I Have a Sneaking Suspicion About Our Therapist

Well, this sucks.

I couldn't go to therapy today due to my work schedule, but I'd talked extensively to Guy about what we should bring up in today's session. The main points were: 1) our weekend trip to Sunny's home state, which is sure to stir up some strong emotions 2) recurrence of his chainsaw nightmare 3) the way his fits have lately seemed like he's just going through the motions and isn't really feeling them (he had one this week).

Guy and Sunny showed up on time. The therapist was 5 minutes late. He said he was locked out of his office, so he led them into the file storage room for the session. He brought a chair in for himself, sat on it, and rubbed his forehead while looking distracted. Once Guy realized a chair wouldn't be forthcoming, he sat down on a cardboard box. Sunny just stood. They all talked for a little bit, but the therapist seemed very disjointed. He didn't remember the chainsaw nightmare, or much of anything, for that matter. After ten minutes he asked Sunny if he was feeling OK. Sunny said yes, of course. "See you next week!" That was it. Guy left... but as he drove back he got more and more irritated with the therapist's behavior. The therapist has canceled a lot of sessions in the past. The receptionist he shares with another practice has often called us to cancel sessions because she says he's sick.

It isn't a waste of money for us, because he takes Medicaid and we don't pay anything out of pocket for the sessions. But after some discussion Guy and I decided we're just going to "break up" with him in a passive way. Guy is going to cancel next week's appointment and we're not going to make any new ones. I'll start looking for another therapist that takes Medicaid.

All of the therapist's behaviors point me to one suspected root cause: HEROIN. I'll feel bad if it turns out he has killer migraines or a brain tumor or something like that. But he should say so in that case, because otherwise, it looks very, very squirrely.  In the past, when I've seen or heard of behavior like this, it's been caused by heroin. That whole avoiding eye contact thing seems more like a mark of heroin addiction than crack or meth (people on meth make especially horrible and inappropriate eye contact).  I think he left something he didn't want Guy to see on his desk, and that's why he pretended he was locked out.

When I was a teenager, I worked for a junkie boss once, in an ice cream store, and it was a total nightmare. At first, I thought he was just going into the back of the store and getting drunk or smoking pot. Then he started leaving his dirty needles in a paper bag next to the cash register... He used to go into the backroom for ten minutes or so, then come out front staggering and weaving and ineffectually sexually harassing me. I would wave him away and make him return to the backroom to lie down on the cot in the corner. I left after a few weeks of this, but I heard the situation deteriorated quite a bit afterwards.

I'm going to start looking for a new therapist on Monday. All we need is someone who will do simple play therapy with Sunny weekly, or once every two weeks... who will get to know him, establish a consistent program of anger management for all of us, and be able to work through highly emotional issues with as they arise (like this trip we're taking). All I want from a therapist is that they 1) show up to appointments 2) listen to us and to Sunny and remember what we tell them 3) don't use overtly religious therapies 4) have some experience working with children from foster care 5) do play therapy, which is something that Sunny responds well to. That's not so much to ask for, is it? There are a gazillion therapists in Atlanta and I guess I just have to keep plugging through the lists in search of a new therapist, who will be our fourth one so far.  The first one had no clue, the second was great until she recommended spanking, and the third is... umm... potentially way too problematic.

Our neighbor says their family therapist is great and would fit all the criteria, but he doesn't take Medicaid.  I might end up going to him if things keep falling through with other therapists. Perhaps it could fall under my insurance.

The Sordid, Easily-Solved Mystery of the Flaming Pinecones

Driving home from work on a Friday afternoon in Atlanta is always hellish. When I drove into our carport, I was exhausted.

To the right of the carport, on the yard, a feet away from our grill, I noticed two small flaming pinecones.  The weeds around them were also on fire.  Since Dekalb County is now a federally designated flood disaster area, the yard is rather waterlogged, and the flaming areas struck me as extremely unnatural.

My first thought was, "Am I hallucinating?" My second thought was, "what the f*%#ing f#$%!" My third thought was "Is this some weird, miniature woodland elf version of the KKK burning crosses?" My fourth thought was, "the kids must have done this." My fifth thought was, "Is my husband criminally negligent enough to have started this with the kids as some kind of science project?" I was almost totally sure the answer to the last question was "No," but it still crossed my mind.

