Aeronautic Primates and Other Delights

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.

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.

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.

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.