:: this-or-that tuesday ::

1. Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton?

That's a close one, but I keep coming back to Keaton. I'm not sure why. I'm just going with my gut on this one.

2. Laurel & Hardy or Abbott & Costello?

Neither, really. But Laurel & Hardy annoy me less.

3. Marx Brothers or Three Stooges?

Marx Brothers. Can't stand the Stooges.

4. David Letterman or Jay Leno?

Hmmm. I just don't know anymore. I used to love Letterman but I think he's lost his edge. Lately, if I catch late night programming at all, it's usually Leno because we watch the news on our local NBC affiliate and he's on right after.

5. "Saturday Night Live" or "Mad TV"?

SNL, without a doubt. Even with that major slump they had in the late eighties/early nineties, SNL still kicks Mad TV's sorry ass.

6. Adam Sandler ("Mr. Deeds") or Mike Myers ("Austin Powers")?

Mike Myers is brilliant! Sandler hasn't come up with anything really good since the Chanukah Song.

7. Jerry Seinfeld or Ray Romano ("Everybody Loves Raymond")?

I could live without either of them. Seinfeld's stand-up is pretty good, but his show gets on my last nerve so I'll go with Romano on this one. I've caught his show a few times and it's pretty funny.

8. George Carlin or Bill Cosby?

Cosby is brilliant, but I just love Carlin.

9. "Monty Python's Flying Circus" or "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In"?

Bridgekeeper: What...is your name?

Arthur: King Arthur of the Britons!

Bridgekeeper: What...is your quest?

Arthur: I seek the Holy Grail!

Bridgekeeper: What...is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Arthur: (brief pause) What do you mean, an African or a European swallow?

Bridgekeeper: (confused) Well...I don't know...AAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!

Bedevere: (crossing behind Arthur) How do you know so much about swallows, sire?

Arthur: Well, you have to know these sorts of things when you're a king, you know...

found here.

10. Gone but not forgotten...John Belushi or Chris Farley?

Belushi, definitely! May he rest in peace.

Follow-up question from me: Lea Delaria or Suzanne Westenhoefer? Leave your answer in the comments.

Lea is great, but I simply adore Suzanne Westenhoefer!

Hey! According to the Belief-O-Matic, I'm most likely a Neo-Pagan. Cool! Unitarian Universalism ran a close 2nd. Dead last on the list? Roman Catholic. Duh!

via Hijinks, Shenanigans, and Tom-Foolery

How random are you?

this quiz was made by alanna
You're not at all random! Add some spice to your life! Give bananas to complete strangers! Whenever anyone says anything to you, reply 'Ah - but that's what they want you to think!'

*Ack!* I always knew there was something wrong with me! My parents will be so ashamed, but my homophobic in-laws may be relieved. ;-P

:: Friday Group Therapy 1.3 ::

1. How did/will you tell your children about sex and childbirth and at what age?

Tough question. I know that I would not gloss over the question with some silly story about a stork or cabbage patch. There are so many different ways that children are brought into this world these days that I wouldn't want to necessarily go with the stock "When a mommy and daddy love each other they..." kind of answer. Because sometimes a mommy and a daddy don't love each other. And sometimes it's not a mommy and a daddy, but a mommy and a mommy or a daddy and a daddy who love each other and have to explore other avenues of bringing a child into their life. I might try to explain about how sperm fertilize eggs which grow into babies and say that the most common way that happens is when a mommy and a daddy have sex with each other and then probably talk a little bit about what sex is and why people have sex with each other.

2. How old were you when you found out about sex and how did it happen?

Hmm. I don't know. Pretty young. I know that I walked in on my parents a couple of times when I was really little. By the time I was six they had gotten me an age appropriate book about where babies come from. It was pretty cool. It covered reproduction in plants, poultry, dogs and humans.

3. What was the most shocking thing that you ever discovered about sex? (Shocking at the time that you discovered it, not necessarily shocking now.)

Maybe learning that friends of mine in high school were sexually active. Information about sex itself, and all of its permutations, never really shocked me.

