Something I realize

I do NOT like the woman I work with, at all and you know what?  That's okay.  She's not my cup of tea.  She comes into work, does her job, doesn't talk to anyone and stays to herself.  That's not my thing but if it works for her, cool.  But the fact that I don't like her doesn't mean that I can't work with her.  It doesn't mean that I have to walk up to her and say, "you suck bitch."  It just is.  I can not like someone and not react.  And that's pretty damn good.

Boundaries

Boundaries are very important.  Without them we'd be like a person with an unlocked door in a bad neighborhood.  I have learned that some people have very high boundaries while others have lower.  Neither is bad or good, it just works for each person.

The woman I work next to has rather high boundaries; higher than mine.  To her, she's here to work.  She doesn't make small talk, she doesn't engage people in conversation.  So for her the boundaries are high and I'm sure that works for her.  Some people really have to be that way because they can get confused.  You know what that looks like, a person you know on the job suddenly wants to be your best friend and wants to hang out with you on the off time.  If you do that, then how do you act?  What if you're a drinker?  What if you embarrass yourself around them?  Will they tell other people at work?  Will they tell the boss?  What if you're the boss?

The thing is, people need human connection, it's nice to be connected to others, however as you get older, you learn that there are some things you can't share with everybody; there are parts of yourself you have to keep buried around some people.  I know a lot of folks in the self-help field say, "you're as sick as your secrets."  True.  But there is a time and a place for everything, including secrets.

I'll try again

let's try this again.  Black Friday sucks!  People need to stop shopping!

The problem with Black Friday is that it works.  People shop.  Today on Fifth Avenue, people were shopping and it wasn't even 7am!  Why when you can go online?  Is it an addiction like crack?  Is it an adrenalin rush?  Maybe.

Why do people do this?  Why do we put ourselves through this every year?  Why do we fall for the stores same old nonsense?  The stores can have great sales because their staff is paid below minimum wage, plus they have to come to work at ungodly hours, and miss their Thanksgivings.  But we sheeple don't think about that.  All we can think of is getting our flat screen TV's for $100.  But you know what?  I don't have a flat screen TV, not one and I'm okay.  I manage to live.

What if you had only an hour to live?  What would be your last thoughts?  Would they be, "Oh, I wish I had taken advantage of that sale?" or would it be, "Gee, I wish I had spent more time with my family/friends/loved ones."

Taxes

People always complain that they don't want to pay taxes.  The reason they complain IMO, is because they think taxes help "other people" or "those people."  Meaning people who don't look like them or live like them.  What they don't get is that all it takes is one turn of bad luck to become one of "those other people."  Life is random.

I work with an introvert

I sit in the office with a woman who is an introvert.  This is something very unusual for me.  My last co-worker was an extrovert and we had a great time.  This woman says "good morning" and that's it.  She rarely talks to people.  When asked to go out to lunch with a group, she either says "no" or reluctantly agrees to go, but sits quietly and doesn't engage. 

At first I thought this was weird.  But then I started talking to people who are introverts.  They told me that introverts become exhausted by too much stimulation, that they get recharged by being quiet and alone.  It's not that introverts aren't nice people (lots of times people think they're snotty, I know I sometimes do), it's that they just get tired by the constant chatter.  The chatter actually makes them feel TIRED.  My mom is this way and I used to think she was weird.  I used to wish I had a more outgoing mother.  I mean who the heck wants to just sit quietly all the time?  EWWW.

However I have learned to deal with this woman.  I have to remember that she's not a snotty bitch.  That all she wants to do is come to work, do her work quietly and go home.  She's not the companion I want, but in life you just have to accept what you got.

This guy gets it

He really gets it
He gets that having a good paying job, health insurance, education, a nice place to live are NOT things a person should get because they're lucky.  They are rights.  He says that the only reason he's in his position is because he's lucky.  Just because a person is lucky doesn't give them the right to walk upon the rights of others.  A civilized society is only so because of the way we treat its weakest members.  On that we fail in the USA.

