#yes i live in ontario how could you tell

[tkingfisher]

Right! Apropos another post, let’s talk about lawn crayfish aka The Lobsters Beneath Our Feet!

This is Craw-Bob. He’s about three and a half inches long.

Long ago, when I had only gardened in the Southeast for a year or two, I saw an interesting hole in a flowerbed. It was rather deep and had a muddy front porch. I gazed into this hole, thinking “Ooh! Is it a rodent? A snake? A toad?”

And then I saw…the Claw.

It was unmistakably a crustacean claw. And it was in a hole in my yard. My terrestrial yard! Why was there a crustacean in my flowerbed?!

I could not have been more astounded if an octopus tentacle had come flopping out. I ran screaming for my husband and the internet, both of whom said “Yeah, that’s a lawn crayfish, they do that.”

And yes. There are about 400 species of crayfish* in North America, and a not inconsiderable number of them are burrowing species. The devil crayfish, which builds little mud towers, ranges from the Rockies to the Atlantic and as far north as Ontario. There are a number of other species as well. Some are limited to stream banks, but many burrow in lawns, flowerbeds, and other places with consistently damp soil, which means that there is a non-zero chance that when you wander around the grass, a tiny lobster is lurking somewhere beneath your feet.

You would think that more people would know this, but at no point in my life had anyone ever mentioned it to me.

Being me, I immediately set out to determine if other people knew about lawn crayfish and I had just somehow missed it. I took an informal poll—by which I mean I accosted random strangers at the farmer’s market, the coffee shop, and my doctor’s office—and discovered a stark divide. Half the people looked at me like I was telling them I’d seen a lawn chupacabra and the other half looked at me like I’d asked if they’d ever heard of squirrels.

It was not divided by social class or education. The farmer with the heirloom breed hogs knew about them, his wife did not. My nurse practitioner first thought I was hallucinating, then went out into the clinic, and began demanding to know if her co-workers had heard of this. My barista was like “Yeah, mudbugs,” but he’s from Florida, so may not count.

My theory is that if you know they’re there, it’s just a fact of life so obvious that you don’t bother to comment on it, and if you don’t—well, why would you ever assume that any given hole in the ground comes from a goddamn MINI LOBSTER? And since they mostly just hang out underground during the day and don’t really hurt anything, it just doesn’t come up very often, until one day you’re at the farmer’s market, just trying to sell some organic tomatoes, and a wild-eyed woman with a Studio Ghibli T-shirt descends on you yelling “Are you aware of lawn crayfish?!”

(Yes, they’re edible, but it’s a lot of work popping them individually out of their burrows.)

During torrential rains, they will often leave their burrows and wander around, which is how I got the photos of Craw-Bob. My hound spotted him in the garden and poked him with her nose, whereupon Craw-Bob poked back. Hound, not sure what was happening but that it was probably bad, began doing her “release the humans!” alarm bark, and I came out to find her toe to toe with a crustacean who was waving its claws and presumably screaming “Come on if you think you’re hard enough!” in Lobster.

Despite their willingness to fight everything, they’re pretty harmless. The most they do is move soil from underground to a little pile above. I’m sure golf courses hate them. Our local county extension office suggests “These nonprolific creatures should be appreciated like an interesting bird or turtle living on the property.” Some, like the Greensboro burrowing crayfish, are so rare they were thought to be extinct until somebody found one in the backyard.

So. Lawn crayfish. They exist! And could be lurking underfoot as we speak!

*or crawfish, depending on where you’re from.

#crayfish #crawfish #crustaceans #nature

[goldenbloodytears]

I would really like to know more about Sam, without spoiling the plot of future projects what can you say about her and Danny in the asks 2, 3, 9, 10, 14 and 15?

Also if Sam was a character of the scream franchise which one would she be?

Send by Mx. 👍

2. How do they treat themselves when they're feeling sad?

Sam's go to is to put on Elton John (most likely Honky Chateau—I can probably write a small piece on how Rocket Man can be seen as a metaphor for gay alienation) and then probably get a big tub of ice cream going. She’s not a stranger to depressive spirals, but sad and depressed are not quite the same thing—she deals with sad a lot better than depressed I would say.

With Danny… I think he tends to bypass sad and go straight to irritated. I’m a big believer in old man Johnson toxic masculinity indoctrination, so Danny probably lowkey thinks crying is for weaklings (and women). I think he might result to trying to calm himself with a couple drinks if for some reason he can’t immediately fix the problem that is causing him to be sad/irritated… however, said combo is more likely to lower his inhibition… and that’s when you’re probably more likely to get an impromptu murder (in comparison to his more planned stories).

3. What parts of themselves do they tend to hide?

Sam tends to hide her sexuality. Or at least attempt to. She lives in a small town, and the gossip mill would surely have a field day with the local English lady reporter turning out to be a “lesbian” (because bisexuals don’t exist in 1994 /sarcasm). The result is where she’s inoffensive enough to not cause outright homophobic drama, but she’s not exactly living the best life she could be either… especially when she’s partly trying to play nice for a family that aren’t nearly as accepting as they could be.

Danny hides himself. To be clearer, I’ve been considering whether his usage of personas happen to allow him to connect with an element of himself that has long been suppressed by his old man’s teachings. This is kind of a half-baked thought that I need to think about more. It’s a bit like being a method actor, an inherent element of performance. Think about how many seemingly outgoing and over confident performers are actually rather introverted (and not just because of paparazzi hounds)… also consider how people tend to act more freely when anonymous, for good or ill. Danny hides a lot of himself, he hides his literal self as Danny, but also other elements. His sexuality just like Sam, since being a bisexual man in the 90s is just… asking for trouble. However, he’s so strongly manifested in his expected gender roles as a masculine military brat that you wouldn’t even guess he might be queer unless you went for some crazy extreme like the fact he tends to dress well on average. I don’t think his personas suddenly act flaming (just to be clear) but he’s a little bit nicer, way more talkative, a little bit goofier/nerdier and I don’t think it’s entirely an act (although he believes it is and will tell you so).

9. What are their insecurities?

Sam is insecure about many things at the start of the story. This isn’t really a plot spoiler. She’s insecure about the fact both her brothers are married with kids, she’s insecure about the fact she’s queer, she’s insecure about her relationship with her girlfriend. She’s insecure about her future in the province she was born in—quick history lesson, in 1994 Quebec proposed a provincial referendum to decide whether the citizens of Quebec largely supported the idea of Quebec becoming its own sovereign country to be voted on in 1995. There was a major divide along language lines with English speaking Quebecers largely supporting the federalist Canadian position (No) while the French-speaking Québécois generally supported the sovreignist Yes side. There was a large exodus of English speaking Quebecers from the province around this time, settling in Ontario and Alberta primarily. You had small towns with flourishing English populations suddenly lose multiple families which had lived there for generations only for the towns to become much more French. This is the situation Sam finds herself facing, working as a local English newspaper which is now struggling as a result of less readership… so honestly she’s even kinda insecure about the future of her job too, period, lol.

I think Danny’s insecurities would require a whole post of their own, however, I’ve briefly touched on one of them in question 15.

10. What are their emotional triggers?

For Sam: curiosity, fear, frustration.

For Danny: boredom, frustration, praise.

I’m not entirely sure what this question is asking so I’ve kinda listed the emotions that I think are most likely to motivate them to do something for good or worse.

14. What kind of people do they tend to gravitate towards?

Sam tends to gravitate towards people with big personalities. She’s a much more subdued person and kinda lives vicariously through them. She’s intrigued by the promise of life outside small town Quebec, so it’s very easy to get her attention with stories of travel. She has a major obsession with this random cold case that happened when she was a teenager, to the point that everyone thinks she’s a little bit weird for it, and in this way she’s also drawn to people that will put up with this particular quirk. I think you can already see where I’m going with this.

Danny, like a true confidence trickster, is drawn to people most likely to believe his bullshit. This doesn’t mean he looks for idiots, he’s still a bit of a wannabe academic blowhard in spirit and as such I think he’s still drawn to people who profess at least a bit of a braincell…. But it’s the trust element. He’s looking for people who want to believe what he says. He’s also looking for people who think he’s cool. Even if he’s Jed or persona #632.

So when taking these tendencies together, you can already kind of start to see how Danny and Sam compliment each other in terms of the people they are seeking. They’re both looking for somebody who’s going to gas them up—feed their egos and hope for the future.

15. What do they like/dislike about themselves?

Sam likes her skills as a journalist, she feels like her stubbornness is a useful trait. She wishes she was better at being more traditionally feminine. She dislikes her height, at 5’10” she towers over a lot of guys and it’s worse if she wears heels.

I feel like we all have a rough idea of what Danny “likes” about himself, so I’ll focus on what he dislikes. His emotionality. He knows he can be impulsive, and he thinks feelings like fear, anger, and sadness are not particularly useful for himself when he’s supposed to be this killer who goes around murdering in the night. If he could be a mindless killer, I’m sure he would do so.

Bonus: What character in Scream would Sam be?

Hmmm, that’s a very good question. I think I would need to do a complete series rewatch to really pin it down but I think she would kinda be a weird proxy if you were to mix Gail and Dewey together (she’s their forbidden baby). She has a lot of Gail’s tenacious journalism qualities but she’s a lot nicer, similar to Dewey. Her brother Chris is also a cop, so she’s a little bit functional to Tatum in a way.

