Marvin is a new addition to my family. He's a little bundle of joy. He's my new puppy. And at 12 weeks old, he's way too active in the morning. I unfortunately still have to leave him outside while I am at work, which is still 12 hours a day. But when I get home we go on a very long walk. He's semi potty trained and is learning very well on our walks. He knows he's supposed to be on my right side at all times already.
I put in my two weeks notice a couple days ago. As of May 16th, 2008, I will no longer be employed at the bank. I cannot wait!!! It is sucking the soul out of me; I want it back. Then I have a bit of a vacation before I start babysitting. I will be so relieved when I don't have to go between two different jobs. When I am finished teaching for the day I don't have to go to another job that I don't like. Two more weeks. That's it.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
My Fellow Americans
Good Evening My Fellow Americans:
It is under good advisement that I, Elyse Poland, AKA. Oh Wise One, have decided to run for President of the United States of America.
This decision has been weighing heavy on my heart recently, so after many discussions with trusted colleagues, the spirits, family, gentle creatures of the land, and friends I have decided that the country would be in a much better state if I were in charge.
The plethora of debates that have occurred between the current candidates has left the American public wanting. Enough about how to kill the cow, just kill it already. I want some dadgum steak. All the rhetoric being flaunted has shown nothing but good speech writing. I will be hiring Ben Stein as my head writer. And while their words may be inspiring to some, I am left looking for the silver lining. Oh lordy! here comes the rapture.
This public announcement is to present myself as the silver lining. In the rain storm that is our political system, I shall be a beacon of hope, a ray of sunshine, the pot of gold at the end of the fricking rainbow! I will right the wrongs that have unjustly graced our nation, abolish the IRS, and save the rainforest. Oh wait that's another nation. I will reduce our dependancy on oil, get us out of Iraq and into Afghanistan and Pakistan, and save the lemurs while I'm at it.
Gun control? Teach your kids the proper usage and respect for a rifle. Censorship? Teach your kids to be respectful of others and what they hear on TV won't be repeated. Sex Education? Quit being prudes and open up to your kids no matter how embarrassing it is to you and them.
If you still wonder where I stand regarding the important issues such as health care, social security, the economy, or the endangered whales, please contact my very handsome yet extremely under-qualified assistant, Todd. He will get back with you in a timely manner.
Until the blessed day arrives, take care of yourselves and each other. God Bless!
It is under good advisement that I, Elyse Poland, AKA. Oh Wise One, have decided to run for President of the United States of America.
This decision has been weighing heavy on my heart recently, so after many discussions with trusted colleagues, the spirits, family, gentle creatures of the land, and friends I have decided that the country would be in a much better state if I were in charge.
The plethora of debates that have occurred between the current candidates has left the American public wanting. Enough about how to kill the cow, just kill it already. I want some dadgum steak. All the rhetoric being flaunted has shown nothing but good speech writing. I will be hiring Ben Stein as my head writer. And while their words may be inspiring to some, I am left looking for the silver lining. Oh lordy! here comes the rapture.
This public announcement is to present myself as the silver lining. In the rain storm that is our political system, I shall be a beacon of hope, a ray of sunshine, the pot of gold at the end of the fricking rainbow! I will right the wrongs that have unjustly graced our nation, abolish the IRS, and save the rainforest. Oh wait that's another nation. I will reduce our dependancy on oil, get us out of Iraq and into Afghanistan and Pakistan, and save the lemurs while I'm at it.
Gun control? Teach your kids the proper usage and respect for a rifle. Censorship? Teach your kids to be respectful of others and what they hear on TV won't be repeated. Sex Education? Quit being prudes and open up to your kids no matter how embarrassing it is to you and them.
If you still wonder where I stand regarding the important issues such as health care, social security, the economy, or the endangered whales, please contact my very handsome yet extremely under-qualified assistant, Todd. He will get back with you in a timely manner.
Until the blessed day arrives, take care of yourselves and each other. God Bless!
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Matters of the Heart
Am I doing something wrong? I'm 23, hot, smart, and employed. Granted, there have never been guys beating down my door, so I don't really expect that to change. But I would like to know that there are some out there who are willing to want me.
Well ok, there have been quite a few who I have been talking to recently, however, none of them will make any sort of effort to show me that they want more from me. I'm not looking for marriage; I don't know if I even really believe in the institution of marriage. But dammit, I want more than one night. Now none of the fellas I've been talking to have had that opportunity. Hell only one of them is in a close enough proximity to even think about it realistically. But none will make an effort. I want to know that I'm not gonna end up an old maid!
