Where's friggin' Noah when you need him?

(originally to be posted on Sept. 3rd, 2006)

It's amazing how in such a place of excess and denial how quickly someone can get caught up in it. I can hardly say I'm exempt from that statement, what with my love of little devices and collecting movies, but I can't help looking around at the people, as John Cougar himself said "dressed up for each other" along the sidewalk, or the shops full of "things you need to be pretty" or "fulfilled" or "successful" or ANYthing, and then see the contrast found in those desperately clinging to what they don't have, seated on the street corner steps.

Then there are those making a mockery of those in need by asking for handouts they don't need. Four or five skater kids brazenly sticking their hands out at different sides of the subway, tucking their iPods away and trying to hide their hundred dollar shoes, who dress like they "have not" because it's COOL? F'God's sake...

So, soon the line blurs between who need help and who don't - people not wanting to give because who knows who's faking just to make a quick buck. And then all get nothing. Those who are with - as opposed to without - pass by, oblivious to all the cups and blankets huddled in the street.

Today, it is raining. So this image is all the more louder than usual. I do not look forward to the winter...

And yet, even in the midst of this running editorial in my head, I can't help noting that the blossoming umbrellas everywhere. Barely anyone has a coat or hood. It's as though, even in the rain, the ideal of the summer must remain. Or the ideals people have of themselves, anyway. I can't tell if it's spring or fall in such a shower. The idea of the long weekend is not lost on these people, who still hit the ground scurrying.

Well, back to waiting out the rain. I basically am set up in my little bunker so that I don't have to go out in the rain. It has yet to stop. I thought days like this only happened in the bookends of Canada - Vancouver and Newfoundland. And even in Newfoundland, it's intermittent at best, though often horrible when actually pouring. We are one of the few places that "rain, drizzle, fog" is an apt and understood weather forecast. If nothing else, the weather is great for making you feel at home. :)