cicer

Thanks to threewalls for bringing this to my attention.

I generally try to keep politics out of this journal, but this situation is so horrifying to me, I have to say something. If you live in the US, please sit up and take notice of this.

The Bush administration is trying to push through a 'conscience rule'. Essentially what this means is that doctors, pharmacists, etc. will be able to legitimately refuse patients treatment that conflicts with their moral or religious beliefs. This is, of course, aimed at abortion, but could easily be applied to birth control and other controversial medicines and procedures. Doctor who invoke this 'conscience rule' will not be penalized for doing so; indeed, part of the legislation states that employers will be obligated to protect these employees and will not be able to fire them for, essentially, refusing to do their jobs and forcing their beliefs onto others.

This is so appalling, I hardly have words for it. Please, whatever your feelings on abortion, birth control, the Plan B pill, whatever, please realize that this gives doctors and health care workers a terrifying amount of power. It basically strips away a person's power to decide what is best for themselves and make their own moral decisions regarding their health. Worst of all, it protects these zealots and prevents people from being able to take legal steps when they are being persecuted by a health care worker. This is awful, and it must be stopped.

maho_kiwi wrote a very eloquent post on this subject, and included links for where you can take action to fight this. If enough people don't speak out against this, it will effectively go into law within thirty days. If you are a US citizen and you believe you should have the right to make medical decisions about your own health and sexuality, please, please speak against this.

Good news (for me)! I have decided to head on home early, ahead of my parents, so we switched my ticket. I'm flying home Tuesday, back to my glorious, glorious high-speed internet! Yay! I am very happy about this. I totally have cabin fever out here in the boonies. And the dial-up is Just Not Working for me. And the bugs. Oh, lordy, the bugs. I've enjoyed this trip immensely, but I am so very ready to go home. Whee!

To celebrate my imminent return to LJ land, a meme stolen from grendelity.

Everyone has things they journal about.

Everyone has things they don't journal about.

Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't journal about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Ask for anything: last movie watched, last book read, political leanings, thoughts on lima beans, favorite type of underwear, etc.

Augh. I am finally here in Michigan, totally in the boonies. (The nearest cell phone signal is 8 miles away. I am not kidding. Plus, the place where we're staying has no long-distance phone service. We are completely in the middle of nowhere.) I've been without the internet since Wednesday night, and miss it terribly! We've finally managed to get a dial-up connection set up on my father's laptop, but unfortunately it's not working with my laptop. I'll have to call tech support and try to get it sorted out tomorrow.

Anyway, needless to say, I'll be even more scarce than I thought. If there's anything going on out there, any fics being posted, any recs, especially anything interesting going on at CFUD, I beg you guys to drop me a link here. I'm skimming my flist whenever I can, but that's not very often, and it's at about skip=3 million, so obviously I'm missing a lot. Please keep me in the loop!

I miss you all desperately. Sob sob, internet, come back to me!

Classes (and more importantly, finals) are done! I am free for the summer! YAY! So far, I have been celebrating my glorious freedom from the shackles of higher education by...playing computer games. And sleeping a lot. And eating yummy foods that have absolutely zero nutritional value. I highly recommend all these methods of celebration, by the way. And! I've been doing a lot of putzing around the house. I'm planning to redo my bedroom and bathroom a bit, so I've bought fabric to make new curtains and throw pillows, and plan to attempt to make a couple simple sundresses as well. I've already started on the bathroom curtains, and they are looking rather spiffy if I do say so myself. I'm relatively inexperienced with sewing, but it's working out well and it makes me very happy.

As a reward for surviving the semester, I went out on Friday and bought myself some new CDs and other little trinkets, and checked out a bunch of books from the library. Aaahh. Is there any better way to kick off a vacation than with a stack of new books to read? I do not think so.

I have fabulously exciting plans for the next few days, which mainly consist of going to a small local benefit concert and hitting Home Depot for a new curtain rod and other various and sundry items for home renovation. Oh, and I may even see a movie! At the movie theater! Thrilling! Also, I plan to goof off more.

