What to Do on the Last Day of the Year

I'm still in a lousy mood.  However, I did write a letter to the Councillor about the intersection rather than just stew over it.  I believe I provided concrete solutions that would improve the intersection if actually implemented.

I'm finding it ridiculously difficult to find non-alcoholic cider for New Year's Eve.  We eventually tracked this down in Vancouver, but I haven't seen it in any stores in Toronto.  I did a bit of an internet search, and this doesn't really seem to be sold here.  There is non-alcoholic wine, called Vin Zero, but it isn't sold in any the stores in my neighbourhood, so I wasn't just imagining it was hard to find.  I may make a stop at a Loblaws on the way home, but my hopes aren't particularly high.

I've been getting many, many requests from charities* that are looking for charitable donations that will be matched.  I did give a bit to the AGO a while back, and I made sure that my United Way payroll contributions were renewed.  After some thought, I decided that I've give to the Theatre Centre, though not Factory Theatre or Theatre Passe Muraille.  It's hard for me to imagine giving to the University of Toronto or even to Hart House, given the other major donors that they have backing them.  I probably should just donate to a local food bank, given that local poverty is definitely up.  (In the end, I went with Eastview Neighbourhood Community Centre, which indeed runs a food bank, but has other services as well.)  I also made a one-time donation to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in honor of my father.

I'm still feeling pretty grinchy/grouchy, but I think in my small way I tried to make the world a slightly better place (rather than just take it out on other people and make things worse).

So Happy New Year, and let's see what 2019 brings...


* With about two hours to spare, I decided to give to the Heart and Stroke Foundation (again just under the wire for matching donations), at least in part because my father died of heart failure.  I wasn't sure how they had my address in the first place, but this is one of the charities that the kids support in school, and I had supported a skip-a-thon or some such thing.  But this is definitely it for charitable giving for 2018.