Blog or white ... because it never is.

 I have lost track of what to call the "convoy".  Whatever it is, it is not about truckers protesting vaccine mandates.   First of all, if truckers really wanted to protest, they are smart enough to realize that they have real power.  They could literally bring our country to the knees.  We need to eat and we can't eat if there are no groceries on our shelves.  All they would have to do is just stop trucking.  So, if the people in charge of the trucking industry wanted to do that, they would do that.   This protest has just used the pretext of trucking vaccine mandates for an excuse to protest for their own reasons.   Even if Canada reversed their mandate, the US has the same mandate.  Our mandate is merely perfunctory.   I also know there is no reasoning with those that are protesting.  They are entrenched.  They think they are the only ones frustrated with the restrictions that this pandemic has cause...

  I am not a cat person.  But, I know cat people and I am even friends with some cat people.   It turns out there are lots of people that have cats.  It also turns out that people having cats have no impact on my life whatsoever.  They live their lives with cats.  I live my life without cats.  What they do behind closed doors is none of my business.  I have also learned that what I feel about cats has no bearing whatsoever on people who have cats.   Has the pandemic made my views about views more extreme?  Sort of the opposite.  Craving all positive social interaction with as many people as I can.  I miss my circle so much that I even crave pictures of people with cats just to see smiling faces.   Discrimination against the transgender community seems to be higher than ever and I just don't understand it..  I guess it is like every prejudice which is based on ignorance.  But, seriously, what are th...

  Shocked.  Deeply saddened.   His voice became louder and he was screaming.  Almost to the point of frothing at the mouth.  No one was disagreeing with him and he just kept going on as if someone was arguing with him.  Louder and louder.  The reason no one else was talking because it was obvious that he was not going to listen to anyone no matter what they said.   Although it started with Covid19 being a complete conspiracy.  It doesn't exist.  But, he didn't stop there.  The health care system.  Every politician at every level.  The education system.  Every third word started with F.  He didn't seem very secular but seemed to be defending Christianity.  Attacking every other religion that he had heard of as well as people of colour.  Bigotry.  Very transphobic.   If it wasn't so horrid, it would be funny.  On one hand, he screamed about how voting rights were being suppre...

  i heard things on the news today that I never thought I would hear in Canada.   The convey.  Participants interviewed indicated they have guns and are not afraid to use them.   According to their chat rooms, they are talking about hanging politicians and about making it Canada's January 6. Just never thought this rhetoric would exist in Canada.  Let's just hope it is rhetoric.  

  Team Fleury is having a contest on twitter.  Tweet them your favourite Scotties moment and one lucky fan will win an autographed jersey.  What a challenge!! My favourite Scotties moment - if only !!!!  I probably have a thousand moments.  I have read all the tweets that they have received and agree with every entry and remember every moment that has been tweeted.  It has also been a pretty sobering slap in the face of how old I am.  I have been watching and cheering since the first Scott Tournament of Hearts in 1982.  I am so old that I remember when Sherry Middaugh was Sherry Scherich curling out of Saskatchewan.   Of course, I have a few moments that stick out more for me than others and I have not been a fan of all teams.  However, like most curling fans, I cheer for good shots.  Most often, I cheer for the underdog in all games even if they are going against my favourite team.  That is why I love curling.  Anyon...

  Other than the cheap sunglasses, I look like I have it all together.  It is a fairly recent picture of me.  I don't usually take selfies so I must have been feeling confident.  Yeah, I have those times.  Times when I feel like myself only two decades earlier.  Man, I was fierce.  Leading a great life that I took for granted.  After all, I worked hard for everything I had and had played by the rules of life.  I really was a spitfire in every sense of the word.  I lived in a world without limits and believed I could accomplish whatever I wanted to.   And then, a bad thing happened to me.  It knocked the wind out of my sails for a while.  It took a long time for the dust to clear.  Once I got my head above water, I realized I had spent a long time getting my head above water.  All my energy was on getting through that point, that I put no energy into myself.   I don't know if that makes sense. ...

  We went out for breakfast today.  As soon as we sat down, a young couple was seated across from us.  After we listened to them for a while, it became apparent that they were on the first date.  It is not like we were trying to eavesdrop, it is just that the young lady spoke very loudly and also when she sat down the first words out of her mouth were, "so, I don't know if I am problem drinker, but....." You just kind of have to listen.   The young man got in the occasional "uh-huh" otherwise never got to hear the sound of his voice.   So, as we were munching on our eggs, we learned about what books she has read, how she used to chronicle the books that she has read, everything she has streamed over the last two weeks, her sleeping patterns, every move from every residence that she has resided in, and what video games she is currently plays.  Strangely, I don't know what she does for a living,  Of course, I can't attest to the veracity o...

