I've taken this before, but it's interesting to see what's changed since then...

Your Results:

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking.

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Liberal Quakers (96%)
3. Neo-Pagan (89%)
4. New Age (86%)
5. Mahayana Buddhism (82%)
6. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (81%)
7. Theravada Buddhism (80%)
8. Reform Judaism (75%)
9. Secular Humanism (72%)
10. Bahá'í Faith (69%)
11. New Thought (69%)
12. Taoism (67%)
13. Orthodox Quaker (66%)
14. Scientology (66%)
15. Jainism (64%)
16. Sikhism (62%)
17. Nontheist (58%)
18. Hinduism (57%)
19. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (50%)
20. Orthodox Judaism (47%)
21. Islam (46%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (40%)
23. Seventh Day Adventist (37%)
24. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (31%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (23%)
26. Roman Catholic (23%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (15%)

My mother, bless her Roman Catholic soul, would probably be saddened to learn that it barely made the list. (Of course, I doubt her test results would make R.C. the top choice either.)

What a week

Colonoscopy, sick kids, sick me...

Reminds me of a joke.

"bitch, bitch, bitch...
whine, whine, whine...
You wanted a puppy, so I got you a puppy
you wanted a baby, so I got you a baby
now the puppy eats the baby and what do you do?
bitch, bitch, bitch...
whine, whine, whine!"

Anyway. Hope everyone out there is survivng well & happily; Let's go out & have coffee some time.

Shower thoughts...

Got up early today; am planning on taking M to school and then coming back to take J for his colonoscopy. Poor man - he said he might not be able to be that far away from a bathroom, or he'd come with me.

While I was washing my hair, I had a sudden thought.

I'm going to run for elected office.

(I have a lot of hair, so I had a lot of time to think about this in the shower.)

After reading the latest news about who's taken money from Abramoff, how pork is attached to bills, how congressmen vote for bills having hardly read them, or read just the summaries.... hell, I can do a better job than that.

I'm crazy, you say? Welll, yes, but evidently 18% of the American people will have a mental disorder at some point in their lives, so at least I'm representative of the population, you know?

Sordid past - yup. So what? I definitely learned from my mistakes.

Kids are awake - gotta go get them ready to go. What do you think?

Note to self:

colonoscopies are not for the faint of heart.

Not because having a camera shoved up your ass is less than enjoyable, but because hyperosmotic laxatives are fucking evil.

I can't wait for the weekend.

Bleah

This is the second or third time I've opened up this web page to make an entry, and gone "eh..." and ended up closing it without typing anything.

I had two moments of cheerfulness on the way home this afternoon - drove through two rainbows! I think Moira saw them when I pointed to them, too. I'm not sure.

I'm at that place in my life when I'd like to make a few friends so I have somebody to talk with during the day - but the idea of going out and meeting new people is exhausting. People suck, as a general rule, and I just don't have the energy to use on sucky people right now.

Speaking of sucky people, if I ever doubted it, I now have proof that karma really does come back around.

My Adiumy is a turkey wearing a pilgrim hat.

I think I'm going to see if I can find any sane, mature people who want to play some sort of role playing game. I was looking over the 3.5 edition players' handbook last night... interesting new stuff. J also showed me Victoriana which I think I'd enjoy.

Moira is still sick. She's evidently like me when I was a kid - get a cold; develop a secondary ear infection. *sigh*

It's a wonderful rainy November day here - not very cold; great napping weather. I'm hoping to get both kids asleep so I can check out for a little while.

I'm looking forward to my date on Saturday! I didn't even realize it, but the new Harry Potter is coming out, and J's taking me to the movies! Hopefully our babysitter is available.

More babbling another time.

Does this make me a soccer mom?

Christmas came early!

This should make the trips to Tennessee this Christmas and St. Louis in January much more comfortable. :)

EEEEEEEEEE!!!

As I sit here working on our family webpage, J is playing Neverwinter Nights - he's playing a druid with a hawk companion.

Heeheeheehee

I can't wait to start playing!

It's been so long, I'd forgotten what it was like...

Euphemisms are a wonderful thing.

Am slogging through the days lately. So much to do, so little energy. Sometimes my brain is revving at 300+mph, and sometimes I'm in neutral. It's been hard on the transmission.

