(post trip) observations

For better or worse, one of my innate attributes is that of being fairly observant of my surroundings. Combine this with the fact that I am, yes, fairly opinionated and what you get is some interesting internal commentary and notions.

Here are a few I have gathered as of late. I will denote that every over sweeping generalization falls victim to exception, so judge if you would like, argue if you must just please don't take offense. Tis' not my intention.

1. Fifty-fifty is the new thirty-seventy.

We are talking mixed drinks here. When out at the bar, or pre drinking at a friends house pouring anything less then a solid 50:50 alcohol-to-mix ratio is simply inefficient (and to be honest, this might have to be considered a light drink, I have heard 2/3 has been embraced) . To be clear we are not talking about a light social, out-with-the-family type of drinking, we are talking out-with-the-scenesters-good-time drinking night. (please note: scenester in this case is simply there to act as a variable and may be replaced with hipsters, boys, girls, hoodrats, peeps, bros, mates... you get the idea). This to say when ordering a drinking anywhere in the BVI's (seriously, restaurants, bars, yacht clubs, people's houses) you get nothing less then 50:50.. mix is more expensive then the booze there; and secondly, same goes for when partying with the Quebec/ Tremblant crew. Its all about efficiency. Love&rum has a lovely little recipe on his site that I enjoyed and seemed appropriate to share:

The 50/49/Lime. Fill the glass halfway with [drink of choice]. Fill 49% with Perrier, S. Pellegrino, or just Soda if you're too cheap for the good stuff. Now squeeze in that last 1% with a lime wedge, drink it all up and write me a thank-you letter.

This can be consider this my thank-you letter to love&rum.

2. The Ontario-anti-fun-rule may truly only apply to Ontario.

It has been observed and voiced that Ontario seems to have somewhat of an "anti-fun" policy... this of course was conjured up by a non ontario-ian and is indicative of the bars closing at 2:00am on the dot, high volumes of noise complaints,availability of alcohol being restricted and unavailable at the most inconvenient of time (i.e. virtually anytime after 9:00pm, 10:00pm if your lucky), and well... this list could continue. This rule is not of my doing or creation, but one warmly embraced by my group of friends. I did note that the BVI's are in no way susceptible to this rule... and well maybe Ontario should look into loosening its tie a tad. Don't get me wrong, Ontario has its moments.. but it doesn't hold the nickname Onterrible solely for its lack of snow.

3. Chivalry isn't dead, but it is dying.

Over used, over stated, but not without just cause... heck, forget chivalry and lets move straight to manners in general. Saying hello or smiling at people you make eye contact with, not pretending that your shoes randomly catch your interest as someone approaches, holding doors, please, thank-yous, small common courtesy's. Come on people, stop the hate... and maybe acknowledge that you really aren't the only (or most important) person on the planet. What is it that moms always says? Treat others as you would like to be treated... yea, maybe lame but hey it makes sense to me. It is also notable- about the whole chivalry thing- when a boy pulls out a chair, takes something heavy for the girl he is with, holds the door open for, oh- and can put his cell phone away for periods of time... its pretty refreshing. Kind of sad right? (I think the same goes for girls, I tend to be guilty of over cell phone use as well... it's on the lame new year resolution list). Chivalry seems to be dying... but girls seem to be accepting of it ( I get it, women's rights... but a bit of femininity never hurt anyone) and also just as guilty.

4. Bitching, stop it... please.

Complaining happens from time to time. Everyone does it, its probably healthy to an extent... but constant complaining day in and day out about things, and doing absolutely nothing about it- well to be real with you its tiresome. There is a few keys thins that I would like to add to this 1- you aren't that cool, because if you think you are then you are virtually automatically dismissal from the "cool" status, no one is really better then anyone else (we'll to an extent I guess,) 2- you may be good at what you do but chances are there is always someone doing it better, 3- chances are the bitching is an attempt to verbally reaffirm yourself in one way or another... it doesn't really work, does it?. 4- bitching does not seem to be a weight loss tactic, that is what exercise and the gym is for... or so I hear and am now acknowledging.

There seems to be lot of complaining all around about a lot of things... I'm just kind of over it. Like I said we all do it from time to time, its the frequency that gets to be a bit much.