Simple things to put yourself in a good mood

Forget about the therapeutic lifestyle changes and the “feel good” books, but how about some instant gratification? That’s what I’m looking for. Here are some simple, basic things that I use to put myself in a good mood.
1. Music! Naturally, everyone has a song (or songs) that can change even the grouchiest mood. See my top ten list below.
2. Buy someone a coffee, anonymously. I know this sounds rather silly, but it actually works. Sitting in the drive-thru line at Tim Hortons can really piss people off, next time you pull up to the window offer to pay for the person’s coffee in the car behind you. It will put you in an excellent mood, and brighten someone else’s day too.
3. Juggle…anything (soft). Oranges, Hershey’s kisses, Tylenol bottles, it doesn’t matter what, because unless you actually know what you’re doing you will suck at it. The result, you’ll be laughing at your silliness and realize that it’s okay to ‘drop the ball’ when you’re juggling too much at once.
4. Lie on the floor. That’s it. Nothing more. Just lie there and do absolutely nothing, if you really have to do something try to ride an imaginary bicycle like we used to do in gym class.

5. Put a pair of sunglasses on your pet, or a small child strictly for your own enjoyment.
6. Naked sleeping, naked TV watching, naked iPod updating, naked tub scrubbing…need I go on? (and step away from the mirrors)
7. Google an old boy/girlfriend see what they’re up to. If you’re impressed, drop them a line – even better, if they’re scarier than hell, you will be incredibly happy that you dodged that bullet.
8. Watch a bird, squirrel or any wildlife for a while. Let yourself be amazed at the simplicities of life.
9. Think of a TV Show you used to watch as a kid and look it up on YouTube. 10 minutes of H.R. Pufnstuff and I can’t help but be in a happy mood.
10. Tell “Bob” jokes. They are so stupid they are funny. In case you’re not familiar here are a few to get you started:
What do you call a man with no arms and no legs:
In water – Bob
In leaves – Russell
On the wall – Art
In a fire – Bernie
Under your car - Jack
On the floor – Matt
Sitting on a grill – Frank
His wife - Patty (lmao)
11. Send a friend a card. Not an “e-card” or an email, an actual Carlton card just because.
12. If you have the time, watch an old movie by yourself. I did this purely by accident on a Sunday afternoon, after the first 15 minutes of feeling guilty that I was accomplishing nothing just sitting there. I started actually enjoying the movie “13 going on 30” yes it was no blockbuster, but it was a mindless feel good movie that brightened the rest of my day.

Now what about those songs? Here’s my list – I’m hoping to get input on others.
1. I Saw her Standing There - Beatles
2. Walkin’ on sunshine – Katrina & The Waves
3. I feel good – James Brown
4. Shout – either the original version with Lulu or the remake by Otis Day and the Knights
5. I Gotta Feeling – Black Eyed Peas
6. Love is a Battlefield – Pat Benetar
7. Only the Good Die Young – Billy Joel
8. Kodachrome – Paul Simon
9. Rockstar – Nickelback
10. Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison
11. Stuck in the Middle With You – Stealer’s Wheel
12. Before He Cheats – Carrie Underwood
13. Say Hey (I Love You) – Michael Franti & Spearhead
14. I want you to want me (Live) – Cheap Trick
15. I Played Chicken With the Train – Cowboy Roy with Big ‘N Rich

Honourable Mention to the Swingers Soundtrack and anything from ELO.

There are so many more I’m sure I’m going to add to this list constantly, but I’d like to hear from others.

2010 is a point of view

It’s been 8 months, 25 days and 18 hours since my last blog post. I know, that goes against every bit of blogging etiquette, and I have no real plausible excuse. My only reason for neglecting the pleasure of writing my blog is that 2009 sucked. Yes, sucked. And to sit in front of a computer and bemoan that fact just seemed too depressing for me and anyone who happened to read it.
So instead of writing, I relied on my other great passion to get me through … music. For the last eight months I reveled in losing myself in songs. It’s amazing how easy it is to find solace in music.
We choose songs to:
Enjoy our happiness (James Brown - I Feel Good),
Lift our spirits (Walkin’ on Sunshine- Katrina & the Waves)
Get pumped up for a big game (BEP – Let’s Get It Started)
Celebrate a victory (nothing does that better than Queen’s We Are The Champions)
And, of course, to make us cry - because misery loves company, and a good song is always a welcome guest.
Songs that have helped me wallow in self-pity over the years include At Seventeen by Janis Ian (the epitome of teenage angst), Don Henley’s End of the Innocence and more recently Soulmate by Natasha Bedingfield.
Even Taylor Swift helped to numb the pain with White Horse “I’m not a princess, this ain’t a fairy tale. I’m not the one you’ll sweep off her feet.”

But 2010 is all about having a different point a view. It took a very special friend to remind me that music and songs play a role in every part of our lives and nothing warms your heart or gives you goose bumps like a song that seemed to be written specifically for you.

That revelation has reopened my eyes to this optimistic point of view. I’ve evolved from Nickelback’s “Gotta Be Somebody” to “Never Gonna Be Alone”.

