| Post-Election Thoughts |
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| 01:21am 08/11/2008 |
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I am not going to argue or justify or try to convince anyone that I voted for the right candidate and they voted for the wrong one, because that kind of dialogue is unhelpful. However, I would like to share my thoughts about this Election, just like I did after the 2004 election.
I hope that now the election is over, America can move on.
I hope we can leave behind the rhetoric of red states and blue states.
I hope we can leave behind the rhetoric of liberal vs. conservative.
I hope we can leave behind the notion that people with certain political or religious views, or people who live in certain parts of the country, are somehow more or less American.
I think every American, deep down, wants the same things: We want the opportunity to follow our dreams, the support we need to make them come true, without undue interference. We want stability. We want America to be respected again. We want peace. We want to look at the future with expectation and hope rather than fear. We want our country to thrive. We want the world to thrive. We want good schools for our children, safe neighborhoods in which to live, and plenty of job opportunities that pay a living wage and afford us the ability to live and work with dignity.
Aw, heck, This Site says it better than I can. We are all Americans, whether we voted for McCain or Obama or a third party or nobody at all. Our future as a nation will be what we make of it, together.
So let's get to work. ;)
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| 2 years |
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| 04:05am 20/07/2007 |
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I have been in the UK for 2 years now. I now have my permanent residence. Hooray for me. |
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| Jury duty. |
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| 02:14pm 17/12/2005 |
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mood:  amused
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I have been summoned for Jury Duty. This is... amusing and vaguely annoying.
Yes, it's my duty as a citizen. Yes, it's an important function which needs to be served. Yes, everybody hates it and tries to find an excuse to avoid attending.
I think I have one of the better ones, though.
I've been summoned to Jury Duty in Pennsylvania.
I live in England.
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Oh, and apparently the wrestling channel over here gets Ring of Honor. Cool. AJ and I spent last afternoon watching Samoa Joe win the Pure Wrestling belt. |
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| 01:24pm 13/12/2005 |
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As of yesterday, I have been living in the United Kingdom for five months. |
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| New car... Manual transmission |
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| 07:35pm 17/09/2005 |
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mood:  nervous music: Renaissance - Mother Russia
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Right. On Monday, I pick up my new car. A Toyota Corolla Colour Collection, in Ixion Blue, with a tiny 1.4 L engine. This is a vehicle of milestones - it's my first car, my first [i]new[/i] car, the first time I've had to drive on the left side of the road, and here's the really tricky one - it's manual transmission, and before this week I'd never touched a stick shift.
Yes, yes, I know. An automatic would have been easier for me, the shifter is just one more change to think about, and so forth... My mother-in-law brought these arguments up many many times, before I chose to disregard her advice and get a manual anyway. Three things prompted this choice - One, the manual transmission vehicle would have required an extra thousand pounds (500 for an Engine upgrade, 500 for a transmission upgrade) thrown at the car, which I couldn't really afford. Two, since manual cars are more common here, it should be easier to get my car serviced and supplied with the proper parts than it would be with an automatic. Three, when I go for my UK driver's license after my one-year grace period, if I don't know how to drive manual, I'll be legally limited to driving automatics. Since 90-something percent of the cars on the road in the UK are manual transmission, I consider this to be a fairly substantial handicap. I think my reasoning is fairly sound - or at least I hope it's sound, because as I said, I go to pick up the car on Monday.
In preparation for this, my father-in-law (a great bloke with incredible patience) has been taking AJ and I out driving in his car. AJ has only driven manual transmission cars, so that's not a problem. He didn't drive at all during our two years in America, however, so he's a bit rusty. So I'm a fairly good, experienced driver who has no idea what to do with a gear shifter, and he's a fairly bad, inexperienced driver who has an intuitive understanding of the shifter. Put together, and we make one good driver.
I've picked up starting from a stop - especially on a hill - with surprisingly few hitches. I'm getting used to shifting from gear to gear while actually in motion. I can also stop the car fairly well, and get it into motion again with minimum jerking or rollback. Main issue I'm having are lots of beginner's mistakes - such as accidentally putting the car into second instead of fourth... accidentally not getting the car all of the way into gear, accidentally stalling out when making a sudden, unexpected stop. My father-in-law said that he was actually more impressed than he thought he was going to be, and that I was doing rather well... but I'm still nowhere near comfortable with it.
