Easter Week Chaos

“If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.”~ Frank Lane

I am greatly considering either writing a book, or starting a brand new blog when it comes to the great people and experiences here at the SGC.

Allow me to present to you the events over the past 24 hours.

It is late March. Tis the season. Texas went through a lot of rain overnight and into this morning and early afternoon. However the insanity started to break when our beloved meteorologists were warning that “storms could be severe.”

Texas translation? MILK AND BREAD! MILK AND BREAD!! AND BATTERIES!!!

The corner gas station was completely wiped out of the items.

On this day in 2014. Just saying Texas likes to be stormy on this day.

So it rained and rained. There was thunder. There was lightning. And there was a promising look of local flooding. But it all subsided. In the end, store owners got richer and the area got some much needed rain to help with the drought.

When the sun came up this morning and it was time to get that all important cup of coffee, I suddenly realizing that I had walked into a room full of outspoken and loud obscenities.

F bombs were flying!! “Fuck this and fuck that. Fucking fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” And when you are trying to wake up and having a hard time making sense of the day, being bombarded with profanities isn’t the best way of going at it.

It would have been easier to handle, if there was a point to it. But the guy just couldn’t stop swearing. He was just rambling on about various things. And then he finally stood up and left.

The neighbors have labelled him as “the insane one.” From people who know him however, apparently he is highly intelligent. So there you have it.

The chaos train had started rolling at full speed.

Today was our special Easter dinner event. It was a catered event from a seafood restaurant and only a few select people could attend. There was a sign up sheet that the residents had to sign in order to be able to take part. If you were not the list, you were not offered any food. Easy enough to understand.

There was supposed to an Easter egg hunt, but due to the fact that at 11:30 AM looked like 10:00 PM and the rain was pouring down, that was cancelled.

In an effort to avoid bodies bumping into everything while trying to get in line to get food, they decided to go to the sign up sheet and call people’s name one at a time. Your name was called and you got your food. Once you were handed your food and you walked away, the next person was called.

It was a process that I felt worked out very well.

And the guy who had the potty mouth this morning?

His name was not called. His name was not written on the sign up sheet that the social worker had in her hands. And so, without his name being on the list, he was refused being served food.

GUESS WHAT HAPPENED NEXT???

Round Two. Screaming and wailing. Minus the profanity for whatever reason.

Our resident who had coordinated the event with staff was trying to talk to him to tell him that she had his name on the list and that he can go ahead and get something to eat. But in his blinding rage, he did not hear her. And so instead of having that saving grace that he was in fact included on the list, he stormed his way out of the building and into the pouring rain with bitterness in his heart. Even though the coordinating resident was trying to get in a word over the shouting. She simply was overpowered.

Apparently what unfortunately had happened was that the resident attempted to e-mail the social worker last night to add him to the list. But the social worker never received the e-mail.

He was gone before the resident could resolve the problem.

Being that I was sitting at the same table as the coordinator, I heard the conversation between her and the social worker when they both realized what the problem was. And there was not anything they could do about it because technology had failed.

I can believe it as I was without Internet for several hours last night. So the e-mail probably was never sent.

Food however WAS set aside to be given to him after the fact. I do not know what happened when they went to deliver it to him at his home.

The other residents began their buzzing. One guy even came up to the coordinator and decided that he was going to put the full blame upon the shoulders of the social worker. He stated that the social worker handled it extremely poorly and it should have never went down the way that it did. And there were others that were just as willing to chastise and point fingers.

I realized at that moment that the craziness of living here would NEVER go away!! I understand that there are over 60 people who call this place home, and that means there’s probably going to be over 60 different opinions.

The fighting and the minutiae will forever be present here at SGC. And that’s why I wonder if I should start writing more and more about the events that go on here because it has to be wildly entertaining for some of you!!!

And finally to bring this tale to an end, the social worker decided that she was going to just hand out plastic Easter eggs to those who were in attendance because there would be no Easter egg hunt.

Inside of each egg were treats. Basically bite size pieces of chocolate and quarters. I stopped in the social worker’s office to say “good morning” to her early last week when she was putting them together.

Each person got several eggs. Most of which contained one piece of candy and one quarter. I believe the intention was to give out enough eggs that there would be enough money to use for the laundry machines. At least to wash your laundry.

