Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Archetypes
Judging a Book
What I Ate
Review: Grey's Anatomy
Right & Wrong
Response to Nora Roberts Comment
Monday, March 30, 2009
Edit: Why Not?
And now to those that haven't ;):
My friend has a theory about why people don't comment. I do as well, a couple actually.
1) Not in the mood
2) Nothing to say
3) Too lazy
4) Don't want to be the first
5) Don't get the posts
Etc,
Now I'd like to ask all those that read this:
1) What makes you comment
2) Why don't you comment
3) How can I make commenting more enjoyable
Should I not respond to comments? Should I have shorter posts?
I love being asked questions, I love it when topics for posts are suggested, and I get a kick out of reading the few that dare comment.
So how about it? Why don't you comment?
I promise not to bite... maybe just a nibble ;)
Authors: Nora Roberts
Freelancing
Ramblings 17: Starving with a full Plate
What I'm Eatting
Comment: Feeding Your Pet
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Feeding Your Pet
One of them was that you shouldn't feed for pet "people" food.
It went on to say that it was okay as long as you don't feed too much and avoid highly processed foods and ones that contain preservatives and other chemical additives.
Okay so pretty much feed your pet natural food.
So it's not okay for your pet dog or cat to eat that MacDonald's burger, for example, but it is okay for you and your kids.
Because if you feed it to your dog or cat, they might get sick, they might get fat.
We apparently value our pets health more than our own. Or maybe in pets the effects are just that much more apparent, after all they barely live a fraction life times. (10-17 years)
Am I the only one that sees something wrong with this picture?
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Ramblings 16: Drinking
I have concluded that I am a surface thinker when not-sober. It has the feeling that I am only skimming the top of my thoughts and that their is a labyrinth beneath that I cannot access, blocked by a barrier created by alcohol.
It takes serious effort to get through the wall to even feel that I am getting even a semblance of my normal level of thinking.
It will be interesting to read this post when I am totally sober. Also I am more prone to spelling error or wrong word choice when I have been drinking. I am doing a lot of backspacing.
I guess people drink to get away from their thoughts, as my friend and I both believe it is to forget, to not think about their own lives that they drink.
Though I find some affects of alcohol enjoyable, I will never include it into my regular habits. Because frankly I have so much more fun sober, and sober fun stays clear and true in memory and saves you a freaking headache the next morning.
Update About Me
I have now agreed to stay 2 additional months at my internship, I am now officially published in two different newspapers/magazines.
I have done translations, layout, website updates and articles.
So, oh yeah, I am totally on my way to my goal as a writer.
My internship will end at the end of May. That means 2 months of free time unless I don't get another job.
I am considering traveling around Europe. And to pay for part of it I plan to write some articles to submit them to various newspapers and see if I can get any money from that. You know writing about travels, people seem to like reading about that.
Then in August I will go with my parents to our cottage up north and bond with nature.... hm I am going to have to write a lot of posts before hand since I won't have much net access up there.
For Easter I am going to Rukka, to my uncles... ski chalet, or 2nd cottage, however you wish to call it. That's in about northern central Finland. For about 5 days.
There I will humiliate myself on the slopes by falling flat on my face and eating snow.
Hopefully I can do some cross country where I will at least get a little less humiliated.
It has be nearly 7 years since I last did any kind of skiing.
Seriously, what kind of Finn am I?
Tonight I am going to Baribal, see www.baribal.fi to play billiards, get boozed up, eat what I am told are delicious french fries and also humiliate myself playing pool.
And hopefully have a blast.
I was going to go to my cousin's 25th birthday, but he ended up sick, doesn't that just suck? All the plans gone to waste because of the flu.
The flu is on the move here in Finland. And it is freaking me out, I hope not to get sick, since I've been sick enough on my trip here!
So that's my update. Next post will be about ramblings or some quirky observations of Finns in their natural habitats!
Oh PS, It's my dad's birthday today, so all wish him well!
Friday, March 27, 2009
Pretty Day
Guest Post: Living in Hong Kong
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Ramblings 14: Something
FW: Lost
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Ramblings 13: Perception
I am not saying that society has made wants into needs. But rather society has twisted our perception. Let's say marketing has.
People believe, they BELIEVE, that they NEED material possessions to live. There are even psychological disorders that take this into the extreme.
Also because of this twisted up perception people become greedy. They want more than they need.
This has nothing to do with job, and money.
