So I got a telephone call on Friday night/Saturday morning around 2:30 or 2:45. My friend says, "Were you sleeping? I'm in big trouble, I need help."

Immediately, my mind goes to one of the two reasons why people *usually* call me at that time. Since we don't have any mutual friends or relatives, no one is dead. Thus, it's the latter. So I remind my friend that I don't do criminal law.

My friend says, "What? No I need advice. I have options. Should I do cocaine, or should I go home?"

I can honestly say, that's the first time I've had that conversation since I was 19...And it somewhat disturbs me that I'm having the same conversations I did almost ten years ago...And with different people. Some people are addicted to gambling, others alcohol or drugs. Me, I'm obviously addicted to personality types.

But I jest. I was actually extremly worried about my friend. (I'm a worrier. Which is most inconvenient.) So after being worried for a two days, my friend assured me today that all was well in the universe, it was a drunken thing, and no drugs were ingested. With instructions not to worry. Sure...let me turn off the worry button. But having made drunk telephone calls (though usually I send drunk emails) myself, I understand.

Then one of the girls at work had a party Saturday night and she had a psychic there. The psychic told my friend that the only one (of the 8 of us) who might be disappointed in their reading was me because it's hard to read for people who read cards themselves. The reading is taped, so I can relive it anytime I want. Which made me want to relive some of my other psychics, so I went to the "junk" room (room where I put all the stuff I don't know where to unpack) and found another 4 tapes, so I've been listening to past psychics to see how accurate they were. These are people from 1999, 2000, and 2001. Interesting. I'm still digesting all of it, but know that I may discuss it later.

At dinner, my father got mad at me. My father considers himself middle of the road - everyone who knows my dad consider him conservative. He considers me so far left that he's actually called me a communist before. So tonight, the show 24 was on, my sister's favorite show. In it, an American girl is dating a Muslim boy. And my dad makes some sort of joke about what she thought that she was doing dating a...well, you get the idea. I don't need to repeat his comments. He thinks it's a funny joke. I don't. So I expressed my belief. He told me that if I took a joking comment like that seriously, I had a problem. I told him that if he found a comment like that, serious or not, funny, then he had a problem. He didn't speak to me for the rest of the evening. But he made snide remarks. My brother made a comment about another character on the show - who happens to be black - and how he hates her. (I'm not a fan of her character either; I suspect that she is bad.) Anyway, my father mades a remark about how we can't dislike any minorities around me. Hmm...making a comment based on a person's character, I don't care what religion, ethnicity, race, etc they are. That is all fair game. Making a comment like my father made, and he doesn't see the difference? I remember another time, when I was living there, I made him so mad that he left the house for the night. I mean, he flat out got out and walked out. It was a similar comment that he made, and I told him that he was racist, and he got so mad he left. Gee, and I wonder why he thinks I'm a communist??

Finally, I found this article about similarities between McCarthyism and the Patriot Act extremely interesting. The reason I was so intrigued is that I've been arguing that our conduct is no different from that, from Japanese detainment, for a long long time now. Spitting against the wind, it seems. I can repeat things I've said a million times. But I'll just leave it with my oft repeated - history will not be kind.