FRUSTRATION

I am SO frustrated!!!!!! I want to SCREAM!

I. Am. Sick. Again!! Aren't I always sick? Yes, it sure feels that way. This time: chest congestion, a sore throat and it positively kills to cough. *ouch* I got lucky and found some old cough syrup in the cabinet, but now that's all gone...

Also, I set a goal to write my essays and finish my Peace Corps application this week. I want it ready to be mailed Monday or Tuesday. Yea, well... the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, or something like that. These damned essays are hard! Well... challenging. The bigger issue is how my writing skills seem to have abandoned me. I'm imcompetant! (i can't even spell)

All the beautiful snow melted away today. Rain, rain, rain.... it is just wet and slushy out there, but no more snow. What is this, May? C'mon Momma! Make up your mind already!! It's winter or it's not, but you Have To Choose!!

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hippopotomi Lover 

T-Day

I woke up on T-Day to a Fabulous, thick layer of snow all around (outside, not in). Just enough to make a postcard, but not so much to make you hate Mamma N. It snowed on and off all day, but quit in time for me to drive out to Harvey. I got to Em's house, excited to see her land all covered in snow and . . . nothing! There was a shading of white in the corners, but, overall -nada. How sad!

Dinner was very nice. Em & I made cranberry sauce, played Chinese Checkers, talked, finished the oven-shuffle to get dinner done (okay, okay, she did all the work, but I monitored the checker board for safety!), and then we all sat down to a very nice meal. The only meat was ham, and it was minimal, so that was a nice feature. Em's family is really nice, and this was the second time meeting her lil bro. What a weirdo. One of the tubes of crossaints was cut wrong, so lil bro got at it and tried to roll it out new. Well, it didn't really want to roll out and he had no clue, so he put cinnamon and sugar and a poppyseed spread in it, folded it over and cooked it. 30 minutes later.... it was weird. He kept eating it half-cooked, and commenting on how it weighed a pound. Yikes!

After dinner, they taught me how to play Spades and lil bro and I teamed up to whoop some butt! Hell yea!! All those years of euchre (sp?) training finally came in handy -I had some concept of strategy, which I am sure helped. Too bad I never was able to apply it to euchre. Oh well!

Lazy, part 2

Been a lazy, laid back weekend. After working my 3 night shifts this last week, I was REALLY pleased to have an easy Thursday and Friday. Mmmmm Sleeeeeeeeep. I spent most of Friday laying on the couch, half awake, watching Sex and the City. Truly, that has to be the most pleasurable activity in the world. It's the greatest show; it makes me happy, makes me laugh, makes me sappy, all those good things TV intends to do. (insert gooey emotions here)

Friday night a bunches of us were going to play Drunken' Clue at the Ohio house, but we got distracted by each other and the fact that the lot of us haven't hung out in a long time. It was nice to just catch up, be cool, and not deal with a smokey bar and pricey drinks. Muy divertido!

We drunk dialed Jeffner, too, cause it seems the whole world has a cell phone BUT ME, and part of having the cell is having free weekends and nights and all that. So... 3 hours later... We had her on speaker phone for a while, we were passing her around, stealing her, . . . good times. I miss that girl.

Tonight... dunno. We were planning on the concert at 231, but MC heard it is sucking, so probably not. We are trying out alternatives, including pool at the Shaft and bowling. Not much to do in this town without the 21+ Membership Card.

What a bitch...

I am such a bitch. I feel really horrible. It's all because of my goldfish memory... Mom, did you drop me on my head a lot or what? Cause seriously, I'd forget my own name if it wasn't written on all my stuff, like it is.

So, I'm sitting in Border Grill having finished my dinner but still having 40 minutes before work, so I was loitering and reading the paper. In walks this gal - I know her - and she smiles, says hi, how are you, all those polite things, and I am so stumped at what her name is, where I know her from, anything at all, that I grunt a response, like an idiot. So, now she's uncomfortable that I don't remember her (when I should. I know I know her, I know I like her, but damned if I know how I know her or who she is!!), and I'm uncomfortable that I did the wrong thing. We each sat akwardly for a while, until I finally got up and left. I feel like such a schmuck.

I didn't know what to do for that last 30 minutes or so, so I drove in circles and then went to work early. Ugh... How could I be so rude??

Home of the Parents

Stage One of Parental Home Infiltration has begun...