4. Tell us about any "first" in your sexual life.

I was in love with the first woman that I slept with but not the first man.

5. What is your "sexual identity"?

I'm a lesbian.

Hi there. I know that I've been posting a lot of meaningless drivel lately. I've just been too busy or tired to really write anything. But I am bright tailed and bushy eyed this morning so here's what's been happening in my life for the last day or so. We had a bit of excitement at work yesterday morning. We experienced some sort of power outage in our building. The A/C went out and all of the bathrooms and offices on several (but not all) floors lost power. This has happened before. Summer. Hot. Big building (40 floors). Mucho A/C. So a transformer blew (or something. Not sure exactly what the problem was). There was a full building evacuation because the power failure caused the fire alarm to activate. After much milling about we were all told to go back to our offices where we sat around and twiddled our thumbs (except for network ops, they ran around like lunatics) and tried not to sweat until the power could be restored. After about an hour of stale air and rising temperatures, the governor ordered us all to go home (I work for a state agency) because he didn't want us working in an environment with such poor air quality. Say it with me now, kids - "E-lec-tion Year". Uh huh. Whatever. I enjoyed my afternoon off at the expense of the government. And I'm playing hooky today to allegedly study for an exam so I don't have to go back until Monday. Yay!

Which brings us to Next Week. Next Week the in-laws are visiting. *Ack!* Panic! When my girlfriend moved in with me, she assured me that her parents would never come to visit. They have not come to visit her since she came out to them (when they threw her out of the house). She has been home many times since then to see them and has succeeded in rebuilding a fairly good relationship with them. They have even graciously allowed me to come with for holidays (a big step IMO) as long as we slept in seperate rooms and didn't, you know, do anything. So things have definitely improved. But we still never thought that they would ever voluntarily come here. And stay. For a whole weekend. In our home. Where they can't tell us not to sleep together and have to deal with us as a couple. Now, out of the clear blue, she gets a call form her mom, "Are you going to be around next weekend?" "Um, yeah. Why?" "Your father and I thought that we'd drive up for a visit." *dumbfounded silence* "Huh? OK. That'd be great!" *Ack!* This is a good thing, right? I know this is a good thing. A really big good thing. But damn, we are scared out of our freaking minds. *Ack!* And they're timeing really sucks because we are planning on going to Falcon Ridge on Sunday and they aren't leaving until Sunday. But when your hitherto homophobic parents offer to come visit you for the first time in at least 5 years, you don't say "that's not a good weekend for us." You suck it up and clean the everliving hell out of the entire house.

So, question: Do we introduce her parents to my parents while they are here, or save that particular agony for another time? (My parents are a bit odd by anyone's standards. I don't want to overwhelm these people.) Any thoughts?

I'm the purple shimmer Doc Marten...
I'm a little spunky, definitely fun,
and I like believing in fantasy

Which Doc Marten are you?
(by *coffeebean*)

hmm. Pretty. I like it.

Daily Diversion: Sinfest

Where do YOU belong?

The Militant Feminist Quiz

*shrug* I'm just not into immolating men. Sorry.

:: this-or-that tuesday ::

1. Rented lodgings, or staying with friends/relatives?

We stay with friends or family when we travel, if possible. Otherwise, Motel 6, baybee!

2. Lots of activities, or just lying around doing nothing?

Somewhere in the middle. It also depends on where we are and what we're up for. If the environment is conducive to loafing, like the beach for example, then laying around may be the order of the day, otherwise we might go see the sights or check out the nearest amusement park.

3. Blogging while on vacation...yes or no?

I think if I even thought about computers on vacation my partner would skin me alive. ;-) Definitely no blogging allowed. I'm not even sure that I'de be allowed to bring along my Palm. *ack!*

4. If you have children and/or pets...bring them along or make other arrangements?

We'll take one of the dogs with us if we're going someplace where we can have her with us. The other dog is really getting too old to travel so we have asked friends to watch her if we are only going to be gone for a day or two. We have also boarded both of them together in this very posh (expensive!) pampered pet kind of place. They had a private room with their own little yard, a futon to lounge around on and a tv tuned to animal planet (I know that's totally over the top, but who cares? They're the only kids we have.) The cats either fend for themselves for a day or two or we have someone come in to feed/water/pet them.

