Atropa Belladonna~ Raven (a.k.a. Nightshade)'s Weblog ~
These are the ARCHIVES of JAN 2005. For more archives, visit the Archives page. For the current Weblog entries, check the Main page.
Atropa Belladonna| Sun, Jan 300, 2004. no 5! 2005! (835pam) Okay. Thiswill be difcficlut. Migraine. Then ibuprfne. Two. Now brain isa jellyfyysh. cat type cuz the letters wont' saty on theright keys they keep movibg and my fingers arnet lsitening to meither. lifek in slowmotion. jellyfiysh brains with octopus fingers. too many. anyways. wanted to say. that. I ijust nocited in my slugdgy statw that the year is wrong. All Jan. I ve bent beent yping the weblog datewrognngng. WRONG! it's actulliy 2005. thta's all. don't brink and blog. no prntscrn eric. |
| Fri, Jan 28, 2004 (10:20am) On the topic of fabulous people, have I ever mentioned my Dad? He's a mechanic, and an instructor at NAIT. He's also the sort of person you can phone at 11:45pm on a Thurday evening, as you walk out of Boston Pizza on Whyte, and discover that the brake lights on your van are ON. Now, I'm not an automotive expert or anything, but I know that when you park your vehicle and go into a restaurant for 4 or 5 hours to hang out with gamer friends, that you aren't supposed to return to your vehicle to find the lights still on. If it was headlight on, I'd have thought "Stupid me - I forgot to turn off the lights. Lucky the battery's not dead yet". But brake lights aren't supposed to just stay on by themselves when the van's been parked and all the rest of the lights are off. So I called my Dad, and he said to bring the van over. I showed up just after midnight, and by quarter past, my Dad had fixed the problem. No charge, since no parts were needed and he doesn't charge his kids for labour. Didn't say a thing about the inconvenience, either. Just gave me a hug, updated me on some family news, and sent me on my way. Yeah, my Dad rocks. - - - Oh, this is funny! Thanks for passing on the link, Wally! One does not simply walk into Mortor... |
| Wed, Jan 26, 2004 (11:40pm) Just thought I'd take a moment to announce to the entire world (or the small portion of it which reads my weblog, at least) that Pixie is Absolutely Fabulous. She sat watch over the ravening hordes this evening, so I could go out on a date with this cute guy I know, who recently got promoted. We went to Earls, hung out, talked, ate, talked some more, had dessert, and generally enjoyed the temporary lack of children in our lives. Not that kids aren't enjoyable - today was actually a lot of fun with them, now that they're over the 'sick' thing - but they're a lot more fun to be around when you get the occasional break. And unlike the many people in the world who are full of advice about what you're doing wrong, or how you should be raising your kids, or why their own kids are much superior to yours, Pixie actually came over to give of her time, and help make our world a nicer place, and let us be better parents tomorrow. You rock, babe. |
| Mon, Jan 24, 2004 (10:50am) When ya don't have anything nice to say, don't say it. Or in my case, when I don't have anything nice to post, I don't post. Hence the lollyblogging. It's been another week with sick kids. Shades and I are trying to be as good to eachother as we can, because we're both grumpy, tired of dealing with sick/shrieking/unhappy kids, and more than a little sleep-deprived. We've also had long & tiring shifts at work (his during the week, mine on the weekend) to counterpoint the frustrations of life at home. At least there was excellent food & company here last night. (Thanks for Sunday Dinner, Mom!) One unforgettable moment which came out of my far-too-long shift, though: Imagine, if you will, a Doctor, trapped in an examining room with 5 oriental gentlemen (who don't speak English well) trying to explain that they can't leave because they're all stuck, whilst various staff members desperately attempt to un-jam the door, get maintenance on the phone, and explain to the other patients in the waiting room that the Doctor will be with them just as soon as he can. Sometimes, life can be amusing. - - - Tried to make a Project Status Bar for my weblog. I hope it works. (Some/most of the code was stolen from RavenBlack, and he uses CSS which I don't - yet.) |
| Tues, Jan 18, 2004 (9:15pm) Kalen attended Aria's Utterly Fabulous Piratical Birthday Party over the weekend. I've asked her what happened, and although she'll tell me about it in vivid detail for endless amounts of time, I'm still having a hard time figuring out exactly what went on. This is the summary as I understand it, thus far: Well. There were pirates. Except first we got there, and there was all this treasure and birthday presents, and Aria, and a bunch of other kids, and Aria's sister Kessie too. And then the pirates came. Aaaah. Now I know what I'm doing wrong. But honestly, I'm still a little confused about what happened at Aria's birthday. I'll have to ask Starlin' someday. |
| Fri, Jan 14, 2004 (12:35pm) Mmmmm, joy. More of this email in my inbox: From: bbygrlfromhell@aol.com Well, first I advise that you learn to speak English. Then stop using a lame service like aol.com. And while we're at it, how about ditching the 'baby girl from hell' nick? And just as one last thought, don't come begging on the doorstep of someone who states - right on the webpage - that vampires don't exist, and this is merely a role playing game. Hm? No, I didn't really send that reply to babygirl's email. I figure s/he's probably screwed up enough as is, without adding random flames to the mess. But that's not gonna stop me from posting it to a weblog which s/he'll probably never read. |
