Hold me
Like the river Jordan
And I will then say to thee
You are my friend

Carry me
Like you are my brother
Love me like a mother
Will you be there?

Weary
Tell me will you hold me?
When wrong, will you scold me?
When lost, will you find me?

But they told me
A man should be faithful
And walk when not able
And fight 'til the end
But I'm only human

Everyone's taking control of me
Seems that the world's
Got a role for me
I'm so confused
Will you show it to me?
You'll be there for me
And care enough to bear me

Hold me (show me)
Lay your head lowly (lowly)
Softly then boldly (yeah-ah)
Carry me there (I'm only human)

Lead me (hold me)
Love me and feed me (yeah yeah yeah)
Kiss me and free me (yeah-ah)
I will feel blessed (I'm only human)

Carry (carry)
Carry me boldly (carry-y me)
Lift me up slowly (yeah-ah)
Carry me there (I'm only human)

Save me (save me)
Heal me and bathe me (lift me up, lift me up)
Softly you say to me
I will be there (I will be there)

Lift me (don't leave)
Lift me up slowly
Carry me boldly (yeah-ah)
Show me you care (carrrre)

Hold me (whoo)
Lay your head lowly (get lonely sometime)
Softly then boldly (I get lonely, yeah-ah)
Carry me there (will you be there)

Need me (whoo)
Love me and feed me (lift me up, hold me up, lift me up sometime)
Kiss me and free me (up sometime)
I will feel blessed (yeah-ah)

(Spoken)
In our darkest hour
In my deepest despair
Will you still care?
Will you be there?
In my trials
And my tribulations
Through our doubts
And frustrations
In my violence
In my turbulence
Through my fear
And my confessions
In my anguish and my pain
Through my joy and my sorrow
In the promise of another tomorrow
I'll never let you part
For you're always in my heart

"Will You Be There" by Michael Jackson

Stumbled across this blog post last night that hits on exactly how I feel about Michael Jackson except that I never considered him "my hero".

In fact I always considered myself a casual fan.

Til his death, and then I realize how much I took him for granted as a constant in my life. He's a guy who gave so much but was an utter wreck himself. His music was always phenomenal and ground breaking and with no expiration date. I've so many memories attached to him and his music.

Captain EO being my first experience with 3D... remember the huge lines to see it, and then being able to just waltz in at the end.

My friend being obsessed with marrying him. We were probably in 2nd grade.

Hating Man in the Mirror because the video was sooo depressing and ugly and was really the first time I saw that kind of stuff. Then later realizing I loved the song.

I can't remember which I bought first but my first music purchases ever were his "Bad" album and D.Gibson's "out of the blue", both on tape cassette :D (my first cd purchase was his sister's 1814 album)

Touring the college that I ended up going to, my tour guide, as a way of introducing herself, saying that she grew up in (some town right next to Neverland Ranch) but no worries she and her brother never went there. And I was sad at the "joke".

In high school, and being in a store and "Will You Be There" came on and it hit and moved me so intensely, I felt like I was floating in a wave of happiness and love. Never really talked about it cause it sounds overdramatic but it really did happen that way. Not sure if I realized then that it was his song but I would have very soon cause of Free Willy.

And all the videos for his songs... hard to pick a favorite :)

And less than a year ago, having a lot of fun cause Ryan was all wanting to know about his music and having so much fun sharing it with him and talking about the songs.

I remember being really happy and excited for his new concerts even though I wouldn't be going because hoped he'd get back to being a performer and bringing us more of his great music and hopefully finally getting the $$ to solve his financial problems because it's been sad that the only reason he's been in the media for several years is to report (gloat) on his financial problems.

I know there's reports of there being a vast library of unreleased songs, stuff being worked on for release soon plus stuff intentionally saved for after his death for his kids.

But it's not enough because he should still be here too.

I always thought that he really needed the love of his fans on some level which is why the court cases/accusations were so devastating to him because he probably felt the loss of the fans that turned against him. But I'm really glad that enough die hard fans let him know they didn't... cause proof's in the pudding in these letters he wrote.

I was upset and angry at first but it quickly went away...

