Today my son, brought us some Lysol wipes which made our day as we have not had any all this time! So I took a photo of it with my iPhone and then played with it.

 

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! ❤️❤️❤️

Bones, my little stuffed/plush dog toy. You saw the photo of his tail in a previous photo, now here he is trying to feel safe.

#CoronavirusTimes

 

Updates: I have two more stuffed toys now:

9/14/20: Gundy bear)

9/30/20 Boggs (dog)

Says Here, I Should Use Lysol To Disinfect The Things I Touch The Most....

I've Got A Feeling This Is Gonna Burn.

♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♫ ♪ ♩

 

Day 10 self-exile reflections:

 

The heroes of the world are not who you think.

(As much as I'd love to swoop down and cleanse the world).

 

I want to take a moment to thank the unsung warriors of essential retail, delivery drivers, even that family who owns the convenient store on the corner. The Doctors, Nurses and Emergency Services, and everyone else on the front lines risking your asses to save the lives of anyone unfortunate enough to catch the virus.

 

To the writers, game developers and film-makers keeping us entertained and sane, you'll never know how much your hard work is appreciated.

 

To you, at home sitting on the couch bored out of your mind, you are also a hero. Keep it up. I'd also love some recommendations for books, games, tv shows... etc. to pass the time if you have any.

 

We're going to all get through this. Stay positive, you've got this <3

What'll you have, buddy?

Gimme a Malignant Narcissist, barkeep.

What's in it?

Simple. Lysol and orange juice. I just heard it was great.

Orange juice I got. Lysol though?

Maybe check under the bathroom sink.

Good idea.

Went digging into my archives for something to go with my song choice today....

 

Listening to New Soul - Yael Naim. btw I FREAKIN LOVE THIS SONG!!! Just say'n!!

 

Not been around much cos I got house full of germs!! I will try and play comment catch up soon...... Now where the hell did I put that can of lysol? bahaha

  

Vintage Lysol bottle, circa 1910-20.

It is amazing how spoiled we tend to get being so used to having nice services when traveling, but when someone advertises a nice establishment, and after you arrive it turns into being a dump, sometimes it takes a little extra effort to tolerate it. Going to our spring circuit assembly this month was really an adventure since all the hotel rooms close by were booked for a big basketball game and the only thing we could find was the Avalon in Jackson, Michigan. This hotel was originally an old Holiday Inn but has been advertised as being totally renovated and new, so we bit since everything else was full, and they showed great photos in the advertising. We had made reservations, requesting six rooms, for a full weekend, and we wanted them all adjoining rooms so the children could sleep in the adjoining rooms with their parents close by. Since we were paying for the whole family we checked in and waited for the children to arrive. When the children got there about an hour later, we found only one set of rooms were actually adjoining. When we told them we only wanted five of the rooms then because the rooms were not adjoining as they were supposed to be, the second shift woman Sandy would not give us a refund for turning in that one extra room because we did not complain within fifteen minutes of arrival. We told her the kids just got there and they do not want to leave their children in a room not joined to their room, but she was so mean and stubborn. This is a total rip-off joint from the photos on their web-site. The rooms were full of smoke smell even though they are marked non-smoking, the TV's were all snowy, you have to ask for these dinky towels to get any towels for your room, the security lock was broken off our door, and I could not believe how run down it was. Every other door around our room had tape marked DNR pasted on the door, which probably meant 'do not rent', but we figured it meant do not resuscitate, and they were waiting for the coroner. This turned out to be one of the most adventurous camping trips we had been on in years. We even had invited a sister from our congregation with her two girls to stay with our group, and we were so embarrassed. My only recourse is to put the credit card in total written legal dispute until we know it has been adjusted properly. Since we had a hard enough time just turning in that one room back in, which also had the most horrid mold smell in it, we figured we were stuck. If you want a great camping adventure, check this place out. We just decided to make the best of it, headed for the store, and bought towels, toilet paper, Lysol wipes, and other misc camping gear. Just watch out for that grouchy woman called Sandy on second shift desk; I really feel sorry for her, a quarter would buy her a much better personality than the one she has. Since the cops showed up to serve a warrant on one of their regular guests while we were there, we just figured she was used to being a tough bouncer. While we were there I witnessed several families walk out outraged saying they were not going back, but you could tell they heard this so much at the desk, they would just apathetically say, oh well. This is not the first inside camping trip we have been stuck in, but we just wanted to warn everyone so you do not make the same mistake as we did at this place. All you can do is; the best you can, and then laugh it off. Since we had to go purchase our own towels, we figured we might as well laugh it all off by buying flamingo towels for everyone. When life hands you lemons, we just make lemonade. Psalm 68:19 Everything was worth it to be able to attend the convention.

I'd like to give a special thank you to a certain someone for my flickr pro account and I'd also like to say thank you for your friendship. You know who you are and this ones for you. ;)

 

Sorry I wasn't around last night. I ended up back at the Drs office with my daughter who seems to always get sick right before any holiday. She's got strep throat yet again and between her and her brother this is the 4th time it's hit my house in the last couple of months.. Errrr and if my son gets again before February he has to have his tonsils removed so as you can imagine he is a bit frightened right now and is using lysol on everything like it's going out of style !! Bahahaha.. Errrrr and due to a fire in the neighborhood last night we had no power most of the evening ! FUN TIMES !!.....

I will attempt to play some catch up later this evening ! ;)

 

btw my favorite part of this shot is the hint of blues (hehehe) and I like the softness here which I added..other than that this colorful beauty is straight from the camera. Just say'n !

Flickr Group Roulette wanted to know who we are NOT.....

 

Here's who I am NOT ------ I am not Josephine the Plumber --- obviously........

 

Every time I try to fix plumbing problems, I make it worse and HAVE to call the plumber. This time, there was no other choice. It started with one toilet, hopelessly, stopped up. By the time the plumber got there, everything was backed up - flushing the "good" toilet sent junk coming up the drain in the bathtub, things were starting to smell funky, and fortunately, I had not started the washing machine......that could have spelled disaster.

 

You would not BELIEVE what the plumber found in my sewer pipes - a dead, bloated squirrel...... OMG yes - it was gross to the max. I knew it was bad when I heard the plumber and his assistant suddenly holler "OHHHHHHH!!!!!! EEEWWWWWWW!!!!" It takes a lot to gross out a plumber, ya' know? Yes, I think my neighborhood plumber wished I HAD called Joe the Plumber......

 

I have used enough Pine-Sol and Lysol the past 2 days to bring up the stock market!

 

I may not be Josephine the Plumber, but I realized that I AM a flickrholic..... When the plumber asked me if I wanted to SEE the dead thing, I said "OH NO!!!!!!" and then thought for a split second and said "But, I want to take a picture of it!!!" And I did. Yes, I am addicted.

 

I was afraid I'd get kicked out of FGR and all of Flickr if I actually posted the picture of the dead, icky thing.....it was not pretty.....

