Indigo Girls overload

You ever have one of those days when your MP3 player drives you a little crazy???

I should first explain something: I really don't like skipping a song - especially if it has a catchy tune - once it's started because it will just stick in my head anyway. (On the other hand, allowing a song to naturally finish on its own actually helps me move on and not have the song stuck on continuous play in my brain.)

Okay, so back to my narrative: today, of the hundreds of songs that I have, my iPod somehow seemed to choose every Indigo Girls song there was. Not that there's anything wrong with the Indigo Girls - I love their melodies and harmonies - but holy crap every song seems to have a melodramatic lyric along the lines of "I take things so much more seriously than you do" and I want to reach through my headphones and shake one of those singers really hard and tell her, "FOR GOD'S SAKE FIND A SENSE OF HUMOUR!!!!"

And yes, I am fully aware of the irony of this. :->

How was your day? :)

Girl & Cow

Girl & Cow
Originally uploaded by KCzarzasty.

Have I blogged this photo before? It's extraordinary. The photographer writes:

"While visiting the Goshen Agricultural Fair my wife brought this picture to my attention. So overwhelmed by everything going on I would have missed this picture of this young girl and her cow taking an afternoon nap."

Now I'm off to get some hard-earned ZZZs myself ...

Have you ever ...

... had a password you liked so much that you wished you could tell other people what it was???

I could tell you my password, but then I'd have to ... change it. :-(

A job I would not want

For a long time, I thought the worst things about being a police officer would be the danger of getting shot at or otherwise attacked by some criminal. But a few weeks ago, during a bad snowstorm, I saw two police cruisers blocking entrance to a particular road. I assumed that there had been some kind of an accident further down the street, and they were keeping other people away.

Which made me think about what the job of a police officer must be like at the times when s/he is not facing possible murder. And I think it must include hours of time sitting alone in one's squad car wishing you had a novel or even a crossword puzzle just to keep you from going stir crazy. And I realized that I never would have survived had I chosen law enforcement as a career ... that much boredom AND a firearm???

I don't know how they do it. :)

Ouch

Today someone said something so patently untrue that when I rolled my eyes, it was with enough force to make my head hurt.

Weirdly uplifting

Does anyone else get sentimental about the time when your kitchen was clean for more than 0.005 seconds? I'm cooking (or prepping lunches) a lot these days, which is awesome. I don't have a dishwasher (which I'm okay with not having), but I swear I do at least a sinkful of dishes every day.

This morning, when I walked into my kitchen and there wasn't a single dirty dish in sight and the counters had been wiped down, I swear I heard angels sing.

One of my favourites

Pink Martini - "Una Notte a Napoli"



I love the passion and drama in this song.

Sign the Petition to Protect the Boreal!

Canada’s Boreal Forest, a 1.4 billion acre green garland stretching from Yukon to Newfoundland, is one of the world’s most unique and important ecosystems. The billions of birds raised in North America's Bird Nursery leave their nests in the fall and migrate to winter locations throughout North, Central and South America. Many of our favorite backyard birds began their lives in the Boreal.

Unfortunately, the Boreal Forest is steadily being carved up by unchecked oil and gas, mining, logging, and hydro development. While less than 8% of the Boreal is permanently protected, already 30% has been allocated to industry.

In recent years, we have seen long-term declines in many Boreal bird species. Rusty Blackbirds have declined by 95%, Olive-sided Flycatchers, Boreal Chickadees, Bay-breasted and Canada Warblers, and Evening Grosbeaks by more than 70%, and scaup and scoters by over 50%.

In addition to birds, Canada’s Boreal Forest hosts some of the last remaining large populations of caribou, wolves, lynx and grizzly bears on earth. It is one of the planet’s largest terrestrial storehouses of carbon, shielding us from global warming. And it is home to hundreds of aboriginal communities that rely on the land for their traditional way of life.

Fortunately, there is still time to ensure that the Boreal remains North America’s Bird Nursery. Canadian governments must take responsibility for conserving this precious natural legacy before the birds we love face extinction.

Show your concern for the future of Canada’s Boreal Forest and the billions of birds that rely on it. Sign this letter urging government leaders to protect the Boreal today.

