The Typhoid Mary of Television

What's the worst thing that can happen to a show you like? I'm beginning to think it's having me watch it. I am death to a tv show - pretty much everything I've liked either hovers in the edge of existinction (Veronica Mars anyone?) or gets cancelled after a couple of shows (Let's see, Firefly, Miracles, and [even though it wasn't that good] Threshold). Is my taste really that bizzarre? I used to think I was great at discovering future cult classics - I mean, I watched X-Files from day one, Xena from day one, Buffy from day one ... you get the picture. Now I just think my taste is weird.

What's even worse is when I pick up a show that's been on for awhile - you guessed, DOA. I'm talking Farscape and now Alias. Yeah, maybe Alias had seen better days, but it kind of reduces me to one show that I tape. Yes, one (the previously mentioned Veronica Mars). So beware. If you really like a show, don't tell me ... at least until it's already cancelled and available on DVD (yay DVDs).

I'm A Loser, Baby ...

Wow, blast from the past musically, but fairly reflective of how I feel. Tired and ready to give up on pretty much everything. Very burned out on the job front - tired of dealing with morons who don't give a damn about anything but their own bonus, tired of being blamed for everything except the bombing in Baghdad, tired of fighting everyone to get the simplest of projects done, just tired. I wish there was some acceptable solution here. Yeah, yeah, I know, find something else. Except there is nothing else in my area of expertise in my area. Moving elsewhere would have too much of a financial penalty, and so I sit. And because I'm so miserable, I get too tired to do much of anything else. Thank heavens the holidays are coming. At least I can forget about everything for a couple of days.

Moving Outside My Comfort Zone

which, by the way, I think is shrinking more rapidly than a wool sweater in boiling water. Anyway, today is one of those frustrating days where I've been spending a lot of time accomplishing exactly nothing. Everything I need to do depends on someone else who has a boatload less urgency than I do about the situation - which is fine, except I'm the one who has to explain why it takes 5 times longer than it should to complete whatever task has been assigned. No wonder I'm eating everything that isn't tied down. Not exactly the Alfred E. Neuman type - I live to fret ... or fret to live... or something like that. That's why I so totally need to win the lottery - it's not greed, it's a health issue. Honest. Think the insurance companies would buy it? Me neither. *sigh*

Other than work, I've had a whopping one good day so far this week. Exercised last night, cleaned a bit, read a bit ... all that good stuff (OK, I ate to much, but ...). Kids got great report cards - I get to go hear the rest of the story tomorrow (parent-teacher meetings). Just hoping the younger one has decided to hide her inner Haskell a bit better.

Speaking of Muzzles ...

Pat Robertson once again demonstrating the loving nature that the public has come to associated with "Christianity." Some background: the Dover schoolboard in York was taken over by a bunch of fundamentalist (who put the mental in fundamenta) who decided that what the district really needed was a court case (obviously there was too much money floating around the district, right?) so they put in a mandatory statement about how evolution was a theory and had "gaps" and "intelligent design" offered an alternative ... blah, blah, blah. Oh, and did I mention that the folks who push this home-school their kids ... and that the person who put the books in the school supporting intelligent design as a "anonymous donation" was the father of the driving force behind the whole thing. Anyway, the voters of Dover had the shits of it and kicked out all 8 of the board members responsible for this nonsense. Bear in mind, this has nothing to do with creationism vs. evolution or the value of either argument, just what is appropriate to teach in schools. (My belief is in a creator who used evolution as the method of His creation, but I don't depend on the schools to perpetrate that.)

Anyway, Robertson said (and I quote) "If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you rejected him from your city." He continued, "And don’t wonder why he hasn’t helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I’m not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that’s the case, don’t ask for his help because he might not be there." OK, several problems with this nasty, vindictive little man. Did it ever occur to him that a God powerful enough to create the world might be able to control a schoolboard election? How does he know that it wasn't God's will that these people get kicked off the schoolboard? I just love his certainty that he and he alone knows God's will. Well, bully for you. That's something that even Abraham Lincoln never claimed. Lincoln said something to the effect that it doesn't matter if God is on our side but rather are we on God's side. I just wish these holier-than-thous would think about that one once in awhile.

