Unpleasant words should never be spoken before nine in the morning. Unfortunately, those very hours lend themselves most easily to the formation of peevish complaints and easily misinterpreted remarks.
The best solution is surely to simply keep silent in those small morning hours and not put our loved ones through the uncomfortable situation of trying to be polite during those, the most uncivil, hours.

"You got the same father I got. A hobo just left on the midnight train and died, lost at sea."
- Charles Manson, to his son.

In one sense, mother is God in the eyes of a child, but in another, father is the most potent symbol of God simply by his absence.

I'm apparently awake now, and I am torn.
See, I really, reallly, realllly want a cup of Irish Breakast Tea, but I also really, reallly, reallly don't want to get out of my warm bed and put on clothes and go make it....

Sloth, thy name is Blue. Hahaha...

I can't wait for Backus to get home from work today! I don't like it when he works on his normal days off. Throws my morning cuddling schedule right off.
OK, I guess I'll brave the elements and go make that tea now. Maybe I can find a new book to read, too, wouldn't that just be decadent?

I can understand the back-lash. Every dictatorship knows you have to get them while they're young to ensure full complicity. The point of an oppressive system is never to encourage people to think for themselves.

http://freethinker.co.uk/2009/11/19/row-erupts-over-humanist-poster-in-belfast/

( Text for the linkphobic )

But this picture is definitely high on the list. When violence and murder is glorified and paraded, why do we seem surprised when our culture breeds psychopaths and sadists? If violence is good for some general/president/religious leader's reasons, then who is to tell someone else that it isn't good for their reasons? If murder is good when you say so, why not when I say so?
This picture is too eerily reminiscent of Eddie Adam's iconic Vietnam 'Execution' photo for my taste.
War and violence don't decide who is right or wrong, righteous or evil. Just who is left.



October 1943. Washington, D.C. "Boys watching the Woodrow Wilson high school cadets." Photo by Esther Bubley, Office of War Information.

In my late night desperate wanderings for something to read to take my mind off the fact I was still awake, I stumbled upon a copy of The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. It's a murder mystery/ history lesson/ philosophical dissertation/ ethical examination.
This has been one of my favorite books for longer than I can remember... I don't even know how many times I've read it. Unfortunately, about two years ago, my copy went AWOL. I think I actually squeaked a little when I dug it out from the back of the bookshelf ^.^
So I am happy as a pig in mud, reveling in the well-worn passages of my dear friend and putting my Latin to the test. No matter how many times I read this book, the discourse, arguments and philosophies are always new because I change and always have something fresh to bring to my interpretation of it and ponderings on it.

Back to my book, but I'll leave you with one of my favorite wry quotations:

" But why doesn't the Gospel ever say that Christ laughed?" I asked...
" Legions of scholars have wondered whether Christ laughed. The question doesn't interest me much. I believe he never laughed, because, omniscient as the son of God would have to be, he knew how we Christians would behave."

This put me in mind of Ghandi saying, "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."

Gotta love the Greeks.

Oh, and last but not least


Yup. That sums it up.

BTW: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cats_with_fraudulent_diplomas
Don't even pretend you've never thought of signing your cat up for college.

"Jesus loves the little zygotes
all the zygotes of the world.
Jesus loves them until they're born
then abandons them forlorn.
Jesus loves the little zygotes 'til they're born.

Jesus loves the little children
all the children of the world.
Jesus gives them heart defects
measles, mumps, and ringwormed necks.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Jesus lets their parents beat them,
bruise their bodies black and blue.
Jesus gives them birth defects,
scurvy, ticks, and palate clefts.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.

Jesus gives the children cancer.
Earaches, lice, and scabies too.
Bowel obstructions, altered lips,
blighted brains and twisted hips.
Extra chromosomes to help them when they pray.

Jesus gives the children acne.
AIDS and leprosy galore.
Germs and worms of every kind.
Things to make the children blind.

But he cannot give them smallpox anymore.

Scientists and unbelievers
wiped the pox right off the earth.
Jesus still gives gifts to kids,
broken nose and burnt eyelids.
But he cannot give them smallpox anymore."

Source: http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Jesus_loves_the_little_zygotes

This cracked me up in a big way =)

"No researcher, or writer, or even the FBI, however, has managed to make what now seems like a simple connection in the serial killer. It is well known that fantasy plays a large role in the life and motivation of the serial killer. And it is also widely accepted that the serial killer uses fantasy as a crutch, as a coping mechanism for day-to-day life. No researcher, however, has synthesized these two facts into a far more intriguing thesis. The serial killer, much like the chronic gambler and problem drinker, is addicted to the use of fantasy. So strong is this compulsion that the serial killer murders to preserve the addiction, in essence preserving his only remaining coping mechanism."

http://www.angelar.com/~jeremy/genesis.html

Mr. Anderson uses his well-written, well-reasoned, and well-researched paper to make a compelling argument for the acceptance of serial killing as an addiction. I enjoyed this paper immensely, but it is quite long, so if you're not genuinely interested in the topic you may want to skip this one ;)

"Since things neither exist nor don't exist,
are neither real nor unreal,
are utterly beyond adopting and rejecting -
one might as well burst out laughing!"

