Musings on a Small Life

I had "coffee" at Starbucks with a friend on Saturday (my usual non-fat chai, of course), then ran a few errands afterward. He graciously gave me his time and chauffeur service. After unloading all my purchases at home, he mentioned that it would be easy and quick for me to put a coat (or two) of paint on my bare stairs. I had pulled up the carpet last August, I think, and it's been bare wood since. Yeah, yeah, he's not the first person to tell me I should slap a coat of paint on it. But hey, I live alone and I really don't care. But yesterday morning I thought, well, why not? I don't have the funds to have someone put laminate or carpet down, and painting is a good short to medium term solution. A cheap temporary fix. So off I went on foot up to Rona, got some primer, stopped at Starbucks again (of course!) and eventually made my way back to the house. (I got caught out in thunder and lightning and got soaked to my skin, but that's another story. Like I...

It's Monday, I feel crummy (just "female" stuff), I'm sitting in a cube farm staring at spreadsheets and right now I want a new life. (Huh. Don't we all.) You know the one. You dreamed about it when you were naive and innocent. Long before life's duties and losses dragged you down. Long before the reality of mortgage payments and bills (for me - on a single, mid-level clerical income) made you grateful for any decent job. I don't often dream about that life anymore, because it's pointless. I'm in my mid-40s now and thinking of pensions and a lack of any savings. Unless someone in my family has a huge lottery win and gives me money, this is it, baby. There ain't nothin' else. But sometimes -- just sometimes -- I catch myself daydreaming. Of spending my days in the country, in privacy, with all my fur companions. With a rescue centre for all abused and unwanted animals, large or small. Spending my days mucking out stalls and cleaning out kitt...

I had to shut the television news off earlier this afternoon. I'd had enough of political rhetoric, of soldiers' bodies on the way home from Afghanistan, of civilian deaths on the base in Kandahar, gang-related shootings, of kidnappings, floods, fire, disease and starvation. You know, I'm coming to realize that constantly tuning in to the news doesn't enhance one's life. Oh, I certainly don't mean that we should hide our heads in the sand and be unaware of events taking place around us. But I do mean that over-dosing on it isn't healthy. Becoming angry and upset every day by local and world events is a waste of energy, unless our anger or upset spurs us on to do something for the betterment of the planet, even in a small way. Ranting about the injustices of the world and the suffering of four-legged and two-legged Beings is useless. Complaining is useless, unless you take action to change the problem. Being angry and upset, bitching and complaining is not ac...

Hallelujah, it's the first day of Spring at last! *Happy Dance*! It's sunny, though quite cool, it's Friday...The only thing that could make this day better would be to get paid too. LOL. But that's not till the 31st. I stopped at Starbucks on the way in and treated myself to a decaf non-fat vanilla latté and a molasses ginger cookie. Yum. Uh, no wonder I'm fat. Ha. And I won't even mention that I finally caved in to my craving for fish and chips after work yesterday, and picked some up from the little place at the end of my street. Oh, man, it was good. But I'm not mentioning that. Heh. Well, the way I see it, one minute you are skiing down the bunny slope and the next minute the Fates have snipped your life line and you're brain dead, then dead-dead two days later, at 45 years old. (In reference to actress Natasha Richardson who just passed away after a skiing accident at Mont Tremblant.) In other words, we could die at any moment. Life is short. Might...

Okay, I don't pay much attention to astrology, not even to read my daily 'scope just for fun. But I happened to check out a site I used to visit more regularly several years ago: http://www.cainer.com/. Took a look at the overview for 2009, because nothing I've ever read before has been accurate. Hence the reason for no longer paying attention to it. (But I'm at the office and on lunch, surfing the web.) Here's part of what he says: "All the clouds that loom on your horizon have silver linings but the most enriching ones will be those connected with your relationships. By... your connections in general, with items, situations and people that somehow define "who you are". As you start to question your ongoing involvement in key situations, you'll also see how you can be free from factors that currently take a lot from you yet give little back. "You have a tendency, for all your bravado and courage, to passively accept scenarios that you ought ...

I am so not a baby person. Not a human baby, at any rate. No siblings, didn't babysit, grew up with dogs and horses, always preferred the company of animals to people. So you can guess my reaction when the one of the staff members in the other department we share our space with just came in, five week old baby girl and a friend in tow. Yeah, okay, the baby is cute, but do you have to freakin' stand right in front of my cubicle -- my cubicle with the 42-inch "walls" -- and ooh and ahh over her? Gag! I had to get up and move away, move down out of sight. There's no such thing as being out of hearing range in this suite. What is wrong with people, that they keep breeding? For Goddess' sake, the Earth is over-populated and can't sustain us. Do you have a clue? Or is the biological imperative to breed so deeply unconscious that you can't get your head out of your ass? If you really want kids, there are millions upon millions of orphaned babies and older chi...

The next time one of the damned fool voices in my head thinks it would be a great idea to head to a local conservation area on the water, before sunrise, in March , I'll be telling it what it can do with that particular notion. 'Cause even with long johns on, baby, it was cold. Bone-chilling, damp-right-through-you cold . I'd like to add that it meant taking the 6:15AM bus from my neighbourhood and transferring twice. Crazy. Never mind I'd been up since 3:30AM anyway. And just what did I get for my early-morning jaunt? Well...I got to see the sun rise over the trees. Got to see four deer off in a field. Got to see lots of chipmunks and squirrels and birds and interesting things in the ice. And I got lots of pics! That's really why I listened to the voice in my head -- the best time, lighting-wise, to take nature photographs is a half-hour before and after sunrise and sunset. Will I listen to that voice again? You bet. But not in March. Give it a month or two to war...