Government shut down? Really, Congress, really?

As I am sure the rest of the world along with nearly every American in the USA knows, our Government decided to shut down last night at Midnight. How lame. How pathetic. How inexcusable. No wonder the rest of the world laughs at Americans. No wonder they don't take us seriously. 

One of my friends from High School works for the government in some fashion and she is not only NOT getting paid right now but she is REQUIRED to go to work. Explain to me how the hell, in this country, that is even legal? Explain to me why the hell our politicians and president get their pay checks and benefits while my friend and others like her aren't. They aren't better than she is. They aren't better than any other American in this nation. More importantly they ARE NOT more ENTITLED than anyone else just because they are politicians. 

The worst part about this is Republicans and Democrats and even the President are all pointing fingers at each other, playing the blame game, refusing to take responsibility for their idiocy, their childish behavior, and complete and utter lack of respect for not only each other but most importantly the American people who hired them in the first place. And we hired them to do a fucking job, pass reasonable and intelligent laws and policies, and protect us from terrorism, not sit on their collective asses and scream at each other like bitchy, spoiled, snot-nosed teenagers. 

The fact of the matter is, they don't give a shit about the American people. They just want money, to be exempt from a health care plan that is was bad to begin with, and you know it's bad when they are offered and exemption from it, and they want to move this country out of the realm of democracy and into something very akin to Socialist and or Fascist State. Why? So that they have all the power and money to do whatever the fuck it is they want to do and no one can fuss about it. 

Frankly, I'm so sick and tired of this shit. I'm so sick and tired of politicians pushing to have more power, more invasions of privacy under the guise of 'we're just trying to protect you', more bitching about people having guns and always, always blaming on mental illness instead of recognizing that some people are just fucking EVIL, and most of all I am so sick and tired of them fueling the wildfires of a class war that they most likely planted the seeds of.  Things need to change and they need to change soon. Congress AND the President need to grow the fuck up, stop fighting, and come up with some damned compromises. There MUST be some give and take. 

Christians trying to stop a New Age Festival.

I came across an article posted by the Inland Empire Pagan Guild on Facebook about Christians Vs. Pagans. One of the reasons I departed from Christianity was the level of hypocrisy and this article, which I will post a link to in a few, is one of the reasons why. For a religion that claims to be kind, loving, and forgiving it sure is proving to be the opposite. I don't think of religion in terms of a 'thing' but rather it's people. Don't get me wrong, I know not all Christians are assholes just like I know not all Pagans are saints, but damn it, I haven't met a Pagan who uses their religion to abuse people like these Christians are doing. 

Battle of believers: Witches accused of bringing the devil to Wedderburn

Would it really be so bad to let these people have their festival? They aren't hurting anyone. They aren't trying to convert anyone. They just want to practice their beliefs and be left alone about it just like they leave the Christians alone to practice their beliefs. 

I just don't understand why it's so hard for people to leave others alone. Just because you believe something and your neighbor doesn't believe the same doesn't make them a bad person. You can share your beliefs with them but it is not your job to make sure that they change their minds or convert to your way of thinking. It also doesn't make them horrible or evil if they refuse either. And it certainly isn't your job to terrorize them or others who think and believe the way they do. If you do hurt, malign, or do any harm what so ever, then it is you who are the bad person, you who have become evil. Who would want to change to become like that?  

31 days until Halloween/ Samhain

It's 31 days until Halloween, my favorite holiday of the year. I love to decorate, to make costumes, do crafts, and to cook up treats and try to plan some sort of party or little get-together.

Last year we had Skoora's cousins come over. We carved pumpkins, played slender man via a computer hooked up to the TV, and we drove them out to the little patch of woods near our house to tell ghost stories. It was a lot of fun. I haven't a clue as to what we are doing this year but we will figure it out. Either way none of what we have done, dressed up as, or will do let alone make to eat is evil or demonic. Yes, I am a Neo-pagan Kitchen Witch, but that doesn't mean I am cooking up  'time-release' curses in the food I make. Frankly, I don't 'pray' over any food I make. I also don't howl at the moon or feast on blood. I don't participate or conduct orgies. And I don't know any Neo-Pagans who do any of aforementioned.

What the hell am I talking about? One of my friends on facebook came across an article written by an extremely narrow-minded and zealous Christian woman. Do not mistake me, I respect Christians, I used to be one and I have several Christian friends. My own Grandparents are members of Gideons. Grandpa used to be an Elder in the church. Christianity just wasn't for me. But this woman, this woman I can't respect. I won't respect. If she wants to stop celebrating Halloween that's fine, that's her right. The article itself is her right to free speech, but frankly, she's so entirely wrong on so many points and what bothers me the most is that she wrote it blindly. There's no way she even bothered to do any research. She just took her fanatical belief system and made up some bullshit and posted it.

