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.

Display Of Dumb

“I’m not sure why I’m so often disgusting on stage. I don’t always know where it comes from.”~ Louis C. K.

I was heard it said that men were either 100% perverts or 100% liars. It was based upon what a group of women were discussing at the time and I just happened to have been in the same room with them.

But the underlying subject was of men and pornography. And the ultimate and unanimous feeling on the topic was that when they would ask a man whether or not they were into pornography, they were either perverts when they said that they were or they were liars when they said that they were not.

I kind of see a double standard here. This was back in the hey day of the Internet and how wildly accessible it had become to the average household across the world.

But he question really is a double-edged sword because no matter how the man would answer, it just would paint him into a corner to show that the guy was not all that noble or good.

Say what you will about men and their pornography, ladies! Say all that you will. But understand that there are women out there who are just as involved in it as men are.

With all of that being said, it brings me to the tale that I have decided to share with you about the dumb public displays of manhood.

Men talk about women. Men stare at women. Men desire women…. sexually. And of course, vice versa.

But in the words of comedian Larry Miller there’s a difference. That being when comparing how women look at men sexually and men look at women sexually, its the difference between shooting a bullet and throwing it.

Three men this afternoon were huddled around one computer today. They were looking at photographs of women and making their sexual comments of their desires of conquest in the bedroom with them. Some random photo album that I have no idea where it came from just loaded with thousands of photographs of women. Supermodels, amateur models, and female porn stars were all included.

Until one of them spoke up and declared that the woman that they were viewing at the time was some adult porn star and called her out by name. And he would give a very quick 15 second biography on the porn star as well as a rapid fire tutorial on her filmography.

These men were impressed and then they continued on.

Gross!!

Then it became something of a trivial game as they attempted to be the first person to correctly identify the porn star before anyone else could come up. Finally, they stumbled across one and that began a rather spirited debate.

Before I knew it, they were all participating in a Who’s Who of female adult film stars that got out of control!

The first guy to name a name blurted out the first name he could think of. The others were assuming that the first guy was actually incorrect. And then the debate started. Their mockery of one another continued to get louder and louder and louder. The first guy challenging the rest of them to prove him wrong.

The party however was broken up, and everyone left. But the discussion wasn’t over. They were told to leave as they were beginning to access XXX sites and that was against the rules and policies of computer use. Needless to say, they won’t be back. At least not to use any computer.

Their challenge with one another leading them to access those kinds of sites led to their demise as they broke the rules. Not realizing that their web searches were being recorded. Again I say…. dumb!!!

Now I would dare to guess that those males who do indulge themselves in pornography would much rather keep that known fact to themselves. And they will do that for various reasons.  But all in all they would prefer to keep the that kind of fact quiet and secret.

But no… these guys were letting out each and every cat out of every single bag known to mankind with their debate over which porn star’s photograph that they were looking at. The liars had become the perverts.

They had failed to keep their secret identities. And the very least that can be said about them, is that they know their porn stars. It was the ultimate act of being dumb. I suppose that for anyone that was keeping score or paying attention that these guys will now have a bit of a reputation because of their depth of knowledge….. so to speak.

The brilliant author and relationship guru (as I call her), Jodi Ambrose, has spoken about the topic of men and their pornography. However, I am ashamed to admit that her exact words escape me. Perhaps I should go back and do some digging to find out what it was she had said.

By the way, Jodi had one hell of a blog post the other evening when she told her tale about getting a pedicure. It was asfunny as it was vulgar. But I digress. Find her blog and just get ready to be amazed. I will not spoil it for you. You can find her website in the Blogroll, which will lead you to her blog.

At the end of the day I just shook my head at these men. Their caveman mentality didn’t even get out of the Stone Age and they were completely oblivious to their surroundings. Proud of knowing the Who’s Who in the porn industry.

Two of them that I know of, do have girlfriends. If this gets back to them… I wonder how long that will last. But who knows, that will become their business and none of mine.

We all do stupid stuff, men AND women. But this gross display of machismo amongst this band of brotherhood was enough to really turn off a lot of people who had to hear it because they were yelling.

Perhaps I should give them the Dumbass Award?

What do you think??

