Stupid thing...won't even let me do stuff.
Well, I'm back in the land of the living. All the snow and ice is gone and the power is back on. Oh yeah, we're living large.
I've very insulted by a study that found Tacoma the #1 stressful city in the U.S. Not that I have a thing about Tacoma or anything, and I can't say anything about most of the criterian, but one of the reasons is that it's cloudy! Can you believe that!?!?!?! As if everyone in the entire world gets depressed when it's cloudy! I didn't catch where the people from this study were, but it had to be somewhere evilly sunny. I personally get depressed when it's too sunny. So I guess So Cal gets on the list huh? And it wasn't just Tacoma. The Portland/Vancouver metropolis is #10. I also find it interesting that those two cities are always together. Anyway, so I guess that NO Northwest city is on the LEAST stressful city list, only on the MOST stressful city list. I am angrified.
Who knows what grade I got. I don't want to look, I never do. And anyway, I don't know how to do it.
9.1.04
5.1.04
Ah ha!! (You can just try to figure out what that means)
I must record my morning so that we can all recognize the signs when we begin to age. Heck, we already think we're old and that the darn young-ins and taking over the world and plan to drive the rest of us insane. Case-and-point: Hillary Duff.
So this morning I took my grandparents to breakfast with their siblings and spouses (at this point, it's hard to remember which is sibling and which is spouse). All told, there were seven elderly people over 65 and me. Which isn't all that bad, I love my grandparents and the others are okay. But I noticed something this time, and it's something we must take pains to avoid.
First they were complaining about Bush and Medicare/Social Security (I don't know the difference or which one we were actually talking about). They were comparing copays on doctors, specialists, and prescriptions (among other things). And I must admit that they did have an excellent point. Bush screwed them over so he could pay for his pet war. Before we left, there was a little ditty on the radio (ad??? Skit??). It summed up the problem of Social Security perfectly. The father was telling the son that the son was going to have to help him and his mom out. And the son was all indignant because he thought that if he paid for his father, he wouldn't be able to pay for himself when he got older. And the dad said that his children would pay for him in the neverending loop. And the son just wanted to keep the money for his own retirement. Yeah yeah, 1) That's all great and good that he'll be taking care of himself, but what about the old people now who were forced to pay for their parents and weren't able to save enough. 2) Uh huh, he's going to be saving that money all right...right. 3) They just have to pay it to the military anyway, and how are they going to save it then? 4) I'm sure I could think of more or possibly less stupid arguments, but I'm done thinking, back to my story...
Anyway, so then they were talking about this skier that was lost for four days in the mountains (obviously) and they just found him alive. And they were saying that he was stupid for getting lost. Yeah, but what are you going to do. I'm sure he won't be doing that again. Then they moved on to an avalanche that took out a cabin. And they were saying that it was stupid of them to build in avalanche country and that they were probably going to whine because the Powers That Be allowed them to build there. Fast forward. They were complaining about people that were building on the flood plane...and let me tell you, there is an entire development on the flood plane. And they were talking about the stupid guys that work for the city who can't read a map to be able to tell when a house will be safe and when it's flood-prone.
I tell yeah. Either the people are stupid for expecting the government to keep them safe instead of taking care of themselves, or the government is stupid because they aren't keeping the people safe with their permits and stuff. It's a bit of a dilemma for me. Yeah, SOMEone is being stupid, because, obviously, houses are going up where they shouldn't, whether in a flood area or an avalanche area. But I don't think you can fault both sides for the same thing.
My personal feeling is that they just want to complain because it's different from when they were in their prime. So watch yourself. If you start complain about both sides of things, just because they are different than the way you like them or remember then, you gotta find a way to stop. Your complaints should remain pretty much consistent logically. Complaining can help purge things, I think, but only in a healthy, moderate dose. It's no way to live always looking at things negatively. Pointing out the positive side, or why some person might not be as stupid as they seem doesn't get you very far with my elderly relatives. Don't be the same way. Yeah, and I know. I should be the one to talk.
