Interesting first week of January

Only five days into the new year and already the week has been interesting to say the least.

Monday was a holiday, no big deal - we all expect that from the 1st of January to celebrate the new year. Did you know that the first immigrants were admitted to Ellis Island on January 1, 1892. Wonder if that was planned or what since the Pilgrims supposedly landed her in 1642 (250 years prior to the first "immigrants"). Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for history and all but weren't the Pilgrims basically immigrants too? I mean they immigrated from merry ol' England to escape the king's rules, (According to dictionary.com one defition of immigrant is a person who leaves one country to settle permanently in another. - yep sounds just like the Pilgrims - leaving England to settle in the Americas.) - So why the special attention to the immigrants of Ellis Island? Obviously the lawmakers had established some departments within the justice system and had made the Department of Immigration available, creating paperwork and headaches for people who now sought the new lands to make their homes. Before the revolutionary war and the civil war, people came to this land without hesitation - the Mexicans, the Pilgrims - and then they want to make things "legal". Who gave the first travelers permission to enter this country and to stay here? No one.

So looks to me that the Immigration Department is a conundrum (a department created within our justice to admit people to a country that they freely entered and making all these rules for newcomers (rules that the original founding fathers wanted to escape)) - oh well so much for life being good in the United States.


Tuesday, January 2, should have been a normal every day work day for most all of the nation, but no, Bush decides that it this year it is a national day of mourning for Ford. I am sure somewhere down the line that another holiday will be added to the calendar by way of the government. Which I think it is rather funny when I think about this. The governing officials have the highest paychecks in the country and the benefit of making holidays whenever it pleases them. They are only in session from January to October and still need more days off. What's wrong with this picture? Her the middle working class folks have to work 40 hours a week to struggle to make ends meet and when we need a break, we have to literally fight tooth and nail to get a day off or week's vacation or even a holiday. Go figure. The backbone of America has to work the hardest and longest to reap any benefits at all. With the "Day of Mourning" came closed post offices (yes, government) and banks (not all were closed since there is a law on the books somewhere saying that a banking institution cannot be closed for more than three days in a row - wonder who put that there? It isn't like we don't have access to our monies even if the banks are closed for more than three days in a row - we have the use of ATMs and checks and bank cards - so our funds are available in different forms. But then again, the governering officials we feel we need another holiday just because they want it. - So goes our life.

Last night I attended our band booster club meeting and talk about interesting things going on there. Longest meeting we have had since I started attending the meetings back in August (the first year that Hailie was involved in colorguard, I didn't come to the meetings because of the conflict with the writing group and I was pretty steady going to those meetings). The writing group still meets the same night as the band booster club but since this upcoming year I will have two in the marching band, I figured I should be more involved with the school activities than my writing. So I have resolved this year to attend at least the third Tuesday meeting of the writer's group every month as much as is possible (because once school starts in the fall, may not work out that way, just have to see with my husband's crazy schedule and the band practice schedule, et cetera).

Upon returning home, I got fussed at by supervisor for picking a job that was a good dictator and lots of lines (I did take him right before attending the meeting), so now I can't take his jobs any more unless they are right at the top of the list (we are supposed to do first in first out (fifo) but lots of people pick and chose the dictators they want to do - but with low work, we have to be careful. So regardless - I'm being watched as are the other transcriptionists on this account, so I will be trying extra hard to keep my nose clean - lol -

Also, I started my fast and frigid story (for Echelon press as outlined on http://karensyed.blogspot.com/) yesterday, finally think I have a story to submit and I worked on my civil war story (for the South Carolina Fiction Project). I may be able to pull off two submissions at the same time - will keep you posted on that. - anyway - see you all in the postings - E :)