Monday, December 14, 2009

Goodbye Monday!

One down four to go! The weekend flew by, however, sadly Monday did not. A long 5.5 hour training session tomorrow should eat up most of the day. I'm hoping it flies by with not too many fires to put out while I'm gone.

Enjoy your update.

Elisa

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Sunday, December 13, 2009

Burn, Baby, Burn!

Yippee! We've got a fire going. Yes, the burn ban is over (for now). We had a few snow flurries today but nothing major. It warmed up a bit and we saw blue skies and sun...lovely. It's still cold enough for a fire though and that puppy has been cranking out heat since about 1.

Enjoy 'em!

Tamara

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Saturday, December 12, 2009

Cold

Yeah, you're sick of hearing about the burn ban in our city...well, me too. I'm ready to let my fireplace rip. Until then, I'm cold! Yes, my whining is done.

We did a lot of chores this morning then went off to see Planet 51. It was okay but not one we'll buy. Tonight I'll get the tree up (hopefully with some help from the kiddos). Tomorrow holds haircuts and cookies for us.

Y'all stay warm and enjoy your updates!

Elisa

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Friday, December 11, 2009

Just Another Fun-filled Friday

The burn ban is still on and I still miss the fireplace. Other than that, life is humming along quite normally here. I'm minus E for this update because she's hanging out at work waiting for an event at little e's school. Friday evening traffic wasn't worth the trip home and back to Capitol Hill.

Mike is in Spokane for work. He made it over the pass without any snow stopping him. I was very glad of that.

Cal is scheduled to spend the night with me today. In addition to his days during the week (with his brother) he's here every other Friday. Since Mike is out of town I'm going to oppress Duncan and make him sleep over here tonight. This is because I only half trust that he'll get off Xbox Live at a decent time. Friday is his school is over and I can stay up late gorging myself on Xbox Live time. I did promise him a good breakfast Saturday for his trouble.

Whatever you're doing this evening/day, stay safe and enjoy these darn updates.

Tamara

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Thursday, December 10, 2009

Brrrrr....

The weather here in Seattle has turned mighty cold. We're actually breaking records right now for night time lows. I will say that while it's cold it's nothing like Oklahoma cold. This is entirely due to the lack of wind. An Oklahoma winter is quite often windy, which makes those chilly temps even chillier. While I miss the Oklahoma wind I'm not crazy enough to miss it right now. I'll take my nippy minus the tear through your coat, bone biting chill of wind.

I am, however, missing our fireplace. The air quality hasn't been good because of the lack of wind and that's put us in a burn ban. I understand the need for it but I really miss the heat that puppy gives off. Maybe Saturday we'll see a break in the weather and the fireplace can come roaring back to life.

In the meantime, if it's cold where you are, stay warm. If it's hot, stay cool. And, as always, enjoy these updates.

Tamara

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Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Sematics

Couple of messages. First - reader who goes by the user name Des Ervin - thanks for your mail. Tried to respond but can't, mailer reply is Recipient address rejected: User unknown in local recipient table. Wanted to ask if we can use your mail as a ramble. Second. Phair. I know I still owe you a reply. Can't respond at the mo - my email being PITA - will as soon as I can. Lastly a good mate of mine - Nell Stark - and her partner have just been interviewed by After Ellen about a new book they've written. Worth a look. (Interview and book).

Next. Hanukkah starts this coming weekend so before I forget - Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish readers.

Right. Messages over, we now return you to normal programming. Not that I identify with the word normal in any way, shape or form, you understand. Normal is bland. Boring even. Normal is in fact anything but. Normal isn't even (mostly) usual. Normal doesn't mean straight. It doesn't mean not suffering from illness or disability. Normal is the word people use when they mean themselves and "not the other". The other being anything different, not the same, not them, and consequently scary.

Normal is the word that allows bigotry or discrimination to exist. Because the default for normal is white, Christian, middle-class, heterosexual male. Women, people of colour, other faiths, other sexualities, other gender-identities, people with disabilities of any kind, these are all "the other". But these others outnumber all those in the default group, which scares the living daylights out of them. And when something scares you the easiest ways to deal with it are by denying it scares you, or denying it exists, or admitting it exists but declaring that it's wrong to do so, and then by setting the various others against each other. Divide and conquer. Works every time.

I'm generalising here - I do that a lot *g*. Individuals may not feel this way, in fact they may even be appalled by the idea, (and I know lots of good folk who don't), but groups as a lump seldom even think it through let alone question it. And groups who don't question don't think - not thinking allows bigotry to flourish.

And I had absolutely no intention of heading down this road - I was planning on chatting about my new (second-hand) laptop (which isn't - yet - working). But when I typed the word normal my brain just headed off in this direction. Most probably because of this and this and this and this.

All of which scare me. We've come a long way in my lifetime but oh Lord not nearly far enough.

And on that depressing note. *g* Enjoy your updates, goodnight and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

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Tuesday, December 08, 2009

She's Behind You.

