the best one today was checking my email to find out that according to Facebook's "We're Related" app, Barack Obama is my fourth cousin a few times removed.......
not so much, obviously.....but funny all the same.

My word is "kerfluffle"......I don't know the actual dictionary definition, something about a disturbance.  I use it for a descriptive when someone gets all up in arms over something.....in a commotion.  I call it being in a kerfluffle.

nm.merz-akademie.de/~helene.dams/icanhashistory/

Click the above....omfg funny

To everyone on ye olde flist--

I wish the happiest of winter holidays, whichever you celebrate...may you have peace and the wishes closest to your heart.

It's the 4th or 5th day without power for almost 110,000 people in Upstate New York.  The kids have school today, at least in Cohoes, but every other district around me, sans 1, for about 50 miles has no school.  There are still tree branches everywhere, and people are being told by the electric company that  they are responsible for the wires and poles that have fallen onto their property, regardless of who owns the lines or the branches that fell on them.  There are people spending Christmas money to keep some heat in houses to stop pipes from bursting.....others have given up and are staying in hotels and motels that are gouging patrons with fees of 120.00 per night per room.....and that's for the ones without kitchens.  4 days of restaurant food......4 days of no heat.....4 days of not knowing....and it still hasn't ended. 

Happy thoughts for upstate New York, folks.

There was a huge ice storm here on Thursday....most of the area lost power and heat....

I took this out in front of my house.  It amazes me how devastatingly beautiful nature can be.

Today is, of course, Pearl Harbor Day, some 67 years later.  I was in Orlando, Florida, in boot camp, for this day, in 1992.  I was the only person, in my company of 80, that knew what day it was.

For Pearl Harbor Day 1993, 1994, & 1995, I was honored to look out upon Pearl Harbor as the leis, one for every sailor, soldier, marine, and airman who lost his or her life, floated away from the resting place of the USS Arizona, released by widows, widowers, children, grandchildren, family members, legacy, in memory of loved ones lost in the bombings that day.  I was present, in my full dress whites, standing in full salute, during the full military honors accorded at Colors on one of those mornings.....it's humbling, so humbling.

As I read the verdicts from the trial of Sgt. Martinez, the soldier from two towns over, who was accused of fragging two fellow soldiers in 2005 in Iraq, I weep.  That's reminiscent of Viet-Nam....the "conflict" where our military members were spit on and beaten when they returned to the States.  Even now, as patriotic as the U.S. has become,   there are still folks coming back that are lost in VA paperwork.  I have 2 friends that are deploying within 6 months.  One leaves a wife and 2 children, the other his parents and friends.  Do I think that the new administration can stop this?  Probably not.  Not soon enough, anyway, for Jeff and Joe to stay home.

As I ponder Pearl Harbor, and the events of almost 70 years ago, it echos through my mind questions that I have heard about both conflicts--that we knew the attacks were coming, and all of that....
but you know, it doesn't matter.  The sailors, soldiers, airmen, and marines that are still alive from that era can look on the next generation, and feel pride.  I can, too.  As long as we all do, and never forget their sacrifices, regardless of what generation from which they come, those sacrifices aren't in vain.  You can disagree with me all you want, but the very principle with which you disagree is the one that allows you that right.  Ironic, isn't it?

Bold the things you've done :

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii (lived there, birthed little people there)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (ditched school to go there, regularly)
8. Climbed a mountain 
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumping
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (I am a bad New Yorker)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (but only if a naval vessel counts as the cruise ship)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (trying, Japanese is a bitch)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (which restored my faith that not all homeless are alcoholic--some are really just poor)
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (been in a Japanese Internment Camp, though--the pain and anguish that permeated the place....and the ghosts that only I could see....)
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square (bad, bad New Yorker)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone 
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (My late uncle was the Program Director at a Hartford CT radio station....need I say more?)  

