I only occasionally check the Kernel… only when I am very, very bored, but one of my campus talk-to’s told me about this, and I just had to face-palm.  I mean, seriously.  It amazes me how stupid people are.  Since when does your belief Christianity define how a country without a state religion should be run?  But ah, well.  Of course this dude is afraid of transgendered and transexual people being given “special rights”… it’d challenge the monopoly on special rights that Christian[-variant]s have enjoyed since Day One of American History.

Speaking of transgender issues, November 20th is Transgender Day of Rememberance.  An email was sent through the OUTsource circuit with names, CODs, and their dates, with a link to the case of Duanna Johnson. Reading about her attitude, pride, and defiance against the local po-po made me smile… but of course bit at my sides to know that such wit and strength was wasted, stolen, and destroyed for no good reason.  That I have friends that could meet the same fate for the same reasons absolutely terrifies me… it makes me sick to the heart and head to know I live in a world where people I love are in such danger…

Last on my big gay agenda: HOLY SHIT I NEED TO WRITE MY SW PAPER.  Due first thing in the morning.  I suppose, with all this, I should be able to write easily on why the GLBT community needs advocates in the field of Social Work, but ease isn’t as much an issue as time.  I can’t even start on that til I whip out my German homework, which is due tonight at midnight.  There isn’t enough coffee in the world to save me.

Three more days to plow through before my flight out to Tamparrrrgh… two more class days.  Once I get this paper done, it’ll be a breeze.  A breeeeze right into Kev’s warm, strong, loving and very nommable arms.  Arms and hands and smile and gaze and LEIJFLIJGLEIRIEWK!!!1  I start thinking like that, and three small days seem like three months of time between.  Hurry hurry.  I mean, after I get to sleep tonight, hurry.  I don’t mind having the time to wait while I need it to do class-things, hah.
Mmmm… ahhhh.  AAAHHH!!

Good news is that I’m only really missing one lecture next week, since everyone else pretty much decided to cancel classes on Monday and Tuesday.  German still meets, but it’s a “fun day” where Lissi has decided to have a Q&A and teach everyone to curse in German.  On the one hand, I’m glad I’m not missing testable lecture.  On the other, GODFUCKINGDAMMIT that’s what I wanted to know most!! XD

Tuesday: I was grocery shopping, trying to be ever-mindful of healthy options (cos of getting FAT), when I saw that naked tilapia filets were on sale.  I made a mad dash to the freezer, slamming the end of my foot into the side of the shopping cart wheel.  I hit the floor and stay there for five minutes, then hobble to the check-out line, where I collapse again under waves of nausea.  Get checked out, then wheeled out to the car.  Few hours later, after the screaming pain didn’t subside, I went to the ER for an xray.  Nothing was broken, but I am afraid I just might lose a toenail over the whole ordeal.

Wednesday: Skip class cos of walking hurts like a bitch.

Thursday: Go to class.  Hobble around campus, slowly, because none of the fucking busses are stopping for Lil Miss Bum-Foot.  It only hurts if I step the wrong way (which I do often), but it could be worse.

Friday: Nursing a hangover most of the morning.  The rest of the day is uneventful.

Saturday: Now that my foot feels better, I decide to try out my new bike (bought for health reasons, cos of getting fat).  I hop on, and I don’t even make it past the house because a rather comical display of stupidity and shoddy workmanship.  I lose my balance, so I pedal to try and balance again, but the chain slipped off the gears and I lose control, crashing into an embankment and twisting my ankle with a loud POPPOPPOP on the way down.  Lucky for me, I didn’t make it far from the house so my screaming was easily heard.  Bike was thrown into the truck unceremoniously, and I hobbled over and slide in the front seat, and head over to the ER.  Again.  For the second time this week.  For the same goddamned foot.  ARRGH.

Good news, it isn’t broken, according to the ER doc.  Which surprises the hell out of me, with all the noise it made.  Just not allowed to put any weight on it for about five days.  Which is good, because I can’t.  Thank goodness Dad had some crutches hiding in the garage.  I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do about class next week, seeing as if I can’t use crutches well.  I can get around the house just fine, but trying to do all the walking I do campus on crutches is a good way to make yet another trip to the ER for a sprained wrist on top of everything else.  Arrgh.

We’ll see how tomorrow goes.  See if I can stay out of trouble… hah.

