Well, that’s not true. Last Tuesday, when news broke that Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez had been fired, my Facebook feed blew up with people cheering his dismissal. As someone who had, has, and always will have a negative view of the football program at the University of Michigan (the school happens to have a football team; the football team does not happen to have a school, fellow alums), I didn’t find myself caring. (And given how much it’s going to cost to get rid of Rodriguez . . . ouch, Michigan! Costly mistake!) However, I found myself wanting to say something snarky about the drama over Rodriguez’s firing, but didn’t want to needle my friends. If there’s one thing I cannot tease them about, it’s Michigan football. It’s a goddamn religion on my feed.

And I didn’t want to write a rant about it here because, hey, what I had to say was short. And not worth exploring too much. But I didn’t want to produce a whole new post to say something snarky along the lines of: “RR fired? Yay! Oh, wait. Don’t care. Carry on!” I guess what bugs me most is the idea that of course I care since I’m an alumna. As someone who has been mercilessly mocked for not stepping into Michigan Stadium until my sister’s graduation day, I get easily annoyed with football stuff and the assumption that I enjoy it. Tailgate Saturdays were not my thing. I worked the football shift—it was nice and quiet and I got a lot of my work done so I didn’t have to pull all-nighters.

Hey, I never said I was fun in college. I’m actually much more entertaining these days, but still a grump.

Anyway, I digress. I realized that there were times when I desperately wanted to say something snarky and quick, but didn’t really have the outlet to; I have to censor myself on Facebook because of an in-law overload and my friends sometimes can’t reconcile my bitchy one-liners with the kind of quiet person they know in real life. There’s a disconnect; I can be bitchy all I want in real life, but to them it comes out of nowhere occasionally. For some reason, they don’t realize that I’m like this all the time. Only my family and IP do. Any readers know, though, that I’m a perennial Grinch. So Sonnet 87 Twitter it is. Holla!

Like with blogging, I actually don’t expect to have a great number of follows. Like with blogging, it’s more of an outlet for me than anything else. It finally dawned on me how Twitter might be useful to Sonnet 87—quick bitches. That’s it. And if I find myself not using it much, it’ll get deleted. Simple as that.

Up next: the Sonnet 87 fan page on Facebook!

Um . . . yeah, no. Probably a bit much. I’d have, like, no fans.

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

Yay! And the crowd goes wild!

For a blog that’s a little over six years old, I kind of feel like 1,000 posts is a little on the low end, but what the hell. I don’t always feel like writing, but the blog has been a good friend to me ever since I decided to publicly chronicle my life without trying hard to get publicity; I tend not to comment on other blogs a lot (with the exception of a few favorites now and then), so I don’t get a lot of traffic my way. I do notice, however, via my stats, the stalwarts who click through to every new post, so I wanted to say that I really do appreciate your presence even if you’re quiet, just like me (companionable silence is cool).

So what are the highlights from Sonnet87? Just a few numbers for you:

• 18,473: The number of views the blog has had since I started using WordPress.com Stats.
• 11,597: The number of spam comments that Akismet has caught.
• 2,312: Days between my first post and this current post.
• 1,509: The number of comments at Sonnet87.
• 1,000: The number of posts Sonnet87 currently houses (publicly; there are a few posts in draft form and a few that are private that only I can see).
• 697: The number of hits the most popular entry, L.A. Fitness: Destroying Communities One Gym at a Time, has.
• 382: The number of hits I received on my blog’s busiest day—Friday, September 18, 2008, when I blogged the post The Atheist Bride and Her Mother: Joy Unparalleled. It was linked to by FriendlyAtheist.com, which prompted some visits and also some discussions about our situation at FriendlyAtheist.com. Rest assured, Friendly Atheist: we had our god-free ceremony!
• 368: The number of posts my most-used category, Lacking a Muse—Generalities, has.
• 314: The number of times people have searched the most popular term, “sonnet 87.”
• 166: The number of books currently listed throughout all five years of the book list.
• 28: The number of categories I employ to classify my posts.

The blog continues, slogging on through the Michigan years, now the D.C. years; the long distance relationship years, now the marriage years; the running years, now the weight lifting/running years. Who knows what this blog will see next? We’ll see what the future holds.

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

Harry Potter!!11eleventy!!11

Now that that’s been cleared up, I find myself typing away at my laptop because I had an unexpected day off; I’ve thus far spent the day getting coffee, being disappointed that they didn’t have any lemon poppy seed muffins, realizing that our co-op was closed so I couldn’t get one of their lemon poppy seed muffins, and doing laundry because our bedspread and sheets needed washing. I am sitting in workout clothes even though I don’t plan to work out–I did weights and high-intensity cardio yesterday, so I’m good for now, thanks. I do plan on heading downtown to have lunch, but other than that, my day is low-key (with the exception of some vacuuming that must be done).

