Wednesday, December 24, 2008
YAY for electricity!
Just wanted to mention that we now have our power back, and are no longer frozen and huddled in front of the fireplace with our frozen goods buried outside in the snow. So tonight I am thankful for the hardworking folks who have been all over the place trying to restore electricity. Thanks to them for getting to our neighborhood today!
Just when you thought the worst was over..
So I woke up yesterday all ready to at least get started on my list of twenty things to do... (See previous post) I head to the bathroom, flick the light switch- no light. Now we have weird electrical stuff in our house that causes strange things to happen with light bulbs, so at first I was just irritated about having to replace light bulbs.... As I g through the rest of the house I notice everything is off- no time in the microwave, no kids at the Xbox, no tv droning. At first, I wasn't too upset- usually we may be without for an hour or so, I hoped this would be one of those situations. When I realized that meant I had no internet I was a little more upset, but I pulled it together. That is what grown folks do.
Hours passed. No electricity. I buried our frozen food in plastic bags in the backyard snow. Being stocked with food isn't so helpful when you can't use the oven, the microwave or a burner. No information about why there was no power or when we would get some. It got dark. We read Harry Potter 7 by the fire light. We were bored, cold and only slightly full from PB & J, the only logical thing left to do was to bundle up, fall asleep, and hope that waking in the morning would usher in a new day with electricity.
The plan failed.
First off Ekela and I woke up only to realize it was merely 11pm and even colder since we had let the fire die out so it wouldn't be going while we slept. We restarted the fire to warm up and read more Harry Potter to each other. Altogether we read 100pp of the book yesterday during both of our stints. On the plus side I can at least say that we read scary stories. The Deathly Hallows is pretty grim. At about 2am we let the fire die down and went back to sleep, cause we knew we had to get up early for our dentist appointments today. Apparently snow doesn't deter the mailman, or our dentist.
Secondly we wake up at 7am and there is still no power! I am pretty sure it was colder in our house that it was outside. We layered our clothes and made the trek to the bus stop to get to the dentists as close to 8:30 as we could muster with the buses being inconsistent. I figured that since we saw PGE crews in our neighborhood, we would come home to power, and life would resume in a fairly normal way for our family of four suffering from varying degrees of cabin fever. We get home and our block looks as unlit as it did when we left.
No updates, no new info on the power outage. I have officially cancelled Christmas at my house. (I am not a big holiday person anyway, so I have been trying to avoid the added consumerism of the season for years, and now I finally get my wish I guess.) Please let the power return so that I can boil water and eat a cup o noodle. These are the things I wish for, the simple pleasures. I have enjoyed the tv and screens being off throughout the house though, yay for quality family time, but once it gets dark there is only so much you can really do by candlelight without being a fire hazard.
Hours passed. No electricity. I buried our frozen food in plastic bags in the backyard snow. Being stocked with food isn't so helpful when you can't use the oven, the microwave or a burner. No information about why there was no power or when we would get some. It got dark. We read Harry Potter 7 by the fire light. We were bored, cold and only slightly full from PB & J, the only logical thing left to do was to bundle up, fall asleep, and hope that waking in the morning would usher in a new day with electricity.
The plan failed.
First off Ekela and I woke up only to realize it was merely 11pm and even colder since we had let the fire die out so it wouldn't be going while we slept. We restarted the fire to warm up and read more Harry Potter to each other. Altogether we read 100pp of the book yesterday during both of our stints. On the plus side I can at least say that we read scary stories. The Deathly Hallows is pretty grim. At about 2am we let the fire die down and went back to sleep, cause we knew we had to get up early for our dentist appointments today. Apparently snow doesn't deter the mailman, or our dentist.
Secondly we wake up at 7am and there is still no power! I am pretty sure it was colder in our house that it was outside. We layered our clothes and made the trek to the bus stop to get to the dentists as close to 8:30 as we could muster with the buses being inconsistent. I figured that since we saw PGE crews in our neighborhood, we would come home to power, and life would resume in a fairly normal way for our family of four suffering from varying degrees of cabin fever. We get home and our block looks as unlit as it did when we left.
