Convenient Pay Plans

Banks have their methods and that's fine but when I think that a pay plan in which I am automatically charged each month is convenient, it isn't always. The most annoying thing is that the charges appear on your credit card three weeks ahead of being due. That can be scary. For persons who are on a pay schedule of every two weeks, the charge appears as a debt so that when you see it, you are shocked. Since the bank is a business that works credit cards, it tells you to call the company that is billing you to change the arrangement. One of the companies I called, was very cooperative but they said that is the way they do this arrangement for their convenience. It was a very large company.  I told them to cancel that system for me and simply bill me the charge when it is due or at least inform me the date it is due. I will pay it on time. That way, I keep my money rather than they holding my money. Someone told me "oh, what are you concerned about, you wouldn't earn that  much interest anyway - just ignore it". My peace of mind can't ignore debt. While I might not lose interest if I pay them early, they must be making tons of it using our early paid money.  I decided to stop these sorts of plans and have the companies simply inform me when they are due. I need to run my affairs closer to my own business plan. While most of the companies were cooperative with the changes I made with them, one wasn't. When I tried to contact them, they made it impossible.  I entered my usual email and password and they said it was wrong. It wasn't - I keep track of this.  I tried again this time using the "forgot the password" thing. No go. This company was charging me ten dollars a month even though I had cancelled my membership long before. I hadn't noticed because it was a small amount. It made me wonder how many other people on these small thieved amounts and how that small amount would be a big amount to profit this scamming company. I called the credit card company and the agent said to take a screen shot of any correspondence with this company or their phone number. They wouldn't let me email them, and there was no phone number unless I took another email address they gave me to learn their number. I trusted that since it had my credit card number it was okay to repeat it. Oh no. First of all, when I got the number and called the Big F company had been sold to a new owner who touted all the great benefits there would be. Discontinuing with them wasn't one. Now I was charged by the company working for them and when I phone using that number I was fiven another sales pitch for a personal security monthly plan. What? Finally, the wonderful credit card company did help me at last and while it took a very long free call to them, they fixed it for me. How do these scamming companies get away with this nonsense? It was in the US.  I hope Canada does better. And banks need to take better care of us because these companies do it through banks who side step and tell customers it's their responsibility. We put out money into banks that could not exist without us, therefore it IS their responsibilty. 

Popcorn, Disguised

 The search for fibre producing nutrition is easy. AI haters step aside for this one. AI is information that's quick, easy to get to and of the most recent facts. Wanting to find out what foods offer the most fibre, I was surprised. If you dare to use your AI  mode on the computer or (yuk) cell phone, and simply ask questions on your mind, that is, if you can tear yourself away from emails, amazon or you tube, your curiosties will be enhanced megafully. Good old fashioned popcorn offers you more than a cob of corn. Why? Because the good stuff is in the whole kernel, not the glucose sweet piece that you rip off with your teeth from a cob of it. This is not the first surprise you will find about grams of fibre that keep your gut happy. You all know privately, how important those intestines are to your daily life and this includes every human that walks upon the planet and those who don't for their reasons. Kings, prime ministers, dictators, chiefs, managers,  lords and ladies, all depend on that tangle of tubular muscles "down there" to keep us happy and healthy and productive. You know what I am saying. It is so easy to keep that area satisfied and you happy. Don't go to the shelf in the drug store or the instant prepared foods section. Head for the fresh produce spot, the inexpensive for what you get, the market farm section if possible. Fibre? It isn't all bran and oatmeal folks, think about carrots raw, almonds, bananas, lentils, and cans of good old pork and beans. Those navy beans are loaded with good stuff. Today in my handly little ceramic hot pot that never leaves the stove except for washing the ceramic part, is loaded with a can of plain tomato soup that miraculously does NOT have MSG in it (check the labels for that stuff) with some water, onions, beets, carrots, onions, peppers, slip of garlic,  small sections of cob corn, tomatoes and floating on top a frozen piece of chicken thigh to add flavour. This pot will simmer away until dinner time when I sort through to remove any chicken bone or gristle, cut off the corn kernels sadly, and whiz the whole mess up with a hand blender. My dinner with some failed French Bread with the thick crust (because I was gaming on the computer and forgot the time) cut off, to be made into bread crumbs later on and the soupiest soup on earth. Or OUT of the earth. Want to cut your food budget, forget cans and packages and stick to the veg bins. Going to farms works best, and take the kids because some of those valley farms are better than zoos and the kids will learn where their food really comes from. And the air out there is fresh. 

