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.
End of Quarter Punchies...
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."
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.
