Pillowshock

It's old age, or older age. What I'm talking about is those days when I wake up with a headache because sometime during the  night my spine twisted on my pillow.

It happens when you get older that things don't hold together as well as before. Now as far as my spine is concerned, I've always had problems with a twisted spine. But when I was young,  my body compensated for it. I did have problems with walking sometimes but not all the time.

Most often, I was well and able to do what I wanted. My chiropractor fixed the whole thing but now, because I'm older, it doesn't take much to push it out of wack and give me grief.

There are a lot of other things that go wrong when you're older, too. Your eyesight, for one. I used to be able to read the bus numbers even when the bus was five blocks away. No more. Now I have trouble focusing on anything near and far. I have to take my glasses off the read the small print on medicine bottles and the like. You know that small print.

It takes me back to the days my grandmother would ask me to read the small print on her labels. I felt handy doing it but wasn't quite convinced that old age would ruin your eyes. I determined that wouldn't happen to me.

And then there's skin things. Little white patches of dead skin that appear on your legs and other places. Skin tags and brown blotches along with little burst blood vessels.

No, old age is no place for beauty. Beauty is definitely a young person's game, sometimes it's the only thing they've got because they haven't lived enough to have anything else.

I'll just mention one more thing about old age. Arthritis. Well, you can have that when you're young but mostly it's for old people. I have in in my knee and hands and when I'm really old, I doubt whether I'll be able to pick up my coffee cup or type.

So I guess old age  is the time for memories, of remembering all the fun and wonderful parts of your life. That's the one thing I can look forward to.

People's Couch

I think I would agree that Canadian television has improved. When I was a child, all we really had was Hockey Night In Canada and Wayne And Shuster specials. Both were awful.

Now, there's Corner Gas and Trailer Park Boys. One, about a small town in Saskatchewan and the other, a trailer park in Nova Scotia. Okay, they're silly but better than Wayne and Shuster.

But far and away the best show is People's Couch. This little show from Toronto has cameras set up in people's home and taped them watching television. Yes. A show about watching television.

So why do I like this show? It taught me something.

I remember a movie, the monster tears open the side of a building and there's a family watching television, they're so glued to the tv that they don't notice the monster or the hero fighting it.

And that was my view of myself. A slightly vacant, staring with dead eyes at the screen, person who should be doing something.

So what does People's Couch teach? That people are engaged while watching tv. Their eyes are full of twinkling interest as they lean forward, they laugh, they smile. They engage with each other. And forget the idea that they're not aware of their surroundings.

Also, one older lady and her husband were watching a show where a gay guy tries to commit suicide after not being able to change, like his psychiatrist wanted him to. The lady comments that gays are the bravest people because everyone was against them. Now where, if not television, would she have got that information?

So knowing now that my idea of myself was skewed, that I'm not a blob in front of the tv makes me feel better and I wonder how I missed it. Now I'm a proud couch potato.

Syndrome Syndrome

I've had a joke for many years. Whenever I'm asked about something that went on that for some reason I didn't know about, I say I don't know because I have Schultz Syndrome. You remember Sargeant Schultz, don't you? He was a character on Hogan's Heroes and whenever Hogan or one of his boys did something that would embarrass the Germans if they knew about it, Schultz would say, in his guilt. "I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing." Thereby he wasn't responsible for what went on.

So I'm joking right. But I'm finding that young people have no idea who Schultz is. They take it seriously. 'Really, I've never heard of that. Is it like ADD?" Or some such comment. Then others accuse me of being an idiot when I explain it, it seems I have to also explain it's a joke.

I mean, there is a Peter Pan Syndrome, right? For real. Thought up by a genuine psychologist. In fact, these days, there's a syndrome for everything.

My sister isn't fooled. Once someone asked if her grandson had a reading syndrome because he never reads books. A reading syndrome? No, he's just a kid who doesn't like to read. There have no doubt been thousands of kids throughout history who didn't like to read. A lot who didn't like school, too, without having a syndrome.

Back to my joke. It's also a statement about how so many normal things are considered syndromes now-a-days. So I've thought up a new syndrome, called Syndrome Syndrome, it's the need for people to find and explain everything by way of a syndrome.

Or, the inability to see one's annoying behaviour as an extension of their annoying personality. And I think we all have it.

Enjoy Yourself

I love it when it's early in the morning. The first light is coming up. People are starting to stir outside. However, I also like the night and used to refer to myself as a night owl.

As a child, I was often awake far into the night, watching the trees across the street sway in the wind. I thought it was great to be awake when everyone else was asleep. My parents didn't.

And then, the daytime is a great time, too. It's time to go out and about and get some things done, like shopping for food or any other chore you need to do. And chores needn't be onerous. They are great ways to get out and maybe take a break in a cafe.

So my problem is I don't really want to sleep because I like all parts of the day. But then, I like to sleep when I have to.

This is not really as confusing as it sounds and I bet there are a lot of people like me out there.

So I'm meandering again. I'm looking forward to this day, it's going to be a nice one. Sunny, like my favorite days in White Rock were. But then, I like snow, too and it's getting close to the time when snow is going to be coming down.

It's funny how location can change your mind. I White Rock, BC, I loved the snow coming down. It was so beautiful. In Ottawa, people gripe about the snow and the trouble it causes. But when I visit Smith Falls in winter, everything is like it was in White Rock. The same feelings are there about winter's beauty.

That's because all is slower paced in Smith Falls.

So as long as I enjoy everything right now, I may as well get to it. Cheers. You guys enjoy yourselves, too.