Archives
29 2003 4 comments |
Happy birthday, me! This mornings newspaper brought everyone's attention to the fact that I've petted, held, and -- dare I say it -- even loved a skunk at one time. It wasn't my skunk; it belonged to a friend of my mother's. It was, of course, destinked, but it had not been completely domesticated and from what I hear it eventually went crazy living in a human world. The skunk's short life as a housepet is documented in this old, old photo that I have framed in my livingroom.
As for my Birthday: I slept in, I showered, and I attended my 8-hour long party. I ate, I played pool, I chit-chatted with relatives, I played with Destiny, I ate again, and then we had cake and ice cream. Then we came home. A very pleasant golden birthday, if I do say so myself.
27 2003 5 comments |
The birthday festivities begin -- In today's paper, I find myself.
25 2003 2 comments |
'You know what I really love? The CD players in a car. How when you put the CD right up by the slot, it actually takes it out of your hand, like it's hungry. It pulls it in, and you feel like it wants more silver discs. "More silver discs. Please." I enjoy that.'
21 2003 0 comments |
- Two hipster-looking guys sit at the table, chit-chatting about arts programs. The tables are full of movie projectors, books like "Make Money in the Music Industry Now!" and "Anatomy for the Artist", and various GenX collectibles. I select three 16mm film reels and a 8mm camera.
"Did you go to film school?" he asks. His head is shaved like mine, his goatee just as similar.
"Nope, I just do it for fun."
- An amazingly old woman discusses the day with a girl who could easily be her great-granddaughter. I paruse the shelves, and stop at the books, right next to her.
"You bought some books from me last year." she says matter-of-factly.
"Probably," I reply.
"Seems to me they were....philosophical books."
"Yeah, that sounds like me."
- More books: a box of textbooks caught my eye. I pause at a heavily highlighted and underlined copy of "Our Sexuality." I first pass on it, then return and decide I better buy it or I'll regret it.
The woman at the table laughs loudly when she sees the title, then quiets herself immediately. She has to go check the price; the book isn't hers. She seems uncomfortable to even look at the book.
18 2003 0 comments |
Wondering what I'm babbling about?
A while back, I paid a handsome sum to get part of MIT's Random Hall named after my daughter, rather than it's former name "Dead Floor."
After about a year, I noticed that the MIT Bathroom Server no longer listed Destiny Floor in Random Hall....it's name replaced by Fort Awesome. Sadness abounded.
But -- redemption! Now, thanks to a helpful comment from a helpful reader, I discovered that Fort Awesome is the name given to "a strategic alliance with Foo." Random Hall's rush pages gives more info on this cooperative effort.
So, Destiny isn't gone and forgotten -- it is stronger, more powerful than ever imagined. World domination is not far away.
12 2003 3 comments |
When I saw Destiny wearing her usual old clothes this morning, I decided to let her open a present early: a new shirt. Note that the opening of this gift does not perceptibly reduce the present-pile whatsoever.
A few minutes after changing her top, Destiny came over to my perch at the computer.
"You got this at Target."
"I did?"
She pulls the hem of the shirt to her nose, then offers it to me. I lower my nose, and smell something a little flowery, a little synthetic. It could be perfume, or maybe chemical residue from manufacturing.
"See -- it smells like Target."
5 2003 3 comments |
Where has Derek been? Joel has asked it. Ms. GlamKitty called me last night to ask it. Up until a few minutes ago, my employer and Destiny's daycare were wondering where I am.
Derek has been busy.
How busy, you ask? Well, not so busy I collapse in an exhausted heap every evening. I've just had a very full plate for almost three weeks now. There's been homework, there's been freelance work, there's been birthday shopping for Destiny (it's the 14th), on top of my normal work duties and fatherly activities. Every moment has been occupied by something, moving from one thing to another without much of a break to breathe.
This is entirely by choice, though, and entirely my own doing. The 'busy curve' goes up, the curve goes down, and I just happen at the top of a peak right now.
Things that have happened:
- As you can see from the picture, Destiny has lost her other bottom tooth. Interestingly, it happened exactly two weeks, almost to the minute, after she lost her first one. It came out under exactly the same circumstances (loosened by brushing, a little tug and it's out). And, she had chosen the exact same outfit to wear that day.
- I completed a final project for my webdesign class in my CIS program. Derek took a webdesign class? Craziness, you say! A freelance webdesigner in a beginning HTML course? My fellow students did excellent work, and I'm pleased with my completed project.
- I've started on a site for DJ Heartless, one of the identities posessed by Backwash's Heartless Wonder. The site that's there as of today is just a prototype, but I'm workin' on it.
- A close friendship with the aforementioned GlamKitty has blossomed, expressing itself in MSN chats and late-night phonecalls. 'Nuff said about that for the moment.
Today, however, my busy day has been brought to a screeching stop. Destiny woke up this morning with a sore tummy. Going to the bathroom didn't help, breakfast didn't help, so a couple calls later I'm still sitting in my room and Destiny is resting in her bed. I can't pass this up without taking advantage of it, so I plan on keeping an eye on Destiny, napping, doing a lot of nothing, and then even more nothing.
