Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Good Boy!

Who ever said you can't teach a cat to do tricks? All this blogging about Mushu has left Nermal feeling neglected, so let me share with you Nermal's repetoire in honour of his 4th birthday:




SIT:





GIMME FIVE:





HI FIVE (Apir):





SPIN (Ikot):





BEG:




DOWN (Dapa):





ROLL OVER:



The secret is food.....or even better...... CATNIP.......... I've given up on the jumping through a hoop trick, Nermal's just too heavy set....he's on a strict diet now though....... HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BUDDY!!! Angelo de los Angeles

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

More Scenes from the Subway

KiplingI must apologize, but a good portion of my life right now is spentSubway02 on the subway, or within its immediate vicinity.....I have, however, become more accustomed to the chaos that goes on there....

I'm in the Kipling washroom again doing my business, when I hear a conversation going on inside one of the stalls....then i realize that it's more of a monologue...."You're the perfect man"...."she should realize that"....that's all I could make out....as I make my way to the sinks, guess who come's out of aforementioned stall, but our friend stocky black guy who was yelling in the mirror the last time....he's much calmer now, but clearly still not all there in the marble department.....I can add another adjective to his name.... disheveled....lacking in self-grooming skills....why doesn't she realize?....Differential diagnosis given the presence of hallucinations, delusions (of persecution and grandeur) for at least 2 mos duration: Schizophreniform Disorder, Schizophrenia Paranoid Type (If >6mos), Substance Induced Pyschotic d/o, Psychotic d/o 2ndary to GMC.....

A sudden shriek startles myself and the rest of the riders around me, we all turn to see a girl jump to her feet and run to the other end of the car where she and another girl hug and shriek some more...........the rest of us look at each other and smile..........for a moment the joy of their surprise reunion permeates the entire subway car................

I stare as a girl knits in a crowded, rush-hour subway car....I can't seem to figure out how it works.....I keep staring and it eventually starts to make sense.....then I think of how horrible it would be if the subway driver was one of those drivers who steps on the brakes too quickly and too hard....then the lady sitting beside her would have a penetrating ocular trauma......What's the management of penetrating ocular trauma?....immediate referral to ophthalmology! ABC's, don't press on eyball!!!!, do not remove knitting needle, check VA, check for diplopia, keep head elevated at 30-45 degrees to keep IOP down, keep NPO....

A guy charges through the doors of the subway car as the chimes just finished ringing....the doors close on his hand leaving his briefcase dangling outside the car....It's not worth it I think to myself.....then the conductor opens the doors again....for a split second I contemplate charging the doors myself....as the chimes ring, I find my feet running me towards the doors.....as the doors close on my bag I think....was it worth it?....I force the doors open to release my bag....aside from the embarassment, as I turn to face the rest of the passengers in the subway car, I think it was worth it.....

I'm walking to my car in the Kipling parking station, where I notice a man walking around looking suspiciously at all the cars....he doesn't notice me....as I approach my car, he stops at a red minivan where he proceeds to urinate on said red minivan.....disgusted, I click on my keyless entry.....the honk sound that it makes startles the man and he looks around but can't find the source of the honk....hehe....

Everybody turns to the back of the subway car as a man suddenly yells profanities.....I can't seem to find the source of the yelling, and all I can make out is f@#$ off and f@#$ing this and f@#$in' that (sorry for the censorship, but I'm fasting from profanities myself during this lenten season).....the yelling continues for severeal stations.....could it be our friend disheveled stocky black guy?....he finally gets off at Islington, and I'm actually disappointed to find that it's not our friend, but an old white man with an accent....passengers turn to each other and chuckle as old white man with an accent continues to yell through the subway car window as the train speeds away....

With no reading material at hand, I resort to reading the ads on the walls and ceiling....I am pleasantly surprised to find a subway poetry series...."Poetry on the Way"....this particular poem is a "tanaka".....another Japanese form like the haiku.....it consists of 31 syllables in 5 lines....the syllables are distributed as follows: 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7.....

shy wildflower found
peeking out from winter's bed
serendipity
seeing you after so long
a brief collision of joy

........I remember those two shrieking girlfriends.........

Speaking of adds in the subway, here's one of my favourites:50goat











I didn't know goats were $50! What a bargain!
Here's the rest of the series:
1_adoptavillage_medical100_adoptavillage_water









5000_adoptavillage_schoolcheck out their website: www.freethechildren.com

Angelo de los Angeles