Dog Bites and Bee Stings

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  • Auto Anxiety

    Driving a deteriorating car through slushy winter weather as night time creeps in is emotional. I don’t feel ready to pay big money for car repairs and every time the thoughts of breaking down and being foisted upon a mechanic shop flow through my mind, another pothole appears in my path. I drive tensely, with windshield wipers that do eighty-five percent of their job but leave streaks of moisture at my eye’s level. I listen for noise from underneath my car and bemoan other drivers who break for no reason or who get all up in my business from behind.

    Having a car is such an important factor in one’s life, depending on where you live. I am extremely privileged to have a car, but sometimes I think of a carless existence and how peaceful that could be. Of course, a carless existence probably means I would be living in a big, expensive city so one way or another, my money would be flowing out of my pocket constantly.

    Another pain point for me is my lack of knowledge about cars. Not knowing what’s happening in the engine brings me fear. Anything happens and I think the worst, which is foolish but it is the reality for now. Knowledge is power and I need some car knowledge.

  • The No Fun League

    I have a thought about professional sports: the teams take themselves too seriously. “Professional” is a rotten word. It means “no fun”, “lame”, and “obsessed with protecting oneself”. The Buffalo Bills sat Josh Allen after one play yesterday while I was in attendance. I knew it was coming, but it still stung. I wanted to see the exciting superstar play in person again (I’ve seen him in person before, so I’m just being greedy), but they didn’t think risking an injury or further injury was wise with the playoffs approaching. Rational thought is lame sometimes. Life is drudgery and disappointment. 

  • Coffee Again

    I didn’t mean to make a series out of this, but I am back in Tim Hortons writing on my laptop. The short kid from yesterday took my order (medium coffee, one cream) with a snarl and I almost apologized for my presence. Now, I sit in the corner as this other customer speaking in Arabic wheels and deals in his phone conversations. I think he’s told people to hold and has switched calls. This guy is popular! Making some deals, mediating a conflict perhaps? Who knows. For me, its nice to hear a foreign language. It makes my hometown feel international. 

  • Friday Night Work

    I am the only person sitting inside a Tim Hortons café as the two angry workers get bombarded by the drive-thru line. “We’re too short-staffed for this shit” says the shorter confident one as the bagel and iced cappuccino orders pour in like waves. The tall anxious kid takes the orders and the shorter one hustles to fulfill them. It’s an interesting environment to work in. They are, thankfully, separated from the drive-thru customers so they are free to talk all the noise they want. I think short guy just took a phone call while toasting and buttering bagels. I applaud them for being able to do this kind of work. I would fail due to my lack of patience and composure under pressure from annoying customers with obnoxious orders. It especially sucks when you know everyone is happy and refreshed after the New Year. Plus, it’s Friday evening and you are working like a dog while the rest of the world laughs and wonders what your problem is when you don’t laugh along with them.

  • New Year’s Delusions

    January 1st: the beginning. The time of lofty goals and delusions of grandeur. Many of the things we plan this day do not last a week. It is sad and true. Hope springs eternal though, like the beginning of a new school year or sports season. It always comes back, this feeling of hope and renewal. It’s special in and of itself. We think highly of ourselves, we want the best for ourselves, we get swept up in, like I said before, delusions. What are my delusions this year? I want to write a blog post every day. Think I can? I know I can.

  • Big Deal!

    I’ve always been okay with New Years Day being a holiday, but if the powers that be changed their minds and made it a normal day, I would understand. I get it… we are flipping the calendar over to a new year (hence the name!) There’s nothing to celebrate, though! What happened on this day? Oh, we made it around the sun one full lap? We don’t know when the Earth settled into it’s current orbit around the sun! The year could have started in March or August, but we say January 1st because that’s when we, the humans, started counting? I don’t know. What I do know is I’ll enjoy the day off and I hope you do, too.

  • Dog Time

    I asked my mother if, while watching my sister’s dog, I had to spend time with the four-legged friend or just feed her and walk her. She texted me that just feeding and walking is perfectly fine. She added “I don’t think they have a concept of time.” That made me chuckle and wonder, well…do dogs know about time? Will the mutt be sad that I left her alone for too long and made her feel lonely? Will she be looking at her dog watch and rolling her dog eyes? It doesn’t matter. I was relieved of my duties so the dog can be lonely without me. 

  • Stupid Wind

    We are getting blasted by wind right now. Cold, nasty wind. There’s some snow included but the blacktop of the road is still visible. The gusts are stunning. They are strong enough to rock your car back and forth and they can pick snow up from the ground and create a whiteout. It was a strange drive home from work earlier. There seemed to be reason to panic, with the strength and noise of the wind and the momentary blindness of the lifted up snow. However, when I looked at the challenges, there wasn’t much to it. I don’t know why traffic was so slow, an abundance of caution amongst Buffalonians apparently.

  • Español?


    I need to learn Spanish if I want to visit Tijuana. Well, truthfully, I don’t need to learn it. The people there probably know Spanish and English, at least the ones selling things to tourists. However, I think using Spanish in Mexico opens the place up way more than only speaking English. It is also respectful to the locals to use their native tongue and they might take a liking to me if I show I am willing to be adventurous and try my non-native language. There are really only benefits to learning a new language. I should start today.

  • Feliz Navidad

    It is Christmas today and my mind is filled with thoughts of Tijuana. I want to go, and I want be there now. I was surprised to learn that it is the second-largest city in Mexico. I wrongly assumed that was Guadalajara or Monterrey. Tijuana has a bad reputation for being a dangerous border town, but the Caesar salad was invented there so how rough could it be? I joke, but I think once a city has a reputation for violence, it takes a long time to change the public perception. I’m thinking the reality of Tijuana is different than the internet’s depiction of Tijuana.