1st World Problems

What is one thing that oddly proud of? Maybe it's a skill you have or a talent.  Everyone has something that they do that they should be proud of.  Here's the gotcha, how long did it take you to think of something?  Now, what if I had asked you to tell me something you don't like about yourself. I bet that you could give me a list of 20 things before I was finished asking. Why are we like that? Why can't we celebrate ourselves? There are very few people with no redeeming qualities. I try to remind myself of that when I am angry or annoyed by someone. We are so willing to put ourselves down, but leave it to others to hype us back up.  And then when we are talking about how cool someone is, we rarely share that information with the person we are talking about. When we choose who we get to spend time with, it's usually because the person we chose makes us feel good about ourselves, or there is something about them that reminds us of themselves.  So if we can see th...

 Hello, tall people of the world.  Keep in mind that I am under five feet tall when I stand up straight, so there is a possibility I am addressing even those who don't consider themselves tall.  I have a small favor to ask of all of you people who can reach things off of grocery store shelves and the like.  When you find yourself in a group setting where all of the attention is focused on one part of the room, say a stage during a performance, before you step into an empty space, or take an empty chair, maybe just take a look around. One of us who needs to take a runner to get into a tall bed might be using that space to see.  I was out in public a lot this weekend watching my daughter compete, and I must say, people do not check their surroundings. Before you sequoias that walk get mad at me and say I could say something, or push my way back in front, what sound easier? You take a two-second look around, or I get all pushy with the shoulder tap and the squeezin...

You know what, despite all the material that the current premier of this province has given me over the past few days, I am not going to bite.  Today. We will see what Monday brings us. Instead, we are going to talk about something that brings me joy.  As some of you may know, my daughter is a dancer. She dances pretty much any time she stands still. And she dances competitively. When she was smaller we had her in gymnastics. After about a year, when it came time to sign her up for the next group of classes she told me that she didn't want to do it anymore. So we went on the hunt for the next activity. Around the same time, we attended a dinner as a part of the charitable organization that we belong to.  At that dinner, we saw an Irish Dance group perform. After the performance, I looked up the academy and emailed them to ask how we could bring my daughter out to check it out. Turns out they offered two free classes, so we signed her up. The following class night we heade...

 Let's talk about representation and why it matters. This is going to be very brief but hopefully, it will make sense in the end.  Part of reaching equity means that we are equal. Not just putting lip service to it when it comes time to prove that you care about other people. It also means doing the hard stuff. Like sitting and listening. Not interrupting or sharing a time that you felt as though someone was mean to you. Being uncomfortable and hearing things you don't like is a part of learning. It means sometimes letting someone else go ahead of you, and letting someone else shine as well.  When you don't see yourself on TV or in movies it either makes you feel like you aren't seen, or it makes you feel like you don't belong. As a fat woman in a beauty-obsessed culture, I am made to feel as though I shouldn't want to dress in any way other than like my grandmother in polyester pants and loud, floral blouses, or in shapeless, floor-length muumuus. No one should...

 I realize it's not even close to Christmas.  I was listening to music today (shocking), and a Christmas song came on. The Season's Upon Us by Dropkick Murphy's came on. It's a favorite of mine, it sounds vaguely like Newfie music, and it has a sea shanty quality to it, which I love.  For the first time I listened to the lyrics though, and they set me to thinking (also shocking). The line that got me today is: "Some families are messed up while others are fine. If you think yours is crazy, well you should meet mine." If there is one thing about my family, we are a cast of characters with many tales to tell.  There's a long-ago Johannah who had to dress and live as a man after her husband died in order to provide for her kids. My mom had to step in after her mother died when she was 12 to keep her sisters together. My Stepdad escaped over the mountains and eventually wound up in Canada as a refugee. My aunt used to take us camping and somehow always had a s...

 Well, I guess we were wrong about one thing. Seems to me like the Timbit Taliban did affect some government changes.  I don't think a coalition government between the NDP and Liberals was quite what they had in mind when the MOU was first drawn up.  For those of you who have been around for a while, a coalition really isn't a new thing. It tends to happen when the party that wins is a minority. A smaller party will hitch their wagon to the minority leading party and they agree to look out for each other.  And this new agreement is not technically a true coalition, as no NDP representatives will sit in the cabinet.  Usually, the smaller party gets to have a bunch of the platforms it ran on at least brought forward to be looked at, if not voted on and passed. The larger party gets to be in power until the next election and now feels a little bit more comfortable when it comes to getting back to the business of running a country. Kind of like a big sibling protect...

