No score

Well, this blog post was supposed to start out me reporting that, despite not having bowled for yonks, I'd managed to come up with some sort of kick-ass, or at least over 150, score. Alas and alack, 'twas not to be. Gentle reader, fear not, for it doth appear that Sunset Bowl will nay be following in the footsteps of Leilani Lanes. At least there's no mention of closure on their website AND they installed a bunch of equipment from Leilani just last year. HOWEVER, please do not attempt to bowl there as a normal schmo of an evening on any day but Saturday. You will not be successful, at least before 9:30, as there is league play.

The evening was salvaged by dinner at one of them Beeliner places (who are participating in Dine for Darfur thing on March 4th. Worth an evening out, to be sure.), after which little Lucy was trundled off to bed by her parents and Nickbob and I adjourned to the U District to see what his innocent trouble his Landmark annual pass could get us into. Atonement it was. I found it a bit patchy in parts in terms of pace, but other times it was absolutely spot on. Despite this and a slightly Hollywood ending, I liked it overall. (Of course, I was pre-disposed to rather like anything based on an Ian McEwan novel. If you only read one thing by him, read the first chapter of Enduring Love. Shut up. Just do it.) There were many beautiful moments, impeccable performances, gorgeous people, dresses and sets and the music well deserved its Oscar. Still, I'm not totally sure it was best picture material. Of course, for a real review, better refer to Yojimbo.

Foodscapes

In the what-will-people-think-of-next category come these cool 'foodscapes' by Carl Warner. (Look under photographics.)

CXCII

May 2005
Spc. Audrey D. Lunsford 29 [Mississippi Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. 1st Class Peter J. Hahn 31 [Louisiana Army Nat'l Guard]
Spc. Dustin C. Fisher 22
Sgt. Charles A. Drier 28
Sgt. 1st Class Randy D. Collins 36
Spc. Bryan D. Barron 26 [Mississippi Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. David N. Wimberg 24 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Sgt. Alfred B. Siler 33
Maj. Ricardo A. Crocker 39 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Sgt. Mark A. Maida 22

Source: CNN.com

Word of the day: glebe

glebe (glēb)

n.

1. A plot of land belonging or yielding profit to an English parish church or an ecclesiastical office.
2. Archaic. The soil or earth; land.

Ain't this a great word? I'd never heard it before. Sounds like some sort of fantastic Shakespearean insult, as in 'You glebish knave, you!' Hey, I've only been studying The professions in early modern England for a bit now and I'm learning good stuff already! Edumocation sure be great, dudn't it?

The Counting of the Dead

81,510 - 88,976
Source: iraqbodycount.net

I find it absolutely amazing that our country can be at war, yet the everyday lives of most Americans are quite simply unaffected by this. I guess the only sane response to such circumstances is to be mindful, to remember what is happening. Hence the list. Hence the poem I copy below.

The Counting of the Dead (An Unfinished Poem)

For Marla Ruzicka, founder of Campaign for Innocent Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC)

Here in Baghdad's neighborhoods, she's well beyond
the Green Zone, far from her Lakeport home in California.
In last night's journal she wrote—I have tried
red wine a little too much for medicine, deprived myself
of sleep, and yet, here she is, dressed in a black abaya,
walking house to house, knocking on each door.

She is here to count the dead, to discover the names
of the missing, where the wounded have gone to sleep
under whispers and wailing. And it's difficult to imagine
how she walked from house to house, not with rifles
and flexcuffs and sandbags, as I once did, but with questions—
to inquire of the dead, to learn who lived here
before the war, who has been lost.

*

What will we eat, the old woman asks.
Where will the next bag of rice come from.
Her husband, a police officer, was found
behind a wall on the outskirts of town,
slumped over with fourteen others,
each of them with a bullet in their head.
Like sheep. As if they were lambs to the slaughter…
What can you give to replace the man I love.

*

Behind another door, Akbar tells Marla
We think it was, well, maybe an illegal checkpoint.
It happened on the road to Balad, during Ramadan
this last year. And they shot them, my son
and his wife, they shot them right inside the car,
in the middle of the road, in the middle of the day.
He was an engineer. My son was an engineer.
Why do they have reason to shoot an engineer.

*

It was from the bombs, from the beginning,
that's what took my Lefta. Now every day I see
helicopters over the city, the bombs they have,
and all I can think is how he loved the café,
he loved to smoke tobacco and talk politics
in the café, he did, and more than anything
he loved to say poems, Hafiz and Sa'di and Rumi,
he could talk about them hour after hour.

