To Ignorant Parents Who Let Their Kids Throwing Temper Tantrums in Public

Parents, please STOP it! If you’re taking your cranky kid to a doctor’s office for someone else’s appointment (be it your neighbor, spouse, parents, etc); DO NOT just sit on your fat ass and let your kid screams and cries and throwing temper tantrums for the whole frickin’ 40 minutes!

While your spouse/neighbor/parent is being seen by the doctor, take your screaming kid elsewhere. Don’t you have any shame? Other patients are sick too. Somebody with a migraine doesn’t need to listen to your brat crying his lungs out. Other patient who’s being seen for a depression check, doesn’t want to add more depression by listening to your kid screaming.

How could you be so ignorant and just sit there reading PEOPLE magazine and let your brat rolling on the carpet, kicking the chair, and screaming? It’s probably why your kid is misbehaving, because you don’t discipline them. If I were you, I would take him/her to the car. He/she can scream until the face is blue, inside the car, and not bugging everybody else, especially those who don’t feel well.

Same scenarios I’ve seen in a grocery store or restaurant. If your child is tired, hungry, or just plain bratty; maybe you shouldn’t take them to a public places like that. Maybe you should wait until he/she naps or give them some snacks? It’s just mind boggling to see these parents who won’t/don’t do anything while their kids are throwing temper tantrums. Yes, you should not ‘give in’ to them to ‘teach’ them that by doing so he’d get what they want, but do that teaching in your frickin’ home! Or in the car!

The Annoying Runner/Jogger

I have nothing against runners/joggers. I think they are a good example of a dedicated person. I’ve seen them running during the winter, in the rain, and scorching summer. Hats off for them. Most of these guys are pretty decent, in terms of etiquette of using/sharing the road.

What piss me off is some of them who act like they are the owner of the road. Not using the sidewalk even though it’s there, but running on the busy road instead. I could understand if it’s in the winter and the sidewalk isn’t plowed. But in the bright sunny summer? We drivers have to be extra careful and move to the other lane. If the road is one lane, then we have to wait patiently behind the jogger until the opposite traffic slows down then we can pass the jogger. Ugh, it’s like scratching nails on a chalkboard… Torture!

Then comes the attitude of ‘The Annoying Runners’. They would not stop running even though the drivers got the right to go because of the green light. This morning, on my way to work, I was waiting at the stop light. When the left arrows turned green, of course I go. I saw this female jogger coming, but I thought she would stop since she noticed three cars were turning left to her direction. She did not stop. She almost hit my car. Then she threw her arms up like she’s frustrated because we didn’t stop for her.

Sorry for the inconvenience, that my journey to work to make some money interrupt your effort to shed some pounds… but you’re not the diva of the road even though you certainly act like one.

Tattling on the Bad Driver

 

Dear the owner of this car,

You are a reckless driver.
You and your big gas guzzler white Chevy TrailBlazer with your stupid big head lights on.
You were tailgating me this morning for about a mile on Stange Rd, until we stopped at intersection of Stange and 13th St. We both wanted to turn right on 13th St., heading West. Just after the turn, as your  head lights were blinding my rearview mirror; you sped up, zigged to the right lane, accelerated, and zagged back in front of me with no blinker/signal at all.
I almost hit your big ass bumper, and you’d probably won’t even notice.
Was it because my car was smaller than yours?
Where did you go for driving school, anyway? Was it online through moron [dot] com?
How much did you have to pay to get your license?

Well, even though you pissed me off with your moronic act, I did not fall into doing something moronic like honking my car horn at you.
Instead, thanks for my iPhone, I took a picture of your big ass and share it with the world wide web.
Nice, huh? Payback’s a bitch.

Sure hope I won’t see your car rolled into a ditch or caused somebody to get hurt.

With love,
-me-

Door-to-door Religion

After trying to be nice for the last three times (or four?), today I finally lost it. At least twice a month, we got disturbed by two religious groups: the Jehovah Witnesses and the Morons Mormons. Occassionally got solicited also by the boy/girl scouts to buys their cookies, high school athletic teams to buy tickets, newspaper enrollments, and the politicians as well. But while most of them would go away after a nice, “No, thank you”, the religious ones were rather persistent.

I understand that I live in a country that believes firmly the ‘freedom of religion’. But does it give others the right to impose their beliefs on me, in my own home? Who gave them the right? My first reaction was a firm (but with a smile), “No, Thank you.” When it didn’t do the job, I tried to lied a bit (because I usually am a nice person and did not want to offend anybody), “Oh sorry, I’m in the middle of cooking,” but they’d reply, “Would you like us to wait?” Darn.