Non Thoughtful Nincompoop

“Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.”~Erma Bombeck

Now the entire world is done talking about the Mayans, we press on closer and closer to Christmas Day. It will be here before we know it!

With that said, today was the Christmas party for the complex that I live at. I must say that today is probably the most memorable party yet.

It was the first time that I had ever eaten chocolate covered potato chips. It was also the first time that I had cream cheese in soy sauce and sesame seeds.

However it was the gift exchange that basically takes the plate of Christmas cookies that you intend on leaving out on Christmas Eve, and throws them all into the sink before shoving them down the garbage disposal.

The gift exchange is not an activity that participated by everyone who attends. But a large number of people do. The idea is that you give a gift before receiving one. Plain and simple. And there’s even a cap of $10 for reach gift. No gifts to be purchased more than that.

So then today after some interesting snack foods and some unusual “caroling” if you will, the gift exchange began.

Each person taking their time to open things before the next person got up to make their selection for a gift.

The rest of this story is something that I couldn’t make up even if I tried:

It wasn’t enough to be greedy this past Wednesday as it was their monthly acts of greed during Food Pantry distribution, but now we have the desperate to do anything to take part in the gift exchange.

The neighbor sitting next to me was called up to pick a gift and when she sat down and opened it up, she found a woman’s wallet inside.

ONE USED WOMAN’S WALLET. Complete with wear & tear.

Now I am given to understand that there is either a tradition or superstition that if you are giving a wallet as a gift, that you leave some small amount of cash inside of it. I do not know if that is for luck or just the beginnings of actually having the purpose of a wallet.

This worn out wallet had no cash in it. But instead, was a photograph of someone’s brother in it. That someone being another neighbor.

The gifter literally just thought that they would empty out a wallet and throw it in a bag, and that would be sufficient enough to participate in the ritual of receiving something different and new in return.

So the person who received the wallet took the photograph over to the person and gave it back. Then the person was humiliated, NOT for the fact that she had been busted by someone who knows her well or by someone who is smart enough to realize that this is not a new gift, but rather the fact that her identity was revealed because she left that photograph inside the used wallet.

How lame, lazy, and cheap must one be? If the limit on a gift is $10 then why couldn’t that person have gone over to the corner store and just purchased some scratch off lottery tickets? Even if it was just one for $1.

And now I am understanding that some way, some how, that gifter miraculously has walked away from this party by receiving two gifts. That one, I am still scratching my head about.

People are strange.

Marriage Proposal Uproar

“A good marriage would be between a blind wife and a deaf husband. “~ Michel de Montaigne

This afternoon, I heard the horrendous roar overhead. I was annoyed because I was taking a nap. So I went outside and looked up to see what was going on.

There was an airplane flying low in the sky, carrying a banner for someone’s marriage proposal.

It circled by time after time after time.

But I noticed something very strange. There was no name attached to it. It didn’t specify who the marriage proposal was for OR who it was from.

I watched as this plane cruised towards downtown.

I was horrified. How many other people saw it? And worst of all, how many romantic couples had seen it AS a couple?? Men all across town who are taken are in grave, grave danger!!!

I would hate to be in downtown today. Who knows what kind of trouble that simple error which could have been avoided, has caused??

I’m all for creativity. And I’m all for love. But blank proposals like this could destroy the reputations of people. And I wonder if the person for which it was intended had actually seen it? And even more curious- did she say YES??

C’mon guys! I know that it can make you nervous to pop the question to you girl. But you’ve gotta be a little more thorough than this.

And ladies tell me truthfully: Whether your man forgot to include your name on the aerial banner, if he pointed it out that it was meant for you, would you say YES?

What is the most romantic proposal that you have heard of? Was yours romantic or fun?

 

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.

 

 

Brainless Warriors

Some elderly can kick ass, others suck it

“Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there’s nothing you can do.”~ Golda Meir

What a day, what a day!!

Today was the first time that my complex had a resident council meeting under the “new leadership”, and I was so full of hope for a new day.

If you read the blog post about the Scrabble game I was involved with, the husband and wife were elected as President and Vice President, respectively.

But the meeting turned into a verbal brawl of sorts. And the leadership was totally less than admirable as our newly elected President never took order of those residents who were causing a stir.

