rm wrote a post criticizing "unimaginative heteronormative romance novel crap" in Jack/Ianto fanfic in which she said:

"So, can we please stop writing fics that involve Jack cooing over how adorable Ianto is? or making him breakfast in bed? Or saying 'I love you' every two seconds?"

I had to go to photoshop. I posted the resulting image as a comment to rm's post, but purpleglitter tells me I should post it here as well. So here it is:

Yesterday morning, purpleglitter and I got up early to pick up the two cutest English budgies. The rusty cage they were in sucked and there were two cats there were being allowed batting at their tail feathers, but the had each other and to their former owner's credit, they had insisted they not be separated in their craigslist ad. They are so obviously bonded, they are snuggled up against each other more often then they are not. We are calling them Statler and Waldorf.


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Statler and Waldorf home safe and sound, I had to head out to my endocrinology appointment, which went well. It is obvious that my endocrinologist is still not entirely comfortable with me being off psychiatric medication and not in therapy, even though it has been years and I'm doing fine. At least at this point she no longer suggests I go back to either. She did, however, suggest I see my primary care provider. I won't, I don't trust my pcp anymore. However, my endo let slip the name of a primary care doctor popular who is popular with her trannie patients that I'm going to check out switching to.

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After they got done taking my blood, I went over to see Ila. She has been teaching me Telugu script, though the words we've been going over have been Sanskrit. This week I need to practice writing conjunct consonants. I think the script is beautiful and am grateful for the opportunity to attempt to learn it. Ila seems to enjoy showing it to me — which is good, otherwise she probably wouldn't.

Yesterday was purpleglitter's and my 13^th anniversary. We went to Haveli for a romantic dinner, a place we haven't been to in a long time. Afterward, we had a mellow evening watching Torchwood and Doctor Who. It was a simple, but perfect, way to spend the evening together.

Berv Love Lake
∞

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For Thanksgiving, you will be...

Yesterday, Sir Dubbins and Prince Henry moved in together. Instead of moving one into the other's cage, purpleglitter and I decided to move them into a new cage together so that neither would be territorial. They both have been in their old cages for a while and neither were particularly thrilled about moving, but neither freaked out and the both seem to be adjusting well to the new arrangement.

Outside their cages lately, Sir Dubbins has been staring longingly at Prince Henry while Prince Henry stares longingly at Prince Henry in the mirror. They spend so much of their time together when they're outside their cages, why not let them be together inside too?

Yeti, my parent's dog, died today. She was 15 years old. I remember her as a playful and scrappy young dog, but she hasn't been that way in a long time. She had a good doggie life and was well loved.

Good journey, Yeti.

mazzycat's head. It reminds me of how much I love her.

Prince Henry is in the bedroom after coming down with us from Salem, New Hampshire. purpleglitter found our new tiel friend on craigslist. He's such a cutie and was obviously loved by his humans. He loves scritches, and while he didn't like the ride down, he seemed to accept us rather quickly once in the house.

I support concealed carry. People who don't have the physical prowess to put up a sufficient fight should be allowed a means of protecting themselves. Several states at this point have laws allowing concealed carry by ordinary citizens and none of them have turned into the wild west. It just makes sense to even the odds a bit. I think this would have a profound effect reducing the number of completely random committed for "coolness" or an adrenalin rush. Let a few of those assholes get their heads blown off and see how long the trend continues.

Peace, love, and a .38

We damn ourselves when we live through demon eyes. No higher power need intervene, we are fully capable of our own downfall. When we act as demons, we create our own hell. No divine judgement or arbitration, it is simply a matter of causality.

This is the nature of sin. This is the nature of good action verses bad action. When we act with anger and hate and greed rather than with love and compassion and understanding, that is sin. When our actions increase the suffering rather than diminish it, that is bad action. And what we reap is a world of pain and hate and mistrust. We are all connected and we share in what we bring forth.

Yesterday was Valentine's Days. purpleglitter gave me a heart of chocolates from Godiva, which is absolutely wonderful but ensures that I failed at Project Five yesterday and will again today. However, I can't entirely blame not making Project Five yesterday on the Godiva. I at a cheese danish, got no exercise, and had half a microwave pizza before bed.

For breakfast yesterday, I had pizza; for lunch I had spaghetti in tomatoe sauce with portobello mushrooms and parmesan cheese; for dinner I had arepa de choclo; for my first healthy snack I had a clementine; and for my second healthy snack I didn't have one.

I'll get back on track tomorrow.

The holocaust did not begin with the Jews or gays or the Roma peoples or even the political dissidents. The holocaust began in the psychiatric institutions. The first gas chambers installed by the Nazis were in the "hospitals". The skills that would in later years be used against other groups were developed in those institutions. It was under the auspices of psychiatry that it began.

