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Monday, August 2nd, 2004
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8:58 am - I like dogs,
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but sometimes their owners can drive me crazy.
My family's just returned from a camping trip. It rained a lot, but we had a good time anyway. Though, for a couple of days we had a family camped next to us who were in the habit of letting their very large dogs roam around loose. (The campground has a rule against that, but they're not too strict about enforcing it.) The dogs didn't wander too far from their owners, but still they were often uncomfortably close to the pipe where all the campers had to go to fetch water and other 'common' areas like the path.
"Don't worry, they're friendly!"
I don't know about anyone else, but I've never found this statement from the owner of a dog especially reassuring. And my husband and one of my kids are really, really uncomfortable around dogs, especially unrestrained ones.
Someone from the family came over to our campsite to let us know that the dogs were really gentle. While the man was talking, one of his dogs occupied itself by wandering around our campsite, sniffing at things and peeing against trees.
I got as far as "Please don't let..." before the man gave me the deepest, most profound look of disgust that I've ever had the misfortune to receive. It was clear that he thought I was EVIL. An unrepentant dog-hater. He was wasting his breath trying to make me see reason. Imagine someone objecting to a bit of harmless dog-pee in their camping area. After all, we were all in the woods!
For my part, I found his attitude as bewildering as he seemed to find mine. And so we parted in a state of mutual incomprehension and didn't exchange words for the remainder of their stay. After they left, a dogless family took their camping spot and it was very nice to be able to use the common path and fetch water without the fear of being barked and growled at.
current mood:  drained
current music: churning of washing machine
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| Sunday, July 11th, 2004
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6:23 pm - The Horror of Dracula (or Christopher Lee is Cute...)
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Last night my younger son talked me into driving him to the video rental store. I didn't want to go out... it was late, I was tired and we're all busy trying to pack for a camping trip. But I caved in.
While my son wandered happily through the shelves of Anime, I found myself in the Horror section. Ooh, Vampires! And look, here's a very young Chris Lee on the cover of this video...
I remembered seeing part of "The Horror of Dracula" on our family's old black and white TV years ago when I was just a kid. (I got scared and my mother made me turn it off and go to bed.) I'm a grownup now, so I picked it up. My son got himself some Cowboy Bebop and we left.
And today I had a very young Christopher Lee for company as I did many loads of laundry. :-)
My kids wandered in and out while I was watching the video. "Why is that girl throwing out all the garlic they put in her room and opening the window?" one of my boys commented. "She must be really stupid!"
Nope, she just likes 'em tall, dark and saturnine...
current mood:  giddy
current music: My kids watching Anime in the other room
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| Saturday, June 26th, 2004
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11:07 pm
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Once again it's been ages since I updated.
I've just had the pleasure of a delightful visit with Ariana Deralte. We watched "Spirited Away," which I've always wanted to see, but never had the chance. Wow, what a gorgeous movie! So many beautiful, haunting images. It's the kind of film that really stays in the mind.
Anyway, Ariana suggested that perhaps I should update my journal once in a while. So I thought I would.
On a less cheery note... has anyone else had a problem with their Yahoo e-mail account since Yahoo upgraded? Murasaki99's e-mails haven't been reaching me, which is a source of great frustration.
Murasaki, if you're reading this, did you get the e-mail that I just sent to you from my other e-mail?
current mood:  contemplative
current music: My kids watching Star Trek (TOS) in the other room
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| Tuesday, December 2nd, 2003
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7:33 pm
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It's been quite a while since I updated. Life's been stressful, though nothing has seemed exciting enough to write about.
I'm typing now because I'm fighting an overwhelming urge to severely nag my kids to work on their various school projects. Both of them have important stuff due next week. I hate it when they leave everything until the last minute. Then, after days of their happy goofing off I get asked to take them to the library or buy them some posterboard/markers/glue/clay etc. because their grade depends on it.
(Sigh.)
The kids have assured me that they've got everything under control and I worry too much.
Actually, typing this did make me feel better.
