Let it be stated for the record: What I meant by posting those two essays earlier is that two wrongs don't make a right. I have nothing against the south. I have many friends in the south or from the south. Moss has family there. By and large I find that people are people no matter where you go. In my home state of California I have personally known racists, homophobes, fundamentalist Christians, and so on. I am well aware that many people in my state and in other blue states voted for Bush.
I apologize for the previous post. I was not thinking straight or I should have avoided politics. Over the past week I have been very depressed. I have seen many of my friends, people who are (or were) friends with each other, fight viciously and say very ugly things to one another because of politics. What I was trying to do was a share a laugh by saying hey, look, we're all being ridiculous. I see that the intended result was obviously not the actual result. I'm sorry.
What I really ought to have said yesterday in the previous post is this: Just because someone is a liberal, it doesn't mean he or she is a good person. Just because someone is a conservative it doesn't mean he or she is a bad person. I have Republican friends as well as Democrat (and Green and Non-Partisan and Libertarian and Anarchist) friends, I have Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Universalist Unitarian, Wiccan, Buddhist and Atheist friends. Seeing them fight with each other hurts. The only way to begin fixing things is to work with each other and respect each other.
If/when you read the essays in the previous post, I hope you'll remember before you cast stones at one side for being intolerant and ignorant and rude, that the other side is just as culpable. I don't mean to condone venomous and insulting rants, but to say this sort of thinking will not help us, this is not the way. Stop feeling so righteous and superior for a second and remember that we're all people and we're mostly all just trying to do the best we can.
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07:13:09 PM,
Wednesday 10 November 2004
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It seems like someone should post something to counteract the appalling essay Annelet linked to in her blog. Have some vitriol from the other side. I'm not saying this isn't appalling, just that it's also highly entertaining.
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(7)
08:24:40 PM,
Tuesday 9 November 2004
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It is delightful to receive letters addressed to Mademoiselle RIOS Julia.
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09:38:54 PM,
Monday 8 November 2004
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Do you plan to see The Incredibles? Why or why not?
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(12)
07:33:34 PM,
Sunday 7 November 2004
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I just spent a good three hours talking to a friend I hadn't heard from in two years. Talking on the phone for a long time is sort of irksome in that it hurts your ear after a while, and it isn't as good as having in person conversations, but I have to say, I am really happy to have spent the late afternoon and early evening this way. It's easy to forget how wonderful it is to talk to dear friends when you haven't done it in a while. Not to say you forget that they are wonderful, intellectually you know that and remember it, but like the taste of really good chocolate or sushi or chicken tikka masala, each time you encounter them you experience them afresh and remember just why it is that you knew you liked them to begin with.
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10:29:59 PM,
Friday 5 November 2004
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My mother just called to say that she's on the way to the polls, that she was very happy to receive my arguments for and against the California propositions, that she plans to vote the way I voted, that she had planned to vote similarly, but my arguments were clear and concise and helped her decide on a couple of things she wasn't sure about, and that she showed the arguments to two of her friends. Go team me! I am being all useful and informative!
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(2)
07:45:40 PM,
Tuesday 2 November 2004
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The British are trying to give spam a comeback.
A £2-million campaign will feature the first TV adverts for the brand, portraying it as quintessentially British despite the fact it was invented in America and is now largely produced in Denmark.
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02:19:54 PM,
Tuesday 2 November 2004
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Of course it does help to have any number 2 pencils at all when you sit down to fill out your absentee ballot. How can there be none in the entire apartment. Blah, here's me going to the store.
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01:50:47 PM,
Tuesday 2 November 2004
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Having stayed up until nearly one going over all the measures, propositions and candidate profiles for city council, the hospital district, state assembly and senate, I am exhausted, but quite pleased with myself. True, I haven't done any writing today, but I feel good about all of my informed choices. It's funny how much going over propositions and such feels like studying for a test, a really important test that will affect your life adversely if you choose the wrong answers.
