Even though I'm feeling much better, I haven't been posting much these days. Mostly because all my brain can think up is "I'm feeling better, but still fucking exhausted and not quite back to full speed." Which, you know, is like talking about breakfast cereal on the excitement scale. Yawn.
I do seem to have, this afternoon, some spare brain space for thinking. It's not in-depth, or anything, but I've got some random thoughts to share....kind of a lightning round of what-the-fuck's-going-on-these-days. Enjoy!
* Tim Russert: Fucking shame. Hey, meainstream media wanks who purport to be his heartbroken and respectful colleagues: quit fucking talking about how he struggled with his weight and it eventually killed him; he worked out daily and ate reasonably well (or at least that's what his close friends keep saying) - what the fuck else is a normal human with a fucking life supposed to do? How about a little respect for the passing of a really amazing human being, a damn good journalist, and one of those lucky sons-of-bitches that finds his purpose in life? As usual, mainstream media, you can FUCK OFF.
* George Carlin: Another fucking shame. We shared the same birthday. We shared some political views and social criticisms. I loved the moment at the end of "Jersey Girl" where he says he doesn't want to die alone; it was some of the most poignant acting I've ever seen, even in such a relatively unimpressive movie. His books make me laugh every time I pick them up and re-read them. The world is less cool without him.
* Obama & FISA & public funding: I like Obama, and I think he's a great Senator, and will be a great President. But, like I've been saying to everyone I know who's got their starry-eyed idealistic blinders on, hoping he's a "change they can believe in," the man is a politician. He's not some naive tyro outsider - he's a Chicago pol who makes shrewd decisions based on walking the fine line between his beliefs, what's best for the country, and what's best for his own career. I think he's a damn sight better than a lot of the Dems out there carrying the party banner (ahem, Ms. Pelosi...), but I never forget that he's a politician. He's going to make a lot of compromises I don't like. This isn't a surprise.
* I recently subscribed to Yes! Magazine. I had stumbled on a few of their online articles, and really enjoyed them, and sent for a trial issue....and lo and behold, it's fabulous. There's a sense of activism and community and respect and this spirit of openness that I really like, and - with the exception of the one article on investments and banking bullshit (green your investments! put your money in a local credit union! pay yourself first!) - I really have enjoyed every article I've read. I was reading it at lunch the other day, when all of a sudden something really intense that I hadn't even noticed dawned on me: there were no ads. Not one advertisement. Not a single one! No product placement, no glossy photography, no objectification of human beings, no shilling for ANYTHING! I suddenly felt even better about paying my $20 for four issues a year - not only because it's writing untainted by advertiser interference, but also because it's printed on post-consumer recycled paper, with creative commons copyright licensing.
* Words I am thoroughly tired of hearing: "staycation" and the suffix "-bits." Please, media, we all fucking know gas prices suck; STOP talking about how everyone's taking a staycation to save money, as if you're so damn clever. Seriously, precocious smart-mouthed fifteen year olds, Stephen Colbert, and Joss Whedon make up witty new words...it's less cute when journalists pick it up as if they're equally trendy and cool. Not so much. Also, let's quit it with the bits! Girlybits, thinkybits, squickybits, bloggybits, snarkybits, snootybits, squishybits.....I am just fucking tired of all the little pieces of things! I want something in its unadulterated entirety, not bite size pieces. I'm a grown woman. I can handle it. Seriously.
* Musica: New albums I have picked up lately include Jason Mraz's new one (We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. This one doesn't wow me as much as the older acoustic stuff, but there are a couple tracks I cannot stop playing; and "Details in the Fabric" makes me tear up *every* time.), Alanis Morissette's new one (Flavors of Entanglement. Some of the tracks are a bit dance-ier than I'd like, and some are more maudlin than I'd like....but there are a couple priceless ones in there, too. I particularly dig "Incomplete," which features the line "I'll know God, and I'll be constantly one with Her night, dusk, and day."), and Alexi Murdoch's Time Without Consequences (an older album I had never heard of, but am loooooooooving....I could listen to "Orange Sky" on repeat forever!). I'm also enjoying some random tracks from Crooked Still, a "newgrass" group that brings really cool percussive strings (originally a contemporary of my fave fiddler - Casey Driessen - and now some other players doing similarly awesome stuff), banjo, and the gorgeous vocals of lead singer Aoife O'Donovan...it's tasty stuff I highly recommend if you dig folk music, bluegrass, or pretty voices. Also on my playlists lately: Duffy, Amos Lee, and (as always) Green Day, Dan Bern, and John Mayer.
* Miscellanea: In my continuing shift from cute shoes to sensible shoes (and possibly from young-and-hip to old-and-crotchety), I heart my Birkenstocks. I also heart summertime.....but not so much the crazy raining and humidity. My hair, in particular, could do without the humidity. The permaculture gardens in the backyard....well, let's just say that they're having some trouble with bugs; our backyard is like an insect smorgasbord - it's so bad, I actually can't go out there for more than a few minutes, even with bug spray. Yikes! I managed - though still not up to full energy - to assemble two cat playground thingies....the cats seem to be enjoying them, which bodes well. Next cat-related excitement: the cat genie, which costs a bundle, but basically means no litter and (most importantly) no scooping cat shit anymore! Woo hoo!
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