I realize not all of you are interested in the Proposition 8/Gay Marriage court battle currently under way in San Francisco, but really you all should be. Why? Because civil rights, human dignity and the right to love your partner openly affects everyone. Whether the specific right specifically pertains to you or not, the implications of taking away any right from any group of people WILL affect you somewhere down the line.

At any rate, I just wanted to state that the NCLR (National Center for Lesbian Rights) has been live-tweeting the court case from day one. You don't have to be a member of twitter to follow, just go to their twitter page for almost a complete transcription of events as they happen (just keep hitting "refresh"). It's also not "lesbian minded" in their reporting, it's just a play by play of what's happening, which is kind of nice since it's not being broadcast and otherwise we must depend on what reporters manage to get into the papers.

It has been getting VERY interesting today as the prominent place that religious groups took in getting Proposition 8 passed in California is being questioned and brought to light.

You don't have to be interested enough to follow them on Twitter. But you should be interested in the case. You should be kept informed. You might think it has no bearing on your life, but it could certainly have bearing on the life of someone you know, perhaps one of your own kids.

Okay, so I'm going to start crying if the rain doesn't stop.

It's been non-stop all week. Last night I really wanted to run, I really NEEDED to run, and it was pouring rain.

Today it was sunny this afternoon, blue skies and everything, but as soon as I got off work, suited up and stepped out the front door IT CAME POURING DOWN. OMG!! NOT FAIR.

I feel like the tears are going to come soon if I don't get out.

Tomorrow morning I'm going to the gym. I was going to ride the bikes, but I might do a bike, a run AND a swim.

I know, I know, we're crying and depressed because it's rained for a whole week straight, it's not like we really know what snow is or freezing temperatures. But this is why I live here. So I can run outside!!!!! Because it doesn't rain for days on end!!!

Sighhh...
Depressed.
Just want to run.

It is cold.
It is rainy.
It is windy.
It is dark.

BOO.

Deirdre is a woman I met at a Cinequest Happy Hour recently, however I know she has followed me on this blog for awhile too. When I met her in person I also met her husband, and I knew there were some health issues they were dealing with, so when I saw her tweet that said this:

@Deirdresm How I Got Married and Donated a Liver: http://dsmoen.livejournal.com/248036.html

I thought she had donated her own liver to her current husband. Which makes ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE now that I write this, and I'm laughing at myself for thinking that. HOWEVER, the actual story she wrote about is a really good one and an important one. The main theme is about the process of organ donation and the importance of signing up, but the twist at the end brings up the matter of couples who are not married and how that affects the process. Of course not only does this apply to myself and Scott, it applies more heavily to couples who have no choice in the matter of marriage.

So just take a few minutes to read the story of this amazingly strong woman.

One of the most honest things I've ever read about him.

WTF

Yes, Michael Jackson is dead, and yes it's tragic. But he wasn't a god. I'm not really understanding why ALL THE NEWS IN THE WORLD is being ignored today because Michael Jackson has died. I don't mean to sound insensitive, but GET A GRIP PEOPLE.

Don't start emailing me about how great Michael Jackson was, I KNOW. I lived through the 80s, I had MJ posters all over my bedroom walls, I planned to marry him, I kept a giant scrapbook of MJ news articles, I wore penny loafers through to the 90s, I was OBSESSED with Michael Jackson. Because he was GREAT.

But that Michael Jackson died about 15 years ago, no? I mean, really. He did. It was a slow death that began around 1990 when the crazy really became apparent, but after the crazy continued then we had molestation charges and a $20million payoff which doesn't exactly prove your innocence, financial problems, medical problems, fights with The Beatles, masked kids with no chance of a normal life, an absolutely fucked up face, MORE craziness... and NO NEW FANTASTIC MUSIC in more than a decade.

So forgive me for not grieving right now, but I did my grieving long before Neverland Ranch was auctioned off.

All these kids in the news who are dancing in the streets "in memory of" Michael Jackson, they don't even know how awesome he really was. There was a time when crazy Michael Jackson didn't exist, when the idea of Michael Jackson molesting kids or marrying Elvis' daughter or hanging his own (suspect) children off a balcony or even actually owning the Elephant Man's bones or sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber --- THOSE ideas were crazy, because MICHAEL JACKSON WAS A GOD WHO WAS THE KING OF AWESOME. Do you know what it was like to see this man moonwalk for the first time on MTV? OHMIGOD. I'll never forget how my jaw dropped and chills went down my spine and we were all so thankful that VCRs had been invented because then we could stop and rewind and pause that tape so we could figure out HOW HE DID THAT. You have to be close to my age to understand why tears run down my face when Jennifer Garner starts doing the Thriller dance in "13 Going on 30" - because EVERYONE learned that dance in the 80s, even if only in the privacy of your own living room, EVERYONE. Because Michael Jackson was FREAKING AWESOME and not crazy, but FREAKING AWESOME and the ENTIRE WORLD wanted to be like him and the craziness that went on around him was the craziness around NKOTB + N*SYNC + Jonas Bros + Miley Cyrus TIMES INFINITY. Michael Jackson was worshipped by kids AND adults.

But that Michael Jackson died years and years ago.

I don't need to hear the thousands of soundbites from thousands of celebrities about how awesome Michael Jackson WAS, I don't need to watch the news going over all the craziness ad nauseum, because it's OVER. He's DEAD, and he probably died of some stupid thing he did to himself, and guess what? this "Comeback"? Was never going to happen. If crazy Britney Spears who is physically fit can't manage to put on a semi-entertaining comeback show in her 20s, then crazy 50 year old Michael Jackson who is falling apart certainly wasn't going to get through 50 European shows. I don't think anyone actually believed that was going to happen, so people need to give up the idea that he died just short of his "comeback". Wasn't going to happen.

I get sad when I see the pictures of him as a kid because that poor kid went through a lot and was completely fucked up by his own family before fame finished the job. I get sad when I see pictures of Michael in the 70s because he hadn't quite been eaten up by the fame machine and was still at the threshold of the insane awesomeness he was about to become. And I get super sad at the pictures of Michael in the 80s because that's the face that was all over my bedroom walls and the body that we all worshipped because it could do INSANE things that no one else could. But I got sad when I looked at those pictures BEFORE he died. Because all those Michael Jacksons have been gone for a long long time. He died after a long illness brought about by his father's beatings and his family's greediness and fame's poison and all the bloodsuckers and parasites that take as much as possible while giving back just barely enough to keep him "alive".

Michael Jackson's body failed yesterday, but the King of Pop died years ago.

In the meantime, other things have happened in the world.

There's been much discussion all day about the Prop 8 decision - which really, really and truly, has me at the end of my patience rope, I mean, I couldn't possibly even write about it for San Jose Metblogs because I'm too emotionally invested and irate about the whole thing to speak really rationally.

Catherine made a comment here that we just won't ever understand because it's just not understandable. And she's right - except why then is it so understandable to the Pro-Prop 8 people? It's all ignorance and hate on their part, that's why, and ignorance is always justifiable in the eyes of those under its spell. There is no rational explanation that is not rooted in ignorance and hate - and don't even pull open those bibles without explaining why you aren't following every other rule listed IN THAT VERY SAME CHAPTER.

Within minutes of the decision there was a news interview with an Anti-Prop 8 woman, and she reminded (all of us) that a good deal of the support for Prop 8 came not from people who were against gay marriage per se, but who had bought into the whole "teaching our kids about homosexuality" lie that was all over our televisions at that time. But that is also rooted in some really extreme ignorance and fear - fear again bred from ignorance, and I just have a hard time forgiving that any more. I just can't count that as an excuse when it then goes on to affect the lives of millions.

Or the people who voted for Prop 8 because they just didn't care either way. So you voted to take AWAY rights because you just didn't care? Scott himself told me he could care less who had the right to get married. I told him he better FUCKING VOTE AGAINST IT then. And yeah, I was pretty much in exactly that mood at the time. I feel strongly about this.

