Movers and Salt Shakers

Since I realized I was able to use every ounce of my 8 year old body weight to move around the prized antique tallboy dresser in my bedroom, I was forever turning that 12 by 12 foot space into a morphing art piece. I thank my parents for giving up all rights to the formalities of what a child's bedroom should look like. When I was 16 or so and decided one wall should be painted black, well by golly it was painted black. It still is and looks damn fine. Take it for what the quality is worth, but I can easily find myself an entire afternoon in IKEA without purchasing a thing. It's a place of ingenuity, brilliantly simple ideas and ever changing indoor vistas. I might dare to say it's better than an amusement park at times. I don't feel I am passionate or able to become skilled enough to make a career out of it, however I kind of envy those that make a living as interior designers. The closest I came to it, and for 100% the purpose I am going to soon explain, was when after a year of University I was undecided on my path in life, a last minute chance to apply for Real Property Assessment in a college program meant I was able to glimpse daily at how people lived, what their homes were decorated and built like. Needless to say, working shift work in a call centre has clearly meant I never made it, but it doesn't mean that my monthly subscription to both top Canadian home magazines and the yearly visit to Toronto's IDS (Interior Design Show) each February hasn't kept the interest there for years. The best part of winter? Not Christmas. Not tobogganing. Good HGTV. That's right...all the great shows return from annoying garden and landscaping crap they run during Spring and Summer to cool interiors; from lofts to make-overs and all that chic indoor stuff that my eyes adore! We all make observances, if not judgments and even suggestions when dropping in on friends' places about 'this would go great here' or 'how about a mirror there', even the dreaded 'did you see what colour she painted that bathroom?' I live for these. Mostly quiet and calculated in my cerebral filofax of what-to-do's and what-never-to-repeats I truly appreciate any one's attempts to express themselves through design further than their wardrobe. Who can tell me that they either haven't thought of it themselves of know friends who have tried to mismatching chairs ensemble like that of Monica had in her kitchen in the television show FRIENDS. That was darn clever in a witty kinda way. The bureau still stands proud in my boudoir and while tastes and ideas are tamer now that I'm in my 20ty's, I can say I'm proud that thing has gotten as much mileage and viewpoints as it has within just four walls.

Toodles

Dis Connect

Why this constant need to always be connected? We’ve emerged into a world where without access to a cellular phone and its texting or googling capabilities for mere minutes, it’s as though one might just self-destruct. My favourite are the drivers. Swerving, laughing, perpetual head down pounding away at that minuscule keypad as if not waiting until the next stop will be apocalyptical. The next blackberry is a must have; because, well, it texts that much faster! It seems that these mobile interactions when set in a public area MUST be set a decibels 5 times higher than normal or necessary…laughable really. Take a good listen to one of these conversations one day, where albeit you only have the distinct pleasure of hearing just one end of it; I guarantee it will seem ludicrous. Nonsensical. Shallow. I guess we sometimes all need a time waster. In the same way to me that it seems these participants are trying to prove that Gawd forbid they never spend time alone, it also seems that they might be the first to scoff and gasp that anyone who would possibly entertain the realm of dining at a restaurant or going to watch a movie on their own are absolutely insane. I get it, we all want to be assured we have contact with another being, sometimes for those with bluetooth permanently attached to lobe, or fanatics addicted to twitter, it seems a little extreme. You don't even want me to get started on ranting about Twitter. And answer me this...why is it that whenever you look over at a truck driver when on the highway, he/she makes eye contact with you? I know it's a lonely time on the road during those long hours, but come on...you want to be in contact with everybody? Donating blood is one of the most generous things that the general public can do, and as well groundbreaking innovation that the medical world has come up with as far as I am concerned. I'll never do it. Not because I'm a Jehovah's Witness. I just don't like needles, or people really. However, I understand the compassion, the empathy, the wanting to help. The 'what if it were me' scenario...the list goes on. I was woken up in a panic one night not too long ago because I had dreamt I was O negative blood type. Do those that have this universal serum feel an extra social responsibility to donate? At the end of the day it is truly an ultimate human connection that we can literally share between ourselves. A connection and ability of amazing proportions really. I still won't be rushing over to the local shopping mall to be poked and pumped just to get a wee package of peek freans any time soon though.

Toodles