Yeah...this pretty much says it all.

Did ever have one of those days? You know the ones, where you're busy all day long but got nothing done! This is the best way I know of to describe those days.

Back to work today...I can hardly contain myself.

P.S. I quit smoking a while ago. But if I could wear one of these T-shirts to work, it would more than make up for the lack of nicotine in my system.

Go here http://www.tshirtsthatsuck.com/ and you'll see what I mean.

Sunday brunch with my family...

I have been sick over the last couple of days. I was the recipient of some sort of stomach bug that allowed to me to become more intimate with my toilet than I really should be. But I’m better now and I get to go back to work tomorrow. yippee (imagine the not so joyous tone in my voice.)

I became sick after having a busy weekend. Friday night we celebrated a friend’s 41 st birthday with dinner at a nice Greek restaurant and a drag show. How many people can say that? She did say it was the one of the best birthday’s she has ever had. Saturday was none stop. We got up early and went to the public market with our neighbors. I became packed down with shopping bags like a burrow on a trail ride. After our shopping spree we went off to visit a friend and to buy me a new suit. On the way back we stopped off at my mother’s house. I saw something I thought I would never see, my mother being very open and accepting of my relationship. My BF is like the daughter-in-law she will never have. Swapping recipes, laughing, giggling, trading decorating tips, it was quite a sight. I was so proud.

On Sunday, we had a brunch. The brunch was more of a support group than anything. Among our little group of friends some of us have hit some very rough times. One of my closest friend’s Mothers had died recently of cancer. Another in the past month had a miscarriage. In the past when I lived alone I use to have everyone over to my house every Sunday to do laundry, relax and have brunch. I still joke that when ever I have one of these brunches it was holding a meeting of the U.N. Most of my friends are not of this country. I would have representative of the UK, New Zealand, and Scotland show up for Sunday brunch. It sometimes amazes that we all found each other.

Sadly, I had to stop having our little get togethers because at the time I had lost my job, my grandmother, and was in a not so good relationship at the time. I wasn’t getting any time to myself to process all that was happening. But this brunch needed to happen. We needed to re-connect like the old days, to see that even though we have our own lives now (and in some cases children) that we are still family. And that we are still there for each other no matter what.

We ate, we drank wine, we laughed and we shared our troubles of late with people who, in some cases, know us better than we know ourselves. Even with some new friends, spouses, kids it was almost like time had never passed from the last brunch to this one. As I looked around the room I was very proud and very thankful to have a family like this around me.

I'm thankful for all my friends and I consider all of them my family.

Gay Marriage...we'll use any excuse to throw a party!

I say let gay people get married. This time we'll be able to plan, cater, design the dress, bake the cake, arrange the flowers and decorate our own weddings! We've been doing for straight people since the beginning of time. It's about time we got the first dance!

I made a new friend today!

As you all know I started a new job on Monday and along with that I made a new friend. He is new to the company as well and he escaped from Iraq. That's right I said "escaped." Not once but twice. I've had lunch with him twice and the stories he has told me have made things look not so bad here.

He started with telling the story of how he got out of Iraq the first time in the first Gulf War. The US Army recruited him and some other college students as translators, etc. for when armed forces went into Saudi Arabia. After the conflict was over the Army pulled up stakes and left them in Saudi territory. The Saudi Arabian government put them in a refugee camp in the middle of the desert. There were six people to a tent, drenching rain storms, blinding sand storms, heat, people shooting at you if you attempt to escape and the one thing they cared about the most....their games. Yes games! As in Monopoly, playing cards, Shoot and Ladders, Life, these things meant more to these people than getting shot! He said, "It was their life." or more to the point their sanity.

After six months the Saudi government paid Saddam Hussein to take the refugees back. That is when lunch partner made his way to America. His family thought he was dead for 3 1/2 years until he was able to contact them once he reached the US.

Now he works C-shift and his wife works in a department store. They are expecting a baby shortly.

The stories he has told me are nothing short of amazing. How he lost a brother becuase he did not want to go to war. The Hussein’s men found him, dragged him out on public display and shot him. After killing this young man, the enforcers forced his family to pay for the bullets they "wasted" on their son and brother.

