Oh Monkey Trumpets

I just discovered Aster Aweke

2011-03-02T20:19:00.000-06:00

And I am so in love with her voice!

Dorm Life

2011-02-12T23:02:00.000-06:00

This is my 7th semester living in the same dorm. I've been on the 3rd floor for two years, the 9th for one (and I would have been on it this year if not for health problems) and now I'm on the 2nd.

The dorm has 10 floors and the 1st is not residential.

Each floor has had its pluses - it's much quieter on the 9th, but when the elevator conks out or the fire alarm goes off, wow that's a lot of stairs.

And now I have a room near the elevator, so much noise outside my door and above my head as somebody walks their elephant nightly.

My first year I was on the Honors floor and we had earlier quiet hours, and I would turn on my TV and then stand in the hall to make sure it wasn't loud. I'm a bit... weird. I've had a number of roommates, and I'm the only one who watches TV with headphones on. I can't listen comfortably with another TV going.

Anyway, a lot of people say that rules in dorms treat college students like children. I say they make you act like you care about other people. The biggest is visiting hours - at least you can't sexile your roommate all night, I get to come back at midnight or 2am. My sister thinks living in an apartment will be quieter - HA!

This morning was the first fire alarm of the semester. It went off at 4am. We stood outside for more than 30 minutes. It was less than 30 degrees outside, and few people were dressed for it, because your main thought when that damn thing starts blaring is to get out as soon as possible.

My biggest dorm issues stem from noise - the pipes (I think) make this shhh noise, you can't hear anything over it, but there is one plus side to it. At home, when I hear a noise upstairs, there's no one up there, so I get scared. Mostly because my mom picks on me. But here? There are supposed to be people in the hall and upstairs and out my window.

My roommate this semester is awesome - she gets overheated too, so she didn't mind having the window open until we got the heat turned off. Well not "turned off" - it's 68 right now, but it's not 80 and the air isn't all heated and nasty. We may have to get it turned back on when it's AC time, though. And the people in charge - maintenance, desk workers, RAs, grown-ups working in Residence Life - all tell me to stand on the toilet, move a ceiling tile, and "there's a switch up there!" No. Just... No.

Some rambling, but gripes about rules always bother me - there's a reason, you're not the only person in the building, so shut up, it's 1am on a school night!

Rep. Steve Cohen

2011-01-24T22:33:00.000-06:00

Steve Cohen is not my representative, sadly. He's not perfect, but he's better than who I do have.

I don't really care that he pointed out that the repeated lies - in many forms - that the government was taking over health care (I wish) was similar to what the Nazis did with propaganda. It's true. Maybe he did it cynically - in a better world, pundits would notice him because of his "uncivil" rhetoric and then go, yeah, he's telling the truth. Hey, maybe there's a reason he cares. I'd love to see if he went on the cable shows and said why health care reform matters, just to get it out there.

That won't happen, if it does he'll be shouted over.

It really really bothered me that the Daily Show jumped on it last week, but pointing out FOX's hypocrisy today kind of made up for it. Maybe he'll be on the show to explain it. More people will notice than if he was on some talking head program on some 24/7 news channel, because I think plenty of people are like me and can't stand "normal" news shows for more than a few minutes.

Also, I think the Daily Show covered just him last week is kind of a "we go after democrats too, democrats say things that aren't nice too, we're not biased, we're civil."

Anyway...

Health care reform is so important to Memphis. The city is very segregated still and poor, and white flight doesn't help. My god the mayor of the suburbs are immature, as we learned when school consolidation seemed close. When people think of the county, they think rich, white kids go to "good" schools, and poor, black kids go to "bad" schools in the city. That's nonsense, there are "bad" schools in the county, and "good" ones in the city - the same year the county schools made all As in standardized testing, my sister was offered a small scholarship because the high school she was from did not make all As. That high school is in the county.

But I ramble. The main reason health care reform has to happen and is so important to Memphis is our shameful high infant mortality rate. If people, not just pregnant women, but everyone had equal access to good health care, it would go down.

Health care reform is very important to me, as I contemplate joining the military for the health insurance*, and I choose to believe that it is important to Representative Cohen. A sign that he cares about his constituents.

*I'm not kidding. The military offers a guaranteed job, a guaranteed roof over your head, and guaranteed health insurance. All of my relatives who enlisted from my parents' generation on did not do so because they adore their country, but because the military offered an escape from rural poverty.

Letter to My Representative

2011-01-19T21:36:00.000-06:00

I just wrote this:

I am a member of your constituency, and I just want you to know that I do not support the repeal of the health care bill. I'm 22, and I have an ongoing illness. Even if it cleared up before I turn 23 in August when I'll be dropped from my dad's insurance (Tricare), I will have to take medicine for the rest of my life. Being covered by my mom's insurance (Cigna) until I'm 26 will make my life much easier. The Affordable Care Act doesn't go as far as I'd like, but it will make my life easier and much better than it would have been before it was passed. Even though this repeal vote is symbolic, it still frightens me. I need this and I'm not the only one in your district who does.

I'll post the reply, even if it's just a form letter.

My representative is a Republican who is a fiscal conservative and supports limited government. He's also a social conservative, but my main concern is the fiscal part. I didn't check what party he belongs to before I wrote the letter, but now I'm 99% sure I'll get a form letter about how "Obamacare" will bankrupt us, even though it won't, and blah blah blah bullshit bullshit.

If he represents the area I think he does, his "limited government" stance cracks me up, though I'm not completely comfortable revealing why. Let's just say it's very hypocritical and a sign that people don't pay attention to their representative's stance beyond party. Also, he may be a Tea Partier, but I don't think he is, or at least he didn't say or do anything to get us on the national news, so that's a plus.

One last thing about this whole thing - my dad says "No soldier wants their kid insured until 26," which is completely false, Tricare was exempt because of a budget misunderstanding and changing it to cover dependents until they're 26 is tied up with defense stuff, and it looks like it didn't make it. Bleh. Anyway, my dad. Some people would make exemptions for their family, like somebody anti-abortion, except for them! At least my dad is consistent, he doesn't think I should be on Tricare past this August and kept asking me if they'd dropped me because I wasn't in school full time this fall. So loving!

I don't want to go on Cigna, the copays are double for appointments. At least I'll keep my doctors. And I won't need referrals! Those are a pain. I've been seeing one doctor since November 2001, but still need a referral. And since I only see him twice a year or so, I have to get one before each appointment. At least I don't need to see my PCM, I can just call them. But Cigna is better than nothing!

Mid-Term Elections!

2010-11-02T22:33:00.001-05:00

The first election I voted in was a mid-term election.

In a state I no longer lived in, but I'd registered as soon as possible of course, because I was 18 and duh, I'd been looking forward to this since about 2004! (Illness gives you a lot of time to read.) So when I got back home, it was too late to be registered for the election here.

Happily, it looks like Fincher will not win in my district. He's the Republican candidate. He called out his opponent for being so evil he... I don't know if I can repeat this... voted/worked on/whatever Tenncare. Health insurance for poor people. It's so evil. While Herron said Fincher lied about his taxes and snooze.

As for governor? Too close to call. I hope it's not Haslam because in his ads, he says he has a plan. What is that plan? No one will say. Also, he thinks the state can be run like a business. It can't.

Consolidation of Memphis and Shelby County? I have no idea what this will do or not do. Nashville's consolidation has helped it and Davis County, but... if it does pass, I hope that means we'll go back to the old library system where by gum, I could ride my bike to the library and pick up books I'd ordered from downtown Memphis libraries. Now you kids get off my lawn!

A result from my state that hurts my head. I was ignorant, I didn't read up on the issues ahead of time, but when I did, I did not regret my vote.

There was a proposed constitutional amendment to make it legal to hunt and fish in Tennessee.

Yes, it's already legal. No one was doing anything to make it illegal or to restrict either in any way.

However, gay marriage. So if some states let gays get married, in 10 years, some PETA freaks could take away our hunting rifles and fishing poles.

And, to quote one concerned citizen (I shit you not),

"I'd be bored."

So. It will most likely pass - only 99% of the districts are in, and it's only 84% in support.

Our state constitution. We're changing it for fishing. Way to live up to stereotypes, Tennessee voters!

Though we didn't vote for Rand Paul, so we're not that bad. We didn't field any big tea party candidates, none weird enough to make national waves, so yay?

A video for your (okay my) pleasure

2010-09-19T23:38:00.002-05:00

Dhoom Again from Dhoom 2.

Description: Some backup dancers do their thing and then Hrithik appears and does that famous amazing loose limbed dance that made my friend go "Legs don't work that way." A million people across the globe faint.

One thing of note: the female backup dancers are dressed in skimpy clothes - short skirts or shorts, paired with shirts that bare their midriff. But all eyes are on Hrithik. People have said he seduces everyone in this movie and I buy it.

Dhoom 2 is streaming on Netflix, and yes there is a first Dhoom, but it's pretty boring compared to this one. This features a shirtless Hrithik multiple times, including the time he disguises himself as a Greek God. For other tastes, there's Bipasha Basu looking amazing and Aishwarya getting to kiss Hrithik. And Abhishek being grumpy, but he's stuck with Uday Chopra (apparently I am his sole fan), and Ali is pretty bad at being a cop...

Um, what was I saying?

Oh yes. The lyrics.

Dhoom again and run away with me on a roller coaster ride
Dhoom again and see your wildest dreams slowly come alive
Dhoom again we gotta break the rules and party all the time
Dhoom again we gotta steal the show you know that ain't no crime

So steal all that you can
The magic you began
Let's shout! Break out!
Come on once again let's hear it

Dhoom Machale

Once more come on you people

Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoooooom

Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoooooom

Dhoom again and feel the beat of the rythm-rythm of the night
Dhoom again and hear the voices calling creatures of the night
Dhoom again and see the shadows dancin' in the pale moonlight
Dhoom again and feel your heartbeat pumpin' now the time is right

So go walk out the door
Get down get on the floor
Let's shout! Break out!
Come on once again let's hear it

Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoooooom

Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoom machale Dhoom machale
Dhoooooom

Dhoom machale

DHOOM MACHALE!!!!!!!!!!!!

For a good look at this song with just pictures (as if that does it justice!), Filmi Girl did an in-depth look at Dhoom 2, and this is the page featuring the song.

Today's Garfield is awesome.

2010-07-27T21:53:00.000-05:00

The comic:

She really loves him. That is adorable.

A transcript:

First panel - Jon, Liz, and Garfield are minding their own business, when Mr. Muscles come up, and asks, "Excuse me, is that your girlfriend?" Jon says, "Yes."

Second panel - KICK

Third Panel - The only change from the first is that Jon is covered in sand.

Mr. Muscles: Hi, I'm Rolf.

Liz: Hi, I'm Get Lost.

Garfield (via thought bubble): And I'm with Mr. Sand Face over there.

Jon and Liz's relationship has always been adorable, once she reciprocated and started dating him and kissing him. This just cements the awesomeness. She loves Jon for who he is as a person, she doesn't care about Rolf.

Sweet.

Some quixotic internet causes of mine.

2010-07-15T23:52:00.000-05:00

I have not read any of the Twilight books, nor have I seen any of the movies. I'm going to check out the first when I go back to school. My sister has the first one. She also has a incredibly messy room. She's (most likely) re-reading Eclipse because of the movie.

Twilight is part of my internet missions - I want people to stop mocking the fans. (Though I have no defense for some of the merchandise - Edward Panties are just... I don't know.)

And when I googled to get that link, the first link was to a site called "Twitarded," oh so cleverly calling the fans retarded. People defend their use of ableist language (lame, retarded) by saying they don't mean that anymore. Then why use them as an insult? They must still mean something bad, or they wouldn't be used that way.

I assume the more common nickname for fans - Twihards, comes from "die hard" - they're die hard fans. That's fine.

Anywho... I don't like the bashing of Twilight fans. (And the hatred for the books seems extreme, especially when it's just plain hatred and doesn't involve a critique - how are the Quilutes portrayed, the problematic relationships - if she picked Jacob, it still would be unhealthy. And the one with Edward is just a mess.)

Small note - my sister would rip me a new one if she saw this - how can you talk about it if you haven't read it? Because I'm curious and now I'm finally thinking of reading the books. (She also could not believe that I knew bits and pieces about Lost, despite never watching the show. It was incredibly popular and mentioned on many sites I visit. Of course I know there's a smoke monster!)

The bashing of Twilight and its fans seems to just be reactionary - if it's popular, it must be bad. Also, more sinister, it is very popular with women and girls, and things that women like are always belittled.

Anyway, the Twilight books do not mean that the books you like disappeared or magically changed into Twilight. Same with the movies. Twilight did nothing to you. So cut it the fuck out. Also, wouldn't your time be better spent doing something you enjoy, like reading a book you love? (I said this on FB and a friend asked how will I feel superior now? That was a puzzler, but you can feel superior to the Twilight bashers now! Problem solved.)

Well, I wrote a novel, and I don't have much about the others.

I cannot stand the endless mocking of Justin Beiber - he's a girl, he's gay. It has nothing to do with his music, just his appearance and age. People are mocking a young boy. Which is so classy.

And something that keeps coming up every time M. Night Shyamalan makes a movie, and since the Village, they've started to really suck, according to reviews. (The Village and Signs scared the crap out of me, though I've never seen Unbreakable or The Sixth Sense.)

People purposely mispronounce his name or write it incorrectly - Shamalamadingdong. Yes, his name is long, but it's not hard to pronounce. On a tangent, I don't mind when Colbert mispronounces Ahmadinejad's name, because he slips a joke in there each time.

I basically hate mispronouncing names after you've been told how to pronounce it. It shows a lack of respect. "You're so unimportant, I'm not even going to bother remembering how to say your name."

One last pet peeve that started when the Saudi prince visited Bush and they held hands. The gay "jokes" never stopped. It's based on xenophobic ignorance - in some cultures, men can be more expressive and friendly with each other - hugging and holding hands, for example.

One last thing - calling Hugh Jackman (or a famous character he plays) gay because he does Broadway and danced and sang when he hosted the Oscars is just gross, and one thing I love about Bollywood - the men lip-sync and dance in the movies... and at the award shows.

Anyway, I want people to stop being racist and to stop mocking Justin Bieber and Twilight fans. I'm more deluded than Don Quixote, aren't I?

I'm fat.

2010-07-08T19:22:00.000-05:00

And I recently gained a lot of weight like super fast - not oh, 10 pounds snuck up on me - but 30-40 came in a few weeks, complete with raised stretch marks.

I am on at least 3 medications that cause weight gain - one of them is my birth control and since periods are murder, no. Another is new and it has given me control over my moods, well as much control as humans can have. My extreme moods have reasons behind them. Being thinner < being happy.

I still remember when this happened in 10th grade. I think it was in Math (2nd period) and I looked at a thin girl older than me and I realized that my weight had nothing to do with 99% of my life. My grades, my social life, my relationship with my family (that makes me quite lucky, I've learned)... none of this would change if I lost weight. They might even get worse, as I chase friends away by counting things, and focusing on my diet instead of homework. Or getting sick (dizzy, light headed) from not enough food makes doing homework hard as well. (As I noticed over the last 2 semesters with the medication.)

A "normal" weight would not make me a better person.

Someone who doesn't know me could say that I'm not a social person because of my weight, but that's BS. I know fat kids and teenagers and adults have friends and boy/girlfriends. I remember being at a friend's birthday party before my weight went up (puberty and thyroid) and I was bored silly. I've always preferred books, and now the internet.

Anyways -

I am in love with the new ABCFamily show "Huge," starring Nikky Blonsky. It's about a fat camp, but the actors can't lose weight in a predictable manner over the show (especially since some are teenagers not done with puberty yet!) which is good. The show made me tear up by the second episode. It's sweet and funny.

And even though the premise is all about weight, when most of the characters we see (minus the trainers and the woman in charge) are fat, they become more than punch lines or sassy friends of skinny women.

The main trainer is horrid, which is the point. One kid needed to catch his breath on the camp's first run/walk thing and she says no and makes him do 25 jumping jacks. He said "I can't." But if he could breathe, he would have said, "I need to rest now, I can't breathe." I assume.

But they also discuss the importance of stretching later on - so they do mean it when they talk about health, at least in some ways.

It's also so realistic - there are so many different ways people are fat and we see this here.

And the second episode broke a stereotype on national teevee - a fat kid who is obsessed with basketball and is good at it and all that jazz.

I'm looking forward to the next episode.

I first heard about it on Jezebel, when they posted clips from the pilot and reviewed it. They also did one for the second episode, but there were less comments this time.

Another reviewer is Iced Tea and Lemon Cake. First episode, second episode. She talks a lot about the fat issues in the show, especially gym in the 2nd episode, which was a big part of that episode.

The best reviews I've seen, hands down, are at Fatshionista. First, second.

Just like women supposedly say "I'm a character from Sex and the City," I'm going to say I'm Becca, the black girl who's always reading. I also think I'm a bit like Will (her goal is to gain weight there), but I don't like having people mad at me if it's not worth it, so I wouldn't do an OTT strip-tease within the first hours of the camp.

It repeats a lot on ABCFamily, it's at their website, and on Hulu. And probably *cough* other websites for people outside America...

Bad Commercial

2010-07-05T17:59:00.000-05:00

There's a commercial out now about a mom with kids who play hockey.

She starts her day by taking 2 OTC Tylenol. Then she takes 2 again and again, following the directions.

The she sees an ad for Aleve, and the next day, just takes 2 in the morning! Huzzah!

If she has to take painkillers daily - even OTC - something is wrong. I don't think Aleve and Tyelonel are meant to be taken daily like Vitamin D or something. It just sends the wrong message - the OTC manages my pain, so it's not really a problem. (Plus, as a mom, she doesn't have TIME to go to the doctor. Despite the husband.)

Also, every body is different - some people may not react to Aleve. Others may get nothing from Tylenol.

But in Aleve commercials, only a sucker takes Tylenol, because you take 8 a day, hahahaha, you loser.

I hate commercials for medication, that's a given. Now I'm hating ads for OTC medications.

One more - a bunch of adults talking about being pain-free without pills. I perk up. A man is holding a white pill bottle. He tells us how it works - heated patches for your back. They're talking about minor muscle pain.

Sigh.

I'm especially dour because I increased my new medication to 3 times a day (it's supposed to be 2 times a day, but it still hurt a lot, a lot of "breakthrough" pain)... and my pain has shot up which makes no damn sense. I am sick of pain and summer and fireworks.

But summer means no classes and sleeping in and being with the puppies and getting Netflix when it's supposed to come and being as lazy as I want to be.

I just wish it was 50 degrees cooler.

Where were you on Christmas?

2010-07-05T09:31:00.000-05:00

Despite playing softball and being unmarried at her age, Elana Kagan has made it to the Senate confirmation hearings!

I don't like Senator Lindsey Graham - his voice is so smarmy, and he's a southern Republican, so blech.

I saw it on the Daily Show, but seekingferret at dreamwidth (the posts and comment section look remarkably like livejournal, where I do have an account - I don't have one there) has the transcript and her reaction as a Jewish American. And that "New York humor" = "Jewish Humor" for many, many people.

I agree with her - where was the media outrage?

Sen. Graham asked her what she was doing on Christmas, because of the would-be bomber last Christmas. The exchange makes no sense.

She said she was eating Chinese food. A Jewish senator jumped in to explain away her answer as "New York" humor.

The media reaction has been minimal - I saw it on the Daily Show. (Not that I watch much TV news, it makes me want to break the TV - but it didn't appear on my yahoo front page as "Sen. Graham's outrageous question" or something. I guess the latest way to lose weight is more important.)

She probably went to an old stereotype because it's none of his damn business what she does on December 25th, and if she said that, "Sir, with all due respect, I don't think that's any of your business," it would be in the media about how rude Kagan is. It's a harmless question!

No it's not.

I don't call myself a Christian, but my family does. So we do the Christmas thing - presents and deviled eggs and such. (We also watched vintage Family Feud and it was so creepy the way that Richard Dawson kissed all the women - on the lips. What an invasion of space!) But if someone asked me, I'd ask them why they want to know.

