More Food with Chemical Manipulation

Concurrent with the debate over Monsanto's genetically engineered seeds, DuPont is buying Danisco, a world leader in food ingredients (not food, food ingredients) and enzymes for humans and the animals humans eat. Ugh. DuPont is not my idea of a food company, and Danisco's list of specialties and additives is a little nauseating. Additives that give human pseudo-food longer shelf-life and better taste. And enzymes that control some pukey issues with chemically-enhanced animal feed. Do you know what osmotic shock is? Gastrointestinal stress. Probably from eating that "lean yield" additive. Ugh again. Danisco will have a booth at the 2011 Thermoplastics Concentrates Conference. Is that about food, pharma, beverages or nutrition? DuPont claims to want to provide healthier, tastier food to feed the world. Would you grocery shop at a DuPont plant? Ugh trebled.

112th Congress H.R.3: Subjugating Women Further

Republican word cloud. Talking points in color, reality in black. Claiming action for struggling Americans on jobs and the economy, the first bills introduced are: H.R.1 titled "Reserved for the Speaker." Cosponsors: None. Major Actions: None. H.R.2 titled "Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act." Passed. H.R.3: No Taxpayer Money for Abortion Act. There are 173 cosponsors for this bill, including Democrats and a few women reps. The cosponsors in Michigan are these: Justin Amash, R. MI3, Dan Benishek, R. M1, Thaddeus McCotter, R. M11, Candice Miller, R. M10, Mike Rogers, R. M8, Tim Walberg, R. MI7. This bill was introduced January 20, and has been referred to Judiciary, Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce Committees for a period to be defined by the speaker. What the hell Energy and Commerce has to do with this bill is beyond me, but Michigan's Dave Camp, R. M4 is the new Chair of the Ways and Means committee. Camp has voted 100% along party lines. Energy and Commerce is chaired by Fred Upton, R. MI6. Upton also votes 100% party. While the Republicans talk jobs, small business, middle class, the bills introduced talk Speaker privilege, knifing healthcare reform in the back, and denying women more reproductive rights. HR3's language goes sinisterly beyond denying women's reproductive rights. Introducing the phrase "forcible rape" is diabolical. There is no legal precedent for such a description. But the Republicans want degrees of rape entered in the legislative record. We all know the burden to prove "forcible rape" will be placed on the woman. Boehner called the bill "one of our highest legislative priorities." Abortion funding is an issue that has been legislated repeatedly: escalating the legislative language to include demanding battered, beaten, pregnant women prove "forcible rape" is monstrous. Is it possible that the people who support the subversion of women's reproductive rights as a highest priority, who are apparently willing to personally adjudicate the degree of injuries sustained by a raped woman, who use religion and morality as a shield to dispose of women, will continue to hold their seats in our legislature? That men want this further power over women is patriarchy to the next level; that women have signed on is horrific.

Rep. Fred Upton Endangers Michigan Water

Representative Fred Upton thinks grilling the Environment Protection Agency is his duty. Upton, from the 6th Congressional District is flexing his muscles as the new Chair of the Energy and Commerce Commission and bragging that he'll have Lisa Jackson, EPA, on the carpet so often he'll save a parking place for her. Upton's district includes the Kalamazoo River, site of one of the worst oil spills in Michigan history last year. The EPA has its foot firmly on the throat of our economic recovery, says Upton. Upton is up for reelection in 2012. Perhaps the constituents in his district will find a way to curb Representative Upton's enthusiasm for undoing the small progress that's been made to keep the Great Lakes, the U.S.A. and the earth from continued desecration.

Detroit Artist: Donald Calloway Jr. II

Olive fork. This is a repurposed cocktail fork, painted, and a papier mache painted olive impaled. I found the architectural element, and the gorgeous martini glass to display this piece. It's in the stairwell exiting The Artist's Dungeon, so that I can be sure to grab it in the event of an unexpected swift exit. Oh! I can feel the heat of the day we walked the art festival to find Donald Calloway Jr. sitting at his open air booth. Both Beckie and I were thrilled to discover this artist's work and to share the memories of that day.

Detroit Artist: Donald Calloway Jr.

I own two pieces of Donald Calloway's art. I collected these on the same day, at the close of an art festival Beckie and I attended. I didn't have enough money to buy the fish flopped over a cast iron frying pan, but I loved that, too. This is a carved wooden winged heart. It hangs from a ceiling tile joint, and reminds me to lift my spirits. Not much I can find about this remarkable artist, except that he perhaps teaches with The Stillman Foundation and there is a close-up photo on flickr, called stranger#41. Thank you Donald Calloway Jr., artist, for the joy you've shared.