On another note, several people have commented to me recently that I have seemed very happy lately. It's true, I am a very content and chipper cicer these days. I don't know if that comes through on this journal very much, since I pretty much never post just to say 'I had a good day today!' In fact, I don't post too much at all. I've been quiet for the last six months to a year or so, I know, but I'm still here, I still love LiveJournal and all the people on it, and I still care deeply about fandom. I don't post about fannish things very often these days, and I do feel vaguely guilty about that. I used to do frequent rec posts and meta posts and the like, but I've stopped doing that in the past months. Part of it has been a time issue; I just no longer have the time or energy to make giant rec posts on a regular basis. But I don't really know what the other reasons are. As I said, I still adore fandom and still read fic voraciously and spend a lot of time thinking fannish thoughts. Somehow that hasn't been translating much to this journal, though. I don't know why. I've made various efforts to galvanize myself to post more, but none of them have really 'stuck'. Probably because of the time think. Perhaps now that schools out I can do a little better. Perhaps not.

As I said, I do feel kind of guilty for not posting about fannish stuff more. It feels sort of like I'm shirking some kind of responsibility, which I know is silly. But I feel like I ought to be participating more, and get anxious when I don't. I'm not sure what to do about this feeling. I fret that the people reading this journal get bored with hearing about my day-to-day life. If that is the case, I want to remind everyone who follows this humble little journal that they are free to defriend whenever they like; I most certainly will not take it personally. People's interests diverge sometimes, so if you find that we don't seem to be on the same wavelength anymore, it's totally OK to stop reading. This is, of course, not an encouragement for anyone to go! I love you all and still read everyone's posts, even if I don't comment. It's just a reminder that I never take offense to defriending, since I know some people worry about that sort of thing.

Getting back on topic, though. I'm not sure what prompted this little bout of navel-gazing, though I think scribblemoose's recent (and wonderfully worded) post on the subject contributed to it. She really hit the nail on the head when it comes to a lot of what I've been thinking and feeling about fandom and online life lately. So I basically just want to echo what she said, to whomever might be reading this: I care. I am interested in what you have to say. I love hearing about other people's thoughts and experiences, in anything. Anytime anyone wants to talk to me...please, go for it. I tresure every little conversation I have with all of you, no matter how short or how silly.

So! Tell me stuff! What you did today, what you've been reading, whatever. Ask me questions, if you like, or I can ask you some! Let's chat!

Busy, busy, busy, but things are finally slowing down a little. One last week of classes, and then finals, and then the semester will be over. Yay! I am so ready for summer, I cannot even express it. Even though I've really enjoyed all my classes this semester...yeah, it's time for a break. Also, more time for writing! (I know, I say this every time I have a break, and then somehow never get around to doing more writing. But I mean it this time, honest!) I do have a lot of WIPs that I want to finish off, though, so I shall make a concentrated effort to get things done this summer. I am determined! You may all poke/prod/harass me if I fail to follow through. In fact, I encourage it.

There is not much of note going on in my life right now. I've been very domestic recently, and have been doing a lot of cleaning, reorganizing, and cooking. Last week I made a bunch of fresh bread, and today I made cucumber soup. My father got a big flat of peaches from a friend of his, so when they're ripe I'll make peach cobbler. Tomorrow I am going to make tortilla soup, too. (Note to self: wear gloves when cutting up jalapeño so this does not happen again!) I've also been fussing over my own appearance a bit recently. I bought a bunch of new makeup and nail polish, gave myself a manicure, and made an appointment next weekend for a haircut. I plan to get totally sheared. My hair is a couple inches past shoulder-length now, and I want it a little less than chin-length for the summer. Also, I am contemplating bangs. If I like the result, I may even post before and after pictures of myself for public consumption. We shall see.

