Holidays

It's been a weird year. New beginnings indeed.

End of a marriage.
Spouse changing sex.
Sale of a house.
New house.
Starting school.
New directions.

It means holidays are going to be difficult: maybe moreso than in the past. Then again, maybe not. At least I'm not dealing on a day to day basis with anyone ELSE's "Old Christmas Issues".

Anyhow, having survived Thanksgiving without deep depression, thought I'd do Christmas prep before diving back into school and the approaching finals.

Pictures are here: http://www.faloshi-studios.com/holidays.html

Indianapolis?

Had the granddaughter for a bit this week, culminating in the family Thanksgiving dinner, which was a great good bit of fun. We spent a day at the museum again, met some New People (for her), and just generally played quite a bit.

She kept talking about apple juice, though, even when she a) wasn't thirsty b) wasn't drinking or c) was drinking something else, and it was a bit of a bafflement.

Until Thanksgiving. Until someone asked her about Going To Grandma's House. And Where Grandma Lives.

Apple Juice. (Indian) Apple Juice, Indiana.

Reminds me of my childhood.

We were driving to my grandparents' house, which was in Apache, Oklahoma. I did the standard "are we there yet" often enough that my dad explained that we would have to go through Anadarko first, and I should watch for Anadarko before asking again.

But I kept asking.

Every time we went under any sort of overpass, actually.

His frustration increasing, he finally asked "WHAT did I tell you about asking again?"

And I replied, "You said it'd be after we go in a dark hole......"

My parents found it far funnier than I did, oddly enough......

Felines and Religion......

I happened to look over at the end table, this evening, to note Sarah Jane Sparklecat Getouttathere sitting on my notebook of notes from my RCIA class. She was reaching down with one paw, flicking through the pages---the ways of cats are mysterious on the best of days. While she was doing this, she was also bathing her chest.

Cats and religion? What's their take on it all?

Well, apparently Sarah's take is that she's Cat-lick.


[groan at will, she said, ducking mightily......]

More Weird Signs......

It's not my area of expertise by any means, but somewhere along the line I got the impression that the whole spiritual purpose of the general Hindu/Buddhist world view was tranquillity, becoming one with the universe, detachment from the world and the things thereof.....

Now it might be that that doesn't exclude emotional exuberation, but somehow I've always read it as doing so. So it struck me as funny when I got behind a car the other day whose spare tire cover read

OM WOO

Hmm. "Ommmmmmm. Woo!!" Seems incongruous, no? :)

It's another one of those "letters missing" bits, and the car dealer the guy bought his car from's called Tom Wood. But it's much more interesting reading it the way it appears on the car :)

WWND?

Driving through downtown Indianapolis the other day, as I do on the way to class, I noticed a sign I assumed had one letter unlit and it got me to thinking.

Ok, if we specify modern day and age, an urban setting, what exactly would Noah do? You'd need a big---garage-sized?---space to build in without too many walls getting in your way; you'd need an address and a sign so the folks shipping in all the exotic not-native-to-Indianapolis pairs of critters had somewhere to send them to.

Something very like---perhaps exactly like---the large establishment with the well lit sign that said:

ARKING

Hmmm.

Obscure talents and functions....

Everyone has a variety of things they're Particularly Good At.

Some of them are good, some are bad. Probably most of them just are: no moral quality built in whatsoever.

Some are useful, some are not. And some it takes a long time to recognize as being a special function, something that one does that not everyone does.

I've realized that one of mine is providing a habitat for homeless itches. No Itch Left Behind.

The program's headquarters are right between my shoulder blades, with major subdivisions housing unfortunate itches established on both shoulder blades.

I've always found this to be somewhere between mildly irksome and downright irritating, depending on the aggression level of the itches involved, but that was a biased and self-centered view of the situation. Looking at it all from a different perspective---the perspective of the itch---it's a community service, and one for which I should be proud to suffer a bit from time to time.

So we smile, and put up that front when dealing with the itch community in public, and accept the Itchitarian Award.......

....and in the darkness of the night, when no one is looking, plot murder most vicious against the fiercest of the itches.......knowing that it will soon be forgotten and another itch will move into its home..........

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

Haven't posted since before the move, so here's the "previously on Boston Legal" bit for what's gone on since May....

Sold the house (July)
Bought new house (July)
Started school (August)

Now we're up to mid-terms.

Grandbaby came to visit this weekend for the first time since the move. Took her to the Children's Museum. She had an absolute ball....

Guess I'm settled in now. Time to write some more.