Quodlibets

Slow-going on the sewing

We've been BUSY.  Hence, very little to no sewing.  I feel like I sat at home and watched a LOT more football at the beginning of last fall.  I'm hoping that as it gets freezing out, we'll take refuge in the apartment, and just in general have less to do.  I miss football Sundays!  Sam doesn't, but that's another story altogether.  Anyway, no guarantees on the light that goes in that circle, because I've got another very busy week, and we're having a houseguest this weekend, which means the sewing time might drastically reduce yet again.

My blood is boiling

Which is the exact wrong time to write a blog post, I know. 

Isn't John McCain the biggest assclown in the universe?  He picked a ridiculous running mate, won't let the press have access to her, and now is running scared from an Obama debate. 

Oh, excuse me, no.  He's running back to DC to work on the economy.  Is he going to suspend his campaign for the years it takes to right things?  Maybe he'll want to postpone the election too.  I mean, it is the economy.

And frankly, what the hell does Mr. Deregulation exactly want to do when he runs back to Washington anyway?  I've heard they're still not talking about regulating those credit default thingies that are causing so much of the drama here, so why the heck does John "deregulation" McCain need to run back?  Don't worry, Mr. McCain, they're not going to fix the problem.  They're going to fix the symptoms.  Perfect for you deregulatory types.

Sigh.  NPR is bad for my mental health. 

Skip one

Trees!  Remember all those trees I sewed last time around?  More trees!  Actually, this xstitch has fewer trees, it's just that of course when you're starting, it's the sky and trees.  But honestly, this xstitch is so action-packed it's insane.  See that round-esque hole on the left side?  That's a lamp.  A lamp is going in there.  Pretty quick to get some action.  Look at the last one to remind yourself just how much snow and trees I sewed.

Completely off topic, did I ever recommend the film "I Like Killing Flies" on this blog?  Sam and I went to see it ages and ages ago at Facets (the only film we ever have seen there, and it was right after we moved to the city.), and it was fascinating and entrancing and filled me with longing to go to Shopsin's.  I'd still love to go, but I don't think that's happening.  Anyway, Kenny Shopsin made a book!  Sam brought it home for me today (a little happy present, a complete surprise), and it's wonderful and odd and again, simply fascinating.  Even if you don't want to buy it, maybe pop into a bookstore and take a peek.  Then again, maybe I'm just the biggest food nerd on the planet. 

I'll try to post sewing pictures every week, but it depends on if both Sam and I can remember to have him a) take the pics and b) send them to me and c) then I have to actually post the pics.  We'll see how well we do.  No promises on that lamp showing up by next week.

Fun!

Rock Band 2.  So fun.  I'm in the throes of a massive addiction.  I played 2 hours last night; I played 2 hours this morning.  Unless I get home really early tonight, though, the next time I play might be...horrors....Monday? 

Oh, and sis?  I deleted Bang a Gong.  It's forever out of the realm of possibility.  And!  Enter Sandman doesn't transfer, so we're done with that monster forever too.

Viva Rock Band!

Regulate, and regulate again

I'm not a free market capitalist.  I don't think I'm a socialist, or a communist, exactly.  But I don't believe that the market should regulate itself (and I think if you're watching this stuff going down right now--Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and AIG--you might concede that regulation would have prevented some of this), because I don't believe the market can compensate for greedy monsters.  Or can be compassionate.  I can't talk economically about this, because I'm not economist, but even I can see that unchecked greed (and little to no regulation of that greed) has led to at least part of this disaster.  (That and the very fucked up idea that housing prices would never ever ever in the entire history of the world drop.  Erm, is it weird to say that this seems self-evidently stupid?)  The desire to leave markets unregulated is really a desire to allow people with power and money the power and money to make the rules up as they go, and the world be damned.  It leads to bad decisions, and bad things happen that make the economy crash around us.

