I've heard a lot of arguments lately about why gay marriage should not be legalized.  I disagree with all of them, but most of them I can at least understand where the other person is coming from.  I can follow their thought process and see why they've reached their conclusion, even though I think they're wrong.  However, this is a new one.  I found this article through Jezebel; How Women Will Be Hurt by Gay Marriage.  The author claims that if we legalize gay marriage then homosexuality will lose its stigma in our society - everyone will think it's OK.  What's wrong with that?  Well, according to this guy, then all men will only want to have sex with other men and women will be left manless forever.

Yeah - he lost me there.  If homosexuality is accepted, all men will turn gay?  Or, I guess what he's really saying is that all men already are gay and the only thing keeping them with women is the societal pressure to be heterosexual?  I'm baffled by this.  And I thought maybe I was missing something, or was misinterpreting what he was trying to say, but no - he posted a follow-up piece expressing his surprise that many people seemed to disagree with him.  One line made me laugh out loud:  "Men are unruly in their passions, far more so than women with their natural affinity for monogamy. This is not a stereotype. It's reality.".  HAHAHAHA - well, if he says it's reality, I guess I can't argue with that anymore!  He also alludes to the "fact" that while men can satisfy other men sexually better than women can, women obviously cannot satisfy other women sexually.  It's anatomically impossible, you see.   Yeah.....I'm laughing again too. 

So, my initial instinct is to write this guy off as a total wackaloon and go on with my life.  But you know, I'm not a man.  I don't know what it's like to be a man.  So if any men can enlighten me here - am I wrong or is this guy as crazy as I think he is?  Do all men really want to only sleep with other men?  Do all men who date women really only do it because society says they must?  Am I blinded to the truth by my womanly "natural affinity for monogamy"?  Please - enlighten me!

You guys, it's July.  How did it get to be freaking JULY already???  Oh well, July is a fun month.  I'll enjoy it, if the weather holds out.  (I am very grateful for the unseasonably cool summer we've had so far!)

Lots of fun stuff is coming up in the next few weeks.  This Friday I'm going to an Ed Wood double feature of Plan 9 From Outer Space (which I'm told has been voted the worst film ever made) and Bride of the Monster.  This weekend I'm planning to re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince so I can be fully prepared for the movie.  Next weekend is Blobfest, and the the 14th is the Half-Blood Prince midnight premier!  And then it's my birthday, along with approximately 75 other people I know.  (July seems to be a popular months for birthdays.)  So this month will probably fly past and before I know it August will be here.  Nothing happens in August - that month drags on forever.

Those Winter Sundays         
by Robert Hayden

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?

Tickets are on sale at Fandango for the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at King of Prussia on July 14! 

I just bought mine.....who's with me???

I finally did it!  I made it into work at 9am yesterday!  I am so proud of myself. 

Of course, I'm completely exhausted now....thank god it happened on a Friday so I have all weekend to recover from the exertion...

Anastasia is coming to visit tomorrow!  (For anyone who doesn't know, Anastasia is the pseudonym of my best friend in the world - she lives near Boston, so I don't get to see her nearly as often as I'd like.)  And she's coming alone - her husband and the kids are staying home!  Don't get me wrong, her family is wonderful and I love them, but it's always nice to be able to spend some time together with just the two of us.  I'm planning to head up to her neck of the woods sometime this summer, so I'll get to see everyone then.  And since she's kid-free for a few days, we have to make every second count!

It's always risky to leave me in charge of planning a fun weekend - you could easily end up watching a 3-day marathon of my Supernatural DVDs, or attending a Wiccan sabbat, or a drum circle, or a bunch of protests and rallies.  Depends on my mood.  But I think I've planned an awesome weekend for us.  We're staying at some fancy-schmancy hotel in Philly that she got for a really good price on Priceline. I told her I'd figure out everything else.  We'll be going to the Edgar Allan Poe House, taking a ghost tour of the city, going to the Academy of Natural Sciences (not only do they have a live butterfly exhibit, it's opening weekend for the gecko exhibit!), the Mutter Museum (medical oddities - woo-hoo!), and checking out the local absinthe bar.  Who knew Philly had an absinthe bar? 

I'll report back on all of our adventures.

I went back and re-read the Supernatural comic books - they make a lot more sense now that we know what Azazel's plan for Sam was.


( Click to read my summary and speculation... )

Sadly, I will need to stop obsessing over Supernatural for a few days, because Anastasia is coming to visit!  I'm busy planning the best weekend ever - we're going to have a great time!

I realize that this will be of very little interest to anyone who doesn't watch Supernatural, but I spent a big chunk of time this weekend reviewing past episodes to try to make sense of all the new information we received at the end of this season, and I've come up with a theory of how The Plan came together.  I'm actually copying this directly from an email I sent to corkdorkdan  this morning - when I got into work I thought  "Oh - I should give him a quick rundown of what I've figured out!", and my "quick rundown" turned into this.

( Click to read more - massive spoilers, obviously! )
 

After thinking this all through, two facts have become obvious to me.

