On Control

“Which do you think gives the government more control? A population that goes to work, earns money, buys things that they can’t really afford so they get into debt so they have to go back to work, do more of the thing that they don’t really like to get more money to pay the debt for the thing that they didn’t really need..” – TN -

Everyone Thought Africa Would Be Hit the Hardest… They Were Wrong 

Did salaries go up?

 

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2024/01/23/canadian-grocery-price-comparison-2019-2024/

Shrinkflation

WORD of the pandemic years: shrinkflation!!! Whoever said, "We're all in this together," should talk louder to profiteering producers/manufacturers who are deaf (and blind) to what's happening around them. Now grocery shopping feels like you’ve grown into a giant because everything in your hands has shrunk into miniature dimensions. MLJ/05/10/2022/ProfiteersCareForNoOne

More than nine planes arriving and counting…

A travelling teacher. That’s what I’ve been calling myself for living out of a suitcase and going where I’m needed since 2017. The only thing I look for is a room with a view – whatever view except for a wall or skyscrapers like in the concrete jungles of Manila and Manhattan! This year, my new place has a wide window with a view of the backyard and the back alley with all the back porches, and a lot of sky streaked with power lines on which now and then squirrels are quickly crossing or birds are precariously balancing. The neighbor’s cats go under our back fence and sit by our kitchen door, wanting to be let in. Sorry, but I have cat allergies.

While working at my computer today, I noticed the increasing frequency of planes landing on YYC sometimes only a minute or two apart, so I took photos of those I could catch. More than nine planes in all within 72 minutes!

5:44 pm – Flair
5:47 pm – WestJet
6:00 pm – WestJet
6:02 pm – Air Canada
6:14 pm – WestJet
6:15 pm – WestJet
6:32 pm – WestJet
6:37 pm – Air Canada
6:56 pm – WestJet

Why was I counting? Why was I identifying each one? Hmm… 

MLJ/02/05/2022

Cassandra could’ve prophesied all these

A stubborn virus going around,
Inflation and gas price hike.
Grateful though I’m not one to hide
Where women aren’t considered human.
Not one abandoned by my Coyote to expire
As one statistic on Desierto de Sonora.
Not one meal for the sharks off Florida coast
Cast off our overcrowded dinghy boat.
Not one with a worthless ruble in jail,
Where falsities are bound to fail.
Not one hunkering in a basement,
Away from the rain of fiery shells...
Cassandra could’ve prophesied all these
And no modern mind would’ve believed.
MLJ/06/05/2022

How much blood?

Our second summer staycation with the fourth wave of COVID-19, and forest fires raging on all sides. Itchy eyes, nose and throat, and heat waves should be nothing though. Condos crumbling in Florida, swallowed by voracious earth that disdained concrete. Global warming punishing human beings with drought and flooding while Siberians battle fires in vain. Mask mandate and vaccine debates going on amidst the opening of classes, trapping children in the middle. Death sentences handed down for heroic teachers and frontliners. Early school shootings in England and the US. Earthquake and hurricane in Haiti, and bullets flying in Afghanistan. The desperate clinging on jets taking off abandoned Kabul. Women and girls left behind to bear the young terrorists of the morrow. And the bloody cycle goes on and on… Until the next summer staycation? MLJ/16/2021/USWithrawsFromAfghanistan

A Dream Comes True

After ten years of telling myself I couldn’t do it, here it is after six days of trying: orange Phalaenopsis orchids on a canvas textured with modeling paste. What do you think? Jamison/10082021SecondSummerStaycation

In Seventeen Months…

Such a short time to say goodbye
To seven lovely souls who have left,
One with depression, six with cancer
While unwanted COVID and its brothers
Have felt comfy and overstayed.
Jamison/20/07/2021/17MonthsOfCOVID19

In Seventeen Months…

When three of your kin have gone ahead
Taking with them depression or cancer
You begin to ponder
Who’d be next?
Would I be next?
Should I be next?
Then you say a prayer:
“Lord, let it be that I’d go painless,
Or better yet, let me go in my sleep.”
When you’d never really prayed before
As a non-believer!
Jamison/18/07/2021/17MonthsOfCOVID19

On Being Forgetful

A hot shower,
A walk in the park, watching the Bow River,
A visit to the library then the grocery,
Picking up fruit in season and bird seeds.

Then seeing my doctor,
Saying all’s well despite forgetfulness,
Sore limbs, nocturia, buckling knees,
A topsy-turvy gut, and God knows what else.

But because I’m now forgetful,
I’ve forgotten to tell her all my troubles!
Jamison/14/07/2021/staycation

After the Third Wave...

Home learning or in-school
The children couldn’t be fooled
The virus nearly reigned a third time
And masked they were without a whine.

Now come the summer break and heat waves
And family battles that don’t seem to wane
Until September comes again
And parents are back to being sane.
Jamison/03/07/2021

2020 In My Mind

The world was caught by surprise
As this virus quietly arrived
In suitcases on planes and trains
In cars and on costly cruises
Like Bubonic plague clouding over
Every continent it vowed to cover.

While the usual news blasting
Black Lives Matter; police weren’t listening.
America divided and Trump infected,
Sick of being rejected, after all he’d invested.

