I’m going to take a controversial position on the popular ‘hour’. I think it’s a waste of all our time. It’s a publicity stunt orchestrated by the WWF to boost their exposure and nothing else. (Since when did their mandate include policing my electricity use? How’s the work on the Panda’s going? Yeah, let’s get some of those animals you’re working on saved before you move on to what I’m doing.)
But beyond me not understanding why its a WWF thing, let me explain why I think it’s a waste of our time. It’s a waste of our time because we now treat it like a holiday. Something we do once a year for an hour and then we don’t give a damn afterwards. Earth Hour’s affect on getting people to cut their electricity use every day is nothing. So it’s an epic fail. The goal shouldn’t be to cut electrical demand for an hour, it should be to reduce demand every single day. But by sensationalizing it, you lose the message long term. Short term yeah it has an effect, but the object should be something long term.
Also, by sensationalizing this stupid idea you’ve forced people into doing it or be looked at as an asshole. I remember last year someone tweeting something along the lines of “Oh the ____ building didn’t turn off their power, those jerks. Insensitive assholes. I’ll boycott them.” and people RTed it a lot. Now I don’t know about you, but I like to do something because I want to do it and NOT because everyone else is. It’s the old “If everyone else jumps off the bridge, do you?” that your parents would bring up.
I recycle aggressively because I’ve always been told it’s a good thing to do. I compost as much as I can or put it into the Green Bin. I reuse things. We all know the motto “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. Why do we know that? Because it was something simple we could do every day. Another one I remember as a kid was “Turn off the water when you’re brushing your teeth.” They don’t market that anymore, it’s sad, they should! These campaigns were successful at changing my behaviour because they were things we could do every day!
Now people will say “Oh but global warming…” like there’s 100% infallible data on the topic. Well, if you’ve payed attention to the topic there’s a LOT of opposite view points on the matter. There was the whole “Stolen Emails” story that unveiled that the people researching the topic were faking the numbers to make it look like global warming. Last summer we barely had a summer in Toronto! It was so cold. This winter it was incredibly warm! Meanwhile places like Florida, Texas, and other normally hot places were getting pounded by snow! Explain how global warming creates colder summers and snow in traditionally hot places? You can’t. Now you can point to the past 1000 years how temperatures have gone up. If you only look at the past 1000 it does look like the world is warming incredibly fast. But now let’s look at the history of our plant just for comparison.
Now I really didn’t want this to become a Global Warming argument. I think by all accounts I’d agree we’d all be healthier if we reduced our power consumption. If we had and used more electric cars. If we stopped being so damn dependent on oil. I don’t think anyone can argue the HEALTH benefits by reducing consumption. The point I want to make is turning one hour a year into a kind of Holiday is NOT the way to create the kind of sustainable change that takes hold in our consciousness and stays with us. No, we need to instead be reminded daily to turn off the lights when you leave a room. Take a walk to the store instead of a car.
If you want to create change, have ‘earth hour’ be a weekly thing, where we flip off the power for an hour. Make it common place, make it readily on our minds and not just once a year. Reward people! The Government of Canada should offer rebates through our Hydro providers. If you can cut your electricity use from the month prior, you get a financial credit (a penny or two per kilowatt hour saved). If it goes up, nothing. The point is, we need to be working on reducing power consumption every god damned day, and not just because the World Wildlife Fund told us to, but because we WANT to.
So while you’re all sitting wherever you may be in the pitch black feeling fucking proud you turned off the lights and ‘did your part’ in the fight against climate change. I’ll proudly have the lights ON in the room I’m in, knowing that every day I do my part to reduce my consumption. Every day I make this place better by turning off the lights. By using my dimmer switch to reduce to power use. By unscrewing a couple bulbs in my bathroom (it has 4 over the sink).
Who’s the better person in the long run? One hour of no power, or 365 of reduced usage? Enjoy Earth Hour you sensationalists wagon hoppers. Talk to me when you actually want to make this a better place to live.
Earth Hour is Pointless.
You see someone.
They look familiar.
You keep looking trying to figure out if you know them.
They turn to you.
You make eye contact accidently.
Oh shit.
Slow motion takes over.
They wave at you.
Your mind continues to race trying to figure out who this is.
Instinctively you wave back.
They come towards you.
Damn! No backing out. WHO IS THIS!
No luck.
