Flying Leap

Do you ever read someone’s blog (we’ll call him That Person) but, then just have to stop because he/she is so d%$&@^ sure he/she knows what he/she’s talking about … but said person is painfully clueless — worse — he/she’s got a sizeable audience looking on … so really, when you should be getting politely into it in the comments section, or just leaving a few illuminating thoughts on your own slice of blogdom … you’d far rather leap off a particularly dramatic-looking overpass into some random swamp and forget the whole thing? Do you? Huh? Well, that’s me right now. That’s me a lot of the time, actually. Do I flatter myself? … Yeah, that’s me, too.

Gotta work on that.

Right now, I’ve gotta get to Pick’n Save, though. Food for Chut, food for tomorrow … Aaaaah, tomorrow! I’ll blog on that next.

Bye, loves

Oh, but in case you missed it, Check out my pastor’s wife’s blog when you get a minute. It started out political, but it’ll branch out from there … and you’ll llllllllLLLLLLLOVE IT!!

And then you’ll call your mama for money the way you always do.

I’m an Uncle!

We found out today! I’d have bet the farm it was going to be a girl. Kristin was sure it was going to be a boy. I was guessing girl (I just had this persistent intuition … plus, I wanted to buy dresses and unicorns and stuff for my very own niece). And then, Steve called from the doctors office and said “He’s a boy!” So I guess I’m going to be an uncle instead of an aunt.

I can’t imagine how people could stand to wait a whole 9 months before knowing something as monumental as whether the arrival of their baby merits the pink and purple play pen or the big, blue barnyard blanky. What a blessing to be able to know ahead of time and have 4 months to hash out the finer details. And now, we finally know your name, little guy. Our little Josiah Stephen! We can’t wait till you join us! … And I promise, I won’t buy you anything pink and frilly.

Head in the Clouds

My head’s in the clouds … and that’s to say nothing of where the rest of me is. Yes, and I’m afraid that’s the closest to earth you’re gonna get me for a while. I am in love.

All a’flutter, all a’twitter, all my spare time and thoughts being gathered up and filled to over-flowing with B. And I’m SO HAPPY! I can’t tell you. And if I were to even start, you’d all leave. So I probably won’t. … At least … I won’t say toooooooo terribly much. I might want to actually blog some time, after all … You know … and not be writing pointlessly into the proverbial void.

Which leads me to the question you yourself have asked time and time again: “If someone blogs alone in a forest, and no one’s around to read it … does the tree he hangs himself from in utter despair even bother to make a sound?”

What’s with me and voids, lately? It must be the word of the week.

This love thing has my head in a void, though. Perhaps that’s what keeps bringing the word back to the forefront. And when I say my mind’s a void, I mean I am a complete air head of late! That’s not an over-statement, trust me. For instance — I would be the one who put a dollar into the soda machine, grabbed my change, and walked halfway back to the office before I realized I had forgotten my Diet Coke in said machine. That would be me. I’m also the one who put the bus money into the time clock on my way out of work. I have put milk in the microwave, knives in the toaster, and walked out the door with mismatched shoes … all in the midst of my twittering/fluttering VOID over B!

Ooh. Did I write B? Wow. Haven’t thought about him in a long time. Must be nearly five minutes since I just sat and truly contemplated the incredible significance of … *sigh* my very own B!

Good night, loves.

IT’S COMING!! .. IT’S NEARLY UPON US NOW AND I’M ALL SLGBDDOCOXGKDEYKRYYTELEKDKCMD,S,GJPDDJH4SLHJC;!!

And how do I find out that HP Book VII has not only got a title now, but it’s finished and will be released July 21, 2007????? I sit down and check my email whilst waiting for a very, very late cab to work! And I’m still sitting. And I’m still waiting. But, man am I ever smiling!

In case you didn’t quite catch that, HP VII has not only got a title now, but it’s going to be released 21 July, 2007!! And it’s done now!

And B and I were just saying we needed to reread all six books together before it comes out. LOL! Now we’ve just about got enough time.

Oh … and SLSGSBTOXLGH.D,HHSPSPDCIDEKWLTHDDGDGDGDGDGDGDGDGDGDGDGDGDDDGDGDG–OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!

TNT PodBlast!

They’ve been threatening to for months … and now …

Tony and Treva at last have their own podcast! find it HERE!

Even better, they’re going to try and do another one every Saturday. So, tune in tonight … I think …

And if you guys want a cute little funky-sounding promo, you know who to ask. HEHEHE It’ll keep me from having to complete the … hem hem … llllllllOOOOOOOONG overdue second episode of my own little experiment.

Money for All: Accessible Currency Petition

Well, this one’s definitely cause to update one’s blog!

