Running Off to Sea

Pavement.  Buildings.  Stress!  Cars.  Trains.  Stress!  Prairie.  Trees.  Stress!

ARGGHHH!  *two fisted hair-pulling in frustration*

I am running away to sea!  Where the view is unobstructed all the way to the horizon and I can watch for the green flash while salt spray tickles my skin.  

Will be back after a dose of ocean - possibly with pictures.

;-)

I know it's kind of late

It's late and I should be sleeping, but I added a new feature here at my blog.  At the top there are now two tabs.  I know, they don't look like tabs in this template, but that's what they are.  HOME is for my main blog.  YOUR THOUGHTS AND WHATNOT is for whatever you want to say to me - as long as it's polite, of course.  {Not polite and I'll quickly acquire something akin to John Scalzi's Mallet of Loving Correction.  *rubs chin*  Hmm, I have a machete I use for editing manuscripts ... it hacks through word jungles like anything.}

The idea for the page came from my friend Dixie, via her friend Jilly.  We all have blogs hosted by Multiply.  Don't bother looking into it now; they're shutting down the social networking/ blogging feature of the site by December to focus on eCommerce.  BUT, they have a wonderful feature called  "Guestbook" where visitors can post messages. So I'm hoping my new page will function something like the Multiply guestbook.  I may also be using it like the Multiply "Notes" where we could post little thoughts and ideas that don't warrant an entire blog post.

So, try it out (please?)  Let me know what you think about it or whatever else is on your mind.

Thanks,

Kat

Hormonal Rapsody

This one is probably more for my women readers ... ;-)

The group is The Four Bitchin' Babes.

Here, have a ...

... picture in lieu of content:

Ash in the land of Lord of the Rings

Mount Tongariro, a volcano in New Zealand's Tongariro National Park in the central part of the North Island, erupted on Monday for the first time in about 100 years.  Part of the movie "Lord of the Rings" was filmed in the area around this volcano.  (I don't know which parts.) 

 (Photo from TV NZ One news)

An ash layer around two inches thick settled on the surrounding area.  There are many active steam vents now.  There has been little seismic activity.  Geologist don't know if there will be more eruptions soon.

New Zealand is seismically active.  The islands have frequent earthquakes.  There are 27 volcanoes on the North Island (some are dormant), and there's an area known as the Aukland Volcanic Field that underlies much of the metropolitan area of Aukland.  It consists of many small dormant volcanoes.

Volcanoes have given me nightmares since I was little.  I'm not fond of earthquakes, either.  (Only been in a few, none bad.)

I still want to go to New Zealand someday ... probably Aukland.  The volcanoes are dormant and that area has many fewer earthquakes than other parts of the country.   

Marriage - It Should Be For Everyone

Any adult couple who wishes to marry should be allowed to marry.  The government (or any other group) should not determine who adults are allowed to fall in love with.  There shouldn’t be regulations that say in essence:  you can pick anyone on this side of the room, but not from that side of the room.

I was incredibly naive when I headed out into the world, overly protected by my parents.  Not quite to the level of “survival instincts of a lemming” (Terry Pratchett, Night Watch), but damn near close.  At the time I got married there were states in this country where our marriage was illegal.  I will spare you the rant of outrage when I learned that.  (Who the hell were these people to tell me who to love?  I mean, really?  REALLY!?!?!?) 

Had we traveled to those states we would not have been permitted to share a hotel room - illegal.  Anecdotal evidence from friends said in those places we might have been stopped by the police for simply being in the same car. 

We’d picked from the wrong side of the room, you see.  Caucasian - Asian.  And interracial marriage was illegal in some states.  Then. 

Then, but no longer.  Attitudes have changed.  Folks recognized that it was wrong to ban interracial marriage.   

That hypothetical room is no longer sorted by color. 

It shouldn’t be sorted by gender, either. 

It shouldn’t be sorted AT ALL! 

There should be no “wrong side of the room.”  Pick an adult, any adult.  Any color.  Any gender.  Any size.  Any nationality.  Any (fill in the blank).  Go for it.  Love each other the best you can.  If the relationship lasts, great.  If not, there’s divorce.  No one should be denied the right to try.