I got a frantic call the other day, “I’m on my last roll of TP.  Can we borrow some until I can get to the store?  I know you keep it stockpiled!”

They’re right.  Why wouldn’t you stockpile TP?  I typically buy Cottenelle, Charmin, or Northern and ALWAYS the 2 ply.  Anytime it’s on sale, I buy a package.  TP is one of those things you never want to be caught without!

So I sent a 4-pk of Kleenex Cottenelle over and said not to worry about replacing it.  Today, she sends back a 4-pk of cheapy TP.

! ! !

I’m afraid to use it.  What happens if it dissolves before it finishes it’s job or if it feels like sand paper going across your bum??!?  I decided to set it back in case the kids go rolling.

Am I the only person that’s ‘anal’ about this???

Another thing I refuse to buy in generic:  Campbell’s Cream soups (like Cream of Chicken, Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Broccoli, etc.).

You find yourself watching Blue Lagoon on the Spanish channel and make up your own interpretations.  Yes.  The kids and I actually did this.

I’m NOT a nerd.  REALLY!

So I was married to this guy named David.  He was much like an uncle of mine.  Very feminine.  We were walking to some zoo type place that had lots of wooden structures.  It was almost like a wooden maze only it was made of covered walkways where the handrail in many areas would push out to meet other walkways.  They branched out in every direction making it almost impossible to figure out where you were without looking for big land marks around.

David suddenly went running off in some direction with the kids and I following him.  He was saying something about Mary and led us to a big black topped parking area where a nun was being worshiped by a group of people who were on their knees with praying hands.  She turned to him and rejected him as Satan.  Suddenly, his eyes rolled back into his head and his voice was booming.  I couldn’t understand a word he was saying, but I knew I had to get Mary out of there.

I grab the nun and off we go into the wooden path maze.  Along the way, members of my extended family where showing up.  I dropped off Vanessa and Ethan with my mom at one point and Mary and I kept going.  I saw my grandmother and aunt and warned them to stay hidden from David or else he’d come after them.  I saw various other members of my family and gave them the same warning.

Finally, Mary and I ended up at a Wendy’s…only it was the Tasty Freeze that we used to walk to when we were kids visiting my step grandparents  in Oklahoma.  We sat at a booth and watched the maze exits.  When we saw David moving along the maze, I sent Mary back in the direction of her followers.

David came into the Wendy’s and I met him.  Somehow, I lured him back into the maze and into a cage for the horses.  He was going nuts in it.  He tore apart a horse and diced it with his bare hands.

I opened up a little slat on the metal doors and began talking to him.  Explaining that I’d loved David, but this was no longer David.  I commanded the evil spirit in him to leave using God’s name; however, that did nothing.  He laughed at me with blood on his face explaining that this was who he’d always been.  Not the weak person I’d known.  That was just a cover.  He’d been sent here to combat Mary and was just buying time with me.

I knew that he’d get out of the metal stall somehow and that I no longer had a place in this fight.  It wasn’t mine.   I left  David there and gathered up my family.  They were all trying to comfort me, but I didn’t need comforting.  Somehow, I’d accepted everything that happened and just wanted to get on with my life knowing that I’d never see David or Mary again.

I woke up feeling really odd.  I don’t typically have dreams with blood of any kind.  To have a dream where someone tears apart a horse (although I didn’t see that happen - I just saw blood on him from that), it was disturbing.  I guess I should cut down on those crime drama shows.  Either that or stop falling for evil men.

I know most people won’t touch this with a ten foot pole and that’s fine.  I just want to clarify a bit.

After 9/11 happened, I wanted justice, just like everyone else.  The war on terrorism though, was not my idea of justice.  I guess I’m more tit for tat.  I’d prefer making a list of those responsible and sending in the A Team to take them out.  I like justice.  I like punishment.  I like sending a message that if you jack with us, this is what we’re going to do with you.  The “war on terrorism” is a bit difficult in that it’s an ever changing list of people that may or may not ever attack us.  Can you really hold someone accountable for a crime they might commit?  I have issues with that.

