More things horribly wrong in South Carolina

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Cocks relieved, women wary
Happily, the brutal "sport" of cockfighting may soon be a felony in South Carolina, but domestic violence will remain a misdemeanor. The anti-cockfighting bill passed the Judiciary Committee, but legislators tabled the "Protect Our Women in Every Relationship Act (POWER ACT)." Both cockfighting and domestic violence are currently misdemeanor crimes, punishable by 30 days in jail. If the bill passes, cockfighting will become a felony, punishable by five years in jail. Domestic violence crimes will remain a misdemeanor.

Rep. John Graham Altman is a full-throated supporter of the cockfighting ban and an opponent of the domestic violence legislation. He bristles when asked how he reconciles his bold stance on cock rights with his solicitude towards first-time domestic crime abusers:

"People who compare the two are not very smart and if you don't understand the difference, Ms. Gormley, between trying to ban the savage practice of watching chickens trying to kill each other and protecting people rights in CDV statutes, I'll never be able to explain to you in a 100 years ma'am."

Altman argues that there shouldn't be a second offense in a domestic violence case because no woman should go back to her abuser. So, it's unclear why he opposes a law that would have made first offenses felonies.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

I need one of these.

The idea of being able to power-up anywhere is so cool.

so many time I miss my dad

When I go through my stash of candies and come across a Papadeux peppermint, I know it came from a time I went out to eat with my parents. Watching "Sideways" tonight, I am reminded of a wretched trip up the west coast with my parents and missing the generosity of all the family trips provided by my father.

it was almost easter

With no pressmen available and most jobs being outsourced, the guys at work decided to take a "Good Friday" holiday. Despite being off work all day, I was useless on Friday - I had no energy at all and napped most of the day. I had every intention of going to a performance at the Inner Sanctum on Friday night but the bed felt way too good when when I laid down "just for a moment" and couldn't get back up. I was just hitting a doze when the phone rang and I answered it. Lo and behold, it was my brother calling to ask if I was up for a visit, to which I said "of course" and scrambled up and back into the jeans and bra I had half-consciously sloughed off between rollovers on the bed. As it turned out, my brother and sister-in-law had taken our mother out with them and my neice and nephew to celebrate sister-in-law's birthday. So my entire family showed up at more door impromptu and hung out in my living room for a little while before heading back to the suburbs. They'd been to Dante's Down the Hatch and The Cheesecake Factory. Two bottles of wine and some "lemon drops" later, everyone was all giggles on my couch.

Saturday, I slept more. Monster came over from Alabama in the afternoon and we ate a big seafood dinner at Aud and Nick's house that Nick had prepared.

Sunday, we had plans to go out to eat with Mom. By the time we got to the house to pick her up, Monster was feeling ill. He ended up spending several minutes in the bathroom before we gave up and went home. So much for the nice Easter dinner with my mother. I felt very sorry for him and the unfortunate emergence of what we now believe is a total seafood allergy. I felt fine but he was miserable. Mother was not at all bothered by not going out - she'd actually phoned to offer to cancel because of the stormy weather earlier - so we just agreed to some day in the future check out a good non-seafood restaurant together another day like, perhaps, The Horseradish Grill.

I am...


The Sonnet

Deliberate Gentle Love Dreamer (DGLDf)


    Romantic, hopeful, and composed. You are the Sonnet. Get it? Composed?


    Sonnets want Love and have high ideals about it. They're conscientious people, caring & careful. You yourself have deep convictions, and you devote a lot of thought to romance and what it should be. This will frighten away most potential mates, but that's okay, because you're very choosy with your affections anyway. You'd absolutely refuse to date someone dumber than you, for instance.


Your exact opposite: Genghis Khunt


Random Brutal Sex Master


    Lovers who share your idealized perspective, or who are at least willing to totally throw themselves into a relationship, will be very, very happy with you. And you with them. You're already selfless and compassionate, and with the right partner, there's no doubt you can be sensual, even adventurously so.


    You probably have lots of female friends, and they have a special soft spot for you. Babies do, too, at the tippy-top of their baby skulls.


ALWAYS AVOID: The 5-Night Stand, The False Messiah, The Hornivore, The Last Man on Earth


CONSIDER: The Loverboy

Very Goth You scored 78!

You're a Goth. Whether you admit it freely or not there is no denying it. You love the stuff and can't get enough. You decorate your living space in a way that is part morbid part chaotic.I'm sure your music is mostly Goth/Industrial/Darkwave. Wherever you go you're probably dressed mostly in black.Not only do you know who Switchblade Symphony is, you own every CD and EP they ever put out. Your dream profession is definatly something that benifits goths-Tattoo artist, goth DJ, freelance Gothic artist, Gothy comic creator ect.ect.ect...

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender : You scored higher than 99% on gothies

Link: The GOTH Test written by myriad_entity on Ok Cupid

I am so lame...

On St. Patrick's Day, I didn't make it to Eddies Attic. I hadn't spoken actually with my friend about meeting there or having time to chat,etc. and it turned out to be an earlier than usual show, starting around 6:30 pm, although a very long set... and it was a $10 door. The cost wasn't that much but I didn't want to pay to go inside and just hang out by myself with the hope of having time to visit afterwards.

Instead, I went to Goth dinner at Apre Diem which was very nice. Sadly, I'd already wolfed down a kroger sushi tray when I thought I was going to Eddie's Attic, and I just hung out and drank tea - I gave the waitress a big tip as rent on my chair. Most of the conversation was on politics and self defense and housekeeping.

