30.10.07

the list

ok. here's the list that there apparently wasn't a link to- sorry y'all.
it's from helen boyd's blog, (en)gender
Being LGBT Globally
Posted in LGBTQ on October 28th, 2007

This list was compiled by Chuck Laird from information he found at Wiki.

Algeria – A Fine to 3 Years in Prison
Angola – Labor Camps
Antigua and Barbuda – 15 Years in Prison
Bahrain – A Fine to 10 Years in Prison
Bangladesh – 10 Years to Life in Prison
Barbados – Life in Prison
Belize – 10 Years in Prison
Benin – 3 Years in Prison
Bhutan – 1 Month to 1 Year in Prison
Botswana – A Fine to 7 Years in Prison
Brunei – A Fine to 10 Years in Prison
Cameroon – A Fine to 5 Years in Prison
Cook Islands – A Fine to 14 Years in Prison
Djibouti – 10 to 12 Years in Prison
Dominica – 10 Years in Prison
Egypt – 5 Years in Prison
Eritrea – 3 to 10 Years in Prison
Ethiopia – 10 Days to 3 Years in Prison
Gambia – A Fine to 14 Years in Prison
Ghana – Not Known
Grenada – 10 Years in Prison
Guinea – 6 Months to 3 Years in Prison
Guinea Bissau – Labor Camps
India – A Fine to Life in Prison
Iran – Death
Jamaica – 10 Years Hard Labor
Kenya – A Fine to 14 Years in Prison
Kiribati – A Fine to 14 Years in Prison
Kuwait – A Fine to 7 Years in Prison
Lebanon – A Fine to 1 Year in Prison
Lesotho – Not Known
Liberia – A Fine
Libya – A Fine to 5 Years in Prison
Malawi – A Fine to 14 Years in Prison
Malaysia – A Fine to 20 Years in Prison
Mauritania – Death
Mauritius – A Fine to 5 Years in Prison
Morocco – 6 Months to 3 Years in Prison
Mozambique – Labor Camps
Myanmar/Burma – 10 Years to Life in Prison
Namibia – Not Known
Nauru – 14 Years Hard Labor
Nepal – A Fine to 1 Year in Prison
Nicaragua – 1 to 3 Years in Prison
Nigeria – 5 Years in Prison to Death
Niue – A Fine to 10 Years in Prison
Oman – A Fine to 3 Years in Prison
Pakistan – 2 Years to Life in Prison
Palau – A Fine to 10 Years in Prison
Palestine – A Fine to 10 Years in Prison
Papua New Guinea – A Fine to 14 Years in Prison
Qatar – A Fine to 5 Years in Prison
Saint Kitts and Nevis – 10 Years in Prison
Saint Lucia – A Fine to 10 Years in Prison
Saint Vincent and Grenadines – A Fine to 10 Years in Prison
Samoa – A Fine to 7 Years in Prison
Sao Tome and Principe – Labor Camps
Saudi Arabia – Death
Senegal – 1 Month to 5 Years in Prison
Seychelles – A Fine to 2 Years in Prison
Sierra Leone – Life in Prison
Singapore – 2 Years in Prison
Solomon Islands – A Fine to 14 Years in Prison
Somalia – 3 Months in Prison to Death
Sri Lanka – A Fine to 10 Years in Prison
Sudan – 5 Years in Prison to Death
Swaziland – A Fine
Syria – A Fine to 3 Years in Prison
Tanzania – A Fine to 25 Years in Prison
Togo – A Fine to 3 Years in Prison
Tokelau – A Fine to 10 Years in Prison
Trinidad and Tobago – 25 Years in Prison
Tunisia – A Fine to 3 Years in Prison
Turkmenistan – A Fine to 2 Years in Prison
Tuvalu – A Fine to 14 Years in Prison
Uganda – A Fine to Life in Prison
United Arab Emirates – Death
Uzbekistan – A Fine to 3 Years in Prison
Yemen – Flogging to Death
Zambia – A Fine to 14 Years in Prison
Zimbabwe – A Fine to 1 Year in Prison

someday

i will write an entry that is about something other than how i don't blog. i know it's repetitive, and lonely, and i'm sorry. but my machines have been in the shop all week, and they were supposed to be done saturday, and they weren't, and d finally went by at 5 to pick them up for me. so then i had to get cranking on the bags for tomorrow. but they're done. all five. sure it's 1.30 am. they're done. so i'm blogging to celebrate.

more later, i promise. a- the entry was a compiled list for the punishments of being queer in various countries. miss you- will talk soon.

