what crap

The sanctity of marriage...whatever. I had hoped that California would have voted differently on this.

"People believe in the institution of marriage," Frank Schubert, co-manager of the Yes on 8 campaign said after declaring victory early Wednesday. "It's one institution that crosses ethnic divides, that crosses partisan divides. ... People have stood up because they care about marriage and they care a great deal."

Ooh, so I can marry Cardo and a member of the Green Party can marry a member of the Republican Party. Yeah, we're really tolerant...don't ask any more from us. (Please, please know that those sentences needs to be read with irony dripping all over the place.)

Ugh. I care about my marriage. I fail to understand, however, why we (grouping myself in the "us" category) feel any threat whatever by homosexual couples marrying. I don't get it. I never will. WHO CARES? I'm, obviously upset, hence the "yelling." And, I get that there are, obviously, plenty of people who do care, but...WHY? WHY? WHY?

Again, ugh.

In Washington, voters gave solid approval to an initiative modeled after Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law, which allows a terminally ill person to be prescribed lethal medication they can administer to themselves. Since Oregon's law took effect in 1997, more than 340 people — mostly ailing with cancer — have used it to end their lives.

This is something else I've never understood. How can committing suicide be illegal? Why do we need laws saying that we can kill ourselves? Is this because this issue involves a doctor doling out the medication necessary to commit the act? If I'm miserable and in agony, I want to be able to end things for myself.

c is for concession...

...and that's good enough for me.

McCain called Obama to concede. Looks like I'll be staying here. I had better not wake up in the morning to different news. I'm cautiously doing a(n imaginary) happy dance.

baby, it's cold outside

As is our Tuesday tradition, Pic and I went to the library today. I've been so exhausted lately that I knew if we stayed home, we'd just sit around in our pjs and watch tv. (Now that we're back home, we hanging out in our pjs, listening to NPR.) So, although Cardo's car really was only "fixed" and we don't have a working car here, we decided not to skip the library. About halfway to our mini-mecca, we were treated to some snow. Snow.

This is all my students' faults. They kept asking me, "When is it going to snow?" as if I'm in charge of these things. I am certainly not shimmying around in my living room doing a snow dance.

We took shelter in the library for a little more than an hour, putting together the dinosaur puzzle and checking out Secondhand Prose. We checked out some dinosaur books, some kids' craft books (why? I have no idea, we're not crafty people) and, once again, How to Cook Everything. We caught the bus and took it to one of our not-favorite grocery stores to pick up some highly processed foodstuffs. We hung out for an hour and caught the next bus back home.

I talked to Nana and Papa (Pic's, not mine...we're not so into the whole seance thing) and they offered financial assistance. We'll see how much Cardo's disability check is next week. We might, though, have to borrow money from my parents (so lame, so lame). I hope we don't, but we're so incredibly lucky to have them offer.

Okay, I'm off to print out some USA-map coloring pages and find some red and blue crayons so Pic and I can do a little Election Day activity. Some of the states have already closed their polls. Here begins the long hours of hearing the projections and the results.

Happy Election Day! Let's hope it stays happy.

in case you haven't...

Slip into a little something patriotic (and a little sexy, apparently) and...

[image from Google Image]

feel the buzz

I am, by far, not the only one anxious about the outcome of tomorrow’s election. I know this, this is obvious. I’m just amazed at how different my experience is this year than it was with the 2000 and 2004 elections.

The first time I was elegible to vote, I was ready. I leaned what I could about the issues that were important to me (and even some that weren’t so much). I was appaled, though, to listen to others’ ideas about presidential electing. As I was sitting outside one of my English classes in 2000, I overheard one woman tell a friend, “My dad is voting for Bush, so that’s who I’ll vote for.” Yeah, thanks a bunch. I was so upset that this is how she would decide how to vote (although, imitation is a form of flattery no?…maybe she just really admired and trusted her father. But still…that is no excuse for that being the sole reason to vote for anyone). I also heard the argument that Bush had a nicer smile. Really? Really? I can never understand that whole, “He [and now she] is cute, so I’ll pick that one.” I think that says something disturbing about us, that sometimes we would rather choose our next leader based on looks.

