"Your wrong, my grammar is just fine!"

Besides the shocking amount of trolls roaming from forum to forum and getting their jollies on the internets, the other thing that never ceases to amaze me is people's inability to spell simple words and utilize elementary grammatical rules. I understand that spelling and grammar are not everyone's number one priority or strong suit, but every time I see someone write things like "Your totally right," I have to shake my head, sigh, and ask myself, "Don't people who consider themselves intelligent under normal circumstances want to appear that way on paper as well?" Or is the idea just to squirt out ideas as fast as possible onto the internet, no matter how mangled they are after their treacherous journey from the brain to the screen?

Maybe in this day and age I'm just a grammatical snob. Not that I'm above judgment either: it wasn't so long ago that my dad was getting on my case about using the word "literally" incorrectly. "Dad, I literally had a fit after I heard they were going out." Did I "literally" have a fit? No, I did not. Is that even a real life quote or example? Nope. The point is no one is perfect. Duh. The majority of us are also not brain surgeons or Stephen Hawking. But does it take so much effort to squeeze an apostrophe in once in awhile, or if you did manage to graduate high school, at least learn how to spell words that any 5th grader should know? I know, I'm so harsh, but it would greatly improve my reading pleasure.

More Little Things

As I was sitting in the zebra-print chair in our guest room, I thought of a few more "little things" that make me feel happy:

-The way the bright afternoon sun filters through the vibrant green leaves of the tree behind our house, creating a dappled effect that dances around the room as the breeze whispers through the branches.

-Playing hide and seek/tag with our cat, Penny.

-Penny's purr, one of the most relaxing sounds I know.

-Going grocery shopping and picking out our favorite things to eat.

-Sleeping with my feet sticking out from under the sheets.

-When I'm more in tune with my surroundings, looking at and appreciating trees, their beauty and their many functions.

I Watch Sports, Therefore I Am

I would never try to rain on someone's parade in pursuing a hobby or interest. Take sports, for example. I'm a former high school athlete and can appreciate the many positive aspects of playing sports--exercise, camaraderie, cooperation or self-reliance, stress release, and fun of course (spandex almost made it on the list but we'll leave it off for now).

Now, there is also the "hobby" of watching sports. I feel that it's more appropriate to call this a "pastime" rather than "hobby." When I think of hobbies, an activity that's at least somewhat productive usually springs to mind. So what does one get out of watching sports? For one thing, entertainment. I get that. A few hours spent with friends or family participating in a shared bonding activity. How about enjoyment? Perhaps, unless your team happens to lose--then it ceases to become all that enjoyable (the ends usually determines the quality of the means). But at the end of the day, do professional sports actually matter? Yes and no (how's that for a noncommittal answer). Although in many societies sports wield a great deal of influence and impact many economies, in the grand scheme of things they don't hold the huge amount of significance that TV channels, news stations, and commercial enterprises would have you think. Let's face it, sports are business--while you're following the home team with baited breath, you're also lining someone's pockets. Alternatively, on a personal level athletics can potentially have a large impact on one's life and development, but to me that still doesn't include the pastime of watching games.

Talk to my husband and you'll receive a somewhat different analysis. The man has lived and breathed soccer his entire life. He loves watching games only second to playing in them. To say that watching pro sports, and soccer in particular, doesn't matter would be blasphemy. But even with that kind of lifelong passion for sports, even my husband can appreciate that there are higher priorities in life than watching sports.

I'll concede that sports touch people's lives in important and meaningful ways. Even though they have the power to divide people, create animosity, and have even been blamed for violence and murder (can you imagine people murdering each other or committing suicide over a soccer or baseball game?), sports also bring people together and teach valuable life lessons. This does not mean that memorizing mountains of statistics, fawning over and glorifying pro athletes (or even college athletes for that matter), and obsessing over teams or game results is a worthwhile use of time or even positive for our society as a whole. But as long as people can keep things in perspective--a tall order for some members of society--the things that really matter will always be at the top of the list where they belong.

The Little Things

Sometimes it's fun to revel in the little things during the course of a day. Often they get overlooked but it's usually the accumulation of lots of little things that compose a day.

Little things that I found pleasure in today: smelling a new scent of shampoo in my freshly washed hair, scratchy kisses on the nose from my kitty, a brand new haircut and the feeling of short bouncy hair, the exquisite flavor and nostalgia of cinnamon toast, giggling with my hubby watching "Everybody Loves Raymond", chatting with my charismatic British hairdresser with a fabulous dry sense of humor, writing about little things worth treasuring. And in the near future: 8 hours of glorious sleep.

Really, Arizona?

