So it seems I've finally reached the point of blogger's constipation. I have so much to say that nothing wants to come out, so here I sit. (There's an image.)

I would say that the ramped up frenzy of last year's election has left me with a sense of quiet. Now instead of comsuming mass amounts of CNN, MSNBC, and all the other newsy junk food, I have to face myself again....coming back to the same uncertainties that I managed to stave off for a period of time. That mirror gazing can be a bitch sometimes, but it's necessary I suppose.

Some other quick updates: So far I'm weathering the financial crisis OK, but I don't know how much longer the folks around me are going to be able to hold out. No less than 6 of my close family members have been out of work since last year, and I don't see things picking up any time soon. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to take in a few of them. We shall see.

I saw The Watchmen last week and really enjoyed the film. As a non-reader of graphic novels, I am glad to have had the opportunity to read and familiarize myself with the story prior to attending the movie, else I would have been very confused at times. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good rendering of a novel that had to be difficult to translate to film. I did find the music at times to be totally incongruous with what was happening onscreen, awesome soundtrack notwithstanding.  (Thanks T-Rex.  =)

My book challenge isn't going so well this year, probably because I seem to have less time to read and am tired all the time. I've also cut back on my TV viewing, so at the present time I have no idea what the latest hap is on Heroes, Supernatural, Psyche, or Ugly Betty. And I'm really not all that concerned.

If you wanna know where your flist has gone, they are all on FaceBook..or at least it seems that way. ::whistles innocently::

Grammar geek note: Last week I was accused of being a "gerund hater." :: Snort :: It's true, when proofing reviews, I tend to remove -ing verbs and replace them with straight present tense. But of all the things to be called...

A word to the stupid parents: Not to go all Bill Cosby on your ass, but if you name your child after a mixed drink or an alcoholic beverage, you may be are setting your child up for failure, or at the very least dooming them to a life of frequent employment issues. No one's gonna care that little "Daiquiri's" name is really pronounced "Duh - KWEERY." It's stupid, so please don't do it unless your family is rich as cream. And if you happen to be an adult with one of those unfortunate names, please have the sense to go with simply a first or first and middle initial and your last name or resumes. Give HR something to work with. Just saying...

And last, to finish out a pretty pointless post, how about a good old awesomely awesome 80s video. Timeless, poptastic, goodness:



"Think about it, there must be higher love....without it, life is wasted time..."

Yes!

Who knew?  I have the power to make suburban women cower and run like their drawers are on fire, seeking the safety of their suburban homes.
 
And all I have to do is to walk down their street on a sunny Sunday wearing an Obama '08 t-shirt with a clipboard in my hand.

LOL.

I swear...best laugh I've had all day.

Is it just me, or am I the only one growing frustrated with some of the comments posted by "friends" on LJ, Facebook, in class, or wherever you chose to hang out?

Don't get me wrong, I love a spirited discussion, and the world would be a pretty boring place if we all agreed on everything...but it's the willingness to defer to ignorance that has me ready to spit fire.

And let me say this...I don't care if you are Republican, Democrat, Independent or voting the Green Martian ticket.  I can respect that even if I wholeheartedly disagree with you.  But these folks that claim to be undecided...at this late date?  I'm calling BS and labeling them as attention whores.

Yes.
I.
Said it.

I mean, what is there to be undecided about that you feel will be suddenly revealed in 3 weeks?  Are you waiting for a divine sign as to who to vote for?  Or are you simply waiting for that last bit of juicy dirt to get dealt before you decide on who would be the lesser of the evils?  I simply do not get it.  Personally, I think that folks claiming to still be undecided are more than likely leaning one way versus the other and just either don't want anyone to know which way that is...or they like to give the impression of still "considering the issues/candidates" to make the best decision possible.

:-/

Maybe...but again I doubt it.  Get off the fence already!

I do know that as the days grow closer to the election, I am much more prone to picking up my keyboard and pounding out some strong opinions regarding a lot of the silliness that seems to be cropping up more and more.  Worse are the people who continue to turn a blind eye to the fact that Americans are being treated like morons who can't recognize BS and code speak when we hear it.

This is too much.

Yes I know I'm rambling. 

And I probably won't stop ranting until well after the election.

Consider yourself warned.

