Tuesday, November 30, 2004Good times on Thursday...Carline's studio is having an open house this week... and you should go!The holiday season now approaches... come join Art Squad this First Thursday (Dec. 2nd) as we open our studio and display some lovely local artist-made offerings for your gift-giving pleasure!5 artists (paintings, photos, wearable art)
music + wine
Thursday, Dec. 3rd from 6:30 PM - 10 PM619 Western Ave - 5th floor, north studio
The whole building is open on First Thursday, so come not only to see our stuff, but to shop the whole 6 floors of yummy arty goodness.
Monday, November 29, 2004Close encounter of the feathered kind
Sunday, November 28, 2004The beach at dusk
Saturday, November 27, 2004That time of the yearLast year most of my Christmas cards didn't go out till January after my trip to India. This year I'm hoping to get them done a bit earlier. If you've moved in the past few months and haven't sent me your address, do send it on over!BTW, we set the holiday party date for this Friday (Dec 3rd) at 8pm and you are invited. If you need my address, leave me a comment and let me know. :) We'll provide the fondue if y'all can bring some kind of drink to share...
Friday, November 26, 2004Back in town....We said our goodbyes at 5AM and left for the long trip home. After an okay flight from Florida to New Jersey, and then a painfully long flight from New Jersey to Seattle, I'm finally home after three movies and MANY hours later. (I Robot, Hidalgo, and the Notebook, in case you're wondering what Continental is showing nowadays). I'm glad to be home, but I'm currently starving and my legs are killing me from the cramped trip from NJ to Seattle. I'm off to make myself dinner then suspect I'll pass out early tonight. G'night y'all!
Thursday, November 25, 2004My listsThings I have to be thankful for this week:Things I have to be thankful for every week:
- Seeing my family every year at Thanksgiving
- Reduced dress code policy (business casual) for the big dinner
- Frozen cosmos and mudslides for the whole family
- Opey... the world's cutest dog
- Never getting too old for the always entertaining kids table
- Seeing Grandpa dapper, smiley, and proud
- Seeing my female relatives who have no filter on their thoughts and speak everything that comes to mind (no matter how mildly inappropriate or shocking!)
- Green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, and homemade pecan pie
- The beach, ocean waves, hot tub, heated pool, and sun
- Elite status on Continental (i.e. free first class upgrades)!
What are you thankful for?
- My friends
- My family
- And all of the other details that make life entertaining, challenging, memorable, and gratifying
Happy Thanksgiving!Skies in Naples, Florida have been mostly sunny and weather is in the mid-80s. It's entirely lovely. Tuesday we spent the day at the astonishing Rod & Gun Club (built in the 1860s)... the generous number of dead animals hanging from the walls reminded me of all of the royal dining halls in India. Food and atmosphere were otherwise great... our table was waterfront and that's always good in my book. In the afternon we took an airboat tour of the Everglades. It's a classic touristy thing to do and it was expectedly campy and entertaining. We got to see pelicans land on our boat, pretty birds, multiple alligators, and ship wrecked boats left over from drug trafficing. :)Wednesday we did a huge Thanksgiving in all of it's glory (9 hours of cooking, 3 hours of drinking and eating and drinking, and 2 more hours of cleanup and drinking). Today we shall relax. I'm currently sitting at the beach house watching the waves crash around the surfers while I eat left over pecan pie. More to come later when I'm not neglectng my family. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Monday, November 22, 2004Catching up...Samer was visiting Seattle this weekend and his visit was really nice! (Coincidentally, I was much better behaved than when I visited Montreal last month, but that's neither here nor there). The weather even cooperated and didn't rain once all weekend! We spent our time eating lots of good food, visiting some of my favorite places (like the Market, Archie McPhees, and Golden Gardens), met some of my friends and coworkers, watched the sunset, and even had some time to relax and drink some hot cocoa while watching a movie in my apartment. Not a bad weekend, eh?After he left today I worked a little, did brunch at Rod's place, then did dinner at The Girls' house. I'm now home and starting to pack for Thanksgiving. I leave this morning around 9am for three days in Florida and I've got to get my clothes and gifts packed. Hope everyone is well! Take care and happy Thanksgiving!
