Category: Comics

Keith’s B-day tomorrow – Robert Anson Heinlein’s today

The four of us are planning to get together for his birthday. I already bought his present but it will probably arrive next week.

Had the folks over for beers last night; in attendance, Melissa, Ryan, Brian C, Jarmo and Rob of Nine, who was, unfortunately, not able to massage my printer into compliance as there is no driver for it. Drat.

After they all left, Swampy came over for a beer and told me that things are going much more smoothly than he anticipated and it was just really pleasant to have him here – and we discussed a couple of books, including Focusing and The Dosadi Experiment (which is basically a fast forward through Dune without the religion and with a kickass courtroom scene at the end). Then at nine my date came over. We sat outside next to the fountain until about the fourth time he slapped a mosquito (imagine that… a guy who gets bit by mosquitoes more than I do!?) at which point I said that I found it unconscionably inhospitable to contribute to his discomfort so, and besides, there was beer and a bathroom back at my place…

So I guess I’ve had a very sociable weekend already and it ain’t even noon on Saturday yet.

Today is the 100th centenary of Heinlein’s birth. How I wished he could have become a blogger. Okay, I don’t but it makes me laugh to think about how he would have talked about the last three or four sets of American governments.

I talked to Kira on the phone today.  She was purring.  Zeek!, thank heaven, is back to his old self and the bloody spot under his chin has cleared up.  His bloodwork came back okay so the 1200 vet bill Paul and I were looking at turned out not to be necessary.

Keith will come by today before work with more Aubrey/Maturin for me.  (more, more more!) and some other media for me to peruse (hopefully Fables III and IV).

I watched Denis Leary’s music video of Asshole last night.  I always liked the song, but the video was brilliant, IMO.

Facebook is extremely amusing, and I’m having loads o’ fun with it.  Mostly poking people.  I’ve gotten into a poking contest with two people; I know that sounds rude, but it’s harmless virtual primate fun.

Here’s a cool “matrix style” domestic argument, from Japanese TV.

Quiet Day

Today I thought it was my hair appointment but I was wrong by a week – fortunately I was also after seeing Katie and Keith for lunch in uptown New West (overate, of course) and getting a new outfit for Katie’s Graduation, and visiting the New West library (oldest in BC) for the latest Aubrey Maturin book.  I read Desolation Island and I have to say I didn’t like it much except for the end.

Keith brought along the first two digests of Fables, and, while no Strangers in Paradise, it’s very entertaining and quite well done.  So I’ve done nothing but read and buy bread and hang with the kids today, and by heaven I needed to.

Keith Here

Keith is here, letting me know about his recent comic acquisitions.  With the end of Strangers in Paradise, I’m casting about for a new jones, and I have decided to go for Fables, which he is currently telling me all about.  He’s a dear lad but he didn’t bring me the next Aubrey Maturin book so I growled at him.
I have to go in to New West to get my hairs cut and meet with the Number One Daughter for lunch.  Keith will join us after his workout.

I am going in to work tomorrow, but I realized I committed to going to church, too, so I’m double booking myself…. again.  I should go in around 2 pm.  I really do have to go, it’s the last time we’re in that building before we start up in the Gathering Place in the fall.

Squee

1.  Sorry about the spoilers.  I figured only Dr. Filk and Mike would care.  I suck, but you love me anyway, right?  And besides, when you see the expressions on Katchoo’s face (oh god, and CASEY, you will CROAK when you see it –  you’ll forgive me.

2.  TWO offers on the house, one serious, one not.  We may get full price for this puppy.  Wish us luck.  The family that Paul showed through the place absolutely loved it – they spent more time in the legal rental suite than they did in the upstairs, where they would be living.  All the time I spent cleaning that f/cking apartment has come into sharp focus as being, you know, a good thing. (Also all of Janice and Paul’s hard work). Real Estate Magician we hired is working on moving in the removal dates (of the subject-tos) but we may be hopping from one foot to the other for another week.  I have no doubts but that the house will clear the building inspection, and the financing on the solid offer is just that, solid. Fingers crossed.  Oh, forgot to mention that closing date is a month from now!

Great evening

went straight to Metrotown from work, riding down the hill with Patricia and Scary Clown, then a meal in the food court (U Grill) and then bought myself a summer jacket with all the latest hardware detailing, drooled all over some fet gear in that weird shop with the dragon out front at Silver City, then Pirates of the Caribbean, (LTGW said it was an art film and he was mostly right) & then a meal.  Keith cued it up so that Paul came to the movie as well and we had a very civilized and comradely evening, including a stopover at Chong Lum Hin (where else) where Sue gave us a rapturous welcome, and I got to read episode ninety – the last – the very last – of Strangers in Paradise.  It has a happy ending!!! Me so happy!!! they Both get pregnant and live happily ever after.  Okay, this will only mean something to maybe two people who read my blog, but I was terrified Terry Moore was going to kill off Tambi, and he didn’t.  And I gave Paul back the Powerpack and a piece of mail that somehow got included in my mail forwarding.  And somebody saw the house, but no offer.  Open house this weekend, wish us luck.

