Dead in the water, WoW, old knees and Reese's Peanut Butter Cup S'mores

OK!  Do over!  I just deleted what I started with because it was too depressing! 

It was about my diet that I've started again but am not doing well with this week. BLAH! 

My accounting software is inaccessible right now so I'm dead in the water at work.  Huh.  Yesterday was miserably slow here so I decided to leave early since I was going to be so busy today.  I'm not busy yet.  Is it Monday?



It's my blog so I can do what I want.

TO THOSE WHO DON'T GAME, YOU CAN IGNORE THIS SECTION BECAUSE IT REALLY WON'T MAKE SENSE TO YOU.

World of Warcraft came out with a new patch this week that has me re-addicted to the game.  I haven't even been leveling my little shadow priest!  Been too busy doing pet battling. 

The reason I started pet battling is because I apparently am even crowd phobic in virtual reality.  They opened up a new area called Timeless Isle.  Everyone and their Onyxian Whelplings seem to have arrived at the isle simultaneously! 

If you want to find a quest giver, just look for a pile of toons mobbing in one area instead of running and leaping around like fools in a more random pattern.  Somewhere in the toon pile you'll find your quest giver.  Have fun clicking on him/her to get your quest! 

I explored the isle, picked up some sweet epics (some of which I need to mail to my other toons as my druid can't use them) and fulfilled several quests.  Then, as the mobs were getting on my last nerve, I decided I needed to figure out this pet battling thing.  It's perversely addicting.  I use my battle pets to fight wild pets and then trap them and use them to fight more, etc.  And there is a quest series associated with it.  Best part?  No mobs for me to deal with! 

I should probably go back to the isle while everyone is running amok since the drops are higher at the moment and I have a chance at getting some good gear and loot.  Already ramped up 5 equipment levels the first night I was there! 

My druid is raid ready!  Now I just need to study some raids so I don't totally blow it for the group by acting like a complete noob.  I'm sure there will be plenty of others to blow it who won't study the raids but are now geared to that level. 

I haven't raided since I started playing after over a more than 2 year hiatus from the game.  I used to raid a lot and have fond memories of it.  My brother, sister and I ran Karazhan not too long ago and we were 1-2 shotting bosses that used to take a huge amount of coordination, patience and skill to bring down.  It was bittersweet.  I remember all the strategy and the hours we spent working through those bosses!  I also remember goofing off with my friends, whispering to each other about nonsense that had nothing to do with the game, dancing, leaping, jumping and generally goofing off and then, I'd realize I had no idea what the raid leader had been talking about for strategy and had to hope I wouldn't nerf it for everyone.  Being a mediocre boomkin I wasn't exactly a power player so most of the time my role wasn't too tricky.  DPS and off-heals and an occasional off-tank job.  By the way, the new patch gave my armor a bump in boomkin form again - WOO HOO!!!  For a while it seemed pointless for me to be in that form except for the crit bump I gave my teammates.  I'm looking forward to learning some new fights in the new expansions! 

this is my druid in moonkin aka boomkin aka critchicken form - adorable huh?

THE WORLD OF WARCRAFT SECTION OF THIS BLOG ENTRY IS NOW COMPLETE (MOSTLY)

Still waiting for my accounting software to come on line.  (eye roll)  I'm here to keep my chair warm.  I move occasionally so the lights stay on in here.  Sigh.  I should quit bitching.  I have a job at least.  I earn enough to pay the bills.  Life could be worse!  But when you look at your life and each minute that you can't get back and how you spend those minutes, sometimes...

I bitch about pointless hours at work, not working much when how much of my life do I waste playing WoW?  But then again, I like WoW!  It's fun!  Work...not so much.  (Note to self - take a bike ride tonight or something)

I have moments where I feel good about work.  Like earlier this week when I finally sat back after a race to catch up after vacation (not totally caught up yet but getting there) and was feeling like I totally rocked because I am stinking FANTASTIC at this job!!  For real!  I was enjoying a moment of serenity.  Savoring it really.  I had plans for the next day (yesterday) to be all productive but they basically fell through.  I was going to work in archiving.  Got started but when I hauled the first load of files to the shredding box I discovered it was packed full to the gills.  So I ended up tidying up the work area where I'd previously thrown contract binders all over the floor, because I wasn't going to be able to finish the job that day.  So I went back to my office to wait for time to be posted so I could get rolling with billing.  While I waited I chased some past due receivables.  Did some filing.  Twiddled my thumbs.  Pondered my existence.  Finally gave up and went home thinking today would be busy.  And I can't work yet today.  Sigh. 

