If wishes were horses...

So tonight I'm feeling a little sad and lonely... It happens every winter, but it's been easy so far. I survived November which is a task in of itself... the next true test comes in February. The one thing that I've still not mastered is not wanting what I haven't got (a la Sinead). Which is a mixed blessing... it keeps me from settling for less, but it also keeps me from settling in. Patty Griffin is brilliant, she says:

In the middle of the night
We try and try with all our mights
To light a little light down here
In the middle of the night
We dream of a million kites
Flying high above
The sadness and the fear

I want to be a kite. I just want to put some light out there wherever I can. Not so that I can know that I did it, but so that someone else can have some light where they might not have had it before. Because it's sad and scary to not have any.

There's this stubborn idealistic streak in me which is also my curse. I want everyone to have a safe place to call their own. To love and be loved. To find peace in the maelstrom that is the world, even for a moment. To never be hungry or cold. To live without fear. To speak truth wherever they go, whatever they do. To learn to listen to and love themselves...

One of the reasons that I love Joan of Arcadia is that it hasn't lost its hope. It sees the anger and loaghing and apathy in the world, and it tries in its own way to fight against it. One of the best episodes was where Joan met Rocky, a boy with CF... a disease that has played its part in my life, and especially my sister's.

I'm getting more and more maudlin as this progresses which tells me one of 2 things: I need to go to bed or I need to be around people who are bright and effusive. Well, it looks like the former, my bright and effusive ones are currently out of reach. Until tomorrow anyway. Tomorrow I'll be surrounded with crazyfun people, cocky people, funny people, slightly odd in the good way people, corny people... but tonight... tonight I need a good book and a warm bed. maybe a box of kleenex not so far away.

Snowbells? What in the heck is a snowbell?

It snowed here quite a bit the other day. It made driving yesterday less than fun, and slightly annoying today. I had to buy a snow shovel. I shoveled half of the walk before my upstairs neighbor came out and said he'd do it for me. (btw, he hasn't yet) I bought a second doormat for the top of the stairs that lead to my door, and an indoor utility rug to sop up the stuff that doesn't get sopped up by the first two doormats. Ernie loves the snow. He no longer runs when outside, he frolics like a little dog-goat creature (not a guyascutus... a word from a long-ago game of Balderdash with the mom, the sis, and the fred). Many years ago when I would admit to being a voice student, I had to sing a German song called Schneeglocken which means snowbells. Didn't know what that was then, still don't know now.

It's almost time for me to put up my tiny, fake Christmas tree. Good thing it's a 4-footer, because anything much bigger wouldn't fit. It's fake because I'm a sneezy creature. But I told Mara she could help decorate it because she never even had a Hanukkah bush while growing up. So we'll have a tree-decking party at my house, and a latke and dreidle party at hers. Yay!

shameless solicitation

No, not THAT kind of solicitation. But the kind that says, it's Advent, here's my wishlist so you have plenty of time before I go to California!

Yes, it is a WISH list... but isn't it great when wishes come true???

You will be my hero if you can obtain any of the out of print items on my wishlist from amazon...

weird

I just had the strangest dinner I've ever made:

Baked Acorn Squash
Salted Edamame
Diet Coke

Saturday...

So today (well, technically tomorrow) is the first Sunday of Advent. I really like Advent.

I have a 4 ft prelit Christmas tree. It makes me happy. I have 2 ornaments. I'm thinking I need a couple more. I'm also really jonesing for a black cardigan. I have a brown one, winter white one, a grey duster, and a black duster, but I just want a black cardigan.

For Ernie's birthday I got him a new bed. It's 54" in diameter, and actually big enough for him. He loves it. It makes me happy that it makes him happy! I'm trying to have long enough hair for crazy bun hair again... It's not quite long enough for crazy bun hair. oh well. I'll keep growing it for that. And I have to get it highlighted again... but I must wait until December 20. My hairdresser's going to Mexico this week to get married, and won't be back until the 20th. So I'm first through the door with her.

