Good Kitty In what has become part of our morning ritual, as soon as Jacquelyn laid Moiya down on our bed to change her clothes for daycare, Duncan came trotting in and hopped up beside her. She nuzzled Moiya with her head, at which point the baby reached out and grabbed a handful of fur. Now, I can tell you from personal experience, when she pulls the hair on my arm, it hurts like hell.

Reporting In For no other reason than that I have nothing really to say, I pass along my situation report from my three-day onsite. At Innisfree, nothing is really new. Moiya continues to grow (we went to the Dr. yesterday and got our shots. I had not been there before and the sight of the tray with 4 hypos on it was almost as harrowing as hearing my baby cry). She has decided (despite my

Season's End Hard to believe, but fall is here already. 2004 will go down as the "Summer That Never Was", as far as I'm concerned. Oh, I had such plans.. so many things that I was going to do to bring the grounds under control and make our house look a little less like (as I put it) Dogpatch, USA (oldsters will understand). But I had not figured on so many things. We never really do, do

Prayers Prayers are requested for our business manager, Regina. Regina is a good soul, who has been very accomodating during our long period of refuge. Regina does my teaching schedule adn, true to the form that you never know who your friends are till the chips are down, did everything she could to cut me slack in that most difficult period. Last week her Dad was diagnosed with colon

Patriots !!(warning: politics ahead)!!! Just drove into Corydon and made sure all my voter registration stuff was in order. Whatever your feelings and whatever your beliefs, GET OUT AND VOTE. Whoever you believe should win, VOTE Whatever your political leanings may be, VOTE Whether you like your choices or no, VOTE If I had my way, any sorry-assed idiot who doesn't vote (and I get so

Still More Smiles Thanks to teamwork yesterday, we were able to get a few more pictures of baby smiles. The picture in the crib is with what has become "her" bear. My friend Lisa (of long, long ago.. back when I was working at U of L) sent it to her because, as she said in a letter: "I knew that Mr. Pooh would be a favorite cause he grabbed me while I was in his store and said "take me to

Full Body Smile Mom took the only picture we have thus far of our little girl laughing :)

Worth 1000 Words

Moiya Speaks Got a tiny digital camera that, as it turns out, does movies clips with sound. This is a good thing, as The Girl tends (when she is in a good mood) to talk LOTS. Don;t have a tape deck. And any time I get near her with the camera, she clams up. But today she was in her playpen, and with the mesh sides, I could see her but she couldn;t see me. And so I got a clip of her smiling and

Things I have learned in the past three months Never, ever hold a baby over yourself unless they are fully diapered. Rice cereal is just as good as giving a baby valium... and cheaper. Not only can you tell your baby's cry in a room full of infants, you can also tell if it's your baby's diaper that needs changing Babies have no conception of the meaning of the words "Just a minute." In the

On Morgul Blades (Sigh) Dark thoughts of faithlessness and old betrayals have come and gone all day. As Frodo discovered, some wounds never do heal. You push on and do what you must. But they never heal. More writing when this wretched mood passes....

Trsut is a Four Letter Word I was reminded by an email today that it is my fifth anniversary at New Horizons. And that deserves some small comment. I came to New Horizons destitute and desperate.. at the literal end of my rope in every conceivable way. I bald-faced lied about my experience, desperate for a job (and knowing that everyone else had already turned me down). And they hired me.

Brief Update Woof! Tough times. Moiya is in the process of teething.. weird; she smiles while she cries, and drools quite astonishing amounts of.. um... stuff... constantly. Still trying to settle in. Still haven't found places for all of the tons of baby-stuff we brought home... much less the stuff she had ALREADY outgrown. I've bought a gizmo that converts video to computer files so I can

Spooky And here I thought that the only two people reading this were my wife and my Mother (and sometimes my buddies Kelly and Ellen) Just got a note from Mariana, who worked with me on Pinafore in... um... 1885 as my best guess. Who reached me from here. What a wonderful thing this Web is! And hugs to you all!

