just one more...

ok, so i may sound like a whiney prat, but i cannot wait for this (yes, very short) week to end! monday wasn't bad, but today just plain sucked! our regional director was in today and if she is in tomorrow i don't think i can take it. but like i said... one more day. just one more. then i can go home and not worry about work for four whole days. and thursday i can spend time with my boyfriends family. then saturday i can spend time with mine. a bunch of sleeping and relaxing mixed in with a little shopping... i can't wait. in the mean time, just one more day.

off topic...

ok... i will admit it... i love the holidays. i love october straight through january. now, please don't get me wrong! i do not go crazy with the jack-o-lanterns, ghosts, skeletons, cornucopias, santas, reindeer, or poinsettias. i just kind of do a little palette change with all the colors i use. and i have lots of pomegranates everywhere, and a tree and stockings and lights at christmas. i just love the season. i love the gatherings. i love the search for the perfect gift. i love the music (but please limit it to between thanksgiving and new year's days). i love the holiday snows. i love the warmth. i love the excuse to brighten a harried salesclerk's day with a little chocolate or gift certificate. or paying for someone else's toll. or coffee. or dry cleaning. it's not just a time to give the "obligatory" charitable gift. give random little gifts. nothing expensive. maybe a coffee for a coworker who seems down. or stop and offer help to the family with a flat on the side of the road. these little things not only cheer me up (seeing smiles will do that), they always cause a chain reaction. someone else will see and do as you have. it is worth the time or money, always. i love doing this year round, but it seems to be noticed and passed on more during the holidays, when most of us seem to focus on our own dramas and dilemmas. it makes people stop, think, and see the bigger picture.
i know that with our present economy the holiday shopping/marketing season has hit us much earlier than usual. this means that we will all be tired of the potential holiday stress that the holidays induce long before they actually arrive. i would like to challenge everyone to look around, not in hopelessness at the present state of our economy, but with hope at the resiliency and potential of people. with hope at the kindness we are capable of. take a moment and actually listen to some of the songs you hear. (not santa baby, or i saw mommy, or santa clause is coming.) listen to the other songs about the kindness, and faith, and giving hearts. this is what i love about the holidays. i love the hope. and the warmth that exceeds the often dark and dismal days.

ok, seriously?...

in response to the recent debate over Spitzer's NY State license plan:
people! do you really think that having or not having a license will assist or deter potential terrorist activity??? no offense, but come on!! timothy mcvay? not an illegal alien. ted kaszinsky (sp?)? also not an alien. my point? a license is not anything other than an i.d. that sometimes allows or restricts your driving privileges. how many people have you known with a suspended license or simply no license at all who still drove (however illegally) a vehicle. within town limits? within city limits? across state borders? the ridiculous point about stopping terrorists aside, would not you rather that the (mostly) hispanic immigrants who work their butts off doing work that most of the rest of our country's citizens deem too taxing (manually or to their pride or otherwise) know what rules of the road to follow? would not you rather they take a test to make sure that they can read all the important road signs? wouldn't you rather they have the same training that you had to drive on our roads? most of them drive our roads anyway. xenophobia aside, anybody worried about how our tax dollars are now being spent? in litigation over this instead of solving health care issues, or environmental issues, or poverty issues? anyone else concerned about the fact that they want to build hotel in the Pine Bush? yeah 'cause we need a hotel there. hey! i know... while our world is falling apart and we are using up precious natural resources, lets build a hotel in a unique environment while wasting tax dollars on litigation over the democrat/republican i.d. debacle. anyone else feel this way??