Twilight... perhaps with a spoiler

So for the month of December, my bookclub is reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyers.  Yes, the teenaged vampire novel.  We picked this because it would probably be a quick read and because one of the members of the club, K, didn't like the book.  She (and multiple other reviewers) couldn't stand Bella (female protaganist and voice)'s lack of strength.

I've got a weird issue with the book, though.

So after reading it:

Bella doesn't display an extreme lack of strength.  She's a 17 year old girl who just moved from Arizona to Oregon.  She's dealing with new-school stuff and ends up being attracted to a vampire.  She acts like a typical 17 yo not-yet-woman: she has some angst, she's not always sure of herself and will defer to others, she makes mistakes, and she's sometimes preoccupied.  All in all, while she's not someone I would list as a Feminist Role Model, she's not a pathetic excuse of a teen drama queen. 

One thing I found interesting was that there were few chronological markers in the book.  No mention of movies, songs, fashion, or technology.  It's generally timeless.  Maybe there was a time-revealer when discussing her car in the beginning, but I doubt it.

My issue is with Edward, the VampireLurvInterest:
Edward was born in 1901 and vampire-ized in 1918, making him a perpetual 17.  However, in the setting of the book (late 1990s, early 2000s), he's somewhere between 90 and 100.  And he's gitten all-up-ons a 17 year old human girl.

"That's what I like about High School Girls: I keep getting older but they stay the same."

This book is an old man's (wet) dream.

Whine whine whine - i wish i had a landlord

It all starts with yesterday I'm feeling very blah.  Sick blah.  Probably came down with the second grade or the kindergarten funk.  No worries, I'll go home and get all snuggly and get better.  So I go home, pick up some and set up a space heater in my bedroom as now only one of my wall heaters works, and it's in the entirely opposite corner.

I warm up the room and go to take a shower, after 10 minutes there is no hot water.  There's not even something other than freezing cold ice water.  So no shower, it must be because I didn't insulate my pipes, well, that will be a plan for Saturday.

Saturday I wake up with a sinus headache, sniffles, runny nose, sneezing, and no voice.  I make my way to Morgan's for a shower, as i smelled funny, and we went to Lowes and Home Depot looking for baseboard heaters.  Apparently they can install anything except for these baseboard heaters, which are relatively simple and I would do myself if I trusted myself to not kill me.

So back to my house to get the ingrediants for some bortscht and to check on the kittens and the low-running space heater.  We forget the ingrediants.

After a while I investigate electricians more and see that Home Depot DOES have electricians to install all their stuff.  I call them expecting to be told "just not where you live." But the woman who answers the phone is very helpful and tells me that someone will get back to me in the next few days.

now to figure out the hot water heater.

Something stupid - parts 1 and 2

Part 1

see Sarah Palin pictures

Part 2
My mother calls. I have no voice, so I ignore the call and text her back. She responds by text.
me: Can't talk, I have no voice. I'm sick.
mom: Don't you have another phone?
me: It doesn't matter, I can't talk. I don't have a voice.
mom: so why don't you talk on your other phone.
me: because I have no voice.
mom: why is that phone broken too?
me: the phones are fine, I just don't have a voice. I can't talk. I'm sick.
mom: so it's not the phone.
me: no. I'm sick, I have no voice.
mom: oh. hope your fever gets better.

Yearly Xmas List (aka - consumer whore checklist)

In no particular order, here is what I'm hoping Santa brings... and the stipulation is nothing from WalMart or Target

• money (car payment, mortgage payment, regular moneys, association memberships, pay someone to fix my heaters)
• magnetic poetry set (original, haiku, green, romance novel)
• a nice 8-10 inch chef's knife and sharpening stone
• funky fingerless gloves
• awesome legwarmers
• brightly colored opaque tights that fit someone as tall as me
• a skirt to wear the tights with
• CSA subscription to Greenman Farms ($500)
  
• my heaters to magically work (or new, efficient heaters)
  
• a visit from the Spay/Neuter Fairy for Orion
• microplane grater
• extrusion pasta maker
• Jamie Oliver's cookbooks
• Confident Pussy Tshirt, in pink
• Papasan Chair
• Container / Organic Gardening books
  

See - I'm relatively not materialistic.