 

for Flickr Group Roulette - "Un-Self Portrait"

 

Saturday

11-15-08

322/365

  

Explore #326

Lysol had no clue he was different than any of the other pets. Oh, sure, his coat coloring was kind of unusual, but, he walked on four legs like most of the other pets.

 

Kern County, California 2003

✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧

 

Everyday now I wake up and

Sit quietly on the side of my bed

I take a few long deep breaths and

Listen closely to the rhythms of my body

I work hard to still the rising tide of anxiety for

The waiting day in front of me

I remind myself that I am still here

I am still alive

 

I walk slowly through my sterile house

That smells of Lysol and bleach

Checking on my loved ones who are with me

Grateful they are still with me

Ironic how it takes a crisis to clarify perceptions

I vow then and there to everyday tell my people

I love them

 

I sit at the dining room table, coffee at hand

Steaming with hot bitterness

Mingled with my own rage at how this inept president has Mishandled the pandemic

The thousands dead who should not be dead

There is blood of the people on his hands

 

Slowly I begin to go through my emails

Reading the Breaking News that occurred

While I slept

I've resigned myself to the fact

That the next person I read who has Covid-19

Will be someone I know

Someone I loved

Someone I went to school with

Someone I once dated

Someone I worked with

Someone who went to school with my children

Someone my husband knows

Someone in my family

A neighbor

My children

 

This novel reality makes me pray and weep

Practice social distancing, stay away

Wash my hands

Over and over again

And breathe deeply

Deeply

So deeply

 

I feel grateful that I can still feel gratitude

Because I am alive

This novel reality makes me realize that I no longer wear

Rose tinted glasses

Our world has changed

My world has changed

Then I stand and try to turn my back to the wind

And begin my day

 

~MRD

 

✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧✧ ✧

 

Do you see the association of the two current events?.

Yes, Mexico!

~Nelonie A. Crelencia ©2009

 

| lancelonie photography © All rights reserved. DO NOT COPY. |

  

*EXPLORED*

No humans were harmed in making this photo.

In 'The Caine Mutiny' film Humphrey Bogart's martinet character Queeg almost perpetually works these around in his hand to relieve his hysteria or what-not.

A present for me brought back by my brother from his army days in Hong Kong. Not only do they relieve tension but the directions claim they work thru' Chakra channels to alleviate numerous ailments - a sort of asian Grandma's Lysol (a la Scaffold) ;o)

Give it up Shredder, people need those supplies.

♥ FP & EXPLORE ♥....3/30/09.... Best Position #32.....THANK YOU EVERYONE!

 

Hi everyone! I am sorry I have not been on a lot recently. Our family has had the stomach virus all week. My Anna is still not feeling up to par and home from school today. I've been busy washing and cleaning everything in sight! As I have joked with some of my friends... I have become the "Lysol Queen"!

 

I took this photograph (with a Sony camcorder) a few years ago from the deck of our cruise ship as it left the port in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I loved all the BLUE and yellow. The two floats in the water are giant water trampolines. As you can see by the clouds in the sky, it seems the island was about to see some rain......

Warning: Never injest or inject household cleaning products. No matter how well they kill viruses.

Take THAT nasty virus-that's-been-lingering-in-our-home.

 

I am so sick and tired of my family being sick and tired. I thought my youngest was on the mend, but now he's had a fever the last two days and is just not himself. Each day I expect to feel a little better but each day I wake up and I'm still sick. I normally never reach for chemicals but I'm at wits end here. I may just hose everything down today while the boys are napping safely in their rooms.

 

Thank god for my wonderful husband Harley who happily spent his day off yesterday helping me around the house. He made breakfast, did laundry, washed dishes, vacuumed and cleaned our dirty entry. Love you babe!!!!

 

About the picture... I definitely thought of Cafe Moka's photo this morning. :)

And I remember a picture my husband and I took a while back of the steam from his coffee in the sun and how neat it looked. There's no fancy strobe work here...only a fast SS, and a little bit of sunlight :)

 

View it bigger if you'd like :)

 

+1 in comments

Canon EOS 7D, Sigma 150-500 f5-6.3 at f6.3 aperture priority, edited in Capture One Pro 20.

 

GP is the gardener in the family. He loves to putter around the garden, me I like to take photos of it and of course reap the rewards when it's ready to harvest.

 

There is something to be said about growing your own. Today, with so many recalls of food here through Health Canada, it makes sense to either grow your own or at least try to buy local. Since COVID 19, many local food growers are having a hard time as farmers markets have closed or are at a limited capacity. Like other countries, we are trying to promote the travel within your own country to help stop the spread and of course buying local to support those businesses that have taken a hard hit due to the pandemic.

 

Gardening, like the baking craze has taken over (remember when everyone was baking bread and there was no yeast to be had? of course that is still the case along with you can't buy lysol wipes and some TP) and it's good for one's mental health as well. You have to look after your mental health as well as your physical health and hobbies such as baking, gardening, photography and heck even colouring (adult colouring books are out there and it takes your mind off the worries of the day even if just for a bit).

 

Continue to stay safe, document your covid pandemic life for future generations or even for you to look back on, create memories to share - take photographs!

An old Lysol bottle my mom found on their property. An oddity is that the parent company that owns my company just bought the company that owns the name Lysol.

 

Les Brumes texture used.

 

Added to Sliders Sunday because this took a bunch of sliding to get the look right. I bet I tried at least 5 different textures here, but ended up liking this one simple texture with a little mask work.

 

Also added to Macro Mondays. I didn't have much time this weekend since I was visiting my Mom with my kids for her birthday. I shot this not exactly thinking of Macro Mondays, but I got to pondering that we get too complacent in our "Belief" in cleaners always working. Often we get told that super bugs are becoming stronger and resistant to modern cleaners. So I guess the phrase "What doesn't Kill you makes you stronger" works for the bugs as well.

Coronavirus prep. Strange and scary times! I am prepped and ready to hunker down in the house. I have cleaning supplies, food and Fireball! I am learning new terms like "social distancing" and "flatten the curve." Be well everyone!

 

100x project

An old Lysol bottle discovered in the crawl space under my Grandparent's house. Probably from the 30's or 40's

Charlotte Mew.

Born-15 November 1869,Suicide By Drinking Lysol.– 24 March 1928.

Steve.D.Hammond.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu ... here we are with all our fancy gadgets back to square one ... people vulnerable before nature with only hope & love, one is not better than another, all equal with the same prayer inside ♥️ ... I feel dirty all day long as if covered in invisible mud, then at night in the hot burning shower when my body turns red I feel clean again. My take on the situation is not just the virus that is a problem it’s inadequate supply of proper gear & masks, alcohol, Lysol & other cleaning products. Not enough to go around to keep people sterile at all times.

. . . don't leave home without it

"Kills Cold & Flu Viruses"

Taken with HP Mini Full HD WiFi lc200W Camera

IF TRUMP WERE MY DOCTOR

Since we've now assumed this is not a hoax.

