Dear Diary . . . day by day

Friday October 6th - Don't cry for me/ Random Blocks/ Rancho Relaxo
Burning Man
Photo Gallery
2000 I've been extremely emotional this week. Seriously, I will be all happy and la-di-da and the most miniscule thing will go wrong and it suddenly seems like the end of the world, and I burst into tears and cannot stop crying.
David might jokingly tell you that I'm like that all the time, but I'm really not. I mean, I know I cry easily, but usually I have SOME control over it. I am happily blaming my hormones on this. Somewhere, deep down in my logical brain I know there's no reason to get so upset, but up top I'm bawling and there's really no stopping it. I hate it.
Anyway, that was last night, and no, not all night long, just a couple of weepy moments there towards the end. Maybe it's the combination of exhaustion and hormones that make me get so cranky/weepy late at night while I menstruate, although I suppose I did cry for no reason in the middle of the day on Tuesday . . .
I was listening to the radio today and they were discussing a policy in Indianapolis where cops can stop every car and have their dogs sniff them for drugs. They were talking about this as if it were a new thing, but I certainly remember random road blocks growing up/as a teenager/young adult. Anyone who has gone to a Phish or Grateful Dead/Further Festival at Deer Creek can tell you all about random road blocks; most of the locals know what exit to get off and what country roads to take to avoid those road blocks. I've been in the car while we waiting in line to have our car checked, and I've seen women/girls use pot baggies like tampons in desperation. Yeah. The cops are BORED in Indiana, folks, and it's a damn conservative state. They LOooove catching those eeeviiil pot smokers and throwing them in jail for some shake in the bottom of a baggie. It's disgusting; it's not like the pot one can obtain in Indiana has any real drug-like qualities anyway; all you can buy is Mexican Freeze-Dried, which is just above smoking oregano. But the righteousness of these cops is what gets me: they treat all young people as if they're just drug addicts who haven't been caught yet. Whether you smoke pot or not, have any on you or not, if you're young and/or "funny looking" (read: wearing "hippie" clothing) you cringe when a cop car passes you and you don't speed and you stop at every light and you try to drive just right, 'cause they'll pull you over for the slightest reason and they'll search you car if they can figure out some plausible excuse. Hell, plausible if you're lucky. You have no rights in Indiana.
Anyway, the radio host was horrified, of course, and people were calling in with, "What's next? Random searches of homes?" There's a lot of talk these days about how much government we want/need/are going to get anyway. And, while it does scare me, I have to say I feel safe from this sort of thing in the Bay Area. Oakland cops have MUCH bigger worries than a casual pot-smoker. Hell, there are legal places to buy medicinal marijuana in Oakland and San Francisco, and in Mendicino it looks like they're gonna pass decriminalization for that county (not that that will stop the state helicopters from zooming them come harvest time, but it's a start). I don't worry about getting stopped for minor traffic violations in Oakland, though I have once (got a warning). And if/when I do get stopped, I sure as hell don't have to worry about dogs and searches. They have other fish to fry.
I could segue into racial profiling, but I really don't have the head for any more serious talk today. I'm heading off to Rancho Relaxo tonight ("You can't spell 'Relaxo' without 'relax'.") and I don't want anything serious on my brain. See you all on Monday!
Exercise log:
Lifted weights: legs (oof!), triceps, sides and abs. Some calves. And 25 minutes on the elliptical machine. Yay me.
Writing log:
Actually, I did start to write a scene the other night - um, on Monday? I think? Anyway, it's all of a paragraph long and I got bored and stopped way too soon. I need some focus, dammit.
I'm currently reading:
Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

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