Video feature on your digital camera... USE IT!

I received an 8 GB flash drive for Christmas. As I was cleaning up my files and rearranging folders and whatnot so I could move them to my new flash drive, I found a really cute video of Frosty and Mocha from way back when I found Mocha. I was driving a bunch of kids home from summer camp when we stopped at a gas station near Waco. At the gas station, we found a homeless kitty that was just too adorable to leave alone. I ended up taking the kitty home with me and was looking for a home to put her in. While I was looking for someone who wanted a kitty, I kept her with me for a few days. This is a clip from when Mocha was living with me... How CUTE!!!

Update: This video was taken approximately a year and half ago. Frosty is now 2 and 1/2 and Mocha is a little over a year and 1/2. Mocha is living happily with a new best friend (who is also a doggy.. and who is ALSO Frosty's best friend!) and is being spoiled by her owners. Sadly, when I bring Frosty over to visit my friends and their dog, Mocha isn't too friendly and takes refuge in a secret hiding place.

Most digital cameras nowadays have a nifty little video feature on it. If you have it, use it. You'll be able to catch cute moments that you can cherish for the rest of your life. Use it - I'm glad I did. You'll regret it if you don't.

My first thrilling ride

Dear Diary,

I did it! I can now cross another thing off my Bucket List. I hopped on a motorcycle and went up to 85 mph on it.... and heck no, I wasn't driving! Don't worry, I was safe... as safe as I could be.

I have a close friend who has a motorcycle. He's on it often. Originally, I couldn't have cared less - but then I got interested and decided that I wanted to give it a whirl. I received a nifty dark blue leather jacket as a gift for Christmas that is just super cute and sexy. I bought myself a neat blue/silver/gold helmet. My jacket arrived almost two weeks ago. My helmet took forever but it finally arrived yesterday.

Tonight, my friend needed to go to Wal-Mart to get some last minute Christmas gifts. We used this opportunity to go out on the bike because now, since I have the appropriate gear, why not!? I was nervous at first. Anytime I try something new, I tend to get a little bit nervous. But I never let that get in the way. It was awkward trying to get up on the bike. The ride to Wal-Mart went smoothly, however, I was struggling with trying to stay in my own seat. Whenever the bike slowed to a stop, I would slide forward. When the bike sped up, I would slide backwards. Pretty scary at first.

Of course, I'm a total newbie to this kind of stuff. So I figure it'll take a few rides for me to find my "stability" and become more comfortable with the bike speeding up and slowing down. My biggest fear was (and still is) sliding and falling backwards off the bike as it's speeding up. But like I said, with a couple more rides and practice, I'm pretty sure I'll get over it and learn how to stay put. Anyway, the ride to Wal-Mart was pretty tame. It was exciting for me and a totally new experience but nothing happened (thank God). However, the ride back was a different story....

I guess my friend decided to try to spice things up a little bit. Maybe he was trying to scare me. Maybe he was testing my limits. Or maybe he's just a jerk. He sped up to 85 mph on the Katy Freeway. If a cop is reading this - this didn't happen, I'm lying. At the time, I had no idea how fast we were going. The posted speed limit is 65 so I had figured we were going 70 or 75. I remember thinking at that moment "wow, we're going kind of fast." Yes, I did grip a little tighter then. After we took our exit, my friend decided to start to weave back and forth within our lane. Fun? Maybe for him. But me - that just made me nervous. We had to slow to a stop at a traffic light. He decided to start playing with the brakes. Again - fun? Maybe for him, but not so much for me....

The rest of the ride was uneventful, thank goodness. Now, I don't want to come off as someone who gets scared or nervous easily. That's not me. However, I do have to cut myself a little slack. This was my first real ride on a motorcycle! That has no seat belts!!! On a freeway! With speeding cars! And I didn't freak out. No sir.

All in all, it was a unique experience. While it's not exactly as exhilarating as skydiving, it was a neat experience. I'm already looking forward to my next ride.

Signed,

A motorcycle passenger

Families and the Holidays

Every year, people go through the same routine. Around the holidays, especially Thanksgiving and Christmas, everybody packs their bags and head out of town to visit families. Or they would diligently clean their homes and buy lots of groceries if their families were visiting them. If your family lives in the same town - and if you're married, or have two sets of parents - you'll cram your days with visiting everybody. Not only the holidays are for families, they're for friends as well. Everybody is hosting holiday parties left and right.

I had just attended a Christmas party at a friend's house just the other night. It was a pretty big turn-out. I saw lots of people that I knew all in one place. This was the first party in a long time that everybody showed up at. And excluding New Year's Eve, that was probably the last party for a while.

So the holidays, all the parties and people seeing families had me thinking. Typically, throughout the year, you hear about people visiting families and hanging out on special occasions like birthdays, mother's day and father's day. But it's nowhere near as much as people would visit families for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Right around then, everyone has "family" on their mind...

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Families should be adored and appreciated. However, it has me feeling a little bit left out and bored. See, I have a very small family. Actually - I have family in Austin and Dallas, but haven't spoken to them in years. I have family in New Jersey and naturally, I'm just too poor and they're too far for me to see often. As a result, we don't keep in touch. So, the only family I have that I consider "family" are my parents, my sister and her two kids. And well, I see them... often.

I guess I should be lucky. I see them at least once a week. Back when I was working, I saw my mom everyday because she took care of my son while I was at work. So I guess whenever the holidays roll around, people are going "family, family, family..." and I'm thinking "so what?" Maybe this makes me a bad person. Maybe not. Like I said - I see my family... often. Probably more often than anybody else that I know right now. And if I don't see them, I talk to them - usually everyday.

I guess it's harder to appreciate something that you have if you're around it everyday. I guess part of my feelings towards family have to do with how I was raised. My family aren't very affectionate people. I've always known that my parents and sister love me - that isn't an issue. And my 3-year old niece is just crazy about me - she'd have to be ... I'm her only aunt! We just aren't the close, touchy-feely, sappy, hugsy-kissy types. So because of that, I'm very selective about who I'm physical with and aren't usually comfortable when someone gets a little too close. And no doubt, it has a small effect on how I am with my own children. But I try hard to change that....

Anyway, back to the point - so whenever the holidays roll around and people are spending all their time with families (again, nothing wrong with that), I feel left out and lonely. Sure, I plan on seeing my family on Christmas Eve. We have plans to eat dinner together. And I'll probably pop over again on Christmas morning to trade gifts and play with my nieces a little bit. But I'm sure that I'll get bored by mid-afternoon and will want to head home. However, there's nothing worse than spending Christmas Day alone.

So, let this be a lesson to anybody out there that will listen. For anyone who is whining about having such a big family, stop. Be glad you have family to hang out with. I, for one, wish I have a bigger family and have more things to do around the holidays.

Telling Stories Through Photos

(I apologize in advance for the formatting. I hope to get this fixed soon!)

I've always loved photos. I just hate being in them. Photos tell an amazing story of a person's life. Specifically, it tells what the person was like, what the person did and what trials/tribulations and happy times the person went through...

So I decided today I'd post some pictures and let them speak for themselves.

This is Logan's first year participating in decorating the home for Christmas. He was flabergasted to see fiber optic lights blinking in the tree

Here he is setting up the

Navtivity.

Christmas season wouldn't be complete without snow... in the north. Down in the south, it's quite normal to celebrate Christmas in 70-80 degree weather. We received a very nice surprise the other night - it snowed! Funny thing is, the next day - the temp rose back up to about 70 degrees or so.

This is our attempt at a snowman on top of my car. Becki scrambled around looking for twigs to use as arms and bits of grass for eyes.

See what Becki wrote on my car? Awww!!!!

After we finished with the snowman, we threw hard snowballs at each other...

Even Frosty joined us outside....(the dog, not the snowman)

It was way past Becki's bedtime so we headed inside. That was fun.... Mr. Weatherman, can we please, pretty please, have snow again?

