The Brothers Manning

Tonight, Peyton the elder and his Indianapolis Colts are pitted against Eli the younger and his New York Giants in what is being called Manning Bowl II.

The Brothers Manning always attract a lot of hype. They come from football royalty, both are professional quarterbacks, each sports a Super Bowl ring, Peyton has four MVPs to Eli's one. And, both have appeared in my dreams!

Yes, that's right. Last December while vacationing in Costa Rica I had a dream that Peyton and Eli needed a place to stay and until I came along and offered them lodging in my villa!

I had come back to my villa (the villa in my dreams, I wasn't actually staying in a villa!) and found the Brothers Manning sleeping on lounge chairs around the pool. Apparently, there were no rooms available anywhere in the area and the boys decided to camp out by the pool.

I think I was harbouring impure thoughts about Eli. But I digress ... we're both married and nothing good could ever come of it, sorry Eli.

So, like any football fan, whether hardcore or not, I'm going to weigh in on tonight's sibling rivalry match-up. Although the odds makers and sports prophets are choosing the Colts - some citing a need to overcome their loss to Houston last week - I'm choosing Eli and the Giants. It won't be easy, but I think they can pull it off.

Why? You might be asking?

Look at this US government photo taken of Eli. The presidential seal appears over Eli's head like a halo.  I think it's a sign. Perhaps it has something to do with a divine ability to throw a football. Maybe it says something about Eli's fans - football players are always thanking god, Jesus and their fans.

Either way, Eli is cute and I think it's a good sign. Go Giants!!

Mittengate

 It seems my friend Laura is still reading my blog! She asked me to share the following post ...

I'm still here!

I also spend a lot of time in my head, only to be "jolted" back to reality
by stark images such as the photo Kelly shared, human oddities (in
particular, subway behaviour) and the occasional request for directions.

Here is one such story.

One day while at work I went to the bathroom. I opened the stall only to see
a pair of mittens (see attached picture). I'm sure you could imagine my
shock. And the questions...why were there two mittens, one floating in the
toilet, one on the floor? How did they get there? Was it done on purpose?
Was it some kind of statement? Did one fall out a coat pocket into the
toilet during an attempt to use the washroom without removing the coat? Was
the fact that one ended up in the toilet the reason why both were abandoned?
Surely the one of the floor could be easily picked up.

I went back to my desk and sent an email to the entire office. I attached
the picture and requested that the owner of these mittens retrieve them,
after all, the mittens had been kind throughout the winter, doing their job,
protecting the hands of the owner from the cold Canadian climate. No
response but the mittens did disappear by day's end.

I received some responses appreciating my efforts. I never found out
anything more. This incident, henceforth known as "mitten gate", and their
owner was never discussed or identified.

-- Laura

The Everyday Redux

A while ago I received an email from my friend Laura. During our communication she mentioned she was following my blog. (Yeah !! A follower!)

At the time I realized two things that still hold today. The first, that I haven't been keeping up with my blog and second, that I have been living in my head again!

Again, I find myself going back-and-forth, to-and-fro without a thought to what I was actually doing.

My everyday existence has become overwhelmed by the crowd of internal gibberish.  Not a meaningful thought in the entire morass that has been the activity of my mind. I've been moving through the everyday without a seeing a thing, even though there is much to see.

This experience has reminded me of a photograph I took - the one you see here. I recall when I took this, where and why. It was in the summer of 2004, along a stretch of College St, between University Ave and McCaul St.

I was marching along in my usual manner, thinking about work, anticipating what was going to happen, planning for these imagined events and then inventing contingencies, in case things didn't go as I planned. It wasn't that anything pressing was going on that day, this was (and still is) just my mind in action.

I continued to walk along College St, my body in one place, my mind already at my destination - when suddenly out of nowhere this mass of rusty staples and bits of paper attached to a hydro pole jumped out at me.

Of all the times I walked that route, this was the first time I noticed the pattern, texture and colour that comprised this small space on the hydro pole.

In that moment I realized how often I overlook the awesome details of everyday life because I am consumed by my own mental activity.

If there is one thing this blog reveals, by virtue of the infrequent posts, is that I'm still being managed by discursive thinking and not available to appreciate the everyday.