Taking Back the Feminine

So I've been biking recently. At first it was just to class, the library, etc. and back.

But today I biked 8 miles in one go with a friend. I'd eventually like to work up to 20 miles.

I'm hoping Jenny will let me back into twothingirls so I can really track progress, but this is just for the meantime.





Calories burned today:

1745.3

Calories consumed:

1510

I know, I know, I keep quoting cleolinda, but...this will make the writers on my flist giggle.

The Phantom of the Fiction Workshop!

I would just like to take a moment to say: Comic Con fans should NEVER be allowed near Robert Pattison. Or his hair, which cleolinda has decided is Pattionson's own security system.

The Twilight craze is simetaneously fading and rising. Disappointment over the fourth book, 'Breaking Dawn', cause many of them to be returned, while excitement over the recently released trailer and upcoming movie is causing a worldwide fangirl squee.

According to half a dozen reporters at Comic Con, Pattison looked like he might be in fear for his life. Others said he looked baked, but I suspect it's the former. If a bunch of batshit crazy hormonal teens came flocking up to me, I'd be frozen stiff too.

Speaking of Cedric and Harry Potter, the Weasley twins are apparently anti-Twincest. Fangirls the world over will mourn, their fantasies crushed by the burden of reality.

Ah, well, it was nice while it lasted.

Blue October has a new song written specifically for Twilight: My Never.

And the fans continue to shriek like over caffienated teenage girls. Which they are, I suppose.

Also, does everyone remember the mixed feelings we had about HP and the Deathly Hallows? Of course you do.

Multiply it by 100, and you have the fans' feelings for 'Breaking Dawn'.

I will be going to see the movie, if only so I can watch Pattison's hair and see if it tries to protect him.

But I will not be reading the books. I read cleolinda's very amusing synopsis of Breaking Dawn, and it was enough to make me never want to pick up the actual volume.

So, Twilight security: vamp it up, would ya? Or Pattison might suffocate under the massive dogpiling of fangirls. Even Dan Radcliffe doesn't have this problem (although if he takes his clothes off again, he might).

So currently, Greenville's entire water supply has been contaminated with Fecal Colium--the bacteria that causes E.coli.

Our work shut down early today, and I doubt we'll be open tommrrow.

In the meantime, my summer class is over, and I've decided to catch up on some series that I keep losing track of.

I'm also going to catch a few films I've been wanting to see, and go bike riding.

And Charleston in two days!

So I made As and Bs with one C, again. I'll be working and taking classes this summer, but I have two free weeks in August, and I'm desperate to hit Europe again.

I toyed with the idea of spending a week in England, but I've been there twice already. Maybe Scotland, possibly Ireland again.

I really want to hit the South of France, but the problem with that is my French is barely passable.

I did consider hitting every ancient temple in Greece and Rome, but again, language barriers, and let's face it, I almost had a sunstroke the last time I was in Italy--and that was only July.

I'll make about 1700 this summer, all things considered, and I'm wondering if it's possible to take a grand and go to Europe for one week.

I've already hit up eurotravel but anyone who has tips to share, feel free to comment.

This is so not pretty.

This, this studying for my history exam?

Not pretty. AT ALL.

Also? I am discontent.

And my hair? Is getting cut. Very short. I can't stand this "bangs in my eyes" thing anymore.

Need a good, cheap hairstylist, stat.

Also.

Need a very, very good way to punish a cheating bastard. Not for me, for a friend. Breaking of state and local laws highly encouraged.

(I've already thought about pulling the intestines out, thank you darling, it's a very good idea.)

*screams*

If you want to protest, have the motherfucking decency to NOT do it today!

I cannot believe the apallingly bad taste here.

These assholes show up at a memorial service for 9/11 and TAUNT the mourners, saying "Thank GOD for 9/11, because America tolerates the gayness?"

What. the. FUCK?

Excuse me while my head spontaneously COMBUSTS, you raging ignoramouses!

Septemember 11th had NOTHING to do with homosexuality, dear GOD, these people are insane!

Don't think homsexuality is right? Fine by me.

Want to protest against it? Go for it, that's what the First Amendment is for.

But by all that's holy, have the decency to do it TOMMRROW.

Today is a time for REMEMBERANCE AND MOURNING.

Part of the reason I haven't mentioned 9/11 at all today is because 1) I really don't care to remember, kthanx, and 2) I don't want to break down.

So I was just going to remain silent.

But NO! Assholes of the largest degree decided to taunt mourners, jeer at those who want to remember, and throw homsexuality on the plate like it's a sacrifice!

