I AM A SEPTUAGENARIAN ACTION FIGURE

It's September 13th, and once again as it does every year, my birthday celebration has arrived. This year the day has substantially more significance for me, in that while I have been enjoying a few of the perks of my senior classification, I am now a confirmed codger. I have turned 70 years of age today. I am a septuagenarian. Can you see the numerical French root 'sept' in yet another English term?

The term might be used in the following manner but I will not let this be true of me, 'He sat there, a portly septuagenarian sunk deeply into a leather chair." Rather, I intend it be said of me, "Ron was the first septuagenarian action figure." I may have a long way to go since although I go to the gym each morning at 6 AM, I am failing to lose any significant weight. My tummy although still muffin topped is hard. Because of that, although Christine knows that I leave for the gym, she suspects I am stopping for a fast-food breakfast.

The world continues to be obsessed with youth and beauty and success and that won't change. The fashion world gravitates to 20-somethings and that too is predictable. However, I have earned my sartorial stripes and I am a fabulous septuagenarian as is my wife Christine. Our style is timeless and it has little to do with fashion or skin-care. We are simply sensational and have the confidence to prove it. We own our looks and at 70, I am cool.

What a Wonderful 70th Birthday I had.
I went to the gym, shopped for a rose bush and a plum tree, took my grandchildren and daughter Cari for after-school pre-dinner ice cream cones at Andy’s in White Rock, walked the beach, came home for aperitifs & Lasagna supper with my family (11 of us) courtesy of Christine, my requested dessert (my mother’s Egg Custard Pie Recipe) went on a scavenger hunt organized by my grandchildren, sat while family read blessings to me capped with a prayer, then to each of my children’s home to plant the rose bush and the plum tree. And all children to bed. And then the grand finale, a serendipity … en route home I decided to drive past our old home and there we saw our kitchen stove, only 3 years old sitting on the front lawn available to any claimant of garbage collector … nothing wrong with it … so, I quickly returned to my son Jeff’s place, we hooked up his utility trailer, picked up the stove and delivered it to a family with four small children whom we knew could benefit by having it.

The Bachelor

A NEW LEARNING
Okay I admit it; I have watched some segments of the Bachelor reality show this year. On Monday night last week I sat upstairs with the small TV so I could watch the two hour special ‘24’ show. Bachelor was running simultaneously and downstairs, Christine was devoted to that show. When 24 concluded, I caught the tail end of Bachelor too. While it is a compelling fantasy to have fifteen women vying for one man’s devotion, I have always disliked the reality of such a scenario as he kisses each of them with regularity to find the perfect match. Why not call it Harem Search. That show confirmed for me both the romance and the disgust I feel for the show – which of course is precisely what makes it so appealing. On Tuesday night last week the absolutely last hour of 2009’s Bachelor show was telecast.

Bachelor Jason came to a choice between two girls each of whom he cared for immensely. Both Melissa (left) and Molly (right) are fine people and would have been good partners for him. Both professed to have fallen in love with him. One of them was going to be hurt. Jason was torn in making his choice but he said goodbye to a stunned Molly and of course the camera showed Jason buckled over in grief when he she left in the limo. As devastated as she was, she stated to him that she believed he was making a big mistake that he would regret. But then that segment ended with his glorious proposal to Melissa who was overjoyed as he told her he loved and he was the happiest man in the universe. And they kissed and spun in circles and embraced with Jason’s three year old son Ty.

The Monday night show began solemnly without a studio audience because we were primed by show host Chris Harrison that a measure of privacy (no audience) was required out of respect for Melissa and Jason and who else? Molly! That’s right. So these three spoke individually in front of a camera crew but very aware that a TV audience of millions was also watching. Some privacy! First, Jason, highly emotional, explained to Chris that things had changed between Melissa and him and he still had feelings for Molly. Then Melissa came out and he broke the news to her and she properly detonated and left the studio telling him never to contact her again. In came Molly who in private with Chris said that she loved Jason but when Jason entered to tell her that he just broke it off with Melissa and he wanted another chance with Molly, Molly was at first staggered and then clearly thrilled. Then Tuesday night’s show was a closer as the happy couple announced how much in love they are and how much hope they have for a future together.

One thing was clear. Jason, the super nice guy and father of Ty is a confused character who finds it hard to commit after losing his wife and that putting himself into the artificial setting of fifteen women competing for him was the wrong approach. A second point is that ABC or any network cares only about ratings and dollars and lives and reputations are disposable, but of course all participants in signing on, know this is a show with no guarantees of happiness. Third, the TV show is a great diversion for viewers like me with our own personal issues, because the reality show is not my own reality.

