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

Christmas at Rosc’s – 2008.12.25

Christmas at Rosc’s was fun and interesting. I got to meet to my half-nephew Jake and hear a lot about my dad from a slightly less biased source than my mother, who canonizes my dad since he died during their NRE phase. According to my mother, my dad was a saint who could never do wrong; it was nice to hear a more well-rounded assessment from someone who knew my dad from high school until he died. Rosc married my dad’s first wife and raised my half-brothers as his own.

Nephew Jake was actually a riot, talking a mile a minute and forever going off on endless amusing tangents. He actually reminded me a lot of my ex Jeso with the cadence and rhythm of his speech, with a fair dose of ADD thrown in for entertainment value. Rosc said my father was the same way, always talking a blue streak, which is rather at odds with my mom’s Cary Grant portrayal of my dad. It was definitely interesting to meet another K31, since I have almost no contact with that part of my family.

Rosc also confirmed my dad’s drinking problem, which was implied by the fact that all stories of him take place in a bar. Apparently dad also had a drug problem and went into rehab, and when he came out he was a sober but empty shell. Rosc’s opinion is that they over-treated him in rehab and he came out differently broken instead of fixed. This, plus dad’s stress and unhappiness at work, puts his suicide when I was eighteen months old into a more understandable context.

My mom (also over-treated in Rosc’s opinion) wasn’t as bad this year as she has been years past. Yesterday was better – mom was happy to see us and drowned me in near useless crap presents while promising my sister cash instead (but not this month – next month, maybe?). Mom made a huge yummy dinner for us, and seems to love my sister’s new boyfriend Semo, who I agree is rather cool. After everyone went to bed I took advantage of the quiet and stayed up working on my D&D campaign.

Today wasn’t quite as fun. I didn’t sleep well since I wound up curled up on a love seat, but I tried to sleep as late as possible so I wouldn’t be too tired to drive tonight. Mom woke up early and started cooking the lasagna for tonight’s dinner, but then started feeling sick so she went to lie down. Dinner turned out well, but unfortunately Mom was too sick to join us and spent the rest of the day laying in the living room looking like she was on death’s door, which put a damper on the festivities.

Chhu and Semo made the best of it – they snuck off to the bathroom and had sex – but I eventually got a little cranky and was very ready to leave. After packing up the car with all my holiday crap – er, booty – and enduring endless pictures (we have almost no photos of us as a family), we finally escaped. 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’m looking forward to getting to Jero’s and snuggling and maybe watching some Dexter.

Happy Holidays!

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Last Week

Last week was busy, and I felt down a lot of the time. However, I did have a lot of fun with many cool people, some of which I haven’t seen in quite an age. The week ended well with an enjoyable holiday party, and after sleeping in two days in a row I’m slightly more rested, although being at work at 8 AM still leaves me crazy-tired. Boo work! B)

Last Sunday Laat and I slept in, snuggling for warmth and not wanting to get out of her bed. We watched Lost until Laat had to go into work, and while she was gone I showered and played on my laptop. When she returned we went out for dinner and met her friends at a comedy club for a Girl Scouts benefit. After the show I headed back to Indianapolis to snuggle with Ke.

Last Monday is usually my MUX night, but since Jero had put up with me glued to the computer the last two Mondays we decided to give it a break and went out to dinner and played Mario Kart on the Wii instead. Jero and I are both spectacularly bad at Mario Kart, but it’s an amusing enough game that we were entertained nonetheless. We even went online and got our asses kicked by people from all over the world!

Tuesday I went to the dentist and got my missing crown replaced. That night Mika brought me with her to December’s Indy Poly Meetup. I had a good time hanging out with her, Salamander, Tojo, Nivagi, and everyone else that made it out there. After the Meetup Mika and I went over to Tojo’s to help him bring in his new big-screen TV, and then we went back to Mika’s to collapse.

Wednesday work had a sort of “employee appreciation day” and I found out that I had the most customer accolades out of our group. Woot! That night Ke and I went to a party at the Children's Museum. Even though I practically live next door to it, I’ve never been there, so that was cool. We checked out the comics exhibit and I took lots of pictures. I’ll definitely have to go back.

Thursday I went out to eat with Ke and her co-workers, and her boss was good enough to buy us all dinner. After dinner I went home and waited for Nivagi to come over when she got off work. By the time she arrived, it wasn’t long before we needed to sleep, but it was great to spend the bit of time together we had. We’ll have to reschedule soon to finish her D&D character.

Friday I was hoping to have a Hobby Night, but I couldn’t afford to buy the supplies I needed to build my Dollship of Doom, so that’ll have to wait. After driving Ke to the airport I picked up Jero and we went out to eat. We didn’t get hobby stuff done, but it was good to have a night to escape and relax. Jero and I spent the night alone and stored up energy for the weekend.

Saturday afternoon Jero and I slept late and didn’t really want to leave the house to be social. Nonetheless, once Jero had decided to skip derby practice Sunday, that streamlined our plans a bit and we grabbed food before heading out to our first party, which was with the Circle City Socialites roller derby team. We hung out there for a couple of hours (Jero got cool presents from the team) and then headed to the Indy Poly Meetup Holiday party.

The Poly Meetup Holiday party was a lot of fun. I got to see some friends I hadn’t seen in ages and meet fun new people. I saw Daar, and finally got to meet her husband C# and their very adorable kid. I teased Tojo that I never knew the centerpiece of his parties was tossing a stuffed dog around a circle for the amusement of a two-year-old. It was nice to see Salamander and Nivagi again as well – I need to steal them both to role-play sometime soon.

Hanging out with Mika and Tojo on Tuesday and then again on Saturday night was good since I’d been feeling a little left out of Mika’s life since she started spending so much time with Tojo. All of us hanging out together makes me feel part of that area of her life, and reinforces a feeling of Tojo as a friend instead of a rival for Mika’s attention.

"If the government gave them the leases for free they wouldn't take them. No oil company really cares about ANWR."
-- an anonymous Bush adviser, explaining that industry skepticism about the size of potential reserves in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) demonstrates that the administration is more interested in drilling there than the oil companies themselves

Ritual Cleanliness Make Immoral Behavior Feel More Acceptable

From Austin's Atheism Blog --

Simone Schnall of the University of Plymouth has published in Psychological Science a study revealing that physical purification or feelings of purification make it easier to accept immoral acts. This holds serious implications for religion because of how many religions make such an emphasis on ritual purification and acts of physical purification. People believe that religion makes a person more moral, but what if fundamental religious doctrines or traditions actually have the opposite effect?

( More... )

Last Week

Last week was stressful and left me feeling down a lot of the time. However, it did have some very nice parts with people I love, and so even though I’m feeling Bleh today I’m still happy overall. A weekend hanging out with Laat, who I haven’t seen in ages, certainly helped improve my mood. I’m hoping since Laat only lives two hours away now we might be able to hang out a little more often than the maybe once or twice a year we have been.

Last Sunday I got to sleep in wonderfully late with Ke. When hunger finally drove us from her bed, we went to get Thai food, continuing my experimentation with how well I’ve recovered from my radiation treatments. The food was yummy, and after hanging out a bit with Jero while Ke ran to work, I spent the evening with Ke, journaling while she did her nursing school homework.

Last Monday after work I went over to Jero’s to MUX. We ate and I got on the MUX for a TinyPlot meeting that Hemy was running. Everyone had good ideas, and I was happy to be able to actually get on and contribute for a change. After the meeting I got to role-play with Hemy and others as Cobra Commander, which is always a lot of fun.