One task I plan of taking care of downtown is finding my sister’s birthday card. I have been searching high and low (okay, I went to CVS and American Greetings), all for naught—why must every card for a woman fall into the following categories?

• Humor Card: contains an image of a cat or a woman holding a glass of wine and/or shopping bags; making reference to how we fear aging, how we’ll be old cat ladies, or how we love to drink wine and shop.
• Serious Card: contains overly long, flowery messages describing the power of love and sisterhood. Accented by butterflies and/or rainbows.

Why can’t I find a card that has a dog on it, makes a reference to beer, and is for a woman and not a man? These strict gender divides are so unnecessary. And why are some greeting cards so damn long? No one wants to read that many words in front of people impatiently waiting to eat cake, you know.

Was the random enough for you? No? Here are few more random thoughts to round off this post:

1. Why do people find it so hard to clean the lint traps in communal dryers? Like the magician from Bugs Bunny says, “Does it hurt very much, sonny boy?” Seriously, do your neighborly duty and clean out the trap. It takes two seconds of your time.
2. I am seriously not getting baby fever. Whenever I have brushes of it, I’ll eventually revolt and get angry because it feels like it’s being imposed on me by outside forces. It seems like every blog or message board I read is “Aww mah gawd, babies!” Are they cute? Yeah. Do I feel the undying need to hold and nurture one that so many of my peers feel? No. I kind of side-eye the traditional gender roles that are being played out: Woman crying “Baby!” while the husband says “Not now, honey.”
3. Why does my company insist on trying to get us to go out to dinner with them? The time is long past for us to want to socialize with them given how they treat us. I received an email wondering if I wanted to do an evening event and I said no. I already spend too much of my time with them, and I would prefer to keep my evenings to myself. If the office had ever cultivated a sense of unity, then maybe I would join in. But they lost me a long time ago.
4. Have you voted yet? If you’re in Montgomery County, you can do the early voting thing until 8pm tonight. Here’s a list of early voting centers if you’re so inclined: Early Voting Sites. IP and I took advantage of this on Monday to do our civic duty (and help out the Dems).

Enjoy the day today! Let’s hope it’s the last of the unnaturally warm fall days.

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

EVIL IS AFOOT IN THE WORLD.

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

Is this because the author of the article simply didn’t get out of the car to explore the amazing landscape and take in the, um, petrified forest? Because, you know, that’s kind of the point. Not just to drive the miles.

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

Dramatic enough for you?  No!?  Read on!

IP has been sans TV for close to the length of our relationship; I have been without the television’s warm glowing warming glow going on three years.  If you’re completely honest with yourself, you have to admit that there’s not much going on there that’s absolutely vital and/or intellectually stimulating enough to keep any reasonable human anchored to a set for hours upon hours a day.  And yet it happens.  My family is rabid in their TV consumption, our friends are profoundly disappointed that we can’t share in their delight in bad VH1 dating shows.  You don’t know how many times I hear, “Hey, have you see that commer—” and then the person cuts themselves off, noting with extreme displeasure that I do not have a television set.  I just shrug and let the person continue with their description of said commercial since not much can stop a person from sharing something funny they saw on TV.

I’m not completely immune to television’s appeal, of course, and neither is IP; we both love The Simpsons, he’s into The Sopranos, I’m very much in love with Pushing Daisies — however, neither of us is motivated enough to actually buy a set.  I prefer to watch Pushing Daisies from the comfort of my computer screen, and that’s only if I remember that I need to watch the latest episode (I’m usually about two weeks behind at any given time).  IP is happy now that the entirety of The Sopranos is on DVD and he no longer has to worry about not getting spoiled when a season rolls around on HBO.  But the bulk of what’s on TV is definitely not appealing; during my six miler yesterday, I was subjected to the absurd and highly sexist Real Chance of Love, which apparently likes to dress women in tight clothes, have them throw themselves at two guys, and act like idiots in order to win the love of some stranger on TV.  I do realize that these people do it to themselves — they are the best kind of famewhores who love their 15 minutes and don’t mind a little humiliation for a bit of exposure — but I just don’t understand who would find this entertaining enough to actively watch (and schedule in their TiVo).  It’s not entertaining.  It’s embarrassing.  Thank the Jebuslug for CNN as an option to which to zone out to during my runs since my eyes need to go somewhere that’s not the treadmill display; not exactly my favorite source of news but at least it’s sometimes discussing relevant issues.

Hey.  I said sometimes.

