Sentimental Valium

Been too long. Many excuses--few worth using.

Let's get right to the important news:

Alaska Woman Charged in Genital Amputation

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP)--A woman upset about an impending breakup with her boyfriend cut off the man's penis and flushed it down a toilet, police said.

Utility workers recovered the severed member Sunday and surgeons reattached it.

Kim Tran, 35, was charged with first-degree assault, domestic violence and tampering with evidence. She was jailed at the Anchorage Jail with no bail set. At arraignment Sunday afternoon, Tran requested a Vietnamese interpreter. Magistrate Brian Johnson continued the arraignment until Monday with no bail set.

Anchorage Police Department spokeswoman Anita Shell said police received a call just after midnight that a 44-year-old man had been dropped off by his girlfriend at Providence Hospital with amputated genitals. Investigators determined that the man and Tran on Saturday night had argued over a pending breakup. The relationship had lasted a little more than a year but the man no longer wanted to be involved with the woman, police said.

At some point, the pair decided to have sexual relations and the man agreed to have his arms tied to a window handle above their bed. The woman pulled out a kitchen knife severed the man's penis, police said. She then flushed the penis down the toilet, untied the man and drove him to the hospital.

Shell said investigators gave no indication in their report whether Tran showed any remorse in driving the victim to the hospital. She assisted him to a nurses station, she said. She had parked in a no parking zone and returned to her car, Shell said. ``She decided to just go home at that point,'' Shell said.

Officers arrived at the couple's home and found the woman cleaning up the bloody scene.

A police supervisor contacted officials at the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility and asked them to go to the home to see if the man's body part could be recovered. Utility workers pulled the toilet and found the severed member, which was rushed to Providence Hospital. At about 6:00 a.m., Providence Hospital staff told police that surgeons were successful in reattaching the penis.

Plenty that could be said about that story--I'll be choosing just a few.

(1) "Genital Amputation"--guess that's a nice way of saying it...I'm not a medical man, but that's the first time I've come across that particular terminology.
(2) "tampering with evidence." It's bad enough that a guy had to lose his "guy"--but then it gets referred to as "evidence."
(3) "parked in a no parking zone..." That's a bizarre detail to include isn't it? And why wasn't she charged with that particular infraction?

New subject: my brother celebrated a birthday this past week. I realize that I feel older when I think about how old he is. I always think about him as my "little brother." When I realize that he isn't little at all, I start feeling the self-conscious age stuff. Amish Aaron's oldest, Amelia, also celebrated a b-day. She turned 5. I held her when she was about 10 minutes old. She's having a "Spirit" (the Disney horse) party and, in her words, "I'm going to invite you Uncle Troy." [insert "awwwww" here]

Went and saw Hotel Rawanda with some guys this past weekend. It was gripping and very compelling. Worth seeing definitely! It sparked some good discussion and I've been thinking about it a little bit every day since. I highly recommend it--just might not be a good first date movie. It also doesn't paint America/The West in the best of all lights. Like c@it, I'm not an America basher, but this movie made me ask some pointed questions and made me want to try and understand our position and policy on more international events like that one.

I just re-read that previous sentence and laughed. Not only is it poorly written--it just doesn't sound like me. I'm far from politically-minded or even interested typically. I think that's enough of subjects like that for the rest of this calendar year.

I've had a significant obsession with crossword puzzles lately. Every time I get near a newspaper, I look for and turn to the crossword. It's no use though--I can only get about 2 dozen of the clues and then I grow frustrated and give up. Once I finish all the music clues and half of the three-letter words, I'm maxed out. All the same, I just can't seem to get enough of them these days. I even found a site online that offers a puzzle a day that you can print off (if only I had a printer) and get the answers for immediately--you don't have to wait for the next day or anything, like the paper's offerings.

I need some new fiction to read--suggestions please.

I've slipped to an 8.4 in my hotornot.com rating. This can't be! So, by way of shameless plug, here is the link that you each need to visit and push my rating back up to where it naturally belongs. Thank you.

I'm positive that Moby is here in the coffee shop. The bald head, black-rimmed glasses, anorexic vegan frame, retro track suit top--the works. I'm not the kind of guy who makes fun of a person, especially when they resemble a well-known bald person, but this guy must be trying to look like him. It's too similar to be an accident or coincidence. It's weird! I wish I had a camera so I could shamelessly snap a shot and post it.

I had Indian food and got my car stuck in Steve's yard Sunday--I'm not sure the two are related though. We got a lot of snow Sunday afternoon and I couldn't stop my car from sliding off a slight turn and into the yard. Once there, I couldn't get it moved. Thanks to the gang of guys who came and bailed me out--literally.

Stop listening to mainstream radio--it's bad for you.

posted by -tr0y- @ 10:19 AM