Thursday, February 14, 2008

Share the love.

In honor of Valentine's Day, why not sign the Million For Marriage petition?

It supports the belief that ALL Americans, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, deserve the rights, responsibilities and privileges that come with marriage.

Add your voice to those raised in support of marriage equality. The petition already has more than 875,000 signatures -- we're almost there!

Sign now at:

http://www.hrcactioncenter.org/campaign/millionformarriageac?rk=CpM9VC11sQJLW

Friday, February 8, 2008

The price of sanity.

"Optimism is true moral courage." -- Ernest Shackleton


Well, most of y'all know the news by now. I am appealing my Peace Corps rejection -- based, apparently, on a long-ago incident in my battle with depression. (I try not to blame myself for telling the truth on my initial application.)

I'm light-years from where I was eight years ago, and I'm convinced I'll never go to such a dark place again. I know, now, how to veer off the path long before hitting that dead-end.

But hard to convince strangers of that, when I'm just a faceless name on a piece of paper, 1,500 miles away.

Tomorrow I have an appointment for a comprehensive psychological evaluation. If that doesn't prove my sanity, nothing will. And the price of proving it? The low, low one-time payment of $648.

I get one chance at an appeal. It may not be possible to get past the bureaucracy, but I intend to see this all the way through, know I've done everything I could. Turns out I really am committed to this. (Insert joke here).



Inspiration of the day:


“Don’t fuck with me, fellas — this ain’t my first time at the rodeo.”
— Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest"

“You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your own wings on the way down.”
— Ray Bradbury (via Miz K)



Anthems of the day:

I Won’t Back Down / Tom Petty (actually, while I'm loving the sentiment, I hate the song)

I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got / Sinead O'Connor (beautiful message, beautiful song)

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Vow of celibacy.

Well, not that kind of celibacy. Don't really need to take a vow to avoid the unavailable. ;-)

No, I have decided to commit to two months without purchasing media in any form. No books, no magazines, no music -- not even a single iTunes download.

Inspired by a friend's pledge to formally forgo something in order to evolve beyond giving it so much emphasis in her life.

The thought occurred to me the other day that I have a difficult time simply enjoying music without acquiring it -- as if, by "owning" it, I can make it my own. (As a girl, I read that Louisa May Alcott started her writing career by copying, over and over, the words she admired by other writers, until her own style evolved. Didn't really happen for me. I wonder if a similar drive isn't at work here?)

So in part this is part of my attempt to stay in the moment ... to simply enjoy what I hear/read and not worry about whether/when I will want to hear/read it again.

Then there's the fact that despite all my whining about living in poverty, I easily drop $100 a month on books and music. Better spent on medical bills ... or -- think of it! -- dropped into my savings account.

Of course, there'll always be music and books that will speak to me strongly enough that I will indeed return to them again and again. A permanent moratorium this is not. In the meantime, I have plenty in my current collections to keep me occupied.

Next up: Can I possibly live without Internet at home? By dropping web/cable service, I'd save another $63 month ... and an infinite amount of free time, without the time-sucking addiction of looking up "just one more thing" ...

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Food for thought


That there's whatcha call a pun, people ...

New York Times: Rethinking the Meat Guzzler

An informative look at how consumption (our own over-, and our encouragement of it globally) is contributing substantially to climate change and other woes ...

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A weekend in quotes.


"Some people never go crazy,
What truly horrible lives they must live."
-- Charles Bukowski

"We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey."
-- Kenji Miyazawa (via Miz K!)

"Every day above ground is good."
-- Shannon on facing up to troubled times

"If it's dangling, you can bitch about it."
-- Shannon on penises