Friday, October 03, 2008

yes again! an entry consisting of many small snippets on various topics! I am SO ORIGINAL OMIGOSH.

I have spent the past five days studying madly and feverishly for a Human Development exam. (The teacher has us scheduled to take an exam every three weeks. Fun times!) The first one took me by surprise with its brain-bending difficulty, so I was determined to be more prepared this time, and I made myself a very nerdy fill-in-the-blank study guide based on my notes and then studied it until my eyes nearly bugged out. (You would never, ever have caught me doing this in high school. In fact, I had no real concept of studying for tests back then, and I don't think I ever actually did it. However, that was before I lost those neuron pathways in my old age, not to mention the synaptic pruning that's been going on for all these years. Gee, what do you think these Human Dev. chapters were about? You'll never guess.) At any rate, I think the studying paid off, or else the instructor had pity on us and made this test a whole heck of a lot easier, because I just took the exam and I feel pretty good about it. Now I have to study equally madly and feverishly (and nerdishly) for the Communications exam I have to take by Tuesday. The fun never ends. Until mid-December, that is, when I (hallelujah) gleefully sell my current textbooks, and put this semester behind me with much rejoicing.

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We went to the library book sale today and spent more than we meant to. But it's on books, and books really matter, so that's OK, right? right? I mean, that's an investment, right? (I can't even remember offhand what I bought. A handful of children's books, I think, and maybe a book of plays, or did I put that back? And the kids got... lots of stuff too. But rest assured it's all very important and well worth blowing the budget a little bit.)

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So. Politics. Anyone have any life-changing moments during the debate? Didn't think so. I think both parties did fine. I also think it was extremely boring. Next time let's have some mud-wrestling, please. Or at least a few contentious issues. Or, barring that, a serious gaffe along the lines of telling a guy in a wheelchair to stand up so that people can look at him, or discussing FDR getting on TV when the stock market crashed in 1929. Bring on the funny if you're not going to bring any passion, please. (And while I'm at it, can I please request that we ban the word "maverick" from any further public political discussion? There are synonyms you can use if you need to. Thank you. Oh, and Sarah? I still want to be your pinky-swear new best friend, and the accent is cute, and the lack of political polish is refreshing if a little scary, but please do remember that the word CLEAR is inside the world NUCLEAR. See it? Right... there. After the "nu". HOW HARD IS THIS, PEOPLE.)

I'm too sick of the subject to do any real justice to the whole not-a-bailout-but-really-it-is thing. (But watch me keep talking about it anyway.) I think it's time to let the economy correct, but that's not Politically Expedient and also it could be kind of disastrous, so whatever, bail us out to the tune of $2,500 per person if you really want to. Just stop placing all the blame on Republicans, please. We weren't the ones forcing banks to lend to people who really shouldn't have had mortgages. (Wait. That's RACIST, as Rachel Lucas would say. Nevermind. Carry on.) There are plenty of causes for this mess, but don't we all have a great time assuming that our side has no responsibility and the other side has all of it? Isn't it just inspiring? Aren't human beings awesome? Election years just make you glad to be alive, don't they?

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O-K. Moving on.

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C had her birthday on Tuesday. She is now nine years old, oh my gosh. (I so remember being nine. I was just like her, only without the good hair.) I just realized that I missed doing the traditional birthday post. Did I skip LT's this year too? I think I might have. I AM A BAD MOTHER. I'm very sorry, kids. A good mother would never do this; in fact, she would bore the entire Internet with intimate details of your development over every month of your lives, something I'm sure you'd relish reading later on as well. Maybe for your children, I'll do that. No? You don't think? Oh, OK.

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WHAT book was it where the mother was constantly teasing her kids about what a Good Mother would do? Oh, yes. Izzy, Willy-Nilly. Please read this now. This means you. Thank you. (You must admit it's more polite than my usual style. I'm trying.)

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It is raining -- the first real rain since May. (Three minutes of tiny sprinkles last Monday do not count.) I am SO SO HAPPY about this, especially since we went ahead and moved C's birthday party from tomorrow to Sunday so now we don't have to worry about the beautiful, wonderful rain keeping all sixteen of us indoors for the entire afternoon. I am, however, supposed to bury a treasure tomorrow and construct a map course for the kids to follow to find it, so I'm hoping that I get some gaps between the "afternoon showers" after the "rain in the morning" that we have been promised. Either way, THANK YOU, GOD AND NWS. KISSES.

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And thatisall. Goodnight. I'm going to go get into comfy jammies, lie in my bed with the window open, listen to the rain falling in our little woods, and read Wives and Daughters until I can't keep my eyes open anymore. Feel free to envy me at any time. I can take it.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Looting question

I've been thinking a lot about something. Remember after the terrorist attacks almost four years ago, how everyone was talking about how New York came together and there was no looting even though there could have been? What do you think is the difference between that incident and the situation in New Orleans with all the looters in the wake of the hurricane? I've a few ideas I'll throw out but they're not even to the point of theories, really, just ideas.

Maybe it's because of the socioeconomic differences? Maybe it's because when the terrorist attacks happened, we had been attacked by an enemy, which drew us together, whereas Katrina doesn't qualify as an enemy in the same way? Maybe the looting was happening in New York but not being reported by the media?

Any thoughts?