Let's Start With Something Fun --- EDIT
Tristan and Isolde
I just watched this film. Standing alone, for someone with no prior knowledge of the legend it’s entertaining.
Unfortunately, the entire reason I got into history (apart from my family) in the first place was because I fell in love with Arthurian legends and traced them back to their historical roots in the dark ages and the chivalric courts of Provence, where they were popularized. So I flinched a lot.
14th century swords, viking style ships, longbows, stone castles...*twitch, twitch* but we'll ignore that nit picking.
Tristan and Isleut was one of the many local legends that were folded into the greater Arthurian Mythos by romance writers of the middle ages. If you actually sit down to read Le Morte’ de Arthur, written by Malory in the 15th century (and it is a weighty tome), you will find it a jumbled collection of stories of a large number of knights, some of whom appear briefly in the pages for a single adventure, only to disappear back into obscurity.
A favorite example of this is Sir Tor, credited as the offspring of Sir Pellinore born “on the wrong side of the blanket” as the phrase goes, who shows up at Arthur’s wedding to be made a knight. Some damosel’s (the book is filled with random damosels) brachet (a dog, the book is filled with them too) gets stolen and Arthur sends Tor out to prove himself by recovering the dog. After about 20 pages of strange adventure he succeeds, returns, is made a knight and promptly disappears from the story until the attempted execution of Guinevere when he is only mentioned as being present. Probably he went off and lived quietly on his estate with the damosel, who married him in gratitude.
Smart man.
Sir Tor is probably a local legend from somewhere in Britian of a local lad who made good with his local lord that Mallory simply incorporated into the greater Arthurian legend, trying to create a synthesis of all of Britain’s scattered legends into one greater whole.
Anyway, like Arthur, T&I have Celtic roots, but whereas Arthur is from the Gauls & Bretons (France), T&I are probably Welsh or Irish in origin. It is probably a later adaptation of the Irish myth of the star crossed love of Diarmat and Grainne, who meet at her wedding to an Irish King, his Uncle. She puts a sleeping potion in all the wedding party’s cups except Diarmat and when they all drop, she “grabs him by the ears” and demands he take her away with him.
Never get between an Irish woman and what she wants.
Isolde is a much more passive, which shows the legend probably passed through Briton or Norman hands. Celtic women had rights that were rather unheard of in the western world. Unlike the film, they could not be forced to marry against their will. Irish women owned property and there is a legend of Maeve, the Irish Queen of Connaught who is the central mover and shaker in the biggest legend of Ancient Ireland, the Cattle Raid of Cooley, which involves Ancient Ireland’s biggest hero, Cuchulain. While Welsh women couldn’t own property or rule, they could get divorced, walk out on their husbands if abused (and then the abusive husband would have to deal with her male relatives, physically) or he became leperous or impotent, and retain rights to her children. EDIT: Adultery was more complicated. She could walk out if he caught him cheating, however if he managed to convince her to stay three times, as in she caught him cheating on three separate occasions and stayed, then she knew what she had gotten into and couldn't use that as grounds for divorce. (There was also no stigma attached to being born out of wedlock. If the man acknowleged the child in anyway as his own, even if he just gave her money or goods under the table to support the kid, the baby was his heir with as much rights as any children the man had in marriage.)
Guenevere’s obstinance and independance probably stems from the Authruian legend’s basis in ancient Brittany (the Bretons are more closely related to the Welsh than their French neighbors), though with the rise of Christianity, this female obstinance not only had to be punished, it had to be shown as destroying a knigdom. It is amusing that while the kingdom is ripped apart by Genevere’s adultry, by Malory’s account she had welcomed at least 3 by-blows of Arthur at her court. I can only imagine her gritting her teeth until Lancelot came around.
The movie stays somewhat true to the basic story of how Tristan and Isolde met though their discovery, though the historical set up is all wrong. No one was trying to unite Britian. Scott was pulling a Malory in reverse and incorporated that part of the Arthurian legend into T&I. Nor did Ireland have the kind of control in Britian implied in the film, certainly not over the entire island. Irish people are raiders by nature. They didn’t fight over land, but what they could steal. One could say the earliest cattle rustlers in the western world were the ancient Irish. Often local lords on the coast of Britain would strike a bargain with raiders (first the Irish on the west coast and later the Danes/Vikings on the east coast) of giving them payment to send them on their merry way with no bloodshed. This suited all involved until the payments demanded got more onerous as which is what happened with King Mark, Tristan’s Uncle. He sends Tristan out to fight the Irish Morholt, who was in fact Isolde’s uncle through her mother (no, no lecherously forboding scene in the kitchen, sorry).
It’s bloody. Both are mortally wounded and Morholt draggs himself back to Ireland to die in his sister’s arms.
So when Tristan and Isolde meet when he driftes ashore comatose and with no memory, she realizes he is her motal enemy for killing her blood when a peice of metal removed from Morholt’s skull turns out to fit the gap kocked out of the blade of Tristian’s sword. So, it’s not love at first sight for her.
Tristian returns to Ireland. Mark, one day pressed by his retainers to begett an heir, declares he will marry the woman who’s golden hair a sparrow just dropped in his window. Tristan, already halfway besotted with Isolde, instantly recognizes who’s hair it is (this is medieval romance, bear with me) and packs off the Ireland to fetch the fetching princess.
Isolde, resigned to her fate, mixes up a love potion for her and Mark to share to make the first few years of marriage a little easier, but on the return trip her maid accidently pours it out into the wine glasses of Tristan and Isolde.
Whoops.
It’s very similar set up to the Arthur-Genevere-Lancelot triangle where everyeone adores one another and tries as hard as they can not to cause any other one pain. The story goes on with the lovers denying one another for honor sake and then having at it like rabbits when the honor breaks down. Well, this can’t last for long. Mark eventually tries to execute Tristan for adultery and consigns Isolde to a leper house as punishment. Tristan makes the derring-do escape, rescues Isolde and they ride off into…
The potion wears off.
*sigh* O.K. back Isolde honorably goes to Mark and Tristan goes to the continent and marries Isolde of the White Hands (no relation, but awfully similar). Eventually Tristan is mortally wounded in battle and sends for first Isolde to heal him with the caveat that if she isn’t coming, the ship should use black sails. Isodle W.H. says by his bedside and watches the window and as Isolde’s white sailed ship appears on the horizon, she tells him the sails are black and he dies on the spot. So she runs in, sees he's dead and dies on the spot of grief. Thus supplying the necessary tragic scene for the ending of this moral story.
Romeo and Juliet got nuthin’ in this pair.
Anyway, for those just watching the film, it’s very entertaining. Lots of good sword fights.
Just Heinous
Mentally Ill Troops Sent Into Combat in Iraq
“The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evacuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq…
Twenty-two U.S. troops committed suicide in Iraq last year. That number accounts for nearly one in five of all noncombat deaths and was the highest suicide rate since the war started, the newspaper said.
The paper reported that some service members who committed suicide in 2004 or 2005 were kept on duty despite clear signs of mental distress, sometimes after being prescribed antidepressants with little or no mental health counseling or monitoring. Those findings conflict with regulations adopted last year by the Army that caution against the use of antidepressants for "extended deployments."
And Bush is busy cutting Veteran’s health, including mental health, disability and death benefits.
What’s this about “Supporting the Troops” again?
I’m telling you, it’s time to go back to the day when it was expected of our presidents to have military (real military) service. I don’t want another dipwad who has no idea what it’s like to be shot at making decisions about where, when, how and most especially, WHY American military personnel are shot at.
Not Trolling
Bush Defends Domestic Spying
My worry isn’t that Bush will use access to phone record to “troll through personal lives”, my worry is that he will target free Americans who criticize that government, such as myself, as a “threat to national security” and harass and incarcerate us. Remember also that SCOTUS is still ducking on ruling whether a person can be thrown in jail indefinitely with no charges brought against them. Combine that direct violation of Article One of the Constitution with the violation of the 4th amendment and you have a very, very scary America.
