Cat Hilarity

Okay, this is too damn funny. I have embedded it at the bottom of my page as well; but omg. Someone had fun. :)



I particularly like the phoenetic spelling in the "kapshuns", which I must assume is intentional. Click on the pic, and you can scroll through one hilarious pic after another. Not easy to do surreptitiously at your desk, if you're at work. :)

Freddie's doppelganger

Mexican cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto is well-known for his innovative filmmaking. He has worked on pictures such as Brokeback Mountain, Babel, Alexander, Frida, and 21 Grams. If you have really sharp eyes, you'll have recognized him as the Mexican prostitute Jack picks up in El Paso, in the movie Brokeback Mountain. But what made me do a double-take is this:

Am I nuts, or does he look for all the world like Freddie Mercury?

Cuz I Yam What I Yam

Ever hear a song that just hits you at the right place, at the right time of your life, and becomes "your" song for a while? Not one you share with your partner; but your own personal mantra.

I have one. I don't know how I managed not to know this one till now (well, actually, I do; I don't listen to commercial radio much and *never* listen to Top 40 stations, so I'm always behind on the new music) because it's from 2002. It became my song this spring when I was going through some difficult times; at times I wondered whether I was being unreasonable, or expecting too much from others; sometimes I wondered whether I was completely crazy. Hearing this song, and reading the lyrics, reminded me that I can only be who I am, and unapologetically so. The lyrics honestly proved to be a catalyst during that hell; the "coincidence" of which reminds me of my husband's belief that there are no real coincidences. In any case, here it is:

Don't Ask Me Why - Seven and the Sun

Don't ask me why
Don't ask me to explain I will not try
I'm who I am
That's all you need to know
So let it go

I will not change for you or anyone at all
I'm who I am I'm all I ever need to know
And you know I'll never be afraid

Don't ask me why
Don't ask me to pretend I will not try
There's more to me
Then you will ever know or ever see

I will not change, no I will never compromise
I'm who I am I'm all I ever need to be
So let go or turn and walk away

What we are
What we are
We're deeper than the sea
Higher than the stars
The gods we long to be

What we are
What we are
We're beautiful you see
Brighter then the sun
We're all we need to be

PRIDE

How the mighty temperatures have fallen - brrr! Three days ago, it was 27 degrees and humid; today it's 11 degrees out! I'm all for a high-pressure system, but this is a bit ridiculous. Oh well - it won't last long and it makes for good sleep at night, I guess.

What's going on in my life now - I am a parade marshall for the Kingston Pride parade this coming Saturday! Whoop! I'm really excited - it's my first Pride event ever. Well, I've volunteered at the women's dances put on by SACK, but they aren't strictly Pride events, despite the fact that 99% of attendees are lesbian women.

As a straight supporter of LGBT rights, I recognize that I hold heterosexual privilege. As the saying goes, with privilege comes resonsibility. I feel a responsibility to contribute to providing a safe space for the lesbian, gay, bisexual ans transgendered individuals in the Kingston community to express their pride, their sexuality, their love, their joy, their defiance to the dominant paradigm; and I want to show my support publicly.

I feel it's worth posting a couple of links to relevant local resources; one is Out in Kingston, which has a long list of queer-positive spaces and organizations/meetings/meetups for the LGBT community. Another is Kingston Pride, which has information on this year's Pride celebration in our city.

I am proud to be able to make this small contribution to the Pride events this year. If you're in the area, please come out and support the parade; or the Pride parade in your area.