No updates, no new info on the power outage. I have officially cancelled Christmas at my house. (I am not a big holiday person anyway, so I have been trying to avoid the added consumerism of the season for years, and now I finally get my wish I guess.) Please let the power return so that I can boil water and eat a cup o noodle. These are the things I wish for, the simple pleasures. I have enjoyed the tv and screens being off throughout the house though, yay for quality family time, but once it gets dark there is only so much you can really do by candlelight without being a fire hazard.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
List of things I am going to do... starting tomorrow.
I realize that the snow is attempting to put me into a state of hibernation and lethargy. However, in order to be proactive, I am going to make a list of things that I will work on if I am snowed in AGAIN tomorrow, and/or other days throughout the week(s). This "not having a plan" method has meant a lot of ennui and slackerdom, and while that is cool for a day (or possibly two or three) something must be done.
This list will consist of things that are both indoor and outdoor, so that there is no excuse for me to not do at least some of the items each day of frozen-ness.
1. Go to the store- I have groceries so we will survive, but this will be a step in making other things on this list possible.
2. Bake some stuff- I have a cookie/baking cookbook and I am going to pick a couple things out of it and make them.
3. Do an art project(s)
4. Train my cat to do a trick.
5. Play drums only on hard in Rock Band.
6. Snow photo shoot part II
7. Write letters. (Even better, mail out the cards I meant to mail back in September to folks I saw during August in California!)
8. Alphabetize my roommate's 1000 or so comic books.
9. Catalogue my five shelves of books.
10. Make a costume for my cat and have a tea party.
11. Tell a scary story while illuminating only part of my face with a flashlight.
12. E-mail 20 people personalized notes to see how long it takes folks to get back to me.
13. Call at least 5 family members and wish them happy holidays.
14. Walk someplace where I can get drink and maybe try my luck at a game of video gambling in hopes of striking it rich.
15. See if a bus ever comes and go downtown to take pictures of Portland Winter Wonderland.
16. Make a snow day zine with the kids.
17. Sew some of the curtains that I have been meaning to finish.
18. Request 20 more friends via myspace and/or faccebook.
19. Experiment in Garage Band and make a tune or at least record an acapella poem or something.
20. Make a movie using my digital camera that has a video feature.
Well, I'd better make sure and get some rest since I am exhausted from all this barely doing anything business. Let's see what tomorrow will bring! I will keep the blog world informed of my progress!
This list will consist of things that are both indoor and outdoor, so that there is no excuse for me to not do at least some of the items each day of frozen-ness.
1. Go to the store- I have groceries so we will survive, but this will be a step in making other things on this list possible.
2. Bake some stuff- I have a cookie/baking cookbook and I am going to pick a couple things out of it and make them.
3. Do an art project(s)
4. Train my cat to do a trick.
5. Play drums only on hard in Rock Band.
6. Snow photo shoot part II
7. Write letters. (Even better, mail out the cards I meant to mail back in September to folks I saw during August in California!)
8. Alphabetize my roommate's 1000 or so comic books.
9. Catalogue my five shelves of books.
10. Make a costume for my cat and have a tea party.
11. Tell a scary story while illuminating only part of my face with a flashlight.
12. E-mail 20 people personalized notes to see how long it takes folks to get back to me.
13. Call at least 5 family members and wish them happy holidays.
14. Walk someplace where I can get drink and maybe try my luck at a game of video gambling in hopes of striking it rich.
15. See if a bus ever comes and go downtown to take pictures of Portland Winter Wonderland.
16. Make a snow day zine with the kids.
17. Sew some of the curtains that I have been meaning to finish.
18. Request 20 more friends via myspace and/or faccebook.
19. Experiment in Garage Band and make a tune or at least record an acapella poem or something.
20. Make a movie using my digital camera that has a video feature.
Well, I'd better make sure and get some rest since I am exhausted from all this barely doing anything business. Let's see what tomorrow will bring! I will keep the blog world informed of my progress!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
In the Wake of Proposition 8
Travelling through facebook I happened across a discussion started by Damali Ayo regarding interviews with Sean Penn and Josh Brolin on Charlie Rose and some problematic things that the actors said. Conversation threads also included race and religion's impact on the outcome in the voting on Prop 8 in California. In the interview (which I just watched online), Brolin said he was researching voting and demographics after the vote on the proposition and then spoke about African American and Latino voters impact. As if they were the main factor, as if race and sexuality are mutually exclusive and people of color aren't part of the GLBTQ community and its activism, and as if he is somehow in an intellectual position to speak about communities of color while not bothering to address white homophobia.
