You are browsing the archive for 2007 December.

New Year’s Eve Eve

December 30, 2007 in Blogs

Two years ago tonight I mentioned making preparations for New Year’s Eve, but I did not mention anything about our celebration. There’s not much to it, really, but it’s a bit of an extravagance. I buy quite a few foods I would not buy at any other time of year, from pizza rolls to spinach puffs to pigs in a blanket to potato skins to mini eclairs. My evening is spent getting such things as french toast sticks and chicken dippers and potato puffs heated and served in a continuing feast, along with making a punch that contains soda, several fruit juice concentrates, and sherbet. At midnight we bang pots and open doors (this was much more difficult when we tried to keep all the cats inside, but that seems to be an objective we have abandoned, and the cats do not wish to be inside when this racket is raised). My wife is big on the tradition of chasing out the old year and letting the new one arrive; I’m in it for the food.

I mention it because that’s where I was late this afternoon, first visiting the store that

  1. closes early on Sunday
  2. has the best prices and
  3. will be limited in selection,

and then going to the other store where I can get those items not available at the first, as long as I am willing to pay for them.

I did a bit of editing on the Romans notes–my pastor, who took the time to encourage me after church and to thank me for the Corinthians list which he says he is compiling into his own file copy, is looking forward to being able to browse through them when I’ve finished. I’ve also started writing a new song, about passing through a portal to a new world, which I keep poking at when I’m driving or otherwise intellectually underoccupied, but which I keep telling myself to save for Thursday so that I can involve Baxter and Brittany in the process, both of whom are hoping to get a bit of teaching on how to write songs from me, and not to snub Adam, he should be part of it, too. If it comes out well, we’ll add it to the Collision repertoire.

So I guess I’ve been busy, although the largest single thing in terms of time I did yesterday was take an early evening nap, which by then I needed.

–M. J. Young

Delayed Delivery

December 29, 2007 in Blogs

Rehearsal did not go quite as well as hoped yesterday, but it did go well. The big glitch was that Baxter decided he was not well enough to attend after I had spoken with him; I wound up running out at the last minute, and Brittany went to pick him up but couldn’t find his place, and when she called him he said nevermind, he was going to try to get better by sleeping instead of practicing. Meanwhile, Adam ducked out somewhere, apparently unaware that we were having rehearsal, and so arrived near the end of the available time. On the positive side, though, Brittany has nearly got the vocals down on three songs, one of them the hardest she will have to sing, and she’s started work on a fourth on which she faces some very challenging guitar work but no vocals. Collision is coming together.

Meanwhile, I did deliver the Christmas Tree to my mother-in-law this evening. It happens that I was volunteered to pick up one son’s girlfriend to bring her here, while another son was picking up his own girlfriend and going to a gathering of summer co-workers elsewhere. I had to rush to get my grocery shopping in before departing on this trek, and I still have some things requiring my attention before bed, but I’m hopeful that I can get everything done and acquire a few hours of sleep before daybreak.

I’ve discussed a few projects with my son, but there’s no reportable progress from that (although he had some good ideas), so I’m going to end here and get the other things done.

–M. J. Young

Aftermas

December 27, 2007 in Blogs

My mother-in-law’s Christmas Tree arrived today, from a company that promised delivery before Christmas and now is apologizing with embarrassment that it did not ship until yesterday. They have refunded the shipping charges, but we will keep the tree; it should survive to be planted in one yard or another at some point, I expect, and it was well discounted–and besides, my mother-in-law will be much happier to have a tree late than not at all.

My musicians are coming. Collision rehearses this afternoon. I spoke with Baxter moments ago, who works nights and is groggily preparing himself for the outside world of the day, and Brittany promised last week that she would be here this week, so we’re good to go, or should be.

I also have the desperate need to buy some groceries; Christmas left us strapped for cash (it always does) and scraping the last of the food from the freezer, but some money has arrived, and there should be enough time to squeeze in a shopping trip after rehearsal if we make dinner a bit late.

Thus at the moment I have a brief space in which to attempt to accomplish a brief task, and the writing of this blog came to mind.

I found myself sitting in a diner awaiting a takeout order late last night, and so brought my Romans editing with me. I’ve passed the halfway point, but it’s still a long row to hoe before it will be ready for publication–and I am not at all certain whether I can reach the intended market. However, it’s worth the effort, I expect.

