Why is Maleficent the Greatest Disney Villain?

I'll tell you why: She's not really after anything except to step on King Stefan's sandcastle and enjoy watching everyone freak out over it. It seems that for Disney villains (at least in the "olden" days when their animated features were worthwhile and actually creative - Pixar films excluded, of course) there is always a cause, a proverbial chip, some reason that they feel the need to reek havoc. Captain Hook is obsessed with killing Peter Pan for cutting off his hand; the Evil Queen is bitterly jealous of Snow White; the Wicked Stepmother is bitterly jealous of Cinderella; Christopher Robin dreams of pulling the stuffing out of Winnie the Pooh . . . oh wait, I think that's someone else I know. Anyway, my point is that Maleficent is just evil, pure and simple.

Okay, fine. Yes, some may say that she's seeking revenge for being snubbed by Stefan and his queen's lack of invitation to Princess Aurora's christening. But, think about it. Do you really think she cares about a christening? Does she strike you as a God-fearing sorceress? I say nay. She was bored and looking for something to do. When she realizes there's a party going on with all of the goodie-goodies, she sees fun waiting to be had. She makes a dramatic, explosive entrance and launches into a diatribe about how offended she is and oh, by the way, I've got a little curse, whoops! I mean "gift" to give the little darling. She scares the shit out of everyone and then makes a dramatic, cackling exit. And how about her raven? Bad-ass, don't you think (except for when he gets turned pink, I know)?

Now, come on. We all know that she barely made it back to her castle atop Forbidden Mountain before her sleek sides were splitting with laughter. She and all of her little ugly creature pals sat around and had a good laugh. You can just hear her, "Did you see the look on that pompous ass's face when I said I, too, had a gift for princess? He about wet himself!" And I imagine the wisecracking proceeded from there.

So, why is Maleficent the greatest of the Disney villains? Because she's just evil for the sake of evil. There's no real revenge, just an excuse to entertain herself by swooping in and wrecking the royals's world. She just is who she is regardless of Princess Aurora, the Three Good Fairies, or all of the parties in the land. And, she's not a bad dresser either. Think about it.

Where is the "human" in human resources?

I can't figure out why "personnel" switched to "human resources." Who is the genius behind this brilliant renaming scam?

Today I had to go and take care of some "life change event" paperwork (that means I needed to add my family to my medical insurance plan--and what a deal it is at $836/mo.!). What I mean to say is that we've lost our medical coverage through my husband's employer who laid him off in mid June (and by the way, why do we say, "he lost his job," and not "the employer lost their employee?" I'd say that's a much better fit since the employers are usually laying off good, intelligent, hard-working people. But, I digress). According to someone (no one really wants to take responsibility for it so I say, "someone"), this qualifies as a life changing event, and as such I am entitled to make sure my family has medical coverage by adding them to my own when it is not open enrollment (for benefits).

So, there I am sitting in the HR Benefits rep's office (stale and full of stacks of papers), trying to make light of the reason I'm there (because my husband lost his job, serious stuff), going down the wonderfully confusing form trying to make sure I'm requesting the right services. Do you think this person shows me an ounce of empathy? A smidgen of consideration? The tiniest of sympathy smiles?

No.

Wait. She did look up their social security numbers so I could submit the form.

I finished. I made another little joke (still trying to lighten the mood--oh wait, shouldn't that be her job?). Nothing. No words of encouragement. No "don't worry, we'll take care of this for you asap because it must be awful for your children to have no medical insurance." No "hang in there; things will get better soon. " Nothing. Just nothing. I left.

Now I ask, "Where is the "human" in human resources? I know I didn't encounter one, not sure I ever have, come to think of it. Sometimes I just don't get it.

What's up with the wall?

Our neighbors recently built a wall between our two front yards. It was part of their re-landscaping, but the strange thing is that it doesn't really come across as something to do with landscaping. Landscaping is colorful flowers, bushes, trees for shade, a nice new layer of soft, green grass, a water-efficient irrigation system to keep it looking beautiful, some pretty stepping stones, small, softly lit lanterns that call to the fairies to come visit secretly in the dark of the night. Okay, maybe I'm getting carried away with the fairies, but really, a dull, gray cinder block wall? Where exactly does that fit in? Putting a wall between our yards seems unfriendly enough, but this wall, while short in height and requiring little effort to step over, is like cold, standard prison issue.

And speaking of issues, yes, we've had some--mainly between our kids, who did actually play together frequently once upon a time. Ours are pirates, spies, and wizards; theirs are baseball players, soccer players, and basketball players. Short hairs and long hairs. Nerds (weirdos? bookworms?) and jocks. Ours question authority, the world, God; theirs answer "Yes, sir!', follow law and order, go to parochial school (and, of course, church). Ours think they are supposed to keep an open mind and accept, even welcome differences (not that they don't have to be reminded about that on occasion); theirs think there is only one way (you can probably guess whose way, too).

So this wall, probably nothing is meant by it. It's likely just our own inference that they're sending a message. But this cold, gray wall certainly doesn't come across as an attempt to mend fences.