As they’re getting more and more pushy, my reply was excalated to, “Not interested, I’m happy with my own belief.” But they kept on pushing and told me that they just want to introduce their belief and would happily answer my questions upon them. Look pal, which part of ‘not interested’ can’t you understand? So finally today, I was in the middle of preparing lunch when the door bell rang. I opened the door, and there stood a well-suited African-American adult male and next to him, probably his apprentice; twelve-ish dorky white boy with thick glasses, also in a suite. Not again. After his routine “Hi there, we’re the Jehovah Witnesses bla bla bla” I quickly replied, “Nope. Sorry. Not interested. We’re all atheist.” The guy couldn’t say anything but, “Oh.” I closed the door and finish making lunch.

Then I googled JW, and stumbled upon their site, watchtower [dot] org. It says,

IT IS the desire of Jehovah’s Witnesses that you become better acquainted with them. [...] Jehovah’s Witnesses are interested in you and your welfare. They want to be your friends and to tell you more about themselves, their beliefs, their organization, and how they feel about people and the world in which all of us live.

Dude, if you really are interested in me and my welfare, stay away from my house. You are soliciting, you are harassing, you are imposing your belief to me. Not cool. If I am interested in your belief, I’d visit your Kingdom Halls and do some asking.

Same goes to you Mormons. Don’t appreciate you trying to convince me that your way is the right way. If you want to hand out ‘the literature’ just use the mail. That way I could throw it to the thrash can, which I couldn’t do to you, unfortunately.

Found this hilarious video on youtube about how an atheist was disturbed by the door-to-door Mormons and how he went to Salt Lake City, Utah, the world capital of Mormons, to act like a door-to-door atheist. Guess people do not like to taste their own medicine.

Ass+u+me. Why?

“Don’t assume. It’s just going to make an ass out of u and me“.

Still, they assumed. And it did take an ass out of both of us. They assumed I have the same believe like they do. They assumed I worship the same thing they do. They assumed I celebrate the same religious event like they do. I have been wrongly assumed for more than 8 years now. It’s getting tiring and frustrating. The first time they assumed, I thought it was innocent. I replied shortly, did not want to make a scene.

7 more days to Christmas long ago, fellow coworkers trying to make a small talk:
“Sooo, any big plans for Christmas this year?”
“Nope. We don’t celebrate it.”
“Ooooh.”
Awkward silence.

A year later, same situation:
“Are you guys going to church X or church Y for the mass this week?”
“Neither. We don’t go to any churches.”
Blank stare.
“We’re agnostic/atheist family.”
“Ah. Alrighty then.”

Couple of years ago, when we just moved into our current house, we were invited to a progressive dinner held by some people who live around our block. Done with hors d’oeuvres and coctails, appetizer course, and first course, we came to the fourth house for the main course. Done showing the house (just like the other three hosts), we then settled in for dinner. What do you know, the host offered to Andy (do you think it’s the real name?) if he’s willing to say grace. I looked at my hubby next to me with the ‘WTF?’ look. Everybody started to hold hands. He shrugged and gave me the ‘Are you effin kidding me?‘ look. As Andy was saying the dear-our-father-in-heaven-and-jesus-bla-bla routine, I gave hubby the look of ‘I am walking away from this’. How dare they. Nobody bothered to ask, “Would anybody mind if we say grace?” Hubby quickly mouthed, “Stay. Calm down. Please.”

Months after that, we received an invitation in our mail from the same group of neighbor. Andy and his family is hosting a Kids’ Bible Study in the Backyard. They do have the nicest backyard ini our block; meticulously-mowed lawn with beautiful garden patio and kid’s play house. They even put up a sign ‘Kids Bible Study tonight at [adress here] at 6:30 pm’ on the streets and intersection, like a ‘garage sale’ sign or ‘house for sale’ sign. From our deck, we could see probably 20 people attended. Our kids asked, “Are they having a birthday party? Why weren’t we invited?” I explained to my little ones about what’s going on. I was stunned when my daughter asked, “Do we have to do the Bible thing if we just want to play at the play house?” Yes darling, just like a misionary; you may enjoy or have something they provide or give, but you should listen or follow what they offer.

Days after that event, neighbors asked why we weren’t there. Our answer of “We’re not Christians. We’re atheist” was the end of it. No more invitations, no more phone calls, or even a hand wave when we happened to be at the backyard and saw each other. What makes me sad the most, our kids were shunned from playing with theirs. Usually my kids were invited by a friendly “Hey guys, come over here and play with my play swing” when they’re at the backyard. No more of that. One boy was in the same classroom with my daughter and she had invited him three times (called and left a message, wrote a note and put it in his locker, and a verbal invitation) to come to our house for a playmate or watch a movie. Never happened. All of this was because they assumed, was wrong, and we elected not to join their ‘thing’?

