Milestones Around My Neck

Actually, all of my milestones are pretty glad occasions right now...but I just couldn't resist the terrible pun for my title!

We had our Hell In A Handbag fundraiser, "A Handbag Happening," last night at The Spot. It was a huge success, with an even bigger crowd than we expected and a very appreciative audience. Friends and fellow bloggers Stephen and Dave were there, as well as a host of other friends, old and new, and we really appreciate their coming and putting up with all the smoke and foul language. Of course, growing up with my father and uncles, I'm used to such things, but not everybody is as coarse as I.

Pictures were being taken last night, so if I get my mitts on any, I'll be sure to share...

The event also marked the debut of The Joans, our new Joan Crawford punk tribute band, performing three original songs. It was loads of campy fun and we've been asked to play the May 4 Flesh Hungry Dog Show, too, so more on that later...

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It dawned on me this morning that today marks the 10-year anniversary of my living in Chicago. I still marvel sometimes that I'm here...I fully expected to try my luck for a year, then slink back to Peoria (my hometown) with my tail between my legs, but somehow it never happened. And one year turned into two, two turned into three, etc., etc., and now I can't remember ever living anywhere else. (Oddly enough, when I go home to visit, I'm perfectly happy to be there, too, so I guess that proves I can be happy living anywhere!)

Lots of things make me feel ambivalent about living far from my family, sometimes: the death of my grandmother at Christmas three years ago (almost literally the minute I got home to visit), the return of my mom's cancer three years ago, and the sense that, since I won't have kids, this family is really all I'll ever have so I should cultivate it and make sure that I make it something that gives me emotional strength in my rapidly approaching old age. But I do get down to visit at least once every two months, and I keep in pretty close contact with my whole family.

And if the time ever comes that I want to "retire" to my hometown, I'll know when that is. (God knows what it will look like then--it's already so built up it's turning into a behemoth, with strip malls everywhere--they even have a drive-thru Starbucks.)

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Finally, my two favorite political cartoons of the day!

First, this one from Mike Ramirez, courtesy of Copley News Source:



I agree with Sheryl Crow about getting our asses in gear on the environment, and I think recycling is tremendously important, but I think telling people that you use only one square of toilet paper per "visit" qualifies as TMI. Sorry--didn't wanna know that. I shudder to think what happens when she starts doing commercials for other sanitary products:

"Hey Ma, you ever get that less-than-environmentally-friendly feeling?"

And secondly, this little entry from Chip Bok, courtesy of the Akron Beacon-Journal:



I know that Vladimir Putin has become a sex symbol of the soon-to-be-reformed Soviet Union, and such shifts in history are inevitable, and the U.S. will kiss their ass for as long as its mutually beneficial (that is, after all, how international politics is played), but you can't be a successful ruler of such a tough place without breaking a few eggs, if you catch my drift.

Isn't that right, Mr. Yushchenko?