Do they ask Christian nominees what they do for Eid or Passover or Holi?

Non-Christians are the minority in this country, according to many polls by many polling companies. (So it's not just a blip - the results are the same again and again.)

But what really gets my goat is that we call America a country founded on "Judeo-Christian" values. It used to be just Christian, and it may still be in some circles, I wouldn't know. (I prefer "Abrahamic religions" because it covers Muslims as well.)

The "Judeo" part is just an empty gesture.

So my main reaction is "Judeo" Christian my ass.

Very eloquent, nah?

Seekingferret does a much better job, and makes much more sense than me. Do check out her post.

Saving money through home cooking

2010-05-20T09:37:00.000-05:00

I'm re-reading the Shopaholic series. I love them. I love Sophie Kinsella's books. (I tried one of her real books - Madeline Wickham and it was boring.) I own them all - All the Shopaholic books, Can You Keep A Secret, Remember Me?, The Undomestic Goddess, and Twenties Girl. (That's the latest and it was in paperback at Kroger, *grab*)

Anyway, in the first book, Rebecca tries to cut back and save money by making curry at home instead of just ordering "takeaway" (I love how unapologetic the books are in their British-ness!) and it's a disaster.

And it got me thinking about a post at FWD from a while ago - The New York Times Tells You How To Eat, which details how the organic food movement is steeped in privilege - you need the money and you need the time. And the energy. Or the ability to stand and cook without the pain making you shaky and forgetful (did I start boiling that water?).

It got me thinking about a recent commercial for Red Baron frozen pizza and "pan pasta" which shows a bunch of pizza delivery people eating at someone's home, saying "Your mom makes the best pan pasta!" implying that it's better than theirs. The mom has her back to them, holding the Red Baron box.

You know why I order pizza? Because I don't want to cook. (Though I loved nuking these pizzas - forget the brand - and just picking away with my fingers, not even making slices.)

And it also made me think - frozen food? Shouldn't she buy the ingredients and make it herself, if she really cares about these people? I mean, who knows what evil chemicals are in Red Baron frozen pizza and "pan pasta"?!

The initial outlay for pizza ingredients will cost more or about the same as a ready made one, but they never factor in the time when it comes to "oh, just make it yourself so you don't get those nasty chemicals in your body!" My time is worth something. The only time mentioned is the time in the oven. I'm sure some cookbooks do mention the full prep time... but if it's too long, is it even worth it? Time is a form of expense as well.

Racialicious has a new post up about "sustainable food" and how it is seeped in more than just able-bodied and ... um.. time? privilege.
Sustainable Food and Privilege: Why is Green Always White (and Male and Upper-Class)

We'd all like to eat the "healthiest" "best" food, but you know what, it's not practical for most Americans. It's not practical for me and my family at all - the cost alone keeps us out of that club. Not to mention, I'm in pain. A lot. So maybe I could fiddle around and make something - but making food should be fun! - but I shouldn't be required to.

And I do worry about the environment, but I have to take my medication, I have to be alive. (Or I won't get to see Kites this weekend! Hrithik on the big screen! BYODB - Drool Bucket.)

So I take pride in what I do - putting a plastic bottle or paper in the recycling bin on campus. Or eating fruit. I refuse to feel guilty for what I could have done, I only focus on what I can do. I know, I'm supposed to be a tree-hugger, but I'm allergic to them and one of our trees has termites so I'll just gaze fondly at the trees right now.

A little thought from a paper I never had to write.

2010-05-11T17:50:00.000-05:00

See, I had to write this paper.

Only the pain was so bad I could barely think. And when it wasn't bad, I was sleepy or foggy. I was able to take my final - multiple choice - but not do the paper, which required abstract thinking. Normally, I can BS my way through something, but I couldn't even do that.

Luckily, I got above an 80 in the class without the paper, so I didn't have to do it. (It was my honor's course and to count as Honors, I had to get a B in the class. Honors classes count as my volunteer hours, and well, I can't do 75 hours before June 1st. I just can't do anything.)

Before that, I picked a topic (the Swiss minaret ban) and wrote out some topics while in class. (His powerpoints were always thorough and most of the test questions came straight from there, so I'd copy the powerpoint and then read. Or in this case, work on topics.)

The minaret ban in Switzerland is ridiculous and won't have much effect anyway, I think they had a rule about height in place. And the country only had 4. The imagery pissed a lot of people off - using minarets as guns piercing the Swiss flag, while a woman covered so only her eyes showed looked at you. Except that most of the Muslims in Switzerland are from Eastern Europe and don't wear the niqab or burka.

I also thought of the hijab ban in France and how assimilation is touted as the best way to be an immigrant - by not acting like one at all, forgetting your heritage. Here in the US, we screamed that forever, and now we wonder why the kids (always the kids) don't know about their heritage, oh boo hoo.

But I think that wearing a hijab and going to school or university or working or doing "French" things is a sign of good assimilation - look at me, I'm combining the old and new, a Muslimah can wear her hijab and still be French! Banning it is ridiculous.

Two fictional examples - Rayyan in the Canadian TV show Little Mosque on the Prairie wears the hijab. She's a doctor, she went to medical school. As it's a small town, she treats men and women. Very "Canadian," even with cloth on her head.

I just watched Kurbaan, and ugh, if you're Muslim, AVOID YAAR!!! Except for two women in the movie, they all wear hijabs and big dresses, very conservative. And basically say you can't wear the hijab and be a good Muslimah and work outside the home.

Contrast that with My Name is Khan - Rizvan's sister-in-law wears the hijab, works outside the home, and is more liberal than her husband (she attends Rizvan's wedding to a Hindu).

MNIK and LMOTP are more realistic - you don't have to abandon everything to become a "true" American or Canadian... or French.

I like today's Garfield.

2010-05-07T00:41:00.000-05:00

That is all.

The comic:

I am totally Garfield, and Jon is any one of the innocent people forced to interact with me.

Blogging Against Disablism Day 2010

2010-05-01T14:49:00.001-05:00

Because of various issues related to my disability, I cannot sit down and write a post about Blogging Against Disablism Day or something in general, abstract. I cannot think properly due to pain and the side effects of medication.

So I'm throwing up a link to the site, which includes a round-up of various posts dealing with disabilities/chronic illnesses and how much society just SUCKS when dealing with them.

Blogging Against Disablism Day 2010

Pajama Jeans and ableism

2010-04-29T19:17:00.003-05:00

So I was wasting time, I mean, visiting other websites so I could learn more about the world. Wasting time.

One site I check out daily or so is Odee.com. It's like Cracked, only there's less funny commentary - most of the things presented in the lists are done without comment, or just a basic description. Like today's is a compilation of photobombs, and there is no writing, just the pictures and links to the sources.

Yesterday was "12 Strangest Jeans" and one of them really caught my attention and made me go, I want that!

Number 11 is "The Pajama Jeans" and the write-up isn't very mean or anything -

Hate having to change out of your SpongeBob pajamas when all you want to do is eat at the hotel's breakfast buffet before heading back to your bunk?

Of course, as a college student, I see nothing wrong with wearing said SpongeBob pants out and about. However, I am quite dignified and only wear my pj pants on Saturdays, my laundry day. I figure if they get dirty, no big deal. I thought it was funny last Saturday, as I walked towards and then with a big tour group - "Look, it's a college student in pajamas! Just like on the teevee!"

Right now I rotate weekly between a blue plaid pair with my name on the leg and a just a pair of black loose drawstring pants. My awesome neon green plaid pants (with a pocket!) had some holes in bad places, and I was mature enough to throw them out. (I did wear those to class maybe last spring or the fall before - I'd slept through my first class and it was 15 minutes or so into my French class. I threw my old ratty jacket on over my PJs and went to class. I wear a bra to bed, but it's looser than the ones I wear with clothes.)

Here is the infomercial:

I want these pants. I have 4 pairs of jeans - expensive, good quality, but I haven't worn them in at least a year due to pain. Yes, I'm fat and my weight has gone up, but even if I went out and bought jeans that fit (which is what I did with these 4), they'd still hurt because of the waistband. And if they didn't hurt, I'd be holding on to them because I didn't consult my male cousin on how to dress in jeans that are too big for your body.

I do not understand the hatred for sweatpants or yoga pants. When I think of sweat pants, I think of the sweat suits we wore in Iceland - cuffed at the leg and wrist, and purple (for me, I think) or pink.

I do not think of comfortable cloth pants that have a little flare at the end, like itsy bitsy bell bottoms.

I do not get the hatred for pants like that. If it's not khaki, denim, or part of a suit, it's either "yoga pants," "sweats," or "pajamas" and they are just icky. For the record, none of my pants have "juicy" across the butt.

Those kind of pants are very comfortable for me, due to my abdominal and pelvic pain. I imagine they're comfortable for other people with physical disabilities, any that would make buttoning/zipping a hassle, and people who have enough trouble getting dressed (for whatever reason) and want as few steps as possible.

So I want these pants. I don't have enough comfy pants, and I do miss wearing jeans and look! pockets! It's more variety in my wardrobe!

And not that's it anyone's business, but, despite the name, they would not be pajama pants. They're too fancy! When I don't have school, I try to get dressed. And it's important to have a division between pajamas and "dressed" clothes, especially since most of my pajamas are "dressed" clothes, just in different colors. (Bra*, panties, pants/shorts, t-shirt/tank top) It's an important thing, part of a ritual, and also important when depression has me in its grip. "Look, I got dressed! I did something!"

So I googled pajama pants, because the link was just a site saying "Hey, check these out!" The first link was to the official website, the second to the commercial, and the third, ooh, the title alone pissed me off, I just had to click on it. It said "What do 'pajama jeans' say about Americans?"

I knew the answer - we're fat and lazy - before even clicking. But I had to.

First of all, he says they seem like a "hoax" SNL commercial.

He then quotes another crueler blogger who says that the pants say, "I'm an idiot who can't deal with even the most mundane of day-to-day adult responsibility like a pair of jeans that are secretly pajamas."

And they're lumped in with the snuggie and footie pajamas (not for me, my feet always got too hot) as a sign of how lazy and indulgent we are, because we need even more things for lounging around the house in.

Plus, these are expensive, at $40 US. I say if they last and they're comfy, they're not too expensive.

I can't figure out where this guy is going - we're lazy and we're so lazy we're going to spend $40 on pajamas that look like jeans.

The ableism is there the whole time, and he does call the pants "crazy" (as opposed to expensive velour sweats) because they are pajamas.

But the final sentence pissed me off so much.

Exactly. If you can't get out of your pajamas to go out of the house, and have to buy pajamas that look like jeans, then don't leave the house.

Excuse me, I should not even leave the house? Well, fuck you very much Aaron Crowe.

Oh, no, I just had to keep looking. The comments at another site are disgusting - sizeist (only gross fatties wear sweats), classist (it will free up space in the trailer... WTF?), and just ugh.

The actual post is disgusting on its own, the comments just make it worse. (Though yay for the people saying, nope, I disagree those look comfy.) These pants make the author ANGRY and that you need to GROW UP because you are DOING SOMETHING WRONG if you even think of wanting these. (All caps his.)

The ableism and privilege on display at these two sites are disgusting.

And no one has told me why wearing sweats out and about is so disgusting. They cover everything (including my pale, hairy legs) and they're not going to attack you in your $100 designer jeans and make you look like me. People associate them with sleep (which is gross, I guess?) or exercise (so you sweat) and assume that if you wear them anywhere but bed or the gym, that you're too lazy to change. Because they know everything about you! Assumptions are fun, y'all!

And aren't skinny pants and leggings worse on a "bad pants" scale? Sweats are loose, but leggings can give you "moose knuckle" or "camel toe". Not that I care, no one's forcing me to wear them, and no is forcing you to wear sweats.

I wasn't paid by anybody to write this (one day... nah, never going to happen), but I seriously want a pair of these. XL, in case the pajama jeans people are reading.

*Anyone ever hear you can't wear a bra to bed or your boobs will stop growing? I wish. Something that isn't a myth but drives me up the wall is body hair and shaving. I don't shave my legs - it's too much hassle, hello I can't see! But there are parts on my calves where I did shave a few times, and you can tell the difference because the hair that grew back is indeed a different texture and a bit darker. Considering how pale my legs are, it really stands out. But I don't care. As for pits? I've been shaving them for years, and those hairs definitely come back jet black and hard.

Medication for Bipolar Disorder and TV Shows

2010-04-22T21:04:00.002-05:00

Disclaimer - I am not saying people should be forced to take medication. I am talking about my experience with one drug and my objections to how my situation (and part of my life) is portrayed on TV.

I have bipolar disorder.

It's never been formally diagnosed, and I haven't taken an internet test to "prove" it. I just know. It's more than "just" depression.

I started a new medication about a month ago. My doctor said it was anti-seizure, and he wanted to see if it would work on my pain, since my pain is most likely nerve-related, and I'm pretty sure nerves have something to do with seizures. (But I'm not a doctor!)

I asked at FWD if anyone had any experience on it. (I know, I won't look up a new drug, but I'll ask people online. I don't understand it either. I'm weird.) One person said it had been prescribed for their moods, not pain, and it was working. *file info away for later*

It's done zilch for my pain. The last two weeks have been hell, as has the last month and the month before... the pain's getting worse.

BUT.

It has worked on my mood swings. I saw the prescribing doctor today and I was trying to describe the continued effects and one word I used was "stable" as in, I'm stable. He said that was key, that was very important. It makes me happy to see and feel the results of a medication, particularly a daily one. (I can tell when the benadryl workzzzzzzzz.)

I've been on anti-depressants for a few years, and Clonazepem, which is a something or other.

But this is the first time I've noticed a real change. Actually, I didn't notice until Mom pointed out that I had changed, and then I was like huh, so I have.

Before, it was like... possession. Now, when I get angry or sad, it's organic. (Weird way to put it, it's all in my head anyway.) In 2006, I had my first bout of suicidal ideation. The best term for the thoughts was "alien," even though I still don't fully understand what I meant or what those thoughts meant.

But with my mood swings, the "alien" idea made more sense. A better metaphor is a switch. A switch is flicked, I get so pissed off. Switched again, I don't want to do anything. Switched again, back to baseline. No control. Which got a bit annoying, because I'd be mad at somebody. They'd get mad at me for being mad at them for no reason. Then I'd get mad at them for being mad at me when I had no control over the original anger!

Now, the part about TV. People who have bipolar disorder on cop shows never want to take their medication because it puts them in a fog, or they can't feel anything. (Also, people with "TV schizophrenia" do this as well.)

I can't speak for anyone but myself, because nobody is alike, and no brain is either. You may react to this same drug in a horrible way, I don't know.

I just don't like the dominant storyline that medications for bipolar disorder are inherently bad. One blog post won't dispel the myth, but I really wanted to write this.

Another metaphor - I was the rope in a tug of war, being jerked from side to side. Or I was in my sister's car. Zing!

ETA: Another problem with the dominant cultural storyline is that it leads to fear of medication (again, not pushing it for everyone), fear of even trying it, and assumptions made about bipolar people who do choose medication. Perhaps if the narrative was more realistic, people would be less afraid to admit they have bipolar disorder. I mean, I'm taking a big risk by saying it here. Depression is gradually being accepted, I feel, though some people will say one day, "I understand" and the next tell you to just smile. Sigh.

How 'bout them Yankees?

2010-04-05T20:19:00.000-05:00

Oh yeah, that's right. They lost. To the RED SOX!!!!! Go Sox, boo Yankees.

I know some people who like the Yankees. They're good people otherwise, but they need to be deprogrammed soon.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Do ya feel it? It's like a dahk, smelly cloud descended on us, somethin' rotten... somethin...

EVIL!"

Confused pause from the man who does NOT get it.

"Ok, I give up."

"The Yankees opened the season at Fenway Pahk last night."

An ass-kicking at Shea would be cruel, but I forgot the name of the Yankees stadium. But having them ~~here~~ in Boston? GO SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memphis has the RedBirds and they get/give players to the Cards in St Looey. But Atlanta's just as close And what about Houston? All we have professionally are the Grizzlies and they suck. We did jump on the XFL bandwagon, because we're effing geniuses.

College? All the college football players go to Knox if they stay in state. The basketball players come here but Calipari cursed us and now we'll never enter the playoffs again! (My mom will see this and demand to know where a pic of Pastner is. Her latest crush.)

More school paper news!

2010-04-02T14:15:00.001-05:00

They did publish quotes from my letter and the phone interview in an article about the school elevators. (We're getting 2 million US$ over the summer for fixing, but no new ones.

I don't feel comfortable posting a link to the article here, because my last name is used.

The last student quoted pissed me off, so I wrote another letter to the paper!

Here is what she said (emphasis mine):

Senior PRE-MED major X said she believes students without disabilities should use the elevators as little as possible and reserve them for those who absolutely need them, especially when traversing up or down a single floor.

My response, and I forgot to ask, who determines who "absolutely" needs the elevator? I mean, I can physically take the stairs, why should I use the elevator? Guilt is no fun!

My letter (name changed because I'm not a jerk)

X's ableist comments in today's article about the elevator cannot go without comment, especially as she is pre-med! We do not need more doctors with attitudes like that.

I use the elevator to go up one floor all the time. It is what is best for me. I have an invisible disability. I am not going to wear a sign saying that, so you have no idea.

I used to live on the 3rd floor of Richardson and felt retroactively guilty for all the times I took it once I moved to the 9th. But now I don't. Some days the stairs would not be a good option for many valid, medical reasons. Sometimes I was lucky, and the elevator opened as I passed. Laziness is not a crime.

Also, how are non-disabled people supposed to move in or out if they only live on the 2nd floor?

I know X, she lives on a high floor, so she has a "right" to use the elevator, even if she's perfectly healthy.

She is not alone in her views, because I have seen disgusting ableist and sizeist graffiti in the RTN elevators by the 2nd floor button. The worst said "Get Yo Fatass on the stairs," while the other merely said "don't touch this" with an arrow. Because no one comes down from the 10th floor to the 2nd.

I wanted to respond, "Get your butt on the stairs if the elevator stopping at floors bothers you."

I used to sigh a bit when it stopped at the 2nd floor, but now I don't. People don't know me and they don't know my whole complicated health problems. Who am I to judge? It's too much energy to do that, and it's pretty useless.

All I can do is correct people, like I did this week when (after the offender got off) a girl said to me, I hate it when people take it the 2nd floor. I told her we don't know that girl's story, there are many good reasons to take the elevator, even if you don't "look" disabled.

I hope the campus becomes more physically accessible, but I also hope that ableism (discrimination against people with disabilities) becomes part of the annual "Why do you hate me?" week.

I forgot to add, and it's something I've often wondered, why don't people like X and the graffiti girls and other bigots make it so the elevator does not stop at the lower floors. (Use the guidelines post-fire alarm - girls who live on 2-5 take the stairs, 6-10, the elevator.) Surely there are enough bigots in power. Oh wait, a girl who uses a wheelchair (and sometimes a walker) lives on the 2nd floor. We'll just move her up to the 6th, except the elevators don't work anymore. Whoops.

Eff that noise. X's privilege is showing - she is able-bodied, to my knowledge, and she has "elevator" privilege, living high up in the Tower, so she can take the elevator, but no one on the 2nd floor should. Bull. Shit.

I love voting.

2010-04-01T21:39:00.002-05:00

When I voted with my mom in 2004 (pressing the Kerry button), I'd learned so much since the last national election that even though I couldn't vote as I was 16, it was still an awe-inspiring moment.

My ancestors, and most of my relatives today, are not rich.

I will never own property.

I will never be a man.

But I still get to vote.

This fact must explain my behavior when I voted early in 2008. I didn't have anything to read and no ipod or mp3 player, but I wasn't bored in a bad way. And I was so excited when I got to vote.

I think of all the fights that guaranteed my right to vote, and the even worse fights for the POC next to me, and it makes me proud to vote. Even if my vote "doesn't matter" because we are in Tennessee. I still voted.