 On February 5, Regina will be hosting an outdoor skins game, Koe vs Dunstone.  It is supposed to be the big draw in some sort of winter festival in Regina.  It appears to be going ahead.    Lately during the pandemic, I have had three types of activities.  Things you can't do.  Things you can do.  Things that just because you can do them doesn't mean you should do them.  This game seems to fall in the last category.   But, it will go ahead.  For the curlers, money is money.  There have not been the usual opportunities for money over the last couple of years.   The game itself will be consequential to the curling world. It will have many ripple effects.   First of all, Team Koe will need to pick up a spare as John Morris will be away.  I think they will use Colton Flasch.  Colton will do it, despite being cut from the team two years earlier, because, well, money.  Since it is a special ev...

  Another Friday night in the endless pandemic.  Debilitating headache started in the afternoon and continued until about 12:30 am Saturday.   Maybe part of the headache is just enduring another Friday night in the pandemic. It sucks having nothing to do and nothing to look forward to.  I can't remember the last Friday night I went out to a bar and danced all night.  It has been probably a decade or so.  So, it is not like I would be doing that now, but just the fact that I can't, makes it feel so, well, restrictive.  Again, I agree with the restrictions, I am just sick of them.   There are a lot of signs that the pandemic may have an end point.  Not because it is actually going to have an end point, but, like most things, it will be cancelled by a lack of interest.  No one really cares anymore.  No one cares about the numbers anymore, even though they are alarmingly high.  Actually, we don't even know what the number...

  Do you ever read police reports or watch real life crime stories and feel two different emotions at the same time?  I'm usually horrified, but there is another emotion that I feel and I can't quite name it.  I basically can sum it up by saying, "who would even think about doing that?"   I am not saying that I don't condone crimes of passion, but they are a little bit more understandable.  We have all had passion in our lives and know how powerful that can be.  It is certainly not right, but you can understand a strong, in the moment, instinct to defend yourself or seek revenge.  Again, I am not saying I approve, but I am saying I understand.   But, some of the horrible things that people do, I just can't understand how people even think of doing things like that.  Or, how, at some point, common sense doesn't kick in.  For example, I can possibly understand the passion that one feels about seeing someone they think is a neighb...

  Let's say all three Canadian Olympic Curling Teams win gold.  What will that mean?   Before I go there, let me tell you about a friend of mine.  To preserve his anonymity, I will call him NotDavid.  David is a full-blown geek.  Believe me, I am not talking about him behind his back.  He embraces his geekdom and has proudly attended the National Geek Festival.  What makes him a geek is that he is a trivia fanatic.  He is particularly obsessed with flags and anthems.  As he says, he watches the Olympics for the anthems.  As an internationally ranked trivia player, there is no limit to the amount of useless knowledge that he will cram into his head.  But, here is the thing.  When I try to talk about curling, he just changes the subject.  He knows nothing about curling and has no desire to know anything.  And, he is a proud Canadian.  He just doesn't care about curling.   Believe me, I know NotD...

  Yeah, I know how to pronounce his last name, I just don't know how to spell it.  He isn't worth my energy to look up and I can't ask my husband.  He is the type of sports fan who knows everything about every sport.  If I asked him how to spell his last name, he would end up talking for 20 minutes and giving me more information about this tennis great than Wikipedia would.   He, my husband, not Novak, has a list of sports figures that he describes as his list of Petulant Man Childs.  They are all not white but they are privileged and interestingly enough, he doesn't have a list of Petulant Woman Childs.  Come to think of it, if I was compiling that list, it would only contain one name.  Women, and this is a stereotype have more humility in success and tend to have a deeper appreciation for their journey to success.  Perhaps, women athletes, in general, have more barriers to greatness.   Regardless, even though I know nothing a...

  Someone I didn't know died yesterday.  His death was sudden and unexpected and tragic.  He was young.  It is very tragic.  Even though I didn't know him, I am grieving.  Even though I didn't know him, I feel I should have known him.  It is complicated, of course.  These things always are.  So, even though I am grieving, I feel guilty for grieving.  Do I have the right to grieve?  After all, I didn't know him.  Are there rules on grief? If I want to grieve, shouldn't I be allowed to grieve? Not that we all don't have things to grieve.  I think 2022 has already taught us that there is no going back to normal, or the way it was, prepandemic.  There will be no more "normal".  The government has essentially waved the white flag. We are all going to be exposed, at the very least, so why fight it, beyond following the fundamentals.  Frankly, it is scary.  No one actually knows what is going to happen.  ...

  Ironically, I am going to digital media to promote the idea of a digital diet.  I know I need one.  I have been way too caught up on the ills of Curling Canada.  I have been so angry and anger is not an emotion that I want to carry.  I can feel it taking a toll on my body.   I not only see it in me, I see it in my friends.  I have a good friend who is funny, smart, witty, worldly, and all I see if him tweeting all day long his anger at the current government.  Believe me, I get it.  We all want to feel that we are doing something to be in control or something that is out of our control.  But, I can see that he going down a rabbit hole into frenzy.  And, that is not helping him.  His tweets are becoming increasingly mean-spirited and he is having less credibility.  I think he is too far gone, but I want him to know the concept of radical acceptance.  There is nothing he can do at this point to overthrow the gove...

