Ohhh........OK. Now I get it!

I'm a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....
* If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're a quintessential American story.
* If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
* Graduate from Harvard Law School and you are unstable.
* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well-grounded.
* If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor at the University of Chicago, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become Chairman of the Illinois state senate's Health and Human Services Committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 136 bills, creating legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel, and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment andPublic Works and Veteran's Affairs committees - you don't have any real leadership experience.
* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
* If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a good Christian.
* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the how to teach kids to identify and resist sexual predators and the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
* If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence-only with no other option in sex education in your state's school system, while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant - you're very responsible.
* If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
* If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DWIconviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now.


****I don't know who originally wrote this, so I can't give credit, but whoever you are, THANK YOU!****

Jammin' to some Iffy.....

I put in "Biota Bondo" earlier today because it's Kirk Johnson's birthday, and I'm gonna follow that with some old school Run Westy Run.

Maybe I'm a bit of a nerd to mark the birthdays of my favorite musicians, but I'm OK with that.

Besides, isn't any reason to celebrate a good reason? Even if it's not my birthday? I think so.

So, Happy Birthday, Kirk Johnson.........wherever you're keeping yourself these days.

Hope it rocks!

Long time, no blog........

What to say? So much has happened lately that I almost don't know where (or when) to start. I suppose the biggest thing is that my mother passed away almost a month ago. I won't say much about it--mainly because I just don't know what to say, and it's very difficult for me to talk about. My feelings about the whole situation are difficult, and they're almost impossible to explain in any coherent fashion to anyone else. Right now, I'm dealing with it--sometimes in my own way, and sometimes I'm refusing to deal with it, whatever that means.

Otherwise, my life has been basically school and work, with quite a bit of baseball and tons of music thrown in for stress relief. I just finished my classwork for summer about 10 days ago, and fall semester starts again in 2 days. I don't feel like I got any sort of break at all, and for the first time in a very long time, I'm just not ready to start the school grind again so soon, but I have no choice, really. Hopefully, it will be better once I actually get into the routine again. I'm not holding my breath, though.

Baseball--My Twins are swinging between #1 and #2 in the AL Central and my Rays are solidly #1 in the AL East. They're both doing so well that my biggest fear at this point is that I'm going to have to watch them battle it out with each other in the playoffs. Ouch! I wouldn't want either of them to lose!

I've said it before, and I'll likely say it again. MATT GARZA!!!!! The Twins were crazy to let him go--he's got a passion for this game that's extraordinary, and the skills to back it up. He may only be 24, but look what he can already do! I'm gonna be watching him for years--the guy's electric. I plan on being there the day he's elected into the Hall of Fame. Not that I think he'd ever read this, but, just in case---Mr. Garza, how does Cooperstown sound to you???

Work is just work, with all its corresponding joys and annoyances. Not much to say there.

I have a new crush on someone that's been developing for quite a while--before I even realized it, I think. It's not exactly a crush, though. I think it may be more serious than that. I'm too afraid that I'll screw up a friendship if I told him though, so I don't know what's going to happen about him, if anything at all. You'll probably be hearing about him again, no doubt. (Really, I thought I was too old for all this teenagery stuff........sigh).

It's been a rough summer. Looking forward to autumn, and hoping it's going to be a good time of my life. Things always look better to me in the autumn. Something about cool breezes, colorful rustling leaves, Halloween, and jacket weather really improves my outlook on the world.

Please vote!

Help me get Evan Longoria and Corey Hart to this year's All-Star Game in NYC!!! Vote often!

A Gem From the Past......

I was looking at a friend's site, and found a link to my old blog account. There were only two posts on there--one a complete throwaway. The other one, however, still strikes a chord with me. So, as a tribute to my 2005 self, and so it doesn't get lost forever: here's that post.

Monday, January 03, 2005 (originally):

The Nature Of Imagination or, alternatively, "I Want My Childhood Back!"
I
hate being a grown up, but I haven't truly been a kid since my 10th birthday. I do remember it, though. All the poetry of being a kid is lost on my grown-up self, and I don't think I'm alone in this. It's something that happens to everyone, I think. Something that happens when you're young and thinking about all the things you're going to do when you "grow up." You never realize how much fun stuff you're going to miss out on when you're older. Things that I used to enjoy all those years ago are now just inconveniences. Like snow. I used to love getting the day off from school when it would snow and then spending the entire day outside--sledding, making snowmen, snowball fights with my Dad, all of that. When you're 7, what could possibly be better than that? Now, snow's just something that gets my car stuck in the parking lot, makes it difficult or impossible to get to work, and is a terror to drive in. And trains? Remember when a train was almost a magical thing? I remember cheering when we'd get stopped by a train, trying to guess how many cars there would be, and then gleefully counting the cars out loud. It's just not like that anymore--trains are just things that get between me and where I needed to be 10 minutes ago. I hate that. I want those feelings back. I want to live with a kid's sense of wonder and fun and joy in the world. I don't know if it's possible, but I want it to be. And doesn't that count for something?

Baseball Season is soooo gooood right now!

Matt Garza got his first win for the Rays last Thursday.
Boof Bonser pitched a game on Tuesday that was an absolute joy to watch.
Minnesota is now #1 in the AL Central, and Tampa Bay is tied for #2 in the AL East.

