It Takes All Types

I'd apologize for not posting in forever, but that's nothing new.  Since moving to Atlanta, I've been hit with several waves of depression.  I'm still unemployed, despite the number of resumes and applications I've distributed.  I've even started applying to restaurants and retail positions, but with two college degrees, I'm so vastly overqualified that they're not interested.  And most restaurants in the area are looking for people with 3-5 years experience as a waiter.

It's not that gloomy, as I did just get hired as a tutor, but it'll probably only be for about 5 hours a week.

So I've spent the last three months cross-stitching, surfing the web, and watching Netflix.  Things have been going well for Hubby, but without any income on my end to offset the increase in the cost of living, our living situation can best be described as 'stressed'.  Largely because we can't afford to go out, and there are few excuses for either of us to ever leave the house.

Which actually segues quite nicely (for once) into today's topic.  Typically, I go out and do the grocery shopping, but a few times Hubby has taken the lead.  And every time, he comes home with the same comment: "I saw sooo many gay people at the store".  Which always surprises me.  Not because there aren't gay people.  We live about 2 miles east of downtown Atlanta, and about 2 miles west of Decatur.  Decatur is the 6th gayest city in the country based on census data, Druid Hills (about 2 miles north of us) is the 14th, Scottdale (about 4 miles east) is 21st, North Decatur is 24th, and Atlanta itself is 31st.  By comparison, Miami Beach, a veritable gay mecca, is 33rd.  The compilation I was using ignored any city less than 5,000 people, so Provincetown, Massachusetts - probably the gayest city in America - is not counted.

It's not that he says it that surprises me, but the way.  I keep trying to tell him that they can't make him gay, but he just brushes it off.  (I should stipulate that Hubby doesn't have a problem with gay people, just to make that clear, although the fact that he's married to a man might also make the same point).

I was thinking about that today, as I was approached by a bum outside of a gas station.  So far, I've only encountered two types of bums: the nice kind and the annoying kind.

The nice kind come up to you and just engage in light conversation.  They don't ask for money, although they might ask for a cigarette or for you to pour some soda in their drink container.  They'll mention that they haven't eaten in x number of days, but then move right along.  I actually enjoy the 2 minute conversations, and have even given a few a dollar or so.

Then you get the other kind.  At least around us, they don't ask for money explicitly.  In fact, they typically want you to go in to a store and buy something for me.  One asked me to go across the street and buy diapers for her baby because she didn't have the money to take the bus to the mall.  I didn't see the connection, nor did I buy her diapers.  She was hanging out in front of a gas station in 102° weather, so I did buy her a Gatorade.  Really it was just to get her to shut up and find someone else.

Overall, we are loving the diversity and opportunities that living in a major city provides us, just wish that we could take advantage of these opportunities.  However, Gay Pride is coming up in a few weeks, and Piedmont Park will be even more overrun with those of the homosexual persuasion than usual.  I'm looking forward to it.  And it's free.

On Unemployment

No, I'm not on unemployment.  Also? Happy random-double-post-day to you!

As the school year winds down, I'm reminded one of the major downsides to being a substitute teacher.  I'm paid only on days I work, unlike 'real' teachers, who are paid a salary for the school year, which is then divided up over 12 months.  But, since there is no demand for substitutes, I don't make any money in the summer.  However, since I don't work because there is no demand, I can't get unemployment.  Which means no money for me.  Which makes me a sad panda.  I'd get another job, but as you've probably surmised by  now, I'm moving to Atlanta, Georgia sometime this summer, so there's no point in finding summer employment.

