Still not smoking and it gets better everyday. Its funny how different things taste to me in less than a week. I love it. I noticed it first on, of all things, a Diet friggin Coke and since then have found that EVERYTHING tastes better, or at the least more pungent. This is a pretty important thing for a chef...obviously. This is really the longest I have ever made it without some type of cheat or just a plain all out fail...so if you see me daily and youre sick to hearing me woooo! about my accomplishment Im afraid youre just going to have to deal with it...I am WICKED proud of me.
Another bonus ~ I havent had to step foot into a "convenience" store in over a week. I love that. I can actually take my life in my hands and go to *GULP* Get Go (you guys know what Im talking about - that place is fucking insane no matter what or when you get there) get gas and go without having to go through any of the crap inside the store. This makes me happy.
Unrelated me & Mister went out for a late lunch yesterday & I have a note to all the dive bars/bar bars out there - stop with the frozen bullshit breaded fried chicken. Please? Seriously...it is really not all that challenging to bread and fry chicken parts to order, its actually cheaper and you can take a relatively pedestrian sandwich to another level by that one simple thing! I usually stick with wings and other bar-like noms there and decided to go for the gusto and get a sandwich ~ I know I'm living dangerously ~ but it SOUNDED good - fried chicken tenders, bbq, fried onion straws & mozzarella. The bun was perfectly grilled, the bbq was pretty good, the onion straws salty & crisp...and then those damn stupid prebreaded dry as hell flavorless yucky chicken tenders. The sandwich would have been worthy of some raves except for that one part. Two more minutes and a little bit of give a fuck and it would have been next level. Its lazy. And dumb. Bread your chicken to order. Feel the same way about places that use frozen burger patties ~ and it makes me ragey when I see people RAVE about them being the best burgers ever when I KNOW they are those damn puck burgers you can buy at Sams Club. Want a good burger? Portion fresh ground beef, dont freeze it, dont smash it into oblivion when its on the grill and put it on a good bun. Frozen burger patties? Really? You should be ashamed. Pattying ground beef is not rocket science & the end result is just a eleventy times better than ANY frozen burger patty.
It was another good day...The Pens kicked come C-Bus ass tonight and it was epic, Angkor made me my most favoritest Cambodian fried rice for dinner {note to self: figure out what that delicious sausage is in there would ya?!?} and imma bout to practice some Grand Turismo so when Mister decides he wants to challenge me I wont embarrass myself with my suck. Also might toss together some snickerdoodles because, well, they are delicious and I want them.
Happy Saturday Y'All! Hope it was as awesome as mine if not better!
Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
I think maybe I should read more & save myself some irritation...
Well 2 days back to work. The first was 13.5 hours...today was 12. I really do feel like vacations are some times not worth the pain in the ass catch up I have to do when I get back. Granted I'm loving having the time to get some stuff done around the house, but 15.5 hours in 2 days, hours in meetings with my managers and problems galore.... ilovemyjobilovemyjobilovemyjob. Hopefully by the time I get to the Steel City Big Pour 4 portion of my weekend I will have sorted out some bullshit and be able to enjoy it as opposed to be on the phone dealing with crap all day. *fingers & toes crossed*
So anywho I got home from The Great Day of Meetings Hell Part 2 and my DVR was kind enough to record Master Chef for me. So I made myself breakfast (yeah...I was totally up at 7am today and literally the first piece of food that touched my lips today was at 10pm) and sat down to watch.
Now I avoided the first half of the season because it was some epic level stupid. I've never watched American Idol, but the concept for getting to the final 16 was kind of like the AI auditions & I had no interest, so I picked it up once they were down to the actual competition. Tonight's episode was getting down to the final four. Overall the show is less than stellar. The winner gets a cookbook deal and some cash I think. So I've watched the last few episodes and this one tonight has made me stabby.
I am a chef. I went to school & have the degree...but in all honestly that doesnt mean shit. Im a chef because I love food, because I have worked a lot of hours in a lot of kitchens. I have cooked fine dining in some of the best restaurants in this city, I have cooked upscale fast casual, I have cooked in a pool snack bar, I have catered, done banquets, worked with one of the best pastry chefs in the country & done full scale commercial from scratch baking. I can make you a batch of chocolate chip cookies off the top of my head that will make your mouth sing just as easily as I can make you sauteed halibut cheeks dusted in fennel pollen served over sauteed fiddle head ferns with a meyer lemon vinaigrette that will make your eyes roll into the back of your head. I havent met a protein yet that I havent been able to butcher or break down and I dont mind getting dirty. I am a chef because I EARNED that title through a lot of blood (work with knives a lot & youll bleed eventually), sweat and definitely tears. I am a chef because that is what I am. I am one of the fortunate few who figured out early that not only do I love being in a kitchen but I'm good at it and I can make a living doing it. Cooking for me is an instinct. I am one of the most klutzy people I know. I drop everything, trip over my own 2 feet constantly and am just generally a danger to myself....right until I walk up to that stove. I can make up recipes with a 90% success rate off the top of my head. Food makes sense to me the way science & math make sense to other people. I hope I'm not coming off as egotistical...I am not. The greatest thing about what I do is I always get to learn, meet people who have so much to teach and constantly explore the food around me. I do not think I know everything and I hope I never will...but that doesnt change the fact that I am good at what I do & for the most part love it. Even now when most of my job entails managing my managers & orchestrating the operations of 5 restaurants I can still step on that line and out cook anyone who works for me....I kinda have to, thats my job.