Shapely?

So, Morgan owns a bathroom scale.  No big deal, I have an idea of the 15 lb range I've tended to fit lately, rarely at the edge though.  So I stepped on the scale on Tuesday (the first time in weeks) and weighed X, which is on the low end of my range. Yay! This is great for going into the holiday season.  Today I step back on and weigh x+6.  How'd that happen?

snow!

SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!SNOW!

Transgender Day of Rememberance

 

Events - including in Second Life 

List of Transgender murder victims

List of articles about Transgender murder victims.

The Sore Feet Song - Ally Kerr

I walked ten thousand miles, ten thousand miles to see you,
And every gasp of breath i grabbed at just to find you,
I climbed up every hills to get, to you,
I wondered ancient lands to hold, just you.

And every single step of the way, of pain,
Every single night and day,
I searched for you.
Through sandstorms and hazy dawns i reached for you.

Yeah, it's the opening to Mushi-shi, an anime.

101st post sillyness - My brother's tattoos

If we can't tell, this is a series of 6 stars down an arm and torso.

So we won't discuss how apparently stars are becoming the new tribal, butterflies, and lower back tattoos of the 'aughts. They're not original like some my associations have: yellow California poppy, Magritte's pipe, fossil of an extinct arthropod, the Archeopteryx, and a flaming skull with psychadelic eyes (ok, that was admitted as a bad decision). But the stars are my little brother's decision. That doesn't mean we won't still poke fun at him. Dave and I were discussing the tats and here are our ideas:

• parallel lines down the other side for "stars and bars"
• color them red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple with sharpey when he comes to visit in January (which coincides with a marriage equality rally)
• draw a different unicorn/my little pony in each like a showcase
• I L O V E U, and along the same lines I S T I N K (you see it when he exposes his underarm), and M I S S M E
• "mess" "my" "hair" "i" "love" "it" (he hates it ;) )

suggestions for my childishness?

Frazz - Nov 14 2008

Hypothetically Speaking or PaleoObama

(note: I actually wrote this and published it yesterday, but it... disappeared. Somewhere, in the bowels of blogger.)

So, in anthro when discussing preshistoric hunter/gatherer populations there's a social set up where the population lives at a year round "base camp" while individuals wander off to gather resources from pre-determined areas that surround the base camp.  Previous thought was that the women would stay behind to do the child rearing and whatever processing was required at the base camp, creating an extremely gendered view of work distribution.

Then along comes Dr. Kristen Hawkes from Utah (who, coincidentally, I met a few years ago and who was the Master's advisor for my old boss) who while studying paleodemography realizes that more and more women in these early prehistoric time periods are living later and later into their post-menopausal age.  She determines (using much statistics and evidence and such) that there is a reason for this.  Older women can care for weened children, freeing adult females to also procure resources.  This eventually becomes a behavior which selects for genetic longevity.  If your grandmother lives longer, then not only is there a chance you'll live longer bc of genetics, but you'll also have the resources to facilitate living to a reproductive age because your gmother lived longer and then you'll pass on those genes. 

Taking it a step further, it has been tied into why females typically have longer lifespans.  See, males were just along for the ride.  Their behavior didn't promote their lengthened age but that their grandmothers kept them alive past childhood, because the highest rates of death are 1)<5years and 2)old allowed them to utilize and pass on their grandmother's longevity genes.

Where am I going with this?

