Tripping Through the Enchanted Forest

OMGLOL

2008-02-19T18:36:00.000-08:00

7

2007-12-31T06:51:00.000-08:00

Today is the seventh anniversary of my ordination in the Temple and Fellowship of Isis.

In those seven years, I have....
....presided at seven weddings
....participated in interfaith services and work for equality
....sat two death vigils
....dedicated four babies
....provided pastoral counseling for many
....taught countless workshops on paganism and Reiki
....written many articles
....preached in 20 different pulpits

In seven years, every cell in my body has been replaced. I literally am not the same person I was that day. I am more confident, more stable, more grounded. And I feel a need to reinvent my spiritual practices in this new home, in this new place.

25

2007-10-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a very busy calendar with three different events on tap - I skipped all of them but our Samhain ritual last night. One of the ones I skipped was a workshop at work; yeah, I could use the CEUs, but there was no way I could get myself moving.

The other event was my 25th high school reunion.

Gasp! you say. How could she bail on that?

For one thing, I haven't attended a class reunion in 20 years. The nearing of my 10 year reunion sent me into a suicidal spin that landed me in therapy. I felt like I was a failure, working as a secretary for just above minimum wage after graduating second in my class, while others in my class were already pulling 6-figure incomes. I couldn't face it.

My 20th reunion invitation found me in a much healthier place, but carried a pricetag of about $75 per person. Yeah, right! Skipped that one, too.

Our 25th reunion was a little more reasonably priced, and yet I have felt very noncommittal about it. For one thing, I have had no contact with any of my classmates for the last 20+ years until a few weeks ago, when one classmate emailed and called me, and then another did the same. Nice, right? but it's been more than 20 years.... The two close friends that I had kept in touch with after graduation fell by the wayside a long time ago. What would be the point of going? I don't play games, I don't care how many diamonds you're wearing or where your husband works or who you had over for dinner last night. I would talk to the few people I would like to catch up with, and then I'd be done. I would have to play nice and look interested for the next couple of hours when all I wanted to do was leave. I might as well be at work!

Did I mention I attended an all-girl Catholic high school?

Can you imagine the reaction when they asked me what I've been doing for the last 25 years?

"Well, I graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in History. Got married. Had 3 kids. I'm divorced. Oh yeah, and I'm a lesbian."

18

2007-10-08T05:24:00.000-07:00

It has finally happened.

My youngest, Nicole, turned 18 on Friday.

Whew!

She wanted to celebrate her birthday with our friends from TOILA, so wifey and I spent hours and hours cleaning an apartment that hasn't seen that thorough a cleaning in a couple of months. And the food shopping - oy, vey! Then there is the food prep (thanks, Jo!).... it just never ends! By the time 2pm rolled around, I was already exhausted. Then the guests started arriving.

We had a good time visiting with everyone, and Nicole got some wonderful gifts from my sister-priestesses. She is such an adult in so many ways, and yet so young in others.

Happy Birthday, Nicole!

20 Years Ago Today

2007-10-01T19:15:00.000-07:00

I was starting my second month of teaching high school history at my alma mater. I had arrived early enough - around 7:15 am - to prepare for classes to begin at 8:00 am. I had stopped into the office and then the upstairs teachers' lounge for a cup of coffee, and was walking down the hallway to my classroom at around 7:40 am.

The school is built into the side of a hill, with the first floor only open on one side; the second floor had two sides to it, and my room was on the back side. Along the hallway across from the classrooms were lockers and a wall of plexiglass, blocking the view of hillside above us.

I heard the plexiglass rattle and thought it must be a sonic boom; we were right under the flight path of the space shuttle on its way to land at Edwards Air Force Base. My second thought was that it could not be the shuttle - this was a year and a half after the Challenger explosion and the fleet was still grounded. My entire thought process from the rattle to my conclusion felt like minutes but was probably a nanosecond. I knew it was an earthquake. I yelled to the girls in the hallway to get away from the windows and to duck down and cover their heads. We hadn't had an earthquake of any size in their lifetimes; the last big one we'd had in LA was the Sylmar quake in 1971, more than 18 years earlier.

When the shaking stopped we had all the students evacuate the building down to the lawn, where we gathered everyone by home room and started taking roll. Part of the problem was that school hadn't started yet, and students were still arriving on campus. At the same time, frantic parents were calling the school office and showing up out front to take their girls back home again. We must have stood outside on that lawn in 100+ degree heat for a good 6 hours trying to sort everything out. Fortunately, there was no damage to the school other than hysterical students and frayed nerves.

It turned out to have been a fairly large quake (5.9 or so - data varies) on a previously unknown fault, and became known as the Whittier Narrows quake. The epicenter was pretty close to downtown Whittier, which was at the other end of the range of hills that the school was built into the side of - about 10 miles away. No wonder we had such a ride. Downtown Whittier had major damage; many of the old buildings were of unreinforced masonry. It took them months to clean it up.

Not long after that, we set up an emergency plan. All of the teachers were involved. We bought containers and supplies (food, water, first aid, etc) to last the entire school population for three days. We all received First Aid training. I was assigned to the Search and Rescue team, and we had drills with students and teachers acting out the roles of the injured and deceased. It was quite an undertaking, and I learned quite a bit. The school went from having a vague idea of what to do during an emergency to having a well-orchestrated plan. I have no idea if they are still as well-prepared, but I certainly hope so.

For G

2007-09-25T05:56:00.000-07:00

May the surgery go smoothly and the recovery quickly. May Brighid wrap her healing arms around you, guiding the surgeons, the anesthesiologists, the attendants and all who cross your path during this time. May she pour her healing waters over you and bring you calmness and trust, washing away any fear or doubt, refreshing you and comforting you. Beannacht leat!

But wait, there's more!

2007-09-03T08:06:00.001-07:00

Senator Larry Craig of bathroom cruising fame is resigning, effective Sept. 30. "I am not gay!" Hmmmmm, methink thou dost protest too much, Mr. Craig. Not the first time you've done this, just the first time you've been arrested for it. Plead guilty to a lesser charge and thought you could cover it up, huh? Gay bashers shouldn't throw rocks in glass houses.

And Tony Snow, White House press secretary, is also leaving. He sees he needs to make more money. I guess he didn't get any of Halliburton's stock when he signed on.

Looks like the rats are leaving a sinking ship....

Grateful

2007-08-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

Carl Rove announced his resignation from the Bush administration earlier this month.

Today, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is expected to announce his resignation.

OMG it's Drac and Mangoes!!!!

2007-08-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

Deception

2007-08-15T16:26:00.001-07:00

We just came back from our visit to the great northwest. We flew in on Wednesday night and came back on Monday afternoon. I worked all day Thursday, Friday and Sunday. My only day off while up there was on Saturday. We decided to do something fun that we'd been wanting to do, to try to make up for the drama that preceded our trip. So we got up early and got in the car heading north.

Our trip north would normally have taken us up I-5, with us quickly reaching our destination. However, that was the first day of MAJOR construction on I-5 through downtown Seattle, so we opted for the longer drive up Hwy 99, also known as the Alaskan Way Viaduct. We did end up cutting back over to I-5 before heading west on the Mukilteo Speedway, trying to reach the ferry terminal. There was a 90 minute wait for the ferry. Our plan had been to take the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton on Whidbey Island, drive up-island to Deception Pass and then make our way back down-island, stopping as we went to check out a few places before taking the ferry back over to Mukilteo. A 90-minute wait would have made a huge difference in our return back that evening; Whidbey Island is the largest island in the contiguous US and takes about 90 minutes to drive each way without stopping. The other option? to drive all the way up to Anacortes and take the Deception Pass bridge to Whidbey Island and driving down-island from there.

I have an issue with bridges. Not with heights per se; I have no trouble with flying. I have trouble with bridges. Especially bridges with one lane in each direction, with no center divider other than a yellow line, and a 400-foot drop into the ocean. As best I can tell, this issue started with the Loma Prieta quake and the images of the collapsed stack freeway in Oakland. That and taking a "shortcut" through the hills east of Santa Barbara to get to San Luis Obispo. No one told me there was a bridge out there. One lane each direction, a yellow line down the middle, and a 400-500 foot drop into the canyon. All it would take would be a good earthquake. Or another vehicle who didn't stay in its lane for whatever reason. I usually avoid bridges that fit this description.

Bridges just like the Deception Pass Bridge.

We drove up to Anacortes, then headed toward Deception Pass. Wifey found a turnout near the "little" bridge. I got out and looked. I knew we would have to go across the bridge. I decided I could handle it better if I walked it, rather than driving it. I could hold onto the cable separating the pedestrian lane from the cars, and keep my eyes fixed straight ahead. I took some deep breaths and headed out across the "little" bridge to Pass Island. I walked steadily, holding onto the cable for dear life. As other pedestrians approached to pass me from the other direction, I squeezed closer toward the cable on the left, rather than the railing on the right (the drop-off side). I watched a semi come across the bridge from the other direction, and thought to myself, "no fucking way!" I would have had a full-out panic attack had I been in a car passing that semi. I made it to the island, stopped to catch my breath and take some pictures. Wifey caught up to me and we discussed my options. I could walk back the way I came and still have to ride in the car across, or I could walk across the big bridge and she would drive across and meet me there. I opted for the latter. It took me a good 15 minutes to work up to stepping out on the big bridge. Breathe. Foot forward. Eyes forward. Don't look down. Here and there the cable was intersected by heavy chain. Every time I hit a section like that, I held my breath and walked forward to where I could grab the cable again. About half-way across, I nearly lost it. I had to talk to myself quite a bit to make it the rest of the way.

By the time I stepped off the bridge onto solid land, my knees were like spaghetti. I looked back across the bridge I had just walked and nearly collapsed. I have no intention of walking that bridge again. But I did it.

Yemaya Dedication

2007-08-15T16:26:00.000-07:00

This was our annual Sisters of the Sea ritual at Dockweiler Beach. The women pictured here are (L to R): Laura Janesdaughter, Anniitra Ravenmoon, Joanne Astraea and InannaMoon. The altar in the foreground was dedicated to the Sisters of the Sea: Isis, Nephthys, Aphrodite, Yemaya and Kwan Yin. Anniitra, already a Priestess in the Temple of Isis, was dedicated to Yemaya. A beautiful ceremony, and a beautiful day at the shore!

Graduation part deux

2007-08-06T06:02:00.000-07:00

Nicole right after her high school graduation on June 21.

Prom

2007-08-06T06:01:00.000-07:00

Only two months later, here is my youngest - Nicole - and her boyfriend Chris, getting ready for her Senior Prom in May.

Sorting Hat

2007-07-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

Which Hogwarts house will you be sorted into?

Someone please explain...

2007-07-25T05:36:00.001-07:00

...why spammers seem to think that a lesbian might be interested in cialis??????

Remedial Geography

2007-07-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

"Saudi Arabia.... that's near Alaska, right?"

Saturday Matinee

2007-07-15T08:10:00.000-07:00

I sleep
I drive
I work
I drive
I collapse
I sleep

Seems to be a pattern here - my workday schedule. I have not had much energy for anything by the time I get home, and work has been pretty busy lately, not even leaving me time to check email during the day. Even my days off have been filled with running around.

Yesterday, I took my took younger kids to see Harry Potter 5. (The wife is in the middle of a flare, and there is no way she could handle the loud soundtrack and flashing lights of a movie theater. The oldest child was working.) We ran in and managed to get tickets for a showing only 25 minutes later. After checking to make sure we could bring in outside beverages, we made a run to Jamba Juice (we hadn't had lunch yet) and then went into the theater. My hungry children wanted hot dogs. Now that they have to pay for their own items from time to time, they were both shocked: $4 for one hot dog!?!?!? At the store I can get 10 hot dogs and 8 buns for $2. Their plans to have 2 hot dogs a piece were quickly revised, and they each had one dog to go with their Jamba Juice.

Most of the coveted center seats were already taken at this point, so we opted for seats on the side rather than sitting up front and getting neck strain. Previews of upcoming movies were interesting and one does look promising: "Enchanted" coming from Disney this fall. It looks like a "Disney spoofs every animated film it's ever made" kind of movie, and I'm pretty sure Walt is spinning in his grave. Looks like great fun!

"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" soon started with the familiar music, and I settled in with my Protein Berry Pizzazz. The movie was well done and flowed nicely. The actors have definitely grown up since the last movie! Having just re-read Book 5, I did notice all the departures from the story line: not one word about Harry being banned for life from Quidditch, no swamp a la Weasley. In the book, it was Cho's best friend who spilled the beans, Hermione didn't have that "firm-handed" chat with Grawp, and Harry's run-in with You Know Who went very differently. The changes that were made for the movie did, however, maintain character integrity and kept the movie down to a palatable two and a half hours. Quite an accomplishment for an adaptation of a book of 870 pages (hardback)!

