Why I Haven't Been Here

Is because I'm here http://mygirlfriday.wordpress.com/

And what I'm blogging about there has really taken up all my free time lately. Not the writing, just all the other stuff. I may still use this site from time to time but I'll mostly be at Wordpress now.

Either Way

Maybe the sun will shine today
The clouds will blow away
Maybe I won’t feel so afraid
I will try to understand
Either way.

-Wilco, "Either Way"

I listen to NPR. I recycle religiously. I buy organic food. I feed the birds and squirrels in my backyard. I never kill spiders that are outside because that is their home. I believe in the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press. I listen to indie music. I am a vocal supporter of universal health care. I believe in public schools and taxes. I am tired of politicians and the media treating the word liberal like it's something bad. I believe that marriage should be for everyone but that too many people get married when they shouldn't. I don't believe in divorce. I believe that people, for the most part, are good. I think that there is a terrible movement towards dumbing down American culture. I think that America has embraced hatred towards gays and illegal immigrants as the new "acceptable" racism. I think bio-diesel is good.
In short, I am a liberal.
My sisters refer to my by less kind names.

So here we are on the verge of another election year and faced with a growing tangle of issues which candidates would have us choose by. But I have questions.

Why can't you oppose war without being labeled "unpatriotic"?
Why is terrorism more important than education?
Why can't you be liberal and faithful at the same time?
Why do I have to balance my checkbook is the government doesn't?
Why do we talk more about illegal immigrants than we do about foster children or hurricane and natural disaster victims?
Why don't we have a policy for confronting global warming?
Why can't the elderly and disabled afford medication still despite Medicare D?
Why aren't our children more important than oil?
Why do all the issues that make up the major party platforms seem disconnected with the things average communities are concerned about?

There may not be answers to any of these questions but I think it's time for us to start asking. I I think that it's time to look at where we live and wonder why we don't have better schools, better infrastructure, cleaner air and water, and better health care. I'm starting now. "Yes, a penguin taught me French back in Antarctica" had now become Election '08 Headquarters.

So Come Back, I Am Waiting

So, I've been gone for a really long time....

Since I blogged last I've:

-Watched my little sister in her first boxing match (brutal, I like to say that I want to punch her in the face sometimes but after actually SEEING it I take it all back...she won by the way and was pretty kick-ass)

-Mourned the end of this year's season of "The Deadliest Catch"

-Found I liked "Ice Road Truckers" almost as much.

-Decided that "Sky Blue Sky", while no "Summerteeth", is classic Wilco perfection.

-Painted two bedrooms and a bathroom in my house, moved furniture four weekends in a row, and realized that I'd rather have my fingers broken that move any more furniture.

-Developed a tremor in my right hand. This may not sound like much to some people but considering that Parkinson's Disease runs in my family it's a bit disconcerting.

-Got sunburned (this weekend at the lake).



and some other stuff.

Maybe tomorrow I'll talk about real stuff.

I Was Chewing Gum for Something to Do.

"A headache is to a migraine like a bruised thigh is to a compound fracture of the femur."
-Me, talking to my mom.

I have been reluctant to discuss the migraine issue on my blog. There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is that I work in a medical office and grow weary of discussing anything medical in nature. Added to that was my mostly insane idea that I was so tough that I could ignore them and they would go away. They didn't.

Once, my senior year of high school I had a single migraine that ended with me in the emergency room and lots of Demerol. After that incident I went over a decade without another, in fact I only very rarely had any headaches at all even the more benign versions. Then a year ago I had another. The migraines came sporadically at first then with alarming regularity. Then came what what diagnosed as "cluster migraines", meaning for a week I'd have them every day at the same time of day.

I saw my doctor and we set out a plan. I've been taking an old anti-depressant, amitriptyline, for six weeks now to combat "neurological pain". It works. I've had a couple very minor migraines but none of the debilitating, nausea inducing ones. I've become cautiously optimistic. I feel like a normal person again.

Well...as normal as I've ever been.

Teeth? Who needs teeth?

"Ice hockey is a form of disorderly conduct in which the score is kept."
-Doug Larson

I have, for the last two years, become engrossed in the NHL play-offs. Perhaps the same blood-lust that makes me a football fan is probably what makes watching enormous men slam each other into plexi-glass wall fun.

"A puck is a hard rubber disk that hockey players strike when they can't hit one another."
-Jimmy Cannon

NHL hockey is shown only on a little know sports channel called Versus...they also show the Americas Cup and PBR bull riding. To be fair, I believe they also show Saturday afternoon games on NBC, but the point is it's not easily accessible to someone living in Arkansas. As much as I'd like to pick a team and follow it throughout the regular season, the irregular broadcasts seem to prohibit this. So I root for the Canadians in the play-offs.