I Heart Christmas

There's lots of things to love about Christmas. There's lots of things to hate too. When there's more things to hate than to love, I become Grinch-y (not to be confused with bitchy). The Grinch has become a well-known favorite as an antagonist who has hated Christmas for years. It just couldn't be understood by many why someone could hate Christmas as much as the Grinch did. But when you really think about it, the Grinch had the right idea.

The Grinch:

That's what it's all about, isn't it? That's what it's always been *about*. Gifts, gifts... gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts, gifts. You wanna know what happens to your gifts? They all come to me. In your garbage. You see what I'm saying? In your *garbage*. I could hang myself with all the bad Christmas neckties I found at the dump. And the avarice... [shouts] The avarice never ends! "I want golf clubs. I want diamonds. I want a pony so I can ride it twice, get bored and sell it to make glue." Look, I don't wanna make waves, but this *whole* Christmas season is [shouts] stupid, stupid, stupid!

As you grow up, you begin to lose the Christmas magic that you once knew as a child. Like me, you probably woke up one year and realized that the Christmas you knew no longer existed. Way back then, Christmas meant waiting for a jolly man dressed in red to come deliver presents. Christmas meant waking up bright and early to drag your parents out of bed so you could inspect what Santa had brought. Christmas meant happily seeing long-distance relatives and spending the holiday with them. Over the years, Christmas in its glory was replaced with long lines at the stores, rude people shoving their way to their destinations, and instead of gleefully giving gifts, people start to grumble about how much money they're spending to make others happy. Somehow, somewhere - people cared more about receiving gifts (and giving good, high-end gifts) and forgot about spending quality time with each other. When Christmas becomes something more of a chore, how could anyone like Christmas? Even Cindy Lou Who was starting to agree with the Grinch.

When Christmas becomes a chore (and it sometimes does - simply for the fact that people care about how expensive the gifts are), it loses its power to be a holiday when friends and families can get together and just simply appreciate each other.


I had started the holidays with a small grumble. Thanksgiving was never my favorite holiday. It wouldn't make the top 5. I never cared for the Thanksgiving meal either. As the end of November arrived and December was just around the corner, I thought to myself, "Here we go again." I went shopping on Black Friday to get some good deals. To my amazement, there weren't any long lines and everything was still in stock by the time I arrived at the stores. I guess you can blame the economy. I got all my shopping done in a day. I had all the gifts wrapped a week later. So far, so good. However, I wasn't feeling the Christmas spirit. I was counting the money I had spent - down to the last penny. I was more concerned about how much I could buy with so little money rather than thinking about what would mean the most to the people that was receiving the gifts. I was concerned about getting my shopping done and out of the way.

I had just finished the Christmas play at the church over the weekend. An annual item on my Holiday To-Do list. This year was quaint. Small and simple. And actually quite enjoyable for the most part. Another thing to cross off my list....


I received my very first Christmas present a few days ago. I had known it was coming so I was allowed to open it when it arrived. I waited anxiously for a week and when it finally arrived, I was giddy. Finally, I felt like a child opening presents on Christmas day.


So now, I am looking forward to opening presents with my children. I am looking forward to seeing other people open gifts I got for them. I am remembering what it's like to be around people that I care about and share the happiness in exchanging gifts. While our gifts wont be extravagant this year, it'll be packed with thoughtfulness and that's the best kind of gift.

So when you're feeling down and need some holiday cheer, become reacquainted with Cindy Lou Who and the Grinch.... and it wouldn't hurt to take a lesson or two from them.

When people take on too much

There is such a thing as being conservative. And it's not a bad thing. Apparently, some people don't understand the meaning of the word. I'm not referring to religion... I'm referring to being smart about how much you can handle and saying "no" when you should.

One of my many pet peeves is people who take on too much, thinking they can accomplish everything, and end up doing such a bad job on most of them. I do have respect for those who love to roll up their sleeves and be involved in their cause, taking on different tasks to help make things a success. Sometimes it's necessary. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's smarter to just delegate responsibilities.

I do recognize those who feel the need to do everything on their own. Sometimes you just can't trust others to do a good job and feel that you are the best person to do it - so it's just best to do it yourself. I've been there and done that. And I still do it. Maybe I should work on my trust issues and allow other people to help me out when I need it. Maybe you should too, if you have the same problem.

And there are others who take on too much simply for the fact that they can't say "no." Perhaps they're afraid of disappointing other people. Perhaps they're afraid of being criticized or deemed lazy if they did not say "yes" whenever people asked for help. People like those need to understand that they're not a total failure if they feel that they aren't up to the task or feel that they wouldn't have time for it/do a good job.

I have been dealing with several people at my graduate school that are just oh, SO busy and apologize fervently for not returning my emails for days. "I'm just so busy" is the common excuse among them. Yes, I understand that they're busy, but being in the profession that they are - working closely with students (ahem, or they're supposed to be) - they should know better than to leave a student hanging for several days before getting back to them.

I don't mean just an email asking a casual question. I'm talking about advising to get ready for internship and graduation. I'm talking about actually giving us our grades instead of making us wait 8 weeks for it. Yes, 8 weeks and I'm not exaggerating. And if a student asks you a question about an assignment a week prior to the date it's due, do NOT wait until the day before it's due to answer.

At the moment, I am trying to get my student teaching set up for the spring. I have been in contact with the school district and we are both ready to move forward - however, my advisor is pretty much non-existent right now. He isn't answering my emails so all I can do right now is just sit and wait. I did just find out that I possibly may not even qualify for student teaching because my advisor failed to check in with me and let me know that I was supposed to do this and that beforehand (like filling out forms that was due at the beginning of the FALL semester)... things I was not aware of. I would expect that an advisor would work closely with all his students to make sure they are progressing well in the program. If I received some sort of schedule of things to do and due dates, I would have done them. I have heard nothing of this requirement until just now. I blame the advisor.

If, in fact, I find out I cannot student teach because of this, I am going to give my advisor hell. I'm going to try my best and do what I can to get my foot in the door because I am determined to student teach in the spring.

So here's a word of advice - Doing more doesn't mean you're a better person or you're pleasing more people. If anything, doing more than you should could mean you'll do worse. So instead of doing a fantastic job with one or two projects, you could be doing a really horrible job doing 4 or 5 projects. And by doing a horrible job on all (or some) of your projects, you'll just get poor review from your peers. And so finally, by attempting to please everyone, you've actually disappointed a few.

On a Cuteness scale of 10

When it comes to being cute, my son is a 10. It seems that lately I've been posting a lot about my son and what he has been up to. Frankly, a 2 year old can give you hell, but he can also give you a lot of laughter and smiles. With no job, playing with my son every day seems to be the highlight of my life right now.

Yesterday, I went out to run the usual errands... post office, bank, grocery shopping and picked up movies from Redbox. When we came home from all our errands, I brought him upstairs and left him to play inside while I took three trips up and down the stairs to haul all the groceries up. This week, I had bought more than I normally would - I have Thanksgiving to thank for that. The worst thing about living on the 3rd floor is hauling all the heavy groceries up. It's a pain in the butt.

On each of my trip upstairs, my son would greet me at the door, peering in the doorway and waving "Hi!" each time he saw me. On my second trip up, I asked Logan if he wanted to help me. He gave a short, curt nod (like he always does) and said "yeah!" I instructed him to bring food inside. Knowing my son and his strength, I didn't expect much help from him. To start him off, I gave him a bag that had a loaf of bread in there. He could carry that, right?

So I make my way down the stairs to get the last of the groceries. It took me longer than expected because the groceries were heavier than I thought. As I struggled to loop 6 or 7 bags through my arms and carried them up the stairs, I had hoped that Logan would be doing his small job.