This AM it was really, really hard to get out of bed!  Last night I was feeling old.  Earlier this week I did lunges while watching TV.  Figured it'd be good exercise.  It probably was but with my crappy knees I'm still paying for it.  The reason I bring this up is that my knees now ache bad enough when I'm sleeping to wake me up.  Repeatedly.  The right knee in particular.  It's getting old.  I'm getting old!  For crying out loud I only did a few lunges!  Should I have to go through days of pain over this?  (sound of tiny violin playing)

Just got another email that Vision is down.  I knew that 2.5 hours of non-productive time at work ago.  I'm so ahead of the game!

I shouldn't have eaten breakfast early.  It's only 10 AM and I want lunch now.  Should I keep writing until Vision is available?  What if it takes all day?  I would be writing a book almost!  I'd have to start thinking of plot lines and character development! 

We're going camping this weekend.  By going camping I mean driving a few miles to a campground and setting up tents to sleep in.  No big trips or touristy things.  This is meant to give Penelope (my 3 year old granddaughter) a life experience.  It could be a rather interesting life experience since it's possibly going to rain that night and I'm bringing my crabby, somewhat senile, deaf old pup, Bruiser along since we can't leave him at home alone for that long.  It will be an adventure!  I need to get my camping stuff organized.  I should start on that tonight.  See what tents I want to bring.  Get equipment from storage.  It'll get cool (into the 50's) at night so will need to make sure everyone, including Bruiser, is warm enough.  And then there is the menu!  I heard of making smores with Reese's Peanut Butter cups instead of Hershey's chocolate and have to try it!  Maybe it won't be as good but you never know until you try!  (Diet huh?  Yeah right.)  I'm looking forward to it!  As long as I go into the adventure not expecting much in the way of sleep and with a plan to nap when we get home on Sunday, it should be just fine! 


slobber, drool

sugar rush face

gratuitous Bill Murray pic

 

Our trip to Nine Mile Canyon

I just spent a weekend in Nine Mile Canyon down by Price, UT, looking for petroglyphs.  Once we got the hang of it they weren't hard to find!  We drove and drove, craning our necks, scanning to find the ancient graffiti and suddenly came upon a balancing rock.  It looked pretty precarious and rather impressive.

So we took some photos of it.  And then Ken showed me a picture of a little petroglyph he spotted while shooting the rock and we were on our way!

Can you see the little dude?  He's pretty square.

Here's a zoomed in shot (they aren't super easy to see as you drive by...sometimes)

So we got out of the car, all excited, and went down the little ditch and up the other side and began a short ascent to see this little dude and off to our right, there was a mother lode, tucked back where it couldn't be seen from the road!

Here's Ken, who gets credit for the first find of the trip!

I was so excited to make contact with history!  Still makes me smile to think that in a way I made a connection with a Fremont person who also touched this stone and, unlike me, left a more permanent mark of the event.

After the first find we started to develop an instinct for where they might be found.  But the carvers played with our minds on a regular basis.  You'd see panels that looked ideal for art, stare and stare and nothing.  Nada!  Often we'd have to just stare a while to see them.  Sometimes it was luck.  You'd climb up to something you'd seen and find a bunch more tucked here and there in the area.  We learned to look around carefully before climbing back down.  There was often much more there than you could see doing a drive by.

We noticed a number of things while we were searching for art.  They usually liked broad, smooth panels with contrasting surfaces.  Not always tho.  Always exceptions to the rule.  You'd climb up to some panels and then find a little deer or something carved into some rough rock, a narrow edge, at an angle.

Ken said there was oil shale all over the place (which explains the mining that was going on carefully in certain areas of the region).  Sometimes when you'd look up you'd see a glob of black stuff that appeared to be oozing out from between rocks.  It wasn't moving or anything so anything it was doing was a slow process.  Some rock had black stuff creeping down across the surface.  Later on, some of the rocks looked almost burned.  I think the black tarry material might have finally fused to the lighter stone underneath.  Here is a good example of that...

