Long time, no blog.

I know no one cares but I feel like I should be here more often.
My big day has come and gone. I now have 4 less teeth jabbing me in the brain. On Thursday I got 3 wisdom teeth and a broken tooth pulled. It was a horrifying prospect but I barely even noticed they were digging around in there. I saw Dr. Johnson for all of about 1 minute. Still not sure if he was even there for any of it or not.
I'm recovering and it's going very well. I had virtually no face swelling and I only took my percocet as a precaution. I haven't had any fun trippy times with all my drugs, which is a bit disappointing but they don't seem to have much effect on me anyway. Oh well. It was a possible perk but I will soon be mostly pain free so that'll do instead.
I'm still getting used to the holes in my mouth and am starting to get pretty hungry. Some of my girls took me out yesterday for biscuits and gravy. It was good but not nearly as good as grandma's gravy. I've been quite happy with mashed taters and jello so far. Taco Bell isn't too much farther down the list. Must have something with flavor!
Mom and J are off galavanting so I'm here taking care of the creatures and they will NOT leave me alone. Lola stays at my feet and Stowie stays on me in any possible position, or just curls up in my arm pit. I think they put a spell on me to make me sleep more just so they can sit on me for hours at a time. They are both curled up here as we speak. Lola is probably getting bored but she goes out to protect us from squirrels on occassion. Stowie is in a ball, purring up a storm.

As for the face, it's pretty good. Still can feel it a bit but it's just so nice that they aren't there any more. I'm resting while I can and remembering to take my pills. I think they are making my skin numb but that's a whole different thing perhaps.

I have a new apartment update coming I suppose but I'm not ready for that yet. I'll try to get some pictures soon for those interested!

Not something a kid should have to worry about...

My little buddy Karam wrote this and I wanted to share because it's awesome.

My motherland, My Nation, Iraq
2008

5 year's have passed from that day
On her great soil did they lay,
Crimson fires, destruction and death
as I sat there holding my breath.
How can this be? Why God? Why?
My brothers and sisters look up to the sky,
To see bright explosions , but it was no Fourth of July.
Ten deaths today, a thousand tomorrow
Hail to the Chief who feels no sorrow.
It's come to Blood for oil
Spilled on the desert soil
in the cradle of civilization
My motherland, my nation
Will I ever see the land of my men?
Not until they leave.
Only then.

They pull the trigger, another death from a bomb
Is Iraq Arabic for Vietnam?

Friday the 13th...before I forget.

Frankly it wasn't anything overly memorable but there were high points.

I saw the new Friday the 13th on Valentine's Day. Just how I like my V-day. Bloody.

As always is the case, the movie was inferior to the newest Halloween but there were good things.

Jason was actually pretty scary! I haven't seen them all but he's often more pitiful than scary. You can't see his face but it's almost like you can feel the desperation coming out of him. This time he was bigger, badder, and much more Michael-like. Jason's always been a little more emotional than Michael. Michael is mechanical, Jason is a messed up momma's boy.

With that said, all the prey was more retarded than ever before with a couple exceptions. They are all stupid kids that deserve to die for the most part. There's a few that have remotely redeeming qualities, the "funny" guy is almost charming, and...yeah it's best just to wait until they die. The worst character gets the best moment though so that's something.

Overall it's not too bad, but it's sad that this is the best we seem to be able to do. Tolerable characters can die too Mr. Bay! It might make it better if we care if one or two die.

If nothing else, Jason was an improvement over what I've seen in the past so I was pleased.

Somebody had a birthday and I was there.

My wee little sister is now my wee grown-up sister. Technically. I went to Kansas last week to celebrate her 21st birthday. It's always exciting to visit Hays but this was more stupendous of course. There was much birthday hoopla. We FINALLY played Trivial Pursuit. We all got drunk and there was dancing. I still am not walking properly but I'd do it all again right this very second if I could.

I added some crazy decor to Katie's room while she was at work, and the tiara made the rounds on party night. There are more incriminating pictures for those curious.

Malcolm was getting in the party mood. There were things dangling from the ceiling and everything!!

Those wild librarians. They can party it up I tell ya.

HUG HUG HUG!! DRUNKEN HUG! And the dancing began.
I've got the little boys in Kansas but these are my bigger boys, Jarrod and Eric. Also weird, but taller than the gremlins.

