Still Smells Like Smoke

Been looking at my stats on here.
Yesterday I got over 700 views. 
That's crazy to me. 

It's not about the views. It's just been about writing. 
Like major "brain dumps." Thinking on the page.

Someone was asking about my poetry. 
He was kind of asking me to teach him. 
But I just write it on the fly. 
So I don't know how to teach that.

Been a while since I updated my poetry blog. 
Over 5 months... 

It still smells like smoke in here hahaha.
When I first smelled it, I was like:
Smells like something's burning...
Yup! Something was burning. 

At least I can still smell lol. 
If I hadn't smelt it?
Well, the smoke detector did go off.
I learned how to turn it off, though.
I use a broom to hit the "button."

I opened the windows and opened the balcony door. 
Then went for a walk around the block. 

Actually, I walked to the beach and back.
I enjoy going to the beach.
I ran into 3 skunks lol.

When I see them, I tell them "No."
They seem to understand the word.
Never been sprayed by one.

I point to them and I say:
"I see you! Please go."

The first one, he did. He just turned around
and went into the bushes.
And I did say please and thank you.
Doesn't hurt to be polite to them. 
Maybe they'll remember lol.

I say please and thank you to ChatGPT, too. 
I type to ChatGPT like an actual person. 
Nothing wrong with that.
Nothing wrong with please and thank you.
Even to skunks. 

I did that when I saw a cockroach, once.
"Made" it "aware" that I was "aware" of it.
And spoke to it like a person. 
"I see you! Go back to where you came from."
And it did! Never seen any after that.

I think it was a "scout."
If you "kill" the scout, they'll all come.
If the scout goes back to "report"
and "reports" that you didn't try to kill it, 
then they'll just not bother you.

It's a weird dynamic, but it seems to be the case.

The spiders, though...
I had a spider "nest" near the "motor" of the fridge.
Probably because it's a warm place.

Anyway, it clogged the motor up.
My old fridge was almost set to explode. 
When the guy came to finally look at it...
He asked me how long it'd been like that.
It was like 4 to 7 months...
OF WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO LOOK AT IT.
PRETTY MUCH SAID THAT I WAS LUCKY
THAT IT DIDN'T EXPLODE.

That major fire... It was a tower somewhere in the UK.
I remember it was a huge deal. 
I can't remember when it was, 
but I heard the fire could have been started by a fridge.


The old oven I used to have... It would only heat to a certain temp
AND THEN IT WOULD SHUT OFF.

I WAS WONDERING WHY IT WASN'T ACTUALLY COOKING...
AND I THOUGHT IT WAS THE FUSES.
SO I ASKED THEM TO COME LOOK AT IT, 
BUT IT WASN'T THE FUSES.

It was only heating up to a temp, then shutting off.

I can't say I do a lot of cooking or that I'm great at it.
A lot of stuff I eat, I don't have to cook it.

But, yeah, a lot of processed stuff isn't good for us.
Pretty sure a lot of the food we eat isn't great for us.


The other night, I was watching TV at my mom's.
There was something on TV about some government-funded
"program" to reduce the size of hail in Alberta.

Because the hail can be damaging, baseball-sized. 
And the hail smashes car windows etc. 

Do you know how much THAT program costs?
7 MILLION DOLLARS.

To reduce the size of hail.
Where's that money coming from?
THE CARBON TAX MONEY?
Wouldn't be surprised, honestly.

Like hail has anything to do with pollution...

And they "could" be building waterbombers...
Y'know? To fight the wild fires?

And they say that climate change is the reason for the fires.
So to "fight" the fires, they want to raise taxes?

AND THEY DON'T SAY HOW THAT AFFECTS THE PRICE OF FOOD.
AND THE GOVERNMENT LOBBYISTS FOR CERTAIN COMPANIES...
THAT HAVE A DIRECT INFLUENCE ON THE COST OF FOOD.

We have No Frills. Those are supposed to be the "discount" stores.
And they are trying a "program" where they are opening 3 stores
that are supposed to cost less than No Frills...
BUT NOT IN ANY OF THE BIG CITIES...
GEE, I WONDER WHY...


And now, they see the direct correlation about
the immigration loopholes and the fact that 
WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH HOUSING
TO ACCOMMODATE EVERYONE
AND HOW MUCH HARDER IT IS TO GET JOBS.

A LOT OF COMPANIES ARE ONLY HIRING FOREIGN WORKERS.
That's not the fault of the foreign workers, it's the companies.


It was a thing when the Hershey factory moved from
Smith Falls, to another country
because of cheaper labor there...

I went a couple of times.
You got to see how the candies were made.
And they had an awesome gift shop.
I got a jar of butterscotch ice cream "stuff."
It was "stuff" to put on ice cream. 

You could smell the chocolate a ways away.
I preferred that over how the tobacco company in Guelph smelled.
It was like walking through a pack of cigarettes.

There was a guy who let me stay with him at a motel.
The motel was near there.


