I don’t have a lot of money, but when I do need clothes or household goods, I usually go to Target.  I already don’t shop at Walmart so i’m kind of running out of big box stores, but I don’t care.  I’m not going to give Target my money so they can pass it on to homophobic politicians.  I do the shopping for my office for snacks and cleaning supplies at Target too, so they also won’t be getting my boss’ money (at least not through me).

A lot of people think that things like refusing to shop at a huge store like Target is pointless, because there are millions of other people who don’t know and/or care about things like companies trying to swing elections in their favors.  One person surely can’t make a difference.  But many individuals can, and that’s why Target lost 1.3 billion in stock market value within days of their donation being brought to public attention.

It really isn’t that hard to boycott a store, even if you go there a lot, even if it’s the only mega-store in your town.  Target doesn’t sell very many unique products, you can get school supplies and groceries and movies and underwear from many other places.  You will not suffer from not shopping at Target for awhile.  If you just don’t care enough about anything besides your own convenience, well then, there’s probably no convincing you otherwise.

http://pol.moveon.org/state/target/

Obviously, this makes me annoyed and angry.  I spent a lot of time this morning giving into this anger, I even contacted her husband to let him know what was going on (although I really don’t expect a response, and I realize he probably won’t believe me).  But I was feeling really evil and that didn’t feel like enough.  I mean, I know her name.  I know what city she lives in.  I was really tempted to pay $2 to one of those address sites just so I could mail her the most cheerful fucking postcard I could find.  I could post her facebook, twitter, flickr, and all other accounts right here and publicly shame her.  I could try to get someone to troll her.

But I won’t, for two reasons.

One, I was talking to a friend about this, who has been a cam girl for ten years, who gets trolled hardcore.  She has a few people who literally spend hours of their week making up fake twitters about her, emailing her, telling her she’s a lousy person, etc.  And she manages to live with all of that crap, so I think I can live with one grown woman looking at my pictures online.

Two, and I know this is a trite response, but I have a life.  My life isn’t perfect or ideal, but my life is also not so empty that I need to spend time dwelling on this.   This afternoon, I was out trying to wrangle my garden into submission, and I stopped getting pissed at her and started getting pissed at myself for wasting the entire morning worrying about how to deal with someone who really, is not doing anything TO me.  The only person she’s really affecting is herself.  I mean, i’m sure that she also could be doing other things besides following me around on the internet, and if she would rather do that than live her own life, that’s really not my problem.

Another option would be for me to lock down all of my internet accounts to private so she doesn’t have anything to look at, but you know what?  That’s still letting someone else dictate how I live my life.  I’ve been on the internet since 1995, and so far i’ve gotten by just fine.

Tofu, kale, and peaches stir fried in teriyaki sauce, with couscous.  I’m not big on leafy greens, but the sweetness of the peaches completely covers up any bitter taste.  Thank you, Farmer’s Market!  It’s too hot to cook brown rice.

Making hula hoops and learning tricks.  I’m clumsy, awkward, and not very good, but i’m having fun!

Taking photos of cats at the local shelter for Pet Finder,  which is just as awesome and rewarding as it is tedious.  It’s hard to get some cats to even look at you, let alone look alert and/or happy!  This is Mouth (her real name is Isabelle, but whatev).  She’s one of my favorites.