There’s plenty of reading out there that speaks to the fact that your day will play out based on how you start it. For example, if you wake up, walk to the washroom and proceed to throw up, the safe bet is you’ll likely have a rough day. Your stomach may be sore and cramped, you’ll have little to no appetite and you’ll feel like crap, thereby affecting your overall day. This is just one physical example, but the concept is the same for the emotional or mood-related side of things.
Sometimes it’s as simple as having a morning routine. Wake up, stretch, use the washroom and get coffee going. It’s a structured way to ensure that your body awakes and is receptive to the fact that sleep time is over and the day is beginning. But doing a couple of little things at the start of a day can go a long way towards ensuring that the day will have a more positive energy.
One good example is saying good morning. As the decades have passed and people have fallen a bit deeper into the digital frontier, taking a simple moment to say good morning to the people around has taken the wayside. I can guarantee that a good number of people make a point of posting on social media, first thing in the morning. So why not take the moment to actually do that in person? This is one of the first things I do when I get to work, every morning. I stop by every member of staff’s office and simply stick my head in for a quick “Good morning.” Sometimes it evokes a brief conversation about how things are going, sometimes it simply results in a smile and my greeting is returned. But the result is ALWAYS positive.
It may seem like a little thing but as we all know, little things eventually add up. A dripping tap will eventually fill the sink, if left long enough. By the same token, a little touch of positive energy in your day will lead to another and another, until your sink is overflowing with positive energy. And the funny thing about positive energy is that it will influence you. Kind of like being in a horrible mood when that catchy song comes on. You may have been in a funk but then you realize that you’re crooning along with the song and moving your head, while the folks in the car next to you giggle and point at you… But that’s a story for another time. Stay positive, friends! ☯️
Most people who know me would agree that I can have a stubborn streak. And while dealing with someone stubborn can be tedious and even exhausting at times, there’s a lot to be said for stubbornness. I consider it to be one of the deterring factors that’s kept me alive for as long as I have been. If I were never this stubborn, I never would have overcome Diabetes complications as was child. I never would have reached the level of martial arts training that I have. And I definitely wouldn’t have made my way through basic training and enjoyed a reasonable foray into law enforcement over the past decade and a half.
But there were a lot of nay-sayers along the way. People who didn’t believe that any of those things could be accomplished and that I shouldn’t have been attempting them. In some cases, a lot of cases, I wish those people could be here to SEE what’s been accomplished. But such pride-filled fantasies are not only unnecessary, they accomplish nothing. But it’s always difficult when you have people who seem to want nothing more than to watch you fail. And I’ve seen this happen a lot.
The most classic scenario involves being at the gym. You walk in, change and start working up a sweat. Public gyms have a lot of positives and negatives, as I’ve often written about. But at one point, you look up and see a heavy-set person on a treadmill or elliptical machine. You can see that they’re soaked with sweat, breathing heavily and are doing their damndest to push through the inevitable fatigue that comes with moving a vessel that large. But they’re doing it. And then the inevitable happens: a couple of snooty bitches (male or female) will come by and “subtly” say something about the person on the treadmill. Maybe something to the tune of, “Wow, you can tell that they sure don’t belong here..” or “Why would they let someone like THAT in here? I didn’t come here to see someone fat in my gym.”
I wish I were making those sentences up. But these are ones I’ve personally heard while USING a public gym. It ties into my whole concept about how some people just want to watch the world burn. Folks, obesity and excess weight is no joke. But setting aside the whole concept of body-positivity and loving yourself as you are, excesses weight can have serious health repercussions and shortens your life in a plethora of ways. So, it would make sense that a person in that position would WANT to work towards getting into shape. And last time I checked, wasn’t the POINT of a gym to GET in shape? By that logic, it stands to reason that everyone in the locale isn’t going to look like a bad scene out of Baywatch.
