Tall people need friends, too

Once upon a time, like a couple of Sundays ago, Johanna and I were in the bulk section of the supermarket, lamenting the absence of sucanat sugar, when this rather tall man in his 50s comes up to us and says to me, I see you're tall.

And I'm like, well, good eyes, I guess, because I'm 6-feet so yeah, I tend to stick out there, but I could see he was kind of uncomfortable -- embarrassed -- and so what I actually did was laugh and agree.*

That's when he pulls a card out of his wallet and begins to tell me about the Portland Skyliners Club.

 

I actually had no idea a club like this even existed, but anyway, according to the card, my social life is looking up! It's for men 6-feet 2-inches and over, and women 5-feet 10-inches and over. He said he could see I made that requirement fairly easily, and that it's mostly a service organization with all of the meetings in the Portland area.

I am not in Portland, but as I've never been invited to join any club before, I am feeling kind of proud of myself for managing it.

Even if it means apparently I need help making friends.

*I am, perhaps, a little over-sensitive about my height, so my first impulse is to be snippy yet self-efacing if anyone calls attention to it. It's kind of weird to be always towering over everyone, and I've even had people act like I'm some sort of menace (like that grandma who locked her car door when she saw me coming down the street ... as if, grandma!), but on the upside, my community service is just going to the store and helping people get stuff off the top shelf, so silver lining.

Another round of 7 Pointless Updates with bonus memes!

1. I didn't mean to take a week-long blogging break, but sometimes the world is too much with me and I just can't get my act together. Plus I've been a little depressed. I'm trying not to be. I think that's the best I can offer at this point.

2. I am not leaving my house today. I simply refuse. I meant to sleep in this morning to get the day off to a good start, but I woke up at 6 a.m., which I decided to just embrace because that means I can take a nap in about an hour and not even have to feel guilty about it. My plans for the day include puttering around my house, tackling Mt. Laundry, and pretending the world does not exist outside these walls.

3. Yesterday I spent the day in Longview manning the cash register (well, figuratively, since we didn't have a cash register) at my grandparents' estate sale. It was depressing as hell, but my Aunt Ann was there and she's awesome and we had a good time together on the front lines. I guess the good news is that we did better than we thought we would, when the predicted downpour came the crowds had already thinned, and Johanna had plenty of cousin time.

4. It occurred to me, when we told Gram the total and she just kind of looked at us blankly, that she doesn't really care how well she did -- she'd rather have her life back to the way it was six months ago, before Gramps fell. I don't blame her. I'd like that life back for her, too.

5. Last night was Homecoming for Abby's high school. She and her friends did a bit of a dress exchange in preparation for the thing, which I would like to point out is both zero waste and minimalism and really fairly awesome. She's lucky to have tall friends. ;) I'm also 100 percent sure that zero waste and minimalism were not on the top of her list when she decided to participate.

6. Tomorrow is Columbus Day, but apparently it's not a real holiday since no one gets it off except for the federal government. Fun fact: Abby is no fan of Christopher Columbus, but she has to write  about him every year for the DAR history essay contest. It's kind of amusing hearing her rant. Plus also: Free money for her college fund.

Well, I thought this was funny, except for the fact that
whoever created this forgot to capitalize "day." That is just sad.

7.  I'm not really sure what to write for my seventh pointless update, but I'm committed to the number in sort of an arbitrary way that defies explanation, so here we are. The sun is shining, it's cool but beautiful, and I just decided to add "reading on the deck" and "taking a walk" to my list, even though both will technically mean I have to leave the house. I'd also like to add "eat a doughnut," but that would require not only leaving the house but going into the belly of the beast, so forget it. I'll stuff my emotions with an apple instead.

Enough is enough

Another shooting.

Another school shooting.

This time, in Oregon -- in Roseburg, specifically. 

And you guys, I just can't even. I look at the names and the ages of the people shot, how young some of them were, and I just ...

I keep hearing that if we as a nation couldn't get outraged enough to start gun legislation after Newtown, then probably there's no hope for us. But maybe this is the straw that will break the camel's back. Maybe this is the time that will lead to real reform.

I really, really hope so.

Because the current system isn't working. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.

It's time to do something different.

And to those who say guns don't kill people, people kill people: By that logic, forks don't feed people, clothes don't clothe people, shoes don't shod people, houses don't house people, and cars don't drive people. You need more examples? Because I can do this all damn day.

Guns DO kill people. 

It's time to let go of the rhetoric.

Please? Can't it just be time?