It's been a damn fine week to be a Twins and Rays fan.

Tampa Bay 1, Minnesota 0.

Matt Garza working a Rays uniform.

Good for Tampa Bay.

Good for Matt Garza.

Still love Minnesota, but now they've got Floridan competition for my baseball heart, because I just love watching Garza pitch.

It's like watching a storm building in the distance, then seeing it break in a flurry of thunder and lightning. The man just rocks the game. It's that simple, and that exciting.

Oh no, Not Again!

I can only hope that whoever said "history tends to repeat itself" is very wrong in this case.

This may be the beginning of yet another national nightmare, I'm afraid.

What the HELL were they thinking????

I just learned that the Twins traded Matt Garza to Tampa Bay. This is seriously disappointing, and I truly believe they're going to regret that ill-considered decision, and probably in the very near future--I don't know, say the beginning of next season?

Matt Garza should still have been wearing a Twins uniform next season. End of story.

Now I have to keep up with two teams.

I love this game. But, oh, sometimes I hate this game.

Grrr.......

Random Crushes

Does this happen to other people? Or am I just crazy?

You know, you're just going through your life, minding your own business, and then WHAM! (not the band) out of nowhere, you notice something new in someone you're known for quite a while. And, all of the sudden, because of that one lightning strike moment, you start to realize just how completely amazing this person is? And you can't figure out why you didn't notice all the cool things about them before?

This just complicates everything......

NaNo is almost here!

Well, it's just under two days until the beginning of NaNoWriMo!  Everyone wish me luck, because this year, I'd actually love to "win."  

I made this desktop calendar for the event.  Cool, don't you think?

Yay for Matt Garza!

Matt Garza, my favorite pitcher for the Minnesota Twins, got his first win in the Metrodome last night!

Congrats, Matt!
Go Twins!

Happy Birthday, Kirk Johnson!

Today is Kirk Johnson's birthday!

He's an amazing singer/songwriter and quite possibly my favorite musician. So, Happy Birthday, Kirk! Hope it rocks!

So everybody needs to go listen to some Run Westy Run or Iffy today. If you don't know who those bands are, you should go take a listen to them, because you're really missing out!

Run Westy Run-s/t
Run Westy Run-Hardly Not Even
Run Westy Run-Green Cat Island
Run Westy Run-David's Drum
Run Westy Run-Cockroach Park (good luck finding this one, though)
Iffy- Biota Bondo

I HATE CLEVELAND!

Well, I at least hate their baseball team.

You see, I've recently gotten seriously into baseball. I love the Twins. They've been playing so well lately, and I really had high hopes about this series with Cleveland. However, my team's just not playing like I know they can right now. And Cleveland seems to be leading this charmed existence right now.

Let's hope it doesn't last much longer.

Go Minnesota! Go Twins!

This is difficult.......

It seems lately that everyone around me is getting exactly what I want. It feels like quite a few of the people I know are either finding that special someone or are finally discovering that that person was there all along. It's not that I'm not happy for my friends, or that I don't want them to be happy. It's just that I want something like that too. It's hard not to be at least a little envious, a little jealous.

Finding that person isn't happening for me, though. Everytime I think I've found someone I could really like, whose company I really enjoy, and who I could see myself spending absolutely ridiculous amounts of time with, it never seems to work out the way I wish it would. And I am at a complete loss as to why that is.

It had gotten to the point that I thought maybe I was just looking for and paying attention to the wrong type of man. So, I decided that, for a few months, I'd just consider every man I met as someone with "potential." And I do mean everyone. Even the ones who seemed unlikely. Even the ones that were the polar opposite of everything I thought I wanted. This little experiment proved something to me. I wasn't wrong about what I want. I know this because even though I could see good qualities that I'd previously ignored in men I wouldn't normally give a second thought to, it was still the same things as always that really made me sit up and take notice.

Namely: high intelligence, creativity, sarcastic humor, the ability to make me laugh, very liberal political views, an independence from religion (or at least not requiring me to believe), a strong love of music, art and literature, being easy to talk to, a playful nature, being able to rationally disagree without demeaning another's views, and a sense of fairness.

Ok, so I obviously know what I want. So, why then, when I find a man that possesses most of these qualities, does nothing ever come of it?

Anyone ever noticed this?

Whenever someone accuses you of something, they're most likely guilty of it themselves?
Funny how a certain someone can identify something wrong with me, but be completely oblivious to their own detriments.

I have one thing to say to this person--take a good hard look at yourself before you start analyzing me and my life.

Why do I do this?

I mean, seriously, does anyone even read these anymore??????

Two things.....

This is pissing me off, so I must say these two things.

1. Atheism is absolutely NOT a religion.
2. Agnosticism is for people who cannot or will not commit to their beliefs, or who are afraid to choose.

Birthday Time!

October is here--the sun is shining, it's warm and breezy, and it's almost my birthday. I'll be 33 on Thursday, October 5, and I'm excited about it.

For today, at least, things are pretty good. :)

Me, as usual, being cryptic....

A new possible course for my future opened up yesterday.
I am amazed. I am in awe. I am exhilirated. I am terrified.