Atropa Belladonna

~ Raven (a.k.a. Nightshade)'s Weblog ~


These are the ARCHIVES of MAY 2004. For more archives, visit the Archives page. For the current Weblog entries, check the Main page.


Mon, May 31, 2004 (4:35pm)

Well I've got all the paperwork signed for Kalen's new Dayhome. She'll be going there three days per week starting tomorrow. That means I'll have more time to work with Connor... which, by the way, is going well. He's got a long ways to go, but after just 2 weeks of working with him, he's doing noticeably better. Looking forward to the Dr's appointment I've booked for him on Thurs to discuss some of my concerns, tho.

A quick side-note: The Gollum statue has found a home, now. Thanks.

Accomplishment of the Day: 30 sit-ups, 10 push-ups.

Sun, May 30, 2004 (1:45am)

Mmm, it's been a good couple of days.

The Purgatory game on Friday was a riot. Thankyou Dave and Lazarus for all the work which you guys put into it.

Today Shades offered to let me sleep in, but I actually got excellent sleep overnight (meaning a good 7 hours, broken only by one middle-of-the-night feeding)... so I got up with the kids instead. We played, and made pancakes for brunch, and Shades joined us a little after 11. I went shopping with Kalen and Jasen in the afternoon, so Connor could get some Daddy-time. Costco, as a Children's Hospital fundraiser, had games and face-painting and a cotton-candy vendor on site. Kalen was lifted up by Mommy so she could see how cotton candy was spun, and she was every bit as fascinated with the process as I had been as a kid (the candy appears out of nowhere! - It's like a Miracle!)

In the afternoon, I skipped my nap to get a bunch of cleaning and reorganizing done. Our video collection has been thinned, and our DVDs rearranged. The livingroom is a hint less cluttered, too (and every bit helps). I even managed to clean the fishtank, which was in serious need of some work.

Davyd and Myrna came over in the evening, bringing Captain and some Catan for entertainment. We played a complicated Seafarer's scenario which requires two of the basic set, and plays to 18 points. It took a lot of setup time, and the game ran for nearly 4 hours, but it was a fascinating variant.

Now it's late, and I'm headed to bed.

- - -

Quick query: Does anyone want a 'Gollum' statue, from the Two Towes boxed set? I have one free to a good home.

Fri, May 28, 2004 (12:35am - revised at 9:30am)

(I've re-written my previous entry. This one contains the same info, but in less meandering format.)

Today, I:

  • learned 5 basic guards (stances) and 8 cuts (slashes), at the AES meeting.
  • discovered muscles in my forearms which I didn't know existed, but which will probably remind me of their aching presence for the next few days.
  • felt very good about my body, and the fact that I'm taking steps to make it stronger and more aesthetically appealing.
  • ran into an old friend outside BP's... but not a LRPS friend. Someone I knew before LRPS.
  • stood in the rain and talked with him: the first guy I ever went out on a real date with. My first "boyfriend". The first person who made me feel, inside, like there might still be hope for someone who was 17 yrs old and had never kissed a guy.
  • contemplated how much I've changed, and how much I haven't, in 15 years.
  • felt good about myself, and who I've become.
  • had a couple very good conversations at BP's
  • Saw Harv, and got a retroactive archival back-up of Spirited Away (DVD) from him, to replace the one which my kids scratched up.
  • got home from BP's before midnight!
  • was particularly pleased to discover that my sister now maintains a weblog: Life with a Red-Headed Stepchild
  • was displeased to discover I had written down my friend's webpage addy wrong, while standing in the rain and talking with him. Which sucks, 'cuz I was gonna get his email addy off his webpage.
  • spent 20 futile minutes running various permutations of his name, screen name, web-comic's name, etc. through Google, to see if I could track it down. Sometimes, Google sucks.
  • missed my cute baby, and enjoyed spending time with him before I went to bed. Wow, I love my kids so much more after I've had time away from them.


Wed, May 26, 2004 (2:45pm)

BTW - Jasen is 3 months old today! This isn't just an accomplishment for him, but for me as well. I've stuck to my decision to keep him exclusively breast-fed for the first three months of his life. From today on, though, if he needs a bottle while I'm away - he gets formula. If he wakes up more than twice in the night to feed, he gets formula... and I'm likely to get Daddy to be the one who gets up to give him his feeding. Plus, it's now possible for Shades and I to plan activities together which do not center around 'getting home in time to feed the baby'.

