This is one of those days I should have stayed home.
We were supposed to start on a new sequence last week. Layout doesn't have their work done yet so we have barely anything to set up. Set up is my job. I can't do my job. So my boss bought us another week and you know what's changed? Not much. Still can't do my job.
Last night a cold front started to move in. The wind picked up dramatically. I sneezed for 2 hours. So I took a Claritin before bed and then woke up feeling like I'd taken an entire bottle of Sudafed. Totally dried out, feverish but with no actual fever. I hadn't taken Sudafed; I save that for when I'm desperate. I'm not desperate. I've sneezed a few times today and this morning I didn't think I was going to make it to lunch without falling over dead. I'm better now but not great, and bored, so I'm writing a blog entry in my favorite text editor. It's 5pm on Friday. If I were really sick I would go home but I've had too many cokes to convince anyone I feel bad at all.
I keep bouncing back to the Web today. I try not to but I'm very ADD when I'm on a computer with nothing urgent to do. I keep going back to Fox News and CNN and seeing what's going on. Apparently today is the 40th anniversary of when the Indians took over Alcatraz for 19 months, resulting (directly or otherwise) in Nixon's halt of U.S. tribal assimilation policies. Did you know the Indians took over Alcatraz in 1969? I didn't. Probably because I wasn't alive yet, although I was alive by the time they took the last 15 off the island. I think they said something about it on the tour boat but there was a group of Russians sitting behind us singing songs at the top of their lungs. We didn't hear much coming over the speakers.
I have to wonder why CNN reported on this but not Fox News. Of course I ask the same questions about a lot of political stories that Fox reports on but not CNN. You can't rely on just one network. They don't share their personal priorities.
One thing I did read on Fox today really annoys me. There's a rep in Missouri who is trying to get a resolution passed to make next Wednesday "a day without complaining." That's right, a day where complaining about anything is not allowed. And he's a Democrat. I find that very ironic.
For one thing, I complain about Obama, Harry Reid and most especially, Nancy Pelosi. It's true. When I post my complaints on Facebook however, it's always in response to a Democrat complaining about conservatives. I feel justified in my complaints because these people are my leaders and I voted against them. It didn't work, they still won. I get to be ticked about that. I also understand complaining on the other side because this country was left in a mess by the Republicans. But I understood that complaining a lot better back when the Republicans were still in charge. They're not in office now. And yet the Democrats are still whining about it. So here comes a Democrat trying to pass a no-complaining day resolution. You think there's a loophole that says, "No complaining EXCEPT for the following topics: Sarah Palin, Bush, conservatives in general, Fox News.... because they're all WRONG and they deserve it." I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.
You guys have the power to change things now. Quit complaining about those who disagree with your ideology and get to work before that power is taken away from you again. I wouldn't mind the complaining so much if you were out there doing something about it. But many of the loudest complaints come from those who are doing nothing but surfing Facebook.
And that brings me to why this resolution REALLY annoys the crap out of me. They say the resolution itself is not even meant to be political (although how can it not be), it's about "improving human relations." There are some who believe complaining hurts relationships, kills careers, and makes for an overall bad quality of life. Well, it does occasionally ruin my Facebook experience, but it has very little control over my actual life. As with any of life's tools for coping, it's all in how you use it.
Complaining has a place in life. It allows you to let off steam. It allows you to work through your emotions about something so that you can get to a place where you can more clearly see a solution to your problems. It gets you from being the victim of a bad situation to a place where you can overcome the bad situation. The more you complain, the madder you get and the greater your resolve to change things. There's a natural pattern to life. First, bad thing happens. Then, person whom bad thing happened to reacts by complaining. Person whom bad thing happened to works through their anger and frustration at the situation, again by complaining. Then, suddenly, person whom bad thing happened to starts to see how to fix it, and they do, powered by said anger and frustration which is now fuel for the cause. Simple. All better.
