Don't move to the beach. Its a trap.

Living at the beach is not all it is cracked up to be. Sure, if you have lots of money and are in the upper middle class it is a whole lot easier than living amongst the cogs that actually make this place work. For the longest time, I could not understand the idea of someone coming here for a visit and getting left then fully believing they are "stuck" here for no lack of a way home.  You have feet right?  Wrong.  Once you become a cog of the machine, it reels you in, sucks the lifeblood out of you and never lets you go.

Never.

The work is seasonal, you cannot afford anything and you have to work like a slave during the season just to barely scrape by in the off season. Even then, it only works if you can save your money and not let anyone know that you have a nickel to spare.  That leads to the lifetime beachers.  Those that have accepted their fate that they are here for life or those that have spent their entire lives at this beach and have no ambition to see other places or simply leave.  They are like vultures sitting on the side of the valley just waiting for you to drop dead so they can peck your eyes right out of your face.  They move in on you at the slightest twitch of weakness and then they hone in for the kill and suck the lifeblood out of you and then you assimilate and become one of them. Lifeless, bloodsucking, feelingless wretches that do nothing but suck you dry and leave your carcass for the wind to carry it out to sea.

For a long time I loved it here. It was nice to be able to go to the beach whenever you felt like and I love hot summers so this was a great place for me. But then we moved here and I still loved it but it slowly changed for me.

They became the predators and I became the prey.  There were other factors that led to the change however, this is the overpowering cause. My family was happy and we had everything we needed.  While we had not yet purchased a home, we had each other, we got along and there was not any strife among us. Then things began to change. These people are needy.  No, I am not talking about the ones that have things going for themselves.  I am talking about the cogs of this society that have to work for a living and scrape by from check to check.  They look at us 'outsiders' and say, "hmmmm....they have more than me.  We shall change that." And like vampires in the night, they do everything they can to make that happen.  They call at all times of the day and night and expect you to take them all over hell and creation.  This runs up your phone bill (if you are on an allotted minute plan, otherwise, it is just nuisance,) it puts a great deal of wear and tear on your car if you become their taxi service and they want to borrow shit.  ALL THE TIME.  You get promises of gas money and for return of your things and that will never happen.  Then they figure out what your schedule is and do everything they can to interfere with your home life with the incessant ringing of the phone (shut it off, now NOBODY can call you,) dropping by, take me here at 3 am.  Its bullshit and rubbish and needs to stop.

But it doesn't beause you write this person off then the next one does the same thing.  How can people live like that?  Do they not want better?  I have lived many places in my life but never one like this.  They also like to play mean jokes on people but that is for a different day.  Have you ever lived in a place that makes you feel like you have found Rancid Armpit, USA?  Tell me about it....

No life should be worth less than another

I was contemplating the meaning of life this morning. No particular reason but the answer 42 does not satisfy the curiosity I have about the meaning of life. I see how people treat each other. Some men believe that women are less worthy of things because they are women. Racial divides are another way to devalue a life. Others believe children are less than the rest of the human race. I hate to say this, but we all come from a woman. Even test tube babies do. Everyone is in some sort of racial class, being black, white, Irish, or American. Lastly, we each were a child once upon a time. Oh, there are also religious divides. I happen to believe that so long as your religion works for you and you are not forcing your religious opinion on me, then why should I waste my heard earned air tormenting you about it.

Everyone's life is worth something and it feeds into the circle of life on this planet. Also, because human beings on this planet choose to have pets, those domesticated animals should have the same regard from their people or people in general. If you are utilitarian, treating a dog or cat as less than worthy is going against the total units of happiness for society. Therefore, you should treat pets as part of the family and not as some nasty disease in your home.

It just hurts my soul to see people being treated so badly and animals being neglected because people have no regard for the lives that are in the carriages of the bodies that are being mistreated. Everyone's soul has a purpose. No matter what you may believe, they were created for a reason and that is not for you to decide whether or not they are better, equal to, or less than you. It would be nice if everyone would assume that each life on this planet were an equal. This way, there would likely be a whole lot less hatred in this world and (out of selfish reasons of course--->) my anxiety attacks would likely come to a halt.

I simply cannot stand to see, read, or hear about atrocities people inflict on other living things on this planet. It simply makes me sick. Even old people are being treated badly.  Those people have been around long enough to EARN respect. When they become invalid, why beat them? They are defenseless. Just like children and domesticated or farm animals, beating them will get you nowhere. It is evil and mean and should not be tolerated nor should it even occur.

I am not sure if  all of these things that we read about in the papers have been going on en masse like this for all of history but it seems to have become more rampant as time goes on. Maybe there is a correlation between the acts and the growing population but it just makes me sick.

What do you think?