And then there were the majority of the Pro-Prop 8 people on TV today, ranting and railing against the protesting gays and non-gays in the streets. "They have their right to their opinions, and so do we!" NYAAH. Well see, there's a big difference between our opinions. MY opinion doesn't take away a really basic, uncomplicated, decent right between two people who want to LOVE each other. YOUR opinion wants to descriminate against a very large group of people because you don't like what they do behind closed doors.

I don't like the ignorant, vile-filled drivel that spews from the Pro-Prop 8 people, maybe I should come up with my own constitutional amendment that says hate-filled, right-wing fundamentalist ignorami are not allowed to sign their names to any petitions to any legal documents. I DON'T LIKE WHAT THEY SIGN THEIR NAMES TO, so it's my right to express that in our constitution, RIGHT? Makes as much sense as anything else they do.

So I'm not taking it back, not that anyone has complained about what I've said at any of the various writing sites I've posted on today. And I'm not sorry if I've offended you. At this point I would have a very hard time being friends with anyone who tried to justify to me why gay marriage should be banned. I couldn't be friends with someone who tried to take away rights from another race and this is NO DIFFERENT. You should BE ASHAMED of yourself if you agree with this decision.

Patience lost

I'm tired of being politely understanding about this.

Here is my non-PC view of matters:

I don't care what your religion is, you are an ignorant piece of shit if you support Prop 8.

It's a great day for Haters, Ignorant Pussies, Right-Wing Christian Fundamentalists, and Stupid Fucking Rednecks in California.

California Supreme Court upholds gay marriage ban

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090526/ap_on_re_us/us_gay_marriage

Forcast today is 94 degrees and "hot and humid" with "record breaking temperatures". Yay. I love to cook in my own house. I can't wait to do it two days in a row.

There is nothing more to say.

I am going to scream if I hear the news say one more time, "The world is waiting to see what Michelle Obama will wear," or "We can't wait to see what fashion statement Michelle Obama is going to make today." REALLY??? Is that what she went to school for all those years? FASHION???

I mean, yeah, she's beautiful, and Yay for nice clothes and stuff, but hasn't this woman accomplished anything else in her life? Is the fact that we have (another) First Lady who is just as intelligent as her presidential husband so scary that we have to reduce her to the sum of her clothes? I can't even get out through my words how absolutely offensive it is to hear the NEWS people reduce her intelligence, accomplishments and value to only what she wears. I am furious, and I don't understand why other people aren't upset too. YOU SHOULD BE UPSET. We should NOT be so proud of Michelle's fashion sense that we completely ignore the OH SO MUCH MORE IMPORTANT aspects of this woman and her life.

RIDICULOUS. If the news reported on her work and accomplishments along with her fashion, then all would be just fine - but the only thing ever reported on Michelle Obama is what she does and doesn't wear and if you can see her (*GASP*) arms. You news people should be ashamed of yourselves!

Epicenter about 12-13 miles from my house.
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc40234037.html

Pretty good push on the house, but only felt about 3 seconds long. Of course, in earthquake time that's a good 3 minutes, haha.

Tonight is Earth Hour, so everyone remember to switch off lights from 8:30pm to 9:30pm!

I hate Dr. Phil.
That doesn't stop me from watching his stupid show sometimes, but only on very rare occasions. Tonight's episode was an interesting show regarding stupid Nadya Suleman, but I'm going to call Dr. Phil on his shit: we do NOT "need full transparency" into that house. Why does the public need to know ANYTHING about what goes on in that house? Only the authorities need to know, the hospital and Child Protection Services and the police. Not the public, not Dr. Phil. What an incredibly arrogant bastard. Yeah, I'm pissed about the whole 14 baby thing, but it's not MY business what happens in the house. It's MY business if one dime of my tax dollars goes to pay for her shopping trips. Other than that, Dr. Phil is an asshole to even suggest that the entire world needs to know what happens in her house.

But Gloria Allred, good gawd, woman. There was a time, many years ago, when I had respect for you. You really are a famewhore now, aren't you? I mean, I fully believe everything the nurses are saying that happened, but there's no need to exaggerate the case more. Allred almost negates the truths that the nurses are trying to get out because of her own stupid theatrics.

I do think Nadya has a fantastic lawyer, and he did a good time trying to call Gloria on her shit. Incredibly, he's almost the only sane voice in this mess. On the other hand, contrary to what they all said on the show, Nadya DID have cameras in her house for her second homecoming - it was all broadcast on RadarOnline, complete with her repeatedly thrusting the babies' heads against her other kids' mouths commanding them to "Kiss the baby", and a loud and disturbing fight with her own mother. Whether Nadya spends any time with the babies or not (and maybe it's better if she doesn't) I hope the current nannies do a good job and I hope they stick around for a long time.

The initial reason for the story to even come out was that it is the first time octuplets have survived. This should have been an incredibly inspiring, medical miracle type of story. Instead we have another guaranteed trainwreck a la Britney but with fourteen innocent lives involved.

They just all make me mad.

The Octomom

Does anyone else have the feeling that this story is going to end with at least one child dead and Nadya in jail?

This whole thing is like a guaranteed train wreck. There's no way it will turn out good. There is no possible way. And we all can't wait for that tragic ending, right?

SAD. And MADDENING. And FRUSTRATING. It's like watching the old Britney running around town half nekkid and OBVIOUSLY DELUSIONAL but no one does anything. And now we have a new crazy woman but instead of an ex-husband who can sue for custody of the two poor kids, we have fourteen babies with no father. Lovely.

I was mad when this news very first broke, but I get more furious as each day goes by. It's just ridiculous that anyone let this happen. The whole thing could have been prevented at so many points, and now there's no way to step in until something tragic has happened.

This story is getting stranger and stranger.

Octuplets Mother has Six Other Children.

This is really disturbing news, to me. I'm sorry, but I just can't get behind this. The mother lives with her parents, ALREADY has six little children, and it sounds like there's no father around. Somewhere in here is a moral/ethics argument. The doctors say it's not up to them to tell a parent how many children they can have... but maybe we should require some proof of income before we give them a fertility treatment that allows them to have eight more kids, almost ENSURING that the rest of us are going to pay for them.

For some reason I thought the inauguration was in the evening. I just found out (luckily, in time!) that it's at 7am on Tuesday. This makes me happy because I can sit and watch the whole thing, but sad because the kids will be in school. Maybe the schools will show it in class. Not that big of a deal, but it would be nice if they could watch.

You have GOT to be kidding me. Pete Wentz and Ashlee Simpson have a baby and name it Bronx Mowgli Wentz? Some people should not be allowed to have babies.

NO MORE POLITICAL ADS.

And no more hateful lies from hate-filled people in the Yes on 8 ads.
Now my television is no longer in danger of having my coffee mug thrown into it.

Glad to see marriage has been protected from those dangerous gays and lesbians

Congratulations Californians,
You have now ensured that rapists, child molesters, and convicted murderers on death row have more rights than the same sex couple who lives down the street from you.

What else is there to say? Money well spent, I'm sure. Marriage is safe now. Phew!!

My favorite headlines of the day:

Mr. President

Hail to the Chief, Bitches!

President Obama

Obama by Chuck Frazier

Well this election went much better, eh? I guess this birthday on Saturday will be much nicer than the one 8 years ago.

Prop 8 is on its way to winning, which kind of hurts my heart. But Gavin Newsome has declared he will keep allowing the marriages until a judge tells him to stop - and Gavin Newsom has done a lot for this issue. I have no doubt he'll never let this drop.

It saddens me that Prop 8 is winning (not won yet though), but the happiness over Obama's win is at a pretty high level. As upset as I am about Prop 8, Obama's win is a move in the right direction overall. I love seeing the celebrations around the world on the news. It's nice living in a country we can be proud of again.

Well done America.

Happy Election Day!

I posted my very first blog on Election Day 2000. I spent the night posting about biting my nails as the television told me that Al Gore was winning the election, and went to bed confident that Gore had won.

