No comment 4

Fish food

  The latest cause célèbre in the blogosphere on the other side of the pond is a blog called The Plankton, written by an anonymous 47 year old divorcee with a “brace of kids” who spends her time looking for the One. I realise that it is a bit of a literary conceit to think that a women would spend all of her time thinking about finding Mr. Right but due to the quality of the writing and the extreme position of her feelings, in a mere six weeks since the start of the blog, it has acquired a degree of fame which few long term blogs have achieved (even Clarissa). In only ten days, it has inspired an article by Winifred Robinson, a reporter at the Daily Mail, and a subsequent piece in the Guardian. Her blog leader is “The Plankton – Life at the bottom of the sexual food chain.” Some of the comments on her situation:

OK, so my marital status currently stands at “divorcee” – or plankton – and this is a creature seen by some sections of society as seriously wanting to say the least. Of course, the plankton status is hardly easy or enviable, which is why I am writing this blog.

It’s pitch black in my bedroom when I turn my light out, and completely silent. Sometimes, difficult nights, with no one beside me any more, and never again being a very real possibility, I feel I am already in my coffin…. I used to live for my husband and children, my family, friends, and my work. Now, I live for my children, and my family, my friends and my work. I may live till I am ninety, but a sort of death has already come.

  What is she looking for?

I suppose all us planktons have in our minds the kind of man we are looking for. We know that’s almost certainly what we won’t get – that’s if we’re lucky enough to “get” anyone at all – but we certainly have a set of criteria, however vague, and we dream on. So posh and rich, and no less important: kind and grown-up.

  Why hasn’t she had any success?

I need to talk about the injustice of any of the available men that do exist, even the crap ones, always having an infinite choice of women.

Not so long ago in a magazine, there was an article by a man around forty I think, whose wife had died. There was a double-page photograph of him in the foreground and behind him a veritable queue of attractive women lining up for his delectation. There was an expression on his face so smug that it was as if he were Lord Bloody Muck himself.

Twice in the last month I have been put next to men who if they weren’t sixty, I swear to God they were in their seventies. With a view to romance. Thanks a bunch. One was deaf in one ear; the other had brown, protruding spots all over his face and hands. I don’t want a man who can’t get it up and whose colostomy bag I am going to be having to change in five years’ time.

  What kind of experiences has she had?

Divorced men fall into three categories:

1). Married men who have been left are like widowers, still in love with their wives. Broken men. If they want sex at all they want it not as a commitment but as a Wank Plus.

2). Making up for lost time (ie. the married years) and fucking anything (under thirty) that moves.

3). The majority. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a man never leaves his wife if he hasn’t already got another younger woman whom he is regularly and gloriously screwing. I have NEVER heard or read about or even contemplated the notion of a man leaving his wife for an older woman. Nor have you. It has never happened in the history of the world.

As I say. There are no men.

   Anyway I enjoy reading her posts but as a male I wonder about the authenticity of the blog. Can life be that bad? From my personal knowledge, I think that there are lots of perfectly good and available men. If you limit yourself to the local area, expect rich and posh men, and don’t use the Internet dating sites then you’re certainly restricting yourself.

Déjà vu

  I was reading the Sunday Edition of the Toronto Star newspaper today and had a strong sense of déjà vu which I realized came from seeing the articles on the Internet previously. Never mind that the Sunday edition had a whole section of selected articles from the New York Times including the book review portion, the front section had articles from the Washington Post, New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. They showed the usual discourse boundaries and consensus positions of American mainstream papers which would never be duplicated by a true Canadian reporter. Glowing portraits of Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry that would embarrass the most conservative writer in this country and yet printed in a paper which prides itself as the voice of the liberal constituency of Canada,  get top of the fold exposure. What gives?

  In November of 2009, the Toronto Star offered voluntary severance packages to its staff which 166 took. From an article at the time:

We have also advised the CEP that we are seriously considering contracting out segments of work associated with the production of our print product. This work is currently performed within the Star’s Pre Publishing and Editorial Divisions. Within Pre Publishing, we are exploring the contracting out of ad building and the scope of this effort may expand to include some or all of the remaining work in the Division.

 
"Within Editorial, we are exploring the contracting out of some or all copy editing and pagination work, and the scope again may expand to include other editorial production and related activities. The scope of these and related outsourcing initiatives may well extend to work groups in other divisions of the Star.

