20-somethings

Ok, I've done it again. I'm going to change my blog theme. It's hard to look for unfortunate downtown stories when you're trying to be a more positive and well-rounded person. I'm still not a fan of the downtown scene, but I'm trying to be nicer about it and, at the very least, not freak out every time a stranger happens to look my way.

So I've moved on; gone are the days when I would post about the travesties that are downtown experiences and here are the days where I write about the important things. The life related things. The 20-something posts, if you will.

Earlier this week I was looknig through Pinterest (go figure) when I came across this blog called GenTwenty. It's a blog that gives advice on how to be twenty, live through your twenties, etc. I started to read this one post titled 11 Quotes for you 20s and it got me thinking.

For years I've been waiting to get older. I've been waiting to graduate. Waiting to have money. Waiting to fall in love. Waiting to get married and buy a big beautiful house and have babies and wear "mom jeans" and get the cool "mom haircut"... and I've sort of forgotten that there's all of this life that's happening in the mean time that's just being wasted on me. I'm too consumed with school to do anything during the week. I'm too busy with homework and catching up with all the things I didn't have time to do during the week to do anything on the weekend. And all the while I'm too broke to do any of the "fun things" my 12-year-old self thought 22-year-olds were supposed to do because I'm too busy with school and homework.

I assume it's the same (or at the very least, I hope it's similar) for every other student so I thought instead of giving advice on how to be a 20-something, which I obviously know nothing about, I'll talk about what other people advise us 20-somethings do with our lives. It's nice to be reminded that life doesn't revolve around school and it's good for you to step away from the computer and just live. So that's what I'll be writing about from now on. I hope it inspires you to do something out of the ordinary like it did for me.

Here's an inspiring quote to leave you with for the week:

“It’s never too late to be who you might have been.” – George Eliot

M

A little bit of funny & something for my mommy

Ok,

I'm going to take a break from my topic and do something fun. This week has not been all that fun, so I'm going to make a little of my own and call it a week, literally.

I assume everyone needs a laugh every once in a while so that's what this post is all about; laughs! As most of my friends know I'm a huge Pinterest addict and that's where I'm going to look for these laughs.

Ok, let's do this!

Pinterest

Pinterest

Pinterest

Pinterest

Pinterest

As you can see my thoughts are all over the place, but that's Friday for ya! My favourite is the first one... I know so many people who have Facebook accounts like that... and to be honest for some of them I would much rather see a picture of an evil cat than their face... Ooops! Did I say that out loud?!

Moving on.... This one's for my mom... I saw it and thought of her instantly becaue this is my life pretty much every day... lol! Love my mom!



Pinterest

I think we all can relate to that... I can now that I'm older and wiser, and I don't know what I would do without her (and my dad, of course) more than ever. They are the type of people that superheroes are based off of; no cape, no flying power, no superhuman strength, just a heart full of love, a head full of advice, and the patience and kindness to make sure that that their kids have everything they need to grow and learn. I am very fortunate to them, I hope they know that.

Anyway, before I get too mushy and heartfelt for the Internet, I'll call it a day.

I hope you all have wonderful, stress free weekends.

Megan



Three grown men walk into a student parking lot....

On my way to school on Monday I drove into the war-zone of all construction sites. It was just crazy. It took me 15 minutes to get to the school once I was on Hargrave.... Just insane. Anyway, my point...

I was sitting at the blocked off intersection at 8:45 in the morning and out of the corner of my eye I see two dirty man walking toward all the stopped vehicles. They started at the front of the line and made their way to my car... what were they doing? Knocking on people's windows asking for money. WHY NOT, RIGHT?! I didn't roll down my window.

So, 15 minutes later when I parked my car and went to pay for parking (with change, I'm old-school like that) another grungy looking guy came up to me and asked, "Do you have any change?"

"Obviously I have change," I thought to myself. "I'm feeding the meter $7.00 in freaking quarters!!!"

"No," I said to him with a shake of my head.

Luckily he just walked away.

So, three grown men approached me in a span of 10-15 minutes first thing in the morning. Awful. Why would you ask someone who's so obviously a student (had my backpack on and everything) for money!? Why don't have money and guess what, if we did, it won't be for you!

