A College Girl's Days

This and that

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging much, and I haven't been reading other blogs lately either. Hopefully that'll change soon.

It's taking me a little while to adjust to having a full time job! It's great, and not just because I like my paycheck. But it will take a little getting used to.

And while I'm getting used to it, I don't think I can juggle it and school. So a couple weeks ago I e-mailed my adviser telling her that I'm dropping out for one term, but that I'll be back this spring. And I had better have gotten used to working 40 hours a week by then, because I'm not taking off two terms in a row.

Speaking of school...

My mom is talking about going back to school. Specifically, she's talking about doing the MBA program at my university. And Murray is also talking about going to grad school. Guess what program and what university? Yeah, MBA, and our university where we first met.

It might be interesting if my mom and boyfriend are enrolled in the same program, especially if they're taking classes together.

Funny

2012-01-24T16:24:00.000-08:00

A guy asked me some interesting questions at work. He didn't seem too sure of how to get to the point, and I think he was a little nervous, so he sort of stumbled around a bit before getting to the point.

"Do you guys have books like Powell's* or the libraries downtown? Or do you ban some books? Do you have books about New Age and other religions?"

I told him to ask a librarian.**

In retrospect maybe I should have said "I'm a Pagan, and we darned well better not be banning books!"

*A local awesome bookstore. If you ever visit Portland, go to the Powell's bookstore downtown. It's giant. Humongous. Amazing. :)

**FYI, some people think that anyone who works at a library is a librarian. This is not true. A librarian has a master's degree in library science, and most people in a library don't have that...it doesn't take a grad school graduate to shelve books, check in/out books, take out the trash, etc.

SEBR

2012-01-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

Book cover

About a week ago I picked up a book titled Who Moved My Mouse: A Self Help Book for Cats (Who Don't Need Any Help) by Dena Harris. It was quite an amusing read.

There is a quiz in it to determine what type of cat any feline is. I took this test for myself, and although some of my results were almost a little iffy (a few points off from being something else entirely) my result was SEBR: Snuggler, Eager, Bold, Rebel. The description for the SEBR purrsonality type is as follows:

"SEBR/DISCIPLINARIAN: This kibble had better be good or I'm gonna put da hurt on some humans."

And there you are. That's the kind of kitty I am.

Murray

2012-01-17T20:14:00.000-08:00

In that book which is
My memory . . .
On the first page
That is the chapter when
I first met you
Appear the words . . .
Here begins a new life.

-- Dante Alighieri

There is only one entry in all my diaries that begins with "I met _______ today." And it was Murray's name that filled in the blank.

Little did I suspect that he would become my best friend, and my lover. To be truthful, I wasn't at all sure what to make of him! lol

Ah, love...

Speaking of love, I also love the snow. Which we're getting some of here in Portland! I was excited about it, until last evening when Murray called me up to say that due to bad weather he wouldn't be able to see me as planned. My attitude towards the snow quickly went from happy to irritated.

Darned snow. Keeping my boyfriend away from me.

Buy LOTS of GS cookies!!!

2012-01-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

I vote that we should all buy double the Girl Scout cookies that we normally do. Why? In response to the following video.

(Unfortunately, the video seems to be cut short and I can't find one now that doesn't end mid sentence. Huh.)

I used to be a Girl Scout. There are some things about the organization that I did not like, but hearing that they welcome transgender girls make me proud to have been a Girl Scout.

I wish that the young woman in the above video understood that transgendered girls are in fact female, just the same as she is. And I think that we should all buy more Girl Scout cookies than we normally would this year to counteract those who will follow her lead and boycott the cookies.

Last, I'd like to say that I like the following video response:

The Elven Lover

2012-01-12T14:50:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share an awesome song. Only OMNIA could do "Scarborough Fair" like this.

I love them. =)

And, ok, I cannot resist. I just have to share a second song by OMNIA in this post: "Satyr Sex." I laughed quite a bit after the finale.

I love my coworkers

2012-01-10T20:30:00.000-08:00

"So I told him that he didn't have a chance* with me," I was telling a coworker about my boyfriend, "and then less than a week later I asked him to be my boyfriend."

"Well, I guess he grew on you!" Yep, that's what she said. And I don't think she even realized the double meaning.

Gotta love my coworkers. When it gets late in the day our brains can turn to jelly and fun things happen, though it usually isn't quite so entertaining. :)

*I was being politically correct. What I really told Murray is that I would never sleep with him. Ok, ok, fine. I think what I actually said is that I would never have sex with him.

A miracle of life

2012-01-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

First I would like to acknowledge that today is my parent's 25th wedding anniversary. They didn't do anything particularly special though, unless you count mom taking dad out to lunch at Burgerville (it was her first time there and she went on my recommendation...eeps!) and then getting sick when the food disagreed with her. Ouch.

But, they have been married for a quarter of a century now!

So, on to this minor miracle of life...

One of my mom's coworkers, who I will call Proud Grandad, lost three unborn grandbabies in the last two years. I blogged about the first one on July 30th, 2010. That was to be the couple's first child, and they lost it two weeks before the due date. Then the next year one of his other sons lost twins earlier on in the pregnancy.

I can only imagine how Proud Grandad, and everyone else in the family, felt.

BUT, when my mom got to work today she heard the good news: the couple who lost what was to be their first child had a baby last Saturday.

Mom, and her coworkers, didn't even know about the pregnancy. The couple didn't even tell Proud Grandad until it was 5 months along, and then asked him not to tell others about it.

Any new life is a miracle, but after the family lost three babies this seems particularly miraculous.

Well...

2012-01-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

Books are like candy. (Actually Murray says they're like crack for me...) And yet they're not like candy because with candy you eat it and then it's gone. With books you get a hold of them...and then you can enjoy them for the rest of your life.

So working in a library is like working in a candy shop. Except that I don't have to pay for any candy that I want to take home.

I'm amazed that I've only checked out four books so far, and noted down two (or three?) more titles to take a look at later. I've shown remarkable restraint. But then again I've gotten to where I sometimes (often?) don't even see the title of whatever book I'm handling.

By the way, I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be doing in the near future. Having a full time job will take some getting used to. I don't have much energy when I get home. (Although I might have more energy when I finally learn not to stay up until midnight or so when I have to catch the bus at 6:30am...or perhaps if my work hours change to a graveyard shift.) Plus I'll have my two classes starting next week, which will keep me even more busy.

Tomorrow is my Friday. I think that on Friday (the real one, not the one I have to work) I'll be catching up on sleep.

(Yes I know I'm using way too many parentheses, but I'm too tired to edit them out.)

My day

2012-01-01T21:28:00.000-08:00

This post will not be well written or well edited. Probably because I'm overexcited about my new job, and I'm tired and want to get to bed relatively soon.

So...

I woke up today with no real TMD pain to speak of, which is unusual. (TMD: a problem with the jaw joints that involves muscle pain/aches and sometimes pain in the jaw joints. Not fun.) I think it has something to do with the sake I drank last night.

Sake diluted with ginger ale is yummy...

Today was my first day at my new job, so I took off mid-morning to catch the bus with a coffee in my hand.

Funny thing, I met an interesting guy at one of my bus stops. When we got to talking he asked if I'm single and where I'm from. There was a slightly awkward silence after I told him that I've got a boyfriend, and he wouldn't believe at first that my "accent" is a speech disorder. I'm not sure if he really believes that it's due to me falling on my head when I was young (which I did) or if he just gave up arguing.

The number one question I am asked: What is my accent?

The number two question I am asked: What high school do I attend? (Some people think I look 16...which could get interesting since I'm dating a man twice my age.)

Anyways...

Work went well. I like the job, and I like my coworkers. I only worked a half day today, but tomorrow I'll be working a full day, starting at 8am. That should be interesting, since I'm not really a morning person. I see lots of caffeine in my future.

However, my work schedule is subject to change after the next week or so...and I could wind up working nights. So, who knows? This night owl might become nocturnal. We'll have to wait and see.

After work mom, Tall One, and I did some geocaching, and then we went out to dinner with dad to celebrate me having a new job.

All in all, a good first day of the new calendar year. :)

Made me laugh

2011-12-29T17:50:00.000-08:00

I love it when I read my old diaries and they make me laugh.

One day in March 2008 I was at my Community College and there were some other students filming a movie right outside my classroom. I really didn't want to get in the way, but I also needed to get to my class, and there was no way to get to my classroom without going right across their set. They didn't seem to be filming at that precise moment, so I darted across the set as quickly as I could.

And someone called me a bitch for it.

Mug of coffee :)

I laughed then, and I laugh now. It's too outrageous for me to even get offended. They were between me and my classroom, and I was in the wrong for wanting to attend class? Oh come on. Maybe they should have waited until there wasn't a class in progress in our classroom? Or found somewhere else to shoot?

Then on my 19th birthday, which was also in March 2008, I realized that I may have become a regular at a coffee place on campus. I figured this out when the guy taking my order asked me "Do you want a small white chocolate mocha with whip cream?" That's precisely what I'd been going to request. And it's what I had been drinking all term.

I was slightly sheepish to realize that I had become one of "them"... a regular customer whose tastes are known by the baristas.

My Foolish Heart ♥

2011-12-28T00:36:00.000-08:00

This song is for Murray.

For years I've related so much better to songs about unrequited love, it took me a while after getting together with Murray to finally track down a song that might properly express about how I'm feeling.

I have a history of crushes not lasting more than two weeks, so I was uncertain how long my feelings for Murray would last. As such I was pretty unsure of myself to begin with, and although I wouldn't have worded my thoughts exactly how the song does it's pretty close.

...you know, when I was a teenager a friend told me that if I didn't get a boyfriend (and experience) soon that when I became an adult no one would want me. "I date for the experience," she told me. I guess she didn't know about men like Murray, who is amazed and I guess honored that I chose him to be my first.

Oh sorry, did I start rambling? Yeah, I can get slightly distracted and lose track of what I was saying/doing when thinking about him. :)

Employment!

2011-12-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

I now have a job. Whew. I have a job.

I'm not sure how to say exactly what I'll be doing without giving away enough info so that weirdos could track me down "in real life" from my blog, so I'll just say that I'll be doing library work.

It's a temporary job, but I'll be making some nice money, meeting people who I might be giving resumes to down the road, and it will be good job experience.

It'll also be my first full time job. The canvassing one in October doesn't count since I failed to make quota and was let go after three days.

I'll start in less than a week.

:)

The holidays

2011-12-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

In no particular order of events I am going to share some photos and talk about Yule and Christmas!

Roasting marshmallows

As usual, we kept a firing going all through the longest night. We started the fire in our outside fire pit, but moved it inside at about 8:30 or 9pm.

Yes, we did roast marshmallows. Yummm.

Toasty feet

I kicked off my shoes and warmed my feet by the fire. (I stole Tall One's chair to do this, but we'll overlook that little detail.) The fire, by the way, was kept up by Tall One. He is our official fire tender. Not to be confused with fire tinder.

A box

I had intended to save The Belly Dancer's present for Christmas, but her presents were there to see as soon as I opened her package. So I got them a little after Yule, but before Christmas. The one I've shared here is a beautiful box that is in the shape of a book with a cat curled up on top of it. The Belly Dancer knows me well. :)

Kokopelle under the tree

Christmas Eve. All the presents were under the tree, and the kitty was also under the tree. In this photo you can see that he's right under a lovely ornament that says "Christmas is love."

Mix Stix

I saw these and knew that I had to get them for Tall One. They are cooking spoons at one end and drum sticks at the other. This gift had me so excited. I'd actually already bought him something (essential oils) but went ahead and bought him these as well.

A book

My boyfriend "Murray" took me to a bookstore for me to pick out my Christmas present today. I wanted to get this last year but it was about $90. By now it is a much more reasonable price (the same thing has come out in color at $99 whereas mine is black and white, so I think that's why), so I asked him to get it for me.

The book is all of the Bone nine graphic novels by Jeff Smith in one big book. Which is rather bulky, but cheaper than buying them individually, and it's just plain AWESOME!

Murray also bought me Rose by Jeff Smith and Charles Vess, and the book of Sappho poetry The Love Songs of Sappho translated by Paul Roche.

I love my boyfriend. :)

Tank Up mug

Murray loves his caffeine, so I got him a mug with a fuel gauge on the side that turns red as it is filled with hot liquids. Hot liquids such as, say, coffee or tea.

Of course I got and gave more than this, but these are the highlights that come to my mind immediately.

My Man

2011-12-26T16:14:00.000-08:00

Christmas was yesterday, and solstice was five days ago. I mean to write about both of them, but I'll do that later. Right now I want to finally introduce someone who I am so lucky to have in my life: my boyfriend, who has requested to be called Murray on this blog.

We met in fall term 2010 at Marylhurst University. On the first day of class he sat next to me, and we typically sat together the rest of the term. Murray says that he fell in love with me then, but we never got together outside of class. And even though we swapped a few e-mails, we only saw each other once or twice on campus after that. Until fall term this year.

Imagine our surprise when we wound up in the same class again. I think we may have freaked out some of our classmates when he immediately asked me "So are you still part of the reformed church of Satan?" and I responded "Yep!" Hey, we're both Pagans and we like to have fun. :)

We took to sitting together in class again and became close friends pretty quickly. I guess you could say that we picked up where we left off the previous year. But this time, Murray decided to act on his feelings, even though he thought I was out of his league. In truth, thought that he was out of my league, and was surprised that he had any interest in befriending me. I was delighted, however, because I really liked him.

