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06:39 - 24.11.06
Space - the final Frontier
Happy Sagittarius and American Thanksgiving, everyone!

Apparently there are some Canadians who have taken offense with Weird Al Yankovic's parody of Green Day's song "American Idiot". I actually thought that his version, "Canadian Idiot", was both creative and funny. For a country that exports more comedians per capita than most any other country in the world, being unable to take a joke/parody/satire on ourselves is just silly. I watched as many video interpretations on youtube as were available and wasn't offended by any of them. The two I've linked with are the ones I liked the most. For those fellow Canadians with the thin skin - take a pill (they're cheaper here), or a toke (it's legal here since "we feel your pain") or as the MacKenzie Brothers would say - take off, eh? Get over yourselves and find something important to get angry aboot. You know like war, famine, or global warming for starters. The only line I might quibble with is the one that states that we don't pack heat - not even to the mall. With temperatures right now plummeting to daytime highs of -24 Centigrade/ -14 Fahrenheit, we are too! We pack block heat(ers) for the cars and pack personal heat in the form of toques (hats), mitts (gloves), longjohns, and scarves along with our parkas and mukluks(snow boots), thank you very kindly. Thanks Al.

Yesterday morning's commute was entertaining in a weird way. The first feeder bus was full. The woman I sat beside was of the petite persuasion, but apparently didn't want to share her bench. She puffed herself up, arms and knees akimbo. I just ignored her until she accepted that I was staying put. Why people take public transit then think they shouldn't have to share the air - and seats - with fellow travellers is beyond me.

On the train, the woman across from me was telling her rosary beads - silently mouthing the words. I figured it was a good opportunity to share some prayer time, so closed my eyes and joined in with my own version of thanks. I was startled into awareness when a very large young male made a big todo about backing onto the other half of my bench. He was sitting with his feet out in the aisle his huge backpack pressed against me and pushing me sideways until there was no place else for me to go - squished in the corner as it were. The lady across from me started to giggle, as did her seat mate. You see, the young adolescent who was so vigourously enjoying his morning commute was a Down's Syndrome child. It is sometimes difficult for fully functional adults - like my previous seat mate on the bus - to accept that they operate and have impact in three dimensions. The fact that this young guy was fully dressed for the weather and cheerful about the frigid -20 C conditions was enough to keep the three of us sharing his bench entertained.

A heavy snowfall in the middle of the night meant that the walk from the train to the connector bus stop was punctuated with dodging the multiple building maintenance staff riding their snowblowers (mini zambonis, y'all) along the walkways and paths. They were trying to remove all the snow before we early morning commuters trampled it into hard-packed icy patches. The problem, of course, was that the vehicles on the roads weren't fussed about sharing their space with pedestrians either. One thing about the morning was that everyone was hyperalert as a result. I saw the one bus I had been taking pull up to my stop. However, given the experience the morning before where we were unceremoniously ordered off the bus midway to my son's home, I decided to just wait for that one alternative bus. It was much fuller today too and was again a fast and pleasant ride from the downtown core.

Arrived at my son's home as his neighbour to the south was starting to shovel her walk. Their home is tucked up in the very corner of a cul de sac, so it was obvious she was wondering what I was doing walking on her space at that time in the morning. I just motioned to my son's door and avoided contact with her snow shovel. My son joined shortly after to shovel his share of the walkway and explained my presence to her. Apparently, like his neighbours to the north, she feels that being aware of all traffic around their homes is important. My son explained that before his complex was built, that residential lot had been occupied by a single family dwelling whose last occupants had been members of a biker gang. The current neighbours haven't let down their guard yet. Can't say as I blame them having had to deal with similar neighbours myself.

The day went qucikly and quietly. My grand-daughter was quite cranky and for the first time since I started to look after her, there was very little I could do to distract her from her discomfort. She made it clear she wanted to sleep and I decided that her own body was the best judge of what she needed as opposed to what the adults in her life - me included - wanted. I wanted to play, you see. She was a much happier girl by the time her parents arrived home as a result. My son has today off so the two of them can relax and vary their routine to suit their own rhythms.

I decided to celebrate my survival of this week's odditites and today's lack of commute by reading my email newsletters more thoroughly. Hence my surfing of the Weird Al videos. After watching those I continued listening and watching whatever youtube music that caught my fancy. Turned out as a good choice since my oldest son didn't arrive home from work until 5:30 this am and he has to leave around 7:45 am for his day job. I was still awake and so could help him prepare for a work day with almost no sleep. I guess it's a good thing that I don't have to worry about commuting today. Time to go see him off though. Talk with you later.

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