#danny johnson #dbd ghostface #ghostface #dead by daylight #dbd headcanons #dbd #oc: Sam Scott #still taking asks #ghostface x oc #slasher x final girl

[ms-moonlight-inn]

Weekly Tag Wednesday!

Thanks for the tag @mybrainismelted & @deathclassic & @jrooc

And apparently we have @energievie to thank for this week's tag game? 😍🥰 Hello, precious! Last day of January, indeed.

Name: the sleepy bitch that lives under a bridge

Age: Proud Gen X'er

Location: Ontario, Canada

And now, think about your childhood and tell me:

Did you have a nickname and is it still used? Ugh, yeah. 😶 It's the Spanish word for tick, because when I was little I could not pronounce my name correctly and it sounded like "chinche." Naturally, everybody started calling me that. My mom still calls me by this name every once in a while when she's trying to be cute. Hashtag mood.

What did you want to be when you’d grow up? A psychologist or a teacher.

Your favourite cartoon: @mybrainismelted I remember The Snorks! Okay, I used to watch so much Saturday morning cartoons that I do not have a favorite. But I do recall Animaniacs fondly.

Your favourite TV show: There used to be this old show called Benson that I used to love.

Your favourite book: Oh my god! Growing up I was all about the Judy Blum and the Jackie Collins . 😂 And basically now you guys know why my writing goes from family dynamics to pure smut and basically nothing in-between. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Your favourite toy: I have a stuffed rabbit that's still with me to this day though I don't use them anymore .

Your favourite thing to eat: I used to be a fiend for fruit pies or Mexican sweet bread.

Your favourite school subject: English. Put me in the room with a bunch of books and I'm a happy person.

How did you spend your summers? Sweltering hot summers sitting on the sidewalk and complaining that there's nothing to do. Those were the best days ever!

Did you listen to music? If yes, did you have a favourite band/artist? I grew up with music all around me. I lived in a smaller apartment complex and there was always music coming out of people's windows. I grew up listening to all kinds of different music so I cannot say that I had one particular band that I loved as my favorite. But I always did. Tend to listen to Prince a lot.

And lastly, tell me something you did as a kid that your parents still don’t know about: Oh god that's easy. Playing grab ass with the neighbor kids. 😆

Tagging @notherenewjersey & @stillbeatingheart bc these are funny questions, with absolutely no pressure to play. 😍🥰

#tagged #tag gane #when i was a kid

[britcision]

Having another one of those days where it feels like I am living on a different planet from most of the world, so:

1) there’s a funeral home in Quebec offering MAID services (that’s Medical Assistance In Dying)

There’s a nice room at the funeral home, you rent it, go there, and a doctor comes to legally murder you, just like they would at your home

(I am now wondering if you can be MAID-ed in other places like the park. Probably no, but the funeral home feels like a very logical place to have it? Cuts down on travel time?

There are a faction in this argument that believe it should be available, but for free not $700)

2) at the same fucking time, people are trying to expand MAID so that fucking poverty is an acceptable reason to apply, and homelessness

So yes, the government is now debating offering assisted suicide instead of social programs and financial supports for vulnerable communities

You could choose to die rather than, I don’t know, receive financial assistance to improve your quality of living, addiction support and counselling, or anything that might actually help

We already know that a good chunk of the people currently choosing MAID are choosing it because they are living on disability, aka government enforced poverty

(Even inheriting a house from your parents can get you kicked off disability in Ontario, because gods know you’ll never need to pay property taxes, buy food or medication, or travel ever again 🙄

You probably can’t even afford to keep the house, but selling it? Oh no no no, no more ODSP for you that money better last the rest of your life)

3) people are somehow more concerned about issue 1

How.

The government is debating killing people to save money on providing care for them.

They’ve already relaxed the standards to make it easier for people on ODSP and other provinces’ disability assistance to choose death rather than living on what they tell themselves is a reasonable income

(The max you can get from ODSP is less than half of the COVID benefit from the federal government that calculated the bare minimum everyone needed to live)

Meanwhile, they’re dragging their feet for the fourth year running on the first attempt to increase disability benefits in decades

Clearly there is nothing wrong with society if we let people volunteer to be killed instead of rounding them up at gunpoint, right? Just make their lives unliveable first and all those moral qualms disappear

#medical assistance in dying #eugenics #disability #poverty #homelessness #politics #canadian politics #i am going to shoot people into the sun #may everyone in favour die young enough to never know what it’s like to be poor or disabled #this is literally what they want us to do #ableism #death #tbh if i was gonna get maided i’d do it in a funeral home tho #like could i lie in the casket myself #they’d have to take me back out for prep but it’d be wild #assisted suicide #i don’t even wanna be buried in a casket it’d just be a cool place to die #technically i think i’m eligible now despite not having a lethal condition #i just gotta be eligible for disability #and i am that 3x over the second i can’t keep a job

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Family Ravine

Throughout his life, Kevin Cahill travelled around southwestern Ontario, Canada, exploring many different musical avenues along the way. Eventually, he landed in Toronto and quietly launched his Power Moves series of labels, along with several musical projects. He records under a plethora of aliases, but recently released Away & Instinct under his folk-adjacent Family Ravine moniker on the Round Bale Recordings imprint. In a recent review, Bryon Hayes observed that “Cahill is comfortable working at both the micro and the macro levels, and his music is equally appealing when you admire it from afar or at close range.” For this edition of Listed, Cahill elaborates on the threads that influenced him during the creation of Away & Instinct as well as his forthcoming album, which Round Bale is set to release later this year.

These are 10 things I’ve been circling, present in the recording of my last Family Ravine record Away & Instinct and my new Family Ravine record due later in the year (with Round Bale Recordings again), and in preparation/writing new material for some FR live shows.

Jeff Parker Collaboration with Artist Harold Mendez

Parker is one of my faves guitarists, his range and exploration takes him to the best waters, and how he navigates and finds his way out of these tricky pattern nets is like a setup test - if I swim down here and dig around a bit will I make it back up for air? Answer: yes. Sometimes it’s the way out that makes the mark. Parker’s improv hits the canvas edges and works back inside to the target. Masterful. Here’s a performance of solo Parker in collaboration with Harold Mendez, breathtaking and a natural fit to the beauty of the art, totally brought to life like short films each, an evolving narrative to run parallel.

Steve Baughman — Shootout at Convict Lake

Shootout At Convict Lake by Steve Baughman

A beautiful record. Steve’s a master of clawhammer and fingerstyle banjo and guitar. I’ve grown away from the post-Fahey sound-proper. I like the solo players with great tone and pacing and a lighter touch like Ed Gerhard. For mandolin, I like Marla Fibish. The Irish playing’s in the blood. The younger me who hung his hat on His/The Magic Band and Delta blues would be surprised this is where my ears are, but the discovery feels exactly the same as when I was 20, playing guitar with my brother, working on our own magic stacking principles (when fretting — where you end begins something new).

Gillian Welch/David Rawlings — “Snowing on Raton”

The symbiosis is out of this world with these two. Rawlings says that he basically learned his style as shaped by the two of them. He couldn’t have come across this path alone. I totally relate, being a twin and learning how to play guitar together for the most part (Patrick’s the other guitar in East of the Valley Blues), I really think of my style as accompaniment. The records from this pair sound fucking great, very live, very real. And I like to use the guitar sound for reference when mixing and sending off for mastering, though that’s a tough mountain to climb, serious DIY zero-budget be damned.

New Order — “Leave Me Alone”

Greatest rock song ever.

Dando Shaft — S/T

Love the arrangements and ensemble playing and instrument choices. A lot of speed and interlocking rhythmic ideas all falling under complex songwriting that doesn’t weigh you down with technique or chops. You can tell they’d play the songs differently every time and I love that. And they could be playing on the bed of a pickup truck while it flies down some back country forest lines and they wouldn’t blink.

Corrupted —月光の大地 (Gekkou No Daichi 2004)

Feel like falling asleep but floating in place for 17 minutes?

DKV Trio — Live in Copenhagen, October 31st, 2014

One of my best live show experiences ever was seeing DKV Trio in Toronto. Standing five feet away and having that sound pick me up and throw me all over the room was transcendent. I love the use of rhythm, how they hover improvised but sound composed, and aren’t afraid to snake around each other and hit clockwork stop-start shit. Here’s a short excerpt that gets into it. That magic that happens walking the tightrope of improvising and composing is a drug.

Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson — “Storms are on the Ocean”

Guitar as accompaniment, and who better than Doc. I’m obsessed with flatpicking and crosspicking, and the background guitar in folk and bluegrass (basically all folk from around the world) is a river I’m swimming in. Same train of thought here, still trying to blend Carter Family with The Nihilist Spasm band.

ELUCID — Valley of Grace EP

The second biggest rabbit hole I went down was Hip Hop, Armand Hammer and related, things related to Griselda, Mutant Academy, Ka, etc. Thinking of 14-year-old me, running home to RapCity after school to catch all the golden stuff, I really have no clue what I’d make of this. But I feel like the experimental-leaning free flow style would have destroyed my head off (daughter’s saying). Incredible writing. And a rad break from mixing guitars and mandolins.

