How to Make Jade Feel Old

I just read this in the comments of a blog post elsewhere:

I’m too young to remember Loveline, [Name], and only know about it vaguely through MAD magazines from the ’90s.

If you need me, I'll be over there yelling at the kids on my lawn.

This is Why Marriage Rights Are So Important

The next time someone tells me that marriage is just a word and that civil unions/partnerships are just as good, I'm going to send them here.

Clay and his partner of 20 years, Harold, lived in California. Clay and Harold made diligent efforts to protect their legal rights, and had their legal paperwork in place—wills, powers of attorney, and medical directives, all naming each other. Harold was 88 years old and in frail medical condition, but still living at home with Clay, 77, who was in good health.

One evening, Harold fell down the front steps of their home and was taken to the hospital. Based on their medical directives alone, Clay should have been consulted in Harold’s care from the first moment. Tragically, county and health care workers instead refused to allow Clay to see Harold in the hospital. The county then ultimately went one step further by isolating the couple from each other, placing the men in separate nursing homes.

Ignoring Clay’s significant role in Harold’s life, the county continued to treat Harold like he had no family and went to court seeking the power to make financial decisions on his behalf. Outrageously, the county represented to the judge that Clay was merely Harold’s “roommate.” The court denied their efforts, but did grant the county limited access to one of Harold’s bank accounts to pay for his care. [Emphasis Mine]

And it only gets worse as you keep reading at the link.

Here are two men who loved one another and took steps they thought would ensure their rights would be protected in the event of accident or illness. They jumped through all the legal hoops they were told to jump through. However, due to their sexual orientation and their age, they were treated as nothing more than roommates and forced to live apart while one of them lay dying. More than that, they lost all their possessions, some of which I'm sure had far more sentimental value after spending twenty years together.

This is why the word marriage carries so much weight. This is why civil unions and/or domestic partnerships aren't good enough. That this happened in 2008 at a time when we're supposedly all more enlightened and tolerant also sheds an ugly light on how we treat other human beings, especially those who are not heterosexual and/or young.

Hat tip to various people on my f-list as this is making the rounds here and in the blogosphere. This link in particular is courtesy of brigidsblest.

Housekeeping, etc.

I went ahead and unfriended some people who hadn't responded back. There's two more I'm holding out on hoping they'll friend me back. (One of them I know may not be at hir computer for another few days, and the other seems to be busy so I'll just wait.) If you are just now realizing what happened and would still like to be friended, just friend me and drop me a line. Again, I'm not upset and I wasn't looking to be "rid" of anyone, it was just some LiveJournal fail and human error. Also, if you are still on my f-list and haven't filled out the poll for filters, make sure to do so soon. Of course, you can ask to be added or removed from filters at any time, but the poll just helps me out a little bit and gives me a point of reference.

I'm actually kind of surprised at who wished to stay and who didn't get back to me, but that's neither here nor there and I am happy to have all of you here. Yes, even you. You know who you are.*

I'm not sure when I'll get back to reopening and tagging old entries. I'm thinking I should wait until this weekend before doing the next batch because most of that will cover the tail end of Dad's illness and his death. Seeing as tomorrow and Thursday are going to be very busy days between speech, occupational therapy, and t-ball, I'll be physically wiped which might put me in a bad spot emotionally to handle going over some of that stuff. So yes, I think waiting until Saturday to do it might be a better idea for me. Then again, I might start from 2006 and work forward instead of going backwards as I have. We'll see.

I like my new tagging system and think I'll have an easier time of digging up old entries and stuff when it's done (believe it or not that was a constant issue with me, particularly when it came to some gaming stuff I posted about). Also, I realize I am being amazingly anal about this, which on the one hand kind of surprises me, but on the other I'm reminded that there are moments when I must organize little pockets of my life to an absurd degree. It's shocking that for being such a slob, I can at least make my computer-related stuff neat and organized.

Emotionally and mentally I'm feeling a little better. If I could get the sleep thing down I'd be doing really well, but I'll take what I can get so far. Penny is recovering well from her vet visit, and I take her and Sasha back in two weeks for check-ups plus Sasha's yearly shots (I can't believe it's already been a year!). Jack's not due for shots until November, and before I move I'll try to get Prissy an appointment just so I can have one neat little set of vet records for all the pets.

Speaking of moving, I'm going to declare the month of May my month to sort through stuff to figure out what to keep and what to get rid of. I'll also start boxing up things I want to take with me but don't need access to at the moment. There are going to be some books and probably the odd knick-knack or two that I'll be wanting to get rid of. If anyone shows any interest when I post about that stuff, I'll be willing to work something out regarding mailing and shipping. (Oh, davensjournal, I found the books I was supposed to send to you months ago the other day. I still have your mailing address so when I remember to put them in the truck and can get to the post office, I'll send them.)

I am really hoping to find a place no later than July so we can be moved in with some weeks to spare before the school year starts. The kiddo will probably have to go for an evaluation at whatever school we wind up at, though they might accept his IEPs from here that will include his test scores at the end of the year - at least I think they'll be doing end of year re-evaluations for him down here. I have already informed his speech therapist that there is a very good chance we will be moving so she can get everything together. She was sad at the news (she's worked with the kiddo for three years now and absolutely adores him), but she said her and her husband are contemplating a move as well, though they may not move for another year or two.

There'll probably be more later. For now I have to tackle the kiddo's homework, which thankfully isn't much seeing as he gets to go on a field trip to the zoo tomorrow.


* = Not actually directed at anyone...or is it? I like to make people paranoid on occasion.