American Gods

I read this essay tonight (or this morning, rather), and now it's simply just not an option anymore. I have to read American Gods. From just the briefest description of what Gaiman says American Gods is about within the essay, I'm itching to have the book in my hands right now. Alas, 'tis not so.

Reading his essay got me to thinking about this. Being a first-generation American is a strange experience. Or I would imagine so. Since it is my reality, I guess I don't find it so strange, but perhaps it would be if I was an outsider looking in. I haven't really stopped to think about it in great detail until this week, when my cousin came to visit. He was in New York on business, so he took the train up to our sleepy little town. My boyfriend came over, and it was the first time he got to meet anyone from my extended family. I've been dating Dave for over two years now. His family is in the same county, state, oh heck, country. Mine is an ocean away, and has been for my entire life. So I've met at least 2/3 of his extended family, and he's met about .000001 of mine.

All these people that I've been introducing to him as my aunts or my cousins are not, in fact, relations by blood. When you have an ocean separating actual kin from kin, you learn to make do with what you have. We carved out a family in America made up of very close friends. Do I find it weird that I probably have cousins that I don't even know about? Sure.

It just seems that we all get caught up in our everyday lives, and the people that you constantly make the effort to interact with are the ones that will continue to be a part of your life. And the ones that don't make the effort or you don't make the effort for simply fall away as the time passes. I'm not sure of whether this is negative or positive. It simply is.

these dreams

I dreamt of Malaysia last night. I couldn't tell you why; I've never been there before and anything I've ever seen of Kuala Lumpur I saw in the movie Entrapment.

I was floating down a river, and at one point I was in a store buying crystals and a green-stoned multi-strand bracelet, and the saleswoman there asked me what my zodiac sign was and how old I was, and I said, "Thirty." Dave was there with me. Perhaps a future trip? I've never expressed traveling to Malaysia before. Very strange.

musings when I should be in bed

My altar has turned into a temporary catch-all surface. It is now covered with not only my pagan spiritual items (wand, incense holder, candles, crystal ball, etc.), but with my old pair of eyeglasses, bits of paper that I wrote notes on, and most of my jewelry.

Methinks I need to have more respect for my religion by making my altar... hmmm... perhaps the sacred place that it should be by definition.

Fuck it. I need to clean my entire room.

long quizzle

1. First thing you wash in the shower?
hair

2. What color is your favorite hoodie?
black with a rainbow butterfly on the back (it's an Ed Hardy hoodie)

3. Do you like coffee?
yes

5. How are you feeling RIGHT now?
eh, okay

7. Do you say aim or a-i-m?
A-I-M

8. Tell me about the last dream you remember having?
don't remember, my dreams have been hazy at best lately

9. Could you eat your favorite food everyday for a month?
what kind of question is that? OF COURSE.

10. What are you craving?
right now? an orgasm. I am such a simple creature.

11. Do you floss?
nope

12. What comes to mind when I say cabbage?
carnies

15. Would you dance with me to the taco song?
what the fuck is the taco song?

16. Have you ever counted to 1,000?
yup, probably during a car ride

17. Do you bite into your ice cream or just lick it?
lick and bite

20. Have you ever met a celebrity?
yes

21. Do you like cottage cheese?
yes

22. What's the last song you had stuck in your head?
Quickly by John Legend

23. How many countries have you visited?
including the US, 3, the other two being the U.K. and Canada

24. Are your parents strict?
my father was

25. Would you go sky diving?
yes

26. Would you go out to eat with Bush?
I would go out to eat with him if dessert was shooting him in the head and fucking the bullet hole.

27. Would you throw potatoes at him?
why waste the potatoes?

30. Do you rent movies often?
I usually buy movies

31. Who sits behind you in your math class?
uhhhhhhhh, don't take classes anymore, and especially not math classes

34. Can you count backwards from 74?
yes

35. Where are you going to be Saturday night?
watching the UFC PPV

36. Brown or white eggs?
no preferences

37. Like rap music?
depends

38. Do you currently like someone?
yes

39. Experienced the twin towers falling in New York?
saw it on TV from Binghamton... made frantic calls to my mother, considering she likes to go down to the city to do touristy things on a whim, and wouldn't rest until I heard her voice.

