The Needs Meme... and something about a corset.

I have absolutely no time…NO TIME…to be sweltering in the dungeon of Mimi the Queen of Meme’s.  So…I’m gonna honor this tag while waiting for chinese food to be delivered by my darling daughter.  (how is it that this child spends five weeks in Mexico…and still won’t dine at a tacqueria?  aye yi yi…)

Her royal highness Queen Mimi swiped this meme from Shannon's Moments of Introspection who got it from Dawn's Daily Life who got it from... I dunno…someone else….the Queen’s unmentionables were pinching too tightly to give us additional details. 

My brain is too fried to figure out why it is called the “Someone get me out of this Corset meme”  (Mimi? little help here…girl?)


The rules: All you have to do is Google your first name with the word needs behind it and post the results. You’re suppose to tag…IF you are the tagging sort…where I live tagging involves a big wall and half a dozen cans of spray paint…sooooo I’ll pass on tagging…

Apparently most of the katherines who need something that Google links to are:  katherine heigl who plays Izzie on “Grey’s Anatomy”…some story line on “The Young and The Restless”  ... a contestant on “American Idol”...and a town called Lake Katherine.

katherine needs some rules to follow
(ah…no…I don’t think so...thankyouverymuch)

katherine needs another coat
(I most certainly do…
I have coats and jackets like other women have shoes)

katherine needs another cocktail
(amen)

katherine needs to learn how to pass notes
(I got sent to the principal in second grade for passing notes… nowadays it must be texting?)

katherine needs prayer.
(you have no idea…I am in desperate need of prayer these days)

katherine needs help making a budget summary.
(actually it is pretty easy to summarize nothing)

katherine needs to win.
(at SOMEthing… while playing for keeps)

katherine needs a first mate.
(as God intended)

katherine needs to think long and hard about this.
(actually that is part of the problem…
I think too hard and too long about too much)

katherine needs to get over herself...
and stop biting the hand that feeds her
(hmmm…gosh…I hope if there was a hand…I wouldn’t bite it….)

katherine updated katherine’s needs.
(actually I recently did just do exactly that)

What katherine needs more than anything else is a friend.
(a true friend who can be trusted)

katherine needs to get off the morphine.
(this katherine is violently allergic to that stuff)

katherine needs to get it together.
(workin’ on this one….really I am)

katherine needs help with building benches, boardwalks, bridges and more.
(curious….there might actually be something to this....)

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ~ random flying thoughts

why is it that no matter what airport I am in...no matter what airline I am flying....no matter where I am flying to or arriving from...my gate is ALWAYS the very last one at the end of a very very long terminal.
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Adding chopped onion and green bell pepper to ketchup does NOT make salsa.
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How can the bar at Detroit Airport be out of Jack???*******************************************************************************
"y'all ain't from around here are ya?" (with an amused glance at my attire)  is only slightly less annoying than  "you must be one of them that's come from California" (which is accompanied by a disapproving sneer)
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Since when did the airline start charging extra for exit row, aisle, and window seats? 
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Do you think not serving those little bags of peanuts has been detrimental to the peanut industry? *******************************************************************************
I would pay the five dollars for the meals the airline use to served.  I am NOT paying five dollars for stale packaged crackers, fake cheese, a mushy apple, and a mass produced cookie.
******************************************************************************* Lately when I get on an airplane...I think Oceanic Flight 815....I calculate if I am in the nose or tail section....and I look around at the other passengers wondering..."what if.....??" 
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Me: excuse me....(tired but friendly, apologetic smile)...but...um...I believe you are in my seat.  (passengers packed in the aisle behind me collide into each other as they come to a screeching halt.)

GQ guy: oh...am I?  are you sure? (smiling sweetly)

Me: pretty much 
(readjusting my backpack which weighs only slightly more than my checked baggage...smile fades from apologetic to annoyed)

GQ guy (just sits there...smirking)

Me: raising my bordering pass between two fingers and raising my eyebrows simultaneously.

