Say It Ain't So

I was watching the CHCH news this morning and Annette Hamm started a story with, "A man was found shot in an SUV that was left running...."

Have we gotten that blase about murder that they must add something that they think the public will react to.

Them: A man was found shot in an SUV.
Us: Yeah, whatever. Pass me the waffles.

OR

Them: A man was found shot in an SUV that was left running.
Us: Oh my god! Please tell me that they found it before it wasted too much gas. Oh, the poor SUV. Oh, and I never even thought of the people in the area that had to wake to all that polution. Oh, and what about the birds and other animals in the neighbourhood. Oh, what a shame!

Come to think of it, maybe we are that blase.

What's good for the goose....

A few years ago, I was with a group of people -- some I knew well and others I did not. The facilitator of the group asked a fairly simple question that required each of us to look inside ourselves to determine what kind of people we were and what motivated us. A pretty simple thing to ask of someone and it should be a fairly simple thing for someone to do.What it did for me was open a floodgate of feelings. My carefully built walls and barriers crumbled and allowed me to feel all the terror, hatred and self-loathing that I had hidden from for most of my life.

Suddenly, they all came from nowhere and filled my body, heart and soul. I sort of shut down at that point. I stopped eating. I stopped sleeping. I didn't smile or laugh or participate much in life except by automatic response. Someone, thankfully, recognized what was going on and directed me to seek the support of a wonderful counsellor and I ended up seeing her for a couple of years. I'm probably not completely finished with that journey, but I did enough that I could go on and deal with life again. Now, I also have an amazing man in my life and I'm experiencing true trust for the first time.

Sounds pretty wonderful, huh? Except that I have been told that it’s mandatory for me to attend a function much like that one a few years ago. We’ve been given very little information about what to expect. Some people have bandied about such terms as “introspective exercises” and “searching within ourselves”. Those were the very same exercises we did a few years ago.

Now my concern has turned to outright terror. I’ve had trouble getting to sleep. When I do sleep, I’ve been having more nightmares than normal.It’s not about whether or not I want to participate. It’s not about being afraid of secrets or ulterior motives. It’s about recognizing my triggers and it’s about my desire to maintain the status quo.

Spiderman said “With great power comes great responsibility.” I can’t say it any better.

Fortino's - Supermarket With the Smarts

The Perfect Man and I purchased a screened gazebo at Fortino's in mid-April, which we erected, according to instructions, in our backyard.

One day we came home from work to find the gazebo on its roof. One support bar had snapped completely off and the other was off on one side, and broken on the other. As well, one of the support bars had punctured the tarp.

I sat down at my computer and I wrote a letter to the managers of Fortino's and explained what had happened. I told him that, although I still had my bill, I no longer had the packaging for the gazebo. I faxed that letter yesterday. At approximately 7:45 this morning, the manager called me and told me to bring back the gazebo and he would "make it right".

Fortino's will stand behind their products.

An Elephant Never Forgets....

I normally wouldn’t post a story like this, especially because I can’t confirm if it’s true (and it’s probably not true); however, it’s very interesting nonetheless.

In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya after graduating from Northwestern University.

On a hike through the bush, he came across a young bull elephant standing with one leg raised in the air. The elephant seemed distressed, so Mbembe approached it very carefully. He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it. As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe worked the wood out with his hunting knife, after which the elephant gingerly put down its foot.

The elephant turned to face the man, and with a rather curious look on its face, stared at him for several tense moments. Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away. Membe never forgot that
elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Mbembe was walking through the Chicago Zoo with his teenaged son. As they approached the elephant enclosure, one of the creatures turned and walked over to near where Mbembe and his son Tapu were standing. The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, lifted its front foot off the ground, then put it down. The elephant did that several times then trumpeted loudly, all the while staring at the man.

Remembering the encounter in 1986, Mbembe couldn't help wondering if this was the same elephant. Mbembe summoned up his courage, climbed over the railing and made his way into the enclosure. He walked right up to the elephant and stared back in wonder.The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its trunk around one of Mbembe's legs and slammed him against the railing, killing him instantly.

Probably wasn't the same elephant....

Gas Boycott

There is a family that owns a local used car lot. They have a website where they are proposing to boycott the five major gas companies. Their plan is to boycott one for 30 days and then go on to the next until they've boycotted each one.

Here's why I think that won't work: The company that is initially boycotted is going to feel the brunt of it. They may even go out of business. Or they may work out a deal with the other four companies to supply gas to them during the "tough times" and do buy from them when their turn is over. During this period, the other four companies will have significantly increased business.

Secondly, the boycott is not asking everyone to boycott ALL gas. That would be ridiculous, but it's the only thing that would work. The four companies that are not being targeted will likely decide to raise their prices so they can get a huge profit so they can ride out their time of boycott.

I appreciate what this family has done to try to get prices back in line; I just don't think this is the right way to do it.

Hard To Digest

When Crystal was little, I took her and her brother to Swiss Chalet. I ordered a kid's chicken dinner for each of them. Crystal was a very picky eater and I had to constantly encourage her to eat more. The kid's meal at Swiss Chalet comes with a kid-sized sundae so I used that, "C'mon Crystal, just three more bites and you can have some ice cream." It worked. And she didn't know her numbers yet so I actually tricked her into "three more bites" a couple of times.

Finally, I deemed that she had eaten enough and I let the waitress clear her plate away. The waitress said, "You did really well. Would you like your ice cream sundae?"

Crystal's little bottom lip started to quiver and a huge tear welled up in one eye and slowly slid down one cheek and she said, "I want my ice cream now."

Crystal was still too young to understand the concept of the days of the week; however, she did know the word "someday" and to her "someday" meant any day that was not "right now".

