turns out - I'M NOT REALLY MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW! get this.
i had a table the other night at work. two tennis playing ladies and a friend. they're in their mid-twenties*** and i waited on them one other time. the guy was fun - i think because he doesn't play tennis over there. kidding. anyway, this time they were talking about marriage when i got the the table with their drinks. the guy asks me what age i think people should get married, and if i'm married.
me: "yup. i'm happily hitched, with an awesome wee dude to boot!" dude: "how old were you?" me: "30." dude: "do you think people should wait until they're older?" me: "i guess it depends, but sure! i'm VERY glad i didn't end up in unity with any of the yahoos from my younger years. i had stuff to figure out first." girl 1: blank stare girl 2: blank stare dude: "see?"
who knows. i often stumble into these conversations.
i go back in and realize i'm a big old liar. i go back to the table to set the record straight.
me: "ok, i wasn't 30 after all." girl 1: "oh?" me: i laugh, "we never remember our anniversary - i have to call my mom! no, we got married when i was 29. no. wait. i was 28" dude: laughing "which is it?" girl 2: blank stare girl 1: "what do you expect from someone that can't remember her anniversary." me: "welll, it is in october. i know that. see, we hadtwo different ceremonies- i don't have a religion, so my part was just he and i with no one officiating. his part was a short 10 minute deal in the catholic church. so we celebrate the anniversary between the two ceremony dates." girl 1: "wait a minute! have you ever been baptised?" me: "nope." girl 1: "well, you're not really married. the first sacrament is baptism, and if you've never been baptisied then you can't be married in the catholic church. your husband is ruined too because of this." dude: laughing his ass off. girl 2: blank stare girl 1: no! seriously! i looked into it when i was dating this guy i wanted to marry and he had never been baptised so i broke up with him!" me: thinking, lucky, lucky, LUCKY guy. me: "so you mean to tell me that not only am i going to hell, but so is my partner?" dude: laughs so hard beer shoots from his nose girl 2: blank stare girl 1: "pretty much. can i order some spinach artichoke dip?"
while i'm inside ringing in the food, they have two others join them. i go back out to the table.
"hi! the heathen is back to fetch you some drinks!"
i. kill. me.
girl 1: blank stare girl 2: blank stare girl 3: blank stare girl 4: blank stare dude: more beer shoots out of his nose.
i whip out my picture of bebe and ask the girl with the direct hotline to mary and god or whomever, "what does all of this mean for this little guy?"
she replies with a grimace.
me: "oh no! him TOO?!?!?!"
i leave them be. and go back inside to tell my equally heathen co-workers about it and laugh.
this is why i love "guests" like these instead:
the woman has a shirt on that says, "i make up stuff."
LOVED it. i told her that i wanted one, but i wanted it to say, "i make up stuff in my head" since i do that fairly often.
the guy with her thought that was really funny, and we all ran with the fun for a few minutes.
guy: maybe we could just keep adding on to it - i make stuff up. in my head. on tuesdays." me: "only during odd numbered years." guy: "while i'm in the bathroom." me: "scrubbing out the toilet."
you get the picture.
of course i forgot what beer he ordered by the time i made it back to the machine to ring it up. i went back and forth between newscastle and pale ale, in my head, and chose pale. even though it didn't seem right. i took the drinks over.
"this doesn't look like newcastle, it looks like pale ale!"
"it IS pale ale. see? i TOLD you i make stuff up in my head! ahhhh, i LOVE the circular joke that just won't die!" more laughin, more FUN! no hell to banish me and mine to!
