theMan kicks ass.

He tried to surpise me by hiding it in my closet. Then asking me to go find hangers in that closet so he could finish the wash. My stubborn ass wouldn't do it because I was so sure there weren't any hangers in that closet. He finally had to drag me in there to look at it. What a nice surprise....my baby!

I'll be hopefully figuring out how to use it in the near future. Hee hee.

Back from the dentist. I think the dental hygenist knew I was not in the mood. She made it quick and nixed the idea of me meeting with the dentist for the upsell of veneers. She's actually pretty cool and almost looks and talks identical to Heather, a pal of mine. It's like having Heather working on my teeth.

Anyways I was flipping through an Entertainment Weekly magazine while I waited and I read an interview with Sarah Polley, the leading lady in the movie, Dawn of the Dead. A movie which is currently grossing more at the box office than "The Passion." Her take on it (roughly paraphrased): "It makes sense. They only have one person rising from the dead, where we have thousands."

Tee hee.

Ugh...just got some bad news. I guess my great-grandpa is not doing very good. I am not going into it much on here but it's not pretty. Once you hear news like that you sorta stop listening after the first sentence with the bad news. My "unpleasant news" radar immediately went up when the phone rang...guess my intuition knew before me. You could say I would be at peace with it on a small level if something were to happen to Gramps. I wrote all my grandparents a letter a few years ago describing why I was thankful for them and how much they meant to me. Ever since then I guess I've felt like they know how I feel so if anything were to happen I'd be okay with that end. I've had a lot of people die in my life and that was always my biggest fear. Words unsaid. But on the other hand my world would darken a little. My Gramps is a strong man who cares for me more than I'm sure I'll ever really know and I need him just as much.

I am lucky, I know that now that I'm grown. I spent my teenage years pissed off at the world, mostly because my bio-dad wasn't around. But by him not being around, nature, god, whatever, provided me with 5 sets of grandparents that loved me as much as they could. Whatever I do Gramp's is always in my court, completely proud of me. It's good to grow up with that kind of love, especially when life is not what you'd call normal. I'm not going to write my eulogy for the man yet for crying out loud....I guess bad news makes me nostalgic. I already miss his hugs because I live so far away. I wonder if he knows that.

Well I have to go to the dentist today for my (hopefully) last appointment for awhile. The good thing is I get off work at 1 p.m. and don't have to come back, the bad thing....well the dentist part mostly. I know he's going to try to resell those veneers but he can kiss my stained teeth ass. $5,000 of our money will not be spent on my grill.

Watched a really funny show last night on Bravo which I know my girlfriends would just love. Significant Others is this improv show with the topic of these screwed up people in couples therapy. Pretty hilarious...check it out.

Replay TV is making our lives a lot easier. I was the one who drug my feet on getting this thing (Replay is the other brand like TiVo but I think it's better) until I finally gave in to theMan. Now I can't imagine life without it. Okay, that's a little dramatic but at least we aren't tied to the TV now. If there is a good documentary on Trio, we can record it and watch it whenever we want. Then the cool thing about Replay is we can put it on our computer and burn it to a DVD to save it. We got the Bill Hicks documentary last night to keep. Plus we can save movies we make and play them through the Replay. All in all, it's worth the money.

Anyways...boring news today. Just killing time until I can get out of here. NOTE to all my IM buddies, I'll be offline at 1 p.m. We'll chat tomorrow!

Damn...what a great fast weekend. First and foremost, if you have any doubts about seeing Dawn of the Dead, then I suggest you put those doubts in a headlock and RUN TO SEE THIS MOVIE! My god, even the credits were fascinating. Maddox sums it up best. Just read him, I can't possibly do this movie justice with words. I left knowing a few things for certain: Ving Rhames is a bad motherfacker and zombies that run and roar make for some creepy ass good times.

We also did some shopping this weekend. The purchases we made could only be properly discussed with pictures alongside. So to start the tour we begin with Mr. Pope.


Mr. Pope doesn't only serve as a plaster idol for Catholics, no no no. It also serves as a wine holder. I would give anything to talk to the person who bought this for its original purpose. When you smell the opening it reeks of alcohol.