*

And at another door, they have seen
far too much of death in their home,
they break down at the very question,
they close the door without answer.

*

Still another shows photographs from before
the war, pictures of her two young daughters, Alaa
and Rasha, and Marla remembers another photo
as this mother tells the story of these children—
the pile of sandals beside the bridge, the headline,
bodies given to the river by the hundreds.
But this isn't what this mother speaks of.
When she describes her Alaa and Rasha,
she speaks of Alaa's laughter, the shyness
of Rasha, of how they will never experience
the giving of birth, the tenderness of the breast,
the graveyard's dark upturned soil
gone pregnant with the dead.

*

And on and on it goes. Most houses ask—
Can the dead be counted if they didn't live here?
She had a cousin in Ramadi, He had a friend
in Kirkuk. The list is being written as we speak.
The poem has yet to be finished—

-- Brian Turner

More poems by Brian Turner

CXCI

May 2005
Sgt. John B. Ogburn III 45 [Oregon Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. Benjamin C. Morton 24
Sgt. Carl J. Morgain 40 [Pennsylvania Army Nat'l Guard]
Spc. Tyler L. Creamean 21
Staff Sgt. Russell J. Verdugo 34
Sgt. Christopher S. Perez 30
Spc. Joshua T. Brazee 25
Pfc. Jeffrey R. Wallace 20
Spc. Daniel R. Varnado 23 [Mississippi Army Nat'l Guard]
Staff Sgt. Saburant Parker 43 [Mississippi Army Nat'l Guard]

Source: CNN.com

Teaching and learning

My first day teaching at CASA went great. The students seemed to enjoy the lesson and take something away with them. One who I've only ever seen spend the whole time looking bored with his headphones on told me he really liked it and hung around afterwards, so I took that as a good sign. I remembered how much I love teaching. Sharing knowledge that others want is really a gratifying experience, one which I strive to make reciprocal.

As I was leaving, however, I was reminded just how hard volunteering with this group can be: there's always a nagging feeling I could be doing more. Yesterday while I was observing another teacher, one of the guys told me a bit about his current situation, caused mostly by his trying to be a good guy and do someone else a favor. Our conversation continued today, and I walked away thinking I should have offered him more than just a kind word and regretful encouragement. I know that I can't realistically go around offering everyone there more tangible support than help with their language learning, and that if they're at CASA, it's because they want to work and get ahead themselves, not because they want handouts. Still, even knowing/thinking this, it feels like a cop-out. I feel I should be able to recognize those situations which are above and beyond the norm. When I volunteered there last time, my Spanish wasn't good enough to get into real in-depth conversations with the students, so you could say I remained blissfully ignorant.

I guess I managed to shake off my (earnest yet short-lived) white liberal guilt, though, as the rest of the day was dedicated to things of an enjoyable nature: tea and paper reading; lunch with Kaffrun and Lynnie at the Two Bells, where I was MOST overjoyed to discover they had Maritime Pacific's Nightwatch, my all-time favorite Seattle microbrew, and something I hadn't come across in a very long while; the Roman Art from the Louvre exhibition at SAM with Kaffrun, preceding which there was a trading of our latest war stories over some fine lattes, and during which I was pleased to discover that my classical education appears not to have gone to waste: I actually know some stuff most folks don't! (Amazing!)

I have also discovered that living in West Seattle requires a certain level of bus route mastery which I do not seem to have achieved as of yet. I've taken to driving to the Junction, rather than catching the 54 a fifteen-minute walk from my house, as I had discovered that inevitably the bus which would come first when I was returning home from downtown was the 55, which does not go by my house, as opposed to the 54, which does, both of which go to the Junction. (BTW, I am slightly mystified by Soapy's bus arrival challenges, as both these routes seem to carry on as number 5s from downtown, and they appear to run fairly often. However, it must be said that less so going into town at evening rush hour. But there you are. The mysteries of Metro transit will always evade the understanding of mere mortals.)

