Currently taking a break from printing 185 wedding announcements by letterpress (not invitations!). Didn't choose a new easy design that lets me whip them through the press twice, once for front and once for back, did I? No, had to choose one that means each one of the 185 goes through no less than five times, and have to be left to dry overnight inbetween prints. Sigh. Serves me right. Anyway, I'm 3/4 through session number 2.
I went to the gyneacologist the other day (the same one who said, while examining me with my legs up in stirrups, 'I think I was at the birth of your son'. I kid you not. What else could I say but 'Why, does it look familiar down there?'. She had the decency to blush and laugh.) about my fibroids and the lack of pregnancy therewith. Apparently I have to have a laproscoscopy (I think I've spelled it right) which is a horrible invasive procedure which puts a telescope through my navel while my abdomen is pumped up with gas. Thank goddess I am to have a general anaesthetic during this. So I am on a waiting list, since I refuse to pander to Government blackmail about private health insurance.
Meanwhile my fabulous aunt, a Chinese-Medicine practitioner, has prescribed four different pots of herbs for me to drink through my cycle. One is for my bleeding days, the next for the days between my period and ovulation, another for the three or so days around ovulation, and the last for the days until I bleed again. Auntie has a great reputation in her country NSW practice as a baby-maker. She is trying to make the fibroids less dominating, and trying to enhance my fertility. I tell you what, they taste foul, but anything is better than a telescope whacked through my navel.
So I will persist, and hopefully something good will happen. We are giving ourselves two years to try everything, even IVF if needs be (but only with our own components, i.e., eggs and sperm), and then we are just going to stop and get on with having a happy life.
And for the record: I have had an abortion, way back when I was too young to be able to cope with a young child; I have also given birth to a child who turns out to have been a complete miracle and maybe the only child I will ever have. It doesn't make any difference to my attitude towards abortion.
I support, and always will, the right for a woman to choose what she does with her body. Abortion is something which women will always seek if they have to. It has been around for as long as Humankind has been. When abortion is illegal, women have illegal abortions. Far better for them to have access to safe facilities than to die in unsafe environments under dirty tools with doctors (if they are lucky) who are terrified of being caught. The only difference between legal and illegal abortions is the rate of death -- with illegal abortion, more women die.
But don't just ingest my little morsel on this debate -- take a great big mouthful of crazybrave's sensitive polemic.
Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Sunday, November 07, 2004
Big Pussy
This is not my dearly departed cat, Karma. This is Mystery Kitty, sent to me by email ages ago. I'm a bit late for Blog Yer Pussy Friday, but I do love this lap-crusher.
Friday, November 05, 2004
Remember to breathe
I love this photo. Makes me think of Vermeer.
I can't believe how much rain Canberra is getting. The view from my study window is lush as lush as lush, with little pink camelias nodding at me in the rain. Some smooth jazz coming out of the speakers and I'm ready to do some boring rainy-day financials. I hate the way the Government has made me play tax-collector as well as all theother bloody things on my plate. When I rule the world I will make John Howard eat my tax records, page by page.
Wednesday, November 03, 2004
Dropping pennies
Apparently the Albatross* has been told I'm getting married, and he's a bit grumpy. Well tough titties. I didn't tell him in person because:
1. It's none of his business (i.e. it doesn't change any of his access or legal rights)
2. I'm sick of him making snarky comments about my personal life when we're alone. He never does it when anyone else is around, which proves how much of a coward he is.
He's probably grumpy mainly because I haven't told him in person, but I think a good chunk of it may be the realisation that I didn't reject him while pregnant because I'm a lesbian (as he has postulated to me a few times) but because he's a fuckwit. At last! The penny drops!
At least he hasn't expressed any of this negativity to the Bumblebee, who came home saying that his dad seemed pretty happy that we were getting married, but that they did have a bit of a talk about how Best Beloved isn't really his dad, and you can only have one real dad. Duh. We have no intention of downplaying Important Father Role in Child's Life. Unless Important Dad does something really stupid and dangerous like go senile (perfectly possible, since he's the same age as my dad who is starting to have lost moments).
Still, 24 sleeps (and counting). Nothing's going to spoil my fun.
*See glossary on sidebar
1. It's none of his business (i.e. it doesn't change any of his access or legal rights)
2. I'm sick of him making snarky comments about my personal life when we're alone. He never does it when anyone else is around, which proves how much of a coward he is.
He's probably grumpy mainly because I haven't told him in person, but I think a good chunk of it may be the realisation that I didn't reject him while pregnant because I'm a lesbian (as he has postulated to me a few times) but because he's a fuckwit. At last! The penny drops!
At least he hasn't expressed any of this negativity to the Bumblebee, who came home saying that his dad seemed pretty happy that we were getting married, but that they did have a bit of a talk about how Best Beloved isn't really his dad, and you can only have one real dad. Duh. We have no intention of downplaying Important Father Role in Child's Life. Unless Important Dad does something really stupid and dangerous like go senile (perfectly possible, since he's the same age as my dad who is starting to have lost moments).
Still, 24 sleeps (and counting). Nothing's going to spoil my fun.
*See glossary on sidebar
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Duck Wedding
As my esteemed colleague, crazybrave mentioned the other day, I have upcoming nuptuals. Very upcoming nuptuals, actually. I have been telling myself that they are a couple of months away, but with the start of November yesterday I have had to come to terms with the fact that I have only 3 1/2 weeks left.
