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	<title>elfSPEAK</title>
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	<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak</link>
	<description>part magic, part mysticism, sugar &#38; sass, litany and profanity, complete with red and tangly, tasty bits . . .</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 22 Oct 2011 00:32:48 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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		<title>come hell or high bathwater</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/11/18/come-hell-or-high-bathwater/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/11/18/come-hell-or-high-bathwater/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:49:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Amityville Horror]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[April]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bathroom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bathtub]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blockage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Brazil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[camping]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[claw foot tub]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clusterfrak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[coinslot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Craig]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dan Aykroyd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[devil spawn]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Double Rainbow All The Way]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[drain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[drain rat]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[drainage pipes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[duct work]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fluid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hammer arrester]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jammies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[labyrinth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Lovett Services]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[M.C. Escher]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mrs. Loopner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[neighbor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Nerds Broken Fridge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pipes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plumber's crack]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plumbing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plunger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pressure]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Property Manager]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Saturday Night Live]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shower]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sink]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SNL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[surge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terry Gilliam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tub]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[washer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water hammering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[yoga]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1590</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Euugghh . . . plumbing. Whenever something leaks or makes noise or backs up, it conjures up the old SNL skit with Dan Aykroyd fixing the fridge for Mrs. Loopner (see the sight gag at 3:15 into the video). All I can think is, &#8220;great, this is going to be super expensive, the tech is [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_1591" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 204px"><a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/plumbercrack.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1591 " title="plumber's crack" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/plumbercrack.jpg" alt="Plumber's Crack" width="194" height="240" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Plumber&#39;s Crack</p></div>
<p>Euugghh . . . plumbing. Whenever something leaks or makes noise or backs up, it conjures up the old <a title="Hulu: Saturday Night Live—Nerds Broken Fridge" href="http://www.hulu.com/watch/4112/saturday-night-live-nerds-broken-fridge" target="_blank">SNL skit with Dan Aykroyd</a> fixing the fridge for Mrs. Loopner (<em>see the sight gag at 3:15 into the video</em>). All I can think is, &#8220;<span style="color: #b31f0e;"><em>great, this is going to be super expensive, the tech is never on time and they&#8217;re going to send some half-wit with his coinslot hanging out of his work pants tromping through my house and leaving a foul mess behind for me to clean up</em></span>.&#8221;</p>
<p>A few days ago my bath sink and tub were both slow to drain and I thought the liquid / gel plumber bottle I dumped in had them fixed. I think I only made the drain rat living down there more hungry and angry. I woke up one morning to Amityville Horror&#8211;dark clots and water rising OUT of my bath tub drain that filled to about 4 inches then gurgled and swirled back down slowly. I think I heard something chuckle menacingly at me once. And I don&#8217;t know about you, but not having a working shower / tub / sink / dishwasher when it&#8217;s all installed and should be working is maddening. When I&#8217;m out in the wilderness, fine, but I don&#8217;t like camping in my own home. Joe &amp; I had to shower at friend&#8217;s houses and our yoga studio for a few days.</p>
<div id="attachment_1592" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 250px"><a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/playmobil-plumber.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1592 " title="playmobil-plumber" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/playmobil-plumber.jpg" alt="Playmobil plumber" width="240" height="216" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Don&#39;t worry ma&#39;am everything is under control...hurr derp!</p></div>
<p>Turns out my neighbor had the same problem; it seems our drainage pipes are, uhh, intimately connected. We live in a house broke up into 4 independently owned condos built in 1913, i have an old, but nicely refinished claw foot tub, thus I fully expect plumbing nitemares. You should see our basement. The ceiling is a <a title="YouTube: Terry Gilliam's Movie Brazil - Plumbers' Nasty End " href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teufz17PqoY" target="_blank">labyrinth of duct work straight out of Brazil</a> and the pipes and plumbing are a recursive, confused tangle with no beginning or end. M.C. Escher would be proud. This is what my tech had in store for him.</p>
<p>When Craig called to say he had a job postponement &amp; would be by shortly in the am instead of the afternoon when I expected him, I said, &#8220;Well, that&#8217;s fine but it will have to be jammie time, I&#8217;m just waking up for the day.&#8221; He remarked that he didn&#8217;t bring his jammies but he&#8217;ll still do the job. This made me laugh. We were off to a good start.</p>
<p>Let me just say Craig was kind, conscientious and efficient. While here he even took a call from an irate woman on the phone and handled it with utter grace and diplomacy. He bravely navigated the clusterfrak that is our way old school plumbing. He went between both my place &amp; the neighbors to track down the blockage and make sure that our tubs weren&#8217;t backing up into each other and worked until both drains were clear and :: GASP! :: he even cleaned up after! My tub was free of devil spawn after-birth and my floor didn&#8217;t look like a military parade march came through. Double Rainbow All The Way! Win! Win!</p>
<p><strong> </strong></p>
<div id="attachment_1593" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 220px"><strong><strong><a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/plunger.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-1593 " title="plunger" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/plunger.png" alt="plunger" width="210" height="210" /></a></strong></strong><p class="wp-caption-text">you&#39;re my only friend . . .</p></div>
<p><strong>Extra Bonus Points</strong>: Craig even diagnosed an unrelated plumbing problem I asked him about.  I mentioned a loud banging sound from the pipes I get whenever I run the clothes washer. He said the &#8220;shhh-CHUNK&#8221; and rattling of the pipes that occurs is called water hammering and can be cheaply and easily remedied with something called a water hammer arrester (go figure).</p>