Awkward conversation, trying to be vague as possible to not show you don’t know who they are.
You tell them to get in touch, and hand over your business card.
They give you theirs. You look down to get the name… “Company X… Phone #… Website”.
DAMNIT!
God I hope Mulva (name I gave her in honor of Seinfeld), doesn’t call… what do I do then?! Hope to god she emails or adds me on Facebook instead!
Point of the story… if your name isn’t on your business card… you’re not doing it right!
I’m usually a very outspoken person. I don’t let myself get pushed around, I speak my mind, I’m not afraid to ruffle features. By all accounts, I can be called a jerk at times. It’s always spoken honestly though.
However, there’s one person who I hold my tongue with. My roommate. For four years he’s been my roommate and we’re good friends. He’s the same kind of outspoken person – actually he’s perfectly defined as a snake in sheep’s clothing. But because we live together, I find I have to hold my tongue because we live in the same place, we have to coexist. Fighting with him is impossible because he can’t take criticism without stepping it up and firing back and it’s the same way for me. He fires a shot, I shoot right back.
We got into argument today over something and I told him to fuck off, and he replied to go blog about it. So here I am haha.
So maybe he’ll read this… I don’t really care.
He can’t do simple tasks like get Lysol to clean the bathroom. Actually, the last time he CLEANED the bathroom was a year ago… it was a really good clean, but he hasn’t done SHIT since. I’ve cleaned it weekly ever since. So I tell him to get Lysol because we’re out, and I’ve been buying it for the past couple years cause he’s been in school. Now that he’s in a full time career with Loblaws, he has no excuse. Yet he still can’t do it! Windex, Paper Towel, Toilet Paper… it’s all impossible for him to buy for some reason.
This is a symptom of a larger problem.
He’s talked about moving out aggressively for the past few months, and while at first it seemed like an attack. Like he was leaving me high and dry with the rental… I’ve come to realize in the past couple weeks that it’s what needs to happen.
Deep down I’m a neat freak. It always seems like there’s dishes to be done… it’s stacked up dishes, I can’t get into. I’m used to doing my dishes once I’m done with them, but when the counter already has dishes, my initiative drops and I just add them to the stack. The living room is always needing vacuuming. He eats there. He leaves dishes there, leaves pizza boxes overnight, leaves Swiss Chalet there. This is not me. I eat in my room for this reason.
He drinks here with a couple buddies sometimes… they get drunk and they spill drinks everywhere. However he doesn’t mop the kitchen floor afterwards, even a week later it’s still there, so I take a cloth and wipe it so it’s not sticky… I’d mop it, but no Pinesol!
I want to cancel the cable, he doesn’t… and doesn’t think it’s fair if he’s responsible for the cable bill solely. Well tough, I’m making a stand and canceling it shortly.
These are all symptoms of the problem.
You need to move out. Why you and not me? Well you’ve talked about moving out. Me and the landlord are friends. You’re CONSTANTLY late with the rent. It’s close to my family.
Mr H, It’s time we live separately.
PS: I doubt he sees this, but it’s important for me to get this down on ‘paper’ before I bring it up with him. Consider this practice.
PSS: Will be looking for very clean roommate who’ll actually contribute to the house! (Rent is cheap!)
I’ve decided my dating life is out of balance. Too many silly dates. Too much drama. Too few girls worth dating. So I’ve decided as of today… I’m not going on any more dates with anymore girls for a while. It’s just not working out and I want a break.
So.. for the next 75 days (until June 6th), there will be no more dates in the traditional sense. No more dinners with girls I barely know.
I’ve been going on average a date a week, so not completely out of control, but just not getting the results I’m interested in. So if I take a step away, maybe I can come back with better/clearer vision, and a better result.
As entertaining as my terrible date stories are, this one was the final straw.
Let’s hope other aspects of my life can be as interesting to you!
Dating is never easy. I’ve typed, said, thought and believed it for years. Well, now I think you girls need to do some PR on this, because I’m beginning to think the majority of you are insane.
Last night I went out on a blind date. There was some confusion as to if she was even coming at all. (Boy do I wish that were the case.) Unfortunately, lady luck was not flirting with me that night. She shows up.
We greet each other with a hug and a friendly “Nice to meet you.” She’s apparently “heard lots of interesting things about me”, meanwhile I’ve heard nothing about her.
