Tag Archives: #GMGCreative

Unarmed

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Every week Fandango over at This, That and the Other posts a provocative question. This week’s is a doozy…
“In your interpersonal relationships with acquaintances, friends, and family, are you able to separate political ideologies from the people who hold them? Why or why not?“
Cue my rambling answer below…

I’ve always been able to separate issues from those on the other side. That is probably why I am so good when it comes to disciplinary matters at work. None of it is ever personal. Just deal with the facts and move on. If the other party has hard feelings, there is nothing I can do about that. I just go about my business and do my best to treat them the same afterwards regardless of what may have transpired. There are plenty of people who get themselves emotionally invested and it eats them up inside. They generally burn themselves out or get run out of town at the end of a pitchfork. Either way, they do not fare well long term.

I admit I approach debating, political or otherwise, through a similar lens. Everyone has an opinion and I encourage them to bring it to the table. The best policy is to treat people with respect even when their ideological compass is pointing in a different direction than our own. Sometimes those views, extreme or absurd as they may seem, can shift perspective for everyone involved and lead others to think outside the box and find common ground leading to more moderate solutions. Even if it amounts to nothing at least I know who the imbeciles are.

There is one group that I do tend to distance myself from and they rarely make it to my inner circle. The exception is family – unfortunately, you are stuck with ’em! If they start I normally throw a couple of jabs in and walk away. So back to that group, I’m referring to those who refused to acknowledge facts when forming opinions. The brazen efforts they will go to refute proven science or obscure the facts to mould opinions that support their ideological fantasies suggest they aren’t likely to see reason. At some point, it doesn’t make sense to continue banging your head against the wall. I was saving the following graphic for a future T-Shirt Wisdom Tuesday but it seems appropriate right here and now.

Greg Glazebrook @ GMGCreative


For example, rabid anti-vaxxers and political anarchists who insist on comparing democratically elected political leaders to Hitler or Stalin. I’m the first to admit that I am not a fan of the current prime minister here in Canada but not every decision of his government has some hidden agenda or has been bad for the country. The government is not trying to overthrow democracy and appoint him the Supreme Ruler of the Northern Realms. Truly, I can only think of one instance where that may have been the case on this continent. Does January 6th ring a bell? The funny thing is the idiots who believe the previous scenario are the same clowns driving around with Trump stickers pasted on their back windows and bumpers.

Okay, so maybe I’m less tolerant of idiocy than I thought. lol

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Send Me an Angel

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Send Me an Angel

Eloise missed him. He had always been there for his little Angel. He dried her eyes when she had skinned her knee or bumped her head. He’d soothed her broken heart when she caught a glimpse of her best friend Jeannie and her first boyfriend kissing by the lockers in tenth grade. He buoyed her confidence when Harvard rejected her application, telling everyone she was too good for them anyway. He reminded her that plenty of other schools would be knocking down the doors to have her attend. He was right, she was more an MIT girl anyway.

She could believe it had been five years since he’d passed on. He’d been riddled with cancer, and she couldn’t bear to be there for him like he’d done for her so many times. It hurt too much to see him suffering and she feared living in a world without him.

The last six months had been the shittiest she could recall. The Chinese firm that had bought out her employer immediately fired the senior management team and 500 others. Employment Insurance didn’t cover the rent and it was overdue. It was only a matter of time before the landlord came to collect/evict.

Worst of all there was a heaviness in her heart. She couldn’t shake it off. It consumed the very blood pumping through her veins, turning it into a gloomy gray sludge. It weighed her legs down and zapped any reserved energy she may have had, leaving her helplessly paralyzed.

She thought she heard his voice in the hallway outside her apartment, so she immediately ran to the door. Several of the neighbour’s kids stopped playing hall-ball and looked at her. She stared through them to the window at the far end hoping to glimpse him. Of course, he wasn’t waiting there. She was about to turn and go back inside when a little boy tugged at her hand.

“Miss, are you sad?” he asked.

Overwhelmed, the tears began to roll down her cheeks as she nodded at him.

“Would you like a hug?”

Her eyes scan the corridor finally fixing on those of the little boy’s Mom. She smiles back in approval so Eloise kneels down to face the child at his level.

“I’d love a hug,” she replies through her tears and forced smile.

