Just Don’t Let Your Husband Switch it to the History Channel…

It tends to happen at this time of year, every year. My husband, who is a manager in retail, is working long and hard during those holiday retail hours. I am at the end of the semester. Tensions are running high. And this leads to some …’heated’ discussions. Well, heated isn’t exactly accurate. Maybe irritable is more like it. Nit-picky, perhaps. I’m searching for synonyms here, and I’m coming up with crappy ones…  

We get on each other’s nerves. People get on one another’s nerves, especially if they live in the same household. And that’s okay. It’s just a normal part of marriage and adult life. We avoid it as much as we can, until we have to go through it, then we take a five minute break, and move on with our relatively peaceful lives. It also keeps us from punching other people in the mouth—those who may irritate us in our public lives.

Marriage is taking out a day’s worth of aggressions in a nitpicky fight with the person you love more than anyone else in the world…

Me: Has that Christmas tree been on all day?

J: Yep.

Me: Well, thanks for not burning the house down!

J: I do my best.

What's scarier: His hair? That he's on that show?
Or that he gets speaking engagements?

At this time, J turns it over to the History Channel. Which is his non-verbal way of goading me. Because I cannot stand the channel that hosts Ancient Aliens.

Me: Oh, hon. It’s time for Parenthood.

J: There are other TVs in this house, babe.

Me: But I like THIS TV.

J: I like this TV, too.

Me: Are we seriously quibbling about the TV like the children?

J: Yep. We are. And you’re the one who started it.

Me: Well, technically you started it when you changed it!

J: And now we’re quibbling about who started the argument like the children do.

Me: Why aren’t either of them interjecting themselves to break this fight up like we do to them all the freaking time? You’d think they’d know how by now!

J: I guess we’ll have to manage ourselves, ourselves.

Me: Well, let me show you how I am going to manage this awful turn of events.

At this point, I grab my book, commence to ‘reading’ and making increasingly louder “harrumphing” noises at J’s History of Mankind viewing.

You know what, Ancient Aliens? The pyramids and the wall were the good stuff!
Sometimes we screw up too! or did the aliens make this as well?

 J: I don’t understand why you are so upset about this. It’s not Ancient Aliens!

Me: No, it’s just Columbus ‘discovering the new world and changing the face of humanity!’

J: That’s not what they said! In fact, they’re agreeing with you with all of the things you’ve ever told me.

Me: Are you kidding me? They are purporting that Columbus knew full well that he wouldn’t reach the Indies but wanted to find some new indigenous people to enslave for some extra cash?

J: Well, no, but they did talk about the whole smallpox disease thing. And then they talked about the Pilgrims.

Me: Great- John Smith and all that crap.

J: Well, they also shoot over to India and China.

Me: India and Indians? Are you sure? That’s sounds awfully confusing for the channel who thinks aliens invented the pyramids because they’re just too hard for humans.

J: You know what, kid? You are getting on my nerves!

Me: Same here, babe. SAME. HERE.

J: I don’t even know why you are upset with me! How did this even start?

Me: With you not turning off the Christmas tree! Where have you been? 

J: you are going to totally blog this crap, aren't you?

Me: Well, you're the one who's always saying I should blog about you MORE!

J: Great! 

Me: Do you do all of this to just get me riled up?

J: Absolutely.

Let me point out—in about five minutes, we were fine again. I think it had a lot to do with J turning the TV over, agreeing to watch Dr. Who reruns, and bringing me toasted Blueberry Poptarts.

Which, again, is how marriage works. 

Do you bicker with your significant other  over trivial things to let off steam, or is this just us? Be honest-- I'd totally not be surprised if it were just us! And is there anyone else in the world who hates Ancient Aliens as much as I do?

Stand Your Ground

L.A. Times

It has now been more than a month since the tragic death of Trayvon Martin, and the sad details of the incident are still in the news. And they it should be—the life of a seventeen year old child was taken from him, and I think we can ALL agree that the circumstances are suspicious, at best.

The one thing that really bothers me at this juncture, however, is that the media has turned its attention to Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.

I’ll admit my bias right here and now: I am a BIG supporter of the Stand Your Ground law. I am also a big supporter of similar laws, including the Castle Doctrine and Oklahoma’s Make My Day law. I tell you why I support these laws, and why I think the prosecuting attorney involved in the case made a huge mistake in my post today over at Sprocket Ink.

I’m hoping that those who have been the victim of a violent crime, or have known someone who was the victim of a violent crime, will stand up now to defend the laws that allow each of us to defend ourselves in public places, and not wait until deadly force is used against us before we retaliate. Just because a law has not been appropriately applied doesn’t mean that we should do away with a law that aims to protect people.

And I wish that Trayvon Martin had been able to successfully Stand His Ground, and were still alive.

Stop SOPA Blackout Day

Today my blog is black (frankly, I’m too scared to wholly block it or make it completely disappear) as part of the many sites who are protesting SOPA. And PIPA. And OPEN. But mostly SOPA.

