Okay, this one is a bit more obscure.  Anyone here remember Depeche Mode?  Blasphemous Rumours?  My BFF, who is a music and media buff, didn't know this one.  But I'm including it here for your listening pleasure.  Without further ado, please welcome those wild and wooly monks performing their Gregorian Chant version of Blasphemous Rumours.

Since yesterday was Mother's Day, my boys presented me with objects signifying their affections.  Michael, who has carefully observed over the past two and a half weeks as I've made good use of my insomnia to finish 17 of the books in my "to be read" pile, gave me a book mark.  He encouraged me to set a book aside long enough to actually use it. 

Tucker gave me an oil painting that he's been working on.  We talked about how the painting should be framed.  Where it should be hung.  And then he said, "And when I move out, I'll want to take it with me so I can remember you." 

But in the meantime, I can enjoy it all I want. 

I spent most of my morning from the time I woke at 4 crying.  It was a strange surreal kind of crying.  I've just finished the study of A New Earth so I was very conscious of what was going on inside my head.  And it wasn't like anything that made sense to me.  I wasn't rehearsing past pains.  I wasn't telling myself how awful things are or how scary they might be.

I was just crying.  It was like coming in late to a silent film with some character crying but lacking any context that would reveal why.  Finally, and it took a while, but finally after it was pointed out to me that I have gone through multiple ups and downs lately, I decided that I didn't need a reason, apparently all the twists and turns had me wound up, and my body needed a means to release all that emotional stuff. 

I didn't feel any better or worse after I was done, but I did feel hungry.  I wanted a pecan shortbread cookie.  So I made a pot of coffee and with careful attention to each present moment, I dipped cookies into the coffee and nibbled them a little bit at a time until I wasn't hungry anymore.

Then I went to my bed with a new book.  But after a few minutes of not being comfortable and remembering that the kids' doctor warned us all of the danger of lying on our bed for any reason other than sleeping, I moved back out to the living room in the midst  of the kids, cats and chaos. 

Joe the cat curled up next to me in an unJoelike display of gentle affect. 

I don't know if I feel better now, I guess it would depend on the comparison point.  I feel better than I did when I was crying, or at least I feel more peaceful.  I don't feel any more or less agitated than I have all week, but I do feel tired. 

I realize that it was a kindness for my boss to give me advance notice, but now I wish I didn't know.  I wish I didn't have to continue doing this job anymore.  I just want it to be over.  I don't feel like I owe them anything else at this point.  But that hasn't prevented them asking me for more. 

Tucker had an awards luncheon at school yesterday.  He got a ribbon for the Most Improved Behavior.  And he so got to my heart.  When I arrived, his teacher greeted me with some surprise and told me that Tucker had told her that he didn't really expect me to show up.  He had told her that I needed to work. 

When he saw me he was obviously both surprised and delighted.  He gave me a big hug, led me with pride to the special place he had prepared for me to sit, and showed me the things that have been important to him in this room.  There's the Golden Labrador, Junior, who comes to the school on Tuesdays and Thursdays to "help" in the Special Ed department.  Junior has been specially trained for working with special needs children and he's very good at sitting still while one of them holds on to him and cries. 

One of the teachers had offered the kids their choice of some carved hematite pendants and strung them on necklaces.  Tucker chose a turtle and was very pleased to have it along with the explanation that turtles are an important symbol in Native American cultures representing the power of long life and persistence.

After the awards were presented, Tucker mentioned that the Book Fair was in the library.  He pulled out a crumpled paper and showed me the titles he'd written down.  Then he said, "I'll understand if I can't have these, I know you took off time to come here today so you earned less money and we're trying to save ..."

Some things, even if you understand? they still hurt.

I thanked him for the list, and went straight to the book fair where I bought the two books he asked for and then because one of them was the first in a series I bought the next two books to go with it.  Before I left the school, I dropped them off at his classroom so he could enjoy having them as a treat. 

Now that I have both caffeine and cookies in my system, I think I'll go do some chores.

My brother knows that I like Gregorian chants.  In fact on a scale that ranges from "smell of skunk" to "chocolate while PMSing" my Gregorian chant appreciation falls just slightly short of relaxing in a bubble bath with a glass of champagne and a good book.  So when David called and offered me an mp3 of some happy frolicking friars doing a cover of Queen's Pressure, I wasn't much likely to say "no". 

And now I'm in a sharing mood!  Enjoy

it's warm weather in New Mexico, so I'm leaving my Monthly Dues for the Fools Den in the form of Godiva ICE CREAM.  All for you Ms Spaz! 

For every ailment under the sun

There is a remedy, or there is none;

If there be one, try to find it;

If there be none, never mind it.

