One Lost Battle in the Allergy Wars

I forgot a dose of my allergy meds before going to visit one of my sisters. She has a dog and multiple cats, including one who decided our coats would be a fine place to sleep, so I had the unfortunate experience of receiving a blast of allergens at the exact same time that I was extremely vulnerable to them. Not good.

I enjoyed the visit well enough until my head became too stuffed up for me to function, and my holiday season is now officially over.

I barely slept last night, and actually had to sleep sitting up in a chair to get any sleep at all. I haven't gotten a damn thing done today other than resting and taking as much medication as I can get away with. At least I didn't have to work today and hadn't any other set plans, so I could afford the downtime.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Yes, I've gotten lazy about keeping up the blog, and was especially busy around the holidays. Things were relatively uneventful this year, which I consider a Good Thing. In fact, I'm not technically done with the holidays yet, as I haven't gotten together with one of my sisters yet.

Work has been crazy since the first of the new year, which is not unusual. A lot of people will postpone dealing with their claims until the holidays are past if they can, then once they've gotten past the holidays, they want to get the claim squared away so they can have a clean slate for the new year. The result for me is that I have a lot of work all at once that isn't actually terribly urgent, but is perceived by the person I'm dealing with as such. It's not a big problem, really, just a little hectic for a week or so.

I've had less to do, work-wise, this holiday season than usual, and we're getting into what is traditionally the slowest part of the year. Beyond some training I'm scheduled to do, my job could be uncharacteristically boring for the next two months or so.

The year has gotten off to a rough start, to be honest, with a number of minor bad breaks and inconveniences. Nothing major, just annoyances. Still, I have plenty of reasons for optimism, and some things to be excited about. For starters, I think I've figured out my roleplaying identity crisis and what to do about it, and I've had a breakthrough in my bass playing that takes me to a new level. Things definitely won't be dull this year, that's for sure.

Married Over Twenty Years...

and what did I do today? Went to play music with other people while she stayed home and did on-line shopping. She was fine with that, and that's one of the reasons we've been married for so long. :-) I'm sure the fact that we're on vacation together all this week helped, but it was still cool of her.

Why have a music session today? Because it was the only day we could get everybody in the same place this month.

Attacked by Small Children, Part II

My nephew's birthday party was this past weekend, and he'd chosen Star Wars as a theme for it. My sister got a little creative and made cheap foam light sabers for the kids, so in no time flat there were kids beating the crap out of each other all over the place, mostly in the intended spirit of fun.

The adults were staying out of the fray, for the most part, letting the kids be kids. I was a little concerned because the bulk of the kids had drifted down the long driveway and fairly far from the house, so I grabbed a light saber myself and ambled down to try to herd them back in the right direction.

Some of the kids were getting a little too enthusiastic with their weapons, leaving one on the receiving end in tears (though not actually injured), so I waded in and got between the combatants, using my own light saber to separate them. That might have been a mistake. The entire group turned on me, grinning all the way, including the one in tears. There must have been at least nine of them, including my niece and nephew. In a replay of the "ball incident" of a couple of years ago, I found myself at the center of the attack, trying to fend off the kids by gently tripping them, pulling their weapons out of their hands, and using a saber in each hand myself. I did manage to achieve the effect I wanted, which was to keep the kids from hurting each other and get them moving back toward the house.

After that scrum broke up, there were a couple of other minor incidents between some of the kids (there were simply too many of them for me to keep an eye on all of them at once), and the adults eventually took the light sabers away entirely for a little while. There were a couple of kids in tears at various points, but I knew they were actually okay because the tears dried up and the kids were grinning and back in the fight almost as soon as one of the adults had stepped in.

I have to admit that kids are largely a mystery to me, since I don't have any of my own. I like them and enjoy them, but can't claim I truly understand them at all. Their abrupt mood shifts always surprise me. I do know how to have fun with them, though, and my sister still says she wants to rent me out for parties.

