ClubCalypso

People, particularly lawyers who ought to know better, who use the word verbally when they mean orally. Writing a letter is just as "verbal" as talking to someone with your voice. "Verbally" means to use words, as opposed to facial or physical cues. (For example, raising your eyebrow to convey disdain, as I am doing now, is non-verbal.)

Am I the only person who understands this distinction anymore? Is my college communications prof proud of me?

more graph humor and song chart memes

Yesterday there was an article on Slate about some journalist who took communion at Tim Russert's (Catholic) funeral, blogged about it, and sparked a small Catholic blood-fever about why non-Catholics (and the unclean, like myself) should not take communion at a Catholic Mass. Uncharacteristically, I read the comments to the article and felt like I wanted to add a post myself. So I registered, and below is what I posted there.

I was raised Catholic, was confirmed at 14 and stopped attending Mass at 18. Former altar girl, for that matter (liberal parish). I still have occasion to attend Mass now, usually Christmas, Easter and weddings at the request of my family, and I would never, ever consider taking Eucharist at those occasions. I don't agree with most of the canon of the Church, I definitely do not believe in confessing to "sins" that I know are just a part of my nature (I'm a lesbian), and I have always had my doubts about the Eucharist itself. However, as much as I disagree with the Church and as much as it could cause uncomfortable discussion at my sister's wedding in a few months (devout Gramma doesn't know I don't attend Mass), I have too much respect for my family and for the Church community as individuals of faith for me to stand up there next to my sister and take communion.

So, I guess, in conclusion, it's not about my faith or lack thereof. It's about respecting the faith of practicing Catholics. That kind of respect is something we do not see a lot of, and it's really too bad. (Of course, it's a two-way street. I appreciate that my father respects my right to have constantly-evolving thoughts on religion and spirituality, and doesn't try to drag me to Mass every week even though I've boomeranged and live in his house again.)

(One final comment that I did not post at Slate -- with a name like Sally Quinn, why isn't she Catholic? ;))

So there were some car break-ins early, early this morning up in the woodsier parts of town. Not really break-ins, though, all the people whose cars were ransacked left their windows down or the doors unlocked, so they were asking for it. Just because you live out in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean you can leave your doors unlocked! Actually, if I were going to go robbing folks, I'd do it out in the country where they're all naive and trusting, and there's less police presence, because... duh. These days, you just can't assume that the criminal element is stupid -- they're probably your honor student.

But the cops said the weird thing is that of dozens of cars ransacked, only a DVD player (I assume the portable kind?) and an iPod were stolen. No cash, no wallets (why do people leave their wallets in their car??) and no GPS devices. Obviously our burglar is a music and movie fan who never gets lost and doesn't need gas money.

(Adapted from a rant sent to a friend this morning.)

So, it being proms and graduations and summer, the local adults are obsessed with teen drinking. I say let them drink, let them kill themselves and kill each other off, and then we'll have less competition in the job market in four years! Wait, that's not the right answer.

But you really can't tell teenagers to stop doing stuff unless you're going to sit there and stare at them, force them to get jobs, overschedule them, guard them when they're not scheduled, never let them out with their friends alone, take away their licenses... parents have to be much more involved, and I do not see that happening. At least not on a large scale. Too many parents don't get involved until after their kid is already in the morgue with a tag on his toe.

Then again, I wouldn't say my parents were "involved", due to work schedules, but the "expectations, not rules" technique of parenting worked pretty well on us girls. That's probably the solution. I think about this stuff in preparation for having my own kids, and so I don't forget what it was like to be one.

Want to know more about the "expectations, not rules" method? Read More »

This whole SEO thing has got me stumped. All I want is my boss's new website

New London County Gas Prices

which I designed and now must maintain every day, to be listed on Google. I have done everything that I can possibly do according to their helpful webmaster hints, and I'm getting nothing.

For that matter, I'm not getting any results with One For The Vault, that music blog me and my GF launched back in April. WTF, Google? THIS site is indexed, and always has been! And I've done nothing to deserve it! ;)

Anybody out in internetland have any hints? And no, spammers, I am not interested in your sneaky and overpriced SEO packages. :P

Anybody else want to run away somewhere exotic like Amish Country? ;)

Seriously, I'm getting that feeling of being hemmed in again, by everything. I think my mission for the next few weeks will be to cull deadwood and maybe that will help. Unfortunately, every time I do that, I regret it several weeks or months or years later when I want, for instance, my Star Trek Encyclopedia again. And I sold it at a yard sale. *sigh* There's some stuff I'll never bother with again, though. Does anyone want soap-molding supplies?

I've been pondering buying a house, too, and that worries me. What if I get bored of the house after a year or so? Has this happened to anyone out there in internetland? A house is a pretty big thing to get bored of. It's not like painting or soap-molding or crochet. Oh well.

My problems continue to pile up. I get rid of the sunburn, I catch a cold. Of course, my family have been wandering around coughing and sneezing on me for two weeks, so yeah, about time I caught it. I'm on the accelerated cold, though. It only took me three days to get to the "I hope it isn't turning into bronchitis" phase.

Anyway, I've run across several other people in my neck of the woods who are going through the same thing. Here's my advice (which is the same as any other advice you could get anywhere else regarding colds):

1. Take meds. Just load yourself up with whatever combats the symptoms you have now, and as your symptoms progress, change your meds. That way your body doesn't get used to any one thing.

2. If the cold and/or the meds make you want to sleep, then sleep. Seriously. Take a day off, or be like me and arrange to catch your cold on a Friday so you can sleep all day Saturday. I'm great at timing these things out.

Read More »

And you'd think after 28 years on this planet, I'd have learned that.

Nope.

So the weather's kinda like:



And it feels to my poor toasted skin like:



Maybe the cat will keep me warm...

With today's decision in In re: Marriage, California has joined Massachusetts as the only states in the country that have full respect for the rights, dignity and autonomy of adults.

The Advocate has the reactions of various celebrities and other Hollywood types and as usual, Ellen made me laugh very loudly through my happy tears. The best response came from Greg Berlanti, who writes for a TV show that I've never heard of (sorry, don't watch much TV here), as he quoted the full text of a speech by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero made when Spain passed their marriage equality law. My favorite part reads, "there is no damage to marriage or to the concept of family in allowing two people of the same sex to get married. To the contrary, what happens is this class of Spanish citizens get the potential to organize their lives with the rights and privileges of marriage and family. There is no danger to the institution of marriage, but precisely the opposite: this law enhances and respects marriage."

I've read that California sets the tone for the rest of the country. The decision, which I plan on accessing in full at work tomorrow on lunch (yay law office job!), is supposed to be incredibly well-reasoned. Now let's just hope that the rest of this God-forsaken country can utilize logic instead of fear in their future decisions and legislation.

Now, if they can just get that home-schooling mess straightened out, I might be renewing my childhood dream of living in California! :D