I'm back- at home and on the planet
Sorry for the absence the last few weeks! After the last Idol vote, we were given a set of 5 prompts to write over several weeks, and I've been banging my head against them ever since. Some of them are truly thwarting me, and it's all going very slowly. :O
I made a last-minute trip out of town for a wedding last weekend, which caused much flailing beforehand and lots of busy-ness during. It was all worth it, but the last-minute flight and hotel arrangements, and the worries about driving across a mountain range in snow and sub-freezing temps, really hijacked my brain. Also, I had to buy a new carry-on suitcase, since my 20-year-old previously-legal one is now too big for Delta and United airlines, which is obnoxious. And that led to worrying about getting all my crap in the smaller suitcase, partly driven by having to choose dress clothes over winter gear.
My sister-in-law made a comment about my really being nervous about driving in the snow ever since an accident I had in Illinois, back 30+ years ago when I lived there for 3 years. But it's not the snow, really-it's ICE that I worry about. Which can happen when you get packed snow or slush and the temperature drops into the 20s, as was forecast for where I was going. And again-this involved driving across mountains, which are steep, colder than lower elevations, and where the roads are prone to being twisty. Plus, my main winter-driving experience for the last 30 years has involved the Siskiyou Summit on I-5, which can be extremely dangerous in the winter. I'm paranoid for a reason, you know? Fortunately, it was a safe journey all around.
Some weirdness of a different kind: the rental car only seemed to get a few AM radio stations, and for more than a day I had trouble figuring out how to turn the radio OFF. So I wound up listening to some talk-radio show where the hosts were discussing how parents could reach their teens better, and it veered off into girls in particular and recent social movements to 'feminize' God and some girls having difficulty with God as being male. And then suddenly they were talking about this being where fathers came in, because fathers were a girl's first experience of God.
WHAT? What kind of nonsense is that? And then-
Ugh. As a second-wave feminist, you're unlikely to ever hear me going on about The Patriarchy. But I had forgotten that not only is that religion's power structure patriarchal, it considers men to be the spiritual leaders of their own households. I.e., it elevates them to a level of divinity above their wives and children. I felt so slimed by that realization. And by the female co-host on this talk show, who was assertively "yup, yup, yup" over all of this, like Robin on the Howard Stern show agreeing with every dumb-ass thing he ever said.
This also explains why the bride's brother-in-law spoke during the wedding ceremony, but not her sister. Ugh again. :(
I mean, I'm not a religious person at all, as you may know, but I have real issues with how many of them treat women, LGBQT people, and people of color. I'm so glad my dad didn't succumb to the teachings of that church.
Well, that whole sour note aside, it was a good (and safe!) trip, though it was also two days in the snow and slush, and multiple rounds of clearing the car off. I sure don't miss that. Three years of living with that in Illinois was enough for a lifetime!
How have all of you been? :D
ETA: Rental cars! They are their own hell. I had to look up the windshield wipers in the User Manual, and later, how to open the stupid gas cap to fill up the car before I turned it in. Gah!
I made a last-minute trip out of town for a wedding last weekend, which caused much flailing beforehand and lots of busy-ness during. It was all worth it, but the last-minute flight and hotel arrangements, and the worries about driving across a mountain range in snow and sub-freezing temps, really hijacked my brain. Also, I had to buy a new carry-on suitcase, since my 20-year-old previously-legal one is now too big for Delta and United airlines, which is obnoxious. And that led to worrying about getting all my crap in the smaller suitcase, partly driven by having to choose dress clothes over winter gear.
My sister-in-law made a comment about my really being nervous about driving in the snow ever since an accident I had in Illinois, back 30+ years ago when I lived there for 3 years. But it's not the snow, really-it's ICE that I worry about. Which can happen when you get packed snow or slush and the temperature drops into the 20s, as was forecast for where I was going. And again-this involved driving across mountains, which are steep, colder than lower elevations, and where the roads are prone to being twisty. Plus, my main winter-driving experience for the last 30 years has involved the Siskiyou Summit on I-5, which can be extremely dangerous in the winter. I'm paranoid for a reason, you know? Fortunately, it was a safe journey all around.
Some weirdness of a different kind: the rental car only seemed to get a few AM radio stations, and for more than a day I had trouble figuring out how to turn the radio OFF. So I wound up listening to some talk-radio show where the hosts were discussing how parents could reach their teens better, and it veered off into girls in particular and recent social movements to 'feminize' God and some girls having difficulty with God as being male. And then suddenly they were talking about this being where fathers came in, because fathers were a girl's first experience of God.
WHAT? What kind of nonsense is that? And then-
Ugh. As a second-wave feminist, you're unlikely to ever hear me going on about The Patriarchy. But I had forgotten that not only is that religion's power structure patriarchal, it considers men to be the spiritual leaders of their own households. I.e., it elevates them to a level of divinity above their wives and children. I felt so slimed by that realization. And by the female co-host on this talk show, who was assertively "yup, yup, yup" over all of this, like Robin on the Howard Stern show agreeing with every dumb-ass thing he ever said.
This also explains why the bride's brother-in-law spoke during the wedding ceremony, but not her sister. Ugh again. :(
I mean, I'm not a religious person at all, as you may know, but I have real issues with how many of them treat women, LGBQT people, and people of color. I'm so glad my dad didn't succumb to the teachings of that church.
Well, that whole sour note aside, it was a good (and safe!) trip, though it was also two days in the snow and slush, and multiple rounds of clearing the car off. I sure don't miss that. Three years of living with that in Illinois was enough for a lifetime!
How have all of you been? :D
ETA: Rental cars! They are their own hell. I had to look up the windshield wipers in the User Manual, and later, how to open the stupid gas cap to fill up the car before I turned it in. Gah!