Oh... is that today? ;)

Life is so crazy with Big Important Life-Altering Events (tm), that I nearly forgot one little notation that really sparked it all...

Countdown

Thursday, May 31, 2001 ~~ 03:42 PM
T-minus three hours until I meet Erich.

I'm nervous as hell. But happy, too. And excited, and just warm and tingly all over.

I've missed this feeling. But I think I'm also happy that it's taken a while so that I can appreciate it that much more.

I just hope that everything works out okay tonight and that the two of us get along. Maybe it won't turn into a dating relationship... but even another cool friendship would make me very happy.

*crossing fingers*

--Mel.

Happy Anniversary, Erich. :)

(I think it's safe to say... four years later... that everything worked out okay, and that the two of us get along... yes?)

And now, to show a true example of an "activist judge"

And to think some people wonder why I get concerned about the right to practice my religion... if this type of behavior is allowed to run amuck, really... can I do anything else?

Credited to The Indiana Star:

Judge: Parents can't teach pagan beliefs
Father appeals order in divorce decree that prevents couple from exposing son to Wicca.

By Kevin Corcoran
kevin.corcoran@indystar.com
 
An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge's unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals."

The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth.

Cale J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion Superior Court, kept the unusual provision in the couple's divorce decree last year over their fierce objections, court records show. The order does not define a mainstream religion.

Bradford refused to remove the provision after the 9-year-old boy's outraged parents, Thomas E. Jones Jr. and his ex-wife, Tammie U. Bristol, protested last fall.

Through a court spokeswoman, Bradford said Wednesday he could not discuss the pending legal dispute.

The parents' Wiccan beliefs came to Bradford's attention in a confidential report prepared by the Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau, which provides recommendations to the court on child custody and visitation rights. Jones' son attends a local Catholic school.

"There is a discrepancy between Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones' lifestyle and the belief system adhered to by the parochial school. . . . Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones display little insight into the confusion these divergent belief systems will have upon (the boy) as he ages," the bureau said in its report.

But Jones, 37, Indianapolis, disputes the bureau's findings, saying he attended Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis as a non-Christian.

Jones has brought the case before the Indiana Court of Appeals, with help from the Indiana Civil Liberties Union. They filed their request for the appeals court to strike the one-paragraph clause in January.

"This was done without either of us requesting it and at the judge's whim," said Jones, who has organized Pagan Pride Day events in Indianapolis. "It is upsetting to our son that he cannot celebrate holidays with us, including Yule, which is winter solstice, and Ostara, which is the spring equinox."

The ICLU and Jones assert the judge's order tramples on the parents' constitutional right to expose their son to a religion of their choice. Both say the court failed to explain how exposing the boy to Wicca's beliefs and practices would harm him.

Bristol is not involved in the appeal and could not be reached for comment. She and Jones have joint custody, and the boy lives with the father on the Northside.

Jones and the ICLU also argue the order is so vague that it could lead to Jones being found in contempt and losing custody of his son.

"When they read the order to me, I said, 'You've got to be kidding,' " said Alisa G. Cohen, an Indianapolis attorney representing Jones. "Didn't the judge get the memo that it's not up to him what constitutes a valid religion?"

Some people have preconceived notions about Wicca, which has some rituals involving nudity but mostly would be inoffensive to children, said Philip Goff, director of the Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

"Wiccans use the language of witchcraft, but it has a different meaning to them," Goff said. "Their practices tend to be rather pacifistic. They tend to revolve around the old pagan holidays. There's not really a church of Wicca. Practices vary from region to region."

Even the U.S. military accommodates Wiccans and educates chaplains about their beliefs, said Lawrence W. Snyder, an associate professor of religious studies at Western Kentucky University.

"The federal government has given Wiccans protection under the First Amendment," Snyder said. "Unless this judge has some very specific information about activities involving the child that are harmful, the law is not on his side."

At times, divorcing parents might battle in the courts over the religion of their children. But Kenneth J. Falk, the ICLU's legal director, said he knows of no such order issued before by an Indiana court. He said his research also did not turn up such a case nationally.

"Religion comes up most frequently when there are disputes between the parents. There are lots of cases where a mom and dad are of different faiths, and they're having a tug of war over the kids," Falk said. "This is different: Their dispute is with the judge. When the government is attempting to tell people they're not allowed to engage in non-mainstream activities, that raises concerns."

Indiana law generally allows parents who are awarded physical custody of children to determine their religious training; courts step in only when the children's physical or emotional health would be endangered.

Getting the judge's religious restriction lifted should be a slam-dunk, said David Orentlicher, an Indiana University law professor and Democratic state representative from Indianapolis.

"That's blatantly unconstitutional," Orentlicher said. "Obviously, the judge can order them not to expose the child to drugs or other inappropriate conduct, but it sounds like this order was confusing or could be misconstrued."

The couple married in February 1995, and their divorce was final in February 2004.