That’s only one example of such a scenario and it’s a classic one. One I dealt with was actually from my parents. Yes, you read that right; the first people I had to deal with being negative about a choice I made was my mother and father. During my childhood, complications resulting from insulin resistance didn’t provide much of a positive outlook on the possibility of living to see my teens. When I took my health into my own hands and decided to join the martial arts, I was told that I was too weak, too frail, to join karate. They’d hit me and hurt me, and I’d never make it through a class without my blood sugars bottoming out. Ultimately, my parents and family at large were of the opinion that it would be contributing to my early death to join karate.
As a result, I wound up doing what a number of people have done through the centuries, in my situation. I joined in secret and did it anyway. The result was not only improved health, reduced insulin sensitivity and a lifestyle I never would have been exposed to otherwise but I went on to excel and teach others. Not too shabby, for someone who was told they could never do it. And that’s something that unfortunately happens far too much. This example involved my family, but I’ve faced this sort of negativity from friends and associates through the decades, as well.
Folks, one of the worst things you can do in this life, is knock down someone who‘a trying to climb. Everyone has a story, everyone has a journey and it’s far better and easier to help lift these folks up than try and knock them down. Imagine if I’d actually listened to my nay-sayers (parents notwithstanding) and stepped aside from martial arts? Maybe I wouldn’t be here today. Or if I was, maybe I’d be in much worse health and unable to enjoy life to the level that I do. I was lucky enough to have people who pushed me and encouraged me. So when you see someone working towards something amazing, be one of those people. ☯️
Is it, though? The expression “It’s better to give than to receive,” is a quote from the Holy Bible (depending on the translation you’re reading). It’s pretty straightforward and direct in it’s meaning, suggesting that’s it’s always better to give to those who have not, than to receive. Today, I’m looking to ramble a bit on the implications behind this line of thinking and how it applies to modern life. For the most part, I think most people in general would agree that it’s a good thing to help others, whether that means giving them something they need or providing a service that may help them.
The question becomes whether one NEEDS or SHOULD give, through the course of their daily lives. Environment and upbringing also play a significant role. A good example of this would be my mother. My mother still lives in a reasonably sheltered corner of New Brunswick, with a French-Acadian population of just a few thousand. She’s spent the entirety of her life without ever being exposed to the outside world. This means that she’s never seen the racial diversity that exists in our country, nor has had the opportunity to see the dark side of society, where some are forced to live on the streets and beg for money or food.
This lack of perspective came to grinding halt during a visit with my aunt in 2002, where she travelled to Ottawa. Like most major cities, Ottawa has its fair share of homeless, and it isn’t uncommon to walk along the main drag and see people on almost every corner, asking for change. When I lived in Ottawa, I made my peace with the fact that not only did I not often carry change but a person could easily bankrupt themselves trying to give to everyone who needs, My mother had no such filter. She’d stop at every corner, handing out change to every person she found who would ask, to the point that my aunt had to physically drag her from the area. Since my mother comes from a diehard Catholic family, the title rings true in her mind and she felt it was better to give, almost to the point where she’d find herself needing, as well.
