Inman Park
Originally uploaded by rubbernun This photo I took of a wiggly pooch named Pop Tart frolicking in Inman Park got picked for the Atlanta Schmap. So, hooray for me.
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Alas, there will always be assholes in the world:
Just hours before the ruling went into effect, a conservative legal group asked a Sacramento court to order the California agency that oversees marriages to stop issuing gender-neutral marriage licenses.
Gary Kreep of the San Diego County-based United States Justice Foundation said his group filed a petition on behalf of five county supervisors from Yuba, Stanislaus, Nevada and Sutter counties. The petition argues the state Department of Public Health failed to hold legally required public hearings on the licenses and claims legislators must amend state marriage laws before the licenses are valid.
Seriously? Gary Kreep? Does he hang out with Mike Jagoff and Bob Shitstain? Because he should.
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Anyway, here's what iTunes coughed up while I was fretting this morning:
Skullcrusher Mountain -- Jonathan Coulton
Arse-huggin' Pants -- Spiderbait
It's Gonna Rain -- Violent Femmes
Say No Go -- De La Soul
Bang! Bang! -- le Tigre
Sick of Myself -- Matthew Sweet
Shrinking Violet -- Bishop Allen
Gangsters -- the Specials
Broken Face -- the Pixies
Mean-eyed Cat -- Johnny Cash
In our nine years together, he's driven exactly once -- he had to get us back from Michigan in '99 because I got food poisoning at my cousin's wedding. But now he's going to be taking care of his mom on his own for the rest of the week, so he's been doing some test driving of her car (under my skillful guidance) back and forth to the nursing facility. He was pretty tense about it, but he's a natural behind the wheel. I predict that by tomorrow, he'll be cruising along, getting a driver tan on his left arm, cranking the Zeppelin.
2. I am knitting.
I've never done this before. My craftiness has always been more of the glitter-n-glue variety -- I've never really attempted the fabric arts. But I've got a lot more long-ass bus rides to Peoria in my future, and I've been wanting something portable to both occupy my time and give me a sense of accomplishment, so I asked my crafty sister-in-law to teach me how to knit. (She knows a thing or two about knitting -- her "8-ball Tea Cozy" pattern is in the Stitch 'N Bitch Nation book.) She found a copy of La Biblia for me at the Peoria Goodwill, set me up with a skein of acrylic (for practicing) and a couple of needles, and showed me how to knit.
I dig it. I am very slow and still have to think through the four steps -- in through the front door, run around the back, out through the window, off jumps Jack -- but I'm getting the hang of it. It's all I can think about right now, actually. I love learning new skills!
3. I like ice cream.
I've been lactose intolerant for most of my life, so I haven't really had ice cream since my teens. I've learned to live without it, and I've never really missed it. (Frozen yogurt is not a problem for me, for some reason.) I used to keep Lactaid pills on hand, but they would expire before I used them up, so I just quit buying them and learned to deal. No big whoop.
Or so I thought. One of the big (or only) things to do in Peoria is get soft-serve treats from Emo's. The opening of Emo's every spring is an event of such import in this town that the local TV stations send news crews to cover it. And Jim's mom lives a block from Emo's. So I've been gulping Lactaid pills and snarfing down caramel sundaes and chocolate-vanilla swirl cones with alarming frequency. It is so good, but it is not good. I was much happier believing I could not eat ice cream. Damn you, Emo!
Which leads me to....
4. I'm going to start riding my bike.
My bike's been in storage for eight years, but a couple weeks ago I got it tuned up and bought a new lock and helmet. My goal is to ride at least three times a week before work all summer long, as my gym has been shut down until its new location opens in August or September.
I used to ride a lot when I lived in Oak Park, but I've been way too freaked out by the horrifying bike accidents of friends and acquaintances the past few years to ride in the city. But, hey, thousands of people ride in Chicago every day and don't get maimed or killed, so I figure it's time to toughen up. Cautiously.
So, what's new with you?
]]>Starting with the first song from the first mixtape he made me, each song reminds me of Mr. Jimmie in some way.
]]>But this past weekend, we lucked out. We saw Urinetown.
Yes, Urinetown. In Peoria.
It was not half bad. The sound was muddy and not all the singers could rise above the little band (in which the conductor sat on a prop toilet the whole show), but the Peoria Players put on a lively show about money and micturition.
And the unexpected sight of Jim's grandmother seated two rows in front of us was worth the price of admission. Sadly, when we caught up with her after the show to see if she liked it, she pursed her lips and gave a quick, "No."
]]>Because those orthodics were really expensive.
]]>Happy 42nd, Dave!
]]>The whole country saw the real world implications of Indiana's tough new voter ID law on Tuesday. A group of 80 and 90 year old nuns were stopped from voting.
A similar bill is under consideration in Missouri -- again. That state's Supreme Court already struck down a previous effort to restrict voters in 2006. But the Republicans never stop.
This time, the nuns in Missouri aren't sitting back. Today, several sisters joined other voters who will be disenfranchised and Missouri's kick ass Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan, to oppose the legislation -- just as the Missouri House was passing its discriminatory bill.
]]>Check out all those wires! Good thing they never walked around stage much.
]]>More proof that voter ID laws are bullshit:
Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow sisters at Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, across the street from the University of Notre Dame, because they had been told earlier that they would need such an ID to vote.
The nuns, all in their 80s or 90s, didn't get one but came to the precinct anyway.
This is merely the one story that's been reported. You have to expect there are many more; in fact there are several more later in the story. Of course, the Scalia-Thomas-Alito-Roberts faction on the Court will tell you that's just the price we have to pay for dealing with the scourge of non-existent voter fraud.
Anyone else find it ironic that the uber-Catholic Opus Dei nutjobs on the Court prevented nuns from voting? I bet those old-school sisters can still wield a mean ruler! They should bloody those justices' knuckles!
Of course, Scalia would probably dig that.
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