| Copy/paste from a comment I made earlier |
[Nov. 17th, 2009|10:33 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  optimistic | ] |
"Did President Obama grovel before the emperor of Japan?"
Obama's been compared to Dick Cheney meeting the same dude during his term, during which Cheney shook the hand and did not bow, therefore not "showing weakness".
Why is it always about strength or weakness? People need to accept that we currently have a president in office who has received the Nobel Peace Prize because he has shown promise for fostering worldwide peace and to improve the USA's image among other countries. If we keep going around ignoring other countries' customs, that will make us continue to appear that we think we're better than they are. It's a formula for peace to share customs and be respectful. Obama did not just bow...but he shook hands simultaneously (it is not customary to touch when bowing). Japan's tradition mixed with the USA's tradition. And all parties involved seemed to be okay with it.
I support peace. I never did and never will support fabricated bullshit that attempts to create hatred and "strength". He's not perfect, but many of the things the president's doing are making a lot of sense. Dude's got a lot on his plate. |
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| Work Funnies |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|10:16 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Take a Chance on Me - ABBA | ] |
So I've decided that I need to start sharing psych ward stories. These are just too funny not to share! Hopefully you all find them as hilarious as I do.
Scene #1: Playing Wii Sports in the dayroom of 7 East Inpatient Psych
Patient #1 (who is diagnosed with schizophrenia, states this completely out of the blue): You live by the Bible, you die by the Bible. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. Know what I mean? It's the way of the world.
Patient #2: Yeah, I know, man. You live by the piano, you die by the piano.
Scene #2: Playing Wii Sports today, speaking with a young patient who has recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia and is being medicated for the first time. Speaking about a subject that is beyond anyone's control (I can't recall what it was).
Kristen: Well, what can you do, right?
Patient: Yeah. You can take off the doorknob, but you can still wash the windows. (stated as if it's a well-known proverb)
Scene #3 Occurred about 10 minutes after Scene #2, after said patient had a short visit with the psychologist
Psychologist: Okay, (patient name here), remember, you can't burn the biscuits. (I have no fucking clue what he meant by that, but I'm sure it's some metaphor because that's how Dr. Kaufmann rolls.)
Patient: I don't want to burn 'em. But if I do, we can always go to IHOP. |
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| Susan Boyle |
[Apr. 18th, 2009|11:42 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  inspired | ] |
I just watched the ever-popular Susan Boyle video on YouTube, and immediately after I found a video depicting the reaction to her performance on "Britain's Got Talent". She woke up the next morning to cameras and reporters at her house, and an offer from Oprah to be a guest on her show.
And what is this Scottish woman's response?
"I'll just take baby steps at the moment. Keep my feet on the ground."
It's refreshing to see someone who knows where she stands and not jumping at movie rights or something. She took those judges who expected "young" and "beautiful" people with so-so talents, and showed them what experience and style can be worth. She knew the judges and audience were ridiculing her, but she still sang as if she had borrowed the total confidence of everyone in that room plus more. I'm hoping that she will turn out to be an awesome role model for women around the world. |
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| Sometimes poetry stands out because it is about where you are |
[Mar. 4th, 2009|09:08 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  contemplative | ] |
"Calling him back from layoff" by Bob Hicok
I called a man today. After he said
hello and I said hello came a pause
during which it would have been
confusing to say hello again so I said
how are you doing and guess what, he said
fine and wondered aloud how I was
and it turns out I'm OK. He
was on the couch watching cars
painted with ads for Budweiser follow cars
painted with ads for Tide around an oval
that's a metaphor for life because
most of us run out of gas and settle
for getting drunk in the stands
and shouting at someone in a t-shirt
we want kraut on our dog. I said
he could have his job back and during
the pause that followed his whiskers
scrubbed the mouthpiece clean
and his breath passed in and out
in the tidal fashion popular
with mammals until he broke through
with the words how soon thank you
ohmyGod which crossed his lips and drove
through the wires on the backs of ions
as one long word as one hard prayer
of relief meant to be heard
by the sky. When he began to cry I tried
with the shape of my silence to say
I understood but each confession
of fear and poverty was more awkward
than what you learn in the shower.