Stupid fucking morons. Get the hell off the planet before I kill you all.

So, coreyoreo brought up some interesting points in regards to Hinder's Lips of an Angel.

My girl's in the next room/sometimes I wish she was you/I guess we never really moved on....

According to Core, the song is mysogynist and promotes infedility and romanticizes affairs. The man has a point. He really does. This guy is with one woman while confessing his desire to still remain with his old flame.

How assholistic is that?

Yet women LOVE this song, myself included.

It appeals to the romantic tendencies in women, that part of us that revels in the idea of a secret affair, that special sort of longing you have for someone because you broke up for the wrong reasons (or so you think).

News flash to men: You can call the song mysogynist all you want, and most of us won't argue. However, that doesn't mean that we're going to stop listening to it.

This is one of women's guilty pleasures (I think romance novels are the other one). We all want to have that secret affair that's bursting with passion and true love, both with the emotions multiplied because you know you could be found out at any second.

I'm thinking this one dates back to before Romeo and Juliet, probably all the way to David and Bathesheba (and maybe before that, but it's the earliest reference point I can recall right now). Granted, the Bible doesn't put a very romantic spin on it, but anyone who's seen the painting of Bathesheba and David (either in the Louvre, or on the net), understands what I'm talking about.

Hell, all you have to do is watch any version of Romeo and Juliet, or examine the British/Irish legend Tristan une Isolde (which Vaugher made an opera out of long before it came to film).

Women like that type of romance, and at the same time, few of us ever actually WANT it in real life, because most of us are smart enough to know that the fairytales, while they are fairytales, got something right when they all ended tragically.

So instead we turn to books and movies, and revel in new songs about this hidden type of romance.

It's not a crime. It's just a pleasure, and not even a guilty one for some. It is for me (which is why I hide my romance novels and listen to love songs on low), but that's neither here nor there.

I guess my point is, you can bash it, but it won't stop us. We're also smart enough to tell fact from fiction...so let us have our fiction, at least for a little while.

Sometimes, it makes reality a lot easier to deal with.

So Topic number 2 for my OT class is out, mainly because I can't find enough evidence supporting the fact that Rachel and Leah were all about worshiping Inanna and Asherah and Sekemet and...yeah. Okay.

I read The Red Tent too many times, didn't I?

BUT IT IS OKAY!

Because dude, now I'm just going to focus on Asherah! Not the tree! Not the pole! The goddess! (Goddess? what's the proper way to spell it? for a research paper I mean?)

I have had too much of the coffee, yes I have.

In any case, Asherah. And whether or not the Israelite worshipped her (they most certainly did!). And whether or not she was the consort of El/Yahweh. (This one is more tricky. First, I have to see if El and Yahweh are the same god. Some say yes, others no. Others are all "OMGWTFBBQ! God is the onnnllyyy oonezzz!11!!.1!eleventyone!) And if she WAS the consort of El/Yahweh...why the frik didn't the Israelites KEEP her! Asherah was a freaking awesome goddess!

Maybe it was because she was Canannite? Entirely possible. Eh, I need to do more research. (Yes, yes, I know the first commandment, thank you very much. But a lot of this worshipping took place BEFORE the Commandments were in place. So...I'ma wondering.)

It turns out I don't need a third topic...because I'll be doing a Seder meal. Those of you on my flist who are Jewish are probably screeching in horror (because yes, I'm Pagan, and dear GOD, can I fuck this shit up. It would be an ACCIDENT, but ten bucks says part of my brain is going to think it's a High Sabbat and I'll get all confused and probably wind up on my knees sometime during the ceremony. No, not like that you pervs.).

For those who don't know (hey, I had no bloody clue before this), a Seder meal is a ritual performed in the Jewish household, generally during Passover, to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. I believe (which means "for fuck's sake, don't quote me on this") that a Seder meal can also be held during every Sabbat (Corey! is that right? Lanna? Someone who's Jewish?).

In any case, certain foods are prepared and symbolically represent the exodus. Its a blessing, a reminder, and a prayer. It's pretty cool, actually.
So I have to write a paper on said meal, but at least I don't need a topic or as much research.

I did find tons of articles and books for David and Jonathan and their relationship. A good many scholars seem to believe the two men were lovers and may have been married, in a ceremony recognized by Saul, of all people. I'm looking foward to writing that paper.

So...yes, yay for all my OT stuff!

*shines brilliant unfettered joy* We were right. That is all.

PROOF!

PS. The woman who translated the article does not speak English as her first tongue, so forgive any and all spelling errors.

PPS. This totally makes a lot of their other interviews make sense now.