in which i'm sitting

RAM arrived today. My computer now moves at the speed of something above that enjoyed by comatose snails. Rejoicing can commence. For me, anyway.

Sister

There are, apparently, mountains in New Mexico. Before mocking of my geographical knowledge commences--I went to public school. Frankly, you are all very lucky I can recite all forty-seven states, by memory, even.

Anyway, Boyfriend's sister took them to wherever they are living once they stepped off the bus. Things like food, rent, clothing, and electricity, not to mention water, will require them go out and work. I'll be interested to hear what it's like there--a great aunt lived in the area once many millions of years ago, so what little I know of Alburquerque is very--well, non-existent.

Training

Training continues to be mind-bogglingly complex. Here in Texas are most fully felt the echoes of teh striving of Bush to get women married off for their own good, at least as far as welfare is concerned. Because as we all know, women are deliberately going out there and maliciously getting pregnant by totally innocent, virginal men in some kind of attempt to take over the world.

You know, that even sounds like something he'd think, doesn't it?

There is a slight chance that my job is making me more and more jaded toward men in general. This can't be a good sign. I mean, I'm all for the "did you *really* think that if you fucked him and got pregnant, he'd stay?", but I'm also of the "hey, sport, what the hell did you *think* would happen when you forgot to get L'il Dick into a wetsuit, hmm?"

Hmm. This sounds even less good.

*sigh* why do I live here again? the food?

In a sidenote, I'm *so thrilled* to report that Texas is joining that memorable list of states trying for a gay marriage ban into the constitution. Or redefine marriage/domestic partnership as only that between a man and a woman.

It's like, a bandwagon. A really freaky one. There is some precedent, unfortunately--a trangendered widow was denied her husband's retirement after it was discovered she was born male. I think the case went to appeal, so anyone who follows Texas caselaw, or this case for that matter, if you happen to know how it turned out, tell?

The legislature meets in 2005, as it meets every two years (unless there are special sessions, which there always, always are, so really, we have an eternal legistlature, but the official one), and that's supposedly going to be wandering around, seeing if it can be passed. I have my reservations on it being passed--these are the people who could not figure out how to pass school budget reform and continuously make a mess of any and all federal policy. The nice thing about the Texas legislature is that we tend to keep electing extremely dumb people. They make *very stupid laws*. They make easily breakable, undefinable, extremely difficult to enforce laws. It's a gift.

It's still yet another reason for me to wonder if a life as a Vegas showgirl is *really* such a bad idea, all things considered.

Meme

Taken from tamallnn - Five LJ's You Should Be Reading (in no particular order)

1.) sisabet - she's possibly the funniest, smartest, most enjoyable read on the net when she's in the right mood, and luckily, the mood is often. She's an elite polyfandom vidder as well. Seriously. I sometimes wonder how I survived without her. The saga of Bert and Ernie's love is priceless.

2.) valereix - another one of those terribly smart, terribly funny fangirls who makes her real life absolutely fascinating, larger than life, *cool*, and writes a damn good fic as well. She's my pick-me-up. Like, all the time. I need a lot of picking-up, you know.

3.) boniblithe - as svmadelyn is the Voice of Smallville Fandom (for me, anyway), she's the voice of Fandom in General. Nothing escapes her roving eye, and she pretty accurately spots the up and coming fandom crazes/fads/etc. Her finger on the pulse of Fandom, sort of. She's also one of those people that makes her life sound so damn *interesting*.

4.) fyrdrakken - she's an *old* acquaintance, as we first met in X-Men movieverse an eon ago. Her LJ is always peppered with the most fascinating variety of links I've ever seen--an eclectic mix that pretty much hypnotizes me as I read. *Pretty*. She makes me happy.

