The end of another work week, and, I think it's about time......

Well folks, it's the end of yet another work week, stocking the shelves at my neighborhood Walmart. If I haven't mentioned it, I have been working the frozen and dairy departments now for almost 2 months, with a smattering of days working the pet department. I have to say, it's finally getting to be pretty routine, but that doesn't take away from the sense of accomplishment I get every night when I get done with the new freight. It feels good to know I've done all I can to get the shelves full again after a day's worth of customers shopping. That sense of urgency I get every night knowing that there are pallets of stuff that needs to be put on the shelf, sometimes completely empty shelves, has still stayed with me. I really hate to know when I'm done that there are still empty shelves. That's happened a few nights in a row now, I don't know what's wrong with the way things are ordered, but there are "holes" everywhere, and it makes me a little upset. I mean don't you hate it when you go to a store to get something you buy regularly, only to find they are out of it? Me too! Which is why I am so passionate about what I do. To me, there is NO excuse as to why a large volume retailer like Walmart would ever be out of  ANYTHING. That's kinda the point, isn't it? Stock and move as much merchandise as possible? So why are there times when they are COMPLETELY out of some of the most common and the most regularly purchased items?

Personally I think it's because they don't plan ahead well enough. They supposedly have a computer doing their ordering for them, which looks at what's on hand compared to how much has sold, so of course there is about a day or so lag in the freight that arrives. But still. There are humans in control of those computers, and it irks me to no end to find that when the product is needed the most, it's not there. Part of it is the people working in the store, in the back room, most don't care enough about their jobs to properly scan the backstock into the system to keep the counts current, but I don't blame them. They don't get paid well enough, they are constantly stretched for time to get done all their tasks in a given day or night, I mean it's amazing that ANYTHING gets accomplished to keep the store going. But that's just the nature of working for a company I once heard called "The Evil Empire". Even at the other end of the ordering process, the corporate level, there is bound to be an underpaid and overworked employee that is neither aware of what goes on at the store level, nor does he care. So there will continue to be empty shelves.

Sorry folks.

The other thing I wanted to talk about today is my divorce. The one I'm overdue in filing for. We've been separated for over a year now, she and I, and I have no intentions of trying to "work it out" or go back to her. So what has been keeping me from filing?

Money mostly, it takes a lot of money to get a divorce, especially with kids involved. But what am I hanging on for? Why haven't I put the money together and gone ahead and filed?

The reason? I think I'm afraid of how drastically it will change my life. Not that my day to day existence will change much, but I think it has to do with when I see the kids, and how much money I will HAVE to send her with child support and possible alimony. I send her money pretty much every payday, but I'm sure the amount I'll be sending her with the child support payments will be a lot more than I'm sending now. I'm not saying I don't want to pay child support, much to contrary in fact. It's just that I know her, and I know how she thinks, and her idea is that if in fact I file for divorce, she will become very vindictive and try to milk me dry of every dime I make. Of course the courts won't let that happen, not in the way she believes it will happen anyway, but the fact is, I'm the father, and I'm the one that left, and as everyone who's ever been through it knows, the courts rarely rule in favor of the father who leaves his wife and children. It's really set up in such a way to try and keep you married, or you're going to pay through the nose if you don't.

What really pisses me off is that the law is written and set up according to the Christian religious belief system, whether they claim it is or not. I'm not a Christian, and I would rather not be judged according to beliefs I don't adhere to. Granted, a marriage is really a contract, which is why you have to get a license to get married to start with. You agree to be together in all things, financially, legally, and so forth, and if one party wishes to break that contract, there are bound to be "penalties". But the way the law is written, certain core beliefs are assumed to be part of that contract, or, to put it another way, a marriage is believed to be a uniting of two people under "God", a Christian deity, and the execution of that marriage and even as far as what constitutes a marriage are more or less a carbon copy of what is laid out in the Bible, a Christian religious text. What about those of us that are NOT Christians though? And what happens if one of the people in the marriage adopts another religion after getting married? These are some of the questions that have been in my thoughts ever since I spoke to a lawyer about getting a divorce, which was months ago.

I'm not a lawyer obviously, and I DON'T know the law specifically, but in talking with the lawyer, I got the gist of how things work, and I swear it was like hearing someone quote the Bible to me, rather than the letter of law. I understand of course that the majority of people here in the United States are a part of the Christian religious belief system, as were our forefathers who WROTE the laws on marriage as well as everything else, but my question is, did they take into account when drafting up the law that there might be other belief systems? It sure doesn't seem like it. What about someone like me, a pagan, who doesn't believe in "God", should I be forced to adhere to laws written based on beliefs of a religion that is not mine?

