The Mister and me went for a drive to Caledon this morning and we stopped at a Church Bazaar where I bought a bag of childrens books for a dollar. I found some great Japanese childrens books there, and I almost bought a crystal liquor decanter for 5 bucks, but then I snapped out of my "The Young and the Restless" episode, and put it down.
On occasion I do get an attack of slav-ness.

Pay Attention, Radmila!


So, The Mister and me went to dinner at The Louisiana Bar & Grill in Mississauga tonight. It's connected to a strip mall, and while we were parking, I noticed a large group of African people. Ladies in traditional African dress and men, all standing around.
I said, "Oh, I didn't know that Mississauga had such a large African community"...
The Mister said, "Yeah, especially when they're all standing in front of Ghanaman Tropical Foods".

Duh.





So, we had a great dinner at Louisiana B&G, and the service was friendly and good.
The Mister and me were just having an after dinner chat, when a young frustrated busboy who looked like he was about 15,(pictured here)leaned up against the iron gate by our table and let out a big sigh.

I said, "Are you ok?" and busboy proceeded to spill his guts.
"No. I've been working by myself..blah blah blah, 2 large birthday parties blah blah blah, the other guy isn't doing anything, blah blah blah"
I said, "You should ask for a raise"
"I can't." says Bussy.
"Why not?" ask I.
"Because it's my first night" says Bussy.
The Mister lets out a loud guffaw.

The other busboy is running around like Speedy Gonzalez, wiping tables, setting them, putting menus away.


Bussy starts again with the kvetching, "and that other busboy isn't doing anything!"
I say, "You mean the guy who's running around?"

The Mister lets out another loud laugh.

Bussy turns his back on us and puts his head on this arms while leaning on the gate. I take out my camera phone and take a picture of his back and send it to our home e-mail.
Bussy doesn't move.
I then take my camera out, and take a picture of him, flash and everything and he doesn't move.

The Mister asks, "How long do you think it's going to take until he's fired?"
"As soon as his Boss catches him complaining to customers" says I.

Let's have a drink!

My cousins both called me to give me the details of how things went for Uja today.
My cousin Deja and Tetka Ljuba got the scare of their lives for about two minutes when a code blue was called to Uja's room.
While Deja was telling me, her voice shaking with tears, mine started to flow too.
But, she had no idea that more than one procedure was going on at the same time, and it wasn't Uja.

Life changes from here on in.
Good bye roast pork on Sunday. Hello steamed vegetables and fish.
I'll pay cash money to see Uja with a Yoga mat.

Operation Milinkov Avoidance aborted.

Either way, Uja's procedure went well and he's going home tomorrow.

All is right with the world again.

Mama Sleep Talks

Mama goes to bed early, and gets up really early.
With the chickens, as they say.
She complains that I don't call her enough, but the reality is that I often don't get home until after 9:00pm, and she's in bed by then.
So, the other day I got home around 9:00pm and picked up a message from her. I settled myself in, and by that time it was 9:30pm...but I decided to give Mama a call anyway.
This is how it went:

Me: "Hi Ma. It's me."
Ma: "Eh?"
Me: "Did I wake you up?"
Ma: "Ya, bah eet's ok."
Me: "How are you doing?"
Ma: "Vat are yu doing mit dos shirts?"
Me: "What shirts?"
Ma: "Maaaaaah, da vans in da closet. Yu no gonna iron dem?"
Me: "Ok, Ma, You're sleeping...I'll call you tomorrow."
Ma: "Ver yu goink?"
Me: "I'm going to iron the shirts in the closet"
Ma: "Ok. Good. Don be so lazy."

Click.

Photo: Daily Blague

It's a three ring circus.

I'd like to know the point of photos like the one I've posted.
Picture after picture of women in burkas?
Ok.
We get it. They're moslem.

Justice of the Peace Keith Currie has imposed a blanket publication ban on the legal proceedings.
When is that publication ban starting?

This forum for circus like behaviour needs to be cut short by our media.

Janet Jackson Diet Secrets.
Janet lost upwards of 40lbs.

I'll tell you the real secret of how she lost the weight so quickly:

~Money
~A personal Chef
~A personal Trainer
~All day to take working out as a job.
~No kids, housekeeping, commuting, or cooking.

That's the "secret".

And another thing:

I am not afraid.ca absolutely sweats of "I'm scared shitless".
If you're not afraid, you don't need to put up a website telling people you're not afraid.
Duh.
I hate that self-affirming shit.

"I am fun to be with. Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and doggone it, people like me".

At least Stuart Smalley was amusing.

Mama's Vorry

In conversation with Mama, I commented on Montenegro separating from Serbia.

