Ladies - PLEASE DON'T bite my head off!!!

DISCLAIMER:

This post is an OBSERVATION......NOT a put down!!!! I am the first to walk in any demonstration for equality of the sexes - as long as its about EQUALITY!!! I truly believe in women's rights, though I am a little fed up with the fact that now I HAVE to go on the barricades to get even the simplest rights myself (such as equal parenting rights!!).

Actually, why is it that in our society the mother gets automatic "caregiver" of a child/children when parents separate? Don't I as a man have equal rights???

Anyway - I am writing about an observation I made that really bothers me.

In British Columbia, a law was introduced, that starting this May 2010, cell phones are no longer allowed to be used in cars, UNLESS you have a blue tooth or another hand-less setup.

This Law came into being because a study suggested that 95% of accidents are caused by cell phone use while driving.

I believe this law to be LONG overdue. It is seriously dangerous to drive while talking or texting. TOO many times have we read in the paper or heard on the news about this person dying or that person maimed because some idiot was not concentrating on driving!!!

NOW - I am not a hypocrite. I have also been guilty of texting while driving. I have on occasion checked email on my Iphone while driving a little faster than usual (OK - i admit i am a speeder). Yet, I am making a conscious effort NOT to do all these things. I NEVER talk on the phone while driving unless I have my blue tooth in my ear!!!

And here we come to my observation that will get me into hot waters with all female activists. OH WELL. So be it!!

Of all the people I still see NOT using blue tooth (and there is LOTS!), 95% are women!! Can someone tell me why it is so difficult for women to comprehend this LAW that is in effect since May AND is being promoted everywhere?

Women already have a reputation (albeit in many instances unjust) as BAD drivers! Talking on the phone while driving gives that reputation THAT much more credibility!!! I am sorry but it's true!!!! On more occasions than I can recall I have had a lot of bad words to say about a woman that was driving erratically because she was just to dumb to realize what she was doing.

I am 100% certain and aware that there are many men who are guilty of the same dumbness, but my observations found way more women guilty.

Anyway...as I said...just an observation. But one that scares me for my daughter and her kids, my life and that of my friends and family. One stupid person not watching the road can change a family's life in seconds!!!

You think Drunk Drivers are dangerous?? Try a person chatting on the phone!!!!

ADD and life with a disorder!!

I have been diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficiency Disorder).

I have always wondered how someone so intelligent (no its true..my IQ is very high!! LOL) has so much trouble with the basic functions of life. I have bad memory, I am very impulsive, I am constantly fatigued, I cant sit still, get easily bored and cant listen to a conversation without interrupting. Those are prime ADD symptoms.

I sort of diagnosed myself initially. After I was laid off I decided to attend a self-employment program through E.I. and was apprehensive about going back to "school". So I looked back at my life and realized something isn't right.

I grew up in Germany and the German school system is tough. I MEAN TOUGH!!

I remember having at least 10 different prime subjects per high school year (such as Math, Latin, German, Physics, Chemistry, French etc), and than some electives (such as Music, Social Studies and Economics).

I was always interested in certain subjects and did extremely well in those. Especially History, Economics, PhyEd, Geography, English, any social studies really, even Biology I excelled in.

But I couldn't get a D (!) in Math if I'd study for 1 week without sleep. I couldn't get a D (!) in Latin if I had been born with the language. And there were many more. I struggled to pass my years from the moment I hit Grade 2 really. Looking back I think I was just bored with school in Germany. It's rigid! I mean "concentration camp" rigid!!!! I am NOT joking here!!!

Back in my days you were still slapped in the kisser or pulled up by your ears if you did something the teacher didn't appreciate (like reading comics under the table..lol).

I rebelled against that rigidness. And I paid for it dearly. I was expelled. After sitting out 2 years in business school where I again struggled mightily, my dad arranged for me to go to Berlin and enter an apprenticeship program.

I did extremely well at the practical part for the apprenticeship but failed miserably at the theoretical part. School again. Only the effort of a family friend, whom I love like a father, helped me pass.

I than moved to Canada.

Instinctively I have learned to live with the disorder, and now - in my 44th year of living - I am finally at peace knowing that all my struggles in life did not come from being an idiot savant but by suffering from a disorder that in the days of my childhood was barely known never mind diagnosed.

Treatment has started and with GODs will and some luck I will be fine. I don't think I will ever be healed. But I will live with my disorder and embrace it as part of who I am!

And I think I am pretty darn awesome!!!! (lol)

Finding Time to write - or the lack of, really!!!

DEAR BLOG,

I have been neglecting you while writing my daughters. That is wrong. For the 3 people that look at my ranting (you know who you are) but also for me and of course for you, my faithful companion for a few years now.

Writing and my photography have always been the 2 most prominent stress relievers of my life. More the photography really but I still love writing. So maybe, just maybe I remember that you exist, at least once in a while :-0

OK - I just had a "Secrets of the YA-YA sisterhood" moment and have to admit I like it. As I said, I like writing and miss it. But life come in between what you love and what needs doing and what you love must take a step back.

Over the last 9 months or so since last I wrote anything substantial my life has turned upsy-turvy in a way I would never have thought possible. I separated from my wife, lost my job, decided to go the self-employment/entrepreneur route, met someone I "kinda like a lot" **wink**", and rediscovered my love for life.

So here we go, a new start in my blogger life. I will try and write one entry a week at least. Lets see where that leads us!!!!

Shalom