kittens

If my cats got any cuter...

...i might just hack up a fur ball.

i doula like this, i doula like that....

i doula with a wiffle ball bat.

well, not yet anyway. but i will. I just enrolled at the Seattle Midwifery School for postpartum doula training in August.
Doulas perform support for mothers throughout the birthing process and beyond. Doulas are part of a prevalent birthing movement which promotes the importance of recognizing birth as an empowering experience in a woman's life.
After my training, I will focus on the postpartum--
helping a mother adjust to breast feeding.

changing dirty diapers.

and just generally supporting new mom upon her return home.

I am really excited about this opportunity to take what I am learning in school and apply it to my life.
not many people get to say that, right?
anyway, i wanted to share my excitement with my pool of virtual friends.
yay!

top ten reasons to blog

this post is for one person in particular. in my blog he goes by harpo and/or the harp whisperer (HW for short). i digress...

10. it increases your international exposure and your chances of being the future US diplomat to Latvia.
9. your special lady/your fucking lady friend will have another avenue with which to pester you throughout the day.
8. you can keep the world apprised of your bike maintenance.
7. surely there is at least one person on the planet whom wants to be exposed to your rants and whom currently isn't--let this person find you.
6. you'll be plugged into a community of people doing whatever they can to avoid putting on pants.
5. you will leave a legacy for future anthropologists to use while speculating the demise of the human race.
4. you can, so why not?
3. blogging is sexy.
2. you need diverse feedback re: your capacity models for seattle transportation and what better venue than the interweb?
1. the world deserves to know what all those recycle codes on the bottom of plastic bottles REALLY mean.

anybody else have any shining reasons why HW should blog? leave a comment!!!

a collection of cheap locks

I have become a collector of sorts. I'm not really like most collectors who seek out particular items that bring joy into their lives. No, I'm the type that leaves the house and gets to my final destination missing something I simply can't do without. This morning it was my bike lock. I rode all the way to school and the second I rode up to Schmitz Hall, I remembered that I had forgotten to put it in my bag. So, I had to ride around the U-district looking for a place to get a new lock, because there was no way in hell I was going to risk leaving my bike unlocked on the Ave ALL DAY. I am now the proud owner of a cheap master lock that someone could sneeze on and have a fairly good chance of getting it open. but to look on the bright side, it will be handy for securing my tire to my frame. ...
In conclusion, the last few days have been marked by empty headedness and I am at the end of my patience with myself.
That is all.
Good day.

ha!

knitting M read the post below and though i was going to say i was pregnant!
no way, jose.
i thought it was funny though. ...

28 days

It didn't occur to me until now the reason why I have been so tired lately. Granted there have been some extenuating circumstances over the last month, but i think i have discovered the root of the problem. it is nearing the end of my last quarter of my first year at the UW in the women studies department. in fact, there are only 28 days until my last final of the year. less then 28 days to take 2 more tests, write a personal statement, re-write 3 papers, write 2 new papers, write another set of journal entries and all this while having a nervous breakdown.

where will i ever find the time?

if i hit the switch, i can make the ass drop

so, i have a different rubric than ice cube for determining whether a day is a good day or not. he and i have very different life styles. for instance, i never have to use my A.K. so, if i went by mr. cube's logic, every day would be a good day. and while that sounds good on paper, life would be pretty boring without bad days. right?
anyway. when i woke up this morning, i knew i was going to have a good day. shortly after rubbing the sleep from my peepers, i found i'd been sleeping with a man and i had no idea where he came from! most people would rush to a clinic to get tested for STDs. lucky for me the man i found in my bed was dead. this might not be a reassuring idea for everyone either, but it is when the dead guy you find in your bed is mr. jackson.

i also realized today that i did not get charged for the bus pass that was stolen from me a couple weeks ago.
and to top it all off it was nice and sunny today.
i guess if i'd had to use my A.K. at any point during these events, today might not have been so good.
so i guess ice cube isn't completely irrelevant in my life. ...

you can't hold a grudge against a dog

no matter how much you don't want to get up in the morning. even my brother the grizzly bear can't be angered when roused from his sleep by this little pooch.

and this is why i love dogs. ...

