FaerieJ

This Year The Goal Is 7 Posts

2011-01-07T12:07:00.002-06:00

A new year, a new Republican debacle in government. Oh lord, why do I continue to live here? Is it really so difficult to see that while we are the land of the free, we are self-imposing restrictions on our lives by letting a few make the rules? Why didn't Obama take the reigns and charge through with the change that was promised? Why do people think that the government can fix eight years of mistakes and bad leadership in less than two years? Things can't change overnight!!!

People don't leave poverty in one day. Even if they win the lottery.

People don't immediately become smart. Even if they enroll in school.

People don't become philanthropic without a push. Even if they are in the richest 1%.

People don't think like you 100% of the time. Even if you think they should.

Let's get real people. Let's live freely and openly. Let's not force our religous beliefs on each other. Let's only share when asked. Let's ask each other to share. Let's trust that not all of us need everything spoonfed to us, that just maybe, we're smart enough to run our lives, live morally and ethically and do what's best for us, fellow man, the animals and the earth.

Owning My 'Massive Defect' Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying & Love The Bomb That Is Twilight

2010-07-01T05:28:00.005-05:00

It's 5 a.m., give or take, on a Thursday. I'm in Jefferson City for work and can no longer sleep due to icky tummy. I refuse to watch t.v. as I haven't done so in a month and I'm obviously not going back to sleep any time soon (thanks for that either Chevy's with your crappy dinner or the makers of my script which failed to acknowledge that a person could suffer ALL the side-effects listed consecutively). Anyway, in order to pass some time I decided to add to the list of blog topics I have been compiling on my phone. Yes, I have a list, no I don't always have time to follow through. Anyway...

I decided that I should write about what my wonderful geekmate refers to as my 'Massive Defect' in taste: I like the Twilight novels. Obviously the fact that he falls within the realm of my taste buds should be enough to negate my 'Massive Defect' to nothing more than a quirk in my wiring, if not, here I am to plead my case.

Case in point: I do not classify myself as a 'Twihard'. While my office mate and I may have a couple of inserts from the soundtracks hanging up in our office, I do not, nor will I ever dedicate wall space to it in my home. I have Clerks and Mallrats posters that need to go up!! As for those soundtracks, have you listened to them? They have some really great music on them and introduced me to some good bands. Take Iron & Wine. I really liked the song they used in the movie and how if you really listened to it, you'd realize the lyrics didn't really fit the scene it was used in (sweet prom dance scene, but lyrics talk about rats pissing on magazines). I also caught them on Austin City Limits and they were fab!
As for other Twilight merch, I have a bookmark and a movie tie-in book. Both gifts. I have only spent money on the novels themselves.

Which brings me to the books and they story. These books were written for TEENAGE GIRLS. I didn't go in expecting literature. I went into expecting it to be a quick, entertaining read on the flight home from Phoenix to KC. I found the books while at the mall in Phoenix. I was making my usual stop at the Sanrio store (HELLO KITTY!), and hit up the Borders and Virgin Records. Both stores had displays for the 3rd book release of local author Stephenie Meyer. I grabbed up the first one, read the jacket and thought it'd be good for the flight home.
If nothing else, you have got to give her credit for bringing vampires out of the dark and into a bright, new, sparkly day! How refreshing for someone to take on the age-old idea of vampires and put it on its fang! She twisted a mythology that is ingrained in all of our psyches and made it something new and different. Took away all the safety nets. No longer were we protected from these virile killers by a sun's death sentence. No longer was a stake enough to keep them at bay. They had to have a conscience to not kill indiscriminately. If you take out the trivial teenage romance, what you now have is the possible horrifying destruction of man by a virtually unstoppable super being. The only, flimsy, reason vampires aren't going out during the day is so they don't show off their sparkly side - why do they care if you see them? You're about to be breakfast, I doubt you'll be able to Twitter the truth before they strike.
As if all this wasn't enough, these new, stronger, better vampires don't even need a regenerative sleep-state. They are worse than the Energizer fucking bunny! They can keep going and going and going... No more vulnerable downtime for which a bumbling drunk doctor and his lynch mob can sneak into a less than secure crypt to stake the offender through his non-beating heart! Not that it would do any good apparently, as this new breed should be ripped apart and burned in order to be sure it's decimated.

