Tuesday, May 28, 2002

Still not back yet....

Wednesday, May 22, 2002

Not Yet Back, Continued....

I am so overwhelmingly stressed right now. And the ironic thing is that I am actually spending more days this month on "vacation" than any of the last several, but I just feel completely inundated. Work is highly stressful right now-- part important meetings in the next two weeks, part overload, part trying to get things done with respect to my vacation days, part internal issues, part you-name-it.

And I can't get over feeling terrorized. I don't know how else to phrase that. Earthquakes and plane-rides have most to do with that. Ever since the earthquake of last week I've been having a hard time sleeping. I know it sounds silly but I keep feeling the earth move while I'm in bed. And I keep waking up in the middle of the night and feeling stressed out and anxious. Then, on top of all else, I'm getting on a plane tonight and I've been anxious to no end about that all week. I don't fly well; I hate heights. I get vertigo bad, plus continually seeing chaos and horror in my mind.

With the life stress, work stress, earthquake anxiety, plane/height fears, no-sleep complications, and depression/OCD creep, I'm just one big ball of stress and anxiety. I can't help feeling overwhelmed and terrorized. Any ideas for calming down?

Monday, May 20, 2002

Well, I thought I'd be back up to blogging by now, but I'm still pretty overwhelmed right now by life. My week with my family went well, we had a lot of fun, and I love them dearly, but the whole week took a lot out of me-- the early mornings, constant tourist activities, worrying about family matters, and so on. And then the earthquake happened while my Mother and Grandmother were here and I got to worrying everynight about the big one happening while they were visiting, bringing back the joy of the OCD days of yore. Now, I'm back at work and hating it, and then I'm off to an East Coast wedding from this Wednesday night until Sunday. I just ask one thing: when's my vacation? I'll be back soon, I promise.

Thursday, May 09, 2002

Dear friends,
I need to sign off for a while. I've just been so busy this week with work and preparing for family to arrive that I haven't had time to post, let alone keep up with the news. And then my Mother and Grandmother are arriving Saturday morning for a week's stay and I will be pretty busy during that time too. I'm happy to get to do all the tourist, beautiful San Francisco/Northern California things that you never do when you live here and only do when you have tourists visit. That should be fun and relaxing, especially after such a busy and stressful week. So I hope you guys do well without me for a brief time and I'll be back posting soon. Thanks for being here.
Love,
Reese

Wednesday, May 08, 2002

Busy days, sorry for the lack of posts.

Monday, May 06, 2002

Interesting article entitled: What is nature worth? There's a powerful economic argument for preserving our living natural environment. Here's an thought-provoking excerpt: "Clark asked what practice would yield the whalers and humanity the most money: Cease hunting and let the blue whales recover in numbers and then harvest them sustainably forever, or kill the rest off as quickly as possible and invest the profits in growth stocks? The disconcerting answer for annual discount rates of more than 21 percent: Kill them all and invest the money.

"Now, let us ask, what is wrong with that argument? Colin Clark's implicit answer is simple. The dollars-and-cents value of a dead blue whale was based only on the measures relevant to the existing market -- that is, on the going price per unit weight of whale oil and meat. There are many other values, destined to grow along with our knowledge of living Balaenopterus musculus in science, medicine and aesthetics, in dimensions and magnitudes still unforeseen. What was the value of the blue whale in A.D. 1000? Close to zero. What will be its value in A.D. 3000? Essentially limitless, plus the gratitude of the generation then alive to those who, in their wisdom, saved the whale from extinction. No one can guess the full future value of any kind of animal, plant or microorganism. Its potential is spread across a spectrum of known and as-yet unimagined human needs..."

Meanwhile: yet another blistering indictment on the Bush Administration's environmental policies.

It's sad how science is being used as a political football.

How will the anniversary of September 11th affect this fall's political campaigns for this November's election?

I love Eliza Dushku. She was phenomenal on Buffy a few years ago. She was a recurring character who went from "good-guy" to "bad-guy" and she handled the complex role amazingly. Jessie and I saw her again on Friday night when we watched the movie Bring It On for some fun, twisted, stupid, "bad movie" enternainment-- don't hold that against her though. She's an interested actress and one I definitely love to watch. Plus she's hot!