I realize I am opening one heck of a can of worms here, it's the age old church vs state debate. Like I said, I am not well versed in the letter of the law, so this is merely my own personal opinion of the state of things. Yes, I am aware that when laws are drawn up, they are very often written with care taken to omit most references to ANY religion per se, and are meant to be a blanket statement of fact, but are they not also written based on the most widely accepted "beliefs" as to what is "right" and "wrong"?

And where do most people get their beliefs on that?

Yup, from their religion.

I know I'm in the minority, and they aren't going to change the law just to suit ME, but I think in this day and age it would be wise for the courts to address this issue, and maybe draft up some NEW laws, ones that are not based solely on the Christian system of beliefs as to what is right and wrong. There are now many different religious belief systems alive and well in this country, most likely many more than were prevalent even a hundred (or more) years ago, when the laws were drawn up. It seems to me that it would be wise to have a representative of each of the religions present to help make up new laws, and I'm not talking about just a few, but ALL religions, from Agnostics to Zen Buddhists. A marriage means many different things among the many religions, and the way one gets divorced, if that's allowed, is too. So I think the law should be written to take this into account. It's not going to be easy, but there HAS to be a better way than just going by ONE religion's beliefs.

In the meantime, I will have to adhere to the laws as they are written NOW, and go ahead and file for a divorce. I can't sit back and feel like I can't just because the laws don't fit what I believe. So yeah, it's time. Just need to gather up the 257 or so dollars it takes to file, and get the process started.

Stay tuned.

Working, cooking, new goals?

The last time I posted I was just learning of my potential job change.

Well I'm happy to report that it did in fact happen, I am now officially a stocker. It still seems a little weird to be going in to work to do that instead of maintenance, but that "weirdness" is wearing off in a hurry, as the pressures to work the freight and get things done keeps me pretty busy. I like working frozen/dairy, it's completely different freight every night, and I like how the shift seems to go by in half the time it felt like it did working maintenance.

I was given my yearly evaluation at work last night, and got a 40 cent raise that will be effective starting the payday after my anniversary date, which is the 8th of April. So, altogether, by then, I will have had my pay raised a total of 60 cents, adding in the 20 cents for the job change to frozen/dairy stocker. It's sure been nice to get 2 raises in less than a month lol.

On other fronts though, as my life at work gets better, things have gotten worse. My ex has gotten mad again, because I told her I was not going to come and move in with her when she moves, so she decided to threaten me again, this time with actually filing for divorce and coming after me for child support. In her words, "so your check will go to me". Right. Like THAT'S going to happen. Not in THIS state missy, they have RULES here, and they are not dictated by YOU.

The other thing that is really getting my goat is that where I am staying right now, with my friend  (and his girlfriend, and now her mom has moved in), I can't cook. Anything. I'm basically not allowed. His girlfriend is a Nazi about "her" kitchen, and she doesn't want anyone to do anything in there, not a thing, only SHE is allowed to move anything, only SHE is allowed to cook anything, or she throws a tantrum. Her mom found this out just the other day when she decided to boil some water to cook something, and her daughter raised holy hell about her having the eye of the stove on, and cooking when she wanted to put her groceries down that she had brought home from the store. Now I get that it is her house, her name is on the mortgage, but really? No one else can cook anything but her? Does she not care that other people might have to eat?

I've been living with this for a year now. Eating only prepackaged dry food, or whatever small cold stuff I can fit on the one shelf in the fridge she will let me use. Yeah, she's anal about that too, nothing but her stuff can be where she wants it in the fridge, oh and don't move anything. Seriously, I don't think I have ever met an adult that is more selfish than this girl. I am not one to normally complain, I am a very easygoing and compromising person, hence my 18 year relationship with my ex. But this is ridiculous. If you let someone come and stay with you, AND they are paying you rent, then they should have the ability to cook just as much as you do. End of story. But that's not her. And talking to her about it does no good. She insists that she wants it to be HER way, it's HER house, so there is no negotiation. Seems I've gone from one dictator to another. And I'm ready to break away. I want out of here, I want my own place.

Sometime soon things are going to change in a big way, already I feel it happening. I'm getting tired of the same old routine of my life, I don't DO anything, I have nothing to write about here that's different, you guys must be getting sick and tired of hearing about the same subjects all the time. I read others' blogs, and they post recipes, book reviews, tips and tricks, all kinds of things, and I don't do anything but talk about me me me. My thoughts, my ex, my job, it's ridiculous. How much can you read about the same old thing before you get bored and stop? Not long, at least in my opinion. I need to do more with my life, learn something new, try something new, and then write about it, and see where it goes. I'm restless, have been for a few weeks now, and I'm sure it's because I want a new challenge, a new goal. So watch for me to find one, or two, or ten, the sky's the limit.