There’s no issue with handing off some change to someone who needs it, if you feel you should. In fact, I observe this practice myself. I’ve lost count of the number of times that someone would be standing outside my local convenience store asking for change. If I’ve had some change, I’ve offered it. Once in a rare occasion, I’d even ask if I could bring them out a hot beverage, if the weather was cold. On even rarer occasions, if they catch me on the way out, I’d even sacrifice a can of my beloved energy drinks in order to slate their thirst and give their day a boost. As with all things in life, there’s a balance to this phenomenon. I’ve seen people begging for change while texting on a smart phone. I don’t know about you, but if I found myself in a situation where I was begging others for money, I probably wouldn’t be using a $1,000 electronic device while doing it. Although one can never truly know another person’s circumstances, it tends to take away one’s credibility where need is concerned. But I digress…
The important thing to remember is that yes, it’s good to give. And yes, perhaps you should give. If you can. But if you don’t, this doesn’t automatically make you a bad person. Nor should you be judged or belittled because you haven’t. But there are things to keep in mind when giving to others, and I’ll cover my thoughts in a short list (I promise to keep it succinct, it’s Saturday. You likely have other things to do than read my ramblings):
1. Make Sure You Have It To Give: Number 1 and most important; if you’re contemplating giving to others, whether it’s money, clothing, food, whatever…. Be certain that you have it to give. And what I mean by this is, it may seem like a good idea to donate a large sum of money to a local charity you agree with. But not at the cost of providing a needed level of resources to your family. It may seem like a good idea to donate your winter parka so that someone else doesn’t suffer through a harsh winter. But unless you have the means to keep yourself warm as well, maybe reconsider or alter how you plan to help. Make sense? Good. Moving on… 2. Be Kind And Don’t Judge: I know a lot of people who voice the fact that they wish they could just simply walk from point “A” to point “B” without being “harassed” for money. In downtown Regina, one of the more frequented commercial areas has a sidewalk er that’s usually lined with people holding their hats out or asking for change. The old line “get a job” no longer applies. And one needs to keep in mind that a given person may not be in the position to actually secure a job. There may be elements at play that aren’t visible on the surface. After all, everyone’s got a story… 3. Know Who You’re Giving To And Why: This one applies mostly to charitable giving, as in, donations provided to a charity. Given that we live in an age of immediate information at everyone’s fingertips, it should be pretty easy to research the charity you’re donating to and how your donation will be allotted. If you donate $100 to an organization only to find out that a heavy percentage of your donation goes to salary, staff and overhead and only about 10% ends up ACTUALLY being donated, you may wish to reconsider. Giving someone some change or the coat off your back is pretty straightforward. But if you’re making a “donation,” you should be aware of where your donation is going. 5. Believe In The Cause You’re Donating To: For the past twenty years, I’ve made a point of occasionally donating a large sum to Diabetes Canada and/or the Cancer Society. Between the fact that I have Diabetes myself and many if not most members of my family on my mother’s side have had some form of cancer, these are causes that I’m close to and firmly believe in. This not only makes it easy to try and help. A motivating factor, if you will.
The takeaway to that list (and I still made it longer than I planned) is that you have to ensure that you’re safe and secure first. After all, you can’t help others if you allow yourself to fall into a bad way yourself. There is suffering in the world. This, we know. And it’s always a good idea to try and reduce that suffering in whatever way we can. Just make sure that you know WHY you’re doing it, that your motivations are pure and keep yourself safe and secure while you do so. After all, no person can save the entire world. All one can do is try to help in their own little way; one person at a time. ☯️
There’s no arguing that home is always the best place to be. It’s warm, it’s comfortable and it’s filled with the belongings and possessions that often define us as who we are, to ourselves and to whomever visits. That is, until your home leaks, breaks, has a draft or lack of something critical needed to be safe. Then it can become a costly hindrance that most homeowners would agree they’d love to wash their hands of, in the moment.
I had something of a nomadic childhood as my family and I never resided in the same place for more than three or four years. As a child, it never dawned on me to ask why. My father always worked at the same place and we always moved to places within the same area. But by the time I reached my 18th birthday, we had moved seven times, making for an average of two and a half years at each respective address. Some were longer and some were shorter.
As I grew into adulthood, the trend seemed to follow me. I left for college and spent a year and a half in my own apartment, followed by a string of brief stays in different cities as I had different jobs and spent time trying to find myself. When I joined the RCMP, I continued on this trend as Canada’s National Police Force requires the transfer of its members every three to five years. Until I got to Regina. That’s where the travel train finally reached the station.
This summer marks five years of living in Regina at our little bungalow. It’s not only the longest period of time that I’ve lived in one place, thanks to a change in direction within my career, we now find ourselves here permanently (at least for now). As such, we are starting to examine what may be required for the permanence of our home, including repairs, upgrades and basic maintenance that I can sheepishly admit we had been ignoring on the premise we’d be moving away soon.
