Monday, June 26, 2006

Really Keane

Sitting here (calmly) in little Italy waiting for doors to open for the Keane concert across the street. 'Zan within shouting distance in line (what a bastard I am). Getting my pizza to go...amazing, sneaked the pizza box through...

Here now, close, real close ! But waiting, waiting...



Fab show - fast, slow, fast, lots of anthem tracks, a good 'ole singalong.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Time (or maybe not)

Unfortunately, Mick's words are not on my side...

Finding time to write some thoughts and ideas on this blog is becoming increasingly difficult. I feel guilty just typing these few words tonight when so many other things of apparent higher priority are tugging on my time. Hold on mate, you say, PJ's always talking about movies, and sports and such. Where does he find the time to watch a two hour movie ?


So maybe time isn't really the problem. I admittingly (sp) do veg if front of the boob tube
(hopefully to be a plasma one day) on a regular basis. However, for me, this is when I get to switch off, detach from the problems and pressures of the day. [Strangely enough, I seem to be drawn to the complex (and stressful) lives of fictional characters !] So I guess I scientifically do have the time to jam more into my life and write more in this blog. But in the words of Mr. Bush, it's hard. I think I have a max of say 14 hours of brain power a day. Taking an average of about 7 1/2 hours of beauty sleep, that leaves 2 1/2 hours of the day that I think I need to just shut off for a while. So watching sports, TV or movies during evenings of the work week fits very conveniently, thank you very much. BUT, what about all the other stuff that's not getting done and any additional evening work load that eats into that down time and inevitably creates some undue pressure, crankiness and drags out whatever energy I have in reserve. I make it a pretty strong rule, that I don't do work on weekends. That slips now and again, but typically I have a few evenings a week when I'm doing work work. All that other stuff, personal finances, housework...maybe that's all...so why am I complaining ? I've got lots of time to take for myself !

There are other activities that are good for the non-brainy time of the day. E.g., doing the dishes, low stress, a resulting sense of accomplishment, getting spousal points,
and you can watch TV (mind you, really mindless TV) at the same time !! Same can be said for yard work, cleaning bathrooms (with the stereo blasting of course) and talking with your wife.

Which brings us to some trouble areas. Times of the day (or weekend) when your (or maybe just my) brain is really begging for a little R&R and you're committed to a brain intensive activity, like say, making lumber calculations for the latest outdoor project or doing your taxes, or helping your so with his creative science project. Or even the situation when really important things plague and pollute your waking thoughts ! This is when things can go wrong, tempers flair, headaches settle in, hammers hit thumbs instead of nails and you get crappy night's sleep.


Not sure what to make of this analysis, is it just me ? Maybe I need to cut back,
somewhere ? Gotta get to those 989 emails in my inbox that need sorting (btw best sorting technique I've found so far, file based on sender first, then by subject).

Getting exciting

















Toronto and imported loves (and hates)

Thanks to Mom for finding this recent article in the Globe and Mail. Interesting writing on the topic of the ever-growing number of world cup inspired flags in this fine city of ours and the unfortunate nastier side of homeland baggage. Hope this link to the article "Bending over backward" works as one path I tried to the article asked me to register ( I googled "Bending over backward" and followed the link from there).

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Stop the world (for 8 hours at least)

First, apologies for the lapse on bloggage.

Second, what got me to finally get back to the personal keyboard ?..a decent movie of course.
Lord of War was recommended by my brother quite a while ago and I just watched it tonight. I can't really say it was a great movie, because of the feeling it left with me. Don't want to spoil it here, but maybe I can disguise my thoughts this way...the movie points to an complex part of how the world works today, one that I can understand exists and why it exists. Something I and most accept, but shouldn't. One that appears just to complex to unravel and make right.

So, I'm not in the cheeriest of moods (especially if I wander to thoughts on a global scale). There is something to be said for narrowing your focus and trying to deal with things on a more local level, worry about things that you can more directly effect or influence (like, let me think, your child's education !).

And I'll leave off there, because there's a few hundred things piling into my world at the moment and I know I could go on for hours tonight, but another jam packed day awaits in 6 hours.

Yes, there's lot's to talk about, sports, terrorism, time management and family - if only the world would stop for, say 8 hours now and again. Enough time to do a personal priority check up, look around and try and glimpse what's really happening to our world and of course, tell other people about your views, ideas and dreams.

Goodnight and have a pleasant tomorrow.