Welcome to 2018 - The year after 2017, now considered one of the most violent, unruly and truly terrifying years in modern history.
2017 is the year of the Trump. The year of the war on the US GVT as it has been known, the year of constant threats from Trump towards the North Korean dictator and, of course, the revival of missile testing and nuclear explosions from the Kim North Korean dictator.
Today is the first day of 2018 .. shall we see together how this year will differ from the last. Let us hope that we have many more years in order to digest all the chaos that 2017 brought us.
Monday, January 1, 2018
Thursday, November 26, 2015
Shadowboxer
Dutchy Grieves awoke to the staticky radio voice of his alarm clock and then whacked it a second time for good measure. The signal from his least favourite talk-radio program straightened out for a few seconds – long enough for him to catch the weather report and the far more important traffic updates before wandering again into a steady hiss punctuated by the occasional word or phrase. untangling his legs from the sheets which had magically wound around him, he swung them off the edge, letting his feet touch the cold floor. The chill did more to wake him up than the alarm-clock ever could, even when it was working.
With a grunt that shouldn’t have matched his age, he pushed himself upright and scratching at his sparse brown hair, made his way into the living room of his small Montreal apartment. Stooping down some, he hooked an empty mug from his stained coffee table and continued into the kitchen. Dutchy raised his free hand and rubbed some of the sleep form his eyes and began the morning ritual which had been his practice for the over ten years of being a taxi-driver. The mug slid on the counter towards the sink, with a light spin to it which was Dutchy trying to curve the mug as if it were the last shot of a curling end. The mug fetched up fairly close to the edge of the sink, beating the imaginary hog line and narrowly missing the button, stopped on a bit of scratched linoleum once again. Dutchy reached across the counter and hit the on button of the coffee maker he’d packed the night before, and then he reached above the sink for one of the myriad cans of cat food piled there. Sliding that one across the counter didn’t give him any better results, mostly because his old tabby, nicknamed Cyrano, had leapt onto the counter and stopped it’s progress with an oversized mitten of a foot.
Taking the can back from Cyrano, he pulled an old manual can-opener from his junk drawer and took what seemed like a torturously long time, at least according to the cat, to open the can and empty its contents into the food dish on the floor near the edge of the kitchen. The cat placated and left to its own rituals, Dutchy rinsed the mug free of any remnants of the last night’s scotch and filled it with some of the coffee, black, of course. The rest of his breakfast making and eating went by with the blurriness of a well-trodden path, lacking details but getting the job done. Glancing out the window to see if it had snowed last night, Dutchy chose some relatively warm clothes, dressed and grabbing his keys, turned to wish Cyrano a good day before popping loose the security chain and the steel lock below it and opening the door made to step out into a perfectly boring tuesday morning hussle and bustle of a day.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Me cago en ... pulled a muscle!
I pulled a muscle...I don,t know how and frankly, I don't care anymore. All I know is that althought there is no real pain, everything from my back, over my shoulder on the right and to my fingertips..is tingly!
Not in a good way.
This photo pretty much resembles where the muscle is and how it is pulled...
I hate it! I am lucky in that I have a friendly co-worker who is willing and able to massage the spot for me..and it works for short periods of time.but it is not a solution.
I have some Advil liquigels..and took 2 of them, but damn!
Typing does not help, so I will stop now.
Sheesh!
Not in a good way.
This photo pretty much resembles where the muscle is and how it is pulled...
I hate it! I am lucky in that I have a friendly co-worker who is willing and able to massage the spot for me..and it works for short periods of time.but it is not a solution.
I have some Advil liquigels..and took 2 of them, but damn!
Typing does not help, so I will stop now.
Sheesh!
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
eCigs and the quitting game - year 1
This weekend is the 1 year anniversary of my vaping adventure. For the past 2 months, I have reduced my nic intake from the original of 18mg to 12, then 9,6,3 and now - ZERO!
So..not only am I no longer addicted to nicotein..but the whole vaping thing is behind me. I don't think about it. Get no particular joy from it and although I carry the damned things with me everywhere I go..I also spend very little part of any day actually vaping.
