5 for Friday

1.You are on your way to work, when suddenly a wormhole to the far side of the galaxy opens in the middle of the road. You are thus the first to meet the alien being that emerges. Despite your protestations, you are now Earth’s unofficial First Contact ambassador. What will you say to the visitor?
I'd ask him if he had any questions. I'm really bad a supplying information unless someone asks a specific question.

2. A wandering trading caravan emerges from the wormhole. They plan to stay on Earth for a few weeks, and then will move on to the next planet and the next. Whatever you said must have really impressed them, because they offer to let you and a few other humans come along with them. The only catch is that the caravan probably won’t be back to Earth. Would you go? Why or why not?
No I would not. I'm  a big fan of Earth.

3. Suppose you decided to go. The master of the caravan will allow you to bring along whatever trinkets and baubles you think will sell on alien worlds, and will also allow you to bring exactly five other items that you may always keep. Clearly, he does not mean practical items like shoes or a toothbrush. What would you bring?
My computer and computer accessories, some chocolate, some other stuff I can't think of. 

4.Suppose you decided to stay home after all. The caravan master offers you a parting gift. You may choose among super-brain pills, a flying car, a robot butler, or an invisibility belt. Which would you choose and why?  Probably the invisible belt. I am nosy and would love to eavesdrop and watch people, or just hang out by myself in public places without people looking at me awkwardly like I'm some sad nobody. Second place is the brain pills, but I worry about the side effects of intense genius.

5. Suppose you ended up taking the super-brain pills. You now have a head the size, shape, and color of a watermelon. But you also now have the most fantastic mind the world has ever seen. What would be the first task you set it to?
Figuring out how to make my head not look so ugly and imposing.

Anna Duggar

I want to talk about Anna Duggar. Everyone is laughing about Josh Duggar being on Ashley Madison, but I want to direct it to Anna. Anna is in the very worst position she could possibly be in right now. She was crippled by her parents by not getting an education, having no work experience, or life experience for that matter, and then shackled to this loser. Yes his family is famous and yes they have money.  But she was taught that her sole purpose in life and the most meaningful thing she could do was to be chaste and proper, a devout wife and mother. Anna Duggar did that. She followed the rules that were imposed on her and this is what she got in reward.  A husband who molested his own sisters, but that he was also unfaithful to her in the very most humiliating way possible. While she was fulfilling her “duties” of providing him with four children and raising them.  She lived up to the standards that men set for her to be chaste and Godly and in return the “man” who demanded this from her sought out women who were the opposite. “Be this” they told her. She was. It wasn’t enough.
It seems men are born with power and we must teach our daughters that they do not have to be beholden to men. They do not have to marry a man that their father deems “acceptable” or to stay married to a man who proves himself UNACCEPTABLE. Educate your girls, give them the tools they need to survive on their own.  Josh Duggar should be cowering in fear of Anna right now. But he isn’t. He should be quaking in far that his house will fall down around him.
Anna you don’t deserve this and your children don’t deserve it. you are strong and you are capable I will respect any decision you make but for your sake I hope you leave.

5 for Friday

1. What is your morning routine?
I don't really have a morning routine. Right now it's get up around 9ish, start the computer, check e-mails, switch on the TV, watch news, brush teeth and such, make coffee. Then I usually just lounge until I really wake up fully around 11ish. 

2. What is your nightly routine?
The usual, brush teeth and such, check e-mails again, shut down the computer, go to bed sometime around midnight, watch TV, sleep.

3. Do you like to listen to the radio when you sleep or have it quiet?
I like to watch TV, before falling asleep.  I never turn it off  though. I started sleeping with the TV on when I was first divorced, it covers the noises in this old house and keeps me from being scared.

4. What do you like to sleep in?
I always sleep in a  long silky night gown.

5. What is the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning?
"Damn. I need coffee." Then “Yay I made it to another day”

Running low on Tolerance

 ...I miss Johnny Carson.

I never knew what his politics were. He was just funny.

These so called "late night comedians" today...Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert...they're just nags shoving their Leftist politics down our throats. 

They're not funny. They're boring.

Maybe it's the long winter that is getting to me.  Maybe it's just me.  Are any of you feeling the same?  Please tell me that I have some company in my little cranky world.

5 on Friday

1. What is your favorite song right now? Why?
for some reason I've been wandering around the house singing Etta James "AT Last" in a kind of Bill Murray-esque lounge-singer sort of way – I blame that commercial.

2. What genre of music makes you the happiest?
So many!! Singer/songwriters, Big Band Jazz, torch singers, techno dance music, blues...

3. What would you name your band and what kind of music would you play?
My band would be the "Tin Roof Merry All-Stars" - we play outsider and visionary music inspired by the desert, small mammals, and the forest. I'm the lead caterwaller.  We wear a fetish-inspired uniform designer clothing and at key points in the show, we all strip down to various states of undress and reveal vintage undergarments, and Yoko Ono occasionally sits in as a guest.

4. What is your favorite lyric of all time? Why?
My answer to this is it would have to be almost ANY Cole Porter lyric. How can you go wrong there?

5. What band/artist could you never live without? Why?
The Beatles. I love listening to them and their music to me is like breathing. I could  possibly live without them but why would you want to?

It is finally here .. 1st day of Kindergarten.

A little shy as usual but we think she is excited. 

Corbin started 8th grade today..

5 For Friday

1. If you could change one life-changing event in the life of someone important to you, would you?
Probably not. Life-changing events are there to be life-changing, and I might not like the altered result any better. 

2. Which do you think is easier to do, being friends for many years, or being life partners for many years?
I don't seem to be particularly good at either, so I don't claim any authority, but I would guess being friends. 

3. Have you ever walked away from someone you considered a friend?
Yes. And I should do it a little more quickly when I decide I need to. I have a history of getting myself into emotionally dangerous relationships. Sometimes, you can love someone but you cannot be around them.

4. If you had to choose between telling the truth and hurting a friend or lying and making them happy, which would you choose?
Before , it would have been a difficult choice, but now I am firmly grounded in the belief that honesty is more important than happiness.

5. Which would you rather hear--the truth which will hurt, or the comforting lie?
I would frankly rather hear the comforting lie, though I recognize that isn't the better option and I should opt for the truth. (And I would tell my own friends the truth). Part of this is that I recognize that I tend to reject the truth when given to me by others; I need to find it for myself. So I would rather not hear the painful truth, but discover it on my own and deal with it in my own way.