The Fool and a Very Grumpy Week

Sorry about the long delay in posting. I think I've finally been feeling the exhaustion of the last year, and while I kept up on my email, I just couldn't find anything to post. I felt empty of words to put here.

Part of it was my camping trip going poof at the last minute due to a summer cold. Why do they always come at the worst possible time? Part of it was anger and frustration over the backroom treatment of Kate's exclusion from a support webring over fears about her sexuality. Part of it is that I have spent part of the last week preparing for a visit from the in-laws and then going to various restaurants and an art exhibit with them, and that can be tiring all by itself. And then...

Well, Saturday night, my father-in-law said some things that made me very angry. It wasn't deliberately said to anger me, but had that effect, nevertheless. Is it too much to ask that someone who *knows* that I'm from a rural background not use "hick", "bumpkin", and similar insults to characterize most of the people in this country? (Never mind that he's from the same country - he's from the city, which apparantly gives him an automatic 100 point boost to his IQ, right?) I found myself doing my best to tune him out, despite the fact that he was sitting directly in front of me. At one point, I even succeeded in doing so - a gorgeous mallard swam by on the river just outside the restaurant window. I know it's rude to tune someone out, but I couldn't think of a polite thing I could do. If I'd actually had to endure much more of the lecture he was giving on American politics, I'd have likely started a family feud.

And of course, it didn't help that he went on about the mess his generation would be leaving for mine. Excuse me? You're not dead yet. If you've made a mess and you know it, why aren't you doing your best to fix it? Why is my husband the only one at the table pulling out a guide to sustainable fish populations? (To add further frustration to the evening, the fish on the menu were not from sustainable populations and there was no vegetarian option, which I would have really appreciated.) Why are we and a cousin the only ones appalled by the fact that the restaurant only serves bottled water from Norway! and doesn't even bother to recycle the bottles? If you (the restaurant) desperately need bottled water to serve, I could point out that we're very close to a spring that produces absolutely wonderful water a mere 2-hour drive away, cutting your carbon cost tremendously.

Meh.