Let’s talk about bed sheets and comforters, people. Because I am in dire need of a comforter.
The background: my roommate is in the process of buying a house and she asked me if I wanted to move in with her. Rent would be cheap and thinking it over in my head, I decided that yes, I would.
We went out the day after I got back from Afghanistan and went looking at furniture. I got a queen sized bed with a box spring and an antique, Victorian stand with a pink marble top. The stand/drawer thing (hard to explain, once I get it moved in perhaps I will take a picture) has set the theme of my room. The colors have to go along with it now, otherwise it will be horribly out of place.
This has left me at a loss in the bedding department. Do you know how hard it is to find a comforter that matches the damn thing? It’s been a bitch so far. The only place that has a comforter that matches it and that I like is Victoria’s Secret. The problem here is, or so my mother thinks, is that the comforter I’m thinking about is satin. She tells me that it will slip off of my bed and that it’s going to be a real hassle. I’ve never had satin sheets or a satin comforter, for that matter, so I can’t really say.
So, do any of you have any input? I would really like a nice comforter that is comfortable and matches my r[future] room’s decor. The only things I’ve found at Linen ‘N’ Things either looked like it was fit for a teenager’s room or was insanely priced.
I don’t know what has brought this up. Our parting is still fairly fresh, but I’m still thinking about him from time to time – probably more than I want to. Some things have come up in recent conversations that have me thinking about him. This is going to be a fairly vague entry. Specific dates and times won’t be mentioned and the person I speak of will only be referred to as…The Ex (in this entry and any future ones).
Our relationship – “relationship” – has always been hard to define. We never talked about being in a relationship and in a lot of ways, we weren’t. However, we spent a lot of time together and pretty much everyone and their mothers operated under the assumption that we were in one together. So, perhaps “The Ex” isn’t an appropriate term completely for him, BUT, there feelings and all of that sappy stuff.
That being said, he was…on-and-off is the best way to put it – wishy-washy. Some days he was the sweetest guy on earth, others he was the biggest ass (not even asshole, just ass). Excuse the profanity, but “jerk” just doesn’t even come close to how he was when he was in “a mood”. When he was getting some, he was the most understanding, caring man ever.
I should also tell you now – I really cared for this guy. Even with all of his constant mood swings, I cared about him. The situation as it was, I let a lot of things slide. I was pretty bad in return to him, so he took his fair share, too. I don’t want to villainize him too much and pretend that I am some angel.
ANYHOW, onto the point of my entry.
I’m not one to buy all of the horoscope stuff, but I like to read it. Sometimes it rings true, most of the time it doesn’t. I was surfing MySpace, though, and I decided to click on the zodiac link and it brought me to a page where you could see your compatibility with other zodiac signs. I enter his (Aries) and mine (Gemini), and this is what came up…
Airy Gemini makes your fire burn brighter, Aries. In fact, this may seem like a match made in heaven – and it might just be if you can keep your impulsive nature in check. You get bored easily, needing fresh, new experiences often. The problem is, while you’re out there looking for excitement, your Gemini probably isn’t sitting home and waiting around for you. When your search turns up nothing, and you finally return because you’ve realized your Gemini lover is all you need (and you probably will), they might just tell you they’ve found someone else.
This is so true in so many ways.
He would often push me away, and there were two incidents (before The Final One) where he did/said something that pissed me off to the point where I didn’t want to talk to him. The first incident wasn’t so bad and we continued on as if nothing ever happened. The second time, he sent me a really nasty email that I know he regretted later. When we started to talk again he said he “gets weird sometimes”. The third time was it and we haven’t spoken since, something he initiated/wanted and something he regrets.
I say these things because I know him and I would have to decipher his little messages. This doesn’t make sense to you, I’m sure, but that’s ok.
(I wouldn’t say he was my great love, but he was certainly one of the few men I have ever cared deeply about in my love life. The title is from a Smashing Pumpkins song. I forget exactly which one, but it’s on “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” album.)
Also, before I sign off, I will be making a guest appearance (I always wanted to say that – yay!) at Mainly Random next week/sometime in the near future. So keep an eye out for my ranting about whoever has moved me to violence (not literally, folks – cockroaches make me scream, my roommate is the designated cockroach assassin) this week.
I highly recommend this book, particularly for those of you who are into history.
