Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Ooops, I did it again.
I meant to post every two weeks but it looks like once a month is all we're going to get this time. Many reasons to blame for this. Among others I was gone for about ten days to Pennsic, the largest SCA event that occurs outside Pittsburgh every year in August. Let me tell you, ten days (or two weeks, if you're lucky enough to have enough time off at work to go that long) in the middle of nowhere with only a tent to keep you out of the elements, a lot of friends around you, and running around banging people with sticks is very very refreshing! If this sounds appealing or just plain strange to you, go to http://www.sca.org to find out what I'm talking about. We are not a cult, we welcome everybody, and we have lots of fun! There's something sure to be going on near you.
As I said before, 10 days in the middle of nowhere (ok, nine days if you take into account the fact that I had a five hour delay flying out and a two hour delay flying back!) gives you a very different perspective on a lot of things. Among them are my own situation, trying to work on a business and also working more than forty hours a week for The Man. My boyfriend went out to Pennsic for the full two weeks and I was extremely envious. Also, my father went to our beach house in North Carolina the first week of August and I would have loved to be there with him. Finally, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival happens every year in Michigan - another camping event, and I would love to have been there as well. Ever since I was fifteen, I have wanted to go, and I haven't been able to for one reason or another.
As a result of all this thinking, I decided that it would be really nice to get all of August off next year. It would also be nice to be able to work on my business full time, or at least half time. Right now, I can't even scrape enough pieces of my brain together after work to manage even an hour a night. I am doing about twenty minutes of writing a day, but I could be doing so much more if I could just manage to concentrate long enough. Sheesh. Anyway, in light of this I have set a firm date of August 1, 2005 to leave my employer, either to become a contract or part-time worker, or to be out on my own, hopefully for good. Unless I hear about a firm date for my employer's IPO, I do not intend to remain employed. Needless to say, this will require a lot of preparation, from insurance needs to savings, etc., etc. Not only that, I would like to buy at least one more property (which of course I haven't been able to work on at all) before I quit, since income is very important on your mortgage applications. As per my goals, I am meeting with a prospective financial planner next week. While I intend to be using him mostly for planning, he is attached to an insurance agency, and that will help me a lot since I'll be on my own with regards to health & life insurance.
Boy, the presidential race is really heating up right now. Being in New York, we are all hunkered down with the Republican National Convention up at Madison Square Garden. I watched the Democratic National Convention and thought it went very well, but quite frankly I've been getting physically sick listening to the people speaking at the RNC. Granted, the fact that I've been laid up with some kind of flu might have also helped, but really. I can't believe that 50% of the people in our country actually buy into what Bush says! Not only is Bush's argument completely irrational, but I'm watching common Americans saying something to the extent of "I trust Bush". They are willing to sign up to lose all kinds of freedoms, alienate the international population, all because they trust Bush? Because he happens to go to church? Give me a break! They don't even know where he stands on most issues, just that he's a Republican, so he obviouslyknows what to do with terrorists, and he's against abortion and gay marriage. Unfortunately, it appears that the Democratic party has become the thinking man's party, and 50% of American people don't think.
What really makes me ill is Laura Bush. No, really. What I want to know is this: what the hell do most Americans have against strong, effective women who get things done? Why is it that when someone like Teresa Heinz Kerry - or Hillary Rodham Clinton before her - gets to campaign for the White House, the opposition - oddly enough always Republicans - she gets demonized. And for what? For adding her husband's last name instead of changing hers. I'm sorry, but it has become more and more apparent to me that there is still some kind of unspoken rule that women are supposed to be meek and docile and stand behind their husbands. This brings me back to Laura Bush. This lady never really wanted to be in the public eye and said so from the start. This is just fine with me; I know plenty of people male and female who have no interest in the spotlight. However, the spotlight kind of comes with the territory when you're First Lady. But when you're going to make a statement on behalf of your husband, don't make it something as controversial and hard-hitting as stem cell research! It's so obvious that she was drafted, prepped to the gills and marched out there to talk about it. And, while she has never exactly defined her views on this in the past, she has hinted that they are different from her husband's, which makes this seem twice as ham-handed as before. But what really got me was this gushy stand-behind-your-man crap. I was expecting her to whip out some batter and start baking cookies right there. Sorry, but I'm a different kind of girl. After 8 years of Hillary Clinton as First Lady, I'd rather have someone who represents ME, not the idyllic 1950s black-and-white mother that I never had. A lot of us do. So, let's hear it for no more June Cleaver-type women in the White House! Go Teresa!
In other news, we packed my sister off to college in Richmond, VA a couple weeks ago and she is now happily ensconced as a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University. Then Tropical Storm Gaston dumped 14 inches of rain on Richmond, destroying part of the old city. So I guess I'll be donating to the victim's fund for that, although I won't donate to the Red Cross. I'm not a fan of how they run their organization. But please give to a disaster-relief charity. You can find some by visiting http://www.disasternews.net. Thanks for all your help.