Anyhow, I didn’t think that the people I heard discussing the 2004 election soundded all that much more informed. This is not at all a fair comment on other people and their research and critical thinking abilities. Part of it is that I just tend to isolate myself. How can I determine how involved people are when I refuse to associate with most people?

This election feels different, though. Perhaps every election I live through will feel more charged to me, as I continue to follow the campaigns and issues more. I know that if we suddenly succumb to complete group insanity and Palin secures the candidacy for the Republican party in four years, that election will be much more charged. And, I’ll watch the coverage from my new home in Calgary.

Anyhow, I’m excited that there is such a buzz about this election on campus. I’m excited that so many of my students are informed on at least a few of the issues and that they are excited (or upset or something) enough to get out and vote. Many of my students have already voted and, like me, are anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s (or whenever’s) outcome.

I certainly don’t agree with much of what I overhear people discussing, but I’m excited that there is discussion ongoing. I’ve been doing a lot of listening-in lately (i.e. eavesdropping), gauging what side of this election people are supporting. (It’s all Democrat or Republican. I haven’t overheard any talk about the Green Party or the Independent American Party, ecc). I love to hear others’ opinions.

One of my students said, just today, regarding her anticipation of the election results, “I’m going to freak out!” I told her, “I know exactly how you feel.” She and the student next to her asked each other, “What are you going to do if he wins?” I love that they are concerned about how their lives are going to change depending on the new administration. (I can only guess which candidate they meant by “he” and I didn’t ask them to elaborate. Either way.)

I hope that I never become disinterested in politics. I’m only barely politically literate right now (well, I suppose that depends on who I am comparing myself to), but I hope my interest never wanes. I also hope, though, that I can maintain some semblance of sanity because I have a lot of elections to live through still, I hope. I also hope that Pic grows up to take a similar interest. I know that it’s scary to get so caught up in such large issues and I know that it’s actually somewhat idealistic to believe that my little vote makes much of a difference (hello US representative democracy with your electoral college), but I think that apathy is scarier.

Okay, this is crappy rambling. Sorry. Before I sign off, though, one more note. I was listening to NPR this morning (because you know us soccer moms, business men and idiots listen to that) and they were profiling some voter. She’s a Republican who had been supporting Clinton. After the candidates and their running mates were chosen, though, she threw her support behind Palin, specifically. She said, “I’m not a feminist or anything….” She said more, but I can’t remember the exact quote. Let me just respond to that comment. Um, yeah, y’think? (She is now supporting Obama, because she feels that he is actually talking about/responding to the issues, but I’m caught up on the feminist comment.)

Okay, really…the end.

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This post brought to you today by the words “excited” and “hope.” Sorry for the repetition.

we're almost there

Okay, I just got this link from sweetney. I'm also about to watch McCain on SNL. Apparently, I've got a middle-of-the-darkness election thing going on right now.

(By the way, click around on all of the stuff in the office in the link.)


-------------------

Time travel, people. I posted the movie post first, but this one occurred after DST ended. I think I might need sleep if this is this entertaining to me.

i would walk 500 miles...

Happy November! Happy NaBloPoMo! And, for those of you participating, Happy NaNoWriMo! For yesterday: Happy Halloween and Happy Nevada Day!

Speaking of festive greetings, here's a short conversation between Pic and me yesterday:

Me: Happy Halloween, baby!

Pic: Happy Halloween, Mamma!

Me: Happy Nevada Day!

Pic: Happy Halloween!

Okay, so she knows where her priorities lie.

