I Love Dying For The Day

James, my love, you have convinced me that I am better off dead. I thank you for this. Now why-oh why-are you so young?

I've never gotten to do the Zombie Walk, so I will. It's my b-day month so I can make Evan take me anywhere I want...and I can also make him dress/act like an idiot. Haha.

Any of my other theatrical type friendzors want to come?

I Love My Birthday

I'm going roller skating. Done! July 25th. Check Facebook for details.

More on that later, but for now I wanted to share this delicious little goody. I thought she sold this on Etsy and I felt a little sad. FALSE! I found it on her official site. *eeeeeeeeeee* Everyone is always asking what I want for the b-day so here's something I really really really want ...

Gold Skully Chains Skirt

Pretty please with sugar on top?

I Love Alex

I have been so busy. Busy having fun, that is. I got to see NIN a couple of Wednesdays ago. Why is Trent Reznor so hot?!?!?!?!? He looks better than he ever did when I was in high school (when I really had the hardcore love for him). Guess some people just get better with age. And kicking drugs will help anyone's appearance.

Speaking of that, is Perry Farrell no longer on heroin? He looks like he maybe gained 20 pounds. I'm not a fan, but still nice to see him looking almost human. Evan is more of a Jane's Addiction fan, so we stayed for their whole show.

Concerts, concerts, concerts...Phish was last week. Ohmyfuckinggod, I love them. I always reach that point at their shows when I am so absorbed in their playing that I kinda feel like I'm no longer on Earth. NO, I was not on any hallucinogens. I didn't even eat one bite of Mike's delicious Betty Crockers this time. Drugs never hurt a show, but I just decided to avoid the inevitable "nerves" I get when they wear off.

The show was spectacular, as always. I realize what it is about a Phish show that you never see at any other concert...unity. There is a unity between fans. I've talked to numerous people who work or have worked at the Ampitheater and even they can sense the difference. I love the hundreds of beach balls and balloons bouncing all over the crowd. I even love the anticipation of being hit in the head by flying glowsticks. When you go to the bathroom, people are still dancing all over the place out on the sides. The sidewalks are jammed with people having a blast. There were 21,000 people at the show, and I'm just so thankful to have been one of them. They stopped playing at midnight because they had to, but you get the distinct impression that they would have stayed longer...

Oh well, whatever. I could go on and on but I'll segway into Paul and Mary's visit. They were here from Philly for the show. It's always so great to see them. This time, I finally got to meet their little girl, Denali. She's adorable and, of course, Ivy loved her. Jen planned her housewarming party to include them. That was Friday. It was a blast. Paul and Mary came back after taking Denali home to bed and we lucked out when Brent and Brittani decided to steal Ivy for the night. I spent a long while talking drunken politics and religion with Paul. He's the best. Haha. I know, I know, sounds like a riot! But you just can't put a price on friends you really connect with like that.

We also got a visit from Terry last week. Sadly, he missed Jen's party but we all hung out on Wednesday so it's cool. It's always great to see him. I can't believe he's been in LA for like 4 years now!

Time to move on to the best news of all...in my mind. Late at the party when all the little kiddies had run off to bed and it was (as often happens) me hanging with Alex...he made my life. He really wants a dog and needs a very small one. After seeing my little MinPins, he decided he would like to adopt Irene on a trial basis! Irene is our third canine addition to the family. She's a good little dog but has always had so much trouble going with the flow here in this crowded house. We have waffled for a long time about taking her back to her previous owner, but just never had the balls to throw in the towel. So I told Alex to talk to me when we were sober. But he insisted that he was serious and that he wanted me to go with him to pick out a crate for her and stuff the next day! Sleep deprivation and my goofy work schedule stopped us from getting together on Saturday, but we made a plan for today. In fact he literally just texted me for the 5th time today. Haha, I think the man is excited. I hope it works out. I won't be the slightest bit upset if he decides he can't handle her at the end of a month, but I will be SUPER EXCITED if Irene finds her true home. The little pup just needs more attention than we have to give.

Thank you, Alex!

I Love Men's Purple Whatever This Thing Is...

