If I Hear One More Time About A Fool's Right To His Tool's Of Rage...

I have to get a few things off my chest about Facebook.

I want to preface this with the thought that I normally love facebook. I use it all the time, I think its a great way to stay in touch with people you might not get to see as often as you like and reconnect, or just plain connect, with people that you love. I like Facebook and the concept behind it.

Lately, I hate Facebook.

If I were a normal person, or the average FB user, I suppose I would be posting this there under my notes section. But, you see, I am seriously tired of FB drama. And honestly, I like updates and notes, but I think me venting about things that make me crazy belongs here, where people have to make an effort to come and read it, and they aren't inundated with my opinions without having a choice. And there, my friends, is the thing that is making me crazy. Well, its threefold, really.

First, and I'll totally confess to Sakura venting this to me first, and I agree with him. I am sick of those stupid E-cards. Yeah, some of them are witty. Most of them aren't. Most of them are bitchy and whiney, not funny. And more of a problem, people are posting them so frequently now that they are taking the place of true humor and wit on FB, which was something that I really loved about that space. Now, I have reposted a couple, I won't lie. But I don't post five or six a day, which is what some people on my friends list are doing. What irritates me is that the people I am friends with, for the most part, are a very intelligent, very amusing group of people. I don't need E-cards to know that. Honestly, I like their own brand of humor much better. I actually spend enough time scrolling past them that sometimes I miss an important post I actually wanted to read. That's annoying.

Second, and I know- I know I swear- that its election year...but I'm tired of politics. I normally take my civic duty very seriously, and I'm to the point now I don't even want to vote because I'm sick of listening to all of it. Its not even November yet. And while I am a liberal, its not just the conservatives that are making me nuts. Its everyone. I don't care anymore that Mitt Romney got a huge tax break on his therapy horse. I don't care if George Bush is still your idea of a great president. I don't care if you hate President Obama's healthcare plan. I don't. Because your opinions are not mine. You are not going to change my mind about my political views with a meme or a photo or a rant on FB any more than you would change them with a political attack ad on television. I'm a smart woman. I know there's two sides to every coin, and frankly I find it insulting that you believe that posting that crap is going to be enough to change my mind without me fact checking or looking into the issue more.

And forget even just the election stuff, I'm tired of political posts in general. I'm gay and I am sick of pro-gay, pro-gay marriage posts. I'm sick of abortion posts and women's health posts. Do I care about these things? Yes. But I am so tired of facing a barrage of posts about it on my news feed every morning. I'd like to point out that posting a picture on FB is not the same thing as being politically active. You want to do something to make a difference? You want change? Form a political action group. Join an existing one. Write to your congressperson (do you know who your local and state reps are? I bet you can't name them without a google search. I can.) Organize a rally. Make some sort of actual contribution to the cause or shut the hell up. Honestly. When is the last time you attended a city council meeting? Do you know where your local party office is? When was the last time you took advantage of the days at the State Capitol when constituents can go visit their representatives. When's the last time you actually took the time to research the legalities of the bills that you so vehemently oppose? Not recently, I'd bet.

Do something. Do anything. And then post on my wall about how you got something going. Then we'll talk about whether or not my politics line up with yours and whether or not I feel like helping out your cause. But for the love of every thing good and holy stop wasting my time with statistics your blindly reposted or facts you can't bother to check. I'm sick of them all.

Finally, and lord and lady knows I will offend someone here- I'm sick of religion on FB. I'm tired of flame wars over who loves or doesn't love Jesus. I'm tired of having to defend my faith to people who are supposed to be my friends. And while I love you and respect your religious path- I'm frankly quite sick of waking up every morning to a come to god post or twelve. You find inspiration in your religion? Awesome. You want to post a quote from a guru or a bible verse that makes your day better? You do that. Do you want to "witness" to all of your friends in FB land by posting a picture of Jesus on the cross with a huge note underneath about how you don't want them to go to hell if they haven't come to god yet? Spare me. Do that in person. With the person you are trying to reach. Because if like begets like, most of your friends are looking past that post anyway. Those of us of different religions are probably rolling our eyes, because its insulting that you would post something that guilts us into becoming a member of your faith so *you* don't have to suffer by us going to hell. Honestly, if our sensibilities were that weak, why bother being acquainted to a person like that at all? 