Maison Fantastica Cafe

 You want a special dining experience like nothing you have done before. Cafe Fantastica is your destination. It is located in an ancient building and is accessible only by limosine with previous reservation plans of course, and with the bill paid in advance. A chauffeur picks up you and your date. You arrive and are escorted to a large, ancient metal door with a huge lock. The driver silently opens it and beckons you inside. The great door clangs shut. Inside you are in a garden entrance all fragrant with herb and floral scents of the greenery draping the high walls, gently lit.  A butler appears and leads you both, into a sophisticated spa-like reception space where you are escorted separately to quarters with uniformed attendants. They dress and make each of you up in the style you applied for when you reserved. Your hair is styled and you chose your prefumes or lotion. No one speaks but gentle music of your choice, surrounds you while you are slowly made more beautiful. Later, when you see your partner, you gasp. You are reflected in the surrounding mirrors that show people who seem of extreme wealth. Your butler appears and escorts you to your table that is in a small room decorated the way that you asked for. Your table is set how you like it, with the finest elegant cutlery, china and fragrant floral arrangement you have seen only in magazines showing celebrity.  Candles, of course. On the wall, is a frame that you both face while seated, lolling in the most comfortable upholstery you have ever known. The curtain across the frame parts and there appears your designated famous chef, speaking to you using your names and making remarks about you according to what you revealed about your love of the dining world, one you have seen only on television. AI brought you here to the screen. The table decor is real but not removeable because you are here to enjoy the sensations of the world's most rare recipes being made just for you by the world's most famous chefs all, a fantasy. The chef seems to know you as a friend. You smell the truffles and breathe in the scent of fresh seafoods and elaborate desserts all the while being addressed by the chef as she or he prepares your dishes. You don't need to taste the food as you sip your mineral waters in  glasses of the finest crystal. They are real and ones you will take home as souvenirs, after your sensational dinner. Eating would seem an offence as your eyes dine and you watch and banter with the chef who has become your personal friend. You, your partner and the chef laugh together. You barely recall that you told Fantastica  what you like and don't, your family notes, your loves, opinions and experiences and AI put it all together for this, just for you. You are enveloped in the experience personally and entirely, and as you and your partner smile and laugh and sip from your glass or mug, the drinking vessel you said was your favorite, in a style you love. You find this the most exquisite experience you have ever had at table. On the way back to where you began sans the lovely costumery, you and your partner have much to speak of when you exit the limo from your Fantastica Cafe adventure, its floral bouquet from the table scenting your arms. 

AI - Self High School

If AI has all the knowledge plus more, since I hear it combines facts to come up with original ideas: clots of creativity all on its own, wouldn't it be possible to achieve a high school graduation standing in say, Grades Ten to Twelve through AI in one's very own home? Of course you would have to ask AI, how to do it,  but it would know being AI and all. This method might even deter family teen confrontations thus allowing less stress and more energy to put into education rather than fighting it out with parents over such as not attending classes, not doing homework, spending too much time with chat.  And please don't tell me, everything goes quietly and peacefully in a family with teenagers. All, without exception have it  usually over a teen wanting and needing more freedom while the parent, wisely, is reluctant to dole it out.  Teens think they know it all, but parents know they don't. It's a river needing a strong bridge, one that is built with respect and time. In the home, it would take cooperation between the parents and their youth to become an AI high school student. Much like home school it works only that way.  Some kids wouldn't want this because  their aim is , shall we call it politely, social development in being with their peers doing their peerisms.  They sit in front of a screen at home anyway as much as they can get away with. An AI high school would be a pretty strict teacher because success would depend entirely on what the student is doing personally and there wouldn't be "notes from home" or secret texting because there they'd be on a screen with a no-kidding-me teacher and marks of some kind to tell the student if there is success or not. No whining and complaining "it's the teacher's fault". What it would do, is allow the young person a less strict time schedule with maybe what's left over, some fun things while still keeping track of their learning progress. You can't fool a computer. Might even be a lesson in personal responsibility? Making it, starts with "you" kind of thing. When university comes along later, youth should have the right mind set to go further into the field they are interested in, if one at all. Perhaps having an intensely educative experience doing their own AI grad program, they might in the process, have decided what field, tech or mech program they want to enter if not academics. Just a thought, one not AI generated. 

Ear Reading

 You can't read with your ears no matter how much you love sticking a couple of buds in your ears and saying "I read that book". You didn't read it; you listened to someone else who did read it. They did it with their eyes. The simple truth is that reading isn't listening, it's having your eyes and your brain decode a bunch of letters and turn them into thoughts. Listening is hearing something from something or someone and then thinking it. The twain will never meet. I'm not being judgemental, it is a simple fact. Reading is not an easy job for many people who either have, or think they have, dyslexia. Most of the time if not diagnosed to be so, it's just plain not wanting to bother reading because it is too hard for them. And no one likes doing hard things. Reading is work.  Maybe you have never been taught to read with your eyes. It is a skill you can develop. Give yourself a little test to see if you need to up your eye reading skills.  Read a page or two while resting your hand lightly on the front of your throat. Do you feel your your throat moving slightly in a sort of silent "speaking" the words. If you are doing this, you are not reading with your eyes only. Speed reading is stopping yourself from "saying" each word as you read it. If your throat is moving while pronouncing each word silently, you are slowing down the process and there is no actual  reason for it. It just slows you down. Your brain is perfectly capable while reading words without "saying" them silently. It takes practise. If you teach yourself to read with your eyes only and not prounounce each word in your throat, you will find that it's much easier and quicker to get through a book. Lazy people don't read books, they watch the movie or listen to a recorded book. It's easier and easier is what most people like. They say they are too busy or they like doing other things while "reading" an audio book.  And that's okay, because your kind of reading is your business. If you are a student laden with having to do a great deal of reading and quickly, this method of stopping  throat reading will help you get through those long assignments that require a large number of pages. I learned to stop throat reading when doing the literature part of my university courses.  You don't need to throat read, it's a habit and one that can be unlearned. Test yourself and then try eye reading only.  Trust your eyes and your brain to do the job for you. They can. I knew one person who went to the library and searched up and down the aisles to find the thinnest books possible. He had to make a book report on a book, any book. He admitted he did this tricks and said he took the thin books, had a brief look inside to see if he was at all interested and it became his report. I wanted to tell him about eye reading, but the fact that he went to libraries and made an attempt to find a book, I was sure that eventually just by reading a lot of thin books, he would become a true reader and at last take out the fat books and become a reader, not just a listener. 

