Apparently facebook has taken off among my grade school classmates.

that dress is scary.

That is all.

Enough time has gone by that I'm not even sure if I will fill in on the details of the holidays, the sabbatical leading up to then, etc. In the interest of moving forward more than reviewing the past, it'll just have to come out if and when it does.

meanwhile, time passes, and not always in such a good way.

I'm fine, re-doing some housecleaning that got undone by holidays and travelling and foo, and looking forward to spending some, if not all, of March in HI. Whee!

The resume is done, if not yet out amongst the job possibilities, and a website should be forthcoming, for some samply bits. Things other than time must move forward as well.

real update pending... but this meme was cute.

( trump card thanks to neko_san )

One of the poems I read and held close to myself as a teenager was Stanley Kunitz' _The Flight of Apollo_. He passed away on Monday at the ripe old age of 100.

I offer up a link to an interview he did a few years ago (which contains the aforementioned poem), as well as one of my favorite excerpts from the poem itself.

I know what I know: I
shall never escape from strangeness or complete my journey.

the things one learns about one's birthday...

Mark took this picture of Daniel and his bob-tailed feral cat friend on our back porch today... I think most if not all of you know, but Daniel's the stripey one. Bobtail (the grey one) is a stray that has befriended Daniel. He comes calling for him, and they play together, and Daniel has even showed him how to get into the house for food. He just refuses to get closer than 6-8ft from a human, so I doubt I have an extra cat.

( Every day in the UK, four people die putting aerolyndt on. )

But on a more serious note, I'm mostly doing better. Been a bit pained/exhausted this week but chalking it up to inactivity and fixing that, more than anything else. I'll keep half an eye on the problem and start to catch up with correspondence now, thanks very much.

i still owe lots of folks phone calls, emails, visits. I've been working through some depression and important housecleaning while also making it through a couple of colds and (most recently) a stomach virus that won't quit.

Out of town this weekend, may pick this all up next week, may not. in the meanwhile though, I've found my next car. This rocks.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/17/eveningnews/main1329941.shtml

I'm not ignoring you, I'm merely withdrawn for a little while.

This applies to any definition of the word "you" and I owe MANY people phone calls. When I am done. I need to focus inward, and on housecleaning, for a while.

See the lyrics to this song.

At new-found light, at end of year,
When all is silent and serene,
In fog and shadows wakes the day.
With countless days, old and unseen,
Who dares to judge a voiceless scene?
When all is silent and serene,
Who sees the truth and not their mind?
"Not I, not I," the sad refrain,
and hope to see the subtle change
At new-found light, at end of year,
Who knows but is afraid to hear,
so turns a blind-eye to the choir?
And yet the sun climbs ever higher
And red skies fade to misty blue.
In fog and shadows wakes the day
Wondering what mysteries remain.
"Not I, not I," the sad refrain
on countless days old and unseen.
Turning a blind-eye to the choir,
I knew, but was afraid to hear.
Who sees the truth and not their mind?
Who dares to judge this voiceless scene?
Who hopes to see the subtle change,
wondering what mysteries remain?
The sun climbs ever higher,
and red skies fade to misty blue.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, the_mishka.

Dad was ticked for a while and he forbid Mom to talk to anybody on the Internet ever again," said embarrassed Daniel.

Last Monday (11/21), I dropped my laptop on its head.

If you want to know how dependent you are on your technology, I recommend going without the technological device (or devices) you use the most for 48 hours. See if you, like I did, turn into a quivering mass of panic, itchy fingers, hunting for even the most basic information.

So.

I had a bunch of scrambling for backups, driving to and from Fry's to drop off the patient and pick up the loaner (the bright spot in this operation -- a brand new 15" PowerBook) and copy as much of my old info to the PB as I could before the iBook finally died, because the backups I had at home weren't real.

I had several work documents in progress, my writing (even though I didn't succeed in getting my NaNo off the ground I have some good notes to write the story on my own time...) and many GBs of music and photos. Thankfully I got almost everything off; at this point I'm shy some pictures of my leadership program from over the summer, and everything else is recovered.

I need to figure out why my backup failed, and give myself a new process to follow at home.

