We finished up painting the neighbor's house last week. It was good to be done with that, and I don't think I want to paint another house any time soon.
Today the mum-in-law and I went up to Limestone County, Texas where her family is from to do some research. Some of her ancestors were here when Texas was a Republic. We went to the county clerk's office and looked through probate records. We wound up with more questions than we answered.
We went to Big Hill. That's where her ancestors lived, but there's not really anything there any more. She wasn't sure where the houses had been, as she'd been a little kid when she was out there last.
Then we went to Fort Parker Cemetary and got chased around by a swarm of mosquitoes. We went to Mexia to get some deet and then went back to the cemetry. The deet worked for about twenty minutes, long enough to find all the graves we were looking for, and then the mosquitoes got bold so we got the heck outta there.
The drive was long, but we want to go back again... supposedly, there's a deep dark family secret that caused two previous researchers to stop doing genealogy. I'm not sure which side of the family it was on though, so maybe it's not the side we're researching. All I know, is I don't care about pretenses, and want to know everything.
I know why I like history and genealogy so much. Because it allows the dead to speak.
* Life * Food * Money * Travel * Fun *
Monday, June 30, 2014
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Outrage vs. Faux-rage
I've decided that we have a new concept, given birth to by the internet: Faux-rage. What is faux-rage you ask? Faux-rage is outrage without direction, purpose, and sometimes without a firm grounding in reality. For examples of this, see the comment section of almost any news article.
Back in the 60s, when people were protesting the Vietnam war (while my father was risking his life there in the Marine Corps, right or wrong or indifferent, the way the people who went there were treated when they returned home, was horrid, but I digress), one couldn't just sit in their house and protest. You actually had to go outside and risk getting injured or arrested or even killed.
Nowadays however, the youth get to "protest" from the safety and comfort of their own mother's basement. And there's plenty of things to protest too. Lots and lots of things that are unjust. Mind you, they don't cause injustice to any particular person, but rather injustice to amorphous ideas or entities. You see, the real injustices are ignored because they're difficult, if not impossible, to deal with and actually opposing them could get you in trouble, or dead as the case may be. I mean, dealing with actual homeless people or trying to help victims of human trafficking isn't the safest thing to be doing. It's so much safer to sit at your computer and have faux-rage over the name of a football team or what some celebrity tweeted on twitter.
Stop it with the faux-rage. It's asinine and ridiculous and makes you look like an idiot to anyone with half a brain. If you really care, and really want to help people, then get off the computer and go do that. Otherwise, shut up. As my brother was fond of saying, "put your money where your mouth is."
Back in the 60s, when people were protesting the Vietnam war (while my father was risking his life there in the Marine Corps, right or wrong or indifferent, the way the people who went there were treated when they returned home, was horrid, but I digress), one couldn't just sit in their house and protest. You actually had to go outside and risk getting injured or arrested or even killed.
Nowadays however, the youth get to "protest" from the safety and comfort of their own mother's basement. And there's plenty of things to protest too. Lots and lots of things that are unjust. Mind you, they don't cause injustice to any particular person, but rather injustice to amorphous ideas or entities. You see, the real injustices are ignored because they're difficult, if not impossible, to deal with and actually opposing them could get you in trouble, or dead as the case may be. I mean, dealing with actual homeless people or trying to help victims of human trafficking isn't the safest thing to be doing. It's so much safer to sit at your computer and have faux-rage over the name of a football team or what some celebrity tweeted on twitter.
Stop it with the faux-rage. It's asinine and ridiculous and makes you look like an idiot to anyone with half a brain. If you really care, and really want to help people, then get off the computer and go do that. Otherwise, shut up. As my brother was fond of saying, "put your money where your mouth is."
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
What it means to be an artist
Today I helped change the pump on my sister/brother-in-law's aerobic septic tank. (The sister-in-law was calling it Pump Day instead of Hump Day. Get it? LOL Don't boo me!) I volunteered to do this so I'd know how it's done. Why? Because when you're an artist, you don't make a lot of money, and add to that our debt from school, and you have a recipe for really not having any money. Sure, we're paying our debt off as fast as we can, but we might need to know how to do something like change a pump on an aerobic septic system one day. It wasn't too hard, just a little dirty and there was a slight learning curve and it was hot as blazes. If we do it again, I'm sure it would go faster. Before doing it, I was joking about starting a business changing pumps, after, I wished I had gone to school to be an oil and gas engineer, so I'd just have to fork over the money for someone else to do it.
My husband and I are also painting our neighbors house. I think I mentioned that before. It's taking way long than we imagined, but we'd never painted a house before. I think we should have it done in a few weeks. We need the money, and basically, freelance is just that. Unpredictable and unreliable. And lately I've had a good bit, but that could change at any moment. Which is why if you want to be an artist, you should NEVER go into debt to do it. Not for any reason, no matter what anyone tells you to the contrary. No. Matter. What.
In our over-sensitive whiny PC world, stereotypes are usually unacceptable, but whether you like it or not, stereotypes are often stereotypes for a reason. And in this case, there's a reason why starving artist is one of them.You want to be an artist? Plan on waiting tables, changing aerobic septic pumps and painting houses while you're at it. I've actually never waited tables. I'm too much of a klutz, I'm sure I'd spill stuff all over the diners.
Anyway, I haven't written in a while because finals were pretty busy, I went to visit family in North Carolina on May 20th and the Friday before that fell and hurt myself pretty badly. I had the worst bruise I'd ever seen on my lower stomach. I was grateful though that I didn't break anything or hit my head or knock my teeth out. The plane ride was amazingly horrible on the way, but the TSA was very nice. Maybe I'll try to write a little more often now that I'm feeling better. I hurt like hell for over a week. Did you know that you can dent dog food cans with your chest and not break a rib? LOL
My husband and I are also painting our neighbors house. I think I mentioned that before. It's taking way long than we imagined, but we'd never painted a house before. I think we should have it done in a few weeks. We need the money, and basically, freelance is just that. Unpredictable and unreliable. And lately I've had a good bit, but that could change at any moment. Which is why if you want to be an artist, you should NEVER go into debt to do it. Not for any reason, no matter what anyone tells you to the contrary. No. Matter. What.
In our over-sensitive whiny PC world, stereotypes are usually unacceptable, but whether you like it or not, stereotypes are often stereotypes for a reason. And in this case, there's a reason why starving artist is one of them.You want to be an artist? Plan on waiting tables, changing aerobic septic pumps and painting houses while you're at it. I've actually never waited tables. I'm too much of a klutz, I'm sure I'd spill stuff all over the diners.
Anyway, I haven't written in a while because finals were pretty busy, I went to visit family in North Carolina on May 20th and the Friday before that fell and hurt myself pretty badly. I had the worst bruise I'd ever seen on my lower stomach. I was grateful though that I didn't break anything or hit my head or knock my teeth out. The plane ride was amazingly horrible on the way, but the TSA was very nice. Maybe I'll try to write a little more often now that I'm feeling better. I hurt like hell for over a week. Did you know that you can dent dog food cans with your chest and not break a rib? LOL
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Debt (of any kind) is Slavery
I'm originally from North Carolina, and so I had no idea what Juneteenth was. I'd never heard of it. It's pretty big in Texas. For those of you who don't know, Juneteenth, is derived from June 19th, and that was the day the Emancipation Proclamation was read to the slaves in Galveston, Texas, informing them that they were free.
It is one of those great coincidences that June 19th is the day that I decided that we were going to get out of debt. I didn't even realize the connection until some time later, but that is the day that I compiled for the first time a list of our debts. When we graduated from college I knew we had a lot of debt, and I had a rough idea of how much, but not an exact amount. I was actually afraid to add it all up. On June 19th last year, when I added up all of our debts, and saw the huge number on the screen in front of me, I cried. I knew it was bad, but seeing the number, and making it therefore real, hit me like a ton of bricks.
Now, we're not quite one year out and we have paid off our car and two of our small student loans. Small student loans that I once told my mother-in-law that I would just keep paying on because there was no way we could ever pay it all off. Now, I'm looking at having everything paid off in two years. There's more than one type of slavery. There is the obvious physical slavery, but there is another kind of slavery, one that is possibly worse than the physical kind, and that is slavery of the mind. If you believe that you will never get ahead, that the deck is stacked against you, that there's no use in trying, then you might as well consider yourself a slave. In that case, you are a slave to your mind.
Yes, we may have limitations. Maybe the deck is stacked against us. Maybe we have to work within the framework of what we've been given, but to just give up? To accept that there are no possibilities? That's not an acceptable option. Not to me anyway. And maybe that's why I am where I am.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything." -Marty McFly, Back to the Future (my favorite movie of all time)
It is one of those great coincidences that June 19th is the day that I decided that we were going to get out of debt. I didn't even realize the connection until some time later, but that is the day that I compiled for the first time a list of our debts. When we graduated from college I knew we had a lot of debt, and I had a rough idea of how much, but not an exact amount. I was actually afraid to add it all up. On June 19th last year, when I added up all of our debts, and saw the huge number on the screen in front of me, I cried. I knew it was bad, but seeing the number, and making it therefore real, hit me like a ton of bricks.
Now, we're not quite one year out and we have paid off our car and two of our small student loans. Small student loans that I once told my mother-in-law that I would just keep paying on because there was no way we could ever pay it all off. Now, I'm looking at having everything paid off in two years. There's more than one type of slavery. There is the obvious physical slavery, but there is another kind of slavery, one that is possibly worse than the physical kind, and that is slavery of the mind. If you believe that you will never get ahead, that the deck is stacked against you, that there's no use in trying, then you might as well consider yourself a slave. In that case, you are a slave to your mind.
