Patriot Games

This year, the Chamber of Commerce in my city has decided to cancel the July 4 fireworks display, citing rising costs - both financial and in volunteer time. Judging from the letters in the paper, you would think the Chamber had changed its name to Al Qaeda/Benedict Arnold/Puppy Beaters. Ye gods, people are freaking out, throwing around words like "unpatriotic." WTF?

I'm fed up to the point that I'm planning to send the following letter to the paper...

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been reading the letters decrying the lack of a July 4 fireworks display. Appalling! Shocking! Unpatriotic!

I’ve given this some thought, and one question comes to mind: Are you people serious?

By definition, "patriotism" means "love for or devotion to one’s country" or "devoted love, support and defense of one’s country; national loyalty." In my opinion, setting off fireworks celebrates America about as much as going to a holiday sale at Sears celebrates Memorial Day. It has absolutely no relevance.

Instead of sitting on your rump for a half hour watching sparkly lights, DO something that actively honors that for which America stands. Put together a block party for your neighborhood. Visit with a veteran and thank him or her for serving our country. Adopt a stretch of highway and collect trash. Donate time or money to our national neighbors when disaster strikes. Teach English as a second language to people who want to be successful and productive members of this country. Exercise your privilege to vote. Go to your place of worship and be grateful that you’re allowed freedom of religion. Commend our City leaders for being good stewards of our resources by cutting unnecessary expenses (like fireworks displays). Show your devotion to the country every day, not just during one fleeting event at the beginning of July. I agree that gathering as a community is important as it shows unity and communal pride - can’t this be accomplished without benefit of pyrotechnics?

For the folks who enjoy the fireworks displays, I can understand and sympathize with your disappointment; I’m sure the break in this long-standing tradition is quite upsetting to you. But please take a deep breath, gain some perspective, and cease viewing the City/Chamber as a modern-day Benedict Arnold.

Free at Last, Free at Last...

At approximately 12:10 p.m. this afternoon, I walked out of my workplace - as an employee - for the last time.

My supervisor finally pissed me off to the point of no return two weeks ago today; my two-week notice was in her hand the Monday that followed. My timing was quite fortunate, as she's been on vacation this past week so I didn't have to deal with her during my final week there. That was an added bonus.

I was happy to go, almost ecstatic. Knowing I only had 10 more days made me feel like a kid counting down the final weeks of school. It was a relief to realize I didn't have to endure the soul-crushing boredom, to realize I could finally walk away from some of these people whom I had allowed to cause me such grief.

I hate fanfare and wanted to just quietly slip out the door, but I had to let a few parishioners know that I had submitted my resignation, so they would know to direct their inquiries to someone else in the office. I pretty much figured that word would spread (which it did), and I received many glowing accolades from the folks who had come to appreciate my presence. It was a nice ego boost - I didn't really require one, but it was welcome just the same.

Imagine my surprise when tears came during my final chat with the big boss, during a final hug with a coworker. Despite needing desperately to leave that place, I did make some connections that I'll miss - good things that weren't extinguished by all the crap that took place. It's nice to know I can keep those pieces separate, that I've refused to allow the good memories to be tarnished by lumping them in with the bad.

It hasn't quite hit me yet that I'm unemployed. I'm sure it will either happen upon me slowly or it will come in a sudden rush, and I'll panic for a while, and then I'll settle back down.

I knew there would be changes in the wind this year. Quitting my job, enrolling in school [no, I haven't written about that here, but I've enrolled in a class for the Fall semester]. Scary changes, to be sure, but positively necessary ones.

Now I'm free.

Ooooh, You Waskily Wabbit

For the past two mornings, there's been a person standing at an intersection in the city where I work, dressed in a rabbit outfit, holding a sign that reads "It's not about the bunny" and the "t" in about is elongated to look like a cross.

I told my husband I'd love to dress up like Jesus and stand on the opposing corner, holding a sign that reads "It's been about the bunny longer than it's been about the Christ."

The very name of the Christian celebration - Easter - comes from the Saxon goddess of Spring, Eostre. The date of the Christian celebration falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. In 200 BC, there was a fellow named Attis who was consort of the Phrygian goddess Cybele. Attis was born of a virgin, died, and was reborn annually. There was a festival celebrating Attis which began as a day of blood on Black Friday and culminated after three days in a day of rejoicing over the resurrection. Hello??? Sound familiar?

And how can an "historical fact" be a movable feast, anyway? The events of September 11 happened on...wait for it...September 11. We don't commemorate 9/11 on the first Monday after the full moon before the Vernal Equinox - we commemorate it on 9/11 because that's when it actually happened. How (with a straight face) can the Christians fervently preach the truth of the Easter events (crucifixion/resurrection) when the date changes from year to year?

