The distance of words

There's a video on YouTube called "Kiwi!" that is devastatingly sad to me. Someone sent me a link to it a little earlier today asking if I had seen it. I had, but I wondered if I would still find it as moving as I did before. Just a few seconds in, I panicked and stopped the video. I remember how hard I cried the first time I saw it.

But I write about painful things all the time, things that are ground into my memory like dirt into a skinned knee. I can write about it. I can read other people's poetry about the most heartbreaking events. I can. I do.

But I can't watch an animated video about a determined kiwi.

Why? Am I just inured to my own brain's awful images? Is there really a distance of words? Why are poems so often cathartic for me, but fiction isn't?

Is it just the complexity of the poem, the density, the difficulty, the brevity, that makes it bearable, makes it activate almost a problem-solving portion of my brain rather than a purely experiential portion? Sad poetry is beautiful and healing. Sad movies just make me feel ill and depressed.

Am I alone?

It's a miracle!

I'm actually keeping my word about submitting poetry. Who'da thunk?

Two more journals submitted to. This is hard.

I've got the ninja sneezes

You know the kind. You're in the middle of a sentence and WHAM! You sneeze. No warning. Just an attack and then poof.

I like army sneezes better. The kind where you can see them massing at the border, ready to invade.

The problem with "non-fiction"

It is a minor thing, but I never like when things are defined by what they aren't instead of by what they are. Non-fiction, for example. It turns "fiction" into the standard, leaving non-fiction to be the poor relation, the other.

(Yes, I do sit around and think about things like this. I'm such a nerd.)

Words, names, labels, they are powerful things. Does defining something by what it isn't change how we approach the thing? Does an presumption of a default change our thinking? Why not "documentary"? Why not "existion" (to make up a word at random)?

We spend our days with bright and shiny new stoves

If you remember that line that I just paraphrased, you probably have the song in your head RIGHT NOW! Hahahaha!

I'm just happy because I finally have a range that, in theory, works. I'm baking some cookies. Stand back.

Time for a happier cat post

Cosmo really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really wanted to be in a picture.

Recently read on the internet

"If it weren't for double standards, you'd have no standards at all."

It wasn't said to me, but damn, it fits.

A pro-Hillary Clinton post

I don't want Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic nominee for President.

But I do, very much, want Hillary Clinton to stay in politics and to be a force to be reckoned with in the Senate.

I think she's good for the country. I think she's dynamic, smart, and talented.

And I think she should become the Senate Majority Leader and kick some ass.

(And if she gets the Pres. nomination, I'm drying my eyes and voting for her.)

Dammit, Ichabod

Ichabod is dying. She can no longer breathe.

She's an old cat, near 20 if not older, and she has been driving me crazy for 18 years, bouncing around the world like a black and white Superball.

Recently, the vet discovered that she was hyperthyroid. Aha! With medication, perhaps she will become a sedate and stately kitty! But no. Medication just seemed to unleash the full fury of her furry energy.

On the night I got her, someone had cut off part of her ears. She was bleeding and starving and shivering, and she chose me. Me. I opened my apartment door for a trick-or-treater, and there came a streak of black and white. I had been watching "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," so she became Ichabod. Later came Irving. Ichabod and Irving. 18 years. Both dying. Irving the placid. Ichabod the vibrant. They've canceled each other out for all of these years, I guess it's fitting they go out close together.

Fitting, but no more fair for all of that.

Am I weird?

We're getting a new range. Our old one needs a new element in the oven and one of the burners.

Is it weird that in preparation for the delivery guys, I've cleaned the oven more thoroughly than I ever did to cook?

I don't think Donna Reed is ever going to ask me for housekeeping tips.

Yes We Pecan!

Apparently Ben and Jerry of Ben & Jerry's have endorsed Barack Obama for President.

Someone at the Obama site suggested a new flavor: Yes We Pecan!

Who else wants ice cream?


Edited to add: A later post suggested Baracky Road. I laughed like a fool, which is easy because I kinda am one.

Daggone, I'm tired of living in the hinterlands

There are so many services and programs and other things of that ilk that simply aren't available here.

It sucks to be in a poor county in Ohio.

If you're a wife and...

... you're in the mood to do a survey, go here. They still need quite a few respondents.

I have a hundred things to do...

... and I'm outta gas. I'm so tired I could just snooze right here. I'd get drool on my keyboard, but it would be worth it.

Fudge.

Me? A captain?

I'm being urged to become a "Captain" of the get out the vote effort for Barack Obama.