Sunday, May 05, 2002

I feel so much better about my life right now. It's not perfect, but better. I still have a lot of issues I'm dealing with: What do I want? What makes me happy? What are my interests? What kind of career do I want? What would I want written in my obituary about who I am? (in the future, in the future) Who am I? Where do I want to live? What kind of job do I want? Who am I? What do I want to do with my free time? Who am I?

But still, I feel so much better. I really think regular exercise and dating have helped my self-image a great deal. It's nice to feel better about yourself, and to feel of interest to others. I still have a ways to go and I still have so many questions. But I guess that's what a lot of life is, a constant pursuit. What do you think?

I had a really great weekend. For those of you who don't have the pleasure of hanging out with Jessie at all, or on a regular basis, you are really missing something. He's always funny and witty and fun to be with. He and I gel so well it's always an entertaining adventure. When we're "on" with each other it's so much fun. We argue sometimes and we have our pet peeves about each other, but still it's a beautiful relationship that I look forward to keep going and going. Here's to the beautiful person that is Jessie.

Saturday, May 04, 2002

I can't believe these people allowed their names to be listed. How dumb.

What the hell kinda doghouse is this?

Friday, May 03, 2002

Let me sum up my night of revelry with Jessie and Ernie with the following, ongoing, exaggerated quotes from the evening:

Oh, I am so blogging this.
Ok, before I tell you this, dude, you seriously, I mean seriously, you can't blog it.
< tech speak > Reese is so old < / tech speak >
Oh no you di-int!

The Pink Pistols??????

Oh, and believe it or not, I shaved my beard off this morning. (What?!?) Yes, I did. It's now a cute little half-goatee-type-thing. I'm sure you'll see a picture of it soon once Jessie gets his hands/camera on me.

Ok, believe it or not, I'm actually posting an article from the Sports Section-- the one section I never read of the paper. But there was an interesting article how sports is becoming somewhat of a global village. Whether that's true or not, I don't know (I don't pay attention so I have no idea), but it makes for something to discuss. There's a lot to say on that topic, but for now, I'll leave it at that.

Thursday, May 02, 2002

Women are the key. I find it galling that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, is helping to defeat my senator from Missouri. Over the last decade the women of the Senate, currently only 13 out of the 100, agreed that regardless of party they would never work against one of their female colleagues in an election-- sort of a female bonding pact. And now this. Maybe the pact is over, I don't know the intricacies. I just find it sad.
Anyway, yes, the key to Senator Carnahan's re-election rests on the shoulders of women and minorities in the state, especially a certain gay man in Columbia who still hasn't registered to vote. D'oh!

Look who's getting awards from the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force. Very cool.

More terrible attacks by the Bush Administration on universities and students: This is impossible to implement, destructive for the academic tradition and against the interests of the U.S.... We could put a guard at the door of every science course, but it would [probablyDEFINITELY] have a rather chilling effect on the campus. Unbelievable!

Wednesday, May 01, 2002

These are direct results and exact reasons why Bush's tax cut, and the dismantling of government's public sphere, is detrimental to everyday people. Remember this any and every time anyone ever says anything positive about the tax cuts-- especially since they're not in the long run coming to any of us, but only to the wealthy and super-corporations. And remember Bush's tax cut next time you can't get a decent student loan!

These pictures of the extra-large-cranes going underneath the bridges are just too weird to watch.

Protests that never get any media coverage: 1,2,3,4 Recount proves that Gore got more. 5,6,7,8. Resign right now. It's not too late!

Reasons why a "National Day of Prayer" is CRAP, disintegrates our constitution's separation of church and state provisions, and is part of the religious-right's agenda.

Oh, wow, this is simply too weird! Harris Mirkin is my former professor at UMKC. He was my political science professor, but actually he filled more of a mentorship role at UMKC to me and a lot of students because he was head of the school's Honors Program which provided a weekly colloquium for students to discuss latest events/issues and to achieve more in academics. He also led me to my internship at Planned Parenthood which then became a job for me for the next two years and eventually led me to my career in public policy.

I feel sad that he's come under a political firestorm now. He was always saying controversial political things that could be construed in a variety of ways, but isn't that what good professors/intellects do? Maybe other Missourians who read this page can enlighten me further on what's happening there.