I'm talking about how this in the end effects how we view ourselves. We view ourselves as being material, as being defined by what we can hold in our hands.
To me, this is my belief, to me this is a twisted thing.
We aren't the sum of our material possessions or positions in society.
People are turning more and more outwards to find happiness, to find themselves.
One of my favorite quotations is this:
Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life.
People have forgotten that. We constantly to outward, more and more physical things to define ourselves.
Constantly buying more and more, wearing ourselves out, trying to get that Ideal happiness.
And because of how the world is today, you do need money to survive. Money can allow you to be happy since you won't have to struggle for the things you need to survive.
But then think how much money goes into buying things you don't need.
People waste their lives trying to get something that they can never get through their current methods.
Happy is what you should be. Not something you strive for.
Money can't buy happiness. But it can give you the time you need to find it in yourself.
This is the last post I am going to do on this subject for a little bit, since I want to look at some other topics as well. :)
Children on Buses
There are little children riding buses here. Without adults with them. These kids are at most eight years old!
They go on buses all the way from the Finnish equivalent of suburbs to the Helsinki centre.
Finns are perfectly comfortable letting their kids on public buses.
But would a Canadian? Sure I have seen 12 year olds and up, but generally anyone younger has always, always had an adult or an older kid with them.
My relatives constantly warn me of the dangers of Helsinki and riding on the bus. But it is almost laughable when you think that they let their 7 year old ride the bus alone and walk 40minutes home from school by themselves.
Of course when they are warning me it generally has to do with me being out late and Finnish drunkeness or scary foreigners.
But really, would a parent from the USA or Canada be comfortable letting their kids ride the public bus at such a young age? To walk such far distances?
Really, it really makes you pause.
Response: Ramblings 12
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Ramblings 12: Want & Need
Through psychology the marketing system was able to shift our preception of WANT in to NEED.
Humans need only a few things to survive, water, food, shelter and as a species sex. You can also add that we need contact with others, this is tied to our mental health. A baby will die if it is not touched, it does not matter if you feed it and shelter it.
Today people believe they need a new car, a new house, new shoes, a new game and new hairstyle or something immaterial.
People drive themselves crazy for things they believe they need, but only in fact want.
People no longer look to themselves to fulfill their needs. So many look without to define themselves. Like somehow a new car will make you loved by all and accepted.
I'm not saying I am immune to this. I'm not saying we do not need money.
In fact today we need money, we can't get food, water or shelter without it. But using money to buy things so that you can be loved or to better define yourself...
You look at magazines, at TV, at what your neighbor does and compare. Will you be liked if you buy that handbag? Get that new iPod, will you be hip and accepted?
Well yes, but not for you, just that empty shell that is composed entirely of the material.
I think it is sad that our selves are defined not by us but by what we own, the country we are from, the job we have, and the neighborhood we are from.
We are defined now by Society. Many have lost their central selves, and let others tell them what to be.
You are told you can not be a leader, you can not come up with a better way of doing something, that you will get no where, that you are defined by what you own.
What are you when everything is stripped away?
Shouldn't we be more than the sum of our material possessions?
How often have you thought "someone else will do it". How often do you shift responsibility on to another and not take action? Do you not take action because you believe from the very start that you cannot succeed?
I think a lot of our world is a lot of talking and very little action. We seem to be puppets to the ones that do.
It is funny in writing, the biggest point is to SHOW, not tell. Don't tell me, SHOW me.
And yeah, I am also a person that has talked and not put what I said into action. Things I should have, because I believed someone else could do it better. That what I do would have no effect.
But really, everything you do impacts something else.
Don't tell me, show me.
***See this is ramblings, I started with talking about want and need and somehow started talking about taking up action in what you believe in. Go figure! It was fun to write though!
Ramblings 11: Sleep
Ramblings 10: Friendship
Help! Need a Name
Response: Ramblings 9
Monday, March 23, 2009
Ramblings 9: Semi-Rant About MC
More on being Multicultural
I don’t want Finns to take too much offence, but I think you’re a bit snobbish in your world view.
Yes, Finland is a great place to live, great education, social structure, communications, transportation and what ever else I am forgetting. But your mindset towards “foreigners” really gets to me.
I come from Canada, I am a Finnish-Canadian, my parents were born and raised there. I am a mixture of both cultures.
Finns are highly educated, smart, practical people, they frequently go on student exchanges and visit with people from other cultures.
