Amanda Miller

Mr Jesse and I decided that every weekend day off we had we should try to do something new, or at least something that wasn't shopping or sitting home watching telly all day. Last week we were gonna go to the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, which was on its last day, but it was definitely too cold. So I checked All Over Albany, which every weekend has a round up of things to do in the Capital region. I spotted roller derby, and I've always wanted to see it played, so I persuaded Mr Jesse to go.

We almost gave up because parking in downtown Albany is a pain in the ass, and we finally got parked. I nearly slipped under the car getting out because we accidentally ended up too close to a snowbank, so that was fun. I need new sneakers, haha. Anyway, we went in and watched Roller Derby. That's a heckuva fun sport and if you've never watched it before, I think you should see if your town/city has a league and check out a game.

I said to Mr Jesse that I would love to play derby, but I had never been on skates before. Just ice skates, once. So this Sunday, he and I, along with my fantastic friend Genevieve & her family went to a skating arena in Latham, and attempted skating. Her son had done it before, so we hoped he would teach us, but he decided not to, haha. Mr Jesse decided he'd be better at guiding us around the practice rink, and about a half hour in, I didn't even need to hold onto him anymore! I was so pleased. A sixty year old lady gave me a bit of advice on my form (don't lock your knees, kids!). I even made it out on the main floor!

I don't think I'll be in derby shape anytime soon, but I am very pleased with my initial trial. I thought I would fall all over the place, but I didn't even fall once! I did go really slowly so I think the spills will come when I pick up speed. But hey, derby players fall down too! Lots!

Today was wedding stuff again. Mr Jesse and I got him a tie and a shirt, but it turns out it doesn't fit him. The tie fits, but the shirt does not. Oh well, we will try again on Saturday. Anyway, we got that done, and then we went to his momma's house and we put together the bouquets. I will post them tomorrow. They are pretty boss ;).

This is just a quick updated because I am going to bed, but I wanted to continue this streak.

Today was the first time I went to the bank solo for work. Well, Mr Jesse took me. I went inside and of course it being the day after a holiday that the bank was closed for, and everyone knows that the stores need to get their deposits and their change in, all the little old ladies came out to do every single centimetre of their banking. Hold up the line a little more, why don't you? Oh boy. She was disputing every line of her statement with the teller. Ay yi yi.

Not only that, she was the bad parker that Mr Jesse was irritated by when we pulled in the parking lot. SMH. Anyway, I got my Starbucks, and Mr Jesse got his McDs, but their drink machine was broken. Yeah, the soda machine was busted! How dare it! Anyway, I went to work. It wasn't busy, but I had these sweet ladies in from Colorado and Nevada and they bought out the store.

I went over to Colleen's house to eat dinner, and I got to see the glorious news about E.L. James' dismay at her film's casting. She wanted Robert Pattinson for Christian Grey. Um, girl, you can't rip off Twilight and then use the main star in your shitty fake BDSM rapey novel. Besides, if you're really gonna go incepting this series, you cast Henry Cavill. I said goddamn. But keep him out of your shitty franchise. Anyway, poor Charlie Hunnam.

I finally got to go through the royalty pottery I picked up this weekend. Got a couple of things on eBay right now -- an Andrew & Sarah commemorative mug, and one of the duplicate silver jubilee mugs. I spent $20 on the whole thing, so if they sell, I'll make my money back. One of the things I got was a salt and pepper shaker set that was from the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, so I'm super stoked about that. YAY ME!

Today was wedding stuff day. Mr Jesse's sister Maggie came by to help us out. I did up the three invitations I am mailing out, and I was all set to mail them except that I forgot a box for the item I sold on eBay, so they will go out Tuesday. They're all local, so it will take a day to get to them nbd.

Brunch was at Cracker Barrel, which was delicious -- I had multigrain french toast, which couldn't have been any tastier. It really couldn't have been, they put fried apples and fresh strawberries on top and Oh man, I wish I still had some to eat. How do I french toast? Mr Jesse wasn't so lucky, his breakfast was tiny and was lacking in sausage gravy. He did not seem too happy with it. Ahh well, he'll go back, he loves that place.

Then we went off to Michaels in Latham, because we decided flowers/bouquets were the thing to do today. It took us some time but we put together some cute bouquets for the bridesmaids and myself. Now we just have to assemble them with the ribbon we bought, which will likely be tomorrow night's project.

I drove the whole day, and as we left Latham to go to Delmar for dinner, it began to horribly downpour. I was able to handle it though! I was a little cheesed by the guy who refused to let me onto the highway, because I had to come to a dead stop on the ramp, and on the grated part of the road, which was extremely annoying. I was good though, I avoided an accident and got to see the idiots who collided at the mall exit ramp. Mr Jesse did want to go to Best Buy, but we decided that could wait til Monday or Tuesday. Labor Day weekend is really not a good time to go to the mall (unless you wish to visit my store. Then come and buy all the things!). I also got to see my first deer while driving. That little bastard was in residential Delmar! How dare he! Like just strolling along, running through people's lawns. You jerks are supposed to stick to highways! Anyway, I didn't hit the deer either.

Dinner was shish kebabs, now I've never had them before. They were pretty tasty, but I suppose you can't go wrong with grilled veggies and meats on a stick. I drove back to the EG, and we had TCBY. Really enjoy the Silk Almond Milk yogurt, which is a weird concept. First, you milk the almond...then you ferment it? Weeeeird. But it tastes like chocolate pudding which is awesome. Anyway.

Now Candice and I are enjoying a joint viewing of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, while she is at work and I am at home. "What does God need with a Starship," indeed.