<p>I read that water hammering is &#8220;a pressure surge or wave resulting when a fluid in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly.&#8221; He pointed out where it does this at a tight bend just out of the hot water heater as well as just before our washer junction.  Now that I know this minor annoyance can be fixed I&#8217;ll get on it, because what I don&#8217;t want is that pressure wave from the noise and vibration to cause the pipe to collapse. We have enough water problems around here.</p>
<p>I got a few of his business cards and the next time the plumbing gets possessed, I&#8217;ll ask the Property Manager to call Craig back!</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>in need of some fussing and some nursing</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/11/08/in-need-of-some-fussing-and-some-nursing/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/11/08/in-need-of-some-fussing-and-some-nursing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 18:40:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[dreams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea E. Janda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[anger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[battle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[birth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[breast]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[comfort]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dream]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elfSPEAK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fussing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[girl]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[halo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[littleREDelf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love relationship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[man]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[milk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nursing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oregon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[power]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prophesied]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[protective]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[red bubble]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sadness]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[self-mothering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[warriors]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[weapon]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1572</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[::: I wanna fight for my own strength cracking through the pavement bones of harmony and flesh learning to see My skeleton of stone my heart of burning bone my rapturous tone my aching for home My dance upon my tomb my butterfly wings i&#8217;ve sewn my aching for home ::: — Burning Bone (feat. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;">:::</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b0241b;">I wanna fight for my own strength<br />
cracking through the pavement<br />
bones of harmony<br />
and flesh learning to see</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b0241b;">My skeleton of stone<br />
my heart of burning bone<br />
my rapturous tone<br />
my aching for home</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #b0241b;">My dance upon my tomb<br />
my butterfly wings i&#8217;ve sewn<br />
my aching for home</span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">:::</p>
<h6 style="text-align: center;">— <a href="http://lynx.bandcamp.com/track/burning-bone-feat-kyrstyn-pixton" target="_blank">Burning Bone (feat. Kyrstyn Pixton)</a><br />
from                  <a href="http://lynx.bandcamp.com/album/on-the-horizon" target="_blank">On the Horizon</a> by                                   <a href="http://www.lynxmusic.org/" target="_blank">LYNX</a></h6>
<p><a rel="http://www.flickr.com/photos/goetter/1589888020/" href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/nursing-baby-ladybug.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1573" style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 7px;" title="Armelle la coccinelle by Raphaël Goetter" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/nursing-baby-ladybug.jpg" alt="Armelle la coccinelle by Raphaël Goetter" width="240" height="240" /></a></p>
<p>Last nite i dreamed a child was born. An angry, powerful girl child meant for battle. A child somehow prophesied and meant to act as a weapon, a tool for humanity. I did not give birth to this child, i simply kept my distance and observed as all the wise men and women sought to coax her and train her. They staged miniature bouts between the child and those who thought themselves strong enough to get within striking distance. No one could and those who tried were thrown back from the child&#8217;s fiery, protective field, a red bubble, a halo of light that would build and erupt and push the intruder away as the child sounded with an ear-piercing cry.</p>
<p>I watched the warriors come and go and paced and thought and drew close to the child and gently removed the clutch of her handler from her tiny shoulder. I was well within range to destroy the child meant for service and greatness or murder and annihilation but i gathered the child instead to my barren breast which suddenly gave milk and comfort. I looked to the handler who nodded and closed his eyes and took the child with me for a walk through a field, which led us down a dirt road where i boarded a bus where a man sat beside me with open sea-green eyes and a gentle countenance. He put his arm about my shoulders and held us both and the child looked up at me and smiled.</p>
<p>No—it is not a longing for children. I am instead longing to soothe that angry, sad untempered part of me who has taken some damage lately and lashes out at all the wrong people, in all the wrong dimensions, and with wildly inordinate scales of heat.</p>
<p>I am listening to my dream language and i know what i must do. It involves some self-mothering. And some fussing and some nursing. To be sure.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Cry To Me</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/10/10/cry-to-me/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/10/10/cry-to-me/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 10 Oct 2010 23:22:06 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[death]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[drinking]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[photography]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea E. Jackman]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Andrea Jackman]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea Janda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Annapolis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cry To Me]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dearborn Heights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Detroit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Elaine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[elf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Friendship]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[littleREDelf]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[RED ELF]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Solomon Burke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wine]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1562</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Nothing could be sadder, than a glass of wine, all alone.&#8221; — Solomon Burke, Cry To Me Beg to differ honey, but i&#8217;ll miss your music&#8230; Solomon Burke, Cry To Me]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 366px"><a title="hey look! i'm a picasso! by littleREDelf, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/littleredelf/102730146/" target="_blank"><img style="margin: 5px 4px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/39/102730146_e9fe417653.jpg" alt="hey look! i'm a picasso!" width="356" height="500" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">hey look! i&#39;m a picasso!</p></div>
<p><em>&#8220;Nothing could be sadder, than a glass of wine, all alone</em>.&#8221; — <strong>Solomon Burke</strong>, <em><span style="color: #ff0000;">Cry To Me</span></em></p>
<p>Beg to differ honey, but i&#8217;ll miss your music&#8230;</p>
<p><strong><em>Solomon Burke</em>, <em>Cry To Me</em></strong></p>