Now the Master Chef bullshit is all non-professional cooks. They are home cooks. I give them mad credit for their passion and ability but it NOT the same as being a chef. Being a chef doesnt mean standing in front of a small stove making some intricate delicate dish for you & your nearest and dearest or cooking the food for your cousins bridal shower or making a holiday feast for the family. It is also NOT the crap they sling on Food Network. They make it look so fun & ideal...and some days it is...more often than not it isnt.
Being a chef means researching ingredients & methods, tasting, sampling and trying out new things. Its getting up at the ass crack of dawn to hit your line early. Its balancing your food cost, labor cost, budgets & staffing needs. Its hiring, firing, training and leading a team of not always so dedicated cooks. Its standing on a line over a saute stove in 120 degree heat sweating your ass off while perfectly crisping the bacon on a wrapped filet before searing and getting it in the oven to finish while a stock simmers on a back burner and you're cooking 3 other dishes and their sides. Its hefting heavy cases of all kindsa shit and rotating them into coolers, its educating waitstaff about your food so they can sell it. Its dealing with retarded dishwashers that dont get that they need to give you CLEAN plates and that all pots & pans have outsides, too. Its dealing with irrational customers that think you should be able to do whatever it is that they want you to just because they are customers & why cant you hurry up and make me that olive tapenade you had as an amuse bouche a week ago in the middle of a friday diner rush and then bitching out your staff when they are told that isnt possible. Its working 12-14 hours a day until the wee hours of the morning cleaning up a wrecked line after service. Its drinking way too much, smoking far too much pot to maintain your sanity, chain smoking cigarettes and mainlining caffeine to make it through the hangover. Its dirty, sweaty & rewarding work. Being a chef means that inevitably no one will ever tell you you're LOW on anything, just that you're out of it and stopping yourself from launching yourself through a window to ring that idiots neck for not watching the station stocking levels & telling you before you had 4 orders hanging on the board and only 3 left to cook. Its working with many purveyors, watching all your products and foods for freshness & going nutso when they drop the ball so that they know not to do that again. Its stress, its love, its passion, its frustrating.....its fucking awesome & I wouldnt change a thing even if I could.
Because being a chef is also creating the perfectly balanced bernaise sauce that is thick yet fluffy with that divine tarragon white wine tang. Its taking a perfectly seared steak off the grill, its seeing that gorgeous rich purple of sashimi grade ahi as you remove the skin, its getting all a flutter when you get word the Copper River salmon is coming in...or Dover Sole is out & about. Its the smell of toasting almonds and crispy bacon...its the pop of a perfectly heated pan when you slide a filet of Chilean sea bass into it or the crackle of the oil as you drop in something delicious. Its the clanking of plates, the chatter of a busy staff, fast paced-angry & sometimes violent. Its getting the perfect sear on a seasoned pork tenderloin, or the golden brown of a caramelized shallot reduction, the snap of a fresh pea, the ripe richness of perfect tomatoes & the earthy delicateness of wild mushrooms and the sweet crunch of an in season apple. Being a chef is having a vocabulary of curse words that is almost unequaled & using those words daily, speaking a secret restaurant language civilians dont understand & being extra raunchy - seriously I have worked on lines with cooks that would make Richard Pryor blush and that was just the idle chit chat going on between the service & kitchen staff during service. There are about eleventybillion more reason I could give you for why I love what I do and all is better than the next while I am thinking about it.
And now back to my original point...I swear to great fictional dieties if I heard this toolbag on this show call himself a great chef one more fucking time I was going to hunt down his over testosteroned egotistical ass where ever it was in California and drag him to the nearest restaurant and throw this "chef" on a hot line and watch him cry like a little girl who lost her dolly. Watch him get burnt by the guy on saute slinging pans like a mad man putting out 4 dishes while cooking 5 more & setting 3 more up for firing while listing to an expo holler out orders that you have to keep in your memory and telling the guy on fry what sides & garnishes he needs to plate. See if he can call himself a chef when the host comes back to tell you that we just had a walk in 20 top off the menu that was just sat & needs to be out the door in an hour for a show they are going to or having the Skippy the Wonder Server (every restaurant has one I guarantee it) come back while you're 20 checks deep with a pasta dish that was supposed to be the dinner special and he got confused when taking the order and you now have to fly the right item out because the guest was pissed or my personal favorite the steak/burger/fish that is cooked to a PERFECT medium rare that is sent back because "its too bloody, I just wanted it pink" was the reaction of the lady who ordered it that makes you want to go out onto the floor, find her and inform her with great anger then order it MEDIUM you fucking twatball!!! I wonder if he could call himself a chef when he finds out half way through service that Jackass the Prep Cook (every restaurant has one of these as well) SAID he made the minoinette sauce only to find out mid service he didnt and you are chopping shallots like a mother fucker while cooking checks because 86ing that item isnt an option with ingredients in house & orders on the board.
I doubt it. I am willing to bet that these "chefs" would no more be able to handle the pressure that your average line cook does every shift than I would be able to pilot a rocket ship to the moon. It pisses me off to hear the term "chef" used so loosely. Chef is a title that is earned, it is a title that you work for...and Master Chef - fuck me. There are chefs that work their entire careers to actually attain that level through certification programs, and it offends me that it is used so cavalierly. Not one of those people, regardless of their skill level, would last more than an hour on any of my lines & its a bunch of bullshit they are being proclaimed as Chefs by anyone. I cant throw a bandaid on a cut and call myself a surgeon - how the fuck can you saute off a piece of salmon butchered by your fish monger and call yourself a chef? Any asshole can put a pan on a stove - it takes love & talent to make that pan give you a dish that will make your mouth smile & belly happy.