"Eh," She said, "Dey deedn't vant to stai vetch for a long time...leddem go...alveys complainink dey vanted to go...so naou dey gone. Don hev to lissen about haou dey vanna go no more."

Then, I said..."Next, Vojvodina..."

"Shaddap. Det's no fanny."

*Photo: Visit Vojvodina

Sunday Click Around

I love vintage photos, and Vintage Images has some nice ones from the early part of the 1900's. The one of Mata Hari is pretty racy, huh?
Here's another one from art-e-zine. It starts with some wedding photos and moves on to family photos.
I can never get enough of looking at vintage photos of strangers.
I look at the photo, and build a story in my head around the people in the picture using little things in the background as clues, the way the subjects are dressed, their ages, what their connections may be based on how they look together...I can map out a whole life and history in my head.

Can we agree that hair in the 1960's and early 1970's was high-maintenance and hideous?
Vintage Wedding Looks shows us what kickstarted the hippie movement or maybe even the women's movement! Let's face it, if I had to do that shit to myself, I'd revolt too!


Redirecting... is a cute little animated battle within a Word document. Very clever.

I'm not sure why I have a fascination with creepy old insane asylums..but I do.
Dark Passage focuses on abandoned hospitals. Creepy, but also interesting. I can't explain it...the photos just seem to scream "If these walls could talk"...

Hours of Darkness hosts photographs of modern ruins.

Did you know that there is an impending shortage of Sword Swallowers?
There are less than 50 left in the WHOLE world!
I KNOW!
This generation just can't appreciate the importance of swallowing a 12" dagger, or set of 11+ swords for the entertainment of the circus crowd.
Frankly, I'm surprised that people still go to the circus.
I'm not talking about the Cirque du Soleil Circus. I mean the three ring, Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey like circus where the clowns are innocently creepy, and they ride animals around.
I haven't seen any of the Cirque productions, so I can't say how they compare to the traditional circus, but the snippets I've seen show a darker more adult oriented circus.
I remember wanting to go to the circus when I was a kid, but my mother would never take me.
I ended up going with a grade one class I was assisting in when I was still in school.
I remember being disgusted. I didn't like the circus at all. I felt sorry for the animals, and I couldn't understand why anyone would want to take their children to this spectacle of creepiness. I haven't been to the circus since.

This Prejudice gif shows you the stereotypical assumptions made about the people of certain countries. I see that Yugoslavs/Serbs/Croats/Bosnians don't exist on this map. Not enough known about them by the rest of the world to make assumptions I suppose.

Things you didn't know about your body is an interesting little blurb on men's health.
With the opening advice:

Guzzle -- don't sip -- water: Downing big gulps cues your body to get it into the system faster.

I thought it was a joke site, but as I continued to read, I realized that there was some interesting advice there.

That's all folks...

Salaam Namaste!

I was at my Indian Flute Salon today, and Kami one of the ladies there knows of my love for Bollywood movies, and always asks what movie I saw last.
I just happened to watch Salaam Namaste last night with The Mister, and Kami and me caught up on chatting since she was away for two weeks helping with her sister-in-laws wedding... talked about the movie...which is drama at a level that only Indian movies can deliver.
Love, misunderstandings, anger, love again, moral dilemmas, comedy...and dancing!

How can you not love it?

But, now I have this song stuck in my head:

Kids are Cute

Kid: "I'm going to Uncle Pookos for two weeks with My mom and dad".

Me: "Oh, that's nice. Does Uncle Pookos live far away?"

Kid: "UNCLE POOOOOKKKKOOOOOS! Not Uncle Pookos..."

Me: "Uncle Pookos"

Repeat 3 or 4 times until the light comes on, and I realize that she's saying:

Acapulco

I Have Anger Management Issues

I have a girlfriend who loves grocery shopping.
Personally, it's one of my least favourite things to do.
However, I'm good at it.
I'm good at gauging prices and getting a good deal.
This is why on Tuesday mornings, I go grocery shopping for my agency, rather than ordering from a supplier. We're non profit, so every penny counts.

The neighbourhood I work in is "up and coming", and is currently in transition.
So, there is an interesting brew of people in the community.
From shaking crackheads, mini thugs, to blue collar immigrant worker, to refugee, to outpatients from the mental health centre, to residents of half-way houses... to the newest addition of Yuppie families who are buying up the old Victorian homes and renovating them.

So, this morning...there I was touring around the large neighbourhood grocery store when I came across the irritated Yuppie. She was in a hurry, and it seemed that every corner I turned, there she was...in my way.
Or from her perspective, there I was in HER way.
Which is not a big deal, I really didn't care that she seemed to be everywhere I was, reaching for the same items...but it appeared to bother her a lot.

We're not the only agency that shops at this particular grocery store.
There is a residence for the mentally challenged close by and they often shop on Tuesday mornings as well.