The first time we got together outside of school Murray took me to a seafood place, a bookstore (he knew to woo me with books!!!), then he took me to his place for a heavenly foot massage and movies.

That evening he also told me that he loved me. I was flattered, but didn't really know how to respond at first. I finally told him that although I really liked him, I couldn't see us becoming romantically involved.

Later that week I asked him to be my boyfriend. lol! What a quick turnaround on my part! I almost didn't ask him though, because I was afraid of breaking his heart by having another quick turnaround in my feelings towards him.

However, as of today I have been his girlfriend for two months, and I haven't broken his heart yet. So far so good.

He graduated this term, by the way. His family gave him a bit of money as a graduation present to spend on something nice. So what did he do? He went off shopping for a gun this morning, and took me with him.

After having served as law enforcement in the USA and as infantry in both Germany and Iraq (he came back from Iraq in 2007), he likes his guns. He gets enthusiastic when telling me about the guns he has and how they work (something tells me that I am going to learn a lot about guns...not that I'm complaining), and the look on his face was absolute bliss when we walked out of the gun store with his new purchase. I think that new gun may be a rival of mine for his attentions! lol

After that Murray took me to a bookstore...but I'll write about that in my Christmas post. :)

I am so lucky to have Murray. He's fun, he's geeky, he has introduced me to the early horror movies, he's a writer, and...and I don't know how to describe him. He's just a really great guy, and I am oh so lucky. ♥

Random fun fact that the boyfriend didn't know before picking Murray as his nickname: Murray is also the name of a teddy bear mom gave me when I was a preteen, and which I have slept with almost every night of my life since then.

My teddy bear Murray listening to music on my old iPhone

EDIT: The teddy bear was originally mom's, and she pointed out to me after seeing this post that he was named Maurie. Well, um, I changed that name to Murray years ago. Sorry mom!

Christmas

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Um...I love you mommy?

2011-12-24T16:23:00.000-08:00

Two days ago my boyfriend called me and said "I just got paid! What do you want for Christmas?" After few seconds of thought I said, "How about Bone books by Jeff Smith?" I fell in love with those graphic novels over a year ago but only have the first one.

Just an hour or so later my mom came home carrying a bag from Powell's Bookstore. Of course I was excited, but then a terrible suspicion arose in me. "Um, mom, you didn't get me any of the Bone books did you?" "I'm not telling you!" "It's just, they're what I told my boyfriend I'd like to have..."

And that is how I found out mom will be giving me Bone books 1 through 3 for Christmas. And yes I already have a copy of the first one, but it's beaten up (remind me to tell that story another time...and it's all mom's fault) (well, mostly) so I guess mom decided to get me another copy of it.

I quickly messaged my boyfriend and told him not to buy me books 1-3.

Then yesterday he proposed the idea of taking me to a bookstore on Monday to let me pick out my own Christmas present.

So now mom's slightly irritated (but taking it in good humor) that I know what she's giving me for no good reason, since by the time that the boyfriend takes me book shopping it'll be after I've opened presents Christmas morning.

It seems like the best, maybe the only, way to respond is "Um...I love you mommy?"

ps. Yes, I think I will properly introduce my boyfriend soon. I just need to talk to him and figure out what his nickname should be.

2007

2011-12-24T00:38:00.000-08:00

I've been reading my old diaries. Reading all of them will be a bit of a process because I've got about 22 diaries. Yes, so many that I'm not 100% sure exactly how many I have.

While reading I discovered that the year 2007 had quite a few milestones in it, and I wanted to share some of it here.

In no particular order...

My family moved. We left my childhood home that I had been in since first grade. I cried so much. We were officially completely moved in on Samhain. That was also when I visited ER for a concussion...but that's another story.

I turned 18. Enough said on that.

I got cloth sanitary pads. A big change for me. I'm still using the ones I bought, and since buying them I have 1) saved a lot of money since I'm not buying more sanity pads (yes that misspelling was intentional) every month, but I have also 2) avoided putting more plastic in the landfills. So it's cheaper and more earth friendly! :)

I had my first major experience with discrimination. There was this one college professor who did not like me. I don't know why. Her methods of discrimination were subtle enough that there was no point in reporting her (she once turned her back on me when I was in the middle of talking to her, and she did other little things like that) but nasty enough that I went home in tears twice. I've been frustrated and angry with other professors, but none of them sent me home in tears. It's only in the last year that I stopped shuddering when hearing her name, and that's because I got another professor (who I love!) with the same name. So now I actually have good memories attached to the name. :)

I started college. I started at Portland Community College in winter 2007.

I graduated 12th grade. I didn't actually write about this event in my diary.

I started volunteering. My brother had started at the beginning of the year, and I finally started in July. This is also when I learned to mend books.

I tried the medication Strattera. Of all the meds I have taken I take note of this one because it is the one that is having lingering effects. It worked really well on my ADHD, but it produced chest pains. My heart was checked out and everything was declared fine, but I sometimes still have chest pains these days. As of 2007, no one knew why Strattera caused chest pains in some people. Hmm, maybe I need to do some research to see if anything new has been learned about Strattera...

I lost two of my best friends. We grew apart, and despite my efforts I lost them. I'd lost best friends before (heck, I had one so called best friend stab me in the back) but I took it really hard, perhaps because I lost them both at the same time. I spent all of 2007 realizing and then accepting that I'd lost them. Actually, I didn't really accepted it until sometime in 2008, but I think I lost them in late 2006.

I declared myself a Pagan. I didn't write down the exact date that I realized I'm a Pagan, but I can remember it fairly clearly, and my first thought after I realized it was: "When did that happen??"

Random fun with the iPhone

2011-12-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Here are some more random fun stuff from the iPhone.

Me: Read any good books lately?
Siri: Sorry, I can only read incoming text messages.
Me: Do you like to read?
Siri: This is about you, not me.
Me: Who is your favorite author?
Siri: I guess I don't have one.

Hey, I'm an English major. I had to ask about books sometime!

Me: Where do babies come from?
Siri: I found this for you:
Where do babies come from?
From their mothers.
(through the process of fertilization, prenatal development, and birth)

Awesome! It's a handy thing to have when those kids start asking pesky questions like "Why is the sky blue?" Then again, I don't know exactly how it would answer the question "How are babies made?"

Me: Would you like a cup of coffee?
Siri: I really have no opinion.
Me: Would you like a cup of coffee?
Siri: I really have no opinion.
Me: Thing it's do you want to f***?*
Siri: I try to be satisfied with what I have.

*I SWEAR I DID NOT SAY THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was trying to repeat my question, yet again, but was laughing too hard for the silly thing to understand me. I swear!!! The iPhone's response is just too funny not to share, though.


Me: Beam me up, Scotty! Siri: WiFi or 3G? Me: Wi-Fi. Siri: I couldn't find any wifi hotspots.* Me: 3G. Siri: Sorry, I don't' understand '3G'.

1) We had Wi-Fi access, and 2) my iPhone ought to know what 3G is. I think it was just looking for excuses to not beam me up.

Tall One found some more funny stuff which I'll probably be sharing.

Flirting with my iPhone

2011-12-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Don't tell my boyfriend, but I decided to see how my iPhone would respond to me flirting with it.

Me: You're cute.
Siri: You say that to all the virtual assistants.

I do not! How dare it suggest such a thing!?!

Me: How about dinner tonight?
Siri: I found a number of restaurants fairly close to you:

If my iPhone suggests locations, does that mean it wants to date me?

Me: Are you a blonde or brunette?
Siri: I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't answer that.
Me: Are you a redhead?
Siri: No comment

*pout*


Me: Hey good lookin' Siri: I didn't find any places matching 'Hey Good Lookin'. Me: Are you deliberately being a pain in the backside? Siri: No comment

I thought things were going pretty well, so I decided to pop the question...

Me: Will you marry me?
Siri: Let's just be friends, OK?

Ouch. Well, if you say so.

Not a word about this to my boyfriend. Agreed? Agreed.

Calvin and Hobbes Christmas

2011-12-16T17:36:00.000-08:00

Here is another Christmas song, with some fantastic visuals.

There are lots and lots of snowmen who are doing things like getting dismembered, being hanged, getting eaten by monsters, and all kinds of horrid fun stuff. Inspired by the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip.

More fun with Siri

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

I decided that asking theological questions might not be really fair to my iPhone since Apple would have had to program it to keep anyone and everyone happy, so I decided to ask it some fairly innocent questions.

Me: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Siri: Sorry, too easy.

Oh come on!!!

Me: How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Siri: It depends on whether you are talking about African or European wood.

Me: Are you a magic eight ball?
Siri: No comment


Me: Can you sing? Siri: Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do... Me: Can you sing Christmas songs? Siri: Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do...

Me: Does this make my butt look big?
Siri: I don't know. Frankly, I've wondered that myself.

Thank you, my dear iPhone, for having wondered if my blue jeans make my butt look big.

Me: What is your favorite color?
Siri: My favorite color is... well, I don't know how to say it in your language. It's sort of greenish, but with more dimensions.

This can only mean one thing. My iPhone is an alien from another planet that has been sent to take control of the world. Oh no!!!

Voice control fun

2011-12-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

So, Tall One and I started having fun with the voice control thingy, called Siri, on our iPhones last night. And I decided to ask my iPhone some theological questions.


Me: Are you religious? Siri: No comment. Me: Do you go to church? Siri: I found 10 churches...

Siri decided to change the topic by telling me where to find my local churches. I have blacked out the locations it gave, by the way.

Me: What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?
Siri: All evidence to date suggests it's chocolate.

I'd been hoping it would say 42. *pout* Still, chocolate isn't a bad answer. ;)


Me: Are you spiritual? Siri: We were talking about you, not me.

The darned thing keeps telling me that.

Me: What is the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?
Siri: Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.


Me: Merry Christmas! Siri: Happy holiday! Me: Happy Hanukkah! Siri: Happy holiday! Me: Happy Kwanzaa! Siri: I don't know what you mean by 'Happy Kwanza'.

I refrain from comment.

Me: Is Lord of the Rings better than Harry Potter?
Siri: I eschew theological disquisition.

I fail to see how this is theological disquisition, but ok...

Me: What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?
Siri: Life: the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

Awesome thing is that it'll give different answers to the same questions. :)

I have more fun stories about Siri coming soon!

Silent Night

2011-12-14T19:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is late in the day, but I am sharing a holiday song today! This one is sung by a certain hairy guy I think we all know and love, whose name is Chewbacca.

A helpful kitty

2011-12-13T18:25:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has lived with a cat knows how helpful they like to be. And so for your viewing pleasure, here is a cat helping with yoga.

What I want to know is how the woman avoided cat claws in her back.

And for my blind readers -- a woman is going through yoga poses, and a cat climbs onto her back. As she moves around the cat slides up and down her back, and even manages to stay put when the woman stands up almost perfectly vertical. I'm not sure how the feline managed to pull that last one off!

My Grown Up Chrsitmas List

2011-12-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Lessons in life

2011-12-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I signed up for an English class. (Ok, so this is situation normal for me...) Then on the first day of class...I changed my mind.

The professor was just too weird, and crazy, and I had absolutely no interest in taking an English class from him. So I switched to a different class.

Then Tall One found a professor at the same PCC campus who he absolutely loved, and who I loved hearing about. This was a professor who called William Faulkner's short story "A Rose for Emily" a "love story," and before the end of the term the body count (of fictional characters) was quite high. From everything I heard about this professor I thought that he was the type who Magaly, from Pagan Culture, would love. I even said that if I returned to PCC that I wanted to take a class from this guy.

A few months ago I was going through my old school stuff, and I found the syllabus from the professor whose English class I had dropped. And guess what?

When I took another look at that syllabus I discovered that the professor whose class I had dropped was the professor who Tall One loved.

I'm not sure what the moral of the story is. Maybe it's that you shouldn't be too quick to judge professors. Or maybe it's that Tall One and I have vastly different tastes. Or maybe it's something else. In any case, I'd be willing to give that professor another chance if I ever return to PCC.

Has something like this ever happened to you?

Christmas in the Trenches

2011-12-12T00:00:00.000-08:00

True story.

One question: why did that night have to end?

FYI for my blind followers, throughout the video is photos of soldiers, mostly on the field. It ends with...

The Peaceable Kingdom

The wolf shall live with the lamb

the calf and the lion together

and a little child shall lead them

The Prophet Isaiah 11:6

The Christians and the Pagans

2011-12-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

Guess what? There are some real gems on YouTube if you go wandering around it.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of the father saying "We'll discuss it when they leave." What do you think?

What Night Is This?

2011-12-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well I promised a Pagan song next, and I have got a Pagan song!

Our tree

2011-12-09T22:05:00.000-08:00

I took photos of our Christyule tree and decided to share here.

Christyule: a combination of Christmas and Yule. My family celebrates both, and I don't want to call our tree a "holiday tree" (there is a time and place to be politically correct, but not in the home I think!) so I made up a word. :)

The angel on top of our tree

Cross stitch ornament saying "Peace on Earth" that I made several years ago.

A sleepy squirrel.

Kermit. I think he's my mom's favorite thing on the tree.

My mom's angel.

Years ago someone in our Girl Scout troop made angels for/of everyone. You can't tell in this lighting, but the hair on mom's angel is gray.

