Operation "Sell Car"

I just returned from the shop. It's my engine mounts, and front axle. $1000. I know I've said this before, but I am done. I am so done. I need a new car, like today.

Operation "Sell VW" commences today.

Helga.

My parents have a cleaning lady. She is disorganized and is constantly misplacing important things. The conversation goes, "Oh no! Helga will be here in 15 minutes. Hide your stuff!" Seriously, it's ridiculous. I have told them a dozen times that they need to let her go, that she isn't doing a good job, and they shouldn't be paying someone to do such a terrible job. Yet she remains.

I just spoke with my mom, and the issue of Helga came up. She is up to her same old shenanigans (though she is not Irish), and I think I'm now reconciled to this reality. She cleans the house. She does a bad job, but she does it, and they need the help. They both work constantly, and need someone to come in regularly to make sure that they don't get buried beneath student papers.

This woman is unemployable in any other situation. It's a gift to allow her to be herself and not demand that she change who she is, or become a person different from who she is (Don't even get me started on how she doesn't bring her own cleaning products). Anyhow, the moral of the story is to allow people to be who they are. I don't exactly believe it in this instance, but I do appreciate the fact that my parents are far less judgmental and stingy than I am.

Money is nothing.

Vintage Tupperware measuring cups

If we have chosen the position in life in which we can most of all work for mankind, no burdens can bow us down, because they are sacrifices for the benefit of all; then we shall experience no petty, limited, selfish joy, but our happiness will belong to millions, our deeds will live on quietly but perpetually at work, and over our ashes will be shed the hot tears of noble people.

~ Karl Marx

Dogs should come in pairs.

Training a dog is hard work, especially when the dog has not been treated well or has been living in a chaotic situation for a while. The dog is hesitant, and the new owner is hesitant. The dog bites in fear, so the owner strikes it. And soon the cycle begins again...

It's difficult to treat animals, specifically dogs, well. Dogs are vulnerable because they are small, and they have no prefrontal cortex, so they are easy to manipulate. It's so interesting to me that some people have been making a deal out of Mitt Romney's treatment of animals. What makes dogs so special (besides the fact that they're pretty freakin' cute)? Why are we not raging against the establishment that allows millions of cows to lay in their own fecal matter each day? Why are we not raging against the establishment that tells us we are safer because all of our meat gets washed in ammonia? Why are we not shouting it from the rooftops? Why are we not all acting for change?

That's my spiel for the day. I like my new dog. I don't love her yet, because I don't really know her, but I'm working on it. This week will be a test of how we'll get along, because I'll be in and out during the day, and she'll be alone sometimes. I think that dogs should come in pairs, but I need more time before I can get another, and I don't think it's a good idea to put more than one person and one [small] animal in my apartment. I only have so much space to walk.