Had weird dreams last night. Probably hormone inspired. It was old home night; there were many many many people from my past in this dream. Oddly enough, though, it wasn't a BAD dream.

Wow I'm tired. I wonder if the kids will let me get a nap today.

shower thoughts

Was thinking about what I heard on Wait Wait Don't Tell Me earlier - the Journey song that became the theme song for the Chicago White Sox - after they won the world series, there were probably a ton of fans who ran out and bought it.

And then I thought no, they probably ran home and downloaded it.

And then I thought you know, I think the peer to peer sharing network thing is karmic retribution to the music industry for all those decades of fucking over the artists.

Just a glimpse into how my train of thought works.

And there's the caboose!

Happy Fitzween

I don't feel it's Fitzmas yet. I'm hoping for more. Because I don't think Libby did it on his own.

As my friend said - one rat bastard down...

I wish I could put this on a bumpersticker

This makes some excellent points and would probably remind some people of some of the facts they have forgotten. So, all you supporters of the Iraq war, read on:

".....
Yesterday, the President also said:

"Some have also argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalition in Iraq, claiming that our presence in that country has somehow caused or triggered the rage of radicals. I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001 -- and al Qaeda attacked us anyway. The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue, and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse."

.....
let's just deal with facts and the way that they are perceived in the Arab world. America (and it various partners) were in Iraq before 9/11. We virtually occupied Kuwait militarily and had a presence in much of the Gulf region, including the Islamic epicenter Saudi Arabia, as part of our decade-long containment and confrontation with Saddam Hussein. We operated CIA paramilitaries and special operations forces throughout the Kurdish zone (Iraqi territory), collecting intelligence, fomenting coups, supporting an insurgency against Baghdad. We were bombing Iraq regularly as part of our enforcement of the southern and northern no fly zones, and we were carrying out even larger bombing campaigns to support United Nations inspections or to exact unilateral retribution. We were doggedly maintaining sanctions until Iraq cried uncle.

So yes, "the hatred of the radicals" existed before Iraq was an issue, mister President, but Iraq was an issue.

Virtually every 9/11 hijacker, virtually every suicide bomber and insurgent in Iraq today grew up in a world where the stand-off in Iraq symbolized a war with the Arab world. Load on top of that a far more consequential concern about the plight of the Palestinian people, and mix in grievances about the bombings of Afghanistan and Sudan, the notions of occupations in Somalia and Kosovo, civilian casualties always framed as America's fault, even the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

The common theme is the impunity of America and the subjugation of the Arab and Islamic (and the powerless) to the western world.

And now in societies where half of the population is under the age of 15, it is not regime change and the grand democratic experiment in Iraq that resonates: it is fighting the omnipotent.

The White House and much of Washington continues to be stuck in a post 9/11 nightmare where I believe the groupthink imagines a monumental threat to the United States and western society that just doesn't exist.

Yes, President Bush, extremism will exist after Iraq. It is made all the more potent and rewarding as we bumble about labeling it "evil" and ignoring what it feeds on.

We may fantasize about a great crusade we are embarked upon, but our greatest danger in the future is a tin ear we also have to Islam's and al Qaeda's equal fantasies. Their fantasies, and our actions, like it or not, drive the violence all around us."



Pass it on.

We're done!!!!

*Dance about, clap hands with glee*

Not only did we finish getting the last of our crap out of the old house last night at midnight thirty, but I get home and get to take a luxurious shower whilst my husband tells me that 50% of people polled think that if Bush lied about the reasons for war in Iraq that he should be impeached. And yes, before you ask, there WERE republicans that were asked. 20% of them said yes. *grin*

Now I just have to figure out our budget and try to get rid of a few bills. *sigh*

News update!

Jeremy must be part cat, because I think he just used up one of his nine lives.

He's at home. From the ICU. He's got a broken wrist, and has to go to the neurologist to check him out because of the brain swelling. He said he has a killer headache, but otherwise seems in good shape.

Fucking amazing.

And I don't have to beat the shit out of him for riding in the back of a truck, either - he was sitting on the side chatting while the truck was idling; the driver didn't realize he was sitting there and floored it, which of course sent Jeremy flying.

