I took a half day at work today so I could head down to the Capitol. When I found out yesterday that Governor Dayton was signing the marriage bill today at 5 pm, I knew I had to be there.
It was 98 degrees. I stood in a massive crowd for an hour and a half. It smelled like melting sunscreen and felt like magic. Starting August 1, same-sex couples will be able to get married in Minnesota.
After twenty-one years I may have run out of words. Instead, I’m going to post this thing I found on Facebook the other day. You may have seen it, or maybe not. I think it’s pretty great.
You want a physicist to speak at your funeral. You want the physicist to talk to your grieving family about the conservation of energy, so they will understand that your energy has not died. You want the physicist to remind your sobbing mother about the first law of thermodynamics; that no energy gets created in the universe, and none is destroyed. You want your mother to know that all your energy, every vibration, every Btu of heat, every wave of every particle that was her beloved child remains with her in this world. You want the physicist to tell your weeping father that amid energies of the cosmos, you gave as good as you got.
And at one point you’d hope that the physicist would step down from the pulpit and walk to your brokenhearted spouse there in the pew and tell him that all the photons that ever bounced off your face, all the particles whose paths were interrupted by your smile, by the touch of your hair, hundreds of trillions of particles, have raced off like children, their ways forever changed by you. And as your widow rocks in the arms of a loving family, may the physicist let her know that all the photons that bounced from you were gathered in the particle detectors that are her eyes, that those photons created within her constellations of electromagnetically charged neurons whose energy will go on forever.
And the physicist will remind the congregation of how much of all our energy is given off as heat. There may be a few fanning themselves with their programs as he says it. And he will tell them that the warmth that flowed through you in life is still here, still part of all that we are, even as we who mourn continue the heat of our own lives.
And you’ll want the physicist to explain to those who loved you that they need not have faith; indeed, they should not have faith. Let them know that they can measure, that scientists have measured precisely the conservation of energy and found it accurate, verifiable and consistent across space and time. You can hope your family will examine the evidence and satisfy themselves that the science is sound and that they’ll be comforted to know your energy’s still around. According to the law of the conservation of energy, not a bit of you is gone; you’re just less orderly. Amen.
-Aaron Freeman.
My last post may be full of whiny stuff, and there could easily be more where that came from, but there have been good things going on too. So here I am, reminding myself, because I haven’t done so recently. Plus I could use it right now. The snow is killin’ me.
Yesterday was kind of… weak. After a couple weird things and several very little stupid things all came to pass, I was exhausted by the end of it.
Some random dude walked into the office yesterday and went off on me when I told him I didn’t keep business cards at the front desk. I mean, “fuck you, you’re worthless, you guys should close,” etc. He also let me know that he was going to tell me about someone he once met, but I wasn’t worth telling. Um, okay? It was a bizarre reaction, but fortunately brief. I did call building security when he left though, because they’re right down the hall and he went in their direction so I figured they should know dude was a nutter.
Then some shit went down on Facebook. Darren’s uncle did remove the comment and said he was sorry, he was just teasing Darren and didn’t mean to be offensive. I told him he should have found a better way to do it, rather than making a sexist comment, and that a grown man should know better. I thought that anyone who came across the thread after the comment had been deleted ought to know that what he said was, in fact, awful. He apologized again, and I am leaving it alone. I wasn’t a huge fan of the dude in the first place, but I let Darren know last night that I have no desire to interact with or be in the presence of the man in the future. I don’t need that bullshit.
Now I’ll take a break from the negative and talk about how I accomplished item #4 on my 30 by 30 list: take myself on a date. It was inadvertent: Kate was unavailable, Darren decided against attending (I knew he would), and Rebekah decided not to skip choir. By that time, it was after 5pm and I was on my own.
So I went to dinner and a show. My solo dinner at Rock Bottom was delicious, but a little boring. I sat at the bar, watched a little TV, played with my phone a bit, talked to the bartender on occasion, and enjoyed the hell out of my food. Good enough.
Mary Poppins began its week-long run at the Orpheum last night and of course I had to go. It was delightful as usual, but again I missed having someone to share it with. Especially at intermission when I was along in my row and was like… welp. I wish the kids behind me would shut up. But the show was lovely. Bert did the dance-on-the-proscenium thing for Step in Time, which is arguably the best number in the show. I mean, I started feeling a little unwell and considered leaving during intermission, but I didn’t want to miss friggin’ Step in Time. I love it so.
Anyway, mission accomplished. Dinner was awesome and the show was too, but I would have rather had company. Ah, well.