And pandemics are certainly not the time for jokes;

And laughter in victims may cause a fatal spasm,

It's certainly unwise to use sarcasm.

So let's follow his advice, before someone else croaks,

And add some Lysol

To our Diet Cokes...

 

BKite - 4/24/2020

 

KDON Radio is also dusting, vacuuming and prepping the place for summer.

Don -- in his best Beach Boys a la Mike Love outfit -- rubs his headsets with Lysol, while secretary Roxie is about to clean the marker board when she notices that someone left some "artwork" for Don...

Some of our Coronavirus stockpile.

Wanted to see how a drop shot with a can of Lysol Disinfectant spray as a backdrop looks like. =) Just having fun =D

Please don't inject it, though

The Sunday Evening Post, No.3: The Dangerous Public "Musing"

Thanks for stopping by and view this photo. The reason for posting this photo on Flickr is to learn so if you have constructive feedback regarding what I could do better and / or what should I try, drop me a note I would love to hear your input.

View on Black the way it should be seen!

-- Let the sound of the shutter always guide you to new ventures.

© 2021 Winkler

Remember to follow me on Social Media Facebook: Bjarne Winkler, We Capture Your Business, or Twitter @Bjarne Winkler, @CaptureWe, @NewTeamSoftware

IAPP Member: US#12002

 

We're tired.

Worn out, rough, sore abused.

Lotion is luxury, a poor attempt to smooth jagged edges.

Pretty colors, layered one over one over one, can't gloss the misuse.

Calluses worn for years provide the only protection most days.

But still, we are loved.

We are appreciated.

Our aches mimic the muscles of the legs, the back, the neck, on days when the steps wear onward.

We are a solid foundation.

We are feet.

 

And we are far less treacherous than the lungs.

Those rotten jerks quit working at the slightest excuse.

Like right now.

They've been on strike for days.

But we feet still journey to pharmacies and restaurants and cemetaries and bus stops.

 

Stupid lungs.

Long live the mighty feet!

 

WH - Short plays or monologues

 

If you can't guess by the ranting of my tootsies, still dealing with bronchitis. Little to no fever today, which is an improvement. BG on the other hand is just getting started on an antibiotic for her own fever/sinus/throat issues. Lysol is my friend. . . other than it causing more coughing fits when used.

Lysol

Smile compliments of Lysol. That’s right. I found a can hiding in a lower shelf. What a great day! 😷❤️☮️

As Timothy and Emily visited inside, Elizabeth borrowed Timothy's can of Lysol spray to disinfect all the gifts she would be taking home to the children (excluding the fish of course, which would wait for a different day to meet Kyle!)

 

Booley, meanwhile, wrapped himself up to stay warm for bed.

The End. :)

  

NEWS NOW

Dateline: July 22, 2029

 

”Good evening, this is Rab Constantinoff. Here is the day’s news… earlier, it was announced by the doctors at the John Hopkins University Dept. of Medical Studies and Innovation, that the first pre-masked baby was born. The much highly anticipated event was broadcast on a ZOOM PLUS 12 call, with physicians, attendants and various remote midwives issuing instructions from their living-rooms. The lone doctor in the birthing room, wrapped entirely from head to foot in the new Microantikevlarcellophane Body Wrap, the attached air canister equipped with only the finest, cleanest air supply available anywhere, held the baby aloft, it’s muffled cries suppressed by the ‘humantissue’, black mask, and immediately jabbed a needle into its rump with the first of forty-six vaccines to be administered in the next twelve weeks. The proud parents, speaking from their bedroom in Forest Hills, Nevada, named the infant Social Distantoinette. Of course, this birth… and the many more to follow… is the result of the Tripedzed vaccine administered after the thirty-seventh variation wave of CO-VID 19 in November, 2028. It was revealed in May that this particular vaccine carried the formula for pregnant mothers to conceive such a wondrous solution to conquering this long, long, long, on-going battle with the disease. It was anticipated that because of the seventeenth ‘black’ lockdown, where no one was even allowed to peep a nose out their front door, a Gen CO-VID X cohort would follow and something was needed to stem the potential onslaught.

 

Elsewhere… our reporter, Sharon Redstone, interviewed Dr. Benjamin Ouahou who is the country’s leading authority on endless years of lockdowns, strict public health measures and enforced vaccinations and the effect they are having on our older teenagers and younger twenty-somethings, who for the most part were just kids when all of this started. “Dr. Ouahou, thank you for joining us from your cave in the Borneo forest. Let me ask you, what signs are you seeing that all of this is having a severe, permanent effect on our young folk? Yes, well, first all, Sharon, can I ask you to just step back from your microphone a bit… and if you have a sanitized wipe you could use on it, even better. Reports are increasing that the latest strain of CO-VID 44 is being transmitted through electrical wires. Anyway, yes our young people are suffering. It has been four years since the last gym, a YMCA in Baton Rouge, closed down for good. The exercise facilities these young folk need to build strong bodies, healthy teeth and sound minds is non-existent, with the more resourceful of them desperately trying to maintain home gyms in basements or outdoors. However, supplies are so limited that even that is increasingly more difficult. “Okay, well thank you Dr. Ouahou. Pardon, what did you say, Sharon? (yelling) I said, thank you! Can you hear me? I’m twenty meters away from the microphone! I said thank you!”

 

Umm, ya... well, finally, a group of protesters, calling themselves Remember Mom’s Apple Pie, staged a peaceful demonstration outside of the parliament buildings today, trying to urge the Prime Minister to ease up a tad on the draconian travel restrictions that have been in place since fall of 2025. They demanded to at least be allowed to go to park once a week, visit a sick and elderly relative in a town not too far away and be permitted to write a post on Facebook saying that they could only dream about a vacation to the Galapagos Islands. Police, equipped with water cannons, masked, face-shielded German Shepherds and Lysol spray bottles, quickly broke that fiasco up, shooing ‘em all back to their residences and into the protective surroundings that only their Home Sweet Home can provide... for their own safety, of course! This is Rab Constantinoff saying, “With everyone’s cooperation, we can beat this terrible disease…don’t think about your own needs but rather, your social responsibility to your fellow human beings and together, we might… umm, I mean together, we will win the war. Good night."

 

Andrew's Summary of 2020

Always Look On The Bright Side of Life

Flickr version

January 1st, 2021

 

I’m gonna jump into the personal stuff shortly, but first of all, if you’re reading this, you survived 2020! And to be clear, I don’t mean you survived the isolation of lockdown or a toilet paper shortage. What I mean is that COVID-19 didn’t kill you.

 

Because of a combination of good luck, the efforts of essential workers, and the personal sacrifices you’ve made, you survived a year of the worst pandemic in 100 years.