Reason #43247320 why my youngest brother makes a sucky babysitter:



Srsly.  Do you SEE that square bowl with the dried up Rice Krispies?  What kind of engineering skills must it take to balance that thing like that without it spilling out and crashing to the floor?  And for the amount to time that it had to take to situate said bowl in such a manner, wouldn't it have made more sense to just load it into the diswasher?

But wait!  There's more...



But if I blacked out and turned into a shrieking half-crazed mad woman, I'd be wrong, right?

Like pretty much everyone in the world, I'm sure you're struggling with making ends meet.

I'm at the point where the time has come to better budget the funds and cut back on some of the extras.

Why is it that when money is funny, everything seems like a necessity?

I mean, now that I have to cut back on the cable, why am I freaking out at the loss of the Military Channel?

No Netflix?  Oh NOOOOOOOOOEZ!!!!!

It sux that I can't get my hair and my nails done when I want to.

High speed internet access is my God-given right, is it not?

No?

Damn.

Why was I not born rich?

"Broke as hell" does not look good on me.

So tell me, what are you cutting back on these days?

::walks onto stage::
::taps microphone::
::clears throat::

"Now hear this,

For all you dudes walking around with the short white socks and the plastic sandals on, KINDLY CEASE AND DESIST!!!

This is not the hawtness. This is not a grown and sexy look. You are not fashion forward nor are you bringing style to the streets.

There is no way to sport this look and not appear to be anything but straight up "bama."

Thank you."

::walks off stage::

 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!

::breathes::

Sorry y'all, I just had to get that out.

Thank you.

Back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

'Cause I'm in a somewhat grumpy mood today.

By now I'm sure many of you have had the chance to get your chuckle on from viewing Stuff White People Like and/or Stuff Educated Black People Like.  Because I tend to think people are more alike than different, I'm going to take a guess and say that by the time it's all over and done with, a large percentage of those lists will contain the same items/topics...if only with a slightly different spin on them, but it's all good.

So keeping in the spirit, I thought it might be fun to post the stuff that I like and see how much I really have in common with you all dear flist, but alas...I'm feeling kinda bleh today.  So I'm gonna post about the shit that I can't stand. 

Holla if you hear me.

#1  Bank Fees



Nothing pisses me off more than having to pay for the luxury of using my own damn money.  I know that technically they are providing a service for me by making it easy to turn my paper check into cold hard cash or paying bills electronically, but it isn't really as if I have a choice.  Without a bank account, I'd have to pay ridiculous fees for a third party to cash my check and/or subject myself to having to walk around with cash more often than I'd like.  I recently got hit with $70 in bank fees because a savings account that I don't use finally hit $0 because of "service fees."  I swear, I wanted to beat the living hell out of the first bank employee I could get my hands on.  

And just so you know...come hell or high water I'm gonna get that money back!

#2  Living in a city that requires a car



That sux more than I can ever describe.  I HATE the fact that there is no truly reliable public transportation here and no rapid/commuter transit at all.  Because of this I have to have a car, pay out of control insurance rates, and drive in conditions that make me stressed and white-knuckled by the time I get to my destination.  There is no end in sight.

#3  Watermelon



It's really all melons, but watermelon especially.  I have tried several times in my life to eat and like this fruit that everyone seems to enjoy so much.  I can honestly report that even after my tastebuds learned to like mustard and olives (though not together) they still violently refuse to go anywhere near a melon.  Oh well...

#4  Being cold



I will sleep in a heated house, with a heated pad, under 3 blankets, with the space heater trained on my face.  I once remarked to darkprism that I keep my office thermostat set to "Jamaica" because I can't stand to be cold.  I'd rather be too hot than too cold anyday.  I can't take it.  My nose and feet are always cold and right now I'm longing for summer.  Funny thing is, my kid is just the opposite.  Fire and Ice...that's us.

#5  People who take my opinions and repackage/restate them as their own original thoughts



>:-(

This happens to me often enough to make me seriously want to take out kneecaps.  My ex was NOTORIOUS for doing this, and he was so dense, he would say the shit back to me as if I didn't know where it came from.  Recently this happened on a book discussion board, and as you can tell I'm a little pissed about it.  I know that imitation is supposed to be the highest form of flattery, but I'm having trouble accepting this.  At least say "I'm in agreement with ... when she said...."  Or at the very least, show some sense of common courtesy and repeat that shit in a different arena where I'm not likely to know you ripped me off.  Hell, that's what I do!  ;-)

 
Okay, so I feel slightly better.  Next time I promise a more cheerful list. 