5. Do you cook while away on vacation, or eat out every day?

We really don't vacation much, so I don't know what we would do if we were on a real vacation. When we visit friends its usually a mix of both. We'll have a couple of meals in and go out once or twice. Money, as always, is the final decision maker on this issue.

6. Do you pack light and plan to do laundry while away, or overpack and wash everything when you get home?

Overpack! Who wants to do laundry on vacation?

7. Drive to your vacation spot, or take some kind of public transportation?

Depends on the ratio of drive time to time spent at our destination. Anything under 6 hours one way is automatically a road trip. If we've only got a couple of days and the drive is 10 or 12 hours each way, I'd consider taking a plane or train (money permitting, of course). If we're going to be there for a week or more, the extra time in the car might be worth the money saved by not taking a train or plane. Buses are never an option. They are a last resort when you are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no way to get home and only 40 or 50 bucks in your pocket.

8. If you have a cell phone...on or off while away?

On. I don't normally receive many calls, so it probably wouldn't be a nuisance. Besides, if someone is looking after all of our fuzzballs, I want them to be able to reach me in an emergency.

9. Bring work along or not?

Definitely not!

10. Returning home with more stuff than you originally took with you...yes or no?

Depends on where we've been/what we've been doing. Amusement park or tourist trap, we'd probably get sucked into buying some junk and carting it home with us. Visiting friends, probably just come back with the stuff we went with. Visiting family, who knows. You know how parents are. "Here honey, you're father and I decided to get a new [insert random small appliance/piece of furniture of your choice here], why don't you take our old one? And while we're packing up your car, why not take these boxes of stuff that you left in the attic/basement?"

Bummer. Looks like Enetation, my commenting host, is down. If you wanted to say something, stop back later. I'd love to hear from you. :-)

:: Monday Mission 2.28 ::

1. Have you ever sold anything through an online auction? What did you sell and did you make very much?

Nope.

2. Have you ever bought anything through an online auction? How was your experience?

Yes. eBay is usually the first place I look when I want to find any rare/out of print Indigo Girls recordings. I've accumulated several cd singles that are out of print, an autographed pre-Epic vinyl single of Crazy Game and a couple more things that I can't recall off the top of my head. So far, all of my auction experiences have been positive. I feel that I paid a fair price for what a purchased and the sellers were all very prompt about shipping the items to me.

3. Do you like the sun? Getting a suntan? Have you ever had a bad sunburn?

I like the sun, but it doesn't really like me much. If I spend too much time in it, I start feeling a bit sick. Even though I burn easily, I do turn a very nice light golden tan in time. I've had a couple of really bad burns, usually because I wasn't paying attention to how long I was out, or because I neglected to put on sunblock.

4. Are you a vegetarian? Why? If not, have you ever considered it?

No. I've never really felt compelled to become vegetarian. I respect others who are, whatever their reasons, but it's just not a driving need for me. I could probably be quite content being vegetarian though. I love all sorts of vegetarian dishes and Boca Burgers are yummy! Who knows, maybe I'll give it a try some day.

5. Suppose you are getting into your car after you've just made your purchase from a store you visit twice a week. You suddenly realize you had a .35¢ item in your hand and you forgot to pay for it. What would you do next? (what *would* you do, not what *should* you do)

I'd probably just go back in and pay for it. It's all about the karma, baybee.

6. Sometimes it seems that there is just not enough time to do everything that must be done. Was there anything you wanted to accomplish this weekend that didn't get done?

Mow the lawn, rake the leaves, see a movie, relax!

