Monday, April 30, 2007

Random crap

I haven't written in too long. I have a couple posts spinning around in my head, but nothing forming into a coherent series of thoughts or insights. So, herewith:

* I'm discovering my inner hippie to a larger degree than I ever have since I stopped smoking weed (and I never smoked THAT MUCH, for the record). I'm carrying canvas totes to the grocery store to avoid plastic bags! I am excited about using all my carefully-created compost in this year's garden! I listenened, and SANG ALONG WITH, a whole Indigo Girls CD on the way to Cleveland this weekend! I want to name my (still verryy theoretical) next daughter Eden! Yes, EDEN!!The hell? It's a lovely name, but we really need to smoke lots more pot and eat lots less meat and probably join a commune before we feel like the kind of people who would name a child Eden. So pretty though....

* The whole hipster parent thing makes me scoff. The people I know of who would in fact qualify for such a label don't strive for it, they just ARE hip. I think hipness is one of those things that if you consciously strive for, you are automatically not hip. Nothing is LESS cool than trying hard to be cool. I live near a town that's sort of the local Hipster Parent capital, and just rollllll my eyes clean out of my head when I see someone with a fancy stroller, "vintage-esque" clothes and their kids with funky haircuts and Misfits onesies. It's so fucking shallow.
This is sort of the collorary to my Nerd Axiom--that if you think you're a nerd, you probably aren't. True nerds think they are really, really awesome. Somebody who likes to read a book on a Saturday night or cringes when they realize they are belting out, say, "Wildfire" while stopped at a light and oh my God people are loookkkinnngg? Probably not nerds, at least not in that socially cancerous kind of way.

* That being said, I uttered, where people could hear me, the words "Oh goodness gracious." In context, I was at a Moms to Moms sale waiting for Paul to finish paying for this little backyard playset we bought for Maggie. Monkey Girl was climbing on things, and I turned my back for a second and the child was halfway up a rickety changing table. "Margaret!"I yelled. "Oh goodness gracious, that is not for climbing!"
Yeah.
Half the room laughed, either because what's up with Rebecca of Sunnnybrook Farm over there, or perhaps because at least some of the parents realized I was saying that instead of "Jesus Effing CHRIST, child, get down from there NOW!!" I am glad the inner censor immediately kicked in, but did it have to feed me THAT instead?

* I don't always get blogging ettiquette,so maybe someone can help me here. I read, and comment on, lots of blogs. Only like three link to me. Do I need to learn to work my own stupid blog and maybe add a blogroll over on the side there to get more of them to link to me, or is it just more confirmation that I am really quite lame and should shut up already?


* Speaking of links, etc....the comment on the post below this, where I linked to BrooklynGirl? Even more amen. A great take on the whole abortion decision, from the point of view of another liberal Catholic. It's what I would say if I knew what the hell I was talking about in matters theological. Go read.

7 comments:

pnutsmama said...

first, i am blushing but glad i didn't come too far of as an idiot with that comment. there is so much to say and so much unsaid in my comment, and i'm glad i decided to post it instead of select-alling it and deleting. sometimes i get carried away with myself and my views (no!!)
for me, as a catholic it comes down to the free will that i believe God graces each of us with. of course even in this post-modern world there still remains clear-cut examples of good and evil, but my understanding of morality and moral decision making is just so much more nuanced now than it ever was, and i hate to see so many citizens in our country seem to be heading away from nuance and understanding. fr dan maguire over at marquette has taken a lot of heat over his writings- you could google him and get a look at what some progressive catholic theological approachs to abortion are. unfortunately he's been (of course) corrected by the usccb and the right has gone crazy over it, but i admire his courage to stand his ground. the church is a three legged stool, and theologians have an equal leg as the hierarchy and the faithful, no matter what some members of the body will believe.

ok, deep breath...there is something about the warmth that brings out the long-shelved hippie in all of us i think. i was cranking the DMB this weekend in the hopes of some inspiration to write. i loved the indigo girls and still get excited when they get played on the radio. how's that for being a nerd? my husband is trying to get me to bring our canvas bags to the store but i would use the 4 of them and still need 12 plastic ones afterwards. we joined a CSA this year for fruit and produce, *and* we have a compost pile, too! does that qualify for membership in your commune? i think we'd have some fun.
if i had a blog, i would link to you. and i certainly hope you don't stop writing (or commenting) b/c i always want to high-five you when i read what you wrote. and if that doesn't win the award for nerdiest non-hipster mama, i don't know what will.
enjoy the sunshine, amy!

squab said...

I dunno if it helps, but bloglines show that you have 19 subscribers, so we're out there!

nejyerf said...

i've been reading you for a while(as a lurker) and when you DO write, i always think to myself "i really should comment". though you are not on my blogroll you ARE in my RSS feeder.

i use "dear gussie" as an exclamation and sometimes "my aunt's fanny" and for an expletive i'm quite fond of "son of a motherless goat"

Summer said...

The world would be a beautiful place if we could all just embrace our inner hippie. But Eden's not a hippie-exclusive name... my brother would have been Eden, had he been female, and my parents are NOT hippies. (My hippie-sounding first name is a family last name. So it's technically preppy, not hippie.)

I'm with you on the hipster parent thing. I mean, I try to maintain a baseline level of hipness for myself, but my son is NOT an accessory to make me look cooler. He's got that traditional little boy haircut with bangs because that's the way HE wants to have his hair. He selects his own shoes (from those I tell him we can afford). He does not own a single item of clothing emblazoned with the name of a band I like... instead he wears Thomas the Tank Engine or Bob the Builder T-shirts, because that's what he's into. If he one day asks me to cut his hair into a mohawk, I will, gladly, but I sure as hell wouldn't do it just to gratify some latent punk-rock urge of my own. That's what MY hair is for.

Yes, it is nice to have a blogroll of your own; I think bloggers in general are more likely to link to blogs that link to them. But beyond that, I don't think there's anything you can do to increase your blogroll visibility... IMO it's rude to ask to have your link added, unless of course the blogger has ASKED for readers to send their URLs.

Or you could just be content that only really AWESOME bloggers link to you.

AmyinMotown said...

Aww, y'all are good for my ego. And Summer, I was going to say that, that only the truly elite link to me, andif I am not going to get lots of links, at leat the ones I have are high quality, very high... (you included of course!!). I'll try to figure out how to add a blogroll.

Linda said...

Hi!

I appreciate your comments on my blog, but I tend to start reading blogs based on who links to me. I rarely go through my comments and click on people's blogs. I do regularly to thru my "referred by" page and see if anyone new links to me. Does that make sense?

Linda said...

I left a comment yesterday that never appeared. Did you get it?