Just because we're paranoid, it doesn't mean they're not out to get us.
WASHINGTON - The government needs to establish guidelines for canceling or rescheduling elections if terrorists strike the United States again, says the chairman of a new federal voting commission.
Voting Official Seeks Terrorism Guidelines
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Monday, June 28, 2004
My Name in Lights... erm... Pixels
Finally, the piece I wrote for the Seattle WriterGrrls Zine has been published. I'm pretty happy with it. Here's an excerpt:
-----------
Ask anyone who knows me: I'm a girl with big feelings. I cry at dolphin shows. I cry while singing the national anthem at baseball games. I cry during tender hobbit embraces. I cry... well, you get the picture. Big feelings.
And this is true from way back. I wasn't the kid you'd find frying ants with a magnifying glass or pulling the wings off house flies. Not because I didn't want to touch said insects, but because... well... it would have hurt them.
Bear this fact in mind so that you might judge me less harshly when I tell you that I have a very clear memory of doing mortal harm to a few lightning bugs (or fireflies, if you prefer) one summer night in 1976. I'd like to say it was an accident...that I left them in a jar for too long without air or water (a frequent and somewhat more forgivable cause of bug mortality). But no—it was deliberate. I was six and the poor guys were simply in the wrong yard at the wrong time.
What prompted this insecticidal rampage? What summertime madness turned a good-hearted little girl into a killer of beings harmless and blinky? Two words: Peter Pan.
Read the rest here. And let me know what you think!
-----------
Ask anyone who knows me: I'm a girl with big feelings. I cry at dolphin shows. I cry while singing the national anthem at baseball games. I cry during tender hobbit embraces. I cry... well, you get the picture. Big feelings.
And this is true from way back. I wasn't the kid you'd find frying ants with a magnifying glass or pulling the wings off house flies. Not because I didn't want to touch said insects, but because... well... it would have hurt them.
Bear this fact in mind so that you might judge me less harshly when I tell you that I have a very clear memory of doing mortal harm to a few lightning bugs (or fireflies, if you prefer) one summer night in 1976. I'd like to say it was an accident...that I left them in a jar for too long without air or water (a frequent and somewhat more forgivable cause of bug mortality). But no—it was deliberate. I was six and the poor guys were simply in the wrong yard at the wrong time.
What prompted this insecticidal rampage? What summertime madness turned a good-hearted little girl into a killer of beings harmless and blinky? Two words: Peter Pan.
Read the rest here. And let me know what you think!
Friday, June 25, 2004
Morning Music Mix
Served up to me by my iPod this morning:
High Speed - Coldplay
Spoonboy - Ashley MacIsaac
Jack Hinks - Great Big Sea
So Far Away - Carole King
St. Caffeine - John Gorka
You Should Be Running - Pete Droge
I know What Kind of Love - Cry Cry Cry
Give a Little Love - Bay City Rollers
Prologue: Book II And The Escape From The Dursleys - John Williams
Couldn't Care Less About - Evan & Jaron
Out of Range - Ani Difranco
Credo - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Rainmaker - Maura O'Connell
I'll Spend My Life With You - The Monkees
Rapture - Peter Mulvey
Not a bad variety and lots of stuff I haven't heard in awhile. I often wonder whether my iPod has a hidden agenda, if it "randomly" gives me songs that my subconsious needs to hear that particular session. Yes yes, I do personify my favourite electronic device... and I'm sure that if my iPod and TiVo got together, they'd have quite the laugh over some of my listening and viewing choices.
Thank god an Air Supply song didn't come up in the list or everyone would know...
...but now I've said too much.
At the very least, the ties that I make between song titles, or the way a certain set of songs makes me feel, or the memories they bring up are a great way of doing a little internal check to see what's going on in my warped little psyche. Let's see what today's reveal...
High Speed... Running... Escape... Far Away... Out of Range...
Heh. My first thought is of the vacation time that we have planned... two full weeks including visits with all the grandmas and a weekend at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. I've heard a number of artists in this mix - John Gorka, Cry Cry Cry, Great Big Sea, Ani, Peter Mulvey - at past festivals. And I'm SO excited to go again as it's been three years since the last time (and four since we've camped). Whee!