Tuesday I went to the dentist to get a crown re-adhered. The weekend before Thanksgiving one of my crowns came off while I was eating. Because it was the weekend, I called and left a message with my dentist that I needed to make an appointment to put it back on. Since I had a root canal in that tooth, there was no pain, so I figured it was no emergency. The dentist called me back the Monday before Thanksgiving and asked if I could come in that day to have it re-attached, but since it was my first day back at work I didn’t want to leave immediately. Since it was a holiday week, I couldn’t get an appointment until the next Tuesday, and my that time my rootless tooth had moved too much – so now I have to buy a whole new crown. D’oh!

Tuesday night after work I went over to Mika’s. I tore her away from Mobsters long enough to take her out for Chinese food, and then when we got home I got on her computer to send out a notice to Indiana_RP about a game night Thursday. Unfortunately Mika passed out while I was on the computer, so it wound up being a very early night.

I had to burn off from Paid Personal Time before the end of the year, and last Wednesday was one of the only days available. So, I took the day off and hid out while everyone else was at school or work. That night I got together with Ke. We had yummy Cuban food and then watched A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All. Heartwarming! B)

Thursday night Mika and I hosted a game night in my apartment building’s community room. A@, B! and Erro joined us for most of the night, and Brbe popped in as well when he got off work. I kicked ass at Apples to Apples and Run for Your Life, Candyman!, but Erro triumphed at Munchkin. It was a lot of fun, especially for a last minute thing.

Friday I got together with Jero. We went out to dinner and ate way too much. After stuffing ourselves we went back to her house and spent a lot of time playing on our laptops while trying to decide what to do with the evening. Eventually we settled on snuggling and watching Bones, so I finally got to start watching the second season.

This weekend was fun. I went down to Louisville to see my friend Laat from college. I’ve seen her on and off depending on where in the country she is living, but hadn’t had a chance to see her since she recently moved to Louisville, which is only 2 hours from Indy. This weekend she had a fundraiser for the Girl Scouts, so that made a god excuse to go down to see her and her new apartment. The weekend was cold but very fun.

Today I’m back at work, and it’s annoying the fuck out of me. We combined with another department so now the phones ring off the hook. Plus, they keep moving everything to one server, and then of course every time something crashes *everything* goes offline and makes our jobs almost impossible. I hate working here, although I do appreciate still having a job and insurance, especially after seeing the $16,000 bill for my radiation treatments. So I guess I’ll suck it up. ;)

“You create the reason/ for your own existence.”
– Forest for the Trees

Week in Review

This week started off sucking and then got better towards the weekend. I think I went back to work too soon and really suffered through my day Monday through Wednesday. I thought I’d be OK since my job isn’t physically taxing, but I overlooked the ability to lie down with some ginger tea when I felt bad. Luckily I had a nice four-day holiday weekend to spend recovering, which had me feeling 100% better by Saturday.

Last Sunday while Mira was in town Ke had to go into work for a while, so I ran home to get books and character sheets to role-play with Mira while Ke was gone. However, by the time I got back to Ke’s, Ke was already off work, so the three of us just hung out in Ke’s living room. Ke did homework, Mira wrote for NaNoWriMo, and I got distracted by the Internet journalled.

Monday I returned to work, which was probably a mistake. I felt like hell all day, and didn’t really get much done. After work I ran a TinyPlot on TFUMUX. It started late and ran far too long, but I had a lot of fun, and we accomplished our goal – rescuing Scarlett and Temera from the clutches of Cobra! It was cheesy 80s fun.

Tuesday was another bad day at work. Even though I wasn’t feeling all that well, and I’d had a really stressful day at work, I did have a nice evening with Nivagi. When I got home from work I had a little bit of time to unwind before Nivagi finally got a hold of me to tell me she was downstairs – I was having phone issues. The two of us went out to eat. I’ve been somewhat incommunicado since my energy level has been so low, so we had a lot to catch up on and talk about. After dinner we headed back to my apartment to snuggle and watch more Buffy.

Wednesday Ke was supposed to drive home to see her family for Thanksgiving, but she decided to postpone leaving until Thursday morning. I’d had another crappy day at work, and was planning to just hide out alone Wednesday night, but since Ke stayed in town we hung out and watched Family Guy on hulu.com. It was a good way to unwind after a bad work week.

Ke left town early Thursday morning, and I had much of the day to myself until Mika came by to visit. Mika and I wound up napping and then when she had to leave I headed over to Jero’s for Thanksgiving dinner. Jero made a fantastic meal with delicious turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, stuffed mushrooms, etc.

Friday I didn’t have any plans, so I got to enjoy the day off. Jero and I got to sleep in superbly late. Neither of us had to work -- Jero took off since I had the day as a holiday. We didn’t have any social obligations, so we both turned off our alarms and slept as late as we wanted. It was decadently sinful, and I enjoyed it very much. When at last we did wake up, we did some late Black Friday shopping and then hid away from the world.

Saturday Jero and I went to an open skate with the Circle City Socialites roller derby team, which was a lot of fun. Jero and I skated for two or three hours, which is the most exercise I’ve had since my surgery. When we got back to Jero’s, she set me up a profile on her Wii Fit, and I got in another half-hour of aerobic and balance-building exercises. When Ke got back into town, I went over to her house and we ate and watched TV until Ke conked out and I joined her in bed.

Today I got to sleep in late with Ke. When hunger drove us from her bed, we went to get Thai food, continuing my experimentation with how well I’ve recovered from my radiation treatments. The food was yummy, and after hanging out with Jero while Ke ran to work, I spent the evening with Ke, journaling while she did her nursing school homework. It was a pleasant end to a week start started off bad but finished well.

"You can count on my support for your efforts to revitalize the nuclear weapons infrastructure."
- Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, voicing his support in a memo for the nightmarishly Freudian "Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator," or "bunker buster" bomb, which House Republicans had cut from the 2005 Omnibus Appropriations Bill
Source:
The Washington Post

Societies worse off 'when they have God on their side'

From The Times:

Societies worse off 'when they have God on their
side'
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing
towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according
to research published today.

According to the study, belief in and worship
of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually
contribute to social problems.

The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to
provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.

It compares the social peformance of relatively secular countries, such
as Britain, with the US, where the majority believes in a creator rather than
the theory of evolution. Many conservative evangelicals in the US consider
Darwinism to be a social evil, believing that it inspires atheism and amorality.

Many liberal Christians and believers of other faiths hold that
religious belief is socially beneficial, believing that it helps to lower rates
of violent crime, murder, suicide, sexual promiscuity and abortion. The benefits
of religious belief to a society have been described as its “spiritual capital”.
But the study claims that the devotion of many in the US may actually contribute
to its ills.

( More... )

Vader Toaster

Vader Toaster, originally uploaded by bonniegrrl.

*snicker* Want!

Paulson's Swindle Revealed

From The Nation --

The swindle of American taxpayers is proceeding more or less in broad
daylight, as the unwitting voters are preoccupied with the national election.
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson agreed to invest $125 billion in the nine
largest banks, including $10 billion for Goldman Sachs, his old firm. But, if
you look more closely at Paulson's transaction, the taxpayers were taken for a
ride--a very expensive ride. They paid $125 billion for bank stock that a
private investor could purchase for $62.5 billion. That means half of the
public's money was a straight-out gift to Wall Street, for which taxpayers got
nothing in return.

These are dynamite facts that demand immediate action to halt the bailout
deal and correct its giveaway terms. Stop payment on the Treasury checks before
the bankers can cash them. Open an immediate Congressional investigation into
how Paulson and his staff determined such a sweetheart deal for leading players
in the financial sector and for their own former employer. Paulson's bailout
staff is heavily populated with Goldman Sachs veterans and individuals from
other Wall Street firms. Yet we do not know whether these financiers have fully
divested their own Wall Street holdings. Were they perhaps enriching themselves
as they engineered this generous distribution of public wealth to embattled
private banks and their shareholders?