Greed is so troubling.  It's as troubling as power.  Both corrupt absolutely, I'm sure of it.  It's okay to want to make a profit, it's okay to want a nice life, and it's definitely okay to make money.  But there is a line, and that line is crossed when you'll do things that will hurt people in the name of more money.  More money more money more money.  The things these people did, even though I little comprehend them (and what little I do get I gleaned from that one episode of "This American Life" about money [which is INCREDIBLE and you should go listen to it now], Fresh Air [particularly yesterday's, which was good, and which referenced an older episode with the same economist.  I may seek the older one out.], and a little teensy bit of news reading), seem reprehensible to me, and it seems that it was all about making more money for a few people.  I can't understand their motives otherwise.  Can anyone clarify that for me?  Were these unregulated financial products (the names of which escape me now, but I know it has to do with mortgages and...that stuff) created for any other reason but to rake in vast amounts of money? 

So yeah, I'm all for regulation.  Regulate the shit out of the greedy shits.  I'm all for it.  If it means less money for me down the road, so be it.  Frankly, the US Government should stop protecting corporations and do more protecting of its own citizens.  Regulations protect citizens; free markets protect corporations.

Hunger

Does your brain ever just feel HUNGRY?  I'm not talking about food.  I mean, sometimes I just get ravenously hungry to know something--no, everything--about something.  In high school, I went through a phase where I just had to read every book I could find about Napoleon and Josephine, and I probably read 6-10 books (one after the other) about the two of them.  Understand, these books were NEVER about JUST Napoleon, but about their relationship, because I found it endlessly fascinating (and still do, to some extent).  Now that I think of it, that curiosity might have been piqued by my viewing of the famous painting of Josephine's coronation at the Louvre in 1996.  The summer before my senior year of high school.  Regardless of what brought on the obsession to KNOW. IT. ALL., that impulse has never truly gone away.  When I am gripped by something, I am GRIPPED by it, and nowadays, that can mean searching online, searching library databases, reading voraciously on the subject, and then never really dropping it.  I think sometimes people think I know a lot of useless crap (and it's probably true that 90% of what I get out of these books is useless crap), but I know that useless crap because I'm intellectually curious about things, even if it doesn't lead me anywhere but to the joy of learning that useless crap.

Intellectual curiosity is an interesting thing.  I know a lot of people that I would characterize as intellectually curious, but I also know more than a few people who simply can't be termed so.  It's not a bad thing, I don't think, but it is a very foreign thing to me.  I'm not that way, and I get such pleasure from learning things that I really can't imagine not feeling hungry for more.  I don't know what it would be like to be in this world and NOT hunger to learn even just a few things, because there is literally too much for me.  I'm ravenously hungry, and I can't ever catch up to all the things I want to read about.  Hence my bulging bookshelf of books I've not yet read, and my towering stack of library books yet to be read and the feeling that there is always more and more and more.  I know I keep using the words "hunger" and "ravenous", but that's because I can't think of better words to describe how demanding my brain can be at times. 

I can't imagine turning it off forever, either, though I think I've learned to do it temporarily, and one of the ways I do it is to sew.  Sewing allows me to put aside the thinking for one g-d minute and just...do.  There's nothing intellectual about cross-stitching.  Counting is not intellectual.  But it's such a relief and a relaxing thing for me, and I think it's because my brain switches off of its own accord.  I like that feeling; I like it almost as much as I do learning.  But I do have to make an effort to get to that shut-down place, and there are places I can get there--Disneyworld is one, but other vacations are not, because I'm all about the educational plaque or museum or...ask Sam.  My favorite thing about Muir Woods?  The educational plaques.  That's a true fact.  I can't commune with nature unless there's some learning way to do it.  It's pretty fucked up, actually.  I probably need to shut down more often, and just let go and not think so much.  Which is where the protesting comes in, because I like it so much!  I just like cramming shit in my head so much.

(That's not to say that I am an intellectual, because I don't really think I am.  I don't feel any drive to necessarily USE the stuff I pick up.  I really just like knowing it for the sake of knowing it; I was one of those annoying college students who went to learn, and not to learn a career.  I'm still kinda that way.  I don't care if I never bust out with all the Josephine trivia I know.  I just like knowing it's in my head.)