92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

OK....you all know that I'm in retail.
That means I hate Black Friday...aka the day after Thanksgiving.
It typifies to me the greed that has made the Holidays suck.
I think it's hit the bottom...
Shoppers on Long Island trampled a man who worked at Wal-Mart to death this morning, three minutes after the store opened.  They caved in a metal door.  They **WOULDN'T LEAVE** because standing in line all day was more important than a human life. 

money.aol.com/news/articles/_a/bbdp/wal-mart-worker-trampled-to-death/262342  I think my linkie's broken, but cut n paste is good too


Oh.  My.  Gods, Goddesses, and all else that is holy.
 
I hate humanity sometimes. 

Pippi Longstocking.

Can you imagine being that girl??  I can.

When asked what should have been the national bird, my 6 yr old daughter wrote, verbatim:

"I think the eagle should be our national bird because they are brave.  The turkey is not are national bird because they look like a chicken."

So----my 14 year old had this issue with staying out of adult conversations....
the other half and I are having a discussion in which he is relaying to me a convo he had with a friend about whether he (my husband) would ever give me a rimjob (i don't ask why they were having this convo....it would hurt.).......

From my son's room I hear "EEEEEEEWWWWWW".
other half asks if my son even knows what a rimjob is......son says no.......husband explains in simple terms......son says, and I kid you not

"Ew......E. Coli....."

I fell out of my chair.

to s1ren 
(I'm late today!)

Ganked from everyone
These results are kinda eerie.....
( Click here to see what I mean )

Wow.

Sometimes the appropriate response to reality is to go insane.
  - Philip K. Dick

God, how true this is for me right now.....

God.....34.....

I think I'm having a tragedy.

I just realized that I've had this journal since 2003......
holy crap.

I have a hellish time with Hallowe'en every year, and usually end up scraping together something due to a lack of foresight and planning on my part. So....I went looking at Spirit Hallowe'en Storeand, as usual, everything plus-sized (because I am *fluffy*) was either too pricey or just....wrong. I mean, I have no issues with being fluffy, and I like looking sexy, but trying to look sexy at the cost of my dignity?? I don't think so.

Got me thinking, though......I can't dress at work (safety concerns) but I dress for trickytreating and parties......and the ideas of Geisha and Goddess intrigue me.....so I started googling, and looking at images....and then my brain went toward the "Incarnations of Immortality" series by Piers Anthony and landed on Mother Nature.....

look at this

I wonder if it's doable.....

I keep thinking about the choice that the Palin family made about releasing the news of Bristol's pregnancy.  I realize that when it comes down to it, they didn't really have a choice....as soon as she started to show, it was going to be clear.

That spawns other thoughts for me, though....I read a great commentary on CNN that should be a wake-up call to anyone who hides behind partisan or religious politics.  Conservatives are legislating to take away funding from programs that teach contraception and safe sex, and give that money to abstinence only programs...this is no surprise to anyone, I am sure.  Let's think a little more on that, though.....obviously, the abstinence-only teaching didn't make a difference in Bristol's case.  It doesn't, in fact, make a difference in about 54% of teenagers.....

I did a 10 minute long speech about abstinence and abstinence-plus (contraceptive) programs for my college public speaking class.  Aside from the religious slant to all of it, the idea is that parents will be involved, and guide their children appropriately.....this must not have been the case with the Palins, if all it takes to keep your kids from having sex is parental intervention......

Michael is 14.....he knows that I will buy him condoms the day he comes to me and tells me that he needs them.  I can hope from the depths of my soul that he not be sexually active that early, but I know that I can't expect, realistically, any different, and I'd rather him be able to tell me that he's knocking boots and be **safe** about it, then force him into hiding it and ending up with a pregnant girlfriend (who I will be dragging by the short hairs to Planned Parenthood [with her parents' permission] and fixing the problem)......I think it's unrealistic to EXPECT a child to abstain, though it is a best hope. 

I guess what I am mucking my way to is that instead of playing holier than thou or pointing fingers, our leaders as one need to join together and find solutions to the problem.  The Palin family should be an alarm, and a reality check, nothing more and nothing less.  And props to the candidates who verbalized leaving the children out of it.