John Lee Hooker — “Misbelieving Baby”

Hooker’s Detroit Special was the ultimate pawn shop score years ago. His guitar tone is disintegrating and every kind of incredible and the thought crossed my mind that the instrumentals were replaced with fakeout Sun City Girls or something. Instantly makes me think of Ignatz and Keijo now. And I still think of this record (original is Don’t Turn Me from Your Door) when I hear Endless Boogie and Bardo Pond and all that great drugged-out blues psych out there. He’s got the gnarliest tone. Can easily follow this up with some choice Jandek. Off I go.

#dusted magazine #listed #family ravine #Kevin Cahill #neurosis #steve baughman #gillian welch #david rawlings #new order #dando shaft #corrupted #dkv trio #jean ritchie #doc watson #elucid #john lee hooker

[phillipcole]

Post-AGT Appearance 1291: Saturday afternoon Oldies with Norma Pokocky CHES fm 91.7 March 2

Toad woman of Tennessee would have dropped to 12th by the last weekend of February and would have made $234 million domestic. It would have ended its international run with $182 million. Man of my Dreams would have dropped to 24th the last week of February.

Desantis would have dropped out 2 days before the South Carolina primary. Haley would have won 42-39 with Burgum getting 14%.

Trump would have won Michigan with 45%, Haley 27, Burgum 26. None of the above would have gotten 22% against 69 for Biden, Williamson 5, Phillips 4. I would be back in Canada, still with no news from the Colbert people. Brian Mulroney would never have cracked the top 100, but with his death Friday my agent would decide I needed a quiet, safe interview in Canada over the weekend. He would have picked a live visit to CHES fm 91.7 in Ontario, a community non-profit station and I would have done the interview with Norma Pokocky, who plays oldies on Saturdays from 12 to 4 local time. I would join her shortly after 1 pm.

Pokocky: Well today as promised I have a live interview guest: Phil Cole of Phillip and Cole's Variety Team. He is well known to Americans for all forms of entertainment and now he's in Canada preparing to make 3 major movies starring Justin Bieber. Phil, thank you so much for being here.

PBC: My pleasure.

Pokocky: Phil, your career is well known in the states, but some Canadians might not be familiar with you. Can you start by telling us how your career started?

PBC: Yes. my career started 10 years ago last month wi9th my first audition for America's got Talent.

Pokocky: That recently?

PBC: Yes, I had not performed anywhere before that. I had this great idea for a traveling entertainment team. I'm from the little state of Rhode Island, but that year they held auditions in Providence.

Pokocky: How did it go?

PBC: Well, first I looked for a partner, a musician to play the songs I created for Phillip and Cole. I posted an ad on Craig's List and someone replied. He said he was from the south so I wrote a song called Nashville Rap for Cole from Nashville and created Phillip, a Boston intellectual who writes country songs.

Pokocky: That's funny already. What was his song called?

PBC: The Northeast livin', bland vanilla Blues.

Pokocky: Ha ha ha.

PBC: The man was just there to cause trouble, so I ended up alone, but I wrote the 2 songs, created the characters, stood in line and then someone said, "You only get 90 seconds."

Pokocky: Oh no; what did you do?

PBC: I couldn't sing, so the 2 characters introduced themselves. Phillip told 2 intellectual jokes. Cole told 2 corny southern jokes, then we did the routine called Celebrities that make Phillip sick. We wrote the list on toilet paper. Cole read it and Phillip got sicker and sicker. When Phillip was lying on the floor Cole said,

Cole: There's 2 more names on the list, but if I read them now, it might kill him.

PBC: Then wiped his bum with the list.

Pokocky: Oh my, and that got you on the show?

PBC: It got me to the second audition. Now the reason I used that routine is because Howard Stern the shock jock...

Pokocky: Yes, we know him.

PBC: He was one of the judges that year, and a charter member of the sick list. So at the next audition, in New York, I went.

Pokocky: This is a one man team by the way.

PBC: Yes, I'm Phil, not Phillip. Phillip's in a coma now. Well, I went to New York and told jokes about the other judges. That got me to the third audition, in New Jersey. We sent Norbert Adams to that one.

Pokocky: Is he here.

PBC: Yes, hey Norbert.

Norbert: Y-yes.

PBC: Tell her what you said in New Jersey.

Norbert: Hi, I-ii'm Norbert Adams, th-th-th-the unluckiest man in the world. I I I kn-know what you're thinking. Where's Phillip and Cole? They don't want to get this close to Chris Christie.

Pokocky: Oh my!

PBC: That got me on the show, but there was no way I could win. I barley made the first round. Then Phillip did a routine called Alternate endings to Shakespeare plays. We knew we were doomed, so when it was time to cut the list from 24 to 12 we introduced the rest of the team. There's the Ranting 99 Year old Man. He died last year. Then there's Brad and Ford, Cole's cousins. We were eliminated but we had a full team.

Pokocky: We play records here, oldies. Do you mind if I play a couple songs now.

PBC: No, I need to catch my breath.

Pokocky: Don't go away folks, we have a lot more with Phillip and Cole's Variety Team.

#norma pokocky america's got talent howard stern

[drmarr]

After Africa...

From the backseat of the car…

“Mom, after Africa, can we go to China?”

Oh, good, he knows we won’t be living here forever…but China??

“Oh…what’s in China, babe?”

“Panda’s…and maybe we can rent a really big hut to live in.”

Rent…ha! When we were leaving  Bermuda, Rome learned the difference between owning a house, and renting – “We’ve been borrowing our house from Jennie, the really nice lady who let us pay her to live here. Because houses are expensive, and…” you know the rest. But I liked that he understood the concept of renting a house versus owning one. (Other than one house in my childhood, we always rented growing up. Owning a house was for “rich people”.)

But really this conversation was about “When we leave Africa”. (Yeah, yeah…we just got here! Ha!) But more so, the impermanency of where we are living, and how Rome looked at this as a normal way of living. (Because it IS a normal way of living!). But it isn’t for a lot of other people, so I get the question a LOT – Aren’t you worried about stability? “You have no stability in your life…” “I really think kids need stability” in a nagging voice just because… “Moving isn’t good for kids…” -  a lot of opinions that I’m going to pretend come from curiosity rather than judgement, as they are often from people who haven’t moved (internationally) a lot themselves – including myself. Yes, I judge myself – but I’ll tell you why.

We only know what we experience. I was born and raised in a small town in Southwestern Ontario and although we moved a lot through my childhood within that town, I didn’t leave that town until I was 19 for university. That’s what I knew – and I was lucky for many things! I was close with my cousins growing up. We were friends with our neighbors. I was a competitive figure skater, so for 6 years I had my skating friends, a consistent network of friends. And I’m very grateful for it. But if you could have given me the exciting life of travel Rome is living in, I would have taken it in a heartbeat! I dreamed of travel, never believing it was something I would be able to afford to do.

“No matter what you do, you’re going to screw up your kids.” – says a friend. And she’s right. What if I DO give him all this, and he comes back one day and says, “Well…I wish I had THAT (what you had).”  It very well can happen. Only time will tell.

So that’s a little background on WHY I’m so in tune with what stability looks like for Rome.

But what is the opposite of stability? One might think instability – duh…but could it be…adaptability? (A skill many adults don’t even have…)

What does stability mean to you? Does it mean always having the SAME? The same house, the same school, the same routine, the SAME friends, the same traditions…where does that leave space for exercising out adaptability muscle? Where does it leave space for learning and growth? (Asked with curiosity, not judgement ;) )

I think the greatest gift he can get from this (other than a global perspective of the world and a sh*t ton of fun with his mom and blended family), is actually, adaptability.

A podcast once told me that me that TRUE security only comes from within. So does STABILITY. For example, if you feel secure because of your job (working for someone else) – what if someone takes your job away? They take away your security? How is that secure? So your true security comes from your skills. Skills you can take with you anywhere. True security can’t be taken away from you.

Similarly, if you feel stable only because everything is the same and nothing is changing, is that really stability at all? If you are confident that everywhere you go, you can handle yourself, make friends, have conversations with new faces, feel comfortable in any type of culture (when no one speaks your language), but you know you’re good – isn’t that true stability. Stability that comes from within and goes with you no matter where you are because you create it yourself.

For kids, I say that I’M his stability. The people he is with are his stability. His family’s presence whether physically or on FaceTime is his stability. Knowing he can go retreat to his same bedroom every night for 18 years (although, having a safe space to be private is important – and he has that.), is not.

Moving schools, neighbourhoods and friends groups sounds “stressful” to people that haven’t tended to do that (or didn’t have good experiences doing it, to be fair). But it’s exciting to others…especially you grow up with it as your normal.

With our ability to communicate with ANYONE we love these days , why does being surrounded by new faces have to make us stressed? There is a comfort in seeing the same people all the time, but it doesn’t have to mean new situations are uncomfortable. They are only uncomfortable until they’re not anymore…

Life is just one big journey of expanding your radius of what’s comfortable. That’s stability.

Friends? When I moved to Bermuda, I only had friends in Canada. After leaving Bermuda, I still have my best friends from Canada, but amazing friends in Bermuda, England, the US, France, South Africa, Zimbabwe… Rome’s got a way earlier head start on me for that!

Routine? If stability comes from routine, going to school is a routine. Wherever we are, he can go to school every day...Coming home every afternoon to Mom, that’s stability. That's what he can count on, no matter where we are.

