A few more tidbits from my life :

Driving my 5-year old to school the other day, she saw a woman in the car next to us smoking a cigarette.

My daughter : "Why is that lady smoking, Mommy?
Me : "I dunno, honey."
Her : "Cigarettes are bad for you."
Me : "Yes, they are. They hurt your lungs bad."
Her : "She must not like herself very much."

From the mouths of babes.

Both my gal and I love to read The Ethicist in the New York Times Magazine, so we're always trying to apply his "advice" to our daily lives. This morning, for example, the gal wondered whether or not she could re-use a stamp from a letter we received. The post office had neglected to cancel the letter over the stamp, so it appeared pretty clean. Should we take it off and re-use it? The post office gets all our money, anyway; and they keep on raising their rates. Hmmmmm. . . .

W.W.T.E.D. ? (What Would The Ethicist Do ? )

I pondered this same question as I strode up to my train station this a.m. and the guys from a local church were handing out literature about their (Christian) church, along with free coffee. I took the literature but politely declined the coffee. I practice Judaism. Old Catholic guilt would haunt me if I took the coffee, knowing perfectly well I would never attend their church or even consider Christianity again.

While I'm sure The Ethicist would have said it's okay to take the coffee, I just couldn't.

So, can anyone figure out why The-Right-Wingers-Who-Don't-Want-The-Gays-To-Get-Married (because, you know, it'll just undermine the concept marriage as we know it) have naught to say on the subject of, oh, let's say, Michael Jackson - the HETERO alleged child abuser - or Scott Peterson - the HETERO alleged wife killer - or Neil Bush - the HETERO brother of the prez who alledgedly had sex with a number of women (while married) when he travelled to Asia ?

So, after the big Massachusetts decision, I stopped listening to NPR for awhile. I just didn't want to deal with the "backlash," ya know?

I thought I'd have a few days of nice, relaxing, stress-free life. . . but, no! I started to notice all of these other things out there, what I like to call the Funny (as in Ironic, Sarcastic, Snarky) Side of Life :

Saw a bumper sticker the other day -- No War For Oil. It was on the rear bumper of a big ole' SUV.

Commuting life:

Train conductor announcement : "Please move your briefcases off the seats next to you so others can sit down."

Train conductor announcement #2 : "Don't forget to move your items off the seats next to you, a lot of folks are boarding at this stop and will need seats."

Train conductor to lady in the seat behind me : "Ma'am, could you move your purse off the seat there so one of these riders could sit down?"

Lady in the seat behind me, to no one in specific: "What a seat nazi !"

Me, thinking in my head: "Kettle calling the pitcher black?"

Went to a foster parent / adoption "recruitment" meeting the other night. Our local DHS is actively recruiting gays and lesbians to become foster parents. As if that isn't ironic (however welcome) enough, it amazed me that many of the agencies in attendance did NOT have non-discrimination policies that included "sexual orientation".

At least 2 of my daughter's close friends-who-happen-to-be-boys are having boys-only birthday parties this year. She asked me why the girls weren't invited. I didn't know what to tell her, without getting into a long treatise about how sexism is a learned behavior and it starts in the home and it starts when boys are young and . . .

But, on the Bright Side of Life (insert your own Monty Python jokes / impressions here) --

Saw a great poster at a Rally for the Choice March I went to last week : "I asked if God was pro-choice, and She said yes!"

From the AP: Massachusetts' highest court ruled 4-3 today that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and gave lawmakers 180 days to come up with a solution that would allow gay couples to wed.

Woo hoo.

I must say, some ten+ years ago when we (the gays and lesbians) were all in-fighting about domestic partnership vs marriage, there were very few of us on the bandwagon for "gay marriage." (I was one of them, hoping to get to go to Hawaii. Aaah, remember the days?)

Then, some of us got domestic-ly partnered, and found we still had no rights. Okay, the right to pay $800 a month for insurance for our partners and children. The right, if one of us dies, to not have to pay real estate transfer taxes. And, one other thing, but who can recall?

See, didn't really make much of a difference, did it now?

Then, in Philly at least, that hetero guy sued the city and got domestic partnerships halted for the moment (our state Supreme Court will hear the case next year sometime).

But, Gay Marriage (or, as I like to say, "full and equal rights under the law") may just be here to stay. Ok, so Massachusetts isn't Hawaii, but it has some nice beaches none-the-less.

Oooh -- how about a real mass Marriage ceremony in P-Town next summer during Family Week? At sunset? With the whales floating by and the ghosts of our ancestors, who came here so that they could be FREE (let us not forget), dancing in their graves?

Ok, so the Massachusetts legislature still has to act. And it might not be a positive action. But, hey, give me my 15 minutes of pure, unadulterated joy, ok? It may be all I have for another 10+ years or so.

Now that I've recovered from my Election Day depression (happens every year - kind of a "let down" of sorts, excitement is over, my candidates didn't win, etc.), I spent a wonderful, relaxing weekend at the homestead.

Everyone should have one of these weekends once-in-a-while:

Slept in.

