So recently I was looking at my Diet Rockstar energy drink and it said "drink 1 every day as needed, do not exceed 1 can per 24 hour period".
They do that on Dosage with Pills also, take 1-2 Tylenol but do not exceed X.
I always look at that whenever I take more than the recommended Tylenol in the period of time. I always say to myself "well if they did not want me to take more than the recommended dosage, then they wouldn't have given me an entire bottle, so how can it be THAT bad”. Sure this may seem like my logic is faulty, but there is some sense to it.
Drug companies put a whole lot of trust in people. They trust that people will not be totally stupid with the amount of pills they take. They probably put a safety factor that they put on pills; I mean normally it is called the “Safety factor”, but if I was working for a drug company I would probably call it the “Let’s be stupid” factor. The factor would be there for those special people who say “I will take 2 more pills! Take that Advil and your recommended dosage!”. The factor would make the recommended dosage smaller so those risk takers would still get the thrill of “overdosing” without actually doing anything. The drug companies just keep the trust in the drug buyers that they will not take more than necessary. Good for them for thinking that.
I started thinking about this whole “trust the customer” thing, and I remembered something that was posted on someone’s facebook wall.
“New York is not a place you can go on the honor system. This isn’t Canada,” - Maurice Jenkins, union vice president for stations.
I read an article in Canadian Living a few years ago that said a similar thing. A Canadian was telling her American friend about how we give a “thank you” wave when are driving and we let someone go first, or let a pedestrian pass, or when we let someone into traffic. The American said “You let people into traffic?”
Interesting… We all know that Canadians are known for being friendly, but you never realize that little things like the ‘friendly thank-you wave while driving’ is a Canadian thing.
That’s when I starting thinking further: why are us Canadians like this?
The only logical explanation I could think of was, drum roll please, it must be engraved in our history. History will tell me why Canadians and Americans are the way they are!
Here are some Canadian historic facts: Canada’s Confederation was in 1867. However we were still under British influence. In 1982, the Canadian constitution was passed where the British parliament passed an act that ended all remaining dependence of Canada to the UK.
How about the USA’s historic facts: Their Independence Day was July 4th 1776. It is their Independence Day aka they removed all British influence on that day.
Huh. Well that is interesting: the United States had independence 200 years before Canada.
The USA fought with England in order to hold their land. The Spanish and French and English that settled there got tired of being under UK control so they rebelled; started wars and eventually got their independence.
From then on, the USA had wars between land within the country between each other, not British government.
Not as much drama in Canada. There was one time that Canada did fight the USA when they tried to invade Quebec, and we won! So the lesson learned there is we will protect our country from rebels. Good for us. There is just one thing: we never really pushed back on the British.
It is almost like the Ambitious, rebellious, ‘motivated to reach outrageous goals’ settlers went to the United states and the laid back, ok with how things are, push over’s to the British government settled in Canada.
So for 200 more years after the United States declared independence, we were under British Control, not really having the last say in things, not being truly independent. In the meantime, the US has been flourishing, and making their own laws.
Hell, we have still not been able to kick Queen Elizabeth off of our coins yet! This alone shows how we just let British influence affect our lives now. Sure some of our bills have past Prime Ministers, but the queen still dominates as the main figure on our money. Why? Has she actually been that influential? Debatable. The USA have their Presidents on coins. Figures that have been residence of the United States and have made impact in History. We have a queen who sometimes visits. Even though I have only been alive for 24 years, it seems like not much has been done to get rid of this whole queen on the coins thing. What happens when she dies? Is she worth keeping on as a historical figure? Will Prince Charles be on our coins now? Because I am almost certain he will not make decisions for us. Why not Trudeau on our coins? He was influential in our history!
But I have gotten off topic. Nice Canadians. Right.
Personally I think History has said a lot. Canadians were content with the status quo and never really fought the British to get complete independence. “no no no keep the queen on the coin, she may get upset if we take her off it and replace it with John A McDonald”. Lame. The US was totally different. No wonder they are considered to be a mega power; they always have been.
Well, is there a way to turn this around? I mean people can change right? Well the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics did not display Canada as a power that the US should be concerned about.
Maybe we have just dug a hole too big for us to climb out of. Trying to convince an entire world that Canadians are bad ass seems a little unrealistic.
But we may as well start somewhere. Next time someone lets you into traffic, give them the finger instead. Next time a American asks if you live in igloos in Canada, say Fuck you! And Next time that Advil bottle says only take 10 pills in a 24hr period, take the whole bottle!
Common Canada! You with me!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Maturity
So I do not know why I have no blogged on maturity yet, seems so natural since I think about it on a daily basis.
Not on my level of maturity, but on how it has made my views change throughout my life. Some more prominent things that come to mind are Food and clothing choices. I remember those days where I thought stuffing was “gross”. Then one day, I realize, man I really like that! Or the day where I realized that bran flakes, even though they are not covered in sugar and don’t have higher marshmallow to cereal ratio, are delicious!
Now lets look at the next change that maturity brings with it: clothing choices. This whole blog idea started from what I saw on the subway: Catholic High school girls who rolled their kilts so high their bums are pretty much showing. I remembered also in the winter when I saw high school kids in the winter time wearing no coat, no gloves, no hat, and you saw them shivering. Why? Cause it is not cool to wear these things? It is not cool to be warm? While I am in 7 layers, 2 pairs of gloves and a hat, I look at them and I remember those days. The days where you would not wear any of those things, for 2 reasons: you parents told you to, and it was just not “cool”. Thank goodness we all get over that. We finally realize that wearing gloves does not mean you are not cool, it means you are not COLD ;). It means you are dressing for the weather, preventing illness, and just being warm. Silly teenagers, this whole being “cool” thing. It just seems so trivial now.