The basement of my home, as it was in 2020
During last year’s summer, torrential rains caused the shifting soil to seep ground water into our basement, damaging some personal belongings and rendering the entire west side of the basement unusable. I won’t get into that story all over again, you can read about it here. But as you can see from the photo above, my basement had a rather dated look, so the prospect of getting it repaired and upgraded didn’t keep me up at night. Until I saw the cost…
Home renovations obviously aren’t cheap, by any means. And I was fortunate enough to have a fantastic team from Grasshopper Construction doing the work. I’ve dealt with a lot of contractors and professionals over the past couple of years, and these guys are the best, by far. But they were able to come in and demolish the current basement furnishings and brace the foundation, as well as seal up some problems areas to prevent future leakage.
Last year’s foundation bracing.
As you can see from the photo above, the steel beams prevent further buckling and shifting of the foundation’s concrete, and the lines of colour are where sealant has been used to, well… seal up the cracks. It was a much-needed repair as I don’t have to remind anyone that the strongest part of any structure MUST be the foundation. This applies in all things life but not least of which is a house.
Despite the completed repair, we found ourselves left with a bit of a conundrum. The foundation was repaired but the space was unliveable. This was mostly due to the lack of insulation with the coming winter months, combined with the fact that the floor still had residue from 60-year old carpeting and would result in gross, yellow footsteps all over the house if we wandered about the basement. As previous posts would have shown, I rectified this issue by laying down black mats, allowing me to use the open space as a workout area once the spring kicked in.
Finally, some walls!
It’s been a rough year with half of our belongings crammed into the upstairs space. I’ve read and heard about a lot of relationships and marriages that have been damaged or ended due to suddenly being confined during the pandemic. Personally, my wife and I can’t understand this concept as we were more than happy for the increased time we got to spend together. But consider that confinement, where you also have to compress your belongings into half the space. Our home has looked like a bad episode of Hoarders for the past while. For that reason, I was extremely pleased last month when we were able to bring the crew from Grasshopper Construction back to start renovations.
We began with getting spray foam insulation for the outer walls. This is far better than traditional insulation as the spray foam seals and provides a leak barrier from the outside humidity and seepage. It’s also more consistent, with no gaps or spaces between sections, ensuring better temperature retention. Once that was done, electricians and plumbers a came in to do all the work behind the walls prior to dry walling. We’re currently at what could be described as the “mid-way point,” with most of the dry walling complete and the bathroom being installed.
I get my shower back!
We’re looking at potentially several weeks before everything is complete so that my wife and I can paint. But it will be nice to have the house opened up a bit and upgraded. It will go a long way towards ensuring that this house lasts as a home for the years to come. The thing about home ownership is that there’s always a repair, an upgrade or an alteration that needs to be done. Sometimes you have to pick your battles and decide on what you can do and when. But I know one thing for certain: after four decades of constantly moving every few years, the past five have been liberating. It’s nice waking up and knowing that you don’t have to move. I know not everyone has that benefit. And that’s why I certainly don’t take it for granted. Stay tuned for the outcome of renovations…☯️
I think I’ve posted this image every few months over the past couple of years, but it has an air of truth behind it that’s rather important. I can’t remember where I found it and when I try to locate it online, I usually come up empty-handed but sometimes it’s nice to post something positive instead of just bitching about my condition, right? Here’s the image:
Take a look at all those descriptive words in the second paragraph of the image. To some, it may seem like bragging and maybe it is, to an extent. But when I take stock of my life and the things I’ve been through, I recognize that a good number of those descriptive words ring true. Had I never been diagnosed with Type-1 Diabetes, I may not have developed the determination and will to keep fighting through things that I have, With an simpler, easier life free of Diabetes, maybe I would have become soft.
Or worse, maybe I would have become boastful and a bully, none of which would be a good thing. That’s why if you’re fighting the good fight against Diabetes and you recognize yourself in some of those words, do as the image suggests: Take that and fold it up and put it in your pocket for a while. ☯️
With modern life’s fast-paced requirements, sometimes it’s good to take a moment and stop to appreciate some of life’s beauty that may be right in front of you. We don’t always recognize it and even when we do, we often fail to take time to appreciate it. This is a shame, because one should never go through life doing nothing but working and dealing with struggle and strife. This morning, I’m taking my own advice to heart and appreciating the beauty of life as it sits right outside my window.
