21st century (communication) breakdown

I'm not so sure that all this technology is really good for people, relationships and people skills. I'm not even sure it's good for improving communication. Other than the obvious that people are Internet dating and having cyber sex with strangers (I have no idea the fascination over this) but people carry on affairs all the time because of technology. Someone said the other day that a person who would cheat on their spouse using technology would've cheated on their spouse without it, but I'm not so sure about that. And all the ways people say stuff to each other via email and Facebook without thinking or filtering? Okay, okay okay...But this isn't my point.

You remember that episode of Sex and the City where Carrie was dumped via a post-it note, by Berger the author who was jealous of her successful writing career because he wrote a crappy book because all the NYC women were wearing scrunchies?? That wasn't technology, of course (though I still think post-its are a much better invention that Twitter) just bad taste. But technology has allowed these "post it note" type of break ups occur. People can get dumped through the phone, cell phone, Facebook, text message, email, Twitter, voice mail, blog... it seems the choices to get dumped are endless. (I think there was some movie out that made this observation before me, but it's a valid point.) And since I'm single and unattached, why might I be dwelling harping on this?

Well, the other day, it seems that Trooper and I were just shooting text messages back and forth that were at first flirty and funny and then somehow turned very serious. And we ended up having a 'serious relationship' text conversation. I typed at one point that this would be better suited to at least the phone, to which he didn't respond (such a guy thing to do, duh!). But in essence, through TEXT MESSAGES, he made it pretty clear that friendship is good, sex would be good, yet serious relationships would be scary. He said he doesn't think he wants to seriously date anyone. Blah, blah, blah. He and I could be "friends with benefits." To which I said I didn't think so since I was too old for that, been there/ don't that/ bought the t-shirt, I liked him for more than that, and if I wanted 'friends with bennies' I could do IT closer to my house. He said he was sorry, blah blah blah. I told him that in most cases people DATED first, and then decided to step it up and at some point it became a SERIOUS RELATIONSHIP; it just didn't start at serious.

And did I mention all this happened in TEXT MESSAGES?????

What the hell has my life dissolved to? Oh well, I guess I have lots more to say on this topic, here on a technologically powered online diary, but you got the gist enough to see where I'm coming from, so why write more?

I can't decide if I'm more upset over the conversational content or the fact that is happened via text? Uck!

I wash my hands and feet of it all!

Pass the Cosmos, open the shoe store doors and get outta my way,
Maggie

(And thanks to Greenday for the title...!)

He did it!!!!

Mac passed the driving test today! Whoot whoot! I am SO proud of him!

Now we're sitting here waiting for his dad to call him at my house to see if he can drive his truck. I cannot believe his Sperm Donor didn't bother to go to his insurance company to get Mac added. His father's problem is that he doesn't BELIEVE me when I told him Mac could drive the truck without insurance because in this state the vehicle is insured, not the person. So I had to have my insurance boss call and tell him it was true.

Now we're sitting here waiting for SD to call so I can let Mac drive to his dad's house to get the truck so he can go drive alone. Why in the world SD didn't take care of this all yesterday is beyond me!

But the bottom line is that he passed and another milestone is reached.

Mac was so happy he even let me hug him in the DMV!!!!

Yahoo Mac!

Proud mama,
Maggie Mae

Sometimes I want to shut off my brain

After yesterday's moving and riveting post about rice which had a Seinfeld-esque quality about it (which I have to tell ya was impressive, if I do say so myself. Who knew I could say so much about rice? And I had no intention of writing about rice when I started. I WAS going to write about all the food my dad ate but hated and stuff I couldn't fix unless I wanted to eat it alone and sometime I hopped a rickshaw to rice... go figure.) I thought I should give you peek inside my head. You want to know why I can write about rice??? Well...

Sometimes I wish I could stop thinking. I wish I could assume the brain power, like a switch to turn on and off at will, of a junior high school student. They seem to be able to "not think" on a whim. Why can't I do that?

I just can't stop thinking. Sometimes I just want to lay in front of the tv and watch mindless entertainment or a movie, to just do nothing mentally. I have the physical ability to do nothing pretty well down pat but I can't seem to get a handle on the letting my brain rest part.

Thoughts I've had today in the five minute period before I ever got out of bed:

• I hate my alarm clock and wish all alarm clocks would malfunction so no one would get blamed for being late to work if every clock in the world simultaneously stopped working.
• I'm subbing for Emotionally Disturbed kids today and I'll blend right in.
• I'm glad it's Friday and I can wear jeans.
• Can I wear jeans to a funeral? Probably not. Who cares?
  