I sat there at the table and I was making jokes about the social worker looking like the Easter bunny. But it went terribly, terribly wrong!!

It was probably the biggest faux pas I had made in over a year.

Instead of saying “She looks like the Easter bunny handing out treats.” I said, “She looks like the Playboy bunny handing out treats.”

It was met with dead silence until I realized the error and quickly corrected myself for it.

I swear I thought I was next to be crucified for it.

After I survived that scare, the social worker came back around a few minutes later asking for the emptied plastic eggs. They wanted to be able to keep them and use them in years to come.

A majority of the eggs contained Hershey’s Kisses. Not all, but most of them.

In a moment of quick thinking, when the social worker came around to collect the eggs from our table I said, “Thank you for the kisses!!”

The social worker busted out laughing so hard that she bent in half. And in the next moment the entire building was laughing as hard as they could.

I probably saved myself from certain social and personal destruction after the “bunny” comment.

I am not sure what “holiday” will be served up next here. If I had to guess, it could be Memorial Day or Independence Day.

And as always…. stay tuned!!!

The Wheelchair Wars

“We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”~ Winston Churchill

I don’t think that I have ever felt such frustration as I am about to write about in all of my life as an adult. Eventually this will go away, but this blog has always had the original intent to be my therapy so buckle up.

And before you start going on and on about how fighting is never the answer. Yeah, I know that. You just need to keep reading.

I went out the other night and I ran into this woman that I had not seen in a very long time. Someone that I have wanted to see more of but never actually do.

And while she did hang out with me for part of the night, I did notice that she would disappear off and on. I didn’t know if she was going to the restroom, or going to the bar, or going outside to smoke, or anything.

I will spare you the boring and long details of the evening, but I will mention that I was making the moves, and I planned to see just how far it would go and to see where I stand with her.

But during her frequent disappearances I noticed that when I looked around for her that she was standing there talking to another man who also was in a wheelchair. That guy and I would pass by each other a lot and he always was giving me dirty looks. I tried to engage him in conversation but he never said a word to me. I even threw him a compliment and still got nothing.

However after I decided to make a move, I noticed that whenever she was socializing or doing whatever it was with the other guy, he was doing the same stuff I was doing.

What in the world?!?!?!??

The woman is beautiful. She’s going to gain attention, I get that. But I felt like this guy was taking away from me and taking for himself.

This non-verbal, non-physical altercation of an event was happening.

Physically speaking… even though he and I lack severely in that department, he still had a bigger build than I. If he and I were to stand up and face each other, he would in fact be much larger than I in all capacities.

At that point I knew that if something between he and I broke out, he would have the advantage and probably the victory. But as time went on, I realized that he kept drinking and this was actually causing him to become weaker and ultimately a burden for anyone surrounding him.

At times when I would actually go and seek her out and find her with him, he gave even more dirty looks towards my direction. I took it as a non-verbal threat. This shit is not cool!!

Towards the end of the night, this woman did come to me to tell me that she was leaving. I offered to walk her outside so I knew she was safe, but she emphatically refused my offer.

She left, and then shortly after the other guy left. But I cannot definitively tell you that they left together.  I don’t know that.

I realize that I live in a certain corner of society where it is the survival of the fittest. I know that it is winner take all. But what people don’t realize about this kind of world, for who do not live the same as I do that it is an understatement to say that it is brutal.

Two men fighting go at it until there is a clear loser. We always hear about how if two women fight that it is even worse because they never fight fair.. pulling hair, clawing each other and so on. It is not pretty.

So then let me explain that if two disabled people are in a physical fight, it is far worse than you have ever seen!!

Because of the fact that they are disabled to begin with, they fight like they have nothing in the world to lose and everything to gain. They literally fight to the death. The only two ways that a fight between two physically disabled people come to an end is if someone steps in and breaks it up, or the victor realizes that their opponent is near death and they don’t want to go to jail or have that on their minds for the rest of their lives.

Disabled people already are engaged in a fight for their lives because of all that we have to deal with in daily life. Going down in a blaze of glory for something we want to have or to protect is not a second thought. There have been too many times where I have found myself in that situation and I did what I did to make sure that I protected myself.

