What community?

So the other day it was raining (what the hell else is new), and so I was watching episodes of various shows from HGTV on my laptop. I found this show I've never seen before where people who are considering buying a house get to stay in the house for 24 hours to "test drive" it. Great concept!

So this one episode features a Canadian family from Toronto who have moved to California for work, have been searching for a house somewhere in the $750-850,000 mark (GASP!). During the show, the family takes a little walk through the community to see what it's like.

As I'm watching, they're commenting on the sense of community of the place, the little cafes, small mom and pop shops etc, which brings me back to why I hate the city I live in.

It's a mid-sized city of about 500,000 people. We're central to a ton of other places, but there's no "neighbourhood" feeling here. There's aren't any little cafes (just Tim Horton's), no mom and pop shops to speak of (big box stores abound however) and no feeling of community. The people on our street don't talk to each other, never mind socialize.

Why do people want to live like this?? I just don't get it.

Which made me think back to our stay in Playa this summer, where I had these great little conversations with a corner store owner every day. I think I spoke to him more in one week that I've ever spoken to a store owner around here! Sad, sad, sad.

What's happened to our lives that we're too busy/private/cautious/guarded/unable/unwilling to speak to people? Where has the sense of "community" and "neighbourhoods" gone???

Meh. Just pisses me off. It really does. For all people say, we could learn a lot from the everyday Mexican people. Is it time to move yet?

Random thoughts

The past little while I feel like I've got Bipolar Disorder. Up one day and down the next. Ugh. I know though, that I'm just incredibly stressed these days by a number of things going on, and that someday things will settle down and I'll be fine. You may have noticed by the topics I've been posting.

Anyway. While I was in the shower this morning, I got to thinking. I do a lot of thinking in the shower. It's a good place to stop and think.

I love the Playa del Carmen area, and could see us living there very happily. Real estate is expensive, but airfair is cheaper.

But then again, I'm so intrigued by the history and architecture etc of the Mazatlan area. Real estate is cheaper, but air fare is much more expensive.

Maybe someday we can afford to go to Mazatlan and check out that area.

Hmmm.... Food for thought.

Another though -

I have one more teacher's college application to fill out. I know very well that I haven't got a chance in hell of being accepted at this particular university, but I'd feel like I was cheating if didn't send in my application stuff anyway.

There is a school in Buffalo where I can apply as well if none of the schools I've applied to accepts me.

Another -

Sitka (Mike and Cynthia's pooch) found her way home, and I wonder if our beloved Chorney was up there in heaven guiding Sitka along her path and keeping an eye out on her. Regardless, I'm so happy that she's been brought home. What a great community in Guaymos!

Stuck in the house

Well, the end of October is fast approaching and winter is quickly barreling down upon us.  Another day of being cooped in the house.  It's still early in the "stuck in the house" season too.

It's cold, grey, really windy.  Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees and are laying in big, wet, soggy heaps on people's lawns.  They're too wet to even rake up.  

No one is outside.  These days you don't see anyone outside other than those running from their car into the house/store/mall/bank/whatever and back again.  No one is out walking, there are no kids out playing, the streets are bare.

Ger knows how badly I want out of here; how much I hate it here.  He's such an optimist that he tries to make everything sounds so much better than it really is.  So I asked him if he'd like to go out for a nice long walk, maybe a find a cafe and sit outside with a coffee.  If it's so bloody great, why not???

First of all, we don't have cafes here.  This is not a city of culture here.  We have 4 million Tim Horton locations instead.  You can go and sit inside and drink from cups made from carton, or from cheap, beige, chipped mugs.  You have the pleasure of being served by cranky teenagers making minimum wage, pissed at having to work there, but willing to do it so they can pay for those 200$ designer jeans.  You rarely get the coffee you asked for.  Ask for milk, they forget and put cream in it.  Ask for sugar, and it's either not in the cup, or all sitting at the bottom because said teenager was too lazy to stick a spoon in the cup and stir it.  If you're like me and drink decaf, you'll be lucky if there's a pot made, and if not, teenager with attitude will ask you if you want a regular coffee instead.  If I wanted a regular coffee I wouldn't have asked for decaf, you moron.  Once you're done, you can run like hell back to your car, battling the wind, pelting rain or snow and throw yourself into your car where you hope the car will warm up before frostbite and hypothermia set in.

Yes, it's great to live here.

