Thursday, November 27, 2008

National Gluttony Day

Today is called "Thanksgiving", but in my experience, people aren't usually thankful for anything on this day. This is the day that most people who are able shovel as much food into their mouths as possible. This is yet one more day that people should be ashamed of themselves.

Once upon a time I worked in a grocery store. I remember the day before Thanksgiving was one of the busiest days of the year. I also remember people spending hundreds of dollars on the food for one meal. I think the record was one lady who spent $800. Can you believe that shit? People buying and preparing so much food and most of it ends up getting thrown out from going bad in the fridge at a later date.

Later today I will be going to my mother's home to celebrate this day. We don't eat the traditional turkey meal. Our tradition is to prepare food from different cultures. Two years ago we did Middle Eastern food, last year my step father insisted on a stupid turkey and it was a flop, this year we are preparing Indian food. We will have tika masala served over jasmine rice, saag paneer, and naan with mint chutney. For desert we will be having white pumpkin pudding with saffron.

This meal for four people would have cost less than $100. I must admit I felt smug about it. Then my mother started freaking out in the grocery store about the fact that she thought we didn't have enough food. She started going on and on about how we needed appetizers; that we needed to have food to graze on all day because that is what is traditional!! I practically screamed at her in the store, "That's an American custom mother!! Gluttony is not a tradition to be proud of!!"

Needless to say, this turned a lot of heads our way. People actually glared at me. Not at my mother for wanting to succumb to the stupid tradition. So, in a huff, I marched off and bought her some more food. Appetizers. Things to fill her up before meal time. Things to make her feel safe in a worthless, shameful tradition. Today I am truly thankful for being capable of having enough food to feed a family of four in another part of the world for more than a week, but I am ashamed that we will try to eat it all in one day. Sigh ...

Friday, November 14, 2008

Park This, Bitch!

So, I get into my car the other day to head to work. It's still dark when I leave home these days, what with the stupid time change and all. I come home from work, once again in the dark. This goes on for a few days. Then, I decide I need to go out to lunch. You know, actually leave the office to go somewhere ... away. When I approach my car I notice a nice, huge-ass dent in the driver side door!!

Now, I'm not talking about a small door ding. Nope!! It's a big frickin' dent! This pisses me off for three reasons:

1) What the fuck is wrong with people that they don't leave a damn note when they fuck up your car? It's obvious their car also incurred some damage ... I'm sure they'll file a claim and say it happened when they weren't around. Either that or they don't have insurance.

2) When and where the hell did this happen?? My awake in the daylight hours are all spent in a damn building!! All my free time during the week occurs IN THE DARK!!!

3) Why am I so upset? It's just a damn car! It still works fine and I feel like a shallow bitch for giving a damn about having a dent in my door when some people don't even know where their next meal is coming from!! Meanwhile ... here I sit feeling upset about a stupid dent in my car door.

So, these are the thoughts that are monopolizing my time right now. Sigh ...

Monday, November 10, 2008

Where The Hell Have I Been!?!?!

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I have been a bad, bad blogger. I don't have any real excuse. Don't get me wrong, I've got excuses ... just not any good ones. I would make promises that it'll never, ever happen again, but I did that last time, and then I went off and did this 12 week(ish) hiatus. So, let's just say that I've been on hiatus. Yeah, that's it!!

The time I stopped writing is right around the time I began my new job. You remember, my new "real" job. Let's just say that it's just as soul sucking as the one I had over a year ago ... you know, the one I left because it was draining my soul. The one that drove me to go off and get a job that paid less, but didn't demand I check my values at the door. That meant that money was tight around the ol' household. We made due for almost a year, then I realized I needed to make more money or we'd be flat assed broke. So, now we aren't so broke anymore ... but having one's soul sucked out on a daily basis is exhausting as hell. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the sensation.

So, my latest trend of things to whine about has been about how different from me the people at my "real" job are. I used to go to work every single day with people who were donning facades of happiness. Those who love to shit all over the "little people" of the world. Those who strive to make a lot of money so that they can buy lots of material things for no other reason than to be able to say, "Look at what I have!!" Yeah, I used to do it every single day, and I only thought I was different than they. Now, however, after having taken a year long break and working a low paying job with "real" people, I really am a different person.

EXAMPLE: I've been car pooling with someone at my new job and one afternoon, on the way to drop her off, I had to swing by my mother's place so I could drop something off. My mother lives in an older apartment building that is mostly senior citizens. It's not run down. There aren't drug dealers in the parking lot. It's just an older brick apartment building. When I pulled up to the place, my colleague asked, "Is it safe here?"

What!?!?! Just because she doesn't live in a brand-spanking-new condo does not mean that it's not safe. Just because it's very ... "urban" ... does not mean it's not safe. Just because it doesn't fit very well into some shallow assed mind's idea of how a senior citizen should be living, does not mean shit. It taks all types of people, living all types of life styles to make up this world in which we live!!

Okay, that's only one story of about a billion that have happened since I last wrote. I've got to run to take the dogs to a vet appointment, so I have to end this now. I just had to take a few minutes to stop neglecting my blog. I will try to be more attentive to it. That is something I can promise ... to try!