Oh, I am so looking forward to having one less full-time job! Okay... being a wet-nurse to a baby might not seem like that tough a job (you get to eat a lot, and then sit on your butt to feed the kid. How hard can it be?) but it's remarkably taxing. It honestly feels - all the time - like I just got off a full 40 hour week of work. I'm constantly tired, dragging, and walking around in the fog which low-blood sugars induces.

With both the other kids, I really noticed a huge shift in my energy levels when I began to wean them. Considering how much else I've got on my plate right now, I suspect Jasen will be weaned faster than the other kids were. I can't wait to feel like my own person again, and no longer be at the mercy of a lactating mother's hormones.
Wed, May 26, 2004 (2:00pm)

Our livingroom (like those of most houses sheltering toddlers) has a Big Box o' Toys in it.

Kalen: Mommy! Look what I found in the box! It's a hammer!

Raven: That's a reflex hammer, Kalen. Doctors use it to tap your knee and see if you give a little kick.

Kalen: Oh. What's this?

Raven: That's the thermometer. You use it to check a person's temperature with. Except, in our house, we usually use a thermoscan for checking temperature. Our thermoscan goes in your ear. That thermometer goes in a person's mouth.

Kalen: Open up your mouth Mommy! I'm checking your temper.

Raven (smirking, with a plastic toy half-in, half-out of my mouth): That's temperature.

Kalen: Okay, you don't have a temper. Here, Mommy, now I'm using this.

Raven: That instrument is for checking in a person's ears.

Kalen: I know that, Mommy. It's an autoscope! Um... you have no bugs in your ears.

Raven: Oh, good.

Kalen: Now we will hammer you. Okay? Only, don't kick me too hard.

Raven (kicking gently): See? I have good reflexes.

Kalen: Hmmm.
(She sounds unconvinced).

Raven: What's that, now?

Kalen: It's a screwdriver, from the toybox. Lean down, Mommy.

Raven: Okaaaaay. Why?

Kalen (rotating a screwdriver against my head): So I can fix you. There! You had a screw loose, Mommy. But you're all better now.

Tues, May 25, 2004 (11:35pm)

Had an appointment today to look into a day home which could take Kalen for a few hours, 3 days/week. I think I'm gonna try it: she needs more play-time with kids her age than I can currently arrange, with my attention frequently devoted to a newborn and a needy toddler.

What else? Hm... feeling much less homicidal / depressed / anxious / hormonal / lost / frazzled today than I was at this time last week. The long weekend was good for me, and Shades has been wonderful, too. I think I can get back on kilter, soon, and start acting like a human being again.

Oh - I also finished reading Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein, last night. T'was interesting. Not one of my favorite books, but I can see why it is considered one of his seminal works.

Gotta figure out which of two dozen books to start reading next. I was gonna ask Wally for suggestions, but he stood me up for our date tonight (subtle jab). BTW, Wally - Shades wanted me to tell you that he "doesn't grok plate tamper." You are welcome to come over anytime and show us how it's done.

Night.

Sun, May 23, 2004 (9:15pm)

Friday evening was pretty busy: the 50gallon fish tank moved to Hjalti&Kristy's house. I got to bed way too late in the morning after that (2:30am). Saturday was pretty busy, too, just catching up with some house stuff that needed doing. At least the dishwasher is fixed (my Dad rocks) so handwashing loads & loads of dishes wasn't on the To Do list. Got to bed way too late, again (1:45am). Shades was wonderful and got up with the kids this morning so I could sleep in past noon. I returned the favor and let him nap in the afternoon... tho I think he got less sleep out of the deal whan I had earlier. Tonight we're gonna kick back and relax, just the two of us - something we haven't done together in waaay too long. And we might even try to get to bed on time.

Fri, May 21, 2004 (11:55am)

From RavenBlog: "Children are horrible little snot-beasts"

Oh how true, how true.

I've spent the better part of a week wiping mucousy noses. This does not increase the appeal of getting up early in the morning, let me tell you. However, things seem to be slowing down a little, and I look foward to a weekend with fewer slime-trails and less glazed-donut-monsters about the house.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm not a baby person? Nor a toddler person. I do like kids, but I prefer them once they can walk, talk, wipe their own noses and behinds. Still, ya gotta put in a few years with the knee-nibblers before they turn into real people... and sometimes its even fun to watch the process.

Speaking of processes - several people have asked about how we're doing with the saga of the Lego coin. Rather than answer email and quick-comments I'll just give a quick update here.