Here is the article "Should Christians Celebrate Halloween?"       

*sigh* 

down with the sickness

 Everyone in the house, barring the cats, is sick. I think it's just a really bad cold. Skoora and I went to bed early so we could rest. She has a homework packet due in a few days and has been working 6 days straight with no one to cover her. Thankfully, she has today off to work on homework and rest.

We both awoke a little after 1 am, much to our joint annoyance. She was able to go back to sleep but I'm not that fortunate. I decided to look up some home remedies for colds and flu. I've found a couple that I am going to try and see if they work or at least help. If they do I will post them over on my craft blog. I might cross post it here too. And since I can't sleep, I might even get up, get dressed, and go to the store to get the stuff for soup and said remedies. I don't know whether getting canned soup or just making a huge pot of stew would be better. I might get the stuff for stew and potato soup.

On to other things. Yoda is getting a little perkier. He's been so needy the last two days as well. He yowls and meows for me. I had to go to the bathroom and he couldn't decided whether he wanted in or out so I pushed him out and shut the door, mostly so I could turn on the heater and warm up while doing my business. He sat outside the door and meowed at me. It was cute and pathetic. Right now he's curled up on the bed next to me sleeping.

A cold, American Horror Story, and Pissed off Kitty.

This morning Skoora and I finished watching the first season of American Horror Story. We both should have been doing other things but we're both sick thanks to her father. Not that it's really his fault, he didn't go out and get sick on purpose.

Anyway, it was an okay season. I didn't like Vivian. I felt bad for her but I didn't like her. I liked Adelaide and Violet and they were pretty much the only two redeemable characters in the entire show. The show was just sad, full of tragedy, and was pretty intense in some places.

Yoda-chan is really pissed at me again. At least this time it's not about me cutting the mats from his fur or washing the icky cat littler from his feet. Oh no, today he is pissed at me because we bought him some chew-able senior cat vitamins. He wouldn't eat them from my hand or off the floor and since he won't eat wet food, I decided to break out the medicine dropper. I ground his vitamin into powder, added a little water to make it liquid and then shot it down his throat. I gave him treats afterward, of course. But he's not happy with me. We are trying the vitamins to see if he will get to feeling better because he's eating and drinking and going to the bathroom just fine. If these don't work then it's off to the vet with him to see if they can figure out what's wrong.

Remember that blog post I wrote about having no hope? Well, I am still having little moments where I feel that down. Last night I wasn't feeling good and Skoora's Mom would not shut up. She kept talking through the show we were watching and didn't want to get up and get anything for herself. When she kept repeating 'I need a soda and the TV turner' over and over it grated on my nerves so bad that I just wanted to poke my head around the corner and scream at her to get of her lazy ass and get it herself. But I didn't. And when I was getting set up to play Guild Wars with my Dad, Skoora's dad tripped over my computer cord and ripped it out of the wall and both of them were talking and so I got my stuff and left the room. I just couldn't handle it. And I was upset about some other things that had happened earlier in the day, things like Skoora's mom zoning in on something Skoora bought for her friends and wanting to use it for her own devices. Really, this woman can only think of two things in life now that he grand kids are away from her and that is gambling/money and Christmas. It's disgusting. So disgusting I just want to have a black Christmas and make it as dark and depressing as she makes me feel all the time.

On to the point, I made the mistake of venting to my Dad last night, of telling him how bad it's gotten. I didn't want to tell him anything, he has so much that he's dealing with already that he doesn't need my problems on top of it. He did tell me that at any point that I can't stand it anymore, he'd get me and Skoora home, that there is always an out and he'd rather find the money to get us home rather than pay for my funeral. And of course he told my Mom so she called to talk to me this morning and now I feel like the worst child ever for saying anything at all. Skoora thinks I was right to tell them, that it's better that they know how I feel rather than hear about it later. I think it was a horrible mistake. Now both my parents are scared and upset and they were already worried to begin with.

But you know what the worst thing is? I thought I could talk to Skoora's Mom about these things so my parents would never have to know. I was so wrong. She doesn't give a shit. She and her husband just want me to clean and cook (which I've been doing to the best of my abilities since Skoora and I came to live with them two years ago) and they want me to go back to bio life and donate plasma and buy stuff for the house. I would do it if they would ask me, but I was told to.