A brief note about my bizarre gardening karma: I think I have mentioned on this journal before that I have terrible luck with gardening. Every spring I try hard to plant some seeds, and every year they fail. I have no idea what I'm doing wrong to have such consistent failure, but it has almost become funny since it happens every year, and it's a running gag among my friends and family. Anyway, a year or so ago I planted some tomato seeds in a neglected corner of the yard. I watered them dutifully and checked on them frequently, but of course they failed to sprout. I gave up. A couple weeks ago, I was out in that corner of the yard (which is sort of behind the house, and which I never do anything with now) and noticed, among the bits of rock and gravel, a tomato plant. I should note that there are no sprinklers or sources of water back there, and since I haven't planted anything there in ages, I haven't been watering the area. The plant is not in the soil, it's in the rocky and gravelly bits of sand. And it now has six tiny green tomatoes on it. This has, of course, become a great source of amusement to my family, who have declared that the only way I can get anything to grow is by staying as far away from it as possible. And apparently, it is true. I am amazed by exactly how much I fail at gardening, but pleased by my miraculous tomato plant.

Also, please tell me it is not Mother's Day tomorrow! I haven't bought a card or gift, ack! Worst daughter ever. My mother has informed me, though, that she would be perfectly happy if I would just scrub the toilets and pack up some of the junk in the back room though, so I suppose I can manage that. (High-maintenance, my mother is not. My father's gift to her, which she is totally thrilled about, was cleaning out the garage. My mom!) On a nicer note, though, my mother and I had a wonderful, and long, talk this morning about everything under the sun. Honestly, for over two hours we chatted about culture, poetry, biology, literature, and a bunch of other, sillier things, like what was going on in this week's People magazine. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful mother, who is somehow I just click with so well. We are buddies, and it makes me so happy. Love my mama.

I hope all of you out there (who celebrate the holiday and/or have mothers) have a lovely Mother's day tomorrow! Extra-special good wishes to those of you who are moms yourself! Much love to you all.

Just a short note to let one and all know that I am, in fact, still alive. Good lord, I don't think I've gone this long without posting in the entire time I've had this journal. Unfortunately, life has had me in a strangehold for the last several months and doesn't seem to be willing to let up anytime soon. Nothing bad is happening, I'm just insanely busy and will probably be so until the end of the semester. Sigh. In the mean time, I'm hanging in there, and struggling to cope with the fact that I just don't have as much leisure time as I used to.

I haven't been doing much (or sometimes any) writing in the last few months either, but I'm trying to change that. I just wrote something for the saiyuki_time comm, A Small Crime. I'm going to try and keep with with doing a ficlet for each prompt, since it seems to be a good way to stay semi-regular with writing as posting fic. Meanwhile, the battle against my many other WIP rages on, though lately I seem to have decided that discretion is the better part of valor. (In other words, I've been hiding under the covers and not writing at all.) But as spring...er, springs I shall bravely soldier on in my attempts to compose something that I am not totally embarrassed of. We will see how that goes.

In other news, I have been doing a lot of sleeping, a moderate amount of reading, and a (very) little exercising. Beyond that, there is little to report. My life has become exceedingly dull.

Further updates as events warrant! (In other words, it may be a while.) Carry on, folks!

I can has new bedsheets! My mother bought them for me as a surprise! Whee! I'm sure nobody else will be able to imagine why this is so exciting to me, but my old bedding was absolutely falling apart. My duvet actually had a huge rip down the side and the comforter was popping out. I was planning to go to the mall in the next few days to look for new stuff, but now I don't have to! Yay! Omg, the sheets are so pretty and new and smell good. I am actually squeeing over them. My life has become very simple.

Sadly, I haven't been spared the need for shopping entirely. I looked through my closet the other day, and realized that I have practically new clothes. Considering that the spring semester begins next week, and I am pretty sure coming to class nude is frowned upon, I have to face the horrors of Clothes Shopping. Shudder, cringe, whine. Do not waaant.

As one of my New Years non-resolutions, I've been trying to get a little more exercise. It's gone okay, I suppose. I've managed to take a few walks over the past couple weeks, but it's all too easy to justify flopping on the couch instead of exercising. I just don't seem to have any discipline when it comes to exercise. I wish I was one of those people who loved to exercise, and got that 'runner's high' feeling, but I'm just not. The best I can hope to feel after exercising is tired. Sigh. Maybe my exercising methods just aren't exciting enough. I've been thinking about buying some rollerblades. I see people zipping up and down the street on them all the time, and it looks fun. I haven't rollerbladed since I was about twelve, but I remember I liked it. Also, I think I need to get better about setting goals. vom_marlowe and others have pondered arranging a sort of Journey to the West-style map route, like the Lord of the Rings route that several people use to mark off their exercise. That sounds pretty cool, so maybe I'll use something like that.

