The West Wing: The Obama Years

I loved The West Wing, and the opening credits always gave me goose bumps.

Was it the stirring music, or the ah, if only-ness of the whole show?

I don't know, but this version is even better!

Overheard: The Crying Baby Delirium Edition

Overheard yesterday evening, on the phone with Frappa (LadyKay's kiddo #2):

Whozat: Well, I guess I'd better go feed this kid, again.
Frappa: Hey, that's your job, Titty McGee!

Of course, I told Shrike about that when she got home.

Thus . . . .

Overheard around 2 o'clock this morning, as Peeper was crying about a gassy tummy, and we were running the vacuum cleaner for white noise, while slow dancing with her, in front of the Christmas tree, trying to distract her with the pretty lights:

(To the tune of, oh, I think you can figure it out)

My bust ain't flat, in fact it's huge, and my nipples are in pain
I'm tryin' not to drip milk on my jeans
Peeper makes a fishy-face, the milk begins to rain
She nurses all the time, or so it seems

I pull my boob out of my stinky nursing bra,
I'm lactatin' while Peeper sucks the boob, yeah
No more pump a-keepin' time, I'm holdin' Peeper's hand in mine
And we sang every lullaby we knew-ew-ew

Oh, "goody's" just another word for sucking on the boob
And sucking, well that's all that Peeper does t'me, yeah
Feeding her is easy, now that she sucks the boob
Feeding her is easy now for me-ee-ee.
Easy for me, I'm Titty McGee!

Yes, there was an attempt at the second verse as well, but I will spare you.

Daily Peep: The First Four Weeks

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Daily Peep: In My Daughter's Eyes

Update 12:30 am Mon 11/17/08: Uploaded slightly revised version of the video. I like this one better. Obviously.

Baby's First Rock Concert

What better way to celebrate Peeper's great check-up than by taking her to her first concert!

We've seen Melissa Etheridge several times - this is at least the seventh show we've been to, plus we saw her along with a ton of other artists at the Equality Rocks concert, part of the Millennium March on Washington - and she's always great.

At the past several shows, we've managed to find ourselves standing very close to the stage - once even right against the stage, directly in front of where she was standing. That is an incredible experience, let me tell you.

Last night, our seats weren't as great, but it worked out very well for us, given all the circumstances.

(We were actually on the next-to-last row of the orchestra section, but Constitution Hall is quite small, so even that wasn't too far away.)

As physically tired and emotionally drained as we were, and given that being crushed in a crowd of crazed lesbians (which, normally, sounds kind of fun) didn't seem like the sort of thing I ought to be doing, what with having a baby in me and all, we were quite glad to be sitting in the back with sort of a quieter crowd.

Also, there were some parts of the show (see below) that were pretty emotionally intense for us (for me, especially, being on the hormonal knife-edge of tears pretty much 24/7 anyway) so it was just as well that we were in the dark, where no one was looking at us me, being a big blubber-ball.


The Universe Listened



What Happens Tomorrow
(starts with second verse)


(Interesting Note: She's now replaced the lyrics "I believe a woman . . . can be the President," with ". . . a black man . . . .")

On Our Way

We're all packed up for the concert tonight (travelling light - toiletries and a clean shirt for each of us, in the backpack) and will be heading out the door soon.

Our appointment is at 11 am, give or take some time in the waiting room.

Mojo appreciated.

Manic Monday #32

1. If the statement, 'You are what you eat' were true, I would be a big bowl of chocolate-covered macaroni and cheese.
   
2. If you had to have one piece of music (softly) playing in your mind for the rest of your life, what would you want it to be?
   Ew, that's a tough one, because my "favorite" song changes pretty often. There are a lot that I might choose for entertainment purposes, but for overall calming, inspirational and, I dunno, meditative(?) purposes, I think I'd go with Peace, I Ask of Thee, Oh River, as sung by the women who attend the annual adult reunion at my summer camp.
   
   
3. What is the most important thing in any relationship?
   Love, communication, understanding, blah, blah, blah. Beyond that obvious stuff, what I've found very helpful for us is that we both have a sense of humor about things. I think that if you can manage to not take each other, or yourselves, too seriously, and to see through the anger or hurt or whatever of the moment to recognize how foolish you look in the big picture, it really helps.

Learn more about Manic Monday.

Thursday Saturday Thirteen #52

I know I'm running awfully late with this one - sorry about that!

Thirteen Performers Whom I've Seen in Concert
Some of these were a very, very long time ago.