Please read and sign this petition. If you’re like me, and you think the government spends far too much money on stuff Americans neither need nor care a wit about, you can pat yourself on the back for recommending a good federal investment for once: the Money for All: Accessible Currency Petition. Ummm … No. It’s not what it sounds like (an ultra-Socialist proposal to put government money into the hands of everyone). It’s a petition to Congress to make paper money identifiable to blind citizens. Think about it: When you close your eyes and put your hand into your wallet, can you tell the difference between the fiver you just put in and the $20 you keep on hand for emergencies? No. You cannot. Not without peeking. Well, neither can us blind people … only we can’t peek. We have to either run our paper bills through a finicky little scanning device that costs hundreds and needs constant updating to correctly identify a one from a $50, or we need to take the word of someone else. Someone like … a cashier, say, or a cab driver we didn’t like in the first place, who takes that $20 for emergencies and hands us a wad of identical-feeling bills that may or may not be the correct change for our fair.

Well, it doesn’t have to be that way, does it? This is America! We have the means and the money to change the feel or size of paper bills to be more readily identifiable to the blind! 180 other, less-prosperous countries have had blind-accessible money for years! Please sign this petition and let ours know it’s about time!

I do believe in blogs

I do believe in blogs. I DO believe in blogs. I do I do I do I do I DO believe in blogs.

*Closes eyes very tightly. Squinches up face. Imagines clean, blank blogging area where thoughts can flow. Like milk and honey, they can flow flow flow.*

Like I said before, I will not apologize. I’m not going to promise to update regularly or anything rash (and utterly ridiculous) like that. I can’t. Blogs are supposed to be a fun thing. And believe me — ain’t too much of anything less fun than coming home after 8 hours at a computer screen, with only 4 hours left till you have to go back to sleep, than to sit down in front of a computer screen. Again. And try to think happy thoughts to write about.

Well, I do have some happy thoughts tonight.

First off, I have experienced an immeasurable lightening of spirit ever since Betty and the other Babes came over to help me clean/de-dog-hair/air-out my apartment. We packed the remainder of Steve’s stuff in boxes, vacuumed all rugs and furniture, cleaned windows, threw stuff out, reorganized, redecorated … It was amazing! I never would have been able to do it all alone! Seriously … no matter how well you know how to clean as a blind person, there’s just gonna be some stuff you over look, you know? There just is. And, then this guy, Scodd (only because Betty can’t remember his real name, Todd, and ends up calling him Scodd instead) was apprised that my garbage disposal wasn’t working right. He came forthwith, with his mother en tow (which I thought was really beyond cool because she’s not out and about too much these days). She folded laundry and offered to do mending if I had any. Scodd meanwhile fixed said garbage disposal, fixed windows, fixed the smoke alarm (which was hanging by a cord from when some unnamed someone yanked it out of the ceiling), fixed some stuff going on with my furnace, and offered to fix my vacuum cleaner (which had just croaked halfway through vacuum-o-rama 2006). Hasn’t called me on that yet, though. We’ll see.

Work is going well: Nothing much new to report on that front except for the tons of time I am spending with someone we’ll refer to as B from here on. B is someone you’ll recognize from this earlier post … and I still get a kick out of knowing I blogged about the way we met without understanding the significance of said meeting.

Little did I know that those awkward few minutes sweating over whether or not I should page Chuck would be the first few of many minutes spent with B. We enjoy each other’s company immensely and we talk a lot on the phone. That’s about it (sorry, no blazing romance to report) but if that’s going to happen, now is not the time. We both realize that. But, as I told him yesterday, that realization is kind of boring, so I’m not going to let it ruin what we have now, which is just fun. No jumping ahead irresponsibly, but, at the same time, no “I’m sorry. I can’t play Scrabble with you alone in my house because you’re a guy … and guys date girls … and we’re not dating or anything” … which can get ridiculous.

And I can get ridiculous both ways. So pray for both of us, OK? Thanks.

Thanksgiving was fun. My fam (minus Kristin who went to Basically-Canada-Land Northern Ninnesota) came to my house along with my aunt Judy and cousin Jeremy. … Oh, and their unannounced little dog, Bambie, who pooped on my bed. We had all the regular Thanksgiving fare (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cinnamon butternut squash, green bean casserole, corn, rolls, pickles, olives, salad, and cranberry juice with ginger ale). After dinner came a general snoozing/watching TV interval brought on by having eaten so much (plus the appetizers earlier of chips with taco dip, cheese and crackers, and cookies). Yeah … we were just a little full.