As Wiccans, the boy's parents believe in nature-based deities and engage in worship rituals that include guided meditation that Jones says improved his son's concentration. Wicca "is an understanding that we're all connected, and respecting that," said Jones, who is a computer Web designer.

Jones said he does not consider himself a witch or practice anything resembling witchcraft.

During the divorce, he told a court official that Wiccans are not devil worshippers. And he said he does not practice a form of Wicca that involves nudity.

"I celebrate life as a duality. There's a male and female force to everything," Jones said. "I feel the Earth is a living creature. I don't believe in Satan or any creature of infinite evil."

Ahem... 1st Amendment? How exactly is this NOT breaking the 1st Amendment? The parents are both in agreement as far as religion. They didn't bring it up in their divorce hearings-- so how does it become part of the judgement of the court? And as for the confusion in going to Catholic school? Thousands of children attend Catholic schools who aren't members of the church. Since when was it a requirement to be Catholic to attend a parochial school? As long as the child isn't acting up AT school in violation of the school codes, there should be no discussion on this. It's up to the parents to determine how to religiously educate their son. Perhaps showing a balance of Christian and Pagan beliefs was their intent from the beginning. How is it wrong for parents to expose their children to different religious beliefs?

This is the kind of thing I fear. Most cases I hear about regarding Pagan parents involve a child taken away by Social Services. Whether or not there is justified abuse, I can't say. But in this case, custody was awarded to the parents. They're clearly found fit to be parents. As part of that, they should be allowed to raise their children in the religion they see fit.

I mean, really-- parents who follow white supremacist teachings are allowed to raise their children to believe vile things about their fellow human beings. But it's illegal all of a sudden to teach Wicca? And really, what is a "mainstream" religion? Are Buddhist, Hindu, or Shinto beliefs included in that? Heck, there are more Pagans than there are unltra-conservative Anabaptists in this nation (i.e. Amish and Old Order Mennonite). Their rights and practices are protected, including dictating when their children leave formal education (grade 8, at least for the Amish).

And people wonder why I'm frightened...

One step closer to Gilead...

Okay... really... we've had enough

Last night marked the second in a row that I woke up in the middle of the night as sheets of rain hammered the window. The wind was howling outside last night. And this morning, shreds of leaves are all over the place. We haven't had a weekend with sunshine this month-- and the past two weeks have been predominantly grey, gloomy, cold, and rainy. Everyone's grumpy. We just need a good dose of sunshine.

Fucking Nor'easters. Look at the calendar-- we don't want you anymore.

Of course, the sarcastic Murphy's Law worshipper in me figures that it'll stay like this until the morning Erich and I plan to move, at which time the sun will break out of the clouds, beat down on us to create 90 degree temps, and allow all of this rain to start steaming into vicious humidity. Of COURSE it will happen that way. *grumble*

I've heard a rumor that there will be some sun over the weekend. I'll believe it when I see it.

*********

The Jeep has been fixed-- turned out it was the neutral safety switch that's attached to the transmission. All good again, and thankfully wasn't expensive. The tow over there wound up being more expensive than the repair.

Thank Goddess.

I seriously was freaked out for a moment that it was something major... like the engine.

*********

I came to work this morning to find dozens of peeps lining the corridors, all leading to the dumpsters. They appear to be fleeing our current office digs. A few poor peeps have been smashed along the way. Heh. What I'm worried about, though, is that the first few peeps are leading out from MY office. I'm not sure what the meaning behind that is, unless I'm supposed to run away with them.

(Fly my pretties! Fly!)


Just another insane day in the office.

From things categorized in "I don't have time to DEAL with this right now!!!!"

Apparently there's ONE THING I haven't yet replaced on the Jeep in the last three years... because now the thing won't fucking start.

Or let me amend that-- it starts in neutral, but not in park.

Me thinks a safety switch is being triggered here.

Anyway... not taking chances, so I had it towed to the place Erich normally gets his car fixed at. I don't want to get to work and then get stuck there.

Shoot me. Shoot me now.

A quick note...

I'm "sticky"-ing this post due to circumstances going on, since many of my real-time friends read my journal...

Please don't be concerned if I don't get back to your email for a bit... I haven't had a chance to sit down and read my personal email in about 10 days now, and don't know when I'll be able to get around to it. I'm hoping that maybe this weekend I can get some of it done. If I can do some earlier, I will. The alternate (for those who know it) is my work email-- feel free to use it as you see fit, and I can guarantee I'll get back to you faster.

The office move is now only two weeks away, and I'm going insane with that. (not to mention problems in my everyday work that need fixing, and so stress my time even more).

The house move is also starting to pick up a bit-- we're beginning to box things up to move the first batch down in a couple weekends. We'll be getting the keys to the house next Tuesday, the 31st. After changing the locks, we'll start the preliminary renovations (wiring and floors) and will start getting some boxes down there. Our estimated time to be in the house is still up in the air, depending on the results of Erich's meeting with the flooring guys this morning. By the end of June is definite... the rest, I'm not sure.