Another thing that might help (I think ?), is putting him into sports that are international. Football, swimming, etc, sports and activities that you can take anywhere else in the world with you, that way there will always be a little community you can join to meet new people and have familiarity with your sport/activity.

To be fair - this type of living might be different if Rome had a different personality. But hey, we're open to whatever comes our way. We’re going with the flow. Should it really not be working for any of us, we can ADAPT. Or as they say in Zimbabwe, “We’ll make a plan.”

Because I am human, sometimes I’m defensive to peoples questioning of my style of living, even though I wouldn’t choose otherwise. Holding on to my core values always helps shake that initial defensiveness off. Also, the reminder that you don’ know what you don’t know, and most people don’t know what expat life is like. Most people are scared of it. Because...it isn’t “stable”...

Our plan is to start in Zim for about 3 years…if you were wondering…no further questions at this time. Thanks! (HA!)

#zimbabweexpat #canadianexpat #expatlife #expatfamily #expatmom #parenting #parentinglifestyle #movetoafrica #internationallifecoach #lifecoach

[gduncan969]

He Already Knows

John 4: 29 “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

There are a lot of things in my life, I’d prefer you didn’t know about me because they are just too embarrassing to tell, but to convince you, I’ll give you two of them, one of which I don’t remember because I was just two years old at the time. I was born right in the heart of Scotland’s biggest city, Glasgow, just off its busiest street, Argyle Street, in one of those old, somewhat squalid, gas-lit tenement buildings the city was famous for back in the early 1900's. Seemingly, I’d managed to escape my mother’s watchful eye and wandered out of our first floor apartment, down the stairs, out the building, toddled 50 ft along West Campbell Street and on to Argyle Street where I stood in the middle of the street between the tram-car rails, dressed only in my undershirt! The traffic was stopped in both directions and the people in the street-cars were killing themselves laughing at my plight. Someone ran to inform my mother but she was too embarrassed to come and rescue me so she sent my 11-year-old big sister to fetch me to the applause of the gawkers watching the scene unfold. I’m so glad I don’t remember that one but the other one I want to tell you occurred about forty years later and is seared in my memory. I was the owner/operator of a chemical analysis laboratory in Northern Ontario and was setting up the apparatus to do cyanide analysis in water samples from a local gold mine (cyanide is used to extract the gold from the ore). The apparatus required a vacuum pump to suck air through the sample to remove the cyanide gas formed by adding some acid to the sample. Everything looked great, so I added the acid, turned on the vacuum pump and—nothing! No air bubbles whatsoever! There must be a leak I thought, so in a moment of brilliant inspiration, I pulled the hose off the vacuum pump, stuck it in my mouth and sucked!! Ah, yes, there were the bubbles I was looking for as the cyanide gas entered my lungs. I’ve just killed myself was my first thought! My second thought was, what a stupid idiot I was and the third thought was to ask one of my employees to drive me to the hospital immediately! On the way over to the hospital, I did some quick calculations and figured I would live because the cyanide level in the sample was pretty low but I may still be the only cyanide poisoning victim ever recorded in Ontario. I’ll never forget the poor emergency doctor who treated me while holding the poisoning manual in one hand and the hypodermic in the other. Yes, we are all capable of doing some pretty dumb things and worse still, some pretty nasty things in the course of our lives.

The story of the woman at the well in John 4 tells of an encounter Jesus had with a Samaritan woman who came at midday to draw water from the well and ran into Jesus who was sitting there on his own while his disciples had gone off to town to buy some food. “Give Me a drink.” asks Jesus (verse 7) to which he got the terse response, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.” (verse 9) The conversation then unfolded to where Jesus tells the woman to “go fetch your husband” (verse 16). Of course, he knew full well she didn’t have one, having been married five times before and now simply living with number six—a lifestyle that is even more common than marriage in many places today. At that point, the woman begins to sit up and really take note of this stranger who is telling her things he shouldn’t know.

Many sermons have been preached on this incident in the ministry of Jesus and many different conclusions have been drawn as to the interaction between the two but we can all agree that the encounter was no accident (Jesus has never experienced an accident) and through it we get a clearer picture of Jesus as the “living water” within all of us who call upon his name and which “springs up in us into everlasting life” (verse 14) as we drink of it and feed it to those around us. Further clarification of this is given in Matthew 7: 38 - 39 ““He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” The Holy Spirit flows into our hearts when we ask Jesus to forgive us and cleanse us of our sins and then He flows out from our hearts (KJV - “belly”) when He baptizes us in his Holy Spirit as He did the hundred and twenty believers in the upper room in Acts 2.

The woman at the well was not too impressed with Jesus’ declaration that he was the source of “living water” and called his bluff to give it to her so that she could stop carting a heavy water-pot back and forth every day. The reason she was there at midday, however, rather than early morning or evening, is very likely so that she could avoid the sneers and comments of the other women who knew full well what kind of woman she was. Also, the reason she was being so snarkey with Jesus was that she knew what most men were like and they were wont to “proposition” a woman for one purpose only—her body. That’s what surprised the disciples when they came back to find him talking to a despised Samaritan woman (verse 27). But verses 17-18 changed everything. Jesus begins to fill in details about her he couldn’t possibly know and we err if we take his statement about her five husbands as being all Jesus spoke to her about her private life. Note what she says to her neighbors back in the village, “Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” (Verse 29). I believe she and Jesus had a long talk about a whole host of struggles she’d had throughout her life and it wasn’t she who raised these issues but the Lord Himself who gently took her back through them to expose them and to heal them. Oh, that others could have that same conversation with Jesus bringing their life experiences and tragedies out into the light of his loving Presence and laying them to rest in his forgiveness and acceptance of us just as we are.

Many years ago, I attended a Full Gospel Businessmen’s Fellowship International (FGBMFI) meeting to hear a fellow Glaswegian, John Hutchison, give his testimony of how he came to Christ but after he spoke, he began to call out those in his audience who the Lord had indicated to him were suffering from various physical problems in their bodies to come forward to lay hands on them for healing. I had never seen this before so I and five others drove 90 miles the following evening to hear him speak again and once again he did the same thing, only this time I got a moment to speak to one of those he had prayed for, a man in his sixties. I asked him what had happened to him because he was staggering like a drunk man as he was walking out of the building. His response was, “I don’t know what has happened to me but something has because I’ve never felt this way before. I have cancer but I feel different and I can’t understand it”. John became a good friend and mentor to me over the years until he left for Heaven over twenty five years ago but after that second meeting I asked him to come to Kirkland Lake, Ontario, where we lived, and I would organize a dinner meeting for him to share his testimony once more. That happened a couple of months later and out of that meeting was formed the Kirkland Lake Chapter of the FGBMFI. But there’s an added aspect to all of this that has remained with me ever since. Just before John was due to arrive from England and take part in the dinner meeting, I was driving to work one morning with my thoughts on the upcoming meeting when I started to get quite nervous. “What if God reveals something to John about me that I don’t want anyone else to know and he calls me to come forward for prayer? Oh, dear, what would God possibly tell me?” The thought had no sooner entered my head when I heard these quiet, matter-of-fact words, “I’d tell you I love you!” I’m tempted to add the word “Dummy!” to the end of that sentence but He didn’t say it, nevertheless, there were lots of tears that flowed as I completed my journey to work. I have had but one encounter of finding myself in the visible light of God’ Presence and I could only say to him over and over again, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” but he would not depart and stayed there bathing me in a love that was overwhelming in its intensity. I just cried and cried.

All of us have this marvelous ability to bury our hurts deep within ourselves because dealing with them is too painful but that’s exactly why He came—to deliver us from our past, first by exposing it and then taking all the guilt away to begin anew, walking in the light of his love and his acceptance of us just the way we are. What a mighty God we serve! If you’ve never experienced this transition all you need do is ask him to come into your life and take over. Perhaps you are like many others who feel that you are basically a good person who has made mistakes but on balance the good outweighs the bad and that in the end, God is a forgiving God who will turn a blind eye to all your shortcomings. The difficulty with this is that God has no “blind eyes” to turn on us because He is omniscient—all-knowing and there is nothing hidden from His sight. He is a Holy God whose purity is so all-consuming that any sin, no matter how small, stops us from entering His presence. “For our God is a consuming fire” says Hebrews 12:29. He sacrificed His only Son on a Roman cross to open the narrow doorway through which we might humbly stoop and enter into his Kingdom to find life everlasting through the shed blood of His Son, Jesus Christ. So, if he already knows every detail about us, why then should we falter or fear when we humbly ask Him to forgive our sins and take control of our lives. If you haven’t done so, what’s keeping you and don’t forget to tell others what you have done? As a young Christian, I used to think God had a “Secret Service” organization to which I could belong so that I wouldn’t have to tell anyone I was a Christian and thereby avoid being ridiculed. Ultimately, I found out He didn’t have any such organization and that Luke says in Acts 14:22 “..that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” If we let the fear of tribulation stop us then the Lord will let us know that our fear is simply a lack of trust in Him to deliver us and show us marvelous things about ourselves we’ve never even dreamt of.

[yourmoonmomma]

How's the Healthcare system in Canada?

