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My mother used to tell me when I was a kid that I should be a judge when I grew up. Not just because I would have a good job, but because she thought I had a good grasp on seeing different points of view and could think about the best way to reach a fair compromise or a just punishment. Well, maybe so, but really I am just a contradictory person. I did not pursue a career in law because I thought it too dry and stuffy...my time around with college at age 18 found me studying literature. ( I am much older than that now and still pursuing my degree ) A great deal of my interest lay in reading many of the fine works by Irish dramatists, poets and also writers of fiction. Well, that is until one of my assignments was to read Ulysses by James Joyce....dry and stuffy, no. Incomprehensible? Er, maybe just a wee bit....I still have my copy of it and re-read it every so often. So anyway....I was just thinking about a few things and it struck me that I am a very contradictory person. What my mum saw as seeing different points of view is (to me) being contradictory. Let me give some examples:

I am concerned with the welfare of people in general, I despise crueltry and wish people everywhere were healthy and happy. I like many people (including those I have never met face to face--like you guys ) and there are even a few people that I love. I also loathe people. Yes, I know loathe is strong word, but hey what can I say? There was a grocery store in my area that was open 24 hours a day and I used to go food shopping at three in the morning when I knew there would be hardly anybody around. Gosh I miss that store.

I have even yelled at strangers. That was weird, because usually I am polite and friendly (there is that contradictory part...) but I was waiting in a line once and was talking to a friend of mine. I did not notice that the line had moved up in front of me, and this old lady behind me poked me in the back and told me to move up. I get startled easily and jumped about a foot in the air and then screeched "Don't ever touch me!". She may or may not have lost a year or two off her life from the shock. Another time I was on the subway (when I used to live in Boston) and it can get crowded. Now, I really hate strangers touching me; whether by accident or not. The crowding used to really get on my nerves and when hundreds of people are all trying to get to work at the same time, crowds are inevitable. My stop was one of the earlier ones, so I almost always got a seat. So I am sitting there, sipping my coffee, looking out the window. Some guy is smushed up against my seat, standing over me and I am getting REALLY anxious and annoyed. He is reading a paper and suddenly drops a whole section on my head. Well, I did not take kindly to this even though it was an accident on his part. I knew that, but it really startled me. I called him a few vulgar names...I compared him to a lower body orifice and questioned both his parentage and his intelligence.


Well, I could go on but I won't. At least not today. I will save more of my fun fun stories for another blog day.