Christmas started pissing me off early this year

Really I guess I can't blame it directly on Christmas this time, but on the local Wal-Mart and K-mart. Still I'm pissed. Went to the Wal-Mart after I got off work to pick up some groceries and noticed that the Halloween stuff was being pushed aside and the Christmas stuff was being put in it's place. WHAT THE FUCK?!?!? Stopped by the K-Mart before work to get a drink and saw they did the same thing. WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!?

It's the day before Halloween. Couldn't they wait until after? Better yet, how about waiting until after Thanksgiving? Bad enough Christmas has ruined my birthday every year as long as I have been alive, but does it have to creep it's way into my favourite holiday as well?

My name is Pastor Adam Briggs of Damascus Road Bible Fellowship, today is October the 30th 2010, we're here in Indianapolis, it's Saturday night and I'm going to talk about burning copies of Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas on Internet message boards but I'll never have the nerve to do it.

Well isn't that special. What do fundies do for Halloween? Picket costume stores? Fundamentalist Christians, how do they work?

Wal-Mart pissed me off

So I got paid today and was going to pre-order Fallout New Vegas. I wanted to pre-order it sooner but that wasn't really an option. So I went to Wal-Mart to pre-order and because they are having a midnight release. Wal-Mart is pretty close to my apartment, so if I pick it up at midnight (or more realistically, if I send Kathy for it) there's not need to be concerned about getting home. When I finally got a chance to talk to someone at the electronics counter, after waiting in a line of stupid people, I was told that I had to either go to the website to go to Game-Stop. WTF? WTF? WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?

SO let me get this straight, there's pre-order signs in the store. The are advertising pre-orders, but I can't pre-order in the store? That's bullshit. While they are at it, why don't they just advertise other things they don't actually sell in the store? Would do me just about as much good.

Not cool. I'm fucking pissed.

Did you ever think that maybe you were selling your self short?

At your job I mean?

I've got a lot in the way of skills, talents and knowledge. Not saying that I have any clue as to what to do with it though. But still, I think what I know and what I can do is worth more than what I am currently getting paid. Sometimes I think I'd be better off being in business for myself rather than working for someone else.

Maybe it's because my night is off to a stressful start. Maybe it seems that every night I feel that my sanity is being gnawed away. Maybe it's because my chances of advancement or even getting a raise seem to be slim to never. Even if I were to leave where I am and work at another hotel, if I'm still an auditor, the pay is going to be the same if I'm lucky. Maybe I'm growing tired of what I'm doing and want to try something different. Maybe I just feel I could be doing something more. Or better. More rewarding in some way or another?

Honestly I'm not even sure what I'd do. I had this goal of being a teacher. I still do. I love teaching. I'm pretty good at it too. Teaching in a public school requires me to meet their requirements. I don't meet those requirements so the best I can get from the public schools is substitute teaching. I could look in to private schools, but most the ones I know of are attached to a church. Being an atheist, I'm not going to get a job at any of those. I guess there's private tutoring, I considered that once before, but it's not quite what I'm looking for.

At the least, right now anyway, I need something that pays better so I can put myself through college. But the same question still remains, what do I do? I mean if I were to start up a business for myself? Even if it were something on the side? I just keep thinking there's something more I can be doing, even with my spare time. At the least just to have a bit extra to make life easier to live. And pay for that degree that I want to finish.

I'm sure there's something I can do. If anyone that knows me well enough has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I guess I'm just stressed out and rambling at this point. Been dealing with a lot of stupid and annoying people. I hate my job more than usual at the moment and this has been running through my mind.

I guess I just need to take some serious self-reflection time and seriously consider things.

This one's for the kids, well sorta

There's a few stories in the news lately that just make me want to give people a good, hard, unforgiving bitchslap. Maybe I'm starting to get old, but I keep finding myself more and more saying "What the fuck it this world coming to?" Seriously.

I'm going to start off by saying this, in no sense am I trying to tell anyone that may be reading this how to raise their child. I'm not a parent myself. I do have a goal some day of being a high school teacher and I currently substitute teach, so I do have a bit of an interest as I do work with children. I can't tell you how to raise your kid, I'm not sure about that myself. I can, however, point out things that are severely fucked up.