I will be voting this November. I did vote in 2006, but it was by a mail-in ballot, so not that same sense of something important.

I am not saying you should vote for democrats in November (or in 2012) - though that would be awesome!

All I'm saying is that most of us couldn't vote when this country was founded, and we can now. We should exercise that right.

(Yeah, not timely, but whatever. It's still something I'm in awe of, even months away from an election.)

ETA: Perhaps the inspiration was the census. I looked forward to it so much, I am participating, I will be counted! And it took about 5 seconds longer than voting itself (not counting the line). They didn't even ask what TV shows I watched. Just name, race, address, boring. But I'm part of our democracy, I get to be a part!

It doesn't take much to excite me.

By the way, a form I have to fill out for a new doctor - no excitement. Snore.

Another letter to the school paper!

2010-03-30T19:35:00.002-05:00

Speaking about money issues, this school does not go out of its way to be accessible to students with disabilities.

The elevator in Dunn is still broken, the 3rd floor is still inaccessible, and Dunn has some very steep, vertigo-inducing stairs.

Today, I was in Jones, luckily only on the first floor. Because their ONE elevator is broken as well. They say it may be fixed by next week, but it shouldn't be broken with no alternatives.

Too many buildings on campus have just one old elevator. The dorms aren't much better - in Richardson, one is constantly broken and there have been times when both are broken.

Last week, I was in the brand new waste of money called the UC, and the big glass elevators in the center were, you guessed it, broken. There are others in the UC, making it an exception. Too bad we don't have class there.

One thing we must do in addition to fixing the elevators in Dunn and Jones is adding a second one. Do you know what it's like to feel stranded because the elevator is broken and you're in too much pain to walk down 3 dizzy flights of stairs?

Also, the school does not help those with mobility issues who do not need a wheelchair. Sometimes, I cannot walk because of my pain. But if it's before 6pm and I need to get to class, I'm SOL.

Finally, people who park in front of the curb cuts are not disciplined enough, because they keep doing it. They are so important they can just impede a person's progress because they couldn't be bothered to find a legal parking spot?

This school's priorities disgust me sometimes.

Dunn's second floor is accessible through the building next door, but it doesn't really help me when I'm trying to conserve energy and move as little as possible, because I have to walk the length of the psych building twice.

I'll let you know if there's a response.

There's been some recent back and forth - a student wrote in decrying the waste of money that is the UC (and more proposed renovations - but only for dining stuff, because it's from Aramark so the money can't be used in a sensible way) and the lack of books in the campus library. An official wrote back (in the paper) saying, Aramark blah blah we do our best go Tigers. Another student's letter was published today saying, essentially, So? We don't pay our professors well, we don't use our money wisely.

I wonder if mine will be published.

ETA: I got a call on my (now MIA) phone today. The letter won't be published.

Because they're doing an article on the subject. Parts of my letter will be used in the article, along with the short phone conversation.

Exciting!

ETA2: Paper's out. The letter is printed. But someone did call me, and my phone number isn't on my FB or anything, it was with the letter form. Maybe they didn't have room, who knows?

Some culture

2010-03-30T00:38:00.000-05:00

I have to give a presentation tomorrow on something related to 18th century France. Last time it was 17th century France and I did architecture and discovered I loved making powerpoints. I wish I could go back to all the classes I've had where I could have used a powerpoint and make them! So much fun. I am easily amused.

Anyways, I'm doing it on a rococo style painter, Élisabeth-Louise Vigée-Le Brun. Yes, she was a female painter. She painted men as well as women for portraits, and did a few of Marie Antoinette.

But my favorite painting is this one:

It's a painting of an actress called Giuseppina Grassini. I just love this painting.

Another piece of art I fell in love with this weekend while studying is the Minoan Snake Goddess.

I am going to try to get a color copy of the painting and maybe a reproduction of the snake goddess? The school only prints in black and white and rococo is about pastels, soft colors, so some of the beauty would be lost in translation.

Another aggravating school thing.

2010-03-28T19:51:00.000-05:00

Though it doesn't make me angry because it's not shaming anyone.

Another fail that really grates (and I've never even taken a stats class!) are announcements and posters and boxes in the school paper about a survey, which shows that most Tigers don't drink to excess or smoke pot, basically that we are good kids and value our education and bodies. Except they put the number up on the signs saying "80 odd percent don't binge drink" and it's not even 1000 people. Our undergrad student body, according to wiki, is around 15,000 people. Grad students? 5,000. A tenth would be around 2000 people, and they didn't even get 900! And it would have been very easy to widen the net - we all have school e-mails and there are campus wide e-mails on a regular basis. Not everyone would respond, but it would probably be more than 800 odd students! Or maybe they truly got a random sample and didn't even need 1000 students. I guess it would take time to calculate all the answers. Perhaps they need money to do a yearly survey of students' alcohol and drug habits.

And we're broke.

"Long meals make (for) short lives."

2010-03-28T19:44:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure on the exact wording, but I know it included "long meals" and "short lives". I don't remember if it was "Long meals make short lives" or "Long meals make for short lives."

Both on google turn up cookbooks and stuff on hair.

No picture. Hmm, I could take my laptop and lift the offending napkin holder up to its computer, but the place where I saw it is closed today and they may have removed it.

Basically, they used to insert ads for stuff on campus, especially food, on the sides of a the napkin holders. But now it's all "healthy" BS - stop eating you fattie, get healthy.

The quote is attributed to nobody but "a proverb." No sources!

Anyways, even if I could find said "proverb," I'd still be mad at the fat-shaming and food policing.

But what gets me - and makes me write a blog post about it - is that it makes no damn sense at all, outside of guilting fat students, thin ones, "average ones", and makes us really think about our food.

I like food because it tastes good and fills me up, and sometimes when I eat within 30 minutes of a pain pill, it helps the medication work better. The food also keeps me alive, as it does for everyone. Certain foods don't, depending on allergies or whatever, but we need food for living. Even zombies eat!

Anyway, here are the problems with the "proverb" -

No country or time given, so I assume it was a diet guru who said it.

When proverbs were written or said, most people did not have access to excess food. It's only recently in human history that all classes can eat to gluttony. (While the relatively rich people of the world starve themselves.) And it's not even true across the world, or the country, or my state, my county, my city - I'm sorry, people have "food insecurity."

And mealtimes have long been considered important for socialization - and not just with the nuclear family. It's a way to schmooze, get free food (as a guest), get to know people, make business/political connections (even back in Roman/Greek times). Mealtimes are important.

"Long" meals are important as well. When my family (after the divorce, when he was still there it was compulsory. If he showed up, we'd all scramble to make it look like we never left the table.) eats at the table, be it at home or at a restaurant, we take longer than when mom makes a pot of delicious mac and cheese and we come and go as we please. We talk about things. That is considered a good thing, especially as your children get older. It's a way to connect and be a family. Of course, it's not the only way, but it's a good routine way, and I think calling it bad is just wrong. And then there's dinner with friends or extended family, the plates are empty, but who cares, we're busy yakking.

Another thing that makes a meal "long" is taking your time, which is often encouraged for a number of reasons, but I'm sure it's been encouraged as a way to lose weight, because everything you do either makes you gain weight and become a bad person or makes you lose weight and become a good one.

The so-called proverb makes no damn sense if you think about it, which I believe we're supposed to do. FAIL

ETA - do check out The Fat Nutritionist website.

ETA2 - I saw it again, and I was totally wrong. "To lengthen your life, shorten your meals." Google turned up nothing, with "to lengthen your life" - except 7 foods to lengthen your life.

ETA3 - looking it up with the quotation marks turned it up, but no source besides "proverb." The first result - not linking to such a hate-filled site, is called
"Weight loss with your food addiction" And it's under "diet" quotes and proverbs, but no damn source, country, or time.

So I was wrong about the quote, they did find it somewhere, but the analysis still stands. It's bullshit.

A little pain anecdote

2010-03-28T16:45:00.000-05:00

It's only painful for you because my writing is so bad.

So last week, I did a lot of work to make sure I'd be comfortable while watching Chandni Chowk to China. I know, all the work for an Akshay Kumar action movie that was panned? (Well, I enjoyed it.) I had to show gori Bollywood support.

The undoubtedly busy and overworked SAC (student activities council, I think) offered to bring in a different chair when the movie would be screened in a meeting room with uncomfortable looking chairs (it was locked, so all I saw were straight backed misery makers), and to take PICTURES of said chairs and e-mail them to me, to make sure they were okay. The movie was moved to a theater, but they still sent pictures.

The movie was at 7 and Tiger Patrol starts at 6pm. Tiger Patrol is for safety - they run from 6pm until 2am. I wish they were 24/7 or 24/5, but I'm sure it has to do with money. You can walk with someone (safety in numbers, I guess) or ride on a golf cart. The previous times I've used Tiger Patrol, I've always ridden in a cart. So I called them after 6, asking if I could be guaranteed a golf cart, because it hurt too much to walk.

"If it hurts, shouldn't you call an ambulance?"

Sigh.

"It's chronic, blah blah blah."

So I rode in a golf cart.

Also, always timely, I was thinking about those full body scanners at airports as part of security theater. They just see through your clothes, not through your body, and no one's stuffed stuff up orifices. Once the butt plug bomber tries (and fails), they'll add in full-on X-rays. Something embarrassing? It can't see through fat folds, so I could stick a plastic knife in my bra and it would be hidden under my boobs.

On a personal level, I don't care, I will fly naked, just let me read my book and listen to my music. I really love flying - it's so much fun once you're up there. (I want to visit a nudist colony or resort.)

On a more rational holy shit what is wrong with this country, I oppose them and will go through the longer metal detector line.

Why don't I give a damn?

Because when I was 15, I had a hideous skin infection on my butt. MY BUTT. And my dermatologist was an old man. And if I wore clothes below the waist, they were ruined. And there were some doubters (dad and/or his mom) who had to see. "Come see the living infection!" Too bad mom didn't charge them for a peek. I was also on heavy painkillers so I didn't care.

The first time I was on painkillers was post thyroid removal. So this was the first time I was on them for more than a week or so and I wasn't used to them like I am now, which involves changing meds and increasing dosages and worries about addiction until holy shit it hurts I am going to rip the lamp from the wall - I don't know why lately that has been my desire when the pain grabs my by the stomach and won't let go, I wrap my fingers around the edge. I mean, I get holding onto my head or rubbing my eyebrows so much they hurt later, well not really, but sometimes the pain makes me all Hulk-y.

Anyway, I'm pretty blase about people seeing my body. To my sister's chagrin. I have shorts that are just longer than underwear that I never wear anywhere and only wear when I'm hot (oh that narrows it down) but does she want me sitting around in just my panties? And why are panties so much more scandalous than a bathing suit bottom? Eh, I tried swimming in the hotel pool this summer and realized I couldn't because I still use my fingers to plug my nose and there's a piercing in the way. Oh well, less chances to turn into a lobster.

Sunburn! Tore my back up but good in June 04. The first real day of vay-cay, we're at the beach, settled into the condo, I'm playing and having so much fun until little Miss Kill Joy shrieks at me, "Kaitlyn you're so RED!" Suddenly, PAIN!!!! Salt water, sand help help help. So I spent most of the days with no top on and later with no bra on under a big loose shirt.

Just no shame, whatsoever.

Oh, after spring break, I talked to a girl whose hand was burnt, but only on the top and it stopped below her wrist in a sharp line. When I asked how that happened, she said she forgot to put sunscreen on it. Needless to say, I put sunscreen on, but never enough and never often enough so the first day of any swimming/outdoors summer thing ends with me burnt to a crisp. The next day, if it's not too bad, I can swim with a t-shirt on, like I did at camp. Ooh, sunburn while camping - fun. Actually, the sleeping bags made of nylon (smooth, like a windbreaker or something) rather than warm cloth ones actually felt nice. I remember lying with nothing on my back (in the tent of course!) with my back against the sleeping bag. It helped some, but waking up in a ball in the corner never did. (I'd fall asleep on the air mattress but rarely wake up there.)

Just a short Friday post

2010-03-26T15:11:00.000-05:00

I am in love with the TV show Dexter. So addictive and so good.

Yet another show where I sympathize with people I loathe - cops.

The first 2 seasons are streaming on Netflix, and somebody mentioned it on another website, so I was like what the hey, just watch the pilot, if you hate it, no matter. But no it was a cliffhanger. So I had to watch the next one!

I'll always watch it on DVD, because it's not on basic cable. What is on basic cable is Mad Men. The DVDs are available, but I wish at least the pilot was streaming, so I could know if I wanted to watch it. I don't want to jump in, and since I don't watch AMC, I don't see the promos.

Couple of things I like about the show, like a lot:

They're in Miami. They sweat. Maybe they film there (don't want to look up too much - only four episodes in, while I don't mind a movie being spoiled, I'm not ready for a TV show spoiler!) and it's natural. Or maybe they're spritzed with cold water before a shoot. Either way, it's realistic.

Another realistic part - Dexter is a CSI. But he doesn't go around solving crimes - the cops and detectives do. The cop parts seem very realistic - dull assignments, office politics. Not what you see on CSI unless an actor is quitting. (I don't watch CSI that much and have abandoned the L&Os.)

Finally - Dexter is adopted. He does call his dad by his first name sometimes, but beyond that, it's pretty obvious that they are setting it up so that Dexter is part of the family. In the 4th episode, in a flashback, his (adopted) dad says, "This is where my dad, your grandfather worked." He didn't have to say the part I emphasized, but it's another way of showing that Harry saw Dexter as a "real" son.

This is so refreshing because people who've adopted are asked if they're going to have "real" kids, even today.

I just like it.

What I don't like? The opening credits! Ewwwwwwwwww

Some money saving advice

2010-03-20T21:24:00.003-05:00

Well, it only applies to Netflix users.

I'm always curious about others' experience with Netflix, and tonight I googled "is netflix worth it."

On this website - A site called Thrifty Fun and page is called "Is Netflix worth it?" - there is a reply from someone who loves the streaming (as do I, though I can't wait until subtitles/CC are available on all of them!) and is thinking of buying the 100 US$ device, but is worried that when technology changes (as is its wont), the box may be useless.

I thought about this (not the obsolescence, but the price) and I realized that our TV is pretty new (bought in Fall 2007 or after) and hey, my laptop has this thing and so does the TV, maybe they can be hooked up!

A quick googling later, and yes, they can. I even called Netflix to make sure it was kosher. (Maybe the wouldn't play, I don't know.)

I bought a TV this week (HD! a remote! CC available!) for only 150 US$. It's not tiny, about 15 inches, but it is easier to carry than the old one Goodwill will probably throw out soon. That one was 3rd hand - my sister's friend had it, than my sister, than I took it. It had 2000 etched on the back, among the other technological info, so it wasn't that old. It had an attached VCR that declared it was dying by, you know, eating tapes (FSM bless CDs and DVDs!). It had no remote. But what was bad was the volume was iffy, and hitting the down button under the word volume could lead to a number of things - making the channel go down, nothing, putting up some bizarre menu or something that required turning off the TV, and sometimes making the volume go down. It did have a major plus (my new one has this too) - I could hook up headphones and watch Bollywood into the wee hours on a screen smaller than my laptop, but dammit, it was on the TV without bothering anyone.

Now your TV needs a VGA port

And I think many new ones do - probably for video games. It also needs a headphone jack or anything saying audio in.

Then you get yourself a VGA cord or cable and an audio cable that goes from the headphone jack on your computer to the audio in on the TV. This is much cheaper than any streaming device (unless you already have the video game system that plays them in which case never mind) - I think I paid maybe $30 at RadioShack, and I needed their help because I got the wrong cord for the audio - the image showed up, but no sound.

I think Netflix is worth it, but I have a relatively new passion in my life that revolves around movies - Bollywood and foreign films. I think Netflix is best if you're a so-called "niche" viewer like me, and the turnaround is so cool. When I get an apologetic e-mail because a movie will be late, it arrives a day later or maybe 2 days later than the other ones. The horror! I send it in on Monday, I get an e-mail on Tuesday, and I have new movies on Wednesday. Even if it took an extra day, it would still be worth it to me because I get to try out so many movies without paying for them and regretting it (looking at you Maqbool and Mohabbatein - at least the latter has SRK, Aish, and pretty songs!). It would not be worth it for my mom, though she "requests" some movies, "if you don't mind" (I don't). If we end up living together as some wacky single ladies in the pacific northwest, we'll probably share the account. Or she'll tell me about some movie she may want to see, can you look it up for me? I've seen posts at BollyWhat from people sharing with non-Bollywood fans and those people are none to pleased with the changed recommendations or the Bollywood all over both Instant and regular queues.

RedBox seems to risky for me - if I didn't want to see it in theaters, I can wait. If I loved it enough when I did see it in theaters, I can buy it. Plus, it's all machine. Too many people have been billed because the machine never read the movie as turned in. And it just seems a waste of money - a dollar a night, what if you forget? Yes, if I hold on to my movies for a couple weeks, I'm not using my plan (3 at a time) to the fullest, but I still get charged the same amount a month.

And RedBox has a shitty foreign selection. Bah.

So my point is, if anyone reads this - I am no computer expert, but I was able to do this. Just some googling and some helpful people at the store is all you need, knowledge-wise. And a laptop, or a TV right next to the desktop.

And they had an adapter if your TV didn't have a VGA port, but it costs as much as a Netflix box. So meh.

One reason I'm really excited about my new TV is that over the summer break, I can watch Instant movies on my TV in my bed (like I'll be up there in that oven!). No, I think what we buy (or inherit/swipe from the house) in college is often our furniture in our first post-college place. And I don't need a big place, I don't have a big TV, but it has a remote*, and can be hooked up to my laptop.

Two shiny toys in one semester. Okay, my laptop isn't as shiny because of fingerprints, and I swear I will either take it with or me or order a cover from HP's site. Or I could do what I did with my old one and slap stickers all over it. The big Obama bumper sticker helped a lot. Also, it was a different material.

ETA - forgot the link, after I went through the trouble of describing it!

And I forgot to finish my thought.

*The TV we had for the longest time did not have a remote. It was huge and I loved it, but remotes are recent things for the TVs in our house - the VCR, DVD players, and cable boxes all had remotes, but you still had to... get up... to turn it on or off. And I don't remember if the cable volume buttons always worked.

So I'm like some stereotypical post-Communism girl going "real blue jeans!" I remember this from some YA book about Romania set pre-dissolution and pre-Ceauşescu's death. (I learned about him from a comic. Nasty fellow.)

Remote controls - despite the fact that I was born in '88 - have not been a big part of my TV life, especially those stretches without cable. The one we had in Iceland in 92-94, we kept until it died a few years back. Or we got rid of it. Anyways, no remote (and not much selection up on top of the world), but hooked up to cable or DVD, remote.

And for the last two and a half years, I've had a remote for my DVD player (only bought last spring) and nothing for the TV. With the shaky volume control, and my laziness/pain, it could make turning on the TV a pain in the ass, because I couldn't just mute it when done. I do have headphones that hooked up like I said, so I could leave it on with them plugged in and turned off (so as to not waste the battery). I spent the first semester (a relatively pain-free one) putting the heavy TV on an old TV table (meant for dinners, folded up nicely beside my bed) and plugging in my mp3 player headphones, so I was a foot away from the TV! Not my brightest moment, considering we had the headphones that let you move at home before then. (You can mow the lawn and listen to pandora if you're like my mom and not comfortable with portable music players. Plus, they could get sweaty or died green, like mowing shoes.)

I'm painfree, should be asleep, and chatty as all get out.

The Daily Helmsman pissed me off today.

2010-03-19T13:13:00.005-05:00

I can't find the article on their website.

The article is basically fine - trying to start a "safe space" for GLBTQ students on campus.

Apparently, when students "expressed discomfort in class at the discrimination, they were sent to psychological services."

That is a terrible thing - homosexuality was removed from the DSM, remember? It's bad thing because queer kids aren't getting what they need, not because psych services are necessarily bad.

