Nearly a Year Later ~ How Time Flies...

How odd to think it's been nearly a year since I posted on this blog. So much has happened in that year, and yet, when I try to think of any one thing I can share here, nothing of particularly earthshaking, or even interesting, interest comes to mind. Most of my busy-ness has been focused around work: my job was becoming more intense and less challenging, never a good combination. Recently, though, one of my attorneys (I'm what used to be known as a legal secretary; now the job title is practice assistant) was promoted to head of the business & finance department for a global law firm, so things are now REALLY intense and much more challenging, to the point where I walk around in a stupor, cry a lot from nerves, and when I get home at night can scarcely fix dinner for my parrot and myself before collapsing.

One thing I've been doing ~ which can be thought of as either good or stupid, depending on your outlook ~ is getting involved in politics. Last summer, after watching the ridiculous, disgusting and frightening antics of the Tea Party, and then last autumn and winter, after watching the equally ridiculous, disgusting and frightening obstructionism of the Republicans in Congress with respect to the Health Care Reform bill, I found myself becoming politicized. First I was drawn to learning more about what's going on in the political world. In the course of time, I became aware of so many disgusting, ridiculous and frightening things that are going on in this country and around the world that sometimes I just wanted to hide in my room and read light fiction. But the reality of the situation has dire consequences for everyone living today and our children's children to the point that, as a responsible citizen of the United States and resident of Planet Earth, I HAD to DO something.

So, I've resisted the urge to hide out and instead have become active. I have joined the Democratic Party and the Coffee Party USA. I've made phone calls and written emails and letters (yes, actual snailmail letters) to my and other Senators and Representatives, made donations to the campaign funds of certain politicians who have stood up to the bullying of the GOP and the corporate lobbyists, and even participated in a few protests. Not my usual style, and horribly uncomfortable for me, but something I think is necessary. BTW, the Coffee Party, for anyone who is interested, is NOT the opposite of the Tea Party, it is an antidote to the Tea Party ~ a place where anyone of any affiliation can go to debate the issues and find common ground without the rhetoric of hate, the violence or threat of violence, and the unbalanced fear of government that has characterized the Tea Party. It's an empowering thing, to be part of a true grassroots movement that espouses civil discourse and legal expressions of opinion, and responsible public involvement in our government. (Picture at right of a recent meeting of the Downtown LA chapter of the Coffee Party. I'm the dorky looking one in the middle.)

Beyond that, I've stopped reading as much as I had been. Perhaps I just don't have the energy to read late into the night anymore. I know I don't have as much time for reading, now that I've discovered Twitter. My parrot keeps me occupied too, as well as entertained. Even at the worst of times, Nickelbird is able to make me laugh. I'm so blessed to have her in my life (notwithstanding the constant mess she causes with her food flinging, shredding of anything shreddable she can get her beak on, and normal shedding of dust & feathers, not to mention the endless pooping). Here's a picture of Nickel peeking out from her favorite shelf in the linen-cupboard in the bathroom.

I'm going to try to post here more often, and promise not to be quite as long-winded as I seem to have been today. We'll see how that works out.