Whatever anyway... this is four weeks in a row of being panhandled almost every day.

- insert frustrated face here -

M

Busy, busy bee

I don't have a story this week.

I've been living in my own mind for about six days now and frankly The Queen could cross my path and I probably wouldn't notice. I'm living off of about 4 hours of sleep a night (if I'm lucky), coffee and popcorn (except last night - I had steak. I'm hoping that gives me enough nutrients to make it to the weekend), and high hair buns (I mention this because hair makes me happy when I don't have to do it).

"Do you really have that much to do, Megan?" you might ask. The answer is probably not, but for whatever reason it feels like there's a mountain of horse poop teetering on a balance right in front of me and if I stay still for too long or forget one thing it's all going to fall on me and that would be it. I'll be covered in poop and I'll never feel clean again.

Anyway, life is good, I swear it's so awesome, but it's busy and I love but I hate it all at the same time.

Now that I think of it I do have a story. It happened late last week, but it's still current. I was walking from school to work and about to cross paths with the same homeless guy that I pass every single day. He sits there with his walker in the dirtiest clothes I've ever seen with his cap turned up for people to give him money - typical. So whatever I was just about to pass him when a guy in an SUV pulled up and offered the homeless man a cigarette. Well he jumped up so quick to grab that cigarette, mumbled a 'thank you' and was sitting down again fast enough that he still asked me for my money when I passed him literally two seconds later. The man in the SUV hadn't even driven away yet, that's how fast it was.

I probably got too mad about it and I probably gave him an angrier face than I meant to, but it just made me so mad. You can't even be grateful for two seconds before asking for something else. Greed, I question you.

That's really all I have to say tonight, I was not impressed at all.

Have a happy week everybody - it's almost officially fall.

M

Have you seen the hotdog man?...

Hello,

Funny story about today... well maybe it's not funny, but the mood I'm in is making me think it's hilarious.

It's hot outside. We all feel it. It didn't seem like it was going to be this morning, so a lot of people, myself included, dressed for cooler weather. We dealt with it, right? Striped off layers, had a cold drink... all the things you're supposed to do when you're hot.

What are the two things you didn't do today? Did you jump into a downtown fountain fully-clothed? No? Me neither. Did you accost a hotdog vendor for a free drink because you're "f*cking hot, man"? No? Me neither.

Apparently this is typical behaviour downtown. I seemed to be the only giving a "what the..." look to the two men who were walking through the fountain, and I was certainly the only one (aside from the shocked vendor) who gave a disgusted look to the seemingly drunk man cursing to get a free drink.

I try to be understanding. I really do. I try to see the good in everyone and see things from both sides of the fence and all the other garbage second grade teachers teach us is necessary to be a good person. But I can't for the life of me understand some people. I know it's part of life to take the good with bad, the happy with the sad, blah blah blah, but this is unreal.

I don't get people who feel like they can do whatever they want and that the world owes them something. The world doesn't owe you anything unless it wants to owe the rest of us something as well. Period.

Maybe I'm being insensitive. Maybe I'm just jaded. I don't see how it became acceptable to ask people for freebies. I feel the same way about panhandlers and people like that; what are you doing that makes you think you deserve a handout? If you're going to be standing on the side of the road with your hand out every day, maybe put your time to good use and learn to play an instrument. Or a bucket turned upside down like a drum. Be creative. Do something that will make people think that you're actually working for their money. I would never in a million years think to ask a stranger for their money or anything that belongs to them. I feel bad enough going to my parents and asking them for money (not that I don't from time to time).

Anyway, again, maybe this is all insensitive of me. Maybe I missed the memo that said we’re all supposed to give people things. Maybe when I was working in retail I was supposed to let those girls hide clothes in their bags and just walk out of the store with them. Maybe when I was working in a restaurant I should have given people food for free just because they didn’t feel like paying. Maybe now that I’m working in an industry that bills people monthly, I should just let them know that they don’t have to pay this month or next or the one after that just ‘cause. Same mentality, right?

I guess all that I really have to say is people work hard for their money. I know this from experience. I don't go to school all day and work all night to walk outside and hand out the little bit of extra cash I have to someone who sits around all day. I have no problem giving to charity, or to buskers, or balloon artists for that matter, they just have to do something, that's really all I can say.

