Snow!

At last! A snow day. One that caught the county unawares, to boot. Last year, they salted the roads at the slightest suggestion of snow and looked right fools when nothing happened. This year, they ignored the forecast and dear god! the roads were adventurous driving into work. Granted, it didn't begin to snow until 8:15 and the schools were already in session or about to start, and that just added to the ZOMG!SNOW panic of some. It was amusing.

Schools closed 3 hours early. I decided to leave work at lunch time, as the state highway administration had begun salting the roads and I didn't want to be driving home through the half-frozen slurry with everyone else. I need not have planned. Our new director, a very wise and astute woman, decided to close the museum at 11 am.

The beasties made a snow fort around the fox holes they've dug in the woods [don't ask] and enjoyed snowball fights with their friends. I was going to try and catch up, but I pulled out my notebook for The Four Cities and spent the afternoon getting it ready for March's novel-in-90 efforts. I feel very accomplished and energetic about that WIP again. Isabel wants to know if I am "happy now, and can we please get back to focusing on me now?" *pets her* Yes, we will do that, and I have the next leg of Roberto's story tickling the back of my mind, as well as ideas to feed Roberto as to certain nefarious activities occurring in Venice. *remember to print out e-mails at work tomorrow*

Speaking of e-mails, I watched Apparitions today, too. You're right, it is very interesting and I hope that there will be a second series [unlike poor Ultraviolet *sad face*]. Oh, and Demons ep. 4. Much better than ep. 3 and Mina's background was delightfully explored and not maudlin.

Uh, I think that is all on the state of things. Slowly easing back into the normal routine *knocks wood* and letting the thoughts flow as they will. Another low-key and subdued night tonight is in order, the in bed by 11 has helped a lot, giving the body the chance to give the pneumonia the final heave-ho, and I look forward to getting back into the mix tomorrow night.

FYI & Out-of-my-shell

PEDTM posts could look something like this, too. I think that I am going to take advantage of this visit and go to the reading.

St. Mary’s College of Maryland's Department of English, the Arts Alliance, the LFA, and VOICES Reading Series proudly present Poet Ann Buechner.

Thursday, January 29
8:15 PM, Daugherty-Palmer Commons

Ann Buechner was born in South Korea and grew up in Madison, WI. She has taught at Cornell University—where she also received her MFA in 2005—and at Seoul Language Institute in Busan, South Korea. Her poems have appeared in The Madison Review, Equilibrium, and Barrelhouse. Poems are also forthcoming in Patrick Somerville’s novel The Cradle, which will be published in March '09. Her work is mainly concerned with collisions and elisions; she is fascinated with the way we pull meaning out of (or push meaning onto) stories, so content-wise, she works a lot with fractured narrative, in which the relationship between existing stories (whether they be pulled from folklore or religion or popular culture) and "real" stories is blurred, forced together, and pulled apart. Because of this fascination with such "mythologies," she is also obsessed with the manipulation of the image and the icon—nothing is particularly sacred for sacred's sake. Ann aims for synesthesia in her poems. She hopes that they feel like a group of strange people in a waiting room: layered and varied in story and stance, tone and voice.

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This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served after the reading.


ETA: After a Google search and seeing this quote, I think that I must go.

She also has the brilliant habit, of which I am undisguisedly envious, of summing up her reactions to movies in single, hilarious sentences. Most recently, after Crash, which I liked and she didn't: "I feel like Paul Haggis is sitting at his typewriter, calling over his shoulder, 'Hey baby, can you help me think of something racist to say to an Asian person?'"

Monday's mix

I have seen the PEDTM ideas floating around f-lists now and in the past, and one time flirted with the idea*. Then I realised that there are days where my morning pages read like this:

I don't know what to write. That's fine. Just write something. But I don't know what to write. That's fine, just write something. But... I don't know what to write. Okay, just write something. But. I. Don't. Know. What. To. Write. That's. Okay. Just. Write. Something.

Yes, block-buster material there, I tell you. If my PEDTM entries were like that, I'd feel obliged to post everyone who read it a gift card to the local vintner, and as that is not feasible, I think that I will continue to skip the PEDTM.

You're welcome. *grin*

The abbreviated Report from the River Styx**: A very relaxing time, indeed. Mer and I left a little later than planned, as I just took longer to wake up than I wanted. I was tired, what can I say. Happily, driving at 80mph did no damage to us or the car, and we made it, more or less, on time. The beasties spent the weekend at their friend's house, which included a Saturday exclusively spent playing WarHammer40K, so I think they enjoyed their own time doing their 'stuff'.

The birthday party for my niece was at The Little Gym. It's a franchise run gymnastics school for the wee'uns, and they had a grand time. Mer was the oldest there, but she loves the little ones and was just in heaven with Hailey and Shelby, who are almost six and looking up to her as they buzzed about the gym.