Huey Long was a Depression-era politician from the state of Louisiana. He made his start in politics as a member of the Louisiana Railroad Commission in 1918. He was elected governor in 1928 and then senator in 1930.
Many of the good things Huey did for the state of Louisiana was build more roads and bridges, he implemented a program that would provide free text books for all school children, expanded the public education system, he improved Louisiana State University, established scholarships for poor students, he championed a night school program to teach adults how to read, he doubled the funding for Charity Hospital in New Orleans, and he was the first governor to lift poll taxing off of the voting system in a southern state. (This was self-beneficial, of course. Poll taxing kept poor people from voting, however, wealthy people in Louisiana would pay a poor person’s poll tax so long as they voted for who the wealthy person told them to.) He also did a lot more.
Huey Long was also an important supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was seeking the nomination for President in 1932. He held together key states (namely two southern states) for Roosevelt during the 1932 Democratic National Convention and campaigned for him, as well. Roosevelt’s Vice President, John Garner, was a much stronger candidate for the nomination for President and could have gotten it had it not been for Huey. But their political union was not to be, as Huey and FDR would part after Roosevelt had been elected when FDR failed to embrace his programs.
Huey was a master of the filibuster. He once spoke for 15 hours and 30 minutes straight (he held the record for longest filibuster until J. Strom Thurmond beat him in 1957, speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957). He would often talk about how to eat a dish known as “potlikker”, recipes on how to make it, he would talk about the Constitution, and even recite Shakespeare (he had an amazing memory and only on rare occasions would need any sort of notes for his speeches).
He also helped the first woman ever elected to the US Senate, Hattie Caraway of Arkansas, win her first election. (She had taken over her husband’s seat when he had passed away.) He campaigned for her in seven days and she won by a landslide.
Huey was never able to pass a bill of his own through the Senate, however, many bills that did go through had modifications added by him and were passed with his assitance, often without credit. He also prevented many bills he viewed as harmful from being passed. (He saved your local banks.)
Huey Long died on September 10, 1935 at Our Lady of the Lake hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as a result of the shooting on September 8, 1935. It is commonly believed that his assassin was Dr. Carl Weiss, the son-in-law of Judge Benjamin Henry Pavy who was gerrymandered out of his seat due to his opposition to Huey. Another theory is that he was accidentally shot by one of his bodyguards (he had a preoccupation with being assassinated).
I could probably type for days. I only talked about the good things Huey did. While I don’t believe he would ever intentionally hurt those he was elected to represent, he did do things that were unorthodox at best. It has been said that Huey Long was the closest the United States ever came to having a dictator. He held a lot of power over Louisiana once he had a strong political machine. Even as Senator, it was commonly believed that his successor, Oscar K. Allen, would sign anything Huey put before him.
That’s what I liked best about this book. It was well researched and it was objective. This book didn’t focus on just the good things he did and it didn’t magnify only the bad. It was a balanced book. Regardless of how much you know about Huey Long, I recommend you read this book. I especially recommend it if you don’t know anything about him but would like to learn more. It’s a large book and at times it can be slow, but ultimately, it’s an interesting read, it’s informative, and it avoids bias.
It has been in the news since South Dakota began it’s crusade against abortion that other states had planned on following. The state of Georgia was one of them. This effects me in the sense that I am currently stationed in Georgia (I am a legal resident of the state of Illinois). Now, forgive me if this is old news, we all know I’ve been sequestered away from the rest of the world for far too long. However, abortion is a subject I am very much interested in as a woman, and I also feel that it’s an important choice for women to have. I forgot exactly where I ran across the bill itself, which you can view here, in my haste to rant, but that is merely a small detail.
To quote the above linked site:
The State of Georgia has the duty to protect all innocent life from the moment of conception until natural death. We know that life begins at conception. After three decades of legal human abortion, it is now abundantly clear that the practice has negatively impacted the people of this state in many ways, including economic, health, physical, psychological, emotional, and medical well-being.
Then why don’t parents-to-be get a social security number the moment they find out they’re pregnant? Why can’t they get a tax break before the baby is born?
What about the impact pregnancy and child birth has on the state? Do you mean to tell me that if they successfully pass a law outlawing abortion should Roe v. Wade be overturned that they will stop bitching about those “good-for-nothing, welfare mothers”? Will they start giving impoverished families in need of government assistance more money and not take their assitance away the minute they start making what the state sees as “too much” to be on welfare?
