Saturday, November 28, 2009

Maddness



I watched this show once or twice, it was humorous and snarky, but not anything I want to go out of my way to DVR. That being said I did have to laugh when Time asked in a recent article if the show was "anti-Christian". Who cares!! I am SOOOO tired of this whole movement, started by the Christians, that suggests that everyone is out to get them.

For a better part of this year we have had to endure an onslaught of articles and news chatter about how the entire well-being of Christians is at stake.
Maybe they just need to get rid of their televisions, stop reading books other than the Bible, and just stick with folks of a similar mind. Seriously, maybe they need to find new places to hang their hat and leave the rest of the world alone!

There is still a great deal of unoccupied land in the Western U.S.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee




Had my eyes opened. Took my corporate blinders off. The company comes across with all their cool,"we support causes and act on conservation", B.S. Yet they are really just another corporate entity complete with typical conservative values, beliefs and behaviors.

Guess the economy must be getting stronger because our fearless leader is giving himself a nice raise, or maybe it is just a cost of living increase! He had seemed to be feeling our pain when he decided to take a salary of $10,000 in 2009, but looks like he is jumping up to 1.3 million for 2010. Mama must need a new pair of shoes!!

That aside, I don't know him personally so I can only speak about the people that are in my personal orbit. That is where this all begins. I just am not the cookie cutter type management people that fit in with them. Seems that their idea is to use me for some ones maternity leave and then let them stay at my current location and move me a drive from home. Or I could just turn down the promotion, stay where I am and make enough money to get by AND go back to subbing until I can get back in to a school.

I went to a training class this week and they sent my boss a really crappy e-mail about my look and a few other tid bits. They had asked for us to share anything that we felt needed to be anonymous and then they went and included that in the e-mail too! Now this is going to stir up a whole ton on crap for me and others at work. So much for trust and anonymity. Assholes.

John says that I have been doing WAAAAY too much for my boss and the company for no increase in pay. That is just how I am and I am sure that some of you can relate. You just want to see stuff get done and you are driven and want it to be done right. I have always been a leader. That is how I ended up in charge of many different organizations etc.

It is hard to back off and let go. Today made it much easier. My regional person was in and did not even speak. Walked right past me as if I was nothing and that is the person who knows about my desire to get promoted AND is responsible for said promotion! Hell, even my boss did not introduce me to the regional other guy even as I was standing there putting my coat on!!

Needless to say I am tired and pissed off with the whole bunch and ready to throw in the towel, but like most of middle class America I am stuck because I need the health care. I am just another statistic stuck in a job I hate because I need the health care.


Thursday, November 19, 2009

Moral,Schmoral!!!



Something needs to happen with the health care system in this country. End of story. I won't claim to have all the answers or even begin to dissect all the arguments.....BUT.....

I am sick, sick, sick to death of hearing about the abortion issue holding crap up
. I am tired to death of people STILL using this outdated argument as a reason to argue!!!! I can not believe that there are so many kids/families out there who can not afford to care for themselves and yet abortion is still a sticking point.

This article, at Newsweek, points out that there are MANY other so called "moral issues" involved in our health care debate than just abortion.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

Weird is Good





We must overcome the notion that we must be
regular. . . it robs you of the chance to be
extraordinary and leads you to the mediocre.

Ute Hagen

Today's Meditation:

In our family, "Weird is good." Whenever one of us does something that goes against the norm or that seems to be a bit strange, we tell that person, "You're so weird!" And the response is always, "Yeah, and weird is good!"

In this way we allow ourselves to stray from the normal--and not just to stray from it, but to embrace the abnormal, the different, the unusual. In the regular things of life, there's very little--if anything--left to be discovered. Because so many people strive to be "regular" every day of their lives, they take away the new and the extraordinary from that regular side of life, and they convert it into the boring and the usual. Mediocrity rules in the regular because the regular doesn't encourage us to take chances or to move in new directions or to try to find the new and extraordinary.

Our whole lives long, we're encouraged to be regular by teachers, parents, friends, relatives, and other members of society. If we're "regular" kids, we won't embarrass our parents. If we're regular in the classroom, the teacher won't face any new or different challenges.

There are times when being regular can be valuable. My employer would like it if I can maintain a certain degree of regularness in my job. My step-kids would appreciate it if I'm regular in my financial dealings so that they don't face serious financial problems in their future.

But regular doesn't have to rule our lives. There's much of the extraordinary out there in the world, and if we're to find it, then we have to look for it. And we can't do that by settling for mediocrity and boring status quos.


Questions to consider:

From where do we get the notion of the value of being regular?

What kinds of new and different things do we discover when we're focused on conforming to what society sees as "regular"?

What's the value in settling for mediocrity?

I loved this thought today. It has been a very long time since anyone, including myself, have seen me as a "regular" person. I tried for many years to change my image and inner self. Tried to be what I saw as acceptable in society. By the way I dressed, wore my hair etc. That was also a big part of my "church shopping" years as well. The trying to fit in and be a regular part and person of the acceptable parts of society and the community.

It wasn't until a few years back that I began to find my way back to my "real" self. The person that I had been in my early 20's. The girl that did not fit into any particular mold. The girl that read a great deal and questioned many things. A funny thing happened as I was bringing her back....I began to feel comfortable, once again, in my own skin! But....I also began to face opposition from the "main stream". I had forgotten how that felt. The churchy folk did not care for the "real" me and that was when I saw the hypocrisy and silliness of it all and got out of there ASAP!

I had been brainwashed for much of my child's life thinking that in order to be a good parent that I had to look and be just like the rest of them. I had to do things the way they all did them. I let myself be molded by mediocrity.

Now that I am free from it all I have discovered so many exciting things about life and myself and my place in the world. I enjoy it all so much more while traveling to a different drummer. Finding your own beat can make all the difference.

Doing the things I need to do in my work life, even when I was teaching, can all still have a flavor of me. I don't have to succumb to the demands of the status quo. Freedom is liberating. Breaking the bonds of regularity & mediocrity has made all the difference!!

Viva la difference!!!