Verbal Fireworks

We were having a nice, quiet holiday, even staying home while the kids went to the parade.  Fireworks had been purchased; food was ready to go on the grill.

Then the boys decided it was a good idea to set off bottle rockets.

At first they aimed them into a pool of water and enjoyed watching the water turn to steam.  When that got old, they began aiming them across the street at the empty green space.

Altercation #1:  Woman in pink shirt complains the rockets are landing too close to her kids.  Spouse told the boys to aim them elsewhere.

Altercation #2:  Pink shirt complains again when one bottle went rogue, and calls reinforcements, her family.  Profanity gets yelled.  Stepdaughter yells back, and a verbal pissing match ensues.

Altercation #3:  Grandson and oldest granddaughter add their voices to the fray, causing tempers to flare and a threat to be issued.  Stepdaughter tells Pink Shirt to 'come on over'.  Pink Shirt threatened to call the cops.

At this point, I intervened, and told both Granddaughter, Grandson, and Stepdaughter to stop talking and walk away.

Altercation #4:  Everyone starts yelling at ME, trying to justify their positions.

Which leads me to believe that common decency has nearly disappeared.  People are so used to hiding behind a computer/tablet/phone and saying (typing??) exactly what's on their mind, that when a face-to-face conflict arises, they revert to age 3 behavior.  Name calling, profanity.....no matter what the age of a child is present.  My efforts to calm the situation and diffuse it failed because I'm the only one who still has a shred of common sense left in her body!!!

Pink Shirt and her family eventually did move on to the public fireworks, which caused the stepdaughter and I to tongue-in-cheek wonder at some of the larger displays...."Is she complaining NOW about the fireworks landing too close to her kids?"

A policeman did show up, but no one 'fessed up about who was making the complaint.  He didn't question us.

Wonder what will happen next year?  Will she have on the same Pink Shirt, or will I be referring her as another color?  Will the family LISTEN to me next year?  Will the BOYS listen next year, and shoot them off in another direction?

Only time will tell.

On The Fence....

I've been watching the immigration debate with mixed emotions.

On one hand, I agree with T and the candidate for France; keep them out or allow them, provided they assimilate; after all, if we were to go to their country, we would have to wear the head scarf and not allowed to eat pork.  So why should we suddenly be forced to stop serving pork in restaurants; be tolerant of their religious beliefs by not mentioning Christianity; and in some cases, not go into certain neighborhoods after dark?

But on the other hand, Christ preached love and tolerance.  America was founded on religious freedom.

BUT.....white Christians are rapidly becoming the minority.  So?????

I want the freedom to pray in public;to walk w/o fear through a neighborhood in the daytime; to eat what I want, when I want, and how much I want.

Men.....Who Can Figure Them Out?

I was absolutely floored a few weeks ago, when I saw a PM pop up from a man whom I've not spoken to in three years.

And then it turned out to be one of those 'pranked' emails.

REALLY?

He dropped hints at our reunion that he wanted to continue a friendship with me; even prior to our meeting face-to-face, we'd frequently PM each other on FB.  On my birthday, instead of posting to my wall, he sent me a very sweet Happy Birthday message.

A month after the reunion, he revealed he was dating a former friend of mine.  Fine.  I had no problem with it, and in fact, was looking forward to meeting her again after 30 years.  I PM'd him when I was in town next.

Radio silence.

This continued for 6 months, then they got engaged.  I sent congratulations.

Radio silence.

Another six months went by.  They got married.  Again, I warmly congratulated them.

Radio Silence.

1st anniversary, same thing.

*crickets*

They just had their 2nd anniversary, and again I sent warm congrats.  She 'liked' my comment.  Again, radio silence from him.

I'm still wondering if I missed something at the reunion.

Let Me Get This Straight...

Hubby just told me an incident which happened last month (go HERE for the story) and it has me in a state of total shock and disbelief.

In a nutshell, a state trooper investigated a traffic accident.  A routine check of drivers license reveals an illegal alien, who's been involved in drug trafficking, had previously been deported, and was now back.  He calls ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and then finds himself suspended.

For doing his job.

Now I ask, what kind of message does this send?

To illegals:  'Don't worry; if you get caught, the mean officer will be reprimanded...'

