So these treasures were entitled: Obvious Signs That Humanity Is Regressing” There were photographs but that is difficult to reproduce so you get just the message:
A huge IKEA sign picturing a hot dog with the caveat: not actual size
Sign: Library Is Closed Until Opening Time
A Wire Hanger with a paper jacker: Caution: Do Not Swallow
View from the 20th Floor Balcony: Caution: Please be aware that the balcony is not on ground level.
A urinal that is removed from the wall: Do Not Use, says the sign.
Sign: If Door Does Not Open Do Not Enter
Sign on Elevator Door: Attention. Please Make Sure Elevator is There Before Stepping In.
A Sign In a Pool WARNING: No Swimming if you can’t swim
It concludes: There is an old saying: You cannot fix stupid.
What was unsaid: All those signs were erected at the advice of somebody’s lawyer. I have been through the trials and tribulations of what is known as risk management. A stupid person falls down an elevator shaft, in defense the lawyer can say that the person was adequately warned. Someone jumps or there is a case of defenestration – the lawyer can say: There was a sign telling them that this was not the ground floor. Perhaps defenestration can be the word of the day:
Defenestration is the act of throwing someone or something out of a window.[1] The term was coined around the time of an incident in Prague Castle in the year 1618, which became the spark that started the Thirty Years’ War. This was done in “good Bohemian style” and referred to the defenestration which had occurred in Prague’s City Hall almost 200 years earlier (July 1419), which also at that occasion led to war, the Hussite war.[2] The word comes from the New Latin[3] de- (out of or away from) and fenestra (window or opening).[4] Likewise, it can also refer to the condition of being thrown out of a window, as in “The Defenestration of Ermintrude Inch”.
So it is interesting that a UK guy and I exchanged emails about Jezebel some months ago. I guess I was likening myself to Jezebel and he, being so well read and informed, told me about the defenestration part (also CPI chimed in about it). But not only was Jezebel thrown out of the window BUT she became dog meat because they left her lying there and the wild dogs came and ate her. I quite smartly said:
Me: Well at least she was dead when it all happened. If I am going to be dog meat I would insist on being dead first.
This guy loved dogs – they say opposites attract. That had to be it. We were, and shall remain, opposite.
So (friends, Romans, countrymen) brace yourself. Computer Guru Chris Jackson is going on vacation – to Viet Nam. He says that he can continue on with his duties but I have decided to give him (and me) a break. More details to follow but I am not intending to blog during this period of time. I have been hard at this for over a year and a half, dutifully writing almost every day. I tell myself that it does not interfere with my life, but it does. I awake really early to blog, so therefore I go to bed really early. Next week the VSO fall season begins, there is a lecture at Vancouver Art Gallery and I will be attending a Core Class at the YWCA. Goodness knows I need my beauty sleep and sleeping in will be an option if it is not mandatory to wake to write. . It could be that I will be unable to refrain ALL THE TiME but I will try. There are a lot of sights in this city that I have not explored. So I will board the Hop On, Hop Off bus, walk to Granville Island, spend some time in Stanley Park. I am feeling much more at peace, making this decision. If I feel the need to write I will do so – negative material perhaps as I try to remain positive on this blog. It will be a well deserved rest.
You have not heard from Hottie in awhile, because I do not see him (at all) nor communicate very frequently. But here is a priceless exchange.
He: Patients is a virtue Alexis
Me: Who the H*** wants to be virtuous?????
The photograph is the Zen feast at Minami AND I formatted it my very own self. Sometimes I am in awe of myself but then I trip or stub my toe and am brought back to reality. Hahahaha
I leave to go o Vancouver Art Gallery for a lecture on the traveling exhibit Cabin Fever, to take my watch in for repair and to drop in on my people.