I yelled for Guy. Then J and Sunny came running around the corner from where they must have been hiding. J was dancing around the pinecones and crying.  "I did a bad thing! Please don't tell my mom! Sunny made me do it!" His shoelaces were getting pretty close to the flaming pinecones, and I yelled at him to move away. Then I put out the fires using a thick, wet doormat.

J is a good kid. He's 10 years old and usually mature for his age.  When Sunny gets frustrated, J often gives him lectures about controlling his temper. His family is strict with him. They're very religious, and his mother is some kind of Baptist deacon. We don't have that much in common with them, unlike our other across-the-street neighbors, but we get along nicely, since our kids are such good friends.

Usually J is a good influence on Sunny. He's calmer than Sunny, and he's older and bigger, so Sunny can't really boss him around. But like Sunny, he's often too smart for his own good. When he sets his mind on doing a bad thing, he carries it out. Now I've discovered that when both of them decide to do bad things, they turn into some kind of freaking supervillain team.

Here's what happened. They were playing inside for a while, but since the weather is nice, Guy told them they had to go play outside. His usual rule, which I agree with, is that unless the weather is nasty, kids should be playing outside before dinner. There were a lot of mosquitoes outside. Instead of dealing with the problem by using the readily available mosquito spray, one of them -- we're not sure which, and we don't really care anymore -- had the bright idea of starting a fire to keep away the mosquitoes. The first thing they did was to douse the pinecones with the lighter fluid next to the grill. Then J asked Sunny where the lighter was. They snuck into the house quietly and Sunny got the lighter from the drawer. Then Sunny gave it to J, then J set the pinecones on fire.

At first, Sunny was screaming that it wasn't his idea, that J did it everything on his own.  Contradictions soon appeared in his version of events, and I told Sunny I didn't believe him. But J wasn't telling the truth either. A 7-year-old "made me do it"... ahem... maybe he was confusing Sunny with, I don't know, SATAN?

Guy took J across the street to face the music with his mother. Sunny started to have a meltdown, so I had to take him inside the house and hold him down for a couple minutes. He screamed and cursed at me but it only took a minute until he became remorseful, began crying and admitted everything. He was sorry for lying, he was acting like an idiot, he always made mistakes... at this point I reminded him he wasn't an idiot, everyone makes mistake and the important thing was to learn from those mistakes. He got a light consequence: grounding from outside play and from TV for the rest of the day. We also told him all the things that could have happened as a result: he could have burned the house down, he could have burned his face off and gone to the hospital, he could have burned to death, he could have burned his friend and felt guilty for the rest of his life, and so on.

As we were eating dinner later this night, Sunny said he had a stomachache.  He barely ate half of his dinner. Sunny usually eats like a horse; I always give him a regular adult-sized portion. Guy put two and two together, made the accusation, and Sunny admitted it... before they snuck into the kitchen to get the lighter, they had also used a step stool to steal from the candy bag in the high cupboard, then gorged themselves on Laffy Taffy.

Before this, Sunny was allowed to have one candy every night from the candy bag as long as he ate all his dinner. The consequence for the theft is pretty simple: we're giving away the candy bag tomorrow. He was really upset about that and spent a few minutes crying for his lost candy.

Honestly, we have to laugh a bit at this whole episode now that the drama has died down. It's like they went on a crime spree.

Guy does think Sunny got off too easily for this. We know that whatever J is facing is going to be much worse. He's probably going to get grounded for a week. I'll check with his mother again tomorrow... I also want to reassure her we're going to keep the lighters and lighter fluid locked up from now on.

I think I'm also going to print out a few clinical pictures of burn victims to show Sunny. But other than that, we're not going to give him any more consequences. He's already remorseful. I'm disappointed in J and Sunny, and I have to revise my estimate of their maturity downwards... but I'm hoping that we've nipped this in the bud.

A Japanese Man Who is Even More Eccentric than My Dad

This video is an absolute must-watch.  He sort of reminds me of Billy Corgan, something about the forehead...

Oh My God - Terrorist Attack

This hits close to home for me... what a terrible event.

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- The suspect in a fatal shooting at a Knoxville church Sunday was motivated by frustration over being unable to obtain a job and hatred for the liberal movement, police said Monday.

Authorities recovered a four-page letter in which the suspect, Jim Adkisson, described his feelings and motives, police said.

Adkisson, 58, of Powell, Tennessee, has been charged with one count of first-degree murder in the shootings at Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.