The politics of psychiatry are dangerous, and recent history shows the appetite for forced psychiatry has not abated. Mental patients are one of the most vulnerable groups. "Normal" people fear the mad. They feel they need to be protected from us. We need to be controlled. And of course - they always know best for us.

I've heard people who would cringe at the oppression of any other group casually declare "Why would I care about a bunch of crazy people?". When people take the attitude that something needs to be done to "help" the mentally ill, they usually take the NAMI/TAC approach of forced drugging/electroconvulsive therapy/imprisonment. These approaches are not really about helping the mad, only about shutting us up. The website of the NAMI affiliated Treatment Advocacy Center , which purports to be about helping mental patients, instead relies almost entirely on fearmongering — the evil crazy people are coming to kill your cops and throw you under a train. They must be controlled.

In my more optimistic moments I hope that "sane" people figure out that what is now done to us may effect them also. The realm of psychiatry is expanding, more and more of who were once considered "sane" are being given the label "insane". The expansion of who is insane is aimed at anyone who isn't happy and productive and non-questioning of the standard paradigm. No one is "safe" from being redefined, and if you find yourself in mourning for longer than two weeks when you most dear loved one dies, you may be joining the rest of crazies who may have at one time been called human.

Happy Solstice

Today, I thank Sol for providing the light that has guided my days, kept warm the air I breath, allowed grow the food I eat. The center of our spinning system, our little plot in the Universe. Your glory will continue to shine billions of years after I'm gone.

Though there are many others of your kind, you are the caretaker of my world and therefore I honor you above your siblings. You hold a place in our sky and our hearts. Thank you.

Is God benevolent or malevolent? Does God love us? Is God wrathful?

These questions are fitting to ask of some man with a flowing grey beard that lives in the sky, but they are unanswerable as to God as All.

God is not only the sky above and the ground below and all that dwells in those places. God is not only everything we can touch, God is more.

God is all creation all destruction. God is life and and God is death. God is the bleeding wound and the passionate kiss. God is the roar as well as the silence.

God is all beliefs and doubts. God not just the concept of heaven and hell, but the concept that there is an above and below. God is the ideas we think as well as the air we breathe.

God is all emotions. God is all love and all hate. God is all benevolence and all malevolence. God is all wrath and all forgiveness.

God is our mathematics and our law. Our fears and our courage. Our arts, our poetries, our languages and the metaphors behind them. The truth as well as the lie.

God is energy and matter. God is the motion of the falling rock as well as the rock that falls.

God is the Happening that is the Becoming. God is what was, will be, and has been. God is even that which is not, has not been, and will never be; if what is not, has not been, and will never be is but thought.

God is the All of Everything, the Universe of Universes. This is why there can be nothing greater than God. No threat needed, no coercion. There can be none greater than All that Is, because anything else is simply part of the Everything.

Yesterday was wonderful. I couldn't wait until evening, so I took the bus out to Burlington to meet up with purpleglitter for lunch during her break. If it weren't for the infrequentness of the buses, I would meet her for lunch more regularly.

When she arrived home after work, purpleglitter brought me a dozen roses, one for each year we've been together. She took me out to Vinny T's for dinner, which was the perfect choice. Back at her house, we had champagne and chatted away the night. We had planned to watch Tipping the Velvet, but never got around to playing the movie.

Quiet, romantic, happy. I couldn't have asked for a better anniversary.

Today marks purpleglitter's and my 12^th anniversary! Twelve years ago she made faces at me through the windows of the Haymarket Café in Northampton. Twelve years ago I made faces back. Twelve years ago she took a crazy homeless person she had just met back to her place and the rest is history.

Berv Love Lake
∞

I had a great time this evening celebrating purpleglitter's birthday with zarthon, recoiling, and of course purpleglitter. I made blackberry sours which were loved by all and gave purpleglitter a framed picture of her I did in pastels. I hope she had a good birthday. Berv love Lake.

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Wish pods are specially gathered water caltrops, often called water chestnuts. In order to be wish pods, they must be found floating in the water, not washed ashore. Also when gathering wish pods, one pod must be returned to a body of fresh water different from the one the pods were gathered from, with the blessing "Good Journey."

Once properly gathered, wish pods are generally painted. Although this is not necessary for wishes, painting helps harmonize the luck of the pod. Wish pods always bring good luck, but bring the best luck if received as a gift.

To use the wish pod, place it in the room you spend the most time in. When you place your wish pod in the room, state your wish under your breath three times. No one else should hear your wish. Remember: the bigger the wish, the longer it will take to be fulfilled.

Placement in the room is important. Place the wish pod in the area of the room that most corresponds to your wish:

North — if you wish for money or material items. East —- if you wish to better understand something or someone, or are wishing for knowledge or enlightenment. South — if you wish for change. West — if you wish for love or a closer relationship with loved ones. Center — if you wish for balance, harmony or peace.