Tales of the Trickster

Thanksgiving 2007

Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!  Don't eat too much too soon, or you'll pass out from a food coma before any of the fun stuff happens.  As usual, I wish everyone a safe, happy, drama-free holiday.  Gobble, gobble!

Equality Now Call to Action

I was on YABS last night when someone mentioned this.  Then I checked my email inbox, and got a note from Equality Now.  I'm sharing it with you, in hopes that you'll join me in supporting this cause.  Volunteer your time, make a donation, or write a letter.  Spread the word.  They are all small things, but a lot of small things might make a big change one day.

MEDIA FLASH:

Taina Bien-Aime, Executive Director of Equality Now will be on the
Glenn Beck show on CNN tonight, November 19th at 7pm, 9pm and midnight to
discuss the case of the Saudi Arabian rape victim who has been sentenced
to 200 lashes and 6 months imprisonment. See below for further
information. We hope you can watch the show.

EQUALITY NOW CONDEMNS SAUDI ARABIAN COURT RULING
SENTENCING RAPE VICTIM TO 200 LASHES AND 6 MONTHS IMPRISONMENT


New York, November 19, 2007. A 19-year-old woman from Qatif, Saudi
Arabia, was brutally attacked and gang raped by 7 men approximately 18
months ago, according to media reports. While seeking justice in her case,
the woman was herself sentenced in October 2006 to 90 lashes for being
in the company of an unrelated man at the time of the attack. She
appealed this decision to a higher court, and the Qatif General Court
announced on Wednesday November 14, 2007, that the victim's sentence had been
more than doubled to 200 lashes and 6 months in prison, a gross
violation of human rights including the right to be free from discrimination
and from torture and other cruel, degrading and inhuman treatment.
  Following this decision the rape victim’s lawyer had his license to
practice revoked.  While the courts have not clarified why the sentence was
increased, media reports suggest that the harsher sentence for the
rape victim and the confiscation of her lawyer’s license were directly
related to their decision to speak with Saudi Arabian media about the
injustice in this case. If true, this retaliation clearly violates the
fundamental human right to freedom of expression. 

Equality Now is calling on the Ministry of Justice of Saudi Arabia to
immediately revoke this sentence of lashing and imprisonment of the rape
victim, which is a travesty of justice. Equality Now is also calling
on the Ministry to restore her legal representation by rescinding its
decision to revoke the license of her lawyer. Taina Bien-Aimé, Executive
Director stated, "This verdict by the Saudi Arabian court is blatantly
discriminatory and violates several fundamental rights of the victim
as well as her lawyer. We urge the Saudi Arabian authorities to undo
this injustice immediately.  They need to ensure that the victim is
treated as a victim and not as a criminal. The international human rights
community will continue to closely monitor the case and provide solidarity
to advocates on the ground until the victim is safe from state
sponsored violence and discrimination.” 

Equality Now is an international human rights organization based in New
York, Nairobi and London that works to protect and promote the civil,
political, economic and social rights of girls and women.  Equality
Now’s Women’s Action Network comprises 30,000 groups and individual
members in over 160 countries.  For more information please visit
www.equalitynow.org. 

TAKE ACTION
Please contact the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington DC, or in your
country if not the US, as well as the State Department in the US or your
country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Call on these officials to
convey your concern over this injustice and to take whatever action is
in their power to protect this Saudi rape victim from lashing and
imprisonment.  In the US, please contact:

Saudi Arabian Ambassador, Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al
Saud, in Washington D.C. at (202) 342-3800
Or
Consulates General in: New York at (212) 752-2740, Los Angeles at (310)
479-6000, Houston (713) 785-5577

Electric Quill, Digitized Parchment

Had a lovely evening last night chatting with some of my favorite people, both online and in person.  It was one of those evenings where you talk about anything and everything with the people you care about, and pick apart the philosophical aspects of everyday things until they become fascinating all over again.  I haven't had a night like that in a long while.  It always amazes me, the world we live in today.  Sometimes there are awful things in it, but sometimes you're lucky enough to realize how cool some of it is. 

Take the internet, for example.  Love it or hate it, it's part of our lives now.  I've always been suspicious of it, myself.  Sure, I think it's fantastic that so much information can be pulled up with a few keystrokes, but I've always been afraid of its invasive nature, how it can broadcast the most intimate moments of your life to anyone with a keyboard and a monitor.  I'm a very private person by nature.  There are some things I just won't talk about on my blog because of that.  I read blogs sometimes and recoil in horror at the idea of revealing so much about myself to complete strangers.  It's why I've always been suspicious of online relationships.  I look at two friends of mine, recently married, and wonder how two people can fall in love after meeting online?  I had trouble getting my head around it.

