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 ...