There is a season

We recently got some sad news about L.'s step mom, J. She was a breast cancer survivor several years ago, and had been doing well after recovery for some time. About a year and a half ago, or maybe even two years now (time just flies), she found out that she had liver and lung cancer. She has been through many treatments, and while the early prognosis seemed to be promising, things have been slowly declining over time. Today, L.'s dad, C., emailed us to let us know that the decline is becoming more rapid now. The doctor is hoping she will make it through the holidays, and in true J. fashion, she cried bollocks and intends to go down to California for another treatment at the end of the month. I pray that she is able to go and that it makes a difference. I can honestly say that in her position, I don't think I'd have such a great attitude about it all. Some people are truly special that way, and it seems so tragic that they are the ones afflicted with such awful things. L. and I are going down to Florida for Thanksgiving to be with them and hope to have a nice time with them over the holidays. And I pray for her to have comfort and love at this time.

Approve Referendum 71

In Washington state, we have a referendum up for vote called referendum 71. The premise of this particular referendum is to protect domestic partnerships in WA state. For more info about why I'm for approving this particular referendum, see Vote Approve on Ref 71.

I have a little bit of a history with this particular referendum. Earlier this year, I was outside gardening when my neighbor came over. She came over with her two sons, whom I mostly recognize because they are very polite and always ring our doorbell when their ball flies over our fence and ask whether they can go into the back yard to get it. I attended a 4th of July potluck with neighbors from our cul de sac over a year ago, and met the whole family. They are a very nice, albeit quite religious, family. Anyway, back to the day of gardening. My neighbor asks me whether I'm registered to vote, and I answer yes. She asks whether I will sign a petition for a referendum in our upcoming election, and I say yes without even thinking about it. This is because I have always had a belief that any referendum, no matter how much I agree or disagree with it, should at least be put up to vote if enough people sign the petition to put it up for vote. This is a great right. When I ask her what referendum it is, she gives me a little background mostly saying that they feel this particular issue should taken to the voters and not just approved by the WA state legislature. As I looked at the sign sheet with big letters of "Protect Families", I could feel myself start to get on the soapbox, and want to give them a good piece of my mind about how it doesn't matter what their religion says, the law is separate. But then I stopped. And I signed it anyway. And L. signed it, too. Not because we want the domestic partnership rights taken away, but because we believe in those rights and want our friends and family to have them. Of course, this is a gamble in part that the referendum will have enough supporters to back it and approve it. And it looks like it might...it's a bit hard to say. I keep praying that it does pass so that we can say that voters passed it, and not just that our legislature supported it to begin with. For some reason, I just didn't feel like getting into it with them. I'm totally fine with people believing in their religion, I just hate it when they want to impose that in law. But, I have to live across the street from these people, and I know from experience how awful things are when you're at odds with a neighbor.

As with anything political, there have been a lot of ads on either side of the issue. But the anti ref 71 ads always crack me up, as they come from that angle of "protecting families." I put this in quotes because I'm not really sure what they are trying to protect families from. Unless you're in a domestic partnership yourself, this particular law has little, if anything, to do with your personal life. What it does grant is couples the right to form committed relationships and have the same rights that are currently granted to married couples. The fact that married couples receive any special recognition or consideration by the government is already violating the separation of Church and State that is so important to our country. So, allowing domestic partnerships is just one way to kind of even out the imbalance, as far as I can see.

Let the individual religions and churches figure out whether "marriage" is between one man and one woman, but let all couples, regardless of gender, enter into partnerships that are recognized by the government as legal, binding commitments. It's only fair.

[Update: I'm seriously rethinking my dedication to signing any and all petitions for referenda. Methinks I may start signing only petitions that I agree with. Not sure...]

No words

This article from Susan Klebold, mother of one of the Columbine killers, is so sad. I can't even imagine how horrible that must have been for the family. It just goes to show how devastating mental illness is for not only those suffering, but for those around them.