The next morning, my birthday, I turned the radio on to all hell breaking loose and some very disappointing news about Bush, and Blue states turned Red, and the whole hanging chad debacle, etc etc. Such a disappointing birthday morning.

And now, eight years later, we have a chance to change things, and have a really great candidate for that change, a really intelligent man who is a great speaker and who the entire world seems excited about - and to top it off he happens to be a black man. The entire picture is so unbelievable and exciting, and I can barely contain myself. Now that the day is actually here I can barely stop the tears from falling I am so overwhelmed wtih excitement and happiness and relief.

And Spike got to vote today, and he's proudly wearing his "I Voted" sticker (as am I) and he even got HIRED today, at Circuit City, so it's a great day all around. It was so great to see him excited, and he read through all the voting materials so he could vote on every issue. At school the excitement was INTENSE, it's all anyone is talking about, even the professors, everyone is so damn excited we can barely discuss anything else. A lot of students, like Spike, are voting for the very first time, and what a great time to be a voter!!

So it's going to be a exciting evening again - but I hope it turns out different than it did eight years ago. With the entire world looking at us, hoping that we'll do the right thing, I hope we don't disappoint them or ourselves. I hope it's an exciting happy evening.

A very interesting article by Mark Morford in SF Gate

"...because they cannot understand it, they fear it. And because they fear it, they do as paranoid, fear-based religions have done since the dawn of a man-made God: They try to kill it."

"...But here's the tragic part: They don't really know why they're panicking. They don't really know what the threat is, exactly. Except for the loss of their own power. And control. And cultural relevance. Besides that, I mean."

"...But they do know one thing: If California goes all-in for marriage equality, it's a slippery slope indeed until other states eventually follow suit, and before you know it the entire country will have to let love in and recognize scary gay people as valid Americans -- you know, just like we did not so long ago for those awful black people."

"I'm calling tonight to inform you that marriage is under attack and we have an opportunity to protect it. I'm hoping I can count on your Yes on 8 vote."

So says the voice mail. The polls now are "too close to call", with Yes votes gaining ground. It's depressing me again. I don't want to see my daughter's face if this proposition wins - both kids are so excited about the vote this year, ALL the issues, and it's a rough lesson when an important vote goes the wrong way.

I don't understand how "marriage is under attack". Aren't we already making a mockery of marriage? I mean we straight people, haven't we done much more than actually fight for the right to love each other? We run back and forth to Las Vegas where we can marry and divorce at will. We fill out our prenuptial agreements. We celebrate 16 year old Jamie Lynn Spears getting engaged to her 18 year old boyfriend after getting pregnant. Teenage Bristol Palin is applauded for getting engaged after getting pregnant. Are the Yes on 8 people fighting also for women's rights, against domestic violence, for education so the poor uneducated population have understanding for and access to birth control?

No. No, very few people are caring about heterosexual domestic issues, and the 50% heterosexual divorce rate, the ease with which straight people can marry and divorce. They just want to stop people who love each other and are willing to fight for their love from actually having the chance at making marriage a celebrated, important event. It's a THROWAWAY event to many straight people. We don't take it seriously any more. Until someone else wants a shot at making it work. Are you afraid same sex couples will out do us in the success rate? If not, why do you care?

"I could give a fuck what they do," said a friend recently. I lost it. I blew my top. You "could give a fuck" but you'll take the time to vote against their right to marriage?

I know many of my readers don't even live in California. But some of you do, and the rest of you may have the same vote come up in your state. If it does, whether you're voting now or in the future, please give a vote for people who want to love each other. The ability to love is not an attack on marriage. It's a celebration. So celebrate it already!

It's somewhat poetic justice that even though this guilty verdict came in "13 years to the day after Simpson was cleared of murdering his ex-wife and a friend of hers", it barely made the news. Nobody cares about OJ anymore and that's probably for the best, he isn't deserving of any attention. I watched several different news shows today and it was not until I accidentally saw a blurb on Yahoo that I learned about the guilty verdict and that OJ could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Who says the news is always depressing?

Joe 6-Pack and Hockey Mom

Doodlewhore does a great doodle on Palin.

7 year boy serves an alligator several small animals at the zoo

So the boy took several animals from the zoo in Australia and fed them to a 440 pound alligator.

"In my day he'd get a big boot up the arse," center director Rex Neindorf told Reuters by phone.

No kidding. Where were this kid's parents???

So it could have been worse, but I didn't hear anything that would make me want to vote for Palin or her Grampa McCain. What bothered me the most was listening to the pundits afterward RAVING over her because... get this... she "successfully avoided questions" that she didn't want to answer.

I know this is a skill that all debaters are taught, but it's one of those things that I hate about election seasons. Okay, if I was the manager of a debater I would want one who could dance around like that, but when I am choosing a candidate for a VERY IMPORTANT JOB I would like that person to successfully ANSWER THE QUESTION. Not have a skill in avoiding it.

I mean, jeeez, I get enough of that skill from my kids.

The other thing that has bothered me since GW Bush's debate four years ago is the down home, good ole boy/gal talk. "Oh my gosh" and "I'm tellin' ya" and "Holy moly" or whatever the hell else she said, those phrases not only do not impress me, they strike me as entirely unprofessional, something you would never EVER be coached to say in a real job interview. But GWB worked it to his advantage and it's about the only thing Palin has going for her. I would hope that Americans would be smarter than this, but time will only tell.

Palin took Biden off guard when she asked him if she could call him "Joe", and he politely accepted but chose to refer to her as "Governor" which is the PROPER WAY to refer to someone in her position. It would have been outrageous for Biden to refer to her as "Sarah" during the debate. By calling Biden "Joe" throughout the debate she was very disrespectful in an inappropriate situation - I would hope she would not do this with Heads of State or other world leaders if she were elected to office.

I was pretty disgusted by the "Joe Six-Pack" and NUMEROUS "Hockey Mom" references too. Most of the people I associate with are not "Joe Six-Pack" and I am FAR from a Hockey Mom, so what the hell are you going to do for ME? Hockey Moms across America may or may not love Palin, but there are plenty more women out here who do not relate.

So... Yay for Palin, I guess, she earned her debater's badge. Did she earn my vote? Not in a million years.

I had to order this.

Actually, I bought two. One for Buffy and one for Spike.

Speaking of Spike, he is THRILLED that he gets to vote in this election. I'm thrilled for him. It's a good time to be eligible to vote.

Sorry, didn't realize I wasn't updating.

School's back in session, so you know, ya gotta cut me a break.

Kids are good, Buffy's grounded but nothing major, Spike is working really hard in his college classes which is a surprise, and I'm personally getting burned out with school. I'm just not thrilled with 2/3s of my classes, and they're giving me an apathy that's creeping in to the other 1/3. My favorite professor is going to give me a pep talk tomorrow or Tuesday to help me get back on track.

The pool is drained, and that made me sad. All the beach gear is out of the car as of today (but there's still some sand in it). I guess summer is over.

But our vacuum and lawn mower are both not working, so you know everything is as usual here!

Eh, we're happy. Just busy. And I thought I'd give you an update.

Back to not doing my homework I go.

Good bye Berkeley Tree Sitters. I guess now once you're done with your jail sentences you can finally go out and get JOBS and become productive members of society, maybe even actually make use of the degrees your parents paid TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS for if any of you ever actually graduated.

"Goddamn Hippies!" Eric Cartman

Today I had good and bad news.

Good news is that one of my old friends from the journal writing days wrote me a very very nice note and email, and it was great to hear from her and I was thrilled to see she has a happy life now. In San Diego even! I'm so jealous!

But then I got a note on Facebook that Tom Nance was struck and killed by a truck while Tom was riding his motorcycle in Los Angeles yesterday. I met Tom at Cinequest last year, he was the writer and producer of one of my favorite films that year, Sherman's Way. I never knew him well, I became better friends with the director of the movie, and that is who let me know about his death. I'm really saddened by this news (and how ironic that I was just looking at his Facebook page yesterday and remembering him as a really nice guy!) because he was a REALLY talented man! Sherman's Way may or may not hit it big, but it was a really great movie, and written really well. It was a great story that I really enjoyed. So I'm saddened at the world's loss, and Hollywood's loss, and I'm really sad for my friend the director, as he had been friends with Tom for 30 years.

