This is scary. I received a letter from the Republican National Committee. Isn't that funny? The RNC sending a letter to someone, who lives in the most left wing whacko city in the world. What are these guys thinking? Okay, I'll confess my neighbourhood is about 30% republican, and yes during the 2000 presidential election there were a number of houses with Bush/Cheney signs up.

But I'm so not republican. I'm a registered democrat, and have been since I was old enough to vote. What are these people thinking? I was born and grew up in the only state that voted for McGovern in 1972. Come on. Okay, Hawaii does have a republican governor, but she's a woman, she used to work for the Teamster's Union, and she supports a woman's right to an abortion. Since the state has been in the economic toilet since 1997, I can see the voters wanting a change. Nothing moves voters to switch sides more than a bad economic climate.

Of course, she won every island except mine Kauai, but the island has always bucked the state trends.

Now I'm like thinking, how the hell did the RNC get my address? What republican mailing list am I on? And it's not like this is the first time either. They sent me a similar letter during the 1992 presidential election, and I was living in a different apartment back then.

I hate that my name and address are out there in some database, which could say what? Swing voter? Fits the demographic for people who might want to give money to the RNC, even though lives in the most democratic city in the country? Fits republican party income levels? Fits republican voting patterns, spending patterns, reading patterns, theatre going patterns, movie viewing patterns? What? What does the RNC have on me, that makes them even remotely think I would ever give money to them? What?

Either the RNC has something legitimate on me, or they better hire some temps to clear out their bad databases, or hire a DBA to fix their databases, or stop buying those worthless mailing lists that has the names of people who would never ever give money to them.

I've been checking apartment listings for the last two days. It's kind of fun to see what's out there, since I haven't apartment hunted in 7 years. I'm probably going to end up paying more than I want to for a bigger place, but I'm okay with that. It's not like I can't afford it, because I can, I just won't be able to save as much money as I want to. Once I pay off the car, which is in a couple of years, I'll have more financial breathing room. I an always move again if I want. I really don't see San Francisco rental prices going up anytime soon.

The experts are predicting that the housing market is going to come down. From the wordings of rental ads, and all the bargains that are being offered, landlords are starting to get desperate. I think in a month or two, they'll get even more desperate and rental prices will come down. I've already seen rentals for 2000/2001 prices. The real estate market is always two years behind the financial markets, so rents should really be coming down by the first quarter of 2003. I don't think the economy is going to improve anytime soon, at least not in the SF Bay Area. Sad for ssome people, but great for apartment hunters like me.

I had a writing group meeting tonight. I love the people in my writing group. We've known each other for three years now, and have been a group for two years. It's really amazing to be friends with other people who are trying to write and trying to create. I know my friends and loved ones mean well and support me, but none of them write. None of them relate to what I'm going through as a writer like my writing group.

We are a diverse group, each with our own ideas of what we want to write and how we want our creative expression to be in this world, but at the same time we're all artists with a common goal, a common struggle, and as I discovered tonight, on the Myer Briggs scale, we're NF's, intuitive feelers. That's so cool. I'm close on the F/T scale to a T, but my F wins out. I can logically analyze a situation, and I do that first, but then I step back and I let the feeling of the situation decide my final action.

Writers, artistis are a strange breed. Someone in the group said that NF's make up only 10% of the population, something I didn't know. 10%. Well in my writing group NF's are 100%. So what does that mean?

For statistical purposes, I'm an ENFJ sometimes and an INFJ other times, depending on my mood. I've tested both either way. For the Enneagram, I'm a four with an five wing; the artist, romantic with an intellectual bent. I love personality tests, don't you?

The wind is howling outside, and it's still raining. It's been raining here since Friday, and it's not supposed to stop till Tuesday. The commute tomorrow morning is going to be bad.

At church today, the pastor mentioned that there was tension going on between him and some of the church members. I had no idea this was going on. You can't escape politics, even at the church level. I was skeptical about the new pastor myself, but now that I've gotten to know him, I really like him. The guy is really smart, he's grounded and practical, and I think his heart is definitely in the right place.

He said tension between members and a new minister always come up, so it's not unusual. I have no idea what the tension is all about. The new pastor is granted a little more conservative than our last one, but I think his conservatism is in keeping with the times. I might have to do a little investigating to find out who's he feuding with in the congregation, because I'm so curious to find out who he's have disagreements with.

The new pastor totally emphasizes the Holy Trinity of the father, son and Holy Spirit. He said in Kerygma class, that some of the staff are resistant to emphasizing the Holy Spirit. I don't know why. Christianity is based on the Holy Trinity, and all three parts of it need to addressed. I mean, why wouldn't you want to invite the God the Father, Jesus Christ the son, and Holy Spirit into your church meetings. The Holy Trinity is like the three sides of a triangle; take one point away and the whole thing falls apart.

I think that the new minister is having tensions with the more radical left of our congregation. We don't have very many, as my church tends to be mainstream to conservative in view, but hey it's San Francisco, and there's a always few left wing whackos in any group.

It's bad when people leave the church to join other congregations, but it's a free country and there are a ton of churches in San Francisco. If there are disgruntled members, they should leave. No one is putting a gun to their head so they stay. I'm a hard one, when it comes to stuff like this. There are left wing oriented type churches in the City, and if a churchgoer wants that type of environment, they should seek them out instead of trying to turn a mainstream/conservative more to the left.

I saw Harry Potter, and I really loved it. Some kids and their parents walked out, I think becausefor very young children the movie is pretty spooky. Harry Potter is definitely for mature 8-year olds and up.

The actors are going up really fast. The Ron Weasley actor had a crackly voice, probably because he's entering puberty. The other actors are growing up as well, and I don't know how much longer they'll be able to play their parts without looking too old for them.

It was sad to see Richard Harris on screen, and knowing that he was sick during the filming of the moive and would die later. He didn't look like the same Professor Dumbledore from the first movie.

The movie makes the confrontation that Harry has with his muggle guardians more vivid, and sad. His guardians treat him so badly. What the muggle guardians do to Harry Potter amount to child abuse in my eyes.

I think it's going to storm all night, and I'm praying that the electricity stays one. I hate having to take a shower in the dark, especially in the morning.