1. Melissa Etheridge

2. The Indigo Girls

3. The Kinsey Sicks

4. Reba McEntire

5. Garth Brooks

6. George Strait

7. Bruce Springsteen

8. Sting

9. Billy Joel

10. The Charlie Daniels Band

11. Hank Williams, Jr.

12. Mac Davis

13. Donnie and Marie

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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Meme: Page 123

I've been tagged by OneOfHisMoms, from a post on Momtourage:

1. Grab the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
2. Open it to page 123.
3. Find the first 5 sentences and write them down.
4. Then invite 5 friends to do the same.

Here's mine:

The Essential Guide to Lesbian Conception, Pregnancy and Birth
by Kim Toevs and Stephanie Brill

Sample Known-Donor Contract
This is one version of many boilerplate contracts women have used with their known donors. We encourage people to make their contract personal by using their own names rather than "donor" and "recipient. Include the recipient's partner if she is also taking on the role of a parent, and include a paragraph by the donor and the recipients about what is motivating them to make this agreement. Our suggestions here are based on how a child or young adult may feel in the future when reading the agreement that preceded their conception. This document should be written out of love and consientious choice - not just to prevent a possible legal dispute.

I'm tagging Shrike, Anonymama, LadyKay, LivingInPA and (are you still alive?) Toni.

If you're a buddy of the blogless variety, you can post your answers in the comments.

Ten on Tuesday Friday #24

Ten Movies That I've Intended to Watch, But Haven’t
I rarely watch movies, so I though this would be fairly easy for me, but then I realized that I don't watch them, because I don't get particularly interested in watching them, so, a little more difficult. But I'll give it a shot. Some aren't necessarily ones that I've "been intending to watch" for a while, but I'm clicking around Netflix and Amazon and they look like I might want to watch them someday.

1. The Star Wars Prequil Trilogy


2. Brokeback Mountain


3. Sicko


4. March of the Penguins


5. Happy Feet


6. Moulin Rouge


7. Harry Potter (but I should read the books first)


8. Elizabeth: The Golden Age (Shrike talked me into watching the first and I liked it)


9. The Princess Bride (loved the book!)


10. I don't know! You tell me what I should see!

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Ten (near) Tuesday #18 (By Shrike)

Ten Movies That Disappointed Me Shrike
by Shrike

Thanks for your help, sweetheart!

1. Driving Miss Daisy
   The heartwarming tale of an old woman and her lackey. I don't get it. No, really I don't. Didn't live up to the hype.

   
   

2. Close Encounters of The Third Kind
   Probably didn't help that I had seen Star Wars first. At least, I am assuming that I had, because I found this to be rather dull and that must've been because I'd seen Star Wars first.

   
   

3. Night of The Hunter
   Okay, I should have seen it before the 21st century. In my eyes, it just hasn't aged well. I had heard how scary Robert Mitchum was in this. You would have thought he actually laid a hand on these kids to be so terrifying. And don't those damn kids know how to keep their damn mouths shut.Their father makes them swear not to tell anybody anything about the money and they just blurt it out (minus acting lessons) the first chance they get.

   
   

4. In the Company of Stragers
   The all-time worst movie I have ever seen. This is a Canadian tale about a bunch of old white women being driven around by a black woman. If Miss Daisy didn't do it for me, well, this doesn't either. These are the most boring ass Canadians they could find and somebody started filming with the camera they took along on their bus tour. Scarier than Night of The Hunter because in this one, there is no acting and no script.

   
   

5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
   The unbearable boring-ass movie. I wish I could remember something about it, but I only remember not being able to finish it.

   
   

6. Insert generic boring scandal movie here
   I think this is the movie I saw. It was some movie about a British sex scandal and being under 21 (or at least not 38), that was the part I found attractive - sex. Anything to do with sex could not possibly be boring. Guess again. The only movie I saw in the theater on which I walked out.

   
   

7. Scandal
   Again, unfortunately, I listened to the hype too much on this one. I am not saying it was not a good movie (it had Cate Blanchett in it, so not all bad), but how unbelievable is a story about a beautiful teacher having an affair with a teenage boy. I wasn't attracted to teenage boys when I was a teenager.
   
   Oh wait, there was a reason for that.
   
   Okay, so it is believable, in that it is ripped from today's headlines. But, I find that unbelievable. I mean a 30-something male with an 18-year-old female? Sick and manipulative.
   
   But a 30-something female with an 18-year-old male? Mathmatical error.
   
