Things I've learned* recently

*or been reminded of

• Catholics do religious ceremony extremely well.
• Mentioning a bar mitzvah following said Catholic ceremony certainly got the attention of a little ol' lady bigot...and she didn't even know my last name "is Jewish" or that I was kidding about the bar mitzvah.
• God is weird. Also extremely obvious when He wants me to be learning something: the lesson at Sunday School and the homily for mass were essentially the same in spite of being at two churches 60 miles apart and in different denominations.
• Bucket list item: receiving the Body and Blood at a Catholic church. Just because they say I can't.
• If you take (or even took, years ago) Risperdal, you can't join the Marines.
• OTOH, why was an 11-year-old taking Risperdal in the first place?
• There is a big difference between personality quirks and mental illness. Whether they're as crazy as the day is long or not, some people are just bossy, pretentious boors.
• Some things never change.
• I stand by my statement of about ten years ago that someone who is always finding fault in others in the meanest possible way definitely has some self-esteem issues.
• Sitting on wooden chairs for 4 hours over the course of about 7 hours total + still-bruised tailbone = very sore butt for the next two (at least) days.
• Some people should never have children, at least not the children they have.
• Staring at a computer screen while clicking back and forth between 2-3 different programs can cause motion sickness. Especially when one's bifocals need adjusting.
• I need to have goals. For my annual evaluation. I absolutely loathe goal-setting. My goal every day is to get stuff done, feel good about the product and amount of stuff I got done, and go home to read/play/sleep. I don't think that's what the boss wants to hear.
• It rains a lot in the spring around here. I probably shouldn't have gotten out the summer pajamas yet. Or taken the blanket off the bed.
• A confluence of realizations has caused me to understand that I'm late-middle-aged: children whose births I remember clearly reaching adulthood (and in some cases having kids of their own), the fact that I've lived in this area for coming up on 20 years this June, and Sparky being old enough now to drink, and people around me suddenly looking OLD....and a growing lack of tolerating nonsense.
• Cancer sucks. No. Really: it sucks. We're watching a friend die this month after being in remission just 6 months ago. She has, now, maybe three weeks (I'm figuring that she was told a month, give or take, during Holy Week). God, give her strength. Lord, give us all strength.
• Keeping plastic bugs in your desk drawer means that a certain contingent of the population will always stop by to visit when their parents bring them in.
• I know awesome people. Some of them are ridiculous and silly, but they are good and kind and loving and forgiving.
• Recovery is an interesting, joyful, painful, irritating, and glorious process.

Did I mention my butt hurts? I think it's time for Tylenol and bed.