Might be an interesting week...

     Last December, my ex-husband, his girlfriend, and her daughter moved directly across the street from us.  As a result of him living so close, Brendan started spending more time at his dad's.  It wasn't entirely his choice to do so.  If Brendan didn't go over there for a few days, his dad would call and harass him about how he was supposed to split his time equally between the two houses, etc.  This would be pages and pages long if I detailed everything that's passed between Brendan and his dad and how Brendan came to not want to spend time with him so I'll try not to digress too much.  Over the course of the past year, Brendan has wanted to avoid his dad and even asked me if there was a way he could take his dad to court so he didn't have to see him that often.  I've done what I could to convey to his dad that he'd rather not spend much time over there without out-and-out saying, "Look, the kid just doesn't like you."  His dad has ignored everything Brendan and I have said and is of the opinion that Brendan just wants to play us off one another.  Unfortunately, I was working graveyard from August 2010 until last month and didn't have time or energy to really deal with Brendan's dad like I wanted to.

     Fast forward to mid-September; his dad, dad's girlfriend, and her daughter moved again.  They're still in the same apartment complex that we are, but they now live down the street as opposed to directly across the street.  It's still close enough for all of his dad's "rules" to still apply and Brendan is expected to be over there just as much as he was before. 

     Now here's where this week becomes relevant: his dad has court this week.  He's supposed to pay child support and has not done so willingly.  Ever.  Any time I received child support from him it was because the DCSS attached his bank account or because the National Guard automatically took it out of his pay while he was on active duty.  Any time his bank account was attached, he would call me in an absolute rage and berate me for not canceling the case long ago.  He'd rather pay me directly, he says.  I've always told him that I don't trust him to do that.  For a while, he dropped the issue.  He brought it up again sometime in February and said I should cancel the case because he lives so close and Brendan spends more time over there than he did before.  He wants me to keep any receipts from when I spend money towards Brendan's care, including what I pay through my employer towards health insurance, and tally that up at the end of the year when I do my taxes.  From that total, I'm to subtract whatever tax refund I get and let him know how much that is and he'll pay half.  He'll also give me $500 twice a year.  He suggested we see a notary to have the agreement witnessed etc. and then we'd all live happily ever after.  I told him that I wanted to speak to an attorney before I agreed to anything like that.  I told him that after I got off of graveyard shift, I would talk to an attorney and get back to him.  Well, it turns out that DCSS wants him in court this week and he didn't inform me of this until LAST week.  I've been off of graveyard for three or four weeks and I'm basically still recovering from that schedule and from losing an entire year of my life and golly, I just haven't had time to find an attorney that specializes in Family Law and that will give me FREE counsel.  (There's that whole being broke thing, ya know?)  He wants me to take the day off of work to go to court with him and tell them that I don't want to receive child support any longer and that he should be excused the nearly $3,000 he owes in arrears.

     OMGWTF?!?!?!

     I'm not concerned with any trouble he might cause.  His mother, on the other hand, is a very very unbalanced, (oh screw being polite) she's batshit fucking insane.  And she works for Stanislaus County as a social worker and has said numerous times that if I try to "screw" Brendan's dad she'll make sure I regret it.  There are three people in this world that I honestly hate.  She's #1.

     So now what?  I fully expect to get phone calls from him bugging me about going to court.  I've told him I won't change the case until I've spoken to an attorney.  Anyone know an attorney I could talk to for free?  The worst case scenario is his mother following through on a threat she made years ago, and that was to report me to CPS for "sexually abusing" Brendan if I tried to "screw" Brendan's dad in any way.  Yes, she's that crazy. 

     Maybe it makes me a bitch for not rushing right out and finding an attorney to talk to.  Maybe it makes me a bitch that I'm not willing to work with him as far as the child support goes.  Maybe it makes me a bitch that I don't trust him to do right by our son.  Oh freaking well.  Maybe I'm also worrying about nothing.  Hopefully...

I found this hysterically funny...

If it's possible to "reblog" something from Tumblr to Blogger or from Google Reader to Blogger, I haven't figured it out yet.  Oh well.  Have a laugh, though!

Candidates by the numbers

Well I didn't have to work tonight or last night in addition to my regular weekend nights off so the result now is boredom.  I was so bored I actually looked up the major presidential candidates on PolitiFact.com and figured out what percentage of their rated statements were "True," "Mostly True," "Half True," "Mostly False," "False," and "Pants on Fire." 