On my final trip up, I decided to leave the groceries outside the door with all the rest of the groceries. It looked funny to me. There were the same amount of bags outside but somehow, the bags were smaller - as if they held less food. I went inside to see how my son was doing. Sure enough, he was bringing food in... BUT he was taking them out of the bags and bringing them in one at a time. How cute. What's even cuter is that he sorted through all the bags and only brought in food he liked! Grapes, Strawberries, Bread and Cereal.

He had arranged them up on the counter and had started to make his way back outside to gather more food just as I appeared in the kitchen. He looked at me and held his hands out towards the food as to say "See!? Look what I did!" He trotted away and sat on the couch, assuming that since Mommy's here now, his job was done.

After receiving some crappy news over the weekend, this was the medicine I needed.

The Worst of Yahoo! Answers, Part 2

I had so much fun looking for the most idiotic questions and answers on Yahoo! Answers, so I decided to do it again! Hope you enjoy this one as well...

How can a 15-year old girl lose weight really fast?
Answer 1: Anorexia
Answer 2: Chop off your ugly head

Do girls know they have boobs?
Answer: What!?! I Do??

Is it weird if I enter the pool with my penis point down in speedo and up when I come out of the pool?
Uhh... what?

My girlfriend is pregnant and she isn't having a period anymore. Think the baby is drinking her blood? I'm real worried.
Answer: maybe its a vampire baby... check for fangs at the next ultrasound! You big dork.

Does anyone know a spell (magic) to break up a friendship?
Answer: What you do is get a clove of garlic, wave it around your body in a circle three times. Then crush it up, add lemon juice, and drink it. After you're done vomiting, take some time to reflect that you shouldn't be breaking up other people's friendships.

Why do I feel a heart beat in my penis (while masturbating)?
Answer: It's got a mind of it's own!

If you find yourself in a hole, is the first thing you do is to stop digging or try and continue to dig your way out?
Answer: If I'm in a hole I push in as far as I can then pull out and then push back in again. I continue the process until I am sick. I am called a penis.

I have no idea what to do with my life????
Answer: Me too

Does a fridge have a light bulb in it?
Uhh what?

Why do people consider beastiality to be so wrong?
Seriously!? Ew!

The search this time around was a little bit harder. Unfortunately, I came across some really stupid and gross questions. Others were hilarious. Figured I would put them up on here anyway.

Shadows aren't just shadows

It was a beautiful day today. After a short stint of brisk weather, we were greeted with warm sunny days and cool breezes. I love days like this. My son and I set out today to run some errands. It seems that lately, most days we have to step out of the apartment to run an errand or two. Not that I mind getting out of the apartment on such nice days, I usually prefer to do all my errands at once on the same day.

Today, I had to go out to the post office and stop by my daughter's school to pick up the frozen cookies for a fundraiser the school had just done. I have about 13 items stacked in my fridge waiting to be distributed to its owners. Yummy. I'm tempted to bake some of my own cookies for myself tonight!

As my son and I stepped out of the apartment, I noticed the sun was spilling into the stairway. It was a nice view. Logan had started to creep tentatively and slowly down the stairs. He was also squinting due to the sun shining into our eyes. He stopped mid-way on the top set of stairs (we go up and down 3 flights everyday!) and looked to his left. The sun spilled over his head and caught his shadow on the wall. Logan was amazed. Imagine that there's a dark figure on the wall. And it's moving!

He immediately called out (and signed) "head!" and pointed to the shadow. "Yes, that's a head... YOUR head," I told him. He stood there for a couple of seconds just staring and analyzing his own shadow. Usually, I like to rush and get things done, but today - there was a calming and serene feeling to just stand there in the sun's warmth and watch my son. As we trekked down to the second flight of stairs, he looked up at the wall and noticed the shadow was gone. He was extremely puzzled. He looked at me and gave me a shrug as to say "I don't know."

He continued down the stairs to meet me and finally, saw his shadow again spilling down right beneath him. His eyes light up and a huge smile came on his face. When he moved, the shadow moved. It was very fascinating to him...

We finally made it to the car some few minutes later. He sat in the car happily and kept repeating "go, go!" We made it to the school only to be informed that the cookies wouldn't be ready for pick-up until 4:30pm. Oh well. We made it back to the car, but not before Logan saw his shadow again. This time, he tried stepping on it. He tried to catch it. He tried to escape it. A disappointed 2-year old failed to understand just what a shadow was.

Off we went to the post office. We skipped across the parking lot and was just about to enter the post office when - surprise, surprise - Logan noticed his shadow again. He stood there quietly for a while. It was as if he was trying to come to terms that a shadow is always there, but just out of his reach. Suddenly, I waved to him using my shadow. He turned around quickly and gave me the biggest smile I had ever seen. He turned back around to his shadow and gave me a wave. Finally - he understood.

Shadows aren't just shadows. It's a whole different world - a world full of imagination. Next time you're outside and it's a bright and sunny day, take a while and say hello to your shadow... I dare you.

My stand on immigration

Do you ever get the urge to shout "Oh no! Not another teen movie!" when you see a commercial promoting the latest teen B-movie? Or how about "Oh no! Not another reality show!" Well, you're about to say "Oh no! Not another political post!"

Frankly, I'm the same way. As soon as the election's over, I'm usually just about ready to tune out anything related to politics and let Washington do its job of screwing up America... See no evil, hear no evil. Even though I once contemplated voting for Obama, I couldn't help but feel a strange defeat when he won the election. Instead of being a pessimist, I figured I should look more into the issues and see exactly where Obama stands and maybe try to find some understanding in his positions.

This will probably be the first of several posts in the foreseeable future that will address social issues. It would be far too difficult to tackle different issues and discuss them at length in one blog so I figured I would address them separately. Starting with immigration.

As I write this post, I keep myself in check and remind myself constantly that I have friends out there that may or may not be bothered by about I'm about to write. Last time I checked, this was still America and we still have freedom of speech. Just don't take it personally (unless you're one of them).

I have no qualms about saying that I detest illegal immigrants. Let me explain why. I have serious issues with people that take advantage of the government (whether you're legal or illegal). It's highly likely that illegal people depend more on the government than legal people do. Why? Probably because they can't get a job, a decent one at least. You're required to show proof that you're legal to work. Sadly, there's tons of people out there who will hire illegal people to save money. I have issues with people that smuggle themselves into the country to take advantage of what's not theirs. I have serious issues with people that overstay their welcome and take advantage of what's not theirs. I have serious issues with people that take advantage of what's not theirs and send them home to Mexico and other South America countries to share what's not theirs in the first place. See the pattern?

In the past, illegal immigrants were entitled to rights as protected under immigration laws (my response: #%$!). They were also given equal medical care. They were not turned away at doctor's offices and hospitals just because they weren't a citizen. Citizen or not, they are human beings. Guess that outweighed everything. Who knew? The funny thing is, our Bill of Rights was created to preserve the social balance of America. The rights were reserved for citizens. Somehow along the lines, it got expanded to whoever else just happened to be occupying space in the country. Why? Because they're protected under immigration laws (again: #%$!).

I decided to look into what Obama had to say about immigration.

1. Obama wants to create secure borders. He will add additional personnel, infrastructure and technology at the border and at our ports of entry.
Score one point. I agree with extra security. However, if the money spent on extra security doesn't balance out with the success rate of keeping immigrants out then what's the point of having them? We're better off just handing the money to the immigrants. We should try our best to maintain our borders and do what we can to prevent illegal people from finding a way in. However, one of the major problems we have right now is that the immigrants are claiming to be tourists. They enter the country with a temporary visa and they overstay their welcome. What are you going to do about that? Here's my advice. For those who claim to be tourists and temporary visitors, stick a needle in them and inject a tracking device. When their time's up, authorities will come a-runnin' and boot them back home.