Then, of course, there's the constant conflict I feel these days between on the one hand doing the work that I do which is safe and easy and comfortable, and on the other hand wanting to shake it all up, to just quit and move to doing full-time massage and doula'ing and writing. I'm scared to make that jump, there's no doubt about it... giving up the routine, the certainty of a paycheck of a known amount twice a month for unpredictable and spotty income.
So for now I'm moving slowly... the aforementioned vacation plans make it hard for me to throw myself into scheduling appointments and moving full-speed ahead with the marketing I need to do to build up a client base. Am I using that as an excuse, as a way to avoid... to escape... to run far away from the work I need to do? Possibly. Probably, even.
Oh wise and all-knowing iPod.
Stop analyzing me already and just cough up this Saturday's winning lotto numbers. Problem solved.
High Speed - Coldplay
Spoonboy - Ashley MacIsaac
Jack Hinks - Great Big Sea
So Far Away - Carole King
St. Caffeine - John Gorka
You Should Be Running - Pete Droge
I know What Kind of Love - Cry Cry Cry
Give a Little Love - Bay City Rollers
Prologue: Book II And The Escape From The Dursleys - John Williams
Couldn't Care Less About - Evan & Jaron
Out of Range - Ani Difranco
Credo - Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Rainmaker - Maura O'Connell
I'll Spend My Life With You - The Monkees
Rapture - Peter Mulvey
Not a bad variety and lots of stuff I haven't heard in awhile. I often wonder whether my iPod has a hidden agenda, if it "randomly" gives me songs that my subconsious needs to hear that particular session. Yes yes, I do personify my favourite electronic device... and I'm sure that if my iPod and TiVo got together, they'd have quite the laugh over some of my listening and viewing choices.
Thank god an Air Supply song didn't come up in the list or everyone would know...
...but now I've said too much.
At the very least, the ties that I make between song titles, or the way a certain set of songs makes me feel, or the memories they bring up are a great way of doing a little internal check to see what's going on in my warped little psyche. Let's see what today's reveal...
High Speed... Running... Escape... Far Away... Out of Range...
Heh. My first thought is of the vacation time that we have planned... two full weeks including visits with all the grandmas and a weekend at the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. I've heard a number of artists in this mix - John Gorka, Cry Cry Cry, Great Big Sea, Ani, Peter Mulvey - at past festivals. And I'm SO excited to go again as it's been three years since the last time (and four since we've camped). Whee!
Then, of course, there's the constant conflict I feel these days between on the one hand doing the work that I do which is safe and easy and comfortable, and on the other hand wanting to shake it all up, to just quit and move to doing full-time massage and doula'ing and writing. I'm scared to make that jump, there's no doubt about it... giving up the routine, the certainty of a paycheck of a known amount twice a month for unpredictable and spotty income.
So for now I'm moving slowly... the aforementioned vacation plans make it hard for me to throw myself into scheduling appointments and moving full-speed ahead with the marketing I need to do to build up a client base. Am I using that as an excuse, as a way to avoid... to escape... to run far away from the work I need to do? Possibly. Probably, even.
Oh wise and all-knowing iPod.
Stop analyzing me already and just cough up this Saturday's winning lotto numbers. Problem solved.
Friday, June 18, 2004
Opa!
Right now, as I type this, my purse is in Crete. Sadly, I am not.
Yes, you read correctly, Crete - the Greek island (aka paradise). My friend Sandy is accompanying my purse on this adventure, as she attends what looks to be a fabulous creativity workshop. She asked me to come along, but my bank account informed me that I could only afford to send my purse.
Lucky purse.
Lucky Sandy.
Non-purse-wearing, non-paradise-enjoying me.
If anyone is interested in sending me to Crete or any of the other wonderful locations where said creativity workshops are being held, feel free to donate to my PayPal account. My world-travelling purse and I would promise to send you a postcard, and of course I'd blog the whole thing and dedicate the book I'm sure to write as a result to you.
Yes, you read correctly, Crete - the Greek island (aka paradise). My friend Sandy is accompanying my purse on this adventure, as she attends what looks to be a fabulous creativity workshop. She asked me to come along, but my bank account informed me that I could only afford to send my purse.
Lucky purse.
Lucky Sandy.
Non-purse-wearing, non-paradise-enjoying me.
If anyone is interested in sending me to Crete or any of the other wonderful locations where said creativity workshops are being held, feel free to donate to my PayPal account. My world-travelling purse and I would promise to send you a postcard, and of course I'd blog the whole thing and dedicate the book I'm sure to write as a result to you.
