| Sunday, November 6th, 2016 |
| 10:09 am |
Cancer
Terry's brother-in-law had a seizure last Monday and then surgery for a brain mass on Wednesday. The biopsy shows glioblastoma grade 4 malignant tumor. These are apparently the worst type of brain cancer to have. So now we wait and see how he does with chemo and radiation. On the good side it was found quickly and he's young (40) and otherwise in good health. I wrote a little about what amazing ppl Dave and Anna (and their 5 year old son) are in my fb intro to the below link. But i know you will give or not give based on your means not on how good or bad they are. Please help of you can. https://www.gofundme.com/daveroenThank you.
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| Wednesday, June 29th, 2016 |
| 9:11 pm |
Slow learner? Or adventurous?
I just had a memory float thru my head about the first time i ate at a Szechuan restaurant with some friends in nyc. I was new to the city and they wanted me to try their favorite dish. So i start eating and i comment that it's really hot! And they can't understand why i think so until someone asks "you didn't eat one of these did you?" Holding up one of the little hot peppers. How was i supposed to know? So I'm (i was?) the sort of person who doesn't watch what experts are doing closely enough to notice if they avoid something, if i think i know what I'm doing. No deep revelation about what this says about me... but hopefully I'll learn eventually.
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| Sunday, June 12th, 2016 |
| 4:06 pm |
Nicola!
My best friend Nicola visited last weekend and I'm only starting to recover from all the fun! I was able to leave work a little early and pick her up from MSP on Friday. I showed her a quick tour of the house and then we had a drink at Hola Arepa while we waited for Terry to arrive. Dinner was amazing! There's a reason there's always a line for this tiny place. Then we went to gaming. Nicola got to meet Hershey, Clay, Joe, Richard, Thorin, Elizabeth and Will among others. Saturday Terry, Nicola, and I had lunch at Midtown Global. I had Taco Cat. Nicola had Maney's Tortas, and Terry had samosas from the Indian place. Terry went off to a synthesizer meetup while Nicola and I joined JRob and Tamara for Healing Minnesota Stories Sacred Sites Tour. I thought the tour would be more history and facts but it was more emotional and lectures so i was not in the right head space for the tour. But I'm glad Tamara and JRob enjoyed it and that Nicola did get to see parts of the cities i would not normally have brought a visitor to. Next we came home to meet up with Terry and in the process Nicola (with help from Tamara, JRob, and Terry) got me my bronze recruiter badge in Ingress! Yay! and then we went to Heartland for another amazing dinner. Then we stopped briefly by Mnstf & Nicola got to meet Emily, Aaron, Peggy, Laura, Dean, Kevin and see Hershey, Clay, and Joe again. Finally we checked out a night club in NE Mpls. Lots of fun and drinking! Sunday we skipped Quaker meeting due to being out so late and went to the Blue Door to introduce Nicola to Juicy Lucies. She was a good sport and said she liked them and even tried cheese curds for the first time. Then we took her to the Como Zoo and Conservatory which was crazy busy! We finally found a parking place and someone else started waiting for it after we started but from a better position. but when the car pulled out i didn't wait for them to go forward and just swooped in! I felt a bit rude but also righteous in having been there first. Next we did a little driving tour including the cherry spoon bridge and Terry was shocked that the sculpture garden was so bare and then a trip home to recover from the heat and we watched the previous Game of Thrones episode Then on to dinner at Anchor in NE. yum! Finally we watched the new Game of Thrones episode. Monday Nicola and I went to Al's breakfast and peeked in to see the women's restroom at Loring Pasta Bar. Then we went on a bicycle tour down the Minnehaha Falls and up the creek. She agreed that the Twin Cities are beautiful and fun and she'd totally live here if it weren't for winter. I'm really proud of her that she survived the 12 mile ride which was the first time she'd been on a bike in years! and we even got rained on. Then we drove to the Mall of America so she could see Legoland and the amusement park. For dinner we ate the waldorf chicken salad I'd made for her visit. Tuesday I made Nicola my usual breakfast so that she could experience my usual morning meal and then took her back to MSP and i went to work. :( What a crazy whirlwind of fun! I'm so glad she visited and even more glad we can continue to talk by phone. :)
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| Saturday, April 2nd, 2016 |
| 12:25 pm |
My Divine Imaginary Friend
I've been attending Quaker meeting and one of the thoughts that has surfaced for me is that these ppl and other religious ppl gain benefit from listening for inspiration from the light or their belief in a divinity of some sort. I believe that these are delusions; opiates of the masses; things we tell ourselves to lessen the pain and chaos of reality. Yet I still see the psychological and motivational benefits of these beliefs. So I've been playing with the idea of worshipping "my divine imaginary friend" for a few weeks now. ( DIFCollapse ) |
| Thursday, March 3rd, 2016 |
| 9:35 pm |
Aska
I feel like I'm stalking my cat with food. You can't get away from me! You must eat! Not that she's complaining... but it was such a quick about-face on the whole not being a self regulator from. .. last year. Using Emily's tactic of watching to make sure no raptors eat her seems to help too. Good times.
