What a day

Trip was fine, weather was so wonderful when I got home. I realized I had just enough energy to do a small shop and get the stone chip that Ziva collected the last time I went to Victoria fixed, and the guys at Crystal Glass on 6th repaired it for nothing because they liked my car.  I will take them all my glass work in future!

Sue called me to remind me about the minister meeting last night but I’d already told David that it was a travelling day and I was unlikely to attend.  I was in bed asleep by 8 so it’s just as well.  Formal announcement is coming soon.

In the middle of all this I got the reference check call for Katie WHO WILL HAVE HER OWN APARTMENT on May 1.  Huge step forward for her and I hope she enjoys having her own space.

And now, Chipper I’m thinking of you when I post this link.  Farming doesn’t have to be an ecological disaster.

“Scalded” “Scrotum”

In the last five minutes, Katie has asked for assistance in spelling the above noted two words.  This is as a consequence of her having to write down notes every day about the nasty & harassing work environment she’s currently dealing with.

 

OWWWWWWWWWWWW

Katie wishes it to be known that those two words were not in the same sentence.

Various

John Cusack hopes his new movie makes people read more Poe.  Me too.

Got a migraine while driving home last night including two new symptoms – facial numbness and kinaesthetic/proprioceptive hallucinations.  Went straight into a scalding hot tub and recovered enough to make dinner for Jeff, but I held out for pizza when Katie showed up and ordered some.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-04/uobc-pap041112.php  Pride is not necessarily a sin…

Vacation is COMING!

 

Homily all done

Now all that remains is for me to:

Take down the quilted hanging mOm made for Katie (it was either that or the labyrinth, which in some respects works better but colour wise works worse) to put on the podium.

Print out children’s story and homily,

Practice the song through a couple more times with Tom and Peggy once we get to church; Rowan already knows about the sound requirements as I remembered just before I lost consciousness last night to email him.  He has already emailed me back letting me know he’s hep.  Which he has to be, being a professional accordion player and all, not just Beacon’s sound guy.

Kill a few more trees and print out the music for anybody who wants it.

Get myself ritually clean (ha ha jk)

Pick out my Sabbath garment (something of suitable size and robustness for an occasion of this nature)

Get there about an hour early to do a nice leisurely shop for yummy treats and flowers for the service as I kinda want to splash out a bit.  After all there’s a good chance Mike and Rozo are coming (let’s just say that my enjoyment of the occasion will not be destroyed if they don’t come.)

After it’s all over I’m going to go visit some Beacon elders, or possibly just one elder, in hospital.  She fell and broke some ribs, poor doll; I phoned her spouse last night and commiserated with him briefly and found out that her loss is my gain; since she’s in the hospital right across the street from the church and her hubby, who would not otherwise have come to church if she’d been released already, will be at church tomorrow.  And I really shouldn’t have put it that way, but I enjoy preaching when they are there since they do appreciate my work.  Healing thoughts and energy your way, folks.  The other elder is waiting for transfer to a care facility, and is apparently a very hard case to go visit because she’s claiming to be imprisoned against her will, part of the whole ‘being unclear on your current role in life’s rich pageant’ gig that is part of being frail and demented elderly.  Dunno if I’m going to have the chops for that, but I can at least plan.

I didn’t visit her.

After that’s all done, come home for the very last SG1 (barring the movies) and hopefully something yummy for Easter Dinner.  I’ll be checking out what Thrifty’s has on offer for that score. I’m thinking roast beast, maybe something over the top like prime rib.  Or maybe one of those stuffed turkey breasts suitable for a small number of diners.  Or maybe I’ll just say screw it and take Jeff out for dinner.  He has fallen host to the Skyrim virus.

Speaking of which… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALbQQzePzt4&list=UUXoIFuHdVHm-Zp9umA2seRQ&index=1&feature=plcp

One of the best fan videos EVER and it’s mercifully short with great production values.

___________

Katie was here briefly last night and went out again (to see a movie with friends).  I didn’t enquire and she did not volunteer.

 

 

Clean cheap hydrogen?

All right!  http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-pick/self-sustaining-solar-reactor-creates-clean-hydrogen-fuel-2012044/

Life at Geekhaus continues along its merry way.  We’re halfway through the last season of SG1 and although there are those who believe that it just wasn’t the same program without Rick Anderson and Don Davis, I continue to enjoy it and am sad that it’s all going to end soon.  Which just means we have to view SGA and SGU again, plus any tv movies we can actually get copies of.