I know that using this method will/would not sway any extremists or die-hard fans of the candidates in question.  If a person's mind is made up about something, they will use every means at their disposal to ignore/discredit/refute/repudiate (I couldn't resist that one, ok) any person or information that contradicts their way of thinking.  It's called "cognitive dissonance," folks, and it's really powerful.

I was curious and bored and this was how I chose to waste my time on the internet tonight.  I thought to myself, "Self, let's assume that PolitiFact.com is spot-on with these ratings for the current candidates and see what their percentages look like.  If I had to make a decision on which clown moron person(?) to vote for using just this data, who would come out on top?"

So that's what I did tonight.  A normal woman probably would have watched a movie or painted her nails or something like that but I've never claimed to be normal.  Or nice.  Or anything, really...

Thoughts on an article about Jared Lee Loughner

The original article can be found here: http://wildhunt.org/blog/2011/01/going-for-the -occult-angle-in-tucson-shooting.html

I've been expecting this to be perfectly honest.  Remember that this guy hasn't said WORD ONE to anyone about this shooting or himself and yet the theories are many and varied.  I've read that he was a right-wing lunatic, that he was a left-wing lunatic, and now I'm reading that he was possibly involved in the "occult."  Well, just because I'm a major smart-ass, let's define "occult:"

–adjective
1.of or pertaining to magic, astrology, or any system claiming use or knowledge of secret or supernatural powers or agencies.
2.beyond the range of ordinary knowledge or understanding; mysterious.
3.secret; disclosed or communicated only to the initiated.
4.hidden from view.
5.(in early science)a.not apparent on mere inspection but discoverable by experimentation.b.of a nature not understood, as physical qualities.c.dealing with such qualities; experimental: occult science.
6.Medicine/Medical . present in amounts too small to be visible: a chemical test to detect occult blood in the stool.

(the above was copy/pasted from Dictionary.com)
I GUARANTEE you that the average person won't think of most of these definitions when they hear the word "occult."  They're probably thinking, "ZOMG!!1!!!!  The satanists are coming to get us!!!!!1!!!!"  *rolling eyes*  I'm willing to bet that the stuff they found was random crap he left lying around and doesn't mean squat.  People are just so freaked out and desperate to blame an external source that they can't just say, "Sounds like the dude was nuts and needed some mental help."

The question ought to be, "Why wasn't he being treated for his mental disorder?"
And the question WILL be, "Why didn't he get the death penalty?"

Obviously, this is just my personal opinion, but I don't care what sort of mental disorder someone has; if they've killed, raped, or molested someone, they need to die.  (another rant and argument for another time.)

Sadly, six innocent people died and twelve others were severely hurt by this whack-job because he wasn't receiving treatment and it's too late to do anything but pick up the pieces, pray for those that were injured, and mourn the dead.  Oh, and point fingers and fling accusations at whomever/whatever is most convenient at the time.  Before anyone says anything defending their favorite theory, allow me to address some things:

1. Yes, Palin had a map up on a website that used crosshairs to identify those in Congress she wanted out.  Did she honestly want people to go shooting?  Probably not.  Was the map in extremely bad taste?  Absolutely.

2. Sharon Angle said that voters are "looking towards those Second Amendment solutions."  Did SHE honestly want people to go shooting?  Probably not.  Was she exaggerating wildly to drive home a point?  Yes.  Was it something she gave a lot of thought to before she said it?  Probably not.

3. BOTH right and left-wing people have been behaving like monkeys in a cage throwing their own feces at the wall.  No, not everyone, but enough that it's pretty scary out there to someone that doesn't express thoughts or beliefs similar to "mainstream" thoughts or beliefs.  However, those that do behave like this oftentimes do not come up with stuff on their own.  They read/hear/watch stuff that they identify with and because the people writing or broadcasting it are out to make money, it's a constant game of "one-up."  If The Huffington Post says X about the right-wing, FOX News is going to respond with something slightly more outrageous and from there it's like watching a tennis match as each side goes back and forth endlessly.  The result is a bunch of extremely pissed off people.  Most of the time, your average person just vents among like-minded friends and they all calm down.  In some very rare cases, those extremely pissed off people all get together while they're hot under the collar and there's a protest.  Finally, (and I'm not saying this happened with Jared Lee Loughner) the most rare cases are those that act out violently because of what they've read/heard/watched.  What would be really bad is if a whole bunch of pissed off people decided to get together WHILE pissed off and act out violently together.