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]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>moving on . . .</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/04/01/moving-on/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/04/01/moving-on/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:54:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gardening]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[travel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[weather]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work & employment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea E. Janda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[black]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[boxes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[compost]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Irvington]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[littleREDelf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[moving]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[office]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oregon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portland State Univeristy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[red]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[school]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spring]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tulips]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Winter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[work]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1547</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[yes. i know. it&#8217;s been since February . . .  but let me explain: we&#8217;ve moved our home from Southwest to Northeast Portland (from the South Burlingame to Irvington neighborhood). i&#8217;d barely finished Winter term when Spring Semester was already bursting through the ground (like those new black and red tulips i left behind and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/moving.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1546" style="border: 1px solid black;" title="moving" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/moving.jpg" alt="moving" width="314" height="320" /></a></p>
<p>yes. i know. it&#8217;s been since February . . .  but let me explain:<br />
we&#8217;ve moved our home from Southwest to Northeast Portland<br />
(from the South Burlingame to Irvington neighborhood).</p>
<p>i&#8217;d barely finished Winter term when Spring Semester was<br />
already bursting through the ground (like those new black<br />
and red tulips i left behind and the compost bin i had going.)<br />
that would&#8217;ve come in handy for some fresh gardening.</p>
<p>and soon, i will be helping my boss to move our office . . .<br />
Does the fun ever end?</p>
<p>i&#8217;ll tell you all the rest soon!</p>
<p>♥</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Wild Mercy</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/02/21/wild-mercy/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/02/21/wild-mercy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:02:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[nature]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[philosophy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poetry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea E. Janda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eyes]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[future]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[grace]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hands]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[heartbeats]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[life]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[littleREDelf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mercy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oregon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[praying]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert (2001)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[silent]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[space]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terry Tempest Williams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[time]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wild]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wilderness]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1538</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The eyes of the future are looking back at us and they are praying for us to see beyond our own time. They are kneeling with hands clasped that we might act with restraint, that we might leave room for the life that is destined to come. To protect what is wild is to protect [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=9187214"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1539" title="Spring by Andrey Vahrushew" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/spring.jpg" alt="Spring by Andrey Vahrushew" width="300" height="345" /></a></p>
<p>The eyes of the future are looking<br />
back at us and they are praying for us<br />
to see beyond our own time.  They<br />
are kneeling with hands clasped that<br />
we might act with restraint, that we<br />
might leave room for the life that is<br />
destined to come.  To protect what is<br />
wild is to protect what is gentle.<br />
Perhaps the wilderness we fear is the<br />
pause between our own heartbeats,<br />
the silent space that says we live only<br />
by grace.  Wilderness lives by this<br />
same grace.  Wild mercy is in our hands.</p>
<p>—<strong>Terry Tempest Williams<br />
</strong></p>
<h5><em>from </em><strong>Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert</strong> (2001)</h5>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<item>
		<title>lies, damned lies, and the &#8220;S&#8221; word</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/02/06/lies-damn-lies-and-the-s-word/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2010/02/06/lies-damn-lies-and-the-s-word/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Feb 2010 03:40:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[marriage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea E. Janda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrew Lang]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bachelors of Science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bourbon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[boxplot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chebyshev's Theorem]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cranium]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[devil's sentences]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Graph Jam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[graphs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Greek]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joe]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[littleREDelf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[MiniTab]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Murphy's Oil]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ogive]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poker]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[risk-analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[standardized tests]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[statistics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Stephen Colbert]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1510</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: ::: &#8220;He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts— for support rather than for illumination.&#8221; — Andrew Lang &#8220;Equations are the devil&#8217;s sentences.&#8221; — Stephen Colbert &#8220;Like other occult techniques of divination, the statistical method has a private jargon deliberately contrived to obscure its methods from nonpractitioners.&#8220; [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_1517" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 250px"><a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/statistics.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1517" title="statistics" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/statistics-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="240" height="180" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">the devil&#39;s sentences</p></div>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>:::        :::        :::     :::     :::     :::     :::     :::</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lampposts—<br />
for support rather than for illumination.&#8221; <em><br />
— <span style="color: #808080;">Andrew Lang</span><br />
</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;Equations are the devil&#8217;s sentences.&#8221; — <span style="color: #808080;"><em>Stephen Colbert</em></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">&#8220;Like other occult techniques of divination,<br />
the statistical method has a private jargon<br />
deliberately contrived to obscure<br />
its methods from nonpractitioners.<em>&#8220;</em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>— <span style="color: #808080;">Ashley-Perry Statistical Axioms quotes</span></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em> </em><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>:::        :::        :::     :::     :::     :::     :::     :::</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<div id="attachment_1525" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width: 260px"><a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/hardtoerase.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-1525" title="hate stats" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/hardtoerase.jpg" alt="hate stats" width="250" height="167" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">so many wasted erasers</p></div>
