Relentless Superego Poking. Poke! Poke! Poke!

They Found The Hand of Franklin

2014-09-09T20:40:16Z

In the Beaufort Sea, of course. Well, ok, one of the boats, but they're hoping for some well-preserved artifacts. Pretty dang cool! It just took Fraser and Kowalski a little longer than they planned cuz of all the honeymooning they had to do on the way, of course.

And yes, now I have Stan Rogers in my head, which has made me realize he's not on my phone. Music is weird in these times of thousands of songs there, but sometimes none of CDs that I purchased.

Oh for Just One Time...

March!

2014-03-03T23:10:30Z

Despite weather drama last week, all of the snow went south of us. Not that it's exactly Spring-like out there with negative low temps, but I'm enjoying the not-shoveling :). Poor Ontario is getting to the point where water mains are breaking in Toronto because it's been so dang cold for so dang long (and those folks aren't exactly weather wimps). So, yeah, I'll take this, as long as I remember not to wear capris while biking to the gym tomorrow morning, that was Stupidly Cold today.

We had the first Crossfit Open workout! I was bumming heading into it, because it started with double unders - y'no, where you jump once and swing the jump rope around and under your feet twice. And I'd Never gotten ONE of those, not in all of my years of punk rope classes and crossfit. There's another woman from my gym, Tricia, who was doing it in the same boat (although she'd gotten a few ages ago), and so we commiserated as we warmed up grumpily and failed every attempt. Our favorite coach came over to pep-talk us and made it worse, because she said something about how we just had to get one to continue, and we both took that to mean that we might somehow be disqualified if we couldn't do this thing, though we'd never heard that before. And it wasn't like we thought we were contenders or anything, but we figured we'd get to continue to participate and compete. We were both wishing we'd stayed in bed - we could get a score of zero from bed, and it'd be a lot cozier.

I went in to my 10 minutes not expecting anything and promising to do my best. Between my judge and a friend both coaching me, I finally got one, maybe 4 minutes in. Neither my judge nor I was totally sure, but we looked at each other with big eyes and agreed that it Seemed like one. Soon thereafter I heard a roar from the other side of the room and I knew Tricia must've gotten one, too. I got a few more, although never consistently, and it was frustrating in that I couldn't figure out what was different between getting them and not. I looked over awhile later and saw that Tricia had moved on to the barbell snatches that came after the first 30 jumps and was Thrilled for her and heartened for my getting more. At 10 minutes I finished with 14, and was completely pleased (my judge wrote it as "14!"). Yes, "good" scores were well over 150, and the leaderboard has people with scores well over 400. But for me 1 was a victory, and 14 showed that I hadn't rested on my laurels, I kept fighting the whole 10 minutes. So, once again - even a workout where I had Super low expectations led to new heights.

Oh, right. THIS is why I signed up for the Open again this year. Because of what we learn about and for ourselves. I'll have to remind myself of that again on Thursday night when this week's workout is announced and I'm filled with dread and wonder again :).

Happy Anniversary Eve, Parent Bears!

2013-05-31T21:17:26Z

Tomorrow is June 1! Which is a very important day! I'm hoping to be climbing Mount Osceola with folks from work, so I'm posting this today:

Back on June 1, 1963 two young bears got married in Cleveland, loving each other deeply and adorably. One cat, Two kids, Three cities, Four dogs and fifty years later we're all wishing them a happiest of 50th Anniversaries.

Happy Anniversary, PBs! May the celebrations be numerous, small enough for you to enjoy, and filled with lots of love. <3 <3 <3!

Movie, Crossfit, Plague

2013-01-09T21:32:17Z

I've continued with my trend of lazy weekends, though this last one I did bike to my brother's for the first time since starting Crossfit (those 16 miles felt good \o/). We watched Fritz Lang's M at home (cool!) and did get out and to see Django Unchained, which was fun, but [spoilers!] I definitely understood the criticism of some earlier Tarantino that I'd heard from my brother and friends like Ron: it's hard to whole-heartedly enjoy the witty banter and campy violence when it's interspersed with brutal realistic violence. We could've believed that Leonardo DiCaprio was a horrible human being without seeing a man being torn apart by dogs or slaves forced to fight barehanded to the death. I get that Tarantino doesn't want all of the violence to be gratuitous or cartoonish, and unlike Jed, I thought that Worked in Reservoir Dogs (and unlike Ron, I thought the cartoonishness worked in Kill Bill). But this time it reminded me a little of the feeling I had coming out of No Country for Old Men, that enjoying any part of something so brutal made me a little dirty and sad. I mean, I know life is frequently Horrifying, and slavery was (is) horrible, and yet still we gotta laugh sometimes or what's the point of living. But dang, the extreme mixture of reality and cartoon in this movie made it.. harder to enjoy, at least in retrospect.