For whatever reason you want to believe, we went into Iraq.  That reason and whether it was right or wrong, no longer matters.  What matters now is that we finish setting up the government that we started there.  People seem to think that this is an overnight operation.  They want to think that all you have to do is free people and they will take care of themselves.  That’s not so.  There’s no reason to believe that Iraq will be any different from Germany.  We have to stay there long enough to retrain the minds of the young, basically.  Otherwise, they’ll go right back to doing things the only way they’ve known how.  If we up and leave, we will have simply started more civil unrest.  That’s where the Vietnam comparisons come into play.

With all that said, I hope that we (the US population) have learned something from Vietnam.  Even if our troops get pulled out, I’d like to believe that we would not spit on our soldiers, call them baby killers, and any number of other ghastly things we did back in Vietnam.  I would hope that if we haven’t learned anything else, we would have learned not to take our anger out on the troops.  Instead, we should place it squarely on the shoulders of those politicians that are responsible.

Now for my opinion of the military in regards to blogs and such.  They all seem to be on the defensive and have that swarm mentality.  They’re ready to attack anyone in their efforts to defend themselves.  I’d love to be able to take away whatever their fears are so that I could once again listen to their opinions and hear their stories.  Instead though, all I get from them is, “Here’s another guy attacking us!  Stupid jerk.  Doesn’t he know that we’re fighting for him?!?  How can he claim to be patriotic when he talks that way???”   It’s a huge turn off.  I don’t want to listen to that any more than I want to listen to the news.

I miss the days when I’d simply get an account of what their day was like over there.  When I’d get pics of what would be a lovely sunrise except for a dozen men with guns around a fenced in area.  I liked the emails about how they saw the quality of life over there and felt they were making it a better place.

Those are the kinds of things that will get the general population behind the effort.  When those stories are no longer being told because our military folks are too busy trying to defend themselves, then I (and others) simply tune out the noise the same way I tune out the kids arguing about who called shotgun.

We have the internet.  Why aren’t our soldiers making more use of it?  Why is the military not launching a campaign to win the public opinion rather than going on the defensive?  “Here are pics of the kids that now have schools.  They’re even learning a little English like, “Do you have any candy?”"  That kind of stuff should be everywhere so that when people google Iraq war, they get pics of the good we’re doing rather than death and destruction.

I’ve said it time and time again.  It’s all about PR.  If you’re not getting the support and following you want, then take matters into your own hands and create it.  It shouldn’t be too hard because in all honesty, while I and others did not support going over there in the first place, there’s no way we can not support helping to rebuild and educate a country that’s seen so much fighting.  It appeals to our need to make a difference and make the world a better place.  If we see enough about that, we’ll stop arguing about if it was our place to go in there and do that.  We’ll just want to continue the good works.

…but I have to say it.

I was reading Uruloki’s Lair this morning.  It sent me here.   I read the post on that page (without following the link it gave).  The post itself didn’t bother me.  I suppose I’m numb to reading opinion pieces due to the post 9/11 “news” and the rise of bloggers as news reporters. What did bother me was all the replies.

I’m neither right nor left wing.  I am (like a growing number of people) one of those that believes our entire government needs a mass overhaul to get rid of all the ancient relics that no longer represent the people because they are too far removed from the people they claim to represent.

I don’t like the fact that you have to have millions of dollars to run a campaign to win an election.  That’s just absurd.  I’d abolish the “democrats” and “republicans” if I could.  I don’t believe it was ever intended for us to have an either/or political system, but that’s what it’s come down to.  We feel as if we must vote for dumb or dumber because smart guy doesn’t have a chance due to lack of funds.

I could go on and on, but I’m getting side tracked.  The replies to that post disturbed me.  I know that it’s necessary that our troops believe their purpose is pure and right or else they would have a very difficult time doing their jobs.

With that said, why is it that they believe I should take their opinions as fact simply because they’re military?  I used to read military blogs because they were giving me an honest heartfelt opinion on what was happening.  I had friends in the military that I’d email and ask questions.  They gave their opinions and experiences although sometimes they were very carefully wording their responses.

Now it seems that all military has the same opinion.  To me, they are living in fear.  They believe that people are not supporting them.  People are turning against them if they do not agree with the job they military was sent to do.  Maybe they fear the whole Vietnam experience.  I don’t know.