But for some reason a lot of Finns just use a very broad brush stroke and just label and categorize people in a way that has my job dropping to the floor.
It's not with cruel intent, it's not to be malicious or that they really think they are better than people from other countries. It's just how it comes across. This is not just individuals. I've seen this behavior on the News all over the media and about how people I meet talk about foreigners and immigrants.
I have the dubious honor of being both a Finn and also a foreigner. I can see it. I just don't understand the mass blindness.
For people that are so enlightened about most things I just can't understand that they can just be so... stereotyping.
So when I get called a “yank” or an American, I get a little insulted. I am Canadian, you can call me a Canuck but that’s a really outdated term. For people so educated I am astounded at the lack of consideration. Saying Canada should be shoved in with the USA is just… well insulting to me.
It would be like me saying “Oh you Europeans,” or “Scandinavians” and yeah I am aware how Finns can get outraged at the latter. Oh or better yet I will call you a Swede. Because hey you are neighbors, share the same culture and viewpoints right? Oh they might take offence!
I can get being called American, since Canada is in NORTH AMERICA, however when that American is meant to mean the United States of America, I get rather annoyed.
I have lived in the USA, but I have lived far longer in Canada, I was born and raised there.
I am very aware of the differences between the USA and Canada.
It may sound trite but it is exactly as we learned in school. USA = cultural melting pot and Canada = cultural mosaic.
What does that mean? Well if you want to be an AMERICAN (USA) then you need assimilate to the culture and have your own native culture take a back seat. So-called native born Americans dislike immigrants. Generally, though it is a bit broad, after all US is made of immigrants so they are more tolerant than other countries.
Now Canada, lets you keep your culture. It expects you to glory in it and share in it. And just come together as Canadians being from around the world. There are some 3rd generation families or more that don’t call themselves Canadians they call themselves their native ethnicity. However, the second you take them out of Canada? Then they are Canadian.
Canada is pretty much the MOST successful country is realizing cultural diversity. How many countries are you comfortable living in where you feel you can wear your native dress? Speak your language, practice your own religion? (Of course there is hate, and it is not perfect but a large portion of it has been successful)
All Canada asks is that you accept others, tolerate them as well and to maybe, just maybe learn the English language so others can understand you. *You need to know a little to be able to pass the citizenship test!
Here is a quote that at first I thought was ridiculous, but latter on realized the truth of it.
Excuse me but I can’t recall the exact quote, but here is the gist:
“How’d you know she was Canadian?” “She was nice for no reason.”
I am not saying Canada is perfect, but it is a lot more accepting of people from other cultures and ethnicities. More aware. You have to be to live in Canada. Sure you have the stereotypes, biases and bigotry. But in the end most people end up learning about other cultures if not consciously, just by osmosis.
And yeah, Canada has a lot of stuff to work on, health care, education, communication etc etc. But at least we don’t put our noses in the air when we meet a foreigner.
Of course I should add that my sensitivity to all this is probably brought on by having lived in Canada for so long. We become very, very aware of others and about preconceive notions.
Sorry about the semi-rant but I don't like seeing this behavior.
And no, it wasn't directed at me.
Rambling Comments: Replies and Reactions
First thing I want to say is that I think it is a pile of awesome, yes a pile of awesome, that my friends that read this blog actually call me up to talk about it! Nothing pleases me more as a writer, other than the act of writing, is that my writing actually speaks to the person. People message me, call me and email me saying “you remember that post…?”
Anyway thanks to all those that read it, it really makes my day!
Now since we are on the subject, just today a friend messaged me and told me about his reaction to my post Single Vs Multi.
*By the way message me again if I have any of this wrong!*
He has been living in Hong Kong for the past year, and apparently after reading my post (apologies if I have this a little off, but the conversation wasn’t saved L) realized that there was a difference. He has lived now in both Canada and Hong Kong and says that people from a single culture don’t seem to have a certain openness to experience, and seem to lack some kind of perspective.
He continued to observe also that; People from multicultural backgrounds seem to be able to accept new things more easily. And also that sometimes he feels like an alien, (like standing outside and looking in through a window).
Anyway it was an interesting conversation and I probably garbled it up a bit, but I thought it was great that my posting struck a chord with someone.
I seriously love it when someone can relate to a post or causes a strong reaction. Ok so maybe I wouldn’t want someone yelling and pissed off at me over a post. But even then that could be cool that they disagreed so strongly…
Anyway back to giving the appearance of work!