"Hockey is figure skating in a war zone."
-unknown

This year, I am firmly for the Ottawa Senators. Why Canada? Because, I'm boycotting being an American until the socio-political atmosphere finds a way to end it's steady and demoralizing decay into greed and church-run stupidity.

"High sticking, tripping, slashing, spearing, charging, hooking, fighting, unsportsmanlike conduct, interference, roughing...everything else is just figure skating."
-unknown

In the case (as happened last year) that my Canadians don't make it to the Stanley Cup finals, then I'm for Buffalo. Don't ask why, that pick is arbitrary.

Love at first site...

I believe in love at first sight. My great aunt and great uncle married only a month after they met, forty years later when she died he was adrift and never remarried. My dad proposed to my mom on their first date. Despite my hesitant nature when it comes to my heart, I too have found the dizzying bliss of love at first site...that's right not sight but site as in web site.

Friends, meet IKEA. See the beauty of the clean lines and perfect design of the chair above? Simple, chic furniture at prices that allow me to change my mind and redecorate whenever the whim hits me.

Believe me when I say that Murray is NOT going to be excited about this. Credit card, meet IKEA catalogue.

Reconstruction Site

"Buy me a shiny new machine,
that runs on lies and gasoline
and all those batteries we stole from smoke alarms;
it disassembles my despair
it never took me anywhere
it never once bought me a drink."
-The Weakerthans, "Reconstruction Site"

25 Favorites

25. Favorite Holiday-
Halloween, because when else is it okay to wear fairy wings or a pointy hat in public?
24. Favorite Season-
Autumn, my birthday, Halloween, pretty leaves, cooler weather, FOOTBALL!
23. Favorite Color-
Green, every shade from spring leaves to olive.
22. Favorite Hobby-
Reading, anything from classic novels to romance to the back of a cereal box.
21. Favorite Sport-
To play, badminton. To watch, baseball.
20. Favorite Game-
Scattagories.
21. Favorite Place-
Baum Stadium on a sunny spring day when the baseball hogs are winning.
20.Favorite Restaurant-
Mike's Place on the patio.
19. Favorite Food-
Sourdough Bread.
18. Favorite Ice Cream-
Vanilla
17. Favorite Drink-
A nice pinot noir.
16. Favorite Gadget-
ipod, of course.
15. Favorite Smell-
Baking bread.
14. Favorite Shoes-
Blue plaid Converse I had in college.
13. Favorite Clothing-
Jeans and a tee shirt.
12. Favorite Pet-
Cats, of course.
11. Favorite Movie-
"Twister"
10. Favorite TV Show-
"How It's Made"
09. Favorite Radio Station-
NPR
08. Favorite Band-
Wilco
07. Favorite Song-
"Plea From A Cat Named Virtue", the Weakerthans
06. Favorite Book-
"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", Carson McCullars
05. Favorite Quote-
"Theology is never any help; it is searching in a dark cellar at midnight for a black cat that isn't there. Theologians can persuade themselves of anything."-Robert L. Heinlein
04. Favorite Song Lyric
"No love's as random as God's love."-Wilco, "Can't Stand It"
03. Favorite Poem-
Kidnap Poem, Nikki Giovanni
02. Favorite Candy-
Chocolate.
01. Favorite Person-
Murray.

Hear All the Bombs Fade Away

Sons and Daughters
by The Decemberists

When we arrive
Sons and daughters
We'll make our homes on the water
We'll build our walls aluminum
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon, now.

These currents pull us across the border
Steady you boats
Arms to shoulder
Till tides are pulled
Hold our ground
Making this cold harbor now home

Take up your arms
Sons and daughters
We will arise from the bunkers
By land, by sea, by dirigible
We'll leave our tracks untraceable, now.

When we arrive
Sons and daughters
We'll make our lives on the water
We'll build our wall with aluminum
We'll fill our mouths with cinnamon.

Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away
Hear all the bombs fade away...

I don't feel like rehashing the last twenty-four hours but I will say one thing; officials at Virginia Tech keep referring to yesterday's events as "a tragedy" but tragedy simply isn't a word strong enough to convey the horror of what happened.
I received this email written by someone who was at The Decemberists show last night, I thought that perhaps it is more fitting than anything I could say:

"Near the end of the show, the played "Sons and Daughters." Near the end of the song, Collin (Malloy the lead singer and songwriter) stopped and said he wanted the entire audience to sing the ending line over and over again. Then he said that they would be remiss if they didn't mention the shootings in Virginia. He said that The Decemberists use violent imagery in their songs, but they don't want anyone to think that they are glorifying violence. Then he talked about how violence belongs in fiction only and how we should all hope for and work towards a less violent society. He asked us to think of the students and families in Virginia as we sang, "Hear all the bombs fade away."
This doesn't seen to translate to email well, but I thought it was a really great way of using music to deal with the tragedy."

I think so too.
-Becky