Yes we can repair this world...



... because I can't wait for this election to be over. And the days, weeks and months of advocating for your nominee not because they are the ONLY choice but because they are the RIGHT choice. And though I understand those Blue State v. Red State emails that go around, I can't stand them because I have been that itty bit of blue in a red state; I have been that election protector; I have done that canvassing in my neighborhood of rather disenfranchised people; I have been that person who started and ended the campaign with you in my city; I have been that person that person who was drunk and crying at 4 a.m. discussing what we did wrong even though we hadn't even technically lost; and those emails are discounting all of the work all the progressive people do in Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Arizona. And there are lots of us.

I have spent a lot of time volunteering - much like 2004 - but less like 2004. Its an emotional roller coaster - wanting us to win - but waiting. Patience is a virtue. Just not one of mine. Which is why I volunteer - to satisfy the need I have to make a difference - immediately.
So when impatience takes over...

I watch this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY


Or read this hilarious blog.
http://margaretandhelen.wordpress.com/


It's nearing an end. I am an optimist. I voted for an optimist. I'm all about hope. 2009 will be our year.

If bananas could talk...

The ones I've bought lately would probably say "you forgot about me" too. Bananas are super great snacks that curb hunger and give you that little pick-up until you can get your hands on another coffee. After a weekend of events, volunteering, crashing out cold on Sunday, I found another banana - obviously meant to get me thru some part of the weekend - at the bottom of one of my bags - brown, uneaten and too mushy for my likes. The Auction was great (so everyone said) with roller girls sprinkled into my work and a day of volunteering with Obama on Sunday. Yesterday I swam at the Ballard Pool and had a tasty beverage and tonight was more volunteering. There is so much going on and so much to be done... but I need to remember to eat bananas... and take vitamins... and get to bed early enough...

Judy Jetson skirt and my homeless friend...

I made my Judy Jetson skirt tonight for my auction tomorrow (and watch a public television documentary on Ronald Regan who I despised growing up - even as a kid Republican). I made a bunch of them for my teammates who are volunteering for the event and then I made one for myself - circles instead of stars - not quite as disk like.

There is a guy who sells the Real Change (like the Homeless Grapevine) at the corner of Denny and Rt. 99 - which is where I get off to go to work. Lara and I carpool these days between volunteering for Obama, work, derby, etc., I'm driving 1/2 the time (and I really do miss taking the bus) and drop her off sometimes on my way in. He's "our crazy guy". He's definitely mentally ill but sells the newspaper with such enthusiasm that I have to buy one (for $1). He's a super nice guy. He was gone for a week and I was worried about him. It turns out he had been beaten senseless, broken nose and jaw for all of his $500 that he had - his whole life savings. All of his money.

I recently told him about a bank program in Seattle that I had read about in the paper (http://www.everyoneiswelcome.org/) sponsored by the County to get people to put their money in the bank so that things like this don't happen. It's amazing how many people in Seattle (which is probably representative of the rest of the country) don't have bank accounts because of things like banks fees and issues with IDs. He said he would look into it. He said he had enough money to pay the fees for Bank of America (no - go thru the county). I really didn't realize how prohibitive banks were for a lot of people.

I'm glad he's ok.

Qurabby...

When I was in Cote d'Ivoire, I would tell my French friends, once-in-a-while, that so-and-so was being crabby or I was feeling crabby... and my friend Oliver would reply "I don't understand this 'qurabby'? What is this? You mean this?" And would make pincher hands. It would crack me up.

But today I was crabby. My cold came back to haunt me - which encouraged qurabby. Luckily I had a bunch of errands to run for work, dropping off stuff at Board member's offices which meant I got to run around the city on a bright, cold Tuesday - getting fresh air and window shopping. That helps alleviate crabby.

Tonight I took an nap (also good to get rid of crabby) and worked on Judy Jetson skirts for my organizations auction this weekend. Some of my teammates are volunteering to sell raffle tickets (who can resist buying tickets from a roller girl?!) and I promised them a skirt to help with the "future" feel which is the theme of the event. Tomorrow night Glitter and I will sew them together.

When are you coming back to Africa?

