I’m going to keep things simple this morning and simply wish everyone a safe and happy Easter. It’s been a rough few years and I hope y’all get the opportunity to have some chocolate, spend time with family and do something fun. Happy Easter! ☯️
Life is tough. I don’t think I’m providing any enlightened insight, there. It’s even tougher when you’re alone. And that solitude is all the more difficult when it comes as no fault of one’s own. Throughout my youth, I spent many an hour by myself. Always a bit of an outcast, I didn’t have many friends during my childhood and the ones I did have were quick to leave me behind when they found someone better. By “better,” I mean better from THEIR perspective; not realistically better.
In fact, I remember a kid I used to spend time with that I considered to be my best friend, whatever that means at such a young age. He quickly started spending time with another kid who had more money, better gadgets and toys and access to a car when we reached our teens. It didn’t matter that the other guy was an absolute asshat who used people until he grew tired of them and then tossed them aside. I was left in the weeds despite all of that. Things don’t get much better into adulthood, with self-proclaimed “friends” often leaving you behind in favour of what they consider to be greener pastures.
You only get out of life what you choose to put into it. If life serves you lemons and all you do is stare at them, you’ll never get to taste the lemonade. It’s only through the effort of cutting, squeezing and zesting those lemons, then adding sugar and water to the mix that it will become the tasty accomplishment that we know as lemonade. Maybe that’s a bit of a cheesy comparison but it’s accurate. People will often use you and toss you aside when they’re done with you. In some cases, this doesn’t mean that they’re inherently bad people; it simply means they were never taught any better.
When life gets you down and you feel like you’re all alone, use that time to your advantage. Spend some time getting to know yourself and discovering who you are and what you want out of life. Read that book you’ve left sitting on your shelf for the past few years. Spend some time outside watching the world. Sit in on a movie at a theatre that you’ve wanted to see. Take a trip. Some time alone can be important in order to help one reflect and truly allow themselves to become who they are.
Take it from someone who spent most of his youth by himself; being a loner doesn’t mean that you ARE a loner. It simply means that you’re unique and outside the confines of the expected social norm. And there’s nothing wrong with that. If the people within your scope of existence don’t like who you are and don’t want to stick around, so be it. That means that they weren’t meant to be part of your inner circle. Eventually, people will come into your life that are worth keeping around. And at that point, you’ll discover that they not only appreciate you for who you are and HOW you are; they’ll also become an integral part of that journey and may help you discover a few things along the way. Food for thought… ☯️
With the warmer weather becoming more of the norm than the exception, my mind has been turning to all the fun, outdoor activities that I usually enjoy doing in order to supplement my martial arts training. Some of those activities include long-distance cycling and using the punching bag in my garage. Last Sunday, the weather reached 7 degrees Celsius in Regina. As such, I decided to spend some time outdoors. Nathan spent the afternoon with a neighbour boy his own age. Alexander and my wife decided to come outside and enjoy some of the warm weather and fresh air.
They also came outside to watch me break a sweat as I chose to have my first punching bag workout of the season. I’ve been waiting on pins and needles to get outside to use my bag and getting some kilometres on the bike. It was a good burn; I only pounded the bag for about 30 minutes but that was all I needed to get my heart rate up and break a solid sweat. By the time I was done, I was sore and tired but I felt good. It was a bit like shaking the cobwebs off and coming up for air. I love training in a dojo but it’s important to do some stuff on the side in order to maintain one’s cardio and weight management.
I didn’t get out on the bike like I had intended, given that I had no grease for my chain and my can of WD-40 was empty. I would have enjoyed throwing a few clicks under my belt as well, but I’m more than happy to save that for another day. In the meantime, I had a “training partner” who decided to pick up the gloves and take a shot. As you can see from the video below, he’s a bit rusty as well. But the effort was still there. Check it out…
He definitely shows potential and always wants to punch or kick something. Wonder who he gets THAT from? I’m definitely happy with the better weather and the opportunity to start training outdoors again. I can’t wait to get out on the bike. There’s nothing quite like having fresh air in your lungs, music in your ears and a heavy sweat as you peddle your way to better health. ☯️
Some of my posts in recent weeks have been pretty negative and morose, considering some personal matters that have been happening in my life. That’s why I felt that when there was something positive I could write about (including my post about the Batman from last Tuesday) I should make a point of seeing it happen. This is where my story about last weekend comes in…
My wife and I are typically homebodies, preferring to stay at home and watch a streaming service or game on our devices than venture out into the outside world. Most of this is by virtue of the colder weather keeping us indoors as neither of us is a fan of the cold. But the recent milder weather and temperatures reaching into the positive has seen us walk outside into the sunshine more than usual.