I'm going to get an oil change... well, I'm getting one for my car. I want to buy some decorations for the tree.

This is just a brain dump. I'm not going to pretend to have any cohesive thoughts. This weekend is about resting up.

Quote of the day from Gilmore Girls: "I hate President Bush. His face is too tiny for his head."

secrets...

So, the question always comes about, whilst with child (not me), when do you drop the bomb... AND more importantly, when do you post it on your blog (again, not me), thus sharing it with the internet-lovin', googlin' world of ours? Common practice waits until 12 weeks to share the news with the general world, I'm a big fan of not waiting that long... with your friends. A lot of people worry, "What if something goes wrong?" and the dread of having to tell people who ask how the little one's doing... So that's why I think it's important to tell your family and friends early so that you CAN have the support system you need in place in case something (heaven forefend) happens. But in this case, the first doppler at 10 weeks was slightly tricky, and they had to make a follow-up appointment in 2 weeks to try again. And the mother is just slightly hesitant to post the impending bundle of joy on her blog... just until she hears the healthy heartbeat. The people she wanted to know, know. The people who don't... If it will settle her mind to hear the heartbeat in a few more days, then she should wait. By the way, I'm so excited about this little monkey... and will indeed make a trip once he or she is born... I can hardly sit still for the next 28 or so weeks... Not that I don't love all of your babies, just as much!

P.S. Anyone with Clare's email address, could you email or IM it to me please? thanks!

takers?

who wants to clean my house? i want a clean house, but am lacking the appropriate motivation to get there.

i have good products, including vacuum, fuller brush broom, and a cabinet full of sterilizers and sparkly-makers. i will cook for you (provided you clean up after that as well) and i am a wunnerful cook.

thanks.

turkey day, hold the turkey

I had a very low-energy Thanksgiving involving laundry, Miracle, and a ham.

I wish I liked ham.

Super stoked...

Alias, season 4 begins Wednesday, January 5 at 9/8c and a special 2 hour premiere!

a cultural shift

I've decided that if I tell a blonde joke in public I'm not going to say blonde anymore... I'll say cottonheaded ninnymuggins.

A cottonheaded ninnymuggins bought a jigsaw puzzle and invited her boyfriend over to help her with it. He said, "sure! what is it a puzzle of?" She said, "a TIGER!" So he drove to her house, and she met him at the door and said, "I've got it all spread out on the table, but I don't know where to start!" He walked into the kitchen, and looked at the table. He sighed and said, "Honey, first of all, this isn't going to make a tiger. Secondly, let me help you put these Frosted Flakes back in the box..."

You smell like beef and cheese.

When will quoting Elf get old? I don't know, but you'll SURELY notice before I, so please let me know.

My quiet night last night involved, having a spot o' beer a the symphony, visiting with funny people, trying the idea that a great band name would be Grand Funk Railroad (thanks, Mara), watching Amazing Race 6, assembling a lamp and going to bed earlier than I had since, oh, mid-September. And still I wasn't quite ready to wake up at 4:48, but a few minutes later, the iPod turned on and started me busting to "My Finest Hour" which ALWAYS takes me back to Fred's old house in Park City... not the one with the loft for her room, but the one with the loft IN her room. And one night, I woke up in the middle of the night (in the loft IN the room) and was lying there listening to the rain turn to snow, and after about 2 minutes, Fred's voice saying quietly in the darkness, it's just started to snow... It was on the last night of that trip that Freddie and I went to the tennis courts and spun ourselves dizzy, or in my case, sick. That was the last time I saw Freddie until Maryama and Sam got married in 1997. Then the next time we saw each other was when Freddie got married in 2003. But I have a sneaking suspicion I shall travel to the PDX in the next year or so for another visit. Or she could always come here. Either way.