The angel for/of me. You can tell because the hair isn't gray.

As I recall, there was one Christmas where the angels of/for mom and myself fell off the tree. So I guess we're fallen angels.

An ornament with my old school shield on it. (It's different now.)

Perhaps my favorite. It's a star that a friend made when I was younger.

The star seems somehow Pagan to me. :)

The tree, in all its glory!

Christmas Can-Can (and all-nighter weirdness)

2011-12-09T04:09:00.000-08:00

Sorry I missed a day in sharing music. Not that I'd told everyone I would share a song a day, but that was my intention. Whoops, and you wouldn't have known that if I hadn't told you! Oh well.

Anyways, my next song is The Christmas Can-Can!

It's neat how they add in other holidays. :) Speaking of which...

Yes, I will share a Pagan song next. I promise. I'm just more familiar with Christmas songs than solstice songs so those are the ones I gravitate towards.

ps. Yes I am writing a post at 4am. I'm pulling an all nighter. My ADHD has been giving me fits so I'm getting an essay done last minute...but it's getting done! Woohoo! And I may be on a slight caffeine/sugar high...at 1am I fixed myself a double shot of coffee that was flavored with white chocolate and caramel, and topped off with whip cream. With some cinnamon sprinkled on top of the whip cream, for looks. I have watched the movie "Tangled" twice, "A Muppet's Christmas Carol" once, and I may watch the latter a second time. It's sometimes easier to focus with a distraction. As Jeremy from the comic strip "Zits" once said, "I get distracted without my distractions." Jeremy may have ADHD.

And today's song...

2011-12-07T12:54:00.000-08:00

...is a song that I found over at Debra She Who Seek's blog.

I've always liked the idea of giving the gift of music. And I like to think that it was the gift that little baby Jesus loved the most. Gold, myrrh, and all that other awesome stuff? Who needs that when you've got music?

Bring Him Home Santa

2011-12-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

I shared this one last year (and I think the year before, too) but I've got to share it again this year. Beware, you may not make it through the video without crying.

My first diary

2011-12-05T10:30:00.000-08:00

Last night, while I had my rats out playing, I read through my first diary. I'd had no idea that my writings from 1999 to 2002 would say so much about me. The topics I mentioned the most were books (English major! Bwahaha!), music, friends, family (especially Tall One -- and I particularly tended to mention it when he got sick and threw up), swing sets, and Girl Scouts. I also spent quite a bit of time towards the end of my diary talking about a crush on a fictional character.

Some of what I read made me laugh, including the following two entries. Don't worry, I'll spare you the bad spelling. I'll also provide editorial comments so you can have details that I neglected to mention. :)

1-29-2000

Something I forgot to say yesterday was that we [mom, Tall One, and me] ate lunch at McDonalds, we were feeding European starlings. Mom found this out on accident, we could feed them right out of our hands! [We had gone through drive through and were eating in the parking lot. She'd had her hand out the car window with a French fry in it for some reason, and a starling stole it from her. So we started feeding them that way.] It was so fun!

Oh, and I spent the night at K*****'s, even though I was grounded. [Mom forgot that she'd grounded me so she gave me permission to hang out my friend.] [Don't ask why I was grounded. I can't remember.]

3-18-02

Note to remember: don't bother to tell brothers you love them 'cause they'll throw something at you.

An old favorite song

2011-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Am I allowed to talk about old favorites when I'm only 22 years old?

I wanted to share a Christmas song that was a favorite of mine when I was young, and which I still think is cute.

What happened

2011-12-04T15:19:00.000-08:00

I think that by now we've all seen the pictures of police pepper spraying protestors, and have heard about how they were violent to peaceful students who were protesting on their college campus.

Another side of the story has come out, and I would like to share some unedited footage (ok, which is actually a bunch of video clips stuck together so we are probably be missing some details) that I think needs to be shared. The video is very visually oriented though, with lots of text to explain what's happening, so I'll also provide a description of what happens for any of my readers who are blind.

Sometimes I'll be quoting the text from the video, sometimes I'll be paraphrasing or describing what I'm seeing.

1) It starts with the video of pepper spray being used, and saying that it's not the whole story. Then the video backs up to when the police first arrived.

2) "Campus police arrived to remove an Occupy camp. Protesters were notified the day before of this action. The police also gave verbal warnings of their intentions. Protestors attempted to shout them down." These warnings were given to the protestors who were camping -- not those who were "standing around and chanting."

3) "A second verbal warning is given." Yes, a second warning! An officer on a megaphone says "This is your last warning"...and yet goes on to give a third warning.

[I'm going to make an editorial comment right here and say that he didn't seem to want any trouble.]

4) The protestors move forward towards the police and another warning is given.

5) Police remove the tents.

6) "After clearing the tents and arresting protesters who attempted to stop them the police begin to leave." Then the protestors demand that the police release those who have been arrested.

In watching the video again I noticed that police do have guns out at this point (they may have before and I didn't notice) but never in this video do the police look like they're about to use their guns -- they've just got them ready to use if necessary, like if the protestors decide to turn violent.

7) Protestors march to where the police are holding those who have been arrested. "This is when protesters begin to form a circle around the police, and block their path." (Emphasis is my doing, as is all future emphasis.) The protestors surround the police so that they're trapped. At this point the most of the police have their batons out and are holding them with both hands, apparently ready to use.

[Another editorial comment: trapping the police doesn't sound very peaceful to me.]

8) "Protesters tell the police they will let them leave if they release the people they have arrested."

9) Police warn the protestors what the consequences of continuing to block them will be. In the video we can see some police walking up to the front line of protestors (who are sitting) and explaining it to individuals. I can't say that they talked to each person in the front line individually, but the police certainly tried to talk their way out of their position.

10) "Telling police you will let them leave if they release people they have arrested is a threatening action. The 'protesters' sitting on the ground are no longer protesting against high tuition or Wall Street, but are instead trying to keep the police from leaving."

11) "Some protesters seem intent on antagonizing the police." Again the police talk to the protesters, presumably trying to get them to move.

12) "Protesters suggest a resolution demanding the police leave the campus, yet they [the protesters] continue to block their [the polices'] path. The protesters do not seem to be aware of the serious situation they have created by blocking the police."

13) Again I see an officer walking up to one of the protesters, presumably the leader, trying to talk. I don't know what's said, but the text in the video is "Watch how easily protesters twist words. The police never said they were going to shoot the protesters." The protesters begin chanting "Don't shoot students!"

14) "Protesters are aware of the police preparing to use pepper spray." The protesters begin chanting "Don't shoot the children!" [Editorial comment: They're young adults, not children. Or do they want to be treated as children?] The police are seen with red canisters.

15) "The protesters have been given many warnings about what will happen if they refuse to clear the path."

16) Reinforcements arrive for the police. Or I assume it's reinforcements, since it's police showing up on the outside of the ring of protestors and walking towards those who are trapped. They can be heard in the video saying "Move!" and "Please step off the sidewalk." There's a police car that's coming along behind the reinforcements.

17) "Protesters begin screaming for the police not to use pepper spray to clear the path, yet just seconds before they were telling those on the ground to get ready for it." The protesters who are refusing to move get pepper sprayed.

18) "Now the protesters say they are willing to give the police a moment of peace... so much for peaceful protesters. The protesters say they will not follow the police as they did earlier. They also give the police permission to leave."

19) One protester is lifted up on someone else's shoulders. "The guy on the shoulders seems to be the leader, but he does not appear to be a student."

20) The police leave.

21) One last note from the maker of the video, which I agree with... "This could have been avoided had the protesters not attempted to trap the police and keep them from leaving." And the video ends.

By the way, what's up with the protestors yelling "Mic check!" ???? I really am perplexed on this point and am wondering what that was about.

I suppose that I could make more comments about this particular Occupy movement, but I think that from my tone above you can figure out my feelings.

However, I would like to make a note about the Occupy movements in general.

I agree with the basic idea of the Occupy movements. Things would be much better if most of the wealth in this country wasn't controlled by 1% of the population. However, I don't like the trouble that seems to go with the Occupy movements. For example, Occupy Portland camped out in some parks downtown and now the damage done to those parks is estimated to be almost $86,000. And where is that money going to come from? Tax payer dollars.

Coffee as beauty treatment

2011-12-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

I recently read 20 unusual uses for coffee, and one of them was the suggestion that it be used on hair to make it more shiny.

My first thought was "Hey, I should try that!"

A later thought was "Hey, my most popular blog post is about my hair, so maybe I should blog about the results!"

I applied coffee to my hair Tuesday evening, and I am here to tell you about the results. But first, let me tell you what kind of coffee and how long I left it in.

The coffee packaging

I used extra strength of the Senseo Kenya Blend. Once I brewed it up I stuck it in the freezer to cool off. The instructions said to let it cool before application, and anyways the thought of putting scalding coffee anywhere near my scalp isn't very appealing somehow.

Once it cooled off I put it on my clean and dry hair (the instructions also said that the hair needed to be clean and dry) and then wrapped it all up in a towel.

I was supposed to let it set for twenty minutes before rinsing out but I left it in for an hour. Why? Because a certain someone decided to take a shower, and since I didn't want to rinse my hair out in the sink I decided to wait until he was through.

And now, for the results...

...which is that I can't see any difference in my hair. I can definitely smell a difference (oh yeah!) but it looks the same as ever.

I probably won't put coffee in my hair again unless I'm trying to seduce a certain guy who's a caffeine addict. And probably not even then, because I can think of equally interesting and less troublesome ways to seduce him.

Operation Circle Care

2011-11-30T14:27:00.000-08:00

Do you want to help send Yuletide care packages to Pagans serving over seas? There's info on how to do this if you follow this link: http://www.circlesanctuary.org/ministries/military/operationcirclecare.html

The people over at Circle Sanctuary are collecting Pagany items to send (I'm an English major...if I say "Pagany" then it's a word. don't argue.) as well as money donations to pay for shipping. More info can be found at the above link.

:)

Triple moon

PROTECT IP

2011-11-29T14:39:00.000-08:00

So there's yet another bill trying to mess with the internet. Info is in the following video, and it looks an awful darn lot like the proposed censorship bill from earlier this month.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

You can get more info on how to fight it here: http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/

Yep, they're spoiled

2011-11-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

I got a new rat cage. It was a good deal too! I got it second hand for $16 (ok so mom actually got it as an early Christmas present for the girls), and if I'd gotten it straight from PetSmart or some other pet store it would have been at least $100. Sweet. Of course I covered it in bleach before ever letting the girls near it. I don't know where it's been before.

The rat cage in all its glory!

It has two proper levels and two platforms. When I showed pictures of it to my boyfriend he said something along the lines of "That's not a rat cage, it's a rat mansion!"

(He loves my rats, by the way, and they love him. ♥ )

And if you're wondering why some of the shelves of the book case in the above photo are mostly bare...that's the rats' doing. They like to push and/or knock things off. So I've (mostly) removed the breakable things, and they make a habit of shoving off the teddy bears and other squishy things that I've left on the shelves.

A paper towel stuck through the wires of the cage.

And they've pulled that paper towel through the wires!

I like to stick paper towels partway through the wires of their cage, and they love pulling those paper towels all the way through.

My kitty Kokopelle, checking out the new cage.

Kokopelle and Beka going nose to nose.

Kokopelle of course had to check out the new cage, but I was somewhat taken aback when Beka went nose to nose with him. She's either very brave or very foolish, and I'm not sure which.

On second thought I think I'd have to go with foolish because she also tried to grab at his fur through the wires of the cage. That's a good way for her to lose a paw, so I rearranged things in a way to discourage Kokopelle from sitting right next to the cage.

A little note

2011-11-28T15:33:00.000-08:00

To my dear pet rats:

My fingers are not chew toys.

Oh and by the way, I'm glad that Kokopelle doesn't scare you, but it probably would be a good idea to not grab at any of the cats through the wires of your cage.

Love,

Sarita

Well...

2011-11-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

I spent oh so much time last evening and today laboring over a presentation for today's class, only to find that it's due next week.

Dang it dang it dang it dang it...

In other news, my boyfriend created a monster when he introduced me to Rocky Horror Picture Show. I have listened to the following song more times than is maybe healthy, and I've learned the words to it surprisingly quickly.

By the way, before my boyfriend I avoided horror movies like the plague. (Just like I avoid clichés like the plague.) But I've discovered that the old horror movies are more fun than horrifying. Who knew?

Dad

2011-11-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, I've got to rant. It's not as though my dad reads my blog anyways, and if he does read it then maybe it'll convince him to do something if only because I'm worried about him. Then again, it might make him more stubborn...

Dad was forced into retirement about ten years ago by post-polio syndrome. Do I hear you asking what post-polio syndrome is? How lucky you are that you don't know.

Once a person recovers from polio, even if they make a complete recovery as my dad did, that's not the end of the story for them. Years later it'll come back to haunt them again. That's the post-polio. Dad says that it's like having polio all over again.

As a result dad is in constant pain. It has taken over his life. He spends most of his time in bed. He usually doesn't eat dinner with the family because of his pain. True, he's on pain meds, but due to the schedule he takes them on he is in a lot of pain at certain times of the day. And even when he's feeling his best he's still in pain.