Despite a somewhat slimy nose, Kalen doesn't seem to be showing any signs of sinusitus. There's no blood in the mucous, and it's coming out of both nostrils evenly. Pluss, it's tapering off instead of getting worse (as one would expect if the coin was still in the nose). Kalen is not showing any signs of pneumonia, so the coin doesn't seem to have gotten into her lungs. Odds are good that she swallowed it. And at any rate, we've gotten to the end of the week which doctors told me to watch her during, so from here on, we can assume that the problem has resolved itself.

S'all. Gotta go deal with more bodily fluids, now. Bleh.

Accomplishment of the Day: Getting Connor to say 'Juice' again, three times! (It was all at once: "Juz! Jooooze! Juice!!!, but that's still progress)

Accomplishment of Yesterday: Going to the Academy of European Swordsmanship meeting. Alas, it was Ringen night, so we didn't actually swing swords but did hand-to-hand stuff instead. Next week should be better.

Wed, May 19, 2004 (11:55pm)

My (er, my sister's) foot-long pleco has a new home, courtesy of Pixie's Dad. But I'll tell ya - that was one tough sucker to fish outta the tank!

Tues, May 18, 2004 (10:35pm)

It doesn't rain, but it pours. Or, in this case - floods.

In the middle of a rather busy schedule and over-stressed time for me, it turns out that our dishwasher pump is broken. The water isn't being pumped out, so the bottom of the machine is left in a flood of water. The same water is left in the machine after the dishes have been washed from load to load (I only ran two loads to discover this). So, I'll be hadnwashing all our dishes until it gets fixed.

Joy.
Tues, May 18, 2004 (11:10am)

Sigh.I found out last night that my favorite Greek Restaurant in Sherwwod Park is going to be closing. The owner is moving back to Greece. Alas.

I think I'll go there for lunch today.

Accomplishment of the Day: Updating my weblog. Yay.

Fri, May 14, 2004 (8:50am)

Some of my readers frequent my weblog to remind themselves why they never want to have kids. This entry is for you.

Yesterday, as I was finishing up my weblog entry, I realized I still hadn't called my sister. So, since the kids were happily playing with Lego at the table, I get offline and gave her a shout. Minutes into the call, I was interupted by my 3 1/2 yr old daughter informing me that she had put a coin up her nose.

I checked: Yes, indeed, there was a tiny little Lego coin way up her left nostril. There was no way I could get it out, and I'm good at removing foreign objects from tricky body orifices (no comments, please. It's a work-related skill.) I figured we'd try to get her to sneeze it out, and if we had no luch, I'd pack up all three kids and head off to the doctors.

By 1pm, I'd given the kids lunch (skipping my own in favor of preparing diaper bags, feeding the baby, and assembling coats & shoes for the kids) and we headed out the door.

From 1:15 'til 2:30 we waited at the medical clinic to be seen. Me, with 3 kids: A rambunctious 3yr old, a 2yr old who was overdue for his nap, and a screaming newborn who wanted nothing more than to be rocked and fed and made the center of the world. We waited, in a crowded reception area, and then in an examining room. And we waited.

We were finally seen by a doctor who did all the same things I'd tried in order to remove the coin. The only difference was that while I had seen the coin in the nostril earlier, he could no longer see it. She'd managed to suck in up even higher in her nose while trying to "sneeze". (Her version of blowing her nose consists of a deep breath in through the nose first, then a tiny blow out - sometimes through the nose, sometimes through the mouth).

By 3pm we were on our way out the door, to the X-ray clinic several blocks over.

I managed to get a hold of my Mom, and she met me at the X-ray, so she could watch 2 of the kids while I helped hold Kalen's head in the correct position for cranial X-rays.

Oh - I'd also remembered to bring along with me an example of the coin which Kale had shoved up her nose: we had spare Lego coins around, and I wanted the Dr. to know what he was looking for. So at the X-ray clinic, I gave the spare coin to the techs and they taped it to the X-ray screen so they'd know what the coin looked like on an X-ray.

The X-rays showed nothing. Yep - nothing. The coin was not radiaographically opaque. So while we couldn't see the coin, it didn't prove that it wasn't still there.

By 4pm, I'd given up dragging the kids around - they were all way overdue for naps, and Jasen was screamingly hungry. We returned home.

