Why not just shoot yourself?

I keep trying to remind myself that some people don't fully grasp what it means to be alive. And that teenagers and people in their lower twenties don't yet have fully developed brains. But it really doesn't matter, when people are SO incredibly stupid and wasteful with their lives. Other people desperately wanted to live and didn't get to, and these idiots are throwing away that precious gift - for what?

I just read an article from the AP about the risks associated with a new very pure, very cheap form of heroin from Mexico.

From the article:
Glendale, Calif., often ranks among the safest cities of its size. But police are concerned about a growing heroin problem tied to Mexican street gangs from nearby Los Angeles. Gang members make the quick drive up Interstate 5 to deliver heroin straight to high school kids.

"They tell them, 'Just smoke it. It's just like smoking a cigarette. It's just like smoking marijuana,'" said Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz. Once the kids are hooked, "they've got a customer forever."

Just smoke it?? JUST SMOKE IT??? Even marijuana is more potent and dangerous than it used to be, and everyone knows - or at least ought to - that if you mess with heroin, you've just given up your life. Not to mention, these are gang members driving up to you, offering you random powders, and you have no idea what's in it. How about potassium cyanide? Mix it with a little sugar or starch, and sell it as cocaine - how would you even know the difference? And these kids just SMOKE it??

Shooting yourself seems about at the same level of stupidity as using this new form of heroin. I just can't get over the concept that people are really so bored with the life they've been given, and so incapable of appreciating it and everything it offers that they would waste it in such a pointless fashion. I am personally offended at anyone who treats their life so carelessly.

I feel a lot more sorry for the loved ones that they care so little for, they'd throw their lives away than those stupid idiots who think it's FUN to take random drugs from gang members. If someone is that stupid, I feel no obligation to feel sorry for them, even in a general way.

Weekends

I finally have weekends again. Well.... sort of, given that I still expect to be working, and I have homework. But, in theory - I have weekends. I also am very happy with my new job. Now, as soon as school is done, maybe I'll start having a life again too. :)

I am reminded today of how important it is to take time off for one's self, to do things that allow the mind to slow down, and appreciate the little things that make one remember that life is more than the endless hamster wheel.

Today, on my day off, I made about a dozen apple pocket pies and German style potato salad. And some laundry and dishes. But, no obligation to work. I still am having a hard time with that soaking in, I do believe.

I also watched a lot of TV today. Today has been a truly lovely day, and now I'm watching Iron Chef America, with the secret ingredient being cheese. I love cheese. Tomorrow, I have yoga. It's been a good day.

yuppie/hippie hybrid

This morning was a happy occasion because I awoke at 7:20am – the same time that the Bremerton ferry leaves for Seattle. I then took a hot bath in my enormous clawfoot bathtub, ate some yummy Kashi cereal for breakfast, and blow dried my hair in the kitchen because I have no outlets in my bathroom. The place is actually so old that all of the electrical stuff is on the outside of the walls. The window in the bathroom doesn’t fully shut either, so this morning when construction started and the sound of metal striking metal woke me up, it was quiet enough that I thought my upstairs neighbor was eating cereal and banging the spoon against their bowl. I will be getting curtains. And maybe some of that rubber stripping stuff.

On my way walking through the lobby of my building, I imagined that the other people around me had little bubbles detailing their commute. One woman’s read, “Drove from Renton, left at 7:00am, drove bumper to bumper for forty-five minutes, then waited in line for ten minutes to get coffee at Starbucks.” Another’s read, “Rode the bus from Capitol Hill, took a half hour.” A man dressed in a sharp looking business suit with droopy skin under the eyes had a bubble that read, “Drove from Tacoma, there was an accident blocking traffic and it took an hour and forty-five minutes to drive less than thirty freeway miles.” What did my bubble say? “Left apartment at 8:15, took ten minutes to walk in the sunshine and fresh fall air to work.” I was feeling entirely too bright and chirpy thinking about how wonderful my imaginary bubble read in comparison to what others must have. Of course, there are the ones who make piles of money and can afford one of those lovely condos down at the waterfront. I’m not one of them.

My mom is bringing me my cell phone that I forgot at her house last night and she’s bringing along contact paper (which was the only thing that the adorable little grocery three blocks from where I live didn’t have last night. It’s like A Capella, only cuter) so I can finally unload my kitchen. I plan to have my whole apartment completely organized and tidy by the 16th of November (because I can’t buy shelving units and my second steamer trunk until the 15th). I love my new place – it’s about the size of a shoebox, and it’s got more character than my first apartment in Vienna, and I love it. It fits my aesthetic, it fits my budget, and I just love living in Seattle.

I think the attitude of this blog has much improved since my time spent in Singapore. Even horrible news doesn’t tick me off nearly as much, merely because I’m actually happy. Imagine that….