(I don't remember if my own school years were this hard on my parents.)
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| Sunday, June 29th, 2003
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12:11 am - The Expanding Squibverse
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The wonderfully talented Darklady has written a story set in the Squibverse!
See link for further details...
A' Tiskit, A'Tasket
Thanks, Darklady!!
current mood:  pleased
current music: purring cat
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| Sunday, June 22nd, 2003
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7:13 pm - Order of the Phoenix
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I've finished reading Order of the Phoenix, and passed it along to my younger son (who called 'next.')
My kids were in the room with me when I read the death scene. (They were watching Samurai Jack and I was reading.) Noting the fact that my eyes were teary, the boys pounced. "Who was it? Who died?" Emotionally vulnerable as I was, I soon caved in and told them. I'm such a pushover.
At least knowing who died doesn't seem to have dampened their desire to read the book...
I wish I knew how one goes about hiding spoilers in a journal entry. (I don't, which means I've got to keep my comments non-spoiler-ish.) The book left me feeling drained. It was an excellent story, quite a bit darker then the previous ones. Harry matures quite a lot. For once, he DOESN'T keep his feelings in. The boy can RANT! GO, Harry!!
The adults around him are being shown as complex, flawed and vulnerable people. He's not seeing them through a kid's eyes any more. That's cool.
There was stuff with Snape that I loved. There was stuff with Percy that really upset me, since I like Percy. Ditto Filch. (Is it nuts for me to be mad at my favorite grumpy Squib because he can't see past the end of his bulbous nose? It's not as if I really expected Filch to get a chance to 'grow up' in canon. -sigh-)
On the brighter side, Ginny and Neville were awesome.
current mood: nerdy
current music: purring cat
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| Wednesday, May 21st, 2003
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6:02 am
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I'm feeling triumphant again. I chased down a plot-bunny that's been eluding me for a long time and finally wrote a chapter about Filch and his first cat for the flashback story, "Squib Apprentice." It's up on ff.net and will be up on Sugarquill soon.
Hopefully, I still remember how to Link:
New Chapter
Anyway, there's been nothing going on. Just work. I don't want to talk about work... The end of the school year can't come fast enough to suit me. The last few weeks are always so looooooooooooooooong.
current mood: awake
current music: purring cat
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| Friday, April 18th, 2003
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1:06 pm
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Isn't this a cool picture? It was done by the incredibly talented Murasaki99!! We were talking about Lord of the Rings recently, and I mentioned that I'd always pictured Alatar and Pallando, the long-lost Blue Wizards, as Jake and Elwood. She drew this great picture, and I just had to share it.
current mood: content
current music: "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf
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| Sunday, April 13th, 2003
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5:56 pm
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Today was lovely and sunny, a real spring-like day! After last week's reprise of winter, today was balm for the soul.
To celebrate, my family did something we haven't done in a long time. We went out to a nearby nature preserve and walked around, looking at assorted frogs, toads, turtles and snakes. (We also saw many geese and other birds, but my kids are really into reptiles and amphibians so those sightings are what stood out for us.) We saw three water mocassins, four painted turtles, one garter snake, one spring peeper and one green frog.
The turtles and snakes were sunning themselves, enjoying the good weather too.
The nature preserve also has a section where they take care of injured raptors and other birds before releasing them back into the wild. So we had a chance to see some bald eagles, peregrine falcons, red tailed hawks and turkey vultures too. And a lovely snowy owl, which my kids promptly christened "Hedwig."
(Hedwig... what big talons you have!! It occurred to me that owls can really do a lot of damage if they're so inclined.)
On Friday, we got our copy of the "Chamber of Secrets" DVD and have enjoyed watching it a number of times over the weekend.
Most of the deleted scenes are mere snippets, hardly worthy of being called "scenes." An exception was the appearance of Lucius and Draco in Borgin and Burkes. That one was nice and meaty.
And I confess that I have a definite soft spot for the snippet where Filch drops his Kwikspell letter and Harry picks it up and gives it back. Filch's expression is priceless.