To police officers:  'Yes, we have an illegal immigration problem, but in this county, we don't agree with the Federal law, so disregard it.  Just look the other way.'

If we don't pull together as a country, we won't HAVE a country anymore!!!!

For the record, I don't care who sees this post!

Double Standard?

More proof that *only* the Libs can post anything.....Conservatives cannot.

Double standard, yes?

You Want Me To Do WHAT?

******WARNING:  Rant ahead***********

Last night, I received the following email:

The editorial committee has reviewed the stories for the (name of the group and title withheld) Anthology and feels your in its current form is not a good fit for the anthology.

Say what?  It went onto say a beta reader had this criticism: "It (the story) isn’t about healing. It’s about how it destroyed them (the characters).  And murdering the person who did it.  It’s not a story that represents victims and could actually lead to other victims getting dark ideas.  Normally, I would be glad if it actually promoted healing, but it doesn’t, and instead promotes hiding and covering up…. The story makes me highly uncomfortable as a sexual abuse survivor and actually was a trigger for emotions.”

Okay, so in other words, you feel as if readers need a security blanket before reading it?  Sigh....this is what I get when 'snowflakes' decide to rule the world and inflict their issues on everyone else.

I don't mean that flippantly; I recognize certain readers would find this story disturbing-hell, I wrote it and even I found it a little disturbing that something so dark came out of my psyche!  But this is what the character revealed, so I wrote it down. 

Here's my beef:  This book is slated to be released in 13 days.  It's been up on a shared Google Docs file for over a year.  And yet you choose NOW to tell me it's not a 'good fit'?

Here's the part that really got me:  "Could actually lead to other victims getting dark ideas."  Um, have you not read any Stephen King?  Seen the TV show, How to Get Away With Murder?  Or even watched CSI or even any Law and Order?  Believe me, there are PLENTY of ways to think, "Oh, I could do that so much better and not get caught!"  

Please.  *eye roll*

I can't change the title; it's out there on ALL of my promo....books I've released, blogs written, even my website.  Yeah, I could go back and change them....and I may still have to, if I can't come up with a decent story to submit.  If I pull out, the antho shrinks even more, and I'd hate to see that happen, since I'm one of biggest names in it.  (Not bragging....just stating a fact.)

I tried seeing if one of my other short stories, one that's more upbeat, would fit, and it might.  On the other hand, as I was off to drown my sorrows at karaoke, another idea came to me, and I wrote 3 pages.  It might be crap; it might be a gem.  At any rate, my heroine finally told me her name this morning, so I'll type it up and see if the creativity takes off.

Can't hurt. 

But again, this just royally pissed me off.  Why the hell did they wait until NOW to tell me?

****Rant over*****

Smoke And Mirrors???

I've largely ignored the news the past week, and even eye-rolled as I watched the SNL skits about Certain People In Washington.  I stated in the last post that hubby has become an armchair politician, and this morning, had an epiphany.

Is all this media hype concerning a leak, tweet after tweet, problems with confirmations, all simply a case of Smoke and Mirrors?  Misdirecting the media, so they don't see what's actually happening?

DT seems to be largely unaffected by all the kerfuffle surrounding a Certain Brand being removed from stores, firestorms over His Mouthpiece and Chief of Staff.

And as someone pointed out, Dems dealt with Russians too, before they were elected, so why are they so up in arms about DT?  The raids in California were planned way in advance....not just thrown together last minute.  Don't blame DT.  That's on BHO.

I applaud the DNC chair who told his party to 'grow up'.

I'm also proud that only 5 incidents of slamming occurred at the Grammy's.....though I LOVED the 'fake tweet' gag!  But Bey, Busta, Paris, and Katy.....get over yourselves.  Really, 'Pres Agent Orange'? 'Resist' Was it really necessary?  Bravo to the one singer who stood up and wore the Trump Train proudly.  I've no idea who you are, but I'm told your album went to #1 on Amazon on Monday.  Bravo.

I didn't watch the SAGs or the Globes, but was disappointed in one prominent member of Hollywood.  I didn't like her in 1977, and in recent years, I've become a cautious fan, but after the rant onstage after she won, she needs to STFU.