Something that scares me

One of my friends (Hi Tim!  Long time no talk!) keeps posting news items (ie the hideous things that John McCain and Sarah Palin are saying about you know, everything.  Essentially, the lies are the main point.  For example, the latest news item is about the ad claiming Obama supports comprehensive sex education for kindergartners, which is a blatant lie, in case you were wondering.) and then commenting on them: "These people think you're stupid."

It's definitely true, Tim.  Here's what scares me:  most of America is THAT stupid.  Right now, somewhere in Pennsylvania (only chosen for its swing state status, could be ANY state in the union) some old lady is saying, "Ain't no black Muslim gonna teach my little grandbabies about sex and that dirty stuff."  And you know she believes it, and you know she's gonna go into that booth and think something like, "I'm a-scared of Muslims!" and she'll vote for McCain/Palin.  Because dude!  We're only as good as our lowest common denominators, and our LCDs will believe the Republican sound machine because they're scared and stupid.

That scenario?  My biggest fear right now.  And my fear?  It's not leading me to vote for Republicans, it's leading me to think that perhaps the Republicans can yet again mobilize over half of America's (xenophobic, misplaced, but still) fears and pull out a win in what would be the most disgusting, throw-up inducing election of my life. 

I was thinking the other day, and GW Bush (that man) has been in office since I've been an adult human being, and that thought makes me feel slightly green around the gills.  I've never known a government that I trusted, and I'm sort of ready for that.  And by sort of, I mean: YES PLEASE DEAR GOD PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET IT BE THE GOOD GUYS.  And not the party of liars and fearmongers. 

Ok, I'm done now. 

Here it goes again

Yes, here it is.  The illustrious beginning to my next X-stitch project.  True to word, it was started in time for football, and most of that stitching was done two days ago, on the first full day of football.  I sewed more last night during football, and I'll be sewing most weeknights again.  Something about cold weather and sewing.... 

Football season is here!

I drafted two teams this year, one for my own league, and one for my dad's league (in which I'm the only woman, a fact that is sort of interesting, but not as interesting as the fact that I'm squaring off against two cousins, my step-brother, my brother, and my dad, in addition to the family in my league:  my mom, my cousin, my cousin's wife and her sister, my dad's wife, and Sam's brother's girlfriend.  I am literally entangled in family and football.), and I did some research like last year--though not as much--and the research this year seemed, well, contradictory.  A lot of the sources were throwing the 2 RBs in 2 rounds theory out the window, except....not really.  Most of the rankings on most sites are still RB RB RB RB Tom Brady RB RB on and on and on.  Yeah, some WR's have cracked the top tiers, but despite the overwhelming lean towards the pass in the game, the fantasy game does seem to continue to emphasize RBs. 

And even if you set aside the lean towards the passing game (Tom Brady Tom Brady Tom Brady), the running game has also moved towards the platoon deployment of RBs, splitting carries between two backs, so that any running back you pick will likely sit a significant number of carries.  (Which thus leads to handcuffing--the practice of drafting the RB that platoons with your main RB.  In my case, I drafted [in my own league] Felix Jones to back up Marion Barber.  Of course, not all teams platoon effectively.  I didn't draft Marshawn Lynch's back-up, for example.)  I don't know if you football fans out there have read Pro Football Prospectus before, but basically it's a book for numbers nerds, and I'm not one of those, actually.  I don't necessarily understand all the numbers (but I bet my mom does), but I do understand the advice they give based on the numbers, and the way they use them.  Their statistics about RBs are staggering; over a certain number of carries in any one year (I want to say 325, but I don't have the book in front of me), and the next year, the RB will decline in productivity or get hurt a great percentage of the time.  It's just...well, the kind of stuff that makes you NOT want a non-platooning RB.