I still can't quite get over the new immigration bill recently signed in Arizona. Talk about two steps forward, five steps backward for this country. I enjoyed reading about Sen. McCain's lack of a backbone in his support of the law and quest for reelection. I also marvel at Gov. Brewer's blind faith, stating that “we have to trust our law enforcement.” Interesting. If you're trying to pass a law that essentially targets Hispanic immigrants over all others, at the end of the day how exactly do you plan on avoiding racial profiling, dear Gov. Brewer? Will you be stopping people indiscriminately of all races and backgrounds on the street, seeing as how technically anyone could look like an "immigrant"? And if not, there must be a reason why; for instance, because presumably the largest immigrant population in Arizona is Hispanic. Which then leads to the question of how to target "suspected illegal aliens." How else except for appearance, your biggest possible clue or "probable cause"? And does this not lead us to the appropriately coined term "racial profiling"? As my friend pointed out, profiling could even extend to what people are wearing--there's a very good chance there won't be cops clawing at your documents if you're dressed in a suit instead of work clothes or jeans. At any rate, fear not Australian, German, French, British, etc. immigrants in Arizona. This law wasn't written with you in mind.

I can only hope that Obama and the courts take a good look at this bill and tear it apart until there's not even a scrap of paper left to write on.

Research consulting vs. Government work

Today I had a rare opportunity to compare my current job at a research consulting company with a day working for the Feds. Here are some casual observations I made:

At my company, my office has no windows. This is sad. At my government office, my office has a window. However, it's covered with a semi-transparent dark screen over it. I was told this is either to keep birds from hitting the windows or to keep people from jumping out of them. Possibly both. This is an improvement over not having a window, but still somewhat pathetic.

My consulting job has pretty flexible hours. Unless I have a pressing engagement, meeting or deadline, I can pretty much create my own schedule on a given day. Today I discovered that at a government job, you must decide what hours you're going to be at work every day and they must be consistent day in and day out. Point for consulting.

At least at this particular branch of the government, you can decide whether you want to dress up or dress down (aka suits or shorts). In consulting, you only get to wear jeans on casual Friday. The government got it right on this one--freedom of choice is the way to go.

The government building is a bit more dingy, cluttered, and lackluster than the consulting building. Some serious interior decorating is needed. Perhaps one of the reasons morale is not as high as it could be. At any rate, not much of a shocker there.

People like to gossip at both my jobs. That's not much of a newsflash about the workplace, now is it?

There are very nice and friendly people at both workplaces, and also strange and somewhat annoying people. For instance, I was intrigued by my first impressions of folks at the government today. When I arrived and was looking around in what must have been a bewildered fashion, a nice man approached me and asked me if I needed directions. My government supervisor is very open, friendly, and patient (I hope she's like that all the time!). One of the women on one side of my office seems very sweet. However, there is also the token jaded employee who manages to always see the glass half empty, and the absolutely crazy chick next door who got into a verbal altercation via phone loud enough for me to hear (and about a personal situation, not even work-related!!), and proceeded to almost cry. This was before she chewed someone else out (also a personal call) about the collective amount of time they had spent to date deciding on the specs and what paper to use for a letter she's sending out. Amazing.

Both of my offices/divisions are filled to the brim with women, with hardly a male in sight (at least there are a few at my consulting job). Girls clubs can be fun. Sometimes I miss a good balance of testosterone in the workplace, though. I think I should be careful what I wish for.

A Different Kind of Memory

Have you ever had dreams that were so vivid, they made a permanent imprint on your brain? Do you have dreams that become integrated into your memory, as if you had really lived them?

One of my great-aunts had a dream in which her husband was not quite "behaving himself." I suppose the dream was extremely realistic because the following morning my great-aunt proceeded to sock my great-uncle on the arm. I'm sure he was left scratching his head about what he had done to deserve such punishment.

I had a similar dream last night in which my own husband snubbed me to spend a day with Shakira. When I woke up he asked me why I was in such a bad mood and when I told him, he couldn't help laughing at my ridiculous reason for being so cranky.

Although this most recent dream was of the more scandalous persuasion, other dreams that have stuck with me over time have been more benign. One involved climbing down a lush tree with stairs that wrapped around the trunk like a spiral staircase. The tree had rooms inside its trunk which I saw in passing from the outside as I descended. Then I found myself in either a Brazilian or African town with dry brown earth and a market in which I found myself among people with coffee-colored skin milling around in the marketplace and playing soccer.

This dream "clip" and its imagery, in addition to the feeling of adventure and joy that I had as I climbed down the tree stairs, have stayed with me for a long time. I imagine this dream floating in between the file cabinets in my brain labeled "Dreams" and "Memories" because it's really both. In composition it's a dream and as far as I know it never happened (unless it occurred in another reality!), but all the same I still consider it a fond memory.