What's that say about me?: February 2006

Monday, February 13, 2006

When arrows don't penetrate,Cupid gets a pistol.

February 14th. My very good friend Tekoa and I have been talking about this a lot lately, mainly because she's the only one who will give my opinion any weight on the subject. I'm in a great relationship with a wonderful person- and this blog doesn't apply to us at all. I wouldn't have it any other way. I know, single people out there are probably going to be outraged because I have somebody. It's already been mentioned to me that I have no right to complain- but I'm going to anyway. You see, I really can be against something on principle and not just out of anger. I mean no disrespect to St. Valentine and I'm sure that everyone always blogs about the same thing, but I feel the need to bitch about the ridiculousness.
I am not against the idea of giving your girlfriend/boyfriend presents. I am not against holding hands and going out to dinner, I am not against flower deliveries, jewelry or treating your partner like they're more precious than gold. What I am against is this- only doing it one day of the year. "Hello Sweetheart, Let's love each other today the way we should be loving each other everyday!" It's ridiculous. I'm never going to be with someone because we have good, loving Valentine's Days . I'm never going to be with someone because we have good, loving Saturdays. It has to be good all the time- even when it's bad. Make sense?

Now, courtesy of Tekoa and I, here's why Christmas and Valentine's day are alike.
Church. Women and Men everywhere must understand what a church goes through around the holidays. Just because the date says Feb14 or Dec25 doesn't mean you can rush out, spend some time where you usually don't go and expect the best. Churches and Partners are the same. If you're not doing it anyway, you shouldn't be doing it on holidays. Chances are your church and partner notice.
Shopping. Dear God, give me any two other holidays where people can go out in public, act like complete fucking morons, treat every person they encounter like crap and then roll on home and act like they are God's gift to their families and partners. Give me a break. A bouquet of flowers, box of chocolates or diamond bracelet will not make up for what a shitty person you obviously have hiding underneath that polished exterior. Unless you work in retail, you do it too. The "Hurry! I'm late! It's Valentine's Day and I'm late!" or "It's Christmas, I don't have time for this." Hi, It's valentine's day and I'm working. Hi,It's Christmas and I'm still working. So shut up and plan ahead next year. Or, better yet- buy someone something when it isn't mandated by Hallmark and Russell Stover. This is what we like to call thinking out side the (candy)box.
Holier Than Thou Attitidues. This one is going to get me into trouble and it might be a little hard to follow, but seriously. (Let me disclaim and say that this does not apply to everyone, but I have known a few in my day.) People who are only nice to their partners on Valentine's day are like people who won't work on Sundays because of religious reasons....And because it's their night to get drunk. Of course they tell you this after bad mouthing everyone at school/work/home and then turn down covering a shift for someone who has a funeral or surgery or something. "I'm sorry. I can't help you out in your time of need, Jesus says so."

So, as a general rule, please stop using Valentine's Day as make up for the love&decency exam you've been failing everyday of the year, and stop using God as a get out of jail (and work) free card. Because before you know it, Jesus, God and St. Valentine are going to come a-knocking; and if I were you, I wouldn't want to be home.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

You are going to get so sick of seeing my amateur photos of this dog.

Friday, February 10, 2006

I'm sorry, what kind of 'science'?

On Thursday nights I have a three hour "Introduction to Interpreting"class that runs until 10pm. It's held in room 2 of a building on my campus, a room that happens to be a lecture hall although there are only 14 students in my class. This particular room is very strange, it's between 2 bathrooms and the school's planetarium. Stairs right outside the door lead either up to another building, or down to a different building. I guess you have to see the campus for this to make sense. It's built very very oddly. Almost all of the buildings connect to other buildings so that you can usually find a way to never walk outside if you have a good sense of direction and a lot of extra time. The whole campus kind of creeps me out, which brings me to my next thought. It's 830pm and my class is taking a break, I've been up since 4am, I'm tired and I have to pee. A sign on the door 2 feet from my class tells me that the bathrooms are closed due to water pressure. No, it doesn't say what kind- it doesn't tell me if the toilets are going to not flush at all or explode under me. It does, however say "Please use restrooms in E,F,G,H,I,J and K buildings."Easy enough, right?So many options. Except I have the sense of direction of a lemming and I'm running on two hours of sleep and even those two hours feel like days ago. I figure- hey, I'll just walk until I get to another building. So I start down the stairs. Lo and behold! Toilet!...With a sign that says "Please use restrooms in F,G,H,I,J and K buildings." Notice the conspicuously missing 'E' on that sign. So I go back to my class and head up the stairs. It looks promising. There are people around, none of them look bathroom deprived. Sure the hallway is a little creepy and dark, but show me one place in Catonsville that isn't. Everyone's calm and studying or chatting quietly and I'm thinking "Wow, this must be a nice major." It's then that I look at what building I'm in. My heart almost freaking stops. I have somehow found myself right smack dab in the middle of the mortuary sciences and wildlife sciences building. As soon as I read those words I imagine cadavers on gurneys and half-sewn together taxidermy deer chasing me down the hallway. One of the deer is yelling "This is not a place for ASL majors. Be Gone, BE GONE!"I have a ridiculously over active imagination, especially when I'm scared. At this point I'm getting strange looks from the mortuary sciences majors (ba dum bum) because I have stopped 'dead' in my tracks and am sweating and turning white, I'm sure. So I turn and high-tail it out of their little (under)world as quickly as possible. Then, after being scared nearly crapless (Nearly. Remember, no toilet?) I have to take my ass all the way to the library-the only other place on campus I know- to use their bathrooms. Who goes to the library to use the bathroom? Anyway, the point is that I'm really weird and not in the cute, oh, look at that different neat person way. I'm weird in the eccentric okay, we'll let her sit alone for the semester way. Which is fine. I talk to people all day long at work, people who probably couldn't care if I were to live or die in the next 5 minutes (Did I just see some mortuary sciences major's ears perk up?) So I'm totally okay with being left to my own devices at school. I'm taking on a very "I'm not here to make friends" attitude not only with school, but also with the new store I'm transferring to. Is this really necessary or am I just worried that if I try to make more friends I'll fail just as miserably as I am without trying? Hmmmmm. Please understand that this blog isn't written with even the tiniest hint of sadness, as making friends is not something I'm worried about at all. I'm lucky enough to have friends who are a lot like me in the way that I can hang out with most of my friends all the time and we don't get sick of one another. I'm just musing and saying that I'm really strange, even if I don't necessarily present myself that way. This blog has gotten very long and out of control. So I'm going to leave. You know what they say about ASL interpreters? They never die, they never leave... They just sign off.