Anyway, since having (I thought cleverly) adopted this technique, now all that seem to come are 54s when I'm downtown. OK, whatever, it's only a five-minute drive, I haven't wasted too much gas and polluted too much. Better than driving myself all the way downtown. And then today, I unthinkingly and merrily hopped a 54 Express, which I had equally merrily forgot does not even go to the Junction. Unfortunately, I remembered this a moment too late, as it was pulling away from the stop which would leave me closest. Fortunately, I really didn't mind the 10-block walk: good to shake off the museum legs, good to gawk into people's houses, good to enjoy the pink-tinged beautiful evening sky. Also fortunately, I am very much enjoying living in a city where you can actually see the sky on a regular basis. Madrid's density and oppressiveness really got to me at times. You have to remember to look up; it's like being walled in, the buildings are all so close to the sidewalk and uniformly at least 5-6 stories high. I don't need to be reminded to raise my gaze here.

Amigos de Obama

W thought I might like to post this link to this Amigos de Obama promotional video, and he thunk right. It seems to be targeting voters in the Texas primary.

Translation of the lyrics (not by me):

To the candidate who is Barack Obama
I sing this corrido with all my soul
He was born humble without pretension
He began in the streets of Chicago
Working to achieve a vision
To protect the working people
And bring us all together in this great nation

¡Viva Obama! ¡Viva Obama!
Families united and safe and even with a health care plan
¡Viva Obama! ¡Viva Obama!
A candidate fighting for our nation

It doesn’t matter if you’re from San Antonio
It doesn’t matter if you’re from Corpus Christi
From Dallas, from El Valle, from Houston or from El Paso
What matters is that we vote for Obama
Because his struggle is also our struggle, and today we urgently need a change
Let’s unite with our great friend

¡Viva Obama! ¡Viva Obama!
Families united and safe and even with a health care plan
¡Viva Obama! ¡Viva Obama!
A candidate fighting for our nation


Now I really want to get me a ¡Viva! Obama bumper sticker.

CXC

May 2005
Pfc. Wesley R. Riggs 19
Sgt. Antwan L. Walker 22
Spc. Bernard L. Sembly 25 [Louisiana Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. Robin V. Fell 22 [Louisiana Army Nat'l Guard]
Pfc. Wyatt D. Eisenhauer 26
Sgt. Brad A. Wentz 21 [Army Reserve]
Sgt. Kurt D. Schamberg 26
Sgt. Charles T. Wilkerson 30
1st Lt. Aaron N. Seesan 25
Sgt. Kenneth J. Schall 22

Source: CNN.com

Moon on water

Did I mention I love my apartment? (Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Di!) I woke this morning to find the still pretty full moon still shining to beat the band and reflecting across the water behind the trees. A gorgeous way to start the day.

Now I'm off to teach some of that there English. Hope I still remember how!

Frozen Grand Central

I know Walter at least will find this Improv Everywhere mission really cool.

CLXXXIX

May 2005
Lance Cpl. Nicholas B. Erdy 21 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Pfc. Christopher R. Dixon 18 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Lance Cpl. Wesley G. Davids 20 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Staff Sgt. Samuel T. Castle 26
Pfc. Kenneth E. Zeigler II 22
Sgt. John M. Smith 22
Sgt. Andrew R. Jodon 27
Pfc. Travis W. Anderson 28
Sgt. Charles C. Gillican III 35 [Georgia Army Nat'l Guard]
Sgt. Jacob M. Simpson 24

Source: CNN.com

Eclipsed

How can we possibly hope to comprehend the universe when we can't fully come to grips with our own hearts and minds? Anyway, guess it doesn't really matter when you've got such a fine lunar eclipse to view.

Up and running

I sort of gave myself the day off yesterday. While I've got a ton of work in the pipeline, I was getting seriously burnt out, so I pretended my next deadline (Friday) was far away and set about getting my new laptop up and running (although there is still much to do), giving the house a much-needed clean and doing laundry. So, coming to you from the new Toshiba Satellite. It was (not really very) touch and go at Best Buy with the Mac guy salesperson extolling the virtues of fruit. I did not succumb in the end, but may, mayhaps, do so next time. Really, I just needed to get up and running and am not in a position right now to scale the learning curve to Mac-dom or deal with the whole partitioning my hard drive bidness. Walter was his stoic and reasonable best, and did not jump on Mac Guy's bandwagon, but gave reasoned and reasonable advice when requested to do so. He's the bestest come along with you to buy a computer friend a gal could ever have. (However, I must correct him on a point of fact. While he was indeed present for the investigatory portion of my last purchase go round, aka dither-fest, I actually bought the thing all by my lonesome down in Portland while visiting my mom. Sales tax, you know. Could it possibly be that his absence led to my apparently catastrophic choice of a Compaq machine? I guess we will never know.)