I usually have mixed feelings discussing it online. I know Canada has an amazing healthcare system compared to a LOT of countries, so I hate to ever complain, because I'm very privileged. However, I think there are definitely areas it could improve on. As well, there's a lot of stuff in the works right now for our healthcare system (at least Ontario's) to transition into a privatized system, which is really scary. Already there are tons of clinics (specifically in Toronto) where they offer a like "subscription based service" to get you access to the clinic after hours or to make you a priority patient. From what I've seen, this is targeted to a lot of families with young children, people who are (of course) more likely to be desperate to have their sick child seen immediately instead of waiting to book appointments with family doctors (if they're lucky enough to have one) or spending hours in the hospital waiting to be seen.

The other complaints I have, is that I wish free healthcare meant free healthcare. Sure, hospital visits are free (if you don't take an ambulance). Surgeries are free (unless they're considered cosmetic or experimental or there's an "easier" surgery available). But medication is extremely expensive. Dental care is extremely expensive. Just about any referral a doctor gives you for a specialist, is extremely expensive. Not all diagnostic tests are free. Mental health care is extremely expensive. I wish all these things were included under the scope of free healthcare. Which maybe I'm asking for a lot!

As well, we have a doctor shortage, so most people don't have family doctors. So any ailment you have, you choose to either go to a walk in clinic or the ER. And most times, the clinic just tells you to go to the ER. Which makes those wait times super long too. And again... doctor shortage. There's a hospital in the town 40 mins away that CLOSES every night, for the most part, because of a lack of staff.

Anyway, again, I am EXTREMELY lucky to live in Canada and have the healthcare I have. Do I want it to be better? Yes. I would much rather fight that every other country with worse healthcare gets what we have at least first though.

#abt me #anon #canada

[sassenashsworld]

The Path of the Private : Silver Story

I'll explain something because I seem to have get a few more follower lately

A year and a half ago, I knew how to say yes, no, and toaster (yes, toaster… long story) I'm a Quebecker, I come from a family that has suffered a lot in the past, we were a little hm… conservative against the nasty English invader, so uh…

I'm going to avoid telling you how crazy I was the first time I met an english teacher (because English is mandatory in Quebec) but basically, I managed to completely avoid learning English throughout my school cursus. I had to have something good that my teachers appreciated, because I swear it there is no reason that I could pass degrees after degrees. I even remember having to do an oral presentation, and the teacher basically drafted it for me. His name was Mister Paradisis. Every Tuesday after school, he took me to try to teach me English. He taught me the accent (I get it poorly anyway), but my brain was determined not to remember the words

And all these years, especially in politics (ironically, I worked for the federal government), I was told: you need to learn English and. I. refused.

Then, after spending twenty years in the world of French writing, having published two novels in France and working with francophone authors and publishers, I suddenly decided that I wanted to write in English

I've been away from nationalist fighting for a long time, and now I want to study English

So I took out my three pocket dictionaries and began reading them as bedtime books in the evening, then listening to the Simpsons in English, etc… (for once without French subtitles)

But then, in February 2022, I wrote for the first time, really, in English for the first time in my life. Since then, I've done everything I can to improve, I've even gone on vacation in Ontario (no, it's a joke, I went to spend my vacation in Ontario because my brother lives there, not to improve my English, but Ontarians are the nicest people I've met in my life, complete society… off topic) 

And here I am, I updated my pined post and I highlighted the link of my fanfiction and since then, I am anxious

I worry because when I started writing, I had a shitty level! My level is now just over average, but I continue to work hard

I've frequently requested assistance, advice, and critique, but for some reason, people are mostly mute when it comes time to tell me: hey, it's shit, you don't just say that in the correct way

So, I've presented Silver to you, and I hope you enjoy the story enough to read it despite its flaws (which I will rectify once I achieve a decent level of grasp of your language)

On this, good continuity

#sassenash writing #silence is silver #fallout 4 fanfiction #the writer #please don't crucify me

[kimboatfloats]

The Tolpuddle Martyrs

The first project in my summer to do list is the Jackdaws serials (? I guess that’s what they are.) that came across my desk. Of the titles, the one that caught my eye first was the bright yellow jacket of The Early Trade Unions Including the Founding of the National Trades Unions and the Prosecution of the Tolpuddle Martyrs : A Collection of Contemporary Documents Compiled by Sheila Lewenhak.

Yes, that's the entirety of the title. It even looks just as wordy as the title suggests.

So what intriguing papers are included in Jackdaws No. 35? Copies (facsimiles they were called back in 1966) of original documents relating to the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Who were the Tolpuddle Martyrs and why did they matter? Well, in the early 1800s, British Tradesmen and Craftsmen (I didn't see any Proof that women were members of these groups) began to form unions under the threat of cheap labour destroying their livelihoods. That cheap labour? Why the steam-powered factories that exploited women and children. Unions controlled who could enter the trade. They controlled the quality output of the work (so as not to create crap product). They also controlled pricing.

Some of these unions were all esoteric and shit. With initiation rites and secret handshakes. They had to swear to secrecy about the groups because it seemed that trade unions were also trading amongst themselves. They figured out value of goods based on hours spent creating them, and then bartered goods amongst themselves for that value. Banks (at the time) created their own money, but this was creators basically making their own currency and keeping the banks out of it. Very much communal commerce.

It's no wonder that The Man (I'm not quite sure who exactly The Man was in this case, but I could guess by following the lack of pound notes) made unions illegal.

Yeah. Liable to be transported. I mean now I would love to be sent to Australia and live there for 7 years. Beaches. Sun. Kickass wildlife. Back then, it was like being sent to the end of the earth. I'm not even going to touch the bullshit that was/is colonialism and how it destroyed places like Australia, but hey I could understand their fear. Everything you know, everyone you know, you cannot see them for 7 years. It's like going to the Moon. Or Mars. And instead of minutes to be able to communicate with someone, it's months if not years to send letters. If you could even return, there's no telling whether your life will be waiting for you. I have a 2 year old daughter and I can tell you that 2 years is a massive amount of difference.

So with all this backstory, we come up to the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Six men from Tolpuddle were convicted under the anti-union laws (? though I don't know if actual laws were created) and sentenced to 12 years transportation. Check 'em out. I'm loving the waistcoats. Mssrs James Brine (25), Thomas Stanfield (51), John Stanfield (25), James Loveless (29), and George Loveless (41).

One is missing, a James Hammett (22). I'm not sure why they didn't draw him. So off they were sent to Australia. And not just them, but also their families.

Check this out:

This is a public poster of support for the Tolpuddle Martyrs. It's the most British thing ever.

Dinner on table at half-past two precisely.

The Dinner will be served hot, of the best description, in the large Room of the Tavern, and will consist of every sort of Roast and Boiled Meats, Hams, Vegetables, Bread, Porter ; Plumb Pudding, and Tarts.

CONCERT AND BALL

Eventually public support got their transportation overturned. Only one (our buddy Hammett) stayed in England. The rest emigrated to London, Ontario, Canada where they lived out in quiet obscurity until people recognised their names and put up memorial plaques over a century later.

There's more information to be had in the files and I'm sure if I did a deeper dive I could come up with some great articles in academic databases. But I have more Jackdaws to catalogue and I want to add them to my tumblr!

#Jackdaws #Trade Unions #Tolpuddle Martyrs #library life #Technical Services #Tech Services #cataloguing

[leam1983]

Temperaments

So. We've settled down to talk Boring Adult Budget Stuff, and Walt's effectively come down from his plan-covered iPhone-induced euphoria when he finally discovered what Sarah and I had made little to no bones about for three months.

Not giving actual names as per my usual policy, but let's say that Walt, Sarah and I are subscribers to the Yellow ISP and Cable Provider that's fairly ubiquitous around Montreal and Quebec. Local kiddos on here will know exactly who it is I'm talking about, everyone else can just sit by while I spin my yarn. Yellow's recently unveiled a reasonably-new-fangled all-in-one Smart Home, Telephony, Cable and Internet access package that can be subscribed to on a modular basis. We all have our respective cell phones and pay our own bills, the only things we were looking to foot as a trio involved Cable and Internet access. Shortly before Christmas, Walt realized that said new service came with a discounted iPhone or Android of fairly recent provenance, and pretty much saw dollar signs.

For three months, he's been loving his phone - and he's the least technophile guy I know. Sarah and I are the trio's tech-heads, he's the requisite Boomer-in-technological-prowess-only who can't remember how to access the TV remote's Favourites menu even if he, himself programmed it.

For these three months, Sarah and I frequently mentioned that this package deal came with a discounted smartphone plan, yes - but a 15$ price hike on ISP services. Not a one-shot 15$, but fifteen bucks extra per month. We live in an age where everyone has too many subscriber services to count and that seems like the kind of sum Sarah and I just shrug off, but Walt is from another breed entirely.

He's an early Gen Xer, in the sense that although he's more chill than a Boomer, he still has a few quirks picked up from his pre-Flower Power parents. Namely, he has what I'd call a sense of monetary morals.

I'm much more lax, in comparison. I've worked in Sales, I know the pitches, I just tell most sellers to fast-forward to the post-"discount" price and to let me a few days to think it through, if one applies. Some kid tells me he'll re-jigger my Internet and Phone bills so I get X amount of dollars shaved off? I start looking for where that X is put back. In clearer terms, I expect a certain amount of pecuniary dishonesty. Not Walter. Walter's our Boy Scout, our Captain America Northwest Ontario Plus Body Habitus.

