I am weird and I admit it. Something comes to my mind, for no good reason at all and I investigate it and it blows my mind – the part of the mind that is intact. Hahahaha. For days the mark of cain was on my mind – I did not even know what it was until I looked on the Internet and did lazy research. Lazy research is Wikipedia. What message am I supposed to get from this? Fasten your seat belts while we explore this together.
It has to do with murder – Cain killed Abel or was it the other way around? God was really pissed off and not only gave the murderer a mark but cursed him as well. Do not mess with God (nor Ms. McBride as those Trump International Hotel and Tower people used to say)
So this is the gist of the story. Abel kills Cain and then makes matters worse by lying to God about it. Gist is going to be the word of the day. When used as a noun the synonyms are:
this paper relays the gist of my presentation: essence, substance, central theme, heart of the matter, nub, kernel, marrow, meat, burden, crux; thrust, drift, sense, meaning, significance, import; informal nitty-gritty.
Now I can identify with this story. It is bad enough to kill your brother (except in my case, where it would have been a good idea), but then to lie to God about it. I mean really, how stupid! So not only is this guy a killer, he is stupid. So he spills his brother’s blood on the earth and God says:
God: You poisoned the earth with your brother’s blood so you cannot be a farmer as your crops will not flourish.
He; I do not care. I will go and build cities instead. I am off to build the City of Enoch.
But that was not the end of it. God said to him:
God: I am turning you into a wanderer, you shall have no home. You will have a nomadic life style. So there! So there! So there! You will be excluded from your family unit!
He: I do not care, I do not want any part of that family anyway.
God is manfully trying to punish this guy.
God: I will make you soulless and unstable.
He: Who needs a soul and I would rather be unstable then to be dull.
So this is all rather unclear – God is marking the guy because he is a murderer and others need to be warned but apparently at this point in time there is only Adam and Eve. According to Genesis that is it, no other people. Sometimes a literal translation of the Bible leaves one scratching their head in wonderment. Trump should be thinking about that, but he has a lot on his mind these days.
But listen to this. In Judaism God gives Abel a dog to mark him into a murderer. I do not like dogs, and now I have a reason not to like them according to some wise guy.. Now one of the things I hate about Vancouver is all of the dogs, particularly in Yaletown. Dogs, dogs, dogs, everywhere dogs. And think about those poor dogs – cooped up in a little apartment all day while their owners attempt to make a living in this expensive city. And owners pay a fortune on the dogs -buying it in the first place, feeding it, the vet bills and on top of all that grooming them.I came across a poorly groomed man with a groomed dog. I said in a very cheery and positive voice.
Me: I find it interesting that people spend a great deal of money grooming their dogs when they should be spending it on themselves. .
He: Get away from me. Go away.
Me: I will go away when I feel like it! Do not order me around.
He: (splutter, splutter)
Me: Ok! I am going. I do not want to be around you anyway.
So I do not ‘get’ dpgs. Well, in a way I do. People have dogs because they are lonely. I said this to a man in Shopper’s Drug Mart (an ugly man with an ugly dog).
He: That is not true. I am not lonely.
Me: But it is a scientifically proven fact that lonely people have dogs, It is not my opinion. Patrick Moynihan, a leading intellectual famously said. that people are entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts. You may be the exception to the rule but that does not make a scientifically proven fact wrong.
He: (splutter, splutter, splutter)
I was talking to two men who were sitting on a bench outside my apartment building. The ugly guy with his ugly dog walked by on the other side of the street.
Me: So look at that guy! He is most unattractive. Do not tell me he is not lonely.
They: You are right. He is poorly groomed, he is fat, it sounds like he is rude. He ‘needs’ that dog.
Me: Yes and he calls it “My Girl”.
This is my solution to many problems. People should not have dogs – instead they should take a homeless person home with them. Then no more homeless and no more urinating and defecating on the street. I think homeless people are toilet trained. I rather impulsively invited a homeless man to my apartment for a beer. He was a great guy – he pitched in, did the dishes, took out the garbage. We had a great chat. He went home – well, I guess not because he did no have home. But he did not stay the night or anything. I have had other young men to dinner since coming to live in Vancouver. They did not wash dishes, did not take out the garbage, nor spend the night, nor anything. I look at those men in a different light these days and they will not be invited back.
My high school friend Lynne provides me with excellent questions that make me think. She said to me, in her most recent email.
She: You have never quite outlined (to me) your reasons for hating Vancouver, let alone a growing hatred – remember you rather bristled when I called Vancouver “a small city”.
Me: You do inspire me on many levels. I think it be wise to outline the reasons I hate Vancouver and, moreover, blog them. Not all at once – but dribble then out – two by two. I did not bristle at the fact that Vancouver was a small city but that it was unbelievable that a young doctor’s assistant would recognize my laugh over the phone and correctly place me at a theatre with you and your husband. I thought it was a miracle – you thought it was a small city. Hahahaha
So I hate Vancouver because there are so many dogs and disconnected people. I also hate Vancouver because they have by laws that they do not enforce – namely the one that prohibits cars or motorcycles making excessive noises because they do not have mufflers. I decided that it was not my problem – even though i had a plan in mind including an appearance before city council. But instead, as a self protective measure, I put in ear plugs. I am more sensitive to no mufflers because I was run over by a motorcycle on September 13, 2014 and the noise triggered post traumatic stress attacks. . But I have found a new way to deal with the situation. It is a known fact that men who make excessive by having no mufflers do so because they have tiny members. So when I hear excessive noise I look to the car and make a gesture with by thumb and one finger. People on the street watch me, I tell them what and why I am doing it. They uniformly laugh and agree with me. The gesture will be pictured. But this is what happened the other day. A guy in a car that probably cost about a million bucks was at a stop light and he had no muffler. I laughingly made the sign as I strode across the cross walk. Honest to goodness, he thought I was being friendly and was wildly waving at me. Oops, I do not mean to lead him on because perhaps he has a lot of money but we know he has a tiny member. I want no part of him.
So two reasons why I hate Vancouver, more to come. By the way, all of this is true – all of these strange interactions I have with people.