The gunman killed two adults and wounded seven others before being overpowered by congregants, authorities said.

The case is being investigated as a hate crime, police said.

[...]

Somwhat Inappropriate Sing-Alongs (on a Lighter Note)

A commenter on my post yesterday reminded me of another backwards counting song that starts "five little monkeys". I'm actually very familiar with the Wiggles Aussie version (Sunny LOVES the Wiggles):

Five little joeys jumping on the bed
One fell off and bumped his head
Called up the doctor, doctor said
"No more joeys jumping on the bed!"

The first time I heard that Wiggles song a few weeks ago, I was instantly reminded of the shortening bread song. I remember this song very strongly from my childhood, I just don't remember from where. I think the five little monkeys/joeys song is based off of that one, because the tune is almost exactly the same. Here's how I remember the song:

Three little children, lyin' in bed
Two were sick and the other 'most dead
Sent for the doctor and the doctor said,
"Give those children some short'nin' bread."

Mama's little baby loves short'nin', short'nin',
Mama's little baby loves short'nin' bread,
Mama's little baby loves short'nin', short'nin',
Mama's little baby loves short'nin' bread.

I was curious and did a quick search. The original has a fascinating background!

It's been covered by such various artists as Paul Robeson, The Andrews Sisters, The Beach Boys and The Cramps.

The Social Justice Plus Illicit Sex Version, Appalachian Style
Wikipedia Entry

Non-Local Nuttiness

My husband sent me a link to this video. At first, I was terrified that this preacher was from Atlanta because he claims to be from "ATLAH". Luckily, he's not. "Atlah" is his special code word for Harlem. So you can't blame this guy on us!

The video is actually jaw-droppingly funny. Just when you think it can't get any more surreal, it does. You would think this preacher would be isolated from any reasonable public discourse, but apparently, he's made numerous appearances on FOX News shows. Oh wait, that doesn't count as reasonable public discourse.

I'm going to lay off the political posts for a while after this, but I couldn't resist posting the link... it's just too bizarre.

Metascam!

My husband gets the best Nigerian scam emails.

They've gotten really creative recently. Earlier this year, he received one from an Army Captain in Iraq. To summarize: while looting a palace, the Captain and his merry crew had discovered three crates: one full of cocaine, another containing a tactical nuke, the third full of cash. Of course they needed my husband's help to get all of this out of Iraq. More specifically, his bank account number. I wish I still had that email.

He just got one that takes the scam to whole 'nother level. It's a metascam. Wow!

NIGERIAN FOREIGN PAYMENT INVESTIGATION AGENCY
ANTI- TERRORISM CLEARANCE/FRAUD UNIT
FALOMO OFFICE COMPLEX IKOYI


Attn: My Dear Beneficiary.

It is our duty to monitor this payment to you according to this new procedure of payment sign by the presidential senate committee to pay you directly from their paymaster through ATM CARD From HSBC London UK, Our responsibility is to lift up the battered image of this great country and not to destroy it. Please save your indulgence approach and make no further comment on our integrity, we are here to help you and not destroy.

Based on our findings in this investigation department we wish to warn you against some Miscreants, Hoodlums and Touts who go about scamming innocent people by claiming to be who they are not and thereby tarnishing the image of this wonderful country. We were informed that some Hoodlums are contacting you in respect to the collection of your fund which was long approved in your favour with the Central Bank of Nigeria. As a matter of fact we have been on this investigation assignments for some time codedly known to no one but the Presidency and some top government official who are in support of this investigation team to help stop fraudalert activities in this country and as well restore the image that has been tarnished by the above listed group of people.

we have maped every strategy to forestall and make sure that we track down the past fraudulent and impersonator's that has been the obstacle for you to receive your right funds owed to you by our government. It will interest and help us if you send further information that will help us more to hold these culprint and bring them to justice under the Nigeria Law, we already have some of them in custody for prosecuting after final investigation and evidence, if you can provide any information's to us concerning any one that has contacted you in regards to this payment, please forward it so that we will look into it and know if it is one the people already in our custody.

Note: your ATM CARD from London is here on our desk and is ready to deliver to you immediately you reconfirm your delivery Address to avoid wrong payment.