Don't get me wrong, I love religion. I especially love mine. And I truly believe that if your religion is your comfort, that's wonderful for you. I post pagan things now and again because I know they inspire me and they inspire my friends. But not once, NEVER, will you see me posting a "become a pagan so your next incarnation doesn't suck" meme with instructions on how to become a witch underneath it. That's stupid. I want the people who are religious to be happy with their religion. But don't insult me, especially on a daily basis, with posts about how sad you are I'm eternally damned, asking me to come to god. Because frankly, if I weren't already of a spiritual path of my choosing, the conclusion I would draw is that all the people of your faith are dogmatic nags.

And while we're talking about both religion and politics, lets just get this out in the open. They don't mix. And frankly, I don't care what faith you are, it doesn't get to dictate my political decisions. And you know, I hate calling them out, but the protestants are especially bad about this. I never hear Muslims or Jews saying pork should be outlawed. Or how their religions are older, so maybe their more important than any other religion. It seems the exclusive right of protestants to tell all of us how wring we are. Truthfully, I think the Muslims in the US are too busy hiding and trying to fight for the political freedoms they were guaranteed when this country was founded to be busy with any other political agenda. And for the love of Jesus and every other deity read your god blessed history books and check out the founding father's real philosophies behind the founding of the United States. They did not form our government to be a Protestant state. They didn't. And frankly, the moment the US becomes a protestant state, I'm out. I'll find somewhere else to live. That's not me being petulant. That's me choosing to emigrate to a new country where I can have religious freedom. Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so.

So the next time you're on FB and you post about how abortion is wrong or how gays shouldn't marry or whatever else political issue you're just dying to change my opinion about- give me a good reason that has nothing to do with your religion. Because its probably not mine. And if it is, well, I'm still going to look long and hard at the facts before I make a choice on what to believe.

I know that I sound hard and bitter. I know that me making all of these statements is my way of making a political statement and religious statement myself. I do. Here's the thing, though. You're here and you're reading this by choice. You choose to listen to my opinion. I didn't type it in all caps on facebook. I didn't tag you in a post about it so it would show up on your wall, in your news feed and in your notifications. I let you make the decision to come here and listen to me rant. And that's all I want. A morning where I wake up and I don't feel compelled to hide someone in my news feed because I am friends with them, and I do want to connect with them, but I can't stand the thought of one more political rant, religious pontification or stupid ass E-card. Let that be my choice.

And I know, I know, I've got someone somewhere who will say "I can post whatever I want and if you don't like it go ahead and unfriend me." Okay. I will. Because it just goes to reinforce the fact that my opinion isn't as special as your opinion. Truthfully, I probably really like or love you if I haven't hidden you or taken you off my friend list. If you don't like that I don't care for all of your posts? You let me know. I probably need to reconsider whether you should be my friend or not anyway. I respect your right to your opinion, even if I don't like it or agree with it. Even when it irritates me. Which is why I'm here, and not on your wall posting snotty comments about your opinions to you. I deserve that too. That's all I'm saying.

Right. I'm off my soap box. I'll post something nicer next time. But I had to have my moment, because some people are truly ruining something that I used to like. I like too few things (especially mainstream, networky type things) to let someone ruin it for me.

Have fun posting y'all.
AGxx

Feeling Your Heartbeat

A snippet of my day at work...

So I put my hair in sponge rollers last night. Anyone who grew up in the eighties knows what I'm talking about. Well, I rolled them a little too tightly, and I woke up this morning with curls so short they made it look like I had cut my elbow length hair to my shoulders. I threw a bandanna on my head and high tailed it to The Devil's Warehouse to pick up some stuff to hopefully arrange my hair when I got to work (with the help of my boss Stalin). I had hopes of the curls falling looser once I had some time to leave it alone. No luck. I ended up rinsing my hair out in the sink in the bathroom and pulling it into a bun. Not nearly as glamorous as I had hoped.

I was crushed. I had hoped to look pretty today, I was having one of those "I need a self esteem boost" days. Yeah..not so much. I ended up nearly in tears, because I'm super vain. Flyguy did his best to comfort me. He told me he thought it had looked pretty. I laughed with one of the girls, its the nice thing about men. They're usually pretty accommodating about telling you that you look okay if you're on the verge of a crying jag.

Cue my first round of customers, who were, in short, awful. I don't normally complain about my guests. I realize everyone has bad days and that sometimes that means that your waitress gets the short end of the stick...but a never ending line of them is terribly disheartening. I had a gentleman (who was terribly old) actually grab my arm to ask me something at just about my worst part of the morning. Anyone who knows me well will understand why I hate being touched by strangers, especially men I don't know. It was only this man's age and a supreme effot at self control that kept him from getting smacked or me screaming. I can't even explain the way it raised hair on my arm to have people I don't know touch me...

