Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Living in the Bubble

What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal. -Albert Pine


Hi! I heard this last night on rerun episode of Criminal Minds, and decided that I want to be late getting out the door this morning and elaborate.

For the past year, I feel I have been living in a bubble of working and coming home. I like to sit in front of my computer, and I realized I haven't been doing much outside of that. I have a job interview tomorrow for a job that defies shift work (aka, 8-4:30, Mon-Fri). I have decided that if I get it, I'm going to find a volunteer position on the weekends. I used to do that stuff all the time, and then got out of it for some reason. Understand that I love what I do now, and I will miss it terribly, but I want the opportunity to be home on the weekend. I have 2 years left with my daughter before she leaves the nest. I want to set an example by showing her the importance of volunteerism, and just having fun on the weekends (mostly, if I'm not slipping off to Carol's on the Peninsula)!

On that note, speaking of changing lives, Congratulations to Jim and Cora, who get to have their lives changed, and who get to change a little life! I'm so happy for you! There are some great things that ARE made in China! ;)

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Made in China

So, thanks to my dear friend Carol, who gave me the thought, I have decided to limit my consumption of material that is made in China. However, I did pass up an awesome pair of boots from The Avenue because of it, but because my calves are really thick, I probably will have to buy them in order to have a pair of hot boots.
Understand that I haven't taken this lightly. It's something that I have been thinking about for quite a while. My reasons are:

1) Greed. From what I have heard from people who have real-estate there, many inhabitants are needing to work in factories instead of the villages that they used to sustain through means of agriculture, etc in order to make ends meet. And PLEASE spare me any argument that this greed doesn't pertain to us as American consumers-hence the person I know who has real-estate is American and has established condos for the factory workers which happen to take away farms that used to sustain the village.
2) Toxicity. The toxicity levels of paint is higher in China made stuff, Chinese soil is tainted and polluted due to all the factory pollution, which is also causing cancer in inhabitants.
3) Useless cheap stuff. Having taken a trip to San Francisco's Chinatown, I was floored to see all the useless, overbought stuff that some of the markets carried. It was all from China, and it was like walking into the dollar store. This wasn't stuff from China for purpose of traditional Chinese use such as religious or traditional cultural stuff. It was stuff that you'd see at, that's right, the Dollar store.
4) Overconsumption: We as Americans seem to overconsume, and a lot of that is by shopping in places that have cheap stuff. Did you know Nike has a Chinese factory? I have a tough time w/ that. Those Air Jordans are a little too much for being made there. And don't EVEN get me started about the "W" word, which is full of so much shit. Did you know that the life expectancy of W--mart stuff is 6 months? And what the f--k is W------ doing in China, anyway????? It is. GAHHHH!!

Writing this makes me frustrated.

Oh, and because just about 90% of it is made in China, my Twilight paraphernalia doesn't count. There's only so much sacrifice I can take right now.

JUST AN UPDATE: CONGRATULATIONS JIM AND CORA!!!!!!!

Friday, September 24, 2010

ANYONE??????

LOL!! I think I'm desperate. I want to go to a movie....with a guy....Jim, Cora, Carol---the only 3 people who even read this, send a guy my way. Must live in the Seattle area. I would prefer at least 5'10, but not too picky, and has a decent sense of humor. Not one who is 35-40 and still talks about his college days. I had a client who did that the other night. ICK!!

I FB'd a guy from high school who I really always liked, and told him to call me if he ever came to Seattle. He didn't respond. I was so sad. At least he didn't unfriend me. LOL!!
You probably think I'm drunk. Nope. This is just Gretchen. :D

TTYL!

PS. I'm reading "Women with Attention Deficit Disorder". I think the author was spying on me when she wrote it. It's so much like me! Who knew?

Monday, September 20, 2010

Passing the test

I'm looking at a job that doesn't involve shift work, and so I had to go take the skills test today, which I passed by the skin of my teeth!! I go interview on Wednesday the 29, so keep me in your thoughts, please.

Which brings me to my question...Oh! You didn't know I had one? HA! Anyway, a friend of mine who works there told me that a couple people we know applied, and one didn't pass the test, and the other wasn't even called in. These people have been unemployed for a year and even more for one of them. I know that you can sit and tell me that I had the skills to pass that test, but what makes me, a person who is already gainfully employed, who, if it wasn't for the fact that I have to have different shifts all the time would NEVER consider leaving where I work, have more gain to this position than my fellow counterparts?

That's all! Love hearing from you!
Need coloring books? Go to Jim's blog at Color Me Home here on blogger!

Cheers!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

September 11

I know that all of us will never forget where we were when the planes hit the towers. What blows me away is that 9 years later, I get startled by a picture of that stuff.
I'm tired tonight, and I can't go into detail, but I still get a lurch in my chest when I see pics of the towers burning.

I happened to be listening to a song that I love, which will be posted below, and the video has the WTC in it because it was a song from 1998. Made me a little teary.
Anyway. Working on some issues. I'm finding now that I've been working on my trust issues, underneath that is my pride issues. UGH!!!

Love to all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMWfVU1Dxvs

Friday, September 3, 2010

OH GOD THE ANGST!!!

You know what my gift used to be? Remembering things. Names, dates, appointments, phone numbers. All gone. This morning, if I had looked at my calendar BEFORE I walked out the door, we would have not missed my daughter's counseling appointment that the counselor EXCLUSIVELY only came in today for. I realized it at 11. The time we were supposed to be there. 24 miles away.
I know that normal people feel bad and apologize profusely and say "charge me since we missed" etc. What do I do? I cry, throw a fit, still tell her to charge me, then don't get over it for the rest of the day.
Why IS that??

Mindset...that's the book I'm reading right now. I forget who it's from, but I probably will answer my own question if I continue to read it since it's psychobabble.

Any suggestions on how to organize my life a little/remember things?