I have the organizational skills of a carrot.

I have the motivational skills of a cooked carrot.

The only group I could successfully lead would be Disney lemmings.

Someone hold me!

Places I'm going to submit work

I said a couple of days ago that I'm going to get serious about publication. I have nearly 100 unpublished poems and I'm going to find a home for at least a quarter of them. That's my preliminary goal.

Yesterday I got an acceptance from Umbrella. Yay.

I plan on submitting to Anti- (wonderful first issue, take a look!), Soundzine, kaleidowhirl, and possibly DIAGRAM (which I adore but the poetry in there is really different from mine and they will sneer at me!). I'm checking out Unsplendid, too.

Any other suggestions gratefully accepted.

Stupidity all around

One of my coworkers questioned my Obama button.

"Well, he's probably going to win, but I don't know why anyone would vote for a ISSlamic."

There aren't enough rolleyes in the world, people.

Wow, root beer float in a bottle is weird

A & W Rootbeer float in a bottle is available up at the market.

It sounded interesting.

It is... interesting.

Eek eek eek

I'm going to do the work of Getting Published. I am.

Hold me to it. I am.

We're famous!

Or at least in the newspaper. Go us!

I've been pwned by the blank verse challenge

Yeah, I fail. Or should that be phail?

I'm going to scavenge the corpse for viable parts.

A political quiz

Personal Assessment

How you measured up:

Autocratic

Democratic

Big Government

Small Government

Collectivist

Individualist

Literalist

Rationalist

Narrow Focus

Wide Focus

Human-centric

Ecocentric

Collectivist

Big
Government

Small
Government

Individualist

Narrow Focus

Autocratic

Democratic

Wide Focus

Highest ranking dimension: Individualist

You believe in the right of an individual to "be himself" in thought and deeds. You may have felt that what the country really needs is a politician with the nerve to tell people when it comes to controlling others, they should mind their own business. This may be because you enjoy a diversity of experiences and don't get offended easily. It may also be because you've seen people be persecuted. Others may disagree with you because they feel a right to protect what they see as community values. When politicians of your type make mistakes it is often because they underestimate people's need for stability and safety.

Second highest ranking dimension: Big Government

You believe in the power of government to make life better. You may have felt that what the country really needs is for the government to get serious about the many problems that people face. This may be because you have seen the system break down and know people who have fallen through the cracks. It may also be because you feel that our society is at risk our communities need better protection from internal and external dangers. Others may disagree with you because they are focused on what government does wrong, rather than what it does right. When politicians of your type make mistakes it is often because they create programs that solve one problem but create others.

Combined statement:

Based on your answers, the best state for you is one where people's basic needs are well looked after and people are free to pursue creative and fulfilling lives.

Take the quiz.

Making magnetic stickers

Oh, they've unleashed a monster. They just don't know it yet!

Ohio gone MISSING!

Poor Ohio. Forgotten. Bereft. Vanished from the face of CNN.

My fundraising goal

My Fundraising Goal

I've never been inspired to try to help a candidate in this way before. I'm registered Independent, I'm from a family of Republicans, and I'm suddenly a volunteer to help get Barack Obama elected.

You can help. Just think of all the whining you'll avoid if you donate!

Kaspersky versus Blogspot

It's an internet deathmatch!

It appears that Kaspersky virus software tells users that all Blogspot sites are phishing sites. Do a search on Kaspersky and Blogspot to find a solution.

The things you find when you declutter

I found a cassette tape. No big surprise there, until you look at the case and realize it's a game cassette for a Commodore PET.

Cue the flashback wavy lines!

Ai ai ai ai ai

I just did something I swore I wouldn't do.

I volunteered for the Obama campaign.

I'm insane. (Originally, I wrote "inane," but while the typo amused me, I figured I oughtta change it.)

Gobama!

Steve had been wondering if Ohio's primary was going to matter this year. Well, Steve, it looks like it is.

I know he prefers voting when it matters, but I prefer not being hammered with political ads.

O-bama! O-hio! O-eight!

Light at the end of the tunnel?

Steve's got a new therapist and, it seems, a new hope.

I need a new hope. My old one got lost in the laundry.

Marriage is supposed to be a partnership. Sometimes, I feel more like a custodian--in both senses of that term.

Who do I need to bribe?

Apparently some money needs to exchange hands before I can regularly log in with Blogger right now.

Wordpress doesn't work from work. Blogger hates me.

Maybe this is a sign.