I arrived in the dead of the night, rousing no one as I stealthily broke into the compound. All was dark and quiet, save the sounds of slumber eminating from the master bedroom. Today, the residents have fled, leaving me to my own abandon. I've moved in a large quantity of supplies; there will be no need to leave for rations for months.

I am prepared for battle. I will fight to defend my newly-won fortress here on the island. My vantage point is excellent -I will spot their arrival far in advance, while they will have no knowledge of my whereabouts. I've stationed a fierce tiger in the back, standing guard over the forest. She is dark coloured, to blend; bred stong, to defend. The moat along the weaker, north face of the fortress has been freshly stocked with pirhanas, much to my delight.

Inside, I've readied my technologies, the final and most effective part of my defenses. This shall be my connection to the armies on the mainland. We stand ready.

Bring it on, bitches!!!!!!!!!!!

grrrr..

It. Snowed.

I'm not ready yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happiness is...

-a day on the farm, with horses that follow you like puppies, crazy-bright pheasants, bonfires, good converstations and, of course, girl friends

-new experiences, new cultures, new music, new friends, and new views on old friends

-free things (thanks Bogie)

-spending the day in bed, guilt-free

-not having a roommate, if only for a short while

-a perfect autumn day

-everywhere, if you know how to see it. Go. Look. Let me know what you find.

Pack your bags, it't time to head out back...

O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise,The True North strong and free! From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. O Canada, we stand on guard for thee...

I gotta learn these words... I bet it's on the entrance exam...

I am extremely disapointed with my state and with my country...

Shame, SHAME, on you.

Be very ashamed for what you've done.

First, we protest!! Then, we dance!

I partook in some grassroots activism on Friday. And, I got to play in traffic. Cool, eh? We Voxers stood out on Front St. during rush hour (yes, that's said tongue-in-cheek. Rush hour in MQT... ha!) with 4 posters, burma-shave style. No - On - Prop. 2 - Nov. 2 going each way. It was really fun, actually. There were at least 73 positive responses (e.g., honks, waves, thumbs up) and 5 or so negative responses (i.e., 'faggot') in the course of an hour and a half. Not bad, eh?

Halloween was good (not great). Friday we went to a lame party where there was too much politics, including an asshole elephant who couldn't shut his mouth from spewing ignorance, and not enough fun. So, off to the bars. It was entertaining, to see drunks in costume. Saturday we actually put in effort. I was a Vogue model, dressed in 80's revival -work boots (tongues out), hot pink tights layered under bright yellow fishnets, a black & white skirt with a sharp diagonal cut, lime green deep-V, off-shoulder top, wild silver and green and blue eye/face makeup (thanks Rach!) and a half-fro. Damn cool, I'd say! I was with a nurse, a lounge singer, an 80's prom queen, a middle school gym teacher, a rock star, and something else. What a crew... We met up with an ice princess, some witches, and other weird things. Went to several bars and parties, but nothing was particularly amazing. Stayed out until 4:30/5:30, depending on how you consider the time-change. Yow!

Lesson(s) of the Day

So, Children, What did we learn today?

Well, we learned that . . . . . . .

1. Girls who wear skirts get raped, simply because they are wearing skirts.

2. Junior girls should not party with Seniors, because they will get raped.

3. If an underage girl drinks alcohol, she will get raped, because underage drinking is bad and she will get what she deserves.

Nice lessons, eh?

I also learned that giving chocolates to strangers is a lot of fun; it makes them smile in surprise, and that's really awesome.

So, my day: high -breakout session one; low -breakout session two; high -giving away chocolates; low -having absolutely no one show up to help with door-knocking for prop 2; high -talking to CRS; low -finding out I won't get to see CRS after all; high -not quite there yet...

The End, or The Beginning?

It was a good, yet busy weekend. Thursday hiked Sugarloaf, finished my book, worked at Dem. HQ; Friday worked out with Emily, did some resume work, attended a colloquium on the Defense of Marriage Act and Prop 2, got a migraine, napped, went to UpFront to flirt with boys and listen to good music (Freshwater Collins). mmm... boys... ; Saturday at 9:10am got a call asking why I wasn't at the 9am conference... oops, attended the day-long session on grassroots organizing, which was really good, wrote a poopy paper, went to the bars with pals to show Charles a MQT evening out; Sunday had another conference at noon, on sex ed, then a Vox meeting, then home to try and nap before work.

Whew! All of that schtuff was fun and educational, which is a great combo, but wears me out. I definitely could have used more sleep this weekend. Tomorrow, the Boss wants me in at 9am to help prep for the UPYC, which I then participate in on Tuesday morning -ouch. It will be a week of early mornings.