Oh and by the way, that's not all they complained about. The only thing they talked about was news and stuff, and why whatever was happening was some stupid person's fault. I think that they didn't mean it that way, but it's kind of what it turned into. It was the "back in my day, pigs could fly and were happy to jump in our ovens to be cooked and eaten" kind of thing. So we gotta live in the moment, in the now, in the 21st century, in...hehe...and not feel like the world is falling apart around us because things are being done a different way and people have different values than they used to.
You can have my soap box back now.
I must record my morning so that we can all recognize the signs when we begin to age. Heck, we already think we're old and that the darn young-ins and taking over the world and plan to drive the rest of us insane. Case-and-point: Hillary Duff.
So this morning I took my grandparents to breakfast with their siblings and spouses (at this point, it's hard to remember which is sibling and which is spouse). All told, there were seven elderly people over 65 and me. Which isn't all that bad, I love my grandparents and the others are okay. But I noticed something this time, and it's something we must take pains to avoid.
First they were complaining about Bush and Medicare/Social Security (I don't know the difference or which one we were actually talking about). They were comparing copays on doctors, specialists, and prescriptions (among other things). And I must admit that they did have an excellent point. Bush screwed them over so he could pay for his pet war. Before we left, there was a little ditty on the radio (ad??? Skit??). It summed up the problem of Social Security perfectly. The father was telling the son that the son was going to have to help him and his mom out. And the son was all indignant because he thought that if he paid for his father, he wouldn't be able to pay for himself when he got older. And the dad said that his children would pay for him in the neverending loop. And the son just wanted to keep the money for his own retirement. Yeah yeah, 1) That's all great and good that he'll be taking care of himself, but what about the old people now who were forced to pay for their parents and weren't able to save enough. 2) Uh huh, he's going to be saving that money all right...right. 3) They just have to pay it to the military anyway, and how are they going to save it then? 4) I'm sure I could think of more or possibly less stupid arguments, but I'm done thinking, back to my story...
Anyway, so then they were talking about this skier that was lost for four days in the mountains (obviously) and they just found him alive. And they were saying that he was stupid for getting lost. Yeah, but what are you going to do. I'm sure he won't be doing that again. Then they moved on to an avalanche that took out a cabin. And they were saying that it was stupid of them to build in avalanche country and that they were probably going to whine because the Powers That Be allowed them to build there. Fast forward. They were complaining about people that were building on the flood plane...and let me tell you, there is an entire development on the flood plane. And they were talking about the stupid guys that work for the city who can't read a map to be able to tell when a house will be safe and when it's flood-prone.
I tell yeah. Either the people are stupid for expecting the government to keep them safe instead of taking care of themselves, or the government is stupid because they aren't keeping the people safe with their permits and stuff. It's a bit of a dilemma for me. Yeah, SOMEone is being stupid, because, obviously, houses are going up where they shouldn't, whether in a flood area or an avalanche area. But I don't think you can fault both sides for the same thing.
My personal feeling is that they just want to complain because it's different from when they were in their prime. So watch yourself. If you start complain about both sides of things, just because they are different than the way you like them or remember then, you gotta find a way to stop. Your complaints should remain pretty much consistent logically. Complaining can help purge things, I think, but only in a healthy, moderate dose. It's no way to live always looking at things negatively. Pointing out the positive side, or why some person might not be as stupid as they seem doesn't get you very far with my elderly relatives. Don't be the same way. Yeah, and I know. I should be the one to talk.
Oh and by the way, that's not all they complained about. The only thing they talked about was news and stuff, and why whatever was happening was some stupid person's fault. I think that they didn't mean it that way, but it's kind of what it turned into. It was the "back in my day, pigs could fly and were happy to jump in our ovens to be cooked and eaten" kind of thing. So we gotta live in the moment, in the now, in the 21st century, in...hehe...and not feel like the world is falling apart around us because things are being done a different way and people have different values than they used to.
You can have my soap box back now.