4. THIS GUY ISN'T TALKING.  Nearly everything that has been said or published is from second-hand sources, YouTube, MySpace, and assumptions from the media and regular people that read/listen/watch what the media puts out!  He's the only one that knows why he did what he did, what his beliefs are, etc.  Apparently he's read Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto.  Based on those books and others he's apparently read, some have come to the conclusion that he is left-leaning.  First of all, those two books would definitely be on the reading list of someone that wants to shock people and/or appear to be a "rebel."  Next, just because he wrote somewhere that he's read these books doesn't mean that he has.  I'm not entirely sure why the assumption was made that he was right-leaning, although if it were simply based upon the fact that he owned a gun I'd say that's flawed reasoning.  The bottom line here is, we have no IDEA where in the political spectrum this guy would place himself.

5. I wear three pairs of earrings.  One is a pair of plain silver balls, one a pair of spiderwebs, and the last a pair of bats.  Occasionally, I'll take out the silver balls and rearrange the other two pairs so I can wear a pair of kind of dangly raven earrings.  So based on my earrings, could one (without knowing ANYTHING else about me) assume I'm somehow involved in "the occult?"  Well, sure, but that's precious little evidence to base an argument on.  This guy has a skull in a planter sitting on top of a bunch of oranges.  I guess he must sacrifice babies or something, right?  It's a SKULL after all.  As I mentioned before, this could very well be a pile of junk and it means absolutely nothing to the guy.  However, since everyone is desperate for answers of some sort, they're jumping to conclusions.  Another thing that's disturbing to me about this "blaming behavior on 'the occult,'" thing is that REAL religions get a bad rep because of misunderstood phrases; such as "pagan," "witch," "occult," etc.  Due to centuries of what amounts to bad press, these people have endured quite a lot of persecution.  Any time a killer is labeled as being involved with "the occult," these people take another hit because the majority of people don't bother to look deeper into the actual meanings of some stuff.  Take Christine O'Donnell, for example.  She said something about having dabbled in witchcraft and a satanic altar and graveyards or some other such nonsense and people went absolutely apeshit.  Meanwhile, ACTUAL witches and satanists, among others, were rolling their eyes thinking, "Oh man.  Here we go again."  First fact: WITCHES DO NOT BELIEVE IN A SATAN.  Second fact: SATANISTS DO NOT SACRIFICE BABIES OR ANYTHING ELSE SIMILAR.  This woman probably hung out with some people that liked to do stuff purely for shock value and called it "witchcraft."  I call it "bullshit."

For more about this kind of thing, click on the following links: http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_essa.htm  
http://www.aupagans.org/


People seriously need to calm the fuck down. 

This shooting has supposedly made some members of the media and the government look closely at their behavior and the things they've said/written/done.  Anyone with any sense has known for kind of a long time now that the current political atmosphere is damn toxic.  The media and the government are only JUST NOW starting to think about this and how it might affect people and what consequences might come of it.  I call it a day late and a dollar short.  I don't think anything will change a bit because people in the media and politicians are making too much money to say, "Hey, maybe we ought to tone it down a bit."  Even if it turns out that Jared Lee Loughner was influenced by any of this crap, it's a bit too late.  Six people are dead.  Six INNOCENT people that never did a damn thing to this guy are dead.  And it took them dying for the media and politicians to start wondering if they're being a bit too vitriolic.  Fucking pathetic, I call them.  Even worse than the actual media and the politicians are the users that comment on news stories and send in letters to the editor for the newspaper.  If you haven't read them, don't.  If you have, you know EXACTLY what I mean.  Pretty scary.  It makes me want to pack up and move out of the country when I see what other Americans are saying about Congress, health care reform, immigration, the military, same-sex marriage, right versus left, blah blah blah.  I could literally go on for hours listing the topics.

It's all fueled by fear and ignorance.  This latest article with the latest theory as to the shooter's motive was enough to push me to want to write and ramble and see if there is anyone else that might share this same point of view.  This is *MY* way of venting frustration and anger.  Now that I've written what I've wanted (whether or not it's coherent to others) I'm off to bed.