Sometimes, it is just while I drive. I certainly don't go outside to vape anymore...lucky for me, because the temperatures are wickedly cold now.
I should try and leave the damned thing at home and see what comes of it.
Cheers!
Me
So..not only am I no longer addicted to nicotein..but the whole vaping thing is behind me. I don't think about it. Get no particular joy from it and although I carry the damned things with me everywhere I go..I also spend very little part of any day actually vaping.
Sometimes, it is just while I drive. I certainly don't go outside to vape anymore...lucky for me, because the temperatures are wickedly cold now.
I should try and leave the damned thing at home and see what comes of it.
Cheers!
Me
Reuniting
Decided to reunite different blog posts from different blogs into one place..here.
Easier to keep track of this way. Now, if Only I can figure out a way to grab and export all my kivejournal and myspace posts in one go...that'd be fab!
http://mrbishop.livejournal.com/
https://angrydesigner.wordpress.com/
http://thousandmonkeys.blog.com/ *THis one will not be coming here - it is a whole nother story.
Easier to keep track of this way. Now, if Only I can figure out a way to grab and export all my kivejournal and myspace posts in one go...that'd be fab!
http://mrbishop.livejournal.com/
https://angrydesigner.wordpress.com/
http://thousandmonkeys.blog.com/ *THis one will not be coming here - it is a whole nother story.
Friday, February 20, 2015
Trafficking in chaos
Let me preface this post by saying that if there is one thing that can make being late for work anything less than frustrating..it is when you are late BUT your supervisor and boss are both later than you are.
Traffic sucks. It really does. It slows you down to the point where you are lucky if you get where you want to be before you are actually late. I am not saying anything new here. I am not re-inventing the wheel. Nobody likes traffic.
What I am saying is that there is a scale of traffic frustration that must be dragged kicking and screaming into the light...and beaten soundly.
So... imagine that you are on your way to work. You didn't sleep in or hit the snooze button once too many times. You didn't dawdle over breakfast, or sit too long in the bathroom reading when you should have been leaving. You left on time, didn't turn off for a coffee or anything... you are acting responsibly and yet... you are about to be late for work. You are about to risk your job for a reason beyond your control.
So -reasons for traffic.
Weather- The weather often has a way of messing with visibility or making driving conditions less than optimal..leading to accidents, mechanical issues and FEAR.
Accident(s) - Sh@t happens. Someone wasn't paying attention, or going too fast or just unlucky and crunched his of her wheels, blocking a lane or two in the process. Everyone in that lane is going to have to go around them until a towtruck can arrive to get the car out of the way. As it stands... it is not horrible, but there are complications -and those,..well...
Stalls and mechanical issues - Very much like accidents, but usually you can't inflict blame on the person for innatention. Complications also apply here.
Construction- like accidents and mechanical issues, they mess up traffic because they tend to close lanes, force people to go around or deviate onto unknown routes. The latter also slows people down because they get people lost...which will slow them down (see Fear)
FEAR - Some people just cannot drive in less than optimal conditions, and sometimes, not even then. These are the people who should stay off the road most of the time. They are the types who brake early, often and without particular reason. This kind of randomness makes other drivers nervous and overly cautious and causes an overall slowdown and traffic. I call this invisible traffic. You cannot see the cause of it - there is no warning and no way of stopping it beyond getting the fearful driver off of the road.
Rubbernecking- This is one of those complications from accidents and stalls. Drivers passing by an accident or a stall HAVE to slow down and take a look for themselves. They HAVE to see if there is any blood. They HAVE to see the damaged car. Why? Because when they get to wherever they are going, they HAVE to tell everyone about it and those people will want details! **This is made far worst thanks to social media. The audiences are MUCH bigger than they ever were before Facebook and Twitter. It is also made worst thanks to cell-phones which can take pictures - because a picture is worth 1000 words and who cares if you mess up the traffic behind you! That picture MUST happen!
