It'll all be done by this time tomorrow...
*whimper*
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty would get you coffee if the coffee maker wasn't packed in a box.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Follow-Up
Fabulous dialogue has begun down in the comments section of the previous post. It promises to be a conversation that creates reactions. :) It will also be respectful, even when we disagree.
It will, however, have to wait. We have moved beyond the scope of the original post so I feel this new topic about race and gender issues deserves its own post and attention. However, I am in the middle of (yet another) move and less than a week away from a deadline. (A note to my writer friends: don't try to move during crunch time. Seriously.) Had I realized I was going to start something this interesting with those buttons, I would have held off until I could give the conversation the attention it deserves.
So, Krystal, you are not being ignored or disregarded! Everyone else who wants to comment, you will not be ignored or disregarded. Next week, I'll repost and we can all continue (because I do love this stuff ~ it's the thing I love most about my country, I think, the ability to do this with one another!) Meanwhile, everybody either hold on to any further comments or add them to the section below and know they will be reposted once I'm back up and running. As always, please, stay respectful. Because after all, what started this was the fact that I do believe we are all better than "Liberals have low i.q.s" and "Conservatives are fascists."
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
It will, however, have to wait. We have moved beyond the scope of the original post so I feel this new topic about race and gender issues deserves its own post and attention. However, I am in the middle of (yet another) move and less than a week away from a deadline. (A note to my writer friends: don't try to move during crunch time. Seriously.) Had I realized I was going to start something this interesting with those buttons, I would have held off until I could give the conversation the attention it deserves.
So, Krystal, you are not being ignored or disregarded! Everyone else who wants to comment, you will not be ignored or disregarded. Next week, I'll repost and we can all continue (because I do love this stuff ~ it's the thing I love most about my country, I think, the ability to do this with one another!) Meanwhile, everybody either hold on to any further comments or add them to the section below and know they will be reposted once I'm back up and running. As always, please, stay respectful. Because after all, what started this was the fact that I do believe we are all better than "Liberals have low i.q.s" and "Conservatives are fascists."
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The Nice Way of Putting It
Last night, Lithus and I were talking about an article he was reading that dealt with baby boomers retiring in vast numbers from wage-earning (as opposed to salaried) jobs. There was a nuance he didn't quite get so I say:
See, you've got Madge. She's 73, has been working at the diner for the last 50 years and if she's really lucky, with regulars and a decent boss and a state that has semi-appropriate laws, she's topped out at an average of $10 an hour. Now, her dogs are barking and she just wants to sit down and have Howie rub her feet.
Then I moved on from Madge and used her to explain the nuance. This morning, however, Madge made a reappearance during conversation for no apparent reason whatsoever. And this time, Howie was actually with her instead of just along the periphery. Howie was the cook, used to have a ducktail hairdo, and wandered around with his cigarettes rolled up in his tight, white t-shirt. He's retiring, too.
After this for-no-reason Madge and Howie interlude, I shook my head, looked at Lithus and asked "Where do these people come from?" To which he replied, "You're a writer. You see people and then fill them out, make them interesting."
Which is a much nicer way of putting it than I'm crazy and have voices in my head.
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
See, you've got Madge. She's 73, has been working at the diner for the last 50 years and if she's really lucky, with regulars and a decent boss and a state that has semi-appropriate laws, she's topped out at an average of $10 an hour. Now, her dogs are barking and she just wants to sit down and have Howie rub her feet.
Then I moved on from Madge and used her to explain the nuance. This morning, however, Madge made a reappearance during conversation for no apparent reason whatsoever. And this time, Howie was actually with her instead of just along the periphery. Howie was the cook, used to have a ducktail hairdo, and wandered around with his cigarettes rolled up in his tight, white t-shirt. He's retiring, too.
After this for-no-reason Madge and Howie interlude, I shook my head, looked at Lithus and asked "Where do these people come from?" To which he replied, "You're a writer. You see people and then fill them out, make them interesting."
Which is a much nicer way of putting it than I'm crazy and have voices in my head.
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
A Happy
Because a little happy is a good thing. Responses to comments on the last few posts are coming, I promise. For now, though, tell me if you don't think the penguin looks like the happiest penguin you've ever seen.