We also found a dummy grenade to freak out people that come over and 2 horror movies from the Monster shop on Milwaukee Avenue. One of which theMan had been lusting after ever since hearing virtually the entire movie sampled in a Skinny Puppy album.


Yea, it was too hard to resist playing around with this thing.


Today proved to be a little eventful too. After a delicious (GWO girls, plan on eating this in July) breakfast at Nookie's (does toffee banana nut pancakes, cherry stuffed french toast and pinapple upside down pancakes sound like heaven to you?) we saw a sign for a demolition/moving sale. So we went and what was weird was that you were just allowed to walk through the entire townhouse and everything was for sale. The prices were literally wrote on the walls in marker. Ended up helping some friends get a couch and hanging out on the porch in the lovely afternoon talking with the house owners while they moved it. I have no idea why they are demolishing this house because it was awesome. Gorgeous paint, bathrooms the size of my living room and interesting architecture. Some people just have too much money I guess. In the process it also made me realize even in a big city, there are still people that are kind and helpful. Some people with a van offered to help move the couch for a pretty low fee even though it was across town in the wrong direction. Which was a good thing because all UHaul places were closed. Kind of a nice surprise after living in what can seem like a bitter city for 2 years.

Too fast, but a good weekend nonetheless.

Referring to a topic earlier on the lower regions and the hair there. Here's a handy guide on shaving, boys and girls.

You know when you're driving somewhere that is a long way away and you can finally see the skyline of the city or place in the distance. You feel relief and even press the gas a little to hurry up and get there? That's how I feel today. I feel like I'm finally starting to feel like happy old Mistress again. And that, my blogging friends, is such a relief.

I forced myself to do something last night to get out of this funk and it worked! I started to clean up a friend's darkroom equipment so we can maybe build one in his basement. I'm a nerd but being surrounded by photo equipment is the equivalent to huffing glue to some people. Such a high...I could have stayed all night. Then I also started brainstorming a few other projects. I guess I figured out I gotta stay busy and creative or I go batshit insane.

Anyways, zombies is the word for today. We're going to go see "Dawn of the Dead" at a spooky midnight showing tonight with some pals. I can't wait. I get off on the excitment of having the bejeezus scared out of me. Like most things, the build-up is better than the final product.

Other than that, pretty calm weekend plans. I think we're going to go run theMan's truck at the park with a pal and hopefully just generally hang out and have some laughs. theMan figured out his birthday present so I gotta go find something else too.....he always does, I don't know why I'm so shocked. Plus, this will be the first weekend in awhile where I'm not going to be drunk, so my body is stoked about that.

Oh, I've got several DVD's on their way to my house so I will put up some reviews on those as well next week. "F for Fake" by Orson Welles, a Joe Coleman documentary and a few others, plus the Coffin Joe trilogy. I love ebay.

Well, I'm off. Have a good weekend.

SIDE NOTE: If any of you have good places to read reviews or buy odd movies, let me know. I've found a couple but want more. Thanx.

Geez Mistress...when it's not drinking, it's sex, when it's not sex, it's drinking.

Go rub one out in style.

I sit here at work and surf about 70% of the time. So I happen on things alot of the time that I'd like to share with you.

Here's some today:

-Weird Radio: Currently I'm checking out the "Weirdos" section.
-Eros Blog: Not safe for work. But something to check out later. Sexy and good links too.
-Family of Shame: Got this from Matt's site and I dig baby, I dig.
-Funeral cards: We're currently trying to start a collection of these and Post Mortems but having little luck. I wonder why this trend "died" off? Probably because it's fucking creepy.

Got some good links? Send them my way. I'm in control of the firewall here so yea, we can surf anything we want at work. One of my co-workers even shops for guys. I love that....such a rebel.

SIDE NOTE: Weird Radio is definitely weird. Must check it out if you dig the odd beats. I've been listening to "Exotica", "Weird" and "New" and good stuff.

So yea, I've had some weird interests online lately but hey, thought I'd share.

Punternet seems to be a call-girl reporting service for the UK. Interesting. I wonder if they have anything like this for the US.

Also, a girlfriend of mine recently asked about waxing down below which I'm not an expert on. So I thought I'd ask the blogging world. Has any of my female readers done this? The process looks like it would take loads of confidence and little modesty. Not to mention a tolerance for pain not unlike enjoying fisting or getting the shit beat out of you for fun.