1)  corkdorkdan  deserves a medal for putting up with my insane Supernatural ramblings for the past four seasons.  I think he bears some of the blame because he's a massive enabler at heart, but he really has put up with a lot from me.  Thanks Dan - you're the best cousin ever!
2)  I am in dire need of a hobby.  Any suggestions?

So I'm driving home tonight thinking grouchy thoughts because I was really hungry and I feel like I'm starting to come down with a cold, and a giant, beautiful dragonfly flew right past my windshield.  And I had about 0.5 seconds to think "Oh - a dragonfly!  How pretty!  And they have spiritual significance for me because I associate them with my patron goddess.  This must be a good sign!" before the beautiful dragonfly looped around and SPLATTED right into my windshield.  That can't be a good sign.

As predicted, I was too wrapped up in the lives of my imaginary friends that live in the television to worry about my missing iPod last week.  The season finale of Lost on Wednesday blew my mind - it was great.  Frustrating, of course, because it ended in a way that seems to make any speculation for next season impossible, but awesome.  Then there was the season finale of Supernatural on Thursday, which I was actually afraid to watch.  The previous episode had left me heartbroken, as this show does on a fairly regular basis, and the previews for the finale looked even more intense.  It was so awesome!!!  Seriously - if you're not watching this show, I highly recommend catching up on the previous seasons over the summer so you can watch next season.  Bear with it during the early episodes - it starts out as an entertaining but not too heavy monster-of-the-week type show, but about halfway through season one they start delving into deeper issues of good, evil, trust, betrayal, love, family, faith and all sorts of emotional issues, and it gets better every season.  Watch it - Thursdays at 9pm on the CW!

So it wasn't until this morning on my way into work that I started really feeling the loss of my iPod.  I spent a few minutes before I went into work trying to fish it out from under the passenger seat, but I got my hand caught and couldn't dislodge it for what seemed like several minutes but was probably only a few seconds, and I realized that telling my boss I was going to be late to work because I had a car stuck on my hand was probably the lamest excuse ever, so I gave up.  (My lamest excuse so far for being late - I was watching a bird.  It was a really cool bird, and my boss at the time found the story very amusing, so I didn't get into trouble.  My current boss is less easily amused.)  When I got home from work I decided I was getting my iPod back no matter what, so I spent a good 10 minutes trying to reach under the seat from different angles and with different implements, and I finally got it!  And I also found an old Clash tape that I gave up on finding years ago!  Yay!!!

At RFBD tonight they gave me a book that no one else wanted to read, which is usually a bad thing, but it turned out to be a really interesting book about Buddhism, so I was happy.  I'm not sure why no one else wanted to read it - not only was it interesting, it was written in very readable language.  (Sometimes books that are interesting that I would normally love to read on my own turn out to be really, really not good for reading aloud.)  So anyway, I spent 2 hours reading about how attachment to "stuff" leads to suffering, and how we should try to not be attached to "stuff" so much, and it got me thinking that I really want to get back into meditation again (I've been slacking off on pretty much all my spiritual practices for the past few months) and I left feeling all enlightened.....and I got out to my car and promptly lost my iPod under the passenger seat of my car.  My stuff!!  I want my stuff back!!!!  It is really lost under there too - I dug around as best I could, but it seems to have fallen into a very small space that I can't really reach.  (This is what I get for buying a cheap iPod shuffle - if my stuff was a more expensive, larger iPod it wouldn't have gotten lost!)  So I figure my best bet is to drive like a total maniac for a while - lots of sudden stops and fast turns - and maybe it will come flying out at some point.

The good side is that I'm not suffering too much from losing my iPod because I am really, really excited about the season finale of Lost tonight, and absolutely terrified about the season finale of Supernatural tomorrow, so I think the loss hasn't really set in yet.  Watch out for a delayed reaction this weekend....if I'm not still in shock from Supernatural.

The Lanyard - Billy Collins

The other day I was ricocheting slowly
off the blue walls of this room,
moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano,
from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor,
when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary
where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard.

No cookie nibbled by a French novelist
could send one into the past more suddenly—
a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp
by a deep Adirondack lake
learning how to braid long thin plastic strips
into a lanyard, a gift for my mother.

I had never seen anyone use a lanyard
or wear one, if that’s what you did with them,
but that did not keep me from crossing
strand over strand again and again
until I had made a boxy
red and white lanyard for my mother.

She gave me life and milk from her breasts,
and I gave her a lanyard.
She nursed me in many a sick room,
lifted spoons of medicine to my lips,
laid cold face-cloths on my forehead,
and then led me out into the airy light

and taught me to walk and swim,
and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard.
Here are thousands of meals, she said,
and here is clothing and a good education.
And here is your lanyard, I replied,
which I made with a little help from a counselor.

