Freakazoids...Please Report to the Kitchen Floor

Well crud. I meant to wait 'til Sunday for my solo kitchen dance party, but then the rhythm got me and made me shake my booty two days early.

Eh, I blame it on the boogie.

Total time: 44:44.

Darling Nikki's the cool down...

The Guts to Be Grateful

For as long as I have this blog, I think I will always post Ten Things on Thanksgiving. Here goes:

I am thankful for…

1. My Mamar being the gutsiest broad I know. And my Daddy, for being an honorary gutsy broad. And for both of them passing down their inner ass-kicker genes.
   


2. Reconnecting with friends from childhood this year and gaining a sense of rootedness and being from somewhere that I don't think I have ever felt (I’m an only child who's moved 23 times since I turned 18…call your siblings.)


3. The opportunity to coach for Girls on the Run this year, and give back to the sport.
   


4. All the supportive words and thoughts that got me over the finish line at Ironman Louisville this year.
   


5. My childhood friends, Scott and Ana, for hosting/caring/cheering for me as I completed my first marathon last December.
   


6. Having a body that allows me to participate in sports (a mind to rhyme and two hype feet).
   


7. Having the money to participate in this ridiculously expensive hobby.
   


8. Still having Rocky with me to nuzzle and humor me through impromptu solo dance parties in the kitchen. (I miss you, Bootsie and Dinah!)
   


9. The group that I play ultimate with being patient and laid back enough to make me feel welcome on the field.


10. You.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

What Happens in the Kitchen...

...gets posted on the blog.

It started innocently enough as music to cook by but quickly degenerated into a full-body boogie-down...with my dog. Well, he was a good sport for about half a song and then took off. Eh, it was fun while it lasted. Maybe it's just because this is my first day back after two weeks with the flu, but I've decided to incorporate a Sunday night kitchen dance party into my weekly routine. Here's the playlist from the inaugural throwdown. To be clear, TLC is the cool-down.

I'm such a nerd.

Total time: 40:40

Country-Fried Introspection

Methinks I am just exactly where I need to be.

Dance Biscuit

Watch, then I'll comment.



1) I don't know how or why, but this makes me like (respect?) Justin Timberlake a little bit more.
2) I am currently on a mission to incorporate "dance biscuit" into my everyday vocabulary.

Usage:
"Oh man, the girl in the video below totally drops a dance biscuit."
"The girl in this video IS a total dance biscuit.


Watch to the end...SO worth it.



Yes, I'm going to be like this until I'm well enough to work out again.

One Flu Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I've been out with the flu for the last week. Still not 100%, but at least my body temp has returned to normal (I hovered around 96 the last couple days) as have my appetite and sense of smell.

I've heard about certain smells evoking memories, and last night as my own sense of smell returned, a cup of tea propelled me back to my college days. For me, "sleepy time" tea (and its equivalents) equals December 1994; orange spice, December 1996. I guess one of the cool things about having moved around a lot is that when a smell (or a song) transports me to another time, I also get to go on a little daytrip to a specific and special place.

"Sleepy Time" Tea: Dec 1994 -- Sonoma State University, CA
I lived in a quiet part of California's wine country and was completing my last semester at SSU (I was about to transfer to the 2nd of four schools I attended for undergrad). Sleepy tea reminds me of walking to my 7:45am English class as well as falling asleep in my Monday night Theater class. Seriously, who takes sleepy tea with them to class?!

Orange Spice Tea: Dec 1996 -- Seattle, WA
Orange Spice tea reminds me of my second visit to Seattle (I had gone earlier that summer), a couple years before I moved there. I was spending the holidays with the Love of My Life. I managed to come down with the flu on the plane -- and ruptured my eardrum on the landing.

Within the first couple days, we met up with his folks in downtown Seattle to see Singin' in the Rain. I just remember being very cold and miserable because I was sick, but somehow ending up after a long walk at Westlake Center (which is why I chose a pic of the Clock Walk over one of the Space Needle) and feeling really really bad for the horses that were being made to drag carriages behind them.