<p>i hate statistics. i hate it so much i&#8217;ve re-named it &#8220;<em>sadistics</em>.&#8221; i hate it so much i&#8217;d rather blog about it than DO it for class. i  loathe it so hard my husband had a good laugh at me. He came around the corner to find me with damp washcloth and spray bottle in hand, circling a kitchen table splayed out with books and erasers and graphing calculator and he cracked up. He noted that i was  purposefully avoiding doing the homework by cleaning the kitchen chairs. that&#8217;s  right, i&#8217;d rather wash wooden legs with Murphy&#8217;s oil and scrub food &amp; dinner  fart-laden seat upholstery than sit in front of numbers and formulas that after  awhile, just start to look like an invasion of picnic ants marching across a description of Greek whoredom.</p>
<div id="attachment_1518" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 410px"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPiGWqc1Kp8" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-1518   " title="funny-graphs-all-day" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/funny-graphs-all-day.gif" alt="joke circa 1982 from Todd Rungdren" width="400" height="307" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">humor circa 1983 Todd Rungdren song</p></div>
<p>My eyes begin to gloss over, i let my cheek slump into my hand. Propped up on my elbow, i allow my mouth to go slack and open into a balloon-shaped maw, all in an effort to allow more oxygen to get into the situation. Anything to tease the possible formula i&#8217;m supposed to use out of the useless and impertinent question being asked in the longest series of lamest story problems of all time. On any standardized test. Ever. i could be in the same state if i drank 3 fingers of bourbon. And i&#8217;d be having way more fun.</p>
<p>i&#8217;ve begun creatively insulting the theorists and their theorems.  <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chebyshev%27s_theorem" target="_blank">Chebyshev&#8217;s theorem</a><em>?</em> Nope. C<em>hubbynut&#8217;s Nonsense </em>(<em>it&#8217;s not my fault his first name is &#8220;Pafnuty&#8221;</em>). No joke.  It would take a Russian mad man with a crater on the moon named after him to make me do this crap. In order to get a BS Psychology. Emphasis on the BS.</p>
<p>i want to stab myself in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_plot">boxplot</a> with an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogive">ogive</a>. that, of course, being a  joke that perhaps only someone subjected to statistics would be able to  understand.</p>
<p>Which leads me to the only fun thing i learned so far . . .</p>
<p>Because i HAD to know the word origin for the <strong>ogive</strong> <strong>curve</strong>, turns out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogive" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> has this to say:</p>
<p><a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/statistics.gif"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1522" title="real statistics" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/statistics.gif" alt="" width="449" height="455" /></a>&#8220;In statistics, an ogive is a graph showing the curve of a cumulative distribution function (which, for the normal distribution, resembles one side of an Arabesque or ogival arch.&#8221;</p>
<p>An ogival or pointed arch is one of the defining characteristics of Gothic architecture.</p>
<p>Ogives are also used descriptively in ballistics or aerodynamics where an ogive is a pointed, curved surface mainly used to form the approximately streamlined nose of a bullet or other projectile as well as the complex ogives in missiles and aircraft.</p>
<p>Ogives are used in applied physical science, engineering, architecture, woodworking, geology, and yes – even statistics.</p>
<p>That concludes this episode of nerd notes . . . and now, you may have a better insight to my bad attempt at a stats joke, which is like, a monstrous exercise in futility. It does it all on its own. Writes itself, honey.</p>
<p>But what are the postitives? Will i be a better Poker player? i prefer Cranium. i get to act, solve puzzles and play with clay. Better able to understand and plot risk-analysis? i only do dangerous stuff to myself, not to others. (most of the time.) More equipped to look at those numerous, tiresome graphs, dots, squiggles, pointed notation marks and fluffy numbers and make perfect sense of psychological research. i. fucking. doubt it, son.</p>
<p>In fact, if it weren&#8217;t for Joe holding my hand through some of these problems and talking me through it (<em>and away from mathematical ledges</em>) i&#8217;m certain i wouldn&#8217;t be getting any of it at all.</p>
<p>Now let me make something clear . . . i don&#8217;t consider myself a dumb bunny. And to his credit, the teacher is excellent, clear, procedural, by the book and full of examples. Why my tiny squirrel brain can&#8217;t wrap my head around it all is well, probably mostly due to my obstinance. (<em>SEE above paragraphs</em>)</p>
<p>Then there&#8217;s the pretty graph making program called MiniTab (<em>MinorStab</em>) which i have to use in order to complete my Math Labs. I&#8217;ve decided i don&#8217;t want to trek out to school, find and pay for parking, hang out in a computer lab for an indefinite amount of time, be hungry, cranky and confused and have no means of escape, so i &#8220;rented&#8221; the program for 6 months for $30. Which is about all i&#8217;ll need to get through two semesters of it. And i can drink wine while i load data sets. Yeah. You got my number.</p>
<p>So—i&#8217;ll slog my way through it. I feel a low grade B fever coming on.</p>
<hr />
<h3 style="text-align: center;">In the meantime here&#8217;s some fun stats from <a title="raphJam: Music and Pop Culture in Charts and Graphs. Let us explain them" href="http://graphjam.com/" target="_blank">Graph Jam.com</a></h3>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/funny-graphs-maybe-im.gif"><img class="size-full wp-image-1528 alignnone" title="prince graph" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/funny-graphs-maybe-im.gif" alt="prince graph" width="421" height="348" /></a><a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/funny-graphs-university-education.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1529" title="university-education" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/funny-graphs-university-education.jpg" alt="university-education" width="504" height="321" /></a><br />
<a href="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/funny-graphs-university-education.jpg"></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>A Good Start</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2009/12/17/a-good-start/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2009/12/17/a-good-start/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:04:15 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[A Good Start]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea E. Janda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[littleREDelf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lyrics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Maria Taylor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[video]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1496</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[A Good Start — Maria Taylor You&#8217;re one with the burden of intuition. You&#8217;re one with the freedom of a blank stare. You&#8217;re one with the best friend you lost You wish was still there. You&#8217;re one with the dust on that old piano. You&#8217;re one with the strings on your new guitar. You&#8217;re one [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="350" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ey4xRqdlcg" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4ey4xRqdlcg"></embed></object></p>
<h2><span style="color: #ff0000;">A Good Start</span> — <em>Maria Taylor</em></h2>
<p>You&#8217;re one with the burden of intuition.<br />
You&#8217;re one with the freedom of a blank stare.<br />
You&#8217;re one with the best friend you lost<br />
You wish was still there.</p>
<p>You&#8217;re one with the dust on that old piano.<br />
You&#8217;re one with the strings on your new guitar.<br />
You&#8217;re one with the wind through the open window,<br />
You are.</p>
<p>It was a faint line that brought you here<br />
And a pulse that kept you in time.<br />
It was the comfort of a tradition<br />
Like the few that were not that kind.</p>
<p>And it&#8217;s a shame now, baby, you can&#8217;t<br />
See yourself, and everything you&#8217;re running from.<br />