The Eyes Have It As Leonardo noted (but is seldom credited with), the eyes are the windows of the soul. They flash.. they cloud, they shake the world. But until Moiya, I have never seen them change color. In the Dr. Who novels, writers often comment on the fact that the 7th doctor's eyes darken in anger. I always thought that it was a writer's conceit. But when this little girl is really

Bridging the Gap I was thinking on the drive home today.. "what's my absolute favorite thing in the world?" And the answer was simple and easy to come by: I love holding my daughter. But if I had my druthers, I'd have another, more "favorite" thing: I'd love to be able to talk with her. Forget the forebrain and opposable thumbs. Speech is what makes us human. And much though I love the

AUGUST 2004 INSTRUCTOR OF THE MONTH IS... Michael Eagan Michael continued his march on excellence in August. His postclass eval scores exceeded everyone’s for both the overall and instructor areas in MTM, well exceeding the New Horizons standard in both areas. While doing so, he taught the second largest number of students this month as well. Somehow, he managed to pull this off while

Over the River and Through the Woods.. I was so afraid something would go wrong. I've been trying for 50 years to give my Mama grandbabies. But children are so special.. and it takes a special person to raise a child. (Sometime soon I'll sound off about my niece.. and how I think her parents are dirt). But I've looked to 50 years for the mother of my children. And when I was led to her.. it

The Best Laid Plans.. I was looking over the todo list I carefully made out at the beginning of summer, back when I was scheduling my vacation time. Hmmm... don't seem to have accomplished much over the summer. Something must have come up....

I watched the antics of the RNC last night and it made me want to weep for my country. As Mathew Henry said in his commentaries on the Book of Jeremiah, "There are none so blind as those that will not see". Nothing more. Words simply fail me.

It's been a rough week. Moiya has settled in beautifully at daycare. They are very sweet with her and she seems quite taken with them. Then only drawback seems to be weekends, when for reasons unknown to her, we throw her schedule all out of whack. Man! I thought the dog and myself got stroppy when our schedules changed. The two of us are pikers compared to the Moiya-girl. And of course,

That Good Night My little girl did not have a good night last night. She does not understand weekends and only knows them as disruptions to her routines. And when her routine has been disrupted, getting her to sleep at night is a long, slow slog. I wish my Dad was here to see her. He's be so proud. I think of him at the strangest times. Like him (and like Moiya), I don't easily go to

Moiya Smiles! Another small clip. Pretty fun stuff for a $30 camera from WalMart and the free movie editor in Windows! Smiles.wmv

Moiya Movie Had to put the baby in front of the web cam. Of course she decided to just sit there like a lump... but that's always the way. Cute things only happen when the camera is off. But this was done the day after she arrived here. I just wanted to be able to show her herself in later years. It's a part of the Tardis I'm building for her. This clip has been "dumbed down" to a small file

We lost some battles We have won the war..... We are home and starting to settle in. All is still very much up in the air. But at least.. and at long last... we have made a start. Innisfree is delighted. She has waited a long time for a family. And her sense of fullfillment is palpable. The critters are, as always, sweet. They have basically been on their own for 2.5 months, and to their

"Thus began our longest journey together." Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird Just got word from our Indiana lawyer moments ago. The seige is over. We can go home. We can go home. We can go home.

On This Day in History I want my daughter to look back on this journal and see more of the summer of 2004 than the angst surrounding her entry into our lives. Life goes sweetly ever on, whether we will it or no, in good times and in bad, without regard to our petty problems. So here are a few snaps to show what Innisfree has been up to in our absence. The onions and

The Message Got one of my periodic "messages" this afternoon, just after I put the girl down for her nap. "Gather your belongings" it said. "The end draws near." Weird to be on the recieving end of this sort of thing... but I have never been steered wrong since I began listening. The siege will end this week. Depend on it.

Kentucky Hostage Crisis Day 73 Well.. the assurances we were given week before last that we would be home by last weekend turned out to be worth every bit as much as all the other assurances we've received. The seige continues into its TWELVTH WEEK with no end it sight. We are both back to work this week, so it's another mad emergency scramble to keep everything together. Wicker will have to

Day 64 More baby pics Sleeping Like a Baby Chewing Daddy's Hand Who..Me?

Baby Smiles and Kitty Love Life just keeps getting weirder. As Jacq's has to be back at work this week, I've got to do a lot of shuttling. She takes Moiya to work with her at 3 and I pick her up after I get off at 4 and drive her back to Lawrenceburg. This leaves our four-footed girls pretty much on their own for now, except for today and Thursday when I have to prep new class (which I can do

Digging In And somehow we will......

"I Have a Little List.."

