Tag Archives: Miscellaneous

by

Why We Don’t (Or Shouldn’t) Trust the News

I’ll start this post with a simple note: I’m not saying that one news organization is worse than any other news organization. As a general rule, I don’t trust any of them. They are a business more than an informative source that appeals solely to the audience that watches them rather than educating the viewers of what is actually going on. By keeping their own angles and biases, they keep their audiences which allow for them to make more money. It’s no different from watching anything else on television. Personally, I feel that any American should be appalled that we need to read ten different articles and watch 3 different stories on the television on the same topic to get a feel for some sort of truth. We the viewers are not well-informed, and we should be angered that these organizations allow us to follow brainlessly. Democrat or Republican or the people who are too ill-informed to decide what they are should figure out a better solution, because the businesses won’t.

With that entirely separate rant completed, I hope the point gets across what I’m about to write isn’t there to “pick on” Fox News, it’s just the news that is watched in my household and watched in awe that I saw incorrect “facts” said aloud and passed off as correct. Nothing seems to infuriate me more than watching people who are looked to for information spout out information that isn’t quite true, or even in one case is viewed as ignorant and hateful. I don’t know what’s worse, the idea the governmental organizations reciting propaganda on both sides so we trust neither or a person on a news organization people trust saying something that could easily be construed as hate propaganda.

The first issue I had occurred last week, when a guest stated that it was unfair for Catholics to pay into insurance companies that practice against their beliefs and especially the abortion pill. My first issue with this statement was he was referring to the Plan B pill, which isn’t an abortion pill, as last I checked abortion occurred after conception where the Plan B is used before conception to prevent it. I suppose that’s a minor mistake, but one that could matter when inciting the masses. The other issue was more minor, when he was saying how Catholics shouldn’t have to be forced to pay into insurance plans that offer services that they are morally opposed. I’m pretty sure Catholics help pay into my health plan, and I get all those services they are offended by. I fail to see the difference, but I suppose you could just say I’m a blind, uneducated liberal.

That wasn’t what I took the greatest offense in. Last night, I saw a member on a panel say that Islam and the Qur’an doesn’t promote peace in their religion. The quote was something along the lines of “The Qur’an doesn’t mention peace”. My religion professor at my Catholic College would be proud of my listening in anger at this. I had a flashback to his classes on Islam, and now regret not talking the field trip to the mosque, because I would’ve been able to instantly say with certainty that this was a false statement. Luckily I’m a dork that kept all my college text books, including my books on religion. These books are The World’s Religions by Huston Smith and The Major Religions by T. Patrick Burke. In reading those texts and browsing the internet (Homeland Security, I’m not a terrorist, I just wanted to be informed.), I discovered that I was right. There are several mentions of not only peace, but tolerance of others who believe in different religions. This commentator’s flaw was not only did she lack information before spreading them to the masses, she allowed herself to fall victim to stereotyping a religion based on extremists. Someone of her standing, who has a power to influence others, should have thought before saying something that I, an American who grew up Catholic, even found in poor taste and hateful. I grew up with a strong belief that I instill in my son: people shouldn’t be judged based on their differences, whether it be religious or lifestyle or race. To classify a whole religion as violent terrorist organization is what is ruining American ideals. If a Muslim had said the same about the Christians, this wouldn’t have been allowed to be said and there would be a tremendous outrage.

I apologize for a post longer and more serious than my others. I lack any patience with people in a strong position of influence to use it for their own agendas. I reiterate my point that this wasn’t an attack on Fox News as I’m sure if I watched any of the other news channels, I would find similarly false and biased agendas. Maybe I should, to prove a point that journalists need to go back to the days when journalistic integrity mattered, not how many people can we get to shovel money at us. I will admit, part of me takes the most offense of this coming from a channel that touts a “Fair and Balanced” agenda. This saddens me, since once I used to want to be a journalist. I learned quickly that I’m too opinionated to give a fair opinion on a topic, so I felt that it was against the morals of journalism to go into with a biased point of view. Maybe we need more people like me that realized if I couldn’t be fair; to find something that suits us more.

by

A Day of Ups and Downs

On Friday, I woke up nervous to go to the doctors. At the last visit, she was hopeful to hear a heartbeat of the little Ginger Asian, but assured us that it was nothing but her trying to get a head start and it was too early for it anyways. Naturally, anyone would be nervous for the next appointment so my husband and I took a deep breath and went to the doctors assured that everything was going to go perfectly fine. To deny there was a pit in my stomach, I’d be lying. Luckily, the rational part of me overcame the hormonal part with my husband’s usual optimism.

