Do I ever have power!!! Approximately a month ago I suggested that Dubai get a new flag because it would be difficult for me to paint my face with all of those stripes in those rather unflattering colours. I had painted my face like the Canadian flag for Canada Day 2017 but that was not hard, The maple leaf was where my nose is. Well there is a new video showing a new flag for the new government. Of course, I had to respond. Gosh, there is now a flag for Dubai New Government. It is Royal Blue with Arabic Language, very attractive actually. So I did make the following public comment on YouTube,.
Me: Well this was a definite WOW. The new flag is something I approve of, I can paint myself blue and have someone write Arabic words across my face and little nose. It is brilliant, totally!! I worked for government my whole life and could help in ways other than painting my face. Hahaha Knee surgery soon (March 31) so I can come soon and help if you need me. AND YOU DO. hahahaha
I definitely have fun with all of this, for some obscure reason. The other good news is that I look good in blue so it will definitely be a win/win situation.
Speaking of good government, and its antithesis, news in from CPI who lives in Canada.
She: Has news of the Canadian blockades hit SF? Demonstrations against the Coastal Gas pipeline are shutting down the country – CN Rail is shutting down operations in Eastern Canada and VIA Rail is as well across the country.
Blockades in Vancouver and the Port of Vancouver, all in support of five hereditary chiefs. Trudeau (also referred to as Trudope and Turdeau) is in Munich talking of “meaningful discussions” to resolve. Ha. L
Me: I do not follow the news but have heard nothing so I was surprised to read this in your email. I do definitely love the Trudope and Turdeau monikers.
What is a moniker? It is an informal noun whose meaning is a name:, used in a sentence His real moniker is Justin Trudeau. I have no idea where these words come from, they just pop into my head and I look them up and they are perfect.
So I woke to an email from CPI, an email from former London lover who was responding to my rebuke as he had not wished me Happy Valentine’s Day, The whole email totally made me laugh and here are parts of it.
He: These romantic times pass me by. As a curmudgeon this is not surprising..
So a jokef or the times. But first did you know that , according to surveys, peak happiness is reached at the age of 82?. Presumably relief that the end is nigh. Coincidentally, perhaps, there has been a significant rise in the incidence of std in the over 65 population.
Anyway,
Vernon, (an appropriate name, not often found in the younger population) please adjust your hearing aid. I said that I have acute angina.
Me: It took me a long time to get that joke but when I did gales of loud laughter ensured.
He then spoke of other matters but ended the mail with this sentence.
He: Who said romance was dead when you can have an email with aged sex and farts in the same one.
Me: My goodness you made me laugh again.
This is how our relationship began. At the National Theatre in London in 2016 a play called Suicide was produced. I was sitting alone next to a man, who was also alone. . The play was rather dreadful but interval eventually arrived.
Me: Thank goodness its interval. If I stayed for the second act I would commit suicide
He: Can I buy you a drink?
Me: Excellent idea!
And so it began, a rather rocky relationship and now he is in England and I am in San Francisco but we have recently started to email again. Guys do not get over me – I should come with a warning sign hung around my neck. I am laughing.
But sad news came via the newsletter of my alma mater the University of Alberta.
“The Harvard Business Review recently published findings of a study on mental health in the workplace that paints a bleak picture of anxiety among young people.
In a survey, half of millennials, those between 24 and 39, said they’d left a job at least partly for mental health reasons. For Gen Z—those between 18 and 23—the percentage spikes to 75, compared with just 20 per cent among the general population.
The results of the study, published by the mental health advocacy group Mind Share Partners, are one measure of how serious anxiety and depression have become among today’s youth.
At the University of Alberta, for example, its website states that 35 per cent of students will experience a panic attack due to stress at some point, and mental health advisers on campus say requests for help with anxiety and depression are sharply rising.
In the 2016 Canadian National College Health Assessment, 65 per cent of post-secondary students reported experencing “overwhelming anxiety” in the previous year, and 13 per cent had considered suicide.”
Social media gets some of the blame for this.
“Social media is another crucial factor in the anxiety that plagues Gen Z especially, according to Jean Twenge,a psychology professor at San Diego State University and the author of Generation Me and iGen.
In an Atlantic article called “Have Smartphones Destroyed a Generation?“ she argues smartphones have radically altered the nature of social interactions—and consequently mental health.
Noting that rates of teen depression and suicide have skyrocketed since 2011, she claims it’s no exaggeration to describe iGen (an alternate term for Gen Z) as “being on the brink of the worst mental health crisis in decades. Much of this deterioration can be traced to their phones.
“iGen teens have more leisure time than Gen X teens did, not less,” she writes. “So what are they doing with all that time? They are on their phone, in their room, alone and often distressed.”
She points to a survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse that shows teens who spend more time than average on screen media activities—about four hours in the U.S. and three hours in Canada, according to Stats Canada—are more likely to be unhappy. Those who spend less time than average on non-screen media activities are more likely to be happy.
“(Youth) are far more connected to people outside of Canada and their own local neighbourhoods, or virtually connected,” said Strohschein. “The downside is they’re socially isolated in their local communities.”
That isolation might be seriously hampering their social confidence, she added.”.
I do disagree with Strohschein however. Annie sent me four gifs so far today.I texted a truth
Me: You make me feel so cared for.
But perhaps you should not be reading this blog, get out in your communities and do something! Again I am laughing. People ask me what I blog about – look at today. A new flag for Dubai, news from Canada with new monikers for Trudeau, a joke from a former lover and now a study showing the swelling anxiety of millennials By the way the definition is: they are people. reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century.
The photograph, of my bathroom wall, was placed on Instagram with the following caption. “This is from the wall of my bathroom. I am still getting even with Vancouver- it is the loo after all.” Hahaha.