 

And as of this writing, 9.8 million people around the world have had at least their first dose of the vaccination. Remember in the spring, when the expectation was that we wouldn’t see a vaccine for at least a year and a half? The fact that society is able to get vaccinations underway less than a year after this chaos started is pretty close to our generation’s “man on the moon” moment. It shows that when enough people give a shit about our common well-being (even if the motivation is to protect ourselves first), we can accomplish damn near anything.

 

Now on to the stuff that happened in my life in 2020:

 

I’ve often thought back to December 2019; about the last few weeks of the Before Times… and how the world was about to change, but we had no idea. Ally and I had gone up to my dad’s house for Christmas dinner, opening presents, eating, and carrying on with my family of origin and extended family. I even learned how to play dreidel. We watched the first season of The Mandalorian that month, and that’s the last thing I really remember doing before the pandemic hit the news.

 

Was 2020 the worst year in my life?

 

No, it wasn’t. It was shitty, but I’ve had worse years. In fact, 2020 was alright not too bad for me personally, in spite of some challenges.

 

We rang in the new year with Tina at Greenwood Park, after meeting up for a drink at a small, crowded bar on Gerrard Street. Fuck, can you imagine going to a crowded, narrow bar now? Hell no!

 

The first event that set the tone for 2020 was the death of Neil Peart, my drumming hero, on January 7th. He influenced my playing more than anyone else, especially in my late teens/early 20s.

 

On January 11th, we went to my mom’s house for my grandmother’s 90th birthday party. Another big family gathering that would be illegal now! I don’t remember when my grandmother flew up from Newfoundland, but she got stuck here until the end of June because of the pandemic. A highlight of that evening was taking a picture of Willow (the cat) staring at a wall.

 

As January went on, it became more apparent to me that my main employer didn’t know whether they were going to get funding to continue my job as a Gambling Addiction Case Worker. On January 17th, they issued me a letter stating that my contract would come to an end on February 16th, unless they found funding. So as disappointed as I was, I started winding down, by calling and informing my clients and taking my belongings home. Each day I would fill my Stephen Colbert canvas bag with my plants, books, and little appliances that I’d brought in, and take them home on the streetcar. I felt like bringing stuff home bit by bit would look less like “Wow, poor guy musta gotten fired”, compared to going home with everything at once. But let’s be honest; it’s me, and I wouldn’ta been able to carry all of my office belongings in one go, anyway.

 

I agreed to go back to Relief in Shelter Services in the hopes that funding would come through, and told myself that I would stick around until April, which is when the assistant executive director said they’d expect to hear about funding. While it was definitely not a “relief” (har har) to lose my job, it did allow me to move forward with my Europe trip.

 

On January 22nd, Ally and I went to my first Raptors game with tickets I’d won at work, and that was pretty fun. The Raptors actually won, which is unheard of for a Toronto team when I attend a major-league game. I’ve only been to one Leafs game, but every time I go to a Jays game, they lose.

 

Around that same time, I joined Planet Fitness. We went two or three times before the plague shut it down.

 

Also in January, I recorded a couple of Neil Young songs on GarageBand and sent them to my dad electronically to add parts to, and we sent them back and forth until they were finished in the spring. It was nice to be able to do that. This was the first time that I sang lead vocals on a completed recorded song, even if it was a cover.

 

In late January, the first known case of coronavirus came to Canada. At that point, it had spread to some other countries, but the numbers were still very low, and I figured it wouldn’t be as bad as SARS. I figured it would spread, but I figured it wouldn’t be as bad as it had been in China. Nothing was shut down; there was no panic-buying, and everyone was still carrying on pretty much normally, albeit perhaps washing our hands a bit more and making more effort to stay away from people who were coughing… But if only I knew in late January 2020 what I know now…if only we all knew. But to be fair, we have to forgive ourselves for the earliest part of the pandemic, since we didn’t have access to much information or PPE.

 

On January 31st, Ally and I took the bus to Niagara Falls for a few nights on a Groupon. We stayed at the Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview Hotel & Spa, which was pretty nice. We could see and hear the falls from our room. We treated ourselves to a delicious buffet breakfast both mornings (Remember buffets? They’re cancelled now). We walked down to the falls, which were flowing, but the mist had created an icy wonderland all over the surrounding trees, grass, and railings. We got a couples’ massage and read books by the big window in our room. Ally tried to get me to relax, but I have ADD, so slowing down and relaxing is not my strong suit.

 

I found out around early February that my main employer had actually secured one year of funding to keep one full-time Gambling Addiction Case Worker. But they gave it to my coworker (Coworker A), who switched over from a different role in 2019 after Coworker M left. Management apparently told Coworker A that they couldn’t offer it to me because I had been funded from an outside source. It’s true that my job was funded by an outside source, and I knew that they may have had to offer it to Coworker A first due to seniority…but from my perspective, Coworker A didn’t have to accept it, since she had a full-time job in the organization to go back to. When she took over from Coworker M in 2019, she told me that if it came down to this, she wouldn’t take my job. But she went back on her word. I “checked out”, so to speak. Several coworkers expressed to me that they were pissed off at Coworker A for doing that. It really made my last few weeks there an unpleasant experience, which sucked because I had really hit my stride in terms of confidence as a gambling counsellor by that point. My last shift as a GACW was on February 14th.

 

By that time, my Europe-trip-planning was in full swing. I was looking at Google Maps, calculating important times and little details, and booking tickets for trains, planes, and concentration camps. I was getting concerned about going to Europe as the pandemic was slowly growing, but by the time I was ready to go, there were only 14 confirmed cases combined in the four countries I was going to visit.

 

On the evening of Monday February 24th, Ally drove me to the airport, and we said goodbye as I got in the security line. Then my eyes started to water up.

 

I had spent 10 days apart from Ally a few times in previous years while she went to the meditation center, but I’d never spent 14 days apart on another continent. And it was my first solo trip. I’d flown by myself before, but always on short flights to meet someone (usually Dad) at the other end.

 

I got on the plane and was shocked to find that the seat next to mine was empty…for the whole flight. It had been a long time since I’ve experienced that!

 

After about an hour of sleep, I landed in London the next morning and got on the subway. It looked more like spring in England. I dropped off my one-ton backpack at the hotel and went for a walk in Kensington Gardens, then came back, questioned [through tears] the wisdom of my decision to fly to Europe for two weeks without my wife, and fell asleep.

 

Over the next few days, I saw the Tower of London, walked across the Tower Bridge and London Bridge, walked to the top of the Monument to the Great Fire of London, saw Buckingham Palace and went into Harrods. Then I took the Eurostar train through the Chunnel to Belgium, and took the SNCB train to Bruges. Walking down the road from the train station, it felt like I was in the 1450s. The woman at the hotel said some parts of the town are from the 700s. Also, it was the land of chocolate. If you haven’t been to Bruges, definitely go there after the pandemic if you get a chance!