Help me decide

Okay, folks ... I'm gonna ask you to do some work for me here. I have $150 given to me as a gift to spend with the wonderful charity, Plan International Canada, a non-religious, non-political organization aimed at helping children and their communities in some of the poorest countries in the world.

Please click here for the catalog of things I could buy. Then click on the link just below (where it says "click HERE to comment") and tell me how you would invest this money and why. If you make a sufficiently strong argument, I'll follow your direction!*

*Exception: I won't buy livestock to be eaten.

So won't you help a gal who's faced with too many cool choices to decide?

Words I thought I'd never have to say in the company kitchenette

[pleasant conversation with co-worker, then ...]

Eclecta: Dude, did you seriously just scratch your ear and then suck on your finger???

[co-worker pauses and mentally reviews the last few moments]

Co-worker: Oh my God, I think I did!

Don't judge too quickly

Thanks, Kevin! :)

Here's another you might enjoy:

Random

Songs that have been in my head lately (for no apparent reason):

• "I've Been in Love Before" by Cutting Crew
• "Mellow Yellow" by Donovan
• "O Canada" (very weird ... for a few minutes I was wondering, "What is this song???" Definitely carrying patriotism too far.)
• "I Just Died in Your Arms Tonight," also by Cutting Crew (funny ... I didn't realize I was such a fan)
• "Runaway" by Bon Jovi
  

Questions I have asked myself lately:

• Does "dairy" include goat milk and cheese?
  
• Hey, whatever happened to sweater sets?
  
• Why does no one name their kid "Saffron" any more?
• Why have I never met anyone named "Saffron"?
• Did anyone ever really name their kid "Saffron"?
  
• Why do so many cemetery monuments look so phallic?
  
• Why does a possible building fire smell like burnt toast?
  
• Aside from my cats, what else would I like to have outside the building in case this is a real fire? (Answer: my cell phone [just for practical reasons], a hat, gloves. I already had my wallet tucked in my winter coat.)
• Will I ever forgive myself for leaving my cats in the apartment if this is a real fire? (In my defense, they don't really let me catch them while that god-awful siren is blaring.)
  
• Who cooks at 3:30 in the morning, and why did they burn their food so badly as to set off the fire alarms and send the rest of the building out into the cold night???
• If I were stranded on a remote island and could have only one herb or spice, which one would I want? (Answer: oregano, but with deep regret that I couldn't also have rosemary. And garlic. Ooh, and cayenne!)
• What spice can I add to this mulligatawny to enrich its flavour? (Answer: nutmeg. The result was something of which I felt I could be truly proud.)
  
• Do I post too many videos on this blog?
• Which Gifts of Hope should I buy with the $135 raised by my party this past weekend?
• Why are rubber boots considered fashionable these days? (I'm a farm kid; I associate them with mucking out a pig barn.)
• OMG, how excited is Zen going to be that George Michael will be touring North America again???
  

More questions, chocolate cake version:

• Would chocolate cake for breakfast really be so bad for me? (It is Easter, after all.)
• Would another piece of chocolate cake be so bad for me?
• Will I be able to zip up my pants in a few days if I have yet another piece of chocolate cake right now?
• Why does this chocolate cake taste better and moister each time I have a piece? Isn't it supposed to go stale?
• If I freeze the chocolate cake (in self-defense), will it get freezer burn? Is this a risk I’m willing to take? Do I really have a choice here???
• How long would it take to defrost a piece of chocolate cake?
• How many times have I thought of chocolate cake today?
• Am I going to need some methadone in order to stop eating chocolate cake?

Final random question for tonight:

• Am I the ultimate egocentric in finding these points amusing and/or interesting?

Acts of Kindness

I was sitting in the subway car on the train. I had just picked up a coffee cup that someone had left behind on the ledge behind a seat. The cup still had a bit of coffee in it. It had fallen over and spilled the coffee, which was in danger of getting on to the coat of the woman sitting in the seat. I was deprecating today's modern manners and the habit of leaving litter everywhere.