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Ramblings 8: Just Sit Down!
Eventually the blog be forgotten or I post just once a month. That would suck because I like posting!
So here is me not slacking off and actually posting something, sort of the last minute for the day but I've been busy.
Went jogging, grocery shopping ,cooking, cleaning and just wondering around aimlessly. Okay so not so busy but nothing popped in my head to write about!
It is somehow easier to write of weekdays, my mind is a whirlwind on those days. Weekends and my brain just shuts off and goes on a holiday.
The problem is I keep wanting to post all day long on weekdays... maybe I should set up as a timer so I'll have something for the weekends... but then I'd slack off again!
Have to just sit my ass down and write or it just stops no matter how much like it.
Now for something nearly completely unrelated. Ever paid attention to your fingers when you are typing? I've asked a couple of friends this and not many have. Aside from when you are first learning to type and have to look for each and every key!
Now if I just watch my fingers typing away on this keyboard it seems somehow disconnected from me. Somehow that message from my brain is being relayed to my fingers that tap away on the keyboard almost as if they have a mind of their own. It is also a little bit difficult to focus on them when typing because then you start typing something completely different or start messing up.
Generally, I type looking at the screen or at nothing at all, sometimes eyes closed when I am attempting to catch a particular image onto paper... sorta like painting except for most people you need your eyes open for that.
I paint with words.
Corny but that's how I think of it sometimes.
Anyway try it sometime. Watch your fingers, not the keyboard by the way, as you type. You feel a little bit of dislocation when you do it. As if the hands aren't yours. This doesn't work if typing doesn't come "naturally" to you and you are still slowly taping away and actually need to look where the keys are.
Anyway that's my post, hope someone enjoys it!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Ramblings 7: Rambling
My "Rambling" series are just the recording streams of thought as the dance through my mind and trickle out through my fingertips.
I've found they clarify my thoughts, put them into focus and uncover new facets in them, and also new ideas altogether. You can get lost in it as you just record whatever goes through your mind.
But just looking at what you have written after makes you see something new as well.
Sometimes I get so frustrated but once I get started writing that energy changes into something more edgy and focused, taking my mind off things I can do nothing about. Cleanse away the feelings that leave behind nothing but anguish if you dwell on them.
And in writing you can realize that they had no basis. That often they are simply a reflection of what is around you. We are incredibly sensitive to our surroundings, to interactions with others.
Ever notice that there are people that totally siphon energy out of you? They leave you mentally, emotionally and even physically tired after interacting with them.
Then there are others in which you become energized, and keep going and going like that bunny.
Keep focused and keep your center still :)
Friday, March 20, 2009
Ramblings 6: Just how trapped in our heads are we?
Question: Single V Multicultural
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Ramblings 5: Quiet Thoughts
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Ramblings 4: Learned Helplessness
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Ramblings: Expectations
Moving Blogs?
Monday, March 16, 2009
Oho!
Finns have a way of being very modest and understating pretty much everything. Finn wins a gold medals; “Oho! Well I would been just as happy in fourth.” Finn has an all night drinking binge, “Oho, it was just 15 beers.” Finn knocks you down on the street and you twist an ankle, “Oho! Just a little bruise”.
Like in my previous post about lack of expression you can see it here. Finns tend to be so modest, refusing at any point to brag or even acknowledge the greatness of any accomplishment. Oh you cured AIDS? Oh that was just a little thing but I should have done it five years ago.
Watching medalists and commentators on sports shows is funny because they put everything a little down. Oh, he won a gold, but he still could have done better. Got a silver, he’s perfectly fine with not winning a gold but he should have done better.
In every compliment or acknowledgment of something this is that little “but”. I am noticing it more and more now as I pay attention to it. They always add in that “but”. She aced her exam, but she studied to hard or should have finished it faster.
I can get modesty and humility, by why not revel in a victory just a little? Enjoy that feeling of accomplishment.
I’m sorry, getting drunk and doing that does not count in my book.
Perhaps I’m just too Canadian…
Snacks
It seems that Finns start drinking about 1-3 hours before going out and do not stop until they are flat on their faces either in bed or on the bathroom floor.