Then I started thinking about the power of the written word.  I read books like Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet," and remember how much a simple correspondence can mean to a person.  It's not much different now than it was then, just faster and more interactive.  I read a LiveJournal entry written by one of my online friends the other day telling the story of how she fell in love with her current sweetheart.  It was sweet, moving, and beautifully intimate.  I felt honored that she included me in the circle of friends she shared her story with.  Another friend once posted a sad entry talking about the hard time she had with a break up, and it moved me a great deal.  I really wanted to comfort her, even though we've never spoken outside of IMs.  I read a blog entry yesterday from another online friend, and in it, he congratulated me for breaking through my writer's block.  He's been such and inspiration to me, and such a good friend, yet I've never met him.  His encouragement meant the world to me, however.  A few weeks ago, my friend Paris introduced me to an incredibly talented woman by the name of Lyzette.  She lives in LA, and we've struck up an online friendship, occasionally emailing or IMing each other while at work, or sending funny MySpace pictures and comments.  She even let me read the first part of her manuscript, and asked me to give her my thoughts.  She's beautiful, intelligent, funny as hell, and amazingly strong.  In the short time we've talked, she's taught me so much, and gave me a new perspective on the world, both through her words and through her photography.  My YABS friends (you know who you are, you crazy bunch of loonies) always make me smile when they post the good things going on in their lives, make me want to hug them when I read a sad post, make me laugh when they're being silly.  I feel lucky to know these people, even if it's not in the traditional sense.

I have a LiveJournal account that I opened just to post comments on other people's LJ posts without too much hassle.  I don't actually post there.  For those who don't know, LJ is a free, user-friendly way to start a blog or online journal.  It also has a feature where you can "lock off" your blog entries to anyone not on your friends list.  I'm toying with the idea of keeping up an LJ for some of my more personal thoughts, or to share my writing with my friends.  We'll see if I can muster up the courage to do it.

The Police in Concert!

Guess who's going to see The Police in concert tonight?  That's right.  *Points to self.*  Are you jealous yet?  Don't lie. I know you are.  *Does a little happy dance.*

Andrea Bocelli

I woke up in a pretty positive mood today.  I'm not sure why, but I don't care because it feels nice.  My mood went from positive to downright chipper during my morning commute when my trusty iPod serenaded me with Andrea Bocelli's version of "Romanza".  It occurred to me once again (the way it does every time I hear Bocelli) that the man must have no shortage of nookie whatsoever.  I mean, seriously.  Listen to him.  All he has to do is open his mouth and hold a single note for panties to come tumbling down on their own accord.  He must get undies thrown at him while he's walking down the street the way conquering emperors have flower petals strewn in their path upon returning home.  I bet it gets annoying after awhile though.  Poor guy probably can't have so much as a cappuccino without a thong falling in his cup.

Now, I've never been much of an opera fan, but Bocelli is my one exception.  It's not that I dislike opera, it was just not a big thing for me.  Then one fine day, while shopping for lacy goodness at Victoria's Secret (see a theme forming here?), my sweetie bought himself the promotional Bocelli CD they were selling at the counter.  It quickly became my CD I'm not ashamed to admit, though I'll let him borrow it every now and then if he wants.

Anyway, give him a listen.  Just keep a tight hold of your drawers, cuz damn.  They'll fly off before you know it if you're not careful.

Andrea Bocelli's Official Website

^Andrea Bocelli performing "In Canto", at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert December 10, 2004^

^"Time to Say Goodbye" ("Con te Partirò") - 1997 - with Sarah Brightman^

Half-Day, Bitches!

It's been hella-crazy-busy here at work this week.  There was this conference hullabaloo with some out-of-state librarian-types that we were hosting, so our already understaffed crew was cut in half.  That meant we had less than a skeleton crew to deal with one of the busiest weeks in the semester.  You know how it goes.  Just before Thanksgiving break, all the professors assign projects that they want to get in before the long weekend, and since finals are the first week in December, it's pretty much going to be The Big Final Project that drives all the kids who don't know Jack from shit into the library so that we can pretend to care while they're all "OMG!  I have a paper due!  Oh noes!"  On top of all that, one of our librarians called in sick yesterday.  Yesterday was his one night a week where he works a "night shift" until 10.  He was going to take off the first half of his shift, but felt obligated to work the 6-10 p.m. part.  He's a nice guy, and he's someone who always pitches in when we need him.  Making him work when he has a bug seemed a pretty shitty way to repay someone who's good at his job, so I decided to take over his shift if I could get a half day off today.  Besides, as nice as he is, I didn't want him showing up and spreading all his itis-germs all over the place.  I hate that.  (Hey, I'm nice, but I'm not that nice.)

Anyway, it was a long 12+ hours yesterday, but today I get half a day off!  Weeee!  And what will I do with my hard-earned gain?  Pick up a dress I'm wearing to a wedding from the dry cleaners and get my oil changed.  Woooo!  Party up in here!  Us librarians are so crazy.  Hopefully, when it's all done, I'll have some time to get some writing done.  It seems the Fiction Police have been sending me warning notices.  Although the Fiction Police are usually in league with the Library Police (who are no where near as scary as they are in that Stephen King story, but should be feared nonetheless), I don't want to get on their bad side.  I hear they take away your caffeine if you misbehave.  That's pretty damn scary.

And since I mentioned the dress...

