March 01 w-4
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March 01 w-4
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I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are: eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That is my idea of a perfect day. Monday March 19, 2001Christy went to the meeting that she was a week early for last week... After I took Autumn to school and Lumpy and I went to get a haircut... but... Supercuts had a 1 hour wait so we put our names down and went to IHOP for lunch... (I love the Swedish Pancakes and Lingonberry Preserves). The waitress must have seen into my wallet because the bill left me with $.36 in my pocket. We went back to Supercuts and Lumpy got his "Spiked" butch haircut... I got my semi annual trim... luckily they take ATM Card's there. We went up to Lancaster and I bought him a "Torker" (marketingeze for Torquer) I guess, how would you spell that; Torquer, Torqueer, Torque'r, Torque-er? they must have figured that the kids would pick up on the Tor-queer or something... anyway, it's a very nice bike... Mike was even impressed... I had to ensure Mike that he had a better bike and his was more expensive and that he is a far better and stronger rider... damn but that kid is insecure. Calie and Cindy went with Christy and she bought them some new clothes Mike got into some trouble at school over an Eminem CD, I don't have the whole story yet. FYI: Eminem is a slimy little rap singer... you can find lyrics to his c-rap on the net if you are curious... he has the right to publish his disgusting garbage I suppose but I also have the right to deem it to be prurient commercial gibberish written solely to appeal to the inferiority complexes and sexual fantasies of adolescent boys. Another instance where the fact that it can make money is the sole justification for selling it... the people that market that junk need to be put into the public limelight... I heard some Red Neck racist music as we were leaving Karen and Blaine's house. There are some "White Supremacists" down on the corner, about a half a block from them. They were blasting the crap as loud as they could... The blatant racist hatred I see and hear makes wonder where our civilization is headed. I honestly fear for the safety of my children... probably 80% paranoia but that nagging 20% that is not paranoia worry's me. The kids are having a ball on their new bikes, I have to yell at Mike get off Christian's bike and let Christian ride it. Mike can be a bully... actually Mike has to concentrate not to be a bully, it comes naturally to him... I am waiting for the day someone gets up in his face and slaps some sense into him... I know that's not politically correct but that's what it's going to take I'm afraid. I have never struck him except for a swat on the butt when he was a lot younger, he is at the age when the only ones he pays any attention to are peers, unfortunately his peers (for the most part) are as screwed up as he is. Tuesday March 20, 2001 (Cindy's 12th Birthday)
"Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead." Scottish Proverb Wednesday March 21, 2001 Autumn and I went to the new CCS Office for her therapy again today... I walked into the lobby at 0858, I stood at the reception window until 0903, watching the people in the office busily ignore me, I saw Myra through the little window in the door and walked in just like I used to do at the old place at Linda Verde School... Myra jumped up and said "I am going to have to ask you to go to the lobby, you can ask at the window for Janie." I said "I waited at the window for five minutes, there were five people in the office and no one said anything to me." There is no sign saying "See receptionist first", "Knock on window for assistance" , "Wait Patiently" or "Pound Sand" ...nothing. If they are going to change the procedure they need to let people know." When Janie came out I laid into her too... "I really enjoy bringing Autumn here, I like the loose, friendly, accessible, teamwork approach. I was lulled into forgetting that I was dealing with a bureaucracy, It is going to take me a while to adjust to the new impersonal, take-a-number, "Client - Provider" relationship." I get sarcastic when I'm pissed, but I think it was more of a feeling of disappointment... a sort of betrayal of an implied partnering relationship that I can see now was only an illusion on my part... I'll get over it, I am just making a mountain out of ...... a delusion. I went to McDonalds to kill time and was served an Egg Mc Muffin with the smallest egg I have ever seen, served on an uncooked muffin with un melted cheese and I was over charged $.83 to boot... thankfully the day improved as it progressed. (just a picture I took on our walk, click to see it full-size)
I was contacted by two more cousins, one in Ohio and another down the street (76 miles) in Torrance... that's a good thing... The kids were banshees tonight and I had a real hard time concentrating... it is getting late... I have written this and five e-mails, I just noticed that the e-mail server is in trouble again. I can receive mail but I can't send it... I get a "Server unavailable" error... I guess the day really didn't improve much... nothing major just irritating... sometimes I feel like I am being slowly eroded by perpetual irritants... like being sanded to death... I feel like I could go on whining and bitching all night but I am beginning to depress myself... I will do my damnedest to perk up by tomorrow. Thursday March 22, 2001 My ISP managed to fix the e-mail server by about 0900... Christy is teaching today, Christian and I did our walk down the tracks again... I wish Barbie Bush's little boy would do something I can agree with... so far he is really irritating me.... That old economic axiom of "What's good for 'Big Business' is good for the country" is back in force with a vengeance. The rich get richer and... nothing else matters. The Tax Relief Bill being touted by GW and his cronies is apparently a shoe-in... I hope not. If he would expend his limited energies ensuring the money he has is wisely spent then we would be in good shape, if he would crack down on the usurious rates being charged to people by credit card companies and other unscrupulous lenders then he will do us some good, the $700 to $1700 dollars in taxes that I will not have to pay in a years time will mean virtually nothing to me and change my situation not one whit. Lowering interest rates would... providing an incentive for California to reduce the Sales tax would... dropping the federal tax on gasoline would... spending some money fixing roads and bridges and the rest of the crumbling infrastructure would... all this "tax relief" thing will do is provide us with some news clips of Republicans patting each other on the back and some rhetoric about what a wonderful job they are doing for the "little guy". When in reality the "real" constituents are the owners of the businesses that paid to get them elected...have filled their pockets then maybe some change will trickle down to us, if there is anything left. GW has banned Stem Cell research (about the only hope for people with spinal cord injuries), he has banned support to any international family planning organization that provides abortion, he wants to drill for oil in the Tundra even though the projected results would have negligible impact on the oil supply, his cronies will make billions in government financed drilling however, plans to veto the Patient’s Rights Bill, Veto the Workplace Safety Bill (Ergonomics) (it would cost =his friends too much to comply) He has ended the American Bar Association's traditional role in helping the White House screen prospective nominees to the Supreme Court and other federal courts. By expelling Russian Diplomats he is engaging in some sort of tit-for-tat escalation in the tensions between the United States and Russia, He bombed Beirut for no
