A Few Announcements....
Before I do anything else, i.e. drag out the latest of the holiday stories (which are coming along splendidly, by the way; I can't wait to give you all your gifts!), then I would like to make a few announcements.
First of all:
Happy Birthday, sirielle!
and
Congratulations, Dragonfish!
Congratulations, Dragonfish!
Congratulations, Dragonfish!
And that concludes the day's obnoxious marqueeing.
The Dragonfish, if you are wondering, is the husband's hockey team. They won their first game Sunday night. They're a spankin' new team and most of the guys (and girl) have never played together before, so it was a rough start to the season. However, they all did their part in praying for a win to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and they were all truly touched by his noodly appendage. And it showed in their playing. So congrats to them and hopes for much more success this season!
Also, fanged_geranium and I were talking about Finarfin the other day, and I suggested (and she agreed) that we need a Finarfin Appreciation Month. Why? Because it seems, in talking to many of you, that there are a lot of closet Finarfin fanfolks out there, yet we all hide behind obsessions with Feanor or Maedhros or Glorfindel...but Finarfin needs love too. So I (humbly, of course) suggest that January be made Finarfin Appreciation Month, a time to enjoy and write Finarfin-related tales and to appreciate the gentler approach to life. Given this holiday season--which seems to be going roughly for many of us--I think a Finarfin Appreciation Month would be a nice change. Of course, because it's Finarfin Appreciation Month, you are welcome to agree to it now and turn back later. Or agree to it and then just never do much with it. That's the beauty of Finarfin Appreciation Month. So what say you?
The holiday story writing spree has turned into something of a second NaNoWriMo for me. But it's going great! It's been a welcome reprieve from other real life crap. It forces me to write every day, even when I should be doing other more productive but less healthy things. So, despite all my griping and complaining of late, you all will have your holiday gifts on 24 December, which is in time for Christmas, Hanukhah, and Kwanzaa. It misses the Solstice, but if anyone observes the Solstice, they are welcome to call me narrow-minded and I will post the story early. Truly, I'm just too lazy to get them all done by then. But I'm willing to make special exceptions.
Last night, Bobby and I were finishing up supper when there was a scary-loud knock at the door. Bobby went to answer it and it was the UPS guy. Now, we've ordered a lot of holiday gifts online this year, but this wasn't any of that, and so we were puzzled. But the return address showed it was a cousin of ours who lives in Florida. Now, usually, we dread gifts from this particular relative, mostly because her elderly mother picks them out and so they are elderly-mother atrocious. To give what is perhaps the most egregious (but hilarious) example, Bobby's parents a few years ago received a Christmas platter with a nice scene painted on it...problem was that it still had dried foodstains from its last owner. (!)
But this year, the gifts were picked out by our cousin and not her mother, and so we got two nice-looking candles shaped like lighthouses. Our bathroom has a nautical theme to it (perhaps to serve as inspiration for the business that is done in there) and so it was quite nice and more than appropriate. And they weren't burned down to nubs or anything like that. But it was a pleasant surprise and made me smile. We always send candy to these relatives but I never expect anything back in return, so I was quite taken aback.
My shiny new work comp is already screwed up. I am typing this from the laptop dinosaur at my second desk (this is still better than my old comp, though). There's nothing wrong with the computer but they screwed up hooking it up to the network, so I can't log onto it. And the folks at ITCD are now not answering their phones or returning our calls. Gotta love the State!
The main problem with this comp was that the phone was across the room, as was the Nextel base station. So whenever the phone would ring, I'd have to dash across the room to answer it. My coworker Kathy finagled things, though, so that the phone is now right next to me. Of course, it hasn't rang since....
And of course, the new comp is the one that has our ORI on it. We need our ORI to send messages whenever we arrest someone or file a detainer. Now, I have to fax the notifications, which isn't that big of a deal but is a pain in the butt nonetheless because these computer breakdowns always strike me as being ridiculous.
The skating open house is tonight. I thought it was last week and showed up all ready for it...but it's this week. Then there's no skating until after the New Year, which is good and bad. Good: I will have more time in the last week of holiday crunch. And I will be able to sleep in on Sunday. Bad: No skating! :( The year's going well, though, as I am now annoyed whenever I get less than a full revolution on my outer-edge spins. Since I started in mid-September with step-prep-STOP whenever I tried to do an outer-edge spin, this is an improvement.
