I sometimes wonder if English has too many words…but some of the kind of obscure ones are fun. Take penultimate for example. Did we REALLY need a word for “next-to-last?” seriously, I love the word, coz it sounds so dang high falutin’, but I don’t think many people would notice it if that word disappeared.
So, I just slept in my bed for the penultimate time before I leave for Europe.
I’m excited about going to Denmark, but I’m also a bundle of nerves. It’s my second time out of the United States, my first time to continental Europe, and the first time I’ve ever gone to a country where English wasn’t the main language. Okay, I know that virtually everyone I meet there will speak English, but still…it’s not what they speak at home.
I had an idea to learn enough Danish to get by, and have studied, on and off, for over a year. While my vocabulary has built up a bit, as the Danes would say “Mit danske er ikke så godt.” (my Danish ain’t so hot). So I won’t be holding any conversations. I might, possibly, perhaps get up enough confidence to order a beer (risking sounding utterly ridiculous), but I think my amateur linguistics will largely stay “on the shelf” so to speak.
Being five thousand miles from home, and not knowing anyone, is a bit strange. I’ll be staying with my sweet friend Annie and her boyfriend Jens (very complicated..it does however offer the possibility of awkwardness of nearly sitcom-esque scale). Also her delightful daughter has agreed to show me around a bit, which will be neat. I know a few E2 people over there too, although not very well.
There is a lot to do there—it’s gonna be a lot of fun. I am looking forward to meeting Annie’s family, and seeing her adorable grandbaby, Sofia.
Digression: when you get to my age, it’s not “do you want kids?” it’s “do you have grandkids?” Seriously, my at-home girlfriend (told ya it was complicated) has eight…and she’s younger than me!
But where were we? Oh yes…things to do in Copenhagen! So, there’s all that historical stuff I seem to love so much. They have castles and stuff…and the coolest amusement park…the one that inspired a young Walt Disney to make Disneyland. Seriously. We’ll have lots to do.
And Carlsberg Brewery offers a tour. With samples. You know I’ll be there…So yeah, sounds like heaven to me.
So I’m getting everything packed up. I need to send my amazing older sister an email and thank her for the plane tickets (yes, I already did one time! But come on…how cool of a gift is that??? It deserves two emails…and a couple shouts-out on the blog…and like, all kinds of thanks…THANKS NINA!).
I picked up my passport from the safe deposit box a couple weeks ago, and I’m taking my green scarf my client Averiel knitted for me (if you ever need knitted/crocheted goods, I’ll hook you up with her), and all my wonderful sweatshirts which I seldom get to wear here in the land of the warm winters. I’ll be breaking out my Beloved Black Leather Jacket and brand-new walking shooz too.
As it comes closer and becomes less abstract, I’m getting pretty thrilled about getting to go to Denmark.
So I won’t be around for massaging (or messaging) or anything til the end of October. I’ll not have time to check my Vampire Wars (so look after Escobar de la Cabeza de Pollo for me, my fellow children of the night) or my Sudoku games either, but I’ll get back to all that when I get home. I’ll be around on Facebook a little bit, at least to post pics (I hope) and status updates. I’ll update my blog as often as I can (I was kind of proud of how I did it while I was in England…so that’s what I’ll be shooting for.
I’ll keep you updated!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Now I lay me down to...no wait...
Grammar is neat! I love to know the rules and minutiae of grammar, but I don’t necessarily agree with all the strange, obscure bits that one finds. And a few of them are just silly! Consider, if you will, the strange case of lie versus lay. As far as I can imagine, the only reason for this distinction is to give fifth grade English teachers something to be pedantic about after the charm of may versus can wears off.
Okay, I’ll spare you the fifth grade pedantry, but in case you don’t remember (or care), lie is used when you are talking about yourself (“I think I shall go lie upon yonder bed.”) and lay is used in the case of placing an object down (“Please lay your lorgnette upon the divan.”).
Seriously, though, as if the distinction between these two words weren’t arbitrary enough, let’s make the past tense of lie…oh, let’s see…let’s make it lay! Oh! Good one English! Thanks so much for that! Not that anyone uses that past tense, beause, really, “He lay down an hour ago.” is only appropriate if you happen to be an English teacher or if you want to sound like an 18th century poet. And wouldn’t that be Byronic? Don’t you think?
