lera-92-07 diary

srijeda, 30.12.2009.

well

well... Today I got my x-ray done on my throat... I was told not to fast anymore (I had to, for 12 hours prior to the procedure) because the barium was "like concrete". Well isn't that great. I am eating fibre stuff, lemme tell you.I went for my first day in my class... turns out I DO have to get a transcript from my old university ordered to get advanced standing for the prerequisite that I thought I didn't really need. What is freaky deaky is that I found out I can order it online - and that when I entered in my old student number, all this info comes up and I saw all my original grades... wow. I mean they had computers back when I went there, but still, it's freaky. Is my info stored on some Bernoulli drive somewhere? LMAO I was better off not remembering all my sucky grades. Also, hello again to reality not matching what is on the course outline or website.

subota, 26.12.2009.

Well I had a fun day yesterday - it was awesome because the past 2 weeks have been a bit hit-and-miss

Well I had a fun day yesterday - it was awesome because the past 2 weeks have been a bit hit-and-miss. I went to an SCA event in Mississauga, not too far from where I live. I don't go regularly, one of my NY resolutions has been to start getting out to these events just to stay connected. So because I arrived after work, it was a bit awkward because everyone was eating dinner already. I said hi to ashendari, and then found a random place to pass the time - he popped in between his dinner to catch up a bit with me. I got caught up in the dancing activities afterwards - I have always enjoyed these, LOL, won't pass up the chance to briefly hold the hand of a nice strange man. LMAO Most times you have a partner, and you have to step together and step back, it reminds me of square dancing - one dance had a do-si-do, and another had what I termed "the hokey pokey" because we stepped to the left, then right, then turned ourselves around. One person was terribly enthusiastic, and dragged in both people who were somewhat experienced, and newbies, and called out steps as we danced... so I guess if it was line dancing on a boat cruise, I would still have fun... don't tell anyone though. My friend from college was also there, so we sat down and chitchatted first, then we both did dancing, so it was pretty fun.

četvrtak, 24.12.2009.

Heh I'm watching Little Mosque on the Prairie

Heh I'm watching Little Mosque on the Prairie. Missed the first airing, but they're showing it today too. It has a touch of cheesiness, but it's not bad. No shortage of kooky characters.LMAO it's about east vs. west, as much about Toronto vs. Western Canada as it is about the East vs. The West

subota, 19.12.2009.

http

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/factsandargumentsSweet Adeline, my AdelineAdeline can still belt out a tune, yet she worries: Who will look after the future old folks?TOM CAVANAGH My mother-in-law celebrated her 100th birthday not long ago. That may sound like a lead-in to a Henny Youngman joke, but it's simply an observation about a happy event.Her name is Adeline and we have always got along well. She actually wanted me to marry her daughter, Rosemary. Although Adeline and I don't meet often, whenever we do I bring my guitar and we sing a few verses from Rosalie's Good Eats Caf. Yes. She sings along. She's blind and bed-ridden but bright as a button. Of course she doesn't remember all the words, but it's her favourite song and she joins in when and where she can. One verse she never forgets, and there's no more joyful sound in the world than her faint high-pitched voice kicking in -- in both perfect tune and time.The short order cook with the Momma tattoo / He's turning them hamburgers slow. / Eggs over easy and whole wheat down / "Hey, y'all want your coffee to go?" / He never once dreamed as a rodeo star / That he'd ever end up this way, / And it's two in the morning on Saturday night / At Rosalie's Good Eats Caf.Sometimes aging can be a stressful and difficult time -- although it does beat the alternatives. For Adeline, despite physical setbacks, her latter years have been close to an ideal period -- perhaps unique. Family is nearby; three daughters live in the same town. Two of the three were nurses (retired) and they all visit on a regular basis. Daily. Three visits a day, seven days a week is the norm with ongoing reading, conversation, and assistance.Small wonder she is alert and conversant about the world around her. After she turned 90, I sometimes feared she would start forgetting things -- such as me, for example. We live far apart and our visits are irregular. Not to worry. She remembers me, and asks about all our five children and four grandchildren. By name! I find it amazing.Adeline also maintains a sharp sense of humour. Not long ago we drove up for a visit and a nephew's party. My wife brought along home-made buns and cookies, and spoke about work in the kitchen. I added a comment as a sort of test. "Yes, we've been quite busy cooking and baking."Instantly Adeline shot back: "We? We? What do you mean 'we'? You wouldn't know what to do in the kitchen! You wouldn't even know where the stove is. Don't try to fool me!"Adeline had seven children and expresses concern about two of ours who are childless. Who will look after them when they get old? In years past, I brushed aside her worries, but lately it seems a more sensible concern. Life expectancies grow longer, and 100 years old is not that uncommon while close-knit extended families are.I dislike long digressions, but demographics are important, and things are changing rapidly. New acquaintances raise eyebrows when I mention our five children. Yet in the 1960s our "crew" was far from abnormal. When I was a child, five was probably under par. There were families of 10 and 12. The Crough family in Peterborough had 22. I played football with Paul but could not keep track of his brothers and sisters.Demographics are not the be-all and end-all but they are important, and Adeline is on to something. Whenever demographics change, the impact is considerable. Countries like Italy and Japan are heading over a demographic cliff. Same in Greece. And Canada.So we're back to Adeline's worry. Who will look after the old folks? Believers in the capacity of our social safety-net to do the job are not getting out enough. They are not looking around, not looking ahead.More than a year ago the CBC did an investigation/commentary on the lives of the elderly. One story involved a couple who sent the husband's mother off alone to an old age home. They were too busy to accompany her. It was painful listening. In a later interview the couple expressed total confidence that their children would never do that to them. I wonder. What goes around comes around.Adeline enjoys lots of company and varied stimulation. She's happy and lucky, but she paid her dues. I love to visit. Yet I find the homes/institutions where she has lived invariably and hopelessly depressing. Old people alone staring at walls.Thinking what? I have no idea. I hope I never find out.So I'm tired of the baby boomers wondering who will take care of them.Wasn't it a bad thing when people had 22 kids and there was no birth control?Young people can't afford to have kids these days. It's just an evening out of the population to match resources.Get over it.