I feel much better now.

I'd be screaming in frustration if I had the energy

God I wish we were done moving.

*sorta collapses into bed*

Did I mention I had a really bizarre dream night before last that I seduced Mel Gibson & he fell for me? 'Course, I was way hotter in my dream than I am in real life at the moment. I looked like my 19 yr old self. Ironically, when I was 19, I had a mental impression of my body that I was fat & unattractive. Now that I'm 30, every time I look in the mirror I am shocked that I don't look like the 20 yr old that the inside of my head still expects to see... I look more like the mental impression of myself that I had when I was 19. What a gyp.

Anyway, today was interesting. Stayed up way too fricking late reading comics, news, setting up NewsFire, etc. last night. M woke me up around 6 or 7... I think I managed to get both of them back to sleep at about 10. We were all originally going out to dinner to celebrate my dad's 85th birthday, but Sue's husband Jim (who also just had a birthday) was sick and so they couldn't go, and mom said she had too many papers to grade, and it's parents' weekend at FSU and there's a football game, so it would be hell at any restaurant, etc. - so J says he wants to go cook dinner for dad instead.

Some of J's boss's family lives in New Hampshire, and he'd given us homemade dark maple syrup (damn, is it good), so J made a pecan crusted pork loin that had been brined in Strongbow cider & maple syrup. Black eyed peas, greens, dad made cornbread (yes, we asked the birthday boy to make the cornbread - nobody else's is as good), J & I made this absofuckinglutely DIVINE salad - roma tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, shallots, roasted garlic clove antipasto, some sweet onion, lemon juice, and salt/pepper/spices - I'm drooling just thinking of it. Italian creme cake for dessert (dad really liked it; I was proud of picking out something different for him this year rather than a german chocolate cake like always - this might even become a new favorite!) and then we got out the music.

It was a wonderful evening. M was dancing to Tom T. Hall, Boots Randolph, the Louvin Brothers, Dylan (played Bear Mountain Picnic Massacre for mom, who laughed out loud at it), Marty Robbins... J sat down with dad and played him some great music, which I loved to see.

After dinner and dessert, while J & dad were listening to music in the living room, I actually remembered to take the compost can out for dad - however, either the liner of this can is leaking, or something had slipped between the liner and the can, because when I lifted it out it was positively COATED in eggs and maggots. EEEEEWWWW. Fortunately I'm not squeamish, so I picked up the handles and was taking it outside when one of the handles came off and the can crashed to the floor. It remained upright, so there wasn't rotten produce to clean up - but a whole lot of maggots had gotten shaken loose onto the floor. EEEEEWWWWW So I'm now trying to figure out a way to get maggots off a linoleum floor. It's a bamboo green color, and mom couldn't see the maggots, so I was trying to get them up - let me tell you, best method I found: broom and dustpan. Maggots are kinda cylindrical, so they roll into the dustpan like little squirmy rice grains. (Once they were in the dustpan mom could definitely see them, and was massively grossed out.) Mom jokes about it being an ending to a wonderful evening - and then the phone rings.

It's the 2nd grade teacher at mom's school (who, btw, was MY second grade teacher, and whose birthday is the same day as mine) who mom (indeed, my entire family) has been friends with for years. I'm in the living room, and I hear mom say in that voice that is not like any other, "Oh My God... Oh My God..." So I drift towards her to make sure she's okay and to find out what's up.

Most of you probably don't know this, but I used to tutor children. Math and science, mostly. Jeremy was a kid I tutored in science - he was smart, could be a sweetie, could also be somewhat ignorant - came from a conservative family, I think - anyway, not Nobel Peace Prize brilliant here, but definitely had potential. Lazy and disorganized, so I kinda identified with him. ;) He was a ninth grader this year. He was riding in the back or on the side of a pickup truck, and fell out - he has massive brain damage and they're not sure if he's going to survive.