Book 7 comes out this week. I'm almost afraid to read it. JK Rowling says two of the main characters die - I hope my gut feeling about which ones is wrong.

June

2007-06-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's been a while. June has been a crazy month. Paris went to jail, got out, went back in, and finally was released this week. Nicole, my baby, graduated from high school (yeah!). I applied for, interviewed for, and was "not chosen" for a promotion that would have involved a very fast move. We had the Solstice Faire, Father's Day, Mark's birthday, and my birthday. And the wife had to take an emergency trip to Washington when her dad went into hospice. Today is a Blue Moon. Tomorrow, the last day of June, I'll be teaching a Reiki I class alone for the first time in three and half years - weird. The wife and I always teach together, but she's still out of town. Sigh.

It's not looking like July will be any calmer. Life in the 21st century, moving at the speed of light (except when you're sitting on the freeway in rush hour).

Poor Baby

2007-06-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

So Paris Hilton served THREE DAYS of her 21 day sentence in jail (which was originally 40 days). Poor thing was stressed out by the jail experience and had a "psychological" situation. They put an ankle bracelet on her and sent her home for house arrest.

Do you know anyone else who gets a second DUI at the age of 25, driving under a suspended license, who was let her out of jail early because it was too much for them????? Excuuuuuse me.

And they say rich people get treated the same as everyone else by the judicial system?

Yeah right.

Traffic Woes

2007-06-05T08:33:00.000-07:00

It took me nearly 3 hours to get home last night. I left Burbank at 4:45 pm and got to Long Beach at 7:30 pm. It's only 35 miles. Any time there's a sig alert on the 710 freeway, all the surrounding freeways turn into parking lots. I hate LA.

Faire Time!

2007-05-29T05:55:00.001-07:00

Long Beach WomanSpirit and the Temple of Isis Los Angeles

present our 2007

SUMMER SOLSTICE FAIRE

Saturday, June 9 2007 10AM - 4PM

Unitarian Universalist Church/Long Beach

5450 Atherton Street, Long Beach, CA 90815

(just west of Bellflower Blvd, between 405 Freeway and 7th Street)

Goddess Crafts & Arts - Entertainment - Networking Table - Vendor Raffle

$5 donation requested - includes one raffle ticket

This event is co-sponsored by the Spiritual Practices Committee of UUCLB

For more information on this and other events

including the LBWS 20th Anniversary Celebration

visit our websites

www.toila.org

www.longbeachwomanspirit.org

SIS Speaker

2007-05-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

As if speaking at the university-wide commencement wasn't enough, Shellynne was also chosen by her classmates to speak at the SIS (School of International Studies) commencement. That's her at the podium, standing next to another student (Megan Thomas) who had been chosen by the faculty to speak. The woman with her head cocked between them, listening intently, is Dean and Associate Provost, Margee Ensign. Shellynne spoke about the values of her education at SIS and about the importance of study-abroad programs in forming their future.

Degree

2007-05-21T05:54:00.000-07:00

University of the Pacific has two commencement ceremonies: the university-wide graduation is followed by ceremonies in each school. This picture was taken at the School of International Studies ceremony on Saturday afternoon. That's Shellynne with her degree and hood and a big grin.

Commencement Speaker

2007-05-21T05:35:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken Saturday morning at my daughter's university-wide graduation ceremony. That's Shellynne at the center podium, speaking on behalf of the graduating students. She processed in and was seated with the Presidential Party, and sat on the dais throughout the ceremony. She is wearing her Delta Sigma Theta stole (she was the sorority president this year) and her Alana stole (awarded for her involvement with the Alana Center - African, Latino, Asian and Native American students). Earlier in the ceremony she was presented with the Outstanding Student Leader Award, the only student award presented at commencement. C-SPAN filmed the graduation for later airing, and as soon as I get the details on that, I will post it here so you can listen to her speech.

Yes, I cried. I am very proud of her and my heart is full.

If you click on the picture, you will get a larger picture and you can zoom in on Shellynne.

Yikes!!!!

2007-05-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

I just got this email from my daughter, Shellynne. She is speaking at her college commencement ceremony this Saturday (University of the Pacific).

"I just found this out. No reason to be even more nervous right?"

Did you know Pacific's Commencement on Saturday will be broadcast LIVE on CSPAN? Pacific was chosen as one of 10 schools in the nation to have its Commencement Ceremony broadcast, a major honor for Pacific.

As soon as I get more specific details on this, I'll post the info. In the meantime, please send her supportive thoughts!

Dandy

2007-05-15T06:14:00.000-07:00

Do you remember? Think back to when you were 5 or 6 years old, and these were everywhere. You'd find one that was still intact and pick it at the base, hold it up by your mouth, make a wish and blow the seeds away with the wind. What could be more magickal?

Have you tried it lately?

Rhodie

2007-05-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

A beautiful morning in the Cascade foothills brought out the light and nectar in this rhodo-dendron. Everything is blooming and green!

Please make sure your pets and kids never eat any part of the rhododendron. It is highly toxic and potentially fatal.

Green

2007-05-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

We're up in Seattle again for our bimonthly visit. What beautiful weather! Clear, sunny, warm...and everything is green and blooming! Of course, I'm working, so I haven't been able to enjoy it as much as I'd like. We flew in Sunday morning, and picked up the rental car, and off I went to work. Sigh. No work tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get to relax and enjoy the fresh air and scenery.

A Mommy Moment

2007-05-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

After work last night, I drove out to my youngest daughter's year-end awards ceremony, known as "The Golden Bear Awards". (That's her in the black and red dress.) This annual event is held by her high school to honor top students in a variety of curricular areas. Her older siblings had both won in previous years; I never thought she would win. School has always been a challenge for her. I am so very proud of her! She has come such a long way.

Denim Day in LA

2007-04-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

At work today many of us are wearing jeans in solidarity with "Denim Day in LA". This event began as a protest to an Italian court's decision to overturn a rape conviction. The judge decided that since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she had to have consented to have sex to cooperate with taking the jeans off. This is a day of protest against myths and misconceptions about sexual violence and a way of raising awareness.

In Memorium

2007-04-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

I learned this morning that Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (Dem-CA) died late Saturday evening. She had been representative for many years, first in the state assembly and then, for the last 11 years, in the House of Representatives.

I would like to take a moment to honor her memory, and her untiring work on behalf of the people of California and of the United States. Her departure leaves a great void. May her family, friends and staff find peace in this difficult time.

Remembering

2007-04-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

Altice Edmund Lowery
April 22, 1915-April 29, 1988

My maternal grandfather was born and raised in Smith Center, Kansas. He moved west to attend college in Nevada, but soon dropped out of school and moved to Los Angeles. He worked for a while operating the ferry between Newport Beach and Balboa Island; in fact, he had an opportunity to buy a lot on Balboa Island, and decided not to. I'm pretty sure he kicked himself years later for that decision, since property there now runs in the millions of dollars. Eventually, he made his way as a machinist in the Shell oil fields in Signal Hill. He married my grandmother, Rose Elizabeth Herzog (b. 1909), in 1940. They had two children, which led to seven grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren (at current count), only one of whom he ever met.

Although his mother was a teetotaler, my grandfather was an alcoholic. He was verbally abusive when his children were young, but had mellowed quite a bit by the time I knew him. My strongest memories of him were him sitting at our kitchen table, drinking beer and eating pickled peppers, red-faced and sweating. I also remember Christmases when they would unload their car at my house; it took many trips back and forth before our living room was full of gifts. They were very generous. I remember the time he was basting a turkey shirtless and ended up with second-degree burns on his large belly from the grease. And he sold me my first car, a green pinto wagon, when I was 18.

The last time I saw him was at Easter 1988. I was seven months pregnant with my second child. A couple of weeks later, he was ill and refused to go to the doctor. One morning, when my grandmother couldn't rouse him, she called the paramedics. Exploratory surgery showed he had an acute case of peritonitis and sepsis, probably brought on by his alcoholism. He never came out of the coma. I was planning to go visit him at the hospital on Saturday morning, and received a phone call late Friday night that he had passed away. It took me a long time to forgive myself for not going to visit him earlier. That funeral was the hardest one for me, knowing that my unborn child would never know his great grandpa "Pops", and that my oldest child would probably not remember him.

I love you, grandpa.

(This picture was taken in August 1981 in my grandparents' backyard in Montebello, CA. Left to right: my grandpa and my dad.)

It rained!

2007-04-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

Thank Goddess for the badly needed rain here in SoCal yesterday!

I was a little worried - of all the days for it to rain, it had to be not only a Friday, but a day when I was doing a little more driving than usual. But amazingly, people on the roads behaved, and my drive times were not significantly delayed. There were no accidents on my routes, just people actually driving well under the speed limit because of the wet conditions and low visibility.

I could have used the heater, though. The heater in the Kia hasn't worked since we got it; apparently it had been disconnected due to a leak, and I haven't had the money to repair it yet. Thankfully, here in SoCal, it might get cold enough to be uncomfortable while driving, but it is rarely a health hazard to go without the heat.

Edmonton in Photos

2007-04-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

My first day there. You can see how windy it has been - look at the snow on the bricks.

The Saskatchewan River "flowing" behind my hotel. It had started to thaw the week before my visit and was now re-freezing. I kept singing in my head, "Watching the river freeze."

The view from my 5th floor room, looking out over the parking lot and Jasper Ave. If you look closely, you can see that it's still snowing, and was bitterly cold. This is April?????

What's the buzz?

2007-04-14T08:15:00.000-07:00

Another week come and gone.

I feel like I've been running non-stop for three weeks, without a day off! Oh wait, I have. This is the first weekend I've had in a long time where I don't have to "do" anything. Well, I mean, I've got to do paperwork and make a couple phone calls and do laundry, but we're not going anywhere more than 3 miles away, and we don't have people coming over. I can do things on my own schedule and let my body dictate how much it can handle at once. What a concept!

The one thing definitely on the agenda this weekend: Do Not Go Anywhere Near Downtown Long Beach!!!!!! Why, you might ask? Why, that's because this weekend is the Long Beach Grand Prix! Streets are blocked off, drunks are staggering on the sidewalks, and every restaurant, bar and coffee house for miles has a three-hour wait for a seat. We can hear the buzzing of cars whirring around the track from our home a mile away, and I know for a fact people THREE miles away from ground zero can hear it as well. It's good for the city economy, but it's one of the few things I really hate about living here.

Weekend in Review

2007-04-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

My oldest daughter was down for the weekend - I hadn't seen her since christmas break.

On Saturday we picked up all 3 kids and drove down to see my parents. We were celebrating easter early so that all the grandkids could be there. I ate too much, chitchatted, watched my nephews play ball, and tried not to let the noise get to me too much. I was hypersensitive to noise starting Friday during my flights home, jumping nearly out of my seat when the flight attendant opened a soda can near me. By the time we got home Saturday night, I was exhausted, and went to bed.

Sunday morning I got up early and took the kids to their dad's for easter. Went back home and was a flake for the rest of the day. I played pogo, read, sat on the couch and watched tv. I couldn't convince myself to do anything else. I think the traveling wore me out last week!

Today I'm back at work, in my usual office. Pretty much thawed out, but still pretty tired. At least the traffic was light this morning!

Thawing

2007-04-08T07:18:00.000-07:00

I think my blood had frozen in my veins. The temperature never got above freezing the whole time I was in Edmonton! A lot of my downtime was watching the Saskatchewan River re-freeze. And trying to figure out how the magpies could keep flying in that freezing wind! I didn't get a chance to sightsee, no I never made it to the WestEd Mall. When you're on the company dime and don't have a car, and you're working most of the daylight hours, you're doing good to find the closest Starbucks!

Brrrrrrrr

2007-04-03T14:18:00.000-07:00

"Brrrrrrrrr???????" you say?

Why yes! It is -9C today, which comes out to the low 20s farenheit.

And it has pretty much been snowing since I got here 24 hours ago. Last night with the wind chill it was -14C.

"Where the dickens is she?" And well you might ask.

Can you say Great White North? Can you say northern plains?
Can you say Edmonton? Yeah, Edmonton. As in Alberta. Canada, eh!

No I'm not here to ski, or to see a hockey game. I'm here training some new employees for the company. It's a beautiful city, even if it is a bit cold for April. The locals are complaining that winter is over and it's time for spring, but I don't mind the snow, and the temperatures are about the same as Seattle in January when it's snowing.

