I got my eyes checked today. It's pretty dumb that I have to pay almost 100 bucks; I can't function very well without glasses/contact lenses, and I pay for OHIP ("free healthcare") through my taxes, so why are eyes (and teeth; but I won't get into that) not important enough to be covered? The hell.
Now, I have to deal with the racket that is the eyeglass industry. Artificially raised prices controlled by a couple major players (Luxottica, Essilor are the big ones last I checked), poor quality lenses that degrade quickly, and a requirement that a prescription be valid (because of course they expire) to even buy my frames. For MY eyes.
Annoying? Yes. A first-world problem? Not exactly; I reckon there's lots of exploitation in poorer countries if there's money to be made off eyesight.
A cynical take, I know, and you should know that cynical takes are easy for me to write about. The happier stuff takes more time, because I have to force my brain to see the happy side. Or maybe not; when I have a good time, you might hear about it, like for example today evening I rode my bike straight downtown.
Straight downtown, I say, but really it's more of a curve down Church Street to head to the 519 park grounds to listen to a native drumming circle. Well, it was more of a triangle, and I considered myself one of the few lucky listeners who were there to listen to the drumming. It was great! It's called "2 Spirit Healing Drumming", and it was really low-key, which is good for me. No large crowds, just some gifted musicians singing & drumming. Free.
For today's song of the day, in the theme of First Nations music, I'll pick my favourite Kashtin song. Kashtin is 2 Innu musicians, and they were very popular in Québec in the 70s and 80s. I have some of their albums, from my parentals' collection.
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