I can't explain it but I had before and now exponentially more... hope and optimism for the future that we'll get it fixed in 2010 for CA and that more and more states will make it legal/repeal previous anti-gay marriage legislation.

( not that long but cut anyways )
But I really really do hope... it's fixed for CA by end of 2010. And also that we'll be coming in behind yet more states that have gone the way of the light and the right.

So tired... but wanted to share my favorite photo that I took tonight at the Weho Rally & (illegal) march to Hollywood



I just love what happened... life moving on but angels and never forgetting.

It was set up at the Matthew Shepard square along Santa Monica Blvd that we marched on from San Vincente to Hollywood & Highland.

It was a struggle with my woefully out of shape body but so worth it.

I also gave my name/email to volunteer to get 100 signatures for the petition to repeal Prop 8 or however we're going to reverse this travesty.

The biggest surreal thought of the night was seeing all the signs about "Separate but not Equal" and etc and it just blew my mind to realize that it's happening all over again. I went through my history classes in school with this kind of smug attitude of "at least we're enlightened NOW"

But no we're not. It wasn't til college that I really got it driven home that gay people are all around and are treated as 2nd class citizens. Not sure why it took me so long to realize.

This is like the 20s when women fought for the right to vote, the 60s when black people fought for equal civil rights and to end segregation. 50 years later, fighting for the latest group of 2nd class citizens.

Originally published at Ms. Amused. You can comment here or there.

Wow… I’ve never really gotten angry at an Law & Order SVU episode before. Usually no matter what the controversy or how extreme, I’m empathizing with the “good” side which is the cops/lawyers.

But last night’s episode that I just watched via my DVR? ooooohhh I wanted to smack them all except Benson who was the only one who didn’t just join the mass hysteria against the mother Monica.

Premise: Baby found buried in shallow grave presumed to be murdered by her mother (was that Hillary Duff?). Turns out it was measles. How exposed? Some kid had it at the playground whose mom I”Monica”) CHOSE not to vaccinate him.

The DA (the blond one.. Alex?) and Stabler just went crazy and started frothing at the mouth for blood from Monica and tried her for murder.

I was sitting there absolutely astounded that Alex’s whole argument in the case seemed to just be repeating “YOU MURDERED (the baby)”. Over and over…

The idea was that because Monica intentionally didn’t vaccinate her son, that she murdered every other kid who got it from her son. Well what about the source that infected HER son? Where does the buck of blame stop?

Note: it wasn’t clear on whether or not Monica intentionally took her son out after knowing he was sick with measles. Pretty sure that his being at the park was BEFORE symptoms showed because Stabler learned about her in the first place when another mom at the park was bitching that Monica flaked on her by not showing up as promised to her kid’s party because of the lame excuse that Monica’s son had the measles; “Who gets the measles these days?” So seems as though Monica did quarantine her son once he was diagnosed.

And that’s the crux for me… if she didn’t and took him to the playground… then yes that was criminal behavior. But she did keep her son home. She did what she was supposed to do as anyone should when they have a seriously contagious disease.

But making her out to be the villian that *MURDERED* other kids with her “choice not to vaccinate”? Horse Pucky!!

And it just got worse from there… with the baby’s grandfather running into Monica’s house at the end and suiciding via gun to mouth in front of her after saying “now you’ve killed TWO people”. (Backstory was that he was a drunk mess up til the grandbaby was born and he got his shit together because of her and now without her, no point in living)

It just all makes me sick. It’s ultimately passing the buck of blame which ends up in people not taking responsibility for their own actions. It’s never your fault but someone else’s. And it’s horrible to see it PROMOTED on a show like L&OSVU.

Not sure this will run as long as yesterday.

Took our time getting ready.. then we were looking for a place to get some stuff we could use plus after twittering about ipod != mustang convertible... I thought to check manual and discovered a line in option with the jack in the center console.