I know that once the snow starts, we'll be back to the circus-act we had last year, where my husband had to push my car not only out of the driveway, but down 2 streets out of the subdivision.  Seriously.  I'm stuck with this car.  It's a 2000 Crown Victoria.  It's one big ass car.  My mother was kind enough to give it to me when she bought her 4-wheel drive SUV.  It's drinks gas like an alcoholic sucks back booze.  The best part???  We can't get rid of it!  No will buy the damn thing because with gas at the price it's at, no one wants to spend their money on this gas-guzzling piece of crap.

So I'm stuck with this car I hate.  I need a part-time job to keep it in gas.

This car is also a rear wheel drive.  It sucks in the snow and on ice.  And, believe me, I'm a pretty good driver, having learned to drive in northern Ontario in 20 feet of snow and ice 15 inches thick.  My son is learning to drive, and there's no way I can let him get behind the wheel of this monstrosity of a car in winter because when he does and he gets into an accident, I'll be guilty because I knowingly let him get behind the wheel of my death-trap on 4 wheels.

So, what do we have to look forward to?  The next 5-6 months of being holed-up in our houses, furnaces running full time costing a small fortune, snow that at first looks all pretty and white, but quickly turns brown and dirty because of the sand and salt they spray everywhere so people don't go slip-sliding off the roads.  Constantly shoveling the mountains of snow - sometimes light and fluffy and other times heavy and so wet - until your back aches and blisters form on your hands.  

Yah winter!!!!  But through it all, Gerald will say "It could be worse."  Sure, it could be worse!  But it's pretty damn shitty none the less!  He says this to try to make me feel better, but it just pisses me off.  

Movies

In an effort to reduce monthly household costs, we got rid of all the extra channels on our satellite tv account and have gone with the no-frills package.  No Food Network, Comedy Channel, Hockey channel, HGTV..  none of it.  We get very few channels and very few options.  This is fine with me, because I'm not a big tv watcher anyway.  I have my favourites, All the Law & Order shows, the CSI shows, House Hunters International and.... well I guess that's about it.  

Speaking of CSI - THEY KILLED OFF WARRICK BROWN - the FINEST LOOKING MAN ON ANY TELEVISION SHOW IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION!!!!   ok...  I'm better now.

When I get the urge, and the time time, to actually watch something, I look for those shows, and if they're not on, I look for a movie to watch.

I don't like horror movies, although I do enjoy a good psychological thriller - you know the kind that messes up your brain for a few days.  

I love comedies.  Office Space is one of my favourites.  I'm hoping someone will buy me a red Swingline Stapler at some point in my life.

Liar Liar is still, after all these years, one of the silliest movies I've ever seen and gives me the giggles every time I think about it.

Evan Almighty and the fish in the aquarium scene cracks me up.

Some of the Star Trek movies are good for a laugh.

The Airplane movies are classics and speaking of Leslie Neilson,

The Pink Panther is a riot!

My favourite movie of all-time is Under the Tuscan Sun.  It's my favourite for a number of reasons, and all the ex-pats living in different parts of the world could relate.

It's about a successful author, Francis, who's husband cheats on her and wants a divorce.  After it's all settled, her best friend and her partner, who are lesbians, send Francis away on a vacation - a gay tour of Tuscany.

While in Tuscany, Francis ends up jumping off the proverbial ledge and buys a run down villa and never returns to the states.  She hires a group of Polish immigrants to fix up the house, and tries her luck at love all over again with Marcello, a guy who's on the same level of gorgeousness as Gary Dourdan.

The movie is about the re-discovery of herself, healing, taking chances, learning, experiencing and living.  

This movie makes me cry every time I watch it.  I watch Francis (Diane Lane) take the chance of her life, struggle, fall down, get up and shake herself off, learn to love again and in the end succeed by following her dreams.

I love happy endings!

Tanksgibbin

It was actually Thanksgiving, of course, but we've always given Trap the greyhound his own voice, and in Trap-speak, it's Tanksgibbin.

Thank God it's over. I mean, I love my family but seriously. Do we really need to eat that much food?

Ok. It's my fault since I'm the "cooker" for every holiday. But there's guilt about not having enough food so I cook more than we need.

Trap LOVES any holiday that has turkey attached to it as he's the receiver of the prized "turkey neck". He grabs it and high tails it to the back door waiting to be let out because he knows he's not allowed to mow down on it anywhere inside the house. Outside is the appropriate place for the slobber-fest that's going to take place.

