Weird stuff...

Okay so I do support the idea of a reasonable amount of information on food packaging. You know things like fat content, sugars, preservatives and of course food allergy warnings like "May contain peanuts." But while I was finishing off a bit of cheddar I glanced at the last piece of the label I had just stripped away when these words caught my eye: "Allergy warning. Contains milk products." Cheese - contains milk products? Now that I call overkill.

Mind you I have seen information signs that surpass that. Like the one I used to see along 16th Avenue NW in Calgary. It was for a spinal injury clinic: "Walk-in patients welcome." Now that is just plain nasty - in a darkly humorous kind of way.

But life contains many weird and strange things that seem normal to some people. We just have to accept the notion that normal for some is weird for others and vice versa. I have never lived more than 10 years in the same city since I left home almost 40 years ago. I know other people who have never been out of their own province, who have lived in the same house all of their adult lives and who have worked one job to retirement. Now that is really weird. But it is the old normal; one that has almost disappeared.

The new normal is to move. change jobs, change careers, change, change, change... Perhaps this is a form of social evolution [if such a thing exists]. As we move further away from the tangible to the intangible [knowledge based economies, virtual communities, virtual reality] our connection with the constant or the very notion of permanence seems to become more ephemeral, less certain. What of our past or present will survive this?

Since this is the last day of 2006 it seems like an auspicious time to look back on what has changed, what has gone away and what has emerged. Much of it is weird and unexpected. We have to sort that part out and then find our way to the new year that approaches. These are exciting times with new adventures, new places and most of all new experiences. Long live weird!