Chapter 83: American Life

Today… well, we’ll get to today later. First, I am feeling the need to speak on something. I have been talking a lot about inspiration in this blog and various people, places and things that have been inspiring me recently. One thing I haven’t really talked about much here in the blog is politics. I try not to let politics become a focus in my life, in general, but I do have some very strong views on it and feel the need to discuss some of those tonight. The main reason for this is because there is one inspiration that I haven’t discussed. If you want to see real, true inspiration in human form you can look no further than President Barack Obama. This evening was his first ever State Of The Union address, and I have to say it was pretty awe-inspiring. Before going into detail about that, though, there is something that I have wanted to address lately but never got around to. A pet peeve that I have developed recently is people saying, “Barack Obama has been our president for a year and he hasn’t done anything at all.” I have heard this quite a bit recently and I find it extremely frustrating. I certainly understand why people may think that, but it just seems like such a misguided, uninformed statement to make. What Barack Obama has done is basically rescue this country from the rapid decline it was on. When he stepped into office, things were bad. Worse than bad, they seemed pretty hopeless. Barack Obama inspired the entire nation to have faith that things could improve. That, in itself, is enough. However, I understand that people want to see real, tangible changes. Unfortunately, what people don’t seem to realize is that before he could move forward with making such changes he first had to take a giant load of preventative measures to try to stabilize the economy of this country, WHICH HE HAS DONE. He has also, as promised, put a plan in place to pull the troops from Iraq. Unfortunately, what people don’t seem to realize about this is that, for one, you can’t just pull out of the country and leave them alone to cope with the damage we have done there, and that pulling the troops from Iraq never equated to this war being over and that was never what was promised. It honestly took me a long time to understand this, as well, but there is still a real threat to us out there, in the form of Al-Qaeda, and we still need to fight to protect ourselves. We just don’t need to fight in Iraq any longer. The threats at this point are not in Iraq, they are in Afghanistan. One argument that I have heard, and haven’t necessarily had an arguing point for, is his lack of work for the gay community. Fortunately, that was addressed this evening when he stated proudly that this year he would be working with Congress to repeal the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy. Sure, there is more that can be done, but this is an excellent start. I am not ashamed to admit, I actually cried a little when he made that statement. The State Of The Union address was very emotional for me, in a lot of ways. I have always had faith in Obama, and stood behind him as the leader of this country, but tonight he really reminded me of exactly why. Aside from being the President of the United States, he is also vehemently a citizen of the United States, and really seems to understand the world from the perspective of your everyday, struggling Americans. That is the greatest thing about him. He understands the plight of the people, and seems to be genuinely trying to do everything he can to work in our favor. He has some really great plans for straightening up Washington, as well as for creating a rise in jobs and our economic status as a country. Before he could create real and tangible changes, though, he had to stop the downward spiral we were on, as a nation, and get us in at least a stable position. He has done that, and I just really wish people would have a little faith and not jump to conclusions before educating themselves on what is really happening in the world. Like I said, if you are looking for real, honest inspiration you really need to look no further.

Today was a good day. I enjoyed it, for the most part. I woke up at 7:45am and started the workout a little late, (around 8:05am, instead of 8am.) The soundtrack to today’s workout was Gwen Stefani’s first solo record, “Love Angel Music Baby.” This was really a great selection as my Mom and I are both very big Gwen Stefani fans and this record is completely upbeat, fresh and fun. It really made the workout experience much better. Even the album’s only real ballad, “Cool,” is upbeat enough to not need to skip it. I almost skipped working out this morning because I woke up later than planned and just didn’t feel very motivated. I am very glad that I did do it, though, because it was really invigorating and got the day off to a great start. After cereal, coffee and cigarettes, I got dressed and ready for work. We had a client, or a prospective client, visiting today and so we were all advised to dress nicer than we usually would and stay within the limits of dress code. My clothes have never really been a concern at work; At least, not since I started back there a year ago. When I worked there back in 2004, they were probably the biggest concern management had with me. My concern with today was makeup. Nobody said anything to me about not wearing makeup or anything, and if they had I would have gladly refrained from wearing it today. However, since nobody did ask me not to I went ahead and wore it. However, I figured I shouldn’t do anything too over the top. I took this as an excuse to use my brown eyeliner for the first time. I paired this brown eyeliner with a pale pink glitter shadow that really kind of blended with my skin and just gave the look of a little sparkle around the eyes. It wasn’t natural looking by any means, but it was understated and you couldn’t really tell that I was wearing makeup unless you looked closely. I really liked the look of it and will probably explore that look further in the future.