Still standing after all that dancing and drinking.

I barely got a chance to make it out to see the little ones but I did get there for a little while. Jordan's birthday is coming up to so I took birthday present to him. It's a crazy marble get-up. You put it together and the marbles swirl around and it's pretty cool. Tanner was interested until we got it put together and Jordan was otherwise occupied until we were done putting it together. It's just the way they work. And always in their underwear.

The birthday boy has been getting some loot out of the tooth fairy as well as you can see. He looks a little like Frankenstein's monster here for some reason...like if there was a baby monster. There should be.
Overall, the trip was magnificent and I'm going to write more about my friends because it physically hurts me to leave them. I needed more time. I always need more time.

The Rules of Kansas

I got this at work one day when I was feeling grumpy. It cheered me right up!
This sums up all that is great and frightening about Kansas .
Fort Hays didn’t make me love god but they tried their best.

Rules of KANSAS
1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot.
2. Let's get this straight; it's called a 'gravel road.' No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.
3. They are cattle. That's what they smell like to you. They smell like money to us. Get over it. Don't like it? I-70 goes east and west, and Hwy 75 goes north and south, and the Kansas Turnpike goes cattywonka. Pick one.
4. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $250,000 combines that are driven only 3 weeks a year.
5. So every person in every pickup waves. It's called being friendly. Try to understand the concept.
6. If that cell phone rings while a bunch of ducks are coming in, we WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.
7. Yeah, we eat KANSAS BEEF & corn on the cob. You really want sushi & caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.
8. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first of December.
9. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.
10. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak. Or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.
11. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables, and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup.
12. You bring 'coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet, and served over ice. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair.
13. K-State and KU College and high school basketball is as important here as the Lakers and the Knicks, and a dang site more fun to watch.
14. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards -- it spooks the fish.
15. Colleges? Try K-State or, KU, Fort Hays or Emporia State or Washburn. They come outta there with an education plus a love for God and country, and they still wave at passing pickups when they come for the holidays.
16. We have lots of folks in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines, so don't Mess with Kansas. If you do, you will get whipped by the best.

Ah, good old midwestern folk. :)

The Book

I have finally updated The Book on my webpage!
Philip has been harassing me to do so for months and whatever Phil wants, Phil gets.
There's quite a lot of nonsense there so don't get lost.
Enjoy!

Go to my webpage and look for The Book button on the left, or just go here:
http://www.geocities.com/kathayj/TheBook.html

GLAAD: Thank Campbell's for LGBT-Inclusive Ads!

I hadn't seen this before, but I think it's really awesome! I think it's important to tell them that we (those like-minded individuals) are happy to see their support of LGBT families. It's a nice change to say thank you to someone so I suggest you do! And stock up on the soup while you're at it!

The original link: http://www.glaad.org/2008/Eblasts/campbells_blast.html

Dear Friends,While GLAAD has been hard at work fighting defamation against our community in media this year, anti-gay activists continue to put time and money into targeting media that show our lives and community in a fair and accurate way. This month, the anti-gay American Family Association showed their “holiday spirit” by demanding their constituents respond to a LGBT-inclusive advertising campaign released by the Campbell Soup Company.The ads for Swanson broth ran in the national LBGT news magazine The Advocate. The campaign, entitled “Home for the Holidays,” features a lesbian couple with their son and lists Swanson broth as a key element in the family’s annual Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve celebration. The ad was met with an alert from the AFA that called for e-mails and phone calls attacking the Campbell Soup Company, which owns Swanson’s, for acknowledging that gay people “constitute a family and are worthy of support.”

Check out our post on glaadBLOG for a copy of the ad and resulting media coverage: http://glaadblog.org/2008/12/23/afa-shows-their-holiday-spirit-with-attack-on-ad-with-lesbian-moms/.

We cannot let anti-gay forces intimidate our allies and block possitive images of our community. We commend Campbell’s for being inclusive of all families and ask that you too thank them for being fair and inclusive of our lives by e-mailing Campbell Soup President Douglas Conant and Director of Corporate Communications Anthony Sanzio. Follow up with a phone call to the Campbell Soup Company and Swanson and let them know you appreciate their support for LGBT families.

