Fitness and fines (and fleeting)
I have a bad habit of forgetting to update my blog. Thus this post has two stories. Then again, maybe the change will do me some good. After all, I can’t seem to maintain a consistent pace, so why not attempt something new in 2012? Although, what are the odds that I attempt the new system for a few months and then fall back off the wagon.
Which is why I decided to look into why we find it so hard to maintain new habits.
I’m probably going to pay for having even introduced this idea… in added neurotic thinking.
Speaking of paying, how bout dem proposed parking fines at rush hour?
When I first heard the idea, I thought to myself… why not make the tickets a thousand dollars?
Make the cost so ridiculously high that people have to obey the laws and not slow everyone down because they want to grab a coffee at a Starbucks on Yonge Street while thousands of innocent drivers sit idly chewing their nails and pulling their hair out and swearing out the window and honking their horns, all the while their phone is beeping with annoying texts and the radio is crackling and it’s hot as hell out and the air conditioning is broken and… whoops… sorry got a little carried away.
How bout just listening to what I learned about our relationship to parking fines.
I need to clear my head now. Yoga time.
(I don’t do yoga, but have always wanted to say that in order to sound enlightened.)
Year’s to you!
I’m not a new year’s resolution guy. Mostly because my thinking is too fluid to hold myself to one new task in an unwavering manner.
My new year is actually in September. End of summer. Work is back in full swing. And it’s my birthday. Even then, I still don’t make resolutions.
The one resolution I WILL hold myself to year in and year out, is to do a better job of telling your stories.
Here are some of my 2011 faves.
Feeling spent
There are few disconnects as big as Christmas, in my humble opinion. We are told it’s a time for people to gather and celebrate each other… as long as you buy everyone something.
But for the majority of people, money is tight, and the pressure to spend can be overwhelming.
Commuter hell-th
I’m glad I’m not this guy. I’ve been that guy (minus the Yankees cap, handlebar stache and protruding gut… but humour me will ya,) and it isn’t fun.
The last thing you want to do when you return from a hellish commute is make dinner or hit the gym. But this is exactly why commuting is a massive health risk.
I spoke with a guy who has studied those health risks and outlined his findings on Metro Morning.
Here’s a link to his research paper.
And here are some of your responses and a follow-up interview about time management.
Now I’m going to put on my Blue Jays cap and make sure I sit upright on the subway.
Sticking my nose into congestion
Commuting sucks. As in, sucks your life away. I have no other way to describe it.
I am fortunate to live and work downtown… though it is a choice. I choose not to have a car, not to buy “stuff” and I don’t take expensive trips. I am a minimalist, and the reward is not having to sit on the 401 or on the TTC for several hours a day.
Others make different choices, and as I learned in the course of tracking several commuters for Metro Morning, we all have to live with our choices. The question is: is anybody actually happy with the choices laid out in front of them?
Have a listen to parts 1 and 2 of my ride-a-longs.
And if you can’t get enough: Commuters part 3.
I hope I haven’t offended any “pro commuters” out there who think I SUCK. Then again, if you are pro-commuter, you’d make a great story, so hate away (just be sure to leave your phone number for me.)
Yours to ignore
When I was a footloose and fancy free student in Halifax over a decade ago, locals would sometimes call me an “Upper Canadian.” I, in turn, would quickly assure them that: 1) I wasn’t a fur trader and 2) did not carry a musket.
In spite of the slightly archaic term to describe people from Toronto, my Haligonian friends were inadvertently onto something important… the lack of defined provincial identity for all Ontarians.
I explained recently on Metro Morning: Yours to ignore
Speaking of muskets… this ol’ jingle used to make me wanna grab one and destroy my television:
“Chugging” along
I love learning new terms. Especially derogatory terms. Not necessarily because I have any interest in using them, but more so because they can give great insight into the way people think and feel.
Yesterday, while I was on the air presenting my latest piece about why face-to-face charity canvassing works so well, a listener wrote in and told us about the term “chugger.” It’s British and stands for “charity mugger.”
There is so much disdain in Britain for the practice, that it’s been restricted in Manchester.
But why? Is it about the practice itself of accosting people on the street for donations? Or is it more about the feelings it elicits about ourselves and our own charitable contributions?
My story spawned a lot of debate and reaction. Here’s what happened.
Meanwhile, now that I am comfortable and familiar with my “derogatory term of the day,” I’ll move on to another. I’d like an explanation for the term douche to describe a bastard of a dude.
Horns of a dilemma
I can’t stand the sound of a car horn. It grates on my nerves like listening to Gilbert Gottfried in an echo chamber.
Needless to say, I am in favour of banning honking altogether (as posted in this picture from Manhattan, yet another reason why I am a New Yorker in spirit.)
I have no expectation of legislation like that coming to Toronto, but I do expect people to think a little before slamming hand to horn. That’s why I explored the politics of honking on Metro Morning.
Now, time to go and burn my copy of Problem Child.
Eat, pray, puke
A confession: I love eating crap.
That isn’t to say I eat it constantly, or that I am not aware of its pitfalls. But in a society where high fat, high sodium, high sugar foods are in our faces at every turn, I’m basically in a permanent state of self-discipline.
That’s why I perk up every time I hear or read about the latest extreme food concoction… like the doughnut cheeseburger at this year’s CNE.
I feel like it’s an excuse to dive in and join society in an orgiastic overindulgence.
But why? I explored on Metro Morning: Extreme food addiction
Much of the inspiration for this topic comes from a piece I watched a few years ago about the Heart Attack Grill in Arizona.
Hope I can get here someday… it’s on my list of “must do’s” in America alongside the Grand Canyon and the world’s largest potato. Got a problem with that?
Stressing solutions
I forgot (once again) to post this when it aired. It’s summer okay? I’m trying to limit my computer use.
Do you ever find yourself dealing with a cashier or a TTC driver or just about anyone who is stressed out… and it’s stressing you out?
Take note of possible solutions and explanations as heard on Metro Morning.
Face-ing ourselves
Sorry I didn’t post this earlier… I’ve been on an electronic fast while away.
What do cave people and Facebook users have in common?
Listen here as aired on Metro Morning.
About
My name is Jason Osler. I am a Toronto-based journalist with a zeal for telling humourous stories of the “every person.” My specialty is identifying and exploring social trends that reside in the subconscious.
The majority of my work airs on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning – Toronto’s #1 morning show. My theme music is “People Everyday” by Arrested Development.
This blog is a forum to divulge, discuss and dissect the moments and minutiae that shape our day to day lives.
In addition, I enjoy a good spring roll… but despise cilantro.
Yours truly,
JOpublic
