Once upon a time there was a fairy princess named Lorena. Princess Lorena was imprisoned by the Evil King Hardage in the Woodfin Castle in a Kingdom called Emeryville. She was made to scrub and polish and vacuum at whirlwind speed, so fast that she could barely see. Even worse, the modest allowance she received was barely enough to cover her basic needs, never mind a doctor to look at her achy back.

After many years of this treatment, a ray of light appeared. The Kingdom of Emeryville had begun toying with the idea of Democracy, and its subjects were cautiously allowed an opinion as to the treatment of imprisoned fairy princesses. The Kingdom decreed that said persons should be paid no less than $9 hourly, and that they should not be required to clean at whirlwind speed but instead at a reasonable, steady pace.

This was excellent news for Princess Lorena. She whirled of her own accord – a whirl of glee, not of backbreaking, underpaid labor. Unfortunately, King Hardage wasn’t nearly as happy. He simmered and stewed and plotted and planned until he came up with an idea: he would ignore the decree. He was King, after all, and had lots of money and power and, well, aren’t kings supposed to be evil?

Princess Lorena sighed and continued scrubbing and polishing and vacuuming, still at whirlwind speed and still for a modest allowance. However, she began to notice something: there were other fairy princesses in the Woodfin Castle, and a few princes, and even a good witch or two. They were all victims of the evil King Hardage, and together they could outwit him. They simmered and stewed and plotted and planned until they came up with an idea: they would work in solidarity until they were treated justly. They held press conferences! They signed petitions! The spoke to the People, and demanded that the decree be upheld.

The princesses and princes and good witches enraged King Hardage. His wrath was felt from one end of the Kingdom to the other. The People were scared, and forgot about their decree. Princess Lorena and her friends were terrified, but they knew that their cause was just. They bravely stood their ground, until King Hardage threw them out of the Woodfin Castle, claiming that they were in the wrong Kingdom anyway and that he didn’t know why he had imprisoned them in the first place.

Well, there’s one thing scarier than being overworked and underpaid, and that’s not working and not being paid. But the Princess and her friends bravely carried on, supporting those who were left in the Castle, and demanding the money they were owed. King Hardage became even more furious, and summoned an army that he called Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The army, which was comprised of a vicious group of hooligans, did its very best to scare everyone away. Princess Lorena and her friends were again terrified, but still they knew their cause was just.

The next part is yet to come, but the Princess and her friends need your help! Pay close attention to the clues, and you’ll see what to do.

All the people in the Kingdom and in the kingdoms all around it gathered together to say that they would not tolerate worker injustice! They insisted that the Woodfin Castle pay the money owed to the workers who had scrubbed and polished and vacuumed at whirlwind speed. They met on Monday, November 17th, 2008, beginning at 5 PM at the Woodfin Castle, which is located at 5800 Shellmound Street in the Kingdom of Emeryville. They marched and picketed and yelled until they were heard all through the land, and then they arrived at the Emeryville City Council meeting to demand that the decree be upheld.

Princess Lorena and her friends were awarded their back pay, and even returned to their jobs. They didn’t forget their struggle, though. The lived happily ever after, in solidarity with all workers in all kingdoms everywhere.

Source: my new favorite corner of the internets, xkcd.

Purchased at MomocA, crafted by Nicacelly.

Obama won the presidential election tonight! Aside from being thrilled and relieved, I’m also now free to reflect on the political climate in my current locale.

Living in San Francisco is like being on another planet. To use the popular color-based analysis of political leanings, my world is blue. Naming a sewage plant after a US president, no matter how incompetent that individual may be, is just plain weird. Having a ballot measure that would legalize prostitution — with the goal of protecting sex workers, not increasing the tax base — is also pretty crazy. Crazy in a good, forward-thinking way, though.

I can safely say that every one of my 26 coworkers voted Democrat, even though I am not employed by a social justice organization. I can also report that I haven’t seen a single McCain poster, brochure, magnet, or other such endorsement in the entire city. Not one, from the beginning to the end of the campaign. I know there are Republicans in San Francisco — maybe 5 or so? However, I have no idea where they’re hiding. While this is admittedly an indicator of my affinity for certain areas, it’s still pretty bizzare. I’ve lived in nine cities in six states, and I’ve never before observed a total lack of bipartisanship.