Elbow pain

Recently, L. and I started working out together and hired a personal trainer to help us get on track with our workouts. The first few sessions went OK, and I was enjoying the classes at the gym as well. However, the last couple of sessions left me pretty sore, and both of my elbows really hurt. I let my trainer know, and she eased up on the exercises that forced me to either grip things tightly or bend my arms repeatedly. I also started icing my elbows after working out, taking Ibuprofin, and resting them. We hoped that would help things heal up and I could get on with things again. However, that hasn't really worked. It's been 3-4 weeks now, and even with the vacation and no workouts for the last two weeks, they're still sore. I try to be extra careful with them right now, but sometimes I do something seemingly innocent, like grip the arm of a chair to better position myself or push down on something like a onion when I'm slicing it, and my elbow screams in pain. Anyway, I ended up skipping my workout tonight and will call the doctor in the morning. I hope that she can help me figure out something to get things back on track. It sure sucks getting older.

We'll be up five hundy by midnight, baby!

I realize it's been a very long time since my last post. Probably no one is even following this now, since I fell off the face of the earth for awhile. But, no matter. I can start back up again finally, since life has returned to a somewhat more normal schedule and state.

The most amazing thing is that it has been nearly a year since L. and I tied the knot. We're heading to Las Vegas tomorrow for an extended weekend to celebrate our year anniversary. We're going to do it up right, staying at the Bellagio and going to see some fun and sexy shows. Both of us have been working so hard lately, that we're beyond excited about the ability to just get away from it all and have some fun.

Useless media coverage

You know, I do understand the impact that Michael Jackson had on music. And I do think that it's sad that he died fairly young, even though it seemed like his life was rather riddled with turmoil. But since his death, I can't turn on the TV without there being some "media" outlet speculating about every flippin' thing around his death, from where his body actually is to all of the details of his will and the DNA of his children. Now his dermatologist is on the news reporting about his cosmetic procedures. I'm not sure about much, but I don't think I'd want to take credit for work on that face. I'm just sayin'... I'm hoping that the coverage dies down a bit soon so that we can go back to a normal existence, if there ever was one.

Spinsters

Last night, I was working late at the office when the janitor, W., came by. He's a friendly, cheerful fellow from China and although a bit tough to understand at times, he sure likes to chat. One of my favorite things he does is ask me whether he can empty the waste basket and recycling bin in my office. I always want to chuckle, but he asks it so seriously as though I might put up a fight that he's carting away the trash, and as I don't want to offend him, I always answer back cheerfully, "yes, please do. Thank you!"

Recently, I've been working late quite a bit as I try to finish up stuff for my last job and ramp up for my new one. So, W. has made an effort to get to know me better, since our paths are crossing quite frequently now. I also suppose that as a night-time janitor it is nice to have some human contact in an otherwise lonely building.

Our conversation last night included how to correctly pronounce my name and whether I was married and had children. I told him that I was indeed married for just under a year, but did not have children. When asked how old I was, I answered 31.

This got him to talking about his daughter, who is 30 and unmarried. More than that, she does not have a boyfriend or love interest. This is of great concern to W. He worries that she is becoming a spinster, and discussed the tragedy of older women who are unable to find mates. He is working hard and wants to bring her here to find a husband, because he wants her to be happy. This got me to thinking about the single guys who work late in our building. I'm curious whether W. has tried telling them about his daughter in the hopes that she might land a software engineer. I can only imagine the conversation, but it makes me smile.

Anyway, I tried telling him that it will happen if it's meant to be, but I'm not sure my meaning came across. I realize that my attitude is probably different than a lot of people, Chinese or not, especially considering that I told my own (current) husband that I didn't have a need to get remarried after my divorce and that I find kids to be a kind of take-it-or-leave it proposition. But I found it sweet that this woman has a father who is so concerned about her, especially from a country where women are not prized and female babies are often given up or killed in order to try and procure a son. It was clear that his concern was not just cultural, but caring. He wants her to be happy and have a family, and I can only hope that it will happen for her if it's in the cards and her wish as well.

Crack me up

L. and I saw this awhile back on SNL and I about spit water through my nose. We got to talking about it again, so I looked it up and enjoyed it all over again.



"Yes, that is bad..."