I've read countless email forwards like this and would normally just pass right by, but this list of 45 best life lessons is actually pretty good. Especially #40. And #10.
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile..
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over-prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24.. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone for everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
32.. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33.. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
When guys become girls: Faux-tranny ad campaign
The T-word. Beyond your average four-letter words, this six-letter behemoth has inspired universal fear and embarrassment among men for decades. And yet an ad campaign has a 16-year-old guy not only saying the word, but buying the product.
The word... is tampon.
This year's award for Most Bizarre Ad Campaign Ever has to go to Tampax. The Globe and Mail posted a story today about the company's creation, a teenager named Zack, who randomly wakes up one morning with a vajajay instead of his usual equipment. Now Zack must deal with all the delightful side effects that come along with being a Woman, and purchase his very own products:
This from the fictional Zack's online diary, which is accompanied by his very own Twitter feed and YouTube channel.
Seriously?
As the Globe points out, there is a chance this ad campaign (which has apparently been going on since April, so... good job, marketers?) may anger young girls, or grown women, who do have to actually deal with this crap in real life, and may not take kindly to the male gender pretending to complain about it and then throwing down their tampons with glee, shouting, "I was just kidding! I don't have my period! I'm STILL A MAN!"
But there could be positive impacts to this campaign too. Maybe men will not only stop gloating about how easy they've got it, body-wise, and just bring us a damn latte at opportune moments. MAYBE, just maybe, those men who are in relationships with a woman will see these ads and realize that buying a pack of tampons for one's significant other on occasion is not the worst thing in the world.
Yeah. And maybe Sarah Palin will join the Democrats.
The word... is tampon.
This year's award for Most Bizarre Ad Campaign Ever has to go to Tampax. The Globe and Mail posted a story today about the company's creation, a teenager named Zack, who randomly wakes up one morning with a vajajay instead of his usual equipment. Now Zack must deal with all the delightful side effects that come along with being a Woman, and purchase his very own products:
"I arrived at that point in every man with a vagina's life, when he leaves home and goes out into the world to buy his own damn tampons."
This from the fictional Zack's online diary, which is accompanied by his very own Twitter feed and YouTube channel.
Seriously?
As the Globe points out, there is a chance this ad campaign (which has apparently been going on since April, so... good job, marketers?) may anger young girls, or grown women, who do have to actually deal with this crap in real life, and may not take kindly to the male gender pretending to complain about it and then throwing down their tampons with glee, shouting, "I was just kidding! I don't have my period! I'm STILL A MAN!"
But there could be positive impacts to this campaign too. Maybe men will not only stop gloating about how easy they've got it, body-wise, and just bring us a damn latte at opportune moments. MAYBE, just maybe, those men who are in relationships with a woman will see these ads and realize that buying a pack of tampons for one's significant other on occasion is not the worst thing in the world.
Yeah. And maybe Sarah Palin will join the Democrats.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Reaping the fruits of our complacency
A very good friend of mine sent me an email forward today, knowing (as she knows me so well) that I would have an opinion on it. And did I ever. I've pasted the email here and have responded to it below...
Well... first things first:
Maybe if the person who wrote these comments knew the difference between a possessive apostrophe and a contraction, I would have more respect for his/her opinions.
Seriously though, I hear and see this kind of shit all the time, especially living in Toronto, and I have no patience for it. I happen to think the Canadian anthem should stay the way it is, because it's tradition, but I don't think the mere suggestion to translate it (and that's all it was, a suggestion, not an order or a decision) should cause mass xenophobic hysteria. Incidentally, xenophobia is the fear of foreigners or strangers. People who rant against immigrants "trying to change our great country" are scared, and their fear blinds them to the realities of how immigration actually impacts this country.
We are a nation of only-children who are not reproducing our own population. Once the baby boomers grow old, retire, and begin to pass away, we will not only be left with gaping holes in our employment system, medical staff and political leadership, but with holes in our society as well. We NEED immigrants - just as early Canadian settlers needed other settlers to help them establish themselves.
More importantly, whether our population grows or shrinks, our country is not as perfect as these people would like to believe. Canada may be high up on the index of living standards in comparison to much of the world, but the fact remains that we have major, major issues here that are not being dealt with. The rise in homelessness, the lack of government attention to problems like mental illness and inaccessible education, and many industries that lack young people being trained to work - crucial industries like health care, elder care and essential trades - all of these are really big problems that are convenient to ignore as we go about our daily lives, belting 'O Canada' at opportune moments and slagging the Americans for their messed-up way of running their country.