Now that a few days have passed, I think about how I probably could have taken this other guy down after realizing that he had too much to drink and probably couldn’t fend for himself that much.  But I never went after him for it. I also knew that starting a war with him from the moment that I saw what was going on would have been a personal disaster for me. I am still pissed off about it. And I could probably blame everyone and everything. Him, her, and myself included.

Some of you reading this might say that she’s not worth it. But I think that it is worth something because if I had not done anything I would never find out for sure where she and I stand, or could stand because there is no omelets without breaking any eggs.

Carpe diem, baby!

Death Of A Donut

“I think we are at the dawn of a new era in commercial space exploration.”~ Elon Musk

Finally, this day has come.

But why did it take so long?

This morning, I rolled on through to the community room to have coffee and there was a sign displayed that today, there will be NO donuts or fruit.

I laughed to myself when I read it. To be honest, in the past four Fridays, there’s been donuts and fruit only TWICE.

I left that stupid game more than a year ago. I was tired of the violence. Tired of the greed. Tired of it all.

After I got my cup of coffee and was starting to turn into a decent human being, there was some chatter among the other residents in the room about donuts and fruit.

Well… depending on your bend, it is sad or it is a day at last arrived.

Residents were discussing the fact that there will be NO MORE DONUTS OR FRUIT. Period. Done. End of story. I tell you, if I could have done a happy dance, I would have.

If you’ve been with me for the longest time, you’ve read the previous posts about the avarice and the insanity of donuts and the residents that consume them like they are going out of style.

And even though I am glad that the fighting will come to an end, there will be more fighting. For those who want them, they will argue and fight about the decision to get rid of them, and their disapproval. So basically they will take one fight and replace it with another. That’s just how it works here.

Management was not available for comment. But I did go to the social services coordinator and congratulated her on the “smart decision” and told her that now all she had to do was get rid of the Food Pantry distribution and the BINGO every Tuesday afternoon, and this place will turn into nothing but a boring place of business where people will remain in their homes for the rest of their lives and never come out again or for those who will get out, they will leave the property for their social needs.

The Law Will Not Win

“It is on, like Donkey Kong.”

The lyrics say, “I fought the law and the law won.” But in this case I’m afraid that the law is about to have its ass handed back to them on a silver and gold toned platter.

What we have here is a serious mismatch of a former Vietnam veteran against a former law enforcement officer. The Master Sgt. versus the police sergeant.

The two of them for whatever reasons have been trading jabs at one another. Silently and of course behind one another’s backs.

It appears that I am the only one that remains neutral in this escapade.

Until now.

Because when one of them parades around as if they are entitled to everything and anything under the sun… there will come along someone who will pull that sun out from under them.

And sadly it is coming and coming soon!!!

Nobody is paying attention to the warning signs. Nobody is doing anything to bring peace. And the rest of them are just adding their own fuels to this fire because for once its not their personal fight but someone else.

Of course that is so wrong.

Geez. Its about to get really NASTY here at the SGC.

Entitlement is about to be brought down by swift and heavy actions. The sad thing for Miss Entitlement is that she’s burned so many bridges around here that she cannot find shelter from any storm. And then expects everyone to still get out of the way and let her HAVE her way???

The hammer is down and “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH” has been called.

The only way that the law will win this battle is if someone calls the actual on duty service people. Not the former ex-cop.

Grab your popcorn. Grab your drinks. And fire up the La-Z-Boy. Here we go!!!!!

Breaking Up On Valentine’s Day: Part II

“If it’s illegal to rock and roll, throw my ass in jail!~Kurt Cobain

Amazingly enough, there’s been a big enough buzz about the previous post that I wrote over the subject of breaking up on Valentine’s Day that was done by a colleague by sending his significant other BLACK roses ON Valentine’s Day.

I don’t know why it became such a hot topic and why people were buzzing about the follow-up. But you, the reader, asked for it. Now prepare yourself for the dramatic conclusion in Part II.

The colleague as I now understand had delivered to TWO separate places that was intended to be on the holiday itself. One dozen was to be at the home and the other delivery was to be at her place of work. But the delivery at home came on the 13th. A day early. And they were both home at the time.

The doorbell rang and he got up from their little “love nest” of cuddling in the evening time as was their habit. Only to find out that it was the delivery of black roses and his not-so-kind letter of “Get out of my life!!” attached with the devious bouquet.