The adults and their caregivers walk up and down the isles choosing their items and they put boxes of cookies and juice boxes onto the laps of their charges who are in wheelchairs.
There is much laughing, and enjoyment going on while they shop, and they're a large group...often taking up a whole isle.
I turned the corner to see them all gathered in the ice cream section.
What a sight they were!
They're a joy to watch.
They hugged each other spontaneously, and we can only wish that holding a brand of cookies or a box of freezies could bring us such happiness.
I smiled at the sight of them, and a few of them waved and grinned at me with delight.
...and then angry Yuppie pulled around behind me.

She made an audible sound of huffiness...kind of like "Ughhhh!"...and people...I really felt like grabbing her by her highlighed ponytail, making her spill the contents of her Starbucks all over her khakis and sketchers.

Is that wrong?

Sunday Click Around

While surfing around, I ran across Soviet Posters and lo and behold! There was the poster I photographed in Quebec City when The Mister and me visited The Concours Vie de tsar exhibit. While we're on Russian things and I was talking about tattoos the other day, here's a site that will show you the intricate work of Russian inmates.

Here's an interesting little thing. It was a conscious effort to say what the colour actually was, rather than read the word. A fight between the right and left brain.

The Face of Tomorrow is a concept for a series of photographs that addresses the effects of globalization on identity. Kind of interesting, as a concept. It looks like the face of tomorrow may be more Asian than anything else. Of course that would be dependant upon living in a large city, because I'm pretty sure that the face of tomorrow in Meaford, Ontario looks much like it does today.

If you've been perplexed by the dilemma of how to cut a pineapple, your problem is finally solved!
I didn't realize that there were enough people out there that couldn't figure it out, and that it warranted an entire website and domain.

What kind of bloggers are we?

I'll be testing out this recipe tonight.
I often look for recipes by way of what I need to use before it expires.
I currently have 3 Asian eggplants that must be used soon. I'll be substituting the fennel with Bok Choy (because that's what I have onhand, and the akatogarashi with scotch bonnet for the same reason)
Years ago, I used to stick to recipe ingredients and measurements to the letter, but I realized that they were sometimes better when I trusted my own instincts and logic.
I'll let you know how it turns out.

This might be old news, but I found 5ives an amusing site to click though.

Cosmotions are time lapse photo animations of the real cosmos. Pretty amazing.

That's all for now folks...

Angry Children

I read this over at Cynical-C

NAPLES, Fla. -- A 6-year-old special education student who kicked a Naples teacher's aide and spent several hous in juvenile jail is facing felony battery charges.

Speaking as someone who has been attacked and bruised by angry children over the years, I'm thinkin': It's about time.

Sound harsh?
I know a lot of people take the tack that charging the child is excessive.

Perhaps, but, I'll bet cash money that this has happened more than once with this child.
Over the years, while dealing with students who have had behaviour and anger issues, I have been kicked, punched, slapped, spit at, called names...and yes, when you go into a field that deals front line with children who have special needs, you know there's a possibility of getting hurt on occasion.
The problem is, there comes a time when enough is enough.

Funding in the area of behavioural problems is pretty tight fisted.
Often children with huge anger issues are "housed" with agencies who are not properly trained to deal with the severity of some children's problems.
they're "housed" while they wait on waiting lists for agencies who do have trained staff to deal with them.
Waiting lists for agencies that very well may never have room for that child.
You deal with parents who are in denial about the asperity of their child's behaviour.

So, while people can jump up and say "OH MY GOD!! The child is only 6 YEARS OLD!"
...I'm here to tell you that there are 6 year olds out there who outweigh me (and some of you).
It's also something that is easy to say from a job that doesn't require you to leave your desk very often.

It's one of the reasons I worked so hard to get off the front line.
I often asked myself years ago, how long I would physically be able to do it...

But then, sometimes...like this Teachers Aid, you find a loophole:

"It's possible she will enter a program that includes counseling. If she completes the program successfully the charges could be dropped".

A means to an end, people...a means to an end.

"The rudeness that hath appear’d in me have I learn’d from my entertainment. What I am, and what I would, are as secret as maidenhead; to your ears, divinity; to any other’s, profanation."



"When I ain't rappin' no more, I want to open up an ice cream parlor and call myself Scoop Dogg".



I got a great laugh from Stuff on My Cat.com...and I needed it today.

Will You Still Need Me, When I'm 64...

On Sunday I saw a girl with a gigantic tattoo on her arm that said "shorty".
I wonder how that will look 30 years from now.

Reading "shorty" then, will be like reading "Groovy" or "Dig it" on a woman in her 60's now.

Why?

I don't get it.

The Better Way is to Drive.

