Tuesday's Thoughts

Well, it was a pretty productive day at least! I did get a lot done of what I wanted to, and still have a lot more to go. I ate lunch with Steve, Steve C. and Chuck at a place that's new to town called Ce-Ce's. It's a pizza buffet place. Their pizza is okay, but their cinnamon thingies are *delicious*. Best of all, it's all you can eat/drink for $4.99 plus a buck fifty if you want a drink. As Steve said "Oh good, now we can get even more overweight for only $5 a day!" (They do have soup and salad too by the way.)

Steve saw a particularly nasty accident today. I'm kind of hoping to hear more on the news about it in hopes the driver made it, but Steve said a guy came blasting through his stop sign at a t-intersection (which Steve was coming up to go through) and this guy never even touched his brakes before he blew off the road, hit a log, and flipped his car multiple times. I wonder if he had a medical issue, since he didn't even touch the brakes on his wild off-road ride. It doesn't sound like the survivability was very good, I'm afraid. Steve called 911 and a group of people and the sirens converged all very quickly. A very sobering sight to be sure, and I'm thankful Steve didn't show up at that intersection just a few seconds later-in the middle of it.

**Note: This paragraph may not be suitable for all audiences.
The topic is domestic abuse, so skip if you'd rather.**

I had to shut this one off. It was a re-run anyway, and though I haven't watched Oprah in a long, long time, I *had* seen this one, and once was more than enough. This was during her "change the world" phase I guess you'd call it, putting a spotlight on various difficulties that women and children face and trying to show people where to get help. Today's topic was domestic abuse, and they had several videos, taped phone conversations, etc. of a couple of women whose husbands had bullied/hit/threatened them. In one case, the man had gotten enraged when she asked if she could make him a sandwich, and had decided he wanted to tape his almost hour-long verbal and physical assault on her; he had his 13-year-old-son hold up a video camera in a room, had his 8-year-old son sit and watch, and...taped it. That provokes such a visceral reaction in me that due to some of the audience on this blog, I will keep it to myself. Watching that "big strong man" three times her size strut around on camera terrorizing her made me sick. He was so...pleased...with himself, felt so powerful and mighty in cowing, hurting and humiliating her. I looked again at her bruised face and helpless eyes and I just had to shut it off, even though I know in the end she got out and got help and is today doing okay and trying to help others. The statistics say that 1 out of 4 women will go through spousal/significant other physical abuse, and that the numbers are much higher in teenage girls today, but they don't know how high since much of it goes unreported. This leaves me with several thoughts. 1). Horror and dismay at what indelible imprint he has had on those two boys and the third child he also used to have participate. 2). Horror and dismay at what indelible imprint he has had on her spirit. 3). Gratitude for the men out there in the world who by their very example teach their sons how to be real men. 4). Gratitude that my daughter is being raised in a home where she is learning not to accept less in a future spouse than the respect and love with which her daddy treats her and her mother. The good news is that, unusually enough, the "man" in this story ended up in prison with no chance of parole until 2022. And I'm washing my hands of that topic, as it's already a gloomy day and it doesn't need any help being gloomier! In fact, I think I'll go daydream about a few fun and pleasant things for a minute. I know something that cracks me up. I am picturing Steve reading this blog entry and going "Oh great, thanks a LOT Oprah for getting her going on THIS topic! On behalf of all mankind, now I must apologize again!" *grins*

**End of Serious Paragraph, it's Safe to Read Again.**

My cellphone officially no longer has the caller ID blocker on it, so now people will know who is calling when I call. You know, there are good things and bad things about that. The good thing is that since I dislike talking on the phone, many times when I'd call someone, since I would come up "restricted", they wouldn't answer, not knowing who it was, and I could just leave a message. That worked for me. ;) Oh well. Oh, speaking of phones, got some more info on the phone Verizon has out that is like the iPhone. I'd love the ability to be on the internet/email through my phone, and have music with me so I can leave my iPod for car/airplane travel, and I think the touch screen stuff is neat; but unfortunately the phones are mega expensive right now. However, they will come down eventually as all technology does.

Guess that's more than enough for one day. Nathan's on his way home from New York, Steve's on his way home from work, Kaylee's done with her homework, and I've got lots to do to keep me busy too!

Here are some quotes for the day:

"Sooner or later you’ve heard all your best friends have to say. Then comes the tolerance of real love."
~Ned Rorem

"Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing."
~Albert Schweitzer

"Make no little plans! They have no magic to stir men's blood."
~Daniel Burnham, 19th-century Chicago architect

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents which, in prosperous circumstances, would have lain dormant."
~Horace

"Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them."
~Lady Bird Johnson

"There are two ways of meeting difficulties: You alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them."
~Phyllis Bottome

"We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects."
~Herman Melville

"A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean question: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well - or ill?"
~John Steinbeck

"Many of our fears are tissue paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them."
~Brendan Francis

"Not a single person has ever accomplished anything of significance without first feeling scared to death!"
~Rick Beneteau

"Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. It's the mastery of fear. It's about getting up one more time than we fall down."
~Arianna Huffington

"There is in this world no such force as the force of a man determined to rise."
~W. E. B. DuBois

"If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it."
~Pam Shaw