Now that I have that out of the way, here's the news story that got me started.

Girl, 6, thrown off squad over ‘booty’ cheer

So let me get this straight. Girl comes home and practices cheer, mom finds it way inappropriate, mom complains, gets a run around, mom goes public, girl is no longer allowed to cheer. Did I miss something? I have to say, I think the mother was in the right here. Congrats to her. Lets take a look at the cheer, shall we?

“Our backs ache, our skirts are too tight, we shake our booties from left to right!”

WTF? Now I'm not prudish in any way, but even I have to say that sounds at least a little suggestive. It's certainly not something I want to hear out of the mouth of a 6 year old. Why do we have 6 year olds chanting this? Who runs this squad? Pedobear?

It would seem to me that the right thing would have been to go with a cheer that would be more appropriate for 6 year olds, not something that might entice a pedophile. But what do I know? If I heard a 20-something say the same cheer I'd want to see her booty shaking in the tight skirt.

If that's not fucked up enough, the related stories that were linked annoyed me further. I got to say, it's rather disturbing. Little girls dancing rather seductively to "Single Ladies", 6 year olds in heels, and 8 year olds getting bikini waxes. What the fuck is this world coming to? Where does it stop?

Really? What ever happened to allowing little girls to look and act like little girls? Just a thought. The song "Girl Poison" by Angelspit comes to mind here.



Am I the only one that's finding this to be severely fucked up? Am I over-reacting? Let me know.

And here's a rare point where I agree with President Obama

Ain't this just a grand country for allowing me the freedom to disagree with the guy in charge with out the risk of getting myself in a lot of trouble?

Yeah, well I'm not disagreeing with him on something he said in his 9/11 speech -

"As Americans we are not — and never will be — at war with Islam," the president said. "It was not a religion that attacked us that September day — it was al-Qaida, a sorry band of men which perverts religion."

Source

I really wish more people would understand that. I don't hate Muslims, I hate al-Qaida. Just the same, I don't hate Christians, I hate Westboro Baptist Church.

There's no sense in hating a religion as a whole just because some assholes that pervert the religion do very awful things. Hate only those that committed the act, not the faith they claim as theirs. Why does this seem to be so hard to understand?

For once I'm not bitching about my co-workers, but still bitching about my job at the hotel

I don't know if there's any way to completely avoid having parties in rooms, but if there is, I'd like to know.

Honestly, I don't care what people are doing in their rooms, even if it is a party. I've been to quite a few parties in hotel rooms, even hosted a few. Never was a problem for hotel staff and certainly was not at all rude to them. However, when my phone rings at the desk and there's a guest complaining about noise on the line, I HAVE TO care.

I have a splitting headache right now. Been dealing with drunk, stupid, and just flat out annoying people all night. Had the police here three times so far. I'm just sick of it all. So sick of it.

I'm going to take a little bit of time for some therapeutic venting about some of the more ridiculous things I hear from guests when I have to tell them they need to shut the fuck up, erm I mean quiet down.

Which room was it?

No, I'm not telling you which room. Does it fucking matter? You need to shut the fuck up that's all you need to know, that simple. Now shut the fuck up. No, you can't smooth it over with them. You woke them up or you are keeping them awake. Shutting the fuck up is the best way to smooth it over. SHUT THE FUCK UP!

Do you know how much I spent? Do you know how much my group has spent?

I don't give a shit. If I really want to know, then I can look it up. I'm the auditor, I can do that. Turns out, I don't care and it doesn't make a difference. You need to shut the fuck up. Do you think there's some point where you have spent enough money that you can be allowed to do whatever you want and ruin someone else's stay in the process? Am I supposed to tell the person being deprived of a night's sleep that their complaint is irrelevant because of how much money you spent? If they or their group spent more, does that make their complaint more relevant? Just shut the fuck up, you are making yourself look more like an asshole.

Go ahead! Call the police!

OK. Start packing your bags now. Could have been avoided if you just shut the fuck up.

I'll have your job!

