Some things I mean to talk about...

Can you believe this is our nation?

• Karl Rove and perhaps other administration officials aided in the disclosure of a CIA operative for political gain
• Katrina fuck ups
• Reporter jailed for upholding journalistic integrity
• Former Secretary of Education at best stupid, at worst horribly(!!!) racist: reduce crime rate by aborting black babies
• GAO finds Bush white house guilty of spending money on propaganda and fixed news
• Supreme (?) Court
• Creationism?!?!?!?! excuse me...Intelligent Design (bullshit!)
• the new McCarthy; Vatican will hunt out the catholic gays in all the seminaries
• American soldiers torturing prisoners/American government illegally detaining foreign nationals/American soldiers trading war pics for porn

and 1 really great thing for ya'll to think about. this is really what we fight for: the same people that proposed the amendment in MA that would undo the court-ordered same-sex marriages, voted against it after seeing what those marriages did for society. Knowledge and fairness win!

Does anyone else feel like the country is in limbo? Like we're sort of waiting for the storm to subside and then we'll assess the damage and begin the long work of fixing it? I'm sick of watching this government run rampant...I'm afraid of the damage that is and can be done.

Today was a sick day...

It was inevitable I think, that I would get sick. Everyone else at the office has been or is sick and we are a pathetic sight. So, today I woke up and realized that I needed to just stay in bed. It's been a wonderful day of just lounging and relaxing.

In other news, it's autumn! After taking a few tentative steps out of summer, Mother Nature has now fully immersed us in the fall splendor. The summer/fall change always gets me real excited. I think it has something to do with heading back to school and going shopping but, every year I get reminded of something. Overnight, it seems, window displays have changed and trees have changed colors, the smell of autumn is everywhere and scarves are out in force. I love it.

The living situation has gotten increasingly ruff. Elias has been running his law practice out of our living room and just doesn't get why that makes us uncomfortable. I think most people would agree that it sucks to come home after a long day of work and be made to feel strange because you want to eat at the table but, there are clients there. I feel like I should be able to use the living room that I'm paying for without feeling like I'm intruding in an office. Try explaining that to a Kenyan though. OOF! So, what should have been a simple discussion of "this is what we find ruff" turned into a 2 versus 1 all-out argument. I don't have the energy. I used to be nice, everyone was friendly, things were as they should be or were promised to be improved. Now, two months on, the excuses are wearing thin and, I kinda want to move. Besides it being annoying, it's also very far from the places I want to be. I may start looking for somewhere else to spend the rest of my London time. blah blah blah

Rachel and I saw a play the other night. It feels like we've been away from the theatre for a long time. It was nice to return, even if we did have to stand for the whole thing. It was in the Donmar Warehouse which was a space I had wanted to see for a long time. We both agreed that the play was wonderful and, in fact, we even discussed it at some length afterwards which is always nice. It was a very wordy, funny, witty play, in a very well put together production. If you have the chance to see The Philanthropist, it is highly recommended.

Anyway, I've rambled, I've bored myself and possibly you, I'm tired, I'm sick, I'm going to bed.

30 Italians singing 'Crazy for You' makes me happy...

I had an absolutely delightful weekend. For some reason, I awoke in such a happy mood on Saturday, drank my coffee at a leisurely pace and then went out. This is particularly exciting because I am usually so tired after a week of work that on Saturday I have a hard time motivating myself to do anything. Not so this weekend! I had read a review of a particular art exhibit and I was determined to see it. I'd never been to the Old Street area of town and was so happily surprised to find a chic, bohemian, artsy-fartsy area, ripe for exploring. So, I found Hoxton Square and the White Cube gallery and, in my arty way, sat and pondered the exhibit. It was very urbane and pretentious and I loved it. Candice Breitz' current exhibit, Mother + Father consists of two rooms and twelve televisions. In one room, six tvs were arranged in a semicircle, each portraying some famous film actress in a semi-seminal mother role. Breitz had pulled the characters out of their film context and by cutting and splicing their dialogue, made them sort of speak to one another on the topic of motherhood. Julia Roberts cried, Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford freaked out, Shirley Maclaine sang like a crazy person. Same in the second room but this time with fathers played by the likes of Dustin Hoffman, Donald Sutherland and Tony Danza. White Cube's website, in characteristic gallery speak has this to say:

Pirate, composer and DJ, Candice Breitz uses darkly humorous, often subversive tactics to strike out at stereotypes and visual conventions in popular culture. Breitz's acclaimed two-part video installation Mother + Father will be shown downstairs at White Cube. In mirror sequences comprising six channels each, Breitz has edited iconic silver-screen mothers and fathers into shrill fugues of parental breakdown. In one, Faye Dunaway, Diane Keaton, Shirley MacLaine, Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon and Meryl Streep protest and proclaim their respective maternal roles; in the second, Dustin Hoffman, Tony Danza, Harvey Keitel, Steve Martin, Donald Sutherland and Jon Voigt perform an entire spectrum of paternal frustrations. Digitally extracted from their original movie contexts, the cast members of Mother + Father are enlisted to perform new dramas of Breitz's making. The actors emerge from the artist's mixing-desk coerced into taut, abrasive compositions.

