inquiry and bloodlust

There are a bazillion articles out there detailing just why adopting a dog rather than getting one from a breeder or pet store is the right choice and a fair amount on why you should consider adopting a dog who's past the puppy phase. I agree with the majority of those arguments, of course, but they're all so serious and legitimate. I mean, you're inviting a big-fanged carnivore into your home. Let's not be purely logical; let's get stupid.

I present to you five decidedly awesome advantages of adopting a non-puppy.

#1: The Backstory
Not only are you adopting a dog, you're adopting a protagonist. My girl Opal lived in the woods with her mom and littermates before joining my pack. Kinda badass. My boy Benny, on the other hand, is a mystery. We know he was adopted once before us, but before that? It's a blank. I choose to believe he was an experimental government project attempting to create the perfect dog. Unfortunately, they let one variable get out of hand: LOVE. So he broke out in search of the perfect home et voila. My faithful mutt.

#2: The Excuses
"Oh no, what is he doing? I've trained him better than that! He must've learned it from his previous owner/other dogs on the streets/that Russian circus he starred in."

#3: The Toys
Dogs, like people, have preferences. My dogs, for example, ignore rubber toys. Well, Benny ignores toys completely, but that's not the point! The point is that I had no way of knowing this until I offered them a rubber toy. You want to have the happiest dog possible, right? So you really should just get one of pretty much everything in the toy aisle. You know, to test the waters. It has nothing to do with how cute that dragon plush is. Really.

#4: The Ego-Boost
You weren't there for those formative months. This dog met you as a mature pup and its mature brain loves you. How neat is that?

#5: The Brainular Superiority
People love babies. The big heads, big eyes, tiny little toes... our brains are wired to gobble that junk up. We also love what we, well, love, though. Your dogs will probably end up looking cuter to you than any others in the world. (This doesn't apply to me, as my dogs truly are the cutest in existence, but I've seen some other poor fools stuck in their delusions.) This "cuter than" deal includes puppies. That's right - the awesomeness of your dogs can overcome your brain's innate wiring to love babies. Don't think about it too hard; just go with it. Dogs trump brain. Suck it, gray matter!

Bonus: Why You Should Adopt Two Dogs: A Diagram

First off, a very happy birthday to my kind-of-brother-in-law ultimademon! Here's hoping the monk life is treating him well.

Picked up another month's worth of sertraline. It's kind of alarming to me how happy I am to have a fresh bottle in hand. I'm pretty much dependent on this stuff for my sanity - without it, my anxiety can get pretty ridiculous, and even worse, when the level in my blood shifts (like, say, going onto it initially or after I forget a dose), my general anxiety shoots through the roof. Sure, the panic attacks come less frequently than they do without any medication, but I find myself sitting and shaking or frantically trying to watch my back a lot more. So, knowing that I have my pills, that my levels will stay nice and constant for another month... it's almost as soothing as the medication itself.

I'm completely caught up on Glee now, and I have a few thoughts. Normally I wouldn't read too much into the "messages" a show sends (for example, it drives me crazy when people complain about Dexter doing something that they don't want to root for - protagonist != "good guy"), but seeing as Glee tends to get all up-its-own-ass preachy (much like South Park), I think I'm justified in inspecting the actual messages it sends. In general, Jaime hates how often the apparent moral is "Being different is good; just don't be too visible about it." I have to agree with him. For every episode where we get told to let our freak flags fly, we get two that append "but not too high!" After you've noticed it once, it's hard to not see it all over.

My other issue? Atheism, my dears: ( Spoilers for 2x03 )

So now that I've praised Glee for something, let me counter that with a quick criticism: BRAD DOES NOT SING IN TIME WARP. It makes no sense plot-wise and it makes no sense fairness-wise. Finn gets far more solos than his mediocre voice deserves anyway; don't steal parts from Kurt to give him even more, damnit!

So when I haven't been giving presentations, reading hours and hours of textbooks and research papers, and sitting in either a psychologist's or a dentist's office, this is what I've been doing:

( Muse - The Resistance )
( UP )
( Decemberists @ Hard Rock Live )

Jaime's been listening to Hazards of Love pretty much non-stop today. Good stuff.

