Click this post title for some Happiness

Shirley Temple and Buddy Ebsen in
"Captain January"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_q-pATZIQ4

Time and Money

A boon of about two hundred dollars in the form of a quarterly work bonus came my way which was perfect because I need new tires.
Yesterday, I came home from work to discover a small puddle of oil in my parking place.
But my engine was just sealed not so very long ago, so I mentioned it to Joey who thought that it couldn't be my car because I take such good care of it.
I lit out to search for tire bargains and came home in the afternoon and parked in a different space.
Then I went out again a little later and found more oil under my car.
So much for tires. I hope this leak is less then $300.00. I hope it is repairable. I have been saving as much as I could for the past two years but it hasn't amounted to much. Not enough to buy a used car. And I am so in debt, I couldn't afford to make payments on even a used car.
I am chagrined! Perplexed! Upset! Hopeful!


While I was out today, I saw a woman I knew from work a few years back.
I had once yearned for her. We shared a good vibe. I liked her laugh. I was lonely.
Then time passed and I found out things about her from other friends and I recognized my good fortune once again in the fact that we never did get together.
For one instant when I saw her, I was excited... then I remembered... then I thought, "Thank God for my Joey!"

So many of my relationships started out with high hopes and expectant joy only to fall apart because I made the mistake of not getting to know the other person first. When I met Joey, I was seeing someone else who was 80 miles away and not able to give me much time. We worked on an innocent friendship. I needed someone to hang out with. I liked Joey because she fit in everywhere I went and could talk up a storm as counterpoint to my quiet nature. But that was just a bonus. The thing about Joey was that she was ready to receive what I offered. Some people just aren't ready for to let real love in. Some people aren't in the place where they can return it.


Then as I was that far into town, I decided I would go visit my father. We had a good visit and he told me more stories from his early life here. He had once owned a Studebaker. I'd never known that! He was telling me that he never really cared about cars, they were just a means of getting around to him.

I asked him how he decided that he wanted to be a Mason and he told me about his uncles who were policemen in Atlanta. He said that when he asked my grandfather for my mother's hand, my grandfather said she was a grown woman and she could decide that for herself. Then, my father had another question. "How do you become a Mason?" and my grandfather answered, "You just did. I'll be one of your sponsors and help you out."

I knew that my grandfather had something to do with it, but I never knew that it happened in the same conversation as the permission-for-her-hand-in-marriage moment.

I mention my visit to Dad because it is very valuable time.


I really need some money. (Asking Daddy is not an option.) I stopped at the grocery store on my way home and in the parking lot I had the thought that I would even do something criminal to try to catch up. But I couldn't imagine what I would do. I'm either too smart or too stupid to devise anything. I am too afraid of the repercussions of working with criminals. And I can't fathom the embarrassment of getting caught. And even though prison would provide an interesting dating pool, three meals a day and health care, there's no guarantee I would be on the top of the pecking order.
My toughness is spiritual, not physical. Alas!

So I opened up my e-mail and received a message about making money from home. Apparently, you call people and tell them they can make money by calling people and passing them information. Then they give you money so they can call people and wheedle money out of them and you get the money from their first person. And you get the money from that person's first person, too. (Naturally you have to make an investment, too.)
So you are stupid enough to give away money and smart enough to feed on greed. Nope. Too nauseatingly WRONG for this camper. I don't want to work a scheme with people who are stupid enough to go for it.

I have no delusions about money. I do play the office lottery pool, but I know the way to get money is to work for it.

I was chagrined yesterday, though, as I watched television with Joey. We watched bull riders and then skiers. They rode bulls and soared into the air and made thousands of dollars for doing it. I was disgusted. I need to find something that's fun and thrilling and people will pay me big bucks for. One soaring flip in the air or one dangerous ride on a bull and my yearly pay, or very near it, is made. In less than a minute. Wow!

Okay. Got any ideas? I'm open to suggestions and willing to work.

Note this!

One of my co-workers found a note on her car one afternoon.

It read:

You're so hot!

She wasn't sure what to make of it until she realized it was her husband's handwriting.

