Alright Already!

It's been pointed out that I have not updated my blog lately.

Let me rephrase that ...I've been getting sh * it for not posting anything
in a while.

I tend to post when I'm at school, don't ask me why, maybe all the chaos
inspires me. Or maybe it's an escape.

So the new Quarter is starting and I have classes on Wednesdays and Friday
nights (yuck!)

Keep a lookout for new and interesting stuff. I can't say if I will not tell
you about my day or whether I will wax philosophical, but I know I learn
about myself when I blog.

Turtle
"You have nothing to lose but Fear and Time"

Oh wow, what a rollercoaster week. Let me take you thru it really quick:
Tuesday (Noon), get new tires for the Jeep.(sounds unimportant now, but wait)
Tuesday 5ish-driving home: Get a call from my recruiter telling me that my contract will be up on Friday. This Friday.
Tuesday Night: Drink beer. Go to Pandora's just to sit.
Wednesday: Get kinda weepy. In the Jeep I think about how wierd it is to loose your job and not be walked like all the times I've been thru layoffs. This is the nature of layoffs.
Thursday: Everyone at work finds out. They plan a lunch for me. These folks have not invited me to lunch in the last 3 months, so this is interesting. This going away stuff if sinking in and we're joking about all the work that I took off my friend's shoulders is getting piled right back on.
Friday: Get a call from my recruiter that he has a job for me. With this company. For another five weeks. Yes, I'll take it....interesting news, I tell those around me. I talk to my supervisor who confirms the whole thing.
Right before my "Formerly Going Away" lunch she calls me to tell me to keep it hush hush. ...okay, so I tell everyone that is around not to say anything. All these people had gathered for my "Farewell" lunch then my "welcome back" lunch and now my "we have to keep it quiet" lunch.At the restaurant one person insists on paying for mine...no no no, yes, it's okay....no, you really don't understand!! okay fine, go on and pay. (I tried to warn her!)
After lunch,a close coworker is told that today is his last day. so my farewell was not a farewell and it could have been his, but it wasn't. Weird. Can you say "Awkward!" Turns out I am taking his position.
We go thru transitioning his work to me and he leaves, more like sneaks out, it's sad. I feel weird. I round the corner into another set of cubes and a sweet girl hands me a little white gift bag. "What's this for".."cuz you're leaving"...awkward again. Someone peeks their head out of their cube and starts giggling which makes me start giggling. "I don't think you want to give me this, I'll be here on Monday." She takes the present back and the nice person who bought my lunch finds out and I will gladly buy her lunch. We all had a good laugh, but thank goodness I didn't have school, I was stressed beyond belief. Count my blessings is all I can do.
So, I am back at work on Monday for the next 5 weeks, this gives me time for find something else.
The End, I hope.

Priceless

Priceless
Jack wakes up at home with a huge hangover he can't believe. He forces himself to open his eyes, and the first thing he sees is a couple of aspirins next to a glass of water on the side table. And, next to them, a single red rose!
Jack sits down and sees his clothing in front of him, all clean and pressed. Jack looks around the room and sees that it is in perfect order, Spotlessly clean. So is the rest of the house. He Takes the aspirins, cringes when he sees a huge black eye staring back at him in the bathroom mirror, and notices a note on the table: "Honey, breakfast is on the stove, I left early to go shopping--Love you!"
He stumbles to the kitchen and sure enough, there is hot breakfast and the morning newspaper. His son is also at the table, eating. Jack asks, "son...what happened last night?"
"Well, you came home after 3 A.M., drunk and out of your mind. You broke some furniture, puked in the hallway, and got that black eye when you ran into the door."
"So, why is everything in such perfect order, so clean, I have a rose, and breakfast is on the table waiting for me?"
His son replies, "Oh THAT!... Mom dragged you to the bedroom, and when she tried to take your pants off, you screamed, "Leave me alone, lady, I'm married!"
Broken furniture - $85.26
Hot Breakfast - $4.20
Red Rose bud -$3.00
Two Aspirins -$.38
Saying the right thing, at the right time........Priceless
Don't you wish it was always like that?