Let’s reflect back on my Catholic High school kilt experience. It was just not cool to NOT roll your kilt. I am pretty sure I rolled my kilt to a length that was sometimes too high. And at the time, circa the year 2000, hot damn that was what you did! Now. I look at these girls and realize that this looks sloppy! AND the way they are allowed to wear cropped leggings, and runners with their uniform just made it look worse!
I have come to realize that the uniform was not a way to conform us into mind numbing students that are “sheep” and do not have their own views. Uniforms were there to make us look damn good. Having something to wear everyday that consisted of Polo shirts, kilts (at a reasonable length), ruby shirts, dress pants and dress shoes really is just classy. But instead of embracing this look, teens destroy it by rolling their kilts, wearing skater shoes with hot pink shoe laces.
Now don’t get me wrong. I did the same thing when I was in high school. Mostly because it was considered “un cool”; an unrealistic standard dictated by someone who probably graduated 7 years before me. No one at the school refuted these “unwritten rules of the uniform” so everyone continued to do this. Why did no one try and stop this trend? It is because if you fought it, you run the risk of being ridiculed and humiliated. Teens keep this up in order to be accepted in the school.
In that lies the biggest change that maturity installs in everyone: being comfortable with who you are.
When I looked at those girls on the subway, I just thought of “I wonder how far away from home they had to be before they rolled their kilt”. Really, looking back, I would have loved just to not care what other people thought of what I wore to school. I have become more comfortable with who I am, as a person. When we were all in high school, you still are dying to find a way to be accepted and will do what you can in order to try and be accepted. Whether it is change of your clothes or personality, everything done in the teen years is driven by the want to be accepted.
Thank god those days are over. Not completely, but it is a lot better. I wear what I want to wear; I hang out with who I want to hang out with and I not worried about their age, or whether they are “cool”. Everyone hits an age where they go “huh, I really like the way I dress this way, and I am going to rock it”. In essence, the word “cool” should only be used to describe the temperature inside a freezer. Using it to describe people is just silly, since being cool is different for everyone’s perspective.
So really what I have learned about maturity, that I wish I could have told those girls on the subway is: don’t sweat the small stuff, be confident with who you are and roll down your kilt!”
Not on my level of maturity, but on how it has made my views change throughout my life. Some more prominent things that come to mind are Food and clothing choices. I remember those days where I thought stuffing was “gross”. Then one day, I realize, man I really like that! Or the day where I realized that bran flakes, even though they are not covered in sugar and don’t have higher marshmallow to cereal ratio, are delicious!
Now lets look at the next change that maturity brings with it: clothing choices. This whole blog idea started from what I saw on the subway: Catholic High school girls who rolled their kilts so high their bums are pretty much showing. I remembered also in the winter when I saw high school kids in the winter time wearing no coat, no gloves, no hat, and you saw them shivering. Why? Cause it is not cool to wear these things? It is not cool to be warm? While I am in 7 layers, 2 pairs of gloves and a hat, I look at them and I remember those days. The days where you would not wear any of those things, for 2 reasons: you parents told you to, and it was just not “cool”. Thank goodness we all get over that. We finally realize that wearing gloves does not mean you are not cool, it means you are not COLD ;). It means you are dressing for the weather, preventing illness, and just being warm. Silly teenagers, this whole being “cool” thing. It just seems so trivial now.
Let’s reflect back on my Catholic High school kilt experience. It was just not cool to NOT roll your kilt. I am pretty sure I rolled my kilt to a length that was sometimes too high. And at the time, circa the year 2000, hot damn that was what you did! Now. I look at these girls and realize that this looks sloppy! AND the way they are allowed to wear cropped leggings, and runners with their uniform just made it look worse!
I have come to realize that the uniform was not a way to conform us into mind numbing students that are “sheep” and do not have their own views. Uniforms were there to make us look damn good. Having something to wear everyday that consisted of Polo shirts, kilts (at a reasonable length), ruby shirts, dress pants and dress shoes really is just classy. But instead of embracing this look, teens destroy it by rolling their kilts, wearing skater shoes with hot pink shoe laces.
Now don’t get me wrong. I did the same thing when I was in high school. Mostly because it was considered “un cool”; an unrealistic standard dictated by someone who probably graduated 7 years before me. No one at the school refuted these “unwritten rules of the uniform” so everyone continued to do this. Why did no one try and stop this trend? It is because if you fought it, you run the risk of being ridiculed and humiliated. Teens keep this up in order to be accepted in the school.
In that lies the biggest change that maturity installs in everyone: being comfortable with who you are.
When I looked at those girls on the subway, I just thought of “I wonder how far away from home they had to be before they rolled their kilt”. Really, looking back, I would have loved just to not care what other people thought of what I wore to school. I have become more comfortable with who I am, as a person. When we were all in high school, you still are dying to find a way to be accepted and will do what you can in order to try and be accepted. Whether it is change of your clothes or personality, everything done in the teen years is driven by the want to be accepted.
Thank god those days are over. Not completely, but it is a lot better. I wear what I want to wear; I hang out with who I want to hang out with and I not worried about their age, or whether they are “cool”. Everyone hits an age where they go “huh, I really like the way I dress this way, and I am going to rock it”. In essence, the word “cool” should only be used to describe the temperature inside a freezer. Using it to describe people is just silly, since being cool is different for everyone’s perspective.
So really what I have learned about maturity, that I wish I could have told those girls on the subway is: don’t sweat the small stuff, be confident with who you are and roll down your kilt!”
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