Pet peeves and unexpected joys: A mathematical (?) approach

So there I am, as usual, seething with anger. This time, it's Patrick Brazeau. He makes me sick with his ignorance and bravado, and his undeserved power. Not that I want power, necessarily. With great power comes great responsibility? Is that what they say? But I digress. The Brazman. My extreme dislike—of the Brazman and so many other public figures—is starting to be problematic. It's having an effect on my mental health. You would think that I had enough stress close to home, right? Why on earth am I allowing the bad behaviour of famous people get under my skin? Not to mention the countless pet peeves I discover and rediscover in my everyday life, like idling cars, extremely high heels, people who don't say thank you, Internet initialisms, open-mouthed gum chewers, and so many more.

It's not much fun being angry. I needed to find a solution. So I came up with an idea. Every time I find myself getting all pumped up about something, I have to find another thing that makes me happy in equal proportions. There's nothing I can do about that macho wifebeating fraudster. But Romeo Dallaire's a good guy! The story of Zenko Hrynkiw should be enough to cancel out the latest Rob Ford scandal. I look away from the dog poo in the snow and appreciate the beautiful yarn bombed trees in my local park. I take a break from raging about car congestion on my street to check out the bounteous community garden.

It's not always easy, but I think I'm on to something. What do you think?

slice of life

When bananas get really ripe, you can smell them all over the apartment.

Adventures with kitchen motors

A few months ago I broke my blender jar, which pissed me off quite a lot because I use my blender a lot. I went on the net and found out that replacement jars cost about as much as a new blender. I thought about buying a new blender. I made do with the Cuisinart stick blender (which is great too, by the way). I kept the old base. Why, I don't know. Part of me hoped I would find the right blender jar at a thrift shop. Part of me wanted to give it to someone to make an awesome bike-powered machine. Part of me was just stewing about it. It's been sitting there for months. 

So... today I'm walking home, and I see a Black and Decker blender jar on the sidewalk right down the street from my place. There's a sign: "à donner". No base. I rush it home (taking care not to break it) and try it out. IT FITS. What are the odds? This has been a life-changing experience. I have new faith in the universe. Things have been made right. Yes.

The above post appeared on Facebook on March 6, 2013. Within 5 days, a whopping 48 people had clicked "like". I guess heartwarming stories about kitchen appliances are more consensus-building than tales of mustard, shots of completed puzzles or indiscriminate slapdowns. I have learned something new about humanity.