First impression… She’s cute. She’s wearing a bit too much makeup (I’m a fan of natural beauty). Blonde, 5’4ish, lean body, Green Eyes, very nice smile. By definition she attractive.
So we get to talking about work, school, goals, dating, movies, music… basically all the boring interview questions you have to get out of the way when you meet someone new. While this barrage of questions for each other is going on, red flags are being put up, Air Raid sirens are going off in my head, hypothetical brain gremlins are getting into bomb shelters…
These are in no particular order, but they all came up at one point in the conversation…
“Awww I love you already.”
“My parents would like you, I can tell.”
“Where do you live?”
“Ever lived with a girl?”
“I’m looking for a new roommate.”
“I think kids are more important that school or career.”
“I loved the movie All About Steve!”
“I know the perfect shirt I’ll buy for you.”
And then… the nuke was dropped.
“You should get a sperm test! Make sure they are as good as Michael Phelps. I can’t date a guy who doesn’t make sure.”
And with that, life as we know it ceased to exist. Nuclear war had destroyed the world.
Update 10:45: My friend (who’s GF set me up) sent me a text… “Hey braahh, sorry that chick was a fucking psycho. I punished [girlfriend] really hard last night for that. Hope that makes up for it.”
Good to know one of us had a good time. Thanks buddy. Lol.
What’s the craziest red flag that’s come up for you on a date?
Who came up with the term blind date? Was it when a blind person went on a date? Is there such thing as a deaf date, or a mute date? Hmm… who knows.
All I do know is I have a ‘Blind’ date tonight with the couple setting us up and I’m admittedly very nervous. It feels like going into a test I didn’t show up to class for (*Cough Spanish*).. me gusta la telephona?.. I don’t know what she likes, I don’t know if she’s tall or short or blonde or anything! How are you supposed to make a good impression when you don’t know what topics you can touch, and which you can’t?
Okay, so maybe it’s not that bad right? Maybe we get along great, we have a great conversation at dinner, we like each other, we hang out again, we kiss, we date, we have sex, we meet each others parents, we move in together, we get a dog, we get engaged, we buy a house, we get married, we have a hot passionate honeymoon, we have a kid, we get a cat, we fight, we move into a bigger house, we have another kid, we take our first kid to kindergarten, then our second, we fight more often, we seperate, we divorce… and then I’m on another date.
Or maybe we hate each other, and it’s done?
Anyway, beyond the dramatics, besides my nervousness, I’m looking forward to being able to say ‘Yes I’ve been on a blind date and it was ____’.
And there’s bound to be a blog about it tomorrow!
Wish me luck all!
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The furthest I’ve gotten on the game above is to Level 3, then I stopped because it was frustrating. But it serves as the perfect metaphor for my dating life lately. Now I’m the first to admit dating is never easy, but honestly the past month has literally been a minefield. Right when I think I’ve gotten to Level 3, BOOM I hit a mine. Then I can’t seem to get out of Level 1 for a while. But rather than speaking in minefield metaphors, let’s get into some stories!
But, for the sake of privacy of the girls involved, I’m going to change their names to celebs. They’ll obviously know which one is them based on the story, but that’s okay.
[DDET Riley Steele]
Riley is a girl I had a fast relationship with. It was based on lust and not much else. We got along great when we were fooling around, but other than that, everything was terrible. She’s recently got back in touch for amusement purposes. I’ve told her I’m not interested which is true. Her time in my life is over, but I fear her persistence may one day pay off and I’ll get back into something/nothing with her. I guess it won’t hurt me long term because it’s always been purely physical, but still, I should probably grow up.
[/DDET]
[DDET Giada De Laurentiis]
Giada was a strange case. One ‘hangout’, one date. Things were going great, we got along well, no shortage of teasing each other, even a fun (mostly sexual) game of ‘Truth or Truth’ we’d play after 11PM. She’s got lots going for her, and really was what I’d call exceptional. Then at the end of our date, I kissed her… and everything changed. She let me know another date wasn’t a good idea. Damn I must be a bad kisser! In all honesty though, peculiar case. Not what I expected.
