Like everyone in this country, I am struggling to understand the events in CT. Like the rest of the country (perhaps the world) I am angry at the senseless loss of life, at the randomness of it. At least with Columbine, I could understand the motive - bullied teens with anger directed at their peers. But this I simply do not get.

Like the rest of the world, I read media reports (which are mostly useless) and try to comprehend what happened. Along with anger and sadness there are some really bizarre ones (like Mike Huckabee), but hey, at least he is a consistent nut job.

The tragedy really opened the flood gates to talk about things like mental illness and of course gun control. While guns and the right to bear arms has always been a hot topic, the mental illness is something people normally don't discuss. It's a red-headed stepchild of uncomfortable topics, but the lack of structure and support for parents of mentally ill children needs to be discussed and addressed.

My mother had a perspective on the shooting which I didn't think about: "at least he killed his mother first, so she wouldn't have to deal the aftermath of his actions". Along these lines, in my travels on the Interwebs I came across this very honest and painful blog entry. Read it - really puts in perspective what it is like to have no one to turn to, and no way to improve a really frightening situation. But, along with support for speaking out (which, IMHO, should have been unanimous) there are some really nasty responses to this. I applaud this lady's honesty.

My heart really goes out to the parents, the teachers, the students. All these poor, poor little babies. 

"Oh Castle!! Yes, that's what I meant, Castle!!"

It's been a while. I stopped writing here because it didn't feel fun anymore. And I needed a breaka after all kinds of changes with routines, babysitters, etc. I simply didn't feel like writing or thinking. So I took a break. And now I'm back.

One main sucky change in zaiki's schedule is the commute. Before, we walked home from the sitter, she was literally a block away. Now I sit in traffic with them for forty minutes each night on the way home from their new preschool. Which brings me to today's main topic: swearing in front of very bright, curious children with excellent memory.

I was driving them home last night in the aforementioned traffic, when some twat strong, no doubt highly intelligent woman changed lanes right into me. I have very low tolerance for bad drivers, especially bad women drivers, as last year I was in a pretty bad car accident caused by a member of this category. So this time, with babies in the car, I swerved onto the shoulder before she could crash into me. Bags were flying, babies were crying, and I.., well, I was cursing: "YOU F-ING A-HOLE!" and followed that with the New Jersey salut. Forgetting about the curious minds in the back seat. Fortunately, distracted by flying objects in the car, honking and music, they thought I said "Flipping Castle"...Yes, yes, my girls, that's exactly what I said. Giggle.