It Happened One Night...

Well, it's happened.

Finally.

I've been waiting a while.

Has it happened to you? Don't be shy, you can say so.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

The other night, I used, quite naturally, and in the midst of an ordinary conversation, the following phrase:

"...back before the turn of the century..."

So it's official - the 20th century is done. And it ain't coming back. So from this point forward, "back before the turn of the century" now means the 20th century, and no longer the 19th. So roll over, Beethoven and suck it up - your time is done and your century isn't even the last century anymore. Wah, boo, sucks to you, Fritzy!

While I'm at it, Mr. Beethoven - who made you so high and mighty anyway? 10 symphonies. Ha! I scoff in your general direction. My buddy Haydn had over a hundred! What have you got? 10!

Now, for those of you who think I don't know what I'm talking about, it's true. Can anyone name me the tenth?

Clue #1 - It's not Symphony #10.
Clue #2 - While technically it is Symphony #9, that's not the answer I'm looking for.

More Sax Needed

In honour of the Shuffle Demons:

Sing along, if you know the words.

"They say they're gonna pave my road this year,
Whoa-oh, must be calling an election..."

Here's what you need to know about Canadian political parties:

New Democratic Party - Will be happy to tell you what you should think, secure in the knowledge that they can take the moral high ground of social responsibility without any real hope of winning enough seats to put policy into action.
Conservative Party Of Canada - Assumes you think like them, therefore their policy makes perfect sense, therefore they don't need to explain anything.
Liberal Party of Canada - Makes life easy for you by simply telling you what you think. Enough people are happy to be told by others what they think, that the Liberal party can get itself elected more than any other party.
Rhino Party - Recognizes the inherent danger of thinking and simply refuses to do it. Thinks it's bad for the heart. They're probably right. Too bad they don't run anymore.

According to the Liberal Party, nobody wants an election over Christmas. According to just about everyone else, nobody else gives a rat's banyack. I think I know why they think this way. Typically, they like summer elections. It's hot, people like to leave town for the week-ends, many people are away for vacations, nobody likes to think too much. In the winter, people are stuck inside with nothing better to do than think about things. This is not good for the Liberals. In the last election, the Liberals wanted to make the election about health care. thney positioned themselves as health care's saviour, and told people that people think they are the great caretakers of said health care. An examination of various parties' platforms showed that the Liberals were promising to do the least to improve health care in Canada, yet they won the election anyway. So if people think about things, they might start to wonder about things, and even without considering rampant corruption and mismanagement, that can't be a good thing for Paul Martin.

What would be fun is to collect campaign flyers from the last two or three elections and see how many promises from the Liberals haven't been followed through on. I'm guessing a lot. We've still got GST for a start. And inadequate health care. And I'm sure the list goes on. And on.