Pencil Revolution.

In case you don't already know about it, I'm going to be a poophead and plug my other new blog on here: Pencil Revolution. You know you want to read it, like, all the time.

Stick to H2O.

I am very anti-sports drink at the moment.

I could go into it, but first I'd like to say that I am very happy to be back blogging with all of you. My ability (or inability) to post regularly has been directly related to laptop problems over the last year or so. Lack of adequate internet capabilities. Viruses (which has made me a little leary of re-downloading that picture-posting software... Happy? Anyone else have trouble that may have been traced back to it? I guess my problems could have been traced back to anything.). Warped screen. Green stripes and so forth. Anyways, I know I've said this before, but these problems should soon be a thing of the past. I'm breaking down and buying a new friggin' laptop.

I just have to. It's okay. I've accepted it.

With that out of the way, I would next like to say that I am sidelined in bed right now and in need of a nap. Some of you know that enjoy running. Quite masochistic, I know. Well, I went out on a 9 miler last night. Ran out of water at mile 3. To make a long story short, I came back severely dehydrated, guzzled a half-bottle of a leading sports drink that promises to replenish electrolytes and rehydrate, and promptly detected a stomach issue. A violent stomach issue. Which got me wondering what the heck these sports drink scientists do with their stupid time if their product - engineered to be better than water - makes the severely thirsty vomit.

Honestly! I'm quite ticked off! 24 hours later and I'm still rehydrating and rebuilding my strength! With water, I might add. Beautiful, wonderful, spectacular Poland Spring!!! God(dess) bless the springs of Maine.

I guess I've learned simply that sports drink scientists can't compete with nature. Water is the proverbial building block of life. And aside from orange juice with calcium (kudos to the juice scientists who got it right!), we need no other drink!

Nevermind that I was the nimrod who didn't completly fill her Camelbak before a long run. Shh!! Irrelevant!

C.S. Lewis blog.

A blog full of quotations from C.S. Lewis. For your pleasure.

An introduction to Joe.

For those who don't know me or for the rest of you who've been in the dark about the more recent transformations in my life, I am saying a few words. I mean "few words" literally, as my life has little of interest to offer and I want to spare you all the stultifying boredom of having to listen to the trite, if not downright dismally depressing, details of my life. I am living in California, in Danville (in the bay area) to be exact. But that particular kernel of insight into my present status is soon to be obsolete. I'll be leaving within the month, if I live that long. I'll be registering for classes in New York in just over a month, going to Suny Stony Brook to study philosophy. Sadly, it's another MA for me. Maybe someday someone will be duped into overestimating my pathetic intelligence and allowing me to steal into the hallowed halls of academia and pursue, oh dream upon dreams, my PhD and allow me to begin, hope upon hope, my path toward professorship that I have long had in mind. I don't currently have a place to live in New York, but I'll be searching for one once I arrive. Most of my classes will be in Manhattan, so I'll be searching for something nearer to there. Once there I'll see if I am any closer to some of those old friends that I left behind at Goucher so long ago, back when I was but a bright-eyed child with foolish dreams of settling down in a mind-numbing job, in a crumbling suburb, with a nagging, perpetually pregnant wife and a gigantic television to tear me away from the agonies of my life for those precious hours that I could spend close beside it, resisting the constant urge to reach out and wrap my arms around as much of its gigantic girth as possible. But now I realize that it is vain to dream of so much, especially with the overpowering disappointments that have already accumulated in the short years since that time. I'm hoping I can find some comfortable, rotting apartment on long island where the rats and cockroaches engage in continuous territorial warfare in my living room floor over puddles fed by over a dozen consistent drips from the ceiling which I can just barely shut out at night by clamping my pillow tightly over my head. But I'm afraid with the little amount of money I have, I won't be able even to afford that.

As should be quite obvious from the content of my post so far, I'm a very well-contented person with little to complain about in my life beyond the myriad misfortune which impinge in the seemingly endless time between my almost nonexistent hours, nay but minutes, of sleep and dream. If it weren't for an imagination bubbling over like a large boiling pot in which one has placed to many dried noodles, I might even get a little down sometimes. Forgive the food metaphor, but its been such a long time since I can remember having a meal anymore filling than what I can collect with a long sticky wire from the ant colony nearby where I sleep on alternate Thursdays. To all of you who I haven't spoken to in so long, my fondest greetings. And to the rest of you, I hope we can get better acquainted in the future.

Happy Birthday, Joy!

Happy Birthday to Blog Collective member Joy!

Pixie and Pinky.

Our friends Brian and Carrie have moved waaaaaay out west for a new life together. And, thankfully, they are blogging from their new home. I'd invite you check out their blog, Pixie and Pinky for the continuing saga, complete with great photos, faeries and gnomes.

Photo Friday: Candid.

Old Sicilian Men.
(Unknown date.)
From Chris' years in Sicily.
For Photo Friday: Candid.

On the Supreme Court.