In previous posts, I’ve joked about having an angry pigeon defecate against my window, birds smacking into the glass and even the sun’s rays turning my office into a makeshift sauna, despite my best efforts to stem that effect through air conditioning. But this morning, I was able to find a few moments of relative peace and tranquillity, despite the fact that I was at work. Sound hard to believe? It’s not. Sometimes, it’s what you make of the situation.
I was reasonably on the ball this morning and managed to be out the door and walking into my office an hour earlier than usual. This put me in there at almost an hour and half earlier than everyone else. No, I’m not an overachiever; I’m simply the type who doesn’t enjoy sitting idle at home during the early hours of the morning. As a result, I arrived at the office early. My typical routine involves using the first hour to catch up on emails and phone calls, followed by a plethora of other duties that quickly consume my morning. But there’s coffee. There’s always coffee.
I have a small coffee machine in my office and on this morning in particular, I brewed a cup of chocolate raspberry truffle coffee. Absolutely wonderful stuff; makes my whole office smell like a chocolatier’s shop. I’m usually working at my computer while coffee brews. But on this morning in particular, I stood at my window and looked out at the horizon. My office is located on the fifth floor of a 16-floor building, so I don’t have the highest view in the city, but it can be a beautiful one nonetheless. My coffee finished up (it’s a Keurig) and I grabbed my cup and stayed at the window.
As I looked out at the horizon, I noticed the sun was rising into a clouded sky. This meant I had a sliver of morning sunlight peeking through, between the ground and the cloud coverage. It was truly a beautiful scene to behold. I tried to take a photograph of it, but the reflective properties of my office windows wouldn’t allow a clear shot without revealing the inside of the office as well. So, I sat there for a few moments and calmly sipped my coffee. As I did, I found a moment of calm as I watched the cloud movement mingled with the morning sun.
It dawns on me that in recent years, I’ve fallen prey to letting time dictate my life. Meditation has taken a back seat to the hustle and bustle of daily life, which should never happen. Finding some balance and inner peace is integral to a happy life, despite the obstacles that are in the way. Although this wasn’t meditation in the traditional sense, it served the same purpose and gave me some focus to get on with my day. All I need now is my next cup of coffee to get through the rest of it…☯️
Society has a propensity for trying to take the easiest and most stress-free way possible, when dealing with issues in their daily lives. And I get that. Stress sucks. Confrontation sucks. None of it is fun, but if you live in modern society, there’s a safe chance youwon’t go through life without dealing with at least some of it, in some given way, shape or form. How you choose to deal with these things not only speaks to your character but could potentially dictate how certain life scenarios play out for you.
One of the best examples I can provide is a classic scenario that many people know all too well…. The noisy neighbour. Depending on how you live and where life has taken you, at some point, you may have had to deal with a neighbour who lives it up and parties at the wee hours of the night when you and your family are trying to sleep. If this were an 80’s “Brat Pack” movie, you’d likely see the adults next door waking up, shaking their heads in a combination of disbelief and ire, followed by trying to roll over or pull a pillow over their head.
Here’s the bad news: this ain’t a movie, so your situation needs to be dealt with. In the real world, this means that if you expect any sleep, someone’s going to have to go next door and ask those neighbours to lower the volume. Personally, I’ve been pretty lucky in this regard. When we moved to Regina, we were lucky enough to be blessed with a family that not only had kids close to my son’s age, but were accommodating in almost every way. We’d help each other clear out snow, take each others’ garbage bins to road on trash day…. I couldn’t imagine better neighbours.
They moved out, almost a year ago. The fear of who may move into a house that shares a tandem driveway with us was concerning, but we were once again blessed with a neighbour who communicates and has some understanding of good neighbourly relations. Our neighbours on the other side of our fence are equally as friendly and understanding. I even had them climbing a ladder in the pouring rain to clear out one of my gutters when I was out of town, to prevent water damage.