I'm used to this. Dad's in pain, fact of life. What else is new. But I talked to a friend last weekend who told me about palliative care, and she told me that its focus is making a person comfortable rather than curing them (which, by the way, there is no known cure to post-polio) and that because of this different approach, pain management is so much easier.

I'm not used to going dad with suggestions, so I told mom about it. She was skeptical about whether he would listen, but she said she'd talk to him.

No luck.

So I talked to him myself on Wednesday.

Again, no luck. He says he knows what he's doing and that palliative care won't do anything for him. And besides (he says), what he's doing is working well enough. Which is complete BS, but I didn't bother to point that out to him.

It's one thing to watch him suffer when I think there's nothing else for it. But to see the pain he's in when I know he's refusing to try new coping methods...what he's doing isn't cutting it, and he ought to know that.

Hank on censorship

2011-11-18T17:52:00.000-08:00

Here's another video on censorship that I think is well worth watching.

And yes, I know it starts out on a completely different topic, and is responding to a video that you probably haven't seen (unless you're a nerdfighter like me), but bear with it.

If you want to read the video description which contains more info, the YouTube link to the video (and therefore what he's written) is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Keg6it0g2wY&feature=feedu

Psych homework

2011-11-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Monday evening I sat down to do my psych homework. I picked a topic, did my usual writing assignment...and then discovered when I logged onto the online class that the assignment had been something completely different.

I'm a little miffed, and I don't want my homework to have been for nothing so I'm sharing it here.

My text that I'm quoting, in case anyone is curious, is the second edition of Psychology by Schacter, Gilbert, and Wegner.

And yes, I have some pretty bizarre phobias.

~ ~ ~

Because of my own personal experience with anxiety I was already familiar with the topic, but I still learned some new things.

Anxiety is an unreasonable fear, and it comes in different forms.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) -- Chronic worry with “three or more of the following symptoms: restlessness, fatigue, concentration problems, irritability, muscle tension, and sleep disturbance” (559).
Phobic disorders -- Persistent fear and avoidance of certain circumstances, objects, etc. (One example of this is that if I am out kayaking and come across a log jutting up from the depths of the lake it terrifies and panics me. I’ve actually refused to kayak because of this stupid phobia.)
Specific phobia -- The only difference between this and phobic disorders seems to be that in this case it “interferes with an individual’s ability to function” (560). (I think an example of this would be when I almost couldn’t sleep, or even stay in bed, due to fearing that the house would burn down.)
Social phobia -- This phobia is when a person is afraid of appearing in public, or of being publicly embarrassed or humiliated.
Panic disorder -- This is when various symptoms come together which cause a person to feel “stark terror” (652).
Agoraphobia -- This often accompanies the panic disorder, and it is the fear of being in public places. People suffering agoraphobia are not necessarily afraid of the public location itself, but of having a panic attack there and being ridiculed or ignored.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) -- OCD is when a person has obsessive thoughts which compel them to engage in unusual behaviors which “interfere significantly with an individual’s functioning” (563). This is in the anxiety section becasue attempting to ignore the obsessive thoughts, or trying to restrain oneself from acting on them, creates anxiety.

Anxiety definitely comes in many different forms.

Have you known someone who suffered from anxiety, or have you experienced it yourself? Based on the types of anxiety described in our textbook, which form of anxiety was it?

Oh, wow... ♥

2011-11-17T00:00:00.001-08:00

I used to closely identify with the song "On My Own" from Les Misérables. For those who are unfamiliar with the song, or for those whose memories need refreshing, or for those who simply want to hear an awesome song one more time, here it is:

As of a couple weeks ago the song stopped fitting me. I'm not sure what my new "theme song" is, but I can tell you that I've been eating up quotes such as the following...

"When love is not madness it is not love." -- Pedro Caldrón de la Barca

"Who, being loved, is poor?" -- Oscar Wilde

"Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired." -- Robert Frost

"A profound love between two people involves, after all, the power and chance of doing profound hurt. It would never have occurred to me before that night that I could hurt Estraven." -- Ursula K. Le Guin

"If I had a flower for every time I thought of you...I could walk through my garden forever." -- Alfred Lord Tennyson

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." -- Sarah Dessen

"Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own." -- Robert A. Heinlein

♥

Censorship

2011-11-16T12:32:00.000-08:00

I found out today that Congress is working to pass a bill which could change the internet as we know it. That is, it could shut down sites like Facebook, YouTube...and others.

There are already laws in place to protect copyrighted material. The laws don't work perfectly, but there's such a thing as going too far and this seems to me to be too far.

More info is in the following video, but be sure to watch it all the way through because the proposed law was altered for the worse after the video was originally made and there is updated info at the end of it.

If you want to take action to prevent this you can do so at the following sites:

American Censorship: http://americancensorship.org/thanks/index.html?action_id=2449225&akid=.761157.NZ5uZ2&form_name=act&rd=1 -- There is also more info in this link, FYI

Avaaz: http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_us_c/?tta

Obviously, blogging and telling your friends about this will help spread word, so I recommend that you do so.

Small world!

2011-11-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

My friend The Belly Dancer returned home for a few days last weekend. She spent most of her energies on a belly dancing event and I didn't have much time to hang out with her (it didn't help that I suddenly realized on Friday that I had rather more homework than I'd thought... darned psych class) but I did get to spend some time with her, and that was great.

Gosh, I've missed her.

Belly Dancer's Body by Petr Kratochvil

I went to the belly dance event on Saturday to see her perform. I also brought along my boyfriend. Yeah, I brought my boyfriend to a place where women would be showing lots of skin and moving their hips (and other bits). Not that I regret dragging him along, it just seems funny in retrospect.

As to the small world portion of this post...

On Facebook I'm friends with a childhood friend who I've grown apart from and her mom, who I'll call Lauren, because that's the first name that popped into my head and I don't want to use her real name. Well, Lauren's status on Sunday said that she had been to a belly dance event with some friends, and that it was fun.

Imagine my surprise! Of course I asked about the location, and it turned out that Lauren and her friends had been to the same belly dancing event as me, and I just hadn't run into them. Except, I did. Lauren's cousin was a vendor there, she sold some lovely arm bracelets to The Belly Dancer, and I drooled over some porcupine hair sticks that she was selling. Lauren's cousin was on Facebook too and she commented to me "I see from your profile pic that you're friends with The Belly Dancer!" Yes, in my excitement over seeing The Belly Dancer again I found an old pic with both of us in it and am using that as my profile pic...and Lauren's cousin knows her.

So I went to a belly dancing event to see The Belly Dancer, and met the cousin of my childhood best friend's mom, who happens to know my good friend The Belly Dancer.

It's such a big world, and yet it's also so small.

Improv Everywhere: Star Wars

2011-11-14T00:02:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share this short video:

For those who can hear but can't see...

A woman in a Princess Leia costume boards a Subway train with a book titled Galactic Rebellion for Dummies. At the next station storm troopers board the train, grab her, and then Darth Vader boards the train at the third station. After the confrontation the storm troopers take her off the train at the forth and final train station.

All the time, the people around them laugh and record the spectacle for themselves.

Abortion

2011-11-10T11:56:00.000-08:00

I generally avoid talking about politics on this blog, but I'm going to make an exception to that rule today.

Mississippi just voted down the "personhood" initiative, which defines human life as beginning once a female egg becomes fertilized.

On one hand I do agree that life begins at conception, and for that reason I consider abortion to be murder. That being said, I don't see the issue as all black and white, and I am glad that the initiative was defeated because it could have caused more problems than it solved.

For example, I remember a while ago there was discussion about a bill/initiative/whatever in some state (I don't remember where, so don't ask) that would make abortion illegal, but which would also make it necessary to launch a criminal investigation when a woman had a miscarriage. I could easily see the personhood initiative going in the same direction, and that is something that would do more harm than good to grieving would-be parents.

Also, there are certain extreme medical cases where I would actually support abortion. One example of where I support it is a case I learned about a few years ago when a girl who was scarcely old enough to be called a preteen became pregnant. (I want to say she was 9 years old, but I suspect I'm remembering wrong because that seems sort of impossible.) Even though she had entered puberty and was capable of conceiving a child, she was young enough that her body could not handle a pregnancy properly. I don't even know if she would have been capable of carrying a baby full term. She had an abortion, which I suspect (though I can't say for sure) saved her life. That is one case where I support the decision to have an abortion.

Another case is when a fetus grows in the fallopian tubes. There's no way that the baby can survive there, no way to save the life of the baby, but the mother's life can be saved if there is an abortion. I hate to say it, but I do support abortion in this case as well.

So even though I consider abortion to be murder I don't support laws which outlaw it completely, because it seems to me that in certain extreme cases it is necessary. And yet, how do we write a law that outlaws abortion, while still allowing it to be done in certain circumstances? It would be very tricky to write a law that would save the life of every viable fetus while still allowing women to save their own lives in cases such as those I have shared above. And I'm not sure how such a law could be written.

Maybe the best law on the topic of abortion would be that it is illegal, except in the case of where a mother's life would be in danger, and that whether an abortion is called for is up to a doctor. It would still be possible for a viable fetus to be aborted (I'm sure some doctors would wiggle their way around such a law to provide unnecessary abortions), but as I said I don't think there's a perfect way to write a law on abortion.

Lastly...

Don't even get me started about the argument that it's a woman's body and that she should be able to do with it as she pleases, because if you accept (as I do) that life begins at conception then there is not one life involved, but two. And as for the other argument often used that men don't have a right to say anything on the subject of abortion...um, it's their baby as much as it is the woman's, and as such I think they should definitely have a say in things.

Ok, I'm through. Let the arguments about my opinions begin! And since this is such a controversial subject I would like to note that although I'm fine with people disagreeing with me and arguing/debating, I can and will delete any personal attacks in the comments.

Grrr...

2011-11-08T17:59:00.000-08:00

"For example, all animals strive to stay alive, but only human beings realize that this striving is ultimately in vain and that death is life's inevitable end. We and we alone know that every breath we take brings us just a little bit closer to our own demise."

When I read the above in my psych text book (which I talked about in this post at my book blog) I couldn't contain myself. I am sick and tired of hearing about how humans are special, and now I'm seeing this in my awesome psych book?

Ok, so humans are so special? Let's be scientific about this then, and prove that non-human animals are unaware that life is a terminal condition. What's wrong, you can't prove it scientifically? Then stop being so high and mighty about it in the classroom, where what's taught is supposed to be based on scientific evidence, and shut up about animals being lesser beings than humans.

As a matter of fact, I'm not so sure that all humans are aware of their own mortality...

*sigh* Yes, this is a subject which is a point of irritation to me.

Versatile Blogger Award

2011-11-08T17:33:00.000-08:00

Toriz over at Torizworld awarded me the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you Toriz!!! =)

Versatile Blogger Award

The rules for accepting this award are as follows:

1) Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
2) Share 7 things about yourself.
3) Pass the award on to 7 recently discovered and deserving blogs.

I've already thanked Toriz, so now on to the 7 things about me.

1) I used to study Irish Step Dance. It is an awesome form of dance that I want to get back to. I studied it with my brother.
2) I also studied Flamenco, and took classes with my mom. She was my dance partner in my first Flamenco performance, which also happened to be at her workplace.
3) I tried tap dance, but just didn't like it.
4) I tried ballet lessons (on at least two separate occasions), and decided that I'd rather watch than do it. (Tall One excelled in ballet, by the way.)
5) When I watch "Star Wars" I like to sing along with the theme song for the dark side. The fact that I favor the music written for the dark side slightly annoys my boyfriend, which slightly encourages me to keep singing it.
6) My second favorite time of year is early fall, and my absolute favorite time of year is early spring. Despite the regular seasonal allergies. :)
7) Sappho is my favorite poet.

Ok, so people who have followed my blog may have already known some of those things about me. But whatever. :)

I've had no problem following rules 1 and 2, but I will have slightly more trouble with rule number 3, because I have not been looking for new blogs recently. However, I have managed to learn about two new blogs regardless, because they are blogs put together by classmates of mine, so I will pass this blog award on to them.

Unrepentant Pagan Bunnies! -- http://jimiswhipped.blogspot.com/
The Seeker's Quest -- http://theseekersquest.wordpress.com/

This and that

2011-11-06T23:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've written, hasn't it? Relatively speaking, anyways. I don't really have one particular thing to talk about in this post, so I think it'll be a little random.

...

My Samhain (October 31st) was pretty good. I donated blood, then my boyfriend took me to an Irish Pub for some corned beef. He figured that it was the best thing for a person who had just donated blood, and I wasn't going to argue. He also brought me homemade brownies. Yummm.

I did wind up going to school on Samhain because I had some business I needed to attend to on campus anyways, and I figured that while I was there I may as well attend class. I also didn't have to work that day (which I hadn't been sure whether I would be required to work when I first told the professor that I wouldn't be there) so I had most of the day to do with as I pleased.

Oh, and I dressed up as a kitty. :)

...

About my job. Um, well, I am officially unemployed again. I failed to make quota in my canvassing job and was let go.

Oh well. Back to the job hunt!

...

About donating blood...

My overall health hasn't been too great in the last year, even though I haven't exactly been sick with anything in particular for the most part. I have, generally speaking, felt too queasy to donate. So this was my first time to donate since June 2010.

I cannot say how happy I was to donate again.

In the past I've tended to write posts all about why it's important to donate blood, but this time I think I'll just share a video that I first shared a couple years ago about a girl who depends on blood donations.