Report from the jungle

It is hot. And humid. While I'm not enthralled with it, my plants sure seem to be. They have jumped up several inches just in the last couple of days while it's been rainforest-like here. Hooray! My little back garden has tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and sugar snap peas. I have 3 front gardens; one has larkspur, portulaca, cosmos and sweet peas. One has foxglove, lavender, portulaca and something else I planted and can't remember the name of - it's a tall slim stem, with a purple spiky flower at the top, sort of like a clover but a bit more sparse. And the other has foxglove and portulaca. Along my back fence, I have planted some morning glories for privacy, as our property backs onto a alley which runs behind the university stadium. There is quite a bit of foot traffic through the alley - people out for exercise, people cutting through to reach their destination more quickly, kids loitering. I also have some sunflowers planted out there as well. Yay! Within a month or so things will be really jumping. :)

Life has been a little harried here lately; DH took a job in Westport as a head chef, but yikes. It wasn't for him, for many reasons; not the least of which is that it was an hour commute one way. He didn't stay. Today, however, he has his first "real" job through his personal chef business, booked through his website by someone who found him on Google! Yay!

Money has been tight and it's been a bit scary with B not having a steady job. Somehow I'm not that worried. I don't know why - I should be. I mean, yeah, it's there in the back of my mind, but I'm not freaking out. Maybe I've become desensitized to it; it's pretty much been the story of our lives for a good 18 months or so.

Kids are great; C is a little pissy with the humidity (like me) but that could also be because she's 3. J only has a few weeks left of school and then he'll be off for the summer. He's really looking forward to his time off. I don't think B is sharing his enthusiasm, though. :P

And as for me, I'm doing okay. I have just completed a week of holidays, which were really nice. Spent lots of time with B and the kids, and just relaxed. Slept in late a few days and enjoyed the week. I have been invited to join the board at the non-profit organization where I volunteer, as well as joining the Human Resources committee (hiring new staff, dealing with current staff), and that's quite an honour. :)

Emerging

I've had a rough time of things this spring. I have troubles with anxiety and depression, and though for the most part I keep it under control, this late winter and spring have been really difficult.

I'm so glad the warm weather is here. Mother's Day is the day after tomorrow and that is my traditional "gardening kick-off" each year, although this year I had some bulbs come up, since I actually got my butt in gear last fall to get some tulips, crocuses and grape hyacinths planted! The tulips are beautiful orange, and the grape hyacinths are, of course, purple. They look absolutely gorgeous! The tulips have just come into bloom and the others have just started poking their little purple bunches out. The crocuses were white and yellow and I have to admit, they were a bit of a disappointment. They were really tiny. I hope they do a bit better next year, being more "established" than this year.

I have several hundred kilgrams of dirt and shit in the back of my car. Literally. Six 30 litre bags of black earth, 3 20kg bags of sheep manure and 2 30 litre bags of organic compost. I am building a raised vegetable bed for the back yard. Well, more accurately, Brandon is building it and I will maintain it. It's going to have latticework up the back so that I have (a) some privacy from the neighbours, and (b) a place to grow sugar snap peas! I have six tomato plants which will be ready to be hardened off and transplanted within a week or two. I have a bunch of beautiful little lavender plants started; fox glove plants; and one of my favourites, larkspur. They're so tall and showy; and prettier than delphinium.

I never could have imagined, when I was younger, that I would enjoy gardening so much as an adult! My parents always had a HUGE vegetable garden and I would have to weed the long rows of onions, carrots, tomatoes, etc. and I hated doing it. Now that the gardens are mine, even weeding is enjoyable. I just love to putter around. Granted, my gardens are probably 1% the size of what my parents have, but I'm still a newbie. With a tiny yard, no less. I am making use of what little space I have. I love the work involved in helping beauty flourish.

Life has the potential to be so drab, if we let it. Spring, summer and fall colours do so much to brighten our lives, and knowing that it happened at my hands, makes my enjoyment increase almost immeasurably.

Report from the "No shit, Sherlock" files...

What? Abstinence-only sex ed doesn't prevent kids from having sex? That is shocking.

From here:

Federal Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Programs Not Proven Effective in Delaying Sexual Activity Among Young People
Final Report on Federally Funded Programs Released Today
NEW YORK, NY— After years of delay in its release, a federally supported evaluation of abstinence-only-until-marriage programs funded under the 1996 federal welfare reform law has proven the programs ineffective in changing teens’ sexual behavior. The report, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research Inc. on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found no evidence that abstinence-only programs increased rates of sexual abstinence. Also, students in the abstinence-only programs had a similar number of sexual partners as their peers not in the programs, as well as a similar age of first sex.

