Forever A Fangirl

QotD: I Should Make A List *no I shouldn't, it wouldn't help

What do you always forget to pack? 
Submitted by quornflour.

I never forget to packing anything. Ever.

I over pack which has turned into a Very Bad Thing since the changes that have taken place this decade when one flies on a plane.

Fifty pound limit. Whaaaaat?

But I adapt. I recently bought a soft-sided suitcase (on sale half price--holy crap, luggage is expensive!).

I love my new suitcase because it expands (unzip & gain two inches depth) in two different places giving me the crucial extra room I require and it's got zippered compartments to keep all my junk from being tossed about during it's journey. Another cool thing, the compartments inside are clear--see-through--so when the airline people inevitably paw through they will more quickly determine that I get a gold star and have passed.

I want to know this though: Why is it always me that gets pulled aside at security for closer inspection and it's inevitably me whose suitcase bears a little note of apology for being roughed up not only the outside but the inside as well? What? Do I have radioactive underwear?

Spring Walk Along Salt Creek Trail, Rolling Meadows

We are having a really pretty weekend. Tomorrow it's supposed to be hot.

Dusk, near our home.

First post on new Salt Creek Trail in Rolling Meadows

Newer post with Photos on Salt Creek Trail

The blue wildflowers are as my spouse says, at the end of their bloom cycle. The flowers are dying.

As they were.

I perked 'em up a bit.

QUOTATION OF THE DAY

"There was never a serious debate that I know of within the administration about the imminence of the Iraqi threat." GEORGE J. TENET, the former director of central intelligence, in a new book.

Ouch.

Who were you in your last life?

http://www.thebigview.com/pastlife/index.html

Your past life diagnosis:

---

I don't know how you feel about it, but you were male in your last earthly incarnation.You were born somewhere in the territory of modern USA North-Center around the year 1775. Your profession was that of a leader, major or captain.

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Your brief psychological profile in your past life:
Artistic personality, always transforming the ugly into the beautiful, gray into bright colors. You would find an opportunity of creative self-expression in any situation.

---

The lesson that your last past life brought to your present incarnation:
Your main lesson is to develop magnanimity and a feeling of brotherhood. Try to become less adhered to material property and learn to take only as much, as you can give back.

---

Do you remember now?

Weird day. Started for me with no Internet until I did the unplug-wait-plug-again routine.

Since I work on Sunday and unless I have an appointment, Monday is an at-home kind of day. I usually get stuff done that I normally don't really bother with on the weekends because three guys and a Schipperke dog are afoot--or it's been on the to-do list for the weekend and got skipped. Laundry is almost always in the stuff that got skipped category. I just love doin' laundry (ooh, yeah baby) for three guys and me. Blech!

So anyway, three laundry loads into the afternoon my son's school bus gets hit by a car. The bus and the kids were unhurt. The guy's "new" car? Totalled. The school bus was stopped to let kids off and the guy, who had been stopped backed into the (big, bright yellow) school bus.

How do you do that?

The kids were kept captive on the bus--even the ones who were to get off at the stop and even the ones who'd called Mom and Mom dutifully came to the rescue--they were made to stay seated on the bus until they each gave a cop all their vital information. (My son almost never carries his cell phone and he thought I was at an appointment--plus he'd not ever ask anyway.) Then the cop told all the kids that on the form where it said "age" and they put things like "14" or "15," he said he actually wanted date of birth--D.O.B.--so all 26 of them had to take the form and fix it. I'm afraid at the that point I would have told the cop to stuff it.

The school district covered it's arse (a District dude appeared at the scene w/in 15 minutes) as did the police. Meanwhile the kids--oh yeah, them! No one bothered to maybe use the telephone chain or whatever they call it now to actually verbalize to a waiting/wondering/beginning to worry parent that one's child is in fact still in school custody an hour after he was to be home (for :insert reason: a dermatologist appt., violin practice, orthodontist, name-any-sport practice--just be dropped off near home), not dumped off an hour late without some notice.

District 211's handling of today's car vs. bus/car loses mishap blows.

/topic change  Heroes is on in twenty minutes. We all dig that. Hopefully youngest son will tear himself away from his new  LoTR MMORPG .

Lord Of The Rings: Shadows Of Angmar

Talking Heads - Naive Melody (This Must Be The Place)

I like this live performance of "Naive Melody" best as it features David Byrne's "lamp dance" and how can you not like that?

Thanks to Chaz   for the idea. I totally thought the name of this song was "Home."