This update's title is a reference to Panto. Pantomime that is. That's where I went this evening. To a Panto (Mother Goose). Pantomime is a long and honoured theatrical tradition in The UK. (And in some countries that used to belong to us once, in the bad old days when we were nasty and had Empires & things. Kiwis and Aussies will be well familiar with it).

I don't think America has Panto. In fact - if the reactions of a fair number of the attendees at Xena Conventions (who appear to believe that Michael Hurst invented Window Twankey) is anything to go by - Americans just don't get Panto at all. To be honest, I'm not surprised. If I hadn't grown up with it I probably wouldn't get it either. To an outsider the whole thing must look completely doolally. But we love it.

Especially those of us who are just big kids (like me). Right now I have a sore throat from yelling "She's behind you" and "Oh no you aren't" and "Oh yes he did". Singing (very off key) a song about smiling and not letting the sun set on an argument. And laughing at some dodgy jokes about politicians, bankers, marriage, and a couple of other (rival) towns in my county. Not to mention telling the "other side" of the audience (in chorus with the rest of "my side") to mind their own business (on the instructions of Mother Goose).

All in all I had a great time.

Ze

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Monday, December 07, 2009

Monday Evening

A ramble tonight from the amazing storyteller phair.
And, somehow, it has become December again. This year it is particularly poignant. It is the last month of the last year of the first decade of the new millennium. Or, something significantly cerebral like that. It is more than the beginning of the end of another year. It is the end of the end of our first decade into 2K.

How are we doing so far, do you think?

If I remember it right, all we were worried about when 1999 rolled into 2000 was the computers getting confused and shutting down plunging our way of life back to 1899 technology. If only that was all that happened. It would have been a cake walk; to turn a Cheneyian phrase.

Instead, we are looking back at a decade of carnage. If somebody predicted on New Year's Eve 1999 that the United States would suffer a catastrophic main land attack, launch two military offensives against two separate and unrelated countries, and crash the world wide economy, I would have laughed. US, start a war? PAH SHAW!

"We don't start wars, we finish 'em." That's what my Dad's brother used to say.
My Dad's brother suffered PTSD from his military service in the South Pacific during WWII; 'the big one' - my Dad always called it that. Back when I was a kid, PTSD was not the term used to describe my crazy old uncle who went gray at 22 while still a soldier; a soldier trying to stay alive in the Philippines until MacArthur could figure out what to do next. No, people didn't say my uncle was sick with a mental health disorder from the horror he witness but could never talk about. Nope, they just said he was 'shell shocked.' It was a so much better diagnosis than the fellows who came back as 'basket cases.'

My uncle was, to be blunt, weird. He had horrible hygiene. He ate hamburger three meals a day. He smoked like he was on fire and was careless with the ashes. He would burn you with the cigarette and yell, "watch my butt." He thought farting in public was acceptable behavior. He told crappy jokes. "What does a cheap hotel and a tight pair of pants have in common...no ballroom." He was a racist and a sexist. And, he detested my mother. His only redeeming value, in my eyes, was he loved my Dad. My Dad loved him too. My uncle was the big brother who'd take the lickin' from their Mom for him. We ain't talking spankin' either.

I grew not to like my uncle. As a kid, he seemed great because he always brought candy and soda and gave us money. As a teenager, he was a total embarrassment. The feeling was reciprocal. He had no use for teenagers. Teens don't enjoy amusement park outings chaperoned by their crazy uncle who likes to gamble on rigged games of chance. Teens didn't like to go for long, pointless walks with a meandering old man. My siblings and I called them death marches. Teenagers can be unwittingly cruel and accurate.

All his nieces and nephews outgrew him long before he got Alzheimer's. We stopped taking strolls with him years before his legs finally gave out. I, in particular, had few nice things to say about him and even less good feelings to feel about him. It hurt my Dad but I just couldn't get by how much my uncle hated my Mom. My feelings were only compounded by my folks silence to keep the peace.
At work the other day, I getting water boarded by the company compliance officer. She's was drowning me with demands. During a lull in the torture, she tried to be conversational. The fits and starts of the stilted exchange culminated in her connecting my name with my uncle's. She sneered just a little with a hint of disgust.

"I know what you're thinking," I blurted. "But, you don't know what he went through. He was in the Pacific in world war 2. He saw some horrible stuff but could never talk about it. It messed him up something terrible."

She shifted nervously and said, "He was a kind man."

I laughed out loud. "Oh no, he wasn't. He was crazier than a box of doorknobs but he went crazy trying to save the world. He thought it was worth it because nobody would ever have to fight like him and his buddies again."

My sister listened to my story a few days later. She sighed and said, "Dad would be so happy to hear you."

"Huh?" towards the end of the week I'm very dim and slow on the uptake.

"You defended him."

"No, I did not," I was indignant. "I did no such thing."

"It's okay," she reassured me. "It doesn't mean you changed your feelings. You can continue to not like him and make fun of him but nobody else better try it. Family is family."

