You Need a Reproduction License

I just want to say that people who abandon their kids really have a special punishment awaiting them. Man or woman, if you give up on your kids in some way, you seriously suck. What gives somebody the right to have that responsibility and not care at all? Well, in our society, that is your automatic right.

In order to drive a car, you need to obtain a permit, get some practice in, and then you can get a license. To legally drive, you must have a license. But guess what! To become a parent, all you need to do is... have sex. You can go out right now and either get pregnant, or impregnate someone, with no special certificate, license, diploma, permit, card, or degree. You can be the biggest jackass in the world and become a mother or father.

People might argue that they government would be taking a person's right away. If I don't have the right to drive a car without a license, why does somebody have the right to become a parent (and allegedly take care of that child for 18 years) without a license? There are many, many people who should not be reproducing.

From the jerk who gets a girl pregnant and then wants nothing to do with her or the child to the drug addict who pimps out their toddler for sex so they can get drug money to the girl who gets pregnant just to keep her loser boyfriend around to the dad who is too busy at work to spend time with his son to the mother who is too busy drinking to take her daughter to the mall. I could keep going and going.

Call me a communist but the more I work in this industry, the more I'm in favor of some sort of screening process for people to become parents. That probably is a step in the direction of a THX 1138 or Equilibrium type of controlled society but... I don't know. All I had to take was a 24 question quiz to get a motorcycle permit. Then there is a an actual riding test to get a license. Same goes for a car.

You can kill somebody in either vehicle. And you can kill somebody as a parent. Or completely screw them up for the rest of their lives... but yet anybody can do it.

PS: It's always the people who shouldn't be reproducing that have the most kids...

A Toast to My Former Self

I rode the bike to work on Friday and rode it up to Liberty on Sunday. Fun times. Now we have some stupid thunderstorms today and it's in the 70s. What a waste! My jacket came in. It's mesh and leather and has pads everywhere. It's actually pretty heavy. I like all the horror stories about bike accidents people deem necessary to impart now that they know I have one.

The bike will be paid off this week. Once state taxes and my next reimbursement check come in, that'll take a HUGE chunk out of the credit card and all the crap I had to pay for. Insurance, registration, jacket, gloves, helmet. Sometimes we forget about all the peripherals...

I've decided that my goal is to become completely content where I'm at in life. I'm not going to think about moving to CA or look for work out there. I'm not going to be a part of a "single's" group. I'm still going to go to the Schiller's Bible study as I definitely need the fellowship. Plus, there are no females that go that I would think about dating. I feel that I often have ulterior motives if I go to Lifeline, or the couple times I went to Transit. I just don't want to be like that. Plus, being the stubborn person as I am, I'm going to take whatever steps to make it seem impossible for something like that to happen. That's what my mom did. And I'm partly doing it because I am just trying not to care.

I've also lost some of my focus on God. It seems the world is a big distraction. Friends go out for drinks or what not. I need to make sure that Christ is my #1 focus and everything else is secondary. I haven't been doing a good job of this but I know how important it is. Not that I've traveled very far off the path. Life just distracts me sometimes from what is really important and what I need to focus on.

Phillipians 3:7-8

55mph is Amazing

I road to work today. Took backroads most of the way. 55mph is way different on a bike. It's... scrumtrulescent. I'm addicted.

'93 Honda Nighthawk 750cc

It's now parked in my garage, insured and registered... high fives! I'll probably put up some pics soon. Oh, and I'm off all weekend.

Suuuweeeeet!

Nothing to do with Drugs

I dropped $350 on riding gear this weekend... since I'm a noob on a bike and safety is important. $89.99 helmet, $45.00 gloves, $179.99 leather jacket, not being able to pick the bike up cuz the battery is dead - priceless. He's getting me a new battery. And I think I'm going to try and pick it up so after spending about 8 minutes on a motorcycle 9 years ago and 15 minutes on a dirtbike last fall, I am going to ride it from Valpo to Demotte. I've plotted out a straight path through back, country roads (full of potholes, of course) with minimal traffic. I have to cross route 30, highway 49, and route 8 and I'll end up in Demotte.

I'm thinking that a kind request to have him bring it down to good ol' Jasper county would be smarter. But I really want to get it soooo...