Instead he never answered the door and the delivery man was insistent on ringing the door bell. It alerted the girlfriend and she yelled at him to finally just answer the door. He said that he felt that he had to escape. So he ran upstairs far away from her as possible on the other end of his glorious multi-level home and locked himself inside of a bathroom.

He had expected that his girlfriend was going to be lazy and ignore the constant nagging of the door bell. But he was wrong and she answered it. Only to find this large box of what she assumed was roses being delivered to her. But confused when the delivery man read the note of “Get out of my life!” after all…. why would she have to get out of the delivery man’s life?? It didn’t make sense to her.

So she tipped the guy (evidently) and then opened the box, only to find that the roses that she thought were inside were in fact roses …… but BLACK.

What happened next, depends on which side that you wanna listen to and believe.

Being that I know the man in this relationship a lot easier, I will give you his side. Because HER side is unavailable.

He was hiding in the upstairs bathroom after he heard her cussing and screaming for several minutes. Then apparently she burst into tears asking “WHY??”aloud. Then there was more cursing and screaming and then she began to call out for him.

He faked as if he was using the toilet and apparently it took her several minutes to find him. He said that going upstairs was a mistake, that is of course IF he wanted to leave the house. At first he didn’t but after the constant nagging of her calling his name, he said he just wanted to slither out of the second story window and get out of there.

She found him. He FAILED to lock the door. But he also mentioned that he didn’t think that it would’ve mattered because she would have had the patience to wait him out.

But before he knew it, she was crying and screaming and wanting to know why he wanted her to leave. And she APPARENTLY didn’t give him enough time to answer any questions that she asked. Unless they were just rhetorical and coming from raw emotion.

She threw a few of the roses at him before she charged him in the hallway. The chase throughout the house began as he tried to escape to the downstairs. But she would catch him and start slapping and punching along his head and back.

The carrying sounds of her screaming wave after wave of obscenities alerted someone outside and they called the police. And that was the only thing that saved him after they showed up on the scene.

He has two black eyes, a broken nose and a chipped tooth in the front. His smile is for now, wrecked. But he’s got the cash to fix that.

She however was taken away and led to jail and he refused to pay to get her out. So as far as I personally can tell…. she’s still in jail awaiting a court appearance for beating his ass. I mean seriously– she tore him UP!!

He’s an idiot though to have thought that this wouldn’t happen to him.

He went to the hospital and then was released. That very night, he hired some illegal Mexicans to clear the house of her stuff and just to put it out on the lawn at the end of the long driveway. Nothing of hers remains inside the house.

He is expecting to receive a call whenever she is released from jail. I don’t know though if that has happened yet or not. He acts weird when he’s on pain medication. So I don’t talk to him or call him too much.

He suggests I call the police if she shows up here. But he doesn’t think she’ll take the walk all the way from one side of the city to the other. But “just in case” …. just call the cops.

Now he’s trying to get her fired from her job, since the company that she is working for is one that he personally owns.

So there’s your closure ladies and gentlemen.

Dancing Into War

“The tongue like a sharp knife… Kills without drawing blood.”~Buddha

A lot of people have been testing my patience as of late. And sadly for the rest of us, it does a number on my head and it does lead to fallout of some sort.

Most recently with this rumor extravaganza that I endured, until I had the strength and the smarts to investigate the roots of these rumors and find out where they were being bred.

I had to do so, because it had caused me a great deal of pain and I ended up losing quite a bit of sleep over it.

Sadly, I would come to find out that not all of the information was rumors and that a number of pieces of information were actually true. But a majority of what was spoken to me was false. And as I confronted that which was true, I had actually received a personal apology, and the rest was just lies.

And after countless people that had been involved with these rumors that I went to them personally to find out what was going on, I was able to decipher on my own which was real and which was not.

The most common rumor that was being spoken was that there’s a huge circle of people that know me on Facebook, and that they do not like me. But they just “put up” with me. And when specific names were dropped, I went to them and asked. Most of them getting very upset and angry that these words were even spoken and it did not represent how they felt about me at all.

Most of them had a desire to kill the person responsible for those words. And I think that was just a natural reaction to the situation.

All of them were super pissed off. All but one. That one did get defensive but did not show the signs of the outrage that others immediately fell into.

After gaining “the other side of the story” I went back to the original tale tellers and told them that I wanted to speak to them again about the situation that they created. Little did they know that it was a trap. And little did “I KNOW” how things were going to turn out.

