For Angie

I hope this link works. This is my favorite Christmas song.

Puppy

I have to explain the reason why I keep calling pictures of my foot "puppy." My friend, Angie, had an accident over a year ago when the tip of her pinky was almost taken off by her husband's remote controlled helicopter. Ronna doesn't do well at the sight of blood or injury, so Angie asked Ronna if she'd like to see the picture of her new puppy, which was actually a trick to get her to look at the picture of her finger. Thus, a puppy was born.

Anyway, here's the latest picture of my puppy.


The doc said that the coloring of this thing worries him, as well as the fact that the incision doesn't look that great. I have been experiencing massive pain on one side of my incision, while the other side is totally and completely numb. The area to the left of the incision (in the picture) is the numb area, and everything to the right is the danger zone. My podiatrist said that this is probably because part of the nerve got sewn in with my incision and the pain should go away in 7-10 weeks. As in, AFTER Christmas. AFTER finals. AFTER the new year.

Oh, God, forgive me for I whine. I have two feet, the world is mine.

Superman

When I was little (and I mean little) I saw Superman and fell in love with Christopher Reeve. I watched Superman and Superman II all the time. (I actually like the second one better.) I flipped the channel to see if the BYU-Utah football game was on (Go UTES!) and watched a little. Got bored so I decided to see if there were any good movies on. Superman II on Encore? Yes, please! I climbed under my comforter, grabbed a stitching project and got settled in for an hour and a half of my very own McDreamy. When I was in first grade, I had a dream that Superman came to my backyard birthday party and saved me from everyone who was being mean to me. I know what part of the fence he flew up over and where I was standing. I have never forgotten that dream. Ever, ever, ever. Watching this movie is a whole new experience every single time. I know all the vocal inflections, character/actor nuances and lines, but I still get giddy when I see it.

Even today, when I think back on the life of Christopher Reeve, I get teary eyed. I remember hearing that he was going to come and speak in Ogden at Weber State back when Rachel was only about 18 months old. I wanted to go so badly, but at that time we were a one car/one income family and it just wasn't an option. To this day I regret not making a bigger effort to go see him speak.

And now, for something completely different

I'm sorry it's been so quiet lately, but when your foot gets cut open and you get sick from the meds you're on and...

I can't wait for school to be over in a few weeks, even though that means two more chemistry tests - STRESS!!

I am on one, jeez. PART TWO!!!!

I just checked my school email and Lo! BEHOLD! A response to my tasty morsel of (As Nicole put it) smart sarcasm.

Forgive me, I thought we were sharing our responses to the things Shakespeare made us think about...not attacking other people's parenting styles.

BRING IT ON, SISTER. BRING IT.

My response:

No comment was made on anyone's parenting styles. What if what I said is true for my life? Then whose lifestyle is being thrown out of consideration? Maybe I'm the only one who sees things that way. Am I wrong to assume that the question wasn't open ended? After all, an opinion was asked for, and I just happen to have one that I don't care to sugar coat so it's easier for people to swallow. I wasn't under the impression that I couldn't post if I wasn't in cohesion with the rest of people's opinions. After all, how can you have an even discussion if everyone voices the same opinion? I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not. If A Midsummer Night's Dream is an offense to you, I pity that. I revel in it. I have a Pagan cousin, and if this is what it takes to get a conversation she can tolerate with me, than so be it. I don't like Bowdlerizing at all.

If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended.

Thank you for giving me a chuckle, and thank you for finally making for an interesting discussion.

I am on one, jeez.

So the discussion in my Shakespeare class right now is about A Midsummer Night's Dream, one of my favorites. In one of the threads, we were to talk about what midsummer is and what May Day is. Here's the initial response. I've removed names to protect their stupidity.

Midsummer is on May 1st and commemorates the tranisiton from Winter to Summer. May 1st is also the Pagan celebration called May Day, which is a festival that observes ancient fertility rites and includes dancing around the Maypole (a phallic symbol) and crowning the Queen of May.

I've heard that the tradition included young people spending the night in the woods having sex and allowed married couples to remove their wedding bands for the holiday.

The holiday is not often observed in the United States because when the Puritans arrived here, they strongly disapproved of the rituals. The negative feelings have carried on throughout U.S. History in many cases. Interestingly enough, May Day is celebrated in some elementary schools.