Was the question I got today at lunch time when talking to a former Peace Corps volunteer who was now works for the International Partnership for Microbicides and wanted to involve our CAB (community advisory board) in a local trail. Microbicides fascinate me (http://www.ipm-microbicides.org/). I think for once the movement is actually thinking ahead and is working on a vehicle for the product, event if they don't have the product ready. They are taking into consideration women, poverty, access to health care, everything. So I am a fan. And Andy, from the IPM, appreciated my enthusiasm. We also shared many stories about Peace Corps (he served right next door in Guinea and had a Fulbright in Abidjan), being on the "special list" for the airlines, and travel in general. At the end of our meeting, he asked me "so, when are you coming back to Africa?" Yeah. I'm working on it. I just have to take care a few things here first.

Today was a long day at work - Mondays generally are. I was still (and am) disappointed in the game this weekend. I earned the title "bad girl of the game" for all of my penalties. And it just isn't a great feeling. I'm never in the box that much and it made for a rough game - especially when you have only three jammers (you can't jam when you're in the box). So I was feeling bummer about that, trying to get everything done so I can help out with my work event this weekend and had a four hour shift at the Obama campaign after work.

Volunteering was fine (part of "those things I need to change here"). When I got home, I found pieces of legitimate mail - a Halloween card from Rebecca and kids - I love Halloween with Gabriel! (I never got to go with the girls.) And a fabulous surprise from Honey.

What a nice way to end a long Monday.

Fat girls in skinny jeans not allowed in the short stall...

Is one of the ridiculous conversations I had this weekend. It was part of a late night conversation with a gaggle of roller girls on the Southward Ferry heading back to West Seattle. Other conversations included "crazy carrot lady" and getting accosted in the women's bathroom by a drunk middle aged woman. We had a bout this weekend in Port Orchard. The teams were combos from all four of our league's teams. (Our season was technically over and we were spent but enough of us came together to form two hodgepodge team - I was part of the Evil Honeys.) They were both really tight games - total nail biters! With a minute and a half left, I found myself on the jammer line, down by 3 points. I looked over at Audrey playing B3 and sighed - I've found myself in this position 4 too many times this year. It makes for a great game - don't get me wrong - but it makes for a tiring season. (Plus, I would have preferred to win all of them!) The Evil Honeys couldn't pull it off and ended up losing by 3 points. But the ferry ride home was the most fun - and since I was the sober one (bad cold).

One of the skaters crashed on the coach (5 of us had carpooled together with her car) and I laid down at almost 2 a.m. glad to done with our "first official season" but disappointed in how the game ended that night. And it sat with me the rest of the night.

I volunteered at the Obama campaign today. The three hours I was there was totally worth it in that I got two new Americans organized enough to register to vote. They had missed the deadline but some of our canvassers had told them we would help them out and I was the person who helped with that.

I went home for a little cat nap (still have a nasty cold). Then it was off to bowling with the Carnies - as opposed to practice. We had a great time! It was super chill. I managed to take some of my Wii bowling skills and apply them to the real game. There were some suprise winner but it was just fun - eating greasy food and having a beer. We had birthday brownies (for a skater who didn't show up) and the team gave me a card and a very generous gift certificate (for tattoo!) as a thank you for the two seasons of being a captain. It was very sweet. It was totally unexpected and it was the best way to end the season - bowling and drinking beer with my team.

Bew...

So all of that burning-the-candle-on-both-ends caught up with me and I woke up with a sore throat. I called in slick, slept until 11 a.m., went to Target for tasty medicine (and Penny's for a pair of brown pants), and took another nap. I'm getting ready to call it a day. Not terribly sick - just a cold. And you know, tired.

Yippee crazy veggies! (thanks for the reminder Nataliedee)

Dreams...

Perhaps that evokes peace and tranquility. I had two very disturbing dreams last night. Someone in my office said that I have the craziest dreams - but I don't so. I just happen to remember my dreams which is what differentiates me from many other people - the remembering part.

One dream was about getting "laid off" from a job which I really knew I was being fired for being a whistle blower for something. (This stemmed from two stresses - another friend was recently laid off and I just read an article about a whistle blower getting compensation for being illegally fired.) I created some kind of trouble I'm sure. I am a trouble maker on many levels and I wasn't surprised but wanted to make sure the world knew about whatever these issues were...

