2001-10-01 - 10:59 a.m.

On the internal soundtrack: "Two of Us", Beatles.

Cross-post with LJ here -- LJ readers can move on to the next section.

---

Well, crap.

Poindexter just got laid off. Crap, crap, crap.

He seems to be just fine, though. He's been expecting this for MONTHS now. Hardly a surprise. But I'm upset anyway. I get mad at people who don't utilize my husband's skills properly. His company was just horribly mismanaged. Bunch of idiots. Stupid fuckers. They were basically a dinosaur who weren't keeping up with the times.

Fortunately, we've got plenty of money saved up, and we were already living on one salary, so all these means is that we won't be saving money anymore. Well, we can save his UI. :) Financially this means, essentially, nothing. One of the benefits of living well beneath one's means.

This might mean -- hell, probably means -- we'll be moving to Philadelphia before Christmas. Oh my god.

I'm just sort of wigged out right now. I hate the process of changing, even when I know how badly I want the end result.

I wrote that when I was still shocked and pissed off. I have calmed down now. I get very angry when my [disgustingly sweet nickname deleted] is not properly appreciated.

Poindexter is, truly, just fine with this, since he has been expecting it for months and months. I think we're both putting off thinking about the major change coming up. For now he's just going to hang out with his mother and visit.

He's making the usual unemployment jokes. He says he's going to sit around, scratch himself, grow his hair, and get drunk. So far he's only doing two of those things. Hasn't even had a beer yet.

He occasionally, apropos of nothing, yells "I'm on vacation!", which he quotes a lot when he's actually on vacation as well. This weekend I can expect to hear, "Funny thing about weekends when you're unemployed; they don't mean quite so much." Brownie points to anyone who wants to tell me what movie and song, respectively, those two quotes are from, seeing as how I can never remember.

MIL is hilarious. She keeps calling him a "deadbeat". When he called her to tell her he'd been laid off, she "complained" that she'd have to learn a whole new city once we move.

Having an unemployed husband will be fun. He won't be getting up at the crack of dawn anymore. I hate that. He can even come over and go to the new Korean restaurant for lunch with me. I can hardly wait.

On Saturday, we all (me, Poindexter, MIL, and Papa) went to the Smithsonian's Museum of American History. Papa wanted to see the electricity exhibits, plus some other guy stuff.

Me being a girly girl on occasion, I wanted to look at the First Ladies' gowns. MIL decided to accompany me rather than the boys.

We spent the whole time gaping at the blatant editorializing on the exhibits. It was really unbelievable. They didn't just give you the facts; they subtly criticized. One First Lady was concerned about the poor people living in the slums and alleys in DC. She disguised herself and went to see the conditions for herself. She worked to get a bill through Congress to do something to help these folks. Then the wording said something to the effect of "The final version of the legislation that passed through Congress turned many of the slums and alleys into parks but did nothing to help the people that were displaced."

The title of the piece was, "A Misguided [Something]". "Misguided"! For godsakes! What a shitty thing to say about the woman! Was it her fault Congress mangled the legislation?

So MIL and I pointed out all the editorializing to each other and ranted about it and shook our heads.

After the museum, we went to dinner at DC Coast. My BBQ salmon with roasted bell pepper couscous was fabulous, and so was MIL's sea bass, but Poindexter wasn't happy with his chicken -- too much butter. (Some people, however, don't see that as a negative.)

The fun part was looking out the window and pointing and laughing at the protesters. We're so evil. Evil! Yes we are!

From what I gathered, the people who were supposed to protest the canceled IMF-World Bank meetings still felt they needed to do some protesting that day, so they were out there protesting violence and racism. And it wasn't the attackers' violence and racism they were condemning, either. Or their own against the police or property, for that matter.

We had seen some of the speakers on TV before we left and were pointing and laughing then, too. Lots of stuff about "social and economic justice". Absolutely no substance or suggestions as to how this social and economic justice would be achieved.

Odd thing about the protesters. The vast majority are middle-class white kids in their twenties who have quit bathing. What's that all about?

I would also like to note, according to the article linked above, that the group that organized the march "had not sought a permit for the march, but police accommodated the group and escorted marchers."

Man, those policemen are just fascist pigs, aren't they.

Now HERE's a protest I can respect, which took place on Sunday:

"Yesterday's permitted march was a loud but civil display of anti-war sentiment that took place without incident."

Now THAT is the way to protest.

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