Aradia B - the poet and her pentacle

Sister Suffragettes

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:04:45 GMT

From Mary Poppins. Pathetically, anything referencing the suffragist movement brings me to tears.

next year

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:17:05 GMT

So admittedly I haven't put much effort into halloween costumes for several years.
In 2005, I dressed up as the Statue of Liberty, but even that costume wasn't as good as I would like.
So, I'm just brainstorming ideas for next year, so I can give myself some time to plan instead of being so last-minute.

Ideas for next year:

Mary Poppins
1920s Suffragette
Statue of Liberty (again, but better)
Superwoman
Something futuristic

P.S. -- I'm actually really doing Tarot Card readings tonight at The Haunted Werehouse in NE. 8pm-10-ish.

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:52:08 GMT

oh i found a few key accessories that will complete my last-minute halloween costume
i'll be a beatnik witch.
ta-daaa!
surprise surprise.

tuesday already

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:11:45 GMT

OMG there are stitches behind my ear. Believe it or not, I've never had real stitches before.
SO WEIRD. Otherwise, I'm doing fine today. Relieved. Relaxed.
Halloween is this weekend, and there's so much going on.
I'm going to do Tarot at the Haunted WereHouse probably tomorrow, thursday, and friday evening from 7-10pm.
Saturday I'll have to hop around to a few different things going on,
and will probably end up spending a chunk of my evening at Dusty & Emmy's infamous party.

Oh, um... I haven't done a damn thing for my costume. I'm a terrible person.
I saw a great witch's hat at the party store, but it was $30, just for the hat.
Perhaps I will be "last-minute costume girl".

spoonful of sugar

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:31:50 GMT

Target does $4 generic prescriptions, so my mother is calling in an antibiotic prescription for me from Maryland to Beaverton.
I've made an appointment at 1:15pm this afternoon at a downtown clinic to have my ear cut open, etc.
I have no idea how much they will charge, but it is a sliding scale for uninsured, and all that.
Big thanks to everyone who gave advice or simply just encouragement and support.
It should be an easy recovery, I hope. I don't have to go into work until Wednesday.

The ongoing urge to watch Mary Poppins continues...

concern

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:38:51 GMT

health-related post.
probably TMI, so don't read if grossed out,
but i have a cystic growth behind my ear that needs a quick out-patient incision/removal surgery.
this happened to me about 2-3 years ago, so i'm familiar with what it is.
Its very simple, just needs to be taken care of like this weekend or sooner, and watched very carefully.
It was uber easy previously because i had awesome health insurance. now i do not. yay recession.
its bad if it gets bigger and isn't treated. hopefully some ibuprofen will fend off the swelling and slight fever.
My doctor told me then that its just something that happens to some people.
Weird cystic growths that become infectious. i'm so lucky.
So some good friends have given me some ideas about how to treat this without the huge medical bill.
sliding scale, no-insurance type care. planned parenthood and providence, etc.
for now just trying to put thyme oil on it as an uber-strong antiseptic type of treatment. a lil hyro peroxide.
whatever home-care i can come up with until i figure out plan of action.
flying home for the doctors my mother works for isn't a practical option this weekend.
waiting too long, like more than a few days, would be potentially bad if it gets worse.
i'm hanging in there, everything will be ok, i will find a way to take care of things.
its just slightly scary and of urgent and immediate concern for me to handle.
some prayers for good health wouldn't hurt. just gotta take care of it.

screening replies but reading.
thanks everyone.

lunatic

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:46:01 GMT

i guess its amusing that everyone thinks i'm crazy for not wanting obnoxious cashier with snotty nose to insist on touching my ID with his sweaty fingers every single time I go there.

I allow myself occasional rants and raves, and despite everyone thinking I'm nutty, I continue to think that someone who has verified my ID several times already does not need to insist on physically touching the ID every single time. Particularly since other cashiers who do recognize me do not force me to do this, and are content grabbing my date of birth off the card without making me remove it from my wallet, or insisting on touching it.

yada yada yada... whine whine whine....
anyway I'm going to chat with my senator and representative about the interpretation of the law, and go from there.

Also, if any of you had contracted MRSA a year and a half ago like I did, you'd be freaked out by random germy people touching the permanent contents of your wallet as well. It's flu season. In fact, it's swine flu season. I'm high-risk because of my MRSA incident, which could have killed me had I not gotten such intense medical treatment and surgery. It makes me crazy. Just ignore me if you can't deal with it.

Also, I will be investing in some rubber gloves and disinfectant wipes, and using them quite publicly.
I might even go for the medical face mask, too.
Which I will cut a cigarette hole into to be extra ridiculous.

the politics of smoking

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:47:14 GMT

Currently trying to reach state senator/reps to ask if it is LAW for cashiers to handle my ID everytime I buy tobacco or alcohol. I have virus and bacteria concerns.
Cashiers say it is law, but people I've talked to say they can't find it on the books.
Time to get political!