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
Friday, June 13, 2008
But...But...But... (Amended)
NBC News and MSNBC
updated 2 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday, NBC News said. He was 58.
No further details were immediately available.
Russert, the recipient of 48 honorary doctorates, took over the helm of “Meet the Press” in December 1991. Now in its 60th year, “Meet the Press” is the longest-running program in the history of television.
In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
*sniff*
Those are sad Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
By now you know but still...
NBC News and MSNBC
updated 2 hours, 34 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after suffering a heart attack at the bureau. He was 58.
Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday’s “Meet the Press” broadcast when he collapsed. He was rushed to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, where resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.
Russert’s physician, Michael Newman, said cholesterol plaque ruptured in an artery, causing sudden coronary thrombosis.
Russert had earlier been diagnosed with asymptomatic coronary artery disease, but it was well-controlled with medication and exercise, and he had performed well on a stress test in late April, Newman said. An autopsy revealed that he also had an enlarged heart, Newman said.
Russert’s death left his colleagues devastated.
And not just his colleagues. Still very sad here, too. But...but...but...
I don't want Tim Russert to be dead. I guess I don't understand why we have to go through this momentous election without his wisdom and sheer enthusiasm to see us through it. I guess I don't want to have to trust someone else. I guess I don't want his voice to only be reruns. And I guess I don't quite understand why I have wept all day. Why as I write this, I have tears running down my cheeks. But I know his death has thrown me in a way Brokaw's or Williams' or Gibson's wouldn't have, in a way that makes no sense and isn't logical. It's difficult for me to be this thrown "for no reason." It's even more difficult for me to admit to being this thrown "for no reason." But I am. So be it.
*sniff*
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Pissed, Back Atcha
Now, I am aware that I live under a rock. My work keeps me isolated, in that I spend hours in my office, in front of my computer, by myself. My new location keeps me somewhat isolated, in that I don't yet have many friends out here with whom to shoot the shit. I do, however, pop my head up, not un-meerkat-like, to look around every now and then.
During a recent meerkat moment, I learned that many feminists are pissed at those of us who are female, feminists and voted for Barack Obama. I didn't just read this on one website. I didn't just hear this on one news program. This is, apparently, pretty widespread pissage. They say we dropped the ball. They say we let them down. They say we had the opportunity and we blew it.
Generally speaking, I do not respond to anger directed at me with anger directed back. I've always found that particular response a nasty form of deflection (albeit an effective one when used properly ~ which is probably why so many people use it) and hugely disrespectful. However, in this instance...
What The Fuck Are You Pissed At Us For?????????????
Did you listen to what Hillary Clinton was saying? Or did you do exactly what generation upon generation of men have done since the country began and pay attention only to her gender? Do you have such little faith that maybe, just maybe, we listened to you as we were growing up and took to heart the fact that we should vote for the person, not the gender? Do you have so little faith in yourselves and your ability to teach us this valuable lesson?
You tell me I've dropped the ball by nominating Barack Obama ~ a man whose policies, ideas and ideals are the ones that resonate with me, the ones I believe can move my country and my gender forward ~ instead of Hillary Clinton ~ a woman whose policies, ideas and ideals are very similar to Obama's and yet tactics and motives repulse and scare me. And yet you stand there and say you are going to vote for a man who has the potential and the ability to, at best, stagnate your cause and, at worst, set it back a generation and you are going to do this in solidarity with me? Oh fuck that.
Once again, you have to choose between two male presidential candidates. Guess what? So do I. And believe it or not, I didn't want to. Any more than you did. I wanted with all my heart to be able to cast a vote for a female president. I wept when Clinton announced her candidacy because it was going to happen and not just in my lifetime but while I was a young-ish woman. I was going to get to share this with my nieces and their grandmothers. At the prime of my life, I was going to get to watch my country which I love so much come into the prime of its. Instead, she lost me. I was hers to lose and she did it. And she did it because I listened to you growing up. Because I listened when you taught me that the best person should get the job. That gender shouldn't and doesn't matter.
Now you tell me that the best person should get the job...unless the best person is male? Or that gender shouldn't matter...unless the gender is male? And now, you strong, powerful women, whom I have always admired, whom I have always respected and aspired to emulate, now you tell me that it was all posturing?
