Monthly Archives: August 2007

Eating while Walking

I am sort of an odd duck I will admit. But I thought I was maybe a little over the edge when I came to the realization of arguablly one of my biggest peeves: People who eat while walking. This peeve had lingered underneath the surface for years. Something just out of reach that was pestering me as I would be out and about the town. But it dawned upon me while passing through the university and around the tech area in town. The places where you’ll find many many offenders.

So, why is this a peeve? Easy. Have you ever seen someone eating while walking. I mean, taken a really close look? Does it not remind you of some sort of primitive neanderthal or a cow in the pasture? First of all, eating is not a very flattering look on anybody. There are very few who could pull off the action of eating and make it look attractive in any way. But while walking, it looks foolish in my opinion.

Most people have difficulty doing two things at once to begin with. Eating while walking exposes you to the world for them to see you in all your glory. I have seen some very unpleasant sights I must tell you. And I believe it may highlight the qualities of a person: arrogant, inconsiderate, the Western World attitude that exclaims I am ‘the man’ and am so important and have so little time that I must eat and walk to show you this.

Is there not time in a day for somebody to sit and eat? Must you perform this unattractive feat in public? Or do you do this because you need to be noticed and validate your life in some way?

Be you attractive, unattractive, ignorant or knowing of your actions, you belittle the look of humanity and you send a signal that your values are skewed.

Crazy? If you think so, than you label Japan as crazy too. Eating while walking is considered to be very poor manners in that country. Why? Probably because they are a culture based upon the importance of politeness to fellow man and that actions convey the soul of a person.

That being said, I will acknowledge exceptions:

-A hotdog at the ballgame

-ice cream on a hot day

-evidence that can convict you in court while being pursued by the law

-chowing down on pizza while walking home from the bar in a drunken stupor

Feel free to provide further examples. They will be subject to criticism however.

20 words for the summer

- Niagara falls two times:  once in July for the camping trip (Knight’s Beach in Dunville), once for the birthday trip to the Casino  (Oakes Inn with dinner at Canyon Creek – best steak ever?)

– 12 straight wins in baseball clinches top spot in the league.

– mid 70’s on the golf course, perhaps best season in a long time

– trip to cottage near Bobcaygeon with Tara and gang.  Led Zeppelin on the mp3 player

– vegetable garden looked rough in the beginning but late season rain saves the day.  Large quantities of Roma and garden tomatoes (including a gourmet Rutger’s bush), massive peppers (a 1st) and quantities of onions and jalapenos.

– swimming lessons, trips to the park, exploring the playgrounds.

– several Jays games with and without OG.

– a summer where OG enjoyed the backyard with the new slide, sandbox, bubbles, etc.  A mindboggling development of mental and physical skills.  Things are moving faster than I can absorb.  I wish we could slow down time….she’s already 2 and a month!

– Mom in Freeport recovering from GBS (Guillian Barre Syndrome).  What a difficult yet optimistic time that has been.  I’ve enjoyed the extra times spent with family I must admit.  Too bad it was for such a circumstance.

Things to look forward to:

– Joey’s wedding

– cottage time in Wiarton

– a new occupation?……

The Frustration of an Ex-leader of a Huge Rock-n-Roll Band

My brother gave me a DVD of the Roger Hodgson concert in Montreal (June 6, 2006). It is very good. Sound and vision wise. He is a superb entertainer and has had a storied career as frontman and creative talent behind the 70’s superband Supertramp.

The elephant in the room on this DVD is the same for all leaders of bands that produced mega-hit after mega-hit: Everybody going to the show wants to hear those songs, not any of the new stuff being recorded. That was obvious in Roger’s concert. He would pepper the hits with some new stuff. Although the new songs were politely applauded it was the type of applause that could be interpreted as “OK, enough’s enough. Get back to the real stuff”. And it doesn’t take an applause specialist to interpret this. I’m sure Roger, sitting up there in front of thousands of adoring fans can sense this too. I’ve seen this in many concerts or heard about it from others. For example, when Brian May was doing concerts after the death of Freddie and Queen, he was embarrassingly experiencing the same phenomenon.

I wonder how that makes these masters of bygone days feel. Pigeon-holed in their past. Very few that I’m aware of have been able to break out of the mold for better or for worse: Peter Gabriel, Robyn Hitchcock for example.

Can you think of any others?