My Fresh Hell
Life in Scribbletown.

If You Prick Me, Do I Not Bleed?

2006-09-11

Christ on the half-shell! You know what I love? Really love? Looking up my bank balance on a Monday morning and reading �available balance: $7.19.�

That�s what I love more than puppies and kitties and hot cocoa.

I did a little robbing-the-credit-union-to-pay-the-bank maneuver and hopefully that will stem off any bounced checks. The only payment in the queue is for groceries and I think the grocery store will forgive me. After it socks me with a fee. Gotta love capitalism! It loves poor families!

All this because the institution that employs my husband decided that, despite classes beginning in August, there would be no September 1 paycheck. Oh, no! Let �em sweat it out until the 15th. Which is what we�re having to do. Which means no new tennis shoes for Dusty yet.

Luckily, my husband is applying for one of the who-knows-how-many new instructorships being offered by a new university entity. These instructorships used to be few and housed under the department of English. Now, they�ve created some new bureaucratic monolith that will oversee what is essentially a freshman-year experience type program. Meaning, same damn class, different higher-ed philosophy. What. Ever. What it better mean to us is a job that pays more than minimum wage.

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Recently, my sister ranted about the Fuck You Citgo, the gas station that always sells gas for twenty or more cents higher than any other gas station around. No matter what. Where I live, there a convenience store (run by smokers, so I never enter) that has the highest gas prices in the universe. Proof: on Friday, I bought gas at Sh33tz for $2.39/gallon. On my way home, I passed Crappy Smoker�s Paradise and they were advertising the lowest grade for $2.79. Thirty cents more! I guess they really don�t care whether they sell it or not. Could be, the gas in the storage tanks has been there since last Christmas.

The other reason not to go there is you can�t pay at the pump. Which sucks when it rains or when you have kids in the car (take them in or risk leaving them?). You actually have to go inside the smokey store to visit the gas trepanner. With most normal gas stations, they slit your wrist right there at the pump for your blood. Which is much more efficient if not any less painful.

Blood for oil.

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So, yeah, I�m feeling better though the antibiotic is doing a number on my guts � cure worse than the sickness? Maybe. I�m just glad it�s a five-day regime instead of ten. Because, I really want to be able to drink a damn beer on Thursday when Survivor begins.

There�s been a lot of stupid hype over the new season. Which is exactly what CBS wanted. And the media (and dumb people) have played right into their hands. One of our local sanctimonious columnists (who mostly writes about whores with hearts of gold and other hanky grabbers) fell right into the network's trap with how this �tribes divided by race� thing was the beginning of WWIII. Which may actually be taking place already over in the Middle East. This twit got on his high horse right out of the gate by saying that not only did he not watch trash like Survivor (and, thus, has no idea how the game works) but doesn�t even watch tv at all. So, his argument is meaningless.

Now you all know my views about children and television but I am not an extremist. I am an adult who enjoys a little television. I do not think that the solution to every problem is to throw out the television.

I also think that in order to criticize something, you ought to have an idea about what you're criticizing. I mean, watch the damn show before you condemn it. Isn't this how books got banned? Stupid fucks who hadn't even read it but believed rumors based on lies decided "Our Children" shouldn't read them?

I, for one, am interested in seeing how this little change-up plays out. Because what hasn�t been mentioned in all the hoo-ha is that this is the first Survivor season with a decent racial mix. The show has NEVER had enough diversity to suit me. So, I�ll be glad to see many non-white faces for once. I don�t really care how the producers choose to promote that. The contestants ought to be considered smart enough not to �choose based on race� or whatever other ridiculous things people are saying. There were even some �authorities� who apparently asked CBS to reconsider this strategy and do it differently. I guess they don�t understand that the show�s already been filmed. It�s pretty much a done deal.

I can�t wait.

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Finally � Dusty had a great first week of school. We finally figured out the bus thing (#50 is her appointed bus).

Thursday was music day. I asked how the music lesson went, �Fine. Mostly we just sat and listened. Sit and listen, sit and listen. We do too much sitting and listening.�

Yeah, it�s a tough world. But, it was also only the first week in which they learned rules and where things are in the classroom and the school (they met the school nurse, etc). Hopefully this week will involve more doing.

She won the Best Behavior award (no surprise) and got a nice hot pink pair of Dracula teeth from the treasure chest. I�ve taken a picture of her wearing them and will post it soon.

For now, I taken up way too much of your time already so I�ll bid you adieu!

P.S. � I�ve posted a �new� photo on flicker of me and my friends back when I was more or less Dusty�s age. I�ll write about that shortly, I hope.

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10:05 a.m. ::
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