"You can't do that!"

People that tell you all the things you can't do are often the same people who wouldn't dare step outside their own comfort zone of security. Sometimes, it's not about them thinking you really couldn't achieve the thing you want to achieve but the thought of doing something beyond a comfortable realm just throws them off. It doesn't even have to involve them, some people just don't like things that seem like they might be a risk or too challenging. Taking a risk is scary and change is really rough for some people. 

I don't personally want someone to tell me "yes Ashly" all of the time and I certainly don't mind when someone points out what they perceive as a flaw or a problem in something I want to do or in an idea I have. There's a difference between being critical in a helpful sense and being critical in an un-supportive way. Communication is important in so many aspects of life and it bothers me how often people in general don't communicate with each other enough in constructive, positive ways. It's possible to be supportive without just going along with everything because being supportive sometimes means pointing out why something might not work and getting that person to think through everything. 

Maybe they're concerned about your safety. That's always something to take into account. Sometimes people don't always take their safety into consideration. I have an impulsive nature and often I just think about how fun and exciting something will be long before the thought of safety enters my mind. I've gotten better about that, though. I also have a boyfriend, family members & a couple close friends who are always on the ready to point out safety concerns with things that I think I might want to try. Sometimes it's not an adventurous fun thing you're trying to do because there are plenty of things where safety needs to be factored in and thought over. If someone is discouraging you from something with reasonable concerns for your safety, listen.

Maybe they think you're wasting your time. It's your time to "waste" so go ahead if it's something you really want to pursue. Just don't forget that no matter how good of an idea you think you have, it is possible that it could lead to a dead end and turn out to be a waste of time. Though I always looks at things as if I learned something valuable in a pursuit that didn't work out, it wasn't really an entire waste of my time.

Maybe they think your pursuit is stupid. They're entitled to their opinion and for me, it's always worth listening to someone else's input as long as they're being respectful because maybe they'll point out something that I hadn't thought of yet.

Maybe they really don't believe in you. In that case, you should probably look at that person and figure out why you're listening to them in the first place. 

Instead of just listening to the "oh, you can't do that" and the "yeah, I think that's a bad idea for you" or etc, stop and ask them why they feel that way. There has to be a reason and you should hear that reason. Maybe it will offer a fresh point of view and put things into a fresh perspective for you. Ask and listen. 

If there isn't a major safety, moral or legal concern involving whatever your goal is, why are they trying to discourage it? Listen even if there isn't a sensible reason behind their discouragement because that's telling, too. 

Just remember, you're responsible for your actions and you're responsible for the things that occur because of those actions. So if you fuck something up, own it. If you fail, own it and don't let a failure discourage you from trying something else. If you try and decide it's not for you, accept that and move on. If you mess up, learn from it, fix what needs fixing and remember what not to do next time. Take the time to think things out, too. There are pros and cons of everything. Sometimes it's tough to do that but never let yourself get discouraged by other people telling you what you can and can't handle, what you can and can't do.

I'm sorry, didn't you hear me speaking?

Something that irritates me more than anything is people who cut me off in the middle of a sentence to start talking. Or, anyone getting cut off mid-sentence annoys me to be honest. It's so rude to do that. Sure, you might be anxious to say something their story reminded you of. Or you might be bored with what they're saying and want to change the subject. Or maybe you're just self-absorbed and care more about everything you have to say over ever listening to anyone else. I'm sure there are a lot more reasons it's done and most of them just break down into the person cutting in being a rude douche.

I know several people who do this quite often and it irritates me. Then when/if I cut them off to inform them I wasn't done, I'm the rude one some how. Or, if I don't cut them off so I can finish what I was saying, I just keep going as I was and raise my voice to talk over them. Which is also rude, apparently. However, neither is as rude as someone who always jumps in mid-sentence because what they have to say is obviously going to be wiser, more funny, more important or better in some way.

That's my .02 on the subject. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Tell me why I'm wrong...

Here's a conversation I overheard the other day:

1: "I think the Bulls are definitely going down to the Heat."

2: "You're wrong."

1: "Why do you think that?"

2: "Because you're wrong."

1: "Okay. What makes you think I'm wrong?"

2: "You are. What makes you think you're right?"

1: "The Bulls are too young and not enough experience yet. I think the Heat just want it more as well. Why don't you agree with that?"

2: "Because you're wrong. Bulls will take it all."

