Getting Gooey Dirty

My vehicle needs an oil change, I can do it myself but I have a problem,  I absolutely hate getting oil and grease on my hands.

I am a worker when I need to work, I have been in mud up to my waist, I have worked in the rain and at minus 47 below zero, I have worked in the sun at 52 degrees above with humidity at 85 percent, and I have done all these things not just for a day but for weeks at a time, I have been in some of the nastiest situations our country has in it.  I am not scared of a little work but I still hate getting anything sticky, gooey, greasy or oily on my bare hands.

Why? Because if I want to scratch my face I can't, if I need to get into my pockets I can't, if I want to use different tools I can't, well.... actually I could if I really wanted to but I don't want to deal with the extra mess afterwards, anything I touch becomes a potential mess spreader, I pick up a wrench and it gets gooey crap all over it from my hand, I put in down on the bench and the bench gets gooey crap, or other tools or whatever it touches.

My mind isn't what it used to be and I am forgetful sometimes, I get so focused on the task at hand that I forget what I was even using until the next time I go to use it.  That's when the trap is sprung and I get a gooey surprise. I like having clean tools, I am particularly anal about making sure they are wiped off for this exact reason, but every once and a while I miss one and the swearing party starts. 

This is also true for the kitchen, I hate getting raw meat blood and guts on my hands for the same reason, plus there is the added worry that I might spread salmonella contamination everywhere, what's really bizarre is every single time I do get some sort of gooey mess on my hands my nose starts itching or some other spot on my face.  It's like my body knows I have become temporarily handicapped and likes to torture me.

I have no problem getting dirty, but getting gooey dirty is another story.
Scott Goerz

Dirty Deeds

Have you ever had to do something that you weren't looking forward to but you did it because it had to be done?

 One time I lived in a house with a bunch of people, we shared rent and it was a cheap way of living.  On one occasion the toilet backed up, it didn't over flow but the water was at the top, with all the people living there it had to be fixed fast and we were going to have to do it ourselves.

We were all pretty young and none of us had any experience fixing a plugged toilet, there was no internet or "how to" manual and we had to figure it out ourselves.  The plunger wasn't going to work because the water level was to high, so my buddy decided he was going to duct tape a garbage bag to his arm, reach into the toilet and try to unplug the problem by hand.

All of us were extremely grossed out by this idea, but he seemed to think this was a "good plan", he reached deep into the bowels of the toilet, his face hovering dangerously close to the water and started to pick away at whatever horrors were blocking the waterway, after a few seconds he freaked out and tore his arm out of the toilet, splashing water everywhere.  We were all hovering over him to see if he fixed the the problem when this happened and we all got a little bit of toilet water on us.  Apparently he did fix the problem but in the process the bag had ripped and poop water was filling the bag where his hand was.

 All of us freaked out as soon as the toilet water hit us, some of us stood there and screamed, some of us ran to the sink in the kitchen to wash up, some of us laughed hysterically at the anarchy happening all around us. 

The toilet was fixed, none of us died, and we all got cleaned up. We all had a good laugh and a great story was told at parties and to friends and family. 

Sometimes when you have to do something that you don't want to do, invite some friends along to help, who knows maybe it will turn out to be a fun experience and a great memory.

Scott Goerz

What Makes You Happy?

I know most of complain about our daily grind of life in general but it all can't be bad can it?  There has to be something you look forward to, or something that makes you happy.

There are a whole bunch of little things that make me happy,  like having a delicious supper ready for me when I get home from a hard day, sleeping on freshly washed sheets, or getting a phone call from a good friend I haven't talked to in a long time, or getting more on my paycheck than I thought I was getting.

Good things that happen to us are enjoyable but what can you do to make yourself happy?  I had to think about this for a while and I realized that I feel pretty good when I am the direct cause for making someone else happy.  Sometimes in the morning when I get my daily dose of caffeine from the local coffee shop drive thru, I pay for the person behind me, mainly because I'm in a generally good mood, and I know it makes their day a little bit brighter, but I also like knowing that I am the direct cause for it.  I know it makes them happy because it makes me happy when it happens to me.