They had changed their name on Facebook, but their photos were the same, their information was the same. The only thing different was their name. Almost too easy to relocate them again.

I was able to convince the main person responsible for all of this to actually talk to me over the telephone to discuss the situation and to see what other kinds of information that they might have on colleagues or acquaintances of mine.

Once I got them talking on the telephone, they started to drop names again. The same ones. And more stories and tales about them. But I had stopped them in mid-sentence and warned that I had already spoken to those people and right now…. they were pissed off that these words were spoken about them.

If what they were telling me was so in-depth and true… why would there be such an outrage??

After a few minutes though, I began to listen to their tone and quality of voice. And it didn’t seem all that right to me.

So I asked how old they were.

14 years of age.

That young and already knowing so much dirt about people and creating even more bullshit to compile onto it. Knowing so much already about people, getting others to earn their trust and let them speak personally… only to have it backfire and their words twisted around and their trust shattered, by someone so young.

I finally had the upper hand and had them admit that they had lied to me to begin with. However, they were most adamant about NOT lying about one particular individual and kept up with their stance on them. And it just so happens to be the one person who didn’t show emotions of rage like the others. And I wonder if there is any validity to it at all.

The person that they were talking about kept denying things, saying things were untrue. But they weren’t so upset that they were wanting to kill those responsible for the vicious lies. Defensive for sure, but not wildly emotional.

It just really makes me wonder.

People hide behind their Internet connections every day. And in this case, the teenager thought that they were going to be able to hide behind their keyboard and be safe. I proved them to be wrong. And now their Facebook accounts are disabled, with a promise never to come back. Coming from a teenager, I don’t believe that. What I think though is that they’ll start over and try something new.

I don’t know if this child did it for attention, or just simply to start shit with me and other people, or just started it to get a reaction. I honestly don’t know why it was started. But you better believe that I had finished it, for sure.

I am still the kind of person that will stand up and fight for those I care about. And this was obviously made clear today.

Lessons In Irrefutibility

“This is truly a lesson in futility; man cannot be sure of anything more than his own existence, and even this is tenuous.”~ Author unknown

The image to the right is the basic building block to what started out as one lesson for one person and ended up being another lesson for many, and a warning for others.

I was in Houston for SIX MINUTE CENTURY this past weekend, and I promise to get to that blog post as soon as I can. But I felt that these lessons needed to be shared with you, the reader, first.

What you are viewing is a post of someone that I know who had said that they were going to the SIX MINUTE CENTURY show, but failed to arrive. Based on very few interactions with that person… this was looked at as an excuse as to why that person was absent.

The first lesson here can begin by seeing that the first thing deleted/censored out is my name. In other words, she tagged my name on Facebook. This post was originally on her own profile but since my name was tagged… it ended up being on mine as well.

Here’s the lesson: DON’T TAG PEOPLE IN RUN OF THE MILL, REGULAR DAILY FACEBOOK POSTS. You leave yourself wide open to the last SIX comments. The first was the person herself, offering what was revered to be another excuse on top of the one that was already provided. The second comment was that person’s friend offering their sympathy.

The rest was nothing but …. what I imagine….. was pure HELL for the original person who posted. Comment #3 began as a cautionary statement, and then the rest were simply brutal.

The following is a chain reaction to what  followed:

• A- Comments #4-7 were rough. Comment #8 would be the likely nail in the coffin.
• B- I deleted the original person who posted this mess from my Friends List on Facebook, when all I wanted was the truth out of them and I could not find it. With each trip that I took to Houston, I would tell this person that I would be there.. only to have her say “Oh cool. I’ll be there!” and then she not show up at all and then make excuses why she wasn’t there later… DAYS later, even after I had returned home.
• C- The original person would eventually delete the post. Then come to me in the Facebook inbox (where she should have went in the first place) and claimed innocence and wondered why these people were attacking, stating that their comments were very rude.
• D- The person blocked me on Facebook. I was not the one who blocked. But they did it.
• E- Nobody to my knowledge went after this person more than what you see in the image. Not on my side.
• F- This person had someone come after me and attack while defending HER.
• G- I had to block THAT attack from Facebook.
• H- This person went to the one who gave the cautionary comment, to try and plead her case only to find that this person that she was talking to was MY FRIEND and was going to back me up no matter what!!
• I- My realization that had escalated farther than what it should have. Which is my only regret.
• J- Thinking back, the image states that she was a different venue (different colors used to remove the names of venues) than where SIX MINUTE CENTURY was playing. And it didn’t make sense why she would be there.

