Since my springtime goal list was fairly shot due to that unexpected OhMyGodWeBoughtAHouse event, I’m calling it a wash. Here’s my goals for the rest of this month…

1) Buy some summer clothes for work.

I’m late on this, I know, but everything else made me forget about my wardrobe. And now I’m stumped looking at my closet (which is fairly full) because everything I own is either for autumn and winter, or way too casual for work. I can wear jeans, which helps. But I need some nice summer blouses and maybe a flippy skirt or two.

2) Unpack the rest of my office

It’s almost done, but I have a lot of random little stuff to sort and store away.

3) Clean out cabinets and put down fresh contact paper.

I rushed to put all of the fragile stuff away so it didn’t get bumped, but I need to actually organize it now.

4) Write notecards to friends and family regarding move

Some of my family probably doesn’t know we’re engaged. How fucked up is that? I have some cards to write..

5) Finish unpacking boxes in living room

self explanatory.

6) Triple-check all credit cards, bank accounts, subscriptions, etc. to make sure address is correct

And that I’m up to date on payments on everything.

7) Gardening…

Plant lilies in front of house. Transplant little yellow flowers growing on our hell strip to somewhere else in the yard. Help Erich with some basic yard maintenance.

8) Clean out email

Swap reports on yahoogroups, partner lists for ThemeFBs, reply to personal emails.

9) Finish Blogger template

10) Buy new T-pass on June 29th

It’s very odd to have one again. We’ll ignore the fact that I’ve used them for a third of my life. Seeing a Zone 8 on it (as opposed to an S or a C for the city passes) is freaky.

11) Take photos of stitching and reformat stitching web pages

Implement new template. Re-arrange historical photos for each project.

I think that’s enough….

I’m really, really sick of my Keds sport shoes (they’re those weird half clog/half tennis shoe things). They’re really comfy… don’t get me wrong. But in my brilliance of packing, they were the only shoes I kept out of boxes. And so I’ve been wearing the SAME pair of shoes everyday, for every purpose, for about three weeks straight now. This is complicated by the fact that I improperly labeled my shoe box, so right now, I honestly have no clue what still-taped box contains my shoes. I know the pile is in a larger box (I AM a girl, after all… regardless of my personal inability to be fashionable… I still have too many shoes).

But yeah– I’m getting sick of wearing the same pair for everything. If they don’t show up by payday on Friday, I think I’ll hit Marshalls across the street from work immediately after my half-day of work, and buy a new pair of shoes.

Just ’cause.

***

Last night was the first attempt at our monthly Worlds Largest Dungeon excursion. It’s in Abington, closer to where we used to live, and runs from around 7 p.m. to 11 or 11:30 (depending on interruptions during the game– we have a stopwatched 4 hours of gaming time). The game went well. Lots of battling. Some plot development about our environment (if that makes sense). Pretty good treasure haul. We seem have been working through an area of the dungeon that better holds interest. Section A was very empty, and a lot of “oh, look… another empty room.” Not so with the area we’re in now.

Getting up this morning was a bit rough, but it was due as much to a lack of sleep the night before as it was the lessened hours last night. Erich and I stayed up a bit too early on Sunday night, so we were tired yesterday morning, too. I have a bit of a headache, but I’ll manage. We’re still partially adjusting to the new commute anyway, so everything compounds a bit.

Tonight WILL be an early bed night. I plan on being under the covers by 11. Preferrably 10:30.

But before I go to bed, I have a few things I want to do… like actually set up my desktop computer in my office (finally!). Erich helped me move the bookshelves and desks into place on Sunday so I can start unloading boxes. I seriously can’t wait to have my office together. Hopefully I can have the majority of that accomplished by the end of the weekend.

Tonight, I focus only on the computer. Because I’m already tired and won’t want to do much else… but I’m in desperate need of an escape into Sims 2 for a while.

And as a note to myself, for this week…

1) Last post-party cleanup in kitchen
2) Finish backlog of laundry, put away
3) Pay all bills
4) Double-check bill and subscription addresses, update where needed
5) Respond to emails (where needed)

Busy, busy, busy…

It’s dangerous, I know… but lay the comments on me, because I’ll need something enjoyable to read come this weekend!

