the heat is on...

well, luis approached me with the idea of moving to a true desert...Las Vegas...today. His friend says he can get him a really good job...corporate...oooh la la in that town of no shame. I gave him conditions...good job and i have to have a nice...and i mean NICE place to live. you know, with central air conditioning and a pool. so you see, crapholes like the current place don't make it. i have a swamp cooler. after all my 14 years here in Utah, it makes no sense to this easterner to cool yourself off with the aid of humidity. after all, it was a big factor in making my summers so miserable in maryland.

the next question is would i be happy there? yes, there's more going on...more concerts, more to do...and of course luis would be there with me. he's been in my life almost seven years now...and i'm not happy just cos of him. i have to find that within myself. i have to evaluate what really makes me happyi guess. (and yes, jack nicholson makes a kick butt joker...heath ledger...i don't know...) i suppose i could give anything the old college try. i know i'm sick and tired of feeling like i have lately. i was given the gift of almost one rather normal year.

but that's another story for another...time.

you've gotta blame it on something...

Oh dear sweet Governator...how I love thee. From the moment I first saw your campaign commercial whilst visiting my fiance's family, I knew you were the absolute bomb.


errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....yeah.



he is now saying that immigrants should turn off the spanish language el BoobTube. (Obviously I'm not soaking much in when my perfectly fluent bilingual fiance is watching it) I think this is grasping at straws. I've watched Japanese language tv...in Japan. And I've watched Telemundo and all the other fun networks here. Now looky here. I am good at learning languages. I've got awesome skillz in German...good retention even though I haven't taken it since I was 19. I'm currently 13 years later...and probably advanced beginner or low intermediate. I lived in Japan for a while...and I've watched the tv as I previously said.

I am no closer to understanding what's being said than I am to being crowned Queen of England.


I can read a bit of Spanish and speak even less. I'm not making a concerted effort I must admit. And I should. I really should. But if I plant myself down in front of the telly for months, years...on end...I will not quickly learn Espanol.

Please note that there are adverts for language learning cd's and dvd's on these Spanish channels...more so than you'll ever see on an English station. One makes it simple and helps people see how they can speak English using the Spanish sounds. Now that's how you say Sometaims[sic]. But the problem with these language tools is they are expensive. Why throw $117 to learn a language when that would go so much further in feeding your family? These people don't earn enough as it is...because they have the low-end jobs flipping meat with America's youth. And they're hard at work taking jobs away from us all.

thank you for scaring the customer

i work as a verifier on behalf of one of the major landline phone companies in this fair country. i do not answer questions about plans; i don't even know what the plans are for this company as i (thankfully) don't live in one of the areas this phone company is...at this time. today was a very hard day for me.

there is the theory that people go crazy at the time of the full moon. i was talking to the quality control person for my team after work and she pointed out today was a new moon. new theory...you can figure it out.

i had so many dumb bunnies that i had the most sincere pleasure to talk to today. one refused to be recorded and wondered why verification had to be done in the first place. legal purposes, so you don't get switched without authorization, blah, blah, blah. i guess i should add here i have certain scripts to read. and if i want good quality i may not deviate from them. i think they should be a little more polite honestly. also, you hear the same thing over and over you don't want to hear it again. i add inflections of apology as i read the said scripts. i really try. but there's only so much you can do.

don't yell at me. don't tell me i'm a horrid person and that you don't want to talk to me. i wonder if you'd give me the time if i could just show you what we do is not compromising you in the least. i have access to a very limited pool of information. the billing name, the phone number, the plan(s), and your birthday (for most places) when you tell me what it is. i don't give a crap about your social security number. that's none of my business. i also don't need to know maiden names and where your mother is buried. the representatives of this company obviously don't know what's really going on as many people i talk to are expecting some kind of long icky process.

also they can't seem to understand that "uh huh" or "mm-hmm" doesn't exactly mean yes. and just because you're the only one in the house doesn't make you authorized to change the account.

i ask these questions i have as eloquently as i can. but yet the customer doesn't listen. it's not like the phone company's reps do either. stupid people....

the truth about summer

i really hate going outside. you try to stay out of the sunshine so you don't get the negative effects of it (the sun, the burn, the tan, the uv rays) and then the bugs eat you alive.

maybe.

right now i'm at that point where i'm not sure if they're for real. you don't see the pesky little creatures, but you feel them flying on your body and the sting that they are there. but you don't hear the buzzing and you don't see their little probisci sticking where they don't belong--your skin.

so i lay here, scratching an itch that may be the creation of my wondrous imagination.

you know i have had horrible allergies this year as far as my fussy skin is concerned this year. usually i'm not bothered. but this year is more like a SEVEN year itch. at least i can breathe.

