TOOK A KIND OF VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE TEST TODAY.

In the German version it's "Berufsberater vom Arteibsamt."

MY DAY OFF

Spent most of it at home in bed as it's freezing outside and in my room.

urbanexile@mail.com

AT TWO PM TODAY IT WAS ABOUT 43 DEGREES AND RAINING.

Stuff was already closing down.

I HEARD THE BANK WITH WHICH I HAD MY MORTGAGE HAS ANOTHER GRANT PROGRAM.

Wouldn't hurt to look into it I guess.

urbanexile@mail.com

IT'S A BAD YEAR FOR THE FLU.

People are actually dying.

"SWEET" CHARITY

"I want to live for something. I don't want to live to get charity food to give me enough strength to go back to get more charity food."

Betty Smith

In this case"charity" can apply to faith-based (or other) charities, government  programs or corporate grants. It seems job fairs, job training programs and "home saving" programs basically refer people to other programs but don't do much to address some of the root causes of poverty--mental and physical health and substance abuse. Sure, they supposedly help people find jobs but what kind? Answering phones? Handing out cheese samples? Folding sweaters? The Census Bureau tempts people with temp jobs but I haven't heard of any of them actually leading to full time employment with the Federal government or any contract agencies.

And what about holding people accountable? Saying "you've been in this program for six years, why haven't you found a job yet? Or quit drinking, doing other drugs, getting out of whatever situation is holding you back?" A former professor told me about people who have taken every course in the college catalogue so they can retain their student status and keep getting benefits. Not sure who's to blame.

THE BEST A MAN CAN GET? REALLY?

I wondered what all the hoo-hah was about with the latest Gillette TV spot so I finally watched it:


 

 Their slogan is "the best a man can get" but it could have been better.


A response:


   

Some well-deserved parodies:


 








Fortunately I have never been sexually assaulted but I have been sexually harassed.

And I am a violent crime victim. Like the #metoo movement, Gillette took a good thing but ran with it the wrong way. You might say it threw out the baby with the bathwater. It equates being catcalled and leered at with being raped or even murdered. That's like equating spraining your ankle with having a leg amputated or having your car door dinged to having the whole car totaled. It's insulting to women who are actual victims and men who aren't even mentioned.  A transgender character in Matthew Weiner's The Romanoffs puts it well when he says "we want to be delicate, we want to wear make up and pretty dresses and have someone catch us when we faint but that's not what women are. That's what men say they are. Think of the woman you want to become. We all have one. And she's tougher than a hundred hooligans."

In short, I won't be buying any Gillette products and won't encourage anyone else to either.

urbanexile@mail.com 

WENT TO SEE A NEW DOCTOR AT THE CLINIC I'VE BEEN GOING TO FOR AT LEAST SIX YEARS.

He asked if there had been any trauma in my life so I had to tell him about the robber ALL OVER AGAIN. I wanted to say "dude, it's in my chart."

At about 5:01 AM on October 20, 2012 I was beaten and robbed several hundred yards from my home. A man grabbed me from behind and said "gimme that shit, bitch." The two men with me were hurt physically worse than I was but it took years to "get over it." Over a year later a neighbour said he could remember me screaming.

WHERE'S MY FREE STUFF?

The city's oldest charitable organization is giving free food to furloughed government workers. So is a local burger joint. And they're collecting cash and gift cards for them in Las Vegas. 

Boo hoo. Welcome to the world of freelancing and part-timing. If I got a free burger for every job that was cancelled or postponed, every time I got paid late, every time a job ended early or I didn't get paid as much as I was supposed to I'd be up to my ass in free food. People tell me "you chose that line of work" or "you chose to live in that neighbourhood." Well, didn't these people choose to work for the federal government? I posted on a couple of these "philanthropic" organizations' Facebook and Twitter pages asking "where's my free stuff?" So far no answer. 

urbanexile@mail.com 

IT'S 13 DEGREES OUTSIDE.

Some schools are supposed to open late today. My bedroom was 60 degrees yesterday and my toilet seat was like ice. I need to move.

TODAY IS MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY.

He had a dream. I stayed in bed the way I do every year--no volunteer work, didn't go to church, etc. However, I was curious about one thing.

I read that Coretta Scott King, his widow, was a supporter of gay rights. This prompted me to wonder what her late husband had ever said about the matter. From what I read online LGBT and anti-LGBT (and lots of other groups) use Dr. King's words to their own advantage just as they would use the bible or any other written work. Web searches show one of his daughters as a proponent of gay rights, like her mother, while another one spoke out against same sex marriage, saying that was not what her father took a bullet for. 

According to PinkNews. in 1958 a teenage boy wrote to Dr. King saying he felt the way about boys the way he "ought to feel" about girls. King's response was that these feelings were common and were the result of environment, not heredity. He told the boy to find a good psychiatrist who could help him find out what "[led] to that" and would essentially "cure" him. Years later in elementary school they were still teaching that homosexuality was a disease--it was not removed from the DSM until 1973. 

urbanexile@mail.com 

LITERALLY ARCTIC TEMPERATURES ACROSS OUR PART OF THE COUNTRY

At least my relief guy showed up on time. Didn't go to the waterfront or my old neighbourhood as planned.

My supervisor has pneumonia.

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE WINTER.

Officially. We had our graduation last night. We are supposed to be eligible for a job training program. As Yogi Berra said, I'll believe it when I believe it. I am still way behind due to being so tired.

urbanexile@mail.com 

SAW MY DOCTOR

I am down about 15 pounds since my last weigh-in partly due to the flu. She told me it's not too late to get a flu shot but I told her the last one I had was as bad as the flu itself--crushing headache and sleeping at least 13 hours. And I got sick anyway. She agreed it's not such a good idea and says next time come in as soon as the symptoms start.

TALKED TO MY MOM.

It was the first time I've talked to her in over a week--I hated to call her just to say "hey, I'm sick and your sister in law died." Also, we have 13 inches of snow. 

urbanexile@mail.com

MY FATHER'S TWIN SISTER DIED TONIGHT.

She would have been 95 years old next month. Of the four sisters in that family there is only one left.

Back at work.

FINALLY WENT TO THE CLINIC

Doctor did some nasal swabs--I officially have the flu. She actually wants me to stay off work. This hasn't happened since I had my gallbladder out.

urbanexile@mail.com

Running a fever of 101.8

urbanexile@mail.com

Took the pigs to the vet.

Dead Tired After Working 17 Hours Yesterday

Spent the entire day at home.

urbanexile@mail.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!