(oh, and this is a heads up that my internet access goes down this evening until sometime this weekend)

——–

Some of you I hardly know at all, but you friended me and I thank you. But here’s a thought: why not take this opportunity to tell me a little something about yourself. Any old thing at all. Just so the next time I see your name I can say: “Ah, there’s so and so…she wears mismatched socks.” I’d love it if every single person who friended me would do this. Yes, even you people who I know really well. Then post this in your own journal…

Sums up my weekend. More on that later…

The first official day of the packing vacation has gone slowly, but we’ve been getting things done. Our change of address forms are taken care of. We picked up smaller boxes for books and kitchen stuff.

Since it was a beautiful day, I took advantage of the weather to get one area of the apartment completely accomplished– the balcony. I cleaned out the pots that still had twigs and such from last year, and discovered a plethora of catnip that has grown out of the ashes of last year’s disaster… in two pots, no less… and neither pot was the one I planted it in originally. (yes, it is catnip. *sigh*). Said pots will be transferred into the ground at the house, once I get some plastic black pots that I can cut the bottoms out of… that way the catnip won’t spread quite as badly.

But all of the pots are ready to be transferred to the house. Due to the obnoxiously cold spring, the Christmas lights FINALLY got taken down today (yes… we were those people this year *meep*). They’re all packed and ready to go. All that needs to be done out there is a good sweeping, which I’ll do later this week once we move the pots to the house.

Erich spent some time packing up our gaming books, since we won’t be playing D&D before the move. He also got all of my audio CD’s packed and all of the remaining DVD’s and X-box games, save Halo 2, which he needs for stress relief.

And now I’m making a last-ditch effort to get any swapping stuff out of here before I call it a day and pack everything else up for the house on Wednesday. I have a lot to do, but I’ll do some serious work on it tonight and tomorrow morning before we go out to do errands. Hopefully I can get almost everything done. Personal letters will wait until we’re at the house.

I have company to support me in the paper insanity– Colley has implausably stuffed himself onto a narrow window sill to look out at the cars going by. Gus is curled up on the futon between some swapping boxes, comfortably resting on my Ren Faire garb and giving it a good dose of black cat fur. My boys. Gotta love them.

We have about a dozen boxes packed and taped shut. Some we’re going to take down to Providence ourselves tomorrow, since they take up valuable packing space that we desperately need right now. By the weekend, we should have the computer room mostly packed up so it can be used as box storage… hopefully. Erich remarked that it doesn’t look like we’ve done that much yet, but I think once we get the kitchen packed up and I get my penpalling and swapping stuff packed up, it will make a HUGE difference in this place. Come Thursday, it’s going to look dramatically different.

And tomorrow is the trip to the paint store, so we can get our bedroom paint priced/ordered/bought (whatever winds up being the case). My parents have both strongly recommended Benjamin Moore… and there’s one only a mile and change from the house. Perfect.

So it’s coming. Slowly, but it’s coming together.

******

The weekend was insane. Busy as hell. Fun for most of it. But absolutely insane.

Friday night, the Mendon Twin Drive-In had a double feature of Batman Begins followed by Episode III. We invited everyone in our Providence & gaming circle of friends, and wound up having a cozy group of ten go. Front row, Jeep pulled backward with the seats down and pillows in the back… a group of good friends and some beers. We had a great time. Gina was excited when I told her the “dancing hot dog from Grease” was the intermission feature. And she confessed that all the way down, she and the girls in her carload were singing “Stranded at the Drive In.” (heh. COuld you imagine if they played Grease at the drive in? Oh my god what a goofy camp fest that would be!)

Anyway… the rest of us were making the appropriate sexual remarks to the hotdog as it flipped for the bun. Gina was shocked, but died laughing… apparently she’d never had the “stick that meat in between the buns” reference that the rest of us sick puppies had developed over the years.

And there were fireflies all evening glittering in front of the screen.

*sigh*

Oh– and I thought Batman rocked this time. So much better than the previous four. And so much better than Episode III, too.

The drive-in adventure ended at 2 a.m., and rather than head home to Randolph, Erich and I had to spend a very brief night at the house in Providence. Sears had told us that they’d be delivering our fridge and stove between 7:30 and 9:30 a.m.

The fun with this was that we have no bed at the house, and all of the rooms save the kitchen and bathroom are an absolute disaster of sawdust right now. But we borrowed an air mattress from Frank, planning to plop it in the center of the kitchen.

