The Emily Dickenson poem

The soul selects her own society,
Then shuts the door;
On her divine majority
Obtrude no more.

Unmoved, she notes the chariot's pausing
At her low gate;
Unmoved, an emperor is kneeling
Upon her mat.

I've known her from an ample nation
Choose one;
Then close the valves of her attention
Like stone.

This describes my method of choosing friends quite well. I get to know people, and only those who pass the most stringent requirements get to become true, closest friends. I get to know many, be acquainted, friendly, friends with many, but...

My society numbers few.

Drink Components

For quite a while now, I've been accumulating a Bartender's Closet. While the household isn't exactly what I'd call a heavily drinking household, we do enjoy drinks every now and then, and a wide variety thereof.

So, bit by bit, I've been accumulating a top closet shelf full of interesting things to be drinking. This would be over the past year and a half or so, ever since I've been old enough to buy this sort of thing. Non-professional bartending is one of my latest hobbies, one that I dabble in, yet take seriously enough to collect supplies for every now and then. Since the alcohol turnover in the household is so low, the bottles collect.

Picked up a few more things for the closet today. Darkside had mentioned wishing to try Long Island Iced Tea; I picked up a nice large bottle of mixer for that, add your own vodka and some cola. If he actually wants to try it, we can make it as strong or as mild as he likes...

I got a bit of gin and some vermouth and some other standard drink ingredients. The eventual idea is to be prepared to mix many, many interesting and potentially delicious drinks should the occasion call for it (even though it rarely does).

I really need to organize that closet.

The Other Lord of the Dance

http://www.locksley.com/cthulhu/lotd.htm

Morning.

Not enough sleep last night. Got into some nice conversation, though. Wish I'd had longer to sleep. There should be more hours in a day.

Knowing I need to be doing more cleanup stuff.

Five New Years

...Really, I do have five.

I celebrate the secular December 31/January 01 new year the most. It's the one I've grown up celebrating, and it means the most to me. Traditions will do that.

Next, I celebrate Chinese New Year. Again, a celebration I grew up with, more an excuse to throw a party and eat that delightful bean candy stuff that I haven't had in years. My father made a point to make friends with the Chinese grad students coming into UAF, because they were strangers in a strange land and he doesn't like people to feel alone and left out, and that meant for us children, more holidays, more friends, and interesting things to eat (though I could, at the time, have done without the chili oil in the soy sauce that I ate unexpectedly. They tell me that I was rather dignified, even with tears pouring out of my little eyes).

After that, a holiday unique to myself, my former fiancee the Lady E., perhaps at one point boojum, and of course pyrogenic: Joshian New Year. The Lady E. and I started a cult to worship pyrogenic, you see, and the cult had a new year based on his birthday. We were fourteen and fifteen; Pyro was sixteen. It was delightfully silly.

Finally, Samhein. I celebrate it, of course, but it's never really pinged as "New Year" to me, perhaps because I have so many. The symbolism of the snow, and the death of the old year touch me, but somehow don't equate to "New Year." I suppose that's because I think of New Year as birth, and celebration, rather than black deep hibernation? Ostara is a far more logical New Year to me.

Also showing up on my New Year radar is the New Year from the Jewish part of my heritage. It's a heritage I haven't explored as much as I might, or as much as I might like, but it's still there. I've never celebrated that new year, but I will at some point in my life.


I have five, or more, different celebrations of a new year to mark. Every day, really, is new...

Peace (and love)

House is happy-clean, couch has had the blanket that we use to cover the substandard fabric of it pinned to it rather than just laid atop it, kitchen floor is scrubbed, stew is brewing, costumes are on, and the waiting for everybody to show up has begun.

Party On.

evealone and ralmathon are here now; ralmathon came bearing jello shots.

I'm electing to remain sober, at least until Darkside gets here.

The good recipe for jello shots is wild raspberry jello with strawberry wine. Mmm.

Yay.

Darkside's here.

There are various forms of fun happinesses happening. Clover's here too, as are ralmathon and evealone, as well as me, Nephew, and votania. Neighbor's playstation games are also present, and Votania is sharing the joys of Lenore with Darkside.

Today's going to be one of my quiet days.

(no subject)

Being able to play some damn stupid fighting game shouldn't even matter to me.

Beh.

The guys are playing the silly game in the living room. Wish I knew how to play.

*sigh*

Love Darkside.

The tag-team barged into my room, dragged my reason for being grumpy out of me, dragged me back out into the living room, and Darkside started to do what no one else has ever done for me: started to teach me the basics of playing fighting games.

We continued until my thumb started to get sore.

Darkside and evealone are playing each other again now, and I've been rubbing Darkside's back.

(no subject)

...although rubbing Darkside's back seems to be obnoxious behavior.

Ghaaa.

Trying to balance with each other is difficult sometimes.