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(3)
03:48:47 AM,
Tuesday 2 November 2004
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Making kombucha is pleasingly reminiscent of science experiments. The end result is good, too.
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09:57:02 PM,
Monday 1 November 2004
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Do you ever find personal mythologies arising out of minor ailments and other like things? For instance, for some time now, my Tumbly has been tormented by a fierce dragon name Tumblor. At first there was a dragon and a puppy in my tumbly, and when I was hungry the dragon did growl and the puppy did howl, but by and by the dragon began to blow his hot breath and irritate my Tumbly when I wasn't hungry. As the frequency of these events increased, so did the stories of Tumblor, the Grumblinator. He has a song, which goes like this:
Grumblinating the Tumblyside,
Grumblinating the 'testines,
Tumblor!
So, what about you? Anything comparable?
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06:57:18 PM,
Monday 1 November 2004
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Dear lord. I have had to send Moss out twice for refills. Hopefully this most recent supply will hold us. I had to tell a couple of kids that I was all out while he was at the store, poor things. How will they ever live without the miniature candy bar that they were looking at me to provide?
The best costumes so far have been Nightcrawler (of the X-Men), who painted his face and neck and hands and hair blue, and a homemade Lego man! Hurrah for painted cardboard! He couldn't bend his knees to climb the steps, so we had to walk down to give him candy.
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10:45:53 PM,
Sunday 31 October 2004
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We are going to be one of the houses that gives out good candy. No sugar free suckers or packets of raisins here, and certainly none of this fun size goldfish crackers or granola bars nonsense. We have Junior Mints, Whoppers, M&Ms and Snickers. Upon taste testing the last of these, Moss said, "Packed with peanuts, these really satisfy me." Then he observed that the debris of former television watching habits stays considerably past its welcome and clutters up the mind. This is sad, but true. Between us we know enough commercials to advertise just about anything one might wish for in a modern American suburban tract home. Still, we're going to be one of the houses that gives out good candy. This, at least, is comforting.
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(7)
05:20:54 PM,
Sunday 31 October 2004
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Announcing Autmn/Winter Blogswap 2004
It's time to share music again. As you may have heard (from Tim or elsewhere), John Peel has died, which is a very sad thing indeed. Since none of us is in a position to make a bid on his record collection, let us try to expand our collective musical knowledge and interests by exchanging mixes of music that we deem worthy of three asterisks (three asterisks meant the record must be played).
As to logistics, Remi has suggested a new sytem wherein everyone (that's you) sends CDs to one central organizer (that's me). You send a box containing enough CDs for all the other participants to have one, and include return postage inside so that I can send the box back to you, this time full of everyone else's CDs.
I'll leave the sign up period open for two weeks (Remi suggested limiting the number of participants, but I think that will be unnecessary as there really aren't too many regular blogswappers among us), after which time I will tell you how many CDs to send to me. Sign up by leaving a comment or sending me an email.
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(31)
04:43:11 PM,
Thursday 28 October 2004
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♬ All the ☂ ☂ ☂ in London couldn't stop this ☁ /♬
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(8)
04:04:43 AM,
Monday 25 October 2004
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Erin Smith, Esquire is my first official lawyer friend. The Georgia bar exam results came out yesterday, and she passed! I am very proud of her, and also a bit bemused at the idea that I must be an adult now to count a lawyer as one of my peers.
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(4)
06:54:44 PM,
Saturday 23 October 2004
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♥
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(23)
03:59:11 AM,
Friday 22 October 2004
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Strange Machine is a pretty neat little stunt put on by Warren Ellis. I am happy to announce that I've played my own part in it. (Not for the easily offended, I'm afraid).
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(1)
04:48:29 AM,
Saturday 16 October 2004
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So my mother called while I was doing the dishes and said, "Hey, sorry to interrupt you, but I'm watching the post debate commentary over here, and there are all these people holding up Kerry signs in the background, and this guy came forward with a sign that convinced me that you HAVE to vote for Kerry. It said, 'Kerry eats babies.' I just thought you should know."