All we need was a male/male cable which I promptly dubbed the gay cable. Stopped first at the kmart which did not have it but they had watershoes on clearance at a quarter of what everyone else was charging. Pair found for everyone though I was dumb and didn't think to zip it when I tried it on. Later found that I couldn't and ugh. But kurt had same issue in store and just went up a size. Have to go back and ugh we are heading in other direction tomorrow maybe. Could go now as it is 24 hrs (only 24 hr anything I have seen so far) but don't wannu.

I thought to ask and we were close to hilo hatties which is supposed to be the ultimate hawaii store. Tried walking there and ended up running into security guard who said "you can't be here... govt property!!" But no sidewalk so um just walked along street anyways.

It definitely is fun though a lot of the kitsch stuff I have seen elsewhere so far. I was so desperate for a dress that I bought this red one but I really don't wear red ever.... also got an hawaiian hello kitty for Anna and have been having fun with taking pictures of it everywhere.

Next was radioshack which involved us driving thru a power plant area looking for the right road. Earlier we walked past a bunch of dumpsters so it all just fit right in.

Ended up chatting with Steven at rs a bit when he saw I was from cali. He is from santa rosa which is across golden gate from sf. He's lived here for 13 years and loves it. He does miss somethings occasionally but not enough to go back to mainland. I mentioned about being landlocked against road trips or a weekend away somewhere and I guess the trade off is worth it for him. Definitely something where you have to have it gone to see if you really need or miss it.

Funny thing, I told him we were driving cross island to northshore and he said yea when I visited before I moved here ... it was right after 9/11 so rental cars were such that he got a convertible for cheap. I said yea we did too actually. "Well but you see I got the FORD MUSTANG" I laughed... we did too!! Tells you something though that the rental agencies are doing that again now.

Anyways, a and kids got subways and tcby yogurt while I was doing that. I grabbed a sandwich too and finally we were on highway 1 and on our way.

Very beautiful and relaxing. Speed limit is 55 and its not hard to stay there. I did go with flow of traffic so sometimes was faster.

Reminded me a little of the green valleys of pennsylvania but the palm and other decidedly tropical trees pushed pa out quickly.

A couple miles from the end of the road along the north edge on west side we started to see the ocean and there was a lot of oh my god!! As it was catch your breath beautiful glowing white sands and so deep and pure shades of blue and teal and even some lighter sea glass parts.

Because it is nowhere near the resorts or tourist trap areas and only reachable by car, only handfuls of people seen at a time. Not a dozen every 10 yds.

We went to where the paved roads ended and parked.

Getting too tired to finish so reminders to elaborate:
Mini cove
Lava layers
Digging and skipping
Hiking and seashell hunting
Scraped foot and busted flipflop
Skydivers and sailplanes
Croizner st
Little town in crook
Post office
Northshore swimwear
Pizza bob
Blinged crab, excellent waiter, and creepy guy
Cruising then stop at beach
Very wet. Sorcerors apprentice
Rain but warm.
Have seen many beach sunsets but not where water is warm and pleasant.
Kept going north... nice but would backtrack next time
2 hrs to get home.
Rested wrote postcards and then kurt and I went in search of ice cream
Intl market is cool. Must go back for tree top cafe.

I have been writing this outside on the balcony where it was cool but pleasant but still strong gusts as always. Am now chilled a bit which is part of why I cut this off.

Am hioping I can continue so I have something to read later in life to remind me of what it was like... cruise ship 7 years ago is mostly a blur now for example.

Its only 9pm and when we got back to the hotel almost an hour ago.... we found that the shuttering up at ala monoa did not extend to the area around us. It was like hollywood and highland meets the vegas strip in the jungle. Much cleaner looking than h & h for sure.

But everyone else is going to bed and my body & mind is at war with itself and each other. Am tired from the long day and no sleep since sat morn except for a couple of cat naps. Plus my body thinks its midnight.

On the other hand... want to go sit at the bar in the space between lobby (which is almost completely open to pool area) and pool area and enjoy the ambience and perhaps get a head start on postcard writing.

Tomorrow, we are thinking about driving out to north shore around turtle bay. Polynesian cultural center is there and seems to be a good type of place to hit. Angela's feeling a little like she hasn't really left la. I can see why though I don't feel it myself... right before the hotel, you go through the waikiki equivalent to rodeo drive with store like ferragamo... cartier... plus see earlier comments.

