My neighbors are arguing outside at 1:15 A.M. They are so classy.

I'm moving back to Arizona in a couple of months. Not because of the neighbors, but I won't miss them.

When I'm at work I often fantasize about big home projects like cleaning, packing, paying attention to my cats, a sensible dinner and so forth. But when the time comes and I am at home, I always just park myself in front of a computer or behind a comic book, gorging on something straight out the can with 29% sodium and 'veg out' until its well past my bedtime. Once again, I disappoint.

However, I have been having some really neat dreams lately, like flirting giddily with the bald nerd volunteer at work with the weird leg tattoos, or an office party where I have superpowers and jell-o is flung about. I don't even work in an office, & I don't much care for jell-o. I didn't know I was attracted to the nerdy bald tattoo guy but he wears Chuck Taylors so that's all my subconscious needs to know.

My friend is moving out of state tomorrow morning.
George Carlin died.

On the plus side, I saw a skunk outside my building this evening. Did you know they love to eat honeybees?
Also, I have in my possession Baliey's ice cream.

yesterday, I braved my neighborhood Post Office to excavate a package sent to me 2 weeks ago. It was never delivered to my home & I suspected, hoped, that it was simply languishing at the PO. I stood in a long line behind a woman who was clearly a type "A", greatly aggrieved by the waiting and quite rude with the person behind the counter, primarily for doing his job of offering additional services to each customer. I was tempted to make some snide rebuke to her as she stomped out but refrained because: A) would it really change her attitude? of course not, and B) I am not generally a confrontational person.

I'm glad that i didn't say anything, because now she is sitting 5 feet away from me in this cafe, probably waiting for the rain to let up just like me. I've got enough tension just from all the coffee I'm drinking.

I am at a busy cafe in my new neighborhood. It is raining and I don't have an umbrella. Still, I'd much rather be here than doing much-needed housework. The women working behind the counter are all kinda hot.

I recently finished reading "A Border Passage" by Leila Ahmed about being feminist, a scholar, Muslim and Egyptian. It was quite illuminating. I learned a lot more about the effects of colonialism (good & bad), and Muslim women. (hint: It's not all about subservience to men, or hating the West or despising Israel) Now I'm reading "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop, about life in the polygamist Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints and how she, well, escaped. If I didn't know she eventually got out (Spoiler Alert!!) I wouldn't be able to read it at all. Their lives are filled with conflict and misery, completely isolated & circumscribed by their husbands and the leaders of the church. The Egyptian Muslim women of the 1960's and 70's in Ahmed's book had more freedom than these American Christians in the 90's. Irony, do you ever take a vacation?

By the way, today the FLDS kids in Texas are being returned to their parents. A damned disaster. It's only mitigated by the fact that Warren Jeffs is still in prison. However, something tells me the men who have taken his place will do a fine job of making their wives' and childrens' lives even worse in the name of purification and penance.

Reading these stories makes me appreciate my circumstances a whole lot. Except for the fact that I don't have an umbrella.

Another thing I appreciate is the fantastic birthday package my excellent best friend ludickid sent me. He mailed it on May 19th, and I actually received it yesterday! Thanks, USPS! He sent me French comic books, a Paris map, a book about subway maps and the 5th season of The Wire! I bet those FLDS folks never saw The Wire! I haven't started watching it yet because much like fasting before a banquet, one must be physically and mentally prepared for fantastic-ness! Also he sent Paris Metro tickets, some of which are unused! I can take them with me when I travel to Paris someday! Thanks, Mr 'Kid! He is awesome, doncha know.

My cats are handsome and wonderful.

My ceramics class starts in less than 3 weeks. I am looking forward to being covered in clay dust.

At work I've been given more responsibility in an area I'm sort of good at but not too interested. It will take time away from the animals, which I much prefer.

That's all.

Today I read that Palestinian keffiyeh weavers in the West Bank were losing business to cheap Chinese imports. I thought, "Irony, do you EVER take a day off?"

Also, I signed up for a ceramics class starting next month. I've been waiting 2 years to get back to pottery, so I'm kinda happy about that.

LJ's spell check doesn't know keffiyeh.

I have been living in my new apartment for nearly a week now. The neighbors are noisy and the building managers are proving to be unresponsive to our requests for repairs. I have been eating too much ice cream due to anxiety over the process of unpacking. I'm not good at it. I have declared many times in the last few days that I have too much junk. I will never buy any more clothes or books unless there is a fire or invasion of literate naked thieves who only wear women's sizes 14-16. They can take it all except the comic books.

In other, less whiny news, I had a lovely birthday with two friends at a Mexican restaurant where the plates were square and the Margaritas were in giant goblets. Really, they were bathtubs of booze. Good thing none of us were driving.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

I've been following the Yearning for Zion ranch child custody case. It's so awful on so many levels. The women & children are isolated, uneducated, there's tons of allegations of abuse, neglect & abandonment. How are they different than the Taliban? Well there's lots of differences but the most important is they're not advocating the active overthrow of our government, so they're allowed to do their sick thing with no interference.

What gets me the most is the authorities have turned a blind eye to the problems for decades. Until now. I hope Texas will step up where Arizona and Utah have failed to protect its citizens (not to mention Canada, where another sister-sect has hunkered down).

I can't believe I'm hoping the government of Texas will do something I agree with.

Today I signed a lease on an apartment at the northernmost edge Chicago, with a roommate I met through craigslist. About half my belongings (mostly books in heavy, heavy boxes) are packed and it looks like hell in here. I even have a professional mover lined up. I'm trying not to get too lost in anxiety over this. My iTunes is on shuffle, and it keeps playing Hank Williams and rap songs. That means something, I'm sure. Maybe if watched more "Kung Fu" I'd understand.