Also what are the pros and cons vs. just shaving the kitty? When waxing do they take all the hair making you look like a 12-year-old? Or can they just take the hair off the curbs of the runway, so to speak? So many questions that never got answered in Health Class.

I've added (or attempted to add) a comments section to this blog. So start talking people.

Hey, while I'm on my downward spiral why not share a call girl & a stripper's blogs with you that I'm addicted too.

Belle de Jour
Pussy Ranch

See mom, it could be much worse than a drinking problem?

Well, this is interesting, at least to me. My mom just called and wanted to talk to me about my drinking problem.

Way ahead of ya mom.

Thanx to Darren for the heads up on LauraLee.com. I listened to the first broadcast today at work and what a mindfuck.

Speaking of Darren...he has a show tonight at the Hotti Biscotti. Email me for the 411.

My dad got me a new book this weekend in Godville from Hollis Gillespie titled "Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch: Tales from a Bad Neighborhood." He said she reminded him of me in a lot of ways. I'll let you know once I start reading it if it's true. The title has my interests piqued to be sure.

Well that's about all the news I have. Just sitting at work trying to stay awake. Egads.

What a difference 6 months can make.

Before

After

Well hello. Sorry I've been away, crazy weekend. First things first....the long version of Godville.

Friday through Sunday we went to Godville to see my sister. We got there Friday we met up with her and the family at a restaurant. I ran up to the restaurant because after 6 months and 5 hours of driving I couldn't wait to see her any longer. She looked fabulous...probably gained 30 lbs (at least by her calculations). Dinner was great and she was pretty much her old self. She quoted some scripture and sorta gave little lectures but she eventually kinda chilled out with that. We went back to the hotel and got in the hot tub then played ping-pong. It was sooo nice hanging out as a family again. It has been sooo long since I've been with my whole family together. My mom finally showed up about 1 a.m. and after that we hit the sheets. I was afraid Jamie would be a total God-zombie but it wasn't too bad.

Saturday we got up, had breakfast and went to the huge, and I mean HUGE, mall. Dad, Jamie & I went off by ourself and had a blast. It was fun shopping and being girls after so long. The only difference was that I was trying on clothes that we're tight and slutty and she had to try on clothes that covered her butt and skirts past her knees for church. We decided to go see "Secret Window" later that day. That movie was pretty good. The story was kind of minimal but Johnny Depp made the movie. I was surprised she wanted to see it but it was her idea. My family loves movies though, so I guess it shouldn't have been a shock. After that we met back up with the family, loaded the car and went to a restaurant for some ribs. That's when Jamie and I started to get upset. It was just getting too close to having to go back. I don't handle seeing my sister cry well I suppose. There was a 30 minute wait for the table so I took Jamie and dad and Chip out of there to get her some supplies and to lighten the mood. After dinner we took her back to the house. More tears, hugs and we left.

Overall, the trip was enjoyable. She's been absorbed in the process for a straight 6 months so I can't expect her to not be wrapped up in it. I feel good about where she is and how healthy she is. I'm just going to leave it at that for now. I'm scared about the neighborhood she's in but the good thing is that she is never alone, always with a large group. I guess we'll just keep taking it a day at a time. Towards the end of the day she was ready to go back. She said it was making her nervous being in the secular world. God vs. heroin....I'll take God.

After we got back we hung out with some friends and had a half bottle of Jeigermiester. Wow. I suppose it's indicative of my mood lately that I've been drinking about twice a month. I guess I've been more upset than I let on. Thankfully I have some of the best friends a girl could ask for. I even got a little insight into their feelings for me this weekend and that felt nice. I'm a lucky girl.

Whew...that was a long one. Hope you all had great weekends.

Friday Five time.

If you...

1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve? Whatever food I served I'd have midgets come out after you're done eating and rub your stomach. Then you could stand up and flip the table over like you are pissed off. 2 things I wish I could do in my lifetime.

2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell? Books, used and new, comics and used movies as well all in one store.

3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be? If it reflected my tastes it would lean towards science fiction or in the form of a graphic novel . But I don't know if I could actually write that. If I wrote a book it'd probably be like the Jennifer Wiener books or something.