Because if you do as you threaten, if you do indeed vote for McCain instead of Barack Obama, everything you've taught, fought and stood for is indeed just posturing. We can disagree on who would've been better for our cause, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. But one thing is obvious, by any standard you taught us: McCain is bad for our cause; Barack Obama is good for it. How dare you drop the ball.
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
During a recent meerkat moment, I learned that many feminists are pissed at those of us who are female, feminists and voted for Barack Obama. I didn't just read this on one website. I didn't just hear this on one news program. This is, apparently, pretty widespread pissage. They say we dropped the ball. They say we let them down. They say we had the opportunity and we blew it.
Generally speaking, I do not respond to anger directed at me with anger directed back. I've always found that particular response a nasty form of deflection (albeit an effective one when used properly ~ which is probably why so many people use it) and hugely disrespectful. However, in this instance...
What The Fuck Are You Pissed At Us For?????????????
Did you listen to what Hillary Clinton was saying? Or did you do exactly what generation upon generation of men have done since the country began and pay attention only to her gender? Do you have such little faith that maybe, just maybe, we listened to you as we were growing up and took to heart the fact that we should vote for the person, not the gender? Do you have so little faith in yourselves and your ability to teach us this valuable lesson?
You tell me I've dropped the ball by nominating Barack Obama ~ a man whose policies, ideas and ideals are the ones that resonate with me, the ones I believe can move my country and my gender forward ~ instead of Hillary Clinton ~ a woman whose policies, ideas and ideals are very similar to Obama's and yet tactics and motives repulse and scare me. And yet you stand there and say you are going to vote for a man who has the potential and the ability to, at best, stagnate your cause and, at worst, set it back a generation and you are going to do this in solidarity with me? Oh fuck that.
Once again, you have to choose between two male presidential candidates. Guess what? So do I. And believe it or not, I didn't want to. Any more than you did. I wanted with all my heart to be able to cast a vote for a female president. I wept when Clinton announced her candidacy because it was going to happen and not just in my lifetime but while I was a young-ish woman. I was going to get to share this with my nieces and their grandmothers. At the prime of my life, I was going to get to watch my country which I love so much come into the prime of its. Instead, she lost me. I was hers to lose and she did it. And she did it because I listened to you growing up. Because I listened when you taught me that the best person should get the job. That gender shouldn't and doesn't matter.
Now you tell me that the best person should get the job...unless the best person is male? Or that gender shouldn't matter...unless the gender is male? And now, you strong, powerful women, whom I have always admired, whom I have always respected and aspired to emulate, now you tell me that it was all posturing?
Because if you do as you threaten, if you do indeed vote for McCain instead of Barack Obama, everything you've taught, fought and stood for is indeed just posturing. We can disagree on who would've been better for our cause, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. But one thing is obvious, by any standard you taught us: McCain is bad for our cause; Barack Obama is good for it. How dare you drop the ball.
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Beginnings and Endings
You know what happened this week? A white person lost a presidential nomination. This has never, ever happened in this country.
You know what happened this week? A black person won a presidential nomination. This has never, ever happened in this country.
You know what happened this week? A woman took a presidential nomination down to the wire and helped create one of the tightest, most galvanized and most interesting primaries in history. This has never, ever happened in this country.
You know what happened this week? A man had to pull out his A-game and treat a woman like an actual opponent, not just a side-show, in order to win a presidential nomination. This has never, ever happened in this country.
You know what happened this week? An era ended.
You know what happened this week? An era began.
I thought it would feel better than it does.
I can't wait to see what happens next.
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
You know what happened this week? A black person won a presidential nomination. This has never, ever happened in this country.
You know what happened this week? A woman took a presidential nomination down to the wire and helped create one of the tightest, most galvanized and most interesting primaries in history. This has never, ever happened in this country.
You know what happened this week? A man had to pull out his A-game and treat a woman like an actual opponent, not just a side-show, in order to win a presidential nomination. This has never, ever happened in this country.
You know what happened this week? An era ended.
You know what happened this week? An era began.
I thought it would feel better than it does.
I can't wait to see what happens next.
Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
5 To Me
One of my favorite reads (not linked...yet...but a favorite nonetheless) has this meme up:
Here are the rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you 5 questions of a very personal nature.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions.
As usual, I reserve the right to only interview people I know well enough to ask intelligent questions of.
