Mid-life...psychosis.

One of my co-workers told me today that her husband of over 18 years packed up and walked out on her this past Friday. As I listened to her describe the turn of events over the past few days I found myself rolling my eyes at the realization that he must be at "that age" and suffering from a mid-life crisis. My heart breaks for her as she is powerlessly watching her life partner recklessly navigate through this ordeal, making irrational decisions and breaking hearts. Although their kids are over 18, that hardly means they won't be impacted by this. Speaking from experience, a girl watching her father pack up and move out leaves a lasting impression, regardless of the circumstances. Period.

I understand that getting older is difficult for many and is often full of uncertainty, but I think that the irony is that it is often the rash decisions that are made during "that time" that create the "crisis".

Think about it. The anxiety about being too young to be old and being too old to be young is simply an emotion - it's the decisions made by those who suffer from that age-related anxiety that is usually the culprit of crisis.

For example, (behold the classic stereotype) a 50 something married man buys hot rod. He does this to cling to his youth as he is now suddenly aware of his limited time on Earth. He faces the reality that his life is half over and he decides he is going to make changes to make himself happy in his remaining years. Result? He makes an outrageously expensive impulse buy for completely selfish reasons that sends him (and his spouse) into serious debt.

Perhaps it isn't fair to pick on middle-aged sports car enthusiasts, but the point is that this is clearly a powerful emotion that often results in serious (and sometimes irreversible) consequences. The thought that haunts me is that someday my husband of 20 years is going to come home with a bank-breaking purchase or worse yet, NOT come home because he's decided that he would rather be single and live his life to the fullest.

I can't imagine that going through a life transition of this magnitude would be easy for anyone, but I can't seem to bend my mind around how quickly people will through the baby out with the bath water. No stopping to think, no consideration for counseling, and no discussion with their spouse. They simply uproot their entire life (with little or no regard to the impact it will have on others) all in the name of "I'm just not happy with my life and it's half over now".



The quote above is definitely one of my favorites - I think we all forget how lucky we really are to wake up in the morning and have one more day. It's easy to forget that each breath is not guaranteed and that someone somewhere has it harder than we do. I think we should all strive to keep our lives in constant check to ensure that we are living the life we want - a life we are proud of. That way, when people reach this point in their life, they can embrace it as an opportunity for growth as opposed to an opportunity for change. This would better enable them to avert the fears of imminent death and unaccomplished goals and as a result, lessen the occurrence of panic and irrational decisions.

Is this an over-simplified and idealistic lifestyle? Of course - but I think it's worth aiming for.

K8

Cat got your conscience?

Philadelphia man faces charges after police discover video of kittens being tossed

I came across this appalling article today and as if the article wasn't bad enough, the video footage of this disturbed future offender is downright disgusting.

Anyone who knows me probably knows how much I despise people who neglect or abuse animals, but sometimes it surprises me how upset I really get. What people don't seem to get, is that catching and punishing animal abusers, is usually the first opportunity to identify a potential threat to society!

"Many known serial killers began their careers by hurting pet animals," warn the authors of a 2004 article in one veterinary journal. "It is well known in the criminology field that people who perpetrate acts of cruelty on animals, frequently escalate to torturing humans, usually the young and helpless."

I couldn't agree more - anyone who would maliciously or neglectfully harm a defenseless animal, is certainly capable (if not predisposed) to harming a defenseless human.

That being said, I find it utterly unbelievable that when these future bat-shit crazy abusers rarely see the inside of the courtroom, they are usually met with a meager fine and community service. In the most severe cases, jail time has been imposed...but it rarely exceeds 2 years. It makes no sense to me at all!

When this psycho kitty killer finishes with his slap on the wrist, I'm sure he will move on to bigger "prey" and then everyone will be like "we didn't see this coming - how tragic!"

What's tragic is our legal system and the inability of "Lady Justice" to shove that sword of hers up the asses of these future rapists, pedophiles, and serial killers...just to be on the safe side.

All I can say is I'd bet my bottom dollar that the stupid kid in the video will eventually end up in prison someday. And when that day comes - I hope he gets the shit kicked out of him so he knows what it feels like to be a defenseless victim with nowhere to run.

Happy incarceration - asshole.

K8

Just a little perspective...

