“Rage against the dying of the light” October 30, 2004 ~ 6:45 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closed
Verezano Bridge at sunset, seen from Brooklyn, NY
I can’t remember what poem that’s from or who wrote it, so 20 “You’re So Cool” points to the first person who does and posts it in a comment. Except it it’s Kim L., because she’s getting her Master’s in English lit and that would be something like cheating. And she’s had to sign enough Allegheny College honor pledges that her conscience would give her a beatdown for cheating.
Ended up not going to ritual tonight just because I was a lazy slug. And semi-depressed, again. I hate this time of year. Not because it’s fall, I love the changing of the leaves and the crisp, cool days. But because of the shortening hours of sunlight that go with the fall. Tonight we turn back the clocks an hour, and tomorrow the sun will seem like it’s starting to set at 2 in the afternoon. This wreaks havoc with my internal clock. I want the light. I need the sunlight. For the next five months, I’ll have a strong tendency towards depression until I can see the light starting to stay with us for longer periods of time. I’ll want to hibernate in my little basement home and not leave. Not want to go to work, not want to hang out with friends, nothing.
This Seasonal Affective Disorder is worse since I moved to my little Hobbit Hole. No matter how I try to hide it with blazing lights (I don’t pay for electricity here), bright yellow walls (which someone else actually painted that color), and a TV that’s turned on whenever I’m awake in an attempt to fool myself into thinking there’s another window in this room that lets light in, there’s just no light. It’s a basement. With one window. That faces north, with another house approximately ten feet away. There’s no getting around it.
I came up with an idea a couple of weeks ago that I’m hoping will circumvent some of this. My friend Tony built me some screen flats to make up for the fact that I can’t have a screen door. You see, I do have a door that leads to the back yard. You have to go up stairs to get to the back yard, and I can’t actually use the back yard, but I can have the door open. So to let in light without letting in insects or letting cats out, Rick designed me two little flats (like scenery flats, but much smaller) that Tony built for me. I stapled some screen into them, stacked them on top of each other, and it’s like I have a screen door that just doesn’t open. It’s been really nice to have the extra light this spring, summer, and fall. And I don’t want to give it up. So I had Mom bring up some plastic (the kind people put over their windows in the winter), and I’m gonna put that over the screen. Insulation so the cold doesn’t come in, which should allow me to have light for at least another month, maybe more depending on how soon Old Man Winter comes in. Cross fingers, knock wood.
As for ritual, I think I’m just going to cast a circle in my living room tomorrow when I get home from the parade. I haven’t done that in a while, and it will do me some good. I’ll be able to meditate, invite the spirits of my ancestors and friends in, and do a little divination, which I haven’t done in a while. And then maybe a walk over to the park to leave some food for the spirits. Or if I’m lazy again, I’ll leave it in my front yard. What the hell, if the spirit party is here, might as well leave the food here.
I uploaded all the foliage pictures tonight, so we’ll start having daily pictures again. Some of them turned out pretty well for a novice photog, if I do say so myself. Tomorrow I’ll take the camera out to the parade and capture some of that craziness for you all as well.
For now, I’m off to the Strand (huge used bookstore) to see if I can find a Hemingway bio that Larry wants me to get. I’m apparently writing a program insert for his show, which should be fun. It’ll give me something to work on, at least, instead of sitting on my ass. Catch you all tomorrow, hopefully. If not, definitely from work on Monday. Happy Mischief Night!
Samhain October 29, 2004 ~ 3:43 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedWell, I’ve managed to convince my boss that I can leave early today, so I’m getting out in 15 minutes. Just enough time to blog. Unfortunately, the bus will be crowded with high school kids. This might be one of those days where it’s better to hike to the train and then hike through the park to get home. If you haven’t experienced five million screaming high school students on public transportation, consider yourself lucky. I’m just not up to that on the Friday before Halloween, when they’re all hopped up on candy.
Speaking of Halloween, Lori and I are starting the celebrating early. I’m going over to her house this evening and we’re going to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre (which I have never been able to finish because I’m too grossed out by it) and Friday the 13th (so we can laugh at our friend Peter Brouwer, who was the caretaker/head counselor guy in that movie). Tomorrow Enchantments, Inc. is having a Samhain circle at 6, so I’m going to go to that. And then Sunday, the Village Halloween Parade. I’ve always wanted to go and no one has wanted to go with me. This year people are coming out of the woodwork; we’ll have a group of at least 5, possibly 7 if Rick and my friend Jordana’s husband come with us. I can’t wait.
And now I’m getting the hell out of Dodge. See ya all Monday, if not before. Happy Samhain, kids!
Friday Five October 29, 2004 ~ 10:21 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedNo, I haven’t resorted to memes. At least, not yet. This Friday Five is a list of five things I’ve been thinking about today.
1) Bill O’Reilly. No matter what he says, if he settled out of court, there had to have been some wrongdoing on his part. Otherwise, why pay? Pass the falafel.
