The Ring

replacement
Originally uploaded by Lucky Haskins.

Today I took my engagement ring for a cleaning and inspection. I have to take it in every six months to keep the warranty.

When I took it in I asked if the two rings could be soldered together without voiding the warranty. I was assuming they'd say no since my wedding ring came from another store, but the woman I spoke with said they'd absolutely solder the two together. Also, since I got one of the rings from them, I'd only have to pay for half the soldering (if I'd gotten both rings from them, the soldering would be free).

I felt kind of anxious turning over my rings, and it took me about two minutes of walking around the mall to decide that I couldn't walk around for a week with a bare finger. I figured I could use either a replacement ring or a big sign that said, TAKEN. And since the blinking neon would be pretty expensive, I trotted over to JC Penny and went to the sterling silver section where things were 50% off.

I picked out the ring in the photo. It's marcasite, which I know is cheap, but I like anyway. The ring is far too big but it's pretty and it feels better than having a naked hand.

Thumbs Up!

You Are a Smart American

You know a lot about US history, and you're opinions are probably well informed. Congratulations on bucking stereotypes. Now go show some foreigners how smart Americans can be.

Are You a Dumb American?

An update on my sister

Yesterday my sister called me while I was at work. Since I was just sitting in my office waiting for a meeting to start I chatted with her for a few minutes. After awhile she said, "Well, I called to test your skills and apparently they aren't very good."

"What skills?" I asked.

"Your speech skills. You couldn't hear that I'd pierced my tongue."

I made a tsk noise. "Karen, there's a lot of static on my end, I get like zero cell reception in here, and - wait, what?"

"I got my tongue pierced."

"Oh my gosh," I said. "When did that happen?"

"A few hours ago," she said. "So what do you think mom and dad will say?"

"I don't know," I said weakly. I couldn't believe she'd gone and shoved a needle through her tongue. After talking with her for awhile I found out that she'd gone to a professional piercer to have it done, which made me happy. I was afraid that she'd just let Jamie do it.

Now when I told this story to Mike and to some of my friends they've said that I can't really criticize her since I have my tongue pierced too. Plus, we both got them pierced at the age of 23, not it's not like I was years older than she is. But we got them pierced for very different reasons - I wanted a reminder of who I was as I was being assimilated into grad school life, and Karen wants to tick off our parents.

I read somewhere that people with borderline personality disorder don't have much of a personality of their own, so they latch onto different personas. When Karen was a teenager, she was the Troubled Black Sheep...full of problems, perpetually screwing up, and part of a family who didn't understand her. After she married Rocco she was the Preppy Wife...planting gardens, wearing modest sweaters, and playing board games. This fit in well with Rocco's preppy blandness. After they separated Karen reverted back to Black Sheep, which matches Jamie's own black sheep personality.

Man.

I have a hunch this will all come to a head on St. Patrick's Day. We're having a family game night at my Aunt Liz's house. Liz is really sociable and loves to have a big group over at her house, so every once in awhile she hosts a game night for my dad's side of the family. My aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins' kids all come over for snacks and family games like cribbage, Apples to Apples, or volleyball. It's generally understood that my unmarried cousins will bring along whoever they're dating and my married cousins will bring their spouses.

I'm bringing Mike.

Karen's bringing Jamie.

She hasn't told anyone on that side of the family that she's living with someone. Hell, she hasn't even told them that she's getting divorced. This is the way she'll let them know, so it'll result in maximum drama and let her feel put-upon.

Another sticking point is that my Aunt Liz and her family are extremely, extremely fundamentalist Christian. They home-school their kids because they feel that public education is too secular, and my uncle preaches at church when the regular preacher is on vacation. They're wonderful people and will welcome just about anyone into their home, but they make no effort to minimize their faith.

Did I mention that Jamie has a pentagram tattoo on his hand? And that he seems like too much of a prick to hide it? I know that pentagrams aren't really satanic, but some people think that they are, and I bet my aunt and uncle won't know the difference between the various non-Christian religions. They'll be really uncomfortable, and I'm not sure what they'll do.

Now I'm not saying Jamie should lie about his religion, or say he's not Wiccan. But flaunting any religion when you know you're just going to shock people is wrong. He's not willing to discuss his religion calmly, or explain his traditions rationally, like I am when people ask me about Catholicism. I occasionally wear cross necklaces or have ashes on my forehead after Ash Wednesday Mass, and I expect people to notice and ask about it. I answer without being confrontational. Jamie doesn't.

