You Have (Probably) Not Been "Unfollowed." Just Moved.

If you keep assiduous track of who's following you, your count has probably dropped and I am among the missing.  This does not mean I'm not interested in your blog.  Quite the contrary.  I have simply moved about 100 blogs previously being "followed" onto my blog list to the right, so that anyone checking out this site will be more easily aware of yours, too.  My categories are: Atheist, Feminist, Political, Spiritual/Philosophy, Neurodiversity, and just general Favorites.

If you think your blog belongs in a category other than where it is now, let me know and I'll move you.

If you haven't posted in months & months, I've left you where you were for the time being.

Happy reading / writing. Click Here to Read More..

Oldies But Goodies

I was hunting through an old journal (10 years) looking for something, and realized that some of the entries are hysterical.  Here are a few excerpts:

December 31, 1999

Evening

          Obviously, a special night: the last night of the 1990s.  Also, according to most normal folks, it’s the last night of the decade, the century and the millennium.  Some extremely anal-retentive, technical people will insist to the last breath that the new decade/century/millennium doesn’t really start for another year.  But we normal people are ignoring them.  Judging from what they’re showing on TV, there are millions upon millions of normal people, and many of them are celebrating in crowded public areas. 

          I’m currently at the office, having volunteered to do “Y2K watch.”   The concern over massive computer glitches kind of mutated into concern over mass anarchy, terrorism, Armageddon, etc. etc.  Some people are behaving the way they did in the ’50s and ’60s, building bomb shelters and stocking up on staple supplies like water and canned goods. 

          Carl’s niece Terry just had a baby.  One of her mother’s co-workers “warned” his sister that if Terry’s baby wasn’t born before midnight on 12/31, “God will just take it back and it will dissolve back into nothing inside her.”  These are people who actually run around loose and operate machinery!!

Thursday, January 06, 2000

          Afternoon

          Things are looking up just the slightest bit.  Yesterday I got my pay stub and saw that it was $2 more than what I usually get.  First reaction:  “They made a mistake.”  Next reaction, “Oh, it’s more.”  Third reaction: “Oh, no, this is the new pay rate, my raise, and this is all I get??”

            I picked up Carl at work, and told him the good news/bad news.  Then awhile later, I showed him the pay stub.  He went over it, item by item, and asked me about my UNICEF donation of $25.  “Damn, baby, you send them $25 a month?”  I told him, no, it was just a one-time donation and……

          Then I realized that yes, it’s just a one-time donation, and it’s just for this pay period!  Which means my next check will be $25 more, $27 more than what I was getting in 1999, and $54 more per month.  Not a fortune, but not bad, either. 

           Wally went to school this morning in 30-degree weather, in shorts, multiple layers on top, and no hat.  I yelled at him and slammed doors and windows, waking Carl.  Then after Wally left the house, I went into his room and took all his shorts away.  He won’t be allowed to wear shorts unless the high temperature for the day is going to be at least 70 degrees, and it has to be at least 45 degrees in the morning when he leaves.  Enough is enough.  He stalls and delays as long as he can, so he knows I’ll be in a hurry to rush him out the door, and uses that tactic to wear clothes that I object to.  Jeez-Louise, we’ve been having this type of war since he was three!  I remember writing a journal entry where we argued about shorts (and woke up Doug…), back in 1994.  The little booger!

Friday, January 07, 2000

          A high-gear, frustrating sort of day.  The most recent example:  I was on the phone, dialing Brother Fax Machines, because our particular machine is malfunctioning.  I’ve been meaning to do this for days, but was delayed by other things.  The preparations for such a call include: making sure you’ve recently changed the toner, because they’ll accuse you of not doing that; getting the model & serial number written down; finding the sales receipt and warranty info; finding the correct, updated number to call; being ready to stay on hold interminably.  Well, I finally got all that in order, made the call, and wouldn’t you know it, some guy from HR calls with a request for some numbers, which I had.  I hung up from Brother, gave Mr. HR the information, and when I went to call Brother back, I got a busy signal, because their queues are full.  Shit.  It’s just that kind of day.  People are missing their paychecks, etc.

          

Later:  Der fax ist fixt.  The technician told me to put it on the table and whack it.  

Tuesday, March 07, 2000

          We just learned that Wally is:

§         Buying breakfast every day at school (even though I usually give him a pop tart or something for the bus)

§         Buying a full cafeteria lunch

§         Also buying ice cream

§         Eating the lunch I pack him (which includes lots of snacks because he says he’s “starving.”

