five thousand shades of blue

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one week

Closer to the end of the year, a year I thought would hold much more promise than it did. But that's ok. It's almost over.

Went to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets after watching the DVD of the first one. That was great fun. I needed a lot of brain candy after this week. Rowlings' stories may be brain candy but they're the Ferrero Rocher of brain candy. High end stuff.

Had a major cleaning/decorating jag on Saturday, which included hanging some artwork that's been languishing in a pile upstairs as well as cleaning the bedroom and hanging a lamp and some mini white Christmas lights. Consequently? Tired today. I stayed up too late (3am) and knocked myself off my schedule.

I'm here

And for the most part it's ok and I'm ok, aside from the righteous anger against unscrupulous parties and (certain) lawyers (but that's probably redundant). I just don't feel like saying much.

baaaaack

And I need a weekend to recover. Not that I did anything overly stressful. I slept in. Watched movies and TV shows I couldn't get unless I had Super Jumbo Doubly Bitchin' Cable (aka Digital Cable). Visited some shops I'd wanted to get to, and so on. Beautiful weather though: high 60s, sunshine, nary a cloud in the sky. Returned to find temperatures in the 40s and raining (of course). Made for a very interesting drive home from Portland Airport.

However, today it almost felt like I dragged some of that good weather home with me. Wonderful sunshiney day, and if it didn't hit 70 I'll eat my hat. Tonight: bedtime comes early, as I'm convinced I'm fighting off a cold (Andra lost the battle and stayed home sick today). I cannot afford to be sick, not at all.

Big hugglies to Ms. Merlin, who was lovely enough to send me the first Harry Potter movie on DVD.

away from it all

I'm in the SF bay area right now, so ya won't hear a lot from me for a few days.

I will say that I think the interview went very well, and I continue to be hopeful. :D

duh

Several times today I have blanked out on the date. That's just not right. Must be the price to pay for old age. ;)

I have an interview at 4:30 pm. Fingers crossed!

I like it when the good outweighs the bad

Three people I know who have been looking for work for a long time found employment within the past week. One of those people was offered three different jobs (since one of them was doing laundry for the already-departed travelling Beauty and the Beast, she took two of them). And still another friend was offered piles of money ($16-$24 an hour) to help pack out the same show.

Andra is applying for Tech Lead position at work, which has so blossomed into a much better job than either of us ever expected.

The company that she works for also just announced that they'll be offering health benefits come the new year, which extend to domestic partners. So that means that for the first time since 1994, I will have health insurance.

Remember Uchral? Seems a couple in Colorado who are planning on adopting her were doing a search on what "Uchral" means and found that there very entry, and wrote to me. I'm so excited to know that this baby, who was abandoned in a city taxicab (probably in Ulan Bataar), will come to live with a loving family close enough that I might even be able to visit.

I won't go into the details of the not-so-good, because, you know? They're not so bad either, and not insurmountable.

blustery night

Between the rain and the wind, I think that the trees in the front yard shed all of their leaves overnight. There were neat little walls of leaves surrounding the car that I'm pretty sure weren't there last night.

An appreciative shout out to my friend Billbill, who gave me an early birthday gift: Nick Bantock's Alexandria... signed personally to me, and I don't mean just a first name. (The man must think I have a network of spies or something. Wheee!) Excellent read. Will have to read again since I'm sure there's some layer of meaning I missed, reading impatiently last night.

For all appearances, the horizon was burning this morning, the brilliant orange along the eastern edge like a red hot flame. Above that, seemingly for miles, were starkly lit pink clouds. It was a marvel of nature and the kind of sunrise that I could never hope to capture (even if I had remembered to bring my camera with me).

Speaking of, I used to carry a camera with me all the time. During my UFO fascination phase I was convinced that if I were only prepared with a camera I could take a picture of any one I happened to see. I still think it's a good idea, just not necessarily to capture extraterrestrials on film; now if I could only remember to keep it with me.

And not to get all political... woke to find that the Republicans are now in control of the House and Senate. Where are we going, and why are we in this handbasket?

Had four inches taken off of my hair this weekend. I was just tired of sitting on it. (I know. Boo hoo.) So it's still past my hips but I'm no longer in danger of giving myself whiplash.

After that heavy post? New cat pictures!

friday five

I don't always do these, but this one's pretty thought provoking.

1. Were you raised in a particular religious faith?

I was raised Roman Catholic. I have very pleasant memories of attending church as a child. The first church I went to was, to my young eyes, like a cathedral: high vaulted ceilings that rose into darkness, candles burning, stained glass, the scent of incense in the air. I knew nothing of Protestantism because I didn't really know anyone who wasn't Roman Catholic. I also have pretty good memories of church school, like the fact that we had frequent pizza parties and a pastor who taught class who encouraged discussion and debate. There were no knuckles rapped with rulers or feelings of utter damnation if I missed a week of Mass. I made a point to go every week because it made me feel good, not because I was told I had to.

2. Do you still practice that faith? Why or why not?

I don't. I realized sometime in my early years of college, as I studied art history and the repetitious themes that are appropriated from earlier ages' religions by later ones, that we as humans give new names to the same old forces we believe to be in the sky. I also refused to believe that people who simply did the religious two-step would get preference by God/dess/Divine in the afterlife over those who lived good, honest lives every day but did not abide by organized religion's constructs -- and I realized that I always had believed that. It wasn't honest of me to continue practicing as a Roman Catholic.

Many of the things I did like about it -- the sense of ritual, the honouring of the divine -- were what drew me to Wicca and neo-paganism, but I wouldn't call myself a slavish practitioner of that either. I do what feels right in my heart and soul. Once I saw a bumper sticker that read: "MILITANT AGNOSTIC: I don't know and you don't, either". That's kind of me. :)

3. What do you think happens after death?

I like to think that maybe we are just spiritual beings having a corporeal experience, and there is a pleasant place we all return to when we're done. Maybe some of us hang around, lost and afraid to move on. Maybe we also return again and again to learn our lessons. Maybe there's a little bit of truth in every one of the world's religions, like facets of a gem. That would make more sense to me than one religion being the One True Way.

Maybe the atheists have it right, and we just cease to exist. I don't know, and you don't either. Not really, not for certain. ;)

4. What is your favorite religious ritual (participating in or just observing)?

As a child, I once got the very great honour of crowning Mary with a wreath of flowers on May Day. I was very proud and humbled.

As an adult? I really enjoy the concept of Samhain (aka Hallowe'en). It's the Celtic New Year, and is traditionally when the "veil between the worlds" (living and dead) is thinnest, and reputedly the best time to 'speak' to our loved ones who have passed away. It's mostly a time for reflection and communication, and in a way, great consolation. I didn't get to do anything like that last night because I was just so busy getting ready for my meeting today. And with a report to do that's due by midnight, tonight's not looking so good either. Maybe tomorrow.

Come to think of it, all of the major neo-pagan holiday festivals that I've ever participated in have been absolutely wonderful, so it's pretty hard to choose.

5. Do you believe people are basically good?

I like to think so. My experiences with strangers doing kind deeds far outnumber the ones where strangers take advantage. I think everyone likes to feel that warm, happy, fuzzy feeling that they get when they've done altruistic good, unless they're so hardened by a tough life that they're basically in a "kill or be killed" mode, or seriously, irrevocably mentally ill and don't operate with the same set of rules that the rest of us do.

is this just not enough…?

i feel

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