Nonqaba said ...

One of the joys of living in Canada and the U.S. is absence of religion. What? Yes, they are religion free, but also offer citizens the option of practising their religion. It’s the best of both worlds. No religion can impose itself on others.  Example. One summer, a girl on the bus started stripping two stops before we got to the last stop, the shopping mall. She took off the head and face covering, stepped out of the long skirt she was wearing and stuffed them in her backpack. She entered the mall as just another teen wearing ripped jeans and a baseball cap. Teenagers do that all the time. Some leave home wearing school uniform and change into street or sexy clothes depending on where they are going. The girl on the bus changed for religious reasons. She left home as a representative of religion. She entered the mall as a religion-free individual. It’s something immigrants seldom acknowledge as one of the disadvantages of living in Canada and the U.S. They left their countries for va

Eating out is part of the education parents provide, to prepare kids for life outside with co-workers, business partners, team mates, girlfriends and boyfriends. Kids in western societies cannot wait for the magical 18, when they become adults legally, so that they can do as they please, which includes going out with friends, and not with mama and papa. But they lay the foundation, if they are parents that can afford eating out regularly. It is not the food itself, but unwritten rules about dealing with outsiders like waiters (servers). If there’s respect at home, kids grow up respecting men and women doing their job. Please and thank you apply. Kids that are used to going out understand the word choice and that is what the menu is all about. Unfortunately, most menus are littered with French and Italian words. Parents break it down for the kids. They might even even pronounce it the ‘correct’ way. Kids learn that in most instances, the menu has the same food they have at home, but the

I'm willing to buy this bag made from bed covers for $350, because it has that name dangling on it. Women in farming communities in America cut and sew better bags, but I will only fork out $30 max, for them. NO NAME NO SALE. Handbag made from blankets, but with a famous American designer's name. Designers cannot believe how common sense free, women in 'foolish markets' are. It’s ironic that governments label each other into us and them, communist and free, but do business in broad daylight. China is a communist country, therefore it is the #1 enemy of the U.S. and its vassals, but everything they wear, drive, use at home and work is made in China. China doesn’t care about the nuances in ideology. It concentrates on getting as many U.S. dollars and possible, an easy feat because America is the seat of ‘foolish markets.’ China capitalizes on markets that buy someone’s name, not the actual skirt or jacket. It cannot believe that men and women in America and so-called free

Pillows came in re-usable bags. Yes plastic, but sturdy enough to store something at home. Some factories avoid plastic wrapping on face towels. They tie them with ribbons. Factories that make fake designer bags, cellphones, dishwashers, sheets, sneakers, shirts, cars, blankets, the whole shebang, are responsible for climate change. They have accomplices and I’m one of them. I shop for fun, not because of need, and factories satisfy that ‘must have it.’  I’m a retail addict but I turn around and blame them for polluting the air, rivers and oceans producing my fix. They do it in various ways.  Packaging is one of them. You know how it is, you get home and rip off that plastic, or you can’t wait for Amazon to deliver a camera with more pixels than the one you have. Guess what? Factories seem to be listening. We need new pillows around here so, I went shopping yesterday. I took longer as usual because of the price thing. I’m a great believer in the lowest price. Some factories are listeni

. Can you see the lighting gels, starting with the blue one? They are shooting a movie around here. That's why you see these trucks. Buy your own small lighting gels from your photography store. White sheets are on sale for obvious reasons. We seldom buy them because they are high maintenance. They get dirty quickly if you have kids and trying to remove stains is like taking a walk in the Sahara Desert. Caterers use them as table cloths for weddings, graduation parties or funerals. Nobody can tell they are sheets once tables are covered and brimming with food. Home Photography Studio You don’t have a single white sheet at home because you are not a hotel, but you can buy them for making Tik Tok videos or taking family portraits. Your house is not lit, like a photography studio. It also has brown drapes or drapes (curtains) with many flowers. Improve the room by hanging white sheets over the drapes. Professional photographers have back panels they place behind models, actors, cars o

Why is this Gap store closing this location on May 24? My guess work went into first gear. It is on the ground floor of a very popular mall. It has been there for more than ten years, but something happened in 2022. Aritzia, another clothing store, moved from its location under the escalators and rented a space two doors down from Gap. In 2023, Lululemon took that space but I didn’t pay it any attention because it specializes in exercise gear. I opened my eyes wide just before Christmas, last year, because Zara took the lower floor of the bankrupt Sears. I started doing the math because Aritzia, Gap and Zara are gunning for the same customers. Aritzia has more space and money. That’s why it opened a coffee shop for customers to rest their tired feet after spending all that money. Shopping is exhausting you know. Ha! Ha! I thought all was well with the three stores, only to see this closing sign today. I chatted up one of the Gap sales reps. She said there was no explanation, just the M