My grandma passed away Sunday morning. She was 97 and it was coming for awhile. She really couldn't get a whole lot older than she was. She was cognisant and lived on her own until she was about 95. I was sad but my brother and I got to go out to Florida 5 or 6 years ago and spend a week with her since she was getting older. I'm more sad for my dad's loss though. But she is with the Lord now.

I Lead a Thrilling Life

The highlight of my week was getting my Expert Combat Sniper and Expert Specialist Sniper badges in Battlefield 2. 100 hours put into the sniper kit... 35 kills IAR for the Expert Combat and 38 kills IAR for the Expert Specialist.

Oh, and I ate Chipotle today...

I know. I know. My life is so exciting, I'm sure everyone reading this wishes they were me...

Pessimism

I have been waiting for a bike since last summer, for about 8 to 9 months now. On the week that I'm getting it, it's rainy, freezing cold, and overcast... and people wonder why I'm a pessimist.

Redo

I would do it all over again... call me crazy...

Yadda yadda yadda

4 days until I pick up my bike...

In other news, due to the lovely tax credit from the government, we all got a nice raise. I make about $36 more per month after taxes. Which is slightly more than the increase in my insurance when I insure the motorcycle. Awesome...

Last night, I took on 3 other people in COD4 on the 360... and mopped the floor with them. Me on 1 team, 3 guys on another team. If video game skills could earn you money, it would be a career for me.

I bought another copy of The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan since I gave my old copy to Alissa. I hope you at least tried to read that book... ;) What an amazing writer. Just the first two sentences stun me with the way he crafts words together to form this perfect mental picture. His books allow me to visualize better than most movies do...

Oh, did I mention. 4 days until I pick up my bike... :P

Parking...

If you thought something bad when you read that title, then... you have the same type of mind that I do. :D

Anyways... we have very narrow parking spaces down here in Renseltucky and people aren't very good at squeezing their aircraft carrier size SUVs into the spots. They stick out into the middle of the street and block everyone's view who is pulling out of their spots there. Now, this is not paralell parking, just slightly angled so it's even easier than pulling straight in, say at Wal-mart. Our office building has several other offices in it. This younger girl, who's face is painted on with a roller, drives this little, red matrix (she doesn't even drive one of the battlecruisers that some of the other people drive!). The other day I pull up and into a spot and she is parked over the line. Well, with my car sitting in the middle of my spot, I'm pretty close to her car so there is barely enough room for her to get in. Being the delightful person that I am, I decide that I'm not adjusting my car and making it so I have barely enough room to get out of my door so she can easily get into her car. She was the one who was parked on the line anyways. Let her squeeze her fat butt into the spot.

I'm in the office all day and I see that her car had left for lunch. After a bit, she comes back and there is an empty spot next to my car so she takes it. (Now, keep it mind, she was the one who parked horribly at the beginning of the day - I parked my car pretty much in the middle of the spot and she still barely had enough room to get into her car). Anyways, she pulls in and backs out several times, each time making sure she is getting closer to my car. This girl purposefully parks extremely close to my car, this time parking over the line, haha!

The truck next to her left and I thought how devious it would be to go move my car to the other side of her but park so close, her door wouldn't be able to open. I decided that it would be better to let it all go and not get into some parking drama war with a tubby, chain-smoking girl who's self-esteem was so low she has to wear a mask each morning. I wonder if she has to use a chisel and hammer washcloth to get that off at night?

Anyways... what I did was just wait until she left for the day before I went out to my car and left, thus defeating the whole point of her purposefully parking so close to my car. If she parks bad again, I'm going to find a flyer (or even make one) with directions to a driving school somewhere nearby... perhaps putting an emphasis on getting a certificate specializing in parking.

Ok, I probably would never do that but the idea amuses me... seriously, though. Someone needs to stand out there with two big, glowing orange sticks in their hand each morning, directing her into the spot. I wonder if she has ever hit anyone pulling into an oil change or car wash? I wouldn't be surprised.

6 days until I pick up my bike... woot!