Like Monty Python would say Always Look on the Bright Side of Life
“If life seems jolly rotten
There's something you've forgotten
and that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing.
When you're feeling in the dumps
don’t be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle - that's the thing.
And...Always look on the bright side of life.

Lyrics just don’t get any better than that!

The Dance

I think the worst feeling, is being forgotten about by someone you will never forget. But is it really that bad? You’ll never forget him/her for a reason. For stolen moments that will make you smile once the hurt finally begins to wane. I guess that’s why when I feel like this, I listen to the Dance by Garth Brooks, and hope to put things in perspective.
Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared 'neath the stars above
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance
Many people miss out on the glorious and most fun parts of life because they dwell on the fear of getting hurt. Don’t you think it’s much better to take chances in life and make mistakes so you can better enjoy the good things? If I could look back and pick what I would change, I might change some of the choices that I've made. But I'm glad that I can't do that because I wouldn't experience the fun that so often gets lost, when we look back on sad memories. It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. Right?
garth brooks - the dance

People that make a difference

This is a short blog, but I just had to write it before I get "too busy". Over the past weeks I've been marking assignments from all my students, and one assignment that's taken the longest was for social media. Each student had to make a blog and update it regularly. Over the past months I have learned so much from each of these people, who under the guise of a blog, let their true selves come through, knowing their was a safety net of trust. I will probably at one time or another talk about many of their blogs, but there's one I just keep going back to. My student, my friend, Kymmer wrote her blog on being confused about being confused. And although she was addressing fellow students that are in the same boat as her, ready to embark on their careers, I found her postings inspirational. My doubts, and worries, about the future and life .. they are not just me - or my generation but they're everywhere. And you know what that's okay... Just as long as you keep your focus on the positive. Kymmer - please don't stop writing your blog. You've made a difference. Here's one video added to here blog, that I've seen before, but when you are confused about life in general - it's good to watch again.

The Curse of Bad Karma

"I know the world isn't fair, but why isn't it ever unfair in my favor?” Bill Watterson

Have you ever felt like you were jinxed? That just when you thing nothing else can possibly go wrong, it does? Welcome to my world – Linda 2009. After four appliances, a car, cell phone and computer all broke in the span of two weeks, I started looking into Karma and how I can possibly change mine for the better. Soon, like I always seem to do in this blog – I got sidetracked. I ended up researching so-called movie jinxes, and realized, hey maybe my luck isn’t so bad after all. So in the “You think you’re having a bad day” category, here are a few famous movie curses.
Did you know that the entire starring cast of Rebel Without a Cause (1955) died young?

James Dean was only 24 when he died in a car crash (soon after receiving a speeding ticket). Sal Mineo was knifed to death in the driveway behind his Los Angeles apartment at the age of 37. Nick Adams (36) died of a drug overdose. And Natalie Wood, who was known to be terrified of drowning, mysteriously drowned at 43 years of age.
Next, the curse of The Conqueror. Okay, the premise of this 1956 Howard Hughes movie was bad enough - a film about Genghis Khan starring John Wayne. But who had the bright idea to film it shoot downwind from a nuclear testing site in New Mexico? For 13 weeks the actors are crew were exposed to nuclear fallout while filming in Snow Canyon, downwind from the Yucca Flats were the US Army tested 11 atomic bombs. The rest of the movie was filmed in Hollywood, but Howard Hughes (in an attempt to duplicate the movie’s Mongolian setting) shipped 60 tons of nuclear contaminated dirt back to Hollywood.
Over the next few years, 91 of the 220 crew members developed cancer, 46 died including John Wayne, Susan Hayward and the director. Pedro Armendariz, another star, committed suicide when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
The infamous Poltergeist curse stems from the fact that four cast members died in a span of six years, between the release of the first film and the third. (1982-1988)
In 1982 Dominique Dunne, who played the oldest sister Dana, in the first movie was choked to death by her boyfriend. She was only 22. Julian Beck, who played Kane in Poltergeist II, died of stomach cancer 3 years later. The Medicine Man in Poltergeist II, Will Sampson, died in 1987. Then a year later, Heather O’Rourke, the little girl who played Carol Anne in all three Poltergeist movies, died of acute bowel obstruction at the age of 12.
Now to give this curse even more substance consider the fact that the house in California that was used for exterior shots was destroyed in the 1994 Earthquake. And finally, JoBeth Williams, who played the mother, claims she returned home from the set each day to find pictures on her wall askew. She would straighten them, only to find them crooked again the next day.
During the production of The Omen (1976), the crew members and set were plagued with a series of creepy incidents. Thanks to Wikipedia for this list below of things that happened during the filming of this movie.
• Scriptwriter David Seltzer's plane was struck by lightning.
• Gregory Peck, in a separate incident, had his plane struck by lightning.
• Richard Donner's hotel was bombed by the Provisional IRA.
• Gregory Peck canceled his reservation on a flight. The plane he had originally chartered crashed, killing all on board!
• A warden at the safari park used in the "crazy baboon" scene was attacked and killed by a lion the day after the crew left.
• Rottweilers hired for the film attacked their trainers.
• On the first day of shooting, the principal members of the crew got in a head-on car crash.
No wonder that movie scared the crap out of me.
And finally, this “curse” has always fascinated me. If you have never seen the movie, Rosemary’s Baby (1968) you should, just the premise alone makes you wonder about the reality of mysterious forces.
But it’s the eerie parallels that make this Roman Polanski movie worthy of this post. The movie is about a pregnant wife whose baby is sacrificed to the Devil. Less than a year after the movie wrapped, Charles Manson murdered Polanski's pregnant wife Sharon Tate. The Manson family called the death spree “Helter Skelter” after a Beatles song.
And then, in December of 1980 John Lennon was killed outside his New York apartment building, The Dakota ….where Rosemary's Baby was filmed. I don’t know about you, but I’m hearing the theme from Twilight Zone right now.

