I have new pajama bottoms.

My mother says they make me look like a Dr. Seuss character.

What my mother's really saying is that she's incredibly jealous of my new pajama bottoms. 

I had a co-worker tell me that he used to be an avid reader, but doesn't read any longer.  He said he learned too much and got disturbed.  Three months ago, I thought he was nuts. 

Now, I'm starting to understand him.  I've been reading a lot of non-fiction for the past year, on a variety of subjects.  I've also been visiting a lot of websites, watching debates, making a few comments ... and the sheer amount of ignorant people out there is staggering.  Really, it is.  No one seems to do any research on his/her own, they just repeat what someone told them.   It's enough to make one's head hurt.  And a year ago, 75% of this wouldn't have affected me if I hadn't done all the research I've done.  Learning can have huge drawbacks, because I keep wanting to shriek and bang my head against the desk.  (Hee.  It's not me, it's everyone else.  Naturally).    Really, learning doesn't make one a more peaceful person. 

(On a side note, though, it's really interesting how someone's spelling/grammar/sentence structure gives a hint as to one's intellectual capabilities.  However, I'm also not one to talk.  I spell like a five year old on a sugar high). 

My mom has suggested that maybe I stick with fiction books for a while.  I like fiction books.  They kill brain cells, like television, only they kill with intelligence. 

But just as a random example: on the Daily Show two nights ago, Jon Stewart interviewed the former UN Ambassador John Bolton.  Naturally, the topic steered towards President Bush and this administration.  Stewart made some comments and observations, and John Bolton basically responded every single time with, "You're wrong and here's why."

One thing Jon Stewart commented on was President Bush surrounding himself with people who 100% agreed with his policies.  He finds that dangerous (as do I, for any President to do, not just this one), and said that President Lincoln put people in his Cabinet who passionately disagreed with him.

John Bolton said he was wrong.

Actually, John Bolton was wrong.  President Lincoln did surround himself with political opponents, because he wanted all sorts of views.  And this is such a small example. 

I'm beginning to see why ignorance is bliss.  It can make it easier to deal with society as a whole. 

Granted, if you don't love/like yourself that much, the subject statement takes an entirely different tone.  

However, I'll interpret it in the context it was given.  

I've been involved in some discussions in various places in the manner of love and how it's expressed/handled/so on.  For the most part, it was on the 'agape' love.  In the Christian sense, demonstrated through the Good Samaritan parable, Jesus' sayings and his sacrifice.  And as a way of living in general, regardless of religious beliefs (or lack thereof), 'do unto others as you would have them to unto you' is one of the best ways of living, as it forces one to put him/herself into the shoes of another and evaluate consequences of all actions.

However, in terms of the 'agape' love, I was coming across a sentiment of one loves his/her neighbor because that is how one expresses love for God, or because Jesus said to do that, or because it's how we show we've changed.  But I never saw the sentiment of I love my neighbor that violently disagrees with me and everything I stand for.  Now, I'm sure there are a lot of people who do hold that sentiment -- but it wasn't common in the discussions I was having. 

So my thing is ... is it really love if it's only in the action?  Because I can act in a loving fashion to all sorts of people, while remaining apathetic about them emotionally, or even hating them.  In which case, I'm loving on the outside, but not so much on the inside.  Which would make me a hypocrite, because if I don't love that person in an internal way, then do I really love the person at all?  

If still holding this in a Christian sense, the crucifixion was the culmination of the 'agape' love.  And that love was just confined to the action.  Jesus wasn't crucified while filled with hate.  He internally loved them during the whole process.  

I'm not dismissing the actions themselves, because oftentimes it's the only way we can love someone, and it can make a great starting point.  But, in the end, it looks like there has to be something deeper: a willingness on one's part love through-and-through.  

... is the saying, or something similar to that.  The feeling behind the statement has not been true for only about fifty years or so.  Maybe not even that.

That is a chilling thought.  In my mom's time, it was expected that a woman after high school would get married and have kids.  That's it.  No exception.  She didn't go that route, but she was only one of the few.  Most of her other friends did, because that was simply what was done.  

There were some instances were woman could work, yes.  But that was in the area of teaching or secretarial work.

I saw the sneak preivew of Miss Potter this weekend, where it was a mostly biographical movie of Beatrix Potter, and the events leading up to her publishing her first book.  She was a thirty-something woman living with her parents, because she had never found someone she wanted to marry (based on how the movie portrayed those suitors, I hardly blame her.  :-P), and fortunate, becauase the subject line didn't apply to her.  Her parents were wealthy enough to still support her. 