In an instant, this tiny yet surprisingly strong creature wraps his little arms around her and whispers in her ear, “Don’t worry Angel, everything is going to be alright.” After a short pause he continues, “That’s what my Daddy says when I’m sad.”

“Mine too,” she said, holding him for a moment longer but wishing it could be forever.

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T-Shirt Wisdom Tuesday (2301)

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Welcome to T-Shirt Wisdom Tuesday. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Every other Tuesday I will post a quote that I’ve seen printed on a T-Shirt or think should have been.

Well, 2023 is upon us, may it be a wonderful year for everyone!

Check back weekly and see what witty, funny, or plain old ridiculous T-Shirts wisdom I’ve been able to find or come up with. Suggestions are always welcome.

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2023-01-02 —  Share Your World

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2023-01-02 —  Share Your World

Di at Pensitivity101 hosts Share You World, a blog where questions get asked and you, as the title suggests ‘share your world‘ if so inclined. I have lurked for a while (sorry that sounds creepy) and have decided to jump into the fray to start 2023. So without further adieu…

1. Did you stay up to see the New Year in?

Yes, my parents have held New Year’s parties for as long as I can remember. They are now in their eighties so my sister took up the mantle this year, much like they took it over from my grandparents a generation earlier. So as the evening began to set in we all headed over to her place to celebrate the coming of 2023.

The parties have changed from years ago. They have become much more relaxed although the grandchildren (almost all of drinking age now) did manage to make a wild party of it downstairs.

http://www.thasneen.com
spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com

There is always lots of food including a feast just after midnight. This year I brought a huge casserole filled with a spicy Hakka style Chilli Chicken and an amazing Blooming Quesadilla appetizer platter.

I do believe I’ve mentioned this in an earlier post but one thing I’ve come to miss is my now-deceased Uncle Edward pulling out his bagpipes just before midnight to pipe the old year out the back door only to return minutes after midnight to usher the new year in the front door. Of course, our other big New Year’s tradition of crossing our arms and taking the hand of the person on either side while forming an unbroken circle and singing Auld Lang Syne is still practiced at the stoke of midnight every year.

2. Are there any special occasions or events coming up in 2023 for you or your family?

Nothing outside the normal holiday and birthday get-togethers that I am aware. Maybe I haven’t been included and just don’t know it!

3. Do you keep a diary?

I do not keep a diary however I do find myself using Microsoft OneNote or Google Keep to make random notes of ideas, memories, thoughts or other oddities that come my way more often than I used to. That may have something to do with trying to fill content on my blog page as I’ve become more active in this space.

4. How did yesterday differ from January 1st, 2022 or was there no difference?

The day itself did not differ that much other than last year I was working from home and had the day off. This year I am back to working in the office (and it sux) plus I was scheduled to work. On a positive note, I did make double time and three quarters which is always a nice boost to the pay cheque.

Gratitude:

There is an excellent podcast called The Happiness Lab hosted by Dr. Laurie Santos. She is a professor at Yale who was tasked with creating a program to help stressed and struggling students succeed at the college level. Needless to say, the program was a huge success and has been modelled at various other colleges worldwide. There is even an online program that anyone can sign up to take for free.

This podcast is not your normal self-help podcast. Instead, it talks about real scientifically proven ways to boost your happiness. Gratitude comes up often in the series including this episode dedicated entirely to the subject and its happiness boosting properties.

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Greg Glazebrook @ GMGCreative

Big Colourful Sky

This was an attempt to capture the big colourful sunset sky as I drove Nathaniel to his Karate class. I know phones and driving are a no-no but how could one resist that colour.

Image was captured in December 2022, Northfield Road at Hwy #85, Waterloo, Ontario.
Equipment: Google Pixel 7 Pro, Rear Camera.
Settings: 6.81mm | 1/247 sec. at ƒ/1.9 | ISO486.
Watermark added via Adobe Photoshop.

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The Briefcase

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Ivan via Pexels.

The Briefcase

Sillinger slipped in through the back door. Clearly, there had been an advertisement, likely on social media or across the dark web, disclosing his whereabouts. The leak was born in the weaknesses of those in the know. The seeds of discontent sown and already lingering amongst his own rank and file. Only a handful of people knew his movements yet the streets out front were lined with tens of thousands of people.

The briefcase he carried held everything and nothing. The solution to the one burning question that humankind had yearned to solve for millennia. In a single stroke, the course of human history would change forever.