Grandmothering Hypothesis now has a modern correlate! (sample size, n=1)

Michelle Obama's mother is moving into the White House, the home base, to help take care of her grandchildren!  This will allow Michelle and Barack to do anything that needs to be done.  I think that's awesome, while their mother and father are off saving the economy and representing the past "Country No. 1" of the free world the girls will have someone to help them with school work, who will help them get settled in, who will take them to go visit things in DC.  That, First Family, is putting family first in a truely timeless way.  Kudos to you!

And that's my geek out for the day.

Ok, I'm a nerd.

Marriage Equality Rally!

[newsbreak] Good news! Larry Summer is no longer up for Treasury Sec.  If you didn't know, he's the ex-ivyleague-pres who said women were inheantly inferior at math and science.  He even set up a home ec class for women so they didn't need to worry their little heads with all sorts of numbers. [end newsbreak]

So, Saturday was the Anti-passing of all the no gay marriage acts/props/ammendments.  Morgan and I made up posters (seen below), and he met me at the museum at 2.30PM with the plan to head right over to World's Fair Park.

Well... I head over to the museum, where I had 1PM a program to give, at 12.15.  I pull into the lot and am told that I need to pay, there's a basketball game.  I explain to the attendant that I am going to work at the museum and, not only that, I have 20 young girl scouts with parents coming at 1.  They tell me that they will need to find parking.  I respond that this is not acceptable, they were told where they could park before this, and the museum lot is to remain open for museum visitors.  Well, apparently there are only 5 spots left, and goodness knows how we'll do this.  So they call the head guy, who is very not pleased to see me.  The museum and the parking people have been at odds for as long as I've worked there.  The museum needs weekend visitors. When the museum advertises free admission and free parking, people expect that.  If they need to suddenly pay $5 to go do something free, they'll just as soon go home.  The museum loses visitors, and no one buys anything cool in the museum shop.

So he and I argue that parking a few cars in the free lot with everyone else having to pay is not acceptable.  I threaten to call people, like the museum's director, in order to give my girls a good experience.  At this point one of the original attendents comes running up and tells us that most of the cars in the lot are high school students here for visitation, and their program is supposed to be over at 12.30.  How about we just close the lot down for everyone except Girl Scouts (and other visitors, I pipe in).  That, I tell them, will work, assuming enough people leave.  What if we don't have enough spots still?  The attendants point out a bunch of open space, normally used by the daily attendant's kiosk, and say they'll park them in there.  We should be guarenteed 15 spaces between what's already open, what will open, and the informal spots.  So they change the sign to "Lot Full" and I head in hoping that the girl scouts are carpooling, like good environmentally concious individuals should.

I have 15 minutes to run upstairs, downstairs, middlestairs in order to get my 45 minute program, my 15 minute tool demonstrations, my 20 minute clay-based craft, and my 5 minute story set up.  I'm not ready on time, but that's ok, because the "Lot Full" sign confused some parents looking for the museum so they're on their way.  We get started about 15-20 minutes late.  Gargh!

We do the program, take a little longer on the initial program because they ask so many gosh durned questions, do the tools, take a quick break for me to move around the set up for the craft, make our darned clay pots, Morgan shows up, wash our hands, tell the story, and I clean up in record time.  I tell the guard the few things he needs to do (re-set some alarms, re-lock a few doors) since I don't have codes or keys.

3.20PM Morgan and I rush out of campus and over to Worlds Fair Park.  Everyone is gone!

Noooo!

So now I have two virgin signs for the next protest rally.

I'm annoyed.  Stupid parking.

Come to find out, about 120 people were at the rally, and the only counter protest was

LINK TO ARTICLE ABOUT RALLY IN KTOWN!  I really like this article.  Especially that it is written with a lean toward supporting same sex marriage and even includes religious leaders' comments supporting the equality of the right.

In other marriage-equality news:  December 5 is "No Gay for A Day" day, where the LGBT community and their supporters stay home from work.  Where I work, at the museum, we all feel that marriage should count.  The people I serve, children, would be the ones effected.  While children may repeat what parents say, they are still impressionable.  I'm conflicted whether my staying home would help.