By 6pm, Shades was home from work, I'd fed the baby (though not myself), and I took Kalen back out to the Dr.'s office, so we could show him the X-rays and find out where to go from there. Oh, and I took Jasen with me too, because if we ended up being sent to ER, he'd need to be fed again before going home.

7pm: We're on our way to the Stollery Children's Hospital Emergency.

8pm: We're checked in at ER, have our own little room, and I'm feeding the baby while policing Kalen, and waiting for a Dr. to be available for an examination.

9pm: After several tests and procedures (all carried out with a mimimum of waiting time between - Kudos to the Stollery staff) we have determined that the coin can't be found.

The coin is either: in her stomach (if she has snorked it back and swallowed it),
OR in Kalen's lungs (if she snorked it back and breathed it in) where it will sit until it causes aspiration pneumonia (the Dr.s said that her breathing sounds normal, so the coin is probably not there at this point, but they couldn't rule it out),
OR it's lodged in her sinus cavity, where it will sit until it causes sinusitus, or until she snorks her nose real hard and it gets swallowed or sucked into her lungs (see above two options).

So by 10pm I was home, kalen was getting ready for bed, and I was again feeding Jasen while reviewing in my mind the signs and symptoms of both sinusitis and aspiration pneumonia, so I can watch for them over the next week. If nothing bad happens, we simply assume she swallowed it and don't worry. If she starts oozing bloody mucouds, running a fever, or having breathing problems - it's back to ER.

By 11:30 pm, I'd fed the baby, had a shower, and had my second meal of the day (breakfast was half a bowl of Shreddies). I was feeling a lot better... but had given up any hope of making it out to BP's tonight.

BTW, Gaider - if you're reading this, I want you to know that my Purgaotry turn may be coming in a little late tonight. Sorry 'bout that.

Accomplishment of the Day: 6 excellent hours of sleep overnight. More days should start like this... as long as they don't end like yesterday.

Thurs, May 13, 2004 (12:50pm)

He did it again! He said "Juice" twice in one day!

Yes, I'm thrilled.

For those of you who aren't aware (which is most readers, I would guess,) I've been spending a lot of time lately with the Con-man trying to help him with his communication skills. The kid is two and a half, and can go days without saying a single word. He understands a lot, but has no interest in talking. So I spend a large portion of what would otherwise be my "free" time working with him. This is part of why I'm so stressed lately.

But in the last half week, he has said at least one word each day. Joy of joys! At least I'm not giving up my computer time for nothing. So I celebrated by sitting down and surfing the 'Net for a while, catching up on all my weblog reading. In particular, I found Dooce's 'Maternal Inferno' entry amusing. I remember spending days involved in a running monologue for Kalen's benefit, telling her about everything from my opinions on various movies to the complexities of interclan politics in a LARP.

Well, at least she learned to talk, eh?

- - -

Q.O.T.D: "It's enough to put a girl off her vibrator for fear of being impregnated with jelly babies." - from the weblog of Belle de Jour
Thurs, May 13, 2004 (11:00am)

My sister's birthday today: Happy B-Day, Imoto-chan! (Must remember to call her, as she doesn't read my weblog everyday.)

Anyway, I've been neglecting my weblogging lately. My email, too: I've got dozens of comments I want to reply to, and letters I ought to respond to with an 'I got your email' note at the least, but I haven't got the time.

I've been very stressed lately. So, today, I've decided to see what I can do to de-stress and de-clutter (the two are almost synonymous in my world. I stress more easily in a cluttered environment, and the simple act of cleaning and rearranging things is very cathartic. Comes from being an obsessive-compulsive, I think.) Today, I want to gather a huge box-full of toys which are no longer needed. I also want to rearrange the livingroom, but I don't think that can happen 'til we rethink our DVD & video storage. Plus, I have come to the conclusion that I have one fishtank too many in my livingroom.

I'm going to return the 50-gallon tank to my sister, I believe, but I'm not sure what I'll do with the fish living in it. The clown loaches will almost certainly be transfered to my 33-gallon tank. The giant pleco would be best to euthanize - he's being pecked to death by the cichlids and is in really ragged shape. The cichlids themselves? I don't know. Maybe Jodi would want them with the tank, maybe not. I can't put them in with my other fish, as they're too agressive. I don't have the heart to destroy them outright.

Anyone want 8 assorted cichlids?

Accomplishment of the Day: Getting Connor to say, "Juice!" this morning. He's said it before, a couple of times, but rarely uses it anymore. And this time, it was clear and comprehensible, and even in-context.