This all reminds me of an exchange from that amazing television show, The Venture Bros.:
First Henchman: Gentlemen, choose your weapons.
Second Henchman: Is this them?
First Henchman: 'Are these they.'
Second Henchman: Who talks like that?
Who indeed? This makes me need to go lay down. To go lie down. To go lie…upon…my counterpane..ummm and dream of correct grammar. A lot.
(if you note grammatical mess-ups in this post, they are likely intentional. Or, rather, I’ll say they were intentional. You know, coz I’m a rebel who likes breakin the rules. Yeah, that’s me! Take that Strunk! Also, take that, White!)
Thursday, September 10, 2009
About 22 years ago, I took a college course which dealt with a lot of old myths. I started keeping a list of mythological characters at that point, and the list kept growing.
Eventually, I put it on my computer. And it kept on growing. About 13 years later, I decided to bind up my notes as a holiday gift for my friends (coz I couldn’t afford a real gift), and, to my delight (and surprise) it was well-enjoyed. In fact, I did a second edition a couple of years later. People seem to enjoy my off-beat, sometimes snarky approach to the classics, so I decided to add folklore and living religions as well.
Now, I’ve finished a third edition, especially for my friends. It costs $18 (plus shipping), and it’s available from Lulu Press (link below) or directly from me. Ordering from me will be a week or so slower than Lulu, but you save a couple of dollars on shipping and I’ll sign the inside of the book. Unfortunately, I can only affordably ship to the United States, so my friends in other lands will have to get their copy from Lulu (it's really expensive to send overseas. Lulu charges about 20 dollars, I'd have to charge 24 or so.)
ABOUT THE BOOK
The book is entitled Encyclopedia of Beings from Faith and Fable, it’s about 530 pages. Here is the copy from the publisher’s site (helpfully written by a friend who is a big fan of mine):
To order from Lulu.com Go to this link:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/encyclopedia-of-beings/7485530
The price is about 27 dollars, counting shipping To order from me: Send me $18 (plus 4 dollars for shipping, unless you live in the area and I can hand deliver it), Paypal, cheque, money order, cash, whatever. Make sure to include your address.
Email me: mythicalmystical@gmail.com and I’ll give you paypal or mailing details I’ll get your copy in the mail as quickly as possible. If it is for a gift, let me know and I’ll be happy to sign the inside page to whoever you specify!
Thanks everyone!
Kellum
Eventually, I put it on my computer. And it kept on growing. About 13 years later, I decided to bind up my notes as a holiday gift for my friends (coz I couldn’t afford a real gift), and, to my delight (and surprise) it was well-enjoyed. In fact, I did a second edition a couple of years later. People seem to enjoy my off-beat, sometimes snarky approach to the classics, so I decided to add folklore and living religions as well.
Now, I’ve finished a third edition, especially for my friends. It costs $18 (plus shipping), and it’s available from Lulu Press (link below) or directly from me. Ordering from me will be a week or so slower than Lulu, but you save a couple of dollars on shipping and I’ll sign the inside of the book. Unfortunately, I can only affordably ship to the United States, so my friends in other lands will have to get their copy from Lulu (it's really expensive to send overseas. Lulu charges about 20 dollars, I'd have to charge 24 or so.) ABOUT THE BOOK
The book is entitled Encyclopedia of Beings from Faith and Fable, it’s about 530 pages. Here is the copy from the publisher’s site (helpfully written by a friend who is a big fan of mine):
This enjoyable and exhaustive book takes the reader on a world tourHOW TO ORDERthrough religions, myths, and folklore. Drawing over 6,000 entries from over 450 cultures, Encyclopedia of Beings is a sweeping reference work and an enjoyable and sometimes irreverent book for casual reading.
Beautifully illustrated by Suzi Eberhard, Encyclopedia of Beings is a joy to behold and a delight to read. Students of world religions, lovers of mythology, and casual readers alike will enjoy this book.
To order from Lulu.com Go to this link:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/encyclopedia-of-beings/7485530
The price is about 27 dollars, counting shipping To order from me: Send me $18 (plus 4 dollars for shipping, unless you live in the area and I can hand deliver it), Paypal, cheque, money order, cash, whatever. Make sure to include your address.
