Happy 2009 Everyone

And I'm glad to see it arrive. We had Matt and Allie as guests for dinner and Marcey fixed wonderful steak (Allie made ragout on Tuesday night.) Played Apples to Apples for awhile and then Cheron crashed out and the rest of us watched Starman. Counted down till midnight...saw the star that TC put in "The Cockroach Fairy" although we didn't see it from the 3rd floor balcony of the Chem Annex and everything is winding down. TC is upstairs tonight and Sean is with Cheron so I am sleeping with cats, like Marge Piercy.

neil gaiman's new years wish

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

I totally agree.

end of the year....

went to my first pt appointment this morning. I have another one on Friday. I like Bart (the therapist); he seems to know what he is doing, he is very personable and kind of cute. Like Dr. Victoria he seems more concerned about getting the pain out of my legs and up into my back, I don't know what he will do with it once it is moved. I thought that the cortisone shots were for my back, but apparently not.

Watched an episode of AMC from yesterday...today was the tornado so I caught up on the net while it was playing and then slept the afternoon away. Now I am reading Sean's 4th edition Player's Handbook. I need one of my own before the 10th. Matt and Allie are here...they are moving back next week. I guess Matt liked New Mexico, but he is coming back to help out his family. Matt's playing on TC's computer and Allie and TC are working. I don't think I could be a Muse...it's hard work. Marcey is making dinner. I hope she is able to relax...NYE hasn't ever been that important to me...a few epic fails, some okay times. I will note that sleeping is my way of avoiding things.

....more later (maybe)

meglomania in 2009

“Almost everything meaningful is accomplished by a megalomaniac on a mission.”
Scott H. Young

Scott Young's most recent post is about the virtue of obsession vs. balance.

It's the time of year when everyone and their second cousin is posting about resolutions for the new year unless, like one comment I read, you work toward goals all the time and don't need to resolve to improve your life.

I've been working for years on balance and getting things done without stress...maybe I just need to quit balancing for awhile and pick some one thing and go full speed ahead until I succeed or fail and then, after a pause that refreshes, tackle the next thing...I think that "do the next right thing" is a Buddhist philosophy...I know it's a philosophy I have read. The time has come to quit thinking and start doing.

Winter and the Bear

Green Man Review has just chosen Elizabeth Bear as the Winter Queen, and what a good choice she is. If you read the articles there, pay special attention to the interview and the food...

Please don't divorce us

Also thanks to a post by poesy galore (emily lloyd):

Please Don't Divorce Us - a flickr side show.

50 things (ganked from poesy galore)

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/dec/22/50-things-we-know-now-we-didnt-know-time-last-year/life/

so far....

the holiday has been pleasant enough and I have not been pissy or angsty a large enough percentage of the time that I actually called my biological father on the telephone. I skipped last year. I left a message on his answering machine and even left a phone number.

Now I am watching Sean make "dong-chuks" (long story) and going with TC for breakfast and maybe to lowes to get a shelf. I have only one more social obligation this coming week (two if you count the game tonight) so the rest of the time will be devoted to taking care of SIB (that is an acronym for a horrible yet previlent condition...stands for Shit in Boxes). I come from a long line of sufferers...it's time to break the pattern of abuse.

it's been a day?

Spent most of the day in bed with a full body headache...never got dressed in real clothes at all. TC and Marcey got as far as Minounk before they turned around...apparently there was lots of ice. However, it's still 50 degrees Farenheit and not quite midnight, so I am assuming that Sean, Cheron and I will not have any problem going to Michigan City tomorrow.

I hate sleeping all day...it leaves me confused (or more confused that normal). Watched Mighty Aphrodite with Marcey. There is this very odd indie movie channel on cable. Woody Allen makes me uncomfortable...he's a nebbish but not an endearing nebbish. (It gave me a great idea for a late Christmas present however.)

it's been a good holiday...

I can't complain...it's been a good holiday. Financially I managed to keep it together (thanks to some extra cash at just the right time from the university...the bribe they gave us to sign a contract with a 1.5% raise just about covered presents, etc).

Things have been pretty okay...from Thanksgiving with my siblings and then a trip to Michigan City to see Sean's family, to a visit with Minnie B. who seems to be doing fine (we'll go up and see her again when there isn't a foot of snow in her driveway). The open house and dinner was wonderful on the 21st was wonderful...Connie and Jeremy came down and spent the night. Becca and Neil and Lily, Brad and Ann came over for stockings and presents and breakfast this morning...I think everyone was happy...Sean's waffles were good. Lee texted and I called him. He and Crystal are doing well. Talked to mom...

I napped for a couple of hours (my blood sugar is not a happy camper.)

Dave and Heather and the kids joined all of the rest of us (except Neil, who is working) at Peking Garden for dinner at 3pm...it was a little crowded but the food was good and I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

We got home sometime after 5 and I came downstairs and puttered...watched "beer for my horses," a weird choice for Christmas evening. TC and Marcey are going up to Marcey's son's until Sunday. Sean, Cheron and I are going up to Michigan City on Saturday. We have a D&D game on Sunday. Allie is cooking dinner for us on the 30th. I have to go back to work on Jan 5.

joy on dec 24,1968

Book View Cafe

Book View Cafe is a consortium of over twenty professional authors with extensive publishing credits in the print world. Every day, new content available nowhere else will be served up on Book View Cafe: short stories, flash fiction, poetry, episodes of serialized novels, and maybe even a podcast now and then.

