pax compoundia

We don't live here anymore

2008-04-24T17:02:00.002-04:00

The Super Yummy Delicious Hour

2008-04-23T20:32:00.006-04:00

Okay okay! So I like to cook. May might kill me in my sleep tonight if I don't put up my cooking feature post. We've actually been planning it for months now and she's been awesome enough to even plan ahead and take pictures of some of the various meals I've concocted throughout our time together. But me....well, I procrastinate. A lot. Really, I wonder how I ever get anything done.

But here I am and I'm writing something for the blog. I'm not exactly sure which recipe I'm going to put up, but I am sure that we'll both know it when I get there. ;)

I'm not so sure how I'm going to proceed with my feature yet, either. That's all part of my process, though. *Yeah, that sounds good...let's go with that* I'm thinking I'll just put out random recipes of things we've eaten lately. I know, 'sounds' super exciting...but I promise it will be! ;) We eat awesome stuff at the compound. In fact, you might say that our house has the best meals you can find in all of Compoundia. I frequently cook for the compoundian society's elite. ;p

I've been at a minor disadvantage, though. Our oven broke and, in protest, I've stopped using it. At first I wasn't so enthusiastic about the idea. I like to use my oven. It makes me feel warm inside. It makes me feel warm outside, too, but that's only good in the winter. I wasn't a stranger to my slow cooker, but up until now I'd really only ever used it to cook roasts & chickens, never anything complicated. I'd always mooned over the many recipes I have that require a deep fryer, too, but unfortunately I'd never owned one. But as circumstance would have it, right around the time my oven broke down my mom gave me her old deep fryer(*and when I say old, I mean it. I lived with this woman for 17 years and I never even knew we owned it!*). So that opened up a whole new aspect in cooking for me. I may be without oven at the moment, but I've used this experience to expand my cooking horizons by making better use of the tools available to me and not 'relying' on my traditional method of preparing food.

Recently, the governing body of Compoundia has been favouring my Home Made-Ish Taquitos. I made this dish in honor of Karloff's love of Mexican food and it has quickly become a national favourite, or "craze" if you will. It very simple to prepare and the recipe is very flexible. I say it's home made-ish because I'm not going to bother to cook a roast when I can buy one pre-cooked and because I'm not going to make flour tortillas (May does it better anyway). It's also nice if you can get a Tex-Mex shredded cheese mix. Like I said, though...the meal is very flexible so you could use any kind of cheese you'd like, I imagine. Just make sure to pick a cheese that will stand up to some melting and isn't going to go all weird if you heat it up too much.

So you'll need - that's right, you guessed it - a deep fryer for this recipe! I feel a little guilty inside right now because I think of all that time that I didn't have a deep fryer and wanting to try so many recipes that needed one and feeling crappy about it. I hope I'm not making anyone else feel like that right now. Awww! I'm sorry! Don't cry, I'll make you taquitos! I can send them to you by mail....

Okay, no really though...you start off by marinating the meat. It depends on what kind of meat you have, I guess. For beef I'd use some marinating steaks (y'know, the really thin ones) cut up into very thin fajita-like strips, poke some holes in them and let them sit in some kind of spicy marinade. I'd do this for a minimum of an hour before you cook them, but the more time they marinade the more flavour the meat will have. If you don't have a marinade you can add hot sauce to your meat once it's cooked. Of course, you can marinade cooked meat as well. In point of fact, I prefer to use shredded roast chicken in a Club House Tex-Mex marinade. It's just a spice you add to the chicken along with some oil and vinegar, but nineteen out of twenty Helens agree - it makes a big difference!

That's pretty much all the preparation you need. Turning on the deep fryer helps since things don't seem to cook so fast when it's off. Putting the taquitos together is easy. You put a little bit of meat and cheese and the edge of one of the tortillas, roll it into a tight...ummm...roll(for lack of a better word)...and keep it rolled tight by using some toothpicks. Don't put too much into the tortilla initially or it won't roll up tight. When you're done rolling the taquito use a little more meat to stuff the each end. That way all the deliciousness won't be localized at the center of the taquito and all parts of the taquito will be enjoyable. You won't loose any cheese when you put it in the deep fryer, either. Just make sure it's packed kind of tight or else it will come out when you cook it. When they're ready stick them in the deep fryer and cook them until they're golden brown then take them out and let them drain on some paper towel. I think I usually cook them at 400o, but I don't really trust the temperature gauge on my deep fryer so I always just turn it all the way up until I know it hot. Since I'm never actually sure of exactly how hot my deep fryer is, I can't judge cooking times so I always just have to watch it until it looks ready. Fortunately, deep fryers don't really take very long to cook anything, so it's never too much of a problem.

Once they've cooled you can cut them in half and serve them with various sauces for dipping. I like to have a variety on hand that includes salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and a chipotle-honey sauce that I like to make. Okay, okay...don't be such a bug, I'll tell you how to make it...
Take a bbq-sauce(pretty much any will do) and add some liquid honey, lemon juice, hot sauce, and chipotle powder. Ta-da! You can get creative and add garlic, onion, or Cayenne pepper, too. I never really worry about measuring things out exactly when making sauces, though. Add everything to taste! ;p

So, like I said..easy as pie. Actually, much easier than pie. Pie requires an oven.

So I can tell that the format for this feature is going to have to change somewhat. I'm sure I could somehow make this all look much better, but this is a start, isn't it?! :) *lol* I just realized that my first cooking feature doesn't have a picture! Funny considering how many pictures of my meals I happen to have. Oh well...I'm sure I can get one. You'll all just have to wait.

As a final side note, I have decided to name my feature The Super Yummy Delicious Hour. This is in homage to my favourite video game. *Wonder if anyone knows what I'm talking about?* I was initially going to call the post "Craptastic - Things I Make At Home!" but May and Karloff didn't think it would help our readership. *Maybe I was just in a bad mood* ;)

Thus Spake Spidey-boy

2008-04-23T15:48:00.006-04:00

I was digging through some of my writing odds and ends and I came across these quotations from Spidey-boy, circa 2007 (age 4), that I'd jotted down:

Karloff: “He’s always afraid of pulling up his zipper.”
May: “Ya, well, he doesn’t want to hurt his willy, I can understand that.”
Spidey-Boy: “If I zip up my wiwwy, I’ll get a robot wiwwy.”

Some other time:

Spidey-boy: “I’m trying to decide which one of you will bring my lunch upstairs. Whichever you does it the fastest is the strongest.”
Karloff: “Uh, are you trying to fool us into bringing up your dishes?”
Spidey-boy: “Yes.”
Karloff: "..."
Spidery-boy: “You’ll win a prize pack!”

scarlet motivation

2008-04-23T12:48:00.006-04:00

Inspired by Laurie's post over on Chimaera Contemplations, but with little time in my work day to follow any sort of structured rules or quibbling about making sense, I've decided to create my own religion-related motivational poster out of one of my favourite biblical passages:

People not to take relationship advice from

2008-04-22T13:32:00.000-04:00

Last Friday's Exchange

2008-04-21T15:47:00.013-04:00

Brownorangestripe, his gnarled orangutan fingers shuffling along a supporting branch, ascended with his two doe eyed charges. The exchange had been brief and for the most part pleasant, despite the unexplained presence of Loudfartsmallturd, one of his brood mates.

Still, Speaksoffood lingered a moment watching the two little ones fade into the treetop greenery. Finally, placing a hand on her belly, swollen with a sibling for the adventuring youths, she began shuffling over the stony ground towards the river and the rest of her clan.

With a glance towards the canopy where Brownorangestripe had disappeared, Loudfartsmallturd brought himself to his full height and let loose a staccato series of grunts at Speaksoffood, ending in a jungle stilling shriek.

“Lupatria!” The interloper cried, stepping from the pillared courtyard, his toga flaring as he exited the arch’s shadow into the wind of the street.

The plain was empty, Jude’s yell having vacated it of even bird song. Marion braced on the wooden bench and held what grip she had on the horses, muttering in soothing tones as Penny worked at lashing their harnesses. Thomas turned a fierce eye on Jude, but at a word from Penny, kept his position in the wagon.

After a moment Jude moved forward and once again began his trumpeting.

“Ya’ll figure you can run this show?”

“I have no interest in this conversation, Jude.”

“You think you can just get what you want!?”

Penny’s hands goaded the rawhide into place.

“You hear me, harlot?”

“This ain’t going to make the judge see any different, Jude, and this sure ain’t helping Joseph in the least.”

“You keep this up, Harlot, and somethin’s gonna happen!” Jude shouted.

The horses bucked and a rag doll, which Elizabeth must have left on the wooden bench, tumbled to the ground. Jude moved forward, but Thomas, with a calming word to Penny, stood down from the wagon.

I step from the car and BabyDaddy’s brother slams the door.

“Thanks?” I say, bending over to retrieve the spilled Yu-Gi-Oh! cards.

Having collected them, I pull the door open against the resistance of the interloper’s thigh. Opopanax, having finished depositing the kid’s car seats in the trunk, returns and props herself within the door’s arc to prevent its closing.

“You think you’re so smart, you won’t get away with this, things are going to get a lot harder from here on, things are going to happen.” He rants.

Opopanax waves me into the car, but for a moment I beg off.

“What? What exactly is going to happen?” I ask.
After a moment without an answer, I re-ask.
Still no response, and at a second coaxing from Opopanax I take my place in the backseat of our two-door hatchback.

Opopanax settled in and closed the door while BD’s brother assailed us with a storm of “cunts”, still unable to come up with any sort of meaningful dialogue beyond shouting down a pregnant woman through her car window.

It is then that he realized that May had located Opop’s phone and was capturing the altercation on video. His hand shot through the gap, clutching for the phone, even managing to briefly ensnare it. Opopanax moved quickly though, snatched back the phone before it cleared the car and transfered it to her distant hand. Eventually she was forced to toss it into the back seat.

Realizing his losing battle, BD’s brother changed tact. Locking his fingers around Opop's wrist he attempted to drag her out the half-open window.

Wrenching free of his grip, she urged May to exit the driveway. Reversing to the outer most cusp, we were held by oncoming traffic. BD’s brother took position in front of the car, a chorus of adjectives stapled to his repeated mantra of “cunt” breaking up long verses of threat against our persons and property.

For a moment Marion considers cracking the reins.

Finally, there’s a break and we slide into the flow of traffic. Taking stock, we regroup and make our appeal to the authorities.

The 7th Compoundian National Address

2008-04-16T20:47:00.002-04:00

Here is the next show for your listening pleasure!

And!

Included is our first ever audio comment! It's from our Interweb friend Bamboo Blitz. You should check out her blog. And look, I have provided you the said link for your viewing ease.
I can't get over the quality of her comment though lol! Great voice, great content, naturally entertaining. Yum! We need to put her on the payroll.

If you would like to send us an audio comment, please email your audio clips to paxcompoundia@gmail.com.

Also, for those of you waiting on Opopanax's cooking feature, you can send your audio complaints there as well. :p

the saddish future of youtubery

2008-04-16T17:05:00.004-04:00

I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more of this in the future.

More information available where I originally found the video, on boingboing.

expelled

2008-04-14T20:30:00.004-04:00

Expelled * Expelled * Expelled

Have you heard about that craptacular movie Expelled?
I'm just helping out with a little blogswarm.

Daisy's Doctor Doom Discussion

2008-04-11T17:59:00.011-04:00

Daisy recently had a post collecting a number of opinions about Doctor Doom's bout of misogyny, and I thought I'd throw in a few random thoughts.

It's unfair to say that everything out of Victor Von Doom's mouth has been brilliant, far too many writers have shuffled him around for that, but: when the character goes off on a rant you should be able to expect the dialect of a modern caricature of an English feudal-era noble, not a fourteen year old The Hills junkie with mother issues.

Doom is a dick, sure, and growing up in the unenlightened nation of Latvia he may have picked up some antediluvian notions about women, but what if he'd said to Ms. Marvel:

"Slattern, I'll trade you to Azneka's Bordello for an afternoon ride if you do not heed my words."

Still misogynistic, but at least in character.

How about:

"Until recently you've only been remembered as the Shazam knock off whom Rogue stole her powers from."

Ouch. It hurts so much more because its true, and it doesn't have to descend into second-grader gender politics.

Doom's character hasn't stayed popular for forty years by lowering himself to useless invective or utilizing the mode of speech stylistic to the time, otherwise when he fought KISS you'd have gotten a whole lot of:

"Boss leather pants, jerkwads."

Lets face it, you can't take that villian seriously ten years later.

More info on Dr. Doom Vs Kiss, as well as the surrounding panels for the image I used, can be found at ferret press.

A Present From Nacho

2008-04-11T12:03:00.003-04:00

I know very little about Von. Apparently he appeared on Maury, which, not having cable, I wasn't even aware was still on.