So, think twice before bitching...if you can.

K8

Ketchup on hot dog = G+3x(bang #57)+45°angle

Okay so I lied. I know I promised to pick another controversial issue as my next topic, but I simply couldn't resist...

Do you know what MIT's latest accomplishment was?

"A team of engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has invented a bottle coating ("LiquiGlide") that makes ketchup pour as easily as milk. They say it could save 1 million tons of perfectly good but inaccessible ketchup and other food from being thrown out each year — not to mention saving untold hours spent in frustration."

For those of you that may be exclaiming "that's awesome!" or "wow- it's about time someone solved that!" -I feel compelled to remind you that MIT houses the most prestigious collection of intelligent individuals in the fields of advanced science and technology. And what are they spending their time with? The paradox of ketchup de-bottling.

Do they deserve applause? Absolutely! I just found it hilarious that of all the global problems to choose from, the best and the brightest would concern themselves with how to eliminate the frustration of being unable to remove a condiment from its container.

Nevertheless, I think we can all be thankful to the team of engineers who took on this troublesome task to make our lives easier. I'm sure that those of us who routinely accompany ketchup with our hot dogs, fries, and cheeseburgers are extremely eager to see this new bottle design hit the grocery store shelves.

Next time you find yourself fussing with a ketchup bottle, rest easy knowing that the days of incessantly banging the #57 on your ketchup bottle...as you shake gently...at a 45° angle...will soon be a thing of the past.

Happy Heinz-ing!

K8

Who's party line is it anyway?

I was recently part of a politically-charged discussion where a multitude of topics were covered, but I thought it might be fun to share what they learned about me...

I am registered as a Republican for 2 reasons:
1. I want to be able to vote in the primaries - the State of Maryland doesn't currently offer open primaries, but if that were to ever change, I would promptly become "Unaffiliated".
2. From my perspective, most political issues boil down to a matter of money. I firmly believe that our government shouldn't be spending money they don't have, so therefore I tend to fall on the conservative side of most fiscal matters - this was the only driving force behind my decision to register as a Republican over a Democrat.

However this does not mean:
1. The Republican Party can "count on my vote" - they do not have my allegiance or support. I vote on the person, not the party.
2. I support a two-party system. I am a huge advocate for open primaries and open elections. You should be able to vote for whoever you think is the best candidate for the position, regardless of political affiliation, lobbyist backing, etc.
3. You can make assumptions on my political views. To me, sticking to party lines is like stating your answer before you've heard the question - it's foolish and insulting to human intelligence. We have the ability to question and reason, yet people seem to forfeit those abilities in order to "belong" to a group mindset. They say "I'm a Republican" or "I'm a Democrat" as if to say "therefore you automatically know where I stand on the key issues".

In addition to my disdain for party politics, they also learned that:
1. I strongly support the implementation of term limits for all elected positions. Elected officials were never intended to be long-term. It was a considered a duty to serve- they would do the best they could on behalf of their constituents and then allow someone else the opportunity to serve while they went back to their life.
2. I even go a step further and urge that attendance also be a documented statistic that voters can use in deciding who to vote for. Here's a fun homework assignment: Turn on CNN and count the occupied seats and compare it to the number of unoccupied seats (I'll give you a hint - the number of the former is almost always smaller than the latter). Serving in Congress must be the only "occupation" where you can not show up for work and not worry about being fired.
3. With the implementation of term limits, the pension program would also become obsolete - no more career politicians. You get elected, you serve, you go home. That's it. Speaking of money, the salaries should be voted on by the public. It's our tax money that pays their salary - I think it's more than fair to allow us the ability to decide how much we're willing to spend on their "service".

And the number one point that I drove home? The government works for us, NOT the other way around. We allow them the honor to serve as our representatives - it is an honor that should be EARNED, not given freely. As voters we can revoke that honor just as easily as it was given and we shouldn't be afraid to do so at a moment's notice. The moment they get comfortable is the moment they stop listening.

My rant on governance will have to come to an end for now - although I'm inclined to believe that I'm a bottom-less pit of opinions on the subject. Never-the-less, I will be sure to pick a different hot-button issue for my next post.

Stay tuned...

K8

Mind your own marriage!