2. Obama wants to fix the "dysfunctional" immigration bureaucracy and increase the number of legal immigrants to keep families together and meet the demand for jobs that employers cannot fill.
Lose one major point. This counts as two points. Increasing legal immigrants to meet job demands? At a time like this? I lost my job! Almost 4,000 people just lost their job at UTMB in Galveston. Thousands others are going to be laid off in the next few months by various companies. AMERICAN people! And Obama wants to let them "help" us with employee shortages? Oh, that's right. Illegal immigrants will do anything to earn cash to send back home so they'll work for far less money than American people deserve to be paid. Pitiful. As for keeping families together - just send them ALL back to Mexico. If they wanna stay together, they've got to go. I don't think the whole family should be allowed to stay in America on the basis that one of theirs is a citizen. No offense to my friends, but in the Mexican culture - they tend to have lots and lots of babies. Babies they can't afford. Babies they put on Medicaid. Babies they feed with our American tax money, not their own money. Just because one child makes it into America doesn't mean that his tons of brothers and sisters should be allowed to as well.

3. Obama wants to remove incentives to enter the country illegally by cracking down on employers who hire undocumented immigrants.
Score one point, sort of. More like half a point. While this is a good idea, how does he plan to do that anyway? It isn't 100% foolproof. Employers will still hire undocumented workers and they'll find ways to hide it from the system. Why? Because they're cheap. Paying cash under the table is one way to hide the workers from the system. If he comes up with an airtight plan and implements it well, I'll be impressed.

4. Obama will support a system that will allow undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.
Score one point. My question is - how big of a fine? If it's a teeny tiny fine, I won't be happy. Put the cash earned from fines back into our economy. Learning English is a must. I'm tired of having to cater to immigrants who don't know English. Employers are seeking employees that are bilingual so they can cater to a wider range of customers. Fine - I understand the business side of it. You'd want to make as much money as possible. But it's not fair to us that aren't bilingual, especially in my field. We can't get a particular job we would otherwise be qualified for because it's bilingual-required... and for what? To cater to illegal immigrants who don't deserve our services in the first place? Especially legal services.

5. Obama believes that America needs to work with Mexico and promote their economic development to reduce immigration.
Score one point. Good idea. But it isn't our problem. OK, technically - it is sort of our problem because their poor economy just encourages their people to come in and take advantage of ours. Which is doing pretty crappy right now anyway. We just need to take extreme measures to keep them out. My fear is this: We'll see a repeat of Iraq. Not the war but the dependency on America. If we had just left things alone in Iraq, we wouldn't be dealing with horrible situations over there right now. If anything, we left Iraq in a bigger mess than it was before. They're dependent on us now to complete what we started and help them get up on their feet. If we help Mexico improve their economy, they may become too dependent on us and try to hang on longer than they should. Instead of being rid of them, we'd still be stuck with them. PLUS, my opinion is: What business do we have to "help"another country with their economic problems? Look at our own!!!!


I want to stress that I have nothing against Mexicans in general. In fact, I have a very close friend who's Mexican. I love her and her family. My beef is with the illegal immigrants (whether you're European, Asian or whatever else - but living in Texas, we're dealing with a huge immigration problem with people from Mexico). I do not think it's fair to all the legal immigrants who entered the country legally, who worked hard to become citizens, have jobs, pay taxes and live their lives as Americans just to have the illegal ones to come along and use their tax money.

So far, it seems that Obama has scored some points with me regarding immigration. But we have all learned that politicians don't always do what they promised. So whether this is a false promise or not, we'll see.

Be on the look out for other posts analyzing social issues and Obama's stand on them. Let's see how many points Obama has with me at the end....

Score so far: 1.5 points out of possible 6

Off to a shaky start - but at least he has some points.

Short n sweet

I've got gloomy-itis. Nothing like a gloomy day to make one lazy. I mean lazy. Bless my son, he slept in until 10 - which means I slept in as well. I woke up with good intentions to organize a few things, work, write a purposeful blog, work on my GED lessons, etc. But, boredom got the best of me today. For the first time in a long time, I was bored. Usually when I am bored, I get irritated and frustrated. Boredom isn't fun. Like really, when is it fun? If it was fun to be bored, it wouldn't be called boredom. It'd be called fundom! Today, I felt an eerie sense of satisfaction to just sit around and do mindless things. I didn't have a fantastically fun day, but it was enjoyable as boredom goes. As the day goes on, I'm getting more and more restless. Staying home has its perks, but I need a job to keep from going insane.

All day, I had a little voice in the back of my head - "you're wasting an entire day - be productive!" But eh, my lazy voice won. I did nothing - well, nothing that was important and life-altering. I chatted with a friend. I watched soap operas. I snacked. I browsed the Internet. Fun, huh? Actually, I did make a short trip to the post office to mail out a netflix movie. Yay me!

What to do next? I guess I'll have to get up off my butt and away from the computer sometime soon to cook dinner. Then I'll waste the night away by watching television and watch lots more Heroes episodes. I'm just totally in love with that show now. It's awesome!

So, just so I feel semi-productive, I wrote this nonsensical blog just to make noise. Maybe - if my brain wakes up - I'll be back to write something that's worth reading.

After the election

The frenzy is finally over. Almost. Maybe not. It's been a week since Obama won the election. The news coverage and media has died down considerably since then - but photos and articles are still popping up all over the Internet. Obama tours the White House. Obama's wife asks Hillary for help. Hotels are filling up in DC for the Inauguration. The Obama family are given secret names by the Secret Service...

OK, first off - Do these people realize that the Secret names aren't so secret anymore? Calling them secret names and posting them on the Internet makes the whole point moot. Guess there really is freedom in the media. Or maybe, just maybe the Secret Service is betting on America being dumb enough to believe that those are the Secret names. Regardless, I guess they're better than "The Eagle has landed."

When word came that Obama won, I felt a tiny - really, a trickle - of shock. But I ask myself, why? In our heart of hearts, I'm sure we all knew that Obama was going to win. How could he not? A young, charming black man who had an amazing way of putting down McCain in debates that you'd think he was actually being friendly and helpful. He was always flashing those pearly whites and chuckling to himself. Guess people like an optimist. Glass is half full, right?

In the past 200+ years of presidential elections, there have been critics. Somehow, I think this time, it's different. Somehow, I believe that if you criticized Obama, you'd be called a hater. A racist.

Presidential jokes have been around for a long time. Black jokes have been around a long time. Blonde jokes - probably even longer. But now, we'll probably see presidential AND black jokes begin to surface. If we chuckled, would we be called a racist?

I was watching TV today - Whoopi Goldberg was a guest on Rachael Ray's cooking show. They discussed the election (what else?). Whoopi made me think. She said that although blacks have been accepted in America and have been given equal opportunities, she had just now realized that she never felt fully accepted until Obama's election. She was carrying around a suitcase that was labeled "Black American." Now, she feels, she can put that suitcase down and carry one around that just says "American." I think that's heartwarming. That brings me back to my point. Blacks have been accepted for years now. But after the election, no doubt they feel even more accepted. So now - if we make a blunder, would we be called a racist? I wonder...

Along with the election, Californians voted on Prop 8. Prop 8 discussed whether gay marriages should be declared invalid. Prop 8 was voted yes. Now - all the gay marriages that have taken place in the State of California in the past 6 months (since the passing of the bill) will no longer be recognized as legal. A huge blow to the homosexuals and a huge celebration for others.

I read a random blog that was written by a lesbian. She was a strong supporter of Obama. She voted for him. She was excited at the prospect of all new things that Obama promised to bring. She happened to overlook that Obama does not support gay marriages (um... HOW!?). She went on to express her sadness and disappointment.

Although Obama does not support gay marriages, he does support civil unions. And doesn't these people understand that Obama had nothing to do with Prop 8? With this election over, I am dreading the day that partial birth abortion becomes legal again. But - being an optimist, I guess I have to say that I'm glad that at least gay marriages have been overruled. For now.