So that hike we spent three months mentioning over and over only just registered. Now, well, Walt's in Righteous Indignation Mode, something that drives me as much nuts for him as it sometimes makes me want to laugh out loud.

Now, you'll ask me, doesn't Walt work with salespeople? Didn't he know what to expect? For cars, sure. For every little thing that fits with his expensive tastes - absolutely. You can't get one past him. Not at all. He's like a hawk.

For tech, though? I imagine all he could see while the Sales kid blabbed away was a reshoot of the Business Card scene from American Psycho, with himself in the role of Tim Van Patten.

Oh my God, an iPhone 14. Look at the compact size of it - he's even got a watermark engraved name and address backplate...

He was so proud of himself, too, acting like the non-tech-savvy type had just managed to score one over his nerd lovers - and we told him time and again that the other shoe was going to drop.

Well, drop it did.

Turns out Yellow ISP's registered this new service under a brand-spanking-new company, with a brand-spanking-new referral code for authorized payments. As in, they're not the same financial entity as our ISP proper. Walt just footed the bill for his phone to the ISP like he previously used to, not realizing that he was crediting our Internet and TV bills and defaulting on his new toy...

Let's go back to this evening. We've had some tender moments together as my previous post indicates, we've also had dinner and settled down to watch TV and gab away, and then the boyfriend wakes up from his post-supper and pre-bedtime kip to crack his knuckles and Pay Some Bills.

Now, you have to know something about Walt: he's an Anglophone through and through, and works a bit in reverse from us Québécois. We speak French on the daily and switch to English for the sake of emphasis, while he speaks English almost constantly and switches to an almost snobbish, almost excessively precise Metropolitan French to underline things or add some emotional weight.

The end result is Sarah and I are liberal with the usual câlisse and tabarnak that make up the usual basics of Québécois swear words, while my buddy makes it a point to swear like he's from Paris. Sarah and I think this is hilarious - it's another wrinkle in Walt's adorably self-aware delusions of sophistication.

Things ramp up over the evening. First there's mustache-tweaking, then there's occasionally making quiet trumpet noises while bugging out his eyes at the papers set in front of him, and then there's Walt getting frustrated enough with the ISP's Customer Service goons to switch to a Received English Pronunciation dialect, pinching his index and fingers together almost like Donald Trump as he tries to wrap his increasingly-obvious condescension for whoever's on the phone with him with a brittle veneer of politeness.

Then, the suit jacket comes off. The sleeves are unbuttoned and rolled. The tie is undone and, finally, a few minutes after loosening his shirt's collar, Walter hangs up, mouth agog, and sends me an endearingly tragic look of supplication.

"Putain de merde!" leaves his mouth with even more forced precision than Sam Reid could ever muster as Lestat de Lioncourt.

I glance at Sarah. "Catastrophe funds transfer?"

She nods. "Catastrophe funds transfer."

Walt owed, oh, let's invent a sum and say several hundred dollars in unpaid network access fees. We split the lump in two, and I then gestured for him to give me the phone, adding a few finger-snaps for good measure. "You're off the case, Walt - I'll make things easy for you in a jiff." I tell him.

I called Customer Service again and instead of giving them a flummoxed Early Senior who was coming down from what had felt like the Deal of the Century, I gave them a customer who knew what he wanted. I rattled off account numbers with some assistance from Sarah, and arranged for Walt's phone bill to be fused with our actual ISP bill. Walt wanted me to add that paying an "undisclosed" fifteen dollars extra was making me "quite unhappy", but I figured I'd turn the CS rep's script on them.

"Listen, Kev - I've worked CSI before in the past. You've got me on the phone: someone who's patient and agreeable. Someone who's been there. If you want, I can pass you to the other guy, who'd want to drag your supervisors to the court of public opinion. Look at my record, look at miss Tremblay's record - we're solid clients. Do something about those fifteen bucks extra, and I'll throw in a glowing recommendation for the Customer Service survey you're guaranteed to email me with afterwards."

Ten minutes later, I hung up and glanced back at an ashen-looking Walter C. George, feeling pretty good about myself.

"They looked at Sar and I's cell phone bills and found years of unclaimed credit, seeing as we always round out our payments. We've earned ourselves six months at zero bucks in upkeep fees."

Walter floundered in French. "Why can I dance circles around Sales reps in dealerships when a nineteen year-old with a sales pitch and a designer lanyard gets to string me along?"

I smirked. "For the same reason you get to hop across the office's staircase while being unable to stay awake past 7 PM, and the same reason I get to hold altogether too much administrative power over the office network while needing your arm to negotiate the front lobby."

#long post #life post #customer service woes

[toughgirlchallenges]

Jillian A. Brown - Paddling a tandem sea kayak down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and becoming the first Canadian to paddle across America; 6,500km in 150 days.

After leaving her entire life behind to escape an abusive relationship, Jillian found herself living in a tent in the woods. 

  Confused, depressed and feeling a lack of control over emotions and herself, she learned of her diagnosis of PTSD. 

  Refusing medication, she shifted PTSD to fuel her drive to connecting back to fitness, health, nature, adventure and herself. 

  She is now particularly known for her niche of integrating her imagery and story telling in powerful presentations, offering healing and connection for others. 

  She has also reframed her definition of PTSD  to  - Perseverance - Trust - Strength - Determination

  In the past few years Jillian has pushed herself to achieve a world first: Paddling a tandem sea kayak down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon and becoming the first Canadian to paddle across America; a journey of  over 6,500km completed in 150 days. This involved going through 16 states with 23 portages (carrying the kayak), including 675kms over the Great Divide, which she did on a broken foot.

  “Nothing is placed in front of us, that we don’t have the strength to overcome. It’s just believing in ourselves enough.”

  * Content Warning - Abusive relationships are discussed as well as PTSD - we don’t go into specific but it is mentioned and talked about. 

  New episodes of the Tough Girl Podcast go live every Tuesday at 7am UK time - Hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss out. 

  You can support the mission to increase the amount of female role models in the media by signing up as patron Visit www.patreon.com/toughgirlpodcast Thank you.

  Show notes

Who is Jillian

What does she do

Growing up and spending half of her life in Winnipeg

How did her love for the outdoors and nature start

Growing up in an island with her entire family

Discovering and finding their own hobbies and activities in the woods

Wanting to be a naturalist and being creative as a kid

Taking photos and having camera in hand since 10 years old

Making plans of going to specific school or university to study photography

Struggling in university studying fine arts

Getting into Prairieview School of Photography

Feeling stuck again after finishing the program

Returning to the island in northwestern Ontario to reconnect with nature

Falling inlove with the mountains and oceans

Packing up and driving to the west coast with her dog

Landing a photography job

Becoming a live-in nanny

Getting fitness while doing photography

Having a musher partner and friends

Starting their own team and a dog sledding company

Having an abusive relationship and leaving everything behind

Living in a tent in the woods with her dog for seven months

Living in the best home she could ever have that moment

Dealing with trauma

Becoming concerned about her negative thoughts

Meeting a counselor and being diagnosed with PTSD

Believing a counselor is not for her

Discovering her own healing tool out in nature

Having a supportive family

Doing  a solo roadtrip across Canada

Wanting to reconnect with her passions and family

Not opening up about her abusive relationship to her family

Writing an article published in the Canadian Women's Foundation

Talking about her solo travel experience

Having others inspired by her article and her story

Shifting her mindset around PTSD

"I've been able to basically utilise that kind of diagnosis and what we affiliate as a negative to be my fuel to accomplish goals and allow me to accept saying yes to things, new experiences, and push myself. I believe wholeheartedly that nothing is placed in front of us that we don't have the strength to overcome."

Perseverance, Trust, Strength, and Determination

Being a CEO and lead guide of a camp

Being able to share all of her knowledge to help others get through life's challenges

Becoming the first Canadian to paddle across America

How she started the journey with Jaime Sharp @jaimesharp_adventures

Her journey on paddling a tandem sea kayak through the Grand Canyon

Getting into more detail about paddling across America

Ending up paddling up solo on a trip

Needing a break...

Being mentally broken back then

Getting support from people and her sponsors

Why she decided to keep going

Sharing more experiences about her journey

Getting injured and how she recovered

Most valuable lessons she learned on her journey

Doing a 75-day expedition flipping a 400lbs. tire up to mountains with 60 lbs. of steel chains in 2021 to raise awareness to PTSD

Being stationed as Ecoguardian at Race Rocks

Final words of advice

  Social Media

  Instagram: @jillianabrownphotography 

  Check out this episode!

#podcast #women #sports #health #motivation #challenges #change #adventure #active #wellness #explore #grow #support #encourage #running #swimming #triathlon #exercise #weights

[thepermanentrainpress]

CONCERT REVIEW: AVRIL LAVIGNE W/ GRANDSON AND MOD SUN AT DOUG MITCHELL THUNDERBIRD SPORTS CENTRE - MAY 24TH, 2022

I can’t lie – Avril Lavigne’s music was a large part of my childhood. Her crackling ability to own both power ballads and angsty pop punk/rock as a Canadian female artist was something I admired. I watched her perform at Burnaby’s Eaton Centre (now known as Metrotown Mall) in 2004, and Swangard Stadium in the snow a few years after. It’s been fifteen years, and yet the atmosphere at Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre could’ve fooled me; black apparel, fishnet tights, ripped jeans, combat boots and plaid were aplenty, a mid-2000’s skater-meets-grunge style Avril helped coin years back. The Bite Me Tour was nostalgic, a testament to her reputation and twenty-year career in the industry that had mostly young working-age adults in attendance (with the odd child sprinkled in – kids have good taste).