However, I now have lots of free time to dedicate to hobbies.  Which I now have.  Besides television and video games.  Well, a hobby, but that's better than nothing.  When I was young, my mom taught me how to cross stitch.  And I started a few projects. I don't think I ever finished any, but I started a few. Then I didn't do another one for many years.  Then one year in college, I was shopping in a giant big-box retailer, when I found a panda cross stitch kit.  If you don't know, Hubby is obsessed with pandas.  As in last time we went to the National Zoo, I took 40 minutes of video while he took close to 200 pictures.  We were at the panda exhibit for over 2 hours.  I'm not even sure we spent two hours on the rest of the zoo.  Also, for the record, Zoo Atlanta has 3 pandas.  Hubby has already set money aside for an annual membership.  Anyways, I spent like 2 months working on that damn panda cross stitch (late at night, after all distractions had gone to bed studying).  Then I bought another kit to work on, and promptly stopped.  Then another.  And stopped.  Shortly after moving up here, I was miserable.  I had no friends, and I had no job.  Hubby bought me a giant light house cross stitch that I worked on for about 3 months off and on, and then put it aside for a few years.  Then I worked on it crazy for a summer.  Then stopped again.  It's about 1/4 done, and I want to keep working on it, but I have no real motivation.







And the point, you ask? I'm getting to it.  Chill.  Geez.  Then after telling Hubby that I didn't want anything for my birthday, which he stupidly took as I literally didn't want anything, not I wanted a gift, but didn't want to ask for anything. How thoughtless, right?  Anyways, he bought me a scroll frame and two new cross stitches.  The first of which (also a light house, but much smaller) I finished in about 3 weeks. 







The second one will probably take me about a month, but that's because I'm ramping up for my next big project.  More on that in a second.

While browsing the internet one day, I came across a cross stitch that someone had made of the Light World overworld map from Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.  And then I started to explore the site.  So I ended up making what I call a sampler that I pieced together myself (and I did it in exactly 4 weeks)







The only part that I had a pattern for was the words.  The rest I made myself.  I'm very proud of it.  Except Kirby.  He doesn't look quite right to me.  Anyways, I decided to make Hubby the Light World map to thank him for getting me back into the cross stitching.  Only then I discovered the Dark World map.  I decided that Hubby could choose which one he wanted.  He couldn't decide.  So I decided to make both.  Yes.  Both.  He then had the gall to ask if I could work in the game logo.  Or I asked if he wanted it.  I can't remember.  Either way, this is what it will eventually look like:

Oh, and that's not to scale compared to the other pictures.  It will actually be 14 inches wide and 28 inches long.  It's 77 colors and 119,724 stitches.  The instructions were 36 pages long when I printed them.  I bought the thread yesterday, and the fabric is being shipped.  I just have to finish my second birthday project first.

So I guess I'm a lot like my dear, sweet Hubby...as much as I bitch.  When he picks up a new hobby, he goes full-swing into it, and clearly, so do I.  Also, he enabled me, notice HE bought me the equipment.  Also, the lighthouse that's 6 years in development? Still not in the works.  It might be a while.

I'm not dead, I swear

So after a very long period of what can only be described as a case of the severe and debilitating blahs.  They're still there, but whatever.  I've stopped caring about them.  So instead of going on about those, I'm going to pretend that I've been continuing to post regular updates on the blog.  And you will too.  See how easy that was?  Now on to whatever will spill out of my brain through my fingers (if you thought that this would be articulate and concise, you were grossly mistaken).

Last week was a very important week for gay marriage rights.  At some point this week, Judge Walker is supposed to address the issue of a stay on same-sex marriage in California pending the appeal to the Ninth Circuit.  Actually, it turns out that I may not finish this post before he rules.  In all of the excitement of the ruling that Prop 8 violates both the Ninth Amendment's non-enumerated rights clause and the 14th Amendment's equal rights and protections clause, I forgot one major Constitutional hurdle that about 90% of the news media has conveniently forgotten.  In order to appeal a decision, the group filing must have the legal standing to do so.