I'm sure many of us are familiar with the term "the day that music died." It has to do with a few musicians that died in a plane crash together. They were icons and in their deaths, they became a permanent fixture in the music industry. I would have to say... the day Obama got elected, it felt like "the day that America died." Not because he's black - but because of the radical changes that he will try to bring.

Defending My Decision

Since it's Election day and everyone's making such a big deal out of it, I figured I'd go with the flow and have a little say in it. I've tried to refrain myself from participating in the madness, but I decided that I wanted to have a voice.... especially since a lot of people I know keep trying to convince me to vote a particular way. Of course, that's to be expected right around Election time. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion and I'm definitely entitled to my own. Yes, I think voting is a big deal, but when the two choices are Dumb and Dumber (who is which is something I'll keep to myself), sometimes it's just best not to vote. I didn't vote. Before you political activists start whining, I'm going to explain exactly just why I didn't vote. Then maybe, if you understand my position, you'll hush and go on about your business.

This isn't meant to convince anyone to vote for a particular party. This isn't meant to convince anyone to NOT to vote. Even though I know I don't have to explain myself to anybody, I have decided that I want to. Chances are, you've already voted or voting is over. Either way, I still want to get my thoughts across.

My reasons for not voting:

#1: Texas has always been a strong Republican state. It wouldn't have mattered which way I voted - McCain/Palin would win regardless.

#2: As I stated above, when the choices are Dumb and Dumber, how can you vote? It's not about who will fix our problems - it's about who's less likely to make a bigger mess.

#3: If I voted for McCain, I would be supporting the war. That's a no-no. We should have NEVER invaded Iraq in the first place. That's old business that Bush #1 started and it should have been left alone. Here's a little history lesson: Iraq has nothing to do with Osama Bin Laden. By all means, if you find Bin Laden, I've LOVE to torture him Saw-style.

#4: If I voted for Obama, I could potentially be helping him overturn the Partial-Birth Abortion ban. A good friend of mine said "How can you in good conscience vote for someone that goes against what you strongly believe in?" Extremely valid point. If I voted for Obama, it would have been because of the promising economic future and universal health care. If, in his four years of presidency, he overturns the Partial-Birth Abortion ban, how could I ever live with myself if I was partly responsible for making it happen?

#5: Republicans tend to focus more on the wealthy. Being a working class citizen that's financially struggling, I kind of have an issue with that. Yes, they are being taxed. They pay a slightly higher tax if they make over $250,000 a year. However, they are entitled to a few extra tax breaks that the lower-income families don't have. Spread the wealth around!

#6: On the other hand, Democrats are known to be sympathetic to the less fortunate and believe in helping them out. While I don't consider myself poor (compared to many others), I also have an issue with this. Although I am financially struggling, I refuse to rely on the government for help. If I can find ways to stay afloat, I'll go down that path. I have an extreme problem with those that sit back and take advantage of everything the government offers them: Food Stamps, WIC, Medicaid/Medicare, SSI, SSDI, and much more. I have a friend who was denied help because she made $1 or so above their limit. She had one child, a college education, actively seeking employment and was in need of temporary help. On the other hand, I know a couple who's expecting their fourth child (on purpose) and they're using EVERY government help available to them. Here's the kicker: they aren't doing much of anything to seek better employment or even education (they're not educated beyond high school).

There's lots of things wrong with this country nowadays. I think we're FUBR'd. We're too much into the deep right now for any immediate relief. It'll take years and several honest/smart people to fix this mess. People who aren't politicians. I don't think either candidate is qualified on the basis of lack of experience (Obama) and poor economic planning (McCain). Regardless of who wins tonight, I just hope they can refrain from screwing up America in the next 4 years.

I just received a text message from a friend and I thought I'd pass it on: "Due to long lines, Obama voters are asked to vote on Wednesday. Thank you."

Appreciating the art

Appreciation is "understanding of the nature, meaning, quality or magnitude of something." It is also "an admiration; a favorable judgment." Admiration and appreciation can go a long way when you know how to appreciate things. I've always had an appreciation for art - namely photography and movies. When done tastefully, movies become works of art. When it's done in a horrible fashion, movies just take up space and becomes a black hole - a black hole that sucks up 2 hours of your life at a time. Some of these movies resemble a bad car accident... so horrible and appalling - but you can't look away.

Among these black hole movies, I would have to put horror up on the top of the list. Horror movies aren't worth your time unless it achieves several things. One: It scares you. Bad. Two: Well, there isn't really a 2nd requirement - maybe better acting. But despite my better judgement, I've watched tons of horror movies. Some I liked, and some I hated. There was once a time when I liked Scream. Now - I think it's lame.

After many disappointments, I rented a movie with extremely low expectations. Expectations that proved me wrong. VERY wrong. In my opinion, the Saw franchise has to be one of the best horror movies around nowadays. Creatively written, the whole franchise is based on one single idea: If you value your life enough, you'll come out of it alive. And if you come out of it alive, you'll have a whole different perspective on what it means to live. Good lesson, huh?

Not only the movies are written extremely well, it leaves the viewers with a moral question. Is Jigsaw a murderer? He doesn't actually kill these people himself. And he always, ALWAYS provides them a way out. Of course, it goes without saying that there have been many victims that didn't make it out - however, the option was always there.

My friend and I contemplated whether the whole series was written beforehand - and once it was completed, the filming started. Well, much to my surprise, the movies were written one at a time, by several different men. The first movie was written by James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Whannell played one of the two main characters that were trapped in the bathroom in the first film. Whannell went on to write the next two movies with the help of Bousman for the 2nd film and Wan, who came back for the 3rd film. The first three was produced by the same man - Gregg Hoffman. He passed away shortly before fourth film. For Saw 4, 5 and 6 (yes, there's a 6th coming!), the films were written by two different men. The different writers proved to me that the movies were written separately, and with extremely cautious and creative writing, anybody can make a successful horror movie.

To truly understand and appreciate the art of keeping viewers interested, Saw should be studied with anticipation. It's unbelievable how each movie is beautifully tied in with one another, prompting new questions and providing answers to questions from previous movies. Just when you think you understand it all, you'll find that the next movie will hold the answers you need.

What I like best about the Saw franchise is it's gore. Someone once asked me in an aghast manner, "How can you watch that!? It's disgusting!" My answer was - it's WHY I watch it! While researching, I found an interesting tidbit. Saw 3 had to be trimmed 7 times before it could qualify for an "R" rating. After seeing it, I absolutely believe it. Although now, I'm curious to see the unrated version.

To top it all off, I'm amazed at how long it took them to film each movie. Saw 1: 18 days. Saw II: 25 days. Saw III: No information. Saw IV: 6 weeks. Saw V: 7 weeks. Saw VI will begin filming in 2009.

Will this be the next classic?

So...You want to be a clown

I was browsing the Internet today. It's no different from yesterday, except I had free time on my hands. SO... I came up with the idea to look for the stupidest and funniest questions/answers on Yahoo! Answers. Yahoo! Answers is a tool that allows people to come together to ask and answer questions. The topics range from anything from Sex 101 to troubleshooting equipment. There are some intelligent questions followed by intelligent answers, from which you can really learn from. And of course, because we have stupid people living among us (we REALLY should do something about that), there are stupid questions and obviously, stupid answers. My favorite answers are the best type of any kind - sarcastic and funny answers to just plain stupid questions. I was thoroughly entertained and I hope you will be too.

"I want to be a clown, what colleges are good for me?"
Answer: McDonald's Drive Thru

"How are babies made? Do you swallow an egg and become pregnant?"
Answer #1: No, well you are sleeping and your boyfriend climbs on top of you and that's how it happens
Answer #2: Why don't you give it a go?
Answer #3: Yep, exactly...so better stop eating those poached and scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Answer #4: Yes, you buy them at the grocery store. They're in the DUMMIES ONLY aisle.

