Personal update

I've been busy, but mostly good. My mom is in the hospital for bipolar disorder, so that has kept my sister and I busy lately taking care of things, but this week things are calming down and I plan to go camping at Lothlorien this weekend, which should be fun. :)

Polygamy, Polyamory, Sister Wives and You

From bigger-love.com -

'By Lucius Scribbens on October 4th, 2010

Some of you may be saying to yourself: "Self, why has Lucius Scribbens
developed such an interest in polygamy and the plight of the Brown's
(the family featured in the TLC reality series Sister Wives) in Lehi,
Utah?"

Well it's like this. Kody Brown and his wives Meri, Janelle and
Christine (and soon to include Robyn) represent more than polygamy.
They are a very functional, long-term plural quad with 15+ years
together and 13 kids, and any consensual plural relationship that
constitutes commitment (such as they exhibit) could be prosecuted
under current bigamy laws across the United States.

Just because you are legally married to one person and have a
handfasting to another, doesn't make you safe from being convicted of
a third degree felony for bigamy. You are under U.S. laws, a
polygamist… Like it or not. The only thing saving your ass at this
very moment is that you aren't Mormon therefore you aren't garnering
the attention of the representatives of the State.

The U.S. Model Penal Code (MPC) states that you don't have to be
married to more than one person, you only have to say that you are to
be guilty of bigamy. Hell, in eleven states just coinhabiting with
someone other than a family member is illegal and can earn you a fine
and possibly jail time.'

More here: http://www.bigger-love.com/2010/10/polygamy-polyamory-sister-wives-and-you/

Week in Review – Week of 2009 December 20th – 26th

This has been a very nice holiday week. I only had to work three days this week, and while it sucks that one of those days is Saturday, it could be a lot worse. I’m in Evansville right now, hanging out with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousin. My mom is doing well, and we benefit by enjoying her wonderful cooking. I got her a carved wooden “happiness” statuette to celebrate the fact that her depression is lifted and she’s finally feeling herself again.


Most of derby practice sucked Sunday. Between my sprained ankle and my late work shift, I haven't been able to make it to more than one practice a week, and that's not enough to keep up. I tried to sprint out of a pack skate when it was my turn, and after getting whipped to the front I promptly fell on my ass, which didn't hurt then but hurt for days after. I think I might take Dexter's advice and start going to Skateland on Thursday nights, at least on the weeks I work late and can't go to Monday practice.

After practice I went to Ke’s to shower and spend the night. We went to the Laundromat so she could wash and dry blankets and sleeping bags, and we grabbed Chinese food from next door while we were there. When we got back we watched a cute Star Trek parody episode of CSI while Ke worked on computer repair projects. When Nivagi got home, she hung out with us for a while before going to bed. When Ke got hungry again, I went out and got us Fazoli’s before bed. We stayed up way too late, but it was fine since I didn’t have to work Monday.

Monday afternoon Ke and I got up and went to Le Peep for a late breakfast. I hung out at Ke’s before going to Jero’s to snuggle and get dinner. After dinner Jero and I went to derby practice – me to skate, Jero to observe and provide advice and moral support (she’s on a self-imposed off-season until January). Practice followed the same pattern as Sunday – the first half sucked, but it got better as I got warmed up. After practice I gave Jero solstice presents and then we cuddled and watched Dexter.

Work was hectic Tuesday, but I got to leave a little early so I went home and enjoyed some time alone before my friend Jeki arrived. She’s in area (sort of) for the holidays, so she made time to stop by like she did last year. We thought she was going to have to leave early to drive back to her parents’, but she got someone to watch her kids so she could spend the night. We both had a lovely time cuddling and catching up with everything that’s been going on in the last year.

Wednesday work sucked, so I escaped as early as possible and went home to unwind before bringing Ke dinner. Ke and I snuggled up and watched NCIS before I tore myself away and headed to Bloomington to pick up Chhu to bring her to Evansville. Chhu and I headed to Evansville, where I dropped Chhu off at our mom’s. I went to Mira’s apartment, where we said hello to her roommates and then sequestered ourselves in her bedroom to snuggle and watch “Epitath One.”
Thursday morning Mira and I went to her brother’s house for Christmas Eve celebrations. Mira’s family is very nice, and they (as well as Mira) got me presents. When we left I went to my mom’s house for dinner. She made super-yummy lasagna, and after we ate we hung out and listened to fun Christmas music like Straight No Chaser and Hebe’s Cthulhu carols. When Mom went to bed I got on the MUX for a while and then Chhu and I played Guitar Hero.