IN OTHER NEWS - my Beatnik Betty Consulting brochures have arrived. They're pretty. But I found 1 typo.

Generation Meh

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:48:22 GMT

Passed along to me by a friend.

Generation Meh: Your Poker Face Won't Save You

....or, why it isn't 'cool' to be unhappy or show vulnerability.

"Being anything less than a ray of sunshine
or a stoic is weakness, it’s distasteful
and it leaves people at a loss for how to react
in the face of such naked vulnerability."

womenz

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:11:58 GMT

THOUGHTS! I haz them.

In the meantime, here's an article that was brought to my attention today by a former co-worker friend about women in the workplace, and how we treat each other:

Canadian Financial Post: No Sisterhood At Work

The friend and I used to work at the same non-profit in DC, and she still works there now. Me and several other females at that workplace were being bullied and crapped on by one female manager in particular. The complaints in the HR department had started long before I ever came on board.

This manager is a self-proclaimed "feminist", yet her ideas of feminism include being corrupt, abusive, sabotaging, manipulative, and selfish toward her female co-workers and subordinates. Just as I had come on board to manage a 2-year campaign, another girl, let's call her 'S', was searching for a new job after months of seeing a therapist and getting physically ill because of this manager's behavior toward her. Strangely enough, this manager kissed the asses of every other male in the building. She would often not arrive in the office until noon, would leave early, and then "work from home" sending me emails at 11pm at night. She was constantly out of the office with some sickness or another. Meanwhile, the women like 'S' and I were working three times as hard yet being insulted and told we weren't good enough, were given false information or withholding important information from us, were sent on wild goose chases, worked overtime without pay, and otherwise had our time wasted and used. She stole ideas from us to claim as her own, and sabotaged attempts to meet our client's needs. She did not seem to grasp the understanding that when her team is succeeding, she looks good. Instead, she felt her subordinates were a threat, and sought to stomp them out.

She told me once, directly, that she has gotten to where she's at because she stepped on people on her way up. She freely admitted that, and it made me sick. And of course, the HR manager and executives are afraid of her, and conflict-avoidant, so although they told 'S' and I (and several other women) that they would "look into it and do something about it", admitting that there was a long-term problem, they would never do anything, and the problem only continued to exacerbate until the culmination of my 2-year stint when I left the organization. It's a gigantic shame, actually, because I loved everything about that job, and everyone else at that organization, and they loved me too, but the Bully-Manager was making my life hell and making me physically sick, as well. It was sad to leave that job, but a relief to escape a destructive female bully manager.

I know several women on my LJ have been victims of 'feminine-bullying' in the workplace or otherwise, so thought I would share this article. It's important to talk about these issues instead of sweeping them under the rug. If "women are the new men", then we're going to need to learn to work together without clawing each others' eyes out, or trying to act so 'unempathetic' that we go to the extreme of being corrupt and mean. We shouldn't have to seek therapy and medical attention as a result of this social catastrophe. It just ain't right.

haiku you!

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:49:23 GMT

Oh, I almost forgot.
I scribbled down a pair of haikus yesterday.
Wait for it... wait for it... ready?
No? Too bad.

Once I made big bucks
in Washington DC but
now I'm poor and fucked.

Once I had it good;
401k and paid leave.
Damn the recession.

veil of schedules

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 04:13:46 GMT

Still coming up for air.
My schedule, as far as I can see, for the rest of the week:

Tuesday:
10am-3pm --- start new job at J Jill
5pm-7pm --- editing/proofreading shinto manuscript
8pm-9pm --- "sci fi" voiceover recordings

Wednesday:
10am-3pm --- new job at J Jill
3:30pm-4:30pm --- stop by non-profit job fair
5:30pm-7:30pm --- editing/proofreading shinto manuscript
8pm-9pm --- "sci fi" voiceover recordings

Thursday:
10am-6pm --- finalize editing/proofreading shinto manuscript & send to author
7:30pm-10pm --- modeling casting call my agent Theresa asked me to attend

Friday:
10am-1pm --- "sci fi" voiceover recordings
2pm-6pm --- OPEN FOR CLIENT MEETINGS & TAROT APPOINTMENTS!!
8pm-10pm --- meeting for follow up on post-event Portland Fashion Week press work

guest list tonight

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 19:57:31 GMT

Apparently I can add a handful of people to the guest list for tonight's portland fashion week after-party being held at Aveda in NW.
If anyone here on my list really wants to go and wants to be one of my guests tonight, please send me a message, email me, or call me as soon as you see this and decide you want to go. I have until 5pm to add names to the list. Thank you.