My response was that I didn't think we knew each other well enough for him to interview me and yet, if there was something he wanted to ask, I'd be happy to answer. These are what he came up with. Some people who have been reading Pobble Thoughts for a while may already know the answers but hopefully I can put a twist on them that will be new to most people.
1. What prompted you to begin blogging?
The Lovely Cats actually inspired me to start blogging. Reading hers was a great way to keep up with her world and her life. Things were NOT good with my biofamily at the time and the people I consider my family were scattered. This seemed to be a good way to keep them in the loop while working out some of the issues that were arising with my biofamily. Once I started blogging, I discovered it was also a really good way to keep my writing skills honed.
2. What line of work are you in?
I'm a writer. My background is hugely varied and I have only been a full-time writer for about three years now. I can, however, say I am actually, really and truly a writer. I write both fiction and nonfiction ~ anything they will pay me to write. Over in my links section under "Places You Should Go" is a link to PT's Site. That's my nonfiction persona. My first novel comes out early next year. In fact, just today, we finally decided on a title: Falling In Love. Because yes, I write trashy romance novels. It doesn't suck.
3. Ghandi once said "Be the change you wish to see in the world" and you've done that by trying to enlighten your stepson. How has that fared?
Depending on how you wish this question to read, it is either going quite well or slowly and frustratingly. In terms of being the change I wish to see in the world generally, I do well with that. It is, in fact, one of the quotes by which I live my life. I am proud to say that I don't just talk the talk. Am I perfect? Aw hell no. Can I say that I walk it more often than I don't, even when it's not easy or convenient? Yes. I can. If you mean how is it going with Timber, the answer is different. That is harder. His mother and I have very different views on so much that I am having to be subtle and diplomatic. In trying not to trash his mother's views and thereby alienating him and/or making him feel he has to choose (which will only send him running towards her belief system that much faster, in my opinion), I am having to phrase things very differently than I would and do with, say, my 15 year old nephew. So I model as much as possible and say what I can when I can and work on presenting him with an alternative view. Again, I walk the walk and hope it makes an impact. I'm also getting really good at the stealth maneuver, where I can bring something up and teach a lesson where he isn't expecting one and doesn't realize it's happened until it's over. >:)
4. You've lived in different parts of the country. Any favorite place to live?
This answer is layered. First, Boston. Then Massachusetts. Then New England. Then any of the major cities in the northeast (Philly is a favorite.) However, first and foremost, favorite of all places, home of my heart is Boston. To the point that, if I don't live there or close to it, where I live is really irrelevant.
5. Any longterm plans or goals?
Oh Lord...how long do you have???? In no particular order and certainly not all-inclusively: Best selling author. Continued happiness. World travel. Eating spaghetti in the Medina of Morocco. Living in a gothic monstrosity. Being the eccentric writer who lives up on the cliff in the gothic monstrosity. A weekend with all my favorite people in one place. Peace and self-actualization. Living a life that gives me the greatest deathbed stories ever. Impacting the youth in my life positively. Earning my epitaph ("It was all true.") Feeding marsupials in Tanzania. Living in another country and a completely different culture. Adapting to a completely different culture. Continuing to live with integrity. Being in a position to give generously to causes that mean a great deal to me. Being "famous" (quotation marks intentional because I believe that fame is one of those things that can be defined differently by different people) enough that an appearance for a cause that means a great deal to me will matter and help bring about whatever they need it to. To be evacuated from a foreign country. To continue to cause people to think, feel, react, know, consider differently than they would otherwise. To continue to challenge myself to think, feel, react, know and consider differently. To go out every night, to somewhere or something different, every night for thirty nights in a row. To avoid complacency. To nap in the sun more often (or at least under a shade tree.) To experience as much as I can squeeze into this life I've got. Another one of the quotes I live my life by is Emile Zola's, "If you ask me what I came here to do, I will tell you I came to live out loud." Which really could have saved us all a lot of time and me a lot of typing because, really, that sums it all up, don't you think?
And as a footnote to that last question, I realized I was able to leave several goals off of it that would have been there just five years ago because they have been accomplished. Which really doesn't suck. :)
Those are Pobble Thoughts, with a little nudge from and especially for Denny. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
Here are the rules:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you 5 questions of a very personal nature.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them 5 questions.