Saturday, November 20, 2004Grandpa's getting cool!Most recent email from my grandpa: "IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY POLICY FOR THE MEN TO WEAR A COAT, SHIRT AND TIE. AT TOM'S SUGGESTION SINCE THE WEATHER WILL BE QUITE WARM HE THOUGHT THAT SLACKS, SHIRT WITHOUT TIE, WOULD BE APPROPRIATE. THE LADIES CAN DRESS ACCORDINGLY."Go Grandpa! That'll making packing for Monday's Florida trip a little easier. :) Hope everyone is well!
Wednesday, November 17, 2004Par-tay!I've been dabbling in the idea of maybe having a little social sometime in Nov or Dec. I used to have lots of parties... holiday parties, house warming parties, birthday parties, egg decorating parties, toy parties, Elvis's birthday party, toga parties, keg parties, whatever. However, I haven't thrown a party in over 2 years and I think it might be time to give it a try. :) Theme ideas welcome. Everyone's invited.
Tuesday, November 16, 2004It keeps getting better..."You can only go half way into the darkest forest,My rough year and month keeps getting easier. When a research group called last week, I was content to answer. When they offered to pay me to talk on the topic of travel, I was even more content. And when I showed up tonight for the research group, I was ecstatic to hear they didn't need me after all but would still pay me the whole amount. Woohoo! I took the cash and went on my once a year trip to the mall for Christmas shopping for the family. I tend to dread gift shopping and malls, but I was pretty entertained and content with everything I found so far. With a little luck, the next few gifts will be just as easy to find in the next few days.
then you are coming out the other side." ~Chinese Proverb
Jesus cannot cure premenstrual syndromePresident Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W. David Hager to head up the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for more than two years, during which time its charter lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is tasked with filling all eleven positions with new members. This position does not require Congressional approval. The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee makes crucial decisions on matters relating to drugs used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and related specialties, including hormone therapy, contraception, treatment for infertility, and medical alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization and pregnancy termination.Dr. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women:Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends biblical accounts of Christ healing Women with case studies from Hager's practice. His views of reproductive health care are far outside the mainstream for reproductive technology. Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe contraceptives to unmarried women.
In the book Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, titled "Stress and the Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer from premenstrual syndrome should seek help from reading the bible and praying. As an editor and contributing author of "The Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of Sexuality Reproductive Technologies and the Family," Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically inaccurate assertion that the common birth control pill is an abortifacient.
We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious beliefs may color his assessment of technologies that are necessary to protect women's lives or to preserve and promote women's health. Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to guide his medical decision-making makes him a dangerous and inappropriate candidate to serve as chair of this committee. Critical drug public policy and research must not be influenced by antiabortion politics. Members of this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science and medicine, rather than politics and religion. American women deserve no less.
There is something you can do. Below is a statement that can be sent to the White House, opposing the placement of Hager. Mail GW at president@whitehouse.gov. We oppose the appointment of Dr. W. David Hager to the FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Mixing religion and medicine is unacceptable in a policy-making position. Using the FDA to promote a political agenda is inappropriate and seriously threatens women's health. Members of this important panel should be appointed on the basis of science and medicine,rather than politics and religion. American women deserve no less.
Monday, November 15, 2004DecadenceWoodinville's Columbia Winery holds an annual Taste of Red event and it was happening this weekend.
Join us at Columbia Winery for the season's most decadent affair. Pamper yourself with a sophisticated selection of our premium red wines, decorative chocolates and beautiful live music. Don't miss the opportunity to taste one of our select wines directly from the barrel! Special discounts will be offered on the wines featured and will be in effect this weekend only. Admission includes this special wine tasting, a red wine logo glass, and chocolate gift bag.Caroline and I decided to check it out and ending up spending all afternoon in the winery. There were close to 20 wines to sample and tons of local food vendors there showing products and offering samples. We each tried nine different wines and ate tons of rich foods... fancy cheeses, lots of local honey, cherries, nuts, and oh so much rich Belgium chocolate. One of my favorites was a company called Helene's Chocolate Affair. They had a huge spread of chocolates, cookies, truffles, fruits, and fudge that were meant for dipping in their 5-tier Belgium chocolate fountain. It was quite indulgent and quite fun. :) I couldn't imagine drinking and eating that much on a regular basis, but for a once a year splurge it was well worth it.