Anyone who can come to Providence in June to supply drinky things, drugs, or other things to relax me.... feel free. I'm gonna need them.


(remind me why I'm doing all of this at once again? Is it a quest to be in pain?)

My thoughts on "the movie"

Are located on my livejournal. My entry before the spoiler cut, though, is...

So Erich and I, along with Tone, Smallz, and several other friends went to a 12:01 showing in Randolph last night. My brain is still processing a bit of the movie, but I have preliminary thoughts. Some spoilers (non-original trilogy spoilers, anyway) will probably show up in my entry, so I'm putting my actual movie review behind a cut.

The first members of our group showed up at the theater very early. There were six or seven (of sixteen) screens showing Episode III last night, so the crowds were... impressive. We'd planned to meet everyone just after 10 p.m., grab junk food, and wait in the line to get in.

Marc called us around 9:45 to tell us they had already begun seating, and that we might want to get there pretty quickly. O-kay then. We basically drop everything and leave, since Marc had our tickets. We sit down, and are introduced to about 30 minutes of a psychotic teenager screaming at people in the theater to fight him with lightsabers (which a few people did, and kicked the shit out of him without hurting him). Then the kid starts waving a CARROT around. It took quite a while before management told the kid to knock it off. They didn't take him out of the theater, much to the audience's dismay.

Between lightsaber battles and the management intervention, the fire alarm went off. And everyone had to leave the theater and go outside. People were pissed, since they'd come early to get good seats. Thankfully it seemed like people were laid back when we re-entered, save a small disagreement. The night moves on...

There were an odd amount of commercials before the movie-- and more commercials than actual previews, which I'm finding to be a common trend at the movies these days (and really pisses me off). Perhaps it's because Episode III is a full hour shorter than LOTR movies were, but most of the time, the midnight movies don't have all of the intro stuff. In fact, Return of the King was basically a "lights off, movie on." No "no smoking" runthrough, no previews, no commercials. Just a "You people are fucking psycho. Watch it, but then go home, please. You scare us."

So the movie starts...

and now you need to go to the cut...

Ashen

Twenty-five years ago, I experienced my first cancelled day of school.

I used to remember a lot more details about the day, but as the years have gone on, the memories of May 18, 1980, have been replaced with other more recent memories. But I do specifically remember two things from that cancelled day--

My mother calling for me to come inside because it was too dangerous, which confused me because how could falling snow be dangerous?

My father telling me not to come out from the garage as he shoveled the snow off of the driveway with the snow shovel, his face covered in a surgical mask. He then started to sweep it off the grass, which I thought was very weird. He filled a jelly jar of it for me, and told me I could keep it, but not to play with it. At last check, it's still at the house, stored in the basement with a few of my things.

The jar, obviously, wasn't filled with snow. It was filled with a light gray colored ash that looked like sand.

There wasn't a lot of it on the ground where we were in Montana, according to my parents-- a dusting of maybe half an inch or so. The sky didn't get black as it did further west, but my dad has said that it did get dimmer, in that overcast, foggy day color (much like we're having today in Massachusetts). But it was enough to cancel school, since most of us walked home, and inhaling volanic ash isn't a good idea.

I honestly don't remember when I didn't know of Mount St. Helens. Sometime very shortly after it exploded, the name of the mountain that had blown up became part of my geographical knowledge-- before I even understood where Washington and Oregon were. I knew it had blown up, but it went sideways instead of up. I knew that it wasn't red with fire, but grey and muddy. Do five-year-olds generally know much about volcanos?

We must have learned something in school following the event, and it was stuck in my head or something. (sort of like the "there are forty-seven and a half Rhode Islands in Montana" from some time in grade school... which I've been slightly amused by remembering these days, given my moving plans).

I remember later looking at pictures of the volanco region, seeing trees that were blown over like matchsticks. I was amazed at how some areas were completely untouched, yet others were completely destroyed. Over the years, we'd hear rumors about strange, alien creatures that had evolved in Spirit Lake. To this day, I don't know what is real with those rumors, and which were created for the sleepover ghost stories. I have to guess that the brain sucking amoeba is probably a myth.

Or is it? ;)

It's strange how weird events like that stick with a person. Even if I don't remember much of it anymore, that image of my father with the snow shovel and his surgical mask sticks in my brain.

Don't know much about what happened? Check it out here.

I know I've been quiet

I'm okay-- just going through bouts of insanity and then resulting apathy toward anything. Meh.

I mentioned my exhaustion to Erich last night, and he agreed that it's just been such a wild couple months that it's catching up to both of us. I've noticed myself being a lot more testy lately with everyone. A lot of it is because I'm on an autopilot schedule whenever I can take advantage of a mental break, and woe to anyone who decides to interrupt that routine.

