28 June 2004

Marte and Tom are officially married. I saw it and can vouch for it. There will be pictures, and pictures of Kev's visit, and so on. I haven't even gotten all the pictures cropped yet, so those links will not work as of the time I am typing this. Maybe by the time I post it. Maybe not.

Anyway, we had a good time seeing people and spending time with people and all that. As Crowd weddings go, there weren't many of us there, so we got to spend time with all members of the Crowd who came. So that was good. And we got more Michelle-and-Scott time than I'd thought we would, because their flight left later than I'd remembered, and we got up earlier. (Erica had to get down to the Cities by a certain time, and Em and Amber were driving her, so breakfast needed to be at 8:30 if everyone was going to make it. I was estimating more like 10:00 or 10:30.) Scott got to see our house. I made supper. Etc.

I got my bridesmaid's dress for Michelle and Scott's wedding, and I like it. (I think I like it better than Michelle does, and I waffle about whether this is a good thing: it's her wedding, but it's my body.) I'm getting frustrated with people talking about "Bridezillas," though, because I think the sort of person who goes truly nuts doesn't bother thinking about it, and it makes normal brides afraid to make small requests or talk about their weddings at all. Michelle's big request so far is that I get her a glass of punch at the reception in case she's too caught up in pictures etc. to get there herself. Some brides get so demanding, sheesh.

Anyway, I didn't get to finish reading John M. Ford's The Dragon Waiting, but I got a good way into it and am enjoying it quite a bit so far. Recommended.

Now I'm catching up on work and chores and being antisocial. I have a need to be antisocial for awhile. It's on my agenda if not on my list. Ben lent us a CD, and I couldn't play it last night, because it would be too loud. Turning the volume down wouldn't have helped. I needed quite literal quiet. Some of it today would be good, too.

I got asked very few questions last week. The first of them amused me, though: it wasn't even from my sister-in-law, and it was, "When are you getting a puppy?" Heh. The answer is, when we can. We haven't really had any spare time lately to go running out to look at pups, if the breeder whose name we have even has any pups (we may have to try to get other recommendations from her). And if we haven't had any spare time to even get a puppy, we certainly haven't really had the time to train one.

We're looking to get a poodle, the small kind but not the teacup kind, if possible. My last dog was a poodle, and they're smart. Most rankings put them at #2 in intelligence among dog breeds, and we don't have the space or the energy to get a border collie right now, so #2 it is. Also, our old vet taught us how to pick the ones that don't yap, so there's that. It'll be good, as soon as we can actually do it. But there have been a few things going on around here lately.

I am also asked whether apple pie and cheddar cheese sound good together to me. In fact, they do not. I know that at least once they were good together, and I would try them again because of that. But sound good? No. They do not.

Finally, I am asked how I feel about reparations for slavery (paid by the U.S. government to the descendants of slaves). Tougher one. Here's what I think. In order for reparations for slavery to be a good idea, I'd like to see the following criteria met: 1) that the people receiving the reparations have been directly harmed by the existence of slavery around 150 years ago; 2) that the people paying the reparations have directly benefited or at least caused the harms; and 3) that the people harmed would benefit more from that use of these funds than from some other use.

Racism is a problem, but not just for descendants of slaves, and I don't believe it's a problem because of slavery. And I'd much rather see a government trying to correct current problems than scrambling to come up with something that addresses former mistakes in a very small way. If we have money we're going to use to try to improve on past mistakes, I'd rather see it used for, say, seed money for small businesses for people who have suffered discrimination. Or scholarships for kids in difficult situations (due to race, economics, or something else entirely). Or free visiting nurses for new moms in similarly difficult situations. Or...well, you get the point. Just handing out checks indiscriminately isn't going to help end racism. It's not going to help end the slavery that's going on in the world right here and now. Contemporary solutions for contemporary problems seems like a better idea to me.

Any other questions?

I'm going to work on the book and attack the laundry pile again. And put up some pictures soon. Have a good Monday.