My family in particular is threatening to gift us a TV for our wedding, saying that no house is complete without one.  Besides using it to hook up a Wii, I see no use for a television; there is very little that I want to watch and there is very little I can’t find online.  I have to fight for my time thanks to a long commute, time at the gym, and your typical weekly chores — I don’t want to let TV suck away any of the remaining time I have left over to read, relax, sometimes write and be outside.  I get enough TV at the gym; the 30 to 60 minutes I spend in front of the sets four times a week is quite enough.  And unfortunately, when I’m at the gym, all I get are bad TBS movies, dated sitcoms, Lou Dobbs (UGH) and bad dating shows; thank goodness for the iPod.  If TV were nothing but Pushing Daisies, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (which are all online, by the way)?  Heaven, I tell you!

So unfortunately, no matter how much disappointment and cajoling we may get, a TV is not in our future.  We do realize that if we have kids we might have to consider getting one; while we can handle not knowing what our office mates are talking about when they discuss the latest American Idol episode, it may be a bit unfair to subject our kids to the same until they make that choice themselves.  Of course, there is such a thing as moderation which we will practice.  The last thing I want is my kid to be a replica of me at 13: never active, always inside, glued to the TV once homework and my latest bad novel were done.  Our no-TV days will come to an end should we have kids, but I hope fervently that my kids will prefer play over TV.

So please, no TV, not as a wedding gift or any other kind of gift.  Sure, it may be a Stuff White People Like item, but in our case it’s a Stuff This Mexican and Italian Couple Like Because It Gives Us More Free Time thing.  Gratzi and gracias!

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

I’ll be honest: the past eight years have done much to add a nice, new layer of cynicism to my already countless coats, but this helps to sand that down a tad or two.  As a daughter of Mexican immigrants, discriminated against just because of my skin color, just because I could speak another language, just because my vacations consisted of visiting a “dirty” country and not Disney World, I’ve never felt completely comfortable here.  Or there (in Mexico).  Neither embraces me and both are quick to reject me.  Here, though, when I learned as a child, I learned that nearly no one in the history books looked like me.  And if they did, even just a bit, they were never as important as the white people who made history.  If it was a particularly bad piece of history (Mexican-American War, for example), those were the couple of weeks of school where people could get nastier than usual.  Those who looked like me?  Were bad.  And by extension, so was I.

Should I have kids, I can flip open their books to Obama’s picture and point out: look, hon.  Here’s a guy who’s as diverse as you are; you don’t share the same ethnicity, but you do share that wonderful mix of being from everywhere like he is.  To a child who inherits my skin color and not IP’s, I can point out that yes, yes, yes we can, honey.  And I can remind this child that while it’s nice to see someone who looks like you or shares your kaleidoscope of a background, it’s ultimately about people and that’s what Barack Obama’s campaign stressed most to me: it’s about unity, about people, about working together for something better.  It’s not an us versus them mentality in his mind; it’s soley an “us” that looks towards a healthier planet, healthier people, a strong economy, a peaceful nation, a society that respects different beliefs and lives.  These are the values that I want to instill in any children I may have and I am so happy that IP and I can point to Barack Obama and say, see.  See, honey.  Here’s a man who wants a United States.  Not just a “real” America that didn’t take into account all people.

Many will disagree with me.  There are plenty of people disappointed today.  I am not one of them.  I am delighted that Barack Obama is our next president and I am enthusiastic about the directions in which he can take us.  I am enthusiastic about contributing towards that change; I know that President-elect Obama cannot wave a magic wand and all the bad stuff from the past eight years will go far away.  It requires work.

I can work.  If it means telling any future children that this was a point in history in which the country began to reunite for them to enter a better world, I can work hard.

Congratulations to Barack Obama, Joe Biden and, above all, the U.S.

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

Written and composed by *The* IP, inspired by the following images linked to at the Crown Princess Marie Chantal of Greece message boards:

If the candidates were trains. . .

If the candidates were phones . . .

Do you now see why I love IP so much?

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.

Well, Clarion Fund, you wasted a DVD.  I took that sucker in my hands, folded it a few times until the disc broke in half, then tossed it in the garbage — no one will be able to view that copy of your propaganda now.  Fuck you and the horse that drove you here.

I am so angry that this is what people will stoop to to remain in power.  In fact, McCain, Palin and the rest of you Republicans who want to enforce evangelical Christianity on me and then refuse to acknowledge that you’re radical assholes, too?  Fuck you and the horse that drove you here, also.  I’m voting for Obama-Biden and there’s nothing you can do that’ll change my vote.  I may not agree with them on everything, but at least they’re not trying to frighten me into docility.  At least I’m treated like an intelligent voter and not just as small component of a very dumb flock.  And if we’re damn lucky and Obama’s voted in, I will be front and center for his historic inauguration come January.  And I will heartily celebrate the fall of Republican Party.

Take your DVD and shove it, Clarion Fund.

©2012 Sonnet 87. All Rights Reserved. Originally published by WordNerd for Sonnet87.com. This post cannot be republished without express written permission.