As usual, I reserve the right to only interview people I know well enough to ask intelligent questions of.
My response was that I didn't think we knew each other well enough for him to interview me and yet, if there was something he wanted to ask, I'd be happy to answer. These are what he came up with. Some people who have been reading Pobble Thoughts for a while may already know the answers but hopefully I can put a twist on them that will be new to most people.
1. What prompted you to begin blogging?
The Lovely Cats actually inspired me to start blogging. Reading hers was a great way to keep up with her world and her life. Things were NOT good with my biofamily at the time and the people I consider my family were scattered. This seemed to be a good way to keep them in the loop while working out some of the issues that were arising with my biofamily. Once I started blogging, I discovered it was also a really good way to keep my writing skills honed.
2. What line of work are you in?
I'm a writer. My background is hugely varied and I have only been a full-time writer for about three years now. I can, however, say I am actually, really and truly a writer. I write both fiction and nonfiction ~ anything they will pay me to write. Over in my links section under "Places You Should Go" is a link to PT's Site. That's my nonfiction persona. My first novel comes out early next year. In fact, just today, we finally decided on a title: Falling In Love. Because yes, I write trashy romance novels. It doesn't suck.
3. Ghandi once said "Be the change you wish to see in the world" and you've done that by trying to enlighten your stepson. How has that fared?
Depending on how you wish this question to read, it is either going quite well or slowly and frustratingly. In terms of being the change I wish to see in the world generally, I do well with that. It is, in fact, one of the quotes by which I live my life. I am proud to say that I don't just talk the talk. Am I perfect? Aw hell no. Can I say that I walk it more often than I don't, even when it's not easy or convenient? Yes. I can. If you mean how is it going with Timber, the answer is different. That is harder. His mother and I have very different views on so much that I am having to be subtle and diplomatic. In trying not to trash his mother's views and thereby alienating him and/or making him feel he has to choose (which will only send him running towards her belief system that much faster, in my opinion), I am having to phrase things very differently than I would and do with, say, my 15 year old nephew. So I model as much as possible and say what I can when I can and work on presenting him with an alternative view. Again, I walk the walk and hope it makes an impact. I'm also getting really good at the stealth maneuver, where I can bring something up and teach a lesson where he isn't expecting one and doesn't realize it's happened until it's over. >:)
4. You've lived in different parts of the country. Any favorite place to live?
This answer is layered. First, Boston. Then Massachusetts. Then New England. Then any of the major cities in the northeast (Philly is a favorite.) However, first and foremost, favorite of all places, home of my heart is Boston. To the point that, if I don't live there or close to it, where I live is really irrelevant.
5. Any longterm plans or goals?
Oh Lord...how long do you have???? In no particular order and certainly not all-inclusively: Best selling author. Continued happiness. World travel. Eating spaghetti in the Medina of Morocco. Living in a gothic monstrosity. Being the eccentric writer who lives up on the cliff in the gothic monstrosity. A weekend with all my favorite people in one place. Peace and self-actualization. Living a life that gives me the greatest deathbed stories ever. Impacting the youth in my life positively. Earning my epitaph ("It was all true.") Feeding marsupials in Tanzania. Living in another country and a completely different culture. Adapting to a completely different culture. Continuing to live with integrity. Being in a position to give generously to causes that mean a great deal to me. Being "famous" (quotation marks intentional because I believe that fame is one of those things that can be defined differently by different people) enough that an appearance for a cause that means a great deal to me will matter and help bring about whatever they need it to. To be evacuated from a foreign country. To continue to cause people to think, feel, react, know, consider differently than they would otherwise. To continue to challenge myself to think, feel, react, know and consider differently. To go out every night, to somewhere or something different, every night for thirty nights in a row. To avoid complacency. To nap in the sun more often (or at least under a shade tree.) To experience as much as I can squeeze into this life I've got. Another one of the quotes I live my life by is Emile Zola's, "If you ask me what I came here to do, I will tell you I came to live out loud." Which really could have saved us all a lot of time and me a lot of typing because, really, that sums it all up, don't you think?
And as a footnote to that last question, I realized I was able to leave several goals off of it that would have been there just five years ago because they have been accomplished. Which really doesn't suck. :)
Those are Pobble Thoughts, with a little nudge from and especially for Denny. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.
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