Our Words: See Hear Think Say

Our brains fire up in different segments depending on how we're interacting with words. Reading words involves vision. Hearing involves Wernicke's Area where language is comprehended. Thinking about words and saying words involve Broca's area for language production, and our motor cortex. Thanks to the Alzheimer's Association Brain Tour, I can understand how elements of our life of words can be interrupted, damaged or just plain missing. Dementia can impact sections separately or together, depending on the progression of the disease. I'm going to remember that my brother must know he is loved in all ways he handles language. I will tell him, write the words for him, hug him and find new ways to grow the love.

I Don't Need Validating

Validating used to be what you had done to your parking ticket when you saw your lawyer downtown. Seems women need validating now. Article by Robert Leahy, director of the American Institute of Cognitive Therapy leads with the question "Why do men find it so hard to validate women?" Perhaps it's carrying around that stamp? Or punch? Maybe there's a new drug opportunity here - like that hourly Cialis stuff - that would allow men to be ready to validate women at will. I looked up validate: to make legally valid, to grant official sanction by marking (here we are at the parking ticket again), to substantiate, to confirm, to support or corroborate on a sound or authoritative basis. I know there perhaps is a counseling definition for this word that Leahy meant us to understand, but I don't know what it is. I do know I don't need to be validated. I do need my voice heard.

The Boot to The Ladders

The Boots (both of them, at speed, from a great distance) to The Ladders for the ad campaign currently fouling our television screens. Does this outfit really think that employees who are able to earn $100,000/year want to see this ridiculous, unattractive, pseudo-pornographic nonsense? Ugh. Go back to ad school, junior ad types who created this muck. And call your mother.

Images of Detroit

A photography book by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre titled Ruins of Detroit was on Huffington Post with a slideshow of some of the photographs. I looked at the photographers' website. Nice pictures. Lousy idea. The two are Frenchmen, born in the mid-80s when Detroit was already in so much trouble it didn't look like my birth city would make it into the next century. The young Paris residents don't live here, started this photography project in 2005: unknown why Detroit was chosen to villify. The photos are composed excellently, produced beautifully. Without the stories, the history, the web and woof of humanity and industry in Detroit, the photos are soulless constructs; golems of composition in light noise, amorphous. The words in the two-paragraph introduction have no heart, brutally condemn Detroit to the dust of history as anciently dead as Rome, the Pyramids of Egypt. The logic that created the city also destroyed it. Nowadays, unlike anywhere else, the city’s ruins are not isolated details in the urban environment. They have become a natural component of the landscape. Detroit presents all archetypal buildings of an American city in a state of mummification. The couple of paragraphs use decadent language, crypting unfortunate periods in Detroit's history. This isn't art: this is funerary. And for this premature interment these boys want $125.00 in good ol' Detroit loot for their postmortem. I know these buildings. My dentist was in the David Whitney Building. My dad went to Wilbur Wright. I had relatives who worked at the Packard plant, and I saw movies at United Artists Theater. The decay is painful. There are still vibrant offices in Detroit, many projects underway to revitalize the city-heart, the theater and music is world-class, and I'm sure there are dentist chairs with working patients. Cass Technical High School is in a new building, thanks for not pointing that out, and there is a drive to fund the rescue of the old Cass Tech. The publication date of this book is unfortunate, as Detroit has a decent and hard-working Mayor who is trying to reboot what is recoverable in Motown, celebrate what's vibrant and new, and broom what doesn't work. When the photographers were born we had a self-serving crook in the office for too long, and only recently survived another. Detroit is a mess, yes, like so many American industrial cities. Detroit ain't dead, mon ami: and it is not these photographers' neighborhood. It's my neighborhood.

Spooky Action At A Distance

Two electrons vibrating in unison = coherence. These two electrons, in wave synchronicity, remain so regardless of the distance between. Light years or Planck lengths apart, what knowledge one electron acquires, its other shares faster than the speed of light. This is quantum entanglement. Einstein didn't care for quantum entanglement theory because he didn't think anything could travel faster than the speed of light. Spooky action at a distance was his descriptor. What happens to us instantly affects whatever quantum energy we are in coherence with. If all is one, if we are all immersed in all the energy that ever was or ever will be, there is spiritual coherence. I believe in spiritual coherence, and right now, at this moment, I am peaceful and clear.