I watched the last installment of Oprah and Eckhart's discussion of "A New Earth" last night.  There were many profound statements about joy, accetance, enthusiasm and the like.  But the thing that made the biggest impression on me was when Oprah asked on behalf of all the curious how old Eckhart is.

I'll admit, I've been curious because he has this timeless quality about him.  I had decided that he might be about my age, or a tad younger.  (I'll be 45 in June.)  No, the man is 60 years old.  His skin is smooth, his eyes are clear, he has almost no wrinkles, and his hair is thick and brown.  He's 60.

If being zen keeps you looking like that?  Sign me up.

New rule, from here on out, when someone cuts me off in traffic, I will hear the sound of one hand clapping and I will think to myself, "peace, joy, and good skin"

Did I mention that the man is 60?!?

I ordered glow in the dark stars.  I said that I was getting them for Tucker, and he will definitely get some on his ceiling, but I ordered a second set for me.  How cool will that be to turn out the lights and enjoy my night sky? 

Looking now for a start chart so I can put real constellations on his ceiling.  For me?  I don't care, I just want the pretty.

** The pack of stars was $6.95 and each pack comes with five sheets of decals.  I bought two packs, but one would have been enough for two rooms.  I ordered them from www.scientificsonline.com - they were shipped via UPS and arrived within a week of my placing the order.  Can't wait to get them up and install a blacklight in my room. 

So I ran across this story* while browsing through the headlines yesterday. 

"Penis Theft Panic Hits City .."

It appears that a number of men are accusing others of being sorcerers who have the power to curse.  As proof, they display their shrunken, stunted, puny, little ... "members" ... The accused sorcerers are then attacked by lynch mobs determined to do them in before they have opportunity to rob others of their ... "vitality".

Does it not seem at all likely that MAYBE these accusers were little to start with?

I couldn't fix the link so I've copied and pasted the entire story below.  With apologies to Reuters ...

*Penis theft panic hits city..

By Joe Bavier

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumors of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Mary Gabriel)

Is it personal or political?  The 1960's slogan that the personal is political seems to have gone so far out the window that most of us feel apologetic if we have a "personal" problem even when that problem is obviously the result of industry wide or systems saturated unfair practices. 

We react to people who've had problems as though the problems were their fault.  (Just scan back at all the quotes regarding people in trouble from subprime mortgages and it seems that the vast majority include some language like, "they should have read the fine print").  I think it makes us feel safer if it's possible that the victims of such things somehow contributed or brought it on themselves.  But to one degree or another we are all vulnerable and sometimes no amount of education can save us.

I could play in that sandbox all day, but I'd rather make you aware of new rules announced yesterday by the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Reserve Board, and the National Credit Union Administration.  Pay attention folks because these are HUGE consumer protections and they will be bitterly opposed by banks and credit card companies. 

"For credit cards, the proposed rule would address: (1) unfair time periods for making payments; (2) unfair payment allocations; (3) unfair interest rate increases on outstanding balances; (4) unfair fees from credit holds; (5) unfair methods of computing balances; (6) unfair security deposits and fees charged to an account for the issuance of credit; and (7) deceptive offers of credit. For overdraft protection services on deposit accounts, the proposed rule would address: (1) a consumer’s ability to opt out of overdraft services; and (2) unfair fees for debit holds."

Have you ever made a debit purchase, and then discovered that you had a "hold" on your account that caused you not to be able to access your funds?  That happened to me for the first time when I was driving across Nebraska during a family vacation about ten years ago.  We'd traveled from Kentucky to Minnesota, then I was driving to Kansas to visit my cousin, down to Oklahoma to see more relatives and then back to Kentucky to oversee the final stages of construction on our home.  Apparently every time I stopped for gas, there was a $50-$100 hold placed on my debit card even if I only purchased $10 of gas.    It didn't take very many of these until my little bank card was maxed out. 

So I pulled up to the hotel where I'd made my reservation in Omaha and to my shock I was told that the charge was rejected and I was told that my account was overdrawn.  (Luckily, I also had a credit card with me and was able to use that for the rest of my trip.)  When I got back to Louisville I didn't let any blue grass grow under my feet before I was at the bank demanding how less than $100 of charges had resulted in overdraft fees when I had over $800 in my account.  My bank refunded the fees and released the holds as I presented them with my receipts, but they weren't required by law to do that.  That's because it has been perfectly legal for banks and credit unions to assess overdrafts based on the amount of a hold on your account rather than on the amount of actual charges.

Have you noticed that the time between the receipt of your credit card statement and the due date has been shrinking?  I've heard reports of people receiving their bill and having the due date less than a week away.  Some credit card companies have a less than 30 day billing cycle because that trips up people (like me) who schedule their monthly payments and then don't worry about it.  The due dates change from month to month and sooner or later you will not only be late, but you'll have two payments due in the SAME month.  (Not to call any names WASHINGTON MUTUAL but it's not just the little shady companies that do this.) The new rules say that statements have to be mailed out at least 21 days before the due date to give consumers a reasonable amount of time to make payment and avoid late fees. 

There is a 75 day window for the public to voice it's concerns and response to these new rules and you can bet every one of the $17 Billion dollars that the financial services industry raked in last year JUST FOR OVERDRAFT FEES that the big guys, your bank and your credit card company will be inundating the agencies named above with their objections. 

Folks we can do something.  We can lend our voices in support of these rule changes.  And we need to tell everyone we know to join in and email or call.  Here's the link to the announcement on the OTS website which says that once the proposal is posted to the Federal Register it will be open for comments. http://www.ots.treas.gov/docs/7/778014.html Get ready.  Tell EVERYBODY, we all need to speak up about this.  This is our chance to see real effective change that will help people avoid unfair charges. 

I have a secret vice. 

Brace yourselves.

I like vampire stories. 

I got really disgusted with the Laurel K Hamilton stories after they became so much about gratuitous sex that hardly any real vampire/zombie/were creature stuff ever happened any more.  But in recent years, I've discovered a couple other authors who write much better stories of supernatural happenings and manage to avoid the weirdness that LKH sunk to.

First on my list is the Kim Harrison series starring Rachel Morgan, a leather wearing witch who lives in a church with a living vampire, consorts with pixies, and is an honorary were creature and member of a pack of two.  I was a little unhappy with the ending of the last book I read "A Few Demons More" because one of my favorite characters got killed off.  And there's tension in every book because the pixy, Jenks, has been established to have a life span of about 20 years and he's pushing that so any book now, we are probably going to lose him too.

The stories though are smart, funny, contain enough twists and turns to keep me guessing.

For several years now, I've been seeing the Charlaine Harris books on the shelf next to the Kim Harrison ones, but to be honest I was a little put off by the cover which to my way of thinking made them look ... cheesy.  I know, you can't (or shouldn't) judge a book by the cover, but I do.  So there you have it, another little vice of mine. 

Well, last week when I had dinner with Jeri at the Jade restaurant the fortune in my cookie said that I deserved a treat.  Then I had a coupon for 20% off at Borders, plus they were doing buy one get one half price ... and I decided that it was time for me to pick up some of the Southern Vampire series and see what all the fuss was about. 

Sookie Stackhouse is a great heroine.  She's a telepathic cocktail waitress in a small Louisiana town when a vampire moves into her neighborhood and puts the moves on Sookie.  Sookie is drawn to him because she can't read his mind, and the blissful silence allows her to relax with him as she can't with human boyfriends.  As though the possibility of a supernatural boyfriend weren't enough to keep her busy, she's also drawn into a murder investigation when a serial killer begins targeting women who work with Sookie and it looks like she's next on his list. 

Harris combines mystery, horror, and romance in a genre bending series with something for everyone.  She's won numerous awards for her work and continues to turn out stories of a high caliber to satisfy her growing band of international fans.  I kind of like it that she lives in Arkansas and has an obvious Southern flavor in her writing. 

Like this excerpt from the first book, Dead Until Dark, "Predictably, Gran was excited out of her gourd.  She fluttered around the kitchen as if Prince Charles were the expected guest.
     "Tomorrow night. Now what time's he coming?" she asked.
      "After dark.  That's as close as I can get."
      "We're on Daylight Savings time, so that'll be pretty late."  Gran considered.  "Good, we'll have time to eat supper and clear it away beforehand.  And we'll have all day tomorrow to clean the house.  I haven't cleaned that area rug in a yes, I bet!"
      "Gran, we're talking about a guy who sleeps in the ground all day," I reminded her.  "I don't think he'd ever look at the rug."
      "Well, if I'm not doing it for him, then I'm doing it for me so I can feel proud," Gran said.  "Besides, young lady, how do you know where he sleeps?"

Take this quote from book three (Club Dead) when it appears that Sookie's boyfriend Bill may have been killed and she's contemplating her future.  "I'd been a virgin until Bill.  Now the only sex I might possibly have would be with JB du Rone, who was so lovely you could almost overlook the fact he was dumb as a stump.  He had so few thoughts that his companionship was almost comfortable."

I like it that even though her boyfriend is a vampire Sookie's relationship difficulties are no different than any other woman trying to work things out with a man.  She gets angry with him when he's less than truthful, when he is highhanded and unconsciously disrespectful, he doesn't pop the question, and he thinks he can smooth everything over with great sex. 

Which for the most part he can, because Sookie has all the standard weaknesses of any normal woman with a secret vice or two.