I don't mean to, though. *sigh*

I forsee a couple days of solid sleeping/lounging once we're at the house next month.


ohmygodwemoveinnextmonth

So very strange. It's such a different preparation than an apartment move. And contrary to my mom's belief that I hate change, I really don't feel it this time. I feel excitement. I'm a bit afraid about the enormous responsibility, but it's far overpowered by the desire to get in there and make the next step forward in my life.

On completely unrelated house stuff- Erich found out from Anna (who sold us the house) that we have a mated pair of cardinals living in the yard. So a bird feeder and bird seed are now added to this summer's list of stuff to buy at the gardening shop. We went by Home Depot on Sunday, after helping get my old bed over to her new space in an off-campus apartment. That was a win-win situation-- she needed a bed. We needed to figure out where the hell we were going to store it, since Jason hadn't taken it with him.

One big thing done. :) Everything else in storage can be taken down via Jeep and car to the house and put in the basement (and cut back our movers fees).

Anyway... back to Home Depot. I wanted to go there to price vanity tops and sinks, since we're going to have to replace the bathroom sink fairly quickly. The bowl is cracked and just starting to leak. Might as well take care of that right away and get it over with as one of our personal projects. We found a few styles that were very nice, just to give us ideas. We looked around for replacement doors for the garage, but missed the weather-protected doors that weren't designed for front door use... so we still need to find that.

And before we left, we took a walk through the garden section, just to see what was there. Lots of little trees that were relatively inexpensive. Both of us loved the Japanese Maples-- they had different varieties with green and red leaves. I priced some lilacs, since getting some pretty bushes to hide our neighbor's chain link fence is one of my top yard-related priorities. We relaxed for a while on a covered garden swing (which I have to admit is very tempting...). And we got some ideas. The yard, granted, isn't really on the top of the list. Other than reseeding the grass and perhaps starting said lilacs along the back, I don't see us doing a lot with the yard this first year. We need to see what's growing in the yard, first.

Like, for example, the large patch of Lily of the Valley that's along the front and Florida room wall. I definitely don't want to tear those up, and my mom was thrilled when she saw those, given that it's her birth flower.

So much to do... so many new daydreams to indulge in...

I'm loving this. I really am. :)


So after Home Depot, we headed home. I saw a large white swan in the lake next to the Home Depot, surrounded by a cluster of Canadian Geese. They were fairly far off from my sight, though, so I don't know if it's the male or female. I'm scared shitless of swans, having some bad encounters with them at my mom's in California, so I'd be keeping my distance anyway. On the way home, we saw a mated pair of Canadian Geese (they're everywhere) with six little goslings waddling behind. Hopefully they'll survive, however-- the parents picked a hell of a shitty spot to nest-- in the grassy ring in the center of the highway cloverleaf. Erich nearly hit them as they were trying to cross the highway on-ramp to another unpaved section that contained a runoff-formed pond.


Off to another crazy day at the other place I'm moving. Hopefully I can get my normal work under control so I can focus on purging paper for the rest of the week here at the office...

Friday Fiver: Last Dance

1. What's the last concert you attended? Prince, at the FleetCenter, last August.

2. Who is the best live performer you've ever seen? Hands down, U2 in '97. The Popmart tour was absolutely wild.

3. You can invite 2 artists to your house, but they must sing together. Who are they and what one song will they sing? Well, it's not possible now... but I'd choose Billy Joel and Ray Charles. "My Baby Grand" is just one of those curl up and listen to in the evening songs. (and hell, I'd love to hear it live in my new living room).

4. Pick one to see: ABBA, Jimmy Buffet or Kenny Chesney? ABBA. Good tunes, dancing all night-- can't beat it. Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney are okay, but the wacky weedus is a bit too prevalent at the first (been there, done that), and I grew up with the country music crowd. Not my thing.

5. Friday Freebie: Tell us anything you want about music! It's not a big focus right now with everything going on in my life, but music has always been a part of my life. From learning six instruments, to joining Tau Beta Sigma, to dance classes for thirteen years.

Courtesy of


Now running to complete insanity for the day... I'll write an entry either late tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Wedding planning update

Because coordinating two moves and being the webmaster for JournalCon isn't enough on my plate right now... heh...

Mom's visit this past weekend opened up some issues and discussion on the wedding... and I have things that need to be done sooner than later.

The first being a quick speed-up of organizing MY side of the wedding party.
The second being that we'll have to get the basic reservations done sooner than my original thought of mid-August, and probably starting that in late June before we even have the house up and running completely.

Quick backstory-- in early March, Erich and I went to Pennsylvania to attend my grandpa's 80's birthday party.. On the day we were leaving, Mom had everyone over for brunch, and I decided to pull Marya, my 9-year-old (going on 18) cousin, aside for a moment to ask her whether she'd be more comfortable as a flower girl or a bridesmaid.

