#3030 Vision

You know its time to write a new blog when you start getting requests from your friends – yes Carley and Boca I’m talking to you guys, this one is for ye! Before I get into it I have to give a special mention to a good friend of mine; Christine O’Connor who just recently got engaged to Liam Kiernan. Congrats again guys! Christine and Liam

were away for the weekend a couple of weeks ago to celebrate their 4 year anniversary and Liam popped the question. Very exciting, all I can say is – I cannot wait for the wedding 🙂

So, as I write this I’m still elated as I just handed in my final assignment for the Digital Marketing module of the Masters I’m doing, so I am officially free from all things Masters related for the summer and I must say, it feels pretty damn good! I must mention here that my friend Mark in Dubai is also doing this Masters, he would hate it if people didn’t know that! So now that I no longer have to worry about lectures, readings and assignments, I have time to blog again – I can feel your excitement from here. So as you know I normally like to mention any weird, strange or quirky things that I have come across in Toronto, so let’s get started with that!

Firstly, and many of you who know me may have heard me mention this, because it’s the one thing I really hate about Toronto (aside from tipping but that my friends would need an entire blog dedicated to it), but I find the banking system over here downright ridiculous and very archaic. When myself and Phil first went to open accounts on our second day in Toronto, the guy asked us if we wanted cheque books, myself and Phil looked at each other like “why the hell would we want a cheque book?”, gave the guy a strange look ans said “…eh……no. We don’t want cheque books”. Well, weren’t we the bigger fools, turns out that’s how you pay rent over here, most landlords will only accept cheques. Yeah, so guess who had to go back to the bank and ask for those cheque books after all? That’s right, Phil did 😉 The second weird question we were asked when opening our accounts was if we wanted online banking. Again myself and Phil exchanged weird looks, then looked at the banker strangely and said yes, we would like to avail of online banking. Its 2015 Toronto-why are you even asking that question?? But to get back to the cheques, I have never owned a cheque book in my life, never even written a cheque (untill I got here), and I think its a very outdated system, when I think of a cheque book I think of my parents (no offence ma and da!) but I don’t anyone under the age of 35 has ever used a cheque book in Ireland. Oh yeah, and Phil gets paid by cheque to top it all off. Anyways aside from that, they charge you for the privilege of minding your money for you, they charge you if you take out money more than a certain times per month, they charge you if you transfer money between your accounts (with the same bank not transferring to another bank) and they charge you $3 if you go to an ATM that isn’t owned by the bank you’re with. God be with the days when I lived in Ireland and could take out my money from an ATM and not be charged! Okay, I’ve calmed down, rant over (for now).

Next up for things that infuriate me is the subway. Not the subway itself, more so the people who use the subway, particularly during rush hour. So we all know that Canadians are famous for being polite, friendly and mannerly, and its true, they are all of those things, but let me tell you, when its rush hour and you enter the underground system of the subway, something happens to Canadians. Those world-renowned manners get left outside and Canadians get mean. It is every man for himself down there and being polite is a fools game. People push, shove and push some more for good measure. When the subway stops and those doors open, god help anyone actually trying to get off the train because no one waits, everyone just starts pushing their way on. A few times I’ve tried to be nice and stand back and actually allow people get off before I try to get on, but nope, the people behind me were having none of it and just kept pushing me forward. I don’t get it. There is a subway every 2-3 minutes so I really don’t see this need to push your way on as if this is the last train that will ever grace the platform. Maybe I can’t understand it because I don’t come from a place that has a subway, in Ireland we don’t have subways, we have trains, buses and the luas, but no underground subway system, and a bus really doesn’t create the same sense of urgency as a subway, where you feel you ave to board it immediately or the door will slam shut in your face. So maybe it’s not the Canadians’ faults, they were brought up in a city with a subway system, this is what they learned so this is what they do. I must say they aren’t as bad as the Koreans for the pushing, over there your own granny would push you out-of-the-way so she can get on first!

Anyway lets move on. So I want to talk about the #3030vision. This something that Miriam and Mark came up with and I liked the sound of so I jumped on board. You make a list of 30 things you want to do before you turn 30. Now, I love a good list so I do. For years I have putting things up on my bedroom wall, things I want to do or achieve, I’ll write them down and put them on my wall so I look at it every night before I go to bed and when I wake the next day, and it works, I always do the things I put on my wall. Or if its something I want to happen, but can’t control I will pin that up too – you know, the power of positive thinking and sending out positive vibes out the universe and all that. So when Mark told me about the 30 before you’re 30 list, I was all over that! Now, credit must go to Miriam for the hashtag – #3030vision, so if this goes viral, Miriam must get all the praise. So the three of us made our lists, some were slower than others (ahem Miriam) and sent them to each other, and then you tick them off as you complete them! Now I will post our lists below for you all to see, but I was a bit ambitious when writing mine. You see in my head I’m still young, 23 or 24 so I was like pppffft I have years to complete this list so I’m going to put loads of travel on there. Then after I finished it and as I was reading it, I realised that only have a year and a half to do it all. Hmmmmm. Mark has over 2 years to do his, and Miriam, well, Miriam has THREE years to do hers. And she has already ticked off one destination on her list and is planning to tick off 3 or 4 more this summer, spot the teacher eh? (insert joke about teacher’s getting too many holidays here!). So, I probably won’t get my list finished by the time I’m 30, but that’s okay, I will get it done. I bought whitening strips there a few weeks ago, so I’m counting that as getting teeth whitened, wuhoo one ticked off the list!

Now you may have noticed that Miriam has two blank spaces on her list, yes, that wasn’t a mistake. Brave woman that she is has left those two blanks up to the decision of the public, so anyone reading this who has a great idea for Miriam’s #3030vision please comment! Anyone who would also like to do their own #3030vision, we welcome you to join us and let us know you’re participating with the #3030vision.

Until next time 🙂