If this makes you want to donate (which I hope it does!) you can check out this link: http://www.redcross.org/donate/give/

That darned rat (and those darned cats)

2011-10-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

Last evening I was letting the rats run lose in my bedroom as usual, and was only vaguely keeping an eye on them. I knew approximately where they were in my room, but most of my attention was on my book (Mansfield Park by Jane Austen). I knew that Sabine was in one of her favorite hidey holes, and that Beka was wandering in the approximate location of my altar. Situation normal.

After a little while Beka came running back to me, and I then heard her chewing on something. It took me a few seconds to realize that it wasn't just her usual bruxing, and that she actually had found something to eat. On investigation, this is what I found:

Beka, with her contraband acorn

Beka had an acorn.

This was an acorn that I had found a few days ago under the car port. I was rather surprised at finding it there, because even though we do have an oak tree (at the opposite end of the yard) it doesn't produce acorns. There are other older oaks in our neighborhood, but they're further away.

So, what did I do with the acorn? I picked it up and randomly put it on my altar.

Then Beka stole this acorn off of my altar, and ran back to me with it before eating it.

The nerve of that girl!

The good thing is that the acorn wasn't an offering. *sigh* I guess I'll have to be careful about offerings in the future... And yes, I did eventually allow her to keep the acorn.

And then the cats today...

Kokopelle, lying on top of my psych book

Kokopelle decided to help me study. Unfortunately I was too soft hearted to remove him from my book, so I was utterly at his mercy.

Socks, between me and my psych book

Then later Socks decided that he also wanted to help! And unlike Kokopelle he was actually purring, so even though he didn't lie on top of my book it was almost even worse.

Those rats and cats. And the things they do.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Beka also grabbed my pentacle pendant that happened to be on my altar (she also likes to chew on it when I'm wearing it) and dropped it off the edge of my altar, and then she tried to run off with one of my runes.

Maybe she's a Pagan rat?

I HAVE A JOB!!!

2011-10-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

I have a job I have a job I have a job I HAVE A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am a canvasser, and I start work immediately.

I've got to admit that I'm slightly amazed. I've been looking for work for so long. Then things didn't go too well yesterday, which was when the interview was supposed to be originally: First I got lost (I was standing outside an apartment building saying "This doesn't look right..."), so we rescheduled, then they canceled the reschedule, and rescheduled again for today. Things just weren't working out at either of our ends.

But we persevered, I finally did interview today, and they hired me.

The fact that I am now employed is still sinking in.

I figure I'll save money for a couple of months and then get my own place over winter break.

Oh my gosh, I'll be able to get my own place soon! My very own place. Then I'll get to start paying bills, buying groceries, buying my own toilet paper, figuring out how to haul heavy kitty litter home without a car...actually that's easy. I just have to find something with wheels.

My dream is to get a two bedroom apartment (I know some of them are inexpensive) and turn the second bedroom into a crafty room, where I do book mending, needlework, spinning yarn, and all that fun stuff.

OMG I HAVE A JOB!!!

As a canvasser I'll definitely get lots of fresh air and plenty of exercise. Which I guess is good compensation for being out in all kinds of weather. :)

DFTBA

This and that

2011-10-18T12:13:00.000-07:00

I really should be job hunting right now, but I can't focus (that's becoming a theme lately, isn't it?) because I just got a call to set up a job interview tomorrow.

Wish me luck!!! I would be working for gay rights, which is something I feel strongly about, so I think I'm the sort of person they would want. :)

Now, on to a different topic, which may also be distracting me...

I haven't really talked about Samhain much this year. My Pagan followers already know all about Samhain, but my non-Pagan followers might not. Full details can come later, but for now I'll just say that it is one of the biggest Pagan holidays, and it is one of the two most important celebrations to me. And the date is October 31st.

Well guess what? October 31st is on a Monday this year, which is the day of my on campus class.

I'm really torn. On one hand I want to just focus on Samhain that day, but on the other hand I don't want to miss class.

My family thinks it's a no brainer that I should attend class on Samhain.

I would compare that to a Christian attending school on Christmas. I'm not saying that no Christian would attend school or go to work (many do work on Christmas) on December 25th, but my point is that most really wouldn't want to, and with good reason.

I e-mailed my professor about this, she said it's fine either way. Our school just requires I give a two week notice for missing class due to a religious holiday.

So, what do you think? Am I being unreasonable for seriously considering skipping school on Samhain?

The Golden Rule

2011-10-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

Since I'm having trouble focusing I figure I may as well write on a school topic, even though I'm not actually accomplishing a school assignment. After all, if I at least write a school related topic it might be helpful, right?

How do I make ethical decisions? What version of the "golden rule" do I follow?

If I weren't Pagan I would probably be Buddhist, and I happen to agree with the Buddhist idea that, at the end of the day, we're all one.

Buddhist monk saying: so the monk says to the hot dog vendor, "make me one with everything"

(Never mind that this means I technically believe in monotheism rather than polytheism. It's easier for me to think of the gods as separate entities than all being part of each other, so I pretend to myself that I'm a polytheist. Besides, then I would also have to think about me being one and the same as the person sitting next to me on the bus, which is weird.)

So if the person next to me on the bus is part of me (I know, I know, I just said I don't want to think about that. But I'm human and therefore inconsistent, ok?) then that means that whatever I do to him/her I'm actually doing to myself.

If someone has their hands full and I hold a door open for them then I'm really helping myself.

And if I stab someone with a pencil then it's myself I'm hurting.

So my version of the golden rule is basically this: Be nice to others because whatever you're doing to them, you're actually doing to yourself.

I guess it's a version of karma.

I haven't actually seen anyone else explain the golden rule exactly in this way before, but I'm sure that I'm not the only person who thinks this way.

Living forever

2011-10-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

We are what we eat, right?

And a twinkie will stay good for thousands of years, right?

So, isn't the secret to immortality (or anyways, super long life) to only ever eat twinkies?

Insainty

2011-10-16T18:05:00.000-07:00

I would like to share with you a little of what I am studying for school:

Perhaps you'll understand when I tell you that, in trying to read what David Hume wrote on the topic of ethics, I am slightly going crazy.

In an attempt to restore my sanity I would like to share a video containing a song that popped into my head when I woke up today, and has more or less remained in my head throughout the rest of the day.

(By the way, for those who can hear but not see the video: the techno remix involves rewinding the video so that the baby goat not only leaves its mommy's womb, but also returns to it.)

And I'm wondering -- If Hank thinks that a goat giving birth to a baby goat is gross, what would he prefer? That the goat give birth to a baby chimpanzee?

DFTBA

Morrigan Crone of War

2011-10-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

For some reason the mood suddenly struck me to share a song honoring the Morrigan by the band Omnia.

I'm not sure why I love this song so much, because the ending isn't exactly the kind of thing I normally like. But I do like it. It's also funny because I don't really think of the Morrigan as a crone, but then again she appears to different people in different guises.

Morrigan is an Irish goddess, and as you may have guessed from the above song she is a goddess of war. She's a great goddess to call on if you need help setting boundaries or if you need to embrace some more of that warrior spirit. Additionally, she's the one who carries the souls of warriors killed in battle from the field.

...and I find that I just have to share a second song that the Morrigan song puts me in mind of. It's one by Heather Alexander. Again, it's totally not my typical style, but for some reason I like it. Oh, and it has BAGPIPES in it!!!

Coming Out Day, two days late

2011-10-13T16:34:00.000-07:00

So apparently National Coming Out Day was two days ago. I guess I'm two days late for writing on the topic, but I figured I may as well add my two cents worth even though I'm late.

I do consider myself straight. Or anyways, I think of myself as straight. But thing is, despite virtually all my crushes being on guys, I have had two crushes on women.

What does that make me? I don't know. The term "bisexual" doesn't seem right because it seems to imply more interest in both genders than I obviously have. When I asked a friend of mine about this she said "You're just a person who has had crushes on two women."

Do we spend too much time worrying about what to call ourselves?

I also want to mention that my first crush on a woman confused me in the extreme, and it may even have upset me. I hate to admit that it may have upset me, but that's the truth. Why did it upset and confuse me? The crush completely upset my understanding of myself. I'd thought that I was completely straight and a straight ally. I was being forced to reevaluate where I stood: was I a straight ally, or did I fall into the LGBTQ category? Something that I thought was concrete had been suddenly turned upside down.

Although for simplicity's sake I call myself straight, I'm not sure what I really should be called. I'm just a person who has always been attracted to men, with two exceptions.

A good Halloween read...

2011-10-12T22:20:00.001-07:00

Well I posted this on my book blog yesterday, and I'm going to share it here as well!

...

October 31st is coming up, and for some reason I was suddenly reminded of a certain book that would be a good read for anyone who is looking for a good (and more funny than scary) ghost story. And guess what! It's a book I've reviewed in the past. Without further ado, here's my review:

"It's me again, Hank the Cowdog."

So begins the ninth installment of John R. Erickson's Hank the Cowdog series. And I'd like to note right at the beginning of this review that the series does not have to be read in order -- any and every book in this series is a good stand alone story.

Hank the Cowdog is Head of Ranch Security in ranch in Texas. As the Head of Ranch Security he ensures the safety of the ranch and deals with any trespassers, whether they be human, animal, or ghost. Except, he doesn't believe in ghosts. Or does he?

In this book you will meet Drover, Hank's loyal if somewhat cowardly side kick, who does seem to have slightly more sense than Hank. You'll also meet a ranch hand named Slim Chance, a couple of lost buzzards, five trick or treaters, and a ghost who doesn't care that Hank doesn't believe in it.

All these characters, added to the fact that Hank can never keep his nose out of trouble (and is always wondering why he keeps getting in trouble) makes for a great read. I would like to recommend, however, that you either read it aloud or get the audio book version of it. It seems to me that this particular book is just better when it's no longer just words on a page.

Happy reading! :)

Rattie pics

2011-10-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share some photos of the rats.

Beka, hanging onto a yarn picture.

If they can climb it, they will.

I'm not sure which one this is, but she's digging in my potted plant.

They also like to dig. I've shared that fact before, I think.

My kitty Kokopelle, napping on top of the printer.

Hey, that's not a rat! That's a cat!

I was picking out what rattie photos to share and I could not resist sharing this one also.

Sabine climbing my bathrobe.

I keep my bathrobe hangs on a nail in my wall when I'm not wearing it, and Sabine decided to climb it. Here she's eye level with me, which is about five feet.

Sabine, at the top of the bathrobe!

Isn't she so cute?

Of course I helped her get down safely. Rats generally handle falls amazingly well but that doesn't mean they can't get hurt.

Oh and guess what? Sabine has figured out,

1) How to get to the top of my tall tall dresser, and
2) How to get onto my bed, which had been declared a rat free zone.

Is any place safe from them?

Since my ADHD is giving me fits...

2011-10-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

I'm having trouble focusing on homework (lovely ADHD) so I'm going to review some fascinating material that I just read in my psych book* (I may as well do something school related, right?) that I just read about sleep (even though reading new material might be more constructive). After all, it's slightly easier to focusing on writing than on reading. At least, sometimes.

Hey, I wonder if ADHD might be addressed in my psych book? That would be awesome.

Anyways...back on topic. :)

As I mentioned in my last post that I wrote not so very long ago I started giggling insanely when I got to the bit in my book about sleep disorders. Why? Because of my case of insomnia last night.

Something I found to be really amusing on the subject of insomnia was this: "The desire to sleep initiates an ironic process of mental control -- a heightened sensitivity to signs of sleeplessness -- and this sensitivity interferes with sleep. [. . .] The paradoxical solution for insomnia in some cases, then, may be to give up the pursuit of sleep and instead find something else to do" (195). Isn't that so strange? I guess that's why it's recommended for people with insomnia to not just continue lying there in bed, although I admit that that's precisely what I usually do. My bed is so comfy and once I'm in it I don't want to get up!

On the next page I came upon the subject of night terrors. The definition? It is "abrupt awakenings with panic and intense emotional arousal" (196). I was surprised. This happens to me sometimes, and often I sit up in bed gasping involuntarily when I wake up. Of course I've heard the phrase before, but I never made the connection between the two. They're usually related to nightmares, although my nightmares don't always result in waking up terrified. Sometimes I'm quite calm after waking up from a nightmare.

One topic which, to my disappointment, was not addressed, was seeing things upon waking up. Sometimes when I wake up I see things left over from my dreams which, once I get up or shine a light in their direction, disappear.

*My textbook: Second edition of Psychology by Daniel L. Schacter, Daniel T. Gilbert, and Daniel M. Wegner. Yes, all of their first names are Daniel.

Of sleep (or lack thereof) and dreams

2011-10-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Just something I wanted to get down in writing...

Both of the times that I decided to take control of my dreams I was thinking to myself "Well, all that I'm seeing is created in my mind, so once I take control I'll also have to consciously start creating for myself, right?" Ok, so I know I was thinking that one time, and that's when I abruptly woke up. The other time I think I was thinking that, and I can't remember what happened next in the dream, but I don't think I woke up immediately.

(By the way, no success in lucid dreaming last night.)

Maybe the solution is to:

1) Order my subconscious to keep creating an awesome environment for me to dream in, and ONLY
2) Taking control of my own actions, not the environment.

Maybe I should look info up online on the topic. But at the moment I'm reading about the consciousness, sleep, and dreams (!!!) in my psych textbook, which is pretty darn awesome.