You really want it that badly? I'll take a night off, I need it. You can tell people to shut the fuck up. How about that? Oh? you want me fired? For doing my job? Good luck with that. My manager will be here in the morning and I'll still be here at night. Seriously, has any hotel employee that works in any security capacity been fired for addressing a noise complaint? No, they haven't. Save yourself the waste of time. Have a Coke and a smile, and shut the fuck up.

But it's a wedding!

Yes it is, and you had your reception in one of the banquet halls. Now you are in your room, now you need to shut the fuck up. Does that negate the fact that you are keeping people awake? And what are all these people doing in your room anyway? Party's over, get to fuckin and shut the fuck up.

I'm calling my lawyer! I'm suing you!

Cool. See you in court. I'll bet the judge tells you to shut the fuck up.

I know the owner!

So do I. If he were here right now, he'd tell you to shut the fuck up. (OK, I don't know that for sure, but if I were the owner, I'd tell them to shut the fuck up.) - True story, I called a guest's buff one time and told them I was the owner's son and this hotel would be mine someday. Know what they did? They shut the fuck up.

But what if.....

The only "what if' you need to be concerned with is what if you don't shut the fuck up. I'm not here to talk hypotheticals, I'm here to tell you to shut the fuck up. What part of "Shut the fuck up" don't you understand?

How about I....

How about you shut the fuck up? This isn't a negotiation, I'm telling you to shut the fuck up. It's not a topic for discussion, you need to shut the fuck up.

I feel so much better now. For the record, I have never actually said "shut the fuck up" to a guest. I may have been holding back the urge to once or several times. I really feel I have to say that. Sometimes the things I say here get back to those I work with. I wouldn't want them thinking that I get as foul with the guests as I do in my blog. And if they are reading this and not having a good laugh, they really need to just shut the fuck up.

A few muslims are terrorists, so let's burn a Quran!

Let's not.

Before I get started on what I know is going to be a long rant, take a look at these links-

http://www.theologyonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68592

http://www.facebook.com/pages/International-Burn-A-Koran-Day/134718123226530?v=wall

Yeah, I know the first one is a forum post that links to the second, but there are quite a few people there that are all for this. If I were not currently banned from that forum, I'd post a link to this if not just post the whole thing there. If anyone would like to do that on my behalf, I'd be pretty cool with it. I'd like to get some comments from those that support burning the Quran or any other book. You know, have like a discussion?

I'm very against this. I know not all Muslims are terrorists. The people behind what happened on 9/11/2001 were, but they only represent a relative few that are extremist fanatics. Nearly all Muslims I have encountered are pretty nice. Aside from that I am against book burnings in general. Nearly all books serve either a purpose of education or entertainment. I think it's completely asinine to to burn a book because you don't like it or don't agree with it. Burning a religious text carries a bit of added weight as that text hols a pretty special meaning to those who are members of the religion that is attached to that text. Burning a holy text is purely an act of hate and ignorance.

From the Facebook link -

On September 11th, 2010, from 6pm - 9pm, we will burn the Koran on the property of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, FL in remembrance of the fallen victims of 9/11 and to stand against the evil of Islam. Islam is of the devil!

Did I read that right? In remembrance? That alone is something I've got a pretty big issue with. There's a lot better things one can do in remembrance of those that died that day than commit a blatant act of hate. It's total disrespect! Why not have a big group prayer for those that died, their families they left behind and the soldiers still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? I don't believe in praying as I am an atheist, but I do understand that most people that belong to one religion or another do. That's at least respectful. Or how about some big charity fund raiser for the families of the victims? Or send care packages to the soldiers? Or just do something positive and respectful?

But there's other problems I have. As I said, not all Muslims are terrorists. Islam is the second largest religion and accounts for 23% of the worlds population, about 1.57 billion people. At least that's what Wikipedia tells me. It's only a relative few, pretty much their equivalent to militant fundamentalist Christians, that do commit terrorist acts. It seems rather asinine to burn Qurans over a few when many of them are not bad people at all. It would be like burning KJV's because the members of Westboro Baptist Church are total fucking douchebags. In other words, committing a hateful act toward a large group is just ridiculous when only a few are the problem.