Worlds Fair Park 1:15 Today!

Here are our signs. I'll be there once I'm done with a group at the museum.

Out and About

Saturday is a National Day of Rallying for Equality in Marriage Rights. (click on the graphic for more info).

Either way, the current plan is that in Knoxville people will be meeting at 1PM at World's Fair Park.

Bring your posters, rage, and support.

Official letter from Knoxville coordinator

Friends and allies,

WHY WE NEED YOU: As you know, our November 4th election was a day of mixed emotion. Along with Barack Obama's victory came a stunning defeat for LGBT rights: the passage of Proposition 8, which overturned the California Supreme Court's June 17, 2008 decision to allow same-sex marriage. Legal ramifications for the millions of loving same-sex couples who have been married in CA since the summer are still up in the air, but Prop 8's discriminatory message is clear: gay and lesbian couples are somehow less deserving of the chance for a happy, loving marriage.

While Prop 8 dealt a devastating blow, we can be encouraged by how quickly Americans have rallied in protest of this decision. California cities have already been bombarded with LBGT individuals and their allies, backed by an unprecedented outpouring of support from around the country.

This Saturday, November 15, there will be a nationwide protest in cities across all 50 states and DC. At 1:30 EST (10:30 PST), thousands of Americans will come together in solidarity of our LGBT brothers and sisters. We are saying together, loud and clear, that we will not stand down until EVERYONE has equal marriage rights, feels safe to be who they are, and is embraced as a first-class citizen.

http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/

KNOXVILLE: Knoxville's rally will be held on the lawn of World's Fair Park. We will gather around 1:15 so that we can count down to the 1:30 nationwide protest together. There will be several speakers, including Reverend Bob Galloway of the Metropolitan Community Church. Next, there will be an open session for anyone in the crowd to speak and share their thoughts. (This has been cleared with Lieutenant Hubs and the Park staff. We have permission to be there. Additional security will come through periodically to make sure we are not bothered.) There are a number of parking lots and garages around the Park.

http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com/page/Knoxville

Afterwards, anyone who is interested can go over to Kingston Pike outside the mall to engage in more of a picket-style protest.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Most of all, come to the rally. As of Tuesday night, there was nothing scheduled in Knoxville, and I put this together pretty quickly. Show up and show your support. To stand up for what you believe in with thousands of your fellow citizens across the country is an incredible opportunity.

If you have cameras and/or video recording devices, it would be great to bring them and take plenty of pictures and recordings. The organizers of Join the Impact will be anxious to hear how things went in the different cities.

If you can, make signs for yourself and others. If you need inspiration, check out the link above for ideas.

Additionally, we are still in great need of a megaphone (or microphone with speakers) that does not need to be plugged in; if you have one or know anyone who does and would not mind donating it for a few hours, please let me know!

PLEASE BE AWARE: I've discussed all this with Lieutenant Hubs and we don't anticipate any problems, but in case we attract negative attention, please remain calm and civil. No matter how angry someone makes you or how despicable they may act, you always win by staying classy. Be courteous to other people in the Park, pick up any trash from your signs, etc. There is a Veteran Memorial dedication in the Park in the morning. It is over at noon, but please be respectful of any patrons still mingling from that event.

How we conduct ourselves will speak volumes.

MOST OF ALL: Yes, across the nation we are protesting a discriminatory decision, but this is not just about politics. Most importantly, this is about love, a human need and a human right. Although we are disappointed by California's decision, Saturday's events should be a positive experience as we celebrate the unity and solidarity of our allies around the country.

I look forward to seeing you all on Saturday.

For love,
Jen Crawford

(484) 354-3867

jencra@gmail.com

Angry feminism!