četvrtak, 17.12.2009.

I'm starting to get back into doing my SCA stuff

I'm starting to get back into doing my SCA stuff. I've dragged out some unfinished garb, ie clothing, and I have renewed plans for finishing it, and starting some more little projects. I'm making some headway on researching the period I'm interested in - I was interested in somewhat earlier medieval years, and had selected 1200s Ireland as my time period. However I found the idea of research kind of daunting and so I didn't bother having a really defined persona. (eg. at SCA events, instead of dressing in random medieval outfits, people will have an imaginary, historically accurate person planned out, complete with name, education level, etc.) I imagined really general books about medieval stuff in libraries. However I have a few keywords now that really pull up good stuff in Google. When you google "medieval" all manner of stuff comes up, but now that I'm using the words "pre-Norman", way more useful stuff is appearing, and I'm seeing that entire books are written on little specific periods. And along the way, I'm getting a clearer idea of Irish history. Clearer because now that I'm focused on a specific era, it acts as an anchor around which the preceding and following time periods kind of fall into place. The 1700s and 1800s make my eyes glaze over, I guess because most of the history is politics, but the bronze age, iron age and medieval periods interest me because they deal with concrete things that I have some knowledge of: farming, clothing construction, stone crosses, castles, and Christianity. Homes and clothing were easily made by the average person. Back then, there was no king who ruled the entire country, there were "petty" kings here and there who didn't have a lot of area and bickered... just like in a small town LMAO so I understand even the politics somewhat hahaEdit to add: While looking for celtic jewellery links, I found lots of ghey stuff, including this. (tiny stamped symbols? WTF? I'd far rather the interlace designs) However I found a great article here. Though it's on bronze age stuff, it gives me an idea of what materials they had in the british isles anyhow, so I'm gonna find some things at the craft store that resemble amber, tin, faience, and... fossil crinoids

utorak, 15.12.2009.

there was a story on the news tonight

there was a story on the news tonight, about a raccoon that got stuck in what I guess was a drainage grate. His head was caught, and he looked terrified, with wide eyes, and his roly-poly body looked so vulnerable. It had a happy ending - they sedated him, and sawed the grate open to free his silly head.

nedjelja, 13.12.2009.

I lost my 2006 day planner

I lost my 2006 day planner!I won't REALLY need it after this week... but I haven't moved my phone numbers etc. into my new one yet.gah

petak, 11.12.2009.

I would like to declare how tired I am of feeling disconnected

I would like to declare how tired I am of feeling disconnected. I want to join a local SCA thing and TRY to go regularly... at least one week out of three, I get off early enough to go do evening social stuff. Also, I want to see if I can go to a ham radio "users group". And there's an Irish group in Brampton... though the last two, the chances of everyone being a senior are a little high for my liking. :DI want to go to a church regularly, the feeling of being part of the fabric of a place is good, I need to establish that again. Didn't notice it was gone till I stopped going. Well we know all the folks where my parents live, but I'm looknig to put down different roots for when my mom & dad move. Had a good thing started at one church not too far away 2 years ago, till I got all pissy that they didn't want me playing instruments. Might try there again, now that I can play geetar, but whatevs, who cares. Just want to have the feeling of familiar people around me in teh church. There's another church, but there is one crappy singer who leads and it's like nails on chalkboard, I met him at a barbecue thingy and he's kind of... irritable? irritating? so yeah, not something I want to do.I got my sister an "Are We There Yet?" t-shirt from glarkware.com several years ago. She said she deliberately wears it when she flies on a plane LMAO and she gets smiles and fun comments from the airport staff and flight crews.Today was good, we went to church. It was us 4 kids (well 3 siblings and my brother's wife) so it was somewhat fun. Boring but okay. I am the world's worst critic of church music because I used to be in a music ministry. Church is sleep-inducing enough without having to endure slow music too. Back at home, there was a ritual playing of Mom's "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" CD, and my brother is boring me to death for yet another Christmas by watching It's A Wonderful Life that my mom "taped" on her recordable DVD thingamajig. Hopefully at some point the "secret santa" participants, ie my aunt and cousin will arrive, bringing the start/conclusion of the gift exchange, and my sister with her wee son. :D but for now, *bored bored bored*

srijeda, 09.12.2009.