-Tibetan Nyingma Master Longchenpa Rabjampa - 14th century

I found this at www.worldprayers.org

It's things like this that remind me just how important that wall is.

"I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!"
-- Rev. Jerry Falwell

"Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith.... We need believing people."
-- Adolf Hitler, April 26, 1933

Found on http://edkrebs.com/herb/ A website for people who don't want to live in a theocracy.

Also, out of the past seven nights, I have not slept for four of those. This insomnia is whipping my ass.

"I am of the nature to grow old.
There is no way to escape growing old.

I am of the nature to have ill-health.
There is no way to escape having ill-health.

I am of the nature to die.
There is no way to escape death.

All that is dear to me and everyone I love
are of the nature to change.
There is no way to escape being separated from them.

My actions are my only true belongings.
I cannot escape the consequences of my actions.
My actions are the ground on which I stand."
-Buddha

I'm going to show you a paragraph of a House of Commons Library Research Paper (98/68)dated 19 June 1998. The paper is in response to a suggestion that the age of consent for homosexual men should be lowered from 18 to 16, and references legislation in 1967 which relaxed penalties for homosexual acts occurring between men over the age of 21. A Lord Arran, who was actually a sponsor of that 1967 Bill, had the following to say upon the passing of the Bill:

"I ask one thing and I ask it earnestly. I ask those who have, as it were, been in bondage and for whom the prison doors are now open to show their thanks by comporting themselves quietly and with dignity. This is no occasion for jubilation; certainly not for celebration. Any form of ostentatious behaviour; now or in the future any form of public flaunting, would be utterly distasteful and would, I believe, make the sponsors of the Bill regret that they have done what they have done. Homosexuals must continue to remember that while there may be nothing bad in being a homosexual, there is certainly nothing good. Lest the opponents of the Bill think that a new freedom, a new privileged class, has been created, let me remind them that no amount of legislation will prevent homosexuals from being the subject of dislike and derision, or at best of pity. We shall always, I fear, resent the odd man out. That is their burden for all time, and they must shoulder it like men - for men they are.[4]"

With friends like these, who needs enemies, right?
The whole research paper is rife with bigotry, the authors even use the oh-so-professional term of "buggery" throughout the entire formal paper. Sure, they're in England, but I'm pretty sure even in England "buggery" is derogatory slang, not a phrase you use in the freaking Parliament (and members of Parliament are who this paper was written for).
Also, I'm puzzled by the introductory note:

"This paper will use the terms 'homosexual' and 'gay' interchangeably. Strong views are often held on the terms used by those on both sides of the argument. It is not proposed to use the term preferred by radical gay activists of 'queer', nor is it intended to use the term MWHSWM (men who have sex with men) used by health workers to focus on sexual behaviour rather than sexual orientation."

While it's utterly unsurprising that they choose to say "You like 'queer'? We don't care." I do think it's sort of weird that their reasoning for not using MWHSWM is that it is "... used by health workers to focus on sexual behaviour rather than sexual orientation."
Isn't the whole point of this paper about legislation having to do with sexual behavior? Sure, it's specifically about people of a certain sexual orientation, but the real problem/issue is with the risky or illegal behaviors.

And this is in 1998, people, not 1898.
If you'll excuse me, I need to go find something chocolate.
http://www.geocities.com/richardg_uk/hoclaoc.html

From now on, pretty much all of my entries are going to be friend-only, so if you read my journal but haven't added me as a friend, now would be a good time.

Goodbye hot days of doom and gloom! Fall is fast on its way and I couldn't be more enthusiastic.
Bring on the pumpkin pie, cider and HALLOWEEN!!
Classes continue to go well, despite some small irritations. I'm busy, busy and that's what's important.

I'm out of Seroquel, so I only slept for a few hours before I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. Hooray. I'm going to have to have Backus make me one of his world famous sleepy-time teas or else this next week is going to be unbearable.
At least I have Overcompensating to keep me company.
Last night was really interesting in an intense kind of way. I don't really want to get into it in detail, but I got to talk to some people I haven't talked to in a long time and helped a friend realize something about herself that looks like it will really benefit her. I also had a conversation with someone else online that made me realize that there are people in the world who really listen to what I say, and it reminded me to do a little more thinking before I speak.
Also, I nursed a really drunk guy for a few hours. I figure it's no more than my dues after all the hours that people have spent nursing me when I was that drunk. What goes around comes around, etc.

First week of classes here at Naz. I am sore, I am tired, I am stressed out and I haven't been this happy in quite some time. This is productive stress and I am sooo thrilled to have things to DO again!
The older I get, the more I realize that I need pretty strict structure and regimen to be happy and feel stable. School provides that for me. My day becomes a series of accomplishments instead of a drawn out wasteland before I go to sleep again.
Also, there's a good chance the car will be back on the road soon! You can imagine how thrilled that makes me. I mean, it's OK catching a bus at 9:30 to get to school and getting there at 10 and then waiting an hour and a half for class, but it would be nice to be able to sleep in till 10:30 every so often! It would also make it possible for me to do things on campus during the evening, when taking a bus back home would be pretty untenable.
I've also decided to grow my hair back out. As much as I really loved having it shaved, I don't want my head to freeze in the winter. Right now it's a really awkward length and I really dislike it, but them's the breaks.