Hope Everybody Had a Happy Christmas

My Christmas isn't over yet, strictly speaking, as I still have a visit with one of my sisters to go, but the seasonal flurry of activity is substantially over. Overall, things were more low key than usual for various reasons, primarily due to time needed for my father-in-law.

Work was far less busy than prior years, thanks to some changes made by company management. It would have been a very tough season for me if that hadn't happened.

My wife and I had a wonderful Christmas visit with Dr. Aether and his charming wife-to-be. If I'm ever going to be able to talk my wife into a long trip to visit anyone, it will be to see the two of them.

Now I'm looking forward to finding a new balance going into the new year. I'll still have to spend a lot of father-in-law time for the foreseeable future, but will have fewer other issues competing for my attention.

Father-in-law's Health

Things are getting worse again. Bottom line is that I have little time for anything except work and getting essentials done right now, so it's likely that I won't be posting much, at least until after Christmas or so.

Cause for Concern

My father-in-law's condition has gotten worse. Ironically, the thing he actually went into the hospital for in the first place is healing wonderfully. The problems are coming from other issues the doctors identified while getting him in the best possible condition for that surgery. Those issues would have eventually developed into more serious problems anyway, so it's probably just as well that they've been identified and are being addressed now, but he's finding it very frustrating and painful at the moment.

One step at a time...

Hospital Time

My father-in-law is in the hospital with a serious medical problem, so I may be a little quiet here for a while. Or not, since I'll be spending some time sitting around the hospital waiting for tests to be run, etc., and will bring a notebook with me to possibly do some writing during that downtime.

Staycation

My wife and I took the week off with no special plans in mind, and that's exactly what happened. We took care of some miscellaneous things that we needed to tend to and lounged around a lot. I'd like to say that I got more creative work done than I did, but it just didn't happen. I'm still feeling really stalled in that respect.

We decided that rather than buy each other separate anniversary gifts, we'd both get MP3 players and make the necessary musical conversion from CDs. It's going to take some doing to get our CD collection converted to MP3s, but then it'll be nice to be able to cherry pick some of the songs we like from performers we don't like enough to buy a full CD.

My wife continued on her anime kick and I finished season three of the Dexter TV series, both via Netflix. Dexter continues to be wonderfully written and acted. It remains one of the most tightly written television shows I've ever seen, and I can't wait to see season four. Not enough to subscribe to Showtime, mind you, but season four is already in my Netflix queue for when it is released in DVD. I watched a couple of other interesting movies as well, which I expect to cover in separate entries a little later.

On a side note, the Dollhouse TV series finally hit one out of the park with the episode "Belle Chose". Part of the reason this episode succeeded so well was that they really turned Enver Gjokaj loose in multiple roles and gave him a lot more screen time. Of all of the actors on the show, he's the one I find most convincing in truly different personalities. The other reason was Tim Minear's script, which took full advantage of the possibilities of the Dollhouse setting. The brass at Fox either didn't know what "belle chose" meant or thought the reference sufficiently obscure that most of the public wouldn't find out. I didn't know what it meant myself, but found it right away when I got curious enough to look it up. The capsule version is that it's a spicy Chaucer reference. Dollhouse continues to improve, but it's probably too late for it to achieve its full potential before Fox will have to cancel it for low ratings.

We also pulled together costumes for Halloween. We haven't decided exactly what we're wearing yet, but we each have at least two options. I'm looking forward to using them.

Spring Cleaning

Well, summer cleaning technically, I suppose. My wife and I took a couple of days off for a long weekend with no other plans than to do some long overdue cleaning. The strange thing about our approach is that we'll work into the night, sometimes as late as 3 AM, then sleep in until 11 AM or so, and do it all over again. It does tend to make things tough come Monday morning, since we usually have a hard time getting to sleep at a reasonable hour on Sunday night.

I'm not sure why we do this. It just seems to be our natural rhythm, as it happens almost every time we have more than a day or two off from work. We might go entirely nocturnal if we didn't have to work.

