I don't like Mondays... Tell me why...

[pfloyd]

The Life of Pink

Well this past weekend had some adventure to it.
We went to WalMart in Oxford on Saturday, and I decided to take my jacket off and leave it in the car, as it wasn't too bad of a day, and the walk to the door was relatively short. Well, C left a list of meds she could take in the car, so I went back and... realised that I had locked my keys in there.
So I call AAA from a payphone. I don't have my mobile with me, so there's no way the truck can ring me and let me know that he's on his way. So we wait outside, and even though it's nice out, it's getting a little on the chilly side. Okay. He comes around and gets the car unlocked. Hurrah.
So we go inside to do our shopping. I take out my Palm Pilot in order to check my shopping list, but it freezes up on me. I can't even turn it off. I didn't have a toothpick or paper clip to do a soft reset on it. So I let the battery run down.
Because of this, it thinks it's done a hard reset, and I have to reset a few things on it and do a HotSync. I do one at home, just to get the ball rolling. My most recent one was here at work, so this morning I did it -- only to hose up what I had saved on here with the info that was on the unit. I lost quite a bit of stuff, I think. Mostly addresses, birthdays, appointments and the like. I have to take time out to redo all that crap now. That means a lot of time on anywho.com to find addresses all over again. Fuck.

Sunday, we didn't game because one player cancelled out, and C wasn't feeling so well, especially after two long Palm Sunday masses at which she sang and read.

Friday was a cool day for C. Her friends at work threw her a surprise baby shower, and showered her with lots of gifts. We got lots of clothes and such for Marcus, as well as a cool stuffed kangaroo that plays "Imagine" when you pull its tail.
The big gifts, though, were the play yard (they don't call them playpens anymore, they're play yards), a swing, and a glider-rocker for C to sit in. Way cool.
We also found a basinet and a stroller/car seat combo this weekend at Target, so we'll be spending some cash there soon enough.

My plans for this week:
1. Get working on clearing the bedroom so that there's room for the basinet, and so it'll be easier to move stuff out once the furniture is ready to come in.
2. Get the damned taxes out there so we can get our returns to put toward the furniture.
3. Get through Tuesday night's childbirthing class without too much trouble.
4. Get to Aikido, no matter what. Sempai's sensei is teaching the class. That should be wonderful.
5. Somehow get some better sleep. I didn't sleep all that well this past weekend since the alarm still went off at 530 so C could go do things either for school or church. I felt a little dopey driving in this morning. I need a caffeine infusion, or some other stimulant. Direct feed into my arm, please. The breakfast from McDonald's and tea didn't do it for me, then again I haven't had any caffeine in me as of yet.


I know this'll be long, but hell...


Time for a Rant...

There are some mornings when I stop at Stop & Shop to get myself something for breakfast or lunch so I can save a little bit of money by not spending $5 for a small sub up here. (Not to mention the fact that most of the subs up here aren't all that wonderful. But that's not the point to the rant here...)
When I do this, I take a different exit to get onto the highway. This route takes me past the local Planned Parenthood establishment. We all know what goes on there, right? Right.
About 50% of the time, even when the weather's freezing or blazing hot, there's a man standing on the sidewalk, dressed as Death. Yep, the Reaper himself is out there in front of Planned Parenthood. At first, I just shook my head at the whole thing. Now I just drive by and in that casual British non-chalant manner, I say, "Morning, Death."
One of these days, when I'm not working and I know he's there, I should just walk by and do exactly that. I'd love to hear his voice. Does it sound like two concrete slabs smashing together? And where is his horse, Binky? (Okay, so I take the Pratchett incarnation of Death. I like that one.)
Personally, I'm all for the ability to have the choice to use such a facility. Not that we'd use one, mind you. I think that the adoption thing is a much better alternative. But when you get right down to it, I look at that issue this way: you've carried this, for lack of a better term, parasite inside you for (on average) nine months. You care for it as best as you can (if you're the decent sort of folk), and you typically see the little kneebiter when he/she pops (slides? slithers? swishes?) out of you... Wouldn't you think that the mother of this child would feel some sort of attachment? It's only human to do so. But no, sometimes the child will go on to be adopted, and hopefully damned quickly. Heartbreaking for the mother who does feel that attachment, I know. But then there are those who are just do detached from something that they've spent all this time creating and nurturing inside her for forty weeks, and the mother just doesn't care. Get it out of here, they say, I don't want it.
It. What a lovely way to describe another person. Almost makes it sound like the child isn't human, isn't worth a damn, doesn't it? If that's they way that a person is going to feel about it, not even have a shred of human decency to even care if it's breathing or not, then maybe that woman ought to have her tubes tied. We've got drugs to increase fertility in people... how about one that instills infertility?
I don't think I've really started thinking about this and feeling this way until I learned I was going to be someone's father. When you hear the news that your boys work, things like this hit a little closer to home. I start to gain a little more respect for life.
But then again, I've always had the respect for the existance and exercise of the freedom of personal choice. I always will be.
Just don't force me to make the same choice you may have done.

