BlogTalkers: When was the last time you were afraid? What scared you? And how did you conquer your fears as a child? How do you conquer your fears today? What scares you the most? Do you have nightmares? If so, what are they? What was the most bizarre nightmare you've ever had? What was the most bizarre nightmare anyone has ever told you?

I'm still afraid of the dark. It's silly but true. Last night doing laundry in the basement I had to go down into the dark room and feel around the corner for the light switch. Just a bit creepy to reach out into the dark. My other worst nightmares were around the time I was immigrating to the US and marrying down there. I dreamed all my hair and teeth were falling out.

My worst nightmares have been where the devil came to see me. Kind of funny cause I don't believe in hell or the devil. But it was the scariest, most real feeling dream I ever had. I had the same kind of dream twice, different locations where he was wearing different clothes and faces.

I try not to have fears about things like spiders, toads, etc. Those are all such little things, fun kind of things to be afraid of when you think of the really big things out there. I'm afraid I will die an old wretched bag lady, alone and without a roof over my head. I'm afraid I won't ever have a real place of my own to feel and be at home. Those are real things to be afraid of. Spiders just don't have much on that.

Blog Talkers: Annoyed. What annoys you? What do you do that annoys other people? Are you quick to lose your temper? How often do you get annoyed? Do you have a short fuse? Tell us about the last time you were annoyed - REALLY annoyed.

I have a short fuse when I'm already frustrated or feeling trapped by someone or some thing. I very rarely get really angry. The last time was about 2 years ago.

I don't talk about anger much. I grew up being told I was just being too sensitive or blowing things out of proportion so I just stopped getting angry. I try not to let anything of negative feelings show at all whether it's anger or sadness, etc. In life it seems you are really only allowed to be happy and pleasing to others. Anything less is your fault and you have to deal with it alone.

Sometimes I have my blog as an outlet for my feelings. But, in reality I am either outgoing and social or just very quiet.

I don't often post about politics or issues cause I just don't see the point. It's like chasing your own tail for your own amusement. The only people listening are other people chasing their tail too.

I was thinking this morning about the up and coming raise to minimum wage. It's going to go to $10 an hour as the standard. I forget just when, next year I think. Some people think this is just grand, an answer to all their problems. But, I think, it's going to cause massive unemployment and prices on everything from your toe nail cutters to your car insurance are going to go way up.

Think of it as the retail store selling gizmos. They now have to pay their employees an extra $2.something an hour. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Under water that iceberg includes the services the retailer uses to get the gizmos they sell, the services the retailer uses to present the gizmos to the public and the services the retailer uses to be allowed to stay in business. We can call them insurance companies, electric power companies, transport companies and window display small business companies for short, though there is a much longer list. Ask your local retailer about the services and businesses they use for their business and services. All of those companies are also having to pay the new minimum wage and have put their prices up.

So how does the gizmo seller stay in business? In order to stay in business they have to raise the price of gizmos, quite a bit likely. Just to try to pay for their increased costs and their employee wages. If they can get rid of a few employees they will. They will have to. Likely they will struggle awhile. Then the company that mass produces the gizmos for the retailer begins to get greedy and offer them at wholesale prices from some warehouse instead of going through retail. So now the retailer is cut off. They can't compete against that.

The politicians who started this are trying to throw a bone. Thinking that the public will think this is just great. Hoping that we will be so overwhelmed by their generosity and concern for our welfare that we will actually feel we should get out to vote for them. There has been a huge lack of turn out for elections. I haven't voted for a long time myself. Not that I don't care. I just don't see anyone I'm willing to pay the cost of gas for to go out and vote. No one stands out as someone worth my time. Whichever party put this through is just hoping to get the support of the huge amount of the public who work dead end minimum wage jobs and those who have less than that but aspire to more.

In reality, we've just been royally screwed over. Once this whole things starts within a year there will be tons of unemployment. Which will be a drain on government support services which comes from the average person making minimum wage at a dead end job. So taxes will go up too. Which means your grand minimum wage raise will be sucked right back up by the government. Thank you very much.

Don't worry about the politicians though. Even if only a handful of people vote they give themselves another raise, take a few months off. Just pay them in margaritas and send them to the summer cottage in Muskoka.

Light the fire. I'm done.

Blog Talkers: Joke. What is a joke to you? What do you find funny? Do you appreciate a good practical joke, or do you think practical jokes are cruel? What is the best joke you've ever played on someone. What is the best joke you've ever heard?

To me a joke is something that makes you laugh. Not everyone laughs out loud, even a soft secret laugh is a big deal for some people. Just as big as a belly laugh that floods the room with sound from someone else.

I laugh at something clever, something real like day to day things that happen to everyone. Finding humour in the ordinary is a real skill. Bringing a new slant to the ordinary is always great.

Practical jokes are a little cruel. It all depends on how everyone reacts after the punchline. It's not funny if someone is put on the spot of pretending they're laughing on the outside and not hurt on the inside. It's not really funny to pick on someone else. It's also far too easy.

I don't remember jokes. I guess when it comes to jokes and humour I just live in the moment.

Thursday Thirteen: Places I'd Like to Be

The mega bookstore, Chapters, with a latte and a credit card I don't have to pay off.

A beach on a sunny but not hot day. Walking along the waterline looking at shells, polished stones and enjoying the water washing my bare feet.

In bed, with a really good book, all snuggled up and warm, on a cold winter night.

Waiting for a bus, luggage already loaded, talking to other people waiting to re-board for the trip out to Vancouver, BC.

Outside our old house in Scarborough, all my sisters and my brother, making one of our great forts in the ditch after the snowplough has just gone by.

Again outside our old house, in the Spring, just after a huge, heavy rain storm. That tree with the big leaves has shed most of them again. We are all getting leaves, sticks, and walnut shells from inside the house so we can make them all float down the overflowing waterlogged ditch. Racing along to see which ones make it through the tunnel under the driveway.

At the site of a great old, abandoned farmhouse with all the elaborate trimmings of gingerbread, stone work and iron fence and so on. A stone house with one wall caving in a little and the roof sloping down, sliding off it's foundation as erosion takes hold.

Driving in the car after getting tons of photos of the abandoned farmhouse, my shoes are muddy and I'm trying not to touch my skin with my fingers cause I'm sure I touched some weed that's making me itchy. Ahead a few minutes down the road is the Tim Horton's I will stop at to clean up and get coffee for the rest of the trip home.

Playing euchre with all the family just as we used to for family dinners with the Grandparents, Uncle and Aunts when all the Grandparents were still alive.

Going out to a movie and the second hand bookstore with my nephew. Spending most of a day laughing with him and doing not much of anything.

Listening to the little nieces laughing and not just sitting in front of computers or televisions and babysitting themselves.

Having a romantic week away with someone special. Someone who will still be around for another romantic week away a year from then.

At the Morningside Mall with Angela, a friend I have not seen since high school, having coffee and conversation.