Nobody is innocent in this situation. Her with her constant BS excuses as to why she didn’t show up to hang out or say hello or anything. But instead she went to my friend BELIEVING that I was “thinking” she and I were “more than friends” which was not true.

True, it would have been something that I would have welcomed, but I was wanting to spend time with her to get to know her.. and do it in person, and not over the Internet. You CANNOT HIDE when its in person. 

And I could have stopped it before it got out of hand. I could have removed the name tag from her post. But then again, I have NO control over what people were going to say. Not in the least.

Again, I am going to stress this lesson to EVERYONE:

DO NOT WILLY-NILLY TAG A PERSON’S NAME IN A FACEBOOK POST THAT YOU ARE WRITING. ESPECIALLY IF IT IS SOMEONE THAT YOU DO NOT REALLY KNOW.

Because of the tag on my name, she more or less asked for what she got, which was the comments that followed. She allowed it because by the name tagging, it created the opportunity for people to say what they did and of course it pissed her off.

And here’s a bonus lesson for those who are on Facebook or any other social networking websites and use them regularly.

If someone is having an argument or a fight….. keep your business to yourself.

The only reason why the people who commented on this doomed post was because they already knew about  the situation before today. A couple of them already frustrated that I was letting this woman get to me.

But when after I was blocked and the ‘war’ was over…. there was a man who came after me and was basically attempting to show that I was in the wrong 100% when he should have kept out of it.

Bulletpoint F.

The likelihood is that this woman went on a posting rampage AFTER blocking me…. seeking attention. And there it was, someone else thinking with their dicks instead of their brains.

I would most likely RETURN to a social equilibrium with this woman IF she were to apologize for giving the run-around. But that’s likely never to happen as she probably doesn’t see it this way at all. And even if she were to do so, I wouldn’t associate with her as much as I did before… which was barely at all to begin with.

So there’s really no HUGE loss here.

But allow this story to serve as lessons.  As if it were MY OWN cautionary tales for you all to soak in and absorb.

Don’t tell someone you are going to do it, if you have no intentions on doing it in the first place. Don’t lie. Don’t allow your personal emotions to get tangled. Learn that fire is always going to hurt no matter how many times you touch it. And learn when enough is enough.

 

 

 

Fight Of The Fanatic

“It’s cool to meet your idols. It’s a good opportunity to travel. Those kinds of things are good.”~ Meg White

Idols. We all have them. Sometimes, they change throughout our lifetime for one reason or another. But there’s always someone that we are looking up to in our lives no matter if that person changes at one point or not.

We admire them. We think about them a lot. We daydream constantly and about what it would be like to maybe one day meet them.

And for many of us, that dream will come true. But not all of us will. I have met a number of people considered “famous” and a “celebrity” in years passed. From musicians to politicians and actors. The people whom I have a great admiration for are NOT the same people that I once dreamed about every night from a decade ago.

We’ll bump into someone that we’ve admired for a long time or find ourselves to take advantage of the perfect opportunity to finally come to face to face with them.

But I think that a lot of times people forget that our idols are actually human. And they even have idols of their own!!

Our lives certainly do change though when that magical moment falls upon us and we meet them for the first time ever with our very own eyes. The world becomes your taco.

The taco however won’t last forever.

And there are those times when we meet them and when the magical moment is gone, you’re left standing there reflecting upon it and realizing that there was nothing magical about it at all.

That happened to me once. I had met a musician once and an autograph was given, but the pleasant exchange of conversation wasn’t pleasant at all.

To be fair, I had met the musician based only on the fact that they were the idol of a girl that I wanted to get together with. And in thinking that if she knew that I had met her idol, it would place me at the top of her list. But in reality, it didn’t do a thing to help my cause. Instead of having the autograph made out to me in MY name, I had it made out in HER name and then I sent it to her. I didn’t even receive a word of thanks from her. Just an acknowledgement that she had received the autograph in the mail a week later.