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| Monday, April 7th, 2003
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11:04 pm
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"Squib Guardian" now has an epilogue at ff.net. That site has been acting so strange lately. Uploading is suspenseful... you never know if it's going to work or not.
The epilogue seems to be up, and ff.net seems to actually be functioning, but I am unable to create a link to the epilogue that works!
I'll try linking again and see what happens:
epilogue
Today we had an early school closing due to a blizzard. What happened to spring? True to form, the school administrators waited until the kitchen staff had already done a fair amount of cooking and food-prep before letting us know what was going on. Then we had to wrap up what would keep and wash all the dishes before we left to drive home through the driving snow. (Driving in snow terrifies me. Well, really it's the ice that scares me more.)
current mood: exhausted
current music: my purring cat
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(27 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, April 5th, 2003
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8:34 am
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After what felt like a short spring, and even one or two days that were a bit summery, we're back to winter again. It's cold, miserable and rainy! And we're about to lose an hour of sleep, thanks to daylight savings time. Rats.
To further brighten my mood, my house is a disaster area. One of my sons had his friend sleep over last night. I had to tiptoe around sleeping bodies to reach the computer. Ah, well. Kids are cute at any age when they're asleep. Even teenagers. But they tore through the kitchen like a plague of locusts and now we barely have any food in the house. (My cat is crouching protectively over her bowl and water dish. Her expression says 'Paws off, this is MINE.' The boys must have been REALLY hungry last night.)
Times like this are made for reading story comments. My delighted thanks to everyone who wrote reviews!!
A couple of days ago, my kids and I happened to be talking about A.A. Milne for some reason. We'd heard that the real Christopher Robin Milne hadn't been comfortable with his fame as the son of a famous author, not to mention a character in his father's books.
Then one of my kids said, "it's not bad being a writer's kid." It took me a moment to realize that he was talking about me! Wow. My kids think of me as a 'real' writer, even though I only write fanfic as a hobby and I'm not published or anything like that. My heart soared. Even writing about this days later, I feel happy.
(I'm going to do my best to hang on to those happy thoughts, since it'll help stop me from yelling about the mess...)
current mood: contemplative
current music: snoring teenagers
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| Thursday, April 3rd, 2003
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4:17 pm
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The second chapter of Squib Guardian is posted at ff.net.
I'm going to try linking to it, just to see if I can. (Ariana showed me how to link, but I've never actually done it before.)
If I've done this correctly, the link should appear below. Here goes...
link
Hm. Seems to have worked! Wheeee! My first link!!! It may not be fancy, but it does the job.
******
We had a pretty good day at work for once. All our regular staffers were there and healthy, which helped. The kids were polite and well mannered and the teachers were too!
Well, there was this one teacher who sent a student down to the kitchen to fetch her a coffee and a bagel. We sent the poor kid back with the bagel and a note saying it was dangerous to allow a kid to carry a hot cup of coffee through the hall, and could she please come and get it herself, thank you. Other than that the day has been uneventful.
current mood: chipper
current music: my cat purring on my lap
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(14 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, March 31st, 2003
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4:29 pm
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After many, many months of writer's block I've finally been able to finish another story. What a relief! (It's called "Squib Guardian." The first chapter's already up at ff.net, though it loaded a little oddly. Hopefully, it should be up at Sugarquill soon.)
Getting past writer's block is a very satisfying thing indeed! Despite a grueling day at work, I feel pretty darn rejuvenated at the moment.
current mood: accomplished
current music: Meatloaf: Paradise By The Dashboard Light
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(17 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, March 27th, 2003
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2:51 pm
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I'm frustrated by the number of teachers who cut my serving line. The teachers are allowed to cut in front of the students because their schedules don't often allow them time for a regular lunch. The students are generally polite and respectful about letting the staff go first.
