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.

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…

I’m finding that living in a house for the first time since moving to college is a strange but comforting experience. It’s definitely different than the apartment complex, where my front door merely led to a hallway for the better part of nine years. There’s definitely something cozy about padding down to the kitchen to grab a glass of water in the middle of the night, or listening to the neighbors shooting off the holiday firecrackers down the block, or smelling the neighbors’ bbq grills and mowed grass over the weekend.

They’re all things that I forgot about once I moved to college. But they’re very tangible parts of the neighborhood as a child, and ones I definitely have welcomed back itno my life quickly.

Today is my last full day of “vacation” before heading back to work, and so far, I’m feeling fairly in control of the unpacking. The kitchen is virtually done. Save the stove, which still needs an electrical socket repair to be plugged in, the kitchen functions just fine and is almost completely together. We have a grill in the backyard and the microwave for leftovers, so we can cook at the house (rather than run out for junk food, which we’ve done entirely too much of the past three weeks). I think I finally felt in control of the house once the kitchen was functioning. I can get dishes done. We have food in the fridge. No worries here.

One small frustration has revealed itself over the weekend– somewhere in the mess, Erich has misplaced his ring of keys, which means that we’re down to one car and one set of house keys. We’re doing to do some lost and found calls to a couple stores that we’ve frequented in the past few days to make sure they weren’t left there by accident (both of us have done to places together several times). We’ve managed to get into Erich’s car and checked both the car and the trunk… no dice. And I’ve been looking everywhere as I’ve been unpacking, but nothing so far. Thankfully the trash hasn’t gone out since we moved in– and won’t until Thursday, so if it needs to happen, we’ll dig through the trash bags just in case they accidently got swept into a bag. We only have a small number of open but still semi-full boxes to check through– most of the remaining boxes are still completely taped up (which eliminates them from the search).

But aside from that, it’s been a smooth weekend. We had our first dinner party yesterday for the 4th. Erich’s dad came over, as well as our friends Kevin, Tone, and Robin. We did lots of grilling, chatted, showed off the house, and just had a relaxing afternoon together. Next weekend will be the busy one with the official first house party. Hopefully the forecasted tropical storm will avoid us so we can have a sunny, dry day to party outside in the yard.

Before the party, I went into a patch of our yard that is really nothing but weeds (yay– we get to do some tilling next year!) and dug up about three dozen day lillies that had propogated into the area of the yard. Despite it being weeds, Erich’s mowing the area just to keep the height down right now, and I wanted to salvage the lillies if I could to transplant around the yard. They’re all bright orange tiger lillies– very pretty. I know that they’ll spread quickly once I get them back into the ground, but for now they’re all in my window boxes (that weren’t planted this year since I knew we were moving). We have several bare spots around the yard, so these should definitely help to liven them up quickly.

Anyway… I need to get over to the train station to pick Erich up from the commuter rail. Back to real life tomorrow. (whee!)

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…

I am a packrat, and I really need to start learning how to throw things out right away. *sigh*

To beat the near 100 degree heat today, we stayed in the apartment… specifically in the living room, and worked through it. Erich and I decided that our goal for the weekend should be to pack up the living room and kitchen, since that’s really the most amount of work. After we get that done, packing the other rooms and the closets should be fairly easy. We should have the living room done before noon tomorrow, and then we’ll start working on the kitchen.

In a strange portion of perfect timing, the fridge seems to have crapped out on us here. We may lose everything in the freezer and fridge, which annoys me… but I also have to remind myself that it’s simply less stuff to move if that happens. We need to call the landlord on Monday to let them know, though. We don’t want to get charged for a new fridge on our security deposit. Especially when we have to cover the last two months of our lease already. *sigh*

Somewhere in the next four days, we also want to try to paint the bedroom at the house. Erich thinks we’re going to have plenty of time. I’m not so sure about that… but I suppose we could make trips down in the evening and do a step of the work each evening.

I’ve uploaded some of the photos of the house, and will add more of them sometime next weekend once we’re moved in. The pictures so far are here. The floors are now done and dry. They look beautiful. Before we move in on Thursday, we just have to do some sweeping on the kitchen steps, where a lot of sawdust and nails are still sitting. And then we need to move the furniture that was in some of the rooms back to their original spots, so the movers can get through the different rooms (or at least the kitchen).

Otherwise, I’m doing okay. Still coughing from the post-cold bronchitis. I have an inhaler, and it seems to work a bit. Hopefully once all of this moving and dust disturbing work is done, my lungs will start healing up.

Off to bed…

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

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…

Yesterday was the final day in our old Needham office. It was disorienting as file cabinets and offices were dismantled and moved out– almost surreal in a lot of ways. Half of the employees in our company are still there until Thursday. I wonder how they’ll feel as they walk around the half-empty cubicles.

Since I’m the designated move coordinator for my department, I came in this morning to the new space to check it out and make sure all of the moving crates for everyone showed up. So far, so good. A few missing crates here and there, but I’ve seen a huge wall of them off in one corner of the floor, so I imagine the missing ones are somewhere in there, not yet sorted through.

It’s 11:36, and all of my storage crates are unpacked. Stuff is scattered around my office in all sorts of weird places for the time being, but I simply couldn’t move with all of the crates, let alone organize my stuff. The bins were so tightly packed in my new cubicle that they literally haven’t placed a DESK chair in here yet– I’m sitting on the top of my portable (and top-padded… nifty temp seating) file cabinet at my desk at the moment.

So I spent the last hour just getting everything out of the bins, put away in the huge lateral file, where I can pull stuff out drawer by drawer to sort through them.

I like my new space. And from what I’ve seen so far, I really like the new office. It’s bright and open, rather than the dark and fairly old, dingy space we had before. My cubicle is nearly twice the size of my old one, with a distinct area that’s filing space, and tons of work surface room. If I really wanted to, I could literally pack everything from my old office way in the lateral file cabinets, and have an empty-appearing cubicle. (considering the amount of shit I pile up due to my pack-rattedness, plus basic admin. assistant paper volume, it’s impressive. Trust me.)

Anyway… I don’t see what else there is for me to do here… so I think I’ll take off and head over to my NEW HOUSE for the afternoon, where I can dive into that long-forgotten territory called Yardwork.

Providence, here I come…

Life is so crazy with Big Important Life-Altering Events ™, that I nearly forgot one little notation that really sparked it all…

Countdown

Thursday, May 31, 2001 ~~ 03:42 PM
T-minus three hours until I meet Erich.

I’m nervous as hell. But happy, too. And excited, and just warm and tingly all over.

I’ve missed this feeling. But I think I’m also happy that it’s taken a while so that I can appreciate it that much more.

I just hope that everything works out okay tonight and that the two of us get along. Maybe it won’t turn into a dating relationship… but even another cool friendship would make me very happy.

*crossing fingers*

–Mel.

Happy Anniversary, Erich.

(I think it’s safe to say… four years later… that everything worked out okay, and that the two of us get along… yes?)

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.