At the end of the night I could not for the life of me figure out what was so awesome about their personality. I was aware of their musical talents as they had won Grammy Awards, but who in the world would willingly want to hang out 24 hours a day with a personality like that? Oh well.

Fighting over meeting your idol is true behavior of selfishness. They are also human like you and I.

But recently it seems to me that in the wide world of fanatics over one person, an actor or musician, that there are two groups of people within that circle. Those who have met their idol and those who have not. And I have noticed that for those who have met their idol have a sense of “holier than thou” over those who have not. And its really ugly.

The most recent example I can give you as that I read that someone had finally met their idol after 20 years of being a fan. They got to have dinner with them, took photographs, the idol signed autographs and was on their way. Pretty fancy, I’d say.

But now they are talking to other fans like they actually KNOW the person and they’ve been friends ever since the invention of sliced bread. To be honest, that kind of ego-trip is highly annoying. And all they are doing with other people who share that same idol, are pissing them off.

This was an actor, not a husband prospect, and simply just another human being that was actually beyond more than kind to have offered them to have dinner and talk. And now that person who had that wonderful opportunity is parading around with proverbially no pants and showing off.

And this week, someone else who has NOT met their idol really wants to. But they have been meeting constant resistance from that one person who thinks now that they are virtually family. And now a fight has broken out. Its scattering other fans to choose and pick sides. Two groups of people (those who have met their idol and those who have not) have splintered off into four, five, even six smaller groups of fanatics. But they have hatred and malice toward those who are not on their side.

I sit back. Watch. Stay silent. And shake my head in great disappointment. I would give them ALL the quote from Rodney King, but unfortunately those involved in this ridiculous dispute are too young to remember who Rodney King is. Which I suppose, makes me old.

But the quote still remains a vital and truthful statement and poses the great question of why cannot all of these fanatics get along with one another?

I have no problem with other people meeting their idol. And I have no problem with other people meeting those people that I admire the same as they do. But to have done so, and then get in the face of someone who hasn’t and speaking like they are the idol’s representative that the other person can’t have their dreams come true, just makes me so sad.

I understand the thrill and joy of meeting your idol. Nobody says that you cannot be overjoyed with emotions of happiness when you have met your idol. And nobody says that you cannot share freely of your experience. There is always someone willing to listen and share with you.

 

In the past month, I have been able to receive several autographs in the mail from people that I admire. Some of you will know what I am talking about, but most will not. And that’s because I’ve decided that I was not going to jump to the top of that mountain and start screaming about it. These were not people that you will find on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, but people that I do admire… after all, I DO have other people that I admire. More than what I discuss about frequently in this blog.

What I do not understand is how that one person who has met their idol will continue to inflate their own ego to the point where they’ve become obnoxious, rude, and turned into a monster… believing that they’ve somehow entered a new world and became a member of some secret society.

The theory that I have come up with is that they are attempting to hold on that that precious memory for as long as they can. And by letting their ego loose is one way of allowing them to continue holding on to that experience to keep it alive. But I  could be all wrong about that!

So its all about egos it seems. But I swear that these fights that I have witnessed over the past six months over actors, musicians, politicians, and other idols are unnecessary and awfully mean.  

In my opinion, instead of fighting one another, we should be helping one another out.

Life is too short to be fighting with people. Especially if you have a common bond with that other person. Rather we all should be caring and kind and show respect. Be genuinely happy for those who have the “once in a lifetime” opportunity to have been able to meet their idol. And help those and hope for the best that other people who share that common respect and admiration that they too can meet their idol. It creates yet one more common bond that you will be able to share with one another.

I will say again, our idols are people too. They are human just like you and I. People just really need to learn to get along better.

Enjoy the taco if the opportunity arises. But when you are finished, don’t forget to SHARE it with others.

 

 

The Other Side

“Every truth has two sides; it is as well to look at both, before we commit ourselves to either”~ Aesop 

It has brought to my attention that I might, have to recant a previous blog post in which I had told a sad story about a neighbor and had expressed an pre-determined opinion about them.

I was told that the neighbor in which I had previously described as a whore and a prostitute, had left her apartment and was gone off of the property and yet had left her company behind inside of her home and was frolicking with someone who actually IS known to be a prostitute across the street.

