I Heart ABBA

Tonight the
Super Trouper lights are gonna find me
Shining like the sun
(Sup-p-per Troup-p-per)
Smiling, having fun
(Sup-p-per Troup-p-per)
Feeling like a number one!

Revolution in Bolivia!!!

Bolivia leader halves his own pay

The Bolivian new left-wing President, Evo Morales, has cut his salary by more than a half to a little over $1,800 (£1,012) per month.
The decision means that the salaries of all Bolivian public sector employees will be reviewed, as no official can earn more than the president.

Mr Morales said the money saved would be used to increase the numbers of doctors and teachers.

Mr Morales suggested that members of Congress should cut their salaries too.

During the campaign, Mr Morales had pledged to halve his own pay if elected.

The move announced after his first cabinet went beyond that, with a cut of 57%.

BBC South America correspondent Daniel Schweimler says many voted for Mr Morales believing that he was different from the more conservative politicians who have governed in the past.

The former llama herder and coca leaf farmer was inaugurated last Sunday as Bolivia's first indigenous president.

He has promised to fight corruption, introduce a new tax on the wealthy, and renationalise energy companies.

From the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4652940.stm

And does everyone know that Chile has just elected their first woman president, a doctor and single mother? If you're interested, go to news.bbc.co.uk and click on "americas" in the news column.

insanity!

How can you tell if you're crazy?

No, that's not really the start of a joke. I really want to know.

I'm an idiot.

So, I work for a credit union now. I love all the people I work with, and we have stimulating conversations daily. Usually this is because it's slow, and there isn't much else to do but google and read the Times. Not that I'm complaining! For instance, I've been doing some research both on Egyptian gods AND ambergris. I started with ambergris, and moved on to the gods, thinking they'd be more exciting... but I was quickly bored and moved back to ambergris. For those of you who don't know, ambergris is a legendary substance found on the sea that is an expensive and rare ingredient in some perfumes. Only recently have they discovered what it really is. A story:

Bernard, the sperm whale, is on a trip around New Zealand when he comes upon a squid. Delicious! Bernard devours the creature after using his powerful fins and tail to chase it down, Discovery-channel style.
But... oh no! Bernard loves squid, but he forgets that squid bones agitate his stomach. He produces a greasy, foul-smelling, black, tar-like substance to help his poor tummy.
After he digests the squid, he pukes globs of this chunky stuff into the ocean. For years it floats around on top, and finally comes to rest on a beach thousands of miles from where he puked it. It ferments and hardens in the sun, and someone picks it up and smells it and lo and behold, it smells delightful! "I think I'll rub this stuff all over my body, it smells so sweet and lovely!" And Amber oil is born.

Lots of people prefer to rub it all over with patchouli, which is extracted from a plant that is from the east Indies. This is supposed to make them attractive to the other sex, or sometimes to the same sex. Sometimes these people are hippies. Hippies are people who believe in peace and love, and are hated by lots of yuppies, who believe in capitolism and money.

Rebecca and Ji

Last night I went to a fantastic concert at the Old Church. Rebecca and Ji, for those of you who don't know, are the daughter and son-in-law of Russ Sanborn, who hosted our wedding reception. They released a cd yesterday... I can only describe it as a combination of Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan, and Sinead O'Conner... and after the concert we retreated to Sanborn's for great food, great company, and great music... I'm lucky that I have such talented friends, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to support them.
If any of you are interested in hearing them, come by Sanborn's this Saturday night for dessert!

This blog is dedicated to Emily Neaman...

Yesterday my love and I went to the woods by the river and made a fire while the air grew chilly and the sun sunk lower in the sky. As we drove home, the sky was the most brilliant warm colors...
We went to Skye's birthday party, unfashionably late, and stayed up past my bedtime talking about what it is to be friends, and to be sober or stoned, and married and single, and lucky and unfortunate. Oh, how I appreciate what I have. My friends, whom I love, my husband, whom I love more, and my life, which never ceases to bring surprises.

Please, read the news. On the right side of this page is a link to the New York Times. Be aware of what's going on around you. Appreciate your life!

hm...

I love stuff.

Check out what this dude did:
http://skepdic.com/forer.html

ha ha!

veeeerrry innnteresting...

Thought I'd pass this along... from the AP:

Britons Face Trial Over Claim Bush Spoke of Attacking Arab TV

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: January 10, 2006

Filed at 6:37 a.m. ET

LONDON (AP)--Two U.K. men were ordered Tuesday to stand trial later this month on charges of leaking a government memo in which U.S. President George W. Bush reportedly discussed bombing the headquarters of the Arab satellite news channel Al-Jazeera.

Civil servant David Keogh and Leo O'Connor, a lawmaker's former researcher, were charged in November with breaching the Official Secrets Act. Both men are free on bail as they await trial.

Judge Timothy Workman said the men's trial would begin with a preliminary hearing at the Central Criminal Court Jan. 24.

Prosecutors allege Keogh passed the document to O'Connor between April 16 and May 28, 2004.

Details of the alleged document were reported by the Daily Mirror newspaper, which claimed the memo revealed details of a conversation between Bush and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House on April 16, 2004. According to the newspaper, Blair argued against Bush's suggestion of bombing Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar. The Daily Mirror said its sources disagreed on whether Bush's suggestion was serious or not.

Blair has said he had no information about any proposed U.S. action against Al-Jazeera, and White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the newspaper's claims "outlandish and inconceivable."

Keogh, a former communications officer at the Cabinet Office, was charged under Section 3 of the Officials Secrets Act with making a "damaging disclosure of a document relating to international relations" without lawful authority.