We applogise on behalf of the President and the people of Nigeria for any dealy and lost this must have coursed you in any way and promise that such thing will not occure again in the furture and should incase you are currently dealing with any one of them regarding your fund ( ATM CARD ), we urge you to stop further contact with them as you are taking a very big risk and it might interest you to know that you will never get your fund from them as they have nothing to offer.The hoodlums will continue coming up with expences and thereby requesting for money from you untill you go Bankrupt. Hence, your ATM CARD get to you, Note that we are duly inter-switched and you can make withdrawal in any location of the ATM Center of your choice/nearest to you.

Finally, we are expecting to hear from you immediately unfailingly so as to enable us serve you better and you get your FUND THROUGH ATM CARD to your door step without any delay again. Remember to reconfirm your delivery Address to avoid wrong payment.
Belowi is the info:

1) Your full name.....................................
2) Your phone and fax number..........................
3) Your full mailing address..........................
4) Your complete Age..................................

Thank you very much for your anticipated co-operation and understanding while we wait for your urgent response to this Email address (ONLY) : chairmanribadunuhu_efcc@yahoo.co.uk

Yours sincerely,

MICHAEL.B AMADI/SUPPORTER RIBADU NUHU.
Economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC)

Here is the real Nigerian EFCC.

The Man with the Thing in his Pants

Ever since moving to Atlanta more than ten years ago, I have wondered about the strange man who stands at the corner of Ponce and Briarcliff with the thing in his bike shorts.

Everyone who lives in, works in or travels through eastern intown Atlanta has seen this man and has the same question: "Is that thing real?"

I just found a video about him. This is not a mockumentary. He is really one of our best-known local characters.

There's no nudity in the videos (and thank goodness for that). In terms of dialogue, Part I is PG-13 and Part II has a few R-rated bits.

Mr. Understood: The Willy Terry Story Part 1


Mr. Understood: The Willy Terry Story Part 2

Absolutely Horrifying Foster Abuse in South Dakota

I've been putting together a positive post about a Japanese organization promoting foster care. I happened to stumble across this abuse story in the meanwhile. I think it might pick up a lot of notoriety soon.

I have never heard of such cold and cerebral violation. I hope the abuser goes to jail for the rest of his disgusting life.

How can we give good foster parents the support they need, keep them from burning out, and keep the bad ones from being foster parents in the first place? It would make sense, if we aligned our national budget with better priorities, to pay foster parents a $30,000 base salary with frequent raises for experience, additional training and degrees in child development and special education. Then raise the bar like crazy. Perhaps an extended pre-licensing-approval period including a psychological exam?

Someone like Klaudt who becomes a foster parent so they can violate the most vulnerable children... this should never, ever be allowed to happen.

05/18/2007
Former SD Legislator Arrested On Sex Charges

A former South Dakota lawmaker is accused of molesting his own foster children and legislative pages.

Ted Klaudt, 49, a Republican rancher from Walker, faces a long list of charges: eight counts of rape, two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of witness tampering, sexual contact with a person under 16, and stalking.

Court documents mention five possible victims. Three were foster children between the ages of 15 and 19 who lived with Klaudt's family. One is a cousin of one of those girls, and the fifth is a friend of Klaudt's daughter.

In the most disturbing accusation, the girls say Klaudt had them convinced they could earn up to $20,000 by donating their eggs to a fertility clinic. And even though he has no medical training, the girls say Klaudt did all the supposed "exams" and "procedures" himself.

Former State Representative Ted Klaudt is accused of manipulating, molesting, intimidating and threatening teenage girls who the state of South Dakota paid him to raise.

[...]

Searches of Note

When I started off blogging I swore I would never do one of those "list the keywords people are typing to find my blog" posts. I now understand their sick appeal. I checked my keywords for the last week and found all kinds of neat stuff. Most of it was fairly self-explanatory, but here are some keywords of note, eached link to the part of the blog they uncover.

how can i distinguish people of chinese, japanese and koreans descent from each other
I answer this question quite clearly!

dinner of heroes
This sounds like a great Hong Kong movie.

get human tall by hanging upside down
Holy crap...

should families be allowed to adopt outside of their race
I hope so, or I'm in big trouble.

totally crap.com
Excuse me!

adopting traditions in japan
I answer this question tentatively.

are geisha hoes?
I answer this question exhaustively!

obama sounding like he's from the hood
How dare he.

The Best Don Imus Post and Picture

This is just brilliant.

Booyakasha! Imus Respeck!