“This report should serve as the final verdict on the failure of the abstinence-only industry in this country,” said William Smith, vice president for public policy of the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS). “It shows, once again, that these programs fail miserably in actually helping young people behave more responsibly when it comes to their sexuality,” Smith continued.

In 1996, the federal government attached a provision to the welfare reform law establishing a federal program for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. This program, Section 510(b) of Title V of the Social Security Act, dedicated $50 million per year to be distributed among states that choose to participate. States accepting the funds are required to match every four federal dollars with three state-raised dollars (for a total of $87.5 million annually, and $787.5 million for the eight years from fiscal year 1998 through 2006). Programs that receive the Title V funding are prohibited from discussing methods of contraception, including condoms, except in the context of failure rates.

On a call yesterday organized by the Abstinence Clearinghouse, abstinence-only proponents were clearly rocked by the potentially ruinous news in the report. High profile abstinence-only advocate, Robert Rector, led the preemptive damage-control planning. He outlined several strategies the abstinence-only movement could use to rationalize the findings in the report saying, “The other spin I think is very important is not [program] effectiveness, but rather the values that are being taught,” Rector said. Whether or not these programs work is a “bogus issue,” Rector continued.

“Whether or not these programs are effective is the single most important issue. Existing research has already shown that comprehensive programs that include messages about both condoms and abstinence have been proven effective, and yet, federal and state governments continue to dump millions of dollars into abstinence-only-until-marriage programs that are not effective, and, in fact, have been shown to cause harm,” continued Smith.

Eight states have already made the decision to refuse Title V money. The overwhelming feeling in these states has been that the money came with too many strings attached, was ineffective in achieving its goals, and promoted extremist policies. Even with increasing numbers of states recognizing the waste and futility of the Title V spending, a federal legislative solution is still needed to ensure that proven, comprehensive sexuality education gets the funding it needs.

“This Congress has a momentous opportunity to end the charade and use these federal funds to support programs that actually work,” said Smith. “We fully expect this Congress to look at the government’s own commissioned evidence set forth in this report and end funding for these failed and ideologically driven programs,” Smith continued.

The program under scrutiny in the report is set to expire on June 30, 2007 unless Congress takes some action to extend it.

I have nervous tulips

Okay. What is with the weather? It's April 12 - and we've had more days with snow this month, than days without snow. Last fall I actually got my arse in gear to plant some bulbs (tulips, crocuses; I think maybe some hyacinths? I guess I'll find out), and they have poked their heads up, but every time they start to stretch up a bit, they get snowed on. They're scared to grow; and, frankly, I don't blame them!

Last weekend I put up a little green wire fence around my bulb bed, as I noticed people walking through it. My attempt was half-arsed at best and the fence had fallen over within a few hours. My neighbour, with whom I share a walkway and the flower bed, has been good enough to put up a nice little white plastic one to keep people out. Thanks, Brad & Jenn! (Yeah, not that Brad and Jenn, obviously)

Hubby and I have a date night tomorrow night. Woot! We desperately need it. I think we're going to go see Blades of Glory and then hit a restaurant.

Qui est Amadou et Mariam?

From Wikipedia:

Amadou and Mariam are a musical duo from Mali, composed of the couple Mariam Doumbia (vocals) (born in Mali's capital Bamako 15 April 1958) and Amadou Bagayoko (guitar and vocals) (born in Bamako 24 October 1954). The pair, known as "the blind couple from Mali" met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, and found they shared an interest in music...The duo produces music that mixes traditional Mali sound with rock guitars, Syrian violins, Cuban trumpets, Egyptian ney, Colombian trombones, Indian tablas and Dogon percussion. All these elements put together have been referred to as "Afro-blues".

(I had to look up where Mali is; it's in West Africa, bordered by Senegal, Burkina Faso, Algeria and Niger, among others)

Recently discovered this couple, courtesy of Launchcast. Their album Dimanche a Bamako (Sunday in Bamako) is fantastic. My favourite right now: Politic Amagni.

