December 2002
2002.12.25
Grandma-in-law and her arguments (part 2)
02:00 PM PST :: comments: 1During Thanksgiving, Grandma-in-law, out of nowhere, says, "I don't think the police do enough for us."
Me: "Why not?"Grandma-in-law laughed at that, and then didn't say anymore. That was the first and only time I've won an argument with her.
Grandma: "We pay our taxes and all they do is sit around and twiddle their thumbs. They should do stuff when we ask them to."
Me: "Like what?"
Grandma: "Well, last month there was a big storm and my back door blew open. The alarm was going off and everything. And because of the wind, I couldn't close my back door. I just wasn't strong enough. I didn't want to be worrying all night about someone just waltzing into my house, so I called the police and asked them very nicely to come over and close my door for me. They refused! It's outrageous. Its not like they were doing anything else. It would have been so easy for them to come over and close my door, but they didn't. Can you believe that?"
Me: "..."
Me: "Ummmm...yes. Yes I can."
Grandma (on a roll now): "And another time, I had this necklace on. I was getting ready to go to bed, but I couldn't undo the latch on my necklace. I didn't want to go to sleep while wearing it because it might have choked me. I think that the police should have come over and helped me take my necklace off. I didn't call that time because I knew that they wouldn't come over. But they should've. I pay my taxes after all."
Me: "Grandma, just because you pay your taxes doesn’t make them your personal servants. You have to ask them to do things that fall under their job description in some way shape or form. You can't just ask them to do anything. I mean, even if they're just sitting around doing nothing, you can't call the fire department and get them to water your lawn for you."
P.S. I see Grandma tonight. There is a good chance that I’ll have a “part 3” for you tomorrow.
-wink
Happy God Incarnation Day!
01:58 PM PST :: comments: 1The God that I know and love went totally crazy and became human. Today we celebrate God's insanity. Merry Christmas.
-wink
2002.12.24
Grandma-in-law and her arguments (part 1)
03:08 PM PST :: comments: 1My grandma-in-law is a wonderful woman. She loves to get into completely ridiculous arguments, whereupon she'll deploy logic that is unlike our Earth logic. It is at the same time terribly frustrating and highly amusing.
Last year, we were doing some shopping downtown. As we were walking from one store to another, we saw a group of protesters gathering on a corner. I caught a glimpse of some of their signs and saw the words "Israel", "Middle East" and "Palestine" on them. Grandma-in-law instantly got angry.
Grandma: "I bet they're fur protesters. I hate fur protesters. They throw paint on your fur coats as you walk by them, you know."This went on for fifteen minutes or so. None of us were able to convince her that a) Protests are legal, or b) Those were not fur protesters.
Fur protesters?!?
Me: "Ummm...Grandma, I don't think they're fur protesters. I think this protest has something to do with the Middle East."
Grandma (continuing undaunted): "Those fur protesters are so horrible. I think that it should be illegal for them to throw paint on you..."
Me (interjecting): "It already is illegal for them to throw paint on you..."
Grandma (ignoring me): "...in fact, I think that it should be illegal for them to protest at all. They shouldn't be allowed to gather on a street corner and intimidate people. It's unconstitutional!"
Me: "Actually, it is constitutional. They have the constitutional right to assemble..."
Grandma: "It is NOT constitutional. I have a right to wear fur. I have a constitutional right to wear fur. They can't protest that."
Me: "Grandma, you do not have a constitutional right to wear fur. They do have the constitutional right to assemble. And they're not even fur protesters. I think they are protesting something about the Middle East. Look at their signs!"
Grandma (sure of herself despite the signs to the contrary): "That protest should be illegal. It's Un-American. I hope the police come and arrest all of those fur protesters."
-wink
2002.12.23
Review: The Two Towers
05:25 PM PST :: comments: 1On Wednesday, I saw Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I've been trying to put my finger on exactly how I felt about the movie. In the end, I guess that it left me simultaniously overwhelmed and underwhelmed. [spoilers ahead, so don't read if you don't want to know] [more]
-wink
Nightmares that aren't scary
04:45 PM PST :: comments: 0The good news is that I've been getting a lot more sleep lately. The bad news is that almost all of the extra sleep consists of nightmares.
Most of the time, the dream slips away from my memory leaving behind only the aftertaste of terror. Then an odd haunted feeling follows me around for the remainder of the morning. (Usually, after I forget dreams, I tell myself that I should start a dream journal. However, these dreams I'm happy to never remember again.)
What I find really interesting about the nightmares that I do remember is that some of them aren't scary at all. Some really are frightening. For example, in one dream I was drinking what I thought was water. Turns out it was a poison that looks/tastes/smells like water, and it was making my throat swell and close up so I couldn't breathe. I woke up from that one gasping for breath.
But in other dreams, I don't have any reason to be afraid and yet I am. Like the one where I was just standing there in a room, looking around and feeling terribly anxious. Nothing was threatening me. Nothing was out of the ordinary. It was like watching a horror movie where the soundtrack is building to an unbearable tension, but nothing is happening on screen. When I woke up, though I could still feel the anxiety dripping off of me (or was that my sweat), I had no idea what I was scared of.
Other nightmares are simply bizzare. Like the one where I saw my headphones lying on a table and I noticed a very small pile of sawdust underneath them. Then I realized, with horror, that there were termites in my headphones. Again, there is no reason for this to scare me, yet it does.
I hope the nightmares stop soon.
-wink
Tree's "boyfriend"
04:16 PM PST :: comments: 0I just got my teeth cleaned (Tree's Mom is a dentist). I discovered that my chart is labeld "Tree's Boyfriend". We've been married for over five years, and they still only see me as her boyfirend??!?
-wink
2002.12.22
Merry Christmas
01:21 PM PST :: comments: 0I'm off to my in-laws for Christmas. Won't be around for a week. Don't expect posts as internet access from my in-laws place is sketchy at best. Merry Christmas!
-wink