The Luckiest Girl

Alone, but far from lonely.

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! My parents kicked off summer with an annual Tequila Lime Ribs BBQ and lots of fun. I somehow ended up in the pool fully clothed, and I swear I didn't deserve it! Unfortunately my phone was in pocket and so it go a bit waterlogged as well! After a couple days drying off it is working fine, thank goodnes! A good time was had by all and everyone is looking forward to the next one, probably the 4th of July. After the BBQ we had a drunken game of basketball followed by a serious game of Texas Hold'em. Believe it or not, I'm not much of a poker player!

On Monday Susie & Kaylee, Mike & Kim, and I headed up to the Lake for some fun. We didn't end up staying too long, everyone was pretty tired out from the weekend. But we still had a good time. I love summer, and if this weekend was any indication, it should be a great one!

posted by: squintzinca at May 31, 2005 22:08 | link | comments (1) |

Go Rivercats! I am officially a fan of the RiverCats. We went to a game last Saturday night, complements of Susie's work. The seats were awesome, we had a great time, and it turned out to be a really good game, too! We can't wait to go again!

The rest of the weekend was LAZY! I spent most of Sunday laying in bed watching chick flicks and dozing. It was kind of nice, no phone calls, no laundry, no...nothing. I paid for it though by being up most of the night on Sunday night and having a headache most of Monday. But today I am feeling fabulous! Work is still making me crazy, but at least I have been busy. So that's good. Last week we had some roof repairs which was a mess and on Wednesday I came to work to find these signs posted:

Kind of scary! But we have been assured by both OSHA and an outside consulting company that at no time was anyone at risk of dangerous levels of exposure. Well, let's hope they're right!

I hope everyone is having a good week!

posted by: squintzinca at May 17, 2005 17:14 | link | comments |

A little food for thought...just some ranting and raving for a Wednesday.

I was talking with someone the other day about immaturity in people, okay, in men, who are well past the age when it seems they should have ‘grown up’. I simply stated that immaturity was an epidemic, and surprised myself with my own bitterness when I followed up with:

“And it’s not just men, it is an entire generation that has been coddled since infancy and taught that they don’t have to take responsibility for anything.”

Call it an occupational hazard, maybe. Everyday I meet with people who have a list of excuses that could probably stretch around the equator as to why they are where they are. Bad parents, bad teachers, bad coaches, bad neighborhoods, the wrong friends, etc. And you know, it’s not just clients, it’s also co-workers, and even friends. People who have this sense of entitlement. This idea that somehow the world owes them something. That they shouldn’t have to work so hard, simply because they don’t want to.

 

I went to my nephew’s little league game a couple of years ago and when I asked what the score was I learned that nobody keeps score, that way ‘everybody wins’. It’s baseball. How can both teams win? That’s ridiculous, and an insult to our intelligent children to think that they are not keeping track of who scores more runs in their head. No, the no score policy was invented by some parent who didn’t want to admit that their child was perhaps not the next Babe Ruth. Losing is a part of life. And the way we learn to deal with that is by losing things that don’t matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Things like little league games. So we no longer allow winners and losers and suddenly you have a child who really believes that he never deserves to lose. Children who become grown men (and women) who throw tantrums because someone else got a promotion, or because they got in trouble for something that they ‘just know’ that ‘everyone else’ does. Grown ups who get so upset about a basketball game or a bad driver that they actually beat someone to death, and then say “It wasn’t my fault”, or “I didn’t mean to”. As if that’s enough.

About a year or so ago food stamps were discontinued. Now anyone needing public assistance gets an “atm” card that has money for food and bills placed on it automatically every month. This has stemmed from a growing push to change the ‘stigma’ of welfare. Those who are embarrassed to be on assistance can get depressed and discouraged. And we can’t have that. So we have made it so that it is almost impossible to tell who is and is not on assistance. And I will be the first to say that it’s nobody’s business if you are. But a little discomfort can go a long way. That little bit of embarrassment can be a big motivator to get a job. That twinge of shame is your internal voice saying you are better than this. But we’ve taken that away. Because we don’t want anyone to feel bad.

Teacher’s have difficulty teaching because parents are more concerned with buying their kids toys then with teaching them to respect themselves and others. Parents get angry at the teacher when kids fail, blaming lack of attention, or ADD, or favoritism. I’ve had conversations with parents who find it ridiculous that their child has homework on a Friday, or even homework at all. Parents who have sent a note to school with their child’s unfinished homework taking responsibility for it being unfinished. Kids aren’t performing well in school because parents refuse to set reasonable boundaries for them. Soccer, swimming, music lessons, play time, all the things that the parents want their kids to do, just doesn’t leave room for school to be a priority. And we wonder why the US has such poor scholastic results?

Now, to give credit where credit is due, there are amazing people all around me who have happily taken responsibility for their lives (and sometimes the lives of others) and are mature, grown up people. But I also think that these people are becoming the exception and not the rule.

Welfare shouldn’t be comfortable. It should be a brief stop over on your way back onto your feet. One of the teams should lose the baseball game, that’s life. And the important thing should be that they had fun, did their best, and are still cared for and valued. The kids should be taught that they in spite of losing, they are not ‘losers’. And those teacher’s who aren’t teaching? Well, how can they? They are too busy parenting students who have not been taught to respect others and/or themselves.

“It’s not fair” is fast becoming our nation’s credo. Life is not supposed to be fair. And the sooner we start preparing ourselves and our children for that the better. Maybe then we will see a change for the better, a difference marked by respect for self and others, a willingness to take responsibility for one’s actions, and a pleasure in making ones own way. 

 

And that’s all I have to say about that.

 

posted by: squintzinca at May 11, 2005 22:33 | link | comments (4) |

I have a secret. It's the best kind of secret. The kind that makes you giddy with excitment and yet must remain unknown to the world no matter how much you want to shout it from the roof tops. My secret fills me with anticipation, almost like waiting for the dawn on Christmas. It feels like a bubble of laughter trying to escape in the middle of church. You are trying to control yourself but it is taking on a life of it's own. The kind of laughter that multiplies until you are laughing so hard that it is painful and yet you can't even remember what started it in the first place. My secret is THAT GOOD! And it's all mine.

posted by: squintzinca at May 03, 2005 20:38 | link | comments (3) |

Back to California!

Hey Y'all! I'm back in California and glad. I had a great time hanging out and catching up with Kelley, but no place else feels like home. We had an AMAZING time at the Kenny Chesney concert. Kelley's friend got us 6th row center stage tickets, which were awesome! Uncle Kracker and Gretchen Wilson played with him. On Friday night we went to Montgomery Gentry at Casino Magic. This wasa working show for Kelley so we sat in the "front of house' box where the lights and sound are run from. After the show the crew invited us onto the bus to hang out for a while and have a few beers. It was really fun. I'm exhausted, to say the least and glad to have a day of rest before going back to work on Monday. I hope everyone has had an enjoyable week & weekend, talk to you soon!

    

Kenny Chesney                                                                                       Kenny Chesney & Uncle Kracker

                                             

Montgomery Gentry bus                                                                                                      Montgomery Gentry

(Ja sam sretan biti leđa i može biti ne oklijevati vidjeti te!) See you later!

 

posted by: squintzinca at May 01, 2005 00:03 | link | comments |

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