Also just recently, a coworker asked ”Cute sandals! Is that your church sandals?” 
Why would she assume that? Is it because the color was white? Do church sandals look like these? I did not purchase them from churchsandals.com, but from Plaza Senayan, a mall in Indonesia.

Fourth of July parade. We were sitting next to a 60 something year old couple. The wife said, “Nice to meet you all. Which church do you go to?” Of course, hubby quickly said, “We’re atheist.” She looked at him like “Oh I feel sorry for you” and stopped being nice.

Did I mention the number of forwarded emails I got from coworkers about religious stuff? Holy shit, there were a lot! Hubby once shared with me about some lady in the other department who was offended by his email reply because he mentioned something like, “… God knows if the Board would agree to it…”  She was so furious and wrote, “How dare you take God’s name in vain?” Sheesh, calm down already, lady!

But seriously, why do people assume that I have the same religious view like them? Is it because Christianity is the majority in the US? Or these people are just plain ignorant? “Don’t you assume in Indonesia that everybody is Muslims?” Mmm… NO. At least I didn’t. Five recognised religions in our country, which based on the 2000 census, approximately 86.1 % were Muslims, 5.5 % Protestant, 3 % are Catholic, 1.8 % Hindu, 3.4 % other or unspecified (source: here). Unless a person is wearing a religious clothing (jilbab or burka), I don’t assume that she’s a Muslim. I don’t go skipping merrily around and ask somebody to join me to go to the mosque. Is this because in Indonesia we are very straight forward on declaring our religion? In every kind of form or identification, you’ll be asked about your religion. ID card, new patient form, or even a memory book when we were little, there’s always that specific field to be filled: ‘religion’. Is this why we don’t assume [in Indonesia]? But United States, with its bombastic ‘freedom of believe and religion’, does it mean you’re free to assume?

Gah, it did bring an ass out of me. I’m bitching now.

The Grass Is Always Greener [On My Finicky Neighbor's Lawn]

The main reason we moved to this neighborhood (which is a newer subdivisions in our town) was because we’re tired of living on a very busy street. There were no kids around the old neighborhood, and even though we have a fenced double lot, we’re still concern with the kids’ safety. The thought of the kids opening the gate to chase a ball off to the busy street’s keep haunting us. So off we moved to a less busy neighborhood (read: fancier) with neat houses and lots of children. Davi even has three classmates live just few houses away from us. My kids can play ooutside on the frontyard with no worries, riding their bikes on the sidewalk safely. Isn’t it neat?

Little did I know that I’m surrounded by neighbors who are very finicky about their lawns. Most of the lawns in this neighborhood are mowed on a certain way: diagonally. Looks like somebody paint these lawns in a stripe-y fashion. I swear, there are even the hardcore ones around here. Those who mow the lawn diagonally twice in different direction, thus creating ‘the checkers’ effect. Who are these people?

Meticulously maintained, my neighbors’ lawns are always green and never gotten any taller than 5 inch. No weeds in sight. Built-in sprinkler system’s planted on certain spots of their lawns. Always goes off on a certain time of day, I bet these households’ water bills are not cheap. No wonder the city had asked the town residents to go easy on watering their lawns last year, we had a water shortage last summer. Our lawn is looking rather pathetically. With the brownish green color and when-I-remember-to-do-it-twice-a-week watering system, our lawn may not be the best in the hood, but it ain’t so bad.

And to hire professionals to mow your lawn? C’mon… that’s a little too much, I think. And we’re talking those professionals on wheels, not the ones with the pushers. Gosh, I think I saw my backyard neighbor hired both for last summer.

Speaking of the devil, do you care of how you look when you mow your lawn? I could’ve swear that my neighbors would go to their walk in closet, put on their ‘mowing outfit’ plus some shades, and double checking on how you look in the mirror before you go outside and get dirty and sweaty. I envy those guys who could mow the lawn with a beer in their hand, looking sharp, and doing it painlessly. I just mowed the lawn (again) a couple of days ago, in the same time with my other backyard neighbor. She’s wearing her matching aerobics outfit while I [realized later on] dressed like a Mexican gangsta: camping pants with a flannel shirt plus a bandana. No wonder she looked rather uneasy and smiled back hesitantly when I waved to her. Whaddup, hombre?

Bitchiness Pays Off

There is a new and easy way to be famous nowadays. All you’d need is a computer, an Internet access, and the ability to be super bitchy in bashing celebrities. Take Perez Hilton, for example. Real name’s Mario Lavandeira -not as sexy as Perez Hilton, of course. His notorious blog which claimed itself as Hollywood’s Most Hated Website has a lot of both fans and haters. Each of his postings would easily have 60+ comments; contain both agreement and disagreement with what he wrote. More nastiness will easily be found in these comments. People who are agree with Perez would bash the celeb even more, while for those who don’t agree would attack Perez himself. For instance, this posting about Grey’s Anatomy’s Isaiah Washington. Calling himself ‘Queen of All Media’, Perez has a habit of doodling stuff (photoshop) on the celebs’ picture. Very immature [and nasty too]. Just take a peek here.