2) Rudy Giuliani. If there is justice, his “Blame the troops” remark will live on to haunt him and keep him out of the White House in ‘08. Sorry, Rudy, but if the troops were never given orders by say, a Commander in Chief, why would they know that bunker was of specific value? Even if they did know, without orders, they couldn’t have done anything about it. Don’t blame men and women who are over there risking their lives for ours because our President can’t take responsibility. “Support the troops” doesn’t mean “Unless it’s them or Dubya.” It means support them through thick and thin. And protect them as they’re protecting us. Neither of which the Bush administration seems to be doing.
3) The New York Times. While the Republicans are busily blaming the Times for breaking the story about the explosives right before the election when the facts were up in the air (that’s meant to be dripping with sarcasm, but you can’t hear my voice, can you?), it’s looking more and more like it was on Bush’s watch. How about those soldiers that saw explosives there 9 days after the fall of Baghdad, huh?
4) BlogShares.com. Can anyone explain this to me in simple language? I’ve never invested in the stock market in real life, so I’m totally confused about how to do it in the Blogosphere. Traci is also a little confused, so we’re like the blind helping the blind, here. Any help would be appreciated.
5) Bill Clinton. Is it just me, or is he the only man to ever look better after heart surgery? He’s lost weight (sure, a few more pounds could make him look haggard, but for now he’s fine), and that seems to have taken years off him. Maybe campaigning for Kerry this soon after the surgery is good for his heart.
Okay, more as the day progresses. For now, I have to sort through the “mesk on my desk” as one of my elementary school teachers used to say.
Curse, Schmurse October 28, 2004 ~ 10:17 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closed
WE WON!!!
Poll October 27, 2004 ~ 4:53 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedDon’t worry, this is a non political poll, not involving Democrats, Republicans, or Swing States.
What happened to spark the poll is this. Today at a Blimpie’s (think generic Subway) around the corner from my college, a girl was sitting, minding her own business, eating her sub, when she got shot in the ass. I know, how horrible, right? Except for this: there was no insane gunman, no hold-up, none of that. The shot was fired when an off-duty policeman’s gun hit the floor and randomly fired. And it hit her in the ass. She’s already been released from the hospital, so it wasn’t a serious wound.
Now my question is: after reading this, how many of you thought “That’s awful! But shot in the ass? By a dropped gun? How Keystone Cops can you get?” or something like that?
Because while I think it’s sad that she was injured, I also find the humor in the situation. Capped in the ass by the floor, yo! The floor shot her! Am I the only one who finds this even partially amusing? If it happened to me, I would think “Shit, this hurts! Wait, what happened? I just got shot in the ass by the floor?” I would see the humor in this, because up until today, I figured I was the only one who had things this bizarre happen to them. Anyone else have this reaction? Or is it just me and Floor Shot?
Blogger finally let me in! October 27, 2004 ~ 1:50 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedI don’t know what the deal was this morning, but I haven’t been able to get on Blogger or see my blog until right now. What a P.I.T.A. Now that I can get in…well, it’s like that old saying: “I’m so excited I don’t know whether to shit or go blind!”
To celebrate, a random clump post.
First, go Sox! The Series is 3-0. Of course, we’re in the same place the Yankees were in this time last week, but we’ve learned from that, right? Right.
Second, for all you Wiccans, Pagans, and moon observers out there, tonight is a full moon lunar eclipse. The next one’s in 2007. Get out there and watch it if you can. I’ll try to take pictures, but my camera doesn’t do astronomy shots well.
Third, thought of the day, which I told my friend Lori, who is not having the easiest of times lately: “I think you should consider hibernation. If it’s good enough for bears, it’s good enough for you.”
Fourth, an anecdote from the Sting concert. Have you ever seen him perform live? He’s got two women who sing back up and dance. I’ve always thought I could do the dancing, no problem. But these women are black and have lovely, rich, gospel-type voices that little white me can never hope to emulate. Still, get a couple of beers in me, and I’m suddenly saying “I could do that! I could dance like that! I just have to be black!” After several repetitions of this at the Sting concert, Rick finally leaned over, put his arm around me, and said “Yes. Yes, you could. Now shut up.”
Fifth, if Ralph Nader takes votes from John Kerry I will hunt him down and beat him like a dog. Except I would never beat a dog. But I will beat Ralph Nader, because he will deserve it. I grant you that the US should have a three party (or however many party) system. But when the outcome is as important as this one is and you know that you have no chance in hell of doing anything other than diverting votes, Ralph, this is not the time to make that statement.
Bushie, you got some ’splainin’ to do! October 26, 2004 ~ 9:43 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedSo the Bush administration knew that there were 380 tons of high explosives in Iraq. They had been warned that the stockpile was vulnerable in May 2003. And yet nobody acted on any of this information? Bush didn’t send anyone to guard this stockpile? He didn’t have any surveillance that could have told him that all those tons of explosives were being moved? How hard is it to track someone moving 380 tons of explosives??
Let’s put this in perspective. Less than one pound of this explosive brought down Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. If one pound can bring down a jet plane, what can hundreds of tons of it do? John Kerry’s right. By fucking this one up, Bush has endangered all our sevicemen and women. But I have a bad feeling that he’s endangered those of us who aren’t in the Mid East, too. You know those explosives have already left Iraq. Whoever took them has had time to get them out of there. Those explosives have already been distributed throughout the Mid East and possibly beyond.