To all of you out there who know Tony & Christina, wish them a happy wedding!  Saturday is their big day.  Yippee for them!!  *Big sigh and fluttery eyelashes.*  Ahhhh love.

The Companies We Keep

I hate Cigna.  I do.  They suck in ways much too unpleasant to describe.  If anyone out there is thinking of starting a business, don't use Cigna as your health insurance company.  If any of you out there work for HR, do not use Cigna EVER.  Do whatever you have to do to avoid Cigna no matter what.  It would probably be better for you to not have health insurance at all, just take a huge chunk of your paycheck and stick it in a jelly jar next to your bed for medical emergencies.  They are the worst, most godawful horde of butt-raping brigands ever.  This is coming from a girl who has worked at many a corporation mind you, from BellSouth to Mr. Coffee.  I've never, never ever ever, had to deal with a health insurance company this bad.  I've had more disputes with my health insurance company than I've had with Time Warner Cable, and we all know how much fun it is to deal with those assholes. 

I have to argue with these turds every single time my doctors (all of them, not just my regular physician) prescribe something new to me, and sometimes even when I renew a monthy prescription.  Apparently, Cigna seems to think they are smarter than the men and women I see regularly who, oh I don't know, actually went to medical school and are referred to as "Dr."  Whenever I get a new prescription, I have to argue with Cigna because Cigna seems to think that the doctor is wrong.  Since Dr. Smartypants is obviously wrong in their expert opinions, they will only pay for some of the medicine, and if I want what the doctor actually prescribed, I'll have to pay for two prescriptions.  I'm not exaggerating here.  Every time.

Every. Single. Time.

Now Cigna is charging me a yearly "just-because-we-can-what-the-hell-you-gonna-do-about-it" fee of $100.  They can rattle on and on about deductible this and once-a-year that, but it really is a "just-because-we-can-what-the-hell-you-gonna-do-about-it" fee.  What should be a $25 bottle of medicine is now $125.  Hell, why do we even go to doctors?  Let's just cut the middle man and go straight to health insurance offices to fix what ails us.

Oh, and you want to know why I couldn't get my allergy medicine?  Because for a bottle that's probably no more than a quarter of an ounce, Cigna wants me to pay over a hundred dollars for it.  Now here's what kills me.  If my doctor had prescribed "one drop per eye twice a day" instead of "two drops per eye twice a day," the medicine would have been less.  Think about that for a second.  That's like charging you twice as much for a single bottle of coke because you take bigger gulps.  How is that even legal?  Cigna sucks donkey butt. 

You know who doesn't suck though? Apple.  I love Apple.  I adore Apple.  If Apple was a rock star, I'd follow Apple on tour.  I'm an Apple groupie.  I'd have Apple pinups on my wall, and buy this month's Rolling Stone just because Apple was shirtless on the cover.  I heart Apple.  Apple are my life. 

I went to the Apple store this weekend.  Their alien technology has infiltrated my brain and has assimilated me Borg style.  Did you know that the iMacs don't even have the big clunky CPUs like PCs have?  It's a keyboard and a flatscreen monitor.  Everything that needs to be plugged in is behind the screen.  How feng shui is that?  So zen. 

You all know how in love with my iPod I am.  I'm now lusting after the new iPod Touch.  That's right.  I'm cheating on my iPod in my mind.  I'm coveting my neighbor's iPod, or I would be if my neighbor was as iPod obsessed as I was and actually had an iPod Touch.  In my own defense, I coveted the Touch before I invested in my video iPod, back when it was still a rumor.  I was holding out for it, but my original iPod died a tragic death and, well, I can't live without The Pod now.  I'm needy and can't be alone musically.  Don't feel bad for my little video iPod though.  I pamper that bitch.  She lives like a queen.  Plus, I think she's having an affair with my hard drive.  My hard drive is pretty easy.  They better enjoy it while they can, because I'll be upgrading to an Apple when my bitty little librarian's salary will allow it.

That reminds me.  Guess who will be getting a MacBook Pro sometime next year?  That's right my dears.  C'est moi.  I couldn't help but play with the MacBooks while at the store.  Then one of their blasted Geniuses came up to me all brainy-sexy-like and asked me if I had any questions.  The saucey tart seduced me into asking him what the difference between a MacBook and a MacBook Pro was, what with his friendly smile and eager-to-please customer service.  He even knew how to go about getting AutoCAD for the Apple (my sweetie uses The Cad for his projects, so I have to consider his work when talking about converting.  I'm freakin' thoughtful that way.)  Can you believe it?  A company that actually hires people who know the product.  I didn't stand a chance against his well-informed wiles.  I was seduced I tell you. 

It's okay though.  As I stood there, swoony and doe-eyed and crushing even harder on Apple because of this damnable Cupid-techie, he informed me of the educator's discount.  As a librarian, I'm entitled to a discount on any MacBook.  Apple loves me back!   This could turn into something serious people.  I have cartoon-style hearts in my eyes.  It just might be the Real Thing. *Dreamy sigh.*