In other outdoorsy news, I've started gardening again! I try to plant some seeds almost every year, and most of them usually flop, but I just keep doing it. Glutton for punishment, that's me. This year, I've planted some assorted flower seeds in little pots, and radishes, carrots, beans, and peas in containers. I've had good luck with the radishes and beans in past years, but this is my first time trying carrots and peas. Fingers are crossed that they at least manage to sprout (and don't get eaten by caterpillars like my crops from 2006!).

Finally, I am looking for a couple of songs. Some have been playing constantly on the local radio station; others I discovered online. Either way, all of them have stuck in my brain, and I've been sadly unable to find them anywhere. If anyone could provide me with a copy, I would love you forever!

Your Ex-Lover is Dead, The Stars
9 Crimes, Damien Rice
Is it Me, Is it True?, Midtown
Paralyzed, Finger Eleven
Hey Jealousy, Gin Blossoms


Also, if anyone knows where I could find Trinity Blood or Godchild, that would be super-cool. campfuckudie has got me seriously interested in both series.

This has not been a terribly fantastic week. I was plauged with the worst PMS of my life for several days, and when that went away just before Christmas, I promptly developed a bad cold. I'm still feeling icky and dribbly and uncomfortable, and my mother informs me that my phone-voice sounds hilariously awful. Urg.

I did have a fairly nice Christmas though, despite feeling pretty yucky. I got lots of nice presents, and everybody liked everything I got for them, so that' s all great. The house looked lovely, and I managed to bake up a bunch of cookies and muffins in between illnesses, and we have buckets of leftovers that we've been nibbling on for the past couple days. All in all, I'm very grateful for everything I have, especially the health and safety of my loved ones. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday, if you celebrate it. If not, I hope you've had a nice week anyway. :)

I know I owe some people meme answers, e-mails, comments, etc. I'm sorry, bear with me. I'll try to get around to it soon. This is the first time in a couple days that I've felt well enough to hop on the computer for more than a few minutes at a time. Blah. I shall return, though, once I am no longer dying of the plague!

I fear that life has kind of run away with me lately. Over the last few years, I've had the increasingly frequent sensation that time is passing by much too quickly, but it never hits me quite as hard as when my professors start discussing our end-of-the-semester projects. Er, surely we can't be four weeks away from the end of the class? I could swear the semester just started. And what do you mean Thanksgiving is two weeks away? Halp, my life is escaping!

In order to combat our growing panic over the realization that we are entering the end-of-semester/beginning-of-holiday-season crunch, my mother and I are escpaing to the mountains for the long weekend holiday. Won't have internet access, so I won't be around until Monday night. It's not exactly a 'real' vacation, since we both have heaps of work we need to take care of, but a change of scenery will still be nice. Hopefully I shall return with interesting things to post about!

I'm definitely going to take my Gundam Wing DVDs with me, as rachelmanija and oyceter have reminded me how cracktastic and awesome the show is. Assuming I can get around to rewatching some of the episodes, I'll try and put together an episode recap, like they have done. I'll at least do a highlight reel of some kind. It will probably end up running something like, 'Episode X: Character Y is crazy. Episode XX: Character Z is really, really crazy. Episode XXX: Character B attempts to blow themselves up. Again.' That is, after all, pretty much Gundam Wing in a nutshell.

Anyway, farewell everyone! I'll see you in a few days. Be good, and try not to let the internet blow up when I'm away! (Seriously, though, it tends to happen. Last time I went up the mountains, the whole Six Apart brouhaha happened, and the time before that there was a huge wank while I was gone. I'm beginning to think the mountains are cursed.)

P.S. I know I have failed to follow up on a whole bunch of things in the last week or so, and I'm so sorry. Things have just been kinda nuts here. If I was supposed to get back to you about something and didn't, please poke me. I have no hope of remembering otherwise. My brain, she has abandoned me. Sob.