4. ...ran a school, what would you teach? Free thinking and accurate history.

5. ...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it? Hardcore drum & bass funk polka.....it'd be a double disc set with poster included and CD-Rom with interactive games.

See you Sunday bloggies.....going to Godville.

Thanx to theMan, my film can now be viewed.

Click here to watch.

Oh, and this is fun too.

Okay so I still need to figure out how to save my movies....apparently only Macs can open my film right now. I will fix it and relink it tonight.

Check back shortly.

THIS JUST IN!

My sister gets to get out a whole 1/2 day early tomorrow!!! The Powers that Be decided to let her spend Friday night with us in addition to all day Saturday because I guess she's been really trustworthy. Plus she doesn't get to see us much since we live far away. We're going to leave early and spend even more time with her! This is a great ending to this week. I cannot wait to see her! I just want to hug her and see her smile again. Lately I've been crying a lot when I think about all the shit we've been through. I know this isn't the end but damn if it doesn't feel nice to have her back.

You have on your hands a happy Mistress.

My second attempt at film making.

View my film on hearse buying here. Enjoy.

(Note: You will need Quicktime to view it.)

Music thanx to Skinny Puppy "Optimised".

We watched the Lost Skeleton of Cadavra last night. Damn that is some good stuff. I probably would suggest to most of you to wait until it comes out on DVD only because we paid $9.00 for an art theater showing. But still, excellent movie and really great under the influence. There's even a bonus cartoon at the beginning!

Weird times right now for the Mistress. My brain is working overtime. It must be this upcoming weekend. I've been a wreck all week. I even almost puked last weekend. I'm barely eating and my stomach is in knots. I've even been sorta quiet, which if you know me at all, that is next to impossible for me. I guess your body knows when you're stressed before you figure it out in your brain.

Wow, almost makes me miss my homeland.

In Indiana, destroying or vandalizing the Ten Commandments has become almost as much a state pastime as downing Ding Dongs or attending tractor pulls.

As promised...pix from our spontaneous jaunt to Cincinnatti for hearse shopping.

First we stopped off at my dad's and checked out the Triumph's he's rebuilding with my brother's help. This bikes take me back. I'm pretty sure I got my first ride on the second one.


Then onto CW Coach sales. The lot full of hearses was pretty eerie. This is the best shot I could get of all the cars and that really doesn't do it justice. Most of the cheap, rusty ones were outside and the restored more expensive ones inside. I didn't bring my camera inside so I don't have any pix of the one we actually liked.

This is the longest car I've ever seen. I think it was an ambulance/hearse...not too sure.

This car would have been bitchin' with some serious body work. Aw well. I need to learn how to weld.


Anyway, there you go. In 2 days in St. Patrick's Day and I only bring it up because I never cared about this holiday. You wore green to elementary school so some little bastard didn't pinch you. That was about it. However, the entire city of Chicago really, and I mean really gets into this holiday. They dye the river green, have a parade and pretty much the entire population drinks like fishes. There's parties, drinking in the streets and general debauchery. We saw the saddest thing that sums it all up. A lone leprechan hat blowing down an empty street. I almost misted up.

As you know, we celebrated in our own way. Only drinking Irish beverages (with the exception of some Samuel Adams), having excellent conversation and passing out. Maybe the Irish got something right there.

Chow.

Wow.....what a weekend.

I'll have pictures and movie clips up this week of our adventure to Cincinnatti on Friday. At 2:00 on Friday we decided to get a smaller loan and drive to CW Coach Sales in Ohio to buy a hearse. Turns out the pictures are a lot nicer than the actual cars. There was one we loved inside the garage but he wanted too much for it. I think the dealer thought he could get us to buy something since we drove that far, but that was not the case. This is going to be a show car and we're not interested in buying junk to justify the drive. You get what I'm saying! It was a fun drive though. My little brother came with us and we had a good time.

Saturday we came back and got obliterated with some friends. It was a St. Patrick's Day celebration with Guiness, Jameson whiskey and Bailey's. Between the 4 of us we finished off the bottle of Jameson whiskey. So yesterday I felt like the cold hands of death were gripping my stomach. Ugh.