Fight Club, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Shipping News, Whitechocolatespaceegg, Dar Williams (hoo boy, was that a biggie), Beck, Oingo Boingo... It happens a LOT. I was thinking about my proclivity to become very fond of something shortly after publicly proclaiming that I don't really like it (usually happens with music, somewhat with books and movies). And I've become obsessed with "Bubble Toes" by Jack Johnson. After publicly decrying for a year that I do NOT like the Brushfire Fairytales album (it's too mellow for too long and loses my interst quickly), and not being overly fond of that song in particular, the changeover began last week. I got really stuck on the "move like a jellyfish, rhythm don't mean nothing, you go with the flow, you don't stop" part. And the break between the first verse and the second. And then the simple, Jack harmonies in the bridge... it almost always happens to me. The only times that I haven't changed my stance are with Bjork (but "Human Behaviour" is one of my top 100 songs), Radiohead (I would LOVE to love them), there are a couple more to list, but I'm not remembering just at this moment in time. I'm sure I'll remember a couple more later.

If I had a pair of eyes in the back of my head for each time you forgot to take out all the things you forgot to talk about when you took a bite out of my spine, I would have a lot of eyes on the other side, wouldn't I? Wouldn't that just be fine?

so weird...

Tuesday morning

My Peipeipei and my Mara have gone away for Thanksgiving... I may wind up alone on Thanksgiving. Then again, I may not. It's all up in the air.

Yesterday, I was going to clean the house top to bottom, stem to stern, but wound up helping Crazy Mara finish her paper edits and format the works cited. So we wound up going to school to turn the paper in, then getting some foodies, then getting the WEIRDEST mani/pedi (her treat for editing - thanks!) ever from the WEIRDEST people EVER, then to Target where I got lightbulbs for the lamp that's been in my car for 3 weeks that I bought for $10. It's cute (the lamp, the mani, and the pedi, I suppose). And now I work. And there's the symphony tonight at work. So free dinner of appetizers and cocktails. One interesting, unexpected, and fun perk of the ol' jobster.

Tomorrow Ernie turns 5. 5!!! He's such a little doggy inside... his outsides just don't reflect it... And it's been coooold at nights, but I have to leave the windows cracked because the people upstairs control the thermostat and they leave it BLASTING all night long. So it's hot air, humidifier, open window, and millions of blankets. So Ernie often crawls up to the top of the bed (he usually sleeps at the foot, and gradually works his way to the middle, forcing me from it) and snuggles my back and shoulders...and aw, nuts... I need to make a Christmas Kennel reservation for him Post-Haste!)

lundi libre

aujourd'hui est la journée première de mes vacances! je suis libre comme un oiseau! donc, je conduirai ma copine, pei, à l'aéroport dans quelques minutes, je nettoyerai mon appartement (parce qu'il est très, très nécessaire), je laisserai les bons temps rouler ce soir (mais je serai pas très folle, je travail les mardi, et il faut aue je prepare pour le concert de symphonie demain soir à l'hôpital)

mais je suis très libre et je suis heureuse comme une petite fille!

Я работаю...

eh, forget it... i'm on vacation.

hee hee!

i'm done with finals.

i'm on school break until january 3.

hee hee! i'm delighted and full of glee!

but there's no more sanctioning for the end of quarter punchies... now people just will think i'm wacky... oh well, because i'm done!

watching things

i watched elf last night. yay! random narwhale moments! yay! christmas spirit!

i'm watching the long way around right now. it's the documentary series on bravo about ewan mcgregor's trip with a friend (charley somethingoranother) and a cameraman on motorcycle that started in (i'm assuming) continental europe, heading east across europe, russia, asia, and the bering strait through alaska, canada and the us. i'm not certain but i believe that the trip was slated to end in nyc. today, they've crossed from russia into mongolia... it's so interesting. really interesting. i'd like to watch the whole thing if i ever have the time... wait school's over this week!!!

oh! i forgot. i dreamt that i bought not one, but two subaru outbacks (a blue legacy, and a red impreza sport) and my aunt made me return one. i also bought a cake for newborn keira. it was sort of a gross cake because it was 100 percent icing (or ice-ning, if you will). at least i'm not dreaming about school.

somethings wonderful...

it's snowing today.

i'm warm and toasty inside but have gone out occasionally to enjoy the snow.

i watched joan of arcadia last night and forgot how very good that show is.

not to mention its music directors.

so i bought patty griffin's "impossible dream" so i could have my own copy of "kite song" which is wonderful...

and i just have 1 more project to do and i'm 12.5% finished with it.

i can see...

the finish line... sorta.

2 more pages of a paper (which has gone REALLY quickly so far if only I'd stop surfing the internet, i'd likely be done by now).

20 sentences in Russian

Take-home final which will actually be kind of hard but we are allowed to collaborate with our lassmates so you know there'll a lot of that in the near future.. that's due Monday, and then I'm DONE!

Stick it in the fridge, stick it in the fridge, stick it in the fridge.

Thursday...

most papers done, have a shortie one due tomorrow and take home final due monday.

but i have an enormous migraine.

CONFLICT

today

is annoying.

Brit-Brit's honeymoon poem

(thanks to entertainment.msn.com for posting this guy)

A honeymoon at last, to get away from it all
My assistant Fe gave me the call.

I remember it well, as she was smilin'
She said it was called Turtle Island.

I packed my bags light and quick,
Then grabbed my pink dress & favorite lipstick.

We hopped on a plane and took our flight
I slept really well, all through the night.

As we arrive, I turn and look out the door,
People are greeting us right at the shore.

A meal, a shower and some ice cream
Then I threw my man down, you know what I mean!

Magical nights filled with stars
Silence is golden, no running cars.

Private dinners, romantic fires
Little piece of heaven, whatever your heart desires.

Friendly "hellos" and never goodbyes
When you're having fun, oh, how time flies!

As we sit and prepare to make our part
I thank you, Turtle Island, with all my heart!


stretching the ole brain differently

I've been overwhelmed with school lately. Not precisely overwhelmed, but superbusy. But yesterday I said goodbye to my two favorite classes... they made Mondays wunnerful. I still have a paper to write for one of them, but it's not due until Friday and it's going to be interesting to write.

Condi Rice is being tapped unofficially as of yet for the next Secretary of State. That will make my school VERY happy (she's a DU alum, as well as a GSIS grad). I'm sad to see Powell go, he was the most vocal flea in Bush's ear, but likewise I understand why that's undesirable in a Secy. of State.

Lastly, I keep trawling my ex-boyfriend's ex-girlfriend's blog, for she always has interesting stuff. (Dysfunctional? Yup. Anyhow, interesting stuff.) For instance, go here and learn a tiny bit about the dualist philosophy Manichaeism (from which Augustine converted to Christianity) as it relates to Bush. It's interesting, and was my favorite part of my seminar on Augustine I tried to take my sophomore year of college before the prof. told me it was open only to jrs and srs... There's also a fabulous breakdown of dualism in general in a CS Lewis book... I can't remember which book right now...The 4 Loves? The Problem of Pain? Mere Christianity? It's currently eluding me. Anyhow that's it.

{sigh}

I've been at the library writing my paper for almost 9 hours. I'm on the 9th page. That's not the most efficient thing in the world.

At least it's only a 10 pager and I should be home in the next 90 minutes or so...

I'll show Putin some autocracy...
(help! I made a political science joke...)

Oh My God It Burns!

Oh My God It Burns! please go here for improving the quality of your well vodka.

(thanks for the link freddie)

meltdown expected...i live by the river

90% of my putin paper that's due wednesday is done.

0% of my putin paper that's due tomorrow is done. guess what i'm working on all day long?

ernie very cuddly but sad that i have so little time to devote to him lately.

in the mood to watch toys to hear ll cool j say he likes his food military style, and that it bothers him to have his peas invading his mashed potatoes.

nice long conversation via IM with james the chick (aka fred) to make me happy and make me miss her.

bob is my favorite.

okay. need shower, breakfast, coffee and to go to the library since i don't work well at home. (happy peppermint mocha season at starbucks! not quite CBTL's holidday mint lattes, but there aren't any CBTLs out here.... or sephoras. or trader joe's.)

and so it begins

i got my cp final last night... ugh.

however this is very strange because now i operate in a world where cp means comparative politics, and not cerebral palsy.

