sundries

[rm]

Yesterday was full of misadventure beginning with getting from Naperville to Union Station (and stopping at the French Market for Patty to buy the coolest pasta ever) and then getting to the University of Chicago from there (it wasn't the long train ride or the sketchy neighborhood, it was the ENDLESS walking) so Patty could go to the Oriental Institute Museum.

Coming back, we saw what looked like a better public transit option on a map, but that turned out, to be a rail platform that we entered through what seemed an abandoned, over-sized janitor's closet and I swear we could have been murdered by monsters and never discovered EVER it was so desolate. We sat on this totally abandoned platform for about 30 minutes until there were signs of other people, and even then we thought we might be lost in the twilight zone with them. It was truly fucking freaky.

Patty took a picture of me down one end of the platform that sorta conveys how desolate and awful it was, but actually looks about 100x less disturbing that it was, and that's saying something as the pic is called rachinahorrormovie.jpg



But eventually we got back, ate at P.F. Chang's, bought lots of Fanny May candy (I hate their gluten notification policy which is all wrong), and sat at the man-made stream in Millennium Park (we did not get on the lawn because of a concert, we're planning that for tomorrow after or during hanging out with People in Chicago Who Conduct Themselves Differently Than Me) and in fact started swing dancing in it at once point. While it was a day often filled with misery, we were really, really happy by the time we got back to the hotel, not because the day was over, but because we actually had a great time.

Today is the wedding we are here to go to. I have just shaved my legs and yesterday I bought expensive shoes since I decided Chicago in the summer is too hot for menswear. I'm not really sure that was the best decision, but it is what it is, and the shoes are really great.

Look, I don't live in Europe and so I don't know if France offering to pay gypsies to leave is an annual and apparently unremarkable event. However, I've been INCREDIBLY disturbed by the discourse I've seen about it around LJ. So there you go. I have friends who are Roma, including those who read this journal, so don't be an asshole when discussing this okay? (And, btw, I shouldn't have to say that. You should just not be assholes whether someone who might get upset is watching or not, but since that request tends not to work, I'm trying this one).

Now 25% of Pakistan is underwater. China is having mudslides. tammypierce has a brief roundup of how you can help. There is also an lj auction at help_pakistan.

Hey, lindalee_ makes cool jewelery. She also has some crap going on in her life right now AND is having a sale at her Etsy store. Check it out if you're in a shopping place.

Double-rat sighting. Have I mentioned I love the Union Rat? LOVE.

Remember how Target said it was going to give money to some pro-LGBT candidates to make up for the $150K donation to Emmer? Yeah, well they changed their minds. Even shorter version: Target = still bad. via jiawen.

Apparently, women who want equal pay to men just have "a fetish for money" and need to "choose the right partner at home." I can't even describe the depths of my rage.

Hey, I volunteered to write a thing in the next 24 hours, but I can't remember some things about CoE I need to know, so Do Jack and Ianto have the argument and confession about Jack's family before or after the beans incident? Where is the place they are hiding out (i.e., how long of a drive)? Do we have a sense of time of day for when they go marching into Thames House as related to time of day for whatever scene we see them previously? Thanks!

azn_jack_fiend has a great thing about Jack, Torchwood fandom and slut shaming and you should read it. And, while she doesn't share her reasons and mentions it only in passing, I'm going to say I completely agree with her about the phrase "sex-positive" being problematic. My reasoning in super brief: it creates unnecessary pressure on everyone to be sexual in a certain way at a certain level and some people have perfectly good reasons not to be sex-positive or sex-focused (which is often what sex-positive is used to mean) and that doesn't make those people less awesome or in any way wrong. So yeah. Totally. Read her thing.

Covert Affairs has been renewed for a second season.

I have mosquito bites. They hate me.

Comments

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Remember how Target said it was going to give money to some pro-LGBT candidates to make up for the $150K donation to Emmer?

I'm not sure that would've been enough to get me back as a customer anyway, though it would've been a start. It is heartening to see that their shareholders are also kicking up a stink over the company's donations policy. Granted, that seems to be more about, "why didn't you see this coming and not expose us to a boycott," but I'll take added pressure from wherever it comes. Target's response has been so bad, though, that I'm not sure what it would take to get the bad taste out of my mouth and convince me to go back.

It's also dismaying to hear that HRC apparently has no intention of lowering Target's Corporate Equality Index rating over this, which brings the usability of their whole CEI into question.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I've had so many problems with HRC for years I am not surprised. They don't get my money (Lambda Legal does), and I'm sick of telling them why on the phone.

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

If they don't pull their heads out of their asses, I'll take a turn telling them why. *shakes head*

ETA: According to The Advocate, they're actually dropping both Target and Best Buy from the CEI and reassessing their scoring system, which is something. You've mentioned feeling HRC is kinda messed up before, though, so I'm curious in what ways. Not that I have huge swaths of money to throw at anybody, but if they're messed up, I'd rather take my eensy donation elsewhere too.

[rm.livejournal.com]

They've repeatedly thrown trans-related issues under the bus in trying to get legislation done (i.e., and ENDA that doesn't include trans people or gender presentation) and they really totally ignore communities of color in a way that just exacerbates the divisions in the queer community that too often turn into wealthy, white gay men who argue for our rights based on "queer people have money to spend" vs. the less visible/accepted parts of the community.

I really, REALLY dislike HRC.

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Ew. That's good to know. Thank you.