When I hear about people keeling over and dying in emergency waiting rooms because there aren't enough doctors to tend to them... when I see taxi drivers with medical training kept out of our system because of government bias and red tape... and when I see homeless men - and women - on the street corner every morning as I approach my office building, with their feet black with frostbite, it makes me wonder who could possibly think that immigrants are "spoiling" this country.
And for anyone who would accuse me of being cynical or anti-Canadian... I love my country fiercely and I vote every chance I get - thus I have the right to speak up. It is the unpatriotic and the politically apathetic who have no right to complain.
WE ARE PROUD CANADIANS
Bruce Allen is on the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Committee and new Canadians (specifically Hindi's/Indian's) want him fired for his recent comments outlined below:
[Note: these comments included the phrase "If you choose to come to a place like Canada, then shut up and fit in."]
I am sorry, but after hearing they want to sing the National Anthem in Hindi at the 2010 Olympics - enough is enough. Nowhere or at no other time in our Nation's history, did they sing it in Italian, Japanese, Polish, Irish (Celtic), German, Portuguese, Greek, or any other language because of immigration. It was written in English, adapted into French, and should be sung word for word the way it was written.
The news broadcasts even gave the Hindi version translation - which was not even close to our National Anthem. I am not the least bit sorry if this offends ANYONE, this is MY COUNTRY; My Grand Dad served in the military, other family members also served, as well as my wife & I served a combined total of 56 years between us. We made many sacrifices for our country and do not feel we should feel obligated to allow invited people we've welcomed with open arms to influence & change our society to better resemble the one they chose to leave to come here!!! - IF YOU AGREE ABOUT THIS GREAT COUNTRY, SPEAK UP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE
I am not against immigration. In fact I believe we need more, my ancestors were immigrants -- just come through like everyone else. Get a sponsor; a place to lay your head; have a job; pay your taxes, live by the Rules AND LEARN THE LANGUAGE as all other immigrants have in the past -- and LONG LIVE CANADA!'
It's time we all get behind Bruce Allen, and scrap this Political Correctness His comments were anything but racist, however, there are far too many overly sensitive 'New Canadians' that are attempting to change everything we hold dear.
ARE you PART OF THE PROBLEM ??? Think about this: If you don't want to forward this for fear of offending someone, will we still be the Country of Choice and Still be CANADA if we continue to make the changes forced on us by the people from other countries who have come to live in CANADA because it is the Country of Choice??????
Think about it!
IMMIGRANTS, NOT CANADIAN'S, MUST ADAPT.
It's Time for CANADIANS to speak up.. If you agree ? Pass this along; if you don't agree? Delete it and reap what you sow because of your complacency!
Well... first things first:
Maybe if the person who wrote these comments knew the difference between a possessive apostrophe and a contraction, I would have more respect for his/her opinions.
Seriously though, I hear and see this kind of shit all the time, especially living in Toronto, and I have no patience for it. I happen to think the Canadian anthem should stay the way it is, because it's tradition, but I don't think the mere suggestion to translate it (and that's all it was, a suggestion, not an order or a decision) should cause mass xenophobic hysteria. Incidentally, xenophobia is the fear of foreigners or strangers. People who rant against immigrants "trying to change our great country" are scared, and their fear blinds them to the realities of how immigration actually impacts this country.
We are a nation of only-children who are not reproducing our own population. Once the baby boomers grow old, retire, and begin to pass away, we will not only be left with gaping holes in our employment system, medical staff and political leadership, but with holes in our society as well. We NEED immigrants - just as early Canadian settlers needed other settlers to help them establish themselves.
More importantly, whether our population grows or shrinks, our country is not as perfect as these people would like to believe. Canada may be high up on the index of living standards in comparison to much of the world, but the fact remains that we have major, major issues here that are not being dealt with. The rise in homelessness, the lack of government attention to problems like mental illness and inaccessible education, and many industries that lack young people being trained to work - crucial industries like health care, elder care and essential trades - all of these are really big problems that are convenient to ignore as we go about our daily lives, belting 'O Canada' at opportune moments and slagging the Americans for their messed-up way of running their country.
When I hear about people keeling over and dying in emergency waiting rooms because there aren't enough doctors to tend to them... when I see taxi drivers with medical training kept out of our system because of government bias and red tape... and when I see homeless men - and women - on the street corner every morning as I approach my office building, with their feet black with frostbite, it makes me wonder who could possibly think that immigrants are "spoiling" this country.
And for anyone who would accuse me of being cynical or anti-Canadian... I love my country fiercely and I vote every chance I get - thus I have the right to speak up. It is the unpatriotic and the politically apathetic who have no right to complain.
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