After being away from home for the past two out of three weekends it is nice to be ...home.

I am

I read and really liked Stace's  "I am" meme and thought I'd give it a go. I am quirky and kind I wonder whose bright idea it was to dumb things down I hear the whoosh of the air purifying machine I see things broken and want to fix them I want to feel loved I am quirky and kind I pretend more often than I'd like to I feel way too much I touch wood not for luck but because it reminds me of LIFE I worry that my oldest son will never get his act together I cry easily I am quirky and kind I understand people, I do I say life's a beach I dream of sitting at night on the beach of the Pacific listening to the waves crash I try to mend my ways I hope when I'm nervous that I don't stammer as I can't do anything about my Cindy Brady lisp I am quirky and kind

Trippin' To Ohio

OHIO.beth

Because I am a "try this new thingie (Internet app)" nut,  I have linked (click Beth's face) my new  Google Picasa photo album from my weekend that was.

I've known Beth since were were on a big forum back in 2003. I've loved her nearly that long. The short of it is kindred spirits/never met 'till now. (Example: We were both booted off said forum for speaking our minds--not in a nasty, troll kind of way, either, though we were treated as such. Boo to that place. We have both moved on.)

It was her birthday and her darling, hunky spouse pulled out all the stops with a multi-day celebration for and of her.

I was very happy/lucky to have been a part of it--it was so fun. I don't usually like parties for grown-ups but this was different 'cos most everyone was somehow connected with Beth--so it gave a springboard of commonality. Very fun, funny, goofy/bright folks--my type exactly.

The Agony, The Ecstasy

The past ten days have been agony. My skin ...I wonder how bad the scarring will be? I don't sleep. I ooze, (try not to) scratch, toss, turn, get up put more "stuff" on. It doesn't seem to matter, I see the first patches on the inside of forearms healing...and I'm thankful that what I feared was a spread to my face just turned out to be a small blemish. However, "It"* did spread up both arms, both legs, my torso, inside my thighs and even my external lady bits (It loves crevices). I've had a constant dull-to-severe headache. Constant. Today the dog has been barking non-stop (UPS, Fed EX, building maintenance people) so it's severe right now. I'm got headphones on and I'm playing music (Hump De Bump, atm) which I almost never do whilst trying to write. I'm running out of time. I leave as soon as I get up tomorrow to drive the 360 miles to Cleveland for Beth's (~springrain) Big Birthday Blowout. I'm actually looking forward to the drive as it is supposed to be a bright (though cold) day. I am thrilled beyond words to finally meet a woman who I've loved and admired for so long. She was there for me through some times that seemed really dark (with perspective, I realized they were partially due to the growing pains of becoming a netizen). But still, her clear eyed, compassionate responses to my strung-out emotional state were a saving grace...and I don't forget people who save my grace. I have a hard time sometimes liking women. They reflect back to me, onto me, what I don't like in myself. I shan't catalog those things right now. Beth however, seems to rise above most all the "typical" negative traits we females at times possess. She has that in common with the handful of other woman that I love and admire (you know who you are). My son just walked in from high school which signals I am running late for my volunteer gig so I'm mustering up my self control and winding this up. I hope everyone is well--that you have a most wonderful weekend. I'm signing off for a couple days. ::hugs:: --Cyn *contact dermatitis caused by an unfortunate encounter with a poison sumac tree in my parent's backyard jungle

QotD: Terms of Endearment

What is your favorite term of endearment? 
Submitted by lostdwarf.

For me to use or be called? 

I seem to use "sweetie" way too much also "hon" or "hun."

I guess I'm a bit maternal-sounding. *shrug*

I get called "princess" by my spouse which seems to suit me as I was often admonished by Mom whilst growing up that with my attitude, I must think I'm "The Queen Of Sheba."

The Queen Of Sheba

I'd much rather be a princess than a queen though. Being Queen doesn't seem like it would be much fun.

Pretty eggs all in a row

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It's getting worse!

OK then. So far due to the ragin' case of contact dermatitis from my poison sumac encounter, I haven't been able to go to my lap-swimming, I missed Easter with the in-laws (a truly mixed blessing), yoga class starts tomorrow and I probably will miss it, I have not been out of the house because any kind of contact with the ugh, "rash" is wretchedly painful--so I stay clothes-free for as long as I can (sucks that the warm weather spell is long gone). The rash is e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e on my body (use your imgination; on second thought, maybe you shouldn't). And last, but not least I have a Very Important Event to attend on Friday/ Saturday and I swear if I have to OD on cortisone cream I am going!/end rant

The photo below is not for the faint of stomach.

