Today is me and Mrs. me's anniversary. I should probably get a card or something.
9/11 was my parents' 30th anniversary.
This morning, I was wondering how long before 12/7 became a reasonable wedding date? It's a bit out of season and it's only going to be a Saturday every so often, but this must have come up mid-century.
Knock knock.
Who's there?
9/11.
9/11 who?
YOU SAID YOU'D NEVER FORGET.
Do not test drive this one today.
We're talking about BENGHAZI!!!!, right?
I am, of course, an America-hating asshole with a shriveled heart. But man do I hate 9/11 and Memorial Day and Veterans Day and Pearl Harbor Day and all the rest of the national sanctimony holidays since joining Facebook.
I WILL NEVER FORGET (to demonstrate my patriotism with a GIF of a cheeseball inspirational poster with a bald eagle crying). REPOST THIS IF YOU LOVE AMERICA.
I'd say as soon as it was a Saturday, assuming that like the vast majority of Americans, one didn't lose anyone in the attack. September weddings are gorgeous.
Today's our when-we-first-met anniversary. Which has proven convenient because ordinarily I would not likely have registered the date in the first place much less remembered it on an annual basis, but the girlfriend likes to commemorate that sort of thing and would be disappointed if I didn't remember. So even if we didn't hate America we'd be going out for a nice celebratory dinner this evening.
Very glad I've cleansed my otherplace feed of its last vestiges of maudlin jingoism. Today I have one simple acknowledgment, one incidental mention, and one link to this.
Despite sympathy with 7 in principle, I'm sorry to say I would still look askance at a wedding on the 11th. Yesterday I was preparing an official letter to go out and I felt it would be better for it to be dated September 10th or 12th if possible. Maybe in 5-10 years?
We're talking about BENGHAZI!!!!, right?
The right-wing lemmings have been pushing this. geeez.
with a GIF of a cheeseball inspirational poster with a bald eagle crying
The tears are on the inside, but the OK GWOT license plate appears to still be offered (I've linked it hear before).
13 is really awesome. 'Guantánamo judge makes secret ruling on secret motion in secret hearing.' ... '"I'm not ruling on whether they [redacted]," the judge says in the public portion of the transcript. "I'm not ruling on whether [redacted]. I'm not ruling on whether [redacted]. I'm simply saying the information is discoverable and I will address the form at a later date."'
I've been asking myself the same question with respect to the commemorative event that my employer arranges every year. The company lost a rather large number of employees in the attack, so it could conceivably go on forever, or at least until the last person who knew one of the victims retires.
For a company that actually itself lost a large number of employees, forever (or until retirement of the last peer) does seem reasonable. I mean, a slow fade should happen where it transitions from a deeply emotional event to "that thing we do every September", but that's organizational history.
At issue in the hearing was a pretrial motion labeled AE52 by the prosecution that sought a secret ruling from the judge. It was called a "government consolidated notice regarding ex parte, in camera filing and motion for finding" on the Pentagon's war court website whose motto is "fairness, transparency, justice."
XVII.--- That it shall not be in their power, after the end of the next Representative, to continue or constitute any proceedings in Law that shall be longer then Six months in the final determination of any cause past all Appeal, nor to continue the Laws or proceedings therein in any other Languege then English, nor to hinder any person or persons from pleading their own Causes, or of making use of whom they please to plead for them.
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Texts From William Carlos Williams
i have eaten the little red wheelbarrow
that was in the icebox
and upon which so much depended
forgive me
i don't even know why i did that
i guess i thought it was one of those little ice cream cakes
you know the kind that they shape to look like cars or whatever
that shit was disgusting
hey do we have any ice cream cakes though
-wcw
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This is a little more uplifting.
Carp:
I just found that my cousin being prosecuted for espionage.
Allow me to take this opportunity to express my pedantic outrage at people who refer to 9/11 not as "nine-eleven" but as "nine-one-one". (I'm looking at you, Michele Bachmann.)
Oh, I am a bad person, but the "cousin who died on 9/11" reminded me of this.
24: I've actually also always hated "nine-eleven", preferring "September 11th". Though nine-one-one doesn't even make sense.
26 made me laugh out loud. I also like 4.
