6 posts tagged “qotd”

What do you do EVERY day to take care of the earth's environment? What could you do more of?

Recycle! My roommate and I have specific places for our recyclables and we make sure they are disposed of properly. I try to run all of my errands at one time, in one day or on my way home from work, so as to drive as little as possible. I have insulated, reusable bags for grocery shopping so I don't have to use plastic bags. The plastic grocery bags I do sometimes use end up lining all of my small trash cans. I've also recently decided to relinquish my control over my morning commute, OD on bonine and start taking public transportation to and from work again. I wash my laundry (except for my towels and sheets) in cold water, I air dry most of my clothing on a drying rack, and I donate as much as possible of my old wardrobe to clothing drives and good will. Just because I don't wear those clothes anymore doesn't mean someone else can't.

Things I plan to do in the future include buying a hybrid car (when I get a new car - I've been driving the one I own now since it was brand new in 2001 - and I get oil changes every 3,000 miles and rotate my tires every 6,000 to ensure that my car is running at peak performance and leaving as small a footprint as possible). I also plan on trying my green deadly thumb at growing a small garden for fresh produce, and composting when I move out of my swank condo building (which won't be for at least another year).

I know that Earth Day was last week and this post is a little late, but you know what they say... Better late than never!

What's the most valuable thing you've ever had stolen?

Trust, plain and simple.

Maybe trust is something that's more broken than stolen, but either way, its still being destroyed. Its funny that this is my answer to the question of the day right now, but its because I've been thinking a lot about trust and relationships, romantic and otherwise. I'm having a hard time right now trusting some people, people who don't deserve my hesitation, because I've had so many disappointments with trust in the past, and lately as well. I've been having a very confusing inner dialogue going on about this subject for quite some time, and pages and pages of my journal have been devoted to it. Let me explain...

I am a very open and honest person. I don't have a lot to hide - I wear my heart on my sleeve and my emotions on my face. Anyone who's ever been close, really close, to me knows exactly what to watch for because I tend to give myself away every time. I also tend to trust people right off the bat. Its kind of like the old saying, "innocent until proven guilty," when it comes to me and my interpersonal dealings. Initially, I will trust you - until you prove me wrong. Unfortunately, I'm stubborn, I'm thick-headed and no matter how many times you've stomped on me, broken me, disappointed me, I keep coming back for more because I want to give people the benefit of the doubt. I'm always looking for the good, and I've realized that I've made excuses for people because I didn't think they could make them for themselves, but I'm realizing that its because a.) I never gave them the chance, let them attempt to make excuses or b.) they were never going to make them anyway and I was just pacifying the situation. Of course, there have also been people who have made enough excuses to fill an ocean, too. I'm starting to learn that the cycle is exhausting and its time to break it. Clean house, so to speak.

I've done that so far, but in my attempts to move forward, I had to open a Pandora's Box from the past. I can't say it was the smartest idea, but it was yet another lesson on trust. A lesson on what I'm willing to accept and what I absolutely refuse to accept. And the biggest lesson I learned was that you can trust people only so far after they've betrayed that trust. It sounds harsh, but trust is an easy thing to give, but a terribly hard thing to gain back once its lost. You're not starting from square one like you do with new acquaintances, you're started at square negative 25. Once trust is broken - or stolen away - you can't get it back. You'll never be able to fully believe in that person's words or actions again. Sure, you'll want to, but there will always be at least a little part of you, sounding that warning bell, not letting you gain back what has been taken. Speaking from personal experience, I don't know if I could ever trust someone as much after trust has been broken. Sure, I'll trust them so far, but they're not privy to the most important things anymore. Sometimes I feel like maybe, just maybe this time I could let someone back in, because it seems like they've genuinely changed and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it doesn't work. They get so far and then I close the door, or in some cases, inadvertently slam the door in their face. It becomes much easier to shut people out when they've truly stolen and destroyed your trust. They've taken it for granted and abused it. So yes, trust is the most valuable thing I've ever had stolen.

O.J. Simpson is back in the news again.  What are your thoughts on the release of "If I Did It" and his recent arrest?

I think that this is absolutely disgusting and it just clearly illustrates how easily we as a culture shed our morals to make a dollar. I think anyone who buys this book should either have a really impressive justification of why they need it, or shot on the spot. OJ needed to be back in the spotlight again because clearly he had to flaunt that he got away with it and we (all the people that were on his side) were the idiots. I can't even identify with this man enough to say "If that were me, I would have..." He's truly one of the most narcissistic people in pop culture today. I don't understand how someone can say they didn't commit a crime, and then write a novel explicitly describing how they would have pulled said crime off. What that says to me is he's delivering a giant blow to all of the people who stood behind him and believed him in his cries of innocence. I was only 11 when the trial went down, but I remember being starry-eyed and believing - don't ask me why - in this man's innocence. As I got older and time progressed, people would talk about the trial in conversation and I realized how blinded I had been by my naiveties, and realized that he probably was guiltier than sin. Do I know for sure? Nope. No one ever will, except those poor victims and the perpetrator. But this book doesn't really do much to back up OJ's claims of innocence. He needed to make a statement, to put himself back in the spotlight, and to flaunt what he did because no one can do anything to him about it now. Clearly this gives him publicity - and it doesn't matter whether its good or bad, publicity is still publicity. I applauded when this book was silenced before, and appalled now that it has finally made its way through the publishing process and onto bookshelves.

