Journal

And Then My Brain Exploded

/ Anita Marie / 11 Comments

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I’m standing around talking to my friends when this acquaintance walks up, slams her purse down and rants about her unpleasant lunch experience.

She went to three restaraunts and “do you know what?” she asks us.

None of the menus were in English- well, they were but they were on these laminated cards that came inside of the menus and that really offended this woman.

They weren’t the ‘actual’ menus and damn it she said, ” this is American and the menus should be in English.

So she walked around wasting a half hour of her hour lunch and by the time she got her food her lunch hour was up.

That didn’t bother her though.

What really bothered her was that before she got to an ” American Restaurant ” she fumed about the wait staff at the three other restaurants she had stopped at and how they all ‘ spoke “Ching Chang Cho”. This is happening in America where we should all speak English she raves.

So I wait for this woman to stop talking because I want to chose my words carefully and not lower myself to calling her an in-bred cousin marrying’- seven finger on each hand genetic freak.

When she stops I say carefully, kindly, patiently “But you went into China Town for lunch. ”

” So? ” she snaps.

” They speak Chinese up there- some Japanese, Filipino- you know, it’s China Town. ”

” Well, they should speak English.”

” But it’s China Town.”

” Well this is America ”

” Uh, sure- but you went into China Town for lunch. What exactly did you think you were going to find up there? ”

And then this woman says without missing a beat, ” Mexican Food.”

07-06-07 Sux Report

/ Anita Marie / Leave a comment

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Just when I think that everything is okay I have enough for a SUXS report- so here it is.

An 11 year old girl in Alabama was charged with drunk driving after leading police on a 100 MPH chase.

This SUX’s because someone will write a song about it and everytime a pickup truck, probably a Toyota with those gigantic wheels and a gun rack in the back window, stops beside me at a traffic light I’m going to be forced to listen to that piece of junk.

You know,  this is going to be the major SUX so I’ll leave it at there.

Besides, I’m sure there’s more on the way.

News That Matters- to me anyway

/ Anita Marie / 6 Comments

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(okay, its a picture of The Old Spice Guy…not me deal with it)

BEIJING (AP) – Villagers in central China spent decades digging up bones they believed belonged to flying dragons and using them in traditional medicines. Turns out the bones belonged to dinosaurs, and now scientists are doing the digging

You know, I can’t really find fault with this- it looks weird but so what? Myself, I would hope that in these modern times you wouldn’t have to resort to rock eating to cure what ails you.

In my mind that is wrong.

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I just checked out the Summer Movie Guide. Guess what I won’t be doing this summer?

And I was really counting on scoring some of that yummy theatre popcorn. All I can hope for is that the Indie Film People come up with something worthwhile otherwise I’m going to have to cough up 10.00 just to satisfy a craving for greasy popcorn.

I’ll do it- that’s how desperate I am.

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There’s this woman who leads a group opposed to Mexicans living any where on the face of the planet and over the weekend I found out that she put a picture of a Latina activist  friend of my family on her website, as well as the name and address of our friend’s employer.

That wasn’t news but it should be, I mean, how often is it that you get to see a real life hit list?

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And on a way lighter note today the Roswell UFO Festival started.

Ever since I got mail and comments from friends who chewed me out for  ‘encouraging’ the UFO fantasy I’ve come out in a big way to support this festival.

First of all, I hate it when people try to reach into my head and re-wire it to suit their own needs. Second, the stories that these people are telling are just to good to let go of.

I hope they’re having fun down there today.

They’ve earned it.

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amm

Certain Truths Are NOT Evident

/ Anita Marie / 12 Comments

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When I was little and my family from Hawaii would come to the Mainland during the Summer I used to notice that if it was the 4th of July they used to stand there in a sea of American Flags and oceans of Potato Salad and look…just a little grim, maybe a little quiet and at one point someone would take me aside and tell me the story about Queen Lili’uokalani.

My Filipino Grandfather who always smiled and was a gifted and lively story teller was not so animated when he told me how The Queen was put in chains and imprisoned in her own home and I used to wonder, as he told me the story, what the Queen of England or the President of The United States being put in chains and forced to live in the basement of their homes would look like and I couldn’t see it.

When I was a kid I learned from my Grandfather ( because I sure as Hell never learned about it at school )  that  unlike the ” Declaration of Independence ”  the Queen signed a document that dissolved Hawaii’s Independence. Our 50th State – how ironic- actually LOST its Independence when it was annexed by the U.S. Governement.

I wonder if they took the cuffs off when she signed.

They may have…. but they were there all the same weren’t they?

Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii signed a document which read in part: “Now to avoid any collision of armed forces, and perhaps the loss of life, I do this under protest and impelled by said force yield my authority until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representatives and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the Constitutional Sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands. – Queen Lili’uokalani to Sanford B. Dole, Jan 17, 1893.”

Hawaii was annexed  ( not admitted, not ‘became’ a state- amm )to the United States through a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress, signed into law by President McKinley on July 17, 1898.

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When The Burden Is Your Soul

/ Anita Marie / 6 Comments

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I used to think that doing nothing was much easier then doing the right thing.

And then I realized what a burden it must be to have to tell yourself every single day that you didn’t donate food to the food bank or one of those Scout Troops or kid’s sports team leagues because ‘ you were to busy ‘ to drop a can of soup into a barrel.