I'd like to take a minute to thank Food Network for making every idiot with cable think they can cook and that being a chef is this picture perfect overly romanticised delusion of grand cuisine- its not - sometimes its tearing apart a clogged dish machine drain & scrubbing pots. And shows like Master Chef for equating really good home cooks to real chefs who would eat those people alive in the real world of chefdom. There is so much more to being a chef than reading a recipe and cooking. Its a hard job, a demanding job and for me, an amazingly rewarding one some days and a frustratingly irritating one on others...and I wouldnt change a thing about it. I do love what I do.
I have worked with some amazing chefs & cooks and for all of them and myself I finish with this - you want to be called a chef then earn that right with the blood, sweat and tears we did - not by winning some reality TV show that brings you 15 minutes of fame followed by a career of mediocrity that embarrasses us all. Real chefs dont need to tell you how great they are...they show you that on their plates every freaking night. Reading a cookbook or getting on a reality cooking tv series doesnt make you a chef any more than driving a car makes you a mechanic. Know that.
Side note - the jackass that inspired this post (Sharone for any who watch the show) was eliminated tonight and I did the happy girl dance while reveling in his embarrassment. Perhaps if he talked himself up a little less & learned to combine flavors & textures a little more he would have been a chef....after about 10 years working in a real kitchen.
So anywho I got home from The Great Day of Meetings Hell Part 2 and my DVR was kind enough to record Master Chef for me. So I made myself breakfast (yeah...I was totally up at 7am today and literally the first piece of food that touched my lips today was at 10pm) and sat down to watch.
Now I avoided the first half of the season because it was some epic level stupid. I've never watched American Idol, but the concept for getting to the final 16 was kind of like the AI auditions & I had no interest, so I picked it up once they were down to the actual competition. Tonight's episode was getting down to the final four. Overall the show is less than stellar. The winner gets a cookbook deal and some cash I think. So I've watched the last few episodes and this one tonight has made me stabby.
I am a chef. I went to school & have the degree...but in all honestly that doesnt mean shit. Im a chef because I love food, because I have worked a lot of hours in a lot of kitchens. I have cooked fine dining in some of the best restaurants in this city, I have cooked upscale fast casual, I have cooked in a pool snack bar, I have catered, done banquets, worked with one of the best pastry chefs in the country & done full scale commercial from scratch baking. I can make you a batch of chocolate chip cookies off the top of my head that will make your mouth sing just as easily as I can make you sauteed halibut cheeks dusted in fennel pollen served over sauteed fiddle head ferns with a meyer lemon vinaigrette that will make your eyes roll into the back of your head. I havent met a protein yet that I havent been able to butcher or break down and I dont mind getting dirty. I am a chef because I EARNED that title through a lot of blood (work with knives a lot & youll bleed eventually), sweat and definitely tears. I am a chef because that is what I am. I am one of the fortunate few who figured out early that not only do I love being in a kitchen but I'm good at it and I can make a living doing it. Cooking for me is an instinct. I am one of the most klutzy people I know. I drop everything, trip over my own 2 feet constantly and am just generally a danger to myself....right until I walk up to that stove. I can make up recipes with a 90% success rate off the top of my head. Food makes sense to me the way science & math make sense to other people. I hope I'm not coming off as egotistical...I am not. The greatest thing about what I do is I always get to learn, meet people who have so much to teach and constantly explore the food around me. I do not think I know everything and I hope I never will...but that doesnt change the fact that I am good at what I do & for the most part love it. Even now when most of my job entails managing my managers & orchestrating the operations of 5 restaurants I can still step on that line and out cook anyone who works for me....I kinda have to, thats my job.
Now the Master Chef bullshit is all non-professional cooks. They are home cooks. I give them mad credit for their passion and ability but it NOT the same as being a chef. Being a chef doesnt mean standing in front of a small stove making some intricate delicate dish for you & your nearest and dearest or cooking the food for your cousins bridal shower or making a holiday feast for the family. It is also NOT the crap they sling on Food Network. They make it look so fun & ideal...and some days it is...more often than not it isnt.
Being a chef means researching ingredients & methods, tasting, sampling and trying out new things. Its getting up at the ass crack of dawn to hit your line early. Its balancing your food cost, labor cost, budgets & staffing needs. Its hiring, firing, training and leading a team of not always so dedicated cooks. Its standing on a line over a saute stove in 120 degree heat sweating your ass off while perfectly crisping the bacon on a wrapped filet before searing and getting it in the oven to finish while a stock simmers on a back burner and you're cooking 3 other dishes and their sides. Its hefting heavy cases of all kindsa shit and rotating them into coolers, its educating waitstaff about your food so they can sell it. Its dealing with retarded dishwashers that dont get that they need to give you CLEAN plates and that all pots & pans have outsides, too. Its dealing with irrational customers that think you should be able to do whatever it is that they want you to just because they are customers & why cant you hurry up and make me that olive tapenade you had as an amuse bouche a week ago in the middle of a friday diner rush and then bitching out your staff when they are told that isnt possible. Its working 12-14 hours a day until the wee hours of the morning cleaning up a wrecked line after service. Its drinking way too much, smoking far too much pot to maintain your sanity, chain smoking cigarettes and mainlining caffeine to make it through the hangover. Its dirty, sweaty & rewarding work. Being a chef means that inevitably no one will ever tell you you're LOW on anything, just that you're out of it and stopping yourself from launching yourself through a window to ring that idiots neck for not watching the station stocking levels & telling you before you had 4 orders hanging on the board and only 3 left to cook. Its working with many purveyors, watching all your products and foods for freshness & going nutso when they drop the ball so that they know not to do that again. Its stress, its love, its passion, its frustrating.....its fucking awesome & I wouldnt change a thing even if I could.
