The Grapes Of Wrath Are Stored Here At My House

An important woman in my life–we won’t say which one, just incase this entry can be tied back to her in any way–has had a horrible run in with her employer.

This isn’t the first time. In fact it’s about the fourth or fifth time. And I shouldn’t even use the word “run-in” because that implies she did something. I should use the phrase “was a victim of the abusiveness of” because that’s what it is. He is forever losing his temper in the direction of his employees–often in front of their customers.

This time was even worse. He asked this woman and several of her colleagues to sit in on the interview process for several candidates–two of the candidates are his personal friends and have worked at this company before. They had been laid off and were being reinterviewed.

After the interviews were over he told this woman and her colleagues that they were off the record. He then asked for feedback about all the interviewees. One of the 2 friends of his is not suited for the job. She wasn’t suited the first time around and spent the year she worked there complaining about how she didn’t like it and wanted a similar job in the same field but in a slightly different arena. So this woman and her coworkers told her boss this.

The boss then went to his church on Sunday (do NOT get me started on that mess…) and told another person everything that was said “off record”. He then said that he thought it was “unChristian” of my Important Female to have said what she said about the woman who never wanted the job when she had it and now only wants it because she doesn’t want to be unemployed.

The church friend he told all this to? The OTHER interviewee/candidate. Yeah. How inappropriate is that? Well, this tends to be a gossipy workplace anyway and when word got back to my female friend she went to him and tried to smooth over the waters. His response was to threaten her job. He can’t fire her but he’s put her on notice that she’s being moved to handle the official scutwork position in her department.

I have driven a car once in the last three years. I am currently not allowed to drive because of my pain meds and inconvenient habit of sometimes not being able to control what my hands and feet actually do. I say all of this because if I could drive I would have gotten in my car and travelled the distance to where all of this was happening. I would have called down the fire of the wrath of God on the head of this horrible horrible man. I would have made him fear life more than he fears death. And I would have done it with the blazing anger in my eyes. I’ve done it before. I can do it again. You see, you do not cross my loved ones. There is no telling what I will do. One of the last times someone tried such a foolhardy move it ended in lawyers and bankruptcy. Not mine.

So I’m trying to decide how to best channel this wrath to get the deserved outcome for the horrible bit of dogs vomit that this man is. Stay tuned.

Guns In Restaurants; This Is How Adulthood Works

I’m still scratching my head over the amount of high-dudgeon among my left-leaning friends.

From what I can tell in the aftermath of yesterday’s horrible mess of Tennessee Citizens taking back their rights, everything is happening the way it should in the America I was told this was.

Everybody has their rights. Gun people have the right to bear their arms with them wherever they go. Restaurant people have the right to say “this is my restaurant and you can’t bring that gun in here.” Gun people then have the right to go to a different restaurant where they can eat with their gun.

It seems pretty logical to me. Pretty harmless. A lot less offensive than constricting the free commerce and movements of gun owners.

I’ve remained silent on this because I wanted to see how it played out. But the way I see it, and what I’ve been wanting to say all along is this. The people who have concealed carry permits–who would be able to keep their gun on their person–are the best-qualified gun owners around. A gun in their hands is safer than a steak knife by the plate of a woman who has just been told that her dining partner is having an affair and is about to leave her. A gun in the hands of person with a concealed carry permit is safer than a bottle of half-drunk beer next to a man who doesn’t like to have his manhood questioned.

A gun in the hands of a person with a concealed carry permit is as much or more of a constitutional right than the free speech ability of all of the bloggers who are writing about how horrible it is.

I now see there is a new website created to provide folks with information on “safe” places to eat. I think that’s a great thing. You can use your first amendment rights. Gun people can use their second amendment rights. Everything is as it should be.

What Is Women’s Fiction?

They’re asking over at Publishers Weekly. Here’s my answer.

Women’s Fiction is a lot of things.

–”I will lose these last 10lbs. by Christmas.”
–”People will love me more if I lose these last 10lbs.”
–”It’s my fault he cheated.”
–”What I believe about issues isn’t important.”
–”My voice will never be heard.”
–”I am not worthy of holding out for the right partner.”
–”It’s okay to settle for second best.”