There are things that we do that fool ourselves into thinking we are making ourselves happy but in reality it doesn't.  I like ice cream, but if I eat a whole pail of it, its not going to make me feel happy, if I don't get sick first I know that all that ice cream is not going to do my body any favors and I'm not going to enjoy buying a new pair of jeans three sizes larger than I'm used to, or to look down and wonder why I can't see my toes.

I find that you can't make yourself happy all the time, and the reason for that is, if it happens all the time you start taking it for granted and it no longer becomes enjoyable. That's why having random acts of happiness from outside sources is needed.  I do believe it is possible to be happy everyday, it all depends on how you look at the world, take criticism, and not let the little things bother you and, you have to learn how to laugh at yourself.

I was tightening a rope the other day and the rope snapped causing me to punch myself in the face, I had a pretty good laugh because I almost knocked myself out.  I thought jeez, I sure wouldn't want to fight me, I'm pretty tough.  I used to get mad when this sort of thing happened but lately I find myself laughing more than getting angry.

Go out there and enjoy yourself
Scott Goerz

Where Laws Came From

Have you ever driven down the highway driving doing about 120 km and somebody passes you like you were parked?  Have you ever been stopped at a stop sign and someone goes through without stopping or even looking to see if it's safe?  Have you ever seen a pedestrian cross a busy highway with no crosswalk?  How about someone stealing something?

We don't have laws for people that respect and follow the rules put in place by society.  We have laws for people who constantly break laws, disrespect other people and do whatever they like.

If we had an unmarked highway and you could drive as fast as you want, the idiots in the world would come out of the woodwork and drive as fast as their vehicles could take them, eventually killing themselves or others in a horrific accident.  It would ruin it for people that like to drive fast but know their limits and know when to slow down. A law would then be made to force everybody to slow down.

You could probably blame every law or rule ever made on somebody else's stupidity. Drunk drivers are a prime example. When I was young there was no electronic sobriety test, the police stopped you and used their judgement, it was up to them if you went home or to the drunk tank.  Apparently that wasn't good enough, and with the amount of drunk drivers escalating the government had to step up and make a law enforcing it, and that law has been revised over and over and I'm sure it will be again. Why?  Because some people are too stupid to know better.

We had road crossings people didn't stop at, so we put up stop signs, then we put up traffic lights because people don't stop at stop signs, we now have red light cameras because people don't stop at red lights, and now if people abuse that law the fines are going to get higher and higher.

 One day in the future and after a huge fine has been put in place, you will slide through and intersection due to an icy road, and guess what, that camera doesn't care about you, and in the mail you might get a fine for 3000.00 dollars. Sure you could go to court and fight it, but that's a day off work, paying for parking waiting all afternoon in a hot courthouse and even if you don't pay the fine they will get some of your money with their fees for administration.  My point is, people that don't care about anything but themselves and are oblivious of others will be responsible for the huge fine hike and other laws that come out in the future.

I use driving as an example because I can relate to it. I'm sure you know some people out there that could be the root cause of a different type of law,  litterbugs come to mind, smokers, cell phone abusers.... any new law that comes out in the future, think about why it got implemented, what happened that the government decided they needed this law at that time.  Did you do it or did some idiot throw his lit cigarette into a trash can?  Why do the people that follow the rules have to be punished by those that don't?

Scott Goerz

Excuses

There are certain types of excuses I can handle but most of them just make me angry.  When you have a job or activity planned and others have made a commitment to be there, it seems that some people that were part of the plan change their minds at the last second.

I understand that there is unforeseeable circumstances like a death in the family or that maybe someone forgot an important date like a wedding but to use this type of excuse repeatedly over and over again gets old fast.  Coming to me and saying "I forgot" is like saying to me "you are not important enough for me to remember and I don't care." 

