Living In the World, Not on It

Just a quick note: I want to thank my boyfriend for helping me write some of these questions. After a crappy day, I really needed help with questions ... 1) If you were forced to live for a year in a shopping mall, a museum, or a zo o, which would you choose and why? Oh, the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan. Without a doubt. It has everything - decent food, all those cool weight measurements for e ach planet and moon, goodies in the shops, a year there would be fun! 2) If there was a male version of Victoria's Secret, what would you think it should be called? Hmmmm. John's Open Viewing. Men probably couldn't keep sexual conquests and weird under garments a secret, ha, ha! 3) My boyfriend says he wants Weezer's song "Death and Destruction" played at our wedding. What would be a song you'd never expect to hear played at a wedding? Anything by Eminem. Not romantic... unless you're really angry. 4) If your brain worked like a cell phon...

I'm delighted and happy to know that finally people can get married in New York no matter what gender the bride and groom, bride and bride or groom and groom (or however one wishes to phrase it) may be! Finally, a state that understands and bestowed its blessings on all couples. It has only taken far too long for this to happen. California, which appeared to be a modern and open-minded state, began granting marriage licenses to same-sex couples in June 2008 and then repealed that in November 2008, thanks to Proposition 8, which labeled marriage as a union between one man and one woman. I used to think highly of the state of California until that happened. How stupid is that? But New York has turned around and made it possible for couples - regardless of same-sex or not - to take vows, walk down the aisle, or whatever they wish in order to legalise their union. And I say, "Yahoo! for New York and same-sex couples!" I have always felt very strongly for this and it is none o...

Talk about current events. Is there a soul anywhere who did not hear about this case and the overwhelming public response to it? I tend to doubt it. Most every publication and many news stations at least covered the outcome of this case. It was a huge source of commentary and a lot of grumbling if not outright threats - whether made against Casey and/or the jurors - as well as that deplorable incident where some woman tried to run down another woman that she thought was Casey in Oklahoma to "save the children". (Yikes. I'm embarrassed to be part of the same race as this woman. She should be demoted from human... it is not our right to take the law into our own hands.) This case has been going on since 2008 and it has finally come to an end. Casey Anthony has no money, no where to go, is in general reviled by the public (as we can see) and has really had everything stripped from her. As much as the public believes in her guilt, they don't really know - they are just ou...

When I first left work, I had this puzzle I was working on. At the time I left, I barely had Spring completed. It was creeping along... Notice my blog has been creeping along and suddenly this month I've posted a month's worth in a mere 14 days? That is a LOT of free time. I've actually had a lot of free time over the last three months, but I haven't really felt good about it. I figured with enough time I would reach the "I feel better about this point" and while I might still kinda get down about it, in general, I would start to feel better. (Wow. What a poorly structured sentence that is...!) Well, I have reached that point. Not that I didn't think I would. I just did not know how long it would take. It feels so much better to be more my sunny self again. Like I said, I may get down about it again, but at least it will be temporary. I suspect I'll feel it more in the winter. I thrive on sunlight. We have the longer days now, so I'm thriving. An...

As if I wasn't convinced that local government is corrupt and all about the money or the power (or both)... Maybe Val Kilmer is an idiot for publicly airing some unkind comments, but apparently freedom of speech is no longer a right. And it gets your permit denied... Read on. "Bygones are not always bygone amid the limestone cliffs and pinon groves of northern New Mexico. When actor Val Kilmer recently applied for permits to turn his 6,000-acre ranch outside Santa Fe into an upscale bed-and-breakfast, several of his neighbors protested. They weren't worried about traffic or noise or the prospect of intruding tourists. They were incensed about comments attributed to Mr. Kilmer in magazine articles dating to 2003 and 2005. And they didn't want him to get his way on the ranch unless he apologized. "That's all he has to do, come and apologize," said Jose Garcia, who runs horses on a 50-acre ranch next to Mr. Kilmer's. "We're not intimida...

I'm watching "America: The Story of Us" - an episode called "Rebels". It is nearing the end with the battle of Lexington. Early they talked about Paul Revere's famous ride, where he stopped at several towns to announce... the British are coming! WRONG! We were all British back then! He would have sounded like an idiot if he stopped at houses to announce, yell or whisper, "The British are coming!" He did tell everyone that the Redcoats were coming. That makes a lot more sense and also is historically accurate. But think back to all the things we were told in history. How many fallacies were we told as kids? When I went to school in the 1970s, they were still telling the story about George Washington cutting down a cherry tree as a suck to promote honesty - as history - when it was total fiction. The American Revolution never mentioned that we were terrorists; by definition, the rebels were just that. People love to whitewash history when really hone...