But for the sake of conversation, let’s say you’re neighbours aren’t all that and a bag of chips. I’ve had a lot of different neighbours over the years at different residences as my law enforcement career moved me around a lot. I’ve had quiet neighbours that I’ve basically never seen, neighbours who have been obnoxious and keep me up at night and neighbours that as described earlier, were salt of the earth people who would bend over backwards for others. But for this scenario, let’s say you’re woken in the wee hours of the night by your neighbours music/party…
In my experience, I’ve had a lot of people reach out to me to go get their neighbours to quiet down. It became my common practice to always ask the same question, “What did they say when you asked them to turn it down?” I would ALWAYS get the response that they haven’t spoken to them and that they expected it was my job to do so. Let that sink in for a moment. Your neighbours, the people whom you live next door to, are creating noise. Instead of trying to speak with them first, your impulse is to contact law enforcement. Brutal.
This is only one example of this TYPE of scenario and I’ve already been wordy enough on this post, so I should likely get to the point, which is that as humans, we usually prefer to have others do our “dirty work.” Now, maybe there are reasons behind it. Maybe you already have a bad relationship with your neighbour and you’re afraid of aggravating an already tense situation. That can happen. But for the most part, one should always make the effort to communicate with the person in question BEFORE escalating things.
I know a lot of people don’t agree with this thinking. Insert a joke about “Karens” and “Kyles,” here. But no matter what one is dealing with in life, one’s first step should always be to directly communicate with other person in question. There’s a saying about how one can only control what they say, not someone else’s reaction to it. And this is quite true. But if you approach someone with whom you have an issue with an open mind, calm demeanour and the ability to properly voice your concerns, you may be surprised at how often the situation may right itself.
This may not always be possible, especially if you’re going in with fire in your blood. In such instances, it may be better to give it some time before approaching the other person. Then again, every situation is subjective to the individual. maybe the situation doesn’t allow one to wait. And who am I to tell anyone how they SHOULD act? I’m not a therapist, but I do have the benefit of years of dealing with other people’s problems. But my ultimate point is this: you shouldn’t always start by asking for the manager. You shouldn’t always start by calling police. You shouldn’t always START by making a complaint, filing a complaint and/or complaining in general. You SHOULD start by communicating. If everyone did this, society would be a whole lot better off. Or go join the party, instead fo complaining about it. After all, life is short. Food for thought…☯️
Sitting at over 900 posts (over 500 of them in a row without missing a day), I’ve had a number of people asking me where I find the inspiration provide content on a daily basis, And yes, that’s a bit of a brag, and rightfully so. Finding moments to write posts while working full time and having a family with two young children vying for constant attention isn’t easy, by any means. Throw in working out and Diabetes-related issues, and you’ve got yourself some effort!
But to answer the question, some of the content writes itself. Considering that Diabetes affects every aspect of a person’s life, all one needs to do is write about all the shit that goes down with Diabetes. As I write this, I’ve had to switch up my CGM. Since it takes a couple of hours to warm up, followed by a couple of calibrations over the hours that follow, it can be DAMNED inconvenient. And as most of you know, I tend to write about this stuff.
The same goes with karate and some of the basic concepts behind Zen Buddhism. When you write about something you know, it makes providing daily content pretty easy. Especially when you’re passionate and committed to what you’re writing about. Not only does this make it easy, it makes it damn hard to shut up. And I’m sure some of you may have noticed that I can be a “little” long-winded.
For the rest, it’s important to develop the ability to observe life. If you pay attention to the world around you, it will help to jog one’s inspiration. I never go out to work or to run errands without seeing something, hearing something or having something inspire a thought process that ends up becoming a post. This is what’s important; being able to draw on life to provide inspiration.
That’s all I got. There’s no big secret to it. If you’re riding on the bus, pay attention to the environment and the people in it, as opposed to having your nose buried in your phone. Be sure to write about something you’re passionate about and it will be reflected through your printed words. Then, give yourself a goal. Mine was to post daily. I had almost reached a full year before missing a day and pissing myself off. My new goal became posting for a straight year, which I’ve long surpassed.
