life coach session coming up...the goal this week: defining my values.
that should be fun.
it took me a week to finish my 'homework.' either i'm as shallow as a cake pan or my subjectivity holds untold depth.
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Well. The wheels will start turning on writing discrimination into the Constitution for the first time. Nice, Shrub.
Good display of compassion there.
I have yet to read a coherent argument how allowing homosexuals to marry and enjoy the legal rights everyone else gets to have will endanger straights' access to marriage.
Good display of compassion there.
I have yet to read a coherent argument how allowing homosexuals to marry and enjoy the legal rights everyone else gets to have will endanger straights' access to marriage.
Monday, February 23, 2004
Monday, February 16, 2004
trolling the blogs tonight...
i love the blogs, i really do. some are more rigorous than others, but there's always a fact or a question that makes me pause for a moment and actually cogitate (unlike this little thing which is merely another stalling tactic...damn you, little unfinished poem, i am ignoring you!)
however, the overwhelming testosterone-laden pontificating and the 'i was a philosophy, greek history and poli sci triple threat in college' posturing of most of them makes me wonder what they're really like away from the blue fizzing glare of their laptops. like, tacitus, for instance. fabulous, you're incredibly intelligent. wonderful, you're a conservative who doesn't make most progressives vomit. huzzah, you have fantastic critical thinking skills and wield a knowledge of the ancient world like a truncheon.
but, darling tacitus (or eschaton, orcinus, talking points guy or any of the mysterious guys who blog like fiends and make me wonder what they do to pay their rent), for the love of god -- grow a sense of humor.
blather, blather, drone drone, zzz zzzz zzz.
i love the blogs, i really do. some are more rigorous than others, but there's always a fact or a question that makes me pause for a moment and actually cogitate (unlike this little thing which is merely another stalling tactic...damn you, little unfinished poem, i am ignoring you!)
however, the overwhelming testosterone-laden pontificating and the 'i was a philosophy, greek history and poli sci triple threat in college' posturing of most of them makes me wonder what they're really like away from the blue fizzing glare of their laptops. like, tacitus, for instance. fabulous, you're incredibly intelligent. wonderful, you're a conservative who doesn't make most progressives vomit. huzzah, you have fantastic critical thinking skills and wield a knowledge of the ancient world like a truncheon.
but, darling tacitus (or eschaton, orcinus, talking points guy or any of the mysterious guys who blog like fiends and make me wonder what they do to pay their rent), for the love of god -- grow a sense of humor.
blather, blather, drone drone, zzz zzzz zzz.
yearrg!
so this is what it's like to have a life coach: for the next two months we shall delve into my ... whatever... bullshit to discover why i'm not writing and what exactly i can do to change that. apparently, this will happen through 'active journaling', self-assessments, practices (??) and lots and lots of talking. so much talking i anticipate my vocal chords spasming.
the Coach is a very sweet woman. she's small and blond, with quick blue eyes, sensible shoes and a kind of nordic steeliness that i find a little intimidating. she's in her late 40's or early 50's, so i'm expecting a LOT of wisdom here. she's already suggested that in order to affect change i may have to change some of my habits; i've warned her i don't own athletic gear and hate sweating.
we talked for over two hours last week in our first intake session and i was alarmed at her page of notes. so far we have discussed my family (love them, had to move 2000 miles away from them), my faith (got it, but please don't be a bible-banger), my friends (no comment) and my ... indiscretions (no comment.) while others pay thousands of dollars to be this self-indulgent, i get to explore and expose my inner recesses for free.
...
valentine's day was a non-event. friday night, spent all night drinking champagne, smoking and playing scrabble with the girls. i lost steadily the entire evening, even after throwing down words like 'nexus' (ok, i only used it once and every other word was something like 'fob' or 'gob' or 'mucal'.) is mucal a word? who knows? i bluffed and it landed me 18 points.
yes--i cheat at scrabble.
saturday was spent helping a. with her new coffee table and watching 'american splendor'--the most genius movie i've seen this year. yes, even more genius than LOTR.
...
i go to new haven in 3 weeks. the librarian awaits. yearrg, indeed.
the Coach is a very sweet woman. she's small and blond, with quick blue eyes, sensible shoes and a kind of nordic steeliness that i find a little intimidating. she's in her late 40's or early 50's, so i'm expecting a LOT of wisdom here. she's already suggested that in order to affect change i may have to change some of my habits; i've warned her i don't own athletic gear and hate sweating.
we talked for over two hours last week in our first intake session and i was alarmed at her page of notes. so far we have discussed my family (love them, had to move 2000 miles away from them), my faith (got it, but please don't be a bible-banger), my friends (no comment) and my ... indiscretions (no comment.) while others pay thousands of dollars to be this self-indulgent, i get to explore and expose my inner recesses for free.
...
valentine's day was a non-event. friday night, spent all night drinking champagne, smoking and playing scrabble with the girls. i lost steadily the entire evening, even after throwing down words like 'nexus' (ok, i only used it once and every other word was something like 'fob' or 'gob' or 'mucal'.) is mucal a word? who knows? i bluffed and it landed me 18 points.
yes--i cheat at scrabble.
saturday was spent helping a. with her new coffee table and watching 'american splendor'--the most genius movie i've seen this year. yes, even more genius than LOTR.
...
i go to new haven in 3 weeks. the librarian awaits. yearrg, indeed.
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Will the snow EVER melt? Chicago is in the grip of the yuckiet weather I can remember in a long time and I'm ready for some warmth. Any kind - body, sun, a hot brick ... anything.
A friend passed this on, a plea to Ralph Nader not to run. Weird to see how the 2000 election came down to a few electoral votes.
