I read something in the paper this morning that made me giggle. It made me think about how we all go through the same steps in our lives, we all struggle with the same things and we all go through the same thought processes even though we might not see it from the outside. It doesn't matter what path you take in life - you'll likely have similar thoughts and similar concerns as everybody else. I don't think we're nearly as unique as we'd like to make ourselves out to be.
It was a quote by Joni Mitchell, a folk singer who gained fame in the 1970s. It went like this:
"My first four albums covered the usual youth problems -- looking for love in all the wrong places -- while the next five are basically about being in your 30s. Things start losing their profundity; in middle-late age, you enter a tragedian period, realizing that the human animal isn’t changing for the better. In a way, I think I entered straight into my tragedian period, as my work is set against the stupid, destructive way we live on this planet. Americans have decided to be stupid and shallow since 1980. Madonna is like Nero: She marks the turning point."
Lately I've been feeling exactly like this. I guess it's a path we will all take at some point - and there is some comfort in knowing that those who have gone before me experienced the same things I am experiencing now. Watching the world change around you and experiencing what you perceive to be the decline of civilization has been something that every generation has gone through.
The best comparison I can give in my world is... people who drive ridiculously expensive cars but don't pay their vet bills. I'm only using the vet bill thing as an example - but it outlines the lack of priority that seems to define the younger generation nowadays. Make someone else responsible for your choices and don't worry about the tab - let someone else pick it up. That seems to be an undercurrent for most of my beliefs today!
I guess the question in my mind is whether or not there truly is a decline or is it just change in general?
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Made It!
This post is dedicated entirely to my niece. :)
It took her a few years to get some direction, but she is finally coming into her own as a young woman. I am so incredibly proud of her! It's apparent that what her mom and I have harped on for years, finally sunk in.
She's graduating from nursing school next month. She'll be an RN.
I could not be happier!!! Steve and I would not miss her graduation for all the money in the world; we'll be flying to TX next month to be there in person.
I told her for the last few years, "No babies until you graduate!" She got married last year, so I was concerned she might start down that path too soon, interrupting her studies...
But she listened and I know that no matter how proud I am of her, she will be even more proud of herself for finishing school!! NO ONE can ever take THAT away from you!
I've already told her to go ahead and make me some grandnieces and grandnephews now. :)
She's in the clear. :)
I love you Scooby and I am more proud of you than I will ever be able to put into words. :)
It took her a few years to get some direction, but she is finally coming into her own as a young woman. I am so incredibly proud of her! It's apparent that what her mom and I have harped on for years, finally sunk in.
She's graduating from nursing school next month. She'll be an RN.
I could not be happier!!! Steve and I would not miss her graduation for all the money in the world; we'll be flying to TX next month to be there in person.
I told her for the last few years, "No babies until you graduate!" She got married last year, so I was concerned she might start down that path too soon, interrupting her studies...
But she listened and I know that no matter how proud I am of her, she will be even more proud of herself for finishing school!! NO ONE can ever take THAT away from you!
I've already told her to go ahead and make me some grandnieces and grandnephews now. :)
She's in the clear. :)
I love you Scooby and I am more proud of you than I will ever be able to put into words. :)
Super Moms!
I really feel the need to say a few things about mommies.
Those who know me know that I am a huge supporter of education for women. I don't believe in having babies until you have positioned yourself such that you can take care of those kids in the event that something changes in your life and you must take care of them yourself. It shouldn't be that big of a deal; you graduate from high school, you go to college and you are self-sufficient sometime in your twenties. It's really not that big of a deal unless you're one of those lazy asses who just wants someone to take care of you, or if you're just too lazy to get yourself an education - which is what happens most of the time, I believe. I see sooooo many young women today make excuses for not going to college, make excuses for not being able to take care of themselves. I've seen them go from home to marriage without ever learning what it means to be self sufficient and to have your own space.
So as I've done before in my Ode to Beautiful Women series...
I wanted to mention a few that I am in total awe of.
G's sister, J, is amazing. She's working on her PhD in psychology; she had her first baby 2 years ago and during that time she moved to NYC, stayed in school, got pregnant with baby #2 in that time frame. A few weeks ago she gave birth to the second child and let me tell you... she is my hero! She had about 5 hours of labor, had the baby with a midwife, took pictures 3 hours later and was home by noon! I wish I was exaggerating but I'm not! And, she flew here to the HD with her hubby for a visit, 10 days after the baby was born!
So she's a very educated, successful woman in a very happy marriage; she's raising amazing, smart kids who are incredibly adjusted - much more so than most situations with SAHMs.
