jetpack_monkey: (Joxer - Happy)
I went to Des Moines last week to see my mom and nephling (as well as briefly see my dad who was in town for unrelated reasons). It went very well. It's nice to reconnect with my mom, who I haven't seen since November 2019 and who lives in Ireland now. Also, I had some really nice moments with the nephling. We went to the Iowa State Fair on Friday which made me feel old as hell. I spent most of the day just looking for an air conditioned place to sit down.

NO MOVIES
jetpack_monkey: (Joxer - Happy)
[personal profile] sol_se and I are far enough into our relationship that we've decided its time to meet parents, so we both flew to Phoenix so she could meet my mother, sister, sister-in-law, and nephling.

It went really well! My family just adores sol_se and think she's amazing, which is good and true and accurate. We all went out to dinner several times, including once to Medieval Times (lots of fun, don't need to do again any time soon). My sister also talked the two of us into going to a Sleater-Kinney show, which was great up until the point where I was too old for it and had to bow out with a headache.

My nephling is growing up. They're going to be thirteen next week. Thirteen! They remain a puckish person, often to the annoyance of everyone. Luckily, my sister seems to know how to handle them.

One very sweet thing my mom did was get sol_se and I our own AirBnB so that we could have some alone time between the many, many family gatherings. That's a very good mom right there.

It's always wonderful to see sol_se. She's the light that guides me and makes me strive to be a better person so she doesn't end up with a disaster man. There was lots of cuddling and goofiness and loving words.

It was very hard to leave her at the end of the trip. Luckily, our flights were very close together, so we were able to go through security together and wait at my gate for my boarding. Still, the bottom fell out of my stomach as we parted. Hopefully, she will be in Los Angeles soon and permanently.
jetpack_monkey: (Donna Noble - Chin Chin)
So I had Social Fail at the July 4th party I went to, which I feel guilty about, so I'm taking a cue from [livejournal.com profile] qkellie and listing some stuff that makes me happy.

  • Having an apparently telepathic connection with my wife, wherein we are already in agreement on propositions that neither of us have brought up (i.e. whether to leave our stuff in boxes after the recent fiasco).
  • The best coffee in the Phoenix area is a flight of stairs away from my apartment.
  • Classic-Horror.com is back and better than ever.
  • Babylon 5 has been rocking more awesome into my world over the past month (just four episodes left in Season 4).
  • I have great friends who I love and trust.
  • My niece and I have a mutual admiration society going. She thinks I'm the bee's knees, man.
  • Doctor Who Season 5. I wasn't sure about it at first (and I'm still not 100% on Matt Smith), but Moffat makes me go, "Rusty who?"
  • Mandatory daily cuddles. 
  • Being a member of the horror blogging community. These are some of the most intelligent, friendly, and down-to-earth people I've ever dealt with.
  • Watching "The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers" (an episode of Faerie Tale Theatre) for the first time in many, many years. It stars Peter MacNicol, Christopher Lee, David Warner, and Frank Zappa. Narration by Vincent Price. Fun times and just as delightful as I remember it being when I was much shorter.
jetpack_monkey: (Marshall Eriksen - Ah Man)
My Uncle Tim died this morning after a struggle with lung cancer. It wasn't an easy death, I'm told. Mom is going back to Des Moines on Friday for the funeral. Unfortunately, neither my sister or I can afford the trip out right now.

Of all of Mom's brothers, I was least close with Tim, but he was good people. He loved his family more than anything -- even more than Green Bay or the Cubs.

My heart goes out to Mom right now. She lost her mother nine months ago. Losing her little brother now seems too soon.
jetpack_monkey: (Dr. Horrible - Smilin')
Back home. Good to see the family again. Better to be in my own bed. Thanks again to everyone for their heartfelt condolences. My grandma was a fun, fantastic lady. She taught me the value of conversational humor and for that, I will always be grateful.
jetpack_monkey: (Donna - Sad Hugs)
Just landed a half-hour ago, smooth travel for a rough trip. Everyone's condolences and words of kindness have meant so much to me.
jetpack_monkey: (Marshall - Angsty)
My grandmother, Norma Carlson Harrington, affectionately known as Grandma Debe, died on Sunday, May 18, 2009. My mother called her that night and didn't receive a response, something highly unusual for Grandma Debe, so she called my uncle Kevin, who hadn't heard from her recently. Eventually Uncle Mark was sent to check on her and he found her, sitting on the couch, looking like she was watching television. But she wasn't watching anything.