The only complaining that needs to be squelched is that which feeds off itself and never leads to action. However, you can't always do something about your situation and there are some serious situations in this country right now and in people's lives. People are getting laid off, they're losing their homes, they're losing their fortunes, they're unable to pay their medical bills and stay alive. In many cases there is no course of action to take, they're already doing all they can but circumstances are out of their control. They're going through hell. And now they're not even supposed to talk about it?
The American Indians, in the 60s, were seeing their reservations closed and were being moved into urban areas. What would have happened to them if they hadn't gone to Alcatraz to draw attention to their complaints? Our country's Native American heritage would be completely lost, that's what would have happened.
Basically what this rep is telling his constituents is, "I know you're having problems, many of which my colleagues and I created. You have every right to be angry. But I don't want to hear about it. You're bothering me."
It is self-righteous and cruel to take the power of complaint away from those who are angry just to make the rest of the world a little more comfortable. When did we become a society that should never hear an unkind word, should never have to deal with real problems, should never be inconvenienced, should never lose a competition, and should never have to hear about the problems of others? How do people get help if they don't ever talk about what's wrong in their lives? Especially when they don't feel they have the power to change things alone. I complain about all the complaining being done by Democrats right now, but I wouldn't try to pass a resolution to stop it. They probably would try to pass a resolution to stop mine though. Oh wait, they are. Or at least one is.
I write a blog for a lot of reasons. The first reason is to track my progress on the path toward doing what I've always wanted to do in life. It expanded to a journal on improving my life in general, living my life for me instead of for everyone else, demanding better for myself. That second part has a lot of growing pains, and growing pains come with a lot of complaining. I have no intention of stopping. Not today, not next Wednesday, not because some idiot representative would rather draft useless resolutions than solve the economic crisis, and certainly not because someone might be uncomfortable. I will complain about what makes me unhappy until I feel better and until I see a way to fix it. That's just how I deal with things, and there's not a resolution in the world that will change my mind.
I've had two boyfriends now who can't--or just don't think they should have to--deal with anything negative. The first one was so afraid of negative emotions (particularly in women) that he would joke and change the subject every time I tried to talk seriously about anything. Because of that, my voice was never heard, nothing ever changed and we never went anywhere. Later in life when we tried to be friends, he was still so afraid of what his wife would think about us talking that he would rather not talk to me at all than tell her what he was doing. I demanded that he tell her because it was the right thing to do. He wouldn't. We are no longer talking.
The second boyfriend constantly told me how negative I was during the first few years we were together. I wouldn't even see it coming, just out of the blue when I felt perfectly content with myself and my surroundings, he would tell me I was being negative. I am not a cheerleader and never have been, but if I do not have a smile on my face or a laugh in my heart it does not mean I am not, at the very least, content. I had to ask myself though, how I would ever prove to someone I was not a negative person if he basically kept telling me how much he hated being with me. Just like the time he actually set his watch to see how long it took for me to say something "positive," he was setting me up to fail so he could appear successful by comparison. Anyone who can actually be visibly positive in an abusive situation like that deserves a medal.
And by the way, I WAS positive. I was positive he was an asshole. But I digress.
So after all that, I have a right to complain. I took action, I moved on, but there are times it still makes me mad that I ever put up with it. And every time I complain, I get a little more understanding from myself and from the people who care about me and I am able to go on. So I find a resolution against complaining very self-serving, to the point of being a complaint in itself. A hypocritical complaint about complaining. "Mommy, they won't stop complaining all the time. They're BOTHERING me. Make them stop!"
Sometimes people complain because they just want someone to understand, someone to relate to them. And when they feel like someone relates to them, they move on. There's nothing wrong with that either. I have someone in my life who does understand and that is why while I still complain about some things, I'm not the same person I was when I moved here. I'm not even the same person I was last week. And I will forever be grateful to him for that.
I have a lot to be happy about and I am. I also have a lot to be angry about and I am. You can't draft a resolution that says you don't have to take the good with the bad. You might as well draft a resolution that says, "Life forever after is hereby declared fair." As a new country, we declared the right to pursue happiness as one of our inalienable rights as human beings. We did not declare our inalienable right to receive it. That, you have to do on your own.
