The Mosher Pit » Grrr!

Cranky conservationism.

Helen — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:19:14 +0000

This morning, I was suffering in silence on the way in to work, biting my tongue to keep from being a backseat driver and annoying passenger. I mentioned it on twitter.

Among my complaints:

The CD that was playing was a bizarre fusion of funk, blues, and the occasional far-eastern riff. I didn’t dig it at all, but I wasn’t about to opine on it when I was half asleep anyway.

My husband has a tendency to mosey down the road. I’m a bit more type-A, although not a speeder. Still, when every single other driver on the road passes us, I get antsy.

This is even more true when we’re cruising at this speed in the left lane with traffic munching up behind us. I’m generally at least polite enough to get out of the way and, you know, keep right, like you’re supposed to.

So when I check back in on Twitter, there were a few people who pointed me to resources on why driving more slowly is a good thing when it comes to gas economy. Here’s the thing.

I already know that.

Do you want to know what I’m doing to conserve gas on the whole?

I’m incredibly efficient in heavy traffic, maintaining a ludicrous following distance so that I can maintain a steady speed in stop-and-go traffic. You’ve probably seen tractor-trailers doing this, but what’s really awesome is when you get several cars in a row doing it.

I telecommute two days a week.

I bought a car at the top of the price I could afford. It’s not a hybrid, but after 18 months of documenting my mileage I can tell you that my Toyota Matrix is optimized to cruise at about 68 mph, where it gets about 37 miles per gallon. I maintain it regularly, too.

The whole reason I was stuck with bad music this morning was because we were carpooling.

Oh, and D. cycles into work all summer, barely putting any miles on his car at all, by staying at his dad’s old house. In fact, he stays at that house during the work week year round, so that he doesn’t run up his miles commuting from the house we actually own. I could save gas by staying there as well, but there are limits to what I will put up with in the interest of fuel economy, and there are compelling reasons to not move into Dad’s old house.

But anyway. That’s a sampling. What it comes down to is that I appreciate the need to save gas, but we’re among the more conscientious of consumers in that regard anyway. The least I can do is put up with longer trips with bad music, but it won’t stop me from tweeting that I’m annoyed. More than anything, there’s humor to be had in these situations. It’s just that somehow, the humor seems to get lost in a need to say “Well, Helen, of course you’re wrong….”

Well of course!!!!! We all are!!!!!

to go with my latest revgals post…

Helen — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 22:11:00 +0000

not that I have any, but it’s a good thing to have around just in case…

dear progressive organizations…

Helen — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 05:26:00 +0000

(sorry if this posts twice; le email post earlier didn’t work. wonder how many posts I’ve lost this way.)

I have little money, and what I have needs to go toward buying a home. I’m sorry if that seems selfish. I do care about our causes, and I’ve overvolunteered in trying to make up for what I can’t contribute in financial resources. I have to cut back on that volunteer commitment, and I have decided to go from the ground up, rather than the top down, and as such, I am stepping down from all my leadership positions for the time being to concentrate on honing my talents for profit to win said home and for my church because they are really working hard to get the progressive message out on a face-to-face level through my diocese, which has a lot of red-state-ilk to win over.

I told you it was chintzy. I had about 20 minutes to slap something together and no art files, but in the end that was okay, because the whole thing laminated and mounted looks pretty dern spiffy.

I’m going to start making one of these per month, each with a bolder slogan (WTFWJD, for instance), and have a whole mess of them ready for the next march on washington. or perhaps just put them in the window.
That said, the DNC’s latest schtick is funny.

Special notice for Helen Thompson: You have been selected to
represent Fairfax, VA in the 2006 Grassroots Survey of Democratic
Leaders.

I’m going to add this to my CV. “Named Democratic Leader in 2006 by Democratic National Committee.” I’m not a very good one, but whatever.

Torn in two

Helen — Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:45:00 +0000

Actually, torn into about fifty.

I start EFM this weekend, and I’m meeting with Fr. Jim tonight to help get my brain back on straight. I feel pulled in so many different directions that I don’t know what I’m doing.

1. I have a good job with a good company. However, I can’t afford to keep living here in Northern Virginia, where the median home price is about $450,000 and rents are comparably outrageous, making it impossible to save for a house on what would anywhere else (other than NYC or San Francisco) be a comfortably middle-class income.

2. I’m drawn to explorations of spirituality, and would like to make that my vocation.

3. I’m drawn to being part of a community, and being a community leader, not to sate my ego, but because I like making a difference in people’s lives.

4. I need a master’s degree to teach, and I’d like to teach literature and religion.

5. I want to settle down into a home with my fiance, with enough room for each of our kids. We’re drawn to the Shenandoah Valley and the Schuylkill Valley, but how do we move and do the job thing?

6. How the heck do we afford a wedding amid all this nonsense?

Update: Fr. Jim is under the weather, so we’re rescheduling. Murphy, you’re one funny lawmaker.

sleeping the great sleep

Helen — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 19:58:00 +0000

I came home from the conference and from scooting around on the cathedral grounds for an hour after the closing Eucharist only to find the most ridiculous, small-minded email forward from my mother.

