There’s Gotta Be Something In The Water

“A woman’s mind is cleaner than a man’s: She changes it more often.”~ Oliver Herford

I was having a really nice day. “Was” being the key word there in that sentence.

I think there’s something going on and there are only two logical explanations that I have come up with.

People have either lost it and have gone insane. Or there is something in the water.

I am trying to give the benefit of the doubt and say that there’s something in the water.

Nonetheless, I am still quite frustrated and angry over the events of this afternoon. Just when I am only hours away of going back to the Dirty Dog for music by BEAUTIFUL DISTURBANCE tonight.

My neighbors and I share the same attendant. The attendant actually is helpful in doing things around the house that I am simply either unable to do or have great difficulty doing on my own. It actually is a great help.

But I had to fire my last one because of stupidity and struggled through hell to get the one that I have now who happens to be helping a neighbor in the morning and then she comes to help me in the afternoon.

I think it works out well.

Until today when my attendant came to work for me.

The neighbor that she works for in the morning has had the fortitude to sit there and tell the attendant what to do in MY home. And tell her how to do HER job when it comes to MY home. And today is the biggest straw that was broken because now the neighbor is just so upset that I flipped the bird the other day in humor and she took great offense to that. And suddenly now, I’m the devil and “I’ve changed” and now the attendant either needs to watch out or actually quit working for me, because I am the one that isn’t doing right.

What business is it of hers? What business is it of ANYONE around here what happens in my home??

So now I’m pissed. And there’s gotta be something done. I know that I need to confront this neighbor and unfortunately, its not going to be pretty and definitely will not end well for someone.  

It is ridiculous that this neighbor is just talk-talk-talking about me the way she has been. Its not right.

And they wonder why I wanna move outta here??

I’ve had enough.

Truth Is Not The Truth

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain

Is it me or is there an abundance of pure ridiculousness emerging from yet another online trend?

Or am I just being cynical??

There seems to be a percentage of the world’s population who believes in the power of debate, simply by yelling “Fact!” or “Truth!”

And with this added bonus word to whatever their argument is… they seem to think that they can claim victory, for as long as they add that one word. And anyone who dares to try and disprove them is automatically wrong.

Ohhhh people of Earth. Most of you have already forsaken me in one way or another. But do we have to do in such a manner where stupidity and lack of cogent and sound thinking leads the way?!?!?!???

Who in their right minds thought that by yelling “truth!” actually makes what they are saying– the truth???

Who honestly believes that by yelling “fact!” is actually providing a compelling argument?

People… arguments, debates, and the like are just like math- SHOW YOUR WORK!!!!!! If you have nothing to back up your claim, then you have no argument and you are the one who loses… even if you scream “truth!” at the end of your argument. And I know a lot of you don’t like math. But tough! Show your work. Back up your argument, or just keep silent.

You annoy so many other people with your one worded outbursts of inexperience and ever show a lack of your education and intelligence.

Its people like these that make me wanna lock my door and never come outside again because I’m ashamed of sharing the same air to breathe with them.

Locked Doors, Part I

Thursday, the 12th of July will probably go down in the history books. I don’t know if whether I am excited to watch the fireworks or if I will regret getting in the middle of everything. 

It will be time for our usual monthly resident meeting where I live, and the tension is already building. And so far for some it is not a pretty sight.

The long struggle between residents and what they perceive is their enemy, staff members of this apartment complex.

If you have kept up with me for any length of time, you know already that there’s been this battle about keeping the doors open to the community room on the weekends. This hasn’t been allowed to happen in AT LEAST five years. The community room was remodeled and since that point, its been closed on weekends.

My own feelings about the situation is that if it is closed, then it is closed. I’ve learned to deal with it throughout the years. Granted that sometimes my weekends can get extremely boring, but I have just dealt with it and found something else to do to fill my time.

But others are crying foul. They want the community room open for their own reasons. They keep hounding the fact that we are responsible enough to take  care of things on our own. For the very, very few times that it has been open on Saturdays (i.e. private parties) the ones that want it open for all time take advantage of it. But then the Board of Directors who take care of things have insisted that at least one member of staff be present if the community room is open.

