Making others happy.

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.

Then unexpectedly, a sinister thought entered his mind. Why should the other man alone experience all the pleasures of seeing everything while he himself never got to see anything? It didn't seem fair. At first thought the man felt ashamed. But as the days passed and he missed seeing more sights, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and he found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window -- that thought, and only that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night as he lay staring at the ceiling, the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room he never moved, never pushed his own button which would have brought the nurse running in. In less than five minutes the coughing and choking stopped, along with that the sound of breathing.

Now there was only silence-deathly silence. The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. When she found the lifeless body of the man by the window, she was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take it away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate since he had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

You can interpret the story in any way you like. But one moral stands out: There is tremendous happiness in making others happy, despite our own situations. Shared grief is half the sorrow, but happiness when shared, is doubled. If you want to feel rich, just count all of the things you have that money can't buy.

Blog more and some Christmas...

Just noticed I haven't written in about 2 weeks even though I was told ''Blog more'' it is entertaining. So here it is a bit more blogging of me.

We are now December 1st and it's a monday. Ugh. Me and Garfield would get along great. I love lasagna and freakin' hate mondays. There is nothing good that comes out of a monday, at least not for me. Unless a birthday or a holiday happens to be on a monday, I don't see what good can come out of that day. Again it's a pessimistic (Is that even how you write it? Meh.) way of looking at it and i've been working a lot on trying to see stuff as positively as possible but on a monday, I can't bring myself to do it.

However, December 1st. BOOYA. Means 2008 is that much closer to being over. In december 2007, I said: ''I'mma make 2008 a great year.'' and well life pee'd in my cheerios and 2008 was somewhat of a shitty year on love, finances and health (Well health, mental health but i'm better now... I think?) mainly because I let it ride me instead of me charging it like a stark raving mad.

Not this time. I'm going to ride the bull this year instead of letting him ride me. 2009 is looking great with all the projects underway. I guess feeling in the mood for Christmas this year helps. Last year I was out of it and there was not that much difference between me and Scrooge. Bah hum-bug. This year, I feel festive. I feel like dressing up like Santa and making kids happy. I feel like decorating a 100 feet tall Christmas tree just because I wanna feel all giddy inside just looking at it. I wanna buy everyone presents but let's not go overboard shall we? Just saying, i'm happy to feel the Christmas magic this year. I miss being a kid for that. I miss not knowing that Santa is actualy dad or uncle bob that's just a bit too drunk. I miss those 2 weeks off of snowball fights, christmas present enjoyment and over all winter love.

Also, I haven't heard THAT much about Christmas yet. I did avoid all shopping centers in November so I didn't see the decorations up since Nov 1st and I didn't hear ''Jingle Bells'' yet. Anyone working in a shopping center knows what i'm talking about, not hearing about it so early helps a lot in getting in the mood for it.

So... I'm feeling much better in my head, i'm looking forward to Christmas, 2009 is going to be a great year... No bitching and whining? No, not today. I'll keep that for tomorrow!

A case of the mondays...

Ever seen the movie ''Office Space''? If you've seen the movie but never worked in an office you cannot get all the ''oh so true'' references this movie makes to working in an office. Early in the movie, the main character (Ron Livingston) is having a bad day and it's monday. A lady will tell him: ''Ohhh sounds like someone has a case of the mondays!!'' in an irritating voice. Thing is, every office has a lady like her. She's the over-optimistic one that even though your family would have just burned in a fire, would still sport a smile while telling you to cheer up.

There are days where no matter what it seems everything that could go wrong, will go wrong. Murphy's law. Today I seem to be having one of those days despite feeling refreshed from a relaxing weekend. I just felt ''ewww... monday back to work'' this morning and this over optimistic lady threw me that exact line (Case of the monday...) with a smile I would've wiped off her face with shovel. I understand how brutal that is but I am far from Mr Morning. In fact, I hate mornings until I had my first coffee which doesn't happen until I finaly sit at my desk.

So i'm AM having a case of the mondays. Telling me in my face with a smile doesn't help in no way, shape or form. It's like telling your girlfriend: ''Hun, I think you're PMSing.''. You just lost about 200 browny points and have to deal with some more attitude and wise cracks thrown at you all day. ''No can do babe, I'm PMSing remember?''

