Happy 4th of July to all my American friends out there!  :-) 

Ever have one of those days where you seem to be sharing your thoughts with everyone around you?  I swear I did this with at least 3 coworkers today...  We'd be having a conversation and I would have a thought... Not a moment later, they were saying exactly what I had been thinking.  It was odd to say the least... 

This is cute... Well, kinda... hehe

It was gay pride week last week, here in Toronto.  I suppose I should have posted this poem.  I originally wrote it for a friend in college, and while it's certainly appropriate for that occasion, it would also fit any other number of "differences" a person may feel they have. 

Free

 

People all around me

Yet I feel so alone

I am different from these people

All my life I have known

 

I have tried to fit in

But it just wasn’t me

Keeping people at a distance

I couldn’t let them see

 

All my life I have been saddened

By the differences in me

Why couldn’t I be normal

At least then I could be free

 

I can’t do this anymore

I have to let it out

I only wish to be accepted

But I am filled with doubt

 

How many friends would leave me

If they but only knew

I can see their shocked reactions

I just don’t know what to do

 

I cannot keep this secret

Without causing me great pain

If I could just be open

Oh the freedom I would gain

 

I know it won’t be easy

I hear what people say

I know it’s going to hurt

When they treat me that way

 

But I have found some friends

Who know the way I feel

They will stand beside me

And help the wounds to heal

 

Slowly, the door will open

And I will step outside

Finally free to be my self

No longer will I hide

 

 

© 2000  Shadow Whysper

 Written by the man who was my mentor...

Friendship Turned Cold

I am glad his site remains intact, there are days when I just need his words of wisdom...

Well, it was a great day for the African Lion Safari... We had just enough time to do all the things we wanted to and weather was great.  We went to Mom's for dinner and I managed to keep Dell awake until we came back home...

I think he stayed up until Canadian Idol started and then he was out... hehe  :-)  I haven't bothered to wake him... I think he'll wake up in the middle of the night and realize I went off to bed... Might be a bit odd, him sleeping in his clothes, but he'll just have to deal with that.  ;-)

Tomorrow we head off to the trailer for a couple days... Coming back Thursday sometime... Friday is his last day here and I think we're going to take it easy and rent a few flicks we want to see... Or, maybe I should say flicks that I want to see... :-)  

Saturday we won't have much time... I told mom we'd go with her to take the kitten in for its last set of vaccines. We'll have a bit of time afterwards to get a snack or something but he's got to be at the airport shortly after noon so...

Then I'll have Sun to "recover" from my holiday and prepare myself for another 6 day week at work... Time always goes too fast when you're actually enjoying it... *sigh*

I may post a few pics later... Still have to go through them and see what turned out...

Me thinks Dell is a tad too used to sleeping in the afternoons... (Or maybe I'm just boring??)  He's been "napping" since about 5pm...  He did the same yesterday, but I had thought it was because of the flight and the meds he took for motion sickness...  Yes, the warmth in the apt does tend to make people a bit drowsy, but...

I've been amusing myself with online stuff and tv shows... Tomorrow he won't get off so easy... We'll be heading out to the African Lion Safari for the day and then over to mom's for dinner...  No nap times in there anywhere... ;-)

Unfortunately, weather is not supposed to be good (except for tomorrow), so we won't be doing a lot of outdoor things... I'm hoping the weather man is wrong and we'll have a couple nice days at the trailer Wed/Thurs... We'll have to see... So far, it doesn't feel like a vacation to me.  Sun/Mon would be my normal days off, having worked Sat, so it hasn't really sunk in...

I'm about ready for a nap here myself...  That, or food... ;-)
 

Well, Dell arrives tomorrow for a week long visit.  Of course, I worked 6 days this week and tend to be rather lazy after work, so I still have pretty much my whole apartment to clean.  I know, I know, it's small, but it's also 25 C in here... The warmth and the overcast sky just makes me want to curl up on the futon and watch tv. Not to mention I still need to make myself something to eat for dinner...

I'm so good at procrastinating, I'm already debating to myself how much I could do in the morning before going to pick him up at the airport...  I'm glad we've known each other for so long that I really don't care if my place is somewhat messy.  I'll do my usually basic clean up, but it's certainly going to have a 'lived in' look. To borrow a friend's saying... I 'can't be arsed' to do a major cleaning and make the place more "showy".  Besides, nothing I do is going to get rid of all the cat hair... (Maybe he shouldn't have said he was fine as long as he had a place to sleep and a pathway to get there... hehe)

Ah well, I think I'll go sort out some food and maybe get the kitchen cleaned at the same time...  I think I'll fix the futon tonight as well and leave the vacuuming until tomorrow...  It could be worse...  ;-)

"Ontario passes ban on smoking in cars with kids under 16"

Seriously, how exactly do they expect to enforce this ban?  Is it going to be random checks like the "RIDE" program? Are they going to hide out at corners and hope to spot a smoker and pull them over on the side of the road?  Or maybe they'll hide in parking lots and try to catch people with kids exiting the car with a smoke in hand already lit... 

Do they actually think most smokers will just not smoke in their cars anymore after finding out about the ban? I dunno... My mom doesn't usually smoke in the car and I don't allow anyone to smoke in mine.  I just hate the smell.  I grew up with it, but it really bothers me now. 