I had a difficult time sleeping last night, as per usual. Tumblr seems to suggest that nitro drink for insomniacs actually works, and I forgot to look for it at Target today. Also I forgot to look at shoes. I did get the allergy medicine I needed though. Yes, good. I tried Claritin without the meth ingredients, but I found it wasn't as effective. Mmm, crystal meth.

Anyway, today Mr Jesse and I got our rings, and he got another firsthand lesson in feminism. (I do this a lot to him.) His ring, that he picked out cost $75. Mine? $225. Even though they're not similar in materiel, a comparable lady ring in tungsten (his material of choice) is $95. Ain't that some shit? Yeah, that's what I thought.

The lady at the jewelry counter was extremely awesome, so I'm going to do my new year resolution and tell them how wonderful she was. She didn't upsell us or try to change our minds on anything and even tried to make it cheaper for us. I really liked her. Same with the waitress we had at dinner. We had gone to Cracker Barrel and they changed their menu, removing my favourite meal. So I lamented about that and she gave me a recommendation that turned out okay. It won't replace the stew, but it was delicious and worth a try.

Finally, we had TCBY for dessert. I love the chocolate Silk Almond Milk Yogurt they have because it tastes like chocolate pudding, and it definitely definitely doesn't have any lactose in it. LOVE it. Now, if they would make it into a yogurt I can eat at home...

Anyway, update over. I'm going to try to write an update once a day or so, we shall see how this works.

SERIOUSLY
SERIOUSLY.
WHY ISN'T THIS MOVIE MINE RIGHT NOW?!!!!

I usually like to write about the Chilean September 11, but I came across this amazing poem on Tumblr and thought it was important to share it with you. It's long, but I'm not cutting it.

Emmanuel Ortiz (born 1974)'s poem, Moment of Silence:
http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/music/Moment-of-Silence.mp3

Before I start this poem, I’d like to ask you to join me

In a moment of silence

In honor of those who died in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last September 11th.

I would also like to ask you

To offer up a moment of silence

For all of those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured, raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes,

For the victims in both Afghanistan and the U.S.

And if I could just add one more thing…

A full day of silence

For the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have died at the hands of U.S.-backed Israeli forces over decades of occupation.

Six months of silence for the million and-a-half Iraqi people, mostly children, who have died of malnourishment or starvation as a result of an 11-year U.S. embargo against the country.

Before I begin this poem,

Two months of silence for the Blacks under Apartheid in South Africa,

Where homeland security made them aliens in their own country.

Nine months of silence for the dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki,

Where death rained down and peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and skin

And the survivors went on as if alive.

A year of silence for the millions of dead in Vietnam - a people, not a war - for those who know a thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives’ bones buried in it, their babies born of it.

A year of silence for the dead in Cambodia and Laos, victims of a secret war … ssssshhhhh…. Say nothing … we don’t want them to learn that they are dead.

Two months of silence for the decades of dead in Colombia,

Whose names, like the corpses they once represented, have piled up and slipped off our tongues.

Before I begin this poem.

An hour of silence for El Salvador …

An afternoon of silence for Nicaragua …

Two days of silence for the Guatemaltecos …

None of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years.

45 seconds of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas

25 years of silence for the hundred million Africans who found their graves far deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky.

There will be no DNA testing or dental records to identify their remains.

And for those who were strung and swung from the heights of sycamore trees in the south, the north, the east, and the west…

100 years of silence…

For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from this half of right here,

Whose land and lives were stolen,

In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of Tears.

Names now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the refrigerator of our consciousness …

So you want a moment of silence?

And we are all left speechless

Our tongues snatched from our mouths

Our eyes stapled shut

A moment of silence

And the poets have all been laid to rest

The drums disintegrating into dust.

Before I begin this poem,

You want a moment of silence

You mourn now as if the world will never be the same

And the rest of us hope to hell it won’t be.

Not like it always has been.

Because this is not a 9/11 poem.

This is a 9/10 poem,

It is a 9/9 poem,

9/8 poem,

A 9/7 poem

This is a 1492 poem.

This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be written.

And if this is a 9/11 poem, then:

This is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971.

This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in South Africa, 1977.

This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at Attica Prison, New York, 1971.

This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992.

This is a poem for every date that falls to the ground in ashes

This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told

The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks

The 110 stories that CNN, BBC, The New York Times, and Newsweek ignored.

This is a poem for interrupting this program.

And still you want a moment of silence for your dead?

We could give you lifetimes of empty:

The unmarked graves

The lost languages

The uprooted trees and histories

The dead stares on the faces of nameless children

Before I start this poem we could be silent forever

Or just long enough to hunger,

For the dust to bury us

And you would still ask us

For more of our silence.

If you want a moment of silence

Then stop the oil pumps

Turn off the engines and the televisions

Sink the cruise ships

Crash the stock markets

Unplug the marquee lights,

Delete the instant messages,

Derail the trains, the light rail transit.

If you want a moment of silence, put a brick through the window of Taco Bell,

And pay the workers for wages lost.

Tear down the liquor stores,

The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses, the Penthouses and the Playboys.

If you want a moment of silence,

Then take it

On Super Bowl Sunday,

The Fourth of July

During Dayton’s 13 hour sale

Or the next time your white guilt fills the room where my beautiful people have gathered.

You want a moment of silence

Then take it NOW,

Before this poem begins.

Here, in the echo of my voice,

In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand,

In the space between bodies in embrace,

Here is your silence.

Take it.

But take it all…Don’t cut in line.

Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime. But we,

Tonight we will keep right on singing…For our dead.

EMMANUEL ORTIZ, 11 Sep 2002.

(Link to the tumblr post I found it in.)