And person 2 wasn't just being exasperating. They're whole point was that person 1 was wrong but couldn't explain why. Their argument went on a couple more minutes before person 1 just gave up. Which to person 2, was them just admitting defeat thus admitting they were right all along.

This always aggravates the hell out of me. I don't mind when someone disagrees with me or has a different opinion than I do. What I do mind is when someone wants to tell me I'm wrong but can't give me any reason why. "Because you are" and "because I think so" aren't good arguments for why a person is wrong. To me, it just shows a lack of knowledge in the topic at hand if you can't even come up with one singular example of why you disagree so vehemently with what I'm saying. What are you disagreeing with? What do you feel opposite about? What point are you trying to make?

I know some people like to disagree with everything just to be difficult. I don't understand that but I get that there are people out there like that. Which is annoying more often than not.

I also understand not being able to articulate what you want to say to properly convey your point in the exact light that you're trying to present it in. If that's the problem, just say so and maybe try to explain a little bit anyway.

To disagree with someone by stating you're right and they're wrong but having no reasoning behind it? Stupid. Also, to get pissy with someone because they want to hear your side of something after you've told them you think what they think is wrong? Ridiculous. You can't ridicule someone's OPINION and then get mad at THEM when they want to know what you're being so high and mighty for. Unless you're an immature brat incapable of having a grown up conversation, that is.

And lastly, if it's opinion being debated and not actual facts; there's probably no right or wrong anyway. It's fine to disagree and not see eye to eye but just because someone doesn't agree with what you're saying doesn't make them wrong.

Happy Friday!

Black Balloon, touchy subjects & Scrabble.

"Black Balloon" by Goo Goo Dolls. <--click for the lyrics. :)
This has been one of my favorite songs for a little more than 10 years. It trips me out when I realize how old I was when I started listening to this band. Or rather, how young I was. This song is from a CD that came out in 1998. I don't have a lot of Cd's I even still own from that long ago but I still have this one and I still listen to it. Obviously. ;) This is probably my favorite song off the whole album. This song used to make me sad and I never understood why, exactly. I'd listen to it and just feel sad for no apparent reason yet, I still loved the song. It's weird how music can play on your emotions like that sometimes. I listen to it now and I still feel the tiniest bit of sadness but mostly, it makes me smile. Not because it's an extremely happy song. There's no rainbows or fairy dust shooting out of anywhere.

Anyway.

You know what's fun? Having a 3+ hour conversation with your boyfriend on topics ranging from defining sexual terms that weren't understood (genderqueer, pansexual, etc & they're understood now :D) to the oil spill in the gulf to self-entitlement to patriarchy to evolution and a couple other things. And I mean fun in all seriousness. Even when we don't agree, though with what was listed we pretty much agree on things, we never get angry and try to make the other person try to bend their views. He can accept that I might not see something his way and same goes for me. It never turns into an argument, it never turns petty and it never turns into something useless that causes frustration and headaches because one side wants the other side to see it their way and come around to their way of thinking. Then again, we mostly agree on those types of things but once in a while there are things we do disagree on that are touchy. It's fun because we can share our views and not get into an argument over anything, even when we don't agree on something the other feels passionate about. It's always just an intelligent, rational discussion between two people who don't always agree but can respect the opinion of the other.

Also fun? Laying in a freshly cleaned bed playing Scrabble with the boyfriend. I love Scrabble and he's gotten in to playing it lately. Which I love. :D He's got a game on his iPhone where we can both play since I no longer own the actual board game. I would rather lay on the bed and play the actual board game (we don't have any type of table to play on) but such is life. Maybe when I can get the board game again we can do that. The game on his phone works just fine, though. :)

Happy Wednesday!

Comments, please?

Yeah you've got a friend in me...

Still no new power cord for my laptop. Which sucks, lol. Hopefully it will be here by the end of the weekend. Of course, it's Friday now so maybe later today or some time tomorrow I'll get lucky and it will come. Not using my computer much doesn't really bother me though. Sure, I miss writing on my blog and definitely miss reading other blogs too but I'm not going crazy without it. I miss getting on my social networks, checking email, playing games and doing the other things I do online but I don't feel any loss without it, lol. I don't have much time to be online anyway because I work a lot. I also watch hockey and movies a lot, lol. So that I don't feel too annoyed or frustrated and that I'm not freaking out or feeling cut off is cool. It makes me super happy in a time when I know so many people who freak out going just hours without being connected and I've gone almost a week without it and I'm cool. There's more out there then life on line ya know? ;)

Wednesday I spent a big part of the day with my family on a day trip. We drove a couple hours to go to the mountains close by and play in the monstrous amounts of snow. As soon as I can get pictures on here, I'll post some. Including the awesome snow angel I made and the awesome mini snowman I made with Little Sister's help. It was a fun day off from work.

