Happy Thanksgiving
No stories of the surgery just yet. Still too close and I feel all Frankensteiny right now. So, warm wishes to everyone this Thanksgiving and blogging to resume soon.
*bimbles off*
Mourning the dead. Enduring the living.
Posted by Lab Kat in 9/11, Current Events, Racism, Religion, Religious Extremism on November 6, 2009
JS stopped on his way out the door this morning and admonished:
“Don’t read the blogs. You’ll just make yourself angry and frustrated. You don’t need to get really upset right now.”
The boy knows me pretty well.
He was, of course, talking about all the spew going on regarding the shooting at Fort Hood yesterday. The event brought back ugly memories of being a young, new reporter sent to cover what was then the largest mass murder in U.S. history: the Luby’s shooting in Killeen in 1991. It took me years to come to grips with what had happened that day. I knew no one inside that restaurant, but watching people being told someone they loved had died, looking into the blank eyes of those who survived… it was slow-moving nightmare. The major networks came and went, but for those of us who lived there, it hit you on a personal level. They were our neighbors. Pulling baseless accusations and guesses out of our asses to fill space and airtime was akin to firing bullets at those people all over again.
And, here we are again. My heart goes out to all those poor souls involved. The horror, the pain, the mind-numbing confusion of it all. It saddens me because I’ve seen that kind of horror up close. It fills your nose for days. Your mind can’t find the right file to put the images. Your heart feels torn in two.
So, Jim was right. I can’t read the insanity today. It was bad enough that someone I’ve know since college (a conservative christian) wrote “Anyone who does not believe Islam is a religion of violence is either naive or a fool” on his Facebook page yesterday. While I have not commented on his equally stupid posts before, the anger at the utter contempt and hatred of that statement forced me to respond. And, to my surprise, many others did as well, a great many christians who were admonishing him on his unchristian-like behavior.
The filth that bubbles up like sewage from the gutters is reeking today. The self-proclaimed “good” christians denouncing all Muslims (or anyone with a last name other than Smith), screaming “terrorism” and somehow linking this horrific crime to our President… it all makes me choke. I feel for Muslims or anyone from the Middle East who lives, peacefully, in our country right now. Somehow, in the minds of all the raving pundits and blogging idiots, all of these people are evil and responsible for what happened yesterday.
The blood spilled on 9-11, in the name of Allah, is no more horrific than the blood spilled at the Salem witch trials in the name of God. Or the Inquisition. Or the Crusades. Or that of a doctor shot to death entering his church. No religion is free of its extremists and violence. No religion is exempt.
But, in the face of such carnage, we want immediate answers and someone or something to punish. We want someone to suffer. We, as a nation, somehow think the answer to violence is always more violence. Eye for an eye. Arm for an arm. Death for death.
It makes me tired. And sad.
So, I’m trying very hard not to read blogs and much of the news today. There will be nothing new. The investigation has barely started. No one knows why yet. So, the vacuum will be filled with endless speculation, no matter how hatefully, incendiary or wrong.
I wish peace to those involved… the families of both the victims and the suspect, the law enforcement and emergency personnel and those who live and work at Fort Hood.
And, I wish peace for those of us who just hurt today. Because while, in times such as this, humanity can be at its best, it is also at its absolute worst.
*bimbles off*
The apocalypse, starring Adam Lambert
Posted by Lab Kat in Movies, Pop Culture, Science Fiction on November 4, 2009
I heart i09.com with all my nerdy soul. Sci-fi with snark. My nirvana.
*soft sigh*
Today, it lifted my soul, found my laughter and eased my mind. In short, it presented Adam Lambert (he of the Carmen Miranda fashion sense and eyeliner addiction) wailing away for his one true love and waving his arms around, all while walking casually through an apocalypse.
Like you do.
Apparently, his new song has hitched it’s wagon to the upcoming apocalypse movie “2012,” where we’re all doomed by ginormous tidal waves. Caused by a volcano. Or something. Because nothing says true love like drowning. Or, getting hit by a giant fireball.
The video is so bad, it’s good. Or, to quote author Meredith, “Where do I even start with this ridiculous yet brilliant blend of marketing hype?” It’s Lambert in really bad makeup (seriously, did anyone even look at him before they started shooting?), crooning out “Time for Love” in that generic, synthesized voice every pop star has these days, all broody and fabo in black as the world is smashed to bits around him.