So I'm just praying that I don't strip the gears of brand new car, or crash or something. It's a Corolla, so I know it's pretty forgiving, and I know it's really safe if I do crash it, but I'm perhaps understandably nervous.
Any friendly advice, positive vibes, congratulations, etc, are more than welcome. |
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| 04:58pm 15/09/2005 |
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mood:  tenatively optimistic
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Something positive meme.
Tell me something good that happened to you today, and pass it along. |
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| More bureaucracy. |
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| 08:07pm 12/09/2005 |
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mood:  frustrated
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I've just had a job offer rescinded because my background check would take too long to process, as it has to go through standard channels here, then go over to America, get signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as fire lighters.
Anyone else out there feel like they live on Vogsphere? |
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| Grr to beaurocracy. |
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| 10:04pm 06/09/2005 |
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mood: frustrated
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Right. I'm quite fed up with beaurocracy.
Because I'm going to be working with children, I have to have a background check done. Fair enough, I don't mind so much. But in order to get the check done I need to provide proof of residence at the home I'm staying at in the UK, ignoring that I've only been here two months and any data on me - even if there was any to find, which there isn't - would turn up in relation to my US address.
Proof of residence is something like a lease agreement, a phone bill or a bank statement - something official sent by a company which has your name on it. The former two are difficult because I'm living with my in-laws, and thus the mortgage is in their name as is the phone bill. The latter is difficult because I do not yet have a UK bank account.
Simple, right? Just go to the bank and have myself added to my husband's bank account. Should take 5 minutes. In, out, done. Right?
Ha.
This is a basic summation of the conversation with the people at the bank:
"We can't add your name to the account because we don't have proof of address."
"...Right, you have ample proof that I am who I say I am, right?"
"Well, yes..."
"...And you have on record that my husband lives at this address, right?"
"Yes"
"And you've seen my marriage certificate and spousal visa which say we're married and one would presume we'd be living together, right?"
"Yes"
"So isn't that sufficient?"
"No. You need a sheet of paper from a company which connects you to that location."
"I have a copy of my in-laws mortgage and a letter from them saying I live at that location. That was sufficient for the British immigration authorities. Does that count?"
"No. It has to be a bill, or bank statement, or lease agreement."
"...So all the evidence I presented the British immigration authoriites to prove I had a place to live in the UK is not sufficient, because I'm staying with my in-laws and thus don't have my name on the bills?"
"Pretty much. We suggest you have your in-laws call up and add your name to one of their utilities accounts, then ask them to send an interim statement. It's a very easy process. You can do it over the phone, and you don't have to prove anything."
"Well, couldn't anyone do that?"
"Yes."
"So it doesn't really prove anything, does it?"
"...well, yes."
"...Then what's the point?"
"Because we need proof of residence. We can't add you to the account otherwise."
"Ooookay..."
Right, so it's somewhat embellished, but that's the general gist of it. Maybe I'm just spoiled by banking in the US, whereby you walk in and say "I want a free checking account." They have you fill in a simple form, photo copy your driver's license then give you a free toaster for the privilege of working with you.
...at least as the spouse of a client, I don't have to attempt to wrangle a letter of reccomendation from my previous bank. I have it on good authority that attempting to get a letter of reccomendation from a US bank in order to open up a UK bank account tends to be met with blank stares.
Just another annoying niggling little cultural difference that has me on the verge of tearing my hair out. |
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| 10:40pm 14/08/2005 |
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mood:  depressed
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My husband has a unique passive-aggressive way of dealing with criticism. When he is criticized he either doesn't respond at all, or he goes overboard with the "oops, I screwed up"s. Not, you know, faked. But genuine feeling completely rotten. Which makes things difficult, because invariably feeling rotten doesn't inspire him to behave differently in the future, but it makes me want to comfort him, which distracts me from getting myself in order when I'm upset... which means I actually stay upset longer than I would otherwise, because the stress of trying to make him feel better about screwing up (when he did screw up) just compounds the already-existing stress caused by the initial screw up.
And then invariably he'll forget all about it and go play Magic: The Gathering Online or something equally insipid, and leave me to stew. Men suck. |
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| Stop me before I make yet another crappy webcomic |
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| 12:40am 20/07/2005 |
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mood:  creative
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Fighting the urge to make a web comic. Losing.
