Aug 31, 2007

The upside and the downside

I'm not really a fearful person, truthfully. I mean, I have my quirks. The ocean is not my friend. My dad loves rock climbing and I pretended to, growing up but truthfully, I never got over the heights thing. And airplanes terrify me, though I do my best to hide this fact from my five year old, who I have managed to convince that airplanes are great fun.

I'm not afraid to say what needs to be said, when there's a compelling reason to say it. I try to stay very friendly and upbeat if the conversation is a controversial one, but I don't cave. I'm someone who feels a need to speak up. Not all the time, but when someone is being hurt, for instance, or something isn't quite right and might lead some people astray, that sort of thing.

But I never like the aftermath. I don't like when a conversation descends into bickering. If someone gets upset at me for something I say, I do my best to de-escalate...

but I don't apologize. Not if I feel that something needed to be said.

The upside of being a person who thinks about things a little too hard, who is articulate for the most part, and who speaks up when necessary= I feel like I can be an instrument for good. I feel powerful.

The downside= people either love what you say, or they hate what you say. There is no moderation, no in- between, and people tend to be intimidated by you after you say it, no matter if they agree or not.

Sigh. But what can you do?

Aug 27, 2007

First day of what?

Kindergarten. That's right. I'm masochistic. We're homeschooling AND sending her to kindergarten, because I just want to have the hard work of both worlds.

No, actually, it's because I'm a big softy and don't want her to feel like she's missed out. Actually, my evil plan is to infiltrate the school system and then demand that she be allowed enrollment in whatever classes I choose without having to be enrolled fully! It would be a fun and challenging endeavor if it weren't actually already legally my right as a parent... so that's good.

So, kindergarten. Loli loves it.

But my car broke down when I was to go pick her up so I had to hastily assemble the bike trailer and hitch it up to the bike, and then ride four miles one way in the sun four and a half months pregnant, show up ten minutes late all sweaty and red and apologetic, and then cart 50 lbs of kid all the way back.

I'm going to go take a bath.

Aug 22, 2007

Barack, Paul, and Romney

These are my favorite candidates for the presidency. THe funny thing is, they're all idealogically very different.

Barack is a Dem, one might say a radical Dem, except we really don't know what sort of Dem he is because he seems to be going in a direction that nobody else has really gone. (this is the main reason why I like him).

I like him for these reasons: 1) his LACK of time spent among the more jaded politicians in Washington, his integrity regarding lobbyists, his matter-of-fact way of stating his stances, and his willingness to be open with the American people. When he talked about how becoming more energy-independent will require some sacrifices on the part of the American people, I respected him. When he mentioned that he would consider meeting with various antagonistic leaders in the middle east, I respected him. When he mentioned that, if given no other choice he would authorize Americans going into pakistan after high-profile terrorists that have threatened the US, I respected him. Want to know why? All the other Dems would do the same thing, they just don't want to say so right now. Barack isn't going to fudge on these issues, he's going to be blunt and honest. Good sign, I say.

Mitt is a true, died-in-the-wool republican. He's pretty much the party-line toer out of all the republican candidates.

The reasons why I like him: He is a creative, flexible politician with the genius and experience that could help in the solving of several of our major problems right now: the economy, the war, and health care. And I love his health care plan-- keeping it free-market, but requiring everyone to have it. This will require insurance companies to cover those who they normally would not cover, and therefore, the rights and special needs of vulnerable groups will become a higher priority with them. The war has been mismanaged, and I agree with Mitt that we must stay in Iraq until things are more stable (if such a thing is possible.) We should never have gone it, but we can't just pull out without doing significant damage to our own national security as well as the security and safety of the region. Mitt's always been a brainstormer, willing to consider alternatives that others haven't thought of. In our foreign policy more than anywhere else we need some new, innovative ideas. I believe that, out of all the candidates, Mitt could come up with these.

Ron Paul is, for all intents and purposes, a Libertarian. But he's running as a republican this year. His platform is based around Limiting the federal government's power over the individual, something that badly needs doing right now. He's against the war in Iraq for all the right reasons. He advocated going into Afghanistan for all the right reasons. He wants to leave iraq and the middle east, pull all our troops out, and enter into a dialogue and trading relationship rather than a domineering, military-enforced one. I agree wholeheartedly... as soon as we can safely get out of Iraq. This is where Paul and I diverge... I think we need to stay for a while, he wants out ASAP.

All good men. All men who are campaigning based upon their own, real beliefs, and all unafraid to stand up and say what they think. (Or at least, that's my opinion.)
So, I've got to get back to this blogging thing. Seriously. No, Seriously.

I miss it. Facebook has been taking up way too much of my time lately.

So this will be my update post.

Adoption update: We're officially on the waiting list, we still have to send in our I600-A, which we will be doing at the end of sept/beginning of oct. We'll likely be waiting at least until next September for a referral, so we have a lot of time to read books and attend classes.

Manuscript update: I've heard back from Covenant (finally!) They had my manuscript under consideration by their editors, and then ultimately tabled it. Deseret kindly informed me that, though they appreciated my effort, they had no room for my book at this time. And so now I've sent it along to Shadow Mountain and Cedar Fort, and hope to hear from them sometime within the next six months. This is actually really fun for me, I'm getting some notches on my belt, and now I can be one of those people who says, in a weary wise tone, that she knows what it's like to be rejected by a publisher.

Other writing projects: My farcequin may have to wait a bit. What I ought to do is write a big chunk of it, then publish it serially on this blog, but, well, I'm writing other stuff right now that is more interesting to me. (Sorry.) Sheepish grin.

Baby-- we get to find out the sex at the beginning of september. WE're really hoping for a boy this time, but if it's a girl, well, that's great too. We love girls.

I hope all of you are doing well, and enjoyed your summer breaks (if you got them.)