Two Part Post

This weekend, as I was observing my grandparents, I was inspired to write a post. However, I just went to go eat dinner (or get a midnight snack... depending on how you want to look at it) when something happened to me that needs to be blogged about as well. A part of me doesn't want to make the first part of this post because I fear that it may distract attention away from the second (and more important) part. But, since I think I'll be too distracted to write part two without first commenting on part one, I've decided that I'm going to write about it anyways.

Part 1
As I was about to decide to go to bed, the urge to actually eat something overpowered my drowsiness, so I decided to put off sleeping and go fill my belly with nutrients (not that Taco Bell is really nutritious).

Before I go any further, I believe a bit of background is necessary for full understanding of this situation.

For a really long time I have had "crazy" people randomly come up to me and either tell me their life problems, or request some favor of me. For example, I once had a manager at a CiCi's pizza place tell me of his marital problems... how he can't stand his wife, how he wants to leave her, and other such things. Another example would be the time some random woman at a Wal-Mart asked me for a ride home. I told her that I wasn't leaving any time soon... assuming that she'd give up on me and ask other people. However, she waited 45 minutes for me, then followed me on my way out. At this point, I decided to be nice (surprise surprise) so I agreed to take her home. However, instead of giving me directions to her house she had me drive all over the town, making random stops for a phone call here, or to ask someone for money there. After this went on for a few minutes I realized that the woman was waiting for her drug dealer to get back to his apartment so she could make her purchase. Since he was unreachable to her, she then asked me to take her back to Wal-Mart so she could get something. (It's been so long now that I don't fully remember what she needed back at Wal-Mart.) She did request that I wait for her... I did not. Once she got out of my car I left.

Anyways, I could go on and on about that stuff, but there's no need. I just mention this kind of stuff so you can get a better feel for what happened to me tonight.

After getting my food from Toxic Hell... I mean Taco Bell and eating almost all of it, some guy who works there (off the clock at this point) came and sat down at my table with me. From the smell of his breath I could tell that he had been drinking, so rather than asking him to leave and possibly starting a scene, I decided to just finish my last few bites and be on my way.

When will I learn?

This guy starts telling me about an issue he just had with his roommate, about how his roommate always goes into defensive mode no matter what he says to him, bla bla bla. He then tells me that he's looking for some drugs to get his mind off the situation "at home." *sigh* Then he tells me about how he's queer (his words) and that it seems to be a problem for his roommate.

By this point my food's gone, and I'm ready to leave to get back to my apartment.

Then, out of nowhere, this dude tells me that I'm hot. Totally took me off guard. I had to ask him to repeat himself because I was sure I heard incorrectly. Unfortunately, I did not.

So now that I was extremely uncomfortable I started looking a way out of the place. He continued to talk to me about other stuff, and just before I get up to leave he then stated again that I'm "really hot." Then he offers to get me more food if I was still hungry. I passed. He then said that he was going to go talk to the table of girls sitting behind him. I took that moment to tell him I had to go so I could get some sleep. He then pleaded with me to stay.

I left.

I swear, I don't understand why this kind of stuff always happens to me. First off, why won't people just leave me alone? When I'm sitting by myself, looking at nothing in particular, I don't think I'm giving off a vibe that says "come talk to me." In fact, 99% of the time I'd prefer to just be left alone. And second off, if by chance someone did decide to come and strike up a conversation with me, why can't it just be a normal conversation? Why does it always have to be a conversation about all the things that are going wrong in their life? Or some something that I'm not interested in at all? I just don't get it.

On a positive note, since crazies constantly seek me out, I guess it's a good thing that I'm planning on being a psychologist. I'll never run out of clients.

Anyways, moving on...

Part 2

Last week my grandmother fell and broke her femur. After getting out of the hospital, we had her move into a nursing home since they had the 24 hour care that she needs at the moment. (Thankfully she seems to be doing rather well.)

Well, my grandfather's not able to move into the home with her (at the moment anyways). So, my parents have been taking my grandpa back and forth from the nursing home to their house.

I feel really bad for my grandpa. He and my grandma have been married for 67 years now, and it's tearing him up not being with her. Any time he's not at the nursing home with my grandma, he's asking someone to take him up to see her, or he'll flat out state that he wants to go see "mama."