I started giggling insanely when I got to the section about sleep disorders. Why? Because I had one of my seemingly random cases of insomnia last night. And then I came up with a brilliant idea: maybe I should keep track of my cases of insomnia and see if there's a pattern? I know they aren't always linked to my worrying about something, but might they be hormonally induced? So I'm also keeping track of when they occur in relation to my menstrual cycle.

Clueless moms...

2011-10-10T00:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm telling a story on my mom...

Most of us have family stories that get retold every so often. In my family, one of them is about how my mom realized she was pregnant with me. Or rather, she she didn't realize she was pregnant.

She and my dad had been trying for over a year, and she was becoming convinced (or maybe she was convinced) that they might not be able to have a baby. Making the situation even worse was that in an English class she had to read a book about a woman who was infertile.

And then, happy joy! She got pregnant. Except, she didn't figure it out for a while. In fact, she was probably the last person to know. She even got into an argument with my dad about it, because they were going to move from Texas to Louisiana (yes I was born in Louisiana, though I consider myself a native Portlander) and dad was worried about the pregnancy making the move difficult for her.

The argument went something like this:

"I'm not pregnant!"

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not! And I'll take a pregnancy test to prove it."

I think you already know how that went. She went to my dad, amazed, saying "I'm pregnant." And he said, "Yes, I know." In fact, he'd already told a coworker. One of my dad's coworkers knew about my mom being pregnant before she knew herself!

After this discovery things started to make sense. Duh, it was the pregnancy that made her run out of her class(es) for the bathroom every so often. By the way, she had an agreement with her professor(s): if he didn't stop her to ask her why she was running out of his lectures, she wouldn't throw up in the classroom.

Then of course mom had to tell her best friend that she was pregnant. This friend of hers had also already known about the pregnancy, and had her feelings hurt that mom hadn't told her before.

*sigh* I wonder if there's any connection between the above story and the fact that I was born two weeks late...

Project Lucid Dreaming

2011-10-09T15:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I decided that I want to learn lucid dreaming.

What is lucid dreaming? It's when a person becomes aware that they are dreaming. From that point they are able to take control of their dreams.

After this decision Google quickly took me to a web page FAQ about lucid dreaming (http://www.lucidity.com/LucidDreamingFAQ2.html) that gave me all kinds of info on the topic. What did I decide to do with all that info? Before going to sleep I chant silently to myself "I will become aware that I am dreaming. I will become aware that I am dreaming. I will..." etc. etc. etc. Notice that I don't mention anything about taking control of the dream, though. After a few nights I decided to just take it one step at a time.

Guess what? I have been making some progress in Project Lucid Dreaming.

Last night I dreamed about my last home. It's a place I often dream about, at first because I was so attached to it and had trouble letting go, and now (I think) because it's just habit. However, the house does get changed in strange ways in my dreams.

For example, we never had a swing set in the part of the yard where I was swinging. In reality there were no power lines following the property line between us and our neighbor. And last but not least, in my dream last night my bedroom was the master bedroom, which was definitely not the case in reality.

But I did become aware that I was dreaming. I knew that those power lines weren't supposed to be there, and I even remembered dreaming that they were there before. (Which I have.) While I was at the high point of my swinging I looked in through my bedroom window, trying to get glimpses of things that I used to have but gave to charity, such as a giant green frog named Skipper. I examined a quilt hanging on the wall, and compared what it looked like in the dream to how it looks in reality. And when I decided to enter my home through the basement door I wondered if the dream would dissolve.

I don't remember what happened in the dream after entering my home, so I guess the dream did dissolve. Actually, I don't even remember getting to the door to go in.

Still, it is lucid dreaming, and it is progress. I was even taking charge of the dream to some extent! :)

Rattie ♥

2011-10-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

I ♥ my ratties. It's so much fun to see their different personalities!

Beka:
*More likely to give kisses
*More likely to crawl inside my clothes
*Generally more adventurous

Sabine:
*More likely to get into trouble climbing things
*More likely to find a hidey hole and hang out there
*When she does get adventurous, she gets adventurous!

I can often tell who's who just by their actions alone, without even looking at their distinguishing features. Then again, they do sometimes surprise me. Such as when Sabine spent at least half an hour inside my sweatshirt a couple days ago. It's true that she's the one who is more likely to find a hidey hole, but it's Beka who normally likes to hang out inside my clothes.

And then a few days ago I found this video...

I am now teaching them "walk". We've had three training sessions spread over three days so far. I don't know if they've yet connected my saying "walk" to what I want them to do, but they've figured out what's up (heh heh) when I hold a treat over their heads.

Sabine was actually somewhat resistant to the training at first and I had figured that she might not learn the tricks, but last night she caught up with Beka. Maybe she'd learned from watching her sister? I don't know.

What's cute is when they go after the cup that I keep their treats in while I'm training them. Naughty naughty ratties!

Job hunting

2011-10-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

While working on an application today I came across something that I've never seen before: in filling out info about previous jobs they asked about my favorite and least favorite things I liked about those positions.

In each of the jobs it was easy to say what was my least favorite thing was. In my Office Assistant job it was taking inventory, volunteering at the library it's pulling holds and shelving materials in the "easy" section (which is only called the "easy" section because it's easy reading), and in my Temporary Janitor job it was getting gum out of the carpet.

(It wasn't the process of removing gum that I didn't like, it was the fact that somehow gum made it onto the carpet instead of into the trash can. TWICE, in fact, during the one month I worked there. That and the discovery of a potted plant that was being used as a trash can really irritated me.)

And as for my favorite things about my previous jobs, that was almost as easy. For my Office Assistant job it was my coworkers, and in my volunteer position it is getting to mend books. But as for my Janitor job...I had to think about that.

It's not that I couldn't think of anything I liked. It was because I couldn't decide what I liked best.

1) Should I put down that I loved the people I was around?
2) Or how about that I loved being around books? (The job was at my local library.)
3) Maybe it should be that I loved being helpful at my all time favorite place in the whole entire world?

After a little thought I put down idea number three. :)

The five elements

2011-10-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Tall One and I were having an interesting discussion about...I guess it must have been about teaching creationism in schools. Anyways, he made the comment "What are they going to do next? Maybe instead of teaching the periodic tables, they'll be teaching about the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water."

An awesome pentacle

I agreed that such a thing would be ridiculous, but observed that I do tend to think of the elements as being earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. Tall One was surprised, so I pointed out something that seems rather obvious to me, but which I guess not everyone has thought of, which is that these five "elements" do correspond to nature:

Earth -- solids
Water -- liquids
Air -- gases
Fire -- it starts with a ph, but I can't remember what it's called!
Spirit -- what science can't (yet) detect

Of course these don't replace the periodic table, but I run with it because it's what (according to some, including myself) that five points of the pentacle represent, and it's just what makes sense to me. Also, I don't see one worldview as excluding the other. Rather, I think that the two ideas can coexist quite happily, one being the scientific way of looking at the world, the other being a spiritual way of looking at the world.

Do you think of the elements as being earth, air, fire, water, and spirit? Do you think of them as being some other combination? Or do you stick to the periodic table? I am curious to hear what others think. :)

Of tree climbing and school

2011-10-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

Hullo everyone! Have you missed me? I haven't been posting much lately, other than over at my book blog. And even there not very much. But you can click here (or follow this link: http://saritaslibrary.blogspot.com/2011/10/funny-text-book.html) if you'd like to read about a fun(ny) textbook of mine.

The first week of fall term has come and gone. I'm taking two classes this term. One online, and one on campus. This means that I'm really only on campus one day a week.

Last week I arrived early for my on campus class. I bought my text books (about $180 for two books!!!) and then headed over to my favorite climbing tree.

To tell the truth, it barely even qualifies as a climbing tree. Yeah, I have to grab the branches to pull myself up, and I have to make sure that I put my feet in the right place. But this tree seems like it was designed for someone to hang out in its branches, and there are a few "steps" that seem like just very steep stairs. And once I get myself up into it there's a way of sitting that makes it impossible to fall out.

So there I was, sitting in the tree, just doing whatever...communing with nature, daydreaming, and reading Pride and Prejudice...when the grounds keepers drove by in their little golf cart type things. I didn't think anything of it, until one of drove his cart back over to me, right under the tree, and said very abruptly "Please get down from there."

He went on, "I don't want you falling and getting hurt, and then I'll have to do a bunch of paperwork."

I wasn't pleased, but I did get out of the tree. Since then I've considered trying to find out if there is actually any rule against climbing trees on campus. Because that is such a perfect climbing tree.

Fortunately my day improved after getting run out of my tree. I found out that The Belly Dancer (I visited her last spring break) will be visiting Portland for a few days next month. Hopefully we can get together then. :D

I also discovered that an old classmate of mine is in my on campus class. He seemed delighted to see me, and he expressed his delight by giving me a hard time. Then he promised to bake me brownies to make up for giving me a hard time. And he did bring me brownies this week. And they are yummy.

A new look

2011-09-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

I liked my old look. But thanks to a link that Magaly shared I discovered that it wasn't the most friendly layout for any readers I might have who are blind, so I decided to change it.

I've managed to keep my Oregon tartan background, but everything else has changed. And most importantly, my blogroll is now at the right side of the screen, instead of of the left.

I admit that I do like the red in my blog. Red is my favorite color and I've now got some of my favorite shades of it right here. Which is pretty awesome!

However...

If anyone knows how I can revert back to my old template but switch the blogroll to the right hand side, OR how to get the scroll/old fashioned look like I had before into this template, I would love to hear it. Really, I would love to use my old template and just move the blogroll, but I don't have the html knowledge to fiddle with it. *wistful sight* Actually if anyone knows how to mess with the hmtl and is willing to do that for me I might be willing to send them a thank you gift of something from my online shop...

The link Magaly shared: http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=57&TopicID=167&DocumentID=2757

ps. More changes might occur. Because fall term started back this week and my blog is obviously so much more important than my homework. Right?

pps. I know I'm complaining about losing the old look, but I do want to keep my blog easily accessible for anyone and everyone, and it just takes me a while to get used to new things sometimes. :)

Time to celebrate!!!

2011-09-25T22:22:00.000-07:00

There are several things I want to celebrate.

End of DADT

I'm a few days late on this, but better late than never, right? :)

I can't say how glad I am that people of any orientation can serve our country without having to worry about whether they'll be outed and given a dishonorable discharge...for something they don't even have control over: who they fall in love with.

Mabon

The equinox was two days ago, and I did celebrate it, but today was really the first day of fall in Portland. We had rain, wind, clouds... :)

Back to school!

Tall One and I both start back to school tomorrow. Yes, I know it's really late in September. But both our schools just happen to start late. Don't ask me why. :)

Cake!!!

Celebrate by eating some of the cake!!

...ok, so you can pretend like the cake you see is real and that I'm offering you a slice. Use your imagination. :)

Facebook...

2011-09-24T14:33:00.001-07:00

FB is getting on my nerves.

It's annoying enough that they change things around and force me to get used to a new layout every so often. But their latest changes...

What's up with the thingy at the top right of the homepage which shows the latest things all your friends have done on FB? I don't really see the point. I don't know of any good it's doing, and it has done some harm: the same day that it came out Mrs. B. announced on FB that it had already forced one Pagan that she knew of out of the broom closet.

Admittedly, I don't think it's the best idea in the world to lead a double life on FB (example: chatting with fellow Pagans while remaining in the closet to your non-Pagan friends...all in the same FB profile) but for FB to introduce the new top right thingy that shows what you do to everyone... Why?

While I'm at it, why does FB get to decide which stories I'll be most interested in, and mark them out for special attention?

If you know who created this please let me know so I can credit them. I looked through Google and although I could find plenty of people sharing it I couldn't figure out who started it.

Lady Chatterley's Lover

2011-09-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

In celebration of Banned Books Week I want to tell a story on my mom. Which she may suspect I'm going to tell, but which I haven't exactly told her I'm going to share.

When she was in high school some of her classmates got ahold of an amazing book: Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence. It was infamous for containing explicit sex, and there were several pages in particular that all of mom's classmates were interested in reading.

Mom took the book home with her...and grandma caught her with it. Grandma objected to the fact that my mom was reading it, but guess what?

My mom managed to convince her mom that she was reading it for school.

Grandma still didn't like it, but she stopped arguing. She even read it herself so that she could talk about it with my mom! Wasn't that thoughtful of her?

Of course, grandma never thought to ask the school if it was true that the book was required reading. And unlike grandma, my mom didn't bother to read the whole thing.

...

I haven't read this book, but I'm very familiar with the title because of the above story. The book was banned temporarily in the USA and in the United Kingdom because it violated obscenity laws. It has also been banned in various other countries.

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_books_banned_by_governments, http://ftrf.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanned/index.cfm

Ratties

2011-09-22T20:22:00.000-07:00

I took the following video over the course of several days, and finally put it together this evening. They're about three months old now. :)

Also, I have good news about Sabine, who I thought was having seizures!!!

She had another "seizure" yesterday and I looked up more info online. Someone had suggested that she might just be in heat, so I looked up videos of rats in heat. Guess what I found? A female rat in heat doing exactly what Sabine was doing.

It was such a relief to find this. Whew. Panic over. :) It's just funny because I've never seen a rat do this before, and I've had female rats in the past. I guess they react differently to being in heat, just like human women have different PMS symptoms.