I also remember there was an engagement party for one of his college friends (that marriage was doomed from the start). I went to bed early because I was sick, but I do remember hearing something about one of the boys (Mossy?) making out (or trying to) with the bride-to-be's mother while the others (The Cray, Wewer, and maybe Garske) were hiding in the bushes/behind a car... can you believe these guys are 7-10 years older than me?!

I think that New Year's someone else in the group threw a disco party. I managed to find an AWESOME Phyllis/Rhoda dress at Goodwill. (Oh how I wish I still had that thing!) I've got it on good authority that there is a picture of me in it still floating around...

There was also a wicked snowstorm that year that derailed Joe's Miata, I went toe-to-toe with Moosie at World Wraps, spent a quiet evening in for my 21st birthday with a very tasty coconut cake but celebrated later at Moon China (oh that almond chicken!), didn't get carded when I eventually ordered my first legal drink at an Irish pub (rats!), collapsed in a heap from the flu at Christmas, and eventually went home early because my dad was lonely for my mom who was in the Philippines.

Yeah. ALL of that popped in my head when I got the first whiff of my orange spice tea.

Typos Rick!

Some of you know how much I like the phrase "what the crap?"

Today it came out like this:

"What the carp?!"

Thus, my new favorite phrase was born.

Then I found this:


Seriously. What the mother carp?!

A Guest Post

My friend Sara sent this in an e-mail to all her friends with the preface "If I had a blog I'd post this on it, but I don't."

So I'm lending her my space.

Obama Wins
by Sara K.

I feel obliged to write my account of the events for history’s sake. Other things I’ve witnessed that I should have or did write down, they would be the WTO march in Seattle and Sept 11.

I’d been obsessively following the polls for weeks so I was pretty confident Obama would win. It’s not like I was surprised he did.

The couple of days leading up to the election and particularly the day of, I had thoughts of “I’ve got to stay alive to see this.” I took care crossing the street, making sure I’d live long enough to cast my vote.

Sandro and I cast our votes during lunch time, waiting an hour in line, during which time we realized our neighbors are mostly white and look like cool artsy Marin people. The mood in line was light hearted but serious. In line I prayed for peace and safety, and reminded myself that being born in 1912, my grandma Ruth was born before women had suffrage rights. A friend later told me of a friend, a Latino, who cried in the ballot box as he cast his vote. I checked and rechecked that I’d darkened the circle right next to Obama/Biden, and Sandro later told me he cast the vote for Obama, and then pulled the sheet out to make sure it was marked next to #10, as it was supposed to be. I guess if I had a better grasp of technology and spacial relations I would have pulled the sheet out too, rather than just staring at the dark circle I’d filled out.

And then once I cast it, and left early from work at 3:30, in order to go home and start preparing my thyme, lemon zest and polenta dish for my dinner party, and I took the bus home, I had my normal thoughts as I get off the bus. Look around, to make sure a captor can’t seize me. There comes a car approaching and stopping near me, is he stopping, or is he going to shove me in his car, where I’ll be unseen behind black out windows? (Yes, now I’ve revealed to you what a psycho I am and/or what fearful times we live in that such thoughts should cross my mind. This life as a woman). As I glanced at all the men on the street and kept my wits about me, I thought, at least I’ve voted, but now if I can just stay alive to see it.

I made it home, needless to say, and started cooking and watching TV. I had planned for weeks to make arugula salad, in a nod to one mini scandal where when Obama said he liked arugula, his detractors said that was an example of how out of touch and elitist he is.

My guests came. One of my favorites was a family friend, a woman in her 50s. She showed up with three bottles of champagne. I ended up drinking champagne with her all night, but was able to use enough restraint not to get shnockered. Being with her reminded me of parties with my mom and her friends, her reactions and comments were of a woman who lived through the 60s and is full of giddy disbelief.