Then there is my vet school friend, S. S. got married right after we graduated, and she and her husband bought their hospital about the same time we bought ours. Since then, they've had two children, bought a bigger farm, are building barns and chicken coops, all while running their business. Their kids are amazing - growing up in the country is so much better than any other alternative! Oh, and did I mention she's 29? Yeah, not very old to be so accomplished.
And, the kids of these amazing women are incredibly well adjusted - not bratty, no behavior problems - as opposed to what the staunch SAHM group would like to believe - these women are raising a terrific group of next-generationals. :)
The women in my life - the ones I admire the most - are the ones who are as happy and content as these girls mentioned above and who are raising the next generation of adults who will be educated and progressive.
Because... the reality is that it's education that is going to carry us through the degeneration of this country. The divide will grow and if you don't have some sort of education, you will be left behind.
Those who know me know that I am a huge supporter of education for women. I don't believe in having babies until you have positioned yourself such that you can take care of those kids in the event that something changes in your life and you must take care of them yourself. It shouldn't be that big of a deal; you graduate from high school, you go to college and you are self-sufficient sometime in your twenties. It's really not that big of a deal unless you're one of those lazy asses who just wants someone to take care of you, or if you're just too lazy to get yourself an education - which is what happens most of the time, I believe. I see sooooo many young women today make excuses for not going to college, make excuses for not being able to take care of themselves. I've seen them go from home to marriage without ever learning what it means to be self sufficient and to have your own space.
So as I've done before in my Ode to Beautiful Women series...
I wanted to mention a few that I am in total awe of.
G's sister, J, is amazing. She's working on her PhD in psychology; she had her first baby 2 years ago and during that time she moved to NYC, stayed in school, got pregnant with baby #2 in that time frame. A few weeks ago she gave birth to the second child and let me tell you... she is my hero! She had about 5 hours of labor, had the baby with a midwife, took pictures 3 hours later and was home by noon! I wish I was exaggerating but I'm not! And, she flew here to the HD with her hubby for a visit, 10 days after the baby was born!
So she's a very educated, successful woman in a very happy marriage; she's raising amazing, smart kids who are incredibly adjusted - much more so than most situations with SAHMs.
Then there is my vet school friend, S. S. got married right after we graduated, and she and her husband bought their hospital about the same time we bought ours. Since then, they've had two children, bought a bigger farm, are building barns and chicken coops, all while running their business. Their kids are amazing - growing up in the country is so much better than any other alternative! Oh, and did I mention she's 29? Yeah, not very old to be so accomplished.
And, the kids of these amazing women are incredibly well adjusted - not bratty, no behavior problems - as opposed to what the staunch SAHM group would like to believe - these women are raising a terrific group of next-generationals. :)
The women in my life - the ones I admire the most - are the ones who are as happy and content as these girls mentioned above and who are raising the next generation of adults who will be educated and progressive.
Because... the reality is that it's education that is going to carry us through the degeneration of this country. The divide will grow and if you don't have some sort of education, you will be left behind.
Economy Comments
I haven't said much about the local economy and I realized that I should detail a bit about what I've seen here in the last 3 years so that some day I can look back on it and know that I survived it.
When I first moved to CA, the high desert was a fairly decent place. It has it's ghettos but overall it was rural and pretty nice. Bought a nice house on the side of a hill, had a job at a very busy vet clinic that saw an incredible increase in business from 2003 to 2006. Apple Valley is less than 3 hours from Vegas, 40 minutes from terrific OC shopping, less than 2 hours from the beach.
Things were hopping here for a few years.
Then, in 2007 (right about the time I was getting a divorce) I started noticing a "slow down" at the clinic where I was working. Nothing major, just some slight changes. I didn't think too much about it and certainly didn't see a "crash" coming when we decided to purchase OUR veterinary hospital.
I started noticing a change in the "type" of people I'd see at the grocery store. In fact, in the course of one year, I was accosted 3 times in the parking lot of the store I normally went to - beggars and gang banging types. We started having strange people come into the clinic - some with resumes, one who told us he just got out of jail and needed to do some community service, etc etc. These weren't "normal" folks; these were what I'd affectionately refer to as "tweakers".
Just last week I had to decline sending medication home for a 22 year old cat because the owner kept calling me and asking for opioids by name. "Can I have some kitty morphine?" I normally would oblige for the sake of the cat, but the owner also told me she just got out of rehab... WTF?
So yes, I have started seeing a dramatic change in the demographics of my area, and that is the part that scares me. It's still gorgeous here, the weather perfect and my house is beautiful. We've had a lot of rain this year so everything is green, robust and healthy.
But the scenery is changing on a bigger front.
When I think back to when I first lived here, the cost of living was pretty cheap compared to "down the hill". Costs went sky-high with the stupid housing bubble, and are now back down to a decent range.
