So there was this epic comment thread about atheism and feminism today on Pandagon, and someone was like, "you would never yell at your relatives if someone died in your family and they sent religious sympathy, would you?"

And I was like...oh yes, I would, if my relatives knew that I was a non-believer. Like, if I were more openly atheist in my family, I don't actually know what I'd do if such shit were pulled. Because it's one of those things where I would get angry at people not respecting me enough to know I don't believe in god and not having the common courtesy to leave it alone for five fucking minutes. It was kind of a decentering moment, because from my point of view, I think it's pretty wrong to do that. And it seems unbelievable to me that someone couldn't see that. I mean, if someone told a Jewish person, "your momma's with Jesus now!" and meant it in a totally comforting way, the general response would be, "UM."

So why not that basic courtesy for a known atheist/agnostic? (The response to someone pointing out it was tacky was like, "I'm sure I'll tell my grandma that it's rude to offer to pray for someone when they're sick now" in a really smarmy-ass way) Is it really that hard to say, "you have my sympathies" instead of, "[dead person]'s in a better place now" to an atheist? This is something that is now on my mind because even when I was Mormon, I found expressing religious sentiments unspeakably tacky because it's such a private matter that it would be unseemly. In situations like that, either you are offering help, or you're offering sympathy/comfort. There are neutral ways to offer both that still mean something. And you can still pray for your atheist friend in private if you think it will help without disrespecting them.

*laughs* Okay, I also find it interesting that something I genuinely disapprove of, I express as "tacky" or "unseemly."

But yeah, just a thought that occurred to me.

This was NOT a good day for injury recovery. Sitting is getting easier but my hips have a really reduced range of motion and I did a stupid thing and took two muscle relaxants only about two and a half hours apart. Cuz of the UNRELENTING HURTY HIP/SIDE and that persistent moderate spine ache.

BTW, don't do that. You know what's not fun? Holding a phone conversation while feeling nauseous and worried that you have overdosed yourself and will end up slumped on the floor in a pool of your own vomit at work. While not getting to enjoy your one hour of less pain.

I can't wait for 12/1 when I go on the new insurance so I can be like, "OKAY YOU NEED TO RUN ALL THE TESTS KNOWN TO MAN AND FIX MY HIP NOW KTHANX. ALSO, I WOULD LIKE A CORTISONE SHOT."

I am bringing my heating pad to work tomorrow. As it and vicodin are my only real pain relief.

I was gonna talk about how every time the great-great-grandnephew of RaceFail rears its head, I realize that RaceFail really did knock me out of fandom, even more than having a girlfriend or giving up most fannish shows for comedies and quality television that nobody watches (because whatever, I watch Glee, that has a crazy-ass fandom), but then I realized: eh, who cares? People will take it according to their prejudices and it won't teach nobody a thing, so why confess?

Mostly I am thinking about football in an obsessive, fannish way. And things like, "everybody should be a lot more afraid of San Diego's red-hot streak because they've knocked the Colts out of the playoffs two years running and with Pittsburgh looking vulnerable, the Bolts might find themselves in Miami and Peyton Manning will have to cry his ass to sleep on his piles of money cuz while he may coach himself a 16-0 season, he can't head coach himself a Super Bowl."

Which is of course, not anything my old flist cares about. I also admit that I am having the Person With Decent Money reaction to a lot of the political issues: first, I'm like, "I told you Obama was useless when he pre-tossed the gays under the bus." Then I'm like, "this is awful. If I care too much, I can't help the counselors close the achievement gap and help the children while also making a fat paycheck. I will give more blood and maybe some of my spending money to help the sad puppies in the Sarah McLachlan ad?"

I dunno. I am not THAT busy. Right now I am mostly in pain thanks to whatever the fuck I did to myself last Friday picking up a sock. I think I actually did something to my iliopsoas that was more of a re-injury due to an untreated hip injury I got last Christmas that was further aggravated by office sitting. So my life is a lot of pain and I feel like the vet should just put me down some nights and I want to wait til December 1 to start using my new job insurance to handle the rehab. I miss my girlfriend. I miss my best friend. I miss my folks. My youngest sister is pregnant, so I call her off and on to see how the baby is doing. (She's very nauseated and they think it's a boy.) My new job is good, but I'm still adjusting to having a team that is far more design oriented and also, not in the same location as me while also dealing with this injury that is really taking a toll. It's not bad, but I kind of miss the boy-camaraderie so should call the old team sooner or later.

But yeah, my LJ sucks because for some reason, my Mad Men reactions got trolled up and down, the Glee haters spark off all my unresolved issues with fandom so I have no desire to get involved there, and most of my opinions are, "Why does the NFL give Peyton easy schedules? And fuck yes, all of us who aren't up Giants' overrated ass knew the NFC East was overrated. Also, seriously, are we gonna troll Mike Tomlin for a week cuz he lost to the motherfucking Chiefs? Bill Belichick made a risky decision that backfired against the now 10-0 Colts. He didn't get his ass beat in overtime by a team that's now 3-7. But will anyone troll the Steelers? Or John Harbaugh for the collapse of the Ravens? NO. Because y'all are haters and should be beaten with one of those goddamn Terrible Towels." Or, "It is one of the great joys in my life that Phil Rivers runs on spite and haterade. It's one of the many wacky factors that makes being a Chargers booster so great. Also, guys, seriously, stop counting the Chargers out when they're 3-3, given that they were 4-8 and STILL made the second round of the playoffs last year. They suck in September. This is always true."

Wow, there's a lot of footie in my post here. Also, I love you, jainanicole.

