I had my long waited for furniture appointment today. It’s out in the middle of nowhere, and they would have delivered big stuff, but if I wanted anything small (lamps for example) then I would have to carry it home with me. I was gonna get a ride but my ride has recently joined the ranks of the disemployed and overindulged last night. So I took the bus. I figured I’d skip the little stuff. What I really need and can’t fit in a car is a bed for me and a sofa & loveseat.

But there wasn’t a single bed available. Not a sofa either. I get to reschedule and come back (which means at least 2 more months sans furniture). I was a bit disheartened.

So I called my caseworker and since I tried to get a second hand bed and couldn’t, I could go to a mattress store and buy one (as long as it’s under $600). The only store she knew of is way far south, but I thought they had one downtown. And they do. And in a week or so I will have, for the first time in my entire life, a brand new mattress and boxspring. A brand new bed of my very own. A bed after 6 months of sleeping on a loveseat or an airmattress. A BED FUCK YEAH.

So for the 2 hours of bus time, 5 bucks in bus fair, and the $2.20 that my bed went over $600 I have a bed. I think that was a well spent morning.

I found this at Abagond. Go read, it is dead on.

Workers stand in the pouring rain today holding a sign that reads “Ross Dress For Less Hurts Our Communities”.

Kid and I were downtown today when I spotted these nice peeps with their banner. It was very wet out, and yet there they were braving the rain to get fairness for workers. I asked if I could take a pic and write a post and here it is. These are members of the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters who are in the middle of a labor dispute with several subcontractors of a company called SD Beacon. The contractors are in trouble for not paying area standard wages, including skipping out on health and welfare benefits for workers and their families. SD Beacon is bidding on a Ross project.

The Pacific NW Regional Council of Carpenters is asking that we call Micheal O’Sullivan at (925) 965-4400 and tell him that he needs to do all he can to see that area labor standards are met for ALL Ross stores’ construction projects.

So pick up your phone and give a holler. You can also get more info from PNWCoC by calling (877)235-3184

So I clicked on one of BLCKGRD’s links about Obama’s new post-killin’ poll numbers. It took me to TPM and damn you should warn a girl before sending her into cult land. These are the people who talk about politics like it’s a game to be won, while ignoring that the field they are playing on is made up of the backs of us little folk.

Fuckers.

There’s only one more thing left to say:

Someone actually donated money just to keep hearing dog stories. No story this time, just a cute picture of the best damn dog in the world- Winifred P. Cooper (I don’t know why her middle initial is P, I just call her that and her human doesn’t mind). I can tell you that this dog will lick my toes if I’m not wearing shoes. She rolls over on her back and demands belly rubs when she sees me. And she may love Sylvie slightly more than she loves me, or she could just be extra excited because Sylvie smells like C-A-T. That’s what Amanda, Winnie’s human says anyway. She may be sparing my feelings.

(Look at that face. It’s soooooooo cute and plead-y. Don’t ya just want to snorgle her to bits)

Apparently May 21 a whole bunch of planets will align.

Since I am a godless whore, I am thinking of making a trip up to Ballard to liberate property left behind by the assholes of the uber-conservative + tattoos Mars Hill Church. I figure if I find a truck first, then all my furniture needs will be taken care of.

So the end times mean interior decorating for me. What do you peeps plan on doing when the end times come? “shopping”, drinking, continuing on like nothing happened (I think most of us will be doing that).

So I got bedding, the most delicious dark gunmetal grey sheets and a comforter that was supposed to be pale pink, but is actually peach.

Peach, fucking peach. Non-returnable peach.

Is it too retro 80’s? Will I have to put a nagel posterover my bed and get black lacquer furniture?

So there’s this post up at Feministe (I know, I hear the groans, I share the groans) about the band Odd Future and misogyny in their lyrics. The author (whom I believe is a dude going by name alone, but I could be wrong) spends a fuck load of screen space trying to figure out if a song about kidnapping, raping and torturing a girl because the rapist likes her and she doesn’t like him back is misogynist.

It’s pretty simple dude. Rape is kinda the ultimate expression of misogyny. Doesn’t matter how oppressed a rapist may be in other aspects (age, race, class and even sexual orientation) because one form, or even multiple forms of oppression don’t cancel out another. No need to twist and turn, hem and haw. It’s pretty simple. Rape is always bad. Kidnapping and torture are always bad. Always.

to be a government official or a kleptocrat when you do it. I’m pissed because I’m reading about Baby Doc Duvalier eating at fancy restaurants in Haiti. Not that long ago I was reading about how all this aid money that is supposed to go to NGO’s to help rebuild isn’t going to the grass roots, on the ground, local groups. Fuckers.

The other day I was thinking about the places in the world I would like to visit. Always at the top of my list are places I am not allowed or advised to go. An ex, when discussing this list once upon a time, screamed at me “why do you love everything that other people hate?” Haiti has been on that list for a long time, and the sad truth is that it is probably safer for me to visit Haiti* now as an English speaking white woman than it has been in 20 years, even though the danger for a poor Haitian woman has skyrocketed since the earthquake.

*So I checked the State Department’s web site and they are advising travel “only if travel is fully supported by organizations with solid infrastructure, evacuation options, and medical support systems in place”. The only groups I can think of with the resources for that, besides the big name aid agencies, are disaster capitalist profiteers with security firms under contract.

That needs to be on a protest sign located outside the offices of big corporate non-payers like GE, Bank of America, and Twitter. Yes, Twitter.

This little country was founded by a bunch of dudes who were pissed off that they were paying taxes to a government that they had no say in managing. 230 years later and we have the illusion of democracy, but we pay taxes to a government that we have no hope of managing, while the neoaristocracy kleptocrats skip out on paying but pull all the strings. That is a simple, clear message that even the most centrist of people should be able to understand. It’s probably also the reason the kleptocrats are big sponsors of the tea baggers, they have the veneer of a grass roots patriot organization while being loud cheerleaders for the ruling class.