Saturday was certainly a weird day. Didn't go at all like I had planned.

Friday night, I went to dinner expecting to confirm times with the convention. However, Matt told me that he and John were going over to another friend's house that day and didn't know if they'd be able to make it work or not. Believe me, I was frustrated. We'd only been talking about them coming over to catch last week's Enterprise (which I hadn't watched) and some Babylon 5 for weeks. I made sure all my roommates knew so it wouldn't be a problem. Finally, they decided they'd do one then the other, making me the evening entertainment.

Meanwhile, I found out that one of my new roommate's parents were going to be in town that day only.

Everything managed to work out. I left a little before noon and went to see the new Peter Pan. Gorgeous scenery. It picks up the story a little eariler then the Disney cartoon does and fills in a few gaps. Takes things slightly differently. And really plays up the romantic angle of things. Still, absolutely wonderful and I can't wait to get it on DVD.

Then I came into the office for about an hour for internet purposes, then I headed out to play ultimate Frisbee. And the person I quit last year because of wasn't there! Maybe he won't be back. Went home, took a quick shower, then headed out to the college for dinner and to pick up the convention. Watched four hours worth of sci-fi, then brought them back. And went to bed exhausted.

Sunday was much quieter, with plenty of time to read Perfect Sax, Jerrilyn Farmer's new book. Wonderful, as always. Finished it at lunch time yesterday.

And I've got a new bee in my bonnet (so to speak). I'm seriously looking into getting a lap top and DSL wireless internet access for my condo. It would be much better then coming into my office to get on the internet (duh!) and since my parents are doing the same thing, I could even use it at home. The man problems right now are financial. As in, do I really NEED this, or is it a want I should deneigh myself till I'm a little better off financially, like a few months down the line. Seems like people are always having deals on DSL, so I could wait until later and get just as good a deal I'm sure.

Man, I hate decisions.

And a late breaking headline for you. I just love satire.

And finally, today's word association.

1. Berry:: juice
   
2. Fiendish:: mildly evil (Ok, how can you be mildly evil?)
   
3. Bar:: alcohol
   
4. Frank:: and Joe
   
5. Bend:: break
   
6. Fanatic:: My "fiend" at the message boards I'm always talking about here
   
7. Belch:: Excuse you!
   
8. Flagrant:: rule breaker
   
9. Burden:: sin in Pilgrim's Progress
   
10. Flimsy:: likely to break
    

So what does my theme of breaking things say about my state of mind right now?

Ok, I'm going out on a limb and possibly make half my readers so mad they'll never speak to me again (if not all of them.) But I have to post this. You see, I've been thinking today. (Danerous pastime and all that jazz.)

It all started when I found this link via Instapundit. Glenn finished his link with his normal "I blaim John Ashcroft," which he posts everytime there is a story like this one.

For those who don't want to follow the link, it's a story about a man in Brittain who was arrested and fined for starting a "riot." What did you do to start it? He held a sign saying "Stop Immorality, Stop Gays, Stop Lesbians." And from there he was physically attacked by about 30 people who were in the area. And he's the one held responsible for their actions.

I also thought back to run ins I've had with flaiming liberals on other boards. The ones I complain about from time to time here. Like the one who has promised to leave the country if Bush is elected again because he thinks all people who dissent will be rounded up and made to disappear if Bush wins in 2004. And my "favorite" fiend who so harshly bounces on any hint of a scandel and talks about the evil Republicans. (A comment about him later.) And I think it hit me.

The reason so many strong liberals fear Bush and Ashcroft is because of projection. What do they want to do? They want it so that only those who agree with them are allowed to speak. After all, they are tolerant, and I'm not. So the idea that someone who disagrees with them will let them speak is completely foreign to them and therefore they worry when someone they disagree with so strongly is in power.

Now I realize that this isn't necessarily the case for every person who has a problem with the current administration. And I'm not a fan of everything they've done either. (Don't even get me started on the new immagration policy. Why do we have a policy if we're just going to look the other way whenever anyone wants to come into our country?) But I don't think that they are pure evil, which is what I get from some of these people. And I think it's because they would truly like to silence all who disagree with them, and fear that conservatives are as willing to do the same.