Our condo down in the Cayman Islands got eaten by H.Ivan, and we just found out that our tickets have been refunded (HOORAH!). So, now we have to find a new place to party and a time to do it. Any suggestions on where to go? What's good and what is bad?? Think tropical, sunny, warmth. We are open to all tips! Thanks, dude!

It's gettin' cold in here, so shake off all your leaves...

oonst, oonst, oonst, oonst

(that's porn music, by the way)

Someone told the trees up here to get nekkid. The maples, being skittish little critters, first paled to a bright yellow, and then, when they realized it wasn't a joke, blushed a bright, bright red. They've started stripping, slowly, working from the top down, but you can tell they are nervous.

I'm sure it doesn't make it any easier to see the oaks, who must not have gotten the memo and are still a deep, healthy green. The pine trees, too; what mean trees! They laugh so hard their needles drop. It's like they are trying to mock the maples.

It sure is beautiful to look at, though....

The Old-Fashioned Way

So. I have survived my second major power outage. I woke up Sunday to a powerless apartment, with no clue of what had happened. Took a while to find out the whole freakin' town, and several of our dearest neighboring towns, had been zapped. No worries, right? Well... it gets cold... and the stove is electric, so no cooking... no shower... no heat... In Detroit, it was summer, the pantry was stocked, the stove is gas so we could eat, all important things. So, I rebelled by laying on the couch, with a cat and a good (sort of) book, napping and reading.

Mostly, I was just scared as hell that I would have to go to work with no power. Imagine, 12 hours in a cold, spooky house, with no security, no phones, NO COFFEE, no nothin. lawdy!

Never fear. Downtown MQT got power about 4:30p, others about 6:30p, and some poor souls not until 11p. The radio people said that things had been turned off for maintainance and the replacement generator schizzed out and then the backup genny schizzed as well. Seems they should have maintained the replacement team before fixing the front line.

I wonder if they'll make t-shirts for this one....

Weird Weekends..

What a miserable weekend, eh? Cold & Rainy for the last two days! Now, I gotta say, I hate it when people bitch about too many dry days only to bitch about rain, but . . . when you have a pile of homeowork to do, miserable days don't help. It only makes me want to curl up with a cat, coffee and a book and maybe even take a nap! How am I supposed to get work done like that?

Out Domestic Violence vigil was Thursday. It went well, made a lot of people cry, as usual. TV6 gave us good coverage, and even the horrendously right-wing Mining Urinal was there. I wish there had been more attendees, but I'm never satisfied with that sort of thing.

Friday was Homecoming, the parade part, at least. Our theme was 'Digging up the Past', so Vox played up the Suffrage. (remember the fight for the right to vote? Back in the early 1900's... 19th amendment... yea, you got it!) Too bad many of our peers didn't get it. We had two banners, one saying "Votes For Women" and the other "Mr. President, When Will Women Have Our Liberty?" A lot of people thought we were protesting Shrubbers, one gal shouted out "but women Can vote!" and a truckful of soccer girls told us they 'didn't get it'. Oh dear!

On the nice side, there were a lot of cheers and positive things, too. We may be controversial sometimes, but dammit, people notice us!!

The College Dems played Farenheit 9/11 last night, too. It was my second time seeing it. Still pissed me off, still made me sad. I know there is a lot of spin, I know that Moore goes for the outrageous, but there is a lot of truth there, too. It balances out with the bullshit on the TV. Or, BUll SHit, as I saw on a t-shirt.

Hey, no matter what, go out and vote, okay?? Just vote for something! Oh, and vote NO on prop. 2! I will tell you that one! It is a BAD, BAD proposition!

Activism of my own..

Hey folks! Here are some tips on how to be involved in life.

1. Get Active! Call your political representative (ie. Demorcratic Headquarters or College Democrat organization) and find out how you can get involved with their events.

2. Talk to people! Let them know your position on different issues, and have the facts to back your stance. You may not change their mind, but at least you'll get them thinking!

3. Sign up for action networks. Most activist sites have them, and I'll give you my two favorites:

Planned Parenthood- http://www.ppaction.org/ppaction/join.html

Human Rights Campaign- http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/actioncenter/join.html

They will send you an email whenever an important issue hits the House or Senate with a pre-composed letter to your representative. Click on the "send" button and away it goes! That's it! You have sent a letter to your senator, congressman, whomever needs to know, and didn't even have to pick up a pen! This stuff works -I have gotten several letters and emails back regarding my letter and the Rep's position and action on the issue.