Well, it's getting late for me. After spending more than 18 of the last 24 hours in bed for the past two days, I'll be heading back to work tomorrow. Gotta get a good night's sleep to make sure I'm coherent tomorrow. Also working the door at a dance performance for my dance teacher. Have a good night. Hopefully in a week or two I will have some more information!
As I said before, 10 days in the middle of nowhere (ok, nine days if you take into account the fact that I had a five hour delay flying out and a two hour delay flying back!) gives you a very different perspective on a lot of things. Among them are my own situation, trying to work on a business and also working more than forty hours a week for The Man. My boyfriend went out to Pennsic for the full two weeks and I was extremely envious. Also, my father went to our beach house in North Carolina the first week of August and I would have loved to be there with him. Finally, the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival happens every year in Michigan - another camping event, and I would love to have been there as well. Ever since I was fifteen, I have wanted to go, and I haven't been able to for one reason or another.
As a result of all this thinking, I decided that it would be really nice to get all of August off next year. It would also be nice to be able to work on my business full time, or at least half time. Right now, I can't even scrape enough pieces of my brain together after work to manage even an hour a night. I am doing about twenty minutes of writing a day, but I could be doing so much more if I could just manage to concentrate long enough. Sheesh. Anyway, in light of this I have set a firm date of August 1, 2005 to leave my employer, either to become a contract or part-time worker, or to be out on my own, hopefully for good. Unless I hear about a firm date for my employer's IPO, I do not intend to remain employed. Needless to say, this will require a lot of preparation, from insurance needs to savings, etc., etc. Not only that, I would like to buy at least one more property (which of course I haven't been able to work on at all) before I quit, since income is very important on your mortgage applications. As per my goals, I am meeting with a prospective financial planner next week. While I intend to be using him mostly for planning, he is attached to an insurance agency, and that will help me a lot since I'll be on my own with regards to health & life insurance.
Boy, the presidential race is really heating up right now. Being in New York, we are all hunkered down with the Republican National Convention up at Madison Square Garden. I watched the Democratic National Convention and thought it went very well, but quite frankly I've been getting physically sick listening to the people speaking at the RNC. Granted, the fact that I've been laid up with some kind of flu might have also helped, but really. I can't believe that 50% of the people in our country actually buy into what Bush says! Not only is Bush's argument completely irrational, but I'm watching common Americans saying something to the extent of "I trust Bush". They are willing to sign up to lose all kinds of freedoms, alienate the international population, all because they trust Bush? Because he happens to go to church? Give me a break! They don't even know where he stands on most issues, just that he's a Republican, so he obviouslyknows what to do with terrorists, and he's against abortion and gay marriage. Unfortunately, it appears that the Democratic party has become the thinking man's party, and 50% of American people don't think.
What really makes me ill is Laura Bush. No, really. What I want to know is this: what the hell do most Americans have against strong, effective women who get things done? Why is it that when someone like Teresa Heinz Kerry - or Hillary Rodham Clinton before her - gets to campaign for the White House, the opposition - oddly enough always Republicans - she gets demonized. And for what? For adding her husband's last name instead of changing hers. I'm sorry, but it has become more and more apparent to me that there is still some kind of unspoken rule that women are supposed to be meek and docile and stand behind their husbands. This brings me back to Laura Bush. This lady never really wanted to be in the public eye and said so from the start. This is just fine with me; I know plenty of people male and female who have no interest in the spotlight. However, the spotlight kind of comes with the territory when you're First Lady. But when you're going to make a statement on behalf of your husband, don't make it something as controversial and hard-hitting as stem cell research! It's so obvious that she was drafted, prepped to the gills and marched out there to talk about it. And, while she has never exactly defined her views on this in the past, she has hinted that they are different from her husband's, which makes this seem twice as ham-handed as before. But what really got me was this gushy stand-behind-your-man crap. I was expecting her to whip out some batter and start baking cookies right there. Sorry, but I'm a different kind of girl. After 8 years of Hillary Clinton as First Lady, I'd rather have someone who represents ME, not the idyllic 1950s black-and-white mother that I never had. A lot of us do. So, let's hear it for no more June Cleaver-type women in the White House! Go Teresa!
In other news, we packed my sister off to college in Richmond, VA a couple weeks ago and she is now happily ensconced as a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University. Then Tropical Storm Gaston dumped 14 inches of rain on Richmond, destroying part of the old city. So I guess I'll be donating to the victim's fund for that, although I won't donate to the Red Cross. I'm not a fan of how they run their organization. But please give to a disaster-relief charity. You can find some by visiting http://www.disasternews.net. Thanks for all your help.
Well, it's getting late for me. After spending more than 18 of the last 24 hours in bed for the past two days, I'll be heading back to work tomorrow. Gotta get a good night's sleep to make sure I'm coherent tomorrow. Also working the door at a dance performance for my dance teacher. Have a good night. Hopefully in a week or two I will have some more information!