Day 53

Friendship Sorry I haven't written much of late. Until last Friday I was laid up with food poisoning (or so we now believe). We need not linger on the details. Suffice it to say that in the middle of a lecture I was suddenly seized with the need to vomit out both ends at once.. and did. We will now draw the curtain over that scene.... So for a week I was incommunicado. I could not venture

Knock, Knock! Last night something astonishing happened... though thus far I've not been able to put it into words and people (including my beloved) just laugh at me. But it truely was a purely electric moment. I was playing with my daughter on the floor, and she was looking around and cooing and kicking and all that baby stuff. And as I was looking into her little fuzzy eyes, just for

I have Spun a Tale for You Whew. So much to catch up. It will take me a few days. Lots of pics to share once I've processed them for the web. Bad news: the birth mother (figuring, I suppose that she had washed her hands of things) failed to appear for an appt with the KY lawyer. (The Indiana folks have already gotten everything done, note) Jacq. fortunately was calling and keeping after him,

Oh Dear! I never thought I would cite a ref from the street-trollop known as Madonna. But this was on target: "My children have to clean up their mess, clean up their rooms," she said. "Manners, 'thank you,' 'please,' 'take your dishes to the sink.' I mean ... gratitude, being grateful -- that is -- that has to happen. .. If it's traditional to be a decent human being, then I'm

A Tale of Two Cities I should also like to mention that both our lawyer (whom I met yesterday) and our social worker have been wonderful. Both are kind, pleasant, and very, very efficient. I feel much better about this whole process for having met them. Now the Kentucky lawyer is another matter. All of the misinformation and reversals and confusion thus far (and delay... he suddenly decided

The Blessings of St. Paxil Wow. I was off my meds for awhile. I didn't realise it, as I take rather a number of pills each evening, which Jacq. puts in my little pill-minder. But it seems that I had run out of my "crazy meds". The first hint I had was a slight irritability. But hell... with all that's going on now, that's hardly something unusual, yeah? But then the headaches started...

The Long Exile Hard to remember what it was like when we lived at home and the days were moderately ordered and life had some sense of routine. We remain refugees from our own home still, waiting on Kentucky to let us take our baby home. It will, we learned yesterday, be still at least another two weeks of this twilight existence. The lonliness and dispiritedness between times of being with

Baptism by Fire Well, if we didn't feel like "real" parents before (though I think that is such twaddle) we surely do now! Owing to a bad reaction to a change in formula, Moiya (we are thinking of adding the "i" to her name) was up screaming all night. Poor little thing was having terrible tummy cramps and Jacquelyn was in tears of frustration at not being able to make it all better. She

Sometimes words are just superfluous..

"Great events make me quiet and calm; it is only trifles that irritate my nerves" ~Queen Victoria~ I should be rather insane at the moment. Anything that changes my routine tends to make me tense and snappish (like dogs). But I am oddly serene. I used to think that this tendency to be perfectly calm and collected -- say when a loved one dies -- indicated something dreadful about me...

Zen and the Art of Ice Cube Chasing I offer the following as an indication of the general weirdness of our household... and of the success of the "settling in" process. Humans, take note. Firstly, our girls are decidedly odd. We accept that. Indeed, we glory in their weirdness. That just makes us all feel a greater sense of kinship. Take my pup, Wicker. I've been chewing ice cubes for as

From the "Unlikely Sources of Inspiration Department" I had this thought the other day whilst working in the garden: One of my favorite shows is Red Dwarf (see the links section of my home page). It's a British comedy about the last surviving member of the human race who is marooned on a mining vessel 3 million years out in deep space with a hologram of his dead bunkmate, and a creature

Next up... Diaper Dogs and Other Anomalies of Nature Well, it seems that I've been guilty of libeling Simon the cat. We've been dealing with the "pee Problem" for awhile now; waking up to stumble downstairs to the coffee pot, only to wade into great, frigid pool of evil-smelling animal urine. At one point our house stank so badly we thought of getting a canary to test the air downstairs.

Catching Up at Last Whew! Been way too long since I posted last. Lots of short tidbits to tell. So for the next few days I'll be posting little groups of things. Starting now: The Saga of Howard the Bat I love my sweetie so much. She really is the one I’ve waited for my whole life. The other night she called on her way home from work (a considerable drive) and nervously informed

SHAME! This is not a politcal statement, though I'm sure it will be seen as such by some. I have just learned that some television stations (all owned by a particular conservative media group) have decided that Americans need to be protected from their war dead. Therefore they will be blocking tonight's edition of Nightline in which the names of our heroic dead will be read in tribute to

Kinda Nice Huh. I am occassionally suprised. I offer the following, since you have had to read some of my after-class postings from time to time. It is an e-mail from my supervisor regarding the past months performance evals: "Jason was the Applications Instructor Warrior, teaching, by far, more than anyone else in the center. Philip was the Technical Instructor Warrior, teaching more

Quote-mania "Out on the road today I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac A little voice inside my head said 'Don't look back. You can never look back.'" ~Don Henley~ "Boys of Summer" WARNING! I'VE BEEN THINKING AGAIN! (and the quote-vault of my mind has been breached. Aieeeeeeee!!!) Oh. dearie, dearie me! One chance line in a song on the way to work, and my mind spins and spins

Seen on the Road to Lexington Didn't have a camera, so I had to mock this up in Photoshop. But it's true, I swear. I wouldn't dare make up something this awful.