Most of the Left leaning people I know wonder why I’m a firm believer in the 2nd amendment when I don’t even own a gun. This is why. (Well, that and the people who need them for hunting.) If Bush didn’t have to contend with an armed populace, it frightens me what he and the neo-conservatives would try.
He’s already suggested deploying troops on American soil.
I Really Wish McCain Wouldn’t *Do* Things Like This
At least he was supporting political dissent.
McCain garnered a lot of favor from me for speaking out against the U.S. Government’s use of torture in Iraq. McCain seems to be a classic or traditional small government paleoconservative, which while I don’t agree with them on several points, I can at least respect the philosophy. Of course is being vilified by the evangelical neo-conservative.
Falwell said, "McCain has sold out to the liberal element of the party and is purposely closing himself off from the important conservative base of the GOP. The result of that policy will not result in a 'big tent,' but a circus tent."
He did not. He just took a stand one what he perceived as something inherently wrong and for the neo-con right to try to paint being against torture as part of a “liberal agenda” rather than Humanity and Rational Thought 101 is disgusting. Utterly vile. Nor does McCain have anything to apologize to Falwell for. Falwell’s comments were blatantly intolerant and he was using the horrific deaths of 3,000 people as a political tool (remember how the ACLU was included in that rant? Tell me it wasn’t political.) to further his agenda of intolerance.
The problem is McCain is falling into the same trap Dole did: He’s trying to be all things to all people and becoming nothing to everyone. Kissing the Bush administration’s butt is turning off voters like myself who might be tempted to “cross party lines” to vote for him and what this article makes clear is that unless he “drinks the kool-aid” and converts wholeheartedly to Bush’s faith-based politics (not Christian faith, but the way Bush lets his myopic belief in a worldview rule his decisions and actions rather than facts and rational thought), he’s not going to get the evangelical right. While he is doing all this he is forgetting the majority of the county: People in the mushy middle who do not fall into either extremist category but hold to some conservative ideals and some liberal ones. After 8 years of this gawdawwful, unethical scandal ridden administration, the Republican party HAS to bring someone to the fore with principles. Someone who is going to make a stand and say “no this is wrong”. McCain made a great running start, but he’s losing ground by spreading himself too thin.
GM Comes Around.
The H1 To Be Abandoned.
“GM has steadily expanded the Hummer line but shrunk the models' size. In 2002, GM introduced the H2, a medium-size version, and last spring it brought out the H3, the smallest of the group. The H3, which sports a 5-cylinder engine, is popular, but the entire Hummer group has been outsold this year by the Toyota Prius, a gas-electric hybrid. A key member of GM's board of directors has suggested that GM scrap Hummer altogether to save cash.”
Wow.
Not only will we not have to deal with the sheer obnoxiousness of what some people have termed the “ultimate in penile compensation” (let’s face it, the only person who can legitimately own a Hummer is Robby Gordon because he actually uses it), could this be a sign of economic, social and environmental responsibly becoming part of the American popular culture?
Gods, let hope so.
To Deal With a Dichotomy
I’ve had people point out to me how it sounds odd that someone who has environmentalism as a (just one) cornerstone of her political ideology to enjoy auto racing.
That fact is the fuel consumed and pollution put out by an entire race weekend (that’s three races) is a drop in the bucket compared to a single morning commute within the city of Los Angeles. For an environmentalist group to attack NASCAR is an empty symbolic gesture, utterly meaningless as it does not address the real problem: How all of America depends on fossil fuels. Check out the CIA World Factbook. As of 2003, America consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day. How much do we produce? 7.6 million barrels per day in 2005.
(And we’ve already gone over the ANWR thing. There’s isn’t enough there to make it worthwhile to anyone other than oil companies.)
Alternative energies must be found, and soon.
Darlington
Congrats on a good run for Dale Jr. I think that’s one of the best races he’s run at Darlington (not his favorite track). Now I understand that poor bastard was sick as a dog while doing it. Impressive. *golf clap* Mark Martin got 8th, continuing on his consistent march towards the championship. And Elliott…what the hell happened? Qualified 6th, charged two 4th place for two laps and then *shoom* straight to the back where he spent the rest of the night trying to claw his way out of the 30’s to 29th place finish. DJ didn’t do well either, so perhaps it’s something shop related but Elliott starting out so hot and then going so cold, that’s weird. Did something break?
Keep your chin up SkiSad, we haven’t even hit the halfway mark yet. And nice job keeping it out of the wall. Actually good job to all the drivers, from what I heard there were a lot of great saves out there tonight.
EDIT: BOO! Yates bumped Elliott from the Citifinancial Car. That program was having trouble no matter who was behind the wheel. Boo! Give Elliott his ride back!
BTW-That commercial for the Daytona 500 men’s cologne on MRN is quite possibly the lamest radio commercial I have ever heard. Guys want to get chicks. If you’re trying to sell them cologne, shopping for socks is the wrong way to go about it.
Still Kipling Along.
Well, nothing came of my search for fieldwork among the contract archaeologists. I started looking too late in the planning season, all the slots were filled. Something might come up later, but for now I signed up with a bunch of temp agencies in the area and found a job for a month or so as an Executive Secretary.
In the meantime, I’ve received an invitation to join the Honors program which looks pretty darn cool, not only for the smaller classes and access to graduate level courses but you get to do an Honors project that can be pretty much anything from researching a thesis to fieldwork. Tres’ cool.
I also looked up all my professors for next semester and found out the (only) Russian Instructor blows, so I’m going to get a language program and work through it over the summer.
Happy Mother’s Day!
EDIT: O.K. I gotta share this one.
There are a few kids running around the apartment complex and kids are endlessly fascinated by Rutger, since he is so small and so tolerant so we’ve gotten to know each other a bit.
So one of them just asked me,
“You got any kids?”
“No.”
“You ever have kids?”
“Nope.”
“Don’t you want to get married?”
*blink*
*blink*
Now the upshot of the conversation is I should have kids so I can get an X-Box so they can come over and play, but there was that instant I thought…
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know I had to prove my fertility first…”
*chuckle*
I just watched this film. Standing alone, for someone with no prior knowledge of the legend it’s entertaining.
Unfortunately, the entire reason I got into history (apart from my family) in the first place was because I fell in love with Arthurian legends and traced them back to their historical roots in the dark ages and the chivalric courts of Provence, where they were popularized. So I flinched a lot.
14th century swords, viking style ships, longbows, stone castles...*twitch, twitch* but we'll ignore that nit picking.
Tristan and Isleut was one of the many local legends that were folded into the greater Arthurian Mythos by romance writers of the middle ages. If you actually sit down to read Le Morte’ de Arthur, written by Malory in the 15th century (and it is a weighty tome), you will find it a jumbled collection of stories of a large number of knights, some of whom appear briefly in the pages for a single adventure, only to disappear back into obscurity.
A favorite example of this is Sir Tor, credited as the offspring of Sir Pellinore born “on the wrong side of the blanket” as the phrase goes, who shows up at Arthur’s wedding to be made a knight. Some damosel’s (the book is filled with random damosels) brachet (a dog, the book is filled with them too) gets stolen and Arthur sends Tor out to prove himself by recovering the dog. After about 20 pages of strange adventure he succeeds, returns, is made a knight and promptly disappears from the story until the attempted execution of Guinevere when he is only mentioned as being present. Probably he went off and lived quietly on his estate with the damosel, who married him in gratitude.
Smart man.
Sir Tor is probably a local legend from somewhere in Britian of a local lad who made good with his local lord that Mallory simply incorporated into the greater Arthurian legend, trying to create a synthesis of all of Britain’s scattered legends into one greater whole.
Anyway, like Arthur, T&I have Celtic roots, but whereas Arthur is from the Gauls & Bretons (France), T&I are probably Welsh or Irish in origin. It is probably a later adaptation of the Irish myth of the star crossed love of Diarmat and Grainne, who meet at her wedding to an Irish King, his Uncle. She puts a sleeping potion in all the wedding party’s cups except Diarmat and when they all drop, she “grabs him by the ears” and demands he take her away with him.
Never get between an Irish woman and what she wants.