If I could turn back time...

I never thought I’d say this but, I really like a new CBC show. “Being Erica” is about a 30-something woman who feels that her mediocre life is caused by all the bad decisions she’s made in the past. Now she has the opportunity to go back in time, fix her mistakes and, hopefully, change her life. Sure, every week there’s a life lesson for Erica, but the idea of going back in time is what inspired this posting.
What would I do if I could go back in time? To be fair, I have to take the “invest in Google” or “bet on the BoSox” etcetera ideals out of the picture, and focus on the decisions that I made. To be honestly I’d probably still make a lot of the same mistakes over again, after all, it’s those goof ups that made me what am today. Good or bad, I believe this is the person I want to be. But what WOULD I do if I could turn back time?
I WOULD:
 Take a ton of pictures! I’d take photos of places and things that have changed over the years: the nursery fields that I played hide ‘n seek in, the old barn we climbed through a dozen times, my old games I played, downtown Fonthill, Diana Sweets, Warren Knit, the buildings they’ve torn down and all the landmarks that are now gone . Every once in awhile I find myself digging through the St. Catharines library archives searching for old photos.
 Spend more time playing cards with my grandpa. I never thought I’d miss him as much as I still do.
 Say thank you to the teachers that made such a difference in my life. I now know how much that means to a teacher.
 Never have given away my hockey cards. Yes, I had hockey cards.
 Hang on to my games Green Ghost and Mystery Date – they just don’t make games like that any more.
 Have watched the entire Rocky Horror Picture Show at the drive-in; instead of spending so much time with my friends doing what teenagers do at a drive-in.
 Go to school longer. I was so anxious to make my “mark on the world” I just wanted to start working. What was I thinking? I should have stayed in school, all the way to a PHD. It’s a lot harder to do when you haven’t been in school for … a long time.
 NOT have drunk so many gin and tonics at my brother’s wedding.
 NEVER have played baseball on the same team as my sister. Big mistake.
 Have kept a journal during the Blizzard of ’77.
 Slid into second in the Nationals semi-finals face first, saved me a lot of rehab.
 Paid more attention in Mrs. Love’s Home Ec class (maybe I’d be able to make a supper now without the smoke detector going off.)
 No matter how much convincing it would have taken, I’d insist my Grade 9 boyfriend didn’t get in the truck after the dance that autumn evening. Maybe he would still been alive today.
 Have kept all my concert ticket stubs.
 Take a year off to travel through Europe, when I was young and had no kids. Now it’s just a dream.
 I totally would have kept my old “Apollo” stereo, it was so cool, at least I thought it was. I still don’t know whatever happened to it.
 Been friendlier to all the geeks in high school, for they now rule the world.
 Saved all the crazy stories I used to write, back when I loved to write all the time.
 Most importantly, I would NEVER have bought my son an Xbox.
That’s a start – one more thing I would do if I could turn back time, and I still kick myself for not doing – that’s recording all the family stories my grandparents told and written them in a book. To quote Roots author Alex Haley, “when an old person dies, it’s like a library burned down.”

Stopping Time

Last week I asked my students –“if you had the choice, would you rather have more money or more time?” Time was the unanimous answer. The question didn’t come out of the blue but it was a reality that had been gnawing away at me for some time. I’d like to say I’d pick money, you know live each day like it was your last, live it up... but honestly, I’d pick time.


Twilight Zone looked at this opportunity once in an episode entitled “A Kind of Stopwatch”.
I don’t remember the whole story, except some guy gets a stopwatch that can actually freeze time, everyone and everything stops, except for the holder of the watch... Imagine that, stopping time to get all your homework, or your housework done, to get to the place you’re going to without rushing. In this episode, the guy uses it to rob banks. Stops time, grabs the money and runs. During one robbery – the watch shatters. And the world is frozen in time, except for our guy – who now has all the money he ever wanted, but no one to spend time with.
“Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey. It reminds us to cherish each moment, because it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.” Patrick Stewart in the film "Star Trek: Generations"
My next posting … what I would do if I could turn back time?