More notes from the front Another class report: Gosh, it was good to get back to photshop!!!!! It seems like AGES since Regina has scheduled me to teach it. (But then I am greedy). This is one of those pieces of software that cries out for creative restructuring of the lessons. You have to PLAY with the software in class to make it happen.. and we played every way I could

"Let dreamers dream what worlds they please; Those Edens can’t be found. The sweetest flowers, the fairest trees Are grown in solid ground. We’re neither pure nor wise nor good; We’ll do the best we know. We’ll build our house, and chop our wood, And make our garden grow." CandideLeonard Bernstein I've always loved this song. At the end of the day, the simple life is all

(sigh) You know when somebody has a heart attack in the middle of your class, that’s its just going to be “one of those days.”

"He Prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small" ~S.T.Coleridge~ No commentary today, other than to note that I have now seen the unmistakable first sign of spring. No... not the reappearance of robins. Corner gas stations (and WalMart) have started selling bags of mulch once again. Otherwise not much to tell. We've acquired a larger squirrel who keeps scaring off the

So good to be home We’re back home again. And as much as I like my In-Laws, it is always so wonderful to return to our messy, quirky, ramshackle little house. Jacquelyn has had her vision restored and our family routine has been reestablished. Legally blind from childhood (the vision specs for “legally blind” are 20/400 and she was 20/1600), she now has 20/25 vision in her worst eye,

“...and a Bell is ringing in the village square for the rabbits on the run.” ~Sir Paul McCartney~ Once again Innisfree has extended her protection, and our family has increased by one. The magic of this old house and grounds is that it is where the rejected, the lost, and the unwanted find a home. I was reminded of this the other day – this bond the five of us share. Even Wicker, whom we

Some days it doesn’t pay to get out of bed. Oi! I owe so many letters to so many people! Hopefully some of them read this. I'm feeling frankly pitiful. I was looking forward to Monday. I had a prep day and nothing really pressing on the horizon. All I really needed to get done was go to the grocery and get some staples and some dog food. And Tuesday I was to teach Photoshop at an

It's About Bloody Time! I couldn't watch the telecast last night, for fear the Lord of the Rings would be snubbed yet again. I've never gotten over losing out that first year to the dreadful "Opie Does Mental Illness" with that boorish Australian prat, Crowe. But they finally got it right, they did. Little rumpled Peter Jackson, filming not one, but three films simultaniously (each of which

Paradise Lost Where dips the rocky highland Of Sleuth Wood in the lake, There lies a leafy island Where flapping herons wake The drowsy water-rats; There we've hid our faery vats, Full of berries And of reddest stolen cherries Come away, O human child! To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand The Stolen

It's a Mystery Every day, we are supposed to send a report to our supervisors on the events of the day's class. Here's an pretty typical example from one of my colleagues (and a fairly verbose one at that): We had a few good discussions about e-mail related things, not all falling under Outlook. The majority of the class was from the same company, they came back from lunch late. Started

Another hero gone. Last week Bob Keeshan died. It’s difficult really.. to even know what to say. Captain Kangaroo was one of those things I counted on as a kid. He was like the sun or the air or your parents – something that you just knew would always be there. Except now he isn’t . I’ve found that it’s difficult trying to explain what he meant to me to other folks who hail from

'Wee Sleekit, couring, timorous beastie' (Sigh) We have mice. Again. What am I saying? We live in the country. We always have mice. But in the winter, they like to camp out in our house and chew holes in things and come leaping out of the pantry or diving down the burners on the stove and generally scare the !@#$! out of us. Amazingly, in a house that boasts not one, but TWO cats, our

"Over the river and through the woods..." Well.. the holiday season has passed and nobody died at a family-member’s hands. That marks it as a success in my book. Jacq. Had to work Christmas even, so we didn’t drive out to see her parents until that evening, and then returned home to following morning. The festivities were less nerve-wracking than in years past. My in-laws (both of whom I