Death is always hard, unexpected death is even harder, and when it hits the young it's even worse. I really feel for my friend Craig for his incredible loss.

And happy to hear from my friend. And happy from my good day at the beach. But sad.

Sorry to be so blunt, heh. It's my blog and I'll blah blah if I want to and all that.

So Scott and I have a friend who grew up in Alaska and his family still lives there, and we saw him at a sidewalk sale in Aptos this weekend. "So," I said, "What do you know about McCain's vice pres?"

"Well," he said, "I went to high school with her, my sister was good friends with her, she comes from a really great family..."

"WHAT!!! You KNOW her???" "Oh yeah," he said, "I told you, everyone in that town knows each other. In fact, we have a joke in our town, 'When you get divorced here you don't lose your wife, you lose your turn.'"

I had no idea he actually KNEW her, or even lived in the same town, I just thought he may know more about her actual politics than we might get from the news. As much as he liked her personally though, he made it clear that he would never ever ever ever EVER vote for her, and that no one even in his town understood McCain's choice as she has only been in office less than two years.

So anyway, he lived in a small town, and we all live in a small world. I'm now one degree from this woman, and only two degrees from McCain (*shudder*).

Okay, no more politic talk today, I have a paper to procrastinate writing at the moment. Politic talk will just drive me to write it.

That was the most lame-brained speach I've ever heard President Bush give. Unbelievable.
How do reporters keep straight faces?

Looks like there were around 400 fires from the lightning yesterday. I'm glad our little fire never grew to more than that, a little fire.

In other summer news, we bought a pool yesterday. "10 minute set up" it said on the box. They boys (Spike and friend) believed that; I'm an adult and know better, haha. The entire project took at least three hours, since we had to go back to another store to get a foot pump and some pool toys (30 minutes), then friend pumped it up all by himself (about 20 minutes), the boys figured out and installed the pump (10 minutes), we had to move the pool and re-cut some tough weeds that were causing pokies under the pool (30 minutes), and THEN we stick the hose in to fill it up (2+ hours). It's still not full, but it became too dark for me to see after 10pm. So today we'll finish filling it AND spend time in it.

We're feeling all landscape-y now, and want to install some more bushes, a walkway to the pool, and maybe plant some ground cover where the old grass long-ago died. Perhaps we'll have a nice backyard soon!

But no matter what, we'll be cool in the pool!

And just like that, the fire was put out.
It took all of two minutes for sirens to start roaring up the street and the smoke went out pretty fast. Seems like it took a good ten minutes for them to get to my house when it was on fire, but god forbid the creek catch fire.

Anyway, another fire disaster averted. We continue baking in the summer heat.

Fire away

So we just started having some terrible thunder, which is wierd because it's 95F and the cloud hanging in the sky looked like just residual smoke.

But Spike just called me outside. "Did you hear the thunder?" he asked. "Yes," I replied. "Look," he said, and pointed to the foothills that surround our neighborhood.

Smoke.

Yup, it hit (hopefully) some trees, and we have a fire going in the extremely dry hills. Can't see exactly where it is, it's very near, but I think it's just outside the house line, so it should be a tree.

The sirens are coming now.

So Santa Cruz is on F-ing fire AGAIN. I don't remember Santa Cruz ever being on fire until this year and now we're losing houses and homes left and right. It totally sucks. I feel so badly for those families, and there's nothing I can do for them, and it completely stresses me out. On top of that, one of my readers is from Bonny Doon, where the fire is, and she is surely evacuated. Leslie, just know I'm thinking about you and crossing my fingers for you and your family and your home. And hoping that I'm totally remembering it wrong, that you're NOT from Bonny Doon. (I always get Bonny and Ben Lomond confused!)

So today I came to work with a very low gas tank, figuring I should just be able to make it to work, 20 miles from home, and can gas up there.

So I get here, 20 miles from home and an empty gas tank... and I do not have my purse in the car.

I have no money, no ID, no credit cards, and an empty tank of gas. HAH! Life is so fun!!

Luckily, son is home and called to say he might be able to drive over here to give me my purse. If I give him some gas money, heh. I think it's a good trade.

uHHHHHH

Okaaaaay. I *thought* that Scott's house was out of danger.

I see on the news that Aptos High School is closed.

Aptos High School is less than two blocks from Scott's house.

I just checked the fire map, it's 3-4 miles away from him.

So the wind shifted and now the fire is headed east, which is away from Scott's house.
But towards Charleen's house, heh.

15% contained, so hopefully this is over soon. I feel so badly for people who have lost their homes. There are a LOT of people who live in trailers in the SC Mountains. They don't have much to begin with, but the did at least have a home.

Edited to add: Well I just looked at the fire map and it looks to me like the fire is twice as close to Scott's house as it was earlier. WHATEVER, Stupid Fire Gods. I send a WATER CURSE upon you!

Santa Cruz Fire

It has now burned 2500 acres, which is 800 more than three hours ago.
The news is making no reports of evacuations in other parts of the county, so I try to not worry about Scott's house. Then I look at the fire map, which shows the fire to be only 2-3 miles away, separated from his house only by a bunch of highly flammable trees, and start to flip out again. I am just keeping my mind on the reports that do not mention Aptos.

I heard about the fire on the news early this morning, but it wasn't until I drove Buffy to school that I saw the HUGE grey cloud coming up over the Santa Cruz mountains --- only it wasn't a cloud, it was the hugest plume of smoke I've ever seen. And when you figure in that Santa Cruz is a good 40 miles from my house, that tells you how bad this fire is.

When I drove to work today I could no longer see the cloud, but it was definitely smoky in north San Jose. But according to the news the fire is still "raging out of control". So I'm just keeping my optimistic side on; as long as the news reports it's only the "sparsely populated" area in danger (still incorrect, there's lots of houses there, they're just little and small and poor and often trailers - they are still homes though) then I'll cross my fingers that things don't get much worse.

more fire

They just interviewed a man who had evacuated - the CDF had woken him up this morning where he lived in a trailer. He grabbed his computers ("Cuz I'm a computer guy") and his dogs and drove off. "How do you think your trailer is doing now?" "Oh, it's gone," he said. "Do you have friends or family?" "I have friends... in Connecticut."

"What are you going to do now?"
".... Hey, I'm ALIVE."

And then I broke down. Because though I understand completely his reaction, from experience... that man now has nothing, he woke up and his life is completely changed, and that's the same thing happening to hundreds more people in those mountains right now. I just hope everyone gets out. It's pretty tough seeing a place I consider my home being destroyed.

On top of that, I just looked at the fire map and it is NOT FAR from Scott's house, and the wind map shows it heading directly toward Aptos. JESUS CHRIST. If that fire jumps the freeway, Scott's house is a goner. NO NO NO. This is not how we want to start our summer!!!!!!!

They are not evacuating anyone even close to Aptos right now, but the way the area is situated, and the strength of that fire, and the winds, I don't see how they're going to get this fire out any time soon. If it continues like this, it will be bad news for thousands of people. Hopefully they can stop it from jumping the freeway.

:(

Santa Cruz Fire

There's a huge fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains right now, and it's pretty devastating. I'm watching film on TV of people trying to hose down their houses which are within ten feet of the flames. Dude, your house is a goner. Get your family and get out. But this early in the morning... this fire is going to get much worse, the winds are going to kick up even harder around 1-3pm. Fires are always stressful for me, it brings back some really hard memories; to see the fire consuming an area that I know intimately is devastating. I'm terribly sad to see so many houses that so many families are about to lose. I would normally be driving through the area on Friday to get to Aptos - there is an alternate route, but when I eventually do have to drive through it, after the fire, it's going to be really sad.

Shut up Miley Cyrus and your whole family too.

