Random

So I was out late on Friday, and on my way home noticed how pretty the Verrazano looked. I have always be mesmorized by it whenever it's all lit up. When a few minutes after 3AM had passed, I looked again and noticed it was OUT. The only lights on were the two red fog lights on each tower. It was so strange.

Last night I went for a jog along Grymes Hill where there's a spectacular view of the bridge. The same thing happened, the bridge looked like a diamond necklace one minute, then was dim the next.

This makes me wonder? What are the reasons for turning the lights on and off? It's just something I would like to know..

A Heads Up Please?

I hate situations like today. I come in to work early for my shift to be polite to the girl working before me. This allows her to leave early. Sweet, work is going well and it's almost time for me to leave. One problem: The night shift girl is running late .. really late.
After a few unanswered calls and another hour pass, I realize this girl is not coming in. Although I had schoolwork to finish I begrudgingly agree to stay because I NEED the money(see car accident photo in earlier post).
I wind up staying until midnight, which usually isn't a problem because I stay up late any given night of the week. I just wish she had KINDLY foretold me that she was not going to work. I would have reluctantly agreed to cover her shift, but hey .. maybe I'm too demanding.

This is how I feel about many situations: JUST THROW ME A BONE HERE. I won't get mad if you cut me off on the highway, IF YOU SIGNAL FIRST. This also relates back to an earlier post I made about my guy troubles, where I requested to be kept in the loop. If you have a change of heart, or are about to cheat .. just let a girl know what's up. I can't change how people are, but it would sure as hell make things a lot simpler for people like me who prefer not to suck. 0_o

Is the housewife extinct?

It seems today that the societal norm is for everyone and their mother to go to college and then go out into the workforce. My entire generation is doing its best to do so because it's just the way it is these days. When my parents were my age, college was something that only some attended and a diploma actually DISTINGUISHED you from the masses when trying to land a career. Now with the economy as it is and every Tom, Dick, & Henrietta getting their Bachelor's Degree, a college diploma seems to be as common as graduating high school.

Within the adult community I see most families have both parents working and women need their careers just as much as men do. My family seems to be a rare breed with only one parent working (ironically my mother) leaving the other to tend to the household.

But if my grandmother was a housewife, and her mother before her the same .. how is it that in less than half a century the social structure of the American family could change so much?!

Now, I'm a chick so obviously I'm all for women empowering themselves and making it in the corporate world .. but I also have all the respect in the world for the good old-fashioned stay-at-home mom. I think having a parent home, in my case it was my dad, really makes an impact on a child's experience growing up. It makes for such a more nuturing environment, and I do take pity on those kids who were enrolled in Day Care programs and had babysitters since before they could walk. It's as if the third parties are doing more work raising the child than the parents themselves.

Anyways, the reason this issue came to mind is becuase of my roommate. She's from the south and has been a good student all her life. After graduationg a prestigious, all-girls, private high school in her hometown and now coming to St. John's UniversAity for over half a year now .. she has decided that school may not be for her. An "A" student considering dropping out? Her reasoning is that she hopes to be a mother and wife for the rest of her life and doesn't have any real career-oriented goals for her future. If she could have it her way she would be home in Texas married and raising a family the traditional way.

When I mention this to anyone they simply think I'm joking or call her crazy for having such ambitions .. or what some would say "lack of" ambitions. However, it is simply unsettling for me that it seems people no longer think of a stay-at-home mom as a possibility anymore. What was the norm for our parents is not even a contemporary consideration for us. It makes me think how less family time affects those raised in such situations.

Most may say my roommate is making a huge mistake and ruining her future. But would living in such a way possibly make her family closer-knit and her children better raised in respect to the old-fashioned way of seeing things? Hm

NEWSFLASH:

Today at 11:15PM EST I caused Johnny Kiamie to be at a loss for words. This has never happened before and may never happen again. Let the record show:

Johnny Kiamie (New York, NY) wrote at 11:15pm
"FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MY ENTIRE LIFE I AM AT A LOSS FOR WORDS"


score.

Beads Tuesday, Ashes Wednesday?

So I have always been fascinated by this portion of the liturgical calendar. Last week signified the beginning of Lent, the most important season in the year of the Church. But before this kicked off with millions of Catholics dawning a fashionable splotch of ashes on their forehead, it was the venerable "Fat Tuesday" or for the Girls Gone Wild fans out there, Mardi Gras.

Mardi Gras is an intriguing day in my opinion. Many of my friends headed off to iHOP for FREE PANCAKES(yes I said it so take a mental note for NEXT year if this is news to you).

Others went to bars and clubs for indulgent Mardi Gras celebrations since this is traditionally a day of decadence before a period of fasting. I think it's great how a guy or girl who went completely over the top the previous night will walk around bearing his or her penitent ashes the following day. My favorite are those who pack the streets of the French Quarter to "bare-all-for-beads" then line up at Mass the next morning. But who am I to judge how much some value day-glo plastic beads?

Another thing I wonder about is individual Lenten sacrifices. How much do you have to like something or how often do you have to use it to make it enough of a sacrifice? For instance, I can't give up smoking because I am not a smoker. I also shouldn't volunteer to give up sushi or watching Sex and the City because going without either of those for 40 days would not affect me at all. I'm still trying to think of what I could give up..