"All the leaves are brown and the sky is grey..." Dark and grey and wet with flurries of snow. I love days like this -- or at least I would if I were home in front of the fire. Was driving to Corydon the other afternoon when I was struck again by how much I like it here; driving through the landscape of trees and fields , snow falling soundlessly on bare branches and harvest stubble... it's

Pearls before Swine (rage mode on) Funny how certain people can prattle on about loving TLOTR, without seeming to have even the most meager concept of fellowship or honor. What a pathetically shallow, sad, judgmental fool this Princesscarrot is. She fancies herself Irish. Ha! The Irish are a generous people who honor loyalty. Silly emotion without Greatness of Spirit is nothing.. it

Les Miz Went to see Les Miz at my old school last weekend. Frankly, I'd have rather dined on the cat's litter box than set foot in that awful place again, but I made my wife a promise, and promises are not to be taken lightly. I wasn't expecting much. To be fair, the orchestra was quite wonderful.. better than I remembered, and certainly better than any other high school orchestra in the

Been entering photoshop and Flash contests online... what a wonderful way to keep my hand in, now that we no longer teach as many of these classes as we used to. Fun site: www.worth1000.com Here's a few of my entries: Flash Photo1 Photo2 Photo3 Photo4 Photo5 Photo6

There and Back Again Still no luck in rectifying the damage done when lightning blew out the phones. The telephone company has been out twice to work on the lines. And at least we no longer have to listen in on other people's calls and endure weird whistling noices. But the lines are still too noisy for the computer modem to log on. I've been doing e-mail and the occassional blog post

My good speeling I was just reading through some old entries and cringing at the typos. But at the same time, I comfort myself with the knowledge that, for a dyslexic non-typist who got low marks in spelling, I do okay. Wicker got me with another of her jokes. She sat by the edge of the bed (an old cast-iron bedframe, it is higher than the norm) struggling to climb up. She'd run to one

It may take me awhile to get this one out, so bear with me (as if anyone is reading this.. whahahaaaa). It started with a random quote popping into my head on the way to work this morning from the rather wonderful movie Men in Black (the first one.. the less said about the second, the better) "A person is smart. people are dumb, panicy, dangerous animals, and you know it." Which then led

Damn, DAMN, DAMN!!! Been down for nearly a week with my annual bout of nasal/throat infections. Amazing progression; piercing headache as it invaded the upper sinus, throbbing teeth making it impossible to chew as it reached the lower, then loss of voice and swallowing as it raced across the finish line in my throat. Jacquelyn the Impervious tended me sweetly as always, but would NOT take

REMEMBRANCE DAY 2003 "There's Rosemary.. that's for remembrance." ~Hamlet~ It is a foggy, dark, ominous day, as befits the occassion. It is Remembrance Day (Veterans Day in America, though I prefer "Remembrance") and the dead, I fear, do not rest quietly. I watched the BBC air two full minutes of silence this morning. Imagine an American network shutting the hell up for two

Two weeks ago we drove to St. Louis, partly to see my Mum, but more than anything to see my cousin Marci's baby, Stuart (well, ok.... and to see Marci and Doug too) Marci is often my role model (though she doesn't know that). As she isn't all that much younger than myself and we are tempramentally similar, I figured that if the "parent thing" suited her it might well work for me as

The bell within the steeple wild the flying tidings told How much can come And much can go And yet abide the world! ~E. Dickinson~ All is peaceful at the moment. There is sun streaming through the windows, and three fuzzy critters has trundled their little selves upstairs to keep me company. Simon is asleep in "her" chair. Wicker and Duncan lie side-by-side in a sunbeam, half waking

from the Songs I Had Forgotten I Loved department (This is playing from the classroom across the hall from mine as i write and makes me think of my Jacquelyn) "And so you see I have come to doubt all that I once held as true. I stand alone without beliefs. The only truth I know is you. And as I watch the drops of rain weave their weary paths and die I know that I am like the

The Terror that Walketh in Darkness. The other day almost began very badly indeed. At around 3 a.m. when I came downstairs to go to the bathroom, Duncan was (as usually for that hour) wriggling on her back in the middle of the dining room floor, beggin to have her belly rubbed with my bare foot. We have no idea why she does this.. and at no other time that in the middle of the night. But

On the humor of dogs I was reminded again last night of why I like dogs so much. Most animals play, and I think only an utter berk would dispute that they have fun on occassion. Our cats, for instance invent elaborate games with one another involving stalking, chasing, and wrestling. The latter game involves lulling your opponent into a false sense of security by grooming her, then