That dream dissolved into another dream where I was with my whole family - the twins were still just babies. My brothers were there, sister-in-law and parents. We were in some rental and there was a leak in the purple bathroom in the basement (??). But the most upsetting part of the dream is that Darth Vader (yes, from Star Wars) was going to kill me. That wasn't the most upsetting part - the upsetting part was that you didn't really die - you only died for 10 minutes (which was going to be miserable I'm sure) but then you lived forever (kind of like vampire) and I didn't want to live forever (!!). And part of the curse of getting killed by Darth Vader is that you had to kill two other people who would also then live forever. And I didn't want to do that either - because who would you curse to live forever - another family member? A friend? A complete stranger? How do you chose? It was distressing and I was trying to get away - but really how do you get away from Darth Vader? I was watching a guy try to do it and it was like watching a mouse get away from a cat - interesting but pathetic. (Usually at this point I'm able to wake myself up and say, um, Michelle, not real but I just watched this time.)

I woke up later - completely exhausted and stressed out. The apartment was filled with the aroma from the vegetarian chili I had made the night before. I was running around as quickly as a could so that I would be late for work - packing my lunch and dinner to eat at my Obama volunteer shift after work.

What a way to start a long Monday.

(But what a cute picture of Fezzi under warm blankets on a cold rainy Monday.)

Flipping around...

On my way back from practice tonight I was flipping around the radio stations. (My hundred satellite radio has been disabled because of battery/alternator problems I was having.) I ran across Delilah which I've listened to periodically on every single road trips, on my way home from late night jobs, bored with the CDs in my car. Delilah hosts a radio show on the soft rock station and is a show were people call in to tell her about their love life, their problems with their children and other random rather emotional stuff - she dedicates a very sappy song to them. Reads them a poem. Gives them bits of wisdom. Cheeeeeesey. Sometimes I flip to Jack 101 which is modern country, reminding me of my brothers or an Oldies station for the familiarity established in my youth. I've listened to Focus on the Family driving between cities separated by vast amounts of rural Americ where I can't get any of the other stations and am saddened by such hatred and falsities. All these radio stations take me places - these songs and this music. Usually home.

This weekend was much like flipping through the various radio station.... I went to the annual dinner for Washington Women's Lawyers and got to hear Donna Brazile (who replace Elizabeth Edwards who canceled at the last minute) - she was amazing and inspiring. I was completely thrilled to have heard her speak and was motivated to do more. Saturday I went to a Derby Brat's practice - middle school and high school roller girls (some even younger!) who play against other "brat leagues". Trixxie and I teamed up to lead a couple of pairs of derby brats through some drills. They were great and it was so fun to teach what you knew. I raced home to shower and head off to the Obama Campaign where I was trained in GOTV canvassing (which I've already done) and was trained to answer the phones. After 4 hours there, I headed to Kelly Rae's art opening with Kate (Misses Unshine) and then out for some dancing at I Heart Shiva. It was a Bollywood with some great mashing going on. The main reason to go to dance, dance nights like these are to hear what's going on in the music scene in the rest of the world.

This morning I visited my P-Patch which needs to be winterized but the tomatoes won't let me do so just yet - I picked about 40 cherry tomatoes! I headed back to a very hectic campaign offices where I got moved off the phones and worked on signing people in for volunteer shifts and directing them to various offices and activities, ran to Target for things like kitty litter and then off to practice. It was a great practice. I left the Skate Deck, worn out from the weekend, flipping the radio station to find something to listen to, heading home.

That Mean Man...

He was a friend of the family and I've know Frank Miller since I've been alive. He was married to my mother's best friend from Denver, Janelle. He's was Melanie and Joey's dad. He was in the military. He had just finished a 3 week trip around the country visiting family members who were dying - his sisters-in-law has a terrible disease that escapes me now, another sibling had cancer and they visited Janelle's brother who is not ill. They stayed with my parents for the weekend on their way back home last weekend. They attended the funeral Melanie's mother in-law today. And then Frank had a massive heart attack and die this afternoon. He was 60. He was a friend of the family.

