Friday, July 6, 2012

Money, Honey!


These are hard times in America. 

A lot of people are out of work.  A lot of people can't keep up with their house payments.  A lot of people don't have health insurance.

I get it.  And, I don't like it.  Nobody likes it.  Or do they? 

Are people "playing politics" to keep the Job's Numbers bad until after the Presidential election?  Would there be a point to doing that?  Would politicians actually hurt their own constituents just to make a political point?  I really don't know the answer to that question.

Maybe private companies are just afraid to hire new employees.  Maybe business is just slow across the board.  If the American economy is in such bad shape, I do have a question.  How is it possible that the Romney Presidential Campaign raised $100 Million Dollars in the month of June alone?  That is a staggering amount of money to raise in a bad economy.  It is much more than anybody donates to cancer research.  It is much more than anybody donates to their church.  It is a mind boggling amount of money to donate to a Presidential Campaign in the course of one month.

Who are these people making such outrageously large contributions?  Oh wait, it's not individual contributors in a lot of cases. It's corporations and special interests groups.  We are being bombarded with ads promoting various "energy" schemes and hearing a lot about a proposed pipeline to bring oil down from the far north.  (Whether this is at huge environmental detriment is not a consideration.)

If these corporations and special interest groups put that money into helping to protect the environment and/or grow the economy, it seems to me it would have some amazing results. 

I really hope this does not turn into a country where the candidate who can afford the most ads on television wins the election.  Seems that might not be in our best interests.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Crazy Busy? Not So Much

You know those people who tell you all the time "I've just been crazy busy!"

Well, I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum.  I am "crazy lazy".  Afternoons are frequently spent resting in Harry's apartment while we watch television.  Or reading in the backyard while I'm watching the pond fish swim back in forth.   

It seems normal to me.  But then I talk to people all the time who tell me how "crazy busy" they are.  They have club meetings, golf lessons, yoga, board of directors meetings, pottery at the studio, cooking classes, flower arranging workshops, and book club meetings.  They also volunteer as candy stripers at the local hospital.

I don't like clubs.  For that matter I don't like meetings either.  I know how to cook.  I know how to read books and stick flowers in a vase.  And I hate hospitals because there are sick people in hospitals.

I mainly do what I like to do.  That's how I like to live my life.  I see friends, but only if I want to see friends.  I play with my dogs, but then I also ignore them sometimes.  I cook up a storm if I'm in the mood, and if not I go out or order in.  I keep my house in order but I'm no fanatic about it.  It's a slow leisurely way to live.  I take hour long bubble baths because they soothe me.  Some days, I don't feel like it so I don't do it.  In other words, I'm not "crazy busy".  I don't think I ever have been.  I've been tired when I was working 8 to 10 hours a day, and commuting an hour each way.  Coming home and making dinner was sort of a chore, but I did it.  I don't think it made me "crazy busy" though.  It just made me tired.


People I know will call me and ask me "What does your schedule look like?".  Say what?  I don't have a schedule.  I do things on the fly.  Call me up at 10 AM and ask me if I want to join you in going to a ballgame in the afternoon.  I will probably say yes.  Call me at noon and ask me if I want to come over and drink margaritas with you and I'll probably say yes.  Call me anytime and ask me if I want to take a walk with you and exercise the dogs.  I'll say yes.

A lot of what people do that makes them "crazy busy" is self imposed.  Don't make all those plans and commitments.  If you want to stay in bed all day on a Saturday, do it.  Don't join all those clubs and make all those plans.

Learn to be "crazy lazy".  You just might like it.