And another thing

You can see photos of the protest at Washington Post under the headline Antiwar Fervor Fills D.C. (click on the Photos: Weekend Protest link). I stupidly didn't bring my own camera. I didn't stay for the concert, as was I was tired, hungry, and had to pee; also, I was by myself and didn't really fancy going to a concert alone. But I did hear a lot of the speakers before the march, including Jesse Jackson and Cindy Sheehan, who were both wonderful, articulate, and pissed off. The only downside to the whole thing was that there were a lot of different factions with their own agendas regarding Cuba, Palestine, Hurricane Katrina, what have you, and I felt that detracted from the overall message. Needless to say, I did not participate in the 'Long live the Intifada!' chant. But still, it was a good time.

I am officially a true liberal. I can die now.

I went to my first antiwar rally/march on Washington yesterday, and it was marvelous. 150,000 - 200,000 progressive people (for the most part) gathered in one place, chanting, carrying varying and often clever anti-Bush/antiwar signs, and all committed to getting the truth out about the war. Lovely. And the fuckers (aka right wing nutjobs, aka conservatives) only had a piddly two hundred people show up to protest our protest, and by the time I made it to their little corner, most of those people had left. It really was awesome, even though Bush was in Colorado for some reason that no one really understands, and Cheney was in surgery. But Laura Bush was actually on the Mall that day at the National Book Festival (which sadly I had to miss), and I hope we made her cry. I don't care if she's a librarian. So all in all, a really great, heady experience. I felt that I was actually doing something with all my hatred for once. Did it make one iota of difference to anyone in the administration or any of the people in this country who continue to doggedly support a lying, manipulative chief executive? Doubtful. But it felt good, dammit. It felt like 200,000 people staring all the right-wingers with their high and mighty righteousness in the eye and saying, "No, YOU shut up!"

Not much can top that experience, so I expect the rest of my life to be anticlimactic. Just kidding. But the rest of the week will probably be boring, though. I'm still between books but I've put 'Lolita' (for my book club) and the third book in the Fandorin series, whose title I can never remember, on hold at the public library. The Fandorin series, if you don't know, is by Russian author Boris Akunin (who is supposedly a huge celebrity in Russia) and it is really lovely - it's a detective series set in turn-of-the-century Russia, but the stories range all over Europe. The second one was called 'Murder on the Leviathan' and it's one of those 'Murder on the Orient Express' type mysteries, only this one was set on an ocean liner. Apparently Akunin has written ten books with Detective Fandorin so far, but only three of them have been released in the U.S. Anyway, I highly recommend the first two books in the series - the first one is called 'The Winter Queen.'

If you haven't noticed, I seem to be reading a lot of mysteries lately, and I don't really know why. Just one of those things.

I can't take rejection

Today I would like to address the reject letter. More to the point, I would like to address the newest trend in rejection, the reject email. I've received as many or more reject emails in my job search thus far than I have traditional letters, and this bothers me. First, I should acknowledge that I realize why reject emails are all the rage--they're quicker, more convenient, less expensive, and less formal (thus, I suppose, meant to decrease the sting of rejection) than reject letters that come through the mail. However, it is the great convenience and informality of these emails that I find distasteful. They are akin to dumping someone over voice mail. If I am going to go to the trouble of preparing for an interview, lose a few hours' sleep the night before fretting over it, buy expensive interview outifts and get all dolled up in pantyhose and a jacket in 100 degree heat, I think the least an employer could do is slap a stamp on an envelope to let me know I didn't get the job. Yes, it means there's an extra 24 hours of suspense while the post office delivers it, but when it's been six weeks since the interview, I'm pretty sure you gave the job to someone else. All the letter does is tell me that someone took ten minutes out of their day to open up a Word document, type out a form letter, print it out, fold it, address an envelope, seal it, and drop it in the mailbox. An extra ten minutes is all that I'm asking for, and a little ink and a stamp. I think they owe me that much.

But I will say that a reject email is preferable to total radio silence, which is just lame and unprofessional (NASA, I'm looking at you). Anyway. I finished reading 'My Life So Far' by Jane Fonda, and while I tihnk she may be kidding herself a little bit about the repercussions of her trip to North Vietnam, all in all I found it fascinating. I also just finished reading 'The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency' by Alexander McCall Smith, which was also sweet and enjoyable. Not life shattering, but a nice little read. I think I will continue reading the books in the series. Right now I'm between books (I hate that), but my personal library--consisting mainly of paperback books with a yellow 'Used' label on the spine--arrived in the mail a couple weeks ago, so I might go through my books and find something I haven't read yet or re-read something in my 'collection.'