I'm reading this post at Feministing Community about a PMS buddy site.  I'm in Morgan's living room, so he's there too.
"Can you believe this! There's a site where guys can enter the dates that they notice their girlfriend's periods and then get email warnings when their girlfriends should be PMSing so that they can act extra nice on those days."
"Do you want me to sign up for that site?" Morgan asks all eagerly.
"Morgan, you're asking if I want you to sign up for a site that flat out assumes that you're with a woman so ignorant of her own body that she can't tell you if she's feeling poorly from a monthly even.  That assumes that all women turn into crazy woman-zillas for a week because of uncontroled PMS rage.  That assumes all women are on a 28 day cycle! " 

I'm glaring with anger of the idea of the site.  Unfortunatly I'm glaring at Morgan.

His winter coat is on the arm of the chair.  He grabs it and hides under it
"Tell me Morgan!"
"I can't hear your feminist rhetoric! Not under my fort!  I'm hiding! You're scary!"

He comes out.  "Are you signing up for the site?"
In a whimper "No!"

Stigma

A list of things that need to be de-stigmatized.

• mental health disorders
• weight issues (either way)
• pregnancy
• abortion
• consentual recreational sexual encounters
• childfree
• sexual commodification (ie - prostitution)
• feminism
• the vagina
• foster care and social work
• religion whether it's belief or not
• self sufficiency
• requiring assistance
• economic difficulties
• pro-life/pro-choice combinations
• seemingly contradictory religious/political combinations
• success
• failure
• being in love
• love

Theresa's Wedding -Drama Mama's, Dancing Grannies, and Problems with the Pastor's Ex.... AND PICTURES

My LITTLE brother.


My mother.


The other weekend I went to PA to see my bestest best best BEST friend from high school get herself married. I had met David, the groom/husband before. It was so long ago that JUSTIN met the groom/husband. He asked "are you still with that guy i met when Theresa got her wisdom teeth out?" I'm like "no" and Theresa says to me "No, you're with that guy that you went to Texas with." and i'm like "no" and they're like "how many boys have you been through!?" and I answer, "I'm on my third." I only counted "real" relationships, if you know what I mean.

So on to the wedding.

I drive up on Thursday, after the TN drama quiets down (she's back from the hospital and feeling better, btw), leaving Knoxville at about 8AM, stopping somewhere in VA for a BLT and fries at 2 PM and then pulling into Bumblefuck, PA at 6PM. I unload my stuff, including some produce for my mother and make dinner with the TN eggplants, sweet potatoes, and her asparagus. Yummy!

Friday morning I call the bride because I know I'm supposed to be, at some time some where for a rehersal. I also ask if she needs help. So I spend the next while in a freezing old theater with a stamped tin roof stringing up miles of Christmas tree lights and lit up grapes, setting tables, and laying out alchohal. Each table got one bottle of Arbor Mist and one bottle of Maneschevitz (grape flavored wine? what?).

We rush off to the wedding rehersal, where the rev/priest/pastor informs us that while we must be at the church at 12:30, she can't get there till 1 because her exhusband doesn't have their 2 year old this weekend, so she'll drop the kid off at her parents and then come over.

After the rehearsal, dinner at the Prime Rib buffet of Country Cupboard, where we stuffed ourselves full of the best mac and cheese ever concocted on this green/brown/blue earth. Then, after the rehearsal dinner, it's halloween, so we go back to the reception hall and set up candies and peanuts for the favors, rewash all the stem ware, and make sure the tables are set properly.




The reception hall when we finished.

I get home at about 10, get tired of the tension between my mother and myself and go to bed.

The next morning, up at 7 to do my hair and get back to the reception hall at 9. At the hall we get the baloons ready, set up cookies, and any last minute details. We finally shoo Theresa (the bride) out at about 10:30, I stick around about another 20 minutes, and go home. My hair fell horribly, a combination of the silicone straitener I used and a light misty rain I was in the middle of, so I shower and redo it.