It's funny that she's not sorry and apologizing for stupid photos she takes of herself (every damn week), but after taking some really beautiful photos with famed photographer Annie Leibovitz she comes out of no where to apologize for being "duped" by Vanity Fair when she and her family all saw the photos first AND approved them. No one would be talking about the photos or caring about them if she hadn't made a big deal of apologizing.

So... nice publicity stunt Miley. DUMB. You and your family are DUMB.

She's not a victim here - except that she should have been grounded by her family weeks ago for pictures she HERSELF took. So... Shut up Miley, Shut up Miley's Family.

Today I had a Spanish exam and believe I got 100% on it - so YAYYYYY. Also, less than 30 more days of Spanish and I never have to study it again - WOOOOOOO.

I just joined Jillian Michaels weight loss program through Facebook. Immediately I received the instructions "Do any cardio today, 30-60 minutes". And it was funny how my brain instantly reacted: "Oh, okay, Cardio! Today I do 30-60 minutes of cardio! YES Jillian!" It was as if she was right here kicking my butt.

So we'll see how this goes. The next 30 days are not going to be easy as I finish school, but I'll do what I can until school is over. THEN I'll kick butt.

Plus: School is almost over - YAYYYYYYY!!!!

Rest in Peace, Steve Sremac. I hope more than anything that your wife will also find peace in the times to come.

To the rest of you: I will be writing about this later and asking a favor of you all. I hope some of you can help with my request.

What the heck is wrong with the teachers in Tampa, Florida???
I can't even stomach the thought of ... ugh... Spike's 17 year old friends... *barf*...
much less a 14 year old!!!

And I don't really get why we as a society would not be outraged about an adult female teacher having sex with a 14 year old student, because things would certainly be different if these were men having sex with female students.

I'm starving.

So ends the update of the day.

TMZ now says Brit's new shrink just called for another trip to the hospital for another nice quiet rest. They say there was no suicide attempt.

Good. A hospital stay is better than her crying in the street.

I don't know why I'm so fascinated with her... I think there's just a part of me that does understand her, a little.

I need to go to bed.

Britney...

TMZ is reporting that there are lots of cops and helicopters at Britney's house again (midnight now) and X17 is reporting that she's attempted suicide - but X17 is usually full of crap.
As much fun as she's given me this last year though, I hope it didn't come to this - and then again, that's what this is all leading to, right? even if she didn't tonight, that's what everyone is waiting for.

Well, I'm not waiting for that, I love the Crazy, but I don't love the mentally ill and I hate that she makes no attempt to get her kids back. So I'm always torn about her, between hating her and feeling sorry for her. But every day I succumb and pull up TMZ to get the morning Britney news and then X17 to get the crap news. And sometimes I take a second and look at the many pictures X17 puts up (in the name of "helping Britney") and just stop and think, "That's a real girl there, that's a really sad girl who knows she has no friends."

Last night I saw the film of her crying in the street and I could hear a female photog saying in what sounded like a very concerned voice,"Britney, do you need to talk to somebody?" And it was so sad because she so obviously does and she so obviously needs someone, but how do you find that friend when you're Britney and have created this world yourself, this world that won't let you get help for yourself. I'm not talking about getting mental help, I'm talking about finding someone she can trust, a real friend.

So I hope she's okay. I want my Crazy Britney back who I can laugh at. Crazy Britney at least seemed happy. I don't like worrying about a fellow mother, and even though she never had the skills, she is a fellow mother.

Heath Ledger has died.
I just find this so terribly sad.
Who didn't fall in love with him after seeing 10 Things I Hate About You?
And yet Amy Winehouse, though unbelievable talented, is still out and alive and smoking crack.
The world is a terribly sad place sometimes.

This storm is a little out of hand, in my opinion. It's no hurricane Katrina by any means, but this time it's not just Californians whining because our windshields are wet. This is some major craziness - and sirens non-stop outside. My lawn is a gigantic puddle, which is pretty amazing because we live in the foothills, on a slope. It shouldn't be possible for our grass to be submerged!

Last night the wind blew in our double front doors, busting the lock that secures the second door, and nothing will keep it closed now. We have the front doors now barricaded with:
2 Dining room chairs
1 HP Printer in the box
1 Basket of Laundry
1 Big heavy piece of wood

So far, they are staying closed now. But I'm not sure how we're supposed to get in or out of our house. The power went out last night but has been up today so far.

I am NOT driving to Aptos today. Heh. No way no how.

The cats are not happy either. "The HELL I'm going outside. You want me to do what? YOU go pee outside."

It does not make me happy to know that Scott is working out in this mess. I hope he stays safe and I hope he doesn't get sick.

Mexico in five days!

We just had a terribly big earthquake, and 20 minutes later I'm STILL shaking, but now that my heart is starting to slow I feel like I'm about to cry. That was huge. Nothing broke - but it was a rolling one (30 seconds long!) it just seemed like it went on forever. It was NOT fun. Californians are pretty blase about earthquakes so I sat in my chair waiting for it to end (the cats hightailed it out of here PRONTO) but eventually I tried to make it to the doorway because I wasn't sure WHAT was going to happen. MANNNNN. I hope there's no aftershocks tonight... I'm just not up for it.

update: AND all the phone lines are down. House phone and cell phones... :-(

You can take off somewhere else ANY time now.

Banks

Waddaya know, they did not charge me the extra five fees either. They only left one on, which is fine, I'll accept that fee.

In answer to some of your comments:

1. Yes, Edward Jones keeps most of my money. I just keep a year's worth of funds in the Wells Fargo savings.
2. I have a Starbucks Visa and a mileage Visa. I use them for most everything and pay them off every month and get points or miles for each. Occassionally I use the debit card instead though... usually always for the small things like lunch in the cafeteria, but I happened to use it for school shopping this time.
3. I do have online banking, I just had not checked it over the weekend and honestly I wasn't worried about it. Wells Fargo has the equivalent of one year salary in my savings and I ASSumed that I had overdraft protection. So I didn't think it mattered if I accidentally went under on the weekend.

So no, I'm not going to change banks over what is now only one $34 fee. Even if they had kept all the fees I wouldn't have changed - when they switched me to this new account it was a NIGHTMARE for one month as I individually switched over every single thing that automatically comes out of my bank. It's not worth it. But thanks for all your advice!

And I still hate them.

Hot Starbucks on a Hot Day

Wouldn't you know it, Starbucks turned their air conditioner off! Because it got too hot! It's so warm here they even took out all their salads and cheeses because they would spoil.

I hate summer. Bring on the winter.

Fresh out of rehab, Lindsay Lohan was arrested last night for chasing a car down the freeway while D-R-U-N-K aaaaaaaaaand forgetting to take the cocaine out of her pocket before they arrived at the police station.

This has to be the best year for "Celebrity It Girls Going DOOOWN" evah!

Britney goes crazy, Paris goes to jail, and Nicole and Lindsay will be doing time before the year is out. Not only do I love the drama, but I love that my teenage daughter and others are finally seeing the consequences of their lifestyle.

Have fun Lindsay.

The house is again in the 90s inside. The cats and I are dieing. Well, Phoebe and I are here wilting away, Lord only knows where Pischina-kitty took off to. I even tried to turn the air conditioner on - yes, we have one but it only cools down the five foot square area right in front of it. Since it's only me home, there was no one to fight with over that little area. But it kept tripping the circuit. So whatever.

Oh yeah, this is the time of year I get to hate Catie and her air conditioning.

So tonight we're going to go to the movies when Spike gets off work. Buffy is at her air conditioned dad's house right now, so we'll pick her up at 8pm, then off to the air conditioned theater to see Live Free or Die Hard, or whatever it's called. I don't really care what it's called or who's in it, I just want to be cool.

These are the days when the news that Mexico is going to be extremely hot when we're there doesn't scare me at all. Oh, it's going to be 125 degrees in Mexico but I'll be living on an air conditioned ship for 8 days? Yeah, I'm so scared.

Ssssshhh, Judge Judy just started.