Anyhoo, that was my weekend. Next weekend I get to see my sister!!!! Yay!!! I promise I'll upload the pictures of the hearse dealership this week. So bizarre to see all those types of vehicles in one big lot.

Word.

Almost forgot my Friday Five.

1. What was the last song you heard? Whatever shitty song is playing on the "Smooth Jazz" station my co-workers are listening too.

2. What were the last two movies you saw? Apocalypse Now & Time Bandits at my house. Big Fish and Monster at the theater.

3. What were the last three things you purchased? Besides food: Records, a wedding dress slip and a DVD.

4. What four things do you need to do this weekend? Make a video collage, pay bills, and buy some DVD's at Best Buy. $5 shelf, oh yeaaaaa!

5. Who are the last five people you talked to? In person: theMan, my boss, my co-workers, guy selling newspapers at the train station and Rodney.

Weeeeeeee.

Well according to the Gay-o-meter, I'm 56% gay. Um....okay.

Just wanted to publicly thank Rodney for making us watch Apocalypse Now last night. He even prepared background info and a TS Elliot poem. Sorry we doubted you. ;)

No real weekend plans other than probably getting some breakfast out. It's what we do best. You?

Watched "Waking Life" last night and it's definitely a movie I'm going to have to buy and watch again. If you want something to rattle your brain a bit, pick it up.

Also learned something new....one of my friend's is dating a total bitch. So much of a bitch that she's now referred to in my vocabulary as "her" or "the baggage." Apparently she totally snubbed a friend of mine last night and has her boyfriend on the tightest leash ever. It sucks he's so pussy-whipped. I want to go over there and slap him, however that never works. Their girlfriends just get them to turn on you too.

I've known she was a bitch pretty much since we met her. She complains constantly, puts down our friend in front of us and orders him around. She's got a tiny little brain and a loud mouth which makes for a potent bitch cocktail. She managed to piss everyone off at New Year's and we haven't seen them since until a sighting last night. The sad thing is she's going to dump him as soon as she gets him to move back to Indiana....I can just see it. I'm so tired of my friend's dating pyschos that I'm going to make a list.....

What to do if your friend dates a "succubus":
1.) Tell him/her early you think you saw the succubus fucking around with another dude. Make it up if you have to, it's worth it in the long run.
2.) Invite them over and complain after they've left that things are missing. Then plant the "missing" items in his/her apartment so he thinks the succubus took them from you.
3.) Make a form letter from Planned Parenthood addressed to the "succubus" and state they want her/him to come back in to the office as they have never had so many STD's reported in one human before.
4.) Run over him/her with your car. Drastic, but effective. Please note: Side effects may include prison.
5.) Send the succubus flowers, gifts and letters signed "You're the prettiest hooker I've met".
6.) Find really attractive people and invite them over while they are there. Make it obvious you are trying to set the attractive person up with your friend in front of the succubus. Introduce the succubus as "your friend's sister."

Your ideas?

Hearse Update: Apparently you can't get an auto loan on a 1974 Cadillac Superior Endloader Hearse because the bank doesn't feel it's worth enough. They actually don't feel any Cadillac from 1974 is valued enough. So no hearse for Mistress now.

Also apparently they don't like to give personal loans to people, even though they have good credit, unless you own a house. So I have to be $100,000+ in debt before I can get a loan for $3,000. Makes sense to me. Fucking banks.

Aw well...thankfully there are places we can go.

Those who know us know that we've always wanted a hearse....pretty much since we were in high school. We desparately searched for one to pick us up for our wedding but couldn't find any funeral homes that would oblige 2 people with a spooky soul.

Well, fate seems to have intervened. There is one for sale right on our block! It's not our ideal year, but 1974 was before they changed the headlights so it'll do. I was driving to the grocery store on Monday and about ran off the road to pull over and get the phone number off the "For Sale" sign. Last night we went and checked it out. The guy with the hearse turned out to be really cool. Quite a character. It was the first time I had sat in the driver seat and I instantly fell in love. I also instantly felt sympathy for school bus drivers too as the thing was ENORMOUS. 5,300 pounds of dead body hauling capacity!