We were supposed to start on a new sequence last week. Layout doesn't have their work done yet so we have barely anything to set up. Set up is my job. I can't do my job. So my boss bought us another week and you know what's changed? Not much. Still can't do my job.
Last night a cold front started to move in. The wind picked up dramatically. I sneezed for 2 hours. So I took a Claritin before bed and then woke up feeling like I'd taken an entire bottle of Sudafed. Totally dried out, feverish but with no actual fever. I hadn't taken Sudafed; I save that for when I'm desperate. I'm not desperate. I've sneezed a few times today and this morning I didn't think I was going to make it to lunch without falling over dead. I'm better now but not great, and bored, so I'm writing a blog entry in my favorite text editor. It's 5pm on Friday. If I were really sick I would go home but I've had too many cokes to convince anyone I feel bad at all.
I keep bouncing back to the Web today. I try not to but I'm very ADD when I'm on a computer with nothing urgent to do. I keep going back to Fox News and CNN and seeing what's going on. Apparently today is the 40th anniversary of when the Indians took over Alcatraz for 19 months, resulting (directly or otherwise) in Nixon's halt of U.S. tribal assimilation policies. Did you know the Indians took over Alcatraz in 1969? I didn't. Probably because I wasn't alive yet, although I was alive by the time they took the last 15 off the island. I think they said something about it on the tour boat but there was a group of Russians sitting behind us singing songs at the top of their lungs. We didn't hear much coming over the speakers.
I have to wonder why CNN reported on this but not Fox News. Of course I ask the same questions about a lot of political stories that Fox reports on but not CNN. You can't rely on just one network. They don't share their personal priorities.
One thing I did read on Fox today really annoys me. There's a rep in Missouri who is trying to get a resolution passed to make next Wednesday "a day without complaining." That's right, a day where complaining about anything is not allowed. And he's a Democrat. I find that very ironic.
For one thing, I complain about Obama, Harry Reid and most especially, Nancy Pelosi. It's true. When I post my complaints on Facebook however, it's always in response to a Democrat complaining about conservatives. I feel justified in my complaints because these people are my leaders and I voted against them. It didn't work, they still won. I get to be ticked about that. I also understand complaining on the other side because this country was left in a mess by the Republicans. But I understood that complaining a lot better back when the Republicans were still in charge. They're not in office now. And yet the Democrats are still whining about it. So here comes a Democrat trying to pass a no-complaining day resolution. You think there's a loophole that says, "No complaining EXCEPT for the following topics: Sarah Palin, Bush, conservatives in general, Fox News.... because they're all WRONG and they deserve it." I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.
You guys have the power to change things now. Quit complaining about those who disagree with your ideology and get to work before that power is taken away from you again. I wouldn't mind the complaining so much if you were out there doing something about it. But many of the loudest complaints come from those who are doing nothing but surfing Facebook.
And that brings me to why this resolution REALLY annoys the crap out of me. They say the resolution itself is not even meant to be political (although how can it not be), it's about "improving human relations." There are some who believe complaining hurts relationships, kills careers, and makes for an overall bad quality of life. Well, it does occasionally ruin my Facebook experience, but it has very little control over my actual life. As with any of life's tools for coping, it's all in how you use it.
Complaining has a place in life. It allows you to let off steam. It allows you to work through your emotions about something so that you can get to a place where you can more clearly see a solution to your problems. It gets you from being the victim of a bad situation to a place where you can overcome the bad situation. The more you complain, the madder you get and the greater your resolve to change things. There's a natural pattern to life. First, bad thing happens. Then, person whom bad thing happened to reacts by complaining. Person whom bad thing happened to works through their anger and frustration at the situation, again by complaining. Then, suddenly, person whom bad thing happened to starts to see how to fix it, and they do, powered by said anger and frustration which is now fuel for the cause. Simple. All better.
