I like it when I finish my posts early. :) Gives me more time to properly read and comment -- especially since there's twice as much to read and comment on, this time up. ;)

The grand jury upheld the decision?

*riots*

ETA: Wow, I've never been this close to the top before. :)

Edited at 2014-12-04 04:11 pm (UTC)

A week from today a medical-use saw will free my arm from this godforsaken cast!

Then comes the acid test -- surgery or no surgery?

I'm seriously in stir-crazy mode. Yesterday I walked up to our little row of stores in the rain not to buy anything but to get out of the house. My mind is too jumpy to do anything constructive, say, maybe WRITE? I "took out" a Kindle version of a library book and started reading it last night, only to discover that, damn, I'm really a tactile sort in that I NEED to flip actual pages, not swipe them.

I've learned privilege in what it means to have a driver's license and a vehicle at your disposal. When you have both and cannot use said vehicle, the privilege becomes crystal clear.

I've gotten pretty good at cooking with one working arm. Someone has to open jars and oven doors for me, and somebody must cut hunk o' protein for me, but otherwise I've managed, even at the point of tears as in why-am-I-doing-this???

I can walk calm-minded dogs with one arm. I can take a shower, wash my hair, and sort of dress/undress, depending on what it is I'm wearing. I am thankful for my husband's shirts and coats because none of my clothes fit over the cast (it's what's called a "gutter" meaning my arm lies in it and it's got flying buttresses where my elbow fits so I can bend. It's the buttresses which are the problem).

I don't know why I'm blibbering all this. It might be because I'm by myself right now with a TV and dogs snd I can't go anywhere because two of the dogs don't get along and I can't leave them alone :sigh:

"Let's throw some acid on it and see what happens!"

Um...

Yeah, the flipping page thing...I inherited SO's tablet when he upgraded, and although I can see how it can be handy to have, I don't really have a use for it other than to play with Kindle. At least with a book I can prop it easily when reading in bed. With the tablet I have to pretzel myself to find a comfortable reading position :p

I'm glad somebody likes my blibbering :)

Hubby and I have decided to get the Burger King Yumbo for dinner tonight! I don't think I've ever had a Yumbo (it was discontinued 40 years ago, and although I'm 46 I can't recall ever having had one).

It's probably silly to be excited about what amounts to a hot ham & cheese sandwich, right? :)

The cases in the media lately have reminded me that I've never had a "good" experience with the police, or even neutral ones. There was a robbery in my complex a few weeks ago, and when I opened the door, the officer tried to step into my apartment. (He was SUPPOSED to be asking if we'd noticed anything missing, and when my white boyfriend went, "hey, what's up?" and walked over, the officer quickly shut the conversation down, without listening as to whether we'd seen anything disappear, and left. This is par for the course, in my experience.)

I've never been able to talk my way out of a ticket. I am pretty constantly tailed when I drive. I would chalk this up to the police in this town being tired of dealing with "college kids", except that the time I was in the car when a white, college-age friend of mine got pulled over by the same officer that had ticketed me, he got off with a warning. This despite having a burnt-out tail light, burnt-out headlight, no proof of insurance, and speeding, as well as the wrong address on his license. He had multiple violations and got off with a warning. I had an "unclear" tail light (it wasn't burnt out, but it was fogged over—something that happens in older cars; it could still be seen) and I got ticketed. This is par for the course, in my experience.

It's something I have complained about before, to my friends, and have seen dismissed at every turn. With the string of incidents lately, the conversation has been changing, but I still see a lot of defense—"not ALL cops are like this!" and "well, I don't think racism is a problem..."

I almost want to ask, "if racism isn't alive and well, then what explains my experiences with the police?"

When I was 22 and doing an internship at CenterStage in Baltimore, I got to be in the rehearsal room for a production of "Day of Absence" by Douglas Turner Ward. It's a one-act about what happens to a small Southern town when all of the African-Americans disappear for a day, and it's written to be performed by African-American performers in white face.

Listening to the discussions between the performers and directors in that room was eye-opening and taught this Midwestern white girl about a lot of things I had no experience with and that would simply never have occurred to me. This doesn't mean I don't ever make mistakes (sadly I still do), but being in that room with those people literally changed the way I view the world around me, and I remain grateful for the experience.

I wish there were some way to duplicate that experience for other people, that shock of realizing that you probably really don't get it.


Edited at 2014-12-04 11:54 pm (UTC)