"Atheists & Anger" by Greta Christina

Wow, she's right in that it IS a hard piece to read at times. I can definitely identify with most of the stuff she's touched on here and I think that in most of her points "Atheist" can be substituted for dang near any other belief system that doesn't involve Christianity.

I would, however, like to add something.  I'm angry because MY religion has been mocked and misrepresented for literally centuries.  The words "Pagan," "Witch," "Wiccan," et. al. generally freak people out unless they
1. Know someone that is one of the above
2. Decided to read up on what they REALLY are
3. Are one themselves


I'm angry because some people decide that I need to be "saved" once they hear I'm not Christian.  I'm angry because even if I explain my religion, some people still WON'T accept me for who I am and write me off as a bad person that's going to hell.


And on that note...http://gretachristina.typepad.com/greta_christinas_weblog/2007/10/atheists-and-an.html

Matt Taibbi on the Tea Party | Rolling Stone Politics

Matt Taibbi on the Tea Party | Rolling Stone Politics

*can't think of a witty title*

I've been working at 5.11 as a temp for five months. In mid-May, my supervisor told me she wanted to hire me on as a permanent employee and that made me really happy. See, I was under the impression that the HR department at 5.11 wouldn't hire me because my brother is a manager in the area I work in. So for my supervisor to tell me that I was getting hired on anyway was a nice surprise.

Fast forward to the end of July...She tells me that "it's not looking good" as far as hiring me on permanently because HR can't get past me being related to HER manager. She said that nothing had been definitively decided, she just wanted to give me a heads up, blah blah blah. It doesn't make any sense to me that HR is okay with me being there DOING THE SAME JOB as a temp, but won't bring me on as an actual employee. Of course, I'm still expected to behave like an actual employee as far as working most Saturdays, some Sundays, and working ten-hour days when needed but I'm not entitled to getting paid for holidays, medical benefits, job security, etc.

Not to sound like a boastful, arrogant bitch but I have more experience doing this stuff than anyone else they have working there in that department AND I'm better at it. I show up every day, on time, get the work done right the first time, and make their stupid deadlines. I don't go wandering off to other areas to talk to people, I don't screw things up because I'm not paying attention, I don't instigate drama, and I don't goof off with other people in my department when we're all supposed to be working. I can name at least five people that do all that stuff that were hired on after having been temps.

It pisses me off that every single other temp in that building has the opportunity to be hired on as a regular employee and that no matter what I do, I DO NOT have that opportunity. Not good for morale, ya know?

Well, for once our department is not only caught up on orders, we're a week ahead. The bad thing is, there doesn't seem to be much work coming in over the next couple of weeks. This could literally change any day now, but I guess my supervisor figured that she'd "give us all a heads up" and told us that while she and her manager (my brother) aren't 100% certain it will be slow, they're laying off temps at the end of this week. Somehow she managed to draw this simple statement out for a five minute speech and told us all at the end of it that she'd let us know who would be laid off "soon" and "individually." So at least she'll tell us in private, I guess. Adding to MY stress over this, she approached me yesterday and told me that the issue of me being hired on isn't quite dead yet, but her strategy involves simply hoping that HR will forget about me. We have to keep me "on the down-low" because when they found out I was still there, even as just a temp, they weren't happy. What I basically got out of this conversation was, "Hey, you're doing a great job, but try and make sure HR doesn't know you're still here because if they remember you, they'll get rid of you."

Here's what I think: I think she should have kept her damn fool mouth shut about layoffs until they were 100% certain they're needed. I think she's doing more harm than good stressing out people that are (despite the shortage of work) supposed to be productive and make sure the product they're turning out isn't damaged or wrong. I think she should have delegated responsibility better when she was on vacation the entire first week of this month so the jobs were spaced out better and her "fill-in" wasn't playing Little Miss Slave Driver to try and prove herself. I think that, as a production supervisor, she's lousy, incompetent, stupid, and she ought to be canned. That's what I think. And it really doesn't help matters any that her voice is apparently on the same pitch as other things that I just can't deal with well. Think of nails on a chalkboard. While I can handle that noise, I can't handle others and they all seem to be on the same pitch. If nails on a chalkboard is a sound you can't stand, imagine hearing it intermittently throughout an entire workday. *twitch*

As things stand right now, I have no idea if I'll have a job next week or not. I guess all I can do is hope for the best, expect the worst, and bite my tongue against all of the completely socially unacceptable things I'd like to say to her.