But for me... the plant life, the numerous statues wearing leis (rivaling DC even though theirs wear only garments of avian poo), the architecture and bizarre stores like The Stupid Factory and the Crack Seed Center lets me know I'm not in kansas anymore

Tomorrow thinking on driving out to north shore like turtle bay and less populated beaches before we end up spending the whole week in consumer central. Polynesian center is out there too and I've seen some interesting advertisements for it.

Also on wish list... at least drive by pearl harbor, visit dole plantation and honolulu zoo.

I am now more curious about diamondhead now that I've seen it from the air (man am I kicking myself for not taking photos - was distracted with trying to correct a knitting mistake before we landed and I didn't even do that) and can see the side from hotel balcony easily.

Am in no shape to hike around it but would like to see or do what I can.

There's a lot of hidden costs in having a car in hawaii but at least the upgrade to a convertible was so cheap... will make driving around island more pleasant then an economy box.

Weather is great. It was foggy and raining in the predawn LA but partly cloudy and a semi thick 80 in honolulu. The heavy ever present winds alleviates the extra humidity in the air for me.

Hmmm 930 now... really starting to feel strain of staying awake.
Hope I wake up for the sunrise, we face mostly east. Plus 3hr time shift forward means 9am for my body for predawn 6am here.

I'd felt bad about not focusing more on the upcoming vacation and researching and daydreaming but it helped in a way as I didn't really have many expectations and I found myself loving every discovery even more!

Odd things

Homeless camped out under the huge trees on edges of beach.

At night, the statue in front of the very posh looking Grand Waikikian... looks like a flaming donut.

Nancy commenting on how noisy the trees are (persisent strong winds)... she is too used to urban white noise.

Lots more random things on twitter.

Driving so far has been fun because its all low speed driving 35 to 40 at best. Good for top down plus opportunity to see things.

Expect tomorrow to be different due to highways.

On highway near airport, was high enough to see that almost every residential roof had solar panels.

I'd been daydreaming earlier about moving to hawaii but then angela was talking about it and pointed out that you'd be seriously limited in where you could go.... no road trips... to get off island is pricey plane ticket. Hmmm good points, plus never while the quarantine on incoming animals is in place.

Ok I think I have brain dumped enough.

Part of my resolve on this trip includes trying to document via twitters the random things that occur that often gets forgotten by the trip. Like the changing of the guard in weird steamboat shaped shopping complex across the street. Hopefully we'll see and not just hear it at some point.

This was one of my 101/1001 goals... to take a trip like this and to adequately photo and blog the experinece enough. With g1 and twitter ... should be very interesting though some ppl may want to suspend following me. Don't care if they do... better than hearing complaints on too much!!

K def not going down... just gonna try to write some cards and then go to bed. Maybe read my oahu revealed book some, esp about north shore area

Been looking at old dog photos for Dogbook (part of Facebook) and ....

sigh...

It's bowling me over a bit how much I wish Almond was still here.

(the sassy senior little white girl on the left)


8-9 months was too little time with her.

I don't think of her "every day" but I think of her most often of all the dogs I've loved in my life.

Never have I seen a dog like her... a senior chihuahua with a failing body who still made the most out of every day, every moment outside even just to go get the paper, every nap, every pet.

"I'm So Excited" by the Pointer Sisters... I didn't know this song til Mom mentioned that watching Almond made her think of it. It fits a lot with its bubbly and peppy go getting melody.

Old dogs in shelters rarely make it out and I know its hard to adopt them because of the short time you get but No pain... No gain and Almond was and is still worth all the pain and so much more.

Odd to be sitting here crying again from the missing of her but feel so very blessed to have known her too.

My "old man" Captain gets whiter and whiter in the face all the time and I remind myself to appreciate even when he annoys me because one day he'll be with Almond and not me. But I usually stop just before "because".

Holy crap. Great movie!!

Excellent casting. Based on a true story of how one man "shattered the myth of the invincible french wine"

Alan rickman. Bill pullman. Dennis farina. Freddy rodriguez. Chris pine. Also eliza dushku in a small but good role.

