not our cup o' tea

so we were backed into a holiday party at a country club in the snootiest area of this very-snooty-to-begin-with city.

p decided to wear his chuck taylors in passive aggressive protest to having our saturday night hijacked. otherwise, he was nicely attired in dress pants and a dress shirt.

at the coat check, he had a funny exchange with the coat check lady:

ccl: do you need a jacket, sir?

p: no, thanks.

ccl: sir, do you need a jacket?

p: if it's up to me, no. are you telling me i need a jacket?

ccl: we have some here, if you need one, sir.

p: are you telling me i need a jacket?

s: i think by asking you, she's telling you you need a jacket.

p: really? is that right?

ccl: yes, sir.

he found this hilarious and hard to believe. he acted as though a practical joke was being played on him. he accepted the coat forced upon him, ditching it ten steps later on a chair on our way to the group. i came to find out that he had been given advance notice of the dress code, which he thought was just someone trying to be funny. he was surprised when he surveyed the other party goers that he was the only one who interpreted the dress code as a joke.

maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty funny. p tends to be on his best behavior at the oddest occasions, (like the first time he met my dad's best friend, he was so polite his voice was inaudible), but tends towards loud, mocking and insubordinate when, for example, invited to the big boss's country club. i think it shows an admirable hierarchy of respect.

wacko

in 1992, mike huckabee proposed quarantining AIDS patients like was done in the past for TB.

his quotes were in response to an AP questionnaire. He was in the Senate at the time.

"If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague."
"It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents."

"I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk."

What's that song that goes like...?

This is AMAZING...except that my microphone is too complicated to set up at the moment and I haven't actually tried it. Maybe you should.
Go to Midomi.com, hum a tune, and it will tell you what you are humming.

This is more than a fun gimmick. For example, one time a couple of years ago, I woke up abruptly from a dream with an incredible melody in my head. I hummed it all day so as not to forget it, concluding that in my sleep I had composed a beautiful song that needed to be remembered and eventually recorded, as an artifact of my genius. Well, I kept humming it until later in the day when I realized it was the melody to "Morning has broken" by Cat Stevens (a song that doesn't even rank among my favorite Cat Stevens songs, incidentally). I was totally bummed.
And, to be honest, this sort of thing happens to me often. So I'm psyched to have a way to check.

motherfuckingcocksucker

AAARGH! i am about to raise high hell. my school's registrar's office just sent me a letter saying that i'm NOT graduating because....well, they don't say why. of course. this is because, in a nutshell, the university of the district of columbia fucking sucks.

i am posting this because i googled "udc fucking sucks" and got no hits, to my severe surprise.

i have received approximately 17,000 verbal confirmations that i met all requirements to graduate, but the letter that i just received today, and should have received a month ago, is what counts.

holidays and wars on concepts

so my beloved subscription to the daily candy lead me to the discovery of these enchanting xmas cards:


which lead me to more anti-xmas propaganda searches, which brought me to "the war on christmas" controversy, and eventually to wikipedia's list of wars on concepts, which to my dismay is very random and generally anemic. i mean, we haven't even declared war on crime yet. i wonder which pro-crime lobbying firm has our government on its dole.

Shades of Blue...Laws

I thoroughly enjoyed Slate Magazine's installment article, American Lawbreaking. There are the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government, with their near-perfect symbiosis of checks and balances, but actual policy all hinges on enforcement. Enforcement is what plugs our society's daily operations into its rules, or lets things run afoul of the law, in plain view. Usually because the laws are stupid, and everyone knows it.

Slate chose five great examples (and one boring one...who can stomach patent law, anyway?), to illustrate the significance of laws we as a society don't have the will or resources to enforce.

For example,

-Do we really want another comprehensive reform of immigration, when current permissiveness already violates existing laws but is in the economic best interest of most affected parties?

-Big pharma saves us from the war on drugs?

