It's been a week since the Scottish Independence vote, which is ancient history these days, but I have three thoughts on it.
One, I don't know much about it other than what's been on CNN International and the bits and pieces I've seen of Braveheart, but the reason I was total pro-Union was the campaign buttons. The pro-independence simply said "YES!", while the pro-Union buttons had the genteel "No Thanks". Obviously, the Union crowd had more class.
The real reason I was pro-Union was simply that wanting Independence seemed like the easy way out. There is no question that the pro-Union side was probably funded heavily by oil companies worried about their precious North Sea access, and similar interests were fuelling the Independence crowd, but I feel that we (you/me, Democrat/Republicans, Arabs/Jews, Itchy/Scratchy) should all be finding ways to work together instead of taking your ball and going home. Working through differences is rarely easy and it's rarer still that you get all that you want, but focusing on the things that bring us together will reduce the things that tear us apart to the point that they don't matter anymore. In my opinion anyway. If I was leading talks between the Arabs and the Jews, I would focus on food. They all eat the same stuff and how can you be mad at a guy that just served you a delicious kebab?
My third takeaway from the vote happened during the vote count. That day, I was sitting in an office for the 5 hours of vote count. CNN International was on and it was wall to wall coverage...not a word about any other story and nary a crawl announcing another NFL player beating a family member. I'm sitting there and 31 of the 32 whatever the have in Scotland had reported in, and the "No" vote was up handily. Someone looks at the screen and says "it's over" and I say, "it ain't over till the dude in the skirt blows some bag". Sure enough, 20 minutes later #32 reports their votes and the bagpipes kick in with a vengeance. I'm happy that this Scottish thing is over so the likelihood of hearing that horrible thing by accident is done. As soon as I make a bagpipe comment, there is always someone, usually female, with Scottish heritage that feels the need to say what a beautiful instrument it is. Those people would be wrong. The bagpipes produce the only music that is note for note worse than what the Chinese produce, especially with the erhu.(you have got to watch this SNL bit called Tech Talk...we cry with laughter at the 4 minute mark every time.) There is only one time when the sound of bagpipes puts a smile on my face, and that is when they are being played at the funeral of another bagpipe piper.
Have been quite busy helping out the local Community Center with their annual Auction Gala coming up tonight and haven't had a ton of time to post here, so will throw out some quick hits...
Was walking around with Paul the other day, we're on the sidewalk and a scooter comes barreling past us. Shouldn't be there and we have to scurry off to the side, and I say to Paul that sometimes when they pull that move, I have flashes of putting my shoulder into them Legion of Boom style, and he said he has the exact same thoughts. Nature or nurture or both?
First typhoon of the season blew through last weekend...Fung-Hong (aka in the Philippines as Mario). A lot of warnings, little impact and barely cooled off.
NFL season has begun, and have a lot of thoughts on the dumb assedness that has been going on off the field and the glory that is the RedZone, but my favorite thing from the season so far has been the 2015 Kia Hamster commercial. How wrong is it that I think the leather clad hamster chick (around 30 seconds in) is smokin' hot?
Had a dream the other night that I was going back to high school. Not sure why, but was totally plausible in the dreamlife, and the final class of the day for me was Mandarin. I remember sitting there listening to the teacher and saying to a classmate, "fuck it, no way I'm ever learning this language." Don't think I need to consult Dr. Freud as to what that means
On CNN this morning was the UN Ambassador from Liberia and he was talking about the steps they were taking with the population to combat Ebola. He says that with all their efforts to educate the population, there are still people who don't believe Ebola even exists. This reminded me how most every person you meet seems rational, but how stupid "people" are. It also summoned memories as to just how hard Depeche Mode both sucks and blows.
Betty was on the road this week and Carolyn was on a 5 day school trip, so it has just been Paul and I at home. The place stayed much cleaner, but was a bit smellier. One night, we're in the office together and I turn to see him with his finger knuckle deep up his nose. Reminded me of a time when he was about 4 or 5 and the two of us were sitting on the couch, and he was digging for gold. When he pulled out a bugger, I asked "what are you gonna do with that" and he replied matter of factly, "I'm gonna eat it."
If you're reading this, you obviously know I have a ton of pet peeves and that they are mostly related to social etiquette and public behavior. This one isn't limited to Taiwanese, but they are serial offenders...I see it every time I go to the Costco and saw it while there today so thought I'd share. In the checkout line, when the customers are done putting their purchases on the conveyor belt, they do not grab the little rubber divider and put it behind their stuff. This is another of those little things in life, like holding open a door or "ladies first", that if we all did instinctualy, the world would be a better place. To me, it's an example of the "I got mine, good luck getting yours, and while were at it, screw you" attitude towards strangers. They aren't consciously thinking that, but their entire body language reeks of it. Felt like they took a smelly dump on the conveyor to indicate where they, as the center of the universe, ends, and where the rest of us begin. As I grabbed it today, I wondered what it would feel like if I took that orange rubber thing and cracked them in the skull.
Finally for this week, one more from the pet peeve file. The place? You guessed it...Costco. This one concerns the above mentioned "people" and how they will be totally unaware that they are out in public. This was last week and the place was more jammed than usual in anticipation of the coming Moon Festival holiday. After navigating through the warehouse and checkout line, am making my way to the exit. We've all been to Costco before so know what happens when we get to the exit...you hand the receipt to the red jacketed thugs so they can eyeball your cart and draw a happy face on it. Am right behind an obviously distracted family consisting of a 30 something couple and their relatively young looking parents. No small kids or elderly that are moving slow to hinder their progress, but disorientation and distraction was radiating from them. Immediately suspect what's coming next and sure enough, they get to the door and their receipt is safely tucked in some hidden compartment in the ladies wallet that is buried deep inside her feed bag sized purse. I swear that one of these days my eyes are going to permanently freeze at the top of my socket as I roll them so much.
What happened next was totally unsuspected. The local Costco is in the city where space is at a premium, so it is 5 floors...two for the warehouse and three levels of parking underneath. You get from floor to floor on escalators and all of the carts are magnetized so they do not slip on the incline. I'm parked downstairs and the Receipt family above are too. I'm right behind them on the escalator and as we're headed down to our cars, see that the lady is still digging in her bag. At first, much like an infant, I thought her shiny keys in the bag made a funny jiggly sound and she was trying to grab at them, but it made total sense that it must have been 5 minutes since she looked at her phone. Out it came and on it went. About 5 feet from the bottom of the ride, she drops it and it comes apart into 4 pieces, phone, battery, back of phone and the case. They (lady and 4 phone parts) reach the bottom of the escalator and she bends over at the waist to pick them up. Me, right behind them, and whose cart is magnetically adhered to the escalator, is about a second from reaching the bottom. At this point, my total lack of working Mandarin does not work in her favor. While I cannot remember for sure, I think I yelled "Hey dummy", but that was not enough for her to realize that she was about to be plastered. Sure enough, cart hits ass, she gets knocked to her hands and knees and the phone parts she has grabbed go sliding along the concrete. I swear there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop my cart and this was not on purpose. After making sure she was gonna live and some dui bu qi's (I do know a couple of Mandarin things), I continue on to my car with a smile on my face.
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