Organ Donation: A Surprisingly Funny Thing

I got a letter in the mail today from the Arizona organ registry, thanking me for signing up. (I signed up when I got my Arizona license last month. If I died before then, I guess Utah got first dibs on my organs.) In fact, it thanked me so profusely and gushingly that I began to giggle. And I really haven't stopped giggling. I'm pretty sure this is not the response they intended to elicit.

But it's just so funny to me. Why wouldn't I donate my organs? It's not like I'm using them. I'm dead! You could perform a disrepectful marionette show with my corpse for all I care. I'm dead! The organ registry even gave me two cards: one for me and one for "a family member or loved one who may make medical decisions on your behalf." So if you consider yourself a family member or loved one who may make medical decisions on my behalf, I'm an organ donor. You can cremate, bury, or donate the rest to science, whichever is cheapest and rocks your socks. (Paul says he has no firm opinion, except that he would prefer I don't die. I said okay; it seemed reasonable.)

Note: If I'm ever making medical decisions on your behalf, your organs are going too. What happens after that is up to you. Except viewings. They are creepy and you aren't getting one. If your mortal enemies need to know you're dead, they'll just have to sneak a peak on their own.

Incommunicado Again

There was an unfortunate incident involving our phone and a certain man-made body of water this afternoon. So until we get a replacement phone, we are only reachable by e-mail or Skype. Sorry.

Of Chain E-mails and Friends

Recently, I appear to have been swept away by a tidal wave of chain e-mail-esque requests: five favorite albums, fifteen books that changed your life, how long would you survive in a horror film. Okay, that's a quiz, but it functions the same. They're supposed to be interesting and revealing, but they actually provide basic information. If you're friends in real life, none of the items on the lists are surprising. Wouldn't you rather know why, the reasons behind the choices? Is it really that interesting to know that I'm listening to the Killers' "Dustland Fairytale"? Or is it more interesting that I can't stop listening to it because the bridge matches a well-known Chinese drama in a poetic way? Besides, how many books really change one's life? I offer the following list as evidence.

1. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand
2. The Broken Commandment
3. Bolshevik Women
4. Mulian Rescues His Mother From Hell
5. Ethan Frome
6. The Book of Ruth
7. Biographies of Exemplary Women
8. Second to None
9. The Complete Collection of Sherlock Holmes
10. The Makioka Sisters
11. An Injustice to Dou E
12. Chicago Manual of Style
13. Between God and Tsar
14. So Far From Bamboo Grove
15. The Right Women

These are 15 books that--according to Facebook and the lies told there--changed my life. Except very few of them did and those that did did so in minor ways. "The Golden Peaches of Samarkand" is a book on Tang exotica that provided scholarly reinforcement to the idea that Tang China was where it was at, historically speaking. "The Broken Commandment" is the first piece of Japanese literature I read. If you have any shred of human decency, it will leave you weeping and wanting to change the world. "Bolshevik Women" follows female revolutionaries from the late 1800s through the 1940s. Full of statistical goodness, it also makes excellent use of individual case studies. "Mulian Rescues His Mother From Hell" was the first Buddhist text I read and it is awesome! The depictions of Hell stick with you, I assure you. "Ethan Frome" made me love Edith Wharton, who subsequently is one of the few fiction writers I enjoy reading. The Book of Ruth is my favorite book in the Old Testament. The Biographies of Exemplary Women is a Chinese book written ~2,000 years ago. It's biographies of women of outstanding deportment, intelligence, wisdom, chastity, righteousness, and rhetoric. Oh, and there's a kicking chapter of bad examples.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point. Now either make a decent Facebook chain e-mail/quiz or stop sending them!

AWOL

Jennifer Bussio is AWOL. We are especially concerned because she has left her brain at home, next to the proper attitude. If you know where she is, please notify us immediately. Do NOT approach her, as she may be non-sensical and exhibiting signs of poor judgment and/or confusion.

Train Keeps A-Rollin'

We keep chugging along down here. We got swamped with guests over the last two weeks, but it has been a lot of fun. First, Nick came down for a couple of days. Together, he and Paul lived the high life for four days. There was endless swimming and eating out. Both parties may never recover. Especially poor Nick, who got a nasty sunburn on his last day. That was also the day we realized we didn't own any sunscreen.

After Nick, one of my fellow grad students came to stay. She's in the Ph.D. section, but she was in my Daoism class and she also works for the same professor as I do. Her husband got a job in San Diego, so they moved out there and she commutes. In the fall, she has a rented room, but it's not fall yet, so she crashed in our spare room. She's a really nice person--she's always going out of her way to help us young'ins--so it was a pleasure to help her for a change. Now, our house is finally empty again, but not for long. The rest of Paul's family is coming down for a visit next week on their way to the family reunion (which Paul and I cannot go to. Sniffle.).

Lastly, I got my hair cut yesterday. It's something I've been meaning to do for a year (yes, I am that procrastinaty). It had gotten so long that it couldn't be done up in a bun (too heavy) and even a two-hair-banded braid wouldn't stay in place--the weight of the hair would pull the top band out of place. I took a picture before I left to get it cut; I didn't realize it, but my hair was down around my hips. That's way too long, even for me! Now my hair is much shorter, with plenty of gorgeous layers and a general good shape. I really like it a lot, though I wanted it a bit longer. I think I'll grow it a little longer in the winter, but keep it short in the summer. Anyway, here are the before and after pictures. Apologies for the before, but it's hard to take a picture of your back while hiding a messy room and a sleeping husband. And after isn't the best shot of me due to the upward angle, but my hair does look fabulous in it.

Before:

After:

The Second Great Facebook Dilemma

So, it's been a while. Not much has happened, I've been working, Paul's been working, Piper's even been working (the heat and the large light near our door have been encouraging various bugs to try their luck indoors).

Now that everyone's all caught up, let's move on to the main topic of discussion: The Second Great Facebook Dilemma. When I signed up for Facebook, I knew the day would come: the day when I would have to reject people as friends. I also worried there would be a day where I wanted to stop being friends with someone. And now the day has come. But that's not what triggered the Second Great Facebook Dilemma. I was prepared for that eventuality. I adulted up and hit "ignore." I'm sorry if anyone's feelings were hurt, but I will likely never see them again so the decision was relatively guilt-free. No, what triggered it was learning that some people who I was once good friends with are loon-tastic in one way or another. Well, loony friends and having old Sunday school teachers wish to befriend me. Of course I want to be friends, person I knew for one year when I was thirteen! Inevitably, I find myself thinking, "We came from roughly the same environment. How did you come to believe such crack-smoking libertarian things? or When did you become a street-corner evangelist?" In fairness, if I ever wrote about my political views or religious opinions, they'd probably be asking themselves how/when I became such a godless commie. No one stays the same forever; I suppose some we'll work things out (agree to disagree and continue on our merry way)and others and I will go our separate ways. There's no shame in that. Still, I wish I had set up two accounts: one for current friends or people that I've know for so very long that they could turn out to be axe murderers and I'd still talk to them and one for random acquaintances wanting a "where are you now" update.

The Epic Struggle of Cat Versus Bag

Well, only two of my Fourth of July photos turned out, so here's a short slide show of Piper going to town with the Ikea bag I use for recycling. She spent an hour playing with it, but she's a quick sucker. Much like the fireworks on the Fourth. :argh: