Rally to Repeal

I talk a big talk, but when it comes to actual action, sometimes I'm a bit lacking. I always vote, I donate money to organizations I believe in, but I'm not really one of those extremely motivated political activist people who is constantly up in arms about something and marching, demonstrating, and rallying. I'd like to think that if I was present back in the 1950s and 1960s, I would have been a big force for social change, but who really knows. I guess there's no accounting for laziness.

Last week, while killing time on Facebook, I noticed that a friend was attending an event called "Rally to Repeal 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.'" at Freedom Plaza Thursday at noon. This caught my eye for several reasons. One, I'm always trying to help out the gays. Two, here was a perfect opportunity to participate in something I believed in. Three, Kathy Griffin was going to be there and I think she's really funny. And four, the weather was supposed to be gorgeous and it was a good reason to get out of the office.

It turned out there was a group of us who were interested so a bit before noon we struck out from the office to Freedom Plaza to get all fired up. I would say there were several hundred people there by the time the rally got started, plus many more just in general milling around and enjoying the gorgeous lunch-time weather. There were several speakers, whose names' escape me (I know, I suck), but they were all impassioned, articulate, and excellent. Kathy was funny, as usual, and described her adventures while sitting in on the Congressional hearings addressing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," as well as the various politicos she ran into. Also, she is SO TINY in real person. Practically pocket-sized.

Kathy ended calling up a soldier who had been discharged under DADT but had been invited back by his unit. I'm not sure how common that is, but apparently it does happen. His name I remember, Dan Choi, because he kind of hijacked the rally, told everyone he was marching over to the Whitehouse, and then chained himself to the gates. I am not making this up. He was then arrested, as can happen when you chain yourself to the Whitehouse fence. From what I have been able to read in the press, it was NOT planned by the organizers of the rally for this to happen, but it sure was entertaining. Although I'm not sure that is the way to bring about real change these days. Really it just kind of makes you look like a fool. I prefer to stick with mobilizing people through inspiration, not by getting my ass arrested. But what do I know? I've only been to the one rally.

Ominous

There are a couple things that happen in life and you just KNOW something bad is coming. Example: the phone rings VERY late at night. This is not often accompanied by good news. Example: an email from your boss saying, "please come by and see me." Chances are he or she is not going to tell you won some kind of special super secret award based on excellent performance.

And another example: a long rectangular piece of paper stuck on your windshield. This usually means one of two things: you either got some kind of ticket from the fuzz, or someone bashed into your car but was "nice" enough to leave a note.

Oh, yeah. You're fucked.

So when I approached my car last night and saw just such a piece of paper attached to my car, I experienced the old "heart jumped into my throat" cliche. Your pulse speeds up, your mouth goes dry, you get a sense a hint of hysteria, and all of a sudden a million thoughts spring into your mind.

"How could I get a parking ticket in a Metro garage? I didn't park in a reserved spot did I? What about a handicapped spot? Oh, god, someone must have hit my car and left a note. Where did they get me? Is there any damage? Did they just open their door into my door and scratch it? Maybe it's all on the other side? It definitely looks like a hand-written note on lined paper. Oh, god, please let me be able to drive the car home."

And then, as I drew closer, I noticed the handwriting looked kind of familiar. I took a deep breath, grabbed the note and read:

"Marg, what are you doing at Huntington? I walked by and saw your car, wish I saw you. Love you!" --Mom @ 5 pm"

My Mom had seen my car and left me a note. Awwww. Also: THANK THE LORD. Crisis averted.

Nothing to see here, just move along....

I suppose everyone goes through periods when they feel like nothing much is happening in their lives. But it's not really true. I mean, SOMETHING is always happening, right? For example: this morning it is dreary and rainy and cold and I just want to curl back up in bed but instead I got up early to come into work because I always feel like I am not working hard enough even though I work like 6 days a week and am way ahead but still.

But that's not very interesting.

You've probably noticed that I haven't updated the blog in awhile. And it's not because I'm feeling lazy, or I've become too busy. Almost every day I ponder for a good minute or so (and that's actually a long time to ponder something, at least for me) what I could write on the blog. And I come up blank.

This is the same problem I have when people ask the question, "so what have you been up to?" Unless you've gotten engaged, married, had a baby, started a new job, or had some other life changing event, it's kind of hard to answer that question. Up until a couple months ago I used to be able to talk about how I had recently renovated my kitchen, but that's old news. Now all it seems I'm left with is, "oh, you know. Working, hanging out with friends, the usual." And while that's true, it feels really really lame to say.

So even though things have been going on lately, like that I've been busy planning a vacation to England in August, organizing a fun weekend at the end of this month for a belated birthday celebration, getting ready for a week-long work trip to Reno, rushing here and there for various social activities with friends and family, there's no real good way to relate these kind of general happenings.

So what have I been up to lately? Oh, you know. The usual.