Around 2 AM Friday morning I went to Mira’s to sleep. Hours later Mira woke me up very nicely with kisses and breakfast. When she headed out for her Christmas plans, I headed back to my mom’s apartment. She’s making a ham for the holidays, and after we eat I’m bringing Chhu back to Bloomington and then meeting up with Caro while she’s in the state. Caro’s Thanksgiving visit was far too short, so tonight I get to kidnap her for the entire night.

Tomorrow morning I have to work, so unfortunately Caro will have to head back early. After work I get to have dinner with Jero and her parents. With luck maybe we’ll all get to play SingStar again and Jero’s brother and I can show off our mad Madonna-singing skillz. I like Jero’s family, so I’m happy I’ll get to see them while they’re in town for the holidays. Overall, it’s been a very nice holiday week with friends, lovers, and family.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Ben Franklin

Happy Holidays! -- December 27th

I’m not much of a holidays guy, but this week was pretty cool. I got to see Caro while she was in to visit her family, and I actually had a nice time with my mom and sister over Christmas. I got to meet new members of my family, and spend some quiet time curled up watching Dexter - Season 3 with Jero. What could be better for the holiday season? *grin*

Sunday I picked up Caro at the airport and we went downtown to have dinner and warm up at Steak n’ Shake. After eating we braved the freakin’ cold! to run over to Borders. Caro sneaky bought me a holiday gift (a Stephen Colbert desk calendar!) and then we headed back to my apartment to nest and de-thaw. We watched two episodes of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (“Once More with Feeling” and “Restless”) and then cuddled up to sleep. It was fantastic to have Caro cuddled up in my bed again! B)

Monday Caro and I slept for about twelve hours before finally emerging from my apartment for sushi. We then headed down to Bloomington, stopping into a knit shop and then hanging out at the Runcible Spoon until it was time to go meet her parents. They made us dinner, and I had an enjoyable time with them. After excellent food and conversation, I headed back to Indy to snuggle with Jero and watch Dexter for as long as we could stay awake.

Tuesday I had to go back to work, but I started a 9:45 AM schedule which was much better than having to be at work at 8. I wound up leaving work two hours early thanks to E-time (Saca isn’t such a Grinch after all!), and spent the night alone, hiding out and storing up social energy before having to deal with my mom and family. I did some journaling and laundry, and stayed up way too late since I had the opportunity.

Wednesday I got up relatively early and met Jero for lunch before driving down to Bloomington to meet up with Chhu and her boyfriend Semo. Chhu drove us to Mt. Vernon to my half-brothers’ dad’s place, where Mom made us a huge yummy dinner, with homemade New York-style cheesecake for dessert. Mom got me a lot of crap for Christmas – Chhu was smart and asked for just money. B)

As I posted day-of, Thursday (Christmas itself) wasn’t quite as fun. I was cranky and didn’t sleep well, and Mom was too sick to join us for the yummy dinner she’d prepared. When we left I drove part of the way back, and then Chhu took over since she was getting car sick and feels better if she’s driving. I made it back to Jero’s late, and spent the night snuggling and watching Dexter.

Friday night I wanted to go back down to Bloomington for Dadypi’s birthday. However, I am poor and my gas tank was on empty, and Jero, who I was hoping would come with, was feeling sickly. Add thick fog and a hour drive to that, and we decided to stay home and just watch more Dexter. I’ll take Dadypi out later when the financial and meteorological forecast is better.

Today I’m at work, and tonight I plan to hang out with Ke when she returns from visiting her family. I haven’t gotten to see Ke all week since she’s been out of town, so I look forward to cuddling and catching up. The rest of the weekend should be peaceful and relaxing. If Ke’s on the computer I’ll probably work more on my D&D campaign, since I’m fretting about now that a date is set.

Hope everyone is having a happy holiday!

"History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance of which their civil as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purposes."
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1813

Great Weekend

I had a very nice weekend, although since I had to work on Saturday so I didn’t get as much rest, sleep, or time as I would have liked. Friday when I got off work Ke came over to she and I could drove down to Bloomington to go to a party with muppetofthenight and my sister. We had to nap before we left since we were both so tired, and on the way to the party we stopped at my mom’s to pick up a dishwasher.

I had fun at J031’s birthday party, even though Ke and I couldn’t stay late since she had class in the morning and I had to work. We made it back to my apartment alive and slept until I had to go to work and she to class. We were anticipating trouble getting downtown because of a marathon that day, but while Ke had problems dealing with the marathon fans I got in without incident.

For a Saturday, work wasn’t actually that bad. When I got off work I intended to go straight to St. Louis to see Ra, but I forgot my cell phone hands-free so I had to run home before leaving town. The drive was long but uneventful, and I got into St. Louis around ten PM, calling to tease Ra that I was just leaving.

Saturday night Ra and I kissed, cuddled, and snuggled up on the couch to watch Buffy season five. Ra’s husband Sckl had to go to bed earlier than we did, so we turned the sound down and watched two more episodes with the subtitles on since our hearing isn’t the greatest. Ra and I stayed up long enough to finish the first disc, and then joined Sckl in sleep.