Note: I was in the doctor's office one day leafing through an old copy of Reader's Digest and what do I find? My story. This story. Someone else got paid for my experience. Grrr! Oh well, she got the money for the story. I have Crystal and the many memories we have together. I win!

Flat On My Back -- But Not In The Good Way

I know there have been no posts in a while. I've been very much under the weather. I'm at work today, but everyone (including my tummy) is telling me to go home. If I could figure out a way to bring a washroom stall with me, I'd listen.

I hope to be back soon so keep checking in.

Turn That Frown Upside Down

An incredibly excited and emotional woman won the trip to Cuba. No, it wasn't me.

In order to make myself feel better, I started mentally reviewing the things I'm thankful for and I don't have a thing to be disappointed about in this life. In fact, I am one of the luckiest people I know.

Of course, Cuba would have been nice........

A Matter of Mittens

Yesterday on my way home from work, a woman ("Disgruntled Woman") got on the bus and stopped behind another woman (Mom-Woman") with a large baby buggy, that was stopped near the front of the bus. Mom-Woman had the buggy pushed as far over to the side as she could get it and there really was quite a bit of room to get around it. She was prevented from moving foward because of two other equally large baby buggies.

It did not matter to Disgruntled Woman that Mom-Woman had nowhere to go. She kept standing behind her and yelling at her to move her buggy. She finally did go around her and found a seat sitting across from me, where she loudly announced to all who were listening that Mom-Woman was a f**king b*tch and she should have known that she (Disgrungled Woman) was hit by a car ON HER BIRTHDAY!!! and had four cracked ribs. This tirated kept up for a while until one of the other mother's on the bus told her to watch her language.

Disgruntled Woman switched topics to tell the gentleman in front of her (I think she knew him) about all the people in her family who had died recently. She finished that amusing tale by asking said gentleman if he could "trust" her for half a pound of cheese until she got her cheque the next day. I didn't hear his answer and it was finally time for me to get off that bus so I could catch the next.

Disgruntled Woman was getting off the bus at the same stop as me. I got up behind her and I noticed that she had one of her mittens barely hanging out of her pocket and was about to lose it. The bus had stopped and the doors were opened and I gently tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Excuse Me".

She whipped around and started yelling "I know. I know. I'm getting off the f**king bus. You don't have to be in such a f**king rush."

I smiled sweetly and pointed to her mitten and said, "I only wanted to tell you that your mitten is falling out of your coat."

"Oh" was all she said and she exited the bus.

Everyone around me was smiling as I called out "Have a nice day".

Quick! Call A Whore, I See A Cop

I work in the legal department for a child welfare agency. Our office is across the street from a motel that mostly rents by the hour (or the minute) and has several "drive thru" windows.

One day, a number of my co-workers were crowded around one of the windows looking at the motel parking lot. I joined them and realized that there was an incredibly young girl who appeared to be strung out and she was trolling for customers. I kid you not. This girl could not have been over 13 or 14. We were sickened. Even worse, there was a creep hanging out in an SUV in the parking lot. Every once in a while, he'd pull up and give her some pointers or he'd give his horn a little beep and point out a potential customer. The creep was clearly her pimp.

We had to get this little girl off the streets before someone actually picked her up. One of my co-workers called down to our intake departement and they called the police. We all stood at the window, waiting with bated breath. Would the police get there in time?

No, they didn't! Little Miss Innocent got into the SUV with her pimp. Best we could figure is he had figured out we were watching and he was going to take her out of there. Two of our intake department workers decided they could not wait for the police. They ran out to the SUV and, while one of the blocked the path of the car, the other banged on the passenger window and begged the girl to get out of the truck.

On the second floor, all of us were crossing fingers and saying quick prayers to our respective higher powers. Yes! Yes! Yes! She got out of the truck and started to speak with our intake department. We all cheered and were jumping up and down with joy. We had saved a little girl from a scumbag pimp. What could be better? I'll tell you. The young girl had been speaking to a driver of a pickup truck and he had decided to take her up on her offer and he had gone around the corner and pulled into the motel lot. So, we also saved her from a pathetic low-life customer. YIPPEE!!!

Our joy was shortlived. Our intake workers walked away from the SUV and the girl got back in the SUV and the scumbucket drove away with her. We were crushed. A couple of us were actually teary at this point.

Then a couple of cars pulled into the motel parking lot very quckly and they blocked the pickup truck (the potential customer). The men in the cars got out and pulled the guy out of the pickup and put him up against his truck and held him there. Now, we were very confused. Then one little voice from near the back of the office said, "Holy shit. They cops". And our intake workers confirmed it.

We had just tried to save one of Hamilton's finest in the middle of a sting operation.

Greetings from Cuba

Hello to all my friends back in Canada.

The Perfect Man and I arrived safely in Cuba. Yesterday, we bid a teary good-bye to Mike and Lesley.

I don't have much time to tell you much of anything. I chewed up almost 7 minutes of my precious 30 minutes of internet time just logging on to this blog.

We love and miss you all. Hope to see you on the 23rd for karaoke so we can have a Christmas drink together.

Love and kisses.

Me, me, me

I am a woman in love with the perfect man.

I am a woman fortunate enough to have two incredible kids and two incredible step-kids.

I am a woman who has the best practice grandchild.

I am a woman who has the most amazing friendship base.

I am a woman whose mother is dying of lung cancer.

I am a woman who had an amazing childhood.

I am a woman who had a horrible childhood.

I am a woman who has an ex-husband who was abusive - he's called "The Blob".

I am a woman who has another ex-husband who just doesn't get it - he's called "The Adult".

I am a woman.

These are my stories.