Yes, we may have limitations. Maybe the deck is stacked against us. Maybe we have to work within the framework of what we've been given, but to just give up? To accept that there are no possibilities? That's not an acceptable option. Not to me anyway. And maybe that's why I am where I am.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything." -Marty McFly, Back to the Future (my favorite movie of all time)
Thursday, May 1, 2014
I take back what I said...
I said that painting a house couldn't be too hard. Famous last words. I don't think I had any idea what I was getting myself into. We started painting the porch yesterday, and I thought we could finish the whole thing before the end of the day, well, we got close but not finished. And that was only one porch. There are three. Our neighbor's son is going to paint the very high part of the eaves for me, and I didn't argue with them because, while I'm not afraid of heights, being sixteen feet up on a ladder isn't my idea of fun. Anyway, I think they offered to do that because we spent a week caulking everything really well, and so what they're paying us didn't consider all the caulking that needed to be done. At any rate, I'm about whooped after yesterday, I went to bed at 9pm and slept until 8am. On the bright side, I'd rather paint a house than work for a certain big-box-retailer-that-will-not-be-named. I'm not really sure that painting pays all that much better when you consider the hours put in, but I get to be outside.
Mamas, don't let your children grow up to be artists. Or at least not artists with massive amounts of student loans. It's not a good idea. It's easy to be an artist when you don't have Sallie Mae sleeping in your guest bedroom. We're working on kicking her out of our lives, it's just taking so long.
A flashback...
"This night will pass just like all the others." That's what I used to tell myself when I worked at a grocery store in high school. I really needed to grow a backbone then, and ought to have told those jerk faces to go to hell. They paid me minimum wage for two years, and I'm not entirely sure why I put up with them. The first two days on the job should have been a huge red flag. My drawer was short those first two days, and so I told my mother about it, wondering what I had done wrong with counting change. She asked me if I'd counted my drawer beforehand, and I'd said no. She said, 'you should always count your drawer before you start your shift.' The third day I demanded that it be counted before starting. It came up short by a lot.
Also, it's not like I liked working for them. I could have gotten a different job somewhere else that probably paid more, but I didn't. And looking back, I have no idea why. All that time wasted with assholes. The moral of this story? If you're not happy with things, then change them. Life is too short to be unhappy.
Mamas, don't let your children grow up to be artists. Or at least not artists with massive amounts of student loans. It's not a good idea. It's easy to be an artist when you don't have Sallie Mae sleeping in your guest bedroom. We're working on kicking her out of our lives, it's just taking so long.
A flashback...
"This night will pass just like all the others." That's what I used to tell myself when I worked at a grocery store in high school. I really needed to grow a backbone then, and ought to have told those jerk faces to go to hell. They paid me minimum wage for two years, and I'm not entirely sure why I put up with them. The first two days on the job should have been a huge red flag. My drawer was short those first two days, and so I told my mother about it, wondering what I had done wrong with counting change. She asked me if I'd counted my drawer beforehand, and I'd said no. She said, 'you should always count your drawer before you start your shift.' The third day I demanded that it be counted before starting. It came up short by a lot.
Also, it's not like I liked working for them. I could have gotten a different job somewhere else that probably paid more, but I didn't. And looking back, I have no idea why. All that time wasted with assholes. The moral of this story? If you're not happy with things, then change them. Life is too short to be unhappy.
Monday, April 21, 2014
House painters
I have a new respect for people who paint houses. It's only 9:14pm and I'm just about whooped. Maybe I'll manage to write a post about what we've been up to at some point soon. I'm going to bed now.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Oh noes, it's teh XP-ocalypse
I have spent far more money this month than I would have liked, but I suppose it was inevitable.
I went down to Altex on Tuesday and special ordered a new computer. I had saved up some for it since late last year, but not quite enough to cover the actual cost. I have extra right now though, so it's not a problem. I guess it was wishful thinking that I could get a computer for the amount I had saved that would nicely run the software I use. Anyway, it cost less than the one I'm on right now, which is almost six years old, and the manager knocked some off the price because I had a quote for something similar from Dell. They came in $200 under what Dell was pitching. I hope it lasts as long as this one. I also decided since there's really nothing wrong with the computer I'm on, except that the OS is no longer going to be supported, and it is 32-bit and Autodesk, in their infinite wisdom, er, I mean them being in bed with Microsoft (I told that to some students and they giggled, and then I laughed at them because it was funny) not creating 32 bit versions of their software, despite all that, that I would like to keep using it, maybe as a render farm. I'm not sure how to set that up, but I might can figure it out.
At any rate, I have no space on this little rickety computer desk that I'm currently using. It came from the Wal-Mart about seven or so years ago, and is really a waste of space. The shape makes it so that you can't really put anything but a monitor on it, and it takes up a lot of floor space nevertheless. Right now, my tower is on top of my short bookcase, because you seriously cannot fit a tower on this computer table. So, I got to thinking I'd like some raw furniture that I could stain myself that might be sturdy enough to put two towers and a monitor on, but the stuff is like $300. I had the brilliant idea of looking on Craigslist yesterday, and lo and behold, I found a desk for $80 that was real wood that came from the store I was looking at. I went over and took a look at it after class this evening, and it looks great. And they knocked $5 off the price because the lower shelf was a little loose, and the guy said I'd need to reinforce it. They were very nice. This is actually the first time I've ever bought anything off Craigslist, and I gotta say, if I need furniture I should look there first. Anyway, it fit in the back of my Mazda Tribute, and so I have it out there now. Maybe I can get it set up tomorrow. I don't know when Altex will have my computer ready, but I'm looking forward to it now. When I realized that I really needed to just go ahead and get a new one, I was kinda sad about it. But maybe the VPN won't jack up my IP address when I log off of it on Windows 8.1, and maybe explorer won't randomly decide not to load when logging in.
Now, no more spending. Next up is hopefully writing a nice check to hubby's student loan servicer.
I went down to Altex on Tuesday and special ordered a new computer. I had saved up some for it since late last year, but not quite enough to cover the actual cost. I have extra right now though, so it's not a problem. I guess it was wishful thinking that I could get a computer for the amount I had saved that would nicely run the software I use. Anyway, it cost less than the one I'm on right now, which is almost six years old, and the manager knocked some off the price because I had a quote for something similar from Dell. They came in $200 under what Dell was pitching. I hope it lasts as long as this one. I also decided since there's really nothing wrong with the computer I'm on, except that the OS is no longer going to be supported, and it is 32-bit and Autodesk, in their infinite wisdom, er, I mean them being in bed with Microsoft (I told that to some students and they giggled, and then I laughed at them because it was funny) not creating 32 bit versions of their software, despite all that, that I would like to keep using it, maybe as a render farm. I'm not sure how to set that up, but I might can figure it out.
At any rate, I have no space on this little rickety computer desk that I'm currently using. It came from the Wal-Mart about seven or so years ago, and is really a waste of space. The shape makes it so that you can't really put anything but a monitor on it, and it takes up a lot of floor space nevertheless. Right now, my tower is on top of my short bookcase, because you seriously cannot fit a tower on this computer table. So, I got to thinking I'd like some raw furniture that I could stain myself that might be sturdy enough to put two towers and a monitor on, but the stuff is like $300. I had the brilliant idea of looking on Craigslist yesterday, and lo and behold, I found a desk for $80 that was real wood that came from the store I was looking at. I went over and took a look at it after class this evening, and it looks great. And they knocked $5 off the price because the lower shelf was a little loose, and the guy said I'd need to reinforce it. They were very nice. This is actually the first time I've ever bought anything off Craigslist, and I gotta say, if I need furniture I should look there first. Anyway, it fit in the back of my Mazda Tribute, and so I have it out there now. Maybe I can get it set up tomorrow. I don't know when Altex will have my computer ready, but I'm looking forward to it now. When I realized that I really needed to just go ahead and get a new one, I was kinda sad about it. But maybe the VPN won't jack up my IP address when I log off of it on Windows 8.1, and maybe explorer won't randomly decide not to load when logging in.
Now, no more spending. Next up is hopefully writing a nice check to hubby's student loan servicer.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Debt is good... o rly?
I had meant to write about this the other night, but wound up ranting about something else instead. As I was leaving the classroom on Thursday evening, some students and I were talking about student loans, and I said that I wanted mine paid off, and that I never wanted any more debt ever again, not even a mortgage.
One of the students, who is not my student by the way, but one who had stopped by with friends who were my former students, said to me something to the effect, "Well, having debt is good because it makes your credit better, so that then the bank will give you a loan that you can maybe pay back eventually."
That caused me to blink a couple of times, and I couldn't address what they had said because we were half way out the door, but I wanted to say, 'do you hear what just came out of your mouth?' People, people, people. You've been sold a bill of goods. Quit buying crap you can't afford with money you don't have so that you wind up giving all of your disposable income to the bank in the form of interest payments! I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Add up what you're paying in interest on your debt, and put that into an IRA calculator with a 8% return over forty years (the market has averaged 12%, but we can be conservative on the matter). Don't try to cry too much. It will just make your allergies worse.
One of the students, who is not my student by the way, but one who had stopped by with friends who were my former students, said to me something to the effect, "Well, having debt is good because it makes your credit better, so that then the bank will give you a loan that you can maybe pay back eventually."
That caused me to blink a couple of times, and I couldn't address what they had said because we were half way out the door, but I wanted to say, 'do you hear what just came out of your mouth?' People, people, people. You've been sold a bill of goods. Quit buying crap you can't afford with money you don't have so that you wind up giving all of your disposable income to the bank in the form of interest payments! I've said it before, but I'll say it again. Add up what you're paying in interest on your debt, and put that into an IRA calculator with a 8% return over forty years (the market has averaged 12%, but we can be conservative on the matter). Don't try to cry too much. It will just make your allergies worse.
