Samhain and Celtic roots...

Well, it's the end of another harvest season. For me it's always marked by a sucessful candy hunt with the kids... Regarded as the Celtic new year I take this time to repay a visit to all that has happened to our family this year... A well balanced amount of good and bad... I won't go into details here as I have forgotten far more than I could possibly remember but just know that I feel at this point of my life that things are in balance and that all is going as it should...

My religious life has often been a source of shame for me, people make you feel as though what you believe is alright as long as it is in line with what they believe... well for me I am not any particular belief but I respect a great many number of thoughts towards our existance and our purpose. So when I celebrate the Celtic holiday of Samhain with my wife know that I respect her belief and also that of the Christian faith... I will favor none more than the other but feel there is a time and place for everything...

I'm tired and my words are scattered and unorganized tonight, soon I will gather up some shocking things to say that will amuse you in some way... Perhaps I'll post some of the photos I took of the 40 foot Monkey in my neighbor's yard...

For now I must go sort out the kids candy stash and make sure it's all safe for them to eat... Errr did I say them? I meant me!...

Cheers!

Who the heck am I? Noah?

Alright, so i'm just minding my own business carrying my backpack full of techno-goodies. I arrive on the ground floor with intentions of passing right by my usual stop-n-chat location. "The Wing Master" they roast chicken and sell it to the starving public, trying to pass it off for healthy... Anyhow as I get closer I notice the frantic Asian lady I usually speak with, she's standing in a pool of moving water. Looking as frantic as she usually does I extend my greetings to her and ask her why the heck she is standing in the middle of a flood in the middle of a hospital hallway. She states the obvious to me, "There is some flood, from the drain in our store..." I answer "Well have you called anyone?" she says, "NO!, I don't know what to do!!!" so I rush over to another food kiosk and ask them to call security. I've worked in a hospital for several years and in a college for seven more so I know the usual procedure when this stuff happens. Gather up some wet signs, well there is a lazy and I mean "Lazy" with a capital L cleaner who usually saunters around doing nothing. I ask him to get some wet signs for the flood. He tells me he does not know where to look.. WOW! ok well I walk over to the stairwell door which people are coming out of periodically to be surprised by a whopping flood on the floor. "Please use the other stairwell exit, there's been a flood!" I find myself redirecting people until help arrives.... 10 or 15 minutes later a security guard arrives and I can finally leave my post.

How do I get myself into these kinds of messes in the first place... Ahhh well, We all have to make choices I guess. Some would choose to ignorantly walk through the water pretending that there is absolutely nothing wrong. I on the other hand had visions of people rushing out of the stairwell and bodies of unsuspecting patients strewn all over the floor... hahahaha

So all in all, I bought myself some chicken shawarma at a kiosk in the MaRS building then returned to sit and watch the remainder of the flood action from about 40 feet away... Happily munching on my food I watched the security guards as they put up some caution tape and politely asked people to redirect their travels...

A fun day indeed... I hope tommorow will be twice as exciting!

I'm not all about complaining... Really i'm not...

I am not all about complaining... But the reason I've not written anything in a while is because I've been sick... Picked up some strange bug that at first resembled a head cold, then sinus pain and congestion... now three weeks later I am over the head cold part and am now dealing with a dry cough at 1:22am that I can't seem to shake with traditional means. To top this off I've been trying like hell to finish my outdoor projects before winter comes...

The loose ends all need knots in my life before next week where I will be pushing hard to increase the amount of income I currently have. Between clients waiting as long as possible before paying their bills it's putting a bit of stress on me financially. I am not concerned about this as I know that income is something that is second nature to effort and so as I put a little more effort into it an increase of income will immediately follow as it always has in the past.

My family had a nice thanksgiving supper despite my being sick, the food my daughter and wife cooked up was nothing less than amazing... And we got to spend some precious time with our nephews, this is something we thoroughly enjoy, watching them play with our kids and hearing the excitement in their voice when telling us about their lives...

It's going to be a juggling act, one that I know I can handle but with a person on a transplant list, scattered work here and there from my main employment, and my online business ventures showing promise and actual income. I have a lot on my plate and I don't mean just turkey and cranberries...

Are you a computer expert?

Out of the noise of the hospital lobby, as I sit gazing at the multiple instant messages that pop up left and right. A voice saying "Are you a computer expert?". The crackly old voice that is Bill, a stranger I have not met yet...

I look over to my left, putting down the now traditional morning frappachino and smile back at an already smiling man. He tells me he wonders if I am a computer expert by the way I am typing so fast. I am proud to say that i've been a geek so long I can type with little effort at a nice speed of 100 - 120 keystrokes per minute with great accuracy and the ability to correct myself on the fly.

don: No, i'm no expert, just an enthusiastic hobby that I enjoy.

Bill: Oh, IC... My name is Bill. I grew up on a farm and we did not have this sort of thing....

Well this friendly introduction led into the next hour of conversation between Bill and I... Sharing with one another, the things in life that we enjoy and things we do not or did not enjoy... He tells me that he is 94 years old and I tell him that my grandmother recently passed away at 94 years old...

I thouroughly enjoyed this conversation, it was absolutely peaceful and felt more natural than the typing to friends I was doing on the computer. Mostly of people sharing their problems with me and me offering some advice that I may not even believe in myself but found appropriate at the time...

Are the days gone when two people.... Two strangers can just strike up conversation and talk for an hour without feeling the need to cut things short.

Thank you Bill for the conversation, it is one I shall not forget for the rest of my life... I shall bask in your 94 years of wisdom and reflect on it when life reminds me of it...

It is a good day, and I am proud to be who I am...

Full of thought not sleep...

I am not like the others, not doomed to the same moot existence that plagues the animals, yet I share the same flesh and bones as them. The same fragile body, that which came from the earth and shall soon return to it. Am I without purpose?

I am human, and while I sit here and think, I bath in my own thoughts. Feeling the aches and pains of my illnesses and ageing body, I can't shake the feeling that I am still somehow missing the point.

A great lion lays in the summer sun, tanning his fantastic shell of a body. That which is covered by a beautiful mane of hair and a proud strong stance. He is the king of his domain, and a master of survival. But this is only for a moment, as his life blinks into existence, so does it snuff out again. The same is true of my life. Are we not just a moment in time? Through the bibles perspective I will live no more than 120 years.

And the Lord said, "My Spirit will not strive (abide) with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years."
(Genesis 6:3)NKJV

And so, as I sit here for the smallest fraction of time. Like a speck of dust on a quarter that has been tossed, spinning towards that donation jar called life. I ask myself, am I right with God? If even for only a moment! I have been given this life, a chance to make my own choices, and the free will to return to God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

I know now that I am nothing without God...
Yet I know nothing about God...