After and during said usefulness, feeling in need of some actual fun, and a bit of a yen for bowling, I called up the lovely Conifer to see if she and her boys would be up for some of that. Came away with an invite to a potluck and a lovely evening with a bunch of her fellow nurses. The bowling itch still awaits scratching.

Today, the nose is back to the grindstone. On the brighter side, I've had some confirmation that the fabulous and wonderfully mad Miss Cathy will very most likely be paying our fair city a visit in September, Miss Miriam's doing much better than she was during my visit and has found a nice new apartment, it's lovely out right now, I've had a nice sit down by the water, I've got a cup of Market Spice tea at my side and the cat's luxuriating on the couch in the early afternoon sun, so things ain't all that bad.

CLXXXVIII

May 2005
Cpl. Dustin A. Derga 24 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Lance Cpl. Taylor B. Prazynski 20
Lance Cpl. Marcus Mahdee 20
Staff Sgt. Anthony L. Goodwin 33
Pfc. Stephen P. Baldwyn 19
1st Sgt. Michael J. Bordelon 37
Lance Cpl. John T. Schmidt III 21
Staff Sgt. Kendall H. Ivy II 28
Lance Cpl. Jourdan L. Grez 24 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Lance Cpl. Jonathan W. Grant 23 [Marine Forces Reserve]

Source: CNN.com

CLXXXVII

May 2005

Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeffery L. Wiener 32
Lance Cpl. Michael V. Postal 21
Sgt. Michael A. Marzano 28 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Lance Cpl. Lance T. Graham 26 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Sgt. Aaron N. Cepeda Sr. 22 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Lance Cpl. Lawrence R. Philippon 22
Pfc. Nicolas E. Messmer 20
Staff Sgt. Thor H. Ingraham 24
Spc. Steven R. Givens 26
Sgt. Gary A. Eckert Jr. 24 [Army Reserve]

Source: CNN.com

CLXXXVI

May 2005
Spc. Derrick J. Lutters 24 [Kansas Army Nat'l Guard]
Guardsman Anthony John Wakefield 24 [British]
Maj. John C. Spahr 42
Sgt. John E. McGee 36 [Alabama Army Nat'l Guard]
Staff Sgt. Tommy S. Little 47 [Mississippi Army Nat'l Guard]
Capt. Kelly C. Hinz 30
Pvt. Preslav Yordanov Stoyanov 27 [Bulgarian]
Sgt. Stephen P. Saxton 24
Jr. Sgt. Valentin Donev 34 [Bulgarian]
Staff Sgt. William J. Brooks 30

Source: CNN.com

Music and mountains

Since I got back to Seattle, I had not seen the mountain until today. This had made me sad. I was never sure if I had gotten out of the habit of looking for it, or if it simply hasn't been out when I've been in the right place to glimpse it. (For those Non-Seattlites Among You, NSAY, 'The Mountain' is Mount Rainier, which keeps watch over our fair city from the south. Because of our rather overcast climate, it's not uncommon for Rainier not to 'be out' for quite extended periods.) I've also been enjoying some fantastic sunsets lately from my living room window.

On another musical note, due to confusion, I ended up having to drive all the way up to Shoreline and back (note to NSAY, is very far from my house) all by my lonesome to help with Darcy's mom move part II. This was made just a little bit better by today's car stereo selection, another liberry item which I've been periodically grooving on at home, but which had not heretofore been given my full attention, as this is somewhat difficult to do when you're trying to listen and do other things at the same time which require brain functions, such as cheese, to give a for instance, but not like driving. Plus, there's there enclosed metal box acoustic effect. (Man, I love listening to music and driving!) Anyways, I do digress. Said moozic is Jacksonville City Nights by Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Right now, I'm particularly taken with two tracks, 'A Kiss Before I Go' (see below) and 'The End', both of which exemplify for me the finer qualities of real country, by which I do NOT mean that shiny, glitzy flag-waving shit being foisted on folks. I can and do heartily recommend it, as well as just about anything Ryan Adams has had a hand in. So there.