Missing Jake

I've really been missing my friend Jake lately. It comes and goes in phases. Last I heard, he was moving out of his apartment in Paris and to Copenhagen to be nearer his girlfriend from California who was living in Sweden. (If I had a dollar for every time I've done that...) But I've been perusing some of his old emails, and it's making me miss him more keenly... He loves his Cadbury Mini Eggs come Easter... Here's a gem illuminating the rockin'ness of Jake:

"The Book Of Jake 8:2

and then, spring cometh, and the winter did flee like a pansy. and the peoples emerged from thier coverings.. and what to thier surprise should appear.. GOD had been.. and he hath planted his seed all over the place... and from each drop sprung goodness.. but alas, this goodness had but one form.. it sprang like tigger.. the peoples picked up the egg shaped gifts from god and placed them gently on thier quivering tongues.. and they knew that it was good.. they knew that it was cadbury.. and they feasted.. upon the Mini eggs, and full size eggs and breakfast cereals... and jake turneth to his people and spoke: "Tonight we shall feast upon the fruit of our lord.. and tommorow we shall purge. Jebidiah," he said,"turn on the stereo and lets get to eatin."

End of Book of Jake"

WHERE ARE YOU?!

fyi

To pass a constitutional amendment, there is required 2/3 majority in the House and the Senate respectively, and 3/4 of all state legislatures (unclear if this includes DC)

Punchies continue

WHY IS HARRY POTTER AND HOGWARTS FOLLOWING ME WHEREVER I GO?!?!
And why are so many places like Hogwarts... I can never find the same place twice lately... stuff keeps moving... It's also sort of like the Department of Mysteries. And last night we had an excellent reference in class to Harry Potter... Good times.

Anyhow, I'm scaling back my hours significantly at work over the next 2 weeks so I have time to work on my papers and finals and whatnot. I sorta want to cry lately over the amount of work I have to do. And I have indeed started researching most (although not all) of my papers. It's the CP final that has me growing an ulcer.

I went to sleep last night at 10. The night before, at 9.... It was NIIIIICE to get sleep. And then the puppy dog woke me up this morning at 1:45 to go outside, and then when he woke me again later, I thought, no way, we're waiting until the alarm goes off... then I peeked at the alarm and it was already 5:20, and I had set it for 4:45 pm... So props to the princess for waking me.

Thanksgiving week is going to be so nice... I'm off on Monday (and taking Peipei the Panda to the airport - I haven't forgotten), Tuesday I go in late so that I can stay until 8 that night and hear a free chamber music concert at work (one of my projects - it's moments like those that make me LOVE my job), Wednesday, well is Wednesday, I work a full day, then off Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving!

You people who will be displaced on Thanksgiving (i.e. DU people without family in the area) are hereby invited to my house for pseudoThanksgiving. Details to follow.

Got my schedule for winter quarter last week... forgot to talk about it in the rush of the election:
-Strategic Intelligence and Data Collection
-International Political Theory (technically called International Politics Theory, but I'm certain that is incorrect - If they wanted to use politics, they should have called it Theory of International Politics)
-Conflict Resolution
-Emerging Diseases in International Affairs
-Russian

Will I be busy? Yup. Will my hair likely fall out? Yup. But am I excited about all of my classes? Well, most of them (not so much IPT - I don't like theory, and I hear that class is HARD).

Okay, I gots to work.

Sunday morning.

I guess it's sunday afternoon. Oh well...

I went to breakfast this morning with crazy mara. I had an omelette. I didn't really want it to come with a side. So I said, a biscuit. No, toast. No, pancakes. So I wound up with pancakes because I was annoyed with myself. And sure enough, I just didn't want a side. So I didn't eat them.

But the omelette was yummy.

End of Quarter Punchies...