Those sites? Wikipedia for one. Check out Google today. And Reddit. There’s censor bars everywhere, and it’s for a good cause.

We might need to get rid of piracy, but we cannot do it at the cost of censorship. If you have not heard of SOPA, I strongly encourage you to Google it, and find out what it’s about. Or read about what's happening today here. Then call you congressperson (it’s fun, I promise!) or sign a petition against it. This violates our first amendment in a way that we cannot even fathom.

Whacked Wednesday: I break one of the ‘don’t speak of’ rules…

I avoid politics like the plague. On a side note, it cracks up those who know me in real life that I will say something along the lines of, “I avoid getting sick like the plague.” No lie. I can’t help it. I love to work the word ‘plague’ into everyday conversation.

So, I avoid the politics like the plague; outside of my own house, that is. Inside my own house I indoctrinate my children in a manner that would make any totalitarian dictator proud. They make it easy—since they already tend to agree with me. It must be all of that Jon Stewart I ‘force’ them to watch.

So, why tackle politics now? Because I think the universe is trying to tell me something. The world was supposed to end the day before my wedding anniversary. The Joplin tornado actually hit on my wedding anniversary. The nation is set to default on my birthday. I think the universe is saying something along the lines of, “Hello! Sarah! Are you paying attention? It’s time for you to get off your butt and help fix this shit!”

I thought I would introduce a little bit of humor before tackling the festering, anger-inspiring topic of debt ceilings. The only way I really know how to fix something like a debt ceiling is to give my opinion on it.

Here’s the long and the short of it: Someone better explain to me (all, of us, actually) why the richest of the rich need their tax cuts while the rest of us deal with the nation defaulting, the lack of jobs, the cuts in social services, the prospect of no safety net (Social Security and Medicare are pipe dreams for my generation—I’ll work until I’m dead), and other items that I see impacting the largest majority of us Americans-- but more importantly, the impoverished. Me and mine? We will find a way to survive. We’re only living on the edge. What about those who slipped off the edge long ago? What will they do?

Oh, and the ‘prospect’ of more jobs just won’t cut it. I’m old enough to remember ‘trickle down economics’, and I’m not a fool. I know the cousin of trickle down when I see it. It doesn’t work. We all know it.

There are children starving in our country, and families living on the streets. Millions have lost their jobs, their homes, or taken care of loved one who have. I cannot seem to reconcile the fact that a small subset of the Republican Party finds it necessary to cut social services and keep the Bush tax cuts and in the same breath, many of these conservative Republicans are the same ones who tout Christian principles.

Except the Good Samaritan parable, I’m guessing. 

Not to say that I’m actually pleased with the Democrats, either. They’ve taken compromise too far; bending over backwards is not compromise. Asking for one little thing (it is only raising taxes on one percent of the population, after all—and I’m fairly certain the oil companies are doing fine, with their $3.55/ gallon gas) and conceding dozens of others is not compromise. It’s foolish. Still, they smell better in this scenario compared to the handful of Republicans who are bound and determined to undermine our nation’s financial security.

It’s time to be angry (I wish more Congressmen were angry right about now), and when I get upset about something, I’m going to do more than call my representative.  Plus, I’m fairly certain that they already recognize my phone number on the caller id. I take a very active role in the governing of my country.

I am happy to hear that others are calling, however. I’m glad to see others voice their concerns to those who are supposed to represent us in our government.

I know that I’m not the only one who is upset. I’ve watched and read and listened to the news over the past few days, and it sounds like—to me, at least—that there are a lot of people who are just fed up. No one voted these individuals into Congress to make a dangerous stand. They voted them into Congress to make a difference; to make all of our lives better. Quit bickering and posturing and get to work! Sheesh! None of us could behave as badly at our jobs as they do and expect to remain employed.

So, what am I going to do? I have a couple of ideas. The first one is this: If you agree with any part of this post (Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, white or black or purple, I don’t care), please say something. I’m not asking you to share my exact opinions, and I’m not asking you to take my diatribe as your own, but I do want something to go viral; something to get the message across. If you’ve found someone who addresses the situation and the frustration we all feel better than I have, please feel free to share it here, or with me via email. I’m not all that creative, and I know it. The fact of the matter is something must get their attention now. I don’t care if it’s me, you, or intergalactic visitors bringing us friendship and peace-- just as long as SOMETHING gets their attention.

Second, I’m thinking of starting a new weekly topic. I’ll call it Whacked Wednesdays. As in, “I’m a child of the eighties, and we used to listen to Kris Kross, and this shit is whack, but not in a good way.” I’ll discuss all the stupid things that are occurring around us, making life just a little less meaningful. So we can fix it, folks! I don’t know if I will do it every Wednesday, but I think I’ll give it a shot.

So, feel free to submit your ideas for Whacked Wednesdays via email. If I like your idea, I’ll tackle it. I can’t promise that I’ll do the best of jobs, by any means, but at least I’ll be sincere. Which I feel is more than we can say about many of our Congressional members as of late.