Spirit:Science Entanglement

The old art depicting atomic is no longer accurate. This is a new visual. Vibrant and vital. Waves rather than lines. Expansive and inclusive on multiple planes. I am seeking an analogy: the entanglement that Einstein understood in the sentipensante space between his heart and his brain, even though probability was troublesome to him. The oneness of the universe that Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury understood in the white space between their written words. The truths about the silliness of society that Heinlein and Tolkien shared. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~ Arthur C. Clarke. Everything is theoretically impossible until it is done. ~ Robert A. Heinlein. When the solution is simple, God is answering. ~ Albert Einstein.

Quantum Mechanics for the Soul

Reading Michio Kaku's Physics of the Impossible and enjoying it. This is the 6th physics book I've touched in the last 6 months. I didn't finish one because the author worshipped mathematics the way I worship dark chocolate. Mathematics starts squirming when abandoned at the edge of the multiverse during a playdate with both the cosmos and the atomic realm. Physicists are writing books for people who are curious while science-impaired by combining theoretical physics with pop culture, a grand idea. Dr. Kaku does triptychs of Star Trek, theoretical physics, and E.T. I put a hold on a new book by Brian Greene, author of The Elegant Universe, titled The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos. Greene wrote of parallel universes like magic carpet layers. Read an excerpt on npr today, and when my head stopped orbiting my neck, I drew this picture. Infinite mirror images + flipbook at faster than the speed of light. Don't know why this came to mind, but maybe I'll mention it to my therapist. Greene thinks the Large Hadron Collider will help prove or disprove his multiverse theory by measuring the energy lost [POOF!] which we all know can't happen, so it will have gone somewhere not here. I just hope the lost energy they're creating doesn't end up in my basement. I do not know why I'm fascinated by physics, quantum mechanics, string theory and the search for the Grand Unified Theory that will close the chasm created in the Laws of Everything by sticking the probability thumb in the pie. Maybe it's because I wanted to be an alien when I was a kid, and I'm still trying to figure out how I can still do that. Maybe "what if?" is a lifelong favorite question. Perhaps, like physicists who work at finding the Last Law, I'm looking for some endpoint. I think we'll all be disappointed. Whether the universe is infinite, or just pretends to be, how can we apply enough proof-laden theories to cover infinity? Perhaps the universe is concurrently too big and too small to grasp in our human brains. Maybe it's because I think the Grand Unifying Theory is already known, but physics, mathematics, string theory and quantum mechanics are all barking up the wrong science book. Meanwhile, I get to enjoy good reading, and entertain myself with puns and tshirt sayings. Today's: String Theory is Fringe Science. Remember Physicists Like p-Branes? Whatever makes us laugh, makes the world a better place: yet another experiment that unfortunately cannot be duplicated in the lab.

Women As Animals - Cats Again

Charles Osgood talking about tiger moms is too much. Susan Faludi wrote in Backlash that there is a resurgence of angel images when the urge to subvert women is pronounced; animalizing women is the same. Now we're being catted again. Cougars. Tiger moms. I guess the Alaskan ex-guv uses grizzlies because there aren't a lot of wild cats in that part of the world. Her choice. If I'm going to be depicted as an animal, other than the female bipedal primate I truly am, I choose wolf. Enough of the catty stuff.

Me on Ice

Captured in a blue spruce, preserved in ice. This picture is a crop of an old favorite for my January wallpaper, and I just noticed me looking back at me. Now I'm an old favorite, too.

Detroit Ice Skating

Green Bay/Chicago game tomorrow in their second post-season match since 1941. Dad's a Green Bay fan since giving up the Lions back in the 50s. We talked about the Ice Bowl, and I wrote to my brother, reminiscing. I remembered Ray Nitschke shivering on the bench. Paul remembered what he was doing that day - playing hockey with brother John. He said it was 20 below zero, and his feet froze between taking his shoes off and putting his skates on. I'm remembering the start of the ice season meant a trip to Vetere Hardware at 7 Mile and Mack to get our skates sharpened. Dad always flooded the backyard so we had our own rink. The first time he did it, my mother hollered "you're going to ruin the lawn!" Dad yelled back, "What lawn? It's a baseball diamond in the summer." I still enjoy ice and hardware stores. Hardware stores smell like great adventure.