Summer Time is Here

I borrowed a couple hundred from my roomate so I am getting my motorcycle next week! To say I'm a little excited would be a gross understatement. I gotta get plates for it, get insurance set up, and find a helmet that fits but... other than that, I'm good to go! Hope we get hit with some decent, warmer weather in the coming weeks so I can get some good riding in. I put my two weeks notice in at the phone job. I really don't need it and can't stand it. I also realized that once I'm not paying on my bike or the few hundred on my credit card, that will free up a LOT more money per month. Several hundred actually which is about what I make at the 2nd job...

I can't wait to have my weekends free... then I have no excuse to write... :P

The gym is really calling my name. I think I weigh more now than I ever have before. Blegh... but whatever. I need to cut out the pop and the fast food. That phrase keeps popping up and I know what I need to do but I don't for some reason. It's hard but I need to get off my butt and motivate myself to go exercise. And I have a wii so I have no excuse. Shoot, do the boxing for a couple minutes and that'll make ya sweat.

Although CA is still very attractive, if I'm not happy and content here, I won't be happy and content anywhere. I'm really focusing on accepting life the way it is. I think it's been helpful that my former boss was moved to another position. My focus is just shifting, I guess. I've thought of moving back to Valpo but really not sure. I think I might stay in Demotte but move soon and try and find a newer, nicer place to live. I might get licensed to foster in the next year or so. As long as I have a roomate who can pass the background checks, which I do, then I can contact an agency (other than White's, where I work, of course) and get licensed. Kind of scary but I think it would be a great challenge. One of the hardest but most enjoyable parts of my job is learning how to parent kids, especially the difficult ones. Some of the stuff would blow your mind.

Foster Parents

Nothing tugs at the heart strings quite like a little girl screaming for her mother... as you drive in the opposite direction. All while knowing the pain of that separation is better than the ramifications of allowing immediate reunification... or no removal to begin with.

There still seems to be this stigma in our culture about foster care, as if the foster parents are to blame for the problems in our society... while all along, the birth parents should be the targets. Now, let's assume that it's a given that there will always be people who don't belong where they are... whether it's foster parents in it for the money, judgmental people at your church, or the party animal who works for a Christian organization. There are people who sneak through the cracks, who are in it for the control, for the money, to "save" all the children out there. These people get weeded out. But for every bad seed, there are far more who are in it because they genuinely care about children.

Can these same people argue against the foster care system when a 2 year old comes in says fuck repeatedly, a 5 year old who has killed another human being, or a 4 year old with an STD? There are some who will still argue that these children should belong in their birth home... so that they can be beaten and locked in closets, told they are worthless and stupid and pieces of shit, denied food? And don't even get me started on the sexual abuse...

On top of this, there is very little money for adoption out there these days. Some children aren't getting any money. Children that will need years and years of therapy and counseling, perhaps even stays in residential care due to their extreme issues... and yet we support a war and spend billions on another countries problems while we have an endless supply of our own!?

When you raise children of your own, you have the opportunity to lay the foundation and then build on that. Yet when you foster, you take children into your home who have cracked and broken foundations... and then attempt to repair it.

The next time you encounter foster parents, just remember some of this...

Ross's Leather Pants

I was on my way to court yesterday for one of the kids on my caseload. Having the bad memory that I do, I almost always forget one thing on my way out the door. Forget to brush my teeth, forget my belt, forget my iPod. This particular day I forgot to put gel in my hair. Well, I can't stand just letting my hair sit there. I guess I feel more presentable and professional if my hair looks nice (since I don't just buzz it these days). I'm half an hour early for court so I stop by a Walgreens and finally pick out some super thick hold gel.

I know it will be really sticky but I have toilet paper in my car that I keep for emergency purposes. Spills, runny noses, emergency cleanups. I would keep paper towels but toilet paper is small and easier to hide under my seat. I get in my car and spread some gel on my hands. This stuff is super sticky and I get some on my face. So, I put in my hair, work some magic in the mirror, and then grab some of the toilet paper. The toilet paper doesn't work as I rub and rub, I just end up getting all this little pieces of paper all over my hands. I had to rub my hands together for several minutes to make them unsticky enough to put them on my steering wheel and stick shift.

It wasn't nearly as bad as Ross in the leather pants... but pretty close. I made it to the courthouse and washed my hands before I had to shake anyways hands. It was a pretty funny incident...