Their official website can be found at Amadou-Mariam.com; it defaults to French but can be displayed in English as well.

Rain, rain...stay as long as you like

It's pissing rain out. It's grey and miserable and I love it. Thank goodness spring has turned the corner.

I'm chatting online with my friend Cat who lives in Vancouver and is currently trekking in Europe. Right now she's working at a place north of London. Weather over there is apparently pretty sucky too; but with high winds. I prefer the rain. :)

The Sloganizer

Tired.

I am having trouble sleeping. I don't know why. It's unusual for me to have trouble getting to sleep, but the last four or five nights have been brutal. Last night it was after 1:30 before I finally got to sleep. It's brutal.

My celebrity lookalikes

Interesting! What's funny is that I've always thought Alicia Silverstone looks like my cousin Emily; and that Julia Stiles looks like my sister Julie; and that Lynda Carter looks like my aunt Neva. Cool!

Never was one for the quick up-take

I have made a discovery. Chet Baker. Yes, he has been dead for 19 years. He is just fab. West coast jazz is where it's what, cool cats.

Kinda looks like Chris Isaak, dontcha think?

Download this: entire album, "Chet Baker In Paris", ca. 1956. It's fab.

Have had way too much red wine and it's almost 2 a.m. Off to bed.

Your Quirk Factor: 36%

You have a few little quirks, but you generally blend in well with society. Only those who know you well know how weird you can be.

How Quirky Are You?

LOL So true!

Another blogthing

You Are a Coy Flirt

You may not seem like you're flirting, but you know exactly what you're doing. You draw people in, very calculatingly, without them even knowing. Subtle and understated, you know how to best leverage your sex appeal. A sexy enigma, you easily become an object of obsession.

What Kind of Flirt Are You?

Hidden attributes

The Part of You That No One Sees

You are powerful, passionate, and dominant. You have a vision of how things should be, and you do your best to make things happen. People rely on you for your strength. You are a rock to many. Underneath it all, you aren't so sure about your passions. So many ideas spark your interest, it is hard for you to get behind a select few. However, you see indecision as a sign of weakness. So you pursue your goals full force - no matter how foolish they turn out to be.

What's the Part of You That No One Sees?

Hmmm. Interesting.

Home

Back from Toronto. Can't tell you how glad I am that I don't live there. I was so glad to get home last night and just chill on the couch with Brandon, see my kids this morning... It's fun to visit once in a while, but with throngs of people teeming everywhere, all the time, Toronto is just not my style.

Hooray for Kingston. Congrats and welcome home to the young man (whose name I totally didn't get) who I sat beside on the train last night, who was returning to Kingston and to his wife after 5 weeks visiting Rome, Italy. Now there's someone who may even have been more happy to get home than I was.

There's no place like home.

Taking a few days off

Well, I'm officially on holidays; yesterday was my allergy study which I *really* didn't count as holidays. Definitely not a holiday.

Tomorrow I have some stuff to do around the house, and some shopping to do to get ready for my trip to "Trawnna". Tuesday morning I'm going with J on his school field trip; they are going to a conservation area to see how maple syrup is made. J already knows how, having an great-uncle that does that very thing north of the city, but he's looking forward to it nevertheless.

Then I get back from there, and I catch the train to The Big Smoke at 2:30-ish. Won't be back till late on Wednesday; and then I'm going to tackle the basement on Thursday-Friday. Lucky me. It won't know what hit it.

So I'm going to take a few days off from internet et al, aside from checking bank balances, etc.

Catch ya on the flip side. :)

Snow/ice/rain day

Schools in our district were closed today due to crappy weather. Okay, I'll admit the weather seemed pretty nasty first thing this morning. But really, by the time any of the buses would have been on the road, everything was just wet and sloppy. So my six-year-old spent the day at work with me. He was really pretty good, all things considered. Somehow, though, I'm still exhausted.

Going to bed early tonight and then selling my body for medical science tomorrow.