The new roommate wants a house-warming party. I didn't have a party when I moved into my current place. For some reason the idea doesn't excite me, but it seems like a nice thing that adults do sometimes.

Took Kirby to the vet for a check-up. He's a little over 10 years old now, but probably aged a few months at the clinic today.
Vet confirmed he has a minor heart murmur, which may or may not lead to heart disease or congestive heart failure later on. I'm trying not to flip out about that. As long as he's active and playful there's nothing to fret about, but the vet did utter the number "5" as in "5 more years" a few times. That's only 1 year more than George Bush's presidency, and no one wants to be compared to that. Except as in "better than the current Bush presidency", or "hell's bells we didn't know how good we had it with the father".

But I digress.

His ears were a bit dirty, with some swelling from vigorous scratching, so they did a thorough cleaning and antibiotics were applied. Poor Kirby and his harassed little ears.

His strength, non-biting of vet tech hands, handsomeness and undoubted ability to survive in the wild were praised. He had blood drawn from his jugular and he took it like a soldier. He's already got the flattop, after all. (You see, the top of his skull is slightly flatter than those of other cats. Hence the USMC comparison.)

Now I'm going to find some lunch. Kirby is hiding, no doubt plotting a vomit-oriented revenge.

For my edification, Kirby was born 10.97, I adopted him 4.18.04, and as of today he is 9lbs 13oz. Also, i gave him a little plain lowfat organic kefir, he didn't much like it. The vet suggested a 1:5 ratio of distilled white vinegar solution in his ears once a week. Damn.

My future (most likely) roommate showed me around my future (for the most part) neighborhood today. As I was filling out the application for my future (probably) apartment, my current (definitely) landlady called to inform me my (actual) rent is (absolutely) going up next month. I took the opportunity to let her know I was moving out (in no uncertain terms) by May 1st. I love synchronized life.

Now all I have to do is (basically) get approved by the new management company, and not have the sky fall (essentially) on my goddamn head between now and May 1.

Gus is eating again! A few piles of vomit and it never happened.
(My mother accused me of being hysterical about it, and I resent that. Another vote of "No Confidence" from the mother figure, and I schedule another therapy session.)
Anyway, tonight Gus prefers Kirby's rabbit dinner to his own beef.
But he'll eat that too, of course.

Gus has skipped 3 meals. He chomped some wheatgrass tonight, but I'm a little worried.

Kirby, on the other hand, has become a hot-dog bun crumbsnatcher.

I just watched "Margot at the Wedding". The lead is carelessly cruel, petulant, oblivious, acid. I identified with her a little too much.

But I don't really look like Nicole Kidman.

I continue to be in San Antonio.

Leonard & I are managing to stave off illness. I drove past the Alamo, shoppped at a flea market, a half-price bookstore and (shudder) Wal-Mart, watched "There Will be Blood", and finally witnessed Guitar Hero in action. We went to Austin, where I met 3 of Leonard's good friends, ate at a famous BBQ joint and watched "Persepolis".

Texans like churches, eating meat, drinking beer, and driving big trucks. There's lots everywhere. It's been alternately rainy, foggy & perfectly sunny here. There's lots of birds and trees everywhere. I can actually see the stars. I've seen a number of signs expressing conservative politics. I admit I was quite apprehensive to set foot in this state, but I've noticed how amazingly friendly strangers can be, which helps.

The buses are frequent, plentiful and only cost A DOLLAR. I almost took one just for that reason. I still might.

i joined http://www.swapacd.com recently and does the local post office hate me? The answer is yes.

in other news, soon I will be going to San Antonio, Texas. I've never been, having been told all my life to avoid that state as if my life depended on it (note; considering their execution rate, it does! If I was black or Hispanic I'd be ushered directly from the airport to a Texas prison). I'm going the evening of Valentine's Day. I am not looking forward to the pink lace and red hearts everywhere, but I will have ludickid to distract me from all that nonsense.

My cat is snoring.
I should be doing the same.

My stomach WILL NOT stop hurting
Gus WILL wake me up several times tonight
The flu bug WILL NOT topple me
The laundry WILL be done tomorrow night
Doctor's advice WILL NOT be followed
Salad fixings WILL be consumed before they rot in my fridge
The American public WILL NOT make the right political choice
My vacation days WILL be used before they are 'lost' on March 31st
"Lost" WILL NOT disappoint, but hopefully baffle, intrigue, terrify and amuse
Snack products WILL be available throughout the land, until the sun sets on our corpse-choked empire.

Thanks to Lara, theletterr, Mochi the cat, Doug, rumholiday, and ludickid(live via webcam from San Antonio) for a lovely Christmas Eve of silliness, music both good and bad, and fantastic food.

Is Air Supply worse than Journey? The majority said yes.

I received "Roots of Rumba Rock; Congo Classics 1953-1955". I am rocking to mid-century Belgian Congo Afro-Cuban dance tunes all day until I have to go to work. Today's my last day at the dog kennel! I quit!

Also, I got a form letter from the Phoenix Personnel Department, saying they might possibly consider interviewing me for the Public Art job sometime in '08. Neat.

I got a new MacBook! Now I want to teach myself computer animation.

Overall, I like the look of 2D over 3D, and it would be better for the kind of stuff I make. Should I look for Flash... or something else?

I'm real new at this stuff, so any advice is appreciated... Thanks.

ETA: wow, software is expensive. Yeesh!