So for those gathering around a giant turkey or tofurkey or whatever, have a wonderful time. For those boycotting the glib celebratory ellision of Native American holocaust, try and have some fun, too.
We're going to the latest Harry Potter, then home to dine.
My mechanic can always make me smile. I know that's a completely insane thing to say, but it's true.
John is a genuinely good guy who always gives sound advice. If he tells you that your card needs something, it does. If you don't need it, he'll tell you that and let you make up your own mind. In all the years he's taken care of my cars, I don't feel like I have ever been given bad advice by him or anyone in his garage.
But most of all, I love him because he gently mocks me.
Yes, you heard me.
If you know me at all, then you more than likely are aware that I often assign human emotions to mechanical things. My computers at work and home have them, as does the office copier and many of the appliances in my kitchen. And so do my cars. They have, in the past, succumbed to numerous faux emotions, including "sad", "surprised", and "scared".
John loves this; he thinks it's the funniest thing he's ever heard. I also do eerily accurate imitations of the noises the car makes when it isn't feeling well; sometimes he makes me repeat the noises for the mechanic who will be working on the car that day. His mechanics think I'm a whack job, but a generally harmless one. And he has a really dry sense of humor, so his reactions are always slyly understated.
Example:
Yesterday, my right front tire ate a bolt and needed to be replaced. Changing the tire made me all frustrated (gotta love tire changing), than the shop wasn't open and I had to drive to work on that *(&T(*))&T little donut tire thing. I'm now late for a conference call, which pushes back all of my appointments for the day. This does not sit well with my boss or colleagues, and I am officially The Bitch Who Inconvenienced Everyone Because She Can't Change A Tire As Fast As A Pit Crew.
So I call John...
Me: John, hey! It's Katherine Meusey. The Mazda's been injured.
John: Injured?
Me: It was mauled by a bolt.
John: Ummmm...mauled? Okay, where? Like, the tires …
Me: The right front tire. It's this big, Frankenstein-like bolt; I have no idea where it came from...
pause
John: How's the car feeling about all this?
I smile before replying.
"Really...violated, I guess."
And for some reason, that question totally brightened day.
but honestly, did anyone really think the gay rights amendment would pass? I mean, the weather may be nice in my own little world, but it ain't that nice.
Today, for the first time in a long time, I feel really good about living in California. Why? Because I woke up to headlines like "Governor Schwarzenegger's political power is now severely compromised" because all the state propositions (including preventing unions from contributing to political causes and parental notification of abortion) failed.
Yes, all of them. Yay! I would have been more comfortable seeing a broader margin for the abortion notification thing, but I'll take what I can get.
Besides LA and SF, in my experience is that California is a relatively conservative state. To have this occur is rare and beautiful.
I hope you did, no matter how you voted. Well, that isn't strictly true, but the act of casting your vote is important. So I hope you did.
In other spooky news, it seems that 2005 is not only the year that I found common ground with Ann Coulter, but also apparently the year I find myself agreeing with the Vatican with regard to their views on the validity of a certain scientific theory.
I am pretty much completely confused now...
Well, obviously, I'm against the whole Alito thing, not just because I'm a woman but because I have a brain. Part of me thinks that Harriet Miers was just a distraction, but I could be reading too much into the whole situation.
I like this piece in Slate where William Saletan plays Judiciary Committee Senator and questions Sam Alito on his dissenting opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Read Right to Wife: Why Does Judge Alito Treat Women Like Girls? and see why I'm a tad disconcerted.
I suppose we all have them, but I really thought Fester, our dog, was unaffected by any type of human bias. He loves every human being he meets, and they love him. It never occurred to me that Fester could actually dislike anyone, but I was wrong.
Seems that he has some issues with Zelda Rubinstein, the woman perhaps best known for playing Tangina Barrons the somewhat creepy psychic lady in the first two Poltergeist films.
Last night we were sprawled on the bed, watching Poltergeist* on TMC, and I happened to fall asleep. Some time later I heard this low growling noise and found Fes pretty much eye to eye with the television, staring transfixed at her. When Zelda began her whole “Welcome, children. Welcome, welcome…” thing, and Fes began to bark. Not an “all the other dogs are doing it” bark, but a genuine, disturbed, “Mother, I’ll protect you” kind of bark. He was even shaking a little. Poor muffin!
To salvage his mental state, I turned off the television and sent him to watch various Treehouse of Horror episodes with the husband, who says he does not blame Fester a bit for being freaked out. Zelda, it seems, is just scary that way. And it was Halloween, after all.
* They also showed The Haunting, which is always appreciated.