The general schtick is a modern day fairy tale... Lots of emphasis on dualities. Seelie and Unseelie courts. Faerie and Earth. The aging queen, and the youthful, ever-rotating group of kings. Mortality and the supernatural.
Character development will be more important than action. Plot will be about equally important to character development.
There will actually be an overarching story with a beginning, middle and end.
The art style will be fairly realistic in terms of anatomy, but in terms of line attempting something akin to a woodblock print, with translucent washy colors overtop. Intense, jewel-like hues for Faerie. Washed out hues for Earth.
Expect to see vampires, werewolves and wizards as well, but perhaps not as modern cinema portrays them.
"Let me get this straight. I'm supposed to spear him to the ground, decapitate him, stuff his mouth full of garlic, burn the corpse and scatter the ashes to the four winds?"
"What, you thought you could kill the bugger with a stake through the heart? You've been watching too much Buffy."
I'm almost certain to include an aging Titania as a major character...
If I decide to do this. Which I kind of already have, but for the nagging self-doubt that lingers. |
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| 10:46am 18/07/2005 |
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mood:  sore
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Someone tell my toe that purple is not a good color for toes to be. |
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| The British character - Dialects of English - Kittens |
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| 05:25pm 17/07/2005 |
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mood:  nerdy
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There are many things admirable about the British character - stoicism, and the ability towards self deprecation for two. My experiences with the British have lead me to feel that they are on the whole a rather charming and witty people.
There are a few things that irritate me, however. Perhaps primary among them is the haughty superiority and irrational posessiveness with which they regard the English language. British English is seen as inherently superior, and my own American English is seen as a poor imitation with many glaring flaws. Though I do attempt to, in conversation, adjust my particular word usages to mirror those around me (It is, after all, only polite to when in a land not your own attempt to make it as easy as humanly possible for those around you to understand you), when I make the slightest error it is pounced upon with unusual fervor (or should I say fervour), and torn apart as a clear example of the inferiority of my particular Colonial patois.
This is immensely frustrating.
Just because the language is named after you does not mean that you have a monopoly on that language. The English are not the final arbiters on the correctness or lack thereof of various usages of the language. English has been and always will be a dynamic, adaptable tongue. That which was considered grammatically or linguistically improper a scant few decades ago is widely used now. Hell, "Nukular" is now listed in my dictionary as an acceptable pronunciation of "nuclear".
It is not a matter of which dialect is "correct" or "incorrect", which is "superior" or "inferior". Neither is an authoritative, pure, unadulterated, sterling example of linguistic perfection. Both versions are equally illogical, convoluted, grammatically and spelling-wise completely and utterly insane, and both have up to a point the same bastardized roots. Yes, there are some spelling differences. There are some differences in terminology. There is reason for this - English spelling, up until near the time that the New World was colonized, was a mutable thing. Only in the past few centuries has spelling become a solid, steady thing. During this time, two dialects (there are truly many more than that, but two main groups) of the language developed on alternate sides of the Atlantic. Spelling and pronunciation congealed thousands of miles apart. Since then, the two dialects have drifted further apart - new inventions and discoveries were granted different terminologies during this time (for example, elevator and lift, pavement and sidewalk, odometer and mileometer, and so forth). Only recently, with the exportation of American television to England, English television to America, and with the advent of the internet, have both dialects begun to drift closer together.
This has been met with considerable resistance from both sides. From my experience (as an American. Your mileage may vary), Americans tend to regard British English with amusement - the attitude is largely one of "Look at how quaint and charming this alternative spelling is", or "Hehe, they call elevators lifts". Conversely, the British are very posessive of their English and react to American forms with a sort of hostility. Both sides are inclined to say that the other is "wrong", but the tone differs - on the one side, it tends to be a friendly sort of teasing, and on the other it seems to be a fervent defense of the one true dialect of the language.
It's about time to give up the idea that there exists a platonic ideal of the language, and that that ideal is solely British - or American. It's a faulty concept to consider language an immutable thing that has to be kept pure and unsullied by external influence, especially when dealing with a language with as varied a history as English. The most important function of a language - any language - is to convey concepts and ideas between two or more individuals. If I write "color" and you understand it as being the same concept as "colour", or you write "lift" and I understand it as being the same concept as "elevator", then how can either of us be said to be using the language incorrectly? The idea was communicated in a clear manner between us, which is what language is all about.