So I got to my desk mumbling something along the lines of ''shovel... smile... wiped off... wanna go home and sleep'' still thinking about how right she was. I think it's what annoyed me the most, the fact that I am indeed having a case of the mondays. It's not even 9:20 that ''Mrs-over-optimistic'' shows up to my desk. I'm sitting there thinking: ''If she mentions monday once... I will snap''. So she's smiling, walks up to me and says: ''I have great news!'' she couldn't even finish I had already replied: ''Were tuesday?''. She laughs and says ''no, were monday''. *Resist urge to snap* ... *Sips way too hot coffee* ''Ok so what's up?'' to which she replied: ''I got the order for this customer! Can you place it once your case of the monday is gone?''.

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG.

*Chug coffee* *Smile politely*

''Yeah sure. I'll be right on it when my case of the mondays is gone.''

Her order is scheduled to be placed by friday PM, when my case of the mondays will be gone.

And here we go...!

First blog post. Curse you Marie! It's because of you that I actualy started this. Well more specificaly, it's because of you that I will now publish what I write under my name. I usualy post and write a lot on the web but under the identity of ''anonymous''. Now well, you'll have the chance of reading my randomness.

Let's clarify a few things first:

- I'm no spell check master, so I make mistakes. Lots and lots of 'em.
- If you read anything that is in between the following symbol '' * '', it's an action.
- The cake is a lie.
- I love to bitch and whine. No, not bitch and wine. Whining to me is like a sport. The more you do it, the better you become! Why does this sound SO familiar?
- My mind is permanently residing in the gutter.
- I love to laugh.
- I love long walks on the beach during sun sets, love kids and ... wait ... this isn't the classified adds? My bad.

So now that we got that covered we can carry on. I work in an office and happen to have lots of free time and a green tan from the computer screen over exposure. Heh! This (blog) is mainly meant as a hobby, to pass time at work, share my ideas, opinions and craptastic stuff that tends to happen in my life. Hope you enjoy.

And here we go...!

Today I had a free lesson handed to me. Being extremely lucky while being retarded 101. Amazing class really. Most people don't need this class but I needed it this morning!

7:45 AM: Alarm clock goes off. I snooze it.
7:50 AM: Alarm clock goes off. I snooze it.
8:00 AM: Alarm clock goes off. I turn it off.
8:40AM: ''Crap, I should've left home about 30 minutes ago to get to work.''

So I take a quick shower (jump in, wash, rinse, get dressed half wet still) and hop in the car. It seems that on days where you are in a hurry, people with their full day availlable to them, in no hurry are on the road and in your way. So i'm trying to hurry up while remaining reasonnable with my speed. I finaly reach the access ramp to the highway while asking myself if it was asshole day on the road (myself included) and get on the highway. When I get on the highway, I accelerate to 120ish and follow traffic but this morning, i'm a bit of in a hurry but stuck behind other cars.

I look in my mirror and see further behind me a purple car, with was seems to be 2 hot women in it. Thing is, these 2 women are driving fast. Really fast! They're catching up... Cars finaly switch lanes in front me and the first thing I thought: ''Well I need to get to work fast and I don't wanna slow down these ladies...''. So I accelerate a bit more, 140KM/H. This car is still catching up rather quickly. ''Holly crap, looks like i'm not the only one in a hurry.''. *Accelerate a bit more* 160KM/H. I finaly passed all the slow cars in the right lane, have a clear way to get on that lane since my exit is in less than 1KM. Just as i'm about to swith to the right lane I look in my mirror and see that the 2 women in a hurry did catch up to me and are indeed hot... With their red and blue lights flashing from their inside mirror. It was an SQ (Sureté du Québec, just under RCMP here in QC) ghost car following me at 160KM/H.

CRAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP. I saw the signs, they're everywhere. 160KM/H = 895.00$ + 10pts off your licence. That's the first thing that went through my mind. So I slow down, put my flasher and get on the right lane ready to pull over. I'm still at 140 slowing down and the car speeds up, gets next to me and both are looking at me and they give me the hand-spinning-on-the-side-of-head-as-you-mean-are-you-retarded, turned off the lights and took off as I took my exit to get to work.

Me: *Shock*

So I was being retarded while driving, I fully deserved that ticket but for some reason, these 2 cops just showed me I was retarded and went their merry way and I got to work 30 minutes late instead of 1h late. (I calculate an extra 30 if I had gotten that ticket...)

I don't think i'll be speeding on a highway for a while now... The lesson was free and two fold.
1- Don't do crazy speed, it would've costed a lot on top of risking my life and others.
2- Always... Always carry an extra pair of underwear to work because the day you're 100% sure you're busted at 160KM/H on the highway, you too will need fresh new underwear once you reach work.