While cruising Google News, I stumbled across this article. Being that it came courtesy of NewsCorp, I was ready to be enraged, and sure enough, the first few lines of the article got me notably riled up. My intended line-by-line dressing down, however, isn't what I'm ending up writing. Okay, a quick snip - if God is omniscient and omnipotent, why does evolution have to disprove his existence? Couldn't you believe that he directed evolution to lead to the final result of humanity? I don't care if people believe in God, as personal beliefs are just that, but denying reality in favor of spiritual beliefs is a real societal problem. You must believe in evolution. It's true. If you want to believe in God, believe he directed it; disbelieving in evolution is just not an option. Also, natural selection is not "blind". The description you're looking for would probably be "not sentient". Blind is far from an appropriate term to describe the process.

One of these times I'll type up the simple paper dots and patterned fabric exercise that simulates natural selection. It's a great way to introduce the concept to those who've never seen/understood it before.

The anger at the intro to the article wasn't the surprising part, nor was the fact that I enjoyed Dawkins's piece. No, what stunned me was just how big I was smiling when I reached the end of the article. What Dawkins says in that article is not just correct, not just logical, but also utterly and completely beautiful. I honestly barked out a laugh of appreciation at "God is not dead. He was never alive in the first place." I've been joking lately about how I want a bumper sticker that says, "God is not dead!" and beneath that, in smaller letters, "He just never existed." Reading his part of the article was a bit like reading my own thoughts, and the idea that someone who is so prominent and in control of such pleasant prose is saying what I wish I had the platform to declare is very satisfying.

Read it. Think about it. Rejoice in the lovely, comprehensible, not at all theological or supernatural process that brought us to where we are and marvel at the scene outside your window, molecules, cells, electric impulses all working together to make the living world we inhabit.

Beautiful.

So say there's this guy, J. J lives in the United States of America. At age 23, J was diagnosed with cancer. At the time that J was being treated, he was between undergrad and graduate school and unemployed, and thus had limited health insurance and no personal income. Thankfully, his insurance did cover his chemo and medications given while hospitalized, though the medications to supplement his treatment at home and to replace his practically non-existent immune system were not. The two cancer centers at which he received 90% of his care were very understanding - they gave him assistance due to his financial constraints as much as possible, and for all the rest, allowed him to pay in bits and not make a big fuss about it. He also required services from other facilities - blood transfusions from two different hospitals, depending on which had blood available when it was necessary, imaging centers, lab work, emergency care at one point when chemo side effects led to stroke symptoms and eventually a seizure. Most of these services were not touched by J's insurance. Fortunately, all but one of the facilities have lent some sort of understanding and been willing to work on cutting bills and setting up payment plans. Unfortunately, the one that would not has put J $15,000 in debt and has already sent him to collection. J is 24 years old, unemployed, and about to become a graduate student, and his credit report is scarred. He's planning to file for bankruptcy.

J tried other methods. He's applied for assistance from every facility, and the one that has sent him to collection three times claimed they didn't receive his form and finally rejected him due to the fact that he is insured, despite his insurance not offering any coverage for those specific services. He also applied for disability, as his chemo regimen left him available for safe contact with the outside world only one week of every four, and even then, he was tired and weak. The government rejected him, as the duration of his illness was apparently too short for him to qualify. He could attempt to pay his debt once he has an income, but his graduate fellowship, after taxes, leaves him with $17,000 per year. His debt is only $2,000 less than his annual net income. Mind, this is only the debt that's been sent to collection - his mother is struggling to pay the bills that have not yet gone to collection to prevent further damage to his credit, and these are not piddling. For example, one lab (not the only one to provide services during his treatment) sent an initial bill of $9,000. They've since cut it down to $3,000 and are willing to work out a payment plan, but this is still far from an ideal situation. This is still massive amounts of money that, were it not for his mother, J would have absolutely no hope of paying.

Allow me to reiterate the circumstances that led to this financial dilemma - J had cancer. Specifically, J had a type of lymphoma so aggressive that it has been known to double in size over 24 hours. J was stage IV at diagnosis. There was no waiting for treatment. There was no chance to figure out how he'd be able to afford it. There was only the immediate decision to fight for his life, because his life was in imminent danger, and all the rest be damned. And now that he's in remission, now that he's attempting to get back in school and start a life like every person his age should have the opportunity to do, he's faced with filing bankruptcy before he moves into his very first apartment.

This is how the United States health system works. This is how this country's people are treated when they are in need.

This is not how things should be.

