Monday, November 25, 2013

Gif it up!

After a somewhat traumatizing evening (I won't go into details... suffice it to say, I'm traumatized!) and several somewhat politico posts, I'm ready for a laugh.

And nothing gets me laughing harder than my all-time favourite Kardashian: K.

(That was a trick. Those of you who know the Kardashians know that all of their names start with a k.) 

(Then again, those of you who know me know that my favourite Kardashian is Queen Kourtney.)

But I digress.

Since my name isn't Khloe, Kim, Kylie, Kendall, Kris or Kanye and I don't live in Calabasas, I most certainly don't have the privilege of knowing Kourtney personally.

Krap!








 











Well, I don't know about you but I feel somewhat better. 

Somewhat.





Wednesday, November 20, 2013

The urban warrior

When I lived in Toronto, way back when, there was an urban warrior.

Dressed in army fatigues and armed with nothing but a large plastic bag, the urban warrior had but one task in mind: picking up litter. Over the seven years I lived in Toronto I saw him all over the city, slowly but surely making it a better, greener place - one piece of litter at a time. 

I often tried to find information about the urban warrior, but to no avail. 

He was nameless. He was faceless (not literally, but figuratively). But he certainly wasn't useless. 

In doing a little research for this post, I decided to try and look him up again. While I didn't find him, I did find this guy, Mark Giesbrecht, aka "the litter guy." Much like the urban warrior, Mark spends his days picking up litter in Toronto. Unlike the urban warrior, Mark asks for donations/supplies via a large, handwritten sign that he keeps strapped to his back.


While you can't blame, or shame, a guy for asking for money for a job done, I kind of love the fact that the urban warrior did what he did payment, and glory, notwithstanding.

Either way, both the urban warrior and the litter guy are special people - angels, in their own special way.

According to this article from the Toronto Star, incivility and unfairness trouble Mark.

I know how he feels.

Can you imagine the kind of world we'd live in if everyone cared about the planet, and people, as much as Mark and the urban warrior do?

Mark used to be homeless and his dream is to help the homeless. He works seven days a week to make his $450 a month rent (this is back when the article was written in 2009) and he loves morning talk shows "because ignorant comments about the homeless fill him with the indignation he needs to start his day."

I know how he feels.

One last word.

According to David Suzuki, cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world, with 4.95-trillion (trillion!!!) tossed onto the ground or water every year. "Cigarette butts are made of cellulose acetate, a non-biodegradable plastic, which can take up to 25 years to decompose. The toxic butts are ingested by animals, especially birds and marine animals."

 
And so the urban warrior in all of us must fight on!









Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The better way? Me thinks not

Now that I've been back in the city for a little over three months I can safely say the honeymoon is over!

Taking the metro into work this morning, all my old feelings (annoyance, aggravation and anger, to name but a few) came flooding back.

Every time I lineup to take the metro, whether it be in the morning on my way to work or in the evening on my way home, I feel like George Costanza. I mean... we are living in a society here, right??? So why doesn't anyone else seem to be aware of that?


The rules of society (it's called first-come, first-served people) and the Societe de Transport de Montreal, or STM for short, dictate that everyone wait their turn. The STM even took the time, and spent taxpayers' money might I add, to have diagrams drawn on the ground of every metro platform, so commuters would know exactly where to lineup before embarking.   


But nooooooo.  

At least 50% of commuters disregard these diagrams completely, budding ahead of the other 50% of people who are desperately "trying to live in a society here!" 

Getting on the metro is literally like whatever sport is most like a shoving match. Football perhaps? Or maybe rugby?

Gripe #2: Move to the back of the bus assholes! 

Every time I force my way onto a "packed" bus and literally squeeze and curse my way to the back of said bus, I want to take a picture.

Why, you may ask?

Because the entire back of the bus is EMPTY!

That's right. Emp-ty.

Most commuters are too stupid selfish to realize that if they move to the back of the bus others will be able to get on - as opposed to freeze their buns off while they watch half-full buses drive by without stopping because there is "no space left."

URGH!

My last anger-fueled rampage is aimed at pedestrians who think they own the sidewalk.

You don't!

While you and your three friends may enjoy walking down St. Catherine Street arm in arm a la Sex in the City, I will not jump out of your way, into a ditch or oncoming traffic, so you can do so. I will continue walking and make direct physical contact with you.


And we're back to football... 

While the Toronto Transit Commission's slogan is "the better way," I suggest the STM's should be "the most annoying way."  

And I could really do without the music every. single. time. the metro doors open and close...