I’m happy that I’m not off camping this weekend — or have any plans, for that matter. This means I can hang out in my empty apartment in my pajamas all day and read to my heart’s content. Now there’s some plans I can handle. Granted, I may later sneak outta the house to catch a movie — we’ll see.

I’m betting that the majority of my readers won’t see this until Monday, but I wanted to steal a meme I found over at Ril’s blog.

So here’s the deal — this is your chance to ask me 3 questions, over any topic that you’d like. Just remember, my momma does read this space, so I may have to plead the 5th on a few.

Three questions — shoot!

Anna read and understood, but it was unpleasant to read, that is to say, to follow the reflection of other people’s lives. She was too eager to live herself. When she read how the heroine of the novel nursed a sick man, she wanted to move about the sick-room with noiseless footsteps; when she read of a member of Parliament making a speech, she wished to make that speech; when she read how Lady Mary rode to hounds, teased her sister-in-law, and astonished everybody by her boldness — she wanted to do it herself. But there was nothing to be done, so she forced herself to read, while her little hand toyed with the smooth paper-knife.

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

Link round-up:

• Child Hunger and Education Program. “CHEP’s vision for the community is of a community where good nutritious food is always available for everyone no matter what their circumstances, where there is care for the environment, support for farmers, access to local food production, and knowledge about making healthy food choices.” I’m going to start investing in their Good Food Box every two weeks — it’s a box full of veggies and fruits grown around the area, for a low price. It’s part of my new-found commitment of supporting local businesses and eating better.

• Saskatchewan Cities Top Crime List: “Saskatoon and Regina have the worst crime rates in all of Canada, according to numbers released Wednesday. The information was prepared by experts at Statistics Canada, and is based on numbers provided by police. The figures compare 2003 and 2002, when Saskatoon recorded a 16.5 percent jump in crime. The national average was 5.5 percent.” Welcome home!
  
• Anyone catch the Democratic National Convention? Luckily I was able to catch it while up at the lake this week. I was pretty impressed with Kerry’s speech last night. Here’s the full text of the speech (user/ password: grrrlmeets).
  

My favorite part of the speech:

And let me say it plainly: In that cause, and in this campaign, we welcome people of faith. America is not us and them. I think of what Ron Reagan said of his father a few weeks ago and I want to say this to you tonight: I don’t wear my religion on my sleeve. But faith has given me values and hope to live by, from Vietnam to this day, from Sunday to Sunday. I don’t want to claim that God is on our side. As Abraham Lincoln told us, I want to pray humbly that we are on God’s side.

And whatever our faith, one belief should bind us all: The measure of our character is our willingness to give of ourselves for others and for our country.

That sure beats Dubya’s underlying claim that he’s God’s anointed acting as righteous judge in situations like Iraq.

• Speaking of the DNC, I thought it was interesting that Kerry played up the setting of the actual convention. He kept emphasizing how this city acted as the birthplace for much of our country’s revolutionary history. I think this is interesting mainly when I think of where the Republican National Convention is next month — New York City. I can hear the pleas of the president and his cronies, reminding us all of the September 11th tragedy, and how we need to keep this “war president” in power. It’s going to make me sick, I can tell already.

• But until then, check out the Daily Show’s comparison of convention locales: “Would you rather pahk yaw cahr in Hahvahd or get the %*&# out of my #@$-damn spot? Take a look at our in-depth analysis of Boston vs. New York.” Only here can you have the answers to the best biggest infectious outbreak of the year or the biggest problem with protestors.

I’m baaa-ack.

What a great week. I had so much fun, playing princess among 3 of Saskatchewan’s finest (who also happen to be bloggers). Here’s a stream-of-consciousness list of some of the high-points of the last couple days:

