Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Sound Of Freedom

Last night my little chihuahua was getting really excited and running around the yard every time I let him out.  He was so distracted that he wasn't getting his business done and kept asking to go back out, over and over.
He's only 4 months old and sometimes still needs me to go out with him and keep him focused on the job at hand.
Finally I stepped out into the cold, clear night and realized what was going on.
I live about 3 miles from a gun range.  I rarely hear anything at all from this range.
But last night there was a clear and constant barrage of bullets that although not loud was certainly noticeable.
I often get a heart swell when I hear that sound.  It reminds me of what so many have fought for and died for.  Just like my little dog, there is not any real fear but a kind of emotional excitement that fills me inside.
I went out with the dog and stood in the cold and listened for a long time.
The sound of freedom is beautiful indeed.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Anecdotal Truths- First Edition

I keep hearing about how much better things are getting- how the economy is turning upward and housing is coming back.
I would love to believe that.  I really would.
I would love to SEE it even more. 

I'm tired of watching people I know suffer without enough work to live a decent life.  I'm weary of hearing friends mention how they have cut their budgets to the bone and then some emergency like a leaky roof comes along and they end up in financial tatters.

An incident the other day got me to thinking about all of this: the strange inequity between the public message that everything is going great and getting better- maybe slowly but definitely improving, and the stuff that I see and hear with my own senses on a daily basis. 

I have decided that I would like to know what real people that I interact with regularly and respect their ability to tell me the truth have to say on this subject.  I am going to make a point of talking about this to everyone I know.  I am going to get to the bottom of this; especially since I know that real journalism is dead.  (I mean who doesn't know that for sure by now, since we have proof by the mere fact that nobody bothered to check out this 'girlfriend' of Manti T'eo and her tragic story?  A tiny bit of actual investigative journalism and nobody would have been fooled at all.  But really blind adoration of celebrity-like figures is the order of the day, is it not?)

So here's what happened last Friday that set me off:  I did a little early birthday shopping for myself at the local Macy's store.  I had a coupon they send for $10 off a purchase of $30 and they were having a clearance sale.  I found a couple of items and went to the cashier.  She seemed really excited to see me and told me I was her first sale of the day.  It was 3 'o clock in the afternoon!  I was spending all of $25, with tax.  Now, maybe I should not have been surprised since I landed a really good parking spot and it was really dead in the store for a Friday afternoon.  However, the next thing she said just about floored me.  When I expressed my surprise at being the first sale of the day, the clerk went on to tell me that every other transaction she had done today was for a return!  I wanted to tell her she better start looking for other work, but I didn't have the heart to do it.

Over the weekend, my awareness was up to this idea of contrasting media portrayal of the economy and my own reality and I noticed a headline in the paper touting that internet traffic on real estate sites was up 38%.  Wow, somebody should tell my neighbors who have been trying to sell their house for the last 8 months.  People ought to be busting their door down!  Turns out the story behind the headline clarified that nothing has really come of the internet traffic, but real estate professionals are feeling more hopeful.  Oh boy!

And finally, tonight I was at the local shoe store.  Again with a coupon- this time looking to buy new shoes that can take the beating of my 'on my feet all day' job and yet still look decent.  Those are hard to come by, so I asked the saleswoman for some help.  We got to talking and she told me all about how the store had been robbed a few days ago and how that was becoming more and more common.  She said the thieves were often brazen enough to put the shoes on their feet and walk right out the door while other customers were being helped.  She said stuff like this never used to happen, but it seems to her that people just feel 'entitled' to have whatever they want.  I couldn't help but to inquire about how her store sales were going.  She told me they were just OK.

I am going to be diligent and continue to look at and ask about business in my area.  I am curious as to what y'all are seeing in your neck of the woods.  For once, I hope that I am alone in what I am experiencing.  Do please tell me what you've seen and heard yourself.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Clarification

As my previous post indicated, I have been mulling some things over.

Image by pinkblue at freedigitalphotos.net 


I agree with most of you, that there is not a whole lot that I can personally do to change anyone's mind about politics and where this country is headed.  I can inform should I choose to do so.  I can answer questions if they are asked in a real way- not the good old 'let's back the stupid idiot who actually thinks I care about their viewpoints into a corner and rip them to shreds' way that I have found only liberals have mastered.

I should probably not get into it too deeply with those (that I am mostly surrounded by) on the left because it will only serve to hurt my sensibilities and I will not have accomplished much of anything.  Sad, but true...