Last Friday was a bit of a crap shoot, considering you may have read about what happened to my son Nathan in yesterday’s post. I left work on Friday morning and brought him to the doctor’s office for an eye infection. By the time I got home and actually sat in front of my computer, my work day was almost done. My evening saw me playing with my kids and sitting to watch some television with my wife. Not a bad way to spend the evening and pretty typical of what we do.
That’s when my wife suggested we go to the movies. This was pretty exciting for me, because I had been wanting to see the Batman. We chose a 4 pm viewing, since it was a 3-hour movie and we didn’t want to get home at a ridiculously late hour. We spent the morning cleaning the house as a family with all the windows open, allowing the cool air to circulate through the house. Once the house was all clean, I pre-ordered a pizza for the boys and the babysitter, which would arrived around 4:30 pm while we were gone.
We made our way to the theatre and enjoyed some Chucky Cheese style games, including shooting hoops and playing air hockey. Turns out my wife is a little hellcat at air hockey and kicked my ass twice. We watched the movie, which I reviewed in a previous post. So I won’t get into it. After the movie, we went to an eatery that specializes in poutines and ordered a couple of large bad boys, which we brought home to consume in front of the television.
The boys in bed and our poutines in front of us, we ate until we were ready to fall into a carb-induced Conan and went to bed. It was a fantastic night and loads of fun. So much fun that we decided that we would bring the boys to the theatre to use our remaining game tokens the following day. We had a good handful but I brought an extra 10-dollar bill in order to ensure everyone got to try some of the games.
On Sunday morning, I checked for the theatres hours of operation, which were erroneously shown as being 11:30 am. We left the house and ran a couple of errands before making our way to the theatre and parking about ten minutes before the time they were SUPPOSED to open. It was only then that we found out that they don’t open until noon. Thanks a bunch, fuckers! You know how easy it is to get a screaming toddler back into his car seat when he’s finally been released? Not easy at all…
We took a drive and came back at noon and everyone had a blast. Some mild issues with losing tokens in one of the air hockey tables was quickly rectified by a staff member who compensated us with some extra tokens. Nathan and Alex had a blast. You know a toddler has had some fun when he breaks down crying at the prospect of leaving. We got home and enjoyed some family nap time before having supper. Then, since it was Sunday night and our week was about to begin anew, it was baths and showers all around before getting the boys to bed.
My wife and I capped off our night by watching Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure of all things. Definitely a fantastic weekend and loads of fun was had. I know that with everything going on in the world right now, it can sometimes be hard to remember that happiness still exists. But our household definitely recognized that fact, this weekend. I don’t have any photos or documentation of our excursions. Wanna know why? Because I was too damned busy having fun to take photos. Now if only this mild weather could hold and keep melting the snow, I might be able to get my bike out… ☯️
It’s no secret that we make our way through life by a very twisted, convoluted road. And there are plenty of bumps along that road, no matter who you are or the environment you grow up in. But making mistakes can be a good thing. During childhood, these mistakes are seen as “life lessons.” It isn’t until we get older and creep our way into adulthood, do people start to call them “mistakes.” And I think there’s an inherent problem with this view. Although we learn valuable life lessons as children, such as not sticking a fork into a wall socket a second time (no, I’m not speaking from experience), the mistakes we make during adulthood can be valuable and teach us important lessons as well.
People are generally afraid of failing at anything they take on in life. There are many reasons for this, including the potential disappointment of others, one’s family, friends or peers. There’s also the fear that failing at something may cost one more than one is willing to bear. The big problem with viewing the world through this lens is twofold; fear of such failure will leave you stuck in a place you may not want to be and you’ll never experience growth UNLESS you first experience failure. There’s nothing worse than looking back at one’s life and recognizing that you’re stuck in the very same place you’ve always been and have learned nothing.
“Experience Is The Hardest Kind Of Teacher. It Gives You The Test First And The Lesson Afterward.”
