It could have been much worse

Okay, so waking up to Stephen Harper's smiling face isn't exactly my idea of a great way to start the day.

But hey, I can live with it and hope that the next couple of years gives Canada a really good look at what Reform/Conservatism/Republicanism could do for this country (as in DESTROY it). Sure, there's always the possibility that Mr. Grumpypants is going to become Mr. Happyface until he gets his majority and then the moral majority will settle in forever. But we do have to hang to every shred of hope we can find in the political landscape, at least for the time being.

Myself, I don't see how we could have returned the Liberals for yet another dysfunctional minority government. And we really didn't have anybody else waiting in the wings to replace them, did we? (I refuse to call them Conservatives. They're still the Reform Party.)

And, on the really positive side, it is wonderful to see all the little orange markers on the Globe and Mail website showing where the NDP got in -- even though the popular vote didn't increase for the NDP, the number of seats did.

And yay Hamilton for going orange again. It was especially fine to see labour guy Wayne Marston stomp Tony Valeri into the industrial dirt of Hamilton East. (My bets are that Sheila Copps was in there somewhere helping Marston. after what Valeri did to her, I hope she got her revenge). And my riding in Windsor West returned a solid NDP candidate, as well as Joe Comartin in Windsor/Tecumseh(I especially like Joe because he let me sublet his apartment in Ottawa a few years back).

All in all, a very good day. I spent election day being a Deputy Returning Officer for a poll in Windsor West that most had people in it from "The Projects" (aka, social assistance housing), which is not usually known for high voter turnout. Our poll, poll 56, had one of the highest voter turnouts in the area. We had a lot of new voter registrations, especially from new Canadians. This is a very good thing.

I also got to know the place where I'm living a lot better. My poll clerk, Carol, knows a lot of people from the projects because she lives over by Glengarry, which is one of the other project zones in Windsor. And a lot of her former neighbours now live in our poll.

I found out a lot of interesting stuff about our neighbourhood, like:

- there are about 160 prisoners in the Windsor jail just down the road from where I live
- you don't want to live on Peter Street (I used to live there)
- there's still quite a bit of racism out there, most of it aimed at Muslims - there were more than a few comments bandied about that were pretty tough to listen to (still don't know how to respond to racist comments -- sometimes I challenge them and other times I just shut up and say what's the point of saying anything?)
- people just want to provide for their families and have a good life. None of us are different from each other in that regards. Where we differ is our various versions of what that means.
- this neighbourhood is very much like the Stinson neighbourhood in Hamilton, from whence I just moved. And that I would rather live in a mixed income and lifestyle neighbourhood with all its complexities, than a place where everybody tries to be the same as the next person.

A fascinating day. It's going to be a fascinating couple of years. Or six months. Or four years. However this silly political situation plays out.

What is it about cars?

Goodbye, faithful friend 


The salvage company is coming to take away my car today.

Sigh ... funny how attached we get to our cars. We've gone a lot of miles together, often just the car and I. From Ottawa to Kentucky. And back again. And yet another time from Ottawa to Kentucky. Many more times after that. Down to Nova Scotia this summer.

We've had a lot of good times. So I was really surprised when all it took was a not-very-violent collision at a slow speed in a parking lot to do her in. I figured it would only be a couple thousand bucks damage.

I sure don't know much about car repairs .. the bill would have been over $6000. So, the insurance company says, we'll write you a cheque. Got to admit the settlement amount was more than I expected. And Barry is the real winner here -- my original plan (before the accident) to pay him for half and keep the car. Only I told him I wasn't going to give him a penny more than half of $4000. So he's got a whole lot of reasons to be happy right now. And I could have told him that the insurance company only gave me $4500. But I didn't.

I am not going to get another car right away. I can go without one for the next few months until I get a more solid revenue stream happening. Then I'll probably lease something new. Or, if my friends Sarah and Shawn go to Korea, I'll buy their 1992 Volvo -- it's a kick ass car (in a Volvo kind of way .. isn't that something like referring to something from Ikea as "kick-ass"?)

What I mean is it's Swedish cool. Which is a whole bunch different from North America cool.

Oh, and by the way, I am alright. Nothing damaged except my ego. 'Cause it was my fault. Can't believe it -- I've driven thousands and thousands of miles all over this continent and the first time I get into an accident it's in a big-box mall parking lot going 20 kph.

I think I can still say I'm a good driver -- one accident in over 25 years of driving isn't a bad record. Even if I got a ticket for failing to yield. Would have been worse except I put my head down on the steering wheel and cried after it happened. The cop was real nice .. the tears did not hurt even if they were unintentional.

Time for another ramble ...

My friend Lil sent me an email and told me that she checks here every now and again to see how I am doing. Reminded me that I haven't done an update in a while, and that people sometimes do go here if they haven't heard from me in a while. So I should keep this up.

It's a quiet Sunday evening and I am listening to some Beethoven sonatas, and it feels like a good time to say more than "ya, hi, I'm okay".

I'm better than okay, actually. I'm doing really well. Having a small bout of "but what am I going to be doing in May?" but doing a good job of telling myself that May is a long way off (got a gig until the end of April). And that things have worked out really well thus far, which should give me every reason to believe that this trend will continue. So I opened up a bottle of wine and I think I'm getting past the momentary little bit of fear. And looking at Nova Scotia real estate ads and seeing that one of the houses I like has dropped to $59,000!

I am amazed at how well things are going. I started teaching my radio broadcasting course (better be careful here .. I have my blog address on the bottom of all my emails, accessible to any student who wants to have a look). Not that I'd say anything different if they weren't reading anyway. I think the funniest thing is being called "Professor" .. I'm just not used to it yet. It's shaping up to be a really good group, and it's really good to be able to share all this knowledge that has accumulated over the years. I have been looking over all the radio handouts I've written over the years and realizing that I've got a lot of my material written already. Maybe I should write a book.

Jobs have been falling into my lap ever since I arrived here. I haven't even had to look. The latest job offer is to model for digital animation classes at St. Clair College. Because it's animation, the poses change fairly quickly, with no more than ten minutes per pose. So it's not like I have to sit there, or stand there, or lie there, or stand on one leg for hours and hours at a time. I think it will be a good exercise in keeping still, and keeping quiet. (Some of you will think this is very funny). My friend Sarah is the one who passed along my name -- she says she just goes into meditation when she's doing it, and the discipline is very helpful in terms of getting grounded and centred.

At this point, I have no idea how long I will be in Windsor. It has the reputation of being "Velcro City" .. because arriving here is like backing into a piece of Velcro -- hard to tear yourself away.

That's okay for now. I have changed a lot in the past few months -- I don't have "goals" any more. I do have hopes and dreams, and things I am working towards. The difference, the way I see it, is that goals are things one is going to accomplish come hell or high water. Hopes and dreams are a lot more fluid .. things that would be good to do if that's the direction that life takes us. I remember somebody saying (quite) a few years ago that plans are good, but even the Soviets only had five year plans. So I have started to think it's a lot better to let things evolve, rather than try to force them. (Haven't entirely broken myself of the habit of needing to bulldoze things through, but I am making progress).

More later.

Happy New Year everybody!

Just a quick post so you know I'm still out here.

Life is good. Still having fun.

Hope you are too.