cave dwelling hermit, moi?

OK, so, there was no intervention Saturday.

Yeah, I'm shocked too.

I think my mom was so grateful that I fixed her damn tv (bad component cord), watched synchronized swimming on tv with her and peeled 14 quarts worth of tomatoes without complaint that she didn't dare ruin the good vibes. However, I know she will be keeping an eagle eye on me from now on. Good thing I don't usually get hung over.

I know I link to it a lot, and some of you who read this know I talk about it a lot but I just absolutely love jezebel.com. My favorite contributor is Tracie, aka Slut Machine who is just an amazingly honest writer who also looks fabulous and is one of those people who seem like she'd be a blast to hang out with. She and Rich (four four blog linked at right) do the "Pot Psychology" video every week on Jezebel and I never miss it. It's absolutely hilarious and informative and awesome every time. I have now found that Tracie also has her own personal blog, One D at a Time, which I've linked to over on the right and I have to say, I might as well forget about going to bed at a decent hour tonight too as I'll be up late reading.

Last night I was up until nearly 3:30 finishing the second book in the Twilight series. I'm also reading Vanity Fair. I don't know what's gotten into me lately but it's like one book at a time isn't enough!

I'm strongly considering a trip to Chicago in October to see Gomez play at the Vic Theater. At first I thought I would drive there, but gas prices are insane and, frankly, I've never driven in Chicago and I know I would get helplessly lost in a matter of moments. Then, I was thinking the bus, but now I'm considering the train. The only difficult and expensive part of the trip is hotel accomodations. That and the whole travelling alone thing.

I'm nervous about going because I've never been to a strange city in the U.S. alone and I really don't know anyone who is going to be there as well as I would like. I mean, we all share a love of the band and all, but there are some on the board with whom I talk to outside the board and they have really gotten to know me on a deeper level and vice versa. None of those people can be there, and that really sucks because I'd love to meet them in person and also if I knew one (or all) of them was going to be there, I could just chill the fuck out. I'm also really not sure how accepting some people will be of me, to be honest.

On the other hand, it is Gomez and what an amazing full-circle to see them for the first time in the Vic Theater considering the MSN concert was filmed there and I completely fell head over heels in love with the band after seeing that concert!

My parents are going to be upset, but I'm pretty much using my strike fund to go to this. Yay for not being on strike. (Well, technically, we could be as the vote on the new contract is due Sept 30, but the chances of that are pretty slim.)

I can see how agoraphobics become agoraphobic. It's a slow process but if I let myself be scared of all new situations, I'll never experience anything. So I'm about 85% there right now. Which is huge for me.

But my cave is awful warm and comfy all the same.

mommie dearest

Just got through watching a COMPLETELY FALSE ad from McSame blaming higher gas prices on the Democratic party. GOD.

Econ 101 should be REQUIRED for graduation from high school.

On the way to work this morning, I went off on my mom. She was commenting on a story on NPR about social security and retirement. I love my mom, but she can be a bit of a conspiracy theorist sometimes about the stupidest things. She goes on and on about how Social Security shouldn't be encouraging people to work beyond the age of 62.

Here's an approximation of my response to that:

OK, Mom, here's the deal. The reason they are encouraging your generation to work longer is because of several reasons, but the biggest one is that YOUR generation decided to have fewer children AND 70 some odd percent of the female population joined the work force. So, you have more people in the system, eligible for high benefits and NOTHING to support them. Plus, when the system was designed, IN THE 1930s, not only did people have on average more children, they also worked until they were 62 and were DEAD by the time they were 68. Now you have people LIVING LONGER and DRAWING ON THE SYSTEM LONGER. So, excuse me if we think that maybe since you're in SUCH BETTER HEALTH and you CHOSE NOT TO HAVE MORE BABIES that the government thinks you should WORK A BIT LONGER FOR YOUR PAY.

Her response? You sound like a Republican.

I cannot win.