Sunday, November 14, 2004Cutest Baby Ever
In Baltimore...
My girls at the James Joyce pub
My boys at the James Joyce pubI get to go to Baltimore for work at least three or four times per year. My previous coworker used to complain about it and make excuses not to go, but I quite enjoy it. Yes, there's lots of poverty and drugs and is the "murder capital" of the country, but it's otherwise a nice town. I love the cute row houses. I love that people really do say "hon" all the time. (See baltimorehon.com for proper usage). The cost of living is way affordable. There's a nice waterfront. There are lots of cute areas for going out to bars and nice dinners like Fells, Charles, Inner Harbor, Little Italy, etc. And, of course, my favorite part of the trips are seeing great people like the lovely friends above. They not only make time in the crazy lives to hang out with me whenever I'm in town, they also offer up their couches and guest rooms every single trip. :) It's true... I've yet to pay for a hotel in that town and I've been going for a few years now. These pics were from my most recent trip in October 2004.
Another good day...Today I slept in until 11:30am (!!!), had a super relaxing day, watched some Sex and The City with Erin, did some knitting, went to a friend's birthday party, danced for a few hours, and met lots of entertaining people.
Saturday, November 13, 2004Congrats Alyssa and Chris!While I was in my breakdown mode on Thursday, seems Alyssa was in her water breaking mode! I got word last night that little Tyler arrived a wee bit early into the world! He's a 7 pound, 19 inch beautiful baby boy. :) He wasn't due till Dec 9th, but I'm guessing he must have known how excited everyone would be to meet him and how much planning was being done on his behalf! Congrats Chris and Alyssa!!
A Guessing GameGuess who's coming to visit me in Seattle next weekend? Did I already post about this? I'm pretty excited! :)
The Mexican Whooping LlamasToday all was well. :) In the morning I took my team on a group outing to the Seattle Aquarium. We finished up early at 2pm so I jumped at the opportunity to do one of my favorite things: leisurely wander the market. Pike Place has always been one of my "happy places" in my Seattle life. Rainy, sunny, happy or sad, I always find it very comforting to be in the mass of crowds, walking among the fish boys, tourists, fruit stalls, and flower vendors. I love the musicians, the raspberry almonds, the dried fruit, the fresh honey, the bakery with wheat free cookies, the cheese curd shop, and the piroshky shop. I eventually headed home to meet up with a friend for some long overdue hanging out. In nine hours time we had a good dinner (Vietnamese), saw a fun movie (Mean Girls), and had lots of excellent conversation.
Friday, November 12, 2004Happy Birthday Dad!
[someone else can insert a title here]Today was a rough, long, long, long day and I'll keep this short, and in chronological order for each section.+ Despite my profound lack of religion, I spent a lot of time making private speeches to God and wasn't afraid to ask her the tough questions. Thanked my lucky stars for the fantastic support network that continues to amaze me. Saw Citizen Cope rock in concert. Bought a sun lamp/light therapy box. Got my own copy of the Killers CD. Had a bunch of friends over for craft night. Learned to knit. Spent four hours journaling - nonstop. Had an epiphany. Temporarily too tired to cry any more.
- Still can't sleep. Had to work eight hours, even though Veteran's Day is a federal holiday. Went to a funeral for a 22 year old who left behind a wife and kids. Cried ungodly amounts. Friend's 2-month-old baby had heart surgery. Cried. Couldn't stop journaling no matter how tired I was my mind wouldn't quit and my hands kept going against my will. Cried ungodly amounts. Had an epiphany. Cried ungodly amounts. Still can't sleep.
Overall, whether painful or otherwise, I'm just excited to have had an epiphany. Doesn't happen every day, you know...
Thursday, November 11, 2004www.marryanamerican.ca"The idea behind Marry An American is simple: You have the power to rescue a progressive American from four more years of George W. Bush.Americans, sick of the political climate of their homeland, have long sought refuge within Canadian borders. And let's face it, when compared to the United States, Canada is a liberal utopia & we have universal healthcare (in two languages!), gay marriage, free marijuana for everyone, and we don't like guns.