Because being a chef is also creating the perfectly balanced bernaise sauce that is thick yet fluffy with that divine tarragon white wine tang. Its taking a perfectly seared steak off the grill, its seeing that gorgeous rich purple of sashimi grade ahi as you remove the skin, its getting all a flutter when you get word the Copper River salmon is coming in...or Dover Sole is out & about. Its the smell of toasting almonds and crispy bacon...its the pop of a perfectly heated pan when you slide a filet of Chilean sea bass into it or the crackle of the oil as you drop in something delicious. Its the clanking of plates, the chatter of a busy staff, fast paced-angry & sometimes violent. Its getting the perfect sear on a seasoned pork tenderloin, or the golden brown of a caramelized shallot reduction, the snap of a fresh pea, the ripe richness of perfect tomatoes & the earthy delicateness of wild mushrooms and the sweet crunch of an in season apple. Being a chef is having a vocabulary of curse words that is almost unequaled & using those words daily, speaking a secret restaurant language civilians dont understand & being extra raunchy - seriously I have worked on lines with cooks that would make Richard Pryor blush and that was just the idle chit chat going on between the service & kitchen staff during service. There are about eleventybillion more reason I could give you for why I love what I do and all is better than the next while I am thinking about it.
And now back to my original point...I swear to great fictional dieties if I heard this toolbag on this show call himself a great chef one more fucking time I was going to hunt down his over testosteroned egotistical ass where ever it was in California and drag him to the nearest restaurant and throw this "chef" on a hot line and watch him cry like a little girl who lost her dolly. Watch him get burnt by the guy on saute slinging pans like a mad man putting out 4 dishes while cooking 5 more & setting 3 more up for firing while listing to an expo holler out orders that you have to keep in your memory and telling the guy on fry what sides & garnishes he needs to plate. See if he can call himself a chef when the host comes back to tell you that we just had a walk in 20 top off the menu that was just sat & needs to be out the door in an hour for a show they are going to or having the Skippy the Wonder Server (every restaurant has one I guarantee it) come back while you're 20 checks deep with a pasta dish that was supposed to be the dinner special and he got confused when taking the order and you now have to fly the right item out because the guest was pissed or my personal favorite the steak/burger/fish that is cooked to a PERFECT medium rare that is sent back because "its too bloody, I just wanted it pink" was the reaction of the lady who ordered it that makes you want to go out onto the floor, find her and inform her with great anger then order it MEDIUM you fucking twatball!!! I wonder if he could call himself a chef when he finds out half way through service that Jackass the Prep Cook (every restaurant has one of these as well) SAID he made the minoinette sauce only to find out mid service he didnt and you are chopping shallots like a mother fucker while cooking checks because 86ing that item isnt an option with ingredients in house & orders on the board.
I doubt it. I am willing to bet that these "chefs" would no more be able to handle the pressure that your average line cook does every shift than I would be able to pilot a rocket ship to the moon. It pisses me off to hear the term "chef" used so loosely. Chef is a title that is earned, it is a title that you work for...and Master Chef - fuck me. There are chefs that work their entire careers to actually attain that level through certification programs, and it offends me that it is used so cavalierly. Not one of those people, regardless of their skill level, would last more than an hour on any of my lines & its a bunch of bullshit they are being proclaimed as Chefs by anyone. I cant throw a bandaid on a cut and call myself a surgeon - how the fuck can you saute off a piece of salmon butchered by your fish monger and call yourself a chef? Any asshole can put a pan on a stove - it takes love & talent to make that pan give you a dish that will make your mouth smile & belly happy.
I'd like to take a minute to thank Food Network for making every idiot with cable think they can cook and that being a chef is this picture perfect overly romanticised delusion of grand cuisine- its not - sometimes its tearing apart a clogged dish machine drain & scrubbing pots. And shows like Master Chef for equating really good home cooks to real chefs who would eat those people alive in the real world of chefdom. There is so much more to being a chef than reading a recipe and cooking. Its a hard job, a demanding job and for me, an amazingly rewarding one some days and a frustratingly irritating one on others...and I wouldnt change a thing about it. I do love what I do.
I have worked with some amazing chefs & cooks and for all of them and myself I finish with this - you want to be called a chef then earn that right with the blood, sweat and tears we did - not by winning some reality TV show that brings you 15 minutes of fame followed by a career of mediocrity that embarrasses us all. Real chefs dont need to tell you how great they are...they show you that on their plates every freaking night. Reading a cookbook or getting on a reality cooking tv series doesnt make you a chef any more than driving a car makes you a mechanic. Know that.
Side note - the jackass that inspired this post (Sharone for any who watch the show) was eliminated tonight and I did the happy girl dance while reveling in his embarrassment. Perhaps if he talked himself up a little less & learned to combine flavors & textures a little more he would have been a chef....after about 10 years working in a real kitchen.
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Google News made my head explode...
*WARNING* this post is about politics & religion...if you dont want to hear it stop reading.
Third day in a row I opened up my browser to my google news page and saw ANOTHER article, the 3rd in as many days, speculating about Obama's religious preferences. I will not link to any of them because I feel it perpetuates the problem, but they were from various legit news sources & were editorial pieces, to clarify.
