Stupid people

Ask me any day what my biggest pet peeve is, and I'll tell you "Stupid people. Stupidity, or lack of common sense, seems to be contagious, as I see evidence of it everywhere I go. Recently, I encountered a string of facebook posts from various people, some claiming to be "Good Christians", calling people to "pray" for the death of the President. First of all, this "joke" as they call it, is in bad taste. First off, when posting ANYTHING on a public site such as Facebook, ANYBODY can see it, especially if you're someone that's stupid enough to leave all your privacy settings on "Everyone". Even if you have them set as Private, where only your "friends" can view your posts, there are ways around it, especially if it concerns something as sensitive as wishing for the death of a public figure such as the President of the United States. What are these people thinking??? Do they not know that the internet is constantly monitored by the government, and they look for certain keywords that might be considered a threat to national security? This is more of an issue after the events of 9/11. Anyone that even posts the words "Kill President" in the same sentence is putting up a red flag for the secret service to spot. I know you're probably thinking I'm stupid for even putting it here, but I'm in no means plotting anything, or praying for anything of the sort. I'm doing it to prove a point. If you do stupid things, be prepared to face the consequences. You claim you have rights under law, so be it. You have the right to remain stupid. Just don't try to push your stupidity on me.

Spring Update

Well, it has been a while since I posted last. School, for the most part, has kept me busy, but with finals out of the way (I think I may have been lucky enough to have squeaked by with a 4.0 again this term), and 12 days of break until the spring/summer term begins, I have a little bit of time to play catch up. Hopefully, I won't be too "unbusy" though. I do have an interview set up with the local girls' grouphome for an off-campus work-study position (not sure what the job will be yet, but I'm pretty optimistic) and if that falls through, I'm looking at other options. The next couple of semesters won't be so busy, as I only have three classes this next semester, and most likely only two in my final semester.
Since the weather is getting warmer, I plan on trying to get back in shape a little, and riding my new bicycle when I can. I got it with some of my income tax refund a couple of weeks ago, and thus far have only taken it out once (on one of the nice warm days that it wasn't raining) and returned home with a sore butt and slightly out of breath.
Other activities planned for the break include playing around with my newly acquired copy of Photoshop CS4, and playing some Everquest2 when I have the time. I stopped playing Star Trek Online because I got tired of encountering their "issues" and having them blame the games shortcomings on my computer system. Therefore, as with WoW, I took a "vacation" from the game. I reactivated my account, and created an assassin that I have had quite a bit of fun playing. His name? Llaihr. :)

Broken Pieces

Broken pieces, shattered parts
All that remains of this heart
Once innocent and trusting-
Stabbed by a dagger dull and rusting.
How could I have known that
the love that fulfilled me,
would be the love
that ultimately killed me?

David James Stayduhar
23 March 2010, 2:40AM

As a Dog Returns to His Vomit..."

I had thought I was free of this person and his hateful remarks toward myself and my friends. He'd been silent for so long, that, aside from his frequent visits to my blogs, I had almost forgotten that he existed. The peace that had settled over blogdom was too good to last, and just recently, the snake resurfaced, and began to attack with a vengeance, first attacking my friend Tom's post over at Tank For the Light in which he talked about his new headsets (which I found to be interesting, despite its brevity). He put Tom down, claiming that his blog was uncompelling, uninteresting, and uninspiring, and proceeded to attack him and tell him that he couldn't blog. Since Tom is my friend, I jumped to his defense and asked the fool why he even bothered to read the blog if he found it so distasteful, and proceded to tell him to leave Tom alone to write as he pleased. Noone was forcing the idiot to read Tom's blog, so there was no reason for him to read it. Unfortunately, by defending Tom, I played into the fool's hand and he turned his venom on me, referring to me as 'Liar' (a feeble attempt to belittle me, at best) and claiming that he never reads anything I have to say, all the while defending himself against my counterattack, and proving once again, that he is a liar, himself, and needs to seriously grow up. So what does this mean? It means that, most likely, this blog is next on his list of cyber-bullying. Do I care? Not really. I'm not so easily goaded so, Jon, don't even try. Tom, if you should find your way to this post, again, I apologize for my rant on your blog. He just tripped a major trigger, and needed to be taken down a notch or two.