7. What is your favorite game to play with a group and/or an individual? (board game, computer game, athletic, etc.)

Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly are two of my favorite board games. I'm not much of a jock and neither are most of my friends so athletics are usually not an option. A friend of mine made up a question game that is great fuel for conversations and lots of fun with the right crowd. It's kind of truth-or-dare without the dare.

BONUS: One headline why believe it ?

Only one headline? I'm a skeptic. Where's the other side of the story?

Today's comment topic is: Innie or Outtie?

Only my belly button is In. The rest of me is Out. ;-)

:: Friday Group Therapy ::

Since the Friday Five seems to MIA this week, I thought I'd try a little group therapy. ;-)

1. Tell us about your first concert.

That I went to by myself (sans parental units)? I think that would be Olivia Newton John back in her "lets get physical" days (hey T, here's an earworm for ya. ;-)

2. Tell us about your last concert.

Oh boy! It's been a while since I've gone to a show. I did catch a little of Steve Earle playing a free show at a local park last week, but we didn't stick around for the whole thing so I don't really count that as a 'concert'. The last real concert that I went to was to see Voices On The Verge back in May. Great show! These women are extraordinary! If you haven't heard them, go directly to your nearest independent music store and get yourself a cd. Now!

3. Tell us about your favorite concert.

August 12th, 2000. The Indigo Girls played a free concert at the Empire State Plaza. We started gathering, in the rain, as early as 7 AM. (I was a slacker and didn't get there until 10) By noon the rain had stopped, the sun was beginning to shine, and my friends GG, druid noir and I had met up with a couple of women who were following the girls around for the week. We spent the afternoon getting to know each other over beer, pizza and some strange bright pink beverage that they called "kool aid". When the show started we all smushed ourselves up against the barricade in front of the stage and sang our hearts out to Michelle Malone (the opening act) and then our beloved girls. We oggled Amy (come on now. She's Amy!) and remarked on how tired Emily was looking but didn't she sound great. The show was fabulous. Michelle and the girls all put on outstanding performances. The evening didn't stop when the show was over. Our new friends had been planning to head on to Cleveland that night but decided that Albany had much more appealing attractions. ;-) GG and I spent the rest of the weekend with those women and it looks like we'll be spending the rest of our lives with them as well. One of them is GG's partner T and the other is my partner IndigoCaz. The rest, as they say, is herstory. ;-)

4. Tell us about your least favorite concert.

Oh, that would definitely have to be going to see Neil Diamond with my ex. *shudder* What an incredibly aweful experience! We were still pretending to be 'working it out' (whatever) so things were very tense and uncomfortable to begin with. Having to see the nice jewish boy from Long Island shake his oh so sparkly groove thing for a group of nuns (in full habits) in the front row while singing christian rock tunes was just too much to bear.

5. What kind of music do you love?

Mostly folk music, with a smattering of alternative, pop, jazz and blues thrown in for good measure. I'm especially partial to women artists like the Indigo Girls, Ani Difranco, and Catie Curtis (see my music links over there on the left side of my blog). That's just the tip of the iceburg really.

6. What kind of music do you hate?

Pretty much anything with a hateful message to it, like those cop-killer rap songs that got so much media attention a few years ago. That and really twangy, old-school country/western music.

7. How important is music in your life?

Music is the ultimate cure-all.
Music brightens my day no matter what sort of day I'm having.
Music provides me with an outlet when I'm angry or frustrated or sad.
Music helps me focus my thoughts when I'm feeling scattered.
Music keeps me awake when I'm sleepy and lulls me to sleep when I'm wide awake.
Music has helped me survive the most difficult moments of life.
Music is what brought me and my partner together.
Music is essential to life.

This is a test post. Blogger does not seem to be publishing my posts.

The latest...

Got home yesterday evening to discover a film of black grime coating almost everything in the house. Our neighbors were having their roof replaced and, because they never told us about it, we left every window in the house open (some with fans in them to pull air in). So today has been a fun filled day of wiping down every surface in the house, washing all of the curtains, bed linens and laundry that was waiting to be put away.

This has not been a fun week.