I was rather disappointed personally as the new President was not able to hold a meeting as he was when he was in the same office back in 2005. Clearly, his health has been fading and he just didn’t seem to have it together.

For whatever reason, his wife decided to speak up just about as much as he did. And I became totally confused, who’s running this outfit?? She took over nearly half of the meeting, and I couldn’t understand it. Neither could I believe my own ears.

When the floor was open for comments under new business, a resident got up and started to talk about a “beautification committee”. In other words, she wanted to make a group of residents responsible for trash clean up. Because in her mind, the property was in bad shape.

Well of course it is, the drought has really done a lot of damage to our lawns. It doesn’t look as lush and green because we’ve had no rain. But she wanted to single out a number of people who live here to be responsible for picking up random trash, as well as be a helping hand with those who are unable to bend over and spruce up the front parts of their personal patios.

Ummm…. in other words, make other people work in other people’s gardens who may no longer be able to, or no longer care. Just because SHE wants the property to “look beautiful”.

There’s so many things wrong with this. Although I would agree with her that people should pick up their trash. But having people go intrude on their neighbors? Nah, I don’t agree with that at all. Pick up your trash and we’ll be just fine.

I’m not sure if that’s going to go anywhere. This is a resident who rarely shows up for any activities and/or meetings that we may have. But when she does arrive, you can be sure she’s about to bitch and moan about something. If she has nothing to complain about, she’s going to be sitting at home… inside, and not come out for anything but to check her mail.

And that was the first round.

The second round came about when another resident who also stays at home and doesn’t participate and always gives the excuse of poor health, had brought up the idea of celebrating “Octoberfest”.

Last year, there was a gathering in the evening where we were celebrating it. It was a nice social event with the rest of the residence. And it even had included alcohol. Well, beer.

The consumption of alcohol at specific activities and events here have been more or less “forbidden”. It is not quite “banned” necessarily, but the fact of the matter is that there are some people who live here that have had religious convictions against the consumption of alcohol. They have been the residents who have spoken louder than the ones who have no opinion about whether or not alcohol is being offered, so they’ve said “no alcohol”. But last year’s Octoberfest celebration was a rare test-drive of an exception. “Near beer” was also offered. A limit of real beer was given to those who actually were drinking.

Anywho…. this second round- the resident who rarely comes out offered the suggestion to have yet another Octoberfest celebration this year as well, because she so much enjoyed the year before. So when our social worker said that it was a possible event to place on the calendar, she was happy as a peach.

And then it turned ugly. The social worker left her in charge to plan this event. And she had also mentioned that the event would have to take place during the week some time and could not happen in the evening or over the weekend. (Last year was held in the evening.)

There are only two members of staff that works here. They have made their personal decision that they are not willing to stay longer into the evening or over the weekend. They have their own lives.

If this resident would’ve just accepted the deal then the snowball of bitterness would’ve never started to roll.

Round three- the issue of having our community room open over the weekends and/or week nights. First off, let me share with you the back story of this “dead horse”.

In 2006, and year prior, certain residents had the keys to the community room and these residents were more than willing to get up in the mornings and open the community room for usage by the residents. But in 2006, the people who run this complex decided to remodel it. It was closed for many months while work was being done to it.

The community room is an open room with chairs, nice furniture, a great collection of books, and even a television. Several computers are also connected to the Internet for the residents to use to check their e-mail if they do not have a personal computer or an Internet connection at their home. The remodel came with a lot of newer and fresher things. Including one big-assed television set. Yep, big screen.

But the Board who oversees things had made the decision to collect all of the keys that were handed out to residents and no longer allow the community room to be open during the nights or weekends. It was an issue of protection for both the residents and the items that were held within. It also was an issue of insurance that nothing would be broken or stolen.

So since then, all of the residents who lived here then, and those who have moved in afterwards have basically adapted to the new policy. But many of them do not like it. They honestly would prefer to have access to the community room, just like it was before. Several times residents have gone to the Board to ask them to change their minds, but so far they have not.

I personally wouldn’t mind if it was open, but I’ve gotten so used to it being closed. And also consider the fact that members of staff have changed since 2006 as well. The newer members of staff that work here today, mainly the social worker and the apartment manager are simply not that willing to give up their personal lives to come over here and make sure things run smoothly. The residents who are stubborn not to see it as a risk factor, call it “babysitting”.

