Word of the Day = COURTESY

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Or are they?

I would say the wordS of the day COMMON COURTESY, but there is nothing common about courtesy anymore. Today I was witness to several acts of DIScourtesy when courtesy would have been sufficient and all parties (namely me) would have walked away feeling good.

One instance I witnessed was several days ago when a gentleman (loosely used term) was blocking an aisle with his grocery cart and another lady was behind him (no not me) waiting patiently to move on. The man says "you are just going to have to go around". I could not believe it. First of all he was blocking any passage through or around. Second of all that was just down right rude. The lady handled it very well and just said, "I certainly will". If I had not been working I would have said something to him and physically moved his basket out of the way. Since I was working I just made a noise as I passed him that sounded sort of like "tsk tsk".

Okay now today. One "person" told me I did not know what I was doing. Told me I was dumb, and asked if there was someone else that new how to do my job. All of this while I was trying my best to be nice and explain how aspect ratio works when enlarging pictures and how some pictures just cannot be enlarged to certain sizes without distorting them or leaving blank spaces on the sides. I was very proud of myself for keeping my cool and finding "simple" terms this person could understand. I really do not think they understood but after taking their insults and me still being patient and nice, they settled down. Believe me it took a lot for me to keep my temper in check. This was one time when I wish "Kill them with kindness" was a literal term and not a figurative one.

Then there is the person with the bright shiny new vehicle. It is beautiful, really, but why do you insist on taking up two parking spaces?  There is limited parking.  If you are that afraid of your shiny vehicle getting a ding....keep it in the garage and drive a POS like the rest of us! Or park it around the corner where there is an empty parking lot all to yourself.

Next, why is it so easy to be a jerk when driving? While using the on ramp to enter the loop, why can't you move over? The lane next to you was empty! I was up to speed and had to brake to fall in behind this jerk. I was praying there was no one behind me not paying attention that might plow into my rear end. I have a huge problem with the way a lot of people in san angelo drive. I am not perfect but show a little courtesy!!

Now that I have vented and explained my word of the day COURTESY, this all brings me to tomorrows word of the day JACKWAGON!!

Random weirdness or weird randomness today

It was a strange day. It started out just waiting and doing nothing much. We went to San Angelo and were rounding a corner when the car in front of us did something really weird. The driver opened the door and proceeded to throw up. Gross, I know! The thing about it was he or she did this without missing a beat or even swerving the car, while going around a curve. Ty and I looked at each other like, "did we really just see that happen?" I guess I should have been sickened by it but it was just so strange. In my 44 years I have to say I have never seen anything remotely close to that. I have seen people pull over, or men open the door and spit while stopped, or even people pouring out liquid out a door, but never while driving around a curve.

I am not sure how to take this next one. I dropped the boys with their brother in Midland and on the way back home I went through a drive through. The lady working says...."your car smells good". Those exact words. I wasn't sure if I should take that as a compliment or not. I can safely say I have never been told my car smelled good. I do have one of those hanging air fresheners, but it isn't new. It is a yankee candle coconut something. I am not sure it even smells anymore. Now I am particular about my personal hygiene but I am not sure about my car. Smelling good is a good thing. It is better than it smelling like a locker room when the boys leave their gym bag and shoes in there, but I don't regularly deodorize my car. So, I will just believe it was me she was smelling and take it as a compliment.

I know I haven't blogged in a while. It has been so crazy with work, school, and the holidays. This isn't much but I found it strangely amusing to me so I shared!

Happy New Year!!