Stewardess (Flight Attendant):  is there a problem?
(she glares at me...giving me the glare for impeding the forward motion of other passengers...GQ Guy gets a big sweet smile....)

Me: (stepping between the seats and out of the aisle...eye brows still raised....handing her my boarding pass.)

GQ guy: (still smiling) ...
I would prefer to sit on the aisle.
would that be all right with everyone?

Stewardess (Flight Attendant): to GQ Guy...
"may I see your boarding pass?...you're in the center seat."
(exasperation replaces big sweet smile)

GQ guy: well yes...but I really would prefer the aisle...can you trade us?  (he beams a three hundred watt smile at the flight attendant...I have become invisible to him....)

Stewardess (Flight Attendant):  to Me
"would you be willing to sit someplace else?"

Me:  First Class? (conspiracle tilt of the head)

Stewardess (Flight Attendant): (slowly smiling)....sure. c'mon...
excuse us please...excuse us...(working her way back up the aisle.)

GQ Guy:  hey..wait...I'll move....(starting to stand up)

Me:  (smiling now....little shrug of the shoulders....)
"no really....that aisle seat is all yours."

(too bad it was a short flight and not the three hour leg of the trip!)

a long life...well lived.

When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced.
Live you life in a manner so that when you die...
the world cries...
and you rejoice.
--Native American Proverb

Early yesterday morning...in a restful sleep...my dear Grandfather "Papa" gently passed on.   Born in 1915, he was one of 13 children. (yeah...if you do the math he was 93 years old). He was married to my Gramma for over 67 years, and they had four children...my Momma being the oldest.  I am the third of thirteen grandchildren...and my daughter Rhiannon is the oldest of twelve great-grands.
 
Papa met his death on his own terms.  Until a couple months ago, he drove himself...did laundry and cooking....and took all our money at poker. Following a series of heart attacks he chose to let his body take its own course.

I am sitting here in San Jose Airport in the middle of the night...waiting for the first flight out to Indiana.  I go to represent my Momma...and the California contingent.  I go to celebrate his life....but I go with a heavy heart.  It was difficult to leave my Momma...in the midst of her own battles...even with the support of my step dad and my sister. She has kept her secret for quite a while now...but her absence at this time will totally out her.

I have so many memories of my Papa.  It's a pretty good bet I'll  write some more later. 

The death of someone we know always reminds us that we are still alive...perhaps for some purpose which we ought to re-examine.
~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook

this week's vocabulary list

pulmonary

oncology

gastroenterology

urology

gynecology

cardiology

rheumatology

endocrinology

for the past week my Mama has been battling on several fronts...a team of no fewer than 15 doctors have run her through a battery of tests to figure out the myriad of causes resulting in a whole slew of attacks that converged on her tiny frame all at the same time. 

have I ever mentioned how much I hate hanging out in hospitals ?
especially ones with NO internet access????

wordless wednesday ~ flores encantadoras dos

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ~ the Supremes

Most of us Americans can name the President (no offense to ILTV and david) ...some of you can name your Congressmen...and maybe even your Representative.  But how many of us can name the Justices of the Supreme Court who sit in these seats?

We tend to pay more attention to the executive and legislative branches of our government...probably because we vote for them....however the judicial branch has much greater responsibility and power.

Last week the Supreme Court of the United States ruled on several high profile cases. One of their decisions I accepted with raised eyebrows and a nod of agreement. Another one caused me to look up and exclaim..."are they OUT of their e-phn minds?"

BOTH decisions surprised me. 
If I had bets placed...I would have lost big time.
In both cases I think the Supremes should allow the States to define their individual laws.

 

the Supremes for the most part rule on some other court's previous decision.  They almost never hear a case of their own. 

I am an emphatic proponent of States' rights.

And I can not beLIEVE I can only name five of the nine justices off the top of my head.  That is embarrassing....
(see below....you gotta love Google)

The first case....in a 5-4 decision...determined the handgun ban in Washington DC was unconstitutional.