  Gabrielle Union (51) actress. Old blog 31 July 2023, about Monday, my fav day. Monday is a bad day. Let’s re-name it  self-evaluation  day. It is when traffic is the heaviest and mirrors the clearest. That's why I’m having second thoughts about my waist and the reason why I pose for pictures side ways, not full frontal. Self-evaluation tells me I'm responsible for my waist line, which has so many potholes, it looks like a country road. The government is not to blame for a change. It’s amazing how we take personal decisions injurious to our physical and mental health, then blame the government.  Fine. Sometimes it is to blame when it overpays us. We  use the money and a year later it realizes its mistake and we must re-pay. We use most of it to buy food, which is partly responsible for the beleaguered waist line. Partly responsible because every body part is a work of art and genius. Genius because the body has limits. I cook, taste and eat. The stomach complains when I over  

Monday is the most dangerous day of the week, whether we drive to work, take the bus or train. We are grumpy, because Monday is a reality check that we must work pay, work pay, work pay and work pay again, till they lower the coffin and priests say:  ashes to ashes, dust to dust.   We are like a can of sardines inside the train so pushing and shoving is tolerated. Not on Monday. Dirty looks are the order of the day should you step on someone’s work boots. But he can’t feel it, because they are as thick as a rock in front! Anyway, we exit the train and escalators move the sardines to the top of the station where they transfer to connecting buses or walk to work. It’s the numbers, so many people but not a word is spoken. I know you disagree. You want to argue it’s normal bus and train etiquette in Europe, Canada and U.S. not like in other continents, where everybody has an opinion. Example. Baby is crying because it’s hot on the bus. “Woman, feed the baby.”  That one unsolicited comment

Have you done your taxes? The deadline is April 30, two days away. We dread filing taxes. That’s why we do it at the last minute. You can’t blame us. It is not fun, like being caught in the rain, spring rain if I might add. Filing taxes is frustrating because we forget where we kept receipts and other paper work. Digital receipts aggravate matters because the government still believes in the paper trail. We can’t print them at home because we got rid of the printer, since ‘everything is digita l’ now, so we were hoodwinked. I don’t know how we misplace tax receipts because we keep them in special places. A shoebox. Old laptop bag. Old handbags. Desk drawer. Magazine rack. Concertina files. Cubbyhole, in your car? Somehow, we get it done, through accountants, or tax preparation companies that rent space at the mall. You do your own taxes? Bravo. It means you understand government-speak on those forms. What I don’t understand is not doing your taxes at all, because at some point, the gov

I buy books with content I know nothing about, like the U.S. Supreme Court and its law clerks. “The Supreme Court is indeed like a small town. The high court employs not only The Nine, but more than four hundred others whose office is a marble palace located just behind the Capitol dome on One First Street, Northeast, Washington, D.C. As I note in the novel, beyond the courtroom and justices’ chambers, the building houses a full police force, a marshal’s office, a clerk’s office, a curator, a press office, a public cafeteria, a gift shop, and a breathtaking library. I should note, however, that there is no marshal’s “cube farm” filled with messengers like Grayson Fernandez, though there are marshal’s aides who perform various tasks, including sitting behind the bench to fetch things for the justices during oral arguments. It is true that every summer thirty-six law clerks (give or take) embark on what most will consider a highlight of their legal careers. And the one-year clerkship is

The internet is no guarantee for political victory, although Donald Trump thinks so. It’s a factor, yes but it cannot be the sole determinant of a political outcome. 1. It is fumbling in the dark, because the most vocal commentators are synonymous. They have no pictures on their portfolios and cannot be classified by race, residence, buying power, age or religion. They have bullet point power, which does not give any substantive reason why they think Party X is vile. They prefer stronger language. 2. Yes, rival political parties are transparent. They post their photos and political stripes, but a campaign anchored in name calling without giving reasons, repels voters. A ruling party must monitor opposition parties, but a strategy solely designed to babysitting them is wading in a swamp. 3. An election campaign anchored on social media is bound to fail because of exclusion. We have a digital dictatorship where renters, voters, vaccination process, everything in life is online. There’s n