Sunday morning Ra and Sckl let me sleep late, while Ra grabbed a shower and Sckl made us breakfast. I got up and ate, and the three of us re-watched the Buffys that Sckl missed because he went to bed earlier than Ra and I. We discussed what we wanted to do that day, and decided to go comic shopping before Sckl’s date with M@-6.

Sckl and I grabbed showers and snuggled Ra until Sckl had to leave for his date. Ra and I went out comic shopping and grabbed lunch. We went back to her apartment and snuggled more before moving to the living room to watch more Buffy. We ordered pizza and watched Buffy until Sckl came home, paused it to hang out until he went to bed, and then stayed up watching more.

Monday morning after staying up late watching Buffy with Ra I slept for about four hours before having to get on the road back to Indianapolis. I reluctantly kissed Ra good-bye, wishing I could stay longer, and then drove back to Indy, going directly to work. Work was busy but got quieter towards the end of the day since I’m back on the late shift, so I had time to catch up.

I went to Jero’s after work, with the intention to hang out and MUX. Unfortunately, I was so tired after four hours of sleep, four hours of driving, and eight hours of work, that I was too tired to RP and instead semi-idled on the MUX while discussed Gen Con plans with Jero. Eventually I became too cranky and sleepy to even do that, so Jero and I gave up and went to bed.

“Already, the Kay report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations."
-- President George W. Bush, in his State of the Union address, on evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq

"I don't think they existed."
-- David Kay, after stepping down as the U.S. special adviser leading the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, on the lack of evidence proving Saddam Hussein's alleged arsenal (Newsweek)

Family Weekend

This past weekend I spent a lot of time with my immediate family. Saturday after I got off work, I waited a bit until Chhu and muppetofthenight got into Bloomington, and then headed down to help Chhu move into muppetofthenight’s apartment. When I got there two of their friends were helping already, which made things go pretty smoothly, aside from the fact that Chhu’s stuff was going to three different locations.

Sunday morning I didn’t get back until late from hanging out with Chhu and muppetofthenight, so I slept in before driving down to have dinner with my mom for her birthday. I took Chhu, Mom, and my Aunt Jamcde out to the Great Wall for dinner, and then we took her shopping for food staples since she just moved to Bloomington as well. Then I helped Chhu move more stuff before heading back.

I’m happy Chhu has moved to Bloomington, and it’s good that Mom is nearby as well. With all of us in-state, I’ll be able to see Chhu more often, and as a happy side-effect, get to see A13 and muppetofthenight more as well. I’ll be able to help Chhu take care of Mom more often, which will take some of the stress off of her. And now Chhu lives close enough to role-play again! W00t! B^)

"Everyone is a citizen of the world. But living in America for me has been my life, and I'm very thankful for living here. To be able to now say I am American is nice."
-- French figure-skating champion Surya Bonaly, who became a U.S. citizen in Las Vegas (San Jose Mercury News)

Weekend with A13, Chhu, and Jalyru

I had a great time this weekend with A13, Chhu, and Jalyru. Saturday I wound up sleeping really late and missing a chance to go ice-skating with them, but I did make it down to dinner at Olive Garden. I always love hanging out with Chhu and Jalyru, and I hadn’t seen A13 in forever, so it was a really good time. After eating we went back to Jalyru’s, and pretty much spent the rest of the weekend hanging out, listening to music, playing karaoke games, and watching A13 DDR. Good times! I can’t wait for Chhu to move to Bloomington so I can hang out with the three of them more often.

River: [as her brother tends to a woman in labor] "What do you think is in there?"

Thanksgiving Week

Monday at work Damcza, our new Cobra Commander on the <a href=tfuniverse.net>Transformers Universe MUX</a> emailed me and asked if he could talk with me about MUX stuff. I told him I'd be on after work, and when I logged on we discussed ways to speed up the application process for new players. I wound up spending all night talking with him and doing admin stuff, and while the night wasn't fun <i>per se</i>, it was pleasantly productive, and I got to talk with Damcza about a lot of things about which I was concerned. After MUXing I snuggled with Jero and watched the last episode of the previous season's <i>House M.D.</i> before snuggling and falling asleep.

Tuesday night my plans had gotten cancelled, so I decided to make it a productivity night and catch up with journaling, etc. Ke saw that I was free, and invited me over to eat after work. She had a coupon for Max & Erma's, which she hadn't been to before, so we went there for yummy sammiches before heading back to Ke's so I could journal and she could write her paper for English class. Ke was a lot more productive than I – she got her paper done, but I got sucked into <a href=http://okcupid.com>OKCupid</a> and didn't get much journaling done. We took a break to run to Meijer for cat litter and ice cream (yum!), and then settled on the couch to watch an episode of <i>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine</i>. By the time that was over, it was getting late, so we shut down our laptops, and headed to bed.