It may help if you occasionally mentally add "and meth."

Egypt Sends Five Homosexual's To Prison

2008-04-10T09:12:00.005-04:00

I was over at the Yahoo News, and I found an article detailing the sentencing of 5 convicted homosexuals. 4 out of these 5 were tested positive for HIV. It is insinuated that this is a ploy to crack down on those diseased, using homosexuality as the disguise. Not a very good one.

They have no law against homosexuality, just obscure jargon like, laws against obscenity and debauchery. Much is left to the discretion of the court.

In addition to their prison time, the men were sentenced to an additional three years of police supervision, meaning they will have to spend every night at a police station, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., the lawyer said.

Ramadan said the four HIV-positive defendants were shocked by their convictions.

"Two of them cried, screamed and shrieked," he said. "The other two, they remained silent, but I saw anger in their eyes for the injustice they have been exposed to."

Ramadan said he appealed the verdict to Egypt's Court of Cassation, the country's highest appellate court.
The convictions were confirmed by a judicial official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists.

I can attest to Egypt's beauty and kind people (And their constant beeping horns). When religion rules a land, when tradition and law are more important than the civil liberties of it's people, they are completely missing the point. At least mine :)

New Shows for Download!

2008-04-10T07:49:00.005-04:00

Here are the next two episodes of the Compoundian National Address

At the end of 6 I did something I little different this time. What do you think???

Send your audio comments to paxcompoundia@gmail.com

UPDATE: My apologies.. Karloff couldn't keep still and it was picked up on the mic. A new sound card is coming so the quality should get another hike up in clarity. Though, I can't promise anything in regards to Karloff's Restless Leg Syndrome.

Do, Re, Meme

2008-04-08T21:23:00.006-04:00

Hey, so...wow! Bamboo Blitz tagged us with this meme quite a while back. I haven't been much of a presence on the site lately, so I've taken it upon myself to answer this challenge...

Here goes -

26-Random Alphabetical Facts About Myself

A - My given name starts with this letter (I've always chosen to use my second rather than first name)
B - I'm having a *baby* ;)
C - My cat's name is Cat
D - I hate our dog, Deliah
E - My little girl's initials are "eek"
F - I just designed a fairy-wing tatoo for my beautiful wife, May
G - I have *not so lovingly* nicknamed my monster *ahem*...mother "Gamera"
H - Havarti is my favourite of all cheeses (particulary the dill variety) ;p
I - Ice cream just isn't as good to me as it used to be :(
J - Jesus Christ Superstar is one of my favourite movies
K - KHAN!!!!!!
L - I'm a Leo
M - Mother is just smother without the "s"...
N - Ninjabox is a nickname Karloff & May gave me when I was moving out of my ex's place. My boxes were so inconspicously packed they were like ninja-boxes!
O - The name Opopanax came from Black House, a book by Stephen King and Peter Straub
P - My cat's middle initial. And yes, he does have a middle initial.
Q - I refuse to acknowledge this letter. It is dead to me.
R - This is how I always picture pirates talking. "Rrrrr! I do be a pirate! Rrrr..."
S - I single-handedly freed the Scottish people from their evil oppressors in a savage and bloody campaign against the foreign English crown. Okay...I made that one up.
T - Three heads are better than one!
U - The United States scares me just a little...
V - I'm terrified of moving at any great velocity.
W - I want to name my baby Wolfgang!
X - Marxxx - Triple X Communist Porn!
Y - Why not?
Z - Zoo TV was my favourite U2 tour.

So...that sums me up. Hope it was enlightening for everyone involved. I'd like to thank my family and Jesus for making this all possible.

I guess I'll tag Daisy, if she hasn't done it already.:)

Not Even Pseudo-Mormon

2008-04-08T16:42:00.015-04:00

From an article entitled "Woman Describes Escape From Polygamy" on msnbc:

“I think it’s a form of pedophilia hiding behind a religion as a protection,” Carolyn Jessop told TODAY’s Matt Lauer from Salt Lake City on Tuesday. “There’s just a desire to control and manipulate and torture people, and religion is just used as the cover.”

As well as:

“Everything you did was monitored and controlled and everybody reported on everyone else,” she said. “It was a police state. You were not allowed to make decisions in your life. I had no power over my life or the lives of my children. It was a terrible way to live.”
The alleged control began in infancy.
“The method he would use with infants was a form of water torture,” Jessop said of her former husband. “He would spank the baby until it was screaming out of control, and then he would hold the baby faceup under a tap of running water so it couldn’t breathe. He would do this repeatedly. Sometimes, it would go on for an hour, until the baby was so exhausted it couldn’t cry anymore. This method he called ‘breaking them.’”

I have no idea what Carolyn Jessop, (who must be a very strong, brave lady to have escaped a bunch of demented control nuts,) actually thinks about polygamy, as she never talks about it in the article. She mentions torture, pedophilia and mental abuse under the guise of religious conformity, but doesn't mention polygamy, negatively or positively, once during the article.

Wouldn't a more honest phrasing have been "Woman Describes Escape From Abusive Religious Sect"? Not enough shock value? How about "Woman Describes Escape From Pedaphilic Torturers"? If you don't like the adjectives in those, try it old school: "Woman Describes Escape From Cult".

Maybe I'm just being a bit sensitive, but it seems to me it might be just as accurate to have the headline read: "Woman Describes Escape From Typhlobasiacs".

Margaret Cho's Donut Pussy

2008-04-08T09:21:00.003-04:00

For some women, having internal orgasm is next to impossible. Let's just say a friend of mine suffers from the same downer.

I found this blog entry by Margaret Cho and had to share it!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

I had a new procedure called the "G-Shot," which is kind of like plastic surgery, kind of a body modification – but you don’t see it. It is on the inside. It isn’t something I would necessarily normally do, because I am very happy with my vagina the way it is. It is one of the finest in the world, and really needs little embellishment. It has served me well for many years and there are lots of miles left on it.

I got the G-shot as part of my new VH1 show, "The Cho Show," which I am filming right now and it is so fucking awesome you are going to just scream when you see it – I am so excited! Anyway, the G-Shot is an injection of collagen into your G-Spot that is supposed to enhance any kind of stimulation there. It is for women who have limited sensation in their vagina, which is me. My puss is more clitoral than vaginal. I am more into the outside than the inside. I am more about display than content. Whenever I go to a party, I tend to hang out on the steps rather than in the house and I never go into the backyard. And to keep the party analogy going, I don’t even have a G-Spot, per say, one place where the party is all centered, but there are lots of smaller events happening all over the area. Mine isn’t a G-Spot. More like a G-Block Party. My pussy is a lot like Coachella. There are a lot of bands hanging around waiting to play.

So I got it done at a fancy Beverly Hills gyno office and it was somewhat uncomfortable. First the G-Spot must be located. The poor doctor had to poke around in there for a long time, and it reminded me of this one guy who was looking for it many years ago, all thumbs in there going "Where’s your spot? Where’s your spot?" It didn’t feel good and I was like, "uh, I usually park on the street." The doctor came upon an area that felt more sensitive than the other areas (more partying going on there than elsewhere) so she shot up that region with an anesthetic – which was painful!! I needed anesthesia for my anesthesia! It was so prickly and hurting that she had to shoot me up twice with the numbing agent. Then they got the big needle out, which I didn’t feel but looked so scarily long that I thought the end might poke out through my back! OW!!!!

So since then, I haven’t felt any sexual enhancement at all. If anything it makes me not want to do it, which is incredible because I always want to do it – so it doesn’t work as any kind of aphrodisiac, but would be a good punishment for sex offenders. Now my vagina just feels like there is a gel insole in there. Like my cervix is wearing boot socks. I am totally asexual and I feel like I am sitting on a hemorrhoid donut all the time. I really feel kind of bad complaining about the procedure, because the doctor was so nice, and I am all about supporting anything that benefits women and their sexuality. I totally think that the spirit of the thing is cool. Women should feel good in their bodies and if surgery can enhance that, I am all for it. Unfortunately, the G-Shot just wasn’t for me, but it might be for you. There are lots of raves from women about it, and more often than not the results are supposed to be mind blowing, just not for me!

It lasts for four months so I will be at the convent until the swelling goes down.

Thoughts?

Home

2008-03-30T23:00:00.002-04:00

Karloff and I just back from a trip up North. The first trip since the bomb. It was a huge rush getting ready and going, because of the short notice. Karloff's Grandfather died. He was a beautiful man. Completely content, silly, and happily married. A series of strokes took part of him away. And then a cold, turned flu, to pneumonia. His body couldn't fight it.

We really wanted to whole clan to go. But, my mother, the sponsor of the trip thought it best if we go alone. Other than his very immediate family, the rest are unaware of our family structure.

The drive was about 7 hours or so. We stopped rarely as to make the visitation that evening. We got into town, made it into the hotel, changed, and were back out to meet everyone at the funeral home. We went in and exchanged hugs with all appropriate and looked at pictures of our beloved in his personal moments. They captured him well though. Even included were photos of the carpentry projects he had around his home.

We skipped out when it was time and grabbed food at the local truck stop and made our way back to our room.

The next day was filled with visits to our older family and a meal with Karloff's mom and stepfather and sister and sisters fiance. Not to mention the funeral in the middle. Oh yeah, AND driving back home. The service was nice. I guess. The Pastor made the usual mistakes with names of important family members. But after, everyone was offered to speak of something they loved about him. That was the most touching part.

After the service was over I made my way to his widow and we shared tears and my hopes that she is OK and my wishing I could stay and insure her comfort. Then, following good byes, we hopped in the car and rushed back to Opop.

Uh

2008-03-26T20:12:00.002-04:00

Someone close to us, but particularly Karloff, has died recently.

Please be patient. And expect more shows early next week.

I hate snow.

2008-03-09T17:38:00.007-04:00

There are many reasons for which I am hating on this frosty season. We have 40cm of snow. And that was after my plow yesterday. I NEED to go to the store. I'm locked out of the world by a vast tower of snowy hell. Ok, so it's been a few days and I'm getting antsy. Even The Godfather (next door neighbour) got his lane plowed today by a tractor. And he is supposed to be covering our snow removal!

Luckily Karloff is coming out shortly with me and we will be digging our way to the end of the road. Our lane is a giant crescent, a lovely yard in the middle with old maple trees. Lovely in the summer, but with 40cm of snow, I hate you.

In brighter news, here's the next show!

***UPDATE*** 49cm of snow :(

The cholas are calling me.........

2008-03-08T09:25:00.007-05:00

I have found myself on three separate occasions searching out this very video. It's a scientific observation of the "Chola"; where they can be found, and how you to can baptised in the ways of the Chola. Kidding. Really, it's silly and there is monstrously bad grandma rapping. But that's as good as scientific discovery in my book.

It's amazing when I think about how North Americans get their identity. It almost seems like a caricature of stereotyped ethnic behaviours. But it's hilarious. And I'm not judgin'. If you're a Chola, embrace it :p Pick up that eye liner and rub that shit round those intentionally plumped bare naked lips!

The following video is from AskAChola.com.

It's a pretty funny site with lots of content, including blog, video, and podcast. The video has cholaless, but nonetheless hilarious fun.

Audio editing is the devil

2008-03-07T20:44:00.003-05:00

We have a few new shows up. We are looking for an audio player that we can put individual shows on, without a drop down and other various other boring things. But until then, this will have to do :)

And in other EXCITING news! We bought the domain and hosting for paxcompoundia.com! When the transplant is complete, you will be the first to know.

The First Compoundian National Address

2008-03-05T13:06:00.004-05:00

Our podcast is up now! Long promised and finally here for your listening pleasure!

I'm having issues with Audacity (arg) so I'm still working on getting the second and third show up later today.

For comments and questions for the show, contact paxcompoundia@gmail.com

stitch in time

2008-03-03T13:56:00.008-05:00

I think these knitted batgirl gloves are sexy, and this knitted Leia wig is hella cute.

I need to get back to knitting actually, as my Tom-Baker-as-Doctor-Who scarf will not knit itself. (Despite my pleas.)

Beirut - Postcards from Italy

2008-02-28T19:22:00.005-05:00

I am in love. Maybe it's the epicness. I love harmonies and layers. And horns sail you wistfully through to the next verse. This beautiful mingling of Latin sounding beats and indie rock vocals is haunting. This piece of music was written when a band mate picked up a discarded old Italian postcard. And found it's old image and Italian text inspiring.

Molly Nix Chapter 1: The Insomniac, Part 2

2008-02-27T17:12:00.005-05:00

Hey, little late, but here's the second instalment of my Molly Nix pulp serial, once again in both text and audible format thanks to the lovely reading voice of Opopanax. This time around there's also a little theme music, provided by the lovely May, which I thought a great fit with the radio pulp of the same period I'm hovering around. Whee.