I have a Canadian cousin who is circulating some mawkish 9/11 WE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER photo collage on facebook. I guess she's a 9/11 weepy wannabe.
We considered having a 9/11 barbecue this weekend ("If you don't come, the terrorists win"), but the density of cheesy GIFs on my FB news feed confirms that most of our friends would have been offended by the invitation.
I wonder with Pearl Harbor if the date didn't live on in this kind of infamy, though the event did. That is, I don't think people went around saying 12/7 and associating the attack so closely with the date so that every time you said the date you'd think of the attack. Also, it has been 12 years since 9/11/2001. Twelve years after Pearl Harbor, World War II had been over for 8 years.
For a long time, I said "September 11th" instead of "9/11" but I lost that naming battle. For consistency, we should start calling the 4th of July "7/4".
A couple of years, in both cases. Three tops. Less for excess preachy-ness in that case.
I saw an anniversary announcement today
For how many years?
I think I met someone who had their wedding on 9/11 close to twenty years ago and it turned out--IIRC which might not be the case--one of the parents had left Chile soon after Pinochet took over and wasn't that happy about it.
14: the OK GWOT license plate appears to still be offered
Somewhere, west of Tulsa, there is an F-350 sporting that license plate and a pair of these.
35: less than five years tops, I'd say.
Also a FB friend had a long I'm-so-poignant update about where she was on that fateful day...and wrapped it up with a frowny face. That 9/11 is so frowny! It made me laugh.
I laughed both out loud and quite uncontrollably at 21. And 7 was solid, too. Strong work today, apo.
For a company that actually itself lost a large number of employees, forever (or until retirement of the last peer) does seem reasonable.
We lost [a redacted but significant number of] people. Total recognition of this by the company yesterday: zero.
42 is meant as a criticism of my company, by the way, not as a hint that other people should just get over it already.
Isn't 42 a little anonymity-busting?
I'm not working for the same people now that I was then.
Ajay works for Al-Qaeda? (I assume that 3 would have been contractors.)
The true tragedy is that after twelve damn years I have yet to come up with a joke of the form: "Get up, get get get down" etc...
I will never stop trying.
This post is about me, isn't it?
Related to nothing, I'm having surgery tomorrow, and am really on the point of dying of terror. Like, I have a lot to accomplish in the next few hours before going to bed and waking up and bathing and going to have surgery, but I can't get any of that stuff done because I'm paralyzed with fear, and an intermittent need to vomit from fear. This is my nightmare. It is a stupid nightmare, but it is mine.
Sorry to hear it AWB. How important is it to get that stuff done before surgery?
Some of it is getting ready for the surgery, like taking off all my nail polish. I also have to email my classes about what I expect them to do. I should also send a conference paper proposal that's due during a time when I will probably be high. The nail polish is the really important thing, I guess, and it's hard because it's foot surgery and there is nail polish on my foot, which hurts, because it is broken in a rather horrific way.
Also, I am really really irrationally terrified of hospitals and doctors and surgery and anaesthesia. And none of my friends here are good old friends who know that I even can be scared of stupid shit, so they're being supportive in a kind of vague way when I need a little bit more hand-holding and head-petting. It's hard to ask colleagues to head-pet.
Can I make a suggestion? Go to a nail place and ask them to take the polish off your toe nails. While you are sitting there, email your classes. Don't think about the paper proposal until you get home.
This post is about me, isn't it?
The last line was teasing you, yes.
That sounds awful and I'd be a bit terrified too. What all is going on with your crazy foot, anyway?
Oh, it's stupid. I was dancing at a party and got kind of tired after three hours and fell. I broke off the nearer end of the fifth metatarsal, which wouldn't be so bad except it's connected to a ligament that's dragging the broken-off piece away from the rest of the bone. It didn't hurt so bad that night, but I woke up to a giant black-blue foot and horrific pain. Luckily, Bave was visiting and he got me to the ER.
...so now the local rural podiatrist is going to put a screw in it. Everyone keeps freaking me out by saying, Oh, you're having surgery at Tinytown Regional? Really? Not Bigger University City Hospital? Really? That's your choice that you made?
Horrible. Hope you feel better.