41. What day of the week is it?
Tuesday

42. What was your lunch?
too early for lunch

45. Ever have cream puffs?
yes, and they're good

46. Have you ever seen the Butterfly Effect?
nope

47. So, how about them Yankees?
What about them?

50. What is your bus number for school?
don't remember

51. Is your hair curly?
no, naturally wavy

52. Last time you cried?
last week in my car out of frustration

53. Ever walked into a wall?
of course. I'm a clutz.

55. Have you ever bought anything from Pac Sun?
yes, an awesome CD holder

56. Are you currently wearing socks?
yes

57. Favorite time of the year?
Fall

59. Are you a generally happy person?
yes... finally

61. The next person you'll hold hands with?
Dave

62. Do you sleep with the TV on?
sometimes

64. Do you think you're old?
no

65. Are you afraid of the darK?
nope

66. Do you like your life right now?
Yes.

67. When's the last time you chose a bath over a shower?
probably a couple months ago

68. Do you sleep with your underwear on?
yes I do

69. Do you have good vision?
nope

70. Is he hot?
absolutely

71. Could you ever forgive a cheater?
I have done, but never forgotten

72. Do you have a job?
yes

73. Describe your best friends?
the majority of time they're a source of great comfort and joy

74. What brands are you wearin?
Daniel Benjamin and Bubblegum pants

75. Can I lick you?
uh, sure?

76. Have you ever crawled through a window?
yes

77. Can you handle the truth?
I want to say yes, but sometimes the truth is really hard to hear

78. What was the most recent thing you bought?
toiletries and such from Target

79. How often do you talk on the phone?
every day.

80. Are you in a complicated relationship?
Thankfully not.

81. Do you hate more than 3 people?
does the entire human race count?

82. Have you ever tripped someone?
not intentionally

83. Are you sarcastic?
very much so

84. Have you ever slapped someone?
hells yes

85. Like to read?
I read A LOT.

86. Do you use chap stick?
not really

87. Are you too forgiving?
sometimes yes

88. Do you own something from Hot Topic?
yes

89. Do you own a gun?
nope

90. Have you made a prank phone call?
yes... "I'M HOOKED ON PHONICS AND I CAN'T GET OFF!" man, that was a good Christian retreat.

91. Have you ever been in a castle?
yes, in Wales

92. Do you like your hair?
yes

93. Do you like yourself?
sometimes

94. Are you closer to your mother or father?
mother

95. Do you chat on AIM often?
yes

98. What is the closest thing to you thats red ?
my mousepad

99. What type(s) of food do you like?
I'm willing to try lots of different foods

100. What goal(s) do you wish to accomplish by the time summer ends?
Learn how to play at least one song on my guitar.

I DID IT!

I DID IT I DID IT I DID IT!!!!!!!!!

Bookie intermission

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
A disconcerting look at a possibility of the future if women were taken away what the worked hard for... equality. I can't in good conscience give this more than a fair rating, since I found so many things in it that a copyeditor should have caught (however, I can't help but wonder if that was on purpose or not, considering women are no longer allowed to read or write within the story of the book).


View all my reviews.

Why Editing Matters

I'm a copy editor, and damn proud of it. I worked really hard to get the position, and was copyediting almost a full year in my previous position before I got my promotion to full-fledged copy editor at my job. I work at a publishing company, which is not the same as being a copy editor at a newspaper, I know, however recent news has compelled me to speak about this.

Editors and copy editors are losing their jobs at an alarming rate, and part of the reason (besides our failing economy) is that people don't see the need for that job function. I say, what could be MORE necessary? Spell check doesn't catch everything, and writers that think they're putting something coherent on the page usually are not. And really, that's to be expected... have often have you written something that differs from what you meant to say? An odd "and" instead of an "are", a misspelling of someone's name, a random typo... this are just some of the items that a copy editor would catch. Though you may not know the difference between "everyday" and "every day" ("everyday" is a modifier, such as "everyday hero", while "every day" as two words would be found in the sentence, "I brush my hair a hundred times every day"), I'm sure you would be more than a little put-off that a newspaper inadvertently had "Obbama" in print. Copy editing lends credibility... it's the constant question, "Did you really mean to say this?"

Please go to Why Editing Matters for the 118 reasons (thus far) that editing matters.

For more information about job losses in the newspaper industry, see here, or read Gene Weingarten's ode to copy editors here.