I had pretty much decided with the New Year that I would try hard to right things in my life that I would like to change and let go of some more of the things that I cannot change no matter how hard I try-  including stopping my bad habit of sitting back and taking it way too often when I am abused by leftist people who feel completely justified in their lack of understanding of anyone who doesn't think exactly as they do.  Not to mention their disgusted reactions when you bother to inform them that you are one of 'those people' who might actually have another opinion.

It is true that until the crap hits the fan and their pocket books, I am only hurting myself by trying to save anyone from anything.  Hmmm... sounds a lot like what I did with my sister for years.  Not productive at any rate.  It's time to stop beating my head against the wall and all that....

So, in the interest of being honest I want to clarify something that has not come across clearly.  I think this happened because I have let the current political climate get to me and am afraid of making anyone feel bad or not like me because I have become one of those 'evil rich people'.  While I am neither evil or rich (yet- we will certainly be proud of what we have accomplished when the day comes that we can actually cop to being rich, as we believe that those who work hard enough to become rich are fulfilling the American dream and will use the money and influence they have to help others fulfill that dream as well.) I think that in today's USA the two- being evil &/or rich, seem to be interchangeable and that is just so damn sad.  My husband saw a bumper sticker proclaiming:  We are the 99% and he asked me if he should get one that reads:  I am not an NBA basketball star.  He feels as if we celebrate mediocrity today as if it is some badge of honor.  Unfortunately, I think he's right on.

Anyway.... without further ado, I shall explain. 

I Do NOT live in California.  My husband and I recently purchased a condo in Palm Springs, CA so that we can escape on a more regular basis from the nasty weather that basically defines the Pacific Northwest.  We will be lucky to be able to use our Palm Springs place for 8 weeks out of the year.  We also saw the unique opportunity that is today's lousy housing market as hopefully a one time chance for us to get into the Palm Springs market at the entry level. 

We do see California as the messed up place that it is.  My husband actually coined the phrase San Fran Sewer to describe how he feels about San Francisco and what it has become because of liberal policies.  HOWEVER, I must tell you that as for Palm Springs it serves as a little oasis in the desert when it comes to California politics.  It is truly a 50/50 split much more so than the western part of the northwest where we are actually residents.  I know that may seem shocking.  We have also noticed that our bills from the PS condo contain many less frivolous taxes and lower rates for utilities than here at home! 

Until you have lived in the Seattle area you cannot understand the level of militant liberalism that permeates this place.  (I actually had an interesting conversation at a party the other night about how much many of us agreed that Seattle will eventually ban cars and how we all had experienced having a pedestrian bang on some part of our car because they didn't like how we were in their way!)  Yes, California does deserve the bad reputation they have, but honestly in Palm Springs it is such a unique cross of retirees and young trendy people.  It is hard to describe and feels pretty magical.  Hence, our decision to actually purchase a second home there.  That and the 350 days a year of sun- it really does this woman who is allergic to trees and mold/mildew a whole lot of good!

And until I can get to Texas, Palm Springs is the best and closest thing I can do for sun and sanity!  That and keeping up with my conservative groups (-our closest one had to join with the next county as it went under due to lack of interest; we're lucky to see a group of 50 who will admit publicly to being non-liberal around here!) and continuing to help with local political campaigns- all part of my plan to ward off the crazy!

Thanks for all the interest in my questions and thanks for all the suggestions.  I so appreciate it.  While I am worried about the future, I know I can never give up.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

What Do I Do?!

This is a serious question.  I am not kidding here.

I'm going to be upfront and honest and tell you right off the bat that I feel as if our current president is the most divisive person to have ever held the office- at least what I know of in my life time of very nearly 39 years.

So with that knowledge of where I am coming from, you could easily say that my view is biased.  I would say that is a fair perception as I believe we are all biased in one direction or another.

Dealing with that innate personal political bias has become extremely uncomfortable for me lately.

As I have mentioned before, I am literally surrounded by very liberal people.  Almost no one that I see or talk to on a regular basis is conservative in any way. 

Yes, I have been doing some soul searching about why this is so.....

All of that being said, I have found that with recent events I am now not only disgusted with the political policies of the left that I see so profoundly stealing my freedoms and ruining the country that I love so much, but I am actually starting to find the people that celebrate these developments to be completely repulsive as well.

Big questions swirl around in my head. 
1)  Questions about why I have been forced on several occasions to try and defend my pro-life stance. 
I have actually been ridiculed in group settings because I simply cannot think of a good enough reason to kill any unborn human being. 
2)  Questions about why there are not more people who think that if you earned it, you ought to be able to keep most of it.  I know so many people who are living off the government in one way or another and I am just sickened by how sad it is that these people will never rise to their full potential.
3)  Questions about what it means to believe in 'the American way'.  If the American way is disappearing, then what is the right place for me?!