   What could a 30-something female possibly see in an 18-year-old male. Even if it is about sex, it is kind of like the buffets in our area. There's a lot of it, but none of it is very good.

   
   

8. The Girl
   Whozat says to avoid any movie in which the director's commentary includes the line "I was trained as a mime." I think that is good advice.
   
   We are at a certain disadvantage, being lesbians, in that we would like to watch movies that are representative of our lives.
   
   (Ok that's not true, if it were, we'd have hours upon hours of us both sitting at our computers. And then that movie would be on this list.)
   
   But no, lesbians should never be allowed to make movies. I am trying to keep this list contained to somewhat mainstream ones that people will recognize. I could easily name 10 (or 20 or 30) bad lesbian movies. And the bad lesbian vampire movies, a whole 'nother category altogether. And I love lesbian vampires.

   
   

9. Say Anything
   The main character aspires to be a kickboxer. Need I say more? And they used a Steely Dan song in it. (A band I will hear in hell, I am sure. Iwould rather listen to accordian music and cats hacking up hairballs).
   
   Although. it did have a notable scene in which the main character explains: "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that."
   
   Yeah, me either.

   
   

10. Kwaidan
    The Grudge is based on a story from this anthology of Japanese ghost stories. I am too chicken to rent The Grudge so I rented this instead.
    
    Yeah, big ball of hair . . . eeeeewwww scary. I won't be able to sleep for a whole minute.
    
    "Winner of the Special Jury Prize at Cannes." That jury should be hung.
    
    This is an LSD trip on film. Now I know I don't have to see The Grudge because I just don't care. I may not be renting the Japanese movie that The Ring is based on, either. My senses aren't ready for that kind of assault.

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Ten on Tuesday #18 (Coming Soon)

Ten Movies That Disappointed Me
Actually, Shrike is the movie buff around here, so she's going to do this list, but didn't have time to get to it today, what with all the crazy-testing. Check back soon!

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Thursday Thursday #42

Thirteen Christmas Songs That I Love

1. Little Drummer Boy
   I love both the traditional version, and the Bing & Bowie version, below.
   
   


2. Heirlooms by Amy Grant
   This song was released in 1983, when LadyKay was pregnant with Kiddo #1, and about six months after my paternal grandfather died.
   
   


3. Snoopy vs. the Red Baron (Snoopy's Christmas)
   I always lose it when the Red Baron cries out, Merree Chreestmas, mein friend!
   
   
   


4. Holly Jolly Christmas
   Oh ho, the mistletoe, hung where you can see / Somebody waits for you, kiss her once for me! Only the Burl Ives Snowman from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer version will do!
   
   


5. Do You Hear What I Hear?
   At some point each Christmas season, Shrike and I attempt to sing this unaccompanied and fail miserably, because we can never remember who heard, saw and knew what when.
   



6. Happy Christmas, by John Lennon
   War is over, if you want it . . . .
   
   


7. You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch
   Animated version, please!
   
   
   


8. Feliz Navidad
   This one brings back memories of my friends Christmas carolling in the halls at school with their Spanish classes. And Mexican restaurants.
   
   


9. Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
   I've always wanted to be invited to a Christmas Party Hop!
   
   


10. Away in a Manger
    The cattle are lowing, the poor baby wakes / But Little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.
    
    


11. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
    Make the yuletide gay!
    
    
12. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
    Yes, I do sing along with the hand-motions while driving. You got a problem with that?
    
    


13. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
    Bruce Springsteen version
    
    

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

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Ten on Tuesday #9

Ten Songs That Bring Back Memories

Last week, for our anniversary, Shrike made me a mix CD of love songs. ("Mix CD" just doesn't have the same "ring" to it as "mix tape" does it?)

Back when we were first together - or, more accurately, before we were physically together, when we were just talking online - we made each other several mix tapes.

So, this CD was sort of a triple-whammy - it was sweet that she went to the effort to put it together; listening to each song, it really means a lot to know that she picked it out just for me, and that it says how she feels; and the whole "mix" concept itself brings back memories of our "courtship."

Swoon.

However, all that said - since she went out of her way to include only "new" (not on any of our previous mix tapes) songs on this CD, the specific songs don't really "bring back memories" so much.

But, it's what made me think to go this route and make a list of songs that mean a lot to us, as a couple (rather than the Big 80s Flashback that I was considering at first), so I wanted to explain all that.

Also, because I didn't blog about it at the time, and I should have, so all the interwebs can know how sweet she is.