60 years ago

Today marks the 60th anniversary of Auschwitz concentration camp’s liberation and the beginning of the end of the holocaust.
The people who survived are fading from our history. Those still alive were just small children and have to be reminded every day how close they came to death when they look at their bare forearms with the tattoo marking them for possible death. I was only about 6 or so when I lived in Germany and visited Dacau, another concentration camp.
My brother was born while my father was on his first tour of duty in Germany in the late 60’s. Yep, my brother’s a Kraut. They lived on the second floor of a dairy farm. Naturally, the owners of the farm became his godparents and, my surrogate grandparents after we moved back. Needless to say, my ties to Germany are not just from reading books. Even though we were small, my parents wanted us to see and learn as much as we could while we were there. I learned not to ask for seconds at Mama Beckert’s house. She remembers the war and Sunday dinner is a luxury. I learned about feather blankets and hot water bottles. About garden gnomes and castles. About wooden shoes and walking sticks. …And about Nazi’s.
You’d think a kid wouldn’t remember going to a concentration camp. But I do. I remember the open field where the barracks used to be. I remember thinking what a great time we could have if we were allowed to play on that field. Instead we were kept back by a barricade. I thought it was a shame that we weren’t allowed to play on it. I thought it was odd that even though we were outside, we had to hold my father’s hand and be really quiet. The museum with photos of piled bones and piled shoes and articles of clothing. A pile of eyeglasses. And the ovens. I’ve seen the ovens. I remember talking to my mother about the ovens that day. I related it to Hansel and Gretel and the witch who wanted to cook them. This was exactly the size oven she would need to cook children. Strange how children’s minds work. Oddly, I remember it was a day like today. Not a full rain, more like mist the whole time, overcast.
Not until I got older did I really understand what I saw there, and I don’t regret having seen it. I regret the reason that I had to see it. I regret the lives and souls lost because of one man’s ability to sway the thoughts of a nation. The systematic, planned slaughter of an entire race of people. They sat at a table and planned this. It wasn’t a Tsunami that cared not how and who it struck. It wasn’t terrorists aiming at buildings not caring or knowing who was inside, getting it all over in one fell swoop. These people were picking off Jews. Specifically. Quietly.
Those sick F*cks. Cowards. Some lowly soldier had to carry out their bidding. Had to look into the frightened eyes as they crowded into the poison showers. As their bodies shriveled over time from starvation. Once proud people being taken down notch by notch to nonexistence. We can’t let this happen again.
We can’t let people say this was just a story. We can’t let people deny it ever happened.
I haven’t seen anything about Prince Harry going to Auschwitz. People say it was just a joke, but symbols are powerful and have powerful effects. I optimistically think he will understand when he gets there. Innocent ignorance will give way to knowledge and Knowledge is Power.

Welcome 2005

Things are gonna be betterer this year.
Gonna get my act together and try to stop saying that I'm gonna do something and actually do it.
What I see in the future? Selling my Jeep. Saving lots of money. Sharing the load with my family. Stop wasting time. Travel a little and not just to San Antonio all the time. Find adventure. Cut down on my cola habit. Be conscious of the things going on around me. Participate.
Don't let fear get the betterer of me.
:)

...and the countdown begins.

**Saltina's Meme thing, dohickey:
2. Add a button addCombo which should add the selected items in the List Box to a ComboBox control.

Happy New Year

Ringing in the new year was a good time at Tina's. I'll let you know when and where the pictures are posted. Being surrounded by friends was fun but I did miss all the people who could not be there.
I didn't have anyone to kiss at midnight, but I did have a very sweet dog named T-bone become my friend. (Although I did not seek her out at midnight)
I learned that figuring out how to turn up the volume on an iPod is a pain in the ass.
I learned there's always room in the fridge for more beer.
I learned I'm not a fan of fancy scotch. Hand me a beer and keep me happy.
I learned that running from the cops cuz they might take your firecrackers away can be done at any age.
I learned it takes much more than 52 tries to get a playing card to slice a banana.
I watched a guy pour scotch and tea into a glass of beer-- and follow through and drink it.
I saw that the biggest kiss of the evening (in my observation) was between a gay man and a lesbian woman.


Overheard:
"Wooooooooaaaoaoh!!!!! 2005!!!!!!"
"I've got double D's"
"Will you marry me?"
"BFF!"
"We met in 2004 and plan to marry in 2005"
"I have corks in my butt"
"I hope 2005 is betterer."
"This is a table --=Slam!=-- Show me God."
"When you burn a poker chip -- it reaks!"


What I think will happen in 2005??

Work will begin in "The Book of Hirsut" to help future generations get a clue that she does not have their answers, but that they are to find their own.
I'll age one year.
I can now to go to the grocery store to get alcohol when in Carrollton.
I'll grow in mind and spirit.
We'll see compassion for humanity magnified.
I will find the good in everything around me.
I will accept the challenges and hurdles placed before me and do my best.
I will try.
I will become financially liquid. (Check me on that one next year)
I will take more pictures.
I will study harder. ...okay, I will study.
I will read things that will help me grow, not just help me escape.