Isolde is a much more passive, which shows the legend probably passed through Briton or Norman hands. Celtic women had rights that were rather unheard of in the western world. Unlike the film, they could not be forced to marry against their will. Irish women owned property and there is a legend of Maeve, the Irish Queen of Connaught who is the central mover and shaker in the biggest legend of Ancient Ireland, the Cattle Raid of Cooley, which involves Ancient Ireland’s biggest hero, Cuchulain. While Welsh women couldn’t own property or rule, they could get divorced, walk out on their husbands if abused (and then the abusive husband would have to deal with her male relatives, physically) or he became leperous or impotent, and retain rights to her children. EDIT: Adultery was more complicated. She could walk out if he caught him cheating, however if he managed to convince her to stay three times, as in she caught him cheating on three separate occasions and stayed, then she knew what she had gotten into and couldn't use that as grounds for divorce. (There was also no stigma attached to being born out of wedlock. If the man acknowleged the child in anyway as his own, even if he just gave her money or goods under the table to support the kid, the baby was his heir with as much rights as any children the man had in marriage.)
Guenevere’s obstinance and independance probably stems from the Authruian legend’s basis in ancient Brittany (the Bretons are more closely related to the Welsh than their French neighbors), though with the rise of Christianity, this female obstinance not only had to be punished, it had to be shown as destroying a knigdom. It is amusing that while the kingdom is ripped apart by Genevere’s adultry, by Malory’s account she had welcomed at least 3 by-blows of Arthur at her court. I can only imagine her gritting her teeth until Lancelot came around.
The movie stays somewhat true to the basic story of how Tristan and Isolde met though their discovery, though the historical set up is all wrong. No one was trying to unite Britian. Scott was pulling a Malory in reverse and incorporated that part of the Arthurian legend into T&I. Nor did Ireland have the kind of control in Britian implied in the film, certainly not over the entire island. Irish people are raiders by nature. They didn’t fight over land, but what they could steal. One could say the earliest cattle rustlers in the western world were the ancient Irish. Often local lords on the coast of Britain would strike a bargain with raiders (first the Irish on the west coast and later the Danes/Vikings on the east coast) of giving them payment to send them on their merry way with no bloodshed. This suited all involved until the payments demanded got more onerous as which is what happened with King Mark, Tristan’s Uncle. He sends Tristan out to fight the Irish Morholt, who was in fact Isolde’s uncle through her mother (no, no lecherously forboding scene in the kitchen, sorry).
It’s bloody. Both are mortally wounded and Morholt draggs himself back to Ireland to die in his sister’s arms.
So when Tristan and Isolde meet when he driftes ashore comatose and with no memory, she realizes he is her motal enemy for killing her blood when a peice of metal removed from Morholt’s skull turns out to fit the gap kocked out of the blade of Tristian’s sword. So, it’s not love at first sight for her.
Tristian returns to Ireland. Mark, one day pressed by his retainers to begett an heir, declares he will marry the woman who’s golden hair a sparrow just dropped in his window. Tristan, already halfway besotted with Isolde, instantly recognizes who’s hair it is (this is medieval romance, bear with me) and packs off the Ireland to fetch the fetching princess.
Isolde, resigned to her fate, mixes up a love potion for her and Mark to share to make the first few years of marriage a little easier, but on the return trip her maid accidently pours it out into the wine glasses of Tristan and Isolde.
Whoops.
It’s very similar set up to the Arthur-Genevere-Lancelot triangle where everyeone adores one another and tries as hard as they can not to cause any other one pain. The story goes on with the lovers denying one another for honor sake and then having at it like rabbits when the honor breaks down. Well, this can’t last for long. Mark eventually tries to execute Tristan for adultery and consigns Isolde to a leper house as punishment. Tristan makes the derring-do escape, rescues Isolde and they ride off into…
The potion wears off.
*sigh* O.K. back Isolde honorably goes to Mark and Tristan goes to the continent and marries Isolde of the White Hands (no relation, but awfully similar). Eventually Tristan is mortally wounded in battle and sends for first Isolde to heal him with the caveat that if she isn’t coming, the ship should use black sails. Isodle W.H. says by his bedside and watches the window and as Isolde’s white sailed ship appears on the horizon, she tells him the sails are black and he dies on the spot. So she runs in, sees he's dead and dies on the spot of grief. Thus supplying the necessary tragic scene for the ending of this moral story.
Romeo and Juliet got nuthin’ in this pair.
Anyway, for those just watching the film, it’s very entertaining. Lots of good sword fights.
Just Heinous
Mentally Ill Troops Sent Into Combat in Iraq
“The Hartford Courant, citing records obtained under the federal Freedom of Information Act and more than 100 interviews of families and military personnel, reported numerous cases in which the military failed to follow its own regulations in screening, treating and evacuating mentally unfit troops from Iraq…
Twenty-two U.S. troops committed suicide in Iraq last year. That number accounts for nearly one in five of all noncombat deaths and was the highest suicide rate since the war started, the newspaper said.
The paper reported that some service members who committed suicide in 2004 or 2005 were kept on duty despite clear signs of mental distress, sometimes after being prescribed antidepressants with little or no mental health counseling or monitoring. Those findings conflict with regulations adopted last year by the Army that caution against the use of antidepressants for "extended deployments."
And Bush is busy cutting Veteran’s health, including mental health, disability and death benefits.
What’s this about “Supporting the Troops” again?
I’m telling you, it’s time to go back to the day when it was expected of our presidents to have military (real military) service. I don’t want another dipwad who has no idea what it’s like to be shot at making decisions about where, when, how and most especially, WHY American military personnel are shot at.
Not Trolling
Bush Defends Domestic Spying
My worry isn’t that Bush will use access to phone record to “troll through personal lives”, my worry is that he will target free Americans who criticize that government, such as myself, as a “threat to national security” and harass and incarcerate us. Remember also that SCOTUS is still ducking on ruling whether a person can be thrown in jail indefinitely with no charges brought against them. Combine that direct violation of Article One of the Constitution with the violation of the 4th amendment and you have a very, very scary America.
Most of the Left leaning people I know wonder why I’m a firm believer in the 2nd amendment when I don’t even own a gun. This is why. (Well, that and the people who need them for hunting.) If Bush didn’t have to contend with an armed populace, it frightens me what he and the neo-conservatives would try.
He’s already suggested deploying troops on American soil.
I Really Wish McCain Wouldn’t *Do* Things Like This
At least he was supporting political dissent.
McCain garnered a lot of favor from me for speaking out against the U.S. Government’s use of torture in Iraq. McCain seems to be a classic or traditional small government paleoconservative, which while I don’t agree with them on several points, I can at least respect the philosophy. Of course is being vilified by the evangelical neo-conservative.
Falwell said, "McCain has sold out to the liberal element of the party and is purposely closing himself off from the important conservative base of the GOP. The result of that policy will not result in a 'big tent,' but a circus tent."
He did not. He just took a stand one what he perceived as something inherently wrong and for the neo-con right to try to paint being against torture as part of a “liberal agenda” rather than Humanity and Rational Thought 101 is disgusting. Utterly vile. Nor does McCain have anything to apologize to Falwell for. Falwell’s comments were blatantly intolerant and he was using the horrific deaths of 3,000 people as a political tool (remember how the ACLU was included in that rant? Tell me it wasn’t political.) to further his agenda of intolerance.
The problem is McCain is falling into the same trap Dole did: He’s trying to be all things to all people and becoming nothing to everyone. Kissing the Bush administration’s butt is turning off voters like myself who might be tempted to “cross party lines” to vote for him and what this article makes clear is that unless he “drinks the kool-aid” and converts wholeheartedly to Bush’s faith-based politics (not Christian faith, but the way Bush lets his myopic belief in a worldview rule his decisions and actions rather than facts and rational thought), he’s not going to get the evangelical right. While he is doing all this he is forgetting the majority of the county: People in the mushy middle who do not fall into either extremist category but hold to some conservative ideals and some liberal ones. After 8 years of this gawdawwful, unethical scandal ridden administration, the Republican party HAS to bring someone to the fore with principles. Someone who is going to make a stand and say “no this is wrong”. McCain made a great running start, but he’s losing ground by spreading himself too thin.
