rinalia

Think lots of good thoughts for Miss MIna. She is scheduled for a cyst removal, radiographs and a tooth extraction next Monday, the 4th.

I'm already worried, bleh.

Went to see Sedaris read in Berkeley.

Waited in line with my friend to get her book signed.

Conversation that followed:

Sedaris (S): Hi, what's your name?
Friend (F): <<NAME>>
S: And your friend?
Me: <<NAME>>
S: Do you want some cookies that a fan made for me?
*F and Me glance at each other*
Me: Um, no thanks. I'm vegan.
F: Me too.
S: *pause* Oh, really? *begins drawing a caricature in friend's book*
Me: Yes, really.
S: *tells us a story about a church in Texas where he 'found' Jesus*
*F and Me cast "huh?" glances at each other*

Sedaris then presents the book back to my friend. He had drawn a picture of Jesus with a bubble that said "I died on the cross for you."

We laughed the entire way back to the car. I mean, did he think veganism was a cult of Christianity? Or that we looked like the  Jesus-types? Or what? It was entirely weird and completely overshadowed his humorous readings.

I've been a bit perplexed as to why a dude who bombed two empty buildings was added to the FBI's list of "most wanted terrorists".

Is it because we need to show the world that we too have home-grown terrorists? Is his vegan diet a threat to national security? Will his capture end the terrorist acts of blowing up empty buildings and cars?!?

I'm not going to argue in support of San Diego's actions - I'm not a fan of detonating bombs, no matter how just the reason behind the act may be (and I do believe fighting against research on animals is a noble cause, don't try to argue on that point with me, mkay). I won't even argue that his actions could be construed as "terrorist" in nature.

What baffles me is who he's being clumped with.

He's on the same list as folks who have:
- hijacked an airplane, killing one person
- killed 19 and injured more than 350 in the Khobar towers attack
- detonated a 1,500 lb bomb and killed 6, injured 1,000 in the 1993 World Trade Center attack
- killed more than 200, injured more than 4,000 in the 1998 United States embassy bombings
- killed 17 american sailors in the USS Cole attack
- started/participated in a jihad movement that has killed hundreds of people

And then there's San Diego who's sole claim to fame is setting two pipe bombs that caused minimal property damage and injured no one.

Yes, he was in the wrong. Yes, it was an illegal act. Yes, it was an act to financially inflict damage on a company. Yes, it was probably an act to frighten employees and researchers.

But should it be the type of activity that warrants being placed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list? I don't think so, and I think, given the egregious acts of violence perpetrated by those already on the list, it's almost laughable that San Diego is included. Almost.

Happy Emo Day - I hope it was as woeful for you as it was for me.

Weeping tears of melancholy,

Mina

It was 95 F today, which Mina felt was perfect weather for sunbathing out front. Celeste thought she was a silly-nilly for such a notion. Me too, actually.

The heat did inspire frozen grapes and semi-frozen beer which work well in hot weather. So does an avocado sammich with sprouts and vegenaise and lemon juice. Yum.

According to weather.com, tomorrow will be 97 and Friday will be 64. Mother nature loves us.

Well, I guess it's technically not a redux for this journal since I've neglected posting some of the Mina and Celeste stuff here. But whatever. You'll have to visit their blog to read more, hahahahahaha. HA! That's how I roll, people.


I'm hot
And I don't just mean good-looking, which I am. I mean, it's 94 right now when it's supposed to be 74. This is a picture from 2008 showing how I feel about hot days.

I like them. A lot. They make me smile and I can stretch luxuriously in the grass, bathed in glorious sunlight.

I am a bibliophile
You may not have known this, but I am, in fact, a lover of books. And no, not just books I can eat (according to the minion, that is none).

Here is some evidence of me and my love of books. This is a whole stack of books, and I am ITCHING to dig in and read my little pit bull heart away.

But what is this? I do not have opposable thumbs? These pages do not turn themselves? Wait, I cannot read? What is this tomfoolery?

Woe
This is where I imagined myself today - out in the green, verdant fields gazing wistfully off into the distance.

Instead, I'm sitting behind the minion, glaring daggers as she writes this post for me.

I has the grasses!
Hi everyone, it's me TEAM CELESTE!!!!1!! and I has grasses!!! Here is a pictures of me with the grasses! My most awesomest of sisters says I look like a devil hounds, but I tells her that if I was a devils hound than that makes her a devil hounds sisters!!!! She says I'm not her real sisters, I says the bonds of sisterhoods knows no genetic markers!!

The EPA has just announced something that leading scientists have known for decades: Greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride are, like, a total drag on our ozone layer and pose (or may, according to the EPA) health hazards.

The agency responsible for allowing factory farms and big-time polluters to keep running our earth into oblivion is now acknowledging that maybe some of the shit these places produces is problematic. Well, thanks, I guess. I'm sure the future generations who won't be here will be thrilled to know that, in our last hour, America's environmental protection agency stepped up to the plate! Kudos.

Here's my little "how you can help" slip-in: Stop eating meat, drinking milk and eating eggs. I don't think you'll find a single more polluting, exploitive and resource-intensive industry. Water use and pollution. Soil degradation and destruction. Deforestation and desertification. Air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Disease, cancer, death. By it's very nature, animal exploitation and abuse. There is my public SAVE MY EARTH service announcement for the day.

Vacaville is having a anti-tax tea party across the street from me. Tragically, there is no actual tea. I would have attended and cheered rambunctiously had they had tea. Because I am all about the tea, for real.

ETA: Oh yes, they are doing the event in a public park funded by something called taxpayers dollars. And they are having a Fairfield councilwoman speak who's paycheck is paid for by, you know, taxpayers. Ha. WIN!



Vacavillians get down for the anti-tea tax party...or, anti party tax! Something like that.


Every time I read this sign, I keep mis-reading it as "Join the tax death tea party" which I like a lot better than the tax day tea party.

For a few reasons on why I think this whole tax tea part shit is silly, behold:

Tax Day is becoming a day of national protest for groups of angry Americans who are against vague things like "taxes," "big government," and "huge spending." Dubbed "tea parties" by the loose confederation of irate citizens against the previously mentioned acts, these events are planned to take place today in all 50 states in at least 300 locations. While clearly a right-wing phenomenon, many people see these grass roots gatherings as simply the mass outcry of racist, uninformed voters who just don't like Obama. They are ironically protesting the tax hikes that Republican President Bush levied on the middle class while he was in office, while at the same refusing to give the current president's new policies a chance to work.

Read more - just saying.

OR

Before a crowd that organizers claimed was 15,000 to 20,000, but these experienced ex-advance man's eyes saw as about 3,000, a parade of right-wing personalities used tax day to decry taxation, government, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and President Barack Obama with a rally outside California's state Capitol in Sacramento.

The event, like other so-called tea parties around the country, was heavily promoted by the Fox News channel, right-wing talk radio hosts, and the right-wing blogosphere.

America is going socialist and surrenderist. Obama is a Manchurian candidate. Schwarzenegger is a closet socialist. The federal government is both totalitarian and weak - a tough combination to pull off - and the end is nigh.

Read more

Huffington Post has lots of stuff on it. So does Fox, but I will not link to them thank you.

Click to see larger versions.