I generally equate "Dissing President Bush is unpatriotic!!!1eleventy!" with "I have no logical answer to your criticisms of his actions and must hide behind the flag until you go away and take your facts with you."

That's me. Big with the squeeling and the bows in my hair.

I just realized that a task I've been procrastinating for days is actually due more or less tomorrow. BUT my plans for tonight got cancelled, and looking it over, it should only take an hour or two. Phew. AND I realized ahead of time that if I don't do my paper due next Tuesday tomorrow night, I am screwed. So I will do it! Am feeling surprisingly on top of things.

I think it's fair to offer a blanket Thumper conversation-killer: "If you can't talk nice, don't say nothing at all." Like, yeah, there are some topics you might not be able to discuss without arguing, but it's also appropriate to say, "Please let Issue X drop. You are being rude by failing to drop Issue X at my request."

That's not even a family issue, but a basic conversational flow issue. If your relatives were constantly harping on how exciting and wonderful baseball is, and how mentally deficient you are for not being a fan, it would be similarly appropriate, after a while, to tell them to shut the hell up. (Much to my sorrow.)

For that matter, trying to convince an adult to eat Y food, when adult is either not interested or has expressed a negative opinion of Y food. Who keeps insisting on having conversation and opinion and experience go all their way all the time? Only rude people.

I mean, I never, ever think in terms of loyalty to politicians.

"Politician" in my mind, conjures up Tip O'Neill and his "we're all friends here" cronyism, to say nothing of the idiotic self-aggrandizing efforts of various New York mayors of my childhood. So yeah, no.

The emotional final scene from Seven. Performed by stuffed animals.

With the actual audio from the movie, so there's swearing, so perhaps not work-safe.

God, Hec, that was just...cool. I do consider it my job as an American to bitch to power...I just didn't expect to work so much overtime. Jessica, ha!

Jesus. I mean, even when Zell went rabid, the beef with him wasn't that he was disloyal to the Democratic party, but that he was batshit crazy. Or that was my beef, anyway.

Big with the squeeling and the bows in my hair.

How does this work with the cowgirl hat?

So, totally off-topic: does anyone know anything about self-publishing? Like, should I just go out and Google self-publishing and then compare prices, or are there things I should look out for, or what? My brother wants to put together an actual book for my mother and her husband (that is, for them and friends and relatives -- sort of a couples' festschrift, I guess) and I said I'd look around for info.

How does this work with the cowgirl hat?

When I wear the hat, the bows go at the ends of my braids, obviously.

When I wear the hat, the bows go at the ends of my braid, obviously.

You can tell I'm not American, can't you?