Canadianism

Immigration is often unfairly considered when it shouldn't be. We, on this planet are really citizens of the world in spite of the lines we human devise on maps. Our country, Canada, as every other country came to places that had aborigines and were welcomed at one time but since then, the world has grown hugely and we need to immigrate to find work and make a new life and that is what our world is made of. It belongs to everyone. Everyone who breathes the common air that lightly surrounds us, has the responsibilty of keeping the globe a safe and welcoming place, one that provides the essentials and personal safety for its creatures, all of them. Along with that universal responsibility, is dealing with evil. It doesn't matter where we go or what we do or how we view, there is good and bad. When those who need or want to go from one area of the political divisions we humans have drawn globally, there are restrictions that have reasons behind them to maintain the mandates of how the earth should protect its creatures and by doing it behind those lines that denote citizens of the countries marked.  The bad members of the world's population aren't stupid and they are clever enough in an evil way, of "lock picking" to pass the boundaries  meant to keep them out so that law and order is maintained and  that evil cannot pursue its harm and through its insatiable greed.  Most of their "keys"  threaten the innocent who, being without gile, have no recourse but to do as they are told and thus help criminals and their motives. They feel they must cooperate and keep secret what they should be revealing to protect not only themselves but the rest of the country they came to. They tried to escape, but it goes where they do.  The criminals run their own little worlds and all those who bend to their threats. No one is able to look into a gun and say no. Those weapons are not directed specifically, but are general so that whole families are affected. People keep their heads down, their mouths shut and pay whatever is demanded of them to keep themeselves and their people safe. Criminals are just as studious at their work as are the police forces. It is a fact; logically so, because if it were not, there would be no crime. Adding drugs to the mix, creates another huge population of victims who cannot fight against what their own personal bodies demand, thus they become weapons working for evil. It is a complicated world, and one that frustrates everyone, the good and the bad. What will win?  Who will win? Who can win?  

Home?

 When is a home, not a home? Answer: when it is a place. Why are care homes called homes? I suppose because for some, it's the only place where people care for you in a kindly way and see that all of your immediate personal and medical needs are met. It's not a place that is a true home but it is the closest to one, and thus, you grasp the move and see it positively. It is the only place other than with your own family, where you can receive "home", a place to live comfortably. You tolerate. It is acceptable and most elders don't complain no matter how they feel privately. None of we elders want to end up in a place that is ones step down from a hospital, but it's much better than trying to cope with being in our own homes or places that can't provide our needs. It is a close destiny for me now, and perhaps you,  and while we might complain, we ought to be grateful that there are such places. And hopefully we can afford the better ones. They're not all great, to be honest. What does make a true home more true. For me, it's one that has no strict schedules such as when to get up, go to meals, have a bath or shower, attend social events, etc. For me, those are choices I want to make, not someone who runs a place called "home". I would love to live in a "home"  but with a looser kind of plan. I wonder why I can't rise in the morning or go to bed at night of my time choice. One of the reasons for the scheduling in a "home", is that it's cheaper. Still, I think with some creativity, loose scheduling is possible. Why not have a cafeteria setting to which one would go and choose a meal be it breakfast, lunch or dinner at any time of  the day. Like a restaurant buffet with a broad offering. To me, meals aren't on a strict menu plan or a schedule.  I prefer choice, and what would be so difficult in making the dining room like a self-serve restaurant? Pick up a tray and choose. Of course special dining events would be lovely but most days, a choice of ordinary pleasant home meals would work. When it comes to entertainment please not children's choirs or child-like arts and crafts that fool no one into thinking it is art. If you give an art class, let art happen. Please not some kindergarthen slickery trickery paint by numbers sort of nonsense to put up with. Cynicism? No; fact. Check it out. We don't give up being adults when we grew old no matter how slowly we move or think. Movie time for me, is of my choice not a TV up front with  old movies to suffer through. We can find our own old movies on our own screens in our own rooms, perhaps with invited guests. It's not long for me until my very lovely past ninety years as a wife, mother, professional, community participant and voter.  Soon, I  will have to head to a "home". Let it be, please, one that treats me like a thinking human being no matter what my condition or mind. I require that respect for my past.  Most other elders do, too.