The first was loaded with opinion pole data about what we, as Americans, THINK his religious views are regardless of what he says they are. This made me twitch. So we are placing it to a vote now as to what church we think he attends and what religion he practices? Silly me, I thought that if the man and his family SAY they are Christian that should be enough and what a percentage of our dear population THINKS is really quite irrelevant.
The second I read was more or less an open demand for Obama to PROVE hes Christian by stopping the building of that Mosque, proving he isnt Muslim and for him to find a way to show Americans that hes Christian and not Muslim. I have a slew of issues with the whole article. 1) How does him stopping that build on PRIVATE PROPERTY prove anything outside of him caving to political/religious pressure? 2) Why does he have to prove a damn thing? I dont have to justify or prove my religious beliefs at all, why is it different for him and what business is it of anyones? Faith is a very personal thing and something that you have to choose on your own, not justify to a nation built & founded on the basis of FREEDOM, freedom of religion specifically for fucks sake, read a god damn history book. 3) What fucking difference does it make what religion he practices? He wasnt elected to the Presidency because of his religious affiliations, he was elected to do a job, and that job was not The Pope.
The one I read today wanted to know why Obama doesnt wear his religion on his sleeve. Why the hell should he? If that is how you choose to celebrate your faith more power to you, but just because he doesnt treat the Oval Office like a church pulpit doesnt negate his role as a leader or render him less effective in his job.
Honestly I dont care if you like him, if you voted for him or if you agree with what he has done thus far. As I stated in previous post, I dont think it matters who was elected last term - this was a shit sandwich of epic proportions and I feel he has handled it as admirably as possible given our polarized political climate, the complete lack of cooperation in our government and the almost total collapse of our economy. I challenge any of you to say you could do better given the hurdles that man faced the day he stepped into that office. I sure as fuck wouldnt have wanted that job and it irks the hell out of me to listen to arm-chair presidents think they can fix this. If it was possible to make it all better easily it would have been done by now. He sure as hell didnt make the mess but has been trying to clean it up and anyone who holds him totally responsible for the state of our nation is either naive or looking for a reason to hate him. Took decades to make this clusterfuck - gonna take just as long to get out and I dont think remaining open minded to change and maybe trying to support the COUNTRY is too much to ask and just may serve us better as a society instead of picking out demons and angels. All politicians suck. Period. Our local government proves this every day, and their political or religious affiliations dont change the level of suck.
That being said I think what truly bothers me, and bothers me a lot, is that the line between Church & State has become so blurred that discourse like what I have seen on Google is deemed ok. Its not. At all. I firmly believe in everyones ability and right to practice the faith of their choosing and not have to justify that faith to anyone. This country was founded by people who were run out of their homes for not agreeing with the religious mandates of their country's government, they came here so they could be free to worship as they believed and we built our governing rules on this principal. Since when are the only acceptable religious beliefs from that of Christianity? Since when did it become a crime to practice something other than Christianity? When did it become necessary to prove your Christianity in order to not be crucified on a national level if you are in a position of power? Never is the answer to all 3 of those questions. I understand that the majority of people in America do practice one form of Christianity or another...but that doesnt mean it is the ONLY acceptable option out there by any strech of the imagination.
I absolutely abhor the power of the Christian right in my government. I find it almost intolerable that laws are written to govern our society that are based on the puritanical views of a percentage of our population. It makes my skin crawl that there is enough money and power in the Christian Right to greatly effect the law making process of our country. Laws & Faith are 2 totally different things. Laws are based on morality, for sure, but there is far more to morals, right & wrong than just faith. Where did the separation of church & state go? In my opinion this is an area that needs reinforced & revisited.
Gay Marriage and abortion are the 2 hot topics off the top of my head that demonstrate this point most effectively. Opponents of both site biblical/faith reasons why neither should be allowed legally. Last time I checked we were governed by the Constitution, not the Bible, so how are these arguments relevant? God is not the president, we elect a human to do that. Laws should not be written that effect all based on the faith & beliefs of some.
For the record I think it is ridiculous gay marriage is even an issue that requires debate. Marriage is not a sacred covenant anymore. 50% divorce rate proves that more than anything else out there, not to mention its more of a legal issue than a religious one. If you are in a same sex relationship and your partner is lying in a hospital bed dying for whatever reason, as a partner you have no say so in the course of treatment or what happens because you are not recognized as a husband or wife or even a family member. Thats some bullshit. Me & Mister were together almost 10 years before we tied the knot. If something had happened to him and they even TRIED to keep me out of that room there would have been blood spilled, I dont care if we were married or not. So these people and groups will go out of their way to stop people who's relationships have ZERO effect on their own from getting married just because they can. Related - all those "God hates Fags" poster carriers I see pics of from their rallys - I disagree - God hates ignorant, mean and stupid people who can only communicate their points with vulgarity & offense. It amazes me that this is even a debate. Why shouldnt same sex couples have the right to get married and all the benefits that come with it and how is this anyone's business but their own? I can get married and divorced a bazillion times - doesnt that ruin the sanctity of marriage more than a gay couple getting married? I would think so.
And abortion I am absolutely Pro-Choice. I know that it isnt a decision I could ever make and one that thankfully for me (because my parents TAUGHT me about how to protect myself - thanks mom & dad) I have ever had to make...but I dont feel its right for the government to tell me that I can or cant have that as an option. There are far too many scenarios that I could see that being viable for someone else, and I feel that it should be their right to make that decision. Yes, it needs to be monitored & there has to be rules for having an abortion, it should never been deemed a method of birth control, but I feel its a personal decision that needs to be made by the people involved, not one that should be made by a politician or religious group on my behalf. Believe what you like and practice it until you die - but forcing other people to live their lives according to your beliefs is bullshit. If 50% of Americans hates broccoli are we going to outlaw it? No. So if 50% of the population hates the idea of gay marriage or abortion why do they get to stop it from happening? They shouldnt, they should just mind their own business and live their lives and leave others to do the same. Just because you have an opinion doesnt mean that the world needs to agree with it. Opinions & Laws are very very different.