Potion Recipe for Dry Skin

Calm Mind Visuals

Making myself loopy with internet digging, I reached ziggity boom when, looking for a map of China, Google ads stuck a "Ready to look younger?" ad on my page. Even though I don't allow cookies to be baked on my browser, use SPF700 AdBlock and consider myself pretty stealthy, google still knows who I am, where I live and how old I am. The stuff we need to ignore is getting frequent, foggier and flashier. Wanted a map of China for art to post about Jeff Immelt, GE as replacement Paul Volcker. The President's Council of Economic Advisors is now the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. The new title doesn't mention the jobs might not be in the USA, with Mr. China at the helm of US competitiveness. I don't need to know this stuff any more. What I need is to point energy at what I do need to know, what will calm my mind, elevate my brain and enthuse my spirit, and I begin with this image showing a drop of water will eventually penetrate concrete. Calm will eventually penetrate my googled, China'ed, sunlight-deprived brain, too.

United States Institute of Peace

Amazed to find we had one, with a gorgeous building designed by Moshe Safdie, due to open September, 2011. Not amazed to find that although the United States population is primarily women, while the world population is 1.014:1 men to women, women are not represented proportionally on the Board of Directors, members ex officio, or senior staff. There is no durable peace to be had without the leadership and wisdom of more women on this planet. The United States needs women in genuine leadership positions.

Advanced Search:this+that-this-that=search dementia

Searching for spending statistics by gender and age: consumer spending+age-family-income-region gets a two-year old article from Advertising Age. After more than a few unwanted words are entered in Advanced Search, Google's algorithm forgets what the primary wanted words are. It's not just Google. Bing does the same thing. I do sometimes get a kick out of searching for...oh, Madame Curie and seeing an ad telling me I can "buy Madame Curie on eBay."

Serious Feminists

Today began reading npr, then wheeling through Huffington Post, I found a post by Ann Jones. I'll read anything Ann Jones writes because she's a serious person doing world-changing work on behalf of women. Her post linked to the HRRAC (Human Rights Research and Advocacy Consortium [Afghanistan] Report, which I downloaded and read, and UN Resolution 1325 which I read over 10 years ago. The United Nations passed another resolution in 2010 to recommit. Then I found Elayne Boosler's post about the comments she received about guns. I thought about the victims in Tucson. I got the creepy realization the gun was aimed at women primarily. Could that be true? Why can't I find any news information to confirm or deny? One of the search results was a Current TV/InfoMania show called "Target Women." This is comedy with crosshairs. Sarah Haskins. I watched some of the episodes, including the handoff to the new host, Erin Gibson. The segment is now called Modern Lady. Then I went ziggity boom for a half hour. My recovery from ziggity boom is usually intense research. The HHRAC Report has a chart showing percentages of men and women in positions of authority in Afghanistan: legislators, judges, military, police. Tried finding the same information for USA. I don't have enough lifespan left to sort that out. Search Google for anything and you'll get two serious results, and thousands of garbage results, just using the word gender. To create some art for this post, I searched Google for "scientific symbol for female" and the 5th of 7mm results is an infected website with a stock illustration of a man strangling the scientific symbol for female. I feel sick.

60 Is The New 60

My motto is now emblazoned on my new favorite tshirt, thanks to KandK Designs' Brooke A. Stockton. I found her on etsy.com, queried, she responded immediately and set to work right away (over the weekend, too). The shirt is 100% cotton and tagless by ArtMinds, and Brooke put the saying right where I wanted it, shipped it with instructions to wash, and a business card that can be planted! If you want one just like it, go get it, and then write me about how much you love it, too. Thanks, Brooke!

Matyelok Gibbs

I saw Harry Potter VII/1 twice. I wanted to see Aunt Muriel again. She has a brief scene in the wedding tent, but the actress eats up the screen and she seemed familiar. That voice! The face! Where had I seen her before? Ah ha! Matyelok Gibbs played Andre Cassell's secretary, Miss Selma in Victor:Victoria. She was mesmerizing in that role and it was probably just as long a screen appearance as Aunt Muriel's. She was Miss Wiggins in Miss Potter; although not a speaking role, her presence is unforgettable. An actress who can command the screen while sharing the stage with Julie Andrews, Renee Zellweger, Robert Preston, Ewan McGregor, a wizenmarque of magical beings, and an equilibrist named LaClou is a powerful performer. Brava, Matyelok Gibbs!