Accentuate the Positive ...

Eliminate the negative? I fear that would lead to eliminating myself of late. The question that always comes up for me is who is in control of how I feel about things? I know no one can control circumstances, but can I control how I react? I have to believe that I can. So why choose to reactive negatively? It all has to do with control - who is in control, who can be in control, who should be in control. I've been letting circumstances frustrate me and control my reactions. This lack of control cascades throughout life when I let it. I'm frustrated so I eat more. I'm frustrated so I mouth off more (who, me? really? whoddathunkit?).

It might sound dorky, but I've been turning to the book of Proverbs lately. One loud and clear message that keeps being repeated over and over and over and over... keep your darn mouth shut. Yeah, yeah, there are multiple aspects of this idea, but the basic remains the same. Shut it. I think I'm too much of a big mouth. I tend to forget to sensor myself and oops, out it comes. So, anybody got a muzzle I can borrow?

Can You Really Enjoy Something You Don't Think Is That Good?

Went to see "The Boyfriend" last night with a friend. It's an old, old musical that's well past it's expiration date. The plot is trite and painfully shallow. Basically, it's about a bunch of rich 17 year olds who think that a girl needs a boyfriend to be complete by the time they are 17. Yeah, it's really that bad. Of course, two of the shallow rich kids pretend to be poor and hook up and live happily every after. The only thing missing was the line "It's 10:30, kiss her already." Oh, and did I mention the comic relief was a lecherous old man (bordering on pedophile)? And that the "17-year-olds" were all played by women on the downside of thirty? No?

At any rate, as is my habit, I went into critique mode with my friend on the way out of the theater. She just kind of shrugged and said it had music and dancing so she enjoyed it. She's used to my criticism and doesn't mind that I rip apart the show we see (in fact, I think she kind of finds it funny - at least I hope so). But the comment kind of implied that I didn't enjoy it. Not the case. It annoyed me, but the female lead had a good voice, and some of the male dancers weren't half bad. Did I think it was a good musical? No (you can only get away with that thin of a story if the music is Gershwin quality - it wasn't). Did I enjoy it? Sure. I don't really have to think something is good to enjoy it. Does that make me strange?

Tagged Twice, So I Gotta ...

Besides, it looks like fun (yes, I do have a perverted view of fun, why do you ask?)....oh, and thanks, Don and Jynx.

Three screen names that you've had: hftr, HereForTheRide, Bickett

Three things you like about yourself: my eyes, my intelligence, my honesty

Three things you don't like about yourself: my current physical condition (read body), my insecurity, my response to stressful situations (pissy and crying or eating everything that doesn't move ... or doesn't move quickly enough)

Three parts of your heritage: Scot; Irish; German

Three things that scare you: death, something happening to my kids, heights

Three of your everyday essentials: Diet Dr. Pepper, hugs from my kids, chocolate (oops, how'd that sneak in here)

Tree things you are wearing right now: Sweater, socks and khakis

Three of your favorite songs: Death Came A Knockin', The Sheperd's Wife, Rocky Road to Dublin

Three things I want in a relationship: Respect, trust, and the love thing

Two truths and a lie: I miss riding my bike, I love watching my kids play soccer, I believe there is a job out there that could make me happy

Three things you can't live without: my family, my car, my dvds (sad, I know)

Three places you want to go on vacation: Russia, Antartica, China

Three things you just can't do: Bowl, golf, not worry

Three kids names: Katherine, Sarah, Seth

Three things you want to do before you die: I'll go with the ever popular get published; wget back to my pre-pregnancy weight; be at peace with myself

Three celeb crushes: John Cusack, Richard Dean Anderson, Lenny Kravitz

Three of your favorite musicians: Kate Rusby, Seamus Egan, Sam Philips

Three physical things about the opposite sex that appeals to you: eyes, voice, smile

Three of your favorite hobbies: Photography, biking, cult tv series

Three things you really want to do badly right now: Go to bed; win the lottery; exercise

Three careers you're considering/you've considered: Archeology, English Teacher, Trust fund baby

Three ways that you are stereotypically a boy: FOOTBALL!! Hate shopping; play computer games

Three ways that you are stereotypically a girl: Self-doubting, emotional, want everyone to get along

Three people that I would like to see post this meme: Mo, hatgirl, and Izza

Here an Idea, There an Idea ...

