From excellent to yicky in less than a week!

I haven't talked about the election returns yet, have I? Suffice to say that overall I'm extremely pleased.

Some specifics:
1) No more Liddy Dole. My mom and my friend Michele both called me* when that race was called. Not only did I (figuratively) wish to spit on the woman who took over the seat of another loathesome guy, but I was also very proud to vote for Kay Hagan. She has some sound ideas about sustainable ag and local foods, and I'll always love her for her support of raw milk. Have you tasted that goodness yet? It's a gorgeous sensation.
2) Obama. I doubt I have to say much about this to any of you, but I'm even more impressed that he's planning to recind many of the immoral policies Bush implemented. I volunteered on election day in a county that eventually went for McCain. I didn't do very much at all, but I was glad I took the day off.
3) Anti-choice initiatives failed. Thank goodness.
4) Can you say NC is blue? Yes! Me too!
5) Bad news: Proposition 8 in California passed, as did a number of other anti-gay initiatives. Gotta love people taking away civil rights, ya know?

I spent the night at my friend Ian's place, after going to the NC Dems victory celebration downtown. The energy there (as well as some champagne) gave me a fantastic buzz, and there were celebrations in the streets. So wonderful. Walking downtown the next morning I was so grateful to see people still beaming and making small talk in the street with strangers about how happy they were.

The next day I met with the group of teens I work with, and they were excited as well. They did share some unfortunate experiences documenting the racial tension that still exists even now. I'd expected as much, sadly, so I had prepared a "teachable moment" plan and showed them The Children's March. I was so proud to hear them talk about ways they have already and could continue to stand up to bigotry as it happens today.

So yeah, election week rocked.

But.

There always has to be a but, doesn't there?

Yesterday started out well. I was super productive and did dishes, cooked, and gardened. I'm landscaping most of the front yard, and I realized at Maria's birthday party the night before that I really had to get the irises in that Jamie and the s.o. gave me back over labor day weekend.

While I was doing this, though, I noticed an oddity on the street. Someone had pulled up in front of the house next door for a bit, and then turned around and parked again, this time directly across the street from me. I was a bit oblivious at first, though I did wonder briefly what this person was doing. Were they lost?

Nah. It was a young guy who decided to jerk off to my yardwork. Once I figured that out, I walked out in the street towards him a bit, but really more towards the back of the car. To get the plate number, see? And I did. I got the entire plate number, even before he peeled out. The police were very nice, and I felt strong, proud, and confident. I was happily surprised that my reaction was so matter-of-fact and oriented towards justice. I didn't show him any response beyond first being puzzled and then calmly (not even forced calm...I was zenned out) observing and memorizing as much info about the situation as I could. I emailed two neighborhood listservs with the details as well, and many residents cheered me.

Unfortunately, that pride and calm dissipated as the night wore on, taking me to a place of fear and worry. What if he retaliated? What if he broke in or vandalized my car? My god, he knows where I live, after all. What if Bubba's barking (Loud! Mean-sounding!) compelled this asswipe (and the friends I imagined would accompany him) to shoot Bubba?

I read By the Shores of Silver Lake last night, and didn't contain my tears when Jack died in his sleep.

I'm going to the police department in the morning to check on their progress. I've contacted local sexual violence crisis centers for advice and support. I can't imagine the horror that a more serious act of sexual violence would be like. I'm glad I haven't had to. This was gross enough.

Lotta tags for this post, hm?

*Michele actually texted me, and I then called her.

Didja?

Did you miss me? Huh? I went a WHOLE DAY without saying anything! OMG! I can barely believe it myself!

Yesterday I went to a coastal city (~2.5-3 hrs) for a short meeting with another organization much like mine. I was accompanied by the other people who hold key positions here, and the purpose of the meeting was basically to compare programming and learn from one another.

It was fine, though tiring. Especially because I didn't exercise common sense on Sunday, and overdid some nice beer, food and company. I didn't sleep particularly well, either.

And then today,

Oh wait, let me interrupt this blog entry to say that I am over-the-top happy to have just discovered anew that I have a jar of Nutella in my office. Praise FOJ. Remember him?



Anyhoo, today I zipped in to work, hurriedly gathered up the lessons I was to begin at a far-away high school (20 miles beyond my office). On the way I get pulled over and given a speeding ticket for 54 in a 45 AND not having changed my freaking license address when I moved. I don't remember exactly why I didn't, but I think it was that I wasn't allowed to, for some reason related to a county-level tax mix-up.

The fine? $25.
Court costs? $120.
Total? $140

Mind you, this is the first speeding ticket I've ever gotten. (Praise FOJ). It's not going to give me any points on my license. Nor will it affect my insurance rates. (This all according to the charging officer).

Nonetheless, my court date is here in the city where I work at 7:45 a.m, in a couple of weeks. I don't have anything else planned for that time. I think between now and then I'll make sure I have my license replaced and then actually make them earn the damn court costs.

Fiber-Optic Jesus.

HATE

Beware. This is a rant.

I rarely get my dander up. It's not that I avoid anger entirely, but I have indeed realized that a strong display of pissedoffedness just doesn't usually get you anywhere. And it feels bad to be this mad.