5.) svmadelyn - as tamalinn put it, she's the Voice of Smallville Fandom, which is because she carried around the Spreadsheet of Doom and pretty much kept everyone alive during the New York adventures, but also because her LJ is *the hub* of what's going on in Smallville for me. If there is something going on, she either started it, is involved with it, has recently quit doing it, or feels that there is a vacuum where it should be that should have something there. No, really. She does this and pre-reads/betas/handholds/encourages quite a few SV writers as well. She has also stated she has *no current interest* in Gravitation or manga. That will be remedied. Beside the point. The girl rocks.

You know, now thinking, it's interesting how many LJs I read just becuase the people fascinate me more than the fandom. Not a bad thing, but it explains why I tend to cling to people after they leave a fandom or I do. Hmm.

In other news, Landscape moved again, and issaro sent the beta for the second part, and this gives me confidence that eventually, I may actually finish it. Before I die of old age.

Comments

[krisdia.livejournal.com]

About training - after studying TANF (and other safety net programs) in school, I have intense sympathy for anyone trying to master all the rules and such!! I was part of a food stamp registration campaign, and I could barely keep all *those* (considerably fewer, I imagine) rules straight to figure out who qualified for food stamps who wasn't getting them.

And I will always think the people who passed TANF were on crack - marriage is a goal, poverty reduction is not????

[fyrdrakken]

Ah, but they're thinking about "welfare queens" or something like that -- they think that encouraging people to marry will lift them out of the poverty level. :-/

[fairy-tale-echo.livejournal.com]

There are, apparently, mountains in New Mexico.

teeheee. There's different KINDS of mountains too! In Albuquerque, where I am living now, we have the "naked mountains" as I used to call them, or the Sandias. They are barren and harsh and imposing and beautiful in this bleak way. I, however, grew up three hours to the north, at the base of Colorado and in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which are "stereotypical" mountains, covered in trees and greenery. What I love about New Mexico is...that there is almost every kind of natural environment you can imagine. Drive far enough in one direction and you'll hit something new: deserts and mountains and lakes and rocks and, just, yeah.

Um, I am going to stop talking about New Mexico now. However, I'd definitely recommend The City of Albuquerque's job directory (http://www.cabq.gov/jobs/) which has good links and even good jobs. And if you want to know anything else about here, well you know who to ask! ;)

[jcalanthe]

There is some precedent, unfortunately--a trangendered widow was denied her husband's retirement after it was discovered she was born male. I think the case went to appeal, so anyone who follows Texas caselaw, or this case for that matter, if you happen to know how it turned out, tell?

It wasn't retirement, she was denied standing to sue his doctor for wrongful death.

It has not been overturned. I don't know if/what happened with the appeal - it might be still pending, but I also recall discussion of whether it would happen (or maybe it failed & I've just blocked that painful memory). That case just blew me away - they weren't even married in TX IIRC, but in KY, so goodbye full faith and credit clause. Thankfully it's not the only precedent for whether transpeople can get married, but it's still a scary legal situation.

You didn't even mention the illegal dildoes thing - that always hits my top 10 silly TX laws, tho I'm not recalling the details. But you also have Molly Ivins, who is absolutely a national treasure.

women are deliberately going out there and maliciously getting pregnant by totally innocent, virginal men in some kind of attempt to take over the world

I had to laugh at this, cuz otherwise I'd be crying. I respect the hell out of you for working within the TX social services system.

[issaro.livejournal.com]

woohoo, violentcrazy!lex. I adore you.

[boniblithe.livejournal.com]

You're just saying that because you and I had that hot lesbian affair way back when. ;)

[fyrdrakken]

Whee, I've been pimped! Awesome!

And on the thing of following LJs for people rather than fandoms, that's why I prefer it to mailing lists. The fandom helps you find people who are of like tastes, you can keep track of the individuals once you or they have moved on to the next thing, and sometimes if you keep in touch you find that a few years later the pair of you are sharing a fandom again.

[svmadelyn.livejournal.com]

*blushing* Thank you, sweetheart.

You and I have a date for Death Note. That is *all*. *is resolute and firm and all of these related words*