Blowflies on the Pawpaw blossoms

I planted two pawpaw trees in my backyard last year. They're about 5 feet tall. One of them is blooming, but the other one is being lazy. I need to get a couple more this year. They're not easy to find.

Pawpaw trees have beautiful foliage and produce a large, white-fleshed, sweet pulpy fruit that's supposed to be delicious. All pawpaw sites mention the fact that pawpaw was George Washington's favorite dessert.

The pawpaw used to grow all over the Eastern US, especially the Southeast. But as our old growth forests were cut down, the pawpaw also went. Pawpaw seedlings need filtered shade to grow, and when the old forests were gone, the sunlight destroyed them!

The pawpaw is pollinated by blowflies. They flowers emit the odor of rotting meat, and the flies crawl over the flowers, picking up pollen that they then bring on to the next tree. Some growers say this method isn't reliable enough, so they hang small bags of rotten chicken parts on the branches in order to increase the number of blowflies.

When our pawpaw blossomed, the flowers didn't smell like anything at all. But they must be putting out something. There was such an impressive swarm of blowflies the other day, I took some pictures.









Here's a very extensive site about pawpaws.

Picking up paw-paws; put 'em in a basket.
Picking up paw-paws; put 'em in a basket.
Picking up paw-paws;put 'em in a basket.
Way down yonder in the paw-paw patch.

Mexico's Migrant Mountain

I just read this article from the BBC.

My only reaction: one of the distinctive hallmarks of Mexican culture is the sophistication, sheer biting force and prevalence of black humor. Irish and Russian are other cultures known for black humor, but as far as I know, Mexicans take the prize.

From the BBC

Millions of migrants have crossed illegally from Mexico into the United States. Their experience could hardly be more real. But now at a controversial theme park in Mexico, tourists can pretend to be an illegal migrant.

Brilliant Asian Tolkien Satire: Lord of the Chings

Let me preface by saying that I really love Tolkien and all things Lord of the Rings.

I also enjoy reading critiques of Lord of the Rings. There's a lot of creepy racial undertones to his mythology; dark evil always lurks in the East and South, for example. But my favorite Tolkien critique is by genius British writer Michael Moorcock. It's an essay called "Epic Pooh" that takes a class-based approach and accuses Tolkien of smug Toryism. According to Moorcock, the hobbits are based on a wrongheaded ideal of lower-middle-class English rural life as seen from an urban upper-middle-class perspective. The book containing the essay is recently back in print with some additional writing by a few of my favorite urban fantasy writers.

I just happened to run across an incredibly entertaining exegesis of Lord of the Rings. It was featured on a site called "The Fighting 44s." I was chewing a piece of plum-flavored chewing gum (a special brand my father brings from Japan on visits) and I almost spit it out when I read about the Korean elves. Then I almost swallowed it and choked when I read who the Numenoreans were supposed to be.

In an interesting revelation, we learned in The Silmarillion that when elves are pushed over the edge, when they get angry and suffer intense pain and/or humiliation, they turn into orcs. Why, just the other day, I mistook a Korean for Chinese, and I witnessed a monstrous transformation: his face contorted like a devil-worshipping epileptic, and he started foaming at the mouth. I swear I heard him scream something like, "Che irumeun GORGUL imnida!!!" at which point he proceeded to eat a chubby little mainland Chinese kid in a bone stew. Time will tell if this glorious race disappears into the West with needless plastic surgery and questionable adoption practices.

From "Lord of the Chings" by Dialectic the Stealth MC

This piece is very insulting and very funny and very clever. It was a perfect antidote to that depressingly stupid geisha book review I read yesterday.

Weekend Update with Photos

There's nothing much adoption-related going on right now. We were supposed to have the second homestudy visit last week, but it was postponed to next week due to the worker falling sick with a cold.

Saturday morning, my husband and I went to Scott Antique Market, which is held once a month in a large exhibit hall. The stuff there is fairly high end, so we go there more to look than to buy. There's a regular dealer there who sells items from Turkmenistan.

Most Americans have only heard about Turkmenistan due to the recent death of its extremely crazy supreme dictator. This is a guy who named a month of the year after his mother and erected a giant gold statue of himself that rotates every 24 hours. The Turkmen people are also known as great jewelers. Many other Central Asian peoples also have great jewelry traditions, but the Turkmen style is my personal favorite.

