Tag: library

Posted in Canada, finances, money

You’ll Never See A Hearse Towing a U-Haul

Posted on by D. Parker

It’s true, you’ll never see a hearse towing a U-Haul, meaning, you can’t take it with you. Let’s do some basic math, accumulation doesn’t equal happiness, it just equals stuff; reminds me of the George Carlin bit, “A Place for my Stuff” https://yadadarcyyada.com/2014/07/30/a-place-for-your-stuff/. Sadly, fewer and fewer people can afford a place for their stuff, which makes me use Carlin’s 7 words you can’t say on TV. I won’t use them here, instead, let’s talk about 11 words I will use, a Depression era slogan that has stood the test of time, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”.

Use it up

Why did we decide waste was a good thing? I won’t bore you with waste statistics, mostly cause I’m scared AI (or is it SI – Super Intelligence now, ooooh, does it wear a cape?) will have its way with me as I try to ask a simple question. I am sad that we’re so wasteful now. Use up that last dab, bit or bottom of whatever, it all adds up, in the long run.

Use other people’s stuff too, borrow, with permission (don’t be a pest and return things in good shape). The world is a big lending library. Speaking of libraries, they’re your friends. Free and fun. Full of: books, large print books, audiobooks, ebooks, magazines/newspapers (print and online), DVDs, streaming, video games, programs, games, snowshoes, guitars, park passes, etc. Again, free! Use it or lose it. “Waste not, want not” should make a come back.

Wear it out

We were sold fast fashion like it was a good thing. Wear something new everytime you go out! Why? My well-loved $4 oatmeal flecked turtleneck sweater gets de-pilled regularly, and I think it likes it. My favourite socks are holey relics. Some of my shoes have become so very, very comfy they have their own air-conditioning. My $2 black cable knit sweater is warm, cozy and every time I put it on, it’s like a hug that holds memories. I like having jeans that remember more than I do, it’s like a magic spell. Wingardium Levi-O-Sa!

Make it do

Remember when a slice of bread was also: a hot dog or hamburger bun? The bottom of a tuna melt or manwich? A pizza crust, a pudding, grilled cheese, toast, French toast, cinnamon toast, so much toast…and we lived; more than that, we liked it. We had one type of ketchup (which I use for French toast, there I said it!). Growing up we had 5 TV channels and all of them played Tommy Hunter and Lawrence Welk, my memory might be faulty on that one, but it seems plausible? And A-One and A-Two…

We walked 50 miles to school in the snow in Canada’s North, ok, it might have been slightly less, but it felt like it. We got bizarrely excitedly by a pen with 4 colours. Putty that copied cartoons! Rocks were pets! We had to wait until Christmas to watch, “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” and Halloween to watch “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” – if you missed them, well, you had to wait until the next time, next year. You used a pillow case for Treat or Treating. No subscriptions. No QR codes. No verification codes. Simple was and is fun.

Do Without

I know, this is a radical notion and an unpopular one, but doing without rarely lead to death, despite many a teenage (and adult) lament: I’ll die if I don’t have new shoes and the latest iPhone. I’ll die if I don’t spend my college fund (retirement fund?) on tickets to see: BTS, Charlie xcx, Riley Green, Chappell Roan, Sombr, Olivia Rodrigo, Backstreet Boys, Billie Eilish, HUNTR/X (as real as anything else right now), Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift, etc. These and many other things are wants, maybe fun wants, but still wants.

Not needs. We need oxygen. We need water. We need shelter. We need food. We need safety. We need sleep (or so I’ve heard). Arguably we need love and comfort (some may disagree, pssst, they’re wrong). We’ve mixed up our wants and needs to such a degree we have no idea what’s what anymore.

In Nature, nothing tries to be more than it is, good or bad. A bird is bird. A river is a river. A hurricane is a hurricane. A wasp is a wasp. A bee is a bee. A tree is a tree. A flower is a flower. Yet a billionaire is not just a billionaire, they’re a hoarder. Humans have decided to want, want, want instead of just fulfilling our needs. Just cause you want something doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good thing. In the words of those philosophers, The Rolling Stones, “You can’t always get what you want but if you try sometime you’ll find you get what you need”.

https://yadadarcyyada.com/2022/01/21/cant-buy-me-love/

Posted in Books

I Have No Shelf Control

Posted on by D. Parker

I admit it, I have no shelf control. For me books are the same as: a potato chip, a piece of chocolate, a cup of tea – there’s no way I can have just one. I wake each day (If I’ve actually managed to sleep) and I think, the world is mine for the reading!