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Poison Sumac is Kicking My Ass *Update

More here

My son took these pics of some of my body parts affected by my brush(es) with a Poison Sumac tree's many branches.

I have it in places best not photographed for public consumption though this is the worst of it, hopefully. Spouse says that days 4-7 are supposed to be "the (most painful, itchy, oozing, scabing) worst"--though he got his info about it the same place I did--the Internet so we'll see who is more right MedlinePlus, Wikipedia, or WebMD. :p

I hope spouse's source is right 'cos I'm on day seven!

Spouse has a few small patches--nothing like this--from hauling away the tree-cuttings the following day.

*Updated photo of some of the worst:

A Very Bad Tree.

D.C. things seen

                                        

                                       

Capital Bldg., D.C.    

  ...with lovely cherry blossoms *some colour added due to-gray day/very pale pink blossoms
               

               

                                             

Cherry blossom walk

 

               

                                             

Einstein 
The trolley tour guide pointed him out.
He's in a rather obscure area at the side of the road.

            

   

               

                                             

WWII, Capital Bldg.,Washington Monument

Spouse took this one.

          

               

                                    

Great starting point for this memorial-intense area of D.C.

Union Station

            

          

               

                                       

Vietnam Women's Memorial

For the nurses near the front lines.          

            

               

                                             

     Vietnam Memorial Wall            

     Gotta go there to feel it.

               
 

               

                                    

A few Soldiers who died the first week in April (all years) Vietnam *photo by my spouse
Of all the memorials in D.C. this is the one that touches me the most.  It just seems the most personal. There are always plentiful signs (mementoes, flowers) that their families still remember, still care. And one is encouraged to touch it--to feel it (and sometimes take a pencil and paper and take am inverse stencil print of a soldier's name from it).
I dunno. It makes me cry each time I've seen it. The only one that comes close is Lincoln.

               

                                     WWII Memorial detail
If only... The most impressive thing to me about this memorial are the quotations throughout. Sadly, the rest of it is not really memorable. It seems to lack cohesion and to be blunt, looks cheap and pedestrian. A shame, really. It could have been so much more.

            

               

                                        

The National Archives

 

               

                                    National National Archives Frieze

Detail of frieze

   

                

                                  

Korean War Memorial 
My favourite memorial after Lincoln & Vietnam and I knew no one in that war. This memorial kicks ass, tho'. It's powerful and beautiful. One feels as if she is _right there_ with them.            

          

Trying for more detail by using high contrast. 

               

                                   Union Station ceiling detail   

               

                                  

  Lincoln Memorial "basement"

  Don't forget to click to enlarge.         

    

       

               

                                             

    

Lincoln Memorial

The Great Emancipator. He just was refurbished (cleaned). I've not ever seen him so white. Looking spiffy, Abe.         

   

Doonesbury for Sunday April 1, 2007

Click on comic to enlarge

Make videos, not war

Pretty amazing kid in the Chicago Tribune story below. No matter what she chooses to do in life, it'll probably be fulfilling and most likely impressive, IMO.

16-year-old anti-war vidcaster stirs up controversy

By Nara Schoenberg
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 4, 2007

A home-schooler with a cat named Pumpkin and pink rubber bands on her braces, Ava Lowery isn't your stereotypical peace activist.

But with her Web site peacetakescourage.com getting 60,000 hits a day, and her homemade videos juxtaposing images of the war with popular music and provocative quotes landing her on CNN, Nick News and the editorial pages of The New York Times, the 16-year-old from Alexander City, Ala., is increasingly a political force to be reckoned with.

In December, Rolling Stone, which had previously praised her "genius videos," listed her with the likes of Al Gore and Stephen Colbert as one of the greatest mavericks of 2006.

Along with the acclamation have come the accusation that Ava is just a parrot for her mother and stepfather, both lawyers, or a front for a liberal organization -- both of which she denies -- and a series of angry e-mail responses and Internet postings, including death threats and the observation, "it's people like you who need to [expletive] die and get raped while your corpse rots in the sun."

In an interview conducted via cell phone while she was tagging along with her 19-year-old brother, also a home-schooler, on a photography project, Lowery discussed her most famous video and responded to her critics.

The following is an edited transcript.

Q. In your best-known video "WWJD?" you juxtapose photographs of wounded and grieving Iraqi children with the hymn, "Jesus Loves Me." How did you decide to pair that music with those images?