Also, as they've aged there is now a new way to tell them apart. It used to be that the only difference was that Beka had a white tip on her tail and a white spot on her belly. But these days Sabine has a dark stripe on her head and Beka doesn't. So now I don't have to look at their tails or tummies to figure out which is which! :)

Virtual Read-Out

2011-09-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share something that I just learned about.

Every year since the beginning of Banned Books Week (BBW) people have read excerpts from banned books as part of BBW activities. This year it's taken a new twist.

This year is the first year of the Virtual Read-Out, during which people will post videos of themselves to YouTube reading from banned books.

I think that this is totally awesome, and I wanted to share it here. I think I'll participate, even. I'm not so sure that I want to post my face for the world to see (even though I've sort of done that on Facebook...but in a slightly round about way...maybe, sorta...) but I don't have to point the camera at my face while I read, do I?

If you want more info check out these links:

Virtual Readout | Banned Books Week
bannedbook's Channel -- YouTube

I'll probably only share excerpts over at my book blog, so be sure to check it out if you want to see what I do for the read out.

Update on Sabine

2011-09-16T15:52:00.000-07:00

This whole day seems to have been revolving around Sabine.

As mentioned in my last post Sabine had some mild seizures last night. Most of what I have done today is:

1) Look up info online about rat seizures
2) Talk to my mom about the dog we used to have who had epilepsy
3) Just spending time with Sabine to see how she's doing -- the good news is that she looks perfectly healthy and normal today
4) Going to the vet
5) Talking to other rat lovers on a Yahoo group about what's going on, getting their input -- one person isn't convinced it's a seizure, although everyone else thinks it is
6) E-mailing the breeder since this is the kind of thing she would want to know about

And...

7) Job hunting

I was so focused on Sabine that when mom and I went to Starbucks (their seasonal Pumpkin Spice Latte is now available!!!) that I didn't realize until we were about a block away from home that I was wearing my house slippers. And when I did get the awesome Pumpkin Spice Latte I didn't spare enough attention to enjoy it properly.

The visit to the vet was scheduled for noon and I got my mom to agree to take me. I didn't really want to take the girls on the bus, although I could have if I needed to. Fortunately mom was more than happy to give me a ride -- I don't know that she was more worried than me, but unlike me she remembers dealing with an epileptic dog when I was young, and thinking about Sabine having seizures was making her sick at her tummy.

I need to get a small wire cage for future vet visits. For this visit I used a small cardboard box with air holes, with a small towel in the bottom of it. My idea was to take both of the rats so that Beka could keep Sabine company. Beka is the more outgoing of the two, and I figured that she might help Sabine feel more comfortable in an unfamiliar place.

That didn't work out as planned.

Sabine went into the small box with no fuss. But Beka... I have never seen a rat that panicky. You would have thought that I was trying to put her in a cat carrier already occupied by several hungry and bad tempered felines. I figured that a panicked Beka would be no help to Sabine so I let her stay home.

The vet looked Sabine over and said that she looks perfectly healthy. Her heart sounds fine, her breathing is great, she's a good weight (though a tad pudgy, which I'll have to do something about), and her eyes look fine. He thinks this is a congenital condition, possibly hereditary. He also says that seizures in rats are very unusual, especially in rats as young as Sabine. She's only about three months old.

Figures I would get a rat who has a rare condition. I cannot tell you how often it is that I get told that something that has happened to or around me is unusual. "The fact that your speech disorder sounds like an accent is unusual." "Starting speech therapy at such a young age is unusual." "Getting TMD symptoms like this at such a young age is unusual." "It is unusual for rats to have seizures, and even more unusual for them to have seizures at this age."

Unusual should be my middle name.

Anyways, enough with the minor ranting...

At this point we're going to just watch Sabine and see if this is a one time deal or if there are more seizures. If they're rare and stay mild then we aren't going to worry. If they happen frequently and/or get worse then we'll talk about meds for Sabine.

Update on ratties

2011-09-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Good news and bad news.

Bad news first.

Sabine appeared to have seizures last night. Thoughts, prayers, and good vibes would be appreciated. I've got a noon vet appointment for her, so hopefully we'll figure out what's going on.

I talked to my mom about it this morning. When I was little we had a dog with epilepsy, and it was not pretty. Not that I remember the epilepsy. I just remember that Sam, the dog, was a little weird. Among other things, mom was told me that it might not be a good idea to put Sabine on so many meds to combat the seizures that she would be too drugged to be herself, and I said "Mom, you're talking to someone who has experienced first hand the side effects of some ADHD meds. I know better than to do that to her." *sigh* We'll see how things go...

Now I just need to figure out the best way to transport them (yes, both of them, I figure taking Beka along will help keep Sabine calm and hopefully happy) to the vet. I'm figuring I'll use a small cardboard box, but I'm still trying to come up with better ideas.

Good news now.

My rat allergies seem to be gone! I think my body just had to adjust to having rats around. I'm no longer using meds to combat the allergy, and I'm still feeling fine. I'm not about to move the rat cage back into my bedroom, though. Having the rat cage in my sleeping space might trigger allergies again. But at least I'm off the Allegra (ok, truthfully, I actually took one this morning for allergies that I highly doubt were rat induced...) and handling them no longer makes me feel bad.

The things kids say

2011-09-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

School is starting back, and the local elementary schools are doing their Back to School nights.

It turns out that this is a great opportunity to volunteer for my library, as I found out when I got an e-mail from the volunteer coordinator asking for volunteers to tend a library booth at these events. I offered to help, and dragged Tall One along for the ride.

It's been a long time since I was in elementary school. It's been a long time since I was in public school, since I started homeschooling in third grade. So I didn't know how things would go! I somehow envisioned that people would be milling around a lot with their kids in tow. But no, people mostly spent time in meetings, with frantic rushes and mild milling in between. Most surprising was that there weren't many kids. I guess that Back to School night is more for the parents than the kids.

There were some children present, though, and there was one particular girl who gave us quite a laugh when her family was leaving at the end of the shindig.

Our booth was next to a Cub Scout booth, and this little girl excitedly ran up to the Cub Scout table and said "I want to be part of this!" But her parents said "No, this is for boys."

She looked disappointed. Briefly. Her disappointment disappeared when she saw Tall One and me, and she jumped over to our booth saying "I want to be part of you! What are you?" Her enthusiasm was wonderful.

If only it had lasted.

You see, when we told her we were part of the library she sort of drooped and said "Oh, never mind."

I'm not sure what was funnier -- her reaction, or her parents' somewhat mortified expressions. Tall One and I waited (well, sort of) until she and her family were out of earshot before we started laughing.

Nerdfighters!

2011-09-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of the Nerdfighters?

They started a few years ago when a couple of brothers decided to spend a whole year not communicating via the written word. (Ok, so apparently one of the brothers made the decision and the other had to go along with it.) This meant no e-mails, no notes, no texts...and probably no Facebook.

So, they started vlogging. They spent the entire year posting vlogs on YouTube as the Vlogbrothers as a way to talk to each other. Some people started following their vlogs, and thus the Nerdfighters were born.

And I am proud to declare myself a Nerdfighter!

Here's one of their vlogs that will tell you just a little more.

DFTBA

Awesome giveaway

2011-09-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

I just found this awesome giveaway of a Nook over at Book Whore. Click here to see it.

The giveaway is open until November 14th, and I'm really hoping to win this Nook.

Changing memories

2011-09-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

The scary thing about memories is that they change. Sometimes this can be a good thing, such as when people have experienced a horrific event but years later they don't remember it as being so traumatic. Sometimes memory changes in bad ways, such as when a person gets dementia.

Sometimes memories just change, and it's not necessarily good or bad. Just weird. And annoying.

I was already thinking about this in relation to 9/11, but I got a reminder of this fact when I was reading my old diary and I came across my post about an earthquake I experienced on 2/28/2001. It's an earthquake I wrote about a couple weeks ago, and you may notice that what I wrote in that post slightly differs from what I wrote in my dairy.

The only changes I've made in writing my diary entry here is spelling/grammar/breaking up one giant paragraph and removing Tall One's real name.

...

We had an earthquake a little while ago.

I was putting the dishes up when I noticed the water in the sink was moving, and my first thought was "What is Tall One doing?" Then I heard and saw the refrigerator moving -- it as bumping side to side but staying put. Immediately after the fridge started bumping around I heard the chimes chiming, and I heard things start to shake around. At that point I thought "Ok, Tall One couldn't make the whole house shake." Then Mom and Dad came and told Tall One and me to get in the doorway. About this time I finally figured out that it was an earthquake.

There hasn't been an aftershock yet.

It was a 6.something earthquake. The center of it was 200 miles north of here and it was felt 100 miles south of here. I think Solana [a pet rat] slept through it. Salita [my other rat] was probably awake. She is on my bed hiding right now. The earthquake also bugged the cats.

9/11

2011-09-11T00:50:00.000-07:00

I should be getting to bed, it's past midnight. But I'm thinking about 9/11 and I need to write. And anyways, I've had insomnia the last two nights, so I'm not sure that I'd sleep if I went to bed right now anyways.

When 9/11 happened I couldn't find my diary. This was something that was frustrating, because I needed to write. I needed it.

I eventually wound making a sort of makeshift diary. When talking about 9/11 I mostly just reported what I heard on the news, but I did also write down some of my feelings. I'll share excerpts from it here -- bad spelling, super short paragraphs, and all. Well, all except for Tall One's real name.

It seems like so long ago...but it was only ten years ago. I was 12 years old at the time, and Tall One was 10. My dad's health had just forced him into retirement, and my mom was scrambling to find a job. I was working my way through Victor Hugo's Les Miserable, although I was skipping over the "boring" parts.

Ok, enough random memories. I'll share the excerpts, with occasional commentary.

9/11/2001

This feels like a turning point in my life.

Its strang becuse this isent upsetting me... [I'd like to mention that I was too numb to feel anything initially -- I think that writing helped me process things though.]

Is this all just a dream?

The TV showed the brother of the first Pilot whos plan crashed into the World Trade Center.

He said he kept looking at the corn feild behind him hopeing his brother would come out of it.

There is one thing that the people of America can do to help: Give blood to the Blood Banks.

But it turns out that my Mom can't because of menopoze, and Dad can't because of Bacol effects.

And Tall One and I can't because we're not adults.

9/13/2001

I hafe to do the dishes so I'm keeping this short.

A Fireman hase been found burried under World Trade Center #1 -- Alive!

9/15/2001

I can't remember what the news is I saw on the TV today.

9/25/2001

We know who it is who attaked us even though he won't admit it was him -- I can't remember his name.

He has dissapeared from where he lives and they say they don't know where he is.

He lives in Afghasistan.

They think the fighting will start in a few days.

10/13/2001

A few days ago President Bush did something Mom thinks no President hase done befor; He spoke to the children of America.

He wants us to donate one Dollor to a cirtin address witch will help children in or near Afghasistan.

Today I bought a pin that hase the USA Flag on it and says "Rember 9-11-01" on it.

The two dollors I used to buy it will go to the American Red Cross.

10/16/2001

The terrorists are useing Anthrax angist us.

[I'd like to note that a few months earlier I had read Rex Stout's Some Buried Caesar and the result was a serious terror of anthrax -- my parents eventually got me to calm down by telling me that people don't get anthrax. And then THIS happened. Yeah, it was pretty scary for me, though I didn't write about it.]

I know it was mailed to one news stasion maybe more.

A 19 month old baby got it on his skin but he'll live.

Another place I don't know the name of also got it mailed to them.

They may also use the black plague but we have a cure for that.

Oh yea, and they may also use small pox I think it's called.

Well that didn't go as planned!

2011-09-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

I signed up for fall term classes last week.

I've had this niggling sensation ever since then that I'm taking a psychology class, which is weird because I signed up to take physics, not psych.

Or so I thought.

This morning I got two e-mails from my psych professor about our upcoming classes. (Classes start towards the end of this month, by the way.) I thought it was strange, because why in the world would I get e-mails about a class that I'm not taking? I decided I should e-mail the professor to say that I shouldn't be getting her e-mails, but before doing that I wanted to look at MyMarylhurst online to double check that I was signed up for physics.

Guess what? I'm registered for intro to psych, not physics.

When I realized this I laughed. And laughed. And laughed. I even sent an e-mail to my mom on the topic with the subject "lol".

This mistake must have been due to a typo on my part. After all, there's only one letter difference between PHY and PSY. ...although, it is true that H and S are nowhere near each other on the qwerty keyboard...so that is a rather impressive typo...

After discovering this mistake I did try to switch to the physics class. But guess what? It's full.

I guess I could put myself on the wait list, but wait lists are a nuisance and besides this psych class was already in my MAP (Marylhurst Academic Portfolio) plans, so I was going to take it anyways. Plus, it's online, so it's not like it's at an inconvenient time for me.

Guess what? I'm not taking physics this term. I'm taking psychology. lol

Oh, wow...

2011-09-08T19:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know they say not to feed the trolls, but this is too funny.

I found in my spam thingy two identical messages, talking all about how American men should boycott American women. And yes, he does use the word "boycott."

What the heck???