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| Tuesday, December 22nd, 2015 |
| 10:19 am |
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| Monday, December 7th, 2015 |
| 8:57 am |
Coming out as polyamorous
I came out to my parents last night. they were rather gobsmacked. They still love me but it's not their ideal for me. They wanted to know who i didn't want this info shared with. A very good question. I doubt i will ever see my nephew Titus again once Phillip knows but since we are "friends" on fb and I've decided to stop hiding - he's going to find out. :( They had other questions but then just wanted to get back to our game. So better than I feared but worse than I hoped. After games i went to bed and cried. I had been so worried i think I'd just exhausted myself. Today I'm feeling glad it's done and that they seem to be behaving normally toward me. :) So I'm out! Yay!
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| Saturday, September 26th, 2015 |
| 2:51 pm |
Oops
I apparently have forgotten to read lj for so long that it won't even let me go back to where i last read it. Bummer. Must do better in the future.
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| Friday, June 12th, 2015 |
| 7:58 am |
Ingress
I made it to level 8 last night after 17 days of addiction. 240k of that was yesterday. Amazing day! Many many thanks to Terry! I can't believe he made level 8 on day 15 with only the help of the ppl he recruited and trained!! Will life go back to normal now? I doubt it. I can still feel the urge to go play. Hee hee/sigh lol!
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| Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015 |
| 8:51 am |
Ingress
I am completely addicted to a game Terry found 7 days ago called Ingress. it's an "enhanced reality" game. Basically a cross between capture the flag and geocacheing (sp?) When i say completely addicted - I've hardly done anything else for the last 7 days (Other than work and sleep). but since it is played out and about in the real world - this isn't as bad as it sounds. I've found restaurants i want to try and seen lots of beautiful locations and art i would never have seen without the game. Plus it has gotten me to take long walks and bike and generally gotten some good exercise. I recommend it if you like getting to wander around and see locations and you have a smart phone. There are 2 teams. I'm on the Enlightened if you want to be on my team (there's a back story. ..but i'm squandering valuable game time!) I'm assuming the addiction will calm down a bit soon. .. and I'll start having time to do things like read lj again!
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| Thursday, April 16th, 2015 |
| 9:24 am |
I think I'm caught up here. It took a lot of skimming tho... at least 13 pages of posts to go back thru and a couple posts with LOTS of comments. If i didn't comment on something important to you that you want to make sure i saw, please point me to it. Thanks!
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| Wednesday, April 15th, 2015 |
| 9:27 am |
whirlwind vacation
I am back in the real world after Minicon and my trip to San Francisco for Colleen & Rodrigo's wedding. There's so much i want to record here but i know me and I'd better at least get a summary down. Minicon was great! Much positive interaction. i never feel like i volunteer much because i have so much fun doing it, but if i count up the hours - i put in almost 2 full work days (including Tuesday and Wednesday setup) so i guess i shouldn't feel bad. I wish I'd had more time to digest Minicon before my trip to CA, bc it's all a haze now. .. but i had a good time. :) ok on to CA! I don't seem to travel much anymore. I've been promising Colleen I'd come visit her for. .. yikes - over a decade. But it took her wedding to get me to face my travel fears and actually do it. and I'm so glad i was able to! the trip started well with the guy who scanned my bag agreeing with my "Lyanna + Rhaegar = Jon?" shirt. Lol! The flight was fine & they were able to pick me up at the airport. CA looks SO different from The Midwest! I kept taking pictures of the landscape but they just don't capture it. They put me up on they're couch/futon and it was such a blessing to be there and get to spend so much time with them as they prepared. They are amazing individuals and i have faith they will be a strong couple. this was my first time meeting Rodrigo in person. He was probably the most stressed he's ever been in his life (There was a death in the family i don't want to go into) and he showed amazing coping skills and self awareness. The wedding itself was transformative. they based it on the Cosmic Mass that i think Matthew Fox started. So unlike any other wedding. In acommunity center. They put up 6 altars (focus stations): family, self, earth, romance, red tent, & friendship. I can't capture how amazing it was so I'll list the parts here and hope that the video comes out. Conch shell, greeting each other like long lost friends, tech difficulties that we sang through, video from Matthew Fox, circle dance, poem: we have come to be danced, 20 min of freeform community dance, pelting each other with flowers, via negative with permission to cry, blessings, vows, and being wrapped in the quilt we all contributed to. There was also this amazing song that goes from i am not afraid to i am so afraid and back. I've never seen a wedding that allowed space for how scary the step is and it was beautiful. my take away from the wedding was that i need some thing in my life that allows me to connect more. There so much more! Colleen and Rodrigo