*** i'm not carding to be mean. if i do, you look young enough. i'm old, in bar years. we can be shut down and i can have my serving license swiped for all of eternity and be fined if liquor control shows up unannounced and decides to card people randomly - which they love to do. if i've served you and you don't have you i.d. on you - i get to pay more money. no fun. i know you're 22 and you shouldn't be persecuted like this, but...
it's my blog and i'll cry if i want to, cry if i want to...
ok, so i'm not really crying so much as i'm having a moment. and it's not really so much as i'm having a moment, as i'm having moments that are magically running together to create something new entirely ... remember that existential crisis i mentioned aways back? well, here. we. go.
it started in earnest a few weeks ago, although it is something that i find myself constantly struggling with. it is always in the back of mind, no matter what. it's just this time, it's different. more demanding of my attentions, more pressing then ever before.
i promise that while this post has the potential to reach the epic-length proportions that why i speak out did, i'm going to do my bestest to keep this one short. (thanks, by the way, to everyone who actually read that one from beginning to end. i didn't realize how long it was until a few days later when i looked at my page! eek!)!
but i digress. even though this post and that post are both closely tied. again, i digress. someone STOP me!
so, anyway, this started a few weeks ago, while talking toisland amazonon the tele for the first time, at long last. i'm not even sure of what exactly sparked it, but i started having thoughts about my wee little footprint in/on the world about how i try my hardest to walk the talk, but i still have massive shortcomings. everything that i deem to be "right" in my perspective is so damn expensive and difficult to come by on a day-to-day basis - not to mention completely inaccessible to the majority of the world's peoples. i do what i can, but i don't feel like it's nearly enough.
i was thinking about how nice it would be to grow my own food organically, to live off of the power grid, to be with my beautiful partner and bebe and friends in a place free from violence and war (a world in harmony!), to not have to have a car, to have elected officials actually listen to me/us, on and on and on. these are the dreams that fill my head. i feel lucky that i even have these dreams, simply based on where i happened to be born in the world and to whom i was born to. i feel selfish and ridiculous for even complaining -yet seemingly simple actions like buying even a drop of gasoline unsettles me.
a few days later, i was still thinking about it all when i spy the jesus people with their pamphlets swooping down into my 'hood to tell me how awful i'am, and how i can be saved. i didn't answer the door when they got to me.
i started to wonder if my activism is the same thing? am i just constantly pushing my world view down other's throats? are they hiding in their homes from me? who do you think you are, anyway!? then - oh. god. i'am thatwatchtowerpusher. but different?
absolutely. horrified. by the thought.
of course, at that very moment , i looked out the window and who should happen to be driving by but thejesus carman... perfect. (the picture isn't really clear, but there literally is just enough room inside for him to squeeze in and drive. the passenger and back seats are piled to the ceiling with random stuffed animals and whatnot. LOTS of whatnot.)
commence whirlwind of thoughts:
i know that i have to sell myself out on some level to be a member of this society - it's just the least amount of doing so that i want to have to do to get by. i'm not doing enough in my own life to live as i envision - in the same breath, i feel trapped by societal and monetary constraints. i've grown weary of being re-active to corporations, government, industry, popular culture and evil doers (not theirs, ours) - yet, i have no idea where to even begin being pro-active given the severe damage already done. i have a government that is supposed to do my bidding, but doesn't. or do they? am i really that much in the minority? i'm surrounded by industry dumping massive amounts of poison into the environment - and they continue on, funded in part by me. simply because i'am here. am i perceived to be filled with self-righteous indignation? i know that i'am no better than anyone else...
i suppose i could subscribe to a big cable package and instead fill my days with episodes ofthe real housewives of orange county, aspire to be one, and just throw in the towel.
kidding.
i know the answer isn't to just hole up and ride the proverbial storm out (i.e. sit around and wait to die), given my inability to keep my mouth shut and my uber-sensitivity to everything that surrounds me. i know i wouldn't be able to stay away for very long - there is no turning back once you know. but i don't want to be "that watchtower guy" that preaches "redemption" in kara-land either. in so many ways, activism "saved" me, becoming more involved in the world, educating myself, realizing my place/duty in it all, finding strength and peace through being actively involved. is activism really a mirror image of organized religion, an entity that i've never been able to get with? and if it is, what does that mean? am i nothing more than a hypocrite? i just don't know.
i thought if i got this all out of my head, something would miraculously surface.
i'm waiting...
i do know this - we all have chosen a "side," someone/thing to pledge our allegiance to - be it god, money, survival or nature. we the people of the world have been divided and conquered - long before any of us were even born. and in the immortal words of bebe, "me no liiiiiiike it."
