Catching Up

I have been meaning to blog for a while, so this is the randomness of all things that I have considered blogging and am finally getting around to.

So Monday at work, I am checking this guy out, and I ask for a phone number...haha...I just realized how different/wrong that sentence could sound. I wasn't hitting on him. I was checking him out because he was buying furniture, and asking for his phone number because we ask for everyone's phone number. Anyway, so I ask for the number and he starts going off about how he won't give it to me because he is never doing business with us again and we are racist and he's never seen racism like he's seen in the Midwest and all of this. Uhhhh...what do you say to that? I must have given a blank stare, as in "what are you talking about" because he then explains that the salesman told him it was hard to get credit and "he thinks I'm some poor black guy wasting his time and I know you've got poor black people up in here". Now, I know the salesman, and I know he meant nothing by it, and I know he tells everyone, white, black, blue, or pink, that it's hard to get credit, because it is. Furniture loans aren't like car loans where everyone and their dog gets approved, they take really good credit to get. And I know that I ask every person who pays with a credit card for a photo id because my boss has been ripped off by fraud too many times. I don't care what color they are, I still ask to see the id. Anyway, whatever, so I just kind of apologize, say we didn't mean anything by it, blah blah. But, it made me realize that racism has so many effects. You know, this guy came in and thought totally innocent people (me and the sales guy) were being racist toward him when our actions had zero to do with his color. Not saying I or the sales guy have no prejudice in us, I don't think there is human alive who has zero prejudice of some sort, whether it be racial, financial, whatever. But, I can say for sure that the actions in the store that day had nothing at all to do with color. But, this guy was convinced of it. I am sure at some point in his life, someone must have done something wrong to him based on his skin, and that is very sad. But, he's still living in it and it's like a filter that he sees the world through now, and I just thought that was kind of sad. A normal, every day business transaction, to him, became an issue of race. It just makes me wonder, how can we heal as a nation? I mean, our country has a horrific history in regards to race and some of it still exists. But, if we all live in our old filters, how can we move past it? I have never been confronted with an issue of racism in the same manner that I was on Monday. It was just odd and left me thinking.

Anyway, do you know what else is odd? I've hardly heard Christmas music. Is this because I have not been out? I haven't been much I guess, but doesn't it usually start in November? I mean, I long to hear the annoying Santa Baby song that I hate so dearly. Am I just ahead of schedule or is something wrong here? Where are the retailers in my face? Where are the commercials? Where are the Salvation Army bell ringers who make me use the door on the other side of the store so that I don't have to feel bad when I make direct eye contact with them, but give no money? Where is the chai that I slip on cold nights at 6:00 in the pitch dark? Maybe because daylight savings was later this year, we haven't slipped into our normal holiday routine yet. Or maybe it's global warming. Who knows. But, I want to slip into that time where news shows avoid words like Christmas and Hanukkah and say all things vague like "holidays".

I will say that I am glad Halloween is over, because Halloween has to be the tackiest of all holidays as far as decor goes. Not that faded plastic Santas and reindeer do a lot for the look of a neighborhood, but honestly, who is the Einstein that really thought a fake bloody head would make a nice decoration? Or that cobwebs and headstones make nice lawn ornaments? Seriously people, let's stick to the pumpkins and bittersweet wreaths. And please, please, take down your tacky ornaments now because it's NOVEMBER.

Which, oddly enough, this is a good lead into my next deal (told you I had lots to blog). I am visual person. When I was a kid, I changed my room around a lot. I asked for daybeds for my birthday, or canopy beds, or wall paper. When we were in Nicaragua and would have team prayer time, I would stare at the tile floor, thinking that it really wouldn't be bad if they would just paint the cabinets, and then I'd shake my head, dang it, stop looking at the floor and pray. Every day I go to work, I look at this photo on the wall that is way too small for the wall size surrounding it and the proportion bugs me to no end, and for the life of me, I spend way too many hours trying to figure out how to balance that corner window in our bedroom.

So I'm changing my major. I had mentioned that I was going to keep my major in social psychology and minor in fine art, but turns out, I can't. Long explanation, but basically has to do with campus locations and my "home of record" according to which campus I belong to, and which campuses offer which options, and the university just simply cannot accommodate this combo. So, anyway, upon finding out I can't do this, I spent a couple weeks sulking because my brilliant plan had been foiled and my life was all confusing again. And the conclusion I came to a couple weeks later, is that I need to flip flop, change my major to fine art, and my minor to psychology. This actually works out with campus locations and university red tape. So, the deed is done. I am now officially an art major, and am now officially pushing back my graduation date (cue big groan). So, starting January instead of diagnosing hypothetical people and learning about the DSM (which, by the way, is a lot of fun, diagnosing people and all), my homework will be drawing stuff and making stuff. I like diagnosing people, but it will be more fun to try not to stain my clothes with paint and clay.

With that being said, I actually have some diagnosing to do tonight. My case study is due this week, and I should really get on that. So, I'm off to the land of obsessive compulsives, histrionics, and somatoform disorders for now! Next round, I will try to find some photos to post instead of giving an ear full.