Just read Don's post about where his ideas come from and it got me thinking about my own writing. I just realized that most of my ideas come from unexpressed frustration. The first thing I ever attempted was due to my frustration at church, at the shallow hypocrisy of it all ... mostly in myself. The next thing was due to my frustration at work, at the inability to make a connection with most of my coworkers and the realization of how easy it was to hide on the internet. The latest is based on my frustration with corporate America, how manipulative those in control are. Wow, am I a sad case or what?

I guess I write more because I have to than I realize. I think it helps me work through situations that I cannot control and probably cannot get out of. I won't stop going to church because I want my kids raised in a church environment, and in spite of everything, I still believe. I know that I can search forever and not find a church that fits me, so I go to the one I'm currently going to. Doesn't make it any less frustrating. I work because I like the money (yeah, I need it to a certain extent, but really, it's because I grew up with little money and I like that I don't have to worry about it - so long as I still have my job ... selling my youth [or should I say sold] for security). I can't stop seeing things the way I do, and for the most part, I can't change them, but at least I can work them out in my mind by writing about them. I guess that's why it really doesn't matter if I ever send out anything to be published. I need to settle the world/make sense of it somehow, and this is how I do it. I guess I'm pretty cracked, but it's better than going postal, right?

Halloween Pet Peeves

Sit down and let granny tell you a little story. When I was a young'un, back in the days of the dinosaur, we used to make our own costumes. We'd then go door to door in our own neighborhood (this was before the razorblade-in-the-apple scare), and the neighbors would try and guess who we were (this was back in the days when masks weren't considered safety hazards that cut down your peripheral vision). Surprisingly, our neighbors actually knew the kids in the neighborhood, and could make a fair guess. By the time you were in fifth or sixth grade, you graduated from trick-or-treat night (this means you didn't go out for the once-a-year candy grab).

Flash forward to last year. Well past the due date for trick-or-treating, I get to hand out candy. I dress the young ones in hideously overpriced costumes with no masks and dad takes them out. I know about 5 of 60 kids that come to our door over the next two hours. None of them introduce themselves. Few bother to say thank-you. Then we get the teenagers who don't even bother to dress up and just come for the candy. I harass them a bit but still give out the candy. They respond by trying to steal our pumpkins (guess they didn't like the harassment). Thankfully, hubby (who thinks Jerome Bettis is a wee little man) is home and chases them off. Happy Halloween, huh?

I'm sorry, but I think there should be rules for Halloween - the first of which is if you don't know the name of the people you are visiting, you shouldn't go to that house. Barring that, you should at least live within a 1 mile radius of the place. If you don't say thank-you, you should be required to return the candy immediately (as a side note, my husband mentioned he got a ton of comments on how nice it was to hear thank-yous - our kids have been civilized at least that much ... in fact, the younger girl thought they were going out visiting - she wanted to pet everyone's dogs and carry on conversations with the people). And this is the biggie - if you are old enough to drive, you are too old to go trick or treating. 'nuff said.

All's Quiet on the Eastern Front

Well, no more updates from the teacher on my daughter. Of course, the fact that the other kid has not been in school for a week may have something to do with it, but I'll take what I can get. Went to my first Parents Association meeting last night. Last year they held them during the day so I couldn't attend. Very interesting. Let's just say that I now understand more clearly than ever the differences between a public school and a private school.

