But you can control your attitude in response to what happens.
That's why I'm feeling pretty good about myself despite the fact it seemed like the universe was out to get me today.
The day started out quite well with a 2 hour visit to the factory where I spent 17 years of my life. It was humbling and at the same time ego building to have so many people remember me fondly. Thanks Mark!
It was after I got back home that the real joy began.
Other than my workout all I had to accomplish for the day were 2 little tasks. The first was to get my dining room table re-assembled, and the other was to get 2 tires put on Miguettes car. Pretty easy stuff.
And I even had assistance. Adrian agreed to help out by taking the 2 tires up town if I would only take them off the car. That part was easy, and so I whipped them off and Adrian headed out.
Ten minutes later the phone rings. It's Adrian. The car place is on lunch and if he waits for the tires he may be late for work.
No worries. Just leave them and I will pick them up later.
Adrian comes home with a promise they will have the tires ready by 4 pm. Just before he heads out to work he will help me carry my table top back into the house. Just so you know this ain't no ordinary tabletop! It is solid black walnut, hand made by my son Jonathan. The top itself is about 7 feet long and weighs about 150 pounds. I spent the last several days resurfacing it....six coats of sprayed varnish.
We dropped the thing on the garage floor!!
After my immediate fuck! fuck! fuck! I knew I had 2 choices.
I made the right choice. The one corner is so badly bruised that the only way to fix it properly would be to completely rework the top one more time. I chose instead to embrace this blemish. After all, if you compare it to my ears it don't really look that bad.
I think this was the critical moment of my entire day as it set the pattern for my responses for the rest of it.
So back to the tires.
I would just drive Adrian to work so I had a vehicle to pick them up.
Whoops....Adrian has hockey after work so he needs a vehicle.
No worries.
I knew Roo would be home around 5:30 so I could go pick up the tires before they closed. Miguette needed her car for a midnight shift.
Whoops....just checked and they close at 5!
No worries. Mark gets home at about 3:30 and I can borrow his truck for 20 minutes.
Whoops....Mark has hockey after work!
Shit! Now what?
I got it! I'll take my tractor! Just like the town drunk of my youth. I'll drive my tractor uptown. Beauty.
No worries.
So I had the presence of mind to strap on my slow moving vehicle sign to make the trip legal, and then I fired up my orange beauty.
Whoops.
The fuel gauge say one bar!! And we have no diesel fuel in the cans. At this point I was blaming the rats since I had spent all my fuel unsuccessfully trying to kill them.
But I was not gonna give up at this point. I decided to take a chance and head to the nearest diesel pump which unfortunately was in the wrong direction, and now I was starting to get pressed for time.
Here I go though, still in a positive state of mind.
Whoops.
Before I was 2 minutes out of the driveway the last bar disappeared.
But even the last few kilometres to the fuel station with gauge reading zero didn't dull my mood. I actually laughed at myself and arrived safely.
Whoops. There is a big truck parked at the only diesel pump. Patience Peter but time was now a factor. He finished pumping and then proceeded to clean every window and mirror on his truck....and then he went in to pay.
Finally however it was my turn and I got er filled up, and knew if the rest of the trip was flawless I could still make it.
Got there with a few minutes to spare. I went and paid my bill which they had all ready, and then went to pick up my tires where they promised to leave them, as they were just closing the auto repair section of said garage.
Whoops!!!!!!
Sure enough my tires were there and on the rims....my old tires!!!! They remembered to have the bill ready for me, but they forgot to change the tires. WOW!
I banged on the door...they let me in...they swore that it just couldn't be....and then to their credit they reacted quickly, and I had my tires in less than 10 minutes.
What a hoot! And I really did have a very satisfying day simply because I successfully practiced two of my favorite cliches. The first is the title of this post, and the second is "where there's a will, there's a way". It really is true. If you truly set your mind to most anything, you can accomplish it. "TRY NOT"
I also had another great bike workout. They always start out so intimidating and end up so gratifying. I have never enjoyed riding on the trainer as much as I have the last few weeks, and it is all because of the structure.
And lastly I read the most hilarious thing today. I man wrote an opinion pice on CNN.com in which he blamed gun violence not on guns, but on moral decay. Okay, I get that. Moral decay. Regression and the like. Moving back to the jungle etc. His solution is to give guns to teachers! How can any sane person not see the irony in that?
Then again, if teachers had guns in Ontario maybe Dalton McGuinty wouldn't be so brave, and my grandchildren wouldn't be missing school tomorrow.
And here's another funny thought. If the nuns had guns when I was in grade school, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it to grade nine.
