No Human Contact

As I was washing my face yesterday before bed, I realized that I didn't see one person yesterday. As I walked my dog in the morning, I did see three people out for their morning walks to which we waved and said "good morning" to each other from across the street but that's the closest I was to them - 25' or so across the road. It's not like I laid all day on the couch watching TV. No, I went to work, I wished my mom a "happy birthday", I  mowed the lawn and played ball with the dog - but all day long not one person looked me in the eye.

Does that seem odd to you? I mean nowadays people are so into their own thing that they often have their own music plugged into their head via headphones or are carrying on a conversation everywhere they go on their phone/bluetooth - so maybe my experience isn't even that odd.

It seems we need people to create the things we need/want/desire such as music or food or art or buildings, but otherwise we don't need people, do we? There's an old saying "no man is an island" but does that still apply today? We seem to becoming more and more isolated from each other as time goes on. My brother commented the other day that as he drove by his local highschool all the kids were walking down the road single file. Yes single file! Why? Because almost everyone had their head down and was either doing something on an iPod type device or texting someone - who knows - they were probably texting someone 10' behind them on the sidewalk! Do you remember when the majority of kids would leave school walking in big clumps? Groups of kids would walk together spilling onto lawns and on the road all so they could keep up with each other. Stragglers could be targets for teasing. But now, we don't have groups anymore.

And do people still go out for after work drinks? I've worked from home for so long I have no idea. I see my co-workers in this province once a year - maybe. Back in the day, a group of us girls would all go take a coffee break toghether and have lunch together and then meet at the trendiest restaurants to have after work drinks. But everyone's so busy now and people don't drink and drive like they used to (thank goodness) and everything's more expensive so maybe that doesn't happen any more either.

So when you go to bed at night, count the number of people you looked in the eye that day - and tell me it's more than 5 at least, okay?

Summer passed..

Have you ever been part of a production like a play, or trade show or perhaps even a wedding where you spend months waiting and planning and working and then suddenly it was all over in 1 day or a couple of days? And you're happy that the event went well, but it was so fast compared to all the preparation? Well that's how I feel about this summer. We had a wet and miserable spring that lasted all the way up until the end of June. Two glorious months that seemed to slip by so fast and then by September it was back to cooler temperatures and rain again. I didn't even get all of my garden ornaments out and some plants didn't even get much of a chance to grow like they normally did. I never even sat outside in the evening with candles glowing, enjoying the cool summer evening after a long hot day. It all went so fast. Do you feel that way too?

Monkeys in commericals

When I was a kid there were commercials for a Western US car dealer "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot" except spot never a dog and was instead a tiger, a seal, an elephant, a bear or a monkey. Ever notice we don't see monkeys or other animals in commercials like we did in the 70's and 80's? Is that because people are bored with animals, or that society doesn't like animals doing tricks for products or because there are less animals around to use on film, or they actually cost less than people actors?

I'm curious, what do you think?

"If people concentrated on the really important things in
life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles." - Doug Larson

I've often said the very same thing about sports fans - and I've been criticized (heavily) over my opinion. But I'm going to stand by it. I really believe that if people spent as much time on self improvement or advancing their lives and/or careers, their health, their relationships etc as they do memorizing sports scores, team trades or other statistics, they and the economy might be in a better position. I have nothing against people participating in sports, but those couch potatoes who waste their whole Sunday on Football  - how is that making their lives, or the lives of others better?

I'm curious, what do you think about this?