Friday, January 28, 2011

Seriously????

I try to make a reservation for Travelodge in Terra Haute. The site is down and it's the cheapest. I wait and wait and wait. Finally it comes back up, I click through, put all my info in, submit and it can't process it because the site is undergoing maintenance. You could have told me that prior to filling out my shit.

I wait. Hours later I fill it out all over again and am now greeted by a page simply telling me it has no fucking idea what I want.

I call the hotel's direct number and am told I have to call the main office to put in reservations. I do. The idiot I reach takes all my information and PUTS ME ON HOLD TO CALL THE HOTEL AND MAKE A RESERVATION because they are "upgrading their system".

In the middle of the day? No you aren't. You updated last night, completely fucked it up and are now trying to fix it. Whatever...call them.

After 4.5mins of Pachelbel's Canon in D minor he gets on the phone "I'm sorry Miss....Watson but the hotel is experiencing system issues, as are we here at the main office, so they could not take your reservation."

What? How the fuck could they "not take [my] reservation"? Do they not have a pen and a piece of fucking paper? Can they not write my fucking name on a god damn post-it note and stick it to the door of a non-smoking room with two beds? You know hotels predate computers, right? I'm fairly certain THIS hotel predates computers or at least the days when computers made their entrance into every business. You make me sick.

Pictured here: Indecipherable ancient communication

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

You know it's serious when I don't use a single swear word.

I question things a lot. Mostly myself...my motivations...my feelings. I'm fascinated by why people do what they do and I want all the data possible. It's how I managed to be so in tune with people's feelings. One reason at least. But since I don't really have people to "research" on a continual basis, I do it to myself. In many cases this has been an amazing blessing; carrying me through the most emotionally trying times of my life. It's allowed me to understand and deal with my feelings by only giving them the weight they deserve.

But other times, it's the proverbial curse to my blessing. The roughest time of my life to date ended around August 09 when I had gathered all the pieces and my broken heart finally began to mend. And not only did it begin to mend, it was like a light switched on and all of a sudden the path I couldn't find, the path to freedom and happiness, was there in front of me. I don't remember what day that was but I remember the day I knew that feeling was there to stay. And stay it has.

Over a year later I begin to question that so-called freedom and I wonder if maybe my heart never really mended but rather that I may have taken all the pieces, put them in a heart-shaped box and pretended that was the real thing, hiding the truth even from myself. My wondering started when I began thinking about dating again but the idea just isn't interesting. The only reason I've been thinking about it is because I have less than a year until I turn 30 and it's been, for all intents and purposes, over 7 years since I've been in a real, full-on relationship. I don't want to continue not caring and wake up one day and it's all too late.

But no matter how much I fear that, I still can't get myself to care about finding someone. That's when I started to doubt this sunshiny, flowery path and began to think that maybe I've concocted false happiness and contentment out of fear of being hurt again. Am I just keeping people at a distance? Consciously I am lonely and want nothing more than to have someone, but I'm uninterested in looking. I think about it and I think about what selection of men there will be, I immediately find these imaginary representations of men all inadequate. That's when I realize that I feel like I'll never find someone that perfect for me ever again and that causes me to ponder the possibility that I never found happiness; I only fabricated it.

This is a puzzle only I can solve and I think only time will give me the answers I need. In the mean time I've decided, because I find all the men in my mind to be inadequate, I should improve my body so it matches my self-image and maybe it will pull in someone I deem worthy...because I don't see my self-image lowering any time soon.

Why blog this? I don't know. I guess I just needed to tell someone.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

"Listen close, I will not repeat myself"

This is an exchange over a friend's link posting. I've included his original post.

For those of you who have heard my webcam story, Robert was the guy who threw the "party"
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Robert
That's right, do everything you can to get God out of your lives and off of your dirty money. But then when catastrophe strikes and your world caves in around you, ironically, who do you go whining to? Who is it that you beg for mercy?

God doesn't forget these things although he still loves you despite your arrogant ignorance.

In God ...I trust with my life,
Robert Welch
www.azcentral.com
High court again asked to rule on 'In God We Trust', WASHINGTON - California attorney and dedicated atheist Michael Newdow is making another run at ''In God We Trust,'' with a new Supreme Court petition challenging the national motto.
    • Emily Watson
      The separation of church & state is a major part of this country's identity & is its key to true individual freedom but Christianity still has a heavy, and in the eyes of many an unwelcome, hand in government. I do not trust in any god, let alone a Christian god and while I'm not bothered by the phrase appearing on money, it is a move that I feel needs to be made if we ever hope to honor the Constitution & fully sever church from state.

      Freedom of religion includes freedom from it.

      You don't need "In God we trust" on your money to maintain your faith and it's unfair to Americans who don't subscribe to monotheism to have the government salute it. At the same time, there's no loss of faith by removing it. It doesn't mean people believe any less it just means we believe in the Constitution & equality more than we used to which is good.

      2 hours ago

    • Dean
      There is a big differance between freedom OF religion and freedom FROM religion. The constitution grants us freedom of religion and a seperation of church and state. For those of you that are to stupid to know the true meening of those list...en close, I will not repeat myself.

      Freedom of religion. As American citizens we are free to warship the God of our choice, or none at all.

      Seperation of church and state. Congreess may pass no laws restricting ones freedom of religion.

      In God we trust on our money, 10 commandments in courthouses, nativity scenes and other such in NO WAY violate either.

      You have a right to offend me with your views, you also have a right to be offended by mine.

      48 minutes ago ·
    • Emily Watson
      I disagree but this is an interpretation issue. I see the endorsement of monotheism on our money and in our courthouses as a violation of the separation of church and state. While the First Amendment states simply "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof" the meaning of "establishment of religion" can be applied to the money/court issue by suggesting that the "In God We Trust" motto (and therefore our government who put it there) endorses monotheistic religions.

      I also feel that "freedom of religion" and "freedom from religion" are almost the same when it comes to this topic. I believe you might have misinterpreted my definition of "freedom from religion" though. What I mean is not that I should be shielded from any type of religion (an unrealistic idea and unfair to believers to expect them to worship in hiding), but rather that my government and everything that comes down to me from it should be free of religious imagery, endorsement or obligation.

      I'm sorry if you're offended by my views but I cannot afford you the same courtesy. I understand that there is no right or wrong answer here and therefore I am not offended by views that differ from my own. Since this is a matter that has no definitive right or wrong answer, the proper way to handle it is to appeal to the court system to make that decision by weighing its validity based on interpretation of the Constitution, as interpretation of the law is the Judicial branch's entire purpose. Whichever side loses the final battle needs to understand that the system worked as intended, whether they like it or not.

      I'm also sorry that you felt it necessary to not only resort to personal insults in your response but that you felt so strongly about needing to insult that you stuck it in the first paragraph. There's a certain irony to you calling me stupid (you can pretend you didn't mean me but you were retorting to no other) in a response laden with spelling errors on words we learned in 4th grade. Perhaps in future you will give your argument validity by not resorting to insults and instead present your case with respect, as I did mine.

      7 minutes ago