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Fate is fickle

Fate, destiny, serendipity or just plain coincidence; however you describe it, I had one of those moments today. I decided to go home for lunch. I wanted to run outside and I cannot think of a place I can go to do that in the middle of the day where I can change my clothes. I also wanted to get something to eat and it is certainly cheaper eating at home than out. So I was there for about an hour, pack up and left.
On the spur, I decide to go to the library and get a movie I’ve wanted to see. The library closes at 5 pm today, so it was do it now or wait. As I was leaving, I ran into a friend who has recently suffered a terrible loss. We were able to sit down and talk a while about what happened. I don’t know if it helped him at all, but it helped me. Trying to me sense of the senseless can drive you mad. Getting more details, while not making the situation any better, at least puts the whole thing in perspective.
So, while I don’t believe it was fate, destiny or some guiding hand, it did touch me; make me feel more connected.
Comments:
Sophia S – This is why I can’t be an atheist. My life feels orchestrated week by week. Just the other day watching the 2nd of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Will said, “Mom, are demons real?” and I said, ask your dad.
Then the next day as I was fixin to leave somewhere the J Dubs (Jahova Witnesses) caught me in time to give me their magazines and share scripture. I took them to work with me and read them cover to cover. This one particular issue had a detailed story about whether demons where real or not! According to them/The Bible, they are.
I hear there is a book out that is math based explaining the case that odd coincidences happen more often than we would otherwise expect them to. Since I loath math and all it stands for, AND think logically that nobody could possibly test that theory especially seeing how frequent things happen to me and less to others, I choose to believe I have angels all around me all the time red ones and white ones guiding my journey at my discretion! Better yet, I am sure there is also a network of energy that you are either plugged in or out of based on your thinking. I think we are all little creators of our own lives moment to moment and that we alone can create or be idle. Be in the flow of the source, or out of it. That is why relationships with one another are so important. We are all connected. Living.
James S – How can your life be both “orchestrated week by week” and “we are all little creators of our own lives moment to moment”? Seems contradictory.
Sophia S – Aah twould only seem so if it weren’t for the fact that the orchestration is not my doing but of my angels not an orchestration in a predestined way but in a way where I am a mere horn player creating every note free to follow the conductors influence or do my own thing the end result being creation on my part and orchestration adapting or clashing with me. Good luck trying to adjust your perception to mine. Applause for trying! :o)
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Gilgamesh and life

Shiduri said, “Gilgamesh, where are you roaming? You will never find eternal life That you seek. When the gods created mankind, they also created death, and they held back eternal life for themselves alone. Humans are born, they live, then they die, this is the order that the gods have decreed. But until the end comes, enjoy your life, speed it in happiness, not despair. Savor your food, bathe and anoint yourself, wear bright clothes that are sparkling clean, let music and dance fill your house, love the child that holds you by the hand and give you wife pleasure in your embrace. That is the best way for a man to live.” (Gilgamesh, A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell)
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Capital One you sneeky little devils

I have been paying my credit cards off for a while now and finally got it down to one. I have some accounts with Capital One so I thought it was a safe bet. Earlier this year, CO decided to increase everyones rate across the board since those poor defenseless banks just aren’t getting the billions in profits they once were. I don’t think I got this notice, but I have no way of knowing for certain. The notice in not put on any of your regular banking statements, so most people did not get a chance to “opt out”.
What’s that you say? Opt out of a higher rate? Yes, if you did not respond, they take that to mean you are cool with having your rate increase. In my case by 236%. Is the legal? Yes, Ethical, certainly not. So after two days of calling, you get sent to the same place with a “Senior Account Supervisor” who cannot do anything to change your really high rate. They have no supervisors with more authority. In short, you are stuck.
So here I am with a minimum payment that is only sightly higher than the interest they are getting (I pay more than the minimum always.) If I were some poor soul who did not understand this, it would take almost a decade to clear that debt. As it is, I will just work harder to clear the debt and then start working to close my accounts. How very sad they just don’t like customers.
I finally got a personal loan and wrapped that account up.
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Ethics of Belief

I just read this in the Deamon Hauted world by Carl Sagan and wanted to share:
“A shipowner was about to send to sea an emigrant-ship. He knew that she was old, and not overwell built at the first; that she had seen many seas and climes, and often had needed repairs. Doubts had been suggested to him that possibly she was not seaworthy. These doubts preyed upon his mind, and made him unhappy; he thought that perhaps he ought to have her thoroughly overhauled and and refitted, even though this should put him at great expense. Before the ship sailed, however, he succeeded in overcoming these melancholy reflections. He said to himself that she had gone safely through so many voyages and weathered so many storms that it was idle to suppose she would not come safely home from this trip also. He would put his trust in Providence, which could hardly fail to protect all these unhappy families that were leaving their fatherland to seek for better times elsewhere. He would dismiss from his mind all ungenerous suspicions about the honesty of builders and contractors. In such ways he acquired a sincere and comfortable conviction that his vessel was thoroughly safe and seaworthy; he watched her departure with a light heart, and benevolent wishes for the success of the exiles in their strange new home that was to be; and he got his insurance-money when she went down in mid-ocean and told no tales.
What shall we say of him? Surely this, that he was verily guilty of the death of those men. It is admitted that he did sincerely believe in the soundness of his ship; but the sincerity of his conviction can in no wise help him, because he had no right to believe on such evidence as was before him. He had acquired his belief not by honestly earning it in patient investigation, but by stifling his doubts.”
William K Clifford – The Ethics of Belief (1877)
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Insurance idiots

