Well I haven't posted in a while so I figure I will now. My house is de-molded, I still don't have heat, but that will be remedied soon enough. As I sit here, I'm smelling my "cheap fish soup" (food for 4 for $5 in total ingredients). I haven't tried it yet, but the person who doesn't eat fish says it's good, despite tasting like fish. Aside from that I'm hearing the credits of Nightmare Before Christmas play in the back ground.

Let me see, I'll talk a bit about Dr. Cruces. I had him out the other night and had decided to go to bed, having asked my roomies if they were cool with putting him up for me later. They agreed and I went to bed. He followed me into my room, so I left the door open... when I woke up 3 hours later he was still in the room, curling through my blankets. My roomies tell me he didn't leave the room while I was asleep. It's amazingly adorable.

He really, really hates wearing a harness and bell. He'll get used to it eventually I suppose.

This actually is some rather good soup. not my best, but not bad at all.

What else? Let me see. I've decided I'm going back to college when my lease is up. I'm going to get the degree I wanted the first time, Philosophy with a minor in World Religions. I'm planning to attend the University of Washington, Seattle campus. I'm doing the stupid thing and shooting for that elusive staff position at graduation, after attaining my doctorate.

I'm sure there are other things I could be talking about, but they're just not coming to mind. so I'm gonna call that that.

Okay, so now, with my guerrilla scavenged computer (CPU and monitor courtesy of popelizbet, who got it from me before that.), I am back and coming to you live from my living room in my freshly de-molded house.

In other News the ferret's Harness was located, My room mates got Rock Band 2 and I'm very upset to have to admit I've been enjoying it. I've also been playing Fallout 3, which is starting to be bad for my health.

I don't really have much time for updates as I'm about to hop in the shower and head for work, but I thought I'd tell you all that I'm back. I'm working on some essay type things to post up. Now I'm off to work. And stuff. Yeah Stuff.

Well, I was talking with thegreenyear earlier tonight and I started talking about fate, which she says she's not sure she believes in, and I started to try and explain what I was talking about, but couldn't really do it justice, so I decided to write a post about my thoughts.

Fate, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is: the will or principle or determining cause by which things in general are believed to come to be as they are or events to happen as they do

This is rather precise in a general sense. Anyone who has spoken with me about a problem knows one of my favorite guiding sayings is "everything turns out right in the end." Now, they also know that "Everything I say can be construed as true." Things turning out "right" is not to say they turn out in your favor. Often they turn out for "the best" even when the outcome is negative in the moment, but that's not what I mean by it. I mean that things turn out as they are supposed to, having no other way to be.

Fate is malleable to me, changing with the day. The story I use to illustrate this, which I think I stole from a Nordic myth, but I could have fabricated it myself, I'm not sure, and I'm not about to do the research to find out, is about the Fates, the Well of Time, and the Great Historian. It's quite a simple little tale about how each morning with the dawning of the sun they go to the Well of Time and draw up a bucket of the waters, which hold the essence of the day's time. They take this water to the Great Historian, a blind immortal who toils each day, drinking the water of time and recording the history of all things in the Book. He can never read what he writes, being blind, so that he can never alter the course of fate by his own bias. He drinks the water, drawn fresh each day, and records the lives of every creature for the record of the world. The Fates, reading his the Book, see to it that the world unfolds as it should. This is how I see fate, you see. Each day is new, being unconnected to the day before and the day after being still a fiction. With each morning a new fate is drawn, and thus each day man has a chance to change his fate.

Now, that is to say nothing for Destiny, which some have and some do not, and I'm not even going to touch the discussion of free will vs. predetermination, I don't think it's appropriate for this stage of you people getting to know me, and if you hadn't noticed, I don't like to filter things.

Tagging is still open. you all have a nice day.

Firstly, I've moved the ferret into the house proper now. He spent more than half the time he was locked up in my room trying to get out, and now that he's out in the house he's spent more than 75% of it in my room, that is, after I opened the door for him. He hates his bell, with a passion... wait the bell is making no noise... brb... and he's gotten off his harness, and I can't find it, back to the cage, my boy.

And with all this running around chasing a silent ferret and not being able to find his bell I haven't had time to write the post I wanted to, so It'll be another of these tiny fucking things, and I won't end up writing about my dreams in the last few days, which were rather entertaining, especially the one where I'm getting married for tax purposes.

Also: my apologies to my flist, Since I haven't had computer access I haven't read any of you in more than a week now.

off to work.

So I'm working in this haunted hospital. I can tell it's getting near Samhain, because all day I've been seeing people who weren't there.

So far since I started I've found a hallway that doesn't exist (it was a storage closet when I took my boss to it the next day). The elevators in the boiler room have called themselves twice for me. And I've heard someone following me for the last two nights.

okay, gotta go. I have obligations.

