Ah first post of the new year, actually had a couple of entries on in the draft stages but unfortunately an inappropriately timed reload click erased any trace of written wordyness - it's a word look it up. So after much procrastination finally getting around to retyping a particularly good entry (at least in my humble and oft irrelevant opinion), so without further ado feel free to scroll a bit down, and read the newest post - Faith.

Faith, it can mean almost anything to anyone. everyone has their interpretations - mostly in terms of religion though to be clear (and sound smarterer) as Websters defines it:

Faith: 3 : something that is believed especially with strong conviction; especially : a system of religious beliefs

Though for the purpose of this post, let's look one of the other definitions 1 a : allegiance to duty or a person [] (2) complete trust. That is to say the faith that we put in others, a belief in the heart of humankind if you will.
I'm not sure why but I think the idea of having faith in humanity is a bit overshadowed by religion... probably better marketing. It just seems to me that having faith in a religion tends to be a lot easier, for example: would someone find it easier to put faith in an all powerful Deity of whom one will never expect any accounting for action or inaction as their will is unknowable and therefore infallible. Conversely can one put faith in the fallible, downtrodden often selfish and usually ignorant fellow mortals that populate this small planet in such great numbers?

I can only speak for myself, and my response would be that placing my faith in religion is a lot easier than putting my faith in my fellow man (and woman... heck, guinea pigs as well). Of course the level of faith I'm considering here is at the level of devotion... sure it's easy to say "hey man I have faith you'll return my CD's later", but can one find it easy to take humanity as a whole and proclaim faith that as a race, no as a species we will be able to make the best of the world given to us?
One only has to turn on news or if your old skool a newspaper, to glimpse the world's problems; disparity between rich and poor, pollution, senseless wars, genocide, racial hatred spanning generation and reality TV. If your faith is in a higher power, one could possibly chalk it all up to 'god's will' or something, though for faith in humanity it gets a little difficult... because we know ordinary people just like us are behind the decisions affecting the world and instead of seeing ourselves in others we try to separate 'us' from 'them'. To make a distinction about people just to put ourselves on a higher level only serves to illustrate how truly unworthy we are to claim superiority. Of course we do it all the time, it is an almost subconscious trait... even America bashing (though extremely popular and fun) only serves to undermine the faith one can put in their fellow man (I'm using 'man' as inclusive to all genders/trans genders... so there!).
Hmm, I guess what it really boils down to is my new interpretation of faith and how I perceive it now. While I have nothing but the utmost respect for people who devote their faith to religion, I reserve my admiration for those who can devote their faith to the ordinary and weak humanity. As for myself, currently have yet to find my faith in either... though I'm looking and hoping for the strength to put my faith in the latter.

Bootwhistle

White fire truck?... the thought foggily ran through my frost addled brain. Upon a recent trip to Edmonton (which gets really, really cold during winter) I was out doing errands when the sight of a white fire truck driving by stopped me in my tracks. Of course my first consideration was that I had just confused the whiteness of the truck with all the snow on the ground, but several blinks confirmed that there was indeed a white fire truck driving past me. Aside from briefly imagining that maybe it was the secret stealth fire crew that needed to catch fires unawares ... I really was unsure of what to think of a friggin white fire truck... in the middle of winter in a city covered with over a foot of very white snow!!!

Now the above little story really has no point other than to illustrate the confusion that this world seems to offer. Rational reasons for man made constructs are many but sometimes the practicality of them escapes most people. One can easily imagine over rationalization as being just as dangerous as someone being completely without reason (cough [insert name of disgraced public figure here] cough). The real issue I want to bring up is the balance between the illogically stupid and the intelligently practical... hmm that's a bit too much of a wordy way to put it - how about the balance between imagination and realism? (meh, still not quite right but it'll do) .
Perhaps to put it simply, the difference between how a child and an adult may see things. Children may look at a white fire truck and consider it special, even create a background story with the truck being ridiculed by the other red and yellow trucks... hmm, this sounds oddly racist so let's try something else (well at least I didn't mention the black trucks - I know this is very bad).
Or maybe a quote from ol' Albie Einstein would be more appropriate:

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

Now I wouldn't consider everything is a miracle (a flushing toilet is a flushing toilet) but seeing everything as practical and mundane isn't too healthy either. So getting back to the main point - it's all about finding the balance, being able to see the miracles of living and knowing when your watching parlor tricks. Though I would contend with there is usually a third way to live ones life... and that is to be so devoid of consciousness that miracle or not - one doesn't see anything. I'm sure almost everyone has experience it, that zombie like state where one just exists for whatever task has to be done - be it at work, home or someplace inbetween. I guess it could just be referred to as apathy, a state in which one no longer cares about anything but plugs along like a good peon of their society/whatever social structure you believe in.
We often get caught up in our day to day routines that seeing anything beyond it gets to be impossible, so next time your at work/home/space just take a look around you - how you see the world is your own business, just so long as you see it. So if you ever get the chance to see a white fire truck driving through a snow covered landscape... find your own reaction to it, little things like that can make your day a bit more interesting.

