garbage picker!

do you remember in grade school when next to "nose picker", "garbage picker" was the most embarassing thing you could be accused of? i can remember accidentally tossing my cherry scented marker (incidentally my favourite) into the garbage and having an internal conversation with myself rationalizing whether or not i should forgo the yummy marker, or face possible mortification...i chose to go for it. i grabbed it before it absorbed all the garbage germieness only to realize...i had a witness... i could hear the words before they formed on her mouth....garbage picker!! sigh...pure tragedy, how could i ever get over such a title. (sadly it was years before i realized that you have to play these things off with nonchalance in order for them to be dropped...but i digress)

it seems as though the embarrassment of garbage picking although still an lingering issue in adulthood, seems to have certain exceptions...or at least it seems that way in my hood tonight. you see its large garbage pick-up this week. this means the junk people have been storing all year is out on the curb for pick-up tomorrow...or the for the odd miraculous "find," tonight. i was cleaning the front bedroom tonight when i noticed tail-lights on a pickup truck laden with paraphenalia...furniture, appliances, wood...etc. the hazards were on and i realized that they were going through my garbage! for a second i wanted to run out and say "hands off thats my junk!" (i get very possessive) and i watched as other cars were doing the same thing. i have heard that oakville is one of the best places to rifle through the big trash, thats the word on the street anyways. but still. can i honestly imagine the embarassment of people watching me pick through their junk at night and cart it off?! maybe i need to get over my pride...but i just cant ever chance that fateful moment when someone might lean out their window and yell "garbage picker!"