Already, our American counterparts are fleeing the U.S. in droves and buying up land along our borders. We envision a movement where everyone wins: Freedom of expression and a politically convenient marriage with love and igloos for all.
Canadian singles, tired of the dating scene, are willing to act for love or just plain pity. Let's drop our borders/inhibitions/commitment issues, set a date, pick out our china patterns and wed a sexy American liberal.
Don't be left alone. Sign the pledge now."
Wednesday, November 10, 2004Limited Edition CrazinessGuess who was on TV this week? Multiple times apparently? Making really awful faces? That's right. Yours truly was apparently spotted on KOMO TV multiple times this week when I was sampling (and making horrific faces at) the new Jones Soda holiday pack. I said sure, I'm willing to taste test the new flavors on camera, but had no idea what I was getting into. The five limited edition flavors apparently include Turkey & Gravy Soda, Cranberry Soda, Mashed Potato & Butter Soda, Green Bean Casserole Soda, and Fruitcake Soda. I didn't think Fruitcake and Cranberry were too bad. And while I'm a fan of real green bean casseroles, I'm no fan of the soda. And don't even get me started on the turkey tasting one. Yuck! It was pretty disgusting (though I am a vegetarian and a probably bit biased). I encourage you to have your own tasting party at home (keep the cameras ready!) and feel confident knowing that proceeds go to Toys for Tots.
Male/Female
New public art at Penn Station in BaltimoreJonathan Borofsky put "Hammering Man" statues in Seattle, Seoul, Dallas, and Germany, and is famous for his huge people statues that are in over 20 major cities around the world. Now he's adding Baltimore to that list. His new "Male/Female" statue is 51 feet tall, has a "pulsing" red/blue heart, and towers above the city skyline. The statue is "unmistakably Borofsky" and combines the intersecting figures of his 24-foot "Male/Female" in Kagoshima, Japan, and the pulsating heart of his "Heartlight Man" in Tokyo. They say the artist is a believer in the theory of "All public art that gets people talking about art is good art. Even if they think it's bad, it's served its purpose to get people talking, which is good." Or something like that. Or so I'm told. I really have no idea, but that's the word on the streets of Baltimore.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004Cheap entertainment, suitable for all ages
VotingThere have been tons of forwards sent after the elections with relevant stories... on everything from how to deal with election results depression, info on how to move to Canada, reasons not to move to Canada, reasons not to slit your wrists, IQ and voters (dems get the high IQ), and family values. They said this election was won on family values, which is pretty distressing to me. I was called judgmental earlier this year when I said a republican boyfriend might not be the best choice for me because we likely wouldn't place the same value on community/human services. Here's an article from a professor at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. that shows the research on what most of us already know. (I grew up in Texas, with a mom who worked in human services, and can verify the stats about Texas are pretty accurate/consistent to what I saw growing up).Walking the walk on family values
Boston Globe, October 31, 2004, by William V. D'AntonioPRESIDENT Bush and Vice President Cheney make reference to "Massachusetts liberals" as if they were referring to people with some kind of disease. I decided it was time to do some research on these people, and here is what I found.
The state with the lowest divorce rate in the nation is Massachusetts. At latest count it had a divorce rate of 2.4 per 1,000 population, while the rate for Texas was 4.1.
But don't take the US government's word for it. Take a look at the findings from the George Barna Research Group. George Barna, a born-again Christian whose company is in Ventura, Calif., found that Massachusetts does indeed have the lowest divorce rate among all 50 states. More disturbing was the finding that born-again Christians have among the highest divorce rates.
The Associated Press, using data supplied by the US Census Bureau, found that the highest divorce rates are to be found in the Bible Belt. The AP report stated that "the divorce rates in these conservative states are roughly 50 percent above the national average of 4.2 per thousand people." The 10 Southern states with some of the highest divorce rates were Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. By comparison nine states in the Northeast were among those with the lowest divorce rates: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
How to explain these differences? The following factors provide a partial answer:
The liberals from Massachusetts have long prided themselves on their emphasis on education, and it has paid off: People who stay in school longer get married at a later age, when they are more mature, are more likely to secure a better job, and job income increases with each level of formal education. As a result, Massachusetts also leads in per capita and family income while births by teenagers, as a percent of total births, was 7.4 for Massachusetts and 16.1 for Texas.