I understand the health concerns and it's interesting to see the government actually starting to do something about it. However, in light of the documentary I watched last night, it doesn't seem all that 'life changing'.  Sure, it may prevent health problems and also perhaps discourage kids from smoking, as they now do not allow cigarettes to be displayed in stores here. But, if we kill off all the sharks and the ocean becomes totally unbalanced, what are we going to do to our world?  They say 70% of the oxygen we breathe comes from the oceans. If the underwater creatures are not kept in balance, what happens then?

It seems like removing a sliver but not treating the underlying infection that could prove deadly...

 "Soda pop machines kill more people than sharks do" -- taken from the "Sharkwater" documentary.

They truly are amazing creatures... I would still rather swim with dolphins than sharks though... Just a personal preference.  :-) 
  
ETA:  The shark fin industry is extremely depressing and disgusting.  Let's hope the shark population can survive the greed and stupidity of man... 

It makes me wish I were not part of this human race... That people can so easily destroy one of the oldest creatures on this Earth and care nothing about it, except for the amount of profit they can make while doing so, is very disheartening.  Even the intelligent people should realize that there needs to be a balance. Sharks are not quick to reproduce.  If they keep killing as they do, they are going to destroy what they consider to be their livelihood.  Once all the sharks are gone, what are they going to choose to kill next?  Or will we have damaged our planet enough to wipe ourselves out by then?

Well, the kitten seems to be settling in alright.  Tabitha still isn't sure about her though, she watches her like a hawk and growls if she gets too close.  Mom has named her "Missy" though I have a feeling I'll be calling her "Little Miss" instead... hehe

She looks so small compared to my boys... Mind you, she is only 3 months old... 

      

She's a sweetie, very affectionate, always purring and kneading when you pick her up...  She also wants to climb the kitchen curtains and play with plants... She'll learn.  :-)
 

I don't know what it was today, I don't tend to be overly superstitious, but today certainly brought out the "strange"... We knew we were going to be slightly short staffed today so one of the girls that normally doesn't work Fridays came in to help out for a bit. Good thing she did... The morning started okay, though our schedule was basically fully booked so we knew we would be hopping if all the appts showed up.  Well, I don't remember a lot of the details from early on, I worked upstairs as usual and did some lab work, etc.  Then at about 11am I got pulled downstairs to help out with surgery which ended up going on a lot longer than we would have liked. 

Myself and a few of the other girls worked through our normal lunch hours, some of us didn't even bother to take a lunch.  I had to take some time to eat - if I don't, I get hunger headaches and I really wasn't in the mood to have one today.  So, I took half a lunch at about 2pm.  We had a bunch of odd things happen today... All our (least) favourite clients had appts, and one of our clients was sent back to us from where we referred them because the pet ended up being diabetic and they wanted a glucose curve done.  As I said before, we were booked solid and had no time for this, as it is, we had to squeeze them in to discuss the case and check a blood sugar.  However, as they didn't get to the clinic 'til about lunch time, we did not have enough time to do a curve. We need the animal there first thing in the morning so we can keep it for 8 hours to get an accurate curve.  We also had a bunch of cats in for urine collection and they were some stubborn about the whole process.  *shakes head*

Needless to say, I was on my feet much of the day, people stayed late and the day whipped by with us all feeling as though we were chickens running around with our heads cut off.  I, for one, am grateful that I'm not working tomorrow.  I have other things I need to do, but at least I can get my mind off work for awhile...

Tonight will be an early one for me...
 

 

. 

I go journal hopping, and find interesting things...

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-picks/lack-of-sympathy/#clip57806

I just don't get it... What the hell are people thinking when they see this happen and do absolutely nothing about it?? That poor man... Put yourself in his position and see how helpless you feel when you're just completely ignored. I don't know how the driver can just drive away, I don't know how they can sleep at night knowing what they've done to another human being. I don't know how people can just walk or drive by and do nothing... Nobody went to check the man, nobody grabbed their cell phone to call 911... What is our world coming to when everyone just ignores things like this or figures someone else will do something about it??

That was just, well, bizarre... Perhaps I shouldn't have watched Hide and Seek so close to bedtime. Really though, I stayed up an extra hour, watching something after so that it wouldn't be the last thing on my mind. Besides, the dream was more a haunting, which is not really what the movie portrayed.

In the dream, I woke up to a strange noise and realized it was my curtains being pulled this way and that. My touch lamp was also floating sideways in the air beside my bed. When I tried to touch it to turn it on, it didn't work. My alarm clock was totally blank as well, as if it had been unplugged. It was quite a freaky feeling. To top it off, I heard someone (or some thing) whispering "You can hear me..."

Needless to say, when I actually did manage to open my eyes, all was quiet and normal. The cat even came in to comfort me... *shakes head* It's been quite awhile since I've had such a strange dream... It seemed so real...

Here we go again...

More things on my mind...

More questions...

Poll #1194270 Between the Sexes...
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

Is it possible to have friends of the opposite sex?

Is it possible to remain friends with an ex?

If your new partner said they didn't want you to talk with your ex, you would...

In relationships, are there such a thing as second chances?