Now if I can just find something to eat besides Quiznos and Subway - this is cowboy country and everything is steak steak steak - not a good thing for someone who hasn't eaten meat in 13 years!

Smoke and Ashes

2007-03-30T18:46:00.000-07:00

This afternoon, I was sitting at my desk, training a new employee. It dawned on me I was smelling smoke, and for a fraction of a second, I just assumed someone had burned their popcorn again. Then I recognized the smell of burning brush. I immediately logged onto a local news website and discovered that a brush fire was burning about 3 miles from our office, and we were directly downwind - the smoke had come in through the A/C. The headache that had been threatening all day suddenly emerged to the front of my head. About 40 minutes later, I took a break and got up to walk around a bit. That's when I realized the headache was turning into a migraine - I was getting nauseous. I went to the boss and said, "I'm getting a migraine." He said, "Go home!" So I left work an hour early, knowing I needed to get home before the full migraine hit, and knowing that the freeways would be snarled because of the brushfire. Sure enough, it took me nearly an hour to drive the 10 miles it took me to clear the smokestream, all the while, watching large pieces of ash hit the windshield and break into tiny pieces. It took me two hours to get home (all of 35 miles).

It's amazing the memory our nasal passages have. It was 1980 when I had my Close Encounter with a brush fire. I was volunteering at a week-long summer camp for children and adults with developmental disabilities. We were staying at a private residential school in the foothills in Riverside County. My group was at "Music", outside, when another one of the counselors and I noticed that there was smoke coming up over the ridge above us. The other counselor left to tell the camp director, while the rest of us gathered our campers and told them we were going on a hike - to a football field about 1/4 mile away from the blaze. The camp director evacuated the buildings and had everyone down at the football field fairly quickly, except for a few campers that had to be physically removed from the dorms (some people are awfully cranky when you wake them up from a nap!) We stayed down on that field, leading 175 people in camp songs, for hours. Finally, we got the all-clear from the fire department and heading back to the buildings. As we entered the dorms, I realized that the flames had actually burned all the way up to the building - a short brick wall and a sidewalk were all that had separated the dorms from the brushfire.

Later that evening, after our campers were mostly in bed asleep, a group of us counselors were hanging out on a hiking trail, blowing off some steam and the stress of the day, when another counselor came pounding down the trail toward the buildings, yelling, "There's a hot spot!" That's when I began to panic. I'd held up during the initial fire, even though it was my first experience with anything like that, but the thought of waking up 80 developmentally and physically disabled people and evacuating them was more than I could face. Between the stress and the smoke still in the air, I ended up having a mild asthma attack. Fortunately the Fire Department showed up quickly and put out the glowing tree trunk, and we didn't have to evacuate anyone.

Twenty-seven years later, I still recognize the smell of burning chaparral almost immediately, and my first thought is always of that teenager yelling, "There's a hot spot!" Fortunately, it's not accompanied by a sense of panic.

Toto, I think we're in Kansas

2007-03-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning was beautiful and clear. As I drove to work, I wondered, "What happened to that storm that was supposed to come through on Monday night?" No clouds, no rain, nothin'. At my mid-morning break, I sat in the sun to warm up (our building can get pretty cold inside). During my lunch break, I headed outside and sat down on a bench to read. The clouds had come in, but most of the darkness was over the foothills a couple of miles away. It had gotten cold. A drop of water hit the middle of my page. Next thing I knew, it was raining! so I got up and stood under a nearby tree, thinking, "this too shall pass" because you know it never rains here! Then, the wind kicked up. Did it ever! I gave up and went back in the building; you could hear the wind howling outside. It tore branches off of trees, blew people nearly over, and broke the top off of at least one palm tree that I saw. The drive home several hours later was challenging, since the wind was still blowing pretty hard, and the semi drivers don't know when to stay off the roads!

Old Friends

2007-03-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend, one of my friends that I haven't seen for a while was in town to do a workshop. Chester and I go back a few years - about 10 or so. We've kept in touch all that time, as he moved around the country (he's a minister, and spent most of that time as an interim minister), and for a short time, while he lived only a few miles away from me. During that time when we were in the same time zone, we spent a lot of time on the phone discussing church politics and personalities, and had a few great meals together as we plotted the next anti-racism workshop we would offer.

Chester is a fabulous preacher, and has great things to say from the pulpit. He was in our pulpit yesterday, and proved once again that our current minister lacks any kind of preaching skill. We went to lunch with him and a group of folks from the church, and I vented with a couple of the other members as to why I so rarely attend the church anymore (more on that in another post). Then we met up with him again for dinner and some less diplomatic conversation. I wish he didn't live across the country, but the church he is currently serving is a great place for him. It was great to see him and catch up on life.

Bannock

2007-03-18T08:10:00.000-07:00

Here's another bit of family tradition I've given up trying to decipher.

This is not your Highlands bannock, which is basically an oatcake made for traveling, that held up nicely in your sporran and required great amounts of mead to assist in the swallowing process.

This is a bannock recipe handed down from my relatives in PEI. It's sort of a sweet shortbread, but it is not a dessert; I guess you could compare it to cornbread, but made with wheat flour instead of corn. My guess is that the original recipe brought over from Ireland met with the breads of the First Nations people in PEI, and this bannock was the hybrid result.

Preheat oven to 325F.
In large mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour and 3/4 cup of shortening, cutting in the shortening with a pastry knife until the pieces of flour-coated shortening are about the size of a seed bead. To this mixture, add 1/4 cup of white sugar, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Mix thoroughly. Finally, mix in 1 cup of milk. Blend well! I start out the blending process with a spoon, but after a ball starts to form, I take off my rings, spray my hands with non-stick cooking spray, and get my hands into the gooey mess. Knead dough until well mixed, roll into a ball in your hands, then toss it between your hands until it becomes a rounded circle about an inch and a half thick (think tortillas). Place dough in a non-stick pan and let sit for ten minutes or so. Place pan in preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until top springs back from touch. Brush top of the loaf with butter, and return to oven until slightly brown.

The first time I had this bannock was when I was in PEI in 1981. This is the basic recipe, although my cousin used milk fresh from the cows in the barn (whole, unpasteurized milk), fresh butter instead of shortening, and baked it in a wood stove. The version I described is lower in fat. It's always a hit!

St. Patrick's Day

2007-03-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, St. Patrick's Day was a big day. In fact, it was the only day of the year that the extended Murray family got together. We would gather at my great Uncle Johnny's house, eat corned beef and cabbage, potatoes and carrots, and drink green punch. I remember one year in particular, when my cousin Michael (actually my dad's cousin, but he was only 6 months older than me) had all of us kids filling our cups full of green punch, only to find out later that it was the adult punch - spiked with quite a bit of vodka, as I recall. Oy, the headache! I've avoided vodka religiously since then.

This year, my dad decided to make corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick's Day. So my brother and his wife and two kids, and my wife and I, joined my parents and youngest brother at their home for some hearty fare. My dad had picked up quorn patties for the wife and I (neither of us can eat the corned beef, but we both drool over it), I brought bannock, and my sister-in-law made a green cheesecake with a thin mint crust. Unlike the parties of my childhood, no alcohol was available for consumption. We shared some family stories, skirted around some political issues, and saved the religion discussions for after the more sensitive types had left.

I believe a good time was had by all. I'm not sure how this family tradition of celebrating St. Patrick's Day got started, since the Murray clan is Scottish. Or as my older relatives used to say, "Scots-Irish".

Doing my Civic Duty

2007-03-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

I arrived at my local courthouse and stood in line waiting for the doors to open. Got through security without a hitch (woe betide any who think to confiscate my jelly bellies!) and headed up to the 6th floor jury room. And sat. Did a crossword puzzle. Went to the bathroom. Finally they started the orientation process.

Oh. My. Goddess. Is there anyone in the US today doesn't know how to fill in the little bubbles on the census? Even kindergardners are taught how to do that on standardized tests!

An hour and fifteen minutes after they started orientation, they informed us that they expected to call three panels that day. They called the first jury panel at around 9:30. My mantra as they started calling names was, "I need coffee and a break." The laws of attraction, you know. If you say, "Don't call my name," the universe doesn't hear the "don't" - just "call my name" - and wham! you get what you didn't want. They called about 75 names. They didn't call mine. So I got my coffee and my break :-)

Then I sat. Did crossword puzzles. Read my book. Talked to a friend from church who also had to show up. (My co-worker who had to show up was called on the first panel.) I refused to pay $6 an hour to use the computer terminals. At 11:45 they released us for lunch until 1:30. The cafeteria had a veggie burger and fries special. Guess what I had for lunch? (Why do short order cooks think veggie burgers have to cook as long as beef burgers do? Needless to say, the patty was a bit on the crunchy side.) Called my wife. Called my dad. Went back inside about 1:20.

1:30 came around. No announcements. Okay. I sat. I did another crossword puzzle. I went outside on the patio to soak up some sun. I sat. I read my book and ate jelly beans. I waited for them to call the other two panels.

The last time I actually had to serve jury duty, as opposed to just "calling in", they called my name for a panel at 4:00 pm and made me return the next day for the panel interviews. I did NOT want this to happen again.

At 3:15, they finally turned the PA system back on and called everyone into the jury room. Here we go, I thought.

"We have just received clearance to release all of you. Your jury duty is completed."

Loud clapping and cheering ensued.

"I can tell by the sound in this room that you are all sorely disappointed by this news."

Ah, a would-be comedian. Don't quit your day job, honey.

I collected my proof of jury duty and headed home. Unlike my usual Friday night commute (which can take up to two and a half hours to go 36 miles), I was home in 10 minutes. The positive side of having to show up for jury duty 3 miles away on a Friday!

So much for TGIF

2007-03-16T06:19:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, I got a jury summons in the mail.

Sigh.

I went to my manager and then my supervisor, trying to get the required information. Does my employer pay me for jury duty? Yes, but only for 6 hours a day. How many days does my employer pay for jury duty? Unlimited.

Unlimited??????? Shit.

I called in and registered, and made a note to myself to call in the weekend before.

So last Saturday, I called in: "You do not need to report for jury duty on Monday."

Yeah!!!!

Monday night, I called in: "You do not need to report for jury duty on Tuesday."

"You do not need to report for jury duty on Wednesday."

"You do not need to report for jury duty on Thursday."

At this point, if memory serves me, I should be free and clear. But no, "please call back on Thursday."

Last night, I dialed the number, put in my id and pin, "Please report for jury duty tomorrow, Friday."

WTF? Who calls a jury pool on Friday?

Now I'm annoyed and irritated. This means they've gone through the whole week's jury pool and haven't come up with enough jurors for this week's docket. There must be some hella cases going on.

I'm packing up my book (Sarum, by Edward Rutherford, a nice BIG book), a few crossword puzzles, and a big bag of jelly bellies and heading to the courthouse today.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2007-03-09T09:18:00.000-08:00

I got into work this morning, and made my daily check of email and blog posts, and then headed for my usual morning crossword puzzle. What's this? blocked by Barracuda??!!!!???? Naturally I then tried several other sites - all the same result. I IM'd several colleagues to see if they'd gotten the same messages. Yep. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

I work in a call center. Sometimes I can be on hold for over an hour at a time. I can't read a book, because it's too frustrating to have my story interrupted every time the phone rings. It's impossible to blog (except on breaks) for the same reason. I've been killing my hold times by doing crossword puzzles on line and playing bookworm. No more. Now I'm stuck with playing free cell all day.

It turns out the IT guys got tired of cleaning up the viruses rampant on certain websites people were going to (like myspace) and in the games people were downloading (wtf did they do that for????) so now none of us get to play games anymore. We can still play the games in the Windows programs. Yuck. I asked my boss if they could install some more games system-wide that are "safe". They'll see what they can do.

If the next time you see me, I'm bald, you'll know why.

My Internet Subculture

2007-03-02T09:40:00.000-08:00

Which internet subculture do I belong to? [CLICK]
	You are a Trekkie!
It's a geek, Jim! You probably have a starfleet uniform and a tricorder. Bonus points if you speak klingon. One day you will walk down the aisle with your buttertroll trekkie partner, humming to the Yoyager theme.
More Quizzes at Go-Quiz.com

And the winner is...

2007-02-26T06:03:00.000-08:00

I haven't watched the Oscars in years. I don't fawn over celebrities. They're people just like the rest of us. I haven't even seen any of the films that were nominated this year.

However, I love Ellen Degeneres.

Melissa Etheridge was up for best original song.

Her wife Tammy Lynn Michaels was blogging about the upcoming "office party" and what she was wearing.

So the wife and I watched.
All 6.5 hours, starting with the arrival coverage.
Sigh.