Turkmen work is usually in silver with some gold washes for contrast. It incorporates stones such as carnelian and lapis lazuli, or else colored glass. The designs strike a balance between simplicity (basic geometric shapes, repeated and transformed, very limited color palette) and sophistication (borders, dots and ropes and chains tying the shapes together). Here is a Turkmen website with lots more pictures of this amazing stuff. Turkmen jewelry is also featured as part of a permanent exhibit at Fernbank Museum in Decatur, Georgia. The picture to the left is of a headdress that the dealer ("Nuristan") kindly let me photograph.

I didn't bother asking how much the headdress cost. I did buy two very small pendants, each of which cost $40.00, which is quite a cheap price. I'm planning on making them into matching necklaces for my mother and me. The photo to the right isn't very good and doesn't really show the nice gold wash on the left pendant.

Driving back from the market, we saw a Lady Liberty muppet attacking a taxi:







The rest of the day was very relaxing. I tried to finish reading American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America by Chris Hedges. The chapter on conversion narratives was very good, but the book wasn't coming together and really felt more like a series of articles I'd already read before. My snapping point was the chapter on creationism. Even though it's not Chris Hedges' fault, I read something so stupid there that I just could not continue reading. It's a young earth creationist who works for the "Creation Museum" using the Bible to argue that Tyrannosaurus Rex was a vegetarian... or, actually, a fruitarian.

"People say, 'Wait a minute -- but T. rex has those incredibly shap teeth.' And indeed, T. rex had six-inch serrated fangs -- perfectly designed for ripping and tearing into watermelons and cantaloupes and cabbages and all kinds of fruit.

"You see, you think of a watermelon as soft. But in order to get to the soft stuff on the inside, you have to cut through the hard outer exterior. But not T. rex. He was quite ready to eat it off the vine."

The mental image of a T. Rex savaging a watermelon is stupid enough. Then when I typed up the quote I realized that there's yet another layer of stupid, because he lists the cabbage as a fruit with a thick rind.

The next day I went to Unitarian church with my mother. We go every Sunday now. A guest minister from a Unitarian church in Transylvania gave a sermon on what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy meant to her life as a Hungarian minority. Our church has a "sister church" in Transylvania so we hear a lot about that corner of the world. The regular minister also briefly but firmly reminded us of MLK's anti-Vietnam war stance and encouraged everyone to take part in upcoming peace demonstrations. I'd like to go to the big one in DC on January 27th.

Later I did a bunch of gardening. I planted a rosebush and some dianthus flowers in the front yard, and a native azalea in the back. In a few minutes it's off to my mother's house with my husband and a friend of ours. Speaking of dictators who personally name months of the year (like July and August), we're going to be watching the season two premiere of Rome tonight. I love this show so much. I'm a huge fan of any kind of ancient Roman thing, as long as it isn't too silly. "Rome" is really top quality though; it has some of the best acting and plotting since the groundbreaking "I, Claudius" series.

Vale, blog readers!

Just Say "Medical Reasons" please please please

This is my first work-related post, and might be my last, since my job is kind of boring, and also involves confidential (but still very boring) information.

I'm a front-line manager. Today I received an employee-illness-related communication with a very disturbing picture attached. My goodness, I didn't need to see that. I really wish that when employees call in sick or discuss illnesses they'd keep the details to a minimum. When I needed two days off for my laparoscopy I didn't email my boss and say "I need to get a procedure which involves pumping my abdomen full of carbon dioxide gas, making an incision in my bellybutton and guiding a camera into my uterus accompanied by two Dr. Octopus arms inserted through smaller incisions on either side of my bellybutton". I just said, "I'll need to take two sick days for medical reasons but expect to be fully recovered when I get back on Monday". Short and sweet.

I need to be sympathetic; sometimes it obviously helps employees to talk about their medical problems, especially since they know I'm going to keep it confidential. I try to maintain that dutiful attitude when I hear stuff like "I can't come to work this morning, I had blood in my stool" or "Hey, I've got some fungus coming out of my ear, take a look."

Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey is running for President in 2008

I was going to write a serious post later today - maybe I still will - but as I was blog-surfing I ran across a great blog called The Other Side of the Eye. It has this post, which is the absolute most entertaining politically related news item I've read since starting my own blog. Check out the post, then check out the post comments, then check out the Impaler's campaign website.

Nel Sangue,
atlasien