Let's get something straight: housing is NOT going to boom again in this area for many years. It might fluctuate, but the days of getting twice what you paid for your house are gone!
Foreclosures are abounding; businesses are suffering; I've heard recently about some local, very long term businesses folding. It's then that I feel fortunate that we are still in business. We are a part of the 3/50 Project (supporting small businesses) and we fight every day for what we do, for what we believe in and for our own ethics and morals.
That said, let me tell you what I am seeing on the veterinary front: people don't have any money to spend. Period. When they do, they are much more conscientious about it than before. They want cheap. There is a degredation going on in this country like none I have seen before.
What this is doing to my mindset? I refuse to buy "cheap" anymore. I HATE that I don't have a high end grocery store to shop at, that is owned by a local business; I HATE that I have to support "big business" on any level. This country is run by small businesses and raped by the big ones.
If we don't wake up and preserve certain qualities of our life, then those qualities will go away forever.
The middle class is being squeezed like never before; I never thought I'd be a part of this but I am. I am fighting to keep my employees and also fighting to protect my profession so it's not ruined by "low cost bottom feeders" who don't do anything but stab and jab and do shitty surgeries. But right now they are popular and quality medicine is in trouble. People don't seem to care; and I maintain that they will get what they pay for. In the end, it's the animals that suffer, as always.
I am beginning to doubt that it's worth it; people are generally stupid, they overbreed and they are egocentric and *never* do much of anything for the greater good anymore. Nobody stands for anything except themselves.
It's very depressing.
When I first moved to CA, the high desert was a fairly decent place. It has it's ghettos but overall it was rural and pretty nice. Bought a nice house on the side of a hill, had a job at a very busy vet clinic that saw an incredible increase in business from 2003 to 2006. Apple Valley is less than 3 hours from Vegas, 40 minutes from terrific OC shopping, less than 2 hours from the beach.
Things were hopping here for a few years.
Then, in 2007 (right about the time I was getting a divorce) I started noticing a "slow down" at the clinic where I was working. Nothing major, just some slight changes. I didn't think too much about it and certainly didn't see a "crash" coming when we decided to purchase OUR veterinary hospital.
I started noticing a change in the "type" of people I'd see at the grocery store. In fact, in the course of one year, I was accosted 3 times in the parking lot of the store I normally went to - beggars and gang banging types. We started having strange people come into the clinic - some with resumes, one who told us he just got out of jail and needed to do some community service, etc etc. These weren't "normal" folks; these were what I'd affectionately refer to as "tweakers".
Just last week I had to decline sending medication home for a 22 year old cat because the owner kept calling me and asking for opioids by name. "Can I have some kitty morphine?" I normally would oblige for the sake of the cat, but the owner also told me she just got out of rehab... WTF?
So yes, I have started seeing a dramatic change in the demographics of my area, and that is the part that scares me. It's still gorgeous here, the weather perfect and my house is beautiful. We've had a lot of rain this year so everything is green, robust and healthy.
But the scenery is changing on a bigger front.
When I think back to when I first lived here, the cost of living was pretty cheap compared to "down the hill". Costs went sky-high with the stupid housing bubble, and are now back down to a decent range.
Let's get something straight: housing is NOT going to boom again in this area for many years. It might fluctuate, but the days of getting twice what you paid for your house are gone!
Foreclosures are abounding; businesses are suffering; I've heard recently about some local, very long term businesses folding. It's then that I feel fortunate that we are still in business. We are a part of the 3/50 Project (supporting small businesses) and we fight every day for what we do, for what we believe in and for our own ethics and morals.
That said, let me tell you what I am seeing on the veterinary front: people don't have any money to spend. Period. When they do, they are much more conscientious about it than before. They want cheap. There is a degredation going on in this country like none I have seen before.
What this is doing to my mindset? I refuse to buy "cheap" anymore. I HATE that I don't have a high end grocery store to shop at, that is owned by a local business; I HATE that I have to support "big business" on any level. This country is run by small businesses and raped by the big ones.
If we don't wake up and preserve certain qualities of our life, then those qualities will go away forever.
The middle class is being squeezed like never before; I never thought I'd be a part of this but I am. I am fighting to keep my employees and also fighting to protect my profession so it's not ruined by "low cost bottom feeders" who don't do anything but stab and jab and do shitty surgeries. But right now they are popular and quality medicine is in trouble. People don't seem to care; and I maintain that they will get what they pay for. In the end, it's the animals that suffer, as always.
I am beginning to doubt that it's worth it; people are generally stupid, they overbreed and they are egocentric and *never* do much of anything for the greater good anymore. Nobody stands for anything except themselves.
It's very depressing.
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