Mod Sun (Derek Ryan Smith) put in the effort to amp up the crowd, which was unfortunately quite sparse at 8 o’clock between the vacant seats and patrons purchasing food or merch. He opened with the uptempo “Betterman,” before asking the audience if they were ready for the “greatest show in [their] entire life tonight.” Most tracks performed were from his fourth record Internet Killed the Rockstar (2021), including the lovesick and sweet “Annoying,” written for the love of his life—any guesses? The stage strobe lights woke me up, almost in unison to his dancing across the bare stage. My favourite was “Bones” – one I was eagerly anticipating for its big, emotional sound. You feel the impact of how closely held another can be, and the weight of dependency. He shared stories from his past to preface the music: being banned from Canada for eight years, and the popular school kids that influenced the sarcastic, culture inflicted “Rich Kids Ruin Everything.” His signature lime green hair, jump in step and layered effects in his vocals hit the mark, a fun carousel of pop, rock, punk, rap and electronic. Before exiting, he made sure to have the now engaged members hold up their pinky fingers to promise they’d be back when he returns to Vancouver.

The arena playlist was on-brand in between sets, with Simple Plan’s “I’m Just A Kid,” blink-182’s “All The Small Things,” The All-American Rejects’ “Dirty Little Secret,” All Time Low’s “Dear Maria, Count Me In” and We The Kings’ “Check Yes Juliet” on well-received rotation.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” loudly hushed the arena, preparing for grandson’s grand entrance. Joseph Edward Benjamin was born in New Jersey, but grew up and spent his formative years in Ontario, so it was nice to see another Canadian on the bill! His genre is a moody rap rock – it’s no surprise his debut record was titled Death of an Optimist (Fueled by Ramen). He opened with the gritty “Best Friends,” which spins an underlying message of pursuing one’s dreams and embracing change. Some may recognize “Rain” from last year’s The Suicide Squad; one of perspective and tragedy, it was my personal favourite from his set. In between songs he talked about the sentiment of returning to live music since the start of the pandemic, the crowd in agreement over how special it was to be in a place with others connected through music. The most engagement he received was during his cover of Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” (“the greatest song ever written,” he proclaimed), a classic choice for a cover. I enjoyed “Drop Dead,” seemingly sad text but the push forward and encouragement wasn’t overlooked.

Towards the end of his set, he introduced his band David Rehmann (drums) and Ramòn Blanco (guitar), prompting the split-in-half arena to have a cheer off – Blanco’s stage right was declared the winner. Closing with the chilling and explosive “Blood // Water,” I could tell he felt every word, still brim with energy as he leaped from the drum head (Rehmann’s kit sat atop a riser). While his music isn’t my typical listen, I have a new appreciation for the technicality and raw creativity found in his material. grandson’s stagger and unsteady movement are a captivating draw – a fluid yet chaotic delivery that will continue gaining him fans around the world.

A ‘Love Sux’ screen veiled the stage, with Lavigne’s balloon-holding silhouette visible as it lifted to thunderous excitement at just past 10. She opened with the 2000’s inflicted “Cannonball” – one of a handful she’d perform from her seventh album Love Sux (Elektra Records / Travis Barker’s DTA Records). “Bite Me” is my favourite from the new record. An upbeat anthem about one’s worth and a sassy response to a former romantic partner, the narrator relishes in the aftermath. The first nostalgic trip for me was “What the Hell,” an easy sing-along and catchy (as hell). “Complicated” and “My Happy Ending” were special moments, although I could barely hear Lavigne’s voice over the crowd (at some points, I thought they should’ve turned her mic higher for this reason). It’s unbelievable to think it’s been twenty and eighteen years since their initial releases, respectively.

The stage was outfitted in red and black, with giant coloured balloons still flying around the stadium well into the set. The back screen flashed different graphics for each track, featuring the song title, the odd lyric and overlays of Lavigne live with footage from her music videos. Visually it kept things fun, and added to the nostalgic factor.

Mod Sun returned to duet “Flames,” and I have to say, their voices complement each other very well with his rougher edge and her pristine tone. His energy on-stage balances out her more subdued presence. The pair doesn’t hide their affection, between the kisses shared and Mod Sun’s constant praise of the “Canadian princess.” Lavigne has collaborated with current music heavyweights Machine Gun Kelly, WILLOW, Travis Barker and blackbear over the past couple years – a trend that has proved a resurgence in her popularity leading up to Love Sux’s February release. She didn’t engage with the audience too often, but her words reached the room as she remarked it was her seventh tour to celebrate her seventh album, and how “Losing Grip” was the first track from her debut Let Go (“when CD’s were still a thing”). The boyfriend-stealing “Girlfriend” had most dancing out of their seats on the floor or in the stands, and the General Admission floor was certainly feeling the music. I was a tad disappointed Lavigne didn’t add a necktie to her outfit when belting out “Sk8er Boi,” but can’t be too upset – the music was what mattered. She took the time to thank her band and opening acts before red confetti rained onto the floor, and she finished the popular track with a “1, 2, 3, 4 hey!” as she kicked and punched the air in beat with her band.

Her encore featured “Head Above Water” and “I’m With You,” a slower repertoire that still packed the power. The former was written about Lavigne’s battle with Lyme disease – a spiritual piece that highlights her range and crystal clear vocals. It was a perfect closer and one could tell she appreciated the support, smiling as she held the mic towards the crowd as they sang the chorus back. I have admiration for how Lavigne can still perform songs released as a teenager, twenty years later and still garner a relatable and warm response. While she’s in a new era in her career, the dark eyeliner, vocal chops and legendary status remain.

Written by: Chloe Hoy Photographed by: Timothy Nguyen

#PRconcert #Review #concert review #Music #live music #UBC #Avril Lavigne #Bite Me Tour #Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre #concert #Bite Me #Love Sux Tour #Love Sux #Chloe #Mod Sun #grandson #Joseph Edward Benjamin #Derek Ryan Smith #Death of an Optimist #Internet Killed the Rockstar #My Happy Ending #What the Hell #Sk8er Boi #Head Above Water #I'm With You

[franck37williams]

What Online Gifts Have Started To Mean For The Shopper

Have you experienced those infomercials about buying houses with "No Money Over?" They are really done well. They have many types of people offering great testimonials exactly how they have gotten rich, buying rental properties, with very little money out inside of their pocket. You check this out guy, standing on the street corner, talking to someone, and he says, "I own that one," pointing to a beautiful colonial. "I also own that one next to it, and the one two doors down, and I'll be closing on one directly across the highway from it, in the future." He then assures us that he's purchased 17 homes in the last eight or ten months, with zero money down during the properties. Plus, in some cases he's also paid no expenses. apoweredit crack latest download "I" refers to Incentive. You've have something inciting one to action.your ultimate "Why". Just you doing what an individual doing? How could counselling you desire to begin that business? A reason builds the walls that keeps you specializing in your Wonderous. No doubt about the difference! But again, it is the responsibility establish what your incentive is and operate will drive you toward your Special. In Canada, exports are "zero-rated" sales for T.S.T. purposes. This translates that when you ship something to someone outside Canada, you don't charge Gary.S.T. Yet, you come to claim (or deduct off of the G.S.T. collected by you) all the "input tax credits" (G.S.T. that you paid for business purposes) to make that move. The idea, I suppose, is actually by encourage forwarding. As well, each province and territory has a unique rules. Ontario charges 8 % retail florida sales tax on many typical Internet transactions whereas Alberta has no provincial sales tax. One more thing very. try to be original. Yes, I'm sure you really do crackeygenpatch like the great outdoors and need to meet someone looks good in a tux while in jeans, but so does everyone new! Tell us some things about yourself that wouldn't necessarily go out in a lift conversation employing tax accountancy firm. For example, what are you captivated with? What would you do if no longer had to for a living? What's your favorite flavor of gelato? Would you secretly wish everyday was sampling day at the grocery store? . now it' getting interesting! Have fun describing yourself without making excuses about why you're on the blog or who convinced a person finally go online. Tell us what makes you unique. Do not think these 4 marketing tales. They're not true. Marketing based in them will lead you to lose sales. Instead, apply the related marketing tips I included after each myth enhance your item sales.

#DOWNLOADCRACK

[virtchandmoir]

November 22, 2021

Since this year, your student, Olympic champion Scott Moir, has been working with you. Whose idea is this?

Lauzon: Mutual. When Scott finished skating, no one thought he would want to become a coach. But when he announced this decision to us, we realized: ok, we have to do something together. This will be the best solution for both him and us. You know, we came up with this whole topic with the I AM Montreal Academy precisely for this reason: it is obvious that in the near future many of our couples, with whom we are so close, will graduate. And we would like to offer them a platform where they would continue their development in figure skating - just in a different capacity.