§         Not bringing home the payment details from the cafeteria, so I now owe nearly $17 in back charges for my little eating machine, who swears up and down that he never eats the cafeteria lunch because he hates it.  The lunch lady read me an itemized list of everything he’s eaten lately:  corn dogs, hot dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets, chicken biscuits, sausage biscuits, cereal, waffles & french toast.  To quote her directly, "Honey, that child eats EVERYTHING."

Click Here to Read More..

Can We Help the ACLU?

I'm usually able to ignore the right-wing fundies who work for the same employer as me, but sometimes there's no dodging the whackadoodle emails that people insist on passing around.

Here's the one I got today.  In the immortal words of Dave Barry, I am NOT making this up:

Christmas cards VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!
  Pass this on to your church, coworkers, family, and friends.  What do you have to lose but 44 cents, what do you have to gain ----------- more than you will ever know? 

What a clever idea!

Yes, Christmas cards. This is coming early so that you can get ready to include an important address to your list.

Want to have some fun this CHRISTMAS? Send the ACLU a CHRISTMAS CARD this year.  

As they are working so very hard to get rid of the CHRISTMAS part of this holiday, we should all send them a nice, card to brighten up their dark, sad, little world.  Make sure it says "Merry Christmas" on it.

Here's the address, just don't be rude or crude:

---

---

---

[Volly is leaving this out so as not to supply ammo to the wrong reader, TYVM]

Two tons of Christmas cards would freeze their operations because they wouldn't know if any were regular mail containing contributions. So spend 44 cents and tell the ACLU to leave Christmas alone. Also tell them that there is no such thing as a

"Holiday Tree."  It's always been called a CHRISTMAS TREE!

And pass this on to your email lists. We really want to communicate with the ACLU! They really DESERVE us!

For those of you who aren't aware of them, the ACLU, (the American Civil Liberties Union) is the one suing the US Government to take God, Christmas or anything religious away from us. They represent the atheists and others in this war. Help put Christ back in Christmas!

[end of whackadoodle email]

So...is there a way to help the ACLU, in case too many people take this crap seriously and send them "Christmas" cards in the hope of tying up their operations while they open the envelopes looking for donations?  

We need some creative ideas.  

Click Here to Read More..

Always a Happy Ending

We need a little Christmas.  Right this very minute.  We need a little Christmas, now.

Here it is, November 7th, and although the stores have all their decorations up, the music barrage hasn't started yet, and best of all, the usual debates about the "war on Christmas" or lack thereof have yet to begin.

And it won't start here, either.


I'm just here to say that I'm looking forward to the all-too-familiar music, a sprinkling of snow, and the expectant atmosphere that accompanies December.  The anticipation has much to do with the end of the year.


In my journal, I provide a summing-up spot for each week (which for me ends on Fridays), and each month.  Around the 25th of every month, like clockwork, I jot something like "Ah, the end of the month approaches once again, and as always, I'm glad."  For most of my life, New Year's Day has been my favorite holiday.


Why am I always so glad to move on, turn the page, and bid farewell to the past?  I haven't yet gotten to the point where I look ahead to the future and see nothing but failure, but the feeling of defeat does tend to hit about halfway through the week, month, and year.  All of that is due to age and circumstance, and possibly brain chemistry as well.  I'm gradually turning into a pessimist.  One of those people who walk around sighing "What's the use?"  I get tired at the midpoint, thinking "Yeah, yeah, whatever, same-old, same-old, let's see if the new [day/week/month/year] brings any good surprises."  I don't know what it is I'm expecting, since it's finally gotten through to me that "good stuff" won't just come along and jump into my lap.  "If it is to be, it is up to me," as the saying goes.  But if I'm the engine that drives my life, I'm no longer saying "I think I can, I think I can."  Those hills are looking steeper and steeper as time goes by.


A lot of people I know looked forward to the beginning of this year with particular relish -- the last decade has sucked so very spectacularly.  The church I attend had a ceremony in which we wrote down regrets and resolutions.  The regrets were consigned to a burn-barrel out behind the church.  


There's no question that things "felt" better this year -- we all encouraged one another and the renewed vigor got most of us through the little dips and dings.


A lot of groundwork was laid this year and there's still a lot more energy and determination in the air than there was last fall.  The moments of soaring optimism tend to come in spurts nowadays.  I watch for them with the hope of a child scanning the skies for a shooting star. Click Here to Read More..