So I really, really, really want to be one of those people who approaches something like the impending battle over the next Supreme Court justice with gusto and plans to charter a bus to Washington, D.C. and organize a demonstration. But I have to say that in the aftermath of the last presidential election, I feel more than disheartened. Whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, anyone can admit that when the majority spoke, it spoke rather overwhelmingly for a set of social and political ideas that garners fierce loyalty on one side and fierce opposition on the other. It never feels good to be on the losing side of anything, but the hardest thing for me and a lot of other liberals to come to terms with was that at least in 2004, the system worked. Can't say the same for 2000, I think, but this time the principles of republicanism appear to have done their appointed task. That's the hardest part -- realizing that you didn't lose because there was trickery or fraud but because more people wanted what you didn't want. They won, fair and square (so it seems).

The rest of us have to content ourselves with being the vocal opposition until the next election rolls around. But I have to admit that I face that task with profound apathy. Maybe because I so wanted a new president, and as I watched the early returns on election night, it was so close that I could see it happening. Maybe one of the most serious consequences of Kerry's defeat (a distant second, of course, to the prolonging of the occupation of Iraq) is that too many of us, accustomed to defeat, will let one party have its way. No matter who's in the White House, single-party rule is never a good thing.

Introduction, writing, blogging, and writing about blogging.

For someone who introduces themself to complete strangers every day for a living, I'm finding it surprisingly hard to think of a way to introduce myself on this site. I guess I'll jump right in and give you the basics. I'm Rachael, 26 next month, a Baltimore, Maryland native, a leasing agent and marketing assistant, and an artist in my free time. I have a BS in English and Writing but I spend my days renting apartments and trying to avoid the insanity of still living with my parents. Lately my life has focused around four things: the treadmill, my gardens, work, and learning how to use my new Mac. My eye color and spiritual affiliation are linked to the left in my blog title if you're interested in knowing more. Any more information and you could stalk me so I'm going to cut myself off.

I would like to thank Johnny for the invite. I love writing and blogs are such a challenge to the writer in all of us. One of the things I struggle with on my personal blog is the personality of the blogger versus the personality of the actual person. Do you find it difficult to write about yourself and your opinions? Do you censor your thoughs on the internet? I certainly do, which is ironic considering that writing about one's self is how we start out. If you think back to your primary school days you'll probably realize that most of your writing assignments focused on you and what you did or thought about. As childen we were all a little self involved as personal growth dictates that need, but growing older seems to change that, leaving the happy medium out of reach sometimes. I'm excited to be a part of this group because it's a collective of thought, we're all taking the blog challenge together and putting ideas out there. It seems less threatening in a group setting. Don't get me wrong, I'm not intimidated by my blog, I just find it easier to share my thoughts when others are doing the same.

Happy Independence Day.

Happy holiday to my Blog Collective comrades and to the world-wide public in general!

Despite my often being-at-odds with the current administration and my complaining about the "rednecks" and such, I really do love my country. If that's offensive, or goes against what a liberal is supposed to feel, I don't care.

Am I supposed to hate my country because I don't like the President or because we're at war, and a pointless one at that? Am I supposed to hate my country because of the proliferation of Wal-Mart and consumerism?

I'm not going to let anyone tell me how I feel about my country. Too often, the right tells us that we hate American because we disagree with the President, the war, consumerism, etc. That's not fair.

If I did hate America, it would only make good moral sense to eschew everything American. No medications. No computers/software. No blogging. No American universities.

While most of what the right says about so-called haters of freedom/America is little more than mindless monkeying, they are right about one thing. If one hates America, leave. If one hates America and does not live here, one should not take part in anything that comes from American culture. If one hates America and Americans, why act like an American? It's not good moral sense to participate in something one hates or finds morally abhorrent.

I think some people take it too far, anyway. Hating Dubbya or the war or our education policy should not have to equal "I hate this country." I hate habits about some people I love, but I love them just the same. What's the saying, "Hate the sin; love the sinner"?

I don't hate my country. I love it. Pointless wars aside, it's done more for me and for the world at large than I can ever comprehend. I'm not ashamed to be an American. I'm proud.

Playlist meme.

We've been tagged by the Green Eyed Pagan, for the song meme. I'll start, I guess, with ten songs I've been listening to a lot lately. Can't do six. Raised Catholic, can't do six. Sorry. And sorry if there are repeats from the last time I did something like this.
1) "Father Figure" (Tori Amos cover of George Michael)
2) "Starry-Eyed Surprise" (Paul Oakenfold)
3) "In Your Eyes" (Lunik)
4) "In Your Room" (Depeche Mode)
5) "I Disappear" (Metallica)
6) "Can't Keep It In" (Cat Stevens)
7) "My Wave" (Soundgarden)
8) "Let's Get Lifted" (John Legend)
9) "So Sister" (The Verve)
10) "With Or Without You" (Keane cover of U2)
I can, of course, email these to whomever might want a few. That Tori cover and that John Legend song are very nice. I'm sure that some people will say that the Oakenfold might be ruined because it's in a Coke movie theater commercial, but I like it just the same.
That's my list. How about you?