Tag Archives: question

Typecast

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I’m watching a Jason Statham movie. Now this is a guy who has been typecasted as a specific kind of hero: The lead actor who will beat people up, shoot them, and either bend the law to his favour or be on the wrong side of the law and yet still be the guy you are rooting for.

Not everyone gets typecast quite as strictly as Jason, but watching this movie got me thinking… How do people typecast me? What do they expect from me? And do I deliver as expected?

I think so. I don’t think I surprise too many people. I’m pretty consistent, and don’t feel I need to be performative. Actors get typecast into roles and have to play those roles. Regular people just are the roles they become. Sure there are bumps along the way, and I certainly did a few uncharacteristic things in my teens and early 20’s, but since then I’ve been pretty much what people expect of me.

That’s not a bad thing. Well for some people it might be. As a simple example, some people are known to always be late, lateness becomes expected. There are more serious things that people might not want to be known for, but there are many, many things that you can be typecast as which are positive.

You can be loyal, kind, fair, reliable, loving, thoughtful, even playful. The question is, if you were an actor, how would you be typecasted? If you don’t like your own response to that question, maybe it’s time to play a new role.

Wear and tear

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I have shoes that I only use in my basement to go on my treadmill and stationary bike. The shoes have red soles. Yesterday while stretching I looked down at my treadmill and I saw two red lines on the track belt where my feet land when running.

They are a bit hard to see in the photo despite playing with the colour contrast, but they are quite visible when I look for them on the belt. I don’t know why, but it didn’t occur to me that I would be wearing down the treads on my shoes just running on a treadmill. Thinking about it now, it does make sense. I’ve been using these same shoes for five and a half years… of course they would have some wear and tear as I walk and run on a treadmill 4-6 times a week.

But had my soles not been red, leaving their marks on my treadmill, I probably would have ignorantly ran in the same shoes for another 3-5 years without replacing them. It’s funny how we take objects for granted, expecting them to work, not thinking about repairing or replacing them until they just don’t work anymore.

You aren’t likely to replace a kettle or toaster until it stops working. Your favourite jeans remain your favourite until they tear. That 5,000 hour light bulb was not something you ever thought would need replacing until it just doesn’t turn on.

While our bodies age and show signs of wear and tear, we don’t always think about other things that do until a repair or replacement are needed. But these worn down shoes can actually affect my stride and cause me issues before I realize they need to be replaced. They can affect my personal wear and tear.

What’s something you just expect to work until suddenly it doesn’t anymore?

Anywhere in the world

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If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you go?

If it were just up to me, and I got to choose (because I’m not sure my wife would agree), then these are the places I’d consider:

Barcelona: I don’t speak Spanish, and languages are not easy for me, but I loved the ‘livability’ of this city. It’s made for pedestrians, not cars, and I loved how the outdoor spaces were extensions of the indoor spaces. I was there in the winter and believe that if I went to visit in the summer I’d never want to leave.

The Caribbean: My Bajan roots run deep, and I’d love to live on an island. That said, I wonder if it would be too ‘small town’ for me? I haven’t spend much time there in the latter part of my life, and while there is a romanticized sense of appeal, I’m not convinced I’d want to live in the Caribbean as much as I’d like to visit more frequently.

Costa Rica: A favourite family holiday destination. Maybe that’s the appeal. Like the Caribbean, I don’t know if this is more of a holiday destination or a retirement destination, but everything about my trip there tells me that I want to spend more time there in the future.

Thailand: The people are so nice, and the country is beautiful. I enjoyed the Philippines as well, but the Philippines felt more like a holiday destination. Having lived in China, I don’t know if I’d go back there to live, although there are many more destinations in China to visit, yet Thailand has a feel more like ‘home’.

Australia: I’ve never been, but everything I hear about this wonderful country tells me that I could grow roots there.

Places I still want to explore: These aren’t places I necessarily want to live because I don’t know what I don’t know about them, but I really want to visit Italy, Portugal, Croatia and other Balkan countries, and Taiwan. There are also so many more places in the world that I want to visit: Countries in South America and Africa, India, Iceland, and many European countries are all on my wish list, but these again are holiday destinations for me until I actually visit them and can make a more informed decision.

I don’t know if any of these appeal to my wife, and the reality is that unless one or both of our daughters leave BC, Canada, it’s likely this will remain my wife and I’s home location. Still it’s nice to dream about possible places to live, and right now these are the places that have the most appeal to me… maybe I’ll revisit this in a few years, and if not a final destination, perhaps these can be long-term visit locations for my wife and I during retirement.

Where would you want to live? And why?

Embarrassment is the cost of entry

I love this quote,

“Embarrassment is the cost of entry. If you aren’t willing to look like a foolish beginner, you’ll never become a graceful master.” ~ Ed Latimore

How many times have I not tried because in trying I might look bad? How many times have I hesitated to learn, because I would look foolish in my attempt? How many times have I let the fear of embarrassment get in the way of beginning something new?

Probably more often than I’d like to admit.

This was especially true as a kid. This is especially true of many kids today.

How about you?

View points

The saying goes:

“There are many paths to the top of a mountain, but the view from the summit is the same.”

However in reality it’s the journey that matters. Everyone can see the same things from the peak, but what was the path there? How enjoyable was it?

How many view points did you stop at?

That’s a question from two points of view, each with a very different perspective.

Just a call away

Today I saw a sunset in Greece. It was hours ago, and although the sun hasn’t set here yet, my daughter is on a Greek island and she FaceTime’d me. The photo shared above is from a Snapchat she shared just before calling. She was on a balcony at her hostel, and we chatted for a few minutes while her friends got ready to go to dinner.

When my wife did a similar backpacking trip 30 years ago she spoke to her parents by collect call each time she was heading to or arrived in another country and that would be it for contact for days if not longer than a week. For this trip my wife is in contact with our kid almost daily, even if just by WhatsApp chat. She checks in with her dad a little less frequently, knowing I get the updates from my wife.

Time zones are the only challenge to communication. As I’m writing this at 7:30pm here, and it’s 5:30am in Greece. But beyond that, it’s pretty awesome that we can stay connected… for free with a simple wifi connection. This shouldn’t still amaze me but it does. It would take me 14.5 hours including a layover to get to her, but I can see her ‘live’ on my phone with the only challenge being what time we go to sleep.

Makes me think, who else is just a call away, but I haven’t made the effort?

Holiday decompression

We arrived home yesterday from a wonderfully relaxing Kelowna holiday. Today just disappeared. It’s already almost 5:30pm and I’m left wondering where the day went?It doesn’t matter that the holiday wasn’t a run-around-fun holiday, and that most of what I did was relax anyway. Day one after returning home from a holiday feels like a recovery day.

Is it just me or do you often feel like you need a holiday to get over your holiday?