After he hung up I went outside and sat
with one hand in the bower of the other
and thought if I turn my head to the left
it changes the song of the oriole
and if I give a job to one stomach other
forks are naked and if tonight a steak
sizzles in his kitchen do the seven
other people staring at their phones
hear? |
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| This paragraph really struck me |
[Feb. 23rd, 2009|02:30 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  irritated | ] |
America is in hard times these days, the beloved country awash to the scuppers in expensive trash, gripped by persistent jitters, politics even more divorced from reality than usual, the levers of power firmly in the hands of a cadre of Christian pirates and bullies whose cynicism is stunning, especially their perversion of the gospel of the Lord to blast the poor and the meek and subvert the tax system in favor of the rich, while public institutions are put into perpetual fiscal crisis, meanwhile newspapers dwindle in sad decline, journalism is lost in the whirlwind of amusement, and the hairy hand of the censor reaches out - what mustn't be lost, in this dank time, is the passion of young people for truth and justice and liberty - the spirit that has kept the American porch light lit through dark ages of history - and when this spirit is betrayed by the timid and the greedy and the naive, then we must depend on the poets. American poetry is the truest journalism we have. What your life can be, lived bravely and independently, you can discover in poetry.
Excerpt from Introduction to Good Poems for Hard Times by Garrison Keillor 2005 |
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| I forgot to mention this |
[Nov. 11th, 2008|09:37 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
So, last weekend (as in November 1st), my parents came to help me get some stuff together for the move. I was a little leery, bekause I now have a kitten and my dad has a history of having a desire to kill cats.
When I got to the apartment, I expekted him to be ignoring her. Au contraire.
He was on his hands and knees on the floor calling out "Puppy! Here, puppy!"
So...either he's really in denial or he kynda likes her. Or...both?
Oh, and by the way...for those of you who don't know...I did get that position @ the Jesse Brown VA in Chicago that I mentioned a kouple entries ago. That's why I'm moving. I sure don't keep up with my LJ. That's okay, though...Bekause nobody really reads this, anyway! |
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| Celebrate America |
[Nov. 8th, 2008|07:30 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | va | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  satisfied | ] |
So last night Suzi (my co-worker and friend) took 24 of our veterans from the hospital to this Veteran's Day type thing called Celebrate America @ the local civic center. The show was a lot more impressive than I expekted, it was run by the Second Baptist Church so I thought it was going to be really preachy and church-oriented, but there was only a couple points where faith was even mentioned. It was pretty entertaining.
However, the best part was the recognition of each service era. They used war period music, photos, and saddening numbers of wounded, dead, lost and never found, presumed dead/no remains, etc. After each section, they would ask the veterans who served during that era to stand and be recognized. Let me tell you, there is nothing like helping a World War II veteran stand 3 times for the eras he continuously served through. It was also quite awesome to pat the shoulders of the Korean War vets, and slap some high fives to Vietnam-era, Desert Storm era, and even Iraqi Freedom/Enduring Freedom vets.
It was so stinkin' cool. I'd tell more, but I have to go back to work. lol. |
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| Countdowns and some updateage |
[Aug. 14th, 2008|10:09 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | TMBG marathon on some Cleveland radio station! | ] |
-2 Days til I get to visit my parents and doggies!
-4 Days til I get to go to the dentist! (I like getting my teeth cleaned...it's a weird thing. I like the pain.)
-5 Days til I get my kitty back! :)
-22 Days til my probation is lifted at work! (Then I'll practically have to kill someone to get fired...and I don't plan to do that.)
Sooooo...My first canoeing experience was 2 Sundays ago. We were out on a lake so I kould learn the basics, and I really dug it. Then I decided to take on a river this past weekend. 8 mile trip! We got there a little after the 10 am trip left, so we went hiking until the noon trip left. While hiking, I pulled a stupid move and somehow stepped on a stick in such a way that it stabbed me in the leg, right below my left knee. I have a huge bruise around it now! It was really strange.
So...the river trip was really cool! We weren't even 2 miles into the trip when we capsized. :P There was a fallen tree that we kouldn't get around in tyme. Only losses were Jordan's baseball cap and his glucose pills. The hat was recovered by the people in the canoe about 200 feet in front of us...but the fishes are having glucose these days. ;)
Further down the river, we met a black dog who was hanging out with all of us. He would doggy paddle right next to us in the deep water, and run in the shallow water next to us. He had so much energy! He was with us and the people in our group for about 5 of the 8 miles. What an amazing dog! In the bus on the way back to the car, one of the people who was kayaking said they saw the dog's name on his tag, and I think it was Max. He was so inkredibly cool.
In most recent news, I was asked to go to the Golden Age Games next week in Indianapolis. I'm gonna be one of the people running the Shuffleboard event! It's gonna be tight. I get to go to Indy and I still get paid for a day at work. Well, I guess I'll be paid for an 8 hour day, and I'll probably be working for about 10 hours...but it's a nice change of scenery. |
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| Kiddens? |
[Jul. 19th, 2008|10:56 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | kitties | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | thoughtful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Gnarls Barkley - Feng Shui | ] |
Attention all kitty owners:
My friend Suzi's kat had 5 kittens, and I am thinking about taking one of them...But I've had mostly negative experiences co-existing with cats in the past. Can anyone tell me some reasons why I should or shouldn't keep a kat?