But, hey - still talking about it, at least here, which is more than I can say about a lot of the movies I saw this year.

Reason #74902 I love Crossfit: today trainer KP (my faaaavorite) saw me grabbing a light bar and asked what I thought I was doing. I told her it was a backup for the overhead squats, because we had to do 30, and I was afraid that holding anything overhead after the burpees, rowing, push presses, etc, was going to be tough. She watched me do a few with the heavier bar I'd had and said I was fine, and that she'd bring me the lighter one if I needed it. Nice push to challenge myself! And then, 20 reps into the overhead squats, my form started to suffer. I watched her go get that lighter barbell, taking her time clipping on the weights I'd set on it, and ambling back to me - and I was damned if I was gonna take it. So I pushed to improve my form (ie, not fall over backward) and finish where I would've slacked, otherwise. When I was done she confirmed that I'd actually completed the set, cheered, and I pantingly thanked her for "threatening" me with less weight. Such a difference from my old "why bother trying" or "safety first, shouldn't take on too much" ways. \o/

Today there have been things on all my websites about how vicious the flu is this year in MA. Several people have been out of the office more than a week. And I guess they aren't restricting ERs yet, but they're talking about it if the high volume of plague-ridden increases. Yikes! Stay healthy, all (or, recover well, if you've been hit), and here's hoping the shot I got for my mom's birthday present helps me avoid it, too. Health in the New Year!

Y'no what's awesome?

2013-01-04T22:53:06Z

When you compose a post, but it doesn't post due to varnish errors, so you've lost it. You vent your frustrations to a new (private) post, then realize that the "post" button is grayed out because it's the "new" version of the posting page, which is frequently screwy for you. So you hit "switch to old version"... and lose the second post.

Oh, LJ. I'd head desk, but I'm pretty sure that'd make me lose this post, too.

Happy 40th Birthday, Clean Water Act!

2012-10-19T20:50:11Z

We take so much for granted today, environmentally. Or sometimes we believe the fearmongering that we live in the most Toxic environment ever, and should just buy some detox drink to fix that. But the reality is that good governmental regulation and our tax dollars have done things like take the Nashua River and make changes like this:

Thanks, Clean Water Act - and all the people who made it work!

QED, It is Spring

2012-03-07T16:12:32Z

- I walk out the door at work and I'm more likely to hear a European language than English. The tourists are back!
- The MIT sailboats were out on the Charles River yesterday. Crazy kids, it was like, 20 degrees and windy. But, hey, Spring!
- The frog pond ice skating rink is melting today.
- There are snow drops in bloom everywhere I go looking for them.
- It's 20 degrees warmer than yesterday, and yesterday is to be 20 degrees warmer again.
- The bike room is busier at work.
- Daylight Savings is this Sunday!
\o/.

Goofy hats

2012-02-03T01:11:21Z

Overall I approve of this trend toward goofy hats. It's like a large proportion of the population is joining me in embracing their dorkitude. The animals are nice, but today I saw my favorite thus far: a knit cap with a brown edge, then a bright orange top with a curling stone handle knit out of it. Oh, and of course, some variant of Rule 34, I can find something like it online.

Awesomesauce. The internet's long tail of headwear for every interest is a Beautiful thing.

Impulse Purchases

2011-12-21T18:51:35Z

I've heard any number of people say they were out shopping for other people and found something for themselves instead. This usually doesn't happen to me, largely because I'm usually shopping for legos and spices. But I was in my local Ten Thousand Villages for the second time this season, and this guy caught my eye Again. But I told myself (again) that I don't Need a changepurse, I probably have several kicking around the house that I should dig up and use with my (no longer new) little purse instead. I took my purchases up, and the guy said it was $5.13, so I started digging for change... and after having to half empty the purse, Again, I exclaimed, "no, wait, add this to the bill!"

And, well, it just Keeps making me happy. I'm frequently making him peak out at any indulgent person (usually Grant) near my purse. I grin every time I look in my purse. Sure, $10 is kind of pricey for a change purse, but he's fair trade... and he keeps making me giggle. He looks a little more psychotic and little less cute here (no, you're not allowed to note how things start to be more like they're owners), but Look!