Email me: mythicalmystical@gmail.com and I’ll give you paypal or mailing details I’ll get your copy in the mail as quickly as possible. If it is for a gift, let me know and I’ll be happy to sign the inside page to whoever you specify!
Thanks everyone!
Kellum
Friday, June 19, 2009
What I am up to
Literally thousands of my screaming fans have been begging to know about what I have been doing. Well, no…Literally dozens of my closest friends have been clamoring…no, not really accurate, either…Okay, my friend Jen suggested I link to my latest E2 articles and so forth and issue a little update so’s you can read some of my latest work, if you are of a mind.
http://www.everything2.com/node/1971803
A daylog (think: blog) post for E2. It’s an interesting historical parallel.
http://www.everything2.com/node/1973784
http://www.everything2.com/node/1973993
http://www.everything2.com/node/1976179
Three short articles I did for E2 based on the game Portal. These will make LESS sense if you aren’t familiar with the game.
http://www.everything2.com/node/1975801
A funny one from E2 about the word Gnarly. Like, totally!
http://www.everything2.com/node/1984333
A little article about a scary ghost from
Oh, and I have written a few in my blog:
but you know that, since you are here. Read! Enjoy!
And also I’ve been hard at work on my book…Encyclopedia of Beings, to be illustrated by my dear Suzi E. If the winds are blowing the right direction, and I can get it to output in the right format, I should be sending it to the printer by early next month!
and now, an utterly gratuitous picture of a slinky blonde!
Honour Among Squabbits
Ever since I was a little boy, I’ve enjoyed making up words. One of the first neologisms I ever invented was yuckleburpia. It was an interjection, a sort of ultimate form of “yuck,” as in “Yuckleburpia! Carrots aren’t supposed to be that colour!” It could also be used as a kind of clunky adjective, as in “Those fuzzy blue carrots look really yuckleburpia.” It wasn’t an elegant piece of word-making, but it worked well enough when I was five years old.
Suzi has such a talent for inventing words that I’ve made a Suziisms dictionary, complete with terms like apocaplectic (to be so angry as to bring about the end of all things), monkoidal (monkey-like in appearance), skullular (resembling a skull), onionated (containing onions), succention (an ascending succession), and (of course), weasicular (similar to a weasel, ferret or other small mustalid).
In my career as a massage therapist, I’ve worked at some pretty wacky places. One of the craziest was in the heart of downtown Garland, Texas. The gals there were sweet, funny, and exceptionally silly. One time, apparently, someone’s child saw a chinchilla on the television and asked what it was. One of my colleagues slammed the words “squirrel” and “rabbit” together in her odd brain and told the kiddo “it’s a squabbit.”
It caught on almost instantly. We started calling each other “squabbit” and the word took on the meaning of anyone cute and/or silly. It usually means a kid, but its meaning has expanded over the years to include adults too.
So that’s your vocabulary lesson for today…
I still love my made-up words…squabbit that I sometimes am. So long as I don’t sound too much like a norkasaurus* or say anything cringeworthy**, I’ll probably keep using my panopoly*** of them for the rest of my life!
* really dorky person
** causing one to cringe or recoil in disgust
*** a vast array, from “panoply” and “monopoly”
Suzi has such a talent for inventing words that I’ve made a Suziisms dictionary, complete with terms like apocaplectic (to be so angry as to bring about the end of all things), monkoidal (monkey-like in appearance), skullular (resembling a skull), onionated (containing onions), succention (an ascending succession), and (of course), weasicular (similar to a weasel, ferret or other small mustalid).
In my career as a massage therapist, I’ve worked at some pretty wacky places. One of the craziest was in the heart of downtown Garland, Texas. The gals there were sweet, funny, and exceptionally silly. One time, apparently, someone’s child saw a chinchilla on the television and asked what it was. One of my colleagues slammed the words “squirrel” and “rabbit” together in her odd brain and told the kiddo “it’s a squabbit.”
It caught on almost instantly. We started calling each other “squabbit” and the word took on the meaning of anyone cute and/or silly. It usually means a kid, but its meaning has expanded over the years to include adults too.