"You're the hope that moves me To courage again" So many things have slipped by since I last posted. It will take time to get caught up, and I will try to bring things up to speed a bit at a time. On the personal scene, the most important thing that occurred this summer was our second wedding anniversary last July. As the old chiche goes, "And they said it would never last." I

Fellowship of Unworthies I write this entry in sympathy for my best friend, who learned to her great pain that she will rarely be able to put her trust in anyone as faithful, great-hearted, and fine as herself. (with apologies to the sublime words of W.B. Yeats) To a Friend whose Loyalty has come to Nothing "NOW all the truth is out, Be secret and take defeat From any brazen

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Well... I finally had to return my trap and admit defeat. If the rougue tom is still in these parts, he's smart enough not to be lured to his doom by a pan of cat food. On the up side, after Simon healed and we opened the door to return her to the wild, she looked at us both as if we had lost our minds, curled up on the sofa and went to sleep. Thus have we

Great White Hunter Golly.. it seems I'm never going to get caught up. Work continues to expand... I'm working 6 days per week at this point (and no... I don't get overtime and I haven't had a raise in two years). On the other hand, with the retarded monkey and the rest of the junta in power, I'm lucky to HAVE a job. So I'm not complaining! But it does mean that lots of things don;t get

I Sing in Praise of Bats Up tonight with terrible allergies.. haven't had an attack this bad in ages. There will no sleep for me tonight, so I thought I might as well take a verbal ramble. Lots of stuff going on. We took a few days off to try to get some things done around the place. You live in a 160 year old farmhouse and there are always things to be done. I'll be posting pics over in

"If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." Samuel Adams

Limping the last Few Yards Well.. the week from hell is nearly over. After a high of thirteen instructors (for those who don't know me I'm employed as Principle Applications Instructor at New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Louisville) we are now down to Three. And as James is on holiday for Two weeks and Jason has been on special assignment for the past two days... I've been "it".

The YPAS Reunion A few weeks ago, there was a reunion of the first 10 graduating classes from YPAS (www.ypasreunion.com). From 1982 till 1999 I was the costume designer/shop manager/design teacher at The Youth Performing Arts School in Louisville Kentucky. When I arrived, there was no functional costume shop, no working sewing machines, and no technical theatre department. We wrote all the

Next week I turn 50. 40 did not bother ms - and to some extent, neither does this. I have the love of a smart, funny, beautiful, loyal woman who is also my best friend. Why should I fear age? But it's just so surreal! 50! People are old at 50. Aren’t they? I don't feel any different than I did at 15 or 25 or35. What has changed is people’s reactions to me.. especially in the

The pasing of Atticus Finch. Gregory Peck died today. As an actor, I enjoyed him. As a man, I admired him. But as Atticus Finch... oh my! Those of you who know To Kill A Mockingbird from having had to study it in high school can;t really grasp the shock of coming across it on your own. To be fair, this is not an age thing. All of the good literature I came to love I found on my own.

Well... so much for my determination to keep this currect! With repsects to my friend Kelly (who chastised me for not providing more currect info) I herewith undertake once again this journal. But oi! There has been so much that has passed

God bless our Troops and bring them safely home "But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at such a place;' some swearing, some crying

Well, we both finally recovered. Solid food is still something of a novelty and we are both a bit thinner than before, but things are slowly returning to normal. Work is not being fun for either of us at the moment and the weather is cold and gray and wet. So we are perhaps a bit down. But not too bad. We still have one another, and that makes up for a lot. "Time, time time.. see what's

Dear God! Now I truely know that love is a two-way street. Got up in the middle of the night the have a pee and promptly puked up more stuff than could have POSSIBLY been insdie me. There must be some sort of interdimensional wormhole insdie me (or perhaps I'm really a TARDIS) and I was channelling the detrius of some other galaxy. And then, just to prove it meant business, my body decided

Life is always exciting. Not really nice exciting, always... but exciting. First the furnace went out (and it is coooold) then I came home yesterday to find Jacquelyn projectile vomiting all over creation. Spent the night running in with wastbaskets lined with garbage bags and running out again to empty them. You know you REALLY love somebody when their puke doesn't bother you. Besides, she'd

Well it begins. I don;t know if this diary (excuse me.. "blog") will fare any better that the hundred or so I've begun in my short life. I am not a diarist; I lack the organizational skills. And yet a constant train of thoughts, reflections, and comments runs through my head 24/7. Perhaps if I could set some of them down in print I could sleep at night? I got onto this service via my friend