Fun Is Different Now

On this last day of February as March roars in like a lion, you may be thinking of summer and spring fun.

You can probably remember being a child when the most important thing in the world was having fun.  Well, there are some remarkable similarities between your retired life and those carefree days of childhood.  For one thing, when you were a child, you didn’t work for a living, you felt secure that you had what you need.  Hopefully, in your retirement you did a good job preparing for retirement so you have some carefree days to enjoy now too.

Another similarity that your children may have pointed out to you is that, like it was when you were a child, you occasionally did things that you were not allowed to do.  But now it seems to be our children would like to be telling us what is ok for us to do or not do.  But every so often, you have to throw caution to the wind and go ahead and party late into the night, go parasailing or go to a rock concert.  It is always fun and usually a great time when you are willing to take a chance.

But fun is different now than it was when you were a child.  Now there is nothing better perhaps than spending a day trying to improve your golf game.  A long rainy afternoon with a good book is just the thing and it will be a day of fun you will remember for a long time because this is what it means to be retired.  Some other ways to have fun that are notably different from childhood or even when you were a working adult might include…

·       A day sorting yarn for a big knitting project or laying out the fabric to make artistic quilts to sell for a charitable cause can also be a day of girl talk, giggling and gossip that seems almost like the sleepover scene from Grease as much as it is a gathering of mature women enjoying the afternoon together.

·       Getting together with the boys and going out to help build a shed gives you the chance to play with tools, mess around with building materials and remember what great fun it is to just build something.

·       A bus tour to Branson or some other exciting nearby attraction takes on a whole new sense of adventure when it’s the big day when they change the lunch menu at the cafeteria downstairs.

·       Going to a high school or college football/or hockey game used to seem like a nuisance when you had to attend to watch your child play third-string centre or your child cheer and hope they don’t break their collarbone.  But now when you get to go, even if you don’t know a soul on either team, being in that exciting setting is the kind of good clean fun you look forward to for weeks and think back on for months.

Just as the fun is different now, so are the toys.  Now, enjoying an afternoon stuffing envelope for the church is as much a fun as a game of playing chess as long as you can do it with your friends and chat and share stores as you play.  Now, going to a military base to look at their archives is more than just mildly interesting.  It’s a trip through your own past and if you can enjoy that with others who served their country so you can honour them.

Yes, we have fun differently now and it is different then young people .  But anyone who thinks for a minute that we never have fun are as far off from the truth as they can be.  Because we have laid down the cares of career and raising children, we can really relax and let the fun of each day sneak up on us.  By putting ourselves in the mindset, that life is still a great adventure, just about anything we do can become a source of joy and fun.  But even though fun is different now, life is still worth living because it is tremendously fun.

Homographs and Heteronyms

This is a wonderful and funny piece of writing, for all of you who suffered through English classes, hated grammar and wonder why folk from other countries have a bit of trouble with the English language. 

I wish I had the skill to put this together but I don't. This was sent to me by a friend of mine, he did not know who the author was, so I did a search. The author is Liv Hambrett an Australian writer living in Germany. She wrote this piece in 2013. Her writing and her books can be found on her website which is http://www.livhambrett.com / 

Liv did a lot of work on this, so please enjoy and check out her website for more of her writing.

*Homographs are words of like spelling but with more than one meaning.

A homograph that is also pronounced differently is a heteronym.*

*You think English is easy???*

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1) The bandage was *wound *around the *wound.*

2) The farm was used to *produce produce*.

3) The dump was so full that it had to *refuse *more *refuse*.

4) We must *polish *the *Polish *furniture

5) He could *lead *if he would get the *lead *out.

6) The soldier decided to *desert *his dessert in the desert..*

7) Since there is no time like the *present*, he thought it was time to *present* the *present.*

8) A *bass *was painted on the head of the *bass* drum.

9) When shot at, the *dove* *dove* into the bushes.

10) I did not *object* to the *object.*

11) The insurance was *invalid* for the *invalid.*

12) There was a *row* among the oarsmen about how to *row*.

13) They were too *close* to the door to *close* it.

14) The buck *does* funny things when the *does* are present.

15) A seamstress and a *sewer* fell down into a *sewer* line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his *sow* to *sow.*

17) The *wind* was too strong to *wind* the sail.

18) Upon seeing the *tear* in the painting I shed a *tear.*

19) I had to *subject* the *subject* to a series of tests.

20) How can I *intimate* this to my most *intimate* friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.  

There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger;  neither apple nor pine in pineapple.  

English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. 

Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.  

We take English for granted.  But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig. 