So that’s your vocabulary lesson for today…
Squabbit: (noun) 1. A small child, particularly one who is very cute or mischievous. “Sofia is getting to be a cute little squabbit these days.”
2. Any particularly cute, silly, or mischievous individual. “She is a real squabbit when she feels the mood come on.”
Variant forms: squabb, squabbonia, squabbitissimus, squabberella, squabbitizer
Squabbiticious: (adjective) 1. extremely silly and goofy. “I don’t know what was with Jake, he was in a really squabbiticious mood that weekend!”
I still love my made-up words…squabbit that I sometimes am. So long as I don’t sound too much like a norkasaurus* or say anything cringeworthy**, I’ll probably keep using my panopoly*** of them for the rest of my life!
* really dorky person
** causing one to cringe or recoil in disgust
*** a vast array, from “panoply” and “monopoly”
Friday, June 12, 2009
Doing what I love
I love my job. Back in my days of working 60+ hour weeks at the world's worst print service bureau, or faking it as a graphic artist, I never thought I'd be typing those words. At least, I never thought I would be saying them without sarcasm.
Massage therapy has been a very rewarding career for me. Not financially, well, I mean, I pay my bills on time and never lack for things, but I'm not making the big bucks by a long shot. In terms of personal satisfaction, however, it just can't be beaten! People come in to see me with soreness, tight muscles, tension headaches, insomnia, and a host of other problems. I work with them and they feel better. The praise I receive makes me feel like a hero, and knowing how effective massage makes me feel as though my job is actually making a difference.
Doing massage, even 20-30 hour weeks, is very taxing. Repetitive strain ruins backs, shoulders, elbows, and thumbs. We learn ways to keep ourselves safe, but so many of us ignore those tips and wind up sidelined. A commonly-cited figure holds that most therapists practice about three years before burning out (injuries are only one reason, among the others are low pay and dissatisfaction with the actual practice of massaging people).
The second day of April marked the seventh anniversary of my massage practice. If you count massage school, it's been nearly eight years...and I love my career more than ever.
Lately, however, there have been a few dark clouds looming on my horizon, so to speak. The deep joint of my thumb (the so-called 'saddle' or sellar joint) has been aching. My shoulders often hurt and sometimes there are fiery pains in my forearms. I recently heard that seven years is another peak for massage therapist burnout.
This is a little bit scary...or sobering at least. I really don't do anything else very well. (No, I don't. I'm not just being silly or self-effacing here...read on for explanation...) I'm one of those generalists who does a whole lot of things adequately and one or two very well. I've definitely never had a job I've feel such mastery of. Not to say that I couldn't be as good at something else, but it sure would be a long path to get there.
In my career, I've met a few exceptional massage therapists. One has been practicing for 28 years, several others for well over 10. One of our local clinics has a man in his 80s who is still massaging, and apparently does a heck of a good deep tissue massage.
So, I have resolved to be careful. I recently took a "Safe Hands" course that gave me tips on preventing injury and protecting my body for a nice long career. I have been putting ice on my shoulders and wrists, soaking in Epsom salt baths, resting, exercising...last week I got a (great) massage from my colleague, Kate. That helped a lot.
I dream that some day people will tell their friends: "You have got to go to Massage Envy Frisco...they have this 75-year-old therapist, and he does SUCH a great job!"
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Writing About Not Writing
This year has been one of trials and triumphs. I haven’t been reading, studying Danish, or even writing very much. House cleaning, and my favourite goofy online game Kingdom of Loathing have likewise suffered. I miss those things, and I hope to get back to them as soon as I can.
There have been quite a lot of ups and downs lately. As Danish director Lars von Trier said, at the end of each episode of his bizarre show the Kingdom: “You have to take the good with the evil.” Of course, he said it in Danish, so it sounded all cool and punk and stuff.
Anyway, there’s been some good, but also a bit of evil.
Over Christmas, our little ferret Ayumi ended her far-too-brief time here on earth. Bright little lights who burn so briefly, ferrets bring a lot of joy while they are here. But they are fragile and her tiny system gave up after a protracted fight with illness. That was four days before Christmas.