Parent Bears: Needs More Cops Edition

2011-11-22T16:31:02Z

Should you have stopped by the Parent Bears' Saturday night, you'd have found five cop cars, the police shift supervisor's SUV, and, eventually, a fire truck. Now, Grosse Pointe is a pretty nice neighborhood, and the septuagenarian PBs aren't really known for being troublemakers, but, hey, maybe they were finally throwing that wild party we've always teased them about having?

Nope! Their doggy teenager was causing trouble. Indigo wouldn't come in when called, and it was pitch black out, so PB went out in the back yard to investigate with a flashlight. Not finding her, he'd started looking for holes in the fencing when he heard a whimper and jingle of tags from the very back. Near the willow tree that he'd fenced off. Because the goofy dog had chased squirrels Up the tree and gotten herself Stuck previously.

And, yep, that's exactly where she was, except that she'd only gotten maybe seven feet up the tree before, so the tall PB could reach up and grab her. This time she was something like 17 feet up the tree, and it was so dark that she couldn't see the branches back down again. And PB couldn't entice her to try to come down or use a flashlight to show her the way without blinding her even more.

So he finally gave up and called the non-emergency number public safety number, who sent out a couple of cops to investigate, then a few more to try to figure out what to do, then the supervisor, then the fire truck with the ladder. And a kind cop climbed up the ladder and scooted up the branch and tucked the (presumably very willing) Indie under his arm to get her back down. And then they agreed that rescuing a dog from a tree was a First for all of them.

Cat-dog during her earlier excursion up the tree, before PB built the fence:

In conclusion, somebody's in the doghouse, which is better than the Big house!

<3!

ldthomps @ 2011-10-29T17:33:00

2011-10-29T21:33:43Z

I has iphone, and now I have an LJ app! And, uh, a lot of other ones! I will never look up again, will I? Not that the weather out there is worth looking at - there was a sodden hawk in the tree out back, but otherwise it's nor'easter horrid out there. Time to make something like chili :).

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Guess who's coming to dinner?

2011-09-16T13:35:10Z

Bear! The parents and others had seen a bear around Howdenvale last summer, then my brother and family got to see it during dinner once this August. Dad's been taking the birdfeeders in at night, but somebear's gotten bolder, showing up during the daytime. Luckily the bear is still wild enough that it took off when Indigo barked mightily. Having heard these stories I was hoping to get to see this bear sometime, I've never seen it -- but seeing this picture I realize that hey, it's a Bear! Not quite a Timothy Treadwell bear, but still, a little scary. Perhaps I'm just as glad that I haven't been chumming around with it when I was up in Canada (I might be tempted to go scratch it's ears, which would be a Bad Idea :)).

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T14:36:02Z

I had a pretty good couple of days on Little Brewster. I did the mid-day transits with the tours both days, and thus got to see the Extreme Sailing. It meant we had to take the tours on a hike from Fan Pier to way down Rowes Wharf just to get to our boat, but it was really cool to watch the big catamarans zipping around, auto-furling their gennakers when they tacked. It made the inner harbor a zoo, but I wasn't driving, so I could just sit back and enjoy.

It was good to see the seasonal rangers again - vastly overqualified retirees (who've done things like written books about the harbor or helped to create the park) and hang out with the usually enthusiastic tour groups. After they left for the day we mowed the lawn (a big job!), then later went out on the front lawn and took down colors as sun set over the Boston Skyline. As it got dark we watched the fireworks displays all up and down the coast from Hull to Revere - with booms reaching the island a few seconds after we saw the bursts. Gorgeous!

Yesterday morning I crewed for a couple of missions and got to take the helm for a fast ride across Quincy Bay. I'll always be a sailor/paddler at heart, but I gotta say that throttling up and zooming across the water is a thrill. On the way back to the Light Jay (the keeper's husband) asked if I had $20 on me - seemed like a strange question way out in Nantasket Roads where the only thing between us and Portugal was Boston Light, and our money's no good there. He then explained by gesturing at a nearby lobster boat, and so we went over and hung around till they'd finished pulling the pots they were working. Then we sidled over and asked if we could buy a couple of chicken lobsters. Classic mariner captain countered asking if we'd take a good deal on culls instead, and Jay said of course.

Meanwhile this young black guy and I were holding on to each other's boats, trying with all our strength to keep the trawler and our little boat together in bouncy seas, so I asked him what culls Were, and he patiently told the midwesterner that they're the ones with one claw or soft shells - the ones restaurants don't want to serve. So we got Five lobsters for our $20 and headed back to the Light. Where I got to eat them in a salad 2 hours later when I returned with the afternoon tour. \o/. NOM, freshest lobstah evah!

We got into Boston just as it started to rain, but I was so warm and in need of a shower that I didn't even mind biking back home with my duffel in the rain. Back home I had a Heavenly real shower, fabulous bluefish at my favorite restaurant, and my own delicious bed FTW. And now it's beautiful weather, and Independence Day. And I might yet convince myself to go for a run [ETA: And by "run" I meant long nap before biking to my brother's, apparently]. Happy 4th, all!

Wasn't that awesome? Worth honking and cheering over?

2011-06-16T14:55:18Z

Nothing like coming out of one of the best operas you've ever seen to find the whole city honking their horns and cheering - seemingly for opera :). We saw the BEMF production of Steffani's Niobe Queen of Thebes, and it exceeded even my high expectations. Their Boris Gudonov back in 2005 was the first fully staged opera I'd ever seen, and I remember it as magical - great sets, the interplay of quiet baroque instruments and human voice, the glittering Cutler Majestic. I've seen several operas since, including their excellent chamber operas, but this was my first one back in that space during the actual biennial festival -- and it featured awesome local soprano Amanda Forsythe. She'd been the highlight of Semele for me, even in a small role, and had been great in Les Indes Galantes earlier this year.

Yeah, the sets were Gorgeous - you can see a picture at the link up top - and the velvety costumes and just the overall color scheme was astoundingly beautiful. Both Amanda and the countertenor that played her husband Amphion were Amazing. The other, like, seven leads were also excellent, the plot the sort of goofy insanity that I'd Expected of operas but hadn't seen that much of, including gorgeous dying arias, a bear, and sky chariot pulled by dragons. And one could even think things about it not being over till the fat lady sang, because Amanda was Very pregnant - I have no idea how her lungs had space for some of those notes when there was so much baby going on, but she and the rest of the cast (with a few cute exceptions in the kids) were Total Pros.

And then I have to wonder what the international festival goers thought of the phalanxes of riot police on the Common. But the revelers were just drunken and good-natured, and apparently we managed to keep them all alive this time, thanks be. I was astounded when some of my friends proved more clueless than I. "Did we win a playoff game or something?", asked the husband, and I turned to the wife to tell her I thought _I'd_ been the last to notice the playoffs... then I had to explain to her, too, that the Bruins had just won the Stanley Cup in an exciting seven game series, their first since 1972. Aw, baroque music fans and hockey fans - they don't always overlap!

And in completely unrelated news from back in my youth, Voyager I ran out of solar wind and may've already left our solar system. How amazing is that?

Poem: A Short History of the Apple

2011-06-02T14:07:29Z

by Dorianne Laux

The crunch is the thing, a certain joy in crashing through
living tissue, a memory of Neanderthal days.
—Edward Bunyard, The Anatomy of Dessert, 1929

Teeth at the skin. Anticipation.
Then flesh. Grain on the tongue.
Eve's knees ground in the dirt
of paradise. Newton watching
gravity happen. The history
of apples in each starry core,
every papery chamber's bright
bitter seed. Woody stem
an infant tree. William Tell
and his lucky arrow. Orchards
of the Fertile Crescent. Bushels.
Fire blight. Scab and powdery mildew.
Cedar apple rust. The apple endures.
Born of the wild rose, of crab ancestors.
The first pip raised in Kazakhstan.
Snow White with poison on her lips.
The buried blades of Halloween.
Budding and grafting. John Chapman
in his tin pot hat. Oh Westward
Expansion. Apple pie. American
as. Hard cider. Winter banana.
Melt-in-the-mouth made sweet
by hives of Britain's honeybees:
white man's flies. O eat. O eat.

This reminds me of Michael Pollan's Botany of Desire chapter on the apple (fascinating!)... and I was delighted to see a cameo by the Winter Banana, a variety of apple that used to be in my grandparent's orchard at The Farm in upstate New York <3.

Happy Anniversary, PBs!

2011-06-01T14:53:50Z

I sent them a text this morning, too (!!! They even texted back because there phone isn't working so their emergency cell is on!), but I also wanted to come here to wish the Parent Bears a Happy 48th Wedding Anniversary! Forty-eight years ago today, y'all managed to overcome the discomfort of a larger wedding than you would've chosen in order to marry your eminently suitable person. If the pictures are any indication, you even managed to overcome the massive butterflies to occasionally look thrilled to the point of smugness that you got to Keep such a tremendous love.