 

After two days in Bruges, I took another commuter train to Antwerp for a couple of hours, then took the Thalys train to Amsterdam. The interior of the Thalys train was straight out of an Austin Powers movie. Once I got settled at the hotel in Amsterdam, I walked to a large, mostly-empty restaurant and ate a thin-crust pizza by myself. As much as I loved seeing the sights, I was self-conscious about asking for yet another table for one. And as per my previous trip to Europe in 2008, they still only served pop in tiny bottles. I guess growing up in Canada, restaurants here are influenced by the American tendency to supersize everything.

 

I spent the next few days walking around taking pictures of houses that looked like gingerbread, streetcars, and an old wooden windmill. I walked through the Red Light District, but it was still pretty early so there wasn’t a lot to see. Plus I was 34 and married, not 19 and single, so yeah.

 

On March 4th, the day Poland had its first confirmed case, I got on a blue KLM plane and flew to Kraków. There were a couple of young guys on the plane wearing masks, and I felt uneasy, but again, this plane wasn’t packed, and I had upgraded my seat for only 4 Euros, which provided a bit more physical distancing (or social distancing, as it was still called then).

 

Kraków is another town with a magnificent old square in the middle, and it was neat to be in an Eastern European city. Most of the people could speak English reasonably well though, so that helped.

 

The next day, I took an old, slow commuter train to Oświęcim. I wanted to see Auschwitz, as we skipped that when I went to Europe the first time, but I also wanted to see the town. The locals in Oświęcim had a much harder time with English, but a young guy saw me at the bus stop and helped me figure out where to go.

 

Auschwitz didn’t hit me as hard as I thought it might, but that’s probably because it wasn’t my first visit to a concentration camp. But I’m glad I went. I took the train back to Kraków that afternoon, and the next day I flew back to London on British Airways. The next day, I flew back to Toronto.

 

By the time I got back home, there were 956 confirmed cases in the UK, Belgium, Netherlands and Poland combined.

 

As much as losing my job sucked, I wouldn’t have been able to go to Europe had I kept it. And frankly, had I stayed in that job, I would have been redeployed as a Shelter worker anyway. I would have been more exposed to potential COVID carriers on the job, and I would have continued taking the streetcar five days a week, increasing my chance of exposure that way. So now that 2020 is over, I can say that losing that full-time job, because it happened as the pandemic was growing, was a blessing.

 

A week after getting home, Ontario went into lockdown. That seems to be the date that the general public uses as the start of all these restrictions, but I didn’t experience it the same way it seems other people have. I had just lost my job for reasons unrelated to the pandemic, but soon thereafter, I would be categorized as an essential worker. I worked from office through the rest of the pandemic. Due to various rules, I can’t work from home very often.

 

Soon, we were washing our fruits and veggies in the bathtub and spraying our cereal boxes with Lysol before bringing them into the apartment. Not using Lysol wipes, because those sold out and haven't reappeared. In mid-March, I went to get a COVID test for some reason, but they turned me away. In the meantime, the selfish were starting to strip the grocery stores of goods that I needed!

 

In March, I downloaded a couple of Zelda songs recorded by The Versions, and it led to a small obsession with the old Zelda Game Boy games for a good few weeks; primarily just looking at the game maps and listening to the music. To paraphrase Supernintendo Chalmers, I’m an odd fellow, but I steam a good ham.

 

At the end of March, I was offered a new job with my other employer; this time as a full-time Admissions Case Manager. Since I had done that work before, I decided to accept it. I started April 6th, this time working out of Oakville.

 

We had our first family gathering over Zoom for Easter, thankfully setting the precedent for safe “gatherings” for the rest of the year. Ally started making masks with a little sewing machine I got her for her birthday, since it was pretty much impossible to buy masks at that time. This was the first time in 100 years that the masses needed masks, so there was basically no supply.

 

In April, I started posting old APS film pictures for the memories. I think it was a comfort thing for me and perhaps for the people who saw them, too, as they were all from around 1995 to 2004, which for me represents a time of relative innocence, and certainly a period of not-being-in-a-pandemic.

 

I worked a few shifts at the shelter in the spring; once or twice at a hotel at Gerrard and Jarvis that they had repurposed to give the clients more physical distancing.

 

On April 28th, I went home from work with a symptom, and got my first COVID test. It hurt, but I expected it. I self-isolated for a couple of days while awaiting my result, which was negative.

 

On May 19th, I went for a second COVID test, as I had a symptom again. This time, due to the change in pandemic circumstances, I was told to self-isolate for two weeks, so I worked from home and didn’t leave the house. I discovered that the second half of May is the time when Lilac flowers bloom and then disappear.

 

While I was self-isolating, I decided to buy some APS film and fire up my old Kodak Advantix T500 APS film camera. It worked! For the next month or so (after the two weeks was over), I went around taking pictures of my world, having the benefit of many more years’ experience as a photographer than I had the last time I used film, back in 2004. I got some shots with a retro look, but with much better composition than before.

 

On May 28th, Ally and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary, at home with burgers from Great Burger Kitchen and a cake from Hype Food Co., both local businesses we liked to support.

 

In the spring, I concluded that the writing was on the wall regarding the shelter finding the funding to hire me back as a Gambling Addiction Case Worker. With all the layoffs and emergency pandemic spending elsewhere in society, there’s no way they were going to find the money. I later concluded that even if they found the money, I couldn’t work with Coworker A again, knowing that she accepted the one-year backup funding for the Gambling job, thus preventing me from continuing full-time, even though she could have gone back to her full-time job.

 

Around my last day as a GACW, the executive director told me about another job opening (that was a $5/hour pay cut), and said “We don’t want to lose you.” Well, they lost me. I busted my ass developing that gambling program, creating documents, making groups, doing counselling and outreach, and painstakingly logging and analyzing statistics, but they instead gave the backup funding to a worker who stepped in during the final year of the initial contract. I realized that I would be giving up 5 years of seniority, but I don’t work for organizations where my merits take a back seat to seniority – that’s how workers get the “fuck its”.

 

On June 6th, I worked a stressful shift, and on June 7th, I typed and sent my resignation e-mail. And you know what? It was the right decision. Unlike my last job that went sour (2015), this time I left on my terms, with my reputation intact. In the summer or fall, there was a COVID outbreak there and all the staff had to go home for two weeks. That’s not to say we won’t have an outbreak where I work now, but working in a shelter during a pandemic, with so many ins and outs, would have been more stress than it was worth. Plus, as I mentioned above, not continuing in the Gambling job allowed me to take a dream trip to Europe.

 

On July 7th, I got my third iPhone. Over the previous few days, my first-generation iPhone SE started malfunctioning. Apps wouldn’t open, the battery would rapidly lose power, and the phone would get really hot. So, given that four years had passed, I decided I could justify buying the new second-generation iPhone SE. This time, I ordered it online, and managed to set it up myself without going to a kiosk or calling my cell phone provider. It’s not as much of an upgrade as the jump from my iPhone 4 to my iPhone SE in 2016, but it’s still nice to get something new. Of course, it fell off the bathtub ledge into the empty tub the second day I had it, and my eco-friendly Pela case took three weeks to arrive.

