Life's been rather crazy. And stressful. And scary as all hell. Here's the haps, in a convenient Reader's Digest Condensed formula:

>In "Pre-War-America-Degenerates-Into-Quasi-Fascism" news: Did ya'll hear about that 61-year-old man and his 31-year-old son who were harrassed/arrested last week for wearing tee-shirts in a mall that were emblazoned with the following phrases: "Peace on Earth" and "Give Peace a Chance"? For some reason, Security asked them to remove their shirts (I guess calls for Peace are seen as something very different in Albany, NY). The father refused, so he was arrested. Eventually, the charges were dropped. Gee, ain't that swell...

>In "Our-Elected-Officials-Will-Say-Pert-Near-Anything-To-Persuade-The-American-Public-To-Stand-Behind-Its-Insanity" news: (and what I wonder is, does Dubya just not remember these things {which, given his limited intellect, is not incomprehensible} or is he just a big liar who hopes the American people are incapable of putting two and two together?) From The Memory Hole: During one of his rare press conferences, President Bush admitted something which completely contradicts what we've been hearing from him, most other politicians, and the mainstream media. Not surprisingly, the media have completely ignored this; I couldn't find a single article that mentions it in any news source, domestic or foreign.

The occasion was a press conference with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, which took place in the White House on 31 January 2003. Here's the key portion:

Adam Boulton, Sky News (London): One question for you both. Do you believe that there is a link between Saddam Hussein, a direct link, and the men who attacked on September the 11th?

THE PRESIDENT: I can't make that claim.

THE PRIME MINISTER: That answers your question.

Under any circumstances, these answers are remarkable for their brevity and directness. No politician answers clearly and in just one sentence. Yet on this crucial matter, Bush and Blair did just that. (True, Blair then launched into his standard speech about how we need to attack Iraq anyway, but his direct answer is brief and to the point.) What they unambiguously admitted is that there is no connection between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden/al Qaeda. You may recall that bin Laden and al Qaeda are officially blamed for hatching, plotting, and carrying out the 9/11 attacks. That's who the British reporter was referring to. Now the President and Prime Minister have said there is no link between them and the government of Iraq. (a link to the entire transcript for you the curious can be found at the Memory Hole page).

>In "Karen-is-a-Dork" news: One night last week, I went home and did two loads of laundry. In one of them, I washed a jacket I just bought like six months ago. As I started putting it in to the dryer, I decided I�d better check its laundry-tag to make sure it�s not a line-dry item...that�s when I noticed that the tag said: �Dry Clean Only�.

Oops.

>In "Karen-is-a-Muscle-Bound-Fitness-Guru" news: I discovered a new workout DVD. It changes your workout routine every day, for each day of the week. So far, I really love it...of course, I've only made it through three days; but so far, so good!

>In "How-Many-Annoying-Noises-Can-There-Possibly-Be-in-One-Neighborhood?" news: I think some strangely-vocaled birds have escaped my beloved Long Beach Aquarium and have parked their barking asses right outside my window. Yes, I mean barking. These are no lovely little birdie calls, people. Yeah, yeah, I'm all for appreciating the music of the birds and all of the nature-loving crap, but these birdies are damn noisy!

>In "Karen-Will-Apparently-Drive-Hundreds-of-Miles-to-Get-Laid" news: John did not visit me this past weekend, because he was house-sitting for his sister. Therefore, I visited him and we house-sat together. We had a great time and road traffic both ways worked to my extreme advantage. I ate too much, of course, but also did quite a bit of hiking (and the dog took us for a walk twice). However...

>In "Karen-is-a-Wacked-Out-Depressive" news: I had a slight emotional breakdown before I left John yesterday. I think it's just that the status of world affairs is so scary right now, the insecurity factor just trickles down and infects everything. If/when we get in to this war, its possible effects on the world in general are of course terrifying, but its effects on a more intimate, every-day level are almost as terrifying to me. John and I began to discuss, as I put it, "The State of Our Union" and my emotions just degenerated. I turned in to a blubbering ball of incoherent babble for about an hour. I'm afraid John may have thought it was all about him and our relationship, but it wasn't. I mean, yes, that was part of it...but really it was just weeks of pent-up frustrations and fears that all came to a head. Frankly, I think I just needed a good cry because I feel quite a bit better today.

You see, I�ve been in the middle of this whole, �what is the meaning of life?� bullshit dilemma for a long time. (I say "bullshit dilemma" because I highly suspect that people who have to worry about bombs going off in their front room or if they will have money for food this week rarely have the luxury of internally debating the meaning of their life.) The impending war has brought up even more questions for me in this area. It's huge for me and not at all easy to write about, unless I want to take about three days to outline it all for you (using my trusted bullet-and-italicize method of illumination). I assume a lot of people have these questions, especially those of us who don't have kids. I just find myself asking "so what's the point?" and "what, exactly, have I contributed?" a whole heck of a lot lately.

It's bigger than that, actually. One day, perhaps I'll be able to discuss and relate for the sake of posterity...until then...Hasta!

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