[previously: Chapter 1: The Insomniac, Part 1]

(More information on the audio version is available here.)

Molly Nix,

Chapter 1: The Insomniac, Part 2

The Admin building was built to look like a cattle barn from the air, and I was starting to feel a little like I was off to slaughter as I stepped inside. It was the one building that housed people who could and would tell me my business, and I tried to spend as little time as possible there.

The main hallway ran straight the length of the building, and a trick of the eye and the tiling made the far door seem as tiny as something Alice might stumble across. I walked the maroon, black and gray linoleum, passing office name cards, work orders, staff postings, funny page clippings, and finally taking a right into the den. Schwerdtfeger and Able had standard issue offices elsewhere in the barn, but after hours visits were largely fireside announcements from overstuffed chairs.

The room was smaller than their combined pretenses would allow, and I’d always felt like I was trying to find a corner in which to stand between Schwerdtfeger’s stuffed animal heads, and Able’s shelves of economic treatises and textbooks.

“Well, hello, Ms. Nix.” Able opened, obviously trying to get a rise out of me.

“Well, hello, Madam Able.” Able’s eyes and forehead tightened, but I did notice a rise in Schwerdtfeger’s moustache.

“If you’ll keep your jocular nature to a minimum for a moment, we need to have a quick chat before you take flight, Mrs. Nix.” Schwerdtfeger’s attitude had me wondering if Tom had been right, if this might be a virus after all.

“I’ll see what I can do.” I replied, shuffling under the watchful eyes of some long dead five point buck.

“Aunt Millie called this morning. There’s a shack just south of the permafrost line, vaguely near a town called Milner, a lumber town. There are five bodies in the shack, all stiff at their porridge. The doctor on the scene said they died of dehydration, which is odd given that they all still had the remnants of milk in their cups. We don’t know how long they’d been there, but they’re fairly well preserved as the door was open and the main room helpfully refrigerated. The doctor is not sick, nor anyone else in the area.”

“Couldn’t it have been food poisoning? Hell, maybe even an old fashioned murder?” Despite the lack of outbreak, it was all sounding a little too virus-like for me. I tried to move a little but found myself bracketed in front of the door with a shelf full of Adam Smith and his ilk to the left of me and a small pack of beheaded mammals to my right.

Schwerdtfeger glanced at Able, and Able picked up where he’d left off.

“It’s possible. You’ll have to endeavour to find out when you get there. I believe Junior has the plane fueled and ready to go. You’ve got your usual budget, Junior will fly back with your first round of samples and then pick you up at the end of your five day window. When you touch down you’ll head alone into Milner, there you will locate Constable Lummock and he shall direct you to the cabin in question.”

In other words he didn’t want to pay Junior for sitting on his ass doing nothing for a few days, especially not when I might need some company or backup, that cheap bastard.

Then I was dismissed. I was pleased to be back in the hall, but this had easily been the briefest meeting on the flimsiest circumstances I’d had while in King’s employ.

The snow and wind blew away my train of thought as I exited to find Junior still patrolling the ash can.

“You know where we’re headed?”

“Yeah, more or less,” he replied with a grin. “Is it just me or were they acting weird, uh, …er than usual?”

I took in Junior’s grin and ridiculous leather flight cap, his good hand holding the cigarette he now smoked like a train before our departure.

“If you ask me, you’re all acting weird.”

I missed my wife and husband.

The farm dwindled to speck as we puttered across the black sky in the farm’s single engine cloud buster. It had been modified for long flights, but I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between that one and the crates the bush pilots would drop into Mom & Dad’s lodge.

It wasn’t long before the hum of the plane, and a forward looking sense of self preservation, lulled me to sleep. I found myself dreaming about climbing the massive timbers of the lodge walls, over the gutters and onto equal footing with the swaying treetops. The lake lay blue and infinite in front of me, and my head cocked to better hear an approaching mosquito buzz. A plane shimmered out of the distance, wobbling at first, but soon righting itself and settling into a landing that left its pontoons kissing the shore. The sound of the motor died, and the pines rustled. The wind seemed to smell of gin. I wondered if Dad was around. It was then that I noticed the windows of the plane were black as tar.

Our descent woke me. In those days we pulled up short of habitation and had a local friend meet us with a car if we could, no reason to make the townies think the Germans were launching an expeditionary force. The area was far too small for us to know anyone though, and Junior explained that they’d paid a local for his old Model A, to be delivered to the middle of nowhere beside a stretch of barren back road that they’d paid the same farmer to plow flat. Our landing depended on his work ethic and Junior’s ability to read the plane’s instruments, but we were soon down and not far from my ride.

The car, a Fordor, looked relatively well for its age but had been left at the road side so long it initially refused to turn over. I had my flash light out and was looking over the engine when Junior spoke from somewhere over my shoulder.

“Trouble?”

“I think I can get her straightened out, the cold is just making things stiff.”

I think he muttered some kind of response, but I was too busy tinkering. Suddenly his face loomed beside the manifold and I.

“Ignoring me?” His breath was a solid wall of gin, too thick to have been built since we’d touched down. I was glad the wind had waited to pick up. Still, it must have been a tricky landing given the conditions.

“I’m just busy. I thought you were pitching camp?”

“I’ve got a fire going, but my tent is still waiting.” He seemed to be expecting something.

“Well, that’s something at least, I’m going to need to boil some water to get out of here.”

The fire was burning within the L of the wing of the plane, and I knew Junior would set up his tent right under the flap as some minor added protection. I pulled the kettle from its storage compartment, stuffed it full of snow and placed it directly onto the burning logs, pocketing its detachable handle.

If he’d previously taken drink on the job to wait out the periods while I was off exploring, he’d never let me see it. My black overcoat created a cone of heat around me as I stooped close to the fire, one eye watching Junior pound in the last of his tent pegs.

“There should be some left over for coffee.” I said, nodding towards the kettle.

“Listen, Molly,” he attempted to mirror my crouch, but between wind and drink ended up in a position closer to reclining in the snow. “We’ve been working together for a while now, a long time really. We’ve spent a lot of long hours around campfires and card tables and… remember the first year you came to the farm, when we had that Christmas dance? Remember that dance?” He’d asked me to dance, and both AJ and Tom had smiled their assent. We’d had a stiff swing around the floor, and I’d spent the majority of the time silently and sweetly damning my two loves for letting me leave the table. I’m not much of a dancer.

“Do you know something about this piece of work that I don’t? “ The kettle was beginning to whistle, feasibly through the sheer force of my will. I pulled the handle from my pocket and lifted it from its now sunken position.

“Heh, no.” His face darkened though, which I took to mean he’d been struck by a flash of sobriety. He fell silent and after a moment I moved out of fire’s circle.

I was right, and a little hot water quickly had the car turned over and ready for the road. I was playing my flashlight through the backseat’s window, mentally checking off everything I’d collected from the plane, when I felt a hand reach through the gap between my overcoat’s brass buttons and run its fingers across my belly. I breathed a mist of gin as I turned, my elbow hammering Junior just below his right eye. He reeled, his hand slipping from my coat, and it was then that my boot connected with his left knee. His balance went out and he collapsed into a tangled jelly. To ensure closure I made a final connection with his diaphragm, firmly but not excessively, just as I’d been taught. While he fish puckered for air I dragged him back under the shelter of the plane wing.

“Look you drunken arse, we’ll have a talk about this when I get back tomorrow, but you better get your shit together or I’m going to hand it to you myself.”

He wheezed from his pile beside the fire, and I made my way back to the car.

The road was full of drifts, and it took some time and patience to finally make my way north into town. There was little warning between leaving the woods and entering the town proper, one minute I was keeping an eye out for wolves and the next I was pulling to a stop in front of a squat gray brick building, a single light visible in its large window. It was a meager main street, the police having easily the largest front on the road, the rest of the buildings dark in what was by then the earliest part of morning.

I stepped out and made my way around the hood, eyes straining through the large window to make out a pair of desks. I was wondering if I’d have to awaken Constable Lummock with a thorough door pounding when the entrance in question swung open. A large form lumbered from the doorway shouting harsh, unintelligible consonants back into the warmth. He turned and seemed un-phased to find me in his path on the stoop, passed with a curt nod and made his way further into the subzero dark beyond the building’s meager light.

She What?!

2008-02-27T10:26:00.005-05:00

Currently I am without mother-in-law. That status won't change for a while, I think. She's pretty mad at me. She sends lovely notes to Karloff asking him to bring him self and Jr. for a visit. Karloff is of the thinking that it's all of us or none of us. Yet she asks, and just ignores the fact that there are other parts of his family here that are being blatantly disregarded.

My mother is of the thinking that it's Karloff's fault and all of this poly business is just so Karloff and Opop can run away together. Utter nonsense. So what does my mother do? She invites the in laws down for Easter. We didn't even know until ma'-in-law told Karloff that she wasn't coming. Imagine that. Mother thinks it would be a safe place Karloff and his family to see each other. Safe? What does that mean? I blew up at mom once through out their discovery of our lifestyle. But she is painting this picture that I am drugged out on antidepressants and lacking all empathy for everyone who truly loves me. Arg. Her mind has made me out to be something I'm not. I can't force her to see reality.

What if we got into who's 'fault' it was and they start granny beating each other.

It isn't relevant how it started. And if they wanted the real answer, it was a mutual discovery. It was a series on discussions over a period of time. No one wanted it more than another. Reality is, we are here now, and intervention or not, it isn't a sickness. There are no hidden intentions, just love and partnership each way.

At least when we speak now, ma and I, she waits for a response to her questions and truly listens. That's something, right? RiGhT?! *laughs nervously*

Squee

2008-02-22T13:43:00.002-05:00

From xkcd.

Baby Daddy Debacle '08

2008-02-21T14:46:00.007-05:00

So we got up yesterday. Early. We dropped the kids off next door until the bus came for school. We arrive at the court house with little time to spare. We go to information and get directed to our court room. We saw our lawyer along the way and he informed us that we had another fifteen minutes before court started. No sign of BD. We find a spot to sit, eyeing down the hallway to spot him out. We guess which is the opposing lawyer with a slight scowl.

Time to head in to see the judge and NO BD!? Yeah, we think, one for us. We step in to a very small room lined with robed lawyers. I sat seperately from the tribe as there was little seating. As we rose and sat again, our lawyer was whispering to his lawyer and scribbling down on a piece of paper. Opop signed the scribble and our lawyer began to speak to the judge with the opposing lawyer. Everything was in law speak and it was over in 2 minutes. BD will send us documents we've requested, or make his "best efforts" to find the documents. And access will remain status quo until the appointment of the children's laywer. We have opposing views with BD just as to what status quo is. He thinks he gets every weekend, but since late last year we have been taking one weekend a month and week days.

Our lawyer said to call him up and simply state that we are taking a weekend as per the agreement we made before this shite all started. So that's what Opop did last night. She asked why he wasn't in court because the judge asked if he was present. He said he was sick. But that he would like to speak to the littlin' over the weekend. Pretty easy.

So now we sit on our hands for 6 to 8 weeks to even know if we are having a visit. And then, it's months apparently before we get someone over here. No doubt cookies will be baking, a roaring fire in the hearth, and sweet music playing in the back ground. With our doggies away and children at play. They will fall in love with us, as does everyone else who comes to this merry land of Compoundia.

Ontario's First Family Day

2008-02-18T22:32:00.005-05:00

Today in Ontario we had our first ever Family Day. We do not have nearly enough statutory holidays lol.

What does one do on this Family Day? We incorporated some of the kids favorite things. We started it off with lunch from McDonald's. What is it with kids and McDonald's. I'm not completely sold that it is because of the accompanying toy because after five minutes it's forgotten.

After lunch we headed outside for a winter fire, lovingly set ablaze by yours truly. Kids didn't pay much attention at first. Sledding down hills of snow left by the plowman peeked their interest more. But after a while they would run up to the adults warming by the fire to do the same. And then off they were again, squealing and giggling. Every so often hearing one trying to convince the other, once and for all, that they are indeed the queen or king of the castle :p

Once getting off our zillions of layers and damp boots, we started the kettle for hot chocolate and prepared a craft. They were cute little window sun catchers. I painted a Cardinal :)

After a supper of my (becoming) famous cheesy spaghetti the kids got back to their business and we to ours. I, working on the Molly Nix theme, found it very frustrating I couldn't get the sound quality right for your all. But that's news for another day.

First Family Day down, can't wait for the next. But honestly, that's what our days look like our here on the Compound. I hope they are always this happy.

But I Wanna Hate Nazis!

2008-02-17T10:46:00.011-05:00

I was reading the comments on Karloff's Indiana Jones post and although I have to admit I want to believe too....I'm a little disappointed with the lack of Nazis in the film.

Sure the soviets are cool bad guys....but why can't we hate on the nazis anymore?

