you shouldn't toss those lids in the garbage, you should hang on to them and take them to a specialized recycling depot. they are recyclable...

i'm a smart person.

high iq.

multiple university degrees.

so, this is something you'd expect somebody like me to be able to figure out. but, i just learned a few months ago that the recycling programs don't take coffee cup lids...

it's not that they aren't recyclable - they are. it's that the recycling companies refuse them due to weight - a clause you'd have to take considerable time to figure out.

most people are going to take a look at one of the lids, like this one:

...notice the recycling symbol, and toss it in the bin.

it's plastic, right? it has the symbol! what could go wrong?

it's too light....

this is a minor concern in comparison, granted. but, everybody is doing something wrong, here.

leaving the bins on the road is no answer.

people really ought to get fired.

so, it seems like, instead of hiring more sorters, the windsor recycling plant has halted pickup to this block altogether. it's the streets on both sides of the building, between the two cross streets....

i took a walk up the street, and they have a point. people seem to think that putting clothing in their recycle box is donating it to goodwill - it's a thought that should be nurtured and corrected, rather than stamped down. people have items in the wrong bins. it's a legit catastrophe.

but, the people on the block don't understand what they're doing wrong - and they're just going to let it sit on the curb, perhaps until the garbage trucks pick it up.

it's not an answer. it's just idiocy.

it's just laziness.

yes - i understand that the people that live in this neighbourhood are frustrating. very, very well, actually. they're almost universally drunks & potheads. they smoke in church, if they go - and, i suspect that most of them actually do. and, yes - there's a few crackheads, too. if somebody were to survey the average education level, the results would be disturbing - it may honestly be grade school.

these are people that are stupid and uneducated and poor - but they are recycling. at least. they're trying, dammit. you have to be patient. it's hard, but you have to. don't stamp out the effort...

frankly, i think the plant should hire more sorters. you're never going to fix this problem at the source. you can pamphlet. you can put ads on the radio, or on tv. maybe in the tv guide? like, you have to understand what you're dealing with before you launch an ad campaign...

....but, it's just a reminder that recycling is a business, and not a communal act of social conscience.

that's fine.

i'll take my business elsewhere.

so, did i miss out on a lot of shows this summer, or what?

clearly, i would have rather had this dealt with, by now...

i missed out on the weather, certainly - i'm sure i would have gone out a few times, if i wasn't worried about everything. but, did i miss any actual shows?

i just checked a few venues, & i honestly don't see anything i'm upset about missing.

if that surprises you, you should modify your conceptions of me.

in fact, october looks like it may be busy, if i'm still here. if this works out, i'm going to have a nice sum to spend in the fall - and that may be preferable to me.

remember: i don't like going to shows with more than a few hundred people.

i mean, that's how this is supposed to work, right?

immigrants aren't supposed to take up all of the low rent housing downtown, they're supposed to buy new houses in the suburbs. they can then raise their families with their two-car garages and vote conservative in safe conservative ridings. that leaves low rent areas in downtown available for single, poor people like me, that live liberal lifestyles and vote left.

but, instead, the refugees are flooding the shelters downtown, which are not intended for immigrants. that's why what's happening here is creating so many problems - this isn't how our system is designed to work.

tell the refugees to move to the east side - it's a better place to raise a family.

if i were to move to the east side of town, i would simply increase the amount of time i spend travelling to the west side of town.

the new bridge is being built on the west side of town. so, i would be moving even further away from anything i'd want to do.

the simple fact is that there are no concert venues on the east side of town - or, at least, no concert venues i would want to go to. i think there's a lame hair metal bar that i'd never go to. there is therefore nothing to do on the east side of town.

if you want to play these stupid games, i'd rather move to lasalle. at least it's closer to the new bridge.

i don't think i'm depressed.

i think this city is disgusting.

& i think the situation is surreal.