Part of me is perfectly content with how things are. But then there is this voice in the back of my head telling me that I need to find that certain someone and soon. I have some pretty awesome friends, and my family isn't to shabby either. But there is this one nagging voice telling me that the next step is finding the person, and I am a huge failure at doing so. I went to youth tonight to 'help' one of my good friends who is the leader. There one of the girls, who is 12 by the way, was so happy because it's been two weeks and her boyfriend hasn't broken up with her yet. I sadly feel the same way when in a relationship, still at 23. Why does 2 weeks feel like an accomplishment? It's not in the grand scheme of things; it's a blip. But then again I can't even get a date with someone. Why do I feel pressured to find someone now!? Like my life has no meaning without someone else in it. I know it's not a legitimate concern but I sometimes feel that I won't be taken seriously in a job interview for a teaching position unless I have a spouse to mention. Like having someone else around gives me more credibility.
Patience....patience...patience. I'll get there; I just need to get comfortable with my own timetable...whatever it looks like!
Well ok, there have been quite a few who I have been talking to recently, however, none of them will make any sort of effort to show me that they want more from me. I'm not looking for marriage; I don't know if I even really believe in the institution of marriage. But dammit, I want more than one night. Now none of the fellas I've been talking to have had that opportunity. Hell only one of them is in a close enough proximity to even think about it realistically. But none will make an effort. I want to know that I'm not gonna end up an old maid!
Part of me is perfectly content with how things are. But then there is this voice in the back of my head telling me that I need to find that certain someone and soon. I have some pretty awesome friends, and my family isn't to shabby either. But there is this one nagging voice telling me that the next step is finding the person, and I am a huge failure at doing so. I went to youth tonight to 'help' one of my good friends who is the leader. There one of the girls, who is 12 by the way, was so happy because it's been two weeks and her boyfriend hasn't broken up with her yet. I sadly feel the same way when in a relationship, still at 23. Why does 2 weeks feel like an accomplishment? It's not in the grand scheme of things; it's a blip. But then again I can't even get a date with someone. Why do I feel pressured to find someone now!? Like my life has no meaning without someone else in it. I know it's not a legitimate concern but I sometimes feel that I won't be taken seriously in a job interview for a teaching position unless I have a spouse to mention. Like having someone else around gives me more credibility.
Patience....patience...patience. I'll get there; I just need to get comfortable with my own timetable...whatever it looks like!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Dawning
I try to write out my thoughts into a coherent literary piece, but then I realize that I was not the family member blessed with the talent of writing. However my skills in oratory are much more impressive.
Typically I blog when I'm depressed or feeling sorry for myself. That could be why I'm having such a hard time writing lately. I have nothing to complain about. I am happy with pretty much every aspect of my life. I have two jobs, one I absolutely hate and one I semi like. I am pretty sure I received my teaching license this week. In mid-April my opportunities for a real big kid job will appear. I am single because I want to be right now. I would rather be by myself than in a bad relationship. I no longer want to settle just because I'm tired of being lonely. Life is going great. Sure I get bored every once and a while, and I am more than ready for warmer weather, but right now I really can't complain.
I still feel called to Africa. Luckily, being a teacher will allow me my summers off to explore the rest of the world. I've done a little bit of research on the African Sustainable Protein Project, and I want to volunteer. However, it is entirely voluntary so I would have to save a lot of money, and I need to do a lot more research so it won't be next summer. I'll get there though.
Typically I blog when I'm depressed or feeling sorry for myself. That could be why I'm having such a hard time writing lately. I have nothing to complain about. I am happy with pretty much every aspect of my life. I have two jobs, one I absolutely hate and one I semi like. I am pretty sure I received my teaching license this week. In mid-April my opportunities for a real big kid job will appear. I am single because I want to be right now. I would rather be by myself than in a bad relationship. I no longer want to settle just because I'm tired of being lonely. Life is going great. Sure I get bored every once and a while, and I am more than ready for warmer weather, but right now I really can't complain.
I still feel called to Africa. Luckily, being a teacher will allow me my summers off to explore the rest of the world. I've done a little bit of research on the African Sustainable Protein Project, and I want to volunteer. However, it is entirely voluntary so I would have to save a lot of money, and I need to do a lot more research so it won't be next summer. I'll get there though.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
My Disappointment
I posted this on my MySpace in mid-July.