That is why the throngs had gathered. Some ready to embrace the unknown blindly, some looking to exploit it for personal gain, and some are just plain naive and curious. Still others, the disruptors as they were referred, were paralyzed by the impending apocalypse they believed was being brought down upon them. No matter the reasons it reinforced the belief that the world was not ready. The upheaval could prove disastrous, sending the world into a tizzy if the truth was revealed prematurely.

Some secrets are best left in the hands of the few revolutionaries who understand the gravity they hold. Curated and nurtured while a campaign of information and reform is allowed to seep into the collective conscious. Designed to diffuse the acrimony towards the establishment sudden revelation can illicit.

It could take decades, maybe centuries for society to catch up to the science. Until then Sillinger’s task was monumental. He would need to dispel all truths and myths about what it was the foundation held in its custody.

He was unlikely to see the fruition of his labours, other than in small doses amongst his peers. The transformative nature of the content of the briefcase would remain as much a mystery to him as those standing in the street below.

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Happy New Year

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Happy New Year

Now that 2022 is firmly in the rearview and we can all look forward to a new year I can say that overall it wasn’t a bad year personally.

Yeah, the world went to shit with Russian aggression in Ukraine and COVID spending policies coming home to roost.

Inflation fucked with most of the free world’s economies in 2022 and we will likely see its ramifications for years to come. Still for those of us who lived through the late 1970s and early 1980s these rates are not that bad. Imagine a U.S. peak of 18.39% in July 1981 or a Canadian high of 21% in August of that same year. Things don’t look bad viewing it through that lens. Let’s hope we don’t let it get there.

On the European front, the tone from the Kremlin over the holiday has started to shift. Russia’s military is floundering badly in Ukraine and the Motherland’s losses continue to mount. Even more crippling to Putin’s war effort, the U.S. and its allies now appear willing to provide assistance to Ukraine in the form of modern sophisticated weaponry it needs to push Russia to the brink. In light of these factors, it would seem Putin and Moscow’s resolve for war are beginning to wane. That does not mean we are out of the woods and Russia’s nuclear arsenal remains a constant threat. That said there does seem to be some hope for optimism as the Kremlin’s apparent shift may be signalling that Putin and his government are laying the groundwork for possible exit strategies that would allow the tyrant to save face and hold onto power. Time will tell.

Closer to home, Greg’s Blog has had a great year, by far the best on record for my tiny corner of the world wide web. (Does anyone call it that anymore?) 2022 saw views of my blog climb from 1071 in 2021 to 6156 in 2022 (a 475% increase year over year) and visitors climb from 467 to 2785 (+496%). In terms of real numbers I know it’s still relatively small compared to some of the superstars I like to follow but it’s still something. Keep in mind it has also been my most active year blogging and it did see the start of a couple of weekly or bi-weekly features on my site. With the hectic holiday season over I hope to get back at it more regularly again and hope I can build on some of that 2022 momentum in the new year.

It has been fun interacting with so many of you and I hope to continue reading/viewing what everyone has to offer and hopefully put out content that you enjoy interacting with. Thanks to everyone for a great 2022 and I hope 2023 turns out to be a phenomenal year for everyone!

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Holiday Traditions

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Whether you were celebrating Christmas or another occasion, I hope you had a great holiday, as always it was hectic here.

It starts Christmas Eve when I wake up and start making my most reqeusted Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Garlic Bread recipe. Think of it as an Spinach and Artichoke dip with cheese where the dipping is already done for you. My outlaws insist that I bring two loaves with me. The recipe can be found here.

Being Italian they insist on doing a huge seafood feast for dinner, no meat on Christmas Eve. Not sure what the logic is because fish and seafood are flesh too but I’m not complaining – no meat it is. The feast includes baked baccalà (cod), pan-fried sole, fried shrimp, calamari and a seafood salad that includes shrimp, mussels, octopus, scallops, etc… I am also tasked with making a shrimp dish that has become a tradition of sorts. The recipe can be found here.

Because we spend Christmas Day at my parents we open the gifts at Gina’s parents on Christmas Eve. They always go crazy overboard, I mean ridiculously so, spoiling my son. To get an idea of how crazy, the only other person besides us and her parents is her sister and when we were leaving Christmas morning I filled the back of my Ford Escape so that I could not see out the back window and I will have to do that again on New Years Day with the stuff we left behind. Nate loves it though so I guess that is all that matters.