( More... )

Radiation Therapy

I had my first radiation therapy appointment today. It went well. Today’s appointment was longer than the rest of them will be because they had to set up the treatment, which (for me) involved getting back into the CT-scan position they’d molded for me, and having them line me back up with LASERs along the points they’d marked on my body last time I was there.

They took new X-rays, drew a grid on my torso, and double-checked everything before finally having me get dressed again and go to wait in the actual radiation area. During the first part it was cold in the room and my tech guy was freezing, but I had comfy hand-knit socks to keep me warm. Thanks, Ra! I’ll have to alternate between warm socks for the next three weeks.

When I was ready for my actual radiation therapy (which will be the only part I’ll have to do from now on), they had me lay down in the same position again. Two cute nurses/radiation techs arranged me until I was lined up properly. Dr. Yeh came in to check on me and things, and told them to go ahead with the therapy.

The radiation therapy itself is indistinguishable from just getting an X-ray – they leave, the machine goes MMMM for a few seconds, and then they come back in. After they zapped me from above, the radiation machine rotated around the platform I was on until it was under me. The radiation techs made some measurements to make sure everything was good and then zapped me again.

I’d heard both that the first few days were the worse, and that the end will be the worst. Dr. Yeh said if I was going to feel nauseated I’d know immediately, but besides some no-food and stress-induced butterflies, I feel fine. I’m still taking today off just in case I feel sick later, but so far, so good. They’ve warned me I’ll feel fatigued, but I’m so lazy, how would I know? *grin*

"A secret message… from my teeth!" -- The Tick

Last Week

Last week was a difficult week for me emotionally. I was stressed about health and relationship issues, and it made me depressed and touchy. Luckily I was surrounded by good people who were very patient with me, and ultimately the week ended on a high note. I got to spend a lot of time with Mika last week, which was especially nice because I needed a chance to reconnect with her.

Last Sunday was a really pleasant day. Jero and I slept in ridiculously late and then we went out to Outback before meeting B!, Jobe, and Mars for a last-minute birthday Runebound game night. We still didn’t get to complete a game, but we did come a lot closer than the last time we played. I hadn’t expected to see Mars that weekend, so his unexpected freedom was an enjoyable surprise.

Last Monday I went to my first radiation oncologist appointment. The appointment went well – Dr. Leagre was very reassuring, and was happy to oblige my request to move my treatments to closer-to-home Methodist Hospital. It meant switching radiation oncologists, but I like Dr. Yeh just as much. After my appointment I headed to work. I had to work late since I traded with Napl so I could go to the doctor’s appt, so Monday night Jero and I skipped MUXing and went to bed relatively early.

Last Tuesday I went to another doctor’s appointment to meet Dr. Yeh, my new radiation oncologist. Ke picked me up at work and brought me to Methodist Hospital Radiation Therapy. I thought I’d just meet Dr. Yeh and he’d give me the same rundown Dr. Leagre did, but while I was there he had them CAT scan me as well in preparation for my radiation treatments. He answered more of the questions I’d had, and although the appointment lasted a lot longer than I’d planned, I felt like I got a lot accomplished in one visit.

After work I went over to Mika’s to spend the night with her for her birthday Wednesday. Mika and I had dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then stopped by Trader Joe’s to pick up ingredients for breakfast. When we got back to Mika’s apartment we snuggled on the couch and watched Firefly until we were both ready for bed.

Wednesday I had the day off for Mika’s birthday, so we slept in and Mika made breakfast. I had to run up to my urologist’s so they could take more blood, and then when I returned Mika napped while I watched the History Channel’s specials on end of the world scenarios – happy birthday, Mika!

Wednesday night Mika and I met up with Tojo, and the three of us went to see Mudkids, Flobots, and Matisyahu at the Murat Egyptian Room for Mika's birthday. After the concert I headed off so Mika and Tojo could have the night alone, and went over to Ke’s to snuggle and fall asleep with her to The Colbert Report.

Thursday night Amsc drove in from Illinois to see me. She was worried about her new tattoo, but she stopped in on the way to Indy and her tattoo shop reassured her it was healing just fine. Amsc’s visit was a short one, but it was good to catch up with her since I didn’t get to see her for her important rites weekend. We snuggled and she spent the night, and I get to see her again for Halloween.

Friday night after work I got back together with Mika for her birthday weekend. We had dinner, and then started in on two days devoted to the Star Trek Roleplaying Game. I have to love a woman whose request for birthday weekend activities includes role-playing Star Trek. *^_^* I had a great time with her, not just for the role-playing, but also for the chance to hang out with in an unhurried, non-sleepy setting.

Saturday Mika and slept in again and then went out to Le Peep for breakfast. We hit the knit shop, so Mika could stock up on yarn. Coincidently they were having a clearance sale, so Mika spent way too much, and then we headed home to role-play more Star Trek. We ordered in Jimmy Johns so we didn’t have to venture out, and spent the evening role-playing and snuggling.

The weekend was just what I needed. Mika had backed off from me a bit since I’d gotten sick, mostly so she didn’t get in the way of everyone else who was wanting to take care of me (I have an abundance of good fortunes!). This coincided with some NRE on her part, which left me feeling a little insecure. A weekend of snuggling and catching up was perfect for making me feel better in a lot of ways.

Arthur: “Oh, would you look at this. How many times have I told you about the toothpaste?“
The Tick: “I know what toothpaste is.“
Arthur: “When you leave the cap off the toothpaste the toothpaste gets hard and you can't get it out.“
The Tick: “Doesn't do that for me.“
Arthur: “That's because by the time you get the toothpaste, I've already cleaned it and put the cap back on!“
The Tick: “Well, good gravy! We are a well-oiled machine!“
-- The Tick

Radiation Oncologist

Today I went to see Dr. Christopher Leagre, a radiation oncologist. He was recommended my Dr. Pike, my urologist. The purpose of the visit was to set up radiation treatments for me following my orchiectomy. Dr. Leagre said I had a “pure seminoma,” which was good, because that meant it was a very well-known, predictable type of cancer.

If I do nothing, there’s an 85% chance I will be just fine. However, with the kind of seminoma I had, its size, and the speed in which it developed, there is a 15% chance the cancer will spread to my abdominal lymph nodes. If I zap them with radiation, that chance drop down to 1-3% (and Dr. Leagre said in his 20 years of doctoring, he’s never actually personally seen it return post-radiation).

Dr. Leagre said that they use a much lower dose of radiation now than they used to, with much lower chance for bad side effects. Basically I’ll just have to deal with nausea, and they’ll give me anti-nausea medicine and Xanax to combat that. There’s going to scan me and make a 3D model of my abdomen so they can zap my lymph nodes without accidently zapping anything important like my kidneys.

The appointments will be every weekday for three weeks (15 zaps). They’ll take place at the end of the day, so I can leave work, get zapped, and go home if I feel sick. Everything else should be fine. Dr. Leagre offered to sign the paperwork if I wanted to take the three weeks off work, but I shouldn’t need to. Tempting, though!

Since I live and work downtown, I asked if I could get my treatments closer to my home and workplace. Dr. Leagre is a St. Vincent’s guy, but he said he knows a doctor at Methodist he could recommend to me. Methodist Hospital is four minutes from my house and even closer to my work, so that should be just fine. I have another radiation oncologist appt. with Dr. Yeh at Methodist tomorrow.

“Who can deny the snazzy of that?” To Arthur: “Are you denying the snazzy of that?”
-- The Tick

Last Week

Last week was my final week off work. I didn’t get as much done project-wise while I was off-work, but I did get to spend a lot of time with the very sweet people who went out of their way to take care of me, which was probably the higher-priority time-killer anyway. *grin* I was a little depressed and over-emotional towards the end of the week, but otherwise have been on a pretty even-keel.

