Disaster Overload

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head and heart around the disasters in Myanmar and China. The ones wrought by nature, killing thousands of people in a few minutes, were awful enough, but they are compounded in Myanmar by the refusal to allow aid workers in to help. No country, no matter how resourceful and prepared, can deal with something that catastrophic without help - and lots of it.

Myanmar is barely allowing single planes of aid supplies to land, and there’s no guarantee that those that do arrive will actually get to the people who are hurting. In fact, there are reports that the military is stealing supplies meant for the destitute. China, on the other hand, is responding to its earthquake disaster in a fast, efficient way. In both countries, though, the death tolls continue to climb.

Of course the brain goes immediately to remembering how badly we bungled the situation in New Orleans before, during, and after Katrina, and how it still hasn’t come back. Much of it will never be the same, nor will the people whose lives were so disrupted. But the numbers there were so much lower than those already known dead in Asia. It’s terribly sad.

Want to contribute something to help? Here’s a NY Times list of agencies planning to provide relief for Myanmar; my guess is that they will also help with aid for China. Please be generous.

Family Politics

My parents (and brother and sister-in-law, for that matter) are right-wing Texas Republicans and I am a liberal New England Democrat. We usually avoid discussing politics because I usually feel outnumbered and attacked, and out-gunned in the argument department. Well, my brother is a lawyer and they can be hard to argue with because they just like to argue.

It’s been interesting over the last year, though, to hear snippets of political opinions sandwiched in with our regular calls. Bush has cratered in their eyes as the war dragged on and the economy slid into recession, squeezing their retirement funds. They simply cannot stand Hillary and don’t trust Obama for all kinds of reasons, including that mud-slinging email making the rounds. While they don’t like McCain, they can’t bring themselves to vote for a Democrat.

Tonight, though, I heard something different in their voices — a recognition that the world has changed in ways they don’t like or understand. Frustration that U.S. kids know less, study less, achieve less than students in countries that have been beneath our competition in the past, places like India and China. Sadness that McCain’s sacrifices in Vietnam are being discounted. Determination to sell off Exxon stock before the new administration penalizes the company and drives down the price. Uncertainty about the future and what it will be like for me and for their grandkids.

We will not agree on politics. They will vote for McCain and I will not. I might kill Hillary myself if she doesn’t bow out and let the Democrats start figuring out how to deal with the general election instead of the current madness. I’m already sick of all of it. There are big issues facing this country and the fears and concerns that bother my parents also bother me. Well, maybe not the Exxon stock one. I want to not fight a war or have an election that goes on for 2 years and just get on with addressing those issues. They’re not going away on their own.

I Hate Mothers Day

I love my mom. But I hate Mothers Day. I’m also not a big fan of Fathers Day, either. I hate that there is a day set aside to make a big fuss over people just because they had children. I always send cards and call my parents, being too far away for a visit and dinner out. But I don’t need a special day to remember them; I do it all the time.

Mothers Day, in particular, seems insanely artificial, designed by Hallmark, florists, and jewelers to make us feel guilty and go out and buy stuff to give away. As a kid, I made cards and took breakfast in bed up on a wobbly tray - usually involving overdone eggs and cold dry toast, but occasionally pancakes if I was feeling brave.

As I got older, I’d see all the mothers in church wearing corsages and being feted by the world at large simply because they had given birth. It bothered me on two levels. One, being left out because I wasn’t a mother and people without children don’t count. And two, because quite a few of the mothers I knew weren’t good mothers. Very subjective, I know, but I knew of physically or emotionally abusive moms and it made me mad that they got the same social stamp of approval as a mom who had good parenting skills.

Adoptive mothers are celebrated but those women who give children up for adoption come to Mothers Day with mixed emotions. Mothers whose children have died have all sorts of things stirred up, and that’s also true for adults who are mourning mothers who are gone. My best friend’s mom died this last year and she was dreading all the hype surrounding today even though she is a mother herself and was getting flowers and stuff from her own kids.

Fortunately today is almost over and the ads will stop. They made a nice change from political ads and the Fathers Day ads for home improvement store gadgets and toys haven’t started yet. Let’s give them a day or two to gear that up.

Indiana Jones and the mundane

The first five minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark are among the best on film. They set the framework for the story and define the character, and along the way, let you know it’s time to buckle up the seatbelt and just go for a fun ride. Raiders is on TV even as I type, playing in a marathon on the USA network. Tho for some weird reason they showed them backwards.

