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Weekend

My weekend turned out very nice.

Friday I hung out with A13 and Jalyru, which was good, although I hung out way too late talking while Jalyru burned CDs for me. Saturday Jero and I went to a party in Bloomington. We got to hang out with Caro there and meet one of her other boyfriends, G-. Sunday Mira came to visit from Evansville, and after having dinner with Jero and me, spent the night. We stayed up cuddling and watching Beast Wars. So, lots of entertaining snuggling and social activities this past weekend.

And, apparently, there was some kind of football game...? >B^)

Tonight I'm having dinner with Ke, and then going over to Jero's to MUX. Should be geeky fun.

"This was fast. I'm not even sure they had time to have sex."
-- Brian J. Steinberg, family law attorney in Las Vegas, on the whirlwind marriage-to-annulment caper of Britney Spears and Jason Allen Alexander. The marriage lasted 55 hours. (San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 6)

Weekend Plans

Had a pretty productive day yesterday. It was my day off, so I went to the dentist. We talked and decided that I’m going to need that second root canal after all, which sucks. I’m broke, so Jero has been nice enough to offer to lend me cash if I need to pay for the first root canal before I can get the second one – otherwise, I won’t be able to get my second crown installed until probably May at the earliest. Between car maintenance and my teeth, I’m completely broke. Luckily, I got paid this morning, so at least I have pretend money until it all goes out for bills.

Tonight should be fun, though, because I get to see A13 and muppetofthenight. I get off work in half an hour, and then I’m driving down to Bloomington. I have to be back up in Indy for work tomorrow, so I’ll presumably drive back tonight. Then, tomorrow, back down to Bloomington for a party. Then, Sunday, Mira might visit on the way back from Cincinnati. Busy busy, but fun. Have a good weekend, all!


Bill Hicks once told a story about an American friend of his who complained about the USA. When told, "Well, if you don't like it then move somewhere else," the friend's reply would be, "What? And become a victim of our foreign policy?"

Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice

I so love Christopher Walken...

Thanksgiving

Spending Thanksgiving with the family. My sister cooked dinner, and it turned out well. I got to hang out with her a little before I went to get my mother, and that was nice, although since I was rather sleepy, I'm not sure how much fun I was to spend time with. *chuckle*

I'm hanging out with my mother now at her house, while my sister was at the parents of her boyfriend. I might go back over to my sister's house later... I'm stuill trying to decide. Tomorrow I'm getting together with C@-0, who is also in Cincinnati visiting her family. I'm giving her a ride back to Bloomington, and then we're going to spend Friday together.

Saturday and Sunday I'd planned to spend with J3R0 and her parents. Unfortunately, J3R0 and I broke up this week, which is an obvious strain on things, but I am going along with my original commitments, because I do want to salvage a friendship with her. This seems to annoy/confuse/mystify my GF S@B@, but J3R0 is still very important to me, and I still want a place for her in my life, even if it's not in a BG/GF capacity. I'm hoping we can work something out that will ultimately make us both happier in the long run.

The Loverboy Random Gentle Love Master (RGLMm) Well-liked. Well-established. I am The Loverboy. Loverboys thrive in committed, steady relationships -- as opposed to, say, Playboys, who want sex without too much attachment. I've had many relationships and nearly all of them have been successful. I'm a nice guy, I know the ropes, and even if I can be a little hasty with decisions, most girls think of me as a total catch. My hastiness comes off as spontaneity most of the time anyhow, making me especially popular in my circle of friends, too. I know not to make the typical Loverboy mistake of choosing someone who appreciates my good humor and popularity, but who offers nothing in return. I belong with someone outgoing, independent, and creative. Otherwise, I'll get bored. And then instead of surprising her with flowers or a practical joke, I'll surprise her by leaving. ALWAYS AVOID: The Nymph CONSIDER: The Window Shopper, The Peach Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating. My profile name: bzero

Polyamory in the News

Polyamory in the News: "Love Unlimited: The Polyamorists," New Scientist

"The best, most important article about polyamory that I can recall appears in tomorrow's New Scientist (for July 8, 2006). Based in England, New Scientist is a large-circulation magazine for the science-reading public; it claims to be the world's 'leading science and technology weekly.' (Though its coverage of my own field has sometimes been sensationalist and uncritical.)" -- Alan, polyinthemedia

