Season's Greetings y'all!

I decided to go with a pc greeting. Apparently, it's the latest thing, cause you don't wanna offend someone who just might not be partaking in the festivities of December 25th. That being said, what about January 1st? Because even the New Year is celebrated at different times of the year for many different cultures and religions.

Nonetheless, whatever you may be celebrating this holiday season, I hope it's merry!
And filled with good friends, good food and lots of fun.

Cheers!

By the way, I made it sound like I was signing off and going 'away' for awhile. Au contraire, I will be here in full force...
'working' during the holidays.

be seeing ya!

i am in a ranty-mood.

i wasn't sure what to call this blog, i was debating between a) Why I hate winter b) Why did my parents choose to leave a hot, warm country and settle for the extreme opposite, when there were such OBVIOUS choices that reflect the similarities of the fertile soils of Punjab....WEST COAST, anybody? (I ask my parents this question, I'd say at least once a year :) c) why the traffic man is always right.

I realized some of those titles were a little on the longish side, so I decided for 'Why I hate winter'.

So yesterday's storm aside (in case you were under a rock, or a snowbank-we got at least 35 cm snow), I can deal with..So this morning, I hear the traffic-man announce 'traffic is bad from the south shore, at least an hour, so if you're tempted to hit the snooze..go for it...'
It was almost 8:20, so I decided to enjoy my breakfast and read through the paper. By 8:45, I figured traffic must have let up and thought to myself-how do they really know it's an hour wait??..........I'll head on out...

So I get in my car, after scraping it clean and decide to back out of the driveway, only to get my two front tires stuck on what looked to be a relatively small pile of snow.

Lesson 1:

What goes in, doesn't always come out.

or Mother nature will not cooperate with my procrastinating efforts

The day before I had managed to get my car into the driveway without having to lift a shovel, though, I might add that I did have to sorta gun it to get all the way up. I guess I must have been delusional and thought that it would've melted by the morning. So, of course, I had to get out and shovel my car out of the mini-snow bank. But that was nothing compared to what happened after. SO there I am driving down my street, and all of a sudden from the corner of my eye I see a car coming full speed out of their driveway (not backing out, cause the car was parked forward-facing out) cause obviously this driver didnt look past their mountains of snow to see whether the coast was clear (or they had their own little pile of snow to drive over real fast)... This left me with no choice but to swerve in the direction of another snow bank on my right as she was headed towards my driver side.....In the end, no damage was done, but I was quite enraged by her lack of attention.

So I continued on my not-so merry way, only to find myself in a parking lot. No, I didn't decide to do some early morning shopping. I was on the 132 approach to the bridge and it was 9AM.

Let's just say I only got my turn to cross over at 9:45. That's 45 minutes of ??? (I forgot my weights :) and contemplating b (see possible subject heading).

Moral of the story? The traffic man is always right.

you know traffic is bad when...

you find yourself bobbing your head and singing along to that new song (if you can call it that) by BareNaked Ladies..
In case you are unaware (you don't know how lucky you are), the lyrics go something like this:

You can't imagine so many monkeys in the daily mail
All of them coming anonymously so they leave no trail
I never thought I'd have an admirer from overseas
But someone is sending me stationary filled with chimpanzees.

This has got to be THE most annoying song ever!
ANyone out there care to explain what they are even talking about?!

On second thought, you know what? It doesn't matter. I'd hate to be the one to get that song stuck in your head (it might be too late..hehehe...)

another postcard with chimpanzeeeeees

There I am singing, again! ahhhh! It's gonna be a looong ride home!

Strange things observed while driving:no.1 in a series.

It's been about 2 months since I've been driving to work and so far it's been going good.
Despite the often long waits in traffic, the close calls with death-courtesy of the many truck drivers who think signalling means when you've already changed lanes and are practically on top of the car..
I haven't experienced any (serious) bouts of road rage or fits of anger. Is it possible that I've turned into a seasoned
Quebec driver? That I have joined the likes of the many who randomly swerve in and out
of lanes, indecisive of which one is faster (ultimately none)?

I think I've maintained some sense of road-etiquette, knowing how it feels not to be 'let in', I am the type of driver who will actually let the poor car in-like a normal driver should (before their lane turns into a wall).....and in exchange am acknowleged with the hand (no, not the finger). I've realized, I'm a receiver of the hand, but not a giver...and sometimes when I don't get it, I feel unappreciated and don't let the next car in.....(traffic can get to you..)

Anyways, apart from the usual head bobbing to the music, I don't think I've observed anything as amusing as today.

So there I am on the approach to the Champlain Bridge, this can take anywhere from between 5-20 minutes depending on the hour, day, week, alignment of the stars.... :)

I just happen to look over because something in the car next to mine caught my attention..
I had to do a double take....The woman in the car next to me was PLUCKING her eyebrows.
I've seen this on the bus, which I still don't understand-now why take the risk of losing an eye (montreal potholes??)
all for the perfect arch...

but while you're DRIVING?! I understand that traffic was almost at a standstill...but still!

Applying makeup, drinking coffee, singing, even eating-I've seen (and maybe even done a few)
but I don't think I've ever considered anything as painstaking as doing my eyebrows while driving..

It's a sign of the times....or lack thereof. I guess when this lady woke up she figured she could squeeze in 5 more minutes of zzzs if she did her 'brows in the car. Now that's what you call multi-tasking, good planning and let's not forget patience...a well-defined arch is not easy to come by (especially with the pressures of traffic..)

To think everyday I've been wasting at least 40 minutes of my day in traffic (one-way), when there's so many other things I could be doing at the same time...

Maybe I'll throw a set of weights into my passenger seat..and do a few bicep curls on my way in......

:)