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Friday, October 31, 2008

Bits, Pieces and the like

I swear I tend to do most of my blogging when my coworkers are away, instead of at home. That's what happens when your ish-ness is all together before Friday rolls around!

So I am by myself here in the office. Coworker A is on a trip (work-related, but I don't see how a 3-hour car drive can take an entire weekend, and have her miss three days of work for it!) and Coworker B doesn't work Fridays, but will be in with me tomorrow for a study visit.

Today I'm wearing my Harry Potter shirt, in honor of Halloween. On the front it says "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." (For those who aren't insane Potter fanatics, it's what you say to get the Marauder's Map, a map that tells where EVERYONE is, to work). On the back it says "Mischief Managed" (How you close the map). Everyone so far has gotten a chuckle, so I may go with holiday-and-event-themed T-shirts. And why not? I had a T-shirt for the JDRF walks, for when I had to participate in them, and now this. I swear, Tuesday, I'm coming in with my "Vote For Pedro" shirt!

Speaking of politics, I cannot WAIT until this is all over. Between having to hear about the presidential candidates at nausea for the past, what, two and a half YEARS and then the Prop. 8 nonsense, I am so done!

Proposition 8, for those not in the know, is to create an amendment in the California Constitution to keep marriages between a man and a woman. Now, don't get me wrong; I am totally all-pro-gay. Some of my best friends were/are gay. I have nothing against the lifestyle and find this particular cohort to be some of the most accepting people on the planet. However, I have a lot going against me.

Being a Latter-Day Saint, we are taught that marriage is between a man and a woman and that one of our divine callings is to marry and have children so that His spirits can be on this earth. Sex out of marriage, regardless of who is engaging, is a sin and that homosexuality is a bigger sin since it involves same-gender attraction.

Although the church leaders and the prophet have said that we as Saints should do all that we can to support this constitutional amendment, basically saying we ought to vote for the amendment to happen. But I have found a lot of struggles with it.

For one, I know many LDS people (especially in my ward) who have just gone off of the deep end. They've gone door to door soliciting people for votes. They've donated lots of money to the cause. They've sent forwards saying that by not voting for this legislation, kindergarteners will be exposed to homosexual teachings and that 5-year olds will be taught about homosexuality (this despite the superintendent of schools saying that is simply not true). The worst was when, during fast and testimony meeting, the majority of my ward bore their testimony of Prop. 8. Fast and Testimony meetings are meant to show your thankfulness to Heavenly Father and his Son for all that They have done for you, not to talk about the latest efforts in a political agenda.

At first I thought I was alone with this. On message boards and at church I am/was considered an outcast because I refused to ignore and cast aside those living this lifestyle. In a stake conference (when a bunch of wards, or congregations, meet in one super-meeting of sorts) a regular church member went to the pulpit and said that we should cast aside our friends and family who do not live a lifestyle like our own. WHAT???? That's horrible!!! I mean, my family consists of wonderful, helpful, productive members of society but, according to this man, I have to shun my oldest sister because she doesn't want to get married, or my brother and older sister because they drink. Although he's quitting, my dad's a smoker of 50+years and both he and my mom drink coffee. So I need to shun them? I think he's GREATLY mistaken!

But I digress... back to Prop. 8

So I feel like a leper. I understand what the church is TRYING to say, and I feel like I ought to vote for 8, but something's missing. I feel for these people and their agency.

But appparently I'm not alone.

I was at the church bookstore one day during lunch and the clerk and I got into a lengthy discussion. I was purchasing books by Carol Lynn Peterson, a great LDS author who has a first-person perspective of the "gay lifestyle". She met her husband after his mission at BYU, and they had four children together. I believe she was carrying baby #4 when her husband came out of the closet for good (he had struggled with homosexual tendencies) and they stayed close friends until his death in the late 80s from AIDS. I had bought her memoirs of this time period (Goodbye, I Love You) as well as the Setting The Record Straight book on Homosexuality, and so naturally Prop 8 came up. She told me about a dear family friend who was like an older brother to her and how much she loved having him and his partner in her life as well as her (now ex) husband's. She had the same feelings that I did: That she would vote Yes because the Prophet and the brethren said to, but that she did not feel like going door-to-door to condemn homosexuality was something she could personally do. I was surprised. There's someone ELSE with the same struggle! In a way, I felt validated in my feelings (after all, if someone else is having them...) and it helped clarify some things for me.

In all honesty, I still am not sure I'll vote at all for this. I've been trying to come to terms as to WHY to vote for it, and when I tell myself to just say yes, that still small voice keeps telling me "You need to look into it more before you say yes. Keep looking." So there's still a small piece of the puzzle missing.

Well, I've spent more time on this than I care to admit. I am going back to "work" now. I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween and be sure to save me the peanut butter cups

Monday, October 20, 2008

Slightly Fed Up...

... With insensitive, stupid people.

So, I admit, I'm not the easiest person to get along with at times, but this past weekend was too much for my little system.