| Fri, Jan 14, 2004 (1:05am) When you haven't been to a martial arts class in over a month, it really hurts to go back. I didn't want to go back. It's cold out, and I've forgotten half the guards and stances, and can remember barely one in three sword-strokes. I have many reasons not to go: books which want reading, DVD's to watch, and Sims who require attention. Why on earth would I put myself through the agony when I didn't have to go? But, masochist that I am, I went. Ouch. Ouch ouch ouch. Luckily, we were doing short sword drills. I like short sword, and that's my primary focus weapon, so I knew slightly more about what we were doing than the half of the class which fights two-handed sword. But when you have to hold a sword in one hand, rather than two, it gets heavy. Your muscles start to complain, and then shake, and then scream out in protest. I can still hear mine screaming now. I suspect, however, that Starlin's muscles will win the Screaming awards, as she finished her first real class of Police Fitness Preparation Training, tonight. You take the cake for masochism, m'dear. - - - Dave whose-last-name-isn't-Crocodile was at BP's this evening (as usual) and has given me some discomfitting news: Bioware is now sitting around 200 employees. This totally skews my ratio!! How can I claim to know 10% of the company when Bioware keeps hiring more people without my knowledge or consent? I mean, I knew one of their employees way back before they produced Baldur's Gate and were a teeny 11-person company. A good dozen of my friends worked there when Bioware passed their 100-employee mark. I could count off about 15 employees I knew when they were sitting around 170 (and I may have known more, but I can't always remember them all). But now the company's gotten bigger again, and I don't think I know a full 20 of them! Quick, somebody! Get hired by Bioware and/or introduce me to a bunch of the guys who work there, so I can keep up my mandatory ratio of BioWare-Employed Geek Friends! STAT! |
| Thurs, Jan 13, 2004 (4:55pm, update at 5:50pm) Frickin' cold out, today. The sundogs were something else, though. I've seen sundogs before, when the weather is so cold that frozen particles of ice in the air make the mirage of a second sun, following at the heels of the real one (much the same way a rainbow is formed, under the right conditions)... but I've rarely seen TWO sundogs. Today, there was one before and one after the sun, bracketing it like a pair of hunting hounds, chasing across the sky. Well, like little mini-suns, with rainbow auras stretching in bracket shapes around either side of the sun, really. Sideways rainbows, with an extremely bright spot in the middle. And the three of them just hung blazing in the sky, laughing at us in the frigid tempuratures below. So rather than stay home feeling like a shut-in, I decided to go someplace else. Someplace warm. With distractions. And food. Mmmm... like the Mall. I was feeling more stir-crazy than anything else... going anywhere would have been fine. The fact that there's a food court at the mall was just a bonus. Got there just before it opened, and had a chance to warm up before heading to the photo studio. As it turns out, they had an open booking, so I decided to get the baby's (very belated) half-year photos done. That all went well, until just after the photo session was over. Then everything went dark. Kingsway Mall had a black-out. It wasn't completely dark, or I'd have been screwed (we were on the basement level of Sears - no windows). There were emergency lights, and the neon-glow of a few monitors and electronics which must have either been on a different circuit, or had emergency back-up power. We kinda kicked around for a few minutes, figuring out what to do, when an announcment came over the PA to say that the problem wasn't just store-wide, it was Mall-wide, and caused by something having gone wrong in the cold weather... But someone was on their way to fix it, just as soon as they could. Thank you for your (extended) patience. Yeah. So I managed to co-opt one of the photo studio employees to help me get the stroller up the stairs, baby et al., because the elevators weren't working. It was a bit of an effort, but we did it. Twice. (I had parked on the 2nd floor parking lot.) Since snacks at the food court wasn't much of an option without power, I simply bundled up the kids against the cold, and loaded us all back in the van. Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. Not exactly the most fulfilling of outings, but a lot better than suffering cabin-fever at home. The sundogs, alas, were gone on the trip home. - - - Update: Shades apparently swung by the mall too, during his workday. They were still blacked-out at 2pm, and estimated another hour, at least, before the power would be restored. Yay Canadian winters! |
| Tues, Jan 11, 2004 (10:35am) Excellent news on the Connor front: Yesterday the Glenrose Hospital contacted us to say we'll probably have an appointment for Connor in February. This is the appointment I've been waiting (and waiting) for... We were told the waiting list for the Preschool Assesment was something like 8 - 12 months. If we get our app't in Feb, it'll have been a mere 7 months! Connor also has an appointment with an allergy specialist mid-Feb, which is cool. Perhaps we can find out if he's allergic to peanuts without needing to watch his mouth swell up and hives break out on his body, like we did with Kalen. It may also give us a better idea about his issues with gluten, egg, chocolate, dairy, soy, etc... unless those are dietary intolerances, and not true allergies. Hopefully we'll also be checking out smoke, dust, pollen, animal dander, and some other environmental things which we already avoid, but it would be nice to know about for sure. An amusing note: Connor was referred to the same allergist that my brother and I were sent to, some 25 yrs ago. And Corin says he was her allergist, too. ...Man, he must be getting old. I hope he's still alive in February (grin). - - - I've been checking out Guild Wars. Not like I need the time-sink of an MMORPG in my life.. but it looks very interesting. I particularly like the part about 'no monthly subscription fee'. Yeah, so they'll ding ya for (optional) expansions to let your character have different abilities/classes/equipment... but that's voluntary. Like the Sims. It's still just in beta, but I'm rather intrigued. - - - Bah. Chocolate does not make a good breakfast. I knew that before, but for some reason thought today would be different. Gonna go find some more appropriate food, now. |