Tsk, Tsk, shakes head in "no-erly" fashion

I understand that priorities of everyone are different.  They are as stark as opinions, style, even the way we walk.  However, I want to believe that respect should come in the same form no matter who you are.  I want to start my rant this morning talking about respect in general.  I know, I know, I said I would start with the suggestions but I have to give those time to build and I need to reflect a little. Ah, but I digress.
Back to my "concern" for the day.  I can conceive that people treat their own belongings, also, with a different type of care than the next person. I get it that you do not care that your grass is never mowed or that you simply toss your trash out the window instead of properly disposing of it when you get home. What I simply cannot understand is how do you believe it is up to you to destroy something that does not belong to you?  That is lacking in respect to the nth degree.  Why bring this up?  Wonderful that you asked.
I come outside this morning and note tire tracks ALL THE WAY in our yard and the tree that was planted in my fathers name nearly laying on the ground and the bark skinned off one side of it.  I was alarmed NOT because they took it upon themselves to use our yard to turn their car around, (because this is not something new) but because of the lack of respect that our yard was clearly not theirs.  Further, I also happen to believe it was someone who did not live on our street.
The adage goes that you never know a person until you walk a mile in their shoes. Well, obviously nobody knew the tree they ran over either.  I have a special attachment to this tree and it was planted in Dad's honor because it was HIS tree.  When he was living, this sad little thing began to grow at the end of his place of residence.  Whenever we could come by, next to that tree is where he stood when he was getting some air.  He even told Calvin not to mow it over one day when he went to cut the grass for Dad many years back.  Well, that sad little thing, wild as it was, took root and began to grow.  The ground around the outside of Dad and Mom's place is not the most root friendly so it grew slowly.  It was about 12 inches when dad passed.  But I believe he loved it none the less.
The year dad passed, I decided to uproot the tree and bring it here. We are planting our own roots here and it would be nice to look out the window and be reminded of one of the better people that this planet had the privilege of presence.  I brought it here and it flourished.  While it is still a slow grow, it is about 3 feet tall.  Instead of growing an inch a year, I believe it to have grown about 8-10 inches per year.  I love "my" tree.
Imagine my horror to see one of the things in the world that give me happy thoughts nearly destroyed by someone with a gross lack of respect.
So, dear friends, it may not matter to you BUT it matters to someone and imagine how you would feel if someone did something similar to you.  If more people thought about things like that, then, this would be a much better place to live. Don't you think?
Feel free to comment below:                **Cheers**

UPDATE:  Since this was written, I am happy to say that the little tree survived and is a happy three feet tall now.  No permanent damage. My belief is that dad came down and used his angel powers to touch the tree and heal it. You know how it is. Daddy's little girl always believes that their fathers have superpowers! Mine is just now an angel! :)

Haters be hatin....for what?

Everyone has their own talents and life. Why should someone be so jealous of you that they have to gawk and stare at you everytime you are in the same vicinity?  If you are so miserable in your own life, then, why not change it?  Is that not the entire reason for change? To make things better?  That is what I was thinking.  Things are not meant to come to someone easy.  If you see a person that is in the place in THEIR life where YOU want to be, then, why not make a change and get there yourself?  Apparently, they have worked hard to get where they are and it is not up to karma to hand that to you with a silver platter. Life does not work that way, folks.

With that being said, I must confess, that I do not practice that mantra because I see people all the time that are in a place in life that I would rather be than where I am at. Don't get me wrong, it has nothing to do with my marriage or house or anything like that. It is little things that I am "hatin" on. Skinny blitches make me mad. However, I do not want to put that much work into getting there because where I am took many lazy days and chocolate days and years of not eating right. Why should I put all THAT hard work to waste just to go back to like I was when I was 17? (Joke folks, Bazinga!) I also want to be making a whole lot more money than I am making now. The way to get there? Work for it! Scratch and claw your way to get there or it is not going to happen. Ayup, I have people I am insanely jealous of because they make easy money. However, they did not get there just by happenstance.  They worked to get there. Do the work girl! Do the work.

Now, I also see kids that are about 12 or 13 that seem to think that the world owes them because they have had parents that divorced and they have learned the "poor me" routine and it has become so ingrained in their personality that they truly believe that everyone they come in contact with is going to dump money and opportunity in their lap. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Well, if it does, it will be short lived because people will see through that ruse and walk away from that.

Many folks love to have drama in their lives and will be miserable no matter what. Others will work hard at the wrong things and get nowhere and others will make really big mistakes in their lives and end up paying for them for the rest of their lives. There is no way around that. So, you take that learning experience and use that as a hint to take a different path because some ungodly sized tree has fallen in your way and you must move on.

While at times, it may not be the way you want to go, work with what you have and do everything you can to make the best or better of it.

Wow, I certainly wish I could take my own advice and run with it. But who wants to run on the treadmill three hours a day and work out all day long to get to the skinny blitch part (while I am not working I should do that.) Yup, I am going to be mediocre until something in me snaps and wakes up.

Ya, haters be hatin, but so am I....it is just easier that way. That is why!