There is something so pleasurably decadent about posting to lj on my itouch with the heating pad going. Even if this week has sucked ever since I pulled my back Friday, complete with a shot of Demerol to the ass, plumbing hijinks, and a fire drill at work Monday causing my sad ass to walk down ten flights of stairs. I am a pitiable bastard. With a great iPod to play with. Oh and add that I had to endure that Pats loss atop my other tribulations. my only comfort is that the Chargers are rolling as per usual.

How 'bout that Mad Men? THAT was a Kobol's Last Gleaming-quality finale.

JOAN HOLLOWAY HARRIS 4-EVAH, BTW.

So good! Good, damn it!

It's a good day to be a white, college-educated woman aged 25-44.

So much to discuss about this graph. So very, very much.
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Vicki! The reason you cannot be a lesbian is because no sane lesbian would do you  because your lovetank is poison. (Okay, maybe you and Tamra, and your hateful Mean Girls love could get somewhere, but that's you and Tamra your hateful thing.)

Meanwhile, Tamra and Gretchen should just have hatesex, because damn, Tamra is obsessed.

Is further proof why civil rights should never be voted on. It is bleak, but I gotta ask people, do you really think the voting on interracial marriage would have been any better back in the day? IIRC, it was something like the mid-90s before a majority of people were okay with interracial marriage. The part where gay marriage is at about 45% yay, 55% nay almost entirely because of Old and/or Religious Jerks after only about ten years of the battle being active IS something to be pleased with.

Of course, 45/55 will get you jack shit and institutionalized second-class citizenry when you let the majority vote on minority civil rights, which is why this shit is fuckin' wrong, but that's why that district judge who is looking at the gay marriage lawsuit in California exploding a lot of myths on the record is far more important, because sooner or later, a higher-level federal judge is gonna have to take this on. And now that we've learned that trying to be more right-wing FAILS (Obama administration? Did you get that? Nobody has time for a Democrat who apes Republican attitudes. Tell Lieberman that you are taking away his committee chairmanship, to be reinstated IF and ONLY IF there is no filibuster on public option. Also, listen to your friend Paul Krugman. He's a cool dude who has the added benefit of being right about everything.), maybe Democrats can learn the Republican lesson of, "fuck you and your Jesus-freakery and idiot economics. I don't
let kids die or people go hungry cuz I like ratfucking the opposing team, which does make me a better person."

Consider why the Democratic netroots love them some Alan Grayson, guys. Or why right-wingers like Michelle Bachmann. Nobody has time for a wishy-washy doofus who follows around the guys who beat him up.
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Wow, Ann and Leslie in Parks & Recreation are pretty much the slashiest things this side of Cristina and Meredith. Almost as slashy as Troy and Ahmed on Community, whose bromance is epic.

*cracks up* Oh, this is how Mormon I was raised up. This morning, I was driving my back roads way to work, the way you do because 66 is evil and 7 is worse despite these being more direct routes to work.

I look to my left, waiting for the Idylwood light and I say to myself, "that looks like an LDS church. Bet it is."

So I go and work and do some video stuff, et cetera. And then I go to Google maps and look it up.

Sure enough.
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Guys, I am drinking brandy alexanders and feeling no pain. This is good, because today sucked out loud and then my commute home took forever because drivers here suck. At least I can underhand pull-down 70 pounds easy as me and my personal trainer found out during today's session where I sucked at running.

And shit, man, I keep remembering not only do I get a 20% salary increase at my new job on 11/2, that shit is bonusable AND I didn't have to work for a defense contractor to get it. Even if today sucked (and oh, it did), at least life in general is sweet, dude.

Last night was Ryan Murphy night on TV and oh, how Glee looked like the New Hotness next to the Old and Busted Nip/Tuck. And I say this feeling that Murphy's style of television is easily misunderstood and that people complaining of certain things are not getting it.

( First, Nip/Tuck )

( Some people don't get Glee. )
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I got a sweet new job. I'm going to be a "Training Content Producer" for a educational SAAS software company, and I got a twenty percent increase in salary over current paycheck, and the position is bonusable.

YAY ME. I've been sitting on this for about a week cuz I needed to give notice, but there it is.
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( Mad Men )

Meanwhile ( Entourage )

I am all sad because I thought I got Glee tonight and I do not. Boo.

Long-term readers of this journal will know that I am prone to random injury. Occasionally I get this shoulder pain and I stop doing stuff and it ends up okay. This bout went on for a week-ish, and when it got through the 800-mg ibuprofen yesterday (look, sometimes things get through high dose advil, but usually there's an effect) I was like, "okay, fuck it, still have a cold ANYWAY, urgent care and telework."

I figure it is probably all the shit I moved, or less likely, the weight lifting.

The doctor at Urgent Care: "you have shoulder strain from your desk job. Stand up sometimes and go after it with tennis balls. Your desk is also probably the wrong height and so on."

Me: RSI? Really? FAILLLLLLBOAT.

Also, if anyone gets a "B" in that Subway monopoly game, please tell me. My roommate would win a Prius.

So this is a shot from my sister's wedding, you know. Where I looked like a milkmaid.

( Wanna see some pretty pictures? )

Okay, kids? It's like fannish lesbians made a magic baby here: Dasha K (yes, oldtimers, it's that Dasha K) writes Mary McDonnell/Gillian Anderson. And it's NC-17.

Take a moment to consider that. Several segments of fandom that I know have united and gone ZOMG WHAT YES. Hee.

I guess everyone in the 60s was that naive.

( Mad Men WHAT )