Just look at the new Lego Indiana Jones game! They've decided to wipe out any reference to Nazis and replace them with an "anonymous genocidal, occultist, trenchcoat-wearing master-race." What really bugs me, though, is that the lego game is supposed to be reminiscent of the lego starwars games (ie. a lego recap of the three movies). Now, I ask you this...how can you recap the Indy movies without Nazis?!

Well, I know I can sleep better at night knowing that I haven't had to think about *real* bad guys today (?!wtf?!)

Anyone remember the Metal Slug games? Sure, they were a no-name brand evil regime...but everyone knew who they really were! NAZIS! (Okay, so the boss guy was a little "Saddam-esque"...but the rest of them basically just stepped right out of the Third Reich!)

Remember when it was accepted? When it was funny to make an anti-Nazi joke? You can't get much cooler than the Blues Brothers...and they hate Illinois Nazis!

So really, what's the world coming to when you can't even hate Nazis?

The Onion News Radio - On Nazis

PS: If I get any flames about being anti-nazi I'll puke

Baby Daddy Debacle '08

2008-02-16T13:42:00.008-05:00

We saw the first glimpses from our lawyer, laywering. Our experience so far has been hours of waiting for the appointment long past, in a waiting room. Followed by being invited into his office only to be accosted if we try to ask too many question or heaven forbid, interrupt. He has high moments, where we are all friends and he is patient and kind. Giggling, ordering food, all is well with the world. And those low times where he can't understand why we don't know the legal system and the relevance of each component of our case.

Anywho, we were in his office for another one of our session with Manic Depressive LL. B. when BD 's lawyer phones him. She just recieved some of our documentation and is responding to it. He did a great job, I was impressed. And this is the deal, she says the only thing her client has to go on is that our relationship is unconventional. She doesn't want this to go to court. Her case is thin and BD has always been delivered his daughter prompty and regularly since he agreed to do so. BD would rather not put through his weak emergency motion, he wants a representative of the children's lawyer to come visit us. And compare the interaction with the child and the parents.

We didn't know what to do. We can go through with the motion leaving it to a judge. But what if you get the wrong kind of judge. And hope because BD is unprepared, we would look like a much more suitable party. The other option, this rep of the children's lawyer, also has pros and cons to that as well. What if what may have been not such a big deal in court, is wide out in the open in our home. Our bed is giant, we have pictures of all of us around. It is very apparent. What if they aren't in agreement with that and they don't decide in our favor?

We decided to go with the rep coming over. They only come 50% of the time anyway if they believe it is unnecessary. And the process of getting a visit takes months and months. Further the status quo and bettering our case. Our lawyer doubts that they would come. And if so, BD's lawyer says she will advise her client to drop this business all together. It really is a question of the childs best interest. And that means staying with how things are if it is a good, sound place to be. She is in no physical harm etc... but there are those ya know, who get really really wigged out when you tell them what your family looks like.

We are still in court on the 20th to decide how much access BD will receive until the final discussion. BD wants to ensure he gets 4 weekends a month. Opop has been very kind in the past providing him so much time with the littlin', but it is not with in her best interest anymore. Now she is at school, all of the time she has for recreation is with him. And he believes that time to be his own so he will not put her in activities so as not to enter in his time. That, and he has no money. *coughcough*

In October last year, he agreed to let Opop have her for the week as per usual and 1 weekend. That was so great, time in pj's together :) But he wants to renege on that promise.

So what are we asking for? What the law deems appropriate as a general guideline, and that is every other weekend. So boo to that. Really hope we get that!!

Peace and love my Compoundians :)

Oh, Indy

2008-02-14T14:38:00.003-05:00

Again, no tv, has this gotten around?

I want to believe.

So there's that

2008-02-13T12:20:00.010-05:00

Apologies for the silence lately, today is our last day to get supporting documentation in and most of our time recently has been spent collecting pictures, driving for signatures and conferencing with our lawyer. After today we have a week of relative silence, and then the first day with a judge (assuming nothing else comes up from Baby Daddy's end.) The first time up will be to determine where the lil'un will be staying for the duration of the proceedings.

I feel like this time is the canary-in-the-coal-mine for us... I hope this will be handled quickly, quietly and in our favour.

I have no interest in becoming case history to some future proceeding. I just want my family together.

BD decided not to play our relationship situation too heavily in his application, there's that at least, and we've blown his application out of the water in terms of quality and substance. As Opopanax said yesterday while browsing a stack of legal documentation: "I want to believe it's enough. I want to believe this isn't all for nothing." and as the ever present Gaunt said: "... I would like to think that people just aren't THAT stupid."

We all really appreciate the comments on May's first post on the topic, knowing people see it our way helps to take a lot of the wind out of the sails of the black galleon of doom.

Canadian Charter of Rights And Freedoms:

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
d) freedom of association.

or even:

7. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.

Here's hoping.

lunch crumbs

2008-02-11T12:47:00.000-05:00

The problem with "tell me how it all happened", and this is largely the same problem with "how did you find religion", is that a serious discussion may involve crises or decisions that one party or the other isn't going to be comfortable discussing. Not in a shady sense either, but simply as one of those things People Don't Talk About.

It Shall Set You Free?

2008-02-08T23:40:00.000-05:00

Much has happened around here this last little while. We haven't spoken about it. But I got the o.k. tonight and I thought I would post a note.

Baby Daddy is taking us to court. He doesn't want his little one around us Poly's. We have nothing to fear we are told by our lawyer. But this is scary business. Our babies have the best care here. We are first and foremost parents. And fucking great ones at that. It would be a great loss.

He liked us at first. Until they wanted to move in. We live a little ways out of the city and he is convinced this will fall apart. He's never been denied access and we have always been responsible for pick up and drop off. We have offered visits and tours but he is disinterested.

Arg!

We are preparing the best defense we can and hope that our truth prevails. We are getting support letters, records, pictures, anything we can together that will help.

Court is on the 20th. It isn't the final say, just a decision where she should stay before trial proceedings. Usually things stay status quo I hear.

So scary.

Dueling Billboards

2008-02-06T17:47:00.000-05:00

- Found on Greta Christina's Blog

Flag Considerations

2008-02-06T16:04:00.000-05:00

We have a flag pole, left here by one of the previous occupiers, and we've been discussing what design we should use for the national flag. The legislative system in Compoundia is still a little liquid, decisions tend to be made in (occasionally smokey) back rooms and then implemented on the civilian populace (median age: 5) with little democratic process. So it seems in line to open the floor to foreign delegates for commentary and a sense of national transparency. (But don't go poking around our naval disclosure.)

These are all little doodles (and obviously only vague ideas) for the main symbology. I etched them while fuming about how crap the monster reveal was as we watched the second season of lost on DVD. Compoundia is displeased by your foreign plots!

I like the item on the left of the upper image, as it reminds me somehow of the flux capacitor, which has a long and secret history here. There's something pleasing about the forked image, but it looks a little too like an American football official informing the crowd it's good while under odd lighting.

The top two in the below image are obviously variations of the same, but I kind of prefer the one on the right, even if it seems a little sciencey (The technology sector is currently a large part of our GDP). I considered putting dots on the inner ring to represent the heirs apparent, in the style of the American flag's stars-for-states, but how to divide them became a problem. The bottom one actually just makes me think of a villianous corporation or super-consortium. Or possibly somehow nautical.

Thoughts from home or abroad? Colour scheme is also up in the air as far as I know.

1+1+1=1

2008-02-06T13:16:00.000-05:00

A step towards three-parent babies?

Progress report shows clinical application of technique still far away.

A predictable media circus followed a UK newspaper's report yesterday that scientists have created so-called 'three-parent embryos'. But some of the reports have misconstrued what the scientists have actually done thus far, and the scientists caution that their unpublished work, while promising, is still far from clinical use. - more

We don't have cable, and that often makes it difficult to tell what kind of reach a news item has. We spent a lot of time looking over the incoming information from super Tuesday, but I hadn't heard about this until I saw it in a boing boing post.

funny seeing you here

2008-02-05T04:35:00.001-05:00

It hailed earlier, dainty meteors careening off of the tin roof. Almost all of us were almost asleep, but now the lights are on and it's all weddings and lessons on Russian.

If there was a cotton candy dispenser and a pony, my early childhood suppositions about what grown-ups did after we were forced to bed just might be true.

Also, I'm glad I work from home.

Happy Birthday, George

2008-02-04T22:40:00.000-05:00

George Andrew Romero (born February 4, 1940) is an American director, writer, editor and actor. He is best known for his Dead Series of four horror movies featuring a zombie apocalypse theme and a commentary on modern society. - Wikipedia

The question is, will my lovely wives allow me to go to Diary of the Dead?

(If it will even be available near us...)

May's Melolagnia

2008-01-31T10:29:00.000-05:00

Installment Two: Formal Apology

I know. I'm a terrible person. I was supposed to have audio up monday. It hasn't been a lack of desire, trust me! I went to the best buy when we were in town but they were closed. Didn't they know we were coming? I will pick up a mic as soon as I can and it will be up!

Instead, I shall impart to you, yummy ear candy;

Brandi Carlile: The Story

Radiohead: House of Cards

Calling All Squeegees

2008-01-30T11:35:00.001-05:00

The Ontario Government has authorized the production of a new solar 'farm' in Sarnia. It also pledged to buy solar energy for the next 20 years. Optisolar is California based company with executive ties to Canadian oil companies. Four sections of farmland totaling 900 acres have been purchased for the solar panels which will be up and running before 2010. The site and all included costs of this venture will be just shy of 300 million.

Sarnia's 'Chemical Valley' hasn't exactly always given the impression of 'clean' energy and chemical production. But the Ontario Government has offered to buy the clean energy for 42 cents per kilowatt-hour which was an offer Optisolar couldn't refuse. Sarnia too, borders Detroit, allowing for easy distribution to consumers. It also being the southern most part of Canada, allows for the longest daylight hours.

Other countries such as Portugal and Germany have similar sites, but this is by far the biggest photovoltaic solar farm that North America has ever constructed.

Molly Nix, Chapter 1: The Insomniac 001

2008-01-30T02:33:00.000-05:00

Well. I've decided to try out a little experiment in writing a pulp serial for the site, if nothing else it'll force me to get a little bit written every week to keep the fires stoked. I've also enlisted the assistance of the wonderful Opopanax to read the pieces aloud, so here both in text and audio is the first instalment:

(More information on the audio version is available here.)

Molly Nix,

Chapter 1: The Insomniac, Part I

I’d just stepped down from the pharmacy stoop when Junior Reece slid his truck to a stop on the loose snow across the way. Junior was of fighting age, but he only had his right arm and was serving his country in a different way. Never slowed his driving though.

His engine stammered to a halt in front of Mr. McKelvie’s Bakery, and he was soon sauntering at me. I’d been on some down time, as was the nature of the business, and I’d just spent twenty minutes listening to an elderly gent who’d managed to box in one of Gordon Public School’s Marms between the baked goods and the crotch powders. Her bad luck, but mine too as she was also blocking the book rack, my only source in town, this being ’43, and I having hollowed out the library by spring of ’41. In the end I had to give him an accidental shoulder and held the gap while Mrs. Stanislaw made a break for it.

The pickings had been slim, and in all honesty the whole town was feeling a little mean. So I was actually glad when Junior said:

“Able and Schwerdtfeger got a long distance call, you need to get back to the farm.”

The phone was a bit of an extravagance given that everyone else in the county was waiting for peace and line men. Unfortunately, it was also pretty useless. Government operation or not we were on the same switch board as everyone else in town, and the ladies who ran it were chatty hens. Mail and couriers were generally where details came from.

“Did they say what it was about?” I asked as we started back to his truck.

“Able said to hurry and get packed for five nights in the cold, cold bed you’ll be carrying.”

I pressed Junior for more details on the way home, and when it became obvious he didn’t have anything more to give up, we both lapsed into silence. Junior never really talked of his own accord, although he’d match you word for word.

Leaving town and paved roads behind, we eventually slid into the long sloping double rut that was the farm’s drive. There were ten of us in residence then, with another ten living in houses within driving distance. You couldn’t see much of the buildings from the road, except the humblest side of the Van Der Veens’ place when the foliage was off the trees. The Van Der Veens were the folks who ran the 300 acres of land we used as buffer from outside interest, and in exchange they got to keep whatever profits they turned on the wheat. Neither they nor their son could say more than “Hello” in English at that point, but Junior, who’s story in town was that he was their farm hand, could swear up a storm in nine languages.

I was hoping everyone would be home when I got there, and I found Apple Juice eating a sandwich over the sink. Tom was at the table.

“It’s going to be that exciting huh?” I’d hoped they’d be around but it smelled of a low key vigil.

Welcome home kisses were exchanged and AJ offered me half of her ham and pickle.

