Oooohhh...it's SNOWING SO MUCH!!!

Hey folks!

The snow is really coming down tonight. I will have to make a snap decision in the morning on whether to make the trek to the ole part-time job. We'll see on that. On another note, Republicans are mean-spirited and selfish. That's all I'm going to say. For now.


So, here we go. Let's look at the next question here and see what's up. Where the hell did I put the book? Here it is...okay.


Oh boy. I see the word "dignity" in the question, which immediately leads me to believe this question is going to be a drag. Well I would have to say that, yes, I do believe that dignity is only lost when it is surrendered. My question to you is, is dignity something that you have to count on others to recognize? I never hear people say they are proud of their own dignity, you know what I'm saying? But in my mind, dignity equals integrity. Whew. Too heavy of a subject!


So now the book asks for specific examples of people that come to mind who have not compromised their dignity, or surrended it, when under attack. The first person who comes to my mind is President Obama. Back when he was the presidential candidate, there were so many times that people came at him, and even more now as president, and I feel that he has not compromised his dignity by sinking to the levels of those who attack, not to his face of course, but through the media or talking heads whose only job really is to criticize.


Another person would of course be Martin Luther King, Jr. and one of my personal favorites, Eleanor Roosevelt, and all those who have fought for and continue to fight for civil rights, women's rights, human rights, gay rights, and equal rights for all...

In trying to think of someone I know personally, well...people in my life personally are not people that I think of as having their scruples attacked by others, mostly because I try to surround myself with those who have no scruples. Hee hee. Hell, I don't know. I feel the people I know personally stand up for their beliefs but as far as when I'm around them, I don't see them being attacked, ridiculed or assaulted based on those beliefs. As far as for myself, well that's easy - I have no dignity. Maintaining dignity can be uncomfortable and really really hard. I am more about keeping peace and just trying to make people comfortable, maybe get some cheap laughs. So I usually bite my tongue to keep myself or anyone else from feeling uncomfortable. On the other hand, I am trying to educate myself on topics of interest because without the knowledge to back myself up, I certainly won't speak up. I learned that speaking without the information needed means I am relying on emotion to get me through what could become a heated discussion, and emotion is not enough to carry one through... keep that in mind, people. It's true what they say - knowledge is power!

I just wish my brain wouldn't be like a spaghetti strainer and that the knowledge I take in wouldn't be like those stray noodles that slip through the little holes and down the drain. Sometimes it's just not retrievable at the moment I need it, so what good is that? Should I go back and find the person I was having a discussion with the next day and say, "So, remember when you said what you said about such and such? Well...what I meant to say about that was..." That is just idiotic.


I, like so many others, learn most of what I know from The Daily Show, and I love the Rachel Maddow Show on msnbc. She is liberal, but she is very smart and doesn't just go looking for reasons to dog Republicans (not that it's hard to find them). She offers REAL information, not just made up hateful spewing of rhetoric that is so easily found elsewhere. So I highly recommend watching that show too.


Well I am rambling now. I still have an hour and 45 minutes left of work, and frankly my brain is not wrapping around my work responsibilities right now! I guess I should get back to it though.


Oh - the latest drama regarding "Le Lemon" Mercedes - no drama. The guy at the garage says, "It'll be okay to check it tomorrow." Oh. OK. They are good there. He didn't even have to look at it. "But sir, don't you know, it's 'Le Lemon'?" It is famous! And he said he could replace the headlight that's out too. Poyfict. So tomorrow then...if I am not snowed in, which would be wonderful because I have ice cream and white cheddar cheese popcorn in my house.


Time to get back to work, so we'll meet back here again...you guessed it - TOMORROW! Here's to getting snowed in...

Nighty night.

Jan 5 - is it February yet?

So apparently some big snow is coming our way...and of course guess what happened today? I am driving home from the part-time job in "Le Lemon" Mercedes and all of a sudden it feels like I'm not in gear and...HELLO!!! My "check engine" light comes on...holy crap. Really, car? I thought we had established a friendship after the initial rough start to our relationship. Dammit. So I am sputtering along, turn onto a side street, pull into a parking lot and just turn it off. Then when I turn it back on it sounds and feels normal...whatever that means...and so I proceed to head on home. Of course the "check engine" light was on the whole way, so I will have to take it in and have it looked over...please 2010, be kind to me and don't let it be something that costs a lot. PLEASE!!! So, positive thoughts...positive thoughts...ohhhhhmmmm.

Now, on to today's question...do I feel that I live my life to the fullest and if not what can I do to change that? Well of course I don't feel that I live my life to the fullest. That would involve some form of effort I think. For example, while driving home today with my "check engine" light on, I sure didn't want to miss my nap. I mean, let's think about this for a moment - what does living life to the fullest really involve? If I love naps and I got to take a nap, then I guess I am living my life to the fullest. Who determines what a full life consists of? If I'm not out saving lives or squeezing selfless activities into every waking moment, does that mean I'm not living my life to the fullest?

Well, I am finished for the night. My sinuses are acting up like crazy and I have to take "Le Lemon" in to have it checked out first thing when I wake up, so I am calling it a night. I may explore this particular topic more again later, but for now it has the potential to depress me so I am choosing to ignore it if you don't mind. Please send me any of your thoughts regarding whether you are living your life to the fullest, and if you understand exactly what that means. Could I be doing more? Of course I could...but not right now because it's bedtime.

Sayonara!
Shermie

Jan 4 - where does the time go?

Holy cow...already January 4. So far not much has changed in the new year, but I guess 4 days does not a lifetime make. So things will pick up. Definitely once this friggin' cold snap passes, although I do love the cold! I believe my retirement years will be spent up in Michigan somewhere, preferably with a good view of a lake and a nice fireplace. And a leopard pattern Snuggie.