And, here I am this cold winter night as this terrible decade drags to a close, pondering a man long dead and nearly forgotten. He fought a war most folks agree was necessary. The evil tearing across Europe was obvious and the threat to civilization was clear. Yet, it destroyed him emotionally. So much so, that more than 60 years after he came home a stranger remembers him as the creepy neighbor.
I wonder how the soldiers returning from our ambiguous wars will be remembered in 60 years when their nieces talk to a stranger who only knew them after their service to our nation. A nation that only used to finish wars not start 'em.

My uncle thought he fought so nobody else would have to go back out there and fight again.

Too bad he was wrong.

phair


Phair, thank you for sharing. As sad as your stories are, most leave me smiling as well. I'm glad you share with us and I hope you continue to for a very long time.

Now to the rest of you, enjoy the update and feel free to let phair know what you think as well.

Have a great night.

Elisa

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Sunday, December 06, 2009

End of the Weekend Wrap Up

Wrap up tonight. I will attempt a full day of work tomorrow after missing half of last week. Still feeling puny but need to get back on track. Tonight I have plans to make a few holiday cookies so I can get them sent of to a friend. Other than that I think being a slug in front of the fire is where I will be found.

One side note tonight, a belated Happy Birthday goes out to Geonn Cannon and to celebrate this event please check out the story that Rysler has written for the occasion.

Now on to your update...enjoy it!

Elisa

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Saturday, December 05, 2009

Two for the Price of One

E and I had a lazy Saturday. We did make it to the Seattle Mystery Bookshop and were able to meet Andi Marquette and Joan Opyr. Andi was there to sign her newest book The Ties That Bind. Joan was there for moral support and chauffeur duties.

We ended up getting a lot of books signed and a nice time chatting with the dynamic duo. As always, the SMB staff was knowledgeable and extremely helpful. If you love mysteries and are ever in the Seattle area, do yourself a favor and spend some money here.

Tamara

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Friday, December 04, 2009

Worth the Money

What is worth the money you inquire? Well first off, decent tissue when you have a nasty cold. I do like that lotion kind once my nose has been blown over a thousand times.

What else one may wonder...well Good News there's more! For any folks living in Seattle, your money's worth will be waiting at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop around noon tomorrow. The author Andi Marquette is making a stop to sign her new book, The Ties That Bind. Tamara and I are headed down there with our money in hand and there may even be a bonus appearance of the one and only Joan Opyr, you'll never know unless you come on down and join the fun.

Now that's enough good advice for one evening don't ya think? Enjoy your updates.

Elisa

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Thursday, December 03, 2009

Brief

Have at it!

Tamara

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Wednesday, December 02, 2009

On Luck and Laptops

Ever notice how things always break when you're skint can't afford to repair or replace them?? And never just the one - there's always a series of things. (Or maybe you only notice them when you're broke. Maybe if you can afford it you just pay up and forget it.) For instance, Reisen decides to fund the vet's Christmas holiday in the Caribbean, the fence tries its best frisbee impression, the dentist brings her kids and their families over from Romania on the money I'm paying her for this damn' crown (which has come out again!!), and my laptop pops its little clogs.

Any one of those things would have me thinking "Ouch. Oh well, gotta be done." But all of them at once?? Seriously, who did I p** off??

We can't fix the fence just yet, the wind and the rain haven't abated. I like rain. (I'm English, of course I like rain. Don't have much choice in the matter). But this is ridiculous. We've had practically a year's worth of rain in two months. The ground can't take any more. (Damn!! I heard that bit, in my mind, in Scotty's accent. Must stop watching Star Trek tapes). Please, could it stop for a bit now?? I'm not asking for sunshine. Just the absence of rain for a while.

I may have got really lucky with the laptop actually. Which will be a blessing. I can access some email and a few websites on my mobile (cell phone) but not many. So I've a load of email I need to reply to - but anything more than a few lines is having to wait. I can't get into MySpace or Live Journal on it but I can Facebook. Weird. I do these updates on the kid's desktop which I can borrow for a bit, but obviously not for long. I can't write on it though. I'd forgotten how laborious longhand could be...

Anyway. Luck. There was an ad on our local version of Freecycle someone was offering a laptop, almost as old as mine so big, heavy, short on RAM and slow. Without a hard-drive but otherwise in working order. I phoned. I was first caller. I pick it up at the weekend. And then I have fun taking the hard-drive out of my old laptop (which I've had trouble doing so far) and transferring it. If you look towards S-W England at any time over the weekend and see a big blue cloud. That'll be me, swearing up a storm.

At least I'll have access to all my files again. And my writing. Can't wait. And on this note, off you go and enjoy somebody else's writing. See you next week.

Good night and may your God/s go with you.

Ze

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Tuesday, December 01, 2009

World AIDS Day

Not much more I can say about that really. Except - give a thought to the millions of men, women and children who live with AIDS, HIV or who have died because of it. Official Website.

Ze

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