– Oscar Wilde
Ultimately, what’s important is the attempt. If you work hard at something, build goals and try and develop yourself and your life but still fail, it’s not a loss. Life has a way of teaching us through our mistakes so that we gain experience, which we wouldn’t if life was smooth sailing without encountering any waves. An apt analogy for a Maritimer, I think! But I digress… The point is that when mistakes are made and losses occur, you can’t change them. You can’t undo them. You can only learn from them and move forward and ensure you don’t repeat these mistakes.
Mistakes are how we learn. If you lose a job, fail a test or exam, injure yourself or hurt someone you care about, it can all hold value so long as you’re willing to learn from it and ensure you don’t repeat the same mistakes. It isn’t rocket science. I’m not spouting off anything new. It’s simply a matter of recognizing that value. You’ll be better for it. And life will become all that much better. ☯️
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!In all honesty, I don’t believe I have Irish roots but one really never knows. My father was adopted and it’s thought that our background through his adoptive family included some Scottish and British. My father has been VERY red-headed throughout his entire life, as was I until about five or six years’ old when my hair darkened closer to my mother’s, so who knows? Without wanting to be stereotypical with the redhead thing, people get surprised by their ancestry. But I digress…
Saint Patrick’s Day is an Irish holiday (obviously) held on March 17th that was originally observed to celebrate Saint Patrick, one of the foremost patron saints of Ireland, and the introduction of Christianity in Ireland, In recent times, the day is observed as a way of celebrating the Irish culture in general and usually sees people enjoying parties, festivals, parades and especially the wearing of green clothing. And for anyone who has better information on this holiday, please feel free to hit me up in my Contact Me link and educate me. I’m basically going on what I was told during my childhood and some snippets I’ve read online.
Here in Canada, we have one of the longest-running yearly festival for St. Patrick’s Day on Montreal. My home Province of New Brunswick also sees St. Patrick’s Day as a way of celebrating for an entire week. one can usually see a host of fun activities such as drinking green beer and enjoying traditional Irish meals. As you can see from the photo above, I’ve opted to observe by wearing a green tie to work. That’s about as far as my observance goes since my partying days are long behind me (and because they never existed).
Here’s to St. Patrick’s Day! If you’re out and about today and observing the holiday through some “colourful” celebrations, be safe, be reasonable and make certain you get home in one piece. ☘️
I was sitting in my office yesterday and I got up for something, either a washroom break or my tenth coffee of the morning, when I felt my left shoe coming loose. now, if you wear dress shoes as part of your work or even often enough outside of work, you know that most dress shoes are made of leather and once you lace them tightly, the leather grips the lace and holds it in place. But for some reason, my left shoe became loose and the shoe slackened on my foot as I walked.
Upon further examination (a totally fancy way of saying “I checked it out), I realized that the lace had some damage to it. The best way I can describe it, is that it became “gloved.” To clarify, “gloving” is known in forensic circles as the effect of the outer layer of the hand’s tissue being forcefully scraped off to reveal the tissue beneath. Although gross, this is basically what happened to my shoe laces; the outer surface was stripped away, revealing a thinner, finer lace beneath. This finer lace provided no support and couldn’t hold its knot once tied.
I purchased a new set of laces and installed them and the problem was fixed. It also got me examining my shoes, which is not really something one does beyond tying them. I came to realize that I’ve had these shoes for over fifteen years. Made of sturdy, stout leather, they’ve served me well in various functions, events, jobs and activities. And although I know that most people would have likely scrapped them in favour of a newer pair by now, they’re still comfortable, usable and provide excellent support.
Before everyone jumps into my comments section and brings up the fact that I’ve been using a pair of shoes for fifteen years (FYI, my grandfather owned shoes for longer and went through worse than I have), I started thinking about how our world has grown to be a disposable one. Products and items last for shorter periods, usually requiring replacement as the cost of repairing them is usually higher and more time consuming than simply replacing it.
A good example would be computers and smart devices. The vast majority of people in the western world now own a smart device and/or home computer as part of their daily lives. Back in the 1980’s when I first set hands on a computer, they were considered a luxury and not an expected part of the household. But most computers these days last only a certain amount of time before they can no longer be “updated,” even if they still work just fine. This can be frustrating to someone who has spent a significant amount of money on one.
I’ve faced similar issues with my cell phones in recent years, where a phone can longer be updated to current software and stop supporting certain apps and programs as a result. This really sucks, since I’ve kept every previous generation of cell phone I have and they all work. So, if all I needed was an actual cell phone, it’d be fine. When you’re paying a substantial amount for a product designed to perform a bulk number of functions, you won’t be happy if those functions are no longer available.