I used to think I was cold & unfeeling. I've never had anybody REALLY close to me die - kids I'd gone to school with, friends of my parents, my ex-husband's grandmother... and while it was sad, I never really felt deeply touched. First time I saw my dad cry was pretty rough... and when Daniel's dad died in a car accident I felt awful for Daniel, but didn't really know his dad... but none of it was personal. Perhaps it's because I'm now a mother; I have a son. I knew Jeremy's mom. I'd kidded her about keeping Jeremy on his toes with his homework, prodding him to be organized... I'd chatted with Jeremy and two girls he hung out with/dated, and gotten an interesting glimpse into the life of a young adult... I can't imagine what his mother is going through right now, but in some ways, I can...

And after leaving my parents' house, both J & I admitted to having premonitions that dad won't make it to his next birthday... hell, I had the feeling he wouldn't make it to tomorrow morning. I hope we're wrong on that one.

So, off to soothe my son back to sleep for the 2nd or 3rd time tonight... having a stuffed up nose sucks, poor guy.

I love Friday nights

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people are so frustrating

Creationists VS Evolutionists - stupid argument; one does not negate the other (unless you read the bible literally, which I think is goofy)

Pro-life VS Pro-choice - again, stupid argument; I think once the egg is fertilized it is a potential human life, and I'm loathe to knowingly disturb it or negatively influence its odds of survival - however, having learned something from history, I know that making abortion illegal will not help reduce the number of abortions, but instead will result in higher # of womens' deaths - so why don't all you people screaming on one side or another put even HALF that much energy into improving birth control and education? You are never, NEVER going to get everybody to agree on one side or the other, so let's just make it a moot point by attempting to insure that there are no unwanted pregnancies in the first place, hrm?

War on Drugs - dammit, don't any of these people read history books? Remember what happened with Prohibition? An underground black market was created and organized crime took strong root across America. If drugs were legalized, then a good chunk of the money and violence would be removed from the equation - nhow often do you see people killing each other over cigarettes? (to use another addictive drug as an example). You could ensure quality product (eliminating overdoses due to misdosing, poisoning, etc.) and could collect tax on the sale of the drugs to use for education and drug abuse counseling. Making drugs legal would probably cut the population in our prisons in half.

So tired... falling asleep sitting up reading/typing.

You know you're a homeowner when...

you spend an hour or two taking off and replacing the faucets that connect to the washing machine.

We've gotten SO much done today, it's wonderful. The utility room is almost completely set up, the den is half done, the bedroom is half done, the kids' bedroom is 3/4 done, the playroom is half done... I'm going to sit at my desk and put things away in it while listening to Says You, and then it's bathtime, then bedtime!

So much going on

so tired...

took and picked up J & M from work and school, respectively
spent almost 2 hours cleaning toys in hot bleach water
got father-in-law's truck out of long-term parking at airport, loaded it up at old house - haven't fully unloaded it yet.
got oil changed in car
took carload of stuff from old house to new house earlier
was going to renew tag & change address on drivers' license, but too broke - will have to wait
got to hang out with my sister-in-law and let the kids run & play in father-in-law's backyard on new swingset while waiting for step-mother-in-law to get home so I could get truck key


