- I added a few pictures to the photo album the other day. Nothing especially exciting - a new kitten, a bird, and some pictures of the yard.
- I recently joined a webring called OnDisplay. OnDisplay has active participation requirements for its members - most visible to you will be a monthly entry based around a current theme. I probably won't be doing March's collaboration unless I wind up short for something to write about in the next few days. I haven't yet decided whether the collaboration entry will simply be part of one of my regular entries, or if I'll separate them in some way.
- Yesterday morning I was inspired to write a bit of a short story. It's based on the current situation between Zoya and Marten on the MeadeHall, but I think most of it will make sense even if you're not a MeadeHall regular. It's from Marten's point of view rather than Zoya's, but when I showed it to Braz, he said he was impressed that I'd managed to capture Marten's thoughts and feelings so accurately, and encouraged me to post it. Feedback welcome.
- If you're a MeadeHall patron, a pick-up session between Marten and Zoya (that falls chronologically just before the aforementioned story) has been posted. And Braz is wrestling with weighty character matters in his own journal, spew! - I confess to being somewhat surprised to learn that he hadn't actually decided how he wants this thread to end.
- The discussion Braz started on romance in the MeadeHall has gotten somewhat lively, and quite interesting. Come join in!
Having mentioned the MeadeHall (you knew this was coming; it's Tuesday morning, after all)... Last night's session was much less intense than most of them have been lately. Rhys served drinks; Zoya and Marten both ate; Glossaria and Vallel behaved like teenagers in love (which, I must say, was a real hoot); Zoya and Marten flirted just a tiny bit and pretended not to notice everyone else's smirking assumptions, especially Lisl's; Temire stumbled in after taking on a whole gang of kidnappers or slavers and calmly cleaned herself up with Lisl's help. (That was probably the biggest surprise of the night; Temire's a relatively inexperienced adventurer, and to date her reaction to being in a fight has been mild hysteria. Her cool assessment of the fight and her wounds surprised Zoya.) It was actually nice to have a relatively quiet evening without major revelations or situations or developments. After some consultation with Braz, it certainly looks like Marten and Zoya are going to wind up together (at least for a while) but having made that decision, there's no reason to rush it.
Besides, he's still suffering from culture shock.
It looks like all the travel plans have been made for our vaction this summer. On Wednesday, July 12, Matt and I are going to drive to Washington, D.C. and stay overnight in a hotel near the airport. The next morning, entirely too early, we'll take the hotel's shuttle to the airport, leaving our car in their care, and fly to Montana. The evening of the 13th and morning of the 14th, we'll meet Sam's relatives and watch John and Sam slowly go nuts from stress, all the while insisting that they're not nervous.
July 15th, we'll stand attendant to my brother and his fiancee at their wedding.
On the sixteenth, we'll fly from Montana to Chicago, where I expect we'll stay with Matt's grandparents. I'm not sure what we'll be doing in Chicago - probably just playing things by ear. We won't be there for any major holidays this time, so there's no pressure to do anything in specific. We'll probably visit some of Matt's old friends, possibly go into Chicago proper for a day to do tourist things (and pick up some of the best caramel popcorn in the entire universe) and just relax.
I expect after experiencing the summer heat, I'll concede that I like Chicago better in the winter. But we'll see.
On Saturday, July 22, we'll fly from Chicago back to Washington and then drive home.
We considered going to Chicago first, to spend the 4th of July there, but Independence Day is just far enough from the wedding that it wouldn't actually have saved me any leave-time. Besides, the wedding and its attendant activities is likely to be somewhat stressful, and I'm hoping we'll be able to relax in Chicago.
(Funny, how I name places. We're going to Montana and Chicago. Not Great Falls and Chicago, or Montana and Illinois, or Great Falls and Illinois. Montana. Chicago. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere. Heh.)
Last night after the Hall, we started putting together plans for a group reunion, as well. Since the greatest number of our group of friends lives in Virginia, and the greatest number of Virginians live in our area, and this area is more or less in the middle between all the various extremes, and Williamsburg is where we all met, there's no question about where it will be - only when.
From last night's discussion, it looks like we're going to have the reunion the weekend of June 23rd-25th. At least, that's the weekend that was best for Karen and Jeff, who have the farthest to travel. It still remains, of course, to shanghai Ashby, Braz, and Kris. And to find places for all of them to sleep.
It'll be better than the moving party, at any rate! Matt and I have a guest bedroom now (that'll most likely go to Braz and Kris, they being the only other couple attending who doesn't already live around here) and KT and Kevin have a single bed in their guest room that could put someone up. I guess Ashby, Karen, and Jeff will have to thumb-wrestle for it. And both we and the Hicks' have couches that are reasonably comfortable. (Yes, Jeff, we took the dumb boards out of our couch that were making the cushions fall off.) So there's space for everyone.
Before plans are even really firm, I'm looking forward to it. K.T. wants to have a cookout by the pond behind her apartment, which sounds like fun if the weather cooperates. I think there's even enough space back there for a frisbee or two. We'll get Braz and Kris to bring their ice-cream maker to meet ours. (There's sortof a story behind the ice cream makers that has to be told verbally. Sorry, guys.) The anime buffs will, of course, set up a convoy of VCRs. Braz and Matt and I will attempt to interest Kris in some comics.
The whole thing will be entirely and altogether too short, whetting our appetites for next year's reunion.
Word of the Day: propensity - an intense natural inclination or preference.
I have a propensity for ice cream. And another one for potato chips. I guess that's why I have a propensity toward being overweight.
If you're not completely oblivious, you'll have noticed I have a propensity for romance.
I have a propensity for long hair, both on women and men. (The one guy I ever dated with short hair only lasted five dates. Well, Jeff's hair was occasionally short, but never by his own will.) I also have a propensity toward tall men - I've never gone out on a single date with a man who was less than six feet tall.
I have a propensity for reading, and for writing. Those are probably offshoots of my propensity for introspection and introversion.
And possibly most obvious of all, I have a definite propensity toward babbling.
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