I'm grateful that she went without pain.

Every year on my birthday, Grandma Debe sent me a card with a dollar bill inside. The money wasn't the important thing, though -- it was the state of the money. Each bill was always, without variation, brand-new -- she had taken the time to go to the bank and ask for a fresh, newly minted dollar. She raised my mother and her four brothers on very little money and, as far as I'm concerned, she did a bang-up job. She wasn't perfect -- she was, well, a little crazy, actually. But she loved her family without reservation. When my sister came out, so many other family members had difficulty dealing with the news, but Debe didn't give a hoot.

She was a damn good hugger, too. There's not enough people in this world who can give a champion hug, and we just lost another one.

I'll miss you, Grandma.
jetpack_monkey: (Cap'n Jack - Trigger Happy)
Saturday

The Roomie left me her car to run errands, so that's pretty much what I did all day. First I stopped by Mom's to pick up some packages I had mailed there, including the Night of the Living Dead 40th Anniversary DVD with the Classic-Horror quote on the back cover. Mom was babysitting my niece, who ran over to give me a big hug. It was the cutest thing ever.

After that, I ran to the hardware store to pick up some materials for the Memorial Day Project. Then I spent more time and drove more miles than I'd like to admit trying to find sufficient Testors Metal Flake Ruby Red paint, as the Project requires it in large quantities.

Picked up the roomie from work, dropped her off at the gym. Instead of heading to the nearby Best Buy, I headed into Bookstar, which was a book store that I'd seen a billion times but never gone into. It looked chintzy from the outside and I'd always assumed it was a half-price used bookshop. Nope. It was a Barnes & Noble in everything but the sign on the front and the way the employees answered the phone. Even the little placards over the individual sections said "Barnes & Noble". I ended up spending *coughcough* on some books on digital photography, web design (I'm trying to get a more elegant look for Classic-Horror) and Final Cut Express.

Sunday

Programmed my new Universal Remote. The old one only really controlled my stereo receiver and my VCR. This one handles everything but the Playstation 3 (which can't be helped because it receives over Bluetooth). I did have to reprogram Every Single Key for the HD-DVD player, because while the box received the signal, it thought I was trying to control a Standard DVD player and would throw up a little message on the front display that said "HD-DVD" instead of, y'know, doing something.

Edited two reviews and one Masters biography. Started working on a new fanvid for Donna Noble set to Oingo Boingo's Just Another Day.

Went to the coffeehouse that night with The Roomie to finish up some other work.

Memorial Day

Woke up early, skipped breakfast and computer to go directly to beginning the Memorial Day Project: painting the pieces of what will eventually be my very own Tom Servo puppet. The Roommate gathered them about a year and a half ago as a Christmas present, but circumstances prevented her from putting it together. Now we've finally decided to tackle this as a team. I have high hopes for its completion before she leaves for vet school in three months.

The Roomie's boyfriend came over that night and we watched Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, followed by Mystery Science Theater: Mr. B. Natural, then Cinematic Titanic: The Oozing Skull, and finally Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. Good times were had by all.

Morbid

Oct. 8th, 2007 02:55 am
jetpack_monkey: (Kara - Lie to Me)
I don't know why this thought struck me when it did, or why it struck me at all. I'd rather it hadn't. As I was closing my laptop before turning in for the night, it struck me. Someday, my mother will die and I'll have to go to her funeral.

I've always known that, of course. It's the first time I've believed it, though, and I'm really rather upset right now.

Gobble

Nov. 24th, 2005 11:17 am
jetpack_monkey: (Mal - Did I Leave the Gas On?)
First of all, may I recommend Blood Freak as the Official Bad Movie of Thanksgiving? It totally rocks. The Something Weird DVD rocks harder.

I am alive. And I have a life. Really, I do. Last night I was over at Mom's for early Thanksgiving dinner (she and my sister are flying out to Iowa as we speak, a trip that I decided not to take). After a delicious meal, we played Cranium. I was paired up with my sister's boyfriend (yes, my gay sister is seeing a guy, but she says she's still gay. It actually kind of works).

Watching my mother try to mime a quadruple bypass caused riotous laughter. Further riots were caused by my impersonation of Michael Jackson... where my partner got it within five seconds and then proceeded to let me dangle until the time was almost up. I was gonna kill him. For really. Same for Jim Carrey, but I felt less dirty doing Jim Carrey.

Also, do you know how hard it is to mold a cork out of clay? Hella.

And then... )

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