File under: Reasons to Love My Mother.
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(4)
12:45:23 AM,
Thursday 14 October 2004
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The fun thing about going through old notebooks that I used in class is finding random notes that refer to incidents I don't remember. My favorite so far is , "Hey, check out 'Sporty Goth' over there!"
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(4)
05:15:41 PM,
Sunday 10 October 2004
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You know what this is like? This is like pulling teeth from a baby. A baby who doesn't have teeth yet, so first you have to wait for the teeth to come in and then you have to pull them while the baby screams its bloody head off and tries to give you at least as much pain as you are giving it.
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(2)
07:21:22 AM,
Sunday 10 October 2004
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Dollar store! Package-making! Happy Julia!
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(4)
01:30:36 AM,
Wednesday 29 September 2004
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2 (two) cats, one black and white with long hair, and one orange with short hair.
3 (three) deer, all grazing peacefully together in the fields next to the freeway.
1 (one) parakeet, which last landed atop my head and proceeded to groom my feathers hair.
2 (two) black squirrels, one of which scampered round Moss's mother's garden and dug up a nut he had earlier buried in the lawn, the other of which scurried up onto the birdbath of the house next door and took a long drink.
4 (four) dogs, two tied up in front of stores, and two on leashes who growled at each other in a manner most fearsome.
1 (one) hawk, taking flight just over our car.
5 (five) horses, two dappled grey, one chestnut, two dark brown.
Many (quite several) cows, all of whom were greeted felicitously and in French.
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(3)
12:25:03 AM,
Monday 27 September 2004
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"These cookies, they have chocolate in them! I mean, I knew they had peanut butter chips and peanut butter cups, but..."
"No, that's what I'm saying. The thing about these cookies is they have peanut butter chips, peanut butter cups, and chocolate chunks in them."
"They're like..."
"They're like a god among cookies."
"I was going to say they were like unto the very gods."
-Later-
"I compare things to God a lot for an atheist... well... I suppose it's less blasphemous for an atheist to do that than for a non-atheist to, right?"
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05:03:16 AM,
Monday 20 September 2004
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"You understand about how spy movies have the shoes that make the good sound on pavement?"
"Spy movies are about competence and hot girls and those shoes that make good sounds on the pavement."
"And being extremely silly."
"And being extremely silly, yes. ... Which explains why I fell for a competent, hot girl who is extremely silly."
"What, you're saying I'm a spy movie? I'm James Bond now?"
"You're James Bondess! ... Jamie Bond?"
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04:55:58 AM,
Monday 20 September 2004
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Within a minute of my return to dishwashing I cut my finger with my own fingernail. I blame Sarah.
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(1)
03:34:54 PM,
Wednesday 15 September 2004
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Careful to point the ends of knives away from me as I placed them in the the dish rack to dry, I succeeded in pricking my thumb on a blunt fork tine. Damnable excessive momentum and lack of depth perception! Interestingly, because my thumb was wet, and recently saturated in dishsoap, the blood seeped into the tiny crevices and promptly dried, making my thumbprint stand out as if it were a piece of relief art.
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(1)
03:03:28 PM,
Wednesday 15 September 2004
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In my dream last night, George W. Bush and friends raided the house I was living in. They charged Katherine (who was one of my roommates) with sedition or treason or something, and took her away. Then Mr. Bush said, "The only thing I have to say to you, Julia, is that you need to stop saying mrow to cats. It causes them to say mrow back and to think it is all right to come into the house, which it isn't. They are very dangerous, and we have 43 known cats on our blacklist."
Later the political bigwigs were having a party and bade Mirabai come with Danish music to play for them once every hour. Mira said, "I have just the CD," and so we went to them. The CD player looked like an old gramophone, all wood and leather, placed in a special mini stage case with a red velvet curtain framing it. MIra pressed play and then said under her breath, "We'd better get out of here." As we walked away I heard the song, which was a Spiritual version of "Mr. Sandman".