'A Kiss Before I Go'
The engine turns on a dime
But I ain't goin' nowhere tonight
I ain't been goin' nowhere for quite awhile
Can't tell the truth in a house of lies
Can't explain what I don't know
One shot, one beer and a kiss before I go

One more kiss 'fore I go
One more night and day
Breath all heavy and slow
One shot, one beer and a kiss before I go

I'll miss those nights at the bar
With every girl all loaded like freights
And the pain in the morning comes as easy as it goes
Can't find the truth in a house of lies
And you can't see tomorrow with yesterday's eyes
One shot, one beer and a place where nobody cries
One more kiss 'fore I go
One more night and day
Breath all heavy and slow
One shot, one beer and a kiss before I go

Adios, queso

The cheese, he is done. Finally. At last. Woo-hoo!!!!!!!! (It has been pointed out to me that those not-so-faithful readers amongst you might be mystified by all the cheese references contained herein. To clarify, most of this week's waking hours, and I exaggerate not, have been spent in a large (20,000-word) job: a trade show catalogue all about different Spanish cheeses: description, production method, etc. Boy, this kind of work gets soooooo boring it really cheeses me off! Sorry, couldn't resist.)

You'd think I'd have been so sick of the dang stuff that actually cheese consumption would be beyond out of the question. However, due to lack of tortilla-making time (all yesterday afternoon being taken up with computer-related matters), I stopped by that ever-wonder purveyor of fine Spanish foodstuffs, The Spanish Table, and picked up some goodies for last night's neighborly potluck. These included two varieties of cheese: my current fave Idiazabal and half a Tetilla (literally, 'nipple'). (The picture may give you some idea of the origin of the name.) Yumilicious.

CLXXXV

April 2005
Sgt. Eric W. Morris 31
Sgt. Timothy C. Kiser 37
1st Lt. William A. Edens 29
Capt. Ralph J. Harting III 28
2nd Lt. Clifford V. Gadsden 25
Capt. Stephen W. Frank 29
Pfc. Darren A. Deblanc 20
Pvt. Charles S. Cooper Jr. 19
Sgt. Kenya A. Parker 26
Staff Sgt. Juan De Dios Garcia-Arana 27

Source: CNN.com

Susana Baca

So, I've been really grooving on Susana Baca for about a month and a half now, after discovering Lamento Negro kind of by accident. The liberry has some of her stuff. Check it out.

Congrats

Big congratulations to my dearest Conifer, who is now officially a nurse, having showed them Boards how it's done.

Best of luck on your new adventure, sweetie.

CLXXXIV

April 2005
Pfc. Gavin J. Colburn 20 [Army Reserve]
Cpl. Kevin W. Prince 22
Hospitalman Aaron A. Kent 28
Sgt. Anthony J. Davis Jr. 22
Spc. Gary W. Walters Jr. 31
1st Sgt. Timmy J. Millsap 39
Spc. David L. Rice 22
Cpl. Joseph S. Tremblay 23 [Marine Forces Reserve]
Spc. Ricky W. Rockholt Jr. 28
Pfc. Robert W. Murray Jr. 21

Source: CNN.com

R.I.P.

Alas, 'tis indeed dead.

Guess I'll be paying a visit to Best Buy post-cheese.

Bummer, dude. Most non-triumphant news.

CLXXXIII

April 2005
Pvt. Aaron M. Hudson 20
Pfc. Steven F. Sirko 20
Pvt. Joseph L. Knott 21
Maj. Steven W. Thornton 46
Pfc. Sam W. Huff 18 [feels necessary to note that Sam's a woman, girl!]
Pfc. Kevin S. K. Wessel 20
Spc. Jacob M. Pfister 27
Lance Cpl. Marty G. Mortenson 22
Cpl. Kelly M. Cannan 21
Pfc. Robert A. Guy 26

Source: CNN.com

[I felt a little perspective was required.
So, meanwhile, back where folks really have got it shitty.]


Civilians reported killed by military intervention in Iraq

Minimum: 81064

Maximum: 88511

Source: iraqbodycount.net

Then again

Maybe not. There might be hope for my little Compaq.

Bated breath.

Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, back at the farm: cheese cheese cheese cheese.

OK. Clearly not having an 'out-in-the-world' job (plus all the crazy-making cheese), however part-time and hellish, encourages random steam-of-consciousness blogging in the style of 24/7 wired university students putting off the actual studying. This is not, I fear, such a good thing. I have more than proved that I am not, in fact, still in Europe (see comments), but alive and blogging in the U S of A. I have nothing left to say, except that. Or something. Maybe I could trade desks with Soapy for a while?

She said incoherently. Cheese, anyone?

Dead motherboard

Looks like I'm going to have to buy a new computer after all.

%@%&$%&#^#!!!&@!!??!!!!!!

Grrrrr, a day in the life

Cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese.