The snacks were explained to me. Alcohol is expensive in bars so Finns get as wasted as possible before they even leave the house. I’m sure this is done in Canada, but I kind of think it’s not pushed to this extreme since at least one of the people will be driving to their destination because the GTAs (Greater Toronto Area) transit system is just awful. So really, really awful it
just doesn’t even bare thinking of when compared to Finland’s.
My belief is that the drinking is a way of cracking the reserve most Finns cover themselves with. Finns tend to come across as very… sober most of the time, rarely cracking a smile or joke. It is generally very quiet. Helsinki reminds me of a U of T library! Even the trams and buses are hushed!
The times Finns get noisy are when they are drunk. It’s like they have a completely different personality. Drink frees them to express themselves in ways they feel they normally can’t.
Finns are also very socially conscious people. Always spying, I mean aware of what their neighbors are doing, buying, saying… So it takes quite a lot to crack that reserve.
Me, being from Canada, most come across as a little crazy, I don’t have that kind of reserve, though in Canada I come across to others as practical, quiet and reserved. Here I come across as unreserved, open, loud and a little crazy. Maybe they think I am drunk all the time?
Or maybe I am misreading their reactions to me and they see me as just a rather extroverted foreigner that happens to be Finn at the same time…
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Warning It's a Rant
I worked there for a year, I did my job, did it well and ended up doing MORE than what I was being paid for.
When asked about what I thought would help me at the job, or any suggestions, I would take the question seriously. I would figure out what they were and figure out the best and easiest ways to implement them.
What I suggested:
1) Improving search engine functionality
2) Making update/insert information an online option
3) Having Sales Reps confirm with their customers that information is correct (so the company did not look inept when we contacted then 3 months later and they realize that we had been showing incorrect products/contacts/and other information online.
4)Having clients have a little more involvement
5) Getting more people into my position because one person just can't do the job of 5.
What was I told for all these? They are unimportant, they would not work, they weren't realistic considerations, they cost too much money. Other words I was shot down each time and informed that I was foolish to think any of these suggestions and others I made could possibly work out.
While I was there I was frequently asked why I had not finished the work assigned to me. (Review point 5). They now employ 5 people.
I have since quit this job. And have now heard from former co-workers that each of these suggestions has been implemented or is in the process of.
That's appreciation for you.
God gotta love it.
Story: In the Blood
Blood tints his vision red, washes his mouth with the taste of copper and fills his nose with the scent of wet rust. “Shut up shutup, shuddup.” A rat snuffles at the growing pool of blood at the base of the wall. Flashes of red and blue light reveal the wasted form of the man. Thin pale skin pulled tight over sharp bones, weeping sores and abrasions cover this visible skin. Lips pulled back in a grimace, and his hissing breath whispers, “shut up, shut up, shuddup!”
“God, the smell,” Stanley coughs and pulls his collar over his nose and mouth. “Another gift from our man?”
“Looks like it Detective, same signature, same method, he even poured the bloody bits from his last victim in a circle around this one.” Collins shrugged, and sneezed into his handkerchief.
“Want me to take a look around and see if I can round up come witnesses?”
“Yeah, doubt there will be anyone; I bet parts of this wonderful piece of work are “witnesses” from the last kill.”
“Can’t hurt.” Collins shrugs, pivots and stalks out of the motel room. He takes a breath, filling his lungs with the clean scent of the street.
“That bad, sir?” An officer asks, holding back the reporters.
Collins shakes his head, runs a hand over his balding head, “You know it is. I’m too old for this shit, why can’t the crazies wait till after I retire, huh?”
The officer shrugs weakly, and Collins yanks up the yellow tape and walks under, storming past the reporters.
“Is it the Mercy Killer?” “Is this different from the other killings?” “Who is the victim?” “What are you doing to catch this murderor?”
“No comment, bug Detective Stanley when he gets his ass out, I got work to do.” The reporters fall back and then turn as once as the Detective steps out.
Collin ignores them and flicks on his flashlight. A drop of water hits him in the middle of his forehead. “Damnit just what I needed rain!”
He starts knocking on doors, “This what I get for moving out of the Big City, having to do all the legwork myself.” He grumbles, pulling the hood of his coat up he starts knocking on doors.
“Ma’am…”
“I didn’t see anything! Leave me alone!” The door slams in his face.
“Fuck.” This is what happens when there is a leak in the department and the public learns that the police think the witnesses are being slaughtered alongside the other victims.
“Shut up,” THUNK, “Shut up,” Thunk.
