I Hate Hockey

Yes. You heard it right. I, Jennifer Dixon, proud Canadian, hate hockey. Really there is nothing wrong with the sport as far as sports go. The problem is that I live very close to the rink (arena?) where the Edmonton Oilers play, and I am sick to death of the NHL. I'm tired of listening to the Woo Report, and I am tired of watching my unemployed single mother neighbour deck her house out horribly and tackily with Oilers parphenalia. Granted, I don't know her whole story, and I try oh so hard not to judge, but if she put even half the energy into finding a job as she does into the Oilers...well...needless to say, I'm feeling a wee bit snarky. Every time I go outside it gets uglier and uglier, and tonight I had to watch her on the news again. I won't even go into the fact that her unneutered male "purebred" pitbull sits in the front yard and flips out every time Mary and I go out to play, and I often see it running around the neighbourhood because it has escaped.

Phew. Now that I have that nastiness out of my system...It's hard to be a tolerant person some days, particularly living in the neighbourhood that I do. I see a lot of people every day who need help, who are living in the streets, who have drug problems or whatever else. It makes me so frustrated to watch my tax dollars go to whatever they are going to (Afghanistan, hunting "terrorists") when our social programs are just not working. I understand that our social programs in Canada are better than what is offered in the States, but sometimes I think that it's not enough. There is just no reason for anyone to live in poverty in the richest province in the country. I also have to say that there are very few legitimate reasons for an able bodied person to be out of work for any length of time in Edmonton. The Tim Horton's not too far away is so desperate for people to work for them that they are offering to pay 6 hours for every 4 hours you work, and they aren't the only place that is struggling to keep staff.

On to other things. Goody commented on my last post wondering if I have ever thought about homeschooling Mary. I have thought about it, an awful lot. I started looking into homeschool before Mary was born, and I've come to a few conclusions. Number one, it's very expensive. You need to pay for your supplies and extra-curricular activities which both cost a whole lot of money. Number two, well, I'm selfish. I'm looking forward to Mary going to school so I can get out of the house from time to time, maybe get a part time job. When you homeschool, you never get a break from your child, and I just don't think I could do it. I'm also not terribly confident that I could give her a quality education. I want her to speak French, and while I can teach her the basics, and I often talk to her in my bad French, I want her to be more fluent in the language than I am. I'll just need to do my best to teach her the values that are important to her father and I when she isn't in school.

Well, Miss Mary is getting crabby and tired, so I had better get my sweet girl into bed.