I'm Fine, Thanks

I've discovered that telling someone I'm pregnant is rather like when I was in college and told someone I was from California.

Telling someone you're from California always elicits a response such as these: "Oh, my (cousin/brother/niece/sister-in-law's best friend's boyfriend) lives in California in (random town one has never heard of);" or "I visited California on vacation--I hated/loved it;" or "I was stationed there when I was in the military." No matter what, there is ALWAYS a response; but tell someone you're from a random midwestern state and they'll say, "Oh."

Being pregnant elicits a gamut of responses ranging from "when I was pregnant" to some horror story that could curl hair. Nowadays I mostly get more free advice than I can ever process. I am constantly answering the questions, "How are you feeling?" and "Do you know what you're having?" Here are my answers--mark them down--"Fine," and "A baby." Okay, the last answer is a little glib, but we are waiting until birth to find out if it's a boy or girl. Old-fashioned, sure, but hey, if it was good enough for our parents. . .

Maybe I shouldn't be so testy; after all, all this attention cancels out the problem I seem to be having lately: invisibility--but that's another post for another day.

I Thought I Smelt Something Odd

Rating: MS
So what is going on in that region called California? The water has been shut off to save the fish at the expense of the people.
There is no question that the Central Valley of California is the agricultural nerve center it is only because irrigation has turned what is technically classified as a desert into farmland. Without water there are no crops, jobs, or food for much of the country.
Environmentalists have been at odds with California issues for decades. The legend says that John Muir died of a broken heart because of the dam built on the Hetch Hetchee which flooded one of his favorite valleys in Yosemite. It may be fact, it may be legend--I don't know. Then there was the spotted owl crisis. I distinctly remember the prevention of the development of a piece of property due to a kit fox living there. Now the water will not flow because of an endangered fish.
I do not encourage deliberate harm to the environment. I don't think that the draining of Tulare Lake was the best idea. I think it is important to save endagered species like the condor. It is right to save the environment at the expense of the people? Yes, yes, I hear you--what good is saving the people if they have no place to live? Let me pose the opposite--what good is saving the place to live if there are not people to live there?
There are tens of thousands of people out of work and food prices are bound to climb. In this economy the government which is pumping billions of dollars into the country to help pull its people out of a recession/depression is the same government which has deepened the economic crisis in the Central Valley by turning off the water.
Ebenezer Scrooge told those seeking philanthropy ". . .if [the poor] are to die, then let them die." Later the ghost of Christmas present says tells Scrooge that before he makes statements such as these, he might want to know who the poor are before he makes a blanket statement. Maybe those who fought to shut off the water should also consider the people who are being deprived of their livelyhood--or make other plans to pump water to vital crops.
Perhaps people just aren't important to some people, and that's the problem more than 3-inch fish getting caught in pumps.

Just Joking!

Rating: All in Fun. . .
Do NoT tRy To AdJuSt YoUr CoMpUtEr. It Is ApRiL fIrSt. . .
You may not be able to adjust it anyway, as it may have crashed--thanks to the Conficker worm.
I'm not really a party pooper--I like a good joke; however, I guess I've never understood the point of April Fool's Day. I once read that historically it goes back to the old calendar and the new year began on April 1, not January 1. People who continued to celebrate April 1 as the new year were called "April Fools." I don't know if that's the truth; it's certainly plausible. I am just too lazy to look it up.
Still, what's the point of pranks? A good prank now and then is sure to get a laugh; in fact, I'd love to "get them good" for once. Who? Anyone, I just can never pull it off with a straight face.
Still, the April Fool's Day pranks seem futile. It starts with the elementary school children: "You have a spider on your shoulder." Yeah, yeah, that one gets old after about 5 minutes.
They tend to become a little more elaborate in junior high and high school, but with more elaborate comes the tendency to be more mean-spirited as well.
Aside from newspaper comics and some TV shows, do many adults pull April Fool's Day pranks (aside from the afore-mentioned malicious Conficker worm)?
Fortunately, it lasts only a day.

Book Confessions Meme

I saw this on a couple of different blogs, but since McCain (Paul, not John) said that if I read it I was tagged, I guess I must. To quote him: "Bibliophiles unite! Enjoy."
Book Lovers True Confessions MEME
Book Confessions Meme
1. To mark your page you: use a bookmark, bend the page corner, leave the book open face down? If the book requires much thought, I will use a bookmark. If the book is a novel, especially one I have previously read, I generally remember my spot; ergo, I will not mark it with anything. I will place it open face down if I will be back briefly. Never do I bend the corner. The book corners tend to rip off that way, and I loathe that.
2. Do you lend your books?Sometimes. I may have to bug the person to get them back.
3. You find an interesting passage: you write in your book or NO WRITING IN BOOKS!I If the book is mine, I may or may not write in it. I frequently wrote in my college textbooks.
4. Dust jackets - leave it on or take it off? Generally I leave them on. If I want to take the book with me and the dust jacket may get messed up, I will take it off and replace it later.
5. Hard cover, paperback, skip it and get the audio book? I prefer hard cover, but I'm too cheap to always buy hard cover.
6. Do you shelve your books by subject, author, or size and color of the book spines? Yeah, right. My books are loosely shelved by subject. I may shelve them by author if I can. Often they go where they fit.
7. Buy it or borrow it from the library later? Usually buy, but recently someone reminded me that the library is cheaper. I could always buy it later. . .
8. Do you put your name on your books - scribble your name in the cover, fancy bookplate, or stamp? I sometimes write my name in the cover. I'd like to label them eventually.
9. Most of the books you own are rare and out of print books or recent publications? I don't have much rare. Some are out of print, most are either recent publications or reprints of older books. Some are ones I picked up cheap or free.
10. Page edges - deckled or straight? Deckled seems pretty cool, but aren't those a little more expensive?
11. How many books do you read at one time? Often two at a time, but sometimes as high as three.
12. Be honest, ever tear a page from a book? Never on purpose.

Something-versaries

Rating:MS

What does one call the anniversary of something negative? There is no joy in remembering the anniversary of tragedy. Somber events should be remembered in soberness and meaning. To call it an anniversary seems somewhat incongruous. To call it an un-niversary seems rather trite. What then should one call it? It seems it should have its own nomenclature.

You Never Know

I was thinking the other day (shocking, I know) about people of whom I esteem. Then I thought about the average person crossing paths with these people, and I wonder, do they know them? Then I thought about the people with whom I might cross paths and wonder--are these people who are highly esteemed? For example: Could the person I'm honking at because they are not going quickly enough be a college professor? Could the person standing behind me in line at the big box store be a well-respected artist in her field? Might the person sitting near me in a restaurant be a retired Boeing engineer who developed some supersonic something-or-other that I may never understand? It's interesting to ponder. . .

Did I Say Too Much?

I found the following poem scrawled on a piece of paper. I forgot I had written it.

The Full Stop

Period.
End mark.
Just a spot
Which tells us
We should just
Stop.