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?  

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth?  One goose, 2 geese.  So one moose, 2 meese?  One index, 2 indices?  

Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend?  If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?  

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?  

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.  In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?  Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?  Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?  You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all.  That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn't 'Buick' rhyme with 'quick'?  AND If a male goat is called a ram and a donkey is called an ass, why is a ram-in-the-ass called a goose?

Response to Green Shield Post

I was very surprised to receive a response to my post from a member of my executive board, as I did not expect any response.  So here is my response to the executive members thoughts on my post. 

I read with your statement that “I have no interest in defending Green Shield (GSC)” then found it interesting that you do just that by your following statement. “I think you will find it a common (not universal) plan practice to not fund a full 90-day initial prescription.”

I believe it is common for those companies that discriminate or practice ageism or paternalism to have what they believe to be “good” reasons for their actions. The reason that you put forward is one of these “good” reasons.  On the face of it, the argument appears to be based on some sound logic, but without statistics that show this is a major cost issue, it is hard to accept the argument that you put forth on behalf of Green Shield Canada.

The insurance company is in my mind claiming they know what is best for the patient and the doctor, which is either based on ageism or paternalism. Either one should be unacceptable.  You state that sometimes a person begins a drug program but experiences side effects and stops taking the drug. I wonder what percentage of people stop taking the drug because of bad experiences and what this action actually costs the drug company.

Before I accept your argument that this policy has nothing to do with the age of the client, I would have to see some independent review of the number and ages of the clients that Green Shield have had that stopped taking medication and began a new treatment based on side effects of a drug. I suspect the policy has more to do with an underlying culture of paternalism, which leads to discrimination such as ageism. So, I have to respectfully disagree with your argument on this point.

Your next argument, about reducing costs and maximizing profits is a legitimate aim of any business, but when they do this at the expense of the client it should be questioned. You state in one sentence that “GSC appears to have decided that there is a saving to the plan when they limit the initial prescription and pay the additional Dispensing Fee one week later when a person renews.” And then state that GSC does not want to pay the repeated dispensing fee for 30-day prescriptions on a 90-day treatment. This is interesting but does not deal with the point that both these policies appear to be ageist or paternalistic, in that these policies come from a culture of “Father knows best” so they are paternalistic at best or discriminatory (ageist) if only older clients receive the benefits of these policies.

You state that “It's all about reducing their costs and they will say it's about keeping premiums as low as possible”, this is the result of the policy but what the policy reinforces and I believe grows from, is the discriminatory or paternalistic culture that appears to be driving decision making at GSC.

I am glad to hear that the “Office staff has spent a lot of time helping our members deal with GSC and we have repeatedly let the Pension Trustees know of our members' frustrations with GSC.”   I will let others that I talk to that they should continue to let the the executive know what problems they are having so you can continue to press the Pension Board for action.

No, I was not aware that we “have a combined EHC plan with a travel plan that has been growing”.  Where can I find information on the plan so I can pass on the information to others?

Yes, I will agree with you that all plans can be improved, but I am glad that we have a say in policy language and coverage, and I will take a look at our plan, although I and my wife do not travel as much as we used to travel. I am encouraged that there may be a plan for members like myself who do not travel.

Finally, thank you for your response, although I disagree with some of your positions, I find it encouraging that there is some action on extended health options for our members.

Snow Days

It snowed in my area overnight Friday and brought about 25 cm of snow to our cul de sac. I live in a community, Port Coquitlam, where the roads are ploughed when it snows. I know I am leaving Poco when the side roads become snowbound and it is hard to drive.

As I was out this morning shovelling the driveway, all of my neighbours were doing the same. Some of them had started early than I had and they were just finishing as I was about halfway through. My next door neighbour to my right went down the street and started helping another neighbour and they finished up that driveway very quickly. When they were finished they came over to my driveway and started working on mine.  The first thing that was said to me was "Merry Christmas". Very quickly I had three young men helping me finish my driveway. When my driveway was finished they moved on to another driveway and I went with them and one more person joined us so the five of us finished two more driveways within about 30 minutes. It was a fun morning, and a pleasant surprise to get see how the how the group came together to help each other. There are only 12 houses on our cul de sac, and there were six of us out helping each other. I did notice when I came out that four of the houses had their driveways completed before I had even started mine. So by 10:00 every house on the cul de sac had their driveway cleared. 

Serendipity happenings in life are or can be a pleasant reminder that we all are in this together and if we help each other unpleasant work can be made a lot easier. Thank you to my neighbours who worked together this morning. The Christmas spirit is still with us.