I move at work today.  By my count I sat at one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, oooo !  I JUST REALIZED.  This is lucky 13!  Thirteen desks since I started with the company.  Yeah, I thought it had averaged out to once a year.  We’re moving one floor down and to the other side, which means I lose the view of the Old School Cylons and the Lions out the front of the building, and now get to glower at the EA logo all day, when I feel like turning around and doing that, that is.

Anyway, I have to get my poop in a group and get out of here.  We have to pack and the day’s work must still be done, and I owe 1.5 hours for my running around yesterday re the passports.

Called mOm on the phone yestreen and Katie waltzed in while I was talking to her and she had a nice long chinwag.  Keith is heading to the Island this weekend so hopefully mOm will get her grandbaby fix.  Katie is inching closer to having her own apartment, but that isn’t because she isn’t looking, it’s because she’s extremely fussy about where she lives and if the front hallway smells like crap she just spins around and steps back out again.  Like Keith said when he was four, you don’t want to live where it smells like people are cooking their dinner in a garbage can.

Various and continuing shifts at work made me realize that I am a very small person in a very large enterprise.  I don’t have what it takes to run my own business (unless somebody wants to pay me to dream up tunes all the time) and so if I want to stay employed I have to execute according to plan.  I just wish I knew what the plan is.  I know this makes me sound stupid, and it’s not meant to be a crack at my bosses/supervisors, whom I respect greatly.  I am not convinced that anybody in particular knows what’s going on and can relate it to a larger plan, and past experience leads me to believe that we are (in the words of the inimitable Dorothy Dunnett) being ‘ground between magnates”.

Scorpion-Ra

As constant readers will be aware, both my children have tattoos.  Keith was long considered; he thought about a wasp for years but eventually got an eye of Ra on the back of his neck.  Katie’s first tattoo (and she now has a squadron of ink) was a blue scorpion on the non hairy side of the forearm..

So I am hoping to match both of them, except the two tats will be much smaller.  That is in the future still.

Photos for passports acquired

Now to get them signed off and away we go.

Work was VERY interesting yesterday.  And of course I can’t say more but it nets positive, except that now everybody is using a new buzzword, which immediately makes me want to scream and sigh.

Fuck pertussis man.

Having Katie around = the happy.

Having Keith drop by = the ditto.

Fresh coffee and cream makes me the happy too.

I bought a cat toy for Margot last night and although she promptly lost interest in it, the ten minutes she enjoyed it were quite hilarious.

The People and Things That Make Me Happy

Katie

Jeff

Keith

Peggy

and bunches of other people, including raincoaster, vixy, greatdismal, simonpegg &  mOm and pOp

finding two new lines for a song, that when I put it all together, make a rhyme across the two verses, and which made me yell ALLEGRA YOU ARE A FUCKING GENIUS in the shower this morning, sorry Jeff

Blue Heron coffee from Saltspring OMG it is SO GOOD OM NOM NOM

Bacon and eggs for breakfast

Roads to drive on and a car to do it in (Ziva needed better gas and now she runs fine and the gas consumption has gone back to normal)

HOLIDAY PLANNING for April – I’m outta town from the 14th to the 23rd roughly.

Ditto for the end of August, when I go camping in the US with Katie

Passport renewals finally happening because Katie has been like a baby bird, “when we gonna when we gonna when we gonna MOMMMMM!?”

Me coming up with “Derp and the world derps with you.  Fap and you fap alone.” and putting it on facebook, haw.

 

 

Sam and Jack’s Tango (now updated for singability)

Sam’s tango

(all rights to characters to respective copyright holders)  Yes, more SG1 filk. It’s like a FUCKING DISEASE. If I hadn’t had Planets are People Too pop up in my brain (which actually started as Samantha Carter filk but as is often the case morphed into something else before I could grasp the concept) I’d be ALL SG1 FILK ALL THE TIME.

Also, still feel as cozy as a hug from singing and playing last night with Paul and Katie.  SCHMURRRRRR!

To biz, viz:

 

Note: Since tango is all about the sexxay time, herewith first stab at new tune.  I am particularly happy about the verse part, which has been wandering around my brain for about four years attempting to latch onto a ‘real song’.

Sam n Jack’s Tango.

 

There will be a time /it is coming soon /when they’re going to talk /talk about their feelings x 2
But… they have to save the world
and matters not the reason
it happens every season
Keep those feelings tightly curled
try hard not to heed them
and act like you don’t need them

Ba dum dum dum!