So I bolted out of the door, not sure of what I would see or find. When I reached the other side of the complex, I did not see my neighbor at all. But what I DID see was that there was a strange black man sitting on her couch. The front door had been left open and from an angle, I could see directly inside. My neighbor though was nowhere to be found. The information that I received that she was across the street and goofing off in the alley, turned out to either be false or outdated and she had moved on somewhere else. But the fact remained that a strange man was inside of her home.

Naturally, it is none of my business of who goes in and out of her home and who she selects to have as a house guest. However in this case, she had left herself prone to his will. He could have either stolen something or destroyed her personal property. Anything was possible.

I did call the police.

To my amazement, there were two policemen on the property and getting ready to investigate the unit within five minutes of the completion of the telephone call. But since there was no crimes being committed at the time of their presence, they were in and out and gone in under three minutes.

Sounds awful, I know. But hey, they were here in almost no time at all. That had actually made me feel better. As the policemen had left, I noticed when I went by to hang out at her neighbor’s place, the strange man was STILL there. He was talking on the telephone, excited and spirited. Someone who had escorted me across the property said that he could hear the strange man scream about how someone called the law on him.

By the time I had returned home, which was a full 90 minutes later, that strange man was STILL THERE!!! I could hear sounds of a conversation, but could not make out any intelligible words. He was still alone. That neighbor that we have deemed to be a “whore” still hadn’t come home.

Even though this man might not have been doing anything suspicious or illegal, what is the problem is that the resident, my neighbor, abandoned him inside of her apartment. And that’s against the lease…. I think.

This calling the police that I have done against my neighbor for the first time in probably a couple of years got me to think about what I was doing and what I had done.

I know that this woman has the police called on her a lot. And its done by her close and next door neighbor. But really, what is it exactly that she is doing that is causing everyone who lives here to want her to be evicted by management?

Is it because she has a weird STD and is still having sex with strange men or is it because she is becoming a complete irritant towards her neighbors and others who live here? 

There’s nothing illegal about her having sex. She is definitely of age to be sexually active, and an adult and old enough to make her own choices. It’s definitely not against any rules here. Yes sure, there are people who believe that what she is doing is immoral. But there are some questions raised from neutral parties about this manner.

Her next door neighbor has constantly called the police and turned in reports to management about her activities after office hours. Complaints that would stack up several miles high.  It has come to the point where she no longer desires to call the police because she has done it so many times and she feels that nothing is getting done about it.

But I personally have NEVER seen her in the midst of these alleged activities that others have claimed she has involved herself with, in the last twelve months.

She feels harassed and I am started to believe in that. If she is making so much noise when she is having sex and keeping up her next door neighbor, then why haven’t the other neighbors on the other side of her or in back complained as well? Where are the voices of others who can verify that she is in the middle of all of this illegal activity?

There’s always two sides of any story. And unfortunately when I wrote about her before, I did not have nor consider her side. Plus the fact that I never have been a witness to any of the allegations brought on by her next door neighbor.

I do know that she is an alcoholic. I do know that she is taking prescription drugs. I do know that I have seen her keeping company of men that of ill repute. But I’ve never witnessed anything that would be considered illegal.

It is scary that she has so many strangers coming in and out of her home. That to me, is a safety issue for others as they could easily go to another apartment building and steal something, break something, or harm someone. But management cannot evict her just for having company. Management cannot tell her that she cannot have visitors.

And when something happens that is legit, and the police must be notified… those who have called (which are only a hand full of people) fail to take all the information and don’t bother to even get a case number and have that report given to management.

Those who have repeatedly called the police on this woman never have anything to back up their claims when they report their stories and issues with the apartment manager. And with no case number or name of the officers on duty who came to investigate, it just ends up being a bunch of “he said/she said”.

I did report tonight’s events to the police only because I DID SEE it.

 

If they TRULY wanted her to get help, or just be told to leave, they need to be doing a better job than what they are and what they have been doing.

Thinking about this woman and HER side of things, I can see why she thinks she is being picked on. And the reality is that’s all it is. Its not pro-active to get her help. Nor does it help them in their desires to have her removed. She’s living a lifestyle that anyone can see is detrimental to herself, and possibly towards others.

But what she does isn’t illegal. With the exception of the times in which police were called for the smell of marijuana coming from her home. And by the time the police showed up back then, the odors were gone.

It is never a dull moment living here.

 

 

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.