• What the hell is wrong with Trooper? He married and divorced 2 women who were whack jobs and I seem like royalty by comparison yet he has no clue what to do with me on a long term basis... he does have some ideas on a short term...
  
• sex: haven't had any, wonder if I'll have any again, sex this year has been a low point of my year so far, sex this year has resembled putting a marshmallow in a parking meter, and I'm trying to decide it being celibate is better than bad sex?
• the weather: there are bad weather patterns that should be named as some sort of storm and people are going to be hurt because they think it's just rain but this is happening about 1000 miles from me but I'm still worried
• Will Teen Jeopardy ever be over? And where do these Stepford Students come from?
  
• Why is Mac so moody? Why does he insist on wearing his pajamas out of the house rather than jeans like a normal kid?
• What's up with Charlie Sheen's hair? It looks tall this season. And Two and a Half Men was funnier when he was single so I hope he gets rid of Chelsea, who had great tits.
• I can't stop thinking about religion since I read AJ Jacob's The Year of Living Biblically. I would like to stop think Bible and God thoughts. Furthermore, is it weird that when I read that book I got out 4 Bibles and decided to buy my own book so I could highlight important passages? And I like that my brain is challenged but now it needs to stop. And The Year of Living Biblically book is gonna get a blog post or 2 or 3 here as well and now I wonder if I could be a Jew...
  
• I gained weight. I'm fat. I want to lose weight but I still eat Oreos. Often.
  
• I worry CONSTANTLY about money and money and money.
  
• I'm excited for Christmas but scared of the cost. And of snow.
  
• I'm tired all the time. It could be because of the stress, depression or the weight gain. Or my tooth ache, which I have all the time since I broke a tooth.
• And why aren't House reruns on every night, just some nights?
• I hate Verizon Wireless. HATE.
  
• I worry my car is going to die
• My insurance payment is late (again) and I work at an insurance company, I want to be one of those people who could pay for three months but I can't afford to buy coffee.

This is just a sampling of what went on in my head, all before I even got out of bed. These thoughts just randomly smacked around in there, like pop-up ads. I don't want to shut off my head indefinitely but just for a few hours a day that doesn't involve sleeping (though I don't think my brain shuts off when I sleep considering stuff I'm thinking when my eyes open... yikes!)

And you wonder why I can write a whole blog post on rice?
Maggie

Like white on rice

For years Daddy-O ate food that my mom (God or whomever, rest her soul) cooked for about 40 years even if he didn't like it. How about that? I didn't really know this until one day I was gonna fix and chicken and rice casserole and he said he didn't like rice.

I was drawn up short and started in with the Chinese rice torture: do you like white rice? No Did he like brown rice? Yes. Did he like fried rice? Not particularly. Does he like white rice at the Chinese restaurant? No, because it's sticky. But, I told him, it's supposed to be sticky! But nope, he still said he didn't like rice, but the man ate white rice for 40 years cause my mom fixed it. Sometimes, it was easier to just eat what mom fixed rather than argue with her. Hmmm.

By the way, I like white rice, fried rice, and sticky white Chinese rice. Brown rice, to me, is super icky.

So, I didn't make chicken and rice but I tried to convince him he would like it since it had mushrooms, cream of chicken soup, and cheese in it. No dice; he wasn't gonna eat it.

When I was a kid we had rice as a side dish. Just plain old white rice. Sometimes mom would make something she called 'Spanish Rice.' Since she's dead, I can't really ask her what it was, so to the best of my recollection it was like Manwich Hamburger sloppy joe meat sauce dumped on top of rice. I remember I at it but it wasn't my favorite thing.

Mom also made white rice with 'sweet and sour chicken' poured on top of it. She browned chicken and used green peppers, pineapple, pineapple juice, and corn starch as the 'sweet and sour' part. Then the whole thing got poured over it and that wasn't too bad; I liked it. She also made "Hawaiian meatballs" with the same sauce but with meatballs poured over rice. You see a trend here? Oh, and I liked it, too.

I also remember that she made white rice, put it in individual bowls, and covered it with milk and sugar. Ok. I have no idea where that came from. Or what in the world we had with it. Then if there was left over rice int he morning, I did the same thing for breakfast but let the rice just stay cold. But I do like that and still to this day, I'll make a pot of rice, let it get sticky, and cover it with sugar and milk and call it dinner.