I am still disappointed tonight on missing the first of the classes I'd paid for at Emory tonight. At the end the day, I ended up wrestling with one of the printers until 7pm when my class was due to start. My own fault for doing things too hastily while trying to get out early so I ended up working late fixing things and losing face with my boss. I came home and used the foul mood I was in to throw a lot of things away, including way too many catalogs that had piled up and old magazines. More things may have to be tossed before my mood improves.

I am sorry

On St. Patrick's Day, I didn't make it to Eddies Attic. I hadn't spoken actually with my friend about meeting there or having time to chat,etc. and it turned out to be an earlier than usual show, starting around 6:30 pm, although a very long set... and it was a $10 door. The cost wasn't that much but I didn't want to pay to go inside and just hang out by myself with the hope of having time to visit afterwards.

Instead, I went to Goth dinner at Apre Diem which was very nice. Sadly, I'd already wolfed down a kroger sushi tray when I thought I was going to Eddie's Attic, and I just hung out and drank tea - I gave the waitress a big tip as rent on my chair. Most of the conversation was on politics and self defense and housekeeping.

I am still disappointed tonight on missing the first of the classes I'd paid for at Emory tonight. At the end the day, I ended up wrestling with one of the printers until 7pm when my class was due to start. My own fault for doing things too hastily while trying to get out early so I ended up working late fixing things and losing face with my boss. I came home and used the foul mood I was in to throw a lot of things away, including way too many catalogs that had piled up and old magazines. More things may have to be tossed before my mood improves.

I had a lovely time at Babette's Cafe tonight with Lee and Sandy.

Then I came home to my stinky condo. I'm angry with myself tonight for not calling the zoning board on my downstairs neighbor yet. The lack of sleep I've gotten at night because of his kitchen has taken a serious toll on my wellbeing. I'm tired more often than not. I don't enjoy being at home. This is starting to happen every night now. David came by and did what he could to seal off every nook in my bedroom and closet and it does seem to work if I close that room off now from the rest of my place while I sleep. I open all the windows and turn on the fan and pull the sheets over my head. I use earplugs to cut down on the noise coming from the open windows. I sleep in all my clothes (sans shoes and bra) because it's cold a night with the windows open and the fan on.

Can I crash at your place tonight?

Roman Lily

We decided to revive the Buford Highway restaurant crawl a couple of weeks ago, with yesterday intended to be the first night back on the pan American-Asian journey. We decided that, instead of going over mostly old routes, we would all agree to try new restaurants together neighborhood by neighborhood. I suggested the stretch of Highland Avenue from Ponce down into the Highland Bakery and on to the East side with L5P and beyond. The group decision was made to go to Roman Lily, a wonderful little place near the Highland Bakery building. A couple of us had eaten there but most of the group had never been to that restaurant. Eight of us converged on Roman Lily and were quickly seated in the back room in what seemed like our own private, impromptu party.

I had the polenta and scallops, which I'd had before quite some time ago. The scallops were perfectly cooked, tender and mild. They had changed the polenta since I'd had it last - instead of a soft, baked sheet of it cut into small triangles, its now two big wedges that are fried crisp on the outside, making it taste and feel too much like cornbread.

J&M ordered three bottles of the "Peace" red wine for the table and gave it thumbs up. Everyone loved both types of gravy that Roman Lily serves - the herb-laced house gravy with parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, and the tequila gravy.

The group ordered samples of most of the appetisers and deserts.

The favorite appetiser was the crab dip, served with triangles of crisp pita, which was very creamy. The least favorite appetiser were the fried green tomatos, which some in the group described as being too firm - maybe not cooked long enough.

The Apple streudle pie was the overwhelming favorite among the deserts. The least favorite desert was the Coconut Almond cake, which was dried out.

The steak-eater DOES pick the pocket of the salad-man

The only real problem was, with the size and variety of people and wallets at the table, the bill - to be split evenly - was much more than I'd budgeted for going out. I gutted my wallet and put all that I had on the table.

"we splitting the cheque the steak-eater picks the pocket of the salad-man"
- Blue Raja, Mystery Men

Let's do dinner

I'm spending most of my weekends visiting my mother and talking with my sister-in-law about keeping wolves away. Mom looks like she's lost a bit of weight. Probably the depression but she also says she doesn't see how I cook for one. Two great resources for me: bags of salad already washed and cut, just waiting for me to eat it, and cereal. Also, maybe now she'll understand why I eat out as much as I do.

Actually, I know I eat out too much. And this week I'm making it out more than usual to get together with friends after work. Maybe going for a new record. Saturday we went to Dave & Busters to celebrate Lisamin's birthday. Sunday I ate out wit mom at PapaDeaux. Yesterday we celebrated more birthdays at R. Thomas. Tonight I met David at Doc Chey's and caught up with him and his life at the moment - a little bit anyway. Tomorrow I'll be getting together with Jae after work during a brief opening in her schedule.

And during all this week, I have enchilada ingredients on my countertop waiting to be assembled before the sweet potatoes I bought just for that recipe go bad.

Oh yeah... it snowed this morning too. In Atlanta. In March. Just a light clumpy powdering that was actually very beautiful to see coming down and melted instantly.

End of a very long day at work - didn't get out of the office until nearly 8PM. Followed by hot sake at home and a very long conversation with an old friend. Thank you for being there for me during this very strange year.