Mellowing In Progress.

I'm quite sure that I'm moving towards a far happier existence.  Today is the day that all of the boxes have been EMPTIED!!!!  Art once again decorates the walls.  I can see the top of my desk!!!  Went and spent some money on some little things for the house.  New lamps, some comfy throws, and pillows.  I'm hoping to have everything done (house-wise) and have my initial insurance claim paperwork filled out before I leave tomorrow.

Unfortunately, the road trip I'm taking tomorrow isn't for pleasure.  It's to deal with a tenant, find a decent property management company, and deal with contractors (in order to fix any issues the tenants may have left).  I'm quite sure that I'm going to have to replace carpet in three bedrooms, get a commercial cleaning crew in there, and paint some (if not all) of the rooms.  Luckily, the property management companies that I'm looking at all have realtors - so if a tenant wants to buy the house after living in it, we will apply some of the rent toward the down payment.  I'm just not really wanting to do this - but it's better to get it over with and move along.

There are still some unresolved issues that have been circling around in this putrid little brain of mine.  I can't leave it hanging forever - even though part of me is still uneasy with certain aspects of behavior exhibited.  Some of it I believe is par for the course and that I should accept it for what it is - the other more cynical part believes that I could get burned.  Maybe 10 hours on the road will help me come to a decision.  For a good portion of this year, I didn't even feel like I was dealing with the same person.

As for me??  I'm getting back to myself.  Then again, as I told everyone who would pay attention and listen... moving makes me fucking crazy.  I was sure to warn people when I was in a bad mood and the only time I think that writing context can be misconstrued is when the person writing the note, message, email, PM, or IM deliberately makes it so.  This, I've learned first hand. 

Now, it's neither here nor there.  I'm not stressing out about anything this afternoon - I have a ton of errands to run and then I'm going to figure out dinner.  Rotisserie chicken and salad will probably be on the menu.  As long as I get all the chicken skin, I'm good. 

Cha-Cha-Changes.

David Bowie was spot-on.

Changes happen.  Oh, fuck, do they happen.  And we all roll with the punches of life, don't we??  Dealing with a mortgage, rent, utilities, work, and extra-curricular activities are absolutes.  If you don't pay your utilities, they will be shut off.  Everyone deals with the same issues and makes a change if necessary.  Don't have enough gas money each month??  Might have to switch priorities - the additional cell phone has to go OR the dining out once a week has to be canceled.  That's something every adult member of society (for the most part) can understand.  But the big question I have is:  why can't we admit to (or even consider) changing our minds???

Thoughts, ideas, theology, politics, hypotheses - these things are not solid.  They are fluid and malleable.  They can all be changed.  It can be a large thing that happens; an agnostic has a near-death experience and decides to find a religion that works... or it can be a small thing; you're given a hand-up and you decide to pay it forward.  Either way, your perspective has changed and you've decided to do something a little differently -regardless as to whether your conscious mind knows it or not.

Then why, oh why do people try and push their religious agenda on their fellow human beings by using the secular legal system?? Why can't we have an open dialogue, listen to the other side, and maybe - just maybe - change our way of thinking??  Or at the minimum, accept that another person CAN have a viewpoint that differs from your own??  Because it's fucking scary, that's why.  We've become a nation that believes "changing our mind" means "flip-flopping" (thanks to political pundits and our sorry educational system, a stunningly large portion of people believe everything that happens on the bullshit box - AKA "television") and that the concept of "flip flopping" is baaaaaaaaaad.  Really??

Confession:  I *am* a "flip-flopper".  Oh, the shame.  The humanity!!

Yes, I am an opinionated person.  Yet, if I'm having an educated (civil) discussion about a topic and find out that I didn't know as much as I thought I did... if I was dead-on wrong about the subject??  I'd end up going home, mull things over, find various articles, read about the subject (preferably from both viewpoints), and will more than likely discuss the topic with other friends.  You know, gain a new perspective and all that shit??  Yep.  And guess what?  It's about a 50-50 chance that I might change my bloody mind.  That's right, Internet.  I said it.

Luckily, I have friends who are very diverse and who are also very accepting of my choices... I am, after all, an out-of-the-closet atheist.  Oh, and a liberal.  And a Massachusetts Yankee (living in the Bible Belt).  And a hedonist (by nature).  And I'm also child-free-by-choice.  I don't hide what I am.

So... do you feel like getting together?? Maybe having a couple of cocktails and talking about something interesting??  I'm in - if you are.

Rational dialogue for the win.

I Want This. WTF??? Big Lebowski Fail.

And it's unavailable right now.  I can hardly type because the tears are just rolling down my face.  Bastages!!  So, here is my letter:

Mrs Juggsy B
A Street
NOLA, LA

January 10, 2015

414 Baxter Avenue
Louisville, KY

Dear Sirs*,

For months I have been wanting to yell at you to TAKE MY FUCKING MONEY already so that I can order this shirt you have FEATURED on your Lebowski Fest Website.  Just in case you don't know what tee-shirt is out of stock, please - let me post some pictures of it:

This is what it says on the front, dim bulbs.

And this is what it says in the back.

I simply demand a re-supply of these beauties.  ASAP.  Don't make me call Boyd Crowder and have him take over your raggedy-ass business.  Because I know people who know people who know OTHER people.  This outcome would not be in your favor.

With Highest Personal Regards,

Juggsy

*(yes, I'm sure that if your organization is represented 'correctly' the salutation must be Sirs)