Stream of Consciousness

Montreal---shoes---sleep---tinfoilhatstoprotectusfromthealiensandthegovernmentbutisn'the
governmentamoreseriousthreattotheworld?they'reassociatedwiththePOSTOFFICEsohow
couldtheypossiblynotbeevil?evilforthemisabsolutelyrequisite---absolution,interestingwordyeah? Ithinksotooreligionsingeneralgivemethewig---conspiracy---yeahsoreligion---ooo,nah---so
VladimirPutin,there'saguyItrustasfarasicanthrowhimcuzreally,throwingtheoppositioninjailetc.
badness.hasn'trussiaalreadyhaditsshareofcrappypoliticalissues?everyoneistreadinglightly
thoughbecausetheyareneccessarytostopnorthkoreaandiranfromdoingallkindsofcrazystuff
butwhatdoworldleadersreallythinkrussiaisgoingtodotostopthem?wewouldappeartobedoomed
forrealthistime---goshthisisarepetivesongseetherispretteymuchallaroundlameidon'tknowwhy
i'mstilllisteningtothembleh---greenportfolio---whyisgreenassociatedwithwealthandenvy?when
reallyitoughttobemorerelatedtoearthynaturalstuffandhippieslikeme.idon'treallygetit.wow,i've
beendoingthisforsometime...

Pistachio Pudding is God

My week in the wilderness was awesome. There were breath-taking views etc etc... It's more fun to talk about what bugged me though. The younger girls were slowly but surely killing me. One randomly whacked another in the arm and then they started going at it. Their ridiculous argument continued on loudly for several minutes. Several minutes too many. I shan't claim that I have a high tolerance for loud, short creatures. "STOP IT RIGHT NOW! What is wrong with you?" "She started it!" "Yeah, but she continued it." "I don't CARE I'm finishing it." Another girl pretty much latched on to me. It was constantly "Jessie come over here." or frantic hand gestures to come closer whenever I was talking to somebody else. It was just plain weird.... "I can give you a foot massage!" "umm.... no thanks... that's really nice of you though..." or "Gosh, I keep talking to you like you're my sister!" "um..." Her sister is quite pleasant. Go figure.

Zoe (one of the leaders) was driving me crazy. Once, she walked up to me just as I had finished putting up my tent (complete with groundcloths and nigh-impossible to drive in stakes) and started saying "well... I don't know about this spot. that tree might come down any second."
"No, Zoe, I don't think it will. I shook it myself and it's also alive." "well, I still don't know." "Zoe, I'm pretty sure we'll be okay here." "well... If it were my tent..." "okay, where do you suggest?" "ah, ah,ah! don't ask me! You're supposed to be doing this on your own!" *Jessie thinks to herself: God damn you, you crazy old lady!* I take down the tent and move the whole shebang to less desireable rocky spot where she says: "This looks better!" "uh... Zoe? See that monster log caught in the crook of those limbs? There is no way in heck I am putting a tent under that. It sways in the wind." "oh. Why don't you move it back a bit" I do so... "Good" says Zoe. "Umm.. actually this is surrounded by a bunch of dead trees. They're wobbling." "Well, that looks like a good spot over there." Zoe points at the spot where I originally had it. She wasted a good 15 minutes of my precious time before dark. Time that I needed. I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE CUTE, YET STRONG-MINDED LITTLE OLD LADY!!

All in all: Good times were had.

Disillusioned with Disillusionment

A couple days ago, I was enjoying an indulgent lunch at the Bear Rock Cafe when it occurred to me that I had a beverage packaged in a glass bottle. I got up and upon being unable to locate a recycling bin, I queried the cashiers,

"Excuse me, do you have recycling facilities?"

"Uh... no.... sorry..."

"Do you have a suggestion box?"

"Uh... no... YES- yes we do. Right over there -->"

I must say that it was a pathetic excuse for a suggestion box and only had space for postal information and one's favorite sandwich. I ended up carrying the bottles home. Normally, I don't really think about recycling while I'm at restaurants- not even fast food joints, but the Bear Rock Cafe sells almost all of it's beverages in glass or plastic bottles. It seems like a logical step to get recycling facilities. Most people don't really doubt the value of recycling these days, so why wouldn't this have come up previously? M'Colleague Kat and I have both e-mailed the all powerful BRC and received the same form letter:

Thank you for taking the time to email us your feedback. We agree that it is important to recycle in our restaurants. I have forwarded your comments to our Vice President of Operations and we will work on this matter. Please accept the attached coupon and enjoy your next sandwich or salad on us. Thank you for your patronage. I hope you will visit again soon.
*Best regards,* *Deneen* **

*Deneen Nethercutt*
*Vice President of Marketing*
*Bear Rock Services, Inc.*

Hardly a satisfactory response. Worse than that is the unsettling truth that not for one second did I expect success from this venture. I assumed that my note would go unnoticed. This is a microcosm of a much larger issue. Things that should be shocking or outraging have become ho-hum and commonplace. Our nation has been lied to? Big Whoop. Since childhood, I have been taught that politicians lie and that they never to what they promise they will. We have made the mistake of becoming pessimistic realists with every ounce of idealism squeezed out. We have adapted and learned to accept and function in a world where our efforts are completely worthless.