"That's not Danish," I said.
"No, It's African," said Mira.
"Is it at least Afrikaans?" I asked.
"Yes," said Mira, "It's Dutch-African." By this point we could hear the people at the party begin to make outraged noises. Mira smiled.
I realized that we'd somehow managed to steal a dog that belonged to one of the partygoers (Mrs. Ridge). It was a small brown and white dog with silky fur, and was trailing a retractable leash. Mira was driving it further away fom the party, until we eventually caught up with some other seditionists who had a car and we began to drive on the freeway. The political people had started to chase us, but they dared not do anything too violent because the dog was in our possession.
We began to lose them, but the dog hopped out of the window and began running ahead of our car. It was lost and confused, and we could hear its thoughts. They came out in a slithering, high-pitched voice. "You know you still want me, Mrs. Ridge," the voice said. I realized that dogs had psychic connection control powers over humans, but that these powers were fairly weak, and that dogs were rather stupid. The dog was worried that Mrs. Ridge, who kept it in good food and grooming, had forgotten it, when in actuality Mrs. Ridge was distraught over its loss and too far away to hear the psychic manipulation anyway. Still the dog persisted, "You still want me, Mrs. Ridge, don't you? I know you want me." The voice was becoming more of a whisper now, though no less slithery.
one of my driving companions said, "Is this dog creeping anyone else out?" But I woke up before anyone responded.
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(6)
05:14:19 PM,
Sunday 12 September 2004
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Happy Birthday, Neilemu!
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12:35:44 PM,
Saturday 11 September 2004
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My sister, whom some of you had the pleasure of meeting during croquet weekend last spring, has just received her acceptance letter from St. John's! She's on the waiting list for financial aid, and will either be starting in January or next fall. I am pleased and excited for her. Also, just a teensy bit jealous.
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(10)
01:45:38 AM,
Friday 10 September 2004
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"Do not try to find us."
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(14)
04:50:49 PM,
Wednesday 8 September 2004
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Not only did they have the best unagi I have ever eaten, but they also prompted me to say, "Finally I feel like I am in the dystopian future I've been dreaming of!"
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(8)
02:01:43 AM,
Thursday 2 September 2004
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Oh thank God. There is a sushi place open until eleven. We are saved.
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(2)
12:02:01 AM,
Thursday 2 September 2004
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I can see that I was a bit ambitious in the writing of the to do list last night. How did it get to be 12:30 already? Damn. I think I will go straight from washing dishes to designing website and leave the rearranging the kitchen til later. Surely I will write plenty at 2, especially if I feel bad for not writing earlier.
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03:24:52 PM,
Monday 30 August 2004
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*Get some exercise Pretend you're a windmill! Pretend you're kayaking... but while standing! Now squatting! Pretend you're a clockwork toy! A washing machine! Pretend you're... oh, just twist around already! The little brown bird on the telephone wire found me fascinating.
*Eat something and drink 16 ounces of water Leftover salmon frittata and iced peppermint tea. Yum.
*Wash dishes Amazing how fast this becomes an aerobic exercise when I play the "Upbeat" playlist I made from everyone's high energy song suggestions.
*Write 500 words
*Do some rearranging of kitchen stuff
*Eat something and drink 16 ounces of water
*Design web page until 2.
*Speedwrite with Moira and drink 16 ounces of water
*Straighten living room
*Order pizza
*Eat delicious pizza with Moss and drink 16 ounces of water
*Put writing and housework out of mind and watch silly sci-fi/action dvds
*Bedtime is ten o'clock
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05:15:30 AM,
Monday 30 August 2004
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Long awaited Transmetropolicat pictures.
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(2)
09:37:30 PM,
Saturday 28 August 2004
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site & script courtesy of Moss