These images were chiseled in, maybe a 1/4"...someone worked very hard to chip them into the rock

Most were on lighter surfaces than the one shown above, like the first hidden ones we saw, but many were on rocks that almost appeared stained or burned.

It rained off and on while we were there and I have to say that it is one of the best smelling places on earth that I've been so far.  Especially after a fresh rain!  There are wild sage and pine all over the place.  The air is a fresh, sweet, spicy combination of those scents with mustard and little flowers mixed in here and there.  I enjoyed just breathing there!  I wish they could bottle that scent so I could take it home with me!  One of the other places that has a remarkable scent, in my opinion, is a redwood forest.  You can tell when a redwood is near.  But that's another story.  Anyway, if you ever go there you'll know what I mean about how great it smells.

Snakes and spirals featured very often in the Fremont (or Ute?) art.  The art below shows a spiral turning into a snake.  We figured there could be a few reasons for this.  When taken in context by looking at the area around you, you see that the water source, stream, curls and wends around like a snake.  Maybe the river seemed snakelike to them?  Plus there are many snake types in the area, including a rattler which likes to coil up and sun.  It seemed important to them.  Many pieces seemed to have snakes in them and often spanning large portions of the carvings.

.
We learned that the Fremont left the area around 1200 AD.  Not sure when the Ute came in but horses were introduced in the late 1600's.  So all the horse carvings came from the Ute.

We found hundreds of carvings once we got an eye for it!  When we were finally tired and heading home, I'd look out the window and see one here and there...just like they were saying bye!  On the way home we passed under a bridge with some rusted areas on it.  I caught myself squinting at it, half expecting to find a little carved figure looking back at me.  I admitted as much to Ken and he laughed because he noticed he'd done the same thing!

Some things I learned about Ken.  Some I knew but were reinforced.  First of all, and this was a bit humbling, in spite of Ken having really bad knees he usually would beat me during the climbs and be sitting at the top, watching and waiting for me to arrive.

One climb I was determined to beat him to the top so found a different route that required a little more climbing and beat him!  I was gasping and panting but dammit I beat him!  And then on the way down, I followed the same route and managed to have a short fall and scraped up my elbow and legs.  Stung for a little bit!  After that I stopped being competitive with him.  I learned.

my elbow...yup I bled for those petroglyphs

What was reinforced and highlighted was Ken's stubbornness.  On day 2, when his knees were already sore from the previous day's exertions, we came upon some glyphs that were a substantial climb over rocks and on loose shale/soil.  I was ready to take pictures and move on but he announced he was going to climb it.  I argued that we should take zoomed pictures and then see what we had when we got home later.  He said he was going to climb.  I said it was too dangerous.  He said, OK, I'm going to climb it.  So I pocketed my little camera and started after him.  He was surprised I was joining him but there was no way I was sitting at the bottom while he went up to see everything!  Once again, he was sitting there, waiting for my gasping panting self.  Bleah.  But the carvings were fantastic!

here are some of the carvings we saw...there were many more along a whole wall of panels

here is a view of the car from the top of that particular climb - there were a few like this before we were finished

One other thing I learned about Ken is that when he is interested in something, very little gets in his way.  I think Ken wanted to see every possible petroglyph that could be accessed from the road.  I'd say how we'd seen plenty, let's move on and find the ruins and he would still drive to each potential panel and do a quick study before moving on and if there was something remotely accessible, we were going.  We only hiked in once at Daddy Canyon and managed not to find anything except pretty scenery for our troubles.  Ken built some cairns as symbols of our having been there.  Did that in Canyonlands too.  I like that!

  

We saw some cool old ruined buildings.  There were free range cattle in some of them and they got very upset with us for stopping to take pictures.  Cow mooing carries loudly in canyons!  They kept it up until we were out of sight.  Sorry we offended you cows!

Ken is in the next room right now watching sports.  I want to get this down while it's fresh in my head.  In the span of 2 days we experienced a lot.  We came across a doe grazing near the road and stopped to take a photo.  She saw us watching her and then surprised us by coming a bit closer for a look at us!  She was pretty beautiful!  The carvings show a lot of deer, bison, elk, etc. but they weren't apparent to us while we were traveling thru.  We did see a lot of cattle but not a lot else.  Well, we did see some speedy little lizards zooming around on the rocks.

she came in for a closer look

little brown lizard climbing vertical

We saw gorgeous scenery!!

