Voting with your dollar, and neighbors.

If you order a product to be mailed to you, and it doesn't get to you after a few weeks, and then you ask about it a few times and learn that the company you ordered from is waiting for a shipment from their supplier, I think they should tell you up front. And once they do ship, a month after you placed the order, they should upgrade your shipping so it doesn't take another week just to get across the country.

I looked out my window yesterday afternoon, and noticed a few cops milling about in front of the barber shop. I then caught a glimpse of a police van making some kind of illegal turn, and decided to take a closer look. Turning my focus a few doors to the right, I spotted a black-clad officer guarding the door of a shop that was being renovated. He was standing in a very formal manor, and holding a large automatic weapon. After taking a few pictures, about a dozen cops started to emerge from the cellar door of the shop, They just kept coming out of the small opening in the sidewalk like clowns out of a tiny car. They were in riot gear; some with shields, some with small jackhammers, all with helmets. A few handcuffed people got escorted to a van. Neighbors watched from a distance. Police closed up shop a little after six.

I heard a Billy Bragg interview on the radio tonight.

One saturday afternoon, having a post-brunch cigarette in the smoking room, Lynn turned to me and asked me if I liked wine. When I said I did, she invited me over to her room to drink some. I'd always liked Lynn. She seemed like a quiet observer type, and I could relate to that behavior, especially at 17. I found her beautiful in many ways, but neither of us was single, so I just saw it as an innocent saturday afternoon with a pal.
She had her own room at the girls dorm, on the first floor, a few doors down from my constantly insecure and jealous girlfriend. It was a warm, comfortable room with a refrigerator, and waterbed. Those two items, as well as the gigantic bottle of white wine she possessed, were all forbidden at school. The fridge was easy enough to sneak in, but a water bed? I didn't ask how she did it, but imagined a hose run from the bathroom in the middle of the night to fill it up. Pretty risky, but some people have a greater threshold of risk-taking then others.
So we sat and talked and listened to Billy Bragg tapes and caught up. It was the beginning of our senior year at this Pennsylvania boarding school, and a lot had happened in the previous year. We got to know each other a little better by telling our own point of view of events that we were still sorting out. We drank, we talked, we smoked cigarettes, we listened to cassettes and our friend sitting on the floor a foot away. Eventually, long after the sun had passed, my evil girlfriend figured out where I was, and wasn't happy. I'd love to blame her for causing me to keep my distance from Lynn from then on, but more than enough years have passed for me to have learned that I can only blame myself.
Lynn eventually got expelled for some combination of offenses (risky behavior), and I never even got to say goodbye. Lynn Ambielli, if we came across each other now, so much time has passed that we might as well be total strangers. But just so you know, this damn memory of mine won't let me forget those hours, and right now, you haven't changed a bit.

Next.

A very outspoken, political singer/songwriter/poet performed last week, and I was bored. She spoke all the negatives of the current administration, preaching to the choir, heard it all before, but never went any farther. Ya know what? This guy in the white house will never win another election again. He's over, and his second in command is too busy shooting things to run for an office. It's time to take all the anti-bush energy, and put it toward making sure another mistake like this guy doesn't happen again. We need to find a better alternative. We need to look toward the future to make sure there is one. Bush is over.
Light a candle, stop cursing the darkness.

Good thing we saved the country from foreigners invading our ports.

All that crap about that port deal and how two of the 911 highjackers were from the UAE, can someone please tell me how many of the highjackers were from Iraq?

Penguins and politicians.

I saw that penguin movie today, and was not impressed. I just don't think it was very well made. There were opportunities to teach us more that were just skipped over. And why was this not just another Discovery Channel special?

So South Dakota banned abortion. Even in cases of incest or rape. Of course their intention is for the law to be challenged in court, and eventually the case will end up in front of the newly remodeled Supreme Court. It doesn't take a high school graduate like me to figure that one out. But they also snuck in something kinda clever. Knowing that defending the legal challenge to their new ban will cost some cash, South Dakota state government also passed a law making it alright to donate money to a state legal fund. That means all the private anti-abortion groups and their deep pockets can easily fund this attack on Roe. Pretty sneaky.

No picture.

Where does the time go? It goes into trying to put a book together. Finding out what program I need for publishing. (inDesign!) Working more than usual, which is always a good thing. Looking for my studio key. Calling my bank to tell them I haven't gotten a statement in months. Going to the dentist (good thing I'm working a lot). Picture-making is on hold at the moment, but since I can't do anything else while I wait for a test book to be delivered, I suppose I'll start again on my next day off. And since there's no L train, sunday won't see me leaving the neighborhood. I don't even have a picture to post.