What about the emotional and physical impacts pregnancy has on women? Do they really want us to believe that having babies is all sunshine and rainbows and all abortion will do is ruin your life, make you sterile, give you cancer, and end up with post-tramatic stress disorder to boot?
Do they think we were dumped off of a truck in the middle of nowhere yesterday?!
Abortion isn’t the cause of Georgia’s problems.
Even if the answer to the question of when life begins were unclear, the Georgia Constitution, at Article I, Section I, Paragraph II, provides: ‘Protection to person and property is the paramount duty of government and shall be impartial and complete. No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws.’ Because a fetus is a person, constitutional protection attaches at the moment of conception. It is therefore the duty of the General Assembly to protect the innocent life that is currently being taken;
A zygote cannot live outside of my body. As long as it depends on me to survive and cannot survive outside of my body, then I have the right to decide whether I continue with the pregnancy or terminate it. I am an innocent person, as well, and I have the right to determine how I live my life.
Pregnancy should not be a punishment for a woman having sex. Men have been having sex and having fun since the world has been spinning on it’s axis and without any of the scorn experienced by women. Their poor behavior towards women and their children has been excused because “boys will be boys” for centuries and in the meantime, women have been burned at the stake for even thinking about enjoying sex. Instead, if a woman has sex and gets pregnant, she “deserves it”.
To add insult to injury, we have abstinence only programs teaching teenagers inaccurate information. They think telling teenage girls that men want a virgin and that they should wait for their knight in shining armor is enough. They think using lies and scare tactics will get them to stay a virgin, and that isn’t the case.
As a direct result of three decades of legalized abortion on demand, the nation has seen a dramatic rise in the incidence of child abuse and a dramatic weakening of family ties, with the infamous Roe v. Wade decision pitting mothers against their children and women against men;
The stupidity burns. I would laugh if they weren’t so serious. Abortion the cause of child abuse? I think not! Weakening of family ties? They’ve got to be joking! How did Roe v. Wade pit mothers against their children and women against men? Are these fucking idiots out of their minds?! (The answer to that would be: yes.)
Sexism is what pits women against men. As for women being pitted against their children – perhaps if it weren’t such an issue for a woman to get an abortion, she wouldn’t feel pitted against her children. It’s the idea that all women are meant to be mothers, that we’re all nurturing that is the problem. Not all women are going to be good mothers. Not all women want to be mothers. So long as women are misinformed about abortion, threatened by “pro-lifers” outside of clinics, or conned into visiting crisis pregnancy centers/pregnancy resource centers and then lied to about abortion they’re going to end up in negative situations, which means their children do, too.
It’s not abortion that is the root of these problems, it’s a society that believes women should be forced into pregnancy. It’s a society that believes in the rights of a zygote/embryo/fetus (z/e/f) more than it does in the rights of a woman.
Studies of the three decades since Roe v. Wade have revealed that women have been deeply wounded psychologically, with one researcher reporting that 81 percent of the women who have had an abortion had a preoccupation with an aborted child, 54 percent had nightmares, 35 percent had perceived visitation with an aborted child, and 96 percent felt their abortion had taken a human life;
Another random study showed that at least 19 percent of women who have had an abortion suffered from diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder, with 50 percent suffering from many, but not all, symptoms of that disorder, and 20 to 40 percent of the women studied showed moderate to high levels of stress and avoidance behavior relative to their abortion experience;
Approximately 60 percent of women who have had an abortion and who reported post-abortion trauma also reported suicidal tendencies with 28 percent actually attempting suicide, of whom half attempted suicide two or more times;
Lies, lies, lies, lies. What about post-partum depression? These statistics are so obviously lies that it’s sickening to see a state using them as a justification for outlawing abortion. It’s blatantly obvious that they got their information from a biased, pro-life source.
This is something that the crisis pregnancy centers/pregnancy resource centers do. They lie about the psychological effects of abortion to scare women out of having abortion.
