Way to go Mary!

It's been an interesting work week. My coworker's last day was last week, and I've been swamped with work. I've gone from being indifferent, to being stressed, to being happy. It's bizarre. But ultimately, it came down to a decision to take control of situation and mold it the way I want it to be, and not how my boss, or the campuses, or anyone else wants it to be. It's amazing the amount of control people will hand over to you, and all you have to do it grab it and make it your own. . .

Alison, yeah! I finally got on here!

As for stories to tell, I've got one...let me think. Umm, so I'm a teacher, right? Subbing around Madison Schools. So I see and meet a lot of kids. Well, I'm planning a big move to Montreal in May, yeah I'm finally going to do it. My reasons at first included because I wasn't feeling happy where I was at, I wanted to be somewhere new and exciting, and I felt that a challenge would be good for me. However now I've realized that none of those reasons really matter. I am moving to Montreal because I feel like it. I have always wanted to learn another language and be part of the French culture. The dance scene there is incredibly inspiring and rich. And the funding for the arts in Canada is tremendous. And then recently I saw the movie, Etre et Avoir, To Be and To Have, a beautiful, idealistic film about a one room schoolhouse in the countryside of France. Seeing these little ones speaking French and learning about life made me realize that that is what I want as well!!! And my decision to move to Montreal was solidified. As soon as I get there I'm going to find a teaching job so that I can practice my French with the little ones as well!

So it took a bit of search and struggle, and then a major realization that there was nothing to look for...and the answer was simple and beautiful. Do what you want, be smart about it, and get out of your head and listen...your heart and your gut will guide you.

Ya, I am going to go ahead and post another discussion point because really I have no reason to go home after my cable tv was discovered to be illegal and cut off...

Conspiracy Theory

How is that our dear dictator, President Bush for those who have been sleeping under a rock for the last four years, decides to start running his multi-million dollar re-election campaign the same week as: he drops bombs on Kerry’s reputation, have the media report that they are near capturing Usama bin Laden (its spelled with a “U” not an “O”), and good ol’ Ralph Nadar AKA “democrat killer” decides to “run” for president, more like fuck up the race, but that’s cool this is America you can do whatever you want except say “BOMB” on, in, around, near, 15 miles away from an airport or airplane.

Does anyone else see something weird here???

It seems the only way to have fun in Prescott (Valley), Arizona besides have a few drinks! is to fuck with a cop and get pulled over, however, one must skilled enough not get a ticket as I was able to avoid on Monday night.

As the story goes...Apparently ,cops dont like it when you repeatedly flash your brake lights at them at the stop light, then go five over the speed limit (just to show them that you know that they are there, because you dont care and are not like every other tool in the town that slows down to 5 below the limit whenever a cop makes an appearance!), then make several random right turns to see if they are actually following you, which they are, only to get pulled over. However, having a squeaky clean driving record, thanks to the OPRF drivers ed class! and being absolutely charming...only coming naturally, good genes i guess...can one not obtain a ticket. Question thou? How is it that a cop needs to ask for the passenger's ID and ask if they are from the area? I can see how one would question the driver with out-of-state plates and license (because I refuse to have anything related to the state of Arizona on me and my pop's car). Oh well.

Either way, after waiting 15 minutes for the cop to run my plate's, finding nothing, and discussing how my sun roof leaks when it rains, the horrifying, yet entertaining experience was over! Although, it did prompt a call home to tell my mom all about it.

Only 10 more days till I got to see the Cubs Spring training game with lawn seats for JUST 5 bucks and a cooler full of beer AND 13 more days until I return home!

Regretfully the sorryness of this story endes here, back to having fun in AZ, you know what that means! Charity Work!

Hey! Monkey Foo, claire's fantabulous band, finally has an album cover! Check it out here.

This one is a little less random...

Confucius said,
"The people may be made to follow, but may not be made to know."

Fitz

Everyone please to to VoteNader.org and tell Ralph Nader to pull out of the race. PLEASE.

Confucius says:

"When browsing the web, check out new images on the Page of Fun."

I watched the Animatrix today.
Damn.
The New Hotness.

Confucius said,
"When not in the official position, do not be involved with its
policies."

Randomness from your brother

I'm sorry Jen. I hope you can find someone else who will make you feel as proud to be an American

musical interlude:
after hearing tons about stellastarr* i finally went out and bought their cd and heartily recommend it. They kind of have an 80s new wave pop sound that I like.... anyone else got good music recommendations?

New image up on the page of fun. It's pretty cheesy, but it's out there. I'll probably continue to work on the image over the next couple of weeks and hopefully get it looking good.

peace

That hipster bingo is very funny indeed! I think even here in la France I can pull it off (I'm going to a party on saturday so I'll try it out there), but two things are going to give me trouble, for sure: PBR and Parliament cigs. I'll try to keep an inquisitive eye and discover the French equivalent to Pabst (Ruban Bleu sounds more like a fine restaurant name than a cheap watery beer) and to those cigarettes (shouldn't be too hard in this country where everyone and their grandmothers smoke). I'm almost sure I saw miller beer somewhere.