Now as for what fiction is most appealing to women….I think it depends on the time, the life circumstance and the desires and experiences of each individual woman.

It’s whatever makes us think, laugh and understand. It’s whatever makes us feel better about the world and our place in it.

There is a lot of fiction out there. I think of Women’s Fiction as that which, like women, nurtures and gives care. It can be sexy or funny or full of lusty descriptions of delicious foods. It can be about fashion–if you’re into that, and I’m so hopelessly lost when it comes to that–or family.

Good Women’s Fiction is like your best self on your best day. It’s beautiful, confident, has good taste and is fun to be around.

Hat Tip: Susan Wiggs via Twitter (@susanwiggs)

And I Have Just Felt I AM

I don’t expect you to believe me. I can only testify.

I was writing an entry at my RA patient’s forum. In the middle of the entry, as I wrote about the spiritual insight I received on Sunday in the ER I put on Gaither Vocal Band’s “Alpha and Omega”

Half way through the song I stopped typing. I was so moved in the Spirit of our Lord that I raised my hands in praise and just sang along. The longer I sang I felt the pain completely and utterly leave my body for the first time in six and a half weeks. By the end of the song my hands–my blissfully pain-free hands-were clenched. Clenched. Not in pain but in fists of truimph as I felt Christ’s mercy and salvation triumph over my temporary state.

I promise you that this God, this salvation, this deliverance is real. And even though the pain will come back–this is my journey for this time assigned for the glorification of God–the peace, the incredible peace and the victory are here. In this time and now and forever.

The entry I wrote at RA Connect is after the jump.

Wherein I (Abominably) LiveTwitter The Cairo Address

It was whatever time it was (there was much confusion early on about that, as you’ll soon read) and I was sick of Friends reruns. (Rachel and Ross deserve each other) so I decided to LiveTwitter the Obama Address at Cairo. For those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter, (@mycropht) I’d like to first congratulate you for resisting the Borg. Then I’d also like to paste the ‘Tweets’ in here. So that way I don’t have to write a real blog entry. #Lazy

Step Away From The Internet

I just read that last post about Monells and realised that this is one of those days where my anger and frustration in one aspect of my life bleeds over into something else.

I’m not happy about Monells’ financial trouble. In fact I’m quite sad about it. I love their food. I love the atmosphere in the Germantown location (I haven’t been to any other…) But that post reads as though I was happy to see it happen. Not at all.

It’s odd how on some days like today I automatically seek out the internet when I should probably stay away from it more than any other time.

Monell’s And Bankruptcy

I’m kind of bummed to hear about Monell’s filing for Chapter 11. But I have to admit that I saw it coming after our last visit.

The food was wonderful. The company was wonderful.

But Monell’s has two huge drawbacks.

1. The meal costs a lot and you can’t take home left overs.

For someone like me who loves the food but only enjoys about $3.50 worth of it, I just can’t justify spending the other $10-12 bucks for the priveledge of watching everyone else enjoy the food I’m too full to eat. I haven’t eaten a restaurant meal in 5 years that hasn’t had most of it going home in a take-away box. Monell’s business model just didn’t seem to allow for people like me. So our visits were sadly infrequent.

2. Parking.

I’ve lived here for 18 years. Lack of parking is what kills any business in Nashville, if you ask me. I’ve said it a bunch of times but it bears repeating to anyone thinking of starting a business around here. There is a lot of competition for consumer dollars, especially in the food-providing business. For every type of meal I ever get hungry for I know of at least three options. 9 times out of 10 my husband and I will choose to go to the place where we don’t have the added aggravation of trying to find a place to stow our car.

I realise this sounds lazy, but in reality it’s a matter of practicality. When we go out to eat it’s for a treat and for relaxation. Stressing over finding something to do with the car is a big hit to both the sense of enjoyment of the evening and the relaxation we derive from it.

Monell’s beautiful Germantown location had miserable parking.

It’s a shame and it makes me sad to see them go. If they are indeed going. I can’t tell from the linked article if the Chapter 11 will involve them shuttering the place.