From Rep. Harry Waxman’s July 2006 report, False and Misleading Health Information Provided by Federally Funded Pregnancy Resource Centers (PDF file):
The centers provided false and misleading information about the mental health effects of abortion. Research shows that significant psychological stress after and abortion is no more common than after birth. However, thirteen centers told the caller that the pyshological effects of abortion are severe, long-lasting, and common. One center said that the suicide rate in the year after an abortion “goes up by seven times.” Another center said that post-abortion stress suffered by women having abortions is “much like” that seen in Soldiers returning from Vietnam and “is something that anyone who’s had an abortion is sure to suffer from.” Other centers said that abortion can cause “guilt,…sexual problems,…suicidal ideas,…drug use, eating disorders,” and “a downward spiral where they lose friends and family members.”
Disgusting, isn’t it? This infomation was gathered by female investigators who would pose as a 17 year old girl who was deciding whether or not she should have an abortion. They called 25 pregnancy resource centers (all of the centers they called have received federal grants from the Compassion Capital Fund) seeking information on what to do about an unintended pregnancy.
Abortion exploits women, treating them and their children as mere property, and abortion is contrary to feminist values, and the great suffragette Susan B. Anthony referred to abortion as ‘child murder’;
So, because Susan B. Anthony refers to abortion as “child murder” it means that it is?
Abortion does not treat women as “mere property”. Abortion is a choice made by the woman. Men have viewed women as property, but are they talking about that? Are they talking about all the horrible, exploitative things men have done to women over the centuries? Sold them into the sex trade, pimped them, killed them, raped them, beat them, need I go on? Yes, there are laws against human trafficking, rape, murder, abuse. But they are not nearly as strict as they need to be. Rapists are still released from prison. Restraining orders cannot stop abusers without enforcement from the police. I could go on.
Women should not be forced into pregnancy. Period. Not all women want to have children. Woman should be allowed to have sex – and to enjoy it – without having to worry about pregnancy, and should one arise, then she should be able to opt for an abortion if that is the path she decides to take. (If she decides to include her partner in the decision, that is also her choice.)
If the state of Georgia outlaws abortion, then where is the law stating that pharmacists have to dispense birth control, regardless of their beliefs? (They should have that law anyway and not outlaw abortion.)
Thirty years of abortion on demand have resulted in an increase in breast cancer, and a study has shown that women who had an abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy before experiencing a full-term pregnancy may be at increased risk for breast cancer;
MORE LIES!!! Seriously, where do these people get this outdated information? I thought it was well circulated in the media that there is no link between breast cancer and abortion.
Again, from Rep. Harry Waxman’s report:
The centers provided false and misleading information about a link between abortion and breast cancer. There is a medical consensus that induced abortion does not cause an increased risk in breast cancer. Despite this consensus, eight centers told the caller that having an abortion would in fact increase her risk. One center said that “all abortion causes an increased risk in breast cancer in later years.” Another claimed that research shows a “far greater risk” of breast cancer after an abortion, telling the caller that an abortion would “affect the milk developing in her breasts” and that the risk of breast cancer increased by as much as 80% following an abortion.
Reading and proper research doesn’t seem to be one of Georgia’s strong suits. I mean, I found this report and many others by doing a search on Yahoo! Surely, they could have, as well. I guess it’s just easier for them to believe the lies to justify their hatred of women.
The practice of abortion has caused the citizens of this state an inestimable amount economically including, but not limited to, the costs and tax burden of having to care for individuals and their families for the conditions cited above, as well as a significant reduction of the tax base and of the availability of workers, entrepreneurs, teachers, employees, and employers that would have significantly contributed to the prosperity of this state.
So women should be forced to have children to provide the state of Georgia with a tax base? No, that isn’t sexist at all! Women should want to provide workers, teachers, employees, for the state of Georgia! Because it’s their duty as women!
Excuse me while I go barf.
Some shitsucking spammer replied to one of my entries trying to peddle his online sex toy store. Now, I have nothing against sex toys – but don’t spam in my journal, dammit! (Not that anyone reads it, anyway, which is another reason to not spam it.)
I would like to advertise some other online sex toy stores to – I hope – take some of his business away.
smittenkittenonline.com – Woman-friendly sex toy store that sells safe, high-quality products.
goodvibrations.com – Another woman-friendly sex toy store that also sells safe and high-quality products. They also have a very informative book on sex, masturbation, and more out.
I found this idea through a friend’s journal and I thought it was a good one, a very positive one. I encourage others – particularly women – to do it, too. It originates from Feministe.
