For starters: 4 suicide bombings in Israel in the last three days, one in Morocco. Well, not that I have anything enlightening to say about that. Only that I feel just horrible for those people who live with the serious threat of terrorism every bloody day. I honestly don�t know how I could handle being afraid like that every day; terrified to walk down the street and go to work, let along go out and have a little fun. We, as a country, are still struggling with after-affects from Sept. 11, 2001. These people have to deal with that sort of trauma on a daily basis.

Secondly, did ya�ll know that our beloved Bush Administration is now pursuing the invention of dangerous portable weapons, including "usable" mini-nukes? Yes, that�s correct. In an age when most reasonable people are working toward nuclear disarmament; in an age when we the US of A invades sovereign countries who we even think may have �weapons of mass destruction,� including nuclear weapons, the United States seems to think it fine and dandy to increase our buildup of such weapons.

Our Senators are about to vote on supporting the Administration's request to repeal current law banning the creation of new, low-yield nuclear weapons. "Low-yield" is defined as less than five kilotons - approximately one-third the size of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. The development of new low-yield weapons will also require nuclear testing, which hasn�t been done in over a decade.

- We have conventional weapons that will work anywhere in the world against any target. We don�t need new nuclear weapons. And there is no military requirement to develop new nuclear weapons.

- The development of low-yield nuclear weapons will provide incentives for other countries and rogue states to develop nuclear weapons of their own.

- The more nuclear weapons there are in the world, the easier it will be for terrorists to gain access to these weapons of mass destruction.

- Developing new nuclear weapons will hinder the U.S.�s ability to persuade others to disarm and will make the world a more dangerous place.

See this article, by Robert Scheer, from the May 13th LA Times: A NUCLEAR ROAD OF NO RETURN Bush's bid for new kinds of weapons could put the world on a suicidal course.

And do I really need to point out again that this is all happening during a time when our deficit is already over $300 billion and Bush is fighting for a massive tax cut anyway? Yes, yes...let's trade education, medical care and social security for more nuclear weapons that we don't need anyway.

I just want to take a moment to point out something which we should all know by now. However, since the majority of people I know my age and almost all of the people I know who are younger than me don�t seem to pay much mind to retirement funds, I'm reminding us all. If you are not already doing so, please invest in retirement accounts people. Whether through your employer or your own private I.R.A., please do so. If you�re counting on social security funds, well A) ask your parents or grandparents how far they�d get each month of that government check alone and B) chances are, even that piddly amount is not going to be around anymore by the time you and I retire. I�m not saying this is all Bush�s fault but his proposed tax cut and overzealous spending ain�t helping the matter AT ALL.

~~~

OK, on to other news. You know, stuff that revolves around me, ME, ME!!!!!!

John came down for the weekend. Saturday morning, we went out to breakfast. Although we went to the Long Beach Caf�, which serves up HUGE and mighty-fine meals, I did my darndest to stay away from food that was too fattening�but I failed. I had a biscuit with gravy (although the rest of my meal was good for me). It was damn good, too. That�s the only restaurant I have found that serves up a decent breakfast gravy. This is the problem when you come from good, southern cookin� stock. Restaurant food sometimes fails to impress.

Anyway, John then went to a baby shower for his soon-to-be-grandson (due sometime in June). Therefore, I was left to clean my pad (which I did � completely). I then went to Smart and Final and to the market. Although I bought supplies enough to make dinner for us, I was spared that task because John ate too much at the shower and didn�t get home until about 8:00pm anyway. We did, however, eat many chocolate covered strawberries that I had dipped while he was gone.

On his way down to see me, John made a stop at one of his local fresh fruit and veggie stands. Evidently, he cleaned them out of strawberries and cherries, because he brought bushels of them down with him. So�uh�well, let�s just say I�m all cleaned out now.

So Sunday, we lay around reading the paper and watching t.v. while eating even more strawberries and cherries and drinking champagne. We�re so decadent!

There is a walking/bike path along the beach where I live. See, there is Ocean Blvd. which is two blocks from me. Running alongside Ocean for about a mile is a long park called Bluff Park. Bluff Park is actually up on a cliff (or bluff) � you walk down the side of the cliff via stairs and there�s the beach. So my usual walking pattern is I walk down the three flights of stairs it takes to get to the walking path; I then walk 3 miles on said path; then I run up and down the stairs a few times before heading back to my pad. I partake of this walk several times a week. If I don�t take a walk, I usually work out at home.

Yesterday we went on this walk, but we extended it to four miles. Man, what a difference a mile makes! My legs were quite tired when I got home. But in a good way.

Truthfully, my legs would not have been tired at all, except that I seriously need new walking shoes. The ones I have been using are very old and worn out and kill my feet. Honestly, I can�t even go on this walk two days in a row because they are so bad. I was going to go to REI tonight after work and look for a pair, but now that I have paid all of my bills and see just how much (little) money I have left over, I have decided to rethink this plan. While I know I�ll probably really want the new shoes come this weekend and my trip to Mendocino, I also know I�ll want MONEY come this weekend and my trip to Mendocino.

Long Beach was having gay pride festivities all weekend long, so the beach was more crowded than usual. Plus, as we got toward the 2 mile, turn-around point, we were privy to the musical stylings of the wonderful Cover Girls! �Show me, show me, you really love me��

I had to see the Cover Girls in concert once. Wonderful aunt that I am and always have been, I actually took Carla and Amy to see New Kids on the Block oh�what was it? Twelve, thirteen years ago? Anyway, the Cover Girls were the opening act. Unlike twelve-thirteen years ago, though, it sounded like they were actually singing yesterday.

John's blood pressure has gotten extremely high; like dangerously high. We monitired it all weekend and I did feel better when I discovered that it fluctuates greatly. It's always high, but when he told me on Thursday that his blood pressure was up at like 210/130 I got very close to panicking. See, I've been trying to get him to deal with his high blood pressure for five years, now. And now that it's so high that he's scared enough to want to go to the doctor, his medical benefits don't kick in for four more months.

So...I think I'm going to worry about this for the next four months, at least. My blood pressure? Still amazingly low. In fact, when I was just relaxing this weekend, it got down to 90/30 on more than one occassion. It never got higher than 113/60. We're at opposite ends of the spectrum.

Guess that�s it for now. It seems like I�m forgetting stuff, because I know when I started writing this entry this morning (of course, it�s now 5:00pm) I had a lot of things on my mind�

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~~~~~~~~~~~peace, love and smooches~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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