An afternoon not-so-quicky
On Thursday, I took the last two hours of the work day off because I'd lost a contact while attempting to mail some things to the ADF Office. I managed to get home and do a load of work around the house, in particular managing to mow the lawn for the last time this year.
Funny, that's starting to become a primary association with Samhain for me: the last weekend of lawn mowing for the year.
I worked around the house for about four hours, until I finally collapsed into a chair and that was about it for me.
Friday saw me working very hard in the morning, trying to get some work done. I finished up and headed home, just getting the last name change off our tracker at 4:55. I called Tina, who wasn't home yet, and flew out the door to try and get home, where I met Tina for a movie. We watched the Legend of Zorro which, unfortunately, was not half as good as the original. I admit to a serious sense of disappointment.
Then again, I think that Catherine Zeta-Jones just isn't as hot since she married Michael Douglas.
But the movie couldn't have been more "B" unless Bruce Campbell starred as Zorro, which is now something I very much want to see.
Saturday morning was spent fighting with a computer to get it to work. I found myself far more satisfied with my Knoppix computing experience that I was with my eventual Windows computing experience on Sunday.
I watched the OSU-Illinois game on Saturday with Brian. I admit: I love watching U of I lose games to us. It's extremely satisfying, given that they rejected me when I applied there.
Sunday saw a severe attack on what needs changed in my life.
As I was taking a break on some of this stuff, I received a call from some guy claiming to be a state senator or representative or something. This thoroughly pissed me off, much as when Secretary of State Blackwell called me last year and told me to vote for Issue 1, the "gay people forfit rights by being gay" amendment.
When I was down in Cincinnati a few weeks ago, I'd been talking to creature_tamer about the crazy Sec. Blackwell and his call, and he made a good point: I'm supposed to tell my elected representatives how to vote. . . They're not supposed to tell me how to vote.
So this character got an earfull from me about this. He was in support of Issues 2-5, and may very well have turned me off from voting for them. I have done my best to avoid the hype, and in fact have not read them yet because that's how I vote. Issues that are not obviously right or wrong (unlike Issue 1 last year, which has already been interpreted to declare domestic violence charges in unmarried couples unconstitutional and was, in my opinoin, wrong at its very core and intent) I decide on in the voting booth, not really before. It helps me ignore the garbage that is spewed forth by both sides, and just concentrate on the wording.
At this point, if I'm borderline on them, I'm voting against them, purely because the guy thought I couldn't make up my own mind, and further because before even talking to me, he assumed that he was "glad to know I can count on your support." When I asked why he'd called, he said it was because I was a registered independent in a traditionally Democratic district. When I informed him that my vote was my business and he could not "count on my support" he just hung up on me. I felt very much like he didn't want me to think about the issue, but just to vote for it. It made me worry that the Democrats just assume that someone will vote the way they tell their supporters to. "Don't think, just say 'Yes'!" is what it felt like. And it was insulting. He's placed a serious seed of doubt in my mind, as if these issues hide something deeper that, when I try to make up my own mind about them, I'm going to discover some sleeping evil that would be better ignored and left alone. Now, I'm definitely going to feel like that evil is sleeping there.
I am not happy with the bastard right now. He's not even from my district, but he'll be getting a very angry letter.
But Sunday night, I worked well past dark in my back yard. I was weeding and lifting things and moving them, and by the time I went to bed, I had that really good soreness that left me happy and feeling good about myself.
At one point, I took a break from pulling out small trees (yeah, it's been a while since I weeded. . . I'm always at festivals during the prime growing season) and laid back on the bench.
I was on my back, gazing up at the dusky sky, thinking about life and relationships and weeding; mostly, it was this last thing that really brought out the other things.
I had been singing the song "Spooky":
In the cool of the evening
When everything is looking kind of groovy
I call you up and ask you
If you'd like to go with me and see a movie?
First you say no, you’ve got some plans for the night
And then you stop and say all right
Love is kind of crazy with a spooky little girl like you.
I imagine that the choice of song had to do more with the weather than it did with anything else. . . It was a cool evening, 'round 'bout Halloween.
This lead me to thinking about various relationships, and a couple in particular. I had a lot to think about Sunday night, really, and they all sort of came to a head.
But I was thinking of a certain aspect of one of these relationships, and I saw a bird fly from north to south, right over my head.
Now, the Etruscans probably would have considered this a bad omen, given the direction I was facing and the heading of the bird, but I received a very good, very deep feeling from it that made me smile.
A moment later, the same bird flew back over me, south to north, and I felt it again.
I smiled, and then got back to work.
Now, I lay in bed, full stomach, not at all excited about work on Monday.