Then off to the church, where I start taking pictures. The bridal party is in one of the study rooms, the groomsmen are... who knows. My brother drove me and helped me bring my dress, shoes, purse, other purse, makeup, and jacket. Everyone was so surprised to see him. He's tall, filled out some, and back from Iraq.

Everything getting ready goes pretty well. We get Theresa into her dress, and then we get into ours, taking pictures of us ladies as we go. Crystal and Corralyne (spelling?) and I looked marvelous. Then we looked at the flowers. The bridal bouquet was purple Cala Lillies with white flowers. And us bridesmades had three white Cala Lilies. Absolutely Elegant! They complimented the gowns gloriously.

The flowergirl gets in, M, and she's told that her direction is that she will walk behind me. We did this so that she won't get stage fright of being the first person out.





Then Theresa decides that since we have time and all the cousins and family seem to be here, we'll take pictures, including some of her family, before the service. So we all head outside while the cousins gather the aunts, uncles, grandparents, and greatgrandparents. They aren't coming out so after we do our bridesmaid pix we go back inside.

At which point Theresa's mother comes running into the preperation room, grabs the photographer, and yells at her:

"I DO NOT TAKE ORDERS FROM THE HIRED HELP"
(T's mom is a nurse and her dad is an electrician. They're not normally in positions of having people "beneath" them, so this is/not normal at all.)

The religious officiating figure comes rushing in and leads her mother out "What do YOU still need to do, let's focus on that. The wedding won't start without everyone, and everyone else will wait."

Thank God's helpers. At this point the flower girl is quivering and literally interpreting her direction to stand behind me. My dress is clenched in one of her fists, and she has a death grip on the basket of flower petals.


The religious official helping diffuse the situation.

So then we continue with what we're doing, get in line for the wedding, and her father looks at her and says: "That's the veil? How the hell do I get THAT out of your face?" We all eyeroll and hope that her parents won't continue this and other, nonreported, attempts to be at the center of the event. IT'S THERESA AND DAVID'S DAY DAMMIT! Then we show him that although the veil is massive, the part up front is smaller and you bring it over her head just like if it were a welder's visor.

Music starts (finally!) and we file out and to the front. The veil is done fine. The pastor/reverend/ordained person said some marvelous things about love and togetherness and trust - very little if anything about GOD and JESUS - it actually made me a little weepy, hoping to find someone who I can share that sort of emotional intimacy/trust with for so long.

Then we headed out of the church, did a receiving line. Atleast 5 people I graduated with were like "Oh Hi! How are you?! It's been so long!" And I couldn't remember their name, just something about how I didn't like them because they were mean so why the hell were they here, they must have changed and keep in touch with Theresa. And I smile saying "Yes, it has been too long, hasn't it."

Once everyone was outside, they had bottles of bubbles, and when the bride and groom came out of the church wwe blew bubbles. I managed to get a gob of the solution flicked into my eye, so before the NEXT round of pictures I ran inside and redid my eye makeup.

Pictures in the church, pictures outside, then we jump in Corralyn's car and head to the reception hall. Once there, we wait about half an hour for the bride and groom (they went to ANOTHER location to take pix... an archway in the cemetary). Then we all get introduced and sit down at the head table.


The favors and place cards.


Food was delicious! Appatizers were Kelbasa (aka kelbessy) and meatballs. The main meals were BBQ beef briscuit or chicken cordon bleu. Vegetables were typical big seating medley of cauliflower, carrot, and something else. I was SO hungry between getting the reception hall ready and all. I had a sandwich at lunch but I was still hungry. So when the caterers brought extra chickens to our table, I (and others) totally dug into it.


Cakes


Theresa and Crystal

Through this, I wandered over to a table populated with my friends from high school, some with their significant others and one pregnant (with her second!!!), and took some pictures of them. My mother was sitting with them. At one point, I hear one say "I don't mind when someone talks politics, but I figure why should I try to convince someone of my view?" and someone responds "I totally agree, it's just not polite." And, ironically, I fight back responding that convincing people is more of educating them to views they aren't aware of yet and that my future is dependant on others making properly informed decision.