Okay, end of rant. Started out in a humorous vein, but then it got a bit... we... pedantic, maybe.


Nothing more to report.
Carry on.

Comments

[lawful-evil.livejournal.com]

Not just for abortions anymore. We used planned parenthood to get birth control pills back when Emily didn't have insurance. I was surprised at the bulletproof glass and armed guard inside.

[skyglider.livejournal.com]

We've got drugs to increase fertility in people... how about one that instills infertility?

That's what birth control pills are for.

And there is a certain level of education that has to come into play where this whole issue is concerned - if you don't have all the facts, you can't make an informed choice. And I don't see that being encouraged. Mind you, my view from above the border may not be accurate.... hard to say...

[pfloyd.livejournal.com]

Well those are usually taken by choice. I was sort of getting at giving someone a one-time dosage, and boom, they're now infertile for a given length of time, say... ten years to life.

[skyglider.livejournal.com]

Ah. And then that stirs up a hornets' nest - who are we to decide who can and cannot be in control of their fertility? Do we want to take on the Nazi attitudes and control who can "breed" and who can't? Who would decide the terms under which you could or could not be "sterilized".

People are always going to do things we may or may not agree with. It's inevitable. The thought of playing "god" like that scares me - I don't want to know of a government that is doing that. Or live in a society where the government or some overseeing body can do such a thing.

[pfloyd.livejournal.com]

Yeah I know. I said it, and I knew that it would sort of kick over the beehive, as it were.
It was kind of with the thought that the mother didn't even care one whit about the child that was just born, after (hopefully) taking care of it through the pregnancy, why allow her to just keep breeding and giving them up? Something just didn't sit quite right with that. There are people out there who just pump out units every nine months and couldn't give a tinker's cuss about them, and people who so desperately want the child, want to experience the development of the baby inside them, go through the pain of birth (which I think happens to both parties involved)... and for some inconceivable reason, they can't conceive. (Nice turn of phrase there, I think.) It's just not fair, when you think about it.
I know people have reasons for giving their kids up for adoption. My aunt gave up two sets of twins (!) for adoption long ago. I don't know the reasons behind it all, and I'm not really one to pry, since I don't know her as well as I should, probably (with her being in another state and all). She had her reasons, and from what I've heard, she's contacted them within the past few years. Okay, happier story there. I was kind of aiming at the unhappier ones, I think.

But you're also right, who are we to do that to someone.

[7threality.livejournal.com]

play yard?!?

if I had more energy, I'd look for the nitwit responsible for that and smack them.

[pfloyd.livejournal.com]

I know, I'm commenting on my own entry.

I didn't really expect such quick responses on the entry. Granted, the two are from people who I figured would answer rather quickly...

Guess Planned Parenthood is better than the storefront shop up the road, "Problem Pregancy Services" or whatever it is... Makes me think they'll service you if you have a problem getting pregnant. ("Yes, step right this way, Fernando will be more than happy in helping you get pregnant...")