gave me more of their time the next day before they left on their honeymoon! They took me to see 2 amazing views. One on a hill in El Cerrito and the other at the Berkley Marina. Then cafe gratitude. And they dropped me at Games of Berkley. I wondered in Berkley for an hour (saw a protest for homeless rights) and then took BART to Debbie's (i can't remember how to do lj tags right now). Alan and Debbie fed me a scrumptious meal and we caught up and then they let me go to bed early. I slept 11 hours! What a gift. Friday was my 1 fully tourist day On my own. I rode 2 cable cars, visited ghiradelli square, rented a bike and biked across the Golden Gate Bridge! took a ferry passed Alcatraz, rode a city bus, saw the women's building, ate organic ice cream, visited borderland books, visited dandelion chocolates, made it to the gaming meetup group I'd looked up, and introduced 2 young gamers to creme brulee at the little shop around the corner from gaming. What a day! Saturday Debbie let me tag along to her Tai Chi class, then i met up with my friend Sarah who i know from Jr high. We ate at Gracias Madre, visited Bolerium Books, Clarion alley's murals, and Good Vibrations. Then BART and flight home. People were so friendly and helpful. Including 1 time in Oakland when i stopped to write a note on my phone and a woman came out of her house in a bathrobe and asked if i needed help finding something! I may never get out to California again. This trip will be a warm memory of friendship and adventure. I am so lucky to have been able to go thanks to the help of my beloved friends. :)
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| Wednesday, April 1st, 2015 |
| 11:59 am |
Jehovah's witnesses
Man at door: we are inviting ppl to our event. I look at brochure and see Jehovah's witnesses. Me: Jehovah's witnesses - no thank you. JW says something non offensive Me: I'm glad you have something that works for you. JW starts to walk away then: i hope you can try to think differently. Me: i hope the same for you. JW smiles wryly and walks away. So - we tried to stay respectfully but our true thoughts came out in the end. It's almost enough for me to want to knock on doors and tell ppl they have a right not to feel pressured or guilty if they believe differently from ppl knocking on their doors.
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| Friday, March 27th, 2015 |
| 10:38 am |
Goldilocks
I tried calling dad yesterday but he had groceries that needed putting away before they defrosted. Today i tried again but he had a burger he didn't want to get cold. maybe tomorrow will be just right... *sigh*
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| Friday, February 6th, 2015 |
| 10:19 am |
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| Monday, January 19th, 2015 |
| 11:19 am |
glasses
This is a public service announcement to remember to check the screws on your glasses regularly. Check them now. That is all.
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| Wednesday, December 31st, 2014 |
| 3:20 pm |
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| Monday, December 22nd, 2014 |
| 2:13 pm |
oops?
Poll: when someone does something socially inappropriate in a group of friends and no one gets hurt by it, do u: 1) immediately point it out? Look what you just did! Knowing things will keep going and be ok? 2) point it out in a joking voice? Hey idiot! We can count on you to keep things entertaining around here. 3) point it out with an education compassion tone. 4) point it out with no agenda. (Really?) 5) move on. 6) fiercely ignore it and glare at anyone who looks like they might bring it up. This is entirely hypothetical. I will put my answer in the comments.
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| Friday, December 12th, 2014 |
| 9:31 am |
why am i surprised that homophobes still exist?
my brother-in-law who is a conservative Lutheran pastor posted on fb a link to this article "seven things i wish my pastor knew about my homosexuality" http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2014/12/14149/The title of the article got up my hopes that perhaps Phillip was actually opening up to accepting homosexuality. But no. The poor lesbian (bisexual?) writer wants compassion for her misdirected longings and to be given as much credit for being celibate as straight ppl who choose to be celibate. She talks about wishing other christians had better ways to help her change. And now she's happily heterosexually married. Whee! this makes me feel so sick inside. The twists a person has to go through to deny their reality and make it fit the bullshit religious ideas they are being fed. Half of me wants to engage in the debate with him (again) half of me knows better. I get too angry to argue effectively with him. And he's not going to change. And i suck at changing ppl's minds. I'm not even sure why fb decided to show me this post. I just made the mistake of looking at his fb wall and in the post before it he is agreeing the conservatives are the intellectual descendents of all that is good while liberals are fascists. I guess it's good to be reminded why i choose not to associate with him. He can seem loving and kind when we stay away from charged topics. I can almost forget that his job is to reinforce the insane, self-hating form of christianity that too many of us are or were trapped in.
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| Wednesday, December 10th, 2014 |
| 8:10 pm |
brains are weird
I just tried to type NY when referencing a place I used to live, but I actually typed MN which is where I live now. Brains are weird. At least mine is. |