It makes me sad and also worries me to see the involvement of the religious fanatics in our government. It makes me angry to hear those same people calling anyone out about extremist religions while being so blissfully unaware that they are just as bad. It makes me want to cry that they feel ok blindly passing judgment on other religious beliefs - like the Muslims - without ever bothering to learn more about their beliefs, practices or faith. It baffles me that they cant see the forest for the trees and realize that they are themselves religious terrorists on our own soil. The hipocracy makes my brain hurt. I know so many wonderful people that practice their Christianity and other faiths with a good heart, open mind and with love. I know those that get the press and make the most noise are the minority and the most vocal...but I really think they miss the point of having faith in the first place. Faith is not about forcing your beliefs on another person, its about acceptance, love, forgiveness and understanding...but I think someone must have torn that chapter out of their bibles, because that is def not what they practice regardless of what they preach.
Ok Im done. Well at least ranting about it here. I hope that in my life time I get to see this get better and get to see people start to see the light. Our system doesnt work. It needs adapted to accommodate the times, technology and cultural climate. I hope that we as a society can rise above all the petty bullshit slung across our media by a minority of jerkoffs and find the greater good. I hope we can stop being such sheep and make intelligent choices in the coming decades. I hope we can learn to respect each others opinions and learn to celebrate our differences. I hope...
Third day in a row I opened up my browser to my google news page and saw ANOTHER article, the 3rd in as many days, speculating about Obama's religious preferences. I will not link to any of them because I feel it perpetuates the problem, but they were from various legit news sources & were editorial pieces, to clarify.
The first was loaded with opinion pole data about what we, as Americans, THINK his religious views are regardless of what he says they are. This made me twitch. So we are placing it to a vote now as to what church we think he attends and what religion he practices? Silly me, I thought that if the man and his family SAY they are Christian that should be enough and what a percentage of our dear population THINKS is really quite irrelevant.
The second I read was more or less an open demand for Obama to PROVE hes Christian by stopping the building of that Mosque, proving he isnt Muslim and for him to find a way to show Americans that hes Christian and not Muslim. I have a slew of issues with the whole article. 1) How does him stopping that build on PRIVATE PROPERTY prove anything outside of him caving to political/religious pressure? 2) Why does he have to prove a damn thing? I dont have to justify or prove my religious beliefs at all, why is it different for him and what business is it of anyones? Faith is a very personal thing and something that you have to choose on your own, not justify to a nation built & founded on the basis of FREEDOM, freedom of religion specifically for fucks sake, read a god damn history book. 3) What fucking difference does it make what religion he practices? He wasnt elected to the Presidency because of his religious affiliations, he was elected to do a job, and that job was not The Pope.
The one I read today wanted to know why Obama doesnt wear his religion on his sleeve. Why the hell should he? If that is how you choose to celebrate your faith more power to you, but just because he doesnt treat the Oval Office like a church pulpit doesnt negate his role as a leader or render him less effective in his job.
Honestly I dont care if you like him, if you voted for him or if you agree with what he has done thus far. As I stated in previous post, I dont think it matters who was elected last term - this was a shit sandwich of epic proportions and I feel he has handled it as admirably as possible given our polarized political climate, the complete lack of cooperation in our government and the almost total collapse of our economy. I challenge any of you to say you could do better given the hurdles that man faced the day he stepped into that office. I sure as fuck wouldnt have wanted that job and it irks the hell out of me to listen to arm-chair presidents think they can fix this. If it was possible to make it all better easily it would have been done by now. He sure as hell didnt make the mess but has been trying to clean it up and anyone who holds him totally responsible for the state of our nation is either naive or looking for a reason to hate him. Took decades to make this clusterfuck - gonna take just as long to get out and I dont think remaining open minded to change and maybe trying to support the COUNTRY is too much to ask and just may serve us better as a society instead of picking out demons and angels. All politicians suck. Period. Our local government proves this every day, and their political or religious affiliations dont change the level of suck.
That being said I think what truly bothers me, and bothers me a lot, is that the line between Church & State has become so blurred that discourse like what I have seen on Google is deemed ok. Its not. At all. I firmly believe in everyones ability and right to practice the faith of their choosing and not have to justify that faith to anyone. This country was founded by people who were run out of their homes for not agreeing with the religious mandates of their country's government, they came here so they could be free to worship as they believed and we built our governing rules on this principal. Since when are the only acceptable religious beliefs from that of Christianity? Since when did it become a crime to practice something other than Christianity? When did it become necessary to prove your Christianity in order to not be crucified on a national level if you are in a position of power? Never is the answer to all 3 of those questions. I understand that the majority of people in America do practice one form of Christianity or another...but that doesnt mean it is the ONLY acceptable option out there by any strech of the imagination.
I absolutely abhor the power of the Christian right in my government. I find it almost intolerable that laws are written to govern our society that are based on the puritanical views of a percentage of our population. It makes my skin crawl that there is enough money and power in the Christian Right to greatly effect the law making process of our country. Laws & Faith are 2 totally different things. Laws are based on morality, for sure, but there is far more to morals, right & wrong than just faith. Where did the separation of church & state go? In my opinion this is an area that needs reinforced & revisited.