But it aggravates me when I see the teachers abusing the kids' good manners. The students haven't got a lot of time to eat themselves. And the lines are very long. There are some teachers who don't bother to acknowledge the kids who are letting them cut. Is it so hard to say "thanks?" There are teachers who stand there at the counter for a few minutes, saying "hmm, what do I want?" while the kids' lunch period ticks away. Sometimes a bunch of teachers come in, want to be served together, and take their sweet time about ordering, chatting and laughing... completely oblivious to the fact that they are wasting the kids' lunch time.
This bugs me so much. And there isn't anything I can do about it except a slow burn. I really want to yell at these people. How can they expect the kids to have decent manners when they're setting such a poor example?
There are teachers who thank the kids for letting them cut and then give me their orders quickly so I can get back to serving the kids. I try to let them know how much I appreciate them.
There. I just had to vent.
current mood:  annoyed
current music: Faith Hill: This Is Me
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| Tuesday, March 25th, 2003
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4:00 pm
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My co-workers were glad to see me today, but even gladder that I didn't come in to share my germs with them yesterday.
Today was interesting. In the morning we had mice, in the afternoon we had a Lockdown drill.
The mice came up from the school basement. They used to lurk down there until the school started putting in a new drain. Now the mice roam the school, especially during the early morning before the students get there. The custodians have traps all over the place.
When we turned on the kitchen lights this morning I saw a mouse run under my serving station. We tried to corner him so we could put him in a box, take him outside and let him go, but he was too fast for us. Now he'll probably end up dead in a trap somewhere.
For the Lockdown drill, the students were told to go to their classrooms. The teachers all locked their doors and turned out all the lights. Everyone was told to stay away from the windows.
We have no windows in the school kitchen. With the lights off and the big metal sliding door pulled down, it was was very dark indeed. Some of my co-workers remember the "duck and cover" drills from the fifties. A couple of them are old enough to remember air-raid drills from the forties. They reminisced while the rest of us hoped that the mice wouldn't think it was safe to come out and play since the room was dark.
I'm not sure exactly what sort of emergency this is supposed to be preparing us for. Wondering about this frightens me.
current mood: contemplative
current music: Faith Hill: If You're Gonna Fly Away
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| Monday, March 24th, 2003
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5:50 am
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I've just called my boss at the school kitchen and told him that I won't be in today. I haven't called out sick all year, but I still feel guilty. Of course, I'd feel guilty making the kids' lunches with a bad cold too. Spreading my cold among the students and staff would be an awful thing to do.
My boss wasn't actually in yet. I left a squeaky, raspy-voiced message on his answering machine. I'm sure he's not going to be pleased with me. We're not SUPPOSED to be sick. It's inconsiderate and such an inconvenience to the food service company! (My co-workers and I are generally treated like kitchen equipment... we are expected to work until we fall apart, and then we get replaced.)
I'm trying not to feel terrible about the amount of work that the other people in the kitchen will have to do because I'm not there. Today's a delivery day and there'll be a lot of heavy things to put away. Towers of milk crates, canned food, huge boxes of frozen meat. Usually, I'm the one who puts most of it away.
current mood:  groggy
current music: a quiet house and my cat purring on my lap
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| Sunday, March 23rd, 2003
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8:16 am
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Wow, look at all the nice people on my friends list!! Hi, everyone!
My husband has a terrible cold and I think I've caught it. I don't feel too awful, but I can't talk. At least typing is possible. (Ariana, I hope you don't catch this cold! Stay warm and drink lots of fluids...)
current mood: determined
current music: my son playing Kingdom Hearts in the other room
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| Saturday, March 22nd, 2003
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10:08 pm
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Hello... ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) deralte has convinced me to start keeping a livejournal. I've never actually kept any sort of journal before, but this should be interesting. She also let me raid her friends list, which was fun. I went rampaging through her list, grabbing folks I recognized. (If anyone minds, I'll put you back where I found you.)
Hm. What else should I say? If anyone knows where I can find an icon of Grima Wormtongue, please let me know. I found one that features his hankie, but not his face. (Hey, it's a cute hankie, but I'd rather see the man himself.)
current mood: nerdy
current music: my son playing video games in the other room
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