I thought that was really sweet.

Then I thought wouldn't it be fun to stick that note on random cars to give people a boost?

But then I thought, no... that might cause strangers more trouble than you can imagine.


Alas!

Bits & Pieces

Bit:
I'm sorry. I just don't like Barack Obama. I never have. I've tried.
I don't feel the same nauseating revulsion that I have always felt for Tom Cruise, I just have one of those deep gut feelings about Mr. Obama. I'd love to find out that I am wrong.

Piece:
Right now the person who would be our ideal president is doing their own thing and has no interest in being president.
I have no idea who it might be... just someone who is truly wise about most things and knows the way the world works.

Bit:
If someone told George W. Bush that he was going to be flown to a secret location to meet with the heads of Al Qaeda, the first thing he would probably do is eliminate.

Bit:
The difference:
B. Clinton: A blundering fool
G.W.: A real, (completely self-involved, mass-murdering) idiot

Piece:
In spite of the machinations of the Republican machine, I can still say what I want to.
GOD (OR THE HIGHER POWER OF YOUR CHOICE) BLESS AMERICA!

Piece:
It's not about who's god is the true god. It's about who can use their beliefs about their god to enslave everyone else.

Bit:
I believe churches are boxes of hypocrites.

Bit: I didn't mean to get political. I just decided to write and that's what came out.

Bush legacy 1

"Humanity is the first casuality of war."

-quote from one of the actors during an interview about the movie In the Valley of Elah

the "Normal" lie

Yesterday I was in the hospital with Joey, this time because she has hurt her arm and needed an x-ray.
While we waited we met a young man who couldn't have been 21. He was very gentle and sweet.
I sat next to him in the hall way while Joey rested on a stretcher.
After a while, we learned that the young pregnant girl who'd been with him in the waiting room was his wife.
I was turned away from what was happening with his family and speaking soundlessly to Joey so I could comment about what was going on with other people in the rooms around her. Between us we knew most of the staff and some of the patients and the people who were with them.
I turned back to see the young woman in her husband's arms, while I sat with Joey, feet apart.
It isn't fair.

We rarely touch in public. We touch some at my parents' house. Joey barely looks at me at her parents' house. We hold hands without stress once or twice a year, at Pride events. Or if we go to a noisy, smoky bar.
The boy and his wife can do it anytime, anywhere.

And she can have access to his information and see him without question.

So far, the people at the hospital have been nice to us. But one person can change the way things have been going in an instant.

And the good people of Florida can legalize our separateness and alienation thinking they are saving everything that's good and righteous and right when they vote in November.

The Republican Party does not give a damn how the vote goes. They just want an issue that will get people to the polls.

Both sides are represented here:

http://www.floridaredandblue.com/

http://www.sayno2.com/

http://www.proudparenting.com/node/1417

http://www.florida4marriage.org/

http://www.christchurchofpeace.org/ktnf/amendment-and-you.html

Nice people, humble, pious, think they're doing good. They might as well form an Inquisition.
Or just declare open season on anyone who isn't exactly what they want them to be.

Thanks, gangster.

The other day I wanted to get out of work as soon as possible in order to get to an appointment.
Naturally, I got a call at 4:59 from someone who needed something time-consuming.
So I did what needed to be done and finally headed out... into the rolling cluster of traffic I was hoping to avoid.
I found myself in the left lane behind a van from Wisconsin. I knew that the fellow in the van was not moving over on purpose because he kept studying me via his side mirror. He was clearly yanking my anxious chain.
Then I noticed a speeding Ford approaching up in the same lane, so I quickly changed lanes.
There's one thing I know about old Crown Victoria's and retired Police Interceptors. The local drug dealers love them. They add big wheels, shiny rims and new paint. (No, they aren't low profile.)
This particular car, however, has yet to be "pimped." It's car number was still visible on the back bumper.
The Ford oozed a danger that immediately intimidated the Cheesehead into moving over.
I smiled. And I thought it was odd that I'd found a reason to be grateful to a drug runner.
Then I slid on by the van myself.