When my older girl was in public school, I went to every meeting and ended up being an officer on the board - mainly because no one else wanted to. Their major concern was the upcoming skating parties. Blech. My husband promised to take on some other heinous task if I would just go to the meeting so he didn't have to. Flash forward to last night. First of all, I wasn't drafted for any position on the board (definitely to the good). They had the upper school college counsellor present to the group. That's right, a school that has a graduating class of about 30 max has its own college counsellor (compare this to one counsellor for all needs for a class of 600 at one of the local public schools). Apparently, she starts sending out information in the 7th grade, and has her first meeting with the families in 8th to plot out the kids' next four years of school. Junior year, everyone is required to take a class about what college they want to attend. She helps the kids and their parents pick out a couple of schools, then she researches them for the families. The school submits and tracks your application. They work with your on your essays and recommendation letters, and even have mock interviews in front of real college recruiters. It's like geek nirvana. I just wish I had all of this when I was graduating from high school. What's really cool is that they aren't really interested in sending the kids to Ivy League schools for the sake of sending them to Ivy League schools. The opinion is that undergraduates get screwed at name schools, and it's better to wait until you're going for an advanced degree. It's just so impressive.

I am getting dumber

And it's scaring me. It seems like more and more, I have conversations where I just can't seem to locate pertinent facts until much, much later. Case in point - this morning, I was talking about the King Tut exhibit that is touring the US. I really want to see it because it took the personal intervention of Egypt's president to get it out of the country. Who's that? Er...um...Sadat? No, no, no, that's the guy who was in charge when Camp David happened (another name I couldn't come up with over the weekend). Er...um...not Nasser... Begin? No, no, no, that was Israel. It took me a good 20 minutes to come up with Hosni Mubarak. No big deal you say? Just the latest in a long line of not being able to remember stuff, says I. I used to blame it on having kids, but now I'm convinced I'm just losing brain cells somehow. They must leak out of my ears when I sleep. The sad thing is that I don't really forget stuff, I just remember it out of order. Know where Sadat came from? I was talking to my husband about Jimmy Carter on Friday and I couldn't remember the leaders involved in the Camp David Peace Accords. I finally come up with the answer today - when I'm trying to remember the current President. Ay-yi-yi-yi. Should I start saving for my room at the home yet?

Mean? My Daughter?

Had an interesting couple of days last week. It all started when my older girl came home and told me she wanted to tell me something the Spanish teacher told her. She seemed very proud. I told her to just say it, but she said she didn't want to say it in front of her sister. Needless to say, this made me insanely curious. Turns out the teacher told her something to the effect that she couldn't believe she was so sweet when her sister was so mean.

Mean? My daughter? Knock me over with a feather. I was stunned. I mean, the girl is 4 years old - what could she have done in the two hours a week she had Spanish to cause the teacher to call her mean? Yeah, the teacher was totally unprofessional, but still ... mean? My daughter? As a parent you try so hard to raise your kids to be "nice". Very few people want their kids to be the school yard bully, yet somebody has to be right? But my kid? I fought with myself, half stunned and half in denial. How could we have been so blind?

Next step, of course, was to call her regular teacher. Turns out she has been having trouble with one of the girls in her class. Per the teacher, my daughter and this other girl are the two oldest kids in the class, and they bump heads frequently. I know of this other girl - she's basically a queen b in training (I know, I know, horrible thing to say about a 5 year old, but there you are). In talking to another parent, she said her daughter didn't like this girl because she acted one way in front of grown-ups and another way when no one was looking. Apparently, my daughter wasn't about to let this girl have her way (my daughter can be rather bull-headed). She even started being obnoxiously "nice" to the girl - sitting next to her and smiling at her (you know the way ... in case you don't, consider when I asked my daughter if this is how she would want to be treated, she said no). Part of me is concerned that I'm shaping the story the way I want to see it to make my daughter look good. I don't think so, but still...

Anyway, we're working through the issue with her. But it made me wonder, how nice should we teach our children to be? In their class, they are told everyone is their "friend". Well, I don't know about you, but if somebody takes things from me and pushes me, they aren't my friend, no matter what anyone else says. How do you get this across to a 4 year old? How do you teach them to be nice but not to be a doormat? I have to confess there is a small part of me that is proud of her for sticking up for herself. Does that make me a bad mom?

Just hope I'm not raising the schoolyard bully ...