Meanwhile, back to my posting fiend. He's recently been accused of calling me evil by a couple of different people. (You know, on the board I wasn't going to visit again. Why do I bother making resolutions?) He seems shocked anyone would think he thought I was evil. Yet he takes every opportunity possible to call Republicans evil, conservatives evil, and Christian conservatives doubly evil. Let's see, am I all three of those? Yep. Then by logic he calls me evil every chance he gets. Then he wonders why people who disagree with me are defending me to him.

In other news, I think we've finally got worship team practices figured out for the next couple of weeks with kids being gone for the Mexico missions trip, etc. Last night was the first regular Bible study I was at all of since the 1st week in December.

March is going to be packed. Not only do I have Donald's wedding one weekend and Carol's the next, but I will have a jr. high retreat another. Can I just say how glad I'll be when April rolls around. (Of course, by then I'll be swamped with other things, so it won't be any better.

And, finally, my stolen quiz of the day, coming from Aleta.

p>

You're Vatican City!

You're pretty sure that you're infallible in all that you do or say, and
it's hard to say whether you're right.  You have a lot of followers, most of whom will
do whatever you say without question, or line up to see you ride around in your spiffy car.
 Religious and reserved, you have some wisdom, but also a bit much contempt for everyone
around you.  You're also fabulously wealthy, no matter what you say to the contrary.

Take
the Country Quiz at the href="http://bluepyramid.org">Blue Pyramid

I was intending to say I didn't think this was right, but after my post today, maybe it is. :)

Time for this week's Thursday Threesome, brought to us by ancient Chinese proverbs and The Back Porch.

Onesome- I hear and I forget. What’s the one thing you’ve had explained to you over and over, but it still goes in one ear and out the other?
Anything related to do something to a car or computer. Anything mechanical at all, actually. I can remember useless facts like you wouldn’t believe, but trying to remember how to do anything useful? Forget.

Twosome- I see and I remember. Is there anything you’ve learned how to do just by watching someone else do it first?
I’m sure there’s something. What it is escapes me at the moment.

Threesome- I do and I understand. Is there anything you excel at that you taught yourself to do?
You might say I taught myself a lot of what I do on the guitar. Only thing I really learned from the class I took was to practice. :) Reviewing, too, for that matter. Of course, I use the term excel loosely in both cases. :)

I had a blast last night. Naturally, I left my office later then I had intended to. Started working on the powerpoint slides for worship Thursday night, and discovered that two of the songs I didn't already have typed up, so that added some extra time. Anyway, left here just in time to get to the bookstore right on time. And I ran into Jan, friend from Linda's bookstore I hadn't seen since April. We wound up talking until almost 10 PM. Yep, got home later then I had planned on. But it was a great time.

Meanwhile, Jerrilyn knew us right away and we chatted for a couple minutes. Not as long as I would have liked, but there was a huge line waiting for get books signed. Still, she signed the new hardback for me and two copies of the softback of the last book with my name in it. And when Jan saw that, she bought one and had both of us autograph it. Yes, that was fun, too.

Woke up this morning with the pipes making a horrendous racket again. I can't figure out what it is, but every time it does it, it will drive me crazy until I figure it out. And that means I'll be awake when I'd rather be asleep.

And they finally came from the HOA and fixed my wall from the hole they cut into it last month to fix the leak. No more plastic blowing whenever the door is opened or closed. They want to come back one more time for touch up and paint, but I'm thinking I'll wait on that until I have a better idea what's going on with the repipe. If that's happening, odds are they'll need to cut a hole in that spot to repipe, so I think it'd be better to leave it as is until the repipe is done.

So that's the exciting news in the land of Mark. Now to get home and watch 24 from last night.

I was so excited. I was going to be able to sleep late Saturday morning. Jeff wasn't even working, so I could sleep really late if I wanted to. So, guess who was up by 7:30 Saturday morning. Yep, that's right. Something weird was going on with the pipes. They were making a strange noise and I lay awake until that stopped. Then I got up and started watching the stuff I'd recorded. And the extras in the Babylon 5 season 4 DVD's. Then the remake of The Music Man. Worked on all that until after 3.

Then Jeff and I decided to get serious about the carriage bolts and metal rod we needed for the bunk beds. Would you believe that it's almost impossible to get 1/4 in. by 7 in. carriage bolts? Home Depot and Lowes just had them up to 6 in. One place I called had them in 6 and 8 in. sizes. Finally did find some and got them yesterday at lunch time. Now we just need to cut down the rod and we're good to go.

