Grief, Dreaming and Empathy

I had a dream a week or so ago about our recently departed loved one. I don't often dream of those who have passed on, it has only happened to me a few times. It was a very short dream, CC was wearing a really nice suit and was smiling. He had on a ridiculous tie that was glowing, kind of like a lava lamp, or something from the sixties. I was amused by the tie, so I asked him where he got it. He replied that I gave it to him. That was it. Dream over.

Although the dream itself was fairly harmeless, maybe even funny, it left an emotional hangover that carried into the next few days. It made me feel profoundly sad and with a longing to turn back the clock. I tried to write down my thoughts on this dream several times but could never quite get through it. It did'nt help that in the meantime I watched Jon Voigt in the Five People You Meet In Heaven . Which cracked me open just a little bit wider than I already was. I've added this movie to my top 5 all time favourite movies.

I try not to analyze my dreams to much. The furballs that our subconscious throws up to us are mostly meant to be ignored. But there was something that kept eating at me about this dream.

While trying to understand the dream a little voice kept mumbling the word empathy. Empathy? Yeah, like remembering all the bewildered people in Afghanistan and Iraq who are missing family members. Or the families of Canadian and American soldiers who regardless of their political view are now going through a horrible grieving process. If grief and loss means anything at all should it mean you become more fully human in that you can understand someone else's grief? I'm embarassed that self-pity is almost always the first recourse. If empathy is important then how as a Canadian can I be the least bit comfortable with Canada's New Government which sees Military Machismo as our new international identity. I understand a little bit more, but not nearly enough, about grief and empathy. I also know who I'm NOT voting for in the next federal election. Which I hope is soon. Please recommend this post

Blogger Errata

In a previous post I mentioned that my niece attended a Rocker Chick Camp this summer. This should have be described as Rocker Girl Camp. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Please recommend this post

Hermaphrodite Nazi Sympathisers And Thanks

Late last night our blog received its 5000th visitor. I would like to send a gift to that reader, but I only know it is someone in LeatherHead Bromley, UK. A better produced blog could get 5000 hits in one week or one month but it took us almost a year. Our 5000th visitor googled wallace simpson hermaphrodite and landed here. For the record, we do not have any in depth content related directly to this search. Google does not do semantics very well when dealing with multiple key words. It only knows those three words were found somewhere in the content. Nonetheless I'm grateful for the visit.

An hermaphrodite is someone with both sexual physiologies. God only knows why, but I discussed it here (Last paragraph). Wallace Simpson was an American woman who married the Prince of Wales in the 1930's. Not long after becoming King he abdicated because his marriage to a divorced American was objectionable to the British Parliament and the Royal Family. Since the Prince of Wales was immensely popular the British people resented Wallace Simpson and all kinds of crazy things were made up about her in the press. They blamed her for the abdication and then made a whole industry out of saying wacky untrue things about her. Good thing the Western Standard and Ezra Levant were not around then. Being called an Hermaphrodite would be the least of her worries.

I really doubt she was an hermaphrodite. The Duke would have taken note of that. That castle was only big enough for one Duke. With all due respect to hermaphrodites everywhere - which is a phrase I never thought I would write - it was an awful thing to say about someone just because they disrupted your little costume pageant.

After abdicating the couple moved to the Bahamas where the Duke was given a bit of non strenuous government work to do. There were persistant rumors throughout the War that the Duke and Duchess were Nazi sympathisers, perhaps even spies. Hence, another one of my other google referrals: "Wallace Simpson von Ribbentrop".

I feel like I should be thanking people for having 5000 visits.

First - first I'd like to thank Jesus because athletes do it all the time whenever they win something. Also my mother who does'nt know I write this stuff, should be thanked. You always thank your mother. If you don't you are a jerk. I'd like to thank Jesus again, because you can never thank Jesus enough when you live a life like mine. I'd like to thank the Progressive Bloggers for picking up my feed probably against their better judgment. I'd like to thank the Pope and Madonna. I'd like to thank all the readers who drop by and take time to read my posts. No accounting for taste. I'd like to thank the Government of Alberta whose ignorance and incompetence is mind blowing thus giving me plenty to write and think about. I'd like to thank Stephen Harper for being a continuous source of legitimate outrage for all of us non-Conservative bloggers.

My plans are to continue with this blog and to find ways to improve it. I lament the fact that many blogs I start to enjoy end up having a short life span. There are a lot of very talented writers out there so its always going to be a good competition to get readers. Please recommend this post

Rocker Chick Camp

My niece went to Rocker Chick Camp a few weeks ago. She did'nt even send me an email telling me she was doing that. I had to hear it from my mother and I did'nt really understand what she was talking about. What I heard at first was Biker Chick Camp. Oh dear, I thought, does the father know? She went to this camp in Edmonton for 5 days and got musical instruction from Rachelle van Zanten and others. I think this type of thing is a great idea. I wish they had something like that when I was that age. I tried to get some of the lyrics of the songs they wrote in the workshops but no luck. I'll keep trying.

A friend of mine went to an IT boot camp which is kind of like a religious cult. They deprive you of sleep and protein and cram you with stupid facts so you can pass a bunch of Certification Tests. He paid almost 10k for it and drank the whole time. He apparently passed all the exams but does'nt know how or when.

It does'nt really bother me if my niece decides to make a career in music. Its a tough life though. I admire people who have musical talent. I know she does'nt get it from my side of the family. We have no musical genetics on our side at all. She obviously gets her talent from her Father's side, he being an impressive singer and guitar player. Please recommend this post

Labour Day Disaster

It has been a sad week up in Capital City. The day after Labour day marks the half-way point for the CFL season. I think it will extremely likely that the Edmonton Eskimos will miss the playoffs for the first time since 1971. Sure, I was around then, why did you have to bring that up? I sure as heck was'nt going to no rocker camp. Life was pretty tough. We had to sit in those crappy end zone seats in Clarke Stadium and freeze.

Anyway, the Saskatchewan Rough Riders are playing well, and the Eskimos were beat by the Calgary Stampeders on Labour Day. This is why we are saying the Eskimos season is all over. Think of all those bus loads of drunk Eskimo fans heading back up the QE2 last monday night. It was probably a pretty quiet trip without a lot of screaming and tossing of beer soaked underwear. Just sad melancholic drooling.

I was at work on Tuesday morning and it was only 10:00 am before I heard some major league gloating down on street level. One guy says, so we finally beat Edmonton on Labour day. The other guy: Really, that happened once when Klein was mayor I think. A third guy joined them but they were practising male tribal dominance so they would'nt let him talk.

Calgary Stampeder fans are so used to losing they never really think any particular win is good enough. After scoring 44 points against Edmonton people were still phoning the Radio Station expressing a weird kind of skepticism about how good their team really is. Sure we scored 44 points, but we should have scored 64 points. Heads should roll. Occasionally people forget it is a post game football show and phone in to point out that the poor kick off returns are the result of Canada being a third rate socialist welfare state.

Tonight is the rematch in Edmonton. The game is just getting underway. If I were betting I would'nt put much on the Eskimos, not if you want to feed your kids. Actually it is officially known as the Alberta Pork Sports Labour Day Classic Rematch, which is mouthier than Mundare Sausage. I was trying to think of something funny to write about a government funded Pork Lobby group sponsoring a football game but nothing came up that was remotely publishable.

The Eskimos and the Edmonton media are in a complete state of shock that this could be happening to them. Eventually they'll have to deal with it and re-tool it for next year. Please recommend this post