First of all:
Happy Birthday, sirielle!
and
Congratulations, Dragonfish!
Congratulations, Dragonfish!
Congratulations, Dragonfish!
And that concludes the day's obnoxious marqueeing.
The Dragonfish, if you are wondering, is the husband's hockey team. They won their first game Sunday night. They're a spankin' new team and most of the guys (and girl) have never played together before, so it was a rough start to the season. However, they all did their part in praying for a win to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and they were all truly touched by his noodly appendage. And it showed in their playing. So congrats to them and hopes for much more success this season!
Also, fanged_geranium and I were talking about Finarfin the other day, and I suggested (and she agreed) that we need a Finarfin Appreciation Month. Why? Because it seems, in talking to many of you, that there are a lot of closet Finarfin fanfolks out there, yet we all hide behind obsessions with Feanor or Maedhros or Glorfindel...but Finarfin needs love too. So I (humbly, of course) suggest that January be made Finarfin Appreciation Month, a time to enjoy and write Finarfin-related tales and to appreciate the gentler approach to life. Given this holiday season--which seems to be going roughly for many of us--I think a Finarfin Appreciation Month would be a nice change. Of course, because it's Finarfin Appreciation Month, you are welcome to agree to it now and turn back later. Or agree to it and then just never do much with it. That's the beauty of Finarfin Appreciation Month. So what say you?
The holiday story writing spree has turned into something of a second NaNoWriMo for me. But it's going great! It's been a welcome reprieve from other real life crap. It forces me to write every day, even when I should be doing other more productive but less healthy things. So, despite all my griping and complaining of late, you all will have your holiday gifts on 24 December, which is in time for Christmas, Hanukhah, and Kwanzaa. It misses the Solstice, but if anyone observes the Solstice, they are welcome to call me narrow-minded and I will post the story early. Truly, I'm just too lazy to get them all done by then. But I'm willing to make special exceptions.
Last night, Bobby and I were finishing up supper when there was a scary-loud knock at the door. Bobby went to answer it and it was the UPS guy. Now, we've ordered a lot of holiday gifts online this year, but this wasn't any of that, and so we were puzzled. But the return address showed it was a cousin of ours who lives in Florida. Now, usually, we dread gifts from this particular relative, mostly because her elderly mother picks them out and so they are elderly-mother atrocious. To give what is perhaps the most egregious (but hilarious) example, Bobby's parents a few years ago received a Christmas platter with a nice scene painted on it...problem was that it still had dried foodstains from its last owner. (!)
But this year, the gifts were picked out by our cousin and not her mother, and so we got two nice-looking candles shaped like lighthouses. Our bathroom has a nautical theme to it (perhaps to serve as inspiration for the business that is done in there) and so it was quite nice and more than appropriate. And they weren't burned down to nubs or anything like that. But it was a pleasant surprise and made me smile. We always send candy to these relatives but I never expect anything back in return, so I was quite taken aback.
My shiny new work comp is already screwed up. I am typing this from the laptop dinosaur at my second desk (this is still better than my old comp, though). There's nothing wrong with the computer but they screwed up hooking it up to the network, so I can't log onto it. And the folks at ITCD are now not answering their phones or returning our calls. Gotta love the State!
The main problem with this comp was that the phone was across the room, as was the Nextel base station. So whenever the phone would ring, I'd have to dash across the room to answer it. My coworker Kathy finagled things, though, so that the phone is now right next to me. Of course, it hasn't rang since....
And of course, the new comp is the one that has our ORI on it. We need our ORI to send messages whenever we arrest someone or file a detainer. Now, I have to fax the notifications, which isn't that big of a deal but is a pain in the butt nonetheless because these computer breakdowns always strike me as being ridiculous.
The skating open house is tonight. I thought it was last week and showed up all ready for it...but it's this week. Then there's no skating until after the New Year, which is good and bad. Good: I will have more time in the last week of holiday crunch. And I will be able to sleep in on Sunday. Bad: No skating! :( The year's going well, though, as I am now annoyed whenever I get less than a full revolution on my outer-edge spins. Since I started in mid-September with step-prep-STOP whenever I tried to do an outer-edge spin, this is an improvement.