But the following quote was the one above the fold in big bold letters, so that's what I saw when I grabbed the paper.

"Going to the psychology building to say you're gay is like going to say you're crazy."

I'm e-mailing the paper and thinking of looking up the quoted student (a freshman, so she doesn't know any better) but damn, Talk about an insult. (I won't contact her.)

Here's the letter I'm sending:

The article in Friday's paper was hurtful and offensive. It is wrong to send GLBTQ students to psychological services, not because needing psychological services is something to be ashamed of, but because it is outdated thinking on the part of the school, and does not help our GLBTQ students at all.

However, I grabbed the paper today and staring me in the face was the pull quote.

"Going to the psychology building to say you're gay is like going to say you're crazy."

I go the psychology building. I get therapy there. There is nothing wrong with being crazy. The ablist tones in the article were disgusting.

There is no safe space or student group for students who are neuroatypical, who suffer from depression.

I support gay rights in any way I can, but I can't be quiet when I'm insulted. I am crazy, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Oh - their website - The Daily Helmsman

ETA - article is finally up - Students seek LGBT safe zone

And I got an e-mail response to my letter. My concerns are "invalid" and they didn't mean to insult people with mental health problems, so it won't be published.

With God on Our Side

2010-03-04T20:30:00.001-06:00

I heard this song at the end of Constantine's Sword, a great documentary (available instantly from Netflix if you're curious and have an hour and a half to kill).

This is not the Bob Dylan original, but the cover by Aaron Neville. I love his voice.

Oh my name it is nothin’
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
l’s taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that the land that I live in
Has God on its side

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side

Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
l’s made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don’t count the dead
When God’s on your side

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side

I’ve learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It’s them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side

But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we’re forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God’s on your side

Through many dark hour
I’ve been thinkin’ about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can’t think for you
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side

So now as I’m leavin’
I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin’
Ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God’s on our side
He’ll stop the next war

Today's Baby Blues is awesome

2010-03-03T18:21:00.004-06:00

The comic:

First panel: Hammie is taking some books from a librarian who is behind a desk. She says, "There you are. These are due back in 21 days." Hammie says, "Okay."

Second Panel: Hammie is carrying his stack of books and walking next to Zoe who has none. Hammie says, "I hope I can finish all these by then." Zoe tells him, "You have to."

Third panel: Hammie says, "What?" Zoe says, "Your library card states that you must read every word of every book by the due date.... or else!" Her eyes are closed, the image of a knowledgeable person.

Fourth panel: Hammie's eyes are huge. He protests, "But these are CHAPTER BOOKS!" Zoe, looking up and away, as if at an adult, asks, "Have you ever seen such huge biceps on a librarian?"

For the record, I never believed this. I frequently check out stacks of books and sometimes go through them outside and turn them back in (the drive-up box). But I had my first encounter with late fees a couple years and I was so freaked out, a day late, and it was 25 cents. That's it?

This made me laugh.

In other comics news, the latest Funky Winkerbean storyline, dealing with Wally's PTSD (we'll finally find out where he was for 10 years, I assume) is not making me laugh. I'm fine with soap strips, but FW is disturbing me. The parts where he freaked out at his daughter's basketball game and his old girlfriend found a gun under his pillow? Too many people talk about how unfunny Funky is, but this shit is disturbing, especially in comic form (and FW is drawn in a comic style, not a soap-y one). It would have a trigger warning and be under a cut at any good website.

ETA: A thought about why this storyline is so disturbing - it's dealing with PTSD. A psychological thing. Is he going to be institutionalized? (=am I again?) I really don't like this. I want smirks and cancer cancer cancer. Incest cancer?

Also

2010-02-23T20:43:00.002-06:00

I may or may not have spent the weekend at home with my fuzzfaces.

The last couple of days have been interesting. I woke up because I had to barf at early o'clock Sunday morning, shouted at my doctor Monday morning, and got back to campus in time to discover my class was canceled.

Now I just need a snow day.

Spring break in 2 weeks, ya'll! I've got a 6 page paper to write before then for a class where I don't take notes or do the readings. I am good at BSing, though.

My sister will be in Florida, I will be chez moi, playing with puppies and watching Jeopardy with my mommy. Yeah, I am that awesome.

Saturday, it was nice, so I sat outside to finish Maximum City (good book, but he's so blase about meeting SRK! And Hrithik and and and!) and had Wickett claim my lap. Mom looked out the window and thought he was quite ridiculous looking.

Mikey was jealous, as is his wont.

Dixie sat in the sun, rolled on her back, and enjoyed life, as is her wont.

Wickett let me pet him then yelled when I moved because he is a silly little brat and I miss him.

Getting the F over one's self.

2010-02-23T20:09:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, my mom got lost. (For any relatives who still stick around, take a minute to go "Duh.")

She saw an international grocery store, and it said things like "Arabic" and "Indian" on the front window (along with Russian, Greek, so many countries!) and she knew I'd be excited.

I was. Especially since it's not far from my school.

My school is half in and half out of the bad/poor/black/poor black part of town. My white friend lives in a neighborhood filled with huge old growth trees and old postwar houses (some have these amazing pre-AC deep porches that make me want to become an architect. I'm weird) and lots of crime.

The grocery store is in that part.

Mom and I may have been the only white people in there, I was too busy looking for Bollywood DVDs only to be disappointed because my Arabic isn't that good and I forgot to check if they have English subtitles, something to look for next time!

The woman at the check-out was light skinned with an accent (from Ohio, I think she admitted that our winter was cold *Memphis snow day pride!*) and she didn't look at me like I was some weirdo for being white and buying something. I did, however, regret my 50 pounds of pennies when I learned they don't take cards. Mom ran out to get some cash.

I bought hummus and baklava. Someone brought hummus to my anthropology class last semester (3 hour night class, snacks about an hour in) and I loved it! I found the brand at Kroger, even in Tipton County. (Locals, locals, locals are you with me? Someone fetch the smelling salts!)

But then I read that the stuff here doesn't hold a candle to the real stuff. I remember the hummus from this cheap middle eastern restaurant, and bought the only container they had. It's decorated nicely with spices and ... green leaves? I am an American wuss and don't like it.

Oh well.

Anyway, to the title.

My sister went to the Wal-Mart in Raleigh by herself Friday evening, and felt so out of place because she was the only white person there!

When I went to the mall with her, she wouldn't let me go in a clothing store because it was for black people (bright colored t-shirts know no race!).

I always wanted to go back and go in there and find something pretty, but the malls are far away.

I don't think I'm the only white person at Bollywood movies, but when I arrived early for "New York" this summer, the only other people in the lighted theater were Indian. They wanted to make sure I was in the right place. (The movie was not advertised anywhere in the theater, you had to be in the know.)

I remember thinking about being the only white face at Dehli 6 a year ago, mostly because it was a 7 or 8 pm weeknight showing, and they wouldn't let us in the theater! So it's a bunch of Indian people and a girl in a Stanford hoodie (open so her SRK shirt shows) milling around. I felt more out of place because I was alone, and the themes in the beginning of the movie stressed family and friends.

My mom and I don't always see the same way on race, and my sister and I will never see eye to eye, but as we were driving through the old neighborhoods (not old money neighborhoods), she was talking about living there. (The porches! I love me a good porch!)

Maybe it was her time in Japan, maybe it was the military that opened her mind, because she is quite tolerant of my desire to wander through places like the international grocery store and that one in Knoxville, we looked for brands from Japan and I looked for the ones advertised on Bollywood DVDs. And with the Pepsi Throwback out (it has sugar, which improves the taste according to former Pepsi addict Mom), we are looking at foreign sodas. I got an orange one at a Mexican restaurant a couple weeks ago - no HFCS.

The one pity in all this? Neither of us are coffee drinkers (she likes the chocolate confections with a dash of coffee) so we can't test Arabic coffee! It's supposed to be stronger.

They not only had Nutella, they had other brands of hazelnut spread, oh drool.

Anyways, my point is be aware of your surrounding, but if you (and a companion) are the only whatevers in a group, get over it. Maybe you'll learn something.

Of course, my friend and I ate at some sub place a couple weeks ago, and she was like, "Kaitlyn, we're the only girls here." My response? "Stop taking us to gay bars, Elizabeth, and this won't happen!"

So yeah. Maybe it is white privilege that lets me wander around a Middle Eastern grocery in the poor part of Memphis (I haven't tried that baklava yet... this will be my third try. I keep hoping for the nirvana others talk about. Damn that stuff is rich!) um where was I going?

Happy Black History Month, ya'll!

I'm not going to the Civil Rights Museum because I cry and cry when I go, though I stop to gape at the conspiracies surrounding James Earl Ray (something ain't kosher, but still) and then continue crying. I don't know why.

I also cried during a video about the design of the Vietnam War memorial, but that was last semester which was an emotional roller coaster, so it may not count. But when I think of the memorial - of going there old enough to appreciate it - I start getting teary. And I lost no one in the fight.

An Assamese Song

2010-02-18T21:01:00.003-06:00

I'm sorry I don't have any more information.

I think it's Assamese. That's all I've got.

Information about Assamese movies and music is very hard to find. Hindi? A breeze. Tamil? Still easy. Telugu? Yup. Kannada? A bit harder. Punjabi? Not too hard. Malayalam? A bit harder - and it doesn't help that spelling changes a lot, especially for non-Hindi films. (I'm sure they're spelled one way in Tamil/Telugu/Assamese/etc, but when they're transliterated, it all goes out the window. How many letters is needed?

I am feeling a bit stressed, because I am staring down the barrel of my own health insurance in about 18 months. If I go to PT tomorrow and they say yes, they think they can help, I could be seriously SOL. Not because I don't want it to work, but because it takes time, especially with something as murky as "feminine" problems possibly coupled with abdominal wall pain. So 6 months - no more pain! Or, er, try again? Except in 6 months, I'll be a year away from health insurance and the end of college (I hope). I won't have time for alternate ideas, like a hysterectomy. I can do one this summer, no problem. I don't think I'd have time next winter break (only 4-5 weeks), and next summer, I'd still be insured until August, except I can't have a lapse in coverage unless I'm incredibly rich, due to all my prescriptions, which require at least yearly visits to specialists. Oh well, with no insurance, I won't need referrals, so I can go straight to the specialist.

I seriously hate this country's medical industry. Health insurance should not be tied to your job (and your worth as a person shouldn't be tied to it either, but that's for another day) and the words "pre-existing condition" should not exist. Yes, I'll cost you money. No profit on the Kaitlyn file!

And since I hate this country, I'd love to move (except no more Netflix, first world sacrifices are hard) but what do I have to offer to Canada or the UK? Or Japan or France? Or any g-d country that takes care of its citizens? The quickest way to immigrate seems to be through work.

Let's look at that - I'd have to get a job and be good enough that they'd consider sending me overseas. I may get insurance (with high premiums) through this job. I can't work unless my pain is stable, and my pain isn't legally stable without insurance (or a lottery pay out).

Yes, I am an ungrateful little socialist brat. Most people have health insurance through work (their's, their spouse's, their parents) so they don't care. "I got mine, Jack, eff off!" I'm also selfish - "I DON'T got mine, Jack, help!" But by helping me, millions of others would get help.

I voted for Obama, so if I vote D in the midterms, I'll get insurance. (Of course Ds in Tennessee makes Rs look Democratic.)

So I've said it - I hate this place, I want to move. A little assistance, please? I mean, you'll be glad to be rid of me, since I'm such an ungrateful little commie.

It's really in all our best interest if I'm deported as soon as possible. My mom was in Canada and Japan before I was born, and I lived in Italy and Iceland as a child - pick one! Canada is my first choice, thanks!

My Name Is Khan partial review

2010-02-15T17:37:00.003-06:00

I'm terrible with reviews, we all know that.

And I can't talk about My Name is Khan as a whole without spoiling it, plus I'm never sure what is and what is not a spoiler, so here are my thoughts on what worried me the most going in. (Not terrorism, terrorism in America, or immigrants in America - that's been done so many times in Bollywood.)

The title character has Asperger's Syndrome (AS). The director is Karan Johar - I've seen most of his movies and love them (Dostana is hilarious, though clearly in a parallel America where a man in a military uniform can admit to being gay!), but other people paid to review films don't always love his movies. They are emotionally manipulative, and subtle as a two by four upside your head. But some things don't need to be subtle. Plus, (for me) it was a good cry. I identified with these fictional characters and cried, I didn't have flashbacks to bad times like I did with Taare Zameen Par (which dealt with dyslexia).

Anyways, this will be the third time I've posted these comments. I originally posted them in the Chatterday open thread at FWD because another commenter asked for my thoughts.

Then I c&p'd it for Bollywhat when someone asked in the spoiler thread how AS was treated.

I haven't read professional reviews, but I have read what other members of BollyWHAT have said about the movie. It's not universally loved, but everyone loved SRK's performance and the problems in the movie have nothing to do with AS and how it's portrayed, but other things.

Here is what I wrote soon after seeing it:

Onto the Asperger’s Syndrome. Rizvan Khan (SRK) takes the time in the first half to introduce himself to the people at Mandira’s (Kajol) job – this is what he has, this is who it’s named after, he is not “pagal”, he is smart. At one point, Mandira tells him to stop with this “loop” and the “encyclopedia.”

He takes things literally, which is why he’s doing what he’s doing – he can’t go home until he does what Mandira tells him to do. (which comes after a heart wrenching scene – so quiet in the theater) He hates the color yellow and loud sounds. He also repeats what people say when he can’t come up with something himself (especially related to emotions) or he reverts back to the encyclopedia.

He can repair almost anything, so his “genius” overshadows his brother, resentment, etc, but his mother loves him and gets him a private tutor because the other students at school are jerks.

We see two tools he uses so the world isn’t too much – ear plugs, of course, but a video camera, because as his SIL tells him (she teaches psychology and gets him an official diagnosis), it’s like the world is on TV, so it won’t be so scary. (This is soon after he moves to America, San Francisco, noise people noise!)

What was really touching was the disclaimer at the beginning – something like this is not the definitive behavior for AS, this is a fictional story about one man.

He is not cured, he does not “overcome” his disability, and he is the main character, he does not teach those around him to “live life to the fullest.” He does help people, but not because he’s autistic, but because he helps them. By doing things. Like… *drumroll* anybody else!

So there were some iffy moments (so much jammed in the last 30 minutes) but overall, a great movie and I think a great representation of somebody with Asperger’s.

And I thought it would be cool to put a kind of review on my blog.

The bolded part is the most important to me - PWD are inspiring just because they have disabilities in most pop culture narratives and movies. Rizvan is inspiring because of what he does, because of what happens to him, but not because he has AS.

Well, school started on the 14th.

2010-01-29T21:07:00.004-06:00

I've had to drop one class because of health issues, which is never fun.

But we got a snow day today! It was so funny - the e-mails went out at 9 last night, and there wasn't snow on the ground yet. In fact, the e-mails said it was because of the 'warnings' that they were closing school. No snow on the ground at 8, but by 10:30 there was!

And in happy news, Scott Roeder, terrorist, was convicted of first degree murder for the assassination of Dr. Tiller. He shot the man in his church over the summer. Dr. Tiller was one of the few doctors out there providing so-called "late-term abortions." And before you go ew!, read the stories from his patients - these abortions were done to save lives, these were wanted children, and this was a lot of work. He was a good man. (I'm sorry, I can't find the link right now. They were heartbreaking.)

Scott Roeder is a horrible man and a terrorist. Never forget that.

Also -

see more Political Pictures

Wickett and his Fear

2010-01-09T20:17:00.002-06:00

This was taken after he was forced to go inside the evil evil evil vet. Do you know what they did? Bathed him and dried him with a blow dryer. He was so fluffy and so cute! (But don't tell him that.)

"It's from a movie!"

2010-01-05T19:44:00.004-06:00

Today I needed a ride to my mom's job because my doctor appointment... blah blah blah.

I had to ride with Becky and her friend.

They watched "The Hangover" last night.

Within a couple minutes, Becky used the word "retarded" (or "retard") in a derogatory manner. ("That's so -" or "You're such a -") I objected and asked her not to use that word.

Her response?

"It was in the movie!"

It wasn't even a clever insult using derogatory, cruel language. Just a plain ol' insult. Used everywhere. (They also said other things from the movie about casinos - nothing funny to me, the third party who hadn't seen the movie. If you're going to quote a movie, shouldn't you use a funny or interesting quote to make somebody want to see it and not just go "Hee hee we have an in-joke!")

I didn't tell her this, because she doesn't care. But I wanted to say it. And hey, here's my blog. (She would see it if I said anything on Facebook.)

If you quote a movie, you are endorsing the use of the language in the quote. If I watched the Hangover and liked it, I would like it despite the use of the word "retarded." I would not go around using it, saying it's the movie. This was a phrase my sister liked and felt comfortable saying.

I can analyze a character's use of a word or bigoted thinking without endorsing it. (The difference between agreeing with the sexist BS on "The Simpsons" and analyzing it.) And I think that just repeating it is an endorsement. (Of course, you could be repeating it to go "WTFOMG can you believe they said that?" But that's not what happened.)

Another thing - using song lyrics as a status on Facebook, or anywhere else. My sister and my cousin and some friends do it all the time. I hate it. Some of the lyrics are disturbing, so my mom will ask her about it. "It's just a song!" If you felt comfortable enough to repeat it, you better be ready to explain it.

To sum up - do not hide behind the fact that you are using someone else's words when you say something offensive. You felt comfortable repeating it, that is the problem.

Mikey and his Snuggie

2010-01-05T19:41:00.003-06:00

Yes, it is an official Snuggie brand Snuggie.

He adores it, or he doesn't mind it. He got so much praise when Beck put it on him!

It doesn't restrict his movement, though sometimes he freaks out because it's on his tail.

I bought it as a gag gift for Christmas. Maybe for Mikey, maybe for Wickett. Well, Mikey is shaved nekkid and he was helping us open presents, so he got it! Now he looks naked without it.

He is too much.

As for humans and Snuggies - Becky got a fashionable one - the zebra print one. She doesn't dance like they do in some of the ads, no matter how much I ask.

Schooled by Anisha Lakhani

2009-12-30T01:29:00.002-06:00

Schooled is shaping up to be a good, funny book. (The parts about Lifetime movies had me laughing and annoying my mom by reading them to her.)

The main character is a first year teacher, fresh out of Columbia, at an exclusive private school. I've only made it to the orientation week, before she meets the students.

Right now, she has to read the student's files.

One child has a peanut allergy, "acute, life-threatening peanut allergies. You are responsible if so much as a peanut, or anything in the vicinity of a peanut, enters the classroom. He could die."

Also in the file is the fact that his father had an affair, his family is rich, etc etc.

On the next page, the main character mentally describes the future student as "an overindulged child who would probably think nothing of the sacrifice I would have to make in giving up my peanut M&Ms addiction lest I so much as breathe on him."

I can't get over this sentence. I can't tell if the writer wants us to go what the fuck is wrong with this woman or agree with her, because it's so hard to not eat candy during the school day.

It just really rubs me the wrong way. The kid is undeniably "overindulged," but it has nothing to do with his allergy. And the fact that the writer used to be a teacher...

Of course, this is like complaining because the serial killer on the TV kicked a puppy. I can accept the greater "bad" premise, but little things feel wrong.

Or maybe it's a sign of the character's immaturity?

I mean, what the fuck? It's so hard to make sure one of your students doesn't die.

Pain medication

2009-12-29T02:54:00.002-06:00

3 Idiots was an almost perfect painkiller - except for some pain from the pants and upright position about halfway through, I was all wrapped up in the story and because it was at the theatre, unable to pause and move around, causing myself more pain.

(3 Idiots is really good - I laughed, I cried, I wrote a cliche.)

But the worst pain killer is my pain medication.

I requested a liver test this year (just another thing to test when the vampires take my blood) and everything was fine.

But.