It was kind of a whirlwind cuz I was cooking. (Order pizza next time?) All my obsessive research had said to watch for Indiana, if Indiana went Obama, it was over for McCain. So, funny that Indiana was one of the states not to get decided that night, and there I was looking for it as an early indicator. But I remember it being significant when Virginia came in for Obama. Me and my neighbor were screaming “Virginia!” I can’t even remember when Florida got called. That shows you what a different night it was from the past two elections, where we’ve all hung on Florida in the past, this time it was more like “Oh yeah, and Florida too.”

At 7:30 Pacific Time we were all eating my meal. The group included gays, a lesbian, immigrants, children of immigrants, and champagne drinking WASPS. This is my California, my life.

Suddenly at 8, like a freight train, the election was called. All my research had me predicting it would be called by 7:30 or 8. But it still seemed like a surprise. I hugged my champagne buddy, as we heard a cork pop of Sandro opening another, and I had a long embrace with my gay neighbor. Then I hugged Sandro. The neighbor was one of my best memories of the night. He wept. He didn’t even care that the gay marriage ban passed, saying “This is why we have to keep wearing assless chaps”.

I wanted to cry, but didn’t really have any tears. I got more emotional when Obama was nominated at his convention. I cried when he came out on the stage, followed by Biden, to see the Black man out front, and the White man in the number two position.

I regretted that I couldn’t have this event reported to me by Dan Rather. It seems like the only requirement to be a newscaster now days is to be a white male who isn’t balding. They are all so sanitized. Not like Dan during the 2000 Florida squeaker saying “This race is tighter than a swim suit in the back of a hot car on the way home from the lake” or, “Al Gore is madder than a snapping turtle!” The one moment that may seem trite but was special was the newscaster showed a poster like the kind on a fourth grade classroom wall, and how all the photos heretofore were white males. And there was Obama’s smiling face last in line. And now this will be the new normal.

Leading up to the election, I’d noticed Blacks at my work didn’t act too excited or didn’t want to talk about it too much. I think they were steeling themselves. My neighbor said a Black friend opened up to him that they were all too scared. His friend is from Virginia.

McCain conceded rather quickly, and I was thinking wickedly how now Sarah can go home and raise that baby.

Obama’s speech was sparkling, earnest and hopeful. We all watched, trying to ignore Enzo doing flips off the couch.

At work the next day, I took a coffee break with a White friend, when we were outside on the street we walked by a Black co-worker, she said “Power to the People!” and we each gave each other the black pride fist. A black woman we didn’t know on the street spontaneously gave the fist too, she thought the sister was talking to her, rather than two white people.

I read dozens of articles looking for the words, and found these: The day shimmered with history.

Anti-Inflammatory Political Post

Facebook Status Update, November 4, 11:32pm
Kristina is ready to do the work of uniting with those who were disappointed with tonight's results.

Except for my quasi-passive posts in the few days leading up to the election, I have refrained from saying anything overtly political on my blog. I obviously have my views, but after seeing the venom with which people take up the discussion on too many occasions (notably, the flaming that took place on Project Procrastination's comment board), my desire for peace and harmony prevailed.

Additionally, I know there are those who read my blog who disagree with me politically and it is ultimately more important to me to emphasize our common ground (this is still something resembling a tri blog, after all) than to engage in discourses of fear, anger, and division.

The exchange below showed me that we can do this, and signals to me the dawn of a new political climate -- not simply of policy, but a whole new paradigm of relating to one another that I hope will become the norm rather than the exception.

The Guts to Be Civil

Facebook Status Update, November 4, 12:10pm
Kristina is thinking about her friends in CA...hoping for a resounding NO on 8.

Jason wrote at 2:48pm
Krissy, I saw you post on my facebook page about prop 8 and I saw one of your friends state that people who are for prop 8 are ignorant. It is concerning to me to see this kind of stuff. Marriage is (I am sorry to say it) a christian institution and has always been defined by the wast majority of the church as a union between a man and a woman. All... Read More religious traditions like muslims, buddhists, Jews, etc. have always understood it this way. Marriage is a theological concept not a political one. If one is going to play the "equality for all" card in marriage, this will lead down a very slippery slope. What I mean is, if marriage can be redefined a two concenting adults, it is not a huge leap that it could be defined as three concenting adults or four and this will open the door to polygamists. Hey, if it is truly equality for all then why can't an adult and a child marry or a human and an animal. One must discriminate at some point, where do we draw that line?