I watched Pearl Harbor tonight. It really is one of my favorite movies. But I can't watch it over and over again. Not because of the gore or the violence, but because if I did it would lose meaning to me. The producers did a wonderful job, absolutely superb. Cole, I know you're reading this thinking it was just Titanic with planes and guns. To an extent it was. But the writer did his homework. The history nerd in me now understands the intricacies that played out. After tonight, I feel I owe it to myself, if not to him, to talk to my neighbor Don. Don fought in WWII. He's one of the few left alive. He lied about his age so he could fight. He was part of Normandy. Sometimes I wonder for what will our generation be remembered?
One of an historian's downfalls is history itself. To often we will become entangled in the past that we forget to look at the present and especially the future. We, meaning I, become embittered about the way our country is developing and sometimes long to return to when times seemed simpler. Then I remember that history repeats itself in spite of and because of us. This is why I want to be a teacher. Our schools put so much emphasis on tests rather than actual knowledge to the point that we abandon our pupils. Our society has become the epitome of hypocrisy when it comes to education. No child left behind my Aunt Fannie's spatula; more like every child left behind. I don't blame the teachers at all. I blame politicians rhetoric.
For the last few years, I have felt impeding doom. My heart has been burdened with the future of not only our nation but the world. I'm not talking a religious Apocolypse. I am speaking of the end of the world as we know it. Thank you REM, but I don't feel fine. We are fighting a war for what? Democracy? Yes we take pictures of the Iraqi people with their purple thumbs on the first free election day in I don't know how long, maybe ever, yet we openly oppose the person who was voted into office and replace him with someone who will be a yes man to Washington. Are we fighting because we were attacked? Yes, September 11th brought tragedy and devastation to our soil, but Saddam Hussein didn't send the suicide bombers. Saudi Arabia sells oil to our greedy nation then funnels our money to those that did attack us on 9/11. We are paying our soldiers to fight a product of our dependancies. If the American people are truly the wealthiest in the world, which if we're paying for both sides of the war then we are, why haven't we figured out how to raise the tide in our own nation? With all our money we still can't learn to help our neighbor. We can't figure out how to care for our own people.
The quote, "The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over expecting different results." is a fallacy. The Webster's definition of insanity is extreme folly or unreasonableness. Both apply to our times. We as people continuously oppress others and then revolt against that oppression. Both Hegel and Marx's Dialectical Models of History express that clearly. Life continues down a path until a spark occurs. That spark becomes a conflict and out of that conflict shines a new path. Like I said history repeats itself. Marx wrote that eventually Communism will become the new path, and all conflict will cease. How many sparks and conflicts must we encounter before we leave the capitalist dialectical and enter this communist utopia? War seems just as constant as life. The only differences from the beginning of time to now is the numbers. More people can be killed with the least amount of effort, right now more than any other time in history. The world witnessed that with the a-bombs in Japan. We, as people not nessecarily as Americans, kill more innocent people and call it collateral damage. We care not for the other individual, only for our own. One would think that after thousands upon millions of years we would have this figured out by now. Maybe we're not as intelligent as we think.
I still stand behind my vote for President Bush in 2004. He was the lesser of the two evils. However, I cannot stand blindly or even with 20/20 vision, behind his decisions now. 3,616 Americans have died, and 26,695 have been wounded. It is estimated that 655,000 Iraqi people have died, 70,000 of whom were civilians. In terms of numbers we have them beat. Our war has killed more people in the last 4 years than Saddam Hussein killed in his 25 year reign. Pride is a heavy load to carry through the gates of heaven, so are 755,000 lives. The government once used propaganda to embolden the people, hence my neighbor lying about his age. Now we the people stand divided aided by material goods we use to assuade and defend our apathy.
I am disappointed in my country. Two weeks ago I had my Fandango moment. I realized when we celebrated our Independance that I can't say I am proud to be an American. I won't forget the men who died to give me freedom, and I won't forget the administrations and Patriot Acts that have taken them away. I am honestly ashamed to call myself American.
This is why I want to go to Africa. I need to trust my government once again. I need to know that I can ignore apathy and take action to right the wrongs in the world, my home, without killing the innocent or guilty, or lying to, or greedily taking from my neighbors, friends, or family.