So. While Ms. Meyer has chosen the YA route for these books, instead of the grossly more appropriate Horror or Sci-Fi realms, you cannot deny she has come up with a fascinating new world for vampires. Yes, they books are somewhat pedantic and Bella as a protagonist just makes me cringe with embarrassment for all teenager girls as a whole, the premise of the story is entertaining and brings an entirely new light on the world of vampires.

BTW, my tween son can't WAIT to see Eclipse. He loves the werewolves...

The Strange World of a Faerie

2010-06-03T11:53:00.003-05:00

Things change. That's actually constant. Very contrary, isn't it? I just went back and read all my entries since I embarked on this 'blogging' adventure. Things are very different now. For one, if you are new and read the first post, you'll be very confused by the Murvene reference as this blog was initially titled 'FaerieJ and the Murvene 5'. Hope that clears that up for you.

I've mentioned my son, he's almost 10 now and still comes up with nuggets of joy akin to the Einstein inventing science school of thought. He's still into baseball, but doesn't seem to have the drive anymore. I'm trying to get him interested in more things, he's stuck on wrestling. I love the way his mind works and am confounded by it. I don't get to be with him enough as I must share him with his father. But at least he's mine legally now, and I'll never have to worry about not having him.

In another earlier post I referenced sticking with a decision no matter how badly it's going because it always seems that to make a new one ends up worse. I'm the person who always makes the wrong choice. At least it seems that way most of the time. Until I stopped to look at what was going on with my life. Not all my decisions were bad ones. Initial decisions may have been, but corrective ones weren't after all. Some initial ones weren't either. I have a good full time job. It pays me well enough to cover my needs and supply a few wants. I work with some awesome people and we make a difference in our community. Applying for this job was a magnificent decision.
Adopting my step-son. That was the best decision I ever made hands down. The naysayers will say I did because I can't have my own. That may be a factor, but I did it because I love this child. No matter how often we but heads or how often I have to change a plan or leave work or clean up puke, he is my heart. And even if he never calls me mom to my face, I know I'm his mother and I know he knows it too.
I moved out. Got my own place. Took my life back. I made a bad decision years ago. I got some good things because of it (see above), but I got a lot of years of not being me. That was my fault. I made the decision to change me to fit into the idea I had of how I thought marriage was supposed to be. That was wrong.

Now I'm changing me back. Not exactly how I used to be. I have responsibilities to others besides just me now, but back to myself with tweaks. I'm listening to my gut again. As I thought about all this and how I was stagnated by the fact that I thought I always made bad decisions, I looked for the good ones I've made. What did they have in common? They were gut decisions. They weren't me over-analyzing, dissecting, making flo-charts for outcome. What should we all take away from this, listen to yourself. Don't let all the outside stuff factor in where it doesn't belong. Follow your gut for the changes that will be the right ones.

Reap What We Sow - BLAH BLAH

2010-05-03T11:07:00.004-05:00

I receive this email written by 'Ben Stein' occasionally and I'm thinking a retort is needed. I've shared with others before, so if it's a repeat for you - my apologies. If you like it, please share it with others. If I actually had more than 3 people who read this dang thing, I might make it more of a priority :P My take is red.

Enjoy!

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW." Or just perhaps, it has a lot to do with people actually PARENTING their children. Could it also have something to do with our culture? Maybe the way our American culture puts the dollar above the people? Long before the Christian “Lord” was named as such and written about people still believed in a higher power. They did the things that were supposed to be done. They gathered enough food to feed themselves and they had a sense of family and community.

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. The only people who believe the world is going to hell are those who actually believe in one and that would the part of the population who believe in the Christian God and have faith in him.

Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. I don’t know who really believes everything they read in the newspapers, but just for the sake of pointing out facts: Newspapers are companies. They no longer are a service to keep people informed in an unbiased way. While many articles are written in an as un-biased manner as possible, sometimes it happens. However, when any sort of news agency, be it a printed publication or a telecast, submits a story to the public that isn’t entirely on the up and up, there is usually an outcry, a remission and a rebuttal. When inaccuracies of the Bible are pointed out, along with the fact that numerous books were left out and those in power re-wrote it to help better keep control over the populace, that is shooed away by the faithful as an attack on Christianity. Also considering that it wasn’t actually written down until at least 150 years after the death of Christ, how reliable is it? If the stories were handed down orally for thousands of years before being committed to paper, why is it any more reliable than any other sort of oral history?

