M.I.A.

i am moving to Canadia and you can't stop me!!! and the following are 2 reasons why:

1- they are progressive:
Is Gender-Based Pricing Fair?
TORONTO (Reuters) - Most women, accustomed to paying more than men for goods and services like clothes and hair cuts, simply shrug it off as part of life, but an Ontario legislator hopes to end all that.

Lorenzo Berardinetti wants to brand so-called gender-based pricing a human rights violation and he has introduced a bill in the Ontario legislature to make the practice illegal.
Berardinetti said on Tuesday he was shocked when he and his wife took clothes to a dry cleaners and she ended up paying more for similar items.
"I get charged one price and she gets charged another price for virtually the same material," he said.
Berardinetti said that opened his eyes to an experience women have long learned to deal with, namely higher prices for clothes, shoes, hair cuts and other services.
"The bill would ... amend the human rights code in Ontario to make gender pricing discriminatory and it would also allow for penalties to be levied from C$2,000 to C$5,000," he said.
The bill -- "An Act to Prohibit Price Discrimination on the Basis of Gender" -- will be debated in the legislature in April in the second phase of a four-stage process toward a bill making its way into law. If it passes a final third reading, royal assent then sees it written into law.

2- we are stifled by our own bi-partisan divisive attitudes- ON EVERYTHING:
Ann Coulter has had a few too many smokes'n'chardonays....
her latest rant is paralleling the Terry Schiavo case to anything democratic'n'wrong.

"Democrats have called out armed federal agents in order to: (1) prevent black children from attending a public school in Little Rock, Ark. (National Guard); (2) investigate an alleged violation of federal gun laws in Waco, Texas (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms); and (3) deport a small boy to Cuba (Immigration and Naturalization Service).
So how about a Republican governor sending in the National Guard to stop an innocent American woman from being starved to death in Florida? Republicans like the military. Democrats get excited about the use of military force only when it's against Americans. "

it seems as though she will find the partisan aspect of any issue and run with it.
but the other end of that, Wonkette.... http://www.wonkette.com wrong, but funny-

"• hmmm...maybe terry schiavo will die today and rise again on sunday. we could start a new religion--the schiavists. the priests could be called activist judges and would molest congressmen instead of children."

when Emilie and i were in high school, our parents went out of town at the same time. it was a wednesday nite and we decided to go to deep ellum because we were biggurls and we could do whatever we want!!! so we go- there is absolutely nothing going on except there were filming part of 'WalkerTX Ranger' (<-- lame!) and so we tried to blend in hoping to be extras, i don't think we did, wouldn't be able to know b/c i never watched the show. but anyway- we had to pee, REAL BAD, so we go into Cafe Brazil, and beeline for the bathroom. we enter and discover that there is only one toilet, and don't care b/c there are no secrets. i go, emilie goes- and mid-stream there is a loud beating on the door and someone yells 'FUCKIN' LEZ-BOW'S!!!' yeah, that goes over like a refridgerator in a burlap sack... i was young, dumb, and going to kick somebawdies ass! Em finishes and i'm pissed that anyone would feel the right to yell that, and Em is embarrassed that she's been accussed of being a l-e-s-b-i-a-n. we exit said bathroom and the only ppl in the place are sitting at a table not far from the door, but somewhat out of the way- Emilie is saying, 'let's just leave, please let's just go' and i'm buh-lazin' a trail to that table... not wanting to assume- i asked the small group of darkly dressed, purple tressed, combat boot wearing, young'n'angry freakshows if they saw anybody knock on the bathroom door because they were rude. and the most weird represenative said, 'uh, no we didn't see anybody.' and b/c as i stated was younger and somewhat aggressive- i said, 'good, because that would make them a real asshole.' I think Emilie was holding the door open not too close to confrontation, and not outside in the scary city. we then left, got uber lost on our way home, and have never forgotten that Emilie and i have been referred to in a lot of ways but that, as we have condensed it to, 'effinL's!' truly, i cannot imagine my life without the love of my best friend... alleged lesbians or not!