My midwife is an incredibly nice and bubbly person, and greets us with a loud hello as she prepares my fat stomach for the “heartbeat” machine. Somehow naming it in my head made me feel a little more comfortable, until we heard silence when she searched for our little fetus. “At 13 weeks, we’d expect to hear something. Off to Ultrasound you go. I wouldn’t want you to wait a weekend to find out what’s wrong.”

I was shocked, completely scared and if my husband wasn’t there I probably would’ve snapped. He was there, walking me down assuring me that it was because the baby was a pain in the butt and everything was fine. “It has to be a girl, if it’s being this difficult”, he mused. I tried to laugh, but I was too scared to and fighting any normal person urge to start crying. We made it there and they didn’t make us wait long to be seen. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt that grateful to someone in the medical field that wasn’t a friend.

To make this long-winded story short, she found the heartbeat very easily. It was also a good source of laughs for all of us because the little Ginger-Asian is apparently the little acrobat refusing to stay still for the technician. Leave it to me to have a baby that somersaults in the womb, and did I mention it waved to us? Yeah, that’s my future kid… the gymnastic ham. It all thankfully worked out in the end. And I wasn’t 13 weeks, I was just about 11, which explained everything. I bet it is a girl, because only a girl would give you that much of a heart attack and be that crazy.

by

Things I Learned at the ER

The post is late due to a family member being sent to the ER and me waiting there for them. Luckily, inspiration can strike anywhere and there’s always a lesson to be learned when you’re out and about. That made this post a perfect opportunity for a “Things Learned” post. With a bit of luck and good faith, my family member will be better but send out some love to him anyways. And without any further delay…. what I learned today at the ER.

First thing I learned at the ER is there is no such thing as “privacy”. Sure, they put a sheet thin divider that looks just like a simple sheet to shield you from spying eyes… if you’re lucky enough to even be in a room and not sitting in a bed covered up in the hallway. As if it wasn’t enough that the hallways were filled of people in gowns looking completely degraded, I realized very quickly that not only was it possible to see more things than you’d like, you heard everything. It has nothing to do with being nosy, it has everything to do with speaking loud enough that a sheet doesn’t keep the sound in. Yes, I did hear the psych consult, and I fully believe that it was none of my business and I shouldn’t have. At least take them into a private room. They wonder why people dislike hospital, that’s why. I could probably tell you the name and diagnosis and birthday of everyone in that triage area, and I don’t feel comfortable knowing that if it were me, they’d know everything about me too.

There was only one other lesson I learned today, and it’s why I dislike people. This could happen anywhere… and it does: those people that you can’t decide if they are a) illiterate, b) ignorant, or c) just asses. I think this person was all of the above. I was sitting at the bench, eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, minding my business. Then a woman from the ER waiting room wheels herself to right in front of me and the nonsmoking sign and proceeds to smoke in my face. In my pregnant state, my temper is very short, and to put me in a position that is harmful not just to me but my fetus, pisses me off. First of all lady, you were sitting in front of a “No smoking sign”, learn to read or not be an ass on your own time. As if this display of inconsideration wasn’t annoying enough, after smoking in my face, she asks me to wheel her back into the ER. If only looks could kill and be legal. She was helped, and I’m not ashamed to admit it wasn’t by me.

I hope this is a lesson out there to my readers and hopefully a hospital staffer or ten. I know you guys are understaffed and overworked and have an overload of people, but something needs to change. I also hope this is a lesson for asses, someday you will get punched for it and it will be deserved.

by

The Big Game (pt.2)

Yesterday was the Super Bowl, and vengeance was not ours. Our team made very costly and stupid mistake, and the Giants were able to win again. Don’t worry, we can’t blame one person they all made stupid mistakes. Good thing I’m a Boston fan and remember when we never even made it to championship games, let alone win any of them. There’s always next year.