No dice– the kitchen is full of stuff for the flooring guys.

So we found the least sawdust-filled bedroom (Erich’s den), and put it up there for our whopping 3 hour nap.

They arrived within minutes of 7:30. Fridge works great–the stove hookup looks loose, so we’ve called the electricians to come out to check it out (since we just had everything updated… it might have been overlooked).

Erich decided to take a bit more of a nap, but I could not sleep any more on that mattress. So I decided to take my pillow and a blanket and try crashing out in the back of the Jeep (since it’s actually comfortable for me, as proven by the drive in). But I discovered something about trying to sleep in a car… it gets very stuffy very quickly if you don’t have something cracked open. But I was too tired to think logically about such things at the time, and rather than get the keys to crack the window, I stayed awake.

We got home around 3 p.m, and I slept until almost 9. Erich was shocked… I never sleep like that.

For Father’s Day, Erich’s dad wanted to go to the Quonset Point air show south of Providence. We met up around 11:30 and headed down, having a bit of a driving adventure since “craptastic” doesn’t begin to explain how bad the traffic on I-95 was. The show was fun. We watched the Snowbirds (from Canada) and the Blue Angels (U.S. Navy) perform, as well as an insane guy in a bi-plane who must worry his mother absolutely sick. They had a semi attached to a jet plane engine called the Shockwave (which was crazy… but very cool). I later saw it again that night on Discovery Channel as I went to bed. And as always, lots of military stuff on display. The weather was perfect. We hung out, we had a good time.

And now I should get back to the insanity…

We need a flame thrower.

Today is my last full day of work until after the July 4th holiday. I only work until noon tomorrow, and then I’m free for nearly three weeks. I cannot wait.

Granted, taking two weeks of my allotted yearly vacation time to move isn’t the ideal way to spend the time. BUT… it’s making me feel much more in control and relaxed about the whole moving process. I have two weeks to devote myself to cleaning and throwing shit out, packing up boxes, moving what we can down to the house by ourselves, and then finishing everything off on June 30th.

We’ve spent the last couple weekends almost exclusively down in Providence. Erich’s been tackling the mowing (now under control, save a few areas that we need to get an edger to get into). I’ve done tons of laundry, and helped pick up branches and stuff to get it out of Erich’s way. The house doesn’t feel like it’s ours, though. Probably because it’s empty, and not renovated. I feel like I’m going over to care for the house of an aunt who has gone away on extended holiday overseas.

The flooring guys had a cancellation on the job they had scheduled ahead of ours, so they’ve started working on the floors. I drove down on Monday to let them in, and gave them the extra set of keys. At this point, we’re not worried if they have them. There’s nothing in the house of value, AND… once they’re done with the flooring, we’ll be going to change the locks (we’re still using the old set) in preparation for our move.

I have to say, though, that I had a wonderful surprise as I watched them pull up the first carpets on Monday. I saw the area that they have to replace (that we knew about before buying the house). I also saw the gorgeous wood that’s on the floors next to it. When they were originally laid, it was done with a lot of time and care– we have essentially one big parquet square in the dining room and one big square in the living room. All of the boards are placed in a pattern to square inward toward the center. Interestingly, though, the area where we need to reboard suggests that it was originally straight-boarded and will look just fine if we do that again. (and it will be cheaper to do that instead).

The floors in the dining and living rooms are a warm honey maple. They’re darker upstairs, and a bit lighter in the Florida room. I didn’t see all of the floors on Monday, but since then the company has pulled up everything and has done some of the sanding upstairs.

I seriously cannot. wait. I’ll see them Saturday, and will be bringing the camera. Because having looked again at our original viewing of the house, it’s amazing to me how perspective of those photos has already shifted. I think it’s been very handy to have the photos to compare the before, during, and after shots.

Amazingly, this move is coming together just fine. All of our utilities are squared away at the new house. Basic stuff is already up and running– electricity, water, sewer, and heating oil. The cable company is coming out the last week of June to hook up our phone, digitial cable, and high-speed internet. The flooring guys are at work. Our new kitchen appliances arrive on Saturday. And the movers are booked and scheduled to arrive on the morning of the 30th.

