Apathy

I have been shaken out of my apathy. I'd like to think I'm a very caring person, but it's very rare that I'm completely moved to where the thought of not doing anything, is not an option.
My sister called me a few days ago. She is currently in Washington DC, staying with my brother as his NMA (non-medical assistant) as he goes through his surgeries and recoveries for his hand. They became friends with a man and his wife who are pretty affluent figures in New York, and see them every so often, usually with things related to the Wounded Warriors.
They came to visit Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital last week, and started telling them about a soldier in the hospital that they also visit. This soldier is a quad-amputee, meaning that he's lost parts of both his arms and both of his legs. When he got flown back from Afghanistan, his wife left him in the hospital. He has no family there to take care of him (like the NMA). The first 4 times they visited the soldier, he didn't remember them and they had to reintroduce themselves, until finally the husband intervened and told the staff that they needed to cut back on the pain meds. Usually you'll have a family member there to monitor how the drugs are affecting that person, but he didn't have anyone there.
This story has been weighing heavily on my heart for the past few days. Maybe because I've been there and I've seen what these men who have given everything for us, are actually going through. The anger, sadness, and sometimes even rage. I can't even begin to understand and know what they are going through. It's one thing to die in a war zone, and it's another heart breaking thing to lose parts of your body, and not have anyone to come back home to, to help you get through it.
I think that my sister will try to visit him before she comes back. My brother's recovery is going extremely well and he doesn't really need anyone to take care of him now.
If you have some time though, please thank a veteran for what they have given. Also, when I went to visit my brother the Wounded Warriors organization was absolutely fantastic in all the support they give to veterans and their families. Please help honor these fallen heroes and ensure that they know, they are not forgotten.

Fixed

I got my kitty "fixed" yesterday. I'm not sure why it's called that, it implies something is broken to begin with. She wasn't broken, just awkward when she was in heat since she's an indoor kitty. She started molesting shoes and the feet of any males who were over visiting us, so we decided getting her spayed would be a good idea. I had to wait an hour and a half at the animal shelter because it was a busy day, but worth it because it was only $55. Petsmart wanted me to pay something close to $200.

I went back later in the afternoon to get her, and as I was waiting for my turn to retrieve my pet, I read the paper they gave out on how to care for your pet after their surgery. Have you seen those collars they give you so the pet doesn't bite the incision? They basically look like a cone that starts at the collar and get bigger as it goes out over the pets face. We always jokingly referred to them as lamp shades when we were growing up, but I never knew what they were called. Well the paper kept referring to them as E-collars, which I didn't understand until further down the page it called them Elizabeth collars. A little light bulb went on in my head and I felt really clever upon figuring out that called them that after Queen Elizabeth who liked to rock a high popped (and crocheted/tatted/lace) collar.

As I was sitting there a family came in and the first thing the mother did was scream at her dirty child to get out of her way and go sit on a chair (classy). There weren't many seats so they sat themselves on either side of me and the woman overheard the vet assistant talking about the E-collar and she said (in a very hick accent) "Why'd they call em E-collars when they luk like cones t' me." I was about to share my new found knowledge with her (I'm nice like that) when she continued "An E-collar sounds like somethin on the inernet ta me." And I decided to just keep my mouth shut because in reality... I'm not even sure this woman would know who Queen Elizabeth was.

Reading

I finally started reading again. I read To Kill A Mockingbird. I know most people read it as a requirement in high school, but since I was homeschooled I missed that memo. It is one of the best books I have read in a very, very long time.

It's message is so simple and so pure. Atticus is the human being I hope to become someday. Someone who tried to see everyone from a different perspective. Who is always willing to step outside of what things look like, and see where people are really coming from. To see the beauty of others for what they really are. I finished the book in 2 days, and had an extremely difficult time at work concentrating on what I was supposed to be doing because my head was caught up in this story. Ridiculous I know but I'm like that when it comes to books. My mom used to have to physically shake my arm to get me to respond when I was younger, because I was so caught up in a book that I wouldn't hear what anyone was saying to me. I'm sure everyone thought I was destined to be a huge nerd ha ha.

I've always tried to see people from their own perspective. More so at other times. I guess for me this was just a gentle reminder that life isn't all about me and how I perceive it. That sometimes seeing things from other peoples perspectives can be heartbreaking, but at the same time completely rewarding. I don't want to become someone who is so narrow minded that they can only see things how they want to. I want to live, and experience life. I want to learn how to love the unlovable, and see the real hidden beauty in people.