When I was a little kid though, I didn't like Frank. He was scary, always seemed angry. We would visit often as Janelle as they were just in Pittsburgh - not that far away. We spent many Thanksgivings there and they had this super fancy cable (just regular cable be we didn't get it in rural Ohio.) I was kind of afraid of Frank as a little kid - but I was just a little kid. What did I know? Of course as I got older I realized he just had this gruff demeanor.

And he wasn't that bad at all.

They say they're addictive...

I made and paid for an appointment right after Labor Day, finally knowing what I wanted to my next tattoo to be. I got it done Monday night. I'm pretty happy with these reluctant creatures.

Look familiar...

My tights...

My new co-worker walked into the kitchen this morning (where I was mixing my yogurt/granola breakfast and brewing coffee) and said "OMG - I love your ti-" as she went to set her gallon coffee cup mug on the table and missed. A gallon of coffee ended up on the floor. I finished her sentence for her "tights. You loved my tights?" Yes. They're great. And they are great tights.

I helped her clean up her coffee.

Cold, raining Monday...

I think Seattle got the memo that they had one weekend to check into Fall. I came home from Boise to cool rainy weather fall weather. (I enjoyed both Boise and Denver - Boise is high dessert, lots of sunshine. Denver was just sunny.) A pot of coffee make enabled me to get thru the Monday.

I like this Nataliedee.com comic. I'm a week from my next hair cut and people have been commenting on how long it is... I'm growing it out so I don't have "derby hair" (read: sweaty helmet hair) and can pull it back into a ponytail or pigtails. It's kind of silly, to grow your hair out just to pull it back. It will last a few months, I'll get sick of it and chop it off again.

Boise, Politics, Surprising Weekend.

This weekend Jet City Rollergirls went to Boise to play Treasure Valley Rollergirls. I flew out Friday after work, taking a 20 minute bus ride to the airport. Most of my teammates took vans - which I was going to do but we had a woman's caucus event that I was going to be at for work so I flew to make it back in time. It was a pretty uneventful Friday - Arson Annie joining me at the hotel later - we chatted and watch 3 episodes of "What Not to Wear" on The Learning Channel before heading to bed.

On Saturday we headed over to the fairgrounds where we met the Treasure Valley Rollergirls, tested out the rumored slippery, polished cement floor (not bad at all!), ate pulled pork sandwiches with the other skates (I hung out with "Violet" who also originally hailed from Cleveland), and skated around, smacking around some of the new skaters who had joined us to help fill in our rosters. It was a great warm up. We stopped by the costume shop back to our hotel - as is mandatory with any group of roller girls - you're always on the lookout for great fishnets, boots, tights, and other fabulous accessories.

The game was fantastic! It was broken up into 3 - 20 minute periods. We were up by 20 some points at the end of the first 20 minutes. We had a pretty good start - I scored some points as jammer and rocked the B3 position. The reffing was frustrating as there were various interpretations of 3.1 WFTDA rules (which regulate our game). The second period we seemingly lost our edge, lost most of our lead and had way too many penalties. But we pulled it together for the third period and everyone stepped it up. It was a thrilling and fantastic game with 1.40 minutes left, Molly Python managed to pull us ahead from our tie and our blockers held their jammer to no points. It was a thrilling and exhilarating game. Audience members came over and thanked us for such a good game. We cleaned up and headed to the after party which was more fun times, playing drinking games and dancing.

Treasure Valley does an incredible job of entertaining their audience in-between the periods and have been the most hospitable host team to-date. We learned plenty of things from them. They were great hosts and I can't wait to have them in Everett.

I pulled myself out of bed in plenty of time to catch an airport shuttle and head home. I made an earlier connecting flight in Portland - thankfully. I needed lunch and a nap so badly before the women's caucus event. I headed off to that and was looking around at the usual suspects. I was slightly disappointed thinking it was going to be preaching to the choir but ended up not being that at all. It was about women in politics: how do we more women elected to office, how do we run for more offices; what resources are out there; what does it mean to have Palin and Clinton in the forefront. It was a very good, though small, meeting of organizers, women who are interested in getting more involved and women who want to make sure their voices are heard. I left very excited and we'll see what comes of it. I volunteered to help make some things happen.

What a fantastic weekend. I was pleasantly surprise by our bout and by the event today. I like surpises like that.

3 victories!!

I usually don't write about work because it's never a good idea to blog about your job... but today was our third victory in a string of cases that are making the world a better place for women, families, everyone. WOOT!!

