Question of the Week #3

(— Question of the Week #2

What are your thoughts on the penny?
Recently the Canadian Government decided to stop manufacturing pennies.
How do you feel about that?

Welcome to Question #3. Every week (it won’t be every week) I’ll put up a question, ramble on about it for a bit, and then would very much like it if you chip in your opinion.

So, penny for your thoughts?

*knock-knock-knock* Penny! *knock-knock-knock* Penny! *knock-knock-knock* Penny!

I think it’s neat. Like, it sounds like something trivial and silly. You know, like something you’d see a parody of a government arguing about on a skit of SNL. Like, The representative from Toledo motions for a larger surplus of push pins in civic buildings. Motion denied on account of prior request for longer extension cords and lack of storage space, or something. But apparently, this is serious business.

Did you know it costs a cent and a half to make a penny? Nickels cost about nine cents. The Canadian Government apparently lost somewhere around $7 billion making pennies last year.

I’m happy with this change in policy. People don’t accept pennies anyway. Well, the only people who accept pennies are people; you can’t use them in vending machines for example. One we get rid of the penny, I think transactions would go faster. Some people might lose a bit at having to pay an extra two cents when their $X.X3 gets rounded up to $X.X5, but they’ll make it back when it rounds down.

Admittedly, there is the whole ‘tradition’ argument. We’ve always had the penny and always should, and all that.

What do you guys think? Is dropping the penny something you agree with? Is completely discontinuing them a step too far? Or, do you think we should go further and only have coins in dollars, dimes, and fifty-cent pieces?

If you make the Now we’ll have to say ‘Nickel for your thoughts’ joke, I will kill you.

“ In the United States, you never hear politicians or members of the cabinet saying things like, “It costs taxpayers a penny-and-a-half every time we make one. Therefore we will stop making them.” We don’t make politically neutral, factual statements.
This is why we still have pennies.” 
― John Green, ( What the Death of the Canadian Penny Says about the U.S. )

Question of the Week #2

(— Question of the Week #1

Question of the Week #3 —)

Would you rather have your cake, or eat it?
Maybe it’s that toy you really wanted. Or that really pretty flower on the bush. Whatever it is, its use is limited; the toy will break and the flower will die, but only if you take it.
Do you?

Welcome to Question #2. Every week (it won’t be every week) I’ll put up a question, ramble on about it for a bit, and then would very much like it if you chip in your opinion.

So, what do you do?

The title is actually Ready for number 2, which could mean something else entirely.

As far as sayings go, this one isn’t a very good one. “You can’t have your cake and eat it too” uses a meaning of ‘have’ that, contextually at least, isn’t usually applied to cakes. Eating a cake is, using a certain definition, having the cake. But you and I both know that the saying means something along the lines of “You can’t keep your cake and eat it too,” and that I’m just beating around the bush and stalling for time. So let’s get to it.

I’d rather keep it, in most cases.

I don’t know for sure why, but I’ve been like that even since I was a kid, more or less. When I got a toy that came with stickers or whatever that I was supposed to put onto the toy (headlights and logos on a toy car for example), I just wouldn’t. In that particular situation, I think it was because I was afraid I would screw up and wreck the sticker and the car would look bad and that the car looked very fine indeed without any stickers.

I’m sure you know other people like this, too. That relative with the special dinner ware that’s for a special occasion that never comes. That friend who always carries around an extra twenty ‘just in case’ but will never spend it.

People do this in video games a lot as well. Many gamers have found themselves facing the final boss while carrying an inventory full of healing potions and stuff, and still refuse to use them.

I also sort of do it with food, if you can call junk food food. Every once in a while, my mom will buy me one of those bigger Wonka Nerds boxes. When I first open the box, I’m practically drinking it down. But, as it gets lighter and lighter, I start eating it less and less. It’s like a bell curve, I guess. When I’m left with what would have been a single mouthful when the box was first opened, might end up sitting there for weeks ‘just in case’ I need a sugar fix.

On the other hand, these things were made for a specific purpose. To be used. The candy for eating, the fancy plates to be eaten on, and the stickers for sticking. Who am I to deny this thing of its destiny? The toy was meant to be played with and the flower was meant to be enjoyed.

Man, I’m hungry.

“Debbie had to get up and slice me a thick piece of cake before she could answer. And I do mean thick. Harry Potter volume seven thick. I could have knocked out a burglar with this piece of cake. Once I tasted it, though, it seemed just the right size.” 
― Maureen Johnson, (Let It Snow: Three Holiday Stories)

Question of the Week #1

Question of the Week #2 —)

Have you told the person you like that you like them?
Maybe you’ve known them for years. Maybe only a couple of weeks. Your heart flutters when you think about them. In your mind, the two of you are perfect together. They are the one for you.
Have you told them?

Welcome to Question #1. Every week (it won’t be every week) I’ll put up a question, ramble on about it for a bit, and then would very much like it if you chip in your opinion. This might seem like a big question to start with, but I felt that pulling my punches with a fake, easy question would be a little disingenuous.

So, have you told them you like them? If not, why not? If you have, have you done it recently?

They came with the frame.

A couple months about a year ago I managed to work up the courage to tell the girl I like that I liked her. Her response was a small smile and a “Yeah, I know,” (I had said “… You know I like you, right?”)

But why is it so hard? Best case scenario is that they like you back, while worse case scenario is that you learn that they don’t (if they do worse, then I don’t imagine them being someone you’d want to be with anyway). Then hopefully you could move on.

Depending on how subtle or introverted you are, they might already know. Maybe they like you back, but don’t know if you like them. I know if someone liked me I would want them to say so.

But that’s the thing, though, isn’t it? Telling someone that you like them is really putting yourself out there. That’s a very vulnerable minute. And no one likes feeling vulnerable. People like feeling safe, or routine.

A case of “Better safe than sorry” versus “Nothing ventured, nothing gained”

“Make your choice, adventurous Stranger,
Strike the bell and bide the danger,
Or wonder, till it drives you mad,
What would have followed if you had.”
— C.S. Lewis (The Magician’s Nephew)