In other "real" news, the American Bald Eagle is off the endangered species list. YAYYY! I remember when I lived in Alaska as a kid there was a bald eagle who lived by our house, and every time we let our little maltese outside we had to check first for the eagle. He would swoop our poor little dog and try to grab her if the eagle was outside! Regardless, I always loved the bald eagle, and I'm glad it is no longer endangered.

The Bully Cycle

edited to add even more below.

So I'm watching the news today and all the Paris Hilton/Larry King recapping, and once again I really am disappointed in our media coverage - although I don't think Paris even qualifies as "news", but if you're going to report, do your research and report accurately.

It seems that everyone feels that the big bad bully (Paris) has been pulled off her pedestal, so now it's okay for US to be the bullies. Isn't that how it works? We're all better than Paris now because we didn't go to jail, so to make us feel even better about ourselves we're going to keep kicking her just to prove a point.

First of all, Larry King conducted a stupid interview.
Larry: "Do you have your license back?"
Paris: "Yes, it is fully reinstated."
Larry: "So you won't be driving anymore, right?"
Paris: "I, uh, what?"

Why would she not drive? She has a license, fully reinstated. Apparently Paris needs to become Saint Paris in order for Larry to forgive her. He tried to push her into saying she won't ever drink again. Give me a break, let's all please act like adults here and acknowledge that we never saw Paris slumped over in her car with her mouth hanging open (Lindsay!) or bashing a car with an umbrella after shaving her head (Britney!) or driving the wrong way on the highway (Nicole!). She did drink and drive, that is inexcusable, but she did her time, and she did more time than most people do for that crime. She may prove me wrong but I don't think she's going to do that again, and she has the resources to pay for other options. She doesn't have to join the Amish, she doesn't have to wear high buttoned up collars, she doesn't have to adopt seven orphans from third world countries to change her ways.

Today on the news they slammed her for not having the details already set for how she's going to give charitably. SHE JUST GOT OUT OF JAIL for gawd's sake. How is she going to set up a charitable foundation in 48 hours?? She DID mention the causes she wanted to help, and she DID say she was willing to work with MADD. But there was no mention of that on the news.

She was slammed for not being able to instantly name her favorite Bible passage after Larry King asked the question completely out of left field. I have read the Bible and I'm afraid if I was put on the spot to answer that question I'd probably say "The story of Noah's Ark" which would sound pretty dumb, eh?

Believe me, I hate that I am defending Paris Hilton. I shut down our televisions for two years partly because I was so disgusted with "The Simple Life". But we can't all just jump on the lynching wagon here, that doesn't make us better than her. If you haven't given up drinking, can't name your favorite Bible passage, don't have a charitable foundation in your name and/or spend quite a lot of visible time donating your time and money, and haven't spend 23 days in jail then you cannot keep stomping Paris Hilton into the ground unless she shows that her lesson has not been learned. She did her time, she says she wants to do good in this world now, and I think we should all leave her alone and let her get on with her life.

Another reporter this morning AGAIN claimed that Paris has no job and does "nothing". Except that Paris listed out the things she does and she is correct: She has made movies, written a best-selling book, had her own jewelry line, stars in a very successful television show. That doesn't mean she is talented or that she succeeded in all her ventures, but that doesn't mean she doesn't work. If you're going to hold yourself to such high standards as we are calling for Paris then I hope all of us are president of the companies we work for. I know I am not.

Lindsay, Brittney, Paris and Nicole, I have ranted and railed against each of these girls at various times in the years I have been writing. And until Brittney went wacko I probably hated Paris more than any of them. I absolutely loved that she was sent to jail, twice, and I spent time gleefully laughing at her. But she did it, she completed her time, she completed 90% more time than the average person does for that crime, and she is coming out of jail stating that she is going to make changes that the average person does NOT make. It is time to step back and see what she is going to do (good or bad), it is NOT time to put her on an even higher, saintly pedestal and wait for her to fall off, and it is WAY past time for the media to start reporting accurately instead of like little spoiled brats.

edited to add:
Speaking of spoiled brats, The Today Show really earned that title today. They lost their coveted "first interview" with her so they conducted a horrendous interview this morning bashing her. The female reporter had obviously not even seen the interview as she contradicted what happened several times so she could just report what The Today Show wanted you to hear (the bashing of Paris). Her interviewee, from TV Guide, made comments like "Paris spent a lot of time complaining about the food." Well that's because stupid Larry King spent a lot of time asking her about the food. This is a Larry King defect, not a Paris Hilton defect. "Her written notes were pathetic." Well, yes, they were. Paris is stupid and uneducated, she wasn't taking university classes in jail, and her drawings were borderline mentally or emotionally retarded. Does that mean she's a bad, unforgivable person? No. "There was no point of contrition." Blatantly untrue. She absolutely said she was wrong to drink and drive, she said she hopes others learn their lesson from her and was happy to say that she received letters from people stating so, she said she would work with MADD, and she said she had a lot of lessons to teach her future daughter. "...and she complained that she was treated unfairly." She did say this, and she is also correct. The fact is, normal people serve 10% of their sentence for the crime she committed. I think it took the 23 days for her to learn her lesson, but the fact is that she was treated more harshly than the average person. It is also a fact that she did NOT complain, but said that things happen for a reason, that she learned a lesson and hoped to teach others from it.

The fact is, she did not act like a spoiled brat on Larry King. It is the media who are acting spoiled and holier than thou. US Magazine, you're fooling nobody with your "100% Paris Free" issue. You didn't score the first interview but you'll be back to reporting on her just as soon as you can.

I don't care if she drives, I don't care if she parties or drinks while she parties. It would just be nice to see her put some good into this world that has treated her so kindly up til now. That's how you live a good life, by giving as much good as is given to you. There should be no person in this world bashing Paris unless they are holding themselves to just as high a standard.

edited also to add: Yes, She flat out lied when she said she never used drugs before, as the pictures of her smoking pot and openly carrying pot in her purse have been all over the internet for forever. This is where Larry King should have stepped in and called her on it. In the end, I don't really care what Paris does... I just would like the media to start reporting stuff accurately. Larry did a shit job yesterday, and the rest of the media did a shit job of reporting on it today. So let that be the end of any Paris update from me for quite a long while. Whew!

I am happy for Paris, that she is home now. I look forward to seeing what she's going to do next.
As a firm Paris/Lindsay/Britney hater, I actually think Paris may now turn her life around. We'll see.

(But you know I look forward to all the news!!)

HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA.....

My silly silly silly little wanna-be-big-time city...

It seems that the police have a lot of problems at 2am when the bars close here. Drunken, rowdy crowds don't wanna go home and the police are tired of fighting with them.

The solution?

They just passed a new ordinance allowing the bars to stay open until 3am.

Yep. That'll solve the problem. (am I the only one who doesn't get the logic here???)

Also... it's a good nice lesson for Paris' parents.

Paris Hilton

Heee.

So she's back in jail, and I almost feel sorry for her - no really, I do. Not that I'm not laughing (because I am, oh I really really am), but I feel for her. I mean - who actually gets sent back to jail? I've never even heard of that ever happening.

This is my opinion - if she had served the whole thing to begin with, she could have come out of it smelling like the sweetest rose ever and it would have been an even bigger boon to her "career". But she wouldn't have learned a damn thing. By being let out early she pretty much thumbed her nose at us all, and I think she probably would have taken a big hit - although she still would have been worshipped by the teenage population. But I don't think she would have learned a damn thing. But now... Now I think she is actually learning a lesson.

I don't think she needs to serve 45 days, it's widely reported that us regular people would have been let out early too. Honestly I'd be happy if she just spent another ten days. I mean, if she can't hack 3 days, ten more days is going to be a lifetime. Heh. and Heee.

But don't you wonder if she may be a tiny little bit mentally retarded? Seriously? I mean - she acts like she is 19, and you might feel sorry for her going to jail for 45 days if she was 19... but she's not. She's TWENTY SIX FREAKING YEARS OLD. She isn't in prison, she's in jail. It's not even a Singapore jail, it's freaking County. Get over it. In that respect, I don't feel sorry for her. I mean... sit back and read a book for gawd's sake. I only feel a little bit for her because most people don't get let out and then sent right back - and you or I would be devasted if that happened to us too, whether we deserved it or not.

