burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

I need to invest in some Clorox wipes or something.  I did a little cleaning of kitchen counter tops and stuff, but I need like a dead sponge or something to really attack the grime -- and I wanna do stuff like clean the spots off the wall behind the stove.  (I also really wanna clean the fridge, but that's gonna require having somewhere to put everything currently in the fridge, plus the aforementioned cleaning materials.)

I forced myself to go through all the stuff in the dining room before I let myself read the comments on my dKos diary.  I'm trying to be ruthless in getting rid of stuff I can't actually see myself using/wearing.  I'm having moderate success.

I think I need to purchase some shelves to store food/containers on.  There just isn't enough storage space in the kitchen -- but there's plenty of open space in the dining room.  (We should put up the couch and table soon, but that'll still leave wall space for some shelves.)

Oh, speaking of housekeeping, I learned how to work the lock on my front door, but this past week it was being wicked sticky.  So Friday night I used some WD-40.  Like butter, as they say (although, having sliced open my finger trying to cut a frozen stick of butter, I have something of a double-consciousness around that analogy).

I was avoiding reading the comments on my dKos diary (60! by the time I clicked at 3pm) but went to see if JoeF. had any recent columns.  This was only a slightly better choice.  ["Barack’s words Palin-g to Mac’s actions" -- Saturday, August 30, 2008]  I emailed him and, thus fortified, went to read dKos.

I was so relieved to see the first comment to my tip jar (16! -- and 10 recs): "excellent and important diary -- There is much to criticize about her and about Sen McCain's choice of her, but so much of this misses the mark and is so over the top horrible, that I wonder whether Karl Rove has joined our party."  I had totally expected to get flamed, and certainly people argued that it's not the job of the dKos community to defend Palin and criticized the fact that my diary consisted of "Republican talking points" and right-wing blogs (fair cop, though srsly, Volokh?), but it was not as negative an experience as it could have been.

In the meantime, JoeF. replied to my email.  (I'd criticized his vague attack on the Obama campaign in his opening paragraphs -- specifically "Now, assuming he really meant what he said, the Democratic nominee can point Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, to an even greater source of inspiration in Sarah Palin, whom the Republican nominee actually trusted, rather than patronized.")  His reply: "Obama could have had a woman as his running mate and chose not to; McCain, having the same choice (with a lot less pressure on him), brought a woman aboard. Those are the simple facts; everything else is context, baggage, ideology and opinion, which, as we both know, is all that a columnist offers, making his conclusions no more valid than anyone else's, including yours, my beautiful, brilliant young friend."  I literally burst out in joyous hand-clapping laughter at that last bit.

Everyone should read jadelennox's smart, thoughtful post (and ensuing comments) on why sexist, ageist, etc. attacks are never okay.

I haven't been as productive this weekend as I had hoped (though I still have tomorrow), but I've engaged in discussions with multiple people and I think I've done a good job with presenting my arguments and I also haven't gotten so emotionally invested in the discussions that I work myself into a wreck.  I was thinking this afternoon that I really love this level of engagement.  It's a delicate balance, 'cause I can so easily overload on trying to maximize information and commentary on any given issue, plus I rage at the stupid.

Edit: I was catching up on InstaPundit, and it's almost like whiplash seeing how each side perceives the other (e.g., HankNYNY on dKos [and ensuing comments] -- Ed Driscoll).

I went to bed at like 10:30 last night.  I woke up before 7 this morning (as I have a lot recently, actually) and near immediately decided that no, I was not going to get up just yet.  I woke up again and actually got up this time closer to 10, so we'll see whether that was too much sleep.

I went to the gym, half hour on the elliptical, fourth day (in a row) this week, and got a strawberry-banana smoothie at Harvard on my way home.

I did laundry and then went and helped out at Somerville Open Studios at CHPC as I had told Katherine I would do.

I had said I could do 3-6, but I ended up not getting over there until about 3:45, which was fine, as I had expected.