Collins shines his light down an alley. “What the hell,” the light flashes over a dumpster and the voice and noise get louder.
“Someone back here?” Probably some crazy bum, but he may have been a witness. God I thought moving out of the city got me away from these addicts.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up.”
Collins walks around and shines the light on a huddled figure, soaked through in the rain, knocking his head again and again on the wall.
“Hey son, you’ll hurt yourself… aw shit!” Collins jumps forward and pulls the man away from the wall, his light having caught on the bloody flesh of his forehead. “Shh, shh, it’s ok. Shit!” Collin stares into a wasted face, that should have looked older, but looked like that of a boy, even for its wasted state. Dark eyes, glinted and stared blankly into his own, the head still swaying as if hitting the wall.
“Shut up, shut up, shut up,” chanting under his breath.
“Hey, shh, shh, kid, I’ll take care of you, ok? We get whatever it is to shut up alright? You’re
going to be ok.” The dark eyes focused briefly and Collins felt as if he had been stabbed through the eyes and into his soul with a razor. They eyes unfocused and the policeman started to breathe again. “Shit, some stare you got there kid.” Juggling the flashlight and finally clipping it to his belt, he carefully pick the man up. “Oh man, you don’t way a thing kid, when was the last time you ate? I got some good food at home, and if you don’t like that stuff, my girl, my daughter
Kara can make you up something real nice.
The boy kept chanting “shut up” but Collins kept talking calmly over him. “Don’t you worry about anything you have seen kid, I’ll take care of you, get some meet on those bones and figure out what you think is so noisy that needs to shut up and all.”
“Hey Vicki, operator lady, you there?” He pressed his radio on.
“Right here, Vinny, what you got for me?” The sound of gum crackled over the radio.
“Vicki, I covered the area, damn those reporters, people are too scared to say anything at all.”
“Uh huh, what’s that noise?”
“Just static,” Collins reaches his marked car and props the man against it, holding him pressed against it as he opens the passenger door. “I’m heading home now. Picked up a stray.”
“You and your strays, one day you’ll get bitten, Vinny.”
“Yea, yeah, I’ve heard it, but rather be bitten than have something gauged out.”
The radio static is his response.
“Ok kid, I’m gonna get you in this car and we’ll go for a ride home, k? Nothing going to hurt you.”
He grabs hold of the man’s chin and tilts it up, dark glazed eyes stare up at him. “I know someone is home in here kid, all we gotta do is show you that this world ain’t that bad, huh?”
Carefully organizing the man’s limbs he buckles him in. Shuts door and paces around the car.
With a groan he settles into his own seat, “I must be getting old, you don’t weigh more than a couple sacks of potatoes and here I’m panting and groaning like some old man.”
The wasted man head sways to the side, unfocused eyes gaze in Collins’ direction.
“Yeah, I know someone was in there, see? You aren’t hitting any walls or telling the world to shut up.”
Glazed eyes stare and slowly long lashes sweep up and down as a light flickers in their depths.
Collins twists the keys in the ignition. The car jerks and starts purring, “Ah, hear that? That’s a well-tuned machine, kid. You have to take care of your partner, especially if it’s a car.” He reaches back placing his hand on the worn passenger seat, twisting back as he reverses the car out of the driveway. “Well we are on our way home now kid, you should like it. And Kara will take good care of you she will, my girl, she’s studying to be a doctor.”
The man listens to the other’s speech, not understanding, soothing the jagged edges of the voices the rant, weep and scream in his ears. He forces himself to see, lights dart past as their vehicle zips down the quiet town streets. There is a stink of other blood, death and fear. Breath hisses from between his teeth, he sways his head away from the soothing voice and attempts to see out.
But only lights and dancing shadows press against his eyes.
The voice continues to speak, the sound lulls him, and his eyes grow heavy until there is no smell, no sight, just the soothing rambling of the other.
The sounds of locks being opened caught Collins' attention just in time to turn and face Kara as she opened the door.
"Oh my god! You are soaked thro- who is that?" Kara asked after her eyes had traced her father's arm to the man he was holding up.
"Another lost puppy, found him beating his head on a brickwall. I didn't find any needle marks, but his eyes are dilated like all hell so I think he's on something. He looked so pitiful crouched in that alley... oh and he might also be a witness to a murder."