 

In the spring, I got an idea to make a photo book for Ally for our upcoming 8th dating anniversary on July 15th. I spent a few months finding pictures of us and our adventures on various computers, phones, and hard drives, then editing them where needed and carefully positioning them in a custom Shutterfly book. I gave it to Ally on July 15th …and she loved it! I fully plan on doing another one for our 16th dating anniversary, because as I’ve said before, digital photos will not be forever. Someday our social media websites (including this one) will shut down and our hard drives will crap out, but books and the printed photo have stood the test of time. It’s expensive, but it’s worth doing if you have precious photos.

 

Ally got me a cake for our anniversary, again from Hype Food Co, which said “My husband hidey-hole is in my mind”, which is a paraphrase of a quote from yours truly.

 

Those of you who live in Southern Ontario will recall that starting around mid-June, we had a drought. The grass faded to pale yellow as a few weeks passed without rain. Finally we got a ton of rain in early August. Then the weather cooled off as soon as September came. We had another summer drought a few years ago, and the last few summers have been hot ay eff. It’s never supposed to feel like 40 degrees (Celsius) in Toronto. In case you’re a science-denier, think back to the last few summers.

 

Only July 23rd and 24th, we went out to try to see and get pictures of comet NEOWISE. Ally said she saw it, but I couldn’t. I suspect it’s because we live in Toronto and Ally has better night vision than I do.

 

That summer, Ally worked every Saturday at the shitty job she’d been redeployed to, and so I would walk her to work and then go on a substantial walk myself. I enjoyed those morning walks, because my overall walking distance this year was less than half of what it had been the previous three years. I had walked almost 5km a day on average between February 2017 and February 2020 as part of my commute, but now that I was driving to work again, all that exercise went out the window. My average for 2020 was a mere 2.3km/day.

 

In the middle of August, my job became permanent, and so I can say that in 2020, at the age of almost 35, I finally got my first full-time permanent job™.

 

I was really struggling at work throughout the summer and the fall. It was so much harder than when I worked a similar role in 2015, because we had all sorts of time-consuming pandemic-related precautions and procedures in place; a few of which took multiple days to complete, and because we had gone from rolling admissions (i.e., revolving door) to group admissions, meaning we had to spend a ton of time preparing for a bunch of guys coming in at once.

 

But I also recognize that I’m lucky to have a job at all this year, since so many people lost their livelihoods due to the pandemic.

 

At the end of August, I finally gave in and rented a storage unit. I had always thought it was a waste of money to rent storage space rather than throwing things out, but renting this storage unit is immensely cheaper than renting an apartment with an equivalent increase in floor space.

 

On my 35th birthday, Ally got me Completo and another cake from Hype Food Co, and I had a Zoom party, which is the best I could hope for, since it was zero risk for catching the coranavarice (the way I pronounce it, thanks to Irish Siri).

 

I also got a drone for my birthday (a DJI Mavic Mini), so now in addition to allowing the Chinese government to know where I was at all times (hahaha…ha…), I could take those cool overhead shots that I’d been coveting for a short while. I took the drone out 11 times between September 20th and Christmas Day (it’s not like a regular camera; there are a lot of rules I have to follow when flying it, and my drone is in the least rule-intensive category), and although the picture quality is a step down from what I’m used to with my SLR, it definitely provides new opportunities that I otherwise wouldn’t have had. In fact, a friend of my mother-in-law’s had seen some of my drone pics and then asked me to film some footage for a church in their area, so I went up on a cold day in October and had my first paid gig as a drone photographer…after flying it only three times before.

 

On September 27th, Ally and I drove to Presqu’ile Provincial Park and went camping together for the first time. We had bought a tent and other supplies, and it was a nice escape from work for a few days. We ate lots of snacks and saw lots of wild animals. Next year, Ally says she wants to try camping at Lake Superior Provincial Park, so hopefully the pandemic, and our vacation days, will allow it!

 

On October 6th, Eddie Van Halen (one of my guitar heroes) died, and the next day, Ally’s grandmother died at the age of 96.

 

Later in October, we saw the second Borat movie, which was hilarious as expected!

 

On November 3rd, like many of you, I tuned into the US election results, hoping to see Joe Biden crush Donald Trump in popular and electoral votes, and set the stage for a return to democracy and civil rights (“freedom from”, not “freedom to”; remember that!) Then I tuned in again on November 4th, and November 5th, and November 6th…and finally, while I was driving my car to the shop late in the morning of Saturday November 7th, Ally called and told me to turn on my radio because JOE BIDEN HAD WON! THANK SCIENCE ALMIGHTY!!! Jesus Christ, it was finally (almost) over! After I dropped off the car, I sat on a bench outside for an hour and a half, watching videos of thousands of Americans dancing in the streets because their version of Saddam Hussein finally lost the election they’d waited so long to vote in. You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face that afternoon :)

 

And, as of right now, there are only 18 days left before Joe Biden takes over!

 

Not that I expect Joe Biden will be the best president in history, but the world deserves a return to normal American leadership, where maybe we can see a restoration of commitment to combating climate change, and where people are only pitted against one another behind the scenes by the forces of capitalism, rather than being encouraged explicitly by a president lighting fires and then pouring gas on them like Tangerine Hitler has spent the last four years doing.

 

On November 9th, I started investing in the stock market directly for the first time (as opposed to a group RRSP with work). Ally had showed me a cell phone app, and I had wanted to start investing anyway, so on November 13th, once my first deposit cleared, I started by buying 3 shares. As of market closure on December 31st, I’m up almost $200, so I’m satisfied with that. That’s right, I just talked about personal finances on the Internet. “Oh, we shouldn’t talk about finances in public.” Well, that’s why younger people don’t know about managing money – because it’s kept secret. I’m just learning about investments in my 30s. I bet if you're a Millennial or a Gen-Z-er, you don't know much about investing either.

 

On November 15th, Ally and I celebrated our “100 monthiversary”; 100 months since we met each other in person for the very first time :)

 

On November 22nd, I discovered the slo-mo feature on my cell phone for taking videos, so I had a bit of fun with that.

 

On November 28th and 29th, Ally and I recorded a song she wrote for a class, called “How Do You Enter The Land?”, which I enjoyed and am proud of. I think it’s the first full-length, complete, original song that I’ve recorded since the Adam & Evil days more than 8 years ago. And I just found out that she got an A+ on it!

 

Because of all the stress we’d been under as a workplace during the pandemic, it was determined that everybody would get two weeks off around Christmas. I got December 19th to January 3rd off, and it’s been pretty nice, in spite of the fact that we can’t really go anywhere. I’ve gotten my 8 hours of sleep for 13 consecutive nights. I probably haven’t had that since I was a baby.