Residents get totally psycho about it too. They cry out that we are all adults and that we don’t need a babysitter. But I’ve come to learn that the reasons for having one staff member present is for insurance reasons.

So about a month ago, we had learned that a member from the Board of Directors was going to come to our resident meeting and personally explain their decision to keep the community room closed. However, that doesn’t really work well. That would mean that someone from the Board would have to leave their job in the middle of the day and come talk to us. Some of them cannot afford that type of luxury.

To the Board of Directors, this entire idea has made them sick and tired. They said “NO” and they are frustrated to the max with the residents as to why they seem that they cannot understand that answer. For years and years they’ve repeated themselves to exhaustion.

And since none of the Board members are able to come in personally to the resident meeting, and they are no longer willing to discuss this issue with the residents, it has been put upon the shoulders of the apartment manager to squash the matter once and for all.

I remember making the suggestion that since nobody can come to the meeting, that they put something in writing such as an e-mail or an official letter stating that it came from the Board of Directors. But again, they are tired of dealing with it. Their answer is their answer and they will not bend.

I also learned this morning that the apartment manager got totally reemed by his boss about the matter. And he doesn’t like having that happen. So, I think (for him) that this is now a personal matter and he’s not going to mess with it any more. He is going to make his statements for himself and for the Board of Directors. And once he has finished that, he will no longer talk about it with anyone.

I expect there to be some kind of a reaction. I honestly do! It won’t change things, but it’s about to get VERY interesting around here. My feeling is that some are still not going to accept the Board’s answer and will keep fighting this until their last breath. It sounds as if staff members are going to stand firm, and once this “announcement” is made, they are going to walk away because the matter will then be closed. Will the residents finally “get it”? Or will staff members crumble?

So when I return from the meeting, I’ll be sure to post a follow-up blog.

Hang on to your hats people!! The storm is here!!!

 

 

Flying Overhead

“I would challenge to a battle of wits, but I see you are unarmed!” ~ William Shakespeare

Today I witnessed a dispute and a debate on Facebook.

The subject matter in question was whether or not certain photos that are “shared” and “liked”, would actually help donate money to a specific cause. In this case, it was a child in the hospital who appears in the photo to be very sick and in need of serious medical attention.

One was saying that it was worthless to spread around something as simple as a photo, when doing so wasn’t going to help the child in any way whatsoever.

And then a member of the brainless society chimed in, shouting and typing in ALL CAPS that IT WAS REAL!!

This guy just wouldn’t stop running his face hole. He had been defeated time and time again, and he even admitted at one point that just “sharing/liking the pic” wasn’t doing anything. But then he pulled back in his masterful stupidity and argued more.

All in all, Facebook creates a lot of buzz for a lot of different reasons. I personally believe that this was for shock value alone. The photo is a bit disturbing as it is a child.. laying in a hospital bed, looking VERY ill.

It seems as if nobody on Facebook double checks these things to make sure that in fact, there is a campaign for a donation collection by virtue of the number of “shares/likes”.

A person who believes 100% of what they see and read on Facebook, is a person who has a lot of catching up to do with the rest of the world.

But it had seemed the person who believed that this kind of thing could be true on Facebook, didn’t do his homework at all. Instead, just went with the flow. Too bad his flow was in line with the toilet.

There’s nothing wrong with debate. Especially if you strongly believe in something. However you cannot expect to jump into a battle of wits, thinking it will be a mature discussion, if you do not have all of your facts straight!

You will lose every stinkin’ time!!

What happened at the end of this particular debate, was the guy making the decision to “unfriend” his opponent at the end. Brilliant move there, buddy! More like cowardly!!

He lost the argument. And he truly went down in flames. All he had to do was concede his mistake and life would have moved on. But he didn’t. He juggled his viewpoint back and forth and finally made his own decision to walk away, for good.

“Unfriending” over something so small. It just made him look about a foot tall and no more.