There is room noise. Therefore, quiet is not absolute. You feel it when you wake up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water. Donald Trump’s rhetoric and name calling is also loudly silent, since the U.S. Supreme Court started hearing his claim for immunity. Maybe we should qualify the rhetoric. It’s all about Democrats. 1.  A Democrat Attorney General is conducting a witch hunt against him. 2.  Democrat District Attorneys are conducting a scam against him. 3.  Democrat judges and prosecutors should be removed from his cases because they are Joe Biden’s puppets. 4.  His court cases should be removed from the Big Apple because he cannot get a fair trial in New York. Trump’s fury is so uni-directional, he doesn’t attempt to hide it. I know when a judge votes Republican. Trump doesn’t call her names. Example. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon who is handling his classified documents case in Florida. Between you and me, I still don’t believe that Donald Trump believes that when I

Supreme Court will throw Jack Smith and democracy under the bus, and grant Donald Trump immunity. Special Counsel Jack Smith has Plan B, he will put in motion when the U.S. Supreme Court rules that indeed, Donald Trump has immunity against prosecution for crimes committed when he lived in the White House. It’s a done deal. Trump will walk. We know what happened to Roe v. Wade  and how he boasts about how he killed it. Jack Smith tries to think ahead, especially because he is dealing with somebody that changes shapes like an amoeba. Last year, Smith wanted to get the immunity barricade Trump was erecting out of the way. So he approached the Supreme Court to give an opinion ASAP. On 22 December 23, the justices declined and said he must go through the whole legal chain first . In February 2024, a federal court ruled Donald Trump has no immunity from prosecution. He appealed to the Supreme Court in March, and here we are, waiting for the its decision. Trump will walk. The Supreme Court wi

Businessmen are mad at Donald Trump, not because of money paid to Stormy Daniels. For them, it is a storm in a teacup. What irks them is that the ‘hush money’ criminal case  is giving them a bad rap, as a tribe. They are having insomnia because of his record keeping. He was supposed to keep the books meticulously, not cook them.  Very untidy. Unkempt. Sloppy. He could not keep in order, standard paperwork about the reason for being in business: making a profit, which involves moving money around, and more importantly, away from the taxman. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), very irritating government department. Trump’s case is  bad news for Wall Street types because it   attract s  unnecessary scrutiny to their line of work, which is quite legitimate and protected by tax laws of the land, globally.  During the on-going ‘hush money’ case, businessmen in New York, London or Stockholm will be cursing Trump over lunch, which is a  bona fide  business expense. They’ll rip to shreds his cockin

Stormy Daniels, the main storm in Donald Trump's 'hush money' case. What is done in the dark, will eventually see light. I don’t know why anybody in their right mind would want to be president or prime minister. I don’t like being caged, regulated. I was in solitary confinement for a year some years back. That’s why I have a phobia for a bunch of keys. It’s a reminder of the prison guard’s keys opening the cell, to slide plates towards me. So you want to be the next member of parliament (MP), mayor, governor or congress woman? No problem. Just check the cupboard first, because skeletons have the uncanny ability to miraculously add meat to bones, inject a voice and expose your dirty past.   ‘But I was young and foolish.’  YouTube millionaires have kicked that notion to the curb. Try another excuse. Past history also becomes the present when what you did during Spring Break in Miami or Mexico many years ago, makes its way to Twitter, complete with interesting photos. Forget a

Donald Trump’s lawyers will make sure, his criminal cases do not see the light of day before November 2024, but he understands the English language. Delay does not translate into delete, destroy, decompose, deactivate or debunk. His cases will be waiting for him after the presidential election. The justice system has loopholes, but they were designed to make justice thoroughly fair for everyone affected. Unfortunately, it is abused and you need money to loop yourself out of the wheels of justice. Donald Trump has mega-millions for that but none to pay the State of New York $464 million plus the daily interest. He won’t be in a courtroom before the presidential election because the U.S. Supreme Court, has his back. How do you know? Because of his confidence about it. He’s very cocky as if he has a secret why, the Supreme Court is in his corner. Delay is not delete, no matter what he tells himself. He continues to put rust on the wheels of justice because he thinks he will be back in the

Indoor forest. We'll throw out plastic trees when we move. Change of address is either by choice or circumstances and it involves pruning our belongings, especially things we used once or twice and are gathering dust in the garage or attic.  Kids, especially teens, find it hard to adjust after bankruptcy or divorce and getting rid of things that used to define them, like skis or dirt bikes. Some parents are transferred to bigger cities like New York where rents are exorbitant and there’s no backyard like the one they had in Alabama. They might be moving to an apartment building. They’ll be lucky if they find a condo unit that has two parking spaces, not one like the rest of the building. Therefore, there’s no garage to store junk. Moving forces us to audit. There are things we cannot take with us because of the trimmed space so we either sell them or donate them to Salvation Army and Value Village thrift stores. The audit reveals that we didn’t use them that much. We bought them be