Alright now lose it (ah ah ah ah ah)
Just lose it (ah ah ah ah ah)
Go crazy (ah ah ah ah ah)

This is getting nutty.

Wow, this is a lot even for me!

So, congratulations to Joe and Erika T. who had baby Joseph Daniel: 6 lbs 3 oz, and 20 inches!

A baby on the second (Anna Maria) and a baby on the third (Joseph Daniel)?

Freddie, if Mike and Kimberly had their baby yesterday, I'll drop dead with agogity. (There's a chance I made that word up)

sad heather...

The Christine Kane show I've been waiting for since BEFORE I MOVED TO DENVER, has been cancelled. Christine is sick, she got on a plane anyway, flew from NC to Cincinnati, and her flight to Denver's been cancelled. So in sad news for her, she's sick AND in Ohio. They hope to reschedule...sometime...

So who's free tonight?

And so it is...

...just like you said it would be. Life goes easy on me, most of the time. (damien rice)

Okay, for some reason, even though last night I got SO much more sleep than I did the night before, I'm SO tired today. And am required to put in a full 8 hours today. I was at the school library last night freaking out a little because I put my schedule together and it looks like a really big scary thing for the rest of the quarter. Next Wednesday, our take-home finals for comparative politics will be available. We have 12 days to do them. This means they'll be HARD and we'll have to reference and quote all of the readings from the quarter, not to mention the lectures. And let me tell you, we've spent nearly NO time discussing the readings and the lectures have been rather apropos of nothing. I have a 12 page paper (a thinkpiece) on Vladimir Putin's presidency and his move toward increasingly authoritarian rule and severe backslide in democratic processes due the 15th, a 9 page paper on Vladimir Putin's policies and a political theory analysis of his actions due the 17th, and a 7 page paper due the 19th on the intelligence system's applications of federalism, and policy processes involved therein. The 22nd is the day the take-home final is due. This is also still with working and class and I'm going to cry a little, tiny bit.

But in funner news, Christine Kane tonight at Swallow Hill! Yay!

Also, if anyone wants to buy me this, I'd thank you most profusely (and it'd be VERY close to Crazy Mara's).

Maybe the moral high ground isn't as high as they say it is.

I'm having a bit of a rough morning. It's partly sleep deprivation, partly election aftermath, partly the song I'm listening to, and partly the lively and heartbreaking and emotional vs. idealistic debate happening over at freddie's place. It's actually a lot of work to be an idealist. And people try to disillusion me all the time. But without ideals, without hope, without something to work for, I feel like I'll curl up and blow away. In one of my classes on Monday, I said (only half-jokingly) that I didn't want to know about the interest groups that are lobbying the Intelligence Community because I'm an idealist and I would be disillusioned soon enough... but the professor said, "sorry, but I'm going to disillusion you anyway." Which didn't make me mad, but made me sad. I have SO many years of public service coming my way whereupon I'll be forced to swallow these illusions and become jaded and callous; does it really need to happen any sooner than necessary?

I'm feeding off of other peoples' sorrow, fear, anger today. I feel like a sponge for strong emotion and I can't seem to separate them out from my own this week. Here's something from an email I sent to someone just this morning that's tied in:

"It’s disturbing to think of the many levels that the presidency, the British/American love affair, the Iraqi war, the loss of ever-increasing lives (collateral or not), the funding and materiels going into it, the Russian president moving toward an authoritarian state in so many ways seems like news that we can rant and rail and rage about…but there’s always someone it will resonate with more desperately, more hopelessly, inciting so many more ripples of personal grief, fear, despondency… there are so many levels on which people are affected, there are so many ways to take action, there are so many ways to play into the apathetic lazy American stereotype, but… see, now I’m losing my train of thought.