Blah blah fuckin' blah

So I guess all three of my readers probably want to know how the first week at my new job went. Well, I don't really have much to add to last week's posts. I can only hope that eventually I get assigned some projects to do. Which reminds me - all my Canadian friends, I applied for the Public Services Librarian position at the Greater Victoria Public Library. Of course I won't get it, they probably won't even look at my application since I'm American, but I figured it was worth a try. Just the thought of living in Victoria made me so happy that I knew I at least needed to send in my resume. You will all be disgusted to know that it is still in the high 80s and humid here - I'm beginning to wonder when Fall comes (it doesn't, I've asked around). I'm beginning to get the sinking feeling that the weather here goes directly from uncomfortably hot to uncomfortably cold, and I just don't think my delicate Northwest nerves can take it. Why people actually live in climates like this is beyond me - if you knew there were better places to live, why not just move? I don't get it. All I know is, if I had been one of the Jamestown settlers I would have said, 'Screw this, I'm going back to England.' But that's just me, obviously. No starch in the backbone whatsoever.

And one more thing - will the bastard who keeps spamming the comments please stop? I didn't think so. Asshole.

You should see this

Just a quick note to say that I saw 'The Constant Gardener' last week (shut up) and I think it was the best movie I've seen so far this year. I highly recommend it. The cast was excellent, and for once Rachel Weisz didn't irritate the crap out of me (she's too pretty for her own good). Very very excellent movie. Ralph Fiennes is in it, too, which is reason enough for any straight woman with a pulse to head directly to the nearest theatre. For the men, there's of course Rachel Weisz I guess, if you like that sort of thing.

Anyway, still trudging along at work. I'm not sure why I was hired, to tell the truth. I'm not being self-deprecating; what I mean is, I'm not sure why anyone was hired for another full-time position there, since there doesn't seem to be enough for everyone to do. But it's a paycheck, so whatever.

Gotta go to bed now, bye.

What's this 8 hours a day crap?

I'm too tired to say much right now, except that the new job is going OK so far. It's kind of boring, and definitely not a professional position...I see lots of projects I could do, but I have to be careful not to step on any toes since I'm not officially a librarian here. I haven't really even encountered any reference questions so far - mostly people just want to know if we have a certain book, or come by to pick up ILL orders or print outs. The hardest part for me is remembering all the little details since I was never a library assistant so I never had to do the whole "front desk" thing. Bleah. Six months, six months, six months is what I keep repeating to myself. Tomorrow is the dreaded 2-10 pm shift. And I have to work this Saturday - 6 days in a row my first week, yippee!

Oh Jesus. I don't know if I'm gonna make it.

Quote of the day

From an editorial by Mark Morford in SFGate.com:

'Then you read that Bush has actually ordered an official probe into the botched Katrina relief efforts, a formal federal investigation into what went wrong, which is a bit like a shark ordering an investigation into what happened to all the fish.'

The editorial is full of more wonderful zingers like that, if you care to read it. And lest you think I am actually all hip and up on my current affairs, all the articles I talk about are forwarded to me by other people, usually the BF. This piece was actually sent to him by a friend of his. Isn't it great the way the progressive community is bound together by intense hatred?

As for my little break down of the other day - bygones. I'm over it. Onward and upward. Bring on the mind fuck!

I have been feeling curiously un-nervous regarding my first day of work on Monday. The main thing I'm worried about at the moment is finding time to work out, what with the screwy schedule I'll be having. It's beginning to appear that I may have to (gasp! choke!) start running or some shit like that. Blast it! As far as I know, there aren't even many good places to run around here, so that means running on a treadmill (can't and won't do Stairmaster or any other machines anymore, no way no how.) I realize that everyone is fascinated by the specifics of my work out routine, but moving on.

I just finished reading 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,' and as one of the two people who actually enjoyed the movie (the other being BF), I have to say that I didn't think the book was all that. I mean, yeah, it was funny and whatever, but it wasn't THAT funny. But it was alright, I guess. I was just expecting more since everyone poo-poohed the movie as being so much worse than the book. In all fairness to both sides, I believe the movie incorporated more of the books in the trilogy that just the first. I may or may not read the other books in the series, I haven't decided yet.

I'm now about half-way through Jane Fonda's autobiography, 'My Life So Far,' despite BF's derision. I'm actually finding it quite interesting, but then I am fascinated by celebrities' personal lives, so there you go. I've just gotten to the part where she visists North Vietnam, so I'm about to find out what the 'Hanoi Jane' stuff is all about. I know that this story is obviously very one-sided, but it appears that she has been viciously maligned by people who have twisted the facts to suit their own agendas (gee, when has THAT ever happened before?).

Well, talk to you next time. (Don't let me forget, one of these days I must remember to bore my readers with my opinions about Hillary running for president.)