Also...big important question...Does having a litterbox in an apartment make the whole place smell bad? I'm a real stickler about keeping stuff like that klean, but will I be able to realistically keep up with it? Most of the people I know throw the litterbox in a basement or something, but I don't have one of those. |
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| So I lied about getting off my behynd |
[May. 5th, 2008|09:58 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  I need to get up and do stuff! | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Daughters - John Mayer | ] |
There's some updating I think I wanna do. I have stuff going on, but I never make entries anymore. :)
I went for an oral surgery. Frenectomy, I believe it was kalled. It's where they kut the little strip of skin that attaches the bottom lip to the gums. Anyhoo, it was done about 2 months ago and I've diskovered that it is growing back. I'm like a salamander or something. Suzi (my friend and office mate at work) is all excited bekause I'm regenerating. She wants to kut my arm off to see what happens.
Also, my good friend and kousine Lisa is getting married in less than 2 weeks. I'm pretty excited about it, we're gonna have a great tyme. It feels like just yesterday that all the drama occurred and then he proposed to her. I'm the blue pony for the wedding (bridesmaids are wearing pastel kolored dresses, and we're referring to everyone as My Little Ponies of their respektive kolor. It's pretty funny!) The dress is all ready to go, and I'm playing saxophone for the ceremony. Jordan is playing guitar and trumpet. It's gonna kick ass, then we're gonna have a party. How kan we lose on May 17th?
Work is keeping me busy. I wish I was full-tyme music therapy, but I suppose I've got to deal with it for now. Jordan and I were tentatively looking at houses in the area, but I still feel quite hesitant about buying. Do I really want to stay around here indefinitely? Would Jordan be able to fynd a better job if we moved elsewhere? I love the state parks and open spaces that are klose by. But as I have said on many occasions, Danville is kynda dumpy. And with gas prices going up, driving to other places seems less and less appealing.
That subjekt is stressing me out, so I'm changing it up. A week ago, I went out and bought some diamond earrings. Then the saleswoman (who was good at her stuff) konvinced me that sapphire earrings would do well for me, too. I also got my existing ring refinished on the bottom where the white gold was turning yellow. It was a stressful realization that I had just spent a shitload of money when I left, but I've gotten over that. I love the diamond earrings, but I haven't seen the sapphires yet. They had to order those. So now it's goodbye tons of captive ball earrings and hello new era, post-25 Kristen. |
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| Wheee! Earthquake! |
[Apr. 18th, 2008|07:12 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  excited | ] |
Dudes...Did you guys feel that?
I thought I was krazy, I'm so glad it was an earthquake. :P
Funny earthquake story: When I was little (when we had the Chicago area earthquake in the 80's) my dad was on his bed watching M*A*S*H and I was on the floor playing with some kars or something...When everything started shaking, he said, "Stop that, Kris." and I said, "Stop what?"
"Shaking the bed."
"I'm not."
*both realize what's happening* "neat!" |
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| Back on the Air (Kynda) |
[Apr. 14th, 2008|10:27 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | Motivated | ] |
I haven't posted in a really long tyme! I guess work has been keeping me busier than I thought. Jordan and I kleaned the apartment yesterday (except for the music room...that place is too small for all the music stuff we have and it is a project for another day...) and today I'm going grocery shopping and baking. I bought some krazy bananas from a diskount store while they were still really green...and they went straight from green to brown. Oh, well. At least it's a good exkuse to make a kouple loaves of banana bread. :)
I've also been going through all my old kollege stuff and throwing away syllabi and stuff that I will probably never need again. I found a bunch of evaluations and stuff from professors and it made me feel really good to read those things again. It remynded me of how hard I worked in kollege, and how good it felt when somebody noticed.
*sigh.* While the banana bread is baking today, I think I'm gonna do my summary from the AMTA GLR Conference for work. The VA paid for me to go to my konference, so I have to do a short presentation for the rest of the recreation staff about what knowledge I gained from the conference. I'll also organize my conference materials and Continuing Education Credits bekause my re-certification is coming up in a kouple years and I need to make sure I have enough hours to remain board certified. BC Status is gonna mean more than ever after my next recertifikation period...I heard through the grapevine there will soon be legislation that requires all VA Music Therapists be MT-BCs. And that makes me happy, bekause it will prevent a lot of Bozos from entering VA as incompetent MTs. Maybe that makes me stuck up, but I'd rather see people receiving (and paying for, for that matter) MT Services that aktually have a shot at helping at a meaningful level rather than "person is bored...needs music therapy" all the tyme.