GM Comes Around.
The H1 To Be Abandoned.
“GM has steadily expanded the Hummer line but shrunk the models' size. In 2002, GM introduced the H2, a medium-size version, and last spring it brought out the H3, the smallest of the group. The H3, which sports a 5-cylinder engine, is popular, but the entire Hummer group has been outsold this year by the Toyota Prius, a gas-electric hybrid. A key member of GM's board of directors has suggested that GM scrap Hummer altogether to save cash.”
Wow.
Not only will we not have to deal with the sheer obnoxiousness of what some people have termed the “ultimate in penile compensation” (let’s face it, the only person who can legitimately own a Hummer is Robby Gordon because he actually uses it), could this be a sign of economic, social and environmental responsibly becoming part of the American popular culture?
Gods, let hope so.
To Deal With a Dichotomy
I’ve had people point out to me how it sounds odd that someone who has environmentalism as a (just one) cornerstone of her political ideology to enjoy auto racing.
That fact is the fuel consumed and pollution put out by an entire race weekend (that’s three races) is a drop in the bucket compared to a single morning commute within the city of Los Angeles. For an environmentalist group to attack NASCAR is an empty symbolic gesture, utterly meaningless as it does not address the real problem: How all of America depends on fossil fuels. Check out the CIA World Factbook. As of 2003, America consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day. How much do we produce? 7.6 million barrels per day in 2005.
(And we’ve already gone over the ANWR thing. There’s isn’t enough there to make it worthwhile to anyone other than oil companies.)
Alternative energies must be found, and soon.
Darlington
Congrats on a good run for Dale Jr. I think that’s one of the best races he’s run at Darlington (not his favorite track). Now I understand that poor bastard was sick as a dog while doing it. Impressive. *golf clap* Mark Martin got 8th, continuing on his consistent march towards the championship. And Elliott…what the hell happened? Qualified 6th, charged two 4th place for two laps and then *shoom* straight to the back where he spent the rest of the night trying to claw his way out of the 30’s to 29th place finish. DJ didn’t do well either, so perhaps it’s something shop related but Elliott starting out so hot and then going so cold, that’s weird. Did something break?
Keep your chin up SkiSad, we haven’t even hit the halfway mark yet. And nice job keeping it out of the wall. Actually good job to all the drivers, from what I heard there were a lot of great saves out there tonight.
EDIT: BOO! Yates bumped Elliott from the Citifinancial Car. That program was having trouble no matter who was behind the wheel. Boo! Give Elliott his ride back!
BTW-That commercial for the Daytona 500 men’s cologne on MRN is quite possibly the lamest radio commercial I have ever heard. Guys want to get chicks. If you’re trying to sell them cologne, shopping for socks is the wrong way to go about it.
Still Kipling Along.
Well, nothing came of my search for fieldwork among the contract archaeologists. I started looking too late in the planning season, all the slots were filled. Something might come up later, but for now I signed up with a bunch of temp agencies in the area and found a job for a month or so as an Executive Secretary.
In the meantime, I’ve received an invitation to join the Honors program which looks pretty darn cool, not only for the smaller classes and access to graduate level courses but you get to do an Honors project that can be pretty much anything from researching a thesis to fieldwork. Tres’ cool.
I also looked up all my professors for next semester and found out the (only) Russian Instructor blows, so I’m going to get a language program and work through it over the summer.
Happy Mother’s Day!
EDIT: O.K. I gotta share this one.
There are a few kids running around the apartment complex and kids are endlessly fascinated by Rutger, since he is so small and so tolerant so we’ve gotten to know each other a bit.
So one of them just asked me,
“You got any kids?”
“No.”
“You ever have kids?”
“Nope.”
“Don’t you want to get married?”
*blink*
*blink*
Now the upshot of the conversation is I should have kids so I can get an X-Box so they can come over and play, but there was that instant I thought…
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know I had to prove my fertility first…”
*chuckle*
posted by KiplingKat | 12:12 PM
18 Comments:
*blink* i love kids. they're so rude, and blunt, and totally inapropriate - and if they didn't say it sometimes and just clear the air, people might get really angry. if an adult said that, you'd be pissed, but from da yoots, it's like a little reality check. (so i need to marry and breed...for video games?)
tristan and isolde - i saw this with the stalker. he shouted throughout (history major, he was) so not great memories of all THAT, but, on the upside, it was pretty funny to see classically trained brit actors (mmm, rufus sewell) feigning terror at the "irish menace".
"Seamus! Doncha be drenkin me duty-free! Or-I-will-enslave-your-island."
heeheehee
skiSad has more in common with us than we realized: he's always a bridesmaid, never a bride. if they would just get him on some mainstream talkshows, or a walk-on role on days of our lives or something, let the estrogen brigade get a gander at all that hunty hickness, he'd probably have sponsers out the wazoo. (And Exfoliate! i'm anal retentive about skin, he hurts me when i see what he's doing to his face. just a little moisture, please, it looks so hurtful! jr, too, needs sunscreen desperately. i can't be the only redhead in the world with skin-issues)
anyway, metro 'em up and show 'em off, beat jeffie at his own game. i'd totally volunteer to be stylista, but my dignity will not bend quite that far. (a few more weeks at my job, and it'll be a different story)
I think Elliott exfoliates every time he shaves. If you notice the natural beard-line comes up to his cheekbones. He just needs to worry about the forehead.
Metrosexual? Well Dale’s ½ way there (his DVD included a segment on him shopping for suits and his bathroom would have Martha Stewart trembling in envy), but leave my hunty-hick diamond in the rough! I wanna see him when he comes back from hunting all hairy and sweaty and elated. Grrrowl. *maul* Actually I think the SkiSad groundswell has already begun (I always jump on the bandwagon after it leaves the gate). Give it about a year. In the 2nd half of 2007 sponsors will be falling all over him when his contract is up in 2008. It sad that the stars haven’t aligned for him under Yates, but I doubt he will have much of a problem finding another seat if it comes to that. I think he just likes running the Busch series and with the multiple drivers it was a low pressure gig he could have fun with. Between that, Darlington and DJ leaving last weekend must have really sucked for him.
Re: X-Box. Given the sort of men I tend to hang out with I can see it being part of the bridal registry, but somehow I don’t think it’s an appropriate baby shower gift….maybe the games themselves? “Oh, look! Duplo for the baby and EA Sports for Daddy…” RE: Reality check. Yeah, yeah kids can be. A cuple days later the same kid asked me how old I was and “You ain’t never been married?...Don’t you get lonely?” *blink*blink* “I really try not to think about that, so If you’ll excuse me I’m going to go upstairs and work on my thesis, pack for a kayaking trip, see about a semester at sea and slam my head against the wall. Thanks.” Grr. Much different than last “grr.”
Re: Rufus Sewell. Must agree. Like first knight, that was a casting choice which left the audience wondering what the heck was wrong with the girl in the middle. Re: Seamus. *lol* The truth is beyond references in legends like Tristan and Islode, there is next to no evidence of the Irish having much of anything to do with the British Isles before the Middle Ages. The Vikings invaded and established Dublin in the 9th century, (which is where Irish like Liam Neeson come from) The Vikings being like the Irish times ten. But In the Dark Ages the Irish were pretty much happy trucking along all by themselves, scaring the living beejeezus out of the Romans (the Romans declared Ireland “not worth invading”, but that was after Caesar himself got his ass kicked) or anyone else’s who landed on their shores. There’s actually evidence that the Irish were very involved in the greater trading networks of the Mediterranean during this time. Exporting livestock and their products and slaves, importing just about everything they could get their hands on and squabbling amongst themselves.
Remember God invented whiskey so the Irish wouldn’t take over the world.
I love Vikings.
Liam Neeson? eh, not so much.
Irish world takeover? is that what the whiskey said?