Last Sunday I had to kick Ke out of bed early so she could go to work, and then I had most of the day to myself to email, journal, and enjoy some alone time. Around 8 I got a surprise call from Chwi and M31, who had just gotten back from BlizzCon 2008 and offered to swing by and pick me up for dinner. They regaled me with their travel and vacation exploits, and when I got home Jero was waiting to snuggle and sleep. Chwi and M31 returned for Jero’s bout Saturday. B^)

Last Monday Jero and I hung out at my apartment until venturing out to meet C# and Nivagi for a late lunch/early dinner. After dinner Jero and I headed back to her place and I got on the MUX. I got a chance to role-play with Major Bludd as Dr. Mindbender, which was fun, and to set up a rescue attempt for Jem and the Holograms as Flint. It was an entertaining evening of 80s RP geekery.

Tuesday I spent hanging out with Jero during her telework day, and then she took off early to take me to my appointment to get my CT scan and chest X-rays. Jero and I had planned to go to the Poly Meetup, but neither of us had gotten enough sleep, so we wound up napping instead. When we woke up we went out to a late dinner, and then Jero dropped me off at Ke’s with food for Ke to eat while she studied.

Wednesday I had my follow-up appointment with my urologist concerning my orchiectomy. The news wasn’t as great as I’d have liked. The doctor verified that I’d had a cancerous seminoma, but no other indicators of cancer. That implies it hadn’t yet spread, but the size and aggressiveness of the tumor led him to suggest I get radiation just to make sure. I had an appointment this Monday with a radiation oncologist to discuss how all this is going to work.

After my doctor’s appointment, Ke and I went back to her house to hang out until her class. I went with her since the subject was stress management, which I could always use. The lecture was interesting, and afterward Ke brought me to the City County Building so we could vote early. The evening was spent with me role-playing on the MUX while Ke studied, and I had a great time participating in a well-run TinyPlot run by Major Bludd.

Thursday morning Ke dropped me back home, where I did laundry, answered LJ comments, and prepared to run Mika’s Star Trek RPG that evening. Mika came over and we ordered Chinese food, catching up on what’s been going on in her life while we ate. After dinner we went to lie down and snuggle before role-playing. Mika immediately passed out. That was OK, however – I was really more in a mood to snuggle Mika than role-play, anyway.

Friday I returned to work. Apparently I was supposed to go in at 8 AM since they took me off the schedule (therefore reverting me to generic 8 - 4:30 PM hours), but since I arrived at my usual time (1:30 PM) they just had me work my regular shift. After work I went over to Ke’s and we hung out and watched The Colbert Report until Ke fell asleep. Once again I wound up snuggling a beautiful woman and reading until I got sleepy, which is not a bad way to wind down the day.

Saturday was Jero’s final derby bout of the season, and she and her team kicked ass! I drove her down to Bloomington for the game, and then helped set up the Sportsplex (well, hung signs, etc), while Jero got changed and warmed up. The face-off between the two Bleeding Heartland Roller Girls home teams was well-played and exciting to watch, and it was great to see Jero skate well and do her part to help the Slaughter Scouts emerge victorious!

This week I’m back at work. I switched with Napl (who got stuck with my shift) so I could go to my doctor’s appointment this morning, so tonight I’ll be here until 10. After work I might log onto the MUX if anyone is still on, or just hang out with Jero until she passes out. The rest of the week I’ll be working 8 to 4:30 PM, and then next week I get a new work schedule – prolly working Saturdays.

I preferred Obama's statements 100% of the time Voting purely on the issues I voted for Obama Who would you vote for if you voted on the issues? Find out now!

Week in Review

This week has been spent mostly recovering from my surgery last Thursday. I’ve been exceedingly lucky to have very sweet girlfriends who have been going out of their way to take care of me and to make things as easy for me as possible. I got an infection in my lungs that made part of this week rather uncomfortable, but otherwise things are going well overall.

Sunday I slept in and spent the morning with Jero. In the afternoon Ke and Mira came over and brought the four of us food. We all ate dinner, and then Jero headed home. Ke, Mira, and I hung out, watching episodes of Pushing Daisies and an episode of Star Trek Next Generation. Mira helped Ke study while I putzed on the computer.

Monday I hung out with Mira while Ke was in class. When Ke got back the three of us had lunch and snuggled until Mira had to head home. Ke took me to Jero’s, where I was looking forward to being able to get on the MUX before 10 PM for a change. However, by the time I got on I wasn’t feeling that great, so I idled watching Heroes, and then took a Vicodin and went to lie down.

Tuesday I hung out at Jero’s while she teleworked, and then she took me home so Mika could come over for a short visit. Mika brought me dinner. We ate, and were snuggled up to watch Firefly when Nivagi called to say she was downstairs. I had security let her in, and she joined Mika and me in my bed, with me in the middle. The three of us cuddled and watched “Bushwacked,” and when the disc was over we joked and teased while I enjoyed their company.

Wednesday Ra came to visit from St. Louis! Ke picked her up at the bus station and brought her over with lunch for the three of us. We ate and hung out until Ke had to head home to take a test online. Ra and I spent the rest of the night hanging out, catching up, and watching funny videos online. Ra eventually went to bed since she wasn’t feeling well, and I joined her soon after.

Ra and I spent most of Thursday in bed, until we had to get up and dressed for Jero to pick us up for dinner. Jero took us to Murphy's Steak House and treated us to an excellent dinner. After we got back Jero hung out with us for a while before heading home, whereby Ra and I returned to our previous sloth-like existence. Ra and I did take the time to have a long Relationship Talk, and discuss how labels were creating unrealistic expectations that I can’t hope to live up to. Here’s hoping she and I can work out a solution.

Friday morning I woke up coughing my head off, and after resisting Ra’s advice all week, finally called Dr. Moretto and got an appointment. The doc checked my lungs and said I had an infection, but also assured me that the prognosis for my testicular cancer was good or else I’d have heard back from my urologist already. I got medication and spend the day recovering with Ra.

Saturday Ra had to head back to St. Louis, so I took her to the bus station and we bid farewells. I spent most of the day alone, puttering around my apartment, reading, and attempting to get things done. When Ke got a break from work she brought me food, and we grabbed a nap (my second that day!) before she headed back out. She came back to sleep, and in time I joined her.

It’s been a week of sickliness, but also of seeing people I never get to see. It’s sad that I missed seeing Amsc this weekend since I was too sick to drive seven hours to the Grove. It was nice though to get unexpected time with Mira and Ra at the beginning and end of the week. I have my follow-up appointment with my urologist this Wednesday, and then back to work Friday.

"You know, I could run for governor but I'm basically a media creation. I've never done anything. I've worked for my dad. I worked in the oil business. But that's not the kind of profile you have to have to get elected to public office."
-- George W. Bush, 1989

Weekend

I had a very pleasant weekend. I got to meet new people, spend time with the only family I actually like, and see friends and lovers with whom I normally don’t ever get enough time. Friday night Mika and I went over to Mars's to play Runebound. Mika and I'd originally intended to have a night alone and maybe a date night (as opposed to the usual case, where by time I get off work it's nearly time to sleep), but Mars had one of his rare nights free so Mika agreed to change plans. Runebound turned out to be one of Mars’s fun-but-endless games, so we wound up hanging out at his house until 4 AM.

Saturday I woke up before Mika and realized I’d somehow managed to lose my flash drive the night before. I looked for it until Mika woke up, and then drove by Mars’s on the way to the poly picnic to see if I’d dropped it outside his house. Mika and I met back up at the picnic, but I didn’t have long to hang out before I had to drive down to Bloomington to meet Mira at Chhu and Jalyru's for Chhu's 30th birthday party. Jalyru had planned a photo scavenger hunt that turned out to be a lot of fun, and I got to meet more of Chhu and Jalyru’s cool circle of friends. Good times!

