Sunday

So making a post, simply because I am bored.  Nothing really to report.

This last week the client was in the office, and things went smoothly.  It was a lot of hard work, but by the end of the week things were better.

I was fighting a cold all week.

Finally was able to get some work done on my tattoo

I had a lot more to say.. but I seem to have forgotten in.

More next week.

Whoa dude.

Let me tell you, it's been a fun.. couple of weeks.   Just gotta keep on swimming, and think smiling happy people everywhere!

New phone system at work, as well as a new building, all the while training and continuing to call for the annual programs, and the client is visiting the same day that we start out in the new building.

I currently work by myself from 8 to 9 and in the new building everyone is quiet, definitely a difference from M1. 

I like our new office, it's very clean and bright, and has nice big windows, draw back to the big windows.. it's fricken freezing in here.  It also does not help that the docking bay is right outside our area with non-sealed doors between us and the docking bay.

Oh well, I have my sweater and I'll bring in a blanket and all will be fine.

I'm the kind of person that can easily roll with change, something changes, all right.  Yet there are a lot of people who do not, and I work with some of them.  It amazes me that people tend to forget Michigan has a 14% unemployment rate, and while this job may not be the greatest in the world, it is by far not the worse.  I work for a great company that seems to care about the people it works for. My TLs are really nice and try their best to keep everyone happy.  I definitely do not envy their job as they try to keep their bosses, the client and their workers all happy at once. It is not an easy thing to do.

Anyways, Family news; My niece Raeanne is selling girl scout cookies, yes.. I now have a constant supplier for my Tag-a-Longs. BWAHAHAH 

Ben and Nick are doing well in school.  Ben is still struggling with math, but we are working on that everyday.  I think as parents all 3 of us do well with the boys. I see them being very successful in life as we have instilled in them you have to work to get things you want.  I recently read an excerpt from "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" I've heard lots of reviews on this book recently and decided to read a bit for myself before I purchased anything.  After the excerpt I read, I decided against it.  Amy Chua is a mother of two girls who was born in China and immigrated with her parents over to the United States. She goes on to compare the differences between "Chinese" Parenting and "western" parenting.  Which she uses loosely where "Chinese" parenting is strict parenting, and "western" parenting is more laid back.

Amy Chua's daughters are very successful, her eldest played the piano at Carnegie Hall at age 13, her youngest was taught violin by one of the most sought after instructors in the world. Yet, her methods were very harsh, on the verge of abusive. A piece

     "Here are some things my daughters, Sophia and Louisa, were never allowed to do:

• attend a sleepover
• have a play date
• be in a school play
• complain about not being in a school play
• watch TV or play computer games
• choose their own extra-curricular activities
• get any grade less than an A
• not be the #1 student in every subject except gym and drama
• play any instrument other than the piano or violin
• not play the piano or violin"

I could almost understand most of what she was saying her methods are extreme but in an interview she claimed it was all done in love, so that it was not abuse.  Another piece of the book that actually offended me quite a bit.

"Of course, I also wanted Sophia to benefit from the best aspects of American society.  I did not want her to end up like one of those weird Asian automatons who feel so much pressure from their parents that they kill themselves after coming in second on the national civil service exam.  I wanted her to be well rounded and to have hobbies and activities.  Not just any activity, like "crafts", which can lead nowhere--or even worse, playing the drums, which leads to drugs-- but rather a hobby that was meaningful and highly difficult with the potential for depth and virtuosity. And that's where the piano came in"

I hate to break it to you Mrs. Chua, but the piano is a percussion instrument. Now while I have met some drummers who do drugs, and many popular drummers in bands become drug addicts.  Just because one plays the drums does not mean it leads to drugs.  Percussion can be very meaningful and highly difficult, why don't you play the 5 octave marimba with 6 mallets and see how easy it is?

Amy Chua claimed in her interview she was trying to be satirical and have a bit of tongue in cheek, but in the small amount I read it did not feel that way, and I do not want to read any further.  Demanding high standards from your children is fine, forcing them to play and not giving them bathroom breaks until they mastered a concerto is not.

Dan has been doing ok, some days are better than others, but fortunately seems to have more better than not.  We tried to play with his medication dosage recently and found out, that the cocktail he has works best for him.  It's not the best as it makes him drowsy in the mornings and he has to nap, but without it the bad thoughts come back.  I'd rather he take a nap in the middle of the day than to have those horrible thoughts that come into his mind.  I wouldn't wish what Dan has been going through on anyone.

Parents are good, lil bro was home for a while and now he is off to the grand state of New York to go through prototype school.  He talks about what he has to do and it is way over my head.  So I just nod and smile and realize my brother is going to see and do great things in his life, and I will proudly be watching.

Dan's parents are doing ok. His mom not so much as she is feeling a lot of stress and that makes her condition worse.  Lynn always tries to make everyone happy, and making two people happy that she lives with right now is not easy and it's a strain on her. Dan has to call and remind her to take her medicine every day, otherwise she forgets and does even worse.

Family is family is family, and I will love all of my family members to the day I die, but I do not have to like what they are doing.  Some people are very VERY selfish and can only think of themselves.  They also want all of the rewards but none of the work.  There are ways to getting what you want, and just not in the black and white that you see.  I hope that you can see what you are doing to your mother and how blessed you are to have some place to sleep right now, and not out in the streets, because I know a lot of parents who would've kicked you out for what you have done recently.  Count your blessings one by one and you can see what God has done.

Well there is my post for today, while I wait for the work day to end.  I'm sure I've made a few people angry, and if that's the case... well it is what it is.  I used to be the same as my mother-in-law always trying to make everyone happy.  My resolution is to stop that, and say what is on my mind, I tear myself up too much trying to keep everyone happy but myself.  I know what I have to do to be happy and well, I'm doing it.  God has given me that lesson, and I plan on learning it.