the first day of the conference was very interesting. went to the first to workshops, met someone at lunch, we went to the next to workshops together. So there is a music, art, and film festival going on downtown (south by southwest, aka: sxsw)- Courtney and i catch the shuttle downtown and manage to get some free beer- which is nice.
we enjoyed live music, good company, and a bathroom that was located on stage next to the band. yeah- that's real normal.
day two of the conference proved to be very informative- there was a workshop about rape eroticized in cinema, really interesting. There was a showing of an independent film called 'searching for angela shelton.' http://www.searchingforangelashelton.com/index.html
if you get a chance to see- i recommend it, it was very interesting.
thursday there were only 2 conferences and then the plane ride home. that seemed to go off with out a hitch.
i missed my cats!

it would just be too much to unload the entire events of the last week so i will share them in increments. so the conference was phenomenal. http://taasa.org/ I met some great people- I hope to keep in touch with a few.
at any rate- i flew to Austin- which, i realize is really about the same time as driving, but i had no desire to traffic the spring breakers. so i check my bag, i'm entering the terminal and i'm pulled out of the line to be wanded- i say wanded b/c that's exactly what the gentleman did he waved his black, menacingly beeping wand from head to toe. now i would like to point out that there is a man behind me in line, possibly of middle eastern decent, has the deer in headlights look, so i was glad that i was selected and while this doesn't seem like that big of a deal- this large black, intimidating man waiving a phallic object over my body- then takes the opportunity to educate me to the fact that,
"ma'am, your fly is down"
and really- where does one go from there because a thank you just doesn't seem appropriate or enough. i wanted to tell him that i prefer 'miss' to 'ma'am' but that would have come from a place of embarrassment and i really just wanted to get to my plane!
i get on the plane, i get to the hotel, i jump on the bed, i get extra shampoo and conditioner.
i go to bed.

"THIS IS WHAT A FAMILY LOOKS LIKE!!!" what do we want? "EQUALITY!" when do we want it? "NOW!"
and those were the rally cries at the march in Austin today. I, along with a willing partner, drove (really i slept about an hour each way- so i'm not complaining) down to Austin at the ass-crack of dawn to participate in the LGRL http://www.lgrl.org/home/ march for family equality. i was surprised to see how many people came out (<-- ha ha, funny straight pun!) to support gay and lesbian families. fyi- there are 2 (not 1 but 2) proposed ammendments to the state constitution to keep marraige between a man and a woman- when will we learn that exclusionary policies don't have a place in our government or in our constitution?!? at any rate, there were several people from dallas- i found the president of the Dallas County Young Democrats there. there were people marching from Houston and Lubbock was the most distant that i saw. it was moving. it was rewarding. it was democracy in its purest form, people showing symbolic support in solidarity and i, in true meredith fashion- made t-shirts! that's right, for only the asking you too can have a t-shirt of your own that say 'straight but NOT narrow' complete with pink triangle.
we had an amazing time! i'm so glad i took the opportunity to go.
activism completes me. i've got to run for office- seeing this, participating in this- makes me comfortable in my own skin. this is the change i wish to see- this is the change i am apart of...
i'll try to get some pictures up later- democracy and an upcoming conference all next week makes me sleepy!
IN SOLIDARITY- mMm

