A Shooting in Tacoma Washington

While watching the news on Wednesday there was this story about a 91 year old man living in a family owned care facility...at first when I heard that part of the story, I thought, how sad someone at the care facility probably shot the poor old man. Nope, this crazy old man shot and killed 39 year old Ramoncito Barro (the son of the people who owned and ran the facility) and who was a father of 5 young children. There was no argument or fighting, Ramoncito was just bringing this man some grapes and was shot in the chest and died almost instantly.

Okay, what I want to know is, why did this man have a gun at the home? He was 91 years old AND a year ago he was declared cronically depressed, paranoid schizophrenic, with a delusional disorder. I am sure he didn't move himself into that home, family members or friends had to of moved him there and packed his stuff...don't you think someone would have seen the gun? Unless he kept it on himself at all times just in case someone would threaten him with a bunch of grapes. It's just horribly sad all the way around. Then to hear some of the other residents talk about the man who was shot (I thought, well maybe this guy was a jerk and treated people horribly - nope again), everyone talked about him as a loving, extremely caring individual - everyone that was interviewed had tears in their eyes. So, what happens now, do you have a trial and send a 91 year old man to jail? Mental institution? House arrest?

Where is my Listening Ear???

It seems that almost all of my friends are going through some really hard times. I have one friend in particular that is going through a pretty bad breakup with her husband of 17 years, not only is she having a tough time with that, she also has post traumatic stress syndrome from being horribly abused as a child. Sometimes I find myself being more of a therapist to her than a friend. She has a therapist that she sees 4 times a WEEK. whew. I was seeing a therapist about every 2 weeks and there were times I couldn't think of anything to talk about any more. I almost wanted to start making things up just to make things more interesting because I started to get bored. Anyway, where do I draw the line. There are times she calls me and she is a bit suicidal, I feel like I spend more time talking her down than anything else, but what should I do? I can't tell her to save this for her therapist when she is so distraught, but I also don't want her to be so dependent on me, she needs to be dependant on herself and no one else. She is making great progress by asking her skank of a husband to leave (which I thought would NEVER happen - I was so blown away), she got a new job (although I think that is a little overly stressful in itself) but she has really made great strides to standing on her own.

I am glad that I am there for people and I think I'm a great listener but where are the people that will listen to me once in a while? Now my friend does listen to me and she is a great friend when she isn't a little crazy, but it just seems that she has so many problems that it's making me more upset because I worry about her. Then Ty calls me and I found out he lost his job AGAIN, which I can't believe has happened. He said it is ANOTHER psycho boss, um, when just about every single boss you have ever had is psycho, wouldn't you start looking at yourself as being a problem? I don't know...then my other close friend is going through relationship problems with her man and suffering from depression, then my mom is having all of her health problems which is worrying me to death, then I have a friend at work that is constantly paranoid and thinking everyone is against her. Like I said, I don't mind giving advice or listening to people but it should go BOTH ways. I guess I do have a lot of problems but on the most part, I try to deal with them positively. My favorite saying is - It's 10% what happens to you in life and it's 90% how you react to it. I try to live that way so I guess I really don't have a lot to call someone up and cry on their shoulder. Although there are times I would really love to do that and when I try to find someone, they are either too busy or just want to talk about themselves again...sigh. Oh well, I know things will get better, they ALWAYS do, but it would be nice to have someone tell me that after listening to me...

Back to work Jiggity Jig

I LOVE taking time off of work. I love taking little trips, I love spending time with friends, I love going to new places, trying new things, enjoying life to the fullest...

I HATE the night before going back to work after being off. Now don't get me wrong, I actually like my job very much, but it's the night before going back that I start to DREAD it. When I'm there I'm just fine (kind of like going to the gym)...sigh. Anyway, Sunday nights are the same, I just have to really psyche myself up to go back into work the next day. Ah well, at least tomorrow is Tuesday so it's going to be a short week. That will be nice...I've added a little picture of my very colorful, fun office (that makes it more fun to go to work). So, hi ho, hi ho it's off to work I go...so I can pay the bills and have some fun, hi ho, hi ho...