It had nothing to do with the fact that you just don’t CARE enough to drop a can of food into a barrel.

But that’s what you have to tell yourself every single day.

That conversation must have gotten old for you ages ago.

Over the weekend a friend of my husband’s asked why he was out protesting a Hate Group when ‘ it’s not that much of a problem you know’ my husband’s friend said.

I’m sorry, if you’ve ever had just one person jab their finger in your face and say you don’t deserve to live because you’re a race mongrel it’s a HUGE problem.

I’ll be honest, I used to think it was easier just to ignore bigotry too because dealing with it can be a real danger to you and your home and your family.

But now I think it’s much easier to deal with a Mob of guys wearing hoods on their heads or with Swastikas tattooed on their arms and shaved into their hair then it is to live with the knowledge you told a friend to accept that they should spend the rest of their life hiding behind a locked door watching American Idol and ‘relaxing’ then to try to do their best to bring dignity and safety into the lives of their friends and family and community.

It must be hard to know you just told a friend to pretend they don’t exist, that in a way they don’t really matter. What a waste of time it must be to tell yourself everytime you look at your friend’s face that you’re telling him he’s less entitled to human dignity then you are ‘for his own good’.

I’ve changed my mind, it might be harder to do right, but when I think on it, I think its far more easier then doing nothing at all.

The Toxic Avenger

/ Anita Marie / 8 Comments

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She first appeared when I needed to cut 

 some Toxic People out

 my life-

I cut them lose and I felt a little guilty but a lot lighter.

I called on her again when

 I had some Toxic Relatives to cut lose- not a problem- once you start thinking of your life as something worth protecting you’d be surprised how easy it is to do that.

She was pleased.

I did it all so I could get my life back on track 

 Now I’m the uncaring, unfeeling, driven mean woman that’s on everybody’s ‘ you know what list’.

I know because they told me so.

They tell me every chance they get.

In the old days I’d have been hurt.

But I’m passed that.

I thought.

Today was bad and I thought if anything

sets me back

today will

Then I thought

To Hell with that.

To Hell I say.

So I started to write

And with each word I put down I

felt

stronger.

The Toxic Avenger Strikes Again.

Hurray!

News FLASH

/ Anita Marie / 3 Comments

A Reporter Insists

on

Reporting the Actual News.

Be afraid you useless Talking Heads

The Rest Of You…

Pass this on…it’s truly inspiring.

A Little Help Here…

/ Anita Marie / 2 Comments

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It’s Sunday, so I’m going to do a little prayer here…and if you stand clear as I say it the chances of you being hit by a bolt of lightening are pretty slim so here it goes….

Dear God- Please help me not laugh hysterically this week at the ignorance of others- like those Nazis my husband faced down over the weekend up in Everett.

See, they were yelling what I call ‘ Taco Bell ‘ brand Spanish at him – no one – not even the people who could speak Spanish could figure out what they were saying.

Someone else  thought they may have Googled Redneck English To Spanish Phrases but considering how many people DON’T speak English as a first language in this world someone at GOOGLE may have messed with that option….

I’ll be honest here  Lord, because I know you can read my mind anyway, I would have.

Anyway God, you’d think that people would be smart enough to know that you can’t really learn anything from a talking dog- but some of us Dear Lord are not that smart.

I’m Praying for Them and for myself God.

And if you can swing it God please help me not roll my eyes up into my head and say something smarmy every single time someone says ” Paris Hilton. “

First of all I’m doing this so often now that I’m afraid my eyes will get stuck up there and second of all I know for a fact it really isn’t nice to make fun of the mentally challenged.

I’ve never done it before and it’s a little late at my age to turn into a schoolyard bully- so give me some help here, I could use it.

Last of all Oh Great One, please see that I get to score one of those Super Crunchy Egg Rolls this week- the ones cooked to perfection and just stuffed with baby shrimp-  it’s out there God and with your help I know I can find it and munch it and quiet that vicious Egg Roll Demon that lurks inside of me.

I’m done.

Oh…umm  wait this is the part where I’m supposed to say Amen right?

 Okay.

Amen.

How’s The View Down There?

/ Anita Marie / 2 Comments

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ALIEN IDEAS FROM AN ALIEN MIND

How come in Politics we just love to say that we’re standing shoulder to shoulder or side by side and if you think about it if you’re in Politics you spend most of your time on your knees.

It’s all very basic.

Somebody somewhere is always trying to stick it to somebody else and if they’re not actually sticking it, they’re thinking about doing it and if they don’t have the time they’ll send someone else in to do it for them.

If it sounds nasty it is- when you’re playing games somebody has to win  and someone has to lose and that’s what Politics is about.

Winning

We’re not talking about being right or just or fair. It’s not about ” giving voice” or ‘representing a village’.

It’s all about winning

 The thing of it is that once you get a win you have to keep winning no matter who you have to screw or betray or belittle.

That’s how the game is played- that is the rule…win.

Win all of the time.

Kitty left a comment on an earlier post and she said I seemed fearless.

I guess after you’ve worked with the dead and you’ve watched one human being totally wreck another human being just so they could prove they could- after all of that – there isn’t anything to be afraid of anymore.

I wonder if it’s true, if you have nothing to lose you’re dangerous.

I’m not sure, but I think I’m starting to understand that saying.

So I guess that means I win.

This time.

amm