Claire--
Hmm, how shall we deal with this old hag. Personally, I would point my speakers to the floor, put an Everclear CD on repeat, turn the volume all the way up, and then leave for the day.
Other than that, everytime she yells at you, just tell her to shut the f*** up. Just like that, only in French.

Can't you damn kids be quiet. Can't you shut the F*** up you old hag?

You've got the right to walk in your apartment. I mean, you're paying rent, right? That means you get to walk in your apartment. And play music. If the noise level is that bad, it's up to the landlord to do something about it, not for you to strap foam to the bottom of your feet. Let her yell her throat sore. Screw her.

Hey! Here's a fun game. Everyone print out this lovely hipster bingo card and see who gets bingo first!

Also in more local hipster news. I've fulfilled a childhood fantasy by owning a pair of some sweet bright orange 'Roos. oh yea.

So I moved into my 'new' apartment. I really don't mind old buildings, quite the contrary, but hadn't quite realized the scope of the quirks that inevitably come with them. In this case, the building at 3, rue Molière in Versailles has been built probably around the mid 1910's, and the charm of the apartment emanates from the high ceilings, the tall windows, and the beautiful hardwood floor, including the way it cracks under your feet as you shuffle your way along the long-sought after apartment. However, one of the unexpected quirks that comes with this apartment is the downstairs neighbour. This 50 y.o. woman has made it one of her favourite sports to complain about the noise (le boucan) that we make, sometimes coming up to tell us to turn the music down (it is never on loud), more often yelling at us through her ceiling (our floor) to stop walking. She complains after 10pm on a week night, fine. She complains at noon on a sunday, that's going too far. (Now you are thinking "Look Claire: we don't give a monkey's poopoo about your downstairs neighbour. This is not your blog") Well people, I ask you, that's right, YOU, who probably have had more bitchy downstairs 50 y.o. neighbours than I have, What should I do? I mean, I'm already just hanging out in my kitchen rather than my room after 10pm, and when I tiptoe in with my socks through the shortest route from my door to my bed, I still get yelled at. Obviously this woman tolerates very little noise, but I think she's overplayed the guilt card (3 steps and then: "Stop walking around, merde! Can't you think about the others?!!"). I've been quicking around the idea of yelling back at her: "Shut up, I want to sleep!", or going down to tell her that she should stop harassing us (at this point, it's harassment, I'd have to check the books to make sure though). What do you guys think? You can email me directly, I'm open to any suggestion. (I have a feeling Paul has a good one).

i think it is safe to say that this is the anti-oberlin.

Alison likes to make lists:

things currently irritating me right now:
-when people hit "reply to all" on an email that only one person needs to read
-when bosses email you at 4pm and say "can we send out that mailing now so people can have stuff for the weekend?"
-still being at work right now
-pink "white" chocolate covered pretzels and their evil calls for me to eat them

things not irritating me right now:
-it's friday!
-my parents are fostering a lab puppy named sarah, she is so tiny and cute!
-having breakfast with my long-lost piano teacher tomorrow
-presidents day (i will take time that day to not honor GWB, i urge you all to dishonor him as well).

Fun things to read on the internet when waiting for it to be 5:00
Mimi Smartypants!
G.I.Joe PSAs!

oh yea? How about "The jerk store called, and they're running out of you!"
that's a good one.

Thanks, Jen! I've always prided myself on being able to present a clear argument. For example, here's one argument that I present to people on a regular basis: "You are a jive sucka."

That's a tough one to counter.

first of all, i heart that blogger is owned by google.

second of all, paul, your editorial rocks! even i, who has never given a rat's ass about wrestling, now understand the clear and legitimate foundation for a three way match. you rule.

finally, in honor of claire's voting torment,
http://www.turtlerock.com/RalphDontRun/

love, jen

What you should do is vote against the law forbidding Burka's in France.

Yesterday, 'my' first absentee ballot arrived. Like a little grain, patiently watered, it eventually sprouted. In a nutshell: right around the end of October, about a year after Wellstone died, I decided that I wasn't going to sit on my butt and watch this great country go downhill, like i did in 2000--when I could have sworn Bush and Gore were from the same party, when I thought "Hey, not my country, if it goes down the drain, what do I care?". No, as it turns out, I do care. I care because this is a giant and when it mis-steps there's too many of us in the rest of the world affected. So I started registering people to vote. That's right, Americans here in Paris. Not many, granted, but every little bit helps right? Well, yesterday, the first absentee ballot came back, to my coworker Paul, for the primaries in NY. And you know what he did? He said "You chose". What?! "You know more about this than I do". No, I don't know s**t, and furthermore, I've never voted anywhere but in school elections, I can't, legally (that must be the price you pay for having too many countries), I can't start now! It's not something I do. I discuss, I complain, I try to figure out, I give my opinion even, but it doesn't have an effect, because I don't participate. So here I am with a ballot in my backpack, not filled in, not signed, and I don't really know what to decide to do.