So, that was a little respite in the ridiculousness of the day. I did develop a headache and vague nausea during the show that lasted for the rest of my night, but I powered through. Even after one of the noisy, seat-kicking children behind me elbowed me in the back of my damn head. Parents, if your kids can’t sit through a 160 minute event, don’t take them.
Then it took 25 minutes to get out of the parking garage. I was expecting to wait; I didn’t plan on waiting that long. Ten of those minutes were spent in the exit line not moving at all. WTF. Once I was free of that hell, I was off to Taco fucking Bell because Darren had been jonesing for tacos all day and never managed to get them. So I told him I’d pick some up for him, horrible though I think Taco Bell is. And, at 11:30 pm, there was a ridiculous line at the drive through. Of course there was. Youths!
Once I made it through and headed home, I got stuck at a devil stoplight. The walk signal would change to the flashing hand, but then go back to a walk signal. It happened four times before I just hung a right and went around the damn block.
Then I was halfway though showering and the water went completely cold. One leg was shaved, the other was not.
In the end, I figured at least I was effing alive and well and sometimes we just have shitty days. I decided to set my alarm ahead an extra hour and a half because sleep makes things better.
Enli woke me up an hour before my alarm went off.
But I get cupcakes today, so hope is not lost.
We went to a Twins game last night and it was awesome.
Darren’s office had a drawing yesterday afternoon for four dugout box tickets. Darren won because he was the only person to enter. I guess I understand, as it was pretty effing cold, but dugout box = access to a semi-private, heated concession area and bathrooms without lines.
After I got home from work I changed into wool socks, leggings, loose jeans, a tank top, a cardigan, and a hoodie (plus my coat, scarf, gloves, and floppy-eared winter hat) and we headed out. Since he had four tickets, Darren called his friend Ryne, and Ryne invited his buddy Pete. The four of us converged at Ryne’s house and cabbed it to the stadium.
Guys. Our seats were amazing. Right next to third base and this camera crew:
It was a great game, with some great hits from Joe Mauer. My boyfriend Justin got some good hits in, but not good enough to get past the Angels’ outfielders.
He doesn’t know we’re dating.
As you probably assumed, it got very cold once the sun went down. We spent some dollas on food and drink to keep us warm, but it was mostly the layers that did it.
Target Field stops serving beer after the 7th inning stretch. I resorted to coffee at 9 pm because it was warm. Warm and delicious and not super smart for that time of night.
I regret nothing.
So. When someone hits a foul, or after the end of an inning (or half of an inning), the players might toss the ball into the stands. Little kids would clamor up against the wall hoping to take advantage of the generosity. At the end of the 8th inning, one of the Twins (I don’t remember who, but I think it was Ryan Doumit) hit a foul in front of our section. It was quite clear that the Angels were about to lose and I don’t think they cared anymore. They were probably frozen. Anyway, which ever player grabbed the ball meant, I think, to toss it to the kids a couple rows behind us. But he just kind of lobbed it into the air, and it was falling straight at my head. With coffee and peanuts in my lap, all I could do was cower. Thankfully, my monster husband saved my skull.
He didn’t quite catch it, I think it fell through his hands, but Pete grabbed it off the ground and gave it to Darren.
The game ended just a few minutes later, with the Twins winning 8-2. We scurried out caught a cab back to Ryne’s to defrost. I went to bed way too late, but it was completely worth it. Hooray, sports.
I’m bored. Nothing is happening; the most exciting thing about this week so far is the new Keurig we purchased at work. Seems like a good time for a little check-in on the 30 by 30, eh? Warning: I gotta tell ya, this is not a very interesting post. Unless you’re into beauty products, I guess.
I’ve progressed nicely on #2, getting into better shape. I lost something like 17 pounds, and some of my muscles are way more defined. I can see abs! Or one, at least. maybe two. Plus biceps and stuff. Cool.
#3 is skincare stuff. I found a face wash I lurve, so that’s nice. Honestly if I could afford to buy everything from Origins I would, because I’ve only ever loved their products, but most of them are out of my price range. Someday.
#4, take myself on a date… ideas are churning. I mentioned this in a previous post.
#10, lipstick. I’ve been wearing two colors from Revlon: Blushing Nude, which is not at all nude, it’s definitely more… burgundy? and Rose & Shine, which is pretty similar to my actual lip color but it makes them nice and shiny, which I suspect is the purpose. I like both of them quite a bit, but now I’ve got my eye on a couple coral options.
And that is all. Clearly I have some work to do– there are more interesting things on that list, I promise, and when I get to those I will see if I can’t make the posts about them super awesome.
Bonus cat photo (I need to get more dog pictures up in here). The only way to keep Winston out of my way in the morning is to turn on the bathtub faucet.