The voter is alone in the voting booth, but there is this ice-cold drop on his head about what the boss has been saying for weeks. “We must not vote for them. We will lose everything we’ve worked for. This farm will be sold. Trucks too. What will happen to that pretty daughter of yours who wants to be a lawyer? She will drop out, and do god knows what. We must not vote for them. You and I were born here. We must keep our values. Don’t vote for them .” The voter is alone in the voting booth, but he forgets that. He thinks somehow, the boss will find out he voted ‘ for them. ’ Bosses intimidate workers into voting for the Brown Party, not the Yellow Party. The intimidation can be subtle, or blatant. The boss can also give workers benefits he has been with holding illegally for the past four years, just because the presidential election is a few months away. It is a bribe, a double illegal bribe, but workers don’t know that. When do employers start voter intimidation? Headlines. Certain s

You're just a manager. You don't own the orange.  Internet riches has led to the debate about college. Is the four years worth it, if you cannot get a job after making your parents proud, on graduation day? Sometimes graduation certificates nurture unrealistic expectations. We want to dive into the deep end of the pool and become managers. What we should be doing is to check out the board of directors of companies we like, while we are still in college. Unfortunately, the salary, dental and health benefits, the car, housing allowance etc. are the reasons why we gravitate towards certain companies. The board of directors (BOD) will tell us what we will be ‘managing.’ Managers manage someone’s property, invention, vision and the future. Thanks to the internet, BOD information is easily available. It was important in ancient times when fathers wanted to ‘marry off’ daughters to the right families, or wanted sons-in-matrimony that would safeguard daughters’ inheritance. Arranged ma

Lara Trump and chickpeas.81?   " Open 8 days a week.” Are my eyes playing tricks on me? No, they are not, because this is the second time I’m seeing this banner at a particular steak house in town. The first time was in St. Vital, the second time was today, on my way to one of the factory outlets. I don’t go very often because sometimes their prices are higher than regular mall prices. Shhhh! Don’t tell a soul. I digress. Where was I? Yes, 8 days a week. Thanks to Lara Trump, Donald Trump’s daughter-in-matrimony, now I realize that it’s not a typo on the banner. It’s intentional. It’s to ruffle some days of the week feathers. That way, this steakhouse is always bubbling mentally, and we know where to go when we feel like meaty delights. Lara Trump is in the news. It is reported that she said the U.S. has 81 states. It is two things. It was slip of the tongue or a declaration of intent. I take issue with that slippage because we were taught History and Geography the hard way. We sp

Artificial intelligence (AI) is dumb. It has absolutely no brains. How can you say? It shows you’re clueless about technology. I am. Very proud too. The little I know comes from @mkbdhd, the YouTuber who explains technology very clearly for zero-tech people like me. If artificial intelligence is so intelligent, why doesn’t it recognize my name? I type it everyday, so it’s not a typo. Fine. I’ll make some concessions. AI doesn’t know my name because it’s not an English name, but how about the machine I use to write my thoughts? 1.  Why doesn’t AI tell me to clean my screen? I thought I need new glasses. No I don’t, the screen is just dirty. 2.  Why doesn’t AI tell me to clean the keyboard? All the letters look the same now. 3.  Why doesn’t AI remind me that for two days running, I forgot to power off this machine, pull that power cord out before I go to sleep? 4.  Why doesn’t AI tell me the cheap-o headphones I’m using are past their due date, like when milk goes bad? They usually last

Human beings are animals although they pretend to be the better species. Nature has a pattern on how babies in animal country and human country explore their new environment. Unfortunately, Wi-Fi fractures that pattern in human country. Human babies envy animal babies because their parents don’t have laptops and cellphones. Animals do not sit on their fathers’ laps as he works or entertains himself at the computer. Exploring the new world can be dangerous. Don’t touch that, it’s hot, but who will give the warning because mom and dad are busy online? Not in animal country. Nature still rules. For example, geese have long necks, but they become longer when the mother detects human presence around her six babies. Don’t even think about it with mother lion. That’s why I respect wildlife photographers, who gave us images of mama and baba lion with their kids. Exploration, how do I teach my kids to kill? That is what is in mama lion’s mind as she sits there and looks at the foolish photograp