Well last night I dreamed I was moving. I don't know who the people I was with were, but one of them looked like Moriarty from Fallout 3 and had the voice of Liam Neeson. We were loading everything into a big yellow Penske truck, "Everything" included several suits of armor and jousting lances. There was some discussion on how the competition would be in Washington. During this bit, there was a cut away to myself jousting in a competition, I was carrying a blue and silver lance and the attached jousting shield I wore was in blue with a silver dragon on it. I rode 2 passes, and in the second pass shattered my lance on my opponent, whose colors where red and black, and everything went slow motion. It was really cool, watching the splinters expand. Also discussed, while at starbucks, was the false bottoms in the truck, and the need to check if there where any drugs in the smuggler's compartments and, if not, the need to fill them up (we all laughed about this.)
Most of the dream (which I recall all of rather vividly) was driving from place to place and loading up furniture. Much of the furniture I do actually own, or know who does. My arms are kinda sore this morning from psychosomatic fatigue. We did not get underway, I woke up when we closed the door on the loaded truck, and the man who looked like Moriarty said "That's it, lets get moving."
I'm Kinda surprised at how short this is, as the dream itself was very, very detailed and I remember it all, but I guess most of it was mundane lifting and carrying with inane chatter back and forth with Liam Neeson's voice.

Well, since I don't have anything happy to write about, and I'm not going to be sharing my dream from last night (I don't write erotica, though I will say I'm glad for once I didn't wake myself up thinking "I must be dreaming"), I'll talk about my ferret.

Dr. Cruces is at this moment hopping happily about my bedroom and attempting to get into every last thing he's not supposed to. So far he's gotten into the closet once, which is a no-zone till I can find a piece of wood to patch up a hole in the wall with. He's now digging at the blankets shoved under the door in an attempt to get into the house proper, which he's not allowed to do till I can build a gate at the top of the stairs, as he's not allowed ANYWHERE up there, there are far too many holes to patch and at least one closet with a wall that opens up into the house's crawl space.

I bought him a harness and leash on Monday, he hateses it with a passion. I belled him, you see and he continues to give me the most loathsome "but now I can't sneak" look. I belled him with my Palimpsest bell from the Trains of Heaven train ride. The harness is fetching in assassin's black with brass bell, and Oh, how he tries to get it off of himself.

I'm having to keep his cage covered in blankets to keep him warm, the house is bloody freezing and I over extended myself going to festival this weekend. I'll get a space heater in here in the next couple of days when what's left of my paycheck clears.

The Doctor has just attacked my foot savagely and hopped happily... right backwards off the edge of the bed, Whereupon he looked at me with a "you didn't see that" glare and promptly stole my What Would 2 Do bracelet which I think he intends to take into the closet, but is unable to get the sleeping bad out from under the door.

In short my ferret is adorable and enjoying the new house much more than I am, though he's not too happy with how I keep locking him up. He'll get over it though.

Okay everyone, here's a copy of a post from a mutual friend about my good friend Dave. Please Please, if you can, help, if not, help spread the word.

I have this friend; his name is Dave.

Dave is one of the best people that I know.

Dave is going to lose his house this winter, because of a story that's probably so familiar to you by now that you can sing the words.

Dave bought the business he worked for, which was thriving, before the events of last year crashed the economy like a bumper car. (He runs a courier service, the kind that mostly big corporate clients need...and a lot of those were gone, last year, and a lot more were cutting expenses until they figured out what was going to happen.)


Dave - like someone I am sure nearly every American knows at this point - is one of those people who was driving along doing the speed limit when the people driving the economy started turning up the radio and getting drunk at the wheel. It took a year of working himself nearly to death, but the business is back on track. It's doing well enough that Dave can again afford to hire another person coming up soon.

But in the process of keeping the business afloat, Dave has gotten behind on the mortgage. The house and the land are not in foreclosure yet, but it's coming.

Let me tell you about Dave's house.

Dave has a house on top of a bluff with seven-plus acres down below. Over the past 10+ years, Dave and his ex-wife and me and a whole host of our friends have turned the field into one of my favorite places on earth. Dave's field has a bar. Dave's field has a stage. Dave's field has twelve campsites cut into the perimeter, so people can camp down by the creek.

Abe the blind dog lives at Dave's house. In the field he can run around like he can see; there's nothing there to hurt him.

Used to be, the last Saturday of every month we had a party out at Dave's. The recession didn't kill that, but it put it into recess. We were all hopeful. And then we get the word from Dave. The house isn't foreclosed upon yet, but it's coming; the last Last Saturday Party on Dave's land is set for Halloween.

***

Dave would never ask you, the Internet, or us, his friends on and off the web, for help. It took his ex-wife and other friends of the party to tell us what we lacked to save the house and the land.
Seven thousand dollars.

