The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

Sometimes I think we forget the true meaning behind Memorial Day, especially when we utter to others, "Happy Memorial Day!" or "Thank you for your service!" Memorial Day is a day used to remember soldiers who lost their lives fighting for our country. It's a day of remembrance, mourning, and gratitude. While we should always be thankful to our men and women in uniform, past, present, and future, I have to wonder how the friends and families of loved ones who have died defending our country feel about seeing others getting drunk, lighting off fireworks, and shouting, "Happy Memorial Day!," seemingly treating the holiday as just another reason to get drunk, as opposed to displaying genuine gratitude to the men and women who died in battle to help protect the liberties we appear to sadly all too often take for granted. Look, it's fine to go out and party with friends and family over the holidays, but try not to ever forget why we're so privileged ...

Is it just me, or does it seem like, after a certain point, birthdays become progressively more depressing? On our 16th birthday, we can celebrate getting a driver's license. On our 18th birthday, we can celebrate being able to vote (and smoke, I suppose). On our 21st birthday, we can celebrate being able to drink alcohol (well, legally). After that, there aren't too many birthdays where we can say, "We're now even more of a legal adult today!" When I hit 30, I thought to myself, "Where in the world did my 20s go?" Not much changed when I turned 31, 32, and 33, respectively. When I turned 34, however, I was officially in my mid-30s, and due to that, started feeling like I couldn't pass for being in college anymore (even though I do still occasionally get carded). My 35th birthday was significant, in that it was the midpoint between 30 and 40, the age which many label as being "over the hill." Now that I turned 36 just yesterday, I'm in ...

Have you ever wanted to ask an unbiased person(s) about something just so you'd feel as if the feedback you received was 100% genuine, so you posted a question on Yahoo? I did that once about two years ago and I was tentative about it then. Since that time, however, I've read a number of such questions posted on Yahoo, several comments, and the more I read these threads, the more I have to shake my head and ponder, "What in the world was I thinking?" Many of the questions posed put my face into the WTF position. Just as many answers to these questions provide my face with an expression never seen before, not even by me, since I don't have a mirror handy during these moments. What types of questions and answers am I talking about? Feast your eyes on the following links and see for yourselves! Enjoy, but be ready to shake your head a lot, sigh multiple times, facepalm yourselves at least once, and utter the words, "What the f**k?" quite frequently. h...

I live in an area which is kind of a hybrid of suburbia and the country. Most of the people in this neighborhood are older than me, married, and with fairly young kids. Cliques here appear to have been formed many years ago. When I came rolling into town about 5 years ago, while the people here seemed nice for the most part, I definitely felt like an outcast. What I'm probably most known for in this neighborhood is walking my Siberian husky multiple times every day. It's during these times when I'm at a loss of when to truly interact with some people. If someone is jogging or walking and wave, I know that, like me, he/she is probably in an exercise-type zone and a hello is just a hello. However, there have been other times when someone has waved during my walk and actually wanted to chat for a couple minutes. Then there have been a number of times when a person waves, asks, "How's it going?," without really meaning that. So, how is a person - especially a ne...

I both love and loathe many holidays. I love them for the simple fact they can provide me with a day off, and also give me an excuse to spend time with extended family. However, when thinking about the traditions of many, I have to scratch my head, and ask, "Why?" Groundhog Day is such a day for me. It gives me a reason to spend time with family and watch the film by the same name for the 37th time. However, what does this holiday revolve itself around? A groundhog, based on whether or not the sun is out at that time of the day, predicting whether or not we'll have an early spring. What is the groundhog's rate of accuracy? Just 39%. The groundhog is wrong 3 times out of every 5. That's worse than most meteorologists...barely. I don't know what's sadder, the fact we celebrate a day looking to a groundhog for all the answers regarding when spring will start, or that I'm seriously wondering if the groundhog's forecasts are more accurate than our act...

LETTING-ambivalence-GO Water fills my eyes, As I know it’s not to be, That I can do better, That this is best for me, Your flaws spring to mind, Of what I didn’t care for, Distorting my image of you, Denying my true feelings, The self-persuasion fails, As tears begin to run down my cheeks, Knowing it’s best to part ways, Yet wishing that wasn’t to be, The distorted image unravels, As I dream of you at night, Good memories abound, As I again begin to cry, Constantly running through my mind, You never fatigue, Wanting the marathon to finally conclude, Erase you from my memory, Holding your hand, Squeezing it tightly, Not wanting to let go, Even though it’s best for me.

The Wait The question proposed, Tests conducted, Application filled, Interview given, Hypotheticals abound, Preparing for the best and worst, Cautiously confident, Yet doubts persist, The phone sits beside me, My eyes focused on it, As I nibble on my nails, Rock on my chair, The minutes become hours, Hours become days, Thoughts racing upstairs, Being unable to sleep, Paranoia sweeps over me, Optimism all but extinct, Headaches becoming more frequent, From the continual increase in tension, The phone never rings, The wait seemingly permanent, Answers and reasons not provided, Forever being a mystery.