Word Prisms

I like Christmas.   Sure, it’s become separated from the original message celebrating the birth of the messiah, a guy who lived in poverty and gave his life for the salvation of humankind.   Instead, we’re accused of worshipping at the altar of consumerism in the temple of our local mall where we seek solace from the emptiness of our existence in the purchase of stuff we may or may not ever use or need. But, I’ll just forget about all that for Christmas ‘cause for me, Christmas is all about tradition, thinking about others, however briefly, and the one time in the year, my family gets together in the same place at the same time.   New baby with tree I love the natural pine-fresh smell of our freshly cut tree we found in a restricted area next to a capped oil pump.   Every year we go out Christmas tree hunting, even the year Nicola was pregnant with our youngest and had experienced her first contractors earlier in the afternoon, a fact she failed to tell me ‘cause she’d had al

Assholes, they’re everywhere but some places more than others.   That’s according to Aaron James, in his book “Assholes, A Theory.”   I can vouch for that.   Ever been in a line-up in China?   Those guys are assholes.   You’re fifteen minutes in a queue and you’re standing in front of a clerk who’s protected by a plexi-glass participation and these guys are reaching around you shoving their money at the clerk.   Elbows high, you attempt to purchase your train ticket but not before one or two are able to get the clerk to take their money.   Last year, there’s the line-up to get into the Calgary Legion Hall to see performances by Juno Award nominees and you’ve purchased stupid wrist bands that allow access to any venue after all the people who’ve purchased venue specific tickets get in and of course there isn’t room for you once the people with tickets get in.   So, you’ve been standing in line for about an hour getting to know the people behind you who are hiking the West Coast tr