Running.

Why has long distance running emerged as the premier sporting activity of the modern-day well to do individual? If you were to picture a runner in your head more than likely the runner is wearing expensive pants, expensive shirt, and expensive socks made of teflon, neoprene, or some other material that sounds like it's used in advanced technological warfare. Also, what about an activity in which punishment and solitude are its primary features draws those society would consider the most succesful of our time? If we carefully examine the leisurely sporting activities of the rich of centuries past we can easily define what would attract people to said activities.

Sport hunting: Horses, guns, dogs with huge ears, and shiny boots that go up to your knee. It was man, long since freed from the burden of hunting (and gathering), returning to his origin in his spare time to act out the eternal battle of man versus beast in the much more comfortable position of being seated upon a steed and behind the barrel of a musket.

Rowing: Short shorts and even shorter hair surrounded with the sweet smell of the Ivy League wafting over the water from the shore. At a time when Britain ruled the world it was probably a good idea to participate in something so British.

Skiing: Turtlenecks, expensive equipment, and getting to say the word "chalet". So clearly this sport is awesome.

Then we come to running: With the 20th century came an exponential growth in personal wealth making activities previously reserved for the very rich available to the average citizen of the western world. Ever more people are now able to participate in whichever sporting activity they desire. Yet for what must be the first time in history, instead of upping the ante and inventing sports like yacht crash derbies or racing endangered species, the most affluent have decided to ... run. It appears as though in this aspect mankind has tried everything and has just given up on trying to entertain and fulfill ourselves with a combination of sport and technology. We are calling it quits, going back to just running around as fast, far, and long as we can.

I run myself. I am my father's son and since he runs, so must I. And come marathon time I'll be there, passing out into a wheelchair at the finish line as before. And it's going to be heaven.

Silly words for serious things.

An acquaintance participated in a recent protest in Winnipeg against Canada's participation in Afgan-eee-stan fighting the Tali-waly-ban. She perceived what I did a few years ago when I walked from Portage & Main to the Leg and vowed to never attend a protest ever again: The complete lack of focus. People have had their causes handed to them through so many channels of media that they've lost their cognitive ability to separate one from the other. So if I want to join with a group of people for the purpose of publicly voicing my opposition to a situation I don't agree with, I must acquiesce and align myself with those I would rather not. I left that cold Saturday in the winter of 2005 wondering what lesbians have to do with the US invading Iraq. Will there be lesbians in Iraq who will be dying? Is the US only sending in their finest lesbian warriors? Are lesbians even allowed to live in Iraq? Same goes for the local anarchist club. In fact the anarchists should be for an invasion: one less government laying down "rules"... man. With all the anarchy going on right now in Iraq I'm surprised all the anarchists in Winnipeg are still here instead of there. If one was into anarchy wouldn't you want to be where the anarchy is goin' on? Ditto for CUPE. What do unions have to do with the US getting their war on? I think I was once a member of CUPE when I taught computer science labs at the U of M. Sure, I went to the meetings because I got free pizza and there was a babe from my 4th year sociology course who frequently showed up, but their visible presence at a protest seemed a tidy bit presumptuous.

I think protests are necessary for the right issues and can effectively stop bad people from doing bad things, but throwing so many causes into the fray does nothing to further another one, it merely dilutes it until it has morphed into a chorus of irrelevant banter of the hippie persuasion. And nobody wants that. Trust me.

Speaking of first posts...

Since returning to Winnipeg I've been dismayed at the number of Cash Now / X-Money-X / Poor4Life loan sharks that have set up on Portage Ave to ply their wares, which in the end are primarily dearth and want. It's a 10 minute bus ride downtown and as if watching students get off at the U of W stop to begin their long day of getting their Ward Churchill on isn't chilling enough, I'm compelled to fix my gaze upon these places as they spread what could only be described as the opposite of Christmas cheer.

I recall reading a sign that said something to the effect of ...Because life doesn't wait until payday. This is supposed to bring a smile to your face: thinking perhaps of the individual who is one day away from payday and has decides to take a spontaneous trip to Vegas with his bestest of buds. Unfortunately the people who stumble into a Payday Loans on Portage Ave at 3am on a Tuesday aren't going to Vegas with college buds, they're probably trying to make their way to a Hell's Angels crack house in Garden City. And although I don't advocate property damage to make ones opinion heard (for that I would recommend a poorly colored strangly named web style log), a few choice words taped to the side of about 11 or so bricks sounds pretty good.
Haza!