Happiness

Like a foolish pirate hunting for a fabled treasure, we all seek it. It glitters on the shores of yet another island but once we are ashore, it has vanished into sand. And when finally we are so frustrated and cynical and start to doubt its existence, it finally emerges and we don't know what to do with. Circumstance has made us too weak to trust it, Fear has made us too afraid to accept it, and we deny ever seeing it as it sinks back into the sand. So from here on in, I not only seek happiness but I wish that when it finds me, I have the courage to embrace it.


Grr... of the Day

So I went to the airport (YYZ) to pick up my aunt and I had the flight number all written down and everything and naturally I forget it in the car. Trusting my unusually terrible short term memory I head to the terminal anyhow. She is flying in from Calgary but the only flight from Calgary arrives 6 hours from that point. Obviously there is some mistake. Flight 664 says it is arriving from Chicago which is not right but I call calgary to make sure - turns out my horrible memory is correct, it was flight 664. Except the brilliant staff at Pearson Airport were updating the arrivals and times but not the origin field of the display. So flight 664 from Calgary was showing as Chicago and later Abbotsford - the later change through me into a frenzy which I decidedly took out on the rental car agent next to me considering she was the only staff left at 23:59. I think I may have convinced her to change her career.

Before

Every so often when you feel like you have figured out life, it changes on you. You get this sneaking suspicion that the old life has always been gradually changing and you had just grown comfortable and not noticed its subtle changes. Then it one day turns around and shatters your vague worldview. At that point you inevitably cycle through the feelings of anger, despair and finally vengeance. Just before the moment of this worldview shattering, you tend to have this supernatural ability to sense its arrival. The air smells too clean, your footsteps puppeted and your thoughts too foreign. Caution tells you to build a wall and protect yourself and yet curiousity draws you into peer into the darkness, frozen and motionless as if accepting your impending doom. It is actually an exhilirating feeling as you suddenly detach yourself from your own being and are free from any form of perception. Simply able to observe yourself in your world one last time. And then of course it shatters and you find yourself driving down a rollercoaster of paradigm shifts until you somehow can find a way to put the pieces back again.

So why am I suddenly philosophical and cynical? Lets just say the air smells too clean to be Toronto.

Grr of the Day:

Apparently it is cheaper to rent a cargo van than a minivan in the summertime because of the demand. Thinking myself to be smart, I ensured that I booked a cargo van to transport the rest of my stuff from kirsten's place to canada. Unfortuneately, what I didn't realize is that when crossing the border, the cargo van rate suddenly becomes a per km rate and at 0.99 a mile, this quickly becomes $1000. Of course this is ludicrous. I try explaining this to the rental car people but they still maintain that this is cheaper than the $150 minivan because of the added bonus of the $0 deductible insurance. After spending an hour on the phone with the manager, he finally agrees that people don't make rental decisions assuming they will crash and thus pre-pay the amount of repair when they rent the car. That will be $94.00 for the rental and since you look like the kind of guy that is looking to crash his winshield, please pay $1200 extra.

Addendum to On the Road Again

Florida: Only hurricanes and excessive media hoopla. Or perhaps only hurricanes when I go there, followed by rain, rain and more rain. Last time Andrew, this time Alberto. Florida has officially been removed from the Shivji family vacations list.


Grr of the Day:

Tomorrow it is bright and sunny in Tampa. I am back in Toronto.

Men don't cry. (warning: Sappy)

Don't say I never post anything about you, because this one is all for you. So you broadsided me. I didn't see you coming, nor was I ready. Fresh in a new country at a new school and walking into a sea full of faces that ignored me. You waltzed into into my independent self-sufficient life and made me incredibly irritated when you tried to change my dress code and my table manners. Because of course here I was sitting on my high horse and you were crushing my ever inflating ego. But you weathered the storm that I brought and by the shores of the lake, forged a bond I never want to break. Now you are so far away and all I can think of is that suddenly, life has become so empty. Just a parade of events leading to nothing except the time when I see you again. When I left I wanted to shout so many things to you - but I couldn't think of the perfect one. So don't for a second think that I didn't feel anything. Men don't cry. They don't show emotion or express their feelings. But this post is a blatant disregard and I don't care who reads it or knows it.

I miss you.

Grr of the Day:

So you know how Enterprise Rental Car says their motto is "we'll pick you up". I booked a van from them at a location offsite of the airport because the Enterprise at the airport was sold out of them. Apparently, Enterprise cannot pick you up from the airport. They are not ALLOWED to because it will interfere with their competitor. Of course when I looked up their competitor - it is also Enterprise. They also can't drop off the van to the airport dealership - because of course both being Enterprise locations, they are competing. GRRRR.

On the Road Again

So after travelling (voluntarily - yes I know I should be committed) through the midwest US and other wonderful places - I felt compelled to give a synopsis of what I have observed:

Detroit, Michigan - This place has quite possibly earned itself the name Armpit of the USA. As you approach it you can recognize it instantly. The number of blown tire bits on the road increase, the pot holes become big enough to swallow a car and a dark omnious cloud of soot marks the spot.

Cleveland, Ohio - I have never seen so many factories in residential areas. It was like house, house, smokestack, house, smokestack.

Iowa - nothing . One sign for the World's Largest Truck Stop was interesting for about 30 seconds.

Nebraska - more nothing - luckily you can legally drive 70 miles an hour so you can get the hell out of there.

Denver, Colorado - really nice city, except the humidity is like only 8%. Apparently this means you have to pick your nose continuously.

Raleigh, North Carolina - Shiny new city with perfect neighbourhoods - almost bizzaro. From the air the city looks like a bunch of trees - the houses are all hidden - even more bizzaro.

If you ever find your car break down in the Midwest - remember you're screwed unless a cow can give you a battery boost.

Grrr... of the Day:

Apparently, I left my swimming trunks in the hotel room in Iowa. They said they will send it out soon. Of course by muleback it may take days before I see them.