Saturday, March 1, 2008, 08:51 AM - Dumb Happenings
So... one of the reasons why I don't have much respect for fundamentalist Christians is that they basically talk a strong talk, but they're painfully deficient when it comes to backing up their ethos with actual deeds.
As you all probably can guess, there are times when I am more well and times when I am less well. This is a period when I am simply less well. But I'm doing something about it.
I have a fundamentalist friend who told me last night that he doesn't want to talk to me anymore until I'm in the "more well" status again. It didn't hurt as badly as I thought it would, since he has done this to me before in the past. I expected him to be weak when I needed him to be strong, and so his action last night did not surprise me. It's basically typical fundamentalism in action.I guess I'll give him a call after I've been in therapy for 3-4 months so he knows it's "safe" for him to be my friend again, ha ha ha. After all, isn't mental illness contageous? ::sigh::
Actually, I'm not nearly as unwell as the dark period of 1996. It was then that I learned the hard way just how shallow fundamentalism is. I got told I was possessed, that God was "judging" me for being gay, that God was "testing" me to see if my faith was genuine, that I just wasn't praying enough or reading scripture enough. Whatever. The long and short of it was that every fundamentalist frind I knew back then had a ready and Bible-tested excuse for slamming the door in my face during a really bad period when I needed companionship, love, and compassion while i was in the beginning stages of therapy.They refused and they shut me out of their lives.
And one wonders why I'm not a fundamentalist, ha ha.
I will forgive my friend for his unkind words last night. Besiees, to really be hurt by someone, you have to be vulnerable to that person, and this is a friend that I never really lowered my sheilds against. See, I wasn't really depending on him, since I knew this would happen. I just wish his christian walk was as good as he seems to believe it is. Personally, I just don't see it.
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( 3.1 / 1331 )Friday, February 22, 2008, 10:15 PM - Dumb Happenings
Ever since the power realignment a few weeks ago (when Halo went back to sleep and Thistle increased in power), I've been doing a lot better thinking positive thoughts and dealing with anger better, and not lashing out at people who say hurtful things to me.
Two things really helped me these past few weeks:
-- Jesus' words: "Love God and Love Each Other"
-- Wiccan Reede: "And that it harm none, do as ye will"
Between the two, one gets a pretty complete operating philosophy.
So... I had an experience with someone who turned out NOT be what [he/she] appeared to be. This person was friendly to me in the past but basically reveiled [himself/herself] as some sort of hate-based conservative operative who insulted both my partner and I. But instead of lashing out at this person with words of hate and anger, I calmly asked this person to leave us alone. I think I did pretty well. I didn't curse, scream, or threaten.
Well, for the ultraconservatives out there, I'll say this once: I was created by God, and so I am not a thing of evil. I was created by God, and so God loves me. I was made to be exactly what I am, because God loves me just as I am. I am not a demon, I am a changeling. Thistle is not a demon, he is my companion-spirit. Halo is not a demon, he is a wounded soul who is in a great deal of pain. Ashen is not a demon, he is my watcher-protector. Willow is not a demon, he is a small, innocent child. Indigo is gay, Ashen is straight, but that doesn't make Indigo more sinful or Ashen less so. We are as we were created.
I will not have rage at being judged harshly by someone who knows nearly nothing about me. I will trust that God does know me and does love me. I, too, will pray that God will bless this person who angered me with the gift of compassion and greater love. Love is more powerful than hate; serenity is more lasting than anger.
Anyone who has a problem with that can take it up with God.
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( 3 / 1547 )Thursday, February 14, 2008, 04:11 PM - Dumb Happenings
Well... I suppose this is going to be the final update on a person who had once been my friend but is no longer. To set the story up, let me say that Dana had written a really bad novel that he self-published on his website. It's so awful that it is truely unreadable. Unfortunately, he kept demanding that I read it. I really tried. I got to page 60 about five times, but the characters are so shallow, the plot so implausable, and the dialogue so stilted that it just plain can't be read. So there was a day six months ago when he sent me an email that essentially stated that he was only going to speak to friends who read his book and all others would be relegated to text/email. I had been a damned good friend to him for 15 years, and that decision hurt. It hurt quite a bit!
So last month, I wrote to him and asked him if the incommunicato was going to end anytime soon. Well, he wrote back yesterday and decided to list every fault he thinks I have (some faults are real, some exist only in his mind.)
