Ideeahs

I've been laying on this green plastic for sometime.  What a ride it was to get there. --- It was warm and humid.  Dark.  I was nestled nicely between these two longish black hairs, leaning back looking outside at all the colours whizzing by.  Crazy world out there you know.  It was noisy, there was a lot of laughter, crying, screaming.  I could see toys made of plastic of all colours.  I was happy and at peace here at home.  Then, suddenly, something blocked my view, it turned very dark and I felt a breeze starting to build from the cave behind me.  It quickly turned into a horrible storm with gale winds and I could no longer hang on to my hair.  I lost my footing, flew in the dark and fell onto something soft. It was suddenly very bright.  Brighter than I had ever seen it.  Light was all around me.  I had to close my eyes, protect myself.   But there was no where to go.  Help!  I was surrounded by millions of my family.  All were screaming for help as well.  It seemed like we wer...

Took a walk in our beautiful city today.  Sunny, warm.  The beach.  The mountains.  Gosh, there really is no better location for a city in the world.  As I have said many times I feel on vacation here.  This beauty is mostly natural beauty. In an effort to avoid obliterating this scene with too thick a yellow/brown veil the City of Vancouver passed a by-law stating that idling a car for 3 minutes or more is prohibited.  It has been in place since July 2005.  Recently signs have been posted around the city reminding people of this by-law.  The city also states on its web site that 10 seconds of idling uses more gas than restarting your engine.  All good reminders to its citizens and visitors.   Today on my walk in the beautiful city I saw two individuals breaking this by-law. 1) Greenish Crown Victoria.  Parked facing north to take in the mountain view.  Inside a police officer sits.  He is writing?  Typing?  Not sure.  I walk by and notice his car's engine is running.  I don't ...

3-2. Disappointment in our family at Portugal's loss to Germany in the first quarter-final of the EURO 2008 football championship on the 19th of June.   Portugal seemed slow for the first twenty minutes.  The Germans marked their opponents quickly  and well.  They jumped on the ball quickly.  The Portuguese seemed sluggish and their passing was just off, enough to be ineffective.  They did get some life with their first goal late in the first half and seemed to gain more energy from Postiga's header but with three minutes to go it was too late.  German precision won out. I can't help but wonder whether Scolari's decision to only play three of his regular XI against the Swiss on the 15th played a part.  Portugal lost that game 2-0.  It was a shame and as a fan I would have liked to have seen them come out with a desire to win and with a resulting three points.  Instead the B team was played and the result was a B grade - not enough to pass this EURO exam.  A win would ha...

The door to the elevator closes.  The office tower was built in the 60s.  Nice brown panelling, yellow lighting that does not rid the space of all shadows, orange squares glowing orange (numbers 5 and 10).  Old stained carpet.  A man is in the elevator next to me.  We stare at the orange, brown and carpet but don't dare glance at each other (oh no! not eye contact!). An overpowering sense of malaise overtakes me as I ride up to the fifth floor.  Up a well to an office.  For twenty years I have done this on a daily basis.  Now that I have not worked for two months I've been freed from this daily ritual. Limiting, powerless.  Follow, pace, march.  Group think.  NO! No not an office job! Creativity, artistic, helping, decision making, authority.  YES!

Yet another comment on how stupid humans can become when they: 1) Work in groups. 2) Try to clarify items via signs. 3) Try to please everyone. In this case it is the GVRD - Greater Vancouver Regional District (now called Metro Vancouver).  They manage a large, forested park in our neighbourhood.  The issue is dogs and whether or not they must be leashed.  The solution to please all parties and to "clarify" the issue is the sign which is pictured here. OK...stop.  Read it.  Read it again.  Think.  There are so many variables. 1) Whether or not a dog can even be on the trail 2) If the dog can be, whether or not it must be leashed 3) The day of the week 4) Whether or not it is a holiday. 5) The direction you are walking in. So.  Leashing is always optional if you walk to the right.  To the left, the dogs must always be on leash during weekdays.  On weekends and holidays dogs are not allowed, leashed or not.  So, make sure that if you are walking your dog and coming from the rig...

Listening to The Tragically Hip's Phantom Power album this morning.  Sitting at home.  Contemplating life. Rules Guaranteed or not, It's the rules We certainly have a lot of rules imposed on us by various organizations and, more generally, society.  You can't go faster than 50 km/h.  You have to pass on the left.  Stay in your lane (you've read this all before, I know).  In my earlier post I stated that organizations are trying to help us by creating all these rules and signs.  Forcing us into a certain pattern of action and thought so that the machine and all it's complicated parts work smoothly.  Mechanically.  The machine being the earth and the guts of it being the orderly conduct of humans in it.  But by doing this creativity is squashed.  Comply.  Be the same.  Obey.  Do what you want in your home (well, not really) but when you enter the machine, behave. Unfortunately the home is no sanctuary from rules.  Sit up.  Hands on the table please.  Clean up your ...

Yesterday I headed down to Seattle to go and watch the Canada vs. Brazil friendly football match at Qwest Field.  Just after you have crossed the Oak Street Bridge over the North Arm of the Fraser River from Vancouver to Richmond, BC there is a signpost that states Seattle is 221 kilometres away.  So...at an average driving speed of 110 km/h you might say to yourself..."we'll be there in two hours!  Great!" Ok , ok ...add in some traffic, a pee stop, some construction, maybe a coffee and it might take three hours. Yesterday it took us seven hours!  SEVEN.  We had a bit more construction than normal around Bellingham and traffic was heavy in Seattle.  But the main reason for the seven hour trip was the three hour wait at the Peace Arch border crossing. Here are some thoughts that crossed my mind while we sat there taking this crap from governments: Common mother and brethren   The inscriptions on the top of the arch state "Brethren dwelling together in unity" a...