Wake up!

“There are three types of lies — lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
― Benjamin Disraeli

Two weeks ago I was sitting in a class discussing current events. One student presented on abortion rights debate. To be honest, I was tuning out most of the presentations because I have issues with the behavior of most of the students. But I was paying attention to this.

Black Friday, past & present.

“I miss the good old days when Black Friday was actually on Friday.” – Unknown

When I was a kid, the day after Thanksgiving was for the ladies to wander out to the mall (or other stores) for a ladies lunch and shopping. It was a bonding time for me with my mom and grandma. And it was the day for a family friend to get all of her shopping done. And though there were some lines, it was no where near the mad house of Black Friday.

Men- listen up!

I’ve been in a lot of weird situations with men over the years. Most I won’t share. Ever. But some…

I admit to having a profile on a dating site. Who doesn’t these days? And I admit to being a wee bit choosy about who I talk to. No, it isn’t looks based- I want something on their profile to inspire me to want to get to know them. Also, it’d be nice if they were taller than me.

So it really irks me when chatting with a guy for a few days- basic how do you do’s and stuff- and he drops this (or some variation),

That’s hot… Wow yr a sexy thing, aren’t you…

Are you affectionate?
How long has it been since you’ve been with someone.?

Whoa whoa whoa. What the?

I realize there is a line of anonymity provided by the internet, and that tends to lead to a lot of saying things we normally wouldn’t say in person, but you don’t know me. We’ve never met. And I was really hoping we would reach that point, but saying/asking things like that when we have no actual relationship… it’s such a turn-off. I have absolutely no desire to get to know more. It would be one thing if “casual encounters” or whatever they call it there was checked as something I was interested in. It isn’t.

Would someone have said that to me if we’d met in a bar and talked for 20 minutes? I would’ve gotten up and left. Possibly after tossing my drink on him. Depends on my mood.

I’m ignoring the horrific grammar and spelling. If it had been a message I was going to respond to, I might have addressed but… so not the point right now.

borrowed this pic from Listcovery, who may have borrowed it from someone else… 😦

I’m wondering if maybe I missed the meeting about the lack of etiquette that would be used dating in the 21st century. Anyone else?

My friend Danie has a great site up early this year and I wish she would get back to updating it because the dating horror stories on it reminded me that it’s not just guys here. It’s all of them.

Sigh.

Though, I should mention- I like guys just fine; I know several awesome ones. I’ve had great relationships with several. But it seems like those guys are a dying breed.

Guest Post~~ The Curious Case of America’s Vanishing Vacation Time

Natasha Rhodes is a contributing author on my other site, NerdLush, who has an interesting post to share here today.

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The Curious Case of America’s Vanishing Vacation Time

by Natasha Rhodes

I’ll never forget my first encounter with the American company policy to vacations. I’d just started my first US job, and was told that my company allowed two weeks of vacation. On my first day of work in August, I asked to take my allotted ten days in December, so I could spend Christmas with my family in England.

Moving on…

“Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn’t stop for anybody.”
― Stephen Chbosky

Life.

He’s gone…

How we deal with death is at least as important as how we deal with life.

ADMIRAL JAMES T. KIRK, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

I made the decision this afternoon to let Pudgey go. I came home to central California at the end of last week (staying through mother’s day) and took this week off from work so that i could be here with my family when the time came. Selfishly, I’d hoped he would pass quietly on his own. He did not.

Death and taxes

 “The only things certain in life are death and taxes.”

Benjamin Franklin

There’s a lot of sadness on this site lately, and I do apologize for that but it is MY site and right now… a lot of what I need to write about is to help process grief. This time it is not my own… well it is mine, but not for my Pudgey.

What death can touch

“It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch.”
(Anonymous)

As I write this, Pudgey is curled somewhat in my lap. He smells. I’ll be honest- he’s actually kind of gross. It’s the drool, mostly- and some food smeared into his coat. I’ll give him a bath in a little bit, but it won’t help. Not completely. I won’t push him and scrub him the way he truly needs in order to really be clean. I’m afraid it’ll hurt. I know, you didn’t expect me to write about the smell of elderly, ill cat, but… thems the breaks. 

Success raises us all

“I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.”
― Abraham Lincoln

Somedays I wonder what my purpose is- why do I do the work I do? And then I have a moment where it all comes together and I no longer question anything. I just go with the flow. 

Friendship in the age of Social Networking

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
― C.S. Lewis

I hosted a party recently for the other website’s anniversary. Many old friends and new friends came out to celebrate. Others sent love via text and tweets. It was an amazing evening. But when I woke up the following morning, I discovered that someone who I had been friends with for a few years (we shared a circle of friends as well) had unfriended me on all of our social network connections. Even gone so far as to block me on some of them.