Kara blinked, "Wow, that's the most words you've strung together in the past month. Well, bring him in and we'll get you both dried up and I'll take a look at him. All my med studies have to be good for something!" She stepped onto the door step and slung the young mans arm over her shoulder and Collins' shook his head shooed her away.
"With the amount it's costing me I sure hope so. He doesn't weigh much I'll take him up to the guest room and you run the bath."
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Ramblings 2: Rivers and Barriers
I have a different viewpoint. Best probable described by an analogy... though I am still working on this...
Imagine a river. There is a boulder in the river. Slowly the river can wear down this boulder, sometimes the river rages and breaks off chunks. The river can be seen as reshaping the boulder, refining it, uncovering different facets.
Think of the river as emotion. The boulder as your SELF. I think how ever the end result is that the river will wear down the boulder until it is a pebble. Shaping the boulder into something into something else. A boulder, to a rock to a pebble to a grain of sand... scattered across miles.
You can say that this is good we aren't meant to be the same always we need to grow.
So the analogy doesn't work so great... maybe... here is a little more.
I don't believe the Self is meant to be scattered, to become fragmented and spread out. The self is supposed to be a Centre, the thing in you that defines you and is your core and that shapes everything else about you.
I think that instead of a boulder we should be a..... permeable "barrier", like a net (not meant for catching) for lack of another description.
We should let emotion run through us, revel in it, feel it, but the Self is not altered by the emotion.
The Self sees, feels, or whatever you wish to say the emotion. Understands it, appreciates it and learns from it but still remains the self...
You either bend or break.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Forests
I've been thinking about forests.
Imagine with me a forest with hundreds of varieties of trees. From centuries old to saplings. There are healthy trees with strong roots, sturdy trunks and outreaching branches. Then there are the sickly ones.
There are trees that have weak roots, rotting, hollow trunks, branches that have reached too far and forgotten balance. Trees that though old are not sick or infested.
Dying trees that are being chewed up and destroyed by parasites or sick with sores, tumors and other diseases. Some just too damaged by time.
There are trees that overshadow the healthy ones, stealing their chance of light by taking the sun and the nutrients of the earth. Ones that absorb little saplings, or destroy before they have a chance to spread root. Some that no longer seed or create something new.
Why is it that these sickly trees are being given all the light? Are being patched with band-aids instead of being pruned. Why are the saplings ripped up and more nutrients spread at the base of the tree?
Isn't it for the best that these once great trees fall? Be cut down so that their bodies so that they can decompose and nourish the land, so their branches no longer block the sun?
Why not give the saplings a chance to grow, a chance to thrive and one day, of course overshadow other saplings, that is nature. But maybe these ones would be healthy and strong. Not infested... or welcoming infestation and disease.
Why is the... farmer... trying to prolong the life of a tree that's dead and just doesn't know it yet.
Now replace trees with corporations and you'll see what I've been thinking of if you haven't already.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Culture Clash? Babies in the Cold
Perhaps people in Canada do it as well and I have just never seen it happen?
What I am talking about is the habit Finn's have of leaving babies outside in strollers or those little carrier seat things.
Are you surprised? If yes, that's good because then I am not the only one. If no, then how could I have missed it? Sure I'm not around babies all that often but I never thought that it was a common occurrence to put one's child on the deck or at the front door.
I will now just go on writing like perhaps this is only common in Finland, and perhaps other EU/Scandinavian countries.
Is this a way for the little tyke to get fresh air? To give some peace and quiet for the parents? I have noticed that they often put a baby monitor in with the kid. Do they sleep better out in the cold? And by the way yes it is cold out from -1 to -12 that I've seen these kids out.
Is it to make them adapt? Is it something that has always been done and never considered why?
I am not outraged on behalf of the baby, just puzzled as to why. I'm all for giving the kid fresh air but it seems odd since I'm so used to seeing babies bundled up and treated like the most fragile of crystal ornaments.
I figure it is probably little different than taking the baby for a walk in a stroller or going from point A to B.
But still... is it just that I'm Canadian? Raised with a western view? Unobservant that they do this in Canada and the USA as well?
I think what struck me the most was when I saw the babies in the strollers on the front door step and not an adult in sight. Frankly, if I was in the states and some areas in Canada I'd be too paranoid to do this, afraid someone might snatch my kid. By the way, no I don't have any kids.
Is it that the West is more dangerous?
I don't know... I'm going to have to ask a Native Finn about this, because all I can think is "Huh...?"