However I think certain other Hollywood "It" Girls had better be careful. (Lindsay! and Nicole!) Because the public tide is turning and people are getting tired of their misbehavior going without punishment.

Now I'm going to go back to laughing at her.

Phoebe update: She has been napping all morning, but now she's up and eating more food.

So Sunday morning and all financial sites are working now.
To be clear, I was not getting "page unavailable", I was getting the actual site with "online access temporarily unavailable" for every single financial site I visited. Everything else worked, just not sites pertaining to money.
Wells Fargo
Washington Mutual
Chase Visa
Another Visa site
SBC Pacbell (to pay a bill)
My financial advisor online site
All completely unrelated, all down and assets unavailable.

But anyway, they are all back up now. All my money is still there. So that's good.

So....
I went to pay my phone bill and that site is temporarily unavailable...
So I checked my financial account where all my stocks and bonds are held... temporarily unavailable.

Someone tell me this is not odd. At least six totally different financial sites "temporarily unavailable" at the same time.

Maybe we should have all kept our money under the mattress.

Very very very odd

So...
I tried to see if a check had cashed through my online banking, and it said the website is temporarily down.
So I went to the credit card site to see if the payment was posted yet. Online access is temporarily down.
So... I went to another card's site to check my balance... and online access is temporarily down.

Hopefully this isn't the Prologue to Handmaid's Tale come to life.

The worries of an English major, heh.

Also,

HAHA Paris.

So I was driving home today and lots of police cars were whizzing past with their sirens blasting, and they just kept on passing me heading in the direction of my house. I thought of calling Buffy to make sure that she and her friend, who had stayed home for 15 minutes alone, had not done something like blow the house to smithereens while I was gone, but decided that probably it wasn't my house they were going to.

And I got closer to my neighborhood and I could see where all the cops had stopped, right in the street around the shopping center where our Starbucks is. There were about 15 cop cars all blocking the northbound lane, and two fire engines and an ambulance and I could see a white car. There were cops in the street everywhere so we all had to drive extra slow past the accident. So I see the white car, which doesn't really look smashed, and some really upset looking people sitting on a curb talking to some cops, but I couldn't see any other car...

And then I saw the blanket

In the street

The yellow tarb just lieing in the street with an upturned hand sticking out one side.

It was pretty obvious that someone had run across that freakin road (speed limit 40mph) in the dark, and gotten hit by the white car. I looked in the parking lot and saw about twenty teens in a crowd looking FREAKED, and adult bystanders everywhere, also looking freaked, and I saw the yellow blanket, and got sick to my stomach and reached for my cell phone.

Buffy and her friend were indeed at my house, and I knew Spike was far far away - but that's our shopping center, that's where I spend a great deal of my life studying at Starbucks, that's where the kids hang out at McDonalds, that's where Scott and I eat at two different restaurants, that's our drug store and our bank and our bakery. That's where all the kids hang out. There was a good chance it was someone we knew, and I didn't like the size of the teenage crowd - I just kept thinking please please please don't let it be a kid.

After getting home and telling Buffy what happened I had to drive right past it again to drive her friend home, and after Buffy asked, decided to run to Starbucks really quickly to get something. Buffy really wanted to see what happened so I gave her 30 seconds to get her fill. I didn't want her to think it was appropriate to stare at things like that, but I didn't think it would hurt her to get a dose of life's reality - something Buffy just does not have.

She came back and said she heard it was a lady from the retirement care center across the street. One of the residents had come to identify the body, and was crying that she had told the lady not to cross there.

Why an old lady would decide to cross San Felipe Road in the dark, much less EVER, when there's a lighted intersection 50 feet further down, I will never understand.

I was glad it wasn't a kid, I was glad it wasn't someone my kids knew. I'm glad it's not someone who works at the shopping center, who I might know. I'm really really sorry for the lady and her family, and I probably feel even worse for the poor girls who hit her with their car. I fill sick to my stomache all day long if I hit a bird or small animal in my car, I can't imagine hitting and killing an actual person.

So that's what happened today. I didn't go to Cinequest because I needed to do my Archaeology paper (on Otzi, the frozen man from the Italian alps - exciting, no?) and we'll be there all weekend.

For gosh sakes everyone drive safely and DON'T CROSS A FAST ROAD IN THE DARK.

We interrupt Cinequest posts to announce that this stupid crashing of the stock market is pissing me THE FUCK OFF. I don't like seeing my money disappear like that!

We return now to Movies Movies Movies.

This is insane.
OJ is an Idiot with a Capital I.

Britney filed for Divorce!

That news is enough to make me log in here and post. Hallelujah!!

Also... this is my last 12 hours of being 39! WOOOOT!!!

Response to Comments:
Yeah, in theory, $300 for an exam, glasses and contacts is not bad.
But:
My $300 was for 2 exams, glasses, NO contacts, and I already had glasses but just can't find them. So really it was a stupid $300 to spend because if I hadn't lost my glasses I wouldn't have had to pay anything.

In reality, I know this isn't a bad price, but it's always easier if everything you have to pay for is spread out a bit more and not all lumped into one month of bill paying. The good news is I get paid next week and we'll be back on top. So no worries! ...well, only for a few days anyway, haha.

I fucking HATE the fourth of July.

And THAT is why Christina wins.

What is WRONG with this "woman"!!!

I think this picture is actually from the last pregnancy but I'm not sure and really, IT DOESN'T MATTER.
What matters is that it even HAPPENED.

And yes, those are her panties peeking out from her... unzipped... shorts... as she lights... her cigarette...

Honestly, I think Britney gets a slightly bum rap for her lacking parenting skills, I mean she kind of gets harped on for things that are NOT that big of a deal, but on the other hand she also makes a lot of CLEAR mistakes, but anyway, we do have to understand that papparrazzi is papparrazzi, and the entertainment media needs things to report, and I certainly wouldn't want them following ME around when I had little babies...

However.

Get a clue, Britney.

This has nothing to do with your parenting skills, and yet, it does question your lack of sanity. As if your marriage didn't already, and then the kid, and then the SECOND kid... but now you're going out to eat, in what appears to be a nice restaurant, wearing basically only your underwear??? I mean, sure, I see a pair of jeans there, and what I guess is supposed to be a... shirt... but basically you're in your underwear.

Stop complaining about the papparrazzi, is all I'm saying. You make it too easy. Even if I had had papparrazzi following me around everywhere, I guarantee you they would never, ever, ever catch me in public wearing only my underwear.

And you know, even with a baby on one hip I could still brush my hair.

Or they're upset about the exhibit showing Spears in a natural childbirth position when she reportedly underwent a Cesarean section.

What about the fact that this is NOT a natural childbirth position that I ever heard of, and that I don't know of any women who have given birth on a bear skin rug, and that it doesn't even remotely resemble Britney Spears...

...and that it really just looks like she's ready to take it in the behind?

I personally hate Britney Spears, but if I were her, I would be PISSED right now.

Wow, there is HUGE thunder outside, and lightning, and the lights at work even went off for a few seconds.

Happy First Day of Spring, eh?

God, SHUT UP Annie Proulx.

In this article the Pulitzer Prize-Winner actually changes the name of the film Crash to Trash (wow, that took imagination!), and refers to the Academy voters as "heffalumps". She also blasts them for giving best actor to Philip Seymour Hoffman. It appears she's livid because Brokeback Mountain didn't win every single award it was nominated for.

Get over it, Ms.Proulx. Brokeback Mountain was a good movie, it was a GREAT movie, but the best movie of all time in the entire universe it was NOT. Complain about losing while showing solid evidence if you like, but why would an award winning WRITER choose to complain with a childish tantrum? Shame on you.

... at 2930 Aborn Square in San Jose, California

is STILL TAKING MONEY FROM MY ACCOUNT.