Jeff Woods Is Back At The Whetstone

I have no idea what Bill Hobbs did to Jeff Woods. I’m not a Native of Nashville–although living here for 18 years makes me the most permanent temporary resident around, it seems–and so I think I missed something from back in the day where Hobbs stole Woods’ Halloween candy.

Writing over at Pith (which I have grudgingly returned to reading online now that they made the good call to ‘hire’ my friend to write for them), Woods asks a seemingly innocuous question of the day.

Should the TNGOP fire Bill Hobbs?

I admit that is a good question. He’s ginned up a lot of press in his tenure there–both good and ‘bad’. Since I’m not a member of the TNGOP I consider his employment to be not my business in the long run, but in my opinion there’s really not such a thing as ‘bad’ press in politics. This would, of course, be why I left politics. But Hobbs didn’t, so what he does is on his head, I suppose.

The thing is that it is really super-tacky of The Scene to try to cost Hobbs yet another job.

I apologise for not linking to the fiasco, but feel free to let your fingers do the Googling. Just type in “Scene, Belmont, Hobbs, Muslim Cartoon”. You’ll have hours and hours of reading to do, culminating in the realisation that writers for the Scene were key players in the debacle that cost Hobbs his sweet ride at Belmont. For them to now slam another pike into the ground and ready it for his head makes it look like someone has a sick crush on Bill Hobbs.

I wish I knew why.

A Libertarian Christian’s Take On Dr. Tiller

Why don’t more Christians take the parable of the debtors seriously? The shorty short short version is this: Guy owes the bank for his house, his 3 cars, his swimming pool and $3million in credit card debt. He begs the bank for mercy because he cannot pay and the bank forgives his entire debt. Everything he owes. The next day he’s walking down the street, sees a guy who owes him $5 for a Subway footlong. He asks the other dude for his sandwich money back and when the dude can’t pay he gives him a royal beatdown.

The point being that we’ve all received Grace in abundance far beyond anything we could have hoped or have any right to expect. So we have no right to be petty to others. Then there’s all the other stuff about not killing and Vengeance being the Lord’s and Judgement belonging to God. So while Mr. Shoot A Man Dead In His Church For Performing Abortions Elsewhere in your own mind you’re something special and God is your Super Best Friend, the rest of us kind of think that you are both a little nuts and a lot wrong on what Christianity is supposed to be about.

Thanks again for making the rest of us look nuts by association. And thanks again for crucifying Christ anew.

A Momentous Change In My Life

About 15 years ago I had a coworker friend who was telling me about a guy she had just started dating. He told her his favourite candy bar was “Hershey’s Cookies & Mint” which at the time had been out for about 3 weeks or something. She stopped dating the guy because of that answer–she and I both thought it made him sound fickle. Who “favourites” something brand new and untested by time? Favourites are things that have become part of the fabric of you through the years. To this day I think of that guy whenever I hear someone say that their favourite TV show of all time is something that has been on for six episodes or their favourite restaurant is a new place that just opened up. In my mind these people are all the same type of people who’d give up the home plate on a first date. A first date for coffee at McDonalds. (They probably think the McCafes are their favourite coffee drink, too.)

So now is when I tell the world that I am embarrassed to admit that this weekend I became a Favourite Slut.

Pixar’s UP is my new favourite movie. Ever. My previous favourite movie–The Godfather–was released when I was about one, first seen when I was 8 and pronounced my favourite when I was about 15. It’s hung in there through many major contenders for the Title, all of whom washed up against it and lay right in its shadow. LOTR. Braveheart. Hunt For Red October.

You’d think that I’d wait at least a week before wrenching The Godfather off its rusted foundation and shoving its bulk aside for UP to settle in the spot. But this is love at first sight. Truly and utterly. So much so that when watching UP I was convinced it was made solely for me and that my dearly departed Casey had a hand in crafting it. It’s my most perfect movie ever.

It kind of reminds me of when I decided I was in love with a guy I’d known for 7 weeks. We’ve been married 18 years this month. So I guess some of my impulsiveness is well-played.