It suggested, in a “Think about this” tone, that God smote New Orleans because he's pissed off that we don't have school prayer tone. It cited a relative of Billy Graham, saying that God was sad, but that if we no longer wanted his protection, as evidenced by our lack of prayer in schools, why should he grant it?

There are so many things wrong with this that I can't even think of where to begin, but I called her and asked that she not send me such blasphemous BS again, noting that if God was that arrogant, I'd be happier in hell. But that's not the God whose presence I sense in my life, and as such I cannot, CANNOT believe such a thing.

God is inscrutable, but given my understanding of what disasters he's influenced or effected in scripture, the message that he's usually trying to get across is that we have turned from him. And some have said that it's in the sinful nature of New Orleans, and now this is our sin as a nation whose government is not divinely ordained (would you like that back?) and therefore divorced by constitutional mandate from the church in order to provide the blessings of liberty for all, or is it that he wanted to shine a spotlight on the failings of our administration, and that he's sick of Bush's constant blasphemy? Did he want us to turn as one people to address the poverty and racism that still pervades our society? Did he open our hearts to a new understanding of our stewardship of his creation, that development gone amuck and greed and corruption disappoint him every day?

How have we turned from you, O Lord? Sleepers, wake!

Ich habe no footzenhausen

Helen — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 02:45:00 +0000

Crhist on a triscuit. I don't have any fleeping shoes to wear at Jennyfur’s wedding this weekend. Something tells me my burgundy Docs and my patent leather spiked heels are just gauche next to a lavender gown. Fresk. And Merrells are flat out. Anyone have ballet slippers for cheap? Rowr!

Adding insult to injury, not that lack of shoes is injurious, but I haven't been able to get my hair done. Just WHAT was I thinking, moving two weeks before one of my best friends' wedding? I look like crap.

Course you all know me and hair; it will be fine. But good god I'm a stressbucket right now.

Top 10 ways to cue my vindictive byutch button

Helen — Tue, 26 Apr 2005 23:51:00 +0000

This is dedicated to several of my ex-boyfriends, just in case anyone thinks I’m being passive aggressive and spiteful.

10. Talk demeaningly about women in general because of your bad experiences with a few of them.

9. Refer to women as “females.” Technically, you’re correct, but it still comes
off as we’re biological specimens.

8. Pick fights. At bedtime.

7. When asked if anything is wrong, tell me it’s all in my head. Several weeks later, kick me out of your life.

6. Tell my friends, when I’m trying to puzzle out your inexplicable behavior, that I’m psycho.

5. Pretend I don’t exist when you know I care about you. Wipe out evidence of my existence so that you feel better about your choices. Even two years after the fact.

4. Treat other people badly. Scream “drama” when you don’t get good karmic results.

3. Project all of your flaws onto me.

2. Misunderstand the difference between passive-aggressive spitefulness and genuine confusion.

1. In lieu of closure, opt for hurling insults.

Irony.

Helen — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 22:12:00 +0000

Last week, I announced to the world that beating mental illness was one of the things I’m most proud of.

I will not let the fact that my doctor diagnosed me as having a major depressive episode get me down.

It’s not the same thing as clinical depression, but it can get there if not treated. Sort of like the flu developing into bronchitis and then pneumonia. I’m at bronchitis.

She was actually very impressed at my ability to recognize what was going on. I have a big huge ol’ rant about how knocking myself in the head _woke me up_ to what was going on in my head. But I’ll write that later. My brain can only handle so much, and it’s becoming clear that it’s hormonal (serotonin) related.

However, I’m vaguely distressed that in spite of my protest against SSRIs given my past history of bipolar disorder with them, that she prescribed me Cymbalta. I’m hesitant to take them. I think I’m going to give a couple of people a call with regard to how to control my brain chemistry while I wrestle with some big big big decisions, because I know that’s what’s causing the problem, and taking care of the decisions will be the antibiotic that destroys the bug in my system.

But she does have a point, in that positive change can be just as destabilizing as negative stagnancy….

Dear Student Loan people:

Helen — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 00:20:00 +0000

In particular, AES:

Since last Monday, you’ve sent me — I just counted — *32* pieces of mail. When I called you last week to ask for a forbearance, it was because I had never opened one of your pieces of mail because I thought it was junk mail (I get a lot of “important student loan information” mail from people who want to consolidate my loans). Now, it pretty much is junk mail. But thank you for the forbearance and the interest remission; and, I suppose, for telling me three times that I was eligible for it.

Upon seeing my three billionth post of this nature:

Helen — Thu, 30 Dec 2004 19:59:00 +0000

Rather than forego celebrating Christmas (or whatever winter holiday corresponds with it that aligns with your belief system) because it’s become a consumeristic orgy (I agree), why not take it back?