In January, Suzi’s dad got pneumonia. Hospital stays, oxygen treatments and a long recovery followed. Suzi spent more than two weeks out on the West Coast, helping out, leaving her hapless housemate to deal with things here. She was even out there through her birthday, which I guess we’ve still not really celebrated, two months later. We were both exhausted.
When she returned to Dallas, we both caught the flu.
The flu sucks—it’s not like some wimpy little cold where you sniffle for two days and return to normal. No indeed, this was a week of absolute misery, unable to do much of anything—high fevers, coughing, sleep for two hours, get up for one, then repeat the process. So anyway, instead of enjoying Mardi Gras in Port Arthur with my friends Sue and Jason, I got to enjoy a week of the flu. Not nearly so much fun, I’m afraid.
I don’t get paid if I don’t work…so that was not good. The last half year has had some highs and lows financially. One of my most stalwart private clients has had to quit getting her weekly massages. Her reasons are very good, I can’t blame her a bit, but it wasn’t exactly a welcome hit, particularly as Annie came out for two whole weeks in November. We had an awesome time, but two weeks with no work was not easy for me to budget.
Our immune systems thus compromised, Suzi and I entered into a roller coaster of sicknesses, with my germs heading for my lungs, and hers heading into her sinuses. She wound up with a root canal, I wound up with a hard-to-shake cough and inflamed salivary glands. Seven hundred dollars to the doctors, and the constant fear that I’m going to give this to my clients (even though the doc says I’m not very contagious). As of today (Saturday the 25th) I’m almost completely recovered.
We’ve also lost some on-line friends in the last six months. First there was an altercation in the game Urban Dead. Some people accused Suzi of doing some things that ranged from bad to downright hateful. First they didn’t like the expert way she and Chris role-play their characters (too good…intimidates everyone else and makes them not want to play with them), then accusations of varying sorts flew. They even accused Suzi of being so clueless that she “accidentally betrayed” her group to the bad guys. Next thing I knew, we were all on the outs with a group we’d been hanging with for years.
But we remained friends with some of them…for awhile anyway.
Then, well, our other characters got into it. I thought we were playing a game. Their characters started, to my perception, picking on someone we didn’t know. I tried to ignore it…and it persisted. I asked them nicely to stop, and it persisted. So, I had my character have a temper tantrum and storm out. In the game.
On the forum, I tried to explain that I was playing a character. But they realized that I am a bad person, not to be trusted. It got more and more vehemently personal. Chris and Suzi came to my defense and some WEIRD things were said about them.
We had it. We left. People who had said they would be our friends forever, evaporated. They didn’t return emails. They said things that hurt. A lot. Now they’re gone.
But we still have our Brits—some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the chance to meet.
But there is good to go with the evilness, of course.
I’m picking up more regular clients at the clinic. I keep hearing things like “That was the best massage I’ve ever had”, so that makes me feel good about my chosen field. The summer months are often a bit lean for massage therapists, so I have to try to get as many regulars as possible. When things are slow, I console myself by going through my notebook of them, reminding myself how many people really love the service I provide.
One thing I love about working in Frisco is the amazing variety of people I get to meet. One of my clients, from Taiwan, has taught me a few words of Chinese. Another, of Middle Eastern lineage, has let me try out my mad Arabic Skillz.
While I was in high school, we got a student who was born in Jordan. He was a great guy, and he taught me some phrases in Arabic. He even gave me some language tapes with Arabic phrases. Later, in college (Uni to you Brits), a nice guy named Sameer in my Organic Chem lab helped me learn some more.
So I met this wonderful client (Jeannie my dear young friend introduced us) and next thing you know, she, her husband, Suzi and I were eating great food at Afrah. I had tried out some of my Arabic on my client, her hubby was no less impressed. Turns out my pronunciation is still surprisingly good, even after over 20 years. So strange. My favourite phrase:
My client has promised to teach me some other useful ones. So, you know, when I visit Oman or where ever, I’ll be able to order coffee and say howdy to everyone!
And we got another fuzzy-wuzzy. After Ayumi’s death, we took little Nick to the rescue shelter in order to let him pick out a new companion. He actually *sighed* when he saw all those ferrets, he was still missing Ayumi and I don’t think he wanted a new friend. But one little white ferret picked him out and came over and bothered him.—relentlessly. He eventually gave up, and we brought her home. We named her Xev, after the delightfully amoral (and frighteningly hot) woman from the insane science fiction TV show Lexx.
