At last! A brief overview of the past 3 weeks...
OK, I discovered that good intentions notwithstanding, it's a lot harder to get the time to update my journal than I thought. Nevertheless, here I am, finally getting to catch up a little. The "Runes and Divination" presentation on the 14th went extremely well! We were able to solve Chuck's transportation problem to get him here, and he and Swain gave a really good basic intro to the Runes. Not counting the three journalism students doing a class project, there were at least a dozen people attending, which is a fantastic turnout for a November night. *And* to top it all off, some of them were first-timers. I was over the moon! :) Next month, Uthyr will present on astrology. We expect another good turnout on this popular subject. Hee!
I was able to get to the gym a couple more times and work out, both on the weight machines and the elliptical(my fave!). I have once again broken 250-- Go me! Later this week I will make time to go again, and I'll be back on my three-times-a-week schedule fairly soon.
Thanksgiving weekend was a much-needed break. Although I didn't do any visiting, I was able to call and chat with my sister and parents, and send my brother and his family an e-greeting(I already knew they were out and about).
I waited until that Friday to cook a fresh turkey, saving the two frozen ones for later(eventually it will be my turn to provide the entree for my Heathen group's bl'ots). I got Friday's dinner, Saturday's meals, Sunday's meals, and I still have a bowl in the fridge with leftover broth to add to tomorrow's dinner. One of the frozen turkeys is thawing to provide the main course for Wednesday night's party(more on that later). Although I had four days!! (where did they GO??) I spent too much time goofing off watching Doctor Who tapes and reading Doctor Who fanfic, so almost no cleaning was done---I'll have to stay up late tonight and tomorrow night, but it was worth it. Thank the Gods that our library is blessed with some Doctor Who fans who have made sure that some tapes and DVDs are in the collection. I have the first and second season of the new show reserved and am waiting somewhat patiently for them to be checked back in.
Tomorrow night I am meeting my friends from the USS Phoenix Starfleet chapter to drop off some items I bought for our annual charity project. Every year our chapter sponsors a family through the local Voluntary Action Center: the VAC provides us with a wish-list from the people in the household, and we get as many of the items as we can, then deliver them to the distribution point. It's anonymous on both sides, at least as far as the families themselves, but since organizations are allowed to inform the public that they participate in this program, in order to hopefully encourage more donations, we are able to help combat the stereotypical image of science fiction fans as apathetic and uncaring about anything except their show(s).
Eventually I hope to get at least one of our local Pagan groups doing the same thing; both Hearthfires and Mid-Missouri Pagan Pride already donate canned goods to a local food pantry on a regular basis, and Pagans with Pep! is of course a charity effort in itself(a Relay for Life team), but the more we can do for our community, the better, say I.
This Wednesday night is the 9th Annual "Death Knell for Hearthfires" Party at my house. This event started because almost immediately upon the founding of the local Pagan group Hearthfires, unknown persons in the local Pagan community started nay-saying "it'll never last; Pagan groups never do" and "they're going to disband any time now". These comments have been bouncing around the community for years like certain emails bouncing 'round the Internet (e.g. "gas boycott" and "sign this or religion becomes illegal"). Despite the negative remarks, Hearthfires has so far continued to survive the various ups and downs that afflict any organization, especially ones that attract folks with strong personalities and independent minds.
[Notice how the cliche "herding cats" did not appear anywhere in the preceding sentence.] So to celebrate Hearthfires's seemingly "magickal"(hee) ability to recover from its various trials and tribulations, I started throwing annual parties to "ring the Death Knell of Hearthfires", scheduled to happen whenever in that year I heard of someone in the local Pagan community either proposing or stating the imminent disbanding of the organization. This year the disbanding proposal showed up in October. By the time the Membership Meeting rolled around in November, enough members had rallied in support of the group's survival that the proposal was never formally made, much less brought to a vote. Yay yay yay. Hee hee hee. Once again the mystical renewing ability of Hearthfires has triumphed over the nay-sayers! Go us!! I am so looking forward to Wednesday's party! :)
Now for a hour or so of picking up the living room, so my guests will have somewhere to sit Wednesday night, and then to bed dreaming of alien arms around me.
I was able to get to the gym a couple more times and work out, both on the weight machines and the elliptical(my fave!). I have once again broken 250-- Go me! Later this week I will make time to go again, and I'll be back on my three-times-a-week schedule fairly soon.
Thanksgiving weekend was a much-needed break. Although I didn't do any visiting, I was able to call and chat with my sister and parents, and send my brother and his family an e-greeting(I already knew they were out and about).
I waited until that Friday to cook a fresh turkey, saving the two frozen ones for later(eventually it will be my turn to provide the entree for my Heathen group's bl'ots). I got Friday's dinner, Saturday's meals, Sunday's meals, and I still have a bowl in the fridge with leftover broth to add to tomorrow's dinner. One of the frozen turkeys is thawing to provide the main course for Wednesday night's party(more on that later). Although I had four days!! (where did they GO??) I spent too much time goofing off watching Doctor Who tapes and reading Doctor Who fanfic, so almost no cleaning was done---I'll have to stay up late tonight and tomorrow night, but it was worth it. Thank the Gods that our library is blessed with some Doctor Who fans who have made sure that some tapes and DVDs are in the collection. I have the first and second season of the new show reserved and am waiting somewhat patiently for them to be checked back in.
Tomorrow night I am meeting my friends from the USS Phoenix Starfleet chapter to drop off some items I bought for our annual charity project. Every year our chapter sponsors a family through the local Voluntary Action Center: the VAC provides us with a wish-list from the people in the household, and we get as many of the items as we can, then deliver them to the distribution point. It's anonymous on both sides, at least as far as the families themselves, but since organizations are allowed to inform the public that they participate in this program, in order to hopefully encourage more donations, we are able to help combat the stereotypical image of science fiction fans as apathetic and uncaring about anything except their show(s).
Eventually I hope to get at least one of our local Pagan groups doing the same thing; both Hearthfires and Mid-Missouri Pagan Pride already donate canned goods to a local food pantry on a regular basis, and Pagans with Pep! is of course a charity effort in itself(a Relay for Life team), but the more we can do for our community, the better, say I.
This Wednesday night is the 9th Annual "Death Knell for Hearthfires" Party at my house. This event started because almost immediately upon the founding of the local Pagan group Hearthfires, unknown persons in the local Pagan community started nay-saying "it'll never last; Pagan groups never do" and "they're going to disband any time now". These comments have been bouncing around the community for years like certain emails bouncing 'round the Internet (e.g. "gas boycott" and "sign this or religion becomes illegal"). Despite the negative remarks, Hearthfires has so far continued to survive the various ups and downs that afflict any organization, especially ones that attract folks with strong personalities and independent minds.
[Notice how the cliche "herding cats" did not appear anywhere in the preceding sentence.] So to celebrate Hearthfires's seemingly "magickal"(hee) ability to recover from its various trials and tribulations, I started throwing annual parties to "ring the Death Knell of Hearthfires", scheduled to happen whenever in that year I heard of someone in the local Pagan community either proposing or stating the imminent disbanding of the organization. This year the disbanding proposal showed up in October. By the time the Membership Meeting rolled around in November, enough members had rallied in support of the group's survival that the proposal was never formally made, much less brought to a vote. Yay yay yay. Hee hee hee. Once again the mystical renewing ability of Hearthfires has triumphed over the nay-sayers! Go us!! I am so looking forward to Wednesday's party! :)
Now for a hour or so of picking up the living room, so my guests will have somewhere to sit Wednesday night, and then to bed dreaming of alien arms around me.