There was a bright side to the evening. If nothing else, I got to see Madonna nearly fall during her performance and laugh at some pretty funny commercials. The Naked M&M commercial and the Doritos commercials were my favorites. Tied at a close second, the ETrade speed dating commercials and the Skechers dog racing commercial. I will give a nice honorable mention to Betty White, who seems ageless and is always hilarious. I hope that woman never dies.

To keep this short and sweet, I’ll end it with this. While New England quietly drudges through their day, heads lowered as if our dignity died with our Super Bowl dreams. We need to remember one thing: For fans of the Boston teams that never won in our youth, we’ve been spoiled in recent times with each of our big sports teams coming home with championship titles. Winning seems to have spoiled us, and made us forget the lessons we grew up with: there’s always next year. That’s what we told ourselves constantly before, and that’s what should comfort us now.

by

The Act of Bereavement

Once my husband did his usual psychoanalysis of me, which if you ever met me you’d know this could be a feat to figure out just one thing wrong with my mental state. In this analysis of me, he said the lines “you don’t grieve; you just try to take the strong road. Some day you’re going to have to.” That’s a loaded statement, especially for car ride talk. I considered what he said years ago and today I sit here and I’m reminded of it again.

I could argue people grieve in their own way at their own pace, that’s true. I think about it though, and I don’t remember ever going through that famous 5 stage process of grief. It’s almost like telling a brick wall someone they cared about just passed. I never analyzed myself to consider why. Do I just lack a bond with people so when I hear someone just died, I don’t react at all? That can’t be right; I have remotely normal relationships with people.

Maybe, growing up acknowledging that death existed and no one was immune from it from a young age made me less shocked about it. I could argue that maybe at some point, I became so desensitized that I miss out on the “shock factor” of hearing those words. Or to make myself feel better, maybe since most of the death I’ve experienced in life were never unexpected, that I was able to slowly prepare myself so when it happened I wouldn’t be as upset.

The real moral of the story here is people deal with tragedies in their own way, even if that way may seem incredibly screwed up to you. Doesn’t mean that they are heartless, soulless people, it just means that some people cry and some people joke around. Anyone going through the process needs their own time and hopefully are lucky enough to have people to love and support them while they grieve, even if it doesn’t seem like they’re going through the process like people think they should.

by

A Wise Person Once Said….

To be completely honest, last week’s posts or lack thereof was a result of good old-fashioned writers block. If I have nothing interesting to say, why should I bother anyone who reads about it? That just makes me look more subpar than usual and makes you bored reading. I would argue that this same principle is the reason I’m a person of few words. That’s not it, I keep my comments mostly to myself for 2 reasons: 1) Most of the time, it’s a comment completely inappropriate or very offensive; 2)  I’m more of a silent observer sort. Sometimes it’s better to take everything in and not comment at your first instinct. This makes me a more informed commenter, and not one who speaks every bit of useless thought that comes to my head. A wise person once told me that.

That’s the theme of my blog today, if the title was too subtle. In 28 years, I have learned one most important lesson that will help anyone: I am not the smartest person in the world, and I don’t know everything. I accept advice and criticism; I’m so far from perfect and I like to learn from my mistakes. Thankfully, since I’m so far from perfect, I’ve made plenty of mistakes to learn from. My personal favorite? “No one is worth crying over if they won’t cry over you”. In every breakup or difficult moment in relationships, I put on Dashboard Confessional or Fall Out Boy (2nd CD) and consider that quote. In fact, I remember every quote of importance someone said to me, even if it’s a silly or sarcastic quote from a movie. Ask me my favorite sometime; you’ll be both repulsed and amused.