And it&#8217;s the same world, honey, that has brought you down,<br />
As the one that&#8217;s gonna pick you up,<br />
And pick you up.</p>
<p>You&#8217;re one with the echos of conversation.<br />
You&#8217;re one with the strangers you overheard.<br />
You&#8217;re one with the lesson that was<br />
The best one you learned.</p>
<p>It was a faint line that brought you here<br />
And a pulse that kept you in time.<br />
It was the comfort of a tradition<br />
Like the few that were not that kind. (But you are.)</p>
<p>It&#8217;s a shame now, baby, you can&#8217;t<br />
See yourself, and everything you&#8217;re running from.<br />
And it&#8217;s the same world, honey, that has brought you down<br />
As the one that&#8217;s gonna pick you up,<br />
And pick you up.</p>
<p>It was a long, dark, sleepy morning walk.<br />
You fell down, facing up.<br />
It was a good start.<br />
It was a good start.</p>
<p>It was a long, dark, sleepy morning walk.<br />
You fell down, facing up.<br />
It was a good start.<br />
It was a good start.</p>
<p>And it&#8217;s a shame now, baby, you can&#8217;t<br />
see yourself, and everything you&#8217;re running from.<br />
And it&#8217;s the same world, honey, that has brought you down<br />
As the one that&#8217;s gonna pick you up.</p>
<p>And it&#8217;s a shame now, baby, you can&#8217;t separate<br />
Yourself from where you&#8217;ve stood.<br />
And it&#8217;s the same world, honey, made you feel so bad<br />
As the one that makes you feel so good,<br />
Feel so good.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2009/11/27/she-had-some-horses-by-joy-harjo/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2009/11/27/she-had-some-horses-by-joy-harjo/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:53:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[poetry]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea E. Janda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blood]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blue sky]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bodies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[books]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[breasts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clay]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Creek Stomp Dance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cried]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[destruction]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fur]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[glass houses]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[horses]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Joy Harjo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[knees]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[knives]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[littleREDelf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mother]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[name]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[night]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ocean]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[queens]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[quiet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rape]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[razor blades]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[red]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[resurrection]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sand]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[save]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[savior]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[She Had Some Horses]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[silence]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[speak]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[spirit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stars]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[teeth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[thighs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tongues]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[truth]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[voice]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1433</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[She Had Some Horses She had some horses. She had horses who were bodies of sand. She had horses who were maps drawn of blood. She had horses who were skins of ocean water. She had horses who were the blue air of sky. She had horses who were fur and teeth. She had horses [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2><a title="She Had Some Horses poetry by Joy Harjo" href="http://www.amazon.com/She-Had-Some-Horses-Poems/dp/039333421X/" target="_blank"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1439" title="She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/joyharjo2.jpg" alt="She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo" width="347" height="350" /></a></h2>
<h3><span style="color: #ff0000;">She Had Some Horses</span></h3>
<p>She had some horses.</p>
<p>She had horses who were bodies of sand.<br />
She had horses who were maps drawn of blood.<br />
She had horses who were skins of ocean water.<br />
She had horses who were the blue air of sky.<br />
She had horses who were fur and teeth.<br />
She had horses who were clay and would break.<br />
She had horses who were splintered red cliff.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">She had some horses.</p>
<p>She had horses with long, pointed breasts.<br />
She had horses with full, brown thighs.<br />
She had horses who laughed too much.<br />
She had horses who threw rocks at glass houses.<br />
She had horses who licked razor blades.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">She had some horses.</p>
<p>She had horses who danced in their mothers&#8217; arms.<br />
She had horses who thought they were the sun and their bodies shone and burned like stars.<br />
She had horses who waltzed nightly on the moon.<br />
She had horses who were much too shy, and kept quiet in stalls of their own making.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">She had some horses.</p>
<p>She had horses who liked Creek Stomp Dance songs.<br />
She had horses who cried in their beer.<br />
She had horses who spit at male queens who made them afraid of themselves.<br />
She had horses who said they weren&#8217;t afraid.<br />
She had horses who lied.<br />
She had horses who told the truth, who were stripped bare of their tongues.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">She had some horses.</p>
<p>She had horses who called themselves, &#8220;horse.&#8221;<br />
She had horses who called themselves, &#8220;spirit.&#8221; and kept their voices secret and to themselves.<br />
She had horses who had no names.<br />
She had horses who had books of names.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">She had some horses.</p>
<p>She had horses who whispered in the dark, who were afraid to speak.<br />
She had horses who screamed out of fear of the silence, who carried knives to protect themselves from ghosts.<br />
She had horses who waited for destruction.<br />
She had horses who waited for resurrection.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">She had some horses.</p>
<p>She had horses who got down on their knees for any savior.<br />
She had horses who thought their high price had saved them.<br />
She had horses who tried to save her, who climbed in her bed at night and prayed as they raped her.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">She had some horses.</p>
<p>She had some horses she loved.<br />
She had some horses she hated.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">These were the same horses.</p>
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">
<p style="margin-left:0.5in;text-indent:-0.25in;">~<strong> <em>Joy Harjo</em></strong></p>