Book View Cafe is a new approach to publishing made possible by the Internet. Book View authors write in a variety of genres including science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror and mystery. They are pleased to make our work directly available to you.

Book View Cafe has just announced that they have been invited to do a presentation at the Library of Congress.

This presentation will be done during the week of May 18. This news totally rocks and I can't recommend the cafe highly enough.

joyous solstice

and bright blessings...the turning of the year is a time for new beginnings. so, I will take a deep breath, pick myself up, and start again. At least I am starting from a better organized spot. The borg holiday open house is today and Sean's mom and brother are staying overnight.

I was looking at pictures last night...I have a buttload of pictures...and I realized that I am not crazy about pictures of people, even family...and that has always made me feel a little guilty. I don't like to have my picture taken and there are very few pictures of me at my mom's house. When I notice that she doesn't have pictures of me and my family but she has tons of pictures of everyone else, I feel neglected, but I have done it to myself...She can't display pictures she doesn't have.

Ah, well...I am going to sweep the living room and change the sheets on my bed. By then I may be able to take a shower.

listening to "New Northwest" from In'shallah by Heather Alexander, based on the book Lion's Blood by Stephen Barnes. It must be interesting to have been one person and then become another, and be very public the whole time.

I couldn't have said it better myself

Wil Wheaton on 4th ed D&D

grateful for being wired

sitting in aroma using free wifi, drinking cocoa, reading The Great Gatsby as an ebook and getting ready to do a radio show that will stream live on the web so anyone with a net connection can hear it all over the country. I feel totally hip!

books make great gifts...period

epic fail--but grateful

I haven't managed to post my grateful for something post every day, but I am grateful for a lot of things. Our tree is up (with no drama), it's finals week and the schedule is working (so far), I have a date with a very attractive man tonight (my senior husband), I got both my back pay because our contract got settled AND my bonus (they gave us a bonus because we agreed to accept a crappy 1.5% raise), my Christmas shopping is almost all done and it will be paid for without causing me any stress (see previous gratitute), I feel pretty good and I am leaving work early, and I have lots of people I love who love me....

studyblue

WOW!!! These 2 guys from UW-Madison started a company that will create flashcards from your notes so you can study...not only that, it will remind you when to study them. One of the platforms it uses is wiki (which sucks) but I am seriously impressed. I wonder if I can use it for Independent Study?????

OCLC policy sucks

I hope you'll join me in signing the petition "Stop the OCLC powergrab!". You can do so right now at:

http://watchdog.net/c/stop-oclc

OCLC, the not-for-profit that provides library services around the world, has gone too far. Originally, it was a library collaborative -- one library could catalog a book, upload it to OCLC, and then other libraries could save time by reusing the catalog information. But as the price of such technology has fallen, its prices have risen. It charges membership fees, record retrieval fees, user support fees, and fees for all sorts of additional services. But now it's gone a step too far -- it wants to set the terms of use for every library record ever retrieved through OCLC, so that it can maintain its monopoly in the field. In a very real sense, they're trying to steal our libraries. We have to make them stop -- sign this petition.

For more information, see this wiki page: OCLC Policy Change.

blessing and gratitude

My kitchen is done...not clean yet, but done. I'm very grateful.

I'm gathering up paperbacks to give to my daughter for Toys for Troops care packages for soldiers.

life is good.

Dec 5-6

This bit of gratitude has to cover two days, because I was sitting here reading and missed writing on Dec 5. But I haven't been to bed yet, so it shouldn't count. I am grateful to be inside when it is cold outside...I got to sleep late and blow off work...which is pleasant. cleaned the kitchen table off, but I haven't figured out where to put everything and I took comfort in re-reading 8 Cousins by Louisa May Alcott. Gotta love Google Books.

Gratitude Dec 4

I'm still kind of sore, but it will go away...I'm grateful for cortisone. Cheron's laser beam in her frickin' eye worked...even dilated her left eye is now 20-20. I have some new concepts to ponder. Soul retrieval, for one. And it is time for bed.

dec 3 hump gratitude

Today I'm grateful that we got to help Lily celebrate her birthday. And that it's Hump Day. And that I am going to get a shot tomorrow.

Too tired to be grateful for anything else.

dec 2 gratitude

I'm grateful that I have enough to be able to give money to Illini Lodge #17 for Christmas baskets and to buy a book for a needy child at Barnes and Noble.

I am grateful for my family.

I am grateful for my job.

I am grateful for my cats who sleep with me.

Happy December

...and Happy Birthday, Mom. I've decided that I need to get rid of every bit of negativity in my life (haven't done very well so far...hey, it's Monday) but my goal is to post every day in December and make every post positive.

My kitchen is almost done. all it needs is hardware on the drawers and cabinet doors and to be seriously cleaned. I'm going to get rid of random plastics and useless odds and ends. Sean, Cheron and Marcey have done a wonderful job...

The Thanksgiving holiday was very nice. We have a lot to be thankful for. Kirsten is still with us, there will be a new Goldstein in the spring, we are all pretty healthy. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed about the biofeedback and the second cortisone shot.) Time for supper....something else to be thankful for.


listening to Juanita Coulson