28.10.07

the scariest thing i've seen all weekend

i went to the halloween square dance thursday, a party of hugo's friends last night and have tom and bob's party tonight. plus, d and i watched aimee und jaguar last night. but this is the winner for scaryness.

a list

24.10.07

newsy!

now, you know i've occasionally blogged about politics, but i'm not the sort of news-watch blogger so many of my companions are. (who are my companions? stay tuned, in an upcoming post i will reveal all!) sure, i get the newspaper. but i read the comics and the "lifestyle" section, and do the crossword. MAYBE the local news. but i don't have a tv, and don't read internet news. i guess the sorts of things i find interesting are just a "huh," sort of thing. but here is a news article i can relate to:

an hydrangea problem

if you don't feel like clicking on the link, here are key quotes from the new york times:
"The bride, Elana Glatt, says her florist committed a series of faux pas at her wedding on Aug. 11. In the most “egregious,” Ms. Glatt says in a lawsuit alleging breach of contract, the florist substituted pastel pink and green hydrangeas for the dark rust and green hydrangeas she had specified for 22 centerpieces."

"He said that he and his wife, Paula, had done their best to match the color of the hydrangeas with a picture Ms. Glatt had given them, but explained to her that because of the vagaries of nature and the lighting at the reception, the colors might not look exactly the same."

"“The use of predominantly pastel centerpieces had a significant impact on the look of the room and was entirely inconsistent with the vision the plaintiffs had bargained for,” Ms. Glatt, a lawyer who practices under the name Elana Elbogen, said in the lawsuit, which she filed on behalf of herself, her husband and her mother-in-law, Tobi Glatt, who paid for the flowers."

----

now, obviously, i have some pretty strong opinions on this, since it's something that comes up in my day-to day life. it's so wierd to me to have things i deal with at work written up in a newspaper- i guess cops and politicians and lawers and such are used to having the details of their careers written in newspapers. but it's not often you can say, "goddess, why do brides always want hydrangeas? and what florist would promise to find two tone ones?" the color problem is something i often deal with in corsages- she has a pink dress, can i have a pink rose corsage? well, yes, but you can't dye the flowers to match your shoes. (i said that to a bride once, and she was really offended. i felt bad) i think the most important thing is coming to an understanding with your client- know what it is that they like about a certain arrangement= is it the two toneness, the burgandy, the hydrangea, what? that way you can substitute, say, green and burgandy callas and spider mums if the hydrangeas are all pink. did they get samples in for her, i wonder? we try to show our clients how they will be disapointed before the big day comes.

we actually did a wedding recently with big color variations. the bride wanted all orange and white flowers. and ch had, without thinking, sold her all hard-to-get or delicate flowers, like dahlias and ranunculus. i think the bridesmades and the wedding decorations had orange alstro, daisy mums, and ranunculus in them. and they were ALL dramatically different shades of orange. the alstro was basically yellow, the mums were a rusty brown, the ranunculus was ORANGE ORANGE. i was really worried about them all not matching at all, until the orange dahlias came, and they were a bittersweet, really red orange, and that made it a full spectrum of orange, and like we meant it, and it was very pretty and fall, esp. ch said when held in front of the bridesmaid's pale-coral-y dresses.

we also, it must be admitted, only take on brides that we like. friends, neighbors, customers we have experience with. rosexpressions, catering to the budget bride and the lowfrills committment ceremonies. it just fits with our shop. we're not cheap or cheap looking. but we're not snobby, we work with you, and we understand small. the shop, it's rather small itself.

23.10.07

hey don't bitch at me for not blogging

i didn't do my killer yoga podcast, either. but my little sister has been threatening me to sign up for facebook for awhile, and when she tells you to do something, well, you do it.

18.10.07

talking about haunting

which is my verb of choice today, no offence ch, it's just fall-o-ween.

my season has been changed forever! it's that turning point of the year, that first slip into sweaters and glitter and bare trees, that sign that 2007 is entering into the season of gratitute and nurturing....

the grocery store, it has the cinnamon scented pinecones out.

i don't know what it is about the cinnamon scented pinecones. but it is. it is something. i FEEL them. they make me emote. ach. cinnamon scented pinecones. i cannot even describe the effect you have on my life.

17.10.07

i am america and so can you

heard stephen colbert interviewed on fresh air the other day, and the bookstore has a whole row of this book, one has to walk by on the way to the bathroom. his eyes follow you. z loves colbert, and i can see the draw. i can see how the title is so perfect for his character, the best title possible. still the grammar DRIVES ME FUCKING CRAZY.

ch can't stop haunting me with it. he'll call me on the way to the bathroom.

in more pleasant things one can do to one's brain, check this out.i couldn't see anything but clockwise, but then with enough staring it switched. i couldn't get it to switch back, but if i stop her i can switch back and forth at will. i guess this comes from beign right handed and left eye dominant?