Cold

Have I gotten so cold and unfeeling that I fail to care about what's going on around me? I pondered this question last night, as I was thinking about my roots, and where I was, and what I was as a youth. I was the typical optimist back then, with my proverbial rose-colored glasses, and seeing possibility in everything. I had no cares or worries back then, and cried when it warranted, and rejoiced when good happened. Now, it seems, I have grown so cold and calloused as a result of what life's thrown at me. Heartache has taken its toll. Watching good people fall to corruption, watching good people suffer needlessly as a result of the greed and corruption of others, among other things have left me doubting the existence of goodness in humanity. Watching others suffer, go hungry, or fall ill with nobody else to care what happens to them has left me questioning the existence of God's goodness, or even His very existence. I keep asking and looking for signs that He does exist, but I think I may have become so spiritually blind that I don't see. I know, deep down, that I'm wrong, that He does exist, and that He is out there looking aftr me, but all the cynicism and negativity clouds it much of the time. I fear that I'm losing ground fast, and that there is no hope left for me, and cry out silently to anyone to hear me and pull me out of the fall. Lat night, it had gotten to the point where I was sitting here and thinking if my life was as meaningless as some of the games I play online. I mean, my life is basically the same thing day after day- wake up, go to school, come home, stress over unpaid bills and worrying about if I'll have enough money or food to make it through the week on what little I get from unemployment, while the other person in the household makes three times what I get, and hoards money or spends it on stuff that she doesn't need, and leaves me to cover the extra expenses. I wonder if I'd be better off getting out of this situation that I'm trapped in, and getting a fresh start on my own. However, as she's done a great deal to ruin my credit rating, that I doubt I'd ever get that chance. God, if you're truly out there, please hear this plea, and help me to get out of this, and help me to start anew. I don't want to be cold anymore.

Stop The World... I Want to Get Off!!!

So, it's been a weekend from the old H-E-Double-Ell. First of all, on Friday, I got a lovely letter from my ever-so-lovely friends at the unemployment office that they were threatening to cut my unemployment benefits because "I made too much at Erie Business Center" (my school, where I work through the Federal Work-study Program to help pay for my education expenses). First off, I was told both by the school and UC, upon applying for FWS, that it would NOT affect my ability to receive UC benefits because it was financial aid for school, and thus exempt, and not reportable income. Therefore, I had been filing regularly for a year, with repeated assurances from UC, everytime I had to renew or file for an extension, that it was exempt. So now, because they are no longer using my old job at West as basis for my determination of beniefits, and are now using my "wages" from FWS at the school, they are treating it as sustainable income, and claiming that I'm making too much to receive the paltry $106/week allowance they determined I was eligible for. So, because of all of this, I was fretting and worrying all weekend about what to do once Monday arrived. Monday came, and I took the note to school, where the lady in the financial aid office typed up a nice letter on my behalf to tell them EXACTLY what the money I made via FWS was for, and that it is to supplement my financial aid since I don't qualify for the state grants anymore. When I get my monthly checks, I'm lucky if I get to see $10-20 of it. I then asked Mr. DeSanti for permission to leave class early, so I could take care of it. I left school and headed for the unemployment office, only to be told that I couldn't talk to anyone there, and to leave my paperwork in the drop slot outside. Upon getting home, I was then greeted by a letter from the wonderful gas company that they were going to shut off my service for being behind one payment (gee, I wonder why?), and of course it was too late to call them by then, so I had something else to worry about, causing me to lose more sleep last night. So I woke up after only two hours of sleep and called them first thing in the morning, and they claimed they couldn't help me, but kindly gave me the number to the Energy Assistance program, and they told me that they would take care of it, and all I had to do was put my SS# on the shutoff notice, and put it in an envelope marked "LIHEAP" and drop it in their drop off box. That done, I headed to class one worry lighter. Now all I have to do is wait for UC to drag their feet.

Admiral and New Starship (longer post to come later)

Last night, in a fit of sleeplessness, I played a bit on my character on STO, and within a few quests, got my promorion to Rear Admiral. With the promotion came a new ship. I present to you, the USS Philip Anderson, NCC 91827-C. Ok, now I am going home and grabbing a lengthy nap. Will post the pictures of the upgraded USS Douglas Myers and a more in-depth update on my so-called life later.