I'm in a ranting mood...

Maybe it's the season, maybe it's the craziness at work (ohhh, the craziness), maybe it's wishes unfulfilled on the job front and on the companionship front, but I'm in a pissed-off mood. So...I rant. Some of this will be political and some won't. But it's my blog and I'll cry if I want to.

• First and foremost, this  video cracks me up. Those of you who know me know that I fancy myself a bit of a grammarian, so when I heard this song on the radio tonight I cracked up. Grammatically correct rap music...SHOCKING! (One might expect the lyrics to be "She move her body like a cyclone. She make me want to do it all night long." But it's not. It's actually grammatically correct. w00t for that!)
• Second, I don't know why, but when I'm in a bad mood, this song always cheers me up for some reason. I like the message--when you're down and feeling blah, just change one thing and maybe it'll pull you out of your rut.
• Speaking of YouTube, stop by thamewt and participate in Matt's ZAP! project. He's collecting questions from various YouTube users about diversity and life experiences, and posting the questions and answers online. The two questions posted so far relate to LGBT issues, and Matt's responses are spot-on. I don't know if he's planning on doing strictly LGBT issues or if he'll expand his horizons, but props to him for doing this. And he's just so effing cute.
• Speaking of LGBT issues, I'm officially coming out at work. I'm planning on doing it subtly. I don't even own any Pride swag, so I ordered a Pride pin last night. I'll wear it for a few days and see if anyone notices. I'm also going to stop lying when the subject comes up, and start standing up for the LGBT community when it's appropriate. We have a customer who has called a couple times this week seeking help because when he became a customer, he was a Joseph, but now she's a Joanne. This has resulted in much amusement from my coworkers, and it's starting to make me ill. Also, I was in a meeting today and one of my coworkers said, "That's so GAY!" I wanted to slap her. I know that when I come out their attitudes won't magically change, but at least they won't say these things in front of me, and at this point that's the best I can hope for. Anyway, I'll wear my Pride pin along with my Obama pin and see who notices.
• Speaking of Obama, I'm kind of disillusioned with political blogging and with the whole political process at the moment. The latest capitulation on Iraq, along with the clusterfuckery with the Michigan primary/caucus boondoggle has got me questioning whether it's even worth it for us regular joes and janes to get involved with the political process anymore.
• Speaking of getting involved in the political process, I got an email from my friend Lisa today that she was planning on going to the Muskegon County Democratic Party meeting tonight. I just happened to have the night off, and I had planned on going to one of these meetings at some point anyway, so I decided I'd tag along. Yeah, not so much. Our beloved party makes a lot of noise about being a "big tent," but it's time for us to walk the walk. As some of you know, I have a disability and walk with a cane. The Muskegon Democratic Party holds their meetings at a CIO Hall downtown. Now, I know it's December and I know it's Michigan, but in the event one could find a parking spot downtown, one also has to negotiate several feet of snow and ice in order to even get in the door. This isn't the first time I've run across this, and it's starting to irritate me. In the event that the time-space continuum developed a giant tear and I did end up moving to Lansing, this would be a constant problem for me to have to deal with. ::sigh::
• So instead of going into the meeting, I sat outside and watched through the window as the meeting attendees filtered in. What is the Muskegon County Party going to do when Gary Conrad finally up and dies? He's been the chair for something like 25 years. I only saw one person, a young woman about my age, who appeared to be under 50. Everyone makes a lot of noise about the youth movement and how the youth of America generally vote further to the left than their parents and grandparents, but the party establishment sure isn't doing a very good job at reaching out to young people. As I sat there, all these people filtered into the run down old union building and shook hands and smiled, like they were reconnecting with old friends they had lost touch with.
  
  • First and foremost, how does a n00b like me even get involved in that? Had I actually been physically able to get into the meeting, I would've sat quietly in the back and been ignored.
  • Second, the county party meets once a month for about two hours. Meanwhile Mary Valentine is in the middle of a recall fight; the MDP and the Michigan Legislature have bungled the primary thing so badly that it's hard to even keep track of; presidential candidates are out-and-out ignoring Michigan until February 5, when they'll undoubtedly come to town with their hats in their hands; our rock star of a governor is being relentlessly railroaded by anyone and everyone, virtually ensuring a Republican governorship for years to come; Grover Norquist and his band of minions are mounting a serious attempt to pull the union safety blanket out from over Michigan's workers; AND THE WAR IS STILL RAGING. This is not the time for coffee and cookies, kids. It's time to roll up our sleeves and DO SOMETHING.
• Speaking of "n00bs," props to Webster's for picking "w00t" as their Word of the Year. I use "w00t" all the time, at least in print. It doesn't make nearly as much sense when spoken. Ten years from now, I doubt anyone will be using w00t on any kind of a regular basis, but it makes a great statement about what an impact the Intertoobz have had on our daily lives.

I feel better. Sort of. Still apprehensive about The Four Month Saga and irritated over job woes, but at least I splattered my problems all over the screen. That's what a blog is for, right?

Comments

[AikoAdam]

yeah....we weren't there. I didn't know Lisa told you to meet us. hmmmm. Hope you didn't go out of your way. For your woe is me rant...

http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/12/14/melodrama-kitteh-is-hamming-it-up/

[pico]

Hey, congrats on coming out at work: not the easiest thing to do, so I hope it goes well. Oddly I THINK I'm totally out at work, but my adviser still gets all nudge-nudge whenever the topic of beautiful women is brought up. It's not like I haven't brought my boyfriend to department functions before, sheesh.

Best of luck!

[Christina]

Hey, I use the blog for rants all the time. Do you have an update on how the coming out at work is going? I really really hope it's all OK.