Making It Up As I Go Along #669

December 22nd really doesn’t feel very Christmasy when you live alone and are about to start four days of work tomorrow… also alone.  I do have frozen turkey dinner from mom’s Thanksgiving visit that can get me through supper at work on Christmas Day.  But it truly is not the same.

Hopefully the weather holds for my flights on the 27th.  And mom and dad will enjoy two Christmas’s this year.

Speaking of Christmases, it recently struck me that I’ll likely not have another St. John’s family Christmas.  If all goes well, mom and dad’s condo will be ready here for next year and, although it hasn’t been seriously discussed, it’s likely they’ll be here for Christmas going forward.  I must say, it never dawned on me last year that that may be the last time I wake in the Wedgewood Park house on Christmas Day.

I also had forgotten how early I was home last Christmas.  Facebook reminded me with that whole memories to look back on feature.  I was home by mid December, giving lots of lead up for the holidays where I could shop downtown and get the family Christmas movie viewing in well before Christmas Day.  I think this year will have some post Christmas shopping… and some gifts have already been done.  It’s an odd Christmas to be sure.

But yes, starting next year, I should have parents nearby me again for up to half of the year.  Mom and dad have a condo going up that’s little more than a five minute walk away from me.  Summers here are hotter than mom likes, and the house back home isn’t going anywhere, so it’s likely that I’ll get more home cooked meals, games of cards, and company on walks in the late fall, most of winter and spring.

Saw Rogue One yesterday.  Really well done and I enjoyed it.  The one thing I did miss was the John Williams score through the movie.  Some of the music in this one sort of sounded like his music… but in a let’s-change-it-just-enough-not-to-get-in-legal-trouble type of way.  There were scenes where they used the classic Star Wars music, but the big orchestral sound was lacking through the majority of the movie, and I was wishing it was there.

That said, I enjoyed it about on the same level as last years Star Wars movie which would put both of them comfortably in the upper ranks for me… behind only A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back.

Speaking of the movies, yesterday also marked my finding out the perfect combo of food, through the day, to bring on the worst heartburn I’ve had in quite some time.  Buttered movie popcorn for lunch… a tuna fish sandwich with celery, pickles and mayo for supper… and by midnight, not even Tums can help.  Once 3:00 AM hit, I can only lay on my back, propped up with pillows.  Anything flat or on either side and it felt like acid all through my stomach.

Anyway, with that bit of cheeriness over, digestion took care of all that… and I’m fine now.  But it wasn’t a wonderful night of sleep.  Perhaps it was as simple as the Force not being with that movie cinema butter topping.

And speaking of food… and Christmas travel… I’m right in that in between time where I’m not sure what to do about groceries.  I think I’m going to try to shoot throw to Tuesday now.  Maybe break down for a small container of orange juice.  But I hate to have a bunch of stuff in the fridge for ten days while I’m away.  It all sounds like I’m leading up to a good feed of Chinese food either tonight or tomorrow.  And give me enough leftovers to shoot me through to my departure.  

Donald Trump wants to up the American’s nuclear power.  Oh yes, nothing to worry about there.  When it comes to military power, there is nobody more insecure in this world than the Americans.  This is a nation that has a military more or less equal to the next 25 to 30 countries put together… yet still you see politicians talking about needing to make their military strong again.  In Star Wars terms, America is the only country in the world that owns a Death Star… and yet there are American politicians claiming they need a second one.

I live next to Homer Simpson.  Now… it’s almost a literal thing.  There is a Simpson’s episode where Homer’s neighbour is trying to sell her house.  She goes to Homer and asks him to throw away his old Halloween Jack-o-Laterns from years gone by (there are like five or six of them sitting on his front step, one looking more mummy like and rotten than the next).

Well my neighbour has begun the tradition.  I can’t see it now due to the snow, but underneath the wintery blanket, on his front step, you can see a mound.  That mound is Jack-o-Latern number one in what promises to be a long line of Jack-o-Laterns.

Truth be told, it was already looking pretty rotten by the time Halloween even came about.  I think he had it out on his step by Thanksgiving.  And there it remains, surrounded by a few loose boards, his daughter’s bicycle, and an old coleman camping cooler that, as best as I can tell, has called that front step home for the past three years.

My goodness, this means I’m Ned Flanders!  The guy even once borrowed something from me (a can of wasp killer) and never did give it back.  Dude also once borrowed my driveway, of all things.  He never asked to, mind you.  He just happened to see me leaving for a trip home one summer and asked how long I’ll be gone.  Three weeks must have felt like a goldmine for him… so much so that he lost track of time.