( More... )

Wal-Mart, you blew it again

TO:
Lee Scott, President
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 Southwest 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716
Primary Phone: 1-800-925-6278
Fax: 479-277-2473
E-Mail: Lee Scott, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Dear Mr. Scott,

For years, Wal-Mart has been the poster child for everything wrong with large corporations. One of its few redeeming actions was its recent support of the GLBT community, which was almost enough to me reconsider my personal boycott against your chains. With your recent efforts to reform your image and treat your employees more like humans, plus your support of the gay community, I had just started to think that maybe Wal-Mart wasn’t so bad after all. However, with your announcement that you’re caving to the religious right and dropping your support of GLBT communities, you have ensured that you’ve lost my support as well.

I will be taking his business elsewhere, and encouraging his family and friends to do the same, especially during the upcoming holiday season.

Brian J. Kelly

Going to Evansville

Things are going OK here, but stressful. Monday I have to go to Evansville for a follow-up court date with J@R_. Six months ago I got the child support suspended, and in the meantime J@R_ and Biodad were supposed to get the paternity issue taken care of in Bloomington. Well, they both dragged their feet and didn’t get it resolved in time, and so now J@R_ and I both have to take off work and go back to Evansville, just so that the judge can yell at J@R_ for not getting it taken care of, and with luck suspend my child support for another six months while they do so. Since the Evansville court date was supposed to be cancelled once they got the paternity suit taken care of, I didn’t keep a personal day in reserve, so there was a lot of stress until my manager R0S# granted me an extra excused non-paid day off. So, I’m heading down to Evansville Sunday night, staying with M!M0, and then going to court at 9:30 in the morning. According to M!M0, the Fall Festival starts Monday, so maybe we can go and get some bad food before I head back to Indy. B^)

Blast from the Past:
Letterman's Top 10 --
"George W. Bush Complaints About Fahrenheit 9/11”
10. That actor who played the president was totally unconvincing.
9. It oversimplified the way I stole the election.
8. Too many of them fancy college-boy words
7. If Michael Moore had waited a few months, he could have included the part where I get him deported.
6. Didn't have one of them hilarious monkeys who smoke cigarettes and gives people the finger.
5. Of all Michael Moore's accusations, only 97% are true.
4. Not sure — I passed out after a piece of popcorn lodged in my windpipe.
3. Where the hell was Spiderman?
2. Couldn't hear most of the movie over Cheney's foul mouth.
1. I thought this was supposed to be about dodgeball!"

Alive and Almost Well

Not too much news. My allergies tried to kill me this weekend, and I wound up missing work yesterday, but today I’m back and feeling better. A wonder what the proper medicine can do to make you feel human again.

In spite of my sickliness, I had a nice weekend – I got to see A1 and J@R_, and J@R_’s friend M31@, who was in town as well. Monday J3R0 had a mini-cookout, and while I was feeling too rotten to help, I did enjoy the yummy food and lay around and watched House. Yesterday I went to the doctor and got better allergy medicine, so today I’m back at work. W00t.




"I asked for universal health care, and all I got were these bombs."
- handmade anti-Bush poster

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, A1! Wish I could see you today on your sixth birthday!

-- Not the Daddy

Woohoo!

Woohoo! As of today, I got my first check sans child-support withholding. Financial recovery, here I come!

Biodad apparently marries his new fiancée this weekend, which will understandably suck for J@R_, who’ll be attending the wedding. Luckily for her, my sister is supposed to come down and help the weekend suck less, so, go, sis!

Work was horrible today, so not much else can be said. I’d like to go home and die now, but instead I have to eat, shower, and attend a party. Eep.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq. – GOP Logic

Woohoo!

They were still withholding child support payments from my paycheck, even though the payments should have been suspended. J3R0 looked up the numbers for me, and I called during my lunch and talked to the prosecutor’s office, who promised me they’d make sure the note to end my withholding would be sent out *today*. Yay actual no-hassle progress!

Woohoo!

”Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.” – GOP Logic

Child Support

*sigh* They’re still taking child support out of my check. I wonder who I have to bug now to get that taken care of…

Otherwise, my weekend is going OK. Had to work late last night because everyone else took off for Easter Weekend, and this morning I’m at work at 9:30 in the freakin’ morning. Joy.

Tonight I’m supposed to hang out with J3R0. We were going to go to St. Louis to visit her family, but she decided she didn’t want to drive, so now we’ll probably have dinner, go Krogering, and maybe visit a club. We’ll see.

Bush: Employment Record
• 2.4 million – Number of Americans who lost their jobs during the first two and half years of the Bush administration.
• 9 million – Number of workers unemployed as of September 2003.
• #1 – The administration is well on its way to being the first since Herbert Hoover's to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete term in office.

Court Date

Court went well yesterday -- for me, anyway. J@R_’s going to actually have to take care of the paternity issue, like I told her she would, which she’s not too happy about. I think she’d prefer to just have A1 as hers alone, but it’s a little too late for that now. At least my child support payments have been suspended, so maybe I can start to crawl slowly out of destitution now.

Dinner with Mom went OK. She’s depressed, which makes her a lot less annoying than when she’s manic, but also makes her kind of sad to hang out with. She didn’t complain when I had to leave to head back to Indy, but I could tell she wasn’t too happy about it, either. *sigh*

Today sucks, as only Fridays in this department can. I even have to work tomorrow, so I don’t even have the end-of-week joy to make it better. Thank Murphy for E-time – I’m leaving two hours early.

Bush: Loves to Travel
• 65 – Approximate number of fund-raisers attended in 2002.
• 0 – Number of trips taken to Afghanistan before waging war against that country.
• 0 – Number of trips taken to Iraq before waging war against that country.
• 0 – Number of funerals or memorials Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq.

Child Support Progress

Yesterday I drove down to Evansville and finally turned in the paperwork to end the paying of child support for A1, since biologically he’s not my son, and financially I can no longer afford to support him and his out-of-work biodad. I was worried about not having the forms filled out properly, but the clerk at the juvenile court was very helpful and sweet, and made sure I had everything filled out correctly and submitted. We even have a court date already – March 30th, my mom’s birthday. That actually works out well, since my mom will be in Evansville that week, so I can go to court, and then take my mom out to celebrate afterwards. Good news for a change. Woohoo!

Bush: The Environment
• 58 million- Number of acres of public lands Bush has opened to road building, logging, and drilling.
• 200 - Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has worked to downgrade or weaken since taking office.
• #1 - Rank of U.S. worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

Break-Up

Well, Biodad and J@{ broke up. I feel bad for her, although I’m not sure how I feel about the situation in general. I’m hoping it doesn’t bode ill for the child support issues, since I’m just about ready to finally send in the paperwork (nine months later…) to end paying for A1, and that last thing I need is last-minute complications. According to her MySpace-mail, it was an amicable breakup, so with luck they won’t have any co-parenting issues, and maybe J@{ will have a little more freedom again to be herself, which seemed a little quashed there for a while. Guess I’ll just wish them the best, and try to get through the appropriate paperwork and court date as soon as possible, before anything else changes.

Bush: "Compassionate" Conservative
• $300 million – Amount cut in December 2002 from the federal program that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes during the winter.

Blessed Silence

In a stroke of rare mad genius, I changed my mother’s custom ring to Silent. Now, I never have to be bugged by her calling again. She still shows up on the missed call list (6 Missed Calls… wow, wonder who that could be?), but I don’t have to turn my ringer off completely just to avoid her. I should have done this years ago…

"[The] argument... is that the president, as commander in chief, is the law when it comes to the enemy... unchecked by the courts or any other authority.... That's a very dangerous notion for a free country."
—Newsday editorial, "Tormented Truths," June 10

So this is Christmas

Alas, my Christmas was pretty interesting. J3R0 and I had stayed up really late the night before, and so we wound up sleeping in pretty late on Sunday. I’d misplaced my cell phone, and didn’t find it until about 3 PM – along with a lot of missed calls, and a snippy “some communication would be nice” text message from my sister. Oops.

J3R0 and I went ahead and got ready, and I waited to call my sister ‘til I was actually on the road – I didn’t want to tell her we were on my way until I was sure there actually wouldn’t be any more delays.