I decided to tell him that I really don't need anyone in my life who uses as his sole benchmark whether or not I like his novel. There is a difference between a fan and a friend. I wasn't the former, but I was certainly the latter.
He used to have an allied spirit named Amberle that was bound to him -- she was a kind spirit. She was to him was Thistle is to me. But I wonder if she abandoned him, since his behavior changed so *drastically* six months ago. Literally, he became a different person over the course of a few days. He had certainly never been cruel before. So be it. I just can't have someone like that in my life.
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( 3 / 1656 )Thursday, February 7, 2008, 05:59 PM - Dumb Happenings
I got passed over for a promotion at work -- again! I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt. I don't know why I keep getting passed over. I've only missed one day in two years (due to illness). My latest performance review was "exceeds standard", a 3.03 on a scale of 0.0 to 4.0. I am really unhappy about this latest development.
Yeah... I know I am a very strange person, and I have a rather unique outlook on things. But I do a really good job, I get along well with my coworkers, and I'm very reliable. So why can I not get rewarded for my good performance?
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( 2.9 / 1186 )Tuesday, July 31, 2007, 09:33 PM - Dumb Happenings
I have (or had) a friend who has refused to talk to me for a month because I didn't like his book. I really did give him a full month to "get over it", but yesterday he wrote to me and said that I failed the test of friendship (by failing to finish reading the dreaded thing) and that he now had "new friends and new priorities". I, apparently, am out of the picture because he won't forgive me for disliking his 500-page epic.
The trouble is this: the book is so bad as to be unreadable. The main character is a 16-year-old Jewish Gypsy orphan, who just so happens to be an international criminal/thief, a security manager at a mega-corporation, and your ordinary high school student -- all at the same time. The high school is so gang-infested that even the teachers and administrators are in gangs. One of the students is an elf, while another is a wererat. Yeah, right.
How is "Greyhawke" for a solid Jewish name? Yeah, right.
And the book just goes on and on and on. I tried for two years to finish wreading it, but it just can't be read. The book is just ghastly. The characters are paper-thin while the plot is labyrinthine. The diologue is stilted and the premise just cannot be believed.
it's okay to have hobbies. I've written a few books too, but I don't have any notions as to being the next J. R. R. Tolkien. Dana, however, acts like "Saga of the Knights" is the next "Harry Potter". Well it isn't.
I am really hurt that he would walk out of a friendship for the sole reason that I didn't like his book. It's not even a published book! He just publishes online. If you want to read the worst piece of literature ever, just go to www.tsotk.org and click "Possessor of the Book".
I am really pissed off!
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( 3 / 1464 )Sunday, May 13, 2007, 08:40 AM - Dumb Happenings
Well. . . Brothers Roofing gets a lot of hype on the local Talk Radio station, but I don't see what all the hub-bub is about. They built a new roof for my house about two months ago and it has been a thoroughly INCOMPETENT job.
So far, my roof has leaked heavily EVERY time it has rained. The company sent a repair team out twice so far and yet my roof still leaks. It hasn't even leaked LESS. In fact, the brand-new roof leaks just just as badly as the worn-out roof did. The difference, of course, is that I paid $5,000 for a roof with the understanding that it would actually REPEL water! What a novel concept!
After the second follow-up repair, Brothers Roofing had the nerve to send me a $500 invoice. Yeah, right. Considering that I had to drag buckets back into the kitchen last night, I don't think I will pay that bill. Besides, the roof has a 10-year warranty. I'm just hoping that they can get it to repel water sometime in the next ten years.
For the first two repair attempts, I had to make a dozen calls the first time and 8 calls the second time before anyone returned my call. At least they called back quickly last night. But the time has passed when I would EVER consider recommend Brothers Roofing to ANYONE. They just don't do quality work.
UPDATE: The VP came today and did a really thourough inspection of the roof. It turns out that the problem is likely a bow window that projects out onto the roof. He recaulked the window. If my roof stays watertight the next time it rains, I'll be pretty happy and will retract my dis-recommendation.
Update #2: (June-2-07) It's rained twice since the most recent repair and the roof has held up fine. Yay! I think third try must have been a charm.
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( 3 / 1275 )Sunday, March 25, 2007, 11:04 AM - Dumb Happenings
In the Old West, desperados used to rob banks. In the modern era, it’s the banks that do the robbing.