–M. J. Young

‘Twas the Night After

December 26, 2007 in Blogs

I did not finish yesterday’s work yesterday. I got called away for an errand while working on the Lutheran forum, and when I returned the computer decided to freeze. Since I had to make a delivery of Christmas dinner and a poinsettia (the decorated tree never arrived) to my mother-in-law, I did so at that moment–and found myself struggling to stay awake at the wheel on the return drive, falling asleep in the driveway until my wife awakened me upon her late return from work. It seemed fruitless to attempt to continue at that point, so Tuesday’s work was finished this afternoon. I had several false starts today, including struggling at one point to awaken because I dreamt it was seven at night and the alarm had never sounded, but it was not yet noon and there was no need to rise.

I am further along today than I anticipated, but still have some ground to cover before I can quit, so I don’t expect to achieve much beyond the norm. I am anticipating a busy day tomorrow, but I’ll tell you about it when it comes.

–M. J. Young

A Very Harried Christmas

December 25, 2007 in Blogs

It was shortly after nine that I got dressed for my long winter’s nap on the night before Christmas.

That actually was nine this morning, and the son who was most helpful in the late hours with putting presents under the tree and stuffing stockings was still in the living room plucking on his mother’s guitar, while the youngest houseguest had already made two forays to the bathroom to scout the situation around the tree. I was under covers before half past, but was up again roughly three hours later, knowing that Christmas had to begin or it would not be pleasant. My poor wife, who had to work today (no real holidays in the nursing profession), got a head start on me on the sleeping; stockings always fall to me, as I am unreasonably fair in the distribution of candy (I count the number of pieces in the bag and divide them by the number of stockings that must be filled), and since I helped with the late wrapping there was nothing left for her. When she was ready, we began the ritual of opening the presents.

I’m not much for reporting on what I, or anyone else, got, but I do want to mention the very nice jacket I received. It looks like it will be warm without being bulky, and that’s a good thing. It is not cold enough today for me to test it, but we still have winter weather ahead so it will get significant use.

With that, I’m going to tackle the remainder of Tuesday, in the hope of getting a bit of that sleep tonight.

–M. J. Young

Mayhem at Bedlam

December 24, 2007 in Blogs

Some time last night, my wife and I had resolved that we would hold Christmas late. A dear family member was going to be delayed most of a week, and on top of that an important gift had not arrived. New Years Eve would be a fine day to celebrate Christmas, we thought; after all, she would be home that day, and so could everyone else.

The gift arrived in today’s mail; then the family member called to announce he needed a ride.

Of course, just because it’s Christmas Eve does not mean that the ordinary Monday work vanishes. My mother-in-law still needed groceries, for example. I have been running hither and yon for most of the afternoon, and I still have to help with the Christmas tree (although with the boys mostly grown, it’s a lot simpler). I’m trying to squeeze everything in, including the wrapping of presents which weren’t going to be opened for another week on the original plan, and snack food for the decorators tonight.

I am tempted to bypass the forums tonight; but a dear old friend has now posted his equipment post and is ready to start play, so I’ve promised myself I won’t keep him waiting (even though he didn’t really expect me to post on Christmas Eve).

Bedlam, incidentally, is the name of one of the earliest insane asylums in England. I know that, because a friend of mine from high school–interestingly, a drummer–plays in a band that does Ren Faires (it’s also a juggling act, called Double Indemnity), and they do a song called Bedlam Boys, in which the female vocalist sings that the boys from Bedlam are just the sort of boys a girl wants: the sort that are uninhibited. It’s a pretty funny song.

I’ve this feeling I’m forgetting something, but for now, forget it.

Happy Christmas to all.

–M. J. Young

Sleep Deprived

December 23, 2007 in Blogs

I had to do a bit of driving last night. Mostly it involved picking up people who needed or wanted to be here for Christmas who were unable to obtain their own transportation. However, in an odd turn that has me pondering, our art director asked me to autograph a photo for a friend, someone who started his role playing game experience in my living room about two decades ago. Thus at five this morning I was sitting in the restaurant where we usually hold our directors meetings discussing company plans when I should have been abed.

Before anyone asks for an autographed photo, I don’t actually have the photos–the art director made this one especially for his friend, one of the few people from that gaming group with whom he still has much contact. I was flattered to do it, as I am given to understand that my photo will appear on his study wall along with Neil Gaiman and Stan Lee and a few others, and while it’s a private wall, it’s still a surprising place for me to find my image. I apparently made someone’s shortlist of favorite authors, although whether it is because he likes my work or because I influenced his thought (he wants to write) or simply because he knows me I don’t care to speculate.

There is too much to do for me to be here, but there seems also to be some spanners in the works, so rather than waste time sitting on my hands waiting for others to be ready, I’m going to get as much done as I am able.

–M. J. Young

A Hurried Christmas

December 21, 2007 in Blogs

We’re not ready for Christmas.