Until then, lemme know what you truly can't stand.

Annoying person in my office (APIMO):  "I see you're rockin' your 'strong black woman' hairdo today."
Me:  ::blank stare::
APIMO:  "...but it looks GOOD on you!"
Me:  "Uh huh"
APIMO: "So call me so we can go out to lunch, okay?"
Me:  ::gives fake smile::

Seriously people, for real?

IT'S JUST MY HAIR.  IT'S NOT A POLITICAL STATEMENT.

Last year I made the conscious decision to stop chemically straightening my hair.  I thought about it for a long time and I decided that I was fed up with the upkeep, ready for a change, and really concerned about the long term affects of altering the natural state of my hair.

I now wear my hair in it's natural state.  Sometimes twisted.  Sometimes in a curly crown on my head, usually pulled back with a headband.  I like it (which is what matters most.)  I love my hair, and so do most people.

So the fact that I let my hair do what it does (groomed well of course) translates to me somehow sending a message to the world that I am not to be fucked with?  For reals?  You got all that from my hair?

I could see if it was spiked, or shaved into a mohawk, or going every which way but neat.

And...just...

::sigh::

Forget it.  It doesn't even matter.  

I've no time for this ignorance.

So...cheers!


  
(me and valkyrias on nye)

My wisdom tooth decided to give me hell the other day. Aleve worked for a little while until last night and all hell broke loose.

So I didn't go to work today. Instead I had an emergency dental appointment, which turned into an emergency oral surgery appointment, which turned into a deferred appointment because the tooth is so impacted and the root of the tooth is sitting right on the nerve in my jawline, so I'll have to be put under for the surgery. They are estimating 3 days down time after the procedure. Yay me! Damn them for not taking those teeth out with the others 10 years ago!

So in the meantime, I'm on muscle relaxers and 600mg of Motrin. Add that to my normal diet of blood pressure medicine, potassium, and I've got a pharmacy swimming around in my body. I still feel like someone took a 2x4 and whacked me in the side of the head..but at least the drugs took some of the edge off of the pain. What a way to start the holiday weekend. It could be worse though. Maybe I'll hit the lottery tonight and I can smile though my pain.

In other randomness, yesterday while cooking dinner one of those phone survey people called. I normally don't answer or tell them I'm too busy, but this time, I decided to oblige the poor guy. THAT DAMN SURVEY TOOK 28 MINUTES!!! I was so irritated by the end of that phone call. Seriously. How many questions do you need to ask about fast food eating habits?? I probably wouldn't have been half as agitated if the survey taker hadn't had the nerve to sound obviously surprised when he asked the highest level of education completed question. "Oh really?" when I replied post-graduate degree. Fucker. Go back to getting hung up on, asshole.

I swear, if I didn't hold a degree in information science and weren't so intimately familiar with the value of surveys and accurate samples/populations/deviations/etc. I could have saved myself some pissed-off-ed-ness.

Oh well, Thank God it's Friday.

::gives the evil eye to my cable box clock. i want it to be pill time already::

Nothing irritates me more than coming home from the grocery store and not having purchased every single item on my list.

Grrrr!

Is it too much to ask that the local market carry shallots and fresh mint??!!!
 

Before my LJ turns into a Mary J. Blige soundtrack, I thought I'd take a break from posting on my relationship and turn to something else.

Why not tackle annoying people? Especially since I find them extra annoying these days.

From grade school to grad school, it seems that there are always the same annoying personality types that invariably make it into almost every one of my classes. Sometimes, if I'm lucky I'll only have to endure one of these people per semester. But sometimes I just get hammered. If you don't know what I'm talking about, let me run down the list of the people that absolutely burn my toast when I'm in school:

The leech.

This is the person who never wants to do a damn thing. They just want to skate through the class while doing very little work. On the first day of class, you'll find this person making a beeline line towards the person who looks the most studious or sounds the most knowledgeable. There is always a group project to be completed in the class where the leech exists. The worst thing about the leech is that they almost always feel as though they deserve an A in the class or else they pitch a fit and make everyone else miserable.