Provident Bank (and others) engineered a way to maximise the legal robbery of its customers through clever software manipulation. How does this work? Let me illustrate.
Say you have $50 in checking, and you make six $9 purchases. Logically, you would think you would be facing a single charge for the last $9 item. But it no longer works that way. The bank would see $54 in debits on a $50 balance for that day and then charge an overdraft fee on ALL SIX items!
It gets better. Last week, Provident held 12 transactions in “pending” status for over a week (for some unknown reason). I could see the transaction values, but it did not deduct from my available balance. I made an arithmetic error for $10, so my last two minuscule purchases should have incurred a fee. Well... apparently Provident’s software was waiting for an overdraw, since the nanosecond my account was negative, the system posted all 12 transactions to my account at the same time and declared all 12 transactions to be overdrafts, despite the fact that the real value of the overdraft was about $10 and consisted of 2 transactions. The net effect was that the bank basically stole my whole paycheck since their fees totalled $440.
The banks weren’t this greedy under Clinton.
And the “financial analysts” on the talking-head shows wonder why the average American has trouble building up a savings account.
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( 3 / 1226 )Saturday, March 24, 2007, 05:05 PM - Dumb Happenings
I just don't seem to have the same luck with computers that Doug does. He can buy a laptop computer and use it every day for 3-4 years and never have one iota of problem. For me, I end up having to do a reformat/reinstall about every six months. Why? Because every computer I own gradually gets slower and slower until it gets to the point that it takes 15 minutes tio restart and when it does start, the applications load so slowly that I get [NOT RESPONDING] errors in Task Manager.
This is the 4th time I've had to do a root canal on my TabletPC. Fortunately for me, I do frequent backups. My game and my novel are located on my website and I back up all my music to an external hard drive. Still, this is a royal pain in the neck.
It's not just computers either. My T-Mobile Sidekick has slowed down to the point that it's nearly useless. My PDA seems to run out of memory all the time, despite having only two non-standard applications installed. My cell phone has to be power-cycled because the Bluetooth function keeps becoming non-responsive. My wrist watches keep stopping (and the one Doug loaned me actually started counting backwards.)
What the hell is the matter with me that the electronic devices around me just "give up" after a few months?
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( 3 / 1149 )Saturday, August 26, 2006, 12:08 PM - Dumb Happenings
There are few things that bother me more than being in a restaraunt and hearing some ill-mannered brats screech at the top of their lungs the entire time I'm sharing a meal with my partner. For the most part, I loathe children. They are generally greedy, selfish little monsters that have a high probability of becoming criminals when they mature.
I had the idea that the parents of the screaming rug rats need to be penalized for the behavior of their offspring. In a restaraunt situation, I think the following fees should be imposed:
-- $1 per shrill, goblet-shattering scream.
-- $5 per incident of a toddler running loose in a restaraunt.
-- $10 per incident of a toddler or other child running loose and coming to another patron's table.
-- $20 per incident of a child throwing something from a table and having said object land on another patron's table.
Fees like that would discourage these SUV-driving, white-trash breeder families from hauling their ill-behaved monsters out into public.
Me being a rogue, made the comment while paying for the meal, "The food was great, the screaming was not." The mother of these ceratures said, "Why don't you get a life and shut your mouth!" I replied, "Why don't you control your kids!"
Well, I can see where the kids get their manners from. There's nothing like cheap, white, breeder trash.
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( 2.9 / 1425 )Sunday, August 6, 2006, 06:38 PM - Dumb Happenings
I was at the gym this morning and the TV there was playing some Preacher/Informercial in which some "reverend" was hawking a prayer tape that was supposed to "channel God's blessings to the listener" so that his/her finances would improve. Of course, there is a catch: for the prayer tape to remain effective, the listener has to "pledge" $58/month of "seed money" to the good reverend's sacred ministry.
Egads. The last time I checked, Jesus was not in the business of using independant preachers for the creation of magical artifacts. Nor, do I think, Jesus ever promised anyone financial wealth (spiritual fulfillment, yes, but not a 790 credit score).
The prayer tape wasn't even a VHS tape. It was some 10-cent white autiotape with a 2-cent Label Maker PRO label affixted to the top. Geeeez!
I'm guessing that the folks who send this con artist money are the same ones who voted for Bush twice.
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