Progress has been good. By the end of the weekend, at the very least, our spare room will be a lot more organized than it was, and I may even be able to use it for more privacy when I meditate. We don't do this kind of major cleaning often, but we're very productive when we do.

Back from North Carolina

Just got back from a trip to North Carolina, visiting some family. Nothing special to talk about, really, except to say that being busy with that trip is the main reason I don't have much else to talk about right now.

We did make a trip to a local store called Camelot Treasures, which had a wild variety of cool stuff. There was a particular abundance of Harry Potter associated merchandise, and they appeared to be gearing up to satisfy the Twilight fans. They had some period costumes, and won my heart with a dressing room exterior wall painted as the TARDIS from the Doctor Who TV series. We spent a fair amount of money there, and could easily have spent a lot more than we did.

They also have musical groups come in to perform, such as Draco and the Malfoys performing Harry Potter themed songs. It's lucky that this place isn't closer to home, or I might be spending a fair amount of time there.

I've never seen so many churches so close together before. I'd heard that church attendance was a big deal in that part of the country, but it's another thing to see so much evidence of it. I saw more churches there on a single five mile stretch of road than we have in the entire city of Reading and the surrounding communities. I even saw two or three churches located directly next to each other multiple times. Seems to me as though some of them must ultimately compete for members of their particular denomination. It must look like rush hour there early on Sunday mornings.

I get along well with my sister-in-law, and it was good to see her, but I'm not in any hurry to repeat that drive, all the more so because I've done so much traveling in the last six weeks or so. I'm actually looking forward to spending some time at home for a little while.

Wedding Anniversary

Another part of the reason for the New York trip was in celebration of our wedding anniversary. It's actually very appropriate that my sister-in-law was with us on the trip, since she was also with us on our first date (long story, and a good one). Unsurprisingly, after we returned we ended up discussing the reasons why our marriage has lasted over 20 years, and I thought it might be worth putting those reasons out here for anyone to read.

Shared Values - We both took a fairly serious approach to dating, and discussed all of the Big Issues before either one of us was willing to get too invested in a relationship. I'd been badly burned in a prior relationship when my live-in girlfriend turned out to be wildly irresponsible, and it was just my wife's nature to be cautious with her heart. Not the most romantic approach in the world, but it kept us from getting deeply involved only to find out that there was something about the other that we simply couldn't live with. Knowing that we were on the same page regarding Big Issues allowed us to be flexible about the smaller issues and to know the difference between Big Issues and small ones. So what is a Big Issue? That needs to be defined by the individuals involved.

Shared Sense of Humor - Humor is more than just how well you can make jokes at parties; it's a tool to help people get through the rough spots in life. Used correctly (that is, without attacking each other with it), it can help you handle differences between the two of you when you disagree, and to cope when life deals you an especially rough hand, as will inevitably happen if you stay together long enough. And I'd say that if you don't understand another person's sense of humor, you probably don't truly understand that person well enough to be married to them.

Flexibility - People will change over time, and that includes you and your partner. My wife and I have each probably been three or four different people during the course of our marriage, depending on how you want to define those changes, and each of us had to make adjustments when the other changed. My relatively recent interest in Buddhism would be an example of the type of change I'm talking about. If my wife had been unable to accept that, I'd have to have chosen whether to stay on that spiritual path or stay married. Fortunately, after asking some questions, she was able to deal with my changes, and we continue on. Some couples will run into Big Issue changes that really can't be resolved and may have to break up, and for some couples what is actually a small issue (or small issues, plural) becomes a Big Issue for one reason or another. Sometimes people simply tire of each other and look for reasons to end a relationship, whether they consciously realize it or not.