This is so enormously also involved in why I believe I’m going to work in the public sector. I have the opportunity to make the world a safer, less conflicted place. If only on the most microscopic level, it goes back to the butterfly effect. Or that cheesy story about the boy throwing starfish back in the sea. Yes, I’m being overly idealistic here, but it’s the only thing that I can think of right now. But it’s something that I am able to do and accomplish in my short time on this earth. I do love this country. It’s taken me a long time to realize that. And I have a lot of personal conflicts in my professional life ahead of me, but to quote Utah Phillips (who may have just borrowed this from yet another source, or it may be a cliché I just don’t know), following the path of least resistance is what makes the river crooked. I have to try and keep battling for what I know is an intangible ideal in my lifetime: a utopian society where there’s a perfect economy of all things material, emotional, and societal. I’ve been saying this in many situations these days, but without hope, without faith that there is something better than the world we have right now, we have nothing. So you move forward, you do everything you can to do no harm, if not ameliorate what is ameliorable, and you never become complacent."

"Oh how I wish I were a trinity, so that if I lost a part of me, I’d still have two of the same to live. But nobody gets a lifetime rehearsal, as specks of dust we’re universal. To let this love survive would be the greatest gift that we could give."

yay!

my cousin beth had a baby girl yesterday morning: Anna Maria Kozial!

Babies!

christine and her cat

From the Christine Kane mailing list:

Happy Late Autumn to the good people on my email list,Tomorrow is Election Day, and I'm encouraging everyone I know to please, please, please vote. It matters greatly in this world today. I'm also reminding myself that whatever the results are, it is up to each one of us to commit to making our world more peaceful and loving. That is no small task, no matter who ends up in office.

My other request is that if you know people in or near Denver, CO, please let them know that I will be performing at the main theater at Swallow Hill this coming Friday night, November 5. Most of my shows this fall have had good audiences primarily because of word-of-mouth and mailing list. I thank you for this. I couldn't do this without your support. I've been traveling pretty much constantly.

And because I feel compelled to tell at least one stupid story, here's a cat moment from last week: I was home for the full moon, and it was gorgeous. I was standing outside in the dark calling my cat Gracie, and weaving all sorts of witch-ly stories about my mysterious cat, and how she must be out casting spells beneath the moon, or doing some sort of goddess ritual. Then, from down the street, she came charging towards me with something in her mouth. I was pretty scared because I didn't want to have to extract and rescue a mole or bunny. (Gracie's never caught anything before.) But then she ran right past me. And what was in her mouth was a big slice of pizza. She looked up as she ran past with sheer panic in her eyes, as if to say "Quick! Open the back door, and I'll give you some!" So much for the goddess. Thanks again to each of you. I'll see you soon!

17 degrees without the windchill

It was chilly this morning. In fact, it was downright cold, and I had to put on a jacket before I'd let the creature out for his morning tinkle (I usually tough it out in a tshirt or tank top and pajama pants with flip flops until it gets to about 25 degrees... then I cave and this morning wore a jacket and stylish black loafers with my tanktop and pj pants).

Even if it is 17 degrees, and the windchill is down to 6, you have to VOTE TODAY. You are excused from voting today for only 4 reasons:
1. You're not 18
2. You're not an American citizen
3. You've already voted by absentee ballot
4. You've participated in your state's early voting (that was my choice)

I don't care how apathetic you are, or disillusioned by the American government, you have to vote to effect a change. Write your congressional representatives when you are displeased, but be aware that voter records are available to them, and they are more likely to respond and take action if you are an active voter (if you actively voted for them, they're more likely to respond, but they know that if they go to work for you, you're more likely to vote for them next time around). You have certain rights to be heard as a citizen of this country, but if you don't take advantage of the simplest, most accessible one, you're wasting my time and my taxes (and I even am a HUGE fan of taxes and don't have problems voting to raise them). And if you're complaining but didn't vote, you're wasting precious resources like air in a society that chops down trees like they're going out of style and therefore convert less of your windbag CO2 into O2 for us to breathe.

I don't care if you vote Dem or Rep (well I care a little, but that shouldn't concern you), just please hop to, little ones and VOTE.

About this blog

erratically updated for food, yarn, or other nonspecified reasons