“Something seems to have done in a family of five up north. No damage to them, no thrashing or anything… and nothing that looks like an outbreak.” Tom, was speaking as the voice of doom, but still trying to ease my mind at the same time. I hate virii. He had paused, but after a little cough he continued: “Seems to have been pretty quick though, they all went at the breakfast table.”

They talked off some of their anxiety, and then tried to talk off some of mine. I think I even brought up the idea of moving, although the idea was wiped out before I made it back. All too soon my duffel was packed and I was following the snow bank along the drive, as the sun dropped behind the trees. I was just starting to hope that the dark might force us to wait till morning when I saw Junior finishing a smoke on the porch wearing that goofy leather cap he’d pull on every time they’d let him fly.

A sure sign we were in a rush, but then again, they only bothered to call me when it was. I pushed inside to see Able and Schwerdtfeger.

PROCLAIM!

2008-01-29T01:05:00.000-05:00

Hello passerbys, feel free to leave us a note when you stop in. We would love to hear from you!

- Resident Compoundians.

The Beginning of The End

2008-01-27T11:32:00.000-05:00

Compound Breach

2008-01-27T10:09:00.000-05:00

Brother and JLou (his fabulous lady) came out to the Compound this weekend. JLou just that night picked up her Wii! The most hilarious fun was watching both her and Brother punching rapidly and violently in the air, their arms slowly descending, fighting that deep urge to release their arms from the torment of rabid punchie punchie. JLou's short layered hair whipping back and forth in desperation. Maybe an hour of kick boxing before intense Wii play isn't such a good idea, but she still was able to beat brother half the time.

The following morning Brother, JLou and I were sitting around as he was playing my guitar. We started reminiscing about our old silly songs and video's we used to make together. In that spirit, he began playing guitar in several styles; classic Spanish guitar, bluegrass etc as we took turns adding verses and harmonizing with each other. The sound intense, but the subject ridiculous and dirty. So. Much. Fun!

We all piled in the car to drive them back to city later in the day. Brother treated us to some lovely sandwiches which even included a garlic thyme mayonnaise he prepared himself.

Jealous? You should be :)

Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

2008-01-23T22:17:00.000-05:00

Exciting news!!!

As you may have been aware, our little tribe has been making attempts to add another member. And finally, Opopanax is pregnant!! Our little muffin will be born on August 3rd, the day before her birthday :) How perfect is that?

Though she is entering her second trimester, there isn't much baby bump at all. Geeze. I thought second babies were suppose to show faster. But we can be patient. Speaking of patience, Karloff and Opopanax want to wait to know what the sex is. Crazy talk I say, but because I am extremely selfless, I can patiently wait too. And by patiently wait, I mean bug them only every OTHER day about finding out. It's not that they don't want to, it's that they are unaware of their want to know. And all I must do is convince them that I know best. Because I always do the end.

hehe

In all seriousness though, we do have one child of each sex, both 5, so whatever the luck of the draw deals us, we will be so flippin' happy. But since I know everything, it's a boy.

At Opopanax's doctor's appointment today she told her of our polyfidelitous lifestyle. The doctor was incredibly supportive and was very happy for us all because we seemed so happy. See, some people think more closed minded people live in the country. But for us, the opposite seems true. We have never been better looked after and more empathized with. We really feel a sense of community support here.

I'm really excited for Opopanax pregnancy. She has always worked her ass off to care for her child and now that we are together and she can stay home, it will be a wonderful time for her to just enjoy being pregnant.

We have other worries we will share with you soon that have been weighing heavily on us, but today is a day for celebration.

P.S. Opopanax is concerned that the Compoundian's will think that the baby picture at the top of this post is our baby. When in actual fact I just did a Google search to find a birthday baby, tying together both baby and its close proximity to her birthday. She also wants me to assure you that are children are super way cuter :P

Din Din at Ma's and respect, just a little bit.

2008-01-23T09:24:00.000-05:00

So, ever since that bombed dropped, my mother and stepfather have been seeing us a lot. They showed up on our doorstep the other day. They decided that it was best that if they were going to suffer, we should be witnessed to the devastation.

And you know me, I'm all ABOUT empathy! Even as a Correctional Officer I never judged anyone who came to me. But to tell me your life is over, that everything you ever believed true is all now a lie. All because your daughter tells you something that you already KNEW?!

So, the units came over and we sat and had tea. After moments of head shaking, something would come spewing out of my mothers mouth. Hateful things, crazy things. She diagnosed us as a antisocial relationship experiment out in the woods. Even our children mean nothing to us. I wish people told me why I do what I do long before now. WHAT would I have done without her insight? She sees me once a month for supper, her diagnosis surely trumps my own.

So, after about an hour and a half of her ranting, she invites us for dinner the following night. Sounds like fun! hehe. So we went.. figured that more visits would show them how it works. Information, don't ya know, is the key to understanding. So we show up. Mom made what she thought everyone would hate, or at least most of us. Spite. But everyone thought it was most delicious :P. My stepfather was upstairs mostly. He sulks much more in a familiar place. That's why Brother and I like taking them out.

I don't know what their plan is. They don't really have one I would presume. Other than to cry to each other about how disappointing this all is. My Uncle suggested that I find a support group for her because surely in time she will understand how wonderful this is. When I asked her she said she didn't want to tell anyone because she was ashamed. Really, I don't know how people who think they have it all together would let anything in their lives destroy them so whole heartily. They are devote Christians and very well known in tight high ranking Christy circles. Doesn't that mean that they have a certain amount figured out?

Nope :p

Oh, did I tell you that Karloff WORKS for them? Doesn't it only get better the more I tell you?! :)

Seriously though, nothing could change my mind. Not due to stubbornness or blindness, it's the pure joy I feel when I am with my loved ones. It works better than I could have imagined and trust me, we talked about this situation long before we got ourselves into it. Just because someone wants to yell uneducated bullshit at my face won't change the truth. This is a subject that isn't well known and upon hearing it, some people get very defensive. I am not asking people to live this life, only to better understand it. There are billions of choices out there and just because our neighbour does it one way does not make it the right one for you. I just want respect.

Dr. Phil hurts me on the inside.

2008-01-22T20:39:00.000-05:00

I was looking online today, searching through some blogs to find some relevant links for Pax. I did a search for polyfidelity. I found some really good articles and first hand accounts of the lifestyle. And then... I saw a post about polyfidelity and Dr. Phil. He did a show which included a mention of polyfidelity. No kidding? I thought. Dr. Phil is taking the word to the streets? Geeze, with coverage like that, we might really get some awareness out there and break the taboo. I had these hopes, until I read portions of the transcript.

This dude was trying to convince the wife who he was having an affair on, to allow his mistress into their relationship. Dr. Phil apparently said that according to the 'Dr. Phil Dictionary', Polyfidelity meant cheating. WHA??

That's a BAD Dr. Phil! Surely he knows the definition of Polyfidelity?! Why would he knowingly misinform the public? If I hate anything, it's disguising opinion for fact, ESPECIALLY when you have a national audience hanging of your every word and you know better.

That's it. He's dead to me. Just WAIT until he finds out.

May's Melolagnia

2008-01-21T09:18:00.000-05:00

Installment One: PJ Dreams

One thing you would rapidly learn about me is my love of music. All sorts. I also love playing music. But I'm afflicted with this severe disdain for anything I produce. My emotion for the music and my desire for perfection makes it very hard for me to be objective. I want to do it and well, immediately. I do have some natural ability and training in singing, but I'm a-scared.

Karloff for YEARS has encouraged me to get back to the craft ever since I quit what little of the scene I was a part of for the birth of mini Karloff. I need to sit down, write some damn music and get out there and make some money. :) But it's been so long.

So! I have decided to post some stuff here. I'm getting my recording gear together and then it will be straight to your ears. And then hopefully I can get some feed back from the Compoundian's that will help me on my journey.

Whether or not music is recorded, I will have something posted, hopefully some audio, every week of my grand adventures. There is much to be relearned and it may just plain stink I warn you. Nevertheless, it will be entertaining :)

May's Song of the Week: Jeff Buckley's Satisfied Mind

Well, huh.

2008-01-18T19:26:00.001-05:00

Wonder Woman is a fictional character, a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston and one of the three characters to be continuously published by DC Comics since the company's inception in 1944. Marston's wife Elizabeth Holloway Marston, and Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polyamorous relationship, served as exemplars for the character and greatly influenced her creation. Wonder Woman first appeared in All Star Comics #8, published in December 1941. She is a founding member of the Justice League.

Princess Diana is an Amazon from Greek mythology. Her name is reflective of the mythological character, Diana or Artemis. Her mother is Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. When Diana leaves the Amazons to travel to the world outside, she is known as both Wonder Woman, and as Princess Diana. As Wonder Woman, she was awarded several gifts by the Olympian gods, including the Lasso of Truth created from the Golden Girdle of Gaea and indestructible bracelets formed from the shield Aegis. For several years she was described in the splash page of each story, as "beautiful as Aphrodite, wise as Athena, swifter than Hermes, and stronger than Hercules." - Taken from Wikipedia

In the end they've all lost

2008-01-18T15:05:00.000-05:00

After some consideration, I've decided to take down the monster poll.

Looking at it every time I log into Pax has been a little hard of late...all things considered. It's no longer even a question of who's the better beast...just which one's being the worst at any given moment.

How depressing.

A devil's point of view

2008-01-18T13:48:00.000-05:00

That last post reminds me of somethings I read last night from "The Screwtape Letters" by CS Lewis.....

"It is an unobtrusive little vice which she shares with nearly all women who have grown up in an intelligent circle united by clearly defined belief; and it consists in a quite untroubled assumption that the outsiders who do not share this belief are really too stupid and ridiculous. The males, who habitually meet these outsiders, do not feel that way; their confidence, if they are confident, is of a different kind. Hers, which she supposes to be due to Faith, is in reality largely due to the mere colour she has taken from her surroundings. It is not, in fact, very different from the conviction she would have felt at the age of ten that the kind of fish-knives used in her father's house were the proper or normal or 'real' kind, while those of the neighbouring families were 'not real fish-knives' at all."

Walls

2008-01-18T10:24:00.000-05:00

Once we built walls. Brick and mortar to keep people out. Others were to be feared. They wanted to take your shit and you best be defending it.

After a while, we learned to trust. We traded, realizing that accepting difference brought many rewards. All needed was a general set of rules. Don't rape the woman, steal or stab each other in the throat.

Much time has passed, but figurative walls still remain. We fear what we don't understand. This primal need to preserve ones own idea of normal outweighs the reward to learn. We trade, but still only to reap rewards with a heavy heart to save them, because you must know the right way, and because their way is different than yours, it's wrong.

When will that next societal evolution take place? When we openly seek different and new things in each other without having to constantly weigh it against our preconceived notions. That there is no right or wrong way to do things. Just different ways.

Unhappily ever after?

2008-01-17T23:18:00.000-05:00

Hey there people!

I was writing a new post for the other blog when it occurred to me that I was getting a little less pagan and a little too poly for that site

Of course, that is not to say that my lifestyle would be rejected within those circles, but only that I prefer to leave my more day to day thoughts on this site and leave that blog for more specifically pagan topics.

I was writing about the planning stages of our handfasting ceremony when I found myself getting off topic...

I had been searching the web for a simple handfasting rite that could be modified to accommodate three people, but that was also not too religious in respect of Karloff & May's beliefs. It was hard work to say the least.

What I found particularly odd was the amount of ceremonies I found that were specifically designed for couples in which one spouse was being married to another partner but the other spouse was not. I guess a lot of people must do it, but personally I would want to share my partner's entire life - not only the portion which they allocate to me. I would want (and am very lucky to have) a relationship with the other partner as well. That way I wouldn't feel like I was only sharing half their life. I can see how jealousy and insecurity would come into play if you felt like your partner had something with the other partner that you could *never have*.

I suppose it must work for some people. I'm certainly not going to discriminate because it's not my bag. I ask people to understand and respect my relationship even if they would not have chosen it for themselves. After all people ask all the time "how can your relationship work so well with three people?" To which I have to answer, " Well, how does yours work with two?"

I actually made an amusing observation today while scanning blogs and message boards that were discussing polyamoury vs. monogamy. I found the people who were most vocally against the subject were the ones who were married already and not wanting to have to deal with the "headache" of having another spouse! I found it rather funny that the people who were in unhappy relationships already were only focused on the negative connotations of a second spouse (more to have to clean up after, someone else hogging the sheets, etc.). None of them thought of the positive aspects of a second loving partner being added to the equation.

I thank the god & goddess every day that I have two loving, supportive people who are absolutely willing to help me with whatever endeavours I choose to undertake. More housecleaning? Nope, not here. We have three sets of hands now. Kids need to get ready for school? May gets lunches ready while I make breakfast and Karloff makes sure they get dressed. Easy!