'Cause I can't not play with a new toy. ;-P

Google! DayPop! This is my blogchalk: English, United States, Albany, Delaware Avenue, Female, 31-35!

Hey there. I'm just checking in with anyone who might actually be reading my blog. I know I've been MIA this week. Life has just been hectic lately. I've actually had work to do at work so I haven't had the opportunity to loaf as much as usual. On top of the usual chaos related to my job and home life, add to that a summer class I've been taking that convenes four nights a week (next week is that last week. Whew!), a dog that needs to be chauffeured back and forth to an orthopedic specialist for follow-ups on her knee surgery, and another dog who seems to have lost virtually all control of her bowel since the 4th of July (I think she has the canine equivalent of irritable bowel syndrome and loud noises freak her out.) She's finally getting better, thank [insert deity of your choose here]! It's been a looong and sleep-deprived week. Anyway, I'll probably blog a bit more once class is over and I have a bit more time.

Well, I dumped the tag board. I think it was the thing screwing up my blog template last week. For some strange reason, whenever the table on the left side of my blog that holds all my links and junk got too long, something in the tag board script caused an error on the blogger template edit screen. I'm not sure if it is a problem with Blogger or a problem with Tag Board, but either way, they don't seem to be playing nicely together. No one was using it much anyway, so no big loss, IMO.

Hey! Check it out! My buddy, druid noir, finally started a blog. :-)

Well, I hope everyone had a lovely fourth. We picniced with friends at a nearby state park. It was hot as hell but GG and T got their early and staked out a nice shady spot for us and got the grill fired up. We spent most of the day ignoring the badmitton (sp?) set and frisbies in favor of laying around in the shade. We did venture out once after lunch to go explore a creek bed not far from our picnic area and dipped our hot tootsies in the nice cool water. Ahhh! After that we snacked on some watermelon and packed everything up, just in time to miss the thunderstorm that was rapidly approaching. Again, our timing was perfect when we stopped halfway home for softserve at a local ice cream stand and made into our cars with our cones just as the first rain drops were hitting the ground. Whew! It is a little creepy to know that two dead bodies were found the next day just a couple 100 yards from where we were picnicing. Yech!! I'm suddenly very glad that we didn't explore the park more than we did. Otherwise, it might have been us discovering the bodies. *shudder!*

The rest of the evening was spent soothing our dogs who were both freaking out over all of the firecrackers and such going off all over the neighborhood. One of them still hasn't quite gotten over it. It's gonna be a looong weekend, I think.

Just one more pointless post, then I gotta run. This fabulous quote was found here:

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind."
~ Dr. Seuss

More interesting remarks on the whole pledge of allegiance issue. This post is great!

Take the What High School
Stereotype Are You? quiz, by Angel.

LOL!! How utterly appropriate!

	You are Fozzie! Wokka Wokka! You love to make lame jokes. Your sense of humor might be a bit off, but you're a great friend and can always be counted on..
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

:: this-or-that tuesday ::

1. Cats or dogs?

Both. Three cats, all domestic shorthair, named Sharra, Lessa and Jaxom. (Bonus points for you if you can identify the source of their names). Two dogs. The first is a collie/golden mix named Yoshi and the other is an akita named Karma.

2. Lions or tigers?

No bears? How sad. Even so, I choose tigers. No particular reason. I just think they are pretty.

3. Cows or pigs?

Hmm... filet mignon or baby back ribs? Tough call, but I think red meat wins. ;-)

4. Turtles or frogs?

Neither. Not fond of reptiles. I suppose if I had to choose, I would pick the turtle. At least it comes with a case that you can pick it up by.

5. Elephants or giraffes?

Elephants. Again, I don't know why. They seem to have this very serene, stately quality to them. Giraffes always seemed so silly to me.

6. Butterflies or birds?

Butterflies. Birds actually kind of scare me.

7. Deer or moose?

Deer. They are calm and gentle and pretty. They are also yummy on occassion, but I neither hunt nor encourage others to do so, so I'm sticking with aesthetics on this one.