I’m glad my evening was so great, because work sucks a Greyhound Bus Station Men’s Restroom Mop right about now.  Not people, just work to the ceiling.

More cleaning

Yesterday I got to the Augur Inn, where I a) returned the penultimate Strangers in Paradise, b) cleaned the downstairs bathroom, removing paint spatters and glue which had been there since we moved in, cleaning the door, and putting the light fixture back up so that all that remains is scrubbing the floor and painting the door c) cleaned the railings in the deck, d) rewashed some windows, e) ran the loveseat cover Janice got through the laundry and hung it to dry as Zeek! bled all over it, f) started detailing the downstairs kitchen, g) scrubbed out the laundry room sink some more (it isn’t done), h) washed the exterior of the windows in the garage.  Partway through my day Katie took me out for breakfast.  It was yummy, and you can get steak and eggs at the Big 6 for $6.35.

About 3:30 I bailed and Paul drove me to the liquor store and I picked up beer, wine and vodka (the only mix I have is orange juice….) and helped me in with MORE boxes and some pictures (I left them in the garage) and then I spent a lovely four hours with Gail, Jerome’s mum, who’s a simply fascinating woman who has raised three simply splendid children, and whose brother Bruce wrote that Vancouver Map Book (before there were computers).  This is a book which shows what Vancouver looked like in ten year increments and which lived next to my bed from the time I got it to the time I moved (of course I can’t find it, but I will when I’ve finished unpacking…)

 

Then I unpacked my new vacuum cleaner and I LOVE it. It’s a new Hoover canister and it does everything a vacuum cleaner should do and there’s only two attachments and it looks like a bug eyed alien and is bright orange. I vacuumed my apartment (well, not the bedroom, the bedroom is a disaster still) but the rest.

This morning I got up and washed the pot and pans I got at Ikea and made myself coffee and breakfast, and now I’m going to figure out when the first bus comes and then go over to the Augur Inn.  Katie was going to take me to see Spiderman and Keith and Paul invited themselves along but that’s okay….

The weather has clouded over.  There are many, many birds here,  I could birdwatch all day.  This morning I watched a hawk kill something.

Burnt and his new bride are probably honeymooning somewhere.  I will get a full report on the wedding from LTGW on Monday, or so I hope.  Men never remember the details women want to hear, unless they’re gay or making a heroic effort.

I have started reading Master and Commander.  Stephen Maturin’s comments about thinking he was gonna die are very funny, and Jack Aubrey is the most admirable mixture of low cunning, high spirits and cluelessness that ever walked on the foredeck of any ship, real or imagined.  Sigh,  I can hardly wait for Pirates of the Caribbean III.

Paul has made revisions to the separation agreement (as have I) which I have not yet seen.  He says he’s not putting the house on the market until the separation agreement is chopped, and also I shouldn’t have moved out because it’s costing a lot of money.

Uh…. I wasn’t thinking about money when I moved out. I was thinking about my sanity.  I had a little hiatus there while I didn’t do much, but that had as much to do with the unbelievable YogSuggothian hor-ror of work as any other emotional background noise, and I was still going back to the house to clean rather more than I want to, because I am actually serious about getting the house sold.

I already know what’s going to happen.  Paul will stall until the house selling season is over, then move back into the basement and rent the upstairs.  He can do what he likes.  I still own half the house and when the time comes to renegotiate the mortgage, he can buy me out and experience the joy of doubling the size of the mortgage on one income with a renter who may or may not work out.  Even if housing prices plummet I will still be free.  This is why I find what Paul’s doing so amusing.  He keeps talking about money. He never talks about the emotional stuff, only about the inconvenience, and how the house which he spent many many hours complaining about has now majickally turned into a haven.  I already got what I wanted.  I have contemplated how I would feel if I lost every penny on the house.  I would be plenty cheesed, but you know, life goes on.  My spiritual advisor has lost just about everything, twice, in the last ten years, and all it’s done is make him a better person with a clearer understanding of what’s important.  I should be so lucky as to have life events that did that for me!

I want to sell the house and get the best buck possible not because I am a raving acquisitive bitch, but because I want to have the wherewithal to help my children.    Happy Mother’s Day, everybody.