150 people were found in an underground cell. They had been there for 20 years. They were imprisoned there for various "crimes" against the government by the previous leader. They survived on scraps of food tossed down to them by guards and soldiers through sewage grates. They fought (sometimes killed) for what little food they received. They lived in almost total darkness, naked in human waste, rotting corpses, and very little dirty water. When they were found a 16 yr old boy was among the prisoners. He was born there. He had NEVER seen the sun or stepped onto soft ground before that day.

People disappearing forever, families ripped apart, torn from their homes, men killed and women raped. All for speaking out or suspected of speaking out against the ruling power. For all the whining, bitching, moaning I do about our government and our President I am glad of one thing.

That I can.

Hmmmm?

Utter Confusion.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, cats and dogs....

I started a new job today. Normally, anyone who has been out of work or bouncing around from temp job to temp job would be happy to find steady work for reasonable pay. So why don't I feel that sort of joy? Why aren't I breathing a big * sigh* of relief? Because I'm 37, college educated, and smart as hell. Call it a mid-life crisis, call it being unappreciated, call it whatever you want. But the fact is, I need more. Or at least at this time in my life I thought I would be more. But hind sight is 20/20. Now I face that cross road that most of my friends seem to be facing. What do I do now!?

It's funny even at my age I'm still faced with the question, "What do I want to be when grow up?" I have a few ideas but my maturity gets in the way of executing them. I no longer have the option of that kind of fearless ambition I had when I was younger. Now I seem to worry about the fall rather than how high the cliff is.

But one of these days I think I'm going to close my eyes and take that leap. And pray that I land on my feet.

Give me Franken-berry or give me death!

As hard as it is for me to believe but this was a news story on NPR yesterday (not to mention on the Boston Globe and San Diego Tribune websites. It seems that students at Harvard University have their designer undies in a bundle because the school cleared its dining halls of brand-name cereals. The university replaced Captain Crunch and Fruit Loops with less expensive, healthier choices such as Tootie Fruity and Colossal Crunch. This has sent the student body into a perfect tizzy.

One outraged student went as far as to form a special interest group, “Harvard Students for the Reimplementation of Brand-Named Cereals" on Thefacebook.com. This is a popular website that allows students to meet new people and form study groups.

Another student complained it's annoying to pay more than $4,000 for a meal plan that scrimps on her favorite breakfast foods. The new stuff gets soggy too fast and it doesn’t taste very good. She also proclaimed, “’I’ve just stopped eating cereal. It’s not fair.”

Since this shift to generic they cut (hold onto you jock straps) SIX- FIGURE cereal budget by 25 %. A spokesperson for the Harvard University Dining Services said it’s their responsibility to spend the student’s money wisely.

According to some students this swap was the latest (and most annoying) in a long line of dining hall disappointments. The annual clambake, which featured lobsters for every undergraduate, was dropped in 2002. And of course none of the student body had anything to do with the December break-in at a residential dining hall that left $1,000 in damages and cereal strewn across the floor.

These are the future leaders of America people! No wonder the democrats lost the election if they were counting on the youth of America to step up. The draft, social security, higher gas prices, A WAR, these are not things that kids today see as tangible things that effect them. But take their Lucky Charms or Frosted Flakes away and you’re going to have yourself one ugly mob beating down your door with…umm…SPOONS ready to poke you!

I tried to be sarcastic and funny about this whole situation, really I did. But this is one of those times where reality beat me to it.

Here is our flag, VIVA LA SMART PEOPLE!

Now that I have your attention….

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen, Sirs and Madams, Dogs and Cats,

Welcome to Plato Not Prozac! This is your safe haven away from the morons, idiots, stupids and all around fools that clog up our daily lives. This will be a Blog of ideas, free thinking and a wide variety of opinions and perspectives.

We will have many contributors to this Blog who will cover a spectrum subjects from politics to religion to life in general. Some of these expressions you may agree with, some you may not. Some of you may even be offended. And we’re ok with that. We’re not going to be peddling filth or anything like that...gutter mind! I just wanted a place where you can speak your mind without worrying about getting sued, slapped, fired or asked to step down as President of Harvard.

The ideas are original. The perspectives are original. The drawings are original. This is not a liberal soapbox nor is this conservative megaphone. The only things we do discriminate against are stupid people! Oh, you who I’m talking about.

So hang on tight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!

Did you ever have one of those days?