I asked this because two of her sisters are going to play the roles of flower girls, and Marya's so tiny that even at her age, she could fit in the same category. But mentally, I know that Marya tends to want to be a bit more grown up-- I wanted to leave it up to her, and then I could tell Erich how many women/girls were on my side, so he could think of who he wanted to stand with him.

Said question was asked very close to when we left PA. I don't recall if my cousin Katie was even THERE that day. But we were in the eat-and-get-going rush, and I didn't mention anything to Katie at that time, since I didn't have the wedding party pinned down.

But I KNEW where I wanted her to stand (and probably so do my readers by now).

Remember-- this is early March.

Fast forward two weeks later - a house gets thrown unexpectedly in the picture and takes over all wedding plans completely, putting them on hold and literally in the back of my mind.


Okay... now that the backstory is in place...

Erich, Mom and I are on our way to Sears on Sunday to look at appliances. Mom's very worried about the condition of the stove in the house because Anna (who sold us the house) mentioned she was having trouble with the oven knob. And unlike Erich and I, Mom can't live with the rather dated avacado fridge and stove that are in the house... so she wants to go appliance hunting, and has talked to my dad, who also responded "ew." to the color, and they're going halvsies on this.

(*shrug* sure... because we're going to be stupid enough to complain or say no in this situation)

Mom mentions that my Aunt Gail has approached her recently- apparently Marya (being nine) went and started getting a bit boastful to Katie (who I hadn't approached yet), and Katie's feelings were very hurt because she thought she was being snubbed.

*forehead slap*

I should have seen this coming, by the way. It's my own damn fault. Marya, being the eldest child of the the baby daughter, has been THE prize grandchild. I might have been the first grandchild, but I grew up 2,500 miles away. Katie was the first-born to be raised there, and had the grandparents all to herself for many years... but once Marya arrived, Katie really got shoved out of the picture and didn't know how to cope with it. It might be stupid or petty, but I can understand Katie's point of view on this because in many ways, her irritation with it is VERY valid, and has shown up at moments that just are not right (i.e. grandma's death). But I don't notice unless I'm around both of them at the same time and something comes up, simply because I'm not living there.

So well, shit. I don't want Katie's feelings to be hurt. I didn't intend them to be hurt. I was just asking Marya her preference because I was trying to get rid of issues and questions before I started formally asking people. And then a house got in the way. I tell Mom that I promise to give Katie a call this week and apologize and explain things to her.

And then on my way over to the World's Largest Dungeon game on Monday night after work, I realize that I really need to just get my entire side of the wedding party decided and ask them. So there's no more of these miscommunications. It was already partially decided anyway, so on the way to the game, I formalized my side of the party, allowing for some flexibility depending on what Erich wanted to do.

Mind you-- I'm leaving Erich's completely up to him, with only one request-- that my brother be a groomsman. I know that Scott was very hurt when my dad didn't ask him to be his best man for his 2nd wedding (and they had no extended bridal party-- just the maid of honor and best man). For me to snub him would be entirely wrong. It's not appropriate for Scott to be Erich's best man, since he doesn't know him beyond one meeting. But still...

So I mention that to Erich, and he's putting together his side of the party.

And now I need to make that phone call to Katie, to apologize, explain what REALLY was intended that day, and formally ask her (and call Vicky regarding Marya, Elizabeth, and Clarissa's roles... so there's no more confusion there). And given her role, it affects the wedding date-- because Katie's starting college in the fall, and I want to make sure that there aren't conflicts with her finals in college, since we're planning a May wedding.

THAT is one of the projects for this Saturday.

Researching wedding officiants, reception halls, etc. is the other.

Oh yeah, and actually picking a date.

One of these days, you know... I might want to get around to that little detail.

Gah.

Mid-rotation Stitching Update

I'm having a very difficult, emotional day today and really don't want to talk about it because I'll start crying again. So instead, I'm going to post craft pictures and talk about something that doesn't involve chewing me out because I don't think in the same mindset as males do.

*sigh*

Anyway... onto my work over the past two months or so... my rotation's been going much slower due to the house purchase, but I have managed to get through three spots on my rotation since early March...



(I had trouble with the camera and fabric here-- hopefully I can fix it in Photoshop later...)

Egyptian Sampler, restarted. I put about 20 hours into this to catch it back up to roughly where it was before I realized my fabric size fuckup back in January. The new fabric is 28 count antique tea-dyed *unevenweave* linen from a great little stitch shop in Plymouth, Mass. It was a bit tricky at first to start stitching since the squares are slightly uneven, but I'm liking how the uneven stitches give it even more of an authentic "ancient" look.

This will, by the way, look like this when it's done.




The Castle, after another 10 hour rotation. I'm working on the bottom, developing the rocky cliff below the castle. It's not the greatest photo, but taking a full picture of the work at this point is much better than focusing just on the rocks at the bottom, which are a bit of a mottled brown, grey, and green mess. :) My prior updates are here.

In a couple weeks, I'll do another backstitching rotation on this. During that, I'll finish outlining the dragon's head, anything left on the castle, and the small wing.