A. My mom actually suggested using a church song for a video, and that's something I wanted to do because I am a Christian, and I don't believe this war is a Christian thing to do, even though George W. Bush says he's a man of God. So I decided to use "Jesus Loves Me" and put it up with [photos of] Iraqi children, because I believe Jesus loves all children, no matter what their religion, or race, or anything.

Q. Have you always been against the war?

A. I've been against the war from the beginning, but in the beginning I sort of gave George Bush the benefit of the doubt. I was only 13 at the time of the invasion, but soon after my 14th birthday I started to do research online, and that's when I came across a lot of things like the Downing Street Memo, and because of that I decided to speak out against the war.

Q. What would you say to someone who says a video such as "WWJD?" contains a lot of blood and violence?

A. Well, I'd say they need to see what the results of our actions are. Those aren't graphic photos compared to what many of those war images look like. I have to go through those photos daily when I make a video, and I see those images, and I don't think the American public does see those images, and I think they should.


Q. This question always comes up: Are you a parrot of your parents?

A. Um, no, definitely. My mom and I actually disagree about a bunch of things. Sometimes I'm more liberal than her; sometimes she's more liberal than me. [Lowery's mother describes herself as an independent voter who has leaned Democratic in recent years.] My parents, of course, have an influence over me; I can't say that they haven't. No one can. But my opinions come from me looking at the facts, doing my research and forming my own opinions.


Q. What about the allegation that you're a front for a leftist organization. Is that true?

A. No, I wish it was. I wish someone would pay me. [Laughs.] That would be nice.


Q. Are you involved in any other causes?

A. I'm not really involved with any other cause.


Q. And what do you do for fun?

A. I'm a normal teenager. I hang out with my friends. I go to the movies. Sometimes I go bowling. And I actually enjoy going to peace rallies, strange as that may seem. I just came back from a peace rally in Auburn [Ala.] yesterday, and there were about 75 people there. So I like to do different things, some of them political, some of them not political...

Full story

Vox Hunt: An Interesting Life

Book: Show us a great biography or memoir.

I think this book would appeal to anyone that has had a loved one with whom they'd shared many years, die. In this case writer Joan Didion's husband Dominick Dunne, dropped dead suddenly at the dinner table. At the same time her adult daughter was dying of multiple causes (dying 8 months after her father) and after her spouse's death Didion spent the following year in a haze of unreality.

I liked the book a lot as I'm at an age where one really realizes that mortality is looming if not for me, for my parents (though having been dx w/ heart failure my health is not a sure thing--but then again no one really knows, do they?)

Also, I like JD's clear, unvarnished style of writing and her dry wit. Yes, there are quite a few wryly funny observations made throughout The Year Of Magical Thinking.

Hmmm

Lessee.
I pay TypePad $9.00 a month, mostly to host my photographs ("albums"). Today however, I discover that the maximum size allowed for photos in the albums has been scaled back to only 800 pixels but that at Vox I can go a big as I want--for free. So I post here, copy to TypePad (which is encouraged) and I can display bigger pics on my TypePad blog.

Two other reasons to keep the TypePad blog: sentimentality. I've kept it since 2003 and I can hotlink elsewhere but I can hotlink up to 800 pixels in size for free from multiple host sites. So, really the only reason I'm keepin' my TypePad blog is for about three readers. Hmm.
When I have about 3 extra minutes to think I'm gonna have to rethink this set-up. It will not however include creating another blog.
Of that I'm sure.

Lake Michigan

04.02.07

Northwest Chicago

Northside

Home

Tonight, over Lake Michigan approaching landing at Chicago O'Hare. I am soooo glad to be home only slightly worse for wear.

We were in Maryland for a week on a business/pleasure trip.

The business included doing lots of yard work on my parent's two acre spread and pleasure was two day-trips into D.C. and having a little visit with the folks.

When I woke up this morning I noticed a bumpy, oozing, red rash on my left forearm which confirmed that the bush-like tree I'd been slashing vines and low branches off of was indeed poison sumac (I knew that there was a fallen, dead poison sumac tree in the yard; guess I should have extrapolated from that that there could be more).

/edit

So I get up today (Tuesday) and it has spread to my right forearm. Frak.

Time to Google what not to do 'cos obviously, excluding touching the stuff already there must be something else I'm doing wrong. That's what happens when one lives either in an apartment or (currently) a condo and doesn't normally do yard work. :(