Since I've picked up a few new readers the last few days, I feel like I should do something I've wanted to do for awhile: provide a very brief guide to the people I talk about most.

( Read more... )

OK, them's the basics. Any questions? Feel free to ask.

The rest of my journal may be found below. Scroll down to see it.

Haven't had a real update in the past few days. No real special reason -- one day's been pretty much like the next, working and coming home, and I feel like I'm moving through my days to get to something else: Sunday night when I don't have to sleep early, Monday when my stitches come out, Wednesday when it's my "weekend," two weeks from now when it's Pennsic. Something further down the road.

That's not an attitude I should really cultivate, I know. You should live in the now and appreciate what's special about every day, because tomorrow may not happen the way you think it will: plans change, unexpected things come up, whatever. Instead I should be focusing on things like how Gwennie always smiles at me and gives me pictures she's drawn, or how Jack likes nothing better than to squeak and cuddle up to me, or how Celia wants to cook and do all sorts of big-person things -- to be an Auxiliary Mommy, if you will.

So yes, I should focus on the Here and Now instead of the Then and There -- and if I do focus on the future, it should be on the future of my own making, like the book that is sitting in the bowels of my laptop, unworked-on for weeks.

Of course, I should also not focus too much on what I "should" be doing, because then you "should" yourself to death and go through life feeling bad about yourself.

And it's thoughts like these that make me just want to go back to sleep.

Rest in peace, Walter Cronkite.

It is in your outsized footsteps we all follow; is it your calm, steady voice that still calls us to our best work.

K was called away.
I held down the fort until
Archery practice.

Unexpectedly had the conn today, so I made the best of it and did lots of laundry and some deep-cleaning that needed doing. We didn't do library or game day today -- we'll save that for tomorrow.

I made chickens for dinner, just like a good K-stand-in. And then there was archery practice. I started out good, then gradually descended into mediocrity. Didn't help that I had a nosebleed before the last speed round.

Ah well. Time to have an evening now.

I'm tired and my eyes feel like they're burning up, despite lots of artificial tears. So I'll be going to bed shortly. But I wanted a positive thought to finish out my day. Here it is:

It has been exactly 9 months since I last had a cigarette. And (all together now) I will not poison myself again.

Why do we have Presidents throw out the first pitch? What does this have to
do with being President?

One day I want a President to throw out the first pitch, miss, and bean some
poor bastard in the head.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Moderate

Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test

According to this meme, Cleopatra and Helen of Troy are two who also share this circle of hell. And how awful, to spend eternity in such company. :D

Your task is to close your eyes and type an entire entry blind. Don't go back and fix anything. Jus tkeep tyinping and hopefully you won't make too much of a mess of it. Like I may be doing right now. I have no idea. You tell me.

It amazes me how many adults think it's not necessary to say "please" to each other. We make kids say this word. If they forget it -- and, really, don't they have an excuse to forget it, since they're just learning? -- we make them go back and say it. When do we stop saying "please" to adults?

And where did we get the idea that the closer you are to someone, the LESS you need to say "please" to them? Isn't it the other way around? Aren't the people you're closest to, the ones you MOST need to be polite to? Manners grease the wheels of social interaction. Who's most deserving of that -- total strangers? Isn't it our nearest and dearest?

But no. Adults say, "you should ..." Or, "you need ..." Or, "I want ..." Never "please."

After a day at work like I had today, naps are the greatest thing ever invented. Better than sex. Better than showers. Better than sex IN the shower with a big stinkin' cheeseburger afterwards. Naps cure all ills.

Nounsandverbs out.

... before I go to bed, I swear.

Yesterday after I walked out of work, I had a little time before my train, so I visited the High Line for the first time. The entrance is right by my office, and I'd been dying to see it since they opened it.

To say it's awesome doesn't begin to cover it. It really is a park in the sky, beautifully landscaped, with great views of the river. I would love to spend a whole lot of time there from now on.

And the second thing is: I'm the only person I know who will take a 15-minute detour on his drive home just to see how the reconstruction of Exit 17 is coming along.

OK. Serenity wants her nightly pettin's and it's bedtime for me.

The rest of the day yesterday was fine -- I just took it easy till archery practice. Then, once I was out on the range with everyone else, I decided life was too short not to shoot after all. It put no strain on the stitches. I didn't shoot great, although my baseline level of "good" is still improving. And in the final speed round, I got not one, but two bullseyes and a total score of 16, so that was cool.