I'm actually spilling the beans here, because I use PFP almost exclusively to draft from (they use their historical statistics [gathered on their own, in some cases, because the NFL won't share] to create predictions that are often fantastically accurate.  In terms of fantasy, and in terms of the records and results of NFL teams.  It's not really very fun to read the chapter on the Chicago Bears this year, let me tell you.  I trust the PFP guys, and they're saying the Bears aren't going to be very good.  I believe them.  They also, back to fantasy, create a risk rating (based on traffic signals, oddly enough) for each player, based on....something....that will indicate how likely the player is to do what they think he'll do.  All I can say is, they were SO right about Lynch and Housh last year, and like I said, I trust them.  However, if everyone in my leagues starts using this book, there goes my draft.  And PFP's predictions about certain players are definitely FAR removed from how ESPN and other major fantasy football magazines rate them.  It's interesting, to say the least.

So yeah, though the season started on Thursday, one game does not a fantasy game make, so the season REALLY starts tomorrow.  I'm excited, of course, but a little depressed that the Sunday night game--the Bears v. Colts--is on opposite the premiere of True Blood on HBO.  True Blood is based on on of my most favorite book series, so to say I'm conflicted would be understating it a bit.  Sam votes for "not football".  I don't think he's looking forward to 12 hours of football a week, so normally, I'd give him Sunday off.  But grrrr, this week?  It's the Bears.  Before they go precipitously downhill.  Decisions, decisions.  Don't worry, though.  We're watching the early and late games.  We'll see how my teams do.

Librarians v. Palin

It should be incredibly disturbing to everyone that Sarah Palin inquired at her local library, after taking over as mayor, how she could go about banning books.  It should be insanely disturbing to librarians, who are supposed to protect and cherish every person's right to information.  I'm probably the extreme view here, because I believe nothing should be banned (for god's sake, even though I don't really appreciate pornography, I think that there is a place for Playboy, at the very least, in a public library), ever.  I really hope that most librarians understand that the freedom to seek and acquire information is one of the things that makes a democracy possible. 

And I understand that whether we're actually a democracy is debatable right now, as our rights go out the windows with things like the Patriot Act and the upholding of wiretapping, and the deplorable things happening at Guantanamo Bay, but we should aspire to get back to a place where democracy is upheld.  And libraries are part of that.  They democritize information.  You don't have to pay for it, you don't have to be in a certain neighborhood to access it (most IL communities have libraries; I wonder if many people know that it's not necessarily a given in other parts of the country), and you don't have to even know how to find what you're looking for to find it.

I know I operate on the assumption that all librarians feel as strongly as I do, and I'm sure that's not necessarily true, but I hope that at the very least, those librarians close to my age, or who are attending library school now (regardless of age) feel as strongly as I do.  I don't know if this is talked about enough, but the library is a place you can go that will provide you with the privacy to ask whatever you want.  (As an example, many teenagers may come to the library for the sexual information that their parents or schools won't provide for them.  Maybe they're looking for the basics, or maybe they're confused about their own sexual orientation.  I believe it is ESSENTIAL that libraries are a place where teenagers can access information about these issues; I know that in the past, it hasn't always been the case that this would be so, but I hope that things are getting better.)  It's just so incredibly important that people understand exactly what the library is for.  Not just books!  Information!  Information = power.

(As an aside, at dinner with Sam's parents the other night, I mentioned that if they couldn't find the information they were looking for online, they might call the library and see if they could help.  They looked at me like I had three heads, and finally ventured, "But why would we call the library?"  So explained that libraries weren't just about books, but information.  They're there to help you find what you need, and oftentimes, very good at it.  I even told Mr. Sam's Dad that he could probably take computer/software classes at his local library, which blew. him. away.  Which brings me to the conclusion:  People in fact don't understand that libraries = information.)

The thing is, what Sarah Palin wants to do is take away your right to certain information.  And that's not only unethical, it's disempowering.  It's not surprising, because Republicans seem to be always fighting for less information in the hands of ordinary Americans, but it's outrightly stated in Sarah Palin's case.  She wants to ban library books.  She wants to take resources out of your hands.  It's despicable, and it's one more reason I cannot stand her.  There are a lot of them, but this is one I just can't let go without blogging about.  McCain/Palin is dangerous for America.  She wants to take away one of the greatest things about America: that information is given freely and without bias.  Don't let her do it.