O'Connor, who worked for former governing Labour Party lawmaker Tony Clarke, is charged with receiving the document. O'Connor indicated at an earlier hearing he intended to plead not guilty. Tuesday, Keogh didn't say how he intended to plead.

more pictures, again

I hope everyone's Christmas was good. I finally fell asleep at 8:15 AM... but I did fit a nap in at my in-laws house, which was refreshing. Christmas day was great, and I'm thankful for my family and friends' thoughtfulness. My parents even spent weeks/months working on picture albums that span 50 years... hundreds of pictures, all scanned and labeled and touched up... something I've wanted for a while, especially now that I'm starting my own family.

I've been going through more wedding pictures, and here are a few of my favorites. It might seem a little overdone, but I don't care. It was my wedding, and I can show off all I want.

Christmas

I can't sleep.

Remember when you were little and you couldn't sleep on Christmas Eve, you were so excited? It's like that, except I'm not excited. I just can't sleep. I woke up at 4 Am and here it is, 6:30, and I'm wide awake. I'm not even cold, and I'm in my basement. The window was open, even. Did anyone hear the wind?

For those of you married persons: was your first Christmas hard? Were you homesick for the things your family used to do?

This is only the second time in recent memory I've suffered from insomnia... and I really want to go to the store and get something to eat, or drink, or play with, but being Christmas Eve, everything's closed. Oh, my luck! I don't remember the last time I had a normal Christmas.

Oh, and I've been reading "A Christmas Carol" and it's really rather amusing. It usually takes a few chapters for Charles Dickens to really warm up (he was paid by the word, so before he really gets into his story, he's just interested in a paycheck... hence, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of enlightenment, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the blah blah blah for a whole paragraph, just trying to fit as many words in as possible). This one, he jumps right in!

Okay, I'm going to try to sleep again. Wish me luck.

graduate school

Well, I officially applied for Concordia University today.
*phew*
I did that while taking a break from jobhunting. For a year and a half, my professional life has been pretty steady, and now it feels stagnant. Now, since I quit my job and I'm going on to grad school, I feel I'm accomplishing something... even if I don't have another job yet and I haven't been accepted to school. It's funny, how this would freak me out a year or two ago, or even the past 24 years of my life, but I feel so confident and right and at peace with it.

So, hallalujah for school, and for quitting, and for moving on! I embrace it!

Concordia, it turns out, is much smaller than I thought it was... it's even smaller than my high school. 1100 students! 57 faculty members! Ah, personal attention... this will be refreshing. Check it out: www.cu-portland.edu

saying good-bye

I'm quitting my job.
This makes me immensely sad. I've dedicated a year and a half of my life to improving myself and my career at Northwest, and I've outgrown it... which on one hand is a positive thing, but it's just sad how it's come about.
So, if you know of any job openings... whether it's a receptionist job, a social work job, or in education or something, let me know. I'm looking.

More pics...

Mrs. Wright

So, it all went wonderfully.
Most of my family was there, and my dear friends from college, and my dear friends from PDX, and much of my new family... and I love them all! Everything went exactly as planned, and even better in some cases... it was supposed to rain, and it didn't... I was supposed to fall down coming down the aisle or puke on the bishop, but I didn't... James was supposed to come to his senses and say "no," but he didn't... etc. etc. I was sorry I couldn't invite everyone I knew, because it really was delightful... and the music and food and ambiance and spirit was a blessing for James and I beginning a family. It's strange, how everything comes together... things that ordinarily might not be such a big deal - a gathering of friends and family, putting on a dress, saying some words in a church - how all of these things come together and create a spirit so strong and wonderful. I'd like to say how smoothly things went, and how right things felt, and how I think it's a sign that we are truly blessed to have made it through our struggles to find each other in the end.
I thank all of you for your support and love!

Mrs. Wright

5 AM

Well, it's 5 in the morning and I can't sleep. This is very uncommon. Actually, I don't remember the last time I just couldn't sleep and actually got up and did something.
I'm thinking about all the things I have to do tomorrow - not worrying, mind you, just thinking, and I can't make it stop. Tomorrow I don't have my group together, but I have an excellent backup plan if I can't get plan A working in time. I'm thinking about the wedding. I'm worried about my sick friend. I'm wondering if I'll make a good wife in (good grief!) less than 3 weeks. I'm thinking about grant writing. Grant writing, for crying out loud! At 5 AM! And I'm excited about starting school again in (hopefully) 7 months. Tell me, why does my brain want to think these thing so badly that it won't let me sleep and it knows I have to be at work in 3 1/2 hours?

For reference...

This is a baby skunk. You cannot IMAGINE how cute they are in person!

I want one!!!

I just had to share this picture of baby porcupines. They're so cute!!!! I want one, I want one! James said we can consider it, but if we're getting a baby skunk, too, then we'll have to risk that they won't get along, and that won't be pretty.

ready for marital bliss...

awe, we love each other!

Shoegazing

Has anyone ever heard of the musical genre "shoegazing"? Not only did I discover a new genre, I found out that I LOVE it! I already have shoegazer albums! I'm fully equipped to enjoy this new world!
Some bands you should really check out if you haven't yet:
Cocteau Twins (shoegazers)
This Mortal Coil (shoegazers again)
Massive Attack
Meg Lee Chin
Elastica
Aphex Twin
The Halo Benders
etc., etc.

Comments!

Make comments on me! Turns out, it was my template that wasn't behaving properly. I had to fire it and hire another, and James manipulated some of the settings to personalize it a little. Yay for personalization!