 

On Christmas Day, we ate breakfast, opened presents, went for a walk, called our family members, made a charcuterie dinner plate for lunch, and baked a turkey breast for supper. No close contact with anyone outside our household. In fact, it was the first time I was home for Christmas since in years!

 

I also took my drone out for its first below-zero flight, and of course I had a brief “flyaway”, but regained control before it hit anything. So my drone can actually fly when it's below zero outside. We finished the evening by reading our new books. We had lights, food, music, snow, and each other. So other than not seeing family, it was a pretty traditional Christmas if you ask me!

 

I found out that a couple of drone photos I had submitted were selected for the local MP’s community calendar for 2021, so that was neat!

 

On December 28th, I recorded another song (guitar and drums), of a style pretty uncharacteristic of me!

 

Of all the years to be an introvert, this was the year. All these pandemic restrictions suck, no doubt, but other than a bit of a freak-out after my two weeks of self-isolation was up on June 2nd, I haven’t gone insane. My new job is harder than my old job, but when I’m not working, I’m happy to go for walks, stay in and use the computer, play guitar, and read books. The pull of socializing is far weaker than my need to avoid sick germs. I feel bad for extroverts, but it’s also nice for introverts to be at an advantage for once in our lives! I guarantee I’m not the only introvert to notice this!

 

Lastly, here are a few lists:

 

The following things became normal in 2020:

1.. Wearing masks when I leave the house

2.. Moving away from people as we pass each other on the sidewalk

3.. Holding my breath as I see a person approaching, before we pass each other

4.. Maintaining an invisible bubble of space between me and other people

5.. Family gatherings over Zoom instead of in person

6.. Carrying hand sanitizer became more vital than before (as a germophobe)

7.. Online shopping became more of a default

8.. Ordering groceries for pickup

9.. Not wasting money by browsing in stores

10.. Changing out of my work clothes before I sit on the bed

 

I read these books in 2020:

1.. Gave up on Inside Rehab by Anne Fletcher (started in 2019)

2.. Me by Elton John

3.. Nazi Germany and the Jews 1939 -1945: The Years of Extermination by Saul Friedländer

4.. Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation (adapted by Ari Folman)

5.. For Small Creatures Such As We by Sasha Sagan

6.. Origins by Neil DeGrasse Tyson and Donald Goldsmith

7.. Far and Wide: Bring That Horizon to Me! By Neil Peart

8.. The Smallest Lights in the Universe by Sara Seager

9.. A Promised Land by Barack Obama (started)

 

Favorite memes of 2020:

• Leonardo DiCaprio laughing with a drink

• Boys vs. Girls (time machine; lightsabers, etc.)

• Panik/Kalm

• Willem Dafoe/”you know, I’m something of a ___ myself”)

 

In terms of TV, we watched

• Season 4 of The Crown

• Season 2 of The Mandalorian (how about that last episode?!?), and

• All but the last two episodes of Schitt’s Creek, which is a hilarious show that I recommend!

 

In terms of music, I got more into the jazz, and bought a bunch of random songs from the iTunes music store. I don’t have Spotify. A few of my favorite songs of 2020 were:

• “El Taxi” by Pitbull et al.

• “Sunny Sunday” by Joni Mitchell

• “Inside the Houses” by The Versions

• “Merry Christmas Exclamation Point” by Jon Lajoie

• “Where do the Children Play?” by Cat Stevens

• “Places/Plans” by Skullcrusher

 

I only did a couple of paintings this year: A little painting called “Side of the Sun” on September 3rd; a Christmas card for Ally, and I finished that big blue painting of the eel-like triangle-head monster around April 2nd.

 

I posted 103 pictures to Flickr this year. I think this is the first photo I've uploaded that I took with my "new" L-series lens -- that I bought almost two years ago! Such is my pace, I know, I know.

 

I baked muffins for the first time on June 13th, and chocolate bar surprise for the first time on August 22nd.

 

I only rode my bike twice this year (see my end-of-2019 “resolutions”), but I did spend a lot less time playing Pokémon GO. In fact, I think I gave that up while I was in Europe. By the end of the year, I was back up to an acceptable body weight, so I guess I had gotten worked up over nothing serious.

 

Finally, I don’t think anything made me laugh this year quite as much as Trump’s team holding a press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping :D

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my summary of 2020, and I’ll see you in 2021!

 

Sources of data:

• news.google.com/covid19/map?hl=en-CA&mid=%2Fm%2F05kr_...

• ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

 

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IMG_7846ps

Gli ingredienti più Tossici contenuti nei cosmetici.

 

Gli INGREDIENTI più TOSSICI contenuti nei cosmetici.

 

Ogni giorno utilizziamo sapone e detergenti per lavarci, creme per il viso e per il corpo per rendere la nostra pelle morbida, shampoo e balsamo per avere chiome setose, per non parlare poi dell’innumerevole quantità di prodotti cosmetici che noi donne abbiamo nel nostro beauty-case: rossetti, ombretti, matite per occhi e labbra, kajal, smalti e mascara di ogni colore.

 

Ma vi siete mai chiesti cosa c’è all’interno dei prodotti che usiamo quotidianamente?

 

Qualche anno fa aveva fatto scalpore una ricerca in cui si affermava che una donna si spalma ogni giorno 515 tipi di addittivi chimici.

 

Nonostante lo studio sia stato prontamente smentito da Unipro, basta soffermarsi almeno una volta a leggere le etichette dei più comuni cosmetici e detergenti, per incontrare termini e sigle talvolta difficili da pronunciare che molto spesso si rivelano dannose per la pelle e causa di fenomeni allergici, di sensibilizzazione o di irritazione.

 

Abbiamo provato a stilare una breve lista degli ingredienti nocivi più usati nei cosmetici

 

I CONSERVANTI ovvero tutte quelle sostanze che devono essere addizionate ai cosmetici contenenti acqua per evitare che si sviluppino muffe o batteri. Tra i più comuni troviamo:

 

FORMALDEIDE: la troviamo in tantissimi prodotti di uso comune e purtroppo viene largamente usata anche nella conservazione dei cosmetici. Prodotti come fondotinta, shampoo e smalti contengono formaldeide che oltre ad essere una sostanza conservante è un potente battericida. Nonostante sia stata accertata la sua cancerogenicità, la formaldeide continua ad essere contenuta in una vasta gamma di prodotti, anche se a concentrazioni molto basse.

 

PARABENI: i sei principali parabeni che possiamo trovare nelle formulazioni in commercio sono methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, isobutylparaben, butylparaben e benzylparaben e vengono usati come conservanti nelle creme idratanti, solari, nei dentifrici, negli shampoo, nei detergenti intimi, nei deodoranti, nei gel da barba, insomma in tantissimi cosmetici di uso quotidiano, persino nei cosiddetti prodotti “naturali” o “organici” .

