SylvieG, I'm so sorry. It's never easy, and the older they are the harder it is. As everyone says, it gets easier, although that can be very hard to believe at first.
*air toast*
It was bewildering in a very specific way. My adaptation to the Cold War had been to assume that I was going to get blown up, or die by radiation. I wasn't the least bit content with it, but I was used to it. When the wall came down, it was like losing a support -- in a good way. It was wonderful. It started to look like I might live to reach an old age. It was truly startling.
Happy Birthday, Jon. Many returns of the day.
I don't know if I have closure with my dad or not. I don't talk to him, he doesn't contact me, and I'm mostly content with that. My mother thinks it's sad. Why, I do not know. I don't know why she maintains as much contact with him as she does. I keep on thinking I should get back in touch with him, that maybe I'll want him for something before he dies. But honestly, if he apologized, I wouldn't believe him. As far as I can tell, there's nothing he can say that will make things better. He has my email address, which he does not use. Of course, he's blind, which makes email a problem, but not an insurmountable one, as he can see things that are large and up close. Which you can do on a computer. I don't know if he has my phone number or not. I rather think he does. He doesn't call. If he's not making an effort, then why on earth should I? Mostly, I don't think about it. He's from some distant place that I mostly don't remember well. I inherited his bipolar disorder, what more could he want?
Marilee, I'm so sorry about Shiva. It's never good when they die.
I scored a 45, confirming for me my theory that I see fewer colors than other people. That's a really bad score.
Velma: Hooray. It's wonderful to hear that Scraps can come home. One handed cooking sounds like a worthwhile challenge.
Caroline: I'm so sorry.
Bruce Arthur: I'm glad it's only an infection, though it must be a doozy of an infection. Hope that everything goes well with Hilde. What a terrible scare you had.
Lori: I hope Penny gets better. Blood transfusion. Huh. I didn't know they did that with pets. On the other hand, I was offered chemotherapy for my cat when she was dying. Amazing the things they can do.
Velma, great news! Tell Scraps congratulations!
Michael Roberts, it's a _beautiful_ house. The built-in buffet is magnificent. It will be a lot of work, but it will be worth it. What a steal. I love the doorknobs.
Happy Anniversary. Many returns of the day.
South Minneapolis, here. Walkability of 75 out of 100. Not too bad. Although they're counting as grocery stores Superamerica, and they don't list the corner store, or the taqueria (actually, the taqueria is on the corner and the corner store is right next to it, but you know what I mean).
The stupidity of charging for a rape kit doesn't have to reduce the incidence of reporting rape, it merely needs to sound like it would to a mendacious person. And Abi's right, there are probably more than one reason why it was done. It fits very nicely in with the assumption that the woman must have done something to get raped. To make a rule like this doesn't have to be a part of some subtle plan, it could be part of a failed subtle plan. Coupled with pig ignorance.
I got all my vaccinations. I had childhood asthma, and my parents didn't want to deal with any more sickness than they already had. There was no vaccine for chickenpox, which is the only childhood disease that I contracted. I think I was four. I had a medium miserable time of it. Strictly enjoined against scratching, I had the good luck to get lice at the same time as the chickenpox.
As an adult, I got a puncture wound from my cat, then called Monster. (He went through a lot of names.) The puncture was at the ball of my left thumb. The next day I noticed that my left elbow and shoulder felt a bit stiff and painful. In the morning, while at work, I called the clinic. The nurse listened, and asked me when I'd last had my tetanus shot. I said I couldn't remember, when I was little, probably. So she said, "We have an open appointment at 1:00. I'll see you then."
"No," I explained. "My boss hates me. I can't take time off work. How about Saturday?"
"How about today?" she counter-offered.
"No, you really don't understand. Today is not an option. Look, what's the worst that could happen if we wait until Saturday?"
"Oh, you know," she said in a cheerful, sing-song voice, "death."
"Death?"
"Death." Same cheerful voice.
"Oh, um. I'll see you at 1:00."
So I went and got my tetanus shot, and the pain in the arm and shoulder went away.
That's been more than 10 years ago, now, and I am reminded that I need another tetanus shot. Plus a whole bunch of others, actually, before I have clinicals in the fall. I forget what the battery is. I have no objections. I just hope insurance will pay for it.
When I was in eighth grade, I was attending a small private Christian school. Fundamentalist. The "libraries" in the school were donated books. Each classroom had a shelving unit with books on it. I was already a science fiction reader, and had read one of the Heinlein juvies, Starman Jones, possibly. Feeling perfectly safe, I took off the shelf a book by Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land. It was a perfectly shattering book. The sex stuff didn't impress me. I was eight when I figured out that the only reason that one didn't have more than one sexual partner was because of the Law of God. If you were going to hell anyway, it made sense to enjoy the ride. Obviously, you had to tell the partners about each other, because otherwise you would be lying and hurting someone. What phased me was Jubal and Mike's discussion about the existence of God. I was so not prepared for it. My father was a minister, and I grew up in tightly restricted circumstances. The whole idea that you could argue about the existence of God in a logical fashion threw me. From then on, I was a doubter. It wasn't possible in my house to not be a Christian. I was convinced that my parents would throw me out of the house. So it sat there, festering, until I went to college. Within weeks, I wrote my parents a letter explaining that I was no longer a Christian. My boyfriend at the time, (who I later married, and then even later divorced) was instrumental in getting me to write the letter. SIASL wasn't the only thing that helped me free myself from my scary Fundamentalist religion, but it was the catalyst.
Terry, welcome to civilian life. I hope it treats you as well or better than the army did.
Lee @ 114, I think that George Bush was/is evil. He just doesn't look like what we conceive of as evil. We think of evil as being bigger than life. George W. is all too life-sized. The fact that he can live in a world where most people are just spear carriers and he doesn't give a damn about them isn't a character flaw. It's a style of evil. The fact that he can play power politics without any concern for his responsibilities towards his country is evil. We are judging Bush by his intentions, which were not, perhaps, all that bad. Good things for him and his. Some ego boo. Some revenge. But these things, in context, were evil. The fact that he didn't consider the context is what made him do evil things, and I don't propose, personally, to give him a pass for not having had evil thoughts. He had an evil lack of thought. People exist. When you forget that, you become a sociopath. He approved of torturing people. There's a piece of the American soul that is evil. We think of it more kindly than that. I wouldn't say that people who enjoy 24 are evil, but maybe I should. It's an evil fantasy, that you can torture in a good cause. I'm failing to say what I really want to say. I'm sorry. But I think that we let George Bush off the hook too easily by looking at his intentions, at what a nice guy he can be. These are not good measures of whether someone is good or evil. Actions have got to count more than intentions. Especially repeated actions.
| Year | Number of comments posted |
|---|---|
| 2009 | 20 |
| 2008 | 27 |
| 2007 | 46 |
| 2006 | 30 |
| 2005 | 34 |
| 2004 | 38 |
| 2003 | 67 |
| 2002 | 10 |
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