These are mostly the "prelude" songs from our wedding, which were playing for the last thirty minutes or so before the ceremony, as the guests were seated. Many (most?) came from our mix tapes, and all had special meaning to us in the first three years of our relationship.

1. Head Over Feet - Alanis Morissette
2. Carmen - Paula Cole
3. Keep It Precious - Melissa Etheridge
4. Power of Two - Indigo Girls
5. Natural Woman - Aretha Franklin
6. Ice Cream - Sarah McLachlan
7. My Love, Sweet Love - Patti LaBelle
8. From This Moment - Shania Twain
9. Sleep - Melissa Etheridge (played during the ceremony)
10. And a bonus, brand new song, which will be played the next time we get married - legally: I've Loved You Before - Melissa Etheridge

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Ten on Tuesday #5

10 Television Shows I'd Like to Have (or Have Already) on DVD

1. The L Word (have Season 1)



2. Mad About You (have)



3. Xena: Warrior Princess



4. thirtysomething (this seems to be coming out soon but isn't yet available at BN.com)



5. The Office (We got this from Netflix. Now we're hooked.)



6. ER



7. The West Wing



8. Ellen



9. M*A*S*H



10. Saturday Night Live (the early years)

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I Read Banned Books

September 29 - October 6, 2007 is Banned Books Week, during which "thousands of libraries and bookstores throughout the nation will celebrate a democratic society's most basic freedom - the freedom to read."

This year's theme is Ahoy! Treasure Your Freedom to Read and Get Hooked on a Banned Book!

Learn how you can celebrate Banned Books Week here, or find events in your local area here.

Of course, this issue hits rather close to home for me, because I can easily envision a day when the parent of one of our kid's friends complains about a book in the school library, solely because it recognizes the existence of families that look like ours.

But beyond the personal, what's the big deal?

Why are so many books challenged by those who would like to see them removed from the shelves of our libraries?

And why is it so important for us all to fight against these challenges - even when the book being challenge isn't one of which we personally approve?

Often, the very aspects of a book that make it interesting or provocative or significant are things that make some people uncomfortable.

And that's okay. There's nothing wrong with choosing not to read something that you don't find appealing.

And of course, it's okay to not allow your children to read things that you don't find appropriate.

That's called parenting.

However, when one take it upon oneself to "protect" others (or, often, other people's children) from one's own discomfort, by restricting their access to these books (or music or movies or information or . . . .) then, some of the very foundations of our democracy are threatened - the freedom of expression, the freedom to share information, the freedom to educate oneself as one chooses.

That is called censorship. And that is most decidedly not okay with me.

It may be cliche, but knowledge truly is power, and controlling access to knowledge and the spread of knowledge can be a quite effect method of maintaining power.

(This was, of course, the idea behind making it illegal for slaves to learn to read.)

If opposing viewpoints are never heard, the theory goes, then the status quo will not be questioned.

Well, the status quo needs to be questioned. It may or may not need to be changed, at any given time, (I certainly feel that large parts of it do, right now) but it always needs to be questioned.

The banning of books suggests that if one is not exposed to (sex, "bad" words, political subversion, homosexuality, non-nuclear families, witchcraft, violence, drugs, your-biggest-fear-here), then these things will just go away.

On the contrary, "these things" are part of our world and, whether one thinks they are right or wrong, denying their existence is no more logical than denying that the sun will rise tomorrow.

There are, of course, differences in what's appropriate reading for a five year old, a fifteen year old or a fifty year old, but that's a decision to be made by that child's parents - or by that adult - and no one else. Certainly not by some self-appointed arbiter of taste or morality.

Some people seem to forget that for any of us to be free, we must all be free.

This means that we must respect and protect not just our freedoms to live and behave as we choose, but also to say and to learn what we choose, as well.

When Shrike and I have a child, there are certainly toys that we will not allow them to own - guns and Bratz dolls come to mind immediately.

But I know that their friends will have these toys and that there's no way we can stop our child from knowing they exist. Nor should we.

We must acknowledge that these things (violence and women who dress as though they have no self-respect) are around and then explain to them that, yes, their friends might have these toys, and that doesn't make them bad people, but we don't approve and in our family, we don't play with them.

After all, isn't it better to know that "guns are dangerous, and people can hurt each other with them" or "those girls don't dress or behave very nicely" (how does one explain "She's a hoochy Mama" to a four year old?) than to try to keep them from ever seeing them, or just telling them "This is bad, because I said so."

The same goes for information. There are lots of things that we'd rather our child not know about at a young age. We'll do our best to protect our them, but it's neither our job nor our right to "protect" other people or their children.