My komments may make me sound pretty stuck up, but thinking that one needs hard work and standards to do the best one kan is a huge motivator in moving up in the world. And I'm not even near to stopping where I am right now.
*Dismounting Soapbox*
So, does anyone really even read my journal anymore? Send me a wave or something. We'll talk about old tymes and rekindle fun and whatnot. |
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| I think it's hilarious that Bruce Willis always gets random-ed into these things |
[Jan. 3rd, 2008|11:29 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
In 2008,  Sapphire44 resolves to... Connect with my inner tmbg.
Get back in contact with some old ronin warriors.
Spend less time on chortle.
Lose ten dogs by March.
Volunteer to spend time with star wars.
Pay for my bruce willis on time.
In other news, I just bought the They Might Be Giants CDs and DVDs that I don't have yet...then I went and bought some anime as well. Oh, sweet kost of living raise...and I'm kynda rewarding myself for getting my kredit kards kompletely paid off. Go me!
Life is easier when you have money. I know it kan't buy happiness, but it sure makes me feel good that I kan support myself.
Now I just have to get my akt together and get the oil changed in my Cavalier. :P |
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| Things that have sprung to mynd |
[Dec. 12th, 2007|11:24 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  Arr, I'm tired now | ] |
I was just thinking about songs from the 1960's and 1970's and how out of these eras came songs glorifying substance abuse...Which was cool back then, bekause we didn't see the effekts of these drugs years down the line. They were good klean mynd-altering fun!
Now, working in a VA Hospital, I see what years of substance abuse has done to some of these dudes. Physically and mentally. It breaks my heart that substance abuse is so early a resort of so many troubled veterans. Sure, sometymes it's impairments when substances are abused in addition to repercussions of psychotropic medications, but generally, DAMN.
I've never been more opposed to addiction and glorification of substance abuse. What got me thinking about it is the song "Stoned Soul Picnic" by The 5th Dimension. http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_5th_dimension/stoned_soul_picnic.html
And "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton. http://www.lyricsfreak.com/e/eric+clapton/cocaine_20051236.html
I'm not trying to be a prude here. The title implikations of "Stoned Soul Picnic" are worse than the song lyrics themselves (only substance bluntly mentioned in the lyrics is wine), but "Cocaine" is a blatant invitation of "Got the blues? Cocaine will solve your problems for a while. If you feel bad again later, do it again. Works every time!" I kan't get behynd that.
A lot of people probably kan't understand my loathing for that kynd of glorification in the medium of music...But dang. People like you and I kan listen and brush it off...To people who have used and/or depended on the drug may hear it as an anthem and a justifikation. People with addiktions and even rekovering addikts think differently than people without said addiktions. My business is pursuing goals through music, and songs like that are a major step back in this battle. It's no one's fault or anything...it's just disappointing to me.
In other news, I was repeatedly and unsuccessfully proposed to this evening during the Bunco game. I fynd it hilarious bekause one of them seemed dead serious. When I saw him yesterday at the main hospital he yelled, "Well, what good are you!?" when I informed him that I didn't have any refreshments on my kart.
Sometymes my life feels like there's always a full moon. But that keeps things interesting. :)
Tonight I spoke at length with a middle-aged veteran who I have a lot in kommon with...I've been struggling a lot with the fakt that history lessons we've been taught growing up have had a lot of holes and false information. The search for truth that we're not kapable of fynding bekause evidence has been destroyed by tyme, humans, etc. The difference between me and him is that I kan dismiss it and work on other things; When he starts thinking about it, he kan kontinue on into a depression and get upset to the point where all the negative and distrusting feelings he has toward the nation make him feel so out of kontrol and depressed. Even paranoid.
Well, I haven't made any entries about the stressors of working in mental health yet...so here's one. It kan be sad, frustrating, skary, and sometymes downright befuddling. But I really love working on the locked psych ward. |
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| Five Bru-u-u-ce Willis! |
[Nov. 29th, 2007|11:11 pm] |
On the twelfth day of Christmas, Sapphire44 sent to me... Twelve ronin warriors drumming Eleven star wars piping Ten dogs a-leaping Nine peanuts dancing Eight comics a-milking Seven cookies a-swimming Six movies a-laying Five bru-u-u-uce willis Four tube socks Three roller coasters Two sex machineguns ...and an anime in a do as infinity. |
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