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Most jokes are just funny. People like to be humored, not preached at. Besides the fact that Christianity isn’t the only religion in the world, you don’t know what everybody believes, why offend someone? I know that most Christian faiths believe in ‘witnessing’ but come off it already. The Christians as so fractured you have more flavors than Baskin Robbins. You’ve got Baptists, Catholics (yes Catholics, you ARE Christians, you believe in CHRIST, right?), Methodists, Lutherans, etc. Maybe before you start trying to convert people by sharing the love of Christ, you all should sit down and agree on what that actually is.

Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace. Do I really have to address this sentence? It should be plain as day, obviously you can find just as much God in cyberspace and just as little lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles in school and the workplace.
Are you laughing? Actually I’m waiting for it.

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Actually I won’t send along anything I don’t believe in unless it has a pretty picture, or good joke that people I know might think is funny. Will I send Aunt Debbie a little Johnny joke? No, but I’ll send it to Ericka and Mom.

Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. It’s not always about what other people think of us, but what we think of them. Do we want to pester them with something that isn’t their cup of tea just because it’s ours?

Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in. I won’t sit back and complain. I won’t just sit here and pass along emails on why the world is the way it is, I’ll go out and do something about it. I’ll be an informed voter. I’ll take responsibility for my kid and teach him some. I’ll put my change in the Salvation Army bucket. I’ll give my extra coats directly to those who need them. I won’t litter. I’ll mentor others. I won’t be perfect, but I’ll try hard to be a good person to others.

My Best Regards.
Honestly and respectfully,
Ben Stein (The real BEN STEIN? From Ferris Bueller, Bueller, Buller’s Day Off? Awesome! Maybe he can take some of that money he makes from tv and movies and game shows and put it to good use by making a PROACTIVE stance to better our society)

Hey Christians! Explain Abortion to Your Kids...

2010-03-05T23:48:00.002-06:00

Don't tell them the president kills babies! It confuses them and they have nightmares about the president drowning or stabbing or shooting innocent babies. If you must indoctrinate them into your belief that killing a FETUS is wrong, then do it correctly or wait till they are older and can understand your rhetoric.

A few months ago, my 9 yr old son made a new friend. This boy is my son's age and he has a younger brother. After about a month, we invited both boys to spend the night with my son. The three of them were playing video games, I was working on the computer when I hear my child adamantly saying, "Ask my MOM, she knows. That's not true!" So, thinking I had a squabble to settle I call them in to inquire what wasn't true.

"Does President Obama kill babies?"
My face contorts, "Huh?"
"They said the president kills babies!"
"Why do you think that?"
"Our parents said so."

How to approach this? At this age children can be very impressionable, and my son is no exception. "Well, that's not true. The 'president' doesn't kill babies, your parents just must be mistaken." I, for one, am not ready to explain to my child about abortion. He is too young for information about all that. He is too young to comprehend it. And I refuse to explain it the others, that's their parent's job, not mine. The boys take my word for it and go play.

Parents, if you want to teach your children to believe as you do, please arm them with information, not dribble that can be proven false. Just as you can right now say he kills babies because he won't ban abortion, others can say that he kills mothers who would lose their lives without one if he did ban it. Currently the decision is up to the mother and she is to bear responsibility for all that comes with it.

Unfortunately, I had to explain abortion to my son, because now he was curious. Some time later he brought it up while we were driving. I explained it was a medical procedure and the different feelings people had about it. I also explained to him why it would be needed sometimes or wanted. I let him know that when it comes to our bodies, both men and women's, it should be up to that person what kind of medical treatment they get, not to the goverment. He agreed.

Shame on the Shamers!! Facebook status that is reallly peaving me off...

2010-01-25T18:41:00.002-06:00

There is a status people are putting up on Facebook saying shame on Americans for helping the people of Haiti because there are people who need help in the US. I must respond to this!