Meanwhile, I'm rather proud of myself. I hung a new towel bar all by myself, including the sheetrock screws, or whatever they're called. Of course, one side the SRS wound up slightly too far apart, so I can't get that screw in all the way no matter what I try. But considering this was me, I was very happy with myself.

Let's see, what else? I cleaned Jeff's clock at the Stock Market game. About time! Monk starts up again on Friday! I'm going to the launch party for Jerrilyn Farmer's new book tonight. And it's my first dinner in the caf for this semester tonight, too!

As seen on Kathy's blog (amoung others):


My life is rated G.
What is your life rated?

And if you didn't see that coming, you don't really know me. :)

This being Tuesday, I'm a day late for this week's word association:

1. Mitchell:: Adventures in Odyssey (that is Connie's boyfriend's name, right?)
   
2. Mercury:: Venus
   
3. Cycle:: Dryer
   
4. Engagement:: Party
   
5. Alternative:: Route
   
6. Gang:: Member
   
7. Emotional:: Cry
   
8. Skinny:: Dipping (wait, there goes my G rating. :)
   
9. Hypochondriac:: Faking it!
   
10. Insecure:: Me
    

Ok, I'm getting better, but I am pretty insecure. I wonder, are most single people insecure? It was really bad a few years ago, but I've gotten better in the last couple of years. Just kinda accepting me for who I am. Of course, it helps that I have more friends now who accept me for who I am, weirdness and all. (I still maintain that liking Trixie the way I do isn't weird!)

Can I be lazy or what? Did I bother to go back and return stuff to Home Depot and get what I needed? Of course not! I went straight home from work Wednesday night. After spending 45 minutes cleaning out a drawer that is. I had personal stuff in there going back to 1998. Now I have lots more room to stash personal stuff for a day or two.

Anyway, I did get one thing done I needed to Wednesday. I took down the Christmas tree. Now, I just have to actually tape up the box and put it in the garage until next year. Of course, one of my new roommates is going to put a bookshelf there. Have no clue what we'll do come December 2004, but we have 11 months to figure that out.

Thursday brought a new round of problems to me, however. They gated off the dirt parking lot across Sierra Hwy that my roommates were using to park. Parking is so tight around the complex as it is. Now we'll have more cars fighting for non-existant spaces. And even if we figure out a way to get two cars in the garage (there goes our storage), that still leaves two people without a place to park. I'm not a happy camper about that.

Since last night was the Home Owner's Association meeting, I cut out of Bible study early and headed to that. Didn't find out a thing about parking, but was able to air my complaint about my wall. They'll be fixing that on Wednesday next week! And found out they're extending the deadline for voting on the repipe. Man, I hope that passes before more stuff happens in my unit. Some of them sound bad.

And I spent a ton of money on stuff over at Wal-Mart today, too. Isn't home ownership grand? At least I have new roommates to help me cover things like that.

Time for the first Thursday Threesome of the new year brought to us this week by a bookcase and The Back Porch. (I think I'm missing something with this threesome, but that's ok. I have a feeling I really don't want to know.)

Onesome: Top-- Now that things have calmed down, what's at the top of your list to take care of? School? The garden? Shoveling the snow?
Finish moving into my condo, including getting the room set up with the bunk beds as bunk beds. Didn’t do much on that front yesterday, but still, that’s the goal.

Twosome: Dead-- ...and then again, what got so dead and buried in the holiday fluff that you may not be able to get get it restarted? That weight loss thing? Reading? Relaxing???
Reviewing? :) Seriously, I intend to get the weight loss/exercise/get in shape thing going any day now.

Threesome: Center-- Yeah, relaxing! What are you doing to try to keep yourself centered this year? Some serious down time? Yoga? Long walks in the country?
More balance, more time with people and less time worrying about reviewing. Ironically, this year may be less stressful then last without the reviewing thing to add to it. :)

Last night was certainly a mixed bag. I started out stopping by Home Depot needing to pick up new light fixtures for the bedrooms and some stuff to connect the rails to the upper bunk and the two bunks together in my room. I got home only to discover that the dowl I bought was too small and the bolts I bought two big. Furthermore, one of the two lights I bought was one I didn't want hiding in a box for the one I did. So out of all the stuff I bought, I'm actually keeping one thing. :)

Fortunately, my evening got much better from there. I'm caught up on all the stuff I have recorded except the hours of Monk I need to watch. Of course, it helped that I watched four episodes of Angel in fast forward. But I got to enjoy an hour of I'm With Her as a result. And then a few nice surprises in 24.

