All Thumbs

Thumbs UP:

- for completing my coursework for the summer! Just one more paper to write and then some work on my thesis and writing/editing. Perhaps more time for blogging? Perhaps.

- to the hope that no classwork actually means free time and the chance to catch up on some personal reading.

- to the morning cool of a summer day. Especially when it's spent quietly with a cup of coffee. Except there's not much quiet in my house anymore....

- the smell of a good espresso bean. Every time I take my bag of beans (always Fair Trade!) out to grind them, I give them a good sniff beforehand.... I've taught Daija to do the same!

- for BBQing. A nice hickory or chipotle BBQ sauce and cooking on the grill can make anything taste good, I swear!

- to watching Daija tear fearlessly through the splash pads/water parks, loving the water so much that she can be shaking and teeth-chattering cold but she refuses to go home.

- to the garden my wife planted and the hope of fresh garden veggies at some point.

Thumbs DOWN:

- to the unfettered aggression of Israel towards the Palestinians and their territories. And to their backers, the USA and Canada, which allow them to flaunt their apartheid state with impunity.

- and to those who respond to such claims with uneducated cries of "anti-semitism". Palestinians are Semitic people too and Arabic is the most widely spoken Semitic language in the world. Get your facts straight and stop crying wolf to hide your oppression of others. Full stop.

- to still not knowing any further where my paths lead post-Masters. Sometimes wandering is not the easiest path to take...

- to the hottest May on record in Toronto. When it's too hot to go outside, it's too hot.

- to the Terrible Twos and a child who has found the joy of screaming, hitting and exercising her misguided free-will.... sounds like adolescence lite.

- to still needing to sod the back yard and to still just having a dust patch for a yard. Please hold off on the rain this week so I can get it done!