Funny, that's starting to become a primary association with Samhain for me: the last weekend of lawn mowing for the year.
I worked around the house for about four hours, until I finally collapsed into a chair and that was about it for me.
Friday saw me working very hard in the morning, trying to get some work done. I finished up and headed home, just getting the last name change off our tracker at 4:55. I called Tina, who wasn't home yet, and flew out the door to try and get home, where I met Tina for a movie. We watched the Legend of Zorro which, unfortunately, was not half as good as the original. I admit to a serious sense of disappointment.
Then again, I think that Catherine Zeta-Jones just isn't as hot since she married Michael Douglas.
But the movie couldn't have been more "B" unless Bruce Campbell starred as Zorro, which is now something I very much want to see.
Saturday morning was spent fighting with a computer to get it to work. I found myself far more satisfied with my Knoppix computing experience that I was with my eventual Windows computing experience on Sunday.
I watched the OSU-Illinois game on Saturday with Brian. I admit: I love watching U of I lose games to us. It's extremely satisfying, given that they rejected me when I applied there.
Sunday saw a severe attack on what needs changed in my life.
- The computer got fixed. Mostly. Windows is still bitchy.
- about 1/8 of the back yard got weeded (talk about physically draining).
- A pomegranate got undone (and eaten Monday morning).
- And my boys got some cleaning done, too.
As I was taking a break on some of this stuff, I received a call from some guy claiming to be a state senator or representative or something. This thoroughly pissed me off, much as when Secretary of State Blackwell called me last year and told me to vote for Issue 1, the "gay people forfit rights by being gay" amendment.
When I was down in Cincinnati a few weeks ago, I'd been talking to creature_tamer about the crazy Sec. Blackwell and his call, and he made a good point: I'm supposed to tell my elected representatives how to vote. . . They're not supposed to tell me how to vote.
So this character got an earfull from me about this. He was in support of Issues 2-5, and may very well have turned me off from voting for them. I have done my best to avoid the hype, and in fact have not read them yet because that's how I vote. Issues that are not obviously right or wrong (unlike Issue 1 last year, which has already been interpreted to declare domestic violence charges in unmarried couples unconstitutional and was, in my opinoin, wrong at its very core and intent) I decide on in the voting booth, not really before. It helps me ignore the garbage that is spewed forth by both sides, and just concentrate on the wording.
At this point, if I'm borderline on them, I'm voting against them, purely because the guy thought I couldn't make up my own mind, and further because before even talking to me, he assumed that he was "glad to know I can count on your support." When I asked why he'd called, he said it was because I was a registered independent in a traditionally Democratic district. When I informed him that my vote was my business and he could not "count on my support" he just hung up on me. I felt very much like he didn't want me to think about the issue, but just to vote for it. It made me worry that the Democrats just assume that someone will vote the way they tell their supporters to. "Don't think, just say 'Yes'!" is what it felt like. And it was insulting. He's placed a serious seed of doubt in my mind, as if these issues hide something deeper that, when I try to make up my own mind about them, I'm going to discover some sleeping evil that would be better ignored and left alone. Now, I'm definitely going to feel like that evil is sleeping there.
I am not happy with the bastard right now. He's not even from my district, but he'll be getting a very angry letter.
But Sunday night, I worked well past dark in my back yard. I was weeding and lifting things and moving them, and by the time I went to bed, I had that really good soreness that left me happy and feeling good about myself.
At one point, I took a break from pulling out small trees (yeah, it's been a while since I weeded. . . I'm always at festivals during the prime growing season) and laid back on the bench.
I was on my back, gazing up at the dusky sky, thinking about life and relationships and weeding; mostly, it was this last thing that really brought out the other things.
I had been singing the song "Spooky":
In the cool of the evening
When everything is looking kind of groovy
I call you up and ask you
If you'd like to go with me and see a movie?
First you say no, you’ve got some plans for the night
And then you stop and say all right
Love is kind of crazy with a spooky little girl like you.
I imagine that the choice of song had to do more with the weather than it did with anything else. . . It was a cool evening, 'round 'bout Halloween.
This lead me to thinking about various relationships, and a couple in particular. I had a lot to think about Sunday night, really, and they all sort of came to a head.
But I was thinking of a certain aspect of one of these relationships, and I saw a bird fly from north to south, right over my head.
Now, the Etruscans probably would have considered this a bad omen, given the direction I was facing and the heading of the bird, but I received a very good, very deep feeling from it that made me smile.
A moment later, the same bird flew back over me, south to north, and I felt it again.
I smiled, and then got back to work.
Now, I lay in bed, full stomach, not at all excited about work on Monday.