January 8, 2016
A new day, new goals, new expectations! Well, it’s been a new day for sure. I have also established goals throughout the day but, one by one, they have been pushed away, for later in the day, and now it’s over eleven pm and I have only a few lines to show for myself. Anyway, goals change along the way as well as the expectations. If you’re flexible, at least you can keep a good morale, a good mood and you get upset less. I am sure you know well how my first hours of the morning evolved, if you read previous posts, and evidently, I don’t want to annoy anyone repeating myself. My mornings are predictable like clockwork. Deviations from the preset actions are few and nothing is more annoying than rehearsing the same things all the time. Now, in spite of waking up earlier than usual, I still managed to be late in my preparations to go to work, so I had to leave with my hair still wet from the shower - not something new for me, either, as I have a hate relationship with the hairdryer. In summer, it is quite pleasant to feel the breeze through the strands of hair and that also helps to have a free dry-blow. The final result is almost the same as the one for which you have to pay at least $30 plus tip in a beauty salon. In winter, though, it is not the same. The cold wind leading to a much lower temperature than expected doesn’t make the trip to work very pleasant; especially when you wait for a bus that should come every 6 or 7 minutes, and that actually comes after you waited about 20 minutes in the wind. Anyway, it was not so bad today. At least, my hair didn’t freeze. I remember that last year, when we had constantly very low temperatures (in my opinion the lowest possible, but I have been living in Toronto for only eight years), once, leaving with my hair wet as usual, in about minus twenty degrees, I got to the bus stop and there was a guy. Honestly, that had been the first time in my life when I saw someone so shocked that their eyes were bulging out of their sockets and their mouth effectively dropped. He was staring at me with so much horror that for a moment I thought I forgot to put all my clothes on. Checking discreetly that I did have the pants on, I realized that he was actually looking at my hair. I thought the wind simply disheveled it and decided to pat it in place. When I reached up, I found icicles. I tried to flatten one, and it simply broke. That made me think it wouldn’t be a good idea to continue with my ministrations, not if I wanted to have some hair left. I took out my tablet to check my new hairdo in the screen and I must say that the result was both shockingly horrifying and interesting. I think I saw once something similar at a fashion show in Milan. The difference was that my hairdo was really sculpted in ice while that one was created with gels and other chemicals. I congratulated myself for the natural look and deep down I hoped my hair would get back to normal before getting to work and it did. I think experiences enrich life, and I always welcome new experiences, as long as the results are not devastating. Having an icy hairdo is not a tragedy but something that teaches you valuable lessons: never go out with a wet hair in the dead of winter. Now, it is too bad that I seldom learn from such valuable teachings. The subway trip made me think again that a train actually is like a small world in itself. You can see all type of people, all type of behaviors and you can hear conversations from mundane to shocking. Most people try to read or sleep, everybody tries to avoid the others. People usually try to watch the others from the corner of the eye. And now and then, you see one person or a couple trying to take selfies. I still haven’t got the meaning of a selfie on the subway but as I saw that people take selfies in other strange places, like a washroom, I stopped thinking too much of that. I saw a video today with a subway train in Japan. People were organized in lines, waiting patiently for the passengers to get off the train, everybody waiting for their turn. I felt the yellow taste of envy. Here, the moment the doors open, everybody tries to get in. There are some polite people that try to wait for the others to come out first, but they are the ones left behind. Anyway, today the subway train wasn’t so packed and people were calmer, maybe because of the hour. It was nearing to lunch time and not so many people travel at that hour or at least not so many as between eight and nine when you have the feeling you turned into a sardine stuffed in a can to salter in your own juices. Now, I understand people may be hungry and they need to eat. It might not be pleasant for the ones around but I can live with it. I remember once I saw a young lady that first took a seat. Afterwards, she took a container with vegetables out of her backpack, then she took out a bottle of dressing and poured dressing over the vegetables, with very measured gestures. After she finished with the dressing, she took out another container with some pieces of cheese. She spread the cheese all over the vegetables, always with very careful gestures. Closing that container and returning it in her backpack, she took out a little bag with peanuts and threw a few over the other ingredients. She almost counted the peanuts. Always, calmly, she replaced the peanut bag in her backpack to take out some raisins. She was more generous with the raisins than she’d been with the peanuts. After she finished adding all the ingredients, she closed the container and started shaking it, for better results, I think, and only then she started eating her salad. It was an interesting process, I didn’t mind. Actually, it was mesmerizing, you couldn't take your eyes off her. However, the moaning following each mouthful, that I did mind. Now, I saw people eating from bagels, apples, and Chinese food to sandwiches. What I haven’t seen up to now was someone eating soup while standing up, in the middle of the corridor. The occasion appeared today and unfortunately, I had to watch closely this time because the guy was right in front of me and every time the train was turning a bit, I would hold my breath afraid I’d see that soup all over me. However, I shouldn’t have worried. I think that guy had a lot of experience: he was a pro and not even a drop of soup fell from his spoon. I, for one, if I try to carry a cup of coffee, it is impossible not to have some all over me. The return trip was not relaxed either. Too many people got off work the same time and the trains were quite packed. Now, I have to confess that I hate crowds and normally I prefer to wait that two or three trains pass by before getting on a train. Today though, I encouraged myself that I had only a few stations to get to my destination and bravely I embarked onto the first one. It was better than I expected but I couldn’t fail to notice that some people really think they are the center of the universe and no one else matters. There was a guy who had three bags. Each bag had its place of honor on a seat. He took a fourth one. Meanwhile, two senior people were standing in front of him, barely holding the bars. Sometimes, the legendary Canadian politeness seems to fail and sometimes you have to reckon the fact that people come in all sizes, all cultures, and all mentalities and to enjoy the human race and its variety as it is. When I started this blog, I promised myself I would never get into serious matters. There are lots of problems out there; there are lots of issues that need addressing and there are also lots of people addressing them. I do not want to become one of them. I want to offer a few moments of shallowness and relaxation: to me and to you, the ones that take the time to read my posts. I, after writing this post and you, after reading it, can go to attend to more pressing matters. We can return to our daily tribulations and concerns. But for a few minutes a day, those could cease to exist. That’s my goal. Now, I made this long introduction, because I didn’t want you to think that I’d laugh at serious matters. I simply don’t want to address them in my posts. All big cities in the world, I think, have their homeless people, children of the street, the poor and the hungry. There are hundreds and thousands of people that missing a paycheck would join the huge number of people milling the streets without a roof over their head. I am sure each of us helps, if we can, and I do not want to go into this. I wanted to say that I saw many messages written on carton sign, but the one I saw today, amused me due to its honesty. The guy, a man somewhere around thirty, simply stated on his carton sign: “I need money to buy weed”. Amazingly, he did get money and quite enough. Probably the honesty or the amusement made people to check their pockets. I mentioned him because it was out of ordinary and the only one encounter during my trip home that made me smile. And my smile became bigger when I got home and Rex welcomed me with an enthusiasm that overcame everything he’d done before. The sounds he could make were new and varied and the pitch of his voice reached new heights. Thank God, I bought him a toy on the way home! That shut him up for an hour and now he is content and calm. Hopefully, he’ll remain like this for the rest of the night. I really need to write a few pages. I can’t procrastinate every single day. So, see you again tomorrow.
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ROXANA NASTASEBorn sometime in the past century, living in the 21st century. https://www.ebookstage.com/welcome/NTYyNzY=/
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