Tales of Weekends Past

Well, we survived the soccer tournament. The girls seemed to have fun and actually won a game (their first win of the season). The net result is that it made me even more grateful for my daughter's coach. She was the only female coach in their bracket, and in my mind, was utterly fantastic in how she worked with the girls. She yelled only to get the ref's attention for a substitution or to remind the girls to position themselves correctly. She was firm but kind. She never bitched out any of the kids, and they all felt like a million bucks by the time they left that afternoon. Compare that to some of the other coaches. Some teams had two or three men yelling at them, telling them to do this, do that in real nasty voices. I just really don't think that's necessary at this age and talent level. It certainly didn't get any better performance out of the kids.

Oh, and I did end up buying Robots for the girls as a treat. All in all a good, but tiring weekend.

But what about MY needs?

Just got a free gift card from Blockbuster for $15, mainly because I obsessively check my e-mail (it was the free gift from EW for being one of the first 15 people to respond to their e-mail). I usually don't go to Blockbuster - when we rent, we use Netflix because me and remembering to return things is not a good mix (not to mention the fact that the selection at the local Blockbuster sucks). When I buy DVD's, I either go to Costco or buy online from DeepDiscountDVD because, well, I'm cheap. So now I have this found money, burning a hole in my pocket. What should I do with it? I guess the smart thing would be to buy Robots or some kids movie for the girls - even if Blockbuster is overpriced, the $15 off would make it cheaper than buying it somewhere else. But ... but... [enter whine here] What about MY needs?

I hate to admit that I'm rather addicted to buying DVDs, so much so that I swore, as G-d is my witness, that I will never buy DVD TV series again (until, of course, I finish my current batch). My current batch is ... well... rather extensive. I have packages that haven't even been taken out of the plastic wrap. In fact, I just bought Millenium Season 1 and Battlestar Galactica Season 1 this past weekend (yeah, I know, I'm a geek). So the decision should be easy, right? Right? But...but... there's still Wonderfalls ... and ... and...Desperate Housewives (OK, I didn't watch it when it was on TV, but I heard it was good) ... and Lost .... and... and. Yes, I know, I need help. But what if I bought a movie I've always wanted like Run, Lola, Run? That would make it like a free movie (of course, the chances of my local Blockbuster carrying it? About the same as SMG begging to do a Buffy movie.). *sigh* I'm such an addict. I know what I should do, but I just don't know if I can bring myself to do it. I really need to exercise more (brief explanation - I only watch DVD's while exercising, so the more I exercise, the more I watch. The more I watch, the more I can buy. Yes, it's convoluted).

Competition

Just found out my daughter will be involved with a soccer tournament this weekend where they track the "winners" and "losers". They haven't done this yet in at her level, and I'm kind of uncomfortable about it. You see, while her coach is a really good coach, I don't think her team has won a game all year. The important thing is that they've had fun, they're all learning the game, and they don't seem too concerned that they haven't won. I would hate to see that change. My daughter is never going to be a great soccer player, but right now, she really likes the game. It gets her active and helps her understand a team environment. I know, I know, real life has winners and losers and all that rot. It's just that I don't see why it's necessary at this level (under 8, in case you were wondering).

I don't know why this all makes me so nervous. I'm actually a fairly competitive person myself. I guess it's that I know my competitive streak has added unnecessary and unhealthy pressure to my life. Instead of doing something because it's fun, you do it to win. It's even kept me from trying things when I was younger because I didn't think I could be "the best." I guess I don't want my kid to go through that. Who knows, though, maybe it won't affect her that way. She's never been particularly competitive (waaaay too laid back to be my kid, sometimes) ... and yes, some competition is good, but why does everything have to be a challenge, something to rank yourself against others? Doesn't life have enough of that already?

National Bookfest

Went down to the Library of Congress Bookfest this past weekend - a lot of fun but it needs to be more than one day. The kids really enjoyed it for all the reasons that are usually annoying to me: namely, that they got to run around the states pavillion and get free stuff. There were a lot of good give-aways, but you had to be there early. My kids both got back-packs from the Hooked-on-Phonics people. My favorite give-away were the seat cushions by Target - they'll come in handy during soccer games.