If all goes well, I'm still hoping to have this finished by the end of the summer. But the house restorations will really determine that.




I just finished my rotation on this tonight, working through hours of white on white stitching (UGH!). I've had to make some corrections for miscounts, but so far I'm going to be okay. I'm not sure where my head was when I started this pattern because there have been miscounts all over. This rotation wound up being a lot of ripping old stitches... but I did make a good deal of progress over last time.

Anyway.. there are my stitching updates. Hopefully I'll have another set before the end of the month to share. After that, stuff needs to get packed up for a good portion of June...

Luck be a lady tonight

I won $400 playing Let it Ride last night at Foxwoods.

Gotta love getting a flush when you're almost out of chips. That made my night. :)

And we found the PENNY slots at Foxwoods last night-- those could get a person into serious trouble.

Friday Fiver: Fifteen Minutes of Fame

1. If you could be famous for 15 minutes, what would the headline read?

"Woman does death-defying triple flip while twisting ankle."

No. Really. It would. I can't fathom getting a headline for anything other than an amazingly stupid crash out on my bum ankle.

2. Do you think fame would change you?

It probably would in the short term-- I'm sure it would go to my head for a while. But hopefully after a while, my sense of reason would kick back in and kick the shit out of me.

3. Has your name ever appeared in the newspaper? ..what for?

Yes-- a couple plays in high school, honor rolls, and two "slice of life" photos in my childhood (a kindergarten play-- I was dashing as Smokey the Bear, I must say... and a piano recital in one of the local shopping centers)

4. Would you like to be famous for *more* than 15 minutes?

I think two or three days would be fun, bewildering, and a fascinating experience. After that, my anxiety would make it pure hell... and want it to end.

5. If you could perform one act of Good while you were famous, what would it be?

If I only get one act of good, I'd want it to be a simple one-- I'd want to donate the platelets that I donate every month, and give the recipient(s) a HUGE hug.


Courtesy of

Serenity

Got home at 1:30 in the morning, and it's 7:41... I'm wide awake. Oh, it's painful. Morning allergies suck.

I'm still sorting through it from last night and will do my own review later, but I will say that Serenity was amazing. Getting autographs from our two special guests, Morena Baccarin (Inara) and Sean Maher (Simon) was very cool. Being able to compliment them in person afterwards was awesome...

And hearing Morena say to Sean "This is so cool!!!" when I was about ten feet away from the table, and the people behind me had also thanked and congratulated them was worth admission in itself last night.

But I'll cover more on that sometime during the day after I've stuck my caffeine IV in my arm and gets me moving again.

So, aside from that little audio jaunt...

Things are okay this week, just oddly out of sync. Somewhere along the week, I apparently sped up in time, spent an extra day, and then sped back in time to match everyone else. EVERY DAY this week, I've been a day off. My mind keeps thinking it's Friday, and I have no idea why.

And no, I haven't had a 'rita yet today to celebrate Cinqo de Mayo Min's 30th birthday. But I hopefully will tonight. Or a cosmo. Or something yummy and oh-so-girly.

Tonight's great drinking adventure will be graced with the attendance of T., one of the few members of the Boston college (small c) crew who left Boston immediately after graduating from BU. T. went on to Germany for a year, and then settled back in his home state of North Carolina, has gotten married, and is living his life. My contact with him is basically through Jason and the "news from T." that occasionally comes over conversation or email. I think the last time I actually saw him was in '99 or '00. It was before he was married.

T. is infamous in our group for a couple reasons. One is that he's 6'9" tall. He kinda stands out. He's a very thin Irishman who can eat a ton and not gain any weight because his body just BURNS everything. (his torso is CONCAVE, for crying out loud... or was...)

The other is one of those common associations that goes along with men with large shoes. Or hands, or whatever your area of the world uses as the Way to Tell A Man's size. Somehow, every conversation about T. winds up being about Little T.

Who ain't so little.

My personal opinion on first hand experience? "Ow." and... "How funny would I be walking afterwards?" (I pray to God he never sees this...)

But anyway... he's up in Boston for a long weekend, and is coming out with us tonight. About ten of us are going out to an Irish pub in downtown Boston, followed by that kick-ass event that so few geeks are lucky to attend: a sneak preview of Serenity, by Joss Whedon, following the entirely-too-short-lived show Firefly on that bastion of making good programming choices [/sarcasm], FOX. It's only being shown in ten cities, and was at THIS timeslot. How we managed to get tickets in the 15-minute window that they were actually available, I have no idea. It's like managing to get tickets for U2 concerts this summer (only there are a hell of a lot more U2 tickets available).

I'll give some comments tomorrow during the day about my thoughts on the movie, qualifying it by the fact that it IS still in post-production, and not completely finished yet.

