Family Memories
Habit is a strange thing. Once you're into one, you keep on going and it feels impossible to stop. Once you do stop, it feels like a massive chore to get back into.
So it has been lately with the habit of the daily journal. You'll notice that I had been doing so well on the weekday journal entry for a couple of months, and then with the work rush, I got back out of the habit. Now that the rush is (for the most part) over, I'm having trouble getting back into the flow.
I'm working on that internally.
My last entry mentioned a non-statement of intent so that I couldn't be held to it. Because I have been enjoying Ultimate Alliance 2 so much, I wasn't about to commit to doing something else specific.
What ultimately happened was that I watched two episodes of Merlin (as hoped) and a little more than a full editing session (as hoped). I did play some UA2 while I waited for another version of the podcast file to import (and then played a tad longer than intended -- like two hours), but I was pretty pleased with myself, considering I had expected UA2 to be my entire activity.
Over the weekend, I watched the last three Merlin episodes -- go me! I also got another editing session completed, but that's not nearly as much go me, because I still have 9 to go. Not making nearly enough progress on my podcast editing.
In the week since last we spoke, I got a new toy. On Tuesday, my iPod Touch arrived, and I absolutely love this thing! There's even a LiveJournal application, although I don't expect I will use it very much. I don't particularly like the typing thing on the Touch. Maybe once I become more adept at it. There are also Twitter and Plurk apps, which I have been using to post messages.
I know that the Touch was supposed to be Phase IV of my plan, but I modified it due to my upcoming vacation and the bonus we received at work. Now the Blu-Ray player is Phase IV. (That one still looks like it will be between December and February.)
And then I get to start the very lengthy save-up process for a new computer. Or at least some components to upgrade it a bit. Maybe I'll get a gaming laptop? I dunno.
I got to spend some time with the family on Sunday. That was pretty cool. Tweedle is so cute! Sprocket gave me a hug before she realized what she was doing -- a little bit of extortion on my part, really. I told her she couldn't have lunch until she did so. I'm a sneaky Uncle flickie like that.
The bad part of the visit is that Snarky wasn't feeling well, and since then it has escalated to full-blown flu. Both older girls have it, and it's a Type A flu (like Swine Flu, or H1N1, or whatever they're calling it now). Sis doesn't seem overly concerned, so I won't be either. I just hope they feel better soon-like. They're missing school all this week because of it.
The main event of the Sunday visit, though, was a trip down memory lane. Specifically, pictures. Sis has a lot of my mom's pictures -- which I thought had all been damaged or destroyed during what I will only call "the bad years" in a public forum. I had resigned myself to only having the photos in my possession being the only evidence I had ever been a child.
Some of the pictures had been severely damaged, a few to the point of being completely unsalvageable. These were the ones in photo albums, and attempting to peel them out of the plastic seemed to make it even worse. My hope is that, for the ones that can be saved, we can have them taken to a restoration place or something of that nature. My other hope is that we can have it done for a price that doesn't make my cheapskate side cry.
One realization I came to during this very emotional trip is that I used to be absolutely adorable. Once I hit my teen years I started to become the troll-like being I am today. In fact, the only reason I recognized the cute kid as being myself was due to some of the family portraits that were there.
I grabbed what I thought were a pretty large number of the loose pictures, as that was Sis's purpose for inviting me to look through pics. Ultimately, it wasn't a large enough number for her, so the plan is to do this again in the somewhat near future.
On a related note, she handed me an infant onesie that was worn more than 27 years ago: The Strawberry Shortcake onesie that Sis's infant picture had been taken in. She quipped, "Hard to believe I was ever that small, huh?"
Ah, memories. We had quite the reminiscing session.
I think that will be enough out of me for today. Although it's against my better judgment, I may end up scanning some of the pics of mini-me and posting them for perusal. Maybe.
It would give me a chance to try out the scanner part of the printer I've had since May, anyway.