It's hard to believe that I would eat rice as a kid since so many don't like it and make maggot comparisons, but I would just chow down. My mom would try and make potato pancakes with cheese with leftover mashed potatoes and I would gag and make retching sounds and not touch them, but I would eat rice like Confucius.

I don't like brown rice. It's yucky. I guess I could say it tastes "grainy" but... uh... ya know.

I don't like Rice-A-Roni; trust me, that is so not the real San Francisco treat.

Rice pudding is... acceptable, but I prefer tapioca.

I want a rice steamer.

An old Chinese proverb says, "talk doesn't cook rice."

Take a minute for rice,
Maggie-san

Reasons Our Country needs Planned Parenthood

Since I've been unemployed I decided to go to a Planned Parenthood to get my annual pap and my birth control pills. (No I'm not having sex. Yes, I hope to have sex; hence, the need or desire for the Pill)

I'd never gone before so when I went for the first time I just had to fill out your typical medical forms and an income summary form. Then I had an iron test, blood pressure, weight, height, the pap, a pelvic, and a breast exam. Then I was given 3 months of pills. They told me if there was anything wrong with my results they would call; no call means everything is fine. Before the end of my three months I needed to come back and get another iron test, weight checked and the blood pressure checked and they would give me 9 more months of pills.

So I called this week to set up my three month check and I find out that they are closing the office nearest me because this state was not offering any funding so it had to close. I went to do the tests and they gave me three months of pills because there is no funding and they have to stretch what Pills they have in storage. Apparently my kind is fairly popular because they only had 6 paks left and gave me 3 so three for someone else. Because there was no State funding for Planned Parenthoods, my records will be sent to another office that has outside funding and who can take on another case. Then I can call that office to get the last 6 months.

I'm appalled that I live in a place where funding is cut. I could go searching online to see why but I'm afraid to find out the answer. I have a feeling it's because of the abortion issue.

We need Planned Parenthood. Not only do they do abortions, but they provide much more important services: medical coverage for women's health. They do testing for STDs as well as providing sexual education for those in need, and birth control. Free condoms! And all this comes at a low cost to nothing. When I went to my regular doctor aka "my health care professional", when I had insurance BTW, I paid my co-pay for $30. Then I had to pay 20% of the lab results, which came to about $80. There was also %20 of whatever the insurance company didn't cover as part of the doc visit, which was around $30 more. Then I also had to pay for my pills which were $52 a month- not covered under insurance. This cost was the very minimum if all my tests came back fine (and as many of you might remember, I usually have a an angry vagina monologue). I didn't get any sort of different or better service at my doctor's office than I did at the Planned Parenthood. Everyone at PP was kind, informative, and nice. I also got free condoms at PP and was never given such at the doc. office. AND when I went to PP I didn't have to pay anything for my exams or Pills. They just asked for a donation, which I gave a healthy one. I felt it was right to give a donation if I could afford it even though my "income" dropped me into the "free" category (pride and humility life lesson here for another day).

Planned Parenthood is necessary because I think of all the women who are helped. Even if I take abortion out of the equation, then think of all else they do: free STD screening. Educating those about safe sex and their bodies. Free birth control. Hello? Is there anyone who really thinks these things are bad and shouldn't be funded? Really? I think all women have a right to protect their bodies and with the price of HEALTH CARE right now, other than those with a good job or good insurance, who can afford to go to the doctor just for a check up? I know I needed them right now and I was thankful they were here.

Can anyone really not want to fund a place that will do early detection of breast and cervical cancers? An organization who wants to educate women about their bodies, and provides men's health services? Who provide LGTB services (lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual)? Who will provide information about safe sex? Who will help prevent the spread of STDs through education and knowledge? Who provides affordable health care options? Who gives vaccines and pregnancy tests for free? And these are the services that have nothing to do with abortion. I just don't understand. I'm so frustrated. I can't change it, fix it, do anything about it. Grrrrrr!

I'm a huge advocate of Planned Parenthood and this is disappointing. Again, I realize I should do my usual routine and research why the State didn't fund them, but I just don't think I have it in me to hear the answers. Planned Parenthood has been around for years and has been doing it's own version of 'health care reform' before that became the popular buzz words to bandy about. Bottom line, PP didn't get funded for 'whatever' reason and that's just another way to hinder people in need of affordable health care.

Pro- health care reform,
Maggie