Mon, May 10, 2004 (4:30pm)

Been busy. Yesterday was good, though.

For Mother's Day, I got:
  • to sleep in (mmmm)
  • Breakfast in bed(room)
  • Purple flowers
  • A Harry Potter Lego set
  • A shiny red van.



Accomplishment of the Day: Getting my son to say, "Moh-mee!"

Fri, May 7, 2004 (1:10pm)

I'm brainfried today, after an excessively child-filled week. So instead of trying to write anything cohesive, I'm going to post a Comment sent to my by Gaider yesterday.

Dave has this Public comment:

Do you know that they say it's better to shout "Fire!" than it is to shout "Rape!" or "Help!"? Apparently people are much more likely to respond or investigate calls of 'fire' but will completely ignore any cry for assistance.

I remember when I lived downtown, I got off from the hotel at 11 pm and walked home. As I got to my building (a 12-story apartment building), I heard someone shouting for help coming from the other side of the street, behind two other adjacent high-rise apartment buildings. I considered going over there, but naturally figured that by the time I found a way around the two buildings (they had a big, fenced-off parking section) it would be over... half of the two buildings looked down on whatever was happening, after all.

I got up to my apartment on the 8th floor and heard through my window that the woman was STILL crying for help. Irritated, I decided maybe I would go take a look anyhow. So slowly I made my way down in the elevator and walked across the street and had to get across the fence and jump down into the parkade to get to the rear alleyway behind the two buildings. I was in no hurry and still expected to find the situation being dealt with, my time wasted.

Guess what? I got there to find a woman in her car in tears and struggling to keep a drunk man from getting into her car through the passenger door. He was only half-trying but insistent, and she was desperate and shrieking for help... and obviously had been for some time. AND NOBODY HAD COME TO HELP HER. Hundreds of apartment windows from those two buildings looked down on the scene. Tell me that there was nobody home at 11 pm who couldn't just look out their window and see in the alleyway under a bright light what was happening.

I accosted the man and he drunkenly made some excuse about needing to get home, how he didn't have a quarter to call anyone. I told him the lady obviously didn't wish to give him a ride, and gave him a quarter to make his call and he stumbled off on his way. I advised the woman to shut her door and stay there until she was calmed down, and she did... so distraught and shaking from reaction that she didn't say anything else. No thank you, no asking my name... not that I expected her to.

I left, though I probably should have phoned the police. I figured she would be okay, though, and had watched her lock her car door. I imagine she wondered what had taken me so long to come to her aid after all her calling for help. I wonder what she would have thought if she knew the only person to respond had come from a building on the other side of the street?

Personally, I felt disgusted. I thought that kind of thing only happened in New York City, not in Edmonton. Not in Canada.

Food for thought.


Accomplishment of the Day: Realizing that I am slowly going psychotic, and taking steps to remedy the problem.

Thurs, May 6, 2004 (10:00am)

Mornin'.

I got this during the night:

RavenBlack has this Public comment:

You obviously haven't been paying sufficient attention to Pingu.
"Pingu isn't in English. It's not in any other language, either."

It is! It's in English *and* lots of other languages *and* gibberish, all splurged together. If you have the episode with a snowball fight, the words "nose" and "eyes" are clearly present, for example. As for the mish-mash element, I'm only aware of that because an interview with the Pingu creators said so. I haven't actually picked out an example of words in other languages.

Ahhh. Well, then. I was wrong. I shall do penance by listening to Pingu until I can quote it (English, gibberish, and foreign words all) by heart. See - I've already tossed the DVD in the machine. Tsk, and I haven't even made breakfast for the kids yet, or gotten out of PJ's. I'm such a terrible mother. Listen to the children complain. (Their complaints sound something like, "Pingu! Pingu! Yay!!!!" and "Jabibbity bib glu blah AhahahaHAhaHAHAHAHA HA ha haaa!") Hrm... on second thought, maybe Connor's not complaining, but instead quoting Pingu. Perhaps he has been quoting Pingu for the last year, and I've only just realized it. This might explain a lot, you know.

Sigh. Now I'm jealous. I want to see an interview with the creators of Pingu, too.

Wed, May 5, 2004 (7:15pm)

Kalen: Mommy! I'm a big girl. And when I grow up, I will learn how to cook, and I will not make a fire on the stove!

Raven: And until you grow up and learn to cook, you don't get to use the stove, right? We don't want any fires in our kitchen.