Love
Peter
That's why I'm feeling pretty good about myself despite the fact it seemed like the universe was out to get me today.
The day started out quite well with a 2 hour visit to the factory where I spent 17 years of my life. It was humbling and at the same time ego building to have so many people remember me fondly. Thanks Mark!
It was after I got back home that the real joy began.
Other than my workout all I had to accomplish for the day were 2 little tasks. The first was to get my dining room table re-assembled, and the other was to get 2 tires put on Miguettes car. Pretty easy stuff.
And I even had assistance. Adrian agreed to help out by taking the 2 tires up town if I would only take them off the car. That part was easy, and so I whipped them off and Adrian headed out.
Ten minutes later the phone rings. It's Adrian. The car place is on lunch and if he waits for the tires he may be late for work.
No worries. Just leave them and I will pick them up later.
Adrian comes home with a promise they will have the tires ready by 4 pm. Just before he heads out to work he will help me carry my table top back into the house. Just so you know this ain't no ordinary tabletop! It is solid black walnut, hand made by my son Jonathan. The top itself is about 7 feet long and weighs about 150 pounds. I spent the last several days resurfacing it....six coats of sprayed varnish.
We dropped the thing on the garage floor!!
After my immediate fuck! fuck! fuck! I knew I had 2 choices.
I made the right choice. The one corner is so badly bruised that the only way to fix it properly would be to completely rework the top one more time. I chose instead to embrace this blemish. After all, if you compare it to my ears it don't really look that bad.
I think this was the critical moment of my entire day as it set the pattern for my responses for the rest of it.
So back to the tires.
I would just drive Adrian to work so I had a vehicle to pick them up.
Whoops....Adrian has hockey after work so he needs a vehicle.
No worries.
I knew Roo would be home around 5:30 so I could go pick up the tires before they closed. Miguette needed her car for a midnight shift.
Whoops....just checked and they close at 5!
No worries. Mark gets home at about 3:30 and I can borrow his truck for 20 minutes.
Whoops....Mark has hockey after work!
Shit! Now what?
I got it! I'll take my tractor! Just like the town drunk of my youth. I'll drive my tractor uptown. Beauty.
No worries.
So I had the presence of mind to strap on my slow moving vehicle sign to make the trip legal, and then I fired up my orange beauty.
Whoops.
The fuel gauge say one bar!! And we have no diesel fuel in the cans. At this point I was blaming the rats since I had spent all my fuel unsuccessfully trying to kill them.
But I was not gonna give up at this point. I decided to take a chance and head to the nearest diesel pump which unfortunately was in the wrong direction, and now I was starting to get pressed for time.
Here I go though, still in a positive state of mind.
Whoops.
Before I was 2 minutes out of the driveway the last bar disappeared.
But even the last few kilometres to the fuel station with gauge reading zero didn't dull my mood. I actually laughed at myself and arrived safely.
Whoops. There is a big truck parked at the only diesel pump. Patience Peter but time was now a factor. He finished pumping and then proceeded to clean every window and mirror on his truck....and then he went in to pay.
Finally however it was my turn and I got er filled up, and knew if the rest of the trip was flawless I could still make it.
Got there with a few minutes to spare. I went and paid my bill which they had all ready, and then went to pick up my tires where they promised to leave them, as they were just closing the auto repair section of said garage.
Whoops!!!!!!
Sure enough my tires were there and on the rims....my old tires!!!! They remembered to have the bill ready for me, but they forgot to change the tires. WOW!
I banged on the door...they let me in...they swore that it just couldn't be....and then to their credit they reacted quickly, and I had my tires in less than 10 minutes.
What a hoot! And I really did have a very satisfying day simply because I successfully practiced two of my favorite cliches. The first is the title of this post, and the second is "where there's a will, there's a way". It really is true. If you truly set your mind to most anything, you can accomplish it. "TRY NOT"
I also had another great bike workout. They always start out so intimidating and end up so gratifying. I have never enjoyed riding on the trainer as much as I have the last few weeks, and it is all because of the structure.
And lastly I read the most hilarious thing today. I man wrote an opinion pice on CNN.com in which he blamed gun violence not on guns, but on moral decay. Okay, I get that. Moral decay. Regression and the like. Moving back to the jungle etc. His solution is to give guns to teachers! How can any sane person not see the irony in that?
Then again, if teachers had guns in Ontario maybe Dalton McGuinty wouldn't be so brave, and my grandchildren wouldn't be missing school tomorrow.
And here's another funny thought. If the nuns had guns when I was in grade school, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it to grade nine.
Love
Peter
BEST blog ever. Love your living life in the MOMENT!!!
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