Reality shows

I am just amazed at how many "reality" shows there are out there, and the new ones that are coming out. I am guilty of watching more than a few of these. The subject matter is rather funny for some of them, or more than some actually. The newest I have seen is about people going around buying things from old storage rooms that the people default on and the owners can then sell their stuff. There is one similar to that call "Pickers", which I had no idea what that meant until I watched a little bit of it. There are several shows about "Jersey". I do not get the fascination with "guidos" and "guidettes" and their antics. There is a Jersey show about hair dressers, and one about couture, and one about so-called real housewives (guilty of watching). There are the staples of reality tv that are very popular such as American Idol, Dancing with the stars, Survivor, Big Brother, The Bachelor, The Biggest Loser, The Real World, Hells Kitchen, The Apprentice, Dirty Jobs, Mythbusters, and so many more. Even old washed up stars are getting on the "reality" bandwagon. I just saw a commercial for a show Bob Saget (Full House and America's Funniest Videos) is doing. We have Steven Segal doing a show where he is a deputy sheriff, and Tony Danza is now a public school teacher, and of course Gene Simmons has a popular show (yes i watch it). Of course there was Scott Baio who did one, and Brett Michaels did one. There are shows about catching fish, catching lobster, catching crabs, chopping trees, drilling for oil, flipping houses, flipping hair, catching murderers, working out, losing weight, addictions, OCDs, teen pregnancy, adult pregnancy, having tons of kids, airlines, chasing ghosts, chasing bounties, chasing men, chasing women, getting tattoos, hoarding, singing, dancing, and a lot of cooking.  It is just crazy what people will do to be on tv. Jackass comes to mind. Here are a few that some of you, me included, have probably never heard of.....There is Airplane Repo, which is about ....yes, repo of airplanes. I just wonder how that can be that big of a problem. Amish in the City, should be pretty self explanatory. Bromance I am not sure about except that Brody Jenner was in it. "But The Sex Is So Good." The show follows the lives of real couples who have problems but stay together because their sex life is so good. Seriously? Dice Undisputed, a reality series that will offer an "intimate" look into the often humorous life of popular 1980s funny-man Andrew "Dice" Clay. Just the thought makes me laugh, and not because I found him funny. "Family Plots" was about a mortuary.  Invasion Iowa, a four-part "reality mini-series" in which The Joe Schmo Show's producers teamed with William Shatner to pull an elaborate reality hoax on the entire population of a small Iowa town. I guess everyone in Jersey was busy at this time, so Iowa was the next best thing. National Bingo Night, a  television show based on the popular pastime regularly played at numerous nursing homes, church halls and casinos across the country. *yawn* "The Singing Office" about finding talented singers in the workplace.  "You're Cut Off" about bratty, spoiled teen girls.  There are so many more but I think you get the point, or pointless. People will do almost anything for their 15 minutes of fame. The question is, 
What would you do to be on tv?  Me? There is no amount of money that would be worth embarrassing myself and my family on tv.

Useless things I have learned at work

Disclaimer: DO NOT try this first one at home. I will not be responsible.


My coworker showed me how to make a stun gun or defibrillator out of a disposable camera. NO..I will not tell you exactly how to do it, but it is cool. We DID NOT test it out but he knows it works. We did try very hard to get the West Central Wireless guy to be our test dummy, but he wouldn't go for it. Imagine that!

I have learned how to chase birds out of the store. You cannot just scare them out. We did try shooting rubber bands at them, but that just chases them further into the store. So I used a raisin and put it by the door and the damn bird swooped down to get it and then we shewed it out the door. Another time I tried a wheat thin, but we finally got it out before it took the bait. Those birds are nasty and stink!

Having a sign with written instructions is really useless. 90% of people (that's a generous estimate), do not read the instructions. They are clearly posted right in front of them and they still don't read, and then get mad at us when their order is not ready. *sigh*

At the oddest times useless information just pops into my head. Most of the time it is information from high school days that I found useless then and really consider it more useless now. Last night it was The Raven. (this is for you Mrs. Barker!) "Once upon a midnight dreary, as I pondered weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As if someone was gently rapping, rapping on my chamber door."  And looking at table salt and NaCl pops into my head.

Random Ramblings

Sad to see the Rangers lose tonight. I really hoped they could pull it out and bring home a first time world series. I am just glad they put the NY Spankies away before losing. Their bats just weren't with them. Hats off to the SF Giants.

I had a gentleman customer the other day. He wanted some film developed. The first question I ask him is his phone number. He said I was the 4th female that day to ask for his number. Then he yells at his wife..."honey here is another one wanting my number".  He was joking, of course. He laughed. I laughed. Then he told me a joke. What do you call an empty hot dog? A hollow weenie. I love a sense of humor, even if it is silly. 