After that fun, I headed to the upstairs gallery where I found a wall of thirty TVs, each with a different Italian person singing along to Madonna's greatest hits. These people had such an unbridled love for her that the audience couldn't help but feel happy watching these fools sing, tone-deafly, at people in a different country. The best part was when half of them would attempt the back-up vocals, "liv.ing. in. a. mat.er.ial. world.--Materiaaaauuh hull"

What the man in front of me...

bought:
2 2-litre bottles of pepsi
1 tub of Greek-style yoghurt
1 can of mushroom pieces

I'm sorry I've been away so long. I do have much to say on: my living situation, Katrina, John Roberts, life without a computer or phone... but alas, it's been kinda tough to write lately. I will be better about this soon. Anyway, tonight, while at the grocery store I took note of the odd purchase described above and I decided that it may be a fun "blog assignment". Everyone reading is to, in the coming days, be alert for things that are just a little peculiar, involving people you don't know and post them in their respective blogs or in my comments section. As I'm sure you all know, talking about people and, indeed, laughing at them, is one of my favorite pastimes. What could be better then, than Trans-Atlantic fun-poking? It doesn't have to be a strange purchase...just peculiar. These are some appropriate entry phrases: What the child next to me smelled (like?), What the couple above me did tonight, What the groom ate, What that bum picked. You get the idea....maybe this reads?

Hooray for CA

After so much destruction, chaos, incompetence, and anger, we finally have something to celebrate. The state government of California, yesterday, approved a bill changing the definition of marriage from "between a man and woman" to, "between two people"!! This marks the first time in the US that gay marriage has been sanctioned through the legislative branch of a state government. Of course, Schwarzie still has a chance to veto but, this is still cause for jubilation. When prodded on whether or not he'll veto, Arnie said he'll do whatever the courts decide. Let's all remember that he's a republican and the line of that party is to curb the courts from making decisions like this. Apparently, the Republican party only wants the input of the court when the court agrees. They're despicable but, at least in California, there are more of us. See the full NY Times coverage here.

A bittersweet romance...

My affair with England has been, shall we say, rocky for the past few weeks. It's been difficult. I swore when I came that I wasn't coming specifically for him but our love was always part of it. Perhaps distance makes the heart grow fonder, as they say. We were so good together with me there and him here. Now, together, we just get on each others' nerves. Night after night, I go to bed and we just turn our backs to one another; better to just let the fight wait until morning. Of course we have our good days also. This weekend for example, we didn't really fight that much. We even sort of reveled in each other. Under gorgeous skies, we strolled hand-in-hand through the streets of the city. Together, we took in the Tower of London and shared a Vietnamese dinner on a sidewalk in Hammersmith. Then, the week starts, as it always does, and once again, we're plunged into angst and anger with one another. I don't think it's something I've done. I think that this whole time, he was hiding his true nature from me. He is, in turns, supremely inefficient, beguilingly witty, quick-tempered, and charmingly beautiful. Perhaps there were stars in my eyes as I prepared to come here and be with him, perhaps they shielded his (extremely) annoying bits. I know that we'll be okay in the long run but right now, times is tough. We've talked it over a bit, or rather, we've yelled about it ad nauseum, and, at the moment we've made a decision; when I'm more financially secure, I'm going to begin seeing other countries. He also, will be entertaining more bright-eyed and intrepid young Americans. I think the occasional separation will be good for both of us. For the moment, it's good that I have the job. At least there, I escape that long-faced, tired (and tiring) stare. Also, I'm going to try to focus on his good points, for the sake of my sanity. I think that, in time, we'll be able to smile again and embrace as we once did. I hope that day will come soon but, at the moment, it seems so far away.

Long ago, in England...

a friend of Someone-in-Charge declared, "Sir, we haven't enough ridiculousness!"

"You're right!" his pal replied, "May it be so, that from this day forth, England shall be ridiculous, in the following ways:

We shall drive on the other side
We shall keep the clubs open till 4 or 5 am but stop the tube at midnight
We shall have banks that say, "You'll get your card in 7-10 business days" but mean 4 weeks
When the card comes, the bank shall say "It'll just be 7-10 business days now to get your PIN"
Furthermore, the banks will only be open while the populous is at their own jobs and we shall make it difficult to bank online
We shall tell foreigners that they must get an NI number and we'll give them 25 phone numbers, all of which will be wrong
We shall sell meat in our stores but only after all the juice has been removed
We shall tell victims of crime to call the Custodial dept to see if their property has been turned in
The custodial dept shall direct the person to the properties dept by way of the operator
The operator shall transfer the caller to the front desk because after all, there is no properties dept
The phone at the front desk shall ring (repeatedly) for 6 minutes before disconnecting the caller
The switchboard operator shall yell at the victim of crime
Cheques, when deposited shall take a week to clear
Every pay phone shall be different
There shall be a line, everywhere and it shall take an inordinate amount of time
We shall have a grocery store and, in the store, we shall use plastic bags but without the handy dispenser. We shall force customers to bag their own groceries while paying. The cashier and people in the line shall glare contemptuously
At Tesco, there shall be 12 cash registers but only 2 shall be open. There shall then be at least 3 employees directing people to the self-service registers which shall never work properly
In addition, there shall be other ridiculousnesses which can not be named right now!