Misunderstood
It seems no matter how hard I try, my words are misconstrued. It’s frustrating. I’ve given up. Although biting my lip has never been something I do I’ll just try not to say much.
It’s okay.
Dear God,
If I don’t wake up tomorrow it’s okay. It’s okay.
It’s okay if I don’t wake up tomorrow.
Mediocre minds
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds… - Albert Einstein
Let’s All Agree: Factory Farming is the Real Evil, Not Vegans
So why give vegans and vegetarians grief about not eating meat? If anything, shouldn’t meat eaters be happy there’s more meat for them to eat? So are vegans doing omnivores a favor then? Hahaha. But all joking aside. Solidarity is the word here my friend. We should work together to make mother earth happy instead of turning on each other, don’t you think?
Someone at work showed me a link that showed shirts that said these:
“Save a Cow, Eat a Vegetarian”
or
“Save a Tree, Eat a Vegetarian”
or how about this
“Nobody likes a vegetarian”
It was all for fun. We all ended up looking at shirts with funny catch lines. But this is not my first rodeo, this is not the first time I’ve been given grief for being a vegetarian. I’ve been in many uncomfortable conversations before about not eating meat.
I gave up meat two years ago for many reasons but mainly because of animal cruelty and it’s affect on our eco system. I am not, by any means, bullying anyone into giving up meat. People should be allowed to make their own choices. I am not claiming vegetarianism as a solution to world hunger and a safeguard of the planet but I do what I can. Just because a fire is growing wildly does not mean I shouldn’t attempt to put it out.
Our food choices have major global impacts and giving up meat is a personal choice that benefits everyone. With that said I don’t judge if you eat meat. I used to eat meat so who am I to judge? And who knows? Years from now I might eat meat again.
I don’t assume that you don’t do anything that benefit others or that you don’t like animals. Absolutely not! My younger sister is a much, much, bigger animal lover than I can ever be and she eats meat. My professor in college, the most eco-minded person I know, also eats meat. So you see, I am not bullying anyone into giving up meat. However, there are those vegetarians who give vegetarians a bad name and you know exactly the kind of people I’m talking about–those who appear superior, smug, and self satisfied and think they are better than you because of what they eat. The recent converts are probably the worst. I know I was unpleasant to eat with 2 years ago. My sister told me to stop telling her my reasons after the second week I gave up meat. At one point, she couldn’t eat in front of me without feeling a hint of guilt even when I didn’t say a word. I guess just my presence made her uncomfortable. I don’t know why because I don’t mind people eating meat in front of me.
I don’t know many vegetarians so I haven’t had any opportunity to observe any “superior” behaviors. (Not too many vegetarians in Texas.) In fact, I’m in the opposite end of the spectrum here. I beg my sister not to tell people I’m vegetarian. I don’t want anybody going out of their way to feed me. I am capable of finding and making my own food. I don’t want people asking me questions which immediately follows after the word “vegetarian” is out in the open. I don’t like people feeling uncomfortable around me thinking I’ll pass out at the sight of meat. So you see, I avoid my being vegetarian being brought up. I am embarrassed when my sister tells waiters I’m vegetarian. Not exactly how someone who appears “superior” would act. I know vegetarians sometimes over do it with their arguments (something I don’t do anymore.)
People ask me aaaalllll the time why I don’t eat meat. I answer. I don’t preach (or at least I don’t mean to.) But one thing for sure, I have gotten a lot better. I wouldn’t want to talk to me 2 years ago. I think I may have sounded offensively preachy. Nowadays, my conversations are never too serious nor preachy and mainly consists of simple answers. I’ve noticed that the more calm and reserved I am about my answers, the more comfortable and smooth the conversation is. Then it gradually transforms into a light conversation ending in recipe swaps. I love it when they just ask me what I eat instead of meat rather my reasons behind it, which is how I like these conversations to end.
The answer to “Why don’t you eat meat?”, no matter how simple, will make you think–even if just for a little while, it will almost always offend those who eat meat. So am I being rude for answering? Is it best not to say anything at all? It’s rude not to answer, but more rude if I do. When did it become more polite to be rude? Sometimes I consider not answering the question at all to avoid the risk of raising something that could possibly be uncomfortable for anyone to talk about.
I just wanted to share this article below. It said what I couldn’t say when a friend at work jokingly showed me a shirt that said “nobody likes a vegetarian.” If I had this article, my comeback would have been a lot better than “You should thank me because I don’t eat meat, that means more meat for you!”
My head hurts.
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
So I’ve decided to give Graduate School another try. I’m going to apply for the second time, to a different school, and a different program. I applied for the Master’s of Public Administration program here in Texas. I did not get accepted because of my GRE scores. I took the exam without studying. Needless to say, I did not score high. I did not know my sister took months to study for this exam and I, on the other hand, just showed up at the testing site.
It might be a blessing in disguise that I didn’t get in the program.
I’m going to apply for the Master’s of Education (I’m not going to say what school until after I get in). But before I can even apply I need to decide if I want to go through this again. Write all these essays, request letters of recommendations just to find out I didn’t get in. I was a little discouraged from the first time. I’m a little apprehensive about doing it again
I also I need to decide if I want to teach K-5 (elementary) or 6-12 (secondary) before I apply.
I also need to decide if I want to teach in Texas or in Hawai’i because different states require different certifications and such.
Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh…
Decisions, decisions, decisions.
I know I’ve already said this many times before but could someone please make the decision for me. Please.