More posts are made responding to this one, all basically saying, "Wow! I had no idea!" Whatever. Then there's this post:

Does anyone else feel like keeping a closer eye on the holiday celebrations their kids are involved with at school after dicovering this stuff or is it just me? (And yes, that's their typo, not mine.)

Holy hell, people, it's an effing holiday.

MY RESPONSE, AND I OWN EVERY WORD OF IT:

No, I don't care about this kind of stuff. Halloween is tied to Paganism and I let my daughter dress up and go trick-or-treating. Same reason why I let Santa Claus take its course in her circle of beliefs when she was younger, as well as the fact that I let her not only read the Harry Potter books, but watch the movies as well. So far I haven't heard of her practicing Wicca, worshiping a Saint, or learning Magick. I also plan on introducing her to several of my favorite books when she gets to the age where the subject matter is no longer questionable for her level of comprehension. What books are those? To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Of Mice and Men, and A Separate Peace, to name a few. Those are/were banned books. Making a bigger deal out of something so trivial only fuels the fire of curiosity in children, especially pre-teens and teenagers.

My husband doesn't wear a wedding ring, and I don't wear mine all the time. Does that mean something I'm not aware of?! And if we go camping and things get a little frisky in the tent, are we doing something wrong?

Pardon me for cutting this short, I forgot I left my maypole up from earlier this year and I don't want it to get ruined by the snow.

Oh, and just in case you're planning a trip to Paris to see the Eiffel Tower, you might want to strike that from your list of places to see before you die. *It's a phallic reference!*

Okay

I apologize for that last post. I was having a rough day, which was preceded by about 5 rough days. I've taken myself off a certain pill to see if I can tolerate life without it. I've been doing so-so. I feel more like myself, meaning that I'm not so complacent with everything that goes on around me. I still feel little zaps in my head, and have moments where I feel like when I move my head it takes the nerve impulses about 2 seconds to catch up to what it is I'm looking at, but I'm a little more present. And there you go, if you wanted a little insight to my life. ANYWAY...

I had a not-so-pleasant experience in my Biology lab this morning with someone that sits at my table, but made up for it by having lunch with Rod. I came home and am making Rachel stick up to her promise that she'd clean her room and the house when she got home from school today. (I told her last night after catching her texting her friend well past bedtime that I was going to clean her room this morning when she left for school. I knew that'd change things up a bit.) Anyway, I have a paper due tomorrow night for my Shakespeare class. It's on A Midsummer Night's Dream. I decided that to coincide with reading the play for the umpteenth time, I'd treat myself to watching the movie, which costars the brilliant Stanley Tucci.

And next week I have to read Macbeth.

Twist my arm a little bit more.

Bleh

I feel really low.
I feel really angry.
I feel like giving up on Nursing and going with what I know.

I don't know if these feelings are related to the fact that I'm getting B's in both Chemistry classes I'm taking this semester, and not the A's I thought I'd have. I have a slight inkling that it's related to the fact that I don't care about my Oceanography class and haven't tried at all to do well just because it's a filler class I thought I had to take in order to get financial aid. I had a test today and got a D. I just don't care about that class. However, I will say that I am going to get ahead and hopefully take the final before the end of November, just so I can get it out of the way and focus on Chemistry, which is what matters. I am getting an A in Shakespeare. It's the easiest class I've ever taken, next to any other English class I've ever taken. That's what makes me second guess myself. There's another factor that plays into the big picture, but I don't want to discuss it in detail. I'll just say that I'm not taking Zoloft anymore. I feel more like myself when I'm not on it.

Divorce Agreement

I'm sure I'll get a little flack for this, but my sister sent this to me and I got a good laugh.

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950's for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:
Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and biodiesel. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them.

We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens. We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood .

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors.. We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem." I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine", "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", "Kum Ba Ya" or "We Are the World".

We'll practice trickle down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.
Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I'll bet you answer which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,
John J. Wall
Law Student and an American

P. S. Also, please take Ted Turner, Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Barbara Streisand, & Jane Fonda with you. Don't forget Pelosi and Reed.....and the great O!

P. S. S. And you won't have to press 1 for English when you call our country.