I react to medications very quickly - within a week or so, what "should" take a month to work, has already worked and stopped working for me. So I build up a tolerance to pain medication quickly.

And run into so many headaches - why are you out of this a week before your appointment?

Because if I followed your directions, I'd be in the ER!

But that's "angry," don't "yell," or "I'm leaving." (Way to be supportive Mom - yes I over analyzed everything, I've been dealing with horrid pain for a week! Because I followed the directions.)

So the polite thing is to just grit my teeth and explain for what feels like the millionth time that "One pill does not last 6 hours."

And of course it's fucking invisible. When I had visible indicators of pain, no one quibbled.

The worst part is that over the last couple weeks, I have been denied the one "safe" place for the people with chronic pain - the bed. Laying down hurts. Taking a deep breath hurts.

I am so tired, and not just because it is 3 am. (Wasn't I going to watch a Punjabi movie a million years ago?)

School wrap-up and nonsense

2009-12-19T13:32:00.002-06:00

Reading accounts at FWD makes me think about how lucky I have been when it comes to the intersection of school and health, especially this semester.

One *dropped* a paper, I didn't have to write a 12 page research paper that I'd been dreading all semester. She also extended the due dates for everything, but I banged out some kind of relevant nonsense a few days before and turned it in early. (And got a B+ which mean it counts as my honors credit for the semester and "junior honors experience" Whew.) She also took an hour out of her day to talk me through my confusion.

The professor with the least leeway just extended my due dates. Yup, the history professor. Hmm. (B+ as well! w00t!)

My art 1030 (intro to art something - no drawing! w00t!) professor was so nice. Even though we're not supposed to (in the syllabus), I was able to make up the quiz I missed and save my grade (an A something). He also said I could make up any future quizzes over the next two weeks and for whatever reason, I could take the final early.

My French professor dropped all quizzes and homework I missed over the last 3 weeks and said just do the final - B something in that quiz. (That's my major.)

My Arabic professor - well, if snow disproves global warming, then his behavior disproves all bad "Muslim" stereotypes /silly sarcasm attempt. I went to class, choked on the heat, and asked him when I could meet with him and said I wouldn't be in class because of the heat. He offered to meet with me *outside*! And it was around 40! I'm still so touched by that. And yes, we went over the chapters I missed, and I eventually just took the test I missed as an exam - or that was the goal before pain attacked and I couldn't. Right now, I've got an A-, but I don't mind if it changes.

And that's just this semester! I have had so many professors and teachers help me and it makes me cry when people are so nice.

I have also run into teachers and administrators who did not help me - high school senior year, I come back after a surgery to get make-up work. I decide to make sure everything's in order with the administrators.

The principal wants to talk to me - if I miss another day or check out early, I won't graduate. Also, "You don't deserve that A, you only deserve that F." The A was in psychology, he let me do work at home. The F was in a joke class, and I was well past the allowed absences so eff me, right? It wasn't all bad - instead of fighting them, we went straight to the doctor and got him to write an order for me to go homebound, and we requested the best homebound teacher ever - and even though she couldn't give me a steady schedule, she still worked with me. And I graduated in the top 20 of my class. So even the bad people can lead you to good ones.

Also, *all* my professors have been nice - I don't get docked for missing classes. (I still suffered because class is important, but at least I didn't have the added stress of being there or being square.)

And I get away with murder and did in high school. No water allowed, pssh. Be in class on time? I'm supposed to go to the nurse's office. Next!

College rules I break? Well, it depends on the syllabus/professor. But there is the desktop fan, which can be noisy in a tiny room when I'm in the front row. There are also cell phones. I have played many games of phone tag with doctors and hate it, so if I'm waiting on them, I keep my phone out and on vibrate. And when it goes off, I bolt out of the room, breaking another rule.

But I don't enjoy it, because it's usually about Dr. Ego or insurance and bleh. It's not like I'm talking to my girlfriends!

Though I have texted my friend Elizabeth twice this year - the second time the text was in French! - asking her where she was, it's class time! So cell phones aren't all bad.

Of course, in high school, we had the 504 and I met with all 6 teachers at the beginning of the year. In college, I have to make an appointment with my case guy in the Disability Office during the first week, get 5 papers for my professors, and give them to my professors, explaining what's going on.

This November? Disability was no help! Because they were swamped as it was time to schedule final accommodations. And when I came back, it was even closer to finals! So I did most of the work myself, working so hard to type those e-mails. (Actually, it was hard at times, and I'd just send the same e-mail to all 5 profs.) But I had the paperwork to cover my butt in case anyone gave me a hard time.

Anyways, this was going to be a reply at FWD, but it got too long. And I realized that some of you out there in internet world (hello!) may care.

If you have snow, don't tell me. We're raking leaves and I took a walk yesterday in a tank top and shorts.

My depression is mean.

2009-12-02T17:00:00.007-06:00

I am behind in school work.

I am in pain.

I do not need to be all weepy and tired and blah.

My stomach obeyed me last week when I wanted deviled eggs. Why won't my body listen now?

Anyways, I'm reading the comics. It's not quite as fun as taking the Sunday paper apart (after walking or riding my bike to get it) and getting to the comics last, around noon and spreading it out on the floor and gazing at the colors...

And no, you can't read the comics until I do! Why are you up anyways?

Back to the comics.

Today's Curtis made me laugh.

For some reason, Curtis always shrinks when I post it here. So in the interest of saving your peepers (and make my little read blog more accessible), here is a transcript (I used to have HTML skills, but I'm afraid this is too much for an ALT text):

1st panel - Inside. Michelle is walking away from Curtis, saying, "I am a child born for the limelight!"

2nd panel - Still inside. Michelle is facing Curtis. She is saying, "I used to crawl hearing Smokey and Little Richard! I took my first steps to Quincy and DeBarge!"

3rd panel - The bottom is curly, this is an illustration of a memory. It shows the baby Michelle - with huge eyes - tap dancing. Michelle's head is floating near the top and she continues, "When I was two, my mother enrolled me in dance class. I was a natural!"

4th panel - Back to the present, still inside. Michelle has her back to Curtis, she is angry because, "I was cast on the "Muppet Show" but was let go 'cause Miss Piggy was threatened by my flair for talent!"

Curtis responds, winking, "Can't upstage th' pig!"

It's the last panel. Particularly Curtis's response. Miss Piggy is THE diva of divas.

Maybe I don't really enjoy Curtis and say I do so I can be like, look at me, I'm reading a comic about black folks! I ain't racist. Where ya'll going? /bad southern accent

I don't know. Curtis doesn't make me laugh a lot, but there's this sweetness about it and an originality and creativity (have you seen the Kwanzaa strips?) that has little to do with the race of the characters. They live in the city. Money is tight. But they never age. Michelle and Curtis will never get together. The hat will never come off.

And that's ok.

In other news, today's Cracked is SO AWESOME! It's called "6 Mental Illness Myths Hollywood Wants You to Believe." So. Cool. (Even though it's riddled with errors, I think Cracked is pretty big. An article like this will hopefully change one person's mind.)

Also, this made me laugh, even though I nothing about old or new school video games. (I played the Sims. Not the Sims 2!)

I hate name bashing.

2009-11-30T22:57:00.003-06:00

I really do.

Full on racists will talk about somebody having a "black name." Or just make up stuff because the name is too "foreign."

Name bashing is always directed at the person with the name.

I did not pick my name.

I did not pick its spelling.

Yes, I know you don't know how to spell it. Excuse me if I get a little pissy - you're not the first person this month, this week, this day, this hour that I have had to spell it for.

I am not changing my name.

I like it, I consider it a part of who I am. I even like the spelling.

Stop bashing people's names.

What stirred me to write this?

Against my better nature, I started reading Roommate Confessions on CollegeHumor. One could be considered ableist --

Remember when I gave up trying to protest your overbearing OCD/hypochondria that you used to dominate our dorm? Yeah, that's about the same time I started having sex on your bed when you went home on weekends, or, you know, to class.
Sandra Flores, GMU

Another bashes the roommate's name and her mother in addition to using disgusting ableist language --

Brittannie: first of all, teach your trashy mother how to spell a simple name right. It makes you look retarded right off the bat, but then again, perhaps she knew it would be fitting later on in life.

Another shows somebody who is incredibly cruel and ableist (it's funny to hurt your roommate!) --

That wasn't pink eye. I put some steel wool shavings in your contact case and dipped the tip of your eye liner in dish soap.
Dee B, BSC

However, all is not lost.

Right underneath that disgusting confession is this --

You wrote in to Roommate Confessions to brag about a prank you pulled on me. A prank that resulted in severe bodily injury. Well, I never mentioned it, but I did bookmark the page and show it to my parents. And our lawyer. And the dean. Guess what, dumbass? You might've looked like a badass on the internet for fifteen minutes, but you're the one who got kicked out of college and is getting sued for every cent you're worth. Checkmate, bitch.
John T., School Not Given

I applaud you, John T. Most of these confessions are of roommates vandalizing their roommates' property, spoiling their food, and just being a jerk in response to jerkiness.

I don't know much about CollegeHumor's reputation, but I do know that it - like most "humor" sites - seems to be marketed towards boys. The front page always has a "cute college girl" on it.

I mostly visit for "Parents Just Don't Understand" which chronicles parents, siblings, everybody who has trouble with technology. It's the least objectionable part of the site.

Back to names - I cannot stand it when people complain about the spelling of a "traditional" (White, WASP) name. Before the previous cycle of ANTM, cycle 12, the website Jezebel put up the finalists. One had the name Kourtney. Cue the "I hate her!" cries - because her name is spelled with a K.

Names are not sacred. There are no rules - at least not in America. I do not care that my name is considered a derivative of a "better" name. This is my name. Stop insulting me.

And also, would it hurt to pronounce it right? I'm not talking about when I write it - total chickenscratch city - but when it's on a computer printout.

KAITLYN

No H's, no R's. I am not Katherine. I am not Kathleen. I am not Katrine. I am KAITLYN.

Living at home does not make you a bum, Judge Judy.

2009-11-09T22:37:00.005-06:00

I only watch Judge Judy (and other judge shows) with my mom. I couldn't stand them by myself.

On today's episode, I only paid attention to the beginning. She asked somebody where his brother was. Turns out the brother was back home. Not because of work, since he doesn't work. He's 19 and lives with Mom.

Making him a bum.

Judge Judy is very rude to people who live at home beyond what age she deems appropriate. I remember many episodes where she ends it by saying, "Grow up and move out of your mom's house! *bangs gavel*"

Then there is the joke of "nerds" in their mother's basement. (Never their father's, or their parents'. Always mother's.)

It's a shortcut to calling somebody immature.

So I read Slate - I like the ad and shopping reviews - and this caught my eye a couple weeks ago. The headline is "Prudie counsels a husband-to-be whose bride wants her own bedroom—and other advice seekers." The main issue I took away is not that the bride wants her own bedroom, but that she's never lived alone. And she's a "woman old enough to marry."

The comments were disgusting. Many people had no problem with separate bedrooms, but others called the bride (that they only know about through her fiance's letter) immature.

My first thought was hello, not every culture shoves their kids out at 18.

But as I started reading FWD/Forward and this entry, I realized the other problems with the response to the letter and the idea of living at home once you become an "adult."

There are many valid reasons to live at home after the magical age of 18. One of the many reasons is health - some of us cannot and should not live alone. I live in the dorm while I'm at school, but right now I am at home because of the kidney stone. For one thing, I'll be less tempted to try to go to class. It's not more convenient for Mom, but I feel miserable and I get to see my puppies! Mikey is a trip - he totally beat Mom up tonight. And right now he's sleeping on her butt, quite happy.

Then there is my mother's health - what if she were in my flipflops? I'd want somebody to be with her. I'd feel I should take care of her.

I think there is a problem with America - we place so much importance on certain markers of "independence" that those who do not follow the rules are "immature" and "weird." We also do not place a lot of emphasis on family. No, I don't want to move in my with husband's family, but I don't want to be demonized for living with my mom at 21.

And not having a job.

And not driving. (That is a pain. My sister drops the issue for a while, but it's back up again - "Why don't you drive?" "Because I don't want to" is not a valid answer in her eyes, and admittedly, if I were to stay here, I'd have to drive. But I don't want to - I want to live some place where a combination of walking and public transportation can do a car's job for me. Plus, I don't think I legally can drive, thanks to all my medications.)

It is nobody's business why people live like they do, and as long as no one is being hurt or any laws are being broken, no one has a right to judge.

I am not a bum because I live with my mother.

I am not immature, either.

And it is none of your business why I do it. (Except I already told you. Eh, shut it.)

Time for a Bollywood movie!

It's so nice when one pic sums up your day

2009-11-05T20:29:00.000-06:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

I couldn't walk, sit, or stand without pain today. It led to some... interesting contortions in the waiting room. (They don't like it if you lay on the floor - however, if you lay on the floor *and* barf, you'll get seen sooner, or at least shoved out of the waiting room so you don't scare people.)

Spoon Theory and Me (It's all about me)

2009-11-03T13:40:00.002-06:00

I've been reading about the Spoon Theory and kinda going, yeah, that doesn't apply to me. (Basically, we all have a number of spoons that represent what we can do that day. Healthy, temporarily able bodied people (age will get us all!! Run!!) have an unlimited amount. Those not so able-bodied do not.)

Thinking about the Spoon Theory and applying it to my life is scary because dammit, if I write down that it hurts, then it really happened and it just won't go away. If I don't classify it, it's not there. Denial is awesome unless WILL YOU STOP STABBING ME. See?

But I do use it, I realized today.

I had a terrible night, could not fall asleep or stay asleep. Went to my 8 am class (hello Arabic!) in pain, a bit disoriented, just not steady on my feet. It was worse when I got out of class about an hour later.

So I laid down, planning to rest until lunch and then go to my one o'clock class.

Ate lunch around noon, no problems, a bit of pain, whatever.

But as I walked out, I was like, hey, hey, HEY! It's not supposed to hurt to walk. And this class is relatively far away when it's raining or I'm in pain. And then there's the hour and 25 minutes of uncomfortable sitting, followed by a bolt across campus to my next class.

I just sat down and cried. I still am. I hate it.

But I'm in my room, comfortable (though still in pain) on my bed, and I will go to my 2:40 class and hopefully make it through that hour and 25 minutes in one piece. Last Thursday, maybe I should have done that, because I reached a point in the latter class where thought escaped me. (Especially putting thoughts into French words.)

Maybe I'm not thinking of it as little spoons, but I know that if I went to my one o'clock, I couldn't go to my French class. And we're watching a movie in there. And the other class is all online - podcasts of the lectures, powerpoints, everything. Except on Thursday, I have to be there because I'm giving a presentation that I have totally started on.

Totally.

Gotta go.

"Responding to your message"

2009-10-29T16:35:00.001-05:00

Dear Kaitlyn,

Thank you for taking the time to contact my office about Senator Franken's amendment to the FY2010 Defense Appropriations bill dealing with arbitration. Your input is important to me, and I appreciate the time you took to share your thoughts.

Senator Franken's amendment stemmed from a truly horrible crime committed against Jamie Leigh Jones, an employee of a company performing work in Iraq under a contract with the Defense Department. Please know, this amendment had no impact on law enforcement's ability to pursue criminal prosecution against anyone involved in committing these crimes, and dealt only with the agreements between employers and employees to resolve civil claims in arbitration rather than through litigation. What happened to Ms. Jones in this case is abhorrent and the culprits should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Separate and apart then from any criminal prosecution, Ms. Jones filed several claims in court in a civil suit against the company. The company argued that Ms. Jones could not sue in court because the employee signed an arbitration agreement to bring any claims against her employer to arbitration instead of being tried in court. However, the court ruled in favor of Ms. Jones by nullifying the arbitration agreement as to her claims of (1) assault and battery, (2) intentional infliction of emotional distress arising out of the assault, (3) negligent hiring, retention, and supervision of employees involved in the assault, and (4) false imprisonment. The court therefore said that employers can not require that civil claims of sexual assault be resolved through arbitration and that employees like Ms. Jones retain the ability to sue in court.

The Franken amendment sought to codify this court ruling in favor of Ms. Jones by requiring that contractors with the Defense Department exclude those four claims from their employee contract arbitration agreements. However, this amendment went much further than the court ruling by also requiring the exclusion from arbitration agreements of many of the possible employment claims an employee can bring against an employer. First, it is important to note that the Obama Administration opposed the Franken amendment because of its broad application and the problems associated with enforcing it. Rather than a targeted attempt to prevent the types of obstacles that Ms. Jones faced when she fairly sought restitution for the horrific acts that occurred, this amendment went well beyond in an effort to make a sweeping change to existing law among issues that never impacted this employee and that the court never addressed in this case.

I agreed with the court ruling and believe that the civil claims arising out of the sexual assault should not be arbitrated. However, I believe the amendment was too expansive, and went well beyond the situation the amendment was trying to remedy. I believe that arbitration can provide employees with a more efficient and cost-effective avenue for resolving their claims against their employer and I do not believe it should be largely eliminated as an alternative to what is sometimes a very lengthy, contentious, and expensive court process.

Thank you again for your letter. I hope you will continue to share your thoughts with me.

Sincerely,

Bob Corker
United States Senator

The fact that both sent me quite similar letters tells me I'm not the only one to write them about their vote.

And I'm quite sad - where's the snail mail? You wanted my street address for a reason.

"Correspondence From Senator Alexander"

2009-10-27T16:40:00.003-05:00

Senator Alexander (I hate that I share a name with that man!) has responded by e-mail.

Dear Kaitlyn,

Thanks very much for getting in touch with me and letting me know what's on your mind regarding arbitration agreements.

Arbitration is a better option than litigation for many employees, but the courts can step in where arbitration doesn't sufficiently protect the rights of workers. Arbitration is neither designed nor intended to address criminal matters, such as sexual assault, but rather to provide an opportunity to resolve civil matters in a more timely, less expensive way than pursuing them in court.

What happened to Jamie Leigh Jones was deplorable, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit made the right decision by saying her case should be resolved in the courts. Specifically, the appeals court held that Ms. Jones' injuries were not related to her employment and thus not covered by the arbitration clause in her employment contract.

On October 3, 2009, the Senate passed the Franken amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill, which would prohibit the Pentagon from contracting with any company that requires its employees or independent contractors to sign mandatory arbitration clauses regarding certain claims. The Defense Department opposed the Franken amendment and was right to do so because it was too broad and banned arbitration in too many cases. When arbitration is inappropriate, the courts should overrule it as they did in this deplorable case.

I'm grateful you took the time to let me know where you stand. I'll be sure to keep your comments in mind as this matter is discussed and debated in Washington and in Tennessee.

Sincerely,

Lamar

Sure.

Justify it.

I just wish that the democrats in this state had BALLS. Maybe this is about arbitration in his mind (ha!), but I wish his opponents would say it was about rape. If the parties were switched, the Republicans would be all over calling him a rapist. I mean, they ran an ad against Harold Ford Jr saying he would steal all the white ladies!

Why do we have to be so nice and wimpy? Swear to god, when I watched local TV in 06 and 08, I could not tell the "pro" Democrat from the Republicans until the end. (The anti... ooh, this one Mississippi anti-Democrat ad was hysterical! It showed the groups of people who had donated to the candidate in the worst light possible. Unfortunately, I don't remember the names or the year.)

One priceless pro-Republican ad for a state senator/something on the state level... it showed the candidate shooting guns with her family while the voice over talked about the sanctity of life!

I love it, I wish I didn't have to live it.

The Franken Senate Defense Appropriations Amendment

2009-10-16T02:11:00.002-05:00

You are a disgusting, vile piece of humanity. I am ashamed that I did not get to vote against you in 2006.

You voted against Sen. Al Franken's amendment which would protect RAPE VICTIMS. Surely, rape is an issue both parties agree is bad?

But no.

Franken is a Democrat. This interferes with business.

You disgust me.

I just sent this to Bob Corker and Lamarr Alexander, who are 2 of the 30 Republican men who voted against the amendment.

I am so glad it passed, but damn, what is wrong with people?