Saturday, April 5, 2014
The Illusion of Security
Yesterday I went down to my hunting spot at the creek and swapped the card in the game camera. I like the camera I bought, it's a Wildgame Innovations Lightsout camera. I got it in January and have had it out for three months on the same set of AA batteries. The last trail cam I had was crap and ate through D batteries like they were going out of style or something. Anyway, the pictures are very nice, and I had a lot of deer coming through and a couple of racoons, a squirrel, and a pig too. I need to go down there and clear some more branches out of my way before it gets too hot to do anything outside.
Today I had a little bit of a meltdown. I've had a good amount of work lately, I'm an artist, but it's all contract work, and I guess I'd really like to have something a little more permanent. But maybe that's just an illusion, permanence I mean. Sure, someone can say a job is permanent, but as anyone who has read anything of history knows, nothing is really and truly permanent.
I think that the goal of paying off our loans over the last few months made a little distraction for me. I'm fairly goal-oriented, and so while I was working toward paying off the car and the two small student loans we had, my mind was preoccupied on that. However, now that that's all done, and we have two very big loans left that are going to take at least a couple years to pay off, and since we got hit with a huge tax bill this April, it feels like progress has stopped and now my brain has reverted to trying to figure out something else to do with my life. I don't know what that something else is. All I know is that, as much as I love it, a career in animation is unstable and unpredictable, and that the old fall back of teaching for a living is gone forever as a career. Colleges and universities have no intention of hiring permanent faculty of any sort, and are using primarily adjuncts to teach their classes. It saves them an enormous amount of money not to have to pay out things like health insurance, holiday pay, sick pay, pensions, etc. ad infinitum. Truly, with the easy availability of student loan monies to flow into their coffers, they are really focused on quantity rather than quality. The more students they can get in the door, the more money they make. This isn't an indictment of any particular school, but rather of the system itself. This system is in danger of degrading the quality and recognition of our higher eduction degrees. As more and more public money becomes tied up in higher eduction (even in private colleges and universities) the more likely it is that we will see "standards" implemented as we have in our public high schools. And we all know how well that's worked out for us as a society /snark.
I keep thinking that maybe I'd like to start my own studio, but I don't even know where to begin on that one. I'm not sure that I could run a business. My dad has great business sense, but I've never had a chance to try running anything, so who knows how that would go? I'm also over spending money on more schooling. I've already spent more than what many people pay for a house on my BFA. You may ask me if it were worth it, and I'm gonna have to ask that I get back to you on that one, because I think it's too soon to tell even though I've been out of school for eight years. Really, what people should be after when getting a degree of any sort, is whether said degree gives them an ROI or not. Otherwise, why bother? I mean, unless of course you have a trust fund or something, then by all means, waste all the money you want. For the rest of us poor plebes, the results of spending our hard earned money ought to be measured by whether it was financially worth it or not. And let's face it, some degrees aren't worth the paper they are written on.
Security is an illusion. It is marketed and sold to us in multiple forms, from the benign idea that getting a degree gives you some kind of job security (which is a lie), to the more devious sort, that if you give up your freedom, the government will ensure your safety (an even bigger lie).
Today I had a little bit of a meltdown. I've had a good amount of work lately, I'm an artist, but it's all contract work, and I guess I'd really like to have something a little more permanent. But maybe that's just an illusion, permanence I mean. Sure, someone can say a job is permanent, but as anyone who has read anything of history knows, nothing is really and truly permanent.
I think that the goal of paying off our loans over the last few months made a little distraction for me. I'm fairly goal-oriented, and so while I was working toward paying off the car and the two small student loans we had, my mind was preoccupied on that. However, now that that's all done, and we have two very big loans left that are going to take at least a couple years to pay off, and since we got hit with a huge tax bill this April, it feels like progress has stopped and now my brain has reverted to trying to figure out something else to do with my life. I don't know what that something else is. All I know is that, as much as I love it, a career in animation is unstable and unpredictable, and that the old fall back of teaching for a living is gone forever as a career. Colleges and universities have no intention of hiring permanent faculty of any sort, and are using primarily adjuncts to teach their classes. It saves them an enormous amount of money not to have to pay out things like health insurance, holiday pay, sick pay, pensions, etc. ad infinitum. Truly, with the easy availability of student loan monies to flow into their coffers, they are really focused on quantity rather than quality. The more students they can get in the door, the more money they make. This isn't an indictment of any particular school, but rather of the system itself. This system is in danger of degrading the quality and recognition of our higher eduction degrees. As more and more public money becomes tied up in higher eduction (even in private colleges and universities) the more likely it is that we will see "standards" implemented as we have in our public high schools. And we all know how well that's worked out for us as a society /snark.
I keep thinking that maybe I'd like to start my own studio, but I don't even know where to begin on that one. I'm not sure that I could run a business. My dad has great business sense, but I've never had a chance to try running anything, so who knows how that would go? I'm also over spending money on more schooling. I've already spent more than what many people pay for a house on my BFA. You may ask me if it were worth it, and I'm gonna have to ask that I get back to you on that one, because I think it's too soon to tell even though I've been out of school for eight years. Really, what people should be after when getting a degree of any sort, is whether said degree gives them an ROI or not. Otherwise, why bother? I mean, unless of course you have a trust fund or something, then by all means, waste all the money you want. For the rest of us poor plebes, the results of spending our hard earned money ought to be measured by whether it was financially worth it or not. And let's face it, some degrees aren't worth the paper they are written on.
Security is an illusion. It is marketed and sold to us in multiple forms, from the benign idea that getting a degree gives you some kind of job security (which is a lie), to the more devious sort, that if you give up your freedom, the government will ensure your safety (an even bigger lie).
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Painful things: Dropping jars on toes and paying taxes
This morning while trying to get raw coffee out of the pantry, a jar fell out and landed right on my big toe. I have a huge bruise now, and it hurt like a sonofabitch. The average person may ask, why do you have raw coffee? That's because we roast our own coffee. And if you ever tasted some of our coffee, you'd understand why. The coffee you buy in the store is stale and burnt. We don't have some expensive machine to do it for us either. We roast it in a ceramic coated cast iron pot on the stove. It takes about fifteen minutes to roast enough for a couple of days for four adults. So my toe is sore :(
Today is laundry day too. We have an old wringer washer, and the mum-in-law and husband are doing laundry. I was going to help them, but I dropped the jar on my toe, so I am sitting here instead. I did roast coffee, while sitting on a stool. I don't think my toe is broken, but it's not going to be pleasant the next time I have to put on shoes to go to school on Tuesday. If you ever do laundry in a wringer washer, you'll realize just how crappy these modern appliances are. We have a modern washer, that's not even a couple of years old, that takes an hour to do one load and then doesn't rinse clothing worth a damn. They can do all of our laundry in the wringer washer in an hour, many many loads. It would take two days for that new crap of a washer to do that many. As for the water, I'm sure it's trying to save water or some such nonsense, except for the fact that you have to run five rinse cycles to get the clothes to not have lines of dirt in them from it not putting enough water on them in the first place. It's fucking stupid. The low flow toilets are the same way. In an attempt to save water, I wind up having to flush the thing multiple times because it's not enough water. Some do-gooding idiot attempts to save the environment without thinking things through. That's society in a nutshell right now for you. The quality of our lives have been degraded by a bunch of mid-level bureaucrats.
Speaking of which, I was looking at tiny houses last night. Supposedly those things are supposed to help you save money, except of course, of the ones I looked at the price was quite a bit more than what you can get a normal house built for. $500 a square foot is a bit on the luxury end if you ask me, but again, what do I know? I'm just an artist. I mean, you can get a regular trailer house built for that much. I can't imagine that the materials would be even half that.
I would like to have a little cabin, off the grid, out in the middle of fuck-off nowhere, and be completely off the grid. Not have to go buy food, or pay for electricity or water, but instead have solar panels and a good well, and raise my own food, and not have any debt so I didn't owe anyone anything. Now wouldn't that be nice? Too bad you couldn't tell the IRS to bugger off as well.
Today is laundry day too. We have an old wringer washer, and the mum-in-law and husband are doing laundry. I was going to help them, but I dropped the jar on my toe, so I am sitting here instead. I did roast coffee, while sitting on a stool. I don't think my toe is broken, but it's not going to be pleasant the next time I have to put on shoes to go to school on Tuesday. If you ever do laundry in a wringer washer, you'll realize just how crappy these modern appliances are. We have a modern washer, that's not even a couple of years old, that takes an hour to do one load and then doesn't rinse clothing worth a damn. They can do all of our laundry in the wringer washer in an hour, many many loads. It would take two days for that new crap of a washer to do that many. As for the water, I'm sure it's trying to save water or some such nonsense, except for the fact that you have to run five rinse cycles to get the clothes to not have lines of dirt in them from it not putting enough water on them in the first place. It's fucking stupid. The low flow toilets are the same way. In an attempt to save water, I wind up having to flush the thing multiple times because it's not enough water. Some do-gooding idiot attempts to save the environment without thinking things through. That's society in a nutshell right now for you. The quality of our lives have been degraded by a bunch of mid-level bureaucrats.
Speaking of which, I was looking at tiny houses last night. Supposedly those things are supposed to help you save money, except of course, of the ones I looked at the price was quite a bit more than what you can get a normal house built for. $500 a square foot is a bit on the luxury end if you ask me, but again, what do I know? I'm just an artist. I mean, you can get a regular trailer house built for that much. I can't imagine that the materials would be even half that.
I would like to have a little cabin, off the grid, out in the middle of fuck-off nowhere, and be completely off the grid. Not have to go buy food, or pay for electricity or water, but instead have solar panels and a good well, and raise my own food, and not have any debt so I didn't owe anyone anything. Now wouldn't that be nice? Too bad you couldn't tell the IRS to bugger off as well.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
The Strategy of Silencing those with whom you disagree
In the early Renaissance, with the invention of the printing press, making print much cheaper and easier to produce, the Catholic church, recognizing that it was easier to spread heresy by written word than by word of mouth in a time when travel was quite difficult and time consuming, came up with the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, known in modern times as the "Index of Forbidden Books." Books that made the list were destroyed by fire if found, sometimes along with the people who owned them (unless of course said people had money or friends to bribe their way out of it).
