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So, it appears I've been laid off. As of Friday, March 27th, I will be once again jobless.
This isn't so much surprising as it is annoying and frustrating, but the one surprise that I have is that my boss, who dies a whole bunch of shit that ABSOLUTELY needs to get done, is leaving in August for a year on maternity leave. I have been learning bits and pieces here and there and recently had started learning even more things to do with her job, so that I could take over, at least partially, while she's away. So when my manager came in to talk to me on Friday, I was like "wait, what?"
So, that said, this opens a new chapter in my life. As for what I'm going to do for work, I haven't the slightest fucking clue. It'll likely end up being just about anything that can pay the bills right now, but with the economy the way it is, I might have to settle for half my current pay, if it comes down to it. That's liveable. I've been paying student loans back like a motherfucker, and I'm not really sure how one can exactly pay back student loans like a motherfucker, but I've been doing it. With a cut in pay, my loans can go back on interest relief status while I make a low, low rate of pay, and survive on mac and cheese and fish sticks.
The other option for me is to either try to find something in Geology, which is where my background partially already lies, or go back to school. Both of these options are looking really good to me, so I think I'm going to have to re-apply for those and see what I can do to round out my degree a little more and up my GPA for the potential of entering grad school.
All I can do at this point is stay positive, and hope that the stars align in just the right way for me to impress the right people so I can go on living my life the way I have been for the last couple years, while the economy's been high on the hog. That would be really, really nice.
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The issue of end of life care, or euthanasia, is a touchy one, but here in Canada it doesn't make the headlines very often, nor does it seem like an issue that our politicians take much note of. We haven't had many major cases of questionable euthanasia in Canada, nor have we had it pressed into our public consciousness on a local level. Regardless of that, I believe it is still an issue, and it should be something we take very seriously as skeptics, but more importantly as people.
The simple fact of the matter is that we will all die. Sure some of us might have our heads frozen cryonically, or have our brains downloaded into a computer to be later uploaded into an android body, but there remains the chance that neither of these will be viable methods of life extension within our lifetimes. There will come a time when our bodies fail and our neurons will cease firing. Within moments, the osmotic regulatory system within our cells shuts down, and our body begins to eat itself. There was a time when facing that reality would scare me, give me panic attacks, and cause me many sleepless nights. Even now, thinking about it directly, I feel a twinge of fear, but I know that when the time comes, I will have lived as good a life as I can, and will leave a legacy behind me. I have the luxury most my age don't. All of my grandparents, both paternal and maternal, all my aunts and uncles, and my parents and brothers are alive. My grandparents have lived long lives, and the closest I have come to being touched by death is my maternal grandfather dying on the table three times during surgery 8 years ago, and a minor heart attack last year. Still, chances are that unless they all miraculously die quietly in their sleep, at least one of them will die from the ordeals put on the body by cancer, emphysema, artherosclerosis, or some other painful, slow disease. No one wants to see their family die, especially in a painful manner, but there seems to be a disconnect between common decency, and death. I should like, should the option come up, that I am able to make a decision to spare them some of that pain. Assuming full disclosure of their quality, duration of life, and chances of survival, that euthanasia would be an option. Dan Savage, a blogger and advice columnist of some note, recently underwent this ordeal with his mother, who died of pulmonary fibrosis. It's a painful story but it shows how the puritanical and ancient beliefs our society still has as cornerstones come into play when it comes to end of life care. The story can be found here: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=691855 So, my question to you all is twofold: 1) Should euthanasia be an option, assuming the only alternative is a much longer and painful death? and 2) Should that same option be given to a family member, should the patient be unable to communicate?
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How is it, that in 2008, we can point and laugh at the theory that 75 million years ago an alien came to earth and threw everyone into a volcano, blew them up with H-Bombs, and that because of that, now everyone has impurities in their soul that they have to have cleaned by auditing, BUT, still believe that an invisible man in the sky can hear 7 billion people all whispering in the dark to him at once and has the power to do anything and everything he or she wants, but instead chooses to make his image appear in on a cheeto? Or that this same magical sky wizard chooses to whisper into certain peoples ears, but not others, very different interpretations of the same book? Or that the perv decided to magically impregnate a virgin with himself, so that he could send himself to earth on a suicide mission so that he could save humanity from the rules he set up in the first place?
Yeah, I saw Bill Maher's movie "Religulous" last night, and it struck true with me so many of the things that otherwise totally rational and interesting and amazing people allow one very untouchable part of their lives to make so very little sense.
I understand that faith and religion is safe, comforting, and probably does a lot to reassure people that the world is somehow not as horrible as it really is. I also understand that there is a specific way the brain reacts to certain stimulus that can be interpreted as a religious experience, but as Bill put so eloquently in the movie (paraphrased): If you're so certain of the fact that you are going to go to heaven and live eternally beside this awesomely powerful magical dude in the clouds, why do you cling so desperately to life? Why not save all the heart, liver, and kidney transplants for those horrible atheists so they can extend their pitiful lives on earth, or even those of other religions, and shuffle off the faithful to be with their heavenly rapist for the rest of all time?
Religion baffles me, and aside from a comforting security blanket, I just don't get how intelligent, rational people can keep it in their lives.
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