Bootwhistle
It's the end of the world as we know it! Though that can really apply to any given moment in time since essentially every passing moment means the end of the known world and a start of a different one.... too much I know, just thought a little philosphical gibberish would be fun.
So anyway, something is fast approaching as evidenced by the increasing frequancy of jolly jingles on the radio and the appearance of related lights, trees, banners, fat guys in suits (no, not a cosplay convention), it's Christmas. Already one can sense that tension in the air... the stores become busier, the people more frantic, the roads more icy... hmm, ok that just because we live in Canada, but my point is that though the Christmas season is supposed to filled with good will toward humanity, consumerism takes an equal if not more important part.
But for all it's faults Christmas is still a great time of year, and as long as some people can find some joy to spread, I think that makes up for all the 'side effects' of the Christmas season. Though for this year I'm going to at least try to get involved in some volunteering effort, since there's only so much one can take before they have to give back... I guess, haven't really taken that much so not sure what the actual limit is, and I think it would be rather fun to find out. - Oh well, maybe after Christmas.

Bootwhistle
As always, time seems to be passing by just a bit too quickly, since the last post Ralph Klein told a very dirty joke about Belinda Stronach, the Democrats gained majority in the house of representatives (though more from inaptitude of the Republicans than any real work on their part) , and someone invented a car that is powered by bat guano... still have to verify that last one. So the topic for today's post will actually be more of a continuation of the previous one. Where I made comment as to the nature of environment in Calgary, seems that I was completely wrong. Calgary isn't alone in this new self serving environment, seems like all of Alberta has been caught up in it. A recent visit to my hometown of Edmonton brought about the realization that maybe Calgary isn't the source for all the pricks in the world as I've previously believed, a lot seems to have changed in just a couple of years. People in general seem more in rush to get ... wherever the hell the have to get to, though one can only hope it really is important (though I have been told hair emergencies do count).

So I can't just pin my observations of people squarely on Calgary (damn, back to the drawing board) seems like it's a universal condition. The hard part now is deciding whether or not the way people act is something new if one just has had the opportunity to recognize it. Meh, that's for people smarter than me to decide, all I know is that the world is full of self righteous pricks, and you can't escape them where ever you go. Wonder how that moon colonization plan is going?

Bootwhistle
Well, seems like a lot in the world is just a keeping on keep'en on... not much I can say that would be worthy of comment especially in current state. Actually have had very little opportunity to read/watch news or any other informative program. So pretty much out of the current loup, so I thought I'd take an opportunity to blog about the current environment in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. As a current Calgarian I've come to notice quite a few things about this city... firstly every native Calgarian seems to give this undefinable aura of arrogance and self importance. I'm not sure how they manage it but if you meet anyone in Calgary that isn't horrible self involved they must either be tourists or too new to the city to have picked up any bad habits. Actually that is another thing that boggles my mind concerning Calgary... why on earth would tourists be coming here? Honestly there really isn't anything very relevant to see in Calgary itself, maybe if you went to Banff or Jasper. Anyway I digress (I'm not even sure what that means), Calgary is a city full of people going somewhere... it may not be anywhere important but they have to get there in a hurry and damn any unconcious homeless guy the pass on the way. Yeah, that pretty much sums up the Calgary environment.

Bootwhistle
I've been quite busy working two jobs so haven't had much time to do much of anything besides sleep. Finally got some free time and decided to take a look at my blog and see if I had the energy to create a new post... to my surprise I found an entry I couldn't remember writing (see previous post).
Though I think I can piece together what I was trying to blog about - pretty sure at least (and no I'm not currently drunk). Anyway putting aside the effects alchohol has on mind and body, let's all move on to the original idea behind that particular post. Oh and in case anyone gets the wrong idea that was my first night drinking anything stronger than coffee in about 4 months.
So anyway about the service industry, which basically includes servers (waiters/waitresses), bartenders and at the lower end of the spectrum cooks (of which I'm a current member). I honestly believe that the most interesting people are found in the service industry, although my definition of interesting is very wide indeed. Aside from the part timers composed mostly of students, at the core of the service industry are the odd, disgruntled, and just plain insane (in a good way). For in truth no one really wants to be part of an industry that looks after regular idiots day in and day out - believe me normal people are mostly idoits. So our industry tends to attract or 'catch' the people who are a little different, still intelligent and mostly coherent but with their own quirks or circumstances that made them choose a different path than is considered "normal".
This is where my drunken brain was trying to go in the last post, since at that time I went out to drink with said industry people and met serveral characters of note, so of course thought that it was a wonderful meeting such interesting people (though that may have been an effect of the alchohol). Actually have something else more important to post later on, but unfortunately time runs short, and don't feel like editing this post or saving it to do later. (Welcome to the Night Shift)

Greeetings, at the time of this post, I am quite quite drunk, it is only through a perserverance of quality and spell checker that words be formed in recognizable form.
Was thinken for a while what to post but really nothing came to mind. but due to current state of mind alteredness, feel that there are more stuff to said be. For instance the "industry" which referes to the coalition of peoples making up the service industry - which would sinculde servers, bartenders, cooks, ect. I' ve worked on and off in the industry for a few years and it's interesting to note the certain trends or composition of people working in the "industry".
maake more later tired, and only one eye will focus, one last note, I hate you all.