I'm getting pissed at Jade. I'm like the kid in class with my hand always up, and the teacher's like "anyone else"? i'm sure i said some stupid thing to offend him (like calling him a democrat) or maybe he's just sick of me using his blog as a soapbox from which to spout...but everyone does that! i'm not up on my netiquette, but i thought i was pretty well-behaved.
frustrating, because i don't know anyone else who could answer my record label question with anything but A) sure! it's destined to succeed!; or B)what an asinine idea! nothing like that could ever work, because you're not already rich, connected, blabbity blah...
i need an answer with, oh, i dunno, perspective?
but he's not dear abby, so i guess i'm screwed for an answer.
so you like 'em dirty and "rough", eh? must be from Maine. seriously, if i could find a guy who kept the bathroom neat and had good hygiene, i'd be all over that - like white on rice. bark on a tree. ugly on an ape. I'd be ON it.
as for suit purchases: dude, jr CONSTANTLY looks like an unmade bed. i dunno where he's buying these suits, but unless it's armani, it doesn't count. and if it is armani (which i doubt, they never fit him right, and an armani sooooo would or he couldn't leave the store with it) then he'd need to be slapped for whatever terrible things he does to his clothes. didn't he give his banquet speech with a spit-ball on his lapel 2 years ago? feckin' slob.
psychically (sp?) pre-empting your "que?" on armani-suit-luv: i worked at a publisher in nyc staffed almost entirely by models. it was like, 6 models, me, and the boss. crazy. anyway, the boss-man had an "old" armani that he gave to the boys, and then came the night when they had 3 events in one evening and all 3 wanted to wear the suit. comedy ensued. as in: me holding one of them up by the waist (i'm in 4" heels, of course) as he changed pants on the subway going around a curve to shouts of "don't get it dusty! keep it off the ground!" these guys were 3 different heights, 3 different body types (young/tall/skinny, older and "fit", 26 and ssssmokin' hot) and the magical armani fit all of them beautifully and made them irresistable to both possible employers and appreciative young women.
true story. if you were a man, i'd tell you to get an armani suit RIGHT NOW. even if you work in space, just find a place to wear it and your life will change.
i wish girls had it that easy.
my "roomba" is making screaming sounds from the living room. i swear that thing has a death wish. i've had to save it from itself 3 times while typing this. but it's cute, so i chuck it under it's little robotic chin and rescue it from inevitable dismemberment.
People in the NYC have such great stories. If it didn’t move at such a frenetic pace I would love to live there. It’s like the last great borough in the nation. My only NYC story is getting blitzed at the Algonquin and loudly arguing theology with the Ethiopian Jews in Times Square to sober up. After I withdrew from the fray I was chatting with a bystander about it. He asked me where I was from and I said “L.A.”
“Shit! You’re a tourist!
And I have to agree on Armani. Those suits look great incredible, at least the ones I have been told are Armani. My fashion knowledge is slim to poor. Can’t identify designers on sight (nor do I have a shoe fetish, those genes by-passed my X chromosomes completely). I don’t know if Dale bought an Armani or not, he was buying several. I have seen him in suits that were very poorly tailored, but I couldn’t tell you what they were. Dale always looks like an unmade bed because his eyes don’t open until 2pm. He may be ambulatory, but his eyes don’t open before then.
Actually if you go to the Citifinancial racing site, they have a pic of Sadler you would find tres’ pleasing. He looks European. *chuckle* He looks fantastic, very handsome, he really does.
http://www.citifinancialracing.com/?RedirectID=CFRACE_TXT_CFL_PRTL_VAN&CreativeID=RACING_VANITY&ProspectID=08F14E16D07D48AEBF774319957A6641
Re: Men and bathrooms. It’s sounds like you and I need to switch dancing partners. I always ended up with the neat freaks for whom I had to leave everything “just so”. One of my exes would have fits if I moved a magazine to a different spot. My last would spend more time getting ready for work than I would getting ready for a date, including using eyebrow pencil to fill in one side of his goatee.
I like a man to look clean and neat when we go out, take some pride in his appearance to be sure. But there something about man in his raw beer drinkin’, BBQ grillin’, sports watchin’, girl oglin’, stunt pullin’, gadget/mechanical obsessed, three-stooges lovin’, competitive/sportsman, goofball-at-some-points-quiet-masculine-strength-at-others state that I find utterly charming. I just like ‘em.
Re: Jade. I don’t know. You certainly haven’t done anything wrong, or at least no more wrong than I or Denise or JYD has. Coming from someone who has been on the internet since AOL 2.0 days your netiquette is fine. (Especially in the terms of the NASCAR fanbase. Hoo.) Have you tried e-mailing him direct? I truly don’t think it is personal at all. His mood seems to have gone downhill over the last couple months, shorter temper etc. You’ll notice the political rants have trickled to a minimum. Maybe he is losing interest in blogging? I theorize he was hoping for the readers of the site to be more than a bunch of “squealing juniorfans”, more publicity professionals and such, but he got us. *chuckle*
Then again, one thing you always have to have in mind is that on the internet you are only seeing one or two facets of a person, there’s a lot going on in RL that an internet pal doesn’t know about that can affect how they come across in cyberspace. The SciFi/Fanatsy board I belong to has been a community literally for years and every once in a while one of them will be going through something and it will completely change who they seem to be. Someone who expressed themselves eloquently will suddenly start swearing every sentence because they and the SO are going through a rough patch. The trick is to A. Not take it personally. B. Be open and understanding and C. ask if something is up. Maybe we should ask if Jade is o.k.?
I’d certainly try e-mailing him with a “Hey, I was being serious. I respect your experience and knowledge of the industry and would really appreciate your opinion on this.”
Roomba’s rule. I can’t wait for mine to gain sentience.
I woke up this morning with "Redneck Yachtclub" stuck in my head and it's still there!
Yippy skippy! I've signed up for the honors program and the "semester at sea" program I was looking at would probably count as honors credit!
Just have Rutger to worry about tho'.
*Kip still does a little snoopy dance at her desk*
So how would you be helping your friend out with his record label?
reverse order because my attention span is wee:
record label: we'd be, um, starting it. and if the cluelessness of that response doesn't tell you something... i work in publicity all the freaking time. political, non-profit, and the odd job for a friend's business. one of the perks of moving back to where you grew up is knowing EVERYONE. an old nyc bestest-buddy was supporting himself in l.a. for the last 2 years doing album covers and promo art, he and i had a business together back in the old days (when good ideas happen too young, it's almost like when marriage happens too young: you break it up not because you want to, but because you have to, and ya still stay friends) so he's been sending me some of his work before he hit it big finally publishing the graphic novel we had begun all those years ago. (now he's giving speeches at fantasy conventions, his work fills galleries, he's getting married, and i'm...what am i doing again?)
i have to interrupt: my grandmother just came in with our local rag, the gazette....and they printed my guiliani letter! the whole thing! i can't believe it! i've never had a paper print a letter of mine without first editing it so that it said the exact opposite of what i actually wrote (bergen record) or have not already been working there (high school, college, 7 mile times, and now the herald) nana's priceless comment? "so the pen is mightier than the sword" and she handed me the pape."I just hope you don't get attacked" over her shoulder as she walked away. yesterday the first ever edition of the magazine i write for came out, and we've already gotten a huge response (positive) from it. i'm amazed that people not just notice but care. it's cool as hell, and feels good. and now this. i'm on a a role.
which can only mean that disaster is on it's way...
anyway, budster sean wants me to sing on demo which will serve as practice session for our various editing/producing skills. once it's together and we then cut our teeth on how to promote and follow, we could then ostensibly do the same for the million-odd starving musician/waiters we know who are like big drunken lumps of pop-star meat left lying around...talented, hard-working meat, but still just drunken meat. if we figured out how to promote our meaties, we could all be wildly wealthy! and wear better clothes! and go to better parties! and they'd spend it all on better drugs! and we'd never be friends again.
luckily, it's almost certainly doomed.
but i get to si-iiinng. (smirk)
speaking of drunken meat, i'm off to a will and grace party. (i'm redheaded and ditzy with a flair for physical comedy, sean is gay and very responsible and always perfectly dressed. which is quite close enough to will and grace as i wanna get, thank you) to be honest, it's really an excuse to drink and watch tv while disguising it as a social event. weeee!
and i forget what else i was going to say, because i have no attention span.
i'll finish later (depending on amount of wine). that guiliani letter was probably the single biggest slam of another human being i've ever come up with (although heartfelt...and surprisingly polite, under the circumstances) i may get beat up. this is a very "red" town. (and i worked in a nice dig at cristian coalition leader ralph reed, too, keep in mind my stepfather is choir director and fill-in minister 'round here. Doooomed, i tell you!)
pray for me. ha!
semster at sea! AAAAUGGHH! my jealousy overwhelms me!