Douglas Conant, President douglas_r_conant@campbellsoup.com

Anthony Sanzio, Dir. of Corporate Communications anthony_sanzio@campbellsoup.com

Campbell Soup Company 1-800-257-8443

Swanson1-800-442-7684

As we enter 2009, anti-gay forces continue to try and silence our community and make us invisible. We must tell our stories, ensure that media is inclusive of our community, and remind people of the common ground that we all share now more than ever. GLAAD’s media advocacy and anti-defamation work is so vital and your support is so necessary. Our organization exists because of generosity of people like you and we need your support now more than ever at this critical time in the movement.

PLEASE DON'T STOP GIVING. End the year by telling Campbell’s their ads are “mmm mmm good” and help GLAAD fight anti-gay defamation and promote LGBT-inclusive media.

On behalf of GLAAD, thank you for your support.

Your role in our alliance strengthens us and renews our hope for 2009.

In service,

Neil Giuliano

Media Advocacy.

Fighting Defamation.

Changing Hearts & Minds.

Visit www.glaad.org to learn more.

A little momento from home.

Destination USA: Volga Heritage

http://www.travelchannel.com/Video_%26_Photos/Video_Detail?videoRef=TITLE1317

I don't think I posted this before. I can't figure out how to get the video to my blog so you'll just have to go take a look.
My boss, my other mom, and one of my favorite hangout places are all there. :)

May they burn in hell for their crimes...

Lesbian's brutal gang rape investigated in Calif.
By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer Lisa Leff, Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO – A woman in the San Francisco Bay area was jumped by four men, taunted for being a lesbian, repeatedly raped and left naked outside an abandoned apartment building, authorities said Monday.
Detectives say the 28-year-old victim was attacked Dec. 13 after she got out of her car, which bore a rainbow gay pride sticker. The men, who ranged from their late teens to their 30s, made comments indicating they knew her sexual orientation, said Richmond police Lt. Mark Gagan.
"It just pushes it beyond fathomable," he said. "The level of trauma — physical and emotional — this victim has suffered is extreme."
Authorities are characterizing the attack as a hate crime but declined to reveal why they think the woman was singled out because of her sexual orientation. Gagan would say only that the victim lived openly with a female partner and had a rainbow flag sticker on her car.
The 45-minute attack began when one of the men approached the woman as she crossed the street, struck her with a blunt object, ordered her to disrobe and sexually assaulted her on the spot with the help of the other men.
When the group saw another person approaching, they forced the victim back into her car and took her to a burned-out apartment building, where she was raped again inside and outside the vehicle. The assailants took her wallet and drove off in her car. Officers found the car abandoned two days later.
The woman sought help from a nearby resident, and she was examined at a hospital. Although the victim said she did not know her attackers, detectives hope someone in the community knows them. One of the men went by the nickname "Blue" and another was called "Pato," according to authorities.
Richmond police are offering a $10,000 award for information leading to the arrest of the attackers.
Gay rights advocates note that hate crimes based on sexual orientation have increased nationwide as of late. There were 1,415 such crimes in 2006 and 1,460 in 2007, both times making up about 16 percent of the total, according to the FBI.
Avy Skolnik, a coordinator with the New York-based National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, noted that gay, lesbian and transgender crime victims may be more reluctant than heterosexual victims to contact police.
"Assailants target LGBT people of all gender identities with sexual assault," he said. "Such targeting is one of the most cruel, dehumanizing and violent forms of hate violence that our communities experience."
Skolnik said the group plans to analyze hate crime data to see whether fluctuations may be related to the gay marriage bans that appeared on ballots this year in California, Arizona and Florida.
"Anytime there is an anti-LGBT initiative, we tend to see spikes both in the numbers and the severity of attacks," he said. "People feel this extra entitlement to act out their prejudice."


The most important thing we can take from this, since we have a luxury of not being the victim, is that when anti-LGBT laws are passed-- "People feel this extra entitlement to act out their prejudice."

UNACCEPTABLE!!!

Majel Barrett Roddenberry 1932-2008

She was literally a piece of American pop culture history.
So fabulous.

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

It's from a song. Love it.

In September I volunteered to help out at the marriage booth for the Boulder Pride Block Party!
It was a lovely day and we had so much fun. The event was in the middle of Pearl St. and the marriage booth was conveniently located in front of the courthouse. I volunteered as a Rent-a-Bride and helped The Funky Reverend perform illegal weddings. We informed people of rights they still would not have as a same-sex or illegally married couple. We had about the same turnout of both couples. No one wanted to rent me though. Boohoo. My theory is that they knew I wasn't gay. I mean, who wants to marry a straight girl? Not me! I looked super though so whatever.
It's a good day when you can spend it with great people doing something that you really care about.