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		<title>Sustainable Bleeding – or Eco-Friendly Menstruation</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2009/11/18/sustainable-bleeding-or-eco-friendly-menstruation/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2009/11/18/sustainable-bleeding-or-eco-friendly-menstruation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:08:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[humor]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[alcohol]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Always]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea E. Janda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[animal testing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[aquatic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[asbestos]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[beach]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[birds fish]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bleed]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bleeding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blood clot]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[blood orange]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bunnies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Carrie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cervix]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[clean-up on aisle one]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cleopatra]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consumer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cotton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cuterus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DDE]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Dicie Cup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dioxins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Diva cup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[dolphins]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[eco-angst]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[euphemisms]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ewage treatment plants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[F-16]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[feminine hygiene]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Femmecup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fungicides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[genetic engineering]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[go with the flow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Great Pacific Garbage Patch]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[happy period]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[have a happy period]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[herbicides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[high-density polyethylene (HDPE)]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hybrid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hydrogen peroxide]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[hypo-allergenic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ice cream]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[insertion]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Instead Softcup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[irradiation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jade and Pearl Sea Sponge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[junior]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Keepercup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kitty Has  A Noseblled]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Kotex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[lady bits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[LadyCup]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[mermaid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Miacup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mild]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[miniature golf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[minipad]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mooncup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mythological]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Natracare]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nurdles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[O.B.]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Oregon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[organic]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Out Of Order]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pantiliners]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[perfume-free]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[period]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pesticides]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[petrochemicals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[plankton]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Playtex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pMS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ponies]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poop]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Portland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prim]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[prom]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PTSD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[purse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rayon]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[regular]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rubbing alcholo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[salmon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sea sponge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[secrecy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Seventh Generation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sewage sludge]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shame]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sit on a sock]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smiling]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[snatch basket]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[sorbet]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[super]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[super plus]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[surfing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sustainable]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[swimming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[taboo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tampex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tampon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tommee Tippee Cup]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[toxic shock syndrome]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[TSS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tulip]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[war]]></category>
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		<category><![CDATA[Yoni]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Zippo]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1389</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Panty shields up, Captain! We&#8217;re rebooting the Ovarian Operating System . . . I know, the title of this blog alone makes you want to click fast and away. But I have to tell you a tale of consumer eco-angst removed from the simple and often expensive decision to buy local, organic products and food. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h3><img class="size-full wp-image-1411 aligncenter" style="border: 1px solid black; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;" title="I'm A Woman!" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/im_a_woman2.png" alt="I'm A Woman!" width="275" height="399" /></h3>
<h3>Panty shields up, Captain! We&#8217;re rebooting the Ovarian Operating System . . .</h3>
<p>I know, the title of this blog alone makes you want to click fast and away.  But I have to tell you a tale of consumer eco-angst removed from the simple and often expensive decision to buy local, organic products and food. But first, a little herstory . . .</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1394" style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 5px;" title="tampons make you lose your virginity!" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/tampon.jpg" alt="tampons make you lose your virginity!" width="200" height="374" />There&#8217;s already been enough shame, secrecy, and taboo surrounding &#8220;that time of the month&#8221; and all the other fine euphemisms invented to be humourous or circumspect about the mystery of menstruation. There are countries where tampons weren&#8217;t and still aren&#8217;t sold because you&#8217;d have to &#8220;touch down there.&#8221; There are women who follow this practice willingly, even in forward thinking countries. They build huts and red tents and spas for this exact purpose. To wear pampers or to be pampered. Elsewhere.</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s moved beyond that to a place where we&#8217;re supposed to celebrate and &#8220;<a href="http://www.always.com/mom/boostmood.jsp" target="_blank">have a happy period</a>,&#8221; a campaign from a company that stupidly chose their brand name to be &#8220;Always.&#8221; As in, &#8220;I&#8217;ll ALWAYS bleed, and I&#8217;ll ALWAYS wear these things.&#8221; At least Kotex, Tampex, and Playtex (<em>all with –ex as a suffix to mean &#8220;out, from or away&#8221;</em>) sound almost medical or medicinal. And it&#8217;s not ALL feminine hygiene, even wounded soldiers are prone to use a  tampon <em>(French for &#8220;plug&#8221; or &#8220;stopper&#8221;</em>) to halt bullet wounds from weeping. &#8220;Always&#8221; doesn&#8217;t seem to imply medical or even chronic, instead, it implies a life sentence. Doesn&#8217;t your uterus protest? Well it should. War is hell and there&#8217;s a war in your drawers and the sick folks at Always were also responsible for aerodynamic pantyliners and pads. That&#8217;s right – they got your code red covered in homeland security and you can feel secure each month knowing there&#8217;s a little, white F-16 in your pants.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not just a troubling war at home either . . . it&#8217;s covers many land masses and miles of ocean.</p>