Corker wanted my phone number, but Alexander didn't. I'll probably get a form letter in reply. I have before.

I watched Dor last night.

2009-09-27T20:07:00.000-05:00

It is an amazing movie! Om Shanti Om introduced me to Shreyas and I can't believe it's taken this long for me to see him in another movie. He was so cute!

Of course the female actors were amazing as well.

Go see Dor! Netflix has it...

A sweet scene from the movie:

Barney Fife was the best cop ever!

2009-09-19T18:06:00.004-05:00

see more Lol Celebs

Funnier people than I think so.

And I'm sure he was better than the Ropers!

I want this as a poster. The picture, don't care about the words. It takes a special kind of cop's kid to idolize Barney, and I'm just that crazy.

ETA: In light of the link at FWD/Forward (love ya'll!), I'm looking at some of my older posts for ableist language. I'm not going to remove it - life is a learning process, and you have to see where you've been to see how far you've come. (Or something cliched like that.)

If I was writing this post today, I'd replace "crazy" with "that cop's kid." "Weird" might work as well, but I like the repetition aspect. In fact, when writing this (before finding FWD), I'm sure I grappled with word choice. "Crazy" was the cheap, easy way out, and I apologize if it offends anyone drifting over from FWD and finding themselves so bored they're willing to read my ramblings.

Barney Fife forever!

Sex in movies - Crash vs. Amélie

2009-09-05T22:44:00.003-05:00

These are just some thoughts.

I saw Crash for the first time on Monday in Culture, Identity, and Politics anthropology class.

It is very interesting, with a few flaws, but overall it is emotionally draining. (Plus family drama and first day back drama... tears everywhere!)

It's rated R, and it should be - the language and subject matter are mature. It's also probably rated R because of the nudity. (All female.) We see one woman's breasts while she's having sex with her partner. And earlier, we see a painting of a nude woman, full frontal nudity. The nude scenes and sex just seemed to be in there because they could. (Though the sex scene is important, we don't need to see her boobs.)

I really think Bollywood has changed my viewing of movies, which is why I'm bothering to think about this. Plus, it was during school, and nudity with the teacher in the room? Never mind it's college, and I'm the youngest in the class at 21, there's still a feeling of discomfort.

I saw Amélie this spring in French 2020. I'm watching it again in French 3301 (conversational French - the textbook is about conversation using cinema). There are some sex scenes and some boobies, yet it doesn't feel explicit. I remember reading that it has an R rating here because of those scenes, while it has a U rating in France.

The sex and nudity in Amélie feel natural, while those in Crash seemed designed to shock. This probably has a lot to do with the differences between French and American culture, especially our Puritan background.

Of course, the Bollyfan in me squirmed internally at the sex/nudity in Amélie as well as Crash, but intellectually, I can see the difference between the two.

Some silliness before I lose my mind.

2009-08-26T22:00:00.003-05:00

School starting Monday, moving in tomorrow afternoon, packing tomorrow at noon, health concerns, worry over healthcare (my idiot cousin agrees the system is fucked, but we can't have a government option because that's the first step toward communism!), and, of course, the worry over which movie I will watch tonight.

Maybe a trailer will help me decide.

The health care "debate" is pissing me off.

2009-08-20T18:11:00.003-05:00

I like the "birther" movement. They're idiots. The "mother" went on the Colbert Report and said they wouldn't go away until Obama posthumously made his father a US citizen.

Stupid, but harmless.

Unfortunately, they have gone away, they've been shouted away by ASSHOLE IDIOTS IDIOTS IDIOTS IDIOTS.

I can't read any article about the protesters without seeing red, the recent "news" about the dropped public option almost killed me, I can't stand it.

Why aren't people like me on the TV? People who need the public health option? (Though we want France's system or Japan's or Canada's or...)

People with the gall to survive childhood cancer - uninsurable.

People who had to file bankruptcy because of an illness - especially if they were insured and discovered they were underinsured.

And me.

I'll be dropped August 11, 2012 from the health plan I've been on all my life. Throughout that life, I have had at least 3 separate "pre-existing conditions." If I can get a job, if I can get insurance, I will pay through the nose and get shitty coverage. But I'll take it, because I need pills to live. (Junkie, you know.)

I would rather have my taxes pay for my healthcare - and others.

Whatever happened to love thy neighbor? How can people be so cruel?

OBAMA'S NOT GOING TO KILL YOUR GRANDMA.

Your grandfather, now...

I'm going to pretend I haven't posted since April.

2009-07-04T08:17:00.002-05:00

Everyone has their own little superstitions, right?

Mine actually made me do something kind of good - I got out of my pajamas, despite the fact that I'm staying home today. (And tonight.)

I used to think you had to wear red, white, and blue today, or you'd get pinched or something. The consequences were murky, but dammit, you needed all three of those colors!

So today - gray shorts that say USA on one leg (cheap at Kohl's in... 04? 03?) and my Red Sox shirt from 04, for sure. It's my only blue shirt with red and white on it.

Silly, but what are you going to do?

My sister has a clone

2009-04-23T18:08:00.000-05:00

Michelle Was Also Amazed With the Ewok/Koala Exhibit

Fat preppy girl: Oh my god! Is that a rhinoceros? I didn't know they still existed!
Friend: Yeah, that's one right there.
Fat preppy girl: But I thought dinosaurs were extinct?

--Bronx Zoo

Headline by: JohnAustin

Runners-Up:
· "Apparently, You've Never Watched "The View"" - PeterG
· "No, Just My Faith in Our Education System" - Jeff
· "She Thinks That About Salads Too" - Tom
· "That Would Explain Why the Hippo Looked So Real!" - Pat
· "This Is a Creationist Zoo" - Coyoty
· "Why Didn't You TELL Me We're in a Museum?" - Emily Leonard
· "You're Confusing It With the Do-Ya-Think-He-Saurus" - Skug Skellum

Click here to see the new Headline Contest

via Overheard in New York, Apr 23, 2009

Seriously - that girl thought rhinos were extinct for the longest time.

I'm in love.

2009-04-17T02:43:00.003-05:00

It's addicting as hell, though yes, the video is cheesy.

This is Armenia's entry into this year's Eurovision contest.

It's going up in the first semi-final on May 12, so you know, all my European readers (ha!) who won't vote for their own country or however its done.

Eurovision sounds somewhat interesting, depending on my mood - I mean, this is the fifty-fourth one. That's a long time, says my 3am brain.

According to my exhaustive research (clicking on the "history of Eurovision"), Vatican City is one of three European countries to still not participate. That one is the funniest of all, because they could compose a stirring ode to Catholicism or abstinence, all set to funky dance beat!

I'm going back to bed.

One more bit - that same page says that lots of new countries entered after the fall of communism.

I thought there were no books about Eurovision from an earlier Amazon search, but I was wrong. That makes me happy. Something this old deserves a book. I hope it's good. What? I'm not going to buy it. Liking one Eurovision entry, some ABBA songs, and a Greek singer does not mean I need to shell out over $21 for a paperback about something I have no experience with!

I love Netflix.

2009-04-09T21:34:00.006-05:00

Truly, I do.

Sure, it doesn't have some very popular Bollywood films from the last 10 years, but still, I'm new to the game. I've got time to catch up. (The weirdest missing DVD - they've got the special features disc, but not the disc with the movie on it! D'oh!)

Anyways, I've created some lists about Bollywood and the 3 southern films I've seen so far, but none about the Hollywood movies I've seen.

So here we go -

First movie I ordered was Toy Story 2, to prove my sanity. (Second was Om Shanti Om.) I loved both, but I only bought one. (OSO, of course!) Toy Story 2 - 5/5 stars.

Futurama: Bender's Game - also 5/5 stars. Very funny.

Sweeney Todd - 5/5. Good movie, though the English singing freaked me out at first.

Princess Bride - 5/5, though i was already corrupted by Bollywood and felt that it could have used some singing (in Hindi, natch).

Ed Wood - 5/5. Oh My God! This movie is amazing! Better than Sweeney Todd, not that Johnny Depp did a bad job in that one. It's just this one is a better movie.

Girl, Interrupted - 4/5. Different from the book in some ways, I'm sure. (It's been a while since I read it.) But still good. But not memorable a month later, like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Tropic Thunder - 5/5. So damn funny!

Americanizing Shelley - 3/5. Stale jokes, but catchy soundtrack and three good actors.

Bend It Like Beckham - 4/5. Awesome music, great story.

Penelope - 5/5. This is a fairy tale with modern elements, and it works. It's so cute! I recommend it to all Netflix members. It stars Christina Ricci and James McAvoy. Check it out!

Oh, in the non-Bollywood, non-Indian, non-American, non-English category, we have Train Man, a Japanese film my friend begged me to watch after I introduced her to Bollywood with Bunty Aur Babli. (She loved it.) I give it 4/5 stars because it was a great story, but I didn't really connect with it. Plus, as I kept teasing her, it didn't have any songs! And it was a love story! Come ON!

Oh, I forgot The Namesake. 4/5 stars. The story never clicked with me, but Tabu, Irrfan Khan, and yes, Kal Penn were all amazing in it.

Yahtzee!

2009-03-29T13:04:00.000-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M - Th 11p / 10c

Daily/Colbert - Mad Magazine

comedycentral.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

I feel blue, this helped cheer me up.

Bollywood appeals to my mature, intellectual side.

2009-03-21T13:36:00.001-05:00

What?

In the interest of full disclosure, I think the original should be up here as well.

This movie is amazing, for more reasons than this song. (Its stupidity is a joke. A catchy, sexy, shirtless joke.)

Something that pissed me off

2009-03-14T16:23:00.003-05:00

I have an Obama sticker on my laptop.

My Kerry sticker went on my bedroom door as a reminder of the first election I gave a damn about.

So Thursday, I was on my computer, trying to get the damned thing to work (it did), and Becky's friend John came over. He saw my sticker and groaned. Apparently, he sees Obama stuff everywhere and it's killing him.

He reminded me of this bumper sticker I saw (on a SUV or truck with shell with TENNESSEE plates) that said "Conservative in exile." Hello, you're in Tennessee. Tennessee went to McCain, remember? Ugh.

Anyways, apparently ***black people*** wear shirts that say Obama is their president, among other crimes. Oh noes.

My mom did it too, right around the election. "The black teachers and students are so excited, they're calling him their president, but he's half-white." And she voted for him.

I don't get this bullshit and I hate it.

And it's so damned stupid that I can't think of anything to say back. Not that it matters if I do say something. I tried to get John and Beck to stop using "gay" as pejorative, so they switched to homosexual.

A song entirely in English

2009-03-11T11:00:00.002-05:00

The Hollies - On a Carousel

I watched East is East on Netflix Instant thingie last night.

The movie is good, though I can't believe it was marketed as a comedy! It did have plenty of comic and touching moments, but it was much more of a family drama than a comedy. On the Netflix scale, I gave it three stars because I'll never watch it again. The ending was happy, but too much back to the same old thing.

Anyways, a bit about Netflix Instant. They don't have a copy of East is East and the distributor removed it from the Instant thing today, so I had to watch it yesterday.

On Monday, I watched Jodhaa-Akbar Instantly on my laptop. It's a long movie by a Bollywood standards - 3 and a half hours. It's quite beautiful. I gave it 4 stars, loved the romance.

However, it was hard to watch because I abuse the pause button when I watch movies on my laptop, especially when I'm not physically just so. The oh so comfy recliner, it turns out, is not suited for passively watching something on your lap. TV watching, surfing the net, reading, sleeping (oh yes, sleeping), those are all fine.

So yesterday, to save myself the trouble (not to mention $99!), I bought a VGA cable and an audio cable thing. I can now connect my laptop to the TV at home. And the sound works. (We got the wrong sound cord at first, when we got the right one I hopped around the living around shouting yes over and over again.)

So I watched East is East (an hour and a half) on the TV. Unfortunately, my dorm TV is analogue, and you need a converter for that that costs about as much as Netflix Instant device! I need a new TV anyway, one with a remote. One where the volume will go down when I hit volume down and not the channel.

Happy Spring Break

2009-03-11T02:21:00.000-05:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

Chicks and Pups

2009-03-08T18:44:00.001-05:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

This just makes me laugh.

see more dog and puppy pictures

This is so Dixie, except she wouldn't wait for it to be killed by any sissy humans or any of their machines. She can do it herself, as she showed us in Nebraska.

Saawariya

2009-03-05T22:49:00.002-06:00

Oh wow.

This movie is breathtakingly beautiful. It's so beautiful I thought Salman Khan looked good. (In 2007! I know.)

I can't say much more, just wow wow wow.

Have to get this movie, love it love it love it.

I have now seen 9 Bollywood movies, 10 if you count Kandukonden Kandukonden. (KK is a great movie, but it's Tamil and not Bollywood.)

I hate loud noises.

2009-03-04T23:06:00.002-06:00

Well, I like my loud music. If I know I'm not bothering anybody.

But sometimes my suitemates... (we share a bathroom, so when they yell, we hear it), they don't seem to care.

This Married to the Sea comic seems to sum up their attitude on every day but Friday. (I think they leave campus on Friday.)

marriedtothesea.com

It's not just them, there's just so many people shouting and screaming this week. Yes, spring break is next week, but this week isn't over yet, why won't you shut the fuck up?

It really doesn't help that I've felt rotten all week. Tuesday was my shittiest day in a long, long, long time. I had to leave French class. We were doing review work and the pain got so bad I got up, asked for the other review sheets, and told the professor I felt so bad I couldn't think. I really couldn't. It was scary.

Sign LOLcats are getting to you

2009-02-12T14:26:00.002-06:00

(and that you'll never be mature, never)

Every time you take a French test or quiz and have to write your name, you think of this.

Because what's French for name?

NOM!

Not that it makes up for the existence of tests. Blargh.

Plus, the school post office won't make with the Netflix, and the status at the Netflix website for Sweeney Todd is "at home" when it most certainly is not! Plus, there's still one more day left in this week. With an essay test! In friggin history! Where you it's always been multiple choice/fill in the blank with maybe one or two essay Qs. Very nervous, and very glad I botched my speech in oral comm on Wednesday so I won't have to worry about that tomorrow as well!

Today's Mark Trail cannot be a coincidence.

2009-02-08T17:37:00.004-06:00

The Mark Trails on Sundays are dedicated to information about a particular animal.

Normally I do not read it, unless it's posted on the Comics Curmudgeon and Josh says something funny about it. (I wonder, were cult leaders comedians? I read what he tells me to read, though I have yet to buy any CC merchandise. Yet.)

Anyways, I was going through the Washington Post's comics collection and something made me decide to click on Mark Trail. I don't know why, I never have before.

Imagine my surprise when I saw this:

Well, what happened on Thursday the fifth?

Stephen Colbert had yet another child in the animal kingdom. The man is giving Zeus a run for his money!

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Stelephant Colbert the Elephant Seal

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Funny Political News

Christian Bale Parody
Joke of the Day

I just thought it was too awesome a coincidence to pass up, and a quick search of the most recent comment page showed no mention of Colbert, so here's mine. Not much, just a juxtaposition of the two.

This Mark Trail is actually quite odd, since Mark isn't there. I guess he couldn't afford to go down to their habitat even though it's summer now! Perhaps his job wouldn't foot the bill. He writes animal stories - animal stories that matter. Like, he stopped the draining of some wetlands. And some punching did as well. His absence is really weird. Stephen would assume the seals ate him.

And since there's no dialogue, there's no talking potatoes or anything else weird, which is quite sad. They have had gossiping moose and squirrels, though never a moose and a squirrel together chitchatting.

I hope for more updates about Stelephant Colbert on the show, hopefully where he picks on the others, especially Jon Sealwart, "a smaller male."

Maybe he and the eagle will team up to fight crime. Stephen Jr. will patrol the skies and Stelephant, well, the beaches. Does he still have that sea turtle named after him?

More on Slumdog

2009-02-04T13:48:00.002-06:00

I really want to finish my homework, but you know, I haven't looked at my notes. The internet is such a tempter.

Dev Patel was on the Daily Show last night! His British accent is still so jarring, even though I've seen some of the daytime shows he's been on.

Now AR Rahman needs to go on The Colbert Report. Or you know, whatever. I mean, Stephen has mentioned Bollywood stars before, butchering their names, but he mentioned them. That is something.

Anyways, last night, instead of sleeping (or doing homework), I started reading the Slumdog thread at the Bollywhat forums. (I love this site and the forums and joined last month and will post an introductory post soon, I swear! I just feel like I have a lot to live up to.)

And here come MAJOR ASS SPOILERS, but no one reads this thing anyway, and I just wanted to say my bit.

In the book the movie is based on the character is given an Indian everyman name, so he could be Christian, Muslim, or Hindu. By changing his name to Jamal Malik, they made him Muslim, and his mom died in anti-Muslim violence.

I knew the last bit, that there were the anti-Muslim riots, and his mom died, but I did not know he was Muslim. Ignorant Westerner, to be sure, but I did not see the visual cues. I assumed they were some religion in name only, without "NOT MUSLIM" tattooed on their foreheads during the riots. I saw his religion as I see many Americans, maybe calling themselves something without practicing. (So he could have been Hindu and not had a shrine to the god in his house...)

Yeah, this is a muddle.

Which is why I couldn't just go into the Bollywhat forums as a newbie who's seen three (count 'em, THREE!) true blue Bollywood movies and say something like that.

And yet this hasn't inpsired me to summarize my horrendous Ancient Government class. We're "reading" Plato's Republic, and were supposed to read Book 2 last weekend. Only I had a cold and managed to process Slumdog Millionaire, so there! Ok, so my cold got worse as the weekend progressed, but still.

And Plato really made Socrates out to be an asshole in Book 1. "Come eat dinner with us, Socrates!" "Okay." "Here's my dad." "HOLY HELL YOU'RE OLD!" And it degenerated from there.

Slumdog Millionaire

2009-02-03T18:49:00.003-06:00

I saw this on Friday and hacked around with a cold all weekend.

Instead of doing homework, I looked up the AWESOME soundtrack on youtube and this was on the videos I found.

I can't coherently review Slumdog, which should say something about how good it is. Not that I am an expert on films.

I'm so glad I finally got to see it, and I want to see it again and again. The last time this happened, the movie was on DVD. No such luck. Now I actually have to give a damn about the Oscars!

Man, I hate paying attention to things as they happen.

You never know how it ends.

Like America's Next Top Model. I'd watch the marathons on the weekend, and already know the winner. Then I started watching the "cycle" as it aired last year, and damn, I want to know already.

See, that's why you can't take me seriously about movies. ANTM and Slumdog? Though Slumdog is great great great great. Last year I saw a hyped movie around this time (There Will Be Blood) and it was great, and Daniel Day-Lewis should do a shirtless Bollywood dance scene...

That top video is great for letting you know a bit about the movie, but this one is too cute.

God, that song is addictive!

My sister's made it to Alabama!

2009-01-27T20:49:00.002-06:00

Aristotle's Really More Of an American Eagle Dude
Girl #1, leaving the mall: Go to Aero... Ari... Aristotle.
Girl #2: Aristotle is not the same thing as Aeropostale.
Girl #1: Then where did I...?
Girl #2 (interrupting): History. You learned about Aristotle in history.
Overheard by: Ashley
via Overheard Everywhere, Jan 26, 2009

She would so say something like this.

If she'd ever heard of Aristotle.

They still do this?

2009-01-27T19:33:00.004-06:00

So I'm watching NCIS on our local CBS affiliate when a short blurb comes on for the local news at 10.

They're doing a story on local people rushing to the grocery stores because of the predicted snow.

First of all, people still rush the stores at the hint of snow. Ok, that is news to me.

The local news feels the need to cover it. Also news to me.

So perhaps it is appropriate.

Oh well, it's on at the same time as The Daily Show, so all I have to go on is that damned ad.

I really hate local news.

Also, McGee should so watch Golden Girls with me. It would be so sweet!