So here is my story…
I got a bill from a small clinic we visited a few times. I called to let them know that they were charging me too much. I would be happy to pay the addition fee over my co-pay, but not the total amount they bill the insurance for that was denied. 
She tells me, “Well that was the cash price, the amount we billed insurance was required under our contract with them.”
“Wait, you are billing my insurance twice what I could just pay out of pocket, when we all knew the insurance company would not pay it? Did you tell me there was a “cash price” that was only a little more than my deductible?”
“Well sir, you hand us an insurance car, it’s not our job to tell you”
“Who else would know?”
It’s not just insurance companies…it’s also the 1) incompetent underpaid staff working the counter or 2) small clinics trying to make as much as possible.
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Republican “Values”

I read this an thought it was ironic:
In one paragraph they state:
“Ensuring Equal Treatment for All
Individual rights – and the responsibilities that go with them – are the foundation of a free society.”
Then we read a little further down speaking from the other side of their mouth:
“Preserving Traditional Marriage
Because our children’s future is best preserved within the traditional understanding of marriage, we call for a constitutional amendment that fully protects marriage as a union of a man and a woman, so that judges cannot make other arrangements equivalent to it.”
Lol. Why am I not a republican again?
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Me and Discount Tire

So I bought four new tires in February from Discount Tire off of Beltline and 121 and as I drove off I noticed there was a slight wiggle in the wheel. I thought it was just the feeling of new tread that needed to get worked out. A couple months later I find the time to go back since it was time for a rotation and the wobble had gotten worse. I told them about it, they said they were fine so I drove off. The problem persisted so I made it back in June determined to get this fixed. The charged me for a “road force balance” and sent me on my way. I went a few miles down the highway. turned around and came back, still not fixed. The looked again and told me a “control arm bushing” had worn out ant the horizontal movement might be causing the problem. I had that fixed, but, you guessed it, no better. In all my time buying tires from DT, I had never had a problem and I have bought many plus a few set of wheels. So I had looked for any other problem feeling they just could not be that incompetent.
So I had enough. I took the time to get me car down to my Uncle (Bill Shores of Bill Shores Automotive, convieniently located in downtown Fort Worth.) He went over it and noticed, just by sighting the tire, that not one or two, but three were out of round! So, I took my car back again (all to the same location on Beltline). I told them I wanted all new tires and for the trouble they had caused me, I would like them to upgrade the tires. I was informed that they would happily replace the tires (I had bought the warranty so they had to anyway) but to up grade would cost me. Was I asking too much for the trouble I asked? No, but they could only discount the upgrade, not give it to me.
So I took my tires and left and then wrote a gently worded letter to the regional and home office. I received a call from the region and worked out a deal to keep me a customer. I went to the location on Harwood and was treated really well. I can still recommend the company, but I would avoid the location in Irving on Beltline and 121. They don’t seem to care much if your are happy even if you have working tires. I know the one on Camp Bowie was always great.
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Arts Fest

This past weekend Mel and I went the the Fort Worth arts festival. I got to meet J.D Hillberry (http://www.jdhillberry.com/). I wish I had brought his book with me to get it signed. We had fun just looking at all the ways people express themselves and get some inspiration for our own work. We at at Cabos (the fish tacos are the best) and then that evening we went to the Scat Jazz Lounge. The place was so cool and filled with atmosphere. The music was great. We stayed at the Worthington and had an amazing view. The kiddos did wonderfully staying with their grandma, so it looks like this sort of thing may start to happen more often. Thanks to my Sweetie for making it all happen. I really needed it after that week!
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Tea baggers

So I was watching the tea baggers (snicker) that attended the rallies that Glenn Beck and Rush L said they should attend. The obvious questions for me were:
1) What are you protesting?
2) Are you really affected at all?
3) Why is this more important than wars and torture?
#’s 1 and 3 go hand in hand. I suppose many of them are objecting to the massive amounts of spending that our government is undertaking. I agree with that part. I think digging a deeper whole is not the way to get out. I understand the theory of what they are trying to do, generate growth so that growth can fuel the new welfare programs. I don’ think it will work, but time will tell.
So, in reality, most of us are not being taxed and thus these “tea parties” don’t make sense. If the government said all people making between 40k and 90k were going to see an increase in taxes, I would understand since that would cover about 70% of the population. But that is not what has happened. Those people are seeing decreases in tax. You have to make over $250,000 to see an increase and even then it is a modest one. So…what’s the problem?
Let’s not forget who started this mess. The head in the sand admin of the past 8 years. The rubber stamp and ineffective congress. The bailing out of failed business (W’s idea) a huge cluster fudge in the middle east that is draining our resources, these are what got us in the mess we are in today.
Finally, where were these peoples’ outrage when it was discovered we were sent to war under false pretenses? Why weren’t these same people marching on Washington when it was discovered we were torturing other human beings and getting *NO* usable information? Do you think it’s because their TV and radio opinion generators thought those things were ok?
I watched these “protests” with a little humor and a bit of sadness. At some point, hopefully, people will realize what is truly important and we cans start making a difference in the world. But I won’t hold my breath.
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Alma 51 in the Book of Mormon

I was wondering if anyone else has ever noticed how Alma 51 is a rehash of the American Revolution? Take a read tonight if you have the book and tell me what you think. If you need a copy, you can find it electronically at www.lds.org

King-Men = British
Freemen = American Revolutionaries
Moroni ~ George Washington
Standard of Liberty = The flag of the revolution

Key words – Free government, freedom, voice of the people, people of liberty, defend their country.

Key ideas – nobility and high born against the [commoners], defending cities near the sea, the opposition is a greater number and force.

I’m sure there are other similarities, but these are the ones that stood out.