Saw 'Em Off

(To all my longhorn friends...please don't be mad at me!)

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4919688.html

What the heck, man? So for 10 years now people have been walking around with t-shirts that have the "Saw 'Em Off" logo printed on them. It's part of A&M's fight song for crying out loud. "Saw Varsity's horns off!" We've gone all this time and no one had a complaint. Then, 10 days after the A&M/UT game back in November, some longhorn jack ass decides to sue the sellers of these shirts. What, the shirts just now started bothering him? Was it because the Aggies beat the Longhorns for the first time in FOREVER? Give me a break. And adding a tuft of hair and nostrils so changes the image, doesn't it? Uh, no, it doesn't. You can't stop people from wearing the shirts, so what's the point of the lawsuit? Ten years of Aggies own these shirts. And now that this t-sip has cried over it, I'm sure all those Aggies will wear that "Saw 'Em Off" t-shirt proudly and more often. What was he thinking?

And what's up with the UT dingus saying they want to make sure the "Saw 'Em Off" logo isn't confused with the UT longhorn logo? If you can't tell a difference between the two, then you have problems far beyond logos. It's quite obvious that in A&M's logo the horns are facing down and detached; in UT's logo the horns are facing up and connected. My goodness people.

The Aggies and Longhorns have been rivals since the beginning of time. Well, maybe not that long...but a long freaking time. Are you going to make us change our fight song now? Deal with it, man. It's a freaking logo. WHOOP!

Life Isn't Always What It Seems

This week my family was faced with a tragedy. My cousin, Brooks, took his own life. When I first heard the news I was confused on how I should feel. Then I became angry. I was angry that he could leave his 4 kids without a father. His son would never play catch with his father. His daughters would not have their father to give them away. I was unsure if I wanted to go to the funeral. I decided to go for my mother.

Not going to the funeral would have been something I most certainly would have regretted. I was able to understand what happened and why. I always thought people who took their own lives were selfish and hadn't stopped to consider their families or friends. Brooks had. All the pieces of the puzzle were floating around me but I couldn't put them where they belonged. Then, Brooks' mother said, "He thought his family would be better off without him." When I heard that statement, all the pieces came together and I understood. I came to realize that his actions were not in any way selfish.

It was heart breaking to watch his 3 year old son smiling and playing around the grave site, too young to understand. It was heart breaking to look into the faces of his 3 daughters and wonder what pain they must be feeling. I pray they all know that their father loved them so much and did everything in his power to take care of them. I pray that some day all 4 of them will grow to understand what happened to their father.

I love ya, Brooksie! I'll never forget that smile!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho

Yeah, so a pirate song doesn't really fit for a fishing trip, but it was fun to sing anyway. I enjoyed it! Well, the first family trip in Ryan's new boat was exciting! I thought I was going to die; minus that part, it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera available to take a picture of Laura's BIG fish...but, she did catch the biggest fish of all. Who needs to walk aroud in neck deep water to catch a big fish when you can catch The Big One from the boat? Sad thing there's no proof. I'll try harder next time, Laura!

I think there was a total of 46 fish, plus or minus a few. Luckily us girls don't know how to filet. Man, that sucks! And the guys always smell so nice.

Thanks, Bro, for a great weekend!

My Biological Progenitor's Wife

I don't like my step-mother. She bugs me. It doesn't matter what
I do or what I say, I am always wrong. I always say I'm not going to let her get to me, but in the end, she always gets to me. And my father doesn't help matters. He's always pushing her on me. I don't need another mother. I have a perfectly great one that loves me for ME.

My biological progenitor's wife has said some pretty nasty things to me which have included, "you don't love your father". Apparently because I haven't spent every Christmas with them for the past 14 years, I don't love my father. What a load of crap. There's history there that she wasn't around for and if she only knew the crap I dealt with, she'd think twice before she opened her oversized mouth.

I sent an email today asking both my biological progenitor and his wife if they would be around Sunday afternoon for Father's Day as I would like to take my biological progenitor out for dinner. Unfortunately, the wife got the email first and felt the need to call. That's never good. I hate talking to her. I want to poke my eyes out when I have to talk to her. She informs me that HER neices are going to be visiting this weekend and she's not sure what THEIR plans are for Sunday. I'm sorry, since when are her neices my biological progenitor's daughters? Oh, that's right...they're not!

So, it's confirmed...I can't win. I don't do and it's wrong. I do do (he, he) and it's wrong. Why do I even bother? Seriously? There's a reason she was brought into my life, but I can't figure out what it is. What I really wanna do is just forget it. Forget about spending time with my father on Father's Day. I mean, either way I get the same response. Why put out the effort?

Opinions

We've all heard the saying, "opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one." And this is true. When someone asks for your opinion do you expect them to agree? Or do you expect them to consider your opinion when making decisions? Let's say they do consider your opinion but choose to agree with another opinion. Do you fault that person or get angry? Do you say, "why did they even bother to ask me?"

I would like to think that I fall into the category of expecting consideration of my opinion but don't get angry when another opinion is chosen over mine. I don't always agree with other's opinions. I will certainly consider information I have been given though.