16.10.07

the price must be paid

and this time, the cost is $25 and a day of feeling unreliable, stupid, and like i was letting everyone down.

didn't set my alarm last night. woke up when the cat climbed on me, 7 minutes after i was supposed to be at work. on boss's day.

ugh.

but the day went fine, and once i got home i:
-talked to z
-made collard risotto
-did the patternless crossword
-met with slipcover guy re: my new project, due thursday
-threw away the science projects in my fridge
-organized my tupperware
-cleaned out my 2 food shelves, including reorgaizing, throwing away everything older than mitzi, wiping them out and changing the shelf paper.
-checked and cared for my email
-entered in the coke caps on my desk (everyone, feel free to share your mycokerewards with me!)

of course, i wanted to start on the sewing, too, but you can;t have it all.

15.10.07

this post brought to you by the letter "S"

i must sew sew sew this week... but not right now, first there are flowers to do! tomorrow is boss's day! yes, that's three "s"s is right in a row! and there's two more! wow! teleflora is going with the plural, but we like the posessive better, and it's what's on the balloons.

premakes all day today, but the big rush is tomorrow- boss's day is not a(n) holiday you preorder for. blah. d drove me to vogue to pick up foam for the cushion, only to find they have to special order 5". so we'll have to go back on thursday. wah-wah.

feeling good about the week. lots of work, but it will keep me out of trouble. and i'll get paid. if i come right home from work, and spend an hour cooking and eating, and an hour managing my house, and an hour sewing, why, that still gives me over an hour to waste online. doesn't that sound like a nice plan?

so, to recap today's fun with english:
-boss's day has three "s"s right in a row.
-a holiday or an holiday? i think with the h, it's "you decide"
-d and i also did the crossword together after after vogue and she discovered another one of those triple-double-letter combos i like so much: sweettooth. however, it, like balloonnut, is actually two words, whereas bookkeeping is the real thing. what about a bookkeepperson? that's a quadruple double! wow!

14.10.07

DONE!

the curtains are finished!!!!!!

unfortunately i still don't have time to blog. while working on curtains FOUR other jobs called me- slipcover guy, bowling ball bag lady, cushion lady and laundry bag guy.

it's gonna be a busy week.

and it's i pity, cause i wanted to talk about celebrating october holidays, like banned books week (i checked out vonegut's slapstick, and jr and i read and tango makes three) and coming out day. (i read stories from chicago's SAGE elders and made plans to play euchere with them if my life ever calms down)

let me know what you all are up to, as i'm chained to the sewing machine!

9.10.07

thanks, y'all

it's so very encouraging. a- i think this is a time in your life where you don't have to apologize for that sort of thing. and thanks for the shirt! it's awesome. liz- i feel a little better. but i'm sure you get lots of practice saying this, just not so much in english. d- thanks as always. i know you're going to be a big help keeping me fed.

still no fabric. hopefully it will be here tomorrow! i want to stop worrying and start working. i've been better. imagining it in yards nstead of feet. three yards by seven and a half, that's not so bad. thinking of the worst case senario- i can't do it, or i can't do it all on time, they get furious at me, throw things, and don't pay me, and make sure i never work in chicago theaters again.
tbat's not so bad. i don't know if iever want to work with a theater company again.

nice slipcover man called today. has a little work for me over the weekend. had to tell him no. sucks. much rather be doin that. sometimes poor's the better choice.

8.10.07

curtain nightmare

oh goddess i fucked up big time. i need to get more sleep cause i make stupid decisions when i don't sleep- and oh, have i fucked up. i got a perfectly reasonable job offer for running a show last week. why, oh why, did i not take THAT job? steady income. hours that work with my schedule. i said i'd make curtains for this theater company. i've made curtains for shows before. it takes a week or two before we actually talk about it. she asks first if i can sew through this fabric i've never heard of, and i say probably. it sounds heavy, but i do the bags, right? and then she says there's a few more curtains, and they have $400 for me. THIS should have been my sign. i can't possibly do any job that's worth that much. but i was being greedy, and said, sure, i'm sure that will be enough. she says the fabric will be in on tuesday, i'll have two weeks to do them, they'll need them by the 16th at the latest, and she'll email me specifications.

the main curtains are nine feet long by 22 feet wide.

there are 6 of them.

they need box pleats at the top.

the curtains aren't for some dinky set. they're for the fuckign THEATER.

PLUS, from tuesday to the 16th is ONE week, not two. and friday there's an event at the flowershop, and tuesday is bosses day- i'm gonna need to work monday and tuesday. what the hell am i supposed to do now?