She's 6 month's pregnant. With number 2!

Then we have all the dancings. Daughter daddy. Wife and husband. Dollar dance (1 dollar gets you a shot!).


The bride (I'm so proud of this picture!)


With her father





Then more dancing!


Theresa's Grandmother Boogieing on DOWN!



Theresa's GREAT GRANDMOTHER DOING THE TWIST!!!


Happy Couples!


Beth dancing and messing with a camera.


And more hanging out!


We were all elsewhere.


Bonnie (David's mom) David, Theresa, and Matt taking a quick break from the people, people, and more people.


The siblings and their SigOthers.


See - where's still not around.


Crystal with Johnathan

About 10PM we shut down and started cleaning up. Thankfully we finally get things set to a good point, after Theresa's mom goes on for a while about... I'm not totally sure entirely but I think it had something with the kegs. Corralyne and Theresa's brother Matt gave me a ride back.

Success.

And then I drove home.

PA farmland


Carlisle War College

a good time

Last night we had a birthday party for my dear friend and friend-in-crime for multiple adventures in the past.  we had a fun evening with just a few of us.  Morgan showed up a little early to help me with last minute stuff, like running to the store for a few ingredients I was short on.

But we had a new set of semi-china (ironstone?) complete with bone plates and ... baked potato plates? ...  who knows - it's a random set of dishes that my mother got me.  My mother got me dishes? Surprise!!

But the chocolate cake was delish and the red beans and rice (recipe later) were welcomed.

Yay Party!

Am I too nice? - communication with an ex

I got an email from A this morning - yes, the ex.

So, as I find it hard to forget because I was there, and as I think multiple people have heard, my last relationship (with A) didn't end too well.  It was full of tears and screams and spite.  He checked my blogs and myspace continually.  He wouldn't let me be at my house.  When I saw his roommate/coworker at Brewers Jam who kept hanging out with my group, I was told that he's not over me, that he keeps talking about me.  I was asked, in front of Morgan, if there was any chance we would get *back* together so that A would calm down.  Imagine what he would be like if I had been the one who broke up with HIM!

In this process, after a series of not plesent emails that I left unanswered he sends a more ominous one that makes me think he'll start (again) with the random showing up at my door.  This is when I finally respond to him simply telling him that I don't want to ever see/hear him again and to leave me alone.

He got the hint.  He still hit my blog for a while.  It was after this that I saw his roomate who talked to me.  But eventually I stopped getting hits from Cookeville and Crossville on my Myspace and my blogger.  So either he stopped reading or he found a really good IP hider.

And I was happy that the negativity of the situation had left.  I was still friends with his sister-in-law, so that was cool.  I'm a little upset that this has made it so that if she has something awesome (like her first friday show) I need to check that there will be no potential for drama, but that hasn't been a problem yet.

But then this morning I get an email from A. subject line "hello friend! how are you these days"

I wonder if I should open it, but something doesn't seem right about it.

1. I was up about 9AM. I went to bed about 1AM.  He's not normally up before 10AM and is in another time zone, so that would be my 11AM.  And he wouldn't bother sending me anything after his midnight.  Not after so long.
2. It wasn't capitalized right.  A was big about proper grammer. it used to annoy him when I would write/chat all in lower case
3. The exclamation point after friend.  A hated exclamation points.
4. He called me friend.  After all that I explained
   

I open it and find it's a spam advertising for some electronics site.  I sit there and wonder what I should do about this.  Am I the only one who knows? How will he figure out?

So I respond to his other email address.

"I think someone other than you has access to your email address. this looks like spam. I'm responding your other email as resending to the one that may be compromised seems pointless."


I hope I didn't open up some unwanted connection.  But at the same time, having an email account compromised is serious.

