Kij, you'll appreciate this

I just bought Jonathan Coulton's "My Beige Bear."

The Constitution Isn't Good Enough for Mike Huckabee

Via sleigh, who got it from Terry Kanago, who got it from Raw Story. Go to that last link and watch the clip of Mike Huckabee saying:

"I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution," Huckabee told a Michigan audience on Monday. "But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view."

My jaw dropped when I heard this quotation. Fer crying out loud, we're trying to elect a President, not the nation's preacher. Good heavens (and I'm speaking as a Christian here) wasn't George W. Bush enough of a nut?

Please, dear Lord in heaven, not Mike Huckabee.

Learning Zang Du Moon

Last night at the red belt class, pazlazuli started teaching us Zang Du Moon (the translation is "Beginning of Mission"--or was it "Begin the Mission"? And am I spelling it right?). Here is a video of Fiona doing it:

It is extremely interesting to start actually doing a form I've been observing for at least a year, as the girls have been learning it. As I joked last night to pazlazuli, I know all the right places to photograph this form (as I've been taking pictures for the belt tests) but that's quite different from actually doing it. It employs a lot of blocks that I've never used before, and I get dreadfully confused as to what folds to use before each step. That's not surprising my first time through; I know it will take me some time to master it. pazlazuli told me I did a pretty good job remembering as much as I did.

This one is going to be fun.

Maybe it's just me . . .

But I'd much prefer to celebrate my 50th birthday by getting a black belt than by reveling in the opportunity to dine in public wearing a purple dress and red hat. And by buying a lot of other tacky purple and red merchandise.

I kinda liked the idea of the Red Hat Society when it first came out, but I think they've been overtaken by merchandising greed and now they seem rather more cringe-inducing than empowering. And sdn is right, their website is really rather scary. If not downright blinding.

(Oh, and my fiftieth birthday is still three years away. Well, almost two.)

Sometimes . . .

it really really really sucks to be the mommy. Particularly the hard ass mommy.