You Know You're From....

You Know You're From Upstate New York When...

You refer to downtown Albany as "The City." "Vacation" means going to Lake Ontario or Niagra for the weekend. There is a mini-mall every 1/4 mile, if not, you are in Vermont. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at the Hannaford at any given time. You know to avoid tractor trailers (or cars for that matter!) on the Northway with Canadian plates. You don't consider what Domino's or Pizza Hut sell as pizza. You know that "First Night" isn't a Sean Connery movie. There is no such thing as waiting for the left turn arrow at an intersection. Your career ambition is to work for NY State. Even with the slightest threat of snow, you know that Ichobob Crane schools are closed. You think everyone from down-state has an accent. Down-State starts just south of the Thruway. You're in line to get the first custard cone when summer comes. You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Upstate NY.

Get Your Own "You Know You're From" Meme Here



More cool things for your blog at
Blogthings

My Mantra For Today

I heart Jim Benton:




Because I am so NOT listening. For today, anyway.

2 Things

2 things in the news that weigh heavily on my mind. Terri Schiavo and Jeff Weise from Minnesota who killed to family members and shot 7 classmates. First up, Terri.

From the outside she doesn't seem to have a quality of life but then again, who decides what quality is nor isn't? Of course her parents want to keep her alive, all parents as well as many people, but in my opinion, all parents hold on to hope. You HOPE your kid gets the best education, job, family, life, etc and when that seems to be taken too soon, well you HOPE you can prolong things for your sake if anything. I'm not a parent but I can't sort of understand what Terri's parents feel. At the same time, I think back to my grandmother and her Alzheimers. Yea we could have forced fed her (after all, isn't that what a feeding tube is?), we could have forced her to live longer, but why? She got to the point in her life where she was using diapers and we couldn't bathe her because she was so heavy to lift. NOT that I loved my grandmother any less, I loved her with and still do with ever fiber of my being, but... to keep someone locked inside a shell just seems wrong to me. After all, if you really think about it, we are souls in a shell, a vessel.

Jeff Weise - I'm not mad at this kid, I'm saddened and perplexed. Surely there was someone out there who knew this kid was having problems. Surely someone could have said "I'm here for you Jeff". Kids are MEAN, very mean. I've seen this from the other side of the desk as I was a teacher and the way they talk about each other, make fun of each other is horrendous. Boys aren't too bad about it, I think the worse is to hear one boy attack another's masculinity, but girls, girls are fierce. Biting, scathing, cutting remarks that hit the bone.

Part of me really understand why this kid went off his rocker. He's human, and humans can only handle so much before they blow. Some of us find constructive ways to deal with it, some of us don't as is the case here. My guess is that Jeff (and I use his name because he is human and not some monster), was bullied and had had enough. On top of the fact that his father killed himself 2 years ago and you know that has to be hard for a boy to grow up without a father. I'm not excusing him, what he did was wrong, you just don't take someone else's life like that, but I do think the school, the mother, someone should have intervened. Talking to kids DOES WONDERS, it let's them know you care, you're interested, you want to know more about them and that's all many of them really need.

It saddens me that schools ignore this bullying syndrome that is so prevalent until something terrible happens and then it's all 'well so and so had problems'. No shit, but did you bother to find out what they were? We all have 'problems'.

In retrospect, I'm 33 and the world sometimes frightens me.

Thinking....and More Thinking

What's worse than one sprained ankle, umm 2. That's right, 2. I had the sudden misfortune of spraining both of my ankles at the same time, the right one is far worse than the left but I'm confident that I'll heal pretty quickly because I am an active person. In fact, I took the aircasts off because they were making my lower leg itch like a madman and I just couldn't take.it.any.more.

And oh the time I've had to think and read. Reading is good, thinking too much for me is bad, bad, bad. I just finished reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom and I have to say, it moved me. Many books have touched me, but this one, really, really moved me. I cried at certain parts when I read this book and I couldn't put it down. Seriously, I finished it in 2 days and may have finished it in one day had the Lortab for my ankles not kicked in.

I strongly recommend this book for anyone. Men (no it's not too sappy), women, teens, basically anyone who likes to read and even if you don't, you should still give this book it's due.

I do think that your age and life experiences will have some bearing on what you bring away with you after you have finished this book. And now to my crazy thinking...

Maybe it's the Lortab talking, maybe not. Maybe I still am in love with my ex more than I want to be, maybe it's because she's pretty much taking care of me while I shuffle around the house unable to carry a plate of food to the table as it's kind of hard to do that and walk on crutches at the same time.

I caught myself wanting to say to her, "I'm sorry, can we try again". What am I sorry for?, I have no idea, but if it would give me a second chance, I'd be sorry if I had too. It's clear to me that she probably relies on me more than she wants too. As I was in the ER and she went to softball, where our team one both games and no, she didn't just drop me in the ER, her sister took me. She called and told me about the games, the other team members asked how I was doing etc etc.

