mutterings and nothing much

I’ve been rightly accused recently that I shouldn’t mutter about the lack of update on my friends’ blogs when I can’t even keep up-to-date with my own. But yeesh. It’s so much more easy to read OTHERS’ blogs rather than write my own….’specially when not much is happening and I don’t want to bore the heck outta the 3-4 people who might be reading this.

Ok. Updates. Um….I’ve started working on my writing again. Got a title for the piece…don’t know if it’ll be a book or a short story. I’m aiming at book-length because I personally don’t usually like short stories….but then I’ve never written a book, so we’ll see. The title is “Gone Missing” and the main character’s name is Rae. That’s all I’m gonna confess right now, as it’s still going through a heck of a lot of thought and development.

Other things….I’m going to Las Vegas for the first time, in a couple of weeks. My friend is turning 40, and I convinced her she needed to do something wild or fun, so she chose Las Vegas. Neither of us has ever been there. We’re staying at Circus Circus, and have tickets to go see the show Thunder From Downunder…hehehe…..Hey, it’s HER birthday!! The “bonus” is that we’re flying in on Halloween – so not only will we see the “typical” Vegas crazies, but all the Halloween celebrants too!! This should surely blow my little mind. I’ll take pictures and maybe post one or two – if they’re not too incriminating!!

We’ve discovered we can’t remodel the bathroom the way we want (or even the way it NEEDS), so we’re going to look into alternatives….One thing’s for sure, we MUST prevent any pipes from bursting this winter, and we refuse to run a heater in the unmonitored crawlspace!! That’s just asking for a burnt down house. So we’ll see how much it’ll cost to - at the very minimum - cut off the pipes and cap them at the house’s edge….and maybe next year we can afford to make that bathroom useable again. Sigh. All this house drama is making a VERY good case toward either renting or buying a condo with a maintenance schedule!!!

I’m still stuck at my suck-arse job. And my boss is still a weasel. Not much more to say on that subject, unless I want to rant, and I shouldn’t at this time. sigh.

Hope your day is filled with good things and laughter.

Cheers!

End of times....

I've just finished reading Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling.

[WARNING - spoilers here]

The plot is centered around "The Change" - a moment when everything from a simple battery on up to the mechanics of a 747 just STOPS WORKING. Cars, electricity, digital watches, gunpowder, steam engines...it all stops. The aftermath is well depicted. But even though I'm a pagan, I found the heavy stress of Wicca a bit distracting. I understand that people would need to latch onto some positivity amidst the disease, death, and violence that others would run up against, but I dunno....it seemed to distract me more than I expected.

As for the thought of the end of life "as we know it" - I'm all for it. There are too many people on this planet, and to have something from "outside" the human race (unlike a war or a human-started plague) come through and thin the herd without regard to race, religion, or politics, sounds like a great idea.

This isn't a new feeling of mine. I've read books like this before....there's even a movie we own (The Quiet Earth) that follows the theme really nicely.

I admit to being a bit cynical about human beings. I mean, I see cruelty, selfishness, rudeness, mean-spiritedness, and arrogance every single day - and most of it (I can't say all, because one never really knows what's happening in another's world) is totally and completely un-called-for and un-necessary. But it just keeps happening. It's very sad. And YES, I know that there is also a whole heck of a lot of niceness, unselfishness, and kindness happening too....but it always seems outshone by the negativity.

I was raised in the Christian church. I know the Episcopalian service very very well. I was even a born-again Christian in high school. But in my mid-20s I chose to head in a different direction. My pagan-ness has brought me great joy, as well as some sadness, but I wouldn't change my direction - it fulfills me. And too often I see the negative side of Christianity.

But I see my mama earth - Mother Goddess - suffocating. Something has to give. I don't want people to suffer, but they already ARE suffering!! Too many people = environmental disasters; famine; wars and conflicts; rich over poor...We can't keep going down this road and survive.

Judge not...

Matt over at Better and Better has a very good post today - one I fully stand behind. I am a pagan, and while it makes me happy, fulfilled, and helps me get through the day, I don't push my faith on anyone, nor do I threaten anyone with it. But I too have been judged repeatedly...by my own family. Two of my 3 brothers wouldn't even come to my wedding, because it wasn't a Christian wedding. Their OWN little sister. But I am also very fortunate, because my parents not only accept me and my religion, but support me in most everything I do or try. Yes, I am an adult now (over 40) but knowing that my Mom thinks I'm a smart, caring woman REALLY means a lot to me. I'm very happy for Babs' daughter, because she has such a wonderful Mom, but I'm also happy for Babs, because she's got a super daughter.

So, to echo Matt: look inside your faith and make sure it's not hurting ANYone - including yourself.

Teach the children?

On my way home from work the other day I overheard a conversation as I was boarding the very-crowded metro. We were packed in quite tightly, and just to my right and ahead of me a man with a baby strapped to his chest and a much shorter woman were discussing child care. The woman was mentioning her nanny, and the man was inquiring about the nanny’s qualities –

“I need someone who’s good at training and educating,” the woman said “because I’m just not good at that. I can do the basics, like feeding and such, but the training and educating kids need…I just can’t do that.”