Sunday Ke, Mira and I went to the Indy Irish Fest for breakfast and to see the kilt race. I escaped without spending much money, which was good, and then Mira and I went back to Ke’s while Ke went to work. I was dead-tired all morning from staying out late at Chhu and Jalyru’s, so Mira insisted I nap until Ke got home. We all had dinner together, and then Mira and I role-played while Ke got some sleep. It was excellent to see Mira before she had to head back to E’ville.

This week has been good so far – work hasn’t been that unpleasant, and for once I’m not booked to my eyeballs, so I have a little time to relax and catch up on my life. My mom is still crazy, but getting better, so now she’s only calling 20 times a day instead of 200. I’m hoping things continue to calm down at work and otherwise so that eventually I can get back to what passes for normal. This weekend Jero is getting to play with the Circle City Socialites at their first bout, so that should be fun and exciting.

"Some see the move as an attempt to preserve traditional values, while others see it as a cynical ploy to ensure that Vice President Cheney will never have to pay for his gay daughter's wedding."
-- Jon Stewart, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," on the gay marriage ban

This has been a very stressful week, with a few very nice moments in between. Most of the stress comes from my mom, who is manic and spent the first half of the week trying to get out of the stress center, and the rest of the week driving my sister and me crazy. She's managed to get kicked out of her apartment (though she's fighting it) for scaring her neighbors, and so my sister and I have been trying to figure out what to do with her at month's end.

My week actually started off good. Sunday Amsc was still here, and even though I spent a good chuck of the day in Bloomington helping my sister clean my mom's apartment in preparation for moving, that night I got to return to Indy to go see Great Big Sea with Amsc. The show was a lot of fun, and since we were at the Music Mill we were able to hang out right next to the stage.

Monday has traditionally been my MUX night, but I've been making that more optional so that every week Jero doesn't have to spend all night staring at the side of my head. I brought over the cool socks that Ra had made for Jero, and Jero got to have a quiet evening hanging out that didn't involve me stressing over the MUX.

Tuesday night was supposed to be a productivity night, but I wound up on the phone most of the evening and didn't actually accomplish much. I did get to spend some time with Ke between and after the phone calls, so the evening wasn't completely a wash. Wednesday is usually the only day Ke can hang out because of her nursing school schedule, but she got a break this week and didn't have class Wednesday morning.

Since I didn't get much done Tuesday night, Wednesday Ke offered to come hang out at my apartment and read while I tried to get things done. That worked out well, and laundry and assisted-living research is a lot more pleasant when there's a cute nerd girl reading in your bed. Ke's presence also helped keep me from getting too stressed out or distracted by less-important tasks, so the evening quite nice.

Thursday Jero and Mika went to Perkins to have dinner with Nivagi and Salamander. We'd met Nivagi at the Poly Meetup while back, but hadn't gotten a chance to meet her boyfriend Salamander, so we planned late-night coffee as an excuse to drag him out after work. We were all tired and worn out from hard days/week all 'round, but it was still great to meet Salamander and to hang out with everyone else.

Last night Mika and I went over to Mars's to play Runebound Second Edition. We'd actually intended to have a night when we could hang out alone for a huge chunk of time and have a date night (as opposed to the usual case, where by time I get off work it's nearly time to sleep), but Mars had one of his rare nights free, so instead we wound up hanging out at his house until 4 AM. *chuckle*

Today Mika and I are going to a poly picnic for a few hours, and then I'm driving down to Bloomington to meet hotarugirl at my sister Chhu and Jalyru's for Chhu's birthday party. Jalyru has fun hinjinx planned, so it should be entertaining at least. Before I head to the picnic I need to run by Mars's to make sure I didn't drop my flash drive getting into my car at 4 AM.

Tomorrow Mira and I hope to kidnap Ke to the Indy Irish Fest, but apparently Ke is so far behind with her work we might night be able to spring her for any fun this weekend. Either way Sunday night I plan to run Mira's World of Darkness campaign, since she and I haven't gotten to RP in ever. Hope everyone else has a good weekend!

Test #3

Test 3 for posting by email

"That's my oldest. People never believe this, but he was a perfect child. College was another matter. But when he was a little boy, he'd put on his cowboy outfit and pretend he was Roy Rogers. He'd entertain himself for hours fighting the bad guys -- or, as he called them, the axis of evil."
-- Barbara Bush, describing her son, President Bush (San Francisco Chronicle)

Republicans Taunt Obama As Spineless Over FISA Reversal

From The Huffington Post --

Republicans Taunt Obama As Spineless Over FISA Reversal

In a press conference call [Saturday] morning, John McCain surrogate Sam Brownback (R-KS) pointed at Barack Obama and essentially called him a spineless panderer -- and welcomed it, saying he expected Obama to cave in on Iraq withdrawal next. McCain senior policy adviser Randy Scheunemann, with tremendous self-assurance, described Obama's support for the FISA bill -- a bill McCain also supports! -- as an example of Obama's supreme commitment to his own "political fortunes" above all else. And then, to underscore how weak they now consider Obama to be, the McCain campaign then issued an "In Case You Missed It" press release with a transcript highlighting these statements.

In other words: it's not just MoveOn.org and others on the left who are questioning Obama's principles over the FISA flap; even his opponents are pointing the finger and laughing at him for being such a panderer and accommodationist. And Obama hasn't even voted on the bill yet!

Brownback said Obama's spinelessness on the D.C. gun ban, campaign funding, and, most importantly, on FISA, meant he probably would eventually cave in on Iraq. Brownback even "set down a marker" -- dared Obama -- to concede on Iraq just like he's said he'll do on FISA. It's a remarkable display of chutzpah on Brownback's part:

More...

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)

Designated Control Freak

I think this is a *great* idea. I do a bit of this already, but making it policy sounds perfect.

From http://www.polyamorousmisanthrope.com/ --

Designated Control Freak

One of the issues that often arise in poly situations — especially in group living is who decides what gets done.

Sure, sure, a consensus model works. But have you ever gotten more than two people to happily agree on more than 50% of decisions? (The “happily” part is important in the long run. Just going along without being happy means that you’re gonna have some resentment along the line).

When the consensus model won’t work, there’s another option: The Designated Control Freak.

I found out about the whole concept of the DCF from a good friend of mine, and thought it was funny and cute and a nifty way to solve decision issues. I told my roommate about it, who also thought it was cute, so we jokingly implemented it.

It was at least six months before we internalized the awesome power of the system.

( The System )

Experts: Titanic sank due to 'weak rivets'

You know, I'm no metallurgist, but...

From http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/18/titanic.rivets.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest# --

Experts: Titanic sank due to 'weak rivets'

NEW YORK (AP) -- The tragic sinking of the Titanic nearly a century ago can be blamed on low-grade rivets that the ship's builders used on some parts of the ill-fated liner, two experts on metals conclude in a new book.

The company, Harland and Wolff of Belfast, Northern Ireland, needed to build the ship quickly and at reasonable cost, which may have compromised quality, said co-author Timothy Foecke.

That the shipyard was building two other vessels at the same time added to the difficulty of getting the millions of rivets needed, he added.

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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)

Announcing Google Weblogs (beta)

*snicker* This will make blogging MUCH easier!

From http://buzz.blogger.com/2008/04/announcing-google-weblogs-beta.html --

Announcing Google Weblogs (beta)
April 1, 2008 — permalink
Today we’d like to offer you a sneak peek at an exciting new product we’ve been working on: Google Weblogs.

Since Google bought Pyra Labs in 2002, we’ve been dreaming, planning, and implementing the next revolution in personal publishing: Google Weblogs.