I got home one night around supper time and didn’t go to leave the house again until the next morning.  But when that morning came, I looked out to see his car sitting in the middle of my driveway, blocking my vehicle in the garage.  He didn’t even seem all that embarrassed by it when I knocked on his door to come move the thing.  Instead I think he just questioned me about my travel times… “It hasn’t been three weeks already has it?”

Anyway, that’s about it for this ramble.  Four days of work and then it’s home for eleven.  So this may be my last writing of 2016.  And despite the missing out on the actual holidays, I’m expecting a good time home with family and friends.  So it won’t be all bad to be sure.

Making It Up As I Go Along #668

I’m thinking, more and more, that America… and the rest of us… may really be in trouble with Trump.  I mean there’s been lots of alarmist talk for a while now.  And people are so regularly using alarmist jargon in much of life that you become desensitized to it.  But this may be legit.

The people Trump has selected to work with… his lack of accountability to… the conflict of interest in his businesses and holding the office of President.  Talking about not needing daily security briefings because he’s smart.  Either Mike Pence is going to be the unofficial president (meaning Americans give the presidency to a man who was never officially on the ballot to become president) or Trump is about to run a gong show.  But at least he has time for Kanye West… and at least the news media feel a Kanye/Trump photo op is real news (breaking away from other items to let us see them in the lobby of Trump Tower).  It’s a real mess.

Christmas came early.  I came home from work one day last week and there’s a package at my door.  No labels on it, other than my name, so I decide to open the box… and inside… the Atari Flashback 7 I spoke of last blog entry.  Since it wasn’t wrapped I figured I may as well go for it now.  Thanks Sissy… I’m a kid again.


Dentist Horrors

When I was a kid, I didn’t mind going to the dentist.  There was the rubber brush that spun around and tickled your teeth.  I had an impression  of my teeth done that I thought was the neatest thing.  Bubble gum tasting fluoride.  All no problem.

Even when I went to get my wisdom teeth pulled from my jaw… where they had to slice open my gums to find them down there… I wasn’t all that worried about it.

Then I went years with no dentist at all.  When my parents insurance never covered me and my work had no dental plans included, I went about a decade in a dentist free world.  And nothing went wrong.  Not a toothache.  Not a red gum.  Not even a scrap of food stuck between my teeth.

With the move to Ottawa came a new job with dental coverage included.  I figured “I may as well.” And I’ve been a regular dentist goer for almost fourteen years now.

And within those fourteen years, I’ve developed a fear.  An irrational, but very real fear… of the dentist!

The first time wasn’t a problem.  The dentist was actually shocked I’d gone so long without seeing anyone.  My teeth were great.  Even the cleaning didn’t find too much plaque buildup.  It was easy.

But as time has gone on, things have slowly crept into the land of the uncomfortable.  First there was a filling or two.  No big deal.  And they went without a hitch.

But suddenly, food was fighting back.  Twice I’ve chipped teeth while eating.  Once it was just biting into a fig bar.  Then the freezing agent used for my fillings became less effective for me.  Two fillings ago, it took almost an hour to get the job done.  He’d start work and, within five to ten minutes, the freeze would wear off.

This is where the fear began.  To have a dentist in your mouth, drilling into the hardest bones of your body… and suddenly you begin to feel it!

It got to a point where I’d be expecting pain.  Tensed for it… my body a wooden plank stretched out straight across the gentle caress of the dentist chair.  Only my head and feet touching chair… all the rest of me being stiff and raised several feet off of the cushioned faux leather.

Even a squirt of water into the freshly drilled cavernous hole would cause my arms to tense… my shoulders being able to plug my ears… while my fingers dug deep into the arm rests.

My last cavity, they gave me the heavy duty stuff.  The freeze that’s meant for root canals… that’s what it takes to fill a little cavity for me now.  And even with half my jaw being frozen for the rest of the day, I remain tensed in the chair… ready for every touch to be that one that breaks through the freeze… causing the pain to fire through my body.  As with any good horror movie… it’s the anticipation that’s the worst part.

Today, the sun is shining.  The snow in the woods across the street glimmers brightly… giving the world a wintery glow.  And yet dread lurks.  I have a dentist appointment.

It’s just a cleaning.  No drills should find my mouth today.  But even the cleanings have become torturous.  Diamond lined floss slices open my gums… sawing deep into the crevices of my teeth… down into the jawbone until it finds the empty spaces… where once my wisdom teeth lived.