Wow, Americans are being shamed because they donated to help a country DEVISTATED by a natural disaster. Where 100s of thousands are STILL buried in the rubble. There ARE millions of Americans that live on or below the poverty line, however there are many people who not only donate $, but also volunteer to help correct that horrible situation. What keeps our people in poverty is the government and politicians who are in special interest's pockets and the constituents who put them there. We live in a country with the mentality of instant gratification - "fix/change it NOW". The politicians who are actually trying to fix things aren't given enough time to put programs into place or those programs aren't given enough time to truly work.

I wholeheartedly agree that more can be done at home to help Americans who need it, but the way to do it is NOT to chastise those who so graciously gave to help these people, many of whom live in poverty just as those in America do. I work for an agency that's sole purpose is to help those in poverty get out of it. I, myself know the taste of government cheese, free lunch and grew up knowing the difference between a food stamp and real money. We all already give money to help end poverty in this country...it's called taxes, the problem is we don't allow our government to spend it on the programs that are needed to fight the problem. When the government wants to do something like say, oh a PUBLIC OPTION for healthcare, they are shot down by the people because it's just too 'socialist'. Never mind the fact that one bad accident can put a family in such a state of poverty that they can never escape it. People don't go into poverty because they had plasic surgery or any other kind that is 'elective', the medical bills and expenses are for needed care.

People should give money or volunteer time to help those less fortunate because it's the right thing to do. Many people feel better about donating to those who've been in a disaster in another country because the don't have to take the responsibilty for helping make an actual long-term change, such as is needed to end poverty here in America. Don't shame people for doing what's right, shame people for being greedy or turning a blind eye as to what REALLY puts people in poverty.

The Rules of Customer Service or "How To Be A Good Customer Rather Than An Ass"

2010-01-01T12:53:00.005-06:00

Ah, the 'holiday' season! The time when people trample others to get that 'elusive' gift or deal. I work in retail part-time. I used to do it full time, but once I realized I was more angry than not and it was due to my work, I found an office job where the annoyances could be contained, or I could at least shut my door to avoid them for awhile. There is something that always has bothered me, especially since I am also a consumer. The expectations by some customers that you're supposed to wipe their asses and then thank them for the privilege. I do not, nor have I ever had to: take a surly attitude, be disrespected or have to pick up after you like I'm your maid. It is not amongst my job requirements to be talked down to, to be called names or be treated like an inferior life form because you didn't read the fine print. We live in a society were everyone is a consumer. That is not going to stop in our 'land of the free' and home of the 'American (capitalist) Dream". Threaten to take your business elsewhere, if no one at any store takes your shit, then what will you do? Will you start growing your own food? Weaving your own clothes? Doubtful. The kind of people who already do that sort of thing are already kind customers who understand that simply because they are spending money doesn't entitle them to be treated as a king would by a serf. So, here are the rules.

As an employee of a retail establishment I promise to:

Greet you nicely and offer assistance in your purchasing venture

Answer any questions you have to the best of my knowledge and seek out the answer if I don't know it

Explain policies of the store such as regarding returns/exchanges, gift cards, rental accounts, special orders, etc.

Direct you to another establishment that may have the item you are seeking if we don't have and can't get it for you in an effort to assist you even if that means you spend money elsewhere

Keep myself aware of any specials that may be taking place in order to inform you to the best of my ability

Ring you out at the cash register and send you off with a thank you, have a great day/holiday, or some other suitable sentiment

Your requirements as a Customer are this:

Acknowledge my greeting and accept/reject my offer of assistance politely. If you need assistance later, please ask for it. Don't stand around not making eye contact and saying nothing. I won't know you need assistance unless you tell me so.

Give me the opportunity to answer you or permit me a moment to find the answer.

Accept my explanation of store policies. Do not give me the 3rd degree about why they are the way they are or about how another associate didn't follow that policy last time. I am not one of the bigwigs in corporate, I don't make the policies, it's just my job to follow them. Also, don't give me a hard time by taking up my time digressing on other establishment's policies and how they are better or different. Lastly, if you didn't adhere to a policy, that is not my fault.