Melissa and Tammy looked great.
Ellen was good, but not great.
Al Gore was fabulously funny!
Forest Whitaker gave the best acceptance speech I think I've ever heard.
When Melissa won for Best Original Song, she kissed Tammy on camera - in front of however many millions of people were watching around the world!

Congratulations to all the winners.

Scrabbling

2007-02-25T08:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, my friend Diana came over with her two boys. Diana and I were neighbors for 9 years. When I say "neighbors", I mean that if we both opened our front doors, we had a direct line-of-sight to each others' dining room tables! There was only 4 feet between our front doors. Ahhhh, apartment living!

I hadn't seen Diana and the boys for a few months - the last time they came over, they visited with Mary, but I was at work. We ordered pizza for the kidlets and Thai for the grown-ups, and put a DVD on for the boys. It's not very easy to hold the attention span of a two- and four-year old! Finally the food arrived, and after filling our bellies, the requisite Scrabble game commenced. The game did not go well from the get-go. All of us pulled crappy tiles at the beginning, and it didn't improve as the game went on. Diana's four-year-old was helping her play by naming all the letters she had ready to play. Finally, we finished up the game, and waved goodbye to the boys.

An hour later, there was a knock at the door, and Jo (another neighbor) was standing there with her puppy, Lola. We picked up all the cat toys (Lola likes to steal them) and shooed the cats back into the bedrooms from which they had recently emerged (they had hidden from the boys). "Scrabble!" she says, and calls her roommate to come down and play. I made a pot of coffee and wifey turned it Irish, and we sat down to play again. The tile draws weren't much better this time around. We chatted and played, and eventually waved goodbye to them, too. We collapsed in the bedroom and watched a couple of episodes of Voyager before heading off to the land of nod.

Meme - tagged from Elfkat

2007-02-23T14:25:00.000-08:00

Rules: Each player of this game starts off with 10 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 10 weird habits/things/little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end you need to choose 10 people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs.

Blog of ten weird or little known facts.

1. I have a large pigmentless birthmark in the middle of my back.
2. I have a dragon and a gnome living in my apartment.
3. I always have at least one book I'm reading at any given time.
4. I am pretty good at catching cancerous cells in a person's aura.
5. I can usually also tell if someone is pregnant in the same way.
6. I have 3 kids ranging in age from 21 to 17.
7. I'm an incest survivor.
8. I have a slight intermittent hearing loss from a bad case of labyrinthitis almost 20 years ago.
9. My knees are shot from driving a stickshift in LA traffic since 1981.
10. I believe in faeries!!!!

Now, who to tag? Elfkat already tagged everyone!!!!!

Why the US is in Iraq

2007-02-20T05:50:00.000-08:00

"Money trumps...uh...(audible sigh)...peace, sometimes."

--George W. Bush
Press Conference, Feb. 14, 2007

It's raining

2007-02-19T05:55:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't live in Southern California, you may not understand:
Monday morning is the WORST possible day for rain.

You see, we don't get rain very often here, not anything substantial anyway. So vehicle oils have plenty of time to accumulate on the roads.

Anyone who's taken elementary science or made Italian dressing knows that oil and water don't mix.

But some of those people out there think the laws of physics don't apply to them. They can drive their normal 70-75 on a freeway in the rain (when it hasn't rained for several weeks) and cut in and out of traffic cuz it's Monday morning and they're late for work.

They're the reason I end up late for work. And they end up calling their insurance agent.

Thank Goddess it's a holiday - maybe most of the idiots will still be sleeping it off.

A List

2007-02-18T08:15:00.000-08:00

1. The phone rings. Who are you hoping it is? If it's my cell phone, I'm hoping it's my wifey. If it's the home phone, I'm hoping it's a wrong number, cuz I'm sick of "telephone surveys". Did you know non-profits are exempt from the DoNotCall list? Sigh.
2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart? Yes, I do. I get annoyed when I get to the cart corral and there aren't any trolleys in there cuz they're scattered all over the lot. If I leave it in the right place for the next person, I'm lowering the in-store annoyance quotient.
3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener? I'm definitely more of a listener, unless it's a small group and I know everybody. Or unless I've had a couple of drinks... then I can tend to babble.
4. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive? I guess I would have to adjust from being a vegetarian and suffer the consequences, but I could probably survive for a little while, depending on the location, the weather, and whether or not I was injured.
5. Do you like to ride horses? I love to ride! I always have. Unfortunately I've never owned a horse, so I rarely get to ride. I won't ride trail horses anymore, as a rule, cuz they're running on remote control. The last time I went riding was on a mesa in New Mexico, and I had a blast going for a gallop across the sand.
6. Did you ever go to camp as a kid? Yep, went to Girl Scout Camp (Horseback Riding) twice. Learned a lot and had a great time.
7. What was your favorite board game as a kid? I'd have to say either Sorry or Parcheesi. Monopoly just took too damn long. We usually opted for card games over board games, though.
8. If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew she was taken what would you do? I'm not interested in anyone who is cheating, and I'm not cut out for polyamory. Besides, I'm married! The "sexy" thing has never impressed me. I'd probably tell her to go home, or go find a therapist.
9. Are you judgmental? I try not to be. I think I've succeeded at that, unless I'm driving on the freeway, in which case all bets are off.
10. Would you date someone with different religious beliefs? I have before. It can make things difficult when you're as involved as I am in a "non-mainstream" religion. I feel that a relationship has a spiritual level as well, and you need to be on the same page. If the spiritual understanding meshes, the "religion" doesn't matter.
11. Are you continuing your education? I am constantly learning new things. That doesn't mean I have to be taking formal classes. I'm an active participant in the Earth School.
12. Do you know how to shoot a gun? No. Never had any interest in learning.
13. If your house was on fire, what's the first thing you'd grab? The cats.
14. How often do you read books? Constantly.
15. Do you think more about the past, present or future? The future. I worry about paying bills that are coming due. I dream about moving to the woods and getting out of the city.
16. What is your favorite children's book? The Chronicles of Narnia.
17. How tall are you? 5'3"
18. Where is your ideal house located? In the northwest woods, far enough from civilization to see deer in the yard, close enough to run into town for a Toffee Nut Latte.
19. Last person you talked to? My wife.
20. When was the last time you were at Olive Garden? It's been a few months - I think it was for my youngest daughter's 17th birthday in October.
21. What are your keys on your key chain for? The cars and the house.
22. What did you do last night? Watched tv and played on the computer. We were exhausted after being at the Highland Games on the Queen Mary yesterday. It was very hot and humid, and we were pretty wiped out.
23. Where is your current pain at [sic]? Mostly my neck, but also my lower back.
24. Do you like mustard? Brown mustard, yes.
25. Do you like your mom or dad? I like them both.
26. How long does it take you in the shower? About 10 to 15 minutes.
27. What movie do you want to see right now? I still want to see "An Inconvenient Truth" - it's on our Netflix list. Other than that, I'm waiting for the next Harry Potter movie.
28. Do you put lotion on your dog or cats? Why in the world would I do that?
29. What did you do for New Year's? We were up in the northwest woods, with a wood fire, watching "Pirates of the Caribbean II". I fell asleep around 10:30 pm and the wife had to wake me up at midnight for the Martinelli's toast.
30. Do you think The Grudge was scary? Never saw it. What is it?
31. Do you own a camera phone? No.
32. What's the last letter of your middle name? E.
33. Who did you vote for on American Idol? I'm proud to say I've never seen it. Don't intend to.

Thiefed from Sapphique

To sleep, perchance to dream

2007-02-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

I haven't been sleeping well lately. Some of it is the cats' fault for pinning me to the bed or for deciding to rid themselves of furballs in the middle of the night (new carpet, remember?). Some of it is due to being the unfortunate possessor of one of the world's smallest bladders. Some of it is due to incredible hotflashes that wake me up drenched in cold sweat. Some of it is just the inability to find a comfortable sleeping position - the discomfort, dare I say pain, wakes me up multiple times during the night, and I have to change my position. None of this makes for great amounts of sleep. Inevitably, the alarm goes off in the middle of a dream and I spend the next hour hitting the snooze button and trying to swim up from oblivion.

I begin taking in my daily allotment of leaded coffee before taking my shower and while driving to work. Once at work, I fix a fresh pot of unleaded and drink that for the rest of the day. All this means that I am taking one-third to one-half of the caffeine that I used to consume. It doesn't seem to help my sleep any. I've also tried ibuprofen and a half glass of red wine (no, not on the same evenings!). They don't seem to help either. Guess it's time to return to my insomnia formula: a tea made of equal parts of chamomile, catnip and valerian root with a teaspoon of honey. Valerian root is nasty without the sweetener. Better pick up some human-grade catnip for that - the cats will rebel if I steal some of theirs!

Family History

2007-02-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

My youngest daughter is taking Folklore this semester, and her assignment this week was to write about a "family story". I did come up with quite a few, but here is the one she used (in my words, and slightly expanded).

John Murray was my great-grandfather. He was born in Lot 65, in Prince Edward Island, Canada (henceforth known as PEI) in 1870. He left there sometime around in the 1890s - a whispered portion of the story says "there was something about a young girl" - and hopped trains to and around the US, eventually marrying Ivy Stoops somewhere in the Midwest, and then making their way to California, where they settled in the Los Angeles area.

John, whom I knew as "Pop Murray", was famous for being a storyteller and a bit of a trickster. This particular story involves his return visit to PEI. A cousin reported that one day, a hobo appeared at her back door, asking to "work for food". This hobo was filthy, dressed in rags, and with several teeth missing. He chopped food for a couple of hours before the cousin recognized him as John. The "missing teeth" had merely been blacked out with tar. I'm sure the cousin was horrified and angry that he had fooled her, but by the time I first heard the story in 1980, all the assembled Murrays in PEI (and there were quite a few of them) thought it was very funny.

The Bottle of Wine

2007-02-08T07:10:00.000-08:00

(Snagged from an email)

Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road.

As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride.

With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car.

Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with her passenger. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally.

"What’s in bag?" asked the old woman.

Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, "It's a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband."

The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two.

Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said:

"Good trade."

The Descent of Brighid

2007-02-02T08:11:00.000-08:00

Each day and each night
That I say the Descent of Brighid:

I shall not be slain.
I shall not be sworded.
I shall not be put into a cell.
I shall not be hewn.
I shall not be riven.
I shall not be anguished.
I shall not be wounded.
I shall not be ravaged.
I shall not be blinded.
I shall not be made naked.
I shall not be left bare.
Nor will Brighid
Leave me forgotten.

Nor fire shall burn me
Nor sun shall burn me
Nor moon shall blanch me.

Nor water shall drown me.
Nor flood shall drown me.
Nor brine shall drown me.

Nor the seed of the fairy host shall lift me.
Nor the seed of the airy hist shall lift me.
Nor earthly being destroy me.

I am under the shielding of good Brighid each day.
I am under the shielding of good Brighid each night.
I am under the keeping of the Nurse Cailleach.

Each early, each late,
Every dark and every light.

Brighid is my comrade-woman.
Brighid is my maker of song.
Brighid is my helping-woman.
My choicest of women, my guide.

From the Carmina Gaedelica (translation by Alexander Carmichael)

6 Degrees

2007-02-01T07:40:00.000-08:00

Early last summer, two of my coworkers auditioned for an upcoming part on The L Word. After a few weeks of intense waiting, we learned that one of them - Jon Wolfe Nelson* - had won the part and would be heading for Vancouver BC to film seven episodes! He is playing the role of Tom Mater, who is Jodi Lerner's interpreter (Jodi is played by Marlee Matlin). And yes, he is a real ASL interpreter who is also an actor.

He wouldn't tell us much about this season. He didn't appear until episode 4, so we waited almost all of January to see his debut. Sunday night, we sat in front of the tv waiting for Jon's part to appear. OMG! That shirt was too much! but it does set up that character in a way only another interpreter (or a deaf person) would really understand. You see, we professional interpreters typically wear a solid color shirt that is contrasting to our skin color. Which means, for someone like Jon, it would be a solid blue, black, brown, green, etc. Solid. Dark. Not bright orange flames. The shirt screams that his character has a unique rapport with Jodi, and that he doesn't necessarily follow "the rules". It is obvious that he and Marlee worked very well together on this show, and I am really excited about the future this opens up for him.

I talked to Jon yesterday at work. He said the best is yet to come; to make sure and watch this Sunday's episode, where he is in the first scene after the intro. I can't wait!

* Unfortunatley, this site is not up to date with his acting bio, but the picture is great!

Little Boxes

2007-01-28T17:19:00.000-08:00

Little boxes, on the hillside,
Little boxes full of ticky-tacky,
Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky
And they all look just the same.