The best summation of this piece of disaster porn meets mediocre pop comes from one of the comments: “One lone man…on a roof top…with a bottle of black nail polish.”
Amen, brother.
*bimbles off*
Losing two pounds the hard way
In exactly two weeks, I will hopefully be exiting surgery and on my way to recovery, if said surgery starts on time. I’ll be groggy with an IV in my arm and I’ll be missing part of my breasts.
Yeah, it’s that kind of surgery.
At the recommendation of my spine/pain management doctor and my physical therapist, I’m having breast reduction surgery done to help with the back/shoulder pain I’ve been in for years. The recommendation came after nearly a year of physical and massage therapy, muscle injections and spinal injections.
Not to mention a drug habit that has steadily increased from a couple of Darvocets a day to six Percocets, two Celebrex, four Neurontins and two Robaxins daily. I passed Jim Morrison on my way out.
I vacillate between being okay with it to having moments of crushing fear thinking I’ll bleed to death on the operating table. A bit over-the-top, I know, but this will be the first big surgery I’ve ever had. In 1998, I had gall bladder surgery, but it was done laparoscopically and the whole thing took an hour. I was home that night eating Popsicles and, today, you can barely see the scars. This time, they are cutting on me, sewing me back up and parking me in a hospital room for a night. With tubes coming out of each breast. *shudders*
I’ve talked to four women personally who have had this done and visited many online forums and blogs. No one I have talked to or read about has regretted their decision. For many, like me, it ended years of pain and suffering due to excessively weight on their shoulders.
That’s all good and great. But, it’s my breasts that are being cut on. That hits you at a personal level. Way down deep in your gut. And, although I harbor no delusions of losing my staggering affect on men because of this (due to the fact I have NO staggering affect men at this point), it still gets emotional. I’ve cried over it. Cried over something that is causing me pain and continued muscle deterioration. I’m blaming the drugs.
Outside of the physical and emotional implications, I’ll be gone from work for a week, so I’ve been going hair on fire at work to get projects in order or done.
My Mom offered to come stay for that week and that has unforeseen affects as well. While we have a second bedroom and bathroom, they were never actually set up for someone(s) to come and stay for more than a night. So, Jim and I have been working our tails off getting a new dresser and nightstand (plus a new set of bookshelves) together, cleaning out a closet and bathroom and generally trying to create a space my Mom will be comfortable in. Mom wouldn’t have cared, actually, but I’ll be damned if I have someone be kind enough to offer that much of their time and energy and they don’t even have a place to hang their clothes.
The result: I’m tired, physically and mentally. I just want to lie down under a warm blanket and sleep until, oh say, after Christmas.
*deep breath*
I know this will all be fine. Everything will get done in time for my Mom’s arrival. I know the surgery will go fine. The tubes will be taken out the next day (NOT taking a week, like with some women who have complications) and I’ll come home. I’ll rest for a week and, even though the recovery is sometimes hard, I’ll get through it. And, be two pounds lighter.
It’s the waiting that’s the bitch.
*bimbles off*
More tales from Redneckia Land
Posted by Lab Kat in Dallas, Law Enforcement, Racism on October 23, 2009
Can you imagine the kind of international throw down the United States would issue of American citizens received tickets in other countries simply for not speaking the native tongue?
Well, that’s what we’re doing here in the good ol’ Big D. Apparently, rookie police officers in Dallas have taken it upon themselves to, in addition to whatever driving violation the person had committed, cite drivers for not speaking English.
Now, if this was one officer in one incident and it was caught, tossed out, officer reprimanded and apology issued, that would be one thing. But, this has been going on for quite some time. Not just one but six of these tickets were issued. AND had pending in court. Which means they made it through the police department’s system. Someone signed off on these. It was okayed until someone found out.
Now, Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle has been forced to issue an apology and assure us all that Dallas cops really aren’t racists with guns.
Uh-huh.
It’s bad enough we have a majority of Texas residents who are openly racist and, sadly, proud of it. But, to give that kind of mentality a badge and gun and the authority to financially punish someone who does not speak English is horrifying.
You know, I hear Nova Scotia is pretty.
*bimbles off*
Perhaps “Father of the Year” might have been more appropriate
Posted by Lab Kat in Awards, Democrats, Former presidents, Government, Politics, Republicans, Wingnuts on October 9, 2009
Okay, anyone else having that lingering “huh?” moment today?
