I took some pictures of the Warriors Day Parade at the Canadian National Exhibition. This year is the 97th year of the parade. It honours the men and women who served. The parade also includes visiting units.
Although I was standing by the road, I muffed quite a few shots because I was a bit indecisive how to compose them. Should I go for a close up of the face or zoom out to show uniforms and the people they were marching with?
On a more positive note, I played “snowman” with one of my students. I wasn’t aware of this version of hangman but my student was. I think this is less gruesome than hangman. Although my other student liked it when I was hung.
She wrote out 7 blanks and had 4 letters on top row and 3 letters in the bottom row. She said it was one word and no clues will be provided.
I got to this point in the game.
R E _ D
_ _ G
I knew the word was “reading”. But after I guessed E, she changed the rules. The last 3 letters would now be a make believe word. Of course I lost. But I couldn’t believe how competitive I became. I protested the change in rules. I made faces at her. I pretended to sulk. I swore revenge. I lost. But to show how unfair it was, she kept looking at all the letters I guessed and put the ones I didn’t guess up on the board. Time ran out before we could start another game.
I walked home liked a pissed off Darth Vader.
This is a follow up to my previous entry. The 3 of us met today and it was a disaster. So many angry words. No one was at their best. I think someone is trying to manipulate me too but I can’t really put my finger on it. I hate this. I also feel an anxiety attack coming soon.
I just have to move on. Tomorrow is another day. Life goes on.
The support group that I belong to for job hunting has dwindled down to 3. Everyone’s stressed and tempers are beginning to flare. An innocent email gets misinterpreted; I got dragged into some drama and it’s demoralizing. I feel like I’m stuck between these 2 people. They have debts and no income. We went from a supportive group to the last survivors on an island.
It’s tough to see how unemployment can affect people in so many ways. I don’t know how my dad dealt with it. I’m sure my mom was the rock behind him. I just hope everyone will find some strength to get through this.
/* just writing stuff; this is fiction
I stopped showing my emotions when I was 10. It happened at my birthday dinner. I was sitting at the kid’s table with my cousins and friends. I was laughing and joking with them. It was my moment to be in the spotlight and I enjoyed it. Then I was pulled up from my seat. I turned around and it was my dad. I thought that was funny and I laughed. That’s when he slapped me on my face. The sound and the force of the slap stunned me. My cheeks felt hot. The pain followed.
“Your mother has been calling you and you just sit there like a spoiled prince!”
I looked around. No one said anything. Not even my mom.
/* ok – that was kinda dark
I’m starting to write again. Sometimes it’s just a line or two. If it sounds good or interesting, I’ll put them in my idea file. I still remember my writing instructor telling us to look at the ideas or what we’ve written. “See what it’s trying to tell you.” Like everything, I need to devote time for this and schedule. Otherwise it’s not going to get done.
I attended a funeral recently. The person who passed was the mother of a casual friend. I didn’t know the mom or the family. This friend is a close friend of my sister in law and they had grown up together. There were some touching stories told of the mom who came to Canada from Scotland. She loved Canada and was proud of her Scottish heritage. By all accounts she was a strong woman who made a lot of friends, enjoyed her sherry (a large glass) each night, had an incredible memory and loved to dance.
At the conclusion of the service, the minister said when we pass, we leave something of us behind. The lives we have touched, the memories we have created, the friends we have made – essentially a life well lived. We stood, watched a Scottish bagpiper played Amazing Grace and led the casket out to the hearse.
And while I don’t mean to dive into some self pity moment, I wonder what people will say at my funeral. Whose lives have I touched? Oh well, that’s not for me to worry about now I suppose. Do you folks think about this at all?
In an attempt to save some money, I downloaded an app from my car insurance company. It monitors my driving for 100 days and 1,000 kilometers. At the end of that period, it’ll calculate if my driving habits warrant a decrease in my premiums. I get a score for each trip.
So for the past month, I’ve been driving like an angel on caffeine. Cars race past me because I don’t accelerate fast enough. Despite my efforts, my scores so far has been miserable. I’ve only had 1 perfect trip. The app penalizes me for moderate and hard acceleration, hard turns, moderate braking and hard braking. My car isn’t exactly a race car. It’s frustrating because some of the merger lanes in the highways I use are short. So I have to quickly merge into traffic. It somehow nailed me for moderate acceleration when I was caught up in a long traffic jam. I even got penalized for making a hard turn on a very quiet suburban street. I’ve been making improvements on the turns and braking. But not the moderate acceleration. It’s just frustrating.
The only good news is that no matter how bad the score is, I won’t get penalized for it.
So if you see some slowpoke in front of you driving with his imaginary driving teacher, that could be me.