[/DDET]
[DDET Kaley Cuoco]
Kaley is an ex who recently texted me letting me know she’s not over me. I asked her point blank “What do you want from this? What’s the point?” and she doesn’t exactly have a straight answer. I’ve never been friends with any of my exs. Once we break up, that’s usually how I leave it. It’s possible I could be her friend. It’s possible I could be interested in something more physical with her. I haven’t decided and really, until I know what she’s looking for, I’m just going sit on it. Though, ice is thin, so figure out what you want Kaley.
[/DDET]
[DDET Zoe Saldana]
Zoe… well… she’s a beautiful, Italian-Guyanese mix girl. We went out for coffee and let me know many times(like, kept bringing it up) how disappointed she was that my eyes weren’t blue. At the end she said the eyes really was a dealbreaker for her. I just laughed. (I have sexy brown eyes haha.)
[/DDET]
[DDET Jenna Elfman]
If you’ve seen my formspring, you know about Jenna. She’s a lunatic stalker that’s been trying to wedge herself back into my life after 3 dates almost a year ago. I’ve changed my online habits as a result, no live updates to Foursquare for example.
[/DDET]
[DDET Others]
There’s others I’m currently seeing that I don’t want to bring up for simple reason it’s either too new and there’s promise, or the date hasn’t come and gone yet. So we’ll see if the trend continues!
[/DDET]
The girls I’ve brought up, with exception of Jenna, are all good girls. For whatever reason it hasn’t worked with them, and that’s okay. They shouldn’t take this blog as a negative post against them because it’s not. Now call me crazy but I wouldn’t change anything. It’s a rollercoaster. However, I learned a long time ago that anything good in life normally is! Buckle up.
What’s your craziest dating experience?
The other day I sat on a bus and our driver pulled over, got out and walked to Tim Hortons just passed the Science Centre (25 Don Mills North). I contemplated pulling out my video camera and documenting another abuse. But I said to myself “Nah, I’ll give this woman a break. I’ve been critical enough of the TTC.” Boy was that a mistake.
Today, reports from all sorts of news outlets report that 40 year old TTC Driver Margaret Wilson had a 72 hour license suspension for Drinking Under the Influence. How did this happen? Police were called by passengers when the bus was being driven erratically.
The Union is going to investigate the situation.
WHAT? Really? That’s it?
Is anyone else not enraged over this? A Taxi Driver gets a DUI he gets fired. A guy working in a warehouse under the influence would get fired.
This is insanity!
Do we need people to die before there’s any kind of punishment within the TTC?
If your job is to safely transit people from one place to another, there’s NO room for alcohol. If you can’t provide a safe environment for PUBLIC TRANSIT RIDERS you have NO business being a driver.
This TTC Union is too damn powerful. We have workers sleeping on the job, taking breaks whenever they want, the head of the union is fucking and lying about it, and NOW we have a driver DRINKING?
Citizens of Toronto, I call on you to report every single offense. This is no longer an issue of ‘Public Relations’ or Customer Service. It’s apparent this is a crisis of SAFETY.
Drinking and Driving a bus… imagine this fucking bitch killed someone? Ridiculous.
=
Too often we don’t celebrate our small victories. “Oh it’s nothing really.” Why?
Life is always good if you make it that way!
See greatness in small things and everyday will be amazing.
Stop minimizing your accomplishments and start enjoying them!
You’ll be glad you did.
˙uoıʇdo ɹǝɥʇouɐ sʎɐʍןɐ s,ǝɹǝɥʇ ˙ǝʌıʇɔǝdsɹǝd ʇuǝɹǝɟɟıp ɐ ɯoɹɟ sƃuıɥʇ ʇɐ ʞooן
Life is guaranteed to throw days at you that hit highs and lows. They can seem like all four seasons in one day.
Days like this are never easy because of the range of emotions you’ll experience.
Not sure what I mean? Think getting the call you got your dream job, then you break your arm, then you meet a great girl, and then your dog dies. It throws you through highs and lows, and you come out shell shocked.
Grit your teeth, fake a smile and force yourself forward.
Keep a positive attitude and you’re guaranteed to come out better on the other side.
You are a warrior. This is just practice. Practice makes you stronger, faster and more deadly. Well, atleast till the next time four seasons come in one day.
I saw Alice in Wonderland recently, and while I didn’t think it was the best movie I’ve seen, I took one major piece from it.
The World is What You Make it!
Don’t let anyone tell you something is impossible.
Impossibilities only exist when you give up.
If you can dream it, you can make it happen.
Me… I want a Cheshire Cat!