The only complaining that needs to be squelched is that which feeds off itself and never leads to action. However, you can't always do something about your situation and there are some serious situations in this country right now and in people's lives. People are getting laid off, they're losing their homes, they're losing their fortunes, they're unable to pay their medical bills and stay alive. In many cases there is no course of action to take, they're already doing all they can but circumstances are out of their control. They're going through hell. And now they're not even supposed to talk about it?
The American Indians, in the 60s, were seeing their reservations closed and were being moved into urban areas. What would have happened to them if they hadn't gone to Alcatraz to draw attention to their complaints? Our country's Native American heritage would be completely lost, that's what would have happened.
Basically what this rep is telling his constituents is, "I know you're having problems, many of which my colleagues and I created. You have every right to be angry. But I don't want to hear about it. You're bothering me."
It is self-righteous and cruel to take the power of complaint away from those who are angry just to make the rest of the world a little more comfortable. When did we become a society that should never hear an unkind word, should never have to deal with real problems, should never be inconvenienced, should never lose a competition, and should never have to hear about the problems of others? How do people get help if they don't ever talk about what's wrong in their lives? Especially when they don't feel they have the power to change things alone. I complain about all the complaining being done by Democrats right now, but I wouldn't try to pass a resolution to stop it. They probably would try to pass a resolution to stop mine though. Oh wait, they are. Or at least one is.
I write a blog for a lot of reasons. The first reason is to track my progress on the path toward doing what I've always wanted to do in life. It expanded to a journal on improving my life in general, living my life for me instead of for everyone else, demanding better for myself. That second part has a lot of growing pains, and growing pains come with a lot of complaining. I have no intention of stopping. Not today, not next Wednesday, not because some idiot representative would rather draft useless resolutions than solve the economic crisis, and certainly not because someone might be uncomfortable. I will complain about what makes me unhappy until I feel better and until I see a way to fix it. That's just how I deal with things, and there's not a resolution in the world that will change my mind.
I've had two boyfriends now who can't--or just don't think they should have to--deal with anything negative. The first one was so afraid of negative emotions (particularly in women) that he would joke and change the subject every time I tried to talk seriously about anything. Because of that, my voice was never heard, nothing ever changed and we never went anywhere. Later in life when we tried to be friends, he was still so afraid of what his wife would think about us talking that he would rather not talk to me at all than tell her what he was doing. I demanded that he tell her because it was the right thing to do. He wouldn't. We are no longer talking.
The second boyfriend constantly told me how negative I was during the first few years we were together. I wouldn't even see it coming, just out of the blue when I felt perfectly content with myself and my surroundings, he would tell me I was being negative. I am not a cheerleader and never have been, but if I do not have a smile on my face or a laugh in my heart it does not mean I am not, at the very least, content. I had to ask myself though, how I would ever prove to someone I was not a negative person if he basically kept telling me how much he hated being with me. Just like the time he actually set his watch to see how long it took for me to say something "positive," he was setting me up to fail so he could appear successful by comparison. Anyone who can actually be visibly positive in an abusive situation like that deserves a medal.
And by the way, I WAS positive. I was positive he was an asshole. But I digress.
So after all that, I have a right to complain. I took action, I moved on, but there are times it still makes me mad that I ever put up with it. And every time I complain, I get a little more understanding from myself and from the people who care about me and I am able to go on. So I find a resolution against complaining very self-serving, to the point of being a complaint in itself. A hypocritical complaint about complaining. "Mommy, they won't stop complaining all the time. They're BOTHERING me. Make them stop!"
Sometimes people complain because they just want someone to understand, someone to relate to them. And when they feel like someone relates to them, they move on. There's nothing wrong with that either. I have someone in my life who does understand and that is why while I still complain about some things, I'm not the same person I was when I moved here. I'm not even the same person I was last week. And I will forever be grateful to him for that.
I have a lot to be happy about and I am. I also have a lot to be angry about and I am. You can't draft a resolution that says you don't have to take the good with the bad. You might as well draft a resolution that says, "Life forever after is hereby declared fair." As a new country, we declared the right to pursue happiness as one of our inalienable rights as human beings. We did not declare our inalienable right to receive it. That, you have to do on your own.