Little Xev is fitting in just fine. Fun loving, eager to please, and very friendly, Nick even gave up and started being friends with her after a while.
I’ve also had the opportunity to see a couple of amazing live performances. Ordinarily, I’m lucky to catch one show a year, but, but happy chance, I saw two within a week.
Brilliant Canadian songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen came to the Nokia Theatre and absolutely floored us. Ten virtuoso musicians, including three backup vocalists (each phenomenal in her own right) and a Spanish guitarist who completely stunned everyone with his technical artistry and the beauty of his work. Mr. Cohen, 74 years old, did eight encores, playing about three hours altogether. It was among the finest shows I’ve ever seen—ever.
Six days later, comedian-actor Denis Leary did a show at the same venue—his Rescue Me tour featured Leary and three other stand-ups taking turns on stage. Leary was crankily brilliant, of course, and Adam Ferrara was side-splittingly funny. The other two were not quite so funny, however. The first man seemed more suited to the Howard Stern Show, or working with that Imus guy perhaps—lots of vulgarity and not so much hilarity. Or perhaps the vulgarity was in place of actual funny content. It was hard to tell.
Lenny Clarke, who plays Uncle Teddy on the show, was pretty uneven. He was extremely political, and while I can usually laugh along with opposing viewpoints to my own (hey, our guys are just as idiotic as the other guys), his material often seemed to be geared toward inciting cheers or applause of agreement rather than actual laughter.
Overall, the show was excellent, despite the unevenness, and I got to see two of my absolute favourite people an stage within a week. Songwriter and geek favourite Jonathan Coulton will be here next month—I’ll be there too!
Among all this, I’ve had precious little time to write. In February, my friend Ella and I did a Brevity Quest for Everything2 (write as many articles as you can in a month—the only requirement being that they must be under 300 words). It was great fun, and we had even more entries than our last Brevity quest (which one of the guys called “possibly the most successful quest ever”). A guy who goes by the name “The Custodian” on there, was a one-man-writing-machine, cranking out close to a writeup a day, and they were really good ones too. I wrote three things, which is the last material I’ve added to E2.
Ella and I commissioned a BQ09 logo from Suzi, and she’s created some limited-edition swag in her CafePress store for the lucky winners.
That done, I’ve resigned my post as an editor on E2. It’s been a lot of fun, and a real honour, but for reasons you can probably infer from this blog, I have not had time to do a very good job—and you probably know me well enough to know how important it is for me to do a job I can be proud of.
Amidst all the craziness, my older sister Nina came into town. After Mother’s death, I kind of withdrew a bit, just wrote and kept to myself, it was really nice to see her again. She looks great! Healthy, happy, her family is doing well. We chatted over coffee at Starbucks and caught up.
Like a gift from the blue, unasked, Nina told me that she and her business have a stack of airline miles…she offered that if I ever want to go see Annie…
So guess where I am probably going this October!
Speaking of travel, I’m going to try to send Suzi to England to see Chris, Kat, Matt, Jess, Isla, Walter and that crazy gang. We are hoping to get her over there for August, they are doing some LARP thing called “The Gathering” I believe, and Lucian (Chris) needs his long lost sister Laura (Suzi) there. Besides, Brianna (Jess) is her bodyguard. What fun is it to have a bodyguard with nobody to guard?
So, obviously, despite the health issues, Suzi is still having a great time with her Brits. These people are just amazing friends for her. When she opened her CafePress store, they SWARMED it, buying dozens of items. They dote on her art and comment on her Flickr page. I’m so thrilled that she has people like that in her life.
I think things may be improving now. So I’ll hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and keep taking the good with the evil
(I wouldn’t mind a slight increase in the ratio, anyway.)
There have been quite a lot of ups and downs lately. As Danish director Lars von Trier said, at the end of each episode of his bizarre show the Kingdom: “You have to take the good with the evil.” Of course, he said it in Danish, so it sounded all cool and punk and stuff.
Anyway, there’s been some good, but also a bit of evil.
