I am such a good daughter

Earlier this year I found the perfect birthday card for my dad. He has been a truck driver for over 40 years and I found a card that plays the song, "Convoy". It is the cutest thing ever. So over the months I have been having all his friends sign it. My brother was in town for a weekend and even he signed it. I am down to having the last few people sign it. This card is FULL. My dad left here over 20 years ago and moved out of state. He still has a lot of friends here that he keeps in contact with. I can guarantee that when this card arrives at his house on his birthday, there will be tears. My dad deserves it though.

Yes, this is my job.

I am cutting out paper turkeys to hid around my department for a Thanksgiving scavenger hunt. Each turkey (or decoy) has a silly saying on the back. Here is what I came up with (and may I say it is damn hard to find things that rhyme with turkey):

Took a wrong turn at Albuquerque,
Found yourself smack dab in Turkey!

The waters were murky,
Waded through and found a turkey!

You may be odd, a bit quirky,
But you still found yourself a turkey!

Crack a smile and get perky,
You found yourself a turkey!

You're no jerky,
You found a big fat turkey!

You need better luck,
Cause all you found was this duck!

Take a lick and keep on tickin',
All you found was this chicken!

An example of ignorance

This story makes me so very angry. This is ignorance in its purest form. Where is the Christian sense of compassion for the families of these men and women? What happened to "only God can judge me"? This is why I have a huge problem with organized religion. People don't take the time to learn about their own faith and just follow someone and take on their beliefs. Find your own beliefs and make your own decisions based on education, not on what someone else tells you. I hope these people get their own special place in hell.


BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals in the belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

A member of Westboro Baptist Church protests outside a veteran's hospital in Maywood, Illinois, in April 2006.

Albert Snyder of York, Pennsylvania, sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.
The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned later in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.
U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett noted the size of the award for compensating damages "far exceeds the net worth of the defendants," according to financial statements filed with the court.
Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags."
A number of states have passed laws regarding funeral protests, and Congress has passed a law prohibiting such protests at federal cemeteries.
But the Maryland lawsuit is believed to be the first filed by the family of a fallen serviceman.
The church and three of its leaders -- the Rev. Fred Phelps and his two daughters, Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebecca Phelps-Davis, 46 -- were found liable for invasion of privacy and intent to inflict emotional distress.
Snyder claimed the protests intruded upon what should have been a private ceremony and sullied his memory of the event.
The church members testified they are following their religious beliefs by spreading the message that the deaths of soldiers are due to the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.
Their attorneys argued in closing statements Tuesday that the burial was a public event and that even abhorrent points of view are protected by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and religion.
The judge said the church's financial statements, sealed earlier, could be released to the plaintiffs.
Earlier, church members staged a demonstration outside the federal courthouse.
Church founder Fred Phelps held a sign reading "God is your enemy," while Shirley Phelps-Roper stood on an American flag and carried a sign that read "God hates fag enablers."
Members of the group sang "God Hates America" to the tune of "God Bless America."
Snyder sobbed when he heard the verdict, while members of the church greeted the news with tightlipped smiles. E-mail to a friend

The Faux World

Remember when the very first Real World came out on MTV? It really was seven strangers picked to live in a house and we got to watch the fallout. They all had their own goals and aspirations and were pursuing their own separate identities. That is what made it such a compelling show. The first three seasons of the Real World were so groundbreaking. We saw people from all different walks of life come to together and try to get along. Unless your name was Puck and you liked to piss people off by sticking your booger encrusted hand into their jar of peanut butter. People fought because they knew who they were and what they believed in. There were dancers, actors, writers, artists, med students, political activists, Christians, and comics. They made us laugh and they made us cry. They changed the way that people of my generation thought and gave us a face for AIDS.

Now the show seems to be the same cookie cutter script from year to year. The only thing that changes is the venue. Gone are the days of 20-somethings making their way in the world. Here are the days of drunken frat boys and slutty sorority girls working at a job no one gives a shit about and getting drunk every night in the "hottest" club in town. These are the people that I avoid like the plague in my own town (and sadly enough they very recently completed a season in my town). Now they are glorified on television for every preteen to want to be. How sad is that? MTV went from being the voice of my generation, to the embarrassment of the next. Pathetic.

Phobias

I have found that as I get older the more fear I have for things. I can remember being a kid and being scared of the normal monsters in the closet/under the bed or not wanting to be in the dark. I also had this weird obsessive fear of being kidnapped. I was PETRIFIED of "kidnapper vans". You know, those work vans with no windows. I ahve no idea where that came from, but everytime I saw one of those vans I would freak out.

Now as I get older I am scared of the stupidest shit. For example, I recently got a bicycle. I haven't been on a bike since I was 15 or 16, so it's been a few years. I got on it and started to ride down the street and proceeded to panic. I was going to fast, I would fall over when I tried to turn, I would go ass up if I hit the brakes too hard, get me the hell off this death contraption. Seriously. What the fuck is wrong with me?

A couple weeks ago I was at my aunt's house with my dogs. She said there had been a rabbit hanging out in her yard and we wondered if the dogs would come across it. Sure enough, a few minutes later we see my chihuahua chasing this tiny bunny. They went one way, they went another way and were off around the house. The next thing I know the bunny turns around and comes running towards me. I actually screamed. My aunt laughed at me, because seriously who is afraid of a bunny. What the fuck is wrong with me?

I get all freaked out at the mall now, too. Why do malls always have to have glass railings on the second floor. I am getting woozy just thinking about it. I walk plastered to the wall and try not to look. Seriously. What the fuck is wrong with me?

I have turned into the world's biggest wuss. I need hypnosis or something. Does anyone sell courage in a bottle? Just call me the Cowardly Lion.

Life really is a circle

Last year around this time I was surfing blog links and came across a blog with a story about a woman who was very sick without a cause. Being in the medical field, I clicked on the link and have been lurking there ever since. As I read about this woman, her husband, her children, her life, it seemed so normal. It was the same things we all write about: hanging out with friends, life's annoyances, goofy family stuff and everything in between. Then came this random sickness that started innocent enough and turned into the cause of her death. As I read her husband's words during this time my heart broke. I felt his pain of being helpless and his fear of the future. I felt the pain of the loss of a great love. The pain of the loss of normalcy as life would never be the same again. I literally sat at my desk and wept for this stranger and his children. I told my close family and friends their story and how we should all be a little more thankful in this season of thanksgiving for those we love. I hugged my own mother a little tighter.

Today, I read about his new life. His new love. He is starting to be able to let go of the pain and embrace the joy again. That too, made me cry. It also made me realize that we all deserve that. To be able to have joy everyday, regardless of what we have suffered in the past. So in honor of this family that I have never met, I am going to try and do just that. If this man and his children can find joy after such a great loss, we should all be able to move on from the pettiness of the past. So begins a new journey...