We’re conditioned, particularly as women, to be self-deprecating, to not take up space, to not revel in our bodies and ourselves. We can get 150 comments in a thread about when we realized that we were aware our bodies weren’t up to snuff; let’s see how many we can generate praising ourselves.
Your mission: list at least five things you love about your body and yourself. Five is the floor; you can always do more. And no self-deprecation! No offsetting a compliment with a dig.
So, here’s what I think is great about me:
01. I love my hair color – chestnut brown with red and blonde highlights (au naturel, baby).
02. I love my great set of legs.
03. I’m intelligent.
04. I am well read.
05. I love that my pale skin doesn’t burn easily and I come out with a nice tan instead.
06. I am very determined.
07. I work very hard.
08. I’m in good physical condition.
09. I’m a good person.
10. I’ve got a great butt.
I want to buy this house. Seriously. It’s on sale for $9,000, which probably means it’s a real dump. At least, by Chicago standards. You can’t buy a cardboard box for $9,000 in Chicago. (Well, actually, you probably could, but it would be a crack box with used condoms and needles everywhere.)
Maybe you think I am crazy for seriously thinking about buying this house. I don’t even know why I want to. A cheap investment, I guess. However, that comes at a price, too. For all I know, the floors could be coated with cat shit. (And I would not buy a house without seeing it first. I wasn’t dumped off a truck in the middle of nowhere yesterday.)
I don’t know when I would really get the chance to see the house. I suppose on my way back down to Georgia I could swing by and check it out. I’ll definately talk with the realtor at least and see if they’re honest enough to tell me what’s wrong with it.
In all seriousness, I probably won’t buy it even if it is in decent shape (I imagine there will at least be some issues with it – at the very best – considering it was built in 1900). All kinds of issues come up with that. It would be long distance ownership, first of all. With that comes the problem of leaving it vacant – which leaves it open for squatters and all kinds of trouble no place I own needs. If I rent it, how will I interview the people? Seeing them would be a better way to interview them than over the phone. (I suppose I could go through an agency or a realtor that deals with helping landlords rent their places, but then you have to give them a percentage, and I don’t know if I’m totally willing to do that.) The second problem – and probably the most important one – I don’t want to live in the state. (In fact, I’ve only driven through it like, once with my father when I was around the age of seven or so. Location will not be revealed, so don’t ask. And I won’t even begin to tell you how I came about looking at property in a state I barely remember driving through. You probably think I’m crazy enough as it is.)
Anyhow.
I do want to buy property (as in land). Just buy it and let it sit. Maybe nothing will ever come of it, maybe something will. But at least I’ll own land!
Did I ever mention how much I love to shop? Well, I do. I have my moments of cheapness where I will tell myself that I don’t need it and won’t buy it. Then, I’ll have my moments of extreme weakness and splurge and blow $109 on a pair of Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses (they’re wonderful). I dropped $200 on a single pearl on a sterling silver chain from Tiffany & Co. I didn’t even think twice about it. (I don’t regret it, though, I hardly have any jewelry and what I do have is cheap.)
Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Prada, Christian Dior, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, MAC, Victoria’s Secret, Tiffany & Co. etc. You name it, I more than likely love it. I’ve got enough perfumes to last me a lifetime. I buy make-up like it’s going out of style and then hardly ever wear it (that seems to be changing, though, since I’ve returned from Afghanistan). I buy lingerie that I haven’t worn in ages because I don’t have that Special Someone to wear it for.
If only I can afford Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo, Prada, and company. I have perfume from Prada, Gucci, Christian Dior, Versace, Perry Ellis and then some, but beyond my extensive designer perfume collection (because I won’t wear cheap perfume), my pearl necklace from Tiffany’s, and my pair of Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses, I don’t have much designer stuff. There is the side of me that says BUY IT! But then, the cheapskate (and perhaps the side of me with common sense) manages to stop me. I think it’s only a matter of time before I just throw caution to the wind and splurge on something too expensive for my bank account or credit card’s own good (and my own).
I never used to be like this. Something about me has changed. I mean, I’ve always liked nice/designer stuff – the punk rocker in me died sometime toward the end of high school. I’ve just never had the urge to buy it. I would see a $50 price tag on a shirt or dress and look away. But now I can hardly resist the urge to spend $575 on a pair of Manolo Blahnik sandals? That’s my car payment (well, I pay about $200 more than I’m supposed to). And what kind of car do I drive?