Polyamoury is not the way to "fix" a relationship. Adding someone to your problems is not the answer. When you're (relatively) free of baggage, however, having another partner to share your life with can be soo rewarding!

*I feel soo lucky*

Pax Fanum

2008-01-16T23:08:00.000-05:00

Despite the current craziness in our lives I have somehow found the time to begin a new pagan sister-blog for this site.

Pax Fanum is a new blog I've begun and can be found on Blog of Shadows (or in our link list). It will feature some of my more wiccan musings (of which I have chosen to leave out of Pax Compoundia). I urge anyone with interest or questions to check it out, regardless of faith or creed.

*I'm just hoping not to receive any flames*

I know I don't write a whole lot of posts on this blog anyway, but I'm sincerely hoping that this won't affect my posting frequency. Besides, I think Karloff & May would kick my ass if it did! ;p

Anyway....all are welcome to Pax Fanum.

Blessesd Be.

The Bomb

2008-01-15T09:33:00.000-05:00

It dropped. My mother knows. Everything.

It wasn't my intention for it to happen as it did, but it happened just the same.

She thinks it to be a terrible idea, but she still loves me and wants to know I exist, including ALL of my family members. I can't ask for more than that.

I wish I didn't feel worse than before. But long-term, this was best. I'm not lying anymore.

We have some big plans for the site, a podcast and some weekly features. As you can understand though, things have been so heavy lately. BUT! We now have that brain space back for creativity and spreading the word.

Word.

Stupid Monster Poll!

2008-01-05T12:47:00.000-05:00

Can't you subtract points?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

!!!!!!!!!BURN!!!!!!!!!

Family Christmas

2008-01-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

One month and a few feet deep into the Canadian winter and we finally find ourselves completely settled into the compound. The hotel is an empty memory that still costs us $950 a month and a few shivers every time we think of it. We spent the 26th & 27th packing and moving the last of my stuff out of the apartment. Well, that's only half true. May & Karloff spent the 27th moving - I was sick and spent the day sleeping in the bathtub. Not recommended.

Karloff had been going crazy over his work. It would come like a killer in the night or in the wee hours of the morning, a phone call or the beep beep of a text message from his boss...

"Oh, could you just get this one thing done for me for ummm...tomorrow morning.? Thanks. And hey, can you change this whole thing around for me for, say, tonight? Thanks. Love ya!"

So night after night he would stay up trying to get his work done until finally...it's Christmas Eve and somewhere between work, obligations to family members, quitting smoking, threats of custody battles, heartbreaking family betrayals, and general holiday madness...the phone rings. It's Karloff's boss again. Oh, did I mention Karloff's boss is May's mother? Yep. So here's the deal - Come to mass with the family tonight ("Of course Opopanax can come!") instead of having your much coveted "quiet family Christmas" (ie. one where I get to be there) ...and Karloff can have the rest of the holidays off until January 5th!!!!

And that's not all folks! You'll also receive Jesus's eternal love & snacks at Mothra's house!

So that was a good enough deal for us and after a hectic and perilously dangerous journey into the city (which almost ends in a ditch due to the road conditions) we regrouped at May's mother's house for hors d'oeuvres (snacks).

Now, that all sounds lovely, except May's family doesn't really know anything about our family...so it's actually all quite awkward. We keep finding excuses for me and my daughter to show up at family events and May's family is soo open to us (which is really awesome)...but not being able to say I love you? No physical contact whatsoever? Misleading her family as to our situation? Not to mention we're engaged and going to have children!

So a few snacks/hours later we headed home to the compound and did our own Christmas thing. We opened our presents to each other since we wouldn't be able to do so at the family gathering at May's family's place the next day. The holiday feeling was brief, merely lasting for a few precious hours...but we were together and that was enough.

Christmas morning comes around and I get the message that my grandmother has been admitted to the hospital. May rushes us to the hospital where we're able to spend some time with her while she lays there, unconscious and unaware. It taints the rest of the day with her pallor. She dies the next day while I'm packing my apartment. The preceding day is mostly a blurr of sleep and sickness. I hold my grandfather's hand at her funeral the day after.

This holiday is about rebirth. The sun is reborn and the days only grow longer from here...

Section Nine-Seventeen may have been hit

2007-12-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

The thing is, as soon as something with that dramatic quality to be labeled 'blog-fodder' happens, I don't feel like posting anything any more.

Quick, a change of topic:

Precious Time

2007-12-07T22:12:00.000-05:00

It's hard to watch Opopanax cross stitch diligently a beautiful piece for my mother. She will love it, yes, but I hope she still appreciates the gift when she knows what we mean to each other. Her works is so perfect, the next one's for us :)

Jebus was white?

2007-12-07T12:14:00.000-05:00

Sometimes history is blatantly ignored to suit our current needs. The subject line refers to some KKK members who bare signs saying, "Jesus was white". Implying that we come from Jesus, and they only love whitie, so Jesus MUST have been white!

My mother is heavily religious. She believes everyone will go to hell unless they believe what she does. She also very much believes in the devil. We give authority to him by doing sinful things. For example, if I were to watch a horror movie with Satan in it, I would be giving him authority to affect me negatively. Anyone who does not believe what she does is hindering God and is in darkness.

So then, what the fuck is up with HER Pagan Christmas tree? She celebrates so many traditions deeply rooted in things she hates so much. If I should not pierce myself because it has a history in marking slaves, than why does she organize Easter egg hunts? Why isn't she cursed from the devil?

Everything we do comes from somewhere. Enjoy yourself, and keep it to yourself :)

Goodnight :p

Happy Birthday Spider-Boy

2007-12-05T22:03:00.002-05:00

Today was Karloff Jr.'s birthday.

He wasn't smothered in gifts, but he was hella satisfied and reminded us so throughout the day. He and I baked a chocolate cake together later on. As it cooled, Karloff, Opopanax and I made the specified birthday dinner. Which was grilled cheese and little pizzas. All through supper, Mini Karloff would give me long meaningful smiles, so pleased with the day and the care we took in making sure it was special. He is a sweet old soul.

Just before bed he asks, "You think after lunch tomorrow I could have another piece of this cake Mum?"

Days like today when we are all together, with life and love filling this big house, I am sweetly surrounded.

And I am lucky, lucky girl :)

A snowfall of paramount importance

2007-12-03T18:23:00.000-05:00

So, as I stated in my last post, I've taken some time recently to reflect on my current situation.

Life has been increasingly hectic over the last few weeks. Between appointments, work, activity groups and social events our "pleasant country life" has become one long car ride in and out of the capital. Being the only one in the relationship with daily ties to the city - the blame can be laid squarely on my shoulders. This wouldn't be such a burden to me since I work and bring in a modest paycheck...

But here's the kicker - with the amount of money spent on the hotel's monthly rent and the money we spend on gas getting too and from the city each day (since the dogs are kept at the compound and must be tended to daily)...we actually end up paying for me to go to work!

Isn't that insane?

This is something we have known for a while now and discussed in detail.
But if I quit my job we would no longer be able to afford the hotel on just Karloff's paycheck. Of course, with no ties to work in the city I could just move out to the compound and my daughter could change schools in the new year to go to the school with May & Karloff's son. I mean, really, we intend on getting married next fall, so at the latest I would be moving then, anyway.

We had already spoken about how long I would stay with my company before I returned to school. It was only a matter of months before I planned on leaving in pursuit of better things. *Cute, tiny, better little things*

And of course, my company isn't great at keeping my schedule and work site consistant! They're always changing my hours and shipping me off to a new site in need of competent administration with a few hours notice at most! It's mentally exhausting and, frankly, it demoralizing! As soon as I get to know the ins and outs of the building and develope a repore with the staff and tenants, I get sent on to the next building at the other end of the and I get a two hour pay cut! And this is not just once or twice. No. 5 times. 5 times in the last 6 months!

What the fuck is that? I mean, really? What the fuck?

Life was becoming difficult.

But today put a stop to that. The day started off just like any other day waking up at the compound. The alarm went off at 6:30am and I reset the time, giving myself another 30 minutes of sweet precious sleep. When it went off again, I rolled over and did my best to arouse Karloff's interest (which he was more than willing to give) while May got a few more well deserved minutes of rest. Well, that was the theory, anyway. May wasn't really able to sleep through it (I've always been rather loud) but in the end we were all very happy if not necessarily ready to go to work.

We smoked a quick joint and I magicked myself into some clothes. While I was completing the various ritual sacrifices and spells to perform such a task (ie. getting myself ready in the morning), Karloff was off in the livingroom tending to the house fire (our large, constantly blazing fireplace that warms the compound). May & I were chatting in the bedroom when from the other room we heard her son's ominous four-year-old voice call out, "Oh-oh! You're going to be sorry for that!" Followed by Karloff's not so enthusiastic "I already am". We waited for him to come to us in the bedroom before we asked what was wrong. It seems he had been putting more wood in the fireplace but had closed the door a little too hard on one of the pieces of wood which had in turn broken the glass pane. It was unfortunate, but an accident and by no means anything to be upset over. We worked out the details of getting it fixed, then May & I were off - on to the capital at top speed in order to make it to my office on time!

Here's where things got tricky! Damn those canadian winters!

The car was completely stuck. May called the neighbour who agreed to help us out. He was out of town and would be a while getting back, so I went inside and called my work to let them know I would be late. We smoked another joint and waited for another two hours before we were able to get out. Shortly into our ride May & I passed a van being pulled out from a snow filled ditch. We laughed about how we should get out and take a picture to send to my boss with a message that I wouldn't be in today! But as we drove further and further away from the van the speed of the car got slower and slower as May & I really wondered if we could get away with it.

May drove at 23mph down the road for a while trying to convince me that this "could totally work, baby!" We formulated a plan ("no, we have to get out! we can't take a picture of "our car" from inside another car...it'll look fake!") we got turned around and I got my phone/camera out...only to find that the van had been pulled free of the snow! damnit.

We were still headed back in the direction of the compound but now I had no excuse to stay home from work! I tried for a while to convince May to put us in a ditch "only just a little", but she said something about insurance, her car and CAA. Not being a driver, I had no idea what she was talking about. Certified Anglican Accountants?

So we drove back to the capital talking about how much it really sucked that this had to continue for so long and why did I have to wait to quit anyway. There was only one reason to keep that job and it involves two words I still find myself afraid to write in the public view. (Eternity Steve!)

Big brother could be watching....

Along the way I called Karloff and asked him how he felt about me quitting, and what started off as a joke became a serious discussion. I found myself composing my resignation letter in the back of May's datebook as we sped along the highway. I called the superintendant of my building and asked him about their sublet policy.

Then I called and dropped the big bomb on Gamera -

I'm moving out of town and you'll never see your grandchild again you horrible fiend!!!!

At least, I think that's how she took it. My mother & I have many an issue and I'm sure this one is only just starting, but don't worry, I'll keep you all posted. ;p

So we stopped by the hotel to speak to the landlord then headed into the office to type and hand in my resignation. My boss was disappointed, but not surprised. She knew the problems I was having getting in and out of town and she knew how I felt about my site changes. I told her I would be in until Friday (but not today), but she said she knew the weather would only be getting worse so if I can't come in it was okay. I gave her the keys and told her I'd try to make it in tomorrow but that she should call if they didn't *need* me.

We picked up some chicken for diner then headed to the hotel to smoke some more joints and pick up a few things. I saw a friend of mine who I hadn't seen in a while and we caught up for a bit then May & I headed back to the compound. This morning while waiting for the neighbour, May had cut down a Yule tree to put up in the house. When we got back to the compound we started putting the lights up on the tree.

It's not done yet and we have nothing but a star for the top right now...but it's still beautiful. We'll keep going when I'm done this joint / post.

Karloff's checking his mail and it looks grim...shaky hands and phone calls fill the air...

But I don't wanna go to the mall !? :(

2007-12-02T01:41:00.000-05:00

Firstly, and quickly, I've been meaning to send you to this dirty and hilarious podcast

" ...two ex gutter punks who fall in love,
buy a retired farm in southeast wisconsin
and tell the world their dirty secrets…
always profane, rarely profound."

If it sounds like your bag, give it a listen. I for one will be filling my phone with DND podcasts for those treks back and forth from Capital City and the Compound.

In other news. I hear that The Christmas is happening soon. Shopping, you say? It scares me more than it excites me at this point. Why does everyone I know have their gifts bought?

H.e.l.p m.E

Reflection

2007-12-02T01:38:00.001-05:00

I've been reflecting on how long it's been since my last post. I've been quite absent from the blog since my "big day". I admit I still blush when I think of it or look down at my beautiful ring ~*v*~

I couldn't be happier than I am when I'm with Karloff and May! Every moment I have with them seems to stretch out forever - like the very concept of being apart is remote and distant. Yet, there is still never enough time. Eternity couldn't be long enough so share with them everything I want to and have to give.