Fashion B

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:11:56 GMT

What's funny is that a couple of my friends jokingly used to call me 'Fashion B' when i was 17 years old, working at a small women's store called 'Fashion Bug' part-time. I mean, I guess that's funny. Or mildly amusing. Anyway...

5 days of Portland Fashion Week insanity starts today. I have to be on site around 4pm. Meanwhile, I'm scheduling a last-minute coffee meeting with a really fabulous designer who wants to talk to me about PR/promo services around 2pm, which is going to have to be super-quick, but she knows I'm doing press stuff with PFW so hopefully can forgive that I will have to put our more serious discussions off for another week.

Last-minute reminder that if anyone wants to buy tickets to the event, or hell, even just an after-party pass, please visit http://www.portlandfashionweek.net/ and use my last name, 'MOORE', as the promo code to get 10% off your ticket price.

There's no shortage of activities and projects to keep me busy here in Portland. And one day... one fine magical day... some of them will actually pay off for me, and my sad little checking account.

good morning, monday

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:56:22 GMT

Good morning, everyone. Happy Monday.
I'm subjecting acesifda to an Ani DiFranco music marathon this morning.
So far, so good. Stay tuned...
:D

the Beatnik Betty discount

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 07:12:46 GMT

If anyone on my friends list would like to get 10% off your ticket to Portland Fashion Week this year (October 7th-11th), please use promo code 'moore' to get your discount.
Just another perk from Beatnik Betty. ;)

Thurz

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:17:33 GMT

Eric and I are heading to Shadowplay's 5th anniversary party at The Fez. It sounds like there's going to be more people there tonight than usual, but I'm sure it will be a good time.

We went to the Japanese Gardens today, which was so amazingly beautiful, and drove around downtown, mostly through SE to Belmont and Hawthorne, and stopped at a Middle Eastern cafe for lunch, then went to a nearby Farmer's Market and bought some shiitake mushrooms.

Tonight should be fun for Eric's first night out on the town in pdx. Hope to see some of you out and about to receive hugs and high-fives, etc.

midweek

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:09:26 GMT

I'm currently running around doing various last-minute errands, which includes several stops at the laundromat to catch up on the mountain that's accumulated. Eric, acesifda ,accidentally fell asleep during his 3-hour layover in Chicago. So instead of him arriving at 4:30pm, I'll not be picking him up until 10pm. He's been rerouted on the next flight. Poor guy. This gives me a chance to catch up on a couple of things though. I'm currently juggling quite a bit in terms of schoolwork, Portland Fashion Week media stuff, other things here and there to do. If only there were 8 extra hours in the day.

So I guess I'll see what he wants to do after a long day of airport hopping, but I'm hoping to bring him out to karaoke or something to meet a few folks. And then of course I'm hoping to socialize him a lot this weekend, so please do let me know if you want to hang and what's happening. He's only here until next Thursday so he and I have a lot to do and see in a short time.

OK, off I go.
<3
*dives back in to work*

clogged

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:29:51 GMT

My 27th birthday was lovely, although different from previous years. I felt the stark strangeness of not being surrounded by friends, many of which have known me for several years. This year, I am surrounded by strangers in a strange land, so to speak, of people who have barely just met me. There was no intimate dinner or low-key soiree like I have done for previous birthdays. This year, I made a box of brownies and added ground cinnamon, dark chocolate mini-morsels, and Mexican hot cocoa mix to the recipe, and my roommate added a few candles while I wasn't looking and lit them for me to make a wish.

I scooted up to North Portland to meet my friend Tyler, who is easily a full foot shorter than me, even if she's wearing high heels. We attended a vintage fashion show event at the Queen Anne Victorian House Mansion, and ooh'd and aah'd over the dresses and hairstyles of the models. Tito, my boss from Portland Fashion Week, showed up toward the end of the event, and he came up to chat with me, wish me a happy birthday, and introduce me to a few people.

Eric called me just before he went to see a Gwar show with his friends, and sent a photo later that evening of him covered in what he explained was called "gwar sauce". I sent him a photo of the brightly-lit runway which was held outside the mansion. Eric will be here in just two days, if you can believe it, to visit for a week.

I have a ton of things to do, not only today, but tomorrow, and the next day, and so on. No surprise, there. I'm starting to get really stressed about everything actually. In addition to the voice recordings, spreadsheets, manuscript edits, and Portland Fashion Week (PFW) meetings and work, my 2 courses online at U of Maryland start today. AND my bathroom tub has been clogged for 3 days now, even after using 2 full bottles of drano. Its disgusting, and the cloggage occurred just after my roommate washed his dog in the tub last week. Dishes in the sink and clogged bathtubs drive me absolutely insane and are mixing poorly with my PMS. I'm not sure what to do at this point, since the usual drano solution is doing nothing, and I'm just left wanting to pull out my hair.