Congratulations Efren Penaflorida
If you’ve been following CNN’s Heroes of the Year then you know who this year’s Hero is.
Congratulations Efren Penafloria and also to the 9 other nominees. I wish they continue to do what they do.
They are all winners.
“Serve and serve well!”
Mabuhay!
Out Of My Hands
Change. That’s what’s out of my hands.
Change is hard. We’ve been conditioned to think that change is good but what if it’s really not.
What happens when you can’t control anything that is happening in your life anymore?
Do you cry hysterically?
Find things to keep you busy so you won’t notice how everything suddenly has a life of its own?
What happens when everything is rapidly changing and all that’s left is … regrets? Wishing you had more time. Could have paused time.
I used to have control over things. At least I think I used to. It’s mortifyingly sad that I no longer feel that.
I think it’s alright to cry.
T-Mobile Sidekick Update
T-Mobile just posted a crucial update regarding the data disruption and I knew it. I fuckin knew it! I knew they wouldn’t be able to restore information. I fuckin knew it!
Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low.
I think they’ve know this for a while and just didn’t know how to give the information to us. Typical! Of course they need a back up plan before telling us what they already knew. Offer an alternative before giving the bad news. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’d figure this out days ago but had to brainstorm and see how they can do damage control first.
Conversations with 4 year-olds
My niece, Rachel, is 4. She’s in pre-school and imitates her teacher a lot.
Here’s a conversation I had with Rachel last night.
Rachel: (Pretending to be her teacher, she raises her voice) Come here! I need to talk to you. Things have comekwenses.
Me: Comee-what?
Rachel: Comekwenses!
Me: You mean consequences?
Rachel: Yes. Consequences!
(pause) What does consequences mean?
Me: Consequences are results of your actions. For example, if you’re in trouble at school for not listening or if you’re being bad at home you get punished as a consequence.
Rachel: … What’s punished mean?
Me: Punished means certain privileges may be taken away from you.
Rachel: What’s privileges mean?
Me: Oh gosh, this will take a while. Nevermind.
I Miss My Contacts :(
If you have a Sidekick from T-Mobile, you and I, along with many others are probably singing the same tune. About 7 days ago, Sidekick’s data services was disrupted. No internet access. I didn’t think it was a big deal since it happened a few times before. But those times only lasted an hour or so and thinking that it could probably be just one of those times, I didn’t panic. I was back in Hawai’i for a 3 week vacation. I wasn’t going to allow it to ruin my day. Let alone my whole trip.
I have high tolerance for people messing up and even for people who are being unpleasant. We all mess up on the job and I believe in giving people second chances. I didn’t call until the 3rd day. My sister would have called the very same day and would have given hell to anybody who answered the phone. This data service disruption couldn’t have happened at a worst time. I was out of state and needed to get in touch with friends and family. I also needed to get in touch with my employer to let them know I had decided to stay 2 days longer than initially planned. I was also reaching the end of my stay in Hawai’i and needed to call my sister in Texas to arrange my ride from the airport. I was flying alone which made it more frustrating. No other phones to rescue me. Like many people in their late 20’s living in the 21st century, I relied heavily on my phone for text messages, notes, calendar, internet access, and email. I needed my email for any updates on my e-tickets from Orbitz. For years, my phone has been my personal planner/assistant that even 2 short days without it aggravated me. So I called on the 3rd day trying not to yell at the costumer service representative since, after all, it’s not their fault. However, I did feel as if they knew more than they were telling their customers. I waited it out. Patiently. I didn’t call until today. It’s been 7 days.
I miss my contacts 
Here are the main problems the data disruption has caused:
- All contacts deleted
- All pictures deleted
- Notes, Calendar, Bookmarks deleted
- No internet access
- Items bought such as ringtones, wallpaper, themes, etc., deleted
- Unable to save outgoing text messages
- Emails from gmail, yahoo, etc., all deleted
In short… it’s the ULTIMATE disruption of data services. Everything was wiped clean. If you use a data phone then you know how frustrating this can be. I had over 250 contacts–all gone. I tried to import it from my sim card and even that didn’t work. Today is day 7 and it’s still not resolved. Everything is gone. I mean everything. Name it, it’s gone. I’ve lost faith that they will ever fix the problem and if by some miracle they do fix the network, I doubt that they can restore everyone’s data. Not just doubt. At this point, I’m positive Danger/Microsoft will not be able to restore my information back on my phone. So I have to start from scratch.
After calling the customer service 3 times this week, I considered upgrading to a new phone. I also considered leaving T-Mobile altogether because of this but I’ve had T-Mobile for many years and this is the first time I’ve ever really had a problem with them. I’ve also learned that the Sidekick is with Danger/Microsoft, which, apparently, is a different “server” or “network” from the other phones T-Mobile has. I guess this had something to do with Microsoft’s layoffs. Maybe Danger/Microsoft pissed off a lot of people and those people screwed them back. T-Mobile is losing a lot of money at this time. They’ve offered to automatically credit back the $19.99 data plan to everyone affected by the service disruption, which is not nearly worth all the trouble it has caused. I can imagine that they’ve probably lost a good amount of T-Mobile customers. Not to mention the number of calls they must have received, the number of people they had to have to man the phones for irate Sidekick owners. Money lost everywhere. It’s sad.
G1 is starting to sound better and better. The main server is Google and my contacts would be saved on Google, unless Google crashes then I’m back to square one. Google is reliable, right?