But she had always had a love of sketching animals, and telling little stories about them.  So the movie opens with her approaching a publisher, for probably the hundredth time, about getting her book published.  They agreed.  And up until the book actually was a success, and there was a demand for more, most treated her books as amusing hobbies, something she could dabble in.  But these books weren't something that would go against societal norms of acceptable female behavior -- not only was it a literary thing, it was a literary thing involving children -- which is the domain of the woman.  

It was very touching to watch her glee in realizing she'd be published ... and sobering to realize that had she been passionate about pretty much anything else, she wouldn't have had an outlet.

What if Beatrix had wanted to pursue chemistry?  Or law?  Or math?  Those fields were closed to her.  Had the literary field been closed to women, we never would've had any of her books.

Which led me to think ... what kind of advances have we, as a society, missed because women weren't allowed to pursue anything outside of the home for so long?  How much further ahead would we be in physics, music, law, medicine, chemistry, math, religion, all of it, if women had had the same opportunities as men?  Where would we be right now? 

but it's nice to know all those books I buy are useful for *something.*. :-P

The Bloody Hard Bible Quiz

Your score is 80% Biblical Scholar: Either you've done a tremendous amount of reading on your own, or you've taken enough classes about the Bible to earn at least a Religious Studies Minor. Take this score ! Quizilla | Join | Make A Scored Quiz | More Scored Quizzes | Grab Code

Controversy over Barack Obama speaking at Rick Warren's church

So I suppose my question is ... since when can you only be Christian if you're also anti-abortion/pro-life?

And pro-choice does *not* equal pro-abortion.

... I'm one smart cookie.

Your Vocabulary Score: A

Congratulations on your multifarious vocabulary! You must be quite an erudite person.

In the novelization of The Phantom Menace, Anakin announced to Padme that he was going to marry her one day.  You could kind of see that attitude in the movies.

Now, I never quite understood why she married him, because he was too young, too rash, too uncultured, and too obsessive. (No, I didn't really like Anakin in the movies.  How can you tell? 
:-P).  

So what if he was subconsciously using the Force to manipulate Padme into loving him, since he was so certain that they'd marry one day? 

And what are interests without pictures?

( My Interests Collage! )

... that I think should be read.

From reading a friends' list of a friend

I've heard a lot of things about the movie, but what I find most telling is that the only people who've had screenings are those in the right-wing corner of politics. No Democrats, and no one from President Clinton's Cabinet -- even though people such as Madeleine Albright are featured in the movie, and are in scenes that never actually happened.

Now that I'm paying for every single little thing on my own, I actually look forward to the circulars and coupon books that come on Sunday. I try very hard to make the times I use the coupons coincide with the times that certain stores have sales/discounts going on.

However, there is a slight downside to coupons. It is as follows.

"Hey! It's $2.00 off for this thing that I've never heard of, don't really need, and probably would use sparingly if at all. But look!!! It's a saving of two whole dollars!!!!!"

Fortunately, common sense prevails when I'm actually in the stores and looking at the money I'm already spending on necessities.

Also, the coupon excitement can be attributed to the fact that I either look at them right after I wake up, or right after I finish running. Neither circumstance is known to be conducive to one's ability to think logically.

Valerie Plame is suing

Good for her.

I had just woken up, was making breakfast, and wandered into another room to talk to my mom. Just as she was about to go into an in-depth story --

Me: "Be right back. I need my drink and my pills."

Yup. A checkpoint between one's head and one's mouth would be nice if said checkpoint worked consistently.

No specific event happened today. However, as cliched as this will sound, I did experience the, "Wow, it's great to be alive" feeling all day. And for no particular reason.

This is the first Saturday in a very long time that I haven't had any group meetings, or homework to rush through. It was relaxing.

It's the weekend. What else is there to say?

As of tonight, I'm done with Winter semester. 63% completed. Now, I could see that as an almost-failing grade. Or! I'm over halfway done with the MBA program. Six classes left.

A co-worker of mine went up north, and brought me back a little present. It's a magnet with a cat on it, pointing to a food dish. It's also holding a sign that says, "Because I'm the cat, that's why!"

My co-worker knows me well.

Today was my last group presentation of the semester.

And tomorrow, I go into work late.

There is beauty in my silence.
For then your words are allowed to speak.