Kristina wrote November 4 at 5:14pm
Jason,
Thanks for taking the time to write – I know your faith is important to you and it is unfortunate that our political passions sometimes lead us to name-calling. It is clear that neither of us will change the other’s mind about Prop 8, but I do want to take the time to respond to some of the points you made in your post.

The heart of your argument seems to be based on marriage being a Christian institution and that it is a theological concept, not a political one (though you go on to cite a series of non-Christian faiths, including Buddhism which considers marriage to be a secular issue). I would be willing to accept this except for the fact that in California (and the rest of the nation), marriage has _legal_ status – which makes it a political issue. The original DOMA was declared unconstitutional for good reason – it did not provide equal protection under the law. Simply changing the constitution to make an exception to afford this legal status to certain segments of the population and not others solely based on gender does not solve the equal protection problem.

As for the slippery slope (the one you say will lead to polygamy and child marriages)…first of all, polygamy/multiple marriage is illegal (despite its presumption of heterosexuality), so the numbers game is not on the table. Changing the sexes of those involved is not affected by the intent of this law.

Second, one legal aspect of marriage is its treatment as a contract under the law. Contracts are based on free choice and legally, children lack the capacity to contract without parent/guardian consent. The legal marrying age in all states is 18, 16 with parental consent (in most states), and New Hampshire allows marriage at 14 with both parental and judicial consent. Gender does not affect one’s mental capacity to enter into contracts.

Long story short: the web of laws defining what “counts” as marriage as we know it (two adults, presumably in some sort of romantic relationship) will not unravel simply by allowing those two adults to be of the same sex.
That being said, I venture to assume that the reason you object is because your faith does not condone homosexuality and the arguments you put forth come from that deep-seated belief. While I may disagree, I respect your right to believe what you want. But I’d like to remind you that it was only 41 years ago that the Supreme Court struck down anti-miscegenation laws that would not have allowed you to marry your wife, or my father to marry my mother because bride and groom are of different races. My parents are still happily married, and by the looks of your facebook pics, your family is also going strong. Can you imagine being legally deprived of that?

Anyway, I am certain you will not agree with me or change your mind, but I wanted to engage in the conversation with the same level of civility and care you afforded me. I hope I succeeded in addressing your comments with respect, if nothing else.

Krissy

Jason wrote November 4 at 6:29pm
Krissy,
Thanks for the reply. I do see name calling on both sides as unfortunate and especially the infamous catch-all "ignorant" word. People use it for just about anybody that they disagree with these days. You are right, I am approaching this from a religious perspective as since I am a Pastor, I see things from that vantage point. Also, if gay marriage is allowed, it would not be the end of the world. On my personal moral importance grade from 1 to 10 with 10 being the most important, it is about a two. I do not think gay marriage is an outrage, it is just kinda silly. I see it like I would see atheists who demand the "right" to be baptised. Why would they want to be? Baptism is a ritual that is between a person and their commitment to God and Jesus Christ. If you do not believe that God even exists, what is the point? I guess if some atheists wanted to baptize each other as some commitment to atheism, I would not object. But it would still be strange. There are homosexuals who take such a view on marriage. They do not want to be married because they understand the implications of what that ritual means.
Although, I do see what you are saying about the civil side of it and if gay couples are denied any civil rights that hetero couple have I would be the first to want equality in that sphere.
Anyway, I could go on but I gotta go and probably should stop. I hope all is well with you. Keep in touch.

Grammar Nerdom...For Dummies

Or...what happens when it's a ridiculously nice day, you take a 3-mile hit of endorphins, and then start cruising the Internet for blog fodder.

Feeding My Inner Taoist

Iowa Today: Sunny 66° F
Ultimate Frisbee: 2 hours
Me: Blissfully happy.

Tomorrow: Bike ride with Jen to Hills. Which is flat.

No, I don't get it either.