Many months ago I was at the Honest Lawyer for dinner and pool. The pizza was acceptable, the cues were bent, the tables were undersized and tattered, and as our game ended, a song hit me in the ears and knocked my soul on its ass. It was beautiful, a powerful mid-90's alternative anthem that lifted me out of my body and threw me into my early teens. As we left the bar, I was reliving simpler days and breathing new air. It was one of those moments that inexplicably changes one's life a little bit. Tenacious bitch of a thing: I didn't know what song it was.

The lyrics were muted by scraping wooden chairs and yelling drunkards and all the typical things you expect to irritate you at a bar while you're trying to salvage an epiphany on the way out the door. The chorus was the only melody I could remember. I was certain the song must be from '95 or '96, just from the sound. Not much to go on, but I spent the ensuing days at it anyway - I researched, downloaded, listened, and researched more. I introduced myself to Alice in Chains and Faith No More and Sponge and Mudhoney and Candlebox and I rediscovered Toadies, which was my first guess and turned out sonically to be the closest match.

My search was as fruitless in the end as it was hopeless in the beginning, and eventually I did give up. Hardly a loss: I'm loving Alice in Chains, and Faith No More instantly became my favourite band of all time. The moral of the story? Possibilities are enormous. When you go looking for one good thing, if you keep your eyes and your heart open, you can expect to find a few more, and who knows... maybe they'll be even better.

Two nights ago on a chill September evening I walked into a Jack Astor's and my tune was playing again. I put upon our hostess and our waiter to identify it, and in a minute or two, the news came back - it was Spacehog, the song In the Meantime, from 1996, and right at the top of YouTube's list of related videos is Possum Kingdom by Toadies, from Rubberneck, the first album I downloaded on my search. Damn, I'm good.

The real moral of the story? If you really want to find what you're looking for, stop looking, and go out for dinner. Because you can't control the world around you, but if learn to let go and take things as they come, a chubby waiter at a popular chain restaurant will give you what you've always wanted.

 

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So, I'm thinking that instead of destroying my ballot with an X through it, I'm going to destroy it by drawing the anarchy A, then adding my own comments about our current political environment. I expect this to accomplish absolutely nothing, but at least I won't have to feel bad when whoever gets in Effs this country over even more than it already has been... and there's a small chance that someone somewhere will see my ballot or read this post, and think a bit about what kind of a country drives people to such madness.

 

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...I mean, look at him.
I'm going to marry him. I've got it all planned out; we meet while making out at an awards ceremony (The Oscars? The Oscars.) and live happily ever after.

 

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the Subway had a wee incident today with a busted cable and a fire and lots of chaos.

But it was fun. I walked about 3.2km in about 25 minutes and then waited around just outside a sea of people. I was walking at a good clip, weaving in and out of crowds of people who truly looked like they haven't walked anywhere since they were small children. Once I got to Bloor there were thousands upon thousands of people in the streets, which ended up being closed to normal traffic. It was insane.

The part I just don't understand though, is that all these people stood around waiting to get on a shuttle bus for hours, and in the time they waited they could have easily walked in the general direction of their travel and eventually got on "normal" busses, or even better yet - their homes. But hey, some people still live too far away - god bless the burbs.

I think all in all, it should be a friendly reminder that you have legs and feet, and in most cases you're actually capable of using them.

So step up and use them.

 

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I decided it was probably time to review the platforms of our federal political parties. As usual, I find them all pretty repugnant. One thing to which I wanted to call attention is the Liberal "Green Shift", and the similar (but more drastic) plan suggested by the Green Party.

As a die-hard environmentalist who sincerely believes that climate change is probably the most pressing international issue of our time, I think this idea is irresponsible and sophomoric, and will ultimately injure the country as well as its own directives. Let's explore, shall we?

1) Take an economy based on long-distance transit and high energy consumption, wherein both needs are sustained primarily by burning fossil fuels, and few viable alternatives are available.
2) Without providing further alternatives, tell businesses at the root of the supply chain of products and services that they now have to choose between paying a premium on their operations, or inventing clean energy technologies out of thin air.

Now, what do you think is going to happen?
a) The environment and economy stabilize as shipping companies and provincial energy providers form a joint task force with CERN and NASA, employing the world's top physicists to end, in four years, humanity's dependence on fossil fuels, leading to a cleaner, healthier Canada and a stronger environment the world over.
b) Greedy (and largely helpless) businesses continue operating as they always have, but pass on their carbon premiums to their customers, resulting in inflation and a significant increase in the cost of living for all Canadians, and attempt to become more efficient by cutting jobs as well as emissions, creating further unemployment while simultaneously shifting the tax burden downward toward lower income earners, by replacing income taxes which favour the poor with a cost of living increase that will hurt them more than anyone else.

I deeply regret my recommendation to vote Conservative in the last election. I've been alarmed and disturbed at some of what's happened since, and am firmly entrenched in my opposition to the party under its current leadership. But now, having seen the Liberal platform, I'm sincerely afraid for what will happen to my family if they are elected. I don't see how a moderate carbon tax can lead to anything other than recession, misery, and ultimately, disillusionment and anger toward the environmental movement and a shift in thinking away from climate change and toward the question of how we are all going to continue feeding our families.

I suppose we could rely on the Senate to shoot down the carbon tax... er, sorry folks; I figured with such a grim outlook, I should inject some humour and end it on a note of levity. :P

 

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