slightly relevant

-poor memory
-high prices
-waiting in line
-having to pee
-sleeping
-stoplights
-walking across the building to the bathroom, only to discover that it’s being cleaned and you have to double-back to the bathroom on the OTHER side of the building - all while you’ve got a very full bladder
-standing around listening to people talk in a language you don’t understand, while you are patiently awaiting their instruction
-people deciding they need to take home your hard work and use it for the party they’ve having this weekend, instead of letting you use it to learn (which is why you were instructed to make it in the first place)
-cleaning up after other people
-having to repeat yourself because they weren’t listening to you the first time
-servers being down
-having nothing to eat

I’m reading a book called Born on a Blue Day. It’s the biography of Daniel Tammet, an autistic savant with synesthesia (among other things). This blog entry is not a review of this book (as I haven’t even finished it yet), but I am very much enjoying it. It is probably one of the few biographies that I plan to read more than once. Something I noticed about Daniel is that I can relate to him in a lot of ways - and not only because I am also a synesthete. Some of his idiosyncrasies are things that apply to everyone, but for him they are amplified and thus inside of him create a quandary.

Look at his struggle with change. He has mentioned several times in this book that it upsets him very much when there is a change to his routine. He likes order and structure and certainty. He enjoys routine and it bothers him very much when, for example, he is unable to drink his tea at the normal time one day. While it is an everyday issue for Daniel, it is also an issue for people in general. People don’t like change. When a change occurs, Daniel may have a small meltdown and struggle to cope. And then some people just forget that they have a brain.

It has been almost a week since Hurricane Ike hit and our city still has a long way to go before it has recovered. Half of the greater Houston area is still without power. Most of the street lights are not working, which means they are turned into four-way stops. What amazes me is that people know exactly what to do at a normal four-way stop, complete with stop signs. But when an intersection that usually has a stoplight is turned into a four-way stop, people panic. They just don’t know what to do, and I really can’t help but continue to wonder: why the fuck not?!.

They forget to stop. They stop for way too long, and pass up their chance to go. They cheat and go when it’s not their turn. They cheat and go across with the car in front of them instead of stopping and waiting through the next cycle until it is their turn. They decide that they have the right of way and go when it is obvious that other cars are already going. They just plain lose their brains and all sense of logic. It really makes me wonder how many people on the road have taken a driving course. If they have - could they really forget such rudimentary knowledge as the proper routine to follow when coming to a four-way stop?

It boggles my mind. It frustrates me. It really makes me sad.

Since I can’t seem to find the words lately, here’s a rant written for me by my dear friend Phil.

Ok, so I’m here to step up and give Kelley a nice ranty voice behind one of her most frustrating topics: men.

Now this isn’t going to be the typical rant. It’s not going to be vague and talk about how frustrating we as men are in general. This is going to have some very specific examples ranging friends to family.

Let’s tee of with Mr. Kelley. She used to have a cute nickname for him, but those days are OVER. Why? Well it’s because he’s acting like a little bitch. So we’ll just refer to him as Mr. Kelley. It seems that someone (not mentioning names here) is having a hard time understanding that just because their relationship didn’t work out, that common decency should still be…common. Ignoring phone calls, text messages and emails just shows that he’s just a big child. Where the hell is your pride? Get over it, it’s over and done with. Grow up and be a man.

Now for the best friend. Being no stranger to how frustrating friends of the opposite sex, I know how frustrating it can be. How is it that someone who is supposed to know you and understand you can so equally frustrate you at the same time?? Seriously, he’s supposed to be providing relief and friendship, not the same kinds of headaches as every other fucker is town is causing.

We save the last for dear ol’ Dad. Being a father myself, I generally don’t like to trash dads. Except when they are being dopes.

Remember Kelley’s beloved Scooter cat? The one that went to go live on the farm? Well Kel’s dad does and he’s none too pleased about it. Why? He doesn’t like the fact that the cat will be…OUTSIDE. Never mind that cats lived exclusively outside for MILLIONS OF F’ING YEARS. Apparently he wants new laws…a program called NCLO. No Cat Left Outside.

The funny part? After calling and bitching about the farm plan, did he offer an alternative? I mean for the complaining he did, surely he would have offered an alternative had he really cared so much about ol’ Scooter cat. Maybe he could try and find an indoor home? Offer to take old buddy Scooter to live with him to be cared for? Umm…nope. Didn’t do a damn thing. He took the “seagull strategy”. He blew in, squawked and shit everywhere, then flew away and left someone else to clean up his mess.

So there’s my take on Kelley’s troubles. I personally think she’s too tired of it all to give a good rant, so I’m glad to be able to come in and fill in for her!