Still unformed, embryonic

Interesting how J. T. in Cracks is a whole other entity from J. T. in The Brass Teapot...Early in the morning came a creative story idea: J followed A who was traumatized by an accidental mendicant assassin at the University of T so she turned around and said, why don't you go there and deliver a talk: destroying your own liver is no excuse for inflicting bodily harm on others, why not? Bonus points if the ama is one of J's biggest fans (no guarantees)...An aside to the ama, especially if accused of lying: you're an alcoholic amnesiac. After the alarm went off, a lizard in front of the fridge brought back a dream from long ago: an iguana clung to a bunch of garlic like it was medicine. One friend convinced another that it should be tossed out the window. She was laughing. It began screaming and secreting brown liquid. A la niña querida de lamancha: después de que los detalles acerca de las cremalleras y látigos de cuero ¿alguna vez piensas en escribir acerca de tu madre? The lizard was very still, but moved to evade the human hands and large tupperware container which sought to humanely catch it. It disappeared into a crack between the cupboards. However did it get inside? Perhaps it eats crickets.

An Easter resolution

Today my new phone actually "rang" (emitted inoffensive ringtone noises.) I've been mostly texting so I'm still a novice at answering it (and failed to do so) but I was able to call back. The caller was an older woman who used to take care of my sister and me when we were kids.  She has an aide who answered the phone for her. I guess her eyesight is not what is was, but her voice startled me. She sounds as sprightly as ever. The call was short because she is a live-in-the-moment type who is not one for long phone conversations. Her main question was when would she be able to see me next. She said she looked forward to meeting up with me again "when the time is right for us."

In the next 12 months, I will try to get better at getting "out there."

~~~

She also said it was good I am figuring what I want to be when I grow up....

Song drifting in from yesterday...

https://soundcloud.com/chillosophie/nightmares-on-wax-master-plan

Leads to flowers

"Since the advent of the viral rhyme 'stranger danger' in the 1970s (and the 90 percent reduction in roaming area for children playing outdoors), we've seen correlating negative health statistics. Most children in this country don't play outside anymore, they don't go far when they do, and their bodies and minds are paying the price."

~ Let Them Be Eaten By Bears, page 5.

The Let Them Be Eaten By Bears author on violent video games.

~~~

"In college I went shooting with my dad, sister and brother. I'd been playing Resident Evil for a few weeks. As soon as I had a little .22 rifle in my hand and I saw my brother a few yards away, I had this sudden urge. My brain screamed 'shoot him!'    

Seriously.

It only happened for a split second. It's not like it affected my actions at all, or was even close to happening. I felt sick about it, in fact. I wanted to throw up just for thinking it. Only recently have I thought about that moment and not felt sick to my stomach."

~ Temporary Focus post on violent video games.

~~~

Went looking for The End Of Boys and somehow wound up finding Otherhood.

~~~

Then the post about the flower artwork on the cover:

http://melanienotkin.com/2014/02/28/otherhood-meaning-behind-the-cover/

~~~

And then was looking for that book review that called the cover with a girl and flowers on it "feeble" but at first I couldn't remember the title correctly and wound up reading about A Taste of Honey.

~~~

"Ciezadlo tells the story of a young Iraqi girl about to celebrate her 11th birthday in 2003. She had been out of school for a week because of a bombing that occurred on the first day of Ramadan that year, and her mother decided she wanted to get her a cake, because she was beginning to go 'utterly stir-crazy' at home.

'This would seem like a simple thing, right?' Ciezadlo asks. But in Baghdad at that point in time, conditions had begun to deteriorate. Driving around town looking for just the right birthday cake was not only an act of bravery, but also a tremendous act of love, because it was so dangerous.

'It became this odyssey for her mother,' Ciezadlo explains. The cake, she says, became a symbol of everything they couldn't have — like normalcy."

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/13/134455829/day-of-honey-the-unifying-sweetness-of-food

More personal healthcare stories

Thousands of young California immigrants eligible for health insurance but don’t often know it

More than 200,000 Los Angeles County residents to be forced into managed health care

