Lighter hearts

Listen children and let me tell you a story.

 

Once upon a time there was a man who loved a woman but didn’t want to live with her.  She was okay with that.  She had to move and at the last minute the landlord said no and at the last minute she had to make arrangements to move in with the man who didn’t want to live with her.  They lived together for years.  Their love ended.  Their living arrangement did not.  Six months went by.  The woman made arrangements to move into a shelter because she figured out that accusing a man of being abusive would move her up an intake list.  She called movers.  The day was set.

The elevator broke.

The man looked out across his life and wondered why despite all his rationality he believed that this event wasn’t random. Couldn’t be random.

 

 

Mike, Keith, Kate, Jeff and I got together yesterday.  Keith put too much pressure on one part of the hammock and it split.  We congratulated him on taking one for the team, because if it had broken when Katie was it in we all would have been very sadface, although an eight months’ pregnant woman would not get in a hammock.  Keith was uninjured.  Mike demonstrated yoga.  Keith rode off in search of beer.  I massaged Katie’s feet.  We mostly stayed on the back deck, as brilliant afternoon turned into brilliant evening.  Keith rode home after dusk; Mike drove home; I put Katie in a cab.  We ordered pizza and talked and were together and laughed.

So blessed.  I told Mike that we’re part of his tribe.

 

Chris O’Shea, filker, is responsible for this charming instafilk.

 

“I woke up ever so slightly later this morning …
… And I was feeling ever so slightly more blue.
Yes I woke up ever so slightly later this morning…
… and I was feeling ever so slightly more blue.
Hard to tell the difference from yesterday.
I’m sufferin’ from the Delta Blues.”

The Pirate’s to do List

It’s talk like a Pirate Day!

 

THE PIRATE’S TO DO LIST (For Talk Like A Pirate Day, Sept 19)

I’ve heard that there’s an island full of sugar cane for rum
My reputation goes before But I have never come
I have heard that there is a market fair where gold is flowing free-ee
And it’s on my list of things to do
and I’ll get there eventually
I will get there
I will get there
I will get there eventually
It’s on my list of things to do
& I’ll get there eventually.

I’ve heard that there’s a convent school of lasses of fourteen
The men speak of it oftentimes but I have never been
I have heard their beauty dismays the sun
& jealous is the queen
And it’s on my list
of things to do
etc

I’ve heard there’s a ferocious beast
that lurks among the reefs
whose tears (if you can make it cry)
will cure all ills and griefs
I have told the crew that it’s just not true
but they stick to their beliefs
and they stuck it on my to do list
and I’ll get there eventually etc

I’ve heard that there’s a hidden spring
A bubbling font of youth
The men go on like anything
as if it is the truth
I tell them please don’t buy maps and keys
from a fortuneteller’s booth
They can swim there for all I care
And they’ll get there eventually
they will get there they will get there
they will get there eventually
They can swim there for all I care
And they’ll get there eventually

Cristy’l ball

From 9/17/2004.

Allegra predicts the future.

 

I see Christy Clark is off to look after her 3 year old son Hamish. I think she’s off to look after Christy Clark, personally. Christy Clark, for those of you who don’t follow BC politics, is the deputy premier and generally considered one of the sharpest (in a political sense) of Gordo’s Merry Band of Troughlickers. She’s been stuck in the McFamilies portfolio with no hope of parole and has said so in public, so you know she’s choked.

So supposing you’re young, and well-connected, and energetic, and you’re hanging around with a bunch of guys who hate women and are too smart to say so in public? And your connections tell you something entertaining – get the f*ck out of cabinet beFORE scandals that will permanently taint you come rolling out of the Basi investigations? She hit a convergence – all the motivation in the world and a keen understanding of her life span as a politician – and she’ll be back in politics in a few years as the familiar-but-fresh-faced, has her priorities straight, untainted by scandal small-l liberal to prop the party up after Gordo’s gotten too smelly to approach. Mark my words, Christy Clark will be Premier during the 2010 Olympics. If that isn’t what she’s planning, I’ll eat something leathery; and I was going to put something rude in here, but my lawyer said it was a bad idea, although within the bounds of satire. Had something to do with Dick Clark.

Milestones and mealtimes

Katie cooked dinner for me, Jeff, Keith and the Birthday Boy Hisself, Paul; it was roast beast, gravy, yorkshire pudding, asparagus, carrots and smashed potatoes.

It was very pleasant.  Poor Paul was late for his own dinner by the best part of an hour.  Planes don’t wait.

We were sitting in the dark in the back yard when a skunk wandered through (this years’).  Ayesha maintained a goodly distance.  She was all over Jeff, it was very cute.

Paul has NO PLANS to retire!  He really doesn’t look his age.

Drew, Tre’s baby brother, has been born, congrats and all well.