In Perry v. Schwarzenegger, two same-sex couples sued Governor Schwarzenegger and the California attorney general.  Neither defendants sought to defend themselves in court.  Thus, the Proponents of Proposition 8 stepped up to the table and tried quite amateurishly to defend it.  They have filed an appeal to Judge Walker's decision.  Which, if when upheld, will mean that marriage equality applies to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Alaska, Arizona, and Hawaii (in addition to California, where it already applies).  However, I expect that the Ninth Circuit will refuse to hear the appeal.  Which means "Yay California," but "screw you" to the rest of the country.

Yes, the Proponents of Prop 8 had the legal standing to defend it in federal court, but they almost definitively do not have the right to appeal - if for the very reason that the two named plaintiffs in the case did not file an appeal.  In fact, they hold the opposite view.  They joined with the plaintiffs to petition that the stay on same-sex marriage be lifted, allowing California become (again) the 6th state - and 7th US jurisdiction (District of Columbia) to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

If Schwarzenegger or the attorney general (whose name is not even important enough for me to Google) - neither of whom are running for reelection - chose to bite the political bullet and appeal the decision (and allow Proponents of Prop 8 to provide their stellar defense - again, thanks for that) I would not think anything less of them.  Besides, Schwarzenegger's legacy will be Terminator and Kindergarten Cop, not his two terms as governor.

However, there is a court precedence allowing the courts to rule even after throwing out a case due to a lack of standing.  And I really can't believe that I'm about to cite it.  In Dred Scott v. Sandford (yes, I just cited the Dred Scott decision), SCOTUS ruled that Scott lacked the legal standing to sue because he was not a citizen of the United States (because he was a slave). That would have been the end of a still-very wrong decision, but they didn't end there.  They continued on to rule that slaves were property of their owner, and that those property rights do not end upon the owner relocating to a state that outlawed slavery.  Considering many Constitutional scholars argue, rightfully so in my opinion, that the Dred Scott decision was the worst ever handed down by the Supreme Court, I doubt too many courts would use it.  Its possible that there are other cases that could be cited, which of course would just cause the Right to cry foul even louder than they already are.  It is also possible that there are more political nuances than I am reading into it.  The lawyers for the plaintiff both argue that the case is bound for SCOTUS, so maybe they know something I do not.  Especially since one is a neocon golden boy.

Long story short, I believe that Judge Walker will lift the stays on same-sex marriages in California, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will throw out the appeal to Perry v. Schwarzenegger, ending a case that I've already seen extensive breakdown as to how each Supreme Court justice will vote.  The consensus is 5-4 (go figure) with Justice Kennedy casting the deciding vote.  All a moot point if the appeal is thrown out.

On a related note, there are only a few days left before Hubby and I get legally married in DC.  I began planning last night.  Go me.

ADDENDUM: Just read Baker v. Nelson (1972).  SCOTUS dismissed the case in which a same-sex couple sued for the right to apply for a marriage license "for want of a substantial federal question."  Plaitiffs argued in Perry v. Schwarzenegger that Baker no longer applies due to subsequent court decisions.  Also, Proposition 8 was a state law, not federal, meaning that Baker v. Nelson does not apply as precedent.  This is what I get for reading National Review.  They raised a doubt in my mind by citing an obscure precedent.  Which is not really a precedent because SCOTUS dismissed the case (and therefore did not rule on it).

A Brief Lesson About Chores

As I've made abundantly clear the past several weeks, we are in the proccess of Spring cleaning in our house.  And a lot of progress has been made.  One of my big problems is getting motivated to start any task.  Especially cleaning, because once I get started, the end product is spectacular.  However, even when I get started on some tasks, it takes me a very long time to finish.

My last two sets of responsibilities for this year's Spring cleaning? Vacuum the house, and do laundry.  Since we were having people over, I vacuumed the vast majority of the house on Saturday.  Except I was running late, so I only did the rooms that people would be in.  And I still haven't gotten back to finishing.  Even though I left the vacuum in the middle of the bedroom.  So I wouldn't forget.

