monday musings

i could tell a tale of a greedy and righteous troglodyte (is there anything worse?), but i don't want my monday ruined in that way. suffice it to say that i need to find another way to deal with this person. fantasies of gunning it when i see him crossing the street are becoming slightly too vivid in my mind at this point, so i'd best not spend much time behind the wheel today.

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as you can see from my new banner, we had a good weekend at our riding club horse show.

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isn't it sad that a person who never gives others room to do what they have promised, but stands over them and checks up on them incessantly will never find out if they can be trusted to do what they say they will? and ironic that they say they'll stop doing that as soon as people prove they will do as they promised. and pathetic that they can't see the logic.

but i promised not to dwell on the troglodyte anymore today. 

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they promise rain all week. so a typical danish autumn is upon us. it makes my thoughts turn to candles and baskets of yarn. i've even lined up a knitting teacher, so this year, i'm going to get serious about actually using some of that yarn. tho' molly did just just singe off some of her whiskers jumping up on the shelf by my desk, so candles can be dangerous.

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on friday at school, sabin and her friend (who are in the sixth grade) were on their way to class and some tough little fourth graders, in what is a rather confusingly-explained incident, threw a chair at them. they were apparently bitter over some altercations last year when they were in fifth and third grade respectively, tho' that part of the story is also a bit unclear. the chair hit sabin's hand and it has become steadily more swollen and sore over the weekend and we're going to have the doctor have a look at it today. i did say she had to explain to the doctor herself that she was beaten up by a fourth grader.

i asked her how she responded and she said that they went and let a teacher know it had happened. so in essence, they told on the little shits. some part of me wishes she'd thrown the chair back at them or at least grabbed them by the scruff of their necks and roughed them up a bit. but on the other hand, i'm also charmed by her utter faith in the authority figures at her school. we'll see what happens next.

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i wonder if my parents ever received a communication with my sixth grade teacher that was signed, "hugs," mrs. b. looking back at the battle-axe of a soul-scarring sixth grade teacher i had, i'm thinking not.

i do remember that my dad once stamped one of my papers with a little "horse shit" stamp we had in the drawer at home and asked my second grade teacher whether she shouldn't be slightly more encouraging than that to small children. she practically died of mortification while my dad laughed. i thought it was pretty funny too. probably not entirely fair of dad what with him being on the schoolboard and all. poor mrs. luze.

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i sent my absentee ballot today. and yes, i voted for the good guys.

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i just reread the guernsey literary and potato peel pie society by mary ann shaffer and annie barrows. i gave it only 3 stars on goodreads the first time around and i actually wonder why. i was utterly delighted by it this time and feel a bit sad to be finished with it. i'm already missing those friends within the covers of the book. i do think you need to a read a book at the right time. i could vaguely remember reading it before, but i obviously didn't absorb it in the same way (that often happens, i think it's a product of the speed at which i read) as i did this time. i'll have to go in and update that rating.

here are a few gems:

"men are more interesting in books than they are in real life."

"reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books."

"i think you learn more if you're laughing at the same time."

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and on that note, i'll wish you all a happy monday.

wine and clinton make everything better

my breakfast - doesn't really have anything to do with the post, i just thought it looked pretty.

i've mentioned it before, but i just want to say that it's really true that if you come yourself with positive energy, it can have an enormous effect on a situation and your experience with other people. i am also fully aware that this is easier said than done.

last night, i was dreading my meeting after my previous encounter with the troglodyte at the helm of the group. i had tried to speak to him a week later at another meeting and his response to my saying that i found his name-calling unacceptable and would appreciate that he refrain in the future was "kom an" or "bring it on."(hence my blatant calling him a troglodyte - i figure if it's ok for him to call me names, i can do it too.)  i will admit i was quite in despair that anything would ever get better. but i reminded myself that i had as much right to be part of the group as he did and that i wouldn't let my fear of his bad behavior keep me from showing up and contributing.

and then i had a glass of wine.

and i watched the daily show. and it was the one from last week, where my boyfriend jon stewart talked about my boyfriend clinton's speech at the DNC. and it put me in a positively euphoric mood. and although it made me a few minutes late for the meeting (i couldn't leave jon and clinton alone here at my house when they had been so kind as to come by), it changed everything.

my positive energy filled the room and affected some of the others as well - bowled them over a little bit, actually. and we had a great meeting wherein a lot of people had their say and expressed opinions similar to mine about how we need to involve the community to get buy-in for the project. and the troglodyte sat at the head of the table, sour puss expression on his face, and his energy was no longer allowed to pervade the group, because it had been replaced with positive energy. i won't even say my energy, because mine only started it and then it snowballed and became the positive energy of everyone in the room.

so the lesson here: a little alcohol and politics really can change the world.

or at least my little corner of it.

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i know that it's september 11, but i really can't join in the memorial cavalcade of posts. tho' that day changed the whole world and we are still reeling from the repercussions, it feels quite remote and in some sense always has. because it did happen at a physical distance from me in my safe, comfy life in denmark. and i didn't know anyone who was involved or injured or killed there that day. i've never even been in new york. which isn't to say that i don't, in my own way, mourn the tragedy of those lost lives, it's just that it was and remains somehow very far away from me.

the evening it happened, we drifted, together with friends, to the american embassy, where others had also gathered in some unspoken agreement and we stood there together in stunned silence, many of us holding candles. someone began to sing a haunting song (i don't remember which one) a capella. it was a welling up of solidarity that came naturally as a response to the tragedy.  sadly, looking at the world, i'd say it's dissipated greatly today. so that's all i have to say about september 11.