So we don't have any definite deals made yet. He's gotta come down on the price a little I think. We're going back Saturday for a test drive and to talk price. We'll see!!! If not, there is a hearse dealership in Cincinnatti I think we're going to make a pilgramage too. It's where this hearse came from so they definitely sell used ones. I couldn't be more excited that I have a husband that is as weird as I feel for wanting one of these beauties.

Also checked out some seriously bad electronic music last night. But hey, the company was good. Plus I finally got to watch a little of "Time Bandits." I felt like such a traitor to Terry Gilliam for not having viewed this film before. So sorry Terry.

Anyhoo...what's up with you guys?

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERICA!

Monday night is a big TV night at the Mistress's house. And what a fabulous night of time wasting it was:

-2 hour marathon of COPS on F/X

-1 1/2 hour of Bill Hicks documentary on Trio. If you haven't seen any of Bill Hick's comedy, go here. I wish he was still around today because I'd love to hear his feelings on the state of the world.....darn it. It was really sad, towards the end of his life he looked so sick and old. What a mind.

-Guy Maddin documentary on Sundance called Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight directed by Noam Gonick. Every Monday is "Doc Day" where they show nothing but commercial free documentaries. We were flipping between this and Nerd Nation, but the parts I did see were interesting. Note to self: Find this to rent it and watch it in full.

-Nerd Nation: Last night they were showing a documentary on Star Woids...or people that are a bit obsessed with Star Wars. Nerd Nation is slowly becoming one of my favorite shows on Tech TV.

-Shocked on Trio Channel about Matt Stone & Trey Parker's short animated films for Shockwave. They are so blatantly x-rated, it's hilarious. Their original premise was to make people think it's about this cute little dog, but it's really about what the dog has to see with his owners. They were losing it imagining little kids wearing "Princess" t-shirts and not knowing the real meaning. If you can find these episodes download them!!

As you can tell we did little else than watch TV last night. I don't feel bad about it though since most of this was somewhat educational. If we do decide to turn off the cable I'm sure going to miss my Monday nights.

I found this on a blog I read. Please look into for yourselves.

Administration Sets Forth a Limited View on Privacy
By Robert Pear and Eric Lichtblau
New York Times, March 6th, 2004

WASHINGTON, March 5 — In a sharp departure from its past insistence on the sanctity of medical records, the Bush administration has set forth a new, more limited view of privacy rights as it tries to force hospitals and clinics to turn over records of hundreds and perhaps thousands of abortions.

Federal law "does not recognize a physician-patient privilege," the Justice Department said last month in court papers that sought abortion records from Planned Parenthood clinics in California, Kansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York City and Washington. Moreover, the department said in another abortion case, patients "no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential."

Health lawyers and privacy experts said that position reflected a significant shift after six years in which Bush and Clinton administration officials had promised to strengthen the confidentiality of medical records.

Health care professionals and privacy advocates say the government's position has broad implications beyond abortion. If patients have no reasonable expectation of privacy, the critics say, the government may be more aggressive in seeking records from hospitals, insurance companies and other businesses in criminal, civil and administrative cases. ...

President Bush was elected on a platform that proclaimed support for medical privacy. In April 2001, he said he would protect "the right of every American to have confidence that his or her personal medical records will remain private."

Privacy advocates say the administration has rolled back some safeguards adopted by President Bill Clinton, and the Justice Department says now that the 1996 law is no obstacle to its efforts to obtain abortion records. ...

The abortion recipients are not directly involved in the litigation, and the government has not told them that it wants their records.

"How many hundreds of women, or thousands, will have the frightening experience of their medical records being handed over to the Justice Department as part of a fishing expedition?" Mr. Markey asked. ...

The demand for files is not limited to records of that type of abortion, known medically as intact dilation and extraction. The government also seeks these materials for the last three years:

- Records of any second-trimester abortion in which the patient suffered a medical complication, regardless of the technique.

- Records of any case in which a doctor caused a fetus's death by injecting chemical agents in the womb in the second or third trimester.

- Documents related to any medical malpractice claims arising from certain abortions.

- The names of all doctors who have performed any type of abortion. ...

The federal standards have real-life implications for people like Sally Scofield, a legal secretary in Manhattan, Ill., who has joined a suit to fight the rules. After knee surgery and spinal injections in 2002, Ms. Scofield said, she was shocked to learn that her records had been given without her consent to a medical research business, an investigation company and a photocopying service.

