Don't Fear the Tear!

Lemme tell ya ... I'ma changin' peeps.

I never used to cry ... cold was a word my mum used more than a few times when I pushed a hug or a kiss away as a child.

But as each year passes, I get warmer.

Now, depending on the day, time of month, or phase of the moon, I bleed emotions out of my eyes.

I hold them back instinctively ... that's what ya do.

We're taught that tears do no good but make you look weak, puffy, and blotchy.

But as each year passes, I lose that instinct.

Holding them back does nothing but ensure they come tomorrow, or next hour, or when another effin' Apple commercial hits a chord ! ‪#‎fuapple‬

So I adapt. Buy bigger tissues. I use tissues twice the size of my noggin these days.
I might bring back the hanky!!

I've even started lettin' them flow in front of my hunni.
All he says is, "aw ... my sweetie's so sensitive".

Even when I get hopeful of future successes, the emotion comes out all salty n' soggy n' wet.

Screw tradition, screw social norms, and screw hiding your tears.

If I can bring back the hanky, I can make puffy & blotchy beautiful too.

Himalayan Salt ... Switch Over Now!

This is a personal anecdote from a friend regarding the intestinal health of her child.  The process of elimination is a crucial one.  And yet too many of us suffer daily with it, myself included!  To think that integrating something as seemingly benign as rock salt from the Himalayan Mountains, could cure it would shock more than a few.

For one thing, this salt has been purifying it's chemical make up for 200 million years.  Some people claim this is the purest form of salt.  For another, it contains the very same 84 trace minerals and elements that are found in our bodies.

For generations, farmers who's constant oversight ensured a healthy flock, knew when mineral supplementation was needed because they would see the animals sucking or licking any metal they could find.  According to my friend, the author of this anecdote, her wee one seemed to crave this salt once introduced to it, even loving it on pb & j sandwiches!  This was written one year ago, and still applies today.

Here is the memory in mom's words ....

I have been anxiously awaiting to share this information with all of my friends... but I had to wait an entire two weeks just to be sure my testimonial would be completely accurate and it wasn't just some fluke.

Little Ryleigh (3 years old) has had digestion issues since birth ... and for over a year they have been awful. The doctors have run all sorts of procedures invasive and non-invasive with no luck on a diagnosis or even a clue as to what is wrong with her digestion tract. We have tried everything we could think of with no success... and Ryleigh continued to get sicker and sicker including puking everyday for 5 weeks in July/August. The doctors had her on a dose of ex-lax and miralax that was larger than an adult dose for a colonoscopy cleanse.... every laxative failed including this huge dose of the two combined. They decided it was time to send her to Seattle Children's Hospital for intestinal motility testing this past June and we have been waiting for that referral to go through and still trying everything imaginable to try and help her feel better and not be in pain everyday.

A friend of ours, sent us a message and suggested that we try to use pink Himalayan salt supplementation for her because it is packed full of minerals and things our bodies need. We decided to give it a shot starting on August 3rd. 

We salt at least one part of each and every meal with pink salt (including her cereal in the morning). Within the first 2 days Ryleigh quit puking everyday (and hasn't puked at all in 2 weeks).... and on the second day she finally (for the first time in over a year) went potty on her own without laxatives or any of the other crazy things they wanted us to try! It has been a little over two weeks now and the benefits haven't disappeared at all! She is still completely regular... everyday with NO extra yukky horrible-for-you pharmaceuticals! 

I called her nurse case manager last week and told her the good news... she had never heard of such a thing and wanted to ask her pediatrician... the pediatrician had never heard of anything like it before so she wanted me to call her GI doctor... called him and he had never heard of such a thing either.

And this my friends is why our medical system is so flawed. Through greed and control we have lost all sights of a balance between natural medicine and conventional medicine. I personally believe they work best in combination. Use pharma when natural fails.

My little girl had to experience so much pain... pain every single day in her tummy and bottom. We have spent the last year coddling to her and cuddling her constantly as she just doesn't feel good. All that suffering and the money spent trying to fix the problem.... I could have bought 20 years worth of pink Himalayan salt bottles with all that wasted money!

DON'T forget this valuable information friends... pink Himalayan salt is powerful and amazing.

‪#‎peaceloveCURE‬

So Long ... and Thanks for all the Steak!!

My buddy has been working weekends in the hoity-toitiest restaurant/hotel in our city.  I mean, it's the hilt of elitism feeding Himself Mr. Harper when he's here begging my fellow locals for donations.  It's where Seinfeld apparently ate and stayed when he was here recently to perform.  Each break would see my buddy outside checkin' out the crazy electric cars, as his employer allows free charging with a stay.  The coolest was a Tesla no less... worth a lot of zero's.

