So, I am having a crappy day today. I found out the although my husbnad was supposed to be home for Mardi Gras for the 3rd year in a row his job has completely ignored the fact that he asked to stay home for the holiday and are once again sending him off to work in another city which means me and the little one will be alone for Mardi Gras again this year. Let me tell you it is really shitty when you wonder around a completely adult holiday with an infant, baby or toddler. I am really not looking forward to it again this year. I just want to hide but I live only a few blocks from the French Quarter so hiding isn't really an option. I love Mardi Gras I really do as a matter of fact I find it quite refreshing that New Orleans has it's very own holiday that no other place in the United States shares. I just wish my husband was here to share it with me. I have spent too long being all cynical about him not being here all the time and with each passing day that hard shell is becoming more difficult to keep from cracking.
I must work on enjoying each day, that is one thing I will do, enjoy each day. Ok it is one thing that I will try to do.
crappy day
what I am thinking
So this is what I am thinking. I need to turn my life into some money. That will be hard work for sure but if I can pull down $100 per week I could stay home longer and take some of the burden off of Scott. So here is the idea. It is one that I am passionate about which is very important when starting a business. A blogything connecting people who believe that once you become a Mom it doesn't mean that everything else goes away. You are still things other than being a Mom. Sure your life has a baby in it but that does not take away who you ae and you do not have to primarily identify yourself through your child. I do not know how to make it profitable and I would need to make it look good but I think I should try.
Maybe Playboy is Right.
So I have been thinking recently, why does it seem wrong to "friend" people on Myspace that I do not know in real life but it does not feel wrong to "follow" people ion twitter that I do not know at all. What is the difference?
Then I read Peep Culture an article in the February issue of Playboy by Hal Niedzviecki. Basically, we are separating ourselves from one another and by doing so we get the feeling that it is ok to get virtually closer to one another. Even though you really want to know what is going on inside that weird house down the street you would never walk up to the window and look inside but you would "follow" the people who live in that house on Twitter. And though that would would get a glimpse through the curtains into that person's life. Hal is exploring the question, why does that seem ok? And what does that mean for society.
After I moved to New Orleans I used Myspace to stay in touch with my friends back home. It was great because I could check in on them whenever I wanted without bugging them with a phone call just to say I was homesick again, but I never added a person to my friends list that I did not know personally because I thought I did not want to look into their lives and I did not want a stranger looking into mine but now that I am on Twitter it feels different. I think the reason for this is two fold, one is that it happens so fast it is more interactive I'm updating and they are updating and we are virtually communicating even though I don't know some of these people we can have a more instant conversation rather than just picking through the life of someone I don't know they are "talking" to me and two the things they are saying to me are short they are fast snippets of what is happening in their lives right now not whole life stories such as can be found on a blog. When I read a blog I feel like I am invading someones life more than when reading tweets because they are so short.
Is it invading if people put the information out there for the taking? No, but it is still the way I feel. With each generation we feel less and less that way as a people it becomes more and more acceptable to "friend" and "follow" anyone without ever laying eyes on them, I think this is because we actually "know" fewer people these days. The Internet is slowly but surely cutting out the middle man in life. Now the computer is becoming the middle man we never actually see the people we talk to online so I talk to my computer and my computer talks to you it is as simple as that and one day when I am older I will think of you and realize I never actually knew you.
The bottom line
The CEO of JP Morgan Chase thinks it is "unfair" for Obama to put a pay cap on CEO's of banks who received bailout money. Well, guess what it isn't unfair, it is perfectly fair. If your institution is doing fine and does not need taxpayer money to bail out the water from the economic flood that they helped create then you get the right to pay yourself whatever you want. But the minute you walk into Congress and ask for the people's money to help your company then it becomes perfectly fair for us (the American people) to set limits. The American people elected Obama as our spokesman, it is his job protect our assets. The money that I can in taxes is meant to support the government not pay your million dollar salary.
If you think it is "unfair" then give the billions of dollars back to the government then you can pay yourself whatever you want. You went to the government begging for money, you can give it back, let you company go under and see how much you are getting paid then. Beggars can't be choosers Mr. CEO so if you really need that money shut up and take your $500,000 salary. I haven't made that much money in my entire life, just think about how lucky you are for a change and stop your bitching.
My Turn Day
Everyone should help people everyday. I really believe this even though I don't do it every day. Some days I empty the change cup in my car out into the hand of a man or woman standing by the side of the road with a cardboard sign. After I do this I feel happy not happy for myself but just happy it really puts a smile on my face. We should do things like this everyday. If we all did little things for people every day then the world would be a much better place. People get caught up in thinking that they can't help unless they make big donations to well know organizations but that simply is not true. It is the little things that give a little speck of light into someone's day that make the most difference on a personal level. Help the people around you, the ones to pass on your way to work. If you help those close by you will be more likely to really see the difference you are making.
If you need a little extra push to get out and help check out this website http://myturnday.com. Sometimes all you need is a little push
Zasu Pitts
First, let me say with a name like that she already gets a gold star in my book. Zasu Pitts birth name was Eliza Susan Pitts, you can see where she came up with her stage name I am sure. If you don't see it yet, just wait for it and it will come to you. She goes all the way back to silent films and was one of the people to see the transition from silent to talkies. It seems as though she made it through the switch as well with a film career before and after films started to speak. She found work in vaudeville as well as lending her talents to radio. Working along side the likes of Bing Crosby , Al Jolson and Rudy Vallee as well as many others.
Zasu also acted on Broadway and starred in "Ramshackle Inn" in 1944 which was especially written for her by George Batson. There are many quotes about her but my favorite one is by the Director Alfred E. Green who said her face "has been on more cutting-room floors than any other actress". Turns out she was a famous scene-stealer who had a habit of overshadowing the star. Leading to her scenes being cut to keep peace on the set. She became ill late in life but she continued to work. I wonder when reading biographies of older film stars if they worked on because they wanted to or because they had to, now a days people just assume movie stars have money no matter what. Of course we also assume that anyone who has any kind of part in a movie is a star. That is just not true, but that is another story.
Zasu was married twice with one child who was her best friend's son. Zasu and her husband Tom Gallery adopted the boy when his mother, Barbara La Marr died. She was quoted as saying "I was what they called a feature player, never a star. They say I was in 500 films, everything but the newsreels." She passed away on 7 June 1963in Hollywood, California and although I find it strange that things like this are available on the Internet she was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA, in the 'Grotto' section, Lot 195, Grave 1 in case you are looking for her.
Grace Coolidge
Born on January 3rd, 1879, Grace Coolidge was voted one of America's twelve greatest living women in 1931. I had no idea that was something that people vote on or at least it was in 1931. Of course, we do have the sexiest man alive and things like. She lived from 1879 - 1957 an only child. She graduated from the University of Vermont and went to work at the Clarke School for the Deaf. She met Calvin Coolidge while in Nothhampton, NH.
Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge was in charge of the families finances and raised the children from cradle to playing ball in the backyard while her husband was rising in the ranks of politics. From Governor to Vice-President to President. She was gay and gracious, tactful and stylish in all that she did including dealing with the sudden death of her 16 year old son.
She was much loved by the American people and was discribed by her husband in his autobiography in this way: "For almost a quarter of a century she was borne with my infirmities, and I have rejoiced in her graces."
More info can be found here.