“I know, us too,” the man said, “that’s why I was really glad the daycare had a place open up when she (indicating baby strapped to chest – facing outwards) turned 4 months old. Otherwise I’d have had to take a leave of absence. But my wife and I aren’t any good at the training and teaching either. We just do the basics, and then leave it up to the daycare. That’s what makes finding a good daycare so hard.”

Ok…exCUSE me???? I thought the “job” of a parent was to:

Main Entry: teach
Part of Speech: verb
Definition: educate
Synonyms: advise, brief, catechize, coach, communicate, cram, demonstrate, develop, direct, discipline, drill, edify, enlighten, exercise, explain, expound, fit, form, give instruction, give lessons, ground, guide, illustrate, imbue, impart, implant, improve mind, inculcate, indoctrinate, inform, initiate, instruct, interpret, lecture, nurture, open eyes*, polish up*, pound into*, prepare, profess, rear, school, sharpen, show, supply-teach, train, tutor


…to completely, or to their best ability be:

Main Entry: teacher
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: educator
Synonyms: advisor, assistant, babysitter, coach, disciplinarian, docent, don, educator, faculty member, governess, grind, guide, guru, instructor, lecturer, maestro, master, mentor, mistress, pedagogue, preceptor, prof, professor, pundit, scholar, schoolman, schoolmaster, schoolmistress, schoolteacher, slave driver, supervisor, swami, trainer, tutor



I know the saying “It takes a village to raise a child,” but I think the parents should be the first and foremost authority to the child. If they don’t think they can do the “training and educating” of THEIR OWN CHILD, then they shouldn’t reproduce. I basically understand that society has – in the past – asserted that a woman should get married and have children, that THAT was the woman’s role. And yes, that is a very good role, if one needs to propagate the species…but I think 6 billion humans are sufficient proof that our species isn’t going to die off any time soon. Besides, each and every woman should only do with her body what SHE wants to do, not what society tells her to do.

And as for having a child so “a part of you lives on” – that’s just an excuse one presents to cover up the feeling of “I have to get married and have children….isn’t that what EVERYONE should do?” There is no rule or law that says a married couple has to produce children. I don’t see anything wrong with people getting married and NOT having children. Yes, there is the question of “who will take care of me when I’m old and frail”…and the answer to that is – financial planning. It shouldn’t come as a shock that “eek, I’m old, now what do I do?” because age is inevitable (unless you’re met with an unfortunate accident or early death…then you don’t have to worry about anything) and one should plan accordingly.

Ahem…..so anyway. The whole point of this post is – Why are there so many stupid, unthinking, impatient, or unconcerned people reproducing?!?! I firmly believe there are smart, clever, loving people who are having kids...don't get me wrong. Not EVERYONE is a stupid drone reproducing because that's what society tells them they need to do to be fulfilled and to fulfill their role in life. But unfortunately, I'm seeing the drones out number the smarts more and more. And fewer of the smarts means dumber rules (remember the "no touching" I blogged on previously...). Just think what our world will be like in 2-3 generations...granted, we won't be here, but still. I worry about Mama earth...a lot.

Bad accident, or blatant cruelty?

I came home from work yesterday, walking happily down my street thinking "Yay! It's Friday, I don't have to go to work for two whole days!" Then, as I came up to my house, I see this poor pigeon. He looked like he'd been painted with turquoise paint, and his left wing was hanging and rather messed up.

"Hey poor little dude," I said as I scooted around him, trying not to startle him. I scampered inside the house, grabbed the camera, and came back out. He was still in the same area, so I took a bunch of photos. After I went back in the house (up 2 small flights of steps) I called my hubby to tell him we had a turquoise pigeon on our front sidewalk. As I was speaking to him, I glanced outside and !! The little dude had followed me up the steps and was now huddled on our porch looking rather miserable. I took some more pictures. I knew, however, that he wouldn't make it through the night outside, but couldn't bring him inside (not with a puppy...not to mention I really wasn't sure what I could possibly do for him myself), so I called animal control. They asked us to put a box over him, to keep him on our porch till someone could come collect him. Poor little Turq was rather stunned, so getting a box over him wasn't difficult, and about two hours later a fellow from animal control came and picked him up. I'm hoping he was taken care of, maybe even fed. But if all they did was put him to sleep, at least he didn't suffer a cat attack.

I really hope he just floundered into something painted and messed himself up....and wasn't the victim of some mean people with spray paint. Poor little dude.

Nothing better than a kiss

Especially if it's from a silly puppy!! Gomez and his mum enjoying a beautiful Sunday in the park...

Which book am I?

You're Alice's Adventures in Wonderland!


by Lewis Carroll


After stumbling down the wrong turn in life, you've had your mind opened to a number of strange and curious things. As life grows curiouser and curiouser, you have to ask yourself what's real and what's the picture of illusion. Little is coming to your aid in discerning fantasy from fact, but the line between them is so blurry that it's starting not to matter. Be careful around rabbit holes and those who smile to much, and just avoid hat shops altogether.



Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

So. I guess that means I'm just kind of wandering along and seeing what comes next. . . . Well, at least I'm still moving.