ETA: Gus from Psych(Dulé Hill) is in ad for DirecTV right now! He's in a bank that's being robbed, and he doesn't scream his usual scream. In fact, he's almost as collected as Shawn is, without pissing off the robbers. Anyways! Gus! On the TV! On Tuesday! On CBS! (Shilling for a satellite company.)

Today is AWESOME!

2009-01-20T13:25:00.002-06:00

Okay, first I watched 3 episodes of Golden Girls and an episode of What's With that House that I'd never seen before.

During all that braindeath, I got a text from my mom asking me if it was snowing here.

Normally, I don't go to the window and open the blinds, but this time I did.

AND OH MY GOD!

SO MUCH SNOW! IN THE AIR! ON THE GROUND!

AND ON OBAMA'S INAUGURATION DAY! It's a good sign!

Unfortunately, most of it has melted, and it's on and off flurries, but still. So magical.

I've never seen an inauguration, never cared about them. I imagine most of the students here are in the same boat. (Hell, most of voted for the first time in a presidential election this time around.)

My first class starts at 9:40 and the prof never showed. We waited until about 10, and then a guy put MSNBC's coverage up. Boring, people walking. Famous, presidential people, but just walking. So we all signed a sheet of a paper. I took it to his office in another building and then found out he'd been in a wreck. (He's okay, though.) So I was right, he was gone because of the snow, not the inauguration.

If it wasn't showing (and isn't) in your building, go to the next one!

I was in the library when Biden and Obama were sworn in, and I felt chills. The last time I watched news coverage with people was... september 11th. I knew I couldn't stay for the speech, because I figured I'd catch all of it later than a bit now before class.

One of my friends decided to watch the speech, and wasn't even going to go to class, but you know how awesome Obama is? She felt guilty, and she came in late. But she came to class!

So have some hot cocoa, stare in awe at the teevee, and be jealous of those you know who went. (This guy in my english class, so jealous! My friend's boyfriend lives in DC! etc)

Can I just say one little thing about Oprah, Firefox?

2009-01-11T07:15:00.009-06:00

Stop crashing, willya? Twice in under 30 seconds, must be a new record for you. First I'm told it's crashing because I have the latest version (with the bugs yet to be worked out), then I'm told I need the latest one to stop the crashing.

Guess what? Hasn't stopped.

Oh well. It's still not anywhere near as bad as the dark days of CompuServe and dialup. (Youtube was the only video player that worked for us, and god, uploading a photo... I actually uploaded a video when we had dialup. Took a few tries, but I did it.)

Anyways, I said this when I first saw this incredibly! shocking! story! on the incredibly! shitty! show! "Inside Edition" (on before Jeopardy), and what is a blog for but what you say or don't say, because you're too polite and your mom told you to be nice, they're family.

Yeah, it was about Oprah's shocking! weight gain and how ashamed she was and blah blah blah. And the next cover of her magazine. (Never watched her show.)

When I first saw that flash on the screen, I couldn't tell which one was the "fat" Oprah. No, really.

That's my main point. My secondary point is she looks fine at 200 lbs. I can't comment on her health, only her looks. And she looks great.

There is this awful picture of me at my 16th birthday looking really fat (especially in the face, which is especially red), so I know from experience how it can look good and how it can't. I probably weigh more now, but I like what my face looks like (at least in the mirror, and when I smile at little children, they don't start screaming) and I wish my mom would get rid of that damned picture. I mean, Baskin Robbins didn't even get us the right cake!

I think Oprah should listen to me, a little nobody, and just stop this. Work on being healthy, like we all should, and not on the number on the scale. ETA: And she is doing that! But I bet that won't stop her from coming out with her abs bared when she loses some multiple of 5 pounds in the coming year.

Oh god, speaking of diets, some of the latest ads are kind of creeping me out. One shows hunger as a monster that you can beat with their product and the phrasing is so borderline eating disorder, it illustrates everything wrong with diets, especially those advertised on TV. Though I was proud, I guess, of SlimFast's latest, which showed a woman a teensy bit bigger than the women in the other diet ads. Especially Special K's latest terrible offering, where the Mom (in a huge puffy coat that makes everyone look fat) is compared to a snowman by her awful child and runs off to her Special K cabinet.

Speaking of weight loss, I've lost at least 15 pounds in 6 months, and I don't know how. I see my endocrinologist every six months, so I trust his scale a bit more than my OB's, since I see him every month. (Makes no sense, I know, but if something were happening, it would continue happening and show up at the endo's. And it did.)

It was so silly. I was like, "That sounds lower than last time. Is it?" The nurse said yes, and my mom was all "High five!" Sadly, I left her hanging. She said women were supposed to celebrate weight loss and I pointed out that I couldn't celebrate when I didn't even know what I'd even done.

To wrap this up, I've only seen one thing about this (not my miraculous weight loss, Oprah!) and in the entire thing, the author never says she looks good. Though apparently there are health concerns. I check Jezebel daily, and knew there'd be something. And while I agree with everything said, I still expected at least a body positive comment. Perhaps at least one commenter will deliver.

If not, I may have to put on my trust Anonymous hat and comment again. (Just commented for the first time today and I've been reading since some time this summer.) But I doubt I'll have to.

I know somebody else out there feels the same way I do.

Oprah looks great and has looked great every time I've seen her and will probably continue to look great until she dies, which won't be for a long, long time.

ETA: I am tempted to disclose my weight, except I don't remember it. I have the attention span of a gnat when it comes to weight. Like Oprah's current weight? Had to look it up. But I can tell you that at Open House at my third elementary school, in second grade, I called the teacher "Mom" or possibly "Mommy" and nobody heard, or if they did, they never said anything.

I also vividly remember the one rude comment about my looks the first time I posted a picture of myself on a message board. (I was compared to Pat of SNL fame.) I have incredibly thin skin.

ETA yet again: Kate Harding said it better, with less asides. (And she's talked to Oprah!) I saw either the Memphis or County mayor in a Memphis Home Depot once, and I totally bashed NBC right to a local NBC anchorman's face while waiting for my English class. We were in another room, watching a movie. My teacher was so cool, we were tardy, it was unexcused, but nothing ever came of it. And I talked to a guy who'd been on the teevee! Also, also, my mom totally met the two main Memphis detectives from A&E's the First 48 at the Rick Springfield concert at the fair this fall. They know my dad, and they've been on cable! Kate Harding is also a coherent blogger, which explains why she has commenters and I talk to myself, only to be embarrassed by something on this later. (I will be important enough to be embarrassed by the blog I started to jot down my experiences in a psych ward, dammit!)

And yes, a commenter did say Oprah looked great now on the first page of comments. Perhaps Dodai thought it went without saying?

"Through Heaven's Eyes" and Kal Ho Naa Ho

2009-01-09T00:04:00.004-06:00

Okay, I like Bollywood.

Got that.

But I also like the movie Prince of Egypt, especially the songs. (Especially the French and Hebrew versions, though I'd love to get my hands on a Hindi, Tamil, or Arabic copy of the soundtrack. *aural drooling*)

Though I haven't seen it since we got a new TV, because we've just got the VHS. We still have a working VCR, but it's not hooked up, and well, I'm nervous about these kind of things.

Also, I signed up for Netflix, so I can finally see Kal Ho Naa Ho! Though I've already seen (multiple times) the clips making up the video, since they're the songs from the movie.

Something else that may not seem right... I like Gossip Girl, the TV show. The books have been floating around the house for a few years and I kept trying them, but never clicked. My sister got the first season on DVD, and I woke up one afternoon and she was watching the 4th disc and I decided to watch. And got hooked. And then I watched the rest this Sunday and Monday.

And right now, Golden Girls is on. Sadly, it's on Lifetime, and damn, the commercials for their programming (and the many weightloss products) are a pain, but I like the show.

What are you going to do?

Next is Good Eats!

And tomorrow... new Monk and Psych!

Pigeon hole me, I dare you.

Yet another silly animal picture.

2009-01-05T10:01:00.001-06:00

This time it's a cat!

more animals

I'm no crazier than I ever was.

The Long Winter

2008-12-20T14:36:00.007-06:00

I'm rereading the Little House books right now, as a way to unwind after the mental stress of finals and school.

I just finished The Long Winter.

I love all the books in the series, except Farmer Boy, which I've never read, or only read part of, because it's just about Almanzo's life. And only a little bit of it. Whatever.

I know there are issues with the authenticity of the books, otherwise they wouldn't be labeled as fiction, right? Plus, how much influence did her daughter have, who was anti-Commie and these were published in the late 30s and early 40s... blah blah.

I didn't know that for a long time, and I still don't know the whole story.

But knowing bits of it explains the sheer insanity of the people of De Smet in The Long Winter.

Almanzo Wilder (Laura's future hubs, remember) is determined to save his seed wheat for the next spring. That means not selling it to the starving townspeople. That means risking his and another person's neck to buy somebody else's seed wheat 20 miles from town, in crazy-ass blizzard season. The person makes the same arguments Almanzo's been making the whole book. Almanzo says you can't plant money, but damn, man, I know the winter won't last forever.

And I don't know why the townspeople didn't pool their resources early on. Why did they all freeze in their own houses when they could have stayed in the hotel or a few other buildings all winter, sharing fuel and food? There couldn't have been that many people there. It just hurt my head - we weren't talking about a small town in the 1980s, this is small town's first winter in the 1880s. I thought in the good ol' days, everybody helped everybody else out.

But no, apparently they do not. They are obsessed with not being in debt to one another. Like over nails. (Little House on the Prairie.)

Then there's the racism, which I can explain, so while I may not like it, it at least makes sense. Not like this suicidal winter where they all hid from each other instead of sharing. One man bought up all the fuel. Why didn't people stay at his house?

Pa went over to the Wilder's. They had lots of food, a nice fire, a warm place. Why couldn't he bring his family over for the day? I don't get it. I thought people "visited" in the days before the evil TV took over.

I love this book, don't get me wrong, it just leaves me scratching my head.

And oh-so-gratfeul for the modern world, no matter how fucked up it may be.

ETA: I'm rereading this as well. The introduction, which described the Ingalls' previous ways of life as subsistence probably explains why they're so hesitant to depend on others. It just seems so damn weird to me, is all. I can handle twisting hay to make "logs", but not independence to the point of emaciation. Ok, bad example. But I mean, the rest of the trappings of their life are fascinating, and usually easy to understand. This is not.

Another thing that is not, that started in the very first book, is the stoic nature required of the girls. We meet Laura as four-year-old. Who is expected not to cry. In On the Banks of Plum Creek, when the neighbor's girl takes her doll, she is told "For shame!" when she cries. Fuck that noise. Yeah, I hate little kid tantrums as much as the next person, but tears? Dammit, I still cry. A lot. (Which may have something to do with medications and the constant changing, but still.) Sometimes, I don't know why I cry. My dad got mad at my mom when she cried. I am so glad his poisonous ideas are out of here.

How the hell can it be bad to cry? Or a sign of immaturity?

It's bad to repress your feelings.

Then again, she grew up in the Victorian era, and some of what they say about them is true.

ETA yet again: It seems we reach out quicker in our more fucked up disconnected modern age. Our heater is possessed and will cost 2 grand to fix. My mom has been sick all semester, so yeah right.

The church, which she hasn't been to in a long-ass time, but her friend works (or volunteers there), brought by a get-well card and this oh-so-warm blankie. Not much, but still.

When my family was turned upside down by my cousins' moving in with us and my bad health (which meant smaller paychecks for the mom), we got plenty of food and help from the crisis center and the church and PEOPLE.

And just last weekend, Uncle Danny chopped wood (this electric chopping thing on his trailer) on a friend's property. Mom kept trying to pay him, he refused, and I finally took the money and put it in her purse.

People still give a damn about other people's well being, despite the collapse of society and family and all that jazz.

Yes, Almanzo and Cap risked their lives for the town, but why weren't they pooling their resources beforehand? What was the point of living in town, as Laura asked frequently, if they were even more isolated than they would be on the claim?

Some early early cuteness

2008-12-17T01:07:00.002-06:00

more animals

Yes, I got an A+ in Literary Heritage Honors. This was more reading than writing, but we still wrote. I had 14 journals, and 2 short essays each for the midterm and final.

And yet, this is all I have.

If you've seen my comic blog, well, it's not much better.

Of course, tired, watching Good Eats, blah blah, cute animals, zzz

Today's Bizarro made me SOL -

2008-12-16T23:39:00.008-06:00

Snort out Loud. (Not as catchy, but it's the truth.)

The comic:

Pardon My Planet also made me snort out loud.

It would be lying to say this, but when I saw today's Lockhorns, I said to myself, "Dude! We talked about Cambrian in science! And I remember it! I'm a genius!"

One last thing - the song of the moment is "Teri Kurti Sexy" from the Bollywood movie Vaada. (No, I have not seen it.)

Since I asked to listen to Becky's music earlier (Britney's new album), I thought she wouldn't mind. But she does.

But you don't!

The rest of my grades are up!

2008-12-15T22:50:00.003-06:00

It makes up for the lack of new Daily Show and unseen Good Eats.

But I'm watching a Christmas episode of Spongebob, right after a ripped-off It's A Wonderful Life iCarly plot.

The rest of my grades are up.

They're UNOFFICIAL, I must remember that, but still. I doubt they'll change.

Anthropology - A+ Yay! Expected, I had a 100 going into the final. Forgot or didn't remember that she was doing the plus/minus thing.

English - A+ Yay yay yay! I was unsure, I'm always unsure, the essays for my final sucked majorly. But A+? Yes!

Physical Geology - B+ but we knew that.

French - A! YES! I was so worried about that, I thought I'd get another B this semester. I checked my grades on a whim tonight and shouted something like "I got an A in French!" when I saw that, but it was so loud and high pitched, I don't know what I said.

History - still an A. That's one teacher who should have done the plus/minus. Or at least the plus, since I saw my grade the other week and it was a 100.

You know what this means? Unless my mom or dad wins the lottery, they're not taking away my money for another semester or so.

My science grade is up!

2008-12-11T10:09:00.001-06:00

Well, the "unofficial grade" is up.

Because of a lot of blah blah, I probably won't see the official ones for a month.

So if I keep checking the unofficial grades before they become official, I can see my grades.

And I have a B plus in science! It all worked out! Oh thank god I am finally done good night.

And an A in History, but I knew that.

No one else has grades up.

Today is Comics Day.

2008-12-10T13:18:00.006-06:00

'Cause, so far, two comics have made me react in a pleasant way.

The second one is today's Rhymes with Orange:

I think I've said this before, but it bears repeating (that looks wrong but sounds right and according to the google, is right.), I am a sucker for an Oedipus joke.

Notice I did not say an Oedipal joke. If it featured regular characters in love with their mothers (Momma), that's not what I find funny. No, no. It has to have Oedipus himself. Or the T. Rex version. Whatevs.

That being said, this is not what I mean. (Today's One Big Happy)

Just a kid not getting it. And I guess they made the same joke as RwO - Oedipus Rex/Oedipus the T Rex and Oedipus who Wrecks things. This one is probably for the best, I don't need Oedipal anything in One Big Happy. I like that comic. I also like Sally Forth. Francesco Marciuliano needs to hear that, especially since I probably won't buy the calendar. What, I only care about 2 of the months! I'm sorry!

Aww... too cute.

2008-12-10T13:11:00.004-06:00

Today's Mutts

Problem taken care of!

2008-12-10T10:01:00.003-06:00

So switching from an Honors section to the regular class is hard work, but at least I'll get a higher grade than a C+. I better. For all that stress.

Anyways, it was so fast!

I called the registrar this morning to see if they remembered me, and they did, and told me to call the College of Arts and Sciences and gave me a name. I called and asked for that name and talked to that person. She didn't sound very happy and told me that it was kinda late for this thing. But I was respectful, and said that I knew, and that I had explained everything, extenuating circumstances, blah blah blah.

She said she'd call me up after the signature was on the paper and it was faxed over.

And then the worry. What if they decided not to sign it and I got a C+ in a class? Oh man, that would suck.

About an hour after I called them, she called me. While I was the phone, not jumping up and down because I didn't sleep but drifted for a couple hours, I got a phone call and message from the registrar's office telling me what this woman was telling me - I was out of the Honor's section and I could see the proof! A quick e-mail to my professor and now I shall wait for his reply.

As for my grades, I don't know when I'll see them. I did the SETEs, so I should see them early, and somebody at the Bursar's office told me I could sign a release to see them early without paying the rental prepayment, but when I got there, the answer was "huh? we never said that."

But I will know if the grade in science is over a C+ if my professor e-mails me back.

This morning, just before 5, the fire alarm went off. The second time this semester. The first time, the sun was still up, other places were open, so I went to another building.

This time I froze. After I was back in my overheated room (how do they that?), I tried to sleep, but couldn't really. I did hit on this brilliant idea. The lies you tell your children about Santa are ok (when you're found out - not before!), because they're make-believe. At the age we believe in Santa, make believe is the shiznit.

This was genius, I swear. I was like Stephen Colbert facing the camera, opening and closing his hand, saying "X(parenting award) please."

Speaking of the Colbert Report, a recent bit bugged me. I've never liked the Tek Jansen or whatever the animated thing is called, but that's not it. But there was a thing about atheist Christmas cards, and he read a mocked up atheist family letter. It bugged me, because dude, most atheists/agnostics(me) don't spend our time thinking about how we don't believe in a god or gods. We think about school or work or LIFE IN GENERAL.

And then this thing on the Daily Show REALLY pissed me off. A Planned Parenthood is offering giftcards, and naturally, they're only for abortions, because that's ALL PP does. They don't do pelvic exams, or prescribe BC, or do pap smears, or a thousand other reproductive issues that women have to deal with. Really pissed me off. A sour note.

Of course, Monday's bit on Canada's crisis was awesome, with Sam Bee as Canada, dependent on Britain (John Oliver), and India (Aasif Mandvi) telling her to rebel. It was hilarious.

And last night, Stephen had a Nixmas tree, because Nixon is totally Santa! Both have a list of who's naughty and nice and have little helpers and break into places... ohmigod, to die for funny.

How to Salsa in Sari & All the Pretty Horses

2008-12-09T22:51:00.003-06:00

Guess which one I had to read for school?

Guess which one I read in less than one day? Guess which one I liked more?

How to Salsa in Sari By Dona Sarkar is a YA book that I totally checked out because it had the word sari in the title, and I like books about other cultures, which is why I'm reading Beka Lamb, which is a book set in Belize. My English teacher wanted us to read Beka Lamb, but we didn't have time, but I'm still going to give it a shot.

I liked How to Salsa, so I don't have much to say, except like way to short, I want a sequel!!!!

I feel meh about All the Pretty Horses, and it's part of a trilogy and hell to the no, I'm not touching another one of Cormac McCarthy's books. Unless you paid me. I'd read James Joyce if somebody paid me. Gossip Girl. Everyone. Totally. Pay me.

I'm going home tomorrow! I have internet on my phone, which means I get picture and video mail, which means my mom sent me two videos of her talking to Dixie while Dixie barked! Oh, how I miss my baby girl!

All my finals are over, and I'm getting at least a B in Science! Because my professor was all, "If you're not out of the Honors section, you'll get a C+, otherwise something higher." I was so happy! Until I found out the paperwork had been sitting on a desk for a month. Just. Sitting. There. Keeping me in a honors class. So I'm still waiting. Called the registrar's office around 3, and they called back, and then said they'd call me again if they got the right signature before 4:30. No call. Gotta wait til morning. ::groan::

But this is all part of the most important lesson of college - speaking up, asking questions, building rapport to get your way for everything from a grilled cheese sandwich instead of something inedible to getting you out of a class a month before finals.

Case in point - this semester, there is a new bookstore off campus, but close by. I went there last week, with no book after going to the Tiger Bookstore and selling my History Book. (And maybe my Anthro? Or was that Friday? Damn, the days, they flow so quickly.) I had nothing to sell, but I asked some questions, got a card, and went on my merry, cold way.