Chorus:

He makes her heart go boom boom boom
When he saunters into the briefing room
he makes her brain go snap snap snap
He has that effect on her every synapse
He makes her limbic system go wild
When he grins at her like a child
He could order her to do a flip
…O’Neill is her CO, she needs to get a grip

Everybody knows, pretending not to see
How Samantha glows, how O’Neill is smirking
Everybody knows, pretending not to see
How the feeling grows, yeah, they got it working
Oh, my God, just get a room
Did we forget to mention, the mounting sexual tension
In the face of certain doom
Just wrap it up quite neatly, and do it real discreetly.

She makes his heart go boom boom boom
When she strides into some dark Ancient tomb
She makes his brain go snap snap snap
That little blue tank top makes his will collapse
She makes his limbic system go wild
When she leans on him like a child
he could order her to do some flips
“We’ve got a job to do” is what crosses his lips.

There will be a time…. it is coming sooooon

 

Love it when a plan comes together

Paul and Katie BOTH dropped by for lunch and now Paul’s going to drive her to a friend’s place for some schmergurrl time.  Katie got to see Jarmo, and Peter T, and reacquainted herself with Mike McG and my beloved bossy and few other folks. 

Everybody is doing well. And Katie got her learners!  She is taking her first drive into a wider world.

a miscellany of news items

So Paul dragged me out of the house for a walk yesterday (I wore my cloak, as it was the perfect weather for it) and while we were walking up Davies Dave the Plumber and his wife tried to run us down in his truck while we cowered in fear.

Uh, no, but I can imagine somebody watching thinking that.  Dave, a devout Sikh and one of the best plumbers and pipefitters in the lower mainland, has a puckish sense of humour.  We chatted for a bit and continued on with our walk, much amused by our ‘near miss’.

When Paul and I first got this house outfitted for a gas stove, Dave did the work.  I came back from my first interview with (previous x 2 company) all bubbly and happy and then I got all sad face because when I asked how the work was coming on and both Paul and Dave with straight faces said “Terrible, it’s not working”, and then when I got testy they burst out laughing.  They had not actually prearranged this little gag so you can see why Paul and Dave were two peas in a pod.  I am thankful to know such good tradesmen, and I particularly thank him for the amazing work he did when the ‘spring’ happened in the back yard at the Augur Inn.

Paul’s on course for six weeks and has weekends off and no nights.  I’m sure he’ll enjoy that.

Jeff is still feeling crappy but he took some small amount of food yesterday.

The idiot ex has quit harassing Katie.

Keith came in to the office on Friday and we played Forbidden Island with the D-man.

I made borscht for the Sasamat soup lunch this morning.  It is FREAKING AWESOME, but I betcha I’m gonna be musical in the office tomorrow.

I have one more load of laundry to do and then all my laundry will be clean.

I told the Worship committee Easter will be my last homily for Beacon, as I am going to have a stressful 2012-13 year at church (I am taking on a much bigger role in terms of governance) and I need to reduce stressors big time.  I think King Jesus is a great topic and I’m going to be going out with a ‘bang’ so to speak.

I have decided that I am going to write a book about customer service.  mOm is going to help me with it.

I took food to Sue on Friday; her knee is ow-ie.  I asked her how the hell she’s going to be in two plays between now and the middle of May and she laughed and said that the roles require her to be in bed for most of the shows.  I thought this was a stupendous coincidence and congratulated her on what appeared to be prescience.

I have pulled so much fur off Margot in the last three days (she’s doing the spring shed) that she’s having existential angst as it appears to her I’ve pulled a Margot-equivalent of fur off her already and she doesn’t understand that she can still be here.

Well, it’s that time again.  I’m doing the coffee in church today so I won’t be upstairs listening to the service.  Tom’s friend is being memorialized this afternoon so no rehearsal for my new song to be performed in church, we’re hoping Monday night now.

If you don’t have a will please write it up now.

Without TOO much detail

Let’s just say I haven’t been this concerned with a family member’s bowel movements since Katie was in onesies.

Keith is coming for lunch today.

Those two statements have nothing to do with each other.

PS.  If you are over 40 and don’t have a will, f(kk  you.  Poor Tom lost another friend this past week and he died intestate.  And now Tom is getting sucked into yet another emotio-legal friend dying intestate mess, with a side of ‘and he owned a business’.

That’s better

Katie is fine…. thanks, but she has visited the police and detailed her current woes, with a witness in tow, and so hopefully the unhelpful behaviour will stop.  I am very proud of her – she dealt with it as an adult, with no fanfare and no pissing and moaning.

 

Tonight I’m going to go home and COLLAPSE. I am so tired, and the constant changes in the weather do not help.