Coffee and Kaijus

 

After a morning of learning about a new, important task they'd like me to take on at work (!), I took the afternoon off for a movie with the mother, something I haven't done since God knows when. 

It took a bit of browsing, and some recording, but late yesterday we were able to find Godzilla versus Kong. 

With a bagel, iced coffee, and Timbits provided by my parents after running some errands, we sat back and thoroughly enjoyed a movie I have seriously waited almost an entire year to see. 

It didn't disappoint AT ALL! 

Even having read various spoilers months ago, a lot of surprising stuff. The humans were okay, but the monsters were awesome! Lots of good action, sci-fi, and even some fantasy in there too. Highly recommended!

Cheers

More Than Acceptance

 Today is the International Day of Acceptance. 

Okay. Cool. What else ya got?

Sorry, but I just don't see the point when there are so many other, more concrete issues facing people with disabilities that could be addressed. 

Just last week, I read an article about how the government of Nova Scotia says that housing for people with disabilities is not a right, and is fighting both a group of disabled individuals, and the Supreme Court of Canada (link to article). Call me crazy, and I mean no offense, but I think this should be a bigger national, if not international, issue rather than a "Be Nice" day. 

Acceptance, kindness, inclusion, and so on are all important issues, but there's more to it than that! I really do think we can get so caught up in the fluffier stuff sometimes (again, sorry), that we're forgetting other matters like housing, education, and employment, which deserve there own amount of awareness, and maybe even action. 

Just my two cents.

Cheers!

How Is This Fair??

 

Today in the news I read a story about pro tennis player Novak Djokovic being denied entry into Australia after issues with his vaccination status. He was set to compete in a tournament and was initially offered a medical exemption, until an outcry prompted his eviction. Some sources say that Djokovic has withheld his vaccination status, while others say he's unvaccinated. Most reference his anti-vaccine stance. 

Good of Australia to give him the boot, but would anything have happened without the outcry? 

Reminds me of recent issues within the NFL. A guy like Antonio Brown fakes his vaccination status (pretty sure that's illegal!) about a month ago, potentially endangering the lives of many people, and was playing last week. Aaron Rodgers pulls something similar, doubles down on that behaviour (but takes his horse de-wormer, thank goodness...), and everyone's kissing his butt for beating some Brett Favre record and is in the running for an MVP award!

Meanwhile, there's another outbreak, more restrictions, hospitals are facing heavier volumes again, people are stressed out, and there are still loads of people worldwide who haven't even gotten one vaccination.

We stress help for the vulnerable, immuno-compromised, or those in less-privileged areas, yet we're still putting these (sorry, but also not) over-payed, law-breaking, selfish, cry-baby jocks on a pedestal, even when they do something wrong. 

For the record, I know it's not just athletes getting away with this, but these guys are supposed to be role-models, so to me they're the ones worth calling out.

Anyway, this stuff needs to stop! There are more important things than sports right now.

Cheers

Safe Places

 

During the pandemic, I've had to be extra cautious about the things I've done and the places I've gone, probably more so than others given my respiratory issues. Even so, I've been willing and able to do quite a bit and venture to a wide variety of places, within reason, over the past 22 months. And I've felt completely safe almost everywhere. 

I wanted to use this post to acknowledge some of those safe places.

• Favourite haunts like the Canadian Museum of Nature, The Comic Book Shoppe, and various local burger joints like The Works and Bite Burger, Ottawa. Actually, Ottawa's restaurants in general have been great this whole time!
• Bonnechere Provincial Park, Whitewater Brew Pub, and other businesses around my family's cabin.
• Cineplex VIP Theatre in Lansdowne Park, Ottawa
• Ottawa and Halifax's airports, as well as the Air Canada flights I took to and from them.
• The Hampton Inn & Suites in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, including its rooms and services.
• Locations within The Ottawa Hospital Network, specifically The Ottawa General, Rehab Centre, Eye Institute, a Riverside campus.

I'm sure there are more, but those are what come to mind at the moment.

With another bout of high COVID cases, and increased restrictions as a result, several of these places will either see a reduction in business or be closed altogether over the next while. Given that, a shout-out seemed like the right thing to do. 

I'm considered "vulnerable" and, from March to July of 2020, there were times I felt too scared to even leave the house. These places, and their employees, have done their best to make me, and others I'm sure, feel secure enough to live properly, even for a little while.

Cheers! 

  

 

Whatever in 2022

 

I was prepared to write at least a couple things, but with an uptick in COVID  cases and a new round of restrictions, I'm feeling a little "meh" in the hopes/ambitions department right now and don't really feel like committing to anything at the moment.

Aside from getting home care, I guess it's whatever the universe thinks it's safe for me to do for 2022.

Cheers.