OK, I'm sorry but this may be one of the funniest things I have ever seen! I came across it on Ebay while searching for pieces to make my Halloween costume. Um, what I am looking for is nothing like this...

I Love This One

This DownsizeDC email, that is...

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D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h

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Quote of the Day: "When a government controls both the economic power of individuals and the coercive power of the state ... this violates a fundamental rule of happy living: Never let the people with all the money and the people with all the guns be the same people." -- P. J. O'Rourke

Subject: When Will Americans Grow Up?

Three of the very most important issues of the moment are...

* The planned re-design of the economy through a "cap and trade" system to limit CO2 emissions
* The planned re-design of our health care system by increasing government involvement at all levels
* The massive expansion of the money supply by the Fed, which threatens hyper-inflation

But will the media and the American people be able to maintain an adult focus on any of these issues, or will they instead spend the next few weeks obsessing about the merits and de-merits of one person -- President Obama's new nominee for the Supreme Court.

Sadly, American adulthood is sometimes more fiction than fact. We predict that the national discussion will now focus on the new Supreme Court nominee and that most of the debate will resemble a high school campaign for class president. It will be driven by adolescent partisan tribal loyalties, and will overlook one overwhelming fact...

Any Supreme Court nomination made by any president from either party is almost certain to be bad. To think otherwise is to ignore history. Remember, for instance, the Kelo decision, in which...

* Supposedly liberal justices endorsed using the coercive power of the state to enrich corporations, yet...
* joining the liberal justices with the deciding vote was the now-retiring Justice Souter, who had been appointed by a supposedly conservative president

Partisan political appointments are no different than partisan political elections. They serve the interest of the political class, NOT your interest. We're reminded of the spot-on way "The Onion" satirical newspaper summed up a recent election. Their headline read, "Politicians Sweep Midterm Elections."

Exactly.

No matter whom you elect, the politicians win. No matter whom a president appoints to the Supreme Court, the politicians win. And every time we expend energy debating personalities, labels, or political parties, the politicians win.

Debates about personalities should be left to High School sophomores. Instead, we need an adult focus on the vital issues. We need to show the politicians that we're focused on WHAT they're doing, and NOT on WHO is doing it.

We can demonstrate this adult focus by constantly increasing...

* The pressure we place on Congress about essential issues
* The size of the army exerting this pressure
* The financial resources we invest to educate, recruit, and exert pressure

There are now only two business days left in May. Let's exceed the 31,730 messages we sent Congress last month. We need another 861 messages sent both today and tomorrow. Let's meet the goal by hitting on all the crucial issues...

Tell your Congressional employees to oppose "cap and trade."

Use your personal comments to point out that "cap and trade" hasn't worked in Europe.

Tell your Congressional employees to permit you to buy health insurance in states other than the one in which you live.

Use your personal comments to tell them they should start with simple improvements like this, and not try to re-do the entire health care system at once.

Tell your Congressional employees to make "Honest Money" legal.

You can use your personal comments to point out that the Fed has done still more counterfeiting, raising the money supply from $1.65 trillion in March to $1.75 trillion in April.

You might even want to go one step further and call Ron Paul's office to ask why they haven't yet re-introduced the 15-word "Honest Money Act," the 104-word "Free Competition in Currency Act," and the 193-word "Tax-Free Gold Act" -- preferably, combined into one bill. Here's the number: (202) 225-2831

It doesn't matter if you've sent messages on these issues recently. Your elected representatives are your employees, and these particular employees need constant reminders. Please put in some extra effort today so we can reach our May goal. Please hit Congress on all three issues.

Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. To see how much we're growing please check out the Keeping Score report below my signature.

Jim Babka, President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.

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I get lots of emails from them, but I particularly enjoyed that one.

Now I want to stop being all smarty pants and focus on how I get to go to NIN tomorrow and Phish next Thursday. Yay for playtime and for summer!

And FYI and FMI (when I look back on this someday), we are ready to put walls up at the tearoom. Joy. Me miss tearoom.

And shaweeeeeeeeeeet, Evan is on his way home. Goin' to the A-teams for the Pens game, I guess. Hooray beer!

PS, I'm awesomer than Hart.