After cupcakes and singing, we went to my aunt's house for dinner and to celebrate the other five birthdays. Yes! Six in the span of 12 days. We have sour beef and dumplings each year, and dear god, I swear it tastes better and better each year.

Sunday we just puttered around, we girls. Other than packing and unpacking the car [all of one overnight bag, so it wasn't a huge ordeal, really] we did nothing. Mer played her DS games and once we were home, I started a new game of FFVIII. Haven't played that for a long time, and I had fun. I was going to load up FFX, but the lure of Blitzball is too strong and I'd not resurface for ages. It's probably a good thing that Blitzball isn't a real world sport.

All told, it was good... it was needed by all... and I intend to keep it like this.


*Although, PEDTM posts might just contain things like this:

Grilled Vegetable and Mozzarella Panini

Ingredients
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 medium eggplant, cut lengthwise into 8 slices (1/4 inch each)
1 medium zucchini, cut into 8 slices (1/4 inch each)
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and quartered
8 slices ciabatta
1 cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella
8 large fresh basil leaves

Preparation - Whisk vinegar, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray; place vegetables in 1 layer on sheet. Brush both sides of eggplant and zucchini with vinegar mixture. Spray all vegetables with cooking spray and place under broiler, 7 to 8 minutes, turning once and coating with cooking spray. Lightly brush 4 bottom slices of ciabatta with remaining vinegar mixture; pile veggies, cheese and basil on each of the slices. Close sandwiches; spray both sides with cooking spray. Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; add sandwiches. Place a second skillet on top of sandwiches and press down. Cook 4 minutes, flipping once. Serve.

**There will be a longer one, and most likely f-locked, so there you have it.

Enter Lily...

Or, as I will call her, Miol Draide, the great grey shark. She earned the name after sneaking upon my feet this morning and curling up around them after taking a test nibble to make sure that they were no threat to her. The brazen hussy, thinking she can endear herself to me so easily. I held out until the head butts to the face began and she was a total love sponge.

She's got a clean bill of health from the vet. Turns out our grey lady is five months old, no fleas, no mites, and almost fairly certainly going to be part of the menagerie here. While our vet didn't recognise her, we're still going to be on the look out for 'Lost Kitten' posters because she's too comfortable around people and far too healthy to have been feral. If no posters are spotted, it looks as if Lily will be staying. Puck, of course, is quite miffed. Quite. Barbie barked once at her, the token 'mind your place pipsqueak' and has since ignored her.

I need my head examined.

Well, that didn't last long...

No, really, the euphoria of a new year coming in is still here, although slightly elusive at the moment. I shall blame the weather. My shoulder and knee are in a state of constant aching from the rain, and while that's not horrible on its own, it occurring hand-in-glove with getting back into the normal routine elevates it [the ache] to a grumble worthy event.

Other grumbles? Algebra. The bane of my existence has returned with unholy glee. However, I now have geometry to attack back with, as the beastiette's class has moved into the realms of geometry.

I will never, ever again watch another news programme. Made that mistake last night, and well... enough said.

Head cold? We are currently in the midst of a wild on again/off again romance. I'm all for the off bits, but the cold is pushing for on. Hopefully I will win, but given that I went to bed at 11[!!] last night and slept until 8:30 this morning might be an ill omen. Time to step up the C again, and lay in a stock of peppers, ginger, and raw honey.

On the other hand, there is good news.

Parent/Teacher conference for the beastiette went well. Oh the horror of middle school... Her classwork and participation are 'A' level, but she's consistently failling to turn in her homework, which is odd considering that she does her homework each night. The root of the problem is the locker area, which is an absolute pit of monstrous horror and confusion, a sentiment expressed by the teachers. We went to the beastiette's locker, she opened it, had time to find all the missing assignments and give them to her teachers. We're working on a strategy for her so she can by-pass the pit of horrors from now on; and while the teachers cannot relax their rules and let her go back to get her work if she's hassled and jostled overly much, they are going to accept it from her if she takes it to the office and asks the secretaries to put the work in the teacher's in-box. I will be buying a larger binder for her and several pocket folders to go into it so she can just carry everything with her and only need to use the locker to store her coat, lunch, and book bag each day.

I am emerging from the mid-winter hibernation and beginning to turn my mind to sharing more here now that there's been some 'me' time. Granted much of that time was spent surrounded by family, but that too is good. Next time, though, I am going to find a way to sneak a few days just to myself in there, though.

I have some hand-written letters to post this week. I've just been finding my thoughts scattered trying to sit down and send emails lately, although with being back to the 9-5 routine, that might change again with the shifting energies. Still, there is a wonderful magic in pen, ink, and paper.