This song has been spinning around in my head every time I look at that mountain of boxes....

Crack

2007-01-28T17:02:00.000-08:00

Finally, the new carpet and linoleum are attached to the floors! It all looks great; we are very happy with the way it turned out.

Now comes the UNpacking part of the saga.

We've rearranged the living room furniture and are now digging through stacks of boxes, looking for all the CDs, DVDs and videotapes, and BOOKS so they can make their way to their new homes.

It took me 24 hours to find the box that had been packed at the last minute and was supposed to be opened first. It's the box with the bills that need to be paid today. So much for unpacking it first. But I did finally find it!

I was the first casualty of the unpacking saga. Last night I was unpacking a large box of clothing. You see, our dresser is a heavy wood (not presswood) whose drawers are not removable. I had unpacked about 2/3 of the dresser to lighten up the weight so it could be moved. There I am, putting t-shirts and sweaters back in the drawers, minding my own business. I stood up and turned and promptly smacked my forehead on the wooden hoop of a large mandala that normally resides on the wall. I saw black and then stars, and heard the wife call in "What was that?!?" I was ushered to the couch with a bag of ice on my forehead. I hit it pretty good. While I didn't get nauseous or dizzy, my head did feel very heavy. The wife kept checking my pupils. I think I probably managed to give myself a mild concussion. I've got a nice red welt in the middle of my forehead. Fortunately, the indentured servants were still here to move furniture and boxes for me.

Half-new

2007-01-27T06:35:00.000-08:00

The place is half-way done.

The carpet guy did come and measure on Tuesday. The original plan was for the workers to come on Thursday to lay the new linoleum, and return on Friday to do the carpeting. We planned our packing attack based on this assumption. After several phone calls between the wifey and the carpet store, the guy at the carpet store said, "oh, they can do it all in one day!" Meaning Friday. They've got to be kidding. He added that we could arrange with the workers however we wanted to work it out.

So a crew of three guys shows up yesterday morning, takes one look at all our boxes and furniture and decides it's going to take two days. Duh!!!! Did we want them to come back Saturday, or Monday? I am not dragging this out two seconds longer than it already has been! Alex, can I buy a Saturday?

We do have new linoleum in the kitchen and bathrooms, and new carpet in the kids' bedroom and hallway. We still have the old carpet in the living room and our bedroom. After walking on the two different carpets (side by side comparison, you know), I must say that a 20-year old carpet pad leaves a lot to be desired. Last night, we shuffled boxes from the living room into the completed bedroom. Once they get here this morning, we'll find out which room they want to start with and rearrange accordingly. Fortunately, we do have indentured servants to help us move furniture today (my two youngest kids).

I can't wait til this is finished. The cats have been locked in our bedroom since yesterday morning and are scratching to get out, but there are still exposed carpet tacks and filings from the metal strips, and we don't want any sliced kitty pawpads. Once the workers leave, we'll vacuum and wet mop the new floors and then let the convicts escape to get their fill of new-carpet aroma. They'll be getting a lot of kitty-crack after this one!

Freak?

2007-01-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

So I was on my break earlier this morning, and the first thing I did was start a pot of decaf coffee. I seem to be the only one who makes it around here. When it was done brewing, I filled my mug up. I realized the regular coffee was also empty and set a fresh pot to brew. Aren't I nice?

As I was putting the coffee grounds in, a co-worker asked "Are you a coffee freak?" I told him I just needed to hook up an IV and wheel around the stand all day. He laughed. I was serious. Most mornings, I have way too much blood in my coffeestream.

If I could figure out how to hook up a coffee drip and still taste the coffee through the hep lock, I would be in heaven!

Sore

2007-01-22T13:46:00.000-08:00

We spent the weekend getting ready for the new carpet and linoleum that are supposed to come in this week. We packed yet more boxes, filled up another bag for giveaway*, and tossed a bunch of old stuff. I scrubbed the floor in the kids' bathroom - which is primarily used by the cats - so the lino people won't have to deal with the litter-encrusted moulding. Thank goodness for putty knives! And I cleaned off the balcony, which hadn't been cleaned for a few months, so that things could be moved out there while the new flooring is going in. I have to say, the balcony looks much better now! There's not a whole lot left to deal with, maybe one or two more small boxes to be filled, and that's about it. I hope.

I woke up this morning fairly sore and stiff. I've been popping ibuprofen since Saturday night, and last night my wifey spread lanacort on my hand that one of our cacti attacked yesterday. I'm hoping that our "new" apartment will make it all worthwhile.

* Anybody want a Thighmaster? Pickup Sticks? How about Connect Four?

Snagged from Elfkat

2007-01-20T08:28:00.000-08:00

In 1964 (the year you were born)

Lyndon B. Johnson is president of the US

After riots break out, Panama suspends relations with he US

Cassius Clay becomes heavyweight champion when Sonny Liston throws in the towel in the sixth round in Miami Near Anchorage, the strongest earthquake ever to strike North America kills 117

Worst soccer disaster in history occurs when rioting and panic kills over 300 in Liverpool

Hundreds of white college students work for civil rights in the south during "Freedom Summer"

South Africa sentences Nelson Mandela to life in prison

Kemeny and Kurtz create BASIC (Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code), an easy to learn high level programming language

Nicolas Cage, Jeff Bezos, Rob Lowe, Elle Macpherson, Courteney Cox Arquette, and Keanu Reeves are born

St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series

Cleveland Browns win the NFL championship

Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles released in the US, sparking Beatlemania

The Beatles appear on The Ed Sullivan Show, breaking television ratings records

The game show Jeopardy! debuts on television

Mary Poppins, starring Julie Andrews, is the top grossing film

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

Boxes

2007-01-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

We started boxing up our belongings in late September, because we were told by the landlord that we would be getting new carpeting in October. I've been in this apartment for 10 1/2 years, and the carpet wasn't new when I moved in. The seams have long since separated, the pad has disappeared, and every couple of months I get to hammer carpet tacks down after slicing a heel.

Then in October, there was a delay, and it wasn't until the end of November that we got it rescheduled for January. Here it is, January, and we have had boxes all over the living room for 4 months. Our videos are in boxes. All my books are in boxes. (Say it ain't so!) All my office supplies are in boxes. (What was I thinking????? I still need an envelope once in a while!) Not to mention that since October, we have had no friends over, no parties, no meetings, no Yule tree - too many boxes!

Finally, on Thursday we met with the carpet people, and they are coming to measure on Tuesday, which means they will (hopefully) start with the linoleum on Thursday or Friday. The carpet has to be ordered, but it should be in around the same time. So now, we have to finish packing things into boxes. And since I work all week, it's got to be done in the next two days. All the breakable stuff, of course, which will require wrapping.

Several times over the last few months, I've threatened to move. We're already packed, right? But considering we don't have a place to move to, I guess we'll settle for the new carpet.

What I did on Vacation

2007-01-10T13:16:00.000-08:00

Here it is, 2007.

Right before and after Christmas, I worked like a dog and my poor wifey had to do all the shopping and keep Nicole occupied while I was at work. Then we packed like crazy people to fly up to Seattle for our bimonthly visit.

We drove up to our friends' house in our rental car in the dark and were greeted by blazing holiday lights on the house and a lighted walkway. All the lights were beautifully reflected by the snow that was still on the ground from the snowstorm they had had a few days earlier. It was so nice to be up there in the woods! Our friends recently put a wood stove in their living room, so we got to keep a fire going most of the time we were there. Wifey got to chop wood (shhhhh don't tell the doc), and we played with and fed the kitties while we house-sat for nearly a week.

I finally did get to see Snoqualmie Falls! We drove up there on New Year's Day and got some great pictures. It was freeeeeezing cold up there, though; the wind was howling and the mist was blowing up from the falls. We didn't stay long, and as we drove back over Tiger Pass on Hwy 18, we got snained* on.

The other thing we did was go to Tubs. I wish we had places like that here in the LA area! I got a half-hour massage, and then we sat in a hot tub for an hour. What a relaxing thing to do!

Our friends came back from their trip on Wednesday. Wednesday night the temperature started dropping and we woke up Thursday morning to a dusting of snow. We had to go into Seattle on Thursday afternoon, and on our way back we got stuck in horrible traffic. Apparently no one knows how to drive when there's snow on the road! The snow level had dropped to 500' and there was 2 to 3 inches of snow on the highway. Grrrrrrrr I hate sitting in traffic!!!! We finally made it back to the ranch. Later that night, the sky cleared up and the temp dropped some more, and then the full moon came out. What a sight! the reflection of the full moon on new-fallen snow.... We tried to take some pictures by moonlight, but they just couldn't capture the reality. We went to bed around midnight and when we woke up Friday morning, even more snow had fallen - I'm not sure when the clouds moved back in, but we were very sorry to have to leave that day. What better vacation than being in front of a roaring fire with a hot cuppa in the woods, with fresh snow on the ground?

* "Snain" is a weather phenomenon that seems to strike only in the Puget Sound area of Washington, a unique situation in which rain and snow mix in such a way that you are not entirely sure if it is rain or snow; thus, "snain".

Resolutions

2006-12-31T10:35:00.000-08:00

In the year 2007 I resolve to:
Make the FBI's most wanted list.

Get your resolution here.

And here I thought I was already on it!

Snagged from Elfkat :-)

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title

2006-12-25T07:34:00.000-08:00

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Lady Denise the Ebullient of Fritterton on the Marshes
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

This one's pretty good too! heheheheh

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Baroness Denise the Herbaceous of Tempting St Mary
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Snagged from Elfkat

Santa Tracker

2006-12-24T05:50:00.000-08:00

Want to see where Santa is on his route? NORAD is tracking him!

Christmas Eve

2006-12-24T05:34:00.000-08:00

Here it is, 5:30 am on christmas eve, and I'm trying to wake up so I can get ready to go to work. Yes, I'm working today, but just for a few hours. Holiday pay. I'm hoping it will be kinda slow at work. Then I rush home (please don't let traffic be bad), load up the car, pick up my wife, and drive to my parents' house for the traditional family christmas eve event. It's earlier this year, so maybe we'll be home fairly early tonight. We're both pretty much wrung out. Then tomorrow we have the kids for Christmas Day.

I have to share - my wife is amazing. Mark calls her "Supermom" for a reason! Not only did she do all the shopping this week, but she was up late cooking last night - a vegetarian main dish and a side dish for the family thing today.

21

2006-12-21T10:20:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe, but my oldest child, Shellynne, is 21 today.

I remember the day she was born. I remember walking the halls of the hospital while in labor, trying to hurry things along a bit. I remember hearing her cry for the first time. I remember they brought us a nice dinner and champagne after she was born to celebrate. I remember telling the nun what her name would be, and that poor nun trying to find a patron saint for the name "Shellynne". LOL

When we were ready to go home, the nursery staff brought Shellynne to me in a red stocking - an early Christmas present, they said. Indeed she was! A Solstice baby, to be sure.

Happy Birthday, Shellynne!

Bunni HoTep

2006-12-21T06:14:00.000-08:00

(\__/) This is Bunny.
(='.'=) Copy and paste bunny onto your blog.
(")_(") Help Bunny gain World Domination.

Snagged from Elfkat.

Which Serenity Character Are you?

2006-12-17T08:18:00.000-08:00

Your results:
You are Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)

Dependable and trustworthy.
You love your significant other and
you are a tough cookie when in a conflict.

Click here to take the Serenity Personality Quiz

Snagged from faelchu

The Aftermath

2006-12-11T05:49:00.000-08:00

One night last week, my son was driving home from theater rehearsal when he was run off the freeway by another driver. He was forced over lane by lane, unable to get away from the other driver, and finally onto the shoulder, where he lost control of the car, and somehow was launched into the air. The car flipped over a 7-foot fence (without touching it) and eventually landed on its roof on a side street about 150 feet further down the road.
The car is a total loss. The front hood is about half the length that it was before it met with concrete, asphalt, and some juniper bushes. If he'd had a passenger in the car, they wouldn't have made it.
When the car finally came to a halt - on its roof - he undid his seatbelt and crawled out the passenger side window (the driver side window was the only one that didn't blow out), getting his only scratch - on his elbow, from the asphalt as he crawled out. It was as if he was in a little bubble of protection. I still can't believe the way the car looks, and how my 6'3" son escaped without injury.

I've been wanting to post this for almost a week, but was waiting until he had the opportunity to tell some people himself. So if you've gotten a call from him in the last few days, and haven't bothered to call him back, now you know why he called. I believe this has been a life-changing experience for him, facing death in such a dramatic way and surviving. He's lost his independence literally overnight, and is dependent upon his using his father's car (again) until the insurance is straightened out. I'm still trying to come to grips with the whole thing myself. Phone calls at 11pm are rarely good news. Seeing the car did eliminate the waking nightmares I was having about what had happened. We still don't know exactly what happened, or what set him airborne, or why that car forced him off the road and never stopped. I'm trying to keep the "what-ifs" from making my head spin. One thing for sure - this kid definitely has something he is meant to do with his life.