When she got home she said she forgot to bring water, some food, my bats, etc etc. I asked her what she had eaten and she had to buy a chicken sandwich and water and gatorade then went on to say, 'see if you were there, you would have remembered all of those things'. Yea, I would have but.... I couldn't be there this time. I will be there in the future, if just to watch as I don't know the outcome of the ankle saga (and a saga it is, I should have had these ankles fixed when I was in my teens). Hopefully, I'll get to play and I've already started putting weight on my feet, but of course, I'm afraid to put too much too soon.

But next time, I'll remember the water, the gatorade, the food, the bats, I'll remember it all. In fact, I do remember it all.

In Control

Spotted Recently: Bumper Sticker on SUV

Message: "Why Worry? God's in Control"

Thoughts: Apparently God is not only in control of said SUV, God can also drink a beverage and talk on the cell phone at the same time WHILE 2 kids throw a football back and forth INSIDE the SUV. I wonder what will happen when that same SUV that is under control by God mind you, causes a wreck?

LONG LIVE the 70's

You know you were a little girl in the 70's (or a boy for that matter) IF:

* You wore a rainbow shirt that was half-sleeves,
> and the rainbow
> went up one sleeve, across your chest, and down the
> other.
>
> * You made baby chocolate cakes in your Easy Bake
> Oven and washed
> them down with snow cones from your Snoopy Snow Cone
> Machine.
>
> * You had that Fisher Price Doctor's Kit with a
> stethoscope that
> actually worked.
>
> * You owned a bicycle with a banana seat and a
> plastic basket with
> flowers on it.
>
> * You learned to skate with actual skates (not
> roller blades) that
> had metal wheels.
>
> * You thought Gopher from Love Boat was cute (Admit
> it!) You had
> nightmares
> after watching Fantasy Island.
>
> * You had rubber boots for rainy days and Moon boots
> for snowy days.
>
> You had either a "bowl cut" or "pixie," not to
> mention the "Dorothy
> Hamil" because your Mom was sick of braiding your
> hair. People
> sometimes thought you were a boy.
>
> * Your Holly Hobbie sleeping bag was your most
> prized possession.
>
> * You wore a poncho, gauchos, and knickers.
>
> * You begged Santa for the electronic game, Simon.
>
> * You had the Donnie and Marie dolls with those pink
> and purple
> satiny shredded outfits.
>
> * You spent hours in your backyard on your metal
> swing set with the
> trapeze. The swing set tipped
> over at least once.
>
> * You had homemade ribbon barrettes in every
> imaginable color.
>
> * You had a pair of Doctor Scholl's sandals (the
> ones with hard sole
> & the buckle). You also had a pair of salt-water
> sandals.
>
> * You wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder really bad;
> you wore that
> Little House on the Prairie-inspired plaid, ruffle
> shirt with the high
> neck in at least one school picture; and you
> despised Nellie Olson!
>
> * You wanted your first kiss to be at a roller rink.
>
> * Your hairstyle was described as having "wings" or
> "feathers" and
> you kept it "pretty" with the comb you kept in your
> back pocket.
>
> * You know who Strawberry Shortcake is, as
> well as her friends, Blueberry Muffin and
> Huckleberry Pie.
>
> * You carried a Muppets lunch box to school and it
> was metal, not
> plastic.
>
> * You and your girlfriends would fight over which of
> the Dukes of
> Hazard was your boyfriend.
>
> * Every now and then "It's a Hard Knock Life" from
> the
> movie, "Annie" will pop into your brain and you
> can't stop singing it
> the whole day.
>
> * YOU had Star Wars action figures, too!
>
> * It was a big event in your household each year
> when the "Wizard of
> Oz" would come on TV. Your mom would break out the
> popcorn and sleeping
> bags!
>
> * You often asked your Magic-8 ball the question:
> "Who will I
> marry? Shaun
> Cassidy, Leif Garrett, or Rick Springfield?"
>
> * You completely wore out your Grease, Saturday
> Night Fever, and
> Fame soundtrack record album.
>
> * You tried to do lots of arts and crafts, like yarn
> and Popsicle-
> stick God's eyes, decoupage, or those weird
> potholders made on a
> plastic loom.
>
> * You made Shrinky-Dinks and put iron-on kittens on
> your t-
> shirts!
>
> * You used to tape record songs off the radio by
> holding your
> portable tape player up to the speaker.
>
> * You couldn't wait to get the free animal poster
> that came when you
> ordered books from the Weekly Reader book club.
> Double score if it
> was a teddy bear dressed in clothing.
>
> * You
> learned everything you needed to know about girl
> issues from Judy Blume
> books (Are you there God, It's me, Margaret.)
>
> * You thought Olivia Newton John's song "Physical"
> was about
> aerobics.
>
> * You wore friendship pins on your tennis shoes, or
> shoelaces with
> heart or rainbow designs.
>
> * You wanted to be a Solid Gold dancer.
>
> * You had a Big Wheel with a brake on the side, and
> a Sit-n-Spin.
>
> * You had subscriptions to Dynamite and Tiger Beat.
>
> * You spent all your allowance on smurfs and
> stickers for your
> sticker album!