Then came Steve and Laurie, meaning the Scrabble tournament was on. Out came the two Braille Scrabble boards. Dad, Steve, Mike and Jeremy were at one table, while we girls (Mom, Laurie, Anna and I) took the other. Mom and Steve won their respective games, so they had a play-off and Steve won.

Oh yeah … Along with their Braille Scrabble, their killer home-made bread, and their even killing-er home-made mint fudge brownies with nuts, Steve and Laurie brought the newly-developed wedding pictures, which you can see HERE (password = heesen2006). You can see all 535 of them there. I’ve asked Laurie if she’ll do a general descriptive run-down for those of us who can’t see them, and she’s agreed, so that’s coming! She’ll have to keep on me to get that done though, because I tend to just … not do things sometimes.

And then Laurie spilled her water directly into my lap. That was precious.

Things are going well with Baby Church (now more resembling Toddler Church — only potty-trained and eating only solid spiritual food). I was made the first non-charter member October 15th at Jim and Betty’s home and officially welcomed into fellowship during the morning service the following week. I was at Jim and Betty’s for a meeting with the elders during which I gave my salvation testimony and all of us asked questions of each other affirming that this church and I were a good fit and that I agreed with the constitution and bylaws. And I do believe we are a very good fit indeed! So after putting my “yea” in the book next to my name, Betty and the elders’ wives decided all this called for a little pageantry. They got up right there and did a little song and dance! It was so hilarious! It started all right, like a real song with words like, “Congratulations. We want to welcome you as a member” or something that they all sang and swayed to in unison. But, that lasted five seconds and they were just singing whatever came into their heads at the top of their lungs — stuff like “We hope you like it here, because we like you, too” … “We like your flute and your dog, and we want you to staaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAY!”

Well, I’m sure I can think of something else to write eventually, but for now, I’ll just leave it here. You’ve got the essentials, yes? I do love you all! Talk later. Bye bye!

autodidact means self-teacher

… It’s Greek.

You paid attention during 91% of high school!

85-100% You must be an autodidact, because American high schools don’t get scores that high! Good
show, old chap!

Do you deserve your high school
diploma?
Create a Quiz

Where do I belong?

Stolen from Caroline.

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Your personality type is SCOAI

You are social, calm, moderately organized, accommodating, and intellectual, and may prefer a city which matches those traits.

The largest representation of your personality type can be found in the these U.S. cities: Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Tucson, Phoenix, Memphis, W. Palm Beach, Portland/Salem, Louisville, Cincinnati, San Diego, Los Angeles and these international countries/regions Slovenia, Luxembourg, India, Croatia, Romania, Taiwan, Middle East, China, Caribbean, Iceland, South Africa, Czech Republic, South Korea, Hong Kong

What Places In The World Match
Your Personality?
City Reviews at CityCulture.org

Revenge of the Drywall

Not sure just now if drywall is one or two words. I have made an executive decision, therefore. Take note.

This was going to be a wedding post. This was going to be audio. There will be audio, but UPS has failed me yet again. A note on my door saying that attempted delivery failed: “Will try again tomorrow between the hours of 2 and 5.” … And studio recorder is again out of reach. And good luck with that 2-5 thing, seeing as I am at work, and yet again, no one will sign for it. Please, Mr. UPS dude, use the two brain cells God gave you and try the office two doors down!

Steve and Laurie came in to grab some last minute things before he whisks her away to honeymoon bliss. She has no idea where she’s going for said honeymoon bliss: she is only supposed to worry about following turn-by-turn directions. And trust me, Steve is good at turn-by-turn everything. She has nothing to worry about. Oh for nothing to worry about.

Coral, I miss you. No, I will not come back to you. Please know you make me happy on a daily basis. Consider the following from your blog:

“may i just say, studying greek all morning was more fun than a barrel of monkeys (although just how someone would know that, i don’t know, since i have
never actually encountered anyone who had personal one on one experience with a barrel of monkeys – i think if i ever met someone like that, they would
be my hero for at least a couple of minutes, until i was distracted by something shiny) and something that i would recommend to anyone.”

LOL! You know, I only laugh this hard when talking to Kristin. Or maybe Ember, too. Crazy. I wasn’t with you guys nearly long enough.

I was truly saddened to go back to read your abominable snowman post (because it was a real and meaningful post that I had already read three times) … and you’d taken it down. Or did you close it up? Or perhaps you packed it in. … Well it was gone. I prayed for Reuben anyway. I will not be deterred.

Please no one come look at this apartment. It’s a pig sty. It smells from unwashed dishes (mainly from the sausage and egg casserole dad nearly burned down the house with friday morning). Ah, Friday morning. And the dog hair has long exceeded a harvestable depth on the floor. There could be small children under there somewhere. … Well, good. Because there’s nothing in the fridge.