What Was HE Thinking?

I went out yesterday with a friend I've known for about ten years. Now while I've never completely agreed with him in all this time (I never would call us a match made in heaven,but it's not a match made in hell either...) and his opinions, I never wanted to hurt him either...well, not too badly. But yesterday was the straw that broke the camel's back in one foul (the stench is overwhelming) swoop.

First of all, I am dating an immigrant. Not just any immigrant, but a Latino. He is Bolivian. I grant you he is not Mexican and he was never illegal. Immigration of any kind is a nightmare. If I didn't love him, I wouldn't have stuck it out this long. But he's been back in the USA since going to his home over 15 years ago. He's been here for over a decade. He could only apply for permanent residency when he hit the (immigration) lottery. Jackpot. You're the bigger winner--you get to cut through more bureaucracy! Now the reason, I make this clear is that a friend (?) made a very low scathing remark yesterday.

But I'll get to that.

I never agreed with him that English should be the "official" language of Utah. This means that official paperwork, government website, etc. is all in English. If I was in Germany, before I agreed with anything I would DARN sure want to make sure I understand it 100%!!! I know some German too...you could call me an advanced beginner/low intermediate level.

Then we have yesterday.

Walking out of the music superstore yesterday, we came across a book called Mitt Romney: A Mormon in the Whitehouse. We're both LDS-my friend and I. I'm more moderate in my political beliefs (yes, a fencesitter to anyone who cares)...there are certain moral issues I will not compromise on and there are political issues that I lean more to the liberal side. I'm not ashamed to admit this either. He came out of the closet some time back. I don't remember when even though I'm sure it was a momentous time for him. I suppose I should care and store it in my memory. Ok. So he opines it would not be a good idea to have a Mormon in the white house as he would be too conservative. Obviously this guy doesn't pay much attention to his world. Mitt's state is the only one where a homosexual couple can legally get married. Yes, this is a very conservative thought. My problem with Gov. Romney is not that he's Mormon and would shove his morality down America's throat. He waffles. It boils down to "I want to be everything to everybody." Well sir, you can't please everyone and you'll kill yourself trying. So I told my friend that Romney is a waffler.

We continue out of the store and he drives me home. This is when the crap hit the fan BIG TIME. Friends and opinions...I don't know if they mix too well.

So when where about 6 blocks from my house, we are behind an old person who has handicapped plates. "Handicapped people shouldn't drive...even mentally handicapped people." Ummm. Okay. I just softly said "Thanks a lot." I know I will be one of those old grannies that does not want to give up her driver's license when she reaches...the age that I should rightfully give it up. A car is my freedom. I have a hard time not driving for 3 months when I have to. I'm not completely right in the head and this is a handicap. Yes, I am disabled in some ways.

Then he starts in on the immigration movement. And let me tell you...his ideas are so liberal...yeah right!!! I think he should be the Gay Poster Boy for the Minutemen. Excuse me if that sounds rude but.... He stated that a flag that read "Arizona--the New Aztlan" is worse than the Swastika. Mind you, that's Hitler's swastika.... What the ... I was burning up. I realize that illegal immigration is illegal. Yes, they are breaking the law. But how is this worse than Nazis who killed so many people? This is a headscratcher.

It basically boils down to this. Americans blame someone else for their problems. Yes, there are horrible people that are illegal immigrants. This much is true. But Dahmer, Bundy, Gein....to mention a few...were horrible men who were citizens of this country. Yes boys and girls, you read that right. They were not illegal immigrants. Yet if you look, there's the pity these people who were hurt by illegal immigration. Yes, there is identity theft by these people. But this is also done by legal citizens. Think meth addicts. If we go about stereotyping everyone, we'll get nowhere. I think many of these people simply want a better life for their families. What was proposed were fines to be paid before applying for residency. That's fine. Like I said, yes it is illegal. But why load them all up and dump them in the already very clogged corrections system? Why send them back so they can come again and again and again.... It's time to fix what's broken and a Berlin Wall II (we fought against that because it wasn't a democratic country that put it up) just is not the way to go about it. Stop scapegoating people (omg, did I just say immigrants are people????) and accept responsibility.

After all, why should I feel bad for you when you leave your door unlocked for five minutes and have your stuff stolen. That's like feeling bad for you when you leave your keys in your car and come back to find it gone. It's an opportunity. And it's just stuff. Realize that sometimes life is sometimes inconvenient, but if you want to protect your things, it's just better that way. I'll feel sorry for you when you have your doors locked.