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” ~ C.S. Lewis

I have no particular genre or author, my motto is simply, having fun isn’t hard if you’ve got a library card (if you watched Arthur as a child or with a child, you’ll sing that line). I read to fill my brain, my heart, my soul..

“The library is inhabited by spirits that come out of the pages at night.” ~ Isabel Allende

Books get inside your head and heart; scents, sounds, feelings, all inside a bottle which, once read, you can uncork and consume whenever you want, or need.

Lately I’ve been drawn back to the “classics”, including but not limited to: Dickens, Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, C.S. Lewis, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley, various Brontes, Mark Twain, Frederick Douglass, George Orwell, Virgil, Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, T.S. Eliot, Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Dr. Seuss, Margaret Atwood…I wish I could sleep.

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.” ~ Oscar Wilde

Recently hosted Chronic Page Turners Book Chat, presented by Chronic Not Hopeless.

It was lively, respectful, interesting, informative, a wonderful way to connect. BYOB – Bring your own books…and refreshments (no judgment). We’d love to hear from/about indie authors too! https://yadadarcyyada.com/2021/05/21/how-i-met-your-author/.

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” ~ Groucho Marx

Books have been my magic carpet, my best friends, my worst enemies, my Mona Lisa, my Tower of Pisa, my guiding star, my hopes, my dreams, fears, my amazing and expanding universe! I’ve never felt alone with a book, it’s as though I have the world with me, as I’m infused by the words on the pages.

“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
~Stephen King

Wishing you have a long and happy shelf life.

Posted in Autism, Blogs, Books, Family, Music, Uncategorized

O-o-h Child Things Are Gonna Get Easier…

Posted on by D. Parker

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In the dusty sanctuaries of erudition (cooler word than knowledge, which is sooo five centuries ago)… black and white, truth and lies live comfortably, side by side, lined up…we, elbow to elbow, heads bent, allow worlds to cascade around us. ‘Take us home,’ they whisper seductively, promising to reveal all their secrets.
Within the walls of a bookstore or library it’s clear what’s fiction and what’s non-fiction.
In the real world, not so much.

1guardians5Some of you, dear readers might be aware it’s Autism Awareness Month. You may have Autism; know those who live with it; love those who live with it who you can’t live without; or know those you don’t even know are on the Autism Spectrum. Still with me? Good. Reading Me Being Me Is Exactly As Insane As You Being You by Todd Hasak-Lowy (Simon Pulse)  – we’ll get to the title in a minute – had me thinking of Autism’s infinite variety, as well as the still surprising amount of intolerance in the world.

12 things I thought about while reading this novel:

1.  It’s all lists. I like lists.pablo47

2. The title is too long…oops, I’m one to talk.

3. The main character, a teen named Darren seems to be on the Autism Spectrum.

4. Part way through the book, I realized I had read other works by this author and felt a ‘doh’ moment. It passed.

1guardians85. The writing was accessible, appealing, and made me want to read more, yet around page 400 I found it was dragging and even I was growing tired of lists (is that even possible?).

6. Made me remember high school…Actually, I might be thinking of Glee, I don’t remember my high school having that much singing (luckily, this book doesn’t either).1guardians12
7. Parents should care about themselves by caring for their children.

8. I wanted to buy Darren some ice cream and tell him, ‘O-o-h child things are gonna get easier. O-o-h child things’ll get brighter.’ I have this Five Stairsteps song in my head, I blame Guardians of the Galaxy.

1guardians119. You can’t escape the world, it follows you everywhere.

10. Different can be bad or good, so much depends on intention and perception.

11. It might be comforting to tell someone things will get easier, brighter, or better, but it’s not always true. One of the best things to say is, ‘things are ok right now’. If that’s not true either, then, yes, by all means, say things are going to get easier, brighter, or better.1guardians1312. I love books. I love free books in a different way. Refer to #10 and in this case, different is good.