There’s one little problem in the plan, and that’s Jury Duty on the 28th. But it’s county jury duty, and as of now, I’m on Standby status. There’s a chance (however slight) that I might not have to show up at all. And if I do have to report, there’s a good chance that I can explain that I am, in fact, moving out of state in two days, and therefore will become ineligible. (I’ll be bringing a copy of our sales paperwork and my paystubs, which are already going to the house, as proof). But eh, I’ll deal. I hope to have a very good deal of the packing done by next Friday anyway.

In two weeks from today, we move into the house. Our. House.

How long, I wonder, until that idea really sinks in.

I’m betting as I wake up on July 1st in a new bedroom.

Anyone who emails me privately, please delete my comcast email accounts and begin using the following email address(es):

measi@measi.net

Or, if that one is having problems, measiwitch@hotmail.com.

My comcast account will be deleted in the next two weeks– we won’t have Comcast cable at our house in Rhode Island, so our email accounts go bye-bye.

Thanks,
Mel.

Three thousand emails

I’m doomed. Shoot me. It’s going to take me weeks to get thorugh these, I think.

*sigh*

Well, at least I get off work at 12:30-ish tomorrow… I can plan on working through a good portion of it. I’m honestly praying there’s a ton of spam so I can just do a big mass delete. Anyway– I downloaded everything onto my iBook. If my train ride were longer, and if I were able to get a seat in the morning, I might consider getting some of it done then… but until we’re in Providence, that won’t happen.

But I’ll slowly get through it. One way or the other.

And Slywinkle, I saw the PDF you sent for the chapter. Just confirming that I got it. I haven’t tried to open it yet, but if there are problems I’ll drop you a line.

I seriously need to get some work done on the Journalcon site, too. Eep.

———–

I’ve discovered this week that I have very few clothes appropriate for summer for work. 85 degree, muggy weather doesn’t work well with sweaters. I need to go shopping with money that I don’t have right now and get a few things. While we’re allowed to wear jeans to work this summer, I’d like to have a few options OTHER than jeans, too. I am sick of always feeling like a slob. But my personal body image issues don’t lend to wearing a lot of clothing that I’d probably look good in (but wouldn’t feel comfortable in).

Either way, I desperately need to completely overhaul my wardrobe. I really do need to just get rid of a lot of clothes because they’re not helping me look good. But I need good clothes to replace them WITH.

Meh.

———–

In not-so-earthshattering news, May 2006 will NOT be the month that Erich and I get married. Between the office move and getting the house in order, plus a known wedding and JournalCon coming up this autumn, I’ve freaked out about overload and the brain has shut off. Looking at stuff that needs to be done for the house, I just won’t have the time to even look at wedding stuff until very late this summer. So for now, I’m gearing toward sometime in Autumn 2006… not sure yet exactly when.

The idea of eloping has crossed my mind several times, by the way. The only real thing holding that idea at bay is how quickly we’d be smacked by both mothers. The idea of “POOF! You’re married!” sounds very good to me. Probably because I’ve looked through the bridal magazines. I’ve looked through dresses (and hate nearly everything I’ve seen that would remotely come in my size). I’ve tossed ideas to my mom, who has NOT taken to any of them.

I realize planning a wedding is hard work. But I’m getting the impression that it’s going to be one big long miserable chore. Maybe that’s why I’m not really committed to jump right in there and try to make it work for next spring.

(sigh)

———–

A lot of my frustration (with the wedding and life in general) hopefully will be released with the nearly three weeks off from work. I’ve had to deal with such nastiness from co-workers now for two weeks that it’s impossible to let it roll off. Hopefully the new house will be a good, fresh start, and I can start feeling like myself again.

I know I’ll feel better once the house move is done.

And yes, I’m probably hormonal, which is leading to the moody entry.

A Pirate Raider

You scored 3 Honor, 1 Justice, 8 Adventure, and 11 Individuality! More than just the usual swabbie, you demand not only the life at sea, free from landlubbers and their rules, but also you require adventure and excitement. You’re happiest when the guns are blazing, the risk high, the outcome uncertain, but the chance for reward substansial. Your kind are welcomed as allies and feared as enemies.

Put on your wooden leg and hook. You’ll do just fine!

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
You scored higher than 2% on Ninjinuity
You scored higher than 1% on Knightlyness
You scored higher than 80% on Cowboiosity
You scored higher than 91% on Piratical Bent

Link: The Cowboy-Ninja-Pirate-Knight Test written by fluffy71 on Ok Cupid

——-

Via a tag from meadowbird…

1) Total number of books owned? Probably around 500, give or take a couple dozen. The collection is currently scattered between Randolph, Stoughton (storage space), Easton, PA, and Billings, MT (parents’ storage rooms).