This post is not intended to be a history lesson, but rather to compare the tyranny of the medieval-minded authorities to the tyranny of modern neo-liberalism. When I was younger my dad used to go on about how all of the "Politically Correct" speech was just getting so out-of-hand, and how he could foresee a time when it might be absolutely ridiculous. Well, folks, we have arrived there. When twitter erupted with the proverbial pitchforks and torches in a cry to throw Steven Colbert out of the studio over a tweet he made, you know that society has gone too far. Look, of course there is polite conversation and not-so-polite conversation and then of course down-right-rude conversation, but whether you like it or not (and I'm of the opinion that a lot actually don't like it) we have something called freedom of speech in this country. You're supposed to be able to say whatever you like (crying fire in a crowded theater, when there is not a fire, notwithstanding), and not have to fear for losing your livelihood. But that's exactly where we've come to. Plenty of times in the last ten or fifteen years, people have said stuff that wasn't that bad in my opinion (but what do I know? I'm just an artist) who had their lives destroyed, their incomes vanish, their jobs taken away from them, because a bunch of stupid people couldn't, or wouldn't, go on about their lives without being upset over someone saying something that "offended" them. I didn't necessarily agree with what was said in those other cases, but I didn't get upset over it. But now we've all got to be righteously offended, and if we're not then we must be the bad guy (see: racist, sexist, fill-in-the-blank-ist). And when I say righteously offended, I don't mean offended over any real injustice. I just mean over fake, inconsequential, bullshit words on the page or screen. It isn't real people. Whether it's a joke, a book, a blog post, a game, a comic, or whatever, it in no way affects you unless you decide to look at it. In the meanwhile...
If you want to be offended over something, be offended that even though we live in the 21st century, that approximately thirty million people live in slavery and many more are victims of human trafficking. That fact alone kinda makes your "outrage" over Colbert, and even your "outrage" of the name of a football team pale in comparison. There's plenty of other things to be outraged about as well, and I won't deign to pretend that I could list them all here, from transgendered youth being beaten up and bullied, to people losing their jobs because of real racism (which has nothing to do with the name of a football team or what Colbert said). But what Colbert tweeted, isn't even at the bottom of the list. It ain't even on the list. Why not get off your computer if you're so outraged and go do something to help an actual person, instead of typing stupid crap on twitter? There are food banks that need volunteers, and elderly people who need help doing chores around their house, and the list goes on and on. I suppose it's easier to target inane things on the internet rather than risk your safety, or take up your actual valuable time (time that could be wasted on twitter!) doing something that might actually make the difference in someone's life. Am I minimizing your angst? Why, yes, yes I am. Because I think it's ridiculous. These little spoiled spoon-fed twenty-somethings that think they know something, going on about all of the things they see as injustice, when they haven't grown old enough to realize that the world doesn't really care what they think.
Also, I'd like to use this topic to inform you that I have come to the conclusion that the more times that the word 'privilege' is used in any manner than the traditional sense of the word, the probability that the writer is themselves a privileged jackwaggon (in the traditional sense of the word), approaches one. You can call that T's Law. Hope you're not outraged. If you are, I don't give a rip.
By the way, it was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining, we had a lovely dinner, and I have worked nearly forty hours this week. I'm serious, be thankful for what you have and get off the computer and go outside and play. What people write on twitter, is a tempest in a teacup.
This post is not intended to be a history lesson, but rather to compare the tyranny of the medieval-minded authorities to the tyranny of modern neo-liberalism. When I was younger my dad used to go on about how all of the "Politically Correct" speech was just getting so out-of-hand, and how he could foresee a time when it might be absolutely ridiculous. Well, folks, we have arrived there. When twitter erupted with the proverbial pitchforks and torches in a cry to throw Steven Colbert out of the studio over a tweet he made, you know that society has gone too far. Look, of course there is polite conversation and not-so-polite conversation and then of course down-right-rude conversation, but whether you like it or not (and I'm of the opinion that a lot actually don't like it) we have something called freedom of speech in this country. You're supposed to be able to say whatever you like (crying fire in a crowded theater, when there is not a fire, notwithstanding), and not have to fear for losing your livelihood. But that's exactly where we've come to. Plenty of times in the last ten or fifteen years, people have said stuff that wasn't that bad in my opinion (but what do I know? I'm just an artist) who had their lives destroyed, their incomes vanish, their jobs taken away from them, because a bunch of stupid people couldn't, or wouldn't, go on about their lives without being upset over someone saying something that "offended" them. I didn't necessarily agree with what was said in those other cases, but I didn't get upset over it. But now we've all got to be righteously offended, and if we're not then we must be the bad guy (see: racist, sexist, fill-in-the-blank-ist). And when I say righteously offended, I don't mean offended over any real injustice. I just mean over fake, inconsequential, bullshit words on the page or screen. It isn't real people. Whether it's a joke, a book, a blog post, a game, a comic, or whatever, it in no way affects you unless you decide to look at it. In the meanwhile...
If you want to be offended over something, be offended that even though we live in the 21st century, that approximately thirty million people live in slavery and many more are victims of human trafficking. That fact alone kinda makes your "outrage" over Colbert, and even your "outrage" of the name of a football team pale in comparison. There's plenty of other things to be outraged about as well, and I won't deign to pretend that I could list them all here, from transgendered youth being beaten up and bullied, to people losing their jobs because of real racism (which has nothing to do with the name of a football team or what Colbert said). But what Colbert tweeted, isn't even at the bottom of the list. It ain't even on the list. Why not get off your computer if you're so outraged and go do something to help an actual person, instead of typing stupid crap on twitter? There are food banks that need volunteers, and elderly people who need help doing chores around their house, and the list goes on and on. I suppose it's easier to target inane things on the internet rather than risk your safety, or take up your actual valuable time (time that could be wasted on twitter!) doing something that might actually make the difference in someone's life. Am I minimizing your angst? Why, yes, yes I am. Because I think it's ridiculous. These little spoiled spoon-fed twenty-somethings that think they know something, going on about all of the things they see as injustice, when they haven't grown old enough to realize that the world doesn't really care what they think.
Also, I'd like to use this topic to inform you that I have come to the conclusion that the more times that the word 'privilege' is used in any manner than the traditional sense of the word, the probability that the writer is themselves a privileged jackwaggon (in the traditional sense of the word), approaches one. You can call that T's Law. Hope you're not outraged. If you are, I don't give a rip.
By the way, it was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining, we had a lovely dinner, and I have worked nearly forty hours this week. I'm serious, be thankful for what you have and get off the computer and go outside and play. What people write on twitter, is a tempest in a teacup.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Busy, Distracted & Disgusted
So, I was supposed to try to write something here everyday but I didn't. This last week was busy, busy, busy. The in-laws made it back just fine. I'm glad they're back, their dogs were about to drive me crazy. They'd like to inform the world that buying a SIM card from Wind in Italy is a rip-off. In fact, I think that most of Italy is a black market of underworld shenanigans. Is that accurate? I don't know, I'm tired and not thinking all that clearly, but I do love Italy anyway. And why am I (mentally & emotionally) tired? Some of my students this semester are thick headed, you can explain something to them that the average person ought to understand at first glance and they look at me like I have three heads. You can demonstrate something and in three seconds they don't remember where I told them to click. Are they all on Statins or something? I bring that up because on the radio this evening on the way home, the news came on, and they were announcing how great it was that more Americans could be on Statins now, since they've lowered the threshold for acceptable cholesterol. Never mind that cholesterol is important for brain function and cell wall stability, or that statins are associated with muscle degeneration and transient global amnesia, and also with Alzheimers, but never mind that! We're going to save everyone from the dreaded heart disease, even if it means turning everyone in the country into stupid, sickly people. Ever seen the movie Idiocracy? Yeah, um, when I first saw that, I thought it was absurd, but now, now I'm not so sure that that isn't where we're going.
I'm tired, teaching wears me the hell out, especially when I have to repeat myself like a broken record because people are incapable of taking notes. Don't get me wrong, I like teaching. That is, I like teaching when I have students who look like they have half their act together and pretend to care. I saw the other day something about free college tuition for community colleges, where anyone and everyone can go for free. Yeah, then community college education can be as good as our free public high school education. I'll let you take that one to it's logical conclusion. Eventually, I figure that a college degree will be about as worthwhile as a high school one, because gosh darn-it don'tchya know everyone gets a trophy and everyone can do anything they want. Bull hockey sticks. Some people shouldn't be in college, it's not for them, and they're pushed into it anyway, and then they wind up tens or even a hundred thousand dollars in debt and not even a degree to show for it because they couldn't make it through the program. And if they do make it through the program, they find that they're not cut out for whatever it was they studied, because the real world doesn't give a flying fuck what piece of paper you have, if you can't take a shower, show up for work on time, and meet deadlines. And the little darlings, starting in grade school, are lied to, and told that if only they have a piece of paper everything will work out for them. Hard work, work ethic, and responsibility are not the words du jour.
I'm going to take a shower and go to bed before I tell you how I really feel.