This wouldn’t be such a big deal if I were rich. I wouldn’t have any qualms if I had the money to spend a grand on a black Dolce & Gabbana Jackie dress. I wouldn’t bother to think twice about spending $1300 on a Chloe swing jacket.
Not the biggest problem in the world here. I’m just wondering where this has all come from, honestly. There was a day when I didn’t even know who half of these designers were nor did I care about their clothing, shoes, purses, perfumes, etc. Now, all of the sudden, it’s all I want.
Maybe someday, but I won’t be holding my breath.
Well, for starters there looks to be a slight chance that this registration hoopla can all be sorted by next week.
The day started off horribly. My mom tried to get ahold of the new person at the dealership while I tried to get ahold of someone at the DMV in Atlanta, Georgia. She didn’t have any luck, as the person she was trying to get ahold of (who inherited this problem when the dealership was sold and she came to work there, so none of this is really her fault) was at lunch. I was on hold for 15 minutes only to have to give them the vehicle identification number twice and then find out that my car was never registered in the state of Georgia.
So where was it registered?
The woman my mom has been dealing with for the last month finally called back about 45 minutes later. My mom explains the situation that has come up and that’s when we find out that the vehicle had been titled and was originally from North Carolina. They have been waiting for the title, which takes them a pathetic 15 days to process and then send – 15 business days, that is. So, with the holidays, it has taken a sad amount of time.
I was really, really unhappy with them. I fucking loathe the assholes who owned the dealership previously – as they are the ones at fault for it. I’m feeling a little better, as the woman my mom was dealing with said that she would call North Carolina on the 16th and see what is happening with the title and see if she can get them to expedite the process.
I feel mildly bad for contacting the Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs. Perhaps we put the cart before the horse on that one, but it didn’t look like the new management/ownership was doing anything about the problem, either. We’ll see if I get the North Carolina title by next week (or at least before I leave) so I can register my vehicle. Then, I’ll make a note in my letter (as I have to write one) that the fault was with the previous management.
Anyway, that ate up a good chunk of the day. In hindsight, it pisses me off that we wasted so much of our time on it, but whatever.
Mom and I went on a little shopping excursion in Chicago after looking at some condos. I’m not much of a downtown girl, as I’ve always hung around the Wrigleyville area, so we got a little lost. We got off the El way before we should have and ended up being really far from where we wanted to be. Worse, I wore my healed boots and my feet were killing me by the end of the day.
We were looking for this store that sells bath products, called H20 Plus. The last time we went to their store before I deployed, they had a boutique that you could walk into from the street. We couldn’t find it, so we called information. They gave us an address and we took a cab there. We couldn’t find it, because we’re looking for a boutique on the street, we didn’t know it was inside the building. Called information back, spoke to a different person, and found out that there were two locations. We were at the correct one for one of them – but not the one we wanted (the boutique one that you can walk in from the street is on LaSalle).
We get into the mall, only to find they are closed. I am a little mad about this. I did not just walk all around downtown Chicago to the point of severe pain in my feet to not buy a single damn thing. Much to my great fortune, the good people at L’Occitane were open. I blew a good $70 there. Well worth it, though I’ll be kicking myself later when I get that credit card statement (that already is too high).
When we got home I immediately tried out my Extra Gentle Foaming Cream Bath. It was so relaxing and it left my skin feeling so soft, thanks to the shea milk that’s in it. It also smells wonderful. After my shower I tried my Cleansing Water which is for the face – also wonderful. I’m looking forward to using my Dry Skin Hand Cream with my moisturizing gloves before bed.
It’s been a long day. But I’d rather walk 15 blocks in Chicago in heeled boots than 15 blocks in Afghanistan.
Filed under: airports & travel, blah blah blah, converting, drama, judaism, military, rants
Must all bad things come in threes?
Before I went on leave, I spoke to my unit’s chaplain about converting to Judaism and while he seemed a little more supportive than my chain of command, he wasn’t much. He said he would check with the Jewish chaplain on post, but he didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with merely receiving BAS and then not having a place to cook the food.
I just don’t understand why everything has to be such a struggle in the military (or at least the Army). Why must they make everything so hard? Asking to receive BAH to live off post due to the dietary practices of the religion I’m trying to convert to is not asking too much. They act as if I’m expecting them to pay me BAH out of their pockets!