We climbed to an ancient Fremont village site.  Wasn't much village to see.  Some rocks in circles. Considering how old the site is it was still pretty remarkable. According to the literature we had on them, they would dig partially into the soil and use lumber for roofing.  The village was strategically placed on an outlook with the river running below and mountain to the back.  They had a fantastic view of the valley around them.

a rock wall along one side of the structure

Rocks in a circle - middle would have been dug out, with stone benches along outer walls and topped with lumber roof.  Looking out over the valley, the green in the background.

Visiting this place was a moving experience for me.  I LOVE looking for the ghosts of the past!  In this place I got to touch some of them and felt a connection to that long ago time.  Ken loves this too.  He thought he would have enjoyed being an archaeologist.  I can see him loving that!  The office space is gorgeous!  I was calling him my "pocket geologist".  When he didn't know something he just made up some outrageous crap and made me laugh.  

We spent hours "off the grid" as there was no phone signals in there.  Since Ken works all the time it was nice to have him all to myself!

We work well as a team.  We watch out for each other and have flexible attitudes when things don't go our way.  Like when we couldn't find the granaries or some of the artwork touted in the info we had on the area. We only got a little grumpy for a little while.  Then we'd find something else to get excited about.  I trust him to save me if I got hurt.  I told him we should bring a dolly in with us next time so I can save him if he gets hurt!  

For my earlier comments/complaints, I'll admit we take turns being stubborn and the other is a good sport about going along with it until we hit mutual agreement that enough is enough.  Like our futile trek into Daddy canyon that still served up some beautiful scenery when we weren't feeling oppressed by the heat and lack of breezes and artwork.  (We picked a bad route I guess)  We got as far in as we did because we kept taking turns saying, let's just go around that curve and see what's up there, then we'll head back.  And then grumbling because we hadn't brought water in.  We'd been hiking about 10 minutes already for cripes sake!

We came out of the canyon tired, a bit scraped/scuffed, dirty/gritty, sunburned, thirsty and I had caveman hair from driving with the windows open and no ponytail.  Oh well!  It now rates as yet another of my favorite trips and a place I'll be happy to return to again!  

Random thoughts to pass the time...

I have a bit over an hour to blow here at work and don't have much to do.  This is a sweet situation since I'm going on vacation for a week and a half and leaving on Sat!  I've done my job and I've done it well!!  But I've done it so well that I'm pretty bored right now so figured I'd blog since I haven't for quite a while.  Hey, it won't change the world but it will help pass the time!

One of my recent thoughts is about how it seems like gay people are coming out right, left and in between!  I feel kind of left out, being a straight person and all...plus I'm starting to wonder who is going to do all the breeding?  Nah...there's enough breeders out there.  Too many actually.  Many who shouldn't be breeding in the first place!  Having said that I need to check myself because if my biological grandmother and grandfather, on my Dad's side, had not bred, and they should not have because they wreaked destruction on 2 to 3 generations because of their hideous parenting or lack thereof...boy that sentence ran on!  The point is, if they hadn't bred (I'll avoid the detour this time) I wouldn't be here and that would be tragic in my opinion.  Shit!  I never thought of this before!!  I always have felt offended by hideously bad parents and felt superior to them (well I am).  But now I have to wrap my head around this latest epiphany...that I exist because two super shitty people screwed around and popped out my Dad!  And we won't even go into the continuing saga as to why I shouldn't exist beyond that! 

Anyway, why is everyone suddenly feeling compelled to admit their sexuality lately?  Is there something in the water?  I just feel like it's kind of weird I guess.  I'm kind of tired of it because honestly I don't care.  I have sex with men.  I like it.  I've never felt compelled to have sex with a woman.  I don't feel bad about that but I did feel good when one finally hit on me because...I always like to feel wanted!  Did anyone care to hear this?  Probably not.  That's my point.  I don't care who anyone wants to have sex with.  As long as it's a consenting adult I'm all for it!  I'd like to go thru a single day without anyone talking about being gay.  Frankly I'm bored with it.  My rainbow flag is tattered from overuse.  (Ok I don't have one of those...I'm trying to illustrate my feelings.) 