Since the new Indiana Jones movie opens next weekend, I’m sure this is to get us back into Indy’s world and caught up in his adventures so we’re ready to jump on after 19 years. Can you believe it’s been that long?? Makes me feel old when I realize that the kids on campus weren’t even born when the first movie came out. I’m going to a special law school event showing of the movie, complete with popcorn, since some of it was filmed in our building and it will be fun to see how the local stuff got changed around.

It’s been a pretty quiet day with normal errands such as laundry, grocery shopping, trip to the pharmacy, and cleaning. I despise doing it and usually spend more time procrastinating than actually cleaning. But seeing how much cat fur I picked up was eye opening — and I brush Tessie twice a day and the house is still loaded! I have to keep this under better control with more frequent vacuuming but somehow I’m not sure my brain will get that done. Sometimes I don’t even remember what day it is.

Having gotten all of this good stuff done today, tomorrow I can go out to play. The plan is to get to Indian Well State Park, armed with my trusty camera and maybe a picnic lunch - assuming I don’t get lost. There are hiking trails, not that I’m so good at hiking but surely we can walk too, no? And a beach, though it’s too early (and too cold and too public) to get in a bathing suit. I’m really going to be outdoors, see the waterfall and walk around and take pictures. Should be fun, and it will get me out of the house.

So How’s it Going?

“Okay, we like reading about these snippets of your life, but really, how’s the food going? What about your body? Why aren’t you posting recipes and talking about exercise and dieting the way you used to? That’s what we want to read about.” How do I know this? From my blog stats. When I post about things dealing with food, exercise, body, and diet, the numbers go up. When I write about life things, it’s pretty flat.

I’m trying to decide what I think about that. I don’t want to write about food/body stuff right now, at least not much, but I miss having people read my words and comment and make me feel part of a community. Of course, I’m not so good about reading other people’s blogs much because I’m not choosing to use my time for much of it. I started to say I wasn’t managing the time well, but that’s not true. I’m managing it just fine, I just am not using it that way.

I’m still eating, of course, though not recording faithfully on Sparkpeople or anywhere else. I’m pretty aware that some of the time I’m eating junk but in relatively moderate amounts. I even threw away half of a candy bar today because I was full and didn’t really want the rest of it. That’s pretty amazing. I have Edy’s Slow Churned in the freezer and have some every day because I want to, but so far haven’t felt compelled to eat 1/2 of the container at one sitting.

I”m making brownies every week. I know, it’s weird. I promised this guy I’ll be seeing next weekend in St Louis that I would bring him brownies with walnuts, and I’ve been experimenting with different box brands because of course I want them to be yummy so he thinks I’m wonderful. In the meantime, I’m eating the test batches - but they’re lasting 5-6 days, which is remarkable. One batch that I didn’t like at all I just dumped. And they were chocolate!

Exercise isn’t happening much but I’m adding in what I can in little ways. Yesterday I spent my lunch hour walking in the cemetery across the street from the law school. It’s on the register of national historic places and is laid out with little lanes and beautiful trees, and has stones dating back to the early 1700’s. It was restful and quiet and the walking, even slowly, felt good after mostly being chained to my desk.

I just finished reading Mistress of the Art of Death, which I highly recommend, and have some new books waiting for me:

• Walkers between the worlds : the Western Mysteries from Shaman to Magus, by John and Caitlin Matthews
• Psychic Shield: The Personal Handbook of Psychic Protection, by Caitlin Matthews
• The Hollow, by Nora Roberts (2nd in a triology)

I’m into mystical things in both fiction and non-fiction these days, and books with magick catch my attention and hook something inside. No wonder I didn’t read many of the books on the LibraryThing list.

Tessie on the Offensive

Along with warmer weather comes the chance to open the sliding door to let in the outside air, and the kitty is loving the chance to get the scents and sounds of the outdoors. She hangs out staring at the yard, waiting for Something To Happen. Tonight that Something was a visiting Other Kitty, the big black one that’s been by before and gone nose to nose through the glass with Tessie (see photo). Being able to smell each other was something quite different.

Tessie went into offensive mode, ears pricked and low growling with the tail flicking back and forth, while they had a staring contest. Then the other one started to prowl closer and Tessie let out a sound I’ve never heard her make, a loud, angry, piercing cry as she stood up and her tail got the size of a bottle brush. She completely rocked and the other cat ran away down the side of the building. Tessie’s been prowling and stalking, making sure he didn’t come back. It was quite something to watch her transform into furry fierceness.