Whew...what a day...I slept late...although I still feel fatigued and crappy; I haven't been sleeping well. I can't get comfortable, b/c I have to sleep on my side, being prego. I have a rolled up blanket I put between my knees to help w/the pain in my knees and hips, but I can't figure out how to prevent the pain I get in my shoulders. It's been enough to keep me up lately. Along with the help of the cats, of course. They are furious that they haven't been allowed to go out due to all the snow. They yowl and jump around, trying to cause enough trouble to get kicked out. Silly creatures.
Anyway, as to the craziness of today....oh boy. It started out innocently enough, as all things seem to. While I was asleep, Alex was bored and posting on Facebook. He enjoys making provocative statements about various topics, most often religion in an attempt to force people to really examine their faith. I find this to be an admirable pursuit, as far too many people align themselves with a religion based on the threat of hellfire rather than any rational thought process about what they are agreeing to. Most people don't really get it, though, and sometimes people get offended. Today he saw on one of his friends' pages that his wife said something about going to church with "His praise on her lips". He made some innocent commentary that wasn't really saying anything, b/c it sounds a little bit sexual, and is rather hilarious. She got all mad and suggested he block their page, even though what he'd said was no more than "Wow....n.m." Of course, after that, he had to vent and posted a status about how homo-erotic Christian religion is, citing the near-naked form of the not unattractively depicted Christ on the cross as evidence.
This led to what was, at first, an interesting discussion. Until the infamous Jarrett got involved. Of course, he had to proceed to making offensive remarks about gays and resort to name-calling, forcing Alex to defend himself as bisexual. Somehow, when his mother saw the conversation, she got all offended, and not by what Jarrett was saying, but of Alex's original post questioning the church! Well, why the hell shouldn't he question an organization that condemns him to eternal damnation for feelings that he doesn't choose to have? She called him on the phone and they had an argument about the fact that he does not agree with their religion. Then he admitted to her that he is bisexual, and things really just blew up in his face at that point. Poor guy...try and be honest with people...
I was really proud of the way Alex stood up for himself, who he is, and his beliefs to his parents. It's really tough that they just can't see any other perspective than that non-Christians, and not just non-Christians, but anyone who is not Russian Orthodox, will go to hell. His mother even suggested that he simply ignore the fact that the religion did not condone homosexuality...ummm...what? You're...not really supposed to...I mean...doesn't it kindof defeat the purpose...to just...reject the parts of the religion you don't agree with? It was definitely a heated discussion, but I think Alex did a good job of sticking up for himself without being disrespectful to them. If anything, I was a little disappointed in the way they reacted to him. His mother got very emotional, of course, then blamed herself, and a bunch of other understandable, but very immature and rather selfish forms of response. His dad tried to be forceful, shouting in the background "Oh, he'll do it!" when Alex said that he did not want to raise our daughter orthodox. Talk about disrespectful....how disappointing. At least Alex was being a reasonable person throughout being berated and made to feel guilty.
Facebook also did some good things for us today, though! Alex found an opening for a tattoo artist's apprenticeship on Craigslist. Unfortunately, there was a cost of $2000 for equipment and licensing. However, that really isn't that much in comparison to, say, trying to get a degree. He is such a talented artist, and he gets so frustrated by having to work crappy 9-5 jobs, so we were really excited that there seemed to be an attainable way for him to use his talent to make a career for himself. So, I encouraged him to pursue it, even though we don't have the money right now. He's started drawing daily, and posting his work on Facebook, and people love it!!! So, I suggested he put it out there that he was interested in exploring a career in tattooing, but needed financial backing. I didn't know that anyone would really be able to help, but figured it was worth a shot. Especially since his parents' religious views are against tattoos, so they probably wouldn't be willing to help. He had a status update about that too, b/c it upset him that their religion would seem to take precedence over his success and happiness...the issue was, of course, part of the phone conversation about religion... :/ Anyway, we were both surprised to see that, within a couple hours, almost half a dozen people responded and wanted to help out!! We messaged them with our address, and I'm hoping that with a little help from our friends, Alex can make this dream of being a tattoo artist a reality!!!
It has been really tough, trying to counteract his mom's nay-saying about tattooing. Other family members also took up the cause, trying to suggest other areas of artistic careers, like graphic design. The whole point, though is that he doesn't need a degree for this!! Just the certification and equipment, all of which he can get for a measly 2 grand!!! That's a fraction of what it would cost for him to get the degree he would need to do graphic design, and we can't even afford that much w/o asking for help. In any case, though, I am very happy for him that this looks like it might work out!! How cool would that be? So excite!!
Right now, am feeling very emotionally exhausted...lack of proper sleep and all this excitement has got me pooped, despite sleeping on/off for almost 12 hours...zzzzzz
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