Good point Keith

You tell them Keith

This says it all.

Occupy America

I think it's shameful what the NYPD did to the OWS protesters yesterday.  What the heck did they think was going to happen?  OMG, revolution?  Here's what pisses me off.

Many of the people complaining about OWS are my age.  30 years ago, college was affordable if your parents made a decent salary.  The college I went to only cost about 5K per year. When I graduated, my student loans were about $700 dollars.  I moved back with my mom when I graduated, she had a government job.  I got a job two months after I graduated from college.  It was a different world back then.  Things weren't easy, but they were manageable.  From what I'm hearing today, things aren't even manageable.  Young people owe five and six figures in loans, they come back home and their parents have been laid off and they can't find jobs.  All of the Union manufacturing jobs have left the US; and the only things left are in food service and retail, minimum wage jobs that are below the poverty level.

It makes me sad and it makes me angry as well.  People have gotten so greedy, they don't care about anything that goes beyond their noses.  They don't want to pay taxes because they feel those programs help people who aren't like them, yeah, that's what they think.  The people these programs help are their neighbors, but they don't know because they don't care.

That's why this mess happened in Penn State.  People were too concerned with losing their jobs than they were protecting children.  They were more concerned with protecting the football program than protecting minors.  Like I said, people today are too selfish, if it's not about ME ME ME, they don't care.

And now...

It looks like that nasty, insecure woman will win DWTS because the only real star, JR hurt his ankle. 

Figures, the devil always seems to win, huh?

I can't stand entitled insecure women

I can't stand to watch "Dancing with the Stars" this season because of Ricki Lake who I used to ADORE.  For some reason she's become so insecure and entitled.  She has this attitude that she SHOULD win DWTS just because she's Ricki Lake.  I hope she realizes that most of the people voting for her are really voting for her partner, Derek Hough, who is a doll, in fact he looks like a Ken doll I used to have when I was a kid in the 60's.  OMG, maybe that's why so many older dolls like Derek, he looks like the Ken doll they used to have as kids.  Even though Ken wasn't anatomically correct.

Anyway, I wish Ricki Lake would have more confidence.  She's fine at the weight she is, she doesn't need to be a size 4 for people to love her.  She's 43 for goodness sake, size 4 doesn't look good at 43 or else you'll look like those Beverly Hills Houswives, bobble head dolls with big heads, big boobs and a skinny body.  Besides, I haven't met one man yet, black or white who wants to make love to a skeleton.

Worried

I am worried that in a few years there won't be anybody to teach the children in the US.  Why?  Well first school budgets keep getting slashed.  This is, I believe, because my generation, the Boomers either have raised their children, or didn't have them at all; so now we're like, "why should I pay all this cash for schools when I'm not getting anything out of it?"  But we do get something out of it, educated people!

What I see are young people who went to college to become teachers, saddled with five and six figure student loan debt.  There's no way they can pay that on a teacher's salary, and besides teaching positions are being cut at the same time class sizes are growing, meaning teachers have to work their behinds off even more.  So what to do?  They have to get jobs where they can pay off that debt.  Also young people just going to college will think, "I want to be a teacher but how will I be able to pay off the student loan."  So they'll go to other fields.  Pretty soon, teachers will be an endangered species.  Then what?  How many people can afford and have the resources to home school their children?  That's why I think this system has to change.  It can be like it is at military academies.  You want to be a teacher?  You go to school for free and then teach public school for five or ten years and then your debt it paid. 

I have read the story about the teacher who lost her job because she posted on her Facebook that she felt like "a warden for future criminals."  BTW, she teachers kindergarten.

Now, I agree with this decision.  Why?  No one is saying the teacher didn't have a right to feel what she felt, or even say what she felt, but to post it in Facebook?  No.  There are some things that you should only tell friends.  There are some things you can't post publicly.