A Not-so-new Job

2006-12-11T05:38:00.000-08:00

Today is my first day as a full-time employee since 1995.

Weird.

Weird because I've been doing the job at the same site, for the same company, as an independent contractor for the last 18 months, so the day-to-day really isn't going to change. Except that I'll have my own desk :-) And benefits. And get the hours I request instead of the leftovers.

Weird because I'll be working a lot more hours per week than I have in a few years. For the next month, I'll pretty much be working 5 days a week - I've really only been working 4 days a week (most of the time anyway) for the last several years, taking off one weekday for volunteer work, errands, etc.

A relief.

A relief because I'll have health insurance as of Feb. 1. So will Mary! They just started offering domestic partnership coverage as of Jan. 1. I haven't had health insurance for 3 years.

A relief because I will have employment-rate taxes taken out of my paycheck. No more quarterly tax payments. No more paying my half and the "employer half" as self-employed. Finally, a way out of the endless cycle of owing taxes at the end of the year.

Help fund AIDS research and drug assistance

2006-12-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

Bristol Myers Squibb will donate $1 for every person who goes to their web site and lights a candle to fight AIDS, up to a max of $100,000. At this point, the counter is 530,717. The website will only allow you to light a candle once, so please pass this along to friends and family.

Please light a candle and help spread the light.

World AIDS Day

2006-12-01T07:49:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the world before AIDS? before GRID? before "gay cancer"? I do. I remember the chaos and fearmongering when the disease was first recognized as an epidemic, when the transmission method was not yet understood, and people were panicking. I remember getting my first solid information about AIDS in 1985, in my college Microbiology class. I remember a full-day training for teachers in 1987, an attempt to help Catholic high school teachers in that diocese understand the reality of AIDS/HIV and break down the stereotypes and misunderstandings.

Twenty-one years later, there are still many people who don't understand that this is an equal-opportunity disease. It is not only about gay men, although they were the first community to be hit with it. It is not only about IV drug users, although in the early days, they were a large proportion of the cases. It is about men who have sex with men and then go home and have sex with their women, infecting the woman, who then infect the children they bear. It is about women being powerless about their own sexual lives. It is about religious institutions that claim to be "pro-life" and then condemn millions to die because they refuse to educate about condoms. It is about governments who, because of institutional racism or the leaders' own racism, cut funding to social programs designed to educate the poorest people of the world about safe sex.

It is about 65 million people infected since 1981.

It is about 25 million dead since 1981.

It is about 2.9 million dead in 2006 alone.

It is about 2.3 million children who are infected.

It's about my friend Tom Halsted, who lost his partner to AIDS in 1992, and lost his own life to AIDS in 1995.

It's about courage.

It's about my friend Carl, who, because of his public position and job in a religious organization, told everyone he had pancreatic cancer and then lived another 2 1/2 years before dying in 1993. Most of my friends who had known Carl over the years believe, with me, that he actually died of AIDS.

It's about stigma.

It's about the world losing gifted, talented minds every day to a disease that is preventable and treatable.

It's about finding a cure, and finding a vaccine to prevent it.

It's about being honest with your sexual partners, getting tested, and protecting yourself and others by following safe sex practices.

What will you do to educate yourself?

What will you do to help stop AIDS?

Post-Thanksgiving Recap

2006-11-24T08:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, I admit it - I ate too much yesterday. Dinner was at 3pm and it is now 8am the next day and I still feel like I just ate! I didn't think the amount of food I put on my plate was unreasonable - but maybe I'd eaten too many carrot sticks. My sister-in-law, Stacy, brought her now-traditional pumpkin soup for the first course. Then I had my Tofurky with stuffing, mashed potatoes with Tofurky gravy, the sweet potatoes my wonderful wife made, cranberry jello, and a couple of the Tofurky-supplied dumplings. (Ugh. I could not get those dumplings to cook right - I ate a few bites and tossed out the rest.) I couldn't even finish what was on my plate. Around 6pm I finally gave in a took a very small sliver of Stacy's pumpkin pie - a big mistake - I had to go outside and take a walk to try to get my overstuffed stomach moving.

It was a pretty quiet day, though. Just me and Mary, my mom and dad, my brother Tim, his wife Stacy and their two boys. My brother Andy slept through the entire thing, and my brother Mark is stuck down in south Texas. We did talk to Mark on the phone, briefly. We did a lot of reminiscing about camping trips when we were growing up, about older family members, and Thanksgivings gone by. When we got home, I called the kids at their dad's house and Mary and I talked to each of them for a few minutes.

I'm working tonight from 6pm to midnight. That'll be interesting, since I'm usually in bed asleep around 10pm. It was the only shift left available for today, and I just couldn't pass up the holiday pay. Hopefully it will be quiet.

Shellynne is coming over tomorrow so we can spend some time with her before she goes back up to school for the rest of the semester. Yeah!

News from the Work Front

2006-11-17T15:03:00.000-08:00

Well, I got a call from the person who interviewed me for the position at the church. They "decided to go with another candidate" who would be around for a while. Obviously they saw the email I sent regarding the miscommunications over the recent service, saying I was tempted to make my hiatus from church activities a permanent one. Mostly I'm relieved not to have to deal with everything - the position seems to demand a lot more work than the alotted hours would allow for. I'm also a bit annoyed with everything that's gone on the last few weeks. I've been very frustrated with the miscommunication and dysfunction I've been seeing, and I freely admit that I am no longer being spiritually fed there, and haven't been for the last couple of years. It may be time to move on, though to what exactly, I'm not sure.

As for the other job I applied for, the interpreting thing, my application is being processed and I've done the pre-employment drug test. Now I'm just waiting to find out my start date :-)

Snagged from Elfkat

2006-11-16T16:09:00.000-08:00

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you've read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished, and put an asterisk* beside the ones you loved.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
3. Dune, Frank Herbert
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley*
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey*
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling*
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien *
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks *
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Wow, some of these I read 35 years ago.... I'm sure there were more I read, cuz I went through every SF book in my school library LOL And I agree with Elfkat... where is Robert Jordan? Mercedes Lackey?

In concert!

2006-11-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

Monday afternoon we met up with some friends in the church parking lot, piled 7 women into a minivan and headed off to LA. We dined at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) in downtown LA, then headed a few miles west to the Wiltern Theater.

We had a handicapped placard in the car, and kept asking the parking staff where the handicapped spots were. They kept directing us to "illegal" spots, spots we couldn't possibly fit into. Finally we found a regular spot that looked like it would work, and headed for the elevator and down to the ground floor. Where there were plenty of handicapped spots. Sigh.

Then we made our way past the homeless man begging and the ticket scalpers and the man selling t-shirts for $5 each. We went through the security check and had our tickets scanned at the door. We were in! First things first - I headed downstairs to the ladies' room, then back upstairs for a $3 bottle of water (it could have been worse). We looked at the concert t-shirts, but they only had pastels and I just can't wear those colors. Drat! We went and found our seats, and settled in to wait for the opening act.

The opening act was Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion. After the first song, I wasn't very impressed, and braced myself for duration. But a couple of songs later, she got my attention with some political rap. But what sold me was the song "Pussy Manifesto" -- Bitch had the entire theater in the palm of her hands with that one! I wish I could find a video clip or even the lyrics on line, but no luck so far. We might just have to buy her album! Bitch played for about 45 minutes, then the roadies came out to rearrange the stage, which took about 20 minutes.

Finally, Amy and Emily walked out. Mary had never seen them in concert before, and it had been several years since I had seen them live. They played a lot of their newer stuff, which I don't know cuz I'm a bit behind on the album collection, and a lot of their older stuff, too. Wanna see their set list for that night? One of the things I love about the Indigo Girls is that they love it when the audience sings along. They cut out their vocals and let the audience take it for several lines, and sometimes a whole verse. Unlike some other artists, they are not threatened by the sing-along. And the fans love it!

And they had some surprises, too. They brought out Vonda Shepard to do a duet with Emily. It turned out Vonda had been sitting two rows ahead of us! Then a couple of songs later, they brought out Bitch again and called Lisa Loeb to sing on stage with a couple of others whose names escape me right now. I know, I know, but it was late and I was nearly deafened by that point.

By the time we got home it was nearly 12:30 am. Thank Goddess I had decided to take the next day off of work, cuz there is no way I could have gotten up at 5 am and been functional!

What a relief

2006-11-12T18:21:00.000-08:00

Well, we survived the service today.

Actually it went very well, with only a couple of minor forgotten items and mis-cues. We got a lot of good feedback from people. Some of them even got up from their seats and moved!!!! And quite a few people are asking about restarting the drumming circle - I'm working on Glory for that one :-) Unfortunately, Mary's hands have been so bad lately that she wasn't able to perform the song we were hoping she would. We'll just have to plan it for another time, my love.

It's amazing we pulled it all together. The majority of the service was finalized earlier this week, but my "sermonette" and Glory's guided meditation and the children's time weren't finalized. I had planned to write mine up yesterday, but I couldn't even bring myself to look at the notes I've been making or the websites I've bookmarked over the last couple of months, let alone type a single word. Rather than beat myself up over it (something I'm quite good at), I let it be. I decided that either the words would come this morning and I would pound out a sermonette, or it would all be off the cuff, letting the energy flow and allowing the words and thoughts to come forth of their own accord. It ended up being a combination of the two - I did write out the majority of it this morning, but added to it as I shared at the service. The hazards - and the blessing - of being very familiar with the subject matter!

I am thrilled that it went so well, and was so well-received. I am also thrilled that I don't have to be in a pulpit again for a while! Today was the third Sunday out of the last four that I've had an active part in a service. Two of those Sundays I was preaching. And I'm not even a UU minister!!!!!

Roller Coaster Ride

2006-11-11T09:24:00.000-08:00

What a week!

Last Sunday, I interviewed for a part-time position at my church. I'm not sure how I feel about that position - I had been looking forward to being able to follow through on doing the work I had helped envision when I was President of the Board of Trustees 5 years ago, but after this week, I'm feeling ambivalent to say the least. Some very unhealthy micromanagement and miscommunication has been going on, and once again I'm feeling a desire to cut myself loose from that community.

But I'm jumping forward a bit.

Tuesday was election day. I thought about posting that day, but decided to wait. It seems that we all took Randi Rhodes' advice, turning out to vote in such large numbers that there was no way they could steal the election again. America voted for a change in direction - no more "stay the course!" Democrats took the House and the Senate, and Donald Rumsfield resigned! This last bit of news had my jaw dropped for a good half of the day, especially coming less than a week after Dubya said that Rumsfield and Cheney would stay with his team for the rest of his term. Happy dancing!!!!

Then the roller coaster started on the downhill slope...

In the meantime, while celebrating as the election returns came in on Wednesday, there I was at work, trying to process phone calls, and dealing with 3 or 4 ongoing email conversations from people at the church trying to micromanage a worship service that Glory and Mary and I are doing this coming Sunday. Wednesday was the day the Order of Service was due to be printed, and suddenly I had people wanting to add things or change the way we planned to do things. It was frustrating and consumed a great deal of energy, but I kept trying to chock up the miscommunication to Mercury Retrograde.

By the time I got home from work and checked my email, and saw yet another email from someone critical of the Order of Service, I'd had enough. I was furious, and spent the next two hours composing an email that would go to everyone I had been dealing with that day, and talking to Mary and Glory about the wording, and what we wanted to do. I laid it all out on the table: the miscommunications starting back over the summer, the micromanagement, the reasons for the decisions we had made, and our frustration. We agreed to include a statement to the effect that if they weren't willing to respect the work we had put into the service, then they could find someone to present a different service on Sunday. These people all know me, and know that was not an idle threat. I also said that I was considering making my year-long hiatus from church activities into a permanenet one. It was amazing how quickly people backpedaled and said, "We trust you! do what you planned".

I was so upset that evening that I couldn't even eat dinner. I'm sure some of the fallout will be that I'm not offered the position I interviewed for. And if I do decide to withdraw my membership, that means finding a new home for our monthly Reiki Circle, and could (although I really hope not) have an impact on the activities of another group that uses the church facilities.

So, we're going ahead with the service as planned tomorrow. And we're going into it with the intention of reaching out to the 150 people who will be there who haven't got a clue as to what's been going on behind the scenes. Funny thing is, the service is "Sounds of the Divine" and is focusing on healing through rhythm. There's definitely some healing needed.