Flexibility also means letting the small issues go. My wife and I had difficulties early in our marriage because I was (and still am) a much more social creature than she is. When the weekend came, I wanted us to go out with friends and she wanted to stay home. I didn't want to go out without her, and she didn't want anyone else coming to our house. We ultimately agreed that I could go out without her if I really wanted to go somewhere and that I wouldn't argue with her about choosing to stay home. I eventually became more comfortable with the idea of staying home sometimes on weekends. She occasionally agrees to go somewhere, though it remains a real rarity. My friends still think this is a little strange, and there's a running joke that I'm not actually married and just have an actress that I occasionally hire to play my wife in situations where I need one, but it works for us and that's all that matters.

Every couple has things they have to work out, and what those things are will vary with the couple. I suppose my advice here boils down to knowing the difference between the Big Issues and the small stuff, and learning to constructively negotiate the small stuff. And remember that most things qualify as small stuff.

I Don't (Heart) New York

I've just gotten back from five days in New York City, and it's all Harry Potter's fault.


I'd better start again. My wife and her sister are very close, and both are fans of Daniel Radcliffe, the guy who plays Harry Potter in the movies. And so when young Daniel started performing in the Broadway play "Equus", her sister bought tickets for the two of them. As I understand it, there's a scene toward the end involving Mr. Radcliffe being stark nekkid, but the ladies assured me that had nothing whatsoever to do with their interest, and of course I believe everything they tell me. My sister-in-law ultimately saw the play three times in less than a week with a front row seat the third time, so she must have enjoyed it.

And so we ended up scheduling several days in NYC, doing various things. The ladies went to their play while I wandered Times Square (ultimately buying a cheap Talking Heads CD). We spent some time in Madame Tussaud's, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Mahayana Buddhist temple in Chinatown, and the Building Formerly Known as CBGB's (sadly, now a designer clothing store).

I've been to many major cities before, here in the U. S., in Europe, and in Brazil, and I must say that for good and for ill, NYC may be the ultimate city. I love that you can find virtually anything there, and hate the claustrophobic feel of the place. I love that virtually anything is within walking distance or within the reach of public transportation, and hate that choosing to drive would be a seriously white knuckle experience. I hate the cost of virtually everything there. Yes, I know that where I live has a relatively low cost of living and the reasons why costs in New York are so high, but it just feels fundamentally wrong to me that a $25 per person lunch is considered cheap there.

So much of the place feels excessively crowded and like one massive effort to part other people from as much cash as possible as quickly as possible. Every major city has their tourist traps, but New York City just feels like one gigantic tourist trap to me. On the other hand, it's a very exciting place, full of possibilities, and the sense of crowding is a matter of what you're accustomed to. It's been a great place to visit each time (if crazy expensive), and a lot of people love it, but frankly, you couldn't pay me enough to live there. I need a lot more greenery and a lot fewer people and buildings in my life.

The Funeral and After

I spoke at my father's funeral, which was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. I knew it was going to be extremely hard for me, but I felt it was something that he would've wanted, so I kept reminding myself of that to get me through it. One of the positive things about the delay between his passing and the funeral itself was that it gave me time to think through exactly what I wanted to say and how I wanted to say it, and the end result was truly exactly what I wanted (and I hope what he would've wanted).

I practiced before the funeral in an attempt to figure out if I could get through it without reaching a point where I couldn't speak, and to try to figure out how I could get through the tough parts. The bottom line is that, as tough as I thought it would be to do this, it was tougher than that, and frankly, I seemed to be breaking down about every four or five words instead of just at a few of the more emotional points. Still, I got through it and I'm glad I did it.

One of my sisters spoke before me with much lighter content, going for the funny reminisce rather than the serious point on the whole, but I have to say that she did it very well and did a better job keeping herself together than I did.

There are still a few things to tend to regarding my father's passing, but most things are done, and I'm ready to get on with doing the things I need to (and want to) do. I'm back to work, which has been especially difficult. The people I work with did a fine job of handling emergencies during my absence, and my boss was very good about allowing me any time I needed, but I've learned that the people I'm dealing with on claims had a tolerance level of only about twenty four hours before they started saying "I've been patient, and I need you to do this for me now." Trying to do seven days' work in four days simply doesn't work, so it wasn't a pleasant week to say the least, even with very sympathetic support from my co-workers. I think I have a shot at catching up by the end of next week, and that'll just have to do.