Wednesday night after work I met up with Kave, since it was her birthday. I took her out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's, and then we went back to her apartment to watch a couple of episodes of <I>Red Dwarf</>. She wound up falling asleep during the second episode we were watching, so afterward we got undressed for bed and I wound up cuddling and sleeping over. I thought I might have to leave since Caro got stranded at the airport, but S( came up to get her so all was OK. I slept until ten AM, and then dragged myself out of her bed and off to Jero's for Thanksgiving.

Thursday morning when I got to Jero's, I brought her breakfast in bed from Hardee's, and then we cuddled and went back to sleep. Jero had suggested pouncing, but I was still sleepy, so we napped instead. Even after we woke back up, we continued to cuddle. It was very pleasant to have a day we could huddle up and sleep. When we did get up, Jero made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us, and then we hung out and played on our laptops until it was time for bed. We cuddled and watched <I>Supernatural</i> before drifting off to sleep.

This morning Jero and I slept in, and then got up and went to the comic store for geeky four-color goodness. We had an incredibly late breakfast at Bob Evans, where I got Jero a cute Beanie Baby penguin. We intended to go pick up my glasses today, but I couldn't get anyone at my eye doctor's to answer, so I figured they were either closed, or too busy to bother with. Giving up on productivity, we headed back to Jero's to snuggle and watch more <I>Supernatural</i> until Ke was ready for me to come over. Now I'm at Ke's, taking a break with her before she goes back to cleaning for Mira's weekend visit.

 

Thanksgiving

Spending Thanksgiving with the family. My sister cooked dinner, and it turned out well. I got to hang out with her a little before I went to get my mother, and that was nice, although since I was rather sleepy, I'm not sure how much fun I was to spend time with. *chuckle*

I'm hanging out with my mother now at her house, while my sister was at the parents of her boyfriend. I might go back over to my sister's house later... I'm stuill trying to decide. Tomorrow I'm getting together with C@-0, who is also in Cincinnati visiting her family. I'm giving her a ride back to Bloomington, and then we're going to spend Friday together.

Saturday and Sunday I'd planned to spend with J3R0 and her parents. Unfortunately, J3R0 and I broke up this week, which is an obvious strain on things, but I am going along with my original commitments, because I do want to salvage a friendship with her. This seems to annoy/confuse/mystify my GF S@B@, but J3R0 is still very important to me, and I still want a place for her in my life, even if it's not in a BG/GF capacity. I'm hoping we can work something out that will ultimately make us both happier in the long run.

The Loverboy Random Gentle Love Master (RGLMm) Well-liked. Well-established. I am The Loverboy. Loverboys thrive in committed, steady relationships -- as opposed to, say, Playboys, who want sex without too much attachment. I've had many relationships and nearly all of them have been successful. I'm a nice guy, I know the ropes, and even if I can be a little hasty with decisions, most girls think of me as a total catch. My hastiness comes off as spontaneity most of the time anyhow, making me especially popular in my circle of friends, too. I know not to make the typical Loverboy mistake of choosing someone who appreciates my good humor and popularity, but who offers nothing in return. I belong with someone outgoing, independent, and creative. Otherwise, I'll get bored. And then instead of surprising her with flowers or a practical joke, I'll surprise her by leaving. ALWAYS AVOID: The Nymph CONSIDER: The Window Shopper, The Peach Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating. My profile name: bzero

Woohoo!

They were still withholding child support payments from my paycheck, even though the payments should have been suspended. J3R0 looked up the numbers for me, and I called during my lunch and talked to the prosecutor’s office, who promised me they’d make sure the note to end my withholding would be sent out *today*. Yay actual no-hassle progress!

Woohoo!

”Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you're a conservative radio host. Then it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.” – GOP Logic

Child Support

*sigh* They’re still taking child support out of my check. I wonder who I have to bug now to get that taken care of…

Otherwise, my weekend is going OK. Had to work late last night because everyone else took off for Easter Weekend, and this morning I’m at work at 9:30 in the freakin’ morning. Joy.

Tonight I’m supposed to hang out with J3R0. We were going to go to St. Louis to visit her family, but she decided she didn’t want to drive, so now we’ll probably have dinner, go Krogering, and maybe visit a club. We’ll see.

Bush: Employment Record
• 2.4 million – Number of Americans who lost their jobs during the first two and half years of the Bush administration.
• 9 million – Number of workers unemployed as of September 2003.
• #1 – The administration is well on its way to being the first since Herbert Hoover's to preside over an overall loss of jobs during its complete term in office.