Bottom line, make certain to write because you WANT to write. Make sure that whatever you write about, be sure it’s for you. If you do that, you’ll definitely be successful. But lastly, don’t push it. If you throw up a post simply for the sake of throwing up a post, the quality just won’t be there and won’t hook your readers. Let it come to you, naturally. ☯️
As the title says, kids say the darnedest things…. I may have heard that a time or two, especially from my parents when I was a child. Considering some of the things that have come out of my children’s mouths over the years, I can believe that they come by it honestly.
What’s important to remember when raising children is that even when you think they AREN’T listening, they’re absorbing every damn word you utter…. And they use it in their own special, unique way. Kind of like the time that Nathan was playing with some action figures while we were taking a drive and he says, “Take that, juice-bag…”. It dawned on me that he meant “douche bag” but heard it as something else. It makes for some unique comedy…
Nathan taking full advantage of the play area
It gets all the more entertaining if you find yourself in an environment where you can observe and listen to many children at once. It’s almost as thought they feed off each other and come up with the funniest shit. On Saturday morning, I decided to bring Nathan to a public park. It was a pretty large one, with multiple play structures and climbing surfaces. Several dozen children and their parents had the same idea as we did.
And since I was able to just sit there and watch Nathan playing, I was able to focus my attention on some of the funnier things I heard and document them. These are all from our outing last Saturday, and some are also from the parents. Without further ado, here are the top 10 funniest things I overheard at the park:
1. “It’s important to love yourself as you are, but you’re a little TOO big, mom…”. This one gave me a kick because the young girl in question seemed to be balancing body positivity with the reality that obesity is a serious issue. Or maybe she was just being subtle about the fact her mom wouldn’t make a good partner on the see-saw…. I don’t know, I was listening but not looking; 2. “Why are you always telling me to take a drink, but always telling mommy to STOP drinking?” I’ll admit that this one made me laugh out loud, despite the potential context. I don’t know what the guy’s backstory is, but I can’t help but feel this little girl has overheard things the dad likely didn’t want her to; 3. “I had one of those things…. You know, a fart you can grab onto!” I groaned inwardly at this one, despite the laugh I had. Considering Nathan has “gifted” me with a number of fecal-based little surprises at the worst times over the years, I can certainly relate to the emotions the parent was no doubt holding in; 4. “Yes, I hurt myself. But I’m still awake and I remember my name so I’ll just keep on playing…”. Honestly, this one impressed me. This kid knows where it’s at and recognizes the signs of serious injury. Hopefully, the parent will explain that these aren’t the only symptoms of serious injury, but this seems like a smart kid, nonetheless; 5. “This is like a really bad night club, except with less drugs and alcohol…”. This was actually one parent talking to another, while trying to find her child. HER comment elicited a laugh, but the other parent’s comment made me take pause. The other parent said, “Speak for yourself!” 6. “If you’d pull your own weight around here, this park would be way more fun…” I think this kid was talking to another kid. Maybe the second one wasn’t playing as enthusiastically as the first one wanted. At least I HOPE it was another kid. Light help Nathan, if he ever hit me up with a comment like this; 7. “Try it and I’ll drop you…”. This one actually involved Nathan, so I had to step in. Nathan was playing on a strange sort of spinning structure, where you push it and it spins. Nathan was pushing it for another boy who was sprawled on the spinning part and Nathan teased that he would “smack his butt.” Setting aside the fact my 6-year old son seems inclined to touch another kid’s posterior for a moment, I was somewhat taken aback at the ferocity behind the other kid’s response. Luckily, I was able to explain to Nathan WHY it isn’t a good idea to offer to “smack” someone else’s butt; 8. “We’ve been playing for a while and it’s quite warm out. The last thing I need is your butt in my face…”. Another one that made me laugh out loud. Truthfully, kids always seem to think butts are funny. That’s nothing new. But this seemed to be two girls who were climbing a play structure and the one at the rear (pun fully intended) seemed to know the score as it relates to her friend who was ahead of her; 9. “Why are we leaving? I don’t remember saying I was hungry…”. This came out of Nathan when I mentioned it was time to go. Little bastard. It was almost 1 p.m. and I was starving. He had eaten a bear claw about an hour prior and he had access to water and a public washroom, so his world was good; and 10. “I hates this place! Peoples are bullshit!!!” This kid was melting down and crying loud, being carried out of the park as we left. And no, those aren’t typos; he was pronouncing those words exactly as I wrote them. It was a combination of hilarious and cute. This one was definitely my favourite, which is why I saved it for last. Peoples are bullshit. Classic.