Why can't people just be honest at the beginning?  I do not have a problem with someone saying no right when I ask them for help.  Don't commit to something you can't commit to.

Another type of excuse I have a huge issue with is the ones that have maybe, could and might somewhere in the sentences.  These type are commonly used with some sort of safety concern,  I agree with being as safe as possible but using safety as an excuse to get out of work is just plain lazy.  Saying something like " I don't want to pull nails with a hammer because the hammer might break off and hurt me." is complete stupidity. If that's the case then anything you do could might maybe possibly kill you, better not do anything at all ever for fear of dying. 

Another type of excuse I despise is the story excuse, where someone goes into a long drawn out story with peoples first and last names, times, what they were wearing and how they got into the situation. I do not want to listen for 20 minutes while you spout out nonsense about what happened. I would rather you tell me your alarm clock failed. (classic excuse). 

I try really hard not to use excuses,  If I make a commitment to someone I try really hard to honor it.  If I don't want to do something I will say "No I don't want to do that"  I have done many things in the past that I didn't want to do but I did them anyway because I said I would.

Are you an excuse maker?
Scott Goerz

Jealousy

Why do we have the emotion of jealousy?  Does it have a purpose that helps us?  I remember when I was dating a girl who I was totally infatuated with, in my eyes she had no equal when it came to other girls.  When we went out I would become incredibly jealous if she talked to other guys or hung out with other people when I wasn't around and in the end it was my insecurities that drove us apart.

I was scared that the relationship would end and that I would lose her because I had put her on a pedestal, and instead of enjoying the relationship and appreciating what I had I instead feared every moment when we were in public.

Nobody wants to feel like they are owned, and they will leave you if they feel like you are being too possessive. Jealousy can be a monster if it controls you.  Why do we even have this emotion? It seems to me that it is completely useless and does not enrich our lives at all.

I have had a lot of time since that jealousy infused relationship to reflect upon it. Nobody can stop anybody else from cheating on them, if its going to happen it will happen and you getting upset and being possessive will push that person you care so deeply for, away from you or may even be the cause of their leaving or cheating.

You have to trust the person you are with, after all you chose to be with them, if you don't trust them completely, leave the relationship. It is that simple.  Trusting someone is hard if you have been hurt before, but that is something you have to deal with with, not the person you are with, you have to realize that you are in a different relationship with a different person and things will be different as long as you don't go off the jealousy deep end.  You have to have trust if you want any relationship to last.

Scott Goerz

Winners are Losers

You train for an event, you eat specific foods, workout every day, take vitamins and supplements, you put everything you have into the event after years of training and you lose.

It's true not all of us go through this type of extensive training regime, but the concept remains the same.  If you work hard at something and then go write a test about it and you fail why would bother trying again?  Nobody is the best at everything, and we are all great at something.

Who put the label of winner and loser on tasks we do?  The problem I have with the word winner is that is has no boundary, as does the word loser.  Both words imply a general fact that is non specific. If you say "That guy is a winner." Then you would automatically think that he must be good at everything, and the opposite would be the same for the word loser, where that person would be bad at everything.

Labeling people this way also puts them in a position of ridicule or praise, it separates two equal human beings into categories, which our society can then judge.  I think we need a better categorization method if we must label people.

Right now the world is separated with different continents and races, the United States has this view of themselves as winners, as does Korea, both parties viewing the other as losers.  These are the winners of two powerful countries and might just start world war 3 because they have resorted to playground antics and name calling.  These are supposed to be the people we look up to and admire, but they are the complete opposite. Being the winner of this conflict might make us all losers.

Instead of trying to win, try working together, use both countries resources to make something even better for the entire world. In that way we would all be equals.  If one country loses this battle they may decide to push a button instead and we would all be losers.  Nuclear fallout affects the entire planet not just where the explosion hits.

Somehow we need to generalize people and yet keep their individuality that makes us all unique.  It would make better people and a better world in the long run.

My thought of the day.
Scott Goerz