Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Entitlement!

I'm concerned. No, I'm pissed off! It seems to me that people these days feel they have a particularly strong sense of entitlement. Let me explain.

Just today while waiting for a light to turn green, a limousine driver, coming from a side street tried to cut into the line ahead of me. Unfortunately for him (and my kids in the car at the time) I went berserk, yelling and screaming for him to "wait his own God-damned turn". Needless to say, I did not let him in front of me. Sorry, kids.

Not a hour later while in Target a kindly-looking older woman asked me to get her some gift cards because she was a bit too short to reach them. I did. Instead of thanking me, she simply took the cards and walked off.

People taking cuts in lines, people not saying "please", or "Thank you", people expecting things to be handed to them, just because...

You gotta wonder just how these people were raised.

If I didn't say "please" when asking for something, my parents would simply wait until I did before giving it to me. Likewise for a "thank you".

It goes far beyond pleases and thank-yous. Somehow people have gotten it into their heads that the world owes them for simply being them. Just when did we become so greedy. So...selfish?

You've done it. You know you have.

I'm sure I've been guilty of doing it, too.

Have we truly become a dog-eat-dog society, where the only thing that matters is personal satisfaction? If this is the case, then I am truly afraid for the world.

This rant has been made, because I am entitled to do so.

SO THERE!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

Sing it with me. Go ahead.

Well, it's here. After training for months, and enduring loads of pain and setbacks, I am jetting off to Arizona to participate in my first-ever marathon!

It's the P.F. CHANG ROCK 'N ROLL MARATHON to be exact.

I got roped volunteered to help my friend join Team in Training and raise money/awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. My friend is herself a Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor, so I'm honored she even thought to ask me to do this with her.

So, we leave tomorrow for Phoenix, where the projected temperatures for race day are...

A low of 43, and a high of 64. That's if we're lucky!

Shee-it!

The Team in Training group gives all participants a lovely purple running shirt -- that weighs all of two ounces! Mmmm, toasty.

I can see it now. The sweat my body produces while running, mixed with the frigid air will produce icicles in the most un-ladylike of locations. Yowch.

Many epople have asked me the same question. "So, are you ready?"

Fuck no. I tell 'em, "Does this couch-potato body look like it's ready to go the distance? Well, does it?!"

This usually shuts them up.

I may not be in the best physical shape, but I'm going, and I'm going to finish!

Hopefully alive.

I'll let you know.

Monday, January 07, 2008

So, How's Your Year Starting Out?

Seven days into the New Year, and I'm ready to have it be the last seven days.

Today I got suckered into driving three (majorly) AD/HD boys from my son's school on their field trip to the San Juan Capistrano Mission.

Before I even got to the Mission, I got pulled over on a fucking toll road for speeding. The good news is that the officer saw my predicament and let me off with a stern warning.

The Mission is beautiful and well worth a quick visit. This was the one good part of today.

During lunch, the school group visited a petting zoo, where a miniature horse bit me! My little finger bled and throbbed for over two hours.

Not only was there that nasty little future dog food horsie, there was MUD! Everywhere. Gobs and gobs of the crap for the little monsters children to run around in and smear all over the rugs in my car. You see, we just had a major three-day storm here in Los Angeles, and my son's school refused to postpone the field trip. Aren't they just the nicest?

This little jaunt also cost me money. $30 in gas... $4.25 for that toll road... $24.00 in admission fees... $10.00 at the Mission gift shop (two kids - not my own - hit me up for a "loan"). There's money I'll never see again.

So, as I believe in learning something from every situation, here's what I've learned:

Don't let other's thinking you're a selfish asshole for never volunteering bother you in the least.

As Martha Stewart would put it, "Being an asshole; it's a good thing".