Well, this wouldn't be much of a "deb8" blog if I didn't touch on some touchy subjects. I can't seem to get through a day without hearing someone give their two cents about the gay marriage controversy...so I might as well toss in my $1.50...

Everyone is entitled to their opinion on the matter and some people express those opinions better than others, however it was the last sentence of this quote that really caught my attention: "Just give everybody the chance to have the life they want."

I am a firm believer in equality and liberty - I also happen to believe that you can't help who you fall in love with. Love is love and if two consenting adults want to spend the rest of their lives together, then who are we to tell them they can't (or shouldn't)? Two consenting adults are two consenting adults - period. If there's no harm, there's no foul. It's not acceptable to pass judgement on someone else's marriage - each marriage is unique to the persons involved. The opinions of a third party should never be weighted or debated...in other words, mind your own marriage!

If gay marriage is legalized, will it impact you? What do you think banning gay marriage will accomplish? Are you basing your stance on personal views or are you basing it on right and wrong? These are important questions to ask yourself, because that's how you tell if you are fighting for a cause or fighting for your cause.

A lot of people maintain that this will be a slippery-slope for society. Honestly, the only "slippery-slope" I am afraid of is our government's restriction of rights. If they've done it before (interracial marriage) and they can do it now (gay marriage), they can certainly do it later for something else. That's what scares me. What's to stop them from going a bit further? Instead of just requiring you to file a marriage certificate with them to validate your marriage, suppose they require you to file an application for marriage that needed to be approved by the State first? Would that seem right to you? Would you feel that the government is justified in judging your right to marry? I doubt it.

Putting my "big-government-wielding-unchecked-power" fears aside, it simply doesn't make any sense to me that being in a homosexual relationship is legal, but committing to one for life isn't. Logically, it would have to be one way or the other and I think people are starting to see that. Personally, I try to not concern myself with other people's life choices (my own are enough to deal with), but it is important to me that those other people have the freedom to make their choices, just as freely as I do.

So, what is my Jerry Springer-like final thought of the day? Equal rights for all. No exceptions. Just give everyone the chance to have the life they want.

K8

Mental Mothers

In honor of Mother's Day this Sunday, I decided I would highlight a few of the "Mommy-related" headlines that caught my attention...in a negative way:

Clowning Around: For a nominal fee, parents can hire a creepy clown to scare the daylights out of their child during his/her birthday week. After a week of threatening letters, texts, and phone calls, the week-long harassment ultimately results in the clown catching the child off guard in order to smash cake in their face. Happy Birthday!! No harm done, right? Coulrophobia (fear of clowns) is one of the most common phobias in the world. In fact, there was a recent study where it was discovered that most children universally dislike clowns...and those are the "nice" ones! What parent would think paying a menacing clown to taunt their child for a week would ever result in a happy birthday for their child? Can you say therapy?

  



Misfortune Teller: People go to fortune tellers for a variety of reasons, but most people do it purely for entertainment purposes. It was not revealed why Linda Clappison went to see a fortune teller, but we do know that after she returned home, her parenting technique drastically changed. Apparently she promptly locked her children in their rooms, removed their light bulbs, toys, and mattresses before volunteering them into indentured servitude for the local Roma population (Gypsies). This lasted for 6 years before one of her children broke down at school and begged them to not make her go home. The mother's response to the charges? "They're liars." Wow - what a compelling argument! The weird part is that her kids insisted that she was a great mother prior to her mysterious visit with the fortune teller. Things that make you go hmmm...



Diaper Drama: We've all heard stories of the controversial methods that parents have used for punishing poor performance in school, but I think this one tops them all. A mother was recently arrested for shaving her 12 year-old daughter's head, dressing her in a diaper, and making her pick up garbage in the front yard. Why? Poor grades and tardy homework completion. Several neighbors heard the girl crying hysterically and begging to go back inside. Police officers arrested the mother and CPS promptly removed the girl and her siblings from the home. It is a sick, sick mind that can come up with crazy punishments like this. Overreact much?

I don't know about you, but after reading these stories, I am going to give my mother a huge hug and thank her for my childhood that lacked humiliation and torment. It is fairly obvious that good mothers are a minority, so be sure to show your appreciation this weekend if you can! If not, at least say a prayer for the poor souls who are so unfortunate as to be born into nightmares like these...

K8