In all honesty, Karloff has been on my ass to post something. My audience awaits, he says (what audience, I ask?!).

I've undertaken too many projects lately. Mainly trying to complete a gift for someone (who's birthday happened to be last Thursday! *gasp*). I've also thankfully found my copy of Eye of the World by Robert Jordan which I am currently reading to May & Karloff. We're all quite happy to have found it since our little reading sessions can now continue.

Just a few days ago Karloff picked out a cute little gift at the comic book shop for me...Genbu Kaiden from Fushigi Yuugi. He bought me the 1st & 2nd mangas of the series, which so far I've enjoyed. Unfortunately, I had the foolish idea of mentioning this to my brother, who promptyly told me that happens to the main character at the end of the series. THANKS!

Suppose worse things could happen. Truthfully, that has been a drop in the pond this week.

Mostly I find myself reflecting on my experiences as a leasing agent over the years. I've met some interesting people and seen some odd, sometimes unfortunate things. I've been solicited at work, harassed, threatened, followed, assaulted, screamed at, scared half out of my mind by swat teams, seen children ripped away from their junkie mother's arms, seen prositutes beaten on the street in front of my office window, been offered crack by the bum smoking in our lobby, gotten kittens pulled out of garbage compactors that had been dropped from the 12th floor of an apartment building, been questioned by police investigators over suspicious deaths...I haven't lost many residents of the buildings I've worked in...but it came close this week.

One of my tenants had quite a close brush with death this past week. I had only just spoken with the man an hour before he was rushed out of his apartment by the paramedics and the fire department. Had my superintendant and property manager, who broke down the door and were the first people on the scene, not receieved a call about a leak into another tenant's bathroom, they never would have gone into the apartment and broken in the door to get to the running bathtub and semi-conscious man. Thankfully they were able to get help to him before he was too far gone.

My property management company's head office has okayed our office sending him and his family a gift basket to show we care...(that we get his money...*sigh*)

You really wouldn't think property management would be stressful emotionally...but if you think about it, you work where people live. Life happens at home and all these things are unfortunate parts of some people's lives. It makes me sad.

I have a book that I write in sometimes...quotes, parts of songs, poems or plays, etc...
I haven't been able to find it lately, but there are two quotes I've wanted to add over the last few days. Somehow they seem relevent right now...

"You know I'm gonna lose
Gambling is for fools
But that's the way I like it, baby
I don't wanna live forever..."

- The Ace of Spades by Motorhead

"Well, I know it hard for you to know the reason why
But I know you'll understand more when it's time to die
I don't believe this life you have will be the only one
You have to let your body sleep to let you soul live on"

- Sabbra Cadabra by Metallica / Black Sabbath

fry day

2007-11-30T15:14:00.000-05:00

The internet should know to keep these things away from me when I'm so very tired:

Yule (Buy It)

2007-11-29T11:38:00.000-05:00

Christmas is coming up pretty rapidly, and it has me thinking about stuff. Not in the 'stuff & things' general sense, more in the Carlin-'a place for your stuff'-sense. I've been recently gifted some fairly snazzy electronics, but in all honesty, compared with the rest of the blessings this year they don't have the shine they may have once had.

Anyhow, here's a small photo collection of items that have caught my eye:

This is a photo of a key cutter from O's office. It's the only thing in this short list that wasn't currently available to buy, but I really wanted to point out a few things, like the odd gun terminology in use in the description. Personally I can't be bothered copying my keys manually, and I accidentally shot the dog with my full-auto key chucker.

The thing that really bothered me about this was the "Made in USA" sticker, indicating it was likely built during the 70s' great "the" shortage.

Now, listen, I can understand someone wanting to own a Transformers belt buckle despite the show being a walking toy commercial, (a state the neighbouring bat and spider-men are sliding into,) but this booth at the mall really made my eye twitch. A Ford logo? A bloody Honda logo?

Listen chummer, robots are forever but that crap pile you bought from your Mom after highschool (just so you could tack on a loud & shiny muffler,) is no replacement for engaging in the realities of your life, and no garish logo buckle is going to save you.

(I realize that it looks like there are a lot of jewel encrusted skull & crossbones in the top row, but you have to keep in mind that I was shopping in the pirate district.)

This is actually out in front of a relatively classy looking spa in Capital City. I admit, I have no idea what "fillers" are, but the idea of being able to get botox, /any/ botox, for $8.88 sent shivers through my supple, well formed, entirely immobile lips.

Actually, while I stand by the oddly cliched position that no one will be shooting poison into my face any time soon, for $50 I'll be happy to wash people in hot chocolate with a stiff brush.

So one night Opopanax and I run to the grocery store while May wrangles the children to their intended destination. If you've never been to a food basics it's just your standard chain grocery store with enough on the margins to try and keep them competitive with the great Wal. We actually saw another one of these charmers by the door, without its cardboard backing, but that backing turns this item from 'well, you know, not for my kids, but whatever' to 'do you have your phone I need to post this'.

The picture may be hard to make out, but the backing is like a brief history of modern combat. If I recall correnctly there's an apache helicopter, a tank or armoured personal carrier of some sort, Nick Út's Napalm Victim photo and some shots from Abu Ghraib.

Alright, the tank and the apache were definitely there, as well as some other scenes of big shiny combat, and I couldn't help but think '3? Do I really need to wait that long? This probably isn't lead based paint right, so we could just leave it in the baby's crib...'

Maybe I could also pick up a tot-gas mask and combat helmet like the fellow in the top right, so it'll just be a low moist rasp as my 5 year old crawls along my sleeping leg to bury a ghurka knife in my ribs while playing "GWOT".

Family Picture

2007-11-24T17:05:00.000-05:00

Winter 2007

more moreness

2007-11-23T10:08:00.001-05:00

And while I'm thinking of posting articles, Opopanax found this Maclean's article a while ago and I may as well post it. It's an interesting read, implying that our situation may have a decent legal standing in Canada if anyone had the lawyers to challenge it:

Chloe is a twentysomething legal assistant from Toronto, who hopes to go to law school one day. She's interested in kayaking, camping, painting and photography, "the 'old fashioned' way, with film." As for her thoughts on marriage, she's even more old fashioned: think, Old Testament. "I am interested in polygamy, which brings me here!" she wrote to Sisterwives, an online forum for women in polygamous marriages, for those considering it, and for "poly-friendly individuals, male and female."

- More

The Family

2007-11-22T21:36:00.000-05:00

Here's an interesting article from Babble, about child rearing in a triad relationship, that I found on Polyamory In The News.

"Why do some kids have three parents?"

A group of our friends were spending a weekend at a cabin in the mountains, and our hosts' not-quite-three-year-old was starting to do the math. Over the squalls of nap-resisting toddlers, her mom responded without missing a beat: "Because they're lucky."

- More

Big Questions On Big Days

2007-11-22T12:40:00.000-05:00

Take #4 on this post:

We awoke under a blanket of snow, the first blizzard of the year making the world look like it had been redecorated by Tony Montana.

May and I have been discussing things for a while, but somehow this morning seemed different, the world had changed slightly. It would be easy to quote that ornery gunslinger with the missing fingers and say the world had moved on, but I've never really bought into the finality that winter is supposed to represent. Maybe it's just where I grew up, but going into the woods after a snow fall, the trees always seemed more alive while straining against their icy holdings - you see tracks everywhere, the hopping paths of birds, the big footed snuffling of rabbits, deer, foxes.. suddenly the evidence of passage stands clear.

Its easy for my brain to hide in the day to day static, and not consider the larger matters, but today is a day for beginnings, a day to mark our path as we've come, and to look to where we're going. And to ask some very large* questions.

Opopanax, how we adore you.

Wish us luck!

* and not necessarily legal in this country

Addendum: She said yes!

I'm such a dick.

2007-11-16T20:41:00.000-05:00

This is largely a direct apology to the wonderfully demented hostess at antibarbie. I've been reading her site for a bit, and really enjoying it, but I have to admit I missed something pretty vital.

I even read the entire post, but somehow missed my new moniker attached to it. Of course, my brain finally uncoiling itself from a series of work related unpleasantries, I go back and there it is: my horrible misdeed staring me in the face.

Now for my penance:

8 Things I’m Passionate About:

1. My wonderful loves
2. Collecting as much information about everything as I can
3. Science, especially space and technologies useful in bringing a little equality to the world.
4. Tolerance, motherfucker.
5. Bringing a little rationality to the religion debate
6. Equality and minding of own business for all
7. Film
8. Chiba

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die:

1. Get published
2. Make it into space
3. Learn to play bass
4. Save a culture from destruction
5. Mold my children into something they can be proud of
6. Take a nap
7. Have the freedom to travel at our whim
8. Become immortal

8 Things I Often Say:

1. That'll happen.
2. Uh, but I think we're going to be late?
3. Chupacabra! (My nickname for the wee boy.)
4. Poop. (You need a replacement around little ears.)
5. Dig.
6. Hella (as in "we're going to be hella late?")
7. Cum guzzling dog fucker!
8. Sure thing, love(ly)

8 Books I’ve Read Recently (or Still Reading):

1. The Official Driver's Handbook
2. Lord Jim (I heart Joseph Conrad)
3. Cell
4. Black House
5. The Power and The Glory (Bought it used and some fiend had ripped out the last page)
6. The Dosadi Experiment
7. The White Plague
8. Eye Of The World (Well, Opopanax is actually reading it to us.)

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over:

1. Icky Thump by The White Stripes
2. Rawhide by The Dead Kennedys
3. Tear The Roof Off The Sucker by Parliament Funk
4. Nautical Disaster by The Tragically Hip
5. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall by Bob Dylan
6. All Rights Reversed by The Chemical Brothers
7. Thou Shalt Always Kill by dan le sac vs scroobius pip
8. Start A War by The National (I insist you follow that link... in a new tab)

8 Things that Attract Me to my Best Friends:

I agreed with antibarbies list here, so I just changed the first item.

1. Truth
2. Wit
3. Humor
4. Candor
5. Loyalty
6. Individuality
7. Taste
8. Compassion

I tag assembling words to armory, she waits... and Bamboo Blitz.

And now, hopefully, let the healing begin.

Late Again, I Heart Saturdays

2007-11-16T19:37:00.000-05:00

Pretty much every day we are late to get Opopanax to work. We try, we really do, and we are always hopeful for the next day. We set the alarm for at least 90 minutes before punch in time. We get things in order a bit, shower, brush teeth. But then... and it comes on without warning. It's messy, naked, sweaty love. There is a point where things relax and we lay and discuss the few things left to get in order. We get up, start looking for pants... but then it happens AGAIN, who starts it? I dunno? One can't tell these sorts of things. We think, surely there's time, isn't there always time? And in the throws of passion, one of us comes to the surface to realize we have only 20 minutes... but, of course isn't that enough time?

Later, we jump to our feet grabbing only necessary items and running to get shoes on. We rush out the door blowing kisses and leaping to the car. We smoke and listen to music loudly whilst still obeying the speed limit in order to keep my sweetness from worrying. She makes calls testing the waters at work while I focus on arriving alive. She leaves me sweet lip glossed kisses and sails away inside. And then she's gone.

Saturday is heaven.

On Sleeping In The Middle

2007-11-16T01:16:00.001-05:00

This is absolutely relevant to the post
and no I'm not just extremely tired and
willing to giggle at anything.

I'm not sure how it came about, but somehow I ended up being the one sleeping in the middle. This isn't always true, but when it's a matter of choice and not just nodding off halfway through Clash Of The Titans, I'm the chosen fender of elbows.

I've come to some observational conclusions based on my time in the trench, and I've come to impart them into the silence of the early morning intertron:

The only option is to spoon.
A few inches can mean the difference between a comfortable sleep and bluish limbs.
The XKCD bed is a good idea, but even just a runnel and not a full out hole would be handy. I find my shoulders grow sore from always being under some one's pillow.
Your spine has more elasticity than you'd expect
A shelf over the bed would be crazy handy. And a little snake light for reading. And some monkey bars to help me in and out of bed without accidental elbowing or deblanketing of nearby sleepers. Scratch that, actual monkeys to help me in and out of bed. (Quietly now, Mr. Chuckles.)
Its a lot warmer at the center, but you're restricted in how low you can push the blanket to cool. This would probably be really easy to break down into a equation, but you'd have to factor in blanket hogging. (I believe blanket hogging has something to do with chaos theory, you know that old chestnut: 'If May hogs a blanket on a cold November night, somewhere in Japan Jeff Goldblum is eaten by a velociraptor.')
We need a bigger bed.

Monkey Sleep Force One, Assemble!

Shapoopie

2007-11-09T15:16:00.000-05:00

I'm having one of those moments where I feel especially lucky to be loved by two such strong, gorgeous and intelligent people, and I just wanted to record it in a shout to the world.

DANCE!