Yes, best wishes for feeling-better.
AWB, is that the inside or the outside of the foot? I can't make it out from a quick google, and I'm just curious because I broke my foot about 10 years ago in approximately that area - on the outside of the foot.
You have a friend going with you for the surgery? I think you have to - they won't release you after anesthesia without someone picking you up, or at least my hospital wouldn't.
And I can mention all kinds of things regarding post-operation! You'll need a crutch! (A lot of people seem to have old crutches lying around, so maybe you can get one that's the right size from a friend without having to buy a new one.)
I have been on crutches all week, so I've got them, and a great magic boot for when I'm allowed to take the dressing off in a week.
I do have a friend going with me for surgery. He promises not to put videos on Youtube. But it still makes me nervous. I don't know anyone here well enough for sitting with me while I come to after surgery.
59: Yes, the outside of the foot. It's a lot less painful than my broken wrist was in the spring, but more disabling w/r/t getting around my job, etc.
Speedy healing. That reminds me to never dance.
I don't know anyone here well enough for sitting with me while I come to after surgery.
Are you sure about that? People can be pretty understanding about these things. And the friend who's going with (and bringing you home) might could sit with you. FB is your friend in something like this, I have to think. You'll want someone to help you settle in when you get home. Really, don't be shy about asking for help in this.
My own experience was that recovery wasn't half as bad as the broken foot prior to the surgery. Look at it this way: you'll be *out* during surgery, and afterward, you'll just be getting better (gradually).
My broken foot episode was also embarrassing and stupid. It's not like I was sky-diving or something.
Do you have a housekeeper available/affordable? Doing things like cleaning super suck with a nonworking foot.
My mentor at work is being really great and helping to organize the dozen-ish people who all sort of said, "Oh if there's anything I can do, let me know!" She's making a spreadsheet of times when she thinks people should bring me food and talk to me and see if I need trash taken out or dishes done.
The friend taking me to the hospital is the very lovely shy person whose recent girlfriendedness has drawn him away from being my constant companion. My main fear is that I will come to and be weird at him about love.
Cheer up. You might just be extremely flatulent.
Heh. Methinks Halford doesn't realize that housecleaning goes out the window when you can barely take a shower.
The big thing is that, since you're on crutches (or a single crutch), you don't have two hands to carry things. You're one-handed at best -- but since AWB has been on crutches for a week, she's probably figured out ways to address that stuff.
I had about two full days of crutches with no boot, and Jesus Christ, that's exhausting. If any good comes out of this, it will be a renewed interest in upper-body strength.
The obvious solution is an attractive housekeeper, possibly wearing a fur bikini, who will also bathe you.
Yeah, I've seen the spreadsheet, and it says nothing about sponge baths or handjobs.
My main fear is that I will come to and be weird at him about love.
Eh. Is he willing to appear at the hospital once the surgery is done to sit with you, before you're actually fully recovered from anesthesia and ready to go home? If so, just go with it. Everyone's weird post-anesthesia. Maybe you should just tell him that you hope you don't get all weird and bleary and blabbering, but you won't have control over that, being out of your senses, so he should disregard anything you say, in advance. But do make clear that you'd really appreciate it if he could be your companion as you come to.
I sound like I'm lecturing, but White Bear, you'll need a friend, so ask someone to do the friend thing.
Oh, he knows what he's in for, I'm sure. We're quite close, but just having a weird time in our friendship right now.
I think Parsimon is under the misapprehension that no one is going to be there, while AWB is just saying that there's no one she actually knows well enough to feel comfortable having there, so the having the person there (which is happening) is not an entirely comforting prospect.
76: Yes! I was unclear on the apprehension. Yes, my friend will be there the whole time and will bring me home and make sure I'm OK. And he has the numbers of at least two other people who have volunteered to take over if I am a mess and he has to go to work.
AWB, wishes for helpful friends, fast healing, and good drugs.
76, 77: Oh, yes, I was under the (mistaken) impression that AWB was going to try to mostly go it alone.
Well, thank god, then.
If anything could be cheering, or at least elicit a laugh, it must surely be this winner of the ugliest animal award. For all I know, this has widely made the rounds by now, but I hadn't seen it until a short while ago.