They will be able to open schools under our wing, we will help at the initial stage from an organizational point of view - after all, we already have tremendous experience in this matter. Scott is the general manager of our London, Ontario office. This is a separate skating rink with its own coaching group, almost 8 hours by car is not close to it. But we are constantly in touch, by zoom or in person, we are always there. Scott brings his couples to Montreal for away training, so we don't dump him.

Haguenauer: Scott is still a great guy - on and off the ice. He is in love with figure skating, loves ice dancing - he is not just an ambitious athlete who skated for medals. Therefore, I am sure that he will make a good coach. I can definitely say that love for sports is more important than titles. I won nothing, haha.

Sometimes his athletes train at our rink, sometimes the guys from Montreal fly to him - recently Madison Hubbell and Zach Donahue came to them. Scott has a lot to learn, working with him is a unique opportunity for any couple. Experience, technical skills, psychological secrets - it's all about him.

Moir: When Tessa Virtue and I finished skating for the first time in 2014, I left the sport - I needed a break. But I was lucky that Tessa and I wanted to return soon. And when we took to the ice in Montreal with a new team, it completely changed the way we perceived figure skating - from our approach to training to the choice of programs. It was great luck to be a part of that environment.

You might think that I am saying this because we won gold at the 2018 Olympics, but I'm not just talking about winning. I felt good. I was not ready to part with the team and turn this page for myself. I could not give up figure skating, but I understood that I had a family: a bride, parents - so I wanted to live in Ontario. With Patrice and Marie-France, we came up with the idea of ​​expanding the academy by opening a campus in London, Canada.

Young coaches do not refuse such offers. I had no doubt.

At school, you are not only a coach, but also a general manager. A lot of work besides purely coaching?

Moir: Yes, definitely - and I really like it. It is clear that I adore standing on the ice in skates, but in the last years of my sports career, I realized how important it is to look wider. Do not concentrate only on the skating rink and skating. You need to treat figure skating as a successful business, create the best conditions for athletes, do your job at such a level that your skaters would be the best in theirs. This is a huge, complex work, and everything is not limited to ice.

Therefore, my job is to create a cocoon of conditions around the athletes so that they show the peak at the right time in the right place. Tell them what they can get in our group, hear their request - and suggest something new.

It sounds unusual and a little strange: how is it "not to concentrate on the rink"?

Moir: This is one of the main values, and now I am familiar with it from both sides - both as an athlete and as a coach. It may sound unexpected, but your path in sports is not an end in itself. With a sports career, you prepare yourself for life after sports. You must painlessly move to a new stage of life - much more important than sports. Many of these skaters have not lived even a quarter of their lives, their path ahead is much longer than the one that was covered.

When I finished, I had such a void inside, I didn't know what to do. All I could do was ride. Therefore, the main thing for me is not only to make my pupils great skaters, but also to prepare them for life after sports. It is not easy, but we are not working with 12-year-olds, we are all adults. They should be responsible for their lives and at least for their training.

It is clear that we do not forget about figure skating itself. We are, first of all, an ice school, but we must look wider. We are lucky: our athletes understand this and are ready for a mature relationship. I help them, advise, share my vast experience. But this is their career and their life, where you cannot stand still. What I won with in 2018 will not bring them victory in 2022, and even more so in 2026.

Which side of the side is more difficult for Scott Moir to be on?

Moir: These are completely different sensations. Emotionally, nothing beats going to the ice in a competition. But for the Olympics, tension hangs in the air - and, of course, it doesn't feel right over the side. Skaters have been feeling goosebumps for a year or a year and a half before the Games, and some of our couples began to think about Beijing while still standing on the podium in Korea in 2018.

Being a coach is a completely different feeling. Now I am also nervous - but primarily because I want my skaters to show everything they are capable of. For a coach, this is a moment of truth - did you work well, did you do everything right, did the techniques that you came up with worked. In competitions, my main task is to be near, because it is wild stress. I was lucky: I am a beginner coach, and I already have such incredible athletes - for example, Anthony and Christina (duet Carreira/Ponomarenko - Sports.ru). I'm terribly proud of them.

And Tessa Virtue? Did you invite her to the academy as well?

Haguenauer: She helps, advises our British pair Fear / Gibson, but does not want to be a coach on a full-time basis. Tessa receives an MBA (Master of Business Administration - Sports.ru), studies from morning to night, and leads many other projects. She wants to try her hand outside figure skating. But she comes to our skating rink when she can.

She is not yet ready to become a coach, she is not drawn to K&K - apparently, she has had enough, haha. At the same time, I am sure that a first-class coach will come out of her, I watched her in the summer when she worked with the guys on the ice. She has this gift. Moreover, she now looks at figure skating as if from the outside - this helps to find fresh solutions, unexpected tricks.

Lauzon: Yes, Tessa works closely with Lilah and Lewis - both on ice and zoom. She pays great attention to their mood, for them she is an ideal mentor and example, here we are talking not only about skating. She built all of their training off the ice. I don't think she wants to become their coach - she has so many things going on in her life. But if she suddenly changes her mind, then we are always waiting for her.

Scott, you do not give up the hope of working with her in a pair - like Marie-France with Patrice?

Moir: Let's see. It depends on her. From my side - yes, of course, why not? We have a great relationship. But the coaching staff is much more than two people in K&K. Lauzon and Dubreuil are unique coaches, but strength is in the team. Romain, other specialists - all create the very atmosphere that makes our academy the best. Everyone brings their own, lends a shoulder, supports - this is the only way to create the right environment for the emergence of champions.

Would I like Tessa Virtue to join this team? Without a doubt. It's as if you had a chance to get Wayne Gretzky. But Gretzky alone is not a hockey team. Our goal is to bring the Ontario campus to the level of the headquarters in Montreal, and we are working on it.

How many pairs do you manage?

Moir: 11. 7 adults, 2 juniors and 2 novices duos. New generation, yes. I am especially pleased that half of them are from my area. That is, I'm trying to repay the debt to the place where I grew up, where I skated. When I returned home after a sports career, I found that in my home club there are several guys who are burning with ice dancing. And I thought, "Why not help them?"

This is a very pleasant feeling: a couple of years ago they were newbies, and now they can ask Patrice Lauzon for advice! So we are growing.

Do you participate in the training sessions of Papadakis and Cizeron?

Moir: No, why would they want that, haha? They ride at such a level that I have nothing to teach them. Well, our rivalry on the ice is still too fresh in the memory. So I'm just a fan of theirs, freezing at their performances and banging my palms afterwards. They know how to work with the public in a special way. The hall is spellbound. Charlie White did something similar with Meryl Davis, especially Charlie.

Our return to the 2018 Olympics boiled down, in fact, to the question "will we be able to beat Gabriella and Guillaume?" We kept them at gunpoint all the time. And then we left the sport and realized that fate gave yfv an invaluable relationship with the main rival. I have not competed for 3.5 years - and my heart belongs entirely to Gabby and Guillaume. I'm so glad they ride again, and damn it, how I want to see them in Beijing.

Would you like them to get Olympic gold?

Moir: I will say this: I work in the team of Marie-France and Patrice, I do not work directly with the Papadakis / Cizeron pair. I am happy to help the Hubbell / Donahue duo. It's obvious to me that these two pairs have incredible glide, culture of movement and a sense of ice.

Madi and Zach are famous for their skate, ribs, glide cleanliness, speed - they are inimitable here. I could never skate like that. Falling asleep, I sometimes thought - why can't I do this? It is difficult to compare duets in our form - they are all so different; but Gaby and Guillaume are a phenomenon. They happen once in a generation.

Every coaching school has a peak, and at some point a decline begins. A couple of Olympic cycles ago in dancing there was no equal to the Zueva-Shpilband group, and now their pairs are not among the contenders for the Olympic podium. Are you not afraid of such a fate? Scott, follow Russian duets?

[...]

Haguenauer: This is why we need new blood, and we are glad that Scott Moir is with us now. This is the only way to avoid stagnation. 

Scott, follow Russian duets?

Moir: Oh yes, now it's my job. I don't like to comment on productions without seeing them live. In the recording, this is all wrong. To form an opinion about the dance, it must be seen on the ice. Speed, magnetism - YouTube will not convey this. Of course, I watched as Victoria and Nikita won the World Cup in Stockholm. But I'm looking forward to seeing them off TV.

I trained with Russian coaches for 10 years (Zueva and Shpilband, before moving to Montreal - Sports.ru). I appreciate the style of the Russians, what they bring to figure skating, there is such a huge history behind your pairs. So yeah, it's interesting to see what they show this year.

You won the Olympic Games with full stands. It seems that there will not be full stands in Beijing. How much does the auditorium help with rental?

Moir: It's a strange experience. It won't get any easier - it's still the Olympics, the stakes are just as high. There will still be a pedestal on which the Olympic medals will be awarded. Unfortunately, athletes are already accustomed to incomplete gyms, this is also an experience and this also needs to be learned. But, in general, this is horror, of course. I hope the organizers will admit at least Chinese spectators and sports delegations. Otherwise it will be completely sad. The audience is very helpful.

—Sports.ru (Google translate)

#tessa and scott #off ice #i.am ontario #coach #interview: sports.ru #lot of interesting bits #remembers it's translated #(also call bullshit on i.am not knowing scott would coach unless he meant timeline)