One night my dad walked downstairs because he heard my grandpa talking. He thought his dad was just talking to himself, but then realized that he was praying. My grandpa was telling God about how much he misses my grandma, and how he hopes she'll heal quickly, and asking to be reunited with her.

This desire of his is what inspired my thoughts on this issue, and is the reason for making this post.

I have mentioned before that I do not understand love. To some degree I do... for instance, I love my family and I'd do anything for them that I could if/when needed. That I can understand. However, it's the romantic love that I don't get. I'm not really sure how to explain my thoughts here... perhaps this love is something you must experience before you can actually comprehend what it is. I don't feel like I'm actually expressing what I'm meaning to say on this so I'm just going to move on.

This love and desire of union brought my thoughts to a question. As I mentioned, my grandparents have been married for 67 years now. In today's time, that's extremely rare. It seems like most marriages now days only last a few years... if even that long.

Years from now, when those in my generation reach the age of my grandfather, it seems most will not have this type of love or desire to be with a particular person. Whereas my grandfather will sit and tell anyone who will listen that all he wants to do is be in the same room with my grandmother, will those of my generation be sitting around telling anyone who will listen that we have all made a huge mistake? Will it take 50 years for us to come to our senses, and to realize that we have no one to share our last years of life with?

I hope and pray that if I do ever find someone to love, and she and I make the commitment of marriage, that we will stick with it... for better or worse... 'til death do us part. When I'm old, I'd rather have the desire to be with the one I love than wishing I hadn't given up on a relationship that could've been rescued had she and I only been willing to put forth the effort to keep it alive.

Calls from Vietnam

I don't get it...

A while back I would regularly receive phone calls from Vietnam... always from the same number.

First I wasn't sure where the call was coming from since I'm not used to seeing a phone number that looks like "+123456789123." I knew that since it had 12 digits it was more than likely an international call. But that's not the only reason I didn't answer it.

First off, I'm not sure how international calls work. I don't know if they're like text messages... meaning I'm not sure if I'll be charged for the call even though I didn't make it much like those without a text messaging plan will be charged for received text messages. Second off, I rarely ever answer my phone when it's from a number I don't recognize.

The odd thing about this was that they were leaving voice mail messages. None of the messages were understandable to me. They all sounded like my number had been dialed by accident in a purse or a pocket. The voice was mumbled and there was a little bit of static.

After the first message I figured that it was a random, accidental call. However, this person kept calling back... and kept leaving messages... and the later messages weren't muffled nor did they contain any static. The lady sounded to be a little grandma lady or something... so then I figured she must not get many calls and must have accidentally hit the redial button.

But then, several weeks after that, I received another call from this person. I figured by this point that this wasn't an accident... but I was (and still am) completely baffled as to why this person continues to call me. My voicemail message is in English... this woman apparently does not speak a word of English but decides that I must be the person she's trying to contact and leaves messages anyways.

I think so far I've received at least 10 - 15 calls from this person.

Well...

It has been several months (maybe almost a year now) since I have heard from my Vietnamese Idiot. But tonight during my class my phone rang. I looked down and noticed that I was receiving an international call. But I was glad when I felt the vibration inform me that I had a voicemail message.

Since it has been so long since I have received an international call I had completely forgotten about this whole ordeal. So when I got back to my apartment I decided I'd try to figure out where this call was coming from.

I did a basic search of international calling codes and realized that this was a call from Vietnam. I'm not 100% sure that it's the same number as before, but what are the odds of two people in Vietnam randomly calling my number?

This time I went a bit further in my research and found that this call is coming from Hanoi. Not a huge help to me, but, whatever.

With all that being said, the phone number I receive is +841698534579

I'm not exactly sure how one would call this number (since I've never actually made an international call) but if what I've read online is correct the number that would need to be dialed (from the states) is: 011 84 98534579

If that is correct, I'm not sure what the "16" is for in the number I have. I know 84 is the country code... and Hanoi has 8 digit phone numbers (which I read were the last 8 digits)... but I am having a hard time figuring out what the 2 digits after the country code are for.

Anyways, if you want to, please feel free to call this person regularly and leave them long, pointless messages that you are sure they will not be able to understand. (i.e. leave the message in Pig Latin or Gibberish)

Cash4Gold

If you watch tv at all you have probably seen this commercial. If not, now's your chance.

