Month: February 2003

Still Down and Out in Vancouver

I’m feeling a little better after 12 hours of off-and-on sleeping last night. Kel was here with his parents, and Skye was most upset when he started talking very loudly, and unhappily, in my opinion, about 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.

Normally I probably would’ve just gotten up and picked him up, at least after Leslie refused to, but I tried to stay away from him all weekend in fear that he would pick up the crud I have. Since I didn’t get up, Skye spent most of the rest of the night running over to the door and whining. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well.

However, inspired by Shelley’s burst of energy despite the flu, I decided I at least had to make some attempt at making a post. About all I was up to today was some random browsing, mostly to sites who have recently linked to me, but also to those sites I visit regularly.

By Sand and Sea linked to a cause I had advanced before after Leslie called The 34 Million Friends Campaign to my attention

They’ve made progress toward their goal but still have a long way to go.

That site, in turn, led me to a site I found even more interesting. True Majority is an organization that
“sifts through all the stuff going on in Congress.” and sends you an email alert, and, in turn, allows you to send a fax to your congressperson in your name. Obviously it also asks for a donation, but I’ll wait and see what kind of alerts it sounds out before I contribute. If it is anything like Environmental Defense, without merely duplicating it, I’ll probably end up contributing as I did there.

Poetry Lovers in a Dangerous Time

Sometimes when I allow myself to think about it, I feel guilty when I focus on poetry rather than on the political and environmental disasters I see happening around me. When I feel that way, though, I try to listen to Bruce Cockburn’s "Lovers in a Dangerous Time."

Don’t the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you’re waiting for the sky to fall
The next you’re dazzled by the beauty of it all
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin — this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you’re made to feel as if your love’s a crime —
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight —
Got to kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight
When you’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
And we’re lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

The saddest part of all this is that I may well be dead before this "War on Evil" is finished. I can’t afford to ignore those things I love the most and simply focus on the war and the environment until the problems are solved.

I guess I just have to remember that every moment spent on those things I love is just that more precious because of the times.

Life’s Sense of Humor

Friday seems to have marked the end of the first wave or tax filers at work. For the first time in a long time I wasn’t booked thoughout the day with walk-ins waiting in line just in case I was finished with my on-the-hour appointment. Of course it’s a little difficult to complain when you’re paid a percentage of the returns you handle.

However, working eight to nine hours a day for three weeks often without a lunch break is definitely tiring, and I was looking forward to this break before the last rush at the end of tax season.

Ironically, just as it appeared that I would have some extra time I came down with a cold or the flu. I actually left work early Friday, but instead of coming home and reading a poetry book, as I would have liked to do, I came home, took some Theraflu and went to bed early.

I’m not feeling much better this morning as Leslie noted when she saw me having chicken noodle soup for breakfast. How I long for the old days when my stay-at-home mother would make me stay in bed when I was sick and bring me anything I wanted when I would call downstairs piteously. There’s nothing quite as comforting as eating in bed and having your chest rubbed with Vicks Vapor Rub.

I’m not sure if I’m going to sleep until I recover or whether, as in my college days, I’ll lay in bed reading rather than sleeping. One way or the other, I’ll be back online shortly. I’m just not sure when.

The Austalian Connection

Though I can’t be sure, I suspect Jonathon’s many links to my site and the number of comments I make on his blog must have led to some Australian bloggers looking over my site and linking to some of my environmental entries. (See, I told you I see myself as an environmental blog, not an anti-war blog.)

The first of these sites was a heap of junk for code when he linked to me Thursday February 20th. Amazingly, Gary’s other blogs, found in the right margin, include “philosophy.com” and “public opinion.” Though I’d never visited “a heap of junk for code” before, I’d actually visited philosophy.com and marked it as a site I’d like to revisit when my brain isn’t quite so drained by 9 hours of preparing taxes at my computer. I’m amazed at the sheer volume of writing on his sites.

Boynton , another Australian blog, picked up the link from ” a heap of junk for code” and linked to one of my essays on Thoreau and nature.

I must admit I’m constantly amazed at how blogs can cross international lines so easily. I sometimes think I link to more sites outside of America than inside the country. That’s amazing for someone like me who has only visited Canada outside of America. In fact, it might just inspire me to actually travel overseas.

If I ever start getting links from Arab or Chinese sites, I would truly believe that the blogging community one day might make this “a small world, after all.”