I did it...

2006-11-04T07:22:00.000-08:00

I've been self-employed full-time as a sign language interpreter since 1995. I've really enjoyed the ability to make my own schedule, which has allowed me to take care of family stuff and travel for some of my volunteer activities. For most of that time, the income was steady and fairly good. Then the economy plunged, the war in Iraq started, and for some reason, there was less work available. After a while of not being able to pay my bills, I gave in and started working as an independent contractor for one company (which I had resisted working for even when my friends went over there). I've been there for almost a year and a half now, and I've been able to catch up on bills (thanks to steady work and a regular paycheck). It's a pretty good gig, and I'm able to work in a really supportive environment with other highly skilled interpreters, and I don't have to drive around town all day long - just drive to one office and stay there all day! My car says thankya. I've been wanting to go on staff for a while, but some as-yet-unresolved financial issues have prevented that.

So a couple of months ago, my boss walks into the breakroom and says "Domestic partners can get health insurance starting January 1." That got me thinking about not just going on staff, but going full-time so we could get the benefits. I had a sit-down with the boss and went over some details, then went home and talked to the wife. Even with the cut in hourly pay, we thought it would be worth it to have the benefits, and to have taxes taken out of my check (closing an 11-year cycle of ongoing IRS debt, which has contributed a great deal of stress to my life for most of that time). I spent some time on the phone with a lovely rep at the IRS, who had to forward the request to a supervisor for approval, and waited 3 weeks for a response. With a payment arrangement in place, I went back to the boss and picked up the application. It took me a few days, but I turned it in yesterday. I'll have to pee in a cup sometime next week, and then we just wait for headquarters to approve everything. I could be a full-time employee by the end of the month. Yikes! Have I mentioned that I haven't been a full-time employee anywhere since 1995?????

But the benefits will be most welcome. I haven't had health insurance for three years, and I badly need some dental work too. So does the wife. Having insurance will definitely reduce my stress levels. Maybe the biggest reduction will be getting out from under the spectre of accumulating tax debt, something that has hounded me for years, trying everything to get out from under it. There just weren't full-time interpreter positions (with reasonable pay - I don't want to live in my car) around until a couple of years ago. Thank Goddess for the opportunity.

Caught by the Muse

2006-10-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

I finally had the time and energy to futz with my sermon on Friday, since I wasn't working. I made some more changes to it, surfed the net for some ideas, and drank lots of coffee. Went and got my hair cut - it was getting to the point where it was making me crazy and I didn't want to have to deal with that while preaching and giving a workshop! Came back home and settled myself in front of the computer. By the time Friday was over, I had not only rewritten what I had, but added another page and half to the beginning of the sermon. Saturday morning I was back at it, knocking out the rest of the thing in about two hours. I had Mary read it through to make sure that it flowed and there weren't any glaring errors - after sitting in front of it all week, I doubt I would have caught them. Then I printed the damn thing out, and started packing.

It only took us a two hour drive to arrive at our destination on Saturday afternoon. We checked into our hotel, picked up my team presenter, B., and headed out on a mission to find Mimi's Cafe (I had gotten the addresses of a bunch of local restaurants before leaving home). It was only a mile away from our hotel, but it took us 15 minutes to find it! It was tucked away in a shopping center, not clearly visible from the road. By the time we got there, there was a little bit of a wait for a table, but not too bad. We caught up with B., went over the workshop, and enjoyed our meal. Back in our hotel room, we watched parts of a couple of movies, and then tried to sleep. I slept horribly. First the hot flashes were keeping me awake, then I couldn't get comfortable, then the phone rang just as I was finally nodding off at 11:30 pm... you get the picture.

The next morning, we got to the church with enough time to double check that everything was in order for the service and workshop. The service went very well, and everything flowed and connected to the other elements. I had found a great article that B. read before I gave the sermon, and it really helped to bring more focus to the whole service. The sermon went really well, I didn't have to change anything as I went through it, although I did throw in a couple of side comments here and there. It was a little short, but not by much, and we just wrapped up the service about 5 minutes early. (Which meant we could start the workshop earlier and get home earlier!) We had about a half hour in between to eat lunch and set up for the workshop. I got a lot of really good feedback from the congregation. Several said that my sermon had spoken clearly of their journey as a congregation over the past few years. One asked me if I was looking for a congregation to serve as minister, and one said, "Your sermon was very polished. You've obviously given it many times." I nearly choked, but instead I said, "Actually, this is the first time I've given this sermon." Her eyes got a little wide at that.

The workshop went really well, too. A great group of people, really willing to talk about their issues and concerns, and in a very good place for calling a new minister. We got through the workshop format quickly, and had time to talk about some other issues that had been coming up, but were not addressed by the workshop itself. Our contact person was very grateful that we had come and spent the day with them.

By the time we got home last night, I was exhausted, but felt very good about the way the weekend went. The Muse had teased me all week, but when it came to "crunch time" she was right there and ready to speak. Saturday morning's not a bad time to finish a sermon for Sunday - there have been times when I'm still writing on Sunday morning, and still making changes after the service starts!

Now it's back to work, and planning for the next service I'm doing in three weeks. Yes, another new sermon. Sigh......

Congratulations!!!

2006-10-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

to Tammy and Melissa Etheridge, on the birth of their twins Miller Steven and Johnnie Rose, on October 17.

Mary and I have been reading Tammy's blog for the last several months and really enjoy her posts.

Welcome to the new twins!

It's a Woman Thing

2006-10-18T12:43:00.000-07:00

Consider this fair warning...

You know, must months it's just a hassle, but this month it's a pain. I've got all the stereotypical symptoms - impatience, cramps, headache - and I'm not a happy camper. We won't even discuss the hot flashes I've been having! You could fry an egg on my back several times a day. Okay, maybe you could poach the egg, since it's definitely not a dry heat. I've been having the damn hot flashes for 4 years now, and there is still no end in sight. This perimenopausal thing just lasts toooooooo long! How long do I have to put up with the hot flashes before other things slow down????

Chasing the Muse

2006-10-16T15:55:00.000-07:00

I do these workshops for UU churches who are searching for a new minister. I've been doing this for 9 years now, and usually do 2 or 3 of them every year.

I've got my first one of the year (church year follows school year, doncha know) coming up this Sunday. We do the Sunday service first, with the workshop afterwards. I have a couple of sermons that I normally use for this type of thing, but for some reason this time I decided to use a sermon I've only used once before, on the opposite coast. The problem is it badly needs to be rewritten. For one thing, it needs to be twice as long as it is since I'll be doing the whole sermon myself rather than splitting the sermon time with my team presenter. I'm having a hard time reworking this one. Not sure where or how to expand it. Not really sure of the tone or approach I want to use.

I'm feeling kinda frustrated with it and with myself. I know it will come together; it always does, and usually in the twelfth hour, which I hate. I hate finishing a sermon half an hour before I step into the pulpit! But the Muse strikes when She wills, and if I try to chase Her down and force Her to cough it up, she laughs and dodges out of my reach. I can almost see her with her thumbs in Her ears, fingers waggling, chanting "Neener neener neener!!!"

My son, the star!

2006-10-13T05:55:00.000-07:00

The Berubians present...

Tales from the Shadow Zone

Thursdays and Saturdays in October, 8:00 pm
Oct. 12, 14, 19, 21, 26, 28
Admission $15

Second Stage Theatre
431 N Brookhurst St, Suite 140
Anaheim, CA

For reservations, info: (714) 502-2249

This is a Halloween show made up of short sketches. Mark and his friend Jared are both in this show, with several appearances.

Coming Out Day

2006-10-11T06:02:00.000-07:00

This one almost slipped by me, somehow. Maybe it's because of the sore throat I've been battling all week, the multiple decisions spinning around in my head, and two services I'm trying to pull together on short notice.

It was 12 years ago that I came out to myself, finally admitting in my journal that I was indeed gay. My marriage of 9 years (it would be 10 before the divorce was finalized) was over - how could I justify staying married if I was gay? I had found many justifications to stay in the relationship before that, but this was like a cosmic 2x4 yelling "get out!!!" My kids were young - 5, 6 and 8 - and one of the hardest things I have ever done was to leave that marriage and leave my kids with my ex, knowing at that time in my life that I did not have the tools or the income to support them.

At the same time, Coming Out saved my life. Finally, my episodes of depression with borderline suicidal ideations began to disappear. Finally, I was living my life authentically. I was no longer trying to force myself to live out the dream handed down to me: a husband, kids, a white picket fence, a low-paying "woman's job", doing all the cooking, cleaning, and childcare while the husband did paperwork or left for some meeting in the evening.

I was never happy in my life as a straight woman. I acted as if I was happy when I had the energy to do so. Mostly I was numb.

Coming Out and leaving that marriage was the first part of stepping into my power. I found out who my friends truly were (only 1 stood by me), and I lived on my own for the first time in my life. Decisions were mine to make, not given to me by "the man". I began to recover from the numbness. It was like I was a teenager all over again, drifting through the early years of learning to date, of deciding how much to tell a potential interest (do I tell them about the kids?).

Twelve years later, I have found what I never thought I would have: a wonderful wife, an incredible relationship, a true commitment. And children (now 20, 18 and 17) who have become incredible adults with their own identities, who learned from me to be who they are and not to settle for less than an authentic life.

Snagged from Elfkat

2006-10-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
788
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

But if I use my maiden name, it says only 293.
And I thought I was more unique than that!!!!

Scenes from Rural America

2006-10-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

The new local Park 'N' Ride ?????

Over the river and through the woods

2006-10-02T11:18:00.000-07:00

The leaves are beginning to turn orange, and the musty smell of decomposing vegetation is in the air. The nights are becoming very chill, and the days are cooling down. The cats are snoozing on the couch, the dishes are done, and I'm enjoying the peace and quiet of the woods. We're housesitting for our friends who took off last night for Las Vegas. We got here early enough to enjoy a couple of days of their company first, and now we have the place to ourselves. Mmmmmmmmmmm.

I love it out here. It's green, it's quiet (mostly), and the neighbors are an acre away. The birds sing, the coyotes howl, and there are fresh deer prints in the mud next to the house every morning. You can see your breath as it mists away from you in the twilight. I'm very conscious of the fact that every time we come up here, we'll have to leave again in a few very short days and return to the urban sprawl and rush hour traffic in LA. I hate that part. Just as I start to relax and unwind, I realize we only have two days left. I can't wait until we're able to move up here to our own place and our own land and gardens and animals. I'll hate leaving my family and my kids behind, but they'll all be grown soon and off to college and their careers. There's no guarantee they'll stay in the LA area either.

It's bittersweet being here.

2006-09-27T05:52:00.000-07:00

We're getting ready to make our bimonthly trip to Washington. Normally, this preparation includes begging a friend to take care of the cats on a daily basis and bring our mail in. I always feel guilty about asking someone to do that.

Not this time.

Have I mentioned that my now-college-aged son has his own car?

So Mark will be house-sitting as well as cat-sitting while we're gone. I'm sure he's thrilled at the prospect of having some time and space to himself for the first time in his life. It's a little extra prep for us, because it means making sure there are fool-proof and microwave-safe meals available for a hungry on-the-go 18-year-old, but I felt absolutely no guilt asking, and no begging was involved. The cats will be thrilled cuz they know him so well. And okay, I'll have to give him some cash for it, since it's a little further from school and he'll go through a little more gas. And we'll have to make a To-Do list for him so nothing gets forgotten. But I am still very much relieved.

As my wife says, "Children are wonderful labor-saving devices, if used properly."

High School Meme

2006-09-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

1. Who were your best friends?
Suzanne Campbell, Susanne Lamka

2. What sports did you play?
That's funny...I played kickball like Charlie Brown.

3. What kind of car did you drive?
The Orange County Transit Authority provided limosine service from a nearby corner to Cal State Fullerton, and I hoofed the last mile.

4. It's Friday night, where were you at?
Sometimes roller skating to disco tunes (!!!!) or working.

5. Were you a party animal?
Nobody wanted me at the parties.

6. Were you considered a flirt?
Nope.

7. Ever skip school?
No. But we did get passes to go off campus for much longer times than we actually needed them for meetings, etc.

8. Were you a nerd?
Definitely. They called me "goody two shoes".

9. Did you ever get suspended/expelled?
No way. I would have died of shame.

10. Can you sing the Alma mater?
"The Red and Gold are blazing our pathway to the sun.
Honor, truth and spirit, as we live and love as one.
Cuz we're wonderful 1 times 1
Here to learn yet just begun.
As we care and share and live with pride
At Rosary High, we've got joy inside."

