Pique'n Yer Interest

Canadians by now have thrown in the towel on Stephane Dion. For months the nebbish Liberal leader has endured a barrage of attacks on his persona, his speech, and his alleged intent to “screw everybody” with a carbon tax.

The dream begins in a meadow. There’s pollen drifting through early morning sunbeams, and all is at peace. In case there is any doubt, clouds of butterflies offer reassurance as they funnel about, conducted by earthly rhythms.

So it’s just another rainy, Thursday morning.

After a slow start to the Beijing Games — no medals in the first seven days — Canadian athletes rallied to finish with 18 medals — six more than Athens in 2004, and four more than Sydney in 2000.

When I first moved to Whistler in late April, I was excited at the prospect of seeing a bear. Being a lifelong Vancouverite, my only encounters with wildlife came at around 2 a.m.

It was a sunny day on a grassy field. There was weed and a hot girl. I was 16 and she was 17. There were classes to attend, but we didn’t care. Clearly, it was go time.

It may be true that no man is an island and no man stands alone.

People complain too much, all the time, about everything. The problem is expectations — when something goes wrong in our perfect little worlds we take it personally, focusing on the negative instead of the positive.

“Stand up for Canada” was the slogan that Stephen Harper took to the polls in 2006.

The National ’s on, and the world is emotionally deflating in a sanitized, TV-dinner type of way.