In summation, Americans may drive on the right side of the road, but the English drive on the left. If Aluminium is the only sensible way to spell it, shouldn't it be Platinium? And can't we all just stop fighting between ourselves and focus on the real threat to the English language - vis a vis, Netspeak?
unless U want 2 C n00zpap3rz wr1tt3n lik this n 20 yrs?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!11111 |
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| I'm alive |
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| 10:34pm 07/07/2005 |
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mood:  exhausted
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Many of you know that I flew into London this morning. I just thought I'd say that I'm alive and safe and well. I'm too tired and emotionally drained to talk about it right now, though. |
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| England, ho! |
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| 04:22pm 01/07/2005 |
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mood:  bouncy
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I've just got my spousal settlement visa for moving to the UK. That was surprisingly easy, fast and painless. I made the appointment two weeks ago, filled out the form online, paid online, then collected evidence to take with me - proof of our marriage, proof that we'd have a place to live in the UK, and proof that we'd be able to support ourselves until we were working.
The visa interview appointment was at 9:00 this morning. At 9:10 a window opened for me. At 9:20 the interview was over, with the decision made to grant the visa. They told me to come back at 11:00 so that they could put the visa in my passport.
I went back at 11, left at 11:05 visa in hand.
...Wow. That was easy. |
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| memes |
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| 11:30pm 24/01/2005 |
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Actually, most of these are pretty apt, though why both my brother and husband are described as female...
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| 07:56pm 09/01/2005 |
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Yearlong Meme:
Not overly applicable for me as I've only been active on livejournal for the past two months, but... the idea is that you take the first sentance of the first post of each month in the year, and make a post out of it. Mine is:
So nervous. I go to see Bela Fleck later tonight. |
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| ...new computer... |
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| 09:49pm 04/01/2005 |
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mood:  geeky
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Shiny.
Some stats for you:
3.4 Ghz P4 processor.
1 Gig of RAM
160 Gig of HD space.
DVD-Rom and DVD-Burner.
Some 256 MB vid card or another...
And it has a glowing panel on the front, whose color you can change from the BIOS.
So literally shiny.
Compare for a moment to previous stats:
450 Mhz P3 processor.
352 Meg of RAM.
29 total Gig of hard-drive space.
DVD-Rom (which doesn't play DVDs...) and CD-Burner (which no longer remembers how to open and close).
Some 32 MB vid card or another...
Nonfunctional PS/2 ports.
Nonfunctional TV Tuner card.
Some vestigial software glitches that can only be explained by a malificent force deliberately trying to make my life difficult. We'll call it Microsoft.
Oh, and no shinies.
So this is quite an upgrade. |
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| 05:47pm 02/01/2005 |
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. YOUR PORN STAR NAME: (Name of first pet + Street you live on): Stripey South Nineteenth
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (Name of your favorite snack food + Grandfather's first name): Jerkey James
3. YOUR FASHION DESIGNER NAME: (First word you see on your left + Favorite restaurant): Olympus Concordville
4. EXOTIC FOREIGNER ALIAS: (Favorite Spice + Last Foreign Vacation Spot): Ginger England
5. SOCIALITE ALIAS: (Silliest Childhood Nickname + Town Where You First Partied): Oozie Suzie Pidley
6. "FLY GUY" ALIAS (a la J. Lo): (First Initial + First Two or Three Letters of your Last Name): S. Ri
7. ICON ALIAS: (Something Sweet Within Sight + Any Liquid in Kitchen): Diet Dr. Pepper Unsweetened Iced Tea
8. DETECTIVE ALIAS: (Favorite Baby Animal + Where You Went to High School): Kitten Concept
9. BARFLY ALIAS: (Last Snack Food You Ate + Your Favorite Alcoholic Drink): Chocolate Black Seal
10. SOAP OPERA ALIAS: (Middle Name + Street Where You First Lived): Elizabeth Sweetwater
11. ROCK STAR ALIAS: (Favorite Candy + Last Name Of Favorite Musician): Almond Joy Fahl |
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