2) The last book I bought? Champions of Ruin for our general gaming group. I haven’t bought any for-pleasure books in a while because I have a ton in my collection to read.

3) The last book I read? Night by Elie Wiesel– read it in about two hours in an afternoon.

4) 5 books that mean a lot to me?

- Dancing Shoes by Noel Stratfeld. My first full-sized novel that I read when I was five. It took me several months, but I read it by myself. I still have my copy at my dad’s house, and have read it many, many times.

- Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. While the rest of my kindergarten class was learning letters of the alphabet and basic reading skills, I was sent down to the first grade classroom to have a one-on-one reading class, using this book as my primer.

- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. I was introduced to this novel in college, where I had it in two literature classes (Modern and American) during the same semester, and by chance on the syllabus, was reading it for both courses at the same time. It’s sensual, tragic, complex, and empowering, all at the same time. (translation – if you haven’t read it, you need to do so.)

- The Book of Mormon, which taught me how plagarism, from a charismatic’s mind, can be a powerful weapon over those who refuse to question and think for themselves… and how easy it is to slip into such a non-thinking mindset. I don’t believe a single word of it (well, okay…… I might consider some of which is lifted, chapter by chapter, from the Bible), but in a weaker time, was willing to ignore what screamed wrong to me and almost got dunked.

- I’m forgetting the fifth, but there are many out there that I’ve loved or have some importance to me… one’s just not coming to the fore right now…

5) Tag 5 people and have them fill this out on their LJs journals:

Minarae
Erich
Tone
Kimee
Krisztina

——-

Via a tag from saxysai…

Ten Songs I Currently Like:

1) I Go Back – Kenny Chesney

2) Crucify – Tori Amos

3) Mr. Brightside – The Killers

3) Speed of Sound – Coldplay

4) In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel

5) Jack & Diane (live ’03 version) – John Mellancamp

6) Cherry, Cherry – Neil Diamond

7) Dirty Water – The Standells

8) Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin
(and if you watch this, you will never, ever get the image of kittens in viking helmets rocking on a boat out of your head whenever you hear the first riff… EVER.)

9) Tiny Dancer – Elton John

10) Serenity (acoustic hand drum version)- Godsmack

I’m not going to tag– add if you want, and let me know.

The office move is now done, and save some organizing projects during my work days, it seems to have gone off with really no big glitches. Yay! I won’t post my office phone number on my journal, but if you know me and desire to have my new office number, just drop me an email at work (here), and I’ll drop a line back to you with all of my contact info. It may take me a bit, because unfamiliar email addresses tend to go into my spam filter, but I’ll be sure to check it a bit more often.

Since the office move is now over, I’m going to do some dire catching up on stuff at home for the next few days. I haven’t downloaded my email from my comcast account for about three weeks. It’s probably terrifying by now. I plan on getting through that hopefully in the next few days.

I have some mail to take care of, too– and am working on that, but won’t be able to send things out until the 15th, as I overpaid bills (which is a good thing, but left me with very little to live… and my recently rediscovered need for a T-pass showed back up yesterday).

So be patient with me– it’s seriously just a bad case of way too much shit to do, and not enough energy to get it all done (it’s not a time issue… it’s energy… I’m just wiped out). I will get to it… I just need to take stock of some things.

And tonight, if I can find my digital camera cord, I’ll tell the story of being “Those Neighbors” in regards to the overgrown yard, and our proliferation of maple trees, including the Maple Wall, which is an impressive sight to behold…

And to think some people wonder why I get concerned about the right to practice my religion… if this type of behavior is allowed to run amuck, really… can I do anything else?

Credited to The Indiana Star:

Judge: Parents can’t teach pagan beliefs
Father appeals order in divorce decree that prevents couple from exposing son to Wicca.

By Kevin Corcoran
kevin.corcoran@indystar.com
 
An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County judge’s unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing their child to “non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals.”

The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth.

Cale J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion Superior Court, kept the unusual provision in the couple’s divorce decree last year over their fierce objections, court records show. The order does not define a mainstream religion.