Because there have been too many stories about conjoined humans lately.

Hey folks!

I've had one of my pro-wrestling editorials posted on the PWTorch, one of the more prominent pro-wrestling news sites. Click here to read my article, which I will shortly be posting on Paul's Page of Fun. Also, if you scope out the PWTorch main page, you'll see a few responses peeps have made to my editorial. Two batches so far, about 7 responses total. Most people disagree with my assessment, but it's cool that I've got people talking! And, No, I won't feel offended if you don't read the article. . . it is about pro-wrestling afterall.
PEACE!

I want to know exactly how many people in this country think Bush is a good president and should be elected again. I figure you're going to have 3 major groups: The Wealthy, Hillbillies, and Hardcore Christians. Now, the Weathly are a lost cause. They love Bush because he gets them more money, which is all they really want. But I bet if we could advertise to HillBillies (by which I mean anyone living below the Mason-Dixon line) and to Hardcore Christians that Bush is actually against their value-systems because of any number of awful things that he does, Kerry or Dean or Edwards, or even my boy Kucinich (Midwest yo) could landslide Dubya.

That's what we need: direct, concrete advertising. It wouldn't take more than flyers, posters, and postcards with one simple fact each to change a whole lot of people's minds about Dubya.

Jen Katz that was a brilliant post, thank you. Dean seems to have made a lot of people feel the way you do. It seems like he has designs on getting his momentum back and I'd gladly help throw coal in the fire.
I've been looking for stuff on Edwards too and I found that he did sit on the Senate Intelligence Committee and therefore should've helped write the Patriot Act, but I have yet to find anything saying that he did specifically. Why is it so hard to find stuff like that? He did vote for it though. But in his defense he's been outspoken about how Ashcroft as abused it and has proposed making several changes go give people back their Civil LIberties. I can't say Edwards makes me feel the same way Dean does for you, but I do find him really interesting.
So yea, my thoughts are that Dean should hire Jen Katz as his PR person, she's much more eloquent about why he's good for America.

i'm searching for the article jkd sent me about edwards' involvement in the authoring of the PATRIOT act, but in full disclosure, i don't remember where the article came from. but i'm working on that.

and as for why dean (who is easily criticizable, i'll freely admit it)...six months ago, i would have told you that i was ashamed to be american. i didn't feel like our flag was a symbol of anything about which i was proud, or that my country was a nation i wanted to defend. howard dean spoke to me in a way that made me realize the potential of this country. the more i heard him, the more i realized that there is no other country in world whose citizenship i would prefer. i don't hate america- i hate the way that radical conservatives have hijacked my government. i hate the way they have manipulated the constitution into curbing our freedoms and civil liberties. i hate the way they use their authority to exploit and oppress people who are uneducated about their rights. i hate the way they intentionally and consistently misrepresent facts about national security, the economy, education, healthcare, and their own interests to perpetuate and grow the racial and class divides in our country. and i hate that they do this all under the guise of democracy. and so for the last six months, i’ve been getting involved in my government and in our political process because for the first time i feel like i have a vested interest in it. it’s ridiculous and flag wavy and soapboxy of me to say it, but howard dean made me realize that i am proud to be an american, and that we live in a country that has the incredible opportunity to really be a land of free people. that it isn’t is anathema, and i’m not going to sit back and ignore that anymore, and feel angry and jaded and helpless. becoming a part of this campaign made me feel like my singular voice has a place in the american political landsape, and in it, i’ve found a community of other people who feel like me, and who are scared and angry and are standing up.

no other candidate has ever made me feel that way. ever. it’s not a feeling that i’m able to turn off, and i want everyone to have it. i’m not arrogant enough to think that everyone else will feel the same way about my guy that i do, but i want everyone to find the person who makes them feel this way and stand up and get involved. i want the message to get out that it’s time to stand up, to take the government back to the people, and reclaim the democratic wing of the democratic party (thank you, mr. wellstone). i want this country’s actions to make me as proud as this country’s philosophy.

that’s why i’m voting for dean.