If you are going to do something drastic like that, find something better of a reason.

 Moron.

It is the battles of unarmed people that make the rest of us just roll our eyes in the backs of our heads until our eyeballs get stuck there. Just like grandma use to warn us would happen.

All in all, this was pretty stupid shit to be arguing about. Hope he enjoys his solitude.

 

 

Military Mayhem

“I’m inclined to think that a military background wouldn’t hurt anyone.”~William Faulkner

 

So I am going to speak out about this. Some will agree, some won’t.

 

Yesterday morning I noticed that the weather was a bit chilly, so I grabbed the first jacket that I could find. That jacket or at least that decision caught so much crap that it really annoyed me to death.

 

What I wore was a BDU jacket. Or in civilian terms, the dark green camoflauge jacket that we all can identify.

 

But this jungle or forest green BDU evidently caught the attention of some people, and they threw one of the worst hissy fits in the history of mankind.

 

They shouted at me that it was illegal for me to wear the jacket because I am not personally active duty or a military veteran. Needless to say that the pants that I wore had nothing to do with camoflauge. And I was wearing a common t-shirt and not the camoflauge shirt. Nor was I wearing any military style boots or shoes.

 

It was just the jacket. And they screamed and cried that what I was doing was totally illegal. So I researched it. This is the only thing that I was able to find:

 

“In accordance with chapter 45, section 771, title 10, United States
Code ( 10 USC 771 ), no person except a member of the U.S. Army may
wear the uniform, or a distinctive part of the uniform of the U.S.
Army unless otherwise authorized by law. Additionally, no person
except a member of the U.S. Army may wear a uniform, any part of which
is similar to a distinctive part of the U.S. Army uniform.”

Here is the applicable federal statute:

Sec. 771. – Unauthorized wearing prohibited

Except as otherwise provided by law, no person except a member of the
Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps, as the case may be, may wear –

(1)
the uniform, or a distinctive part of the uniform, of the Army, Navy,
Air Force, or Marine Corps;

or

(2)
a uniform any part of which is similar to a distinctive part of the
uniform of the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps

 

So this tells me that perhaps that they might have been correct. However, I found another answer to the question that states as long as there are no insignia or marks or names of the military branch worn, then it is okay.

 

This law however, is not exactly enforced. The law makers do not necessarily jump at the opportunity to arrest people for wearing camo or military gear. They do not actively pursue the law because they do not wish to cause a situation where the support of the military would begin to decrease.

 

After all, a few years ago it was quite fashionable to wear camoflauge. From head to toe!! And nobody got arrested.

 

So then what is the big deal?

 

I looked back at my BDU jacket and I actually do have some insignia attached to the jacket. My last name and a few patches from different units and companies. Particularly from the Second Armored Division, which used to be called “Hell On Wheels”. Before was re-assigned to the National Guard and removed from the regular Army.

 

Now if you knew me, you’d get the joke. “Hell on Wheels” and I am a paraplegic in a wheelchair. That’s not harmful to the country, nor is it harmful to the military. It’s quite fun as a matter of fact.

 

I think though that there is one piece of insignia that actually has caught the attention of civilians and veterans alike. And that is the insignia pin for a colonel.

 

And I also have OTHER pins and other decorations that are on the jacket that do NOT come from the military at all. So the jacket is not exactly a replica of what is worn by active duty soldiers, at all! 

Army Colonel Insignia

 

I asked someone who is a veteran where it belonged on the jacket and he told me. And that’s where I had placed it. But since then, I have actually had someone call out to get my attention by saying, “Hey, Colonel?”. It actually kind of frightened me so immediately I turned around and explained that I was not a military veteran, and I wasn’t 100% sure that the pin was in the right place. The person actually noticed a POW/MIA patch on the left breast pocket and was wanting to know where I may have been taken prisoner. But once I explained that I was not actually a veteran, they apologized for the assumption and backed off.