"How do you get away with murder?"
Answer #1: Kill yourself
Answer #2: Join the military. Not only it's legal, you'll be applauded

"Why are the holes in cats fur always in the right place for their eyes?"
Answer: Dude, check again. If you see a tail above the hole, you're looking at the wrong end.

"I made Jesus-shaped pancakes, but I burnt them. Am I going to Hell?"
Answer #1: I think if you top them with butter pats in the shape of Mary, you'll be ok.
Answer #2: Wait three days and resurrect them. Then you'll be saved :)

"How do you ask a question on Yahoo! Answers?"
Answer: You just did, FOOL!

"I live in Georgia, but I don't see Russia. They say there's tanks, should I be worried?" (Sub-question) "I heard on the news that Russia has invaded, but I don't see them anywhere. What's going on?"
Answer: You are in the state of Georgia. The nation of Georgia is on the other side of the world.

"Have you ever felt stupid?"
Answer #1: Stupid people never FEEL stupid. That's what makes them stupid.
Answer #2: I get told I'm too stupid to realize I'm stupid, but how does that work? I don't get it.

"Why are the answers to the Yahoo questions so stupid?"
Answer: The question is, why do people ask questions like this one?

"Is Spiderman real?"
Answer #1: He's my friend and he lives in my basement
Answer #2: Yes, I am actually Spiderman and right now, my spidey senses are tingling

"How to turn computer monitor into mirror?" (Sub-question) "Does anyone know if it's possible to use a background that would essentially turn my computer monitor into a mirror? Scanning a mirror doesn't work."
Answer: I can't believe you attempted to scan a mirror!

"My boyfriend has skin cancer... should I leave him?"
Personal response: You #*$! idiot!

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Ghosts, Goblins and Just Plain Scary Humans

Halloween is just around the corner. Do you know where you'll be? In spite of my efforts to find a party or come up with something really interesting to do, I'll just settle down and do something I like to do (and do often) - watch movies. I had considered renting classic horror movies and snack the night away. So cliche, right? I ended up getting a horror movie, a parody and a comedy. Nice mixture there. In light of Halloween, I've decided to come up with some very crucial tips for you party-goers. It has taken years of trick-or-treating (and movie watching) experience to come up with these tips. Years. Respect the years.

While Trick or Treating....

Tip #1 - If you see a black cat cross in front of you, pet it and give it a kiss. If you don't, you'll face severe consequences.

Tip #2 - No matter what, don't walk in the graveyard after midnight. You must dance.

Tip #3 - If you see candy that's been opened, slip it to someone you don't like.

While partying....

Tip #1 - If the lights go out, decide who's the least liked and send him/her to the basement.

Tip #2 - No matter what, drunk does not mean you're safe. Drink with caution - there may be an idiot on the loose.

Tip #3 - To be scared in a tasteful fashion, dress appropriately. Ladies must be half-naked and men must only use half a brain. That's the only time a killer will come around.

And finally - Tips you MUST learn from the movies....

Tip #1 - If you think you've killed the monster, do NOT go back and check to make sure it's dead.

Tip #2 - If you hear a noise and find out it's just the cat, LEAVE ANYWAY.

Tip #3 - If you find a town that looks deserted, there's probably a good reason for it.

Tip #4 - If your car runs out of gas in the middle of nowhere and you can't figure out why (you had a full tank just a minute ago), shoot yourself. You're going to die anyway, probably eaten.



In the spirit of Halloween and scary stuff, I've created a poll. You've probably already seen it. Go ahead and answer it. I dare you.

The poll: You find yourself waking up in a strange place hooked up to a strange thingamajig. You get a message saying you must go through extreme pain to save yourself or face immediate death. You have a time limit. Would you... suffer pain to save your life or rather die and get it over with?

Sound familiar?

Day One of Unemployment

Today's the first day of the rest of my life. I often wonder what that really means to people when they say that. Obviously, it means starting over and today's the day of new beginnings. Tomorrow's a new day and so is the day after that. Theoretically, tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life also - and the day after that, and the day after that and so on. All in all, that sounds really nice - being able to start a new day everyday (and starting over) but many of us don't even realize the chance we're given to begin a new day. Granted, sometimes I'm just tired of living. Tired of having to wake up, tired of having to start another day, tired of having to go through the same routine day in and day out. But at the same time, I enjoy life - I can't even bear the thought of dying young.

Anyway, in light of recent events, I'm trying hard to stay positive. I was laid off yesterday (boo-hoo). Work had considerably slowed down and I was going home early everyday. I won't lie, I really enjoyed going home early even though I needed the money. What was I to do? Even though I had known work was pretty bad, I wasn't prepared to hear that my boss was letting go of a lot of people. He had to let off the entire 2nd and 3rd shifts in all departments, 4 from my department and 15 from another department. That's bad. Obviously, I was shocked by the news and pretty upset about it. To be suddenly cut off from my main mean of income, I started to wonder how in the world am I going to pay my bills? My boss apologized over and over and said he expects to have work in about a month. If and when he gets work, he'll definitely call me to go back. I'm not holding my breath though. What if there isn't work to do?

Staying positive does have a unique effect on people when they choose to exercise that attitude. Even though I was miserable and worried all day long, I forced myself to believe that it's not the end of the world. I have another job - a part-time job. So I'm not totally broke. After speaking to tons of contacts and letting them all know I was looking for another job - I applied to 4 places yesterday. Off to a good start....

Even though I still worry, I am liking my new routine. Imagine this: T-minus 10 seconds of commute time...as opposed to an hour in the morning and another hour in the afternoon. I slept in until 9am (after getting my kid off to school, of course), took a couple steps to get some coffee, then another few steps and I was in my "office." I have enough work right now to last me a while so I think I'm safe for now. But it would be nice to have a roommate...

It's nice being back at home again. In the middle of working, I stopped and played with my son for a long while. I watched tv, did laundry and cleaned a little bit while working as well. By the time my daughter came home from school, I was done working and completed most of my chores. I got a little bit of spring cleaning done too.

A friend came over to borrow some books. I had realized that some of my most prized books weren't on any of my bookshelves so I decided to take a look around. I found a box packed full of books that I had read when I was a young girl - from about 3rd grade through middle school. That box held my favorite books. As I was sorting through these books to refresh my memory of what I had, I felt a tug at my heart as I reminisced over the memories of these books. Some of these books still had that fresh book smell and others smelled musty and worn. I love these smells. Right then, I decided I would like to read them all again. As I was looking through my books, my daughter approached me and took an interest in the books. I had an idea and asked her to choose one. Since these books were just a little bit too advanced for her, I told her we'd read these books together.

So I sat down with her and started reading the first book she chose - Sideway Stories from Wayside School. As I was reading with her, I was reminded of yet another positive aspect. While my kids can drive me insane on many days, I get to relieve my childhood through them. How awesome is that?

Free At Last

For the past couple of weeks, I have been super busy during the week trying to do this and that while feeling very overwhelmed. I save my weekends for myself and fun with friends, which causes my weeks to become crazy... I'm happy to say that finally, today, I got caught up on everything I needed to do. My To-Do List is never-ending... but at least for now, I can breathe, sit back and relax knowing that other things can wait a day or two now with a peaceful mind.