What's that? What about the festival itself? Well, it was fun. We got to meet Doreen Cronin, who wrote "Click, Clack, Moo" (among other very good children books). She was incredibly sweet. She had just finished her talk and was signing some stuff at the Children's Pavillion while her handler was trying to steer her over to the official book signing area. By the time we got to here, the handler had gotten quite insistent that she had to leave. We understood. My husband took a quick picture, and we started heading over to the official signing line. She stopped our kids and asked if they would mind having their picture taken with her. Very, very sweet. Particularly since when we did go to the signing line, we waiting for an hour and were then told she had to leave. They really needed to organize the signing area better. Maybe borrow some of those Disneyland signs that say the wait will be X hours from this point. The kicker was that after they shooed us away, she ended up staying for another hour, so we could have gotten her to sign the book. Oh well, it made the earlier picture with the kids that much more special. After that, we didn't bother with the signing lines and just wandered around. Got to hear Laura Numeroff (If You Give a blank a blank series of books). Got to see Neil Gaiman and picked up his new book. All in all, a pretty nice day.

Oh, you probably heard it was also protest day in DC. A couple of comments on that one: first of all, where were all these people BEFORE the war? Hindsight is 20-20, huh? Secondly, why did they have to pick the same day as the book festival to protest? The book thing had been planned for over a year. No big deal, but still .... it resulted in Lynn Cheney and Kay Bailey Hutchinson cancelling (I personally didn't care, but I'm sure some people were disappointed). And finally, I'm sorry, but they just seemed like a bunch of people who were thrilled to get more use out of signs they made in the 60's. There was no originality, just seemed like a bunch of group-think. Bush is responsible for everything from Iraq to Katrina to genital herpes. Um, no. Look, I'm no fan of the man - I didn't vote for the Bushes four times and wouldn't vote for them today. But the amount of hatred made these "protesters" seem as bad as the people they were protesting against. Whatever happened to respectfully disagreeing?

Parenthood

It's it's very own kind of 'hood. You think that the gangsta rappers live in a tough 'hood, you should try one of the parenting variety. It's a good thing you don't realize what you are doing before you have kids or the species would be extinct. I know that sounds bad, but face it, no one in their right mind would ever have children if they knew in advance how life altering it truly is, how you disappear a bit as a person, being absorbed into your children as almost more of an attachment than an individual. Of course it is also rewarding, but that's much more amorphous and hard to describe unless you have the kids yourself. If you only saw how your life would change once you had kids, trust me, you wouldn't have them.

And it really does screw with your mind. Suddenly, there is someone you would do anything - and I do mean anything - for. Yeah, I know, you love your mommy, your significant other, your dog. Not the same. Suddenly, you are totally responsible for this little life, and it scares the crap out of you. You don't want them to ever experience hurt or pain, but you know that they will (and more to the point, that they have to to grow). You want to let them make their own decisions - so long as you don't think they are mistakes. You want to avoid all the horrible errors your mom made and yet, there's a reason your mom did things the way she did. You want to know everything about their lives, but then you realize how little you really do know - case in point, unless your kid brings home all of her tests, you don't even know how she's doing in school (not really) until you see the report card. How many of you showed your parents all of your tests? You want her to be less neurotic than you are, but with you as a parent, how can she be? Then comes the guilts. I yell to much, I'm too demanding. No, I'm too easy on her. I don't spend enough time with her. No, I spend too much time with her - she needs to learn how to entertain herself. Oh God, am I responsible if her life turns out to be a mess? Yeah, parents really are that neurotic.

Junk Mail and Other Random Thoughts

For some reason, I've been thinking a lot about junk mail recently. I'm talking about the mailbox credit card offers and the e-mail varieties. For awhile, it looked like the credit card companies had given up on the direct mailing thing and my contributions to the landfills dropped precipitously. Then as the economy started to flail, they decided what was really needed was people with credit cards they couldn't pay off. Guess they had already talked every they could into buying houses they couldn't afford so it was back to the smaller debt stuff. What really bugs me is when they include those silly arse cash advance checks, already filled out for your convenience (or more likely, the convenience of a dumpster diving thief, but I digress). Leave me alone. You don't want me as a customer - I never pay finance charges. But still everybody wants me to experience the "prestige" of being a purple card level holder (or some other such rot).