"I have nothing to hide about my knee or my spine," Ms. Scofield said. "But every woman will tell you she has medical records she does not want shared. Rape victims, child molestation, incest, H.I.V., there are a lot of things people don't need to know about."

Good morning! Had a fabulous weekend that I'm not quite recovered from. If you are in the Chicago area, go visit the Museum of Contemporary Art's Lee Bontecou exhibit. It was unbelieveable.

Let's see what did I do....Saturday I made some compliation CD's for my Dad's birthday and then went book shopping at Myopic Bookstore. I love that store....I can't wait to own my own. Went out to eat at Wishbone and finally got to have me a Bloody Mary. YUM! Sunday we went to the MCA for that art exhibit, ate at Nookie's (god, I love this place) and did a little shopping. To top off the weekend I came home to a 2-hour marathon of COPS and some Halo with Rodney & theMan! Whoo hoo!

We bought a really good documentary called "Hell House" this weekend. It's essentially about a church in Texas that puts on a haunted house minus the ghosts. Instead of ghosts and vampires, they reenact the Columbine shootings, botched abortions, suicides, rapes and drunk driving deaths. Then at the end the kids in these situations get shunned at the gates of heaven and go to hell for their sins. Fun! When the visitors are shuttled out of the Hell House they are given an option of being prayed for. It's bizarre. I understand what they are trying to do with it, but they are slightly out of touch. For instance, they use a Star of David instead of a pentagram on their occult altar and the "Rave" expert seems like he's maybe been to one basement dance party and is now an expert. Aw well....it's an original idea. I'll give them that. And like all good religious ideas it's chock full of guilt. I wonder how many people that are scared into being "saved", actually stay "saved". Would be interesting statistics to look at.

Looks like March & April will be sorta busy for the Mistress. I'm stoked! I may be spending a lot of time in Wisconsin as well. I'm really really really getting excited to see my sister. I miss her so much. I wish I could just go pick her up and hang out with her for a month straight. 2 more weeks......

Apparently there is something in the blog world called the Friday Five in which you answer five questions so your readers can know more about you. I have a few blogging friends that would probably enjoy this so there ya go GWO's! So why not indulge myself.....

What was...

1. ...your first grade teacher's name? Ms. Davidson. Go Canners! (Not)

2. ...your favorite Saturday morning cartoon? Gosh, I had a lot. Depends on where I was. I really liked Sesame Street and Nickelodeon cartoons. One really doesn't stand out though. I had a thing for She-ra for quite awhile. My dad made us watch old Looney Toons when we had weekends at his house which I still appreciate to this day.

3. ...the name of your very first best friend? Hmmm. If not my cousin or sister then probably Juana Clendening. Haven't heard from her in years.

4. ...your favorite breakfast cereal? Cocoa Pebbles. I tried to eat them once when I got older and almost went into a diabetic coma.

5. ...your favorite thing to do after school? Play with my sesame street "street" scene pull-out house thingy at my Grams. I was really really really into playing with dolls and toys. I used to make mini-soap operas until I was probably 13.

On a side note a car was broken into again outside our building and a briefcase with money was stolen. Doesn't that sound like something out of some stupid detective story on TV?

Anyhoo.

I'm reading a fabulous book called the Only Begotten Daughter by James Marrow. Lance recommended it to me and I can't put it down. I'm currently to the part where she's hanging out with Jesus in hell (you have to read it to understand). My favorite part so far is when she's describing communion to him and he's totally disgusted. She says, "You should come to communion some time." Jesus's reply: "I think I"ll pass."

It may be sacreligious to the church crowd, but I think it's an interesting point of view, plus let's not forget...it's fiction. Nothing to get up in arms about. God, if only a healthy sense of humor was bestowed upon everyone on earth, we'd probably not be in the situation we are in.

Anyhoo...not a thing lined up for this weekend. I may hit a few thrift stores and get breakfast but that's about it. I'm going to try to finish that video game. Sue me, but it's a blast. Plus, sadly I've never even finished a video game. Not even Super Mario Brothers....yes, that's sad. Although in good video game news, I WON!, yes won, a game of Halo last night against people that usually beat me to a pulp. I lead a very exciting life folks! Tee hee.