Not expect me to be your personal shopper. There aren't enough associates to do this for all customers and you are not the only one I have to assist.

Politely tell me of a promotion I may have overlooked or not known about. Some of us may only work one or two days a week and upon coming in to work, weren't apprised of new specials due to how busy the store is or being approached by you before even clocking in

Not yell or act as if I am trying to cheat you if the register has the wrong price. Nicely let me know there is a difference and I can correct it for you. I do not program the registers, some unknown entity in a different town does that

Finally, treat me with respect. You may not know the circumstances of a situation and being hateful and mean will do nothing to fix any perceived injustice on your part.

No one likes to be treated like crap, especially not for minimum wage. There is also a perception that just because a person works at a retail establishment they are either a teenager/young adult or not too bright. Well I got news for you bub, I'm neither. I work part time in retail to pay for my college education. During the day I work in the finance department of a non-profit that helps people. I'm not stupid, I'm not beneath you in any way and I won't put up with your shit.

Harry Potter and the Half Assed Plot

2009-07-26T00:43:00.003-05:00

I must preface this whole blog by saying I am a person who whole-heartedly understands that a movie CANNOT be a book. There must be cuts and edits and some re-writing to translate the written page to the big (or small in Danielle Steele's case) screen. And up to this point I have never had any large issues with any book I've liked being turned into a movie. If I have, it's been because the acting was terrible or in the case of 'Flowers in the Attic' the screenwriter couldn't have possibly read the book, maybe the cliffs notes...anyhoo, that was until I saw 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'. Suffice it to say, if you have not read the book or seen the movie and do not want to know anything, stop reading now and move along.

First off, I had read some reviews and articles stating that the big finale wasn't like the book at all. The rumor that Dumbledore wasn't killed off is completely false. He dies, just like in the book. What doesn't happen is there is no big fight between the OOP and the Death Eaters, and no funeral scene. Nichols (the director) had a good point about not having the big fight; there's going to be one at the castle in the last movie, it would be redundant in the films. Instead of a funeral, there's a bit of a nice tribute. Cool. It was good. Now on to my gripe. This movie went from one that should have helped set up the finale in the way it needs to be set up, to one long crappy teenage lovey dovey fest!! The sub-plot concerning the love lives of the main characters was turned into the major plot of this film! And for some reason, they decided to burn down the Weasley's burrow! WTF?? No mention was made of Harry inheriting #12 Grimauld Place or Kreatcher, VERY IMPORTANT INFO. No explanation of WHY Snape is the Half-Blood Prince, VERY IMPORTANT INFO. And there was very little build up of the Horcurxes..a MAJOR plot point in the next two films!
We waited an extra EIGHT frickin' months for this movie only to be handed this crappy sitcom that's 5 times too long??? Bring back Chris Columbus for fuck's sake, at least he kept something of the storyline resembling the actual plots of the first two books and visually was a damn genius! How the hell did they get JK Rowling to sign off on this adaptation?
I have read all of these books to the point of not really needing to re-read them completely to enjoy them anymore and I can say unequivocally this has been the worst adaptation, not only for the series, but for adapted movies from books that I have ever seen!! The last book of the series is an awesome piece of writing. It's smart, well thought out and leads us to a great ending, let's hope the last two movies redeem this franchise and don't make me want to slit somebody's wrists!

Albert Einstein Invented Science, didn't you know?

