Tuesday Has No Phones

I'm wearing purple today. Mind you I own so much purple that it's statistically difficult to find a day when I'm not wearing it. But even so, I made sure to put purple on today, along with a fabulous pair of green ballet flats.

I have to admit on things like this I can't help but wonder what if those who died didn't particularly like purple? Like I get there's a theme and all, but if I died of, say, breast cancer and people wore pink in my honor I would so come back and haunt you all (probably by following you around and going "REALLY? Seriously? Do you know me AT ALL??" and then maybe doing the "I'm not touching you" game just to make sure you were as annoyed as I was about the whole thing.)

But, barring evidence to the contrary, who does it hurt? So I have my purple on. It does make you wonder if the other people you see wearing purple today are there with you, so there's that if nothing else.

I was never bullied to tears in school, though certainly I took my share of teasing and tormenting like any kid did (esp chubby, nerdy kids). Supposedly some kids called me and another girl lesbians in elementary school, but I didn't hear it if it happened. Which isn't to say it might not be true. Certainly I've had people try to use "lesiban" and the like as insults.

Typically, though, I was the one standing up for the bullied kids. I am nothing if not my mother's daughter, so seeing others getting picked on was always a great way to get me right into the fold. (My weapon of choice? Sarcasm.)

(Amusing side story: there was only once in my life when a school bully gave me the "I'll see you after school!" let's-get-ready-to-rumble speech. Her location of choice was, with no irony on her part, between the church and our Catholic school. Sure enough when school was over she was there, lying in wait. I walked right past her, feeling no need to dignify this nonsense with my attention. "You can't do that!" she said when she saw me. "Watch me," I replied and walked right on home.)

None of this is to say that I had awesome anti-bully skills, or that bullying can be survived with a skilled combination of boredom and a rapier wit. Not all bullies are alike, and there's no one-size-fits-all answer for how the victims can or should deal with it.

What it is to say is that bullying happens, at worst it's deadly and at best it's really fucking stupid. As Winston Churchill said, "It's the kind of horseshit up with which I will not put."

As I catch up with my flist I find:

1) Amazon is possibly marking any LBGT book as 'adult' and therefore stripping it of its rankings. I say "possibly" only because I haven't researched this beyond the linked post. But if true that's surprisingly stupid of them. [ETA: more info here]

2) OW MY OVARIES

3) Approximately five billion posts that say "Can I have a dreamwidth invite code?" and nothing else. I leave any conclusions to be drawn form this as an exercise for the reader.

What she said. Total effing WORD to what she said.

As I sit here trapped in cat bondage (seriously, Mac is lying across my wrists like a pair of extremely dense yet furry handcuffs) and waiting for the debate to begin, I have time for some links.

( As always, tags indicate topics )

Finally, outside of the cut so more can see it: stoney321 is doing a 3-Day walk for breast cancer. she explains why far, FAR better than I ever could. All I can say is that her doing these 3-Days is just one of the many reasons why I think she is utterly awesome, and if you have a couple of bucks to spare (hard in this economy, I know) please follow the link and donate. As she says, even if it's a dollar, it's a dollar more than she had before.

So, let's talk about McCain's choice of Tina Fey Gov. Sarah Palin for his VP candidate.

( Get comfy, this might take a while. )

Looooooooong day of visiting my Grams in rehab (fractured rib kind, not Lindsey Lohan kind) and dealing with related family drama. Also if anyone knows how to get AVG free version 8.0.136 to stop bugging me to restart my computer even after I've just restarted the damn thing That would be fabulous.

Now then, on to the news. ( As always, tags are your friends )

So here's the thing: christinenj got me into using Google Reader. One of the features of said reader is sharing items from your feeds with your Google Reader friends, complete with comments if you were so inclined. Naturally I can't keep my mouth shut on much, and really the only downside to this system that I have found is that all y'all aren't on Google Reader too (don't worry about linking me if you are, it won't change this).

Well gosh, I said to myself, if only I had some way I could share interesting links and articles with the folks I usually blog with.

Yeah, I'm slow.

Anyhoo, so here's me giving it a go. We'll see if this lasts once the new toy shine is off of it. In the meanwhile it's all behind a cut tag for ease of ignoring. Look to the tags for the post to get an idea what all is included.

( From TBQ's world news central in her livingroom.... )

tzikeh asks and I am happy to oblige.

Icon in honor of this. 8)

(ETA: credit for icon goes to alibi_factory)

Now that I'm home from work I had a chance to write to the folks at Outsidepride.com, aka "I'm not a bigot but I want those fags to stop destroying America." Since I know from Stoney's LJ that most of the major points have been hit by now, I figured aim at something different.

( My letter )

Incidentally, Liz Marcs has some other links on the subject for those of you interested.

You've undoubtedly seen this around your flists already but Georgia and New York just told gay couples to go fuck themselves. Okay, Georgia is not a huge surprise but - New York? THE HELL?

My favorite part:

The New York decision said lawmakers have a legitimate interest in protecting children by limiting marriage to heterosexual couples and that the law does not deny homosexual couples any "fundamental right" since same-sex marriages are not "deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition."

Kiss my ASS.