The Battle For MacDonald's

2007-11-08T22:38:00.000-05:00

There was an epic battle in the hallway outside the Hotel today.

It all started with a samosa. I normally wouldn't eat one myself, but May's samosa was looking soo good and I was just soo hungry. There were a few doubts about Karloff's cooking (or rather heating) technique...but I thought, no, I KNEW that if he made me a samosa tonight it would be heated through and through and I would LOVE it! I was so sure. So arrogant in my certainty.

The samosa was gross. Though to his credit, Karloff did a great job heating it up.

*props to daddy*

I was so hungry, though, that I figured if I could just swallow the wretched thing I would be fine.
The first bite was followed by a not-so-discreet grimace, which quickly had Karloff & May at my side asking what the problem was. I explained to them that, rather than eat something I would enjoy, I would just finish eating the (disgusting) samosa.

My gag reflex kicked in halfway through the ordeal and I called to May for ketchup - stat! She delivered a saucy counterstroke to the obscene pastry and I rapidly dispatched the subsisting components. I quickly turned to Dr. Pepper for comfort, though he was able to give me little in this time of need.

Throughout the later part of my suffering, Karloff was insisting that he get me something else to eat that I would enjoy more. Now, arguing with him seemed silly since I could just take three more (stomach turning) bites and be done with it, so naturally I let him wander off towards the kitchen in search of food.

Here's where I figured I had the upper hand. Where it all went wrong. My hubris...

I knew we really didn't have much in the way of food in the kitchen! I figured he'd look about for a while then give up and some back to our waiting arms in the smoking room. I should have known he wouldn't give up when he thought I needed something. Deep down, though...deep down...I knew. At least, I knew it was a possibility...the MacDonald's being soo close. But I knew we had no money for frivolous BigMac's...I knew he knew that.

May & I were still chatting when I heard the wind rush into the room from the window. I knew the only thing strong enough to cause that kind of draft was the front door opening. Immediately I questioned May(maybe she was in on it) but she merely suggested that he may be taking out the garbage. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing at once that I could trust her and that she could not be involved in this conspiracy. If May were to up to something and trying to distract me she would do a hell of a lot better than 'taking out the garbage'.

Though there was no way of knowing, I had made another fatal error in trusting May...

As soon as I made my way out into the living room and saw Karloff's shoes were missing I knew what was going on. I raced out the front door to find a very surprised and guilty looking Karloff, trying to sneak off to MacDonald's to get me a very unnecessary Big Mac. At this point I had already eaten that god awful samosa and I was no longer really hungry - making the expenditure of our limited funds unnecessary.

Of course I really couldn't argue this with Karloff before he took off in the elevator...so instead I grabbed him and dragged him back to the door. He then walked back to the elevator and got in. I told him I would go with him (fully knowing he would never let me go the way I was dressed and without shoes). He then proceeded to push ME back to the door. This is when I realized he was serious and I may have a fight on my hands.

Things rapidly escalated and I jerked open the door and called May for back up. She ran out from the room and I yelled for her to grab him so he couldn't get away. That's when it came...the vile act of treachery from May! She grabbed ME! Not Karloff! ME!!! She let him run to the elevator as I fought against her to grab him. With my every limb flailing around seeking some kind of meager purchase on him, she carried me back to the door kicking and not quite screaming but speaking very loudly.

Et tu Brute

When Karloff finally got back he had a BigMac and an apple pie. I didn't want to eat and I was more than a little disappointed that the food was going to waste (despite the fact that it's MacDonald's and I don't really know if that actually qualifies as food, really). Karloff spoke of his random encounter with a drug dealer outside the MacDonald's (or was he just on break?), then I took the sandwich to the kitchen to put in the fridge for tomorrow. I've set the alarm for 5:30am and a breakfast BigMac will not be an unwelcome thing to me. I know, however, that the lettuce always makes the bread soggy the next day, so I decide to trim down the lettuce content of the sandwich. Not eliminate the lettuce entirely, just the big pieces, y'know?

So I open the sandwich and what do I find? What do I find in this sandwich Karloff fought so hard to get me and I fought so hard against? The sandwich that May betrayed me for?

Rocks. Motherfucking rocks.

Thanks McDick's.

PS: The pie was delicious!

We Eek

2007-11-08T12:18:00.001-05:00

It has been one of those weeks where even three sets of hands isn't enough.

Lateness, illness, headaches, stomach aches, cleaning, working, waiting, wringing, rushing, visiting, pushing, panting, occasional prancing, and an animatronic Bob Hope, have kept us pretty busy.

There is talk of undertaking a little creative side project involving the collapse of modern civilization and the relative drowning of the world's surface area, so that's neat. (And just in the first episode!)

Fall Back

2007-11-05T15:33:00.000-05:00

Dear Daylight Savings Time,

From hell's heart, I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee.

Sincerely,
K

American Politics Are My Hockey

2007-11-02T11:25:00.000-04:00

No, not that Gary Hart

This post reminds me of something that's been skittering through my brain over the last few days, about the wisdom of calling races before their day.

I realize it may seem like very little can stop The Inevitable Hillary, but tell it to Gary Hart. There are still a couple of months till the primaries, Obama's glow is dulling, and Hillary's war stance may get her in trouble yet. Pre-emptive race calling is a bane of American politics.

Still, my choice, Dodd/Kucinich (or vice versa) 2008 is an unlikely dream. I guess it's not all bad if on one hand you hurdle some gender\race barriers, or on the other you get some quality policy representation.

(Alright, I lied, the picture is actually someone named Cowboy Bill Watts, but you knew what I meant, didn't you.)

About Cat

2007-11-02T10:50:00.000-04:00

This is what happens when someone(s) leave(s) the door open in the morning.

- found on PunkAssBlog

transmission from an outpost

2007-11-01T15:26:00.000-04:00

I'm having one of those days where time dilates, gumming progress to a crawl. I think time has nearly stopped at this point, and I want to leave a note behind in case the langoliers get me.

A haiku:

long day chews at me
I yearn for the clock to start
time flows when gathered

Someone hit pause again already.

The Great Big Checklist (Man Has Much To Fear)

2007-10-31T14:43:00.000-04:00

The list of things I need to do every birthday:

Listen to Thriller √
Watch Night Of The Living Dead (In Progress)
Read some Lovecraft √
Review a Jack Chick Tract √
Listen to the Carol Of The Great Old Ones (Season? WTF?) √
Consume candy beyond reason

Now if all this work wasn't getting in the way..

birfday

2007-10-31T09:55:00.001-04:00

I know tradition demands this be a day of endings, but I can't help but think ahead to what my next birthday may hold.

We'll be out of the hotel, back at the compound, with a bonfire large enough to spite the moon. Another brow to kiss goodnight. The maelstrom behind us, emotions cooled to a standing point where everyone will hopefully feel comfortable to breath. A party maybe, so long as there's room enough for a sense of sacred in a clearing under the stars.

If the days remain half as merry, it will seem like tomorrow.

I'm sorry if this is a pretty obtuse post, but, well, its my birthday.

we spoke of was and when

2007-10-29T22:41:00.000-04:00

Dear Son,

Never bring your family here again. Also, you're pretty much disowned.

Happy Birthday,
Mom

not a mormon.

2007-10-28T14:57:00.002-04:00

dear friendly crusader,

Why must your lifestyle be king? And even if you believed so, why must I do the same? I help those I can and live with high moral standards just like you. Can't we keep our views on eternity to ourselves. Why do you have to fear? Why do you question with only the desire to spread your own dogma. You have no desire to hear. You only flee with fear. Quick to judge and hand out sentence.

Why ask me how this makes you feel? I was once one of you. I know how you feel. I am the one who sought for a different way. I am the shunned. But I will not live this life restricted based on social or religious habits. And I find peace and joy in all I do knowing that.

I just thought you would have enough respect for me as a human-fucking-being to trust me. Are my acts not example enough of my worthiness. Philosophy should not change our affection for each other. We are the same. The highest of hopes for family life, children, and the world. Have I not always strived to be the informed advocate?

You say you have a hard time understanding why I live how I do? You've never heard of it before? Well, I've heard of your way. Known it intimately. And I actively choose to discard it. I believe it harmful to the human race. But you don't see me lunging long winded ignorant bullshit at you. We have free will and I'm choosing it. Sorry if it scares you, but your lack of relevant questions, or want of understanding, disappoints me, but I'm not surpised.

Why do those who profess love and tolerance have the hardest time expressing it? Why not perform the job you asked for.

Your friendly polyfidelitous atheist,

M

Subtractions (Everyone Tells Me I'm Close Minded)

2007-10-28T14:57:00.000-04:00

I always thought what other people thought of me didn't matter. I guess I can still say the same, but now I've run into a different sort of problem.

I feel that getting involved with two wonderfully caring and devoted people has really added to my life significantly. I've never really been one to adhere to social norms, so if you don't like it, I really don't care. That's been my attitude and why should I change it to make others happy?

<"Don't worry about what I listen to, worry about your own life.">
<"Cause I'm not gonna change for you or anyone.">

So far I've been lucky. No one's voiced how "displeased" they are with what I do with others in my bed, or told me I'm a horrible person for loving two people(OH MY GOD!!!). But like I said...I've been lucky. Maybe I have forgiving friends & family (they'd better be after all their shit!), maybe they all just know me well enough (how long has it been? since I was twelve?), or maybe no one really cares. The point is this - I haven't gotten any flak.

The same cannot be said for either of my significant others. What about how people feel about them? All I've done is added to my life while they may potentially have to subtract. Sure, I don't care what's thought of me...but what about the people they stand to lose? What about the phone calls not being returned and the stupid goodbye emails? Is this my fault? No. And I know that. But does that make it any better? No, of course not. I know it's not my fault she's lost a good friend, but that doesn't make it easier. It doesn't keep tears away or help comfort her.

It just makes me angry. I wish I could tell her not to let it bother her, that if this person was a true friend they would accept her choice of lifestyle. But it seems so heartless. I have nothing but contempt for narrow minded people. If there's one thing in this world that I can't stand it's people who are intolerant of other people's cultures...that and the Dutch.

Moral of this story - Don't take any guff from those fucking swine.

one expedition and a meal

2007-10-28T00:42:00.000-04:00

Dealing with traffic on an expedition to town

I'm the last awake as a low-key Saturday sputters into unconsciousness on our most comfortable furniture. There was no bold event that marked the calendar, just a series of pleasant incidents leaving me looking forward to more days slipping by like this one.

How could anyone call this wrong?

October 25th, 2007

2007-10-26T19:41:00.000-04:00

So many things happened today.

This morning on the road (Drivin' Sampler #4; some songs are made for country highways) we narrowly escaped The Man as we sped (at illegal speeds) down the vast rural highway racing the clock and my boss to work. I was deeply entrenched in a civil battle in the back seat between two opposing four year olds when suddenly I felt the car slowing down. Knowing the urgency in which I must high tail it to work, I abandoned all hope of truce and pulled out of the battle to see my girlfriend glaring at the police cruiser in the rear view mirror. "They're on to us!" I thought wildly. I glanced at the speedometer...we were still going 10 over the limit! The cop pulled ahead of us and flashed his lights at the guy directly in front of us who slows his car and pulls to the side of the road.

There's a moral here. Never be the fastest guy on the highway. A sexy lady told me that once.

Hours go by at work. Shit happens, but we're all still alive.

Now we're on the highway again. We're minus one, but it still feels like home. We're having deep thoughts and metaphysical ramblings (and we hate Deliah)...exorcisms are still "in" and I feel like throwing up. She's talking and I don't know what I'm thinking, but I'm looking out the window at the scenery passing by us. She's speaking of spiritual things and I see this burning field.
"What the fuck?", I say.
"I know, what the fuck!"
"No! What the fuck?!"
"Oh!"
And we get out of the car (and I feel a pang of guilt for the boy in the car who is amazed by everything cool), and we draw closer to the flames. The fire stretches across the brief horizon and I know the picture she takes will never do it justice...just as I know the image will remain with me forever. Five days to Samhain...the death of the river only brings us closer to the birth of the sea.

Now I know why so many writers are drunks.

random acts

2007-10-21T20:50:00.000-04:00

The process of consumption that lead up to this blog finally being launched has also bludgeoned my brain into a fine jelly, from which no proper posting could escape alive*.

That said, I feel like the incident today, the motivator for getting this done, should be recorded. As far as my viewpoint allowed, it started briefly after it was suggested to me that I should pay attention to a specific piece of music. (The phrasing might have been "it sounds hawaiian".) A motorbike, mounted by a couple, flew over the back bumper of a gray four-door pulling quickly into the parking lot of a (chicken place?). I distinctly remember there being some sliding. We offered some assistance, but ours was just one cellphone in the flock. Leather came through, and no one seemed seriously injured.

We pressed on and found some ice cream.

*I'll probably delete this when I'm sober.