I have so many things to gripe about. Today, traffic was horrible so I was 15 minutes late to work. Thankfully, my boss is ultra understanding and super nice. When I move to another job, I kinda wanna take him with me. I was almost hit 3 times on the freeway (yes, 3! and NOT my fault), in less than a minute. I was minding my own business traveling down my lane when three separate cars tried to move out in front of me from their lane (cuz their lane was super slow). Geez! And there's someone at work that EVERYONE in my department doesn't like... she gives us problems (does a crappy job), we get upset (because we have to fix her mistakes) and she gets mad cuz we're upset. This has been going on for several weeks. I'm just really surprised she hasn't been fired yet. OH - and she goes to the bathroom at least 2-3 times an hour and stays there 5-10 mins at a time. You can imagine just how much work she does during the day. Today, she tried insulting me and my friend - saying our "hand gestures" bother her so please stop talking. Very interesting because where she sits, she can't see us at all - we're talking behind her back (literally). I wanted SO much to say... "Well, your face bothers me." Yes - I know that's mean. Of course, I didn't say anything. So unfprofessional, right? But I feel much better now that I've made it public here :)

I have much more to complain about BUT it's such a nice day and have been really nice lately, so I'm going to stay in a happy mood and enjoy the weather. It rained a lot last week.. some thunderstorms and some sprinkles. It was mostly overcast all week and I actually enjoyed that. It was calming and soothing to me for some reason. We were welcomed with cool winds and sunny days after the rain went away so that was nice too.

This weekend, I'm going to the Texas Renaissance Festival with a friend. SO looking forward to it. We're going to try and dress up this weekend for the festival. I've never dressed up for that before so it'll be fun and interesting. Maybe do a little bit of role-playing... I suck at acting, so we'll see.

Maybe I'll chicken out and just go as myself.. and try to keep my friend from tipping over too much. I think he plans to go as a drunk jester. THAT will be interesting to see.

Hello, Google!

I always thought that websites that let you get everything in one place was lame. I was never a fan of being able to use a bunch of different stuff or read a bunch of different stuff on one website. Usually, I get bored with the website (probably the layout or the design) that eventually I just started marking everything as "read" and then later, stopped going to the website completely.

I much preferred going to each of the individual websites like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Snopes, etc to get information there. The "all in one" websites don't usually include EVERYTHING and God forbid, I miss something funny or interesting.

I've used Google for years, but mostly the search engine. I prefer the Google search engine over Yahoo's anytime. My blogs are posted on Blogger - which is owned by Google. Recently, I started exploring and discovered much more to Google than just their search engine, email and blog. Because I have a Google account, I have access to tons of Google services, with Reader being one of them. One day, I checked it out. And I liked what I saw.

Reader is an application that puts all the news, blogs and stuff all in one place. So one day, I started subscribing to whatever interested me - news, photography, cooking, blogs and so forth. Every once in a while, I spend time reading everything. Very convenient. I read Yahoo news, MSN news and Google news all on one page. I even check out Snopes using Google Reader. Anything that I like, I share.

You can see everything that I've shared on the side of my blog. They're photos, news and info that I have found interesting.

Go on, check it out.

And so it continues...

It's Sunday night. I should be sleeping - but I can't. Guess I'm too wound up from the past week and weekend. Been staying busy with homework, work and other stuff. I've been so busy the past two weeks or so, one day I crashed at 5pm and slept all the way through to 4am the next morning! Needless to say, I showed up to work VERY well-rested and ready to start the day.

I had a fairly productive weekend. I spent my Saturday fixing up the new deaf center that we're opening in 5 days. I enjoyed doing inventory, painting and putting my body to work, but boy I was sore by the end of the day! I twisted my knee somehow so it's been painful to get around lately... especially up three flights of stairs several times a day.

Enough about the happenings in my life. That's boring compared to what's going on around me. First off, gas prices have majorly dropped and is still dropping! The last time I was out (earlier today), I saw $2.78 per gallon!!! Earlier in the week, I saw prices dropping and dropping so I was holding out on getting gas for my car. At $2.99, I had thought it might not drop any lower so I filled my tank up. The next day, it dropped another 10 cents. I sure hope the gas prices keep falling - that's a huge help for most of us who aren't rich.

It's 1929 all over again. Stock market is crashing and crashing bad. When I saw the news the other day, it had started to climb a few points (a hundred or two) but was still dangerously low. Now's the time to start buying some stocks.. you're sure to make a quick buck once the stock market goes up again. Too bad I don't have the money to invest.

I've been blogs, news articles and TV interviews on the $700 billion bailout bill that the government recently signed. Some are positive and some are negative. I'm afraid I'm on the negative side. The bailout money is to help banks from crashing and closing - and therefore, losing their customer's money. The purpose of the bailout was to give the banks some money so they won't have to foreclose on a whole bunch of houses that are behind in payment. That goes for other kinds of loans (vehicle and credit) that people aren't paying on... this allows the people to still be in debt and the bank can say "oh, it's no big deal, pay us when you can, we have some money now."

They're taking $700 billion of taxpayer's money (not much of mine - I haven't worked much yet) and essentially giving them to homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments. Why should we have to bail them (and the banks) out? They are the ones who signed the loan contract and the banks are the ones who gave them the money. Why do we have to jump in and help them out with their dumb decisions? I sincerely believe that if people cannot afford their home, they should sell it and downgrade. Of course, I understand if people run into some hard times financially. I've had a few of those hard times myself over the past few years. People are getting laid off left and right with the bad economy - but that's why everyone should have a safety net. If you don't have money to fall back on then you shouldn't be thinking about getting a house. You should be focusing on building a savings account, retirement fund or any kind of cash to fall back on.

Of course, I won't be able to guarantee that if I was the one who owned a house and was having financial problems, I would feel the same way I do now. I might actually be thankful for the bailout bill - so I could keep my house. But I would probably feel guilty about having other people's taxes help me keep my house when I probably don't even deserve it in the first place.

Oh well - not much you or I can do about the bailout bill now. It's been signed and it's going into effect. I don't know much about business, finances and Wall Street stuff, but I think I can say that I don't think the bailout bill isn't gonna work. As long as the economy is doing crappy, the money is just going to disappear into thin air. The government will have to sign Bailout bill #2. Even that wont happen, a lot of people are going to fight against it I'm sure. At least I hope they do.

Thank God It's Friday!!!!

Whew, I just had the busiest and longest week ever! All I can say is - Thank God It's FRIDAY! A friend once said (and I TOTALLY agree) that once he started working again, Friday (and the weekend) took on a whole new meaning. Friday and the weekend means freedom. Freedom to sleep in (when my kids let me), freedom to stay up late (if I can stay awake), and freedom to be lazy (when I don't have homework, and this and that).

I started the week out with a very specific routine in mind. Needless to say, that didn't happen. I have SO much to complain about and I get stressed when I can't do the things I intended to do. Yes, I'm going to write out exactly what happened to me everyday. Don't care if anybody reads it - mostly just documenting it for my own sake. If you end up with a headache by the time you're done reading, then perfect! You can suffer right along with me!

Sunday:

I was going to go to church, attend a meeting, socialize, deal with my responsibilities then go home to REST (I hadn't gotten much sleep the week before) and grade papers. I ended up staying much longer (try 4 hours longer) than I anticipated. Instead of resting, I stuck around and built a set of table and 4 chairs. Yep. Just me and my sister (with me doing most of the work), in a room with no air conditioning. When I finally got home, I was pooped. I forced myself to grade papers anyway - they were due the next day. Bed at midnight - only 5 hours before I have to wake up.

Monday:

I had plans later in the evening so I set aside a few hours that day to do very specific things but then someone else unexpectedly showed up so my list of things to do got pushed aside. The only thing I accomplished was turning in the papers I had graded. Then...I got more to grade. The only good thing that happened that day was - I got to watch a movie. Bed at 1:30am - 3 1/2 hours before I have to wake up.

Tuesday:

I decided I'd do the things I was supposed to on Monday and everything else I decided to do on Tuesday. Guess what happened? Someone showed up again so my plans got pushed aside. It wasn't until late Tuesday night that I finally got around to doing something and I didn't even finish. It was 1am - only 4 hours of sleep before getting up for work. What fun.