Rudeness - This is perhaps the most frustrating cause of traffic. Rudeness comes in many different guises. Sometimes, it looks like tail-gating (which makes people nervous and may cause accidents). Sometimes, it comes form not letting people merge, which causes slowdown in the lane of the rude person and also the lane of the person trying to merge and being denied entry. **This is a shooting offence in my mind - thanksfully, we have tight gun-control laws up here, so the idiots get off with mere threats of violence. This is another form of invisible traffic and it only takes one or two rude drivers to cause a world of hurt int he form of traffic for thousands of other drivers.
I can deal with the first four any day of the week and twice on Sundays. The last three on the other hand.. kill them all!
Until driverless cars make an appearance on a grand scale and turn getting to work into a mechano-socialist paradise where NOBODY drives their own cars and thus nobody gets into accidents, or causes traffic due to fear, rubbernecking or rudeness - until then, my friend.
FUCK TRAFFIC!!!
I hate you long time!
Have a good trip home and - please...don't be an assh@le!
Traffic sucks. It really does. It slows you down to the point where you are lucky if you get where you want to be before you are actually late. I am not saying anything new here. I am not re-inventing the wheel. Nobody likes traffic.
What I am saying is that there is a scale of traffic frustration that must be dragged kicking and screaming into the light...and beaten soundly.
So... imagine that you are on your way to work. You didn't sleep in or hit the snooze button once too many times. You didn't dawdle over breakfast, or sit too long in the bathroom reading when you should have been leaving. You left on time, didn't turn off for a coffee or anything... you are acting responsibly and yet... you are about to be late for work. You are about to risk your job for a reason beyond your control.
So -reasons for traffic.
Weather- The weather often has a way of messing with visibility or making driving conditions less than optimal..leading to accidents, mechanical issues and FEAR.
Accident(s) - Sh@t happens. Someone wasn't paying attention, or going too fast or just unlucky and crunched his of her wheels, blocking a lane or two in the process. Everyone in that lane is going to have to go around them until a towtruck can arrive to get the car out of the way. As it stands... it is not horrible, but there are complications -and those,..well...
Stalls and mechanical issues - Very much like accidents, but usually you can't inflict blame on the person for innatention. Complications also apply here.
Construction- like accidents and mechanical issues, they mess up traffic because they tend to close lanes, force people to go around or deviate onto unknown routes. The latter also slows people down because they get people lost...which will slow them down (see Fear)
FEAR - Some people just cannot drive in less than optimal conditions, and sometimes, not even then. These are the people who should stay off the road most of the time. They are the types who brake early, often and without particular reason. This kind of randomness makes other drivers nervous and overly cautious and causes an overall slowdown and traffic. I call this invisible traffic. You cannot see the cause of it - there is no warning and no way of stopping it beyond getting the fearful driver off of the road.
Rubbernecking- This is one of those complications from accidents and stalls. Drivers passing by an accident or a stall HAVE to slow down and take a look for themselves. They HAVE to see if there is any blood. They HAVE to see the damaged car. Why? Because when they get to wherever they are going, they HAVE to tell everyone about it and those people will want details! **This is made far worst thanks to social media. The audiences are MUCH bigger than they ever were before Facebook and Twitter. It is also made worst thanks to cell-phones which can take pictures - because a picture is worth 1000 words and who cares if you mess up the traffic behind you! That picture MUST happen!
Rudeness - This is perhaps the most frustrating cause of traffic. Rudeness comes in many different guises. Sometimes, it looks like tail-gating (which makes people nervous and may cause accidents). Sometimes, it comes form not letting people merge, which causes slowdown in the lane of the rude person and also the lane of the person trying to merge and being denied entry. **This is a shooting offence in my mind - thanksfully, we have tight gun-control laws up here, so the idiots get off with mere threats of violence. This is another form of invisible traffic and it only takes one or two rude drivers to cause a world of hurt int he form of traffic for thousands of other drivers.
I can deal with the first four any day of the week and twice on Sundays. The last three on the other hand.. kill them all!
Until driverless cars make an appearance on a grand scale and turn getting to work into a mechano-socialist paradise where NOBODY drives their own cars and thus nobody gets into accidents, or causes traffic due to fear, rubbernecking or rudeness - until then, my friend.
FUCK TRAFFIC!!!
I hate you long time!
Have a good trip home and - please...don't be an assh@le!
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