Gay Marriage and abortion are the 2 hot topics off the top of my head that demonstrate this point most effectively. Opponents of both site biblical/faith reasons why neither should be allowed legally. Last time I checked we were governed by the Constitution, not the Bible, so how are these arguments relevant? God is not the president, we elect a human to do that. Laws should not be written that effect all based on the faith & beliefs of some.
For the record I think it is ridiculous gay marriage is even an issue that requires debate. Marriage is not a sacred covenant anymore. 50% divorce rate proves that more than anything else out there, not to mention its more of a legal issue than a religious one. If you are in a same sex relationship and your partner is lying in a hospital bed dying for whatever reason, as a partner you have no say so in the course of treatment or what happens because you are not recognized as a husband or wife or even a family member. Thats some bullshit. Me & Mister were together almost 10 years before we tied the knot. If something had happened to him and they even TRIED to keep me out of that room there would have been blood spilled, I dont care if we were married or not. So these people and groups will go out of their way to stop people who's relationships have ZERO effect on their own from getting married just because they can. Related - all those "God hates Fags" poster carriers I see pics of from their rallys - I disagree - God hates ignorant, mean and stupid people who can only communicate their points with vulgarity & offense. It amazes me that this is even a debate. Why shouldnt same sex couples have the right to get married and all the benefits that come with it and how is this anyone's business but their own? I can get married and divorced a bazillion times - doesnt that ruin the sanctity of marriage more than a gay couple getting married? I would think so.
And abortion I am absolutely Pro-Choice. I know that it isnt a decision I could ever make and one that thankfully for me (because my parents TAUGHT me about how to protect myself - thanks mom & dad) I have ever had to make...but I dont feel its right for the government to tell me that I can or cant have that as an option. There are far too many scenarios that I could see that being viable for someone else, and I feel that it should be their right to make that decision. Yes, it needs to be monitored & there has to be rules for having an abortion, it should never been deemed a method of birth control, but I feel its a personal decision that needs to be made by the people involved, not one that should be made by a politician or religious group on my behalf. Believe what you like and practice it until you die - but forcing other people to live their lives according to your beliefs is bullshit. If 50% of Americans hates broccoli are we going to outlaw it? No. So if 50% of the population hates the idea of gay marriage or abortion why do they get to stop it from happening? They shouldnt, they should just mind their own business and live their lives and leave others to do the same. Just because you have an opinion doesnt mean that the world needs to agree with it. Opinions & Laws are very very different.
It makes me sad and also worries me to see the involvement of the religious fanatics in our government. It makes me angry to hear those same people calling anyone out about extremist religions while being so blissfully unaware that they are just as bad. It makes me want to cry that they feel ok blindly passing judgment on other religious beliefs - like the Muslims - without ever bothering to learn more about their beliefs, practices or faith. It baffles me that they cant see the forest for the trees and realize that they are themselves religious terrorists on our own soil. The hipocracy makes my brain hurt. I know so many wonderful people that practice their Christianity and other faiths with a good heart, open mind and with love. I know those that get the press and make the most noise are the minority and the most vocal...but I really think they miss the point of having faith in the first place. Faith is not about forcing your beliefs on another person, its about acceptance, love, forgiveness and understanding...but I think someone must have torn that chapter out of their bibles, because that is def not what they practice regardless of what they preach.
Ok Im done. Well at least ranting about it here. I hope that in my life time I get to see this get better and get to see people start to see the light. Our system doesnt work. It needs adapted to accommodate the times, technology and cultural climate. I hope that we as a society can rise above all the petty bullshit slung across our media by a minority of jerkoffs and find the greater good. I hope we can stop being such sheep and make intelligent choices in the coming decades. I hope we can learn to respect each others opinions and learn to celebrate our differences. I hope...
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Failbooking...an irritating adventure in socail media.
I resisted Facebook for a couple years. Mister had an account and I knew OF Facebook, but had no genuine interest in being sought out or found by anyone and kind of felt that if I was meant to keep in touch with ghosts from the past I would have. Well that worked for a couple years, and then I caved. My excuse for caving was family. Mister's entire family lives out of state and I am shitty at keeping in touch if it involves the telephone and where as I am pretty good about replying to emails I pretty much suck at sending them, and I missed them. Me & the Mister have been a pair since way back in the high school days...his parents and sisters are just like my own (we have both known each others sister for more than HALF their lives. Fuck we're old!) and long story short I liked being able to keep in touch relatively effortlessly and stay up to date on the daily comings and goings...
Well it didnt take long and I was found by a ton of old high school & college friends, random people I had worked with, and just folks I had fallen out of touch with as we grew up and became "adults", just like happens to everyone Im sure. And I dug it. For awhile. It still makes me smile that I get to interact with so many people that I would not otherwise, I have rekindled friendships that I value and didnt know that I missed and have even got sucked into a couple of those stupid games for a bit before I realized that the HUGE time suck they became was detrimental to...well living. Well that and I got bored with it honestly. It would be nice if people only updated their status with clever and witty things as opposed to a running diatribe of their mundane existence...or even worse - what Jane Pitt so succinctly summed up in a status update of her own this morning - VAGUEbooking. This is the art of putting up a highly dramatic yet completely uninformative status update (like OMFG why does this shit happen to me?!?!?) basically pandering for people to fawn over what could possible be wrong with you so that you can just not tell them - if you are one of those people I have probably blocked you - because that shits ANNOYING. If its a big enough deal to make the effort to type an update just SAY it for fucks sake...but I digress.