Thursday was a really pretty day. No rain, no cold weather. It was actually kind of warm out, compared to how it has been, lol. So we were busy as fuck at work. I actually had to go in early because they needed the help. It was crazy. Every time we tried to get clean and stocked, we had more customers just coming and coming. It rocked though because the time just flew by. The last hour we slowed down and didn't have many customers come which made cleaning and stocking much easier, lol. I had to go on my lunch break to buy new shoes because I wore my running shoes to work because my work shoes were soaking wet, lol. My running shoes were killing my feet. They might rock for running or jogging but for standing and moving around at work, they sucked. So I ran to get a pair of shoes since I needed new work ones anyway. So while searching for shoes in my size, I had a little boy come on the aisle I was on. I saw him out of the corner of my eye and then turned around to face him when he was almost next to me. He told me he had been trying to scare me and asked if he had. I said he hadn't. He laughed and said, "Aww man I wanted to scare you." I was thinking -ookay buddy- but the kid was maybe 11 or 12 so I didn't think much of it. Then he looked at the shoes I was looking at. "Are you gonna get those shoes?" he asked me. I said I was getting them. I grabbed the box and he grabbed them away from me. "Are you getting these? Are these what you want?" he asked. I said yeah and asked for them back since they were the only ones in my size. He grabbed a box and said he was gonna get some too. I was thinking, -oookay little weirdo- and then he looked at my work shirt and asked me if I worked at that place. I said no, lol. He asked if I had to go back to work now or not. I walked off to the register. The little boy and his grandmother ended up in line behind me and I turned around and he waved at me. His grandmother asked what he was doing and he said I worked at blahblahblah but said I didn't and yadda yadda yadda. The kid wasn't really obnoxious either. He wasn't taunting me or being a brat. He seemed serious enough in all his statements and questions. Definitely was a little on the strange side, lol.

Today is payday! WOOHOO! ;)

Well I must run. My borrowed time is up, lol. Saturday Survey is set to post tomorrow. ;)

Happy Friday y'all!

Baby, write this down, take a little note, to remind you in case you didn't know....

I was surprised (happily) at the response I got from yesterday's post. =) I was expecting maybe 5 or 6 people to go along with it, maybe 10 at the most. I was happy that over 20 went along with my lazy inventive little post. It was fun to read all the comments actually. Thanks to everyone who left one! Of course, if you want to join in and say a little something, click the link or scroll on down and feel free to leave a comment. I wouldn't mind at all. *grin*

I was taking a shower Wednesday and found myself singing a variety of songs. Yes, I sing in the shower. I started with Blondie and then went to Matchbox 20. Then to Def Leopard. Next was Joan Jett. On to George Strait. Followed by Shinedown. On to Boston. Next was Frank Sinatra. Finishing up with Rob Zombie. I wasn't singing entire songs mind you. Just bits and pieces. I usually stick with one or two songs but my brain just kept rolling along with bits and pieces to various songs by the artists I listed.

Happy Thursday y'all!!!!!

With a little bit of talk, baby, oh, we could change some things....

Hi there!

Yes, hello to you there, sitting in front of your computer screen.

I apologize if you came here today in hopes of reading something amusing, insightful, strange, funny, witty, bitchy, kinky, rambling, ranting or sexy.

Today, I just want two things.

One, to say hello to all the people who stop by and read here daily. One has been done. ;)

Two, to ask how your morning, afternoon, evening or whatever is going.

Y'all come here and read about me all the time. You read about my bitching and ranting due to work and my ridiculous, moronic awesome co-workers. My random bitching and rantings from day to day things. Movies and music I like. Things that happen that amuse me. Plans I have for the day. Interests I have. And on and on and on.

Today, I want to read a little something from all of you. Any of you who want to take a minute or two or three and leave a comment, telling me a little something about your day, week, life, a random fact, a joke you dig, whatever. Even if you blog and I can read about you there, who cares? Leave a little something or just say hello if you want.

So....

How you doin'? ;)