How long do you give a person before you decide if they are worth your time or not?  Personally, I make a pretty quick determination. Not that I won't give the person in question a second chance. I trust my gut, and usually, the first time you meet someone they are on their best behavior, so what they are showing you then is the best version of themselves. I met some new people this weekend and I must say either I need to calm down, or they need to figure themselves out. My husband belongs to a charitable organization where some of the tenets to belong involve not talking about religion, money, or politics. The charity is based focused on helping children with various ailments get help at no cost to their families, insurance or not. Within minutes of meeting them (I have been in large, loud rooms with these people before but have never had conversations with them) one refused to make eye contact or any kind, and the other started talking about how much money they make. And the one ...

 We made it friends. To another Friday anyway.  For those keeping scores, at least our province isn't the only one with a clueless leader. Allow me to tell you a little bit about what is happening in Manitoba this month.  On May 1, 2021,    Krystal Mousseau , had a 31-year-old Indigenous woman having a medical crisis. The Brandon hospital she went to for help deemed themselves unable to help her. They were in another covid wave so beds and staffing were not available to give her the help she required. So she was prepped for an airlift to an Ottawa hospital.  Here is where things start to go sideways. It seems the team that was transporting her did not have the proper training nor the proper equipment that was needed to get her to the airlift. They were unable to install an arterial line used to monitor her blood pressure, she was not given a "high-alert" drug that she needed, and no one knew how to use the IV pump to deliver the other medications that she n...

If I missed not talking about St. Patrick's Day I think both of my Poppies (grandfathers) would be chagrined.  Neither of my grandfathers really needed a reason to drink, but it was nice to have one. In Newfoundland, St. Patrick's Day is a holiday. Although it's one of those tricky ones where they may not celebrate it on the actual day. I think this year they had Monday the 14th off in lieu.  My mom's dad was not a large man. His accent was thick and when he drank he didn't always leave his teeth in. Before a bout with lip cancer, he chewed tobacco. None of that fancy stuff from a plastic container. Nope, he chewed apple tobacco. Which came in a block. From that block he would carve some off with his pocket knife and then (using the knife) he would tuck the plug of tobacco into his bottom lip. No matter where he was sitting in the kitchen, he would always hit the spittoon. In my head, I can still hear the ting. My Poppy Griffiths owned one suit. It was green. Given ...

 Sometimes a different perspective can make you think. I was driving around with my son today and I mentioned that there had been a road rage-related shooting in our city yesterday. I said something along the lines of all the weird things that had been going on in the city lately.  He said something back that made me think. He asked if the frequency of odd events was actually higher than normal, or if it was just that the news covered it more because people are tired of hearing about covid and the other news-making events that have been hitting us over the head lately.  The internet is an interesting place and for the most part news sources have had to change the way that they deliver the news. No longer does news come in the morning when the paper hits the front step. In some cities, the morning edition and the evening edition have become things of the past. To think about it, I don't think my kids would even know that such a thing had ever happened.  News is report...

 I want to start today with an improv game of sorts. There will be no theatre games. I guess it's more of an imagination exercise. I promise this is leading up to something.  In front of you, there is a chocolate bar, a Kit Kat. At this point, the fingers are all together and the bar is in one piece. It is a lovely-looking snack and the future of your nibble is outstanding. Ok, wait, maybe a Kit Kat won't work for this.  So, you have a rope. It's a long rope, made of many fibers that all work together because of the way the fibers are braided and intertwined. Then a person you know comes along and needs some rope. This won't work either.  Have you played Kerplunk? If you haven't, here is a small run-down. It's a game of strategy and some logic. There is a center tube with a top and a bottom. The middle of the tube has a whole bunch of tiny holes that you put very skinny, multi-colored plastic sticks into. The sticks from a kind of a nest. When your nest is forme...

 I read a funny thing on Twitter this morning.  The author of the tweet asked if we had tried having a victory party for the every weekend still protesters. If we have banners and cover them in confetti. If we tell them that they won, will they go away?  It's a funny line about a pretty serious conversation. If you are unaware, there are still "anti-mandate" protests happening every weekend in downtown Calgary. One in Beltline and one in Inglewood. They aren't just gathered in a park, sitting with their signs and soliciting honks from passing supporters. They are blocking traffic, throwing smoke bombs, selling white supremacist logoed gear, and they even have a pizza tent set up. The people who live and work in these areas are suffering the worst. Many feel unsafe in their own places, and no one seems to care. Small business owners are losing money as customers either can't physically get to them or don't want to engage with the potential powder keg that is go...