Daily Archives: January 13, 2009

Jan 13

State Troopers. Really?

I don’t think we’ve had this much excitement at the State Legislature since Harry T. Burn gave women the right to vote:

It should be noted that after Burn cast his historic vote, he hid in the attic of the capitol until the maddening crowds cleared away.  It is also rumored that the anti-suffragists were so angry at his decision that they chased him from the chamber, forced him to climb out a window of the Capitol and inch along a ledge to safety.

At least Kent Williams is not inching along ledges or hiding in the attic of the capitol, but the scene was still intense:

There were cries of “traitor,” and Channel 4 reports a trooper had to go into the gallery and calm down one guy. Republicans booed as Williams went to the House well to speak. “I’d appreciate it if  everyone in this chamber would just hear me out,” Williams shouted. “I’m a Republican but not for much longer because you guys are going to kick me out, probably.”

[…]

In an unusual move, Highway Patrolmen stood guard at the podium when Williams walked up to it, and troopers surrounded Williams as he left the chamber and ducked into the speaker’s office.

Jan 13

Retrograde

They say Mercury is in retrograde and that’s the reason everything is a fumbling mess.  I say it probably has as much to do with this being the clear end to three incredibly stressful months.  But I’m feeling it, neverless.

It’s funny the ways in which your own struggles blind you sometimes.  You’d think that going through shit would make you empathetic, but I don’t think it always does.  I mean, how long have I complained about the Butcher ditching out when my family is here and leaving me to entertain them while he goes out galavanting around?  I don’t have the guts to look, but I’m going to imagine probably back to the inception of this blog.  How could he, when he had to know how much I thought getting stuck with my parents sometimes is a grueling nightmare, leave me with them at the times when it seemed most grueling?

There was an incident over the holidays.

It doesn’t matter what it was, but it was one of those moments when… well, when you look across the table at your brother and see this look on his face like… Like I don’t know how to describe.  Just that, when he said he was going to his friends, I cleared a way to the door for him.

It never occured to me, folks, at all, that he was hiding from them at his friends’.  I was so pissed about the whole situation for so long, thinking he was just a monumental asshole, when really, he was in my same boat.

Afterward, we discussed pooling our Christmas money and buying massive amounts of marijuana in order to lace my parents’ food and drink with it in emergency situations when they’re here next.  We both decided that this was a brilliant idea, but probably too slow-working.

Jan 13

The S Word

I heard a rumor that it’s snowing out.  This means, of course, that there will be no bread or milk in the whole city.  I remain convinced that even Nashvillians who don’t regularly consume bread or milk run out and buy it when it snows.

Which makes me wonder if maybe the Tennessee Emergency Management’s plan, in case of snow-caused economic collapse isn’t for us all to use bread and milk as currency.  I hope not, as I cannot fit more than a couple of loaves in my wallet at a time.

Jan 13

One Thing that Stinks about Being a Dog

Everyone who has been to our house in the past couple of days has taken a moment, when eating one of the peanut butter cookies with the Hershey’s kiss on top, to say to the dog something along the lines of “Oh, you want this cookie, don’t you?  You cannot have this cookie.”

By the time the redheaded kid showed up last night and grabbed one of the last cookies off the plate, I swear she was reciting it along with him.

Still, I caught the Butcher throwing popcorn shrimp to her, which had to make up for it a little.