No hodgepodge

No hodgepodge today (condolences to Joyce on the loss of her beloved friend).

So I spent today at urgent care and arguing.  Ain't it fun?

Urgent care--this is how my day started, seriously.  ALL I DID WAS STRETCH AND ROLL OVER TO GET THE ALARM CLOCK.  I felt a pop and a searing pain.

Diagnosis: sprained RIBS.  I didn't even know that was a thing until today.  It mostly only aches until I do something to aggravate it, like sneeze.  Or cough.  Or blow my nose.  Or forget about it and try to stretch...

Arguing: Okay, there's two separate arguments here...

1.  There's an article going around about a freshman at some university who was hazed to death.  The articles I've read keep saying he died during a "ritual".

I'm a proud member of a sorority that I do not speak on behalf of, but I was not hazed.  At all.  If someone dies as part of something like this, IT IS NOT A RITUAL.  A ritual is the passing of fraternal understanding from one generation to the next.  THIS WAS NOT. A. RITUAL.  It was horrible and it was hazing.  No brotherhood (or sisterhood) worth belonging to will NOT inflict pain, humiliation, or danger as a requirement of belonging.  This particular chapter chose to do something outside the purview of their headquarters.

2.  The kid who took a homemade alarm clock to school and got arrested?  Deserves a scholarship somewhere amazing.  He does not deserve our fear.  In a lot of ways, he reminds me of my own (white) (Christian) son.  He likes to tinker, and he likes to make things, and he deserves to be proud of the things he's done.

Admittedly, my son doesn't tinker these days.  His goal these days is wowing his violin instructor, and he's succeeding madly.  I'm so proud of him.

My daughter's dance season started a week ago.  She loves dance, and I love that she loves dance.  It's too early for a verdict there.