6.10.07

basically personal correspondence between liz and i

i never got a chance to thank you for that fabulous comment, but yes indeedy, i remember that girlyman concert. so much happens in a year. it's so funny to me how long it took for us to meet in real life- you are like so many of my imaginary online friends- with the benefit of actually living in the city! well, until OK. but you're comming back. i know you are.

24-hr salad is a family delicacy that i doubt is widely known outside of western pennsylvania. the origns are the name are unknown, as it takes at most 18hrs to make. a cooked dressing (basically a syrup with pineapple juice) is poured over pineapple chunks, halved grapes, walnuts and marshmallows. these are allowed to marinate overnight, and then before going to the potluck you whip up some cream and fold it in. this is obviously a HUGE nutritional step above jello salads.

i was gonna say something about ann coulter and i both being cute with bad hair, but then i saw the newt gingrich ads. so no, i have no idea why my comments are advertizing ann and newt. i feel like i know ann better than she knows me, but she's voiced her hatred of me before, so i feel fine about hating her.

i personally am a comment addict, so i am pleased to comment on others blogs. that, i feel, is good internet karma! i bank on people feeling the same way i do.

5.10.07

rote tasks

one of the most calming soothing things to me is to do the same repititous work over and over and over again. this brings me peace, it helps me meditate. things that go into this catagory are things like coalating. preparing bulk mailings- address address address address stamp stamp stamp. and knitting and spinning, of course.

the best ones are also things that remind me of my childhood. with this weeks apples (oh, i MUST remember to tell you all about my share) i made a waldorf salad. i AGONIZED over the grapes. they had ugly green ones for 1.29 and boring red ones for 1.49. they had the most beautiful dark purple ones for 2.99, and the hugest most perfect globes for 1.49. i really wanted to buy the dark ones, but i couldn't justify it. so i bought the huge red globes, knowing full well i'd be cursing myself when it came time to actually make the salad.

but you know what? i was still glad i did it. seeding grapes i think falls into that mesmerizing task catagory. i remember my grandmother seeding masses of grapes to make 24hr salad for thanksgiving. my mother always rolled her eyes and said that it was a stupid reason to buy the grapes with seeds, just cause they were cheaper. but now i know, it wasn't cause they were cheap, it was because they were huge and sweet and beautiful. it was because seeding them drove her crazy that she thought seedless grapes are the only way to go. my grandmother and i, we don't mind it so much.

i know i don't deserve a blog.

i know. i keep thinking these stories, but i don't get a chance to write them down. ever. like the worlds most PAINFUL customer. who wanted to know about our cards. so i showed him our enclosure cards (which are free) and our greeting cards (prices as marked). and then he said he actually just needed an envelope to put a picture in, and i said yeah i can do that. and then he was SUPER painful about picking out flowers. he had strong opinons, but he wouldn't VOICE those opinions, he just wanted me to keep pulling together things, with no imput from him, until i magically i came up with the right one. so he finally decides. and i wrap it up. and he thinks he might want to add something else. and i unwrap it. and he decides it's fine how it is. and i rewrap it. and he asks for the envelope. so i give him one of our stationary envelopes. your basic #10 with our return address on it. he doesn't like this envelope. he wants a greeting card envelope. and i say that's fine, but he has to pay for one of those, because they come with greeting cards. and i'm not going to short someone else an envelope because a painful customer wants one. a friendly kind frequent cheerful customer, maybe. but certainly not him. he is very unhappy about this. his energy is poluting the wellness benefits the flowers are giving off. ch steps in. it gets worse. ch says, what do you want? a refund? a credit? and he says yes! he feels like he was misled, when i told him i would give him an envlope my gaze must have darted to the greeting card envelopes or something. ch is like, sure, you don't have to buy the flowers, but i'm not giving you money back just because you want a service we don't offer. ugh. it was awful. when he finally left, we were like, what a way to end the day. and i was discribing how it started out so badly, and ch cut me off- dude came BACK to get an enclosure card. LAME.

and THEN, i started having flashbacks yesterday morning, cause d is trying to sell off excersize equipment of her ex's. and new dude calls, and he wants to come by just to see it. to see how to take it apart to put it in his trunk. and d says come on by, but you need special wrenches or whatever. he comes. he hems. he haws. he thinks by talking more, it will shrink, his trunk will grow, or d will magically produce tools to take it apart. d says you can drive with it hanging out the back of your trunk. i provide measuring tape in hopes something concrete will convince everyone no magic will be happening here. it does not. he finally says d should sell it if she can and he'll try and find a friend with a pick up truck, and i say, d, it fits in your trunk, right, can we just take it to his house? so that's what we did. the fabric store that was supposed to take up all of our morning was closed anyway, so i didnt' even feel bad that the eliptical fiasco took its place. because now it's out of d's house and we don't EVER NEED TO TALK TO HIM AGAIN.