Thanks for marrying and having children! I appreciate the chance to be here, raised with love, but even more, your continuing to like each other so much that I got to be embarrassed as a teenager by all the "bunnybears" and "lambykinsers" and find them endearing in middle age. May your wild day of celebration involve only relatively painless doctors appointments and long drives, and may you arrive back at your beloved cottage having shared a day with your usual Lots of love. <3!

Three Random Tidbits

2011-05-19T15:04:52Z

1. I just saw a woman going into an office building across the street with a 3D rubber ducky cake. SO cute! I like to think it was to celebrate the fact that it isn't Currently raining.
2. Mom told me yesterday that last year there were 27 major league baseball games rained out all season. So far this year 30 games have already been rained out. I give the weather points for monsooning while we slept, and being dry this morning.
3. Final weigh-in for the Y Weight Challenge was last night. I don't have my final numbers yet, but they're all in the right direction, which is great. She also did tape measurements of arms, legs, waist and and hips again to show the difference from the start of the program 12 weeks ago, and they were all down Multiple inches. Yay for less volume of me!

Self-interested politics

2011-04-25T18:52:45Z

For Massachusetts folks! If you're willing to call or email your House Rep, the current proposed House Budget cuts MassDEP's funding by $6 million, which would mean about 120 more layoffs (certainly mine). That's almost Another 20 % (we'd have gone from ~1100 to about 700 people in the last few years, which is Huge). The governor's proposed budget didn't cut those funds, and so amendments have been proposed to bring their budget back up to the governor's levels. Here, I'll let my union put it better than I could.

Call your State Representative at 617 722-2000. Urge them to support the following amendments during budget debate THIS WEEK. (Or if, like me, emailing people sounds far more doable, House Emails are here - and you can click on "photos" if you need to jog your memory on who your State Rep is, as it also lists towns).

· Give your name and town. Ask to speak to your rep or a staff member.
· Let them know their support of funding for DPH, DCR and DEP is important to you.
- For DEP (2200-0100): Amendments 226 and 566
- For DPH (4510-0100): Amendment 630 and 647
- For DCR (2810-0100): Amendment 206 and 563

DEP administers many of the Commonwealth's crucial environmental monitoring and permitting processes. The proposed 17% cuts would mean that the agency would have to lay off 120 staff members, limit technical assistance to municipalities, close a regional office, limit drinking water testing and slow permitting processes for months, hampering Massachusetts' fragile economic recovery. The proposed cuts to DCR would mean that an additional 10 parks could see closures this summer and staff would be cut back considerably. Last year we saw a 30% rise in visits to State and Urban Parks, it makes no sense to cut funding when families are depending on these services for the recreation opportunities. DPH saw cuts of 25% in the House's FY2012 budget. This will amount to laying off staff, including chemists and epidemiologists responsible for monitoring and addressing infectious diseases as they arise in the Commonwealth.

So, yeah - if you have a minute to call or email, it'd help. Or if you're talking with other aware folks or leaders, let them know that you care about the environment, parks, and public health. Thanks!

In other news, I had a nice weekend. rblum and I went to a puppetry thing downtown and there were (unrelated) anime-costumed people Everywhere from a convention - they make others look So Normal :D. I also saw that the Workout of the Day for the Y was to lift a ton, and I thought that was a cool, but it sounded tough. Soon, though - 130 reps with two 8 pound dumbbells later - I found I was barely sore \o/. I lifted a ton! And it was kind of Easy! \o/

Happy Birthday, Moosesal!

2011-04-21T13:42:54Z

Here's hoping that the slopes where you are still have some good snow up there for some birthday skiing, and that you get to celebrate the awesome that is you! \o/

Self-love

2011-03-13T03:23:56Z

"If love is an action, how do you express self-love? Self-love starts with having the courage to be who you are, regardless of what others might think. It is about having the courage to live your dreams, to do what makes you happy in life, so that one day you won't wake up saying, 'I wish I had.' Self-love is about self-care, making your health a priority. Self-love is revealed in your willingness to stay focused on the things you say are important. It's about having the courage to set boundaries and protect them."
- Francine Ward