And now this administration can’t explain how or when the stockpile went missing, and Dubya himself is not saying anything about it. His staff is saying that Kerry is blowing things out of proportion because nobody knows when the explosives went missing, and besides, they’ve already gotten rid of a lot of other explosives. Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better. I’m glad we’ve destroyed other explosives, but that doesn’t make these ones any less of a threat. And the fact that the explosives could have gone missing at any point in the past four years doesn’t put my mood meter to “joyful” either. They’re still missing.
Remember how our Commander in Chief couldn’t name any mistakes he’s made? Well, the next time someone asks him that question, I think he’s got an answer. He probably won’t admit the mistake even then, but the rest of us know better.
What once was lost, but now is found October 22, 2004 ~ 1:45 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedSubtitled: Big as Life and Twice as Ugly
When I was about 20, I had a gynecologist appointment that left me a little unsettled. No, there wasn’t sexual harassment, and it didn’t hurt any more than usual (anyone who denies that the speculum is uncomfortable is lying). What unsettled me was my gyno declaring that she couldn’t find my right ovary. Yeah, you read that right. For my male readers, the gyno places the fingers of one hand inside the patient, places the other hand on the patient’s abdomen, and feels around for the ovaries. I guess this is pretty effective, because every other time I’ve had this procedure done, they’ve found my ovaries right where they expect them to be.
But for whatever reason, on that particular gyno visit, my doctor couldn’t find the right one. She decided I needed to get a sonogram to find it. Now, since I was going to college 90 miles north of my gyno’s office, I had to wait a couple of weeks to get this done. In the meantime, I told my two best friends and we had a whole bunch of “missing ovary” jokes. Which were funny to a point, but I was also worried that something might be seriously wrong. As it turned out, when I had the sonogram the tech was able to find the missing ovary in about 30 seconds, right where it should be, “very nice and almond shaped” (she really used those words. I remember that clearly.) Nothing to worry about, I guess sometimes the little suckers just shift around a bit.
I had totally forgotten about this until I went to the gyno yesterday. As he was probing for ovaries he said my right one was enlarged. “Maybe there’s a cyst,” he said. He wrote a prescription for me to get a sonogram. So now I’m waiting until November 8 to get my sonogram to see what the hell’s going on in there. I appreciate the irony that my missing ovary has decided to reassert its presence, big as life and twice as ugly. And I also realize that there’s probably nothing wrong with me. It doesn’t hurt (at least it didn’t till the doc started poking at it yesterday), there’s no blood, there are no Alien-like movements going on there, I’m fine. And besides which, even if it is a cyst, Mom says “Cysts are common in women your age. Cancer isn’t.”
So there you have it. But I hate having to wait so long to find out what’s going on. Why tell me there might be something wrong only to make me wait three weeks to find out?
In the meantime, let the ovary jokes commence. Got to fill the time some way, right?
Who’s Your Daddy? October 21, 2004 ~ 11:24 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedOne thought: 10-3.
Another thought: That was one hell of a comeback.
Yet another thought: The Yankees are little pouty wussy boys.
Final thought: YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, so many things October 20, 2004 ~ 3:41 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedBusy at work the past few days…trying to cram a whole day’s work into a half day means not as much time for blog surfing. Dammit. So here’s a wrap-up of the past two days.
Yankees vs. Red Sox: I’m not going to say much for fear of jinxing, but the last few nights have been nice. I almost got lynched at the Sting concert last night when I forgot I was surrounded by probable Yankee fans and said “Yes! 4-0, Sox!” I disappeared from the snack bar really quickly (the snack bar’s TVs were all tuned to the game).
Sting and Annie Lennox: Okay, this concert was amazing. Sting’s guitar player did the first set, about a half hour in length, and finished with “Shape of My Heart,” a song from Ten Summoner’s Tales. Of course Sting came out and sang it. A slight pause to reset the stage, and Annie Lennox was on. She’s got an amazing voice, and did all of her big hits, including “Sweet Dreams”. Then there was a longer period of time to set up for Sting’s portion of the show. He was the headliner, (thus the title “Sacred Love Tour” - his latest album), and played a good two hours. Everything that I ever wanted to hear, he played. And it was a much different experience than when I saw him play the Beacon this past spring. That show was small and intimate, this one was raucous and huge. Annie returned to sing “We’ll Be Together” with him (random tidbit, I know the lyrics to that song in Spanish), he sang quite a few Police songs and worked riffs of other Police songs into his solo hits. Rick was amazed when several of the songs turned into jazz impro-fests - he didn’t know Sting did that. It’s just one of the things I love about Sting’s music. He draws from so many different sources of inspiration that in the course of two hours we heard jazz, country, reggae, techno, rai, and pop. How many artists can do that and be successful? Not many. And during all of this, we kept using our binoculars to watch the ball game in the snack bar.
Review: And today I got my very first credit in a review. Normally the dramaturg is relegated to the sidebar, but in this review it actually credited me for helping the director cut the play to 100 minutes “with nary a seam showing”. Yay!
Okay, have to head out to rehearsal. Catch you all later.