Work was kind of slow today, which worked out well considering our systems went down for a little while. I didn’t even wind up taking a call during the down time, actually. The majority of the calls I did take today seemed to be from a lot of angry, troubled customers. I got yelled at a lot today. Fortunately, I am very good at accepting customers on the phone yelling at me. I don’t allow them to get to me very often, which doesn’t seem to be the case for a lot of my co-workers. There was a lot of conversation amongst my co-workers today, since we were not allowed to read or draw or anything due to the clients visiting. Sadly, when there is too much conversation between my co-workers, there tends to be issues between my co-workers. One co-worker, in particular, has his two-week notice in and has decided to use his last few days there trying to create conflicts with the rest of the team. It’s a shame because, on some levels, I like this guy. He is generally very nice to me and we can carry on an, at least, halfway decent conversation. Still, he has this tendency to want to create drama with the rest of our co-workers and I think it is just completely ridiculous. There is no need for that type of conflict in the workplace, particularly when people decide to just attack one another as this guy has taken to doing. It is just stupid, pointless and completely unnecessary. Still, I don’t have any control over the choices that others make. All I have to do is not get overly involved, which I happen to be really good at. That really is a trait that has a positive side just as much as a negative. I guess it’s just something we all have to deal with… although, not for very much longer.

When I took my first break at 11:40am, it just so happened that my Mom was coming out for break at the same time and I decided to join her in her daily brisk walk around the parking lot at work. There are a lot of people at work, particularly older women, who will spend their breaks doing a lap or two around the parking lot. It’s a very large parking lot and if you keep up a fairly brisk pace, it can be a pretty good addition to a regular workout routine. My Mom has been doing this for a while, so it was nice for her to have some company this time. It was also nice for me to get a little additional exercise during the day. While we were walking the parking lot, some guy came driving through in a convertible blaring Adam Lambert’s “For Your Entertainment.” My Mom and I were both into it. He drove back around and pulled into a spot near where we were walking and was blaring “If I Had You,” also from the Adam Lambert album. We just kind of kept on walking past, but I did take a peek to see who it was that was riding around the parking lot of the place that shall not be named blaring Adam Lambert. It was this guy who I have noticed around the building quite a few times. In fact, the reason I kept noticing him around the building isn’t because he is good looking, although he kind of is in a strange way, but because for the first little while that he was working there I was trying to figure out whether or not he was a female-to-male transsexual. I don’t know how to explain exactly why I thought that, except that he has very feminine features and seems kind of awkward in his own skin. He also dresses like a drag king from the 80s. Don’t ask me why, but I find that kind of attractive. I don’t necessarily know that I find it attractive so much as I find it intriguing and slightly endearing. Plus, he listens to Adam Lambert… like that is a selling point. Hell, like I am looking to buy.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. I had a Curves bar for lunch, and it kept me satisfied until I got home. When I got home I did something kind of silly. Instead of eating fruit or yogurt like I have been lately, I ate a small bowl of leftover spaghetti. It wasn’t too much, but it wasn’t as small as fruit or yogurt would have been. Oh well, though. A big part of my rules for my dietary changes are to not set rules for myself about counting calories or trying to only eat healthy foods. It isn’t about restricting myself from eating things that I feel like eating, it is about eating things in smaller portions and incorporating healthier foods in with the foods I would normally eat. I watched last night’s “Chelsea Lately” and this morning’s “The View,” both of which were fun, but nothing overly interesting. Then I watched tonight’s “American Idol,” which was also not overly interesting, although they did have Joe Jonas as a guest judge tonight. As I discussed a few posts ago, I have always been a fan of the Jonas Brothers in a weird way. Ever since the first time I saw them, opening for the Veronicas, Joe has always been my favorite. With Nick Jonas’ recent foray into work as a solo artist, it has raised concerns amongst Jonas Brothers fans as to the fate of the brothers as a band. It seems to make the most sense that they are going to go in their own separate directions, and it was announced yesterday on “On Air With Ryan Seacrest” that Joe is now working on solo work himself, as well as pursuing a career in acting. I actually said in the post where I discussed Nick’s album how I had hoped for Joe to move into acting, so apparently I got it right. I think that will work out well for him, and I think it will work out well for me to see him on the big screen, being all sexy and adorable. I am allowed to say that at this point, by the way, because he is of legal age. Just wanted to make that clear.

While watching “American Idol,” I prepared dinner so it would be ready and waiting when my Mom came home. She was really thrilled to see that, and very appreciative after working a 12 hour day. I have been really trying to do more around the house, like making dinner and washing dishes and such, because I know that she stresses out about these things and it only seems fair for me to do more to carry my own weight around here. Plus, it is really cool that she is always so happy and relieved when I do these things for her. It is a win/win situation for everyone involved, really, and it makes me feel good to be doing more to earn my keep around the house aside from just paying half the rent and bills. It makes it feel a lot more like an even partnership than me living at home with my Mom. That is how it should be at this point, because I am a little old to just sit around and depend on my Mom to cook and clean around here. I don’t want to wind up like that Frank “The Entertainer” guy from “I Love New York,” being in my 30s and still having my Mom doing my laundry and cooking all my meals and such. Like Jewel talked about in that blog of hers the other day, I am already an independent, self-sufficient, fully-functional adult, I just need to chip away the stuff that is blocking me from seeing it for myself. I am doing my best, though. That is the most important part.

It is now 12:51am, though, and I need to get to sleep. We are trying to start the workout earlier tomorrow, which means I need to get to sleep soon in order to be up and alert for when we do start it. So, it is off to slumberland for me.