11. Who was your favorite teacher?
Mrs. Hall

12. Favorite class?
US History, Spanish

13. What was your school's full name?
Rosary High School

14. School mascot?
The Royalette. Don't ask me.

15. Did you go to Prom?
Not mine, no. I did go to another school's prom though.

16. If you could go back and do it over, would you?
Are you kidding? I couldn't wait to get out of high school!!!!!

17. What do you remember most about graduation?
Butterflies and shock when I received the General Excellence Medal.
Not getting invited to any parties, so Susanne and I popped popcorn and watched movies.

18. Favorite memory of your Senior Year?
Grad Night at Disneyland.

19. What were you voted in your yearbook?
Most likely to return to Rosary to teach. And I did. The first one from my class. Taught history there for 2 years.

20. Did you have a job your senior year?
Yep, I worked at McDonald's and by the time I graduated I was a shift lead.

22. Where did you go most often for lunch?
The quad or Carl's Jr on our off-campus days.

23. Have you gained weight since then?
Thank Goddess, yes.

24. What did you do after graduation?
Quit my job and chilled for the summer, getting ready for college. Cal State Fullerton.

25. Who was your crush?
Don't remember having one.

26. When did you graduate?
1982

Snagged from Elfkat

Beware this Repair Shop

2006-09-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Now that I've had a few days to calm down, I think it's time to write about my car repair shop drama of the past week.

Last Friday night while driving home, the Kia started to act up. At first, it would shake when I had my foot on the brake at a stop, then after a while in Friday-night-rush-hour-traffic, it began to do this shaking business in first and second gear as well, and then it started doing it even in neutral. Just before I pulled into my driveway, it backfired. Grrrrrr. Since one of the reasons for getting the Kia was to relieve my stress of always having something go wrong with the Jeep, I wasn't happy about this. When I got home, Mary and Jo tinkered around a bit and discovered that there was raw gas coming out of the tailpipe in addition to the odd shaking. We decided to call AAA first thing Saturday morning and have it towed in for repairs.

About a month earlier, we had taken the Kia for a smog check, finally finding a place that could do it the same day (we were down to the wire for the transfer of title and plate renewal) only to find that it failed the smog, so we had to take it back the following day for repairs. After several calls to them (they never did call me) the diagnosis was to replace the spark plugs and flush the hydrocarbons out of the emissions system. They said they'd call me when it was done in a couple of hours. About three and half hours later, a half hour before they closed for the day, I called them -- "Yes, it's done." Frustrated with their lack of phone calls, but happy that it was done and had passed the smog, we went and picked up the car.

Needless to say, when a problem pops up with emissions (raw gas) less than a month later, I'm taking it back to the same shop. If they screwed something up, they're fixing it! So, AAA tows the Kia into the shop for us about 9:00 am. I tell the friendly guy at the counter what's going on, ask him to attach the work order from the previous month, and ask when they'll get a chance to take a look at it. "Geez, I hope by this afternoon." At around 2:00 pm I get a phone call. They aren't going to be finished with it today, they'll need to keep it until Monday cuz they're closed on Sunday. Guess I'll drive the Jeep to work. I said, "You will lock it up overnight, right? Inside?" Oh yes, absolutely.

We made several calls to them on Monday trying to get an answer, including one call when the service manager slammed the phone down after talking to Mary. The problem is elusive, they say. Finally they decide it's the ignition coils, which they'll have to get from the dealer, and maybe the gap on the spark plugs is off. They'll pull the plugs and check the gap, for a fee of $40. Oh no, you don't! YOU put the spark plugs in a month ago, so you'll check them free of charge. The service manager wasn't aware of this. I told him the previous paperwork was attached to the current work order. Oh. The phone rings at 4:30 pm, and they just got the parts from the dealer. It'll be ready tomorrow - Tuesday. At this point you can see the steam coming out of our ears.

Tuesday afternoon, 4:30 pm -- it's ready. We walk up to the counter, and there is the oh-so-unfriendly service manager that we've been dealing with on the phone, all smiles. I tell him I want to see the parts and the diagnostic. It takes him a while to find the parts, after first bringing us ignition coils with the trade name Motorcraft (even I know that's Ford). As I take the keys and the paperwork to go to the next counter and pay, he opens the door wide for me: "It worked out pretty well," he says. "For you," is my flat response. I explained that I hadn't been satisfied with the customer service I received the previous month, that no one had returned my calls, and that I wouldn't have returned to their shop except that it appeared to be a related problem. I said that I was even more disatisfied after this experience, and that I would never be back again unless I drove around the corner and the car was still shaking, then he would see me in 5 minutes. "I'm sorry you feel that way," was his inane response. I walked over and paid for the services, then went out to the Kia. All the windows were rolled down, all the doors unlocked, and it had obviously been parked outside overnight - dew had collected and then dried all over the car.

They did manage to correct the shaking. I will never go back again, even if the problem seems to be related. The service manager was an ass, rude and condescending, and their technicians seem to work about 2 hours out of an 8 hour day. There is no excuse for a repair shop with 12-15 bays to take FOUR DAYS to find and repair a problem like that. By the way - the name of the shop? Advanced Computer Automotive

A Night Out

2006-09-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

About a month ago, we made dinner plans with Jeni and Tee, because our calendars are all so full that it took us a month to find a night when we could all get together!

After a flurry of emails confirming the time and location of this dinner engagement, they drove up in Tee's new toy . Mary and I climbed into the back seat of the convertible and off we went. It was only a block or two before I realized that I should have put my hair up for the ride. What a mop! Luckily, the restaurant is less than a mile away. Tee snagged one of the closest parking spaces, so we didn't have far to walk in an area notorious for its shortage of available parking spaces.

Star of Siam has been around for a long time. I've been eating there for nearly 10 years, although I call for delivery more often than I actually walk in and sit down at a table. They have the best Thai food I've ever found, and lots of vegetarian/vegan options. The restaurant is cozy, the service friendly, the food fantastic, and the patio garden makes for a cool and more secluded dining experience. The restaurant is very popular with the local BGLT community.

Last night, after protracted negotiations surrounding various dietary restrictions, we settled on Tofu Pad Thai, Stir-Fried Vegetables, Garlic Chicken, Garlic Squid, Ga-pao Mint Leaves with Chicken, and Brown Rice. I skipped the chicken dishes, of course. But, Yummmmmeeeee!

It was nice to spend some time talking to Tee and Jeni. We ended up talking a lot about Seattle, since they'll be going up next month, and Mary has promised to send them an itinerary of "must-sees". I had a great time, and I hope everyone else did too! Where shall we eat next time, girls?

Surreality

2006-09-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

I was driving down the 405 listening to a CD. It was still dark, and I was on my way to an interpreting job. My cell phone rang; it was the other interpreter I was working with that day. I greeted her cheerily. "I'm not going to be there," she said. "What's wrong?" I asked. A plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Stunned and disbelieving, I hung up the phone and switched over to the AM news station. A part of my mind was saying, "It sounds just like George Orwell's War of the Worlds must have," but my gut knew it was reality. A very surreal reality. The second plane hit. The towers came down. I thought of the thousands and thousands of people who worked there. I thought of my frequent-flyer friends from Boston who might have been on one of those planes. I called home, sobbing, somehow still driving down the 405. I woke up my then-girlfriend and told her to turn on the TV.

I was nearly at my jobsite, where I would be all day. Having lived through a few international crises, I decided to fill up my gas tank before the job started. Who knew what would happen to gas prices while I was working for those 8 hours? I pulled into a gas station across the street. It was quiet. People were very subdued. I filled up my tank, got back in the car and turned the ignition. A loud BANG! came from under the hood. Other customers in the gas station were ducking behind concrete or lying on the ground. Shaking, I popped the hood and got out of the car. I made my hands clearly visible and walked to the hood, opening it to take a look. There was a crack running from the top of the battery all the way to the base. I wasn't going anywhere. I asked one of the attendants where the nearest auto parts store was - 10 miles?????? No, I didn't have AAA.

I called the agency and explained what happened, saying I would be late for my job. They were just happy I was going - about 75% of the interpreters booked that day had called in and cancelled after hearing the news. We pushed my car away from the pumps and jumped into the attendant's van. Somehow, I trusted him. He drove me to the auto parts store, where I bought a new battery, then drove me back and put it in for me. While he was installing the battery, he asked me, "Who is draining the energy out of YOUR life?" Where was the crack in my battery? I thought of Dan Millman's gas station attendant, Socrates. Metaphysics from a gas station attendant? But he was right, and I spent days considering the answer to his question.

I finally made it to my job, which was literally across the street from the gas station, several hours late. By the time I left at around 4pm, the streets and freeways were nearly empty. Rush hour, and nobody was on the road. It wasn't until I got home that I saw any of the video of what had happened. I watched in stunned silence, crying. Amazingly, the casualty numbers weren't nearly as high as they should have been at 9am on a weekday.

The next couple of days were bizarre - nobody on the freeways of LA, no planes or helicopters in the air only 3 miles from an airport, only the sound of military jets flying overhead once in a while.

For me, that day was one of absolute surrealism. The tragedy and horror of the vengeful acts of terror juxtaposed with the generosity and goodwill that human beings are capable of. In the midst of tragedy, I experienced gratitude: gratitude that my car, with a full tank of gas, did not ignite and blow up an entire gas station when the battery split; gratitude that my friends were not on any of those planes (although it would be awhile before I learned the fate of other friends who worked in the Towers and in the Pentagon); gratitude that by some fluke of divine intervention, thousands of people who should have been in the WTC for some reason called in sick or were running late.

Five years later, do we really know what happened? Have you read the 9/11 Commission Report? My life changed in many ways that day - did yours? My heart goes out to all the families of the victims of this tragedy, many of whom have been further victimized by our government. To the victims, may you find peace and rest and healing.

Sleep wanted

2006-09-08T07:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my little brother's birthday.... Happy Birthday, Andy!

As for my week.....

Just as I was pretty much rehydrated from last week's day of hell, this week started. I worked on Labor Day (how can you turn down time-and-a-half?), which wasn't too bad, but then I picked up extra hours for Wednesday. I ended up at work from 8am-10pm on Wednesday, with several hours in between my split shift, but not enough to go home and back. It was long enough to run into Target for a few things, and then check out The Great Indoors. Yikes! A $5000 oven?????? I just wanted a pot rack...! Grabbed some Starbucks, of course. Stopped by Subway to pick up a sandwich for later, and headed back to the office, where I sat outside in the shaded courtyard for a couple of hours before heading back in to work.

Needless to say, the next day was a looooong one. I haven't been sleeping well to begin with, and going to bed so late on Wednesday night didn't help. Luckily, today is a shorter day for me - I don't have a job until 10am and it's a short one, so I should be back home for lunch. Yeah!

A day from hell

2006-09-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

What a week. Last weekend I spent two days helping my friend Bev with her booth at a couple of fairs. It was fun, but hard work loading and unloading the car and setting up and then doing it all again at the end of the day. It was also very hot the second day. Fortunately, I had Monday off to recover :-) followed by three days at my usual job, which was the same old, same old. Then came Friday.

I took a last-minute freelance job that was booked for 5 hours at a site about a half hour from home. It sounded like an easy enough job for the day. I checked to make sure there was fast food nearby that I could eat (food sensitivities) so I wouldn't have to pack a lunch. I put on some nice clothes that would be warm enough in an air conditioned building but still look professional. I drove to the site. I arrived and my contact said, "The buses will be here soon."

Buses?!?!?!?

I ran to the car and grabbed my sunglasses.

So began a day from hell. Buses. Drive an hour and pick up a group of people. Drive 45 minutes and arrive at a very large, very loud, very hot event, where I am to accompany these people for the next 5 hours. No shade. No lunch. One small water bottle. Dark clothes. Ankle boots with a 1 inch heel. Needless to say, by the time we got back to the buses I was sunburned, dehydrated, on the edge of heat exhaustion, with swollen feet. Then came the one hour ride back to the original site. The 5 hour job had become 8.5 hours of torture. Yes, I called the people who gave me the job and complained. They didn't know about all this either. And yes, I did speak to my contact at the site and explained that had I known what the plan was, I would have dressed more appropriately, brought a backpack with more water and my lunch (no I can't eat chicken, so don't bother offering to run and get me some), tennis shoes, sunscreen and a hat.

Mary was pissed. I was frustrated. These people didn't have a clue that they should have provided all this additional information. I spent Friday night and most of the day yesterday on the couch, pounding gatorade and slathering myself with aloe vera. My arms aren't nearly as badly burned as I thought they might be. My face is the part that hurts off and on. The worst burn is my chest, which will now have a V-shaped tan line after the red peels off in a couple of days.