 

I wear the BDU jacket with pride for this country and support for our military men & women on key dates throughout the year. Memorial Day, Independence Day, and Veterans Day. But as I said, the jacket is the only thing that I wear that would confuse someone that I might be former military.

 

With the exception of a set of dogtags that I wear around my neck and NEVER remove.

 

But I will defend by saying this: A civilian obtaining dogtags is ohhhh so easy!! There are a lot of places that will make you a set of dogtags for a price. Mainly at tourist attractions that may or may not be militarily themed.

 

What makes them different though- is their refusal to make a person a copy that is indentical to the active military. These items include:

 

• Last Name
• First Name and Middle Initial (although some will place full name on the first line)
• Social Security Number
• Blood Type
• Religion Affiliation

 

Places nowadays will refuse to add the Social Security Number and Blood Type. But they will be more than willing to put anything else in its place. So the dogtags that I wear around my neck are consistently INCORRECT.

 

What drives me nuts (as I come back to topic) is the fact that even when veterans find out that I am NOT actually a veteran or active duty and they see me wearing the BDU, they smile. Its the civilians that seem to have such the huge problem with it.

 

I’ve never intentionally told other people that I have been in the military. Even though several have made that mistake and assumption.

 

The worst story that I could tell you was a few years ago, it was windy day and the BDU jacket was again the first thing that I grabbed. I went to the grocery store with my ex-girlfriend and a man came up to me in the aisle and got my attention.

 

When I turned to him. He saluted me, then shook my hand and said, “Thanks for your service. Do you mind if I ask what happened?”.

 

Just at that point when I was about to tell him that I wasn’t a veteran my nutball of a girlfriend came up to him and literally gave him a line of total and complete bullshit.

 

“He was in the Army. Remember a few years ago when we were in Iraq and we killed Saddam’s sons in that seige? Well, he was in there and was injured during that assault.”

 

I WAS STUNNED!! HOW COULD SHE LIE LIKE THAT???

 

The man suddenly had tears building up in his eyes. He saluted me a few times more and thanked me ever so profusely for the sacrifice and service that I gave to this country. He hugged me and then backed off thinking that he might have invaded my personal space and then walked away with yet one more salute.

 

I ripped into my girlfriend, asking her why in the hell would she do such a thing and lie to the man?

 

Her response was more or less as deplorable as her answering that man’s question with falsehoods.

 

“My father was in Vietnam. And when he came home, nobody saluted him. Nobody gave him a parade. Nobody liked him. They hated him. So if YOU get the praise and honor then my father can have it vicariously. Even though you, yourself were not in the military.”

 

Well, to set the story straight. I would hear stories from her father at that time about his military career. He was in Vietnam for less than a year. He was not involved in any particular battle or conflict. In fact, he never saw any action and did not ever fire his weapon. But he was there. After that time when he was in the military and at the point where I had met him… well, let’s just say that her father was almost 10% of the reasons as to why I broke up with her in the first place.

 

It bothered me that she would lie like that and so willingly!!

 

So all in all, I do not think that it is illegal to wear my BDU jacket. It IS illegal to actually lie and present falsehoods to say that I was in the military. It is illegal for anyone in this country to lie about being a part of the military. But then again, if someone was actually caught doing it, I am not quite sure what the penalty has been or even if they actually brought charges on that person.

 

I recall many years ago that a man was arrested and imprisoned for impersonating being a firefighter. But that was so long ago.

 

This is not something that I am actually doing. I’m not out there in the world and telling people that I was injured in war, or that I was a part of the Army or anything like that. Because I knew that was illegal.

 

But it cannot be and is not illegal for me to wear a military style jacket. Otherwise the courts and jails would be full of people.

 

These civilians need to get off my back about it. I wear it because I am proud of those men & women who serve and those who have served and even those who gave their lives in the line of duty so that this country can be as free as it is.

 

Many members of my family have actually served. Grandfathers, uncles, cousins, and even my own younger brother! (Which is where I got all this stuff from in the first place!) I love my family and am proud of them. This is how I show support.

 

So to those who want to argue that what I am doing is wrong, back off and mind your own business.