Quite honestly, I don't care what someone worships. You can venerate blue teddy bears, and it's no skin off my stiff upper lip. On the sixth day, Kenner created Care Bears, and it was good. [That's another thing that bugs me about Christianity. It took God six days to create the planet and the heavens and everything else? He's, like, God! Shouldn't He be able to snap His fingers and just have stuff appear? What the hell?]

Back to my point...I don't care about the gist of someone's faith. Purple dragons, a god with the head of an elephant, shoestring potatoes - whatever floats your particular boat is fine with me. I DO take issue, however, when you try to tell me that your faith is Real, the Truth, the Only Way to Salvation and Fabulous Door Prizes - and my faith is Phony, the Falsehood, the One Way Trip on the Roller Coaster to Damnation.

I don't care what stripe you are - Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Wiccan. Intolerance is intolerance, no matter which way you slice it. I have my largest issue with Christianity [the religion as a whole, not individual people - some of whom are quite tolerant of others] because of its inherent arrogance. On Good Friday, pious and righteous Catholics pray for the Pope, world leaders, the Jews, the clergy...as well as people who don't believe in Christ and people who don't believe in God. They pray that these people who don't yet know God will see the light and find their way to salvation. These poor, lost souls who are fumbling around in the dark, totally bereft, following the wrong path, lambs in need of a shepherd. Tsk, tsk. What a shame that they're so foolish. Why don't they listen to us because we know the Right Way?

This is what infuriates me about this particular religion. If Christianity as a whole would just mind its own damned business and stop looking down its collective nose at every other religion, I'd be totally fine with it. I still couldn't be paid to believe in it, but it wouldn't rankle me like it does right now. I understand that part of the problem is that the Bible commands its followers to convert the heathens, so they're only being good little soldiers by trying to increase their ranks through whatever means necessary (shame, browbeating, guilt, fear). Even so, I still have an issue with the "We're right and everyone else is wrong" attitude.

So when I see that person standing on the street corner, dressed as a rabbit and extolling the (misguided/arrogant) notion that Christianity is first and best, it makes me stop and think. Mainly it makes me stop and think, "Where's Elmer Fudd when you need him?"

Idiosyncrasies

As I've been tagged by my husband, here's my list of idiosyncrasies...

1. If a drawer or cabinet door is ajar, I have to close it.

2. I always put on my right sock first, then my left sock. If for some reason I do it backwards, it feels weird.

3. When I traveled more, I would quadruple check that my plane or train ticket was in my purse. I'm not sure where I expected it to GO, after making sure it was there the first time, but I would continue to check multiple times. I have the same OCD trait when it comes to checking other things multiple times.

4. If someone has a new magazine and s/he hasn't looked at it yet, I don't want to look at it until its "owner" has read it first.

5. I refuse to touch an already-opened jar of mayonnaise, on the off-chance there's some on the outside of the container and it gets on me. I will grudgingly touch an unopened jar.

6. I usually have at least three books in rotation. It's rare that I focus on reading one particular book, although it does happen.

7. I sort my email so the newest email is at the bottom of the list/page, rather than at the top.

8. I won't walk under ladders and I try to avoid stepping on cracks.

9. I won't cut my toenails if it's evening. [My grandmother - I think it was her - told me that someone will die if you cut your toenails in the evening. I know that's insane...but better safe than sorry.]

10. When I'm watching TV or listening to the radio and someone uses improper grammar, I correct him/her out loud.

IV: When It's Not Just a Roman Numeral

If you read my husband's blog, you'll know that everyone in the house has been stricken with a horrible, insidious little norovirus that basically liquifies everything inside your body and sends it packing - quickly and with much vigor - out whatever orifice seems to be handy at the moment.

My husband had the worst of it on Sunday. Come Monday, I was feeling tired but otherwise seemed to be doing okay. Until around 1 a.m. on Tuesday.

First came the stomach pain.

Then came the four-times-an-hour trips to the bathroom.

I don't know about you, but I get a little concerned when the stuff coming out of you sounds and feels like urine...but it ain't. Not to be gross, but diarrhea should have at least a little substance to it, shouldn't it? Not this stuff. It was as watery as...well...water.

About four hours after this wonderfulness started, the northern orifice got into the act. I could feel it sitting right at the back of my throat, and I knew I'd feel better if it would just come up already!! So I stuck my finger back there and gave things a little nudge. While it was happening, it was very uncool, but I did feel a little better once it was over.

I haven't been eating - have absolutely no appetite - and drinking anything seemed to make my stomach unhappy so I haven't really been drinking much either.

This is not a good combination, especially when you're losing copious amounts of fluids.

I wound up at urgent care this afternoon. I knew there was nothing they could do to heal the virus but I have to have a note for my job when I miss three consecutive days.