Kalen: Nope - we don't want a fire. Like those bad Sims! They made a fire on their stove, because they didn't know how to cook. And then there was fire everywhere, and the other Sims were shouting "Fire! Fire! FIRE!" and then they had to call a Firetruck! And it came and it was big and yellow and with sirens, and the Fireman came and had to put the fire out! But the Sims were in the way, so we had to say, "Stupid Sims! Get out of the house! Don't stand in the way of the fireman who is trying to put out your fire!" and then when they moved, he put it out, and - um - but then their stove was Gone! It was all gone Mommy, 'cuz those stupid Sims didn't know how to cook and burnt up their stove. So we don't get to play with stoves until we are big, and learn how to cook. Right? And if there's a fire, we get of the way, and we shout "Fire!" so someone will come to help us, right?

---

Heh. And they say videogames aren't educational.
Wed, May 5, 2004 (11:25am)

Today's weblog entry is brought to you courtesy of Pingu.

Some random stuff about Pingu which I tried to fit into a cohesive paragraph, but couldn't stream together worth beans:

  • Pingu is a cartoon (claymation) Penguin. He seems to be the equivalent of a 4-7 yr old, with ADHD.

  • RavenBlack first mentioned Pingu to me, years ago. He gave it an excellent review at the time.

  • I think it's European in origin. Yesterday was the first time I've seen it available in Canada. Not like I've been looking for it, though.

  • The people who made the Canadian release copy should be shot. It says Pingu and friends have "one adventure after another in their arctic home". Penguins live in the ANTarctic, you fools. Bad copyists! No iced tea for you!

  • When you put the DVD in the machine, it runs through the usual InterPol warnings before bringing up the menu... but if you leave it on the menu for a minute without making a selection, it automatically selects 'play continuously', and begins to entertain your children with no interference from you. This is one of the features I like about Videos over DVDs - their ability to run without needing me to stand there, waiting for the menu screen, and selecting 'skip previews', 'play full movie', 'widescreen' and other stuff. My minutes are valuable! I have no time to mess with menu selections while a hungry newborn shrieks in my ear, the water begins to overflow from the sink, and the toddler has just decided that the potty chair makes an excellent stepstool.

  • The kids absolutely love Pingu. Connor will run up to the TV screen and giggle out loud for most of the first episode (where Pingu won't eat the green stuff on his plate). Kalen enjoys the later episodes when Pingu has a baby sister. Jasen even likes the catchy intro music.

  • Pingu isn't in English. It's not in any other language, either. It's full of wierd gibberish. The only recognizable word in 8 episodes is when the mommy penguin shouts, "Pingu!". Most of it sounds like "Gibboobity boo blick go book gwim brib loodidoo brich da." but spoke very quickly and with appropriate intonation.

  • Most kids videos get on my nerves pretty quickly. It's easy to memorize entire episodes and quote them by heart after watching/hearing them the first 2 dozen times. Pingu does not have this failing, due to its gibberish-language. I could (and have) listened to it for hours without it getting on my nerves. Hmmm... not surprising, I s'pose: I can listen to the Sims speak gibberish for hours on end, too.


So, other than that, did I have anything to say? Um... I'm going to Adam and Shelly's Catan-night, tonight. That should be fun. Oh, yeah - and I'm mucking around with my links at the top, again. Deleting a couple, adding others. Of note, I'm adding Invisibleu - Shani's weblog. I hope blogging goes well for you, Shani!

Sun, May 2, 2004 (2:45pm)

Aaaaah.... I feel rested. But then, 12 hours of sleep can do that for a person. It wasn't uninterupted sleep, of course, but the baby only got me up once in the night, and once in the morning. Then Shades got up with the kids, and let me sleep in past noon. The world is a good place today.

Speaking of good things, the Purgatory game took place on Friday evening. It was extremely enjoyable. Anne let me use her hat, and also gave me a hand with applying some facial hair. (That's an understatement, really. She didn't just give me a hand: She bled for me. I hadn't brought a scissor for cutting the fake hair, so Anne used her knife and managed to nick herself in the cutting... though she said it was nothing. Is that not dedication to the cause?) The organizers did an excellent job of preparing all the characters so everyone had things to do, and events to talk about, and people to conspire with (or against). It didn't feel like the first installment in a new game at all. I'm looking forward to the next game already.

Thanks, Lazarus and Dave for all your hard work.

Last updated goodness-only-knows-when. These are archives, after all.