You're in touch with the world, and you have a very
strong opinion on things like politics and war.
Even if you do end up changing your image in
the future, most of us will still like you.


What band from the 80s are you?
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Love it. Love U2. Love Bono. Am also Irish-American. Yep.

Today was breathtaking, weather-wise - 80 degrees, low humidity, cloudless sky, just awesome. I walked this morning, I took a 4+ mile bike ride this afternoon - the first in at least three years, I'm sure my thighs will start complaining at 3 a.m. It's not like I don't exercise, I do, and the bike ride was a breeze, no strain at all, but it's a slightly different set of muscles and I expect to be feeling it tomorrow. But it was so good. I missed my bike. I love my neighborhood because it has miles of places to ride without having to cross a major road. Nothing exciting or scenic, but at least it's safe and accessible. If I'm really ambitious and sure the bike isn't going to have issues (after sitting so long) I can get on the county-wide bike trail and explore new territory. I need to work up to that, both my body and the bike need to be tested before I venture 10 miles from home on a trail.

Poncho - finished. The edge curls a bit. Not obnoxiously so, if I wanted to I could call it a design feature, but fringe will fix it. Otherwise I like it - it's definitely a blanket kinda poncho (the yarn, not the pattern, which is simple and classic) and not something to wear out to dinner, but as a casual covering, it's cute and cozy. I should have taken a photo but I was busy and lost the light. Maybe tomorrow.

Time to cast on something new and different. I'm not sure what yet. I still need to finish a few things, they're lingering/languishing in stasis. They are all muted/soft/neutral colors. I want color right now. I want red.

I want a new vehicle. My son-whose-graduate-program-was-killed-by-the-other-Bush is currently selling Hondas and doing very, very well at it, which is amusing because he's an anthropologist who never took a business or marketing class. But he's a gearhead from birth, and has applied his research skills and amazing memory to learning Everything Honda, and can sell his ass off because he's goodlooking and charming and articulate and honest, so he's kicking ass and selling cars, and so far likes it, though he'd rather be pursuing his PhD (not that we're bitter about the Bushies or anything...naaah). And there's a family discount thing, so my next vehicle is probably going to be a CRV, if he's still there when I'm ready to buy one after the first of the year. I don't need a Pilot, though I love them - one of my fellow Construction Bitches drives one and it's soooo comfortable and gorgeous. I really miss having an SUV. My husband and I had an arrangement - one of us needed a vehicle that carried things. When I had a dire need for a VW Cabriolet, he wanted something more practical. When he got sick of practical and wanted a sports car, I had a craving for an SUV, so it worked. I had two SUVs in the past 12 years, both Isuzu Rodeos, both 4wd stick shift basic truck vehicles - A/C was the only option, and it's not an option in Florida, trust me.

I was driving my second Rodeo when my husband collapsed in '01, and because of the pathologic fracture in his femur I couldn't get him in and out of my Rodeo at all and his car only with great effort, so I had to do a swift trade on a bigger sedan, and ended up with an '01 Altima, Special Edition, loaded, God Bless Carmax, which is a perfectly fine vehicle unless you like to put things in it. The doors don't open wide enough for large items in the back seat. The trunk is large but the trunk opening is not very, which is bad news if you want to buy a wheelbarrow, even in pieces, as I needed to this spring. I could fold and fit a wheelchair in the trunk, that's all I cared about at the time, but it's basically useless for anything I do now. I don't need a four door sedan, I need something that can carry the STUFF of my life. I don't want this car anymore, it wasn't a choice, it was a necessity, and it's linked to the worst time of my life in my mind. It needs to go as soon as I can work out the money issues.

The CR-V also needs to be red. Thank you for letting me think out loud. I know what I want now. Stick shift CR-V, red, 4wd because the roads in my world are not always paved. In fact, they're often not paved. Maybe pavement is an illusion. Metaphorically speaking, I've been driving off-road 24/7 for years now, I don't remember what a paved road feels like.

Speaking of people who never leave the paved road, I do wish I'd quit getting carpet-bombed with Republican Party mass mailings (my zip code is So Republican It Hurts) full of flaming horseshit and weird lies about John Kerry. It's such a waste of postage, but then, they have money to burn. But so far in So Republican It Hurts Land, I'd say the yard signs are running about neck and neck. This is interesting, since the local paper reports that Kerry signs and bumper stickers are being stolen from yards in truly amusing numbers - Bush signs aren't. Hmmmm.