First off, I should say, as this is my first entry since the election…. FUCK YEEEEEEEAH!!!  I could get into a good long speech about that, about vision, and change, and “socialism”, but honestly, I’m too drunk.  But I am optimistic, and I believe that change has arrived once more, and I think it is safe once more to have some pride in who we are as Americans.  I know it’s a little naive — perhaps I am too young to know better — but I can’t help but to feel some hope.  I can’t help but feel that things will start to be okay, for the first time in decades. Maybe now we can remember what America was supposed to be.  Maybe now I can be seen as a patriot rather than some damn punk kid bent on seeing the destruction of the establishment.  Maybe now I can reclaim the word “patriot” for what it was always intended to be.  One can hope.  I am sick of taking “unamerican” as a compliment, when it is meant to be an insult.  It’s about damn time this nation return to what we were always meant to be.

Now that we have that all nice and clear… moving on!

So, now that we’re over halfway through the semester, I’ve finally found a student-peer I can actually run into on campus and hold a conversation with at random.  It’s sort of nice to have a good, reliable acquaintance around… especially one that I can be quite candid with.  How many people do you know that will say, matter of factly, “I like being in high places… I always feeling like jumping though, even when I’m not suicidal.”  And, while it is an extremely serious topic, you can talk about it as if we were commenting on what we had for lunch today.

Life.  You’re weird.

In less morbid news, I got called out in German class tonight as we were discussing the forms of “wollen”.  I was writing feverishly in my notebook, when Lissi figured I would know Rammstein and made me put two and two together.  “Ah, ja, ‘Ich Will’” and etc.  She says she’d play it for the class but didn’t want to start up the smartcart, and then I’m all, “I think I’ve got it on my phone,” and she’s all, “Really? ”  So I find it and play it after class.

Then I hang back afterwards and ask her if she’d watched the video I told her to watch (Peter Heppner – “Alleinesein”) and she’s all, not yet.  So I told her it’s pretty fresh (August?  September?).  And she started talking about how weird it is being here in the States, missing out on what’s happening back home in Germany… aye aye, I agree, it’s always weird (news from home always seemed so foreign when I was over in Scotland, so I can dig the feeling).  But we talk about music in general, and Peter Heppner… Wolfsheim and Joachim Witt’s “Die Flut” (of which we were both “OMFG I LOVE THAT SONG SO BAD” over… thanks again for that, Chrissi!).  And she says to me what a relief it is to find someone over here that she can get all squeeful about German music with.  She was saying that she’ll start playing music in her office and get all sorts of straaaange looks because it isn’t a common thing over here… I just giggle and say “Oh, don’t feel bad, I get those looks too”.   It just made me happy.
I am seriously gonna miss her when she goes back home after this semester.  Not only is she an awesome teacher, but she’s just plain awesome in general.  I’m so glad I got to take her class.  But we friended each other on Facebook (yay!), so when I do make a trip to Germany (WHEN, not IF… it WILL happen someday!), I’ll have to see if we can get together and have a drink.

Ah, and to explain the title of this entry, I picked up the new ohGr today (“Devils In My Details”).  I downloaded the leak, so nothing is new whatsoever (besides being in better-quality), but I’m still happy to have it in my possession.  I’m always happy to support artists I admire.  Makes me feel all warm inside.

Raise yo hanz if you’re claiming your free Starbucks tomorrow.  Hells yes!  Well, maybe.  One of the disadvantages of living in rural hell is the lack of a Starbucks, so claiming my deal would require a trip to Paris at the very least.  And I might just do it.  Free caffeine, I mean.  But let’s not forget WHY there’s free coffee in the first place.  Looks like a done deal, but upsets have happened before… I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Between voting and probable coffee-slurping, I have two main obj… no, three.  Three main objectives.  First, read my ecology books for the exam Thursday.  Second, keep up the good progress on NaNoWriMo (oh yes, there is progress.  I’m impressed with myself!)  Third, get back to Twilight.  I finished the first book yesterday evening, and stayed up late chewing through the first bit of New Moon.  Why I waited so long to start on this, I don’t know.  I have a habit of ignoring hype until it’s gotten to be “old news”.

On NaNo, progress has been better than I expected so far.  I dragged up my old notes, some old “quotes” I’d think every now and again, working them in to scenes… I found and old letter I wrote long ago and realized it definitely had a place (accidental artistry!), so I broke it up, filed it down, polished it up, and it’s on the sidelines, waiting for its chance to be introduced.  Actually… that’s how I’m writing the whole thing.  Writing quips, scenes, full ideas in pieces and parts, which will be arranged and fused later.  Why I never thought of this approach before, I dunno… it only made sense in my mind now, though.  One of my main struggles before was the linear fashion in which I wanted to write… beginning to end, with maybe some second-thought embellishments later.  But this way I stumbled on all frantically seems to work so far.

I’m toying with the idea of having cameos from my more ‘celestial’ of friends.  We’ll see.  I don’t think this story is going to be what I originally planned, but it’ll be what it’ll be.