I'm rereading John Grisham's The Runaway Jury and enjoying it immensely. The main focus is the jury that has been selected for a Big Tobacco trial and what the two sides of the case are trying to do to see the outcome they'd like. Personally, I have no trouble believing the bad things I hear about the tobacco industry. Including: 'The 1998 legal settlement between the states and the tobacco companies prohibited the tobacco companies from taking "any action, directly or indirectly, to target youth... in the advertising, promotion or marketing of tobacco products." However, since the settlement, the tobacco companies have increased their cigarette marketing expenditures by 125 percent to a record $15.1 billion a year, or $41.5 million a day, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Much of this marketing is still targeted at kids. One of the tobacco industry's most outrageous new tactics is the introduction of candy-flavored cigarettes and smokel...

I was on e-bay and found this: In order to ease & support your life journey, we have exclusively designed Over 200 Unique Tumbled Crystal Sets and a complete line of Crystal Intention Jewelry Diabetes Regulator Tumbled Crystal Set with Extras ° Amazonite ° Chrysocolla ° Moss Agate ° Serpentine ° Oh... my... god. This is criminal. Taking some crappily polished stones and turning them into the cure for diabetes is - or should be - illegal. I suspect in other countries this would be illegal... I realise that this nation is founded on so many freedoms, but this is bad. Kind of like hate groups. I don't think the KKK should be allowed to exist, much less publish (although it is shocking that any of them could even read). And I hate that our society is so into mking money that crap like this can be posted and sold. And there are a lot of ignorant people out there who would buy into this because this is so much easier than diet and exercise and monitoring your sugar...

I personally was appalled at this. I feel very strongly that she has a case for religious discrimination and I hope she pursues it as far as she can. "PARIS – A Muslim woman garbed in a head-to-toe swimsuit — dubbed a "burquini" — may have opened a new chapter in France's tussle between religious practices and its stern secular code. Officials insisted Wednesday they banned the woman's use of the Islam-friendly suit at a local pool because of France's pool hygiene standards — not out of hostility to overtly Muslim garb. Under the policy, swimmers are not allowed in pools with baggy clothing, including surfer-style shorts. Only figure-hugging suits are permitted. Nonetheless the woman, a 35-year-old convert to Islam identified only as Carole, complained of religious discrimination after trying to go swimming in a "burquini," a full-body swimsuit, in the town of Emerainville, southeast of Paris. She was quoted as telling the daily Le Parisien newspape...

Most people like to go out and do things on Saturday. I prefer to throw in my lot with the squad on my rotation and others since we are not too social by nature. But sometimes I wonder... Oh, I don't wonder whether it is worth it or how I feel about riding as an EMT - I love it. But people are such a let-down. This Sunday morning I was finally asleep when the pager went off just before 0400. An MVC on Route 280 West, multiple injuries. We raced down there to meet another EMT onscene to find the patient with a closed break to one leg. The patient was in the back of a truck and had been asleep with two children - all unrestrained and laying on the floor. I hate that people do stupid things, but I have reached a point where if an adult wants to do something truly stupid that harms no one else, well, hey, that is up to that person. Whatever... reaching the age of consent means you can be an idiot if you'd like. However, when you knowingly endanger children, that is altogether anoth...

Promise to those who matter: no content will reflect specify work in any way, shape or form. Monday, 16 February Curious as a Cat Week Number 156 1) If you could eliminate (or lessen the effect of) one emotion from your life, which would you choose? Well, I find these questions amusing. Since I firmly believe that one cannot experience the highs of good emotions without allowing themselves to feel the lows of negative emotions, then I would not give up or eliminate any of them. True joy cannot be felt unless one can feel true despair. If I could eliminate physical pain, however, other than those that come with normal trauma, I would. I would never feel as I do now again. 2) What one thing would you find the hardest about being in prison? A strange question; what wouldn't be hard? Freedom would be the hardest thing to give up. Prisons now offer books, Internet, work, three squares a day... it mirrors real life in every way except the freedom to go whenever and wherever I want. 3) Wh...

Where my mother's family made huge strides forward this weekend, I realised how lucky we are to have Luis as he is. His family is... well... I just don't know. Staggeringly religious. Enormously right-wing conservatives that make the conservative people I know raging liberals. It was an educational and scary evening. Anna and Kirk were the first to get here this afternoon and it is always a pleasure and treat to see them. We were chatting about different things when Luis' and Anna's father, Luis Augusto, came up... that must have been around 1630. He and his siblings, Lucia, Isabel and Iggy, had gone into NYC Friday night and yesterday and when he got in he took a nap. He was very late for his nap - he usually takes it around 1230 and gets up around 1400 but this time he got in later than his wake up time. When he came up we started a new conversation. We were rolling along with that when Iggy came with Lucia, Gustavo and Stewart. Lucia is Luis' and Anna's aunt,...