Most people wouldn't subject their Wiccan, live-in boyfriends to their super-religious relatives. Karen is not one of those people. I'm not sure what will happen that night.

So that's my update on my sister. Hooray.

Grrrr

I hate, hate, hate Daylight Savings Time.

Mornings are a cruel time for me. I have to get up extremely early for work and there are definite stages I go through every school year. Early on, in September and October, I'm still coming off of my summer schedule of getting up around 7 or 8 and going to bed around 11 or 12. Once I get used to that, all of a sudden the days start getting shorter. I used to drive to work in daylight, but in November, December and January it seems that my commute becomes more and more nocturnal. It's really, really hard to arrive bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to work when it's still dark out when you pull up.

February and March are a turning point for me. I start rising naturally around 5 or 5:15 instead of lurching out of bed at 5:30 when my alarm goes off. I only drive for 20 minutes or so before the sky begins to lighten. I arrive at work thinking about my projects and the day's activities instead of just blindly stumbling towards the nearest soda machine to get a dose of much-needed caffeine. It's a really nice change.

And then - BAM. We switch our clocks forward. When my alarm goes off the clock says it's 5:30, but my body knows better. It's only 4:30, dammit. It's dark again during my drive. And even though most people are reveling in the extra hour of sunlight in the evening, I couldn't care less because I'm almost asleep. Almost all of April is spent getting used to this new time change, and May is so exhausting with the end of the school year that I barely notice the difference between waking and sleeping anyway. I doze through my mornings and dream about paperwork at night.

So, overall, February and March are my favorite months in terms of waking up for my job. I really, really enjoy that two-month period where I feel like a normal member of the workforce, arriving to work at a reasonable time.

But now it's not a two-month period. It's only six weeks. I can't believe they bumped up the DST start date. I can't believe someone thought this was reasonable. I can't believe I'm going to be driving to work in the dark, again, starting Monday.

Thanks a lot, whoever is in charge of this stuff. Thanks a lot for NOTHING.

And it's one more day up in the canyons

march5
Originally uploaded by Lucky Haskins.

I love Milwaukee.

I took this at an intersection!

Milwaukee - Hip Hop Capital of the Midwest

I was thinking while I was watching music videos on YouTube this evening, and it occurred to me that I haven’t heard of Milwaukee having any hip-hop artists. I suppose it’s entirely possible that there’s a thriving hip-hop scene that I just don’t know about, but it doesn’t seem like there are any nationally-known rappers from Milwaukee. I mean, you hear about rappers from New York and California, and even some from Atlanta and places like that, but never Milwaukee.

The thing that really made me ponder this was when I watched a video by Chingy. Apparently he’s from St. Louis, and in a music video he rolled up in this really fancy car with Missouri plates. Now, come on. Don’t try to tell me that Wisconsin is a whole lot less cool than Missouri. St. Louis is right on the border of Missouri too, like it’s trying to escape into Illinois. It’s time for the Midwest to emerge as a force in hip-hop, and Milwaukee can lead the charge.

Now, I understand that most of the time rappers, at least those starting out, write their own stuff. But to give them a little leg-up, I’ve written the following rap about Milwaukee. Anyone can use it as they wish, but please send me a Porsche when this song launches you into super-stardom. Thanks.

Babe I seen you on your front porch
With your lawn chair and your forty
You’re sittin back enjoying the sun
‘Cause your mom’s watchin’ your shorty
We only get six weeks of summer
In this part of the world.
But I know you know how it rolls here babe
You’re my Milwaukee girl.

I like the way you walk girl
I know that you got hips to there
I know you had some cream puffs babe
Hangin’ at the State Fair.
You got a booty on you ma
You been eating fried cheese curds
But I like the way you shake it babe
You’re my Milwaukee girl.

You know the Pack is a religion
You watch the Brewers and the Bucks.
You get buzzed on Miller Lite
Every night before we (edited!)
You look so smokin’ in a parka
You make my poor head twirl
You got it goin’ on babe
You’re my Milwaukee girl.

Pearl bracelet

pearlbracelet
Originally uploaded by Lucky Haskins.

The other thing I made today with my stuff from Michael's. It's pretty, but it's not really "me." I suppose if I don't wear it I'll just rip it apart and turn the beads into something else. It's white and black freshwater pearls with sterling silver spacer beads.

Necklace

champearl
Originally uploaded by Lucky Haskins.

Michael's had a bead sale! I stocked up. These are chamagne-colored freshwater pearls with sterling silver beads in between. I love this color.