Congratulations on your literary successes! That’s wonderful! I am, of course, dying to read your letter. Does the Gazette have a website? And I’m so glad to hear the first edition of your magazine was so well received. Would this be the one you were interviewing tapirs for? That’s great! I hope you had a wonderful time at the party enjoying the glow (and not being attacked).
Don’t try to make the other shoe drop. ;)
Actually one of my friends by in CA did the same thing you guys are going through now: self published an album with her band. The internet sales were pretty brisk, so don’t forget that aspect of it. Sounds like a lot of fun and a great experience (they always say that about things that are torturous at the time, but I hope it’s a lot of fun for you too.
Funny you should talk about a graphic novel, that is one of my big regrets too. I started working on one with an artist I met randomly in a book store in those elder days of yore (he was utterly agog at finding a girl that read comic books…yes, I still have my collection), but then honestly flaked out. The kid was good to. I’m sure he’s in the business now. Not that I don’t appreciate all the experiences I have had since then and feel great about the path on I’m on now, but that’s one of those stupid-19-year-old-moments I kick myself for not taking full advantage of.
So I would say at least give it a try. You always kick yourself more for what you didn’t do than for what you did.
Re: Sailing. I really hopes this come together. Blue water sailing experience (as opposed to poking around a bay in a little 14’ lido, which is all I have done, or sailing up and down the coast) would be invaluable to a Maritime Historian, not to mention a hell of a lot of fun. To understand the needs of sailing to better interpret what you find. (Plus I just like it out there.) And it looks like an awesome program. You spend 6 weeks at Woods Hole doing class work and then 6 week at sea.
However, there are many logistics to work out before it happens, so don’t get too jealous yet. I have to somehow work this in around field school over next summer and my required four semesters of foreign language. Then there’s paying for it *ack* and of course, I have an old dog to consider. The only time Rutger has boarded for any length of time over a week it was with my other two dogs so he was still with his pack, not to mention much younger. Now he’s 15, with a heart condition and I (and the cats, which could stay in the apartment to be looked after by my neighbor) are all he has. My parents, bless their sweet and supportive souls, have said they could take him for the term, but I want to check with the cardiologist to see if he can take that sort of change. I don’t want to get an e-mail at sea saying that my dog literally died of a broken heart because he felt I abandoned him.
If worse comes to worse, I can squeeze this program in between Uni and Grad school. I’m hoping not though. This would take care of all my University Honor credits in a single semester. Not to mention, as I have said, being a challenge, a blast and something I have always wanted to do.
On the more immediate front, I have to decide wether to go down to the local sports dive to watch the All-Star (and event I look forward to all year) or drive into Raliegh for a Fark party (my first).
I have to admit, i have no idea what a fark party is.
for that matter, "redneck yachtclub"...also a mystery.
i hear your idealized version of manly mates, and yes, it's a fun image to keep warm and fuzzy on cold nights an all that...buuuuutt:
i lived with brothers. mean nasty brothers, who although i love them now, were mean and nasty to the only girl way back when. also dirty. loud. obnoxious. double-dealing. frustrating. close-ranked. need i go on? since then, my prissy little ways seem to be both catnip and K2 to a certain type of man: he wants me, to prove something to himself with. so i've had my fill of big, sloppy, socks-on-the-kitchen-table, got dressed in the dark every day, "ohhhh, but shaving makes my FACE huuuuurrrt" (never mind that i look like a burn victim from one kiss) cares only about his ego and what i can do for it, jackasses. I'd like an adult please, and i figure i'll be able to spot him because he won't look like messy five year old or a homeless person.
or maybe i'm just losing my sense of humor. perhaps both?
point is: there's a place for all that manarifficness, but it isn't the first date. and anyone i take up with now had better be able to hold my interest for at least one date that doesn't involve me drinking my way thru it. after i successfully have that, i'll regroup and form a new wishlist for after.
there's one around now that i truly care about, but he's a tragic mess. good heart, great personality, buuuut: drinks to point of near unconsciousness at least 4 nights a week, does nothing else. works a job he can do in whatever condition he arrives in. no go. i want to help him, but having been in the "lost puppy" biz for awhile now, i know i can't. his mom died a few years back, and he's latched on to this idea of me as the "good girl" who will change him or something. i've also been down this road before. from now on i'm not getting involved with anyone who "needs" to be changed. or even "wants" to be changed. cause you know that won't last, and then i'll be the unreasonable, demanding girlfriend. from now on, it's come as you are, with a dress code. which makes sense to me, anyway. you sound like you've been blessed with narcissists, which i'd like to know how you go about attracting. i've tried everything with my hair...
on other topics: nyc was fun, i'm glad i saw it before it became something else. i don't think i'd go back now. the memories don't help, exactly, but part of my issues with rudy is how he sold the city to the highest bidder. all the fun stuff is gone.
speaking of, i doubt the gazette has a website, they're pretty lame. cmcherald.com does, though, so check that out if ya want.
jade does seem to have lost what was once a personal blog to the demands of joonyerdom. that man must have nightmares about taking the official s**t of budweiser, if you'll pardon my language. i'd go insane.
almost shift change, if my replacement ever shows.
Ooo..Nononononono. Alcoholics a BIG NoNo. Can you tell him to come back when he has straightened himself out?
It always sucks royally when you care about them. I understand. But you can’t fix them. Period.
Shawn the “don’t move my stuff” guy to I would willingly wish upon you (that one broke up with minimal bad feelings on either side, it’s just wasn’t going anywhere) but I wouldn’t wish Steve, the eyebrow pencil wielding Narcissus, on my worst enemy. He was also the pathological liar who cheated on me. You don’t want that mind screw. I met both of them in vastly different circumstances, though both were what would qualify as “fringe”. Shawn I met at a D&D game and Steve I met through the Neo-paganism. I’d stick to D&D games.
And don’t fall for that “all geeks are pale scrawny whimps that live in their parents basement” stereotype Shawn played defensive line in college. He was 6’1” and just about as broad across the shoulders. He was the factory manager and to this day whenever I see him it is a “Damn! I forgot how good looking you were.” moment. Many of the guys I played with were ex-armored cavalry. To this day I get to call a 50 year old black man who was once drafted to the Kansas City Chiefs “Sis” because we once played twins in the game (he played female characters better than many women did, kinda impressive and kinda weird.)
That’s all I can tell you I really hope you find someone.
Oh, I understand what you are saying. Especially on needing to engage my mind first. I can’t (can Not) bed a guy without that intellectual *click* which is what leads to the chemical/physical *click*. As an old friend of mine once told me, “You’re going spend more time talking than you are f**king, so find someone you enjoy talking with.” We don’t have to agree on everything, he doesn’t even need to be formally educated, but he at least must think, read and learn new things throughout his life. Be able to give me a different perspective and listen to mine. Conversation is step number one. The brain is the most important erogenous zone and if you can’t engage that, you’re not going anywhere hon.
AND the shaving thing, which is why I prefer men with beards. Shawn had a 5 o’clock shadow by 11am. He had to shave twice and day and he did so conscientiously, but even then I would actually have to use Neosporin on my chin in between dates it would be so raw. A beard provides natural er, lubricant, if you will. Feels much nicer than stubble (and I would have to say I actually prefer it over clean shaven, but that’s a personal choice). Keep it trimmed and neat of course, but it’s much nicer kissing man with facial hair than having to deal with stubble at 2am.
