Um

I saw a sidebar ad for a new movie this morning:

Vacation is over for a group of travelers when a bus accident leaves them stranded in a Brazilian jungle that holds an ominous secret. Come to foxatomic.com to find out how you can win your own tropical getaway!

Wow, I'm not sure that's a tropical getaway I want to pursue, actually.

NaBloPoMo

Um...yeah.

So the first day of NaBloPoMo, at 7:15 a.m., Mom called from Oregon to tell me Dad had had a series of "mini-strokes" during the night. (And let me tell you, her use of the diminutive "mini" did nothing to allay my immediate panic.)

Dad was in the hospital for almost a week, I took a train down for a long weekend--and things turned out okay. Dad suffered no permanent effects from the "mini-strokes" (TIA's, apparently), and after starting on blood thinners had no more of them.

But needless to say, my NaBloPoMo participation was shot. (There is no internet in Reston.) (Okay, there is, but it's dialup, yo. And you usually have to start it up two or three times in order to get a halfway decent connection speed. I just didn't deal with it. I was mostly at the hospital anyway.)

More bad news followed hard upon the heels of Dad's stroke, and then some more stressful news on top of that, and I spent a week scrambling to find a place to move into at the end of the month. Now that's settled, and we "just" have to pack everything and put most of it in storage.

So here's the thing, Internet: I'm bucking the establishment and doing MY NaBloPoMo month in DECEMBER. Ha! Take that, establishment! I defy you! I refuse to conform!

Yeah, that's the ticket--this is all about cool, youthful rebellion, and not a series of unfortunate events that forced me to postpone my participation against my will.

Anyway. Watch this space in December as I, lonely, straggle in with a month of consecutive daily posts.

Sigh

So I just got an email newsletter from the Sojourners that contained the following line:

In this election, both the Religious Right and the secular Left were defeated, and the voice of the moral center was heard."

And I just had to go remove myself from the email list. Really? So there's no morality in secular folks, I guess. Hush my mouth! Thanks, Jim Wallis.

Home

At the train station in Eugene two people stood just out of the boarding line, huddled against the wall out of the rain. Their faces close together, they smiled into each other's eyes and murmured endearments too personal to watch--I looked away until they parted, one of them slowly boarding the train with many glances back at the other.

Their bond had been palpable as they stood together, and I started thinking about the way two people's love becomes almost a thing of its own, a thing with heft and solidity and presence. It's like they were building a structure, the two of them, something bigger than either of them that could enclose them both inside it.

And if that's the way of it, then we've built ourselves a house together by now. It looks awfully crooked sometimes from the outside, I know, but the envelope is sealed, I assure you. Inside there are solid floors and straight walls. There are small rooms in you that I can hide myself in, and rooms with tall windows that we can look out from together. There is a room with a fireplace where a big black dog likes to snooze, and a small music studio lined with instruments. You can always find hot schnitzel ready in the kitchen, and the little garden beside the back door is always in season.

Wherever we go, you and I, whatever we do, this house stands. It's become a place of its own in the past few years, and it will stand on its own regardless of what happens to us. And more than a house, it's become my home, and your home, and such a home cannot be razed or burnt, cannot be pulled down by other hands that mean us harm. This one place they cannot touch. Neither moth nor rust can consume it, and no thief knows the way to break through and steal the treasure we've laid up there.

No matter what, I will always dwell with you in this house we have built. Know that. The fire will always be lit when you arrive, the dog wagging eagerly down the walkway, and my own self standing in the doorway to welcome you home, now and forever.

Against Entropy

The worm drives helically through the wood
And does not know the dust left in the bore
Once made the table integral and good;
And suddenly the crystal hits the floor.
Electrons find their paths in subtle ways,
A massless eddy in a trail of smoke;
The names of lovers, light of other days—
Perhaps you will not miss them. That’s the joke.
The universe winds down. That’s how it’s made.
But memory is everything to lose;
Although some of the colors have to fade,
Do not believe you’ll get the chance to choose.
Regret, by definition, comes too late;
Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate.

—John M. Ford

ATTENTION US MILITARY PERSONNEL

[From Making Light:]

You are not required to obey an unlawful order.

You are required to disobey an unlawful order.

You swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The Constitution states (Article VI):

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Here is article 3, the common article, to the Geneva Conventions, a duly ratified treaty made under the authority of the United States:

Article 3

In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:

1. Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.

To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:

(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;

(b) Taking of hostages;

(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;

(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

2. The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.

An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.

The Parties to the conflict should further endeavour to bring into force, by means of special agreements, all or part of the other provisions of the present Convention.

The application of the preceding provisions shall not affect the legal status of the Parties to the conflict.

Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions is straightforward and clear. Under Article VI of the Constitution, it forms part of the supreme law of the land.

You personally will be held responsible for all of your actions, in all countries, at all times and places, for the rest of your life. "I was only following orders" is not a defense.

What all this is leading to:

If you are ordered to violate Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, it is your duty to disobey that order. No "clarification," whether passed by Congress or signed by the president, relieves you of that duty.

If you are ordered to violate Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, this is what to do:

1. Request that your superior put the order in writing.
2. If your superior puts the order in writing, inform your superior that you intend to disobey that order.
3. Request trial by courtmartial.

You will almost certainly face disciplinary action, harassment of various kinds, loss of pay, loss of liberty, discomfort and indignity. America relies on you and your courage to face those challenges.

We, the people, need you to support and defend the Constitution. I am certain that your honor and patriotism are equal to the task.

--Jim Macdonald

Gifts

Summer, five years ago, I started chatting with this one guy online. Nobody--including me--believed in 2001 that anything serious would come of all the time I spent emailing and chatting with him, but within a year he'd moved to Seattle. Then on this date in 2004 we stood up in front of a small crowd of sweltering friends and family and promised to take care of each other.

So on we go together, you mountain-climbing maniac. Mwah.

Flowers are Pretty

In Which I Am Unbearably Full of Myself

First: I forgot to mention that I rode my bike to work two weeks ago for the first time.

I did it on a Sunday so I would have no time pressures in finding the best route to work--i.e., the route with the fewest opportunities for a grim driver in an SUV to unwittingly--or deliberately--crush me to death. So: side street down to Aurora, bike lane partway around Green Lake and up Ravenna, non-arterial street through the U District, Burke Gilman trail to the Montlake Bridge, sidewalk across the bridge, trail under highway 520, and side streets to work.

I took it easy, like I said. This was three Sundays ago, a clear sunny day that nearly hit 90 degrees. I found the route I'd marked out on the map, and I made it back home again with nary a scratch.

And I had a blast! I hadn't realized it, but my brain associates getting on a bicycle with being on vacation from all the summer breaks spent riding bikes around the property. I found myself cruising down Brooklyn Avenue with a big smile on my face, enjoying the wind in my hair and the bright morning sun.

So I did it on a workday, four times since then. It's almost exactly 6 miles one way and in a stroke of brilliant convenience, the home-to-work way is mostly downhill. I can cruise to work in 35 minutes (driving to work takes a little more than 20 minutes, usually) and hardly break a sweat, change my clothes and be ready for work in two shakes of my little chamois. I've ridden about 60 miles in the last two weeks. That's not much, really, but it's 60 miles farther than I rode in the 2 weeks before that, anyway.

Second: I was coerced into going with a friend to Wild Waves / Enchanted Village in Federal Way last Saturday, and for the first time in my life I went on a roller coaster that goes upside-down.

I went on it twice.

Uncharmed ones

Chloe's been slightly favoring one paw so we took it slow on our walk tonight. We ambled down to the park and strolled around in the playground for a few minutes. A group of teenagers was clustered in and around a car parked on the street next to the park. Their voices carried across the park. "Oh, quit it!" screeched one girl. "Just stop hexing me!"

I casually led Chloe a little closer, interested in hearing more about the hex. The girls kept up their chatter, bits of it carrying to me across the street. "...I bet she was a total virgin..."

"...Ohmigod, I turned soooo red..."

"...Right, that's when it started, like right after we had sex in the car!..."

Chloe snuffled in the grass at my feet. I decided "hex" was probably one a them newfangled slang words I'm too square to understand, when I heard the girl say it again. "Dude, I told you to stop hexing me!"

I glanced over, curious. "You've already hexed-ed me like eight times already!"

Oh, texted. Well, that's a disappointment then.