Home Sweet Home

Sometimes I miss being back in Idaho where I grew up. There are a lot of great things to do outside like biking,hiking, boating, snowboarding, ect. I've missed the changing of the seasons (but not the incredibly crappy weather that accompanies it). But then I think about the things I do not miss, such as the incredibly crazy narrow minded people who are still stuck in that tiny town. Here are a couple beautiful examples provided by the local "Letters to the Editor" column.


Stolen cabbages? Do we really need to know about the theft of your produce? You make it sound like someone kidnapped a member of your family. There is also fresh cabbage available all year round at the grocery store...

Increasing town revew? And decreasing your popularity in a town where everyone knows everyone.Good choice.

Ridiculous

When I was working on Saturday, we got a call for a reservation at 10:45. We close at 11 so that is really pushing it. But they called ahead, made a reservation so at least we knew they were coming. Usually when people come in that late (30 minutes or less before we close) we tell them that they can only have cheese and chocolate fondue because a full meal usually takes 2 hours. The closing server who was going to serve the table asked if it was ok if we told the table this and our manager said no, that we need to treat the guest as company and be pleasant about whatever they ordered.

So the reservation showed up a little late, and by a little late I mean 11:01 and our manager sat them at a table. Since we're supposed to treat them like guests, I suggested to the waitress to treat them like guests who show up at her house right when she was about to go to bed (joke). I always try to see the other persons point of view so I thought maybe it was a really special occasion for these people and they wanted to celebrate. The woman had said on the phone that she didn't get off of work until 10:30 so they'd be over as soon as possible... but when the waitress asked if they were celebrating anything they responded with "Getting off work!" Are you serious?! You're going to make that waitress stay until 1:00 am because you couldn't pick a day you weren't working to get fondue? A woman with 2 kids who goes to nursing school AND works? People are ridiculous sometimes. Go to McDonalds.

Relief

The weather has FINALLY cooled down. I officially survived my first Phoenix summer. People warned me about it, unfortunately they warned me about the wrong thing. They warned me it was going to be hot (which it was, and I handled just fine), what they didn't want me about was the electric bills. I didn't not pass out from heat exhaustion once, but I did almost pass out when I saw the bill. It was TRIPLE what it normally was. Usually it's a little above $100. IT WAS $300!!!! That's almost 42 hours of my life that I have to work at Barnes & Noble for my really small amount of hourly pay. And $250 the months after that. Why didn't anyone tell me? I did manage to survive it though, and I'll be sure to save up for next year when it will again be ridiculously expensive to stay keep a house at 78 degrees.

It's also monsoon season which means crazy rains which also (thankfully) means cooler weather. It's been storming the past couple days and I'm loving it. Finally I get to bring out some cute boots and scarves and pretend like it's fall. I needed to go grocery shopping yesterday so I got out my umbrella and went to the grocery store, got quite a bit of food since we were almost out of everything, and drove back home. My covered parking is about 100 yrds away from my apartment so I had to carry the 6 bags/milk/10 pack of toilet paper back through the rain with my purse and holding the umbrella. Which I was doing quite successfully... until I got to the speed bump. They're painted this speed bump every few months since I've been here and consequently it's very slick. I've slipped on it several times before, in dry weather, so you'd think I would have avoided it. Wrong. I completely forgot, slipped and fell onto my knees in a puddle while rain was pouring down. And the icing on the cake here? A little boy and girl playing out in the rain stopped and giggled at my misfortune.

I look high, in one eye.

So I haven't been changing my contacts as regularly as I should, and with my new longer hours of work, it means I'm also wearing them quite a big more. My eyes decided to revolt and yesterday they were extremely dry and irritable. Since I refused to get glasses when I was younger, I don't have any, so I had to wear them for work (and driving if I don't want to hit any small children by accident). One eye accepted the contact and moved on with it's life, but the other decided to be a biznatch and turn all shades of red that no amount of saline could fix. So yesterday and today I've had one blazing red eye and one normal colored one. Which isn't too bad because then people know I'm not high, and I don't have pink eye. Just one abnormally red eye. And of course it's on days I have to work.

At the coffee show, we're supposed to ask people's names when we take their coffee order so we can call it out when we're finished making it. That way it seems more personal and maybe they'll think we're actually friends or something (at least that's how the corporate world thinks it is). My favorite customer's name was Yoshi, who is a very nice, tall Asian man who usually brings his young son in with him. I always want to squeal out "YYYYOSHI!" like they say it in the Mario games when his drink is ready... but I refrain. Well today after serving Yoshi, I asked a man for his name and it was Waldo. Awkward pause for one second while I debated how to respond to that name. I decided that a lot of people probably commented on it so I decided to not say anything about it. Although a minute later, I was extremely tempted to yell out "WHERE'S WALDO?" when his drink was ready... but again my better judgment got the better of me and I didn't.