Oh, yes, and go check out my latest project that went live yesterday, Jacques-Louis David: Empire to Exile. (All coding done by yours truly.) And show me you love me by leaving a comment on the site’s reaction page. 🙂
So since my last entry, I’ve managed to injure myself a bit more than usual, so much so that I actually *gasp* went to the doctor! He said I tore the meniscus (something in my knee). I have been limping, resting, and popping pills all week. Then today my physical therapist, hereafter known as “The Torturer”, thinks my doctor’s on crack and that I just pulled a muscle. Personally, don’t care what it is as long as they can fix me, and preferably without surgery. So that’s been my week.
But it did allow me a lot of time to sit on my butt over the weekend, so I spent that time processing images. I haven’t yet got them all online, but here are some of the Christmas pictures (mostly just up to Christmas Eve). Also, the cutest picture ever of Jack, and someone’s Christmas nightmareTM Todd, if that someone wasn’t 10 years old (fortunately the person it was made for was 10 years old).
That’s the it for now. 🙂
It’s a new year, and so far, it’s about the same. Except, I have a new fear of rain.
It rained quite heavily here in Los Angeles earlier this month, which normally would have me giddy and gleeful – it doesn’t rain often here, so I try to appreciate it to the fullest when it does. But the problem with a city that doesn’t get rain very often is that it isn’t built to withstand a steady onslaught of the strange wet stuff that falls from the sky. The streets don’t drain, the hillsides get heavy and fall on houses, or out from under houses, the riverbeds collapse, and the walls soak up the water like a sponge, like mine did in my apartment. All of my exterior facing walls now have cracks, ripples and waterstains; the weight of the wall unit air conditioner and the veritical blinds is causing parts of the walls to crack and in a couple of places, crumble; and the insecticide they injected into the wall months ago to kill the termites is now oozing out in several icky places. It’s, well, kind of scary when you have to go out and buy more towels because you’ve run out of things to catch the drips from the ceiling, and most of my possessions, in the living room at least, are now crowded against the north side of the room, away from the damaged walls.
They were supposed to come in yesterday to finally fix it all, now that things have dried out, but they were so busy they didn’t make it, so the kitties are locked up in the bedroom for another day in the hopes that St. Fixer-up will soon be on the way. Not that I have much faith in St. Fixer-up – I’m pretty sure all they’re going to do is fix the cracks and crumbles, and ignore the fact that the water is in all the walls, undermining the base wood and causing all kinds of mold and mildew to flourish. I’m genuinely in fear of the next rainfall.
One of my elderly neighbors died during the rain (coincidence, as we did not actually flood or anything in our neighborhood). I haven’t figured out yet if it was the husband or the wife, as I have not seen either one since, but their daughter has been packing up their apartment, so whichever one is left is either going home with her, or to a nursing home. They were an adorable little couple – didn’t speak a word of English. I’m sad that one of them is gone.
But, the selfish part of me that is going to hell is wondering if maybe their apartment had less water damage…
Help the Victims of the South Asian Tsunami
by Annelise Blum, MoveOn member
“As most of you undoubtedly know, many parts of the eastern coastal regions of South Asia were hit on Sunday, December 26th, with one of the largest tsunamis in recent history. The death toll of the tsunami, caused by an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude, has already risen to over 60,000 people. All regions affected are in desperate need of clean water, food, temporary shelter and medical help to the survivors. Some estimate that one third of the dead are children.
“World Health Organization expert David Nabarro told reporters “there is certainly a chance that we could have as many dying from communicable diseases as from the tsunami”.
“Start this year off by contributing money to an effective aid organization to prevent this humanitarian catastrophe from getting even worse. If you are going to a New Year’s Eve Party, make it meaningful by turning on a computer and encouraging everyone to donate.”
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=631
https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp
http://www.unicef.org/
http://www.careusa.org/
Christmas at home (the east coast one) is always a little weird. It’s a dash of “feels like I never left” mixed with a pinch of “I don’t remember that being there”, then baked at 350 with the traditional holiday stress. I feel torn between two worlds, both with their many attractions and temptations, but only one with all my worldly possessions. Soon I’ll be back on the west coast, missing the snow and the pool hall that I haven’t even had time to visit, and the readily available parking, yet glad to be back with my cats and my friends and the glitz of my adopted city. And there’s never enough time to hit it all – didn’t get out to Amherst to visit the alma mater, didn’t get to Fenway to lean against the brick (yeah, I’ve been to Fenway many times, but never so close to an actual World Series win), didn’t get to Faneuil Hall to people watch while I drank chai from Peet’s, didn’t get to the pool hall that everyone tells me is no longer safe for the general public, didn’t visit my godmother like I swore I would this time around, and didn’t even get to a movie theater with my sister like we’ve always managed to find time for in the past. Still haven’t passed the house we all grew up in since it was sold several years ago – I hear there’s a car parked on the lawn, hence my hesitation.
On the other hand, I got to see cousins I don’t usually get to see (except for Jeff – still haven’t seen him yet), played Halo 2 and got slaughtered, stocked up on Red Sox tshirts, and generally spent my time hanging with my family. It wasn’t a wasted vacation, but damn, I wish I could’ve fit more in.
Anyway, wishing wonderful holiday wishes to all my friends and family, a happy new year that is better than all the years previous, and safe travel vibes to all those travelling. And don’t travel Delta – they stranded me overnight in Cincinnati two weeks ago and I’m not likely to forgive that anytime soon.
Also also, Jeremy Piven. (That’s a personal note to myself, you don’t need to understand it.)
Ciao. 🙂