From there we pick up my kids from my first marriage around noon and head to my parents for the standard Turkey dinner and gift exchange. It is usually a house filled with 20-25 people and although it’s very hot and hectic it is nice to see family. The usual Christmas dinner that includes turkey, ham two giant serving bowls of mashed potatoes and just about every vegetable the supermarket stocks. All delicious but by the time you have a bit of everything you are stuffed like a turkey.

Once dinner is finished there comes the traditional lighting of the Christmas Pudding. My father douses a mound of this pudding fruit cake thingy with booze and sets it ablaze to the annual oooohs and ahhhhs of all in attendance. This year he went light on the booze and as a result nobody lost their eyebrows, although if you watch the video you will see my brother-in-law try and burn is finger off!

The Christmas Pudding

The best part of Christmas this year happened after dinner as we were all sitting around unable to move, spaced out in tryptophan heaven. My son decided to compose an original piece on Grandma’s old out-of-tune upright piano. Notice the quality of tone in his voice! 🤣

Christmas Is the Best

Needless to say, Boxing Day was pretty much a write-off. We just spent it relaxing and recovering. Now its just waiting for 2023. I must admit I miss the days my uncle (now deceased) would pull the bagpipes out at midnight and pipe the old year out the back door, the rest of us in tow as he marched around the house and piped the new year in the front. Such are the holiday traditions that bind us together. I hope you were able to fulfilled all the traditions you hold dear with the people you love this year.

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The Retreat

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The Retreat

It couldn’t have been more perfect. He had managed to hit every note for our 13th anniversary. It was odd, he wasn’t very good at dates, gifts, or surprises. In fact, he’d forgotten the last three anniversaries and remembered only one of my last five birthdays. I swear he’d forget Christmas if I didn’t remind him.

I guess I shouldn’t complain. This place had everything, massage, nature, food and drink, recreation, and relaxation. Then there was the zen Kamasutra love thing he orchestrated. It had lasted so long that we had to order room service just to replenish our spend shells. I know I said it already, but it was perfect.

He eyed me with that smug masculine air. You know the one where he knows he’s nailed it. The kind that would buy him enough romantic capital to blur indiscretions of the past and leave plenty of extra to spend on the fuck ups yet to come. He wasn’t wrong I’d bitten down hard – hook, line and sinker.

Our last night here, sitting at the best table on the lakeside deck, candles lit as we sip our second spectacular bottle of red. The sun was setting over the lake, painting the sky in a mix of orange and gold, and the air was filled with the sound of crickets singing, when suddenly the lake began to ripple, and then like a raging fire something broke through the surface tension.

Rising from the water, maw gaping as it crawled onto the beach. It may have been the light, but its silhouette seems larger than life. Doug sunk down in his chair, that smug look morphed to fear. Sweat had begun beading on his forehead and his hands were visibly shaking. I was trapped like a deer in the headlights.

It was coming right for us, or should I say Doug, its fangs bared in the throes of a terrifying guttural roar. A barrage of indiscernible sounds growing louder and more aggressive with each step closer.

It produced a weapon that had been concealed in the dark as it entered our sphere. With a final lunge, it drove the pointed rod through Doug’s neck. The impact was so violent that his chair stuttered sideways until it caught on the deck boards, spilling his frame onto the floor. His face contorted in pain and terror as he lay on his side, paralyzed and gasping for air.

Its eyes bulged and as if it were spitting venom growled, “Really, the fucking week I’d planned, you brought her? In one motion she pulled the harpoon from his neck and as his limp body rolled onto its back she drove it through his heart. He drew one last breath and fell still except for the blood seeping from his wounds.

Then like Jekyll into Hyde she transformed into almost ordinary. She surveyed the mood of shocked onlookers seated around us as she picked up the fallen chair. Sitting across from me, our eyes meet for the first time as she swallows the last of the wine left behind in his glass. She was his mistress and his killer, but at that moment I wanted her more than anything I’d ever wanted.

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T-Shirt Wisdom Tuesday (2251)

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Welcome to T-Shirt Wisdom Tuesday. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Every other Tuesday I will post a quote that I’ve seen printed on a T-Shirt or think should have been.

Happy Holidays! May everyone have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Check back weekly and see what witty, funny, or plain old ridiculous T-Shirts wisdom I’ve been able to find or come up with. Suggestions are always welcome.