Your boss comes to you and asks your opinion. Your boss also asks other co-workers their opinions. The ultimate decision is based on several co-worker's decisions and not your own. This is A-OKAY in the normal world, right? So why do I have to listen to people bitch about "why did he even ask me if he wasn't going to agree?" Is this an ego thing? Why can't certain people, just for a second, come to realize they are not the only people in the world with opinions? You have an asshole. I have an asshole. We ALL have assholes!! It's not that hard to understand!

Praying...

...is what I will be doing come September when I FINALLY start my teacher certification program. Woo-hoo!! Apparently I have chosen the one and only university that begins each class with a prayer...Le Tourneau. Hopefully the place won't burn down when I step foot in the building. I have been taking crap classes since January 2006 to bring up my GPA. Seems I played around too much the first time I went to school...but, damn it was fun! (I'm not sure "damn" and "praying" should be in the same paragraph!) I'm paying for it now though. While I did in fact graduate, it was pretty darn close there at the end. My grades were so bad I couldn't get into any teaching certification program. But, that is all in the past now, cause I have brought up my GPA and have been accepted to a program. Now all I have to do is make all As in the teaching cert program so that I will be able to get into a graduate program. Let's hope I don't have to go to t.u.! That would be pretty unAggie of me!!

Stupid Interview For a Stupid Job....Stupid!

So, I had applied for a job a while back, with the state of course, and was called in for an interview. Before the interview I wasn't really concerned about getting the position. I could take it or leave it. But, after the interview I decided I really wanted the position and felt I would be really good at it. My cubemate, at my present job, also applied and was called in for an interview. I neglected to tell her I had also been called in for an interview...for whatever reason, I felt bad. She had no idea what the position was. She had simply applied because of the location of the building. I was able to explain to her what the position was without giving away that I also had an interview. Ya see, with the position there are two main parts. One part has to do with nursing and the other part has to do with auditing mental retardation facilities, which is what I did before my present job. (Maybe I should stop changing jobs so much!) So, I had one part of the position nailed, while my cubemate had neither.

Well, my cubemate got the position. I am really so happy for her but am a little upset with how this system works. Did I completely bomb the interview? Is it because I'm only 29 years old? I have sat back now, for a week and listened to my cubemate TRY to explain to people what her new position is...and she can't, really. I know exactly what it is. I knew exactly what it was when I applied.

In the "real world", before working for the state, I never had any problem finding and getting a job. And while I am lucky I have a job right now, what's the deal with state jobs? I have been on so many interviews and I always get, "we really enjoyed meeting you and we think you'd be great in the position, but we've chosen someone else with a little more experience." And I only get that when they are actually courteous enough to call with the bad news. Then I always find out that the person they hired is 20 years older than me. What I really want to ask is, "WTF, Chuck?" Does age equal experience?

Conversing in the Bathroom

Is it weird that it grosses me out when people talk to me in the bathroom? I have met more people, at work, in the bathroom than I have outside of the bathroom. I don't mean to be rude, but I don't want to carry on a conversation with someone while standing in the bathroom. I especially don't want to shake your hand. I'm a washer, but that doesn't mean everyone else is. I have been known to run, literally run, out of the bathroom before stall doors open so I don't have to make eye contact with someone. This is weird, right? I don't have a problem with standing outside the bathroom door and talking to someone. I don't mind if you follow me from the bathroom and come talk to me in my cubicle. Just, please, don't talk to me in the bathroom. What's wrong with me?

Limits

How many times do you have to hear someone complain about the same thing before it becomes unacceptable? Is hearing it twice the limit? Or maybe six times? How about hearing the same thing fifty-one times? That's got to be the limit, right? Everyone complains, hence this post. Everyone, at some point, says things before thinking about other people's situations. And, everyone, at some point, feels their problems are worse than everyone else's. But when do things become ridiculous?

Two people have the same issue but on different levels. One at a low level of "awfulness" and the other on a higher (it could always be worse) level of "awfulness". However, the higher level person has accepted the problem. The lower level person constantly complains about the problem to the higher level person. At what point does the higher level person say "shut it!"? Is it acceptable to tolerate the complaining to the point of being angry? Or would most people reach the breaking point before getting angry? Is complaining about the complaining accetable? (So many questions!) What would you do?

I guess at some point I will have to say "shut it!" and accept the consequences. Some people will play dirty and fail to consider the possibility that they may actually be going overboard. Some people fail to consider "that it can always be worse!"

Here Goes Nothin'

Okay, so I've decided to jump on the blog bus. I have loads of free time at work that I need to fill and thought I would experiment. I've never been a journal writer or one to randomly share my thoughts, but there's a first time for everything, right? Now, it may take me forever to figure out how all of this stuff works, so if anyone has any suggestions to help me get started, please feel free to share. I will probably need all the help I can get, but as I said before, I have lots of time to fill, so I'm up for trying pretty much anything. I may crash and burn, but at least I'm giving it a shot! So, here goes nothin'!!