I got a three- or four-inch syringe needle onto a plane a few months after 9/11.

I took a whole series of syringes in my carry-on in 2006. I think syringes are frowned on, but it's also medical equipment.

Oh man! The luge tickets arrived today. SO pretty. And we won't ice skating with a friend of ours and her 3 kids + 1 friend (seriously....) Had a really fun though frantic time.

Also, the super big noisy flyover yesterday (and this afternoon at around 11?) a bunch of F18s. WTF? Why are they taking off at Burbank airport? And how badly do they fuck up air traffic patterns?

Darn. Eddie Izzard has done a voice for TomTom GPS. I'd love to have him tell me where to go.

I have now heard the umbrella song msbelle quoted. Not tempting me back into the world of pop.

Kat, how's your plumbing situation?

ita that song is old. not for nuthin.

old and bad

Random choice to show on current TV. They also played something more recent by her, but I ffed past it. I did like her Dystopia song well enough, though.

This is an awesome reader letter at Andrew Sullivan's blog:

"My Inspiration"

A reader writes:

As a gay African man (Kenyan), I have been infuriated by the recent proceedings in Uganda and just incandescent at the Christianist right's midwifery of this execrable 'bill'. For the LGBT community in majority of sub-saharan Africa, the stigma is absolute. South Africa remains the lone outpost of progressivism because gays can legally wed there. Kenya is the most socially liberal country in East and Central Africa but only relatively so since homosexuality hasn't been decriminalized yet.

I've thought a lot about how I've enabled this by not being open about who I am. I have heard the same disgusting anti-gay rhetoric openly spoken at parties and gatherings where I was present and I said nothing. No more.

The picture of the Malawian couple in the back of a pickup truck, besieged and utterly alone, surrounded by a sea of unsympathetic and mocking faces, sealed the deal for me. It is no longer possible for me to take my own indignation about these human rights abuses seriously. How can I while being closeted at the same time? This is why I'm coming out. As soon as possible. I'm telling everyone that matters to me and will admit openly to who I am to anyone that cares to ask. It is clearer to me than ever before that I can't have it both ways. I can't be outraged and closeted at the same time.

You correctly called those two Malawian men heroes and I saved that post. They remain my inspiration.

And my reader becomes a hero of mine as well. The Internet is helping to propel global gay consciousness as well as religious fundamentalism.

If my coworker brings in his h.s prom photos, I may have agreed to wear my prom dress to work.

I have the better deal: he wore a purple velveteen tuxedo, with ruffle shirt, massive 'fro and platform shoes. 70s fashion so trumps 90s for humiliation factor. I think he forgot that.

SO AWESOME.

We need pictures!

So today the one full time reference librarian in the SF office went out on disability for an indeterminate amount of time. It could be a couple of days, or weeks, or years.

Plumber came back today and FINALLY (Finally!!) fixed the shower. The bathrooom sink, however, is still dripping.