I'm tired, teaching wears me the hell out, especially when I have to repeat myself like a broken record because people are incapable of taking notes. Don't get me wrong, I like teaching. That is, I like teaching when I have students who look like they have half their act together and pretend to care. I saw the other day something about free college tuition for community colleges, where anyone and everyone can go for free. Yeah, then community college education can be as good as our free public high school education. I'll let you take that one to it's logical conclusion. Eventually, I figure that a college degree will be about as worthwhile as a high school one, because gosh darn-it don'tchya know everyone gets a trophy and everyone can do anything they want. Bull hockey sticks. Some people shouldn't be in college, it's not for them, and they're pushed into it anyway, and then they wind up tens or even a hundred thousand dollars in debt and not even a degree to show for it because they couldn't make it through the program. And if they do make it through the program, they find that they're not cut out for whatever it was they studied, because the real world doesn't give a flying fuck what piece of paper you have, if you can't take a shower, show up for work on time, and meet deadlines. And the little darlings, starting in grade school, are lied to, and told that if only they have a piece of paper everything will work out for them. Hard work, work ethic, and responsibility are not the words du jour.
I'm going to take a shower and go to bed before I tell you how I really feel.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
When in Rome...
Maybe you don't want to do what the Romans do?
The in-laws spent the last three days in Rome. They're back in Venice now, and they said they didn't really care for Rome very much. I happen to like Rome personally, I thought for a big city, it wasn't that bad. That said, since it is a big city, I consider it a place to visit for a few days, but not to live in. I much prefer the countryside myself as a place to be most of the time.
They took a very early morning train from Venice and arrived fairly early in the day on Thursday. Apparently, the first thing they saw when they stepped out of Termini, was a woman who squatted down in the middle of the street, in the crosswalk between the side entrance of Termini and the McDonalds, and proceeded to pee(!) in the middle of the road. I've been a lot of places, I've never personally witnessed anything like that.
After that excitement, they went to the Colosseum and the Forum/Palatine Hill. They did like the hostel I told them to book a room at. The Alessandro Downtown is one of my favorite hostels. They booked a private room obviously, and said that the staff were lovely.
The second day they got up early to go to the Vatican, and the father-in-law got his pocket picked on the metro. Luckily all he lost was a small coin purse with about five euros in it. There were men on the metro who were pushing into them, and of course, they were thieves. When I travel, I don't let people touch me. If you're touching me, you need to back the flip off or I'm gonna stick my hiking boot up your arse! And I don't care how crowded the train is either. You can keep some space between us.
Eh, but when I travel, I look like a poor backpacker, so no one's bothered (that I know of anyway) to pick my pocket. If they had, they'd have not gotten anything.
Anyway, the mum-in-law enjoyed the Vatican. She said she loved the hall with all the animal sculpture and then she joked that when she becomes Pope she's going to live there, in the hall with the animal statues. I thought that was pretty funny. They walked back to the hostel from the Vatican, about a three mile walk, and I had written down for them how to get to all of the sites they ought to see, like the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps. I'm assuming their walk back to the hostel was uneventful, although the mum-in-law did mention that the Spanish steps were over-run with Carabinieri, which is a good thing. Gotta keep the criminal scammers in check, or you scare away all the tourists (something that Pisa could stand to learn from). I just did not feel safe walking around Pisa with all of the scamming men running around shoving fake goods in my face.
Today the in-laws went to Ostia Antica. It's a very nice place and they did enjoy it, although they said that a lot of the site was closed, possibly because of the weather, or winter. They saw all they could and spent the better part of the day there. They went back a little early and the hostel let them stay in the common area, which I told them was quite common with hostels, they often will let you make use of the common area on your day of arrival before check-in and on the day of departure after check-out, because quite a few backpackers like taking night trains to their next location.
They said the train was packed on the way back to Venice. Trenitalia had been offering 2 for 1 fares on Saturdays, so I suppose a lot of people were taking them up on that deal.
They come back on Tuesday evening and I'll be glad. We're watching their dogs while they are gone, and I gotta tell ya, their dogs are annoying little bastards. Especially the pug Auggie. The chihuahua Rosie isn't much better. I don't care for chihuahuas, never have. I prefer labs, because they are loving and sweet. Chihuahuas just want to eat your face off and yip annoyingly for no apparent reason. I've never met a chihuahua that wasn't neurotic.
The in-laws spent the last three days in Rome. They're back in Venice now, and they said they didn't really care for Rome very much. I happen to like Rome personally, I thought for a big city, it wasn't that bad. That said, since it is a big city, I consider it a place to visit for a few days, but not to live in. I much prefer the countryside myself as a place to be most of the time.
They took a very early morning train from Venice and arrived fairly early in the day on Thursday. Apparently, the first thing they saw when they stepped out of Termini, was a woman who squatted down in the middle of the street, in the crosswalk between the side entrance of Termini and the McDonalds, and proceeded to pee(!) in the middle of the road. I've been a lot of places, I've never personally witnessed anything like that.
After that excitement, they went to the Colosseum and the Forum/Palatine Hill. They did like the hostel I told them to book a room at. The Alessandro Downtown is one of my favorite hostels. They booked a private room obviously, and said that the staff were lovely.
The second day they got up early to go to the Vatican, and the father-in-law got his pocket picked on the metro. Luckily all he lost was a small coin purse with about five euros in it. There were men on the metro who were pushing into them, and of course, they were thieves. When I travel, I don't let people touch me. If you're touching me, you need to back the flip off or I'm gonna stick my hiking boot up your arse! And I don't care how crowded the train is either. You can keep some space between us.
Eh, but when I travel, I look like a poor backpacker, so no one's bothered (that I know of anyway) to pick my pocket. If they had, they'd have not gotten anything.
Anyway, the mum-in-law enjoyed the Vatican. She said she loved the hall with all the animal sculpture and then she joked that when she becomes Pope she's going to live there, in the hall with the animal statues. I thought that was pretty funny. They walked back to the hostel from the Vatican, about a three mile walk, and I had written down for them how to get to all of the sites they ought to see, like the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish steps. I'm assuming their walk back to the hostel was uneventful, although the mum-in-law did mention that the Spanish steps were over-run with Carabinieri, which is a good thing. Gotta keep the criminal scammers in check, or you scare away all the tourists (something that Pisa could stand to learn from). I just did not feel safe walking around Pisa with all of the scamming men running around shoving fake goods in my face.
Today the in-laws went to Ostia Antica. It's a very nice place and they did enjoy it, although they said that a lot of the site was closed, possibly because of the weather, or winter. They saw all they could and spent the better part of the day there. They went back a little early and the hostel let them stay in the common area, which I told them was quite common with hostels, they often will let you make use of the common area on your day of arrival before check-in and on the day of departure after check-out, because quite a few backpackers like taking night trains to their next location.
They said the train was packed on the way back to Venice. Trenitalia had been offering 2 for 1 fares on Saturdays, so I suppose a lot of people were taking them up on that deal.
They come back on Tuesday evening and I'll be glad. We're watching their dogs while they are gone, and I gotta tell ya, their dogs are annoying little bastards. Especially the pug Auggie. The chihuahua Rosie isn't much better. I don't care for chihuahuas, never have. I prefer labs, because they are loving and sweet. Chihuahuas just want to eat your face off and yip annoyingly for no apparent reason. I've never met a chihuahua that wasn't neurotic.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Offer for a Loan at 30% Interest
The other day I got a loan offer in the mail from some company called Springleaf (if it looks like a payday lender, and sounds like a payday lender...) They say I can borrow $5,250 at get this - an interest rate of 29.43 percent. I laughed, and laughed, and laughed. I'm still laughing like two days later. Who in their right mind would borrow money at that interest rate. Actually, if you're borrowing money at any interest rate you need your head examined, but nearly 30%?! LOL What do I look like? Stupid?
I thought about sending the thing back to them with something funny written on it, but that would cost me a stamp, and I don't think it's worth that. Speaking of profitable, this company would exist if people didn't borrow money from them. People, people, people, you're not broke because you don't earn enough money at your job. You're broke because you keep giving the banks, the payday lenders, the mortgage company, the car loan company, the credit card companies, the Dept. of Education servicer, the loan sharks, etc. ad infinitum, all of your disposable income, and then some! Just STOP IT!
Makes me think of this:
"The borrower is SLAVE to the lender," and this is not rendered obsolete by the Thirteenth Amendment. When you are in debt up to your eyeballs, the debt informs your life, your choices, your career opportunities. The debt is your master, literally, and you, it's slave.
I thought about sending the thing back to them with something funny written on it, but that would cost me a stamp, and I don't think it's worth that. Speaking of profitable, this company would exist if people didn't borrow money from them. People, people, people, you're not broke because you don't earn enough money at your job. You're broke because you keep giving the banks, the payday lenders, the mortgage company, the car loan company, the credit card companies, the Dept. of Education servicer, the loan sharks, etc. ad infinitum, all of your disposable income, and then some! Just STOP IT!
Makes me think of this:
Monday, March 10, 2014
Daylight savings time... ugh!
I hate it when they change the time. Even though it's only an hour, it throws me completely off. As if that wasn't enough, I had just gotten everything cleaned up from the dogs, fed them, and made breakfast when my sister-in-law called me to tell me that there was a break in the water line up at the pump house. So we were without water for most of the afternoon. Luckily, my brother-in-law knows how to fix a pipe, and he got to work on it and after a trip to the hardware store got it fixed up (in the rain no less). It hasn't rained much in forever, and it rains today. It never fails that every time the in-laws go to Venice, something goes wrong.
At breakfast I read an article in the paper about how terrible it is that poor people have to pay more for college than rich people. I call shenanigans. That and I wonder what people are thinking when they have no money and go to a private school to get a degree they could have gotten at a State school. I wouldn't know anything about that /snark. To be fair though, when I got my degree, one could not get a degree in animation just anywhere. The choices were limited. Now however, they are not. Plenty of public universities offer degrees in animation/3d imaging/etc. And it's sheer stupidity to go to a private school when you are poor, unless you are getting the majority of it paid for in aid/grants that don't have to be paid back. IT'S STUPID. And I should know.