Hubby has been having me do the laundry for a while now.  Especially since I sit around on my ass and watch Netflix and On Demand all day.  And I'm very good at starting laundry.  Just not finishing it.  Two days ago, I started a load of clothes around noon.  They finally went to the dryer for 20 minutes around seven pm. They got another 20 minutes around nine.  Around 11, they still felt damp, so I added a few more minutes.  I went upstairs to watch some television while I waited.  I went to bed around 4AM.  The clothes came out of the dryer around seven pm.  18 hours after I started laundry.

I wasn't always this bad with laundry.  At my first apartment, I was always on top of it.  It didn't hurt that the washer and dryer were just outside of my bedroom.  Not in the basement like ours is now.  Of course that same apartment, I had the roommate whose dog would crap at the top of the stairs.  Since her bedroom was downstairs, she never noticed.  And then she had the gall to get pissed when my other roommate and I started leaving the dog crap on her bed. 

Then there was the one Saturday night where I came home wasted slightly inebriated and she had been thoughtful enough to put up the dog gate for like the third time ever.  Which I proceeded to get all tangled up in.  And then found out that she had invited FIFTEEN PRESCHOOLERS FOR A SLEEPOVER!!! Without telling her other two roommates.  And I felt like a horrible person.  But not as horrible as the parents should feel for letting their preschoolers spend the night in a college apartment on a Saturday night.  For the record, I don't have any children.  But I think even those that do will agree that this is an example of horrible parenting.

Neither of those anecdotes really have anything to do with laundry.  They just reinforce how much I hated that first apartment.  Now if you'll excuse me, I promised to make a desert for tonight.  And if I start now, I still wont finish before Hubby comes home.  And it has to chill for 6 hours.  I'm on a roll.

Mission Accomplished

I should probably qualify the title.  "Mission Accomplished.  Somewhat.  But not in a George W. Bush sort of way.  I've actually done a lot this week.  Especially for being unemployed.  Stop looking at me like that." The problem was that the title was too long.  So I left it out. But its down in the main body for everyone that was interested.  Seriously, stop looking at me like that.

My last post here was about all the random crap that piled up in the house.  Since then I've done the first two-thirds of what is required for crap disposal.  I have about 50 DVDs in a bags, along with about 15 PS3 or Nintendo DS video games, my Sega Dreamcast and all the games, and my PS2 and all the games.  They are all being shipped off to a friend who will sell them for us on eBay.  It'd be great to make a lot of money out of the deal, but probably not going to happen.  Oh well, at least its out of the house.  On that front, I've been very successful.  On the book front (which is what inspired the trimming), I've been much less successful.  I did pull 80 books off the shelf, plus two years worth of 3 different magazines.  But that's as far as I got with that.

On a more successful note, I also applied for my first teaching job(s)!!  I applied for both middle school and high school level teaching positions in the school district I grew up in.  Until July 1, its a very generic application, but after that, they post all the specific openings at all the district's schools.  I'll know more then.  Of course immediately after I applied I got an email demanding I take one of those crap personality tests online.  They called it a preliminary interview.  I call it BS.  But I need a job, so I took the BS test.

Also, I'm now a contributing author on Hubby's food blog.  It's an unpaid gig, but it gives me a chance to spread my influence.  I keep asking him to put me on staff, but he just looks at me funny.  Even when I offered to work for sex.  He said that constituted sexual harassment in the workplace.  Which is funny, because I don't even work for him.

Of course my number one task this week was to set up the new computer we got from Hubby's brother, transfer files from the old one, and get the old one set up as a media server.  Haven't gotten there yet.  But I did buy tickets to see the midnight premier of Eclipse.  Well a friend bought them for me, but I'm going to see the movie anyways.

It's very pathetic when I actually summed up everything I did for the past week in six (poorly written) paragraphs.  And I still feel accomplished.  I need a job.  Or a life.  But mostly a job.  Don't judge me.