Over Christmas, our little ferret Ayumi ended her far-too-brief time here on earth. Bright little lights who burn so briefly, ferrets bring a lot of joy while they are here. But they are fragile and her tiny system gave up after a protracted fight with illness. That was four days before Christmas.
In January, Suzi’s dad got pneumonia. Hospital stays, oxygen treatments and a long recovery followed. Suzi spent more than two weeks out on the West Coast, helping out, leaving her hapless housemate to deal with things here. She was even out there through her birthday, which I guess we’ve still not really celebrated, two months later. We were both exhausted.
When she returned to Dallas, we both caught the flu.
The flu sucks—it’s not like some wimpy little cold where you sniffle for two days and return to normal. No indeed, this was a week of absolute misery, unable to do much of anything—high fevers, coughing, sleep for two hours, get up for one, then repeat the process. So anyway, instead of enjoying Mardi Gras in Port Arthur with my friends Sue and Jason, I got to enjoy a week of the flu. Not nearly so much fun, I’m afraid.
I don’t get paid if I don’t work…so that was not good. The last half year has had some highs and lows financially. One of my most stalwart private clients has had to quit getting her weekly massages. Her reasons are very good, I can’t blame her a bit, but it wasn’t exactly a welcome hit, particularly as Annie came out for two whole weeks in November. We had an awesome time, but two weeks with no work was not easy for me to budget.
Our immune systems thus compromised, Suzi and I entered into a roller coaster of sicknesses, with my germs heading for my lungs, and hers heading into her sinuses. She wound up with a root canal, I wound up with a hard-to-shake cough and inflamed salivary glands. Seven hundred dollars to the doctors, and the constant fear that I’m going to give this to my clients (even though the doc says I’m not very contagious). As of today (Saturday the 25th) I’m almost completely recovered.
We’ve also lost some on-line friends in the last six months. First there was an altercation in the game Urban Dead. Some people accused Suzi of doing some things that ranged from bad to downright hateful. First they didn’t like the expert way she and Chris role-play their characters (too good…intimidates everyone else and makes them not want to play with them), then accusations of varying sorts flew. They even accused Suzi of being so clueless that she “accidentally betrayed” her group to the bad guys. Next thing I knew, we were all on the outs with a group we’d been hanging with for years.
But we remained friends with some of them…for awhile anyway.
Then, well, our other characters got into it. I thought we were playing a game. Their characters started, to my perception, picking on someone we didn’t know. I tried to ignore it…and it persisted. I asked them nicely to stop, and it persisted. So, I had my character have a temper tantrum and storm out. In the game.
On the forum, I tried to explain that I was playing a character. But they realized that I am a bad person, not to be trusted. It got more and more vehemently personal. Chris and Suzi came to my defense and some WEIRD things were said about them.
We had it. We left. People who had said they would be our friends forever, evaporated. They didn’t return emails. They said things that hurt. A lot. Now they’re gone.
But we still have our Brits—some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the chance to meet.
But there is good to go with the evilness, of course.
I’m picking up more regular clients at the clinic. I keep hearing things like “That was the best massage I’ve ever had”, so that makes me feel good about my chosen field. The summer months are often a bit lean for massage therapists, so I have to try to get as many regulars as possible. When things are slow, I console myself by going through my notebook of them, reminding myself how many people really love the service I provide.
One thing I love about working in Frisco is the amazing variety of people I get to meet. One of my clients, from Taiwan, has taught me a few words of Chinese. Another, of Middle Eastern lineage, has let me try out my mad Arabic Skillz.
While I was in high school, we got a student who was born in Jordan. He was a great guy, and he taught me some phrases in Arabic. He even gave me some language tapes with Arabic phrases. Later, in college (Uni to you Brits), a nice guy named Sameer in my Organic Chem lab helped me learn some more.
So I met this wonderful client (Jeannie my dear young friend introduced us) and next thing you know, she, her husband, Suzi and I were eating great food at Afrah. I had tried out some of my Arabic on my client, her hubby was no less impressed. Turns out my pronunciation is still surprisingly good, even after over 20 years. So strange. My favourite phrase:
Hahl tata-kallum englizi?
(Do you speak English?)
(Do you speak English?)
My client has promised to teach me some other useful ones. So, you know, when I visit Oman or where ever, I’ll be able to order coffee and say howdy to everyone!