There you have it; the top 10 funniest things I overheard at the park. Not exactly the educational or philosophical post I would usually put out. But once in a while, you need to just stop and smell the roses and acknowledge that life is funny. Especially if you stop and take time to listen. Kids can be a handful, but in the right context, those little drunken midgets are also hilarious. ☯️
I’ve often written about how it’s become the societal norm to be the equivalent of an electronic zombie…. By this, I mean you can rarely walk through a public space without seeing the majority of people looking down at the screen of their smart device as opposed to watching where they walk or even speaking to the people they’re with. Although I can admit to the allure of having the world’s information at one’s fingertips at a moment’s notice, sometimes it can be extremely important to pay attention to one’s environment and the little details you might miss.
We’re currently having our basement renovated as a result of water damage we suffered during a rain storm last year. Once the damage was done, we had all the furnishings demolished and hired some contractors to come brace the basement. For those of you who don’t live in Regina, Saskatchewan where the soil seems to shift and move as to fuck with one’s peaceful home existence, bracing involves the placing of steel beams against the concrete walls to prevent heaving and shifting of one’s foundations. Most homes in Regina and the surrounding area get this done, but as our home was built in the 1960’s, it was never done. Yay, us!
Long story short, we’ve finally decided to move forward and get the basement renovated so that it’s a liveable space again. It’s increased the level of chaos in our household in recent days, directly competing for the title with our children. Between framing, levelling the floors and spray foam insulation, we’ve tried to arrange outings to get the kids out of the house as much as possible to get them away from the inevitable noise and smells associated with this renovation, especially the foam insulation. This means that I’ve inadvertently turned myself into one of the electronic zombies I described in the first paragraph, with my days being split between texts from my wife, messages from contractors as well as emails and phone calls.
As a result, I’ve had my face buried in my phone far more than I usually would. Last Friday, it nearly bit me in the ass. Almost literally. Almost. I was dressed for work and as I knew my wife would want to take the kids out of the house while they installed the foam insulation, I left the car in the driveway and took the public bus, instead. Taking the city bus during the early hours of the morning is an interesting experience. It’s usually pretty empty, given the hour, but you’ll often find a mixed array fo people like myself who are heading off to work and a few ragged individuals who may be making their way home after spending the night somewhere “else.” Wink, wink, as I digress…
Anyway, I was walking towards the rear of the bus (as my instinct is to always have my back to a wall) and was about to take my preferred seat on the “passenger” side of the bus when I took a moment to glance up from my phone to look at the seat. The dark blue vinyl appeared to have some black flecks on it, which didn’t match the other seats. I gingerly touched a finger to one of the flecks and noted that my fingertip came up black and stained.
I wear a suit to the office and today’s “ensemble” featured a light, charcoal or grey suit, which would have looked a bit on the ridiculous side, had I sat my rump down on whatever the hell this shit was. If I had to assume and based on experience, I would say these were black shoe polish flakes. Being as I was on a bus, I had no access to anything to wash my hands and had to wait until I got to the office to do so. If I hadn’t taken my eyes off of my bloody phone before sitting down, I might have stained and/or damaged my suit. I’m just glad I used my left hand to touch the polish.
That’s why it’s so important to look before you leap. I know everyone absolutely loves their smart device and the digital world is used for almost everything these days. In fact, I’ve started doing virtual distance challenges. But while indulging in the digital frontier, it’s important to remember that the physical world not only still exists, it merits having close attention paid to it. You never know what you might miss while your eyes are down. Food for thought…☯️
The Blogging Buddhist 