Thank you for reading my rant.

Pinterest

M

PS - on a side note, I'd like to tell a funny story that my grandpa told me. One day, years ago, he was walking out of the CBC building and a homeless man approached him and said, "Do you have any money?" He extended his hand, expecting my grandpa to give him some change, but instead my grandpa said, "Of course I do. Do I look poor?" He continued on his way (a little quicker than usual) and left the homeless man in shock. I wonder where I get my attitude from... :)

Good, bad, and decent

Hello there,

This week's post won't be nearly as interesting as last week's, mostly because this week has been crazy and I haven't really had a second to pay attention to life outside of school and my head. What I can say about this week is that too many people walk aide-by-side, four to a line on the sidewalk. Oh my Gosh, I thought I was going to rip the heads of a group of four girls who refused to make room for the people coming toward them on Princess Street, causing the oncoming people (me) to step into the busy traffic to continue along their way. Note to those girls - MOVE IT OR LOSE IT(!!!) figuratively, of course.

Another note on the wonderfulness of downtown, on the way to the car after school today, my firneds and I followed a disgusting trail of eaten chicken wings. They were just sitting there on the sidewalk waiting for some innocent puppy to come along, eat them, and choke. Not cool, low life who left them there. Be ashamed of yourself.

If you haven't yet noticed, I'm a little bit on edge today. It's Friday, I should be happy, and I will be in 30 minutes when I go home to watch Harry Potter for the rest of the night. Seriously, I cannot wait.

To lighten the mood a little bit here, I'll tell a nice story. Yesterday on my bus ride home from work I was lucky enough to get a seat that allowed me to close my eyes and drift in and out for the entire ride home. I was sitting beside a young guy who was listening to his music and staring out the window. Now, usually bus rides are long and conversational-less, but last night, just before this guy got off the bus, he looked at me and said, "I'm not trying to be creepy... you have a nice looking profile." Now, who doesn't love to hear a random compliment like that?! I responded in my usual awkward way - confused face and "Oh? Thank you."

Anyway, it was really nice to hear, and made me feel a little bit better about "bus people".

I hope you all have fabulous weekends and sleep a lot; if this week has been any indication of what the rest of the year is going to be, we're all goingto need as much sleep as we can. Whenever and wherever we can get it!

M

Pick a theme, any theme

Well I'll pick a theme, alright! It's not like I've had a full summer to pick one or anything... Oh wait. Well once again procrastination got to me and between all the fun, exciting days summer I've let yet another thing slip through my fingers. No bother, I have a good theme. A theme everyone living in the city can relate to. A theme everyone talks about, complains about, they even throw up their arms in sheer frustration at the very thought of this theme. Yes, that's right; I'm talking about downtown and all the lovely awesomeness that comes along with it.

Ok, ok so maybe not everyone has as big of a problem with downtown as I do, but when you've been stalked off a bus, hip-checked into a building, asked for the little bit of change you've kept for a Tim Hortons coffee on a cold winter's day, and called just about every name from baby to... well you know, another ‘B’ word that's not so friendly, you too would hate walking the streets of downtown.

There are great things about downtown, don't get me wrong; The Forks is one of my favourite places in Winnipeg and the MTS Centre has always been a fun time, but if I can control it I try to avoid being downtown as much as I can.

So this is my new theme, I'm going to write about my downtown experiences. I’ll make sure to include both good and bad experiences because, really, there are some fabulous things that happen downtown. Like this spring when I was walking to work from school I stepped on some ice and fell flat on my stomach. Five people came out of nowhere, helped me up, and made sure I was alright. I was stunned to say the least and my perspective of downtown was, from that point on, changed.

I’ve always disliked being in downtown Winnipeg. Ever since I was eight and was cornered by a middle-aged drunk man who wanted my nonexistent money. I was sitting there, minding my own business when he approached me and asked for two dollars. My grandma just about punched him in the throat for getting that close to my face. Needless to say, from that point on my views were forever changed.

Yes, I’m overreacting and yes, it’s dumb to hold on to that forever, but everyone has places they don’t like and downtown is that place for me.

So hold on to your hats, folks because I’ve got some funny, scary, and silly stories for you!

Until next time,
     M