Anyway. About this time Kitten dropped by the store to grab a bite to eat and wait for a ride back to our place. Shorty was hosting, and she stopped off at the bar to snatch a couple cookies that Kitten brought in. We were chatting, and trying to keep me from having a panic attack (or Kitten was anyway). Suddenly, Waiting for Tonight by Jennifer Lopez came on the Ambience station that plays in our store. I looked at Kitten and jokingly asked if she wanted to dance. She laughed. We both know because of our store's PDA rules we couldn't even if we wanted to. I asked shorty if she wanted to dance. She told me no, she wasn't in a dancing mood. She more felt like petting Kitten. She was joking. Its hard to translate that kind of come-on to your wife joke into text, but it made me smile.

Then Flyguy wandered up and I asked him if he wanted to dance. As I had predicted to the girls, he did that hip shaking groove with your arms white boy can't dance thing he always does when I ask him that...We were giggling, then he burst into some serious hip thrusting movements that were very...Chippendale. Shorty piped up she could see him doing that in a tool-belt and we were all cracking up, and of course, the visual made Kitten and I blush. Shorty noticed it and gave me a hard time about it. Of course, that made me blush more...and I spent the rest of the afternoon joking with Flyguy about it.

Its things like that that get me through a rough workday. I've got some awesome coworkers. Rather, I should say, I'm lucky to work with people who I consider friends.

Frightening and amusing:

After we got off Flyguy and I ran to the gas station to pick up cigarettes for Shorty because she works all night and she was running out. While I ducked in Flyguy sat in the truck. When I came out he was wearing a cammoflage bandana that he found somewhere int he truck. I have no idea where he got it. If I were more a hostile person I'd wonder why he was digging in the truck, but honestly, I don't care. He comes over to our house enough that if he wanted to snoop and find something truly embarassing, he already would have. Here's the trouble- I had last used that bandanna for a hankercheif when I was sick earlier this month! Go on about how gross I am for leaving it in the truck, I honestly forgot about the damn thing and I'm not normally the one who cleans out the truck so...anyway. Iwas horrified. I plucked it off his head and told him he probably didn't want to be wearing it. Then I explained why. He grinned and said he wasn't worried, it didn't feel wet when he put it on his head.

Its one of the reasons I love him. Honestly, I'm pretty sure most of the other people I know would have been epically grossed out. hell, I was.

Come to think of it, Flyguy's getting a roommate. I should mention that now because I'll be interested to see if it effects how much time he spends with us, since its one of his other pals. Not that I don't want him to have friends, or whatever, but Ithink I've mentioned before I'm a jealopus person, and I might, just maybe, be worried he won't be around as often. I can't have that. I've been missing him too much lately anyway...Iam SUCH a girl sometimes.

In other news, I'm sure you've noticed, I added a few things and changed the layout here. I was getting sick of bubbles. Let's face it, if you got the "Plastic Castle" reference, the bubbles were cute, but if you didn't they might imply that I'm a bubbles kind of girl. Now, I may have plka dots on my bedroom walls, but bubbly really isn't the way I would describe my personality, so a bit of rearranging seemed required. Not to mention, I was sick of looking at it.

I also added a few features. If you're interested in seeing what people read the most frequently, and I always am, I have a rotating bar with the posts that are viewed the most often. There's some suprises in there. I also updated and moved a copy of my first post on this blog to the sidebar, so if you ever get confused with all the names and acronyms and such here, you'll have a chance to sort them out. Also, helpful, I think, for new visitors. Not that I have them all that often...

I added a few new folks to my blogroll too. Carley in Europe is a travel blog my friend Carley is writing. She's a very talented musician with her own record label. I love her to death. I met her through Perpet. We were both attendants at her wedding. Anyway, she's in interesting girl, and I thought it might be worth a share. Sara O is a stand up comic I know who is currently battling cancer. I linked up to her blog, which is ongoing, and shares her experiences as she goes through them. She's a tough and amazing woman, so definately go check her out and leave her some words of encouragement. Finally, I added Waiter Rant, which is the site that inspired the book. I finsihed reading the book recently and I loved it. Some of it was funny, a lot of it was insightful, but what struck me the most was it was such an accurate depiction of what happens to me and my coworkers on a day to day basis it was moving and sometimes a little bit depressing. You can hit any of his backlog on his blogroll and enjoy a very true accoutn of like as a waiter.

Well, that's me. I'm off to go work on some spellwork. Sakura's coming over. Its new moon. I need to be a productive witch.

Cheers, you lot. I love you all.
AGxx