So last night before bed I was surfing the interwebs and popped into FB for a quick visit and saw an update that irritated me. Not because the updater was wrong...but because they were just plain dumb. Doesnt matter what the update was, but it sincerely made me want to comment on the drivel, and I opted not, mainly because I really do not care if the judgmental prick lives the rest of his life alone - and I hid him instead. He can be blissfully unaware of his own hypocrisy without having to bother me about it.
I hopped on my trusty MAC this morning to check emails and such before I left work and cruised FB. And then I got irritated.....
Will i delete my account? Probably not, I really do like keeping in touch with my family.
Should I delete it just to save myself the aggravation? Oh yeah definitely.
Well it didnt take long and I was found by a ton of old high school & college friends, random people I had worked with, and just folks I had fallen out of touch with as we grew up and became "adults", just like happens to everyone Im sure. And I dug it. For awhile. It still makes me smile that I get to interact with so many people that I would not otherwise, I have rekindled friendships that I value and didnt know that I missed and have even got sucked into a couple of those stupid games for a bit before I realized that the HUGE time suck they became was detrimental to...well living. Well that and I got bored with it honestly. It would be nice if people only updated their status with clever and witty things as opposed to a running diatribe of their mundane existence...or even worse - what Jane Pitt so succinctly summed up in a status update of her own this morning - VAGUEbooking. This is the art of putting up a highly dramatic yet completely uninformative status update (like OMFG why does this shit happen to me?!?!?) basically pandering for people to fawn over what could possible be wrong with you so that you can just not tell them - if you are one of those people I have probably blocked you - because that shits ANNOYING. If its a big enough deal to make the effort to type an update just SAY it for fucks sake...but I digress.
So last night before bed I was surfing the interwebs and popped into FB for a quick visit and saw an update that irritated me. Not because the updater was wrong...but because they were just plain dumb. Doesnt matter what the update was, but it sincerely made me want to comment on the drivel, and I opted not, mainly because I really do not care if the judgmental prick lives the rest of his life alone - and I hid him instead. He can be blissfully unaware of his own hypocrisy without having to bother me about it.
I hopped on my trusty MAC this morning to check emails and such before I left work and cruised FB. And then I got irritated.....
- In my feed this morning I see an updating asking people to stop using curse words in their status updates and lets all try to keep FB nice and clean. Not an unreasonable request really, but brought to mind this question - Why is it ok to ask people not to curse or use offensive language in THEIR status updates? This same individual is a Born Again Christian - and litters her feed with it. I find that offensive, ok well maybe not offensive - but definitely irritating. I respect anyone's belief and faith, but I do not want it rammed down my throat in status updates. I deal with your religious zealotry without commenting, you can deal with a few curse words in status updates without feeling the need to police it. Free speech bitches! Respect it! And a big fat KABLOCK for that one....it was a recent friending and obviously a poor choice.
- There should be rules to being allowed to post anything political on there. 1) you have to actually read, from more than one source, information about the topic you plan to preach about and Fox News is NOT allowed to be a sited source. 2) You must be able to participate in a discourse about your rant, if and when that happens, without resorting to name calling and finger pointing - you do your point no justice when you cant defend it intelligently. 3) You must be able to acknowledge that it took decades of BS government to get us here and holding any single one individual (esp the one we are currently beating the shit out for not being able to wave his magic wand and fix it as quick as wed like him to) responsible is complete and utter BULLSHIT. That is just reality and fact. All political opinions aside - the poor chump that got elected last time, regardless of their political affiliation, was going to be handed the biggest shit sandwich ever created and to expect anyone to solve decades of abuse, misuse and poor decision making in 4 years is just plain fucking stupid, I dont care what you believe in. If you dont meet the above criteria keep your damn mouth shut, all youre doing is embarrassing yourself and pissing me off.
- And this is a very recent annoyance...but it seems my feed is littered with people that are so sick to death of their children and they just cant wait to send them back to school. Seriously. You decided to birth them, this school schedule thing is no surprise, been this way forever...shut up already. The same things happens at every long school break. Honestly I cant imagine I am the only one who doesnt want to hear about your little terrorists driving you nuts. Now if the story of them driving you nuts is funny - the PLEASE share - kids funny stories are awesome...but if your only intent is to whine about your choice to reproduce or inability to entertain your kids for 2.5 months - hush up & consult the Googles - there a bazillion cheap & easy things to do with kids out there...get off FB and go do some of them. Maybe your kids are obnoxious because they want some attention or to go outside and play.
- STOP FUCKING WHINING ALREADY!!! Some folks do it via vaguebooking, some are a hell of a lot more detailed than others and maybe I just have a large section of rabid miserable FB users in my friend list but holy shit these have got to be the most unhappy, unsatisfied and miserable humans on the planet. They NEVER have a positive thing to say and are just gigantic steaming piles of bitter negativity. My suggestion - spend less time whining & posting about the awfulness that is your existence and go out and DO something about it. Make a difference, change it up, find something that makes you smile, go get ice cream...whatever it takes...but FIND a glimmer of happy somewhere. And if you cant or wont, call a friend who can actually help you, dont put a faceless plea on FB, it doesnt come across as sincere, its comes across as whiny and pathetic. Call me cold, but if was ever in dire need of something, anything really...the last fucking place I would ask for help is on FB. Thats what REAL people are for.
Will i delete my account? Probably not, I really do like keeping in touch with my family.
Should I delete it just to save myself the aggravation? Oh yeah definitely.
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