Katherine had been banished for an hour (having been there since 10am I suspect), so I hung out with Sarah (er, red-headed Sarah -- it occurs to me that there are two Sarahs at CHPC whom I talk about).  She said the blonde girl from Tufts had been earlier helping out, and she sought confirmation that she was getting the girl's name (Jen) right, but while I knew whom she was talking about, I totally couldn't remember her name.  This led to discussion of name tags -- her mom had suggested making one for me some weeks back, which suggestion I had recoiled from, though I quickly acclimated to nametags at CWM (and agree with those who kinda dislike that we all take them off and put them away after service before dinner) -- and from there I said that what I really need is cue cards for how people are related (e.g., You two seem to travel as a unit: spouses? siblings? good friends? co-students?) and said that my favorite example of that is that I'd been attending CHPC regularly for two or three months and then leaving Easter Sunrise Service Karl was walking with Katherine and talking about the church that "we" had in Maine and I realized that they were married.  Sarah asked if I'd told Katherine that story and said that I should, that she'd love it, would be very pleased that she had retained her own identity.  So later I did tell Katherine, and she said I had made her day :)

Last week when I had asked Katherine if she needed help for Somerville Open Studios, she had said Saturday afternoon and I said yeah I could do that, would allow me time to do stuff like my laundry beforehand.  Today she asked me if I had gotten my laundry done and then thanked me for mentioning it because Thursday night she remembered it and remembered that she usually does laundry Saturday morning, which was gonna be crazy this week with Somerville Open Studios, so she did it Thursday night which was great.

She told me about the book she's reading, which she never would have picked up on her own but which someone recommended to her.  It doesn't sound like something I would pick up on my own either, but she talked about it being a mix of "natural history and social history," and I thought of you, Dad.

I saw Gary walking around and said, "You're in the wrong church."  (He gives me grief for "consorting" with other churches.)

When we finished the Lenten series on forgiveness, Gary said he might do a series on Heaven & Hell the end of April.  I didn't hear anything about it afterward, but at small group this past Thursday I saw the easel with stuff about Heaven and Hell written on it, so I e-mailed him.  Today he said that yes he had started it and hadn't announced it in any place "that you would stumble across" -- I joked that he was consciously excluding me because I was being ecumenical but obviously didn't actually believe that -- and that he'd look forward to seeing me on Wednesday.

After he'd left I said to Katherine, "I've missed being mean to Gary.  I look forward to Wednesday."
She said, "So it's a good give-and-take?"
Yeah.  I talked a little bit about how Trelawney prizes small group as a safe space and how I respect that but I feel so much more at home at Bible study where I can be mean and kick Gary.  And also shared the story of how one time he said something and I said, "It's a good thing I grew up with a sarcastic family or I might be offended."

We had everything wrapped up (it's repeating tomorrow, so cleanup could be fairly minimal) by about 6:30, so I was released by Katherine (who wouldn't stand still long enough for me to really massage her shoulders/back -- eager as she was go to home).

I really enjoy chatting with Katherine and felt a lot cheerier leaving tonight than I have in a while, which is good.  Am also very much looking forward to tomorrow.

Amy, Amber Benson did a 2005 Sci-Fi Original [at least, it's airing on Sci-Fi and sounds much like a Sci-Fi Original, though it doesn't actually show up on the official list] that airs tomorrow at 1am.  Should I tape it?

Edit: Once again, JoeF. has a column that comforts me that there are really good people in the world (but of the ordinary variety, not the kind of saints you feel you could never aspire to be -- cf. last Sunday's book study, which I haven't written up yet).

I'm less surprised by today's Joe F. column than I sometimes am, but still pleased. Though on reflection, I would like more clarity on his stance.

In his opening he says, "it’s obvious why there’s great resistance to letting anyone decide when someone else’s life should end," but later he says, "When it’s a loved one or cherished friend, however, the misery, suffering, pain and despair are required to continue, no matter how excruciating, even if he or she is pleading and praying to draw that final breath." That's not really letting someone decide when someone else's life should end as it is enabling a decision the suffering person has already made themselves.

Implied in his argument is an okay for euthanasia when the person is so far gone there is no quality of life (and he's certainly discouraging the exhortations to loved ones to "hang on" despite intense suffering which there is no reason to expect to cease before death) but he doesn't actually make a clear statement. He uses Barbaro (Kentucky Derby) as an exemplar, but we make decisions on behalf of animals because they can't indicate a decision themselves; with humans there is so much more complexity.

(P.S. I think it's sick that there's an embedded link to "AP video: Death of Barbaro" and suspect Joe F. would not approve.)

It feels a little like '04 redux 'cause I'm around the same sorts of people (and in some ways literally the same people, thanks to the magic of LJ), but it's a completely different feel, of course.  (And wow, who would have thought the Senate would come down to Virginia, and Montana?)

( state stuff )