This is my second wedding, and Best Beloved's first. Neither of us are very taken with the idea of a big wedding, we just want to wake up one day and be married. Unfortunately, to do that, you have to go through some sort of ceremony. In the Territory of the Free it is not possible to just stand in front of an official desk and do the bare minimum. Apparently they no longer have a dedicated room for ceremonies. So in Canberra the bare minimum is hiring a celebrant. We did look across the borders, but to have a registry wedding in Sydney involves starting with an appointment during office hours just to set a date, and neither of us have time to visit Sydney during the week. Civil wedding facilities in sunny Queanbeyan involve standing in the foyer of the courthouse with a Judge between 4 and 4.30pm on a Thursday afternoon. Not really to our taste, especially as you had to take a chance as to who would be in the foyer with you, waiting for their hearings. And every time I rang someone about having a simple registry wedding, the vibe on the phone was "Why don't you get out there and do this properly, you tight twats?"
There's a very simple answer to this vibe. Because I have better things to do with my energy and money than spend at least $20,000 and over a year of planning on a day that I won't even enjoy due to anxiety that I'm not doing it right. Best Beloved and I like buying books, eating and paying off the mortgage on our tiny little house. We don't need masses of white fabric, scads of flowers and a limitless bar tab. We have a friend who is getting married in October next year, and she's already been planning it for over a year already! We have a sweep going on how much she's spending, and the general consensus is not under $40,000. It's a number that takes my breath away.
My first wedding was a simple affair (and a fantastic party, thanks to my terrific friends) but it will look like Charles and Diana's wedding compared to this second one. We decided that if we had to get a celebrant, then we might as well have a celebrant marrying us somewhere we liked being. So we are going coastal. We shall stand on the beach, barefoot and splendid in something nice to wear, and say our vows in front of our immediate family. Bumblebee will get to participate in the ceremony by holding rings and saying a po-em, and then we shall sit down somewhere shady with a case of champagne and a bucket of prawns. Divine. Friends are grumbling, but hell, it's our day. I'm sure we shall celebrate with them some other way.
OK, I've cheered myself up and distracted myself from impending American doom. Everyone send good thoughts into the ether tonight to boost Kerry's voting appeal.
This is my second wedding, and Best Beloved's first. Neither of us are very taken with the idea of a big wedding, we just want to wake up one day and be married. Unfortunately, to do that, you have to go through some sort of ceremony. In the Territory of the Free it is not possible to just stand in front of an official desk and do the bare minimum. Apparently they no longer have a dedicated room for ceremonies. So in Canberra the bare minimum is hiring a celebrant. We did look across the borders, but to have a registry wedding in Sydney involves starting with an appointment during office hours just to set a date, and neither of us have time to visit Sydney during the week. Civil wedding facilities in sunny Queanbeyan involve standing in the foyer of the courthouse with a Judge between 4 and 4.30pm on a Thursday afternoon. Not really to our taste, especially as you had to take a chance as to who would be in the foyer with you, waiting for their hearings. And every time I rang someone about having a simple registry wedding, the vibe on the phone was "Why don't you get out there and do this properly, you tight twats?"
There's a very simple answer to this vibe. Because I have better things to do with my energy and money than spend at least $20,000 and over a year of planning on a day that I won't even enjoy due to anxiety that I'm not doing it right. Best Beloved and I like buying books, eating and paying off the mortgage on our tiny little house. We don't need masses of white fabric, scads of flowers and a limitless bar tab. We have a friend who is getting married in October next year, and she's already been planning it for over a year already! We have a sweep going on how much she's spending, and the general consensus is not under $40,000. It's a number that takes my breath away.
My first wedding was a simple affair (and a fantastic party, thanks to my terrific friends) but it will look like Charles and Diana's wedding compared to this second one. We decided that if we had to get a celebrant, then we might as well have a celebrant marrying us somewhere we liked being. So we are going coastal. We shall stand on the beach, barefoot and splendid in something nice to wear, and say our vows in front of our immediate family. Bumblebee will get to participate in the ceremony by holding rings and saying a po-em, and then we shall sit down somewhere shady with a case of champagne and a bucket of prawns. Divine. Friends are grumbling, but hell, it's our day. I'm sure we shall celebrate with them some other way.
OK, I've cheered myself up and distracted myself from impending American doom. Everyone send good thoughts into the ether tonight to boost Kerry's voting appeal.
Monday, November 01, 2004
Printing Gloom and Doom
I've just had a great afternoon printing on the letterpress. I'm working on a print edition for the Gallery 451 Political Print Exchange and I think I've finished it. Unfortunately the gloom that is sitting at the back of my brain thanks to the impending US electoral farce has oozed all over my creativity and the print is pretty sombre.
I dunno: it's raining, I've got some bluesy jazz on the studio stereo, and all I can think about is whether Americans are going to shock me and show some sense or if they're going to be as cowardly as most of Australia and stick with a horrendous Government just because a change is too scary. The afternoon has had overtones of a cliched Hollywood movie, but at least it's been productive.
Oh shit. I just remembered that I left my bike light on the bike all day and it's probably going to malfunction on the way home, which means a wet and dark ride. Nothing like a sustained mood, eh?
I dunno: it's raining, I've got some bluesy jazz on the studio stereo, and all I can think about is whether Americans are going to shock me and show some sense or if they're going to be as cowardly as most of Australia and stick with a horrendous Government just because a change is too scary. The afternoon has had overtones of a cliched Hollywood movie, but at least it's been productive.
Oh shit. I just remembered that I left my bike light on the bike all day and it's probably going to malfunction on the way home, which means a wet and dark ride. Nothing like a sustained mood, eh?
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