I forgot to write here the last couple of days because I've had my nose stuck in ancestry.com. I probably shouldn't have, but it's Spring break, so I signed up for a month of access. I have an interest in genealogy and every once in a while take another stab at where I left off. The only problem is, the more you research, the more people wind up in your tree, and the more work it takes to get back another generation. It's all exponential after all.
I only had a little freelance today, and no school this week, so back to genealogy... maybe I should look at getting paid to research stuff LOL
At breakfast I read an article in the paper about how terrible it is that poor people have to pay more for college than rich people. I call shenanigans. That and I wonder what people are thinking when they have no money and go to a private school to get a degree they could have gotten at a State school. I wouldn't know anything about that /snark. To be fair though, when I got my degree, one could not get a degree in animation just anywhere. The choices were limited. Now however, they are not. Plenty of public universities offer degrees in animation/3d imaging/etc. And it's sheer stupidity to go to a private school when you are poor, unless you are getting the majority of it paid for in aid/grants that don't have to be paid back. IT'S STUPID. And I should know.
I forgot to write here the last couple of days because I've had my nose stuck in ancestry.com. I probably shouldn't have, but it's Spring break, so I signed up for a month of access. I have an interest in genealogy and every once in a while take another stab at where I left off. The only problem is, the more you research, the more people wind up in your tree, and the more work it takes to get back another generation. It's all exponential after all.
I only had a little freelance today, and no school this week, so back to genealogy... maybe I should look at getting paid to research stuff LOL
Friday, March 7, 2014
Cooking Day
Today I didn't have much freelance, and spring break is coming up and with the in-laws out of the country, I decided to do some cooking. We made what I call my 'pot of stuff'. It's an easy thing that started out years ago when one evening I didn't know what to make, and so I threw some stuff into a big pot. It so happened that it came out really tasty. The basics that you must have are onion, bell pepper and ground meat. The bell pepper is not optional ever. It's not the same without it. Everything else is negotiable. Here's what I put into my 'pot of stuff' tonight:
Basically, you fry up the onion and bell pepper in the bacon grease and when they are soft, you put the meat in. I also put spices on it, but I couldn't tell you how much because I never measure. I usually put garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and a little cayenne pepper. After the meat is cooked, I put the rest of the stuff in and let it simmer for a while.
I usually don't put corn in (don't usually eat grains), but it was in the cabinet and usually I put pinto beans in, but we didn't have any, and since the mum-in-law wasn't here, I put it in (she can't have any grains at all because she has Hashimotos). See, it's whatever you have on hand. It doesn't take any time to make really and you can walk away from it if you're busy. Just make sure the temperature isn't too high and cover it.
Then as if that wasn't enough, I decided while looking to see if we had any pinto beans, that I was tired of tripping over canned pumpkin. We have so much canned pumpkin in the cabinet that it's ridiculous. I don't know why we have it but it's been in there forever, so I decided I needed to make something that would use it. I'm allergic to dairy and soy, so I can't make your typical pumpkin pie or bread. I looked around online at what generally goes in pumpkin bread and looked through some cookbooks here, and came up with the following recipe:
The bread came out a little moist, but the hubby approves. I think it tastes very good. Next time I might try putting just a little more coconut flour in so that it might hold together a little better. At any rate, I'm completely stuffed now.
"Pot of Stuff"
a few tablespoons of bacon grease
1 onion - chopped
2 green bell peppers - chopped
2 lbs. venison (yes I hunt)
1 lb. wild pork
2 cans of black-eyed peas
1 can of Rotel (or chopped tomatoes)
1 can of green chilis
1 can of corn
2 potatoes
Basically, you fry up the onion and bell pepper in the bacon grease and when they are soft, you put the meat in. I also put spices on it, but I couldn't tell you how much because I never measure. I usually put garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and a little cayenne pepper. After the meat is cooked, I put the rest of the stuff in and let it simmer for a while.
I usually don't put corn in (don't usually eat grains), but it was in the cabinet and usually I put pinto beans in, but we didn't have any, and since the mum-in-law wasn't here, I put it in (she can't have any grains at all because she has Hashimotos). See, it's whatever you have on hand. It doesn't take any time to make really and you can walk away from it if you're busy. Just make sure the temperature isn't too high and cover it.
Then as if that wasn't enough, I decided while looking to see if we had any pinto beans, that I was tired of tripping over canned pumpkin. We have so much canned pumpkin in the cabinet that it's ridiculous. I don't know why we have it but it's been in there forever, so I decided I needed to make something that would use it. I'm allergic to dairy and soy, so I can't make your typical pumpkin pie or bread. I looked around online at what generally goes in pumpkin bread and looked through some cookbooks here, and came up with the following recipe:
Dairy-free Pumpkin Bread
Bowl 1:
1 1/2 c. almond flour
1/2 c. coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp all spice
Bowl 2:
2 large eggs
1/2 c. non-hydrogenated pure lard (melted)
1 15 oz can pumpkin
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp molasses
1 c. splenda
2 packets stevia
1 c. chopped pecans or walnuts
Grease a 9" bread pan with lard.
Whisk Bowl 1 ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Whisk Bowl 2 ingredients together in a second medium sized bowl. Whisk until smooth.
Fold Bowl 1 into Bowl 2. Cut in pecans/walnuts.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Let cool on wire rack after.
The bread came out a little moist, but the hubby approves. I think it tastes very good. Next time I might try putting just a little more coconut flour in so that it might hold together a little better. At any rate, I'm completely stuffed now.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
It's the Debt, Stupid
I'm a big Dave Ramsey fan. Thanks to Dave, over the last year we have paid off our car and two of our small student loans. We still have two bigger loans that are going to take a while to pay off. Since I have a long drive to the college where I teach, I listen to Dave on the radio on the way there.
Something today clicked in my head while I was listening to his show. I'd known all of the facts for quite a while, but my brain hadn't put it together until now. Do you know why we are losing the middle class in this country? It's not the government, it's not that CEOs are making too much money, it's not a conspiracy theory (welllll...), it's not what the talking heads are telling you, it's not what you think. We are losing the middle class in this country because of debt. The middle class is up to their eyeballs in it. And when you're in debt, where is all your money going? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out! The American middle class has blamed the banks for the housing bust and Wall Street for a crappy economy. It's kinda like blaming the Grand Canyon for being a big hole in the ground. You're missing the real culprit. The Grand Canyon is a huge hole in the ground because the Colorado River running through it made it that way, much the same way that the middle class is becoming impoverished, being worn away, because of their embracing of debt.
Debt is not a tool. Paying hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands a year in INTEREST to the BANKS is not a useful tool. It makes you a tool maybe. But it is not one. This acceptance of debt is fairly new. Our ancestors didn't do it, because you could go to debtors' prison if you didn't pay. Our parents didn't do it either, even though debtors' prison was long since gone. Back when my parents were young, you couldn't get a credit card unless you had a very high income, beyond what the middle class made on average. You couldn't get a mortgage unless you had 20% down and a steady job for three years. Student loans were only for certain programs. There was no way you could possibly live beyond your means. No one would loan you the money to do it.
Fast forward to the nineties, and cheap and easy credit is everywhere. You can run up all kinds of debt. You can get a car loan, a house loan, a second mortgage, hell why not a third mortgage, a student loan, enough credit cards to fill in the Grand Canyon, and if you hit the limit, don't worry, the bank will raise your limit (especially if they're a predatory lender). Eventually, you over-extend yourself, and they raise your interest rates, and now a large portion of your income is going to the banks. You apply for more credit cards to cover the shortfall in your income, and then eventually you wind up filing bankruptcy. But it doesn't end there. After you file bankruptcy, you can get yourself right back into the same mess again. You'll get credit card offers in the mail almost immediately, and they'll give you more credit. Isn't that brilliant?
And the crazy thing is, that this mentality of debt being acceptable has worked its way so thoroughly into the psyche of the middle class (and even the so-called working poor), that they don't care how much interest they are paying, just tell them what the payments are and they'll see if they can squeeze it into the amount that they are capable of paying out each month. A good example of this is the conversation I had with one of my students. He said he was going to go buy a used car that cost probably about the same as what he makes in a year. He had no idea what the interest rate was going to be (it's usually very high on a used car). All he knew was that the payments were affordable. I tried to talk him out of it, but he didn't understand what the problem was. After all, he said he could make the payments with no problem. The idea of saving up and buying a car outright was a foreign concept. Another student told me she had no problem making payments on a bedroom set and some other furniture because, "the payments aren't much." The rich are getting richer because they're investing their money. The poor are getting poorer because they're giving all of their disposable income to the banks!
Debt has allowed the majority of the middle class to live beyond their means and give a hefty percentage of their income to the banks. If you're in debt, add up what you're paying in interest every year. And then go stick that number into a mutual fund calculator with returns showing thirty or so years. Try not to cry. As is so often true in life, if you want to know where the blame lies, go look in the mirror.
Something today clicked in my head while I was listening to his show. I'd known all of the facts for quite a while, but my brain hadn't put it together until now. Do you know why we are losing the middle class in this country? It's not the government, it's not that CEOs are making too much money, it's not a conspiracy theory (welllll...), it's not what the talking heads are telling you, it's not what you think. We are losing the middle class in this country because of debt. The middle class is up to their eyeballs in it. And when you're in debt, where is all your money going? It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out! The American middle class has blamed the banks for the housing bust and Wall Street for a crappy economy. It's kinda like blaming the Grand Canyon for being a big hole in the ground. You're missing the real culprit. The Grand Canyon is a huge hole in the ground because the Colorado River running through it made it that way, much the same way that the middle class is becoming impoverished, being worn away, because of their embracing of debt.