I didn't like sideways because of giamatti's character tho I do like him as an actor. But I liked the wine country parts of sideways.

I picked it up ballbuster today cause I was trying to find a movie that dad had not already seen as was heading over there for his birthday. Cover has a quote about it being the next sideways or little miss sunshine.

Anyways. Dad and I both really liked it and rickman was perfection as always. Everyone else was good too!!

One of those times when just restless as hell but can't seem to move away from the computer and do something else more constructive.

So this will be a post of random.

Saw Monsters Vs Aliens in 3d tonight. Understood a surprising amount of it that I followed the plot pretty well. Last time I tried to watch a 3d animated movie without captions, I got lost. 3d effects were pretty good and the odd thing is that you get used to it even faster because it's a 3d animated movie I think and not like Jaws or something.

Kimi - camel's back is broken and ugh can't even discuss. So sad and scary.

Oven is FIXED and working after 15+ months. Also got them to open up the top so it could be cleaned as oven guy found rats nest inside. That explains why the stench was always so bad in the kitchen particularly in front of the oven. Need to just run the oven for a while to burn out anything else but feel confident that it has been adequately sanitized.

Came home to find that Mom'd tackled the kitchen while I was out so that was cool. Looks better.

Bummed to find out that Angus is headlining a WOW show ... because it'll be the 27th when I'm in Hawaii. Oh well.

Saw the actor who plays Nathan Petrillo on Heroes tonight at the McD's behind the arclight... he vamoosed really quick but it was definitely him.

oh... not just the oven... the kitchen looks to finally be rat proofed and am certain that was their only entry point. So at last, can confidently utilize storage spaces again and stop living like a packrat among piles of stuff.

need to take my new tv back because it has the oddest defect... captions stop working on average of 15-30 minutes into whatever I'm watching whether it be DVR or DVD.

Lucy (my Mom's BIG white dog - size of average lab but missing hind foot) was amusing yesterday. She was in a snit because Mom left to run errands and she thought she was gonna get a walk. She laid by herself on the floor sulking a long time. I was working and my dogs on the couch next to me but it's blocked by the table and my desktop and Lucy can't get to it. Next thing I know... she's shoving my elbow cause she's fricking climbing OVER THE DESKTOP and pushing herself a spot on the couch. Really funny cause it was very "no size discrimination allowed! if they're all up there, I get to be too"

trying to read Coraline but its going slowly. First I was intentionally reading slow and really just reading along to Neil Gaiman's voice (audiobook on the ipod) while lying in bed before sleep. But then I panicked thinking that Arclight was going to stop showing Coraline in 3D tomorrow so I just read it directly last night but didnt' get far before crashing. But turns out they're still showing it on more than one screen for a while. Will finish it with the audiobook but hate not getting all the way through it quicker since its not that long of a book. hard to be scared at all with all the broken upness.

Also impatient for watchmen book to get here... not gonna be captive to rear window this time. Want to see it opening weekend.

Dad's birthday is Saturday. He wants to go whale watching... need to look up places and also hope weather holds. Friday night, Ryan's HS's drama dept is premiering their Sound of Music production. He's stage crew but I think is actually running the crew. We're going :) though I've not seen Sound of Music at all ever... but have owned the DVD for 8+ years? (ever since the Rodgers/Hammerstein original boxset came out)

Finished and I have to recommend it.

Its like dead poets society and real genius got together and had a kid but it came out not looking like either parent.

Charming though :)

Unhhh this man!

Watching Charlie Bartlett and he's not the star or even a major part but man does he have presence!!

Movie is pretty interesting though very little plausibility. But fun nevertheless.

Now back to the movie.

Is it wrong that I think murph is hot?

I has a coraline now...

Bought it at barnes and noble @grove so I could get parking validated

Now just have to hope that arclight or some place is still showing in 3d

Ungh I heart this show so much I want to hug it and love it and put it in my pocket and carry it around with me always.

Sad cause I just finished the finale. Sucks that cable shows are only half seasons long.