I also know that the Goldman family holds 90% of the rights to this book. I understand the need for vilification for the Goldman family, and if the sales of this book benefit them and help them deal with their grief, then I guess its somewhat worthwhile. But the whole premise of the book is disturbing to me. I just can't get behind it. I can honestly say that I'm not even interested in anything that OJ - or this book - has to say. The crimes committed were heinous, but bragging about how you would have done them IF you had committed them, that's even more heinous. And it just goes to show how far someone will go to make a dollar and get some attention.

As for OJ's recent arrests? Well, I hope he gets what he deserves, whatever that is. I don't know enough about the current accusations against him to make a fair judgment, but I'm also so sick of this man capitalizing on any publicity he comes across that I don't particularly care. I just hope he gets what he deserves.

What other names did your parents consider for you?

Aislyn (pronounced eyes-lin). My mom, a kindergarten teacher, got her kicks outside of the classroom with a little thing called a Harlequin novel (and let's not forget the Danielle Steel!). I don't know if she ran across the name, or was inspired to create it through an amalgamation of other names, but this is one of the names that she and my father considered. However, they settled (settled? pshaw... I love my name, it wasn't a settlement) on Madelyn and decided to go a little crazy with the spelling, lol. I dare you to try finding my name in its current incarnation on any of those little name souvenirs and keychains. Doesn't happen. I had a bit of an anger/identity crisis throughout my childhood because of this lack of respect for the spelling of my name. There were no limitations to the Madeline/Madeleine/Maddy creations, but never a Madelyn. (I don't really let anyone call me Maddy, which is a long story in and of itself... my parents had me trained like an answering machine...)

I certainly went through phases in my childhood where I wanted to be an Elizabeth or a Victoria. The phases came and went. And I definitely took more pride in my name as I got older. I mean, it's unique, there were no other Madelyns around me growing up, and it certainly fits me. And most importantly, the thing that makes me most proud of my name, I am named after my maternal grandmother. She is Mary Madeline and my parents named me Madelyn Mary. I think I'm pretty lucky, especially considering what an amazing woman my Baba is. If I turn out half as strong and half as smart as she did, then I'm going to have a very wonderful life ;)

What time is your alarm clock set for?  Do you use the snooze button?

Oh my goodness, what a question to ask. I AM the Queen of the Snooze Button. Everyone should bow down and show some respect to the Queen. And send kudos to the various roommates I've had throughout the years that have put up with my morning ridiculousness.

Snoozing alarm clock

My alarm is typically set for 7ish. I'm not a morning person, but I hate to waste the day. I'm just not good at getting up right away. I have to set at least two alarms - my actual alarm clock, and my cell phone's alarm clock. I snooze them both.

I'm going to take this opportunity to expound upon the misadventures of the many alarm clocks I've had along the years. I once had a clock/radio/tape deck alarm clock, while I had a roommate. The buzzer had long stopped being effective at jarring me from my slumber, so I decided that I would find the scratchiest radio station I could and turn the volume all the way up so that it would scare me into the daylight. I even put the damn thing across the room. You would think that it would have worked, right? Nope, not for me. I would bolt up, jump across the room, slam (yes, SLAM) the snooze button and fly back into bed where I would fall back asleep for the next nine minutes. I would then repeat this procedure again and again. Luckily, the roommate I had at that time usually had to be up before me. But on the few mornings that she wasn't up before me, I was even luckier in the fact that she found the whole process to be entirely amusing. I believe she said my record - set and broken a number of times - was eight times. EIGHT TIMES?!?!?! How is that even possible? Its pretty pathetic.

Recently, I had an exceptionally dazed and confused morning. I had my alarm clock and my cell phone alarm clock set. My alarm clock (which is also a radio/ipod player) was set and had been going off, and I thought I had snoozed it, but apparently I had turned it off. My cell phone alarm was still going on periodically, and at one point when it was going off, I started pounding and beating the crap out of my alarm clock, not realizing that it was my cell phone alarm that was going off. I was laying on my stomach, face down in the pillow with my left arm thrust straight out and continuously pounding the wrong alarm clock! Oy vey...

I'm so excited that Clocky is finally available to buy. I've been watching this thing since it was first developed. This might be my solution to the fight that I have every morning ;) If I have to chase this thing around my room, I'm hoping I stand a better change at getting up with less fuss. My birthday is just around the corner, if anyone needs any ideas :)

Clocky

Which band or artist which is no longer performing or alive would you have loved to have seen?
Submitted by Rev Stan.

I've never answered a QotD before, so I thought I'd try something new... and this was an easy one. Frank Sinatra. Hands down. His voice gives me the chills and makes my knees go weak, and the thought of seeing him perform live is almost too much for me to handle. Same goes for Dean and Sammy :) What can I say, I love my trance, techno and R&B, but I certainly appreciate the fabulous music-makers of the past century. Jelly... they absolutely turn me to jelly. mmmmfrankie...