Only slightly more annoying are the junk e-mails. They used to be even more painful until our company got better filtering softward. Then it died down for a few months. Now they've discovered that putting "Viagra" in your subject line isn't the greatest idea so they put in question marks. I do a lot of business with Asia companies - the translation packages don't work really well, and sometimes their e-mails come across with question marks in the title. Which means, I gotta look at these pieces of tripe. What's even more insulting is how stupid they think people are. Um, yeah, I'm going to click on an unknown link to G-d knows where. Sure, why not? At least be original people.

Just seems like there are too many people out there willing to waste my time. Grr. Argh.

Politically Incorrect Views

OK, I've not posted lately because I really didn't have much I wanted to share. And now, my first post back and I'm going to be a bit inflamatory. It's about Katrina. Yeah, I know. It was, is, and will continue to be a tragedy. But you know what? I've already given cash to the effort. I don't need every web page I visit to ask me for more. I don't need every blog I read to tell me how awful it is. I get it. Really. I'm not stupid (though some might debate that issue). I go to work, there's a message on our work intranet telling me how I can give. My kids go to school, I get a note on how I can give. My kids go to soccer, I get a note on how I can give. I go to the grocery store, I get asked to give. I go to church - yep, you got it, special offering for Katrina. And woe be it to you if you don't give to every Tom, Dick and Harry who asks.

Besides the overkill annoyance factor, this does lead to some other interesting questions nobody wants to ask, though. Where was everybody before this happened? Where was everybody when every scientist who looked at the situation said New Orleans was heading for a huge disaster, that building a city below sea level wasn't exactly the smartest thing in the world? Where was everybody when Bush and his cronies were cutting funding for the levee system and pooh-poohing global warming and the rapidly dwindling wetlands? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot - it's your money. Yeah, well, this is your disaster too. Great decisions there, people. Oh, and where was everybody when the poor of the city couldn't afford to leave? Gee, not our problem, they aren't middle-class white folk. What? You don't think race played a part? Doesn't it disturb anyone else that regardless of what I think as a middle-class white woman, 80% of the African American population thinks race played an issue - doesn't that disturb anyone?

And so what is our response? Let's throw money at the situation after it's too late. Nevermind that there is little to no accountability to how the money is being spent - why, to consider that would be hard-hearted (cue "And the money kept rolling in ..." from Evita). Nevermind that it's still a pretty dumb idea to build the city below sea level - we're gonna make it the same way it was before, dagnabbit. And if anyone disagrees with us? Why they're just commie-pinko-terrorists, ya know?

Weird Story Idea #407

Crazy thoughts keep running through my head. I'm going to try and ignore the big purple elephant tap-dancing in the corner (i.e. my job) and concentrate on what I WANT to do. Right now, I've been rolling around a story idea in my head for the last couple of days. I may even be forced to do something about it. It's set in alternate universe (kind of a fantasy thing that is very similar to our earth). People are pretty much apathetic like here. There is a "cult" called the Brotherhood of the One Horn, who believes their world was created by being vomited out of a cornucopia type of horn. Silly, right? Well, the community as a whole kind of ignores them, thinking they're basically harmless and they tend to do a lot of good deeds. They ignore it when this cult takes over the government of a small town, then a larger city, then the state and start spreading like a disease until no one is powerful enough to stop them. They control everything. They mandate that life be lived according to their rather strict code of ethics. They have "truth-tellers" who's job it is to make sure that people "think" the right way. They are graded on how many people they send to reorientation plants. Science is forbidden, except to support the cornucopia creationist ideology. Anyway, the main character is a scientist who is working with them to find the "Cave of the Oracle" - a key component of their mythology that is the location where "God" talks directly to His people. It is supposed to be a physical place. The scientist is actually trying to use their money to prove their mythology is a bunch of hooey. But then, he actually discovers the Cave. He takes the leaders there. They find out that while the mythology is correct and true, the way they have perverted the faith so infuriates their Creator that he wipes them out and decides to start over again, this time starting with monkeys. He always liked monkeys, cute furry things that they are ...

So ... whaddaya think? (And yes, I did think of this while sitting in church, why do you ask?)