Strbellysneetch’s Weblog

Thirteen wonderful quotes

1. If you and I are having a single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world. Deepak Chopra
2. It’s very different because the Indians live as if they are their souls and Americans live as if they are their egos. Ram Dass
3. Were it not a fact of experience that supreme values reside in the soul, psychology would not interest me in the least, for the soul would then be nothing but a miserable vapor. Carl Jung
4. Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit. Khalil Gibran
5. There is often a big disparity between the way in which we perceive things and the way things really are. 14th Dalai Lama
6. One of the most difficult things is not to change society - but to change yourself. Nelson Mandela
7. The strong man is not the good wrestler; the strong man is only the one who controls himself when he is angry. Muhammad
8. Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean.
   Maya Angelou
9. And the trouble is, if you don’t risk anything, you risk even more. Erica Jong
10. Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, “She doesn’t have what it takes.” They will say, “Women don’t have what it takes.” Clare Boothe Luce
11. I think it’s about time we voted for senators with breasts. After all, we’ve been voting for boobs long enough. Clarie Sargent
12. I wish someone would have told me that, just because I’m a girl, I don’t have to get married. Marlo Thomas
13. I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naïve or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman. Anais Nin

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Kelly, Penelope Anne

I love my job enough to commit to coming in on a Saturday; just so I can accommodate a drug court client who, since entering drug court and cleaning up his pot use, has obtained a much more lucrative job to support his family and has become concerned about arranging being late a few times per month to work in order to accommodate the requirements of drug court and meeting with me. I will happily go out of my way to support someone’s concern about a family when they have done a ton of work in order to put themselves in a much healthier position to support said family.

I love my job because someone that just got out of inpatient said to me today after meeting again for the first time since inpatient "it’s great to be able to have you to talk to again". Where they sent him for inpatient was not so great (but, it’s hard to find places to send people for inpatient when they’re part of a methadone program at the same time, unfortunately).

I love my job because for some reason I am somehow able to rest people’s anxiety and fears, sometimes. When calls to me start out with someone crying and naturally being worried about being kicked out of drug court, but end with a much more calm sentiment based on my knowledge of drug court…that’s satisfying.

I love my job because I’m good at it. When I bring up the prospect of transferring to a different branch based on an interaction that left much to be desired with my new supervisor (as well as the potential of many more interactions defined as such), and I inform My P that I’m thinking of said transfer, what I get in return is "and you’re going to leave having done such a great job with drug court?". (Thank you, for checking my reactionary thoughts today.)

I love my job because after the interaction my new supervisor came down to my office and apologized for the possibility of communicating anything negative to me.

I love my job because I’ve earned the respect of those that matter in drug court and they listen to me. When I was wildly thinking of moving to AZ for a while one of my drug court colleagues said that if I did that I would have to come back for the graduation of a particular client. Reason being, according to my colleague, if I had not spoken for them they wouldn’t even still be in drug court, and would probably be serving time in prison…and a family would have been severely damaged as a result (family meaning a small child that is doing extremely well with its parent in treatment rather than in prison). (P.S. That client is doing wonderfully…and is about to graduate.)

I love my job because they’re paying me to attend a training all day tomorrow which will make me better at my job.

I love my job because I can actually see precisely where I make a difference. Case and point, I did an intake a really long time ago for a client that was younger and female and obviously scared as hell at being in treatment. I had the foresight to assign her to me after her intake and the other day she said to me that our interactions really help her to think about things in a different perspective. She’s doing wonderfully too.

Granted, these changes can really only be attributed to the individuals themselves; because no one makes anyone change no matter what position they hold. I love my job because people allow me the privilege of being a part of the process in their change.

That the artist singing the song doesn’t probably know either about some of these things (and not that I know personally about all of them either); but despite my distaste of popular culture, I really like this song:

"Dear Mr. President,
Come take a walk with me.
Let’s pretend we’re just two people and
You’re not better than me.
I’d like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly.

What do you feel when you see all the homeless on the street?
Who do you pray for at night before you go to sleep?
What do you feel when you look in the mirror?
Are you proud?

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye
And tell me why?

Dear Mr. President,
Were you a lonely boy?
Are you a lonely boy?
How can you say
No child is left behind?
We’re not dumb and we’re not blind.
They’re all sitting in your cells
While you pave the road to hell.

What kind of father would take his own daughter’s rights away?
And what kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?
I can only imagine what the first lady has to say
You’ve come a long way from whiskey and cocaine.

How do you sleep while the rest of us cry?
How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Can you even look me in the eye?

Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Minimum wage with a baby on the way
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Building a bed out of a cardboard box
Let me tell you ’bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work
You don’t know nothing ’bout hard work
Hard work
Hard work

How do you sleep at night?
How do you walk with your head held high?
Dear Mr. President,
You’d never take a walk with me.
Would you?"

Artist: Pink

Composer: Billy Mann

You should listen to it here…(because it also has the Indigo Girls…and I heart them a whole lot)

I probably had it correct with just not watching popular news and obtaining it through my own means (qualiy news, that is). Oh well. I had a good run. I just have to start it over is all.

It sort of started with a boo-hoo story about how "girls" are more likely to get into college because…they do better:

By the time college admissions come into the picture, many watchers of the "boy gap" agree, it’s too late for the lads to catch up on their own. Indeed, beginning in those formative K-12 years, girls watch less television, spend less time playing sports, and are far less likely to find themselves in detention. They are more likely to participate in drama, art, and music classes—extracurriculars that are catnip for admissions officers.

U.S. News reports that some colleges are now failing to admit appropriate women in lieu of admitting men in order to avoid a gender gap. Now…wait just a minute here. If memory serves there are European American men out there that at some point have felt that equal opportunity did them wrong. Interesting, how the tables turn, isn’t it?

It didn’t take long though, to take a dramatic turn into dog info. Not that I don’t love dogs (I mean, really…I have a zoo of them in my home). But are general statistics on dogs what should really be important in the evening news? Can people not find this stuff out on their own? As a matter of fact, can people not figure it out on their own for that matter? They felt it was important to tell whoever was watching this evening that labradors are the most popular dog according to the American Kennel Club. No shit. Again, not that I don’t seriously heart dogs…but aren’t there more relevant things people should know when they blithely tune into and space out on the news? News flash…they’re also one of the breeds with the highest incidents of biting humans; only because they’re so popular. That’s statistics. That’s not really newsworthy.

NBC News deemed it really important to add a piece on how to correctly pronounce "Nevada" so as not to offend the locals. Really? They’re responsible for the armpit that is Reno…but we should be primarily concerned on a Wednesday evening with how to pronounce the state name?

In conclusion, there was also a story done on abuse of power by an on duty officer. This was disappointing, not because it was reported on the news, but because it is just indicative of the question…as humans are we really capable in general of dealing with any type of power without abusing it? I realize of course that not all of those indowed with power abuse it…but for case and point, check out the Stanford Mock Prison study.

The news as displayed on popular channels is seriously disappointing in so many ways. It is precisely why that is not my main source of what is going on in the world.   

So I get what the point of it is; it’s just that after I do things like this I always expect a score of some kind. This one is a little different from the usual silly ones though. Courtesy of Aim:

Stolen from just about everyone.The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home
Were read children’s books by a parent
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18 (But this is only if a private music tutor counts. Which I think it does.)
Family vacations involved staying at hotels
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18

You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in high school
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in high school or college
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up

You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family