the st.patrick's day parade on lower greenville is always fun. i enjoy watching people attempt walking after they're consumed enough green beer to float their car keys. so Emilie and i go, 1- b/c Em's sister lives down there and they have a party every year and B- b/c Em's sister lives down there and we have a place to park (which is nice). so we go, we drink beer here, we drank beer there (i'll skip the part where i wore blisters into my feet due to the insane distance we walked to get to the effin bar). so we get to the service bar or rather 'The Service Bar' get a free beer, we are cute, and then like the wild twenty somethings we are- we head home by 10. yeah, we're animals. but here's where the wild truly begins- we make it a blockbuster night. we make our selections and as we are leaving there is one of those lame-ass ginormous signs for a new blood/guts/gore games and Emilie says , and this is a quote, "that is the stupidest name ever- god of qwar' only it wasn't so much Qwar as it was an omega symbol and just war- not only does this illustrate the creative jean-ee-ous of my best friend. and i'm reduced to a laughing mess and the sour apple sweet tart i just put in my mouth tries it's damnedest to come out of my nose.
we're sitting at the light- laughing- enjoying the moment that only we truly know and she outs me- 'yeah... you're gonna blog about this, aren'tchu?"
...i have no idea what she's talking about.

so i don't leave the office today until 6 or so. and i'm on my way to target before i go home and i'm thinking- i... just...want...togo...home. there is this woman (complete with fuzzy hair grey hair) in an older model faded red 2door chevy cavalier. the black bumper has seen better days and it's share of hits. i find myself becoming agitated because she's on her cell phone trying to drive and trying to move into the next lane and is clearly having difficulty doing both at the same time. i'm in the far right lane and she moves to the center lane. she's creeping along (stay with me...) and i roll up next to her and i'm wanting to see what kinda shit is goin' on. this woman has an earpiece in- cell phone in one hand (because she can?) and steering with the other. but all that takes a backseat (metaphorically and...well, shit- it was all in the backseat because i'm uncertain who was driving) to the conversation.
i don't know who she was talking to, but whoever it was was very lucky. she was laughing so hard that she had clearly had tears. she was laughing and her windows were down and she was truly in a moment. my irritation for her lack of attention joined her attention- in the backseat.
she and lucky were in a place that only they know.

i'm going to go do laundry now- i've put it off for too long!

sometimes when he looks at me i think he sees the guilt that i harbor. stanley is such a loving cat, and we joke that stan would have totally been one of the kids picked on in dodgeball. he wheezes, coughs, and has been known to throw-up on more than one occasion. and i don't know if it's because of the dark contrast between the black fur and the bright green of his eyes, but it seems as though when i look at stanley he is staring at me. sometimes i wonder if he's pissed because i've lost so much weight, or if he really just wants me to pet him or maybe he's just gas-ie.
Tonight Emilie and i stayed in and managed to waste an entire evening on the internet- i heart new music (sidebar: i love my music and i love a good cover tune, dashboard confessionals doing R.E.M.'s nightswimming: good, g-u-d) and Im-lee found some good stuff. SNL was a re-run, lame and i have managed to eat my own weight in food today. but i digress- so Em is walking around and comes up behind stanley, unexpectedly evidently, and stan assumes the position (crouched on all four, head extended from body, tail straight out) and goes to town ah-weezin'. we're used to this, he does this all the time. we've tried to break him of this habit by saying things like, 'you don't have to do that, we love you anyway' and, 'faker', or my favorite, 'cover your mouth-uh.' at any rate, Emilie startles him, he wheezes, and Emilie busts out with- 'DUDE, I DIDN'T MEAN TO SCARE THE WHEEZE OUTA YA.' he stops, looks, and i know that if he had digits, he would have totally flipped her off.

a friend of mine sent me an email today and i have to share this story b/c it just made me laugh!
so he works in, what i can only imagine, an 'office space'- cube oriented office. he goes to talk to a friend/co-worker/office friend person and while en route takes the opportunity to put a ricolla throat lozenge in his mouth. normally a mundane benign task however i think the anticipation was so much that upon entering said friends space w/ afore mentioned lozenge- he then proceeds to loose that ricolla- ONTO FRIENDS KEYBOARD.
yeah- he accidentally spit his cough drop onto someone's keyboard, had to clean it, and then had no cough drop. <-- that sucks. does the mild embarassment of the incident become secondary to the loss of the much anticipated lozenge or does one worry about the embarrasement?
stories of projectile spit are good but still must take a backseat to vomit-stories.
our moral today is: speak softly when satisfying oral fixations!