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
The Missing Song
How am I to measure these feelings?
What the hell is one heartbeat away?
The distance doesn't care, it's completely unaware
Only the pounding of my heart is here to stay.
--Disappear Fear
Many thoughts about friendship, bitter and sweet, swirling today. I'm full of missing - missing Sherlyn (yes, already), who left this morning and who I won't likely see again for another couple of years, missing William (the lucky bum) who might at this very moment be cavorting with the honu in Hawaii, missing Jer - always, always missing Jer. Anastasia... Sheri... Mike.
A blessing and a curse of the internet - my life has been enriched beyond measure by the relationships that were made possible and/or strengthened by online communication, while at the same time I am separated by great distance from many of those whom I consider to be my closest friends. No dropping by for a quick visit or getting together for a movie; when you live in different time zones, even a phone call can be difficult to manage.
And yet. Even without seeing some of these folk for years at a time (Steve... Iggy... Krista), I'm continually amazed and gratified by how strong the connections remain.
Take Sherlyn for example (Please! Really! Take her! *g*). 10 years ago we started e-mailing after having "met" on the Indigo Girls mailing list. A few months later, she made her first trip to the States, staying with me in Ann Arbor for several days. We've probably, in total, spent less than a month of of actual face-to-face time in that 10 years, and both of us will admit that we're not the most consistent when it comes to regular e-mail correspondence. And yet, each time we get together, we're able to pick up where we left off as if she just lives up the block and we routinely borrow sugar from one another.
On a related topic, I've been struck lately by some new shifts that have happened at work (of all places!), brought about - again - by electronic communication. In the last few weeks, I've had virtual conversations that have crossed over that boundary that exists between co-workers into the realm of - not friendship, quite, but at least friendliness on a more personal level. It's been a really nice thing, allowing me to get to know people a bit better at a place where I usually function in self-imposed isolation (as I know that my days are numbered here, by my choice). That kind of communication, the meeting of minds and sharing of selves, is what feeds my soul, and I'm grateful for it in whatever context it arrives. Hurrah for IRC!
What the hell is one heartbeat away?
The distance doesn't care, it's completely unaware
Only the pounding of my heart is here to stay.
--Disappear Fear
Many thoughts about friendship, bitter and sweet, swirling today. I'm full of missing - missing Sherlyn (yes, already), who left this morning and who I won't likely see again for another couple of years, missing William (the lucky bum) who might at this very moment be cavorting with the honu in Hawaii, missing Jer - always, always missing Jer. Anastasia... Sheri... Mike.
A blessing and a curse of the internet - my life has been enriched beyond measure by the relationships that were made possible and/or strengthened by online communication, while at the same time I am separated by great distance from many of those whom I consider to be my closest friends. No dropping by for a quick visit or getting together for a movie; when you live in different time zones, even a phone call can be difficult to manage.
And yet. Even without seeing some of these folk for years at a time (Steve... Iggy... Krista), I'm continually amazed and gratified by how strong the connections remain.
Take Sherlyn for example (Please! Really! Take her! *g*). 10 years ago we started e-mailing after having "met" on the Indigo Girls mailing list. A few months later, she made her first trip to the States, staying with me in Ann Arbor for several days. We've probably, in total, spent less than a month of of actual face-to-face time in that 10 years, and both of us will admit that we're not the most consistent when it comes to regular e-mail correspondence. And yet, each time we get together, we're able to pick up where we left off as if she just lives up the block and we routinely borrow sugar from one another.
On a related topic, I've been struck lately by some new shifts that have happened at work (of all places!), brought about - again - by electronic communication. In the last few weeks, I've had virtual conversations that have crossed over that boundary that exists between co-workers into the realm of - not friendship, quite, but at least friendliness on a more personal level. It's been a really nice thing, allowing me to get to know people a bit better at a place where I usually function in self-imposed isolation (as I know that my days are numbered here, by my choice). That kind of communication, the meeting of minds and sharing of selves, is what feeds my soul, and I'm grateful for it in whatever context it arrives. Hurrah for IRC!
Thursday, June 03, 2004
Toes
I painted my toenails blue today. Metallic blue, in fact. Am not yet sure if I look cool or cyanotic.
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