***

My mom is driving up for the weekend tomorrow and staying until Monday. We're going to show her the house at some point this weekend-- Erich's been calling the woman who sold us the house to arrange a time with her on Saturday. Other than that, there aren't any firm plans. I know we'll definitely go out for dinner on Mother's Day, but besides that, a lot depends on how sucktastic the rainy weather is actually supposed to be this weekend.

I blame my mom for that, by the way. On Tuesday night, she said "oh, it's supposed to be mid-60's and beautiful here, so I'm sure it'll be wonderful up there, too." *sigh* I won't tell her she doomed the weather, but then again, she doesn't know how New England has this sadistic mindset to laugh at anyone who lives here and wants to have nice weather on the weekend for more than one weekend in a row.

***

I have some takers on the swapping supplies... so hopefully that FB pile will be whittled down by Monday night. Along with the last remaining organized swaps I owe. Then I'll pack everything up in boxes until late June.

***

There's a stitch-along on The Castle this weekend via Teresa Wentzler's bulletin boards. Hopefully I can put in a couple hours in the late evenings once my mom goes to bed. (she's one of those 9 p.m. bedtime folks) And if I find the cord for my digital camera, I could update all of my photos that I didn't do last month...

***

That's it. Gotta get back to work. And get a serious dose of caffeine in me.

Heh, the guy didn't know what hit him

Idiot drivers, meet your worst nightmare...

the witness to a car accident who's on his cell phone.

(make sure you have headphones if you're in your office. This doesn't work in IE, but it's worked on Firefox and Safari).

~ Mel.

Timelines

(jumping on this bandwagon, which has been circling amongst the journals lately...)


Timelines


**25 years ago**
1980: I was five and enjoying my last couple months of pre-school. I was to start kindergarten in the fall. I'd returned in January with my parents from a rather dangerous vacation to Hawaii where we landed in Honolulu just prior to a hurricane hitting the island. We spent the first night in Hawaii on cots in the baggage claim area of the airport because the roads were too unsafe to drive. All I envision from that trip was the sight of the sliding doors to the baggage claim being blown open more than once.


**20 years ago**
1985: The year of nearly ALL of the movies of my childhood. The year where my parents finally decided that I could go to the movies with a friend on my own. I must have seen Back to the Future four or five times in the theater. A Chorus Line introduced me to Broadway (beyond Annie). Cocoon's theme song got stuck (and to this day, still gets stuck) in my head. My recitation of "one plus two plus two plus one" began that year while watching Clue. Goonies WERE Good Enough. The Journey of Natty Gann introduced me to a softer side of the Depression, as well as a young drool-worthy actor named John Cusack. Witness fascinated me, since my grandmother lived next door to an Amish family. And by the end of that year, I was attempting to imitate Gregory Hines' solo tap routine in White Nights... and had it down as best as a ten year old could.


**15 years ago**
1990: I get my driver's license, and my father rejoices not having to shuttle me around to dance class and piano lessons. To this day, i don't know what the HELL my father was thinking allowing me, the 15-year-old, to drive the SPORTS CAR to school. But hey, it was cool. I transitioned from freshman to sophomore year. I was well into my first long-term relationship with Darren, the Good Mormon (when it suited him to play that role), and the tight circle of Mormon-only friends around me was fairly set by the end of that year-- a development that in hindsight played much more of a role in my religious development than I would care to admit... and in a way that they would definitely not have liked, if they were still in contact with me.

By this time, my parents had been divorced for a year. Mom was living in Danville, California, and was transitioning to having no kids in the house when my brother had decided to move back to Montana. As an adult, I can see how painful that was to her. At the time, though, I was such a clueless teenager absorbed in my own world that the only thing I saw was the annoyance of Scott's return to the house.


**10 years ago**
1995: Now living in Boston, I'm a sophomore in college, well-settled into my quiet little corner of Warren Tower's 11C. I meet Jason, and most of the rest of the Boston crew that I'm still in contact with. I've been a member of TBS now for about a year, and the struggle to survive is on. Ivanna and I begin our close friendship.

And I've become completely, utterly addicted to the X-Files.

No. Really. Let's discuss disturbing addictions (and poorly written, sappy, teenagery fanfic). Heh.


**5 years ago**
2000: I started out the year with a vicious case of pneumonia and a high fever that made me think it was a great idea to go wandering around Boston after midnight in my PJ's and Birkenstocks in the last hours of First Night. It was below zero, and steadily dropping to the coldest windchills I've yet experienced in the city (neg fifty by mid-January).

2000 was a dark, dark year, and I honestly don't remember all that much of it past that illness at the end of 1999 into 2000. I was ill for a good portion of the year, due to that bout of pneumonia. I think I had a dry cough well into May. That was nothing compared to what was going on in my head.

I'm 25... three years out of college, and my life was a complete wreck. I spent a lot of it crying and swearing at myself for being a fuck up. I was still trying to get past the grieving and anger from three years prior. I shut everything out, and everyone down. It probably wasn't the best choice, but at the time it seemed like the only one I could manage to do.