Good Luck & Let me know how it goes...

Lawdy, Lawdy!

Home again from E.L. It was a crazy weekend, filled with sugar, chocolate, lectures and activism and topped off with some more sugar. Sugar on the side, too. I could not even believe how much candy was available and consumed by us poor little Voxers!

We got out on the streets gathering signatures and getting some interesting reactions. Did you know we don't need healthcare, all we need is abstinence? Apparently abstinence is much more impactful than I ever realized! On day 2 we did door-knocking to get more sigs. Boy did that suck. No one was home!! And it feels so intrusive! (i felt dirty)

Saturday night was . . . an example of glorious excess. The hotel bartender was way too friendly with his product and wanted my "I (heart) My Vagina" t-shirt so bad he offered free drinks in trade. Yow. Seems that when something is free, there is a drive to consume twice as much of it. Both of us were happy in the end, tho!

Travelling home was painful. Partly because of Saturday night :( and partly because the conference ended at 3p and our plane didn't leave until 8:30p. UGH. It took forever to get back to MQT. I was so jealous of Al & Aimes to left early... The missed some interesting things, but got home prolly before we even left!

o-tay. Gotta focus on the lecture...

Welcome to East Lansing

Dude. So I am in East Lamsing, yo, with some dude named 'Adam' in my room, trying to make the internet work. Stupid computers. Billie & Me got upgraded to a jacuzzi room, so we are feeling like hot shit. oooh yea! That and the Bag O Wine are making us feel good. Mmmm... wine in a bag..... :)

Well, yea, so, we are here to learn how to be the most excellent activists, which will be cool. There will be Voxers from all over MI (ie, MQT, Waste-ern, UMA2 and . . . ??) gathered together to learn activism. We get to go out on the streets and petition, and. . . . something else. It's active, it's groovy.

Holy Canole! Did you know the military restricts your sex positions?!?? According to our resident expert, military personnel are only allowed to engage in the missionary position. If you get caught otherwise, it is 'unbecoming of an officer'. Damn! Talk about being OWNED!

Crikey, the things you learn... many a strange chat tonight, and it's only the first night! ya-hoo! Talking to strangers will lead to way random, way crazy conversations.

Just so yous know.

Outtie.

Workin' Girl

8 hour car-ride to Rochester = Fun!

8 hour car-ride to MQT = bleh :(

The weekend was A-Mazing! First & Foremost, I got to see my Jeffner! Wee!!! She was at work when I got there, so I went looking for her. Crazy chica can just walk away from work for an hour at a time and no biggie. She says some people even go workout in the middle of a shift!! Whoa! I found this lab coat hanging in the stairwell... it asked me to take it home with me. I did. :)

-We ate D-licious foods at the Macaroni Grill and created art on the psuedo tablecloth.

-We went horseback riding, not in Altura, but in Elba. Take note of that. I mean, who says you actually have to live in the same place your mail goes? Sheesh!

-We went to The Farm and examined the crops. I finally got to see this famous place I've been hearing about! And, at the old residence, a friendly dog gave us an enthusiastic tour of the property.

-We went to the Aquarius -always, always an adventure. Yow. The people, the clothes, the dancing, the sex -oh! I mean, the dancing... it's crazy there. I saw mullets, pregnant ladies, bare asses, flobby guts, pissed-off latinas, white guys who think they know how to dance, and all sorts of insanities.

It was fabulously refreshing to get away and see my girl. I feel healed! I should definitely get to see her more often!!

And now, back to the grind....

Does your chewing gum lose its flavor on the bedpost overnight?

I'm in Mini-soda. Hi Mom, Hi Dad! I needed time away from Marquette and missed Jeffner most terribly. Thankfully, she is located in Mini-soda, the state I happened to decide to visit. What a coincidence! I just got notice, as well, that I will get to travel to Lansing next weekend and improve my voxing skills. Cool, eh? Got my plane and hotel paid for. Sweet ass!! It means two weekends of half-shifts at work, though... that makes me nervous. Hope the boss doesn't mind! Oh! Good news! I have some creepy looking white growth on my left tonsil. Nasty looking. Jeffner says it is strep throat. I feel really healthy today, though, so I am denying the accusation. I'm too cool to be sick. AND, I more than met my quota of sickyness earlier this year. OK. Nap time....