That said, I FUCKING HATE health insurance companies. I've been getting denied claims (or rather my providers have) because my current insurers have decided that I have other health insurance! And that that insurance is PRIMARY!

I'm getting (nice) calls from my providers, who want to get paid, understandably, for the services they've already given me. So I called my new insurance company, who seem to think that it's a good idea to include both Christian and war-related imagery in their logo and name. The color they use to brand themselves is even facial warpaint related. FUCKERS.

They told me that I indicated that I had a different primary insurance when I applied. I did no such thing. I asked them to send me a copy of that application for me to verify, and they refused.

So I get to jump through hoops. FUCKERS. Health insurance has fucked me approximately 9,000 times in the past, denying claims and preying on my admitted weakness of not being 100% on top of things at all times. I'm sure there are those out there that would say it's my fault for making mistakes or not filing things perfectly.

I say to those people: FUCK YOU. This health insurance is paid for, and it's the health insurance company's responsibility to pay for my stupid expenses if I am covered. WHICH I AM.

Nonetheless, I now get to rustle up some obscure piece of paper that says I am no longer covered by insurance company #1. In theory, I was sent this information. I have every piece of paper I've received over the last 6 months, so if I received it, I have it. If I didn't receive it, which is just as likely as not, then I get to try to finagle a copy of the paperwork from a company that is no longer responsible for my coverage. I'm no longer their client, so why would they want to do this in a timely fashion?

THEN I get to fax that piece of paper, provided I can even get it, to the new insurance company. I also have to make sure I use the correct information, using mysterious specific wording/triggerwords/keywords/phraseology in my fax. Cause you know, most people have fax machine readily available. They can't just take my word for it. NO. I get to run the insurance company gauntlet. I'm sure they hope I just give in. FUCKERS.

And in the meanwhile, I am ultimately responsible for the expenses I have. There's nothing stopping the providers from sending collections after me, unless they happen to have warm hearts.

The system we have to pay for health care is more than flawed. It's immoral. Imagine if I were to need urgent/emergency care right now. I'd be treated. But then I'd be asked to spend months after my recuperation time jumping through needless hoops. FUCKERS.

I'm so angry I am on the verge of tears. Hey, that's how I react to all strong emotions.

Growth

What's going on in the garden? Well, I'm so so glad you asked. What's that? You didn't ask? Oh well. here you go anyway.

I am in love. My garden is so cute. Somehow in the last week or so, plants have sprouted new fruits. I have eensy beans, tomatoes, and even one baby pepper. The swiss chard is glossy and red-veined and beautiful. The beet greens have turned out to be not green so much as burgundy. I read somewhere recently that this particular variety of beet is used as a dye.

If you've ever eaten too many beets at once, you'll know why.

The tomatoes seem to have gotten rid of their aphids, thanks to the insecticidal cottonseed oil I sprayed. I need to spend some time today looking everything over to make sure there're no new pests to manage.

The plants that have come from the seedlings I began inside are tending to be smaller and less hardy than the ones I bought when Jamie was here. I'm especially concerned about the Frigitello peppers; I'm not sure they've grown at all since I put them in 6 weeks ago. :-(

On the bright side, the Indian Stripe tomatoes I thought I had killed seem to have pulled through. One even finally has some buds on it! The patio tomatoes (Extreme Bush) are lush and green. So green, in the case of the one planted in a large pot in potting soil, that I realized it was probably time to prune them. You see, if the plant puts lots of effort into growing gorgeous foliage, there's less energy for the fruit. Which, as I'm sure you can imagine, is not ideal for my purposes. So I chopped off a couple of its arms. I'm still not entirely certain I can identify "suckers" (certain especially useless branches), so cross your fingers that I've not done too much damage to the plant.

It's supposed to rain this weekend. There's a tropical storm brewing, which is fantastic (so long as it's not too harsh). I've been irrigating my crops (heh. i like the sound of that!), so it's not like my garden is in harm's way (yet). But really, we need the rain. I hope I'm not jinxing it again.

The last laugh is indeed on me, though. I'm working this morning (after two 12-hour days in a row), and I'm also hoping the rain holds off long enough for me to cut my freaking grass. It's been two weeks, and the it's just too much for me. My front porch is also, apparently, under attack from some kind of very viny growth. I need to rip that out. I can do that in the rain, though. So I'll start with the...

Oh FUCK. I just witnessed a feline attack on a robin. Time to go rescue. Fuckity Fuck FUCK!

204 Million dollars for FY 2007

I tend to avoid talking about things that are divisive, because I find arguing tedious and annoying. So I won't mention how fucked up the Supreme Court's decision today is.

Instead I'll focus on something that people agree on. We don't want our teens to be getting pregnant because they're not yet physically or emotionally ready to handle the consequences.

Here's where the cognitive dissonance comes in, though.

The US Government has pumped and wants to continue pumping lots and lots of money into abstinence-only education.

IT DOESN'T WORK, PEOPLE!

What if I want to have sex before I get married?...Well I guess you'll just have to be prepared to die. And you'll probably take with you your spouse and one or more of your children with you --from abstinence-only educational video No Second Chance

Well, y'all. I guess I need to be prepared to DIE.



TO DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!