Cars rising up out of the freeway
Tuesday and Wednesday were a marathon trip to Southern California with para-chan to attend the funeral, interrment, and reception for her late uncle Ed. We drove down Tuesday and met her parents for dinner. We got together with them for breakfast and then headed out to pick up road food for the way home before heading to the funeral.
I'm not Catholic, but Ed's family is. Very Catholic. I have nothing in general against Catholics or the Catholic church. And para-chan's family are amazingly nice people. But ritual is ritual, and especially in a situation where emotuons are so very high and people are trying very hard to restrain themselves. So the whole affair was very tense and exhausting for all involved. The service was beautiful, the interrment was simple, and the receptoin was... well, for us, it was brief.
After eating we hit the road again, leaving the LA area at about five-ish and getting home around eleven. California, where you can drive for six hours and still have half the state in front of you.
I think I really like Aunt Elaine. She seems like the person in para-chan's family (other than her chibiness) who is most like me. She mentioned being interested in going to Japan, and asked to be included if we do a group package. So, time to start researching that.
We took the littles (Jhrdwyn and Saxon) with us, but they got little chance to be out to play. I forgot the camera, which would have been nice to make travel photo stories with. And to get pictures of the koi in the fountain at the hotel.
Sometimes I forget what a gorgeous state we live in. Recently, I've started to feel that I'm really appreciating the beauty around me. Heading south with para-chan once again gave me a fresh outlook, seeing things that I've seen dozens of times as if looking at them for the first time. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I feel... more... I don't know. It's just important to me, the things I'm doing at this point in my life.
And I'm babbling and mentally wandering. I have a commission to finish up, I need to get downtown today to get our seller's permit for Fanime and Yaoicon (not selling at Dollectible this year, we'll have to see what kind of crowd it draws). And I have potential hat orders.
The moment everything came together for me was last night, when I was checking my email, exhausted both physically and emotionally. I wasn't ready to deal with the woman who wanted hats, but I had an email from my dad entitled "The 'R' word." Yes, the oncologist says that he's in remission. His cardiologist says that his heart is fine and is not the cause of his persistent bronchial illness/cough. Which means he should be out for the 4th of July at Lake of the Springs. If it's just Sean and I going, we'll take the bike up. I'm really looking forward to it.
I'm not Catholic, but Ed's family is. Very Catholic. I have nothing in general against Catholics or the Catholic church. And para-chan's family are amazingly nice people. But ritual is ritual, and especially in a situation where emotuons are so very high and people are trying very hard to restrain themselves. So the whole affair was very tense and exhausting for all involved. The service was beautiful, the interrment was simple, and the receptoin was... well, for us, it was brief.
After eating we hit the road again, leaving the LA area at about five-ish and getting home around eleven. California, where you can drive for six hours and still have half the state in front of you.
I think I really like Aunt Elaine. She seems like the person in para-chan's family (other than her chibiness) who is most like me. She mentioned being interested in going to Japan, and asked to be included if we do a group package. So, time to start researching that.
We took the littles (Jhrdwyn and Saxon) with us, but they got little chance to be out to play. I forgot the camera, which would have been nice to make travel photo stories with. And to get pictures of the koi in the fountain at the hotel.
Sometimes I forget what a gorgeous state we live in. Recently, I've started to feel that I'm really appreciating the beauty around me. Heading south with para-chan once again gave me a fresh outlook, seeing things that I've seen dozens of times as if looking at them for the first time. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I feel... more... I don't know. It's just important to me, the things I'm doing at this point in my life.
And I'm babbling and mentally wandering. I have a commission to finish up, I need to get downtown today to get our seller's permit for Fanime and Yaoicon (not selling at Dollectible this year, we'll have to see what kind of crowd it draws). And I have potential hat orders.
The moment everything came together for me was last night, when I was checking my email, exhausted both physically and emotionally. I wasn't ready to deal with the woman who wanted hats, but I had an email from my dad entitled "The 'R' word." Yes, the oncologist says that he's in remission. His cardiologist says that his heart is fine and is not the cause of his persistent bronchial illness/cough. Which means he should be out for the 4th of July at Lake of the Springs. If it's just Sean and I going, we'll take the bike up. I'm really looking forward to it.