Dad

My father passed away this morning. At times like this, you'd like to have something particularly profound to say, because your feelings seem so complex, but it's hard to say anything clear for exactly that reason. My mind has been a jumble of everything I ever felt about him all day today.

My father moved a substantial distance away when I was in my teens, which meant that we didn't see each other very often over a period of many years. I have a lot of positive memories of him from when I was relatively young, but our more recent contacts often felt as though we were living very separate lives. Distance and a lack of contact will do that.

And yet, as several people reminded me today, he was always my father, and there's a very real impact to losing him. I think of the times I meant to call him, but was just too busy and planned to do it sometime in the unspecified future. That can't happen now. Still, I can't think of anything I wanted to say to him that I didn't, or anything that I said to him that I regret, which is a very good thing, and something that not everybody in my situation can say. I think we could have been closer if we'd had the opportunity to spend more time together, and I grieve that loss more than anything else. My wife has said that some of her favorite parts of me obviously came from him, and I believe that's true, and it's to his credit that that's the case.

The nature of the obstacles we face in our lives has a lot to do with who we are, and he had more than his share of obstacles in a couple of respects. Life had been very hard on him, and in that sense he's free now. Wherever he is now, I wish him peace that I don't know he'd ever found in this life.

Domino

The last feline member of our family is gone. This is especially hard for me, because she's always been my cat particularly. I've lived with several cats over the years, including when I was a kid, but of all of them, she was the only one that became especially attached to me personally. It's more accurate to say that I was her person than that she was my cat.

She was the queen of quirkiness, with more personality than I've seen in any other cat. She loved doughnuts (would do almost anything for one!) and Lebanon bologna. She used to make what my wife called "monkey noises", where it sounded as though she was trying to talk to us. It's hard to describe. Sometimes she'd chitter or trill (both of which I've heard other cats do), but sometimes it'd be almost like she was trying to form words. Sometimes it sounded like "uh-oh!", which was particularly hilarious when she said it after she'd gotten into trouble.

I could tell numerous stories about her. On one occasion, my wife was eating a doughnut and Domino jumped up and started eating from the other side of the doughnut as fast as she could, until my wife realized she was there and yelled. On another, my wife had made rice crispie treats to take into work, and left them out to cool. Domino decided they looked like a nice warm place to sleep and curled up on top of them. When my wife found her, she chased Domi around the house, and I was seriously concerned about Domino's continued well being for quite a while there.

She was very insistent when she wanted something. If she decided she wanted a lap to occupy, the only way that you weren't going to provide one was to never sit down. I spent many nights with her on my lap as I've typed these entries, frequently stopping to perform the required neck scratches. Sometimes it was a pain in the backside to work with her there, but now I'm glad I did it as often as I did, and wish I'd done it more.

I could go on and on with stories about Domino, some of which require visual components I can't adequately supply in writing. I'll never hear the phrase "dinner and a show" without thinking of one particular incident involving her. It's all the more painful because she was the last animal in the house, when we used to joke about our home zoo. She really warmed up as a personality this past year because she'd always wanted to be the only cat and finally had that position. Cats don't make a lot of noise, but somehow the house seems far more quiet now. I really don't understand why that is. We'll have pets again, but we've decided to take a long break before we do. We've had the privilege of some truly rare personalities in our furry housemates. We had Domi for roughly 18 1/2 years (from the time she was five or six weeks old), which is a good long run for a cat, and it still could never be enough. We'll miss her very much.

Happy New Year!

I don't know that starting the year with a post of bit and pieces is a good idea, but it's what's on my mind at the moment.

Here's to Doc Aether and his bride-to-be, with whom my wife and I shared a post-Christmas lunch. We don't see each other in person often, but it's always a pleasure when we do.