On Thursday, Cardo, Pic and I all went to the Halloween party at Pic's school. She got a chance to don her costume a day early and hang out with all of her kids (she calls them "my kids"*). We got there really early but we were able to help set up. The spread was great: pizza, raw veggies, fruits, homemade pumpkin bread, juice and homemade cupcakes (not those nasty, nasty storebought ones with the mounds of Crisco-looking frosting).

Today, Cardo was at work, so Pic and I were left to ourselves for most of the day. Cardo's car is still sucking big time, so he took mine to work. After I finally forced myself into some kind of conscious state, Pic and I readied ourselves and headed out, on foot, for Too Expensive Grocery Store That I Actually Kind of Despise. (It's the closest grocery store and we were running late and were without (motorized) wheels. We bought frijoles, arroz y galletas de animalitos and headed over to Starbucks. (The Purple Bean Too closed. Depressing, but not shocking...which makes it more depressing.) I had a salted caramel hot chocolate (someone please explain to me why I still think that I like hot chocolate more than I do, which is barely) and part of a pumpkin scone. Neither of my items were that great and I ended up trashing some of my scone. Pic had a petite vanilla scone. She seemed to like it.

At home, I cajoled the child until she finally took all of the toys scattered downstairs and deposited them upstairs. I made the beans and rice. We ate bananas and kind of watched the episode of Gilmore Girls featuring Rory's twenty-first birthday. I chatted with my older sister, who at last talked to Pic on the phone. I had Pic answer the phone and just about the first thing she said was "Who are you?" Once she'd established who she was talking to, she made certain that Auntie L had seen her Halloween pictures.

At about three-thirty, we headed out for our walk to a local business/office that was hosting trick-or-treating. Pic walked about half of the way there, but I finally made her sit in the stroller because we were taking forever. Outside of the building we happened to see some aquaintances from storytime and we trick-or-treated with them. Our hosts had done a fabulous job. The interior of the building was completely decked out. Almost every employee was in costume and they were all incredibly nice. It only took us about a half-hour to get through the whole place, but Pic got a good amount of candy. She remembered to say "Trick or treat" most of the time (the rest of the time, she lead with "What are you for Halloween?") and she mostly remembered to say "thank you" without me having to remind her. I kept telling her, "We should come back here next year," and then I kept remembering that we probably won't live here anymore next year.

We walked home, grabbed the rice and beans and headed right back out. Ms J had invited us over for dinner, trick-or-treating and a movie. About halfway to Ms J's, Pic fell asleep in the stroller. I tucked one of my jackets around her and pulled the shade down to protect her face from the very light rain that was beginning to fall. We made decent time on this walk and Cardo even made it there from work in time to eat with us (okay, so he had eaten at work so he didn't really eat there, but he was present). We had tacos, burritos, rice, beans and taco dip. Ms J also made pumpkin squares and apple cider for post-trick-or-treating treats. We had quite a group going out, although some left shortly after we set out on our candy quest. Both Pic and Baby K had a blast going door-to-door. Pic was enthusiastic with her "trick or treat" plea. Baby K ambled up the driveways, saying "knock, knock." They both said "thank you" after they received their treats. Mr M was the lucky one who got to pull both of the kidlets around in Baby K's wagon because my peach of a child decided that she was "too scared" to not sit in the wagon. There was a lot of maneuvering in and out of the wagon and there were several escape attempts by each child.

Overall, Pic's first time out trick-or-treating was great.** We had some sketchy moments at the beginning where she wanted to cry hysterically and I wanted to melt down, but we got over that. We didn't stick around for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, although Pic certainly wanted to. It would have been nice, but we needed to get all of us home for some much-needed rest. (Oh, and because Cardo had joined us, I didn't have to walk home, which was very nice, indeed.)

I'm already looking forward to next Halloween, though.

my little monkey princess, showing off her tail

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* Dooce wrote at some point that her daughter called her preschool classmates, "My kids." I remember thinking how cute this was. Then, one day, Pic came home and started using the same term. I guess this affectionately possessive feeling is somewhat universal among kids.