And about burning the Quran. It's a religious text. Just a book to anyone else, but to a Muslim it's pretty special. Burning it is only going to make the terrorist fanatics fell justified in their actions and at least annoy the rest. Not to mention make those doing the burning and anyone even remotely associated look bad. Great move there folks, you are doing America a real solid. If any reading this is planning on participating in burning Qurans, before you do, think about how you would feel if it was your holy text that someone was burning.

Another thought on this, where are they going to get the Qurans from? If they are going to acquire them legitimately, well that's a lot of sales of Qurans. The people publishing them and the bookstores I'm sure will appreciate your money. Heck it may even look like a lot of people just converted to Islam. And if they are acquired not so legitimately? Well isn't there something in the Bible that says "Thou shalt not steal"? Hmmm Exodus 20:15, Matthew 19:18, Romans 13:9. And it's usually in the front of the Bible with the rest of the 10 Commandments. So if you are not purchasing your Quran before you burn it and you believe what the Bible says, you are going to Hell. Why not give that money to a charity? You know, do something positive with it? A Quran costs between $8 and $40. You could feed or clothe some people with that. Heck if a large enough group gave that each, they could probly put a child of one of the victims through college, if not a few. Just another thought.

Another thing to those that are planning on burning a Quran. Have you read it? If you are going to buy it, you might as well read it before tossing it in to the fire. If anything so you really know what you are burning and why you are burning it. You might learn something. I suggest you not burn it. Read it and keep it as a reference. It may come in handy in a theological debate with a Muslim. It's why I keep a Bible handy as well as having BibleGateway.com bookmarked. This quote from Sun Tzu's Art of War comes to mind.

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

Not that I consider Muslims or Christians to be enemies of mine, but I do get into debates with them, mostly the latter. Getting back to the point, burning any text without reading and understanding it is just ignorant.

In closing and to sum it up, anyone that is participating in a Quran burning is only exposing their hate, ignorance, disrespect and just being a total douchebag. I feel like for the most part I'm preaching to the choir here, but if I change someone's mind or cause them to think, well them my time wasn't completely wasted. At least I got it off my chest.

A few things going on

I'm just the talk of work when I'm not there.

Well maybe not, but I was informed that someone at the hotel is looking for my blog to see if I said anything about them in it. Well this particular post I'm not going to say anything bad about anyone. There's a guest that said he's going to do that. He also said he was going to say something good about me.

See what happens when you do your job right?

That was kind of a dig, wasn't it? Oh well. Moving on.

And the first thing I want to accomplish for the new year...

I want to get my bike back on the road. I miss riding my bike. And it makes me less dependent on the bus. More exercise and less bus riding makes me happy.

My AngelSpit 40K Army is coming along nicely.

Really nicely. Seriously, have a look. I've also completely changed my list. Big thanks to Fritz for helping me with that. BTW, if you like 40k you should seriously check out Fritz's vids on youtube. Seriously.

40K, serious business, seriously.

One bit of annoyance.

In a previous blog I asked for comments if any one read it, no one dropped a comment. I'm just trying to figure out how many people are reading this thing. I don't get any comments, so I can't tell if it's being read.

I feel like a prom night dumpster baby.



That's all for now.

The thing about a blog is....

...People read it.

Sometimes those people are the same ones you work with.

I've been told I've made a lot of enemies. *shrugs*

I also noticed something got changed or rather enforced because of something I bitched about. Cool. Maybe I should bitch more. Maybe some other things will get addressed. Maybe I shouldn't press my luck.

Maybe I should just watch myself.

That being said, if you are reading this, drop me a damn comment. I'm feeling lonelier than Kunta Kinte at a Merle Haggard concert.

So it's December 20th....

Almost the 21st.

I have no idea what I'm doing for my birthday.

I'm off for the night so I'm asuming it's going to be just another night off.

Which really sucks. I just want to go out some where and have a few drinks. That's all I want. And since both me and Kathy are broke untill after Christmas, I'm probly just going to be giving that to myself after the holidays.

Sadly, that's been a typical birthday for me for thje past few years.

Well here's a big thanks in advance for nothing.