Bradford refused to remove the provision after the 9-year-old boy’s outraged parents, Thomas E. Jones Jr. and his ex-wife, Tammie U. Bristol, protested last fall.

Through a court spokeswoman, Bradford said Wednesday he could not discuss the pending legal dispute.

The parents’ Wiccan beliefs came to Bradford’s attention in a confidential report prepared by the Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau, which provides recommendations to the court on child custody and visitation rights. Jones’ son attends a local Catholic school.

“There is a discrepancy between Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones’ lifestyle and the belief system adhered to by the parochial school. . . . Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones display little insight into the confusion these divergent belief systems will have upon (the boy) as he ages,” the bureau said in its report.

But Jones, 37, Indianapolis, disputes the bureau’s findings, saying he attended Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis as a non-Christian.

Jones has brought the case before the Indiana Court of Appeals, with help from the Indiana Civil Liberties Union. They filed their request for the appeals court to strike the one-paragraph clause in January.

“This was done without either of us requesting it and at the judge’s whim,” said Jones, who has organized Pagan Pride Day events in Indianapolis. “It is upsetting to our son that he cannot celebrate holidays with us, including Yule, which is winter solstice, and Ostara, which is the spring equinox.”

The ICLU and Jones assert the judge’s order tramples on the parents’ constitutional right to expose their son to a religion of their choice. Both say the court failed to explain how exposing the boy to Wicca’s beliefs and practices would harm him.

Bristol is not involved in the appeal and could not be reached for comment. She and Jones have joint custody, and the boy lives with the father on the Northside.

Jones and the ICLU also argue the order is so vague that it could lead to Jones being found in contempt and losing custody of his son.

“When they read the order to me, I said, ‘You’ve got to be kidding,’ ” said Alisa G. Cohen, an Indianapolis attorney representing Jones. “Didn’t the judge get the memo that it’s not up to him what constitutes a valid religion?”

Some people have preconceived notions about Wicca, which has some rituals involving nudity but mostly would be inoffensive to children, said Philip Goff, director of the Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

“Wiccans use the language of witchcraft, but it has a different meaning to them,” Goff said. “Their practices tend to be rather pacifistic. They tend to revolve around the old pagan holidays. There’s not really a church of Wicca. Practices vary from region to region.”

Even the U.S. military accommodates Wiccans and educates chaplains about their beliefs, said Lawrence W. Snyder, an associate professor of religious studies at Western Kentucky University.

“The federal government has given Wiccans protection under the First Amendment,” Snyder said. “Unless this judge has some very specific information about activities involving the child that are harmful, the law is not on his side.”

At times, divorcing parents might battle in the courts over the religion of their children. But Kenneth J. Falk, the ICLU’s legal director, said he knows of no such order issued before by an Indiana court. He said his research also did not turn up such a case nationally.

“Religion comes up most frequently when there are disputes between the parents. There are lots of cases where a mom and dad are of different faiths, and they’re having a tug of war over the kids,” Falk said. “This is different: Their dispute is with the judge. When the government is attempting to tell people they’re not allowed to engage in non-mainstream activities, that raises concerns.”

Indiana law generally allows parents who are awarded physical custody of children to determine their religious training; courts step in only when the children’s physical or emotional health would be endangered.

Getting the judge’s religious restriction lifted should be a slam-dunk, said David Orentlicher, an Indiana University law professor and Democratic state representative from Indianapolis.

“That’s blatantly unconstitutional,” Orentlicher said. “Obviously, the judge can order them not to expose the child to drugs or other inappropriate conduct, but it sounds like this order was confusing or could be misconstrued.”

The couple married in February 1995, and their divorce was final in February 2004.

As Wiccans, the boy’s parents believe in nature-based deities and engage in worship rituals that include guided meditation that Jones says improved his son’s concentration. Wicca “is an understanding that we’re all connected, and respecting that,” said Jones, who is a computer Web designer.

Jones said he does not consider himself a witch or practice anything resembling witchcraft.

During the divorce, he told a court official that Wiccans are not devil worshippers. And he said he does not practice a form of Wicca that involves nudity.

“I celebrate life as a duality. There’s a male and female force to everything,” Jones said. “I feel the Earth is a living creature. I don’t believe in Satan or any creature of infinite evil.”