Google Weblogs, or “GWeblogs,” or “Gblogs,” which will launch later this year in a public beta, is the next revolution in personal publishing. Here’s what you can expect:

Don’t limit yourself to “reverse chronological” publishing. Our advanced Google algorithms put your best content at the top of your blog. Even if your later work goes downhill your previous posts will still shine.
No more template languages to mess with or sidebars to get right. Our advanced Google algorithms automatically populate your blog’s sidebar with the most relevant possible content.

Stop worrying about your PageRank or your search engine optimization. Post directly into Google search results for maximum visibility.
Save your readers time and effort. We’ll automatically extract the most relevant sentence from your post for the index page, along with any necessary ellipsis. We'll also put some words in bold!

Your blog’s header will stay fresh with new images from our team of artists, each and every anniversary of a scientific achievement.
Unsure of what to post about? Just click “I’m Feeling Lucky” and we’ll “take care” of the rest!

Excited? So are we! Take a look at this sneak peek of Blogger Buzz, powered by Google Weblogs.

We’ve put together a quick video tour to take you through the highlights of Google Weblogs. Check it out!— Pete

*chuckle*

Baiters Teach Scammers a Lesson

*grin* This is awesome. B^)

They pilfer nearly $200 million from Americans annually and drive some of their victims to suicide, but Nigeria's notorious e-mail scam artists may finally have met their match -- and the results can be hilarious.

British online vigilante "Shiver Metimbers" is leading tens of thousands of "scambaiters" in a crusade to shut down advance-fee fraudsters, grifters who spam unwitting victims with elaborate, e-mailed sob stories promising a share of nonexistent fortunes in return for upfront payments.

So-called 419 scams, named after the section of Nigeria's criminal code that covers the conduct, are the most common type of con; victims are sometimes left penniless.

But Metimbers and crew turn the tables on scammers one by one, boomeranging the tricksters' own tactics to entice them into performing outlandish tasks in desperate pursuit of cash -- then trumpeting evidence of the con artists' navet for the online world's amusement.

A 43-year-old, self-employed computer engineer from Manchester, England, Metimbers has most recently spun counter-yarns that have compelled 419ers to make elaborate wood carvings, pose for comical photos and fly from London to Scotland. In one episode, which concluded in March after a five-month exchange, he succeeded in having a Nigerian fraudster tattoo "Baited by Shiver" on his body in order to claim a fictional $46,000 prize.

( More... )

The most effective means of preventing the deaths of unborn children is to promote contraception

Face facts, Cardinal. Our awful rate of abortion is partly your responsibility
by George Monbiot
The Guardian

Who carries the greatest responsibility for the deaths of unborn children in this country? I accuse the leader of the Catholic church in England and Wales, His Eminence Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. I charge that he is partly to blame for our abnormally high abortion rate.

Let me begin with a point of agreement. "Whatever our religious creed or political conviction," Murphy-O'Connor writes, the level of abortion in the UK "can only be a source of distress and profound anguish for us all". Quite so. But why has it climbed so high? Is it the rising tide of liberalism? The absence of abstinence? Strange as it may seem, the evidence suggests the opposite.

Last week the cardinal sacked the board of a hospital in north London. It had permitted a GP's surgery to move on to the site, and the doctors there, horror of horrors, were helping women with family planning. Though it is partly funded by the NHS, St John & St Elizabeth's is a Catholic hospital, which forbids doctors from prescribing contraceptives or referring women for abortions. The cardinal says he wants the hospital to provide medical help that is "truly in the interests of human persons".

Murphy-O'Connor has denounced contraception and abortion many times. That's what he is there for: the primary purpose of most religions is to control women. But while we may disagree with his position, we seldom question either its consistency or its results. It's time we started. The most effective means of preventing the deaths of unborn children is to promote contraception.

( More... )

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.

 

Last Week

Oy, last week was a busy, stressful week, though it did end very well.

Last Monday I had off work, and Jero wasn't feeling that great, so she took the day off as well. I wanted to be productive, but Jero made sure "productive" wasn't just another day of doing laundry and fucking around on the computer. Jero went with me to the bank, where I discovered my credit has recovered a bit thanks to my efforts to be better about paying everything on time (yay online bill pay!). I opened another savings account, and got a credit card again for the first time in ages. After that we went to Jero's to watch Heroes and MUX. Productive and fun.

Tuesday Jero, Ke and I were planning to go over to Erro's to clean up her apartment after the fire, but they hadn't finished their inspection yet, so we weren't able to get in. Instead, Ke and I hung out at Ke's house, and Ke made dinner. We had a pleasant evening watching Deep Space Nine and snuggling. I tried to get a little journaling done on my laptop, but Ke and Star Trek were pleasantly distracting, so I just took the night to relax and unwind.

Unfortunately, that good mood was ruined Wednesday by a crappy, stressful day at work. By the time I was able to run away, I just wanted to be alone to decompress. I spent the evening by myself in my apartment (which is rare and was rejuvenating), and did a lot of laundry and eventually some journaling (once I escaped the distracting lure of instant messenger). I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but an evening for just me was good on its own.

I thought I might have Thursday for more solo productivity, but first Ke lured me out for dinner at Jimmy Johns, and then Jero asked me to come over to her house to keep her company after her "off-site meeting" at B-Dubs. I brought my laptop, but again was distracted by a cute woman and a TV show – this time, the season premiere of ER. It's been a long while since I watched ER on any sort of regular basis, but it was a good episode nonetheless.

Friday after work I went to Illinois to meet up with Amsc and go see Weird Al. The show was awesomely entertaining, as always, and I bought a "Weird Al Is My Homeboy" T-shirt, which amuses me at least. Amsc and I celebrated our six-month anniversary, which made the night even better. (Yes, our romantic anniversary plans involved Weird Al. Shut up! *grin*) After the show we went back to Amsc's and hung out with her housemate for a bit before heading to bed.

Alas, I had to work early Saturday morning, so I had to leave Amsc's by six to get back to Indy. Work sucked again, and I was stuck there for an extra half hour catching up on trouble tickets before I could head down to Bloomington to meet Chhu at Jalyru's to belatedly celebrate Chhu's birthday. Jalyru's friend J031 made a fantastic dinner, and then we played Midlife Crisis (happy birthday, Chhu!) and DDRd 'til Chhu and Jalyru's lungs were ready to give out.

Sunday I hung out with Chhu, Jalyru, and J031 some more. J031 had to go to a work meeting, so we dropped him off for an hour or so, then picked him up and had lunch before returning to Jalyru's. I was supposed to head up to Valparaiso to visit Juho, but I wound up hanging out too long in Bloomington and by the time I was ready to leave it was too late to go see her. Juho and I are getting together in two weeks for Eroticon, though, so it's cool for now, and it was worth it to have more time with Chhu and Jalyru.

Yesterday I had off work. Mira came over for lunch, and we snuggled and talked about her date this weekend with Ke. When she had to leave for dinner date with B!1, I went over to Jero's and she made a yummy meal for me before we got onto the MUX. We had a MUX meeting that was very fruitful, and we've jumpstarted a lot of plots that have been dormant or in the works for quite some time. We're having another meeting in two weeks to follow up. Geeky fun!

 

Mal: "You know, you ain't quite right."
River: "It's a popular theory."

• Firefly
  

Week in Review

This week was another one that was somewhat busy and quiet at the same time. On Monday I went over to Jero’s to MUX, and had a good time even though I missed the end of Hawk’s TP. People have been bugging me to end my Headman TP, so I’ll have to pick a day this week to run that with a few of my admin and our players. I plan to be on this Monday, and another day this week.