I'm almost 30 years old. I can accept and let go of what I envisioned my life would be like when I was growing up. But this is not what I wanted. My Great Grandma Ireland used to say that it doesn't hurt you to want. I always tell people that sometimes you have to eat shit before you get to what you really want. Well, I've eaten enough shit, it's damned time I get to start eating cake.  

Suicidal deer and Rosario Vampire

Rosario Vampire

I've come to the conclusion that when it comes to deer and highways, all intelligence leaves deer. I have seen them walking along the highway several times, right up on the shoulder or in the ditch. If that isn't startling and scary enough, there was one in the road a few years back and I was lucky enough to have enough time to slow down and move around it. But last night, I didn't have enough time to really slow down and that stupid deer stood there like an idiot. Thankfully, either the little deer whistles on my jeep scared it or it finally had enough sense to know it was in trouble because it scampered off the road. However, when I looked in my rear view mirror, I saw that dumb thing walk right back out onto the road. What? One close call wasn't enough for it? Or maybe it was having a fight with it's buck and in a dramatic display was going to play chicken and nearly get itself killed. Who can say. It sure was dumb in  any case and we arrived home without being hurt. 

I hear tale that a friend of mine didn't like Rosario Vampire and I'm not sure why. It's crack anime! Silly, and I love it! Then again I rarely find anime that I don't like. Anyway, I started the series a couple of months ago but never really got around to finishing it. So I tried to watch an episode last night but fell asleep. Of course I couldn't let that slide, so this morning, while getting ready for the day, I watched some more and ended up watching three episodes. I'm on season 2 and just saw that there is a manga while looking for a picture for this post. Yay! I'll be putting that on my reading list especially since I really haven't read manga for awhile.

For the more adult portions of my day, I'm not sure what I am going to make for dinner. We don't really have much in the house so it's up to me to piece stuff together to make something tasty. I don't have to clean anything, thankfully, and so I have pretty much the whole day to work on novels. YAY! Well, that and read some of my library books.  

You know you're a geek when...

Skoora was telling her best friend about a new TV show on Fox called Sleepy Hollow. (The pilot wasn't bad and we're interested in seeing where they go with the show.) She has decided that just from said pilot episode that the show will be like Inuyasha so far as character relationships are going to go.
That there will be some twisted love triangle between a dead person, a person out of time and so forth. That's when I decided that you know you're a geek when you can compare main stream tv characters to anime characters.

Since we've been visiting friends for Skoora's birthday, we've been out and about a little bit. I've felt a bit bad because I can't go as far or as long as everyone else but I've kept up pretty well and I sit and rest when I need too. Consequently, I managed to hurt my back when I was scooting my chair closer to the table at dinner earlier....um well that was yesterday now I suppose since it's seven minutes to 4 am. I'm having a little bout of insomnia which baffles me because I was so tried all day.

Anyway, we've gone to Starbucks twice this weekend and are planning to go again tomorrow. Frankly, that's a real treat! We also managed to walk into Hasting's on the day they were having a 'half off all used books, DVDs, and music' sale. I was able to get three books. Skoora got a book and a movie that she wanted and we spent $15.

Speaking of shopping, I ended up with a new shirt from Wal-mart because I trusted Skoora when she said she would pack some clothes for me. She packed everything but shirts and since it is chilly and I don't have a coat, I found a long sleeved shirt. We normally wouldn't do that, we'd just wear a previously worn shirt, but we need to do a little clothes shopping anyway. We share clothes and we both wear our shared clothes until they are worn out. I recently went through our closet and sent things we weren't wearing, that were still in good condition, to a 2nd hand store and got rid of things that were on their last leg. It's kind of funny, we have so many old T-shirts that are worn out or too small but we wanted to keep that we've decided to make a T-shirt quilt. I'll be the one doing all the sewing of course, but I don't mind. I still have a shirt that my Dad got me when I was little that has a raccoon on it.

Skoora received Monster High dolls for her birthday. I will have to find places for them in the 'haunted house' she made for the dolls for Halloween. She was so excited to get Caty Noir. Of course talking about Monster High dolls you'd assume I was engaged to someone much younger, but I assure you, she turned 30 the day before yesterday. We both just really like Monster High, anime, My Little Ponies, and other kid like stuff and we aren't ashamed of it. We are proud of it and better yet, its something that makes us happy.

All of that aside, I need to try and sleep again. Hopefully, this time I'll be able to.