I had a conversation about this with someone - about this feeling

I had a conversation about this with someone - about this feeling: life is passing you by, you don't have enough time to do what really counts (well those of us schmucks who work for a living LOL) and so you dream of doing something else, getting off the beaten track and so on and so forth.Well, I worked hard to get where I am, (the memory is still fresh in my mind - I chopped and changed a bit before I got my job I have now) but I think some people forget, after many years of boredom in life, how hard they worked to get that job, relationship, or whatever, and they fantasize about having a different life, when it just takes some extra brain effort to block out those feelings and concentrate on the now.I learned something valuable one vacation. I went on a vacation out in the country. (my granny's old house) The hedges were beautiful, not much traffic on the roads... well there was a fair amount, but the countryside was so unspoiled still that it was easy to imagine that there wasn't a soul for miles around. Anyhow, do you know where my parents live now? Out in the country as well, and I drive past lovely countryside when I go visit them. So I had a few moments of imagining that I was on vacation, with the scenery that exists at home. It takes mental effort, but it's fabulous.All that being said, it's Christmas eve, and I'm taking a couple of hours to reorganize my songwriter's messy sheaf of papers to see if I can organize what I have, and start making rough recordings - with no interruption of work or chores (if I wait long enough, the stores will all close MOO HOO HA HA) and still some time to go see the folks tonight. It feels amazing to finally be settling down to work with my music and get it all organized. Fact of the matter is I really don't have enough time to do all teh crap I want to do, but you can't torture yourself with "ah this sucks" type of feelings. I am going to try to book some of my vacation days as an odd Monday or Friday here and there, just to get caught up on stuff and get some mental relief from the stress of it hanging over my head.

I had a conversation about this with someone - about this feeling

I had a conversation about this with someone - about this feeling: life is passing you by, you don't have enough time to do what really counts (well those of us schmucks who work for a living LOL) and so you dream of doing something else, getting off the beaten track and so on and so forth.Well, I worked hard to get where I am, (the memory is still fresh in my mind - I chopped and changed a bit before I got my job I have now) but I think some people forget, after many years of boredom in life, how hard they worked to get that job, relationship, or whatever, and they fantasize about having a different life, when it just takes some extra brain effort to block out those feelings and concentrate on the now.I learned something valuable one vacation. I went on a vacation out in the country. (my granny's old house) The hedges were beautiful, not much traffic on the roads... well there was a fair amount, but the countryside was so unspoiled still that it was easy to imagine that there wasn't a soul for miles around. Anyhow, do you know where my parents live now? Out in the country as well, and I drive past lovely countryside when I go visit them. So I had a few moments of imagining that I was on vacation, with the scenery that exists at home. It takes mental effort, but it's fabulous.All that being said, it's Christmas eve, and I'm taking a couple of hours to reorganize my songwriter's messy sheaf of papers to see if I can organize what I have, and start making rough recordings - with no interruption of work or chores (if I wait long enough, the stores will all close MOO HOO HA HA) and still some time to go see the folks tonight. It feels amazing to finally be settling down to work with my music and get it all organized. Fact of the matter is I really don't have enough time to do all teh crap I want to do, but you can't torture yourself with "ah this sucks" type of feelings. I am going to try to book some of my vacation days as an odd Monday or Friday here and there, just to get caught up on stuff and get some mental relief from the stress of it hanging over my head.

ponedjeljak, 07.12.2009.

b(o)rat

So I saw the Borat movie.I was surprised that it was all shot on a handycam, likely held under someone's arm or coat so as to not be noticed. That Romanian village where they shot stuff, was truly depressing.OMG when they stayed at the bed and breakfast with the Jewish couple, that was hysterical. The couple were so sweet - and how Borat was played, you simulaneously thought he was an idiot for being prejudiced, but you felt his fear of the unknown. Brilliant.The media kind of overhyped how Borat makes the americans look dumb... so I was looking for that in the movie, would have been better had it been more of a surprise than me looking for it. But most of all, it would have stood up just as well, or better, if they just showed all the skits, without the story plot elements to "tie" the movie together. It would have been funny to have seen all teh different takes. I was HIGHLY aware that some of the boneheaded comments his unwitting subjects/actors were making were edited together out of context, esp. when he sang the modified anthem in the rodeo arena. I was like whatever. The magic of editing is pretty substantial in changing what something means. However some people, there is no way they could have been taken out of context - they were pretty clear on who they hated, if a little fuzzy on WHY they hated.PS there are naked men in it. It's not a film for Grandma - or at least, let her go with her own friends instead, so you're not embarrassed. LOL

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