Ten random thoughts

I'm listening to WFMU over the Internet as I type this, and they're playing a version of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" that uses the music from "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". What? Why?

It's raining again. Again.

The time between the last day of work and Christmas is like pushing the PAUSE button on life.

I hate the telephone. I especially hate calling people on the phone. I much prefer either email or face-to-face contact. If I'm communicating with someone by email, I can take the time to try to write something clever, or at least try to avoid saying something stupid. And I can be sure that I'm not imposing on my recipient, as he or she can read my message at a time that is convenient. Face-to-face contact is fine: when you're talking with someone in person, there's lots of ways to communicate besides words, and silence is sometimes okay too. A phone call, on the other hand, is an immediate demand, and I'm uncomfortable with making immediate demands on people.

2006 has been a difficult year for a lot of people that I know, including me. What the hell is going on out there?

At the rate things are going, there will be no parking lots left in downtown Toronto in 2010. They'll all be replaced by condominiums. Eventually, I envision that developers will try to lobby for a law that forces all apartment dwellers to go out and buy a condo, already. (A few years back, one large landlord tried to convert his high-rise to condos. This was disallowed. If it hadn't been, there would be no high-rise apartments for rent - they'd have all gone condo by now.)

I have a goal in life: as I get older, I don't want to give up. I see so many older people on the subway who look despondent, as if life has gotten to be too much for them. I hope this doesn't happen to me. I want to go down fighting.

I used to eat in restaurants by myself all the time. I hardly ever do this any more, as it's too depressing. I guess I'm saving money this way.

My advice to you: if you're feeling lonely, never go to a coffee shop on your own. Especially on a Saturday night. You'll be surrounded by equally lonely people, and the weight of loneliness will become too much to bear.

Am I the only one who can't go to certain places because they bring back bad memories? For me, Toronto is sprinkled with no-go zones. On bad days, I have to plan my excursions carefully. I'm grateful that downtown Toronto is laid out in a grid system - I can always find another way to get where I want to go.

(Edit: here's an 11th: I just found a link, via Warren Kinsella's blog, to a video of Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros doing Bob Marley's "Redemption Song". Remember: the future is unwritten.)