Here�s some interesting news�

Wednesday, April 28, 2004

Flying Saucer Fever Grips Iran, Theories Abound

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Is Iran about to be invaded by little green men or are the Americans racing through the night sky in spaceships to spy on the Islamic Republic?

Flying saucer fever has gripped Iran after dozens of sightings in the last few days. Fanciful cartoons of alien spacecraft have adorned the front pages.

State television on Wednesday showed a sparkling white disc it said was filmed over Tehran on Tuesday night.

More colorful Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) have been spotted beaming out green, red, blue and purple rays over the northern cities of Tabriz and Ardebil and in the Caspian Sea province of Golestan, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Newspapers and agencies reported people rushing out into the streets in eight towns on Tuesday night to watch a bright extraterrestrial light dipping in and out of the clouds.

An airforce officer in the Revolutionary Guards was quoted in the reformist Vagha-ye Etefaghiyeh daily saying Iran's Supreme National Security Council should investigate whether these visitors from afar had hostile intent.

But Sa'dollah Nasiri-Qeydari, head of the Astronomical Society of Iran, told Reuters the stories were unfounded.

"In my opinion, flying saucers do not exist," he said, insisting his telescopes would have picked up invaders from outer space.

"The people who have seen these things are not experts - farmers, villagers and pilots," he added.

He said what people reported was consistent with the planet Venus, whose intense light in its current position would be given different hues by being filtered through the atmosphere.

***

Now, I am not here to debate whether or not we humans on the planet earth are the only inhabitants of this universe. I�ve never seen a UFO and am therefore skeptical, but it would not surprise me in the slightest if a little green man came knocking on my door one night, asking to borrow a cup of sugar. I think it rather pompous of us to assume we�re the only ones around, but then we are nothing if not a pompous people.

All of that said�am I the only one here who thinks it far more likely that what they�re seeing in the skies over Iran is some new military device and/or weaponry that we�re not aware of yet? Remember all of those �UFOs� seen over the Nevada desert for all of those years? Eyah�turns out they were Stealth Bombers, only nobody knew at the time that Stealth Bombers existed. Well, you know � a few people knew, but you get my drift. And believe what you may, I�m sure most of us agree that the U.S. has plenty of interest in what�s going on over in Iran these days.

I don�t have a point, really. I�m just sayin��

~~~

I have been eating so many carrots, my fingernails are turning orange.

Not really, but I�m sure that�s right around the corner.

~~~

I heard on the news this morning that the American Lung Association released a report on the air quality of various cities. Ranking #1 in the All Around Unhealthy Air category � Los Angeles and/or it�s various boroughs. In fact, L.A. came in first in most of the sub-categories as well (even Long Beach made the list at #2 on its own for particular matter or something of that sort).

On the radio this morning, they said that the #1 Cleanest City, All-Around, was Santa Fe, New Mexico. I was going to use that knowledge as an insight as to just why I want to move there, but now this graph doesn�t mention Santa Fe at all. So while Santa Fe may have been listed under a different survey, I have no proof and my whole point is therefore defeated.

~~~

So of course the recent Sondra/Lou drama couldn�t just die a peaceful death. Last night I received a letter from Sondra (actually, it was dated 4/23, so I have the feeling it�s been sitting in my mail box for a few days).

Turns out my saying one thing about my sister once translates in Sondra�s mind in to some conspiracy where I have just hated her all along, am constantly talking about her behind her back and am �spreading vicious lies� about her. In fact, her entire letter consisted of attempts to illuminate my many lies...of course, none of the things she said were actually true so none of her points were valid in the slightest.

You know, I feel bad that she read that email. I really feel bad about this. I certainly never meant to hurt her feelings. But I can�t honestly say I am sorry for saying what I said, because I didn�t say anything that�s not true. I also can�t honestly say I am sorry for saying these things to her husband, although I understand that on the surface that looks rather shady. I had a valid reason for talking to him about her at that one instance. I was concerned about her freaking out over a band related issue and I was discussing band related issues at the time. My point at the time was � she freaked out over nothing this time, she�s probably gonna do it again and I just don�t want to deal with that.

The only thing I will cop to having done wrong is in my reaction to the phone call which really started this whole thing. I assumed she was pissed about the rehearsal mix-up. It turns out, there were other things going on with her that week that also had her stressed. I shouldn�t have assumed she was just being irrational and getting mad about the rehearsal mix-up. No, there is really no way I would have known she wasn�t mad exclusively about the band since she was, in fact, yelling about the band. In truth, though, had I been talking to Barbara or somebody else, I would have hung up saying to myself, �Jeepers. She must be stressed out about something.� Because it was Sondra, I assumed she was being irrational and getting mad about nothing.

So in not giving her the benefit of the doubt, I called her irrational and she heard about it. Of course, she�s now proving that my fears were well-founded, but whatever.

I apologized for that in my reply letter, sent to Sondra this morning. However, I also made everything else clear too and did not apologize for anything else. I ended by saying that we have proven time and again that we should just not try to be close to one another. I said that this happening was probably a good thing and forced the issue. I mean, I told her I love her and will always be here if she or Jeremy need me, but I also basically told her that we can see each other at holidays and I really don�t care to hear from her other than that.

Her letter was so extremely petty and included such absurd accusations that I feel less bad about the whole incident over-all than I did before I received it. And it was so typical of her. At first I was giving myself grief because I assumed she was going to behave a certain way because that�s who she�s always been (you know, I didn�t allow for the possibility of growth); then I get this letter that just totally proves that she hasn�t changed, really, at all. First of all, there�s that extreme paranoia. As I said in my letter to her:

�After reading your letter, it seems to me that this is what happened:

1. I left you a message asking if you needed me to pick you up on my way to Linda�s because I understood Lou might be at a band rehearsal the same day.

2. You called me, upset. I thought you were pissed off at relatively little and were being unreasonable.

3. I sent an email to Lou stating my concerns with the band situation. I included a paragraph about the phone call episode.

4. Lou showed you the email.

How does this all translate in to my �telling vicious lies� about you behind your back? I can understand you�d be angry about what I said, Sondra. But to turn what really amounts to a huge misunderstanding in to some scenario where I am a big liar and �telling vicious lies� about you is just ridiculous. I don�t even know where you get this stuff.�

Then there�s the manipulation of facts and conversations to prove her point (and if that�s the version of the truth she�s spreading around, I hardly think I am the one guilty of �spreading vicious lies�); the counting of every penny she�s ever spent on me, as if buying me gifts or bringing food to my house two weeks ago (something I didn�t ask her to do and would have preferred she not do, frankly, since she eats totally differently than I do and I was going to the fucking market the next day anyway) means that I have to put up with her bullshit. She�s always done these things, she�s always been this way. And yet I am wrong for stating the obvious?

I feel so relieved.

So tonight I really am going to the Formosa Caf�. I can�t drink much, cuz I�ll be driving but that�s probably a good thing anyway. Never want to get too drunk when you have intense emotions swirling around inside.

Hasta, kids!

~~~

Word of the Day for Thursday April 29, 2004

predilection preh-d'l-EK-shun; pree-, noun:

A predisposition to choose or like; an established preference.

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