Their opinions are not any more unbiased than those that claim to ‘report the news’ these days.  They are both simply delivering a message on behalf of the people that sign their paycheck.

That’s what disturbs me.

Go ahead.  Flame away.

The other night I came in from work and was tired.  I put some spaghetti on the stove to cook, talked to the kids a bit, and then went into my room to change into shorts and a tshirt.  Before I’d finished changing, the kids yelled for me to strain the noodles.  They can do it, but they claim I’m better at it.  I definitely make less of a mess, but I think that’s part of their ploy to get me to do it.

I walked out of my room with my pants unzipped, too lazy to bother since it’d only take a minute and then I could finish changing.  My pants kept sliding down though and I kept having to pull them back up.

I finished up the spag and told the kids to come fix their plates.  Here they came, both walking side to side with their pants pulled down to show their undies.

I started laughing and they said, “It’s cool.  We gangstas too.”

A few weeks back, a guy at work said, “Do you consider yourself a nerd?”

My reply was quick. “NO!”

I was giving him a hard time about calling me a nerd and said I might be a geek. A debate on the difference between nerds and geeks followed.

Someone brought it back up the other day and I had to fill in a co-worker that had missed it. He said, “Don’t worry. He’s a nerd too.”

I said, “TOO?!?! So what are you saying? You agree that I’m a nerd?!?!” and the debate on nerds and geeks continued.

My opinion (and it has to be right because I asked in IRC and Dryden said many of the same things):

Nerds are brainy, but not social. They’re the ones from the movies and TV that have pocket protectors and taped glasses. They are socially awkward.

Geeks typically have more of an interest in things like games, computers, and movies than other people. They do not have the social stigma that nerds have.

Later, he asked about dorks. Dorks are simply awkward. The word has no reference to intelligence whereas Geek and Nerd tend to imply that there’s an above average intelligence.

I should mention that I don’t think geeks are necessarily brainiacs. I believe they just show an interest in things that people associate with brainiacs.

What do you think? Am I a nerd? Are my definitions in line with what you think? Are all the words interchangeable?

I fell asleep on the sofa tonight and dreamed that I was some kind of important leader/adviser.  In my dream, I was sleeping on the sofa; however, I still knew everything that was going on around me.  Important people were coming in and out discussing matters that I needed to comment on; however, I couldn’t.  I kept trying to wake up, sit up, and talk, but I couldn’t open my eyes.  I could never manage to sit up before the officials left and if I managed to say anything, it was mumbling that no one could understand.  Since I couldn’t open my eyes or sit up, they assumed I was talking in my sleep.

I began to wonder if I’d been drugged and if it would wear off before whatever important event that was going down, happened.  Things were going terribly wrong and I knew something bad was going to happen if I couldn’t wake up and set everyone straight.  It wasn’t a matter of life or death.  It was more like some political spat that was a simple misunderstanding.  Several countries were going to stop working together.  I didn’t seem worried that it would end the world.  I was simply worried that something good would end for no reason.

When I finally woke up IRL, I felt as if I’d probably been talking in my sleep…and really wished that it would have been recorded so that I could know what it was I was trying to prevent from happening…lol

Sooo, interpretations?

Tons of people have asked me so I thought I should post a follow up.

Vanessa changed her mind.  As far as I know, I somehow dodged the first bullet.  Once we discussed birth control and it’s effects (weight gain being one), she decided that wasn’t for her.  I explained that while condoms are necessary for STDs, I required her to be on birth control pills in addition to that.

I apologized to Vanessa for my poor reaction and once I calmed down, the discussions were easier.  In all honesty, I think she may have been a little scared and was looking for a way out.  Of course I could be wrong and she could be lying to me.  Either way, I’m happy for now.

Her ex boyfriend has been calling and she’s been talking to him on myspace.  I’m hoping she’s losing a little interest in Cody.  He’s a great kid, but when she started talking about a hope chest, I freaked.  I don’t want her even thinking of marriage thoughts yet!

<Marathon> Naye, I’ve finally found a solution for you…

…and I didn’t even know that I was a problem.