  In November of 2009, Torstar – the parent company of the Toronto Star – purchased the Canadian Press and outsourced editing to the enterprise after Sun news and another media company left CP to start their own news sourcing. Since then the newspaper moved from a broadsheet format to a smaller tabloid size, had larger font and included more pictures which reduced the amount of copy. Now it seems to acquire copy by replicating low cost American output. If the US copy was better, I wouldn’t object so much but as I pointed out in my “Deconstruction of a NYT article” post the content leaves much to be desired and in a piece which purports to use a Canadian example and mangles it, I find it offensive to read about it in a Canadian paper without any editorial redaction by CP. Profit is fine but when corporations don’t live up to their mandate of providing accurate information, then I get incensed.

White water rafting

View Larger Map

  It was two years and a month ago that I was talked into white water rafting by my twin daughters and we headed north into the wilds of Quebec and travelled through bear country to reach the small village of Davidson, P.Q. and the camping lodge of Esprit on the banks of the Ottawa River about 100 miles north of the capital of Canada, Ottawa where you carry “bear spray” as well as “bug spray” and never leave the safety of the lodge alone. I was hoping to buy some Poutine (Canada’s favourite comfort food) on the trip since Poutine aficionados say that the best is made by Quebec chip wagons but none were to be found in the area. Maybe bears like it also. About Esprit and their lodge from their website:

Esprit was honoured to be ranked #1 for “Best Outfitters on Earth” by National Geographic Online! Esprit is very proud of placing first in the categories of “Sustainability” and “Spirit of Adventure” (i.e. adventures for adrenaline junkies), as we continue to expand upon our social and environmental policies, principles and practices.

Our goal of running the “world's greatest” rafting trips is still our commitment to you everyday! If you have a longing for the river, an appreciation of the wilderness and a “spirit of adventure”... join us at Esprit!

Facilities Include: Camping area, HI Hostel, Licensed Bar, Conference Room, Dining Room, Lounge, 3000 sq foot Sun Deck, Laundry, Hot Showers, Indoor Toilets, Full Meal Service, Recreational Equipment (canoes, kayaks, volleyball court, climbing wall), Internet Access, free WI-FI connection in the lodge and Mountain Bike Rentals





Myself and my twin daughters ready to raft



  As usual they start the newbie rafters on the easy runs before you get into the serious stuff and you wonder what made you decide to do this trip. I remember in particular the class five rapids called the “elevator shaft” which was a thirty foot drop at a seventy degree angle and everyone hung on for dear life. We were in a seven person raft with a guide and three female school teachers who spent a lot of time screaming during the experience. My two daughters were at the tip of the raft and had a great experience except when my oldest daughter (by 11 minutes) flipped over backwards into the water. You can see this in the video below which was taken by a fellow rafter. She is the one in the yellow helmet who takes the back flip into the water. David must have thought this was great fun since he reran the sequence twice in the tape. I was the person directly behind her. I had a limp for two months after that trip.

Twins in front, screaming school teachers behind and me

Getting into a class three rapid, nothing compared to the "elevator shaft"

Wedding Reception

One of my uncles and my cousins (sister of the bride) playing the pipes

  As I said in an earlier post, one of my cousins’ daughters got married on the beach at Sanibel Island on the west coast of Florida about three weeks ago and had her wedding reception in a small town north of Toronto last night to which I took my mother and two of my daughters. This is the Scots part of the family and they did the whole Scots thing including the haggis and pipers (one of my uncles with his granddaughter at the pipes.)

At the start of the address to the Haggis

 

   The Selkirk Grace done at the beginning of the wedding reception.

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

And sae let the Lord be thankit.

Ready to cut the haggis during the address.

 For those of you who haven’t heard the Address to the Haggis below is a rendition of the Address to the Haggis.

From Wikipedia:

Haggis is a dish containing sheep’s 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.It’s traditional to make the address to the haggis at the wedding reception using Robbie Burn’s poem and then toast the haggis with a drink of Scotch whiskey. After drinking, you turn the drinking cup upside down over your head to prove that you’ve drunk the entire amount. The main course is haggis, and is traditionally served with mashed potatoes (tatties) and mashed turnip (neeps).

Pouring the Scotch whiskey for the toast to the Haggis.