Pick up mom and drive her to work.

Short bit of cheese interrupted by call from RePC: my computer's all better!

Drive to RePC to pick baby up. Apparently "big chunk of lint" was clogging fan and causing it to overheat and turn itself off. Compose blog paean to lint in my head while driving home.

Arrive home, transfer all files from W's Mac to pen drive. Turn on my computer. It lasts five minutes. Then two. Then one.

Call RePC: 'Bring it in, we'll look at it right away.' Much swearing and cursing is issued from my mouth on the drive over.

Back at RePC: 'We don't know what the problem is (especially as dang thing failed to reproduce symptoms, i.e., shut its damn self off) and so we'll just have to take it back in.'

Drive home. More swearing and cursing.

Cheese cheese cheese...

A day in the life

Cheese, cheese, cheese, cheese, etc. (see below)

Help Darcy and friend move her mom's stuff to the new place.

Try to take a nap to perk self up to continue with cheese. Fail.

Back at the keyboard.

Lost in translation

While translating, when I'm not sure how I like the sound of a certain collocation, I'll generally run it through Google and see what kind of hits I get. I'm in the midst of a massive job all about cheese and was struggling with something nice that would express the idea of a "frank flavour", which would be the literal translation, and which I think sounds absolutely crap. I was giving "sincere flavour" a try when I came up with this gem:

She guided on nakedly and it was fenced she had a sincere flavour in her too. He stopped botering her and sticked her, dashing her surreptitiously and...

Now, judging from the name of the site, this is meant to be porn, but I rather think that if you were really to attempt to achieve some sort of sexual satisfaction whilst perusing it, any excitement would immediately be lost amidst peals of laughter.

"The values of the majority"

OK. 11 hours of sleep under my belt (or butt, I guess), and I feel much better. Plus, it's Friday, so I can pretend that I don't have to work every spare moment, which in fact, I will have to do this weekend (which begs the question why I'm choosing to spend - waste? - my time reading the Spanish papers and blogging). But I digress.

The coordinator of the PP's ("Popular Party", Spain's main right-wing party) electoral program is talking about a visa obtained by points assigned, based on , among other factors, "historical links" to Spain and certain skills required by the Spanish economy. OK, seems fairly reasonable. Spain has long had a history of recognizing its special relationship with Latin American countries. For example, to apply for citizenship, I would have to have lived in the country legally for 10 years. For a citizen of most Latin American countries, the requirement is only five years.

The article I read then went on to discuss an "immigration contract" which the PP is apparently really pushing. He states (my translation): "In the EU, we should promote and establish the general use of instruments and policies of these characteristics, which ensure full integration and that we all share the values of the majority."

Now I know what he probably means are the democratic values of a modern Western state. However, that's the thing about democracies, it really sucks when the majority shares an idea which you find nothing short of abhorrent, and idea such as, say "Gee, that George W. Bush fellow seems like he'd make us a right good president." and "Gee, I think it's just fine we've mucked up our standing in the world and the planet to boot, not to mention squandering a valuable opportunity to foster international cooperation, but that GWB guy seems like he's got it all under control jes fine. Let's just go ahead and vote for him again, why not? He'll make sure the U S A stays N U M B E R O N E!" Or what about if the majority, in the form of their duly elected representatives, decide that our constitution needs to stipulate what precise form the social contract of marriage must take or that a form of religious expression which does not hurt anyone (I'm not talking about ablation here) such as the hijab goes against the "values of the majority" and should thus not be allowed in our public institutions?

It's a tricky, slippery slope. I myself am trying more and more to always keep in mind that what seems right and true and obvious to us may not be thus to another, and find ways to negotiate that. Not to impose.

Bad week, no biscuit!

This has been a phenomenally crappy week. And I am exhausted. Jet lag begets sleep problems. Sleep problems beget difficulty focusing on and completing tremendous work load in a timely manner. Too much work begets sleep problems and you get the picture. As a result or in conjunction, am just not coping very well with the other challenges life's been throwing my way. Am not entirely sure why I'm finding it all so hard, but as I wandered the streets, no make that parking lots, of lovely downtown Redmond this afternoon, killing time while my mom was in the job interview I needed to drive her to, I realized that as I've just finally been able to go back on my pills for my dicky ovaries, there might be hormonal element to the matter. Would that this were all.

Then I realize that plenty of people are out there dealing with the really big shit and all my whinging begins to ring hollow to me.