Anyways, the point of this post isn't to point out how annoying (and overplayed) it is... but rather two things that are said in the commercial and the thoughts that go through my head every time I see it.

Before I make these comments, first let me clarify that they may be made with the cynicism I have towards relationships. (Especially those with superficial and materialistic women.)

So here goes.

Around 16 seconds an old lady says "I had no idea my gold jewelry was worth so much money."

Really? No idea that gold costs a lot? Well maybe now you won't pitch a fit and put your husband in the "dog house" next time he doesn't spend a fortune when buying you a present. Not only is gold expensive, but so are the gems that you ladies like so much.

With that being said... next time your husband decides to spend thousands of dollars on his bills rather than on buying a pretty little trinket for your finger (or neck) be happy that he's paid the bills so you can have a place to live and food to eat.

The second thing in the commercial I'd like to talk about...

Around 35 seconds a lady says "I sent in my diamond wedding band from my first marriage and got more money than I could have ever imagined."

Yeah, that means your ex spent three months salary on a gift to show his love for you and you decided to leave him because times got hard. Instead of trying to actually work through your problems you decided to take the easy way out. Too bad your ex didn't buy a fake gold and zirconium ring for you instead.

And before I receive hate-comments about this... yes, I realize that not all women are evil and that there are many reasons people divorce. I just wanted to point out the thoughts I have every time I see this ridiculous commercial.

That Time of Year

It's that time of year again. The time for my college to get together for our homecoming game.

Yay.

As you all know, I'm a huge fan of sports, so going to any game, especially one of this importance is number one on my priority list.

Ok, so I'm being a bit of a smartass. I hate sports, and I will be doing anything else other than going to this game.

Anyways, the point of this post isn't to declare my loathing of sports, but rather a response to an email I received from the school.

In the email, I was informed that the voting ballot for Homecoming King and Queen will be open from X date to Y date.

What I don't understand is, how am I supposed to vote for these people? I don't know any of them. I've never even met any of them. Furthermore, I highly doubt that I have even crossed paths with them on my way to my next class. So, if I don't have a clue who these people are, nor know anything about them, how am I supposed to cast a vote?

Now, as far as the females are concerned, I could just cast my vote according to who I find the most attractive, but then that goes against all of my views on matters such as these. I would rather vote for a hideous beast who actually deserved such a title rather than vote for the super hot daddy's girl who would only get an unnecessary ego boost from such an honor. But, this brings me back to the point that I don't know who is deserving of such an award and who isn't. Maybe the hottie is actually the best gal for the job. Who knows?

And to take this a bit further...

This is the same type of situation I'm in during the time of electing the next student body government. Last year I was bombarded with people in the quad asking for my vote. To each of them I simply said "I don't know any of the candidates nor do I know anything about them, so I don't feel as if I'm in any position to cast a vote." None of them were pleased or amused.

So, in conclusion, how exactly are any of the students expected to vote on things such as these? Now, I understand that Homecoming King / Queen or Student Body President isn't even close to the importance of voting for the next president of our country, but let me make a comparison anyways.

Imagine if the media said "Here's a list of presidential candidates. Voting opens on X day and closes on Y day. Be sure to go out and cast your vote." There's no mention of a place to view anything about any of the candidates. No way of knowing anything about their views, beliefs, ideas, etc. How, then, could we vote responsibly?

So, my opinion on this matter is that the school needs to offer at least some personal information on candidates that they want us to vote for... whether they be for homecoming or student government.

A little something

Well, I have a post I'd like to make, but it's in response to a giant work of crap so that'll take me a few days to finish before I can actually post it.

In the meantime, for those of you who like music, but can't stand the radio because of the repetitiveness of the songs and the commercials, then I'd suggest checking out Pandora Radio. This is an online "radio" station that allows you to search for a specific song/artist/genre then it finds music that either fits in that category or that is similar to the artist/song you searched for. Best thing is, if you don't like a song you can tell it to never play it again. If you find that a certain song is being played too frequently you can just tell it not to play that song for a month.

Well, I hope you guys can utilize this site. I like it.

Only down side is, you have to create an account. However, I haven't seen anything negative come from doing so. I just find that kind of stuff annoying. (Although I can understand why it would be necessary for a site like this... since it remembers your likes and dislikes.)