We got to Cincinnati around six, and mom had called to ask if we could pick up chicken – not a good sign, since she’d promised a big Christmas dinner, and it was obvious as we hit town that not only was it not ready, but she hadn’t even picked up the ingredients.

When we got there, C#H_ was livid, and mom was crazy and manic, as usual. There was no Christmas dinner, which was my fault because I hadn’t given them a better ETA… apparently “Christmas around dinnertime” plus two-hour’s notice wasn’t enough for them to adjust at all. Luckily, C#H_ saved things by going out and getting ingredients for a yummy spaghetti dinner, although it was still embarrassing to have my mother turning off the CD to sing to J3R0, and taking her aside whenever Mom managed to divert my attention. I set up Mom’s cell phone to get her off my back about it, and that at least gave us some peace while she called and bugged other people. Finally, she wandered back to the pub (from where C#H_ had to retrieve her earlier in the evening already), and J3R0 and I had some quiet time to hang out with C#H_, who had finally calmed down. It was nice to see C#H_, and to have J3R0 on the ride there and back, but otherwise it was a disaster. At least I got some nice presents from C#H_ out of the deal. B^)

"It's been a fabulous year for Laura and me."
-- George W. Bush, three months after the World Trade Center towers went down

Mr. Bigglesworth -- er, I mean, Dog Roland

The bonfire Saturday night was a lot of fun – it was nice to chill with a group of my friends that I seldom get to see, and not have to deal with any drama for an evening. E- even brought Mr. Dog Roland, so it was cute to see him running around the yard on his stubby little legs.

Oh, no – I think I’m being won over to wiener dogs! *facepalm*
Must remember – little over-bred mutant aberrations! Not the cutest thing in the canine kingdom!

Arrgh!

Even more odd is the fact that E- just carries him around everywhere she goes, petting him, like he’s Mr. Bigglesworth. For Primus’s sake – when did she become a Bond villain?

Ah, well. Work day is over. Heading out of here.

Bush Posts Classified Ad For 90,000 Troops
WASHINGTON, DC—In an effort to relieve the burden on his overextended armed forces in Iraq, President Bush placed a four-line classified ad in the Monday edition of 75 U.S. newspapers. "WANTED: motivated, dedicated, obedient people looking for career in growing field of nation liberation," the ad read. "90,000 jobs avail. F/T days, nights, weekends. No exp. necessary. Will train. Arabic a plus. Starter pay, solid bnfts." To further boost military enlistment rates, Bush plans to post the job offer at employment offices in 300 cities across the country.
-- The Onion

Well, I finally got the form I need to petition the court to end my child support. My mom pointed out today that I’ve given an extra $2000 from my paycheck since I found out in May that I’m not A1’s biological father, and I’m still paying J@{’s cell phone to boot. I actually got a copy of the form during my vacation last month, but then I got really sick, and it’s one of the things I didn’t get to. Now, I guess, I’ve just been procrastinating. I’m not sure I have all the information I need, but that’s just an excuse because I haven’t actually looked yet, and the real problem is that I just hate paperwork. However, that $2000 is a pretty good reminder that I need to take care of this immediately, so maybe I’ll fill out what I can at work during my break, and then finish it when I get home and get it mailed.
At least the process itself shouldn't be too painful. Apparently, once I petition to have the child support changed, they'll call J@{ and I into a hearing, like they did with the initial child support establishment hearing. J@{ and I are in agreement that the child support responsibility should be transferred over to N@7, so as long as we bring the paternity results, with luck there won't be a problem with that. Of course, that means N@7 might have to get a real job, but that'll be their problem.


In an important speech…, George Bush attempted to portray how important his faith is in his life. He of course was trying to apply what he's learned from his father….
In his typically condescending, smug manner, he said his favorite Bible verse is John 16:3. Of course, the speech writer meant 3:16, but wasn't even familiar enough with this often-quoted & of course often taken-for-granted Scripture to catch the error. Neither was Bush, and how incredibly appropriate it is.
"And they will do this because they have not known the Father or me."
— John 16:3
-- syndicated columnist Cal Thomas, Blinded by Might: Can the Religious Right Save America?