No Pressure Here!

March 22, 2006 – 20:12

Oh, Saturday is going to hurt. My barn has three horses racing … and they are all MINE. I might be able to manage to paddock the first two horses (races 3 and 8) but somebody is going to have to help out with the horse in race 11. Either way, it’s going to be an extremely long day because I’ll still have to put away all three horses afterwards. Still, it might be worth it if middle horse does well. Race 8 is a stake race. That means prestige, money … and an eligibility to perform in further stakes.

It’s going to be a very long, tense day for me. Yup. Pressure. And since I’ll be in race 3, there won’t be time to run for lunch either. I’ll have to make sure I have a lunch packed.

YAY! This means shopping tomorrow!

I wonder if I can talk Jade into going to IKEA? I have to make the basement mine and soon.

Please oh please oh please oh please let me have Sunday off from racing! My four race horses just turned into six today … I’m used to having a few babies that don’t race yet. I keep telling myself to think about the money I’m making … I’m getting an excellent wage plus bonuses for first place and paddock fees. But, you know? Sometimes money just isn’t enough reason. Luckily the horses are. For them, I keep going back.

Speaking of which, I have to get to bed so that I can start another day with them.

March 27, 2006 – 08:41

We interrupt this regularly scheduled soap opera to bring you a few words from Ben Stein. If I have already sent you this e-mail, please feel free to skip down to the part when I expound upon this man’s wisdom!

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.

Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?

I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.

Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are.

If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.

Next confession:I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.

Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?

I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.

But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina)

Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"

In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW."

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Are you laughing?Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us. Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

As I pointed out in my e-mail to some of you, I know who Ben Stein is. I know him to be a very intelligent man as well as a funny one. I don’t share his religion, but I do share his views on what we are allowing our world to come to.
I remember how schools used to be – saying the prayer, reciting the allegiance to the flag, even a cheerful 'good morning' song was sung. I can understand the views that got the prayer cut out of our children’s lives – I, myself, frequently complain about having religion shoved up my nose. I personally believe that religion should be private, but this is a world of freedom and apparently God not only has to advertise, he also has a PR team.

Crazy.

I believe in spankings. I have complete faith in a child’s need to be told where the line is and what will happen if it is crossed. They need to know how to weigh consequences – not just for themselves, but also for others. It might “take a village to raise a child” but I think the “village” is failing our children and we need to once again act alone to raise them. I DO believe in spankings, but I also think that any marks beyond a glowing bum and a tearful, pouty face is because it was no longer a spanking. Beating your children is wrong, corporal punishment is not. I think the strap should be brought back to our schools but should only be used as a last resort. Some children can only respect their own discomfort – and I can imagine that sitting on a wooden (or plastic) chair while trying to do class work after getting the strap, would be a good reminder of the need to think ahead. I also believe in groundings, time outs, taking away a toy for a period of time, and lectures that require answers to make sure the kid hasn’t zoned you out. I also believe in praise, hugs, and encouragement.

I believe that a single expert is not entirely correct, but that parents should take the advice of all the experts and then do what is right in their hearts. Ultimately, you are the one raising your child, not somebody who had the wit to get a book published based on high ideals that they may or may not have actually used on their own children and may or may not have actually worked. Every child is different … sometimes in order to raising them right, we have to LISTEN to them as well as talk to them.

Somewhere out there is a person (or two, etc) who are asking themselves why I am spouting this stuff.

Because I care. Children are the one “people cause" that I wholly try to involve myself in. If writing this for you to read, and maybe share, can get you to think, then, grand, I’ve touched somebody enough to maybe make a change in somebody’s life. (Lady knows the teachers who touch lives are getting fewer and far between.) If you shove this section away and reject it as none of my business, well, that’s your right too – but if you didn’t want to know my thoughts on things then why are you reading my journal?

Somebody may also be asking what the heck do I know about raising kids? I don’t have any.

Well, I did … and for two years, I raised my god-daughter. A beautiful little girl who, had things worked out, would have been a week older than my son. She was a well behaved child, both in private and in public. She managed to move within the lines I set for her and still remain a happy, healthy, bright child who gave every indication of being a free spirit. She was polite and respectful to others and she made the decision to be so on her own - I didn't have to constantly nudge her. And she loved me very much.

In fact, I may have done my job too well. She loved me so much that she began to reject her own mother. She referred to her by her given name and called me “Mom” in public. I couldn’t get her to stop. Her mother didn’t care much, because she was too busy with two jobs, but I know that if she ever stopped to look and had it thrown in her face, she would resent it and me. So I broke my heart, and my god-daughters, and I left her life. I had meant it to be temporary, but my friend was so angry that I had left her without a caregiver for her daughter (I had given her warnings, but she didn’t act on them) that she made the split permanent.

I miss her everyday and I hope that the things I taught her are remembered in her heart, if not in her head. Sometimes doing the “right thing” is not easy. Especially when you aren’t sure it is. She was three then … now she would be … eleven, in March.

That’s all I have to say about that.

We now return to the soap opera – boring as it is …

I slept in until quarter to eight today. Oh, that was nice … to wake up to the quiet and the morning light … with the solid lump that is my cat pressed firmly against my back. The sunshine is so beautiful that I wanted to go for a walk. But I didn’t want to go alone. I wanted to share it. I live near the river valley – there’s lots to share in spring. Lynne might not be here in time for sunshine though … and Albert has a cast on his foot. Well, we’ll see. I’m waiting to see what Lynne’s plans are for today and then if I’m that desperate to go out, I’ll go grab my parents’ dog. That’ll do for company.

Yesterday, I was leaving work when I saw the most outrageous outfit on a woman. It kinda worked for her, but still … I called Lynne, knowing that she’d understand my need to “Oh My GOD!” at somebody. She told me to take a picture … so I did. In fact I took three. I have no idea if they’ll turnout though … they look so tiny on the phone. I’ll place them here if I ever figure out how to get them off. I haven’t seen an outfit like this since SCTV was on.

So, today, if plans work out, Lynne is finally going to take the pics of me that she’s been asking me to sit for. I don’t know how long we’ve been trying to do this … almost a year, maybe. Today we finally have time off at the same time ... so … * crossing fingers*

I might share them with you. I am my own harshest critic. (If you ever heard me be critical of somebody, you might find that hard to believe, but I hold myself up to some pretty strict standards – it’s how I was raised.) Anyway, I’m not sure that I will be happy with the results. Not that the pics won’t be good or well taken – I’m sure that Lynne will do a fabulous job and she will be thrilled with them … but I will see the flaws in myself.

Damn magazines with their perfect touched up photos of already perfect women.

Note: Latest races went fairly well ... even the important stakes races. No firsts for me, but enough seconds to keep me and the barn happy.

Will write more later …

Sweet Dreams!