(apologies if i posted this twice...my email and bloggingness are all screwy right now)

alright alright alright. I spent the commercial breaks during American Idol reading about Dean and why people love him. I think I get it more now. He got people energized and excited about the Democratic party again! I just wish he did a better job of keeping the momentum. But this article from the Village Voice I thought summed things up nicely : "He might not get there. But if the Democrats make it to that Promised Land on Pennsylvania Avenue, Dean will have been the one who led us out of the desert in the first place."

alright Ms Katz... I hear what you're saying but I have to say you can criticize every single one of these candidates about some issue or other so what puts Dean so above the fray? I ask that with complete sincerity because I have to say I've not been as wowed by him as everyone else and I feel like I'm being left out of the party. Yea he voted against the war in Iraq, but really I don't think that's a reason to vote him into office. No Democrat running for office would ever pull a Bush-style pre-emptive strike on another country so I can't see this issue coming up again. Kucinich might not have originally been pro-Choice but the dude would support legislation to keep abortion legal now and that's what is most important to me.
And ok, Edwards has his probs. (I know when we were emailing before you said he wrote the Patriot Act, I did some research and can only find evidence that he voted for it not wrote it. ...in fact all I saw was that Kucinich was the only one to vote against it). But I really like his ideas about the class problems in the US. here is an older article I liked. Also I really dig this message
" Edwards says the working poor deserve better not because they're poor but because they're working. He tells the Nashua audience he'll end the days of "any American working full-time and living in poverty." He promises to make college financially accessible to anyone who "is willing to work." He recalls loading tractor-trailers to pay his way through college. In the Q-and-A after his speech, he says he'll raise the capital gains tax on people earning more than $300,000 to "make sure we treat work income with the same respect we treat wealth income."

Edwards may have his faults but I like where he's going with that stuff- it's a much needed message.
The thing is I have a print out of a list of Dean, Clark, Edwards, Kerry, and Kucinich and I really see no major difference between any of these candidates on any of the issues. They are ALL politicians and I guess I don't understand how Dean-ites keep wanting to put Dean above that. He's just another politician, who right now isn't connecting with the people. So seriously, what makes him so great? Why does he light your fire?

the good news:

joe-mentum has faded to no-mentum. now when leiberman says, "que pasa, hadassah?" she can reply, "the democrats don't like you because you're a frickin' conservative republican jackass!"

the bad news:

john edwards? john EDWARDS? i'm sorry, clearly i'm a yankee snob (who hates the yankees...interesting) but OH MY GOD.

and just a note about our friend the hobbit, mr. "ooh, i'm such a radical lefty with more integrity than you can shake a stick at" kucinich:

remember that this was a guy who was rabidly pro-life for YEARS...until he realized that the only way he could appeal to the fringe left was to support abortion. and so, after more than 20 years of modeling his entire life philosophy and political platform (from his own diet to the death penalty to trade to war to environmental policy) on the idea that all life is sacred and should be given equal respect, the man decides to become pro-choice. yeah, that's integrity. and that whole "i'll-scratch-your-back-if-you-scratch-mine" delegate caucus pack with john "i-believe-in-everything-you-don't" edwards back in january...if that doesn't reek of political opportunism, well, then i must not be able to smell.

can you tell that i'm over-caffeinated, over-politicked and over-tired?

Hey everybody- this is a totally fascinating way to compare your views with the Presidental candidates and find a match. Not surprisingly, Kucinich and I were a 100% match. More surprising was that Kerry and I were a 99% match. I wasn't expecting that.
Check it out: here

whew mama that was some post from Paul. unfortunately i had to play FCC myself and tone down the language a bit. not that i want this site to turn into disneyland...but please, no language harsher than what one would hear on the simpsons.

HEY-CHECK OUT THE ARCHIVES FEATURE!! It works now.

Well, in it's infinite wisdom The FCC has decided that an investigation is necessary into the Superbowl Boobie Slip (which, thankfully, I missed because I DIDN'T WATCH THE STUPIDBOWL ). And I quote: "FCC Chairman Powell Calls Super Bowl Halftime Show A 'Classless, Crass, Deplorable Stunt.' Opens Investigation." As usual, those F**king C**t Censors have decided that something as mondane as a single obscured breast is shameful enough to launch an investigation, and ahem, WASTE tax-payer money. Where the f*** does their budget come from? What happens when they have a surplus? Who elected these assholes anyway? (no-one, they're appointed by people named Regan and Bush). Just a few pressing questions I have about the FCC.

Section 6003 (a) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-66) added a new Section 9 to the Act. Section 9 (a) of the Communications Act authorizes the Commission to collect annual regulatory fees to recover the annual costs of its enforcement, policy and rulemaking, user information, and international activities. 47 U.S.C. 159 (a). 47 U.S.C. 159 (b) (1) (A) and 47 U.S.C. 159 (g)

The FCC will be collecting 27,500 dollars from each of the CBS affiliates that showed the Stupidbowl and also a onetime boobie charge to MTV who orchestrated the halftime "show." That sounds like a lot of money to me. I hope the F**king C*** Censors decide to move those funds from their budget into education, or healthcare, or something useful other than their constant boobie partrol. That's it. I'm done bitching now.

AZ sucks! I'm moving to Madison....

pirates do it with scurvy