2009-07-06T00:53:00.003-05:00

So my son says to my husband while they are in the bathroom at Chipotle; "Albert Einstein invented science." Then after they wash their hands he says, "If you waste paper towels, it's rude to Jesus!" This is my child. My wonderful, smart, sport enthusiast of a child. A child who has been to Christian church a handful of times and believes both in Jesus and reincarnation due to his father and I's differing beliefs.
I was raised Catholic for the first 6 years of my life, when I began to behave so badly in Mass (hello, it was BORING) that my mother drug me out of the church proclaiming we'd never come back if I couldn't behave. I suppose you could say ( and I do - often ) I couldn't take the guilt so I didn't go back.
Instead I went more regularly to the southern Baptist church with my paternal grandmother, or Maamaw as I lovingly called her. It was definitely more fun there. Less structured, not so hard on the knees. And I believed it all, every bit of it, until I was about 10 or so. See my mother taught me to read before I started school, so by the time I was in Kindergarten I was reading books that were high school level. Therefore, I didn't have that same innocent mind akin to blind faith as most children. I was a questioner, and I questioned everything. Questions like what's the difference between hearing 'God' and just being schizo? If 'God' can perform the miracle of immaculate conception for Mary, why not for a man? I mean, it's one thing for a chick to show up preggers and claim she's never had sex, but it's totally something else for a man to show up in the 'motherly way'. Now THAT would something.
But then again, I had deeper questions. Questions that couldn't be shaken off with just "Have faith. Faith is the answer." Umm, I call BULLSHIT. We had a youth pastor when I was around 14-15 and we were going on a mission trip. Before hand we had to fill out a questionnaire and have a sit down with him. These were pretty heady questions, things like: do you believe in God? I answered maybe. It also had a place for us to ask what we wanted. I asked how do we not know that every religion is actually perpetrated by the same higher power? Suppose that in an effort to fulfill all of the different kinds of peoples needs around the world, different beliefs were handed out, just like different skin colors and languages. And then a secondary reason for this was to help reinforce the value of loving each other as we are, of accepting differences and making them work.
That youth pastor didn't give me the bullshit line. He told me that what I thought could very possibly be true. That my idea was something that we could explore and research. He valued what I had to say. Unfortunately, we never got that chance. Other's in the church, you know the ones (you gotta just have faith) didn't like his forward was of thinking, and made his job such a nightmare he eventually resigned and moved on. This example shows full on why most organized religion is more of a hindrance to fulfillment rather than something beautiful that glorifies anything or anyone. They don't allow for growth or better interpretation. They are about keeping you down, underfoot. If you are happy, you must be sinning. If you are in despair, then damn you're doing RIGHT!
I will allow my child to learn about all religions that he is interested in. If he wants to find out about Judaism, Hinduism or what have you, I'll help him on his route. But I'll be sure to instill in him the ability to allow everyone to have their opinions and not degrade them for it. He'll also be able to stand up against those that will put him down for his choice, whatever that may be. And if he ever decides he wants to cast a circle with me and call his God and Goddess Jesus and Mary, I'm okay with that.

Beating a Dead Horse? How do you know

2009-05-16T14:15:00.002-05:00

Wow, cool stuff happens all at once doesn't it? I finally got an iPhone! Did I NEED it, no. Did I have some extra cash so it didn't come out of the budget, yes! I feel that I make a lot of sacrifices (to not much avail) and occasionally I want to do something nice for myself. But then, right after I got it, I found out Tori Amos was coming to KC right before my birthday, so I guess I'll be doing something else for myself!
I'm not sure I'm living the life I was meant to. Do you ever have that feeling? I always seem to make the wrong decisions, so I'm trying to stick with certain decisions that I've made hoping that they'll turn out for the best, because I know my luck, as soon as I make that decision to do something different, it will be worse. Maybe I need a life coach!! Right. I wonder what kind of life they actually have that makes them so wise as to tell others how to live. Was there really a major for that and if so, why don't they condense it down to just one course and require all students to take it, like with stupid PE? I will never understand why PE is required in COLLEGE! But then again, I'll never understand a lot of mandatory things we have in the US.
The iPhone is awesome, I'm listening to Tori's new album on her MySpace, as it isn't available until Tuesday.
Other good things: my kid is rocking at baseball. I'm counting the money I spend for him to play as an investment so he can take care of his wonderful mother in her old age. Right now he doesn't think that is such a hot plan. After all, I already work two jobs, I can surely take care of myself, right? Oh to have an 8 year old's logic again. At least he has been an angel at school the last few months. People who are against medicating children: find the right mix. You can give your child a medication that won't turn them into a zombie, but does dial down the impulsiveness so that they can actually learn at school! Then the idiots running the public school won't just send them off to the 'bad kids' school so they can learn some REALLY bad habits from actual juvenile delinquents!
Rambling seems to be a process of mine. I could now ramble on to more boring and obnoxious topics, but I think I should probably start getting ready to go to my sister - in - law's graduation party. Whoo, teenages galore...fun.