Every time I consider public transportation as a possible option...and I was thinking about it again with all the talk about amalgamating transit systems.
It has crossed my mind again as a "maybe", once or twice a week.
Either way, every time I consider it, something like this happens.

Now, I'm not adverse to people wanting to better their pay, and work conditions legally. When their contract is up...but this illegal strike shit is just thuggery.
The partiality for these tactics are the reason that I'm not fond of unions anymore.

I listened to one maintenance worker this morning talking about being attacked on the job...I was like WTF? Wasn't your issue supposed to be hours and conditions of work?
Who's attacking you, dude?
Are there tunnel thugs lurking around corners waiting for maintenance workers?
I thought that was an Operator issue, and your union boss claims that this wildcat strike has nothing to do with the Operators of the vehicles... the union claiming that they were locked out is just ludicrous.

Lie, lie, union lie.

Last week that Kinnear character was broadcasting that his members were not going to challenge riders if they refused to pay...way to put your members in a dangerous position, and to adversely affect a transit system that is already having financial challenges with decreased ridership, and assholes who sneak onto or confront drivers over fares.

Good job Kinnear.
You're really endearing your members to the general public.
I don't even take the transit and I'm pissed about it.
Most of us can only wish to have your members job security, and pay.
I don't say that Operators aren't worth it, because you certainly couldn't pay me enough to operate a bus or streetcar in certain neighbourhoods of this city...but for the education requirement, they're paid pretty damn well.
Unfortunately, it comes with the possibility of harm, as any job dealing directly with the public does.

Cab Drivers, Pizza Delivery guys, Convenience Store Clerks....all at risk because they work closely with the public...none of which enjoy the benefits or pay rate of the TTC worker.

This is not the work of the members...this is the glut of their union.
Sometimes you just have to create issues to justify your existence.
But, if your going to do that Mr. Kinnear...get your lies straight.

Photo: via Strangebreed.ca

"I said Welcome to Detroit City
Every place, everywhere we go
Man we deep everywhere we roll
Ask around and they all know Tricky
That's what's good man they all say Tricky"
~Eminem~

The Mister and me did a road trip to Windsor and Detroit.
Sorry, I couldn't find a song that had Windsor in it's lyrics except for that one cool song where Johnny Cash spits out every city in North America to music.

Anyhow, we almost didn't cross the border because The Mister didn't want to deal with the Customs Officers, and their home security questions.
But, then decided "oh what the hell"...
This time the Customs Officer didn't even lean forward. He seemed more interested in why we would drive such a long way for such a short time.
"You drove how far, to do what?"
And then The Mister launched into the whole "We do road trips. It's what we like to do" schtick. C.O. raised an eyebrow above his sunglasses twice while listening, and then waved us through without looking at the passports The Mister had at the ready, or asking for any I.D.

We parked and passed this cute old guy to the right playing a Hungarian sounding waltz.

We had lunch at the Tunnel BBQ, which is apparently one of the oldest restaurants in downtown Windsor.
There's a whole story about Helen and Harry Racovitis (to your left). He was Greek, she was Lebanese...it was love...and in 1942 they opened a restaurant steps away from the Detroit/Windsor border.



We drove by this couple who looked like they were trying to cross the street. I snapped the shot, and then The Mister said "Look!" and I saw in the rearview that they were standing in the middle of the road in a tango pose kiss. Did I get a picture of that?
...erhm...no.

And then The Mister agreed to stop into The Guardian Building. I originally saw shots of this building on dETROITFUNK, and finally had the opportunity to see the building in its splendor for myself.
It really is impressive.





Detroit has certainly cleaned up it's act since the last time we were there.
The old buildings downtown, many of which look like they were built at the turn of the century to the 1940's are beautiful, now that they've been cleaned up and restored.
Unlike Toronto, which just loves to destroy historical buildings and replace them with glass condo like structures, Detroit seems to be embracing it's former glory.
It's very nice.

No trouble getting back...the Detroit/Windsor border seemed somewhat more relaxed than Buffalo/Niagara..or maybe it was just all the Memorial Day festivities that had them in a convivial mood.

Back now.
Work tomorrow.
*sigh*

One Step Closer to Prince

I read that Prince was on American Idol last night!
Then I read:

"As previously reported, Prince has two Las Vegas shows lined up for tomorrow and Sunday (May 27 and May 28). Billed as an evening with Prince and special guest Tamar Davis, The Empire Ballroom in Las Vegas has temporarily re-named the intimate hall The 3121 Club (1,500 seats) in honor of the Minneapolis star."

here.

Next stop: CASINO-RAMA!!!!

When a grown man does his hair like an elementary schoolgirl, isn't he just begging you to fuck with him, so that he can kick the shit out of you?

Proof that Liberace might have been from Bosnia Herzegovina