Hurricanes, forest fires, global warming the usual thing
And close to two million deaths may be nothing
Compared to catastrophic Black Death,
But these are lives that mattered just as well
Not one deserving shrugging shoulders.
2021 ought to be better.
MLJ/27/12/2020/IntheyearofCOVID-19

Wear a mask, save a life

I can’t quite comprehend how some can look so competent and so aware or their rights and privileges but so unaware or unconcerned about their own safety and those of others, about loss of precious lives and the collapse of the health system on which their lives depend. “No one tells me what to do!” “No one tells me when or when not to visit my parents!” Is it pride then that has prevailed all this time? It doesn’t matter if they get infected or infect others, including their loved ones? Despite the deaths around them, after a birthday party, a wedding, a night out, a rally or demonstration, a sports event…, they remain unbelieving, incredulous that there is indeed a virus in our midst. FOMO? Fear of missing out? Fear of missing something more fun or something better than what is safer? Yes, who cares about the overcrowded hospitals and the fatigued health care workers anyway! The frontline workers have been begging the public to wear masks or keep their distance, but some people pay no heed and appear to be deaf and blind. Help! I can’t see any rhyme or reason for this behaviour. MLJ/27/12/2020

When Reading Is Over…

Meng Jin and Jesse Thistle,
The search is over for missing fathers.
Identities somewhat established,
Raising the dead from their graves.

Keigo Higashino, I thank you
For the old and new Japan in Tokyo,
For the characters I wish to meet
When the world is done with this pandemic.

Tim Leach, would you have me banished
In the land of fire and ice - so famished -
Only to come back like a phoenix
And put an end to clan revenge?

Martin Cruz Smith, to Siberia I fly
Survive a bear attack I try.
Now back in Kremlin
Putin remains standing.
MLJ/27/12/2020

First wave: after early 2020 travels

Second wave: after Thanksgiving holiday

Third wave: after Christmas & New Year celebrations?

How can we fight this together? We're losing our frontline and essential workers fast.

We hear you loud and clear: Can't breathe! No masks! No restrictions! No vaccine! 

What's your proposal? We're listening... 

MLJ/07/12/2020

People who have no excuse for not cooperating with health officials haven't realized the gravity of this pandemic and might find it too late for regrets and apologies when one day, they themselves can no longer be admitted in and given care by overrun hospitals. The word "freedom" needs redefinition now more than ever. Are we free to lead others to their death just because we don't value our own lives?

- MLJ/23/11/2020 -

I CARE not only because these are my relatives and friends, but also because they are human beings like you and me who are loved as grandparents, parents, children, brothers, sisters and friends. Let us protect the frontliners and essential workers by cooperating. - MLJ/23/11/2020 -

On My Special Day in 2020

THANK YOU, maraming salamat, cảm ơn bạn, ありがとうございました, mulțumesc, Спасибо, merci... to all friends and relatives around the world for remembering my special day. If I could make a special request for my birthday, it’s to ask you all to pray with me for everyone’s safety, healing and comfort. Let’s do what we can for one another every day of our lives. God bless you all! – Lina, Miss J., Marlyne –

Fear of Missing Events (FOME) by Miss J.

 

Child: I saw some people in the store not wearing masks. Why aren’t they wearing masks?

Me: Some people have valid reasons for not wearing masks. They might have health conditions that make it hard for them to breathe when wearing masks. We just have to be more understanding, emphatic and compassionate.

Child: So they all can’t breathe when wearing masks?

Me: Hmm… Maybe some or most of them. Some might not have any valid reason at all. They just don’t want to wear masks. Period. It’s all right if they stay home, avoiding or limiting contacts with others. It’s not all right, however, if they gather in large groups without protection or distancing, not caring about their health or the health of others. They probably fear missing events, maybe a fun event, and it’s their priority instead of their safety.

Child: Oh, I know! They want to have fun now and get sick later… Or die later? MLJ/30/10/2020/IntheyearofCOVID19.  

A DEAL’S A DEAL! (Based on 95.9 CHFM Radio Show Forgive and Forget)

Mother is asking her teen son, Brat, for forgiveness as the new car promised him is no longer affordable.

Mother: I’m so sorry, Brat, but we can’t afford the car we promised you. Remember the roof repair this summer? It cost us so much more than we thought.

Brat: Whaat? A deal’s a deal! You asked me to get A’s and B’s and I got them in my last report card. A deal’s a deal!

Mother: I know, honey, but we really can’t afford it now after paying the contractor.

Brat: That’s not my problem! I didn’t ask you to fix the roof! You promised me a car and I got you the A’s and B’s you asked for. Get a loan! Borrow money! I don’t care!

Radio Host 1: Brat, how about you get a part-time job and save a little while your parents try to save a little, too, in order to get the car you want?

Brat: Right. I’m working part-time and studying all night to get A’s and B’s for them. What did you think of me?

Radio Host 2: Well, it looks like you and your parents are going to have a long talk tonight. All the best!

Radio Host 1: I’m confused! Is a car more important than a roof over your head?

MLJ/30/10/2020/IntheyearofCOVID19.