***

Dave is not a traveling bard. Dave is not a master wordsmith. But Dave is one of the good people. One who held on and tried to keep making it work in circumstances beyond his control. Dave's the kind of guy who will give and give and give and give and never ask, ever.

So we, his friends, are asking for him. Not just for Dave, but for all of us. Dave's land is a sacred place, in the usage that means "set apart." We have all made it that way. The thought that this might all get buried and sold off at auction for want of so little - for want of seven hundred good-hearted people with ten dollars to spare - makes me sick.

But Internet, I have faith in you.

***

Can you help us?

save_dave is open. There will be auctions; local friends as well as friends online are getting items together.

For now: boost signal. And if you can, donate.

A CPA friend of Dave's is taking the donations, which should go via paypal to sabrina.k.swafford in the direction of gmail dot com. Use the header "Save Dave's House", & send it as a gift donation. Sabrina will be keeping us posted on our progress.

Here is my promise to you: any of you who help here and, in future, are passing through my part of the world on the last Saturday of the month will be my guest...and I will tip your bartender for you. And you will see how it is that we have all created this place of beauty and joy and respite out in rural Tennessee, and you will see that it is good.

Tell your friends, friends of mine. Ask them if they'll help us save Dave's house. I'll have five Snake God's Preferred raspberry cakes in the auction, come time. If you'd like to donate items, tell me. If you know an eccentric millionaire who keeps seven grand in her bathrobe pocket, please advise. Whatever you can do, I ask that you do - for my friend, who to you is an anonymous stranger, who does not deserve to lose it all for such a little thing.

In love, gratitude and never-ending hope,
popelizbet

adevois: hey you
me: hey
adevois: how're you?
me: I'm writing threatening legal letters to my new landlord.
adevois: oooo fun
me: we have lethal mold levels in our basement
adevois:
me: and we can't turn on our heat because the intakes and the flow controls are in the basement
so it's cold and it's moldy
and they sent a tester more than a week ago to verify it and haven't started the removal yet
Sent at 12:50 PM on Tuesday
me: so I'm sending them a letter full of the codes and statutes in the Landlord/Tenant act and the TN Bar Association Renter's Rights page.
adevois: nice
me: and I really, really, really don't want to move again 2 weeks after I moved in.

and an addendum:
Also My laptop is dead as of some point in time yesterday, so I'm borrowing one from a roomie to check my e-mail and make a brief post.

Right, so, um, I'm sittin' on my couch, greektoomey is on the other, It's been a secret that he's here with me till tonight, b/c we couldn't have s00j finding out, drinking a lovely peach wine. Here's a brief on tonight, I may right more later.

So I went and got a tonne of pork products from Jack's BBQ for s00j, but greektoomey was faster on the uptake and payed for it whilst I was getting sauces. we compromised on splitting the cost eventually. Headed out to the Traveling Fates show at the UU church, which was an awesome space. Watching s00j tear through a half rack of ribs is adorable and full of giggles, particularly when she decides to lick the sauce out of the ramekin afterward. the show was full of awesome and win, finishing off with gingerdoss's "Come Down." I'm majorly blissed out and will be retiring in the immediate future. I'm only still awake thanks to one of omnisti's energy mints. I've also just discovered that omnisti is not on my flist, and have remedied that major malfunction.

I need sleep, and I'm gonna go get it when I'm done with this glass of wine. I'm so so so happy that I get to see these wondrous people again in 2 days time and get to spend time with them in a not-a-show environment (I just tried to spell this "invironment"). I'm uber excited about FoS anyhow, cause I get to see A LOT of you people who I don't get to see often, but I'm extra special excited about them. I'm gonna medicate and go to bed now, and I'll try and write tomorrow.

Also, maybe momtothefey will give me permission to post up the folk tale I wrote for her, so there can be more fiction in my journal.

I don't often talk about my real life on here, but yesterday was amazing. I went out last night with a good friend of mine who used to be teach me about Hinduism, Lisa, and we had an amazing adventure, but I'm getting ahead of myself. It was quite a good day.
( Read more... )
And now I am here, in my house, drinking a Woodchuck Amber Cider, my room mate asleep on the rug in the next room, just because he CAN sleep in the floor in the house, and it is a rather nice rug, about to have a shot and go to bed. It has been a day filled with excellence, and I wanted to share. I haven't even mentioned the post it note conversations on the walls of my house, or the signs where the random objects speak, like the porcelain chicken is shouting "BAGOOCK" in a post it cry, nor the guard rhinoceros, not even the yogi spider that walks without touching the ground. I haven't mentioned the glory that is my house, and that'll wait for another day. This is for tonight, and it has been good. (except that I wrote this last night, and couldn't post it till today when I got internet.)

Well, last night I dreamed I was siting on a white couch, on a laptop, looking at a picture of a middle aged guy with a purple background to the page.

right now I'm sitting on a white couch, on my laptop, looking at this page .. and that's the guy.