Cut to Monday. The school bookstore took my English books and my French book, but not the CDs that go with the French book. And the Tiger Bookstore didn't want them either. The new place did, for $15. I paid $25 (normally $50, but I'd just sold something back) for them a year ago, and, since they're only going to be used another semester (new books), the guys there said the other bookstores might give me $5 or something. Whatever. Call me stupid about money and hopelessly young, but when I'm strung out by exams, all I want is the textbooks and associated paraphanalia gone, I don't care about how much you give me.

So today. It's pouring.

Oh, by the way, I overslept. My exam was at 10:30 and I woke up at 10. I seem determined to prove that living on campus is a damn good idea at least once a semester. Oh well, I think extra sleep is better for me than extra studying.

But pouring rain, just not letting up. That's why I'm still here. Last December, I went home on a drizzly day. Huge mistake, just because when it's wet you're just ugh. Tomorrow it'll be cold, but dry. And Becky will get some vegetarian sushi and get to drop off some scholarship thing.

So the school bookstore didn't want my science book.

And neither did the Tiger bookstore.

So I started walking to the other one, the exact same way I did yesterday. Well, some of these roads are old and dippy. And they fill up fast. Walking back to campus, I took a different route with somewhat shallower puddles, but my butt was already wet and I'd left my backpack open (though with just a sealed pack of pencils and such inside it) on the walk to the healthcenter for a flu shot. I did use my umbrella from time to time today. And I wore flip-flops, which was probably a good thing in all those puddles - at least I don't have to wait for my tennies to dry out. Stinky.

Anyways, I show up at this place, and the guys that work there smile, cuz they remember me and they're new and I was there yesterday and I know they're probably not going to take my science book, but dammit, both semesters, I have had all my books bought back and I'm not breaking my record. I told them I was soaked and miserable, it wasn't about the money, it was about getting rid of the book and the class, could they please take it? I got $10. Sweet. And my legs appear no worse for the midday soaking.

My first semester, I called the campus bookstore about one of my textbooks and a guy said they'd buy back a book. When I got there, the answer was no. Same at Tiger. Found the guy, they bought the book. I am learning things.

Also, this song, Mera Babu Chhail Chhabila by Sophie, is awesome.

One last tip - if your roommate flies the coop, make sure she takes her food-related garbage with her and/or her dirty dishes, or you'll get fruit flies and think you're going crazy. Or at least I did.

And I offer a hearty "Thank you" to every driver who did not splash me today and an even heartier "Fuck you!" to the one who did.

See, anything original I came up with went into my finals...

2008-12-07T22:08:00.002-06:00

so this is what you get.

But Fantastic That You're Keeping That Cultural Reference Alive
History professor, lecturing on the early 1900s: I mean, the problem of being the only person with a telephone is, well, who you gonna call?
Class, as one: Ghostbusters!
History professor: You kids scare me.

CU
Boulder, Colorado

Overheard by: They know their history, alright

via Overheard Everywhere, Dec 7, 2008

Also, links to more B/K/Tollywood songs. But you knew that, right?

I have never seen that movie, but I still laughed out loud. Like srsly.

Procrastinating studying for French final... the subjunctive tense can kiss my ass after 10 tomorrow, except I'll need it to drag it back out in like a month, god, the Christmas break is too short, but it's still longer than my sister's!

"That was grammatically correct but morally wrong."

2008-11-21T23:49:00.006-06:00

My French teacher told me that today and it's just making me laugh. (Plus, I like his accent.)

I played phone tag with the doctor's office for two days just to get to find out it was about nothing important (to me) at least. Later on, I found out that if I tell them anything, well, they'll change my meds to try to fix it! They don't just want status reports for the hell of it!

As for the real problem, TMI city.

Dr. Dude's answer to this problem has been to increase a medication. Well, it's been increased for about two months now, and the problem isn't as bad, but it's not gone. So Tuesday, the doctor says that I should drop down to one a day.

Cue instant reaction and pain.

I thought that was what the the phone tag was all about.

On Wednesday, at 5:15pm, I got a phone call from someone at the doctor's office after they closed asking me to call my doctor's nurse the next day. I did, and asked her not to call between 10 & 11. She called at 10:30. I called her back, leaving a message asking again not to call between 1 and 2:30 and this time she listened and they were just busy, so she never got to call me. Meanwhile I'm screaming in pain.

The call finally comes and it's about something that is a mild irritant at worse and NOTHING when compared to the issues that have cropped up, issues they knew about, since I called every day.

But I got that quote out of it.

More school related thoughts, though don't ask me how I got from here to there, because it gives me a headache to recreate my own thought process.

My anthropology teacher likes Bollywood. Dude! And she gets most of her Bolly-fix through Netflix and *other* channels, and that got me thinking I have got to get off my ass and get a Netflix account - the one at a time deal, unlimited checkouts per month.

I've discovered I'm comfortable watching movies and recorded tv on my laptop, and it's just not cost effective to use the library (or buy every movie) anymore. It's only $2 a rental, sure, and if you get it on Thursday, you can stretch a 3 day rental into four, since they're not open on Sundays! Money in your pocket, baby!

The library has some awesome movies outside of the mainstream - Mississippi Masala, Salaam Bombay!, Monsoon Wedding, Bollywood/Hollywood, and a number of regular hollywood films I've been curious about.
(Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - loved it. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - loved it. Boys Don't Cry - loved it, but it's like the Virgin Suicides. I can't see it that often. I also saw Marie Antoinette this semester, but that was from my roommate's collection. Last year's roommate's collection library yielded The Devil Wears Prada, which sucks compared to the book, except when it comes to the visuals.)

One branch has the film Saawariya, which isn't quite Bollywood, as a Hollywood distribution thingie was involved. Of course, the sentence after that calls it Bollywood.

The thing is, this branch isn't close to me and I don't drive. So I have to go to that library to get that movie if I want to watch it, though I can still turn it in close by. Or I can wait until it can be shipped between libraries.

Of course, Om Shanti Om also came out in 2007, and I don't know the library doesn't have it. The fact that it is Bollywood? That its soundtrack kicks ass and its plot is gloriously convoluted?

And here's the final thoughts that led me to post again instead of ignoring this blog until a cute lolcat caught my eye.

I spent the night before my first test in science this semester listening repeatedly to the song Deewangi Deewangi from Om Shanti Om. It was so hyper it became relaxing. (And the video is part of the coolness, even though I recognize about 5 of those people.)

This technique did not help the studying; I got a C.

Would it have helped if I'd have listened to something more inspirational sounding like this (Aashaayen from 2005's Iqbal)?

Discuss.

So I'm procrastinating...

2008-11-16T16:09:00.004-06:00

And I decide to see how my county voted.

We voted for Obama, baby! 63%!

Shelby County is one of six in Tennesse that went for Obama this year.

But what's more depressing is the numbers for my state and my county.

253,633 people in Shelby County voted for Barack Obama.

Less than 400,000 people voted. The wikipedia says our population is just under 900,000. I think we have a few more eligible voters than that.

And the state is worse!

1,093,213 voted for Barack Obama in the entire state, and 1,487,564 voted for McCain. 33,228 voted for "others". (I'm using google maps, so I don't have a decent link.)

Less than three million people voted across the state! Again, that's less than half of our population, according to wikipedia.

What the fuck?

Of course, one can only hope that Tennesseans decided to vote in a completely different manner from the rest of the country and ignored the top and voted for local office and propositions, so more people did vote.

We aren't a swing state, so we didn't get attention, so why bother voting?

Obama supporters could have said the state always goes red, so why bother? And McCain ones could have said the same thing, thinking he had it in the bag. Or they could have realized he wasn't going to win and decided not to vote.

I don't know why people don't vote, since I did. ::smug::

::not so smug::

Damn, my paper is still not done!

White Noise by Don DeLillo

2008-11-14T15:03:00.004-06:00

Finally, a book review. I just checked out this book The Wedding Cake in the Middle of the Road: 23 Variations on a Theme from the library and decided not to read it, so I can't review it and no one can make me read it. (I ordered it a few weeks ago for one reason or another, this happens all the time, but hey, it's free.)

Now, I did not have to read White Noise, since I was part of the group doing the first book (The Handmaid's Tale, which I love), so I didn't have to lead the discussion or look for reviews or anything but discuss it in class.

But I'm a stickler. So I read it. I finally finished Wednesday night, and it was my first feeling of satisfaction associated with the book - I'm done!

Even my professor agrees that this is not a book to sink into and enjoy. It is post-modern and you are supposed to know that and never forget it.

The plot has potential, but we never get a conclusion, and we never care because the characters aren't developed well. There is an "Airborne Toxic Event" and everyone is evacuated. And then the narrator, Jack, discovers that his wife has been taking a medication, Dylar, that is supposed to suppress the fear of death. And she's been sleeping with somebody to get it, since she couldn't get it through the trial study of the drug.

The book has one thing going for it for those assigned it - it is very easy to read, it just slides right through, so it can be quick and painless. (Say, compared to assigned James Joyce.)

I've read a few negative reviews at Amazon (what, I like to see my opinion restated again and again sometimes) and a few people said that the children talk like adults. It's true, they do. The children say wrong things and believe they're right, as do the adults. And there are some conversations where I just could not tell who was talking.

The book is not meant to be read for fun. While you may identify, at times, with the characters, you rarely empathize with them. The setting is meagerly set up, besides the sunsets. (which, of course, represent death. Everything does in this book.)

Next up is All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy. I'm a little nervous because I have some problems with comprehending written violence, since shoot-outs are chaotic and the final printed word is not. It trips me up a bit, in most instances.

In History, I'm reading Confederates in the Attic and it is a great book. The only problem is it was written in the mid-90s, and I am really curious to see how September 11th and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have shaped the views of the people in the book.

I really love this comic, though I don't know why.

2008-11-08T15:26:00.013-06:00

Here's the link. Using the code provided gave me a too-wide picture, and despite being 20, I don't know how to fix something like that. (Though I have an inkling - move my sidebar to the other side?)

I saw it at The Daily Comics Review.

I've seen Diesel Sweeties around, but I've never really followed it. In looking for the official link (this is from the 23rd), I saw a few that made me smile, so I guess it's good.

In print, I don't usually love love Mutts shelter spotlights because of the guilt, but the rock theme is too cute to resist.

Elvis was okay, because I'm not a huge Elvis fan.

Monday the 3rd:

Tuesday the 4th:

Wednesday the 5th started the laughter:

Thursday and Friday speak for themselves:

Though I'm sorry to say today's just confused me (but I know I should include it anyway):

If you want a dog, consider a shelter one. And if you can't afford (another) one, there's always a need for donations - time, money, materials.

To leave on a happy note, here's an Indian pop song sung by Alka Yagnik:

I really should go to sleep...

2008-11-02T01:01:00.003-06:00

This is so cute and silly.

see more puppies

Here's a bit of sleepy thinking - right before starting this, I looked down to see how late old party college girl was staying up and the computer clock said it was 1:01.

Odd.

I distinctly remember seeing 1:30 something on my alarm clock.

Oh! Clock change thing.

Yesterday (Friday), my friend Megan had on these half sleeves that started above the elbows and went down, and I told her they were cool. Then she stood up and put her wings on.

Huh?

Oh. Halloween. I told her I'd forget and remember that it was Halloween all day.

I saw a few people in costume, but outside of candy and less than twenty minutes of The Mothman Prophecies in Anthropology, nothing else Halloween came up. Wasn't even mentioned in French, like what are some French Halloween practices? (I did, however, try to convince my professor that he should cancel class as a Halloween treat. The door was locked and class was delayed like FIVE MINUTES. Awful.)

Halloween lost its appeal when I stopped trick-or-treating. Of course, there are Halloween parties, but I'm not a party person. I'm even awkward at my own.

Mikey clone spotted on the interwebs!

2008-10-25T11:50:00.003-05:00

see more puppies

Dude!

more animals

This is just silly.

Some noteworthy nonsense

2008-10-23T15:42:00.002-05:00

I missed History last Thursday because I was asleep. I decided to skip the lab after my science class and sleep (I barely remember the lecture before that - I kept nodding off). I planned on waking up 30 minutes before my history class to see if I felt more awake.

So I set my alarm for 1:30.

The class starts at one.

So I went back to sleep. I ended up sleeping almost 7 hours. My body didn't want fall break to be over - four days including the weekend. (Great for those with weekend classes, but it was just an excuse to close everything on campus on Saturday and Sunday.)

I e-mailed my History teacher, and she said I should get the notes from somebody. I planned to do that when we got the study guide for next Thursday's test, so I would know what to look for.

This girl who sits behind me in science also sits near me in history. Today, I asked if I could borrow her notes or something along those lines. We also have lab together, so I asked her to decipher her handwriting before lab started officially. She didn't give me her e-mail address and probably figured I knew her name. And I was going to give her her notes in history.

History was cancelled today.

I dithered around, taking notes from her notes for about 30 minutes (finished before one, ha!) and telling people class was cancelled. I decided to wait to see if she would come up, but after fifteen minutes when no one came, I said forget it.

I decided to e-mail her. My history teacher has the habit of e-mailing all our addresses instead of just the class name. Unfortunately, my science prof and lab teacher don't, so I couldn't cross-reference to narrow down the e-mail addresses.

I e-mailed every girl in the class, or at least everyone with a potentially female name. (Jesse, for one.) Except one.

She sat next to me in the computer lab and asked if she could copy my notes, since she missed a day, blah blah blah. She was the second one to ask, but the first guy said he couldn't handle my handwriting. But we exchanged phone numbers so I can get my notebook back before one p.m. Tuesday.

I really hope she texts me this evening - my history notes are in a notebook with my anthropology notes, and guess what I have first thing tomorrow morning?

But it's not all nonsense.

I got an A on my science test! I got a 73 on the first one. I now know how to study for these tests, and this class won't kill me. What will kill me is this glitch. Last time, I counted what I missed when he went over the questions and I missed one less than I'd been given credit for. And so did just about everybody else.

It happened again. And I got the topo lab back today and it's a 95. Sweet!

Three things I know

2008-10-21T01:11:00.005-05:00

One - Foxes are cute.

Two - Firefox 3 is pretty cool, except for the whole crashing thing. At least I can restore everything a second later. I thought crashes were supposed to take you know, time. Not just be a ten second irritant. (Though nothing tops Windows, which told me Windows Media Player stopped working right when after I closed it. Brilliant!)

Three - These are adorable!

more animals

This song is driving me mad.

2008-10-13T02:51:00.004-05:00

What do I know about this song?

I know that I like it. A lot.

I also know that it is a "sweet song," according to "darudarling" who last logged on a month ago.

It is labeled as a Rajasthani song and the tags are "country," "folk," "world," "music," and "alternative."

There is one comment. (Mine.) However, there are 2 ratings. I know one is mine, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other is well.

None of the related videos are the same song.

Search for the title? Ha! Ayo and Re are very common, and I don't even know if this is the actual title. This has happened a few times, but there are comments correcting the title or related videos that feature the correct title. Oh, I've watched the related videos of similar length, for nothing.

There are clues in the video itself. Starting at 6:48 are credits! In a language I can't read, let alone identify! (Hindi? Arabic? Telugu? Tamil? I know it's not Hebrew.)

So. I doubt anyone reads this thing but me, but on the off chance an expert on Rajasthani music comes by, I'm putting this out there. The last time I asked for help, nothing. I found the book on my own and ordered it ASAP. It's Erasure by Percival Everett, who I had the good luck to meet last semester.

How'd I find it? In a book I got on an impulse at Barnes & Noble one day called Making Friends with Black People by the comedian Nick Adams. It's pretty funny, and it wasn't actually the first time I'd read the book, but when I got to the part where he mentioned black authors. (Forgive me, Mr. Adams. I read it about a year ago and there have been many books since then.) I googled them, and was browsing Percival Everett's wikipedia page when Erasure jumped out at me.

The first time I read the book, it was a library book. Still have no idea why, but why question the results? Unfortunately, it is no longer at the library.

One last bit about the book - I read it over a weekend with the flu. I'd been planning to read the book, and I blazed through it at a speed that still amazes me considering the haze I was in the day before. The narrator is just at the edge of sanity, making the book kinda trippy. So reading while sick with the flu upped the insanity quotient. I hope my next reading will be as trippy. Oh, it's not a book you read more than once a year or so, it's too bleak at times, especially the ending to read too often, especially if you're prone to depression. (Like me.)

So. Erasure by Percival Everett is an amazing book.

And I still don't know enough about this song!

Help!

Thank you.

I don't know what this says about me, or my life,

2008-10-11T01:12:00.004-05:00

but I saw this and my jaw dropped.

more animals

I can't resist some MAD references, you know?

Back in the real world, it's fall break. And it has been for almost 12 hours. Oh I partied heartily with this week's America's Next Top Model and a rerun of Good Eats about celery.

I think I need to reign it in. After all, fall break is only four days. And Saturday and Sunday count as part of the break, so everything's closed on campus. Wee!

Two silly lolcats.

2008-10-07T14:59:00.003-05:00

Not that there are any serious ones, but still.

more animals

Of course, I couldn't go to the library today because it's raining raining raining was that thunder?

BUT BUT BUT BUT!

I got my Shahrukh Khan shirts from Cafepress and they fit! Eeee! Now I get to confuse people all over the Memphis area, and if I don't, I've found a new friend.

I am quite happy.

No, no, I will not acknowledge that I have a quiz tomorrow!

God, I love the South.

2008-10-07T08:48:00.002-05:00

Delores Gresham is running for state senate here in Tennessee.

She's a Republican. I think. That's the south for you!

Anyways, I heard the ad before I looked at it. The caption said "Married to Will: 39 years" or something to that effect.

And then there's a shot of her and maybe her adult children and her husband striding across a field, all toting their hunting guns. The voice-over says something about traditional values, while the caption says "Protect the NRA and Right-to-Life." (Or something to that effect. I'm not searching for the ad!)

Guns and babies. What could be more American than that duo?

What is the purpose of a prayer box on your door?

2008-09-27T11:23:00.003-05:00

So we're kinda sorta encouraged to decorate the door to our rooms.

I haven't done it, but the most common decoration is a dry erase board.

This year, two girls have more hot guys than door. (Including Johnny Depp.) There are so many pictures people stop and stare. And they're right by the stairs, so you have to walk around the people...

And then a girl put up a piece of paper with a quote from the Bible - Luke, Chapter 11 verses 11-13, which says, "If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?"

Underneath this is a prayer box. Apparently, because God will give us good things, we should leave a prayer in this box.

But then my suitemates put one up (we share a bathroom). With a dry erase board and pad of paper on the door. I was well, whatever about it.

Until they wrote "Please leave your name along with your prayer. Thank you & God Bless."

When I saw that, I wrote "Why?" on the dry erase board. (Anonymously, of course.) This was soon erased by somebody offering to help with hair.

I don't get this. Why have a prayer box on your door? Are you going to read these? I thought prayer was a private thing. What will they do with the prayers? I'm really confused by this.

No matter how low my mood gets,

2008-09-23T00:00:00.004-05:00

I can still find a way to laugh.

Or drool:

His abs are almost painful to look at. Can you believe the man is 42? And married? And has been since '91? Damn the luck.

You think my science prof would accept a "SRK IS HOT" for all my answers tomorrow? Or perhaps a "why is the rum gone?"

I never hated science until college. So this semester it's a friggin HONORS class. Stupid, right, if I hate it? I figured the class would be smaller and I'd get more one-on-one time with the teacher if I needed it. Well, that's kinda true. The professor is so much nicer and easier to approach than the one I had this spring! But the Honors course? A section of the class. 15-16 of us, I forget. Our big Honors assignment, what makes this Honors? A 5 page paper due in November. It needs to be you know, decent, but the main thing is writing it. At least I get to write about Iceland, which is always good.

Other classes? I love English. We've got a journal assignment due every day (we meet 3 times a week) and so far I'm doing great, I got a smiley face and a lol on my last one. When my brain feels bashed and tossed around by igneous rocks, I can just pull those out and feel better.

Or watch this: