The weather today was a little cool, but the sunshine was gorgeous, so I decided to go biking.
Sometimes people catcall or shout obnoxious things when you're biking on the street (as opposed to the sidewalk, which you're not supposed to do, but not everyone realizes it.) It doesn't happen terribly often, but it does happen. Today, however, I got a different kind of catcall. I had pulled up to a stop at one of the traffic lights, when I heard a woman's voice shout:
"HEY BABY, HOW BIG IS YOUR DICK?"
I turned to look behind me, and discovered two reasonably attractive college-aged girls -- and I can think of no more accurate word -- leering at me from the car behind me. Positively disconcerting. I swear, nowhere else I've been have people acted like they do in this town. I mean, I'm sure girls have to deal with it from guys, but it's not something I have a great deal of experience with.
Anyway, I reacted the only way I could think of -- I held up my hands a couple feet apart (to wild cheering from the car behind me), nodded suggestively*, and took off like a shot when the light changed.
*As suggestively as possible wearing a bicycle helmet.
Living across the street from the main downtown post office is often pretty nice. You're conveniently located if you, say, need to mail a package. It turns out it's not such a convenient place to live on April 15.
On the other hand, early morning construction crews outside your window? Pretty much never nice.
They drive around Ann Arbor in vans with cookie ovens in the back, so if you're walking home late at night, you can get fresh baked cookies on the street. Even better? They deliver.
... I can't help but be reminded of the days of Cosmo and WebVan, though. Good times, those.
By the way, to anyone who's read Sandman and likes Obama, someone put together a little animated gif using the dialogue of the contest between the demon and Morpheus from Sandman 4 and matched it up (humorously and appropriately) with the Democratic candidates.
I've been a big Obama fan since... I guess three or four years ago? Long before he was in any kind of serious consideration for the presidential nomination, when I started hearing about a young and charismatic Illinois senator who worked across party lines to get things done. I looked into it, and I liked what I found. I didn't really think he'd have a shot at being the Democratic candidate.
So, last Tuesday, I went to an Obama rally. (The primaries are tomorrow!) He's an incredible public speaker, as everyone knows. It's really easy to get caught up in his rhetoric and his presence and just go with the feel of the audience. When I realized I was doing it -- maybe 15 minutes into a 45 minute speech? -- I made an effort to pay closer attention to just what he was saying.
And y'know what? I liked it and agreed with it, almost completely. (Not surprisingly, but it's good to know I'm not just following the charisma, yeah?)
I say "almost" because there were a couple of things he said that rang false. Not false, exactly, but things that sounded far-fetched. I only remember the substance of one of them. He said something about revitalizing and bringing money back to economically depressed rural areas by subsidizing wind farms for sustainable energy, and thereby providing jobs for unemployed kids from the inner city. And it sounded reasonable until he hit that last bit.
It's funny: I know how I feel and sound when I'm saying something believable that I don't quite believe, like I'm trying to convince myself that something is true by saying it. And something about his manner when he said it felt the same way.
At the same time, if I can listen to a political figure -- any political figure -- in the middle of a campaign and only pick out one to two questionable lines out of a 45 minute speech, that's not just pretty good, that's remarkable. I definitely don't think Clinton could manage a feat like that. (W, in comparison, can't utter three words without two of them being utter falsehoods, and makes my brain cry whenever I'm subjected to his speeches.)
At any rate, it was really interesting, and I'm hoping more than anything that he can pull out this election. It's the first time I've WANTED anyone in the White House.
I'm supposed to visit U of M's campus March 13-15 (Thursday through Saturday) for an open house. Does anyone in that area have a couch or floor space available to crash on? (Preferably for two, as Georgia would like to come along?) I'd need to be there from the evening of Wednesday the 12th through either Friday or Saturday night -- I'm pretty sure things finish early enough on Saturday that I could drive home that night, if need be.
Lately, I've been reading Can Animals and Machines Be Persons. It was suggested to me as a kind of introduction to epistemology and what philosophy-folks call "the zombie problem", though it turns out I've actually dealt with most of the same problems in computer science before.
Unexpectedly, though, thinking about it is making me question the morality of eating meat, which is not at all the thrust of the book.
I've long said that I don't have a problem with vegetarianism nor with non-vegetarianism, but that I do have a problem with people not caring about what they eat. It's entirely too common in American society, in my opinion, for people to be completely divorced from the process by which we get food. I'm okay with having a hamburger, and I'm even okay with the idea of, were I a farmer, having to butcher a cow or chicken myself. I'm not okay with the actual process of how McDonald's gets its meat, nor with how little most people know and care about that process. (As most people know, if you actually knew what was in a hot dog, you'd never want to eat it, and most ground beef isn't much better.) But I've had this attitude for a while; it's nothing new.
What's bothering me is the application of 'personhood' to animals. For example: cattle are dumb. Slaughterhouses traditionally kept a trained goat, which the cattle would happily follow into the slaughter pens. (This is the origin of the phrase 'Judas goat'.) In contrast, pigs are much smarter. A friend of mine once lived near a slaughterhouse, and he told me the worst day of the week was the day that the pigs were delivered. They were smart enough to know that something awful was about to happen to them, and he said he could hear them squealing in terror at his house over a mile away.
At what point does it become wrong to kill something for food?
I'm not saying I'm becoming a vegetarian, at least not yet. But people today generally recognize that the institution of slavery is wrong, even though it was accepted a few hundred years ago. I just wonder if, a few hundred years from now, people might not feel the same way about eating animals.
The other night, I was out with a friend for drinks, and I had a startling revelation. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't just the martinis.
The people I know who tend to have casual romantic relationships or one-night stands mostly come from homes with single or divorced parents.
The people I know who tend to have committed/monogamous relationships mostly come from homes with married parents.
Basically, the observation is that people tend to use their parents' relationship as a model for their own. That shouldn't really be surprising on its own; what's surprising is that it never occurred to me before.
Of course, there are exceptions, and it doesn't really say anything about hooking up with friends; I don't know where or even if that falls in there somewhere. But otherwise, it seems to be a general truism among the people I know. I don't know enough people who were raised by widowed parents to generalize, but I'd wager that if the parent stayed single or remarried after little dating, the child would follow the married parent model, and if the parent started dating a lot, the child would tend toward the single parent model. That's totally speculation, though.
Having filled three large boxes of books I can get rid of and another large box of books I can't bear to lose, I've come to the conclusion that I have a HOLY SHIT LOT OF BOOKS. I think I've got another six or so large boxes to go through, plus the piles on the floor.
When I first started this journal, I was determined that I wouldn't have private posts unless I really needed them. I've pretty much always lived my life with the policy of it being an open book; I always try to act in such a fashion that I won't be ashamed of my actions, and won't want to conceal them from anyone.
That said, I've noticed that many of my posts lately have been friends-locked. I'm becoming increasingly paranoid as time goes on about the amount of information available about me online. Frankly, I'm even a bit nervous anymore about having userpics that are pictures of myself. I admit, a lot of this has to do with where I work, but part of it is more general fear of identity theft and the like.
So, I may end up making a much larger percentage of my posts friends-only in the future. On some level, that sort of bothers me: if someone wants to know about me, I don't normally have a problem with it. But I have this concern that the anonymous person wanting to know about me has malicious intent.
I'm a little taken aback by the apparent outpouring of emotion toward the man across the people on my friends list. Don't get me wrong -- he was a good guy and a great author. But...
The only time I've ever actually seen Vonnegut was when he was on The Daily Show, just after releasing A Man without a Country. Having read his books, I didn't know exactly what to expect, but I figured on some impressive, sardonic wit and cutting commentary about the current state of our country. I expected a presence, a mind honed by age and wisdom that would leave me with a sense of clarity. What I got was the impression of a senile old man, less a mental giant and more a fruitcake. (Yes, he's known for being eccentric, but you're only allowed so many non-sequiturs in a ten minute segment before you get upgraded to crazy-folk status.)
I'm not sure. Maybe I just didn't have the kind of connection to his work that a lot of people I know seem to. I don't mean to speak ill of the dead, especially since I liked him. I'm just surprised at how much he seemed to mean to other people.
It lets you see -- both geographically and with pictures -- where villages have been burned down, where battles with the Janjaweed militias have been fought, and the conditions the survivors are living in. (Obviously, this is not being done with the consent of the Sudanese government.) If you haven't been paying attention to the conflict (or even if you have) this is a must-see. It's disquietingly eye-opening.
I just got back from an unexpectedly good Easter dinner.
Two people invited me to Easter dinner yesterday, but neither of them called me back. Instead, my friend Jack called and invited me to dinner with his family. I'm always a little leery of family gatherings for religious holidays -- they tend to (understandably) get fairly Jesusy, and while I certainly tolerate that as a guest, it's not a situation I like to put myself in. It feels awkward, especially if/when questions are directed at me about what church I attend.
Much to my delight, this was instead an upscale gathering that included his aunt and her partners in her law firm, in addition to his immediate family, who are generally cool people. The Easter egg hunt for miniature bottles of liquor was a nice touch.
It's sort of a shame -- I loved Easter when I was little. It was one of the only times of the year I got to see my cousins and extended family, and we always had trails of clues leading to our Easter baskets. I think it probably even topped Christmas for my favorite holiday. In recent years, though, it's been nothing to me but a day when stores are inconveniently closed. It was nice to have a really good Easter for a change.
This is the first time in my life I've both lived on my own AND had a surplus of money that I could spend on non-essentials. That means I finally have a chance to play "It's Fun With Groceries!" time. :)
Last night I picked up some vanilla soy milk and organic wildflower honey. The Christians can keep their miracle of Resurrection, for all I care; I plan to spend today celebrating the miracle of Yummy Chai.
I can't believe it went from 80 degrees outside on Wednesday to snow flurries on Thursday. I maintain that the atmosphere is just jealous of my new bike.
If April showers bring May flowers, do April flurries bring May Furies? Or maybe May furries? I think I'd rather deal with the Erinyes than a month of yiffing noises.
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
tempter's journal
amused
sigh
troubled
confused