 If you live in Manitoba, you've been talking about shovelling a lot over the last two days.  I know there is a reason why Cynthia Reyes chose to shovel her driveway after her night shift.  I will get to that reason at the end.   My nephew was about 8 years old when he got his first "job" at the farm of one of his father's friends.  I think at the time he would go out and spend the day and got a few dollars for doing his thing.  My nephew was pretty excited about entering employment so he called his grandma and grandpa to tell them about it.   "I have a job!!" His grandfather said, "that is so exciting.  I am so proud of you.  What are you going to be doing." "Shovelling, grandpa."   "Oh, what will you be shovelling?" "Shit, grandpa, I will be shovelling shit." My father was convinced that with that experience, my nephew would grow up to me a politician.  He hasn't yet but never say never.   My father was th...

  January is not even half over  and if you follow #curling on twitter, you know that it has been an exhausting month.  People have been airing their curling grievances.  Most of it has been levelled at Curling Canada due to their sheer ineptitude in handling the Mixed Doubles Olympic Team selection.  Hopefully, it will be announced tomorrow and many of us will be upset with the pick but atleast we will be able to move on.   So. although it started with Mixed Doubles, it hasn't ended there.  People have been airing their grievances about the current state of Canadian Curling.  January has really become Curling Festivus.   I have one more grievance to air and it may be mine alone.  To be honest, I don't even like that I have this grievance.  It actually pains me that I have this grievance, but here it goes.  I think TSN needs to change their broadcasting line-up.   It hurts me to say that because I really lik...

 Do you remember?    Sorry, I'm back. I was dancing to "September" by Earth, Wind, and Fire.  Whenever I hear, "do you remember", I am triggered in a great way and just have to play it and dance.  How can you not be in a great mood after.  Released in 1978 but still has power over me.  Yes, I was still in school, but it was not high school.  I am not quite that old.  But, that also means the next generation after me hasn't experienced the magic of that song.  I mean how can you not like a song with the literal lyrics of "Ba-dee-ya". Hey, hey hey.......Sorry, I told you that this song has power.    Anyway, I am glad I am so happy now because that is what this is about, sort of.  Remember when, we all did random acts of kindness?   Remember when we were encouraged to do this and we all tried very hard to do this?  I remembers both giving and receiving.  Unfortunately, some people missed the mark and thoug...

  Rachel Homan's team said it best when they tweeted it was a long day on the internet for them.  It really was.  As a curling fanatic, I became exhausted from surfing yesterday.  There was so much reaction to Ontario Curling Association announcement that Team Rachel Homan would be representing Ontario at the Scotties.   That would be enough to cause the twitterverse to go into overdrive because there was a lot of information suggesting that Team Holly Duncan could have been chosen as the Ontario representative.   But, Curl Ontario put some conditions on the nomination in that if Rachel was chosen to represent Canada at the Olympics in the Mixed Doubles event, her team would not be eligible to get a fifth and the berth to the Scotties then would go to Team Duncan.   Let's just say people had some strong reactions, and also some very valid points.  I even changed my viewpoint on this issue a few times.  However, the one reaction...

  The Breaking News this morning was the death of Sidney Poitier.  I happen to be a news junkie, however, I have not been watching the news as much lately.  It is not so much that it is all bad, it is just the tone of society right now.  Somehow we need to turn the heat down slightly.  It feels a little bit ironic for me to say that while living in Winnipeg.  This morning the windchill was -44. It is going to be like that all day, but the sun will come out tomorrow, apparently.   But, let's face it, we need to turn the heat down on society.  Yesterday was the anniversary of the insurrection on Capital Hill.  If you watched coverage on the news, you see that there has been little reflection there has been on the fact that democracy in the USA is under siege. Partisanship makes the country so divided. Of course, much of this has to do with the orange menace factor.  (I don't like typing his name, I feel he already drains too much of m...

  Today, in addition to being Ukrainian Christmas Eve, is the first anniversary of the day that insurrectionists stormed the Capital in Washington.  I am sure I was like everyone else who watched for hours and hours and still couldn't believe my eyes.  I was watching America, not some third world country in civil war.  I was in profound shock and profound sadness.   I still am.  I thought this has got to be the defining moment for the United States of America.  This has to be the moment where the country rises above and gets together as a country to show the world that they are the beacon of democracy.   Sadly, not much has changed.  It is beyond shocking.  The extreme partisan, no, it is not partisanship, it is something else.  We have learned so much about that day since that day and yet we don't know the whole story.  One thing it was certainly purposeful.   People suggest that Donald Trump was the archit...

  You become a grandma and you start giving more thought to your own grandmother.  My baba was Ann Repski.  I called her Nannie.  She died when I was three so I don't really have any real memories of her but I have been told so many stories about her that I really feel I do remember her.   I am also thinking a lot about her because I am now at the age that she was when she died.  She died from complications from Type II Diabetes.  She wasn't overweight or sedentary and she didn't have any of the "typical" risk factors that one would associate with diabetes.  It was unfortunate that she had diabetes but it was even more unfortunate that she was diagnosed with diabetes two generations ago.  Medicinal science has made so much progress in helping people manage their diabetes.   Everything that I know about her I cherish.  She and her family left everything in the Ukraine to immigrate to Canada.  That is a braveness to whi...