apparent reason… Perhaps he will stop badmouthing the economy when the DOW is down to 5000...what next... it appears that he won’t be happy till everything that has been accomplished in the past 8 years has been repealed, disbanded or destroyed... George Bush is systematically destroying every regulation that was put in place to ensure that the environment and the working public is protected from people like him and his cronies and their plans to make more money... Oh, and since Bush won the election my portfolio has dropped 82k.... and if I go back to when he won the Republican Nomination… 120k. It does not bode well for the future... I don’t think he is completely to blame, people who listen to that tap-dancing Texas weasel deserve what they get. Greenspan had held the market up with artificial inducements that didn’t reflect reality, just like the Dot Com stocks were in the stratosphere with nothing tangible to keep them there, so was the stock market… the greedy, impulsive and ignorant investors are taking a bath and hopefully they will not be able to afford to get back in. I have no choice but to ride it out… I am living off my portfolio I have good stocks and Bonds, I have lost a lot of value but I am still in pretty good shape…
If I have to go back to work, I’ll be pissed though… if I lose everything… I’ll save enough to buy some ammunition to go hunting down in West Texas. Inside every older person is a younger person -- Friday March 23, 2001
I will be taking Cindy and at least one of her friends bowling and out to a late lunch at Sizzlers... I wish I could say I was looking forward to it but I'm not... Cindy is not my problem, I am my problem... I want to give her and her friends a good time... I wish I could explain the trepidation I feel. It's a sort of a resignation to failure... I went for my walk again today... I think I managed to go every day this week, I went back and looked... missed Monday... so far I have lost exactly 0 pounds... I talked to Sister Sue today... she still thinks I am misguided politically, she is a smart girl and she professes to know stuff so she's probably right... I just can't believe that sacrificing the future for the here and now is viable, I just think the Republicans are behaving like they have the inside track on the first round of a do or die Pyramid Scheme Saturday March 24, 2001
The other day the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the law that permits hospitals to do blood tests on pregnant women and report the results to the authorities if drugs are present. South Carolina was apparently turning the results over to the police and the mothers were promptly being arrested... stupid... The Supreme Court was apparently given no choice because that is a clear invasion of privacy. The law (as I understand it) here in California states that any one who gives birth to a child who shows traces of Cocaine, Heroin or any other illegal substance in their blood stream, has their baby taken into protective custody until the parent(s) complete a drug rehab program and take Parenting Classes to show that they are competent to raise their child. They are not arrested... I went to Yahoo and looked at what the people were saying in the comment section... scary... they are supporting the decision as though it is some sort of anti-abortion decision... crazy, I only saw one that mentioned that this may possibly have a negative impact on the children... To my mind, no one in their right mind is Pro-Abortion… that is a term applied to Pro-Choice by the Pro-No-Choice People… They also call themselves Pro Life implying that anyone who disagrees with them is Pro-Death… Actually, I believe in Adoption, but I also believe that a woman has the right to choose, if she chooses abortion I sure as hell don't want her forced to raise a child... in LA there are about 63,000 children as wards of the state (That's Los Angeles, not California... Los Angeles) at least 30,000 are adoptable about 7000 will be adopted, about 1500 of those will be adopted by members of their own family (aunt's-uncles-grandparents)... when are the Pro-No-Choice preachers going to give themselves some credibility and climb down off their pulpits and step up to the plate...?(to mix a half dozen metaphors) The sanctimonious pinheads in South Carolina abused a good law and now all the children will have to pay... The Supreme Court has literally thrown the baby out with the bathwater... the lawyers and politicians that made the decisions that caused the misery to come won't loose a moment's sleep... Sunday March 25, 2001I am psyching up to take Cindy, Calie, Monica and two of Cindy's friends from school to the bowling alley and Sizzler's...this whole excursion has escalated beyond reason, Cindy has built it up to be the high point of her young life and I have no idea what she has told her friends... I wanted to take Cindy and the kids bowling to celebrate her birthday, I called the alley and they said that they can't reserve lanes on the weekends, this would be no problem because with just my kids I could leave and go to "FunLand" or something but now I have at least one parent meeting me at the bowling alley that I have to explain the situation to... Christy is at church and will meet me there with Autumn...after bowling we are going to go to Sizzler's... I will update this when I get back.
I dislike being placed in a situation where I feel responsible for others having a good time... yes... even little kids. I would rather have my eyelashes plucked out by a spastic chimpanzee than go through this again... I was a nervous wreck, my hands are still shaking... Mike called as I was taking the girls home, I picked him up at Jesse's, he hadn't had his medicine... he is a Loony Toon without it... He was bouncing around the house till 22:30... Lumpy too. Mike needs his medicine, he acts like a 3 year-old without it.
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