Money Talks. But it Don't Sing or Dance and it Can't Walk

The year is starting to wind down, and what a year it has been. We are starting to see the end game of corporate greed. It will still live, like that last ember of a forest fire that hides underground waiting for just the right conditions to resurface. Even as I write this the Board of Merrill Lynch is meeting to try and pass a bonus of 10 million dollars for their CEO before Congress can get involved.

We have seen companies we have known our entire lives vanish into thin air. I remember the impact I felt when Eaton's closed a few years ago. I felt that my personal choice was taken away. Eaton's had a level of class attached to it. Whenever I go into The Bay, I feel like I should be exchanging beaver pelts for whatever I am purchasing. Now so many businesses are disappearing just as Eaton's did. The auto companies are seeking 34 billion from Congress to stop the bleeding. Congress is offering 15 billion. As an industry insider I can tell you the real number they need just to turnaround is 125 billion.

Staggering I know. So I figured with the year coming to a close, and to also offset the negativity of my Toronto trip, I would list some of the simple things that made my year. They weren't necessarily free, but let's set a budget of say 20 bucks.

So here they are in no particular order:

• Playing mini-golf with my niece and nephew. Never doubt the healing powers of children.
• Making CD's for Miley and occasionally finding that song I haven't heard for years that gets me spinning in my office chair singing along.
• Driving the Malahat on a perfect autumn morning, the trees ablaze in colour that a photograph could never possibly duplicate.
• Water skiing on Lake Okanagan, for the most part carving a perfect line (The pain I felt throughout my body the following day will go on my negatives of the year list.)
• Thinking about Dawn and Stase's spontaneous living room dances.
• Spending my first birthday with "family" in 15 years.
• That ragtag crew that spent Thanksgiving at my place.
• New York (I know the trip cost money, but it was the things we did there that were less than 20 bucks) This part I could rant about for hours. I will sum it up with the joy Dan displayed while running his own photographic steeplechase through Central Park. The look on Dave's face when we had that goofy elevator operator at Tiffany's "Welcome to the third floor, where we have silver and diamonds and ohhh so much more." The feeling of being a wide eyed child again as I absorbed the impossibilities of architecture and art and music that surrounded me, and of course my late night sandwiches at that deli on Lexington and 53rd.
• Perfecting my tennis serve after my shoulder drama.
• Playing basketball with the neighborhood kids.
• Finding a bunch of songs I wrote years ago and realizing I never finished any of them.
• The sunrises on the 97 connector.
• The music that went with the sunrises.
• Three words SUMMER RESTAURANT PATIOS
• Finding out what really happened. (Although I don't think I really did.)
• Running into an old friend at the airport and finding out it wasn't actually something I said.
• Racing go-karts with da boyz.
• Saying good-bye (or not.)
• Sunday mornings with coffee, Dean Martin, and the New York Times crossword (no, I have never finished it.)
• Afternoons at the beach with a good book.
• The snowball fight in Nanaimo.
• Tonia putting me in my place.
• Learning to laugh again (For the record, people that make fun of one's laugh should burn in hell.)
• The macaroni and cheese at Duece.
• The words hola, buenos dias, and buenos noches.
• Being perfect from the key not once but twice at the basketball court behind the house.
• The first sleep I had in my Columbia Sports wear fleece sheets.
• Dancing in the snow with a group of people in Banff that I didn't even know.
• Crunchy peanut butter and crumpets.
• Swimming in Broame Lake all by myself on a summer morning.
• Lunches with Mom.
• Watching Phil build a wall for no apparent reason.
• Sirius Radio and long drives.
• Any texting conversation I have with Miley that includes "hahahaha", all you "lol" people are lazy and fat.
• Watching numerous people walk into the sliding door because they think it is open.
• Watching someone smile with their eyes.
• The scent of a woman.
• All of my Saturday night movies in bed.
• The pizza that I am eating as I watch Saturday movies in bed.
• All of my Sunday morning movies in bed.
• Not finding pepperoni stuck to my back as I watch movies in bed.
• Meeting someone that inspires me.
• The crisp, cool mornings leaning on the railing of the ferry.
• Any story that Nick tells me.
• The Jets having a winning season.
• Sunny September mornings.
• Brunch at Tom and Binnie's.
• Playing the drums on my dashboard.
• Having a conversation with someone that totally gets me.

That is only a small sample of course. But each and every one is better than a $300 bottle of wine. There are kids starving out there people. Get your priorities straight and appreciate the simple things. Make your own list and check it twice, Santa needs all the help he can get.