That's right, ANOTHER $96 has come out of my account, and when I just called them...

Gloria, the office manager, hung up on me.

So I now have a case # with the Better Business Bureau. Fuckers.

Good lord, what happened in San Jose while I was in Aptos last night???

Aptos is nice, quiet, a little rainy here and there...

I drive into San Jose and am greeted by a freeway COVERED WITH PINE TREES (Highway 17 at Hamilton) like driving over a carpet of Christmas Trees and branches - CRAZY. Then I get into San Jose and every road has trees lying in the middle of it, branches, trees, debris, trees in yards, a huge tree at Red Lobster all uprooted with half their landscaping, fences down... I 've never seen anything like it.

Good job Mother Nature, you lived up to your reputation this time. ;-)

Meanwhile, I'm glad we don't own our backyard fence, heh. Plus, it fell into the neighbor's side.

I just gave blood for the first time ever in my whole life and you know what? You should too.

Well, it's going to be a good looking child, you can probably bet on that.

I find it odd and a bit hypocritical that companies who hired Kate Moss to pose in photos and ads where she appears to be some kind of spaced out crackwhore are now "shocked" and "saddened" to "find out" that she may actually BE a crackwhore.

It's okay to LOOK like one, and it's okay to use images of a crackwhore to sell millions of dollars of your product, it's just not okay to be caught actually snorting the stuff up your nose.

And don't think that I'm a Kate Moss fan, because I am NOT. I just am having a difficult time figuring out what these companies think they're accomplishing by firing her, or do they just think they're fooling us?

Scientists crack the DNA code of rice.

Yeah I know, I could hardly stay sitting down myself I was so excited.

So Spain and Canada have both approved Gay Marriage this week.

Who wants to bet the good ole U.S. of A. will be the very last place on earth to give their approval?

Okay today's the day.
4pm is the Memorial Service.

Happy Earth Day!!!
Do something good for the Earth today!

I just hope that after all this Terri-Schiavo-feeding-tube-mess that more people will make it crystal clear what they want done if they are ever in that position. Write it down, sign it. Otherwise the government is going to decide for you. Or someone else is going to make the wrong decision for you.

About this particular case - I don't know if I agree with removing a feeding tube. Machines that keep the body alive are one thing, but starving a person... I'm not sure. And that's why this case is so sad, and it's too bad that no one knew for sure what Terri wanted.

Scribble your wishes down on a paper, sign it and put it in your jewelry box - tell everyone where it is. Then you'll be safe if it happens to you. No, that's not a legal document, but it's better than nothing.

I'm going to bed now.

This is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen on Amazon.com.

Flybar Model 1200

"Elevation potential of over 5 feet" ---- WHAT????

According to CNN, Julia Roberts gave birth Sunday morning and named her twins:

Hazel Patricia Moder and Phinnaeus Walter Moder

Those must have been some reeeeeeeeeeally good drugs.

Okay, THIS is why those fucking machines should not be used in elections!!!!!
There is something to be said for technology and progress, but in times like these, in circumstances like this, a nice PAPER TRAIL would be nice. I don't know why we need to know the results in such a rush anyway, we can certainly cool our heals and wait for two weeks in order to get, say... oh I don't know... an ACCURATE COUNT????

edit: I'm not complaining just because I'm not happy about the results, I just want ACCURATE results. No matter what or who wins. I would like to know that those numbers were correct.

Congratulations,
We're now the Fools of the World.

It's bad enough that we have to live through another four years of Bush, but did BigBoss *have* to do a Happy Jig for me this morning, while singing "Happy Days are Here Again"???

Okay, so I was planning to do the exact same thing to him if Kerry won.

Whatever.

I really wasn't happy with Kerry anyway, I really wasn't happy with him at all. But he wasn't Bush. Another four years. Lovely. I suppose the country will finally be ready for change after that.

Right?

I have nothing else to say

I was up pretty late last night so I was expecting to wake up this morning and hear the dreaded news that Bush had won.
I was certainly NOT expecting to hear they were still counting Ohio votes.

Whatever.

Kerry lost, Dudes.

But at least California did our part.

I think I'm going to puke. What is wrong with people???

No weeks of waiting, and a better ending please

Well it was four long years ago that I started my first blog. I tried to find archives of that first one but apparently they've gotten lost somewhere in the many changes I've made. The reason I remember the beginning so well is because I know the first posts I made were during election night during the Bush/Gore race. I almost started biting my nails again that evening.

Let's please have a different ending to this one.

A very excellent editorial on the bible and gay marriage.
From Nicholas D. Kristoff, in the New York Times.
You do have to sign up for an account with NYT to view it so I don't know if you'll be able to view the link, but they do have a privacy thing-a-ma-jig, and the article is really very good, so please just go get a user name and read the editorial all the way through.

My next essay in Critical Thinking will be 750 words about the Abu Ghraib prison.

And may I please say that since magazines and newspapers did not print most of those pictures, and me without TV, I have managed to miss most of them and had no idea they were so bad.

We should be ashamed of ourselves. The line between Us and Them has more than blurred in this case. It makes me sick that I have to write an essay using those pictures.

I tried to post this as a comment in Sabby's blog, but I cannot, so anyway I am posting it here.

"I don't remember the mail EVER closing down for something not a national holiday. And this is NOT a national holiday. I was also expecting mail, and I am pissed off that I didn't get it. So I guess nothing can stop the mail, not wind nor rain nor snow nor hail, unless Ronald Reagan dies. If this was a regular thing to happen when a president dies that would be a different story, but it's not, and Ronald Reagan was NOT the greatest president of the century, and really, this is all just ridiculous. I wish the election would hurry up and get here already."

Do not try arguing with me about Reagan's greatness, I'm 37 years old and I remember him quite well. You will not change my mind. The main point is, the mail is the mail. It needs to be delivered. And I am STILL pissed off that it wasn't.

Okay, right, um.... This is just stupid.
Paris, we all know you've kissed more trolls than that and we've all seen you having sex right here on our family computers, why are we supposed to care that you kissed Carmen Electra?

J-Lo marries Marc Anthony

Oh J.Lo!!! After this next divorce can you just go get a therapist and learn to be happy without a man??

Oh, SHUT UP, OJ. Just Shut. Up.

It has been about 94 all week and we are unable to move or even communicate by computer.

Actually, the computer is so hot it just asked me for a margarita.

I refused to give him one. But I have some Yellowtail Shiraz in the fridge and I'm going to open it right now.

Scott is at air-conditioned StarBucks, he'll be here soon.

I'll need to put a bowl of ice cubes next to the bed, heee.

And now folks, from his own website, the Man who Wants to Be President.

I have to somehow forget that image before election day.

From Kim's site I found this, you can see who your neighbors supported in the presidential campaign. I'm not even sure I like that you can find this out...

I was quite surprised to see that most of my neighbors supported Howard Dean, and a lot of Gephardt too. I put in Scott's address and it was all Kucinich-Kucinich-Kucinich, heh. But that's Santa Cruz for you.

Court opens door to searches without warrants.

I find that just unbelievable.

link via my friend Kate.

Gay Marriages have arrived, where is the Apocolypse???

Very funny article.

Here's another way to help prevent the Federal Marriage Amendment. The ACLU is sending faxes to lawmakers on behalf of their constituents. You can have one sent here.

Thanks much to K-Lo for this link. Go save our Constitution from idiocy here.

49ers Suck Anyway

Jeff Garcia leaving the 49ers...

hahahaha.....

I hate them so much. I like Jeff okay, but my mother in law loved telling EVERYONE WHO WOULD LISTEN that she knew him and his parents, and I think this is hilarious. She is probably fuming mad right now.

You have to know my mother in law, but trust me, this is great, hee.

Wow. That's just... Wow.
I wouldn't have that guy in my house, that's all.

"The Spirit rover went for its longest trip yet on the surface of Mars, traveling just over 88 feet."
I know I should be amazed at this development, ...but 88 feet?
Sorry, Not amazed.

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