You are beyond wise. You are so smart, you're almost prophetic.
Your inner voice always speaks the truth, and you take the time to listen to it.
You are good at seeing who people are... including the darkness of others.
As a result, you tend to have a rather dark - yet realistic - outlook on life.
A: Carbon dioxide and other air pollution that is collecting in the atmosphere like a thickening blanket, trapping the sun's heat and causing the planet to warm up. Coal-burning power plants are the largest U.S. source of carbon dioxide pollution -- they produce 2.5 billion tons every year. Automobiles, the second largest source, create nearly 1.5 billion tons of CO2 annually.
Q: Is the earth really getting hotter?
A: Yes. Although local temperatures fluctuate naturally, over the past 50 years the average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate in recorded history. And experts think the trend is accelerating: the 10 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1990. Scientists say that unless we curb global warming emissions, average U.S. temperatures could be 3 to 9 degrees higher by the end of the century.
Q: Are warmer temperatures causing bad things to happen?
A: Global warming is already causing damage in many parts of the United States. In 2002, Colorado, Arizona and Oregon endured their worst wildfire seasons ever. The same year, drought created severe dust storms in Montana, Colorado and Kansas, and floods caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Texas, Montana and North Dakota. Since the early 1950s, snow accumulation has declined 60 percent and winter seasons have shortened in some areas of the Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington. Of course, the impacts of global warming are not limited to the United States. In 2003, extreme heat waves caused more than 20,000 deaths in Europe and more than 1,500 deaths in India. And in what scientists regard as an alarming sign of events to come, the area of the Arctic's perennial polar ice cap is declining at the rate of 9 percent per decade.
Q: Is global warming making hurricanes worse?
A: Global warming doesn't create hurricanes, but it does make them stronger and more dangerous. Because the ocean is getting warmer, tropical storms can pick up more energy and become more powerful. So global warming could turn, say, a category 3 storm into a much more dangerous category 4 storm. In fact, scientists have found that the destructive potential of hurricanes has greatly increased along with ocean temperature over the past 35 years.
Q: Is there really cause for serious concern?
A: Yes. Global warming is a complex phenomenon, and its full-scale impacts are hard to predict far in advance. But each year scientists learn more about how global warming is affecting the planet, and many agree that certain consequences are likely to occur if current trends continue. Among these:
1. Melting glaciers, early snowmelt and severe droughts will cause more dramatic water shortages in the American West.
2. Rising sea levels will lead to coastal flooding on the Eastern seaboard, in Florida, and in other areas, such as the Gulf of Mexico.
3. Warmer sea surface temperatures will fuel more intense hurricanes in the southeastern Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
4. Forests, farms and cities will face troublesome new pests and more mosquito-borne diseases.
5. Disruption of habitats such as coral reefs and alpine meadows could drive many plant and animal species to extinction.
Q: Could global warming trigger a sudden catastrophe?
A: Recently, researchers -- and even the U.S. Defense Department -- have investigated the possibility of abrupt climate change, in which gradual global warming triggers a sudden shift in the earth's climate, causing parts of the world to dramatically heat up or cool down in the span of a few years.
Q: What country is the largest source of global warming pollution?
A: The United States. Though Americans make up just 4 percent of the world's population, we produce 25 percent of the carbon dioxide pollution from fossil-fuel burning -- by far the largest share of any country. In fact, the United States emits more carbon dioxide than China, India and Japan, combined. Clearly America ought to take a leadership role in solving the problem. And as the world's top developer of new technologies, we are well positioned to do so -- we already have the know-how.
Q: How can we cut global warming pollution?
A: It's simple: By reducing pollution from vehicles and power plants. Right away, we should put existing technologies for building cleaner cars and more modern electricity generators into widespread use. We can increase our reliance on renewable energy sources such as wind, sun and geothermal. And we can manufacture more efficient appliances and conserve energy.
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