My dear friend Eve is getting married.

We’ve known each other a hell of a long time. We met when we were in the 9th grade. 1986. We’ve been through a lot. We’ve had times when we were distant and times when we were seemingly insuperable. Times when he hardly talked and times when we made an effort to mail a letter to each other every day. We went to our Senior Prom together, and we went to our Ten Year Anniversary together.

We both had big hair at one point, but hers was much bigger.

She knew me when I was fat, and she knows me now. I knew her when her hair was a different color every week and when she started carrying a chihuahua around in her purse.

She was one of my groomsmen at my wedding. Unfortunately, because life sometimes gets in the way, I cannot attend hers.

But I will be thinking of her. And of her new husband.

I can’t remember how long they have been together, but I do remember many conversations about him. Never once do I recall a conversation where she said he treated her badly. No conversations about how he didn’t pay attention to her needs, or that he was insensitive. In fact, while there were occasional gripes, most of our conversations that revolved around him were about how happy he made her, and how hopefully one day they would make it official and get married.

That day is coming.

I’m proud of you, pooka. And I’m happy for you. I will be there this weekend, in spirit if nothing else. Every time you see an Elvis impersonator think of me and know that I’ll be hoping you get a Hunka Hunka Burning Love without needing to sing the Jailhouse Rock. Try not to get into too much trouble.

God knows with the group you’re taking that’s going to be rough.

But at least, if you do, you’ll have a loyal and loving man at your side to deal with it.

—

And on another note…

My sister K. called. She and her man are making it official. They are getting married, and she has asked me to walk her down the aisle in our Father’s place.

Yeah.

It’s an emotional kind of morning.

Blah. Blah. House introspection.

Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve sat down and eaten a whole pint of ice cream?

Do you know how long it’s going to be before I do it again?

Oy.

My new Calphalon knives are sharp. REALLY sharp. I have a huge chunk of flesh missing on my index finger that proves it.

When one has an open wound on the finger one should remember to put a bandage on it before making a bed. Ouch.

Typing without your index finger is a pain in the ass.

When pulling one of the old chain link fence posts out of the ground we broke a section of PVC pipe in the sprinkler system. I had a small pond in my side yard earlier today.

I have a new pair of chucks. This makes me happy.

I have a new grill on my front porch. This also makes me happy.

I used a sick day today because my finger hurt too much to spend the day typing. This makes me sad.

I am a judge in a web design contest tomorrow at Robinson High School. This makes me feel old.

If you are having problems with your cable service and they offer to have a technician come out on a weekend day – DON’T DO IT. They don’t want to be there, so it’s just going to be a waste of your time.

So I have spent the majority of today cooking. I made a Spinach and Cheddar Frittata with toast for K.’s Mother’s Day breakfast, and then I whipped up some California Rolls and Vietnamese Spring Rolls for my Mom and Sister. I’ve got the kitchen cleaned from all of that, and now I’m working on Dinner. Steak and Potatoes.

Whoo!

My back hurts from standing in the kitchen all day, but the rewards of cooking good food for important ladies makes it worth it.

Made some really spiffy stuff the other night, too. There is a picture of it on K.’s camera. Will post it when I can.

Having seen them twice I can honestly say that VNV Nation is just about the best live band I’ve ever had the honor of seeing. One of the things I like the most is Ronan’s communication with the audience. Both times he has been witty, amiable and charming. In that regard he reminds me of Warren Zevon or Tori Amos.

You know what else I like about him? The fact that he has a good sense of humor (for the most part) about the SimRonan stuff (a parody of him by a guy named Bogart that he joked about the last time we saw him) and he doesn’t have that angsty artist “you must appreciate my new material” business going on. Don’t get me wrong – I understand putting out new stuff, but I hate it when you go to see a band and they hardly play any of the songs that made them famous or you get a feeling like they resent doing so. David Bowie, as much as I love him, often seems to take that attitude about his older stuff and (If I’m not mistaken) has vowed not to play it anymore. Me? I’d be sorely disapointed if I saw Bowie and he didn’t play “Changes.”

Anyway, last night before playing “Beloved” Ronan asked the crowd “How many of you came here tonight JUST to hear this song?”

The crowd went crazy.

He said “Thank You” and bowed.

That’s some serious gratitude right there.

So yeah. Great concert. Great friends. Teasing the ladies with the kilt. Dancing next to netgoth on the floor.

HELL of a night.