Besides, it tickles.
And I also have had my fill of being either a challenge or a mother. They either go after me to conquer or to take care of them. Either egotists or worms. I want an equal. Is that so much to ask for?
The funny thing is, the prevailing theory in anthropology for the sexual dimorphism of the human species (why men and women are so different) is that we (women) made them (men) that way. Think about it. It takes two to tango but who hold all the reproductive cards? We do. We choose which men will pass their genes on and which will not. Over the 200,000 years of human history, female humans selected mates based on a certain set of criteria that we now see prevalent in that half of the species. We wanted them big, we wanted them strong, we wanted them hairy, we wanted them flat chested, and yes we wanted them aggressive. We wanted protectors and providers.
The difficulty is now, in this post industrial environment we’re now trying to undo hundreds of millennia of natural selection and it’s hard on them. Cities are communal, women do much better in that sort of situation than men do. Considering how much time was spent chasing mastodons across the open wilds vs. how much time we have spent in cities, men have actually done pretty damn well adjusting.
And I’m not trying to start an argument here, just giving my POV. Lord knows there are enough men of both types for both of us.
I also had mean nasty older brothers. Broke my collar bone once, even shot me with a BB gun (by accident, they were aiming for my bike tires). We still get together on holidays and talk about all the crap they did to each other and to me (4 years younger than the two boys, who were a year and a half apart) and my mother just shrivels into the couch feeling like a bad parent. And the thing is…
The thing is the morning of my elder brother’s first wedding, the groomsmen all showed up at the house to rouse my brother out of bed with supersoakers. The ensuing battle was quite hilarious and got rid of any nerves my brother was having (and trust me, given the psycho nature of his now ex-wife he had plenty of reason to have nerves).
I like that sort of thing, and I like doing it. As I said a lot of the femmy genes by-passed me: shopping, fashion, shoes, home decorating, etc. (Fortunately, not cooking, I do know how to cook..but then all the best cooks in my family are guys…*shrug*) I like to look nice, but the details just don’t interest me all that much. I get pedicures, I don’t waste 30 minutes whining about my cuticles. I need a new pair of sneakers so last night I went to the mall, walked straight in Reeboks, bought a pair and walked out. That’s my idea of shopping.
It’s not so bad now, what with Title 9 and such, especially with gals in our age group like you and I who have careers and real interests, but as I was growing up boys did the fun things. I wasn’t playing dress up, I was out in the woods with a flimsy homemade bow and arrows leading my braves on a raid. I didn’t raid the bathroom cabinet for mom’s make up, I raided it for whatever I could find for “chemical experiments” in the sink (fortunately I never found the Lysol and the bleach at the same time.) I was never coordinated enough for sports, but I loved playing them. I didn’t want a nail dryer for Christmas, I wanted Star Wars figures and I was scarred by my parents failure to buy me a remote controlled truck until I got old enough to buy my own.
Men just have a different perspective on the world that’s interesting. I’ve had male friends and when they are being really honest (usually after they have give up trying to sleep with you *chuckle*) it’s a very different. Having guy friends was one way I learned to step out of my worldview and see discussions and issues from another point of view. It’s like you looking at the same thing from two steps to the right, and occasionally upside down. I mean read Henry Rollins stuff. Get in the Van is great, but there are parts of it that I as a woman can’t understand fully because I’m not hardwired that way (and yet the guy is very respectful of women without yielding his masculinity in iota) but it’s an interesting perspective.
Yeah, I like the 4 star dining experience sometimes, but if on a first date we end up at the batting cages or an arcade I’m quite cool with that (as long as he is well presented, Showing up for a date in a sweat-stained t-shirt isn’t going to win him any favors). Sometimes I just want to go for a drive, I find that incredibly relaxing. As long as we can talk about anything and nothing for hours it doesn’t mean we have to do it all the time. Yeah, I like discussing Bryon and Sartre, but I can’t do it all the time. I do like museums and the theatre and the symphony and some of the more estrogen laden films, but I have no interest in making someone sit through them if they aren’t enjoying it.
So he needs to be able to engage my mind, but sometimes I want to come home and have a sexy wrestle for the remote.
I guess what I‘m saying is that guy-guys are fun and neat and interesting if I could find one with a brain that I could have a great conversation with, that had ethics (there’s the hard part) that wasn’t married this lioness would pounce on him and drag him back to her lair.
Re: Jade, I don’t know what is up with him. It could be Budweiser, it could be Jooonyer, it could be a lot of things. And that’s just the stuff we can see, we have no clue what’s going on in his personal life. Somethin’ ain’t right in Rivercity that’s for sure.
Will write more tomorrow...
BTW-What does it mean when someone flashes you the shocker?
I know what the sign itself means, but what does it mean when it is flashed at you? Is it offesive or cool? I was wearing my 38 jersey and I heard this "Sadler!" from behind me and a guy flashed the shocker at me...is that like flipping me off or a sign of commeraderie?
I wrote a response, and then this dumbass computer crashed. here's 2nd try:
i don't know what the shocker is. if it's the middle finger, i don't think that's friendly.
make no mistake: i like men who look like men. i just don't like them to look like homeless men. i like 'em big, and noticeably not women. i am at heart a simple beast.
i'm down with prankin' and playing and being silly and messy. i just have reached the age where i don't confuse that with flirting anymore. the days of a frog down the back or the ponytail yank have long passed, although they were fine at the time. i'm ready to move on. i have this dream of being an adult someday before old age turns me back into a child. this cultural insistence on eternal adolescence (everyone's insecure about their appearance, struggling to make it financially, the merry-go-round of hookups and fights, not accomplishing anything with their time but hangovers, regrets, or children they can't support, no "careers" just "yobs", and constant high school beahvior and gossip) is getting to me. i want the life i thought i'd have "when i grow up" as a child. it was kickass, and much better than anything i've seen lately.
nor am i a comparitively girly girl. i was a tomboy when i was young, but now more laid back, i guess. i've always been athletic. i always played with boys, always competed. (4 brothers, almost all-male classes, 23 boys in the neighborhood, 1 other girl who was my archrival - now friend -no real female presence except my mother, with whom there are various issues)
there was just something to the feeling i got the first time i was really turned out and people treated me better because of it. i'm comvinced that your clothes and stuff are just the advert to the world "this is how i see myself, now act accordingly". it's not like i stroll in a ballgown, i still have to work in jeans and sturdy shoes, hair is always tragic, but the rest of it's pulled together. at the tv job, as we've already discussed, women tend to fall into 2 groups...and i'll be blunt: off camera angry "dykes" and on-cam "princess/bitches". i think a lot of women are choosing their roles in the workplace in direct response to how they're treated, too - but they're letting themselves fall into tired old roles and battling each other instead of the problem. i'm more of a conscientious objector. i'll lose the fight to make, say, the sports department treat me as anything but a bitch or a pair of boobs, so why am i going to get into a catfight with one of the female producers instead? it's stupid. they love it when there's a girlfight, they can't egg it on enough.
the irony being that both sports guys are weak weenies i could beat in any sport besides football...and even then i can easily outrun them, with my 25 mile/week goal. i was in every sport, every club...you kow how they say those who can't do, teach? well those who can't play sports get jobs talking about them instead, i'm convinced.
my "prissy" ways that annoyed my brothers had more to do with my insistence that they not beat me up, make a mess of my stuff, i don't like toilet humor (it's just unintelligent, and it's not funny anymore, y'know?) or hurt anything alive. i like living things ('cept spiders...also girly)
i've had the "4star dining" as you put it, from my ex who just used $ to make up for all the things that were wrong. not interested in that. i once opened a suitcase filled with gifts he'd brought me from paris...and the girl he was cheating on me with had cut everything inside to pieces. he had a girl in hong kong, that one in paris, another in switzerland...but i was supposed to stay at home and clean the apartment and make nice at company functions. bullshit. i helped him get that job, helped him with everything...he was clueless and sweet when we met. but as always, that was just the tip of the iceberg
this is getting long, so i'll send before it crashes...