Quinn rented himself out to marry Nuclia Waste on stage. It was a beautiful event.

There's me on the left.

These guys were something... I don't know if the honeymoon is still on. They'd only been together for a couple days.

And these guys were so cute. They have been together for 6 years.

I've been slacking--Here's an overview.

There's all sorts of stuff I haven't been blogging about. None of it all that life changing but, you know....
Way back in July, after I moved back to Longmont, we went to Tausha's wedding in Wyoming.

That was a fun family event.

For the July 4th weekend we had yet another family gathering. Almost everybody came and took over mom's house and we had lots of food, wet children, and baseball. The boy got to go to their first major league baseball game. I'm not sure they really knew what to do with everything. They've never been anywhere that big before and with so many people. Jordan found the secret to homeruns apparently.

I got to go to a couple more games over the summer with Ed. Awesome as always.

Katie came to visit in August. We hung out in Boulder, and took a trip up to Estes. I've been gone too long and she's a Kansas native so we didn't make it all the way up to Trail Ridge. I couldn't breathe by the time we got to the Stanley. (Which by the way, charges $5 to just get up and look at the bloody hotel! I DO NOT recommend it anymore!) Most of it's spook and charm has vanished. It's too bad.

We had a fantastic time as always. Katie drove her all by herself in mum's brand new car. It was very exciting. She brought some fabulous gluten free bread that we all hogged down. There was an incident with pepper...but that's really to be expected.

I started my new job in September. The day before I had the worst tooth ache in the history of teeth. It made my first day sooo much fun. But things are good now. I'm liking the job for the most part. It's a perfect job for now, I have a super fun team, and I can wear jeans. What more could I really ask for other than a few more dollars? My first week was quite the week. We had the big all employee event with food and festivities and whatnot. I won't go into all the cool stuff but we have a PSA-ish video that might be coming out soon. Danny Glover was in it. Pretty awesome. And another cool thing that my company is doing is building a clinic in Nepal. They brought Jugat to visit us from the village near the clinic. He was very cute and kept calling us his "honorable friends." They have a lot of fun guest speakers with very cool stories.
One guy came in to talk about the Last Ocean, which is somewhere north...like all the way north. It's the last bit of ocean on the planet that isn't destroyed beyond repair. He has some amazingly cool pictures that I hope to be able to show you some day. My favorite speaker so far was a guy named JR Martinez. He was in Iraq when his humvee ran over a landmine. He was in a heavily armed vehicle so the area was evacuated before anyone even knew he was still in the burning car. He has burns over 40% of his body and has had dozens of surgeries. Now he uses his experience to help others and the guy practically glows. The way he talks to a big group of people makes you feel like you've known him for years. We got to chat with him a bit before he left. He's the nicest guy and so adorable. I think about him almost every day. Exciting news for him! He's going to be on All My Children! He told us that the day before he came he had an audition and I saw a video online on Veterans Day that he got the part! I definitely recommend checking him out on this video-- http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6193326&page=1 More to come.....

For Audra

8 Things
8 Television shows I watch....
The Simpsons
Family Guy
American Dad
Clean House
Star Trek
Ghost Hunters
King of the Hill
Um....more Family Guy

8 Favorite Restaurants....
Old Chicagos
Good Times
IHOP
Olive Garden
The Other Side (even though it doesn't exist anymore)
Gutch's
Taste of India
Ruby's...also gone.

8 Books I've read recently....
Frankenstein
Dracula
Me Talk Pretty One Day
Naked
Fight Club
The Bartemaeus Trilogy #1
The Mouse and the Motorcycle
Started...Empress

8 Things that happened yesterday....
Went to Boulder
Saw James Bond
Ate Mexican food
Drank some strong margaritas
Saw my friends
Did the usual at work
Was late for work
Got lots of hugs

8 Things I am looking forward to....
Being able to eat on the right side of my mouth
Going to Kansas for Christmas
Going to Kansas for Katie's birthday
The end of my class
MOVING
Star Trek movie
Friday the 13th movie
Next pay check

8 Things I wish for....
Barrels of cash
To see my friends
To make some new friends
To figure out who the prince is
Good hot dogs
Teeth that don't hurt
Somewhere nice to live
To write an awesome horror film

8 People I'm tagging...
You're it.

I think there's a typo. I'm pretty sure his last name is Schmuck.

"This is nature meets the proud United States of America, and my US of A is going to win."ROBERT SHUMAKE, of Galveston, Tex., on the approach of Hurricane Ike.

What a moron.

Jimmy Kimmel about Sarah Palin

"She looks like one of those women in the Van Halen videos who takes off her glasses, shakes out her hair, and then all of the sudden, she's in high heels and a bikini."

And my proposed bumper sticker:

Say what you will about Hillary, but at least Chelsea never got knocked up.

KJ and the Duck Heads. Or, a few last days in Hays

Rise and shine, after a night of not sleeping in Tanner's room, for breakfast at IHOP. We all stuffed ourselves with pancakes before the long drive back to Colorado. I was going to see Dina and the boys the next weekend so it wasn't a long goodbye. But I was left to send off Katie and Judy with lots of hugs since I wasn't sure when I'd see them again.



The last night at Joe's. By the end of the evening the crowd had mostly slimmed down to the Joe's crew and the History Club crew. My usual. A fitting end.


Everyone got ducks before I left. Naturally, what does one do with a duck but put it on one's head.

This was our Scrabble game frosted in hillarity. I don't even remember why but it was quite fun. Jarrod was really getting into the spirit of things. Threats were hurled as was ice cream, but that mostly came from Martha's delivery system I think.

The Larkettes! We didn't get a 7th inning sing-along but I think we won. Maybe not.

Just a few more pictures....

It was something that looked like Spaghetti O's.


Kendra and her little Buckethead.

Me and my girls, Amanda and Tausha. Love 'em.

The "Family Reunion"

Luckily the party went better than the planning might have indicated. The grandparents kinda forgot to invite half of the family, and it was horrible timing as far as my summer goes. We had a good time though, and some of us got to see people we haven't seen in a long time or meet people we've never met.

Mom and Dina discussing important things.
So there's some southwest/Texas/Mexican thing about hanging bags of water from the trees to keep the flies away. Yeah, well, where there are Hunsicker boys and bags of water in trees there will soon be water everywhere else. Tanner was trying to pop it over my head but I moved so they had to make do with just making a mess. As you can see, grandpa was of no help. As usual.
We had enough food to feed a couple small countries, and it was all super tasty.
We played some volleyball until we realized that the ball was really hard and it really hurt. We also tried badminton. The younger ones need a little longer to get the hand-eye coordination down and us older gals need to not play in the dark. It was extremely funny at the time though.
The highlight of the weekend was of course the world's cutest freakin baby. This is Emma Jean. She's a music fan. She's working on her bongo skills.
Like I said, cutest thing ever.
Emma and Geneva, grandpa's sister. We used to chat on messenger sometimes so we knew each other but I had never met her so that was pretty nice. I was going to hide in her ginormous camper and run away with them but I decided against it. They had room though. We'll have to plan a visit to whichever Carolina they live in one of these days.
Grandpa and Clinton working on the homemade ice cream. It's clearly man's work.
I like to call this one "Beauty and the Beasts." Makes her look even cuter doesn't it?
Jordan and Flaming Marshmallows. Sounds like a band name, and relatively dangerous. We didn't do too bad. Only a few flaming ones.
Amanda and Les probably giving each other a hard time. It's apparently the natural way for people to pick on Amanda and the other way around. She was the yougest for quite a few years. We can't start to pick on Tanner and Jordan until they get a little bit bigger and won't cry.
Saying our goodbyes to great-grandma and Aunt Linda.

I got to sleep in a tent and therefore probably slept better than I would have inside so I had a good time. I didn't have to go homicidal on my family due to lack of sleep. There were a ton more people there but I have an excess of pictures of the child. They were there, we had fun. That's good enough. I was happy to see my girls, Taush, Amanda, and Emma. I don't get to see them very often. Too bad Eathon wasn't there, but we all got to talk to him on the phone. He just graduated from some paratrooper something or other. Well done to him. He's moving on to bigger and better explosives now. It's a match made in heaven. If anybody wants to see more pictures, let me know. I have some more. And if you have any EMAIL THEM!!