They did some testing on my blood pressure - apparently that can determine dehydration - and then sent me off to the ER for rehydration.

Which means an IV. *eep*

I've never had an IV before. I've had blood taken, but never had an IV. The thought of having a needle stuck in my arm for an extended period of time makes me uneasy and nauseated. I am a baby, but that's just the way I am.

They ran a urine test - fortunately, I had enough urine to provide a viable sample. My ketones were high, and that's apparently the sign of dehydration, so in came the nurse with needles and stuff.

To be honest, I couldn't tell you what she did because I wasn't watching any of it. But she was very good - I'm sure it's hard finding a good vein when your subject is dehydrated and all her veins are being sucked away from the surface of the flesh. I felt a little prick, no worse than a blood draw, and then I was being hooked up to a large bag of fluid.

Fortunately, the rooms in the ER are equipped with TVs so while the fluid was dripping into my body, I could watch people spending a gods-awful amount of money to renovate their kitchen into something even uglier than what they already had.

Every now and again, my eyes would drift back to the bag and I'd watch the drops collecting in the smaller tube. It's actually pretty amazing, if you think about it. I was like, there's no way that entire bag is going to infuse. But, after about an hour, the machine beeped and its little screen said "Infusion Complete."

So here I am, home again with instructions to not eat anything for another 24 hours (it's been 48 hours already since I've had anything to eat, not counting the five - count 'em - five pretzels I had between yesterday and today). I can have water, clear juices, broth, and jello. I'm impatiently waiting for the jello to set up so I can at least feel like I'm eating something.

At least I can take comfort in the fact that I had a new experience today. Yeehaw.

Tagged

My best friend hath commanded me, via her blog, to share 16 things about myself. So here we go...

1. I could eat beef jerky every day for the rest of my life. I love the stuff. Seriously. If someone attempted to take jerky from me, I would totally punch him/her in the throat.

2. I am a supertaster (have more than the usual number of taste buds on my tongue).

3. I received a standing ovation in high school for a saxophone solo.

4. I have never seen The Wizard of Oz or It's a Wonderful Life.

5. If I had lived in Ancient Egypt, I would've been a priestess of Bast.

6. I was going to be named John, after my father, had I been a boy.

7. I've had messages on my answering machine from Luke Perry and Jennie Garth.

8. A poem I wrote about the MN North Star hockey team was read on the air by the North Star's play-by-play announcer during the broadcast of a game.

9. I wish I could've met Joseph Campbell before he died.

10. I am phobic about deep water.

11. I've had sunfish nibble on me, more than once.

12. If I became a professional vocalist, I would sing torch songs.

13. I'm addicted to magazines.

14. I handled samples of sputum, blood, urine, and semen during my employment at a hospital - as a secretary.

15. I still have my tonsils and my wisdom teeth.

16. I never walk beneath ladders and I always toss salt over my shoulder if I spill it.

New Year, New Life?

I've been thinking about sitting down to write a post for a while now and each time, I'd feel itchy and find something else with which to occupy my time. Which is a good indication that I need to be writing.

I'm making some changes this year. For months, I've been thinking, "Once I get a new job, everything else will be better." While that might be the case, it's not helping me now, and the now is more important than the then. I can't live for what Might Be In The Future. Well, I can, but that robs me of today, robs me of this moment. And that's pretty foolish, if you think about it.

I've fallen away from the idea of making New Year's resolutions - for whatever reason, those don't seem to stick. I always have good intentions but after a couple weeks, the resolutions are forgotten. However, I did create some goals for myself because I finally got it through my thick head that things won't change unless I actually start doing something.

There haven't been all that many new employment opportunities popping up - I've applied for the few I've seen and have gotten absolutely no response. I get the impression the Universe is telling me to GET THE HELL OUT OF YOUR CURRENT OCCUPATION. Which makes sense. I have the feeling I'll just keep jumping from dead-end job to dead-end job if I stay with secretarial work, so it's time for a change.

I'm currently looking into going back to school. I've got feelers out to a couple local colleges, laying it on the line - I'm 41 years old, sick of dead-end jobs, have adult responsibilities (mortgage, utilities, etc.), but want to go back to school and need to know if that's a possibility for me.

My husband and I signed up for a yoga class through Community Education, because I know I need to start getting active (I should've started getting active 20+ years ago, but I guess it's never too late). Our first class was to have been this past week but with the frigid temperatures, schools were closed and Community Ed courses were cancelled.

I've got an application for volunteering at the local library. I love books and appreciate all the services provided by the library, and I want to start giving something back.

I feel like Something's Coming this year. I feel like there's something inside me just waiting to burst out. What it's waiting for, what will trigger its birth, I haven't figured out yet.