Which Minor Deity Is Upset With Me Now?

So, two days after setting up an online blog to give me a place to vent about and sort through the chaos that my life has become, my trusty computer went fzzzzzz and died. Yes, it was three years old, but I loved my old Sony Vaio. It was always there for me...until it wasn't. It never got viruses and I just put new super fast memory in it. And, of course, it's not something simple (or relatively inexpensive) like just the hard drive. Nope. It's the hard drive and the fan and a motor of something. Which means not only is the computer dead, but I may or may not be able to restore all the data that was on it. It makes the external hard drive that I put all my music, movies and most of my writing on a solid investment. Luckily, I have a wonderful computer whiz friend who, despite being the bearer of the sad news of my laptop's death, thinks he can recover most if not all of the data from the fried drive. In the meantime, this is the worst possible timing to need a new computer. And yes, I actually have to replace it because I need it for the part time job I do have and to help me continue to search for full time gigs online. Plus, without a computer, I can't take on freelance proofing jobs to earn extra cash. Fortunately, my parents have taken pity on me and have offered to buy me a new computer. I feel bad (ever since I graduated college I've been determined to support myself) but I also know that eventually I'll get back on my feet and then I can make it up to them. But sometimes it feels like my life has become one huge example of Murphy's law and I'm afraid of what's going to go wrong next.

For now at least, all is okay. If it weren't for Christmas, I might lose it, but the season has served its purpose and provided me with cheer and hope. Despite all the mini-catastrophes, I managed to pull off my first Christmas at my home with flying colors. So my spirits have been buoyed. At least until New Year's when I may end up at home alone because all my friends seem to be pairing up and I made the mistake of trying to date a guy who is still in college (though he is older than me) and can't seem to understand real world problems (you know, things like paying rent, car payments and still affording food as funds dwindle because unemployment benefits don't equal full time employment) and now I'm all alone for New Year's Eve. At least I have 6 bottles of champagne.

An Introduction of Sorts

This should have been my first post, but I wasn't feeling up to writing much last night. About a year ago, I was working at an almost perfect job. I got to proof, edit and write. I knew I was good at what I did and I knew that I helped make our company and the products we published better. Then, they sold the company and after a couple months of searching, I found myself working at an advertising agency. It only took me a few weeks to realize that I wasn't cut out for that cut-throat world. So I started looking for something, anything, else. Unfortunately, by this time the economy was already taking a turn for the worse and I ended up getting laid off (due to a "decrease in workflow") in September before ever getting the chance to tell the HR Lady where they could stick their stupid job.

Now I feel as though I'm back where I started three and a half years ago. Straight out of college, with people telling me that I'm over-qualified for office work (admin assist positions, etc.) but without enough experience to go anywhere in my chosen field. With so many people flooding the job market, no one wants an employee who needs to be trained at all. They want employees who already know exactly how to do their job and exactly how to use their programs. It doesn't matter if I can do what they need, only if I've done it before. Which leaves me floating in an abyss wondering just what I want to do with the rest of my life. I know I don't want to be an advertising proofreader. It's a dead-end career with no room for advancement and lots of room for misery because so many companies (my former place of employment a prime example of this) have designated the copy editing department as official company scapegoat. But I don't know if going back to school is a good option either. Yeah, I could teach at the college level, but only if I can remember enough high school math to pass the GRE and figure out what I want to study. I can keep trying to break into technical writing and real editing, but the problem is that Dallas is not a publishing hub, either in print or online.

So welcome to my quarter-life crisis. It's probably going to be a bumpy ride as this life is experiencing turbulence right now. I'm not five years old any more, so it's not as easy as going up to my mom and saying, "Mom, when I grow up, I'm going to be the first female president-nurse-librarian-scientist-writer!"

if the churches really want to preserve the sanctity of marriage...

Drafted by my dear friend, Citizen B. I've long wondered why it is that so many people and religions feel that homosexual relationships are a threat to their own. How does who my friend chooses to date affect who I am dating? Answer: It doesn't. I've always felt these must be the same people who feel threatened by anyone who doesn't believe everything they do. If you are secure in your beliefs, in your relationships, then nothing that anyone else believes or loves should affect your own beliefs or loves.

Petition for the TRUE Sanctity of Marriage
Submitted by Citizen B

The residents of this state believe our constitution should be amended to protect the sanctity of marriage. Like Proposition 8 in California, this creates in our constitution a definition for marriage- one man and one woman. But let's go back to that word sanctity. We the undersigned feel that constitution does not do enough to preserve this union under its laws.

Therefore, we propose a Sanctity of Marriage Bill to be amended to our constitution. The provisions under the bill are as follows:

1) The intention of marriage is to produce offspring. Therefore, marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman, because two men or two women joined in such a union cannot naturally procreate.

2) Because marriage must lead to procreation, all men and women wishing to be married in this state must undergo fertility tests before receiving a marriage license. If one or both of the potential spouses is found to be infertile, it is illegal for them to marry, because they cannot fulfill the sacred duty of marriage.

3 ) Marriage vows should be written into the letter of the law. Therefore, divorce will be outlawed, assuring that couples stick it out until death do they part. (See addendum bill allowing the state to consider divorce cases only in most dire circumstances of abuse; infidelity is not considered abuse and, therefore, is not a reason for divorce.)

4) To uphold the sanctity of marriage, the spouses must try to produce an offspring in the first year of their marriage. To make sure the couple does not try to violate this sacred marriage right of childbearing, it is illegal to sell contraceptives to married couples. We cannot allow fertile married people in our state to forgo their sacred duty and prevent life!

5) If in the first year of marriage no offspring has been produced, a child will be provided for the couple by the state.

6) With divorce being illegal, there shall be no more prenuptial contracts. What's yours is hers until death do you part, gentlemen.