So, here we go with the next question/post topic. Ummm...let me get my handy dandy book and read what's next. This should let you know I don't give much pre-thought to what I am going to say since I haven't even opened the book yet today. Right now Mabel is ripping and tearing again throughout the apartment, doing the cartoon-cat thing where she spins here wheels and does the Starsky and Hutch slide, starting in one direction and ending up at a 180 degree turn facing the opposite direction. She is SO cool!!! Taz is being intimidating to my super-dramatic baby Oscar (he's 12 and a mama's boy all the way around). He's been with me through a lot of stuff - moving all over the country, falling off balconies and out 2nd story windows (him, not me), and a couple of breakups with boyfriends (me, not him)...what a pal. He's pretty cool too. I'll talk more about him some other time.

Now, on to the topic. It says something about not following through even though I thought I was very capable of doing whatever that might have been. Hmm. By the way, I am doing question #10 today since I skipped it and apparently went right to #20 yesterday. I guess this is going to turn into just a random guessing game!

So, yeah, sure...in high school I wanted to try out for the hockey cheerleading squad. I had zero self-confidence though, so I was a complete chicken. Of course in 6th grade I thought I could play clarinet and then they were going to put me back with the 5th graders because I apparently sucked at the clarinet, so that knocked me down a notch when I couldn't really afford to be knocked down even half-a-notch. So I quit that. I really only wanted to play in the band so I could get out of the last part of class on certain days anyway, so there. But I thought I was pretty decent and found out that was not the case. The high school hockey cheerleading thing was different though. I practiced a lot even though I didn't really know what I was doing. I wasn't a slim girl, but come on, it's HOCKEY! It's cold...even a cheerleader should have some meat on her bones to keep her warm under the bulky sweater! But I never made it that far because I basically talked myself out of it before it ever really got going. It's not a major decision that I regret every day of my life, but it could've changed the course of my life. I might have developed my self-confidence a little earlier, or I might not have made it and it could've turned me into a bitter person before my 20s, let alone my 30s.

Speaking of high school, I didn't really ever fit in where I went to school. That's a long story though, one I am saving for my "book" that hopefully will be finished some time this year. Anywho, one thing I remember is a girl who befriended me when I really needed it. She was a bit of an odd duck, and by that I mean that when I think back and remember her, I could swear she was at least 25 or 30 years old. I know she was totally into The Rocky Horror Picture Show and went every weekend when they used to show it at the Tivoli at midnight or whatever. One day she brought to school with her an anatomically correct Franken Furter (sp?) doll, which I thought was a little weird, but I respected her passion for the stuff. She was very tall - probably 6 feet tall, had long blonde hair and acne, and sort of a deep voice. I can't think of her name right now, but she was cool to know.

So this is what journaling is you guys - you start out talking about something you maybe didn't have the courage to do but know you had the capabilities, and you end up thinking about an obscure person in your life who obviously was more important to you than you realized. The mind is a cool and freaky maze of memories from the past, ideas for the future, and hopefully you have the presence of mind to appreciate what's happening in the moment.

Well I guess that's the scoop for today! Be sure to share any of your thoughts, memories, plans or just present day appreciations with me - I would love to hear from you!

Take it easy all - we'll chat more tomorrow!

oops...

Missed day 2. I was so tired - sorry about that! That pesky work sure gets in the way of my blogging, which I love doing much more but unfortunately it doesn't pay, well, anything. So work must come first for now!

So I am reading through this book and I realize if I follow the journal suggestions in order from 1-300, it would suck because clumps of the questions are basically about the same topic. So I am going to go 1, 10, 20 to 300, then back to 2, 11, 21, etc. It's already getting more complicated than I care to put the effort into, but who cares if we change the rules down the road, right?

So day 2 (we're still calling it day 2 even though I didn't have the mental energy to blog yesterday), we are covering the topic of being unfairly criticized. I am going to go out on a limb and say that this has really never happened to me. If it has I have blocked it out of my memory and even though these journal sparks are probably supposed to jog things like this out of memory, this didn't do it, so I am going on the premise that it just really never has happened. Now if, by say day 10 of this new blog style, I remember something, then I will definitely refer back to this day and say, "You know? What the hell - I was criticized for blah blah blah? Not fair!" I may just be in too happy of a place at the moment to remember things that made me unhappy. I should say though that I have probably actually criticized myself unfairly more than anyone else ever has. But I think most people do that...of course the ones who don't are the frustrating people for the rest of us! Everybody knows someone like that - they think they are fine and the rest of us are bumbling fools or jerks. Hmmm...actually I can think of several people I know.
Are these journal entries supposed to be cleansing? I might have to re-think this crap.

In the meantime, I have the same New Years Resolution as every year - to get myself in financial harmony and to get back in shape. It never happens but if I keep spending and eating the way I have been the past week or so (by so I mean year) , then I shouldn't be surprised. So we'll see. And I'll leave it at that. I have to leave it at that because my friend is coming over and we are going to the Rams game today. Somehow the company tickets made their way down the food chain to...me. Well me and another lady who is bringing her husband. We just split them up, 2 and 2. I think it'll be fun - the seats are about 20 rows behind the Rams bench, so maybe the fun part won't be watching the game, but rather the shenanigans that take place along the sidelines! Maybe a cheerleader will fall down or something...that would make me guffaw with delight.

So I should be back on track for tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing you here too...now Mabel, my cat, apparently just took her morning dose of kitty crack and is ripping and tearing all over the apartment chasing a plastic milk ring! Oh to be so easily entertained...but wait, I am that easily entertained! Life is good people, life is good.

Take it easy!