 

E’ stato ampiamente dimostrato che queste sostanze penetrano attraverso la pelle e restano intatte all’interno del tessuto, accumulandosi. Sebbene siano legalmente autorizzati nell’Unione Europea, anche i parabeni sono seriamente sospettati di essere cancerogeni.

 

QUATERNIUM 15: fa sempre parte dei conservanti. E’ presente in molti cosmetici per il make-up degli occhi, nei fondotinta, negli shampoo ma anche nelle lozioni idratanti e nelle creme solari. E’ nocivo perché rilascia formaldeide, è tossico e dà luogo a fenomeni di sensibilizzazione.

 

KATHON CG: è un altro conservante, un antimicrobico ad ampio spettro d’azione, incolore e inodore contenuto nei dermocosmetici, nei prodotti per l’igiene personale e nei prodotti per la casa. Dal punto di vista tossicologico, il Kathon CG, è stato classificato come irritante primario nonostante abbia un grandissimo utilizzo. E’ possibile trovarlo sulle etichette con dei sinonimi come GROTAN, EUXIL o ISOTIAZOLINA.

 

Altre sostanze impiegate comunemente nei cosmetici che ognuno di noi ha in casa sono:

 

MEA-DEA-TEA: non sono i nomi di tre simpatiche sorelle ma rispettivamente le sigle di monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine e sono presenti in molti composti cosmetici. Li possiamo trovare quasi sempre nei prodotti che fanno schiuma quindi shampoo, saponi e bagnoschiuma e danno luogo a nitrati e nitrosamine ovvero agenti cancerogeni.

 

PARAFENILENDIAMINA(PFD): questa sostanza, dal nome difficile da pronunciare, la incontriamo spesso quando andiamo dal parrucchiere, infatti è il colorante più importante usato per le colorazioni permanenti dei capelli. Molto spesso dà luogo a fenomeni di sensibilizzazione tanto che questa sostanza è stata bandita da molti Paesi europei.

 

FTALATI: una tra le sostanze più incriminate, di cui avevamo già ampiamente parlato, trova ampio utilizzo anche in campo cosmetico. Secondo un rapporto di Greenpeace, un grandissimo numero di profumi per uomo e donna delle migliori marche contiene due sostanze che possono avere effetti indesiderati sulla salute: gli ftalati appunto e i muschi sintetici.

 

TENSIOATTIVI: sono sostanze dotate di proprietà schiumogene, detergenti e solubilizzanti. Sono ovviamente presenti in tutti i prodotti che detergono corpo e capelli e i più conosciuti sono senza dubbio il sodium laureth sulfate (SLES) e il sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS). Non sono sostanze cancerogene, come si pensava fino a qualche anno fa, ma essendo molto aggressive è meglio preferire prodotti contenenti tensioattivi più delicati e soprattutto limitarne l’uso.

 

TOLUENE: leggi toluene e pensi subito ai prodotti per le unghie e in effetti il toluene è il solvente che serve a stendere facilmente lo smalto. Purtroppo è stato collegato a disturbi del sistema nervoso e può inoltre causare danni ai reni. Per correre ai ripari alcune case cosmetiche hanno tolto dai componenti dei loro smalti la sostanza incriminata. Forse il nostro smalto si sgretolerà più velocemente, ma avremo la certezza di non avvelenarci.

 

PROFUMO: tutti i cosmetici in genere hanno un odore gradevole. Siamo portati a pensare che la fragranza all’interno dei prodotti per l’igiene personale sia del tutto innocua, ma non è così. Il 95% delle sostanze chimiche impiegate nei profumi e nelle fragranze dei cosmetici sono composti sintetici derivati dal petrolio e dal momento che i profumi hanno un basso peso molecolare, riescono a penetrare più facilmente nella pelle e possono causare allergie o difficoltà respiratorie.

 

IDROCHINONE: leggendo le etichette dei prodotti schiarenti per la pelle è facile imbattersi in questo composto, un fenolo che risulta essere nocivo, irritante e pericoloso per l’ambiente. Anche se ne è stato vietato l’uso come schiarente per la pelle, questa sostanza continua ad essere impiegata nelle tinture per capelli, anche se a concentrazioni basse.

 

COAL TAR: spesso in dermatologia per curare la psoriasi vengono utilizzati i catrami terapeutici. Tra questi, il più efficace è il Coal Tar ovvero il catrame minerale che, per la sua attività riducente e antiseborroica, trova impiego in molte creme antri prurito e nei trattamenti per il cuoio capelluto ma può dar luogo a fenomeni di fotosensibilizzazione.

 

ALLUMINIUM: lo troviamo all’interno di tantissimi prodotti, alimentari e non, e ovviamente non poteva mancare tra i componenti di molti cosmetici, in particolar modo deodoranti e antitraspiranti, che possono contenere fino al 20% di sali di alluminio sotto forma di cloridrati di alluminio e idrati di zirconio. L’uso prolungato di queste sostanze è collegato al rischio di insorgenza di cancro al seno poiché i sali di alluminio sono in grado di danneggiare in modo significativo il Dna delle cellule, stimolandone la degenerazione in cellule cancerose.

 

Con questa lista di prodotti nocivi per la salute e l’ambiente, non avevamo intenzione di spaventarvi o convincervi a svuotare il beauty-case! Semplicemente vorremmo cercare di farvi capire quali sono i prodotti più sicuri da usare e spingervi verso un consumo consapevole dei cosmetici, preferendo quelli biologici (in cui per legge non possono contenere tali sostanze) e che non siano stati testati su animali. Ma soprattutto di leggere bene l'etichetta: conoscere l'INCI è l'unica arma per scegliere bene.

 

LEGGI anche:

INCI: come leggere l'elenco degli ingredienti cosmetici

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Our sickness appears to be over, but the weakness still lingers. I found enough energy to throw the kiddos in the tub and spray all doorknobs, light switches and telephones with lysol. I really don't like that stuff, but it's so easy to use and it claims to kill 99% of germs including viruses. Maybe I should try it on the kids instead of that tear-free wimpy kid soap?

 

For those of you wondering, yes, that's the actual color of the tub. The toilet and sink match, too. Fun color from the seventies :)

    

Although I'm not sure why they chose Lysol wipes as the bait, it did seem to draw the Bohrok out of hiding. The Toa were gathered around the corners of the couch and preparing to strike their unsuspecting enemies. The brawl was about to begin.

Work From Home

Sunday Evening Post, Vol.3, No.1

www.flickr.com/photos/maura_wolfson-foster/sets/721576506...

 

juice - not red - grape lemon/lime soda sweetheart are you warm and acid it's roland that's not good did you tell the doctor do you need what else can I bring you just honey what can I bring you what can I bring you what do you want to going blanket a big blanket no no doughnuts - sweet rolls potato chips altoids pads spray bottle with disinfectant lysol most expensive cat food sometimes

... and then the little blue van from Sulzbacher's homeless shelter pulled up and out jumped a pleasant young man handing her three disposable razors.