...
Complaining about corporate wenchdom is so boring, but I can't help it. The week has been ass-clenchingly busy and it's only Tuesday; Madame has been tapped to be acting VP for our client and while that's great, that's insane--for me (since everything has to circle back to me). So this means that I'm onsite for half the week and this could kill my already reed-thin social life. Friday I found myself catching a cab to pick up our client's birthday gift for her daughter at American Girl Place; I rewarded myself with a sweater, a new purse and a box of bao buns. Anything for the client...and now the Firm has been voted Best Corporate Skinner Box to Work For 2004.
I blather. All this to say I need to get out of town for a weekend to see my librarian. Soon.
A friend passed this on, a plea to Ralph Nader not to run. Weird to see how the 2000 election came down to a few electoral votes.
...
Complaining about corporate wenchdom is so boring, but I can't help it. The week has been ass-clenchingly busy and it's only Tuesday; Madame has been tapped to be acting VP for our client and while that's great, that's insane--for me (since everything has to circle back to me). So this means that I'm onsite for half the week and this could kill my already reed-thin social life. Friday I found myself catching a cab to pick up our client's birthday gift for her daughter at American Girl Place; I rewarded myself with a sweater, a new purse and a box of bao buns. Anything for the client...and now the Firm has been voted Best Corporate Skinner Box to Work For 2004.
I blather. All this to say I need to get out of town for a weekend to see my librarian. Soon.
Monday, February 09, 2004
i went out saturday with a friend and he asked if i was doing much writing. i dropped my gaze to my sushi and hemmed and hawed.
busy...undisciplined...daunting pile of paper...some thoughts kicking around...blah blah.
then i looked up and said, 'let's face it. i'm lazy. it's too hard and i don't know what i'm doing.'
so this week, i'm meeting with a LIFE COACH. so bourgeois. so oprah.
pathetic.
busy...undisciplined...daunting pile of paper...some thoughts kicking around...blah blah.
then i looked up and said, 'let's face it. i'm lazy. it's too hard and i don't know what i'm doing.'
so this week, i'm meeting with a LIFE COACH. so bourgeois. so oprah.
pathetic.
A very cool breakdown of Shrub's appearance on Meet the Press yesterday.
(I should feel guilty over the glee I feel, but I don't...)
Travelling soon to New Haven...giddy, giddy, giddy.
(I should feel guilty over the glee I feel, but I don't...)
Travelling soon to New Haven...giddy, giddy, giddy.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
pocketbook activism
call it an emotional imbalance or just knee-jerk reactionary liberalism, but reading the papers tends to make my blood pressure shoot out the roof and my jaw ache from all my teeth-gritting.
the office was a little slow, i hadn't taken my vitamin, so i was desultorily scrolling through my morning editions - talkingpointsmemo, nytimes, atrios, salon, tompaine.com. you know, the usual. then one link led to another and i found myself at opensecrets.org, a non-profit that researches connections between money and politics--basically, who gives it and who gets it.
reading how private industry, through PACs and trade associations, lobby the political parties shamelessly and pour millions into their coffers made me take out my checkbook for the first time ever and write a series of checks: to NARAL, Planned Parenthood, the DNC, and an obscure congressional race in Kentucky that could be the first step in taking back the House from the RePoobs. they weren't large checks, because i don't have large pockets, but that was unimportant.
if our political process is important to us, then it is equally important for us ordinary citizens to participate through volunteering, through injecting our voices into public debate (yes, write that nutbag letter to the editor), and through our paltry dollars. on opensecrets, i read that out of all the dollars contributed to various politicians, organizations or issues, only a teeny-tiny-teeny come from individuals like you and me. the rest, the vast majority of buying power comes from special interest groups. aren't we an interest group?
the checks i wrote yesterday were the equivalent of two really great dinners (with wine) in chicago or one hormonal shopping trip on a weekend at nordstrom's.
i think our political future is worth a pair of shoes.
the office was a little slow, i hadn't taken my vitamin, so i was desultorily scrolling through my morning editions - talkingpointsmemo, nytimes, atrios, salon, tompaine.com. you know, the usual. then one link led to another and i found myself at opensecrets.org, a non-profit that researches connections between money and politics--basically, who gives it and who gets it.
reading how private industry, through PACs and trade associations, lobby the political parties shamelessly and pour millions into their coffers made me take out my checkbook for the first time ever and write a series of checks: to NARAL, Planned Parenthood, the DNC, and an obscure congressional race in Kentucky that could be the first step in taking back the House from the RePoobs. they weren't large checks, because i don't have large pockets, but that was unimportant.
if our political process is important to us, then it is equally important for us ordinary citizens to participate through volunteering, through injecting our voices into public debate (yes, write that nutbag letter to the editor), and through our paltry dollars. on opensecrets, i read that out of all the dollars contributed to various politicians, organizations or issues, only a teeny-tiny-teeny come from individuals like you and me. the rest, the vast majority of buying power comes from special interest groups. aren't we an interest group?
the checks i wrote yesterday were the equivalent of two really great dinners (with wine) in chicago or one hormonal shopping trip on a weekend at nordstrom's.
i think our political future is worth a pair of shoes.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
it's been a while (thanks, corporate wenchdom) but i'm back. reading the morning papers and all the feisty bloggers out there i'm convinced that if i ran my personal finances the way this administration is proposing to run our nation's, i'd be living in a cardboard box under the train tracks on racine.
where is the outrage? where is the anger over this administration's mendacity?
it makes me wanna holler.
where is the outrage? where is the anger over this administration's mendacity?
it makes me wanna holler.
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