| Mon, Jan 10, 2004 (1:35am) It's 1:30 in the freaking morning, and I just got back from E.R., where I took Kale because of asthma problems. She's doing fine - we caught things before they got too bad, and we'll be giving her prednisone for the next few days to help her lungs get over her current rough spell. But that's not why I'm typing. The reason is that I have to relay an amusing conversation, before it slips my mind. The resident came in to look at Kalen, who was sitting petulantly on the bed with her stuffed lamb in her lap. "What have we here?" the doctor asked. "Is this your pet?" Kalen nodded. "I'm Kalen. This is Baa." "Pleased to meet you both. So tell me, Kalen, is Baa a He or a She?" Kalen favored the doctor with a sideways look and answered, "Yes." "Yes?" "Yes." Kalen repeated, in the tone of voice parents save for particularly slow children. "He is a Sheep." Aaaah... it was probably more amusing to hear, than to read. Or perhaps everything is amusing at 1 am, when the doctor tells you your child isn't dying and you can go home to get some sleep. So that's what I'm gonna do now. Sleep. |
| Fri, Jan 7, 2004 (11:15am, with edits at 4:00pm) Just a quick note, for some people who I was telling about a 'Hall of Shame' for various lines taken from Slash story disclaimers and synopses. Here's the link which I thought I'd posted, but hadn't: Yaoi/Slash Hall of Shame. You don't really need to know who the characters are in most of the synopses, they're plenty deplorable as is. - - - The Connor Report Yesterday and the day before, Connor was being extremely verbal (for him, at least)! He said: Street, Car, Down, All done, Swing, Ride, Okay, Again! Go, go, go... Stop! (As part of a game), Yes (nodded, in answer to a question), and Clock. Today he said 'Not-a-Toy!' (all one word, to him) when I took the scissors away from him. Admittedly, he was copying me because I'd just said it, seconds before... but I'm pretty sure he knew what it meant. This afternoon, he also said Gotcha! (as part of a chasing game) and Chip, and To-The-Van. That last was also said as though it was all one word. That's probably because when I say it to the kids (every morning, as we get ready to leave for school) it comes out of my mouth as one word. He mimicked my intonation exactly. He is also responding to a lot of things spoken in his environment, like turning his head when he hears his name, or sitting when asked to sit down. He's actually listening to stuff going on in the world, which is a very important part of learning to speak! - - - I've been trying to think of stuff that I want to do this year. Not 'New Year's Resolution'-type stuff, but more like projects to work on. For example:
Give me my lists, any day. I like lists. I like writing things down on them. I like crossing things off. Sometimes, I'll even put things which I've already finished onto my To Do list, just so I can cross them off. Don t mock me about it, either! It means a lot to get to the end of the day, and be able to say "Look at these things which are DONE!" I feel like I've accomplished something, and that feeling is a rare and precious commodity when you spend most of your waking hours caring for kids who can mess the house up as fast as you can clean it, who can master a skill one day and then forget it the next, who take absolutely forever to grow up, and then when they do you wish they were still little. Yeah. My lists can make a lot of difference to my mental health, some days. So, what of the above items (or other items which I haven't even thought of yet) do I want to see crossed off my list by the end of the year? Must think on this. |
| Tues, Jan 4, 2004 (9:50pm) What I have been doing this year (so far), instead of updating my weblog:
So I went surfing the internet this evening to broaden my horizons (and chase a couple leads on an anime series I'd been trying to find) and stumbled across more than I needed to know about the bizarre subculture of SLASH. Now, before people start thinking (or continue thinking?) that I'm some sick and twisted individual because I am fascinated by the concept of Yaoi & Slash, I just wanted to say that some of the stuff out there scares me. Not because I'm scared of fan-fictionalized stories about gay men having torrid affairs, but that the bulk of it is such terrible trash. I found one article which gave a really good summary of the genre: Elements of Slash. It's a well written piece, and although it deals in particular with Lord of the Rings Slash, it can be generalized to most stuff out there. Gah - did you know there's Harry Potter slash fiction??? I mean, Star Wars and Star Trek are obvious choices for this sort of thing, but Harry Potter? Duran Duran?? And.. and... Okay. Nevermind. I'm just not going there. See... this is what happens when I have too much free time on my hands. Wasn't it better when I was just so busy watching the kids that I barely had time to check my email? Quick... somebody give me some time-consuming project, or I'll end up having twisted dreams about Harry and Draco Malfoy. Maybe I'll be lucky, and there'll be flamethrowers, too. |