Needless to say it sparked interesting responses.
Issues of human rights and access are serious, and it frightens me that more aren't outraged by the reality of the implications of legalized and voter approved discrimination. So I wrote something in response to the topic and I thought that I would also post it here too, because more than ever we must speak out on that which is unjust. Silence is complicity.
Here's what I posted:
I think we need to analyze the proposition press feedback on the level of its intentions: division and deception. By placing blame on folks of color, and stereotyping them as church going homophobes, it erases culpability of the white heterosexist patriarchy. This same so-called democracy which says church and state are supposedly separate, yet through extensive campaign investment a specific religious org. (Mormon leadership based out of state) was able to influence taking away people's rights. If the only argument against something is "religious" based, that alone should render it null and void if state and religion are separate.
And in regards to the Bible and Jesus, what is written and followed and preached and absorbed, is filtered through a King who clearly wouldn't be inclined to nurture rebellion and disobedience and instructed translators to make the appropriate adjustments and omissions. They even erased Jesus' melanin! So we cannot blindly assume the text truly represents accurately the teachings of the visionaries, revolutionaries, historians, teachers, and community leaders who inspire people throughout time to rise up against oppression and be better people.
The inner and outward aspects revolution are ancient. The personal transformation internally into higher states of consciousness and awareness so we can impact more positively our circles/communities and the wider world. And the external aspects of challenging individuals and the systems of greed, industry and systems of power, which are designed to privilege the few over the needs and rights of the masses of people.
With all that said, this should be a wake up call where disenfranchised folks from various communities are reminded that more than ever our solidarity and unity based on mutual respect for each other's inalienable human rights is where we will find our strength.
"If they come for us at night, they will come for you in the morning."
One aim, one struggle- for human rights and self-determination, and a healthy planet.
Needless to say it sparked interesting responses.
Issues of human rights and access are serious, and it frightens me that more aren't outraged by the reality of the implications of legalized and voter approved discrimination. So I wrote something in response to the topic and I thought that I would also post it here too, because more than ever we must speak out on that which is unjust. Silence is complicity.
Here's what I posted:
I think we need to analyze the proposition press feedback on the level of its intentions: division and deception. By placing blame on folks of color, and stereotyping them as church going homophobes, it erases culpability of the white heterosexist patriarchy. This same so-called democracy which says church and state are supposedly separate, yet through extensive campaign investment a specific religious org. (Mormon leadership based out of state) was able to influence taking away people's rights. If the only argument against something is "religious" based, that alone should render it null and void if state and religion are separate.
And in regards to the Bible and Jesus, what is written and followed and preached and absorbed, is filtered through a King who clearly wouldn't be inclined to nurture rebellion and disobedience and instructed translators to make the appropriate adjustments and omissions. They even erased Jesus' melanin! So we cannot blindly assume the text truly represents accurately the teachings of the visionaries, revolutionaries, historians, teachers, and community leaders who inspire people throughout time to rise up against oppression and be better people.
The inner and outward aspects revolution are ancient. The personal transformation internally into higher states of consciousness and awareness so we can impact more positively our circles/communities and the wider world. And the external aspects of challenging individuals and the systems of greed, industry and systems of power, which are designed to privilege the few over the needs and rights of the masses of people.
With all that said, this should be a wake up call where disenfranchised folks from various communities are reminded that more than ever our solidarity and unity based on mutual respect for each other's inalienable human rights is where we will find our strength.
"If they come for us at night, they will come for you in the morning."
One aim, one struggle- for human rights and self-determination, and a healthy planet.
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