The day I didn't sleep and then all of a sudden was in Utah.
WHY DOESN'T ANYONE TELL YOU SLC IS FUCKING BEAUTIFUL? I almost died at 9:24 this morning before my plane boarded because out of every window was a SUN-WASHED MOUNTAIN RANGE telling me everything was cold outside but no less exquisite.
Let's think about how I'm going to run down Main Street screaming the words "LOVE!" and "REUNION!" in so few days. And how it will SNOW while I am here, if it's the first and last deal with the devil I make. And how I have about eight books to get through. And eight times eight friends to squeeze and have sleep-overs with.
Funny thing is that I was sort of rushed out of Portland and I wasn't ready to say goodbye. I could have had a good, lazy, content one or two more days to do as I pleased in my Portland.
The etymology of the word "companion" is:
1297, from O.Fr. compaignon "fellow, mate," from L.L. companionem (nom. companio), lit. "bread fellow, messmate," from L. com- "with" + panis "bread." Found first in 6c. Frankish Lex Salica, and probably a translation of a Gmc. word (cf. Gothic gahlaiba "messmate," from hlaib "loaf of bread"). Replaced O.E. gefera "traveling companion," from faran "go, fare."
And "mate" is:
"companion, associate, fellow, comrade," c.1380, from M.L.G. mate, gemate "one eating at the same table, messmate," from P.Gmc. *ga-maton "having food (*matiz) together (*ga-)," which is etymologically identical with companion (q.v.). Meaning "one of a wedded pair" is attested from 1549. Used as a form of address by sailors, laborers, etc., since at least 1450. Meaning "officer on a merchant vessel is from 1496. The verb, of animals, "to pair for the purpose of breeding" is first recorded 1601. The verb in chess (c.1320) is short for checkmate (q.v.) and is not related.
Partner:
c.1290, from O.Fr. parçener "joint heir," from parçon "partition," from L. partitionem (nom. partitio) "portion" (see partition). Form infl. by part (n.). The word may also represent O.Fr. part tenour "part holder."
I'm trying to come up with a real term for Significant Other that implies as little ownership as possible. No one is "mine," or "my" anything ever at all. Let's just be us and we, not his or hers. Love will be implied, or understood, and if it isn't then you need to work on it. Our language makes it difficult to call somone simply Companion, and if you say, "This is my mate," I bet people will think you roast meats in your backyard and don't bathe enough. Or something that represents earthiness to an extreme. I'm a little off tonight.
I must have slept more than I thought on the plane because my body is doing the feeling it does every day, when I haven't had enough sleep but I stil won't be tired until 3:30 AM. Go figz.
My little brother got one of these:
I'm having trouble finding how it closes so rapidly, except wiki talks about CALCIUM IONS and I know those do things in muscles, which move rapidly. Maybe these are the sprinters of the vegetation world? "Scientists theorize that it moves from some type of fluid pressure activated by an actual electrical current that runs through each lobe." Sounds like a plant-muscle to me! And this would involve the ions. Oh man. Sexy.