<h3>Spastic Plastic</h3>
<p>Your average lady uses 16,800 tampons in her lifetime, that&#8217;s 250 to 300 pounds of tampons and applicators. Tag on a few thousand pads and panty liners, and your ecological footprint is looking more like Sasquatch. Of particular offense are the plastic applicators some tampons are encased in. They are casually tossed into wastebaskets where they later escape the curb trash or landfill, trotted off by animals, resurfacing in parking lots and playgrounds and a host of other locations you&#8217;d rather not see them appear.</p>
<p>They come back from the watery depths to haunt you, too.</p>
<p>Plastic tampon applicators from sewage outfalls are one of the most common forms of trash on beaches. Yeah, you thought <img class="alignright size-full wp-image-1395" style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 5px;" title="angry uterus" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/angry-uterus.png" alt="angry-uterus" width="350" height="270" />food wrappers and glass bottles and needles were the only gross &amp; hazardous materials washing out to sea and coming back in with the tides. You flush them and that&#8217;s just the beginning. For building owners, pads and tampons that are flushed down the toilet are the most common cause of plumbing problems. Further down the flow, they end up the sewage treatment plants and surf into a lake or onto a river, and on into the ocean where they pool with the rest of the plastic detritus at the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxNqzAHGXvs" target="_blank">Great Pacific Garbage Patch</a>. There it all sits and breaks down into ever smaller particles until they are the size and color of plankton or worse, are pelletized high-density polyethylene (HDPE) white &#8220;nurdles&#8221; that resemble fish eggs or food to sea creatures. Then the birds and fish ingest these hormone disrupters and concentrated toxins like PCB and DDE and the circle of life gets a big kick in the nurdles.</p>
<p>But it&#8217;s not just the animals somewhat removed from you, you&#8217;re an animal too, and guess what it&#8217;s doing to you by directly inserting it? Your conventional feminine hygiene products contain a mixture of rayon and cotton. Rayon is in your blouses, dresses, lingerie, linings, scarves, suits, ties, hats, socks, the filling in Zippo lighters, blankets, window treatments, upholstery, tire cord, yarn and diapers. It&#8217;s highly absorbent but no good at retaining shape and as far as biodegradability goes, it&#8217;s a real loser. Most importantly, synthetic materials like the Rayon used in tampons show an increased risk of toxic shock syndrome (TSS), particularly for superabsorbent tampons. So if you&#8217;re a bleeder, you&#8217;re a feeder.</p>
<p>And sweet, white cotton isn&#8217;t much better up in there. Cotton is highly pesticide-intensive; 25% of pesticides used globally are devoted to growing cotton. To achieve that lily-white look, pads and tampons are bleached with chlorine, a process which creates dioxins, a known carcinogen and those bad boys shouldn&#8217;t be placed anywhere near your reproductive organs. And you swear you never smoked a cigar in your life. Especially in a donkey show.</p>
<h3>Think Outside the (Tampon) Box</h3>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1400" style="margin: 5px;" title="mr. menstruation" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/i-dub-thee-mr-menstruation.png" alt="mr. menstruation" width="430" height="286" />It&#8217;s getting easier to select tampons, pads, and panty liners made from organic, unbleached cotton which is cultivated without the use of pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, sewage sludge, irradiation, petrochemicals, or genetic engineering. All of which we now have think about when looking at the towering isle of soothing, pastel colors, reminding us that yes – we&#8217;ll be back out there swimming, riding ponies, surfing at the beach and smiling while playing miniature golf in NO time.</p>
<p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>O.B. tampons</strong></span>:  small box, no applicator. Compact, simple cellophane wrapper covering them, easy to use, and take up very little room in your purse. It is unfathomable, but some women simple aren&#8217;t down with getting that up close and personal with their own lady bits and maybe getting their finger a little spotty. Come on darlings – this is no time to be prim and squeamish. If you haven&#8217;t seen it in a mirror to understand how it goes together and pushed the buttons to see how it works, you don&#8217;t deserve to have sex and should just hang an &#8220;Out Of Order&#8221; sign over your girdle loop. Get over it. Get into it. It&#8217;s yours. Deal.</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #ff0000;">OG-style Tampax</span></strong>: wrapped in paper, cardboard applicator that breaks down relatively quickly if they happen to get loose in the environment. Preferable to the Pearl brand, which has an indestructible plastic applicator strong enough for shotgun shell casings and is then further wrapped in coated paper. Awesome. Go ahead. Try running them over with your car. You can&#8217;t destroy them. They&#8217;ll only get dirty . . . and more angry. That plastic rocket launcher is just one more wasteful obstacle between you and your nana. I don&#8217;t even want to go into the perfumed varieties. Now on top of your plastic fetish, you&#8217;re going to open a vapor-impermeable pouch and stick this vulcanized, alcohol soaked albino vampire into your hoo-ha where no one and nothing but your senseless cervix can smell it? Well it doesn&#8217;t work and now you smell of lightly talcumed meat. Fail. p.s. Talc is closely related to the potent carcinogen asbestos and talc particles have been shown to cause tumors in the ovaries and lungs of cancer victims. So hey &#8211; go easy on sprinkling the Johnson&#8217;s about your leaky basement. It&#8217;s a safety hazard. You&#8217;ll slip and fall. No need to announce &#8220;clean-up on aisle one.&#8221;</p>
<p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>Natracare and Seventh Generation</strong></span>: chemical-free, non chlorine-bleached, simple packaging which means even less waste. Eco-conscious enough with all the key ingredient and disclaimers including no animal-testing and skin-tested only on fellow humans. You can sleep well in the knowledge that no bunnies had to hop about with a maxi pad strapped to their fluffy bums and instead, some nice lady in a lab got itchy a few times. This is still within the normal scope of your monthly cycle.</p>
<p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>Jade and Pearl Sea Sponge</strong></span><span style="color: #000000;">: </span>natural tampons inspired by the traditional use of sponges by menstruating women of ancient times. So if you want to bleed like Cleopatra, this is your bag. The Egyptians invented the tampon too – so you can thank them for that little wonder. Sea sponges are available in Teenie, Regular, and Large and you precision(?) fit to size by trimming the sea sponge and experimenting with insertion. Wow. Try not to think about doing dishes or wiping counters or a nice hot sponge bath because really, I can&#8217;t see how this is either sanitary OR relaxing. So Sally, if you&#8217;re worried about sullying up the seashore, (welcome to my new menstrual tongue twister) this is all the rage amongst mythological aquatic creatures. Apparently, sea sponges are what mermaids use.</p>
<p><span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong><img class="size-full wp-image-1397 alignright" style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 3px 5px;" title="Period Panties" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/period_panties_1.gif" alt="Period Panties" width="200" height="260" />Menstrual Cups – i.e.: Diva cup, Mooncup, Instead Softcup, Lunette, Keepercup, LadyCup, Femmecup, Miacup</strong></span>: Ok. Here&#8217;s where I drawn the line. This ain&#8217;t a Dixie Cup, or a Sippie Cup, a Tommee Tippee Cup or an Ice Cream Cup. This is none of those fun, sweet, childlike associations. But I trust you probably got over that the first time you sprung a leak and wrecked your favorite Underroos or your expensive lingerie for failing to count the days. Maybe I just haven&#8217;t been brave enough to go with a new, miserable experience, but let me get this straight . . . i fold a plastic, rubbery cup into a jelly roll, insert this, it pops open like a tulip, i &#8220;stir&#8221; it around to make sure the umbrella&#8217;s been fully deployed, which may take some coaxing and pushing and twisting, and then I pull it out by its dangling tail at intervals, wash it and reinsert it like tiny, portable Tupper Ware?!?!</p>
