Afternoon Delight.

Higher Education.
I have been reading lately. Lots of things to catch up on, you know. It is funny how obtuse the world gets when a person piles more and more on themselves – two words come to mind…tunnel vision. When I was in college I learned a lot, but missed so much. I stayed so busy that I didn’t even have time to be married or craft or bead or keep up with current events much less work. For the most part, I simply existed. What does college mean to me now? It is nothing but a fevered whirl-wind of memories that I can barely savor because I had to work full time. There are things that I never will forget though. Like beating myself up because I got a C in Biology 201 (yes, the world was ending) and changing my major mid-stream and the anticipation I felt when taking something outside of my comfort zone, aka Painting 1 and going to Ireland and the way the campus looked in the spring and the nervousness in taking independent studies in Arthurian Legends and Edgar Allen Poe with 24 pagers due at the end. As for my Arthurian Legends professor, she was one of the best counselors I have ever had and she wasn’t even assigned to me. She wanted to help me reach my goal so she sat down on her own time and walked through all of my options and helped schedule me for classes early in addition to tutoring me. How dedicated is that?!
It has been a year since commencement and I am taking time to reflect on what I have accomplished. I promised myself that I would finish my education early, check. I promised myself to catch up on all the novels I couldn’t read because of papers, check. I promised that I would exercise more, check. I promised that I would spend more time with my neglected E. Check. Check. Check. What is next? Oh, I don’t know…a family may be or home improvements or creating jewelry or writing a fiction novel or writing poetry. We’ll see.

Pink Sludge.
One word…Yuk. For some time now E and I have noticed pink sludge on the faucet aerators and sometimes there is this earthy smell when we turn on the water, which stinks unbelievably. Enough is enough so we have complained to the utilities. Ok. I have complained to the utilities. Why do they let losers answer the phone?! No one knew what I was talking about until I threw in a curse word. Then I was immediately transferred to the area superintendent. Now keep in mind, I was told by my FIL who is also a plumber that the treatment plant needs to clean or repair the fluoride injectors. Obviously he has seen this before as he is a plumber and all. The super listened and asked questions then asked if he could call me back as he would check with the treatment plant manager. Sounds promising, no? Not! A few minutes later he called and coolly informed me that they are not using injectors and that they add so many parts per liter as per government standards…blah, blah, more useless facts…so many chlorine parts per liter, blah, blah, blah. Then he had the audacity to make me feel like it was acceptable because it happened to him too and it may be the soap we are using, but he lives in Mount Pleasant, it goes and it comes and he doesn’t know what it is either. Um, hello? Customer here. I don’t want to hear any condescension or small chit-chat or psycho-babble BS while you pat me on the head and push me out the door. Nice try. Not to be turned away that easily, I asked “So what is it? Have you had it tested?” Of course, he could not answer me and he said that he did not have his tested so he said he would call me back after they ran bacterial and chloride and fluoride tests. At this point I conceded. At least he was trying harder to appease me. Whatever. Just get someone who knows what the heck they are doing to fix it! I don’t trust that idiot as far as I could throw him so I am looking into alternative methods of getting suitable drinking water. Whatever you do, don’t drink the water in Duck Ditch!

Religion.
Now there are some topics that will cause problems every time because everyone has their own point of view, spirituality and perspectives. Unless you are interested in arguing, it is best to avoid talking about money, religion, and politics. Out of those never speak about religion. Especially here in the South where old Bible-thumping, hell fire and brimstone is the only way to preach. What brings this up? The Lost Gospel of Judas. Wow! What a storm of controversy over something meant to enlighten us. I say why not read the book. If your faith is solid, reading this will not change it so what is the harm? The way I perceive it, we are all made in God’s image and what is God? He is the creator. That is why we run around creating things like wonderful artistic expressions be it a play, novel, painting, movie, graphics, photography, or music. Our creativity goes even deeper into the whole of things…like creating new life, stem cell research, cloning, finding cures for diseases, etc. The only down side of being creators that I can see is that we are also destroyers. Yet all of it brings us closer to the truth in some way. I have the highest hopes that we will reach a point of enlightenment and clarity, and in some way, discover our purpose for being.