Other [not quite] breaking news:

The new face of Doctor Who. The internet feeding frenzy is just mind-boggling! Holy cow, people! It is a television programme. The world will not implode with this change. Hmm... If all those people just harnessed their energy and did something productive in the world, I might be able to watch the evening news again. That said, he is a bit goofy looking, but I double-dog dare you to show me one Doctor [with the exception of Peter Davison] who wasn't just a bit goofy looking. Also, I did quite like his interview in the Confidential and, as with every other new Doctor, will reserve judgment until I see his performance on screen.

With that, my coffee mug is sadly empty again and I must go remedy that before stepping back into the daily grind.

It's a good time for a Guinness

The best laid plans, eh? Got hit with the cold from hell yesterday. Took a warm bath, had a hot pot of tea, and more Vitamin C than I can tally, and then slept. Felt 100% better today, so I'm hoping that I nipped it in the bud. Considering that the tickle in my throat is mostly gone, I'm taking it as a good sign.

The beastiette decided that she wanted to come home today. She rang yesterday and I was teasing her that she missed her animals more than she missed us. Of course, today was windier than a wind tunnel on testing day, and when mum rang to let me know that they left her house, I told her to check-in with me when they got to Annapolis so I could leave. I didn't want her to drive all the way down here on New Year's Eve and she equally didn't want me to drive up to Towson, so we agreed to meet in Dunkirk, which is more or less the halfway point. Normally, it takes me 45 to get there if I go over the Solomon's Island Bridge, but with the wind today, there was no way I wanted to try that route and was going to up and cut over to Prince Frederick. It adds an extra thirty minutes, but that was fine with me. Well, they didn't call me until they were in Upper Marlborough, which is about 20-30 minutes away from Dunkirk. So, I got to go over the damned bridge.

That was not fun. It's not the height of the bridge that gets me, it's the lack of barriers that bothers me. Jersey barriers only on a bridge built for Navy ships to be able to pass under do not, in any way, inspire confidence or security. Throw in cross-winds and on-coming traffic, and it is enough to make my heart rate go up into the 100's. I made it over with now panic attacks, thanks to deep breaths and the constant stream of soothing talk that I was doing. I kept telling myself that the funny shakes and shudders were the bumps and ridges in the road surface... Proud of myself for doing that, not happy that I had to. Thankfully, many others feel that same and their was light on-coming traffic, mostly commercial vehicles now that I think about it.

Realised, that like Rincewind, it's not heights that bother me, but the sudden and unexpected bouts of extra-gravity that might occur. Especially when there are capricious winds added into the mix.

Still and all, made it and was 10 minutes later arriving than mum and beastiette who were happily noshing on chips from a pizza and sub shop. Didn't tell them that I came over the hell-bridge, after all, why worry them as I got there in one piece. We didtake the longer route back and went over the draw-bridge instead. It's much lower and has better barriers.

As for tonight, have some champagne laid in for midnight, and will have a low key night with the beasties. They are already starting in on their Simpsons marathon, although threats of LEGO Star Wars on the X-box have been bandied about. Either's wonderful as long as they aren't bickering *wink*

Happy New Year's Eve everyone.

From the holly and ivy bedecked barge of Kharon...

A belated holiday report from the River Styx.

The car was packed and loaded on Tuesday night, giving me some free time to relax, which was needed; as we went up the road to my mother's house early Wednesday morning. It was enough time to relax before getting ready to go out to my cousin's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Cousin Fabio has decided to add a beard tot he goldilocks he's sporting, so the highlight of the night was hearing his brother ask if his girlfriend was coming over for supper and then making the smart remark of 'but she'll miss singing Happy Birthday to you at midnight," when told she would be with her mother that night. Cracked us all up and Fabio is now JC.

Christmas morning, my aunt, uncle, and cousin came over for breakfast after the beasties opened their presents. Then my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece came over, more for brunch, but with a 5 and soon-to-be 3 year old, enough said about trying to get them out the door early. Then it was back out to my other cousin's house for Christmas dinner. We are fairly relaxed and low-key during the holidays. I think we're all at the age where we'd rather sit at home and enjoy each other's company along with good food and good drink instead of rushing all around trying to cram as much into the season as possible. It gets you nothing but tired and cranky.

Did nothing for Boxing/St. Stephen's Day. Slept through all the Premier League matches and will have to watch MOTD in a bit to catch the highlights.

Got back today, and am listening to the beasties play Dawn of War 4... joy. The beastiette is staying with my mother until the 3rd [lucky thing] and looking very forward to having her quiet time with her Nana. Going to pop a ham in the oven and then begin to think about relaxing tonight. If they play DoW4 all night, I just might go hide in the beastiette's room and enjoy the quiet there with the dog and the cat.