Date: June 10th, 2007

June 7, 2007

Let’s talk it out

The great thing about the advent of the internet (Thank you, Mr. Gore) is the ability for people to say whatever they damn well please whenever they’d like and frankly however they’d like. Thus, we are rarely spared from genuine gems that force us to sit back and say ‘hmm’. Prose where instead of jumping up to comment with an “OMG!!!11! You are sooo funny”, but with an actual thoughtful response.

Therefore this week will be a bit of a break in format as they are five arbitrarily chosen posts from fellow Indie Bloggers, none of which I had time to actually comment on because Hello, job, nice of you to stop by and force me to work for my paycheck. WTF?? The kicker of this will be that you will have to read all of these posts all of which will force you well shit, that might be a valid point.

Kim and not the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, internet man

That was the whole email. THIS was his first impression. He didn't even start with a "Hi, my name is so-and-so." He dove head first into, "I'm an antisemitic asshole!" And, yes, genius, I'm sure we'll run into each other at a game sometime. FedEx Field is tiny.

My comment: Another reason for why I don’t date or even attempt to do so, out of complete fear of ending up getting some complete asshole who is perfectly OK with being one. It’s a shame that this was via email, but if you do happen to see him out and about in Landover, give him a nice swift kick in the ass.

Vodkarella’s Opinion and sometimes I just love a good comment thread

I was offered a $10 Amazon Gift Certificate to write about these sites. I would have done it for free. Our kids are in crisis. To be honest, I really don’t think it should be up to our schools to pick up all the parenting slack they have been picking up, for years. Why do schools, which are faced with tighter budgets, less time, less staff, less resources, have to pick up all the crap we are supposed to be doing as parents? Sex, drugs, food, exercise, why aren’t kids learning these things at home?

My comment: I really don’t know anything about the social system of Canada, which is sad and yet very American of me. I do know that things in this country are rather fucked up thus making it difficult for many people, no matter how hard they try, to get a leg up. But I do agree that it is possible. I’ve seen and lived through my parents going from next to nothing to encouraging me to attend a school where tuition is the GDP of Djibouti. I’m not sure what the answer is or how, except that there does need to be more done at both school and at home and with the government as a whole.

Observing addiction

OK, we were usually drinking excessively also, but I honestly didn’t realize until about 7 years into our being neighbors that he was an alcoholic - and only when he told me that I’d never seen him sober. Never. As in 7 years of being his neighbor. That was a real shock to me, and he only admitted it to me then because he was starting to have some serious health issues and the very beginnings of some crazy alcoholic dementia episodes.

My comment: No matter what the problem may be, alcohol or some other addiction or personal problem it is just hard for people to notice their biggest faults and in the end, the people who are closest and most supportive end up getting hurt the most. Even if it isn’t on purpose – I’m sure you’re friend didn’t do things intentionally – it still hurts and leaves a sting and more often than not irreparable harm even if you do end up being understanding. There’s still that leftover “what if?”

A ma-what-a?

I just think these arguments make liberals seem like intolerant, uptight, humorless idiots who don't have anything better to worry about or have any real problems to work on. Are we protecting anything by having these arguments over and over? Do we ferret out real racists with this language policing?

My comment: I’m a bleeding heart liberal too! AT times I find the pointing out of these gaffes to be helpful and useful – like during an election – but then there are the times where I’m like WE GET IT, so and so is a possible bigoted racist, but I hear that there was a bombing in Basra for the fifth day in a row so really, I am so over it. It’s fine the first 10 minutes, but by minute 11, it’s just kind of annoying.

Literally, stretched to the limit

When The Man knocks on my door, demanding payments, trying desperately to squeeze blood from a stone and my hands shake as I write the check and I ask The Man, desperately, not to cash the check until Friday. Money spent before it's even had, I think to myself: How much longer can we live like this? Life shouldn't be this way. It's not what life is about. Is this my idea of the "American Dream"?

My comment: I literally just went from living paycheck to paycheck to being maybe OK between paychecks and yet still, my heart hurts a little bit when unexpected things come up that are necessities because I’m too busy flipping out that there won’t be enough in my account to cover things like both a medical and car insurance deductible. Those sorts of things. So very necessary and yet I find myself fervently praying that I get money before a second notice. Given my age, I doubt this feeling will end anytime in the near future. But I hope it does soon end for you.

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