if i may say so, women have a worldview that is also interesting. that is, when they get confident enough to share it, and stop competing over every damn thing. apparently the older you get, the easier that becomes..or so i've been told. you've heard a lot about what my girlfriends are up to, so i don't need to tell you that right now their worldview is totally f'ed up. "better beat up than alone" is, i think, a sign of some trouble.
as for rollins, he's cool sometimes, sometimes he's cool as hell. but respecting women IS masculine, it means the dude in question is confident enough to not have to prove anything by putting others down. some more adult behavior i'd like to see more of.
i sound bitter to myself lately, but then i am pretty tired. this schedule is not conducive to happy fun time. last night i was playing with my nephews, and i felt so much like myself, and i wonder why that should be a rarity or a shock. i know i'm doing the right things for the best reasons, so why is it driving me insane? i don't even like my speaking voice lately, i just sound like one of those premanently pissed people you hate instantly. or *i* hate instantly. why do i hate people instantly? i'm such a bitch. but then, i am pretty tired.
ugh.
i know what i need, and it isn't nice to say so, but it's soo true. what a shame my youth and exuberence are being wasted, and my energy spent on Work.
i'll be so horribly envious of semester at sea. i'd take care of your dog if i could, but my dog would go ballistic. he's possessive, just like some exes. anyway, i've noticed that people who "delay" things have a way of not doing those things. jump now, because ya never know what could change.
i got a random job offer up in new york the other day, but it's no go for me. i sure hope i'm right about "knowing" when the "right time" to leave nana to hospice or assisted living is. and i don't think i could go back to nyc again. everything ended on september 11, it just took me 2 years to admit it and leave. there's a big hole in the life i had, and the group i was part of, and it makes all the reasons to go back strangely uncompelling.
it's time to find some greener pastures. i just wish i knew what to do next. i'm a plodder: i make plans, and then make them happen. without that, i'm just adrift.
that's probably true of everyone, though.
Well, yeah. There’s being a kid and there’s being childish. What you describe, the adolescent behavior, the insecurity, the gossip and merry go round of relationships is being childish. Being an adult means taking responsibility for your own actions and we are living in a society where that simply is not encouraged anymore. Spill coffee into your lap? Sue! American society doesn’t encourage people to be adults.
All I can say is make your life the way you want it to be. Focus on just making your life and yourself into that person you dreamed of growing up and you find yourself in the middle of better quality men. Just worry about your life first, and the rest will take care of itself.
On being “grown up”. Well, my experience with that is from my mother’s family, which was old military society. My mother’s blood is so gawd-damn blue they consider the Vanderbuilts to be nouveau riche’. My great aunt has my great grandfather’s U.S. pilots license #117. He trained in bombers with LaGuardia. He had a watch from Woodrow Wilson (not that that’s a lot to brag about but…hey he was the President). The only reason my father got to marry my mother without comment was that he was in the Navy on the officer track. Drop me in a room filled with generals, admirals and senators and I’m can swim just fine, thank you.
And I’m not bragging here. At all. I know it sounds like I am I don’t usually talk about that side of the family because it does sound like I am bragging, but this is my experience and what shaped how I view “good relationships”.
But my Grandparents beautifully appointed home in Brookline Massachusetts that would have Martha Stewart agog was an emotional battle ground that affected my mother…horribly. My father had to step in when my alcoholic Colonel step-granddad shoved my pregnant mother up against a wall. She had a lot of issues coming out of that house. My other great Aunts married more happily, but the one who married the happiest was the one who married the guy she met on a ship after three months. They danced, played tennis, goofed around and were generally kids until Uncle Barry passed away. Peggy is still a big kid. Were they responsible people, absolutely, kept up careers and raised three children into good people, but they also were big kids who laughed a lot together which is part of love: laughter.
So I’ve seen the trappings of adulthood and call them what they are “trappings”. Yank my ponytail, but will you be honest with me and be there when I need you? That’s what matters. But that’s just not something you can tell on a first date. First date you are just looking to see if the two of you can laugh together.
And I understand what you are saying about tired roles and being a conscientious objector and I also think toilet humor is just lame (but you know, guys *shrug*) and cruelty is just cruelty, even with spiders.
RE: Are you sure you didn’t date a Steve Lewis Ashworth? Sounds like something my Narcissus Ex would pull. He once tried to convince me the cologne and beryl wood humidor were Christmas presents from his teenage niece and nephew. I’m sure the gal who gave them to him was told that the mahogany valet/chest was from them as well.
Re: Fark. O.k. at this point Fark is an internet institution. Fakr began as an e-mail of of online friends that would circulate weird/funny newspstories everyday and everyone would add their funny commentary. Eventually one guy: Drew Curtis, set up a website with a message board for people to list news stories with funny headlines and then everyone can comment on it. Now it’s not just the unusual and odd, but also the relevant as well. It’s incredibly addictive and one of the nexus points of the internet. If you want thing to go internet wide, get it on Fark.com or Somethingawful.com. Scientific America actually got a picture from one of their photoshop contests and published at as a serious research picture. The link to the site in on the bar of links to the left on my blog, or just go to http://www.fark.com . People there are pretty nice, the netiquette is well established. There are trolls and jerks, but there are also of a lot of people who are very knowledgeable about law, history, politics, science, you name it. If you are willing to read through the thread, you can actually learn a lot. Just once you jump in, it’s very addictive.
Re: The shocker. You probably have seen this already and just didn’t know what it was. It’s a hand gesture. Basically, fingers sticking out together and fold the ringfinger down with your thumb. What it means…I can be rude and crude, but what this symbol means goes even beyond my capacity. Here; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shocker_(hand_gesture)
The thing is, I’m not sure what it means when you flash it at a stranger.
Re: Respecting with putting down a sign of true security in oneself and adulthood. I agree completely. Rollins is the man. How many people you know who are stridently anti-Bush and anti-Iraq war who do regular USO tours? Re: “Respecting women IS masculine.” You are right. Sadly having spent so much time in this fanbase, I forgot that.
Ohh, what kind of puppy do you have?
You are right of course about letting opportunities pass us by. I’ve thought about that. If I do this it should probably be a sooner rather than a later, but I just want to be sure Rutger is going to be o.k. He would be with my folks, spoiled to death probably. I just hate the idea that he would think I have abandoned him. I’m just trying to get everything to “fit” at this point.
On the same note, with your 4 older brothers, couldn’t they look after your Nan? If I may pry, who did you lose on 9-11?
On being adrift. That I do understand. Going back to the office over the summer was a hard hit for me. It felt like a step back, like my accomplishment at school had never happened. I spent a couple days really depressed. But then I started making plans and working on this semester at sea and it’s better now. I can deal with three months of office work as long as I know I am moving forward.
You just need to find which direction to take. Just leave you ears and eyes open and let the universe show you the way. You’ll find it. I’m sure.
You do sound pretty worn around the edges. What are the "right reasons" you are working this schedule for?
re: shocker. i had heard of it, i just deleted it from my brain minutes after.
re: puppy. i have one overweight shihtsu. he is cool, but my grandmother spoils him to the point of him possibly joining a gang or something. he's dangerously over-indulged.
re: brothers. 3 are steps, unrelated to nana, the other lives nearby and has 2 kids. he tries, but he's not the most responsible person on earth. plus, he managed to wiggle out of responsibility within hours of nana's first heart attack, as did my mother, which is why i ended up driving down from new york just to handle the situation before it blew up. in those days nana's older sister was still alive, and she needed someone around, so i was there for her while nana was in the hospital, and then my mother *kindly* offered to take nana home, which actually meant dropping her off at the house alone with a bag of cheeseburgers and pills she couldn't pronounce or understand. after a heart attack. so i stayed on to manage for 6 months, then left for nyc again. but aunt got sick, nana was alone, had a stroke, needed help, and i came back so they wouldn't shove her in a home, sell her stuff, and spend all her money on themselves (as opposed to better quality of care, for instance). and here i still am, fighting a losing battle between time and greed.
re: nyc. i'd rather not go into 9/11 if possible, it's a bad topic for me. i lost a lot. not as much as some.
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