My Last Day in Corporate Hell
Peter Gibbons: So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life ____________________________________________________________________ Today is my last day in this corporate hell that is the [Large Telecommunications Company] World Headquarters. No longer will I trudge in to work through the back door five minutes late, because I couldn't motivate myself to get out of bed to do this useless, menial job. No longer will I sit under florescent lights working like a drone, sharing a small space with three other drones. No longer will I get paid nothing to do nothing useful. No longer will I hate my job, no longer will I come home from work with no sense of accomplishment! Today, at 4:30pm, I will free myself of my chains and I will run screaming into the world, shouting, "I'm free! I'm free!" If you can't tell, I'm not a big fan of corporate life. It sucks the soul out of you. You're a tiny fish in a huge ocean, and you make no difference; and all the while you're making no difference, you're treated like poo! And now finally, after on year to the month of searching for work, I have landed a job doing what I love! Come this Monday, I will return to social work. My passion will once again be my profession and I am elated! I was a social worker for two years, working in foster care. I left to move to Europe, and in the year I've been back I haven't been able to find work. With the economy so poor, the job market so tight, and social programs being butchered to nothing, my fellow social workers leaving school with master's degrees are taking jobs that pre-Bush would have only required a high school education. And where did the leave little old bachelor's degree me? Temping, of course. But finally, Tuesday night I received the phone call that changed it all: I was offered a job in foster care again! Whhooooo hooooooo!
It's snowing right now.
It was 75 degrees two days ago. Sunday morning I woke up and drank orange juice on my deck in shorts and a tank top. I even got a little bit of color. Today I am in my heavy, winter, wool coat watching it snow. It is 40 degrees cooler today than it was on Sunday. How does that happen in a two day period of time?
Ode to the Goddess of Spring
It's going to be 70 degrees outside today, can you believe it? I find it hilarious that a month ago I was writing about how exciting it was that it was up to 34 degrees! I've decided that this is totally flip-flop weather, and so when I get home from work today I'm going to put on flip-flops. Oh, AND it's Friday! What better start to a weekend than a 70-degree Friday? I'm so pumped I can hardly work...oh wait...yeah, I can never really work. This just makes me think about all kinds of springy things, like giving my car a good cleaning (you know, de-mud and de-salt and de-sand it), purchasing a tanning package, planting flowers in the pots on our balcony, taking long evening walks outside, having a few drinks with friends outside by the grill! 17 days until the first day of Spring!
Moralicians
This is the new word I'm going to give to people like Fred Phelps, and others who stand on the moral platform and abuse Christianity. I've decided that Phelps is not Christian: he doesn't follow Jesus' main doctrine of love. I mean, maybe I misinterpreted the Bible when I studied it as a kid. Maybe I was taught incorrectly. I thought Jesus' message was love and forgiveness and helping the less fortunate. That's my version of Christianity. I reject Phelps' version, the one where you ignore Jesus' teachings and persecute anyone who doesn't conform to the antiquated views of the First Testament. I don't think he can really call himself Christian, since he doesn't abide by Jesus' desires. So now I've decided to call him Moralician: he is an extreme Moralician. There are lesser forms of Moralicians: people who call themselves Christian, but are really concerned less with Jesus' desires and more with the Bible's laws. Those are the people who think it is more important to persecute people for what they are doing wrong, than paying attention to what Jesus wants. They aren't really Christian either. They're not psychotic like Phelps, but they're certainly deluded in their belief that to be a Christian, you don't have to follow Christ, you just have to stop people who don't share your personal and/or church leaders' moral beliefs. They petition for constitutional amendments banning gay marriage, they blindly elect a government that is slowly stealing their human rights right out from under them and with their permission just because that government promises to help them persecute non-Moralicians, they decide that you can't watch a TV show that involves cursing because other people can't figure out how to just watch something else, they decide not to teach your children the best scientific theory to explain a huge human mystery because it doesn't comform to their religious beliefs, etc.. Sigh. I remember when having morals meant you were a good person. It meant that you stood up against the persecutors and the bad guys like thiefs and murderes. I'm sad to say that now, most people who flaunt their morals are thiefs and persecutors. "Morals" has become a bad word because of bad actions, and that's really sad.P.S. One may try and consider the best option for dealing with radical Moralicians like Phelps, and here's my advice: ignore them. Any attention whatsoever lauded onto people (you know, like blog...oops) just encourages them. It gives them fire, because it affirms to them that they need to work harder to spread their word. Plus, they're not worth the energy it takes to turn your head in their direction. Phelps' website is www.godhatesfags.com, and someone has put up a website at www.godhatesfredphelps.com. Both of these sites are stupid, and the godhatesfredphelps site is probably worse than Phelps' site because it acknowledges him.