Kindness

I think one of the saddest things happening today is that too many people mistake kindness for weakness and loudness for strength.  But kindness isn't weakness.  When you are kind to people, you don't want bad things to happen to them, and so you do things like vote and join organizations that help people so they won't be treated in an unkind way. 

Herman Cain

I believe these women, I really do. 

The thing is, what is inappropriate anymore?  Is it subjective?  I like a lot of attention, so if a man says, "you look fine today" I don't have an issue with it.  If he touches me though, he'll draw back a freakin' stump.

In the 80's I used to work with this older man who said that the day would come when nobody would be able to say anything to anybody anymore because they'll be afraid of being brought up on charges of something.  He used to say, "they'll be no tenderness, no love, just work.  We'll all be drones."
 

Maybe small is beautiful

When I was younger I wanted to be the center of attention.  I wanted all of the lights on me, I wanted a BIG life. 

But that was not the life that I received.  What I got, what I have now is a small life.  No husband, no kids, house sold during the real estate boom, small one bedroom apartment.  It is NOT the life that I envisioned for myself.

But here's the thing.  I wonder if some of the folks who are having problems with their homes, whose homes are in foreclosure are in that position because they wanted things BIG.  I used to work with a man who had a big house, big car, big everything and he was dead broke.  This was in 2000 and he made the very good salary of 85k which was nothing to sneeze at then.  But because he wanted a huge life he never had enough money.

I think that when you do have a big life and mucho money you have to work harder to keep it all together.  You can't rest, unless you're super rich like J.K. Rowling, because you feel that if you slow down you'll lose everything. 

Maybe having a small life isn't all that bad. 

R.I.P. Joe Frazier

I heard today that Joe Frazier died.  Very sad.  I remember him and Mohammad Ali when they were young, back before boxing was on HBO.  Back then you had to watch fights on closed circuit TV; you'd have to go to places like movie theaters, in my area it was in an armory, to watch the fight. 

Thinking about that makes me realize how many years have gone by since I was a child, and that's not a depressing thought, but it does make me appreciate the life that I have been given, warts and all.

Abortion

I have never been able to understand why so many men are pro-life.  The last I checked men couldn't give birth.  Also if a man has ever had unprotected sex with a woman other than his wife, there's a good chance, especially if he's over 45 that he's dodged a bullet.

That means:  35 years ago, summer romance, woman got pregnant and had an abortion rather than tell the guy; guy goes off, gets married, has kids, never the wiser. 

Dancing with the Stars

I really hate this show.

The only reason I started watching was because my cable box was broken TWICE and I had nada to watch on Monday night.  So I chanced watching this mess.

Look, I love dancing, I love Broadway musicals, I saw "Rent" twice!  But Derek Hough is NOT the second coming of Christ and I wish the show would stop treating him like he is, especially when you have someone like J.R. Martinez there, a true inspiration.  If this man can enjoy his life then anybody can.  I think about him when I get all bent out of shape about stupid high class problems, like the laundromat not being open at 5:30am. 

To me, J.R. is a true hero, he's also the best "star" on the show.  But, I have a feeling that TPTB will give it to Golden Boy Derek and Ricki Lake, who I used to adore but who is getting on my nerves now.  I used to watch Ricki's show every day in the 90's and her show really entertained me when I was unemployed in 1995.

Oh well, maybe I don't hate "Dancing with the Stars" after all.  Besides, Derek did look good dancing shirtless.  So what if he's young enough to be my son, he ain't my son!

Why we're in the toilet

I think a main reason why this country and the world is in the toilet is because people basically can't see past their own noses. 

Example:  There is a conference room in my office.  I have about five signs in the room that say, if the room is occupied please CLOSE THE DOOR.  Even with that, there are those people who still don't want to close the door and I have to close it.  I mean common sense would be that if I were having a meeting I'd want to keep the door shut so everybody doesn't hear what's being discussed.  But NO, these folks act like they're the only people in the world.  Is it a wonder that we're in the toilet?  People don't care about each other.