sniffing the mystery

things have been on my mind lately - it's a wonderful change.

my friend who is under house-arrest is visiting. she got special permission to come out to the province for her sister's wedding. her parents are two of her sureties. they didn't just post bail, they also have to accompany her everywhere in public. with the exception of her curfew period (eleven pm to sometime in the morning; seven, eight, nine, i don't remember) she can leave the house as long as one of them is present at all times. this, of course, is both thrilling for her parents and detrimental to her being able to work for the next two years, until her trial. did she rape and pillage, you ask? well, she organized protests. you know, the ones where people carry signs and chant slogans and parch up to the government buildings and maybe chain themselves? yeah, those ones. lots of them. yeah, so she's facing up to thirty years in prison. i guess they didn't like the protests.

i'd bark up this tree longer, but she's forbidden from posting on the internet or being quoted, so perhaps we should just stop here before i get charged with sedition.

*pause for a moment to compare: the volume of police response to her involvement in activism, and the same organized response to spousal abuse*

moving on. she can't, but then she can't use a cell phone or work at her job, so i guess she'll just re-read jeanette winterson and hang out with her mom.

things in my life are winding down. i am packing things away, passing on tasks at work to others, and my last meeting for the organization i sit on the board with is tomorrow. i am leaving my position three weeks before the end of my term. sigh. my list of things to do is shrinking. i don't think i'm ready emotionally. i've gotten cozy in the last few weeks, sharing a room with the queen. but the road doth call. and i hear her music.

olive has taken to jumping on the bed, glaring at the queen, and then curling up beside his legs. what is this love-hate thing my cat has developed. because she'll look at me like "hey, how's it goin? nice to see ya" and then turn to him with eyes that say "fucking asshole. who invited you?" after a measured stare of scorn and disgust in his direction, she sniffs his legs and purrs a bit as she ignores my side of the bed and wedges herself alongside him. what the hell?

i am plumb tuckered, and shall retire. what made me laugh this week? dan savage's tour of the seven deadly sins. oh thank you dan. bless your irish atheist-catholic gay cynical heart.