I feel as if continuing to expose myself to people who I feel are abusive to my senses is wrong for me.  And yet I don't see myself as some crazy person who wants to be isolated from society. 

If I were somewhere that people were more representative of the feelings of the American people- say more of a 50/50 split, I could at least feel safe to express myself without coming off as constantly defensive.  Don't get me wrong, I have gotten pretty good at getting people to think a bit- even liberals on occasion!  But I am growing very weary of feeling like the only one in the room that sees what's going on with the current administration. 

While it's true that this has never been a perfect country, I really do believe that things are getting worse.  And I want to be around people that are part of the solution, not those who celebrate the demise and what they might get out of it for themselves.

So I ask:
Is it time for me to move on from those who have consistently been unable to hear anything other than what they want to hear?  Is it still important to try to change minds, even those you don't think can ever be changed?  Is it more productive to spend my time with people I think will be part of a solution, rather than be fooled by the demise?

I won't pretend that a person can ever feel connected to everyone on the same level and I know that we must all deal with people of all types and opinions.  I guess I am just wanting to know how much exposure is enough?!  And what should the purpose of that exposure be?!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Saturday Night With Elvis

Around here we're pretty particular about where our 'discretional entertainment funds' get spent. 
We like to make sure that we get a unique experience and preferably a memory out of our entertainment dollar.
That happened for sure on Saturday night.
We went to see our friend perform at the Seattle Elvis Invitationals!
What a riot the invitationals were- every kind of Elvis you can imagine.  Even women Elvis's, Elvis's of just about every nationality and a Christmas themed Elvis- NOELVIS!  HA!
I love supporting a friend in doing something they love and we had such a great time watching him transform into 'The King'.  He was awesome and came in 2nd place for the 2nd year in a row.
He was even better this year and performed in a new powder blue jumpsuit that was unbelievable in its detail and authenticity.
Get out there and do something fun and different!  You won't regret it.
And check out last years performance from our friend.  He is amazingly good at this Elvis impersonating thing!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

The Answers And Peace That I Need

As I stared at a blank screen for the longest time, I went back to view my blog and found a new comment on my last post.  The comment was from Loretta and it got me out of my funk and into finally writing this post that really I guess I have just been avoiding and yet I so need to write.

So I'll start with this:  Christmas was probably the best one we have had around here in at least a few years.  There was no family drama requiring a visit from the sheriff- Ha!  We were blessed to get our gifts early in the form of our fun new puppy and our Palm Springs condo.  I even took a chance and told Santa about how much I want to move to Texas.  He made no promises, but hey it never hurts to try!  We also received some of the best surprise news that we could ever have gotten when we found out that my husband passed his latest actuarial exam- which we were totally NOT expecting.  Yes, one of those exams that require study of at least 300 hours of stuff like this:

With the passage of this particular exam, it puts my husband in a very good position to be a real live actuary by November of this year!!!!!!  We never thought he would pass so quickly as this exam is one many people get stuck on and take over and over.  And really, he just didn't have a good feeling about it.  What a fabulous and welcome surprise.  This also means that as soon as he gets his credential, I will get to start those pilot lessons I've said that I am meaning to take!

So many wonderful things....  My heart is just full of thankfulness.  I can't believe how blessed we are during such a time of turmoil all around us- in the world, in our country and right here at home.

You see, I don't want to seem ungrateful.  I strive to be content and yet grow in life.  I know we ought not dwell on the things that are not as we would like and that many things are out of our control as human beings. 

And yet some things are too big to ignore. 

My sister is still in jail.  I have discovered that she is in need of more help and rehabilitation than I ever imagined.  She is addicted to every form of bad behavior and wrong choice that there is.  She is a very sad and sick person that has destroyed so much for so many.

She has been offered a combination of incarceration/rehab/work release of 3 years and is otherwise facing 5-10 years in prison.  She still believes she can somehow 'beat the system' and has refused the 3 year deal.

I am trying hard to swallow the fact that I actually agree with her in that she should not take the 3 year deal.  I don't think she should take it because I feel that she needs a lot LONGER in custody to keep society at large safe and to give herself any chance at all of actually changing her life for the better.

I can't help feeling like a big ol' bitch of an older sister who has so much in this life and yet would wish her little sister such a tough row to hoe.  I don't mean it that way and I know in my heart that people understand that. 

I need to look at this as an opportunity to expand my vision of what positive change can be. 

And I will. 

In time, I will accept whatever is meant to be for my sister and I will put it all into proper perspective as soon as my heart allows. 

Image found at: posterenvy.com

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