Of course, we never are at this time of December, but it seems we are less ready than usual.

In our favor, it also seems that it’s going to be difficult to bring the family together for Christmas day, so we may be delaying our primary celebration a few days to accommodate people. Even so, there is still too much to do and too little time.

If I don’t get the chance to say so later, Merry Christmas to all.

–M. J. Young

Double Collision

December 20, 2007 in Blogs

My day has been chewed up into little bits, but otherwise I would say it was profitable.

It started this morning, really; I was not entirely awake when I was trying to get the boy to school, and although he rose at a decent time he had trouble finding decent clothes, and so missed the bus. That means I have to put on clothes (saying that I get dressed is overstating it–usually I pull pants and a shirt over the sweatsuit I wear as pajamas) and drive him to school. It also means that I don’t get back to bed so quickly as otherwise, as I have to remove those clothes and unwind a bit from having pulled myself into full wakefulness.

I suspect it was for this reason that I was late rising for the workday. I started getting organized, making coffee, starting the computer, and I remembered that Baxter was going to get back to me about rehearsal. Since I hadn’t heard from him and did not see him on the caller ID, I called him. He said that he was not well, but that he had talked to Brittany; he had earlier told me that Brittany, apparently a manager of her college girls basketball team (an injury sidelined her this year), had a game bumped to an early slot; I’d said that we couldn’t practice so early as one, but I could practice at two or later in the evening, and he was to get back to me on it. Brittany, he said, would be at my place around seven thirty or eight to rehearse, but he was not feeling well and had to be at work at ten, so he wouldn’t make it.

Somehow in the midst of this I started poking at the temporal anomalies page for Primer. I had put it on again last night–it’s become my cure for insomnia, perhaps. I had continued thinking about it, and went back to write quite a bit more on the subject. I also decided in the middle of this that the site probably needs a glossary page, somewhere where all the terms and abbreviations I use can be explained for reference, rather than assuming that anyone would read the entire site in the order it was written (an order I’m not certain even I can identify at this point), so I started on that.

This was interrupted; Baxter called back to say that having missed rehearsal last week he really wanted to get some time in this week, and had less than two hours immediately. It was by this time after three, but I hopped in the truck and brought him back. That was a good session, in which he got a handle on some difficult parts before I ran him back home before six.

My wife had asked me to pick up a couple things and drop them off to her at work–not things needed urgently, but things needed today–so I made that part of the same trip. I had a couple of things I wanted to get anyway, so I tossed that into the same errand. It did not go entirely smoothly, as the store where I expected to get everything did not have one important item she needed and wanted too much for an item I needed, so I went to a second store also. I got everything else there, but also encountered a retired pastor and his wife who are dear to me, and although I see them almost every weekend it was too good seeing them in the store to pass up chatting for what I hope was not more than ten minutes or so. However it was, it was after seven by the time I was making my delivery, and around seven thirty by the time I got home.

This of course meant that Brittany would be arriving at any moment. I had already instructed that people should eat the leftovers, and some had done so, and I was in the middle of writing an e-mail to a temporal anomalies contributer concerning the composition of the glossary, so I tried to finish up as much as I could of that, but still left things open as my vocalist arrived. I spent most of the next two hours working with her (Adam played with both rehearsal sessions), introducing her to some of the toughest vocal parts she’ll have to sing; she did impressively well with them, and I’m looking forward to a hopefully combined rehearsal next week, although one can never tell how holiday weeks will go.

All this means I’ve not eaten (apart from the end of a bag of white cheddar Cheetos and a couple pieces of chocolate), didn’t get to my morning study in Corinthians until after ten at night, and am pushing to get through the standard Thursday fare as midnight approaches. I’ve also got to schedule a few major trips to bring people here over the next few days, but I don’t have all the schedule information, so I’m not sure how that’s going to fit.

I’d better get to work.

–M. J. Young

Is It Today Yet?

December 19, 2007 in Blogs

Yesterday’s errands–delivering one son and some furniture to the home of another–turned into more than a chore; I have sore muscles everywhere, and they were sore enough to make driving difficult even so soon as the ride home. It was after two before I was here, and I threw in the towel on the rest of the work, pushing it into today–which explains why I am so late getting here, as I had to finish the larger chunk of my Tuesday workload before I could start on today’s e-mail.

The truck is back; one of the brakelines had rotted through, but the other was fine, so hopefully it will no longer run through brake fluid.

I’m a bit fuzzy as to whether there’s anything else, so I’ll stop here and try to get through the rest of today before it’s too far into tomorrow.

–M. J. Young