Yesterday was Halloween. My sons are 15 and 12 and felt they are too old to do any trick or treating. Ty would have liked to go "hang out" with some of his friends last night, but since it was a school night, and I am a fuddy dud, I didn't let him go out. Soon enough he will be driving and never be at home. I read a lot of remarks on facebook about people getting adult trick or treaters or older kids. I think that is ridiculous. Ty is 15 and has not done any trick or treating in at least 3-4 years. Last year he just escorted his brother Trystan and a friend around, but didn't even carry a bag. Neither of them is that crazy about candy anyway. I guess I am lucky in that respect.  I am glad I live out in the middle of nothing and never have any trick or treaters. I might speak my mind to the older ones and end up getting "tricked" in some way. LOL

Working is going good but certain things really grate on my nerves. One is parents who let their children throw tantrums in the middle of the store and do nothing about it. The other day there was a boy of about 6 or 7 standing in a basket (which is hazardous enough) and he was throwing the biggest fit. He was screaming and crying (with no tears in sight). The mother was just walking through the aisles leaving him alone in the basket. I am the type of parent that is all for spanking when spanking is needed. There is a time and a place for it. I was not one that liked to spank my kids and didn't do it often, but that doesn't mean I was against it. This kid definitely needed to be taken to the bathroom and given a swat or two. In the end the parent gave in to the child and the screaming stopped. That just taught the child that throwing a fit will get him what he wants.

Can repetitive noises drive a person to insanity? I think so. The electric carts in the store are pushing me to the brink. Especially when they run out of juice, they incessantly sit there and beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. It is not a low beep or a quiet beep. It is a high pitched beep that seeps into the brain.  I believe these machines would be good to use for interrogations. Just put one of these in the room and after a while the person will answer any and all questions just to get away from the beeping. Forget waterboarding! Let's cart beep them into submission!

And the last of my randomness for tonight. Am I OCD? When I buy multiple items, I have to buy even amounts. I can't buy 3 of something. I have to buy either 2 or 4. I tried to buy 3 of something the other day and had to go back and get another one to make it 4. I can buy items in ones, but if I buy in multiples it has to be in even numbers.  

That's all I have for tonight.

Why am I blogging?

For 13 years I have lived inside a bubble, maybe longer than that. This bubble was my world and it is/was what I knew and I was content in my bubble world, until recently. Maybe not so recently. I think I have been restless for a long time. Franks illness and passing burst this bubble world and has taken me into a place I had forgotten existed, the real world. There were things going on in my bubble world that I was not even aware of. Maybe I was living in a bubble in a bubble, and I apologize for that. I lived in a small isolated bubble world. The bubble world as I knew it is gone and I am now in a vast real world of real possibilities. I think the real world is a scary place for people of all ages, but for a 43 year old mother of 4 (soon to be grandmother), it is down right terrifying. In the last 2 1/2 years I have learned that I am strong and I can get through just about anything that is thrown at me. That does not mean I want to, but I know I can handle it if need be. My first step into this new world was to go back to school. I started taking online courses in Sept of 2009. I should, crossing fingers, have my associates degree by next December. My major is HIT, Health Information Technology. It has been and continues to be a lot of fun. Fun was not a word I used to describe school and homework 25 years ago. Well, I had fun in school but it was not because of the class work. LOL Now I am older (cough) and I hope wise, and I am really enjoying myself. I have also re-joined the workforce, recently. It took a year of applications and interviews to finally get something. My quest was getting depressing. No one wanted to give me a chance, telling me I did not have enough work experience. Taking care of 4 sons and a husband is consider "not enough work experience". I challenge any of those people to juggle a household of six and then tell me how much work it is. I think I am plenty experienced in multitasking, budgeting both time and money, taxi service, cooking, cleaning, law/rule enforcement, conflict  resolvability, teaching, nursing, cheer leading, laundry service, along with several more I cannot think of at this moment. So, after many tears and sleepless nights I finally found someone that would give me a chance to exhibit my skills. (Thank you Dedra!) I am currently working at the HEB Photo Lab. It is something new and interesting. I think I am doing a good job and learning quickly. I hope the bosses think so too. All these new open doors is the reason I have started this new blog. Through the job, especially, I am seeing just how diverse the world is and the people in it. Not only do I get to see into the lives of others through their eyes and through their pictures but I get to see, in person, the many characters that walk this world with me. I will be posting my observations, opinions, and yes, sometimes rants about the things I see. I will not post names, so any resemblance to persons real or imagined, oh well. Look in the mirror. I was going to say names will be omitted to protect the innocent, but I have learned there are very few "innocent" adults out there. I am not being cynical or pessimistic, just honest. I, myself am not innocent. Take that however you would like. I will say, this is not meant to offend anyone, and if anything I post does offend, I apologize. It is just my observations and humor (or attempt at humor). I find a lot of things highly amusing and I like to entertain people, mostly myself. I do find ME highly entertaining. I may be the only person I entertain with this blog, and that will be fine. There are times when my sense of humor is rather dark. You have been warned! Consider this first post a disclaimer of sorts.....and there is always......you don't have to read it.