Employment here, gives you mad discounts to use at this chain in other cities giving you a plush overnight stay for under $50. And of course there was the food.  At this fancy restaurant that boasts $20,000 dinner services, everyone working eats for free.  And I'm not talking eating the mistakes. I'm talking, ordering right off the menu or yes off the special board.  We're talking steaks with red wine reductions and St. Andre's triple cream brie cheese atop prime cuts of beef seared to perfection. He habitually sampled the mashed potatoes every single shift, encouraged by the cooks because they valued his opinion.  Buddy ate some pretty amazing meals .. in between loads .. sweating his arse off.  As enjoyable as it is to rub shoulders with musicians and socialites, the dish room sucks.  It's hard work with a lot of sweating, so it's a draining shift at the best of times.

In addition to this gig, my friend just started at L*blaws stocking shelves on the overnight shift.  It's this new gig that has me writing.  Two overnights stocking shelves and my friend is ready to hand in his dish towel, and I can't say I blame him.  Stocking shelves is a unionized position along with all other positions aside from management, and it pays $1.75 more an hour with a guaranteed raise in three months, and a store discount.  I work with someone who has worked at the same job for six years and is still at minimum wage.  If there were no minimum wage laws, he'd likely still be making around $7 an hour. Being unionized adds a certain layer of security that the dish room in that hoity toity restaurant cannot ever provide.  Hourly waged employment usually means you eventually will find yourself fighting for hours.  A union assures that my friend will get as many hours as he wants along with a whole other level of protection assuring his employment rights are respected.

To his surprise, the shift was broken up into two hour work increments.  Two 15 minute paid breaks during which everyone follows the horn and goes at the same time.  One half hour unpaid break where some people leave for a burger at the nearby golden arches.  The work is physically demanding, but clean, engaging, and somewhat rewarding.  I've done similar jobs, and when you've stocked and faced an entire section of shelving, the results are instant.  It feels good.  Clean dishes felt good to him too, but they get dirty soooo quickly  :)

The point of this post is this:

In 2015, a good job is not necessarily what we thought it was and too often, rights like breaks are forgotten.  I see everywhere, small business owners wanting our compassion and patronage, while they massage labor code to suit their needs.  "Sorry, you don't get your break today because whatshername didn't show up so we're short staffed."  That shit doesn't happen everywhere, but it seems that the tables have been turned by capitalism to forget that this is a team.  The employee-employer relationship is a precarious one.  It used to be more important than it is today.  It has suffered, but nonetheless it is a team.  Or at least it should be dammit!  :)

It's shocking, but in 2015 an example of a reliable job where employment standards are followed, and appreciation is shown, is under the golden arches.  The pitfall is that you're feeding the world crap and you will forevermore smell like a french fry.  But who am I to talk?  I'm a bartender, meaning I sell people poison that tastes good.

I guess, in closing I'll just say that we (myself included) too often dismiss certain jobs seeing the grass greener over there.  But by the time you get over there, that green grass could look totally different.  I guess, don't diss it til ya try it eh?

Canadian Pride From the Grave

I had to share something that has in mere moments, made my entire day.  The upcoming Federal election in Canada has been described as a big deal.  In my opinion, it's the biggest deal around.  And in these our days of trade deals and corporate deals, that's saying a lot.

I believe this election will decide our future as a country.  I believe that if Stephen Harper is stayed another term, we will surely not recognize her when he's done.  The proud Canadian and poet Shane Koyczan who wrote that amazing poem for our Olympics titled "We Are More", refused to recite that poem this past birthday.  You can read about that here along with his reasons for not reciting his words.

But we are no longer an experiment going right.  Our Wheat Board is owned by Saudis though the farmers offered to buy it.  The fish caught down East will no longer hold the guarantee of giving work to locals, now export looms over every fisherman's head.  In fact, almost every resource we have is being shipped away to be processed elsewhere.  Our home on Native land is shrinking from something of great wonderment to mere value in digits with a dollar sign in front. Lands bursting with growth potential are now mud pits of bitumen.  Hurry hurry suck it dry before someone else does!

What has made my day is yet another affirmation that I am not alone in these worries.  I know this, but that doesn't discount the effect it has on me when I see it.   For instance, a fellow proud Canadian has passed leaving us with a eulogy filled with words that stick.  Can you imagine giving those last sacred words to a cause this big?   Now that's pride; the epitome of selflessness.

"Don't weep for me, save our country and the CBC".

Rest in peace Mary Catherine Finn (nee McCormick).  Thank you for being an example of Canadianism that will not die with you.

You can read more about Mary in the beautifully written eulogy here.  Even in her dying words it seems she leaves us with this sense of duty as Canadians.  We cannot idly sit by and allow the rules of our country be decided without us.  WE have the power to make Canada an experiment going right again.

"In lieu of donations, Catherine would want you to do everything you can to drive Stephen Harper from office, right out of the country, and into the deep blue sea if possible.  Also, she would like you to fix the CBC".

Please vote responsibly  :)

Web of Life

The peeps they hang suspended,
Inside your poisonous grasp.

Sycophants and followers,
Unaware of your weakening silk.

Your web it was no doubt a part,
Of this cause we 're soon to win.

But it's simply another off-shoot,
From the one great web of life.