I've rarely had occasion to disagree with Boston Legal , but this time I definitely not okay with their opinions here. Wel, until the end. Then Alan Shore said a lot of good points to support Roe v. Wade . I was relieved. The episode opened up with a 15-year-old girl who hired Alan Shore to get her a judicial bypass to overrule her mother's not giving parental consent to have an abortion. Alan agreed to take it when Denny Crane said something about helping the girl to "burn in hell forever". Good for him! I can't believe anyone would say such a bizarre thing. Well, when Alan went to Shirley to have her on the case, she was not interested in doing it. She said that she is a parent and knows that once down this road, it haunts you forever. I almost launched myself off of the couch. I am one of many women who has been down this road, and it was the best thing I ever did for myself and for a kid, bar none. I am hugely prochoice for a reason. I hated the idea of having...

Earlier this week I sent a message to inform someone of a new hire. The new hire, coming from another country, wrote his dates "backwards", just as a heads up, so that when the person came to get the badge, this person would know that dates given might be incorrect for the system. Such as a birthday written as 03-05-19XX is really 3 May 19XX. I threw in the side comment that really we are the ones doing the dates backwards... what dating system is month-day-year? On my computer, I list all my dates as YYYY-MM-DD. That is the most sensible way of doing it. However, on paper, I write out my dates: 27 July 2008, because I hate MM-DD-YYYY. But if I write the date this coming Friday as 01/08/2008, e veryone in this country will read it as January 8, 2008. I am not sorry for feeling this way. The recipient of the e-mail saw me a couple of days and harangued me on knocking this great country. At first I was totally confused and had no clue what the problem was - two mintes after I...

I've had people ask me where I've been and others asking if the rumours are true. Some are. Some, of course, are not. Here is the skinny: I was politely but firmly requested to take out, modify or otherwise change some of my postings. I won't get into details about who asked. Apparently there are enough readers out there (which, I must admit, is rather nice!) that will have little to no trouble figuring out what august personages to which I refer. I do have high regard for the individuals who spoke with me. Never let it be said that I don't. However, I thought this through, and over several days - eight days, to be exact. At first I acquiesed to all that was asked of me. I was contrite and said that I would abide by the requests made. I'll still keep to that but a few points came up as I mulled this over. 1. It is unreasonable to ask me to not post negatives. I will agree to keep names (especially surnames) out of it or change them to protect the guilty and the inno...

Yes, you should immediately worry... I'm actually reading the voting ballot that is mailed out to us constituants of the 4th District. So here it is: 'STATE PUBLIC QUESTION No. 4 Constitutional Amendment Concerning the Right to Vote for Certain Persons' (Ready for this? It is a show-stopper...) 'Shall the amendment of Article II, Section I, paragraph 6 of the Constitution, agreed to by the Legislature, revising the current constitutional language concerning denial of the right to vote by deleting the phrase "idiot or insane person" and providing instead that a "person who has been adjudicated by a court of competent jurisdiction to lack the capacity to understand the act of voting" shall not enjoy the right of suffrage, be adopted?' (Huh?) 'INTERPRETIVE STATEMENT Approval of this amendment concerning the denial of the right to vote would delete the phrase "idiot or insane person" and replace that phrase with "person who has be...

Men and women are not equal. My husband said that last night and he is right. 100% correct. We have the right to do things, to be things, to share in the things that men do. That's fine. I am all for women and men having all of the same opportunities and rights. But to say that we are equal? No, that is not right. Men and women certainly are not equal physically and anyone who says that we are in an overall sense would be full of it. Men are generally bigger, taller, bulkier, stronger humans than are women. To say anything else would be false. It would patently be wrong to do that, to say that. Women are smaller, shorter, not as strong. We aso have higher pain thresholds than men. Men can do heavy lifting, women can do detail-oriented, dexterity intensive work. OK, so physically we are different (besides the really obvious things like gender-specific body parts). Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let's look at the other things. How about how our brains work? Men in g...

How disgusting is THIS? I got my issue of People magazine in the mail yesterday and started reading it. In this issue, dated 27 March 2006, there is an article on page #93 entitled "Get Married or Move Out", about this rather rigid and uptight town called Black Jack, Missouri. Two different families, the Shelltrack-Lovings and the Hyde-Jarrells, could not either rent a home or get a permit to do so because they were told that they did not meet the definition of a family. If they'd just get married, it would be fine to move in. Gasp! How appalling is that? What kind of nuts live in this gods-awful town to pass some sort of ordinance in 1998 that "allows no more than three 'unrelated' individuals to share a single residence". Oh, goodness. What the hell kind of place is that?! So. Apparently the whole thing of freedom in the United States and the whole big deal about religion and state not mixing, is a total pack of lies (as I have long suspected anyway, a...