After that was hanging around with lots of congenial company, watching the end of "Addams Family Values" with the kids. Then after everyone left, we put "Fletch" on and rounded out the evening.

Right now there is a Jack-bug hanging on me. Say hi to the people, Jack:

yo, 'sup people

Celia wants to get in on the action too. Say hi, Celia:

hi people in the coumputer!

And that is how it be.

Yup, half an hour and a bunch of stitches later, I am minus one dysplastic nevus. It went fine. I discovered I take a little longer to get numb than most people, but after a couple minutes and a few extra shots of anesthetic, all was copacetic.

Kt went with me to the hospital for moral support. It was her idea to see if ravynmackay's esteemed husband was about -- we were at one of the hospitals he's an EMT with. As it happened, he was there, so he came up while I was being checked in and we shot the breeze for a bit, which was much welcomed.

Afterwards, Kt and I retired to a diner for breakfast, which I hadn't eaten. And now I'm sitting at home with a big band-aid covering my chest.

T-minus 10 days till I get my stitches out. And two weeks after that, I'll have a nice manly scar for Pennsic. Awesome.

Haven't posted today -- it was just a day. Kt and I took the kids this morning for the first of their summer Wednesday Library Days. First the library, then the park -- a good weekly activity to give them a little structure during the summer.

In the afternoon I got K's van's oil changed and ran a few other errands.

Then I grilled steak. Which we ate. And it was good.

In the evening we watched "Demolition Man" and talked about what a moron Governor Paterson is.

Now I'm going to sleep, because in 10 hours I go under the knife. (For those of you who are just joining us: minor surgery to remove what's left of a mole on my chest.) I know it'll be fine. I'm still nervous.

Tomorrow night is archery practice. Something tells me I won't be shooting. Not a big deal; I can take kid patrol or just hang out outside with people.

And that is what it be, folks. Good night.

K is home -- the family is back together again. Ahhhhh.

This morning I'm uploading pictures to Facebook and trying not to think about the Michael Jackson funeral. Those of you who live in NYC or environs: if you're planning to watch it live, watch it on NY1. We'll do it better than those other guys.

Other than that, just having a morning, and trying not to have caffeine. (I did have it over the weekend, because I was Darthless, but now I want it out of my system.) One more day of work and then it's the "weekend". Thursday I go in for my minor surgery -- trying not to think about that either.

Anyway, that's pretty much where we're at. Shower and work time soon.

It was "Why Am I Here?"

A lot -- my entire life -- has happened since that entry in October of 2003. I've helped build a family and made many friends because of this journal; some, unfortunately, I've had to leave behind. But reading that first entry, and other ones from around that time, what struck me most is that they were written before there was a persona named nounsandverbs. That persona -- which is me, although certainly not the complete picture -- grew from the writing.

There have been times over the years, as I've been read by more people, when I've been almost uncomfortably conscious that I'm writing in public. I've never been tempted to go entirely friends-only; I like new readers. These days I feel I've struck a good balance: lock what's necessary, keep as much open as possible, and always remember that LJ is not real life. It sometimes feels like it -- all-encompassing -- but it isn't.

I'm not sure what my point is with all this, but that's yet another thing I'm relaxed about these days: it's my LJ and I'll ramble if I want to.

The vast majority of people who take pointless LJ polls think a shower is the greatest thing ever after coming home from a weekend of camping. I found it interesting, however, that the two self-professed non-campers chose "Internet access." :)

And on that note, it's almost time for me to take a shower and go to work. Blech.

The greatest will be the one I take after I get home from Pennsic next month.

Northern Region War Camp, though, is a great event to kick off the summer with, especially for the kids. Can I just start off here by saying they were excellent this weekend? Some crankiness aside, their behavior was pretty exemplary the whole time. As we sat in The Ripe Tomato having lunch, I told them they'd represented our family with honor. I punctuated it with a Roman salute which Jack particularly liked.

( Read more... )

ETA: And now, over to purpura with everything I forgot.

Poll #1425499
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

When you've just come home from a weekend of camping, the greatest words in the English language are ...

The weekend was awesome -- many, many thanks to everyone who made it so. More later. For now, I'm going to enjoy being clean and cool.

Off to the Middle Ages. Back in 2 days. Catch you on the flip side.