03:19 - 31.05.07
eccentricities
One of the things that really pleased my youngest on his way home was the exchange rate between Canada's currency and the US's. He turned in all of his remaining US dollars and was given the Canadian amount at par. Only $.04 difference now you see. He had been worried about his luggage since I had had to glue and sew one seam together in order for him to pack anything in it. It held together without a problem both going and coming home. Maybe the baggage handlers felt sorry for him. He went to bed almost as soon as he arrived home. With the stopover in Toronto he had been on and off airplanes for almost 14 hours, you see. He called in and switched to a half day of work today, because he was still feeling jet-lagged and because he wanted to examine the washer for me as well. He came home with both suitcases full of dirty laundry don't you know. Turns out the problem is the internal hose that carries the clean, hot water to the washer barrel. There is a tear in it about 2 to 3 inches in length. He said he would try to repair the hose for me if I could get the correct plumber's tape for the job. All those jokes about duct tape ran through my head at that point. But the cost of a repairman would likely be about the same price as a new-to-me second-hand washer, so it's worth a try anyway. My brother had mentioned, as we drove home from our last family gathering, that he planned to replace his washer this year. As a precaution I emailed him to see if he would be willing to sell his old one to me. The response was the new purchase was budgetted for the fall, so if I could wait that long.... Here's hoping there's some truth in all those duct/plumbers' tape jokes.
While my son was at work I sorted out some of the clothes needing laundering - that one issue still unaddressed. As I've noted before, his room was the last empty space that I could find for storage of family items. When I sorted the socks and underwear that belonged to him and his brothers I was able to fill two good sized packing boxes. Guess it shows what my older sons did and didn't think was essential when they moved out. Granted some of the items were so holey that they were just consigned to the garbage. Ditto some of the "fat" clothes I've been wearing. They are now way too loose - half falling off if I move too quickly or bend too far in any direction, besides being held together basically by safety pins. Time to move on to more becoming clothes I guess.
I had shown my youngest the email I sent to the job placement agent about the weird interview and the weekend article that seemed to explain why some of the odd questions were posed. He thought maybe I was being too sensitive. Perhaps he's correct, but my gut instincts are usually pretty accurate. Maybe the agent felt the same way as my youngest though and just saw it as an annoyance. Maybe it was, but she did ask for my feedback. Next time maybe I'll just say nothing. Worked on updating my resume a bit. At one interview I had been asked about my graphics work - the mapping and editing of photos too. I drew a blank about the software, so decided I'd better write it down. Segued back onto facebook to respond to the one son's comments and then played around with some of the features and search functions. What I like about it is that one can decide who sees which parts of your account. It was one of the things that worried me when I first checked it out. Even if one blocked one's own page, it appeared that someone could still see all of your information if they found you on someone else's account. Makes the privacy commitments null and void then, doesn't it? There are some weaknesses within the search engines that make such issues possible. Hmmmmmm.
The good news today was that it appears there won't be a bus strike. Tomorrow was slated to be the beginning of one day work stoppages. Late tonight it was announced a tentative agreement had been reached with voting scheduled to begin next week. Yay - Happy June, everybody! Some strange stories coming out of Harry Potter territory including the changing of the release dates for the next movie due out in July. Mind you I had wonder at the timing to begin with. July 13th - a Friday. I guess no one had noticed the correlation until just this week. I had realized it the day it was announced and just thought it was intended that way. Take back Friday the Thirteenth from the Elm Street gang, don't you know. Japan, Britain and the US all now have earlier release times. Guess we just aren't all that superstitious here in Canada, although personally I think releasing it on the New Moon on July 14 would have been the best choice. That might be because two of my favorite family members have birthdays that date, so it is auspicious right from the get go. The other bit of news was about the attempt to have the books removed from school libraries. Never stops does it? When I chaired our parent council, we had regular representations from various church groups demanding that all fairy tales be removed. Teaches occult behaviour don't you know. Church ritual, by definition, is occult behaviour - the enlisting of hidden spiritual forces in prayer and rite. Whatever. I recall at the city-wide parent meeting, one of the council members becoming frustrated with the assertions of violence and a-moral or im-moral behaviour limned in some of the fairy tales. This woman attend her own church on a regular basis and had her Bible with her. She opened it and began reading some of the stories that detailed extremely violent and immoral behaviour recounted within those pages and noted that if the fairy tales were to be banned on those grounds, then every other book in the library would have to be assessed with the same criteria. Her observation was that the Bible would also have to be deemed inappropriate reading material for children too based on the criteria being espoused. That group of parents wanting banning got up and left at that point in the meeting.
The other weird over-reaction that is being bandied about is over the definition of what constitutes a blue moon. No one seems to be denying that there are such things, but what criteria is used to determine that declaration has drawn oddly fierce argument. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. By some counts today is a blue moon while others insist that the conditions are fulfilled on either June first and mid-June as well. Since I could really use any good luck, I think I'll agree with each argument and see if positive thinking can put my feet on a happier path this new month. Never know what tomorrow will bring do you? Right now it is bringing us music courtesy of some early morning song birds and that's good enough for me. Good night dear diary.
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