I DID IT. I finally finished all the top 5 lists. And here, my friends, they all are. Warning: this post is huge, both word count and size wise. ( Cut for MASSIVE amounts of text and many, many, MANY pictures! )

Adam, Jaime and I saw Watchmen one and a third times yesterday. Y'see, the projector bulb blew out about 45 minutes into the afternoon showing we were at (this poor couple said they'd tried to see it on Sunday and the fire alarm went off, cutting that showing off as well), so the theater people gave us passes, and we decided to try again a few hours later. That time, we got to see the whole thing. And boy, was it quite the thing. The short version? I liked it. The longer, but spoiler-free version? It's a mostly faithful adaptation of the graphic novel, and besides that, a pretty good movie. It's lengthy, yes, but there's a lot that happens. The time really goes by quickly. I've encountered a few reviews that said it was mostly incomprehensible unless you know the story going in. That's bullshit. It stands on its own. Don't just take my word for it - I'd read the graphic novel beforehand, but Jaime had not, and he says he can understand being lost "if you're a complete idiot".

For those who know nothing about either the comic or the movie, it's not your standard superhero fare. Don't go in expecting non-stop fights and spandex costumes. Both of those aspects are present, but neither figure in as strongly as you might expect. Watchmen is as much as about sociology as it is superheroes. Feel free to turn off your brain during a few of the prettier battles and just marvel at the choreography. Just be ready to switch it back on real quick as soon as the talking starts back up.

If you've read the graphic novel but haven't seen the movie yet, you ought to. I think you'll enjoy it. There are a spattering of minor changes and a few big ones, but nothing that spoils the overall experience. In tone, it's still the same Watchmen. The casting and visuals are spot-on (with the possible exception of Adrian, who's different but still worked for me). Most of the alterations are simple things to cut down the movie's length, like combining two conversations into one or switching around which characters are present/prominent at some events to get across plot points in less time. The biggest cut is that of the pirate comic storyline, which is to say, it's gone. Entirely. Bernard and Bernie do appear briefly at... the moment... but that's it. That made me a bit sad. I liked both them and that whole parallel plot. It makes sense, though, that when you're trying to cram a giant graphic novel into the time constraints of one feature film, the first thing to go would be a large complementary, but not essential sidestory. This also means that pretty much all the scenes involving the newsstand are gone, as is the awful thing that happens on Halloween. I'm going to choose to believe it doesn't happen at all in the movie universe and those involved make it out of everything okay. The only other big difference is the ending. It is different. The culprit's the same, and the ultimate goal is the same, but the method was changed quite a bit. This might be sacrilege to say, but... I think I liked the movie's idea better. I'll talk more about that, complete with spoilery goodness, in a moment. Let me just say, really quick, that Dan and Laurie's romance was no more compelling to me in the movie than the comic, which is to say, barely. And the sex scene in Archie just made me uncomfortable. Bleugh.

Anyway, about the ending... ( Hardcore spoilers for both the graphic novel and the movie! )

Oh, and one more thing - what was UP with Nixon's nose? Could it have looked anymore absurd? Jeez.

Those who've known me for a while might think they have a handle on my cooking prowess. That is, I suck. Well, guess what I did in between the two showings? ( Cut for piktchas! )

Yeeeeeah.

Time for more Persona 2: Innocent Sin chatter! ( Spoilers for the bomb shelter. Contains some bitchin' screenshots and plot speculation. )

That's it for now. Jaime has an appointment at Moffitt this afternoon, so I'll likely be out until well into this evening. Not sure if I'll get any gaming in today. I will try!

... I need Maya userpics. Mawr.

Jaime and I went to early voting a little bit ago, and I have to say, the happy rush I got from filling in Obama's bubble rapidly dissipated when I got to the proposed amendments section. There was, of course, a Marriage Protection Act to vote on, which is troubling enough to me as is, but that's not the main issue here. What really set me off was the phrasing: "... to protect marriage as between one man and one woman..."

Protect? Protect?! On the official ballot?! That's ONE side's point of view. That is NOT an unbiased representation of the proposed amendment. All they needed to do was use a different word there - define or redefine would've been perfect. Well, as perfect as writing about such an awful idea can be. But to use that sort of biased language on an official ballot is just sickening. How is that legal? That could sway undecided voters, couldn't it? It's campaigning within the voting site. It makes the choice between protecting or not protecting marriage, instead of between giving it that definition or not. That is, quite frankly, bullshit.

I'm stumbling through the Florida Department of Elections site, trying to find the appropriate way to complain. In the end, I think I'll likely send in a letter. Jaime suggested e-mailing Keith Olbermann, and y'know, I just might. Stuff like this needs to not be accepted. We can't be complacent and let discrimination become the norm.

This blase bigotry needs to end NOW.