And this brings me to another subject that was running through my head yesterday while I was listening to the Lori & Julia talk radio show.  They were talking about how young people these days don't see color (race).  That struck me as super obnoxious!  What the hell is wrong with people seeing color???  I see color when I look at people with different skin than mine!  Kind of impossible not to!  Why are we supposed to pretend we're all the same?  We aren't!  It's nice that we aren't.  Think how incredibly boring the world would be if we were all the same.  Just wrap your heads around that for a bit.  Try it on.  Yawn.  My brain is shutting down from the boredom so going to stop thinking about that.

I see skin color.  It doesn't matter except that some folks can get away with wearing hot pink or yellow and some should NEVER wear those shades! 

That's not the criteria I used when making judgments about people.  Now if they act like an asshole to me or stand around begging for money, then I make some judgments about them.  And I say that begging for money bit because I've been begged at quite a bit lately by white dudes and black dudes and was wondering who would automatically think I was being racist?  Because some will!  Some always think the worst.  Usually the ones who are the busiest running around advertising how open minded and tolerant they are.  It's called irony.  Which, if anyone thinks I'm racist they are feeling smug about my irony comment...if they understand it.  Boy I used some bad grammar in that sentence but not sure how to clean it up...going to leave it.  Notice how I use... a lot?  I like using...

There is a white guy who stands on a corner I drive by on my way to work everyday, holding up a cardboard begging for money.  He has nice tennis shoes.  He looks clean, well dressed and well fed.  Good for him but why should I give him my hard earned money??  I was running into a Walgreens to get some pain meds the other day, for my aching back, and some black kid, walking by, stops between me and the door and asks me for a dollar.  I gave him a glare and said no.  I didn't like how he said it like a reflex.  Why should I give this kid a dollar??  Why does he thing I should?  What is wrong with these people?  Anyway, I'm judging the crap out of those 2...and the guy who drunkenly staggered out of the bar and set up by the road with his cardboard "I'm a homeless vet" sign the other day while I was sitting at a red light.  Nice.  Try to be sober when you beg at least.  But there are suckers who will give them money and feel all angelic and glowy on the inside.  These guys are there to take advantage of the dumb dumbs! 

Have you read about Bradley Manning wanting to start his sex change process now that he's going to prison for 25 years?  Is that why he leaked government secrets?  So he could go to prison and get a free sex change?  This guy is a HUGE pain in the ass!!  Holy crap!!  I want to know who is going to be paying for his hormone treatment.  I'm guessing the government that he betrayed will be doing that won't they?  Nice.  As in, insane. 

I want to say, yet again, how ridiculously glad I am that I was born in this country!!  I'm coming to the conclusion that more places suck to live in, especially being female, and I'm doing the happy dance I wasn't born in any of those suck holes!!  In Re: Egypt's recent shenanigans and http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/15/women-forced-marriage-spoon-underwear
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23791181 for some examples to illustrate my point!  When I get to pissing and moaning I just need to read the news to remember that my life could be much, much worse!

I'm avoiding phone calls at work.  People want money.  I don't like those conversations lately.

Rereading this...I sound kind of bitchy.  That's not super unusual for me when I talk about certain subjects.  Most of the time I'm a ray of sunshine and bliss to those around me!  (I also exaggerate sometimes) 

I'm having allergies.  Taking Claritin every day lately to keep from sneezing my head off but I'm still noticing it.  Perfect timing since I'm about to go on vacation to see my sweetie and he has 2 cats that I'm allergic to!  I may have to spend a lot of time outside on my vacation!  Luckily it doesn't rain a lot in UT so I should be able to pull  that off. 

Does anyone else get weirdly obsessed with things and notice it more so as they age?  Like me?  I'm planning my week and a half long vacation and in the back of my mind I'm thinking, what if my car breaks down when my daughter is using it?  What if Bruiser gets an ear infection?  I'm almost out of meds and they won't give me more unless I spend $300 on his annual check-up.  Everyone wants their piece of the pie.  I don't remember veterinarians being hold-up artists when I was a kid.  Your dog got a rabies and distemper shot and that was enough.  They didn't have to run a billion stupid tests every year!  I NEVER had to bring poop to the vet with my dog when they went in for a check up!  Now they give you the hairy eye-ball when you say no to anything they want to do, like you're a bad puppy parent.  And you walk out after paying $300 for crap you probably didn't need.   I resist.  Bruiser is a senior citizen with some chronic problems so it can be a challenge.  I get incredibly tired of the hairy eye-ball crap.  Though last time the vet agreed that maybe he didn't need a billion tests since he is now over 14 years old and maybe spends 10 mins outside a day since his chronic limp gets bad when he walks much.  He is seriously low risk! 