While that last bit of wisdom was my favorite, it’s not the one that I live by with the most relevance even to this day. In high school, I was told that “there was no such thing as overreaction; generally the first reaction is the appropriate one”. This was paraphrased of course, I can’t remember too much these days. Thankfully, even though I’m pregnant, I’ve retained most of my emotional sanity. That statement says a lot, considering I’m as emotionally inept as I am socially. Those words of wisdom are the sole reason I made it out of high school, and the reason I can remotely keep my cool when I really want to hit something. It brings me comfort.

The best thing about listening to sound advice is the wisdom you can pass down to you children. I can’t wait to reuse these and sound smarter than I am to my offspring. I’d like to ask that you disregard the obviously insult worth music I’ve listed, I like them and stand by them and I don’t care to hear your laughter. I also would like to ask you what your favorite bit of advice was.

by

Football and Other Jaw Dropping Moments

For starters, I would like to thank the Patriots for winning yesterday. Wait, I said this wrong. I would like to thank the kicker for missing the field goal which allowed the Patriots to make up for their mistakes and not lose the game. We couldn’t have done it without you Billy Cundiff! (Also, the looks on everyone’s face when that kick missed was priceless. I laughed for hours.) Can’t wait to see the Patriots redeem themselves after the last time they faced the Giants though, I hope so anyways. First though, we have to suck a little less at the Super Bowl.

Next on my moments of awe this weekend, I saw a 9-year-old turn into a high school-er, but more useful. First I find out there’s a school dance he would love to attend. I walked out as my hormonal self cried a little over this, but agreed to work it out with him. Then as I became overwhelmed by cooking for the game and my husband was at work, this little adult announces that he will be doing the laundry to help and lugs a basket larger than himself down the stairs. I should also mention that the laundry came out flawlessly and I realized that he was now more useful than most men I knew. It was refreshing to know I did something right.

Finally on my list of shocking moments, Newt wins a primary? I’m personally shocked by this. He’s not a likable or charismatic person by any means, and I’ll admit I’m not a Republican but I’m still lost here. He should thank his speech writers, those unsung heroes of any successful politician. Or, give a shout out to the same person that made Cundiff miss that field goal, because those were both miracles we didn’t see coming. I assumed Romney, the more charismatic and likable guy would’ve pulled it off and not walk away with half the votes Newt did. I suppose we’ll see what happens in Florida, and I hope that my son won’t become a janitor at school because they both got rid of child labor laws and minimum wage. Go America!

by

Awards!

Yesterday was my birthday, and what a present to have Peter Dinklage win a well deserve Golden Globe. I enjoy watching an awards show when the underdog wins it. Plus, being a huge fan of the book and television series, I couldn’t be happier. Maybe next year Emilia Clarke will get at least a nomination, Team Dany anyone?

It wouldn’t be a very good award centered post though, without acknowledging a rare person who deserves an award: my lovely husband. Generally it seems I spend more time laughing it up about how silly he is sometimes, but the truth of the matter is he’s a rare person for our generation. I think he was born in the wrong era, but I appreciate that fact more every day. I don’t know very many, if any people, in my generation that feels strongly about certain traditions. I mock his love of traditions, but he sticks to them and I can’t wait to see if those ideals rub off on our children.

Before proposing to me, he did something that I didn’t think people even did anymore: he asked my father’s permission. This same situation occurred when we discovered we were expecting, it was him who needed to announce it. In defense of my laughing at him, he stated “that’s what men are supposed to do.” Supposed to take claim of me, I asked? “No, show respect for her family because that’s how she knows that he respects her.” He stands by this affirmation, and I find it incredibly endearing, though I admit that until now I found it outdated. You learn to appreciate chivalry once you’ve finally met someone practices it. Unfortunately for our future daughter if we’re lucky enough, he’ll probably expect that from her future husband. That is of course, assuming he doesn’t scare off any potential suitor with a gun.

As a result of this, I feel he’s one of the few “men” of our age group. Marriage and conceiving children doesn’t need a “man” to do it, a man is the one who stands up and does what he needs to do. That’s why I think my husband should win an award for “Outstanding Man of the Year, under 30”. Did I mention he acts like this and he’s only 26? Yeah, I know I’m impressed too. That’s why I married him.

by

I Should Feel More Shocked

I’ve realized in a short time that reading certain things on the news doesn’t shock me. A politician involved in a cheating/stealing/conning scandal? Racism and Homophobia still exist? I don’t think I’m the only one who can read the news and read appalling news articles without batting an eye; we’ve become desensitized to a lot of horrible activities.