Ahem… 1st Amendment? How exactly is this NOT breaking the 1st Amendment? The parents are both in agreement as far as religion. They didn’t bring it up in their divorce hearings– so how does it become part of the judgement of the court? And as for the confusion in going to Catholic school? Thousands of children attend Catholic schools who aren’t members of the church. Since when was it a requirement to be Catholic to attend a parochial school? As long as the child isn’t acting up AT school in violation of the school codes, there should be no discussion on this. It’s up to the parents to determine how to religiously educate their son. Perhaps showing a balance of Christian and Pagan beliefs was their intent from the beginning. How is it wrong for parents to expose their children to different religious beliefs?

This is the kind of thing I fear. Most cases I hear about regarding Pagan parents involve a child taken away by Social Services. Whether or not there is justified abuse, I can’t say. But in this case, custody was awarded to the parents. They’re clearly found fit to be parents. As part of that, they should be allowed to raise their children in the religion they see fit.

I mean, really– parents who follow white supremacist teachings are allowed to raise their children to believe vile things about their fellow human beings. But it’s illegal all of a sudden to teach Wicca? And really, what is a “mainstream” religion? Are Buddhist, Hindu, or Shinto beliefs included in that? Heck, there are more Pagans than there are unltra-conservative Anabaptists in this nation (i.e. Amish and Old Order Mennonite). Their rights and practices are protected, including dictating when their children leave formal education (grade 8, at least for the Amish).

And people wonder why I’m frightened…

One step closer to Gilead…

Last night marked the second in a row that I woke up in the middle of the night as sheets of rain hammered the window. The wind was howling outside last night. And this morning, shreds of leaves are all over the place. We haven’t had a weekend with sunshine this month– and the past two weeks have been predominantly grey, gloomy, cold, and rainy. Everyone’s grumpy. We just need a good dose of sunshine.

Fucking Nor’easters. Look at the calendar– we don’t want you anymore.

Of course, the sarcastic Murphy’s Law worshipper in me figures that it’ll stay like this until the morning Erich and I plan to move, at which time the sun will break out of the clouds, beat down on us to create 90 degree temps, and allow all of this rain to start steaming into vicious humidity. Of COURSE it will happen that way. *grumble*

I’ve heard a rumor that there will be some sun over the weekend. I’ll believe it when I see it.

*********

The Jeep has been fixed– turned out it was the neutral safety switch that’s attached to the transmission. All good again, and thankfully wasn’t expensive. The tow over there wound up being more expensive than the repair.

Thank Goddess.

I seriously was freaked out for a moment that it was something major… like the engine.

*********

I came to work this morning to find dozens of peeps lining the corridors, all leading to the dumpsters. They appear to be fleeing our current office digs. A few poor peeps have been smashed along the way. Heh. What I’m worried about, though, is that the first few peeps are leading out from MY office. I’m not sure what the meaning behind that is, unless I’m supposed to run away with them.

(Fly my pretties! Fly!)

Just another insane day in the office.

Apparently there’s ONE THING I haven’t yet replaced on the Jeep in the last three years… because now the thing won’t fucking start.

Or let me amend that– it starts in neutral, but not in park.

Me thinks a safety switch is being triggered here.

Anyway… not taking chances, so I had it towed to the place Erich normally gets his car fixed at. I don’t want to get to work and then get stuck there.

Shoot me. Shoot me now.

I’m “sticky”-ing this post due to circumstances going on, since many of my real-time friends read my journal…

Please don’t be concerned if I don’t get back to your email for a bit… I haven’t had a chance to sit down and read my personal email in about 10 days now, and don’t know when I’ll be able to get around to it. I’m hoping that maybe this weekend I can get some of it done. If I can do some earlier, I will. The alternate (for those who know it) is my work email– feel free to use it as you see fit, and I can guarantee I’ll get back to you faster.

The office move is now only two weeks away, and I’m going insane with that. (not to mention problems in my everyday work that need fixing, and so stress my time even more).

The house move is also starting to pick up a bit– we’re beginning to box things up to move the first batch down in a couple weekends. We’ll be getting the keys to the house next Tuesday, the 31st. After changing the locks, we’ll start the preliminary renovations (wiring and floors) and will start getting some boxes down there. Our estimated time to be in the house is still up in the air, depending on the results of Erich’s meeting with the flooring guys this morning. By the end of June is definite… the rest, I’m not sure.