—

To all the women in my life who are Mothers, Step-Mothers or Grandmothers…but especially to My Mother, My Sisters, and My amazing other half netgoth

Happy Mothers Day

Anyone who knows me knows that I owe what I am to the two women who raised me. My Dad left early, so it was My Mom and Sister who really taught me to be the Man who I turned out to be. Sure, in some respects that might have made me a bit more effeminate than I would have been had I been raised by a Man, but I’m pretty damned happy with the overall result, personally.

Being a Mother has got to be one of the hardest jobs around, and doing it alone has got to be next to impossible. My Mom had my Sister to help with me. K – You’ve pretty much done it on your own. For that you have my utmost respect and admiration, even if you don’t always feel like you have done a good job. You’ve never given up on J., no matter how hard it’s been, and that makes you an awesome Mom in my book. Some day he’s going to thank you for that. It might be a long time coming, but he will.

To my sister, K. – Happy First Mother’s Day, kiddo. I remember what it was like having A. around your age and I do not envy you some of the rough times you have ahead. M. is a beautiful baby, though, and you’re doing a hell of a job so far. I’m proud of you.

I love you all.

I would be lax if I didn’t mention two other people. blood4fngrpaint – Call me crazy, but I almost feel like an extended family member as I watch little Ronin grow inside of you. You are one of the cutest pregnant Mom’s I’ve ever seen, and I really look forward to watching you guys raise him. He’s going to be an awesome kid.

And last, but not least…Respect to my ex. You and I were meant to do one thing in the grand scheme of the universe – Bring A. into the world. Despite what happened between us and the disputes we still have on occasion, I will never deny that you have been a kick ass Mother to my Son, and for that you will always have some amount of respect from me.

—

I’m off. Got some goofin’ off I want to do before I start with the Mothers Day cooking. Hope you guys are having a great day.

..but is it even worth it to get upset anymore when the cable company people make you nervous by not showing up until the very tail end of their appointment window? The last time this happened they didn’t show up at all, and we got some kind of incredible bullshit story about how he was there but nobody answered the door (did he call? noooo) so they just closed the ticket.

Lovely, huh?

So yeah, we’re waiting for them to come and fix whatever it is that is causing our internet connection to be craptastic. It’s been frustrating. What really frightens me is that most of my friends don’t have Business Class and actually have to jump through a bunch of lame hoops before they even get to a technician.

In other news, I got my annual review this week. It was great. Got the maximum available increase. Whoo!

I’m pretty tired at the moment, which kinda sucks because we’re going to see VNV tonight.

Umm…that’s it.

But this takes the cake.

Wow.

Ganked from cavalorn

This is not a satire.

Amazing what you find on the CoH forums. 😀

I could kiss this woman. Seriously.

And on a completely opposite note, Orson Scott Card is an ass. I understand that Star Trek isn’t the finest Science Fiction ever, and that most of it is pretty lame to tell the truth, but some of the comparisons that he makes are totally fucked. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? Being John Malkovich? Buffy The Vampire Slayer? Sci-Fi? Ok, I understand that they technically might fit the bill, but comparing Star Trek to Buffy is like comparing Northern Exposure to Days of Our Lives. While they may very well be in the same genre they are by no means the same thing. The only Space Opera type of show that he mentioned was Firefly, and I will totally agree that the few episodes that came out were better than most of what came out of the Star Trek franchise.

But that doesn’t mean Star Trek completely sucked.

To top it all off he points out that the people who originally watched the series did so because they didn’t know there was anything better out there. Ok, maybe that’s true in some cases but not all of them. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that most of the people who are “rabid” Trekkers have also read most of the authors on his list. Even if what he says is true, how many people wouldn’t have a clue who Harlan Ellison was if they hadn’t watched “City On The Edge Of Forever?”

My personal take? For one, he’s being a total fucking hypocrite. How much money has he milked out of Ender’s Game? He’s written at least 10 books that I could find in that series, and he’s also negotiating Movie and Video Game rights. Sounds to me like someone is just jealous that his shit hasn’t been milked for as much cash as Roddenberry’s. Secondly, and more important, he’s being damned ungrateful. In the 60’s Star Trek was to many children what Star Wars was to kids in the late 70’s – An eye opening look into a world that they had never seen before. Orson Scott Card would do well to remember that he probably owes the Star Trek franchise for igniting the Science Fiction spark in many of his readers.

And no, I’ve never read any of his books. After this, I may not. While I don’t dress up or speak Klingon I consider myself a Trekker, and Mr. Card has just slapped me and those like me in the face.

So to hell with him. Live long and prosper, beeyatch.

Ha Ha! I’m using the internet!