Whiskey Packing

My family had to leave the house at 5:30 this morning to catch a flight to CA to visit my brother and his family. Sounds a tad painful, right? I suppose it may not have been so bad if I hadn't been drinking whiskey all night trying to rid myself of the hell that is known as the common cold. Add to that the fact that I found it more important to try on my new Christmas clothes and load more songs onto my nano than to pack a suitcase--and when ZM left at midnight-thirty, I was still throwing things into my luggage, without a care in the world.

So what have I learned from this experience? Whiskey may rid a girl of the sniffles for a night, but will not cure the common cold; loading The Postal Service and Dixie Chicks onto your nano really is more important than making sure you have enough socks for a 5 day vacation; and getting up at 5 am after drinking whiskey all night long makes for very long flights and the most peaceful naps you can ever imagine.

(As a side note, perhaps this will lead to a new song--maybe even a bit more upbeat than songs of the past--something about whiskey packing....feel free to comment with your suggestions about lyrics.)

do you hear that?

It's the sound of 30+ pages being printed off in the Communications Building computer lab. It's the sound papers passing from one set of hands to the next. It's the sound of a stapler pressing through the pages I have slaved over throughout this first semester of grad school. It's the sound of a great big sigh of relief. It's the sound of the door being closed on this chapter.

I'm done folks, and it feels really, really good.

RIP Coffee Grinder--you were the best I've ever had...

Remember that post about how I was so productive and able to finish all of my work before other people and was able to sit back and relax for a bit? Yeah, well I really F&(*#$* suck $*#* at that.

It's 2 am. My research paper about juvenile diversion is 88% finished and due a 5:30 pm. I still have to go to work tomorrow and I still have to pretend that I'm not dead. Yet, I'm sitting here writing this stupid, stupid blog. Someone, anyone, shoot some sense into me...

(Who wants to go out boozing after the weekend is over? I'm going to need it)

I am sooooooooo glad I didn't drop the "rental car insurance" on my policy...

I hate my state, but I love my country.

I really don't have a lot of room to complain. Afterall, I didn't vote last Tuesday. I like to think that because I am still toting around my California Driver's License and have yet to switch my residency to Idaho (I'm in denial), I have great reason for not participating in the elections.

That being said, the people of this great state of Idaho managed to do a few things that really, really pissed me off this year in the election:

1) They voted "NO" on Proposition 1, which would have given schools more money, which would have been used to fix the poor conditions that several schools are in right now, helped to pay teachers a living wage, and provide students with proper, up to date materials.

2) They elected Tom Luna as Superintendent of Schools over Jana Jones. It's not to say that his online bachelor’s degree in weights and measures (which he received just in time to run for state superintendent in 2002) isn't vaid, but when running against a woman who has a DOCTORATE in Education, the outcome should have been a no-brainer.

3) Bill Sali. Seriously?! This jackass, who opening tells people that abortions cause breast cancer, was elected to represent Idaho's First Congressional District in the US House of Representatives. Even the REPUBLICAN SPEAKER OF THE IDAHO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Bruce Newcomb, said, "That idiot is just an absolute idiot. He doesn't have one ounce of empathy in his whole fricking body. And you can put that in the paper."

Upon hearing about all of the above junk, I was about to cry. Then, I realized that the rest of the country WOKE UP!!! Yeah! With democrats having the majority of seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, I think there might be hope for our country after all. Just think, if Bush and Cheney were both booted from office, our new president would be Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from San Francisco!

And now, words from Ani Difranco--the same words that made me tear up when I saw her in concert in Chicago a few years ago...

"i love my country
by which i mean
i am indebted joyfully
to all the people throughout its history
who have fought the government to make right
where so many cunning sons and daughters
our foremothers and forefathers
came singing through slaughter
came through hell and high water
so that we could stand here
and behold breathlessly the sight
how a raging river of tears
cut a grand canyon of light..."

I am a self-admitted procrastinator. In fact, I have dubbed myself the "Queen of Procrastination." As my friend Greg says, "Planning pays off in the long run, procrastination pays off NOW!"

Although I tend to wait until the day before a project is due to complete it, I've come to realize that signing up for things early in the semester is worth it. Getting the article critiques, class discussions about research methods, and presentation about Juvenile Diversion (teen/peer courts, restitution, mediation, etc) all out of the way in the first half of the semester definately made me a raging bitch, but I am happy to report that while I stressed about all that crap earlier, everyone else was foot loose and fancy free.....and now THEY are the ones freaking out.

Ahhhhhhhhhh (that's a sigh of relief), now all I have to do is kick back with a glass of wine and throw my research into 2 papers...

point: Hansen.