Thor's Day

Administration
Happy birthday to internet_addict!

Hello to new reader suzanna_o!

Medical
The usual, brain-drugs-wise, plus some fuzziness around the edges and some coordination-f00. Painwise, just a bit in the shoulder area and a fierce headache. I have Excedrined.

Links Like Whoa
The Young and the Restless is giving a character temporal lobe epilepsy. It'll be interesting to see how they handle that. Anyone watch Y & R and want to give a report on this?

X-Men 3: The abridged script. Hee. :)

I'm not sure who invited me to Mugshot, but it is interesting. (It will no doubt be more interesting when they finish their OSX-compatible stuff. I have four invites, for the interested.

I also have two standard Vox invites, and unlimited starter invites.

"How to concentrate on writing"... excellent advice, and I love the cartoon. :)

Daily Science
OMG I am all squee over this one. I am a dork. I'm dorktastic. Proof of this? I am all bouncy and delighted at the very thought of the Large Hadron Collider.

...I'm trying to blurb this, and just can't. Go read the article to understand why the LHC is so freakin' awesome. It's one year away from completion. Mark my words: a year from now, everything changes.

Daily BPAL
Okay, out of the 12 people who answered the BPAL section on my poll, only three of them are actually swapping with me! Dorks. :P So. I'll get ayalanya's (Masabakes and Three Witches) and elionwyr's (Follow Me Boy (x2)) imps in the mail today, and the rest of you want to wait and see. Correct?

Now on to the testing!

( Namaste, Kabuki, Arachne )

Freewill Astrology
If I'm reading the astrological omens correctly, this would be an excellent time for you to apply for a job as a crocodile trainer, audition for a supporting role in a TV soap opera, or give motivational speeches to five-year-olds. For that matter, it wouldn't be outlandish for you to use a chainsaw to create sculptures from dead trees, make a home video of yourself entitled "The Dancing Chef" or "The Wise-Ass Guru," or write a research paper on orca whales and quantum physics. In other words, Pisces, consider trying things you've never considered before. Ask yourself if maybe you possess hidden talents that you haven't even begun to cultivate. Be receptive to the possibility that your destiny is more open-ended than you've ever imagined.

PSA

My Yahoomail is down. That was my LJ e-mail address! So anything you sent to me at my LJ address, or any comments you made, after about 10 last night? Inaccessible.

So I'm not ignoring you. I just don't know that you said something.

Please use Gmail. Same username. And my comment notifications are going there now, as well.

And this is as good a place as any to state goals for today:

* Call static_eddie re: Pirates of the Caribbean. (Yes, I need to be reminded of stuff like this.)

* Proof dragonnaelf's writingbits.

* Stain BPAL box.

* Pay bills.

* Mail bills and imps.

* Nap.

* One hour of solid work on writing project of my choice. Then mild exercise. Then another hour.

* Remember to eat lunch.

* Ummmm... other stuff. I forget. Hi.

Scenes from a bad brain day

Breakfast:

* Get breakfast-bread out of packet
* Put breakfast-bread in toaster
* Pour coffee
* Realize that the reason the toaster hasn't pinged is because you forgot to turn it on
* Realize that your coffee is cold
* Nuke coffee
* Eat toast
* Realize half an hour later that your coffee has been in the microwave all this time; renuke and drink


Mailing stuff:

* Get envelopes
* Go to Gmail to get people's addresses
* Get distracted by lascivious e-mail from silly friends
* Wander off to LJ
* Wander off to shadesong.com webmail
* Remember the envelopes; return to Gmail
* Address one envelope
* Go fetch tea to include in package - see open breakfast-bread packet from two hours ago
* Get stationery, write note, bubble-wrap imps, seal package
* Go to Gmail to get people's addresses
* Go to swaplist to see what ayalanya is getting
* Edit swaplist
* Get distracted by iTunes
* Go to get more stationery - get distracted by cat
* Pet cat
* Read magazine next to cat
* Go to check e-mail, remember that you were supposed to be mailing imps
* Go to swaplist to see what Alanya's getting
* Get imps
* Go to get stationery
* Go to get tea
* Pour more coffee

...this is my day. I am not really retaining any information. At all. So. All things that require a functional brain are tomorrow things.

I did mail Elayna's care package, and BPAL for Spooky, ayalanya, and _lore. Everyone gets tea. Yay tea!

The cat, he is a jealous cat.

Note: If the cat is displaced from the bed so Mommy* can have orgasms, he will protest by vomiting on the floor.

This has happened twice now. This is not a coincidence. This is revenge.




* Yes, Adam and I pretend that the cats call us Mommy and Daddy. On the scale of 'song-weirdness, that barely even registers. Just roll with it.

EDIT: And yes, there's a reason I remove him from the bed. It's because the instant I switch the Hitachi on, he gets super-affectionate. The only thing less sexy than your cat snuggling you and purring and rubbing his head against your head when you've got a nice kinky fantasy thing going on and the vibrator on high is, well, the sound of said cat vomiting right outside your bedroom door.

Bonus BPAL review: Herr Drosselmeyer

Magus, toymaker, and Godfather to Klara. An enigmatic man, seemingly somewhat sinister, but bearing a gentle air and a sincere love for children. This scent is dignified, refined, but dark, and hints towards esoteric mysteries and the secrets that tie mechanics to magick. Pipe smoke, sweet leather, woods and linen.

I didn't smell this one in the bottle... I'd tried it before, in Florida, and thought I didn't like it. But I already had an imp on the way. So I tried it out this evening, just to give it a fair shake.

I'm not getting woods. I'm not getting linen. There might be a touch of leather underneath, but what I'm getting is this.

I am nine years old and, like every Sunday, I am at my grandparents' house. We have had mushroom barley soup in wavy green glass bowls. I have watched Grandma Essie scoop neat curls of Neapolitan ice cream for everyone but me. (I am still allergic to milk, an allergy I won't outgrow til shortly before her death.)

My parents are in the kitchen talking to Grandma Essie. My five-year-old sister is asleep on the couch. Grandpa Joe sits in his armchair, takes out his pipe and a pouch, and beckons me over. "I got a new tobacco," he says. "Come give it a smell, tell me what you think."

I walk over, and he lifts the pouch to my face. I close my eyes. I inhale... one, twice. The smell is rich and deep. I look back at him. "I like it, Grandpa."

He smiles and packs some into the pipe. "Good, good. So tell me about your week."

And I sit and tell Grandpa about my week. He asks about school, about dance, about my stories. We talk until I'm almost as tired as my sleeping sister. On the way home, I will fall asleep in the car; for now, I stay awake, not wanting to waste a moment with Grandpa.

Grandpa Joe died when I was ten. He was my favorite relative ever, and I was his favorite grandchild. I've written about him before.

I was a weird kid. I've often thought that Grandpa was the only family member who got me.

And that scene would repeat every visit. After dinner.

Lifting my wrist to my nose right now, that's what I'm smelling. That's what I'm reminded of. Grandpa's tobacco pouch.

I think I have a new comfort scent.

(He would have gotten such a kick out of Elayna. *shakes head, smiling* She's named for him, you know, him and my grandma.)

About grandparental deaths

From AIM with mgrasso, to be collected/edited into a coherent post later...

( I have lost three grandparents, and each death was very different. )