stream of almost consciousness

[the_siobhan]

Grumpy today. Probably because I'm underslept.

I also have another one of those trippy middle-ear infections that makes me dizzy all the time. Not enough to tip me over, but I get disoriented and wobbly really easily. I went to the movies[1] last night with bcholmes, and although the movement on the screen didn't bother me in the slightest, walking through the lobby with the enormous flashing lights and tilted displays definitely threw me right off. I kept discovering I'd suddenly changed direction without realizing it, which is kind of disconcerting.

We walked home through one of the busiest club districts in Toronto at midnight, weaving our way through crowds of clubbers jamming up the sidewalks. Then I was up at dawn this morning riding a streetcar through the same streets. Quite the contrast. There are only a few people out that early, mostly city workers and homeless people and a few who are just getting out of the boozecans. I played "name what that person's coming down from" all the way to the subway.

It was even too early for the Walk Of Shame.

You can really see how much trash accumulates on the streets overnight. Toronto used to have this reputation as a clean city. There is an apocryphal story of a film crew trying to recreate a New York neighbourhood with trash strewn all around the set, and when they came back from their meal break the city had cleaned it all up. Ha. Not any more. Toronto smells like gasoline and rotting food. Even after the street cleaners do come by there are so many cigarette butts they still pile up in the gutters in tiny white drifts. I keep myself awake by counting them while I'm waiting for the bus.

You know, I've always wondered about that. Do cigarette packs have liner notes that say, "Throw On Ground"? I have no fewer than six ashtrays in my yard whenever I have a party, and I still spend a week afterward picking butts out of my yard. I have watched people walk past the ashtrays on my porch to toss their cigarette in the street, and when I point at the receptacle they just wave vaguely and say, "It's OK." Um. In what universe? It seems to be universal smoker behaviour and it includes people who would never throw say, an empty pop can in the street. I honestly can't fathom it.

Maybe it's just been normalized that nobody thinks about it. I remember when the government decided to boot all the psychiatric patients out of the hospitals in order to "integrate them back into the communities". Except that the communities had no facilities for them. I went from seeing a homeless person maybe once every other week to seeing dozens in a day. I remember walking through the grounds around City Hall and seeing hundreds of people sleeping on the grills that vent warm air up from the underground parking. At the time I was horrified. Hell, I'm still horrified. Most people I know don't remember it as having ever been any different.

Yeah, definitely grumpy today.

Or maybe just discouraged.

[1]Stardust. Highly recommend it.

Comments

[empressjad.livejournal.com]

I got the Convergence tshirts...thanks so much! I really appreciate it, as I thought my chance of getting one at this very late date was slim to none.
Is there something I can send you in return as a thank you?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

At some point in our lives we'll end up in the same pub and you can spot me a pint.

Glad to be of service. :-)

[empressjad.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! As a matter of fact, I might be headed up to Toronto again fairly soon, as a friend of mine just became a Buddhist, and we were at the temple there when she took her vows. She really wants to go back.
I'll definitely get in touch if that happens, and we can hook up for a few cocktails!
Thanks again.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Rawk. Definitely let me know.

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Walk of shame ... that's when you walk home in your party clothes because you got lucky the night before, right?

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

That's the one.

With your makeup smeared and your panties in your purse. :-)

[hobbitbabe.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, it's been far too long.

[rbowspryte.livejournal.com]

There is a front page article this month in Maclean's talking endlessly about the "party culture" and what it's doing to society, cities, streets, culture and Gen Y as a whole.

It's interesting when we have a cultural and demographic boom based on the endless and mindless fun of youth.

Not that I'm not up for little mindless fun myself and often!

Just interesting is all I'm sayin'.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, our cultural obsession with FUNFUNFUN is getting more than a little off-putting. I mean yeah, everybody likes to have some fun but don't you have anything else? The trouble with endless and mindless fun is that it gets really boring after a while.

On the other hand, the good thing about endless and mindless fun is that it gets really boring after a while. And one is then more likely to go on to pursuits that put more meat in one's sense of fulfillment.

[lilactime.livejournal.com]

Re: the cigarette thing. Speaking for myself only from when I was a smoker - I think there's a general if untested consensus that cigarette butts are biodegradable, thus, like apple cores, it's okay to toss them on the ground.

