Abiding

It's nine years later, and all the appropriate tributes and memorials are going on around the country and on the Web. I won't bore you with my story of where I was that morning--we all have our own stories, and some are more harrowing than others. Although we've lost some very important things, chief among them being hundreds of loved ones, I'd rather talk about what we still have.

We might have to take our shoes off at the airport, but many of us still have the wherewithal and the means to travel anywhere in the world. We have the freedom to worship who, where, and when we want...or not at all. We are able to speak out against our government without fear of reprisals. We have the freedom to gather together and protest policies, and our voice is heard. We can contact our government officials and let them know our opinions (hopefully in a respectful way). We have unlimited access to information with little to no censorship. Although it's getting more difficult, we still have a pathway to a good education for ourselves or for our kids. We can learn about cultures around the world, rather than not be allowed to because they might corrupt our thinking. As a woman, I can go to school, work, drive a car, and have an opinion (which I sometimes do). We can go about our daily business without the constant fear of being shot or raped or kidnapped. If we choose, we can make a difference by casting our ballots in elections (and why on earth would anyone not exercise that right?).

I could go on, but you get the idea. Although I always feel sad today, and remember the horror of that day when I see the pictures and videos, I also feel defiant. They may have knocked us for a loop for a few days, and made us change the way we do certain things, but we still have all the freedoms that they can only dream of. They have not broken us...they have not even bowed us. We also have a duty to not let them change who we are as a nation, change what made us great. We had a few bad years there in which we lost our way (We do not torture. Period.), but I believe we're back on the right track. We cannot compromise our integrity because of the mistaken belief that we need to resort to their tactics. We do not, and we must not.

We're still here, and we're still kickin'. We, like the Dude, abide. Fuck yeah, America! (By the way, that picture is more than a little tongue-in-cheek!)

Just to show that life does go on....

I paid a trip to my little Victory Garden yesterday and hauled in a few things. I was a little startled when I saw this mutant alien zucchini hiding under a leaf. What a monster! I know you're supposed to pick them smaller than this, but even when they get this big, they're great for making stuffed zucchini or zucchini bread. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but it's as long as my forearm and hand, and bigger around. I've got another one growing out there, as well as a couple of yellow zucchini. I think there should be enough nice weather yet that they'll get bigger.

I also picked the serrano peppers. Holy capsaicin, Batman, what a haul! I planted four plants, and there have to be at least three dozen peppers here. My tomatoes may have crapped out (again, dammit...stupid Verticillium Wilt), but there is no pepper problem! I think I can probably chop some up and freeze them to use in the next few weeks. I'm pretty sure I've grown serranos before. I got those plants because they didn't have any jalapenos. Serranos are supposed to be hotter than jalapenos, but I don't recall them being that much hotter. I'll be brave and taste one, just so I have an idea of how hot they are. I think they'll be good in chili.

I hadn't made any earrings for a while, and I had some findings that I was looking forward to using. I think these are my favorites that I've made so far. I used black and blue beads (maybe I can call this style Punch in the Face earrings), and I think they're nicely dangly. I wear a lot of black clothes, with a fair amount of blue, so I think these will go nicely with many of my things. I might have to work on another pair today, because I'm so pleased with how these turned out. I like dangly earrings. I don't know why, but I've always liked big earrings.

At long last, I got my Sharpie Liquid Pencils! As many of you already know, I'm kind of an office supply whore. I inherited it from my Dad, who had a cabinet full of pads of paper, pens, pencils, and other such things. As hard as it was to clean some of that stuff out--my Mom will never use all of it--I had to grin knowing that I am so very like him in that regard! Anyway, as soon as I saw that Sharpie was coming out with a liquid graphite pencil, I had to have one. I'm more of a pen person than a pencil person, but it seemed to me that a pencil that eventually becomes permanent would be a pretty nifty thing. I was a little sad to see the initial bad reviews, but was still excited to try it out for myself.

I got a sketch pad out, because I figured that would give the best results of how a liquid pencil would behave.

My high hopes were quickly dashed upon the rocks of harsh reality. The reviews I'd read were right: it wrote like a pen running out of ink, with skips and faint lines. Perhaps as I use it more, it will flow better, and maybe I need to exert more pressure. But after years of working in the lab and being on the verge of carpal tunnel syndrome because of it (my wrists and grip are finally getting back to normal), I don't want to have to exert a lot of pressure when I write. The less the better, which is why I love my Jimnie gel pens. The words flow easily and smoothly, with a minimum of pressure.

I am so disappointed with my Sharpie Liquid Pencils, but there is no time for despair, since today is the day that Notre Dame plays Michigan here at home! I'm happy to be watching from home today, as it's a cool and damp day (although I think the rain might be out of here). This is a huge interstate rivalry, since we're just a few miles from the Michigan border, and this is always a big game. It's considered to be mostly a tossup, but with the home field advantage, I think the Irish will prevail. GO IRISH!

Potpourri Shmotpourri

Despite having a pretty good day today, I still had some bouts of sadness, so this isn't going to be a majorly serious post. I was paying attention to all things political (I just can't turn it off), made quite a few comments on Crackbook, but I don't feel like writing about that stuff right now. I'm sure you'll all be okay with a little fluff, and if not, feisty Beth will be back soon. Probably sooner than you like.

