You know, there's nothing worse than being attacked at work by a Christian. Oh, they think they're being subtle and PC and not breaking company policy...but they're blatantly transparent. It's always leading questions, casual comments in the break room, and WWJD ribbons posted on an office wall directly across from your desk that you have to stare at for eight hours a day, five days a week. And I'm really sick of their perpetual perkiness - mainlining Jesus makes you into a sugar-coated sheep.

I tried to revolt a little by posting an I.W.W. wall calendar this year in hopes, quite honestly, of starting some sh*t, but by about February I realized no one here has enough education to understand what it is.

Were you aware?

This is a picture of me at 16 (the cusp of my adult life). My friend on the right is Colleen. She and I were tight for about a year.

Less than two or three months after this picture was taken (photo booth at Lucille's on Westport), I met the man I would end up dating for seven years, and eventually married and divorced. This picture to me captures the last moments of freedom I had before I was drawn into an adult relationship that most certainly smashed my romantic and emotional ideals. Now that all is said and done, I'm a tired, jaded woman.

It's not a bitter thing, just interesting.

Song of the day: "Nowhere Fast" - The Smiths.

Music Obsessions You Wish You'd Never Had (Part One in a Series)

1994 - Downset

Yes, I suppose they might have been more "street" than Rage, but that just goes to show talent isn't inborn ladies and gentlemen. I can take comfort in the fact I was only 17, though, and highly impressionable.

4th of July Tag Party (via Busy3)

Instructions:
1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. In the search box, type your birth month and day (but not year).
3. List three important events that happened on your birthday.
4. List two interesting birthdays and one interesting death.
5. List one holiday or observance (if none, make one up).

Events:
1925 - Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution.

1977 - Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope opens in theaters and eventually becomes the highest grossing film of all time.

2006 - Kenneth Lay and Jeff Skilling are convicted for their roles in the collapse of Enron.

Births:
1803 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist and philosopher

1948 - Klaus Meine, German musician (Scorpions) (how awesome is that?)

Death:
2006 - Desmond Dekker, Jamaican ska musician

Observance:
United States - Memorial Day/Decoration Day, a legal holiday (1868)

"Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods, and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books." - Harper Lee

The terrorists have won.

So this is a joke, right?

This is my friend/co-worker Chad. Chad is in a band Chadwick. While not my cup of tea, Chad has a large, loyal following that is to be admired.

I am proud of Chad because this past weekend he went to visit his teenage son, Wolfgang, in Kansas City. This took a lot of courage, because he and his son are virtual strangers to each other. There's also a lot of other baggage involved with it, and I'll spare you the details.

This is a photo of Chad at Union cemetery in Kansas City, where as a youngin' my girlfriends and I would walk and attempt to appear wistful and wise. Ha.

Song of the day: "cemetery Gates" - The Smiths.

I love "Lost". I love Sigur Ros. I do not love them together.

You know, I hate to judge, but some people shouldn't be allowed to write. Anything. Not even a grocery list.

Being in a cult - it's just like I thought it would be, but with better eye wear!

"If you want to see the true face of war, go to the amateur porn Web site NowThatsFuckedUp.com. For almost a year, American soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been taking photographs of dead bodies, many of them horribly mutilated or blown to pieces, and sending them to Web site administrator Chris Wilson. In return for permission to post these images, Wilson gives the soldiers free access to his site. American soldiers have been using the pictures of disfigured Iraqi corpses as currency to buy pornography."

I can't begin to comment on this.

May Day in Santa Rosa - quite moving.

This is quite possibly the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. I'm not kidding.

This is a small part the Santa Rosa, CA "Day Without Immigrants" march. A good majority of the wineries have shut down or modified business today in order to support their workers. Fast food restaurants are closed. The number of people marching is so big, you can't drive through town in an even remotely timely fashion.

And we're just a little suburb.

It makes for one happy May Day!

Today's post brought to you by the kind folks over at Planned Parenthood...

"An Indiana mother recently accompanied her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend to one of Indiana's Planned Parenthood clinics, but they unwittingly walked into a so-called "crisis pregnancy center" run by an anti-abortion group, one that shared a parking lot with the real Planned Parenthood clinic and was designed expressly to lure Planned Parenthood patients and deceive them.

The group took down the girl's confidential personal information and told her to come back for her appointment, which they said would be in their "other office" (the real Planned Parenthood office nearby). When she arrived for her appointment, not only did the Planned Parenthood staff have no record of her, but the police were there. The "crisis pregnancy center" had called them, claiming that a minor was being forced to have an abortion against her will.

The "crisis pregnancy center" staff then proceeded to wage a campaign of intimidation and harassment over the following days, showing up at the girl's home and calling her father's workplace. Our clinic director reports that the girl was "scared to death to leave her house." They even went to her school and urged classmates to pressure her not to have an abortion.

The anti-choice movement is setting up these "crisis pregnancy centers" across the country. Some of them have neutral-sounding names and run ads that falsely promise the full range of reproductive health services, but they dispense anti-choice propaganda and intimidation instead. And according to a recent article in The New York Times, there are currently more of these centers in the U.S. than there are actual abortion providers. What's more, these centers have received $60 million in government grants. They're being funded by our tax dollars.

A bill has just been introduced in Congress to stop the fraudulent practices of fake clinics, but it desperately needs more support. Tell your representative to take a stand: anti-choice extremists must not get away with this any longer!"

"Neil Young urges Bush impeachment on protest album"

Gotta love Neil...

Jason and I are going on a road trip to (semi-hip) Portland, Oregon next week. The last time we went on a road trip, we almost killed each other in the parking garage of a casino in Vegas. So, we'll bravely try to enjoy the all-American past-time of using gas station bathrooms, suffering sciatic pain from sitting in a car six hours a time, realizing the 50 or so albums brought have lasted about three hours and arguing with hotel staff about the number of pillows needed. Not that this will make us say, cranky or anything. I’m not even going to bring up the food issues.

And think – we don’t even have kids yet.

Song of the day: "The Beach" - New Order

I have two disagreements with this bill board.

#1: It's stupid. Who calls their wedding ring "bling"? Wait, don't answer that.

#2: I really resent the implication that sex is something women use to "lure" men into marriage. I mean, what century are we in? And what is the Iowa Abstinence Mission really concerned about? The emotional impact of casual sex? The number of children born out of wedlock? The rising numbers of sexually transmitted diseases among youth? The prevailing teenage value that oral sex is not sex?

Oh, I think not.

They're afraid that women are sexual creatures. That women might want to engage in sexual activity for a wide variety of reasons that don't include life-long commitments. That women can do this freely because they can control their fertility. And a woman who can control the path of her life can think for herself and make her own choices, without a husband or a church to do it for her. Without the backs of women to walk over, these folks will fall.

The sooner the better.