Morning

Had a late night last night, talking to Marx. He needed somebody to hug him. He got that. ( This week was rough on him. )

He was out of shock by the time he was able to finally go to bed; that's why the entire process took five hours. That's not bad, for dealing with something like this. You take as long as it takes, and then make sure it took.

One of the things that it's easy to miss around a drastic illness or other traumatic event is the witnesses, family and friends. They're going to need love and hugs and to talk it out too.

He's far more himself this morning. A little shaken, but that's only to be expected; this, however, is something that will go away on its own after a few hours or days. No more than 48 hours, I'd say.

Nephew got up the earliest. He's been very good about waiting to get up until someone's alarm clock goes off. He went to bed at eight last night, and six the night before that, so it makes sense that he'd be up early today. He got his cereal, and I made him spider orange juice.

Mabon.

Cleaning up bathroom, found something that should have been more definitively thrown out. Was about to take out trash when an idea struck me, one of those Absolutely Right ones.

Maybe a year ago, Votania was stitching Tarot deck bags, and made one bag that was not only too small, but with nasty, troublesome energy in it, energy that made certain that the only things you'd put in there would be things that you never wanted to see or show up again.

I grinned, stuffed the object in the Trouble Bag, wrapped it up tightly, carried it over to Marx. We clasped hands around it, and chanted, "Sow this no more; reap this no more", until it was done, then enlisted the aid of Nephew, and all threw it, with great energy, in the trash can.

I took out the trash.

Mmm.

Good Mabon breakfast.

I had leftover pasta salad and pastry rolls and a doughnut. Votania mixed up fruit together. She made cappucinos. Mmmm.

Nephew gets "cappucino hot chocolate", which would be hot chocolate made with steamed milk. He likes it.

Book title: Shade of the Cappucino. The steamed hot chocolate made Nephew hyper. There was much giggling, not just from him.

In other news, that, last night, had to have been a Red Book ritual.

Definitions, continued:

"No cats in family hugs!"
When I was very little, I had a stuffed lion cub. She was my cat. My parents' street is named after her, in fact. Occasionally, we would have a "family hug", with everybody hugging everybody. I would bring my cat along with me, and my father would grab her, and toss her out. "No cats in family hugs!" he would say. It was a running joke.

"No side-key pushing!"
Another family rule. My father had a portable computer, back in '89 or so, a little Compaq portable, about the size of a medium suitcase, with a keyboard that detached from the front and pulled out on a curly-cord, and then locked back on. The rule meant that only the person operating the computer could be operating the keyboard, and anyone sitting or standing to the side or behind and poking at the keyboard was out of order.

screendripping
The computer equivalent of eavesdropping: standing over someone's shoulder and reading what they're looking at on the computer. An in-joke with boojum.

Ex-couch

Finally got rid of the broken couch for Mabon. Votania is vacuuming right now. There was all sorts of crap underneath it.

Dawn

Dawn's in CA with her fiance now. Amusingly, he's yet another of the collection... yep, same name as godai and crisavec...

Unfortunately, the DeVry Career Services department has gotten a budget cut. Dawn's job, as the latest hired, is on the line. There's another person who may or may not be returning; if not, Dawn may still have a job...

Dawn graduates in five weeks at any rate, and lives with her mother. (Interestingly, her mother is a cheerful control freak busybody/screaming psycho bitch like Votania's mom can be...) When Dawn is reminded that evealone is eighteen, and Darkside and I are twenty-three and twenty-two, she is surprised, and feels old, because she keeps thinking of us as older, more her age...

Drama

It's come to my attention that I'm a focus of drama.

Why, I wonder?

Is it because I like it? That could be a possibility. It's just that it's not often my life that's got the drama in it. My drama is generally related to relationships, and I keep that as happy and silly as possible. I'd far rather make a big deal out of Darkside maybe or maybe not checking out my cleavage, or doing some heavy snuggling with a friend, than about something nasty that's going on, say the fact that BJ sent me an instant message on the 15th saying hello.

Could also be related to the fact that I tend to attract high-drama people as friends, quite a bit because I can be calm and practical as well as cheery and uplifting. Also involved: I help people. I try, at least.

Who knows.

"...you should therefore throw your lot in with the greater part."

"The will to be stupid is a very powerful force -- but there are always alternatives. Surely it's more important to be loyal to a person than a principle."

Galeni raised his eyebrows. "I suppose that shouldn't surprise me, coming from a Barrayaran. From a society that traditionally organizes itself by internal oaths of fealty instead of an external framework of abstract law -- is that your father's politics showing?"

Miles cleared his throat. "My mother's theology, actually. From two completely different starting points they arrive at this odd intersection in their views. Her theory is that principles come and go, but human souls are immortal, and you should therefore throw your lot in with the greater part."

--Lois McMaster Bujold, Brothers In Arms.

I've held by this standard for some time now. If I love a person, I love them, no matter what they do, unless they become a person that I cannot love. There are very few people who have managed to accomplish this. If you want to become unloved, establish a habitual pattern of disrespect, stupidity, cruelty. If you want to be loved, establish a pattern of kindness, thoughtfulness (the thinking part, if not the thinking of others), caring, respect. Everybody has their off days. shadesong has a system similar to mine, where the whole of her experience with a person is taken into account when weighing friendships.

The first time I read this, it struck a resonance with me. It's difficult for me to give up on a friendship. I only think I've done it three times, and I'm getting slowly back in touch with the first one.

Book

shadesong, stronae, the book you wanted to know about is Basic Sigil Magic, by Phillip Cooper.

It has Echo's disrecommendation, because it evidently says very little new about the subject, but from my perspective, it's a very nice basic manual on the concept, a book that will eventually be grown out of and passed on to the next beginner.

(no subject)

trampolinedrunk
cat of 24 claws

(no subject)

Soap!!!!!!

Note:

I am:

1. tired


2. drunk


3. caffeinated

(choose three of the above)

Quote of the evening:

"And I suppose the look of eager scientific curiousity as I lick your leg and stare at your balls is too much?"