I heard a voice asking someone to pick up their feet. I looked around and a young man of about 12 to 15 years of age was reaching under a nearby seat. He pulled out the garbage and litter underneath it.

There were three or four other similar young men with him. They were wearing latex gloves, and one was carrying a garbage bag. They swept through the car between stations, picked up all the garbage, and accepted more from passengers. I gave them the coffee cup. One of them brought up the rear and wiped and polished the poles that passengers hold on to. At High Park they got out and vanished.

It is an understatement to say I was stunned. I've been riding the subway for 25 years and haven't seen anything like this before.

Too bad we can't encourage others to do the same, because it probably violates numerous regulations. But it was pretty amazing to see. Thanks to whoever you were, guys. We all thought you were great.

It had been snowing all day, when I hopped off the Bramalea GO Train.

All I wanted to do was get to the warmth and comfort of my home, but I knew I was going to have to spend at least ten minutes braving the elements to clear off my car before I could go anywhere.

I headed in the direction of my car and wondered how I was ever going to find it - all the cars were covered in snow.

As I approached the general vicinity, one car stood out because it was the only one that had already been cleared. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was my car.

I have no idea who cleared it off, or why. I can only assume it was a fellow passenger who came in on an earlier train, cleared off their car and then decided to clear off the car next to them too.

Whoever you are, I want to say thank you for your considerate gesture! I headed for home smiling all the way.

More here.

I'm confused ...

... is this video FOR John McCain? If so, could they not find a lead "singer" without vampire teeth, or people who can actually lip-synch? And what's with the backup "singer" on the left fading to transparency and back again?



There MUST be talented and likeable people who support John McCain; that's just statistically reasonable to assume. Why couldn't they find any of THOSE people to be in this video?

Can you imagine what it must be like for those running the McCain campaign to see this video? Embarrassment and sheer terror, I'd say.

Weird!

Do a Google search of "Avaaz + Tibet" and see what comes up first - even before the Avaaz website!

And to those who may be visiting as a result of this strange hiccup in Google: hello and I'm very sorry! :)

Who put vodka in this kid's cereal?

Greatest dealing with a telemarketer ever

The Circle Game

This song by the great Canadian songwriter Joni Mitchell came up on my iPod today. Particularly at this time of the year it resonates with me. It doesn't make me feel sad; it makes me so grateful for the rhythms of life and to know that I'm a part of it, and that there's nothing new or unusual about any of my experiences.

And the seasons they go round and round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We're captive on the carousel of time
We can't return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

A dilemma

This morning, on my way to work, I was faced with a dilemma. I'm not sure that I handled it very well, so your thoughts and input would be welcome so I can ensure that I do not behave like an ass again. Here goes:

I actually have a seat on the subway on the way to work. At a certain stop, a bunch of people board the train, and suddenly I realize that there is a very beautiful, very pregnant woman standing in front of me, as there are no seats left. I immediately offer her my seat, but she assures me that she doesn't need it, as she has only two stops before she gets off the train again. She is totally glowing and she is rock-solid on her feet in spite of the beach ball-like protrubence under her winter coat, so I stay where I am.

My gaze drifts over to the woman standing next to her, and ... oh shit, is she pregnant too? It's a LOT harder to tell with this second woman, as she definitely is carrying some extra weight over the stomach area, but it's not as obvious as with the first woman, and frankly it looks a little lumpy. I'm trying not to be obvious that I'm staring at her belly. In the end, I stick to my policy to not mention a woman's pregnancy (or assumed pregnancy) to her face unless it is:

a) confirmed beforehand by a third party;
b) the woman herself brings it up in conversation; or
c) the woman's water has broken and the baby is about to come out.

But in the end I'm not sure whether I did the right thing.

Thoughts?

Romance novel snickers

There's a grocery store where I go that has romance novels on display near the exit. I must confess that I am a former Harlequin novel junkie; but in my defense, it was during my youth when my brain was soft. These days, the titles just make me snicker.

Tonight's title: Hired for the Boss's Bed

Seriously. I would not make that up.

Isn't that funny? I think the subtitle could be: The Romantic Side of Prostitution, or maybe Sexual Harassment: A Case Study.