 

Oh well some other time maybe

Yesterday it was church, during which I ran around like a fool after a toddler, and then Mike came over in the afternoon and we had a long talk about what’s going on with him, and then I went to Theology Pub.  It was rotating discussion groups.  I enjoyed myself but I don’t think I’ll be going back.  I can’t explain why and keep my UU principles intact, so I’ll just backspace over about three hundred words worth of high pressure whining and put a good spin on it. The turnout was spectacular though, at least twenty people came and the gender balance was much better than normal. There were more people from South Fraser Fellowship.

Tonight Katie is cooking dinner for her dad’s birthday. Paul turns 65 today.  He’s going to work until the last possible moment; he’s not retiring, or so he says, for at least another couple of years.

 

Someone asks George what 5 things he’d change about his life

From his Reddit AMA:

 

What are five things you’d change about your life if you could?

Thank you for your sneakily courteous question, which is actually five questions.  I suspect my list looks much the same as anyone else’s.  I want to achieve my career goal of becoming an astronaut (or taikonaut, or cosmonaut).  I want to be a father, possibly a better one than my own, but we judge these things differently in my culture.  I wish I had better time management skills; I work to a different timescale and speeding up to human tempo is hard work. I’d find out what happened to a woman I introduced to Kima a long time before she was ready, since I would like the chance to apologize.  All my efforts to locate her have been fruitless and I feel very bad about that.  And ….I’d never talk to another lawyer.  I like my lawyer as a person, but the legal system in this country is what happens when you condense stupidity and then fossilize it.

Church and PUB NIGHT

Man, I hope I remember a can for the food bank. I always seem to forget them. The most exciting thing today is that there is going to be a Theology pub night!!  It’s actually someplace easy to get to and from on transit, so that’s what I will do.  From the facebook page:

 

SOMETHING NEW

WHAT: Theology Pub Nights at Central City Brewing Pub and Restaurant, 13450 102 Avenue Surrey, close to the Central City Sky Train Station (see map below).

WHEN: Second Sunday of the month at 7pm, starting September 14th
Sept 14 topic: Where is God in our lives? Anywhere, everywhere, none of the above?

 

The unknown ideal

I think in many respects it would be an ideal position for me, but I’ve been up and down this emotional rollercoaster a few times now.  It’s a privately owned company with a forty year history of success.  The position is not fantastically challenging, but I’m by no means as clever and energetic as I once was, so I am better than okay with it.  And I could bike to work.  Jeff teased me about how much more productive he’d be if I was out of the house.  Fortunately, he knows how to be productive even when I’m around to distract him.

Anyway they have more people to interview.  I let them know I am very interested in the job and called the agency to confirm this.  We shall see.

Meatballs and rotini last night.  I’m glad I cut that arabbiata sauce in half with plain spag sauce or it would have been too speecy to eat.

I’m thinking of going to the Farmer’s Market this morning after I get some more hacking and chopping done on George.

Interview

I have an interview at an agency tomorrow.

The dresses I ordered are now in Cincinnati.  I have some hope that they will get to me early next week.

My church is going to start having pub nights and it’s at a bar that is very easy for me to get to and from.  Yeah!  Except they haven’t actually announced something useful, like a date.

Since I don’t really have any nice dresses for an interview I’m going to wander off to Value Village shortly and go schlepping.  I should likely walk….

Leo and Linda should be here soon (next days to weeks).  I have mowed the lawn and washed the guest bed sheets as well as removing much cruft from the guest room.

morning walk

This morning I had a remarkable experience while walking.  As I stepped out to get a coffee at Starbucks (and strangely, their coffee still sucks) the sun was struggling skyward into a golden haze. One half of the sky was dark and brooding; the other was brilliant gold and white and blue.  I could hear raindrops falling all around me, plinking on leaves and plunking on cars and splatting on sidewalk and asphalt, but nothing fell on me or my phone.  Then of course it started raining heavier but it wasn’t unpleasant to walk.  As I turned onto 6th I was walking almost directly into the sun, and the big juicy raindrops came down like meteors all around me, streaks of white and silver, and none landed on me.  I felt like I was playing a very sophisticated game of dodgeball with the whole universe.

Unsettlement

There are a lot of people suffering from mental illness and I am lighting a candle for comfort, hugs and clarity for all of them.

I am waiting for a package from India.  I have no interview clothes (the last two dresses now have teeny holes in them) so I ordered some.  Had no idea it was going to be shipped from India. I hope nobody was oppressed in the manufacture but I likely the boat’s sailed on that.

Katie is only five weeks away from her due date.  Exciting, eh wot?  We spent the money the fOlks gave me on a really nice convertible stroller for her and Malachi, or whatever moniker the wee baby is given.

Church was delightful.  There were so many new faces that the 25 or so of us (half the active church members) who went to the workshop on Saturday were going GUPPA GUPPA GUPPA and of course as much as I wanted to talk to newcomers that was a day I was assisting with coffee and potluck.

And now one more teeny church item and back to writing.