For the most part, in a friendship (or any relationship, really) I don't always call/email/text at random because I am afraid to be a bother to people. I don't like calling at an inappropriate time, and try to avoid this. However, this last weekend was too much.

I realize, friends, that sometimes I get to be difficult to catch. It's the result of having to work 50+ hours a week in addition to take care of critters, husband, and house, but if it is something that you truly need me for, I try to be the first one to help out. However, this last weekend, I have been blown off by so many, I'm ready to go back to the middle of Colorado and camp out by NORAD.

It wouldn't be such a blow to my ego, except this happened ALL WEEKEND from MANY different people, people I considered family or friends. Oddly enough, my own family members have been the more "there" for me this weekend, which isn't something they often do for a wide variety of reasons.

So, this is a notice to all: I'm done. It's fine if you still want to be friends, but I'm going completely hands off now. I hate this one-sided friendship thing, where I'll drop a line, make a comment, etc and get ignored. I feel like a stalker, and I know I'm not.

So now I am accepting applications for new friends. Doesn't take much in terms of time or commitment. I just need someone to throw ideas at on occassion, and I am willing to reciprocate however I can. Just let me know if you have an interest.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Viva Las Vegas

So we made it home from Las Vegas in one piece (although we did come home REALLY late) and life is crazy to say the least.

I didn't get to sleep until late (like, 3 AM!) and woke up around 7-ish because I had to return the car. I stuck around long enough to finish some paperwork, listen to The Pseudo-boss of me complain and bicker, and get my time card squared away. I get a day off this week though, and I'm hoping for Friday!

Also, we came home to work-related nonsense, and not just my own. Jeff's supervisors are suspending him temporarily for something that has NOTHING TO DO with him. Others stole from the store and because he is an AGM (Assistant General Manager) he was written up and suspended. They'll let him know their "decision" on Thursday. Mine is to jump ship. I mean, he's had to deal with the nonsense of work for about a year now, and it's insane that they're blaming him for something he didn't have anything to do with.

But enough of that... on to the happiness.

We're actually considering moving to Vegas after this weekend. The houses out there were GORGEOUS and much for affordable than anything we can find in California. It's totally something we want to consider, if not now, in the future.

The work stuff went well too. We only worked about half of the day on Saturday (The walk was cut short due to the cold weather), and on Sunday I got to do home visits with a local phlebotomist. We had about 30 people screened, which is a lot, and made the trip well worth it, work-wise.

In terms of fun, we had TONS! Jeff seemed to really love the Coca Cola and the M&M store. We came home with loads of toys and candies and souvenirs.

We didn't just shop like crazy, though. We also went to go see Cirque du Soleil: Love. That's the one with the Beatles music. It was so awesome! It was kind of hard to pay attention to the "plot" but the music and acrobatics were wonderful.

I've got oodles of photos to post (once I figure this thing out) and I'll have to share them with the cyber-verse.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good: I depart from Vegas in less than 48 hours! I'm way excited, and super happy that I'm starting to feel much better. No fever anymore, still some coughing and hacking (enough to disturb my coworkers; thank goodness for Purell!) and a little fatigue, but I'm generally lazy anyway. I can't wait! I want to go to the M&M store, the Coke store, the Vegas temple... the works!

The Bad: My trip to Bakersfield was cancelled. I keep telling everyone I was "about halfway down". The truth of the matter was that I had overslept and instead of leaving at 8 like we intended, I WOKE UP at 8! We didn't end up leaving until after 9, and by 9:15 I got the call saying it was cancelled because the worker whom I was meeting down there forgot the consent forms (can't draw blood without permission, huh?). So I basically got to rent an '08 Jetta on Saturday for free. It worked out because I got to "watch" conference, go to the church bookstore, and drive the car around on The University's dime. It worked out, too, because I was still pretty hacky and cough-y (Are those even words?)

The Ugly: I didn't really get to watch Conference too much. Unfortunately, we slept through most of it, although we did catch the majority of the first session. Thank goodness for DVRs! Now we'll just have to set aside some time to WATCH them!

Well back to work...

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Mmmmm.... CAKE!!

Yes, that's what I've got going on at my desk right now. I went and got hospital chocolate cake and milk, and am just pigging out at my desk. My life's so hard, huh?

I didn't really get a lunch so I'm taking the break to write a bit on the blog. I'm actually impressed with how much I've kept up with this thing. Let's see how long it lasts.

Yesterday was a clinic day, and I have to say it was a kind of touching clinic day. Without breaking confidentiality (or HIPAA for that matter) I visited with an out-of-town family. While their preschool-aged daughter did have Type 1, she also was having these horrible tremors. It broke my heart because when I first saw her on the bed, she was about the size of a toddler, not a school-aged child! She was also shaking so much, but as soon as I walked in, she stood up on her bed and held her arms out to me. I got closer and she was hugging and kissing me the whole time I talked to her folks about the studies we were doing.

I was amazed. Here was this little child with all sorts of problems, but she was happy as a clam, just needing a little hug and kiss. I had to keep my distance, as I'm getting over a cold, but she totally made my afternoon.