Now, before anyone tells me that dogs shouldn't eat raw stuff, keep in mind that Trap is a greyhound of the racing variety, although retired, and has eaten a healthy supply of raw food since day 1. There's a huge population of greyhounds that eat nothing but a raw diet, and they're happy and healthy - usually more so than the kibble-fed greyhound population.

Anyway.

My aunt and uncle came from Timmins and it's always great to see them. I don't get to see them very often and I really enjoy their company. My uncle had a stroke a few years back so he's not 100% clear all the time, but he's still got his great personality.

My mother came with the beast from hell. That would be Ginny, her Yorkshire Terrier. I am NOT a little dog person. Ginny has bottom teeth that stick out, so her two bottom canines protrude giving her this demonic look. She used to run up behind Trap and chew his back legs until Trap finally stepped on her trying to get away. She's hasn't done it since. Instead she runs around the house, vaulting herself onto furniture regardless of whether someone happens to be occupying it or not.

My in-laws came too. They don't exactly fit in with my family. We are loud, outspoken, hand-waving, politic-talking, religion-bashing (at times) people who quite often debate issues in a heated manner. My in-laws are extremely quiet, simple people. They're not up-to-date on politics or world events. Their lives pretty much revolve around who won the hockey game, who's playing in the CFL (that would be the Canadian Football League - the Hamilton Ti-Cats are our contribution to the league here in Hamilton), who died, old cars, and their walk to Herbie's (the local grocery/drug/dollar/parephenalia store).

So while my family is trash-talking the political leaders, debating religious views (my family are Anglicans [praticing and not], in-laws are Catholic [devout]), screaming over wars and news stories, these two meak, not very informed people sit and stare at us like we've just landed our little spaceships on the front lawn and are in the process of speaking in beeps and blips.

Makes for kind of an uncomfortable evening at times. Why? Because I have guilt that they're not "getting" what we're talking about. And they rarely do. My husband will have quiet side conversations with them keeping them entertained while the rest of us carry on. To explain things simply, they just haven't had the experiences in their lives that afford them knowledge. They never travelled, never changed jobs, never got involved in anything besides card games. They've been rather uninformed their entire lives, and prefer to gossip about people they know and try to out-do their own family members. Who has the most expensive car, who has the newest dish-washer.. well, you get the point.

Anyway. One of my cousins came as well which was great. We don't see him very often even though he only lives about 30 minutes away. And, he brought a bottle of red wine. Need I say more?

So after the turkey, the roast, mashed potatoes, baby carrots, roasted asparagus, candied sweet potatoes, spinach au gratin, perogies, dessert and a few bottles of wine were gone, it was over again until Christmas. Trap can't wait!

Thanks

I just wanted to say thanks to those of you who posted and emailed sending good wishes along. I really appreciate it. That was a horrible time for us, and although I'm not going to get into specifics, things are slowly starting to look a little brighter.

I'm in the midst of filling out applications for teacher's college for the 09 intake. They're far more complicated than they need to be. My cousin, who teaches high school, came over last night and he couldn't believe how tedious they are now. Serves me right for waiting until I'm almost 40 to do this. Hindsight - well, you know what they say.

I'm missing Mexico like crazy, especially now that the weather is going downhill. This week has been cold, windy and rainy. Yesterday morning was only +4 degreees celcius. Yuck! Nasty, cold, disgusting weather. This weekend is supposed to be nicer, but these weather people lie a lot, so I believe nothing until I actually see it.

Regardless of the fact that I DESPISE winter, I have to admit that fall in Canada is a wonder to behold. The turning of the leaves in this part of Canada is legendary, and you'd be a liar if you saw it and said you weren't impressed. I'm going to try to take some pictures next weekend, and I'll be sure to post them here for you to see. (I'm sure Cancun Canuck, if she's reading, will appreciate them, but not necessarily miss it! LOL)

I've been keeping up on everyone's blogs even though I admit that I sometimes find them depressing in my own way. They're all written by people who have set out and done exactly what I want to do so badly. I read about their new lives, exploring and experiencing, and I conitnue to lead the same life day after day. I'm so proud of all of you who took the plunge and made it successful! I haven't given up though.... I just have to figure out the "how" and the "when".