- More couples in the South enter their first marriage at a younger age.
- Average household incomes are lower in the South.
- Southern states have a lower percentage of Roman Catholics, "a denomination that does not recognize divorce." Barna's study showed that 21 percent of Catholics had been divorced, compared with 29 percent of Baptists.
- Education. Massachusetts has about the highest rate of education in the country, with 85 percent completing high school. For Texas the rate is 76 percent. One third of Massachusetts residents have completed college, compared with 23 percent of Texans, and the other Northeast states are right behind Massachusetts.
The Northeast corridor, with Massachusetts as the hub, does have one of the highest levels of Catholics per state total. And it is also the case that these are among the states most strongly supportive of the Catholic Church's teaching on social justice issues such as minimum and living wages and universal healthcare.
For all the Bible Belt talk about family values, it is the people from Kerry's home state, along with their neighbors in the Northeast corridor, who live these values. Indeed, it is the "blue" states, led led by Massachusetts and Connecticut, that have been willing to invest more money over time to foster the reality of what it means to leave no children behind. And they have been among the nation's leaders in promoting a living wage as their goal in public employment. The money they have invested in their future is known more popularly as taxes; these so-called liberal people see that money is their investment to help insure a compassionate, humane society. Family values are much more likely to be found in the states mistakenly called out-of-the-mainstream liberal. By their behavior you can know them as the true conservatives. They are showing how to conserve family life through the way they live their family values.
William V. D'Antonio is professor emeritus at University of Connecticut and a visiting research professor at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
Monday, November 08, 2004So nice!I was off site at meetings for most of the day and when I arrived back at work this afternoon I was greeted by LOVELY flowers! Thank you Samantha for these sweet, sweet flowers, and thanks everyone for being so kind this past week! There's been some heart-breaking talk of closing down my nonprofit (hence some of my crazy, emotional blogs last week), and I was a bit emotional this weekend while thinking of my own (non-work) life. While it's not all resolved quite yet, I can assure you that I'm doing much better than I was last week! Thanks for all of your kind words, calls, and thoughts! I really appreciate having y'all in my life!
Speaking of pregnant people...
Alyssa looking radiantWith 5(?) weeks left till little Tyler is due, Alyssa has been revamping her website and took up the blog that sat dormant for the past year and a half. You can check it out at hedgefamily.net. :)
I too revamped my design this weekend and had a lovely, relaxing weekend. I had time to hang out with my friend Erin, I watched Groundhog Day (recommended by the video store clerk who gave me the free rental), read for a while, went to Target to start my holiday shopping, hit both of my banks, did some grocery shopping, and picked up more Egypt books from the library (including the new Aug 2004 Lonely Planet!). I also dressed up Saturday night and spent some money at The Homelessness Project's charity auction. Yep, that's the exciting life of a single woman. :)
Sunday, November 07, 2004Blast from the past...
Jens visiting Seattle in AprilHoly Christ!! I, Cat, now declare 2004 the year of the baby. Just when you thought no more friends could possibly decide to have babies this year, think again! I just checked my web mail and found an email from an ex... which is always fun to see! Jens and I ended our well intentioned, but failed, attempt at a long distance relationship in April. Seems he almost immediately got his new partner pregnant. He writes, "We decided to keep the baby and stay together, which I am becoming more and more glad of every day." Many congratulations to Jens... I suspect he'll be a fantastic dad. Many congrats also to DeAnza, and Mary, and Prentice, Cathy and Jeff, and Janine & Chris M, and Alyssa and Chris H, and Chris B ,and everyone else I've forgotten or don't know of yet! There are a few months left in 2004 and that means there could easily be more babies on the horizon.