I was horribly lonely, living in my Blackwood Street studio apartment (aka The Beast), and feeling like life was completely worthless. I'm convinced that the reason why Colley is so laid back and pliable as a cuddle cat was because I forced him to be a living stuffed animal that year-- he got cuddled. A lot.

I change jobs halfway through the year, and it's a turning point that starts putting things back on track.

It's strange how things turned around in a year. It really, truly is, looking back. I'm not sure how the hell it happened.


**3 years ago**
2002: I'm one year into my relationship with Erich, and both excited and scared to death about being in a good relationship. We move in together in August of that year into our current (but soon to be former) apartment. I'm coming to terms with myself and finally feeling like I'm getting a sense of who I am and who I want to be.

I'm introduced to NaNoWriMo, and rediscover my love of writing-- as poor as it can be at times. I manage to get to the 50,000 word goal. I know there's more to tell to the story, but I'm mentally exhausted by it as the holidays approach.

Christmas leads to a huge falling out with my father, which creates a very stressful 2003 in my relations with nearly all members of my family, immediate and extended. I don't talk to my dad at all until 2004. Extreme? Yes. But it needed to be done. For my sake.


**Last year**
Superbowl.
Happy 30th, Erich.
World Series.
Goddess, no. Four more?
Hmm... go Pats?

end of line.


**This year**
Mmmm... defintely Go Pats!

I turn 30.
We get engaged.
We put an offer and get said offer accepted on our first house

(all within a 65 day stretch)

No hurry or anything. ;)

We move in mid-June, and I no longer will be a Massachusetts Resident. Strange to think that.

What else can happen this year? Let's just say that we're being VERY careful with the protection stuff, eh? ;)


**Yesterday**
Worked all day, followed by a dinner of Scoops chips and garnished Velveeta cheese. And I was amazingly techy and figured out how to install a Php discussion board on my website. Erich says that I've outgeeked him.

I'm so proud!


**Today**
Spent the morning at home dealing with bank stuff. Working a half day. Will go home and finish up all of my owed organized swaps while Erich blows people up in the weekly Clan Night on Halo 2. Probably some brief cleaning, too, since my mom's coming for the weekend.


**Tomorrow**
Another day at work, followed by drinky things, catching up with an old college friend who I haven't seen in years, followed by a sneak preview showing of the still-in-post-production Serenity movie at the downtown Boston Loews theater.

And a very, very happy 30th birthday to Minarae, who has the odd celebration date of 05/05/05.

Interesting...

Your Birthdate: January 11

Your birth on the 11th day of the month makes you something of a dreamer and an idealist.

You work well with people because you know how to use persuasion rather than force.

There is a strong spiritual side to your nature, and you may have intuitive qualities inherent in your make up, too.


You are very aware and sensitive, though often temperamental.

Although you have a good mind and you are very analytical, you may not be comfortable in the business world.

You are definitely creative and this influence tends to make you more of a dreamer than a doer.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Trying to dig out

I spent a good chunk of the weekend trying to clean out the hordes of paper that comprise my penpalling and swapping stash. It's truly frightening-- it never seems like I swap this heavy, yet here it all is. *sigh* My goal is to get through all of the organized list swaps that I owe this week. Next week I'll concentrate on my personal letters. And then at the end of next week, I'll start packing up anything that's around and getting it out of the way.

I need to figure out where the excess fb's are going to go, too. It would be nice to get rid of them before we move, but I don't see that happening.


Anyway... while I was tackling that job, Erich took it upon himself to really scour the living room and start packing a few boxes of DVD's, extra gaming books, etc. He did an amazing job. He even took it upon himself to use some carpet freshener on the rugs-- so now when you walk into the apartment, there's this soft floral scent. It's quite nice. :)

Other than the frienzied sorting and cleaning this weekend,the rest was social. Erich had a couple of friends over to watch the DVD collection of Firefly, in preparations for the sneak screening of Serenity on Thursday (yes, we got tickets-- woo hoo!). I went up to the city to attend the last TBS meeting of the year. They installed officers. Life is good.

Work yesterday sucked. I started my week by having our cross-site manager get very pissy with me about something completely out of my control (apparently I'm supposed to be able to miraculously pull items out of backorder from my supply orders). I left her office annoyed, and it developed into a full-blown foul mood by the time I picked Erich up last night. The woman drives me nuts, I swear. She's very aggressive and immediately puts me on edge. Thankfully she works in our other office most of the time. When she's up in my area, I never get things done because I'm running like crazy for her. And usually for very demeaning work-- running stuff to the fax (even though it's outside HER door, and halfway down the hall from my cube).

*sigh*

Anyway... since I have to deal with her again today, I don't want to get worked up again...

Tonight I might be meeting up with Melody, but haven't heard a confirm yet (Mel?). Then I need to work on some stuff for the JournalCon website.

I'm going insane...