I hate over 1/2 my job

Be forewarned this is a rant with loads of self pity:

Literally I did the math. I wrote out a list of all my responsibilities at work. I then scaled each of them from 1 to 5. The 1's and 2's where just over half. The 3's where about 1/4, while the 4's and 5's where a little shy of that. I drew a little pie chart which I would have included in this post, but unfortunately I get ahead of myself and I have already shredded that.

I then thought seriously about diving into my mounting pile of crap-work load, but here I am writing this instead. Any sane person would just do it and suck it up, and I am hoping the sane will kick in soon. Meanwhile I will be doing more pie chart reflecting.

I should give you a little perspective on my brain right now, from what I can tell I am suffering from symptoms of the monthly visitor which bless the Lord have given me a clearer view of the crap in my life. You know along with this clarity may come cramps and headaches, but honestly I am kind of grateful that I have a reason to go a little haywire every once a month. Don't get me wrong I know I don't need a reason, its just peace of mind.

Ok so back to me and my job that is less like a fairytale and more like a terror film. Chinese water torture comes to mind, but this, this is not water torture. I have lack of social interaction torture combined with a dash of incredibly boring, meaningless task torture. Now I am sure someone would enjoy this type of torture, but I am not a sadist.

I have come to the agreement with myself (remember I am granted the monthly crazy excuse when conversing and consulting myself) to wait this out a few more weeks. I do have a bigger picture goal and this could, probably should, be the job to get me there (which interestingly enough is multiple locations). Meanwhile it's Friday and I am leaving early.

Reflection on Veteran's Day

The swarm of news coverage and media buzz surrounding homeless veterans over the past week comes just in time for this Veteran’s Day. The majority of these articles cite the study by National Alliance to End Homelessness from November 8th.

While reading about the fourth or fifth news article, all sounding off the aforementioned study, I wondered if this buzz will stick. I hope this does not have the charity surplus factor that occurs during Thanksgiving and Christmas and is more or less forgot about the rest of year by the majority of America.

Close to 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. The study, by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, found that about half of homeless vets are Vietnam veterans and at least 1,500 are newly returned from Iraq or Afghanistan.

As an American and a Humanitarian I am disgraced by this; shelter is a basic human need, we are one of the richest countries in the world and if we can’t provide proper support for men and women willing to risk their lives for us we fail big time. I hope that this attention paid to these Veterans today has staying power that creates action. I expect the government to put forth effort in assimilation for these people when they get back from deployment and rehabilitation for those who need it. The study does offer specific, and I believe, viable solutions to this problem.

This is not an issue of military consciousness; this is an issue of humanity.

Participating in Porn by Choice?

Today we discussed how free speech and responsibility applies to pornography. My classmates came to the convenient conclusion that if the participants in the porn agreed to it that it should be considered free expression. I brought up the fact that many women in pornography are often coerced through manipulations or have past abuses that can cloud their judgment or reality. Therefore while they seem to agree and may tell you they are doing so freely the reality may be different and they might not even know it. The power of manipulation can be intense on a person and I have seen this in other women, often by men. This is a reference to the topic at hand, it is very clear that anyone can be manipulated. I was rather disturbed to be dismissed with my point by a counterpoint that this is just a stereotype. This is truly upsetting to me as I have witnessed an immediate example of this and also have read an autobiography to a similar effect.
I want to clarify I do not completely disagree with pornography. After much thought I find myself acknowledging the power porn can have on society in both positive and negative ways. I felt silenced in class today because this topic is so controversial and this is my space so I wanted to clarify.