Christian Kane is amazing and uber sexy with the hair. Also fun to see Beth Riesgraf who I only knew as jason lee's baby mama.

The whole cast is excellence in casting and timothy hutton isn't overcasted like keitel in life on mars.

I know we roll our eyes at remakes and reboots but this show is like an updated Ateam snuck in under our noses and I was happy to see leverage pay homage by having hardison quote hannibal's famous line in one episode

I love it when a plan comes together!!!

Season two can't come soon enough!!

Finally watched it. Was motivated by discussion of favorite disney and pixar movies earlier today.

Not quite as forgettable as chicken little but definitely below the median mark on 3d movies for me.

Animation and colors were beautiful but the story was too weak.

I'd put it on as background noise but with the sound way down. Ugh seinfeld's whiny voice....and I'm the deaf one!!

It's midnight and I've been home for about an hour...

Took the dogs out when I got home and it was fun seeing Bastian freak out at the cow that now resides in Angus's back yard. Normally he ignores things that aren't living but he seemed to think the cow was real.

I've never seem him stare at anything like that before. Later he stared again wagging his tail and even pawed up on it (standing with paws on it) like he does with Lucy when he wants her attention.

The cow's clearly not hollow so I'm wondering how they got it moved and also curious as to just how Angus came to possess it. I knew about it only because someone updated their Facebook status this afternoon about leaving to go liberate a cow from the 19th floor of Disney with Angus O.

I can't wait til asshole Nick (maintenance manager for the bldg) sees it... he'll flip his wig I'm sure.

Anyways, speaking of Nick, he wasn't here today but Melvin was and Melvin foamed the kitchen and also pulled out the oven and did behind there too. Hopefully it is now rat proof. He also fixed a couple of little things too.

Went to see Taken tonight with my Dad. We'd planned on it since the last movie we went to see (Mall Cop) but didn't get to it til today. Talk about perfect choice in company to see that one with.

I hadn't heard anything about the movie other than to see commercials for it but I figured that it was ok cause Liam's had a really good track record for making movies I like and wow... this movie was REALLY good. It really hit its marks for making you get into the story and feel the depth of Liam's angst and the relationships. Which made for a really good story once the action started.

Only thing bad I can think to say about it is... at one point there is a cell phone call. At the end of it, Liam is hung up on and there's the typical "handset clattering into the phone cradle" sound of a hangup. BUT IT WAS A CELL PHONE!!! Dad didn't remember it after the movie but suggested it could have been (redacted for spoiler) that we heard but I really noticed it at the time as sounding exactly like ... handset into the cradle sound. But I am the deaf one so we'll see.

But as you can see... nothing but a little thing so definitely go see it! Everyone says International sucks... one review equated it to being strangled with a dry cleaner bag. So see Taken instead!

So satisfying to pay $$ to go to the movie and come out feeling well entertained.

Anyways... dad and I shared a diet coke which means... caffeine for me and so ugh been jittery on the computer since taking the dogs out wishing that someone else was around to chatter with.

I miss blogging...

I miss knitting...

I miss a lot of things. Hoping things settle down soon.

And all I can think is... I want to go to Disneyland!!!

I have some dim memories of going as a kid to Disneyland when it was raining because it'd been planned anyways. It rained in the morning and we just wore these plastic raincoats that they sold which was fine and then it stopped around noon and the rest of the day was fine.

And because of the rain.... park was fairly empty so lots of short lines.

And I like being in the rain anyways.

your favorite jar candles on clearance for $1.79 (huge 20 oz ones!)

So I had an interesting early evening.

The Opal yarn arrived from Germany finally... 32 days after the buy. I'd gotten a co-op of people together from Ravelry which brought our prices down to about half the retail!

I get it packed up and labels printed and the packages and my butt to the post office and spent a nice 10 minutes with the one postal clerk I like there getting it all sorted out including other yarns I'm selling off from my stash.

So tempted to go to MickeyD's or Wendys for fast food grub for dinner but decided to be GOOD and go to Subway instead for the primerib sub. Cheaper with my $5 coupon and I never get the sauces so it's just meat and veggies and bread and cheese. Much better.

