The most prevalent theme for me this past year: Love or Death. But death seems to be winning out for it's realistic and appealing quality. I don't see it as negative. The prospect of finding, acquiring, keeping, and nurturing love not just for another person but also myself? Daunting. 0+

I feel truly sorry for people in the construction industry. Most of them ...no, nearly every one of them are sad. They choose insecurity and ignorance, and wonder why their lives are filled with obstacles while they dish out hate to anyone not like them. Well, when your go-to is to openly hate people that you don't bother to get to know, you are begging for misfortune and people like me are happy to oblige. You don't know who the person you act mean to is or what they do, but when I meet people like them, especially ones who mention the company they work for, I flag them at work. These are the same people who come with hat in hand and wonder why people like me in power say "no". I don't just do that, I make sure to spread the word to other contacts and all relevant organizations. I don't bother with social media, I talk to industry contacts. No, not talk to them...warn them. So, next time you look for favours and someone says they can't help you, know that there's a pretty good chance you've screwed yourself indefinitely.

I feel that customer service has gone downhill. They make you wait for so long and they rarely solve a problem.

I can only speak through my own experiences, however I’d like to offer some advice to those out there who have children with Autism. Don’t force your children to want friends. If they want friends, put them in a situation where they’ll be able to find some. Once they feel comfortable, then they’ll gradually learn the ropes on their own. If your kids don’t like something, there’s a good chance they never will, especially if you keep pushing it upon them. Leave them to find their own interests and they’ll be happier about themselves.

I ran away from home when I was ten. I stayed away for a day and a half. My folks were plenty worried. I had unpleasant and frightening experiences which, in today's world, would have had very serious consequences, death being not an unlikely one of them. When I went home, because I could not imagine a way that staying away could work for me, at that time, my folks treated me well for a while, but then it was back to the way it was. The next time I ran away, years later, I had a better plan, and I never went home again.

I’m definitely in favour of legalizing pot and have used it myself since the 70’s. But come on. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t justify holding an unsanctioned event that takes over one of the most popular places in the city, causes a ton of damage to the turf, while selling what is now a controlled substance, and expect nothing to change. Legalization isn’t perfect, but it’s a lot better than it used to be when people were getting arrested for smoking a joint. So grow up and stop whining about your “protest” because everyone knows it’s not that and it’s really just a pot fest with thousands of people illegally selling products and getting stoned on the street. It’s over. Deal with it.

It seems to me that the people who are so ready to tell someone that they need to get over it or forget about it, are often the ones who caused the problem in the first place. Or they benefited from a situation where the other person was harmed. I understand that anger can be destructive, but without it things rarely change. When someone is raised in a society where only certain people are socially allowed to be angry, and if they’re told they’re crazy for fighting against discrimination or subjugation, it’s pretty normal for them to have a lot of resentment. Until a person can truly acknowledge the privilege they’ve been granted purely by their physical manifestation, I don’t think they have the right to tell someone who hasn’t had that privilege not to be angry and to just get over it.

I remember this girl who I went to college with some years ago. We had fun times together and worked on a lot of cool group projects. Whenever we didn’t have to do any homework, we’d meet up for dim sum at authentic Chinese restaurant near North Burnaby. By the time grad came around, we both drifted. Nothing happened or anything. We just lost touch. If only there was a way I could locate her and reconnect. Back in the day, she told me she didn’t have social media. So I wonder if it’s still possible to reestablish connection.Haven’t forgotten our dream team.

They just faded away. For awhile there the city was so romantic. Walk along here something in the distance then come across someone playing beautiful music. Its a shame they're gone now.

You spend the whole relationship you have with someone making sure that they always know how replaceable they are. You take extra pains to let them know that they’re not special, and you criticize them constantly. You refuse to make a commitment of any kind. So eventually they just give up and accept that it’s never going to be what they want and need, and they leave you. If you’re genuinely surprised by their decision, I think you need to wake the hell up.