I don't know how that applies to the floors of nightclubs, and I've been guilty of that one too, but biodegradable is the outside excuse.

[betonica.livejournal.com]

In point of fact, they have a lot of toxins in them. I think one butt will badly pollute several gallons of water, but I'm just guessing on that one. We have a campaign going on my campus to get the butts into the cans instead of onto the ground, but I don't know how much good it's going to do. Classes start up this week, so maybe we'll be able to tell.

[sheepthief.livejournal.com]

Yep, although from what I recall they're actually not biodegrable at all and are in fact rather hardy - still, best to leave something for future civilisations / aliens to excavate and ponder over.

I think the thing is that they're small. Also, it's perhaps preferable to stamp one out in the street to be sure that it's not going to set fire to something - I used to prefer to not chuck the things in trash cans.

Ha, I've just remembered being out for a drive when the smoker in the car in front chucked her fag out of the window but it didn't make it outside. Unfortunately she was a horsey type and had bales of hay in the back of the car. The consequences were soemwhat inevitable.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

It might not be so bad except that most commercial cigarettes are filtered - and those are mostly made out of fibreglass. Things are built out of fibreglass when you want them to last for a damn long time.

One of the things that interesting about this (now that I'm thinking about it) is that I often see cigar smokers putting out a cigar and tucking the unsmoked portion back into a pocket or package. Cigarettes, otoh, have tons of ingredients (like saltpeter) specifically added to prevent them from going out easily.

on your hay story

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I've known a number of bikers who have gotten a lit cigarette trapped inside a jacket or helmet because of a car driver who flicked their butt out a window.

That story generally doesn't end well for somebody. Who depends upon the skill and aplomb of the biker.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Really? The toxicity of cigarette filters is just another one of those things that I assume Everybody Knows. Mind you my perception of what constitutes common knowledge has proven to be outrageously unreliable over the years.

Nightclubs at least somebody sweeps them up and they go into the garbage. (Landfill) Outside, they go straight into the lake and our drinking water.

[frogmistress.livejournal.com]

There you go assuming that people actually THINK about the consequences of their actions. I'm sure some would realize how toxic butts are, if they actually bothered to think about it.

But, they don't want to think about it, because that would mean they would have to change their behavior and that would take effort and it is much easier to just not think about it at all.

Humans are amazing at what they can block out to keep themselves happy.

on second thought...

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I recently saw a conversation on toronto where many of the female participants were of the opinion that tampons are "flushable".

So that's proof right there that my perceptions of Common Knowledge bears no relation to reality at all.

Re: on second thought...

[panic-girl.livejournal.com]

They are.

Re: on second thought...

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

You know, when I think about it, it's probably a marketing thing. Tampon manufacturers put "flushable" on the boxes because it makes women more likely to choose them over pads, which you know you have to drop in the trash.

But think about it. If they actually break down in liquid, how good could it possibly be at performing it's intended function? It would be leaving little bits of itself behind every time you used one.

Re: on second thought...

[panic-girl.livejournal.com]

If they weren't break-down-able, then why would we be allowed to green bin 'em?

Re: on second thought...

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

You can also green bin the grease left over from cooking meat. I wouldn't suggest dumping that down your drains.

Re: on second thought...

[panic-girl.livejournal.com]

It's probably not so good to put in one's vagina either.

Re: on second thought...

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Words to live by.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

I hardly ever see cigarette butts around me. I don't know if that's because there are very few smokers around here, or if they're all really well-behaved, but there you go.

I don't think I realised until you pointed it out.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Do you get more rain? Or maybe better trash bins.

We have there new really kinda nasty trash bins in Toronto that feature massive amounts of advertising so nobody likes them. The good thing about them is that they actually have a slot for butts, which our regular old bins don't have.

[meetzemonsta.livejournal.com]

It seems to be universal smoker behaviour and it includes people who would never throw say, an empty pop can in the street.

I'm a fairly hardcore smoker and I carry around a little portable ashtray I received from Marlboro in my bag wherever I go.

It's just politeness to not throw them on the ground, the way I see it.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

That's pretty cool. How easily available are they? I've never seen one and they would definitely solve a lot of the problem.