Absence

Pardon my absence, I spent a week in Alberta and was probably too busy eating or drinking to blog. Some things I've noticed.

I only notice how smoky Calgary bars are after I leave them.

Toronto's Pearson airport is full of people who travel well, meaning they don't look like they are travelling. I obvioulsy didn't get the memo that it's no longer ok to travel in old jeans, glasses, no make-up and a ponytail.

The best game to play at an airport is to watch people figure out which black suitcase belongs to them. It's also enjoyable to see what various contraptions people have created to identify their previously unidentifiable black suitcase.

I finally finished War and Peace, I look forward to getting on with the next part of my reading life. Don't ask any questions about the book, it's so damn long I barely remember what happened except there was a lot of war, Napoleon was there, they burned Moscow, people died, others were sad, some got married, more people died. The wars eventually ended even though I thought the book might not.

Snow

Holy crap that was a lot of snow. And that snow was freaking heavy. My journey to work started at 7:40 am, and I arrived around 9:30. The drive took slightly more than the usual 20 minutes. The rest of the nearly two hours was spent shovelling snow from the driveway and car, then getting stuck in a snowbank created when the main drag is plowed, the sidewalk is plowed, and they don't clear the snowbank in front of the side streets (why would you leave a snowbank a foot and a half high to block a road?). Literally had to shovel the street to proceed to work. Thanks to the people who stopped and helped me get out of the snow bank.

Scent memories

There was a piece on CBC radio this morning about Axe body spray and how it has taken over the halls of junior high schools and high schools. Because in the commericials it gets sprayed all over the body stupid adolescent boys are doing the same thing and overwhelming other students and teachers.
It sounds like Axe is the new CK One. Remember CK One? Seriously, it was everywhere, everyone wore it because everyone could. The hallways of my junior high always smelled like the stuff, and probably more than half the students carried a bottle in their back pack it for CK One emergencies. I never wore CK One (I wore Colors by Benetton), but whenever I think of it or smell it now I laugh.
As overwhelming as CK One was nothing will ever top the smell of a cologne that I can still spot a mile away. Obsession. One of my high school boyfriends practically bathed in the stuff, it's no joke that you could smell him after he'd left the hallway or classroom. It was his calling card. Now, 10 years later, whenever I that overwhelming smell wafts by my nose I ask myself "where's David?"
So after listening to that piece this morning I wonder how many teenage girls will be forever turned off Axe body spray because they date some guy who baths in it.

The things we say vs. what we do

The closer the technical holiday season gets the more the grand debate over the consumerization (is that even a word?) of the holiday becomes more and more heated. The Pope has chimed in to say that the 'real meaning of Christmas' is being shrouded in consumerism. I don't want to offend his holiness but -- no shit, Sherlock. Wow, I'm so going to hell on the fast elevator for that one.
Every year we all say that it's not the gifts that matter to us during the holidays, but we all buy gifts, we all receive gifts and heck, we all like it. As much as we'd all hate to admit it, holidays=presents. It shouldn't be that way but somewhere along the way some person (who probably worked for Hallmark) decided to expand the traditional gold, frankincense and myrrh to include socks, electronics, toys, books, cards and cash. We all say that gifts aren't what matter, because they aren't, but we all spend crazy amounts of cash on gifts and we all smile when we receive a gift or two. Every year this argument seems to get more intense, yet I don't think consumerism is getting any worse. Really, could it get any worse?
Why don't we tweak the modern meaning of Christmas? We know it's not about the birth of Christ for many who celebrate the holiday, so why not just accept the giving of gifts as a part of it and stop fighting it. I'm tired of having the argument about how Christmas should be about time with friends and family with someone who just dropped thousands of dollars of gifts. (Well, I kind of enjoy any argument, but I'm tired of that one and would prefer to move on to the slightly less tiresome holiday tree argument. ) I'm tired of hearing people with kids bitch about how their kids want so many toys for Christmas, when they're the ones who bought gifts for their kids for Christmas since they were born, and have thus been encouraging the habit. Is holiday spending out of control? Yes. Has it been that way for many years? Yes, so this is nothing new.
Let's stop fighting it. Let's accept it and move on. If the people really bitching about it want to do something they can stop buying gifts. So this holiday season, sit around your holiday/Christmas tree (whichever you choose to have) with some friends and family. If you want to exchange gifts do so without guilt. Then eat and drink too much, because that is one holiday tradition I can't do without.

We all shine on

Today is the 25th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon and it has been in the news all week. There are constant tales of where people were when they heard the news, and constant re-tellings of how the murder happened. There have been specials documenting why Mark David Chapman killed Lennon, and anything and everything related to the life and death of Lennon. I could rehash some of this, but you can read it virtually everywhere on the internet.
I was in the hospital when the news came over the radio, but this is actually my mother's memory since I was only 6 days old. My mom has a fairly strong recollection of that moment and it is inextricably linked with her memory of watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan for the first time. I don't have those memories, I don't even have a distinct memory of the first time I heard a Beatles or John Lennon song.

What I've always liked about Lennon's music is that it does a little bit of everything. It's playful, poignant and political, it's quiet and it's loud. Lennon's songs encompass all the things that I look for in music, diversity -- it never sounds the same. Lennon knew how to make music that was accessible to the masses yet carried a strong message, he also knew how to experiment and create music that wouldn't be understood or welcomed by most listeners. And he didn't care. He respected his work with the Beatles but wanted to move on. This time of year there is always tons of hypothesizing about what Lennon would be doing if he were still alive, but in my opinion there's no points to the what ifs. I can only hope that Lennon's music is used as an inspiration for musicians for years to come (wow, that was cheesy) .

I'm going to take this opportunity to mark the 4th anniversary of the death of George Harrison, he died on Nov. 29 2001. Harrison's death is never met with the same fanfare as Lennon's, because Harrison died from a long battle with brain cancer as opposed to being gunned down in the street. I do remember where I was when I heard the news of Harrison's death, I was in my car on my way to school and the radio station was playing 'Here Comes the Sun,' something I'd never heard on my local morning show at the time. I knew what had happened. So since I neglected to mark Harrison's death last week, I figured I should do it now.

Mixing it up

A while ago I was asked to participate in a new group blog, and we've finally got it up and running. It's called Media Mix and not surprisingly it's a blog about media. The bloggers are made up of a variety of journalists from newspapers, magazines and websites and I'm hoping it will be an interesting read.
I'm looking forward to participating in it, it will force me to have more of a focus in what I write, make me think a little bit harder about what I write, and maybe get a chance to put that communications degree to use.

It's my birthday and I'll blog if I want to

I've never been much of a long term planner. So I never had a vision of where I would be on my 25th birthday. I've never had a list of things I'd have accomplished by the time I was 25 either, but I have to things to accomplish before I turn 26. They were things that I wanted to have done by 25 but for one reason or the other never happened.

1) I want to have a job I don't hate in a place that doesn't suck
2)I want to actually quit smoking (see above for why I started smoking again)

For now I'm focused on the things I have a lot of control over, I need a haircut, to finish my Christmas shopping and decide what to have for dinner tomorrow.

TV is mean

Just as I get caught up on Lost, causing me to be completely addicted to it, there won't be a new episode until January 11. I hate it when they do that, but it might give me a chance to finish War and Peace.