8. Goldfish or swordfish?

Goldfish are pointless, IMO. At least swordfish are yummy.

9. Bunny rabbits or ferrets?

Bunnies. Ferrets are cute, but a little too rodent-like for more comfort.

10. Horses or unicorns?

Unicorns. Fantasy Geek, remember?

Please pardon the mess. Fixin' stuff.

Update: All fixed, I think. I had a button for Jippy.com that I think was screwing up my template. I'm not sure why. All I know is that when I added it to my blog, I couldn't edit my template any more. It was very strange.

:: Monday Mission 2.26 ::

1. In the United States of America, it was recently ruled that the phrase "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. Do you agree with this ruling? Should the phrase under God" be removed? Why?

I absolutely agree with the ruling. I am a firm believer in the separation of church and state and the constant overlap of the two has always made me uneasy. An individual doesn't have to be christian to be patriotic. The original Pledge of Allegiance did not refer to spiritual beliefs in any way, in spite of the fact that a Baptist minister wrote it. The words "under God" weren't added to the Pledge until 1954 (only 48 years ago!) "at the height of the Cold War for the express purpose of distinguishing American values from the atheistic norms of the Soviet Union." I am deeply disturbed by the fact that the entire House and Senate are opposing this ruling as being "wrong" and "ridiculous". Allowing spirituality to influence public policy opens the floodgates to discriminatory laws and policies. It suggests that if you, as an American citizen, do not follow the prescribed national belief (christianity) that you are a second class citizen. You are are not entitled to the same rights and privileges as those who do. Further, if some aspect of you or your life, such as your sexuality, is contrary to these beliefs, not only will you be denied the same rights and privileges as your fellow citizens, but you will also be persecuted for your difference. I'll defend to the death the right of any individual to pray to whatever god(s) or goddess(es) they please, or none at all (my personal choice). You can believe that I'm going to burn in hell because I'm a lesbian if that's what floats your boat, but don't tell me that I'm not entitled to the same rights as my fellow citizens because of it.

This question prompted me to do a bit of research on the web before composing my response. Here's a little bit of what I've learned. The Pledge of Allegiance was originally written in 1892 as part of a public relations campaign to promote the sale of american flags to public schools to be used as part of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America. The author, Francis Bellamy, was a socialist christian who preached on the 'virtues of socialism and the evils of capitalism'. (Now, that, Alanis, is irony.) The original Pledge read, "I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which it stands -- one nation indivisible -- with liberty and justice for all." (Source: ACLU)
Read this post and this one too for some very interesting commentary on this subject.
Check out the U.S. Treasury for some very interesting information on the history of "In God We Trust" in U.S. currency.

2. When was the last time you took a road trip? Where did you go and what did you do?

My partner and I drove to central Pennsylvania to see her parents for x-mas this past year. It was a good experience, I think. Not nearly as scary as I expected it to be. I have moderately high hopes for future visits.

3. Do you have any vacations planned for this summer? Already gone? Where to and what?

Nothing major. We were going to go to Falcon Ridge for the whole weekend this year, but we've decided to scale back our plans and just go for one day. No other vacation plans yet. Maybe a trip down to Hershey to hang out with friends and go ride 'coasters.

4. What is the most drastic change to your appearance that you have ever made? Are you brave enough to post a photo?

I don't ever do anything really drastic to my appearance. I tend to go through phases of growing my hair long and then chopping it all off after a year or two. People are usually pretty startled by the sudden change.

5. Tell me about something to which you are committed?

My partner.

6. Now tell me about something you just flat-out gave up on.

Cigarettes. Finally!

7. (new saga) I've had it, this place is just wearing me out. You too? We need a break! Let's head out and go someplace new. You make the plans, I'll get things ready. So what do you have it mind, and did you want me to pick up anything special to pack for the trip?

California, baybee! Sun, surf, and margaritas. You bring the blender! I'll bring the sunscreen!

BONUS: Where is my hairbrush?