Physical, Fiscal, and Intelligence Training

2011-03-08T19:20:11Z

- Self-Compassion is one key to success in areas like weight loss. Most folks think it's all about the self-discipline, but sometimes it's about going easy on yourself.
- 'Overall, pension contributions for public employees amount to somewhere between 2.9 percent and 3.8 percent of state spending. In the private sector, retirement funding amounts to around 3.5 percent of employee compensation. Meanwhile, public pension funds may be underfunded due to hits they took during the Great Recession, but they're certainly not broke. If assets in local and state plans were suddenly frozen, they'd have money to pay out for another 13 years, on average. In Wisconsin, it's 18 years. "The unfunded liabilities would be a problem if all state and local retirees went into retirement at once, but they won't," notes McClatchy.' -via The Slatest.
- Intelligence can be increased. Funny how some of the suggestions to increase intelligence neatly mirror the behaviors of my smartest friends <3.

Yes, I will subtract that half hour from my timesheet

2011-02-22T22:04:46Z

Aw, I just walked up to the State House for a little bit of the rally to support Wisconsin's teachers. Lots of kids and dogs (a sign of a good rally / protest in my book), and public school teachers as the speakers pointing out things like the direct correlation between collective bargaining for teachers and higher SAT scores for students. Lots of guys in hard hats and kids holding up signs about school <3. Also a good number of signs showing solidarity with WI and the Middle East, in a "power to the people" kind of way. Lots of reasonable "Concessions, yes, Giving Up Collective Bargainging, NO" signs.

Also a number of... Odd Teaparty counterprotests. "Unions are Un-American!" and "I'm not being paid to be here" were favorites. But our governor wrote us a nice email saying that unions are part of the solution, despite his having argued with them over budgets, and to keep our chins up, which I appreciated.

Reading, Loving Life

2011-01-26T19:17:13Z

Hey, guess who writes a pretty darn good book? adventureman, that's who! I finally overcame my trepidation about the ending (considering the title) and finished Lies at the End of the World. Despite being about a zombiepocalypse, it made me think the end of the world was one of the best things that ever happened to me, to quote the hero. I, being me, had to re-learn the lesson to appreciate life, "every, every minute of it" (Thorton Wilder's Our Town, much beloved in high school). Room with a View came to mind, too, with it's similar message (Life! Joy! Beauty!). After finishing Lies I was grateful for a hot shower, savoring its quotidian pleasure, the maintenance of my life. The sudden flash of gratitude and awareness also reminded me of Annie Dillard:

"We live half our waking lives and all of our sleeping lives in some private, useless, and insensible waters we never mention or recall. Useless, I say. Valueless, I might add – until someone hauls their wealth up to the surface and into the wide-awake city, in a form people can use. ...And I still break through the skin of awareness a thousand times a day, as dolphins burst through seas, and dive again, and rise, and dive."

Sometimes, especially in gray snowy January, it's easy to feel like I've been swimming along insensible, barely aware. So those moments of surfacing can be especially deliciously alive. Most of us get, what - at most, a hundred years. I'm always glad to be reminded that it's important to really live them, leaping aware as much as possible. We're worth it. Because "Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?" - Mary Oliver. *goes off to be a little less idle, but still blessed*

Poem: Spare ribs

2010-12-09T02:05:42Z

Hey, I haven't drafted a poem in, what? Five years? And I start again with a feminist, faintly teenaged-ranty one. Enh! I'd rather create dross than nothing at all, so I'll call it a win!

PS - It's inspired by this cool animation, found through Kenny, my best friend back when I was four. I found and friended him yesterday on Facebook, which seems simultaneously ridiculous and awesome. Turns out he Did become an animator/Jim Henson type, and has babies that look just like he did back then (and he looks like I remember his dad). Funny how humans grow!

=-=-=-=

I'm so much more
than some damned spare rib.

From dust and my mama's own blood and milk,
I'm white tights and mary janes,
chatter, tiara, jean-jacket, switchblade.
Words, whispers, and yet more words about
loves, friendships, sweat, and

too soon dust.

Living in the almost future

2010-11-12T21:59:54Z

I ordered a package, to be shipped UPS. Fine - I mean, I'll always choose USPS over UPS because of my experiences thus far, but fine. UPS helpfully has emailed me with tracking updates, including a tracking update today saying that they were trying to find the apartment number for the delivery... but without providing me any way to TELL them what my apartment number is. Even if I try clicking through to the website, clicking on the tracking number, any of that *facepalms*.

They're so close! They have amazing web tracking and email updates! They just don't have that last crucial step that would make it like living in the future of logistics. And here it is almost 2011, which totally sounds like the future. Maybe by 2012?