Okay, well, last night I got 10 hours of sleep and it was awesome. I feel so well rested. And I dreamed.

I dreamed that I was in a high school, or it may have been college. I was a new teacher and was sitting back with the students when class started. Mrs. Heartwine, my middle school band teacher, got the students to order and then called me to the front, whereupon I was introduced and took over the class. I put up 8 terms on the black board and began reciting about them, Mrs. Heartwine sat in the back of the class, I think she was evaluating my performance. I don't know what subject I was teaching, but I remember that there were 8 terms up on the board, and that I had the class taking notes. After the note taking I had them pass in their notes, telling them it was going to count for a test grade. There were 4 people in the class that had taken no notes, 3 jocks and a quiet girl back in the corner. I gave each of these people a test on the 8 terms I wanted them taking notes on. one of the jocks passed with a C, because he was paying attention even if he wasn't taking notes and the quiet girl in the corner aced it, and I told her she never needed to take notes in my class if she didn't want to again. The other 2 jocks failed miserably and I had them stay after class, where I told them if they didn't take my class seriously they'd be transferred out and I'd be having a word with their coaches.

Break after class, I went out into the 2nd floor lobby and looked down into the crowds of moving students. Someone had parked their Cadillac SUV in the lobby (don't ask me how they got it in or out, but they did) and it annoyed me. I went down and gave them a stern talking to about parking their vehicle in designated parking spots only, and to get the ugly hunk of plastic out of my lobby before I took a base ball bat to it. He complied as I left.

I then went to lunch in the staff room where I had inane conversation with my coworkers and then the day was over, apparently I only had the one class to teach. I went out and watched students leave. One of the students in my class asked me some questions about the assignments I'd made them... and then I got in my car to go home. I awoke refreshed for the day this morning.

Now this dream puts me in mind of a few things. I've had a few people lately tell me that they think I should be a teacher or professor, that I'm good at it. When I was in college I dropped out because I couldn't do anything but stay in college as a pro student or professor for the rest of my life. Now I'm not sure I made the right decision. The thought of going back to college has been on my mind lately, as I've moved in with two others who are attending the Community College I dropped out of. This dream brought these things back to mind. Anyhow, there's a dream for your entertainment pleasure. Have a good one.

Well the University of Florida put out this Disaster Preparedness Simulation Exercise... can you guess what it is?

If you guess the Zombie Apocalypse you guessed right! here it is.. including the Infected Co-Worker Dispatch Form, for if you need to kill one of your co-workers for being a zombie, so that proper administrative action can be taken.

It's great fun, and just 6 pages.

So, um, yeah they cut all my hours at my job, so I'm training my replacements all week. It's going to take three people to replace me apparently. They are all inept, and I'm trying to shove a year's worth of experience with systems I created down the throats of these people in 2-3 hours a day.

The good news is i got a new posting that I get to be on my feet walking around in all day, but that's not all, oh no. My new post is in the Old Donelson Hospital. It's a call center now, and corporate building, but it used to be a hospital. It is reputed to be haunted (I've heard a couple of ghost stories about it already, disembodied screams and stuff like that) and my office is in the Morgue.

There is discussion of me building an "In Case of Demon Possession: Open Case" exorcism kit for the security desk, to liven things up. I plan to walk about with a digital recorder and a pendulum. I'm working night shifts and there will be hardly anyone in the buildings with me.

This could be fun.

1. Your Middle Name:
2. Age:
3. Single or Taken:
4. Favorite Movie:
5. Favorite Song or Album:
6. Favorite Band/Artist:
7. Dirty or Clean:
8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:
9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?
10. What's your philosophy on life?
11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?
12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?
13. What is your favorite memory of us?
14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?
15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:
16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarky) - what are they?
17. Can we get together and make a cake?
18. Which country is your spiritual home?
19. What is your big weakness?
20. Do you think I'm a good person?
21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?
22. Describe your accent:
23. If you could change anything about me, would you?
24. What do you wear to sleep?
25. Trousers or skirts?
26. Cigarettes or alcohol?
27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together?
28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

Well, I don't often have nightmares, but I did last night.

I dreamed about spiders, which i am not afraid of, so I'm blaming thegreenyear for she is horrified by them, and was the last person to speak to me last night.

The nightmare is kind of jumbled now, but it was these brown and white spiders, about the size of an Eisenhower Silver Dollar, never more than one or two of them visible at a time. They came from under chairs and beneath couches, dropped down from the ceiling, and were in my bed. Each time one would climb onto me and sink it's nasty little fangs in, and I would start awake, and since most of them occurred in my apartment i would look around, then realize "it's night time" usually followed by "I was having a nightmare" and go back to sleep. I did, however, check myself for bites in the shower this morning in order to reassure myself and found none.

yeah, I didn't sleep all that well, and could really use some coffee.