Anyone who can come to Providence in June to supply drinky things, drugs, or other things to relax me…. feel free. I’m gonna need them.

(remind me why I’m doing all of this at once again? Is it a quest to be in pain?)

Are located on my livejournal. My entry before the spoiler cut, though, is…

So Erich and I, along with Tone, Smallz, and several other friends went to a 12:01 showing in Randolph last night. My brain is still processing a bit of the movie, but I have preliminary thoughts. Some spoilers (non-original trilogy spoilers, anyway) will probably show up in my entry, so I’m putting my actual movie review behind a cut.

The first members of our group showed up at the theater very early. There were six or seven (of sixteen) screens showing Episode III last night, so the crowds were… impressive. We’d planned to meet everyone just after 10 p.m., grab junk food, and wait in the line to get in.

Marc called us around 9:45 to tell us they had already begun seating, and that we might want to get there pretty quickly. O-kay then. We basically drop everything and leave, since Marc had our tickets. We sit down, and are introduced to about 30 minutes of a psychotic teenager screaming at people in the theater to fight him with lightsabers (which a few people did, and kicked the shit out of him without hurting him). Then the kid starts waving a CARROT around. It took quite a while before management told the kid to knock it off. They didn’t take him out of the theater, much to the audience’s dismay.

Between lightsaber battles and the management intervention, the fire alarm went off. And everyone had to leave the theater and go outside. People were pissed, since they’d come early to get good seats. Thankfully it seemed like people were laid back when we re-entered, save a small disagreement. The night moves on…

There were an odd amount of commercials before the movie– and more commercials than actual previews, which I’m finding to be a common trend at the movies these days (and really pisses me off). Perhaps it’s because Episode III is a full hour shorter than LOTR movies were, but most of the time, the midnight movies don’t have all of the intro stuff. In fact, Return of the King was basically a “lights off, movie on.” No “no smoking” runthrough, no previews, no commercials. Just a “You people are fucking psycho. Watch it, but then go home, please. You scare us.”

So the movie starts…

and now you need to go to the cut…

Twenty-five years ago, I experienced my first cancelled day of school.

I used to remember a lot more details about the day, but as the years have gone on, the memories of May 18, 1980, have been replaced with other more recent memories. But I do specifically remember two things from that cancelled day–

My mother calling for me to come inside because it was too dangerous, which confused me because how could falling snow be dangerous?

My father telling me not to come out from the garage as he shoveled the snow off of the driveway with the snow shovel, his face covered in a surgical mask. He then started to sweep it off the grass, which I thought was very weird. He filled a jelly jar of it for me, and told me I could keep it, but not to play with it. At last check, it’s still at the house, stored in the basement with a few of my things.

The jar, obviously, wasn’t filled with snow. It was filled with a light gray colored ash that looked like sand.

There wasn’t a lot of it on the ground where we were in Montana, according to my parents– a dusting of maybe half an inch or so. The sky didn’t get black as it did further west, but my dad has said that it did get dimmer, in that overcast, foggy day color (much like we’re having today in Massachusetts). But it was enough to cancel school, since most of us walked home, and inhaling volanic ash isn’t a good idea.

I honestly don’t remember when I didn’t know of Mount St. Helens. Sometime very shortly after it exploded, the name of the mountain that had blown up became part of my geographical knowledge– before I even understood where Washington and Oregon were. I knew it had blown up, but it went sideways instead of up. I knew that it wasn’t red with fire, but grey and muddy. Do five-year-olds generally know much about volcanos?

We must have learned something in school following the event, and it was stuck in my head or something. (sort of like the “there are forty-seven and a half Rhode Islands in Montana” from some time in grade school… which I’ve been slightly amused by remembering these days, given my moving plans).

I remember later looking at pictures of the volanco region, seeing trees that were blown over like matchsticks. I was amazed at how some areas were completely untouched, yet others were completely destroyed. Over the years, we’d hear rumors about strange, alien creatures that had evolved in Spirit Lake. To this day, I don’t know what is real with those rumors, and which were created for the sleepover ghost stories. I have to guess that the brain sucking amoeba is probably a myth.

Or is it?

It’s strange how weird events like that stick with a person. Even if I don’t remember much of it anymore, that image of my father with the snow shovel and his surgical mask sticks in my brain.

Don’t know much about what happened? Check it out here.