Community

A friend told me a friend of hers had moved into South Lyon, and I called her. We met today and I feel strongly that we will be sharing: the neighborhood, questions, thoughts, nature. We are both learning and growing, and it feels good and I am grateful! Susan shared this image today (as well as good company and good coffee.)

On Becoming a Grown-Up

Just because I may have seasonal affective disorder does not mean I need a canary diamond ring. Does it? Is this drawing all I get? All right. I'll make due with the HD daylight bulb. It's not nearly as much fun curing stuff as it used to be.

Witch Taxpayers

Witches, astrologers and driving instructors (!) will now be taxpayers in Romania. The government considers these real jobs, and risking the wrath of some of that community who will gather to march to the Danube in protest, the law goes into effect this year. How'd you like to be a tax collector in Romania? Magical gifts recognized by law is exciting to some practitioners, and Ms. Minca looks forward to opening her own business.

Dale Allen "In Our Right Minds"

Dale Allen's January newsletter arrived today. Dale Allen's "In Our Right Minds" changed my brain. If you live near where she is performing, you'll want to see her in person. Meanwhile, you can enjoy an appetizer in the comfort of your own home. Her newsletter with its subhead "Guiding Women to Their Strength as Leaders: Guiding Men to Strength Without Armor" reminded me of my Finno-Ugrian ancestry - people are referred to in 3rd person, there is only one word for woman and man. Sign up for Allen's newsletter. I'll share a piece of the celebration of women ceremony: We honor her wisdom. We celebrate her journey and the life experience that makes a spiritual elder, a wise woman, a crone, a Keeper of the Flame. We all can use some sacred support on our glorious journey.

Dad's Light Rye Bread

Light rye with caraway seeds. This picture was taken while the bread was still warm, just before dinner. It's a much shorter loaf now. I made a corned beef brisket, and we could barely talk for eating and mmmm'ing. Delightful to be able to enjoy the fruits of one's labors. With all the troubles in the world, the old-fashioned goodnesses are still there for us to find, share and appreciate.

Grief Depression Stress and SAD

Went to my second Alzheimer's Disease Caregiver Support Group today. The first one I went to in another city was canceled and I didn't know so I showed up to an empty room. I was sort of relieved. This one in South Lyon had one attendee. We figured out it was probably because the notice in the community newsletter didn't have where or a phone number. Cherilyn Johnson of Sparrow's Nest Christian Counseling was the facilitator as a volunteer with the Alzheimer's Association. She brought bundles of literature, handouts, relevant books, and her good heart, training and sensible approach. I was blessed with her willingness to stay for just one person. I then doused her with the issues in my life, my father's and brother's as well. We live together. My dad is 83 and 1/2 (it's a joke with his sister who is "going on 92") and my little brother has Down's Syndrome and now Alzheimer's Disease as well. On any given day we share a brain. Dad and I are observers to Scott losing little bits of himself, and we're struggling with diminished skills among all of us. The dog contributes by losing his command cues randomly which I think is intentional because dogs just want to fit in. The dog is also lousy at knowing where the car keys are and making dinner when we're too tired. So today I admitted to holding back grief. To denying depression. To more stress than I can handle alone. AND to the possibility of Seasonal Affective Disorder which I have in the past thought of as a whiner's sort of disorder, so of course, I couldn't have it. But now I am ready to find support and help. Not drugs yet - I'm not good at medications. My depression is the worst December, January, February, and I can get through those months if I corral the SAD. I shared the meeting with a good friend, and she - bless her - said yes, SAD is real, and she knew how to find a full spectrum light bulb and she'd get me one. I bid on some yellow candles on eBay because yellow is a sunny color. Cherilyn suggested I try to bring the grief out where I can see and address it by journalling or creating. What does grief look like? Grief feels like a black hole: icy, gigantic, solid. If I painted it, no viewer would feel the distance and aloneness, and I'd use up all my black paint. I told my friend Geri that I am envisioning more of a thready feel; like trying to walk a great distance on cobwebs. Over a big icy black hole. My friend Beckie who we lost last year gave me solid footing in the world. And her warmth was like a yellow dwarf star. Now there's a black hole where her star used to be. My little brother's humor is dimmed, his presence like a fading light, and I grieve for him, too. When I cried today because I didn't know if anything I'm doing is the good or right thing to do, Cherilyn said "do you ever let yourself just cry?" I said no, but I'm going to right now for a while. She also said, "all you can offer your brother is joy and safety." And that's what I will take to heart and give back as best I'm able. Safety and joy.