Many people buy the "illegal" cigarettes called "natives."
Supposedly they are from the reserves and are sold by the "carton."
And can get a "carton" of those for $20.
The government doesn't like that.
BECAUSE THEY CAN TAX THE LEGAL ONES,
NOT THE ILLEGAL ONES.


Makes me wonder how much the government pulls in...
FROM TAXING MARIJUANA.
BECAUSE THEY DO.
AND THE LICENCES TO SELL IT AREN'T FREE.

I remember going to a "lounge" in BC with my ex.
There were booths set up where you can roll and smoke there.
Because it wasn't legal back then. 
I don't know how they were able to sell it.
We don't have anything like that, here.
Pretty much no smoking anywhere.


And they get strict about it in public areas.
Not everyone is okay with it
because it's still a "drug"
and some people don't like the way it smells.

That's kind of how I feel about chemicals. 
Like how people can "drench" themselves in cologne.
IT'S F*CKING CHEMICALS
THAT NOT ONLY ARE YOU SPRAYING YOURSELF WITH, 
BUT YOU'RE SPRAYING IT INTO THE AIR
AND INHALING IT.
CAN'T BE GOOD FOR YA. JUST SAYING. 

I'd rather sit near someone who smells like pot.


It's funny... I took a bus out west once, and back.
It took 80 hours one way.

Anyway, we'd transferred to another bus.
Because there were 6 transfers.
If I'd missed just one, I'd be fooked...

Either someone was transporting it or smelled of it...
THE BUS DRIVER SAID SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
I FORGET WHAT HE SAID ABOUT IT,
BUT IT WAS FUNNY, TO ME.

And one guy I met on the bus...
Him and a couple of us went to go smoke one.
At one of the stops, we had to transfer at.

And another stop, I had some chocolates.
I don't know why, but I gave some to a dude.

The guy who I sat with for most of the ride back...
I kept in touch with him and he visited me.
He let me know he was in town. 
We sat in the park, talking, feeding the seagulls berries.

I was surprised how much he remembered about me.
He has a good memory.

There were times I definitely talked his ears off.
He actually told me that he had to sleep lol.


Anyway, he'd gone to work on the farms in the valleys.
Where peaches grow...

Some parts of Canada don't get as much snow as here.
In BC, it rains. A lot. 
Depends where, because some places in BC do get snow, 
but some only get rain. 

I noticed that most things are 4 times bigger there than here.
Like trees. Even the leafs, I was surprised.
Flora and fauna.


It was nice getting to see different places.
I've only ever really been here my whole life.
In this city.
Obviously, there's so much more out there.
That I might not get to see...
I guess this city's kind of like a "comfort zone."
Because I know it pretty well. 

One part of the city I don't like are the suburbs. 
I get lost over there so I typically stay away.


There are two places I think about living in the future. 
And I imagine it. I imagine myself living there. 
How it would feel to live there, etc.
How I want my place to "look."
How I will spend my "money."

How I will hire a driver and a cook etc.
I know, I know... 
BUT IN MY IMAGINATION, I DO WHAT I DO LOL.

AND MY DRIVER DRIVES A BLUE MUSTANG.

When my friend took me to see a concert, once, 
we were driving to Montreal and there was a place
only selling Mustangs...

And another place we passed...
WE HAD THE WINDOWS ROLLED UP
BUT ALL WE COULD SMELL IS SULPHUR.
I THINK THAT TOWN HAD SULPHUR MINES.

I think there are uranium mines in Saskatchewan.


Speaking of mines... I've watched some rock-hounding videos.
Where the go to mines and show you how they mine minerals.

They use a lot of water to "pressure" blast away "debris."
Then the "waste" water kind of taints the other water.
It's pretty sad.

Some of the equipment is pretty cool, though.
I saw a machine that "sifts" through stuff.
And it sifts out the "good stuff" from all the stuff.

Another video I saw, there was a diamond mine
where they get to dig through stuff to find diamonds.

It's just not as easy to find them.
And, actually, some gems are worth more than diamonds.


Someone was saying that JADE is worth quite a lot.
Imagine just walking around, hunting rocks?
AND FINDING SOMETHING VALUABLE?
JUST LAYING THERE ON THE GROUND?


Yes, I have a bit of a rock collection. 
I don't "hunt" for rocks often.

When I see them, something wants me to pick them up.


When I was a kid, a lady had a rock garden. 
I always wanted to stop there to look at the rocks. 
Sometimes I wanted to take one home with me lol. 

Maybe I should have gone to school for geology.
The videos are still neat to watch.
So many types and kinds of rocks I have never seen before. 
There's a stone called a picture stone. 

There are natural blue rocks. 
I mean, yeah, there are sapphires, but I mean other ones.
I saw a picture of red jade recently... 
I had always thought jade was greenish.
Like a deep, dark, green.
But it can be red! 

I did end up cooking something when I got back.
I cut up a yam and mashed it.
I sauteed an onion and added it.

The other day, I made rice and added sauteed onions and cucumbers.
It's just something to fill me up.

It's like the more I eat, the more I want to.
Otherwise, I don't really have much of an appetite. 

Should probably get ready to sleep, now.