Wednesday:

I had a meeting right after work at 4:30 for my son. I wasn't done until 6! So needless to say, my list of things to do got pushed back even further. I finally got the ball rolling after I fed my kids dinner and completed a few things. I struggled with a school assignment for 3 hours before calling it quits. I wasn't halfway done because a couple of stupid programs were giving me problems. Bed at 12:30 - 4 1/2 hours before I have to wake up.

Thursday:

The best day EVER! Work was slow so I was dismissed 3 hours early. Yay for me but boo for my bank account. I decided to use that extra 3 hours to grocery shop, do homework, grade papers and much more. Yeah right. I went to pick up my son and ended up spending time with my sister for an hour (that's always good). I got home and worked on homework. The same one I was struggling with for 3 hours the previous day. I didn't finish that assignment after I worked on it for another 4 hours. It's safe to say - I HATE making movies! My son activated the security alarm somehow - so it was going off most of the day. Fun fun fun! Emergency maintenance never returned my call and never showed up. I pitied my neighbors. Bed at 11 - that's early based on recent standards! 6 hours of sleep!

Friday:

Woke up in a positive mood - after all, it's Friday! I get to work and was informed of very sickening news. Work wasn't done properly (by someone else, mostly) so three of us in my department had to go over everything all over again. Yeah, fun! When I got home, the alarm was still going off so I complained to the people at the office. They sent someone over right away and finally turned off my alarm. Whew. Today, I was absolutely DETERMINED to complete at least three things when I got home. Mission #1: accomplished. Mission #2: failed. Mission #3: accomplished. I had plans to go out but ended up staying home. Guess I needed to. I got quite a bit done. But guess what, I'm nowhere near done with my "To Do" list.

It's 11pm and I have no plans of sleeping soon. I need to do other stuff and I'm tempted to sit on the couch and watch TV for some "me" time. To top it all off, I have a meeting tomorrow morning at 10am and another one after that.

Tomorrow afternoon - I am going to do what I want! I'm going to be all about me me me! I'm going to relax and have fun. I just hope that dream isn't a bit too far fetched.

Lesson #2 for my daughter

Well, I'm writing today.... at 10:30 in the morning - which means that I'm not working today. I woke up at 5am with good intentions to get up, get ready and then go to work. But I had a monstrous headache that made me feel sick to my stomach. I haven't had that kind of headache in a really long time.

I tried to wake up my daughter, but she refused to wake up. Her eyes were closed, but the corners of her mouth were turned up just a teeny tiny bit so I knew she was giggling on the inside. She was awake. After several minutes of trying, I was reminded that I felt sick. I decided to just call in sick and went back to bed. I figure my huge headache had to do with only sleeping 4 hours each night on average, working 8 hours, going home to deal with the kids, do homework and some lesson planning. Lately, I just haven't been able to sleep....

So this morning, I crashed. I woke up again to get my daughter ready for school. Again - she didn't want to wake up. I was still feeling sick so I thought, forget it, she'll stay home and suffer another lesson. She hadn't missed a day of school yet so I decided it was ok to miss today.

At around 9:00 or 9:30, she wakes me up and says "I'm ready to go to school now." Haha, yeah right. I told her no, she was staying home today. She got upset and started crying - she WANTED to go to school. A little bit too late for that, huh? She just wanted to sleep in a liiiiiiiitle bit. Sorry honey, doesn't work that way.

So, I kept her home and had a talk with her. School and work does not work on OUR schedule. We can't just wake up whenever we want and decide "Ok, it's time to go." Today, I'm teaching her another lesson. She's staying in her room. She doesn't get the TV. She's going to work in an educational lesson book for several hours - and she's going to get all the worksheets right. Tonight, she's going to bed at 7.

Maybe now she'll think twice about sleeping in again.

Things happen for a reason

I grew up hearing the same thing from different people inside the church. Things happen for a reason. Sometimes we know immediately what the reason is, and sometimes we wait months, years, or even decades. There have been times in my life where I would make a mistake or something would happen to me, both good and bad. We've all made mistakes and we've all had good and bad things happen to us. Later, I turned around and helped a few people that are going through the same experiences....

Really, when I say I "helped" a few people, it's more of giving advice on what NOT to do - based on my own personal experiences. Also, it's usually just listening and lending a sympathetic ear because boy, I've been there. I know exactly how it feels and I know EXACTLY how important it is to have someone willing to sit, listen to you, and comfort you while you're crying.

No, I'm not depressed. I'm doing okay actually. Life has been keeping me busy lately... really, school has been keeping me busy. I have the pickiest professor on earth who has expectations that are WAY too high. It's amazing I haven't failed any of her classes yet. I took on a volunteer job and am preparing for it. That certainly has been keeping my brain busy with lessons, quizzes, assignments and activities. I'm getting a teeny tiny glimpse into what it will actually be like to be a teacher. Yes, it's a lot of work and physically/mentally draining at times but I'm enjoying it so far.

Anyway - back to the point....the past couple weeks, I've been feeling a major deja vu. I've been talking with some friends here and there and they're all going through something. What's really strange is - I went through what they're going through now - or made the same mistakes they did. And with some of my friends, we're experiencing the same emotions and feelings about particular things in life. While it hasn't been a fun ride, I do appreciate having a little knowledge (or should I say experience?) when it comes to these situations. I can say that I helped a few of my friends feel better about their situation, held their hands through some rocky periods and listened to them when they were depressed.

I can't say I give good advice or bad. That's up to individual opinions. Of course, my friends don't always have to listen to me. I do try to share opinions rather than telling them what I think they should do. Everyone's lives are different - even in the same circumstances. While one decision might be right for someone, the same decision for someone else in the same position might be wrong.

So.... things happen for a reason. I don't have a reason for everything that's happened in my life yet - but I have a reason for many of them. Right now - for many of my experiences, my reason is so that I can help others. And in that, I feel better about having gone through a lot of stuff.

Here's something we've all heard before: Pay it forward. Do something nice for somebody. They'll really appreciate it, especially if they're going through a hard time.

Recovering still....

It's sad, seeing Galveston and its neighboring towns in total ruin. It's been 4 days since Ike hit us. There's a lot of mess in a lot of places, still. Power was restored at my parents' house just 22 hours after it went out. I consider that very lucky. The power came back on at my apartment the next day (on Sunday), but I didn't have the internet until this morning (Tuesday). Even so, I consider myself lucky.

There are lots of people that I know that are still without power right now. I feel for them. I don't consider myself a survivor of Ike - more like a spectator. My home wasn't destroyed, and I only lost power for two days. I didn't have to "tough it out" like the millions that had to evacuate and come back to nothing. If I had to, I could live without power for a while. Just gather around a lot of reading material, friends, games, food, and water and I'd be set.

Even though I think I could handle going without power for a few days, I certainly didn't look like it on Saturday night. A friend came over to my parents' to hang out and on the spur of the moment, my sister, friend and I took off to College Station for dinner. Yes, we traveled an hour and 1/2 one way just to get some dinner. The power was out and the night was still young - so why not? We ate at one of the best mexican places that a friend introduced me to - Rosa's Cafe. You haven't lived until you've had their fresh tortillas. There aren't any locations in Houston - which sucks - but College Station isn't too far away. My mouth is already watering and looking forward to the next time I'll eat there - in just a few weeks.

It's still a mess around here. Grocery stores are still closed. If they're open, they're only selling canned items. I imagine they took a bit of a loss with all the dairy, meat and frozen foods. They probably had to toss them all out.

It's sad to see Galveston on the news. My sister heard on the radio that 1500 historical buildings were destroyed. Although I wasn't around in 1900, it seems like this was as dangerous as the one back then. Everything in Ike's direct path over on the coast is gone. The only difference now is that the seawall was constructed and that people were evacuated. At last count, only 21 people died in this storm in the whole area. I'm sure the number will climb, but I don't think it'll go up too much.

I guess I'd have to say that this an interesting way to end an interesting summer...