And we got another fuzzy-wuzzy. After Ayumi’s death, we took little Nick to the rescue shelter in order to let him pick out a new companion. He actually *sighed* when he saw all those ferrets, he was still missing Ayumi and I don’t think he wanted a new friend. But one little white ferret picked him out and came over and bothered him.—relentlessly. He eventually gave up, and we brought her home. We named her Xev, after the delightfully amoral (and frighteningly hot) woman from the insane science fiction TV show Lexx.
Little Xev is fitting in just fine. Fun loving, eager to please, and very friendly, Nick even gave up and started being friends with her after a while.
I’ve also had the opportunity to see a couple of amazing live performances. Ordinarily, I’m lucky to catch one show a year, but, but happy chance, I saw two within a week.
Brilliant Canadian songwriter/poet Leonard Cohen came to the Nokia Theatre and absolutely floored us. Ten virtuoso musicians, including three backup vocalists (each phenomenal in her own right) and a Spanish guitarist who completely stunned everyone with his technical artistry and the beauty of his work. Mr. Cohen, 74 years old, did eight encores, playing about three hours altogether. It was among the finest shows I’ve ever seen—ever.
Six days later, comedian-actor Denis Leary did a show at the same venue—his Rescue Me tour featured Leary and three other stand-ups taking turns on stage. Leary was crankily brilliant, of course, and Adam Ferrara was side-splittingly funny. The other two were not quite so funny, however. The first man seemed more suited to the Howard Stern Show, or working with that Imus guy perhaps—lots of vulgarity and not so much hilarity. Or perhaps the vulgarity was in place of actual funny content. It was hard to tell.
Lenny Clarke, who plays Uncle Teddy on the show, was pretty uneven. He was extremely political, and while I can usually laugh along with opposing viewpoints to my own (hey, our guys are just as idiotic as the other guys), his material often seemed to be geared toward inciting cheers or applause of agreement rather than actual laughter.
Overall, the show was excellent, despite the unevenness, and I got to see two of my absolute favourite people an stage within a week. Songwriter and geek favourite Jonathan Coulton will be here next month—I’ll be there too!
Among all this, I’ve had precious little time to write. In February, my friend Ella and I did a Brevity Quest for Everything2 (write as many articles as you can in a month—the only requirement being that they must be under 300 words). It was great fun, and we had even more entries than our last Brevity quest (which one of the guys called “possibly the most successful quest ever”). A guy who goes by the name “The Custodian” on there, was a one-man-writing-machine, cranking out close to a writeup a day, and they were really good ones too. I wrote three things, which is the last material I’ve added to E2.
Ella and I commissioned a BQ09 logo from Suzi, and she’s created some limited-edition swag in her CafePress store for the lucky winners.
That done, I’ve resigned my post as an editor on E2. It’s been a lot of fun, and a real honour, but for reasons you can probably infer from this blog, I have not had time to do a very good job—and you probably know me well enough to know how important it is for me to do a job I can be proud of.
Amidst all the craziness, my older sister Nina came into town. After Mother’s death, I kind of withdrew a bit, just wrote and kept to myself, it was really nice to see her again. She looks great! Healthy, happy, her family is doing well. We chatted over coffee at Starbucks and caught up.
Like a gift from the blue, unasked, Nina told me that she and her business have a stack of airline miles…she offered that if I ever want to go see Annie…
So guess where I am probably going this October!
Speaking of travel, I’m going to try to send Suzi to England to see Chris, Kat, Matt, Jess, Isla, Walter and that crazy gang. We are hoping to get her over there for August, they are doing some LARP thing called “The Gathering” I believe, and Lucian (Chris) needs his long lost sister Laura (Suzi) there. Besides, Brianna (Jess) is her bodyguard. What fun is it to have a bodyguard with nobody to guard?
So, obviously, despite the health issues, Suzi is still having a great time with her Brits. These people are just amazing friends for her. When she opened her CafePress store, they SWARMED it, buying dozens of items. They dote on her art and comment on her Flickr page. I’m so thrilled that she has people like that in her life.
I think things may be improving now. So I’ll hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and keep taking the good with the evil
(I wouldn’t mind a slight increase in the ratio, anyway.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