Reprise: Melissa is on the new Dancing with the Stars show now as a contestant. Jillian a Canadian and earlier dumpee from Jason’s nest will be next year’s Bachelorette who decides between 25 bachelors. Life is great isn’t it?

Eccentricity

A NEW LEARNING
When I was young I didn’t understand life so I had low tolerance for eccentric people, specially when they were members of my extended family. I thought everyone had to conform to societal expectations or mine. Eccentricity is not madness. It’s oddness. An eccentric’s behaviour deviates from societal norms but otherwise eccentrics function normally enough in society. It is unconventionality at its best and it should not be viewed apprehensively or amusingly. It should be respected. In its purest state eccentricity is a kind of innocence.

I am wiser now. I now love eccentric people. I want to be one. You might say “you either are one or you aren’t.” I am not convinced about that. Eccentricity is often associated with genius, giftedness and creativity. Well that’s me. An arrogant assertion I grant you. I have come to believe that I am a secret eccentric, or maybe more accurately a person who has suppressed his eccentricity. For too long my eccentric self has been inhibited by social boundaries and finally I must let it out of the closet.

But my self analysis doesn’t appear to correspond with what sociologists know. An eccentric’s habits stem from a mind so original that it cannot be conformed to societal norms. So can I be eccentric? I think so. Sometimes eccentricity is clearly intentional. Some artists, comedians, artists even athletes maintain funny and irregular behaviour to draw attention and to exploit the benefits of such abnormality. In some cases people have embraced a public eccentricity for religious reasons.

I will have you know that I intend to be eccentric at all costs. Even if I must pretend. Ohh, that doesn’t sound genuinely eccentric, at all. There are comparable terms for eccentric. ‘Avante-garde’ is too sophisticated for me. ‘Quirky’ may be close but suggests a neurosis. I like ‘original.’ I am an original. Yes, that’s it. My artist friend Barbara Boldt decries prints and sells only her originals. Once an original is painted and sold, it’s gone. No one else can have a copy. It is one of a kind. Okay perhaps I'm not eccentric. Original - That’s me. Pretty good breakthrough for one day don’t you think?

* Photo portrait depicts Spanish surrealist Salvador Dali, an exceptional eccentric by lifestyle, looks and artistry, his behaviour sometimes gaining more attention than his art.
* Top image is of Dali's 'Profile of Time.'
* Lower image is of Dali's most famous painting, 'the Persistance of Memory.'

Websites - I am Voting for the Bloc

A NEW LEARNING
Compare them yourself. Here is the new Government of USA website entitled ‘Welcome to the White House”, and here is the existing Canadian Parliament Website. Which impresses you? makes you want to read further and to explore? Now here is the official Government of Canada site, a very comprehensive information vehicle. So kudos for content on this one.

I would describe the Canadian Parliament site as unimpressive. But it is more than that. It gives the appearance of an early entrance into the internet website era, even a reluctant admission that this is the most comprehensive form of communication today. In contrast the USA government site was newly installed on January 20 2009, Inauguration Day and carries the same look and colours of Barak Obama’s presidential campaign site. It is designed to engage people in government and to increase the information flow in both directions. Our Canadian site currently is configured with small font, jammed with information on presenting pages and not at all stimulating to explore unless in serious need of information. (Did you notice how my visual images contrast the scale of my impressions of each?)

So I decided to write to the Canadian Parliament website at their invitation to say the following:
“This is not a criticism but a suggestion. Having just viewed comparatively the new web site of the USA government and our own Canadian government site, perhaps a refreshment of our Canadian site design with use-friendliness, colour, and larger font would increase user volume and ease of use. Since timing of USA's new site was January 20th 2009 might it not be timely to affect this redesign for January 26 2009 start of the next session? Thanks for reading.
http://ronunruhgallery.webs.com/ Ron”

Yes you can see that I even threw my art website at them in a brazen self promotion.



I would love to see a Canadian government website of which I can be as proud as I am of my country.

1. Conservative Party website is attractive, easily navigable, informative but not current and still contains the old fighting anti NDP and Liberal rhetoric.
2. The Liberal Party site is cast in red & white, plainly and simply, easily navigated but disappointingly uninformative about major issues and policies and agenda.
3. The NDP site is shockingly and tastelessly orange as in construction coveralls, but it's well designed and provides good visuals.
4. The Bloc Quebecois Party website has the mandatory English option, good visuals and colours and is very informative.
5. The Rhinocerus Party is designed in simple red and white with the goofy rhino logo, looks like a cartoon and does not work well.
5. The Green Party site is... green, well laid out, is easily understood, has very good issues and solutions lists. I am impressed.

Of the Canadian collection in terms of design and useful information I would shortlist the Conservative, Green and Bloc sites and my vote goes to the Bloc.