Often times when I’m at a loss of what to write about, I read around the news articles to find something that seems worth it. Some days this takes forever, and I end up picking up inspiration elsewhere. Today, it took me all of 4 minutes to discover something so revolting it needed to be mentioned. Sadly, reading more into it I was angrier than I had been in a while. Most importantly, I felt angry that I wasn’t more shocked that something like this occurred. A part of my short story collection is a piece about bullying and I assure you this will find its way in there.

Bullying occurred all the time growing up. I was bullied; I’m pretty sure everyone I know experienced some form of it. Things were different then, it wasn’t as malicious as it is today. I’m not entirely sure if that’s a result of social networking and easy access to media or if it’s a result of our culture just being crueller than it used to be. I’m leaning towards a combination of the two, but that doesn’t matter at all. Locally two younger teenagers received attention for committing suicide, a girl even made national news for her death and both blamed on bullying. That’s disgusting enough, but I promise the story I read even surpasses that in how awful our society has become.

Right on my Yahoo! Page, I see a story of a girl who was taunted and died. I blindly went into it and discovered that this girl my son’s age died of Huntington’s disease, which was sad enough for me. Reading further, I saw that her neighbor was bullying her and doing horribly cruel things. Disgusting right? Then I saw the kicked and I saw how awful this story would really become: The neighbor responsible for this was an adult, a mom. I regret to use the word adult for this, that person was just an overgrown teenage bully. I read in horror that she made pictures of the girl with skulls and crossbones, her and her mother (who died of the same disease a few years earlier) as a grim reaper holding a baby all on the social media. As if that wasn’t appalling enough, she would drive a truck around the neighborhood with a coffin attached to it. As if I didn’t lack enough hope in humanity, I read this.

I couldn’t say I wouldn’t sink low enough to hunt down someone who would do the same to my child and physically harm them. I think that’s a natural instinct any parent has. It pains me to see how her children will grow up; she did more than just emotionally assault a dying girl. She potentially is raising her children to be vicious and heartless bullies too. This is why the bullying cycle starts.

by

Social Example in the Flaws of Voting

I’ll start this by pointing out since I couldn’t do my usual Monday, Wednesday, and Friday routine, I’m going for a Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday one.  It happens to work out well though, since the People’s Choice Awards was yesterday and inspired me. Don’t worry, it wasn’t a good inspiration.

First I’d like to state that I’m a Glee fan, so this isn’t about whether they should’ve won any awards. I don’t really view Glee as a real comedy, when I think of real comedy shows on TV I think about Big Bang Theory, 2 Broke Girls, and Suburgatory. So when I witness Lea Michele (who I love, really I do) beating say, Kaley Cuoco for Best Comedic Actress, I was shocked. I let it slide, it can’t be that bad. Then I realized that I must’ve been watching the Teen Choice Awards, part 1, because those were the people who seemed to be voting. Really, Pretty Little Liars beating Game of Thrones? I died a lot on the inside over this.

Then it made me think about elections and politics, and this awards show epitomizes everything I hate about the electoral process. You don’t need to actually know anything to vote. You could just show up and pick any name and go with it. You could pick a candidate and not know anything about him, but you just kind of like how he looks or because that’s what your friend is voting for. I’d be perfectly happy if I had to take a test of basic knowledge to vote, I think it’s something to be considered. At this rate, Taylor Lautner will end up president because our culture is “Team Whateverfadexists”. If you’re wondering why I chose him and not that guy who plays Edwards, you really should do us a favor and stay away from the polls.

Maybe that’s a bit harsh, considering making people take a test to vote for their president because I lost hope in people’s decision making skills after watching the People’s Choice Awards. Maybe I should just suggest we do a questionnaire and they pick a president for us based on our ideals and choices. That’s more up the tech savvy laziness we’ve grown accustomed to. It’s a lot more fun than Eeny-Meeny-Miney-Mo.