That came up today by little Miss “I wanna Octoberfest”. The war then began.

She cried and cried and cried and complained about how it was not fair that the community room was not open any more to the residents. It was not fair that the two main members of staff were “being snooty” for not wanting to come in over the weekends, and it was not fair that the members of staff would have to agree to “babysit” the residents.

The two members of staff have personal lives. I can see why they wouldn’t want to come in. But at the same time, I could also wish that they would every once in a while come in and allow us some off-site activities. It doesn’t have to be every night though.

The social worker had decided to interject and stop the childish whining. She was trying to explain that #1- the two members of staff are NOT the ones that the residents should take their frustrations out on because the residents do not have an open community room any more like it used to be. #2- There are specific reasons why the Board decided to keep things closed.

But the woman would not listen to the social worker. She wouldn’t budge a single half an inch to hear the side of the social worker. She went on and on about how she and her husband HATE being “stuck in their caves” during the weekends.

Well honestly and personally, that’s an easy fix. If you don’t wanna stay at home- go visit a neighbor. Go out to eat, go to a movie, something!! But I am sure that I would be met up with “We don’t have the money for that.”

Then just go visit a neighbor.

She continued to say that she and her husband has renter’s insurance. So they’re set and not afraid. But not everyone here has that. And she knew that the Board wouldn’t dare let the community room be uninsured, so she just couldn’t see what the problem was.

And so then the social worker came out with the big heavy question to her: “So if the community room is open to the residents when staff is not here, and something happens, are you willing to be held responsible?”.

I was so glad when I heard that. I thought for sure that would be the nail in the coffin on this woman. It wasn’t.

The response to the question was, “Insurance is insurance“.

Umm… what??

First of all, she never actually answered the question. And secondly, that kind of a response was in a sense more or less a way to say, “I don’t care what happens to the community room as long as it is kept open for the residents to use. You’re covered, why bother worrying?”.

The social worker had then seen that this woman was not going to give it up and so the social worker in better judgement gave it up, saying to her that she needs to present it to the Board.

An issue that has been repeatedly denied over and over and over again for the past five years or better. The horse is DEAD!!

Now I am sure that maybe someone can come up with a solution for this. And maybe in the future things will change. It is the fact that she and her husband have only been living here a few years.

They moved here after the 2006 remodel and the decision to keep the community room locked on evenings and weekends. So they’ve never really known any different. And I can do nothing more but roll my eyes and laugh at this fact. Why are they soooooo much involving themselves to try and obtain something that they’ve never experienced before?

Not only was the community room unlocked on the weekends. But we also were involved in a variety of other off-site activities:

• We went to the movies
• We went out to dinner on a spur of the moment decision
• We went out to breakfast once a month
• We went to the horse races
• We went shopping in the malls for an afternoon
• We went to the baseball games or other local sporting events
• We went to the theater

And many, many more fun things to do, that was away from home. Why did those things suddenly disappear? Because of a change in staff. Those who worked here before were willing to do these kinds of things. Those who work currently, are not.

This woman and her husband (mainly her) were battling the social worker because they were jealous of the fact of what USED to be. And since they’ve moved in, they keep hearing these wonderful stories of all the fun things we used to do around here, and now we don’t do that any more…. and these two are taking it PERSONAL?? Because of their jealousy.

Jealousy sucks. And I know that this woman is going to hold yet another nasty grudge against staff members and have nothing but gossip and back-talk about the members of staff for a long time to come. These grudges that she holds, will commonly go on for several weeks, a couple of months even.

But it makes NO sense because the two of them rarely come out of their apartment. The husband comes out, but the wife does not. And its probably a marital problem between the two of them as to why he comes out and she doesn’t. Which is not the fault of any body else who works or lives here. It is their own.

But why fight until you are almost out of breath for something that you aren’t even going to use?

I would bet that she decided to use this platform to whine because of who was elected. She was pleased with who is now in charge so to speak and decided that was the time to come rushing in and complain as much as she wants, because of the new shift of power and she believed that she could get away with it. And honestly, she did.

Hypothetically estimating, maybe a total of five or six residents would actually use the community room during either the evenings or weekends. Another five might use it for other personal reasons (personal gatherings, family parties, etc.), and when you add all of that up, you MIGHT get a total of fifteen random residents using the community room during these hours… out of almost 70 who live here.