His bitchiness had awarded him fame. His birthday bash was reported on TV like any other [real] celebrity. He’s also interviewed by magazines, quoted here and there, and even ‘awarded’ by E! Weekly as one of most famous Internet personas -along with YouTube’s Lonelygirl15 and the Diet Coke & Mentos duo. Hey… bitchiness pays off!

Good ol’ Indonesia has something similar: Who Do You Think He Are by Mpok Jane and Neng Sarah (aliases, of course). What’s up with the bad grammar? There’s actually a story behind it. ‘Who do you think he are’ is a phrase that was made notoriously by an Indonesian celeb Sarah Azhari when interviewed by the national TV. This one’s more focused to fashion. Policing Indonesian celebreties on their appearance, their postings are really hurtful. Take this one, for example.

Unlike Perez whose face (and pink hair) is well known in all media, the owner of WDYTHA is still anonymous. Are there really two of them? Are these bitches really females or queers? They must be Indonesian with a very strong background of English (this blog is well written in English). They’re quite famous, alright. Two ezines (electronic magazine) wrote about the heartless duo, favorited by many Indonesian [female] bloggers. No public appearance so far.

So go ahead and create a bitch blog, not only it’d show that you’re so much better than others, but you’d be famous too…

A Twenty-three Year Old Male Doesn’t Need His Mommy to Make a Doctor’s Appointment

Is there a nice(r) way to tell these moms to stop calling for their 20++ year old sons? They’re adults. Have them call the doctor’s office themselves. Stop babying them. I know a mom’s love is forever, but seriously… calling to make an appointment for your son’s genital warts? If they’re old enough to have sex and get STD, they’re old enough to make their own appointments! Puh-lease…

It’s weird… for some reason, it’s always mom-son thing. Hardly ever mom-daughter, let alone dad-son or dad-daughter. Huh.

It’s a different story if your son is mentally challenged, deaf, or chronically ill. We’re familiar with our patients quite a bit, unfortunately. So we know when the mother of 23 year old John Smith call, that John is not mentally challenged, and mom can’t make the appointment for him. Unless, John is severely ill with 102 fever, chills, and can’t get up from bed.

I’ve tried to be polite, “Ma’am, since John is over 18, he needs to make this appointment.”
“Yes, that’s why I’m calling. John needs to be seen today.”
Obviously, this lady has a hearing problem. Or completely ignoring me.
“No, Ma’am. John himself needs to call us.”
“Well, this is his mother.”
I wanted to say, “So?” so bad, but instead, “Uh-huh?”
“Are you saying I can’t make appointment for my son?”
“Not if he’s older than 18.”
“Why is that?”
“HIPAA law protects his privacy right even from his own parents. Unless he had signed the Coordination of Care form to have his mommy calling to set up an appointment or discuss his medical problem.”
“Well, that’s bullshit. And were you trying to make fun of me?”
“No, Ma’am.”

Click.

I Don’t Want To ‘Visit’ With You

Please visit with our reception staff when you arrive.
Thank you.

Doesn’t it sound stupid?
It makes patient think that they need to come to us and chit-chat.
“Hi, how are you today? What do you think of the weather?” Or some other lame visit.
They enjoy the blank look on our face (Err… ’scuse me? Do I know you?) followed by, “Well, the sign says I need to visit with the receptionists.”
D’uh. Ha-ha.

No, I don’t want you to visit with me. Especially if you’re chronically ill and contagious. Don’t spread your germs around. Stay where you are. Sit. Far away from  my desk.

I told our office manager about it but she just shrugged and pretty much said that it’s a Corporate wordings. Hmm… probably it’s a Midwestern thing. I think it’d be better if it says ‘Please let the receptionists know that you are here for your appointment’. In that case, we won’t forget to check you in on time and won’t forget all about you.

PS: And you can keep your germs to yourself, thank you very much.

Phone System’s Down

Ahhh… some peace and quiet.
The phone system’s down since 1:00pm (and it’s now 3:30ish) throughout our clinic -we’re talking about 15 departments, at least.
According to our telecommunication department, Qwest is still trying to fix the problem.
Hey… take your time, I don’t mind it at all *evil smirk*
No nasty and demanding phone calls… no incoming fax… I could get use to this.
I know it’s inconvinient  for some people and probably bad for our business, but again… this is nice for a change.