Today I'll find some silence to get started on the voice recordings. I also have to log in to my 2 psychology courses online and get started reviewing the syllabus. I also have to run to the bank, respond to PFW communications with media people, play with PFW spreadsheets (the perfect Virgo hobby), and attend the all-hands PFW meeting tonight, since the event is just 2 weeks away.

Yes, my friends, the tide is high.

that wasn't funny

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 10:26:15 GMT

I'm glad I was awake just now to see the monster crawling inches away from me in my bed.

Dear Spiders:
No, you cannot crawl into bed with me at night. We've had this discussion. Please stop trying.
The liberal use of lavender oil around my bedroom should have tipped you off.
There are plenty of insects outdoors that you can eat. I am not on the menu, so please stay outdoors.
Sincerely,
~B

with a little bit of help from my friends...

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:16:50 GMT

Those of you who have known me for a long time might be surprised to hear that my friend (and ex-bf - ha!) Micah Daigle is now Executive Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. I'm so proud of him and every one of my activist friends who utilized their social networks on Wednesday and Thursday this week to stop an awful drug policy amendment for student aid.

Mr. Daigle released his 'Thank you' video, with some very helpful information about the larger issues we are still dealing with. Take a look at the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B_3Dc1Ti8s&feature=player_embedded

Thanks to all my friends who helped promote this campaign and called your state representative.

Thank you for your phone calls to Congress...

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:00:37 GMT

Victory in the House of Representatives.
Thank you to all who called your representative.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle_blog/2009/sep/17/a_victory_in_the_house_of_repres

Posted in Chronicle Blog by David Borden on Thu, 09/17/2009 - 3:16pm

Today the US House of Representatives passed a student loan bill that includes language limiting the infamous "Aid Elimination Penalty" -- a law stripping students of financial aid because of drug convictions -- to include only sales convictions, not possession. The law was previously limited to offenses committed while attending school and receiving federal financial aid. If the Senate follows suit, on this reform or something similar, it will be limited yet again.

Yesterday we alerted our members that Rep. Mark Souder, the author of the law, was planning to offer an amendment on the House floor to strip out the language and keep his law the way it is now. Souder withdrew the amendment before it came to a vote. Check back at Drug War Chronicle for further info tonight or tomorrow.

It's not a done deal until it passes the Senate, until it survives the conference committee, and then until the larger bill it is part of passes both chambers of Congress in its final form. But things are looking good. We including me personally have been working on this for 11 years, and this is a big day for us. Thank you to everyone who took action, this week or before, to help make this possible.

Action Alert- Students for Sensible Drug Policy needs you...

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:25:09 GMT

***ANYONE CAN TAKE PART IN THIS EVENT IF YOU OWN A PHONE. IT TAKES ONE MINUTE***

Nobody should ever be denied an education because they have a drug possession conviction. But that's exactly what will continue to happen if an amendment is passed by Congress this Thursday, Sept 17th. Your help is needed, RIGHT NOW, to keep students in school!

TAKE ACTION NOW!

1) MAKE THE CALL: Dial the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Ask for your representative's office if you know his/her name. If you don't, simply give the operator your address. (Please be patient for an answer, as it sometimes takes several rings to get through. And be sure to leave a polite voice message if the staff is out for the day.)

2) SPEAK YOUR MIND: When the receptionist in your representative’s office answers the phone, politely say: “My name is ________ and I’d like my representative to vote against Representative Souder's Amendment to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which denies educational opportunities to students with minor drug possession convictions. Blocking access to education causes more drug problems and hurts the economy. Thank you.”

3) SPREAD THE WORD: Forward this message to everyone you know! Share on Facebook. Twitter this URL:http://ssdp.org/urgent

MORE INFO: Earlier this year, Congressional Democrats did the right thing by adding language to SAFRA (Student Aid and Fiscal Reponsibility Act, HR 3221), which would ensure that students with drug possession convictions would no longer be denied financial aid for college. However, the Republican who created the financial aid ban (Rep. Souder) has launched a last minute campaign to keep his law in place! This will be a close vote, so every phone call counts. Your representative needs to hear from you!

TELL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE TO VOTE NO ON THE SOUDER AMENDMENT TO SAFRA!!

Fashion Show: Shoes, Purses, & Dresses

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:40:39 GMT

So I'm going to be in a fashion show tomorrow night.

Thursday, Sept 17th at 10:00pm
McFadden's - 107 NW Couch St

There will be a fashion show of four separate designers, and I will be walking for two of them. There will also be a 'hip hop burlesque dance' performance during the evening. $5 at the door. Please come support me and all the models, and the dance team!

Beatnik Betty travels through time...

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:45:27 GMT

Please read & enjoy my first contribution to the Portland publishing world.

PDX Pipeline: Portland Time Travel Day

Special thanks to the Time Cop crew.