Shielding kids from things that we don't like won't make them go away. At best, it's just delaying the discussions that will inevitably come. (Granted, sometimes that delay is a good thing.)

At worst, it's denying them the opportunity to deal with these things in an age-appropriate manner, or making them seem all the more appealing, by virtue of being taboo.

Which is all just the very long way around to say that I am 100% behind this celebration of the freedom to read, and that I encourage everyone to speak out whenever or wherever this freedom is challenged.

In case you're wondering what all the fuss is about, here are some lists of books that have been challenged most frequently in recent years.

(Challenges are defined as formal, written complaints filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.)

Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2006

1. And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for
   homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;


2. Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;


3. Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language;


4. Beloved, by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group;


5. The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;


6. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence;


7. The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things, by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age
   group;


8. Gossip Girls, series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;


9. The Perks of Being a Wallflower," by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;


10. Scary Stories series, by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity.
    

Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of the 21st Century
(2001 - 2005)

1. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
   
2. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
   
3. Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
   
4. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
   
5. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
   
6. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
   
7. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
   
8. Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz
   
9. Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey
   
10. Forever by Judy Blume

100 Most Frequently Challenged Books, 1990 - 2000
(View the list at the American Library Association's website.)

How many of these books have you and your kids read?

What are your favorite banned books?

You Buy Stuff, We Buy - um - Stuff

Remember last weekend when I was talking about all the books we bought during our shopping spree? And I linked to them at BarnesAndNoble.com?

Well, at the time those were just regular-ass links, but it got me thinking.

So, I've signed up for their affiliate program and I've updated the links.

Now, if you click on any of those links, or any of the ones in this post, or the BN.com banner in the sidebar, or any future links that go to BN.com and buy something, (anything - not just the items I've specifically linked to) we earn 5% of your purchase price.

That's not a lot of money, but every little bit helps.

After all, at this cycle's rates, at least, one cent buys 313 sperm!

Misheard Lyrics

This afternoon, we went to visit Shrike's cousin and her partner and their new baby, Little R.

Shrike's sister and her partner and their kids came over later in the afternoon, too.

I was a total baby-hog, pretty much the whole time. I think I even did every diaper change that happened while we were there. (All voluntarily, of course.)

Oh yeah, and we enjoyed visiting with the grown ups and big kids, too.

On the way home this evening, we were singing in the car. (Rather badly, I'm afraid.)

After struggling through the lyrics of several songs, we were singing one that we thought we were pretty solid on, "Watershed" by the Indigo Girls. It went a little something like this:

Both: I'd better learn how to swim 'cause the crossing is (conflicting lyrics)
Shrike: Chilly and wide? Genuine.
Whozat: Chilly and wide.
Shrike: Chilly and wide?
Whozat: Genuine? That doesn't even make sense.
Shrike: Well it doesn't now!

Of course, these are not the first lyrics that one of us has misheard over the years. Here are a few of the best:

Shrike
"Tiger" by Paula Cole
Actual lyric: "I'm throwin' around the room like party confetti, now."
She heard: "I'm throwin' around the room like Barbecue Betty, now."

Whozat
"Take a Chance on Me" by Abba
Actual lyric: "Honey, I'm still free. Take a chance on me."
I heard: "Olly oxen free, take a chance on me."

"Another Brick in the Wall" by Pink Floyd
Actual lyric: "No dark sarcasm in the classroom."
I heard: "No Dukes of Hazard in the classroom."

How about you?

What's your the best (worst?) personal example of misheard lyrics?

Read more about lyrics that other people have misheard at The Archive of Misheard Lyrics.

Last Night

And the big winner of this morning's little quiz is . . . . Roro!

We did, indeed, see the Indigo Girls in concert.

Vee gets an honorable mention for her guess, because you really can't argue with that description of the video.

My anonymous mother gets a pass because, well, she's the mom so she really can't be expected to recognize da girls.

For those who aren't fans and weren't able to make out what's going on, they (along with the opening act and the entire audience) are singing the chorus of Closer to Fine, one of their most popular and well-known songs.

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains,
I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains
There's more than one answer to these questions
Pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine

Of course, there were thousands of people singing, several of whom were within close range of the camera/phone, so I can neither confirm nor deny whether my voice can be heard on the clip.
And you can't make me.

Guess What We Did Last Night

The sound and video quality are pretty awful, and you have to ignore the off-key singing of those near the phone/camera, but you get the gist :-)

(Note - it's really loud, so turn your volume down before you hit play!)