So many things to talk about... Delay's indictment... fire in LA... looming civil war in Iraq... Katrina cleanup & rebuilding... my original bet of 15 named storms this hurricane season has been blown away (and J thought I was nuts, ha!) - we're at 17 now; wonder how many more are coming?... Supreme Court Chief Justice sworn in... wonder who W will appoint to replace O'Connor... stupid court case in Kansas about Intelligent Design (News flash people: SCIENCE DOES NOT NEGATE GOD. SCIENCE DOES NOT DISCUSS GOD. THE CREATOR IS OUTSIDE THE PURVIEW OF SCIENCE. STOP FEELING THREATENED, AND STOP ASKING US TO TEACH ABOUT GOD IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Teach about God at home.)... the FBI has created a new anti-obscenity task force - I guess the country is secure and the War on Terror is over... Tallahassee is debating joining a coal-burning power plant that won't help solve the problem of the energy we need in the next 7 years, and when it does come online will only provide a small fraction of the power we need in the area, at the expense of the health of anybody nearby... J has shown me nifty cool stuff at www2.meebo.com and www.writely.com... I've not had a chance to go play any of those games, and muse, did you delete your blog?... if the US was serious about becoming energy independent they'd crank up either incentives for better gas mileage in all cars or penalties/requirements for better gas mileage... they'd grant tax breaks etc. to alternative fuel users/developers... they'd create a nationwide decent rail system and encourage decent efficient local mass transportation... and it's sad, because being energy independent is a major part of our national security... has Abramoff been arrested yet?... the Republicans are crooks... no surprise... the Democrats are crooks... well, duh, they're all politicians... we're living in a plutocracy, and if you don't know what that means, you're part of the ignorant masses that have allowed it to get this bad... of course, the founding fathers created a representative government because they knew the masses were ignorant... I feel like watching Mr. Smith Goes To Washington again... campaign finance reform is urgently needed... wonder if the Republicans will manage to kill CPB this time around... no fat left to cut in the federal budget? please!... How much of what the federal government is doing should it actually be doing? I mean, based on the Constitution... why is it that Christian Conservatives support us going to war in Iraq and want us to create a democracy over there, rather than letting a bunch of radical Islamic fundamentalists create a theocracy - but they want to create a theocracy over HERE, and it's the same God?... I want to put a bumpersticker on my car that says "God gave you a brain, USE IT"... when did it become unpatriotic to point out when somebody is full of shit?... when did logic stop functioning as usual?... if we want to cut fat in the federal budget, how about any senators/representatives/presidents/vice presidents that are millionaires forgo their paycheck?... Republicans talk about "Tax and Spend Democrats" but they've become the "Don't Tax but Spend Anyway And The Next 4 Generations Will Pay For It" party themselves... when will a third political party step up to the plate and tell it like it is? Now's a great time! Republicants are hurting, Democraps are quiet - I say the Common Sense Party has a PERFECT opening right now... dammit, will I EVER stop ripping my nails off? At this rate I'm going to look awful for Matthew & Erin's wedding - fat, face splotchy, hair limp with lots of dead ends, and stubby rough nails... *sigh*...

It's now midnight and I have to get up early. Stream of consciousness writing always felt weird to me. I think I'll try it again and see how it flows. No sign of Cyborgirl yet... and now muse is missing...

I've managed not to go postal

but I'm running low on emotional endurance. Part of it is the physical tiredness; it makes my available emotional energy lower than standard anyway - but the rest is emotional fallout.

I really appreciate all the work that Kaye & Joan put into cleaning out our old place and setting up the garage sale. However, I think I now know where Megan gets her "let's throw everything away!" impulses. It amazes me, because Kaye told me how glad she was that I rescued the first baby blanket that she made for her first grandchild, when Megan threw it out on the street... here's some of the things I found in the trash:

more than $80 worth of cut, polished, loose opals
our wedding certificate
my bankruptcy paperwork
some divorce paperwork
random pieces of childrens toys (large lego pieces, little people, a miniature toy tea set, etc.)
5-10 books, notebooks, 3 ring binders, legal pads, etc.
several pairs of jeans, some t-shirts, a bunch of my underwear, the tops of two of my pajama sets, a silk dressing gown...
the leather lederhosen Justin wore as a child that we're passing on to Christian
aforementioned Capital Children's Chorus tape
the red & white knit footie outfit from Germany that J wore as an infant that we're passing on
one of my silver eeyore earrings (I hope the other one is in the house somewhere... *sigh*)
some diary pages
some photographs
lots of plug covers and other random items

Okay, so YOU tell ME - wouldn't you be pissed? Out of a pile of garbage bigger than our Ford Explorer, there were maybe THREE BAGS that did NOT have something in it that I wanted to keep.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I see Kaye tomorrow when I drop off Moira at school. I didn't say anything this morning, because I could understand how a folded up marriage certificate and a cassette tape could get thrown out in a mad rush... but the sheer number of things thrown away has just blown my mind. I'm afraid if I try to get into a conversation with her I'll just totally lose it and say something like "what the hell?! Thanks for all your incredibly hard work, but F*&#!!! ALL I asked of you was that you ASK ME FIRST. How would you like it if I went through YOUR stuff and started throwing away stuff??!!" AAAAAARRRRRGH

Okay, gotta go pick up J from work - we're going to Patrick's house for dinner & the Scorcese special about Bob Dylan. WOOHOO!