Beth Williamson’s Blog

Not sure how. It’s been a crazy, weird week. Gads, I think I’m getting sick, too. :( My glands are swollen and I’ve been absolutely exhausted the last two evenings.

The good news is that I kicked off my morning by writing 1,000 words. Hooyah! That’s always a happy thing. Interestingly enough, the more I dream at night, the more I write and vice versa. Now if only I could figure out how to make myself dream… ;)

Now not to pick on little Miley Cyrus, but I saw this news piece a couple weeks ago and it irked me. No, more than that, it pissed me off.

The gist of it is the girl is going to write her “memoir.”

*let’s that sink in*

HER MEMOIR. Seriously!! She’s 15 frickin’ years old - what the hell could she possibly have to write about?

Aside from that (this is the part that really got to me) - it was a SEVEN FIGURE deal. That’s over a million y’all. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!

After struggling for so long to get published, for a 15 YO to write her memoir *snort* and get paid over a million for it makes me nauseated. To put the cherry on that sundae, the initial print run is also going to be one million copies.

It appears they’re looking for a ghost writer (big surprise). Perhaps I should apply for the job and be able to quit my day job.

That’s Wednesday’s rant for y’all.

I am a person who always believes in using her manners, being considerate and doing my best to always do the right thing. I’ve been trying to figure out what drives people to do the opposite.

Take for example, this morning on the highway to work, a seemingly brand new Toyota pickup got on the entrance ramp, careened across three lanes of highway to cut me off. Okay, I grumbled some complaints but promptly gave him a wider berth.

I watched this truck for the next 10 minutes as he bobbed weaved, and came within two feet of other cars as he rode their asses to make them MOVE. It was astonishing, although some would argue it shouldn’t be.

I’d like to think that we as a society can say please and thank you and remember the earth does not revolve around our needs, although this truck seemed to think the highway was built for him. Rush hour traffic? I don’t give a rat’s ass, move it!

If I’m waiting at a light and someone is trying to turn right, I will let them in if I can. If a pedestrian is crossing the parking lot, I stop to let them pass. Honestly, y’all, it doesn’t take much to be polite and considerate.

It also bugs me to see people park in a no parking zone simply because they don’t feel like walking, or there’s those people who throw trash on the ground. OMG, that totally burns me up. I was getting into my car at the mall last month and there was a nicely dressed man getting into his car and what did he do? Throw his Styrofoam cup onto the pavement and drive away.

WTF?

The earth is our home and we all have to share it. I for one would rather share it with considerate, polite people than flaming morons who think they’re more important than anyone else.

I have raised my sons to be considerate. When they comment on how rude a driver is, or hold the door open for the person behind them or help pick up items that fall for a stranger, then I know I’ve done my job right.

I’ve got an assignment for everyone. Do something kind for someone you don’t know today. A few weeks ago, a local radio station was “paying it forward” by paying for the meal of the person behind them at the drive-thru. They had it happen a couple hundred times that day because of what they started at Bojangle’s. Now you don’t have to spend any money, just do something nice. Let someone else get that primo parking spot, let the guy behind you get on line in front of you, help someone put a heavy bag in their car, or simply smile and hold the door open.

Please and thank you.

I was on my way back to work from lunch on Monday when I heard this news story. An eleven year old boy (that’s 11, y’all, 11!) was on a high-speed chase from the cops.

My first thought was, did he jack his parents’ car?

Nope, his parents had been allowing him to drive for SIX MONTHS. Y’all, my younger son is 11 - I cannot even begin to fathom what these parents were thinking in allowing a CHILD to drive an SUV. Apparently the father is disabled - I’m fairly certain they do provide transportation for disabled folks in Louisiana. Aside from that, IMNSHO opinion, this is absolutely criminal.

You do not let an ELEVEN year old child drive a car, much less at 80 MPH on the highway, outrunning cops and forcing people off the frigging road!!

The thought of this poor child and what he had to go through makes my parent anger just explode.

Rant over - I just want to give that boy a hug and tell him it’s okay to be a boy. Life’s too hard to be forced into being an adult before you even have hair under your arms.

But who the hell decides how, when and what to pave? For pity’s sake, do they throw darts at a wall to figure it out?

They closed off part of the interstate this weekend to pave. Not closed some lanes, CLOSED it off. WTF? Luckily I only got stuck for 10 minutes because I was getting off the highway but it caused massive back-ups.

Then on the road where I work, they closed off the right lane Friday, then the left lane today. You don’t know which frigging lane to get in and it’s all backed up to the next two lights. Grrr…

Nope, not done ranting yet.

On the ride home, they’ve been paving this stretch of road I drive on for about 8 miles. It’s a meandering 2 lane country road. Lots of pastures, horses, crops (like tobacco and corn). Very pretty. Wellll, a couple years ago, they paved about 4 miles of it on the left and right side of each lane. Not in the middle mind you, but only the sides.

Again, WTF?

Now they’re paving patches of it here and there like some blind guy is picking the spots to pave. I can just picture it. He’s wearing sunglasses and one of those orange vests. “Okay, here, no, wait, okay here. This smells like a good spot.”

So I’m picking up black goo on my tires, and the damn road is even more uneven than it was with the left/right paving job.

One day I’m going to be a full time novelist (crossing fingers, toes, legs, and anything else I can), so I won’t have to commute to work.

My blog is getting hit by spammers. Lousy bastards. I’ve gotten at least 500 spam comments in the last two days that were caught by the program Frauke installed on my blog, BUT there’s a bunch getting through. You know I’m going to get on my soap box here…

What is the purpose of spam comments? Really… Every one of the 500 say something like “I’m not an active serfer {yes it was spelled wrong}, but I’m going to tell my friends about your site.”

I’ve gotten stupid e-mail and comments that are linked to porn sites, online casinos, tons of prescription meds, and erection enhancements. So what is the purpose of the spam? I just don’t get it and that annoys me. I’d like to understand the purpose of someone wasting my time and my server space.

Let’s take all those spammers and give them a virus made by the other group of whack-jobs out there (those that create malware) and make them trade goodies.