** Yes, this was Pic's first time trick-or-treating. We managed to avoid it her first three Halloweens. I'm not really opposed to it or anything. We just didn't take her. I'm glad this time was so great.

----------------------------------------------------

Only three more days until voting ends. My anxiety has ebbed for now. We'll see what next week brings.

this is ground control to major tom

Okay, two countdowns right now.


Five days until Election Day! I'm anxious and nervous about this. I cast my vote yesterday. I was going to vote the day before, but I was sick and lazy that morning. I'm only a bit sad that I didn't bring Pic with me to vote. She's come with me the last two times I've voted (okay, so once she was in utero and neither of us had much choice, but she was there). Next time, though.

Two days until National Blog Posting Month! I'm on the November blogroll. I was afraid Mrs Kennedy (and Co?) was going to be too innundated with us last minute additions to get mine up in time, but she rocks. So, steel yourselves to read even more pointless ramblings from me (or avoid it, I suppose, but that's not much fun for me). I know that Ms B, whose most awesome derby name is The Furie Queene, is participating...who else will be joining in next month?

because...

...I've posted all of the other ones.

lines to a comstock graveyard

On yonder hillside, bleak and barren,
Lies many a friend of William Sharon,
Who in election's hurly-burly,
Voted often, voted early.
But since old Sharon went to glory
The younger Billy bosses Storey,
And at his beck those sons of witches
Rise, to vote without their britches.
To take a hand in the election
And bustle back without detection.
As we recall those mem'ries hoary,
Let's bless the graveyard vote of Storey.

-- Sam Davis, newspaperman (ca 1880s?)


The preceding has been stuck in my head lately. Nice theme for October and election season.

I used to have this copied out and hung on my dorm room wall. This is from Barbara and Myrick Land's A Short History of Reno. [The one customer reviewer didn't like the book -- "hollower than a gourd," s/he remarks. I can't recommend it or disrecommend (not a word, I know) it because it's been a good eight years since I've read it.]

27 days and counting

Pic and I will dutifully go stand in line to vote in a little less than a month. If things don't look good after that, maybe this* will be our new home.

Cardo and I are pseudo-threatening to take off, depending. Something's gotta give, right?

*Thanks to the recommendation of my uncle. Of course, we'll have to learn French....

blog sprint

Just a quickie here. (I suddenly thought, "Just a pinch between the cheek and gum." Don't ask.)

Okay, so the first night of TurboKick has come and gone. It might kill me, but in a good way. However, like anything else that requires coordination, I have to call out the moves to myself. Aloud, not just in my head. Yes, I'm a total geek. I was the same way with flags in high school. Tonight, my running commentary went something like, "Left, right, left, punch. Left, right left, punch. Left, right, left, crap." So, no, my coordination skills didn't suddenly appear overnight. Ah, well. And, like Ms C pointed out, it's easier on one side than the other (I think it's the right for both of us.) I get into a groove and then we switch sides and I suddenly can't equate "Left, right, left, right" with sides of my body.

Overall, a freaking good workout. I remember why I quit the first time I tried kickboxing, though, and I'm glad this class is small (not 30+ people). This is only for a month and I have Cardo and Ms C with me. (And, of course, there's Ms J and her sister, Ms M.) For whatever reason, it makes me feel better that there are two other people in there who I don't know, also. If I don't collapse from lack of breathing or because my muscles have suddenly mutinied, I'll consider taking it again. After about three months or so, I should have the routine somewhat down.

Okay, I'm off to read about profiles, watch the debate (only twenty-eight days until the election), eat dinner and down gallons and gallons more tea.

...and more snl

Okay, I can't watch this right now because the little glitches are making me insane, but I'll embed it here and come back to it latah.

snl

Okay, so I'm probably the last person in the television-watching US who hadn't seen these until today, but...

I'm embedding videos here so we can come back to them without having to watch that music video.