The leech will try to make it appear as if they are useful by volunteering take notes or make copies for the group. They may even do the index, table or contents, or the bibliography…once you’ve completed your portion of the work. Nobody likes the leech and no one is buying this “I’m working so hard act” except maybe the instructor. The leech gets on my nerves.

Loud coughing guy/girl.

This person may be many people throughout the semester, but always seems to possess the body of someone throughout the year. This is the sick person who comes to class knowing full well they have pneumonia and a sinus infection, but for some reason felt the need to be a trooper, come to class and infect the rest of us.

Never mind we can’t hear the lecture over the barking cough and the graveling throat clearing that is occurring every 90 seconds. Never mind that someone has to use that desk/computer/table after your contagious behind leaves. Never mind the fact that we can literally HEAR the mucus rattling around in your lungs and nasal cavity. Never mind you are grossing us all the hell out.

Unnecessary Comment woman/man.

For some people, it is not enough to be knowledgeable or to have the opportunity to gain knowledge. Oh no…they have to let us all know they are there and they have something to say about ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING! Even things that don’t require comment, they have something to say. It pisses me off and makes me sad at the same time that these people have no clue as to how incredibly annoying they are.

What is it gonna take for you to realize that we are not interested in your “This one time, at band camp…” stories? I don’t need to know about the studies that you have read, conducted, suggested, or took part in. I really don’t care…and neither does anyone else most likely. I realize you have a hard time wrestling your “Mee too!! Mee too!!” mental monster to the ground, but please try. Otherwise I may be forced to throw something at you. I just want to get my lesson and get the hell out of there. There are 8 minutes left in the class and we have 9 chapters left to cover. STFU already!

First day of class "Is this gonna be on the test???" person.

I can’t even put into words how much this person annoys the hell out of me. If you only want to come to school to learn about the stuff that’s gonna be on the test, just stay home. Really, your educational dollars could be better spent on someone who actually wants to learn something. And if not that, give it to someone who won’t have to listen to you ask this dumb ass question every 10 minutes.

Came to class 30 minutes late and asks about things that were covered in the first half hour of class.

Seriously, don’t you just feel like falling through the floor when this happens? I’m actually embarrassed for people when they do that. Common sense should tell you that whatever questions you have may have been fielded while you were trying to get 5 minutes extra sleep or finishing up that assignment you had all month to do. Honestly, just ask someone next to you, don’t further highlight your tardiness by asking a question that makes you sound like a total ass.

I’m gonna sit here and type rapidly and loudly throughout the entire class on my laptop during the lecture chick/dude.

THIS chick actually just showed up in one of my classes this semester. I don’t know how it’s possible but I actually think my dislike of her grows exponentially with each class. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that she played dumb when I asked her what the class access code was.  She was acting all like I wasn’t actually in the class or trying to get into the computer lab without authorization. Seriously people, does a change in hairstyle really make it THAT hard to recognize people from day to day? DAMN. From the way she was acting I could be a superhero and simply change my hair and NO ONE WOULD KNOW IT WAS ME!!

Anyway, she types LOUDLY throughout the entire class. Never mind the rest of us are trying to at least pretend we are listening to the professor. That in and of itself is bad enough, but then she has the nerve to complain that she is soooo completely lost and had no idea what the professor is talking about. Okay, so he does have a thick accent and a tendency to talk in circles, but I’d have more tolerance for that comment from someone who was actually PAYING ATTENTION!

I know this post is mainly for me. I needed to vent, and this is my venting space, so there.   I guess a part of me assumed that at this point in my life, I'd be done with school and thus these people would be absent from my life.  The truth is, they never go away.  They just show up in business meetings and community gatherings.  They are like roaches.

I just wonder if these people annoy anyone else as much…or is it just me?

Why is it that men can never replace the empty toilet paper roll in the bathroom???!!!

Never mind the fact that you can pee without using toilet paper, it's pretty darn inconsiderate to not replace the roll if you know other people use the bathroom too.

AAGDT - It's just plain lazy!

That ish really gets me heated.

Grrrr...

You know it's really sad.

Living in Southeastern Michigan you get to see racism and intolerance raw, up close, and personal in quantities that I've never in life had to deal with. And this Detroit bashing stuff is the absolute worst.

( My online experience with a psycho... )