Peter Lee, California health exchange chief, reflects on successes and glitches

~~~

There actually are some articles that focus on people. They just seem quite a bit harder to find than the stories that are mostly talking about numbers. It is at least a little bit encouraging to see some media interest in these stories...

From Susan Abram:

"Jackson James, 29, of North Hollywood, said he enrolled almost three months ago and his coverage has yet to begin. He keeps receiving mixed messages about his Medi-Cal status, he said, and telephone and online chats with Covered California and Medi-Cal have yielded no answers.

'It’s unbelievable,' said the freelance camera operator. 'I did what I was supposed to do, which was to get insured.'

James said he carried a catastrophic insurance plan before, but he let that lapse after he was certain he had enrolled through Covered California. After meeting with a counselor Friday, he said the issue had yet to be resolved.

'I was told to call her Monday,' he said. 'I just kind of feel pinned down by the whole thing.'”

http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20140328/thousands-of-californians-expected-in-last-minute-enrollment-into-obamacare

Mural

http://livingnewdeal.berkeley.edu/projects/fullerton-post-office-mural-orange-pickers-fullerton-ca/

Mornings

This morning:

Felt trapped, as if I couldn't sleep or move because of ripples in my brain, followed by some chronic pain (always arresting.) But, that didn't last forever. So, the later morning could be better / more productive (possible trip to DPSS?)

Yesterday morning:

Weeded some plants and got stared at by a cow. A girl* I never met before came walking by and acted superfriendly. She told me of her love of theater and gave me some of her and her mom's tips for growing fruit and flowers. Actually, she passed by and talked to me about that twice. She skipped as she walked away the second time.

*She said her name was Gabi

NUMBersNUMBersNUMBersNUMBers

800,000 STILL WAITING IS STILL A LOT OF PEOPLE!

From http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/health/Covered-California-sign-ups-exceed-projections-255697171.html

"Overall, the Obama administration had projected California would enroll 1.3 million during the first enrollment period, which began Oct. 1. Covered California said the state had set a target of around 830,000.

The state also accepted the expansion of the low-income health insurance program that was offered under the federal health care law.

Toby Douglas, director of the California Department of Health Care Services, said more work should be done to make Medi-Cal, California's version of Medicaid, more user-friendly and efficient. While roughly 1.9 million people gained coverage through Medi-Cal as a result of the federal overhaul, about 800,000 people are still waiting for their applications to be processed."

This is literary?

I've seen references to Kafka, Vonnegut...I am not sure if this health insurance sign up confusion makes me want to read anything, except for maybe The Depression Workbook.

 

 

 

Room for debate?

Need yoga?

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-last-day-to-sign-up-for-covered-california-20140415,0,7539534.story#axzz2z9eDNH63

Need legislation?

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_25540051/norma-j-torres-covered-california-needs-more-diversity

Trying and failing to get health insurance as things keep chugging along and almost no one seems to care is pretty degrading.

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/04/05/should-los-angeles-new-yorkify

The Healthcare Hornswoggle Saga

Eat Pray Love Get Rich...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

http://www.theonion.com/articles/american-obesity-epidemic-traced-to-single-heavyse,35640/?ref=auto

http://www.theonion.com/articles/woman-takes-short-halfhour-break-from-being-femini,35026/?ref=auto

http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-appalled-at-date-who-lied-slightly-more-than-h,35777/

http://www.theonion.com/articles/company-president-started-out-as-fertilized-embryo,35484/?ref=auto

andwon'tsomeonethinkof...

phphphphphphphph

whatdoesitMEANwhatdoesitMEANwhatdoesitMEANwhatdoesitMEAN
whatdoesitMEANwhatdoesitMEANwhatdoesitMEANwhatdoesitMEAN
whatdoesitMEANwhatdoesitMEANwhatdoesitMEANwhatdoesitMEAN

Dear DPSS

Instead of giving me more phone #s and application #s and dead ends, why can't you invite me to come in and just apply in person? I can bring books and wait for half a day if you have a bathroom.

And OH! I can also bring my new phone! Loyalty plan = I don't have to pay extra for fancy phone I can watch videos on and such. I was only minutely disappointed to learn that I cannot use Leafsnap on it. 

It only took me 10 minutes to fix a problem with my cell phone company this morning.

Salient

He who introduces me to interesting films by female directors that I might not otherwise have heard of...

Cracks (http://lacinematkdejoemarlango.blogspot.com)

The Milk of Sorrow (http://stalepopcornau.blogspot.com)

Surprisingly Absorbing

The tiny pieces that make up this puzzle:

http://www.unclesgames.com/product_info.php/cPath/4_582_585_606/products_id/14622

And it's great to find a picture of it online, since "AMERICANA" and "500" are obscuring big portions of the corners on the box from the 99 cent store.

Fortuitousness

I found an online reference to a show about an artist I was curious about, even though I spelled his name "Tebow."

http://www.scpr.org/programs/offramp/2014/03/05/36332/pop-art-icon-wayne-thiebaud-the-old-pie-man-tells/ 

From http://ldavick.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-treat.html

From http://ldavick.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-treat.html

Squash excitement

http://eastofedenfarms.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/patty-pan-not-peter-pan/

http://www.lowcarbkitty.com/recipe-flying-squashers-with-tomato-ragout/

http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/uncategorized/2010/06/09/peter-pan-squash/

I feel excited about squashes.

I don't know if I am as excited about self-watering containers; I don't want them the squashes to get blossom-end rot.

~~~~~

Squash amusement!

http://www.lowcarbkitty.com/pattypan-squash-vegetable-or-ghost/

http://ohsheglows.com/2010/07/20/pretty-in-the-pan-stuffed-patty-pan-squash/

http://chickensintheroad.com/farm-bell-recipes/stuffed-patty-pan-squash/

http://andloveittoo.com/growing-up-isnt-so-bad-peter-pan-squash-spiced-oven-fries/

tired to tiresome

Is writing and getting published your highest calling? Do you find yourself able to teach a text, but perhaps less able to apply your principles to real life situations?  Do you mostly feel sorry for that accidental mendicant assassin because s/he's got so many problems, too? Do you suppose s/he's tenured yet? Is that problematic for you? Do you care that big schools are rampant with assault everywhere? Have you done anything about it lately? If you'd had enough experience with any of these types of old-but-still-going-ons, you might feel you'd got away from a very sick system that is horribly untrustworthy, low on self-critique, possibly even worse than the military, too much.

Just a song coincidence

Audio Bullys - Shot You Down feat. Henry Mancini - Lujon Remix

On Tuesday, sometime between noon and 1 p.m., I heard a remix of "Bang Bang" (possibly the one I posted above) while I was in the car. I am not sure, since I cannot find it listed on the radio station's playlist. (Frustrating!) But as I was searching for it last night, I happened to find out that it had been in a movie (which I didn't remember for some reason) and that the movie version of it was recently given the cabaret treatment... 

~~~~~

Lujon ~ Henry Mancini