I detoured again.  This is a good trip since I'm pretty much just obsessing over those 2 things instead of a bunch of things.  Guess it could be worse.  I wonder why I worry about crap like that tho!  I don't think I used to.  I took my kids out to the Black Hills in my crappy little VW Golf years ago and wasn't worried a bit about the car breaking down that I recall.  Now I can't think of making a drive to Duluth without fretting over potential breakdowns and finally calling it off...and I have a good car!  Something is wrong with me.  Maybe I should see a shrink.  If it gets worse I will. 

I don't think I'm supposed to start sentences with And.  Yet another bad habit.  Blarg.

I'm praying for it!

I'm praying for you.  I'm praying about it.  (You can give yourself the illusion you're doing something by sitting there doing basically nothing.)  I'm exhausted.  I've been praying about this all day! 

Note to self:  Check that whisker...feels like it might be coming back and it's time to get tweezers.

My thoughts on the Zimmerman trial and verdict

Yesterday George Zimmerman was found not guilty of 2nd degree murder/manslaughter in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.  He's still in some major trouble because of all the hype that has surrounded this case and the racist allegations.  George really didn't have a chance when the media got hold of this story.

I'll admit I was disappointed that he didn't get manslaughter.  I personally didn't think it was a case of racial profiling but he chose to take a gun with him to check Trayvon out after 911 told him to stay away.  He made choices that ended up to be fatal to an innocent young man.  I have a problem with anyone getting away with that.  At the same time, when a lawyer explained the threshold for self defense vs. manslaughter it made sense.  It still doesn't feel like justice was served to me.

Here are my thoughts on what happened based on what I've skimmed.  I have not been raptly attuned to this case tho I have watched it.  AND, most importantly, I was not in the court room and neither were most of us and we did not hear the evidence that the verdict was decided on.

The first error and this is why I hold George responsible for this killing, is that he took a gun with him to investigate this young man when he was told NOT to by 911.  That was the fatal decision that set this whole thing in motion.

I suspect I understand why he did that after hearing some testimony.  He was scared.  From the sound of it, George is less than a physical specimen.  He was obese and couldn't fight.  The gun made him feel secure.  I think the decision he made was part of his psychology.  It made him feel "like a man" when in other areas he didn't feel terribly confident, for good reason apparently.  I imagine he decided to ignore the 911 operator's warning because he wanted to be a hero and catch the person who'd been committing thefts in the area.  This was his big chance to be THE MAN!  If he hadn't had that gun I'm betting he would not have gotten out of his car.

So he approaches Trayvon.  No idea what triggers them to start fighting but this is where Trayvon made his fatal mistake.  Trayvon chose to straddle George and abuse him.  He picked the wrong target.  Trayvon, I think, was a classic, hormonal 17 year old male.  Meaning they have the sense of a flea when their testosterone levels jack up.  I think, from Trayvon's POV, here's this fat little dude trying to be a tough guy after scaring him a bit following him and his hormones are racing and he's going to teach him a lesson.  If he would have just stood there and waited for police to show.  If he would have chosen to react in a non-violent way, he probably would have lived.  Instead he thought he found an easy target to pound down.  Feels good to do that kind of thing when you're a young, hormonal male.

Well he attacked a man who, at his very core, was a terrible coward.  Who was terrified that Trayvon was going to kill him.  I supposed it's possible but I'm guessing he may have stopped with a good beat down but when you attack a coward who thinks he's going to die, rightly or wrongly, and he has a concealed weapon...well this is what happens.

It sickens me that both of these men made the decisions that they made that brought them to this result.  Neither was innocent.  Trayvon shouldn't have had to pay with his life.  He might have done some jail time for assault but death?  Not ok.  George will also pay with his life, in a different way.  Unless someone decides to kill him which I think is possible at this point.  He will have difficulty getting/holding jobs probably for the rest of his life.  He basically screwed himself even though the jury found him not guilty.  He is guilty of killing Trayvon.