Cleveland versus Seattle/ introducing Southern cuisine (mmm, grits!)/”Just“/ in defense of Supertramp/ Colombia/ Turd miners and goat-ball lickers (don’t ask)/ a domestic Becky at work (?!)/ Boca versus cow-burgers/ Costco! (not Walmart)/ a “bridge” over troubled water, resulting in wet socks/ Consuming the cancer juice/ CHEP/ of freezing cold trailers and 4 piled sleeping bags/ Revolve girls don’t call boys/ the Bill-Hybelization of the church/ dumb boys and ‘the girlfriend’/ hiking and rediscovering stinky places with the GPS/ my satelite-readjusting hero!/ Joni Mitchell/ issues with Paul/ Big Boy chairs/ a rain jacket in Saskatchewan?/ brrr/ closeted ABBA fan/ DNC and the Daily Show/ behold the power of the DEET!/ cinnemon buns, mmm/ “The men in Deborah’s day were weak and chicken-hearted”/ (black) socks and sandals!/ big 80′s hair

I’m off camping again. This time, it’s off to Chitek Lake for some down-time away from the city. I’ve got a stack of books to peruse, plus a new “fun” book to read (I know, I shouldn’t, but this is technically summer (!), and reading theory isn’t any fun at the beach).

I’m just looking forward to some fresh air and time away from watches, Internet, and other distractions that get me down.

Onto the Saskatchewan wilds!

… back Friday night or so. Y’all behave til then.

ttfn.

Now my belief is that this poet who never wrote a word and was buried at the crossroads still lives. She lives in you and in me, and in many other women who are not here tonight, for they are washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed. But she lives; for great poets do not die; they are continuing presences; they need only the opportunity to walk among us in the flesh. . . . For my belief is that if we live another century or so . . . and have five hundred a year each of us and rooms of our own; if we have the habit of freedom and the courage to write exactly what we think . . . then . . . the dead poet who was Shakespeare’s sister will put on the body she has so often laid down.

A Room of One’s Own

Virginia Woolf

That quote gives me shivers every time I read it. And as cliched as it sounds (I can already sense a few of you rolling your eyes), I sorta consider this piece of cyberspace a “a room of my own.” It’s a place where I can play, rant, tease, and lament. Most of all, it’s mine – and while I still roll out my green astro-turf cyber welcome mat to all who read my words, I still think of this place as somewhere special where I can vocalize a few of the many thoughts and issues that run through my head.

U.S. expatriates get out the vote:

[...] If passions over the U.S. presidential race are at boiling point back home, they may be even higher abroad, where many Americans say they experience firsthand the ramifications of President Bush’s foreign policies. Whether they approve of those policies or not, by all accounts, U.S. citizens overseas are registering in greater numbers than ever before, hoping their vote can make a difference in an election both sides say may be the most crucial in modern American history.

More than three months before the elections, Democrats Abroad, the group for which Miara works, claims it has helped register 8,000 American voters in Britain. In the 2000 contest between Bush and Al Gore and Bush, the group registered fewer than 7,000 U.S. citizens. Worldwide, it is setting similar records, according to Frances Deak, 68, who has lived in Britain for 23 years and is in charge of the organization’s global efforts. Republicans also expect to see an increase in interest among expatriate voters.

“They’re lucky we’re not a state,” Deak says of Americans living outside the USA. If they were, expatriate Americans could make up the 13th-largest. While the number of U.S. citizens living abroad is not officially tallied, estimates range from 3 million to 7 million. It is believed that about 250,000 live in Britain. That makes the United Kingdom third to Mexico and Canada as the foreign country most populated by Americans.

‘Expats feel estranged’

Two million to 3 million expatriates are eligible voters, says Steven Hill, senior analyst for the non-partisan Center for Voting and Democracy in San Francisco. The race is expected to be so tight in some states, such as Ohio, that expats could help determine the victor.

[...] “A lot of times, expats feel estranged from life in the United States,” Taylor says. “But we have a unique point of view of our country that needs to be heard because we are confronted daily with the effects of U.S policies abroad.”

The harrowingly narrow 2000 elections appear to have dispelled expats’ notions of estrangement. The Florida race, which Bush won by a razor-thin margin of 537 votes to claim the presidency, may have been decided by absentee overseas ballots. Dramatizing the impact of the expat vote even further was the controversy over military ballots that arrived postmarked beyond the acceptable deadline but were counted anyway, according to Hill. Analysis has shown that if not for the overseas absentee ballots, Gore would have won by 202 votes.

Here’s one ex-pat that’ll be casting her vote November 4th. I’ll be sure to harass the one other American I know up here to do the same.