it only took 6 months...

But I finally posted a tour of my apartment over at Flickr. Click that link to start!

To entice you:

hello, my name is awkward

I can't recall if I've mentioned it here, but one of the things that has been hardest about my transition to small town life is the total lack of anonymity, and in many cases, privacy and the increase in odd social connections. I have been slowly getting acclimated to the idea that yes, I will undoubtedly run into someone I know when I am at CVS buying tampons, or shopping in the grocery store, and that the hostess at my favorite restaurant also works for me, in a way, at the university. But nothing really prepared me for yesterday, when I was idly checking in at my grief counselor's office (in a larger office that sees all sorts of mental health patients, from family therapy to substance abuse and all the stuff in between) and a much more senior, though not immediate, co-worker walked out of the office area and into the waiting room to leave. I didn't even recognize this co-worker at first, that's how strange it was to me to be seeing someone I knew in that setting. My co-worker definitely recognized me and looked slightly embarrassed, but I was staring right past because I could not get it into my head that someone FROM WORK was EXITING the MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY I was at. Even more awkward is that the sign-in sheet confirmed that this co-worker sees my same psychologist. I sort of wanted to mention to her when we met a few minutes later that wow, that was weird, kinda like the time I saw her in the Mexican restaurant at lunch and then had an appointment a couple hours later, but spared her the patient confidentiality issues.

I just did something a little bit crazy, but about which I am so excited. I signed up for this in February, in Bloomington. This might satisfy my dream of being an entrepreneur, for a little while at least. And it will mean meeting some likeminded local folks, finally. It will also mean juggling my February travel schedule a bit, which I'm not so excited about, honestly, and giving myself three weeks to talk myself out of actually showing up. I'm not sure I even have a lot of business being there, but for my interest in technology and past experience working for a software company. But yeah. I'm a little jazzed.

two daughters

When I was a baby, my parents (I say parents, but I am guessing this was my mom's idea), had a portrait artist do a pastel of me and gave it to my grandparents as a gift. My grandmother gave the portrait back to my parents several years ago and they hung it in their house, which is affectionately known as a shrine to Alison. There are pictures--school, glamour, and otherwise--of me all over the house. I took this on Christmas Eve before my dad and I left to visit my mom's family in Milwaukee, without her for the very first time.

It pains me to say this because I have both mixed feelings about the author and about the content of her editorial, but I guess Gloria Steinem and I were on the same page, a little. I do not, however, support her implied position that racism is somehow less a force in our every day lives than is sexism. Not one iota.

I think it's no secret among progessive voters that this year's Democratic primary is both painful and an utter celebration of progress. It is not so simple to break down the candidates in terms of their genders and races and yet, I know I cannot be alone in wishing for the first black president of the United States AND the first female president. I've said it before--how's a girl to choose?

But it seems as though not everyone remembers the testosterone laden legacy of the Oval Office. To wit, this article from the AP says:

Clinton, the former first lady who finished third in Iowa, was mounting an unexpectedly stiff challenge to Obama in the nation's first primary. ... She had 39 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary to 34 percent for Obama, who is seeking to become the nation's first black president.

I'm flummoxed. Though I certainly think her exposure during her husband's tenure as president has influenced the electorate and likely her own political aspirations and it is thus worth mentioning that she is a former first lady, does it not deserve mention that Hillary Rodham Clinton is seeking to become the nation's first female president?

maybe you've been waiting for these

1. Be healthier.
2. Rhode Island.
3. Vermont.
4. Oregon.
5. Get a passport.
6. Use it.
7. Take a belly dancing class at least once, to try it out.
8. Go to Drinking Liberally Indy at least once, to try it out.
9. Get a regular volunteer gig in my community.
10. Write more.

to the guy at the club who told me i was a good kisser shortly after midnight last night,

Thanks.

To the rest of you, thanks, too. (Not for telling me that I'm a good kisser, though really, why don't you say so more often? But for every--and I do mean every--thing). Happy New Year, friends. We're gonna take 2008 by storm.