Still starting my workouts at 6 MPH, which is basically running like the devil’s chasing you. This time I didn’t wake up just another two-tenths of a pound down, but a pound as well. :) It was probably just water, but maybe I won’t gain after all if I just keep up with my exercise regimen. I won’t count on it since I’ve stopped the dieting part, but we’ll see.

It’s sad watching my furry little guy get old. He’s losing energy and his fur is thinning, though he should still have another half a year left in him.

Oh no. Just oh no. It’s back. The outages are back. I was hoping the last few times it happened was just an isolated incident but I really think they’re messing with us again. Although I’ll admit it took longer than I thought it would for them to start their shit up again, I was really hoping they’d wait till we moved, but I have a feeling it’s going to escalate and get worse. Just like he thinks someone hacks into the weather thing and changes the temp, well I really think it’s someone getting a kick out of messing with the lines. In fact, it just cut out yet again. I am so, so dismayed. And pissed. But it will be just one more reason to hope to move.

Tom still feels a bit achy but not as rundown. He worked a little OT yesterday and was told to bring in his resume to apply for that position I mentioned he might apply for. Hopefully, it will be comparable in pay to what he gets now and he’ll get it. It’ll depend on what he has for competition. It’s still so hard to imagine him ever having a permanent job again since he’s never had one in the 4½ years we’ve been in this state.

As soon as I get a solid connection I’ll post this. Then, since they’re obviously going to play games with our connection again, I’ll go work out and turn the 550 calories I had into 250 calories. Well, that’s how it’s supposed to work anyway.

Later…

We hit 70° today and the only thing dampening the peace, as usual, is the coming and going up the hill, along with the scattered barks. Otherwise, it’s so, so nice. Got all the windows open to bring in some of that fresh country air.

I only managed to motivate myself to write all of one sentence yesterday in the next chapter of my story. I wanted to crank out chapter 8 today, but I doubt I will. I’m just not in the mood for creative writing lately, but I know I will be sooner or later. It comes and goes.

Haven’t given the thought of Tom getting that permanent job much thought. I know I should be sitting here with my fingers crossed hoping and praying he gets the job he’s putting in for, but I’ve become so used to the idea of him being a temp, and hey, this is Cali. Cali and temps go hand in hand. But he did apply for it, so hopefully they’ll focus on qualifications and not who was the last one out of diapers.

Read an article about a couple of teenage girls who got expelled from school for posting a racist video on YouTube, and of course it brought about mixed emotions for me. First of all, since when do you get expelled for something you did off of school grounds??? Secondly, as a writer, I’m a real fanatic for free speech. I believe that no matter how hateful, off the wall or strange something may sound that someone may say or write, it’s only words for God’s sake! If you don’t like it, don’t listen. And so I think that until and if we’re ever forced to read and hear things we don’t want to read and hear by gunpoint, it’d be a lot easier to just not bother going to these sites in the first place rather than complaining. They may’ve sounded very hateful, and no, they don’t have all their facts straight, but they were merely expressing their opinion. They didn’t kill anyone. They didn’t attack anyone. They didn’t burn anyone’s house down. They didn’t steal from anyone. So just because their beliefs may not be in the majority with 95% of the population being for blacks these days as opposed to against them, why expel them for expressing themselves out of school? It just seems a bit extreme. And why all the death threats? If you’re so damn sensitive, then why did you play their video in the first place? It just goes to show how many people are protective and fond of blacks these days. Had these girls done this 30 years ago had there been such a thing as the Internet then, no one would care. A hundred years ago and everyone else would join in. But there is so little hatred for blacks these days. People are too busy lavishing their hatred upon the gays anyway.

I agreed with some of what they said, but not all of it. Yes, despite the world of opportunities blacks are presented with these days from everything to great jobs, getting off easy in court, to being president of the United States, many still choose welfare and crime over success. BUT… as I learned the hard way, anyone can fall into poverty and it doesn’t take much. Just a few things going wrong and not lining up just right and you too, may find yourself on the streets or at least struggling your ass off and you don’t have to be black, lazy or an alkie or a druggie. Bad times and crises have no discrimination.

I agree that they don’t always speak correctly, and yes, it can be annoying at times and hard to understand.

Right or wrong, as a writer, it sucks to be in a country with little to no speech rights. We hear the term “free speech,” but in this country, there are virtually no speech rights as opposed to Norway and some other countries, and what few rights we do have here are often violated. I just don’t get why people can’t simply avoid sites that contain sensitive material that may bother them. But people will continue to bitch about those who express themselves instead of just ignoring them, and the media will continue to get away with printing all kinds of lies about all kinds of people, and America, the “land of the free,” will continue to have virtually no speech rights.