Tuesday I actually had no plans, which was bizarre, although good because I was still getting over being sick. Though I haven’t been contagious since Monday morning, my allergies have been trying to kill me all week. Since I’ve felt miserable, I just stayed home and got a few things done. I’ve been trying to read the Harry Potter books before I’m completely spoiled, so I read a bit, worked on journaling a bit, and otherwise just rested and drank a lot of tea.

Wednesday after work Jero picked me up and we went over to E{ and Mars’s. E{ and Mars are cleaning out one of their rooms and offered to give me one of their TVs, which I thought might look good in my living room. While we were there we got to play a fun card game that Mars had demo’d at GenCon that Jero and I had been interested in, and discovered it is rather entertaining. It might have to become a stable of future game days.

Thursday morning I got a message from my sister that my mom is manic again, and Chhu had to call emergency psyche services and spend two hours convincing Mom to commit herself. That night Jero offered to feed me if I was interested after work. We met at IHOP and she bought me dinner. I told her I’d just be playing around on the computer again if she wanted to hang out, and so she came over after we finished eating. I had planned on working on the Dungeons & Dragons campaign I’m running for Jobe, Mars, and her, but I started looking for a magazine and we wound up spending all night cleaning.

Friday I was still feeling sickly from allergies and stressed over the situation with my mother. Amsc was planning to come see me, but she wasn’t feeling well, either, so she floated the idea of rescheduling. Still, we mutually decided to get together anyway, and just accept that neither of us was going to be at our best. I ordered pizza online, and it arrived the same time she did. We ate pizza, watched The Ref and snuggled, and overall it was a very pleasant, quiet night. I didn’t sleep well Friday night because of my allergies, but it was good having a cuddly woman in my bed, even if I was feeling too crappy to really enjoy the opportunity.

Saturday Amsc and I got to sleep very late, which was wonderful. We went to Le Peep for breakfast, and then went to see Stardust at the theatre, which I rather enjoyed. Amsc headed back to Illinois around seven so I could get together with Nada, but then Nada cancelled. I wound up with another night to myself, which I mostly squandered relaxing.

Tonight I plan to hang out with Ke. We’d talked about attending the sky concert here in Indy, but then we found out it was Saturday night instead of Sunday, and neither of us felt like venturing out last night. Ke’s not feeling that great, either, so tonight will probably be another low-key night of hanging out and feeling like crap together. Not exactly the ideal four-day-weekend activity, but it’s probably good I didn’t make huge plans if I feel this lousy.

"Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comfortable."
-- H.L. Mencken, newspaper man, 1880-1956

Weekend

I had a very nice night last night in Bloomington with Caro. I went down to see her after work, and helped her truck stuff out to a multi-family garage sale. Caro is moving to Minnesota in a few months (*sob*), and she’s starting the delicate getting-rid-of-crap process now (had to act fast to save the meerkat I’d bought her a while back). After dropping off her stuff and helping set up a bit, we went out to Borders and bought a few DVDs. I picked up the second season of The Venture Bros. for me, and got The Silence of Sleep for her.

We went back to her house and dug some tables out of her storage room for the garage sale, a task that looked daunting but actually wasn’t that bad. We then snuggled and watched The Silence of Sleep while she knitted. Needing to explore the experience of sleep by the time the (very interesting) movie was over, we headed to bed to cuddle and snooze. This morning came far too soon.

Work sucked today, of course, and ruined the excellent mood hanging out with Caro had put me in. Also, looking at my calendar reminded me again that yesterday was A1’s birthday, and although I passed along birthday greetings and heard he had a good time, it’s still weird to no longer be that involved in his life. With luck Jaru and I can get together soon so I can see him. I miss hanging out with them both.

Luckily, Jero came by today and visited me for lunch, which lifted my spirits. The second half of work was a little less frenetic, except, of course, when I tried to get on the phone to make plans with Ra. We finally worked out a plan for a post-Memorial Day visit, and then I found out that since I’m the last person here on Saturday, there’s a bunch of extra crap I’m supposed to do. It’s a big hassle, however, and it’s not working, so I’m giving it another try, and then I’m leaving.

Tonight I’m hanging out with Ke, and starting her birthday weekend celebration. We’re going to the club tonight, and then tomorrow I believe we’re laying around all day being lazy, which sounds very, very nice. Knowing us, we’ll probably watch Star Trek. Ah, geek love. Her actual birthday is Tuesday, but we’re getting started early on a weekend so we can actually sleep in for a chance.

Ah, well. Almost six. I’m outta here. Have a great weekend, all!

“Now, to unleash screaming temporal doom!” -- Invader Zim

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Weekend

My weekend turned out very nice.

Friday I hung out with A13 and Jalyru, which was good, although I hung out way too late talking while Jalyru burned CDs for me. Saturday Jero and I went to a party in Bloomington. We got to hang out with Caro there and meet one of her other boyfriends, G-. Sunday Mira came to visit from Evansville, and after having dinner with Jero and me, spent the night. We stayed up cuddling and watching Beast Wars. So, lots of entertaining snuggling and social activities this past weekend.

And, apparently, there was some kind of football game...? >B^)

Tonight I'm having dinner with Ke, and then going over to Jero's to MUX. Should be geeky fun.

"This was fast. I'm not even sure they had time to have sex."
-- Brian J. Steinberg, family law attorney in Las Vegas, on the whirlwind marriage-to-annulment caper of Britney Spears and Jason Allen Alexander. The marriage lasted 55 hours. (San Jose Mercury News, Jan. 6)

Weekend Plans

Had a pretty productive day yesterday. It was my day off, so I went to the dentist. We talked and decided that I’m going to need that second root canal after all, which sucks. I’m broke, so Jero has been nice enough to offer to lend me cash if I need to pay for the first root canal before I can get the second one – otherwise, I won’t be able to get my second crown installed until probably May at the earliest. Between car maintenance and my teeth, I’m completely broke. Luckily, I got paid this morning, so at least I have pretend money until it all goes out for bills.

Tonight should be fun, though, because I get to see A13 and muppetofthenight. I get off work in half an hour, and then I’m driving down to Bloomington. I have to be back up in Indy for work tomorrow, so I’ll presumably drive back tonight. Then, tomorrow, back down to Bloomington for a party. Then, Sunday, Mira might visit on the way back from Cincinnati. Busy busy, but fun. Have a good weekend, all!


Bill Hicks once told a story about an American friend of his who complained about the USA. When told, "Well, if you don't like it then move somewhere else," the friend's reply would be, "What? And become a victim of our foreign policy?"

Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice

I so love Christopher Walken...

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

Polyamory in the News

Polyamory in the News: "Love Unlimited: The Polyamorists," New Scientist

"The best, most important article about polyamory that I can recall appears in tomorrow's New Scientist (for July 8, 2006). Based in England, New Scientist is a large-circulation magazine for the science-reading public; it claims to be the world's 'leading science and technology weekly.' (Though its coverage of my own field has sometimes been sensationalist and uncritical.)" -- Alan, polyinthemedia

( More... )

Wal-Mart, you blew it again

TO:
Lee Scott, President
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 Southwest 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716
Primary Phone: 1-800-925-6278
Fax: 479-277-2473
E-Mail: Lee Scott, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

Dear Mr. Scott,

For years, Wal-Mart has been the poster child for everything wrong with large corporations. One of its few redeeming actions was its recent support of the GLBT community, which was almost enough to me reconsider my personal boycott against your chains. With your recent efforts to reform your image and treat your employees more like humans, plus your support of the gay community, I had just started to think that maybe Wal-Mart wasn’t so bad after all. However, with your announcement that you’re caving to the religious right and dropping your support of GLBT communities, you have ensured that you’ve lost my support as well.

I will be taking his business elsewhere, and encouraging his family and friends to do the same, especially during the upcoming holiday season.