I daresay AWB will not present in that way post-operatively.
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This wasn't going to have been a good day at work anyway, but having a perky goateed leprechaun-like co-worker repeatedly wander past tense, pressured impromptu meetings I was engaged in and cheerily address me as "Evil not-Liz"* did not make it any better. Once, and on a more relaxed day, fine, cute. The third time? Just stop.
________
*Not a customary mode of address, but comprehensible in context.
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Break a small bone in his foot. Make it look like an accident.
Anyway, I just won my first cultural victory in Civ 5. Intersocietal utopia, hooray.
Sorry about your foot, AWB! Get well soon.
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Why do I keep reading LATFO? It's so depressing. These kids die like every week! It's not that big a population -- somewhere less than 5,000 in the entire country, at any given time, and they lose 1 or 2 percent every year. Horrible.
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That's so sweet. I just got the spreadsheet back from my mentor, and it filled up with an endearing combination of good close friends and staff members I've only met a few times. Someone will come check on me three times a day until Monday afternoon.
Glad to hear you've got support, AWB, in a situation that must really suck a lot.
AWB, I hope that all goes well and that you have a calm weekend.
I don't know anyone here well enough for sitting with me while I come to after surgery.
You know us. We'll chat with you.
"Nurse... nurse... Bring meeeee... iPhooone."
now the local rural podiatrist is going to put a screw in it.
I appreciate this isn't what AWB wants to hear, but my image of a rural podiatrist is a middle-aged man in a boiler suit and wellies, possibly a tweed cap, definitely a slight West Country or Irish accent, who drives around in an amazingly elderly Land-Rover and is preparing to fix her foot with a combination of baler twine, cement and pop rivets.
Everyone's weird post-anesthesia
Are they ever. I asked the nurse out on a date while she was changing my IV bag.
Stainless steel pop rivets, one hopes.
Well, look at the little gentleman, afraid of some rust on his foot rivets!
By 'eck, AWB, thy foot's right buggered up. Don't worry, though, I'll slap some Swarfega on it and give it some of t'old angle grinder. 'Appen Ah'll 'ave thee walking by end of week. 'And me that masonry chisel, lad.
90: This is not far from the mark. He's a bit rough around the edges. Likes to talk about all the stuff we need done before he cuts.
"...mmm.... yes, the flesh is weak... mmm... it must be cleaned.... purged... we will make you strong again... mmm... cleaner, better... you will be a creature of steel and chrome... mmm... we will cut away your weakness... your uncertainty... mmm... no more pity... mmm..."
90, 96: Worse is when said doctor is aware of the disconnect between himself and the patient and fumblingly tries to repair it. The first one I had in Lubbock kept trying to reassure me by repeating, "Your body's like a computer," over and over again. His point, I think, was that it could heal itself to a certain extent, given the right inputs, but I did not find this quite as reassuring as he intended.
Agreed on that. "Your body is like a computer" would make me think the doctor is going to try to reboot me.
I'm going to need a noose and an AED.
"Your body is like a computer" would make me think the doctor is going to try to reboot me.
Or go on to Unfogged and pop up in the nearest thread asking for help.
Stupid employer trains us on the AED but not the noose.
"Your body is like a computer. Something is wrong with the inodes and I don't have a clue how to repair it."
Exactly, to 101-103. This is, like, my computer, man. I'm not entirely comfortable with a high-stakes trial-and-error troubleshoot.
However, I completely forgot my AED training, so I'm not sure if I wouldn't be more lethal with it than a noose.
Plus, I used the sticky electrode pad things to hang a poster in my office.
Don't use espresso when fscking a patient.
To be fair, this was the same guy who told me orgasms were God's way of keeping the prostate healthy. His cosmology was complex.
My body is nothing like a computer. My computer is thin and fast.
I like my computers like I like my women. Stable, thin, and with their actions determined at a fundamental level by the collective philosophy of a bunch of Scandinanvians.
I am out of surgery! I came out of sedation really well, was not weird, and am home in not much pain feeling pretty good about things. Plus, I have vicodin, and they're not even making me take antibiotics.
Hooray! Get well soon, AWB.