1st World Problems

Today, in Canada it is the Day for Truth and Reconciliation .  The government has put aside this day as a way to honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools. Members of churches and the RCMP would tear these children away from their parents and homes and place them in "schools" where the hope was to assimilate these children into society. Instead, these places became torture chambers. Abuse of all kinds was perpetrated on these kids.  Many ran away from the schools trying to get home. Sadly most of these schools were hundreds of miles away from their homes and most of the children never made it home. These schools were all over the country and the finding of lost children has just begun. With every discovery the wound is reopened, the child and family are lost again. The last school was closed in 1996. The first official apology was not issued until 2008.  Before September 30th became the Day for Truth and Reconciliation it was known as Orange Shirt Day....

My son won a 1959 Ford F100 in May. He has always been a lucky kid and a gear head. I am not sure where that came from. Once the initial joy of being a 17-year-old with a vintage vehicle wore off and the reality of the upkeep and other logistics of having this truck (we named her Jolene, it's kind of a long story) he came to the decision to sell it.  Here we are almost in October and he is still working on selling it. Today we had another person come to look at it. I watched for a bit from the window. Mostly to get a description of the buyer in case anything goes down. As I was watching and trying not to hear Keith Morrison narrating a Dateline about this sort of thing a recurrence of thought wandered into my mind. I read a quote  once from an author named Elizabeth Stone:  “Making the decision to have a child - it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” It seems that through all the parts of childhood this quote just...

Evan here this afternoon. Just got back from getting drive thru for my wife and I. While sitting in line, brusquely I was told to move forward, outside of the line to wait on the street. My patience (or lack there of) got the best of me as I was fuming to myself while pulling forward. Why on earth should I move forward? I was here first! They should get proper management! I know I said more... Then I recalled something my Mom has said. "PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE Evan" (Boy does she know me...) How many times can you recall your mom saying "Patience is a Virtue"? I do not remember how many times I have heard that throughout my early years. So many that I have definitely forgotten why / when she would have said it, except in the context of myself being agitated with something or someone. Why else would those words get uttered? How many times have I said that to my own children? Wow. I cannot even pretend to know. What does it mean? Why would we as parents say a phrase like...

When I was 12 I was walking home from the school bus. I don't remember a lot about that day except for this one thing. I was crossing where the parking lot of the local strip mall joined onto the street. An older beat-up truck with two older guys were waiting as I crossed. Their windows were down, I could smell the cigarettes they were smoking. I could also hear their conversation.  "Don't hit that one, she'll put a dent in your hood."  Then the laughter. I knew that these two grown men were commenting and judging my 12-year-old body. I was the only person around. The immediate shame I felt was overwhelming. I have always been heavy, always super conscious of the space I take. To my adolescent mind, these "adults" were underlining my own fears that because of my body size I was somehow unworthy. I wish I could tell you that I had the presence of mind to come back with a witty retort, but I didn't. Instead, I dropped my head further, quickened my pace...

  Friendos,  This might not be the most fun post. I have an idea of where it's going but let us buckle in and tackle this together.  I am not going to open a debate here about vaccination. Nor am I going to open one about restrictions. If you came here to fight, I am not the one today.  As adults we are allowed to have differing opinions. It's your body, you do you boo.  This is where I draw the line though. A week ago in Salmon Arm BC,  anti-mask/vaxxers entered a school while children were attending classes. This prompted the school to go into lockdown. What kind of backwards pageantry would ever enter the mind of a sane person to think that the right place to put on this kind of show would need to take it to the children? The organizers of these sorts of events need to give their heads a collective shake. Schools should be a safe place. These protestors brought terror and confusion into those hallways. The worst part of it may be that they felt rig...

Hello, friendos! Right now it is Thursday. Before I was laid off from a soul-sucking office job (I mean, really. My former boss might be a real-life Strzyga ). Thursday was always my favourite day of the week. The evil music streaming service (that I still use) would put together a playlist of throwbacks, it is the day before Friday and good things just seemed to happen on Thursday.  No matter what fresh hell I had been put through that week between the mind games, finger-pointing, and walking on eggshells Thursday kept me going.  I think this is mostly because of my almost obsessive need to find the funny or bright side of things. I didn't have the easiest childhood. Who among us did I guess. The one coping mechanism that always seemed to get me through was my finding that elusive silver lining. You don't have to have had a #tragicupbringing to try and find the good in everything, just the willingness to try. Even if sometimes you have to search a little harder. It does get e...

 Hi All. Evan here.  We started this blog to also poke fun at ourselves and people in our society. We are privileged, we aren't lacking. Hence the reason we called it 1stWorldProblem.  We all become prey to habit and sometimes forget to use our heads. We get bent out of shape when something doesn't go our way without realizing that we missed a sign or signal that, had we noticed, would have changed our perception of the issue. A customer phoned me this morning, asking why they were disconnected from their IT systems. Even after multiple email communications regarding the scheduled outage, even after outlining exactly what systems the outage would entail.  It occurs to me that sometimes we need to stop and think. We get so much information these days that there's hardly any time to process. We tend to go about our days on autopilot trying not to deviate from that path.  Everyone out there! Stop! Think! Process!  What is we all did a little bit more of t...

It was bound to happen.  I knew it was coming and yet there was nothing I could do to stop it.  I grew my first few gray hairs at the age of 14. From there those few hairs became a patch that was easily hidden depending on how I parted my hair. I grew fond of this patch and started calling it my "racing stripe" (which some referred to as my skunk stripe, as I am not built for speed).  But mostly I paid little attention to my hair. Until one day around a year ago. I have fairly long hair that winds up in a bun on top of my head most days. Usually, I put it up without the benefit of a mirror. This day however I was looking in a mirror when I noticed that my racing stripe was not alone. Dappled through the sides of my head were many gray hairs. And I don't hate it.  I have always been told that I look way younger than my actual age. I mostly attribute it to my stature. I am quick to respond with "chubby don't crack" whenever I am told that I don't look my a...

  Well, the results are in. The Results Whether the party you voted for won or lost, some changes were made. Not with the big story, heavens no. But, as with most things political the real story is on the side. Where most will miss it. I suppose there is still a shwack ton of mail-in votes to be counted. Maybe a few seats will change. The numbers there are not high enough to swing things either way.  For me, the first interesting thing is that the NDP party has picked up two seats in Alberta. Two little orange bits floating in a sea of blue. Why is this interesting? There is no way to know for sure why that is. I have some theories. Because of course I do. Firstly, the NDP has done a really good job of being that uncomfortable thorn in the UCP's side. Secondly, Janis Irwin (everyone's favorite MLGay ) did a lot of work for Blake Desjarlais. Janis has a huge level of visibility thanks to hard work like being out there and willing to answer questions. Thirdly (is this a word?) M...

It's election day here in Canada.  It's Joni today. Here's the thing. I love voting. I love researching what the different parties are thinking in regards to the election issues that matter to me. I love political debate. At least I used to. Something has changed lately here in the great white north. What used to be fun and spirited conversations now have a tendency to get personal and cruel. We live in a part of Canada that I don't align with politically. The fact that my "team" rarely seems to come out on top has actually never bothered me too much. I believe in the gift of democracy. I believe that we can all have differing opinions and still be friends and close family. I don't think that we all have to agree. In fact, it's better that we don't. I will admit that I can get kind of blind to other issues when I feel that something I believe in deeply is at risk. Political discourse reminds me that there are other issues out there that are the rea...