Others may call me naive.
I call myself broken.
I watched Pearl Harbor tonight. It really is one of my favorite movies. But I can't watch it over and over again. Not because of the gore or the violence, but because if I did it would lose meaning to me. The producers did a wonderful job, absolutely superb. Cole, I know you're reading this thinking it was just Titanic with planes and guns. To an extent it was. But the writer did his homework. The history nerd in me now understands the intricacies that played out. After tonight, I feel I owe it to myself, if not to him, to talk to my neighbor Don. Don fought in WWII. He's one of the few left alive. He lied about his age so he could fight. He was part of Normandy. Sometimes I wonder for what will our generation be remembered?
One of an historian's downfalls is history itself. To often we will become entangled in the past that we forget to look at the present and especially the future. We, meaning I, become embittered about the way our country is developing and sometimes long to return to when times seemed simpler. Then I remember that history repeats itself in spite of and because of us. This is why I want to be a teacher. Our schools put so much emphasis on tests rather than actual knowledge to the point that we abandon our pupils. Our society has become the epitome of hypocrisy when it comes to education. No child left behind my Aunt Fannie's spatula; more like every child left behind. I don't blame the teachers at all. I blame politicians rhetoric.
For the last few years, I have felt impeding doom. My heart has been burdened with the future of not only our nation but the world. I'm not talking a religious Apocolypse. I am speaking of the end of the world as we know it. Thank you REM, but I don't feel fine. We are fighting a war for what? Democracy? Yes we take pictures of the Iraqi people with their purple thumbs on the first free election day in I don't know how long, maybe ever, yet we openly oppose the person who was voted into office and replace him with someone who will be a yes man to Washington. Are we fighting because we were attacked? Yes, September 11th brought tragedy and devastation to our soil, but Saddam Hussein didn't send the suicide bombers. Saudi Arabia sells oil to our greedy nation then funnels our money to those that did attack us on 9/11. We are paying our soldiers to fight a product of our dependancies. If the American people are truly the wealthiest in the world, which if we're paying for both sides of the war then we are, why haven't we figured out how to raise the tide in our own nation? With all our money we still can't learn to help our neighbor. We can't figure out how to care for our own people.
The quote, "The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over expecting different results." is a fallacy. The Webster's definition of insanity is extreme folly or unreasonableness. Both apply to our times. We as people continuously oppress others and then revolt against that oppression. Both Hegel and Marx's Dialectical Models of History express that clearly. Life continues down a path until a spark occurs. That spark becomes a conflict and out of that conflict shines a new path. Like I said history repeats itself. Marx wrote that eventually Communism will become the new path, and all conflict will cease. How many sparks and conflicts must we encounter before we leave the capitalist dialectical and enter this communist utopia? War seems just as constant as life. The only differences from the beginning of time to now is the numbers. More people can be killed with the least amount of effort, right now more than any other time in history. The world witnessed that with the a-bombs in Japan. We, as people not nessecarily as Americans, kill more innocent people and call it collateral damage. We care not for the other individual, only for our own. One would think that after thousands upon millions of years we would have this figured out by now. Maybe we're not as intelligent as we think.
I still stand behind my vote for President Bush in 2004. He was the lesser of the two evils. However, I cannot stand blindly or even with 20/20 vision, behind his decisions now. 3,616 Americans have died, and 26,695 have been wounded. It is estimated that 655,000 Iraqi people have died, 70,000 of whom were civilians. In terms of numbers we have them beat. Our war has killed more people in the last 4 years than Saddam Hussein killed in his 25 year reign. Pride is a heavy load to carry through the gates of heaven, so are 755,000 lives. The government once used propaganda to embolden the people, hence my neighbor lying about his age. Now we the people stand divided aided by material goods we use to assuade and defend our apathy.
I am disappointed in my country. Two weeks ago I had my Fandango moment. I realized when we celebrated our Independance that I can't say I am proud to be an American. I won't forget the men who died to give me freedom, and I won't forget the administrations and Patriot Acts that have taken them away. I am honestly ashamed to call myself American.
This is why I want to go to Africa. I need to trust my government once again. I need to know that I can ignore apathy and take action to right the wrongs in the world, my home, without killing the innocent or guilty, or lying to, or greedily taking from my neighbors, friends, or family.
Others may call me naive.
I call myself broken.
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