-And finally, all pornography is illegal, in case anyone cares.

the tall one is bugging me

i am trying to compose an intelligent post, but the larger being in my living room is insisting i help him brainstorm ideas for an ebay business. no, really.
so, i will return to him what my public (both of you) come up with.

s

Home Inspection Nightmares

Most of my afternoon has been consumed by these home inspection nightmares photo galleries.
My own home inspection was tons of fun. We found several easily fixable risky situations, like an uncovered ceiling light bulb right above where a door swung when opening. It had burned a pretty big spot out of the top of the door. Some things, like the fact that one window pane pops right out when you open the window, weren't discovered until after we had moved in. I've become pretty interested in figuring out the mysterious workings of drains, ducts, and other housing infrastructure that continues to bewilder me.

There are many creative entries, such as car radiators converted into floor heaters, and foundations that rely on ceramic dogs or jacks for cars. I liked this one because it comes from my hometown:
This receptacle was mounted to a steel support post in the basement of the home I inspected. We have a saying we like to use: "Everyone in Michigan is an electrician; they're just not all licensed electricians."
(Bob Bowling LandAmerica Property Inspections Plymouth, Mich.)

society of friends

religion, spirituality, and other sorts of mysticism are, for better or for worse, pretty much lost on me. i just don't buy it. i had a brief pre-adolescent affair with the christian pentecostal denomination, but it was one of those infatuations where beyond three months one either loses themselves or loses the shtick. I lost the latter, along with a bit of dignity and any lingering curiosity.
i also have an unfounded, vague, pop-psychology-type belief that because nothing non-empirically-based was drilled into my belief structure as a child, my worldview is now somehow hardwired to exclude anything that transcends the physical world. i'm even a bit suspicious of electricity, as i never really bothered to learn its ins and outs and basically take its omnipotence in my life on faith.
with that said, i'm still kind of angling to join the religious society of friends (quakers). wiki claims that a person can be one and be an agnostic or atheist, but i'm afraid they're damn liars. the meetings in my area pretty clearly cite jesus of nazareth as the source of the core "inner light" belief that i was hoping to interpret as my faith in my own brilliance. and, it would be a pain to have to go to meetings, even the awesome-sounding unstructured and totally egalitarian ones.
anyway, while i'm deciding, i thought it couldn't hurt to prostheletize a bit. look at how great these tennents are:

Helping others who are in need in whatever ways are open to us.
Supporting causes consistent with Quaker values.
Making economic choices that contribute to the fair sharing of world resources.
Questioning the myths and generalities often used to justify deprivation, punishment, and other human misery.
Avoiding support of war or the seeds of war.
Speaking truth to power, even when truth may not be welcome.
Embracing a style of life that promotes a healthy planet—supporting environmentally sound behavior.
Participating positively in public affairs.
Choosing to affirm in legal proceedings, rather than to swear an oath, which implies part-time truth telling.

13lb. Gummy Bear

This is just a note to remind myself come May of what I am making for my darling husband for his birthday this year. It looks dangerous, but one only lives once.

new discovery

I just found a great listing of chords to tons of folk-ish songs here. I have been carrying on about leaving on a jet plane, teaching your children well, and ain't got (having?) money all evening, to my heart's delight. Yes, the downstairs neighbors have turned up their horrendous Spanish-language soft rock, but I kind of take that as a compliment.
It's an impressive stock of some fiercely cheesy songs that are as fun to sing as they are comforting in that false-nostalgic sort of way. And the level is a good fit for unsatisfactory-to-fair guitar players such as myself.
It of course does not rival my dear departed OLGA, which has still yet to be matched.
I just wish I knew the tune of the verse to the song about not giving a damn about no greenback-a-dollar-- it would really complete the experience.

being married

Having beer at home on Tuesdays and
Weekend mornings finding the ski ball in the mall arcade feels like playing hooky from church
On the couch with my book in condo canyon lying next to you
I used to chase cities and vodka and serendipity
I found you and exactly this
Us as a working machine taking care of morning coffee and small bricks to build our lifetime
If I am trapped, it is by happiness, not inertia

look at the time fly

well, i started this blog right before last semester started, and then got right to neglecting to update it.
here's another semester starting, one of three left. this college stuff is the worst. (and the best...)
one day i will be free, and when i am, watch out. i mean it.
love
s