When I heard about the threshold for manslaughter, that all these things, choosing to carry his gun and ignore 911, choosing to confront Trayvon, in the end, didn't matter.  All they needed to prove was that George felt his life was in danger and that he needed to strike back with whatever force he had available to help him save his own life, to prove self defense.  I think his defense proved that.

I wish there was a charge/sentence for murder because you made HORRIFICALLY BAD decisions that led to the death of another.  I think George would have been better served to do some time.  He could then say he paid for his bad decision making that ended in the death of another.  Trayvon is beyond answering for his bad decisions.  He paid the ultimate price.

I’m thinking about what a wonderful word “NO” is this morning.  It’s so versatile and can be used for almost anything.  In fact, I think it’s underutilized.  I wish, sometimes, that I could use it more often.

 

Like when I’m covering phones at work.  When I get a call from a panicked person who waited until the last minute to get the information they need to put in a bid on a project.  I would like to say “NO” to their request for assistance.  They should have asked sooner. 

 

I could easily be a “NO” Nazi if only I wouldn’t get fired for doing that.  I could be a No-Nazi. 

 

When Nike says to me “Just Do It” I would firmly say “No”.   Why?  “No”.  See?  That works beautifully!

 

When I’m having a pissy day and someone smiles at me and says “Have a great day!”  I would scowl at them and say “No”. 

 

It’s more poetic than “Piss Off” for instance.  Short, to the point and the very sound of it conveys the meaning.  Though piss kind of sounds like its meaning also.  I just realized that piss is a loaded word.  Think about it.

People don’t get all worked up about you being a potty mouth like they would if you said “Fuck you”.  If you say “No” they can’t accuse you of swearing at them, but you still get to refuse to cooperate with their stupid ideas.   

My boyfriend just used a fancy combo on facebook.  He said “Fuck No”.  I like that too.  It deepens the meaning but starts getting a little windy using 2 words like that.  Just sayin.

♫ No no no no, no no no no, no no no no no no no no, no no no no, no no no no, no no no no no no no no, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no ♫ 

Use the melody from the old Meow Mix commercial for this lovely “No” tune!  This exercise will limber your tongue for many “No”s today.  Many.  Unless you’re in a really generous mood.  Or want to stay employed.  (Curse my need for money!)

 

Saying “No” is a skill we should develop.  Some folks are probably pros but some need work.  I found a blog  http://michaelhyatt.com/5-reasons-why-you-need-to-get-better-at-saying-no.html about 5 good reasons to say “No”.  Here they are if you're too lazy to read the article. 

If we don’t get better at saying “no,”

1.        Other peoples’ priorities will take precedence over ours.

2.        Mere acquaintances—people we barely know!—will crowd out time with family and close friends.

3.        We will not have the time we need for rest and recovery.

4.        We will end up frustrated and stressed.

5.        We won’t be able to say “yes” to the really important things.

It is so true!  Haven't you ever said “Yes” to something and then felt the inward cringe begin?  Plus, you sometimes have to turn down other things you would have preferred to do because you said “Yes” to something you didn’t want to do, because you didn’t want to make someone unhappy.  That’s the rub.  Saying “No” can make people unhappy with you.  But it can also simplify your life.  And sometimes that’s necessary.

 

The guy in the blog has made “No” his default answer instead of “Yes”.  He saves “Yes” for things that are really worth saying “Yes” to!  That thinking has merit.  I don’t know that I’m ready to go that far yet but it’s worth a ponder.

 

 

 

 

I'm going on a self date tonight!

I’m just throwing this out there in case there are any single women who read this blog who feel like they have to wait to have someone join them to go out for a fun evening.  Have a self date! 

This won’t work for everyone.  Like when my kids still lived at home I always had to drag them with on my self dates since they needed to be fed and would have a riot if I saw a movie without them.  But at this stage of the game, where my main companion is a geriatric dog with dementia, I can take myself out on self dates as often as I want!

I am in a long distance relationship.  Have been for years!  And it doesn't interfere with my dating life at all. Here are some good reasons to self date…

No scheduling issues whatsoever! 

This makes the “event” stress free or at the least low stress.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cancelled a self date because I was too lazy to get changed out of my saggy sweats so I could appear in public, or I’d had too many glasses of wine and shouldn’t go out anyway.  And my date didn’t get mad at me at all!  No hurt feelings to soothe!  So nice!

 

If you eat in, your house can be messy! 

For example, tonight I’m going to try a new coconut chicken recipe with a pineapple/sriracha salsa.  It sounds delicious!  But if it sucks, I don’t have to be embarrassed about it.  I can just eat a bowl of cereal and it’s all good!  My house is pretty cluttered, in fact my kitchen table is buried under papers and “stuff” and my kitchen sink is full of dirty dishes, but I’m not going to get all futzed up about it.  Who cares?  Not me!  And I will wash my dishes after I cook (maybe). 

No dressing up! 

You can go see whatever movie you want to see at whatever time works for you because hey, this is all about you! 
 

I should call it selfish dating instead of self dating.  Selfish dating is all about being your own bestie.  Showing yourself that you appreciate all the hard work that you do slaving to keep a roof over your own head!  (Or in my case struggling to stay awake at my desk some days and forcing myself not to feign illness so I can go home where I have a chance of doing something productive with my time – yeah, sometimes it’s slower than snail naps around here.)

Last time I took my grandkids to a movie with me I had one of them nudging me to let me know that her eyes were watering (it was a 3D movie and that can’t be watched without some issue apparently) or that her stomach wasn’t happy about her choice of snacks.  I’m just sitting there thinking “maybe I should have just taken myself to this movie so I wouldn’t have to worry about tummy troubles or watering eyes?”  Nah, I'll take them to a movie again, even if they are pesty, because they're just so darned cute!

When the date is over you can have a glass of wine or 3 and play World of Warcraft until the wee hours and laugh at how badly you type when under the influence…or you can listen to You Tube and post tons of songs that nobody else will listen to, on your Facebook page, and your friends might whisper to your kids, wondering if their Mom might be drunk?  It’s happened.  I know! 
 

If you’re feeling romantic you don’t even have to shave your legs to make that marginal effort!  <wink, wink>

 

While it’s not as much fun as “with company”…well hmmm, maybe sometimes it’s MORE fun than the company you’ve currently got going…it’s pretty much a sure thing you’ll be sleeping with a smile on your face by the time your selfish date night is over. 

 

Since I am one of those weird-zoids that has lively conversations with herself in her own head, pretty much constantly, I tend to be well entertained without a lot of external input.  Selfish dates are hassle free and guaranteed to be enjoyable for someone like me!  I wonder if they'd be enjoyable for the extrovert types?

I have no shame about bringing a good book to a restaurant and having a leisurely meal with my nose buried in it, except for being annoyed with the wait staff, who keep checking to see if I’m alright.  Yeah, and I was alright 5 minutes ago too!  Now where was I?

I’ll go to a movie and sit by myself without embarrassment.  My favorite is to sit on the aisle in the seat with a railing in front of it so I can prop my feet up during the movie or have quick access to the ladies room in case I drink too much soda during the movie.  No one to climb over.  And I get to sit in my favorite spot instead of where someone else is sure is the best view, often in the upper middle area.  I have my reasons.  I like aisles and room to stretch out! 

So don’t wait for one of those idiots on-line to ask you out!  Go out with your favorite person!  YOU!!  Cause you rock and I bet you’ll have a really great time with yourself if you just give yourself a chance! 

Tonight I’m baking myself that coconut chicken with pineapple salsa, then I’m going out to see the new Star Trek movie.  And knowing me, I’ll probably crash out pretty quickly by the time I get home because I’m a wuss and usually am really tired by Friday night but if not, I’ll be on World of Warcraft doing some bad typing if anyone cares to chat!  Now that’s a great night out for me! 

It would be better with Mr. Ken and knowing him he’d doze off DURING the movie since he’s been working harder than me all week, but since he’s 1200 miles away, this works.  We are such a wild couple.  Living la vida loca!  If I could only get him to play World of Warcraft!  (Like that’s gonna happen)    

Anyway, y’all have a great weekend!  And if you don’t have a date, date yourself and have a great time!  If you feel self conscious, DON’T!  I do this all the time and to my knowledge, nobody cares at all if they even bother to notice!