<p>Oh, <span style="color: #ff0000;"><em>hell</em></span> no!</p>
<p>i am not about to wash my snatch basket in the sink (<em>and carry special, mild, perfume-free, hypo-allergenic fem soap</em>) in between classes or you know, when i take a restroom break to freshen up while out to dinner. i mean, how does one do this discreetly? Oh, and once a month, i get the distinct displeasure of a 5-minute boil for my little traveling jellyfish at the end of the cycle in some dedicated kitchen equipment that never sees food. Or, hey, i can use rubbing alcohol (<em>and not hydrogen peroxide</em>) to sterilize it. But I have to be extremely careful not to soak it too long and allow it to dry completely and not degrade the integrity of the plastic and rinse the residue so I don&#8217;t fuck up my vaginal pH.</p>
<p>O.B. tampons sounding better all the time, huh? Can you imagine wringing out your sea sponge? Wouldn&#8217;t you rather &#8220;touch it&#8221; now?</p>
<h3>Go With The Flow</h3>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-1402" style="margin: 5px;" title="happy tampon" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/happy-tampon.png" alt="happy tampon" width="250" height="250" />There was a time when i worked at a place so uptight, they wouldn&#8217;t allow the female staff to carry in a purse. Whether this was for security or to keep outside worldly distractions such as cell phones to a minimum was unclear, but the idea completely incensed my friend Nicole.</p>
<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; she snapped. &#8220;Where are you supposed to carry your tampons, up your ass?&#8221;</p>
<p>i explained to her how bad the work environment sucked and how tension and impossible precision reigned, thus, the topic of anal retention seemed a very fitting description. The job had me so upset, i couldn&#8217;t poop for a week. Then i quit.</p>
<p>And many light flow days from then, here i was on a Wednesday nite, standing there in the supermarket isle, paralyzed by too many choices and horrible, far-reaching consequences of those attempts at informed decision. There i was: hungry, cranky, wanting ice cream and a heating pad at the same time, thinking about plumbing, and ocean waters and marine life and cancer of the Yoni.</p>
<p>i turn to the woman next to me who is clicking and sucking at her teeth in audible consternation, just like me, and we both smile nervously, amazed at the mini internal crisis over what we&#8217;re going to buy. Neither of us will move first, both seem to be wondering how the other will select, looking for a brave trend to follow. Somehow, there&#8217;s a preposterous sense of worry over being  judged, like bringing a film or a music cd or a book to the checkout clerk, the fear of choosing poorly, unwisely, without taste or sensibilities. &#8220;Hmmm,&#8221; she says. &#8220;Yeahhhhh,&#8221; I mutter slowly and drawn out. And we both start giggling.</p>
<h3>My cup of joy is overflowing</h3>
<p>I consider my internal flowchart for assessing absorbency needs:<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-1404" style="border: 1px solid black; margin: 5px;" title="cuterus - the adorable uterus" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/cuterus.png" alt="cuterus - the adorable uterus" width="300" height="178" /></p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;">junior</span> – aww, isn&#8217;t that cute, you inked!</p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;">light</span> – Miss Kitty has a nose bleed.</p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;">regular</span> – oh, yay. my period&#8217;s back.</p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;">super</span> – omg that&#8217;s a lot of blood.</p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;">super plus</span> – jesus, maybe you should go to the hospital!</p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;">ultra</span> – uhh, i think that blood clot just asked for a cigarette.</p>
<p>i am looking for regular. Just something in between, just a few tampons, a starter pack, a holdover since i don&#8217;t see any of my normal go-tos. And all they have is &#8220;<em>a mere scratch</em>&#8221; or &#8220;<em>Carrie – Prom Scene</em>.&#8221;</p>
<p>So i think of the dolphins and the salmon and the seabirds and i grab the 10-pack with the small, recyclable cardboard box and no applicator with the green looking package and eco-claims to fame and the woman next to me does the same. Just enough to soldier on.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s all i can do, really. If i don&#8217;t want to leave with anymore acronyms. Say, add PTSD to my PMS. Christ Almighty in a hybrid – i can&#8217;t even <span style="color: #ff0000;"><strong>BLEED</strong></span> with out feeling guilty about it in my new sustainable world concept! i leave with my chlorine-free, biodegradable, non-applicator, no plastic, rayon-free tampons and my razors (<em>which are free from animal testing</em>) and a pint of, yes, sorry, blood orange sorbet, and it&#8217;s a good thing. While i&#8217;m happily eating my cool treat, i don&#8217;t need to imagine poor, naked bunnies hopping around with razor burn and nicks with only a maxi-pad to keep them warm. And after all this guilt, i just want to sandwich a washcloth and tuck it in my drawers or just sit on a sock and call it good.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/08/03/funny-pictures-i-not-has-a-pms/" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1406" title="ICHC - i not has a pms! k." src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/funny-pictures-girl-lion-yells-at-boy-lion.jpg" alt="ICHC - i not has pms! k." width="499" height="313" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mum.org/" target="_blank"><strong> Museum of Menstruation and Women&#8217;s Health</strong></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>for all your bleeding needs . . .</em></p>
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		<title>Goodbye Stranger</title>
		<link>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2009/11/17/goodbye-stranger/</link>
		<comments>http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/2009/11/17/goodbye-stranger/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:02:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>littleREDelf</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[friends]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[love]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[music]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[psychology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[relationships]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Andrea E. Janda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Goodbye Stranger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jane]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[littleREDelf]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[loss]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Mary]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[paradise]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shining]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sorrow]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supertramp]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[tomorrow]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/?p=1376</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Goodbye stranger it&#8217;s been nice Hope you find your paradise Tried to see your point of view Hope your dreams will all come true Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane Will we ever meet again Feel no sorrow, feel no shame Come tomorrow, feel no pain And I will go on shining Shining like brand new I&#8217;ll [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vincentnoir.deviantart.com/art/woman-in-the-rain-reloaded-130096422" target="_blank"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1377" title="Woman In The Rain" src="http://littleredelf.com/elfspeak/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/woman_in_the_rain.jpg" alt="Woman In The Rain" width="350" height="350" /></a></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">Goodbye stranger it&#8217;s been nice<br />
Hope you find your paradise<br />
Tried to see your point of view<br />
Hope your dreams will all come true<br />
Goodbye Mary, Goodbye Jane<br />
Will we ever meet again<br />
Feel no sorrow, feel no shame<br />
Come tomorrow, feel no pain</h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">And I will go on shining<br />
Shining like brand new<br />
I&#8217;ll never look behind me<br />
My troubles will be few</h3>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">~ <em><strong>Supertramp</strong></em></h4>
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