Saturday, November 06, 2004Sun Lamps?Anyone know anything about sun lamps? Anyone have one in their closet collecting dust that they'd like to loan/sell me? I'm thinking about buying one but would love feedback from anyone who's had one, uses one, has a friend who uses one, or thinks I should avoid them. Full spectrum or broad spectrum? 5,000 lux at 20 in for 45 min or 10,000 lux at 14 in?They look a little pricey ($250-500), a little bulky, and a little time consuming, but I'm hoping it'd help combat the dreary Seattle winter. In the summer we have about 17 hrs of sunlight and it's my favorite time of the year! Winter, however, has only 9 hrs of daylight and most of it is cloudy and gray. My inner-Texan seems to need the sun, and so I'm starting to research these lamps. I've looked online and started talking to an employee at Fremont's Indoor Sun Shoppe. Any ideas y'all have would be fantastic! Thanks!
Friday, November 05, 2004On a more upbeat note...I'm happy to have a place where I can rant whenever I want to, but I'll try to avoid doing it too often to a) save my friendly readers from the tedium and b) not make you too worried about me. I recognize many things in life are out of my control, but my work is not. Have no fear... I'll either get over it, get done with it, or get out... but for right now I just need to get through it and that's what I plan to do. Changing topics, I just had Indian food at Cedar's for the second time in three days... and the amount of chai running through my body is alarming... even for me. I'll probably be awake till 4am, but it was a fun dinner with Erin and I'm warm and content!Changing topics again, many thanks for the cards and calls these last few days... y'all are really great! Today I even received a pretty freaking cool, very random gift, out of the blue, from folks I wasn't expecting. It wasn't even a "I'm sorry you're having a shitty week" kind of thing... it was just something they'd been planning to be nice. I'm now the proud owner of my very first real life cowboy hat! Yee-haw! It's black felt (100% wool) and I'm told I'm quite adorable (which means they're just sucking up but it's still a sweet thought). :) If I manage a self portrait wearing the hat, I'll try to post later in the weekend. For now, I feel like I should buy boots and go square dancing or two stepping or something. Who's with me??
Thursday, November 04, 2004A look back at recent Novembers...Nov 2000: During the last presidential election, JD and I left Texas to go off gallivanting in China with the old folks... sight seeing, shopping, and sledding down the snowy Great Wall. We'd done our early voting before heading to China and were eager to get election results. Each night we'd go to bed expecting to wake up in the morning with an answer from CNN about who would be the next president. Each morning we were let down.
Nov 2001: Dieter and I were newly dating and I was quite happy with the boy. There was good dialogue at my family gathering. Life was good and was full of friends and hope.
Nov 2002: I voted for the monorail and it won! :) I got a new cruiser (courtesy of Gregg's Greenlake Cycles). I bought my (then) new digital camera to replace the previous one that was stolen by kids at a community carnival. I managed to buy tickets to my first ever Pearl Jam show before they sold out. Life was good and was full of friends and hope.
Nov 2003: Can you believe a year ago I spent November flitting about from Seattle to Boston to Baltimore to California? I even spent a week in Hawaii with one of my best friends. It was the first relaxing break I'd had in what felt like years. Yes, I travel often enough, but 3 days in Boston trying to fit in multiple friends, work meetings in Baltimore till 9 at night, family reunions, etc... do not fool yourself into thinking these are relaxing events with free time, down time, or me time. Hawaii was great... as was the Hawaii sunshine (thanks to a very generous, sick Charles). I couldn't have asked for a better November.
Nov 2004: And apparently, I really couldn't ask for a better Nov. It clearly wasn't going to get any better. This November, the furthest I've been from home is work, and yes, you can tell I'm depressed. This year we got the bad news from the elections all too soon about the man who'd claim to be king. Locals here are left watching the too close to call governor's race in hopes of some consolation prize. Still no word yet, but I'm hoping King County's absentee ballots will bring the final push she needs to win the race without a recount.
In other news, things (amazingly!) only got worse today when I didn't think there was much room to drop deeper into hell. Little did I know. Work was even more awful than I've ever imagined it could be. I cried at my desk a few times, then pulled myself together, got productive in my empty office and accomplished some meaningful, and some not so meaningful, tasks.
And in the best news of the week, since I felt like hell today I left work an hour early. Yey! When I got home I found that my corner grocery store had Ben & Jerry's ice cream on sale. Yey! And when I walked across the street to the video store, the clerk was very helpful in my quest for a non-depressing movie. Yey! Either I looked really, really depressed or he must have known just how badly I needed a happy movie. For whatever the reason, he decided to erase all of my past due fines that popped up and continued the kindness by only charging me for one of my two rentals. That kind of stuff doesn't happen to me every day. It's as though I was meant to leave work early! Doesn't make up for W being an awful dictator, but it's nice to know that random strangers in the community can still look out for each other. I [heart] Fremont.