I’m ranting just a little bit here, and some of you may be wondering where the connection is between replacing my shoe laces and talking about electronics. My point is that, much like my grandfather used to say, “they don’t make ‘em like they used to!” The result of this is that we now exist in a world where it has become easier to throw things away and replace them instead of trying to maintain them. I think it’s important to remember that something trustworthy that serves you up well should have every effort taken to be maintained. Food for thought… ☯️
Today marks the start of Daylight Savings Time, which is something that always fascinated and annoyed me throughout my childhood and into my formative years. After all, this time change involves pushing clocks an hour ahead, which causes the inclusion of a 23-hour day. I’ve had all the same complaints as most people have had regarding losing an hour’s sleep on that particular day.
It wasn’t until I reached the age of adulthood that I understood the concept of maintaining the longest period of natural daylight during waking hours, hence “Daylight Savings” but a part of me failed to see the use behind this since I could work whenever, go to school whenever and what did I care when the evening started?
There is some rationale behind it, including the practicality as[ect that if the sun rises too early it can interfere with proper sleep and the start of the actual day as well as reducing the overall use of candle light during waking hours, back before electricity was a common amenity of households. Interestingly enough, a city in Ontario was the first on in the world to use Daylight Savings Time. It didn’t take long for the majority of the world to follow, with only a few exceptions.
Some places are beginning to see the minimal use in Daylight Savings time and are looking at the prospect of discontinuing it. CTV News posted an article about six months ago about how Ontario is passing legislation that could effectively end Daylight Savings Time in the Province. The very Province where it all started may be the first to end it. I live in Saskatchewan where we’re located in a time zone that isn’t affected by time change. My clocks have remained the same for the past fifteen years.
If Canada as a whole decides to end Daylight Savings Time, I know that one person who will be overjoyed will be my mother. Since she can’t be bothered to change her clocks and her watch every six months, her time pieces are usually only accurate for six months out of the year. Part of that seems like comedy; the other part feels like laziness but hey! Who am I to argue with my mother? Hope y’all didn’t have to lose an hour’s sleep, last night… ☯️
My staff and I have a particular place where we like to spend our coffee breaks. Just a little spot that takes us completely out of the office and away from it for a distance, which allows us to take a walk, get some air and let our heads cool a bit. This location also happens to be surrounded by a number of eateries, many of which I take part of when I forget or neglect to bring lunch to work. In case the description is a bit too vague, I’m describing a food court. We take our coffee breaks at a food court.
A few days ago, we were enjoying a quiet afternoon coffee and chatting about some random things, when I looked up at one of the eateries and noticed a female employee, sitting on a chair near the till. It took me a brief minute and an awkward double take for me to acknowledge that she was picking her nose with the enthusiastic ferocity normally attributed to a seizure. Her index finger was basically buried almost to the second knuckle and I don’t know what she was looking at but she seemed transfixed as she dug for nose gold with a Zen kind of enthusiasm.
I went through the many stages of morbid comedy… Surprise, laughter, judgement and disgust followed by the sudden realization that i occasionally order food there. All of this went through my mind in under a minute and I pointed out the offending party to my colleague, who shared a laugh without any of the disgust that would follow, signalling that he never eats there. I don’t like being sued, so I won’t name the eatery or its exact location but it woke me up to the fact that as pleasant as occasionally eating take out food can be, one really never knows how clean the location one orders from really is.
I don’t really have a point to today’s post. It’s just something that happened that I decided to share. We often see documentaries about cleanliness behind a counter but this was one of the few instances in my life where I actually saw something happening, firsthand. The icing on the cake was when we got up to leave and walked past and the woman in question made eye contact with me and smiled because she recognized me. Awkward. ☯️
All the way back in 1910, a German socialist champion of women’s rights proposed that March 8th be set aside every year as International Women’s Day. It eventually became recognized as a globally observed holiday by the United Nations in the late 1970’s. Through the years I’ve had the pleasure and benefit of being surrounded by many strong, wonderful women. From my mother, who has spent her life caring for her family and children and still does, the women who have carried a badge to help protect the public, all the way to my lovely wife, whom we can all agree needs to be tough as nails in order to put with me after all these years. Here’s to all the women out there! ☯️