Debt is not a tool. Paying hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands a year in INTEREST to the BANKS is not a useful tool. It makes you a tool maybe. But it is not one. This acceptance of debt is fairly new. Our ancestors didn't do it, because you could go to debtors' prison if you didn't pay. Our parents didn't do it either, even though debtors' prison was long since gone. Back when my parents were young, you couldn't get a credit card unless you had a very high income, beyond what the middle class made on average. You couldn't get a mortgage unless you had 20% down and a steady job for three years. Student loans were only for certain programs. There was no way you could possibly live beyond your means. No one would loan you the money to do it.
Fast forward to the nineties, and cheap and easy credit is everywhere. You can run up all kinds of debt. You can get a car loan, a house loan, a second mortgage, hell why not a third mortgage, a student loan, enough credit cards to fill in the Grand Canyon, and if you hit the limit, don't worry, the bank will raise your limit (especially if they're a predatory lender). Eventually, you over-extend yourself, and they raise your interest rates, and now a large portion of your income is going to the banks. You apply for more credit cards to cover the shortfall in your income, and then eventually you wind up filing bankruptcy. But it doesn't end there. After you file bankruptcy, you can get yourself right back into the same mess again. You'll get credit card offers in the mail almost immediately, and they'll give you more credit. Isn't that brilliant?
And the crazy thing is, that this mentality of debt being acceptable has worked its way so thoroughly into the psyche of the middle class (and even the so-called working poor), that they don't care how much interest they are paying, just tell them what the payments are and they'll see if they can squeeze it into the amount that they are capable of paying out each month. A good example of this is the conversation I had with one of my students. He said he was going to go buy a used car that cost probably about the same as what he makes in a year. He had no idea what the interest rate was going to be (it's usually very high on a used car). All he knew was that the payments were affordable. I tried to talk him out of it, but he didn't understand what the problem was. After all, he said he could make the payments with no problem. The idea of saving up and buying a car outright was a foreign concept. Another student told me she had no problem making payments on a bedroom set and some other furniture because, "the payments aren't much." The rich are getting richer because they're investing their money. The poor are getting poorer because they're giving all of their disposable income to the banks!
Debt has allowed the majority of the middle class to live beyond their means and give a hefty percentage of their income to the banks. If you're in debt, add up what you're paying in interest every year. And then go stick that number into a mutual fund calculator with returns showing thirty or so years. Try not to cry. As is so often true in life, if you want to know where the blame lies, go look in the mirror.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
They're off... (in coach class that is)
I took the in-laws to the airport this morning and they are now on their way to Venice, Italy. Their flight was delayed and they nearly missed catching their connecting flight to Frankfurt in Houston. Oh, the joys of travel. LOL
Speaking of, I read an AP article the other day about how the First Class passengers on international flights get the perk of being separated from the unwashed masses (which for any of you who have traveled internationally in economy, you will think this sounds like an awesome thing). At any rate, while the article is interesting, the writer couldn't resist throwing in your usual drivel about how this just further widens the gap between the uber wealthy and the rest of us.
I'm annoyed at the author for throwing that in, and intrigued that rich people get to ride in luxury cars to/from their plane. I'd like to do that sometime. If I ever win the lottery I just might try it once.
Speaking of, I read an AP article the other day about how the First Class passengers on international flights get the perk of being separated from the unwashed masses (which for any of you who have traveled internationally in economy, you will think this sounds like an awesome thing). At any rate, while the article is interesting, the writer couldn't resist throwing in your usual drivel about how this just further widens the gap between the uber wealthy and the rest of us.
"It’s one way that a gap between the world’s wealthiest 1 percent and everyone else has widened."The fact that the First Class passengers are subsidizing the cost of air travel is lost on the droll thought process of the sorry-excuse-for-a-journalist who churned out the article. If you're trying to make me jealous, it's not working. And if they're making you jealous, you should stop. Just stop, right there. Do you like travel? It's already pretty expensive right? Well, if the extremely wealthy weren't willing to pay $15k and get some perks along with it, and more than just leg room (because do you really think a little more leg room is worth that much?), none of us plebes would be traveling anywhere!
"At big carriers like American Airlines, about 70 percent of revenue comes from the top 20 percent of its customers."Chew on that for a while, and instead of being jealous, be thankful. Thankful that rich people do want to pony up the money that winds up subsidizing your ticket in chattel class. Yeah, economy sucks, but the end result is usually something you really want, like visiting far away places that you've only read about.
I'm annoyed at the author for throwing that in, and intrigued that rich people get to ride in luxury cars to/from their plane. I'd like to do that sometime. If I ever win the lottery I just might try it once.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Winter Summer Spring Fall...
...all in the span of three days. On Sunday I woke up late, it was warm, then by late afternoon it was very cold, about twenty-five degrees. The hummingbird food froze yesterday morning then it warmed up to about forty degrees. Then yesterday afternoon it rained, but only for a few minutes. We really need more rain.
I haven't done anything useful in the past few days except read some stuff. I did read one book that was interesting, called Whole Grains, Empty Promises, by Anthony Colpo. It's a good source for looking into studies that show that whole grains are really a load of bunk.
I need to fill up the deer feeder but haven't gotten around to it. I need to get the oil changed in my car, but it always takes so long I've been putting it off. And it's so coooollllddddd... *brrrrrrr*
The in-laws are leaving for Venice, Italy tomorrow. I have to take them to the airport. They go every year and rent an apartment for a week and a half. We have to take care of their dogs while they are gone. The dogs are a pack of idiots. A couple of them are crazy, especially Rosie the chihuahua. Of all dogs, chihuahuas are my least favorite. They're so yippy. I love labs, they're quiet and sweet and want to cuddle. Chihuahuas want to rip your face off. The dogs are really a handful, but we love them anyway.
I haven't done anything useful in the past few days except read some stuff. I did read one book that was interesting, called Whole Grains, Empty Promises, by Anthony Colpo. It's a good source for looking into studies that show that whole grains are really a load of bunk.
I need to fill up the deer feeder but haven't gotten around to it. I need to get the oil changed in my car, but it always takes so long I've been putting it off. And it's so coooollllddddd... *brrrrrrr*
The in-laws are leaving for Venice, Italy tomorrow. I have to take them to the airport. They go every year and rent an apartment for a week and a half. We have to take care of their dogs while they are gone. The dogs are a pack of idiots. A couple of them are crazy, especially Rosie the chihuahua. Of all dogs, chihuahuas are my least favorite. They're so yippy. I love labs, they're quiet and sweet and want to cuddle. Chihuahuas want to rip your face off. The dogs are really a handful, but we love them anyway.
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| Rosie, |
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| Sammy our sweet & adorable lab |
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Cold Front
I woke up this morning (actually it was after noon, on Sundays I don't set an alarm and get up when I wake up) and realized that I really needed to blow out my computer with some canned air. The thing attracts dust like there's no tomorrow. I took it out on the porch, and it was looking like it might rain. It was about sixty degrees. I came back in and cleaned off my desk, for the first time in months. I should really keep it cleaner, but I've always been the sort who 'has better things to do' than clean. After breakfast I noticed that the temperature had dropped to fifty-five. Right now, it's thirty degrees, and I just checked the weather and it's supposed to be twenty-five tonight! It was nearly ninety the other day. At any rate, good thing I cleaned out my computer first thing. We didn't get any rain, which really sucks. We need rain badly.
That is all I have accomplished today. Breakfast and cleaning my desk and computer. I feel like I should do something, but it's cold outside. That's a good excuse right?
That is all I have accomplished today. Breakfast and cleaning my desk and computer. I feel like I should do something, but it's cold outside. That's a good excuse right?
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Transcribing the Past
I woke up in the middle of the night last night with bad stomach pains. They were still around this morning, but I'm feeling better now. Have no idea what I ate that would cause that.
I spent all day putting my transcribed journal from my 2012 trip onto my Backpacker's Anonymous blog. Take a look at it. It's fun stuff cheap! I've included some of the best pictures that I took. If you like archaeology, or art, or history, or want to go backpacking, it's a good read, I think anyway.
Reading all of what I wrote makes me want to travel again, even the really bad days don't deter me. I shudder at the thought of having to endure the plane ride, but I know in the end, it's completely worth it. It's so much fun to see how other people live, and see things that you only read about in books. I'd travel more often, if only I'd win the lottery LOL
I spent all day putting my transcribed journal from my 2012 trip onto my Backpacker's Anonymous blog. Take a look at it. It's fun stuff cheap! I've included some of the best pictures that I took. If you like archaeology, or art, or history, or want to go backpacking, it's a good read, I think anyway.
Reading all of what I wrote makes me want to travel again, even the really bad days don't deter me. I shudder at the thought of having to endure the plane ride, but I know in the end, it's completely worth it. It's so much fun to see how other people live, and see things that you only read about in books. I'd travel more often, if only I'd win the lottery LOL
Europe and Donkeys
Why do we idealize Europe? Our ancestors fled from there in the face of oppressive class-ism and religious wars. While the religious wars may be gone, the class-ism sure isn't. Don't get me wrong, I like traveling in Europe. It's fun. But would I want to live there for any long length of time? Not no, but hell no. A year or two maybe, but to live on top of each other like rats in cages for your entire life, like the majority of Europeans do (unless of course you're wealthy and your family has land). Uh, no. Right now I think our neighbors are too close, mainly because I could easily hit their houses with a high powered rifle. (Gun safety rule number 2 of 4: Always keep your firearm pointed in a safe direction.)
I bring this up, because I saw a book at the Half Price book store tonight, extolling the virtues of how we should try to be more like Europe, and how we lack high speed rail, and should therefore use Spain as a model of progress. I checked the date, and saw it was published before Spain went broke and had riots and horrendous unemployment. How's that high speed rail working out for them now? I'm sure it takes them quickly to their non-existent jobs.
