimeters of snow elegantly resting on the intricate branches. AHHHHH! christmas!
thinking about the feeling of christmas I thought to myself when does it "feel" like christmas or winter (in a good way, not the bone chilling cold way) that requires no effort. For me, it wasn't crunching snow, skating, christmas lights, fire places, skiing, world junior hockey, snow shoeing, santa clause displays, or shopping. To me the best winter feeling I can get comes from seeing fresh snow on trees. a fresh snow fall is great but I have lived in cities my whole life so seeing a completely untouched snowfall is a rarity for me. I think that's why I love snow on trees. nobody bothers the snowy tree, and there is something about branches long lost of leaves with a few centimeters of snow elegantly resting on the intricate branches. AHHHHH! christmas!
Thursday, 30 December 2010
airport experiences
I flew back to eDmonton for the holidays. I surprised my family, which was fun, but here are some reflections of my recent airport experiences.
1) nobody wants to work on christmas eve and I was fortunate enough to not be at work but I saw many people who were working. this got me to thinking what is the worst job in the airport? security isn't all that fun and I'm sure the airline reps aren't always having a blast. I thought I figured out the worst job when I thought about the guys who have to deal with luggage complaints but then my luggage was lost and I think their job is actually pretty cushy. Then it hit me. The worst job at the airport is those people who sit inside the security gates at the kiosks. They are either selling cheap junk, regional trinkets, postcards OR the worst job of them all..... the credit card sales people. Everyone is annoyed at "the credit card people" and pretend to be busy when walking buy and they just sit there all day pestering strangers. there kiosk isn't even nice or entertaining. I wouldn't want to do this job. I especially wouldn't want it on christmas.
2) Sometimes I feel like an ant in an ant farm and if someone were to look at a city as if it were one of those clear ant farms or bee hives that are used to teach children they would have to agree that we are ants. Grocery shopping is usually when I get this feeling. we all walk into the building and come out with a cart of food. going in and out of the aisles, through the checkout, returning the cart. We are all just little working ants/bees going through the motions and doing the exact same thing as everyone around us. The airport definitely replicates the ant farm feeling for me. dropped off at terminal, through line, through security line, wait, wait more, through boarding line, onto plane, wait, line up to get off plane, line up for luggage, leave. we are small.
3) as I was waiting for my flight back to where I live and was waiting for boarding (this was before the flight was delayed and eventually canceled and my luggage was lost) I noticed the energy in the room was much happier. I am under the assumption that most people were returning to their homes after christmas with friends/family. The happy vibe kind of surprised me. I was happy to be going back home, not because I hated my visit or anything like that but rather was simply ready to go back to my own home with my own bed. maybe people were feeling the same thing as me, maybe people had been fed well, were rested, got the gifts they wanted, were now going on a vacation, didn't have holiday stress to deal with, felt the love from those friends/family? whatever the reason a lot of people seemed much happier after christmas then before. interesting.
so there are some more of my perceptions and opinions.
1) nobody wants to work on christmas eve and I was fortunate enough to not be at work but I saw many people who were working. this got me to thinking what is the worst job in the airport? security isn't all that fun and I'm sure the airline reps aren't always having a blast. I thought I figured out the worst job when I thought about the guys who have to deal with luggage complaints but then my luggage was lost and I think their job is actually pretty cushy. Then it hit me. The worst job at the airport is those people who sit inside the security gates at the kiosks. They are either selling cheap junk, regional trinkets, postcards OR the worst job of them all..... the credit card sales people. Everyone is annoyed at "the credit card people" and pretend to be busy when walking buy and they just sit there all day pestering strangers. there kiosk isn't even nice or entertaining. I wouldn't want to do this job. I especially wouldn't want it on christmas.
2) Sometimes I feel like an ant in an ant farm and if someone were to look at a city as if it were one of those clear ant farms or bee hives that are used to teach children they would have to agree that we are ants. Grocery shopping is usually when I get this feeling. we all walk into the building and come out with a cart of food. going in and out of the aisles, through the checkout, returning the cart. We are all just little working ants/bees going through the motions and doing the exact same thing as everyone around us. The airport definitely replicates the ant farm feeling for me. dropped off at terminal, through line, through security line, wait, wait more, through boarding line, onto plane, wait, line up to get off plane, line up for luggage, leave. we are small.
3) as I was waiting for my flight back to where I live and was waiting for boarding (this was before the flight was delayed and eventually canceled and my luggage was lost) I noticed the energy in the room was much happier. I am under the assumption that most people were returning to their homes after christmas with friends/family. The happy vibe kind of surprised me. I was happy to be going back home, not because I hated my visit or anything like that but rather was simply ready to go back to my own home with my own bed. maybe people were feeling the same thing as me, maybe people had been fed well, were rested, got the gifts they wanted, were now going on a vacation, didn't have holiday stress to deal with, felt the love from those friends/family? whatever the reason a lot of people seemed much happier after christmas then before. interesting.
so there are some more of my perceptions and opinions.
Tuesday, 7 December 2010
lazy talkers
a while back I saw an ad for Tim Hortons Coffee. The ad was simply a cup of coffee and a line that said "true patriot love" next to it. As I read it I of course understood that this line was from the national anthem 'O Canada' what I also thought was how when I sing the anthem or when I hear it the line seems to be screwed up. I sing it and I always hear it being sung sounding like "true pay trit love" the I and O really aren't shown much respect. Then I started thinking to other words that we as canadians get lazy about. Edmonton, my home city, not often but from time to time gets pronounced emonton. where's the D? Another big one is the city of Toronto. that second T gets no love. I often hear people talking about Toronto as Torono. Is this the Canadian accent or are we just a bunch of lazy talkers?
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