Home was mostly fine. My grandfather had a scary moment where he was unable to swallow some food, but otherwise seems fine -- really full of energy and happy, and that's a good sign. The first time I saw him and my grandmother I was a little nervous, because they are starting to look their age. My dad's side of the family does a really good job of hiding age until around 80 -- so I shouldn't be shocked that my grandfather at 80 (and my grandmother at a little younger) are starting to age. It's just worrisome, and reminds me of the impermanence from the last few years. I will treasure the time that I have left with them, and not worry about how much time that is.

My brother has reverted a bit to who he was before I left home. Not as violent, but just as frustrating. I hope it's a mid-20s panic. I had one a little earlier than he seems to be having his, but he's young for his age.

So now I am playing work-catch up, trip catch-up (I finally get to go and visit zikzak5 over this weekend!), and housework catchup (the laundry is winning) and enjoying snips of time here and there, playing with Daniel and chatting with montyy0 and slowly re-locating all of the files that got shook up in the great laptop dropppage of 2005.

I'm recovering from my second or third cold of the season, and resolve to get moving more between now and the year's end. If I'm moving more, perhaps the colds will not catch up with me.

Miss you all and will catch up on LJ reading soon.

Gawd, I feel like I'm all community service all the time these days, but this is another cause I'm supporting. This time, it's likely best if you're in the LA area, because the event will be.

Friends of Sophia is a request for people to give a small blood sample to act as a control group for an alopecia areata trial. I don't have the details yet but when I have more I will update the group. Sophia is the daughter of two friends I've met through the trainings.

We're still gathering clothing for the midnight mission in downtown LA, so please let me know if you can help. (amorpoeta, thanks for the offer and I look forward to getting the donation next week, if you can swing it?)

And last, but not least, we're still doing this MDA event I mentioned in a previous post. Even if you're out of town and/or can't attend, please consider donating some cash. Even a $20 - 30 donation would be fantastic. Write a check to the MDA and send it to me, and I'll send it along. If you need tax ID information, I'll be happy to provide it.

I'd say I'm sorry for the spam, but the only way all of these projects will turn out is with a little help from my friends (and family, and co-workers, and my teammates, and so on) and I'm committed to seeing these things through.

Thanks all!

Hello Friends!

As some of you know, I am participating in a leadership program down in Costa Mesa. One of the pillars of the program is community service, and we have a large project going on right now that I’d love your help with.

MDA Fundraiser at Tapas Restaurant in Newport Beach
We’re having a party at Tapas Restaurant in Newport Beach on Sunday, August 28th from 5 – 9pm. All proceeds go to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

In addition to great food, there will be music, dancing, casino tables with a raffle afterwards, and silent auction items.

Tickets are $55 in advance, $65 at the door. It’s for a good cause, and will be a great time. I’d love to see a bunch of familiar faces at this event! Of course, if you’re out of the area, but would still like to help, let me know because there are other ways to contribute.

If you have any questions about anything – the event, alternative donation options, other charity projects we’re up to or the program I’m in – please don’t hesitate to ask.

Thanks for your time and support!

what yanijc said.

see the website

see Rudi's story

Sign the petition.

So a non-rant for a change. Hope you all don't mind the change of pace.

So the squid on the TONMO squidcam died yesterday, and that makes me very sad. I liked being able to connect to the site to watch him swim around (and once, turn stripy and eat!) but such is the manner of life. I'm not good with death, even of remote squidlets. I have really chosen not to be particularly good with it for a while, and I don't see that changing any time soon. I don't want it to.

Today is also the day that I broke my 4-month soda fast. I was in a brainstorming meeting here at work, and just didn't want to leave the meeting to grab my water bottle. I don't feel a particular sense of loss over the end of the fast, but the dithering going on in my head for the 5 minutes before I got one was hysterical. The bottom line? "Just take the fucking soda." I wonder how long it will be before my next one. It felt much better than it tasted, fizzy coolness on my sore throat.

Sigh. It isn't bad enough that I tend towards the overanalytical, now I overanalyze my overanalysis. Bugger it.

Also, I am not getting sick. ojosmarrones' symptoms sound terribly familiar. Blargh.

I have a set of songs that I'm listening to right now, but I thought I would share the one that is resonating with me the most this morning. I'd say most of you know this song, but ( here goes... )