Blather, rinse, repeat

The other night I was driving the Empress home from KF, and we chatted about all manner of things on the way home (as we usually do.) When we got to her house, I saw that the plow trucks had piled the snow up so high that it nearly covered her front gate, and was higher than their cars. (It's just the same out here, too.) I am just about done with witner, to be honest (I always am around March; though I really don't begrudge winter its parting wallop; gotta hand it to winter.) But anyway, still dismayed by the mountains of snow when I thought Spring was on its way I told her, "Look at these huge mounds of snow! There's no way this is going to melt soon. It'll still be here by April."

"No way," the Empress said. "Do you really think so? Nah, it has to melt before then."

Well, that was a brief and fairly meaningless semi conversation but while I was driving home all of a sudden I remembered this part of Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book:

"Well," said Her Majesty, "how long is that mountain [of snow] likely to last?"

Everyone guessed that it would be ten days or a little more.

"And what do you think?" the Empress asked me.

"It will last till the fifteenth day of the first month," I declared.

Evem Her Majesty found this hard to believe, and the other women insisted that it would melt before the end of the year. I realized that I had chosen too distant a date; the mountain would last until the first of the year at the outside, which was the latest day I should have given. Yet there was no taking back what I had said: though I knew the mountain was unlikely to survive until the fifteenth, I stuck to my original prediction.

Towards the twentieth it began raining. There was no sign that the snow was about to melt, but the mountain did shrink a little. "Oh Goddess of Mercy of Shirayama," I prayed frenziedly, "Do not let our mountain melt away!"

Haha, so neat! Because I code-name Empress "Empress" because of the historical figure depicted in that book, naturally! Anyway, I thought that was cool.

This, however, is not so cool:

( The Subversion of Liberty Narrowly Averted by Naomi Wolf )

Please read that article; really take it in! And I'm not convinced that this was actually "narrowly subverted" or was subverted at all. I've always thought that the Bush Administration wasn't just one man voted into power by half of a terrified and manipulated country: I feel like the Bush administration has roots far deeper than most people know, and farther back into history than we suspect. This wasn't just some guy who happened to get voted in. If that sounds paranoid, well, maybe so did some of the stuff listed up there before these files were released a few days ago.

So I don't think anyone can afford to sit back and go, "Whew! Wow, we skirted that one!" Because those sons of whores will be back for more. Like my friend who sent me this said: the pendulum swings. But it has never swung this far in America before. Who knows but that it might swing even farther in eight years? I'm still afraid of Bush. Cut off the head of the dictator and the body will grow a new one.

I'm sorry to end this note on such a downer, truly I am. But anything I say after this will look paltry and insignificant (kinda like the rest of this journal. ;D )

In a monumental victory for the gay rights movement, the California Supreme Court overturned a voter-approved ban on gay marriage Thursday in a ruling that would allow same-sex couples in the nation's biggest state to tie the knot.

That really brightens an already bright day!

This does NOT: Bush's irretrievably stupid, chest-beating, unilateral fear-mongering. Check out the smackdown though, it's awesome.

What Bush has to say: "Doomsday scenario of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States. The biggest issue we face is, it's bigger than Iraq, it's this ideological struggle against cold-blooded killers who will kill people to achieve their political objectives."

I know that the whole "pot meet kettle" thins is overused and all but other than that, I'm speechless. He's such a goddamn pot. And let's not forget that he no longer plays golf because of the Iraq war! Wow, which is monumental when compared to the thousands upon thousands of people who no longer play anything because of the war.


I'll tell you what else is fantastic: knowing that the people who made a truly, epically scumtastic move recently are scrambling around like mad ants trying (and wretchedly failing,) to replace what they lost. Heehee, you just keep on covering, now. I think it's awesome. But perhaps that's mean of me and I should reserve my joy for less vindictive things.

The odd thing is that everyone I've told about what happened, their reactions have been, across the board: "Congratulations. I always thought you were too good for that anyway." It's been very eye opening.

The other thing I've been hearing from everyone and their ancestor is, "stop trying to save the world." Everyone has told me that, from friends, to my lawyer (he said that the only thing I had done wrong was to take too much responsibility for others' welfare and assume that people would have my back; he said, "You try to lead people to the top of the hill, and when you look behind you you find that you're fighting alone,") to my parents. My Dad said something to me in the car on the way back from the lawyer's that damn near made me cry. He said he was thinking of The Man of La Mancha and had been changing the lyrics in his head to "she" instead of "he" and then he said that he wanted to send me an email saying "You're a hero." It was seriously all I could do to keep from crying. 'Cause my Dad is the same way, very quixotic and always opening his big mouth when he thinks that something is wrong. He has always been very charismatic and I try to borrow that trait from him, especially in situations like these.

Today I went to pick up a grackle who is an old friend of mine; her name is Car. She's in the aviary now getting used to things. After that I thought about going out shopping for a video game, but upon seeing that it's going to rain for the next four days decided to plant all of my plants instead. It was really warm out for once and I didn't have to wear a sweater. I was out for a good two hours just gardening and working in the yard under the sun. It looks breathtaking out there. I got this azalea that I've never seen before. I'm not wild about azaleas but this one is orange and looks like a hibiscus. Its leaves look tropical, too, it's just scrumptious.

My mock oranges are blossoming for the first time ever. ^_^

Then I talked for a long time on the phone to one of my (true) friends and that felt great. I also ordered two scents from BPAL, which I haven't done in years: Hi'iaka and Schrodinger's Cat. Come on, how could I not? :D

Other than that I can't honestly explain the joy that I'm feeling today other than to say it's like something that has been rotting for a long time is gone. I wake up in the mornings and I feel such relief. Then I hear the things that are going on where I no longer have to be, and then I feel ridiculously vindicated and evilly happy. I must be a very wicked person. Am I? :)

Hey, have you guys seen that video of my faaaaavorite right wing psycho Bill O'Reilly totally losing his crap from about twenty years ago? Check it out: ( it's here under the cut. )

I think that says it all, don't you? What a goddamn nut! It's usually these god-fearing "charitable" people who end up getting caught, you know? Doing phone sex or in some other cases, touching people inappropriately. AMIRITE?

Anyways, for dinner I ate some stir fry veggies that I made and wishing I had some rice to put in with it. I made them much better than last time when I let them get all soggy. A little salty but NOM NOM, still good.

Okay, so of course I have some pics to share from Mother's Day and the week before.

( Boychild under my tree. )

( Me with the Ninja Wizards - Warning, cruelty to animals! )

( Two random ones of me, one in my living room at night and the other showing bruises from Kung Fu: )

( Two really cute ones of my Dad and Boychild from Mother's Day: )

( Three Moms - my Mom, Gran, and cousin Chrissie by my apple tree: )

Hope you are all having equally fantastic times. ^_^