At least that’s how my mind plays out the experience.  Long gone is the bubble gum fluoride.  Mocking is the ticklish rubber brush.  It just laughs at me in the knowledge of what is soon to come.  The picks and axes and spears all lined up to probe my gum line.  And the potential for a cavity to be found.  Bringing the anticipation of another appointment of dread.  Booked by pleasant, friendly smiles at the reception desk, as she wishes me a Merry Christmas while penciling me in for another appointment… with the dreaded drill of doom.  Merry Christmas indeed.  

Making It Up As I Go Along #667

Was at the movies this week and saw plenty of Star Wars stuff around the cinema.  One thing I’ve never understood with Star Wars.  Being a franchise that has capitalized on every type of money maker one could think of, why do they not re-release the old movies on big screen on a yearly basis?  I, for one, would go to see any of the Star Wars movies (with the possible exception of episode 2) any time they would be available at the cinema.  There is no better way to watch Star Wars than on big screen with surround sound.  So if, for example, episode 8 is being released a year from this coming May, then release each of the previous seven episodes… and even this Rogue 1 spinoff (so a total of eight movies) in March.  One per week for the eight weeks prior to episode 8.  Seems, to me, like easy money for Disney.

Shovelled the driveway for the first time of the year, today.  Fairly easy go of it but a sign I may have to have a word with the new neighbours.  The previous neighbours were good enough to not throw snow on my side of their driveway.  Seeing as I share my driveway with another, I only really have one side I can throw snow… and by winter’s end, that’s even getting to be too much and simply begins to slide down into the other driveway.  If those new neighbours decide to share my six foot strip of lawn as a landing spot for snow, I’m really going to run out of room fast.

Anyone who believes in that silly old “war on Christmas” has never stepped foot in my office building.  A government building at that.  Last week they used part of a day to decorate everything… and, in some cases, I literally mean everything.  There is one department that has even gift wrapped their filing cabinets.  I don’t know what normally goes in there… but it’s sealed until the New Year.  There was also a gingerbread house building competition and a Christmas party… a Christmas luncheon is this week and the social club will have draws for gifts on the last day before the majority of everyone goes home for the holidays.

All this… and yet somehow there is a group of Christians that feel their belief in Christmas is under attack.  They’ll get all bent out of shape because they’ll hear someone say “happy holidays” instead of “merry Christmas”.  Suddenly they’ll claim to be somehow persecuted… likely making said claim as they wander through a red and green decorated mall… with piped in Christmas music in the background… as they search for the best Christmas blowout deals.  

So let it be known, my office is doing a fine job in maintaining your Christmas cheer.  Christmas is not endangered.  So save your anger for something that’s much less imaginary than your War on Christmas.

How much more do I now like baseball compared to hockey?  Here we are in winter… with snow on the ground and ice forming on ponds.  With hockey games on TV virtually every night.  I can even put a game on my iPad if I want to.

Yet I’ve likely sat down to watch a grand total of three hockey games on TV… all season… since mid October.  And that isn’t saying on this day I watched this game, and on that day I watched this other one.  I mean I watched the third period of a game here… and the first ten minutes of the first period of a game there.

But right now, baseball is having its winter meetings and I find myself watching three or four hours of coverage of those meetings each day.  I’m checking twitter regularly to see what baseball rumours are coming up now.  And I’m going for walks mulling over how the Blue Jays should best spend their money.  What free agents to go after… how much money they should be willing to go for those free agents… what trades they could possibly make.

In short, I’m sad to see Edwin Encarnacion go… but it’s probably a good thing in order to let the team increase depth and diversity of players.  Signing Morales was a good financial move but I’m not thrilled with having a full time DH.  On a veteran team, I’d rather see the DH slot open for the fielders to slide in to in order to get half days off.  And I want them to get Dexter Fowler signed.  I’m only ok with no Edwin as long as Fowler is there to take his place.  The need the outfielder/switch hitting/lead off man more than the power hitting 1st baseman/DH type.  Plus I’m still quite open to Jose Bautista coming back… as a left fielder who also gets about forty games in at 1st base.  But for only one or two years on a contract… and for no more than $18 million per year.  And, that all said, I doubt Bautista would do that.  So both he and Edwin will be gone… and as long as Fowler comes in, the team may very well be all the better for it.

Man, there’s so much money in baseball.  When you talk about signing a player for less than $20 million per year as if that’s a good budget move.

Getting a few snow walks in lately.  It really helps you see what kind of wildlife is still around, despite all the construction that’s been going on.  I see rabbit tracks every day.  I see the trails and remnants of beaver handiwork.  And I’m still seeing occasional coyote tracks.  It’s a whole other world going on just outside my window.