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This evening Sean Hannity questioned if Kal Penn had any qualifications for his new job in Obama’s administration. Sean didn’t actually address a single thing. He did of course bring up Kal’s role in the “Harold and Kumar” movies. Sean simply lambasted the decision and didn’t actually have a single argument other than the already mentioned role. Didn’t we elect an actor as president? Wasn’t that president constantly referenced in the last election as someone with ideas to try and work back to? Anyway I thought Sean Hannity’s criticism doesn’t seem to have any merit or logical reasoning. Politics… aren’t they great.

So here’s the list: Massachusetts, Conneticut, Iowa, and Vermont. Now Vermont is the only state so far that passed gay marriage without going through court.

I want to respect everyone’s religion, but at the same time I don’t feel it’s appropriate to legislate based on arbitrary decisions about how closely to follow a particular religious doctrine. There are many religions in this country and there are many different opinions. Basically marriage has two (or more) parts. First there is a civil component and second there is a personal component. We are fighting for the civil component. There is NOT a valid argument for keeping these rights away from gay people. If there is one by all means please bring it up. Quoting anything from any religious text is not a valid argument because we do not base our laws on religious beliefs. If you think we do then you are ignoring the fact that those choices are either coincidental or arbitrary. Anyway I’m very pleased we are making small progressive steps in the right direction even though I don’t have anyone I’m planning to marry just now.

My psyche has been trudging the bottom lately. I’ve had a difficult time buoying my mood enough to function. We had a fabulous St. Patrick’s day at the shop. I started off the day at a stumble, but it’s 10:49 pm and I’m feeling productive. I’ve thrown in a load of laundry and I’m making this blog post. Most people probably consider it pitiful to consider that good. It’s good for me though. I’ve been having many enlightening conversations lately. Soon I’ll post some of my thoughts about them.

Well I found myself having a stimulating conversation yesterday. I centered on race and political correctness. The conversation took place between my good friend John and myself. I forget exactly how we danced ourselves into that topic. I don’t think we managed to really sway any of each others’ beliefs, but I enjoyed the process of talking things through. In the very least it helped me explore some of my “arguments”. I’m of the opinion that I think being politically correct is a matter of having respect for people and practicing a moderate level of civility. I tend to jump the gun and assume that people who complain about political correctness are what some consided the center of the U.S. population. Which is basically white people who haven’t been exposed to enough diversity to have a real understanding of why the issue is a little more complex than simply having to use the right words when referring to some minority group. I do think making general assumptions about a person or there beliefs is a bad idea. I do try and avoid it though.

The day after the tomorrow of the day before yesterday.
I found myself herding children today. I only had two so it was pretty light. I’ve never really ever had more than 2 at a time. David and Xander are pretty well behaved. We did have some rocky episodes today. Most of them centering about dinner and me not being familiar with their proclivities associated with Happy Meals. Needless to say there was quite a bit of baby drama. Xander seems to behave more often than David, but when he gets something in his head it’s very difficult to dissuade him. David has many more ideas, but abandons them with less persuasion. I feel like I say no a little bit too much. It is with what I surmise is the children’s best interest at the moment. They don’t always react well to that though. Once the dinner fiasco was over we had a pretty relaxing time watching Doogal. I had actually seen it before without having children. I had a friend that was interested in the story, or we just had no clue that the movie really was just for children. There were many references that a mostly adult audience would understand. I also liked the big name voice overs.

The day before the day after tomorrow.
So I’m planning on going to Target tomorrow for sales. Grandma read the Target circular and would feel remiss if she didn’t take advantage of some of their sales. I probably won’t be making any purchases as I have no money. I’m looking forward to going into KnitWicks the rest of the week. I’ve finished a washcloth I was working on and I still need to photograph my newest pair of socks. I’ve got the urge to do a little spinning though. I’m not sure if I’ll do it on my wheel with some merino, or on my drop spindle with some silk caps. I’m getting close to feeling comfortable with the quality of silk yarn I can produce with a cap. I’ve been pulling off a layer and stretching it from the center. I want to try a technique where you place the cap over an umbrella swift and draft from the outside. We’ll see how it works out.

As an average unmarried 30 something living at “home” I’ve been surfing the internet for the last hour or so. I’ve also been listening to podcasts. I’ve got a decent backlog and they will no longer fit on my iPhone. Even though I have virtually nothing to do all day every day I still manage to feel like it’s difficult for me to listen to podcasts. I generally listen while I’m home in my room. Television, Reading, and YouTube also compete for the attention of my ears and eyes. I’m sure I’m just fooling myself though.

I’ve been looking through projects on Ravelry. I don’t know why, but I often look through hundreds of pages or images on the internet. If it’s something I don’t feel I need to ready I tend to go through a great amount very quickly. It seems like I’m always looking for something I can’t find. I think I’m looking for something perfect, which is probably the reason I never find it. I’ve also been searching personals on a gay dating site. It’s for chubby guys and the guys who like them. I seem to be really bad at chatting over the internet. Most times I try the conversation just stops. I usually ask questions to learn a “jumping off point” for conversation. When the other guy gives you vague one word answers doing more than questioning them is hard. It’s also a hindrance being in a smaller town where there simply isn’t as much diversity. Bottom line, if frustration were personified I think he’d want to be my best friend.

OMG. I have been babysitting tonight! The kids are fortunately still alive. I would even call them healthy. We did have a bit of a rough start though. The oldest very quickly wanted to find out where the boundaries were. Saying “I know how” to everything I hesitated on. Daddy and Mommy came home and gave me a crash course in the rules before the night got started. The three of us spent the evening watching Scooby Doo and the Goblin King, and Spy Kids 3 whilst munching down pizza. I usually don’t like Scoody Doo. This was tolerable though. Spy kids was about the same except for a cameo by Elijah Wood. The bastards had him in a black spy suit with this silver “tabbard” style flap over the important parts. So the supertight-super-suit didn’t show much off. Don’t worry I didn’t let the kids in on any of this, but it would have made the movies a little more fun for me. I’ve been knitting more lately, but one of my projects ended up being smuggled to it’s recipient before I could photograph it. I still need to photograph my new pair of socks. Those I’m keeping though so I have time.

Oh I have the best intentions, my follow through really sucks though. It’s a silly cycle that I’ve created for some subconscious reason. I keep this small nagging voice in the back of my mind in an attempt to keep me on track. I just try and look at it as a motivational technique.

Anyway I really have no idea how to make this blog entertaining. I would like it to be. If you like reading personal blogs and getting to know people I think it might be just less than monotonous. So to try and spice it up I’m including a series of “artsy” photo’s on a single I recently did for some of my handspun merino. In the end I used two singles and plyed it in the navajo style. I was told that without using only one single it wasn’t truly a navajo ply. I don’t really like the pictures, but they’re better than nothing.