Debates rage on as to whom's this was,
Herer, Hari Krishna, Jesus Christ?

The sum of the web is far greater,
Than each individual part.

There is no room for narcissism,
For ego or for fight.

Personal freedom is within our reach,
Come ALL we must UNITE!

Fun With Fungi in Colorado

This blogpost is more of a photography post featuring pics from my good friend Angie White from beautiful Colorado.

I'm not really up on my mushrooms~ edible, magic, or only edible once.  They intrigue me just the same and let's just give photo cred where credit is due:  Angie has the eye :)

If any foragers are reading this, I'd love to know what each of these Fungi are called.

Lead By Example Parliament ... Join the Paperless Revolution!

I recycle.  You recycle.  We all try to do our part. We all feel our carbon footprint like it's the boogeyman hiding under our beds.  My hunni is especially anal about the 3R's.  Considering the fact that the base components from almost all recyclables is slowly running dry~ the oil and the trees ~we all see the need to reduce what we use, reuse when we can, and of course recycle.

Unless you're in the position to represent the rest of us in one of the 336 ridings of our Country, then it seems that paper and trees and ink to colour them is growing out back of their yards.  I've actually only seen the West Block of the Canadian Parliament buildings, am I unaware?  Is the all-giving, never-ceasing tree of life growing out back and I just never knew?

A friend just brought this to my attention because she knows how much it bothers me.  It's convenient how we're able to set aside environmental protection measures when an election is nigh.  I was furious during our recent municipal election here in Kingston.  My hallways were littered with glossy placards with smiling faces and hopeful promises.  I was published in our local newspaper then regarding the absolute atrocity that was the traffic circle with it's busy collage of election signs.  If texting while at a stop light is distracting, how is reading election signs not?  My beef was more with the fact that several signs lay littered in the grassy patches along my street for weeks after the election was over.

I propose an environmental tax on all partisan flyers, brochures, and MP newspapers. Of course, that's silly, it's not like it's the actual MP is paying for the paperwork or the postage to mail it.  You and I pay for paper and printing while Canada Post is mandated to send anything an MP wants to send out for free.  I've learned that it's all up to each individual member as well.  That's interesting.  Are there any guidelines or restrictions on that?  Or are those expense rules as vague as we're hearing they are in the Senate?  That's a slippery and expensive slope if you're an over-sharer like me, you're going to break the bank in both postage and printing costs.  Not to mention environmental concerns as not everyone has gotten the 3R bug yet.  I just received this from my local MP Ted Hsu.

I've met with Ted before as a not-so-young Young Liberal, and don't doubt that he'd agree it's a bit excessive.  I think that this is a problem rooted in archaic practices that haven't had the sustainability light shone on them.  The above flyer is a season catch up on local Liberal activities.  It's 11x17, substantial stock paper, in both official languages.  All of the above is over-the-top in my opinion, and simply one small example of the over-use of resources in a time of cut-backs to vital programs all over the country.  Also, if I don't speak or read french, why am I getting it?  Don't I tick a box stating I speak English during my elections?

I'm really confused to be honest.  If the banks are going paperless, and they're all about the money, perhaps parliament could take a hint?  I mean, at TD they're actually paying YOU to go paperless.  I know this because my hunni hasn't gotten with the "credit union revolution" and he's still with them. For eight months he was offered $5 to go paperless and last week they upped it to $10.  He says he's holdin' out for a pink $50!!

But my friend has a better example than this.  I mean, at least this is local and up until the signing of C-51, I was a card-carrying Liberal.  But what if I weren't a supporter of Ted?  Would I still get the flyers and the papers and all of the flashy reminders?  I'd surely hope to be able to opt out of that.  I mean, as it is, I'm starting to dislike the colour blue, would I have to see it often in my mailbox if Alicia Gordon had won in Kingston and the Islands?

My friend lives in the riding of Stormont--Dundas--South Glengarry which is represented by Conservative MP Guy Lauzon.  If there are guidelines, it seems Guy hasn't read them.  As an aside, would that really be a valid excuse? :)  We'll see when the Duffy trial finally finishes.  Check out her interaction with Guy as a concerned constituent here.  How about this for choking over-use of ink and stock paper and yes ... postage.

The Canadian Lumber Industry remains a profitable and integral part of our economy, and yet everywhere we're told to use less.  Why not follow that same sentiment in Parliament?  At the very least, do you think you could re-think your printing practices to reflect accurate readership?  Only print what you need!  I mean, unless the garbage people possess greater voting power than the rest of us, you're wasting time and our money.

I am a citizen who sees cutbacks but really isn't effected by any, yet I feel this urgency about money and time and resources that Parliament clearly does not.  Money doesn't grow on trees!  As elected members of Parliament, you need to feel this urgency too.  Is it too much to ask that you consider waste?  Is it too much for you to consider excess spending?

It's not too much to ask, but the sacred cow is difficult to slaughter.  Maybe she should get recycled instead. :)