I won’t even entertain the insanely stupid thought of “you’re getting something someone else isn’t”. I’m also giving up a lot of things that others don’t have to, as well. Also, let’s not forget about the military and it’s “convenience marriages” (basically people who get married for the benefits of being married in the military). And they wonder why the divorce rate is so high in the military. Yeah, the lifestyle isn’t easy on either spouse, whether they’re dual military or one is a civilian, but that’s really beside the point.
But I’m getting sidetracked. The sad thing is, I wouldn’t be given any shit about getting BAH if I were to just go out and find someone and get married.
Anyway.
I’m at home on leave now. The trip from Georgia to Charlotte wasn’t bad, but the two hour flight from Charlotte to Chicago was pure hell. For the first hour of the flight I was forced to listen to a poor kid screaming his lungs out while his mother sat there and just stared at him and occasionally said “shh” to him and maybe touched him. I felt bad for the kid. I went to the bathroom and passed her and her screaming child and she was just sitting there letting him scream his head off. I was fortunately able to move to the back of the plane where I could hardly hear him screaming. Around that time the idiot finally decided to get off of her ass and address the situation (maybe someone said something to her, I don’t know) with her whaling kid and the minute she picked him up and started to walk around with him he stopped crying. Not a single noise. I felt bad for the kid, he couldn’t help it – nor could he help that his mother didn’t want to tend to his needs. (People seriously need to read Erikson if they’re going to employ the “ignore the crying” tactic and fully understand it. Yes, there are the cries for attention and all that jazz, but an airplane isn’t the place to do such a thing.)
You might think I am being too harsh on the mother. Whatever. I don’t think it’s asking too much of her to at least try to comfort her child. Had she, then I would have been sympathetic – sometimes there is just nothing you can do at the moment to calm them down. That, however, was nowhere near the case.
I mean, seriously people. This flight was worse than the five hour flight from Kuwait to Afghanistan on a C17. The flight that I took to go home on post-deployment leave beats the flight I took to get to my country of deployment as The Worst Flight Ever. I thought that would be near impossible to beat.
The first of many good points of the day – meeting my mom at the baggage claim. I was so happy to finally see her, there are no words. I cried a little, I admit it. Big sap here. She cried too, but I knew she would. She cried when I came home for leave after I graduated from Advanced Individual Training (AIT).
We decided to take a side trip on the El to the Thompson Center’s Secretary of State office (aka Department of Motor Vehicles) to transfer my plates from my old vehicle to my new one. My mother had been dealing with this giant mess since I deployed. I thought going to the Secretary of State office in person would solve all of my problems. I was beyond wrong.
We get there and thing start off smoothly. I pay the tax on my vehicle without a problem (that almost seems like a given). Then, before I can get my new plates (we were informed it would be cheaper to just get new ones instead of transfering the old ones), I had to see the auditor. Turns out, I couldn’t even transfer my plates if I had wanted to because I didn’t have the title. I don’t know about you, but this seems utterly stupid to me. I financed the vehicle, so there is a lienholder – the only time I should ever see the title is when I pay my loan off or I trade the vehicle in. Well, apparently in the state of Illinois, you have to have the title (at least when it comes to vehicles purchased outside of the state, which mine was). Whiskey, tango, foxtrot, over?
Enter the other problem – no one has seen this mysterious title, not even the lienholder. That has been a problem since day one. The dealership said that they were going to take care of all of the registration with the state of Illinois (which they didn’t do). No one, it seems, has ever seen this title.
Now, how do I know they didn’t deal with the registration/transfer of plates? My plates expired at the end of December of 2006, and they were registered to my old vehicle the entire time. Had they actually sent the stuff they were supposed to (which I also paid for, by the way), it would at least show up in the computer system as registered to my new car, and the only problem would be that I didn’t have the paperwork for it.
It’s a mess. A complete and total mess. I have no idea how I am going to get my vehicle registered so that I can drive it – not only here, but back down to Georgia. If I can’t get new plates, I’m screwed.
Needless to say, I’m really pissed off about it.
The day ended on a good note, though. I opened all the packages of stuff I ordered while deployed and had sent to my mom’s house. Tried everything I ordered from Victoria’s Secret on and everything fit perfectly except for a sweater (too big), which kind of pissed me off. Oh well, I’ll try to return it for a different size.