Apparently American women are too fat, are more likely to cheat, more likely to divorce, don't want kids, are sloppy, unchaste, don't have good manners...and that's only beginning to list all the things he says about American women. He ended by telling about his book (this guy wrote a book on the topic!? doesn't he have better things to do??) and his blog (http://boycottamericanwomen.blogspot.com/), as well as a website to find Indian wives.

I would have been insulted if I weren't too busy laughing.

And why in the world did he advertise (yes, it looks precisely like an advertisement) on this blog? Because, hello, I'm an American woman -- one of those fat*, unchaste**, unmannered*** American women. I'm not gonna buy his book. And I doubt anyone reading my blog would be interested either. So why my blog? I suppose it could be to insult me, but I'm too busy laughing at his gentlemanly manners to take offense.

I especially love his use of the word "boycott" -- and you know what? I think I'll boycott him and every other guy who thinks like him. Yep, that's exactly what I'll do.

*125 lb is not fat
**I've never even been on a date
***Oh, I've got lady-like manners...

When Tall One stopped the earthquake

2011-09-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

The girl woke up to someone pulling her out of bed. “Short Stuff!” Her mom called, and with the girl in her arms she raced down the hall looking for her son.

When they got to Short Stuff’s bedroom he was sitting up in bed, and was not at all pleased. “Mom, the bed’s trying to throw me out of it!” The girl was still more than half asleep, but she noticed that things did seem to be shaking and rattling.

“Stop!”

As soon as Short Stuff screamed this word at the world the earthquake stopped.

…

True story, though I barely remember it. I was maybe preschool age at the time, and Tall One (who was Short Stuff then) was even younger.

The story of how Tall One stopped the earthquake has been told and retold as we’ve grown up. We usually neglect to mention that it must have been pure coincidence that the earthquake stopped when he yelled “Stop!”

I’d just like to note that if you wake up in bed and there’s an earthquake, you’re supposed to stay in bed unless the house is falling down around you. Mom didn’t see this as an option, however, because she thought she saw me at the foot of her bed when she woke up. So, naturally, she went looking first for me, and then for Short Stuff. And she didn't want to let either of us out of her sight.

Dad slept through it all.

Let the race begin!

2011-09-03T22:45:00.000-07:00

Tall One's bagpipe band will go to Scotland next year to compete at Glasgow Green.

I'm really excited for him, and also a little jealous. I'm of the opinion that I ought to be brought along as a chaperone, but apparently adult bands don't need chaperones. And I couldn't even be the designated driver because I don't drive. And I won't even mention one person's comment that I could come along as the comfort woman...oops, too late! I mentioned it.

But I'm getting sidetracked from my point, which is the race.

As mentioned in a previous post, Tall One and I have discovered the joys of geocaching. (If you're a muggle and don't know what it is, look it up!) Tall One deposited a trackable today, and this trackable's destination is Glasgow Green, Scotland.

The race? To see who can get there first: Tall One, or the trackable.

Tall One hopes that the trackable arrives before him, and that he'll be able to pick it up while over there to bring it home.

Let the race begin!

Booksies!!!

2011-09-02T16:07:00.000-07:00

I won a $25 Powell's gift card for participating in the summer reading program at my local library.

So I was wondering...should I spend it now? Or should I use it to buy textbooks? After all, as an English major I do study novels that I can buy at a local bookstore.

I decided to spend it now. lol Or more precisely, yesterday.

I was careful with what I bought, and decided not to buy anything unless 1) I know the author, or 2) I've read the book.

The books I bought:

Abhorsen by Garth Nix -- I love love love this trilogy. Tall One (who was with me at the time) was shocked to learn that I only have the audiobook of Sabriel, the first in the trilogy. Abhorsen is the final in the Aborsen trilogy.

Malafrenda by Ursula K. Le Guin -- Haven't read it, but I know and love the author.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen -- There were quite a few of these on the shelf, actually! I got to pick and choose which one to get. It's one I've read and loved before, and it's on my official to read list for 2011. (This was actually the last book I grabbed and by this point Tall One had spent enough time in the bookstore and had left to go geocaching. I was definitely annoying him in the time I was taking to look for the best deals on the best books.)

Mort by Terry Pratchett -- I've read one Discworld book, and I want to read more. This book wasn't actually the best deal I found, but it was still a fairly good deal. Tall One was disappointed in my choice because he's already read it and he wanted me to buy one he hadn't read so that he could steal it from me.

Edges by Ursula K. Le Guin -- Haven't read it, but it looks great.

I got all this for under $25. And best of all? I was using a gift card that I won by reading other books!!!

And what is that Book Magic thingy? Well...

Please don't yell at me for marking up The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. It's the only novel I've marked up, I swear, and it is for a good reason.

This should be handy for studying, both school stuff and whatever I feel like studying. :)

Last, and on a totally unrelated note, I'd like to share one photo that I took while geocaching that day (and no, we didn't find anything) that I like so much that I just have to share it.

At Multnomah County Library, downtown.

A dying bookstore

2011-08-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

I went to Borders last night. It's a bookstore that is closing down in a day or so.

When I was outside the store I felt like a vulture circling around a dying animal that I wanted a piece of.

When I was in the store I felt like I was attending a funeral.

Never mind that I got a great price on a book and some chocolates -- it was sad.

Adventures

2011-08-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

I went Geocaching for the first time today. (If you don't know what that is, look it up!) It went something like this:

1) I went hunting for the first geocach by myself. Couldn't find it.
2) Set out to find more with Tall One.
3) Got hot and sweaty biking to a park.
4) Waded through a creek that Tall One jumped.
5) Climbed a cedar tree where I was convinced I would find a geocach. It turned out to be a pointless exercise, but it was fun.
6) My brother and I found two of four that we looked for. We're pretty sure that one of them must have been muggled.
7) I took my bike on a major road for the first time.

Adventure successful.

No apologies offered

2011-08-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

"You have a really strong British accent."

"Actually, it's a speech disorder."

Normally, when I tell someone that my awesome accent really isn't an accent, their response is to immediately apologize. But this particular young woman didn't seem to feel the need to.

I liked that.

It always irritates me when people say "I'm sorry" as soon as I tell them that the accent they just complimented or commented on is actually a speech disorder. It's as though they're saying it was wrong of them to notice it, and wrong for them to comment. Maybe that's not what they mean, but that's how it usually comes across.

There's nothing wrong with noticing how I speak. It's virtually impossible not to hear a British/Australian/Southern/other "exotic" accent when I open my mouth. And yes, my speech disorder has been described by one or two people as exotic. lol :)

(If you want to hear what it sounds like, I have a video in this blog post where you can hear the awesome accent that isn't an accent.)

I think that sometimes when people apologize they're also trying to be sympathetic. I don't mind sympathy, but I don't need it for this. Not anymore. It's true that I needed LOTS of help and sympathy when I was little, but the days of being unable to communicate are long gone. Besides, on the occasions that I simply can't pronounce a word correctly I can always spell it out (literally) to make myself understood. Problem solved!

So it irritates me when people apologize, although I may be unique in my irritation.

And I liked that this woman accepted my speech disorder without saying "I'm sorry."

:)

Earthquakes

2011-08-25T15:39:00.000-07:00

Since people are talking about earthquakes...

I've been in two earthquakes. The first one was in 1993, and I only remember it vaguely. I was only four years old at the time. It makes a really good story (mom, I know you're reading this -- don't give anything away in the comments! I plan to share the story later) but I'm going to tell about the other one right now. It's also so a good story, though the other one is even better.

I'm not sure exactly which quake it was. I just looked online to find earthquake info about the place where I was living at the time, and this particular earthquake took place in either 2002, 2003, or 2004 -- maybe I was in three earthquakes during my teens, and only noticed one? -- so I was somewhere between 13 and 15 years old at the time.

I was doing dishes and the first thing I noticed was that the dishes in the sink started moving around, and the water was vibrating. I seem to recall my first thought being that Tall One was doing something to shake the house. Yeah, I tried blaming an earthquake on my brother. I guess I realized it wasn't Tall One when the shaking didn't stop.

I don't remember how I responded. I should have dived under the kitchen table, and I probably did. When I was in daycare/preschool we had earthquake drills and that's what we were taught. Then again, it may have taken me so long to figure out that it was an earthquake that it ended before I could get to the table. As I said I don't remember.

That earthquake was big news locally, although the only damage done was to old buildings and houses and there were no serious injuries. I remember watching the news about it in my parent's bedroom. Also, my mom's cat, Pi-Pi, came to me for comfort.

Gosh, I could probably write a whole post just about Pi-Pi...

Let's just say that Pi-Pi and I had had a rather interesting relationship ever since I nearly strangled him as a toddler. (However, he didn't savage me at the time because he knew I was mom's daughter. That was some cat!) It wasn't Pi-Pi's first earthquake but he was definitely not a happy kitty, and he decided to come to me since mom wasn't available. I remember being honored that he chose me.

And as for the dishes...

I was rather nervous when I finished the dishes later in the day. That chore wouldn't trigger another earthquake, would it?

Cute overload!

2011-08-24T00:00:00.000-07:00

For an overload of cute, and giggles, watch the following video.

I tried to do this with my rats but couldn't get them interested. I may have also been using a badly sized ball and ball holder...

They're getting so big!

2011-08-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was looking at my rats and I suddenly realized that they've grown! Of course I'd known that they would be getting bigger, but it's weird to suddenly notice the change.

I don't have a photo of them together, but here's one photo I got of one of them (it looks like Sabine) last night while I was cleaning their cage.

Isn't she so cute?

FYI, that bathrobe you see on the floor? It's to keep the rats from getting into my closet. I used to have something nicer looking, but Beka figured out how to pull it out of the way and get into my closet. Fortunately Sabine doesn't seem interested in breaking into my closet so it's only Beka I have to worry about.

Look at this damage!

I made them hammocks, so guess what they did? While sitting on one of the hammocks, they chewed on the ribbon that was holding it up. Smart. Really smart.

I'm no longer Santa Rucker!

2011-08-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

I probably should have updated people here a while ago on my status as "Santa" Rucker. For those who weren't with me then or who don't remember, you can check out the original post here.

The gist of it is that I have one poem published in a magazine, and that while getting put onto online databases my name got changed in one place to Santa, and that this was a mistake I found in EBSCOhost and Britannica.

The good news is that this got straightened out a while ago! I am officially Sarita Rucker again, and have been for some time. Which is a relief.

Or anyways, I'm Sarita everywhere except at one coffee place....

So I guess I'm Santy now? lol

She's married!

2011-08-20T00:37:00.000-07:00

I went to a wedding this evening. I suppose I could get really sappy about how the bride and I were close when we were young, parted ways, found each other again on Facebook...and I did (get sappy, that is), but then I erased what I wrote.

The bride and I aren't very close anymore, but we were best friends when we were younger.

I'm going to take a leaf from Christopher Paolini's book and just share tidbits from the wedding and reception.

...

I got there WAY early (I took the bus!) and I spent about forty-five minutes wandering and hanging out on the paths at the wedding location. It was a really lovely place, and I had never been there before.

...

I met someone who I took a SciFi class with at Portland Community College. Surprise surprise!

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I finally understand why people cry at weddings.

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When the bride greeted me after the wedding she forgot to introduce me to the groom. He had to remind her that we hadn't met. lol

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Someone complimented me on my lovely five pointed star pendant.

...

That same someone later noticed that the same star symbol was on one of my rings, and asked what it meant. I found myself attempting to explain Paganism briefly, and then trying to figure out how to explain how Paganism "began." But that's about when the dancing started and the questioner found something more interesting to do than talking religion.

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It is AWESOME to dance with a guy who actually knows how to dance. It would only be more awesome if I also knew how to dance.

Note to self: learn to dance.

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I caught the bouquet!

Ok, so technically I moved quickly and grabbed it off the floor, even though I wasn't even the person closest to where it landed. But the point is that I did get the bouquet.

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Someone came up with a new way of asking about my speech disorder that sounds like an accent -- he asked if my parents were born in the United States.

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Instead of showering the newlyweds with rice, we blew bubbles.

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The newlyweds are a lovely couple, and I'm sure that they will have a wonderful life together.

Ok, so...

2011-08-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

...I could really use some encouragement in the job hunting.

I have a hard time finding jobs to apply for, and then the one job I heard back about recently turned out to be in a really bad location. It wouldn't have been so bad if I could drive, but I don't. I use mass transit. Which is great, but has limitations.

And there ARE plenty of jobs within a reasonable distance from school, and which are also easily accessible using the bus/train. I just need to get one of them interested in my application.

Funny rat and cat story

2011-08-17T14:47:00.000-07:00

I didn't actually see this for myself, but mom told me about it at lunch time.

It seems that this morning little Saphira was getting interested in the rats, AGAIN, and AGAIN was acting like she wanted to jump on top of the rat cage. Mom didn't think this would be a good idea, but you know cats -- they take discouragement as encouragement, and even if they apparently give up on something, really they're just waiting for you to turn your back.

So mom picked up Saphira and held her up right next to the cage so that she could get a good close look at the rats.

Apparently the Beka and Sabine were just as curious about Saphira as she was about them. Everything was going well until...

...mom isn't sure what happened. Either one of the rats moved too quickly, or else one of them bit/nibbled Saphira's nose. (I like to think that they gave her a love bite.) Whatever it was, Saphira suddenly took fright, jumped out of mom's hands, and went tearing out of the room.

Cats: 0
Rats: 1

Saphira will probably be more cautious about the rats in the future.