Things to ponder

Why does life constantly conspire to mind fuck me? I pose this question today because I received a phone call this afternoon, two days before I am set to start my new job, from the temp agency I had signed up with in July (who I had not heard ONE PEEP from in the interim), offering me a temp-to-hire job in what sounds like my dream position. Of course I've already signed a letter of acceptance at the other place and the Human Resources wheels have been in motion for two weeks, not to mention I'm not the kind of person who can call up an employer two days before I'm set to start and say 'Just kidding!'

Ugh. So I have to pass up what could be a kick-ass opportunity just because I already said yes to a sucky job in an hour of desperation. WHY DOES LIFE TREAT ME THIS WAY?!! It tends to make me believe that I always make the wrong decision, no matter what. It tends to make me pull my hair out. It tends to make me think I will always be stuck in the gutter, working my ass off for peanuts, while everyone else is enjoying the high life. That last sentence tends to make me wonder how many cliches I can cram into one sentence.

Anyway. I don't know, anyone have any words of wisdom for me?

Also, I'm glad to see that the herpes bloggers are big fans (see comment on last post). Man, I hope that was just spam.

Oh yeah

"This aggression will not stand, man." -The Big Lebowski

O Canada...

A few things. First, if Chief Justice Roberts (we all know he will be confirmed) allows Roe v. Wade to be overturned, I am moving to Canada and I will not look back. As soon as I get citizenship, I will never admit that I was once an American, and I will deny all ties to this country. The accent needs working on, but I think I can pull it off. I refuse, REFUSE to be involved in a nation where women are treated no better than breeding dogs. This is not so much a threat (since who cares if I move to Canada?), but rather it is a promise to myself. I realize that one woman moving out of the country doesn't really matter, but if we can galvanzie all the pro-choicers and all the gays to move too, then the U.S. will eventually degenerate into a backwater of inbred hillbillies and we can all go about our business and forget it ever existed. (Then Canada can invade and take over the land.)

Secondly, I realize that my last post seemed a little paranoid, and, well, stupid. I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. What I meant to say when I claimed that Bush 'orchestrated' the disaster in New Orleans was not that he himself conspired to make Hurricane Katrina hit the city, but that his administration's policies directly contributed to the poor preparation and response in the hurricane's aftermath. Also, I made the clearly bone-headed statement that I didn't know what Bush had up his sleeve in blaming FEMA for everything. Well, obviously he's going to blame FEMA in order to deflect blame from himself and his administration, which is silly, since FEMA is a federal agency and therefore directly Bush's responsibility. But then, Bush is a silly, silly man. If you interpret silly to mean souless bastard. Andrew Sullivan has a good article about the political fallout from all this in the Sunday Times, which I tried to link to but it isn't working so here's the URL: www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1764115_1,00.html

In reference to the article, you know it's bad news when even your Republican apologists turn on you. (Notice, however, that Sullivan can't resist a little dig at Hillary and the democrats).

OK, that's all the time we have for today on Political Rage with your host Stephanie. Tune in next time when we talk about whether or not Hillary should run for president.

(I was also going to put in a quote from The Big Lebowski, but now I can't remember it so never mind.)

Mary Sunshine reporting

The BF and I were discussing how if Hurricane Katrina had blown through during Clinton's presidency, you can bet he would have been there in New Orleans from the very beginning (I just can't stay mad at the guy for long). Bush is supposed to be on his way there right now, with his big profound statement, 'This is not acceptable.' Of course, had his tax cuts not weakened FEMA's ability to react to natural disasters (as opposed to terrorist attacks, which have become its main focus since coming under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security) this whole thing probably wouldn't have gotten out of hand. As it is now, Bush will be able to blame everything on FEMA, thus further weakening it. What Bush gains from doing this I cannot fathom since I am no political science wiz, but I'm sure he's got something up his sleeve. Once again, a major fiasco orchestrated by Bush will leave him smelling like a rose. Also notice how Karl Rove's little illegal activities, as well as the 900 people who died in Iraq the other day, have completely fizzled out of the media's attention? I swear, it's like Bush somehow controls the weather.

Another thing I noticed is that the vast majority of people stuck in the middle of the flooding and the in the worst conditions were black. I feel race riots coming on.

Ah, good times. In other news, I'm thinking about selling my car, and just in the nick of time, since gas prices are now at $3.10 a gallon over here. I figured out that I will be spending as much as or more in car insurance in one year than my car is actually worth, not to mention maintenance costs and gas. BF and I both have the major American fear of not owning a car, but we're probably going to join a car-sharing program so will still have access to wheels. So, anyone want to buy my car? (You have to come out here to get it, though.)