I stand corrected on my previous post re: Madonna and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I found out that Gwen Stefani acknowledges Madonna as a musical influence, and I can see that. I still don't think Madonna belongs, but that's at least one contradictory piece of evidence.

Christmas isn't a one day thing for me. It's a marathon of at least a week, getting together with various family members and friends, local and otherwise. I'm sure it's getting to be more and more that way for everyone.

One of my sisters gifted me with an MP3 player, so I'm finally going to join the world of musical downloads. I'm sure there'll be a learning curve while I figure out how to use the thing and where to find music I'll enjoy.

My other sister bought me a desk catapult. I already have the best desk toys at work; this should build on that reputation.

My niece and nephew were noticeably more personally friendly this year. I think they're old enough now to understand where some of the presents are coming from. :-)

This was more of a clothing Christmas than usual for me, which I'm happy with. Remember when you were a kid and hated getting clothing for Christmas?

My mother asked what my wife got me for Christmas. When I explained that two of the main gifts were a demon skull and an 18 inch talking Pinhead figure, she just shook her head. In spite of my spiritual inclinations, I've always enjoyed creepy images, going back to when I was very young. As a kid in my single digit years, I had these Styrofoam airplanes called Freaky Fliers that included images like a disembodied flying eyeball, and a small plastic figure of something called Rat Fink (see Ed "Big Daddy" Roth if you want a visual) that was given to me by an uncle. I haven't figured out why I've always had an affinity for images that most people would find creepy; it's just been part of me as far back as I can remember.

Books are big for me almost every year, and this year was no exception. Philosophy, psychology, and biography were this year's subjects. Now what I need is time to read.

Gift cards are fine to receive as gifts so you can get whatever you want, and they're certainly convenient for the buyer, but there's little point in trading them with family members who clearly don't get each other. I don't know a good solution to the problem other than choosing not to buy them for others yourself or acknowledging that you can't buy well for each other and agreeing not to exchange gifts. On the other hand, there are some people who are tough to buy for, and who likes to be on the receiving end of a poorly conceived gift?

I went to see the Sweeney Todd movie with some family members. I'll admit up front that I'm a Tim Burton fan, but I must say that this is some of his best work. The acting performances are excellent, almost across the board. Highly recommended! I'm afraid there might be too much blood for mainstream success, though.

I've signed up for a yoga class beginning in mid-January. I didn't seek this out. It was offered at work, and I just thought it might be interesting to try. Even if it's a mistake, at least it'll be an interesting mistake.

I'm feeling an inclination to play music again, which has been missing for several years now. My musical discussions with one of my step nephews, who is just starting to get serious about playing, are probably an influence here, though I don't think that's all of it. On the other hand, I don't have the time or any other musicians I know who are likely to want to play as little as I would. Once a month would be cool. I already have too much on my plate, so I'll have to give this time and see if the urge passes or builds. I might want to get out my bass and try to get back into practice in case I decide to start playing again. I still have no interest in playing in public again; I'd just want to do it for fun.

I'm still struggling a bit finishing the roleplaying scenario "Fear Itself". I wrote the scenario first and I'm writing the characters afterward, which is the reverse of my usual process, and maybe that has something to do with it.

I really want to see the New England Patriots lose. They're a fine team, and certainly deserve to win this year's NFL championship, but they've already spent too much time on top of the heap and I don't like to see anyone in professional sports win every game. If I could write the story, I'd like to see them lose to the Green Bay Packers in the Super Bowl, then see Brett Favre retire as a winner. I've got a feeling that's not gonna happen, though.

Hope you all had good holidays. And now, back to the regularly scheduled program...

Happy Father's Day!

First of all, a Happy Father's Day to my father, with whom I share a love of games, a fairly sociable nature, and (increasingly) a hairline. Thanks for teaching me chess, which was one of the main things that started my involvement with games. Our taste in games rarely matches, but the game gene seems to be there in general, and is lasting a lifetime. My wife has often stated that much of what she loves about me comes from my father. Thanks for your contributions to my sense of humor, which I'm sure is one of those things.

