Saturday, June 16, 2007

Eight Things I Know - Pass it On

I found this over at Angel's blog, and followed it around to a couple other places. It's interesting, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

(That and the fact that my new digital camera is not cooperating in the "letting my pics go to the computer" department, so I'm holding off on more vacation blogging just for a bit to see if I can pry them loose. If not, I'll be doing picture-less vacation blogging.)

Note: Some of the eight things I've linked to are light, some are serious. Mine have some rantish items and some non-rantish ones, because... well, I'm like that.

1. Life is too short to stay pissed off. Sure, I rant and get annoyed in here, but that's one of the points of my blog for me: it's a venting device. I blog about things that annoy, then I let them go. It's either that or get an ulcer.

2. You just can't please everyone. I like to make people happy, but some folks are flatly impossible. They thrive on being stressed, on seeing the negative (mentally glaring at specific not-to-be-named family member), on how everything in their life is always going to shit. Then they need to spread that vile manure around. You know what? Bad stuff happens. And sometimes it's overwhelming, but you have to find a way to move past it or you risk giving yourself and everyone around you a freaking damned migraine.

[Remember Number 1, Amanda... remember Number 1...]

3. Quitting smoking is hard. Yes, it is hard. And yes, it is worth it and I'm working on it; I'm just not there yet. No, you cannot sit there and tell me that you quit drinking sodas, and if you can do that, anyone can quit smoking. The two addictions are the same only in that they're addictions. That's where any similarity ends. I am not you and you are not me.

Talk to me when you've taken up smoking then quit, your-holier-than-thou-ness*. That's when I'll listen to you.

4. There is nothing like a child's laughter. Absolutely nothing. It can bring me from feeling a bit melancholy to a more even keel in zero seconds flat.

5. Anyone who says you should have to keep a plant alive first to either have children or pets is suffering from a serious lack of perspective. I couldn't keep plants alive until I'd already had both pets and children. Plants don't let you know when they're hungry. They're easily overlooked. Kids and animals are not subtle about their displeasure. They forcibly take your focus off yourself. Once I had to pay attention to things outside of myself and what book I was reading next, I learned that yes, I too, could keep plants alive.

Speaking of which, I hope the office plants have survived my vacation.

6. Doctors are not gods. They are highly educated medical professionals. They're also humans. As with every profession, there are good ones and bad ones in the bunch, so it behooves us as medical consumers to look clearly at our healthcare providers and determine if we're dealing with a case of "just had a totally craptastic day" -itis or if we're dealing with true apathy or incompetence.

Craptastic days are forgiveable. The other states are not.

7. Expecting to live in a spotless house when the children are young is to set yourself up for disappointment. I'm not saying that I live in a pit; I don't. But I am saying that my neatness standards have had a bit of an adjustment. Freaking out due to a toy left on the family room floor? Is not worth my sanity, or my kids' for that matter.

8. The kids will grow up. The sleep-deprived nights of newborn parenthood will cease. The shrieking toddler will clam up. The bouncy little boys will settle down (someday, I'm told!). Enjoy every stage as much as you can, because once it's gone, there's no getting it back.

There you have it. All my wisdom at the moment in a nutshell. I'll spare y'all a tag, but if anyone feels like taking up this meme please let me know and I'll edit this post to link to you.

* This particular rant was courtesy of a real-life encounter I had at a former workplace, not from anyone related to me or anyone anywhere on the blogosphere. I just needed to get that out. Freaking sanctimonious bitch.

2 comments:

The Rainbow Zebra said...

As much as I will encourage you to quit smoking, I wouldn't give you such flip advice either. I had to get off one med last year and it was HELL. I have respect for anyone who can beat an addiction, or at least is trying.

Good list :) I can't keep very many plants alive either LOL.

Amanda said...

Was it Topamax? Because that stuff can be evil... my brother was on it (cauda equina, left untreated too long), and ended up having to get off it due to severe glaucoma. Fortunately, his occular pressure got back to normal after it was out of his system.

And yes, Angel, I know you wouldn't say something like that! Some people are just clueless, though. Soda : cigarettes :: apples : oranges.

What bugs is I've quite twice before (both pregnancies). I'm good at quitting when there's a small, defenseless creature residing inside my body. In other circumstances, though? Not so much. Yet. It'll happen.