Only When It Is Dark Enough, Can You See the Stars

This article has an interesting perspective: MLK's Complexity Largely Ignored

Basically, it states that people fail to understand the overall complexity of Martin Luther King's message and what he spent his whole life fighting for because their knowledge of what he did is solely limited to his most famous speech.  They know he had a dream but they don't know what the dream was.

I just found it rather interesting and wanted to make a note of it today.  I also wanted to post my favorite quotation of his:

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige and even his life for the welfare of others.
-- Strength in Love (1963)

Now, with that said and done, on to other matters.

We haven't been doing much since the holidays were over.  We had that weekend at Home Depot where I bought a shelf for the closet, which I still haven't put up.  A couple of weekends ago, we had some people from our respective workplaces over to hang out.  We had a few drinks and played some video games (we seriously have gotten a great return on our investment for Rock Band).  I have generally been trying to keep the house clean, which isn't too bad but has been hindering my unpacking as I tend to spend more time cleaning the day to day stuff than unpacking the long term items.

I did, however, manage to get all of our clothes unpacked and put away today.  We have two dressers full (with a total of fourteen drawers) and an entire walk-in closet with clothes hanging and stacked on the top shelves.  Plus a rather large tucker full of Steve's clothes.  Nothing's crammed in there but everything is full.  It at least looks organized and nice and that makes me feel accomplished.

We are still using boxes as our nightstands because I just haven't decided what I want to use.  I was going to buy some more of the end tables we're using in the living room but I'm not sure if they are going to be tall enough.  The nightstands that actually go with our bedroom set are $250 a piece and I'm just not sure if I'm willing to spend that much for two tables.

We shall see.  I have plans laid out for the short term and the long term and my head is moving around five million times faster than I can function (and much faster than the money can keep up, to be honest!).

I'm chomping at the bit to get my W-2 just so I can go ahead and file my taxes.  The refund is always nice and I live in a state where you get money back from them as well.  When I lived in PA, they did everything they could to only take out what you owed.  South Carolina is different - they take more and therefore, I get another $700 or so at the end of the year.

And spare me the crap about interest-free loan and all that crap.  I suck at saving - I know I do and it's nice to get a big chunk back at the end of the year and catch up on stuff.  Aside from that, I had a couple of years where my employer inadvertantly (read: made a huge retarded mistake that was completely uncalled for) screwed up my deductions and I ended up oweing and nice chunk of change at the end of the year and that was not fun because I don't ever have extra cash just lying about.

But yes, W-2's would be nice.  It would also be nice if I got a bonus and a raise.  It's that time of the year here as well as it'll be interesting to see if we get anything.  Our stocks have dropped and we have underperformed this year partly because we are affected by the loan industry.  I think now it's just a matter of waiting on the Board and seeing what they approve.

Let's see, what else?  Oh!  I don't know if mentioned it but Steve got me TiVo for Christmas.  I LOVE it!  Aside from the fact that TV schedule is royally fucked up because of the writer's strike (note: please, please work something out so we can proceed as normal - I don't know if I can handle that much reality TV), the TiVo is wonderful.  It's like freedom in a box.  I no longer have to watch my shows before the next week or erase the DVD and remember to set it (I was using a DVD-R before).  I can pause a show.  And the TiVo will just record stuff it thinks I should watch.  Right now it's been recording a lot of cop shows and home improvement because I told it I liked Flip This House and The First 48 (which is a really good show - I recommend you check it out).  I also can record shows that I'm not DYING to watch but want to check out for later when there's nothing but crap on TV.

A few weeks ago I bought some Moleskine notebooks and lately, I've been using the small ruled pocket one as a sort of catch-all notebook.  I've been writing short journal entries and to-do lists and movie reviews in there.  It's a gorgeous notebook and holds up well and has really been inspiring me to write.  Simply because it's small enough to not overwhelm me and I can write on a moment's notice without feeling like I have to put much thought into it.  A lot of what keeps me from writing is the fact that I push myself to perfection and want to write something inspiring and wonderful.  And rather than just let my thoughts flow freely, I keep from doing anything at all and before I know it, it's been a month or two since I've written anything at all.

Speaking of writing, my absolute favorite author from when I was young has finally started writing again.  The last book I read by her was part of a longer 8-10 book series and there was supposed to be another realeased not long after that one.  That was in 1997.  But from what we know, she had a series of family issues and illnesses that she had to deal so she stopped writing all together.  Most of us loyal fans held out hope though and it seems that it wasn't for naught.  This may make me sound like a big nerd but she was such a great author and big influence on my younger life that we started a book club surrounding her and that's how I met every single on the Kallure girls.  So all of us are excited to see what new stuff she has to offer.

Well, that was a completely random, all over the place entry, but that's how my mind has been lately.  I hope it partly made sense.  If not, oh well, hopefully you got some of my drift.

Now I'm off to watch Prison Break and spend time with my dog, since he's yapping at the door because Steve is outside and he wants attention from his daddy.  I guess I'll have to do until Steve is done doing whatever boys do in the garage.