A Hug And A Slap

Teetering on the brink of sublime giddiness....all the while nodding in disbelief at the cold, hard reality that people aren't what I've always hoped they would be. Of course I don't mean all people. I do my best to stay away from blanket statements.....we'll call this one a shawl instead.

President Barack Obama.....holy shiitake mushrooms, Batman! Never have sweeter words been typed. I'm still reliving the moments the great states fell blue...Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, Florida..... It almost makes me want to go to Florida, which is a sentence I've never envisioned typing...EVer... And then the glorious trio of California, Oregon and Washington...popping up blue at the exact same time...like an angelic Three Stooges....Ta Da!!! President Barack Obama....
I must confess that while watching his victory speech, I felt anxious for him to wrap it up and leave the stage. I couldn't wait to hear every word he was saying, but my fear of inane bigotry and hatred kept creeping up in an evil attempt to steal that glorious moment. How sad that my first concern was whether some idiot with a gun could have made his way into the adoring crowd.
That very same feeling did, indeed, make its way into that near-perfect night after all. No, nothing bad happened to Obama or his family....and thank God for that. But as the night wore on it became clearer and clearer that voters in California made a colossal, hideous mistake. They voted (52% of them!!!) yes on proposition 8. I'm still in a state of sadness and disbelief. I don't take a stand on too many issues (unfortunately). But this one has always been important. Not just important, actually....but crucial. How can people truly be so afraid of the way other people live their lives that they would want the State constitution altered to specifically prevent that group of people from pursuing what us married straight people take as a given right? It makes absolutely no sense to me. And I've heard all the arguments for passing such a ridiculous measure. Not one of those arguments makes it okay to willfully discriminate against people who are in love and wish to show that in the same way as the "rest of us".
But on another note, proposition 2 passed with overwhelming clarity from the voters of this great state. No more small enclosures for farm animals!! Every chicken should have the right to spread its wings and stand up/sit down without feeling too cramped. Yes, I most certainly did vote yes on proposition 2. It makes sense. It seems silly NOT to vote for that, right? I want the chicken I eat for dinner to have lived with dignity and some decent elbow room. Glad it passed. Glad to see Californians stand up and speak out for the rights of these animals who can't help the fact that they were indeed born as chickens. Way to go California!!
So about that prop 8 thing again....

In the beginning...

Knowing where to start....ah yes, the first of many mysteries...

Since deciding to enter the "blogoshphere" (good lord...what a stupid word), I've been trying to figure out just how to begin the begin, so to speak.  Assuming anyone actually reading this already knows me, to one degree or another, I figured I could cut right to the chase, without volumes and volumes of back story....You can all thank me later...

April 10th, 2005....my last day of work at a good job.  No time yet to prepare for the new one I would start 3 days later...and the unenviable task of moving my family from a tiny, yet wonderful, apartment in Hollywood to a newly "purchased" condo in Burbank.  We don't really own our homes.  You knew that, right?  Yes, they call us "homeowners", but really we're in debt up to the napes of our necks and have no real shot at owning said home unless the lottery actually comes a'knockin.  And the last time I checked, the lottery doesn't have my address.    The fine, upstanding, uniquely understanding banks actually own our homes.  And to the lovely people who make decisions about buying and selling....god damn do i love you guys.  Everyone speaks so glowingly of you while you're signing your life away...all the way through escrow.  But beware the perils of missing a payment date on your mortgage (funny: same prefix as mortality and mortician...just a thought).  All of a sudden you're one of "those" people.  It's all down hill from there to them.  They start wringing their grubby little hands about not getting every cent from you quick enough.  I'm sure there's a dozen or so different filing options at the mortgage bank offices.  You start in one file...virginal and pure...only to be moved from file to file, like so many bad dates...ending in a series of one-night stands with nothing to show for it but a yet-unnamed series of maladies and dilemmas.  But by all means...please buy a home.  It's the best decision you could make.  You owe it to your family to give them a bank-owned headache.  Trust me.