Winter spring summer or fall  is the  name of a song, or  is it  line in a song ?  I've always wondered why the songwriter started with WINTER. Why not start with spring, when everything is born again?  Anyway, try writing in winter. Spring is good for the mind and writing because I can see the wind in the trees. See? Probably not, because it doesn’t have form or colour like flowers. I think there is wind because the freshly minted green leaves move. Green is a big thing if you live in complete winter denudation, where branches are either brown or gray. My writing is like that in winter, probably because of what is happening around it. It becomes defiant like trees shorn of leaves. It’s the season. A reminder that human beings are not in charge. We cannot place certain things under a microscope and look for what is not there, and never will be. Even rude artificial intelligence cannot change the big four: fall winter spring and summer. The gentle spring wind is conducive to writing

Hotels have a problem. Yes, it’s spring and tour buses are already coming in, but they cannot fill the financial hole caused by being half full in winter. Hotels are home away from home, but they are currently under-used for two reasons. 1.  Because of the 2020 pandemic, corporate guests cannot be guaranteed anymore. Businessmen and women conduct online meetings; they don’t like airport protocols created by the pandemic; and feel uneasy about violent airplane passengers that disrupt cabin peace for online views. 2.  Hotels have not realized that money, real money is now in the hands of men and women under 30 years of age. They cannot do anything about the first problem because it’s outside their jurisdiction, but they can attempt to attract potential guests identified in the second point. Hotels already have under-used rooms called Berlin, London, Cairo, Moscow etc. Others are named after nature: Lotus Hall, Orchid Hall, Rose Hall or Sunflower Hall.  Hotels must advertise how this new

Hotels are not unique as Airbnb but they guarantee every blade in this steamer. Peace of mind. Hotels vs Airbnb. I have my reasons for preferring hotels to Airbnb. People don’t go the same direction like water , to quote a proverb from the Zulu language. That’s why you book an Airbnb when travelling. Life is hard and short. That is why I prefer concrete hotel expectations whether it’s the smallest economy room or the presidential suite whereas, I’m on my own with Airbnb. I cannot demand a king bed, when I paid for twin beds. I get what is advertised in a hotel whether it’s a 3-star or 5-star hotel. Hotels have an obligation towards me, the guest/customer in terms of front desk when I check-in and check-out, parking security, safety at night, room readiness, hallways, elevators, bed and breakfast etc. In an Airbnb, I can be murdered by ‘friends’ I brought in to celebrate my birthday or sign a dubious deal. Equally, I’m under an obligation not to destroy hotel property, in the quest to h

Fumigate house before selling.  My home is always clean. What’s so special about cleaning it before putting it on the market? Sometimes it’s a jump start sale because of family problems. The home was neglected because parents moved away and left teenage kids behind. They never cleaned their rooms in their whole life. Therefore, they don’t know how to use a vacuum cleaner. Maybe the property was rented out, and the person on the rental lease sub-let it illegally to someone with many pets. In such cases, you must call in professional cleaners to detox the place. They notice things you might miss like doors you thought were light brown. It turns out they have a cream color after soapy water and a sponge. The stove and built-in microwave are included in the price but they are dirty. Some sellers invest $2 000 in new appliances rather than clean them. If not, get professionals to do it. They know the right chemicals to remove grease. They will also clean windows inside and outside. The gri

News about tenants refusing to leave houses they rented, might force families to talk each other, more. There are hundreds of movies about children going to court to question a parent’s will. Why would father leave the family home to his wife of two years, who is barely 25? That is fiction. In real life, we don’t live in family homes we inherited.  You know the story: “I don’t see myself living in that town, ever again.” We never go back for one reason or the other, and the family home remains unoccupied, weeds all around, an open invitation to  squatters. We might think renting it out is a better option. Not anymore. Stories about tenants refusing to leave when the lease has expired are on the rise. That might be a wrong impression. Maybe we are seeing more cases now because aggrieved owners are going online about their plight, caused by provincial and state laws that favour the illegal occupation. Families don’t talk to each other. That’s why we wait until we see the family home in t

Introduction:  We are seeing online stories about strangers removing FOR SALE signs and occupying houses. This piece is another property-related problem, tenants refusing to leave after eviction or end of lease. Cash flow. That’s why some people buy houses or condos to rent them out. Somebody like author Robert Kiyosaki, a big advocate of cash flow, will buy the whole apartment building. Renting out your house or part of it, is still cash flowing in, but what happens when tenants stop the flow by refusing to pay rent or moving out at the end of the lease? No problem. It covers all possibilities and the tenant signed every page before moving in. On paper yes. Reported cases in Ontario Canada show that some tenants dig in and refuse to move out. They don’t open the door for the landlord and police. Here is a sample of cases before the Landlord and Tenant Board in Ontario. 1. A family bought a small farm but tenants refuse to move out. 2. A woman with a small daughter bought a semi-detach