The politics of the rest of the country are clearly not reflected here, maybe to the point of being statistically impossible. I also acknowledge that, in this culture, it is probably difficult to be conservative. But guess what? I like it here. I like it a lot. I like the fact that, having seen a college classmate burst into tears after hearing a homophobic diatribe from a future Miss America, I live in a city where a newsworthy problem is this: the Castro is so gay its residents can’t live in peace, because buses full of gaping tourists won’t leave them alone. I also like that our wacky mayor with his wacky hair has been mocked and/or vilified for everything from banning bottled water at City Hall to disallowing drugstores from selling tobacco products.

I know that the world, including San Francisco, can always be a better place. There is work that must be done to make that happen. Tonight, though, I am taking a step back to say that I love being here. Thank you, San Francisco, for being so improbably cozy.

Happy Election Day! Sadly, this time around there are no Medical Anthropologists on the ballot, but San Francisco does have a measure proposing that the sewage plant be renamed in honor of George W. Bush. However, I must say that neither anthropologists nor sewage plants quite live up to San Francisco’s attempt last year to have the federally controlled island of Alcatraz designated a “Peace Center”.

Seriously, though, this year has been pretty intense. I just cast 8 federal, 13 state, and 22 city/county votes via absentee ballot, and there’s a lot at stake. From Obama to yet another attempt to require parental notification for abortion to EVIL DISCRIMINATORY HOMOPHOBIA (Prop 8 makes me a tiny bit livid), we’ve got enough crazy stuff out there to make me nervous. However, I did remember to maximize the utilization of my available resources (a corporate-sounding word for “friends”) while choosing my voting strategy. Many thanks to Brooke, Sanjay, and Google!

In other news: check out this picture of George Bush eating a kitten.

California @ Davis, SF.

My camera broke some time ago. By “some time ago”, I actually mean something like a year ago. This was a real bummer, because I enjoy taking pictures. A lot. I’m not a professional photographer, and never will be, but photography makes me happy for reasons I’m not fully able to understand. The evidence is here.

When my camera broke, I was on the cusp of gainful employment, and in no position to buy a replacement. However, I’ve been carefully considering the idea for some time, and am finally checking out my options.

Considerations:

1. Point and shoot vs. DSLR. My previous model was a point and shoot. It served me very well, and I had no complaints save for one really, really annoying one: shutter speed. It sucks to be taking a photo of something happening temporarily and thinking “take the picture! take the picture! take it nownownownow!!!!!” A DSLR wouldn’t have this problem, and would also have more versatility and the capacity to take higher quality photos. Verdict: I’m going for the upgrade. DSLR it is.
2. Brand. Nikon? Canon? Do any other reputable DSLR brands exist? If so, no one I know owns one. I’m pretty comfortable shooting on a Nikon, so I’m leaning in that direction. In fact, my friend Brooke of the Lovely Photos was kind enough to take me on a test run with her Nikon D40 the other day. I was very happy with its performance, as well as the results. For an example, see above.
3. Gear. Lenses, lenses, lenses. This is largely where you get the versatility. However, look at this. It’s a pretty picture, but ack! What to buy? What to buy? Also, I think I could offer to trade my firstborn child for some of these lenses, and they’d still want a genetic screening to see if the trade was worthwhile.
4. Strategy. Brooke sagely advised me to consider just buying the camera body along with the lens of my choice, unless I’m sure I’d be happy with the basic one that usually comes with it. Yes, this is smart, but it adds another layer of confusion. Would I be happy with the standard lens? If so, that would be fortuitously cheaper. If I evaluate the question and honestly decide “no”, then which of that mountain of options do I want?

As you can see, I have an exciting purchase to make. However, I’m also vastly confused. I’m usually an impulse buyer. When shopping, I enter a store, scan the entire place in 5-10 minutes, and know whether I want anything. Having to consider a bunch of important factors is making me edgy. Someone tell me what to do. Exactly what to do. Please?

Via demotivate.info.

Presenting: ramen!

Photo by heyjoewhereyougoinwiththatguninyourhand

Like many poverty-stricken college students, I ate a bunch of this back in the day. However, I developed a taste for it that has transcended the trauma of reliving cash flow problems. Even more weirdly, I don’t even eat it soup-style. For me, it’s just the noodly goodness without seasoning.

Therefore, here are my options for dinner:

1. Cook something
2. Get takeout from the reallyreally good Thai place around the corner (open till 3 AM!)
3. Get takeout from one of the 10 gazillion Indian places within a block of my place (1 of which is open 24 hours!)
4. Get takeout from one of the 47 thousand gazillion other restaurants within walking distance of my place
5. Eat ramen noodles with no seasoning

Guess what’s winning out lately? Mmm, Orangina and ramen. A winning combination.