Got a good nap in on Saturday.

Caught some football on TV.

Had an impromptu Saturday night potluck (salmon for the adults) / movie night ("Finding Nemo" for the kids) with the neighbors.

Watched a new Madeline movie on video with The Banana -- twice !

Had some new friends over from brunch on Sunday (actually, a former high-school teacher of mine and her partner & child, but that's a story for another day).

Had some g.f.-time, albiet spent watching a very baaaad lesbian/feminist take-off of "Return of the Secaucus Seven" / "Big Chill" flix. [To save some of you the time and rental fees, it's called "Everything's Relative" from Wolfe Video - don't do it! Just say no!]

Talked on the telphone with some B-More friends.

Actually got around to starting this week's NY Times crossword puzzle!

Finally turned the heat on.

And, had a nice train ride this a.m. with my buddy Jonathan. Chatted a bit. Didn't talk about the news. No depressing Eagles wrap up (they play tonight). Felt kind of invigorated, in fact.

Reminded me of one of the new Indigo Girls' songs - paraphrased a bit here by moi, as I only have it on a (legal) boot tape, as the song won't be released until next year :

"If you can't see / beyond the myth of isolation
When the miracle of daybreak / doesn't move you anymore
Connect the points / and see the constellations
As the night comes down / on the reservoir
It's one Perfect World / when we look the other way"

So, its Election Day in the City of Brotherly Love. And, what happens first thing in the a.m.? A guy sucker punches another guy for noting that guy #1 should probably not put his (guy #1's) signs over guy #2's signs.

Must be the testosterone.

We gals would have just waited until the coast was clear. Or, in my case, written some smarmy commentary on the sign.

Anyhoo, I've taken a respite from NPR and opted to listen to my version of "alternative radio" today. That's right - I'm listening to Right Wing Talk Radio.

Hey, they're covering the election all day (okay, in between the Rush Limbaugh's of the world) - live from the polls ! What could be better ? Oh yeah, and they're calling it "War Room Coverage" - which, we find out, really means from the posh Palm Restaurant in Center City (and, later, from the steakhouse Morton's).

We should all have such a "war room," eh ?

My polling place this morning was almost a mini-war room. The line was verrrry long, since, with all the ballot questions and judgeship retentions to read through, it took each voter about 10-15 minutes to vote, and there are only 2 booths at my place.

But, I survived without even having to fend off any literature-hawkers on the sidewalk. Things were almost too calm.

Not gonna tell ya who I voted for, though. I'm embarassed, you see. I didn't want to vote for either guy for Mayor. They're making it out to be this big race thing, too. ("They" being the usual : the media, the pollsters, the campaign managers.) I just want a good Mayor, black, white, orange, yellow, green.

Oh, well, four years seems to go by pretty qucikly these days. And there's always the Presidential Election next year to get excited about!

---

Well, I'm ba-a-a-a-ck!

Spent 7 sunny days, 6 lovely nights in LaLa Land (ok, close enough : Anaheim, Orange County CA - and, not one Ah-nold memorabilia sighting! How disapointing! Lots of smoke and ash, though, as we were not far from "The Fires" - which, by the way, only aggrivated our family allergies/asthmas).

Actually, we spent most of our time in the Land of Disney. And let me just say, what a Land it is. I'd been before - both to CA and FLA - but this time, as a parent, as a consciencious adult consumer, it was quite a different journey.

Lots of things for the buyin'. Lots of things to be had. Thankfully our 5-year-old, for some reason unbeknownst to us (maybe she didn't realize that just about everything she saw was for sale), didn't want for much. A Minnie hat here, a huge lollipop there, some things for her friends (all together now: "aw, how cute").

She met just about every Character she could, got tons of autographs, and was well spent each night when we retired to our hotel.

As were we.

Good thing the Parks were on "off-season" hours; not sure I coulda handled more time spent in Happyville. And, yes, everyone is so happy there, just like I remember. The workers (oh, excuse moi, "cast members") are extrememely helpful - and pro-actively so - and the Parks are clean, clean, clean, although I never saw one person taking away trash, or sweeping, or otherwise. Hmmm. Maybe those magic wands do the trick! Gotta get me one of those, if that's the case.

And, the shops have just about everything your heart desires - except, as we discovered, any Daisy Duck items. However, the items in the stores there all tended to be quite good prices - much cheaper than in the Disney stores. (And I know this for a fact as I have priced many a Pooh-stuffed-animal-item in my many years of traveling.)

I will say this as well : those Disney folks know how to run a company. Efficiency, creativity, cleanliness, friendliness, happiness. Think we can get them to train our government civil servants?


P.S. If you get to Disney's California Adventure anytime in the near (or far) future, you must check out "Soarin' Over California" - kind of a mix between an IMAX film and a Star Tours-type ride, where you're suspended in air (yes, I had to be nudged onto the ride) while "watching", on a huge screen, various California sites from, literally, a "bird's-eye-view" - complete with flying motions and sensual experiences such as wind and the smell of the orange groves. Tre-men-dous!