The St. Joe School District Got F*cked!

2009-04-16T22:33:00.000-05:00

So we had a levy and bond issue for our public schools a couple of weeks ago. It didn't pass and I am still seething! The main reason given by people who voted against it was because there wasn't a 'sunshine' clause. They also don't think we need to close down some of the older schools and build a couple of new schools.
Everyone seems to forget that we want public schools FOREVER, so we're going to have to pay for them FOREVER. We should gladly and proudly fund our schools. When this was first brought up, I too, was like "the schools are too old? Humboldt is older than either of the ones they want to close!" But then it was explained to me by someone who had volunteered at the schools that Hall School has only 2 bathrooms for the ENTIRE student body, not 2 per floor, 2 total. And if they wanted to add a couple more, they would have to remodel the ENTIRE building up to todays standards (ADA and all that). Now imagine doing that to a bunch of schools...seems cheaper to build 1 or 2 brand new schools than to re-do 3 or 4 older ones. Everyone was okay with the CIP for the Shoppes, seeing as they brought in ALL those high-paying jobs (that was sarcasm - which they teach in English in the PUBLIC SCHOOLS), but we can't seem to fund our schools to the point that our children can have an adequate place to learn and then perhaps when they grow up have ACTUAL high-paying jobs. Taxes are a part of life when you want government to provide public services. For those of you who say tax and spend doesn't work - how come there was a surplus when Clinton left office? Who cares if it does or doesn't? No one is up in arms that we let the government take our tax money to bail out the super rich like AIG, and here we can't even give our children the promise of a bright future cause we're such damn tightwads. You want the school district to cut back, you want salary freezes and such, how about you give up your gas guzzling vehicle, your cable television, your gym membership? How much do you spend at Starbucks every month. I guarantee that if you get a $4-$5 coffee every morning, that's going to add up to more than school levy portion of your property tax every year. Let's stop being selfish already and do something for the future. The 'Me Generation' is so passe. Our 'bright' tax-paying voters also saw no problem with voting to use tax money to entice the Kansas City Chiefs to bring their training camp to MWSU! So let's see what this says about our town...it says that we'll give tax breaks and use our taxes to bring in lots of minimum wage jobs while all the good paying ones go over seas, and we'll use tax money and breaks so that a bunch of over paid, probably roided up, sterile men can train closer to home, but WE WON'T FUND OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE!! That sure makes me 'St Joe Proud' - BARF!
If only could afford to move to a real town where the intelligent people outweigh the idiots!

ooohh primero

2009-03-29T23:53:00.000-05:00

I had to pick this font because it is titled Trebuchet...the only time I had heard this word previously was on "Little People, Big World" when they were building that catapult-esqe contraption. Perhaps that is fitting as this is the first blog, jetting myself into the big wide world of it (blogging, not trebucheting).
You may see 'Murvene' and think "that sounds like someone's middle name", and you'd be right! It belongs to a girl I went to high school with and I have always felt that it was begging to be the name of a girls doo-wop group. Alas, I have no doo-wop group nor the vocal exhaltations to perpetrate one, so here it is relegated to the name of a web log.
My free time for expelling my creative juices will become less than I have even now. My duties at work are about to double due to the impending conclusion of my boss's breeding efforts. A mini-she will be with us by tax day (hopefully), thus knocking our 3 woman finance office down to 2. This comes at a time when many changes are traipsing across our non-profit door. Stimulus money influx, highest unemployment numbers in decades, people needing help at an un-precedented rate since the Great (what was so great about it really?) Depression. Our third is new to our crew, joining us a scant 6 months ago, however she is quick on the draw. We'll muddle through with the utmost confidence of our executive director, all the while praying (she to her God, me to my multiple ones) that we do as well as everyone needs us and expects us to. No pressure. Really. And that's just my full time gig.
Let's not forget the part-time selling of books, full time mommy, full time wifey, part time student, wanna be writer, as well as dipping the toes into the waters of possible starting a home side business and not missing any of the boy's baseballs games. How about 3 more hours added to the days? Enough for today. More tomorrow (or sometime this week), but fun and entertaining!