I found this today on Will Wheaton’s Flickr stream. I just love it. (Oh yes, I am even more of a Dorkass McGorcas than you had ever imagined, aren’t I?)

The best part, of course is that they showed up in San Francisco. You know, Starfleet headquarters, of course.

Now we know the true origin of the Borg: Hostile takeovers on Earth during the 21^st century. And as we all know this ultimately leads to assimilation…

Resistance truly is futile.

Kurt Vonnegut, whose dark comic talent and urgent moral vision in novels like “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle” and “Player Piano” caught the temper of his times and the imagination of a generation, died last night when in Manhattan. He was 84.

Not bad longevity considering that he claimed to have smoked Pall Malls since age 14.

I remember my discovery of Vonnegut. It was the summer of my 13^th year. I was going into eighth grade that year, and had found Cat’s Cradle on my parent’s bookshelf. I think it took me all of a day to read the book. And after that I was completely hooked. I read everything I could find by him before school started.

Fortunately, my parents encouraged a variety of viewpoints, loving debate and discussion more than absolutes. They thoroughly encouraged my evolving literary tastes. No so, for everyone. In Palm Sunday, he wrote about his view of censorship.

“There is never any shortage anywhere of
lawyers eager to attack the First Amendment, as though it were nothing more
than a clause in a lease from a crooked slumlord.”

No wonder, as he wrote his share of banned books.

Additionally, Kurt Vonnegut was a Humanist, which unquestionably entitles him to a special place in my heart. (For info on Humanism, you can check out this page. If you have continuing questions, feel free to ask me in comments, or simply Google Humanism for yourself.) So who knows where Mr. Vonnegut might find himself today. Wherever it may be, I hope that it is as unique and thought provoking as the man himself. It saddens me that I will never again be able to discover a new Vonnegut book. Thankfully, they were inspiring enough to warrant many a re-visit. Thank you, Mr. Vonnegut.

“Reverend, we have a little problem.

I heard the English teacher is planning to teach that book.

Slaughterhouse Five. Isn't that an awful name?

That's a great book…Slaughterhouse Five. It's, it's a classic.

Do you read much? 

- In another town it's a classic.

- In any town.”

Kevin Bacon & John Lithgow in FootLoose

Tomorrow is Kajsa’s monthly nephrology appointment. And I’m sure it’s going to be upbeat, to say
the least. Especially since she’s eating
like a horse and has so much energy that I’m seriously thinking of renaming her
Boing Boing.

Meanwhile I have an appointment today to massage the owner
of a local Salon & Day Spa to see if he wants to hire me on as the third
Massage Therapist. I haven’t been this
nervous about doing a little bodywork in about 10 years. Seriously, I reaaally hope I get it.

The only problem, though, with being gainfully employed is
that it takes us precariously far from practically indigent. And while you might think, “Well,
whoopdeedoo, fantastic for you!” It
kinda isn’t.

Lemme explain. You
see, as long as we are horribly poor, Kajsa is covered for her thousands of
dollars worth of medications each month, her close-to-that doctors’
appointments, and heaven forbid – any hospital stays.

Yep. Last time we were in Phoenix

I had a long talk with Kajsa’s social worker. It turns out that there’s a huge gap between being eligible for assistance
and being able to actually afford a chronically (read never goes away) ill child.  Well crap.

So we’re in a super serious Catch 22. As I see is, we have three choices.

1. We
stay too poor to pay our bills, buy food, and have a happy go lucky life.

2. We
get good jobs and watch our child go without healthcare.

3. We
lie our butts off and hope no one catches on.

In other words, we are royally screwed. As my husband, not to mention my mom will
gladly tell you, I am the worst liar in the entire world. In fact, I turn beat red, stammer and
eventually break down in tears over the guilt of it.

That only leaves to first two…

Working poor and middle class terror.

Now what I’m about to tell you might turn you off a
bit. But honestly, I’m not trying to
push any agenda. Never mind, I totally
want to push my own agenda…I just haven’t a clue what it is, yet. So bear with me.

I was perusing the Hillary and Obama sites last night when I
stumbled upon this little video.

And if
anything will make me sit up and listen to a politician, it’s talking about
healthcare for all children. Hell, that’ll
make me stand up and vote. Anyway, check
it out.

I’m not a huge fan of any politician. But I like the fact that she’s at least
talking about this topic. The way I see
it, even if she’s lying through her teeth, she’s trying to reach a
target audience.

And that means that I’m not alone.

I got an email today from the Community
Education Coordinator of the Donor Network of Arizona. I had written him to ask the same questions I
did of all of you. The following are
recommendations he made to me for places to start. In fact, here’s the letter in its entirety:

Rowan, here are the answers you seek

She of course could be an organ donor and if she
cannot be or if all is donated then her body can then be transported to an
organization that does WHOLE BODY donation.  Most people think you can
only do one or the other but you can do both. One does not affect the
other.  She would just make the organization aware of her wishes and she
should be good to go.  Here are the organizations I’m aware of in AZ that
do whole body donation.

Life Legacy 1-888-774-4438

Science Care 602-331-3641

University
of Arizona   520-626-1801

Hope this helps you out.  Have a great day.

So. There you have it. The world is certainly full of interesting
possibilities.