Don't Let Obama overshadow the Issues

Obama/Biden is the chosen pair. Awesome. This is the positive set. The one that will NOT work against my values, as opposed to the heteronormative, anti-choice, gender-discriminatory McCain/Palin ticket. I may seem behind on celebrating, but I've been working on a massive post about the wedding I went to. And I got sick.

But what about all the local propositions?

South Dakota's totalitarian abortion ban failed. Good.
Colorado's attempt to define personhood as conception failed. Good.

What are we upset about?

I'm upset because:
Arkansas banned fostering or adoption by unmarried couples, and since gay marriage is not allowed this further disenfranchises homosexual couples as well as those who don't wish to participate in a heteronormative institution.
Arizona banned gay marriage.
Nebraska removed Affirmative Action from it's constitution. (WTF!)
Florida banned gay marriage.
California banned gay marriage, revoking marriage licenses from multiple married couples. Updated. But it doesn't make it any less of an issue!

So homosexuals are the new second class citizens. Look, I'm already refering to them as an "other". They must be. Ooops, theres "they" again. But we still let them live with their friends, isn't that what they want?

::sigh::

In addition to the demonstrations, there are two movements that I'm getting in on regarding this revoking / restricting of rights.

1. Second Class Citizens Don't Pay Taxes - If "the gays" are second class citizens, they obviously don't need to pay taxes. This movement is lead by none other than Melissa Etheridge. Huh. My gay friend (see, I have one! My "token" friend.) is also named Melissa. Must be a gay thing. See girls, you aren't allowed to marry anyone named Melissa, at least not in California, Florida, or Arizona. (Mel, please see the sarcasm dripping from that if for some reason it was as invisible as same sex marriage rights!)

2. Pressure IRS to Make LDS Not Tax Exempt - The Morman church supplied almost 80% of the funding to advertise for Prop 8 (against gay marriage - some confusing wording there). That's $19,000,000 (19 million dollars. the 000's are impressive!!!). $19 million to influence legeslation. Huh. Wait. LDS is a church, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. So they're tax exempt. But the IRS states "no organization, including a church, may qualify for IRC section 501(c)(3) status if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation (commonly known as lobbying)." Support removing tax exempt status from the Mormon Church by signing this petition. Let's not forget that the Mormons originally had an issue with the American legal definition of marriage between one man and ONE WOMAN. Hence why Brigham Young stated "Marriage is a civil contract. You might as well make a law to say how many children a man shall have, as to make a law to say how many wives he shall have."

Party!

Voting Roundup

Well, actually, thanks to the early voting process in Tennessee, I voted a few weeks ago.  I've sent out reminder emails to people who hadn't made an intent to vote clear, and now I'm at work discussing our hopes and dreams in a particularly left wing office setting.

But now that we voted, what to do? (In addition to dragging other people to the polls)...

Free Stuff  - A couple places are giving out free snacks as a reward for voting. You can bring proof (stubs/reciepts/regestration cards), but most take your word on it.

• Krispy Kreme - You get a free donut
• Starbucks - You get a free tall coffee
• Ben and Jerry's (after 6PM) - You get a free single scoop of icecream

Watch the Results

• Bruce Schneier at Making Light - as the polls close.  Making Light beat CNN on the first poll results of the nation.  Dixville Notch- Obama:15, McCain:6.  We have a good start!
• Democracy Now - 7PM-Midnight EST
• GRITtv - Noon-2PM

election eve

i'm back from pa and wanted to write something awesome about what i termed "the great red slash" of PA (the I-81 and route 11/15 corridor).  I was driving I-81 through Virginia, listening to NPR, getting updates on polls and criticism/decontruction of polls and two different episodes of car talk, when I passed a barn.  It was painted black with, in large white letters, "I'M VOTING FOR THE HOT CHICK"

then i got sick. major food poisoning/stomach bug/something in my innards.

so i'll give you a link instead.

Sarah Palin on the first amendment
check out update #3 .... it has the actual mp3.