Okay, have a good one.

This Saturday is my mother-in-law's birthday. Unfortunately she's not here to send a card too or surprise with a birthday cake and that makes me sad on more levels than I can properly describe. I miss her a lot. I was lucky in that I had a mother-in-law that was cool, very cool. She treated me like a daughter from the first time I met her. When theMan & I started dating the opportunity arose for us to go to California. I didn't have any money because I was in school and my mom was totally against it, but she gave me the $500 without batting an eye. That turned out to be one of the most educational trips I've had too. She barely knew me but loved her son so much that she wanted to make him happy. She was that kind of mom. She'd pretty much drop her life to help her kids. She was strong too. She didn't take a lot of shit from anyone. I respect her alot in that way. I miss her laughter too. Man, she knew how to laugh. She had the kind of laugh where she'd throw her head back and start gasping from laughing so hard. Some of my favorite times with her is sitting in her kitchen, telling stories and watching her lose it. She made my husband happy too. That's what really hurts.

I'm the kind of person that tries to see the positive. So the positives I see are that she made theMan into the person that I love dearly, she was a good friend when I needed her and she gave me loads of memories that I cherish. I just wish I could have told her thanks. If all I have is her memories then I plan on keeping those alive for as long as I can.

I'm going to start checking what Congress is doing from now on I think.

Bill to reinstate the draft

SUMMARY AS OF:
1/7/2003--Introduced.

Universal National Service Act of 2003 - Declares that it is the obligation of every U.S. citizen, and every other person residing in the United States, between the ages of 18 and 26 to perform a two-year period of national service, unless exempted, either as a member of an active or reserve component of the armed forces or in a civilian capacity that promotes national defense. Requires induction into national service by the President. Sets forth provisions governing: (1) induction deferments, postponements, and exemptions, including exemption of a conscientious objector from military service that includes combatant training; and (2) discharge following national service.

Amends the Military Selective Service Act to authorize the military registration of females.

There's a new bill being pushed through Congress (so I'm told, please research for yourselves) regarding classifying a fetus as a person if the mother is murdered while pregnant. I guesss it's so the person who committed the crime would be charged with double murder or some such offense. I'm not 100% sure why we need this law right now, but hey. I'm also curious to see how that will affect the abortion laws. If a fetus is determined a "person" at conception, wouldn't that give lawmakers or states the right to overthrow Roe vs. Wade?

I'm torn on the abortion issue. I have friends that have had abortions that would be in very different situations if they had kept the child, probably worse sitauations. So I can see how not having the baby was a good thing for them.

However, my mom was at the abortion clinic when she was carrying me but turned around and went home. Of course, I suppose since I am involved I feel that was the right decision. :) So on one hand I feel like our culture has many ways of not dealing with the consequences of our actions. On the other, I've never had an abortion, so maybe that is consequence enough. I cannot imagine what that does to your spirit.

I think for now, I'll go along with my usual gut feeling that I don't want the government telling us what we can or cannot do with our bodies. That includes drugs, babies, sex or general nutrition. That people who get themselves in a situation should be able to figure out how to get themselves out of it safely and fully informed. I think in this country we have a habit of getting in each other's business and losing sight of the big picture. Surely there are other ways our government could be spending their time?

Your thoughts?

Hello readers! Back from a fabulous weekend. Just our luck we took a vacation day on the first warm weekend of the year. Yummy sunshine. Even got to get out in it and play a little softball and try to throw a football. Let's just say football is not my sport. Had the Oscar Party on Sunday night with much video gaming in between. Kind of a bland Oscars this year, but pretty much everyone won that I voted for. Johnny Depp didn't win, but at least I got to see him in a tux for awhile. I'll live.

Yesterday we took the day off and I got a new game for the Xbox called Beyond Good & Evil. Damn! That game is fun!! I played it from 2:30 p.m. until about 11:00 p.m. last night if that tells you anything. Plus it was only $20. I think it's by the same people that made Rayman series, and those are some of my fav games.

Well not much to report. Just giving a little recap of my fun weekend. Well, nothing to report except that the new $20's might have tracking devices in them. Fun!