I go to pull out of the lot and I see this little old lady who looks a little lost. Something about her is strikingly familiar. Makes me think of my Mom I think though there wasn't really that much resemblance. Blond curls in a typical old lady style, eastern european face with light makeup and glasses. Round and in a red coat.

I noticed her when I was pulling out of my spot but when I turned my head back to check for pedestrian, I was startled to see her right in my passenger window. I turned off the music and lowered the window and she asked about Cahuenga. if I was going there. It's not far at all but the church she turned out to be trying to get to was about 3-4 miles away on the other side of the hill near the In N Out burger. The bus hadn't come and she'd been waiting for an hour.

My car was crammed full of stuff including the front seat which had my dad's vacumn I'd borrowed. Plus there's the... "is she really just a little old lady trying to get to church or is this some kind of evil thing?"

I decided what the hell, I'll take the chance. Threw the bags into the back and she said not to bother with the vaccumn and she squeezed herself in and off we went.

Betty is a really nice old lady who apparently was going to church for Armenian Christmas. She was very thankful and appreciative but I didn't give her my number when she asked. Not sure why I didn't but in part I was thinking about how it's never on anyways and I really hate it when people I don't know try to contact me. I had enough trouble understanding her that it would have been UGH. She had to spell out Thorn Birds for me when she was talking about a character named Megan in the movie.

Anyways... I dropped her off and all was well. She said service was at 730 and it was after 720 at that point. So definitely good that I helped her out cause even if the bus did finally come, she would have been late.

It's been an oddly eventful day.

The dreaded landlord was also here but managed to talk calmly the rats and once again he didn't say anything about the dogs though he was in my bathroom where all the dogfood/dishes are. They were there checking and fixing all plumbing issues. He called and got an email address that I can use to report things and we'll coordinate a time for them to come back and take care of the rat issues. He's going to check all the gas lines because he thinks they're coming in that way. But I'll have to clear everything out of the way before he gets there...including the TV :( He also mentioned using the foam when I showed him how they just chewed through the boards they'd put up before.

Nicole is being evil and trying to entice me to get an annual pass at Disneyland so that we can go a lot this year. I have to admit that one of my "always wanted to do" things has been getting a pass and doing that with one of the theme parks. I think Ruby and I talked about this when I was in high school. It'd be an excuse to get out of the house more and it's always a lot of time on your feet with the walking and standing in lines.

Frankly... for some reason, I self sabotaged myself off an opportunity to enhance the worsted weight part of my yarn stash by deliberately not getting up in time for the sale. So between that and the box of yarn I sent back today from an earlier buy.... I wonder if this is universe/fate trying to point me into doing this.

And it isn't just today, yesterday was interesting too... got my official review from work and a 5% raise. Now just need to get on the 401k and put it back into it. My best friend was hit by a car which is BAD but I'm immensely thankful that she was not seriously hurt... because it could have been so much worse for her plus her daughter was in danger zone too.

Another good friend got to give notice yesterday to a highly stressful job as a job offer that she'd gotten last year that went dead due to lack of funds was reactivated thanks to a company buyout.

I found a Michaels with a huge remaining stock of holiday themed scented jar candles.. the nice ones that last for a very long time. Clearanced for $2.39 which is a great price!

Am also on target for my Jayne knitting goal. Just waiting for reinforcements to arrive from Joann's which had a killer price on the yarn I like to use on them.

Lots of things... big and little that are making an interesting start to the new year.

The only really bad thing.

My aunt's best friend Gloria's daughter died while trying to get to the plane to go to UCLA for treatment. Gloria and Jeanie are basically family to us and while I didn't really know Jeanie that well, I'm still horrified and sad that she lost her lifelong battle like that. I can't imagine what Gloria's going through right now. Feel so bad for her.

Originally published at Leonine Ponderances. You can comment here or there.

This is a night to remember.

Watching the election results and seeing the announcement at 8pm sharp that Obama was my president with my best friend…. celebrating with the neighbors all night, including with neighbors I didn’t know as well.

Historical. No two ways about it. And probably the most historical of my life. Only down side, the end of the fight for gay equality did not happen tonight