Me, me, meIt's my blog and I can be self centered and melodramatic and depressing if I want to, damn it.I'm still sick.
I'm very angry about my work.
I'm depressed and angry about the loss of human rights, jobs, health care, medical research, women's rights, environment, and 1,001 other things I'm too tired to write about right now.
I'm sad that the world has to endure four more years of a dictator like W and a bully like the US.
I know that I'm not alone in the anger and sadness, which sucks too. With over 55 million of us, there should be quite a resistance boiling up.
I'm no longer able to sleep. This has been slowly building and the last few nights have been the most restless/most sleepless, which brings us to...
I'm tired and exhausted.
I'm almost too depressed to blog (but when has that ever stopped me before?).Folks seem to either be in the Angry camp, the Dazed zombie camp, the "I feel like someone died" camp, or in the "It's time to start drinking heavily" camp. I've dabbled in all of them so far. There was a party I skipped, bar hopping I skipped, and a "let's drink margaritas and watch dirty Spanish movies" idea that I decided sounded like a good idea. It was a good distraction.
One half of me wants to join Dunsany in leading the resistance. The other half of me (very strong at the moment) genuinely wants to move away. I want to be done with this country (I know opportunity and rights here are better than some, but can't we work towards improvement, not destruction?). I want to be done with my job. I want to be done with the rainy depressing winters. I don't want to sit idly by while the "leader of the free world" ravages onward. Maybe it's the lack of sleep and ability to focus, but I think I might finally be ready to quit work and travel for a while. I wonder if I can change my Egypt plane ticket and give myself a few months to wander... which brings up back to my favorite daydream topic: where would I go next?
Tuesday, November 02, 2004Dia de los MuertosSeems oddly appropriate that today is both Election Day and the Day of the Dead. Maybe that's why I'm feeling so awful? Or perhaps it's because I've got a cold and there's a bit of yucky stuff going on right now in life and I've got a huge, scary meeting tomorrow at work? Hmmm... I think I'm just ready for clarity and closure all around.
I can't begin...I can't begin to express the anxiety I feel each time I check the election results website, so I won't try. The presidential and WA governor races are both still too close to call, but I'm glad to see we have some good news to report: Patty Murray beat out Nethercutt (yey!) and Jim McDermott beat out Cassady (yey!).
Monday, November 01, 2004I knew my college degree would come in handy someday![cat's political rant]"In toss-up states like Ohio, Republicans have hired 3,600 people to upend Kerry's potential trump card--newly registered voters. The "monitors" (Republican-speak for racist goons) are getting $100 to stand inside polling places in heavily Democratic "urban neighborhoods" to challenge voters' qualifications." Lovely.
Let's review: Under W, there were 2 wars despite no al Qaeda connections, we had 380 tons of explosives that disappeared from a U.S.-controlled military facility, there was horrific Abu Ghraib torture, carnage in Fallujah and subsequent insurgency, Nick Berg's beheading, lies about and subsequent reports proving there were no WMD, etc.
On the bright side, if W steals the election, I'm happy to see that I might qualify for immigration to Canada. The qualifications for the "Employability and Occupational Mobility Program" look almost favorable... including my status on the "favoured training list" because of my MIS degree! (Information technology engineering, Undergraduate university degree attesting to four years of full-time studies) I also have other things they're looking for: work experience, previous visits to or ties with Québec, at least 6 months of work experience, and possession of the minimum funds needed to support yourself for the first three months. Let's hope it doesn't come to that...
[/end rant]Regardless of your political views, tomorrow's the big day to make your voice heard. It's not just a presidential election here in WA... we've got a new governor to elect, a monorail (yey!), non-tribal gambling (boo!), a school superintendent, judges, and folks going to both the house and senate. Please... go vote!
Halloween pictures are up!I've posted about 150 pictures of people from parties this weekend. Relive the memories and get costume ideas for next year. I think my favorites were the "one night stand" and "the road to hell." :)
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