Brian J. Kelly

Going to Evansville

Things are going OK here, but stressful. Monday I have to go to Evansville for a follow-up court date with J@R_. Six months ago I got the child support suspended, and in the meantime J@R_ and Biodad were supposed to get the paternity issue taken care of in Bloomington. Well, they both dragged their feet and didn’t get it resolved in time, and so now J@R_ and I both have to take off work and go back to Evansville, just so that the judge can yell at J@R_ for not getting it taken care of, and with luck suspend my child support for another six months while they do so. Since the Evansville court date was supposed to be cancelled once they got the paternity suit taken care of, I didn’t keep a personal day in reserve, so there was a lot of stress until my manager R0S# granted me an extra excused non-paid day off. So, I’m heading down to Evansville Sunday night, staying with M!M0, and then going to court at 9:30 in the morning. According to M!M0, the Fall Festival starts Monday, so maybe we can go and get some bad food before I head back to Indy. B^)

Blast from the Past:
Letterman's Top 10 --
"George W. Bush Complaints About Fahrenheit 9/11”
10. That actor who played the president was totally unconvincing.
9. It oversimplified the way I stole the election.
8. Too many of them fancy college-boy words
7. If Michael Moore had waited a few months, he could have included the part where I get him deported.
6. Didn't have one of them hilarious monkeys who smoke cigarettes and gives people the finger.
5. Of all Michael Moore's accusations, only 97% are true.
4. Not sure — I passed out after a piece of popcorn lodged in my windpipe.
3. Where the hell was Spiderman?
2. Couldn't hear most of the movie over Cheney's foul mouth.
1. I thought this was supposed to be about dodgeball!"

Alive and Almost Well

Not too much news. My allergies tried to kill me this weekend, and I wound up missing work yesterday, but today I’m back and feeling better. A wonder what the proper medicine can do to make you feel human again.

In spite of my sickliness, I had a nice weekend – I got to see A1 and J@R_, and J@R_’s friend M31@, who was in town as well. Monday J3R0 had a mini-cookout, and while I was feeling too rotten to help, I did enjoy the yummy food and lay around and watched House. Yesterday I went to the doctor and got better allergy medicine, so today I’m back at work. W00t.




"I asked for universal health care, and all I got were these bombs."
- handmade anti-Bush poster

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday, A1! Wish I could see you today on your sixth birthday!

-- Not the Daddy

Woohoo!

Woohoo! As of today, I got my first check sans child-support withholding. Financial recovery, here I come!

Biodad apparently marries his new fiancée this weekend, which will understandably suck for J@R_, who’ll be attending the wedding. Luckily for her, my sister is supposed to come down and help the weekend suck less, so, go, sis!

Work was horrible today, so not much else can be said. I’d like to go home and die now, but instead I have to eat, shower, and attend a party. Eep.

The United States should get out of the United Nations, and our highest national priority is enforcing U.N. resolutions against Iraq. – GOP Logic

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.

Court Date

Court went well yesterday -- for me, anyway. J@R_’s going to actually have to take care of the paternity issue, like I told her she would, which she’s not too happy about. I think she’d prefer to just have A1 as hers alone, but it’s a little too late for that now. At least my child support payments have been suspended, so maybe I can start to crawl slowly out of destitution now.

Dinner with Mom went OK. She’s depressed, which makes her a lot less annoying than when she’s manic, but also makes her kind of sad to hang out with. She didn’t complain when I had to leave to head back to Indy, but I could tell she wasn’t too happy about it, either. *sigh*

Today sucks, as only Fridays in this department can. I even have to work tomorrow, so I don’t even have the end-of-week joy to make it better. Thank Murphy for E-time – I’m leaving two hours early.

Bush: Loves to Travel
• 65 – Approximate number of fund-raisers attended in 2002.
• 0 – Number of trips taken to Afghanistan before waging war against that country.
• 0 – Number of trips taken to Iraq before waging war against that country.
• 0 – Number of funerals or memorials Bush has attended for soldiers killed in Iraq.

Child Support Progress

Yesterday I drove down to Evansville and finally turned in the paperwork to end the paying of child support for A1, since biologically he’s not my son, and financially I can no longer afford to support him and his out-of-work biodad. I was worried about not having the forms filled out properly, but the clerk at the juvenile court was very helpful and sweet, and made sure I had everything filled out correctly and submitted. We even have a court date already – March 30th, my mom’s birthday. That actually works out well, since my mom will be in Evansville that week, so I can go to court, and then take my mom out to celebrate afterwards. Good news for a change. Woohoo!

Bush: The Environment
• 58 million- Number of acres of public lands Bush has opened to road building, logging, and drilling.
• 200 - Number of public-health and environmental laws Bush has worked to downgrade or weaken since taking office.
• #1 - Rank of U.S. worldwide in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

Break-Up

Well, Biodad and J@{ broke up. I feel bad for her, although I’m not sure how I feel about the situation in general. I’m hoping it doesn’t bode ill for the child support issues, since I’m just about ready to finally send in the paperwork (nine months later…) to end paying for A1, and that last thing I need is last-minute complications. According to her MySpace-mail, it was an amicable breakup, so with luck they won’t have any co-parenting issues, and maybe J@{ will have a little more freedom again to be herself, which seemed a little quashed there for a while. Guess I’ll just wish them the best, and try to get through the appropriate paperwork and court date as soon as possible, before anything else changes.

Bush: "Compassionate" Conservative
• $300 million – Amount cut in December 2002 from the federal program that provides subsidies to poor families so they can heat their homes during the winter.

Blessed Silence

In a stroke of rare mad genius, I changed my mother’s custom ring to Silent. Now, I never have to be bugged by her calling again. She still shows up on the missed call list (6 Missed Calls… wow, wonder who that could be?), but I don’t have to turn my ringer off completely just to avoid her. I should have done this years ago…

"[The] argument... is that the president, as commander in chief, is the law when it comes to the enemy... unchecked by the courts or any other authority.... That's a very dangerous notion for a free country."
—Newsday editorial, "Tormented Truths," June 10

So this is Christmas

Alas, my Christmas was pretty interesting. J3R0 and I had stayed up really late the night before, and so we wound up sleeping in pretty late on Sunday. I’d misplaced my cell phone, and didn’t find it until about 3 PM – along with a lot of missed calls, and a snippy “some communication would be nice” text message from my sister. Oops.

J3R0 and I went ahead and got ready, and I waited to call my sister ‘til I was actually on the road – I didn’t want to tell her we were on my way until I was sure there actually wouldn’t be any more delays.

We got to Cincinnati around six, and mom had called to ask if we could pick up chicken – not a good sign, since she’d promised a big Christmas dinner, and it was obvious as we hit town that not only was it not ready, but she hadn’t even picked up the ingredients.

When we got there, C#H_ was livid, and mom was crazy and manic, as usual. There was no Christmas dinner, which was my fault because I hadn’t given them a better ETA… apparently “Christmas around dinnertime” plus two-hour’s notice wasn’t enough for them to adjust at all. Luckily, C#H_ saved things by going out and getting ingredients for a yummy spaghetti dinner, although it was still embarrassing to have my mother turning off the CD to sing to J3R0, and taking her aside whenever Mom managed to divert my attention. I set up Mom’s cell phone to get her off my back about it, and that at least gave us some peace while she called and bugged other people. Finally, she wandered back to the pub (from where C#H_ had to retrieve her earlier in the evening already), and J3R0 and I had some quiet time to hang out with C#H_, who had finally calmed down. It was nice to see C#H_, and to have J3R0 on the ride there and back, but otherwise it was a disaster. At least I got some nice presents from C#H_ out of the deal. B^)

"It's been a fabulous year for Laura and me."
-- George W. Bush, three months after the World Trade Center towers went down