(this is the one I agree with...while not a direct descendant of Charleton Heston...I do want the right to have a gun...and in this case...when put up against the second amendment, the DC handgun ban did indeed strike me as unconstitutional.)

This decision is the FIRST TIME the second amendment has been legally defined since it was written by our founding fathers some 217 years ago.  Whoa.

Washington DC has had this handgun banning law in place for over 30 years...who knew?  I wonder how many other states have this sort of law?  Not California.

I always get a little confused by the status of DC...they are for the most part like a state...but they don't get a star on the flag...cause the Capitol belongs to all of us?  Is that how it works?  So...then...what is the deal with Puerto Rico?

The second decision was also 5-4...and one I completely disagree with on a personal level.  The Supremes ruled that states can mandate the death penalty for crimes such as "treason, espionage, terrorism, and drug kingpin activity, which are offenses against the state," and as you all know, states have the option of the death penalty for murder....however "As it relates to crimes against individuals, the death penalty should not be expanded to instances where the victim's life was not taken."

Which in this case means... a convicted child rapist can not be given the death penalty unless they actually kill their victim. Personally I think all child molesters should be taken out into the street and suffer a long, slow, tortuous death. For a child rapist there is no such thing as too much pain and suffering.

While it was Louisiana's law that was struck down by the higher court...other states had similar laws ( Montana, South Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas). You may remember in 1977 the Supremes ruled that the death penalty could not be used as punishment against an adult woman.

While these two cases are significant in their own right...what these decisions really mean to me is much more far reaching. The Supreme Court will uphold the states' option to choose the death penalty for the taking of a life. And the rights of the individual as defined by the constitution are paramount.

(can you name which supreme is on the court steps??)

Chief Justice
John Roberts ~ 53 years old  from Maryland
appointed by GW Bush ~ seated in 2005

Associate Justices
John Stevens ~ 88 years old from Illinois
appointed by Ford  ~ seated in 1975

Antonin Scalia  ~ 72 years old from Virginia
appointed by Reagan ~ seated in 1986

Anthony Kennedy ~ 71 years old from California
appointed by Reagan ~ seated in 1988

David Souter ~ 68 years old from New Hampshire
appointed by GHW Bush ~ seated in 1990

Clarence Thomas ~ 60 years old from Georgia
appointed by GHW Bush ~ seated in 1991

Ruth Bader Ginsburg ~ 75 years old from New York
appointed by Clinton ~ seated in 1993

Steven Breyer ~ 69 years old from Massachusetts
appointed by Clinton ~ seated in 1994

Samuel Anthony Alito ~ 58 years old from New Jersey
appointed by  GW Bush ~ seated in 2006

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

Far too many things have gotten to me lately.
Upset me.
Angered me.
Incensed me.
Outraged me.
Incredulated me.

Most of the stuff I can do nothing about...
but still....it is getting to me.

I realize I have very little personal bandwidth available. I got a lot going on.  Three people whom I love very dearly are lined up on the tarmac getting ready to take off into the next life.  I can't find the type of job that ignites my interest...truth of the matter, I don't even know what it would be.  Someone I care about has gotten so caught up in their hurt...and their fear of hurt....that they have become detrimental.  And while I encouraged and enabled them to go...both my girls are immersing themselves in the language and culture of Mexico....for FIVE weeks. 

I need to vent every now and then...well...maybe more often than that. For the next few weeks...randomly...off and on...I'm gonna use this little weblog as an outlet for my outrage and create a series of posts I fondly think of as:

               "What-The-Fuck? Thursday"

Not wanting to constantly offend my gentle readers (and 'cause WTF strikes me as wimpy) ...I oh-so-cleverly revert to pilot-speak:

                       Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

the color scheme is no accident...or Independence Day theme...a lot of what is ticking me off has to do with the country, our politics and the presidential elections....et cetera.

My readers are a vastly different lot...and rather intelligent.
Perhaps it will get interesting...

(I just know The Teamster read the title and thought: "cool....if I buy her a Jack or two....we can go dancing this weekend..." )

wordless wednesday ~ flores encantadoras