I had lunch with Cousin Shane on Friday, and it is always good to see him and get caught up on things. (The picture isn't from yesterday, but it was taken at the same restaurant...a mere two years ago. haha) We talked about all kinds of things as we ate our yummy Mexican food and sipped our margaritas. His recent trip to fabulous New York City, his new duties at his job, mutual friends on Facebook, family, music, snowfall here compared to Canada (yes, we're weird), his cats, life in general. There are few people I feel as comfortable with as I do with Shane...I feel I can completely be myself (and I think vice versa), and we're so similar in our outlooks and personalities that we really understand each other's thoughts and feelings. I love my cousin. He gets me.

And see...there, just writing about that made me smile, and that's a good thing. Love you, Shane!

I don't recall if I've written about this here, but a while back I started having a bad reaction to earrings, and had a couple of years where I couldn't wear them. That was heartbreaking to me, because I've always loved my earrings. In my younger days, I was MAD about earrings, and had several boxes of them. My specialty was fish earrings. Manta rays, fishbones, earrings that looked like fishing lures. (Have I mentioned that I'm weird?) I toned it down as I got older, but it really bummed me out to not be able to wear earrings. A few months ago, I thought I'd give it another go with higher quality earrings and strictly non-allergenic ones, and so far, so good! I remember saying that I got my earholes back, and Shane said, "Welcome earholes." I don't know why that cracked me up so bad, but I still can't think of that phrase without laughing.

I still had quite a few supplies from when I was making earrings, so I decided to make some more. I branched out a little from the easy drop earrings, where you basically pile a few beads onto a head pin and call it good, and made some dangly earrings that were a little more complicated. These are two of my creations, and I'm fairly pleased with them. (The hoop isn't part of the earring. I have a second earhole--welcome second earhole!--on my left ear, so it's a separate earring.) I have some other connectors and stuff to play with, and I'm looking forward to making a few more things. I haven't tackled much beyond earrings, but I don't wear a lot of jewelry beyond earrings. My ankh necklace, and that's about it.

Anyway, I've enjoyed making them, and it stills my mind as I design them and then put them all together. Then I get to wear them, and feel pretty, oh so pretty! Sometimes it's the little things that can really help with taking my mind off of things. I'll take 'em as I can find 'em!

When I go grocery shopping, my favorite stop is right before I head to the checkout. My store places a couple of shopping carts to the side with clearance items, and I've found some good bargains there on everything from coconut M&M's to sangria. (Which I bet would taste pretty good together, now that I think about it.) When I stopped the other day, they had some hard liquor on clearance, including Vox vodka from the Netherlands for $11. I had never heard of it, but the bottle design sold me. This is one of the coolest bottles ever! It's taller than normal, and if you were to take a cross-section of it, you'd see a football shape. It has indented dots on the back of the bottle, and striations on the front. It is one fucking beautiful bottle. When I got home, I looked it up online, and found that it is a pretty good vodka, and usually sells for about $28 a bottle. Whoa, SCORE! I went back the next day to see if there were any left, but sadly, there weren't. But I picked up another cool bottle, a sort of Art Deco design, Opulent, which is made here. That one was on clearance for $15, and when I got home, I found that it was also around $28 normally. Double SCORE! I'm sure they'll be pretty tasty, but man, I think those bottles are just gorgeous. Don't you think so?

Visual appeal IS important, especially for those of us who like shiny thi---hey, is that a quarter?!

My last topic for today is the overly litigious. It's obvious that we live in a society that is ready to sue at the drop of a hat, and I think we all find it ridiculous. I see two categories: those who are out to make a quick buck by fabricating lawsuits, those who love to threaten in order to intimidate people, and those who---three! I see three categories. Those who are out to make a quick buck by fabricating lawsuits, those who love to threaten in order to intimidate people, those who have a legitimate complaint, and those who---four! I see four categories! I'll go out and start again. Those who are out to make a quick buck by fabricating lawsuits, those who love to threaten in order to intimidate people, those who have a legitimate complaint, and those who have an almost fanatical devotion to the pope. Wait...that last one doesn't seem right.

Any of the above can overlap, and I suppose it depends on your experience as to which irritates you the most. Of course, no one disputes those who have a legitimate lawsuit, but I think we all get tired of the other two. Everyone remembers the stupid bitch who sat a steaming hot cup of coffee in her crotch while driving and then sued McDonald's when she spilled it and burned her cooter. I find the threatener just as irritating. "If you don't do this, I'm going to file a lawsuit!" or "I'm calling my lawyer!" Give it a rest. Most lawyers will happily take your money even if they know you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning your stupid lawsuit. Remember the fable of the boy who cried wolf? When you keep threatening litigation for every silly little perceived transgression, you lose all credibility and begin to look rather...shrewish. I'm guessing that such people also lose credibility with their lawyers. "Oh man, is she calling again?"

If you rely upon your lawyers to take care of your problems (and you'd better hope to hell that you don't get bad advice...remember, they want your money) and depend upon them to fight your battles for you, what does that say about your character and strength of will, or your intellectual capacity to figure out if a lawsuit is worth pursuing? I've seen it happen before, when someone thinks they can get a windfall based upon bad legal advice, hoping to recover their legal fees in pursuit of that windfall, only to be, as Colonel Klink said, "DEEE-nied." Within a matter of moments. If the only way you can get people to do your bidding or grant your requests is to threaten a lawsuit, you're one weak sister who has never learned the powers of persuasion.

I guarantee that people will eventually find it tiresome and find such threats hollow. You can threaten all you want, but you can bet that people on the other end are saying "Whatever."

Speaking of frivolous, this was my frivolous entry for the fiscal quarter, and I'll return soon to your regularly scheduled broadrant.