I voted for President Obama. I continue to support him, despite what I believe are some mistakes and bad judgment calls since taking the oath back in January. And, I have nothing but the utmost respect for an individual who can remain calm while being accused of everything from being a foreigner to having a secret agenda to usher in Hitler’s Amerika.
But, a Nobel Peace Prize?
*blinks*
What?
Former President Jimmy Carter received the same honor 20 years after his presidency, in recognition for the tireless efforts he made for peace. In 1978, it was former President Carter who brought Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat together to sign the Camp David Peace Accord. He was nominated for the prize many times. And, he deserved it.
So, what has President Obama done to earn this honor? According to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, he was honored for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
Extraordinary efforts? Like what? Giving a kick-ass speech in Germany? Knowing which fork to use at the UN dinners? Keeping Rahm Emanuel from going all Dick Cheney and shooting a Chinese ambassador in the face?
Look, I truly support and admire our president. But, he’s been in office nine months. He has done nothing above and beyond the call of the normal diplomatic duties of a president with regard to international relations. This news does nothing but give Rush Limbaugh, the de facto Republican commander in chief, and his ilk a reason to scream about this president cares more about other nations than he does his own. The prize committee cited, in particular, the president’s “outreach to the Muslim world.” I imagine guns sales went up one hundred fold today as collective wingnuttia hunkered down, waiting for the Muslim shock troops to come savage our land. World News Daily has already called for the impeachment of President Obama because of the prize. No, really.
Perhaps it’s good the international community doesn’t view our leader as an out-of-control cowboy with nothing but contempt for anyone outside our borders. But, I would rather it have been more than nod toward a simple change in the administration of this country.
*bimbles off*
P.S. My long absence is due to my hard drive going belly up. *sigh* Big thanks go out to my bestest friend and computer guru KN for getting back to my little corner of the internets.
It’s 3:45 a.m.
Do you know where your sleep is?
*bimbles off*
Our chaplain-in-chief
Posted by Lab Kat in Conservatives, Government, Politics, Religion on September 25, 2009
Frankly, I thought this would come sooner. Like five minutes before President Obama was sworn in on Abraham Lincoln’s bible.
Christians of, shall we say, a more conservative bent are a little peeved our president has not chosen an “official” church to attend for the duration of his term(s). And, his attendance is not up to snuff as well.
I’m sorry. When did our Commander-in-Chief become the Chaplain-in-Chief? Why is it required he go to church? Oh, wait. Back that up. A christian church, of course. Imagine the national meltdown if President Obama chose a mosque or temple as his place of worship. I’m sure god would immediately smite us with all his holiness. Or something like that.
Look, I want the president to guide our country with regard to law, order and the occasion family photo-op. He is not, contrary to what some think, the go-to person for spiritual guidance in this country. In fact, I’d rather he keep his spirituality to himself. First, his personal faith is none of my business. Second – and I do realize there are people in this country right now who believe our country was founded by fundamentalist baptists with sprinkles of catholicism for nifty fashion sense – this is NOT a christian nation. It is a nation made of up people who happen to be christian. And, muslim. And, jewish. And, those who reject all of the above. Having our highest leader invoke god while in a official capacity is the worst breach of the separation of church and state.
Ironically, one of the most frequent church-goers in recent history was former President Clinton, who has been demonized by the conservatives. And, former President Reagan – the Republican patron saint – rarely attended.
Look, if I decide I want spiritual guidance, I will go to the clergy, not to my government. And, while we’re on the subject of extreme right-wing thought, if I want a medical opinion, I’ll go to the doctor, NOT my government.
I want my president and government to GOVERN, not preach, convert or invoke the name of god for indefensible choices, like starting wars and such. Because we know that god is all about killing other people in the name of national security.
I hope our president keeps his faith private and his head clear when making decisions of national and international importance. Quite frankly, you can’t be a good president on your knees.
*bimbles off*
Fixing the computer
Well, we’re finally back up after having to reload the operating system. Argh.
I thought I could fix my computer problem with a system restore. Silly me. Calling my dear friend and computer guru KN. Spent an hour chasing problems.
I had a bug and it was damned smart.
Argh again.
Now I face that daunting task of downloading all my applications and reloading my games and generally having to spend hours getting my computer back to where I want it.
I so love technology.
*bangs head on desk, then bimbles off*
Oh, evolve!
OUT