Also from Wikipedia:

In the absence of hard facts as to haggis' origins, popular folklore has provided more fanciful theories. One is that the dish originates from the days of the old Scottish cattle drovers. When the men left the highlands to drive their cattle to market in Edinburgh the women would prepare rations for them to eat during the long journey down through the glens. They used the ingredients that were most readily available in their homes and conveniently packaged them in a sheep's stomach allowing for easy transportation during the journey. Other speculations have been based on Scottish slaughtering practices. When a Chieftain or Laird required an animal to be slaughtered for meat (whether sheep or cattle) the workmen were allowed to keep the offal as their share.

 

Bride drinking the toast to the Haggis.

Haggis, tatties and neeps.

Live band including the bride.

 

Mother and two of my daughters

Wedding cake

Learning English 英語の学習

englishu by takadashinji2

  Here’s a segment on learning English for Japanese speakers from a popular TV program in Japan called “Sekaiichi Uketai Jugyou” which translates as “The world’s best class” and I found it on the Japan probe website. The task for the contestants is to order food items in a mock restaurant using English but they make mistakes by using katakana words instead of the proper English ones so the “waiter” delivers what they explicitly ordered instead of what they think that they ordered. Katakana (片仮名, カタカナ or かたかな) is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana,  kanji, and in some cases the Latin alphabet (rōmaji). The word katakana means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana scripts are derived from components of more complex kanji. Each kana represents one mora (a unit in phonology that determines syllable weight, which in some languages determines stress or timing). Each kana is either a vowel such as "a" (ア); a consonant followed by a vowel such as "ka" (カ); or "n" (ン), a nasal sonorant which, depending on the context, sounds either like English m, n, or ng ([ŋ]), or like the nasal vowels of French. It is used mainly for transcription or loan words from other languages.

  In the segment, one contestant asks for “mikkusu sando” (ミックスサンド) thinking that they want a mixed sandwich when the waiter brings mixed sand which sounds more like the request. Other requests are shu kurimu” (シュークリーム) which may sound like shoe cream but is actually an order for a “cream puff.” The Japanese word is actually based on the French word for “cream puff” which is “Chou à la crème.” “gamu shiroppu” (ガムシロップ) is a syrup sweetener and not chewing gum while aisu kohi” (アイスコーヒー) is iced coffee. The  segment also comments that while iced coffee is a new arrival in America it has been common in Japan for over a hundred years

Restaurant review: Milestones

   Next weekend, I’m taking my mother and two of my daughters to one of my cousins’ wedding reception in the Lion's club hall of a small town up north. She got married on Sanibel Island in a beach destination wedding on the west coast of Florida about three weeks ago and stayed down south with her family until this week. I decided to take my mother shopping for a new outfit (Jacque Vert of course) to go to the reception with the help of my youngest daughter who got her diploma in Fashion Management so its nice to have an expert in the family when it comes to clothes. After all of the festivals to which I’ve been going lately and dining on exotic food, I hope that I’ll fit into my clothes as well.

Baked goat cheese& garlic flatbread plate appetizer

  At Milestones where we stopped for lunch during our shopping expedition, we had Baked goat cheese& garlic flatbread plate – warm naan bread, crisp Ciabatta toasts, spiced cranberry relish and fig jam for $9 as a shared appetizer, California spring salad with half portion of Mediterranean bruschetta – goat cheese, fresh sliced strawberries, red onion and spicy- glazed pecans on baby greens for $11, Butternut squash ravioli – Roma tomato sauce, goat cheese, fresh basil and spicy-glazed pecans for $17 and the  Lunch trio: soup, salad and half sandwich for $13 with 2 glasses of Woodbridge Chardonnay $10x2 from Robert Mondavi, CA, Green apple martini (Smirnoff Vodka, sour apple liqueur, real green apple juice with a Granny Smith apple slice ) for $9 and Strawberry lemonade  for $4. The total cost for three was $ 83 plus tax and gratuities.

Lunch trio: soup, salad and half sandwich

  We didn’t have any deserts as I find them not very appealing at this restaurant and my daughter agrees with me. The service was friendly but slow and I ordered chicken with my salad which didn’t arrive. I would recommend this establishment for folks who have time to spare. The glasses of wine were a bit pricey for 6 oz. but the mixed drink was really good. Ambience good but not striking. Moderately satisfied.

Butternut squash ravioli

California spring salad with half portion of Mediterranean bruschetta