Then, I stayed up way too late trying to finish my book. I succeeded, and what a great ride it was, too. It was Murder Off Mike by Joyce Krieg. I absolutely loved every minute. I'm sorry that it's over, and can't wait to see what comes next. Unfortunately, that won't be for another six months.

So tonight will bring about the return of stuff to Home Depot and hopefully get the right sizes this time. Then I'm going to try to undecorate the Christmas tree. Yep, that's still up.

So I haven't told you my incredibly fun news yet. Next time you're in a bookstore, go look for a copy of Mumbo Gumbo by Jerrilyn Farmer. Assuming you can find it (local bookstores seem to have plenty), take a look at the acknowledgements. This is only cool if you pick up the paperback edition, however. I've come down off cloud 8.5, but I'm still floating pretty high from it.

Last night, I headed over to Pete's for a haircut. I know this will sound weird coming from me, but it's shorter then I was looking for. Didn't plan to get it cut really short until this spring or there aboust. Still, it's very nice not to have hair growing over my ears and rubbing on the collar of my shirt.

My mom mentioned several times how much she prefers my long hair when I was home. And Mike's girlfriend mentioned it, too. And the beard is a huge hit. Don't think they'll let me shave it off any time soon. Or get a short haircut anytime soon.

Fortunately, they don't seem to control that, because my hair is short by Mom's standards again. I kinda figure at my age and status in life it really only matters what they think on days that are very special to them. Like if Mike gets married this summer. Other then that, it's mine to control.

Anyway, Pete and his new roommate came over last night. I got to show off my condo and then we hit the hot tub and pool. Even with the bitter cold wind blowing, it was wonderful. The pool wasn't as warm as it had seemed previously, but after sitting in the hot tub for a little while was still certainly enjoyable.

There have been no Thursday Threesomes the last two weeks because of the holidays, but I will do this week's word association. (The weeks I missed? O well.)

1. Vintage:: Clothing
   
2. Longing:: Passion
   
3. Specimen:: Science
   
4. Mock:: Humiliate
   
5. Sh**:: Bad Word
   
6. Friday:: Payday!
   
7. Cruel:: Mean
   
8. Insufficient:: Funds
   
9. Pessimistic:: Gloomy
   
10. Grin:: and bear it
    

How's that for something a little different. Probably never thought you'd see one word up there on my blog, did you?

So why did I get a completely different look when I logged in from my parent's?

Yes, I am home and back to work. Man, I need a vacation. :)

Things were certainly crazy last week as the things Mom felt needed doing took the entire time we had to do them. They were much less for my other grandparent's services or got done much quicker or something.

I did get to get together with a couple different friends while I was home, however. Had a good visit with both sets. And really got to spend some time getting to know Kevin's wife (the wedding I went home for in February.) Was at their condo for three hours before I even knew any time had gone.

The memorial service went very well on Wednesday. I don't know what my uncle thought, but my family loved it. And hey, if my uncle hadn't wanted it to be that Christian, he shouldn't have picked that pastor. :) He didn't say anything one way or the other, but what could he say since he'd picked the guy. Now we'll see if we have any more contact with them outside of just signed birthday and Christmas cards and any weddings in the future.

Speaking of which, got to spend alot of time with Mike's girlfriend. She's great and seems to fit in with the family well. Don't know if that's a compliment or insult, however. :)

Friday night, I spent with Donald on the way home. Got to have dinner with him and his fiancee. Found out that the minister who will be marrying them is a friend, so that will make the wedding even more fun. I cleaned his clock at the Stock Market Game, but then he got his revenge on Tetris World. The only problem was, I just didn't sleep that night. But I made the rest of the drive home with flying colors, some of which were on my car. I think I made record time getting back down here.

And I have two new roommates! They both seem nice. I still need to scrimp some to save up some money again for when I'm between roommates. But still, this is a huge step in the right direction.

Thanks again for all your responses to my last post. It really does mean alot.

Here's to a happier 2004 then the last couple years have been for my family. (Of course the condo is a bright spot!) Hope all of yours are great as well!