biking for beers

while most of the world was recognizing sunday as a day of rest, i was pedalling my little heart out. ...
L-nutz,my best friend's girl, the harp whisperer, and myself rode all day long. HW and I started at the beginning of the Burke-Gilman Trail and met up with friend 1 and friend 2 a little further along. We continued our bike trek to where the Burke stops and the Sammamish River Trail picks up.
Did we stop there? That is an excellent question and the answer is NO. We continued the ride to our final destination in Woodinville: the Red Hook Brewery. Our reward for the long haul was beer. As an adult I've found beer is the only thing that justifies rigorous toil. the beer was delicious, as was the veggie burger that i ate in virtually one bite. The lemon cheesecake was nothing to sneeze at either. Before we got back on our bikes we made the realization that by the time we got home we would have rode approx 41 miles. On the ride home everyone else seemed to have the energy of 1000 warriors, but I was pretty beat and assumed my position in the rear. there was a point after getting back on my bike that i could feel myself begin to melt down. i began to feel upset and wanted to cry, but i didn't know why. luckily i had enough wits about me to call it what it was--fatigue. Throwing my bike on the ground and throwing a fit was not going to get me home any faster and that is all i really wanted. So, I sucked it up and kept going. This is what i am most proud of myself for.
When I arrived home I had just about enough energy for an hour or so of TV. I was hoping I'd have it in me to finish watching Babel, but I could only muster up the energy to watch a PBS special on dogs and eat leftover enchiladas.
I was asleep by 10pm and did not manage to get out of bed until 9:30am. I was sore, hungry and tired after my day of burning 900+ calories. I was convinced that I was going to give myself a rest before putting myself through anymore physical exertion. so, biking up the monster that is Queen Anne hill to get to work was absolutely out of the question--especially considering how saddle sore I was.
Anyway, here I am blogging, sweaty and hungry. ... I ended up riding to work against my better judgement.
time for eats!!

Pom Pom's not Bomb Bomb's

BLOOD, SWEATS AND CHEERS: 10 YEARS OF RAHRAH RADICAL CHEERING

Pom Pom’s Not Bomb Bombs- • Do we make an impact politically? • Action brag book, or I can’t believe you got away with that! • What was your favorite protest, and why? • How does creative street theatre allow you to express your politics? • How do the physical movements and choreography of radical cheerleading affect the way you participate in and feel about political action? Have you or your squad ever written your own cheer? If so, send it to us!
You Too Can Be a Cheerleader! NO TRYOUTS!!! • Where/when did you first see radical cheerleading? •What made you want to be a part of a radical cheerleading squad? • How old were you when you first started cheering, and do you still cheer? • How is radical cheerleading empowering?
We're here we cheer get used to it! Sex, Gender, and Politics • What were/are the gender politics of your squad? • Is radical cheerleading for everyone?
White Girls Gone Wild • How are race and class accounted for in radical cheerleading? • Why does radical cheerleading appeal to _____________ people? •What did your squad look like and why?
Here Come the Cameras and the TV crew • How do radical cheerleading (and performance activism) generate media attention? • Does publicity help or hurt your message? • Which stunts and antics worked, and which didn’t?
Radical cheerleading and fashion. • Pleated skirts and pom poms: Does radical cheerleading ever reproduce the politics or aesthetics it attempts to mock and reject? Queerleaders, jeerleaders, cuntleaders, raging grannies. How radical cheerleading is part of a larger movement of creative protest. (Queerleaders, jeerleaders, cuntleaders, raging grannies.)
Is radical cheerleading 3rd wave? • Is it DIY? When, how and where does it get out of a certain scene?
Do you have a personal collection of radical cheerleading memorabilia? What does it look like?.

Deadline is June 1, 2007. Send your photos, artwork, personal stories, academic essays, manifestos, cheers, collages, sound files, and more to: radicalcheerleaders@gmail.com - or - Francis Goldin Literary Agency 57 E. 11th Street, Suite 5B New York, NY 10003 Attn: Radical Cheerleading Visit us at www.myspace.com/radicalcheerleadingbook All accepted contributors will receive a copy of the book and financial compensation. The editors – Brackin Firecracker, Cara Jennings, and Jeanne Vaccaro – are represented by the politically progressive Francis Goldin Literary Agency in New York City (goldinlit.com). PASS IT ON.