Where we live, down the road, are some donkeys. They often have their head sticking out of the fence, munching on grass by the road way. People come flying around that corner, but the donkeys don't seem to mind. They like the greener grass outside the fence. I hope you see what I did there.
I'll keep my derriere in the country, thank you very much, and the hipsters can keep their 'green' cities, and keep talking about places they've probably never even been to and subjects they obviously know nothing about (see: history and economics).
I bring this up, because I saw a book at the Half Price book store tonight, extolling the virtues of how we should try to be more like Europe, and how we lack high speed rail, and should therefore use Spain as a model of progress. I checked the date, and saw it was published before Spain went broke and had riots and horrendous unemployment. How's that high speed rail working out for them now? I'm sure it takes them quickly to their non-existent jobs.
Where we live, down the road, are some donkeys. They often have their head sticking out of the fence, munching on grass by the road way. People come flying around that corner, but the donkeys don't seem to mind. They like the greener grass outside the fence. I hope you see what I did there.
I'll keep my derriere in the country, thank you very much, and the hipsters can keep their 'green' cities, and keep talking about places they've probably never even been to and subjects they obviously know nothing about (see: history and economics).
Thursday, February 27, 2014
The Real World: Not a fun place for the Unprepared
I have a hard time understanding the unmotivated and careless. It frustrates me to no end. I myself am very motivated, almost to the point of being cutthroat at times (I have to restrain myself). I also care about what I'm interested in. The same can't be said of some. They stumble through life, not bothering to assess whether what they are doing is working or not. They're quick to blame others for their own mistakes, and as a result, learn nothing.
Then there's the other extreme, the ones who are so focused on their own thing, that they won't follow simple instructions. You're bothering them with your instructions. Did I mention that I teach college? I'm just a part-time adjunct, but I love teaching, it's really a fun exercise (on occasion it may seem in futility). There are always students who I just want to take by the shoulders and shake them like they do in the old movies and ask them if they understand how the decisions they are making now are going to wind up ruining the rest of their lives. Or maybe not ruining per se, but rather making their futures limited and incredibly difficult. I couldn't do that though. It's no longer socially acceptable to tell people the truth.
At any rate, if you desire to be an artist, you should avoid student loans. They are a burden. "The borrower is slave to the lender," which coincidentally, wasn't coined yesterday despite the looming student loan debt crisis in this country. It's from the Bible (Prov. 22:7). Even people from thousands of years ago understood that debt was bad, even if they did think the earth was quite flat. You have a whole generation of people now who don't understand the correlation between their situation and their outstanding debts. They wonder where all their money goes (to the banks), and they wonder why the can't get ahead (quit making stupid decisions). It's easy to be a starving artist when you don't have Sallie Mae breathing down your neck. But try waiting tables with private art school debt hanging over your head (or any other kind of debt for that matter). If you have no debt, the conversation becomes completely different.
Speaking of the Bible, I think some of my student are offended at the religion that makes up the majority of traditional art. I wonder if they understand that for painters a long time ago, it was the church paying the artists' bills and putting food on the table. I don't know what they're doing in high schools nowadays, but most of my students have never heard of many of the old artists whose work hangs in museums around the world. In the twelve years that they spend in grade school funded by the taxpayer, their education didn't even include bothering to mention Degas, Renoir or Monet or anyone else of note. They've only heard of Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello and Leonardo because of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. How can one aspire to be an artist without having studied art? Some are obviously not even interested in the field they're supposedly trying to enter. I suppose I could understand that if there was money involved, however, the stereotype of the starving artist is a stereotype for a reason. Either you love art, or what are you doing in it?
It's okay to not know what you want to do with your life. It's an entire other thing to go into thousands of dollars in debt and not know why you're doing it. If you need to find yourself, it's much cheaper to backpack in Europe than pay for college. You might also see the paintings of some famous artists while you're there.
Then there's the other extreme, the ones who are so focused on their own thing, that they won't follow simple instructions. You're bothering them with your instructions. Did I mention that I teach college? I'm just a part-time adjunct, but I love teaching, it's really a fun exercise (on occasion it may seem in futility). There are always students who I just want to take by the shoulders and shake them like they do in the old movies and ask them if they understand how the decisions they are making now are going to wind up ruining the rest of their lives. Or maybe not ruining per se, but rather making their futures limited and incredibly difficult. I couldn't do that though. It's no longer socially acceptable to tell people the truth.
At any rate, if you desire to be an artist, you should avoid student loans. They are a burden. "The borrower is slave to the lender," which coincidentally, wasn't coined yesterday despite the looming student loan debt crisis in this country. It's from the Bible (Prov. 22:7). Even people from thousands of years ago understood that debt was bad, even if they did think the earth was quite flat. You have a whole generation of people now who don't understand the correlation between their situation and their outstanding debts. They wonder where all their money goes (to the banks), and they wonder why the can't get ahead (quit making stupid decisions). It's easy to be a starving artist when you don't have Sallie Mae breathing down your neck. But try waiting tables with private art school debt hanging over your head (or any other kind of debt for that matter). If you have no debt, the conversation becomes completely different.
Speaking of the Bible, I think some of my student are offended at the religion that makes up the majority of traditional art. I wonder if they understand that for painters a long time ago, it was the church paying the artists' bills and putting food on the table. I don't know what they're doing in high schools nowadays, but most of my students have never heard of many of the old artists whose work hangs in museums around the world. In the twelve years that they spend in grade school funded by the taxpayer, their education didn't even include bothering to mention Degas, Renoir or Monet or anyone else of note. They've only heard of Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello and Leonardo because of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. How can one aspire to be an artist without having studied art? Some are obviously not even interested in the field they're supposedly trying to enter. I suppose I could understand that if there was money involved, however, the stereotype of the starving artist is a stereotype for a reason. Either you love art, or what are you doing in it?
It's okay to not know what you want to do with your life. It's an entire other thing to go into thousands of dollars in debt and not know why you're doing it. If you need to find yourself, it's much cheaper to backpack in Europe than pay for college. You might also see the paintings of some famous artists while you're there.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Life in the early 21st century
Once when I was backpacking in Europe (which doesn't happen often enough because I'm not rich), while in Venice, Italy, a fellow traveler at the hostel we were staying at, saw me writing in a journal. She asked me if I kept a journal as a matter of course. I looked at her as though she had three heads, and I told her, 'no.' She asked me why not, and I replied that I was only keeping a journal during my trip because honestly, nothing interesting ever happened at home that was worth making note of.
As of late, I've rather changed my mind on the matter.
I'm an artist, specifically a medical animator. I work freelance from home, I like writing, and am trying to finish a novel that I'd like to see published. I'm married (he's an artist too) and we have a black lab named Sammy who likes to lay right behind my desk chair (which is where he is right now).
We're trying to get out of debt. Private art college will put you fairly deep in the hole (ask me another time about how stupid that was). I'm not much of the gambling sort, but I suppose we might have beat the house for once. We'll see how our hand plays out in the long run.
I'm allergic to dairy and to soy. It really kinda sucks. I can't eat regular chocolate, and pastries are off limits. As is cheese, butter, cream, sour cream, etc., and a whole host of other food stuffs. My husband is gluten intolerant, it causes him digestive problems and his excema to break out. We're quite a pair when we go out to eat (which doesn't happen often since we're trying to get out of debt). If I ever get back to France, it will be a sad day when I peer into the Patisserie and can't buy anything except a plain baguette.
I've tried to learn Spanish, French, German, Italian and Japanese. I'm very good at English, but not so much at any other language. A smile and a hand gesture will go a long way though. I'm planning on going backpacking in Scotland in a couple of years, and at least most of them speak English there. Well, sorta.
I despise liars (and therefore most politicians) and do not belong to any political party. If you're a Democrat, I'll probably make you mad at some point. If you're a Republican, the same applies to you. It's my blog though, so if you don't like it, get over it or move along.
I have this insane notion that all people are created equal, that you determine the outcome of your life, that we should all mind our own business, and that we have plenty of laws on the books as it is and we don't need any more.
Here it is, The Life of
(and if you're wondering, my initials look like 'pi' when written quickly). Honestly, it fits, as I can be fairly irrational sometimes.
As of late, I've rather changed my mind on the matter.
I'm an artist, specifically a medical animator. I work freelance from home, I like writing, and am trying to finish a novel that I'd like to see published. I'm married (he's an artist too) and we have a black lab named Sammy who likes to lay right behind my desk chair (which is where he is right now).
We're trying to get out of debt. Private art college will put you fairly deep in the hole (ask me another time about how stupid that was). I'm not much of the gambling sort, but I suppose we might have beat the house for once. We'll see how our hand plays out in the long run.
I'm allergic to dairy and to soy. It really kinda sucks. I can't eat regular chocolate, and pastries are off limits. As is cheese, butter, cream, sour cream, etc., and a whole host of other food stuffs. My husband is gluten intolerant, it causes him digestive problems and his excema to break out. We're quite a pair when we go out to eat (which doesn't happen often since we're trying to get out of debt). If I ever get back to France, it will be a sad day when I peer into the Patisserie and can't buy anything except a plain baguette.
I've tried to learn Spanish, French, German, Italian and Japanese. I'm very good at English, but not so much at any other language. A smile and a hand gesture will go a long way though. I'm planning on going backpacking in Scotland in a couple of years, and at least most of them speak English there. Well, sorta.
I despise liars (and therefore most politicians) and do not belong to any political party. If you're a Democrat, I'll probably make you mad at some point. If you're a Republican, the same applies to you. It's my blog though, so if you don't like it, get over it or move along.
I have this insane notion that all people are created equal, that you determine the outcome of your life, that we should all mind our own business, and that we have plenty of laws on the books as it is and we don't need any more.
Here it is, The Life of
(and if you're wondering, my initials look like 'pi' when written quickly). Honestly, it fits, as I can be fairly irrational sometimes.
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