VocaBeans

VocaBeans is an iPhone, iPhone touch, iTunes-downloadable application designed to assist people with aphasia, autism, closed head injury, or any language-access related issue to find words. Using VocaBeans by subject, the application allows a person to navigate their personal communication day. The VocaBeans are sorted into categories. Clicking on the category reveals pictures of everyday items in that category. A picture of a couch will show the couch, and when clicked, an audio prompt will say "couch." The user can also upload personal pictures. "Aunt" can show a picture of your favorite and say "Aunt." A new collection of VocaBeans (a BeanPod) can be gathered into favorites. An example could be titled "Medical" and have icons for requests a person in the hospital or an assisted-living facility might need. Lights off. Lights on. Need massage. Need shot. Please go. Need water. Pain levels are also addressed by degree and sort. Stings, burns, deep pain, dizzy. Bob Gallagher, the Saline, Michigan CEO of VocaBeans developed this application because he identified a need for a low-cost language assistance application. The application is new, comprehensive and it is valuable and easy to use for language retrieval. There are Beans for most subject conversations anyone would confront from waking up in the morning through going to bed at night. The application download is free, along with a basic VocaBeans BeanPod, and other BeanPods are available for purchase.

Scalia Doesn't Believe Women are Persons

Justice Antonin Scalia claims in an interview in California Lawyer that the U.S. Constitution does not protect women against discrimination because of their gender. Scalia gets both boots. I wish these were pointier. Amanda Terkel reports the wording of the 14th Amendment. Scalia doesn't believe that women are persons or citizens apparently; otherwise the man can't read. How many women were in Scalia's Harvard Law graduating class? None. Women couldn't go to Harvard way back then. How many women professors did Scalia learn from? Also none. Will the day ever come when there are none of these troglodytes left?

Michigan Pinched

Michigan's new governor of one whole day has indicated public sector workers will live with reduced benefits/wages, citing comparability with the private sector. State workers have already had wages suppressed since 2001. Snyder said it's more of a "problem" at the local and school levels. Oh goody. The governor also claims he won't raise taxes. Watch him pull a rabbit out of that hat. But the fabulously, privately well-to-do new governor still hasn't decided how much to pay himself. How about stepping into Michigan workers' shoes - those who are left working, Governor? Show us what real sacrifice is. How about no pay at all?

Yes to Ltd.

Hand lotion that moisturizes is as hard to find as the Fountain of Youth. Some make me itch, some sting, and most just don't work. Went to Walgreens today to find a hairbrush and a hand lotion. We have lots of drugstore choices in South Lyon, including either CVS 1.8 miles from each other. Walgreens has the nicest people, who all have coupons you can use falling out of their pockets, and I swear each person has the coupons memorized. I like that as it frees up my brain and skinny wallet. I stood in front of the hand lotions for 20 minutes. I've tried most all. On the top shelf was a small collection of Yes To products - Yes to carrots, Yes to cucumber. Paraben free, although I'm not sure what that does for me, and Dead Sea mud might be nice, but isn't the Dead Sea going to run out of stuff soon? Not tested on animals is extra good. The ingredients list looked appetizing with all the beneficial stuff at the top. I hesitated at the price, but I liked the art, so that's worth a couple dollars. The woman who rang the sale said if it didn't work, bring it back. Rather than risk going home and then trying, I put some on my hands in the car. I'm happy. My hands are happy. My local economy is less depressed. Animals who weren't slathered with junk are happy. Eventually high schools with gardens will be happy getting some loot from the Yes to Seed Fund nonprofit. Life is good again. I'm clapping my soft hands.

2011, A Fresh Start

Rob Brezsny horoscoped Pisces this week quoting Bertrand Russell. Anything you're good at contributes to happiness. Okay. Is that my happiness or everyone's? Nitpicking! Not this year! No. So. I'm good at this stuff on a diminishing scale of goodliness. I left out all those depressing skills, like being good at finding fault, pinpointing blame, getting in the slowest aisle at the market, saying the wrong thing at the worst time...blah blah. If I can figure out a way to leverage my assets (ow! that hurts) and maximize my value-added doowanitty, I'll be happier this year. All I have to do is not do math while sleeping to start and bundle the middle whenever possible. That I can do.