Thanks to my father-in-law, who embraced my relationship with his daughter wholeheartedly. He's been there for us in many tough situations. He's been my Sunday football buddy for the last couple of years. Now if only I could get him to teach me a few of his poker tricks...

Thanks to my former sensei Ralph Jenkins, who was a spiritual father to me, whether he realized it or not. It was the eastern spirituality that came with my martial arts teaching that has taken me down an especially useful path, not to mention the benefits of good physical conditioning during my younger years.

And thanks to my stepfather, who married my mother after I'd left home. He allowed me to stay in his home for a couple of months during the lowest point of my life when he could've said "no". I don't think we ever understood each other at all, but he made my mother happy during their years together and we eventually learned to co-exist.

Twenty Four Hours Plus

My father-in-law had a sudden health issue over the weekend, which resulted in our sitting in the hospital emergency room for hours. The bottom line result is that we (myself, my wife, and her sister) were all awake for over twenty four hours straight. Not fun.

I understand that an ER must prioritize, and that a relatively stable situation (as his ultimately was) is a low priority from their perspective, but frankly, they didn't appear to be busy, and not much was happening. We were informed at about 7 AM that the doctor on call had been notified of the situation and would be there as soon as possible. As of shortly after 10 AM, six hours after we'd arrived, there was still no doctor available. One of the nurses told us that this particular doctor has been known to be slow to respond when he was on call. Eventually, with the situation stable and my father-in-law in the hands of the nurses, we all went home to rest, and the doctor called for more information at almost 12 noon, eight hours after we'd arrived.

Again, I understand that they have to prioritize, and our exhaustion didn't help our patience, but geez, that time frame seems more than a little ridiculous to me.

Between the house and family health issues (this isn't the only one, but this isn't the time to go into it), again, creativity will just have to wait.

Making My House Boring and a Dream

As part of the staging process, we have to make our house more conventionally attractive. In a word, boring. :-)

I've packed away the little plush Cthulhu that was perched on a globe, ruling his own little world. I've packed away my books with more, um, colorful titles. I've packed away my funky gargoyle statues, and my demon skull with horns (nicknamed "Basil"). It's all gone away to our handy little storage area, not to be seen for at least several months.

One of the few concessions to our own taste is a fair amount of Asian flavor in the decor. Frankly, it'd be hard to clear it all out, and it's as close to conventional as we get on our own, so we're going with it.

It's amazing how much we've cleared out, and yet how much there is to go. This is going to take a while.

I had a strange dream last night. I was climbing a steep mountain alone at night, with no sign of people around anywhere. I eventually came to a road, which led to a school building. The school was all lit up, and there were parked cars surrounding it. I walked to the school and went in, finding that there was a high school girls' basketball game going on. Well, it was a girls' game, except for the fact that my friend Nathan was playing on one of the teams, and nobody seemed to question that a thirtysomething-year-old man was playing. After the game was over (I think Nate's team won, but not by much), I was having trouble finding my wallet, and hung around looking for it for a while, remembering that my wife would be mad as hell because I'd just lost my wallet recently (in dream world, not the real world), and doing it again wouldn't go over well. I think I found it eventually, though I don't remember for sure as I'm writing this. Then I left the school and went back down the mountain. The time of day had miraculously changed to daylight as I left the school. When I reached the bottom, I met my wife at a sort of carnival location, which didn't seem to be open. There were posters everywhere, and not one of them was in the English language. Several were in Russian, and others seemed to be in Chinese, though I couldn't know for sure. We were all by ourselves there, and I don't know why. Then I woke up. I'm not sure what any of it means, but the part where Nate was playing on a high school girls' basketball team cracked me up.

I've been crazybusy with packing up the house and a rough week at work, which is why I've been quiet on the blogging front lately. The only reason this got written is because I was doing it while watching "Lost" on TV. Hopefully it won't be so long until the next post, as I've got a lot going on right now.