Being a grown up should mean you have moved beyond the mob mentality. You don't need to be popular just for the sake of being popular. What does that mean anyway?

A popular person is the one liked by most people. Why is that? I am thinking it is because there is nothing outstanding. Nothing that can be envied, nothing that can be hated. Nothing that can be faulted, nothing that can be challenged. Popular is beige.

To really move beyond the high school mentality so many complain about you need to be yourself. You need to be the unique person you are. You need to stop worrying about what other people think. You need to be comfortable in your own skin. That is when you will be appreciated perhaps not by many but by a few that will really count in your life. They will love you for you. There will be a mutual attraction whether friends or lovers because there is something unique, something that sparks.

When that kind of a connection is made then you will have a friend. Not people that want to ride the coat tails of the popular but the ones that will have real meaning in your life. The ones who will enrich you, challenge you and make you the best you can be and you will reciprocate willingly. You will want the best for them. Unbreakable bonds will form.

When you have a friend, a real friend treasure them. They will be there long after the popularity contests and they will probably tease the hell out of you for wanting to even win one. They will show you how silly you are for wanting to be so beige. They will tell you why they love you and torment the hell out of you for having such foolish ideas.


Friends aren't always forever. Life and death happen but friends, the real ones, are the ones you will always think of with light in your heart.

Contemplative,
ju

It is actually raining! It has been the driest 12 months on record. We need days and days of this to really make any difference. The storms are supposed to come over night which will mean more rain but along with that comes lightning and the last thing we need are more fires.
But for now it is raining and you know it has been awhile because even at this hour there are kids out there playing in it
Listening to the plants heave a sigh of relief while enjoying the smells and sounds of the rain.
ju

I do try to keep my house clean which is like trying to hold back the tide but I do believe I have come to an all time low.
The cat broke the screen in one of the living room windows a few months ago (I WILL fix it when I can find a place that sells screen on the bus route) but I only tell you that bit of laziness because it is relevant. The temperature for the first time in a week is quite pleasant this evening so I turned off the AC and opened the windows.
Ok fast forward an hr. I was outside. K1 was upstairs reading so that left K2 alone on the living room apparently with the cat. I came in, K1 came down and the cat was wandering. K1 pets the cat and says
"ewwwwwwwww he is all sticky!"
So I looked but didn't touch cause like ewww there was brown sticky stuff all over the side of him.
K1 calmly explains.
"He was trying to get out the window so I grabbed him"
That was when I remembered I had given him a piece of bread with peanut butter on it only a few minutes earlier.
Now my cat looks like my walls.
I think I will call him a designer cat and leave it at that.
Some day I will win.
ju

I went out to bbq tonight. It had started to rain. Just a straight down gentle summer rain so I grabbed my rain jacket and carried on but it made me think as I was standing there.
I wasn't miserable or dejected in fact I was enjoying the sound of the rain and was taken back to many camping trips where we stood in the rain waiting for what really? The whole idea of a vacation is to take a break. Sometimes nature forces you to take breaks that you are unaware you need and refuse to take because you are in such a hurry to do what? The same has happened in the snow. Standing there watching the flakes make their way to the ground muffling the every day noise and reflecting light in ways that can only be described as surreal.
Sometimes the weather is violent and that too has a certain beauty. It is humbling. It reminds me that this life I am living is in many ways very small.
And then there are the times if you should see me standing in the rain or snow I wish you would pull the fuck over and offer me a ride cause I just don't have time nor the inclination to deal with this shit right now.
So if you see me standing there at least ask what the fuck I am doing.
ju

I have dreams. We all have the big things we would love to buy, islands, cars, homes,etc. Lately more than anything what I want when (note the when) I win is minions.
I want to never clean a bathroom again. I do NOT want to know how things get clean. I want to know they just always are. I want to forget what it means to shop for groceries, plan meals and cook. I want to never see dirty dishes again. I want to forget that washing machines were ever invented. I want clothes to be picked up and magically reappear in my closet clean and folded. I don't ever want to know what it takes to keep a home nice. I just want it to be so.
I don't want to change light bulbs. I don't want to know dust is a fact of life. I don't want to wonder how dishes get clean and the sink gets filthy when all that is in there is hot soapy water. I don't want to change toilet paper rolls.
In fact I think I will buy a healthy dose of denial when I win.
Cross your fingers for me, I need all the help I can get!
ju

It has been a long time since I have done a food blog. I won't bore you with recipe I will just tantalize you with the final results.



Fuck they were good!
Satiated,
ju

you feel the need to OD on cute...

[url]http://www.ustream.tv/channel-popup/sevenkittens[/url]

Hands OFF... the calico one is mine!

aww...
ju

I saw this this morning on tv and just had to share it is so cool.

[url]http://www.thegate.ca/social/012230/video-happy-canada-day-canadian-national-canthem/[/url]

Enjoy your Canada day long weekend and have a safe one my fellow Canucks!
ju

It took everything I had to get organised to go. I kept sitting down because my snot addled brain wasn't able to focus on more than one task at a time and I really did feel like shit but I made it.
It was awesome to arrive and have the tent etc already set up. All I had to do was pull out my chair and grab a beer. I really don't know how I did it but hey, I was there, in my zone and managed the mundane tasks like dinner and even stayed up till 1:30 am watching the flames, sipping the beer and enjoying good conversation.
Got up the next morning and was far from cured but I felt sooooooooo much better!
I couldn't explain what I get out of camping to those who don't get it but there is something both mentally and physically healing about being on a plot of dirt, surrounded by trees and water with an ample supply of wood to burn that makes me feel more at home than I am in any other situation.



That's me at my happiest.
Rejuvenated,
ju

My nose is both stuffed and running. My ears are clogged. My throat is itchy and yet I have a smile on my face because I am going camping tomorrow.
Looking forward to the sounds of zippers and the crackle of the fire,
ju