It's nice to be on the winning side - even if it's just for a little while. At the end of an extraordinary week where sleep has been elusive and hope is slightly deflated - the people are a little nicer, the fruit is a little juicer, and you don't even notice the rain.

Sleepy...

So my days and nights are running into each other and I either have my skate bag in hand or not, mailing in my hands or not, sometimes I find my toothbrush.

Ok. Ok. It's not quite that bad but I'm pretty damn busy just the same (as proof, I'm writing my blog posting at work when I have a few minutes as opposed to later tonight when I'll be struggling to pack and get to bed.) I head to Boise, Idaho for a bout this weekend. I fly back Sunday to work a voting event for the Law Center... then on to the rest of the week. Phew. No much has changed... but I just find myself more tired sometimes. Truly.

My candle burns at both ends;

it will not last the night;

but ah, my foes, and oh, my friends

- it gives a lovely light!

Edna St. Vincent Millay

No luck with my new super power....

I didn't get anyone on "rabbit rabbit" today and consequently all of my luck has been taken for the month and that was pretty apparent today as my mailing kind of went down the tubes and I spent the whole morning obsessing about sharks. Poor sharks. My friend Kathy laughed when I told her about how upsetting slaughtering millions of sharks for a trendy soup was. She said she didn't think that saving the sharks really solves the problem - they are really just the victim of a much larger issue. Of course, she's right.

That made me think of my superpower. It's a question Megan asked when I went camping over Labor Day weekend - if you could have a super power - any super power - what would it be? I now ask this question anytime I go camping. I thought Megan had the best ever - to be able to speak any language. Of course, I came up with an even better one today! I would have "trend setter" capabilities. I could swoop down into any culture and create different trends: Make it trendy for Americans to walk to work... the French find smoking is no long chique... Taiwanese reject shark fin soup. Roller derby makes it as a national sport... I would only use my power for good - I promise.

Getting back to sharks... so that documentary was great and completely disturbing on how we're killing the sharks who are so necessary for our oceans. Oceans=oxygen=life on earth. That is on equation that I pulled away from the film Shark Water. It's amazing and I highly recommend it to everyone. And I'll be perfectly honest, you'll want to do everything possible the next day to save the sharks. You really will.

And just to give you a head start, here are something you can do:

Ways you can help save sharks http://www.savingsharks.com/

Thank you for your passion and support! You can help save sharks by telling everyone you know to watch Sharkwater and spread the word. We need to give sharks a new image and make ocean conservation a part of our daily lives. Click here for more about saving sharks and to send this to a friend.

Ways to get involved:

Watch and tell your friends to see Sharkwater. Find out more at http://www.sharkwater.com/.

Tell teachers and students to watch Sharkwater, then download the study guides at http://www.sharkwater.com/ for info and photos about shark conservation.

Don’t eat shark fin soup—refuse to eat at restaurants that serve it; encourage others to do the same.

Dive and snorkel with sharks. The more money that goes into shark tourism the more people will realize the value of keeping sharks alive.

Find out if your country is one of the 17 countries that have banned shark finning. If not, write your local government official asking them to ban shark finning.

Demand that your country stop the sale/importation of shark fins.

Click here if you would like to volunteer your product, service or talents at some future date.
Start a letter writing campaign to the Secretary General of the UN requesting international bans on shark finning and the importation of fins. Click here to send a letter.

Visit http://www.seashepherd.org/ and similar organizations such as http://www.oceana.org/ and http://www.wildaid.com/, to take action to save sharks.

You can donate to help save sharks at http://www.sharkwater.com/.

Thank you!

Facts about sharks

• Sharks have been around for more than 400 million years
  
• There are 375 shark species
  
• Sharks are intelligent and can be trained
  
• 100 million sharks are killed each year for their fins
  
• The largest shark is the Whale shark, averaging 9 metres (30 feet) in length—the size of a large bus
• Whale sharks are not aggressive. They eat zooplankton, small fish and squid.

• When a shark loses a tooth, a new one grows in its place
  
• Mako and Blue sharks are the fastest swimming sharks
  
• Sharks can take hours or even days to die after being finned
  
• Sharks are a critical part of marine ecosystems