Here is a breathing body and a beating heart,
strong legs, bones and teeth,
and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered,
and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp.
And here, I wish to say to her now,
is a smaller gift—not the worn truth

that you can never repay your mother,
but the rueful admission that when she took
the two-tone lanyard from my hand,
I was as sure as a boy could be
that this useless, worthless thing I wove
out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

I have jury duty tomorrow, and I'm really hoping I get picked to serve on a jury.  Wish me luck!  I've only been called for jury duty once before, but I didn't get to do anything that time - I just sat in a  room all day and read a book.  I really hope this time is more exciting.  I even went online to look up the jury handbook for my county - riveting stuff.  I find it amusing that while explaining the jury selection process, they are careful to explain that during voir dire, the lawyers will "look at the jurors very intently".  Thanks for the warning! 

Did you know there's actually a juror's creed?

I am a juror, I accept the position not only as an honor, but as my solemn duty.

I will remember the men who died to give us, and retain for us, the right of trial
by jury, and I will reflect upon the fate of those people whose government gives them no
such right.

I will act with realization that the success of the jury system depends upon the
willingness of men and women of integrity and intelligence to accept jury service, and
upon the fidelity with which they discharge that responsibility.

I will be ruled by the law as given me by the Judge.

I will listen attentively to all the evidence, the arguments of counsel, and the
Judge’s instructions, and will thoughtfully and impartially weigh the issues.

During the trial I will not discuss the case with others nor permit others to discuss
it with me; neither will I read about it in the newspapers, nor listen to broadcasts about it.

While hearing a case I will keep an open mind until the case is finally submitted
to the jury.

I will observe legal procedure not as red tape, but as a device developed through
thousands of years for the protection of the people.

I will consider all the evidence fully and fairly, uninfluenced by friendship,
sympathy, bias or prejudice.

I will work with my fellow jurors in a spirit of tolerance and understanding and
will endeavor to bring the deliberations of the whole jury to a true and honest verdict.

I think they need to update it with a line pledging not to Twitter or blog while serving, and not to Google anything related to the trial.

The only thing I'm really not excited about is that I have to be there by 8am.  8am!!!  That's just crazy.  Good lord - what if I get picked for a long trial and I have to show up at 8am every day!  Well, if I have to, I have to.  It's my solemn duty!

I don't understand what happened to this weekend.  I swear it was Friday, like, 20 minutes ago.  How can it be Sunday night already?  And how can it possibly be almost 10pm when I'm just making dinner now?  Time is so weird.

Fortunately, I've got a long weekend coming up.  I'm heading to the Fairie Festival on Saturday, and I decided to take a few days off work and make it a nice long weekend.  Hopefully it won't vanish in the blink of an eye like this weekend did!

For anyone keeping track at home, no - I still haven't managed to get into work by 9am.  I've been consistently getting there before 9:30 though, which is a vast improvement for me.  Baby steps...baby steps.....

OK - I actually won a door prize, but I'm still darned proud of myself because I never win anything.  Ever. 

So it's Record-A-Thon week at RFBD, and as part of the festivities they give out door prizes on each shift.  I was reading quite possibly the most boring book I've ever read in my life tonight (I know - I said earlier that the history of phys ed book was the most boring, but this one has it beat.)  I don't even remember exactly what it was about, something to do with business, and monitoring team performance and it had lots of charts.  I could barely stay awake to read it - I don't know how anyone is going to stay awake to listen to it.  Anyway, I came stumbling out of the recording booth at the end of my shift to find that I'd missed the drawing, but that I'd won!

Supervisor:  Look - you won!!!!
Me:  Wow - cool!  What did I win?
S: Two tickets to the Mercer Museum!!!!
Me:  Oh, wow.  Um...that's great!  Really.....great!
S: Have you ever been there?
Me:  I've never even heard of it.  Where is it?
S:  Oh, not far.  It's really cool - it's like, a museum of oddities.
Me:  Really?  That sounds pretty cool!
S: Yeah - it's in an old castle...
Me: IS IT HAUNTED???????
S: Oh.  Um, I don't know.  Maybe?

I'll bring my digital recorder just in case and see if I can pick up some EVP.

Dear Easter Bunny -

Hey, thanks for nothing, dude!  What, kids everywhere get to wake up to baskets of candy this morning and I get nothing?  Is it because I'm too old?  AGEIST!!!!!  Is it because I'm Wiccan?  RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION!!!!!  (Besides, I don't remember any egg-laying bunnies hanging around in the bible....that one talking donkey was pretty much the only magical animal I remember.  Well, aside from the snake, and that was a demon in disguise, so it doesn't count.  I think.)  Is it because the flock of angry geese has returned and chases everything that moves?  Nice try - but you deliver your candy at night, and the geese are only here during the day!  Is it because the last time a cute little bunny rabbit came near my apartment it ended up ripped to shreds in my front yard by a couple of turkey vultures?  Well, yeah......OK - that was pretty upsetting for everyone involved.  Maybe that's a valid excuse.  Well, fortunately for you the stores have already put all the Easter candy on sale for half-price, so I was able to go buy my own candy, so I can spend Easter Day hopped up on chocolate and sugar, as God intended. 

Happy Easter!
Love,
cc-Amy