I just don’t see it as a convincing case. If they do open it up, they’ll monitor the situation as to who and how many use it. Just like they monitored the beer from last year’s Octoberfest celebration. Nobody got stupid, nobody got drunk, nobody got into a fight so they may be a little less strict on further parties and social gatherings to include alcohol.

This however, is probably going to go down in flames with the low numbers of people actually using it during times in which we have been accustomed to it being closed after having the situation watched closely to see exactly who is using it.

All the while, our newly elected President allowed this snowball of ill-feelings to rattle on and on and on. Basically the President and Vice President also think that the community room should be open. But they’ve got their own problems too as to what their excuses are. (No cable, and they live in a mess and they are lucky not to yet be evicted for it.)

But he sat there and let it drag on, until he finally suggested to her to make another motion to do something about it and present it to the Board. In which I really don’t think is going to do them much good at all.

The elderly, and the absurd things that they fight over. Some are just that stubborn, others are just that dumb.

 

 

 

The $102 Pack of Cigarettes

Last year, the only son of an elderly neighbor of mine was pounding on my front door relentlessly late at night at the most ridiculous of hours.

I knew who it was, and I knew what he had wanted. This 16 year old son was wanting me to go to the corner store and buy him a pack of cigarettes.

After realizing that he just wasn’t going to go away, he said that he had the money in his pocket and I told him to prove it to me.

He dug deep into his pockets and pulled out two fists full of loose change. Including a collection of at least eight Walking Liberty Half Dollars and other assorted quarters and nickels.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. Was he absolutely serious about handing over these old coins? All of them were minted in around the years of the World War II era. The majority of them were from 1944. He had one that was from 1941, and another from 1946.

It was ridiculous. I asked him if he knew what he was doing and if he knew how much these old coins were worth. He said he didn’t know and didn’t care. He had recently gone to the corner store himself to buy something else, but the store clerk refused to accept them. So he was trying to get rid of them.

So, I was no idiot. This was the one time that I went ahead and did this for him. Besides, the rest of the change I needed so that I could do some laundry to have clean clothes. I took all of his change and kept it to myself and paid for it out of my own pocket. The transaction was complete and we never spoke of it again. I hid those half dollars like it was the Holy Grail itself.

Time went on, his father (my neighbor) passed away. And he moved away to live with some guardians. Up until two days ago where he came knocking on my door, his skateboard in hand. He came in and sat down and talked his face off, complaining about his social life and how terrible things had become since he lost his father. It truly is a sad situation for him.

And then he brings up the conversation about his massive half dollar collection. Apparently, he went to some coin and silver shop and traded in what he had left over. He told me the story about how he had received about $150 for his coins. And he was really getting excited as he continued to tell his tale.

Then… it hit. The real, deep-down reason as to why he was here visiting with me. Because of the fact that he got so much money for those silver coins AND that he had blown all that money in one day… he wanted those coins back.

Umm, NO. It was part of a transaction.

So I told him, “Do you have a pack of cigarettes because that’s what YOU bought with those coins?”. Obviously, he wasn’t going to have any!! So I turned him away empty handed.

I knew the value of those coins were far more than just fifty cents. And he received his smokes. So those coins now belonged to me. But he kept insisting until I just told him that I didn’t have them any more.

Out the front door, he stormed off. He said that he would be back later to see if I had put my hands on those coins again since “I stored them at the house of my parents who live two states away.”

This afternoon, I too went to the same coin and silver store as he and traded in all the coins that I found in my safe place. With the loose quarters and nickels that I had and then used for laundry, added to what I received from the silver store for selling the coins, that pack of Marlboro Lights 100’s was worth a grand total of  $102.68!!!

Now clearly he did not understand the value. And he should have thought things through. But at his young age, all he was doing was focusing on what he wanted at that exact time and moment. So let it be a lesson to him. Although he’ll probably never learn because he’ll never know. I sure hope he smoked those things SLOWLY.. but I doubt that he did.

Also let it be a lesson to those who read this. There are reasons why people collect old coins. This would be one of the reasons.

And now I will be able to do laundry for at least the next six months.